Page 2 - Assocham

PM Modi's US visit takes bilateral ties to greater heights: Assocham

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's US visit has taken India-US strategic and commercial relations to greater heights, paving the way for immense opportunities for bilateral engagement, Assocham said on Saturday. Modi left for Egypt on Saturday after concluding his US State visit during which he held talks with President Joe Biden and addressed the Joint Session of Congress. 'Prime Minister's visit is being viewed as a turning point in Indo-US relations in a fast-changing world order which would see both the countries emerge as the most influential economies with strategic prowess in the unfolding international political economy,' Assocham Secretary General Deepak Sood said. He observed that while Modi demonstrated India's soft power as he participated in the International Yoga Day at the UN Headquarters in New York, the Prime Minister's personal chemistry with President Biden at the White House demonstrated shared cultural values of the two largest democracies of the world. 'In his ...

Easy trade finance system key to achieve $2 trn export target by 2030: DGFT

Traders and the government have to work on the issue of obtaining easy finance both for domestic and cross-border trade

MPC meeting: Continued pause on policy rate to push growth, says industry

The MPC voted 5 members to 1 to remain focused on the withdrawal of accommodation

Assocham inks agreement with ICMAI to curb money laundering activities

Industry body Assocham has inked an agreement with cost accountants' apex body ICMAI with an aim to prevent money laundering and transnational financial crimes. Both entities have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard. The strategic collaboration aims to drive professional and organisational development in the realm of money laundering prevention and related transnational financial crimes, according to a release on Thursday. By jointly identifying and implementing capacity-building initiatives, promoting awareness and offering diploma and certificate programmes, the partnership seeks to foster good governance and ensure greater transparency in the economy. The alliance will actively share case studies and national surveys pertaining to financial crimes in India and abroad, with a specific focus on the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, as per the release. Additionally, they will collaborate on research, knowledge exchange and joint publications in

Around 40 MT new steel capacity to be commissioned by FY26: Assocham

Around 40 million tonne (MT) of new steel-making capacity will be commissioned by 2025-26, an industry executive said on Thursday. Vinod Nowal -- the Chairman of Assocham's National Council on Iron and Steel -- made the remarks at India Steel Summit in the national capital. Domestic steel production capacity is expected to touch 300 MT and crude steel production is likely to reach 255 MT by FY31, he said. Nowal, who is also the chairman of JSW Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd, said, "Fresh steel capacities of accumulating to 35-40 MT per annum are lined up for commissioning by FY26". As per the industry body Indian Steel Association (ISA), India's total installed steel-making capacity was 154 MT as of March 2023. Another 40 MT capacity addition by FY26 will scale it up to 194 MT.

State power utilities should monetise unused optic fibre infra: Assocham

Industry body Assocham has requested the government to direct state transmission utilities to take necessary steps to optimise the utilisation and monetisation of their spare optical ground wire capacity. A passive optical network or optical ground wire is a dual functioning cable. Besides transportation of power, these can be used for telecommunications purposes, Assocham said, adding that various state transmission utilities presently own and operate around one lakh km of such infrastructure with "ample spare optical ground wire (OPGW) capacity". In a letter to Power Minister R K Singh, Assocham said "there is a significant opportunity to monetise unutilised passive fibre infrastructure already built... by the various state transmission utilities (STUs)." The association, in its letter, has requested for directions to STUs to take the necessary steps to optimise the utilisation and monetisation of their spare optical ground wire capacity. Monetisation of existing unutilised passi

Food laws must work on making unbranded items safer: Assocham report

Study surveyed 5,000 participants from 15 large cities, says Indian consumers mostly satisfied with product information provided about branded foods, but are concerned about unbranded items

Capex cannot be driven by public investment, says industry body Assocham

Industry body Assocham on Monday said capital expenditure cannot be driven largely by public investment and the private sector must participate to increase investments in India's economy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month urged India Inc to increase investment in tandem with the government's decision to raise capital expenditure (capex) and take advantage of the opportunities unveiled in the Union Budget 2023-24. The chamber's newly appointed President Ajay Singh said he foresees a "significant rise in private investment" in the coming 2-3 years, driven by the Centre's capex push. "It cannot be that expenditure in the economy is largely public expenditure. The private sector has to participate and with the environment that is being created today, with the infrastructure spend that the government is doing, opportunities available to companies both in India and overseas. I think you will see an uptick in private investment in the next 2-3 years," Singh said addressing a press ..

'Improving women's health will reduce burden on healthcare infrastructure'

Lack of a diversified and qualified workforce main challenge for healthcare in India

Sanjay Nayar assumes position of vice-president of Assocham

Assocham has announced the appointment of global financial markets expert Sanjay Nayar as its new vice-president

'Union Budget 2023-24 is a road map for nation building', says Assocham

The chamber which has been seeking relief to the MSMEs expressed gratitude to the government for giving several incentives to the small businesses and the start-ups

E-immigration process for international fliers soon, says Scindia

Airports across the world have started using biometrics to create automated lanes for immigration clearance at airports

Indian economy likely to navigate rough global weather in 2023: Assocham

India's economy is expected to navigate rough global weather in 2023 due to resilient consumer demand, better corporate performance and abating of inflation, even as the year is likely to be full of challenges and opportunities, Assocham said on Monday. "While the global outlook seems rather tough, the Indian economy is set to stay on steady ground, helped by strong domestic demand, a healthy financial sector and improved corporate balance sheets. Early signs of brighter prospects of Rabi crops point towards a robust performance of agriculture, leaving an improved second round effect for several connected industries like FMCG, tractors, two-wheelers, speciality chemicals and fertilisers," Assocham Secretary General Deepak Sood stated. While there is an overwhelming consumer response to contact services like travel, hotels and transport, a positive domino effect is visible in transport, housing, power, electronics, discretionary consumer goods and automobiles, he added. "Our domestic

Reduce customs duty on critical raw material for aluminium sector: Assocham

Industry body Assocham has sought reduction in basic customs duty and correction of inverted duty structure on critical raw materials for the aluminium industry as high import duties is a huge disadvantage for the sector heavily dependent on imported raw materials. In its pre-Budget memorandum 2023-34, Assocham said high import duty on raw materials results in Indian finished goods getting costlier and uncompetitive in international markets, rendering negative protection against cheaper imports of finished products, and discourages domestic value addition within the country. "The average production cost of Indian aluminium producers is amongst highest in the world, majorly due to high incidence of unrebated Central & State taxes and duties on inputs/ raw materials accounting for 18-20 per cent of aluminium production costs," it said. In a bid to improve the cost structure of the Indian aluminium industry and enhance competitiveness, the basic customs duty on critical raw ...

Interest rates for renewable power must be brought down: Assocham president

Assocham president Sumant Sinha has called for bringing down interest rates for the industry, especially for the domestic renewables sector, which is seeing high rates of 8-10 per cent compared to 3-4 per cent in the western markets. On his expectations from the government for the domestic power and renewable energy sectors in the upcoming budget, Sinha said interest rates should be brought down for the rate-sensitive sector. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to present the budget on February 1. "Bring down the interest rates because ours is a very interest rate-centric sector. ...it is high compared to what you pay in other parts of the world. In India, the rate is in the range of 8 per cent to 9.5 per cent for the industry and (specifically) in power and renewables (sectors) it is 8-10 per cent," Sinha, who is also the Chairman of ReNew Power told PTI in an interview. "In the western world, rates are 3 to 4 per cent." Sinha said every 1 percentage point increase i

Enhance budget for PLI scheme and widen its coverage: Assocham

The government's PLI scheme, introduced in 2021, had an outlay of around Rs 2 trillion for 13 sectors

Increase personal I-T exemption limit to Rs 5 lakh in Budget: Assocham

Industry body Assocham on Thursday made a strong case for doubling the income tax exemption limit to Rs 5 lakh in the forthcoming Budget so that the economy gets a consumption boost. Currently, the maximum amount of income which is not chargeable to income tax is Rs 2.5 lakh. In case of persons in the age bracket of 60-80 years, it is Rs 3 lakh and Rs 5 lakh for senior citizens who are above the age of 80. During a media interaction, Assocham President Sumant Sinha opined that companies in sectors like steel and cement are now beginning to make plans to increase capacities. Talking about the downside risks, he shared that globally, the world might go into recession and that will impact the external sector, and therefore may affect India's gross domestic product (GDP). In its pre-Budget recommendations, the chamber said the government should increase the exemption limit for income tax to at least Rs 5 lakh so that more disposable income is left in the hands of consumers and the econ

Sebi receives over 30,000 whistleblower complaints: Chief vigilance officer

If we continue to misuse this policy with frivolous and mischievous complaints, then we are blunting it," she said

Don't hike repo rate by more than 25-35 bps: Assocham's advice to RBI

With Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) set to meet to decide on the policy rate revision, industry lobby body Assocham has urged the former for a moderate hike

Assocham asks RBI to moderate rate hikes to avoid impact on recovery

Industry body Assocham on Friday asked the Reserve Bank, which has hiked the key policy rate by 190 basis points since May, to moderate the interest rate hikes so that it does not have adverse impact on nascent economic recovery. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das headed six-member rate setting panel is scheduled to meet for three days from Monday to take a call on the next set of monetary policy. The central bank is scheduled to announce the decision of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on December 7 (Wednesday). "At most the new rate hike should not exceed the 25-35 basis points band," Assocham said in a letter to the RBI Governor, along with highlighting other issues before the industry. One of the key recommendations advanced by the chamber to the RBI is to treat retail loans for purchase of Electric Vehicles as priority sector lending, with a concessional rate of interest. On September 30, the RBI had hiked the key policy rate (repo) by 50 basis points wit