Page 22 - India Economy

Robust digital infrastructure helped govt save over $27 billion: DEA Secy

Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth on Friday said digital public infrastructure (DPI) has led to savings of over USD 27 billion in government schemes, and achieve greater financial inclusion in a short period. The use of direct benefit transfer (DBT) in the last one decade has ensured money reached to targeted beneficiaries and bogus accounts are weeded out. This has helped in huge savings of taxpayers' money. Sharing India's success story on the financial inclusion front, Seth said India has achieved 80 per cent account opening penetration from 20 per cent within a span of 7-8 years with DPI, which would have taken 47 years in the normal course as per a study by the Bank of International Settlements. "We developed a solution approach for delivering best-in-class services to the last mile and even in the most remote parts of the country. Our achievements are well known in numbers. Since the launch of the digital identity number, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana PMJDY in 2014, over 5

Inclusion of Indian bonds in JP Morgan index to widen investor base: CEA

The inclusion of G-Secs will be staggered over a 10-month period from June 28, 2024 to March 31, 2025, indicating one per cent increment on its index weight

Apparel retailers likely to register 7-8% revenue growth FY24: CRISIL

Organised sector brick and mortar apparel retailers are expected to register a 7-8 per cent revenue growth this fiscal, buoyed by festival and marriage season demand, and despite inflation impacting discretionary spending in the first quarter, according to a report. Continued store expansion, including into tier-II and III cities, will also help revenue growth this fiscal and over the medium term, Crisil Ratings said in a report on Wednesday. Despite moderation in topline growth, revenue growth will be comparable to the 8 per cent range seen before the pandemic, the report said. Last fiscal, retailers had seen a strong 38 per cent growth on a low base, driven by swift recovery from the pandemic-induced slump and higher realisations following a steep jump in raw material prices. Operating margins are seen at 8 per cent this fiscal as improving product mix in favour of the premium segment and lower input costs will offset the impact of higher marketing spends, the report said. The p

Govt plans over $2 billion in incentives for new manufacturing sectors

A fraction of the PLI incentives has been claimed so far, prompting the government to allocate unused funds to new sectors

Fiscal pressures building up; risks for the markets are rising: Jefferies

As a stock strategy, they have shifted consumer staples to underweight, and moved weight (bought into) to Bharti Airtel in their model portfolio

Speed up digitisation to ensure better services in rural areas: FM to RRBs

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday expressed concern over the slow progress of computerisation in Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and urged them to speed up the process to strengthen credit delivery in rural areas. There is still a lot of work to do in digitising RRBs and cooperative banks, she said after launching the 'Kisan Rin Portal' and Weather Information Network Data Systems (WINDS) manual here. Cooperative banks are not equally endowed, and their financial health varies, she said, adding ramping up capacity in the sector is taking place under the Ministry of Cooperation headed by Home Minister Amit Shah. The cooperative bank digitisation would happen with the necessary speed, she said. However, she said, "I am more concerned about RRBs, their digitisation and computerisation. Therefore, if they didn't have it, extending phone bank facility...or internet banking facility...won't work out". A lot of work is still pending, and the Department of Financial Services is .

India trade talks 'continue as before' amid Canada allegations: Britain

The UK government said on Tuesday that the "serious allegations" over the murder of a Sikh separatist leader in Canada will not impact its own ongoing trade negotiations with India. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesperson at 10 Downing Street was asked about the impact the issue may have on India-UK relations after a government spokesperson said the UK remains in "close touch" with the Canadian authorities. It follows Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's statement in Parliament on Monday that it is pursuing "credible allegations" of "potential" Indian links to the killing of Khalistani separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Chief of Khalistan Tiger Force and a designated terrorist. Canada also expelled an Indian diplomat. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi on Tuesday strongly rejected the claims as "absurd and motivated" and dismissed a senior Canadian diplomat in a reciprocal move. "We are in close touch with our Canadian partners about these serious ..

Govt may soon tweak PLI schemes for pharma, textiles to boost investment

The government may soon tweak the production-linked incentive scheme for pharmaceuticals, drones and textiles sectors to encourage investment and boost manufacturing, an official said. These sectors have been identified after inter-ministerial consultations on the performance of the scheme for various products. The official also said that disbursement of production-linked incentives (PLI) for white goods (AC and LED lights) would start this month and that would push the amount of disbursement, which was only Rs 2,900 crore till March 2023. The scheme was announced in 2021 for 14 sectors such as telecommunications, white goods, textiles, manufacturing of medical devices, automobiles, speciality steel, food products, high-efficiency solar PV modules, advanced chemistry cell battery, drones and pharma with an outlay of Rs 1.97 lakh crore. "We have identified the sectors. We are going to send the combined note to seek approval of the Union Cabinet. The changes include extending some ti

Trade talks between India, Canada have taken hit amid rise in tensions

On Tuesday, New Delhi dismissed the allegations as "absurd", and asked Canada instead to crack down on anti-India elements operating in its territory

Subsidy of Rs 150 cr distributed under PM's Employment Generation Programme

In the presence of KVIC Chairman Manoj Kumar, these fundamental agreements were signed with Prasar Bharati, NBCC (India) Limited, and Digital India Corporation, said an official statement

Rising ownership costs to hurt commercial vehicle volume growth: Fitch

The ratings agency said increasing regulatory requirements, elevated inflation and high interest rates have pushed up the ownership costs, thereby weighing on purchase decisions

Net direct tax collection rises 23.5% to Rs 8.65 trn in April-Sept

The tax collection includes corporate tax of 4.16 trillion rupees and personal income tax of 4.47 trillion rupees, said the statement from Ministry of Finance

Stabilising core inflation shows easing price pressures in economy: RBI

Vegetable prices eased in August and brought down retail inflation to 6.8%. This is likely to continue in September, the Reserve Bank of India said in its monthly bulletin

RBI bought net $3.47 billion in spot foreign exchange market in July

The RBI said it purchased $5.32 billion and sold $1.84 billion in July. In June, the central bank had bought a net of $4.50 billion in the spot market

India has lower deceased organ donation rate than peers, shows data

Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Karnataka top deceased organ donor transplantations

Facing economic slowdown, PM not worried about unemployment: Youth Congress

The country is facing an economic slowdown but the prime minister is "not worried about employment for the youth", the Indian Youth Congress alleged on Sunday. Srinivas BV, the organisation's national president who led a protest at the Indian Youth Congress' office in central Delhi, said, "We mark this day -- September 17 -- as 'national unemployment day.' Scores of youngsters are unemployed across the country and yet the Centre and the prime minister refuse to acknowledge the problem." September 17 is the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who turned 73 this year. Srinivas further alleged that crores of people applied for central government jobs in the past nine years and "yet, a large number of youngsters are unemployed". "Every sixth graduate of the country is unemployed, 22 crore people applied for central government jobs in nine years. We appeal to Prime Minister Modi to pay some attention to the unemployed youngsters of the country and take some concrete steps for thei

PM Vishwakarma Yojana to benefit 3 million families: Ashwini Vaishnav

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated the very important 'PM Vishwakarma' scheme...Around 30 lakh families in the country will be benefitted from this scheme," Vaishnav said in Bhubaneshwar

China's economic slowdown continues, real estate at persistent risk

The US-based news daily reported that the construction sites around China appear visibly less busy and construction of apartment towers has faltered because of falling apartment prices

Weekend Bites: FM's wish, 15 yrs since Lehman fell, Taper Tantrum, Apple

In which we munch over the week's platter of news and views

India's forex reserves decline to 11-week low of $593.90 billion: RBI

The changes in foreign currency assets, expressed in dollar terms, include the effects of appreciation or depreciation of other currencies held in the RBI's reserves