Page 24 - India Economy

Economy on growth path; auto, pharma, tourism sectors to add new jobs: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the Indian economy was on the path of rapid growth which had led to creation of big opportunities for employment of the youth. Addressing a Rozgar Mela where he distributed over 51,000 appointment letters to the youth, he said automobile, pharma, tourism and food processing sectors were expected to grow at a rapid pace and open up employment opportunities for the youth. Modi addressed the Rozgar Mela virtually as the new appointees in central paramilitary forces, Narcotics Control Bureau and the Delhi Police joined in from 45 locations across the country. The prime minister said India had emerged as the fastest growing economy and would soon be among the top three economies in the world during this decade and bring benefits to the common man. "For any economy to grow, it is imperative that every sector develops. From the food sector to pharmaceuticals, from space to start-ups, when every sector grows the economy will move ahead," he said

India, UK to continue free trade agreement negotiations till Aug-end

Indian and UK officials will continue their negotiations till the month-end to iron out differences on the proposed free trade agreement (FTA), the commerce ministry said on Sunday. This meeting will be followed by a review at the higher level, it said. Following the G20 Trade and Investment Ministers Meeting (TIMM) at Jaipur, the progress of the negotiations was reviewed by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and UK's Secretary of State for Trade Kemi Badenoch on August 26. "Teams are going to continue negotiations till the end of August 2023 which will be followed by stock taking at the higher level, it said. While expressing satisfaction over the last 12 rounds of negotiations wherein several chapters have been finalized, both exuded confidence that the next round of talks to be similarly successful. "Both Chief Negotiators apprised the ministers about the current state of play, issues outstanding for resolution and their continuous joint efforts to iron out the same,"

Creating industrial hubs, implementing single GST crucial for MSMEs: Rahul

Creating industrial hubs and implementing a single GST rate are imperative measures to shield MSMEs which collectively possess the power to drive India's growth engine, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Sunday as he shared a video of his recent visit to a chocolate-making factory in Ooty. Gandhi had visited "one of Ooty's most celebrated brands" Moddys Chocolates earlier this month while on his way to his parliamentary constituency Wayanad after his Lok Sabha membership was restored. Nestled amidst the picturesque Nilgiris lies a globally renowned Indian industry -- the chocolate-makers of Ooty, a statement issued by the Congress said. "On my way to Wayanad, recently, I had the delightful experience of visiting one of Ooty's most celebrated brands: Moddys Chocolates. The entrepreneurial spirit of the couple behind this small business, Muralidhar Rao and Swati, is inspiring," Gandhi was quoted as saying in the statement. Equally remarkable is the all-women team which works ...

India a lab for global good, has reservoir of talent: Pradhan at B20 meet

India is a laboratory for global good and carries a reservoir of talent, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Saturday. Addressing the B20 Summit India on the theme "Aligning Education to Emerging Imperatives", Pradhan said education is the mothership that will drive all growth. "India is a laboratory for global good which comes from our civilisational values of Vasudhaiv Kutumbukam India's aspirations are for achieving global good and wellbeing. Education is the mothership that will drive all growth and, as a knowledge civilisation, India carries a reservoir of talent," Pradhan said. Speaking about initiatives in the education sector, Pradhan said the National Education Policy, 2020, which is rooted both in Indian values and is futuristic, is preparing students for the 21st century. He spoke about the various initiatives such as integration of education and skill, learning in the mother tongue and efforts to achieve 100 per cent enrolment in the knowledge ecosystem

GCC keen to 'quickly' start talks for free trade agreement: Goyal

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has expressed the desire to "quickly" get back on the negotiating table to discuss a potential trade agreement, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday. Last year, both the regions agreed to pursue an FTA and resume the negotiations. GCC is a union of six countries in the Gulf region -- Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain. The council is the largest trading bloc of India. "We have large investments coming from GCC countries. We already have a FTA with UAEThe GCC countries led by Saudi Arabia have expressed the desire to quickly get back on the negotiating table to discuss potential agreements with the GCC countries. Many GCC member nations have also approached India individually with the request to enter into a bilateral agreement," he told reporters here. The minister is here for the G20 trade and investment ministerial meeting. Among the economic regions, GCC is the top source of imports. Imports from GC

Monsoon rains will trigger growth of Rs 8,000 cr sector: NR Group MD

The NR Group, owner of the world's largest incense stick brand Cycle, on Thursday said monsoon rains will trigger the growth of the Rs 8,000-crore sector, though there are some concerns about normal rainfall as of now. "The sector's actual demand is driven in the second and third quarters of the year due to the festive season. With good monsoon, festivals are celebrated in a bigger way and so the demand for incense sticks and puja materials increases. Currently, there is some uncertainty about a normal monsoon, which is a bit worrying for us," Cycle Pure Agarbathi managing director Arjun Ranga told PTI. He was in the city to launch four new products unveiled by brand ambassador and former Indian cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly. Ranga said post-Covid, unorganised players have thrived, which is another headwind, albeit temporary, as they will eventually fade away. With the implementation of GST, most of the industry is becoming more organised as unorganised players are being wiped

Brics calls for nations to work together on post pandemic economic recovery

BRICS leaders on Thursday urged the international community to support countries working towards post pandemic economic recovery and address the high debt levels in some nations. At the end of the BRICS Summit in South African capital, the grouping released the Johannesburg II Declaration that stressed on G20 -- a larger grouping of world's biggest economies -- playing the role of the premier multilateral forum to seek solutions to global challenges. The leaders stressed on the importance of encouraging the use of local currencies in international trade and financial transactions, and sought strengthening of correspondent banking networks between the BRICS countries and enabling settlements in the local currencies. They tasked finance ministers and central bank governors to consider the issue of local currencies, payment instruments and platforms. "We recognise the important role of BRICS countries working together to deal with risks and challenges to the world economy in achievin

India to clock highest growth among top 5 global economies: Finance secy

Finance secretary T V Somanathan on Thursday said India will continue to clock the highest growth rate among the top five economies in the world in the foreseeable future and asked Indian diaspora to act as a catalyst and supplement government efforts in making India the biggest opportunity. India is currently the fifth largest economy in the world. The top four are US, China, Japan and Germany. An S&P Global report had earlier this month projected India's economy to double to USD 6.7 trillion by 2031, from USD 3.4 trillion currently. "India is already the world's fifth largest economy and it is the largest country by population. India's rate of growth by any measurement is much faster than the top four. Today we can safely say that all four are likely to have lower growth rates than India in the foreseeable future. "... in terms of the size of opportunity, India is arguably the biggest development opportunity of the future because we are large and we are growing faster than the ..

Economy likely to expand by around RBI's projection of 8% in Q1, FY24

Various analysts that Business Standard spoke to put GDP growth in the range of 7 to 8.5 per cent for Q1 of FY24

India moves up to 11th position in global direct selling ranking: WFDSA

India has moved up to 11th position in the ranking of top markets of direct sellers, with retail sales of USD 3.23 billion (around Rs 26,852 crore) in 2022, global industry body WFDSA said in a report. Indian direct selling has registered a growth of 5.4 per cent over 2021 retail sales, said the World Federation of Direct Selling Association (WFDSA) report. On a constant dollar basis, the Indian market attained the highest Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of over 13.3 per cent during the last three years, it added. The global direct selling industry reported a decline of 1.5 per cent in 2022 to USD 172.89 billion. The top market in the list was the US with USD 40.52, with a decline of 5 per cent over 2021, it said. It was followed by Korea, Germany, China, Japan and Malaysia. Indian Direct Selling Association (IDSA) Chairman Rajat Banerji said: "India's direct selling market is growing steadily and has the potential to place itself in the top five global markets over the next

US treasury 10-year real yield exceeds 2% for first time since 2009

Benchmark rose as much as 6 basis points to 2%, before easing little under that threshold, extending rise from 1.5% since mid-July. 30-year real yield up 6.6 basis points to 2.14%, new peak since 2011

RBI nudges local banks to settle UAE trades in rupee, dirham: Report

India's trade deficit with the UAE was $21.62 billion in 2022/23, or 8.2% of its total deficit, government data shows. In July, the two countries agreed to facilitate trade in rupees instead of dollar

People favour stable govt because it boosts economy: MoS Khuba at G20 event

Union Minister of State for Chemicals & Fertilizers Bhagwanth Khuba on Saturday said the Indian economy is growing because of the stable government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Khuba was addressing the valedictory session of 'India MedTech Expo 2023' here as part of the G20 Health Ministers' Conference, which is set to conclude during the day. "The Indian economy currently stands at USD 3.3 trillion and it will achieve the target of USD 5 trillion in the next four years. When India will be celebrating 100 years of Independence, the size of the Indian economy is expected to remain between USD 32 to 42 tillion. In that, the contribution of the health sector will be significant," said the minister. "Apart from having a young workforce, India currently has a stable government and people want to see a similar stable government in the future. Investors always favour a stable government. People of India have now understood that the economy will grow if we have .

Using all platforms to flag non-tariff barriers impacting trade: Official

India is using all multilateral and bilateral platforms including G20 to flag concerns with regard to non-tariff barriers (NTBs) which are impacting the free flow of trade, a top government official said on Friday. India has already raised its concerns on issues like the European Union's (EU) carbon tax on different platforms, including the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Such measures by G20 member countries are likely to figure in the trade ministers' meeting of the grouping next week in Jaipur. "Definitely, we are discussing those NTBs and we are also discussing how to find a good solution, how to find a platform where we can coordinate on these issues and we can understand these issues," Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal told reporters here. The two-day Trade and Investment Ministerial Meeting (TIMM) is scheduled on August 24 and 25 in Jaipur. The secretary also said that on the sidelines of TIMM, several high-level bilateral meetings will be held with countries such as the UK

Moody's affirms India's sovereign ratings, retains stable economic outlook

India's long-term local and foreign-currency issuer ratings and the local-currency senior unsecured rating remains at Baa3, while the other short-term local-currency rating stands at P-3, it said

RBI bought net $4.50 billion in spot foreign exchange market in June

The RBI purchased $7.79 billion and sold $3.28 billion, the bulletin showed. In May, the central bank had bought a net of $7.37 billion in the spot market

Economy gathering momentum in Q2, inflation remains concern, says RBI

Indian economy is gathering momentum in the second quarter, though inflation would continue to average above the central bank's comfort zone of 6 per cent, said an article in the RBI's monthly bulletin released on Thursday. The consumer price index (CPI) based retail inflation shot up significantly to 7.44 per cent in July, from 4.87 per cent in the preceding month, mainly due to soaring prices of tomato, vegetables and other food items. In his address to the nation on the Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to take more steps to contain price rise. The uptick in inflation in its June reading mutated in July, with the unprecedented shock to tomato prices spilling over to prices of other vegetables, said the article on 'State of the Economy'. "While core inflation witnessed a moderation, headline inflation is expected to average well above 6 per cent in the second quarter," it said. The article has been authored by a team lead by Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Michae

Rural growth outpaces urban demand, trend to continue 6 months: Pidilite MD

Rural growth, which was lagging after the pandemic, has outpaced urban demand and this trend is likely to continue over the next six months led by a good monsoon, Pidilite Industries Managing Director Bharat Puri said. Moreover, as the inflationary pressure cools down after two years of volatility, Puri said now he sees 'stability' in input prices, which is providing him with a lot more elbow room to invest back into the marketplace. Puri says he is "increasingly optimistic" as he looks forward as there is clearly increased construction activity, leading to good demand. The company, which recently entered into the Paints market and has a presence in 2-3 states, would expand further to other markets based on consumer responses. It is an organic business for Pidilite, which will grow steadily, he added. When asked about the current quarter (July-September), Puri said there has been disruption at some places due to rains. "Q2 up to now has been a very unnatural quarter simply because

Govt to come up with 60 QCOs to curb imports of sub-standard goods

The government will come up with 60 quality control orders (QCOs) this year for products such as consumer goods, rubber, paper and light engineering items with an aim to contain imports of sub-standard goods and boost domestic manufacturing, a senior government official said on Friday. Secretary in Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Rajesh Kumar Singh said they are issuing these orders "fairly extensively" and so far 33 QCOs for over 127 products such as ACs, refrigerators, pipes, and safety valves have been issued. "Right now, we are processing 60 new QCOs in association with BIS. These are crucial not only for the safety of consumers but also to improve quality standards," he told reporters here. Speaking at the media briefing, Joint Secretary in DPIIT Sanjiv said these orders are issued for goods like smart meters, nuts, bolts and fasteners. Violation of the law can attract a penalty of up to two years of imprisonment or with fine of at least Rs 2 la

Govt expects PLI payouts to rise Rs 13,000 cr this year: DPIIT official

Under the $24 billion scheme, the federal government pays local manufacturers when targets such as sales are met, aiming to boost investment in manufacturing. Targets differ from sector to sector