The government's Budget announcements providing tax holiday for data centres, setting up of city economic regions (CERs) and funding to improve infrastructure in Tier-II and -III cities may give an indirect boost to India's realty sector, said industry executives.
India's computer services exports have risen 30 per cent since the advent of ChatGPT in November 2022, even as overall services exports have plateaued, World Bank's South Asia Chief Economist Franziska Ohnsorge said, terming Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the conclusion of more trade agreements that can trigger a "manufacturing renaissance", as the two big investment opportunities for India in coming years.
India posted a current account surplus of $13.5 billion or 1.3 per cent of GDP in March quarter 2024-25 as compared with $4.6 billion in the year-ago period mainly on account of surge in services exports and higher remittances, according to RBI data released on Friday.
The country's current account deficit widened marginally to $9.7 billion or 1.1 per cent of GDP in April-June 2024, as against $8.9 billion or 1 per cent in the year-ago period, Reserve Bank of India said on Monday. The crucial number representing the country's external sector strength has come on the heels of a surplus of $4.6 billion or 0.5 per cent of GDP recorded in the preceding January-March quarter. The Reserve Bank attributed the year-on-year widening in current account deficit to a rise in merchandise trade gap which was recorded at $65.1 billion in Q1 FY25 as compared to $56.7 billion in the year-ago period.
Retirement fund body EPFO recorded a net addition of 19.94 lakh members in July this year, the labour ministry said on Monday. Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said at a press conference that 10.52 lakh new or first-time workers subscribed to social security schemes run by Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). The minister said almost 20 lakh net new members addition (19.94 lakh) was recorded in July this year.
An article on 'State of the Economy' in the monthly Bulletin also said the improvement in the outlook for agriculture and the revival of rural spending have turned out to be the bright spots in the evolution of demand conditions. Consumer price inflation ticked up in June 2024 after three consecutive months of moderation as a broad flare-up in vegetable prices halted the overall disinflation that had been underway, it said.
Net foreign direct investment (FDI) in India, inflows minus outflows, declined 38.4 per cent year-on-year to $15.41 billion in the first 10 months of this financial year due to an increase in the repatriation of capital. According to the Reserve Bank of India's data in the March 2024 bulletin, FDI in India was $25.53 billion and outflows were $10.11 billion in April 2023-January 2024. In the same period last year, FDI inflows stood at $36.75 billion and outflows at $11.75 billion.
The sectors that received most of the investment during this period included manufacturing, financial services, business services, computer services, electricity, and other energy sectors.
Showing the effect of the slowdown in global economic activity, the equity foreign direct investment (FDI) into India declined sharply to $13.9 billion in April-July 2023 from $22.04 billion a year ago. The net FDI, inflows minus outflows, declined from $17.28 billion in April-July 2022 to $5.70 billion in April-July 2023 on account of moderating gross FDI and a rise in repatriation. Gross FDI into India moderated to $22.0 billion during April-July 2023 from $29.6 billion a year ago, according to Reserve Bank of India data.
The annual decline works out to be 16.3 per cent in 2022-23 compared to inflows in 2021-22. The gross FDI inflows in 2021-22 were $81.97 billion, up 10 per cent over fiscal 2019-20. The previous year-on-year contraction in FDI was in 2012-13 when the inflows declined by 26 per cent to $34.298 billion.
India's current account deficit narrowed to $1.3 billion or 0.2 per cent of GDP in the January-March quarter of FY23, mainly due to moderation in the trade deficit and a robust increase in services exports, RBI data showed on Tuesday. However, for the 2022-23 fiscal, the current account balance recorded a deficit of 2 per cent of GDP compared to 1.2 per cent in 2021-22. "India's current account deficit (CAD) decreased to $1.3 billion (0.2 per cent of GDP) in Q4:2022-23 from $16.8 billion (2.0 per cent of GDP) in Q3:2022-231, and $13.4 billion (1.6 per cent of GDP) a year ago [Q4:2021-22]," as per the RBI's 'Developments in India's Balance of Payments during the Fourth Quarter (January-March) of 2022-23'.
Auditors seem to have developed a heightened sense of risk and are not content to tick the boxes and sign the papers.
In the first such collaboration for India, the country's flagship payments platform, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), and Singapore's PayNow payment system have launched a real-time cross-border payment linkage system. The linkage, which was launched by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi and Singapore's PM Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday, was kicked off by a live cross-border transaction between Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das and Monetary Authority of Singapore managing director Ravi Menon, using mobile phones.
Setting aside the ban on PwC, which is one of the Big Four global accounting firms, SAT said only the national auditors watchdog ICAI (Institute of Chartered Accountants of India) can take any action against its members and fraud cannot be proved on the basis of negligence in auditing.
India's current account swung to a deficit for the first time in the current fiscal, with the gap coming at $1.7 billion or 0.2 per cent of the GDP in the December quarter. In the current fiscal, as the pandemic impacted trade, the current account had been in surplus in the previous two quarters, at $15.1 billion and $19 billion, respectively, as per the data on balance of payments released by the RBI on Wednesday. The critical measure of a country's external strength now stands at a surplus of 1.7 per cent of GDP for the first nine months of the fiscal year as against a deficit of 1.2 per cent in the year-ago period. In the December quarter, there was a rise in the merchandise trade deficit to $34.5 billion from $14.8 billion in the preceding quarter, and an increase in net investment income payments.
Head of investor relations T A N Murti allegedly indulged in insider trading during the sacm.
A local civil court in Hyderabad has issued an interim stay restraining Netflix from airing its web series Bad Boy Billionaires-India on a petition filed by B Ramalinga Raju who was convicted in the multi-crore accounting scandal of Satyam Computer Services Limited. The XXV Additional Chief Judge B Prathima, while issuing notices to Netflix Inc in USA, Netflix Entertainment Services India LLP and the nodal officer, department of electronics and information technology, posted the matter for further hearing on November 18 when the plea came up on Tuesday.
With his elevation as the CEO of Twitter, Parag Agrawal, in whom co-founder of the microblogging giant Jack Dorsey has "bone-deep" trust, joins the growing power club of Indian-origin executives helming US-based global multinationals. Twitter's outgoing CEO Dorsey announced on Monday that 37-year old Agrawal, an Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and Stanford University alumnus, will be the company's new chief executive as he stepped down after 16 years at the company that he co-founded and helmed. A report in The New York Times said Agrawal will receive an annual salary of $1 million, in addition to bonuses, restricted stock units and performance-based stock units.
Earlier this year, Tata Consultancy Services, the country's largest software exporter, launched iOn, a cloud computing service for SMBs.
A serial entrepreneur's vision to drive PC adoption in India promises to bring computing power to every household through the innovative use of cloud computing.
A senior finance ministry official said, on the condition of anonymity, that the top echelons of the government tried to convince the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) for a sympathetic consideration of the company's plea in the case pertaining to the income of the erstwhile Satyam Computer Services Ltd (SCSL) from abroad.
Indian SMBs spent $11.9 billion in 2010 on IT and it is expected to grow to $48.5 billion by 2015.
India's current account surplus moderated to $15.5 billion or 2.4 per cent of the GDP in the July-September quarter of the current fiscal, the RBI said on Wednesday. The same was at $19.2 billion or 3.8 per cent of the GDP in the preceding three-month period on account of a rise in the merchandise trade deficit, the RBI said in a statement on 'Developments in India's Balance of Payments during the Second Quarter (July-September) of 2020-21'. It is for the third consecutive quarter that India's current account remained in surplus. In the last quarter of 2019-20, the surplus was $0.6 billion. Current account deficit/surplus reflects the difference between the outflow and inflow of foreign exchange in a country's current account.
Things went from bad to worse since December 2008 for people who purchased bungalows, villas and apartments at Maytas Hill County, promoted by Maytas Properties Limited (MPL) -- the company run by B Rama Raju (Jr), the younger son of Satyam Computer Services founder and former chairman B Ramalinga Raju.
There is a two-minute footage about Choksi in the series which allegedly shows him in a bad light and therefore, could affect the various proceedings against him in India.
Instead of relying on technology that is not in their control, businesses should stop using SMS based OTPs and start using other software-based or hardware-based token authentication, which are in their control, says Venkata Satish Guttula.
The Andhra Legislative Assembly witnessed noisy scenes and constant exchange of words between the ruling Congress and the TDP members through the 90-minute reply by the chief minister.
GE and Malaysia Airlines have said they are continuing their existing contracts with Satyam. In the newly constituted board's first meeting, Deepak Parekh had said two of Satyam's global clients have vouched for the firm but declined to give further details. Meanwhile, over half a dozen of Satyam Computer's rivals have started exploring ways to take over the business from its various clients, a global technology consultancy firm has said.
ANZ Bank has about 100 Satyam contractors who support IT projects. They are mainly based at the bank's Indian subsidiary, which employs about 2,000 people, it said. Last week, the bank told employees that it would develop a contingency plan although its relationship with Satyam was 'modest'.
Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, has removed scandal-hit Satyam Computer from its 'Dow Jones India Titans 30 Index' and replaced it by Axis Bank.
The hearing of the forgery case filed by British mobile solution firm Upaid against Satyam Computer Services is not scheduled for hearing during this week.
According to sources, engineering major L&T had also put in its bid to acquire control of the Hyderabad-based company, while Cognizant has not put in a bid.
Competitive bids to select the new owner for Satyam Computer Services, once India's fourth largest software company, will soon be announced.
Even the big and eager will find it quite a mouthful.
Public-sector insurer Life Insurance Corp (LIC), which holds 4.34 per cent in the troubled IT firm, Satyam Computer Services, on Thursday said it is assessing the situation and will take a decision on its holding accordingly.
According to a department notification, Tech Mahindra has approached the Board of Approvals under the Department of Commerce for transferring rights of three SEZs (one in Tamil Nadu and two in Andhra Pradesh) and the proposal will come up for a discussion before the BoA on August 30.
Satyam Computer Services on Friday announced a consolidated net profit of Rs 580.85 crore (Rs 5.81 billion) for the second quarter ended September 30, a growth of 42 per cent over the corresponding period a year ago.
The big thing was inflating the revenue of the company through fake invoices.