India has a comparative edge over key competitors in a majority of products it exports to the US and stands to gain market share as the US raises tariffs on its major trade partners, NITI Aayog said on Monday. In its quarterly trade report, it recommended that the government fast-track the India-US free trade agreement with time-bound goals to resolve non-tariff barriers and finalise digital trade rules on data flows and e-signatures to support services exports.
A recent World Bank report placing India among the most equal countries globally may present a limited view of inequality, with economists suggesting that broader data sets could tell a different story. According to the report, India's Gini index (or coefficient/ratio), a key measure of inequality, stood at 25.5 in 2022-23, placing the country fourth globally in terms of equality, behind only the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, and Belarus.
The recent notification by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) allowing part-resolution of stressed assets of companies under the insolvency process has sent many resolution professionals (RPs) and committees of creditors (CoCs) back to the drawing board to reassess their strategies for resolving corporate insolvencies.
In a double-dose bid to boost growth and employment prospects, the Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved a Rs 2.07 trillion outlay for a research development and innovation (RDI) Scheme to fund private sector innovations, and an employment-linked incentive (ELI) to create over 35 million new jobs over the next two years.
India's macroeconomic health is in a "relative goldilocks situation", and although the risk of higher landed oil prices, due to insurance cost surges and closure of choke points due to the brief Israel-Iran war, has receded, it is "too soon to sound the 'all clear' for the rest of the year", the Finance Ministry said on Friday.
Five companies have submitted resolution plans for Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL), the flagship company of the beleaguered Jaypee group, the company has said in a stock exchange filing. The Adani group, Vedanta, Jindal Steel & Power, Dalmia Bharat, and PSP Projects are the final bidders and the offers range from Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 11,000 crore, said a source close to the development.
'My job is to provide people with a bouquet of options they can choose from.'
As part of a plan to refinance debt and expand its upcoming constellation of satellites, French satellite major Eutelsat Communications will raise euro 1.35 billion, or $1.55 billion, through a reserved capital increase and a rights issue, the company announced on Friday. Bharti Enterprises' space venture, Bharti Space Ltd, will invest euro 31.4 million, or $36 million, in the capital raise.
NB-IoT provides cellular-based connectivity with wide coverage and low power consumption, making it ideal for large-scale smart metering deployments.
The company had announced similar pricing for Sri Lanka, where its application was in advanced stages of regulatory clearance.
As much as 60 per cent of all resolution plans under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) were approved in the last three years alone, with over 30,000 cases having an underlying default of Rs 13.8 trillion getting settled even before admission, according to data till December 2024 released by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI).
'We believe that in the new world order FTAs or bilateral trade agreements (BTAs) are the way forward.' 'They are enablers for our participation in global value chains. Today, around 70 per cent of global trade is tied to these chains.'
A decline in the initiation of the corporate insolvency process last year is spurring most Big Four firms to rethink and rejig their insolvency verticals to focus on business beyond Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), industry experts said. Between the June and December quarter of FY25, the number of insolvency applications initiated by financial creditors went down from 150 to 84.
Bharti Airtel vice-chairman & managing director Gopal Vittal on Wednesday said while a call on exercising the option of converting pending spectrum dues into government equity would be taken by its board, the company had reached out to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to confirm whether it could do so. "On the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) conversion, it was simple.
The prospect of protracted uncertainties in the global economic landscape not only pose a risk for India's growth outlook in 2025-26, but are also likely to dent the private sector's capital raising and investment plans, the finance ministry averred on Tuesday, cautioning the country's corporates that the era of 'easy pickings' was over.
The government is considering initiating a probe by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) against Gensol Engineering and its promoters, according to sources familiar with the matter. "It is under consideration at this stage. A final decision will be taken soon," a government official said.
India's major imports from the US include crude oil and petroleum products, gold and jewellery, plastics, aircraft, and electrical machinery and components. The key exports to the US comprise pharmaceuticals and biologicals, telecom equipment, precious and semi-precious stones, petroleum products, gold and precious metal jewellery, and ready-made garments.
India's trade deficit with China neared $100 billion in FY25, amid escalating concerns of dumping, data released by the commerce department on Wednesday showed. Chinese imports rose by 11.5 per cent to $113.45 billion, while outbound shipments to the neighbouring country saw 14.5 per cent contraction to $14.2 billion.
With a major network rollout on the cards, the government is not keen to change the pattern of tower monetisation for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), officials at the state-owned telecom-service provider said. The monetisation target in the telecom sector had to be revised owing to a change in BSNL's approach to mobile-phone tower monetisation, which had shifted from a sale-based model to a lease-based one.
Starlink's application for offering satcom services in India had been held up for the company's inability to comply with mandatory ownership disclosure norms.