This is not her first stint in North Block or in leading a major economic ministry. She started Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first term as minister of state for finance, was made the commerce minister, and then became the defence minister.
Pakistan will buy sugar and cotton from India, newly appointed Finance Minister Hammad Azhar announced on Wednesday, lifting a ban on their import from the neighbouring country imposed in the wake of heightened tension over Kashmir in 2019. The decision was taken at the meeting of the economic coordination committee (ECC), which was chaired by Finance Minister Azhar.
Maharashtra's "radical" lockdown move will have an economic impact of Rs 40,000 crore, with the trade, hotels and transport sector to bear the biggest dent, Care Ratings said on Monday. The rating agency said the loss of economic activity will have a 0.32 per cent impact on the gross value added (GVA) growth at the national level. It revised down its national GDP growth estimate to 10.7 - 10.9 per cent from the 11 - 11.2 per cent given a week ago. Maharashtra has been contributing nearly 60 per cent to the daily COVID-19 infections nationally and had over 57,000 new cases on Sunday.
The report suggests that one of the major impacts of COVID-19 on the media and entertainment industry is the instability caused and the downfall in the advertising revenues across all media segments
'The pressure to work together is even greater than before, because the Chinese have launched a full-court press on the border, in the region, and globally to advance their geopolitical agenda.'
Indian companies are expected to dole out an average increment of 9.1 per cent in 2022, higher than the pre-COVID-19 increment in 2019, as companies are focusing on retention of talent through rewards. According to the 2022 Workforce and Increments Trends Survey by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP, the average India 2022 increment is expected to go up to 9.1 per cent from eight per cent in 2021. Moreover, the 2022 projected increment is higher than the pre-COVID-19 increment in 2019 by 50 basis points (bps).
Alka Mittal has been appointed interim chairman and managing director of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) - the first woman to head the country's largest oil and gas producer. Mittal replaces Subhash Kumar, another interim head who retired after reaching superannuation age on December 31. "The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for entrustment of additional charge of the post of chairman and managing director (CMD), ONGC to Alka Mittal, director (HR), ONGC for a period of six months with effect from January 1, 2022, or till the appointment of a regular incumbent to the post, or until further order, whichever is the earliest," the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said in an order dated January 3, 2022.
'The Arunachal border is not demarcated in that way, so there can be differing perceptions (between two sides)'
Relax fiscal consolidation, boost public capex and reduce cost of finance, industry tells Centre
As the industrial era wanes, the network era looms, notes Ajit Balakrishnan.
The sharpest contraction of the American economy in a decade is expected to get worse in the second quarter. White House senior economic adviser Kevin Hassett said that they expected second-quarter negative GDP growth between minus 15 and minus 20 per cent.
With corruption rankings, the White-Anglo-Saxon-White Caucasian countries have succeeded in discovering a replacement for the old form of imperialistically deracinating the rest of the world, argues Sudarshan Madabushi.
The wholesale price-based inflation rose to an eight-month high of 1.48 per cent in October, as manufactured products turned costlier. The WPI inflation was 1.32 per cent in September and zero per cent in October last year. This is the highest level of wholesale price index-based (WPI) inflation since February when it was 2.26 per cent.
'The economy of Kashmir has collapsed.'
The economic survey for 2020-21 has suggested revision in the weightage of food items to gauge the true picture of inflation in the country, and said new sources of price data also need to be incorporated in the wake of increasing retail e-commerce transactions. As per the survey, the current spike in consumer price-based retail inflation of food prices is mainly a supply-side phenomenon. The survey noted that the weights of all items in retail inflation are based on the NSO household consumption expenditure survey of 2011-12, adding the weight of food items in the index might have significantly decreased over the decade since then.
'The Digital Rupee will be equal to the Indian rupee in value and backed by the full faith and credit of the RBI/Indian government.'
'You can choose who you would like as your showstopper.' 'You have the freedom to create your own background -- sun, moon and the stars, which may sometimes not be possible in a physical show.'
Referring to how unified Washington Allies have been in isolating President Putin, Biden stated, "...The Quad is, with the possible exception of India being somewhat shaky on some of this, but Japan has been extremely strong -- so has Australia -- in terms of dealing with Putin's aggression."
The resurgence of COVID-19 has dented but not debilitated economic activities in the first half of Q1 of the current fiscal even though caseload of infections is much higher than before, according to an RBI article. The ferocity of the second COVID-19 wave has overwhelmed India and the world, the article said, adding that war efforts have been mounted to stop the surge in its tracks. "The impact of the second wave on the real economy seems to be limited so far in comparison with the first wave. Evidently, the localised nature of lockdowns, better adaptation of people to work from home protocols, online delivery models, e-commerce and digital payments are at work," the article on the state of economy authored by RBI Deputy Governor M D Patra and other officials said.
Prez says that India has not assured the United States that it will provide 'equitable and reasonable access to its markets'.
Air India Chairman Rajiv Bansal has been appointed as the new aviation secretary as part of a major top-level bureaucratic reshuffle effected by the Centre on Wednesday. K Rajaraman, additional secretary in the department of economic affairs, has been appointed as secretary, department of telecommunications, a personnel ministry order said.
Retail inflation hit an eight-month high of 6.07 per cent in February, remaining above the RBI's comfort level for the second month in a row, while wholesale price-based inflation soared to 13.11 per cent on account of hardening of crude oil and non-food item prices, government data showed on Monday. The previous high for retail inflation was 6.26 per cent in June 2021. The consumer price index (CPI) based retail inflation, which is taken into account by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) while deciding its monetary policy, rose mainly because of costlier food items, as per the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO).
Adani group on Tuesday said it has taken over the management of Mumbai International airport from the GVK group. The group last August had announced that it would acquire GVK Group's stake in Mumbai airport. Adani group will have 74 per cent stake in Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, post the stake purchase transaction, with 50.5 per cent being bought from GVK group and 23.5 per cent from minority partners including Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), and Bidvest Group, it had said.
Since January this year, Indian exporters have begun to dread the shipping news. That's because most of it would be about another lot of shipping companies deciding to avoid Indian ports on account of delays.
With a revival in demand and consumption, FMCG companies are looking forward to 2022 with positivity and hopes of sustaining a healthy growth trend across both rural and urban markets while gearing up to cater to the ever-increasing digitally active consumers and tackle the challenge of higher commodity prices. Health and wellness and convenience are going to remain key trends and FMCG companies are strengthening their core brands, driving premiumisation across their portfolios with targeted innovations as consumers are gravitating towards trusted brands looking for quality, purity and hygiene, in continuation of the trend that started since the pandemic last year. FMCG makers are accelerating digitalisation and are investing in building capability in e-commerce and Direct-to-Consumer channels, identifying it as a key vector of their growth as the threat of a possible third wave is still not away.
The Modi government has to embrace the history of Tamil conquests in South East Asia and stop obsessing about Babar/Humayun, argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
But their trajectory and direction have been largely influenced by politics and the political leadership's understanding of how the economy needs to be managed, explains A K Bhattacharya.
The aim is to replace nearly 40 per cent of its existing last mile fleet of delivery vans with EVs by March 2020. o start with, the company is looking at deploying nearly 160 e-vans by the end of 2019.
Their startup investments number 13 so far, compared to 17 deals in 2020.
Partial lockdown measures may impact movement of labour & goods, they say.
With the Sharif family set to return to power in Pakistan amid the fast-deteriorating economic situations and political instability, it is to be seen if Shehbaz Sharif infuses fresh energy into the system, or the much-tainted family continues to resort to its old ways.
Flipkart on Monday said it has entered into a commercial partnership with the Adani group to strengthen logistics and data centre capabilities of the Walmart-owned company and create about 2,500 direct jobs.
India needs a National Trade Policy Council, chaired by a minister who reports directly to the PM, says Jayanta Roy, former economic advisor to the Union commerce ministry.
Experts say it is difficult to determine country of origin where most products are manufactured and sold, as part of a complex global value chain.
Soccer was one example of a sector in the economy that could reopen relatively quickly, and that the government is in talks with clubs and the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) about the timing.
The trade deal, officials say, can lead to an effective trading bloc against the China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
Having almost closed the last contours of the limited trade deal and with the announcement of a much larger trade deal in the offing, we have moved to a new level of engagement: Goyal.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday said the existing foreign trade policy (FTP) will be extended for six months till March 31 next year. The government had earlier extended the FTP 2015-20 until September 30 this year due to the Covid-19 crisis. The FTP provides guidelines for enhancing exports to push economic growth and create jobs.
Automobile dealers' body FADA has urged the government to formulate a task force to monitor the compensation structure being worked out by Ford India for its dealer partners across the country. In a letter to Heavy Industries Minister Mahendra Nath Pandey, FADA president Vinkesh Gulati also requested the government to instruct Ford India to keep the industry body in the loop regarding the compensation structure for the dealerships. "We humbly request your Ministry's intervention... Create a task force which takes day-to-day updates from Ford India to monitor the compensation plan for automobile dealers and dealership employees," Gulati said in the letter.
Agra has long been known for the Taj Mahal, but it is also a manufacturing hub filled with micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that make everything from electronic components to metal products, from paints and chemicals to footwear. And five years after the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the MSMEs here complain that while the indirect tax regime has been transformative, cutting out the need to file multiple taxes, its biggest drawback has been the delay in credit refunds. Whoever you speak to - MSME owners, tax lawyers, or industry bodies like the National Chambers of Industries and Commerce (NCIC), Agra Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Chamber (AFMEC) and Agra Shoe Manufacturers Association (ASMA) - they all emphasise that the GST continues to face some key challenges.
