Home-grown companies, including electronics manufacturing services (EMS) firm Dixon Technologies and mobile device maker Lava International, have started exploratory talks with Chinese sub-assemblies and component players for setting up joint ventures (JVs) in the country. Sources in the industry say many domestic companies have also had preliminary discussions with original design manufacturers (ODMs) in China to look at a JV model for manufacturing smartphones. Key ODM players in mobile devices in China include Longcheer, Huaqin, and Wingtech, which has already set up a plant in Tirupati.
'Similar to the case of the digital payment system where the government created a public platform and others joined in, we are exploring a similar structure to create a PPP platform where the compute required for AI could be accessed by the small player.'
Reliance Industries Ltd, India's most valuable company, is back on a growth path after six months of challenges as it posted better than expected earnings in the December quarter, brokerages said.
Exporters on Thursday sought a fund of Rs 750 crore for three years to tap USD 25 billion export potential in the US, aiming to seize potential opportunities that may arise as the US President-elect, Donald Trump, has threatened to impose high tariffs on Chinese goods. In its pre-Budget meeting with the finance ministry, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President Ashwani Kumar has also demanded extension of the five per cent Interest Equalisation Scheme (IES).
Whether it's Carrefour, Ford, or other foreign majors, they are ready to adjust their strategies and design their plans in a way that would address the Indian consumption story.
Tata Motors reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 17,483 crore (adjusted for exceptional gains and losses) for Q4FY24, surpassing TCS' consolidated net earnings of Rs 12,434 crore. For the automotive major, this marked a 213.7 per cent year-on-year increase in the bottom line, from Rs 5,573.8 crore a year ago. In contrast, India's biggest IT firm saw a more modest Y-o-Y growth of 9.1 per cent in net profit, from Rs 11,392 crore.
... catch up with Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto...
The government's target of hitting $52 billion to $58 billion in mobile phone exports in FY26 has been faltering; an Indian corporate group with financial muscle will help.
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.
To boost domestic manufacturing under the Make in India initiative and reduce dependency on imports, the government is expected to announce in the Budget an increase in the minimum local content requirement for public procurement, with certain sectors being granted exceptions. Currently, firms producing goods, services, or works with at least 50 per cent local content are classified as Class-I local suppliers and are preferred the most in government procurement.
India's overall imports from Taiwan during April-February rose by 34 per cent to $7.5 billion.
The government is planning to tweak its procurement policy to give a fillip to domestic manufacturing. The industry department has floated a proposal to raise the minimum local content requirement for public procurement for Class-I and -II suppliers from 50 per cent currently to 70 per cent, and 20 per cent as of now to 50 per cent, respectively.
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has proposed to raise the minimum local content under public procurement order in government contracts. But several local suppliers and multinational companies (MNCs) are saying such a steep target is not attainable. Class-I suppliers, whose goods, services or works offered for procurement has local content equal to or more than 50 per cent may see it hiked to 70 per cent, while it may go up to 50 per cent from 20 per cent for Class-II suppliers.
Adani group will invest more than $100 billion (around Rs 8,340 crore) in energy transition projects and manufacturing capability to produce every major component required for green energy generation, its chairman said on Wednesday. Besides building solar parks to produce electricity from sunlight and wind farms that do the same from wind, the conglomerate is building major facilities to manufacture electrolyzers for making green hydrogen, wind power turbines and solar panels.
Today, Vachani's public-listed company, Dixon Technologies, has gone beyond manufacturing just television sets. Armed with private equity funding from Motilal Oswal eight years ago, it has transformed itself into a Rs 4,400 crore electronic manufacturing services major, which now straddles lighting products, home appliances, feature phones, LED bulbs, amongst others. A two-part series looks at how two home-grown manufacturers are leveraging the govt's production-linked incentive scheme.
Tata Group is in discussions with some major international companies, including those from Taiwan, for its foray into the semiconductor chip business. The Union government had earlier tried to bring in Taiwanese manufacturers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) for chip manufacturing in India. A person close to the development said the Tatas have now opened a separate channel for a possible tie-up. Currently, India mostly imports chips, which are fabricated and assembled to put into various applications, including automobiles, renewable power, mobile phones, televisions, and other electronic items.
Indian kiranas are agile enough to face the q-com challenge, but it's going to be a tough fight, notes Ambi Parameswaran.
Govt announces slew of schemes for rural India
Printer manufacturer TVS Electronics has sold off its contract manufacturing services business at Tumkur for Rs 41.12 crore (Rs 411.02 million) to Incap Contract Manufacturing Services, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Finland based Incap Corporation.
India's second-largest passenger vehicles firm will be valued at Rs 1.59 trillion at the top-end of the price band of Rs 1,865-Rs 1,960.
'Domestic investors are opening up to the idea of high-growth Internet companies as a pool of value creation.' 'They like the execution that they see with Zepto, and for us, that is the most important factor.'
'India needs many more job creators, both in manufacturing and services, to make it big.' 'For that, the red carpet must be rolled out fully and for all investors without holding back,' suggests Nivedita Mookerji.
Seven companies, including lifestyle retail brand FabIndia and specialty chemical company Aether Industries, have received capital markets regulator Sebi's go-ahead to raise funds through initial share sales. Syrma SGS Technology, Asianet Satellite Communications, Sanathan Textiles, Capillary Technologies India and Harsha Engineers International too received the watchdog's nod to float Initial Public Offerings (IPOs). These companies, which filed their preliminary IPO papers with Sebi during December 2021 and February 2022, obtained observations during April 27-30, an update with the regulator showed on Monday.
How dominant are Chinese firms in India's sub-Rs 10,000 mobile device market? The question has become relevant as the government has been thinking of reserving this price segment for domestic players who have not been able to battle the Chinese onslaught. However, telecom firms and others are concerned that such a move could stymie the effort to build affordable 5G phones in the sub-Rs 10,000 category.
Signalling both change and continuity, India's new government, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a third consecutive term, got into work gear on Tuesday with cabinet ministers and ministers of state filing into their respective offices to assume charge.
Isha's stab at the bottom of the laptop pyramid shows she is a true Ambani.
India will have 1 billion smartphone users by 2026 with rural areas driving the sale of internet-enabled phones, a Deloitte study said on Tuesday. India had 1.2 billion mobile subscribers in 2021, of which about 750 million are smartphone users. It is poised to be the second-largest smartphone manufacturer in the next five years. "The smartphone market is expected to reach 1 billion smartphone users by 2026," according to Deloitte's 2022 Global TMT (Technology, Media and Entertainment, Telecom) predictions.
If India wants to become a globally competitive manufacturing hub, it will have to rethink the notion that the traditional SMEs will form the manufacturing backbone, argues Prosenjit Datta.
'When the bombing happened in the Taj Mahal hotel in 2008, that was a very sad moment, but he really took care of the people, took care of everybody and that was when you saw some of his best moments.' 'There are some things which we will never forget. That is when the best of a person comes out.'
With the prediction of an above normal monsoon in 2024, the government is expecting food prices to come down, the finance ministry's monthly economic report for March has said. The report, released on Thursday, said robust foreign inflows and comfortable trade deficits were expected to keep the rupee within a comfortable range. "Further easing of food prices is on the anvil as IMD (India Meteorological Department) has predicted above-normal rainfall during the monsoon season, which is likely to lead to higher production, assuming good spatial and temporal distribution of the rainfall," the monthly report, released by the Department of Economic Affairs, said.
Stories are legion about the Karatmeter's use at that time. Hundreds of people standing in queue for testing, customers breaking down after discovering the actual purity of their jewellery and then becoming irate about the jeweller who had gypped them, the local jewellery industry leaning heavily on the Tanishq franchisees to desist from using it, some jewellers even threatening violent action.
In FY22-23, Samsung exported $4.09 billion smartphones from India -- an increase of 42 per cent over 2021, when it was $2.8 billion -- accounting for 35 per cent of all smartphone exports.
India is today one of the top locations for semiconductor design and embedded software, but it remains hidden under a generic and misleading name, IT/ITES services.
'In the new coalition government, India's reform agenda may prioritise job creation and factor market reforms.'
Severe skilled, unskilled shortage threatens to pull emergency brakes on India's industrial engine.
Catamaran, the family office of Infosys founder Narayana Murthy, is targeting 15 per cent returns on its portfolio investments per annum as it shifts focus from early-stage investments to growth and late-stage bets. This would double the firm's assets under management (AUM) from the current $1 billion to $2 billion over the next five years. "For direct investments, we are focusing on growth-stage investments and very selectively on early stage," Deepak Padaki, president, Catamaran, told Business Standard. "(This is) primarily because the early-stage space in India, in the last three-four years, has completely changed. "There has been a huge influx of capital in the last two years. It has become a very crowded space for early-stage investment," he said.
The three-day India Mobile Congress (IMC) will showcase the widening convergence of telecom with new domains, such as semiconductors and deep tech, P Ramakrishna, the forum's chief executive officer, said on Tuesday. With more than 250 global and domestic exhibitors, the seventh edition is expected to draw more than 100,000 visitors this year, he said. There will also be over 5,000 CXO-level delegates and more than 350 speakers.
Here are the key highlights of the BJP's 'Sankalp Patra' for the 2024 parliamentary polls.
A computer with NPU can handle a wide range of tasks directly on personal devices without relying on a Cloud service.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday released its manifesto for the October 5 Haryana assembly polls, promising a monthly assistance of Rs 2,100 for women, two lakh government jobs for the youth and guaranteed government job for Agniveers hailing from the state.