Operating margins have been the primary driver of corporate earnings in India in recent quarters, despite revenue growth suffering from weak consumer demand. Companies across sectors have reported a sharp improvement in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) margins over the past two years, benefiting from lower commodity and energy prices. Higher margins more than compensated for slower revenue growth, resulting in double-digit growth in net profit for five consecutive quarters.
The Centre is unlikely to offer new direct tax incentives for units operating in special economic zones (SEZs) and may instead allow the grandfathering of previous exemptions that such units were entitled to, according to proposed amendments to the SEZ Act, 2005, people aware of the matter said. The amendments, proposed by the commerce department, will soon be considered by the Cabinet for approval. This represents a departure from the department's earlier plan to introduce these changes through the Development Enterprises and Services Hubs (DESH) Bill, 2023, which faced strong criticism from the ministry of finance.
The sector employs around 1 million skilled and unskilled workers directly and indirectly and decline in exports is a major worry for participants in the value chain.
In a move to deepen manufacturing in electronics in India, the Centre is targeting 35-40 per cent value-addition through the yet-to-be launched production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for electronics components, sources in the government
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Depreciating rupee a silver lining for some businesses amid the economic downturn.
A piece of slightly negative news can cause a serious setback, warns Debashis Basu.
After recording positive growth in September, India's exports declined 5.4 per cent to $24.82 billion in October on account of dip in shipments of petroleum products, gems and jewellery, leather, and engineering goods. Trade deficit in October narrowed to $8.78 billion as against $11.76 billion, as imports also fell 11.56 per cent to $33.6 billion during the month under review.
What stood out in his 15-year journey as a member of the political executive at the Centre was his glowing record as India's most successful and effective finance minister. Both as prime minister and finance minister, he understood the importance of gradualism, except when the economy or the polity was in a crisis.
It seems that the West is sending a signal to India that it can return to old hostilities unless India toes their line on Russia. It is no surprise that India is being compared with Putin's Russia in terms of targeting 'dissidents' as the West calls these Khalistani terrorists, asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
While the corporate sector has benefited from massive capital expenditure, leading to sky-rocketing stock prices, investors would do well to keep an eye on the macroeconomic picture and government finances, not just corporate profits, for signs of trouble, alerts Debashis Basu.
The generation of quality jobs and skill development should be the focal point, cutting across ministries and departments, asserts Nivedita Mookerji.
Mobile phones and TV sets manufactured in India would become cheaper with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing cuts in Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on import of their components but smokers would have to pay more as the government has increased taxes.
Those who consider the rupee as a proxy for virility have started thumping their chests and dreaming of dethroning the dollar from its coveted position, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
'Rather than taking a very short-term view on the markets, equity investing should be premised on longer term growth opportunities.'
Promoters of 517 companies have pledged nearly 46.35 per cent of their shares, the highest since the 2008 global financial crisis.
Reserve Bank and the finance ministry on Wednesday asked top management of banks and representative of trade bodies to push exports and import transactions in rupee. It was stressed during a meeting that banks should connect with their foreign counterparts for opening special rupee vastro accounts to facilitate cross-border trade in Indian currency rather than popular mode dollar, sources said. Trade associations and their foreign trading partners should explore opportunities to make use of the framework, sources added.
'India's manufacturing will take 10-15 years to catch up with China.'
The Reserve Bank on Monday asked banks to put in place additional arrangements for export and import transactions in Indian rupees in view of increasing interest of the global trading community in the domestic currency. Before putting in place this mechanism, banks will require prior approval from the Foreign Exchange Department of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the central bank said in a circular. "In order to promote growth of global trade with emphasis on exports from India and to support the increasing interest of global trading community in INR, it has been decided to put in place an additional arrangement for invoicing, payment, and settlement of exports / imports in INR," it said.
The industry alleges the government has been apathetic, despite their pleas for quick action. However, H2 may be different as The US-China trade war had opened a window for Indian exporters to ship more to America.
In eight major MSME-centric product groups, imports from China grew the fastest.
The large drop was for export orders that were meant to be delivered until October.
Although the special relationship might compel Bhutan to be considerate of Indian interests, new challenges will likely arise. An emerging new phase of relations will also call for fresh redlines between India and Bhutan, observe Harsh V Pant and Aditya Gowdara Shivamurthy.
Blocked working capital worth Rs 1,500 crore, in the almost-defunct job work diamond polishing units, is expected to be released even as diamantaires will issue fresh orders to such units following the GST relief.
The comprehensive foreign trade policy provides for setting up free trade warehousing zones and gives major thrust to service exports.
The earliest ones included whistles shaped like birds, toy monkeys that could slide down a string and small carts made from materials found in nature such as sticks, clay and rocks. While there might be no disputing India's rich toy-making tradition, the industry is languishing for lack of investment and technology, and also owing to competition from cheap imports. And though it has been listed among 24 key sectors under the government's Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan, the question remains: will this push help place it in the global game? Currently, 80-odd per cent of the toys sold in India are imported - nearly 60 per cent of them from China.
If Modi wants to leave a real legacy, breaking India's strategic triangulation would be the real gift, notes Shekhar Gupta.
Unlike Israeli company NSO, whose sale of Pegasus cyber tech grabbed worldwide attention, and other manufacturers of offensive-cyber products, Cellebrite operates in a grey area between security exports and civilian ones.
Invest in quality companies that make profits, advises stock market expert and rediffGURU Samraat Jadhav.
While the government has not made the report public, sources said the panel had recommended a sharp cut in all taxes on the gold business, including import duty and goods and services tax which amounts to over 13%.
The report by the High Level Advisory Group said India stands to benefit even more when the US and China are locked in a global trade war.
Stocks to watch: Container Corp, Snowman Logistics & Transport Corp
Particularly hit has been the apparel sector, where the time taken by the industry to adjust to the Goods and Services Tax regime, downward revision of export incentives, and a credit squeeze faced by small and medium scale enterprises, has pushed production downwards.
There was a massive 24% decline in India's gems and jewelry exports to $2,321 million for September 2018 as against $3,053.38 million in the same period last year.
Russia's war on Ukraine has sent steel prices soaring to its highest levels in the domestic market since November 2021. But there is little cheer in the industry. That's because input costs are spiralling out of control, leaving the big boys nearly as high and dry as the small, medium and secondary steel producers. Russia and Ukraine are major providers of steel and raw materials to the world.
Motherson Sumi, Tata Steel, Jaguar Land Rover will face higher cost.
The possibility of the slowdown affecting more players is greater if the industry doesn't get access to easier finance in the next six to eight months.
'The deaths of the children in the Gambia would batter India's reputation as the developing world's pharmacy.'
Customs and excise duty rates have been amended mainly to promote Make in India.
The challenges before the coming Budget are more daunting than those in 2021, reveals A K Bhattacharya.
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