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.
The case was registered on the directions of the Allahabad High Court under section 120 B IPC (conspiracy) against the Union minister for micro, small and medium industries in Gagha Police station in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, on Tuesday night, Senior Superintendent of Police Aditya Mishra said.
Most of the pharma units are failing in documentation, and validation processes, and many don't have full-fledged quality control laboratories.
The cost of deposits is on the rise, but banks can't raise interest rate on close to 60% of their loan books, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The new scheme may be announced before the Lok Sabha elections.
'I found it unbelievable that L&T said 45,000 jobs were waiting to be filled because of unavailability of suitable skillsets.' 'So, when the Opposition sweepingly says there are no jobs, I'm sorry... I'm not saying it's raining jobs, but there are jobs. The (skill) gap has to be bridged.'
The Positive Indigenisation List includes Rs 715 crore worth of high-end materials and spares, the import of which will be permitted only until a date specified for each. After each one's import deadline elapses, it will have to be procured from the Indian industry.
With the reality of coalition politics staring the BJP in its face, this was inevitable, points out Ramesh Menon.
'On the road, you see only youth in Swiggy, Big Basket and Zomato uniforms.' 'Just now, I had a delivery from Amazon, and do you know what his qualification was? He was an engineering graduate!' 'The Ola driver who took me to the airport had an MCom degree. 'Where is the match between education and employment?'
Closure of tanneries pulls down domestic finished leather exports and local price of raw-skin.
With an eye on improving quality assurance in the wake of increased global scrutiny on Indian pharma products, the Centre on Tuesday said that Schedule M of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 will be made compulsory for small and medium scale manufacturers in a phased manner. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has asked micro-small and medium enterprises in pharma manufacturing to move towards good manufacturing practices (GMP) through self regulation. "This will help in quality assurance and also reduce compliance burden," Mandaviya.
Credit to priority sectors as well as small and medium industries will be discussed to find ways to accelerate economic growth.
'It's dull because this time the election is spread over such a long period.'
'Right to apprenticeship means that anyone below the age of 25 years with a diploma or other qualifications can demand an apprenticeship with a private, a public sector company or a government organisation. And when he/she demands this, it is the obligation of the government to provide it.'
With the Covid-19 pandemic showing signs of ebbing and economic activity picking up, factory owners in Jalandhar had hoped that the worst was over. However, the heat wave in April and extensive power cuts that came with it, have crushed their hopes. The city's large number of micro, medium and small enterprises (MSMEs) are now gearing up for yet another struggle, this time to survive with the shortage of power that is severely impacting their operations.
Politicians and Twitter warriors around the globe have a new buzzword among them: Net zero. Everyone appears to be keen to state their commitment to net zero, with India providing an outlay of Rs 35,000 crore to achieve energy transition and net-zero objectives in its Budget for FY24, even as the latest and final report by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that current efforts are not enough to curb global warming. A number of small factory owners and businesses, however, have pointed out that the transition to net-zero emissions will cost them hugely.
Many people are not maintaining social distance and do not wear masks, exposing themselves to the infection, experts say.
These include home, industrial development (mining), justice, labour, excise, environment conservation and climate change, disaster management and rehabilitation and civil aviation.
Tesco was the first global retailer to apply for multi- brand retailing in India.
US-based retail giant Walmart is looking to source toys, shoes and bicycles from Indian suppliers as the company is targeting to increase its exports from India to USD 10 billion annually by 2027. The company also wants to develop new suppliers in categories such as food, pharmaceuticals, consumables, health and wellness, and apparel and home textiles, a company spokesperson told PTI. Officials from the Bentonville-headquartered firm recently held a virtual meeting with several domestic toy manufacturers in India.
The Chinese dependence is far from over, industry players are also citing a shortage of electronic toys in the country.
Fintech companies believe that the impact of Reserve Bank of India's order last week on unsecured loans will be visible in six to 12 months and prompt them to diversify and strengthen their secured portfolio. Fintechs which source funds through banks or non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) are looking at quickly building their secured portfolio options to at least 40 per cent of their total portfolio. "Over the medium to long term, as part of our product strategy, we are evaluating secured products which can be enabled over a digital platform" said Yogi Sadana, the founder of Zype, a lending-focussed fintech.
Industry's demand for a reduction in the repo rate, currently 8 per cent, has gained momentum after wholesale and retail inflation eased in February.
'The approach today is, instead of giving loans to 100 MSMEs, let us give one loan to a big-ticket corporate.' 'And so many of these big fish deceived the banks and the banks are in the doldrums now with high NPAs.'
According to industry sources, domestic toy manufacturers are seeing a sharp rise in sales during the current financial year. On January 1, 2021, India had banned the sale of toys that are not certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). This meant that all factories churning out toys to be sold in India had to be certified by the bureau along with mandatory product testing, including for units abroad.
Addressing a press conference on measures taken during 21-days lockdown imposed from March 25 to contain the spread of Covid-19, MHA joint secretary Punya Salila Srivastva said the situation of essential goods and services is under control. To strengthen this situation, the home ministry has written to state governments that both inter-state and intra-state movement of trucks and goods carriers should be allowed during the 21-day countrywide lockdown announced by the central government irrespective of the cargo being essential or non-essential.
The Uttar Pradesh government will tap the Indian embassies in the US and European countries in its bid to double merchandise shipments to Rs 3 trillion in the next 4-5 years. The Indian embassies in the US, UK, Germany, Australia, Israel, Singapore, etc. will promote the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) products, apart from traditional handicrafts and indigenous products, under the state's flagship One District One Product (ODOP) scheme. "Indian embassies will provide the much-needed traction and visibility to our traditional products in key export destinations across the globe," UP additional chief secretary (MSME and export promotion) Navneet Sehgal told Business Standard.
the defence ministry told Parliament on Monday that foreign procurement in defence has risen to Rs 50,061 crore (Rs 500.61 billion) in 2021-2022 from Rs 37,030 crore (Rs 370.30 billion) in 2017-2018.
Partial lockdown measures may impact movement of labour & goods, they say.
'The last year's growth is a foretaste of things to come in the retail credit market.'
The Indian office real estate market, which had recovered significantly in early 2022, began to slow down in the latter half due to macroeconomic problems in the developed world. Rental yields are likely to be stable at best in FY24.
"We will raise Rs 300 crore via bonds of two-, three- and five-year tenures. This will be our maiden bond issuance and is part of our effort to widen funding sources," says Vimal Bhandari, executive vice-chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), Arka Fincap. The firm, a subsidiary of Kirloskar Oil, is only five years old and small (assets of around Rs 5,000 crore with an "AA" rating), but the response to this float will be closely watched: It would be the first by a non-banking finance company (NBFC) after Mint Road upped the risk weights on bank exposures to them by 25 percentage points. The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has caught NBFCs off guard even though the issue had been flagged by Governor Shaktikanta Das with their corner-room occupants (and that of banks) in July and August 2023 - on consumer credit and the dependency on bank borrowings.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday asked private sector companies to clear dues to small businesses within 45 days and admitted that the central departments and enterprises are also not making payments to them on time. She conceded that the Centre, states and state-owned enterprises too have outstanding dues to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The minister said that at a meeting with big businesses here two days ago, she had appealed to them to ensure that the dues of small businesses, who are the backbone of the economy, are cleared on time.
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.
At Prestige Polygon Towers in Chennai's Teynampet, hectic preparations are on for a mega global investors' meet under the aegis of Guidance Tamil Nadu (the state investment promotion agency) scheduled for January 2024. Asked about the key focus areas of the meet, the agency's managing director and chief executive officer, V Vishnu, said the state was betting big on electric mobility. This is no surprise, given that the state has signed electric vehicle (EV)-related memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with several companies in the recent past that may bring in investments worth around Rs 33,000 crore with the potential to create over 43,000 job opportunities.
The gig economy can serve up to 90 million jobs in the non-farm sectors in India with a potential to add 1.25 per cent to the GDP over the "long term", a report said on Tuesday. The gig economy, where workers get hired typically for short durations, can lead to transactions of over $250 billion over the long term, the report by the consultancy firm BCG said. The firm said gig economy is not a new concept but has seen greater adoption following the advent of technology.
Indian Bank expects recoveries to be more than slippages in this financial year, which will result in improved asset quality.
Parle Agro, which sells beverages such as Frooti in small tetra packs, has already started importing paper straws. Dabur India, which sells its fruit juices in tetra packs under the brand Real, is also considering importing paper straws.
'In times of recovery, we may see a rural-urban divide with the urban pockets affected more by COVID-19, but the MFI business model should encourage banks to handhold them in this hour of crisis,' notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
'In the short term, we may see some disruptions due to Covid, but in the medium-to-long term, we should keep an eye on US inflation and 10-year bond yields.'