The slowdown in corporate revenue growth over the last one year has begun to reflect in India Inc's capital expenditure, or capex. The country's top listed companies are going slow on fresh investment in capacity expansion, in line with a deceleration in their top line growth. The combined fixed assets of the listed companies, excluding banking, finance services and insurance (BFSI) and the government-owned oil & gas firms, were up 10.1 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) during April-September 2023 (H1FY24) - the slowest in 18 months - as against 21.1 per cent Y-o-Y growth in H2FY23 (October 2022-March 2023) and 11.6 per cent growth in the April-September 2022 period (H1FY23).
The drama over the third-generation, or 3G, telecom services policy took a new twist today with a Delhi High Court Bench headed by the Chief Justice A P Shah directing the Department of Telecommunications to file an affidavit explaining why it cannot auction all the available blocks of spectrum in the upcoming auction of 3G spectrum.
Total foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow to India declined to $74.01 billion in the calendar year 2021, which is 15 per cent lower from $87.55 billion recorded in the previous year, the ministry of commerce & industry said on Wednesday. The FDI inflow includes equity inflow, equity capital of unincorporated bodies, re-invested earnings and other capital. "FDI is largely a matter of commercial business decisions and FDI inflow depends on a host of factors such as availability of natural resource, market size, infrastructure, political and general investment climate as well as macro-economic stability and investment decision of foreign investors.
The most important lesson is that you have to build your political proposition, and sell it yourself. You can't leave it to the courts, media, NGOs and civil society and expect them to play the role of the Opposition. That's precisely what Mr Modi's challengers have been doing and we know the results, notes Shekhar Gupta.
Disillusioned with the 'politics' in South African cricket administration, Brian McMillan decided to stay away from the game.
According to some analysts, Reliance has vaulted ahead of others in the queue and now stands a "rock-solid" chance of getting spectrum earlier than expected.
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A letter issued on Monday was jointly addressed to the US commerce secretary and trade representatives.
Centre mulls strategy to ensure powers given to the agencies are not misused.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting runs various awareness programmes for the citizens leveraging the Internet and the social media.
The fragmentation of politics and the pressures of coalition management have contributed to a near-secular rise in budgetary social expenditures and spending on subsidies since 1991, leaving little fiscal space for government-led capital investment.
India and the US on Friday said they have started talks to put in place a strategic framework for human space flight by year-end as they plan to send an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station in 2024.
Raja said he had, in fact, brought a 'revolution' in the telecom sector.
This State-corporate 'cooperation' didn't begin with the arrival of the Modi government.
Many of the big licences, contracts, and even environmental clearances for the Adani group had come in the UPA's time, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Given the security dilemma prevailing between India and China, India should curb the operation of Chinese telecom companies in India, asserts Dr Rup Narayan Das.
Foreign Trade Policy: More incentives for exports, focus on ease of trading
The decline was led by index heavyweight Reliance Industries along with ITC and HDFC.
The major driver of Mod's foreign policy can be gauged from his economic priorities such as creating employment opportunities for the youth bulge. Related to this is emphasis on manufacturing, and infrastructure development, which in turn raises the issue of FDI. He has already articulated his views on all these issues, says Rup Narayan Das.
'If you are going to have only a handful of telecom players on whom the entire dream of Digital India rests, it's important they are financially sustainable.'
It is domestic policy distortions and inaction to correct them that lie behind the large CADs.
The Supreme Court on Friday declined the request of Vodafone and Bharti Airtel to extend their licences along with spectrum for 10 more years.
The Indian economy recovered from the Covid-induced downturn during 2022 and is poised for further improvement in the coming quarters though downside risks emanating from geopolitical tensions, strengthening dollar and elevated inflation will continue. The positive trajectory in the growth trend and improved fundamentals will help the nation in neutralising the impact of global headwinds which are expected to have a bearing on the country's exports in the months to come. The challenges before the government and the Reserve Bank in the new year would be to arrest inflation, check declining value of rupee against US dollar and promote private investment and growth, with a view to ensure that the country remains one the fastest growing major economies of the world.
S&P Global Ratings on Thursday said about half of the Indian companies that it rates are getting a boost in their core profitability from rupee depreciation. "Much of our rated India corporate portfolio has sizable US-dollar linked revenue and, therefore, is not exposed to rupee depreciation. "This encompasses entities in the IT, metals, and chemicals sectors. About half of the firms we rate are getting an EBITDA boost from currency weakening," the US-based rating agency said in a report.
Sliding for the fourth straight day, the BSE Sensex shed 152 points in choppy trade on Wednesday amid mixed global cues ahead of the US Federal Reserve's policy decision.
The prime minister had openly said the retail sector should be open to competition, domestic and foreign.
The Indian markets have seen a good run in the last three months with the S&P BSE Sensex rising around 7 per cent and the Nifty50 moving up 7.5 per cent. The next leg of the market rally from here on, analysts suggest, will be driven by a growth in corporate earnings over the next few quarters. That said, they do not expect material / sharp downgrades to India Inc's earnings estimates despite headwinds for the economy.
India is investing in developing indigenous capabilities in 5G and 6G telecom technologies besides focusing on manufacturing semi-conductors, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday. In a virtual address at the Sydney Dialogue, the prime minister said the "greatest product" of technology today is data and that India has created a robust framework of data protection, privacy and security. "And, at the same time, we use data as a source of empowerment of people. India has unmatched experience in doing this in a democratic framework with strong guarantees of individual rights," he said.
Under these rules, telecom gear makers have to share their source codes and get their equipment tested by third-party labs accredited to the government.
A rare bonhomie among three private telecom companies in raising tariffs coming on the back of a bailout package by the government may have helped the telecom sector avert a crisis but the challenges haven't ceased to exist as the industry faces a cash-guzzling task of rolling out 5G networks in the coming months. The sector that provides direct and indirect employment to millions is projected to see Rs 1.3 lakh crore to Rs 2.3 lakh crore of investments in the coming years in creating robust infrastructure and building telecom and network products that have been incentivised by the government through PLI and other initiatives. After years of cut-throat competition and the apex court ruling on payment of past statutory dues left some players in the lurch, billionaire Sunil Mittal's Bharti Airtel and struggling Vodafone Idea almost in tandem raised tariffs, taking the plunge they had long been talking about.
The income tax department has found alleged manipulation of account books for reducing taxable income in India by Chinese telecom company Huawei whom it raided recently, sources said on Thursday. The searches were conducted on February 15 at the main business and residential premises of "key office bearers" of a multi-national group, engaged in distribution of telecom products and providing captive software development services, the CBDT said in a statement. Sources identified the company as Huawei.
A joint forum of central trade unions has given a call for a nationwide strike on March 28 and 29, to protest against government policies affecting workers, farmers, and people. The Joint Platform of central trade unions held a meeting in Delhi on March 22, 2022, to take stock of the preparations in various states and sectors for the proposed two-day all India strike on 28-29 March 2022 against "the anti-worker, anti-farmer, anti-people and anti-national policies" of the central government, a statement said. The statement said that roadways, transport workers and electricity workers have decided to join the strike in spite of the impending threat of ESMA (Haryana and Chandigarh, respectively). Financial sectors, including banking and insurance, are joining the strike, it stated.
Total foreign direct investment into India rose 2 per cent to the "highest ever" $83.57 billion in 2021-22 on account of various measures like policy reforms and ease of doing business taken by the government, the commerce and industry ministry said on Friday. Total FDI comprises equity inflows, reinvested earnings and other capital. In 2020-21, the inflow stood at $81.97 billion. It was $74.39 billion in 2019-20 and $62 billion in 2018-19. "India has recorded the highest ever annual FDI inflow of $83.57 billion in 2021-22," the ministry noted in a statement.
Equity indices staged a pullback on Tuesday after three days of declines as investors scooped up IT, metal and consumption stocks amid a largely positive trend overseas. A recovery in the rupee added to the momentum, traders said. Overcoming a wobbly start, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 274.12 points or 0.45 per cent to settle at 61,418.96.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has proposed to simplify the country's telecom landscape. It has suggested one tariff for each licence holder across the country, all-India mobile number portability and doing away with roaming charges.
Investors have become poorer by over Rs 10.36 lakh crore in the last four trading sessions as the domestic equity benchmarks extended their losses amid weak global trends. The Sensex and Nifty closed in the red for the fourth straight session on Friday amid continued selling by foreign institutional investors. The BSE Sensex ended 427.44 points or 0.72 per cent lower at 59,037.18.
Raises cap of market share for merged entity to 50%, spectrum trading allowed, with riders.
Since infrastructure projects have long gestation periods, investors need to enter them with a long horizon of at least 10 years.
Will help in reviving the economy and push investment.
Sharma proposes to pass on the 'handover note' to his successor, which as per the poll projections is likely to be from Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance.
The American influential IT and telecom industry sought intervention of the Obama Administration against what they alleged are "discriminatory" Indian policies, which they claimed has resulted in several hundred millions of dollars of losses in the last quarter.
Talking to PTI Amarjeet Kaur, General Secretary of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), said, "The two-day nationwide strike by the joint forum of central trade unions has begun this morning". About the impact of the agitation, she said that the entire coal belt (mining area) is affected in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. She also said that there is a good response in industrial areas of Assam, Haryana, Delhi, West Bengal, Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Bihar, Punjab, Rajasthan, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. The AITUC official noted that the banks and insurance sectors are affected all over India, while steel and oil sectors are also seeing partial impact due to the strike. Kaur said that she has got preliminary reports that markets are closed in Odisha.
