French IT firm Atos is planning to hire 15,000 people in the next 12-18 months in India, including climate experts, as it moves towards decarbonisation by 2028, chief operating officer (COO) Nourdine Bihmane said. "India is a strategic market for Atos. "We have been present here for the last 30 years, and we have grown organically since. "People and innovation are our two key drivers to build momentum. "India represents one-third of our total workforce," Bihmane said. Atos has around 40,000 employees in India.
Billionaire Gautam Adani on Sunday won the race to acquire Swiss cement major Holcim's stake in Ambuja Cements and its subsidiary ACC for $10.5 bn (around Rs 81,361 crore), including the open offers. The Adani family, through an offshore special-purpose vehicle, announced that it had entered into definitive agreements for the acquisition of Holcim Ltd's entire stake in two of India's leading cement companies -- Ambuja Cements and ACC -- the Adani group said in a statement. The group outbid Ultratech and JSW group to enter the cement industry and also emerge as the country's second-largest cement manufacturer, with 70 million tonnes of capacity annually.
India's most valuable company Reliance Industries was once fined for producing more than its licensed capacity, its owner and richest Indian Mukesh Ambani said on Monday as he pitched for a push to manufacturing to make the country 'Aatmanirbhar' or self-reliant.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday unveiled a Rs 39.45 lakh crore Budget with a view to fire up the key engines of the economy to sustain a world-beating recovery from the pandemic. This was Sitharaman's fourth Budget. While the taxpayers were left in the lurch, once again, was she able to cheer Corporate India?
The business council aims to give impetus to trade.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to make this decade a "techade" for India and the push for 5G, semiconductors and transformation through digital services is going to boost the technology sector in the country, industry players said on Monday. Modi, in his speech on the 76th Independence Day, touched upon all-round development of technology in the country, from 5G to push for electronic chips, laying of optical fibre cable (OFC) network across villages and enablement of digital entrepreneurship in villages through Common Services Centres, making the present decade as "techade" for India. Homegrown mobile devices maker Lava International's Chairman and Managing Director Hari Om Rai said electronics and technology sectors create about $4 trillion of revenue.
Venture capitalists Adam Wolfensohn and Ameya Bijoor tell Anjuli Bhargava about the kind of investments and companies they are looking to invest in.
The government's programmes should be expected to generate some momentum, but the macro-economic numbers are not encouraging, observes T N Ninan.
The leaders said trade ties were still fragile
Stating that recent agriculture reforms have opened new opportunities, the RBI Governor said the farm sector is emerging as a bright spot.
Modi is also scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with Xi on Tuesday.
7 key areas that the Budget must address to re-energise the infrastructure sector, suggests Vinayak Chatterjee.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday underlined the need for not promoting any restrictions on the supply of energy and called for ensuring stability while once again emphasising on resolving the Ukraine conflict through diplomacy.
One looks upon the coming new year with foreboding as current wars in Ukraine and Gaza spill over and escalate and new ones erupt in incipient fault lines across the world, notes former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
In India, air pollution is most severe in the Indo-Gangetic Plain (northern India), where topography and meteorology concentrate pollution from energy, mobility, industry, agriculture, and other activities, the researchers said.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday raised the personal income tax rebate limit, doled out sops on small savings and announced one of the biggest hikes in capital spending in the past decade as she did a tight rope walk in the Budget between staying fiscally prudent and meeting public expectations in the year before general elections.
PM promised a tax regime that is predictable and competitive
The Tata group is looking to make a foray into semiconductor (also known as chips) manufacturing and it has set up a business to seize the opportunity, Chairman N Chandrasekaran said on Monday. "At the Tata group, we have already pivoted into a number of new businesses like electronics manufacturing, 5G network equipment as well as semiconductors, in all probability," he said while speaking at the annual general meeting of the IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Chandrasekaran said global supply chains, currently heavily dependent on China, would see a big change in a post-pandemic world with businesses shifting their reliance to other countries.
Swaraj emphasised that the UN must accept it needs fundamental reform.
Clark's predecessor Sajid Javid had pledged to help Tata Steel UK with a proposed package of measures and new British PM Theresa May is reportedly supportive of the plan
Weeks after confusion over three Mauritius-based funds whipsawing shares of Adani group firms, billionaire Gautam Adani on Monday said that "twisted narrative" seems to imply that companies have regulatory powers over their shareholders and can compel disclosures. Shares of port-to-energy group nosedived last month after reports that accounts of three of the six Mauritius-based funds that have invested most of their money in Adani group firms had been frozen by the national share depository. The three funds owned about $6 billion of shares across the conglomerate.
Chairing the plenary session of an event to celebrate the World Environment Day 2018, being hosted by India, he said India's traditions have for long underlined the importance of living in harmony with nature.
The pandemic has led to the International Finance Corporation massively ramping up its impact investment in the country - its largest client nation globally - at $1.7 billion as of June, a 51 per cent rise over the past 12 months, the largest developmental lender into third world private sector said on Tuesday. This is nearly half of its investment in the whole of South Asia since the pandemic, which touched $3.8 billion as of June 2021, it said. "Our total commitment to India, which is our largest client country globally, at the end of June stood at $1.7 billion representing an increase of over 51 per cent from last year," IFC vice-president for Asia and the Pacific region Alfonso Garcia Mora said in a statement.
US president Barack Obama new initiative to help millions of proud Indian-Americans directly invest in India's future.
"The prime minister raised the issue of Kim Davy's extradition and hoped that Denmark would take into account India's sensitivities and extend full cooperation. The Danish minister assured that Denmark was seized of the matter," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.
During his three-day UK visit until Tuesday, Modi is listed to address the COP26 summit with a national statement about India's climate action plan in the afternoon session on Monday, ahead of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Asserting that India has full potential to emerge as a global hub for electric vehicles by 2025, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday asked automobile manufacturers to reduce cost and forego profit initially to capture market and fuel growth. Once the market picks up there will not be any looking back, Road Transport and Highways and MSMEs Minister Gadkari said, promising all support to manufacturers in the initiative aimed at cutting India's huge import costs of crude and arresting pollution. The minister said he is scheduled to make an hour-long presentation on EVs before the Chief Justice of India post-Diwali.
Overseas education consultant NNS Chandra offers advice.
Rather than talking endlessly about lost and marginal opportunities, India's climate envoys need to start thinking bigger, says Mihir S Sharma.
'The Indian cement sector is the most energy-efficient worldwide, mainly due to modern technology used in the plants but also because of efficient monitoring of a plant's performance on a daily basis, focusing on energy savings and carbon dioxide emission reductions.'
'There are 25 million farmers in India with at least 2 to 3 cows each.' 'If all them use biogas to cook, millions of LPG units and firewood can be saved.'
It was for the second time in recent days that Modi has touched upon issues relating to diversity and pluralism, as he faces criticism over the issue of intolerance in the country.
'Science and technology keep moving ahead and so you can keep making investment.'
'Modi's role at Paris last year is a testament to his willingness to take a political risk to do what he thinks is right, not just for his country, but for the planet'
The prime minister said a stable global economic and financial system is imperative for growth as it promotes inclusive and sustainable growth.
Companies in India are expected to dole out an average increment of 7.3 per cent to employees this year amid faster-than-expected economic recovery and revival in business and consumer confidence, according to a survey. The first phase of the 2021 Workforce and Increment Trends Survey by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP (DTTILLP) also said the average increment this year will be higher than 4.4 per cent seen in 2020 but lower than 8.6 per cent given by companies in 2019. As many as 92 per cent companies that participated in the survey plan to give an increment in 2021 compared to only 60 per cent last year.
India pledged an assistance of USD 30 million (Rs 199 crore) for the initiative that brings together developed and developing countries.
The minister echoed the consistent message of the Indian delegation as well as other developing countries that the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions of all countries should include elements of adaptation, finance, technology and capacity building.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday told scientists that the government would make it easier to do scientific research in the country and asked them to keep the five principles of economy, environment, energy, empathy, equity at the centre of enquiry and engineering.
Patricia Hewitt, chair, UK India Business Council and former UK minister, spoke on a number of government initiatives and investment sentiments.