On the itinerary: Luxury camping, tribal homestays, heritage cities.
India and China have mostly set aside their bilateral differences in order to champion the cause of developing countries at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). That seems to be changing. During the latest round of China's trade policy review, India questioned its northern neighbour's claim that it was a developing country, since, going by the World Bank's definition, its per capita income belongs to that of an upper middle income country. "As per the per capita income level, the Chinese economy belongs to 'upper-middle income'. "How can China still claim to be a developing country? "What are the indicators which China is using to claim such a status?" India asked.
After navigating the turbulent pandemic waves, the recovering Indian economy is now sailing through unchartered waters of rising coronavirus cases, spiralling commodity prices and spiking inflation though the lighthouse of sustainable growth remains visible. As 2022 begins, a raft of developments, ranging from Budgetary announcements to continuation of stimulus measures to monetary policy, will set the tone for the domestic economy, which is projected to grow more than 9 per cent in the current fiscal ending March 2022. The country's continuing massive vaccination drive and 'precaution' doses starting for select categories of people this month will provide a firewall against any steep spike in coronavirus cases amid the emergence of the Omicron variant.
Major automakers, including Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Kia, Toyota and Honda, on Thursday reported healthy growth in passenger vehicles sales in June, recovering from the disruptions induced by the second wave of COVID-19. The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) posted total sales of 1,47,368 units in June, up from 46,555 units in May. Its domestic dispatches to dealers last month stood at 130,348 units, up from 35,293 units in May, as easing of COVID-related restrictions helped the auto major to dispatch more units to dealerships.
Auto sales in April have started showing the impact of lockdowns that has put the brakes on the recovery of the sector, a report said on Tuesday. With more states announcing lockdowns and some more OEMs expecting to go for maintenance shutdowns, as many as 50 per cent of the dealers are likely to be impacted by the move, it added. However, the full-year prospects remain positive if the COVID wave recedes in the April quarter and the vaccination drive goes as planned, brokerage firm Centrum said in the report.
Three stockmarket experts give their best picks for the New Year.
With the increased death rate in the ongoing second wave of Covid-19, domestic cement companies are in no better condition than they were in the April-June quarter of FY21 when the country faced nationwide lockdown. "This wave has had high death rate which has impacted the business. "We are in no better situation than last (year) April. "Deaths of drivers, dealers, contractors and also employees have hit the industry really very hard since April (FY22)," M Ravinder Reddy, director of Bharathi Cements said.
'It is going to be as high as 50% in the coming one or two months and can be about 20% to 25% in the medium term.'
'There will be positive growth, but if you ask me whether we are going to have the original growth rate of 8%, the answer will be, no.'
While demand for hair care products is increasing in both rural and urban markets, urban consumers have proven to be more extravagant, reports T E Narasimhan.
A dipstick survey covering 30 villages in Rajasthan threw up some worrisome numbers. About 250 children missed their regular vaccination schedule in March alone. These numbers are alarming, since India has around 600,000 villages according to the 2011 census. Sohini Das reports.
Predictions of below normal monsoon rains have poured cold water on the bullish growth plans of fast-moving consumer goods companies, which have continued to show robust growth of 17-18 per cent in the face of rising input costs and the economic downturn.
Markets have gone into a tailspin, the Modi govt must revive investment sentiment.
'Love Sonia is a motion picture with the ambitions of a novel.' 'When I walked out of Love Sonia this Monday night, I walked out with a hushed audience that seemed too overcome by the raw power of the film to even pause for applause,' notes Sreehari Nair.
Attractively low prices, rising demand and a favourable ratio to gold point to better days ahead for the white metal.
Pranjul Bhandari, Chief India Economist, HSBC, speaks about a range of issues ranging from inflation, to how Goods and Services Tax and land acquisition bills can help India hit double digit growth, and her impressions about economic growth in the last one year after Narendra Modi took over as India's Prime Minister.
The previous best selling year was 2010 when Maruti managed to sell around 10.6 lakh (1.06 million) units.
The plan could mature into either an umbrella programme for urban youths similar to the Garib Kalyan Rozgaar Abhiyaan or a modified urban-focused version of MGNREGS.
The IMD attributed the projection to a weakening of El Nio and the Indian Ocean Dipole turning positive.
'I'll give it to the vaccine manufacturers without guarantees, take the payment in advance and give me the supplies.' 'The moment you give me one lot of supply, I'll give you more.'
Only vaccinations can eliminate the threat of new waves, help raise sentiments and allow sellers and buyers to participate aggressively in the much awaited economic recovery, observes Mahesh Vyas.
'We expect the bull run to continue until economic growth continues.'
Adani group on Tuesday said it has taken over the management of Mumbai International airport from the GVK group. The group last August had announced that it would acquire GVK Group's stake in Mumbai airport. Adani group will have 74 per cent stake in Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, post the stake purchase transaction, with 50.5 per cent being bought from GVK group and 23.5 per cent from minority partners including Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), and Bidvest Group, it had said.
On paper, only 8,000 villages remain to be electrified in the country, but the situation on the ground shows euphoria over numbers is misplaced
As spending on infrastructure has three times the desired impact, the government's Rs 111 trillion National Infrastructure Pipeline should be accelerated: Assocham president, Vineet Aggarwal
'Everyone wants to take a vaccine. The last time a camp was held, there were 1,000 people for 500 doses. People are waiting and returning disappointed. At times, it is creating problems. The demand is much more than the supply.' Ishita Ayan Dutt reports on how the West Bengal countryside is reacting to the vaccination drive.
As markets enter the new financial year and the long-term capital gains tax on the sale of stock investments kicks in, Abhinav Khanna, head of equities, Citi India, tells Puneet Wadhwa that he remains optimistic on the medium-to-long term growth of India, led by consumption recovery and the green shoots visible in the capex cycle.
Aggressive rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve could result in a flight of capital from emerging markets like India, says B Gopkumar, chief executive officer, Reliance Securities.
'The toughest challenge is not to satisfy the luxury customer.' 'The toughest challenge is to satisfy the budget customer.'
The bank has decided to embark on a 'Technology Transformation agenda' to provide its customers smoother, faster, and better banking experience.
Macro and micro environment are becoming more challenging.
As India emerges from the COVID-19 crisis, the ninth budget under the Modi government, including an interim one, is widely expected to focus on boosting spending on job creation and rural development, generous allocations for development schemes, putting more money in the hands of the average taxpayer and easing rules to attract foreign investments.
'Currently, scooters contribute to one third of the total domestic two-wheeler market and it continues to grow.' 'That is why many new models are being launched in this category.'
'We have 25,000 private hospitals participating in this exercise and if each of these hospitals does 200 vaccinations per day, that makes it 50 lakhs.'
A June 11 survey by cLocalCircles across 299 districts puts overall vaccine hesitancy levels at 18 per cent, with 11 per cent of the respondents saying they were not convinced if the currently available vaccines would protect them against the new strains; and 5 per cent said they do not plan to take the vaccine at all.
The BJP still does not have a majority in Upper House of Parliament, the Rajya Sabha, and this will pose hurdles to the party's legislative reform agenda
We should brace ourselves for more bad news in the coming quarters -- on economic output and growth, strains on the fiscal deficit, export slowdown, small and micro enterprises in distress, and further accumulation of NPAs in the banking sector, says Rahul Khullar.
A noted South Indian film actress was harassed for two hours allegedly by a gang of five men, who forced their way into her car before fleeing at a busy area in Kochi.
The measures government takes next to push economic growth will be the key for automotive sector
