UK-based Standard Life, the joint venture partner in HDFC Standard Life Insurance and HDFC Asset Management Company, is entering the Indian private equity space. Gerry Grimstone, chairman of the British insurance major, speaks to Business Standard's Shilpy Sinha on the impact of the economic slowdown and the company's investment plans.
India's GDP growth has slowed down to 6.9 per cent in second quarter of 2011-12 from 8.4 per cent in corresponding period of previous year.
As the policy rate has seen a steady increase since May 2022, the percentage of loans offered at interest rates below 8 per cent have declined sharply, dropping from 53 per cent in March 2022 to 18 per cent by June 2023, according to a report by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The share of bank loans with interest rates of 10 per cent or higher rose from 22 per cent to 34 per cent during this period, reflecting the impact of a 250 basis point (bps) hike in the policy repo rate by the RBI's Monetary Policy Committee. In response to the rise in repo rate, 32 domestic banks have made corresponding upward revisions to their repo-linked external benchmark-based lending rates (EBLRs), aligning them with the magnitude of the rate hike.
Indian along with Indonesia showed strong growth despite a global economic slowdown in the final quarter of 2011, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The terminal and airside development of as many as nine of the 16 non-metro airports, supposed to be completed by next month, has been delayed till next year. This included construction and expansion of terminal buildings, runways and taxiways, among other things.
The slowdown in the Indian automotive market has resulted in its first major casualty, with the country's second largest car-maker Hyundai Motor shelving a plan to set up a diesel engine manufacturing plant at an investment of Rs 400 crore (Rs 4 billion).
There are indications or signs of the economy picking up -- collection of GST and consumption of electricity, said former RBI governor, C Rangarajan.
'Due to rural stress, volumes continue to remain an issue for the industry, and we are yet to see any revival in demand.'
The sale lot of 61 pieces of art, which was spread across a variety of categories such as modern and contemporary South Asian art, prints, and photographs, realised an estimated sale price of Rs 23.8 crore. Pre-auction estimates had expected the sale to range between Rs 37 crore and Rs 52 crore. Around 11 pieces of art remained unsold on Day One, reports Pavan Lall.
It's time for the famous B-school fests. But the zing is somewhat missing this time.
Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran on Thursday said the economy is expected to grow at 6.5 per cent in the current fiscal notwithstanding deficient rains in August. India recorded economic growth of 7.8 per cent in the April-June quarter of 2023-24 against 13.1 per cent in the year-ago period. India's economy in Q1 grew at the fastest pace in a year, on the shoulders of a boost in capital expenditure both at central and state levels, along with stronger consumption demand, especially in rural areas, and improved performance in the services sector, he said.
A 25 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) increase in budget allocation towards the roads sector for FY24 has led to renewed interest among investors. However, a combination of escalating costs for Bharatmala and unseasonal rains to some extent have impacted progress. Bharatmala's cost has nearly doubled from Rs 5.35 trillion to Rs 10.6 trillion and the finance ministry has asked MoRTH to go slow until Cabinet approval is received.
With the economic slowdown affecting exports and impacting capital flows, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said India wants a concerted and well-coordinated global response to address systemic failures and to stimulate the real economy.
The industrial production index, which contracted by 0.4 per cent in October for the first time in 15 years, will continue to show a slowing trend till the end of 2009 with some chance of recovery later, feel economists.
Indian economy is expected to grow between 7 and 7.4 per cent in the three months up to September 2008, as against 9.3 per cent in the year-ago quarter, five top economists of the country told Business Standard. The government is slated to release the quarterly numbers on Friday.
The economic slowdown may have raised the spectre of job losses in most industries, but telecom is a notable exception. Far from cutting back, telecom companies expect to hire over 16,000 people, 15 to 20 per cent more than last year, to meet the unprecedented expansion in subscriber numbers, according to the Cellular Operators Association of India, the association for GSM service providers.
Automobile retail sales in India rose to a record high in November, aided by the best ever monthly performance across passenger vehicle and two-wheeler segments, dealers' body FADA said on Wednesday. The overall retail sales stood at 28,54,242 units last month, 18 per cent higher over 24,09,535 units in November 2022. Passenger vehicle (PV) retail sales rose to 3,60,431 units as compared to 3,07,550 units in the year-ago period, registering a growth of 17 per cent.
'Interim Budget has ignited the entrepreneurial spirit.'
The recent data dims hope of recovery in manufacturing.
As the global economic slowdown takes hold, India's gold demand has recorded an all-time high quarterly growth of 66 per cent in the third quarter of the current calendar year as investors continued to find the yellow metal a safe haven.
Cisco Systems Executive V-P and Chief Globalisation Officer Wim Elfrink said this after inaugurating a global delivery centre set up jointly by Cisco and Pune-based Zensar Technologies. Elaborating Cisco's future expansion plans in India, he added, "More than 20 per cent of Cisco's overall employee strength is based in India. The broadband penetration and networking infrastructure are very poor in this country.
120 new malls came up in last two years, but 30-40 of their older peers downed shutters
The weak April-June quarter (first quarter, or Q1) results of the largest listed specialty chemical maker, SRF, and multiple global headwinds for the sector are expected to weigh on the prospects of Indian specialty chemical companies in 2023-24 (FY24). Stocks in the sector (down 7-18 per cent) have underperformed the benchmarks (up over 10 per cent) in the past three months, and given the multiple challenges, the trend is likely to continue. Kotak Institutional Equities expects a very weak quarter (Q1FY24) for the sector due to destocking, demand weakness across certain critical end-use industries, and price erosion amid intense competition from Chinese suppliers.
In its latest report for second quarter 2008, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj said that though Indian office markets have continued to post growth over the past few years, the last few quarters have seen a polarisation in the office markets in terms of growth in demand across the country. It has categorised the office markets across six major cities -- Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata -- in three broad segments.
The turbulence witnessed by the stock market this year has adversely affected brokers but Motilal Oswal, Chairman and Managing Director, Motilal Oswal Financial Services says he is unruffled. "Revenues have been hit if you compare them on a quarterly basis. The earnings were exceptionally high during the last two quarters of 2007, as the benchmark indices rose more than 30 per cent during the period. Given the swift rise in share prices, this slowdown was expected."
Existing optimism about the capital goods sector has been enhanced by the Assembly election results, which were favourable for the BJP. The prospects of political continuity led to renewed interest in the sector. There are demand-supply gaps, especially in power, and visibility of improved pricing and strong order flows, including from private enterprises.
After topping it for two consecutive years, Gujarat slipped three places on the NITI Aayog's Export Preparedness Index (EPI) for 2022, as Tamil Nadu emerged as the most export-ready state, the central think tank said in its report released on Monday. In a continuing trend, coastal states were found to have the most robust export infrastructure, which officials attributed to the integration of maritime trade into the core of their economies. Maharashtra and Karnataka retained their positions -- second and third, respectively; Haryana was ranked first among landlocked states and fifth overall.
Two-wheeler exports from India have decreased by 20 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to 1.69 million units in the first half (H1) of 2023-24 (FY24) due to a challenging geopolitical situation and foreign exchange (forex) crises in key markets such as South Asia, industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) said on Monday. On the other hand, passenger vehicle (PV) exports in H1FY24 increased by 5 per cent to 336,754 units because the key markets are much more diversified worldwide, Vinod Aggarwal, president, Siam, told reporters during a press conference. The Russia-Ukraine war, which started in February 2022, has brought significant instability to global fuel prices.
China has cast a long shadow on India's economy.
The Reserve Bank may go for a final 25 basis points increase in the current rate hike cycle next week and a reduction would come in only by the end of third quarter of FY24, economists at Axis Bank said on Wednesday. As per media reports, RBI officials met economists on Tuesday, and the latter have suggested the central bank to go for a 25 basis points hike in key rates. Since May 2022, the RBI has hiked rates by 250 basis points, hurting borrowers and some are already concerned about loan tenors extending beyond their working lives as a result of the hikes.
According to Crisil Research, the average room rates in cities like Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore are likely to fall 5-10 per cent in the next few months. Industry experts said the occupancy rates could fall from 75-80 per cent now to 65-70 per cent soon.
Travels to Gulf accounted for 40% of India's international air traffic in 2016.
Infosys has reportedly decided to defer salary hikes for all its employees below the senior management level that are otherwise rolled out from April every year. According to a Moneycontrol report, multiple employees have confirmed that they have not received their pay hike due for the June quarter.
Despite a slowdown, HUL introduced products such as Tresemme and Magnum into the Indian market
All the global transitions are working in India's favour, giving it the potential to become a force in today's uncertain world, but one of the country's biggest challenges is inclusive growth, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran said on Monday. In his address at the JRD Tata Oration, the head of the Tata group also asserted that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here to stay and it will be beneficial if India prepares for it. Post the cold war era of relative stability and prosperity, the world appears to have given way to unpredictable conflicts and economic uncertainty, he said, adding that the pandemic resulted in supply chain shocks of gigantic proportion.
The self-employed should invest in the National Pension System, a government-backed, low-cost retirement avenue where they can choose the mix of debt and equity that is right for them.
While some carmakers are lowering their sales targets, Maruti Suzuki DZire, M&M XUV500 and Renault Duster are selling strong.
The economic growth could slow down to 7.8 per cent in 2008 from over 9 per cent currently due to policy bottlenecks resulting in deceleration in investment growth in the country, says a World Bank report.
Manufacturing activities in India fell to a five-month low in September as new orders rose at a softer pace, which tempered production growth, a monthly survey said on Tuesday. The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 57.5 in September, down from 58.6 in August -- the lowest in five months. The September PMI data pointed to an improvement in overall operating conditions for the 27th straight month.
Brushing aside fears of a slowdown in the IT industry, the government on Thursday said the Indian IT-ITes/BPO (including hardware) sector's revenue is expected to grow at over 33 per cent in 2007-08.
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