Companies feel higher rates in India would not be justified.
After attending a meeting in Mumbai with RBI's top brass headed by Governor D Subbarao, Harsha Pati Singhania, president, FICCI, said the real rate of interest remained in double digits despite inflation having declined sharply. "Given the present interest rate structure and the inflation rate, real rate of interest is still in double-digits. With the near-zero rate of inflation, the real and nominal rates of interest are almost at the same level," said another industrialist.
India Inc on Wednesday said the Reserve Bank's move to cut interest rate by 0.50 per cent is "pro-growth" and exhorted banks to transmit the lower interest rate to borrowers to revive demand and kick-start the investment cycle.
Industry leaders have urged the government to carry forward the reforms process.
Corporates have promised to invest in building toilets and improve facilities in rural areas.
They say that a stimulus package may not be necessary because, unlike last year's total lockdown, public transport, including the railways and airlines, is running and the restrictions on movement are localised and, in some cases, are partial rather than total.
In an open letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and to Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, the industry body has outlined its view on the climate change negotiations based on Indian industry's feedback and called for the prime minister to urge the developed world to provide technology transfer and funds to help mitigate the crisis.
Trump's sweeping tariffs and penalties on China-built ships have turned global shipping into the front line of economic war, observes Shyam G Menon.
As India's top Cabinet Ministers and industry leaders landed in Washington for crucial talks with their US counterparts in Washington, Corporate America on Wednesday urged the Obama Administration to embrace India as a knowledge partner.
Urging India Inc to participate in the growth story, Sitharaman said they should participate in the divestment programme by becoming the first bidders.
Implementation of GST is expected to increase the gross domestic product of the country.
Results of four state elections are giving a strong message that government and political parties need to ensure good governance and provide corruption free rule, industry leaders said on Sunday.
USIBC wants Obama to raise America Inc's concerns with Manmohan Singh.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has triggered a nationwide debate by urging India Inc to cap salaries for top executives.
The US Chamber of Commerce has written the President complaining of India's discrimination against a wide range of US exports.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the government will consider the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for Chemicals and Petrochemicals sector to make India a manufacturing hub for such products. In view of stringent pollution control regulations and rising labour cost, she said, global manufacturers in the chemical industry are looking at diversifying their products and production capability and India stands out as an alternative destination for manufacturing. Besides, India offers a large domestic market, she said while addressing the third edition of the summit on 'Global Chemicals and Petrochemicals Manufacturing Hubs in India'.
Opposition politicians on Wednesday stalled a last minute attempt by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to pass the Goods and Service Tax bill.
'Business families like the Godrej group are increasingly realising that an amicable settlement is better.' 'Else, the wealth of all shareholders gets destroyed.'
While welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement on Saturday to celebrate January 16 as National Start-up Day, six years after the Start-up India Action Plan was launched by the government, stakeholders in the ecosystem say that more needs to be done at the policy level to unleash the next phase of growth in the sector. "The Start-up India programme's launch in 2016 was a turning point - that is when the promoter came to be known as the founder in the country and the word 'entrepreneur' entered the common lexicon. "But now we need a Start-up India 2.0 now for the next phase of growth of the ecosystem", said Siddarth Pai, managing partner of venture capital (VC) firm 3one4 Capital. Pai says that Startup India 2.0 must look at promoting Startups headquartered in tier II,III & IV cities and solving the problems of Bharat.
Representatives of Citizen and Society Development Welfare, who have given the slogan of Dharavi Banao Andolan, met Srinivas and submitted a memorandum seeking expedition of the survey being conducted in Dharavi.
She will return home with the Mrs World crown after 21 years.
Urging the government not to enact a law against the interest of states, Communist Party of India - Marxist lawmaker Sitaram Yechury on Thursday accused the corporates of funding elections, and said that the graft cannot be tackled without including India Inc under the review of Lokpal.
India Inc said policymakers should take doable steps to revive fixed investments and production of capital goods
A coalition government doesn't lend itself to the kinds of demands US companies are making.
India Inc was urged Wednesday to invest in rural India, which according to a McKinsey survey, will provide a market worth $500-600 billion by 2020.
The Union government could target a fiscal deficit of 5.8-6 per cent of nominal GDP for 2023-24, and it should continue its capital expenditure push and look to simplify the personal income tax regime, economists recommended Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her team during their pre-Budget interaction on Monday. Starting last week, Sitharaman had eight pre-Budget consultations this time. More than 110 invitees representing seven stakeholder groups participated in these meetings, the finance ministry said in a statement. The stakeholder groups included representatives and experts from agriculture and agro-processing industry; industry, infrastructure & climate change; financial sector and capital markets; services and trade; social sector; trade unions and labour organisations; and economists.
'Most of the bot attacks have originated from outside India.' 'Our firewalls are resilient and withstood the attacks.'
'It will send a very strong signal that it is now our time to grow.'
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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.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Wednesday wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla flagging alerts received by several opposition leaders about 'state-sponsored' attacks on their iPhones, and urged him to provide them protection to continue doing their duties.
In fact, India's investment activity growth is also estimated to touch a 17-year low in FY20. With overall demand not showing signs of revival, investment activity may take longer to recover, economists said.
Economists urged FM to rationalise indirect taxes and impose Tobin tax.
Describing stimulus as a 'short-term life support' measure, global consultancy firm KPMG executive director Vikas Vasal said, "(They) cannot continue forever. This is one area where timing may never be considered right; however, somewhere down the line the government has to bite the bullet."
Though the US has got together a number of vetted and potential Indian business partners, most of these companies say they haven't had much luck in stitching up deals to tap into India as an export market for their goods.
India Inc is not in the dark about moonlighting employees. According to a forensic accountant, companies can easily turn to experts and deploy digital tools that can be used to check if an employee is doing a second job or not - reaffirming fears of many who are wary of the practice in the context of the recent sacking of moonlighters by IT major Wipro. Arpinder Singh, global markets and India leader, forensic and integrity services, EY, said that EY had been involved with several companies to gauge moonlighting.
USIBC urged a serious evaluation of a more specialised bilateral economic arrangement.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday, nudged cricketers Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, among others, to influence their fans and young voters to come out in large numbers and exercise their vote.
Traders' body CAIT on Wednesday wrote to Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani and 50 other captains of India Inc, including Ratan Tata, Azim Premji, Gautam Adani, Ajay Piramal, Anand Mahindra and Sunil Bharti Mittal seeking their support in its campaign to boycott Chinese goods. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) also urged Kumar Mangalam Birla, Vikram Kirloskar, Rahul Bajaj, Shiv Nadar, Pallonji Mistry, Uday Kotak, Nusli Wadia, Shashi Ruia, Madhukar Parekh, Harsh Mariwala, Satish Reddy and Pankaj Patel, among other prominent industrialists, to join its 'Bhartiya Samaan-Humaara Abhimaan' campaign.
Agnipath may be an exercise to address the genuine needs of the armed forces. But overall, it betrays the tendency to use the military and paramilitary for employment generation and shaping a national character, instead of treating them as the professional services they are, notes Shyam G Menon.
India maintains that the Kashmir issue is a bilateral one and no third party has any role in it.
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