United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday had a breakfast meeting with top honchos of India Inc at the iconic, sea-facing Taj Hotel in Mumbai. Amongst those from India Inc who were present at the meeting included Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Group and Reliance Industries' Mukesh Ambani. Others present were the chiefs of India's two largest banks, O P Bhatt of State Bank and Chanda Kochhar of ICICI Bank, Swati Piramal and Sudha Murthy.
The Indian equity market clocked record average daily turnover (ADTV) in both the cash and derivatives segments in February amid a spike in volatility. The ADTV for the cash segment for both the exchanges combined came at Rs 1.27 trillion, while the same for the derivatives or the futures and options (F&O) segment stood at Rs 483 trillion in the previous month. The volumes for both cash and derivatives have almost doubled from a year ago on the back of rising retail participation in the world's fourth largest equity market.
Union Minister of Commerce and Textiles Piyush Goyal has stirred up a hornet's nest by taking on India Inc, specifically the Tata group, which is among the companies that lobbied against the Modi government's pro-consumer draft e-commerce policies. While Goyal's comments, made at a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) event, were streamed live on YouTube, the industry lobbying body later edited the video and subsequently withdrew the entire speech. Goyal had said the Tata group and other Indian companies often lobbied for their interest, while ignoring national interest.
In absolute terms, capex spending has risen by Rs 228,000 crore (Rs 2,280 billion), despite declining profits and a 37 per cent decline in fund flow from financial markets in 2008-09. The capital-intensive sectors of India Inc do not find the current environment a deterrent to push ongoing expansion and so they continue with capex plans. The study looks at 323 listed companies whose capex spending data for 2008-09 is available.
Welcoming the government's move to name new members on Satyam's board, industry on Sunday exuded confidence that the new directors would help shape the future of the scam-hit company and restore the global investors' confidence in India Inc.
Some of India's biggest employers are testing for antibodies to either comply with regulatory norms or gauge the effectiveness of precautionary measures.
'Elsewhere in the world, you do not get a second chance to be launched. I think he (Gandhi) has now been launched 19 times'
According to BJP insiders, every Union minister has been given 3-4 seats to mentor and has been told to work hard on these constituencies in the next 20 months to ensure the party's victory.
Profitability and cash reserves have halved since the global financial crisis.
The new scheme, promoting manufacturing of electric vehicles (EVs) by global majors, will give a fillip to companies like Tesla and its upstart rival Vinfast, both of whom have lobbied for lower import duties from the Centre. While Vinfast has already announced an investment of Rs 4,000 crore to set up an electric vehicle (EV) plant in Tamil Nadu, Tesla's next move will be watched carefully. Four years ago, Musk announced that his company would come to India.
Mars Inc set to open first chocolate factory in India.
Veteran Congress leader and former Defence Minister A K Antony said on Tuesday that his son, Anil K Antony, who is contesting as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate in the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, should not win the election.
'We emphasise the importance of not basing investment decisions solely on electoral outcomes.' 'Instead, focusing on investing in high-quality businesses capable of prospering regardless of the political landscape is paramount.'
Demand on rise as companies look to expand in Asian, European markets
72 per cent of the revenue of Indian firms (India Inc) is derived from the domestic / home market - the sixth highest in percentage terms in the emerging market (EM) and the Asian region, said a recent report by Morgan Stanley. The balance, according to the report titled 'Global Exposure Guide 2021' co-authored by analysts led by Jonathan F Garner, their chief Asia and emerging market strategist, is split between the developed markets (DMs) and other EMs. The report is based on an analysis of 3,300 companies globally that have revenue exposure in 17 different regions.
It is for the first time in the history of Independent India that not a single Muslim is part of the Union Cabinet.
'We like certain stocks from banking, insurance, retail, hospitals and capital goods.' 'Though some of these stocks may seem expensive, they will compound well over the long term, thus justifying their current multiples.'
The only flag bearers of Bengal Inc were Umesh Choudhury, vice-chairman, Titagarh Wagon; Sanjay Bansal, head, Ambootia Tea, S K Banerjee, head, Makaibari Tea.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing alleged fraudulent foreign funds infusion of more than Rs 86 crore into a company that runs the NewsClick portal even as it is expected to soon file a charge sheet in the case being probed under the anti-money laundering law, official sources said on Monday.
Many firms have asked those joining on April 1 to delay their on-boarding by 2-3 months. The outlook for the airline, tourism, hotel, and media industries is bleak too.
India Inc on Tuesday expressed deep reservations over the supplier liability provision -- the contentious Clause 17(b) -- in the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Bill, 2010, saying it would seriously hinder nuclear commerce.
Actor Poonam Pandey is not being considered as the brand ambassador of the government's national campaign to spread awareness on cervical cancer, Union health ministry officials said on Wednesday.
There are huge opportunities for US companies to invest in India, he said in Washington, DC.
Senior bankers point out that while they will eventually attract qualified professionals, onboarding them takes time.
We are already seeing pressure of inflation, we also seeing slowdown in manufacturing, hope excise rates are not increased because that will get passed to the consumer.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said both public and private sectors need to leverage synergies and think out of the box to seize opportunities arising as a result of the emerging global environment. While interacting with noted economists and experts at NITI Aayog ahead of the Union Budget, the prime minister also applauded the success of the India Digital story and the rapid adoption of fintech across the country, an official statement said. During the meeting, economists offered suggestions on ways in which India can sustain its development momentum, it added.
A vast majority of the business leaders believe that the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes have been beneficial and expect an extension to other sectors in the coming years, a Deloitte Survey said on Friday. An overwhelming number of survey respondents hope the budget will fuel growth across industries by building strong domestic demand and focussing on capital expenditure and believe that it would define the 'Amrit Kaal'. "Critical to this growth will be the pace of capital expenditure, infrastructure development, and the need to boost infrastructure financing through private partnership. 60 per cent of respondents suggested raising funds through Indian Government Bonds," the survey said.
In Phase 6, indications are that the BJP, which is defending 40 seats, will lose in double digits and gain in single digits. Not good, if you are the ruling party scrambling to earn a working majority, with just one phase left to go, argues Prem Panicker.
Having rung in the New Year with two major acquisitions in the metals space, India Inc is set to execute more such deals, albeit in automotive, pharma and IT sectors, with companies in Europe being the targets.
Apple Inc is expected to produce iPhones worth $12 billion (freight on board value) in India during 2023-24, according to discussions between the company's vendors and the government. This would account for around 12 per cent of Apple's global iPhone production-higher than the earlier plan of shifting around 9 per cent of the total to India by FY24, which is the third year of the PLI (production-linked incentive) scheme.
In a big push to the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, the government has nearly doubled (increase of 81 per cent) the allocation in five key industry segments from Rs 8,405 crore in the Revised Estimate of FY24 to Rs 15,198 crore in the Interim Budget for FY25. The segments cover over eight PLI schemes, including mobile phones, IT hardware, pharma (PLIs for medical devices, intermediates and pharmaceuticals), food processing, telecom hardware and, auto and auto components. In FY24, DPIIT officials, however, said that the disbursements would be much higher at around Rs 11,000 crore than what has been budgeted for the year.
Food inflation fell to a four-month low of 9.18 per cent for the week ended March 26, even as wholesale price inflation stood at 8.31 per cent in February.
Rahul Gandhi spoke about his vision of empowering women and giving voice to the people of billion-strong nation.
Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Mukesh Dalal was on Monday elected unopposed from Surat Lok Sabha constituency in Gujarat after all other nominees withdrew from the fray, a poll official said.
A sharp hike in global commodity prices meant that India Inc's raw material costs rose 38 per cent and, since they constitute 41 per cent of sales revenues, this lowered profits growth to 35 per cent (from 62 per cent in Q3).
India's traditional companies are now moving full scale into the renewable and alternative energy space that had been dominated by smaller players over the past decade. Companies such as government-owned NTPC and the Adani and the Tata groups restructured their businesses well in time to become major players in the green space. At the same time, other conventional companies, such as Larsen & Toubro and Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), which have a presence both in the energy sector as well as myriad other activities - construction, technology and retailing - are tying up with new-age companies to hitch a ride to a greener path.
With the dizzying rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in the country, India Inc has transitioned from a wait-and-watch policy to full-on emergency mode, bringing back remote and flexi work, stringent safety protocols, and allowing only essential travel. Companies - especially in metros like Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata - that had adopted a hybrid work model during the last few months when the caseload remained low, are either switching back entirely to work-from-home (WFH), or calling skeletal staff to office on select days. Take the case of cigarettes-to-hotels major, ITC, which had been on a hybrid work model over the last few months.
