Investments from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to India remain negligible relative to trade flows and represent just a small percentage of total FDI from the region to the world, says a report.
The Enforcement Directorate has upgraded its Look out Circular (LC) issued against Byju's founder and CEO Byju Raveendran in connection with a FEMA probe, seeking to stop him for going abroad. The earlier such alert meant that immigration authorities had to just intimate the agency about his movements through various ports. Official sources said that the over an year old LC was revised sometime back in light of investors' concerns and ongoing adjudication of a FEMA contravention case against Raveendran and some others.
Indian growth in the rest of this fiscal year and next will be propelled by robust domestic consumption as consumer confidence improves, and by investment, including large increases in government capital expenditure, according to the Asian Development Outlook September 2023. "As slowing exports could foment headwinds for the economy, and erratic rainfall patterns are likely to undermine agricultural output, the growth forecast for FY2023 is revised down marginally to 6.3 per cent," ADB said.
India, the world's fifth largest economy in the world, is likely to overtake Japan to become the world's third-largest economy with a GDP of $7.3 trillion by 2030, S&P Global Market Intelligence said in its latest issue of PMI. After two years of rapid economic growth in 2021 and 2022, the Indian economy has continued to show sustained strong growth during the 2023 calendar year. India's gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow 6.2-6.3 per cent in the fiscal year ending in March 2024, being the fastest-growing major economy this fiscal year.
Ukraine is currently in the middle of a strategic offensive into Russia's Kursk region.
Foreign investors turned net sellers in October, withdrawing shares worth Rs 58,711 crore in the month so far owing to escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, a sharp rise in crude oil prices, and the strong performance of the Chinese market. The outflow came following a nine-month high investment of Rs 57,724 crore in September. Since June, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) have consistently bought equities, after withdrawing Rs 34,252 crore in April-May.
Another priority in the first 100 days could be the launch of an e-platform -- Trade Connect -- to help exporters connect with stakeholders of international trade.
The world's third largest tobacco company by sales volume, Japan Tobacco Inc, has invested $65 million (Rs 293 crore) in its Indian unit without increasing its shareholding, just days ahead of a government decision to ban foreign direct investment in cigarette manufacturing.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay a two-day working visit to the US from February 12 during which he will meet President Donald Trump, the external affairs ministry announced. The visit will give further impetus and direction to India-US bilateral relationship. Prior to his US visit, Modi will be in France from February 10-12 to co-chair the AI Action Summit with French President Emmanuel Macron. He will also visit Cadarache, the site of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor of which India is a partner. During his visit to France from February 10-12, Modi and Macron will also address the India-France CEOs forum. The prime minister and Macron will travel to Marseille where they will inaugurate the Consulate General of India. The leaders will also visit the war cemetery and pay tribute to the sacrifices made by Indian soldiers in World War 1. Modi and Macron will visit Cadarache, the site of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). There has been a very close rapport between Trump and Modi, dating back to the US leader's first term. There is a clear convergence of interests between the two countries in several areas, including trade, investment, technology, defense cooperation, counterterrorism, Indo-Pacific security, and people-to-people relations.
Despite all the noise around India's chance to leverage the China-plus one strategy, India's share of global foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows fell from 3.5 per cent in the first nine months of 2022 to 2.19 per cent in the same period in 2023, according to OECD data. The sharp drop of 54 per cent is much steeper than the overall global FDI inflow decline of 26 per cent in the first nine months. FDI inflows to China have fallen dramatically from a share of 12.5 per cent in the first nine months of 2022 to only 1.7 per cent in the same period in 2023.
While Commerce Minister Kamal Nath has set the target for FDI at $12 billion for 2006-07, outbound investment for January-September 2006 has touched $18.73 billion compared with $8.84 billion in the same period last year.
Clarifying norms for single brand retail trading, government on Tuesday allowed foreign investors to conduct business through more than one joint venture in India.
'If they aim to remain aligned with the public sentiment, as any democratic government should, then they must respond. Why else would the prime minister have cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia? And why would he have instructed the home minister himself to travel to Srinagar to assess the situation firsthand? This suggests that something is indeed being planned. I am quite certain of that, although the exact form it will take remains to be seen.'
The industry ministry and the finance ministry are holding consultations on whether to bring the banking sector under the purview of new FDI (foreign direct investment) rules, which will categorise some Indian banks -- like ICICI Bank -- as foreign banks.
Officina Farmaceutica Italiana mainly deals in large-scale contract manufacturing for cosmetics and drug majors
A group of ministers will soon meet in New Delhi to decide on allowing foreign entities to pick up stakes in the airline sector in India, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said on Wednesday.
India's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) nearly halved to $3.39 billion in April on an annual basis, as per data released by the RBI on Monday. The OFDI stood at $6.71 billion in April 2021. On sequential basis too, the outward investment from India in April was lower compared to $3.44 billion in March 2022.
SpiceJet has held "preliminary discussions" with a Gulf airline for potential investment in the Indian budget carrier, a news report has said.
Interrupting a two-month streak of decline, outward foreign direct investment (FDI) rose sequentially to $1.85 billion in July over $1.07 billion in June, an increase of 73 per cent. However, it was lower than the $2.18 billion in July last year, according to the Reserve Bank of India data. Outbound FDI, expressed as financial commitment, has three components - equity, loans, and guarantees.
UK's largest retailer Tesco, Singapore Airlines and Etihad queued up to invest in India as a persistent UPA threw open more sectors to foreign investments with indications of more big ticket deals to be announced in the new year.
'The bull market cycle ran for five years. It's the end of that cycle.' 'The next cycle is a down cycle, and in that down cycle, you will see the Sensex falling from their highs of around 68,000 to maybe 40,000-50,000 at the bottom of the cycle.'
Sectors which attracted maximum foreign inflows during April-June 2019-20 include services (USD 2.8 billion), computer software and hardware (USD 2.24 billion), telecommunications (USD 4.22 billion), and trading (USD 1.13 billion), the commerce and industry ministry data showed.
The government had last week hinted that it was open to a review of the 25 per cent public shareholding norm, but as of now, the rules remain in force.
Singapore's competition regulator CCCS on Tuesday said it has given conditional approval for the proposed merger of Air India and Vistara, more than a year after the announcement of the deal. This was one of the key approvals required for the transaction. The merger of Vistara with Air India under a deal, wherein Singapore Airlines will acquire a 25.1 per cent stake in Air India, was announced in November 2022. Vistara is a joint venture between Singapore Airlines and Tata Group.
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.
'Traders must adopt digital payments as soon as possible within a set timeframe, as the nation is moving rapidly towards digitisation.' 'Ignoring digital systems is not an option for strengthening trade.'
Internet shutdowns by law enforcement agencies like the one in Manipur and Punjab cost $1.9 billion to the Indian economy in the first half of 2023, a report said on Thursday. The shutdowns also led to a loss of nearly $118 million in foreign investment and triggered over 21,000 job losses, the global non-profit Internet Society said in its report 'Netloss'. The non-profit arrived at the financial impact of the shutdown going beyond the loss of output and included factors like change in the unemployment rate, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) lost, risks of future shutdowns, population in the working age etc.
Foreign direct investment restrictions in financial services, insurance, banking and retail are impeding the volume of capital invested in India by British companies, British High Commissioner Sir Michael Arthur said on Friday.
Cap in single-brand retail likely to be 74%.
The share of foreign companies in private sector investments, directed towards building new factories and other facilities, has declined over the past six months. A mix of large domestic announcements and relatively lower growth in foreign capital expenditure (capex) plans have played a role, although foreign investments remain near record levels. The share of foreign companies in the overall private sector investments over the four quarters ended June 2023 has dipped to 14.9 per cent, as shown by a Business Standard analysis of data from the project tracker Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy.
China's foreign trade in 2004 is expected to reach an all-time record $1.1 trillion, up 30 per cent from the previous year, making the nation the third largest trade power in the world, minister of commerce Bo Xilai said.
The drop was the result of the change in FDI rules, which was amplified by the border standoff between India and China.