Indian equity markets had a good run in the first half of calendar year 2023 (CY23), with the S&P BSE Sensex and the National Stock Exchange Nifty50 hitting fresh 52-week highs. While the Sensex scaled up to a peak 64,718, the Nifty50 hit Mt 19,189. As the markets now prepare to enter the second half (H2) of CY23, all eyes are on global central banks, especially the US Federal Reserve, as to when they will pause and pivot as regards their interest-rate cycle.
India's economy grew 6.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022-23, pushing up the annual growth rate to 7.2 per cent, official data showed on Wednesday.
From the Sensex firms, Tech Mahindra, NTPC, Tata Steel, Maruti, Infosys, Power Grid, Larsen & Toubro, Axis Bank, Titan, Reliance Industries, Wipro and Mahindra & Mahindra were the biggest gainers. Sun Pharma, UltraTech Cement, Tata Motors, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India and Nestle were among the laggards.
Manufacturing activities in India touched a three-month high in November as new orders and exports expanded boosted by demand resilience and substantial easing of cost pressure, according to a monthly survey released on Thursday. The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) stood at 55.7 in November, up from 55.3 in October, signalling the strongest improvement in operating conditions in three months. The November PMI data pointed to an improvement in overall operating conditions for the 17th straight month.
Fitch on Tuesday affirmed India's sovereign rating at 'BBB-' with a stable outlook, on robust growth and resilient external finances, but said weak public finances remain a challenge. India's rating has been unchanged at 'BBB-', which is the lowest investment grade, since August 2006. "Fitch Ratings has affirmed India's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'BBB-' with a Stable Outlook," it said in a statement, adding strong growth potential is a key supporting factor for the sovereign rating.
'We need to do more to accelerate growth.'
Trading sentiment turned extremely bullish as gold and silver soared to a record levels in 31 years in global markets as inflation in China accelerated underscoring the challenge that central bankers worldwide face in combating rising prices.
Ajay Banga will be a 'transformative leader', who will bring expertise, experience, and innovation to the position of World Bank President, United States President Joe Biden has said after the top Indian-American business executive was confirmed as the new head of the international lender.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday lowered India's economic growth projection for the current fiscal to 5.9 per cent from 6.1 per cent earlier. Yet India will continue to be the fastest-growing economy in the world. In its annual World Economic Outlook, IMF also lowered the forecast for 2024-25 fiscal (April 2024 to March 2025) to 6.3 per cent from the 6.8 per cent it had predicted in January this year. The growth rate of 5.9 per cent in the 2023-24 fiscal compares to an estimated 6.8 per cent in the previous year.
The World Bank has sounded a note of caution on the global economy, which it says has reached a turning point with a slowdown that has already begun.
Foreign investment in India's start-ups has plummeted 72 per cent to $4.58 billion so far, from $16.2 billion during the same period last year.
Cultivate a thirst for knowledge, explore online courses, attend workshops and network with peers. Embrace opportunities to learn new skills and stay updated about industry trends to remain relevant and future-proof your career, advises Manu Saigal, director-general, staffing, Adecco India.
"Have just got the good news that due to the hard work of our teams and your cooperation, a consensus has been reached on New Delhi G20 Leaders Summit Declaration," Modi said while addressing the second session of the Summit at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.
The only real solution to the jobs crisis, whether in India or abroad, is to direct tech innovation towards job enhancing sectors, and disincentivising job-replacing ones, observes R Jagannathan.
'With a solid investment programme and sustainable development strategy, India can exceed 7 per cent growth per year, or a doubling of high-quality national income within a decade.'
The race to the uncharted south pole of the Moon is quickening with India's Chandrayaan-3 and Russia's Luna-25 gearing up for lunar landings next week, each mission holding significant implications beyond the thrilling competition in the skies.
The skyline is getting crowded by the day--not only in the big cities but across the country. India is expected to double the number of branded hotel rooms from 100,000 now in just three years. Leading the pack are global hotel chains, which will add over 300 hotel properties (an estimated 55,000 rooms) in the country by 2013.
The coronavirus pandemic has not impacted India's long-term growth trajectory although it has delayed it and in this decade, the country will lead the global growth rates, Tata group chairman N Chandrasekaran said on Tuesday. Speaking at tech giant Microsoft's annual flagship event, Future Ready, he said it should be a national priority to enable access to healthcare and education using digital infrastructure for all in the country, considering how the acceleration of digital adoption during the pandemic has created a divide as many people, who do not have the means and access, have been left behind. "There are many things going for India. I think as the economy fully opens up post the pandemic, I believe that our growth will continue to get stronger.
The combined market-cap of all listed Adani group firms has plunged nearly Rs 7.11 trillion since January 24 when the Hindenburg report was made public.
Indian equity markets have a limited upside potential in the near-term as they negotiate the ensuing cyclical slowdown, wrote analysts at Nomura in a recent coauthored report led by Saion Mukherjee, their managing director and head of equity research for India. He, however, believes that the foundations are in place for sustainable growth over the medium-to-long term, and hence suggests a 'buy on dips' strategy to equity investors. As an investment strategy, Nomura prefers domestic-oriented sectors and companies over exporters, and prefers stocks that provide valuation comfort. Industrials and banks are their overweight sectors, while IT services and consumer discretionary are their underweight sectors.
Though global IT services spending is likely to cross the $1-trillion mark to reach $1.031 trillion, growth rate will slow to 3.8% in 2019, compared to 6.7% last year according to reports
Indian-American business leader Ajay Banga is poised to become the next President of the World Bank after the nomination period closed and no country proposed an alternate candidate for the prestigious post. In February, President Joe Biden announced that the US would be nominating Banga to lead the World Bank because he is "well equipped" to lead the global institution at "this critical moment in history." The World Bank on Wednesday closed a month-long window for nominations for its next president, with no alternatives announced to 63-year-old Banga.
'AI is not a new thing for us. We started our AI journey in 2015.'
Domestic investors have managed very well to minimise the impact caused by relentless selling by foreign portfolio investors.
The challenge for the RBI in 2024 is likely to be less about containing elevated inflation and more about curbing excessive financial market exuberance and a 'problem of plenty', notes Sajjid Chinoy, Chief India Economist JP Morgan.
Opposition leaders have questioned the alleged misuse of public funds in organising the second global meet on Bihar. They have claimed that the event is merely an "image building" exercise for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The much-hyped meet -- which began on Friday and involves nearly 1,000 participants including NRIs -- aims to discuss ways to accelerate the momentum of high growth and development strategies for Bihar.
Following are the highlights of the Economic Survey 2022-23 tabled in Parliament on Tuesday
India's exports recorded a flat growth of 0.59 per cent to $31.99 billion in November, even as trade deficit widened to $23.89 billion during the month, according to the data released by the government on Thursday. Exports stood at $31.8 billion in November last year. Imports rose by 5.37 per cent to $55.88 billion in November as compared to $53.03 billion in the corresponding month a year ago, the data showed. During April-November 2022, exports rose by 11 per cent to $295.26 billion as against $265.77 billion in the same month last year.
Asian Development Bank (ADB) has kept its outlook for India's economic growth unchanged at 7 per cent for the current fiscal year while forecasting a weaker-than-previously expected pace for developing Asia. ADB's 7 per cent growth projection for fiscal 2022-23 (April 2022 to March 2023), unchanged from its September forecast, compares to 8.7 per cent GDP growth in 2021-22. For 2023-24, the GDP growth has been kept unchanged at 7.2 per cent.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday held wide-ranging talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov focusing on the Ukraine conflict, bilateral ties and issues relating to the G20 foreign ministers' meeting.
The overwhelming feeling at the end of COP 27 was that despite decades of meetings and landmark accords, like the Paris Agreement, the world was still not doing enough to slow the climate crisis, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
India's foreign exchange reserves soared by $11.02 billion to reach $561.162 billion for the week ended December 2, Reserve Bank data showed on Friday. This is the fourth consecutive week of rise in the reserves. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had grown by $2.9 billion to $550.14 billion. For the week ended November 11, the forex kitty had jumped by $14.72 billion in its second fastest weekly acceleration ever.
'India's specific concerns about whether Russia will be a reliable defense supplier and diplomatic partner in the event of heightened hostilities with China has undoubtedly accelerated the process of US-India defense and intelligence cooperation intended to support Indian military positions along the Line of Actual Control.'
As India's diplomatic tensions with the Land of the Maple Leaf escalate, so do the anxieties of countless Punjabis.
If you are interested in working with OpenAI, feel free to email Sam Altman. In a free-wheeling fireside chat with university students on Thursday in Delhi, the CEO of OpenAI and his team seemed eager to welcome bright young IT practitioners of India into the OpenAI work space. Asked about the steep degree requirements for applying to tech giants such as Microsoft and Google, Altman said that his company was open to hiring undergraduates and even college drop-outs.
Reliance Industries Ltd on Friday reported an 11 per cent drop in its June quarter net profit largely due to weak oil-to-chemical (O2C) vertical and higher interest and depreciation cost. Net profit was Rs 16,011 crore, or Rs 23.66 per share, in April-June - the first quarter of current 2023-24 fiscal year - compared with Rs 17,955 crore, or Rs 26.54 a share, earning a year back, according to a company's stock exchange filing.
Air India will purchase 220 planes from Boeing for $34 billion, with an option to buy 70 more aircraft that could take the total transaction value to $45.9 billion, a deal that US President Joe Biden described as a "historic agreement". While announcing the Boeing-Air India deal on Tuesday, Biden also asserted that together with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he was looking forward to deepen the ties between India and the US. As per an announcement from the White House, Boeing and Air India have reached an agreement under which the airline will purchase 190 B737 MAX, 20 B787, and 10 B777X for a total of 220 firm order valued at $34 billion at list price.
China is expanding its nuclear force and is likely to have a stockpile of about 1,500 warheads by 2035, up from the current estimated number of 400, the Pentagon has said in a report that notes that Beijing aims to expand its national power through both domestic and foreign policy initiatives.
As the United States leads a sustained campaign against the dreaded terror outfit Islamic State, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said success against global terror is within reach if countries adopt a common strategy.