Domestic customers will get access to high-quality Swiss products such as watches, chocolates, biscuits, and clocks at lower prices as India will phase out customs duties under its trade pact with the EFTA bloc on these goods over a period of time. India and the four-European nation bloc EFTA signed a trade and economic partnership agreement (TEPA) on Sunday to boost trade and investments between the two regions. The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.
Adani Power, part of the Adani group, plans to add close to 6 gigawatts (Gw) of new power assets in the next five years, according to an investor presentation by the company. That is clearly meant to ride on India's burgeoning power demand. But there is another side to it: All of this new capacity is expected to be thermal power, or power produced from coal.
RediffGURUS Ashwini Dasgupta, Anu Krishna, Dr Karthiyayini Mahadevan and Jinal Mehta answer queries from Rediff readers.
As the FM said, this is a Budget that lays the foundation for the next 25 years, observes Kumar Mangalam Birla.
Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi, the general officer commanding-in-chief of the Northern Command, said five of the seven friction points in eastern Ladakh, where the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA are locked in a standoff since May 2020, have been resolved and talks are underway for the remaining areas.
We asked colleagues, present and past, to reflect on a man who has made such a difference to their lives and careers. Here it is then, a rich collection of memories that offer enchanting glimpses of the enigmatic Ajit Balakrishnan.
The Indian startup ecosystem has lauded the inclusion of startups in the New Delhi Leaders' Declaration for the first time ever in the history of G20. Industry stakeholders say that the move will lead to easier access to capital, reduce regulatory hurdles, and may revive funding activity. The Declaration, through the Startup20 initiative, recognised startups as "natural engines of growth" and key to socio-economic transformation by driving innovation and creating employment.
Facing opposition fire for exit polls allegedly being used for stock market manipulation, Axis My India's chief Pradeep Gupta has said he is open to facing all kinds of investigations and it would help do business in a much better way if the government frames specific regulations for pollsters.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Thursday allowed a petition filed by lenders of Reliance Capital seeking another round of auction for the debt-ridden firm undergoing insolvency process. A two-member bench set aside an order passed by NCLT and said the Committee of Creditors (CoC) has the power to negotiate and call for a higher bid. The appellate tribunal permitted the CoC to continue with the challenge mechanism and invite bids after two weeks.
The Delhi high court on Friday directed the civil aviation regulator to deregister planes leased to Go First within five working days, giving respite to the lessors. This means that the airline will have to give back all 54 aircraft to the lessors if its resolution professional (RP) does not challenge the order or ask for a stay. Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju also refused the request of the RP, represented by advocate Diwakar Maheshwari, to keep the operation of the order in abeyance for a week to enable them to file an appeal before the division Bench of the court.
But the ISI chief did not retire giving the impression that he has won General Asim Munir's trust, notes Rana Banerji who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
India, the US and 12 other members of the IPEF grouping have signed a supply chain resilience agreement that would help mitigate risks of economic disruptions from supply chain shocks and improve crisis coordination. The agreement would help member countries like India to reduce their dependence on China and provide timely information to the IPEF member countries about potential supply disruptions. The COVID outbreak severely disrupted the global supply chain, as most countries were dependent on China for various products like pharma raw materials.
Eleven companies have launched their initial public offerings (IPOs) in December 2023, making this month the second-best December for public offerings since 1996. Collectively, they are raising Rs 8,182.7 crore this month. In December 2021, 11 companies raised Rs 9,534 crore. However, excluding December 2021, this month marks the best December for IPOs since 1996.
India, which has a 7,500 km long coastline and nearly 200 ports, will soon come out with a National Cruise Shipping Policy to promote tourism.
The world's growing demand for energy is also a big problem.
Tax-saving investments should not be made with the sole purpose of saving tax, but should also help an individual grow his wealth, suggests Archit Gupta, founder and CEO, ClearTax.
Indian exporters shipping goods to Israel may face higher insurance premiums and shipping costs due to the Israel-Hamas conflict, according to experts. Israel witnessed a surprise and unprecedented multifront attack by air, land and sea by the Hamas militant group, which rules the Gaza Strip, in its southern parts on Saturday morning. The International trade experts said the conflict may reduce the profits of domestic exporters but will not impact trade volumes unless war escalates.
Bengaluru recorded the highest green building stock at 140 million square feet, followed by Delhi-National Capital Region at 74 msf, and Hyderabad at 72 msf for Grade A office buildings as of September 2023.
The data collated by Dealroom.co and revealed in London this week shows that the Indian investment figures coincided with record investment numbers registered by the UK in 2019, at USD 13.2 billion, behind the US (USD 116 bn) and China (USD 33.5 bn). Both India and the UK witnessed a record year in terms of investments into their respective technology sectors in 2019. India attracted tech investments worth USD 9.36 billion last year, which marks a 95 per cent hike on the previous year, it said.
Can only suspend non-compliant companies at present owing to a lack of jurisdictional clarity.
TCS has received permission to invest $1 mn in Thailand.
Mauritius is back in the news, and as usual not for the right reasons.
Modi said today "we all have reached an important and historic partnership".
7 key areas that the Budget must address to re-energise the infrastructure sector, suggests Vinayak Chatterjee.
The Centre is unlikely to offer new direct tax incentives for units operating in special economic zones (SEZs) and may instead allow the grandfathering of previous exemptions that such units were entitled to, according to proposed amendments to the SEZ Act, 2005, people aware of the matter said. The amendments, proposed by the commerce department, will soon be considered by the Cabinet for approval. This represents a departure from the department's earlier plan to introduce these changes through the Development Enterprises and Services Hubs (DESH) Bill, 2023, which faced strong criticism from the ministry of finance.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) sees India as a "bright spot" in the global economy and as per the World Bank, India is in a better position to deal with the global headwinds than many other countries. This is because of India's strong "macroeconomic fundamentals", Modi said while virtually addressing the inaugural function of the 7th edition of Invest Madhya Pradesh-Global Investors Summit in Indore. In the past eight years, the government has increased the speed of reforms and removed many hurdles in the way of investments.
The US provides large investment opportunities for Indian companies in software, IT services, gas exploration
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday that the partnership between India and Germany could serve as an example of success in a complex world as the two sides inked several agreements focused on sustainable development under which India would receive USD 10.5 billion assistance by 2030 to boost the use of clean energy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced the adoption of the New Delhi Leaders Declaration, a significant victory for India's G20 presidency that came amid increasing tensions and divergent views over the Ukraine conflict.
'If we want our economies to be strong, we need to invest in young people who are our future.'
All FIPB records will now be digitised; old and unnecessary files will be weeded out
India and the US on Monday committed to further improving bilateral ties, exploring alternate mechanisms for funding renewable energy and actively pursuing the G20 agenda which includes strengthening MDBs and taking coordinated action to deal with climate change. Several issues, including climate action, rising indebtedness in low and middle income countries and digital public infrastructure, figured during a bilateral meeting between Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen held on the sidelines of the G20 meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors. India, Sitharaman said, will "look forward to furthering ... bilateral interests through development cooperation and new investment opportunities through Alternate Investment platforms for renewable energy."
The regulator last week reached out to custodians for beneficial ownership information of investors coming from China, Hong Kong, and 11 other countries.
Lenders say settlements will cross over 100 accounts in the March quarter.
This includes over $15 billion of proposed investment in the infrastructure sector in the Indo-Pacific and $9 billion for shoring up American defence in the region.
Global investment is agnostic when it comes to nationalism, says Kanika Datta.
Economists have asked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to lower interest rate, rationalise subsidies, remove all cess and surcharge, do away with the retrospective tax amendments and scrap dividend distribution tax to revive investment cycle and promote growth.
A powerful senatorial committee on Wednesday is set to consider a bipartisan resolution to recognise Arunachal Pradesh as an integral part of India, pushing back against China's military aggression to change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control.
The President said Indian economy grew at 5.7 per cent during the first quarter of 2014-15.
