India's services sector growth accelerated in April, as strong demand conditions resulted in the fastest increase in new business and output in close to 13 years, a monthly survey said on Wednesday. The pick-up in demand occurred in spite of escalating price pressures. The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Services PMI Business Activity Index rose from 57.8 in March to 62.0 in April, signalling the fastest expansion in output since mid 2010, amid a pick-up in new business growth and favourable market conditions.
The Union government will take a bit longer to introduce the much-awaited labour codes even as the majority of states and Union Territories (UTs) have framed rules on them. There were speculations that these would be introduced from July 1. While 30 states and UTs have framed rules on the code on wages, 25 of them have done so on industrial relations. Of the two remaining codes, 24 states and UTs have framed rules on social security and 23 on occupational safety, health, and working conditions (OSH), sources said.
American economic historian and labour economist Claudia Goldin won the 2023 Nobel Economics Prize for her work examining wage inequality between men and women, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said on Monday. The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2023 was awarded to 77-year-old Claudia Goldin "for having advanced our understanding of women's labour market outcomes" the prize-giving body said in a statement. Goldin will receive 11 million Swedish kronor, or around $1 million, as the sole winner of this year's prize.
TCS completed its highest ever hiring of over 90,000 new employees globally during the year.
The executive remuneration for FY2020 is lower than FY2019 in view of the economic conditions impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The directors have decided to moderate the executive remuneration for this year to express solidarity and conserve resources.
T C A Anant, former chief statistician to the government, will soon be heading a panel to decide whether the monthly payroll data released by EPFO, ESIC and PFRDA could replace the quarterly enterprises-based survey on job creation by the labour bureau, the prime minister's office decided last week.
On May 24, 2022, a trial court in the national capital had awarded life imprisonment to Malik, the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief, after holding him guilty of various offences under the stringent anti-terror law-Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA)-- and the Indian Penal Code.
Employees in India will see their salaries increase by an average of 10.9 per cent in 2015, but high inflation will end up eroding much of their wages, says a report.
Last year, salary increases were given only in October, when the company came under pressure from increments offered by peers.
Mark-to-market losses due to the unexpected fall of the rupee against the US dollar, euro and pound; the impact of wage increases in the first quarter; a stagnant global economy; and margin pressure owing to inflation are expected to impact the rupee-term fortunes of Indian IT firms that will declare their quarterly results for the April-June 30 quarter beginning this week.
'We cannot leave our entire unorganised sector to the vagaries of market forces.'
'Companies are being forced to pay higher salaries to retain and hire employees due to a big rise in attrition in the industry.'
More than 200,000 bank officers began a one-day strike on Friday to demand a wage increase, a move unions said would halt banking operations.
Tax auditors plan to down tools every Tuesday and Thursday until the government issues a decree to raise their wages.
Of the 3,893,149 registered applicants on the MP Rojgar portal, only 21 individuals have been successfully placed in government and semi-government positions since April 2020.
Raw material prices had been on the rise, but since Russia waged war on Ukraine, prices have surged.
Employees at Ford India's Chennai unit have called off the strike that started on May 30. Following this, the company has revised its severance package from earlier 115 days to 121 days for employees supporting production. The company indicated it would continue 'constructive discussions' with the unions in order to sweeten the deal further, if required.
Casual labour, which is the type of employment provided by agriculture, yields much lower wages -- of the order of Rs 291 per day. Labour would not voluntarily shift to this lowest wage-rate sector unless it had no better option, observes Mahesh Vyas.
The richest one per cent in India now own more than 40 per cent of the country's total wealth, while the bottom half of the population together share just 3 per cent of wealth, a new study showed on Monday.
Union Labour Minister Bhupender Yadav has exuded confidence that four labour codes, which would bring another wave of reforms, will soon be implemented as around 90 per cent of states have already come out with draft rules. In 2019 and 2020, 29 central labour laws were amalgamated, rationalised and simplified into four labour codes, viz, the Code on Wages, 2019; the Industrial Relations Code, 2020; the Code on Social Security, 2020; and the Occupational Safety, Health & Working Conditions Code, 2020, noted the Survey. During an interaction, Yadav told reporters that around 90 per cent of the states have already published draft rules on four labour codes and he expects the four legislations would become operational soon.
'Loss of these urban salaried jobs is, therefore, likely to have a particularly debilitating impact on the economy, besides causing immediate hardship to middle-class households,' points out Mahesh Vyas.
Saurashtra's middle-order batter Sheldon Jackson followed in senior teammate Cheteshwar Pujara's footsteps, completing his century on day two of their Ranji Trophy Group A tie against Rajasthan to guide the defending champions to a 300-plus total in Jaipur on Saturday.
Equity benchmarks ended over 1 per cent higher on Monday amid positive trends in global markets and buying in Reliance Industries and IT counters. The 30-share BSE Sensex zoomed 846.94 points or 1.41 per cent to settle at 60,747.31. During the day, it jumped 989.04 points or 1.65 per cent to 60,889.41.
French club Paris Saint-Germain's star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has signed a new 12 million-pound contract at the club.
At a media briefing, French President Emmanuel Macron said the G20 leaders' declaration "confirms" Russia's isolation for its attack on Ukraine and that the bloc is committed to "just and lasting" peace in the war-torn country.
The richest one per cent in India now own more than 40 per cent of the country's total wealth, while the bottom half of the population together share just 3 per cent of wealth, a new study showed on Monday. Releasing the India supplement of its annual inequality report on the first day of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, rights group Oxfam International said that taxing India's ten-richest at 5 per cent can fetch entire money to bring children back to school. "A one-off tax on unrealized gains from 2017-2021 on just one billionaire, Gautam Adani, could have raised Rs 1.79 lakh crore, enough to employ more than five million Indian primary school teachers for a year," it added.
'India is not so distant from years of high and entrenched inflationary expectations that it should start trying to play games with the economy the way the West's central bankers think they are entitled to,' argues Mihir S Sharma.
Employees who benefit from rent-free accommodation should pay heed to these new regulations, especially if they are in the higher salary brackets.
The government initiated the process for amendment to the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, which applies to establishments employing 10 or more persons.
The four labour codes will not come into effect from April 1 as states are yet to finalise the relevant rules, which means that there will be no change in take home pay of employees and provident fund liability of companies for now. Once the wages code comes into force, there will be significant changes in the way basic pay and provident fund of employees are calculated. The labour ministry had envisaged implementing the four codes on industrial relations, wages, social security and occupational health safety & working conditions from April 1, 2021. The ministry had even finalised the rules under the four codes.
The four labour codes are unlikely to be implemented this fiscal in view of slow progress on the drafting of rules by the states and also for political reasons like elections in Uttar Pradesh, a source said. The implementation of these laws assumes significance because once these are implemented there would be reduction in take-home pay of employees and firms have to bear higher provident fund liability. "The ministry of labour is ready with the rules under the four labour codes. But the states have been slow in drafting and finalising those under new codes.
Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) Assistant Commandant Lalit Mohan Doval said on Friday that the alert had been sounded on the Sonauli border in the district.
India's stiff labour laws were one key issue that Apple CEO Tim Cook discussed with Prime Minister Modi on his recent visit.
The Congress on Monday promised that a government led by it will conduct a nationwide caste census and implement 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies at the earliest, including adequate representation for women belonging to the OBC community.
'80% of the rural and urban population don't have enough purchasing power.'
'Karnataka's finances are much healthier than the Union government's, which is indebted to nearly twice the extent of the state.'
Taking inflation into account, China and Vietnam at 4.9 per cent lead the way, while Japan at 0.5 per cent and India at 2 per cent are among countries offering the smallest raises.
Most of the large Indian IT services players, such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro, and HCL Tech, have signalled increased offshoring efforts and opting for local hires in the US, primarily to address the immigration-related challenges.
Now, she fears that she will not be able to return to her humble home after officials told them that their shanties were "illegal".
Enthused by higher than expected GDP numbers in the fourth quarter of 2022-23, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran on Wednesday said India's economic growth may exceed the initial estimate of 6.5 per cent in the current fiscal and the country can look for another year of solid economic performance.