City Chennai Financial News

By Praveen Paramasivam

CHENNAI : India's southern state of Tamil Nadu has signed investment pacts worth more than $4.39 billion with firms such as Apple suppliers Tata Electronics and Pegatron, as well as auto major Hyundai Motors, it said on Sunday. Apple is counting on India as the next big driver of its growth as the tech giant looks to diversify some production away from China, with Pegatron working towards a second factory in the country where Tata Group last year began to assemble iPhones. Tata Electronics, a part of the Indian conglomerate, committed to invest ₹12,080 crore for mobile phone assembly operations, the state government said during the signing of the agreements.

NEW DELHI : Qualcomm India will invest ₹177.27 crore in setting up a design centre in Chennai, the chipmaker said at the Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet on Sunday. The centre will focus on innovations in areas that complement wi-fi technologies and contribute to Qualcomm’s global research and development efforts in 5G cellular technology, the company said.

Mukesh Ambani on Sunday said his firm Reliance Industries in partnership with Canada's Brookfield will open a data centre in Chennai next week, marking entry into the fast-growing market. Reliance had in July last year invested about Rs 378 crore to enter an existing joint venture, where Brookfield Infrastructure and US-based realty estate investment trust Digital Realty were already partners.

Tata Electronics is reportedly to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) worth a whopping Rs 12,082 crore with Tamil Nadu Government. The MoU is likely to be signed at Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet 2024 in Chennai which was inaugurated by state's Chief Minister M. K.

Chennai presence with a new design centre facility which will specialise in wireless connectivity solutions, with a focus on innovations that complement wi-fi technologies. The announcement was made at the Tamil Nadu Global Investor Meet in Chennai. “The new design centre in Chennai plays a pivotal role in shaping the future of connectivity globally, especially in India," Savi Soin, president, Qualcomm India said in a statement. "(It) is a critical asset to support Qualcomm’s commitment to Make in India and design in India. This will expand our collaboration with India technology partners and accelerate the market adoption of new technology.”

Elon Musk arriving in India next week to announce a Tesla manufacturing unit in Gujarat (although no official confirmation has come yet), the focus has once again shifted to ramp up the public infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs) in the country in order to meet the ambitious 2030 goal of the government. India needs to have a robust backbone for charging infrastructure across the length and breadth of the country with considerations of traffic and population density, as it aims to break the barriers for large-scale adoption of electric vehicles. India's top nine cities, with a population of over 40 lakh each, would require 18,000 public EV charging stations by 2030, according to the recent government data.

metro ridership as daily ridership across metro systems in the country has already crossed the 10 million mark, and is expected to exceed 12.5 million in a year or two, according to Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. This comes after UK-based publication, The Economist claimed that India's metro rail systems are failing to attract enough passengers in its year-ending 'Christmas Double' issue, dated December 23 last year. According to a press release by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs highlights the significant growth of metro rail in the country, emphasizing that daily ridership across all metro rail systems has surpassed 10 million, reflecting the evolving aspirations of a rapidly urbanizing young India. The UK publication was criticized by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for factual inaccuracies and lacking necessary context, contending that none of India's metro rail systems have achieved even half of their projected ridership. The ministry rebutted claims made by UK publications, emphasizing that over three-fourths of India's current metro rail network has been conceptualized, constructed, and operationalized in less than a decade. In 2023, India's metro rail ridership increased three times from 2019. This can be attributed to traffic congestion and a preference for faster transit options.

Bangalore undeniably shares attributes of other metros like high population density, significant economic activity, and a fast-paced lifestyle, it's still categorized as a non-metro for HRA purposes. This means residents can only claim 40% of their basic salary as tax-exempt HRA, compared to the 50% allowed in the four designated metros," said Abhishek Soni, CEO and Co-founder of Tax2win.

VinFast Auto is setting up an electric vehicle (EV) and battery manufacturing facility at Thoothukudi, near Chennai, which will have the capacity to produce 150,000 EVs in the first phase, a person aware of the developments told ET. The total investment in the 400-acre facility could eventually touch as much as $1 billion or even more, the person said, adding that VinFast is likely to make an official announcement on Saturday.

Residential real estate sales in India were at their highest since the peak seen in 2013, witnessing a 33 percent YoY growth, with a total of 4.10 lakh units sold during calendar year 2023, according to the latest report by PropTiger.com.

shop online. After the Covid lockdowns, retailers had started shutting stores or reducing the size of stores to save on rentals.

Career enablers such as flexi-timing and remote working play a crucial role in women’s workforce participation, a study by leading diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) solutions company Avtar group has said. However, workplace enablers extended by employees alone cannot ensure women’s sustained employment; it requires significant investment from the city and state, as per the second edition of ‘Top Cities for Women in India (TCWI)’ index. The index ranks Chennai, Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai, and Hyderabad as the top five cities for women in India. The scores are based on three parameters – social inclusion, industrial/workplace inclusion, and citizen experience (safety, etc).

Endeavour is known as the Everest. The vehicle is equipped with either a 2.0-liter turbo diesel engine or a 2.0-liter bi-turbo diesel engine. The former generates 168 bhp with a torque output of 405 Nm, while the bi-turbo produces 208 bhp with a torque of 500 Nm.

PTI quoted Indian Railways as saying on 4 January. According to Indian Railways, the trains arriving late in Delhi dated January 4, 2024, include Howrah- New Delhi Poorva Exp, Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani, Jammu Tawi-New Delhi Rajdhani, Rajendranagar -New Delhi Rajdhani, Sealdah-New Delhi Rajdhani, Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani, Bhubneshwar-New Delhi Rajdhani, Ranch-New Delhi Rajdhani, Bhubneshwar-New Delhi Duronto, Rewa- Anand Vihar Exp, Azamgarh- Delhi Kaifiyat Exp, Rajendranagar-New Delhi, Banaras-New Delhi, Ambedkarnagar- Katra Exp, Pratapgar-Delhi, Muzaffarpur- Anand Vihar, Chennai- New Delhi GT, Bhopal-Nizamudin, Kurukshetra-Khajuraho, Jammutawi-New Delhi, Katihar- Amritsar Express, Jammutawi- Ajmer, Ferozpur-Seoni, Manikpur-Nizamuddin, Prayagran-Anand Vihar, Manikpur-Nizamuddin, Kanpur-New Delhi Shramshakti, Howrah- New Delhi Poorva Exp, Saharsa- New Delhi Vaishali Exp, Bhagalpur- Anand Vihar Exp, Rajendranagar-New Delhi and Banaras- New Delhi Exp.

Versuni Wednesday opened its second factory in India in Ahmedabad built on a 25,000 square metre to make air fryers, garment steamers, hand mixers. Global CEO of Versuni Henk De Jong, who was present at the inauguration, told reporters that with the second factory in place, Versuni — which owns the Philips Domestic Appliances brand — will procure 90% of all products sold in India locally, from 70% at present. The new factory is expected to generate more than 1000 new jobs in the first phase where the factory will have a capacity to make 500,000 air fryers and 2 million garment steamers annually.

V Senthil Balaji, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) last year in a money laundering case, on Wednesday moved a city court seeking bail. Principal Sessions Judge S Alli, before whom the bail petition filed by Balaji came up for hearing, posted to January 8, further hearing of the case, after ED's counsel N Ramesh sought time to file a counter affidavit. In his petition, the DMK leader submitted that the Enforcement Directorate was not able to identify and cannot identify the ill-gotten sources of income as the same remain unavailable or the petitioner has no other source of income than the disclosed one.

Chennai will experience a temporary power cut from 9 am to 2 pm on Thursday, January 4. Tangedco, the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation, has assured residents that power supply will be restored sooner if the maintenance work concludes before the scheduled time. Areas Affected ADYAR: Enjambakkam 1st Avenue Vettuvankeni, Akkarai Village, Allikulam, Ambedkar Street, Anna Enclave, Bethel Nagar North and South, Bharathi Avenue, Brindavan Nagar, Copper Beach Road, E.C.R., and more. TONDIARPET: Melur, Minjur town, Theradi Street, Suriya Nagar, BDO Office, Seemavaram, Pudhupedu, Nanthiambakkam, Pattamandri, Vallur, Attipattu, SR Palayam, Kondakarai, Karayanmedu, and surrounding areas. Residents are advised to plan accordingly during this scheduled power cut period.

ArcelorMittal has partnered with the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras to build «Asia's first» Hyperloop test track facility here, the company said here on Wednesday. The companies, ArcelorMittal and ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS), are providing foundational steel materials as well as engineering, design, and project management expertise to support the construction of Asia's first Hyperloop test track at the 163-acre Discovery campus of IIT Madras, located at Thaiyur on the outskirts of Chennai, a company release here said.

Omron Healthcare, the world's largest maker of home blood pressure monitoring (BPM) devices, is betting big on India where the number of people suffering from hypertension is on rise as the population ages and lifestyles change. In an interview to ET, Tetsuya Yamada, managing director of Omron Healthcare India, said the device maker plans to expand its footprint in India and go beyond metro cities, roll out new products, strengthen online distribution, and partner local pharmaceutical companies and startups to raise awareness. «India has just 2% penetration of home BPM; when compared to BRICS it is very low.

Last year, India witnessed a series of extreme weather events, the last one being in Tamil Nadu in December. Chennai and some other districts saw intense flooding after Cyclone Michaung hit on December 4.