City New Delhi Financial News

NEW DELHI : India’s foreign minister S. Jaishankar urged Japanese companies to consider “Make in India" initiatives as well as export from India to global markets, during the Raisina Roundtable in Tokyo. Jaishankar is on a three-day visit to Japan to meet with his Japanese counterpart Yoko Komikawa.

NEW DELHI : The Union cabinet has approved a ₹10,372-crore India AI Mission that will provide funding for deep-tech AI startups as well as seek to develop an open-source database that can be used to train artificial intelligence models and other applications. The mission will also provide a framework for developing graphic processing units (GPUs) under public-private partnerships as well as multi-model, domain-specific large language models that power generative AI platforms.

NEW DELHI : The Union cabinet on Thursday approved the extension of the ₹300-subsidy on cooking gas cylinders for beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana scheme for the next financial year (FY25). The subsidy was to end this fiscal year. The extension would lead to an outgo of ₹12,000 crore for the government.

NEW DELHI : The Union cabinet has approved releasing additional dearness allowance and dearness relief to central government employees and pensioners effective 1 January to soften the impact of inflation, Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal said at a briefing on Thursday. The additional payment represents an increase of 4 percentage points over the existing rate of 46% of the basic pay or pension, the minister said.

Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday thanked his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi for felicitations on his re-election to the top political position in the country. Taking to microblogging platform X (formerly known as Twitter) the Pakistan prime minister said," "Thank you @narendramodi for felicitations on my election as the Prime Minister of Pakistan." Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Modi congratulated Shehbaz on taking oath as the 24th prime minister of Pakistan. "Congratulations to @CMShehbaz on being sworn in as the Prime Minister of Pakistan," Modi posted on X.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Mission, aimed at creating computing infrastructure in public-private partnership (PPP) mode. Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal said, at a press briefing in New Delhi, that the mission will be focussed on seven areas.

NEW DELHI : A World Bank agency is prepared to stand guarantor for up to $8 billion of loans taken by state-owned infrastructure builders and local government bodies, a move that could attract private capital in a whole range of public projects. In an interview, Junaid Kamal Ahmad, vice-president, operations at the bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), said the agency’s focus on underwriting loans aligns with India’s infrastructure development strategy at the national and sub-national levels, covering sectors like logistics, transport, electricity and water.

NEW DELHI : The four nations making up the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) have offered duty-free market access for India’s animal products, fish, processed food and vegetable oils in a trade pact that is expected to be signed next week, two people aware of the matter said. The EFTA nations—Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland—have also proposed $100 billion of investment in India by their companies over 15 years, which could create about a million jobs, the people said on the condition of anonymity. The two sides began negotiations for a trade treaty in 2008.

NEW DELHI : The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Wednesday gave effect to two schemes under which it will offer negotiated settlements in antitrust cases and accept commitments from businesses for change in their behaviour in order to avoid an investigation. The sought after commitment and settlement schemes were added to the Competition Act last year itself by way of legislative amendments.

NEW DELHI : Indian telecom companies are lobbying the government to get large internet and streaming platforms to pay up for using their infrastructure, taking cues from international markets where such arrangements are beginning to take shape. A leading telecom industry body has written to the finance ministry claiming that the government was forgoing about ₹800 crore in potential annual revenue from licence fees and other levies from telcos if such an arrangement was in place. “All we’re saying is that please recognize that this payment has to be made, that the government recognizes that this requirement is there, and make both parties sit at the table and negotiate with each other," said S.P.

NEW DELHI : The legal vetting for a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between India and Oman is nearly complete, with the deal likely to be signed in either the coming days or after the general election, two people aware of the matter said. "The government hopes to sign the pact before the announcement of dates for general elections, and in case it cannot be signed before the announcement, the government may nevertheless seek permission from the election commission to announce it as the FTA is in the interest of economy," said the first person mentioned above, who spoke under the condition of anonymity.

Tripura, will join the BJP-led government before the Lok Sabha elections, a senior leader of the saffron party said on Wednesday. The Tipra Motha has 13 MLAs in the 60-member assembly and is likely to get two berths, the leader said. The development took place days after a tripartite agreement for amicably resolving all issues of the indigenous people of Tripura was signed in New Delhi among the Tipra Motha, the Tripura government and the Centre. «The Tipra Motha is set to join the BJP-IPFT coalition government before the Parliamentary elections. The date for swearing in of the ministers has not been finalised yet,» state BJP president Rajib Bhattacharjee said.

NEW DELHI : The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Wednesday granted air operator’s certificate to Goa-based Just Udo Aviation Pvt Ltd to operate its airline Fly91. The grant of the air operator certificate marks the completion of all regulatory and compliance requirements for the airline to begin its commercial operations, the airline said in a statement. "We now look forward to commencing the sale of tickets leading to the start of commercial operations soon," managing director and chief executive officer of Fly91, Manoj Chacko said.

rural India, Sharmila Yadav always wanted to be a pilot and is now living her dream remotely, flying a heavy-duty drone across the skies to cultivate the country's picturesque farmlands. Yadav, 35, is among hundreds of women trained to fly fertiliser-spraying aircraft under the government-backed «Drone Sister» programme. The scheme aims to help modernise Indian farming by reducing labour costs, as well as saving time and water in an industry hamstrung by its reliance on outdated technology and growing climate change challenges.

NEW DELHI : Canadian pension fund CDPQ is in exclusive negotiations to acquire five operational road projects from Ashoka Concessions Ltd, a subsidiary of infrastructure company Ashoka Buildcon. The deal has potential equity and enterprise values of around $325 million and $700 million, respectively, two people aware of the talks said. On 12 December, The Economic Times reported that CDPQ (Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec) and private-equity firm Actis Llp were in final discussions to acquire the BOT toll road assets of Ashoka Concessions.

India and the UK are in the final stages of negotiating a free trade agreement with time running out as New Delhi gets ready to hold general elections in the next two months. A team of British trade negotiators is visiting New Delhi to iron out differences on India's demand for more visas for its workers and a social security agreement, and UK's asks for access in India's government procurement and inking a bilateral investment treaty before a trade pact. Officials said most talks have been completed at the negotiator level and a final decision on signing the FTA now rests with the two governments.

Chinese influence" may have played a role in encouraging the Leftist unity in Nepal with PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' dropping the Nepali Congress as its partner and form an alliance with the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN)-UML led by K P Sharma Oli. The year-long Nepali Congress and Prachanda-led CPN (Maoist Centre) coalition collapsed on Monday, with Prachanda joining hands with the CPN-UML to revive the «Left alliance». Thereafter, Prachanda reshuffled his cabinet to include ministers from the Communist party and created an eight-point programme to run Nepal. Despite contesting the elections in a pre-poll alliance with the Congress, Prachanda became the Prime Minister on December 26, 2022, with the UML's support. But the partnership could not last long after his party decided to support the Nepali Congress in the presidential election. The UML had pulled out of the government on February 27 last year, and Prachanda and Nepali Congress joined hands to form the government.

New Delhi: The plan to restructure Sri Lanka’s debt could be completed by June, two people aware of the matter said, as the island-nation prepared to reach an agreement with its creditors in the coming months. "We expect that the agreements will be finalized around June, which will help settle the debt restructuring process with Sri Lanka," said one of the officials mentioned above, requesting anonymity. In May 2022, India's southern neighbour defaulted on its overseas debt after its worst financial crisis since independence in 1948 emptied out foreign exchange reserves.

NEW DELHI : India’s space regulatory body has opened its first technical centre that it said would aid startups and larger private companies design and plan space missions. The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre’s (In-Space) facility in Ahmedabad will offer shared infrastructure including for climate simulation, thermal and vacuum environment simulation, and space systems assembly and testing environment.

₹800 to reach a new all-time high of ₹65,000 per 10 grams in the national capital, driven by robust global trends, according to HDFC Securities. In the previous session, the precious metal had concluded at ₹64,200 per 10 grams. Spot gold prices (24 carats) in the Delhi markets are trading at ₹65,000 per 10 grams, up by ₹800, taking bullish cues from the overseas markets.

In a remarkable achievement, Army Hospital (R&R), Delhi Cantt, executed a non-surgical life-saving paediatric cardiac intervention on an eight-year-old child, setting a rare precedent in medical excellence. The paediatric cardiology team of the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) demonstrated exceptional proficiency by successfully conducting a high-risk transcatheter cardiac procedure at the hospital.