India Financial News

Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn is looking to move up the value chain to go beyond smartphones and make products for sectors like information and communication technology (ICT), electric vehicles (EV), batteries as part of their EV strategy and digital health in its next phase of growth in India, its chairman Young Liu told ET on Saturday. “Foxconn is very well known for its vertical integration capabilities. Definitely, we want to move up on the value chain as much as we can in India. That’s what we will be doing in the ICT sector,” Liu said on the sidelines of the inauguration of the company’s massive industrial housing project in Sriperumbudur. “For sectors other than ICT, we think (we will focus on) EVs and energy and also the digital health industry, like wearables for personal use, home use type of medical devices,(and) in hospitals you can have cloud-based digital health systems,” he added. In the case of energy, Foxconn is looking to target batteries, which will be related to its larger EV strategy. Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) will play a “very big part” in the company’s strategy as it makes “a lot of impossible things possible,” he said.

Bangladesh and moves to build relationships with other political parties instead of «focussing on one person and party», several political analysts and foreign relation and security experts said on Sunday. After the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, 84, took oath as the Chief Adviser of the interim government on August 8 amid violence and chaos. Hasina, 76, fled to India on August 5 after she was forced to resign following a massive protest by students against a quota system in government jobs. «I think understanding should be the starting point for resetting our relationship, having that we have our interdependence, so we need each other to recalibrate our relationship,» head of the leading thinktank Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) Humayun Kabir told PTI.

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini announced that the state cabinet has accepted the Haryana Scheduled Caste Commission Report on Saturday. He added that a 20 per cent quota in government jobs will be reserved for scheduled castes in the state. While addressing a press conference in Chandigarh, Saini said, «Today, the Haryana Scheduled Caste Commission Report was accepted by the cabinet. A 20 per cent quota in government jobs will be reserved for scheduled castes, with the commission recommending that 10 per cent of this quota be allocated to the deprived scheduled castes.» He further stated that the rule would be implemented after the assembly elections, in adherence to the code of conduct provided by the Election Commission of India.

deep tech and space. Investing in such enterprises is not easy as it requires a deep understanding of sciences and a long investment horizon. Some of the companies it has invested in like CynLr, Ultraviolette and Agnikul are moving into the monetisation stage, and Speciale Invest is looking for the next big thing, says Arjun Rao, partner, Speciale Invest, in an interview with ET. Edited excerpts: When you started, there was little institutional money for deep tech in India. Things have changed. Has your approach changed too? Our initial thesis was that there is talent in the country for developing deep tech. From a demand perspective, there are enough problems to be solved, which will require deep tech companies to be built over the next decade and longer.

Tech services major ServiceNow has realised $10 million in annualised tangible gains due to cost savings and increased productivity across the organisation as a result of Gen AI usage, a top executive said. The company’s artificial intelligence-enhanced product Now Assist — which offers virtual agent customer support, customer service management, HR service delivery, ITOps management, field service management, strategic portfolio management, AI search, etc — has become the company’s fastest growing product with 11 deals exceeding $1 million in annual contract value in Q2 (April-June), Pat Casey, CTO and EVP of DevOps, ServiceNow told ET.

A body style that is finding favour with several of them is coupé, with Citroen and Tata Motors already launching SUVs with the distinct design feature of the roof sloping steeply towards the rear that so far has been found mostly in luxury vehicles. Mahindra & Mahindra is exploring a coupé version of the XUV7OO SUV and also in its electric vehicle line-up, while Volkswagen as well as Renault have coupé SUVs in their pipelines for India, said people in the know. Luxury-car makers Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar Land Rover and Porsche already sell coupé SUVs in India.

wealthtech startups. And venture firms are pouring in millions of dollars to support these nascent businesses. Data from market intelligence platform Tracxn shows that investors have collectively put around $228 million into Indian wealthtech startups over the past two years. Till date in 2024, the sector has already attracted investments of around $70 million. The opportunity is huge, industry insiders said, citing the rapidly increasing number of high net-worth individuals (HNIs) in the country.

India hired around 152,000 people in the first half of 2024, up 14% from the previous six months but 9% lower than a year earlier, a survey has found. More than 75% of the hirings were to replace employees who had left. The gross hirings included attrition-linked replacement of about 118,000 employees and a net addition of 34,000, according to the survey conducted by specialist staffing firm Xpheno for ET, tracking data from 125 global capability centres (GCCs) that account for nearly three-fourths of India's total GCC headcount of 1.6 million. GCCs in semiconductor manufacturing, oil & gas and food & beverage services accounted for the largest number of net additions, both in the first half of 2024 and in the 12 months ended June 30, 2024, the survey has found.

India so far and plans more investment in the coming year, its Chairman Young Liu said on Saturday. Liu, a Padma Bhushan awardee, said that during his current visit he met various chief ministers and feels that India is on the rise. «So far, till last year, we have done USD 10 billion. We will do much more in this coming year,» Liu told PTI. He was speaking on the sidelines of the inauguration of the company's women-only residential complex near Foxconn's plant here.

West Bengal and across the country on Saturday started a 24-hour nationwide strike to protest the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the government-run RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata last week. The protest was called by the Indian Medical Association (IMA), the largest organisation of medical staff in the country, which has placed five demands including justice for the victim, a central law to protect healthcare workers from violence at workplaces, and a thorough overhaul of the working and living conditions of resident doctors. The West Bengal government, meanwhile, issued detailed guidelines and measures to be taken at hospitals, medical colleges and all workplaces for women across the state with the aim to provide safe working conditions, and launched a flagship programme, 'Rattirer Shaathi' (Helpers of night).

Leading companies such as Page Industries, which has the rights for the Jockey brand in India, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail, Arvind Fashions and Rupa & Co. have attested to this in earnings calls this month. A consumption recovery of inner wear, including men's underwear, is in sight with green shoots visible in the June quarter. Sentiment has also been boosted by sales kicking off through quick commerce.

But apart from the great Djokovic backhand compliment, Trump is really still perplexed if Kamala Harris is Indian or Black. In a public conversation at the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago on July 31, the kamala-haired one said, 'I've known her for a long time. Indirectly. Not directly, very much. And she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn't know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black. So, I don't know, is she Indian, or is she Black?' He made it clear he wasn't being disrespectful. 'I respect either one. But she was Indian all the way. And then, all of a sudden she made a turn and became a Black person.'

religious hatred towards minorities, particularly Hindus, in Bangladesh following the fall of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government. Attacks against minority groups, including the approximately 12 million Hindus, have resulted in many casualties. A number of groups in Bangladesh have held protest marches, including those representing Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity. While the situation is returning to an uneasy normal, what is surprising is almost no world leader spoke out against it. Would the international community's response have been different if the victims had been Muslims, Christians, or Jews instead of Hindus? With increasing polarisation around the world on a range of issues, the most visible and widening split is now based on religion, notably between Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic faiths.

Maruti Suzuki India on Saturday said it would need to increase provision for deferred tax liability by around Rs 850 crore due to the withdrawal of indexation benefit while calculating long-term capital gains on debt mutual funds. The company was making accounting provisions for deferred tax liability on fair value gains on these investments, Maruti Suzuki India said in a regulatory filing. A one-time impact on profit after tax will be felt in the second quarter of the ongoing fiscal, it added. In the Finance (No.2) Act 2024, the indexation benefit has been withdrawn while calculating long term capital gains on debt mutual funds which were purchased prior to April 1, 2023, it added.

Young Liu on Saturday asserted that the company hires employees regardless of gender but in India women, specially married women, have contributed greatly to its efforts. The chairman of the Taiwan-based iPhone contract manufacturer was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of its women-only residential complex here. The Foxconn chairman said there is an upward trend in all types of hiring by the Taiwanese electronics manufacturing major in India. "Foxconn hires regardless of gender, but women do make up a big part of our workforce here. I'd emphasise that married women greatly contribute to the efforts of what we are doing here," Liu said.

Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman could be extradited to India where is wanted for his involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack carried out by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists. «The (India US Extradition) Treaty permits Rana's extradition,» the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said in its ruling on Thursday. Ruling on an appeal filed by 63-year-old Rana, a panel of judges of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the District Court in the Central District of California's denial of his habeas corpus petition challenging a magistrate judge's certification of his as extraditable to India for his alleged participation in terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Rana, currently lodged in a jail in Los Angeles, faces charges for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai attack and is known to be associated with Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the terror incident that hit India's financial hub in 2008.

secular civil code", the All India Muslim Personal Law Board on Saturday underlined the Law Commission's 2018 assertion that a uniform civil code is neither necessary nor desirable and asserted that any attempt to bring it would be «unacceptable». The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) said it considers the prime minister's call for a secular civil code and terming religious personal laws as communal ones «highly objectionable». The AIMPLB said in no uncertain terms makes it clear that it is «unacceptable» to the Muslims as they will never compromise with the Muslim Personal Law.

siblings, steeped in centuries of tradition. Rakhi is marked by the simple yet profound act of tying a rakhi, a sacred thread, around a brother's wrist. This act is a sister's way of praying for her brother's health, and the brother promises to protect her throughout his life. Though modern times have brought new ways to celebrate, Raksha Bandhan's core rituals are still the same.

interim government, gave this assurance while addressing the third Voice of Global South Summit which was hosted by India in a virtual format. «You all are aware that Bangladesh witnessed a 'Second Revolution' on 5th August 2024, through a mass uprising spearheaded by our valiant students and joined by the masses,» the 84-year-old Nobel laureate said, referring to the political turmoil in his country, the resignation of prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her fleeing to India on August 5. Noting that the current interim government led by him was sworn in on August 8, Yunus said, «Our government is committed to ensuring a transition to inclusive and pluralistic democracy and creating an environment in which free, fair and participatory elections can be held.»

Raksha Bandhan is a festival revered by the majority of people in India that celebrates the special bond between siblings. Even if you live thousands of miles apart from your brother in the United States, United Kingdom, or Canada, you can still make this day special and memorable for them.