India Financial News

more ‘optimistic’ about job creation than other sources, even those that use similar methodologies, and the criteria of who is employed or unemployed. The ILO estimates the labour force (the number of people employed or looking for jobs) grew by 99.2 million between 2000 and 2019. The workforce over the same period, or the number of people actually employed, grew at a slower rate—79.4 million people.

revival of rural spending has turned out to be a bright spot in the evolution of demand conditions, the Reserve Bank said in its Bulletin on Thursday. Global economic activity appears to be strengthening across advanced economies (AEs) and emerging market economies (EMEs) and global trade in goods and services is gathering momentum, said an article on 'State of Economy' published in the RBI's Bulletin. It further said monetary policy divergence is setting the tone for global economic developments. «In India, the second quarter of 2024-25 has begun with signs of quickening momentum in the economy,» said the article.

Gonda (Uttar Pradesh) on Thursday afternoon leading to multiple passenger deaths and injuries. Trains on the Lucknow-Gonda-Gorakhpur route had to be rerouted or cancelled after the incident. This is the second major train accident in less than two months on the Indian Railways network. Officials aware of the development said the Indian Railways is examining possibility of track sabotage as the train driver is said to have heard an explosion before the derailment. At least two casualties and up to seven injuries were officially confirmed by the Indian Railways till 5:30 PM. The accident had occurred at 2:37 PM.

Rs 1,000 crore, including a greenshoe option of Rs 200 crore. A greenshoe option is a provision that allows a fund to raise more capital than originally targeted if investor interest exceeds initial expectation.

Infosys, India’s second-largest IT services giant, has seen a reduction in its headcount during the April to June period by 1,908 employees, marking the sixth consecutive quarterly decline in its total workforce. Its total employees for the period ending June stood at 315,332 as compared to 317,240 in the March quarter. The employee count declined by 20,962 from a year ago.

Byju's has moved the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) against the recent order of NCLT that allowed cricket board BCCI's petition for initiating insolvency proceedings against the once-famed edtech company, sources said. Sources privy to the development said that the company is seeking an urgent hearing on the matter. Byju's did not comment on the issue.

KPI Green Energy Ltd.(up 5.01%), Karma Energy Ltd.(up 5.00%), Indo Tech Transformers Ltd.(up 5.00%), Power and Instrumentation(Gujarat)Ltd.(up 1.99%), JSW Energy Ltd.(up 0.63%) and KEC International Ltd.(up 0.43%) stood among the top gainers.

Nirmala Sitharaman gears up to present the Budget, scheduled for July 23, let's have a look at what the Budget Survey by ET Online said about the good, the bad, and the ugly of the Indian economy at the moment. The good, surprisingly, is that 'inflation is under control', the bad part is the global uncertainty and coalition politics. The ugly, and predictably, is India’s jobless growth. In the run-up to the Budget 2024, ET Online conducted a survey to get a sense of what India is looking for in the upcoming Union Budget. The survey received responses from nearly 9,500 Economic Times readers. Over 34 per cent of respondents believe that inflation being under control is the best thing about the Indian economy at the moment. More than 29 per cent of respondents opted for the country's healthy forex reserves as a key strength. Nearly 24 per cent chose the healthy balance sheets of businesses, while 12 per cent appreciate the ease of doing business in the current economic climate.

Havells India reported a 43% year-on-year rise in net profit to Rs 411 crore in the quarter ending June 2024. The revenue increased by 20% year-on-year to Rs 5,798 crore. The earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) grew by 43% year-on-year to Rs 576 crore.

Sensex on Thrsday jumped over 600 points and crossed the 81,000 mark for the first time, while Nifty inched closer to Mt 25K by crossing the hurdle at 24,800. As the buying momentum was led by heavyweight bluechips, small and midcap indices fell around 1% each. The combined market capitalization of all listed stocks on BSE, consequently, fell around Rs 80,000 crore to Rs 454.43 lakh crore.

Shares of Macrotech Developers Ltd.(up 1.15 per cent), Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd.(up 0.64 per cent), Phoenix Mills Ltd.(up 0.46 per cent) and DLF Ltd.(up 0.14 per cent) ended the day as top gainers in the pack.

Umang Dairies Ltd.(up 14.65%), JHS Svendgaard Laboratories Ltd.(up 4.98%), Gillette India Ltd.(up 3.13%), Mrs. Bectors Food Specialities Ltd.(up 2.83%), Hindustan Foods Ltd.(up 2.73%), Patanjali Foods Ltd.(up 2.66%), Marico Ltd.(up 2.63%), Emami Ltd.(up 2.42%), Bajaj Consumer Care Ltd.(up 2.03%) and Hindustan Unilever Ltd.(up 1.86%) stood among the top gainers.

«Having said that, if you look at the valuations basically, we have started discounting FY26 and FY27, so that basically means that we are probably headed into a phase of time correction, consolidation, probably some amount of value correction that we should be prepared for,» says S Krishnakumar, Lion Hill Capital. Which camp are you in – the cautious, happy camp which has made a lot of money last three-four years and now taking it easy or still on the ball, completely looking for good ideas and not very cautious on the market. S Krishnakumar: I think I belong to the first camp and been cautious but invested, so we have been probably making good returns last three-four years. Of course, with all the news flow around us that we see, India is in a sweet spot in terms of foreign interest and also on domestic flows that are coming through.

India's first overseas Jan Aushadi Kendra in Mauritius, testifying the «close» bilateral cooperation, especially in the key health sector. Jaishankar was in Mauritius on a two-day visit from June 16 to 17, one of the first countries he visited in his current term as External Affairs Minister. On Wednesday, he jointly inaugurated India's first overseas Jan Aushadi Kendra with Mauritian Prime Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, «testifying to the close cooperation between our countries, especially in the important sector of health,» the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. Jan Aushadhi Kendras have been set up to make affordable generic medicines available to all.

budget, global markets are buzzing with anticipation. Stakeholders in the urban development sector are especially hopeful for policy reforms and fiscal support from the Central Government under Modi 3.0. Following an 11% increase in infrastructure capital allocation in the interim budget, significant advancements in urban development are expected. With India’s urban population projected to reach 600 million by 2030, the demand for quality infrastructure and basic amenities in cities is soaring. The focus on urban development in India is anticipated to continue, with initiatives aimed at enhancing infrastructure and the quality of life in urban areas. The Government of India has been actively emphasising the enhancement of infrastructure, housing, and technology integration to boost overall urban living standards. Accordingly, there are several key expectations of the industry stakeholders related to the advancements in the urban development sector in India from the upcoming Budget 2024, which may be summarised as below -

e-commerce exports in India’s free trade agreements. To achieve $200-300 billion in e-commerce exports by 2030, the two organisations, in a report on Thursday, proposed cheaper financing through priority sector lending for such outbound shipments and increasing the consignment limit via courier route to $50,000 from $12,000 now. The report titled ‘Enabling e-commerce exports from India’ has recommendations on easing customs procedures, enabling robust reconciliations and payment settlement mechanisms and various policy interventions to push e-commerce exports which are estimated at $4-5 billion in FY23 accounting for 0.9-1.1% of India’s total merchandise exports. The report compares best practices followed in China where the consignment limit for e-commerce exports is $50,000, cross-border e-commerce pilot zones established to expedite customs clearances through a ‘green channel’, simplified export procedures like release-from-manifest and consolidated declaration, and preferential policies, warehouse facilities, and benefits including lower income tax in these zones.

Keki Mistry, Former VC & CEO, HDFC, says his experience over the years not only in India but in many other countries globally, is that when the tax rate is reduced, compliance is improved significantly and there is a greater urge to work and earn more income. So, a reduction in tax rates, whether it is a different tax rate and also the highest marginal tax rate, will go a long way in improving sentiment, including increasing productivity. At the end of the day, it will also result in higher savings and increased consumption.

Asian fund managers by brokerage BofA shows that the triad of Japan, India, and Taiwan continue to be at the top of investor mindshare, while China and Thailand lag at the bottom from an allocation perspective. Asia Pacific fund managers are 51% overweight Japan, 32% overweight India and 24% overweight Taiwan while China (net 43% underweight) is at the bottom of the table.

Mint, a spokesperson for Aegis Logistics, said, “Aegis Vopak Terminals Ltd (AVTL) is exploring options to fund future growth for AVTL. These options may include, among others, a potential fund raise by way of public issue, preferential issue, or a combination thereof, of the equity shares and debt for the JV company and as may be decided by the AVTL board in absolute discretion and permitted under applicable laws and regulations." The spokesperson added that the company has not yet made a final decision regarding the IPO, and it is still exploring its future funding options.

Having survived an assassination attempt, and shown defiance and fighting spirit while under attack, former US president Donald Trump has improved his chances of beating a frail-looking Joe Biden, who struggles to convince American voters that he retains the mental acuity to continue in office for another term. Should Trump emerge as the 47th President of the US, as is highly likely, global geopolitical and geoeconomic conditions would swiftly change, given his economic policy plan announcements. This will impact India directly and indirectly through the global spillovers.