India Financial News

Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is working on making regulations for nutraceuticals and health supplements more stringent after it found many non-compliant products in the market, said officials. Nutraceuticals are products derived from food sources that are believed to provide extra health benefits, besides the basic nutritional value found in foods, and can be available in the form of pills, syrups, capsules, powders, gummies and chewables. «The popularity of these products has increased manifold as consumers have become more health conscious,» said a senior FSSAI official, who did not wish to be identified. «We want to make the standards more stringent for the safety of consumers.»

Electric car sales in India fell to their lowest level in five months in February even as companies took steep price cuts, indicating it would take more than just a lower acquisition cost to nudge buyers to shift to EVs in India where automakers are committing billions of dollars for the switch to electric mobility. Cumulative sales in February dropped to 7,277 vehicles, the lowest since October, showed data from the government's Vahan portal. So far, this month, EV registrations have fallen to 204 units per day on average, the lowest in 11 months, signalling that the softening of sales is set to continue. Sales are set to slow further with less than 20 days left before the end of incentives under the government's Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India) scheme. These incentives are applicable to cars used in the commercial fleet, which comprise a significant portion of EV sales, and with the impending general election, automakers are unsure if the scheme would be extended. Anticipating slowing sales, Tata Motors has cut production in April and May, following a similar move in March, said people aware of the company's plans. Sales of Tata's EV registrations fell 13% sequentially in March. This month Tata Motors plans to produce 2,200 to 2,500 EVs against a peak of 4,500 units about 4-5 months ago. The company is likely to maintain similar production levels for the next two months, said the person cited above.

coal sector is set to ramp up renewable energy capacity to over 9 GW by 2030, from the current 1.7 GW, the coal ministry said on Tuesday. The ministry is actively promoting the deployment of both rooftop solar and ground-mounted solar projects across mining facilities.

FM Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday held deliberations with stakeholders from various sectors to identify actionable ideas to boost growth and realise the goal of turning India into a developed nation by 2047. The participants included experts from various industries, start-ups, sunrise and emerging sectors, fintech, infrastructure, banking and financial services, social sector, academia and think tanks, the finance ministry said in a statement.

digital competition law with a set of dos and don'ts under an ex-ante framework to address potential abuse of dominance or other antitrust concerns involving big tech companies. The new law, the panel says, would apply only to «systemically significant digital enterprises» (SSDE) that have «significant presence» in India, leaving small firms out of its ambit to not stifle innovation. The penalty for violations of the law could be as high as 10% of the relevant entity's global turnover, it suggests. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs released on Tuesday the panel's report and a draft bill, seeking public comments by April 15.

«Overall robust GDP growth of the country in the third quarter of FY24 has helped the auto sector...The industry expects the growth momentum to continue,» said Vinod Aggarwal, president of Siam. As per data available with the society, 370,786 cars, sedans and utility vehicles were sold in the country last month, an increase of 10.8% over 334,790 units sold in February 2023.

IUML), a Kerala-based political party, has petitioned the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the implementation of Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024. The Centre on Monday notified the rules which effectively brought into force the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019 (CAA). The IUML was one of the petitioners which, in 2019, had challenged the CAA in the top court.

Hapur mob lynching case wherein 45-year-old Qasim was lynched by a group on the «rumour» of cow slaughter while 65- year-old Samiuddin was brutally assaulted. The Court of Additional Sessions Judge Hapur convicted the ten accused under sections 302/149, 307/149, 147, 148 and 153A of the Indian Penal Code. They were sentenced to life imprisonment with a fine of ₹58,000 each. Notably, the families of the victims had not sought a death sentence for the convicts and said that they did not have any enmity against the accused and only wanted justice.

The Asia Pacific (APAC) region, with over 50 diverse countries, is currently experiencing phenomenal economic growth. Home to more than half the world’s population (52% in 2023) and economic giants like Japan and India, the region’s GDP (35.4% of the world’s in 2023) has surpassed that of North America and Europe. This trajectory is projected to continue, with APAC projected to grow at 4.2% in 2024 by the International Monetary Fund, significantly faster than the global pace of 2.9%, with the economies of countries like India and Bangladesh expected to expand at double the world’s rate.

B2B) and manufacturing technology sectors constituted 56% of the new listings on the mainboard over the last five years, Boston Consulting Group and venture capital firm Matrix Partners said in a joint report. According to the latest ‘Digitizing Make in India’ report, within the B2B space, there had been 11 initial public offerings in the past five years in the specialty chemical industry, featuring companies such as Chemplast and Senmar.

Laptop and personal computer maker HP India will roll out its domestic expansion plans over the next 9-12 months to cater to the demand for the devices in the country which has «no end», HP India managing director Ipsita Dasgupta said, adding that the company was in talks with several Indian and multi-national companies but most of these plans are works in progress as of now. «If you look at our business in India, we are the second biggest employee base in the world after the US. We look exactly like the US in the sense that we have every functional capability that we have globally, sitting in India. Growing some of those is something that excites HP,» Dasgupta said in her first interview after taking over as HP India MD.

Tejas fighter crashed on Tuesday, the first such incident reported from this fleet in over seven years of its operation. The jet was heading back after a firepower display at the Pokhran ranges that was witnessed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when it crashed. The pilot managed to eject to safety and the plane crashed into civilian structures on the ground, but no injuries have been reported. It is learnt that prior to the crash, the pilot indicated an engine failure in a distress message. Videos shot by bystanders showed the pilot ejecting from the fighter jet, which is seen veering towards the ground at slow speed.

India can play a key role in building a resilient global electronics supply chain, said Cristiano Amon, chief executive of US chip giant Qualcomm Inc. In an interview with ET's Romit Guha and Himanshi Lohchab, Amon said the country has an opportunity to create large companies that serve both the domestic and global markets in areas such as semiconductor packaging and manufacturing. Edited excerpts: What are the opportunities for Qualcomm in India? There's an incredible opportunity with the transition to 5G. But it's not only 5G, but also the incredible opportunity that is developing with Gen AI and the opportunity to do Gen AI at the edge, not only at data centres, but across many different industries. What's Qualcomm's investment plan for India? India is our largest R&D site outside San Diego. We have a presence in a number of sites — from Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and Noida. The majority of our chips are designed in India, both hardware and software. With the world looking for alternatives to make the overall electronic supply chain more resilient, we see that India has an important role to play, an opportunity to create over time, very large Indian companies serving not only the Indian market, but also global, whether it's smartphone industrial modules, whether it's semiconductor packaging, and eventually semiconductor manufacturing.

Narendra Modi will on Wednesday lay the foundation stone of the Tata-Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp chip fabrication unit at Dholera and the CG Power-Renesas outsourced assembly and test (OSAT) facility at Sanand in Gujarat as well as the Tata OSAT unit at Morigaon in Assam. He will inaugurate all three units virtually, an official release from the government said. “13th March 2024 — a special day in India's efforts to become a hub for semiconductors. Tomorrow, will take part in the ‘India’s Techade: Chips for Viksit Bharat’ programme and lay the foundation stones for three semiconductor facilities worth over Rs. 1.25 lakh crore. Among the highlights of the programme will be the participation of students from over 60,000 institutions,” Modi posted on the micro-blogging site X.

Movie marketing in the Indian film industry is like navigating a labyrinth of missed opportunities and hastily executed ideas, often accompanied by overspent budgets. After more than 100 years of Indian cinema, movie marketing seems stuck in a rut of recycled gimmicks presented as disruptive ideas by hustlers whose main audience appears to be film producers rather than a relevant target audience. In a business where a largely perishable product must quickly make an impact within limited resources, content marketing can’t just be about random ideas favoured by a select few.

companies are likely to provide better salary hikes this year than those headquartered abroad to their India-based employees, continuing a trend that started two years ago, according to a survey. Professional services firm Aon, which surveyed more than 1,400 organisations in 45 sectors, estimates India-based companies to pay a 9.6% increment on average and foreign-headquartered firms to pay 9.3%. Compared with 2023, the hikes will be smaller for both groups.

fertiliser subsidy receivables. This follows the government's move to offer direct benefit transfer (DBT) to fertiliser companies based on actual sales of retailers to beneficiaries. Currently, a special exemption is given by the Reserve Bank of India, which allows banks to finance fertiliser subsidy receivables for a period of 60 days. «This was meant to be a short-term measure. It is being reviewed, but no final decision has been made. We have received some suggestions from banks, and those are being examined,» said an official aware of the matter. Under the fertiliser DBT system, 100% subsidy on various fertiliser grades is released to fertiliser companies based on actual sales made by the retailers to the beneficiaries.

previous UPA government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that efforts were made to destroy ordnance factories and even Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) was brought to the brink due to misgovernance and dependence on imports to meet requirements of the armed forces. Speaking at Pokhran after witnessing a firepower demo by the three services utilising indigenous equipment, the PM said that prior to 2014, there were worries about ammunition reserves of the armed forces and scams had stymied procurement processes. «They destroyed our ordnance factories. We have given them a lifeline and have made them into seven big companies now. They brought HAL to the brink of disaster, we have converted it into a record breaking company,» the PM said after witnessing the 'Bharat Shakti' exercise.

Political parties in Jammu and Kashmir met the visiting delegation of the Election Commission of India in Srinagar on Tuesday and urged it to hold assembly elections concurrently with the Lok Sabha elections. The ECI team, led by chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar, arrived in Srinagar on a three-day visit and held interactions with parties, including National Conference, People's Democratic Party, Congress, BJP and CPI (M). The Panthers Party delegation, led by Harsh Dev Singh, was not allowed to meet the ECI team. The party protested outside the meeting venue in Srinagar, alleging «BJP-ECI nexus» is ruining the democratic institution. Leaders of other parties said the ECI delegation heard their suggestions with passion and its attitude seemed to be «considerate».

regional developments and the urgent need to address the issue of humanitarian assistance to Gaza which is facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity. ET has learnt that Doval tried to impress upon Netanyahu the need for an immediate ceasefire in the backdrop of Ramazan. NSA also referred to the need for a two-state solution to achieve a permanent and durable peace even as the two sides discussed stronger responses to terror attacks. They also discussed efforts to release hostages and the issue of humanitarian assistance. This was the first high-level visit from India to Israel since the October 7 terror attack.

NEW DELHI : Digital economy firms violating provisions of an upcoming competition law to govern them may be penalized up to 10% of their global turnover, a top government panel recommended. The corporate affairs ministry panel led by its secretary Manoj Govil on Tuesday proposed a new set of compliance obligations for influential digital economy firms such as Google, Apple and Meta.