COST Financial News

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for the creation of an “investment-friendly charter’ during the ninth Governing Council Meeting of the Niti Aayog on 27 July. This charter will outline policies, programmes and processes to attract more investments. Despite India’s potential, foreign direct investment (FDI) data shows that the country has not fully capitalized on its opportunities.

Amid a 65.6% drop in transactions on the XRP Ledger and rising costs, the XRP price prediction becomes more uncertain as investors ponder its future viability.

Delays in justice deliver are among the biggest barriers in India to making it easier to do business and improving people’s ease of living. In a recent response, Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal informed Parliament that more than 50 million cases are pending in various courts across India, of which nearly 90% are in district and subordinate courts. This backlog not only burdens the judicial system, but also denies timely justice to millions of citizens, and the cost of it is borne not just by the economy, but by all of us.

Maruti Suzuki India is anticipating a policy framework that supports all clean technologies, enabling the transition from petrol and diesel cars to vehicles with eco-friendly technologies, as stated by Chairman RC Bhargava. In his address to shareholders in the company's 2023-24 annual report, Bhargava emphasised that industrial growth relies on stable policies and a predictable work environment. He also expressed optimism that in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's third term, the government will continue to focus on infrastructure development, maintaining fiscal discipline, controlling inflation, implementing reforms to enhance manufacturing competitiveness, and fostering trust in the private sector. «Some believe that your company has been slow to manufacture electric vehicles. We decided to adopt a more diversified approach to meeting national objectives and did not want to put all our eggs in one basket,» Bhargava wrote.

Investors who have been around are wondering if this is 1999 all over again with an imminent NASDAQ crash. Many others are pondering whether to sell, lock in profits, or buy more. The best approach, we believe, is to examine the data and make an objective decision.

transhipment port project at Great Nicobar Island in the Bay of Bengal is being finalised by the government, and it will go ahead with the implementation of the project in the next few months, a senior official said on Sunday. Great Nicobar Transhipment port project has been under scrutiny over environmental concerns. «The project has received the environmental clearances and nod from National Green Tribunal (NGT) and now there is no hurdle in its implementation. »The DPR of the project is also finalised and we are going ahead for its further implementation in the next few months," Ports, Shipping and Waterways secretary T K Ramachandran told PTI in an interview.

coaching centres will shut down within the next 10 to 15 years. This forecast follows a tragic incident in Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar area, where three civil services aspirants tragically drowned on July 27 due to flooding in a coaching centre's basement. In an interview with ANI, Kumar emphasized the need for a shift towards online education. «With the current pace of developments, I foresee a major transition in the coaching sector. Only a small fraction of online educational experiments have been conducted so far. Once high-quality online content and effective teaching methodologies are developed, online coaching will become more prevalent due to its cost efficiency and convenience for students,» Kumar stated.

record profits, state-owned fuel retailers Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), BPCL and HPCL posted up to 90 per cent slump in their June quarter earnings as margins fell and they booked under-recovery on the sale of domestic cooking gas LPG at government-controlled rates. IOC, the nation's largest oil firm, reported 81 per cent drop in standalone net profit in April-June — the first quarter of current 2024-25 fiscal year — to Rs 2,643.18 crore as opposed to a profit of Rs 13,750.44 crore a year back, according to a company filing. Net profit also declined sequentially, when compared to an earning of Rs 11,570.82 crore in March quarter. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) posted 90 per cent drop in profit to Rs 633.94 crore as compared to an earning of Rs 6,765.50 crore in April-June 2023 and Rs 2,709.31 crore in the preceding March quarter.

interest rates this week as a long-awaited, but potentially short-lived, divergence in monetary policies deepens. The Bank of Japan kicked off the action on Wednesday by unexpectedly hiking before the Federal Reserve decided to stay on hold while signaling a potential cut in September. On Thursday, the Bank of England lowered borrowing costs for the first time since the start of the pandemic. Data out Friday showed US hiring slowed markedly in July and the unemployment rate rose to an almost three-year high, raising recession concerns and putting the Fed solidly on a path to cutting interest rates in September. It also spurred a deep selloff in the stock market.

ShareChat has raised an additional $16 million in debt financing through convertible debentures, increasing the total size of its previous debt round to $65 million, the company said on Saturday. This funding comes as the company has laid off approximately 5% of its workforce, or around 40 employees. The reductions are part of a performance improvement plan (PIP) aimed at streamlining costs and achieving profitability. The new funding was provided by EDBI, a Singapore-based fund, which is also an investor in the home design and renovation platform Livspace.

China is the latest in a slew of countries planning to gradually raise the statutory retirement age as an aging world population is forcing governments to reform their pension plans.

seemingly unstoppable bull run, after months of hitting new all-time highs. Now they are in free fall. America’s Nasdaq 100 index, dominated by the tech giants that were at the heart of the boom, has fallen by more than 10% since a peak in mid-July.

SBI and Divi's Labs. Apart from the above, companies like Affle (India), Bank of India, Capri Global, Chemcon Speciality Chemicals, JK Tyre, Amara Raja Battery, Utkarsh SFB among others will also declare their first quarter results.

irrigation projects started between 1983 and 2018 in Telangana has doubled from over Rs 1 lakh crore to Rs 2 lakh crore as of March 2023, primarily due to their non-completion, the recent CAG report has revealed. According to the 2022-23 report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), which was presented in the state legislature on Friday, the state has been deprived of economic growth benefits, and there is no assured return on investments in irrigation and flood control due to incomplete projects. «There were 20 incomplete irrigation projects (commenced between 1983 and 2018) to be completed by the year 2023. The original cost of these projects has increased from Rs 1,02,388 crore to Rs 2,06,977 crore i.e., an escalation by Rs 1,04,589 crore (102 per cent),» reported PTI quoting the auditing watchdog.

Years ahead of the financial crisis, David Burt saw trouble brewing in subprime mortgages and started betting on a crisis, winning himself a cameo in The Big Short by Michael Lewis in addition to lots of money. Now Burt runs DeltaTerra Capital, a research firm he founded to warn investors about the next housing crisis. This one will be caused by climate change. In a webinar with journalists last month, Burt argued that US homeowners’ wildfire and flood risks are underinsured by $28.7 billion a year. As a result, more than 17 million homes, representing nearly 19% of total US home value, are at risk of suffering what could total $1.2 trillion in value destruction.

investors who took positions in FirstCry, Ola Electric and Unicommerce at the right time, with their investments set to become multibaggers when these new-economy startups go public next week. Investors such as SoftBank, Tiger Global, Mahindra & Mahindra and Matrix Partners India will see the value of their holdings in these firms surge anywhere between three times to ten times as they hit the public markets, according to calculations made by ET basis information available in the IPO prospectuses of these companies.

Tata Electronics is set to have the Bhoomi Poojan function for its first chip assembly and testing unit at Jagi Road, Assam on Saturday. The event, which is likely to take place at 10:30 am is expected to be attended by Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran. The Union Cabinet had in February approved proposals of three semiconductor plants, out of which two were in Gujarat and one in Assam, for an estimated cost of Rs 1.26 lakh crore.

Consumer durables makers in India are locked in a warranty war. Brands such as LG, Samsung, Haier, Godrej, Voltas Beko and Panasonic are competing to offer the best protection for refrigerators, air-conditioners, microwave ovens and washing machines. Consumers, mostly those above the age of 35, are readily taking up these offers, potentially boosting sales, say retailers. Brands are offering warranties of up to 10 years on the main component, such as the compressor of an AC or refrigerator, and up to 20 years on the motor of a washing machine or dishwasher, even referring to them as 'lifetime' assurance.

Central Board of Indirect taxes and Customs has asked field officials to take into account its June 26 circular when considering matters about related party import of services by local entities, people familiar with the development said. The move could provide relief to Infosys and other tech companies facing the threat of massive goods and services tax (GST) demands. As per the circular, if a related domestic entity has not issued an invoice for a service provided by its foreign affiliate, the cost of such services is deemed to be nil. Such services would, therefore, not attract any GST. On July 30, Bengaluru-headquartered tech firm Infosys received a Rs 32,403 crore pre-show cause notice from the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) for “non-payment of Integrated GST on import of services” from its foreign branches for the period July 2017, when GST was rolled out, to the FY22.

Jennifer Lopez's extravagant accessory selection has garnered media attention recently. The singer and actress was spotted shopping in the Hamptons on July 13 with Violet Affleck, her stepdaughter. Lopez was carrying an attractive straw and brown leather Hermes Kelly picnic bag. Lopez was seen carrying the bag out of a store in a TikTok video, and the user pointed out that even a pre-owned version of this product costs almost $70,000. The video gained 1.2 million views in a short period of time and sparked a wave of comments regarding how expensive the bag was, as per the reports of Yahoo entertainment.

economics were uttered by former US President George W Bush at the peak of the economic crisis in 2008. Bush said: “If money isn’t loosened up, this sucker could go down!” Participating in an interview with billionaire Dan Gilbert at the Detroit Homecoming event at the College for Creative Studies in 2014, Buffet said that what the president said were “the 10 most important words in the history of economics.”