Country Financial News

NEW DELHI : Micron Technology Inc. intends to build several semiconductor assembly and packaging units in India in addition to its proposed fabrication unit, minister of state for electronics and information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, as the US-based company takes a long-term view of the country as a market and manufacturing destination for semiconductors. The minister said Micron’s first investment in India catalyzed the transition of fence sitters willing to consider the country as a serious part of their semiconductor assembly and eventually manufacturing plans; therefore, it was in the government’s interest to ensure that the company’s first plant is operational and functional at the earliest.

International Trade Centre (ITC), a United Nations-WTO joint venture, has begun work on developing a prototype of Global Trade Helpdesk to enhance information access for small businesses in line with the G20 plan for trade endorsed at the New Delhi summit, Pamela Coke Hamilton, its executive director, told ET. The ‘Jaipur Call for Action’ under India’s G20 presidency has roped in Geneva-based ITC for “appropriate, aggregated, trade-related information relevant for MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises)” available on a single portal and a non-exhaustive list of links to relevant government websites for MSMEs. The New Delhi declaration adopted last week by the G20 leaders had endorsed the proposal. “We will have an initial report on the Global Trade Helpdesk for members next year – to be shared at our annual meeting of stakeholders – and the plan is to work towards building a prototype,” Coke Hamilton said in an interview to ET.

Apple has set the ball rolling by supporting India's homegrown global positioning system (GPS), NavIC (Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System). GoI hopes to persuade other mobile handset-makers to incorporate the positioning system that uses a clutch of indigenous satellites to cover an area of 1,500 km beyond India's borders. Apple is leading the way in showcasing Indian technological capability to a wider audience.

Narendra Modi has often highlighted, including in the recent G20 Summit, the growing role of women in different fields in the country. Asked about the government's stand on the demands by various parties to bring the women's reservation bill in the five-day session, Joshi said the government will take "an appropriate decision at an appropriate time". In the last few weeks, several parties, including the BJD and the BRS, have demanded reviving the bill, while the Congress also passed a resolution for it at its Hyderabad Congress Working Committee meeting on Sunday.

Companies considering India as an investment destination are concerned over long-term outlook of the India-China relationship, besides factors such as competitiveness, the Centre-state polity, societal conflicts, short-term infrastructure and skill availability, said Nick Allan, chief executive of risk consultancy firm Control Risk. This is particularly relevant, considering several American, European, and Japanese companies are exploring India as a key part of their China-plus-one strategy. “In the long term, you know, people question, where’s India and China’s relationship heading? There’s no question that India is emerging as a competitor in a number of spheres to China.

NEW DELHI : The union health ministry may shortly notify proposed amendments to rules in order to make good manufacturing practice (GMP) mandatory for all pharmaceutical firms after a spate of scandals linking Indian-made drugs to children’s deaths abroad. With the Indian drugs failing quality checks in other countries, the government recently made GMP mandatory for micro, small and medium enterprises manufacturing drugs.

real estate holdings that are sought to be kept secret. The aim is to improve tax transparency and compliance. This push could eventually lead to a new global reporting framework for property assets.

NEW DELHI : Prime minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched a ₹13,000 crore PM Vishwakarma scheme that aims to help artisans and craftsmen with collateral-free loans and other financial incentives and training for upskilling. Under the scheme, artisans would get collateral-free credit of up to ₹3 lakh at a concessional interest rate of 5%.

Foxconn, Taiwan-based Apple supplier, has said that they are planning to double their investment and workforce in India within the next twelve months, according to V Lee' LinkedIn post on the occasion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 73rd birthday. Taiwan-based Foxconn, the world's largest contract manufacturer of electronics, has rapidly expanded its presence in India by investing in manufacturing facilities in the south of the country as the company seeks to move away from China.

Narendra Modi's birthday. He also distributed cheques to self-help groups under the National Rural Livelihood Mission. The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Rural beneficiaries were granted Rs 5,000 to buy utensils and household items. Dhami distributed the housing approval letters, keys and the cheques to 11 mostly women Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Rural beneficiaries beneficiaries at a function in his official residence.

Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor Company and Eicher Motors are among Indian automakers working on range of eco-friendly technologies, including biogas, flex-fuel and ethanol, to achieve the government’s goal of clean mobility in line with the Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA) announced at the G20 Summit. While two-wheeler makers such as Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, and TVS are looking to commercially launch one model each running on flex fuel by October 2024, carmakers such as Maruti Suzuki are developing vehicles powered by biogas which would be carbon neutral. For passenger vehicles, the timelines for mass introduction of flex fuel vehicles have been set at April 2027 given the complex product mix and volume constraints. Vinod Aggarwal, president of industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) said there has been significant progress in biofuels and alternate fuels. “The industry has showcased flex fuel vehicles on pilot basis in both two wheelers and passenger cars.

ICG) ship Samudra Prahari, a specialised pollution control vessel, is currently on an overseas deployment to ASEAN countries, officials said on Sunday. The deployment is from September 11 to October 4, according to an official statement. This deployment is part of India's ASEAN initiatives for marine pollution response, showcasing the pollution response capabilities of the ICG and its commitment to addressing marine pollution issues and enhancing capacity in the region, the statement said. The ship is equipped with a Chetak helicopter in pollution response configuration, enhancing its capabilities in the area.

₹7-10 per kg of cost to the tea sold. Still, it generates large unsold odd-lots. In any case, only about 40% of the tea gets sold through tea auctions.

By Ahmed Elumami and Ayman al-Warfali

Defence Ministry has approved the procurement of a regiment of 'Pralay' ballistic missiles for the Indian Army for deployment along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and Line of Control (LoC), that is, borders with China and Pakistan respectively. «This is a major decision for the Indian Army as the proposal to acquire a regiment of the Pralay ballistic missiles which can hit targets between 150-500 Km, was cleared by the recent Defence Acquisition Council meeting,» defence officials told ANI. The Army would be deploying these missiles with conventional warheads and using them in tactical roles. The decision to buy these missiles comes soon after a similar proposal was cleared by the government for the Indian Air Force, they said. As per sources, the acquisition of these ballistic missiles is being seen as a big development for the country which now has a policy that allows the use of ballistic missiles in tactical roles. «Both China and Pakistan have ballistic missiles which are for tactical roles.

Airbus C295 medium tactical transport aircraft in India will be a «game changer» as it would facilitate the creation of a world-class aerospace ecosystem in the country that would help in manufacturing other planes in the long-run, Indian Ambassador to Spain Dinesh K Patnaik said here. The Indian Air Force received the first C295 aircraft on Wednesday, two years after New Delhi sealed a Rs 21,935-crore deal with Airbus Defence and Space to procure the planes. Under the deal, Airbus will deliver the first 16 aircraft in 'fly-away' condition from its final assembly line in Seville by 2025 and the subsequent 40 aircraft will be manufactured and assembled by Tata Advanced Systems (TASL) in India as part of an industrial partnership between the two companies. «The C295 project will be a game-changer project as it will create a world-class aerospace ecosystem in India,» Patnaik told PTI in an interview. The first 'Make in India' C295 is set to come out of a production facility in Vadodara in September 2026 and the final aircraft is expected to be delivered to the IAF by August 2031. It will be the first military aircraft to be produced in India by a private consortium. Officials said India is looking at procuring more C295 aircraft to replace the Indian Air Force's ageing transport fleet. After Airbus handed over the first plane to the IAF, Patnaik said the C295 project is not only about procurement of the aircraft but it carries much more significance in terms of the creation of an aerospace eco-system in India. «We still do not have a private aerospace eco-system in India whereas all major countries have such ecosystems.

Hyderabad. “It is my dream to see Congress government in Telangana that will work for all sections of society" Sonia Gandhi said at the election rally. Sonia Gandhi on Sunday appealed to people to support the Congress.

Indian Railways after a recent RTI query revealed that the Lucknow division of the Northern Railways spent ₹69.5 lakh between 2020 and 2022 "to catch rats". Reacting to the RTI reply, Surjewala took to X (formally known as Twitter) and wrote, “Railways spent ₹41,000 and six days in catching a rat! By spending a total of ₹69.40 lakh, 156 rats were caught in 3 years! This is the condition of the Lucknow region alone." "All over the country, the ‘rats of corruption’ are picking people's pockets every day… Result: Under BJP rule, people are hit by rampant inflation every day. Even the concession given to the elderly in rail fares has been eaten away! Still, he says - ‘Neither will I eat nor will I let you eat..’ !" Surjewala added.

G20 summit successfully concluded in New Delhi last week, it managed to generate some positive headlines for India globally. Even India’s staunchest critics had to concede that contrary to their expectations, New Delhi managed to pull off a successful summit at a time when geopolitical and developmental fault-lines have been sharpening by the day. Despite the absence of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin (and perhaps because of it), a large part of the world agreed and put its stamp on India’s global developmental priorities.

agricultural produce. Ethanol yielding crops like sugarcane and corn are used for it and their acreage has been increasing across the world. Yet, as it involves a diversion of farm resources away from primary purposes like nutrition, output constraints will kick in sooner than we’d like.

Elon Musk on Sunday vouched that his social media company X, formerly Twitter, will fight for maximum freedom of speech under the law. Musk said that while his company follows the aforesaid policy, anyone working at X who does not comply with the principle can join «other social media companies who sell their soul for a buck», he wrote in a post on X.