Country Financial News

Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Officer (Marketing and Sales), Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, says: “We could expect the month to end around the 375,000 mark for the industry, that should be about 11% growth over last year. March being the last month of the financial year, we are expecting industry sales to be about 42,35,000 or thereabouts which should be a growth of about 8.8% over last year's figure of Rs 38.9 lakh.” Just going by the kind of comments that we have got from the Minister Nitin Gadkari on lower tax on hybrid vehicles, how are you looking at that getting cheaper soon? What would that potentially mean? Shashank Srivastava: We will have to wait and see how it pans out. At the moment, hybrids are doing pretty well. The duty on hybrids is 43% compared to 5% on EVs. But despite that, hybrids have been doing pretty well. In the last six months, hybrids have been outselling EVs. A total of 52,500 approximately in the last six months against 48,300 for EVs. One of the big reasons why hybrids have been doing well is that there is no range anxiety associated with it.

Holi. The holiday-shortened next week will have only three trading sessions as exchanges will again be shut on Friday, March 29 on account of Good Friday. On Monday, the country's largest non-agri commodity market, the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) will also be shut for trading in the morning session between 9 am and 5 pm but open for trading in the evening session between 5 pm and 9 pm. As for the agri-commodity index, no trading will take place on this day.

Indian Railways has announced plans to run approximately 540 additional train services. These services will connect various key cities across the country, including Mumbai, Patna, Gaya, Katra, Varanasi, Saharanpur, Prayagraj, Pune, and Ambala. Notably, there will be extra departures from New Delhi to accommodate the increased demand. According to the Ministry of Railways, these additional trains will cover major national routes, such as Delhi-Patna Delhi-Bhagalpur

Malaysia has declined the opportunity to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games due to financial concerns, as confirmed by the Ministry of Youth and Sports. This decision comes after the withdrawal of Victoria, Australia, last year. The Ministry stated, 'The government has decided not to accept the offer from the Commonwealth Games Federation.' The 2026 event will not be held in Malaysia, citing cost reasons. Earlier yesterday, Malaysia's sports minister Hannah Yeoh had expressed hesitation regarding the country's potential hosting of the 2026 Commonwealth Games, highlighting financial considerations. The uncertainty arose after the original host, the Australian state of Victoria, withdrew last year, citing escalating costs. This withdrawal cast doubt on the fate of the quadrennial event, which primarily involves former British colonies, prompting discussions on its benefits and relevance.

Holi, which falls on March 25, 2024, will commence from 2:30 PM, announced officials on Friday. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) stated that no services will be available until 2:30 PM on all lines, including the Rapid Metro/Airport Express Line, but will resume thereafter as usual.

Gold And Silver Prices Today : Gold prices saw a slight increase on Friday.The cost of 24 carat gold is Rs.6798.5 per gm up by Rs.194.0.The cost of 22 carat gold is Rs.6227.4 per gm up by Rs.178.0. The price change in 24 carat gold in the last one week has been 0.45% .whereas in the last month it has been -5.17%. The cost of "" + "silver" + "" is Rs.78600.0 per kg up by Rs.1700.0 per kg.

HANOI (Reuters) — U.S. food and drink maker PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Inc has committed to investing an additional $400 million in Vietnam to build two new plants powered by renewable energy in the country, its government said on Friday.

The International Monetary Fund says the economic situation in debt-stricken Sri Lanka is improving gradually from the country's worst economic crisis two years ago

₹87 per capita in rural areas and ₹62 per head in urban zones. For the country as whole, it is ₹129,910 crore in current prices, with a large part of the total accounted for by a cereal subsidy, at ₹122,772 crore. Even this food subsidy figure is low compared to the reported expenditure on free foodgrain provision under the PMGKAY at more than ₹250,000 crore.

Investing.com-- Oil prices fell in Asian trade on Friday, and were set for a muted finish to the week as reports of renewed calls for a Israel-Hamas ceasefire pointed to fewer supply disruptions in the Middle East.

Golden Visa program, aimed at addressing the pressure on the country's property market. Investors seeking residency rights will now need to invest a minimum of €800,000 ($873,280) in popular areas like Athens, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini, and other islands with a population exceeding 3,100 inhabitants, according to a statement from the Finance Ministry. This adjustment follows a previous doubling of the required investment amount in popular areas, raising it to €500,000 in August. Additionally, in other parts of the country, the minimum investment threshold will rise to €400,000 from €250,000. Investors are limited to purchasing a single property with a minimum surface area of 120 square meters (1291.7 square feet), which cannot be utilized for short-term rental purposes. Effective from March 31, the revised investment thresholds aim to bolster the supply of long-term rental housing and mitigate the impact of the Golden Visa program on housing costs, as per the ministry's statement.

Congress high command on Thursday to contest from Jaipur in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Congress leader Sunil Sharma asserted that the people of Jaipur are eager to bring change in the impending election. «Jaipur has not been able to secure its place among the top 25 clean cities in the country, which is quite painful. If Jaipur continues like this, it will not remain liveable, hence the people of Jaipur want a change. And I believe that this election will be an election of momentous change,» he told ANI. Sunil Sharma's name was announced by the grand old party in its third list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, including five from Rajasthan.

By James Pomfret and Greg Torode

Arvind Kejriwal, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi Thursday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of adopting dictatorial tactics to suppress dissent and destroy democracy in the country. "A scared dictator wants to create a dead democracy," the Wayanad MP said in a post on microblogging platform X (formerly Known as Twitter) in Hindi, without naming anyone.

Income and wealth inequality in India are at a historical peak with the share of the richest 1% higher than in countries like China and Brazil, finds a new study by the World Inequality Lab. Left unattended, India could slide into a plutocracy, the authors warn. Mint takes a look.

Mint that Inox Wind, a group company focused on wind energy solutions, plans to set up a C&I vertical to primarily cater to the group’s captive power demand, which is around 500-600 MW. Noida-headquartered INOXGFL Group is present in chemicals manufacturing and renewable energy businesses through Gujarat Fluorochemicals Ltd (GFL); GFCL EV Products Ltd; GFCL Solar & Green Hydrogen Products Ltd; Inox Wind Ltd; Inox Green Energy Services Ltd; and Inox Wind Energy Ltd. Inox Green Energy Services Ltd is one of the major wind power operations and maintenance (O&M) service providers in the country, servicing a 3.2 giga watt (GW) portfolio.

WTO) that they have reached a mutually agreed solution on the outstanding dispute on poultry imports from Washington, thereby resolving all of their seven disputes at the global trade watchdog. In 2015, India lost a long-pending dispute over poultry imports from the US at the WTO. India had prohibited the import of various agricultural products from the US because of concerns related to Avian Influenza.

Trinamool Congress candidate from Murshidabad's Baharampur and former cricketer Yusuf Pathan started his political innings on Thursday by kicking off his campaign, asserting that he is Bengal's child and that he is here to stay. Baharampur is known as the stronghold of Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, whose name is yet to be announced by his party from the constituency. «Our Prime Minister Narendra Modiji is from Gujarat but he contests from Varanasi. You should have people's love and capability and desire to work, then you can fight from anywhere in the country. This is my home, so what's the problem if I contest from here (Bengal)? I am Bengal's child. I have come here to stay,» Pathan said when asked about the questions raised about him being an outsider in Bengal. He added, «I have a big team here. This is completely a different pitch but the asking rate is the same. The aim of my team will be the same, which is to score runs faster and win the match.» Pathan also held his first public programme in Baharampur where he was welcomed by local Trinamool leaders, including dissident leader Humayun Kabir, and others. A huge crowd had assembled to greet the new Trinamool candidate here.

Indian Premier league (IPL) 2024 will be played this year from March 22 when Chennai Super Kings play the Faf Du Plessis-led Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the iconic MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. This is one of the biggest sports leagues in the world, coming in sixth overall in terms of viewership, according to a report. Cricket is keenly followed by countries across the world, mostly in Commonwealth countries. IPL is typically followed in many regions including Canada.

IPL starting today, the tournament has come a long way as a multinational sporting franchise despite its tender age of 16 years. The T20 league has managed to draw the biggest names in cricket and has raised the level of the game. This, in turn, has helped cricket grow deeper roots in a country obsessed with the sport, and made a difference to lesser franchises such as the Women's League, which concluded its second edition with much success last week.

By Alexandra Alper