Country Financial News

Cameron Mackay on Thursday said notwithstanding the recent tensions, the strategic interests of India and Canada are «absolutely aligned», and he was encouraged by the continuance of bilateral trade and investment relationship. Speaking at a seminar on 'India-Canada Business: The Way Forward' at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit here, he said this annual gathering of investors was a «great platform to reassert our business to business and people to people ties.» The relations between the two countries saw some bitterness last year following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegation about India's suspected involvement in the killing of Khalistani separatist and designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in his country.

Sundararaman Ramamurthy, MD & CEO, BSE, Radhika Gupta, MD & CEO, Edelweiss AMC and Harsh Jain, Co-Founder & COO, GROWW, in conversation with ET Now And how it has now become easier like we were earlier highlighting to participate into the entire mutual fund schemes? Sundararaman Ramamurthy: Yes, it has become much easier today for anybody to participate. It is all in mobile. I am sure Radhika will be able to throw more light onto it. What are the efforts that you have taken to ensure that mutual fund, particularly in your case, the penetration improves and more and more investors are able to access your mutual fund?

Jaguar Land Rover on Thursday reported record sales at 3,582 units for nine months ended December 31, 2023. The company said its sales rose 93 per cent year-on-year as compared to the April-December period of the last fiscal. Range Rover and Defender continue to lead with a year-on-year (YoY) rise of 250 per cent, contributing to over 75 per cent of the current order book, the automaker said. In the October-December quarter, the company reported a 74 per cent YoY growth, achieving retail sales of 1,226 units, it added. The newly launched Range Rover Velar witnessed a YoY sales growth of 183 per cent in the quarter, JLR said. «Over the past nine months, JLR's progress in India has been characterised by consistent and substantial growth. Each quarter has shown an impressive year-on-year surge of nearly 100 per cent,» JLR India Managing Director Rajan Amba said. The burgeoning order bank and continuous order intake signal a robust demand, underscoring promising future prospects, he added. "...the eagerly awaited Range Rover BEV has generated significant interest among clients across the country, and with our upcoming launches this quarter, we are poised to sustain our remarkable growth trajectory in India," Amba said. The company's order book at the end of the third quarter remained strong with a YoY growth of 92 per cent, it stated. The current total order book covers more than eight months of sales and is seeing a consistent increase month-on-month, it added.

Maruti Suzuki India plans to start exporting Electric Vehicles (EVs) from India this year after launching them in the country, a senior company official said on Thursday. The company also expects to export lithium-ion battery cells and modules worth around Rs 750 crore this fiscal.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) informed that owing to operational considerations, the exchange of Rs 2,000 notes will not be available on January 12 at the RBI's Mumbai Regional Office. The facility will resume on Monday, January 15, 2024, which is the next working day, the RBI stated. The last day to exchange Rs 2000 bank was October 07, 2023, after that individual can Rs 2000 banknotes entities at the 19 RBI Issue Offices for credit to their bank accounts in India for any amount. All About Tax-Saving Why Rs2000 denomination banknotes were withdrawn? According to the RBI FAQs, «The Rs 2000 denomination banknote was introduced in November 2016 under Section 24(1) of Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 (RBI Act) primarily with the objective of meeting the currency requirement of the economy in an expeditious manner after withdrawal of the legal tender status of all Rs 500 and Rs 1000 banknotes in circulation at that time.

Sundararaman Ramamurthy, MD & CEO, BSE, says “whether we accept it or not, every stock exchange, every MII is a fintech. It is dealing with finance and it is a technology company. So the moment you start thinking that you are a fintech in that perspective, you will be innovative, you will be trying to find areas where we need to be continuously on the run. I think not only BSE, everybody in this country needs to be adaptable to changes.” You have completed almost a year. Let us look at the BSE stock price in the last one year. We always say that markets get excited about a change of guard. In this case, magic has happened to your stock in the last one year. There has been a 300% return. Are you feeling happy, excited that shareholders are endorsing your leadership? Sundararaman Ramamurthy: The stock price is a culmination of demand and supply in the market, which comes from what market perceives as what currently is happening and what in future is going to happen. From a stock exchange perspective, it is more like a ladle in a big pot of kheer. The ladle does not know the sweetness of the kheer. The job of the ladle is to distribute it, whether it is sweet or not, the consumers decide.

Gujarat Global Summit, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman provided a comprehensive overview of the current financial ecosystem within the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City). Emphasizing the city's strategic importance, the Minister highlighted the significant presence of various financial entities and the thriving derivatives market. Sitharaman said, «There are now three exchanges, twenty-six banks, and twenty-six aircraft lessors in the IFSC. The GIFT City is required to host the offices of aircraft firms.

Henley Passport Index, released on Tuesday, India's passport has ascended to the 80th position worldwide. This elevated ranking now affords Indian citizens the privilege of unhindered exploration across 62 countries, alleviating the burden of intricate visa application procedures. The assessment of this ranking aligns with visa regulations effective as of January 11, as sourced from data provided by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). A cornerstone in displaying, organizing, and ranking global passports, the Henley Passport Index, reveals six countries — France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, and Spain — jointly holding the prestigious title of the world's most potent visa. Citizens from these nations enjoy the unprecedented freedom to traverse over 194 countries without dealing with pesky visa requirements. On the flip side, Afghanistan sits at the bottom rung of the list, granting its passport holders access to a mere 28 countries without a visa. Syria closely follows with visa-free entry to 29 destinations, trailed by Iraq with 31, and Pakistan with 34. Indian passport bearers can now revel in the liberty of visiting 62 countries, including Oman and Qatar, without the encumbrance of a visa. These destinations extend either visa-free entry or the convenience of visa-on-arrival for Indian travelers, as elucidated by the Henley Passport Index 2024. Here is the full list of destinations Indians can visit without getting a visa before travel:

Maharashtra is followed by Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh. Indore, Surat named cleanest cities in the annual survey. Notably, Indore bagged the title seventh time in a row.

Congress turned down the invitation for the 'Pran Pratistha' ceremony of Ram Temple, scheduled to be held on January 22, after which the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have slammed the grand old party, terming it «unfortunate, painful and shameful.» Earlier on Wednesday, Congress declared that it would skip the massive inauguration ceremony being planned for the Ayodhya Ram Temple, saying it was a «political project» of the BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Reacting to the issue, BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the 'Pran Pratistha' ceremony of Lord Ram is a matter of joy for the whole nation.

Ukraine has shown the world that Russia's military can be stopped, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday as he began a visit to the Baltic nations in search of more help for his country against the Kremlin's larger and better-supplied forces in the 22-month-old invasion. Speaking in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, Zelenskyy said Ukraine still must bolster its air defenses against Russia's intensified missile and drone onslaughts and replenish its ammunition supplies as long-range strikes become the main feature of this winter's fighting. «We have proven that Russia can be stopped, that deterrence is possible,» he said after talks with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on his first foreign trip of the year. The massive Russian barrages — more than 500 drones and missiles were fired between Dec. 29 and Jan.

Salaar: Part I Ceasefire has been running in cinemas for twenty days now. The movie has neared the ₹400 crore mark in box office collections, after performing well on its first 19 days at the box office. According to Sacnilk, Salaar: Cease Fire - Part 1 earned around 2.00 Cr India net on its twentieth day for all languages.

BEIJING — Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met with global financial executives Wednesday and pledged to make it easier for foreign institutions to invest in the country, state media said.

Worldcoin has recently announced the launch of its World ID verification services in Singapore. This marks a significant milestone in the expansion of the company's identity verification technology. Utilizing the Orb, a custom hardware device, participants can now easily verify their unique humanness. This launch is particularly notable as it comes after Worldcoin scaled back its operations in India​​​​​​.

most powerful passport list for 2024, with citizens allowed to travel to 62 countries without a visa. The country shares its rank with Uzbekistan, while the neighboring nation Pakistan is positioned at 101 spot. Singapore and Japan have boasted the world’s most powerful travel documents for the last five years, granting their citizens access to more countries without a prior visa than anyone else.

eastward enlargement, once dormant policy areas, are now priorities—giving a new voice to Ukraine’s neighbours in central Europe. The rise of China, and the prospect of resurgent Trumpism in America, has caused the EU to rethink its economic arrangements—often along statist French lines. Climate imperatives have reinforced the value of taking action at collective level—an approach favoured by the EU’s quasi-federal institutions in Brussels.

SIDBI ET MSME Conclave is scheduled to be held in Bhubaneswar on January 12. The conclave is a series of events being held nationwide to empower MSMEs. It kick-started with a successful session in Indore on January 9.

Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL), is set to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 12. This extraordinary sea bridge, spanning nearly 22km and ranking as the world's 12th longest, has been under construction since 2018. The route commences at Sewri in south Mumbai, traversing Thane Creek and concluding at Chirle in the distant outskirts of Navi Mumbai. According to a TOI report, a senior state government official said, “The state government has extended the invitation to the PM for inauguration of this bridge on January 12.” Preparations for the inauguration are in full swing, with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) initiating the process by floating tenders for event management and project management consultants.

bitcoin last year in El Salvador, the first country anywhere to make the cryptocurrency a form of legal tender, said a poll released Wednesday. The government of President Nayib Bukele took this pioneering step in 2021, introducing bitcoin in circulation alongside the US dollar, which replaced the Salvadoran colon in 2001. The goal was to make remittances — they account for a quarter of GDP here — cheaper to send and to get Salvadorans to open bank accounts, which 70 percent of the population lacked. However a poll by Central American University found that 85 percent of people questioned did not use bitcoin to pay for a good or service last year, and three percent have never ever used the currency.

Housing demand in India is projected to grow more than threefold and reach 93 million units by 2036 spurred by robust demand and supply in several tier-II and -III cities, according to Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI).

Indian policymakers are expected to fix inverted import duties for sectors like textiles, leather and engineering goods, so that inputs are not charged at a higher rate than ready-to-use products. The commerce ministry has reportedly reached out to the finance ministry to sort out such distortions for more than a dozen items in the Union budget. Manufacturers have long sought corrections, as high input duties increase local production costs, but government action has been slow.