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“Renewal and green energy investment are two focus areas of the government. The share of renewal in the overall energy pie is only going to increase going forward, not only in India but across the world,” says Sachin Bajaj, Executive Vice President & Head – Investments, Max Life. In an interview with ETMarkets, Bajaj said: “Fiscal consolidation, continuation of capex growth, focus on energy transition, housing, tourism, healthcare, and railways are the key themes from the Budget,” Edited excerpts: Rs 11.11 lakh cr – a number which has caught the eye of many. What do you make of the current outlay and the impact it will have on the economy? Sachin Bajaj: Rs 11.11 lakh crore is the capital expenditure target for the next fiscal year. While the growth of 17% for FY25 looks a bit lower when compared to the current financial year, however, if we look at the capex for FY21, the same number was Rs 4.1 lakh crore, i.e., almost a 3x increase in 4 years.

BSE data. That leaves a gap of just $250 billion to reach the $5 trillion mark. Going by the pace of the rally in the PSUs and the benchmark Sensex, this figure could be achieved in the next two months, said analysts.

₹6,000 each year from the treasury. Similarly, during the covid pandemic, the government began providing free foodgrain and edible oil each month to those in need. These schemes are continuing still, and are regarded as great aid in the villages of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Bihar, which I have been in direct contact with.

New Delhi: India and Sri Lanka may conclude their long-awaited economic and technology cooperation agreement (ETCA) in FY25, two people aware of the matter said. The ETCA, which builds on an earlier free trade agreement (FTA) implemented in 2000, will enhance bilateral trade between the neighbours. India and Sri Lanka re-launched talks on the ETCA in November 2023 after about a five-year hiatus as both sides are keen to deepen the economic relationship between them.

Volkswagen is reviewing the future of its joint venture in the Xinjiang region of northwestern China and another German industrial giant is starting to sell its stakes there following new international scrutiny of forced labor by predominantly Muslim ethnic groups. Volkswagen said last week that it was in discussions with one of its main joint venture partners in China, the state-owned Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., in the wake of allegations of human rights violations at their joint venture in Xinjiang.

AI) tools may not necessarily lead to job losses but shift the demand curve in the near term, said Adam Kansler, president, S&P Global Market Intelligence. «Each year for the last decade, we've thought that technological advance would mean we needed 10% less people or 20% less people. Today, we have probably 40% more people working in those functions than we did,» Kansler told ET in an interview. He said productivity gains could result in a shift in demand and that there is a long way to go before the net effect of the disruptive and highly valuable technology is understood. According to him, new technologies and startups and a world where outcomes could become more predictable could also lead to reversal of some caution by venture capital investors and redeployment of capital in 2024.

New Delhi: The textile industry is moving to shed its polluter tag by adopting a ‘circular economy’ in order to avoid being snared by future climate change tax regimes such as the European Union’s proposed Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), two persons aware of the plans said. CBAM will tax the ‘embedded carbon’ in imports from select emission-intensive sectors—steel, aluminium, cement, hydrogen, electricity and fertilizers. It is expected to be implemented in 2026.

Investing.com — In the holiday shortened week ahead investors will be looking to the latest Federal Reserve minutes for any new insights on the direction of monetary policy. Earnings from chipmaker Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) will be a critical test of the artificial intelligence fever that has helped power gains for U.S. stocks in recent months. Walmart (NYSE:WMT) kicks off earnings from the biggest U.S. retailers, Chinese markets return, and PMI data will shed light on the strength of the global economy. Here’s what you need to know to start your week.

₹57,900 per tonne in September, fell to just over ₹54,000 in February, as per data from SteelMint. “Our retail sector sales dropped because of higher imports from China and FTA countries in the last quarter," Jayant Acharya, joint managing director of JSW Steel said in a recent interview. “Our imports rose by 16% and our exports fell by 16%, and that impacted basic sentiments and retail." The Ebitda margin of JSW Steel contracted nearly 57 basis points sequentially during the December quarter to 17.1% as per Mint’s analysis.

Foreign businesses’ direct investment into China last year increased by the lowest amount since the early 1990s, underscoring challenges for the nation as Beijing seeks more overseas investment to help its economy. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments rose by $33 billion last year, 82% down on 2022, according to data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange released Sunday. That measure of new foreign investment into the country — which records monetary flows connected to foreign-owned entities in China — slumped to the lowest level since 1993.

France on the top. India slipped one rank down from last year to 85th even as the countries with visa-free access to its citizens increased to 62 from 60 in 2023. The rank of crisis hit Pakistan stood the same as last year on 106 while Bangladesh's slipped from 101 in 2023 to 102 this year.

kya lagta hai (what do you think?). Every bull market needs a story. One of the main stories currently being sold is the premiumization of the Indian economy or that Indian consumers are buying more expensive products than in the past and how that will continue to benefit listed companies.

stock markets to help pay for an apartment in a big city. But in 2015 he lost $30,000, and in 2021 he lost $80,000. After that, he shut down his trading account and started investing in Chinese funds that track stocks in the United States. It's a perilous time for investors in China. Their main vehicle, so-called A shares of Chinese companies, fell more than 11% in 2023 and have continued their losses this year. Many investors have instead flocked to the exchange-traded funds that track foreign markets and that have been performing much better.

Japan has unveiled plans to issue six-month visas catering to digital nomads with an annual income of ¥10 million ($68,300) or more. The initiative is slated to commence by the end of March. According to a Japan Times report, digital nomads, individuals who work remotely while moving between locations for short or medium-term stays, from 49 countries and territories, will be eligible for the «specified activities» visa category. This extends to self-employed applicants as well. Countries and territories eligible for this program have existing tax treaties and agreements that eliminate the need for short-term visas with Japan, including the U.S., Australia, and Singapore.

Paytm Payments Bank has drawn the attention of fintech firms to the importance of complying with laws, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has said. The minister stressed that regulatory compliance cannot be «optional» for companies, rather it is an aspect every entrepreneur must pay full attention to. In an interview to PTI, Chandrasekhar — the minister of state for electronics and IT — said the issue of Paytm Payments Bank is a case where a hard-charging and aggressive entrepreneur has failed to realise the need for regulatory compliance, and that no company can get away if it is non-compliant with law. Any company, be it from India or abroad, big or small, has to abide by the law of the land, the Minister asserted amid the unfolding Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) crisis.

By Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu

recession at the end of last year, marked by two consecutive quarters of contracting activity. While the euro area is expected to avoid a downturn, the European Commission still sees the bloc growing slower than initially forecast this year. And in Australia, the unemployment rate climbed to the highest level in two years, consistent with expectations for its economy to soften. Meantime, US consumer prices jumped at the start of the year, though economists maintain that inflation is still broadly on a downward trend.

Gold And Silver Prices Today: Gold prices experienced a slight decrease on Sunday. The price of 24 carat gold is Rs.6273.1 per gm, down by Rs.679.0. The cost of 22 carat gold is Rs.5746.2 per gm, down by Rs.622.0.

₹11.11 lakh crore (3.4% of GDP). Numerous pivotal announcements were made across diverse sectors. Furthermore, the connection between India’s infrastructure development and the facilitation of foreign investment via Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) is anticipated to enhance India’s economic strategy.

₹29,520 crore so far in 2024. FPIs have sold ₹3,776 crore worth of Indian equities and the total inflow stands at ₹19,608 crore as of February 16, taking into account debt, hybrid, debt-VRR, and equities, according to National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) data. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were buyers for three out of five sessions last week, yet the total divestment stood at ₹6,240.55 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were buyers for all five sessions, with a total investment of ₹8,731.6 crore, according to stock exchange data.

Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif are unlikely to form a coalition with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) citing that ‘it is not an appropriate form of government’ and also ‘it is not easy to deal with the Zardaris on a day-to-day basis’. Last week, PML-N announced an alliance with PPP and four other parties and nominated Shehbaz for the PM post in a surprise move. Soon after that, Shehbaz said, “Today we have united to tell the nation that we all accept the split mandate.