Manufacturing Financial News

BRUSSELS: European manufacturers of hydrogen equipment have urged the European Union to step in to help the industry compete with cheaper Chinese producers, in a letter seen by Reuters on Monday. The companies, among them Thyssenkrupp Nucera, Siemens Energy, and Nel Hydrogen, want Brussels to do more to ensure Europe-made equipment powers the EU's plan by 2030 to produce 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen using electrolysers, machines that use electricity to split water to produce the green fuel. China is rapidly expanding its production of hydrogen equipment and is now home to 40% of the world's electrolyser manufacturing capacity, up from 10% last year, the letter said, adding that state subsidies were giving Chinese firms an edge.

exports also soared to an unprecedented Rs 21,083 crore, reflecting a nearly 35% increase over the last fiscal year. Visionary Leadership of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' This achievement underscores Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visionary 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' initiative and the dedicated efforts of the Ministry of Defence under the Defence Minister's leadership. A significant 60% of this growth is attributed to the private sector, highlighting the maturing Defence Industrial Base of India.

Investments in artificial intelligence (AI) startups surged to $24 billion from April to June, more than doubling from the previous quarter, according to data from Crunchbase, highlighting the growing appetite for the new technology. Overall startup funding grew 16% sequentially to touch $79 billion in the last quarter, primarily driven by investments in AI, which became the largest sector for the first time, followed by healthcare and biotech.

Amazon.com said on Wednesday it would discontinue its security robot, Astro for Business, for small- and medium-sized businesses as it shifts its focus to household robots. The e-commerce giant initially launched the canine-like robot for household use in 2021. Astro for Business was launched last November for a range of customers including retail, manufacturing, health and wellness.

Domestic smartphone brand and contract manufacturer Lava International plans to decouple its production arm from the company to onboard business from other handset brands and help meet targets under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for smartphones. But the company, which has never been able to meet its PLI smartphone targets since the scheme began in 2020-21, is hopeful of a turnaround in its manufacturing fortunes with the upcoming incentive package for component production, head of manufacturing, Sanjeev Agarwal, told ET. «Lava's performance in the ongoing PLI scheme is an internal concern, and we are working on plans to bridge the gap,» Agarwal said. The company veteran added that the challenge was to increase production by Rs 500 crore every year by either growing Lava's market share or supporting manufacturing for other brands.

transformer market is on track for a significant surge, projected to reach $38.9 billion by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.1%, driven by technological advancements and increasing electricity demand. The growth in renewable energy, particularly in solar and wind power, is significantly boosting demand for 100-500 MVA transformers. Moreover, the Indian government initiatives aimed at grid upgrades and the integration of cutting-edge technology are propelling the power transformer industry forward.

The Federal Trade Commission has unanimously voted to bring a lawsuit against mattress maker Tempur Sealy to block its $4 billion acquisition of Mattress Firm, saying the deal would allow the world’s largest mattress supplier to suppress competition th...

Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) has issued a drug safety alert on commonly used drugs amlodipine and acetazolamide, saying both these medicines cause adverse reactions. Amlodipine — used for treatment of fatal coronary heart disease and non-fatal myocardial infarction and to reduce the risk of stroke — causes lichenoid keratosis, an inflammatory reaction, IPC said. According to IPC, amlodipine is also used to reduce the risk of coronary revascularisation procedures and need for hospitalisation due to angina in patients with coronary artery disease. The medicine is used alone or in combination with other medications.

Mint, Pawan Kumar Goenka, chairman of Centre-affiliated space activity body Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (In-Space), said that the body has, as per the norm with government agencies, submitted its demand from the industry with the finance ministry. While In-Space or Goenka did not comment on what demands have been put forth, industry stakeholders said that the upcoming Union Budget is likely to include “strategic incentives that boost domestic demand generation—including funds to incubate new ventures, and direct government agencies to be customers to the industry," a senior government official with direct knowledge of the matter said.

economy ended the first quarter on a strong note with manufacturing sector activity rebounding in June after two months of deceleration while goods and services tax (GST) collections came in strong. Passenger car sales rose further in the month from last year's high base. However, the intense heatwave may have adversely impacted some sectors in the quarter. GST collections rose 8% in June to Rs 1.74 lakh crore from Rs 1.61 lakh crore a year earlier, people aware of the numbers told ET. As per industry estimates, 340,784 cars, sedans and utility vehicles were sold last month compared with 328,710 units in the same month the preceding year. A little over half of these volumes, 53%, came from the sale of sports utility vehicles (SUVs).

Eton Solutions, a cloud-based software services firm for family offices, has announced Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy’s family office investment firm Catamaran Ventures as the launch customer to roll out its flagship platform AtlasFive to Indian investment firms. “Catamaran will use AtlasFive platform to streamline its investment portfolio management and enhance operational planning, reporting and compliance,” Eton Solutions said in a statement.

affordable for the consumer. A panel formed to address regulatory challenges with regard to nutraceuticals is looking at ways to regulate their prices, people in the know told ET. At present nutraceuticals come under the ambit of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and there are no such price regulations. «Nutraceuticals are generally sold as over the counter (OTC) products. It has been seen that pharma companies are marketing them at high prices,» said an official aware of the line of thought in the government. «For example, in the case of vitamins, the companies are using active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) for manufacturing a medicine. They then mix it with another ingredient to make it into a nutraceutical and sell it at exorbitant prices,» he added. At present, there are no rules and regulations to regulate the prices of nutraceuticals. «But this is going to get changed,» another person said. Senior officials from the ministry of health and family welfare, department of pharmaceuticals are (DoP), ministry of food processing industries, FSSAI, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the director general of health services are actively discussing the issue and will soon come out with measures to regulate the prices.

JSW Energy aims to transform from a power generator to an energy products and services provider while continuing to look for acquisitions in the power sector, said group chairman and managing director Sajjan Jindal. Towards this initiative, JSW Energy plans to spend ₹1.15 lakh crore in capital expenditure and achieve a generation capacity of 20 gigawatts (GW) and a storage capacity of 40 gigawatt-hours (GWh) by 2030, Jindal told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting on Friday. The announcement marks a sharp increase from the previously committed capex of ₹85,000 crore. This fiscal year, the company is planning a capex of ₹15,000 crore.

Birla group firm Kesoram Industries on Tuesday said it remains committed to its loss-making subsidiary, Cygnet Industries Ltd, and will seriously engage in dialogue with its Japanese technical partner, Futamura, as a strategic investor after the demerger of its cement business is completed, a company official said. He was speaking to reporters on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Kesoram's 105th AGM, bustling as usual with shareholders and schoolgirls from Ashok Hall Group attending the meeting, but missing Manjushree Khaitan. She died on May 16. The AGM was chaired by Satish Narain Jajoo, who was elected chairman after the demise of the Birla scion last month. «There is no plan to hive off Cygnet. We are currently focused on the demerger process of the cement business, which is expected by December this year. We continue to believe that Cygnet, which has innovative packaging products in its kitty, can turn around,» Kesoram Industries' whole-time director and CEO, P. Radhakrishnan said.

Budget Expectations: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman concluded her customary stakeholder consultations for the Union Budget, meeting more than 120 invitees across 10 stakeholder groups over two weeks till Friday to gather their inputs. Participants included representatives, economists and experts from industry, agriculture, trade unions, education, health, employment & skilling, MSME, trade & services, financial sector and capital markets, infrastructure, energy and urban sector, the finance ministry said in a statement on Sunday. The full Budget for FY25 will be presented on July 23.

shares of HDFC Bank, IDFC First Bank, IDBI Bank, Dr Reddy's, Lloyds Metals among others will be in focus due to various news developments and first-quarter updates. HDFC Bank

optimistic growth projections for India's GDP. The expectation is that it may surpass many developed countries such as Germany and Japan. Which sector could benefit the most from this anticipated growth in GDP? The wire industry is poised to be a frontrunner.

Chinese automaker BYD has inaugurated its first electric vehicle plant in Thailand, part of the company's effort to expand into Southeast Asia while also tackling wealthier markets in the U.S. and Europe

Reserve Bank deputy governor Michael D Patra. India, however, will have to overcome various challenges with regard to labour productivity, infrastructure, contribution of manufacturing sector in GDP, and greening of the economy for sustainable development, he said in his address to the officials of the Indian Administrative Service at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie. «Given the innate strengths, I described and the resolve to achieve its aspirational goals, it is possible to imagine India striking out into the next decade to become the second largest economy in the world not by 2048, but by 2031 and the largest economy of the world by 2060,» he said. The senior RBI official further said it has been estimated that if India can grow at the rate of 9.6 per cent per annum over the next ten years, it will break free of the shackles of the lower middle income trap and become a developed economy.

Germany's top security official says the country will bar the use of critical components made by Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE in core parts of its 5G networks in two steps starting in 2026

Ather, and Bajaj Auto, most e2W manufacturers sold fewer units compared to the same period last year. Hero Electric sold fewer than 1,000 units in the June quarter, down from 6,000 a year ago, while Okinawa sold just 1,400 units versus 8,000. Ampere did not reach the 500 mark, compared to 19,000 units last year. Even TVS Motor's sales dropped to 30,000 units from 35,000 last year. Quoting industry watchers, ET Auto said that the outlook for sales remains the same in the current quarter despite the expectations of the rollout of FAME 3. Any uptick is anticipated in the second half of this fiscal year.