Manufacturing Financial News

Infosys is expected to report a 9.5% year-on-year (YoY) decline in its December quarter net profit at Rs 5,960.10 crore, according to estimates by brokerage Elara Capital. On a sequential basis, a 4.1% contraction in the company's profit after tax (PAT) is seen. This is a sharp decline from the 13.7% YoY growth reported by the company in Q3FY23 PAT at Rs 6,586 crore.

pharmaceutical companies must meet new manufacturing standards this year, according to a government notification released on Saturday, although small companies have asked for a delay, citing their debt load. Jolted by a string of overseas deaths linked to Indian-made drugs since 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has stepped up scrutiny of pharmaceutical factories to clean up the image of the $50 billion industry. «The manufacturer must assume responsibility for the quality of the pharmaceutical products to ensure that they are fit for their intended use, comply with the requirements of the licence and do not place patients at risk due to inadequate safety, quality or efficacy,» said the notification, dated Dec. 28. Companies must market a finished product only after getting «satisfactory results» on tests of the ingredients and retain a sufficient quantity of the samples of intermediate and final products to allow repeated testing or verification of a batch, it says. The health ministry said in August that inspections of 162 drug factories since December 2022 found an «absence of testing of incoming raw materials».

Read more Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries (RELI.NS) and Walt Disney (DIS.N) have engaged law firms and initiated antitrust due diligence for their proposed merger in the Indian media and entertainment sector, according to four individuals with knowledge of the situation. Read more Aided by sustained investment growth and robust output in manufacturing, construction and certain services, India’s economy may grow at 7.3% in FY24, the government’s first advance estimates showed, higher than the central bank’s upwardly revised estimate of 7%. Read more The HSBC India Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), compiled by S&P, rose to 59 in December, up from 56.9 in the month prior.

batteries have taken centre stage. As major automotive markets rapidly embrace EVs, there's a robust demand for batteries, opening vast opportunities for EV battery manufacturers. Companies, big and small, are now diversifying with an eye on the EV battery value chain.

debt, gold or real estate which asset classes are likely to outperform in 2024, is a question most investors are looking for an answer. This becomes important for investors to give a final shape to their asset mix decision so that their investment portfolio not only delivers good return but also becomes secure enough to deal with any volatility or adverse market movements.

VinFast Auto is setting up an electric vehicle (EV) and battery manufacturing facility at Thoothukudi, near Chennai, which will have the capacity to produce 150,000 EVs in the first phase, a person aware of the developments told ET. The total investment in the 400-acre facility could eventually touch as much as $1 billion or even more, the person said, adding that VinFast is likely to make an official announcement on Saturday.

₹1 lakh for farm-sector registrations, ₹27 lakh for new manufacturing units and ₹4.2 lakh on average for services firms, indicating the small size of the new firms. More than 13,300 firms were formed in November, the shares of which were sold to investors for ₹1,232 crore, showed the ministry’s data.

(Updated — January 5, 2024 12:02 PM EST)

JSW Steel Ltd’s subsidiary – JSW Utkal Steel – has now got the possession of 2,677.80 acres of forest land in Jagatsinghpur, Odisha where it intends to set up a 13.2 million tonne integrated steel plant. The company had already got the environmental clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment & Forest and Climate Change in April, 2022, which was then re-validated by the ministry in September last year, with some additional and modified conditions. “…the Divisional Forest Officer, Mangrove Forest Division (WL), Rajnagar & the Collector have on January 4, 2024 delivered documents pertaining to the handing over of possession for the total forest land admeasuring 2677.80 Acres to JSW Utkal Steel Limited,” company said in an exchange filing on Saturday. JSW Steel will need a total of 2,950.31 acres of land for this project, of which the non-forest land of 272.51 acres was already leased to the company by the state government over the last two years. The country’s largest producer of steel – by production capacity – is likely to spend likely to spend ₹65,000 on setting up the plant, which is expected to be one of the largest in the manufacturing sector. South Korean steel giant POSCO had earlier planned on setting up a plant at this location, which then had to be abandoned amid local protests and delays in environmental clearance. Tata Steel, Jindal Steel and Power, and Steel Authority of India already have significant manufacturing capacities in the state.

President Joe Biden's administration is providing $162 million to Arizona high-tech manufacturer Microchip Technology to support the domestic production of computer chips

automobile sector, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said on Friday. He said that India has come to the centre stage of auto manufacturing not only in assembling but also in the whole value chain. The industry has strengthened itself in all areas, including making auto grade steel, components and tyres, besides exporting these goods, he said.

By John Kemp

The Indian economy grew 7.7% in the year's first half, prompting economists to revise their growth forecast upward, but the first advance estimates based on first eight months data, point to an even higher growth. The Reserve Bank of India had pegged growth at 7%, whereas the ET poll median suggested 6.7% growth. The government estimates highlight the economy may grow 6.9% in the year's second half, spurred by higher investment and manufacturing. “India’s GDP growth for FY24 as per FAE at 7.3% has come as a positive surprise. The stellar growth has been led by the manufacturing sector and construction sector, while there has been some moderation in the services sector growth,” said Rajani Sinha, chief economist, CareEdge. Investment rate, measured as gross fixed capital formation as a proportion of nominal GDP, is expected to rise to a nine-year high of 29.8% in FY24, compared with 29.2% in the previous year. Economists noted that the 10.3 % growth in gross fixed capital formation, a proxy for investment, in FY24 reflects the sustained focus of the government on capex. “This is more heartening because it has come on high base of FY23, whereby GFCF had grown 11.4% yoy,” said Sunil Kumar Sinha, principal economist and Paras Jasrai, senior analyst, India Ratings & Research.

Piyush Goyal on Friday urged the automobile industry to set a target of increasing the share of vehicles being exported to 50% of all passenger vehicles produced in the country by 2030 from 14% in the last fiscal. “With our arbitrage in labour costs and skilled manpower pool, India should have 50% export share in the auto sector. The auto industry should not limit itself to achieving a 25% export share and instead aim for at least a 50% export share,” Goyal said at the curtain raiser of Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2024, which is scheduled to be held from February 1-3 February. India’s contribution to the world is increasing rapidly with share of vehicles being exported from 14% at present, to about 25% of all passenger vehicles produced in India by 2030.

GST increase by the Finance Minister, that it has been hit with last year." Singh pointed out that this borderless industry, fueled by innovation, is facing an unlevel playing field for Indian companies, leading to closures, downsizing, and razor-thin profit margins. He highlighted the global scale of the Online Games industry, which is nearly three times the size of the combined worldwide Movie and Music industry.

By Kantaro Komiya

By William Schomberg

quality norms for electrical accessories such as switch-socket-outlets and cable trunking to curb the import of sub-standard goods and boost domestic manufacturing of these goods. The Electrical Accessories (Quality Control) Order, 2023 was issued in this regard by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) on January 1 this year. Under this order, items cannot be produced, sold, traded, imported and stocked unless they bear the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) mark.

Supreme Court on Friday sought responses from the Uttar Pradesh government and others on two separate pleas challenging the notification prohibiting the manufacturing, storage, sale and distribution of food products with halal certification within the state, except for items produced for export. The November 18 last year notification was issued by the office of Commissioner, Food Safety and Drug Administration, Uttar Pradesh, under Section 30 (2) (a) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. The petitions came up for hearing before a bench of Justices B R Gavai and Sandeep Mehta which issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government, Centre and others seeking their responses on the pleas.

Investing.com-- Gold prices moved little in Asian trade on Friday after sinking below key levels this week following a sharp rebound in the dollar, with focus now squarely on key U.S. labor market data for more cues on interest rate cuts in 2024. 

Aam Admi Party has re-nominated senior leader Sanjay Singh as a Member of the Rajya Sabha as his present term is set to end on January 27, 2024, ANI reported. To facilitate this, an application has been sent to Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court seeking permission to acquire Singh's signature, while under custody, on an ‘undertaking’ required to get a ‘No Dues Certificate’ for his re-nomination, it added. The appeal also notes that Singh's terms as MP will end on January 27, 2024, and that the Returning Officer has already issued a notice dated January 2, to ensure processes are complete.