Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday underscored the need for a stable government to achieve the goal of becoming Viksit Bharat by 2047. "Our Prime Minister has set a target that by 2047, we need to reach the destination of a developed India," she said while addressing students of GITAM University here. "We have to make efforts, so the GDP grows, and the benefits reach to all. GDP growth doesn't happen automatically; efforts are required at micro and macro levels and on the ground," she said. The image of the country is also important, along with the ranking of your GDP, she said, adding that all these factors matter, along with per capita income calculations. "Unless the GDP is widened, we are not going to be able to meet the demands of the economy. We need investment, services to grow, educational institutions, and money for people to buy houses, start businesses," she added. She also criticised former Finance Minister P Chidambaram for questioning the developmental pac

Calling the ten years of UPA tenure India's lost decade because of bad policies and corruption, Sitharaman said growth in GDP does not happen automatically and requires a lot of effort

India Inc is likely to log 4-6 per cent revenue growth in the January-March quarter of 2023-24, marking the slowest quarterly growth since recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic which began in September 2021, said a Crisil report. The report is based on an analysis of 350 companies which exclude financial services and oil and gas sectors firms. The moderation follows stronger growth in previous years, the report said, adding "among the 47 sectors monitored by CRISIL, only 12 are expected to have clocked an improvement in revenue growth both sequentially and on-year for the quarter." Consumer discretionary products and services are expected to have led the show in the January-March quarter. Among discretionary products, the automobiles sector was steered by healthy growth in passenger vehicles on the back of higher volumes and price hikes in the past year. The organised retail sector, the report said, grew for the thirteenth quarter in a row, on healthy urban demand. Discretionary .

The escalating geopolitical tension may have implications for the country's exports in the first quarter of 2024-25 as it is likely to impact global demand, apex exporters body FIEO said. The global uncertainties caused by continuing war between Russia and Ukraine has impacted India's outbound shipments in 2023-24, which recorded a decline of 3.11 per cent to USD 437 billion. Imports too dipped by over 8 per cent to USD 677.24 billion. "If the global situation continues to be like this, it would impact global demand. In the first quarter numbers, the demand slowdown may be visible," FIEO Director General Ajay Sahai said. He added that despite all the challenges, freight rates are softening and it is giving an indication that demand may be impacted in the times to come. He cautioned that further escalation of the current situation could have serious implications on the world trade. "Besides geopolitical uncertainties, high inflation and high interest rates are also crucial reasons

The scheme was announced in 2019 interim union budget and was intended to cover around 100 mn people in next 5 years

As steel imports continue to surge, Tata Steel CEO T V Narendran has said there is a need to be watchful about the situation. The comment comes at a time when India has reported a 38 per cent surge in steel imports to 8.319 million tonnes, becoming a net importer of the commodity during the 2023-24 financial year. Speaking to PTI, the industry executive said, "It would be a pity if the situation continues in the long run. We have to be watchful about imports." As long as it is unfair imports, the government needs to deal with it, Narendran said without elaborating further. Steel consumption is expected to grow 8-10 per cent in the ongoing 2024-25 fiscal year, he said in reply to a separate question on demand. Steelmakers have been raising concerns on increasing imports from certain countries, including China and seeking the government's intervention on the issue. Domestic players have also been demanding a curb on imports and review of free trade agreements (FTAs) with several ...

With increasing India's dependence on Chinese industrial goods like telecom, machinery and electronics, Beijing's share in New Delhi's imports of such goods rose to 30 per cent from 21 per cent in the last 15 years, a report said. According to the report by the economic think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), the growing trade deficit with China is a cause of concern, and the strategic implications of this dependency are profound, affecting not only economic but also national security dimensions. From 2019 to 2024, India's exports to China have stagnated at around USD 16 billion annually, while imports from China have surged from USD 70.3 billion in 2018-19 to over USD 101 billion in 2023-24, resulting in a cumulative trade deficit exceeding USD 387 billion over five years. The Indian government and industries must evaluate and potentially recalibrate their import strategies, fostering more diversified and resilient supply chains, GTRI founder Ajay Srivastava said. This

The Centre on Saturday said it has allowed exports of 99,500 tonnes of onions, mainly sourced from Maharashtra, to six neighbouring countries despite the ban on shipments. The Centre has also allowed exports of 2,000 tonnes of white onion cultivated, especially, for export markets in the Middle East and some European countries. On December 8, 2023, the government banned export of onions. In an official statement, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution said the government has "allowed export of 99,150 tonnes of onion to six neighbouring countries of Bangladesh, UAE, Bhutan, Bahrain, Mauritius and Sri Lanka". The export prohibition has been imposed to ensure adequate domestic availability against the backdrop of estimated lower Kharif and Rabi crops in 2023-24 compared to the previous year. The ban was imposed amid an increase in demand in the international market, it added. The National Cooperative Exports Limited (NCEL), the agency for the export of onion to

Product imports in March fell 6.1% from the previous month to 3.83 million tonnes, its lowest since July 2023, while exports gained 6.4%

India has targeted to procure around 37 million tonnes of wheat this year while last year the actual procurement was over 26 million tonnes

However, the review by the NIPFP also listed compression in the government consumption expenditure and a subdued growth in private consumption as downward risks to the forecast

Economic think-tank National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) on Friday said it has estimated India's GDP growth at 7.1 per cent for the current fiscal, using high-frequency models. NIPFP, in a series of tweets, said the Centre is on a fiscal consolidation path through buoyancy in taxes and revenue expenditure compression. The economic think tank said that in 2023-24, states' capex growth is robust due to significant capex transfers from the Centre. While the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Fitch Ratings have estimated India's growth at 7 per cent, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), S&P Global Ratings and Morgan Stanley projected a 6.8 per cent growth rate for FY25.

The Reserve Bank on Friday said the limits for FPI investment in government securities, state development loans and corporate bonds will remain unchanged at 6 per cent, 2 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively, of outstanding stocks of securities for the current fiscal. As of now, all investments by eligible investors in the 'specified securities' will be reckoned under the fully accessible route (FAR), the RBI said in a notification. "The limits for FPI investment in government securities (g-secs), state government securities (SGSs) and corporate bonds shall remain unchanged at 6 per cent, 2 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively, of the outstanding stocks of securities for 2024-25," it said. The allocation of incremental changes in the g-sec limit (in absolute terms) over the two sub-categories 'General' and 'Long-term' will be retained at 50:50 for 2024-25, it added. The entire increase in limits for SDLs (in absolute terms) has been added to the general sub-category of state

The consultancy, however, added that inflation is expected to remain above the Reserve Bank of India's target level of 4 per cent over the forecast period due to strong economic activity

To be sure, non-basmati white rice accounts for nearly 25-30 per cent of total rice exported from the country. India is also the world's largest exporter of rice

India's weather office has forecast more heat-wave days than normal between April and June this year, potentially boosting power use and generation further

Deloitte India on Friday said it estimates India's GDP growth at 6.6 per cent in the current fiscal helped by consumption expenditure, exports rebound and capital flows. In its India's economic outlook report, Deloitte said the rapid growth of the middle-income class has led to rising purchasing power and even created demand for premium luxury products and services. With the expectation that the number of middle-to-high-income segments will be one in two households by 2030/31, up from one in four currently, we believe this trend will likely become further amplified, driving overall private consumer expenditure growth, it said. Deloitte has revised India's economic growth prediction for last fiscal to a range of 7.6 to 7.8 per cent. In January, the firm had projected growth for 2023-24 fiscal in the range of 6.9-7.2 per cent. The country's GDP growth is estimated to reach around 6.6 per cent in FY 2024-25 and 6.75 per cent in the year after, as markets learn to factor in geopolitic

Six other countries such as China, Russia, Indonesia, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela continue to remain in the list

Vietnam's markets will be closed from Monday through Wednesday for national holidays

A 60% majority of economists, 98 of 162, said the global economy this year was more likely to grow faster than they expected than undercut their predictions