Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday informed the Lok Sabha that 54 FDI proposals with investor/beneficial owner from China and Hong Kong are pending for decision with the government. In April 2020, the government had amended the FDI policy in order to curb opportunistic takeovers/acquisitions of Indian companies due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As per [...]

Tata Cleantech Capital, the green funding arm of Tata Capital, on Monday said its equity partner International Finance Corporation has picked up its sustainability-linked bonds worth USD 50 million or about Rs 375 crore. The bonds are the first in the country by a private financial institution, and the money will help Tata Cleantech Capital [...]

The Himachal Pradesh government on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding with HLC Green Energy to make it the 'First Green State' by 2025, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said. The project will bring in an investment of more than Rs 4,000 crore, besides generating direct and indirect employment opportunities for about 2,500 persons. It [...]

Markets regulator Sebi on Monday simplified the procedural requirements for onboarding of Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) in a bid to facilitate ease of doing business and to reduce the time taken for their registration. The regulator allowed designated depository participants (DDPs) to grant FPI registration on the basis of scanned copies of application forms and [...]

The finance ministry has asked public sector banks (PSBs) to do proper monitoring of top loans and make adequate provisions for pledged shares of big corporates in view of the current global financial scenario emanating from the failure of some international banks in the US and Europe. According to sources, there is a need for [...]

Equity benchmark indices climbed in early trade on Tuesday tracking a firm trend in Asian markets and buying in index major Reliance Industries, HDFC twins and IT counters. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 295.59 points to 57,949.45 in early trade. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 76.05 points to 17,061.75. Among the Sensex firms, Tata Steel, [...]

Retirement fund body EPFO fixed 8.15 per cent  rate of interest on employees’ provident fund (EPF) deposits for 2022-23 at its  meeting on Tuesday. In March 2022, EPFO had lowered the interest on EPF for 2021-22 to an over four-decade low of 8.1 per cent for its about five crore subscribers, from 8.5 per cent [...]

IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday hinted at a "big announcement" in a few weeks in the context of conversational AI tools. To a specific question on whether India can build something equivalent to the conversational AI tool ChatGPT, the minister said "wait for a few weeks, there will be a big announcement". When asked [...]

Pakistan has begun in-house consultations to decide whether to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meetings of the defence and foreign ministers in India, a report said on Monday. New Delhi has already extended invitations to Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. The defence ministers’ meeting is scheduled in April in New [...]

The government will set up a Centre for Processing Accelerated Corporate Exit (C-PACE) to process and dispose of applications for removal of company names from the records under the companies law. In a written reply to Lok Sabha on Monday, Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Rao Inderjit Singh said the centre will be established [...]

State-owned Food Corporation of India (FCI) on Monday said wheat sale at discounted rates via e-auction to bulk consumers, institutions and state governments has been stopped for now as procurement of the fresh crop begins next month. Under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS), the FCI has sold 33 lakh tonnes of wheat till March [...]

Facing high aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses in electricity distribution, Kashmir Power Development Corporation has initiated several measures, including disconnecting services to defaulters, to reduce the deficit. "As far as KPDCL is concerned, it has the highest AT&C losses in the country. I would say we are around 64 per cent," Chief Engineer KPDCL [...]

A parliamentary committee has stressed on the need for increasing the draft depth of almost all the ports of the country under the Sagarmala Programme according to their respective cargo profile. Increased draft depth helps ports handle larger vessels. In its latest report, the department-related parliamentary standing committee on transport, tourism and culture said that [...]

Several asset management companies (AMCs) have opened up subscription for international schemes to maximise inflows ahead of new taxation rules for debt mutual funds kicking in from April 1. The fund houses that resumed their international schemes are -- Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund, Mirae Asset Mutual Fund and Edelweiss Mutual Fund. Edelweiss Mutual has opened [...]

Global beverages major The Coca-Cola Company is bullish on the Indian market and is continuing to invest in the country through its partners, the company's President and Chief Financial Officer John Murphy said on Monday. India's rapid progress in infrastructure, electrification and digitisation offer a long runway ahead for the economy to grow and it [...]

Longer sunnier days have ensured that the performance of solar power farms improved to 75 per cent in the current fiscal from 59 per cent in the year-ago period, according to a report. Rating agency Crisil has prepared the report based on the performance of 115 solar projects aggregating to 4.6 GW of power generation [...]

Equity benchmark Sensex climbed 126 points on Monday, propped up by buying in index heavyweights Reliance Industries, Maruti and SBI amid a higher opening in European equities. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 126.76 points or 0.22 per cent to finish at 57,653.86. During the day, it jumped 492.45 points or 0.85 per cent to 58,019.55. [...]

Real estate sector has received an equity capital of USD 32 billion during the last five years and is expected to attract USD 12-13 billion during 2023-24 with office assets likely to garner maximum fund, according to CBRE. Real estate consultant CBRE has estimated that equity flows in real estate sector will remain steady with [...]

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday moved an amendment to the Finance Bill in Rajya Sabha to correct the figures with regard to rate of Security Transaction Tax (STT) to be levied on sale of options as well as futures. The amended Finance Bill 2023 by correcting STT rate has been returned to Lok Sabha, [...]

Russian flag carrier Aeroflot has increased the frequency of its flight services on the Delhi-Moscow route to seven times a week against four weekly services earlier, from March 26, a statement said on Monday. In addition, the airline has also started operating a Boeing 777 jet along with Airbus A330 to cater to passenger traffic [...]

Cyber criminals are exploiting popularity of ChatGPT to spread malware through hijacked Facebook accounts, cyber intelligence firm CloudSEK said on Monday. CloudSEK in its investigation has found the presence of 13 Facebook pages or accounts including those with Indian content, totalling over 5 lakh followers, that have been compromised and are being used to disseminate [...]

Immediate action by the government to help Indian startups in the aftermath of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapse ensured they were not adversely impacted by the "minor crisis", Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Monday. He also exhorted the entire startup community to think of the Indian banking sector as their trusted partner. Vaishnaw, Minister [...]

Telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday said the country's first quantum computing-based telecom network link is now operational in the national capital. While speaking at the first international quantum enclave, Vaishnaw said that the quantum communication link is now operational between Sanchar Bhawan and National Informatics Centre office located in CGO Complex in the national [...]

S&P Global Ratings on Monday kept its forecast for India's economic growth unchanged at 6 per cent in the fiscal year starting April 1, before rising to 6.9 per cent in the following year. In the quarterly economic update for Asia-Pacific, S&P saw inflation rate easing to 5 per cent in 2023-24 fiscal, from 6.8 [...]

The Union Cabinet is likely to soon consider imposing caps or a ceiling on price for majority of natural gas produced in the country to keep input costs for users ranging from CNG to fertilizer companies in check, sources said. The government bi-annually fixes prices of locally produced natural gas -- which is converted into [...]

India's highways infrastructure will match that of the US by 2024 for which work in time bound 'mission mode' is on including construction of green expressways and rail over bridges, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said. He said cabinet nod to 'Bharatmala 2' is likely soon and once obtained it will meet [...]

As many as 346 infrastructure projects, each entailing an investment of Rs 150 crore or more, have been hit by cost overruns of more than Rs 4.46 lakh crore, as per an official report. According to Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, which monitors infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore and above, out of 1,418 [...]

Foreign investors have pumped Rs 7,200 crore into the Indian equities so far this month, mainly driven by bulk investment in the Adani Group companies by the US-based GQG Partners. Going ahead, FPIs are likely to be cautious in the near term since there is a risk-off sentiment in equity markets globally due to the [...]

The government has capped the maximum rate of GST compensation cess that would be levied on pan masala, cigarettes and other forms of tobacco and linked the highest rate to their retail sale price. The capping of the cess rate was brought in as part of the amendments to the Finance Bill, 2023, which was [...]

The government has hiked customs duty on import of X-ray machines and non-portable X-ray generators to 15 per cent with effect from April 1. Currently, portable X-ray machines and non-portable X-ray generators and apparatus attract 10 per cent import duty. The changes in the customs duty rate was brought in as part of the amendments [...]

Housing sales in India's top seven cities are estimated to rise 14 per cent during January-March to over 1.13 lakh units on strong demand despite increase in prices by 6-9 per cent, according to Anarock. Real estate consultant Anarock, which tracks the primary (fresh sales) residential market, said the "bull run" continued in the housing [...]

Nearly 67 per cent of private companies do not have an adequate risk management function, and over 52 per cent are still not equipped with formal risk management processes, said a report by risk advisory firm MGC Global. Over 50 per cent of the survey participants were affiliated with companies that reported revenues of over [...]

The government has extended export benefits under RoDTEP scheme to 18 items related to textiles sector, including saari and lungi, with a view to boost shipments of these goods. Benefits under the duty refund scheme -- Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) -- will be given to exports made from March 23, [...]

With retail inflation remaining above the comfort level of 6 per cent and most global peers including US Fed continuing hawkish stance, the Reserve Bank of India too may go in for a 25 basis points hike in the bi-monthly monetary policy to be announced on April 6, opined experts. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) [...]

Only 15 per cent of the 267 insolvency cases admitted in company law tribunals during October-December 2022 reached resolution with overall recovery of just 27 per cent of claimed amount, the IBBI data showed. As much as 45 per cent cases were concluded through liquidation, according to a Kotak Securities analysis of the latest data [...]

A high-level Indian delegation called on Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe here on Sunday and briefed him on the developments in the jointly-identified priority areas for bilateral collaboration in the crucial energy sector. President Wickremesinghe provided his insights on the early implementation of these initiatives when the delegation led by Pankaj Jain, Secretary, Ministry of [...]

Bharti Enterprise-backed OneWeb on Sunday completed its constellation of 618 low earth orbit satellites that would allow it to offer broadband internet services from space in every corner of the world. Indian Space Research Organisation's Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3) placed 36 OneWeb satellites in a low earth orbit following a successful launch from the Satish [...]

Preparations are in full swing in West Bengal's Darjeeling district for the 2nd Tourism Working Group Meeting of G20, which will begin on April 1, officials said on Sunday. At the first meeting held in Gujarat's Kachchh in February, five priorities were identified for the sector -- green tourism, digitalisation, skills, tourism MSMEs and destination [...]

Equity benchmark indices climbed in early trade on Monday, mainly on account of buying in index majors Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank as well as positive sentiments in the US market. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 137.55 points to 57,664.65 points in early trade. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 46.05 points to 16,991.10 points. Among [...]

Reserve Bank of India's central board on Friday reviewed the global and domestic economic situation as well as the associated challenges. The 601st meeting of the Central Board of Directors of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was held at Hyderabad under the chairmanship of Governor Shaktikanta Das. "The board in its meeting reviewed the global [...]

India's forex kitty rose by USD 12.798 billion to USD 572.801 billion in the week ended March 17, the Reserve Bank said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the reserves had dropped by USD 2.39 billion to a three-month low of USD 560.003 billion. It can be noted that in October 2021, the country's [...]

Around 5,642 warehousing projects have been completed under the Warehouse Infrastructure Fund (WIF) scheme so far, Parliament was informed on Friday. Under the Warehouse Infrastructure Fund (WIF) scheme, under the Ministry of Finance, about Rs 9,393.68 crore funds have been sanctioned till December 2022 for establishment of 7,953 warehouse projects spread across 21 states, Agriculture [...]

The Enforcement Directorate Friday said it has attached a multi-storeyed commercial complex, worth more than Rs 252 crore, located in Delhi's Shalimar Bagh area in connection with a money laundering investigation linked to an alleged bank fraud case against the Ambience Group. The immovable property is named Ambience Tower and it belongs to a company [...]