- Sunday, May 05, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
HERE are news in brief on Indian economy and business for Thursday, April 25, 2024:
In little over a year, Air India and IndiGo have announced plans to purchase up to 170 wide-body planes as they bet on ambitious expansion and efforts also continue to make India a global aviation hub. Also, the two carriers’ orders usher in European aircraft maker Airbus into the country’s wide-body space, which has traditionally been dominated by US major Boeing. If narrow-body aircraft orders of Air India, IndiGo and Akasa Air are added to the list, the order book is well over 1,200 planes and that too in less than 14 months or since February 2023. Billed as one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world, India is witnessing expansion of its commercial aircraft fleet and continuing efforts to provide more direct flights connecting Indian cities with foreign shores.
Indian IT services firm Tech Mahindra on Thursday unveiled a three-year road map that aims to spur business momentum, improve margins and achieve “better and higher” topline growth than peer average by FY27. The move assumes significance as the company on Thursday reported a slump of about 41 per cent in consolidated net profit amid a weak show by its communications and telecom segments. During an analyst call, Tech Mahindra CEO Mohit Joshi unveiled the contours of the company’s road map for the next three years, saying, “We are living in a new era of scale and speed. The way large enterprises approach technology has fundamentally changed.”
Tech giant Accenture in India on Thursday launched an adoption assistance programme to provide financial help to employees for adoption-related expenses. Each Accenture employee can avail of the benefit towards two instances of adoption, the company said in a statement. The company has about 300,000 employees in the country. “Our Adoption Assistance programme builds on our robust initiatives that enable our people in India at various stages of their parenting journeys, and we remain committed to creating a supportive and inclusive environment for all,” Lakshmi C, Managing Director and Lead-Human Resources, Accenture in India, said. The company however did not reveal the allowance cap.
Fitch Ratings expects India’s power demand to rise by 7-8 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2024 due to robust industrial activity, strong GDP growth and the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) forecast of above-normal temperatures during the summer months. However, the rating agency believes much of this demand will be met through larger operating capacities, adequate coal inventory, and higher utilization of gas-based plants. India’s monthly power demand typically peaks in the pre-and post-monsoon months of May or August, as cooling demand picks up with the temperature rise.
IMD has predicted higher-than-normal maximum temperatures over most parts of the country till June 2024, further increasing demand.
Fractional ownership platform hBits on Wednesday announced its entry in the western Indian city of Pune, with the acquisition of the 44,328 square feet campus CyberCity Magarpatta. The acquired campus houses a commercial zone, a shopping mall, multiple restaurants, two schools, residential neighbourhoods, a gymkhana and a large 25-acre serene park, the company said without divulging the deal size. The property is part of a 450-acre gated township with Grade A tenants like US-listed multinational giants Amdocs and AirProducts, it added. Through this asset, hBits aims to create an investment opportunity worth Rs 55 crore (£5.2 million), thereby democratizing access to Grade A commercial real estate for investors, it said.
(With agencies)
