- Thursday, May 02, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
HERE are news in brief on Indian economy and business for Friday, April 5, 2024:
Sales of electric vehicles (EVs) in India are likely to go up by 66 per cent this year after nearly doubling in 2023 as state subsidies boost demand and supporting infrastructure emerges across the country. research firm Counterpoint has said, according to a Reuters report. The rapid increase in sales is happening at a time when the growth of EV in other major markets such as the US and Canada are slowing. The report has forecast that EVs may represent nearly a third of India’s personal vehicle market by 2030, Reuters reported. India’s EV market, small but growing, is dominated by domestic carmaker Tata Motors. Electric models made up two per cent of the total car sales in 2023. The government is targeting it to reach 30 per cent by 2030.
The Reserve Bank of India on Friday retained inflation projection at 4.5 per cent for the current financial year, lower than 5.4 per cent in the last fiscal. Assuming a normal monsoon this year, CPI (consumer price index-based) inflation for the current year is projected at 4.5 per cent, with Q1 at 4.9 per cent, Q2 at 3.8 per cent, Q3 at 4.6 per cent, and Q4 at 4.5 per cent. The central bank’s governor, Shaktikanta Das, also stressed on the need to remain vigilant on food prices, given the forecast of higher temperatures between April-June. He also said that the impact of reduction in fuel prices on inflation will deepen in the coming months. Das, however, said the elephant (inflation) seems to have gone for a walk and RBI wants it to remain in the forest.
In his weekly message, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson on Friday informed the company’s employees that the airline is currently consolidating data for annual colleague appraisals, effective retroactively from April 1. He stated that the airline will “share the news” with the employees once all necessary processes, including counting, reporting, auditing, and board approvals, are finalised in a few weeks. “The end of the Financial Year also caps off the annual appraisal cycle which has been underway for some time, as well as allows us to tally our annual financial results,” he added in the first ‘Friday Message’ of 2024-25 to employees. “Please bear with us whilst this important but necessary process runs its course.”
Full-service airline Vistara expects operations to normalise by May as the flight disruptions mainly caused by a stretched roster for pilots are getting addressed, its CEO Vinod Kannan said on Friday. While emphasising that the concerns raised by the pilots are being reviewed and discussed by the airline, he also said the new contracts for pilots will provide for more opportunities in the future. The Tata Group airline cancelled many flights earlier this week due to the non-availability of pilots and has been forced to temporarily reduce the overall flight operations to stabilise the situation. In an exclusive interview with PTI on Friday, Kannan said the need to cancel flights at a short notice will not happen after this weekend as the buffer situation for pilots is stabilising.
India’s foreign exchange reserves increased $2.951 billion (£2.33 billion) to $645.583 billion (£511 billion) for the week ended March 29, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday. This is the sixth consecutive week of a jump in overall reserves. The kitty had increased $140 million (£111 million) to $642.631 billion (£509 billion) in the previous reporting week. The country’s forex kitty had in September 2021 reached an all-time high of $642.453 billion (£509 billion). The reserves took a hit as the central bank deployed the kitty to defend the rupee amid pressures caused majorly by global developments since last year. For the week ended March 29, the foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, increased $2.354 billion (£1.86 billion) to $570.618 billion (£452 billion), data released on Friday showed.
Diversified natural resources firm Vedanta Ltd on Thursday said its total aluminium production increased four per cent to 598,000 tonnes in the fourth quarter of FY24, over the year-ago period. The company’s aluminium production was 574,000 tonnes in the corresponding quarter of FY23, Vedanta said in a filing to BSE. The company’s alumina production at Lanjigarh refinery unit in Odisha increased 18 per cent to 448,000 tonnes on the back of better operational performance, the company said. At Zinc India, the mined metal production in Q4 dropped to 299,000 tonnes, over 301,000 tonnes in the fourth quarter of FY23.
(With agencies)
