- Friday, December 13, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
HERE are news in brief related to Indian economy and business for Thursday, December 19, 2023:
Vedanta Ltd announced on Tuesday its intention to generate Rs 34 billion (£321 million) through a debenture issuance, marking its third such move in the current fiscal year. This capital-raising initiative coincides with the company’s efforts to secure funds for its financially challenged parent, Vedanta Resources based in the UK. The board of directors at Vedanta Ltd has granted approval for the issuance of 340,000 non-convertible debentures, with each having a face value of Rs 100,000 (£944). The debentures will be issued on a private placement basis, Vedanta Ltd said.
Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc on Tuesday became the costliest player in the IPL history after Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) snapped him for a whopping Rs 24.75 crore (£2.3 million) in the auction in Dubai and the team’s CEO Venky Mysore justified the price tag, saying the Australian speedster “was a preferred player from skill-set standpoint”. Not long after Australia captain Pat Cummins fetched an unprecedented Rs 20.5 crore (£1.9 million) from Sunrisers Hyderabad, the KKR raised the bar for a record-breaking bid for Starc, who last played in the IPL in 2015. “… obviously he (Starc) was a preferred player from a skill set standpoint. Initially, we were not successful in some of the bids. Maybe that worked in our favour, because we did end up having money to do this. So we’re just thankful that we were able to have him on our side,” Mysore said.
Share of agriculture in India’s GDP declined to 15 per cent last fiscal year from 35 per cent in 1990-91 due to rapid growth in the industrial and service sector, the government informed on Tuesday. “The share of agriculture in total Gross Value Added (GVA) of the economy has declined from 35 percent in 1990-91 to 15 per cent in 2022-23. The decline is brought out not by the decline in agricultural GVA but a rapid expansion in industrial and service sector GVA,” the country’s agriculture minister Arjun Munda said in a written reply to Lok Sabha or Lower House of the parliament. The minister said the government has adopted/implemented several developmental programmes, schemes, reforms and policies towards increasing agricultural productivity and enhancing resource use efficiency, and ensuring remunerative prices to farmers.
India is committed to meeting the energy needs of its people and will continue to rely on coal power until it achieves developed country status, its environment minister Bhupender Yadav said on Tuesday. Responding to a question at a press conference in New Delhi, he also said India resisted pressure from developed countries to end the use of fossil fuels at the UN climate conference in the United Arab Emirates. The minister said India is committed to meeting the energy needs of its people and this cannot be done by just “importing oil and gas”. “While we are increasing our renewable capacity, we will also have to rely on coal power until we achieve the objective of a developed India,” Yadav said. India relies on coal for about 70 per cent of its power generation and aims to add 17 gigawatts of coal-based power generation capacity in the next 16 months.
India should move up the value chain in the manufacture of electronics components from the present levels of 15 per cent, a top official of the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) said on Tuesday. S Krishnan, secretary, MeitY, said that even at 15 per cent value addition, the employment potential is immense and the government is prepared to support this endeavour by the entrepreneurs. Speaking at an event in Kolkata, Krishnan said, “Electronics manufacturing in the country is an important part of the new policy of the government. Now the present level of value addition by Indian companies is 15 per cent. Work should be directed towards increasing this percentage and the government is prepared to support this”.
India’s economic crime-fighting agency Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued a fresh summons to Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister of the northern state of Delhi, for questioning on Thursday (21) in the excise policy-linked money-laundering case, officials said Monday. He was first called by the federal agency to appear on November 2, but he did not depose, alleging that the notice was “vague, motivated and unsustainable in law”. The summonses to Kejriwal, also the national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party, pertain to questioning in the alleged Delhi excise policy case and for recording his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the officials said. He has to appear at the ED headquarters in New Delhi on December 21, they said.
(With agencies)
