- Saturday, April 20, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
Here are news in brief related to Indian economy and business for Thursday, May 25, 2023:
India must focus on advancements in defence technology to deal with a “double threat” along the borders, defence minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday, in an oblique reference to the security challenges at the frontiers with China and Pakistan, PTI reported. In an address at a conference organised by the Defence Research and Development Organisation in New Delhi, Singh underlined the need for extensive research to develop defence technologies for the country to meet various security challenges. “For a country like India, it becomes very important because we are facing a double threat on our borders. In such a situation, it is very important for us to move forward in terms of technological advancements,” he said in Hindi.
Dr Bibek Debroy, chairman, Economic Advisory Council (EAC) to prime minister Narendra Modi, projects that India will grow comfortably at a real rate of 7.5 per cent to pass through the upper-income category and approach the high-income status by 2047, ANI reported. Dr C Rangarajan, former chairman, EAC to the PM, calculates that India would need to grow at a real rate of 6.18-6.74 per cent to achieve the status of a higher-income country by 2047. Both economists arrive at similar numbers though they take different starting figures and currencies to project their calculations in their papers on macro-economic essentials. Twenty-three renowned economists have detailed their roadmap to India 2047 in the book ‘India 2047 – High Income with Equity’, put together by Sameer Kochhar, Chairman, SKOCH Group, Reforms Historian and Author of ModiNomics.
The HDFC-HDFC Bank Ltd merger is around the corner and would result in lower net interest margin (NIM) for the lender in the current year, brokerages said on Thursday, a day after the management met analysts, Reuters reported. The bank expects NIM – a key profitability measure – to fall to 3.7-3.8 per cent in 2023-24 from 4.1 per cent a year ago due to the merger, according to a report by Nomura analysts. However, lower credit costs and operating leverage will largely offset the impact, Nomura added, citing the management, which was represented by Sashidhar Jagdishan, HDFC Bank CEO.
Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Indian government on Thursday signed a $141.12-million (£114.5 million) loan to support the development of high-quality internal infrastructure in the south-western state of Andhra Pradesh, PTI reported. The funding is for construction of roads, water supply systems and electricity distribution network in three industrial clusters in the state, the finance ministry said in a statement. The latest financing is the second tranche of the $500 million (£405.7 million) multi-tranche financing facility for the programme approved by ADB in 2016 to build infrastructure in three industrial clusters in the Visakhapatnam and Srikalahasthi-Chittoor nodes in the state, it said.
Bouncing back from the challenges it faced during the lockdown, content-to-commerce unicorn The Good Glamm Group plans to enter the men’s grooming category this year, step into new markets overseas and “definitely” go for IPO in early 2025, says CEO Darpan Sanghvi. At the same time, the company’s existing brands — MyGlamm, Sirona, St Botanica, Organic Harvest, The Moms Co, and BabyChakra — are significantly expanding their product offerings with new innovations and new category entries with products relevant to consumers. “In the coming years, we see ourselves as the first global beauty company to come out of India with brands that are globally loved and leveraging our competitive advantage of Content Creator Commerce backed by technology and data,” Sanghvi, who is also group founder, told PTI.
inDrive, on Thursday, said it is planning to expand operations to Bengaluru and Pune shortly. The California-based online ride-hailing platform launched its services in 2019 and is now present in 10 cities, such as Delhi-NCR, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Chandigarh, Jaipur, and Bhopal, PTI reported. The platform follows a fair-price setting model under which passengers and drivers negotiate fares among themselves. It offers ride-hailing, intercity, freight, and delivery services in India. “We are spreading to the new cities, which are organically growing as our brand becomes more and more popular in India. Soon, we will launch our services in Bangalore and Pune,” the company said in a statement.
