- Monday, February 24, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
HERE are Indian news in economy and business in brief for Monday, April 29, 2024:
Hemant Bakshi, CEO of India’s ride-hailing platform Ola Cabs, has stepped down from his position just four months after taking the job, according to sources. The company is also likely to undergo a restructuring process that will impact at least 10 per cent of its workforce, Indo Asian News Service reported. In January, the parent company of Ola, ANI Technologies, appointed Bakshi, a former executive at Unilever, to the top post to take care of the day-to-day operations. As per the sources, the company’s founder Bhavish Aggarwal will take over until a new CEO is recruited. The development comes just a few weeks after Ola Cabs began preliminary discussions with investment banks for an initial public offering.
Indian finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday underscored the need for a stable government to achieve the goal of becoming Viksit Bharat (developed India) by 2047, the year India turns 100 as an independent nation. “Our prime minister has set a target that by 2047, we need to reach the destination of a developed India,” she said while addressing students of GITAM University in Visakhapatnam. “We have to make efforts, so the GDP grows, and the benefits reach to all. GDP growth doesn’t happen automatically; efforts are required at micro and macro levels and on the ground,” she said. The image of the country is also important, along with the ranking of your GDP, she said, adding that all these factors matter, along with per capita income calculations.
India’s Tata Chemicals on Monday reported its first quarterly loss in almost a decade, impacted by a one-time charge incurred in its UK operations along with lower prices and demand for soda ash, Reuters reported. The company reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 8.5 billion (£81 million) in the quarter that ended March 31, compared to a profit of Rs 7.09 billion (£67.6 million) a year ago. According to Tata Chemicals, it incurred a non-cash write down of assets aggregating to Rs 9.63 billion (£92 million) as an exceptional loss in respect of its UK operations. Revenue from operations slumped 21 per cent to Rs 34.75 billion (£331.4 million), making it the company’s third straight quarter of decline.
The escalating geopolitical tension may have implications for the country’s exports in the first quarter of 2024-25 as it is likely to impact global demand, apex exporters body FIEO (Federation of Indian Export Organisations) said. The global uncertainties caused by continuing war between Russia and Ukraine has impacted India’s outbound shipments in 2023-24, which recorded a decline of 3.11 per cent to $437 billion (£348 billion). Imports too dipped by over 8 per cent to $677.24 billion (£539 billion). “If the global situation continues to be like this, it would impact global demand. In the first quarter numbers, the demand slowdown may be visible,” FIEO director general Ajay Sahai said.
Teachers of India have a major role to play in achieving the goal of ‘Viksit Bharat’ (developed India) by 2047, the country’s commerce minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday. Addressing a gathering of teachers and principals at an event in Swami Vivekananda International School in North Mumbai, from where Goyal is contesting the ongoing general elections, the commerce and industry minister said that the government had carried out consultations for several years before rolling out the new education policy in 2020. “Nobody has heard of any criticism about the policy” despite the fact that the country has all types of critics, he said.
(With agencies)
