- Thursday, February 27, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
HERE are news related to Indian economy and business for Thursday, August 10, 2023:
Shaktikanta Das, governor of the State Bank of India, on Thursday (10) said the central bank is not “unduly concerned” about Russian investments in Indian government bonds. Without sharing the details of the trade surplus invested by Russian entities in government securities (G-secs), Das underlined that trade relations between the two countries are for the long term and there is no reason to fear a pullout of the money. In May this year, the Indian Banks Association said that Russia is investing the surplus it earns out of oil sales to India in G-secs, but the market’s estimates on the quantum vary from $10-22 billion (£7.8-17.3 billion). “It’s not something about which we are really unduly concerned. We are not concerned unduly because market has its estimates. So far as we are concerned, it is not going to cause any (impact),” Das told reporters at the post-policy press meet in Mumbai.
India’s Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday retained the GDP growth projection for the current fiscal year at 6.5 per cent and raised the inflation projection marginally to 5.4 per cent due to a spike in vegetable prices, including tomatoes. Unveiling the bi-monthly monetary policy, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said domestic economic activity is maintaining resilience. He also said the recovery in kharif sowing and rural incomes, the buoyancy in services and consumer optimism should support household consumption. “Headwinds from weak global demand, volatility in global financial markets, geopolitical tensions and geoeconomic fragmentation, however, pose risks to the outlook,” he said.
The tremendous rise in tourism and illegal construction of hotels and resorts is straining natural resources in the Himalayan region and the Indian government should take urgent action to avert Joshimath-like disasters, a parliamentary panel said on Thursday. In its 135th report tabled in the Rajya Sabha of the Upper House of the parliament, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment Forest and Climate Change also stressed the need for a thorough examination of the illegal structures in the ecologically fragile region in coordination with local authorities and strict action against illegal construction to prevent tragedies akin to the ones experienced in Kedarnath in 2013 and Joshimath earlier this year.
India has started importing tomatoes from northern neighbour Nepal, India’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday as the vegetable’s price saw a record spike in the country. The first lot of imports is likely to reach in cities of Varanasi, Lucknow and Kanpur in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh neighbouring Nepal by Friday (11), the minister informed the parliament which is in session. Prices of tomatoes have surged by more than 1,400 per cent at the wholesale market to a record Rs 140 (1.33) a kg in the past three months, with farmers citing reasons including poor rainfall, higher temperatures and a virus outbreak for their ordeal.
Hindalco Industries and Texmaco Rail and Engineering Ltd on Thursday announced they have entered into a strategic alliance to develop and manufacture aluminium rail wagons and coaches that will help Indian Railways achieve its emission goals and bolster operating efficiency, Hindalco said in a release. Texmaco, a specialised engineering company, has five manufacturing units spread across 170 acres on the outskirts of Kolkata in the eastern state of West Bengal. Indian Railways aims to raise freight capacity and its market share. To meet the ambitious target, the railways is actively seeking to improve wagon design, and inviting wagon manufacturers to contribute their own designs to enhance overall capacity and the life of railway assets.
(With agencies inputs)
