- Thursday, March 06, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Here are news in brief related to India economy and business for Friday, December 23, 2022:
Engineering goods exports from India, which constitute nearly one-fourth of the total merchandise exports, slumped 0.30 per cent to $8.07 billion in November from US$8.10 billion in the same month last year, Moneycontrol reported. Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) India on Friday attributed this slump in exports to the surge of Covid-19 cases in China and subdued global demand, especially from Europe, the report added. “Since the record post-Covid recovery last fiscal, global demand has again exhibited a downward trend and signs of distress in the current fiscal,” EEPC India chairman Arun Kumar Garodia was quoted as saying.
India welcomes the growth of trade with Russia which has reached $27 billion (22.3 billion) this year mainly due to its purchasing of large volumes of oil and fertilisers from Moscow, but New Delhi wants it to become “more balanced”, India’s ambassador to Moscow Pavan Kapoor has said, PTI reported. Russia has become a major oil supplier to India. India’s appetite for Russian oil swelled ever since it started trading on discount as the West shunned it to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. Russia emerged as India’s fifth largest trading partner during April-September this fiscal year with a bilateral trade of $22.7 billion ($18.8 billion) during the six-month period.
In a major decision, the Indian government on Friday decided to provide free ration to 81.35 crore (813.5 million) poor people under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) for one year, PTI reported. Under NFSA, also called the food law, the government currently provides 5 kilogram of food grains per person per month at Rs 2-3 (£0.02-£0.03) per kg. The families covered under Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) get 35 kg of food grains per month. Rice is given to poor persons under NFSA at Rs 3 per kg and wheat at Rs 2 per kg.
Indian petroleum and natural gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday said that India Energy Week (IEW) early next year is going to be an ideal platform for policymakers, business leaders, researchers, and entrepreneurs to deliberate and take decisive steps to navigate the ever-evolving energy scenarios, Moneycontrol reported. “India is undertaking an ambitious journey of energy transition to achieve its net-zero target by 2070. However, for the transition to be enduring and stable it is imperative that the accessibility and affordability aspects of energy remain intact,” he said at an event. India Energy Week will be held from 6-8 February 2023 and is expected to feature more than 30 energy ministers, over 50 CEOs of global companies, and an overall attendance of 30,000 people.
The colourful and diverse North East Festival is back in the national capital again after two years of the Covid-induced pandemic, ANI reported. The 10th edition of the North East Festival began on Friday at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium premises in New Delhi while adhering to all Covid-19 protocols, and was formally inaugurated by Indian micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) minister Narayan Rane. The four-day festival, like previous editions, is meant to showcase the vibrant cultural diversity, besides the local products and entrepreneurs of India’s relatively less explored region to a wider audience. This edition of the festival will feature a variety of events over the course of the next four days, including the MSME Exhibition, Multi-cuisine Food Court, Art Exhibition, Photography Exhibition, Rock Battle, Tourism B2B Meet, Musical Evening, and Fashion Show.
