- Tuesday, March 04, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Here are news in brief related to Indian economy and business for Monday, February 13, 2023:
Retail inflation in India again breached the Reserve Bank of India’s upper tolerance band in the month of January 2023, with the Consumer Price Index pegged at 6.52 per cent, government data released on Monday showed, ANI reported. The retail inflation in rural and urban India was 6.85 per cent and 6.00 per cent, respectively. Among groups, cereals and products, eggs, spices, among others, contributed to the elevation in retail inflation in January. India’s retail inflation, based on Consumer Price Index, during the month of December was at 5.72 per cent, versus 5.88 per cent in November and 6.77 per cent during October.
India has flagged off the first stage of its longest expressway, a route linking two of the country’s biggest cities — administrative capital Delhi and financial capital Mumbai, as it makes a concerted infrastructure push to match its geopolitical rival China, The Guardian reported. The $13bn (£10.8bn) project will eventually cut the road travel time between the cities in half, to 12 hours. While India is the world’s fastest-growing major economy and will soon be recognised as the most populous country, its infrastructure remains decades behind that of China.
Finland’s Salcomp, a supplier to Apple, has plans to double its workforce in India to 25,000 over the next three years, targeting annual revenue in the country of at least $2 billion (£1.64 billion) to $3 billion (£2.4 billion) by 2025, a top company executive said on Monday, Reuters reported. The plans come as Apple shifts production away from China after its strict Covid-19-related lockdowns and restrictions, and with growing trade and geopolitical tensions with the US. “The whole supply chain is now kind of looking at an alternative. And India is poised to be one of the best alternatives,” Sasikumar Gendham, managing director, Salcomp Manufacturing India, told reporters in Chennai in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu during an industry event.
Indian food and public distribution minister Piyush Goyal has asked the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to use modern technologies in foodgrain management and for quality control, thus bringing more transparency and minimum human interface, ANI reported. Goyal reviewed the operations of its procuring agency FCI, UP Region, in Lucknow on Sunday. As per a release, Goyal, during the review meeting, directed FCI officials to use their expertise in the field of foodgrain management and suggest the better design of godowns in order to create higher capacities in limited areas of land. While reviewing the issues related to wheat and paddy procurement, he directed that FCI should open more procurement centres covering almost all revenue districts so the farmers have the option to sell their produce to the procuring agencies.
India on Monday expressed confidence that the G-20 meet will bring out solutions like new technologies for enhancing farm productivity, which is key for tackling the global food security concerns, PTI reported. India, the world’s second largest wheat producer, and largest producer of fruit and vegetable, also said it will play a major role in feeding the world keeping in mind the global food security concerns, while asserting that every nation should work towards sustainable agricultural practices. Around 90 delegates from 30 nations, including representatives of international organisations, attended the three-day event. Agriculture Secretary Manoj Ahuja was also present at the event.
