- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
HERE are news on Indian economy and business for Thursday, January 18, 2024:
India may relax scrutiny on Chinese investments if the two neighbours’ borders remain peaceful, a senior Indian official has said, indicating that the four-year-old curbs could eventually be lifted. Rajesh Kumar Singh, secretary of the department for promotion of industry and internal trade, told Reuters at the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, that border tensions between the two big Asian economies have eased and that could lead to better investment relations. In 2020, India tightened scrutiny on investments from firms located in countries that it borders, a move that was seen by many as a retaliation for a clash between the troops of the two nuclear-armed neighbours on their disputed 3,800 kilometre long border in the Himalayas that saw deaths on both sides. “In the last year or so, there haven’t been any incidents. So I’m expressing the general hope from the business community that things will, you know, stabilise and improve,” Singh was quoted as saying.
Public sector banks, insurance companies, financial institutions and regional rural banks across India will remain closed for half day on January 22 on the occasion of the Ram temple consecration ceremony in the northern temple town of Ayodhya. On Thursday, the department of personnel and training (DoPT) under the ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions issued an order for a half-day closure for the federal government establishment on Monday. “The Ram Lalla Pran Pratishtha at Ayodhya will be celebrated on 22nd January 2024 across India. To enable employees to participate in the celebrations, it has been decided that all central government offices, central institutions and central industrial establishments throughout India will be closed for half day till 1430 hours on 22nd January 2024,” the DoPT order said.
A Singapore-Korean investment partnership will co-invest $20 million (£15.7 million) in the Indian private debt space, citing India’s vibrant market with significant exit opportunities across various sectors such as financial service and consumer. Lighthouse Canton, a Singapore-headquartered global wealth and asset management investment institution, and NH Absolute Return Partners (NHARP), a Singapore-based asset management company of one of Korea’s largest securities firms, NH Investment & Securities, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for co-investing in Indian companies. Under the MoU terms, Lighthouse Canton and NHARP will also explore opportunities for “greater collaboration across the Indian private markets space”.
India and France on Thursday agreed to jointly fund scientific research projects in fields of health, decarbonised hydrogen, marine sciences and applied mathematics. The decision was taken during a meeting of the Indo-French Joint Committee on Science and Technology (JCST) here on the sidelines of the India International Science Festival, said an official statement issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology. The committee was co-chaired by Abhay Karandikar, secretary, department of science and technology within the Indian ministry of science and technology, and Claire Giry, director general for Research and Innovation at the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research. The department of science and technology and the French National Research Agency have agreed to set up calls for proposals funding priorities set by the JCST, the statement said.
Wings India 2024 — a four-day aviation show — officially commenced in the southern city of Hyderabad on Thursday with the theme ‘Advanced Air Mobility’. At the event, the spotlight is on Air India’s first Airbus A350, originally destined for Russian airline Aeroflot but redirected to India due to geopolitical circumstances as Russia is currently facing US sanctions. “Air India is set to induct six A350-900 aircraft originally designated for Aeroflot. The first aircraft delivered in the last month of 2023, reflects a previous arrangement where Air India had announced the acquisition of Airbus A350s with expedited timelines, initially intended for the Russian airline,” an official told Asian News International. Air India, backed by the Tata Group, welcomed its first Airbus A350 last December, part of its order for 470 aircraft.
India is looking at getting niche technologies in its railway system to bring in greater efficiency in its widely-used transportation system, said the country’s railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. “We met some very senior industry leaders in the mobility world, and most of them are thinking and looking at the progress which is happening in India. They would like to set up their manufacturing plants in India. Today, during the discussions, the industry leaders requested that why can’t we create a cluster of mobility manufacturing industries where small and medium-sized players across the world who have some niche technologies,” he told ANI, on the sidelines of the ongoing World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. On India’s overall economy, he said all industry leaders were confident about its growth story.
(With agencies)
