- Monday, February 24, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
HERE are news in brief on Indian economy and business for Wednesday, March 6, 2024:
Fiscal mismanagement by states is an issue India’s federal government has to be concerned about as it impacts the nation’s economy, the Supreme Court observed on Wednesday and advised New Delhi and the government of the southern state of Kerala to iron out their differences over a cap on net borrowing by the southern state. The apex court made the observation while it was hearing a suit filed by the Kerala government accusing the federal authorities of interfering in the exercise of its “exclusive, autonomous and plenary powers” to regulate the state’s finances by imposing a ceiling on borrowing. The dialogue between the federal government and the state must not stop merely because of the pending suit, the court said while stressing on the need to resolve the issue.
Indian home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said under prime minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, the country has moved from ‘Fragile Five’ to top five economies in the world over the last decade. He said inflation had soared to double-digits during the previous United Progressive Alliance regime (2004-2014), but the Modi movement has contained it below five per cent and added India has emerged from a dark spot earlier to a bright spot on the global map now. Before 2014, the Indian economy was fragile, inflation was high and fiscal deficit beyond control, Shah said at the India Global Forum’s annual investment summit NXT10 in Mumbai. Today, India has emerged as a policy-driven state, he said, adding the country will be a $4 trillion (£3.1 trillion) economy by this year-end.
Mobile phone exports from India will grow more than five-fold to $50-60 billion in the coming time from about $11 billion (£8.6 billion) last year, Indian IT and communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday. While speaking at a fintech event in New Delhi, the minister said employment in the electronics manufacturing sector will increase from about 10 lakh (1 million) at present to 25 lakh (2.5 million) in the coming days. He said that 10 years ago, India imported 98 per cent of mobile phones while currently, 99 per cent of the devices are made in India. He said India will become the third largest economy by 2027 while it was ranked 11th in 2014.
India’s cut-and-polished diamond (CPD) export is set to fall by 25-30 per cent this fiscal to a multi-year low of $15-16 billion (£11.7-12.5 billion) due to the massive demand slump in the largest consuming markets of the US and China, and is unlikely to get better even next fiscal, says a report. Accordingly, the outlook for the CPD industry is negative as the exports will plunge to a multi-year low in the current fiscal, Care Ratings said in a note Wednesday, adding it does not expect a significant recovery in FY25 either. India is the world’s largest centre for diamond cutting and polishing, accounting for around 95 per cent of the world’s polished diamond production, while the US and China are the primary consuming markets, together accounting for around 65 percent of the country’s exports.
India’s economic crime-fighting agency Enforcement Directorate (ED) has sought details of the persons arrested by the police in Pune city in the western state of Maharashtra in a mephedrone drug-haul case last month, a senior official said. The police seized more than 1,700 kilograms of mephedrone, valued at about Rs 3,600 crore (£341 million) in illicit markets, across Pune and Sangli, which is also located in Maharashtra, besides Delhi. Eleven people were apprehended. “We received a letter from the ED on Monday, seeking information about the accused. Given the magnitude of the drug racket, it was expected that the ED would seek details,” the crime branch official said on Tuesday (5).
(Agencies)
