- Wednesday, February 26, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
HERE are news in brief on Indian economy & business for Friday, November 10, 2023:
Hero MotoCorp chairman Pawan Munjal’s assets worth approximately Rs 249.5 million (£2.44 million) have been seized by India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) in an ongoing money-laundering probe, the economic intelligence agency announced on Friday. Three properties in New Delhi were confiscated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, bringing the total value of seizures in the case to about Rs 500 million (£4.9 million). Hero MotoCorp is one of the world’s biggest two-wheeler manufacturers. The seizure follows last month’s case registration by Delhi Police against Hero and Munjal for alleged forgery and fraud by Brains Logistics, a manpower services provider to the company.
Air India, which has ordered 470 aircraft to serve the Indian economy, is set to receive a new aircraft every six days over the next 18 months, CEO and MD Campbell Wilson said on Friday. He was speaking at the 67th Assembly of Presidents of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines in Singapore. “We have new aircraft, we are recruiting many, many new crew and staff, improving the training regime and there is more work to do and we are making good progress,” he said. Speaking at a session, Wilson said a vast majority of Air India customers want reliability and punctuality, and the challenge is to satisfy customers’ requirements.
Naveen Patnaik, chief minister of the eastern Indian state of Odisha, on Friday inaugurated Synopsys’s first design and R&D unit in eastern India. Synopsys, a global leader in semiconductor tools, electronic design automation software, and related services, established the center in Bhubaneswar, the state capital. The facility will host over 300 VLSI and semiconductor design engineers, the company said. Patnaik noted that Odisha’s strategic initiatives and increasing investments position it as a future semiconductor hub, praising the government’s efforts to make the state a significant player in the semiconductor landscape.
In September, India’s industrial production growth slowed to 5.8 per cent, down from August’s 10.3 per cent, as per official data released on Friday. However, the manufacturing and mining sectors exhibited annual improvement. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) recorded a 3.3 per cent growth in September 2022. For April-September 2023-24, the IIP growth is six per cent, a decline from 7.1 per cent in the same period last year. The National Statistical Office (NSO) noted the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on interpreting growth rates, stating that the manufacturing sector’s output grew 4.5 per cent in September this year, compared to a two per cent growth a year ago. Power generation increased by 9.9 per cent in September 2023, down from 11.6 per cent in the corresponding period last year.
Tata Motors Finance, one of India’s leading automotive financiers, has formalised a strategic funding pact with Pallia Trans Logistics Ltd., a major player in the Car Carrier logistics segment. The operating scope of the comprehensive credit line contains a repurchase and refinance structure amounting Rs 22 crore (£2.16 million). The development marks a significant partnership milestone, further strengthening the long-standing association between both entities. The capital infusion has empowered Pallia Trans Logistics Ltd. to complete strategic acquisition of assets of a logistics company in the Car Carrier space, facilitating the company’s expansion plans, and enabling them to meet the surging demand, particularly in the backdrop of festive season.
Air India has plans to introduce sophisticated features to its generative artificial intelligence (AI) virtual agent that handles more than 6,000 customer queries daily. The Tata Group-owned airline is using ChatGPT to analyse even some complex questions it may not be able to immediately answer to improve customer experience in later interactions and is helping it to become more attuned to natural language. In a release on Friday, the airline said it has become the world’s first airline to have successfully deployed a Generative AI virtual agent ‘Maharaja’, powered by Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI service. The agent has successfully answered over half a million customer queries since its pilot launch in March 2023, and today manages over 6,000 queries a day in four languages (Hindi, English, French, and German), the release said.
(With agencies inputs)
