- Sunday, March 09, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Here are news in brief related to Indian economy and business for Friday, October 14, 2022:
In a measure aimed at deepening financial inclusion, prime minister Narendra Modi will dedicate 75 Digital Banking Units (DBUs) to the nation on October 16 at 11 am via video-conferencing, Asian News International reported. He will also address the gathering on the occasion. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had in her budget speech for 2022-23 announced the setting up of 75 DBUs in 75 districts of the country to commemorate the 75 years of independence of the country. The DBUs are being set up to ensure that the benefits of digital banking reach every nook and corner of the country and cover all states and union territories. Eleven public sector banks, 12 private sector banks and one small finance bank are participating in the endeavour.
The Tata Power Company on October 14 said it had faced a cyberattack on its information technology (IT) infrastructure, affecting some of its IT systems, Moneycontrol reported. In a statement, the company said that it has taken steps to retrieve and restore the systems. All critical operational systems are functioning; however, as a precaution, restricted access and preventive checks have been put in place for employee and customer-facing portals and touch points, the company said. It will update on the matter going forward, Tata Power said.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has to shift its focus back to supporting growth from curbing inflation sooner, an India economist at Paris-based Societe Generale has said, Moneycontrol reported. “While a slower growth is a necessity to curb inflationary pressure, RBI would not be in a position to follow the Fed step for step as growth concerns gain currency, what with multiple agencies announcing a major downgrade in their India growth expectation,” Kunal Kumar Kundu said in a note. “And with unemployment rate showing signs of inching up again, after a modicum of moderation, the focus of the central bank has to shift to growth recovery from inflation control sooner rather than later,” he added. Several economists raised expectations for the so-called terminal policy rate to 6.5 per cent or higher as the RBI failed to meet its price mandate, with retail inflation staying outside the target band for three straight quarters.
Car-sharing platform Zoomcar on Friday said it has inked a merger agreement with Innovative International Acquisition Corp and subsequently become a publicly listed entity on Nasdaq, Press Trust of India reported. The transaction values the combined company at around $456 million (£408 million). Upon closing of the transaction, the combined entity will be renamed Zoomcar Holdings, Inc and expects to list its common stock on Nasdaq. Founded in 2013, Zoomcar currently operates across more than 50 cities globally. It has over three million active users and over 25,000 vehicles registered for use on its global car-sharing marketplace. “Zoomcar’s car-sharing marketplace is positioned to cut across emerging markets, and we expect to target future expansion opportunities in markets, which include SE Asia, Latin America, MENA, and Sub-Saharan Africa,” Zoomcar co-founder and CEO Greg Moran said in a statement.
Bajaj Auto on Friday said its net profit surged by 20 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1,530 crore (£166.2 million) for the second quarter of the current financial year, ANI reported. The company’s total revenue from operations increased by 16.4 per cent to Rs 10,202.8 crore (£1.1 billion) for July-September 2022 quarter. At Rs 10,203 crore (£1.1 billion), quarterly revenue from operations surpasses the Rs 10,000 crore (£1.08 billion) milestones for the first time, according to a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges by Bajaj Auto. Growth of 16 per cent year-on-year and 27 per cent quarter-on-quarter was aided by the recovery of volumes on the improvement of semi-conductor supplies, the company said. The company posted the highest-ever quarterly EBITDA registered at Rs 1,759 crore (£191 million), strong growth of 26 per cent year-on-year and 36 per cent quarter-on-quarter.
