- Tuesday, April 22, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
HERE are news in brief on Indian economy and business for Thursday, September 21, 2023:
Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, will meet senior officials of the Emirati-based multinational conglomerate the LuLu Group in Dubai on Friday, a senior state government official said on Thursday. The LuLu Group headquartered in Abu Dhabi, UAE, which operates a chain of hypermarkets and retail companies, is keen on investing in Bengal and has requested a meeting with Banerjee during her visit to Dubai, he said. “There is a meeting between Mamata Banerjee and officials of the LuLu Group in Dubai on Friday. There are possibilities of discussion on the company’s plans to invest here in the state,” the bureaucrat told PTI.
Indian carrier IndiGo has signed a codeshare agreement with British Airways to boost connectivity between India and the UK more, airline officials revealed on Thursday. Through the deal, the UK airline will add more routes to the existing IndiGo network. British Airways is set to add the additional routes of Thiruvananthapuram in the southern state of Kerala to Heathrow via Mumbai; Rajkot in Gujarat to Heathrow via Mumbai and Vadodara (also in Gujarat) to Heathrow via Mumbai. The IndiGo network currently has connections between Amritsar (Punjab) and Heathrow via New Delhi; Kochi (Kerala) to Heathrow via Mumbai; Ahmedabad (Gujarat) to Heathrow via Mumbai; Goa to Heathrow via Mumbai and Kolkata (West Bengal) to Heathrow via Mumbai.
The State Bank of India (SBI) has taken a significant step towards shaping the future of banking by establishing the ‘SBI Foundation Hub for Data Science and Analytics’ at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B). In partnership with IIT Bombay, SBI Foundation will address industry-level challenges in the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) sector by creating a multidisciplinary space for innovation and ideation for both industry and academia, the SBI said in a release. According to the release, “SBI has pledged a grant of Rs 22.5 crore (£2.2 million) to establish this Banking Data and Analytics Hub”.
Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s property unit has set up a joint venture (JV) with Mumbai’s slum rehabilitation authority to redevelop Dharavi, a key step towards rebuilding one of Asia’s biggest slums that has found itself in legal controversy. A spokesperson from Adani Group confirmed the formation of Dharavi Redevelopment Project Pvt Ltd but did not elaborate more. Redevelopment of Dharavi, where one million people live, has been delayed for decades. The setting up of the JV is a key step and assumes significance as it comes as Adani faces a legal challenge from a rival bidder, Dubai-based SecLink Technologies Corporation.
The UK is keen on welcoming an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) to set up an offshore campus in the country and some UK universities are already in talks with IITs to explore the possibility, according to top British government officials. Several universities from the UK are also interested in setting up their branch campuses in India and are waiting for the final regulatory framework from the University Grants Commission to move formally in this regard, they said. “We have talked to the Indian High Commission in London because we think nothing would symbolise better the genuine two-way nature of the relationship between the two countries than IITs or other top institutions in India deciding to set up campuses in the UK,” Steve Smith, International Education Champion of the UK government, told PTI.
(With agencies inputs)
