- Wednesday, February 26, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
HERE are news in brief on Indian economy and business for Tuesday, September 27, 2023:
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said his aim is to make India a global growth engine and expressed confidence that the country will soon emerge as an economic powerhouse of the world. Speaking at an event in Ahmedabad in the western state of Gujarat to mark 20 years of success of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, Modi said they sowed small seeds of a “Vibrant Gujarat” 20 years ago, and today it has developed into a big tree. “We organised Vibrant Gujarat to make the state a growth engine of India. The country has seen this imagination becoming a reality,” he told a gathering of industrialists and businessmen.
A factory fire at iPhone assembler Pegatron India was caused by a short-circuit after an electrical switch was left on, after testing of the devices as they were being put together, a couple of informed sources told Reuters. The lapse at key Apple supplier Pegatron’s only factory in India, located in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, resulted in loss of production for two straight days. After Reuters sought Pegatron’s reaction, it told the Taiwanese stock exchange the same day that “a small switchboard experienced an accident” at the factory on Sunday (24). A spokesperson late on Wednesday said production had resumed but did not provide further details.
India’s opposition Indian National Congress on Wednesday alleged that the country’s market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is “reluctant” to investigate the allegations against Indian conglomerate Adani Group and said the only way forward is a joint parliamentary committee probe to bring out the truth. Congress general secretary and parliamentarian Jairam Ramesh cited a media report to say that the “stench of illegality” around another Adani-linked shell company – Opal Investment – is getting stronger. He claimed there are “fresh revelations” that the firm, which controls Rs 8,000 crore (£793 million) worth of equity in Adani Power, was set up as a “single person company” in Dubai in May 2019.
The Indian income-tax department on Wednesday carried out searches at the premises of IT hardware-maker Lenovo on Wednesday as part of a tax evasion probe against the company and some of its affiliates, official sources said. The raids covered the company’s premises in Gurugram in the northern state of Haryana and Bengaluru, the capital of the southern state of Karnataka, they said. Lenovo leads the global personal computer market with a 24 per cent share. The company clocked $1.9 billion (£1.56 billion) in revenue in India in the 2022-2023 financial year, with a 17 per cent market share in the country. The sources said the taxman suspects tax evasion and hence, has launched the searches to gather evidence and corroborate actionable intelligence obtained by it in this regard.
The Indian Navy will unveil an updated new “indigenisation roadmap” next week with a focus on specific initiatives to achieve self-reliance in acquiring various critical technologies and platforms to boost its overall military might. The roadmap will be released at the second edition of the annual ‘Swavlamban’ seminar to be held on October 4 and 5, Navy officials said on Wednesday, adding prime minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to attend the conclave. At a media briefing, vice chief of the Naval Staff Vice Admiral Sanjay Jasjit Singh said the Navy resolved to develop 75 technologies at the Swavlamban seminar last year and the aim has been achieved. “Last year, in the presence of the prime minister, the Indian Navy had committed to develop at least 75 technologies as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav,” he said.
UAE-based retailer LuLu Group opened its maiden shopping mall in Hyderabad, the capital of the southern Indian state of Telangana, on Wednesday. The state’s IT and industries minister KT Rama Rao inaugurated the mall, covering 500,000 square feet in Hyderabad. “Congratulations to LuLu Group and all the best to this promising endeavour! Lulu Group’s proposed investment of Rs 3,500 crore (£347 million) in Telangana is going to play a vital role in supporting local agricultural and trade sectors and creating more job opportunities for Telangana’s youth,” KTR said. Yusuff Ali MA, managing director of LuLu Hypermarket, lauded the minister and the state’s chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for their role in facilitating LuLu’s entry in the Indian state.
Indore bagged the top spot in the National Smart Cities category while the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, where the former is located, was declared ‘Best State’ at Indian Smart Cities Conclave 2023 being held in Indore on Wednesday. President Droupadi Murmu felicitated the winners of the fourth edition of the India Smart Cities Award Contest (ISAC) 2022. The ISAC has been organised under the Smart Cities Mission under India’s ministry of housing and urban affairs since 2018. While addressing the event, the president expressed her happiness over the increase in the country’s overall investment in urban development. Applauding the move, she said that India’s overall investment in urban development has, over the last decade, been more than 10 times what it was earlier.
(With agencies inputs)
