Business
Rural Poverty Ratio Fell Below 5% In Fy24 For The First Time: SBI Research
NEW DELHI: Poverty declined faster in rural areas during FY24 as the poverty ratio dipped below 5 per cent for the first time to 4.86 per cent from 7.2 per cent in FY23, according to a study by SBI Research released on Friday. In comparison, the poverty ratio in...
Banks Post Strong Growth In Advances, Deposits In Q3
MUMBAI: Starting the new year on a positive note, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Yes Bank, and IDFC First Bank reported strong growth in advances and deposits in Q3. The growth in the December quarter was driven by festival-led demand, provisional business updates released by the banks on...
Social Security Net For Gig Workers By Early Next Fiscal
NEW DELHI: The government is likely to introduce a framework to provide social security coverage to gig and platform workers in the next four to five months, official sources said. The plan to roll out the benefits for the fast-growing labour segment by early next fiscal is despite the...
ICAI Seeks Tax Benefits To Promote Climate Change Mitigation Strategies
NEW DELHI: Chartered accountants’ apex body ICAI has sought tax benefits for promoting climate change mitigation strategies and a separate section for income from shares and securities in the income tax returns form. Besides, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has sought a special tax regime for...
EV Firms Agree To End Subsidy After Existing Subsidy Regime Ends: Goyal
NEW DELHI: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said the electric vehicle (EV) companies present in the meeting have unanimously agreed that they would no longer need subsidies once the existing subsidy regime ends. Stakeholders from the EV sector held deliberations with the minister here on issues...
EPFO Rolls Out Centralised Pension System In All Regional Offices
NEW DELHI: Retirement fund body EPFO has completed the Centralized Pension Payments System (CPPS) rollout in all its regional offices across the country that will benefit over 68 lakh pensioners, the labour ministry said on Friday. The CPPS is a paradigm shift from the existing pension disbursement system that...
Premium Devices Demand To Push India Smartphone Market To Over USD 50 Billion In 2025: Counterpoint Technology Market Research
NEW DELHI: Rising demand for premium devices, led by Apple and Samsung, is expected to increase India’s smartphone market size to over USD 50 billion (about Rs 4,28,900 crore) this year, market research firm Counterpoint Technology Market Research said on Friday. The Indian smartphone market size was estimated at...
Gold Prices Almost Flat At Rs 79,700 Per 10 Grams, Silver Slips Rs 230
NEW DELHI: Gold prices traded almost flat at Rs 79,700 per 10 grams in the national capital on Friday, according to the All India Sarafa Association. The precious metal closed at Rs 79,720 per 10 grams on Thursday. Silver slipped Rs 230 to Rs 90,400 per kg on Friday....
Centre Eases Norms To Fast-Track Capex Loans To States
NEW DELHI: The Centre has relaxed a clutch of norms regarding the release of interest-free capex loans to the state governments to ensure that the entire sum of Rs 1.5 lakh crore earmarked for 2024-25 is fully utilised during the year, and help arrest a decline in public capex....
India-EFTA Trade Pact May Come Into Force Before End Of 2025: Goyal
NEW DELHI: The implementation process of free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the four-nation European bloc EFTA is progressing fast and is expected to come into force before the end of this year, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said. The two sides signed the Trade and Economic...
Manufacturing PMI Slips To 12-Month Low Of 56.4 In December
NEW DELHI: India’s manufacturing sector growth slipped to a 12-month low in December, as fresh business orders and production expanded at softer rates, according to a monthly survey released on Thursday. The HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) compiled by S&P Global slipped to 56.4 in December from...
NBFCs Seek Reforms In Pre-Budget Talks To Boost Liquidity, Ease Challenges
NEW DELHI: During a pre-Budget consultation with stakeholders from the financial sector and capital markets, the Finance Industry Development Council (FIDC)—a key representative body of Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) —has called for major reforms to ease operational burden and improve liquidity for NBFCs. One of their requests was the...
Working Group Formed To Suggest Road Map For Producer Price Index
NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday announced the formation of a panel of experts to revise the base year of Wholesale Price Index (WPI) and suggest a road map for switching over to the Producer Price Index (PPI). The working group for revision of base year of WPI to...
Data Protection Rules Get Home Ministry’s Nod
NEW DELHI: The long-awaited implementation of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act is one step closer to reality, as inter-ministerial consultations on the draft rules concluded on Tuesday with the home ministry’s approval. The ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) is now set to release the draft...
Defence Ministry Seeks To Modernise Armed Forces, Will Observe 2025 As ‘Year Of Reforms’
NEW DELHI: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and the secretaries of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) unanimously decided to observe 2025 as the “Year of Reforms” during a New Year’s Eve meeting. The decision comes against the backdrop of ambitious defence production and export targets, as well as the rapid...
New Projects Unveiled Down 22 Per Cent In Q3: CMIE
NEW DELHI: New project starts saw a disappointing 22.1% year-on-year fall in the December, 2024 quarter reversing the trend in the September, 2024 quarter when they had recorded a smart 43% y-o-y increase. Data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) reveals that the total value new projects...
GST Mop-Up At Rs 1.77 Lakh Crore In December
NEW DELHI: The gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections in December came in at Rs 1.77 lakh crore, up 7.3% on year, data released by the finance ministry on Wednesday showed. With this, the monthly gross GST mop-up has now stayed above the Rs 1.7-lakh-crore mark for ten...
Credit Growth To NBFCs Declines To 7.8 Per Cent In November
MUMBAI: Growth in credit to the non-banking financial company (NBFC) sector plummeted to 7.8 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in the fortnight ending November 29, 2024, compared to a 19 per cent increase during the same period of 2023. This slowdown contributed to a decline in growth of credit to...
