India’s overall exports are estimated to reach 776.68 billion dollars in financial year 2023-24, surpassing last year’s highest record. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a release that that the overall exports in the preceding financial year, 2022-23, was 776.40 Billion dollars.
The Ministry added that overall imports in the FY 2023-24 are estimated to be 854.80 Billion dollars, exhibiting a negative growth of minus 4.81 per cent compared to the preceding financial year. It further said that overall trade deficit is estimated to significantly improve by 35.77 percent, from 121.62 Billion dollars in FY 2022-23 to 78.12 Billion in FY 2022-23
Kuwait’s Emir has appointed Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah al-Ahmad al-Sabah as the new PM of Kuwait. This decision follows the resignation of former PM Sheikh Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah. Sheikh Ahmad is a Kuwaiti economist and has served as Minister of Finance and Communications from 1999 to 2005, before serving as Minister of Health, Oil and Information from 2006 to 2011.
India's wholesale inflation, based on the Wholesale Price Index, remained in positive territory for the fifth month after remaining in the negative zone for seven months until October. The annual rate of inflation based on all India Wholesale Price Index (WPI) numbers is 0.53 per cent (provisional) for March 2024 (over March 2023).
The positive rate of inflation in March 2024 is primarily due to increase in prices of food articles, electricity, crude petroleum and natural gas, machinery and equipment and other manufacturing. The government releases index numbers of wholesale prices on a monthly basis on the 14th of every month (or the next working day).
A Japanese consortium will invest $370 million to acquire a minority stake in a platform that invests in companies developing city gas distribution networks in India, global infrastructure investor I Squared Capital. Osaka Gas, Sumitomo Corp and a Japanese government-private sponsored investment fund, will invest in Indian companies that develop natural gas infrastructure.
The platform, called the Natural Gas Transition Platform, has investments in last-mile city gas distribution businesses including THINK Gas and AG&P Pratham that are developing city gas infrastructure across 19 geographical areas covering 325,000 square kilometres
Public sector lender Bank of India and Indian Mortgage Guarantee Corporation have signed a pact to provide mortgage guarantee-backed home loan products in the affordable housing segment. It will cover salaried and self-employed home loan customers. IMGC will mitigate the risk of defaults for the bank, allowing it to potentially offer more favourable loan term to borrowers.
India exported electronics goods worth $29.12 billion in 2023-24 (FY24), up 23.6 per cent compared to a year ago, even as the country’s total exports contracted 3 per cent. According to commerce department officials, the top five export market of electronics good are — the US, United Arab Emirates, Netherland, United Kingdom, and Italy.
During FY24, exports also ventured into new markets, such as Montenegro, Cayman Islands, El Salvador, Turkmenistan, Mongolia, Honduras and St Vincent.
The advances of Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs) to the priority sector surged more than 27 per cent in the financial year 2023, compared to the previous year, the Reserve Bank of India's annual ‘Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks’ Outlook 2022-23’ showed.
The RBI report put the advances for UCBs in FY23 at Rs 2.2 trillion, up from Rs 1.73 trillion in FY22.
A majority of the advances of UCBs was given to MSMEs (micro, small & medium enterprises), amounting to Rs 1.3 trillion in FY23 against Rs 1 trillion in FY22.
Of the total lending by UCBs to the priority sector, almost 40 per cent was to the MSMEs in FY23 compared to 34.27 per cent last year. Within MSMEs, micro enterprises had the highest share at 17.23 per cent.
Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 15 broke their record of scoring the highest runs in the IPL, as they hammered 287 runs in 20 overs while playing against Royal Challengers Bangalore at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. In the innings, 22 whopping sixes were shot, along with 19 boundaries, by the power hitters of Sunrisers Hyderabad – Travis Head (102), Abhishek Sharma (34).
British-American author Salman Rushdie releases his memoir "Knife", recounting the harrowing experience of being stabbed at a public event in 2022 and how he overcame the near-fatal ordeal.
Rushdie lost sight in one eye after the attack by a knife-wielding assailant, who jumped on stage at an arts gathering in New York state.
World Art Day 2024 is celebrated every year on 15 April. It is dedicated to the birthday of the famous artist Leonardo da Vinci, who is considered to be the symbol of freedom of expression and peace. The history of World Art Day dates back to 2012, when the International Association of Art held a special ceremony in Guadalajara, Mexico, to celebrate the day.
The significance of World Art Day is to promote and highlight the importance of art in the lives of human beings. The theme of World Art Day 2024 is 'A GARDEN OF EXPRESSION: Cultivating Community Through Art.'
India has lost 2.33 million hectares of tree cover since 2000, equivalent to a six per cent decrease in tree cover during this period, according to the latest data from the Global Forest Watch monitoring project. Between 2001 and 2022, it said, forests in India emitted 51 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year and removed 141 million tons of carbon dioxide.
The Global Forest Watch, which tracks forest changes in near real-time using satellite data and other sources, said the country lost 4,14,000 hectares of humid primary forest (4.1 per cent) from 2002 to 2023, making up 18 per cent of its total tree cover loss in the same period.
The data showed that 95 per cent of the tree cover loss in India from 2013 to 2023 occurred within natural forests. The GFW data showed that five states accounted for 60 per cent of all tree cover loss between 2001 and 2023.
Assam had the maximum tree cover loss at 324,000 hectares compared to an average of 66,600 hectares. Mizoram lost 312,000 hectares of tree cover.
Arunachal Pradesh 262,000 hectares, Nagaland 259,000 hectares, and Manipur 240,000 hectares. From 2001 to 2022, Odisha had the highest rate of tree cover loss due to fires with an average of 238 hectares lost per year. Arunachal Pradesh lost 198 hectares, Nagaland 195 hectares, Assam 116 hectares, and Meghalaya 97 hectares.
The CDP-SURAKSHA is essentially a digital platform. SURAKSHA stands for “System for Unified Resource Allocation, Knowledge, and Secure Horticulture Assistance.” The platform will allow an instant disbursal of subsidies to farmers in their bank account by utilising the e-RUPI voucher.
Under the Cluster Development Programme, the Indian government has launched a new platform for providing horticultural farmers with subsidies. It has been launched by Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. It has database integration with PM-KISAN, cloud-based server space, NIC, UIDAI validation, eRUPI integration, local government directory, geo tagging& geo fencing.
