Global investment bank Goldman Sachs has raised India’s GDP growth forecast to 6.7 percent for calendar year 2024. The latest data released by the bank said, they expect a sustained growth momentum with additional fiscal space on account of a bumper dividend transfer from the RBI.
The financial company said that in India, growth momentum remains strong and core inflation is expected to bottom out in April-June. The report also came on a day when the IMD confirmed its forecast of above-average monsoon rains this year which are expected to spur production in the agricultural sector that was hit by erratic weather last year.
Chennai-headquartered Fischer Medical Ventures (FMVL), aiming to lessen the country's reliance on imported devices, has manufactured its magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems domestically, claiming to be the first company in the country to achieve this.
The company is developing its MRI systems at a production facility in the Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ) in Visakhapatnam. AMTZ, India's premier medical technology park, provides a conducive environment for production, with access to facilities and a skilled workforce.
The Reserve Bank of India has imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore on ICICI Bank for non-compliance with norms relating to loans, and a Rs 91 lakh fine on another private sector lender, Yes Bank, for violating norms relating to customer service and unauthorised operation of internal/office accounts.
RBI found that ICICI Bank had sanctioned term loans to certain entities in lieu of or to substitute budgetary resources envisaged for certain projects, and without undertaking due diligence on the viability and bankability of the projects to ensure that revenue streams from the projects were sufficient to take care of the debt servicing obligations, among others.
On Yes Bank, the banking regulator found the lender levied charges for non-maintenance of minimum balance in certain savings accounts having insufficient/zero balance and opened and operated certain internal accounts in the name of its customers for unauthorised purposes like parking funds and routing customer transactions.
TATA AIG General Insurance, a private general insurer, has rolled out Surety Insurance Bonds to support the government’s ambitious agenda on infrastructure development, which has been allocated 3.3 percent of the GDP in FY 2024.
A surety bond is a legally binding agreement between three parties: the obligee (the entity requiring the bond), the principal (the party required to fulfil a certain task or duty), and the surety (the party ensuring that the principal can perform the assignment).
The surety bond, which is most typically used in construction and infrastructure projects, guarantees that the principal will meet the commitments indicated in a contract. If the principal fails to meet these obligations, the surety compensates the obligee, reducing their financial risk.
Tech major Google is investing nearly $350 million in Walmart-owned e-commerce firm Flipkart for a minority share, according to sources. The investment is part of the $1 billion funding round started by Flipkart in 2023. Flipkart’s valuation had been adjusted to $33 billion after fintech firm PhonePe was separated from the group in December 2022.
Jyoti Ratre, an entrepreneur and fitness enthusiast from Madhya Pradesh, has become the oldest Indian woman to conquer Mount Everest. The 55-year-old mountaineer reached the summit at 6:30 a.m. on May 19. This was Ratre's second attempt to summit the highest peak in the world. In 2023, she had to return from 8,160 mt due to harsh weather.
Smartphones are now the fourth-largest export item from India with 42 per cent growth to $15.6 billion in FY24, up by one notch in the ranking from the preceding year. India started collecting data for smartphones separately from April 2022. While India’s top export items are dominated by petroleum products, smartphones replaced motor gasoline.
According to commerce department data, the spike in smartphone exports was driven by a 158 per cent increase in shipments to the US at $5.6 billion, followed by the United Arab Emirates ($2.6 billion), the Netherlands ($1.2 billion), and the UK ($1.1 billion).
On May 28th, the world unites for World Hunger Day. This day raises awareness about the urgent issue of global hunger.In 2011, The Hunger Project, a global organisation dedicated to ending hunger and poverty, established World Hunger Day as a yearly event. The theme for World Hunger Day 2024 is "Thriving Mothers, Thriving World."
Kerala recorded the highest unemployment rate among the 15-29 age group in urban areas for the January-March quarter of 2024, while Delhi had the lowest joblessness rate, according to the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI).
The survey, which covered 22 states and Union territories, identified Jammu & Kashmir, Telangana, Rajasthan, and Odisha as other states with high unemployment rates in this age category. The overall unemployment rate for the 15-29 age group was 17% for the January-March period, an increase from 16.5% in the previous quarter but slightly lower than the 17.3% in same period.
For all age groups, the unemployment rate was 6.7 per cent , marginally up from 6.5 per cent in the previous quarter and slightly below the 6.8 per cent from the previous year. Delhi (3.1 per cent ), Gujarat (9 per cent ), and Haryana (9.5 per cent ). Karnataka (11.5 per cent ) and Madhya Pradesh (12.1 per cent ) also had relatively low unemployment rates.