India’s economic growth fragile

New Delhi: Foreign investors have turned cautious and pulled out `2,313 crore from Indian equities so far this month ahead of the release of Federal Reserve’s latest meeting minutes. However, the pace of selling has come down compared to January, when Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) took out `28,852 crore. This was also the worst outflow in the last seven months, data with the depositories showed. Prior to that, they made a net investment of `11,119 crore in December. —PTI

9 OF TOP 10 FIRMS

LOSE `1.87 LAKH CRORE IN MCAP

New Delhi (PTI): India’s economic growth appears to be ‘very fragile’ and it may fall short of what the country needs to meet the aspirations of its growing workforce, RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Jayanth R Varma said on Sunday.

In India, Varma said he expects inflation to remain high in 2022-23 but come down significantly in 202324. “However, growth appears to be very fragile, and monetary tightening is compressing demand,” he said.

Explaining further, he said rising EMI payments increases the pressure on household budgets and dampens spending, and ex- ports are struggling in the face of global factors.

While noting that high interest rates make private capital investment more difficult, Varma said the government is in fiscal consolidation mode, thus re-

‘DIGITAL ECONOMY CAN CONTRIBUTE 25% GDP’

New Delhi: Nine of the 10 most valued firms faced a combined erosion of `1,87,808.26 crore in market valuation last week, with HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries taking the biggest hit amid an overall weak trend in equities. Last week, the BSE benchmark tumbled 1,538.64 points or 2.52% amid concerns that the US Federal Reserve might raise interest rates further to curb inflation. Fresh foreign fund outflows also dented investor sentiments. —PTI

335 INFRA PROJECTS SHOW COST OVERRUN OF `4.46 LAKH CRORE

New Delhi (PTI): Noted banker KV Kamath, who now chairs the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID), expects the digital sector to contribute a quarter of the incremental GDP by the time the economy becomes a $ 7 trillion giant by FY29. Currently, the contribution of the digital economy is a low 4%, whereas it is as much as 40% in China.

The government and planners see the economy becoming the third largest in the world by FY29, overtaking Japan, with a GDP of $7 trillion from the present $3.3 trillion.

The digital economy -the digital infrastructure, e-commerce and other digital payments and services segments--can be the coun- try’s biggest growth-driver and can contribute as much as 25% of the incremental GDP by the time India becomes a $7-trillion economy by FY29. Currently, the share is a low 4%, Kamath said. ducing the support to the economy from this source.

“As much as 40% of the Chinese economy come from the digital sector today, and I don’t see any reason why we can’t achieve this,” the former ICICI Bank chairman quipped.

Kamath said, the NaBFID is actively looking to fund key areas in this space such as data centres.

“Because of all these factors, I fear that growth may fall short of what we need to meet the aspirations of our growing workforce given our demographic

Acc To Mpc Member Varma

 India’s economic growth appears to be ‘very fragile’ and it may fall short of what the country needs to meet the aspirations of its growing workforce

 In India, Varma said he expects inflation to remain high in 2022-23 but come down significantly in 2023-24 context and income level,” he said.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has projected India’s economic growth at 6.4% for 2023- 24. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is estimated at 7% in 2022-23, according to the first advance estimate of the NSO.

The Economic Survey 2022-23 projected a baseline GDP growth of 6.5% in real terms for the next fiscal.

Varma, currently a professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad said he sees global inflationary pressures dissipating in the months ahead as the supply shocks from the pandemic and from the Ukraine war gradually resolve themselves.

“The world is learning to live with the war,” he said, adding that at the same time monetary tightening is putting growth at risk across the world.

India, UK Fin Ministers agree to make further progress on FTA

London (PTI): India and the UK have agreed to make further progress on the ongoing negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) and also to swiftly organise the next bilateral Economic and Financial Dialogue soon, the British government has said.

India has recently concluded the seventh round of talks with the UK.

At the conclusion of UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s India visit for the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting, held under India’s 2023 Presidency, the UK’s Treasury department said the finance minister held talks with Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman with a focus on deepening bilateral economic and financial ties.

Nokia changes its iconic logo for the first time in 60 years

Barcelona (Agencies): Nokia announced plans on Sunday to change its brand identity for the first time in nearly 60 years, complete with a new logo, as the telecom equipment maker focuses on aggressive growth.

The new logo comprises five different shapes forming the word NOKIA. The iconic blue color of the old logo has been dropped for a range of colours depending on the use.

“There was the association to smartphones and nowadays we are a business technology company,” Chief Executive Pekka Lundmark said.

Major Highlights

 India and the UK have agreed to make further progress on the ongoing negotiations for a FTA and also to swiftly organise the next bilateral Economic and Financial Dialogue soon

 UK’s Treasury department said the finance minister held talks with Indian counterpart with a focus on deepening bilateral eco and financial ties

 Hunt, on his first international visit as UK Chancellor, also met with business leaders in Bengaluru and financial ties,” the Treasury department said in a statement on Saturday.

“They agreed to make swift progress on setting up the next UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue,” it said.

He was speaking ahead of a business update by the company on the eve of the annual Mobile World Congress (MWC) which opens in Barcelona on Monday and runs until March 2. After taking over the top job at the struggling Finnish company in 2020, Lundmark set out a strategy with three stages: reset, accelerate and scale. With the reset stage now complete, Lundmark said the second stage is beginning.

“At a meeting with Indian Finance Minister Sitharaman, both sides agreed to make further progress on the UK-India Free Trade Agreement and deepen bilateral economic

Hunt, on his visit as UK Chancellor, also met with business leaders in Bengaluru and visited the offices of tech multinational Wipro which employs over 4,000 people in the UK.

New Delhi: As many as 335 infrastructure projects, each entailing an investment of `150 crore or more, have been hit by cost overruns of more than `4.46 lakh crore. According to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme

Implementation, out of 1,454 projects, 335 reported cost overruns and as many as 871 projects were delayed. “Total original cost of implementation of the 1,454 projects was `20,59,065.57 crore and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be `25,05,248.43 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of `4,46,182.86 crore.” —PTI

SERVICES EXPORTS TO CROSS $300

BILLION THIS FISCAL

DGCA plans to hire 400 tech staff in 1-2 yrs

Present Status Of Dgca

 Currently, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has around 1,300 employees, including about 700 technical staff and it is expected to increase by 400

New Delhi (PTI): The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) plans to ramp up its technical staff to 1,100 by hiring another 400 people in the next one to two years as well as increase the number of offices to 19 as the watchdog strengthens the safety oversight capabilities, according to its chief Arun Kumar.

Kumar, who will be superannuating on February 28 after being at the helm for nearly four years, described his tenure as a

INDIA’S ENRON MOMENT?

New Delhi: Services exports are recording a healthy growth rate and going by this trend, the outbound shipments will cross $300 billion in 2022-23, and tapping global opportunities would help achieve $1 trillion target by 2030, SEPC said on Sunday. Services Export Promotion Council Director General Abhay Sinha said support measures in the forthcoming FTP would help further boost the exports. —PTI

INDIGO, GO FIRST FACE P&W ENGINE HEADWINDS

New Delhi (PTI): More than 50 planes of IndiGo and Go First are on the ground due to Pratt & Whitney engine woes amid persisting supply chain headwinds, forcing airlines to explore wet leasing of aircraft and other options to minimise disruptions, according to officials. The country’s largest airline IndiGo is looking at various options, including slowing down redeliveries through lease extensions, exploring the re-induction of aircraft into the fleet, and evaluating the wet lease options within the regulatory guidelines.

“roller coaster ride” on Sunday.

Currently, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has around 1,300 employees, including about 700 technical staff.

“The number of techni-

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cal staff is expected to increase by 400 in the next one to two years... also, the number of offices of the DGCA in different parts of the country will increase to 19 from the current 14 in the near term,” he said.