MAKE IN INDIA

As world economies restart their engines in a bid to regain lost ground due to the Covid-19 pandemic, India too shows signs of economic buoyancy and promise. India’s Make in India initiative holds a key to the global economic revival, something that should interest Australian government ministries, corporate sector, entrepreneurs, institutions seeking R&D collaborations and Australia Inc in general, among others. India assumes greater importance as several major world economies including American, Japanese, German, British and South Korean look to move out and diversify their businesses from China. India has jumped to 63rd rank in the World Bank’s Ease of Development 2020 report, and has also been ranked as the 9th largest recipient of Foreign Direct Investment destinations in 2019 by the World Investment Report 2020 of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

In a sea of turbulence, India stands out for its stability, softening inflation

New Delhi, May 28 (IANS)

Indian markets have surged in the financial year 2023-24 while global markets have underperformed.

DSP Asset Managers said in a report that while the global data seems grim and the market conditions shaky, Indian economic conditions seem reasonably stable.

Some indicators include healthy GST collections, robust sale volume of petroleum products, promising electronic toll collections, and robust business activity and sentiments.

Despite interest rate hikes to multi-year highs, most countries are still grappling with inflation, striving to bring it within the target bands. Not India. India stands out with softening inflation. The downward trajectory of inflation is evident from the inflation models and the RBI's pause of the rate hike cycle, the report said.

Vikram Kasat, Head Advisory at Prabhudas Lilladher, said Nifty has surged over 5 per cent in financial year 2023-24. While if we look at global markets then they have tanked. There are multiple factors driving this exceptional growth in Indian markets -- end to RBI's modest rate hikes, FIIs coming back to India, manufacturing industry showing strong growth, exports touching new highs, on-going US recession, commodities cooling off, China plus one theme, coupled with Europe plus one, make in India, PLI schemes and incentives, all these factors have consolidated together and now are taking Indian markets at new levels.

Nowadays Europe plus one is a new China plus one -- because of poor gas supply which led to shortages and blackouts and shutdowns in Europe. This made India again an attractive investment destination, Kasat said.

The global economy has been hit by two huge shocks in three years. It might be about to suffer a third in the shape of a US debt crisis, CNN reported.

After the Covid pandemic, and the first major war in Europe since 1945, the specter of the American government being unable to pay its bills is now stalking financial markets.

For most, it's unthinkable, perhaps because the consequences are so terrifying. And it may never happen -there were signs on Friday that negotiations in Washington to increase the amount the US government can borrow were gaining momentum. But if it does, it could make the 2008 global financial crisis feel like a walk in the park.

The fallout from a default would be "a million" times worse, said Danny Blanchflower, an economics professor at Dartmouth University and former interest rate-setter at the Bank of England.

"What happens if the greatest economic monolith in the world can't pay its bills? The consequences are frightful."

The belief that America's government will pay its creditors on time underpins the smooth functioning of the global financial system. It makes the dollar the world's reserve currency and US Treasury securities the bedrock of bond markets worldwide.

"If the credibility of the Treasury's commitment to pay comes into question, it can wreak havoc across a range of global markets," said Maurice Obstfeld, non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a think tank in Washington.

As per earlier reports, stocks of Chinese companies around the world have lost about $540 billion in value, CNN reported.

Investors trimmed their exposure to China amid economic uncertainty in the country, rising geopolitical tensions and Beijing's crackdown on international consulting firms.

"Investors remain skeptical (about China) for two primary reasons.

First, the recovery has not been robust," said Brock Silvers, chief investment officer for Hong Kong-based Kaiyuan Capital. Another concern for global investors is the country's "fundamental investability", he said, referring to geopolitical and Chinese policy risks, CNN reported.

"Unfortunately after two decades of mutual benefit, global tensions have risen between China and the US," said Michael Kelly, global head of multi-asset at PineBridge Investments, a New York-based asset management firm.

Delhi to host Northeast Global Investor Summit-2023 in August

New Delhi/Agartala, April 25

(IANS) To woo investment in the resource rich northeastern region, a mega "Northeast Global

Investor Summit-2023" would be held in the national capital this August, officials said here on Tuesday.

A senior official of Tripura Industries and Commerce Department said that the focus sectors of the summit include tourism and hospitality, agro-

food processing, textiles, handloom and handicrafts, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, education and skill development, Information Technology and Services, entertainment, sports, tea, energy among others. Before the summit, a series of activities including state roundtables would be organised in the northeastern states in April-May, road shows in Mumbai (on May 29), Dhaka (Bangladesh) (on June 13), Hyderabad (on June 23) and Kolkata (on July 10).

The outline of the roadshows would include structured B2B and B2G meetings, roundtable conferences, and panel discussions focusing on the investment opportunities in the eight northeastern states of India. To finalise strategies, deliberate, ideate and explore trade and investment opportunities in the northeast region, a roundtable interaction with bilateral chambers and trade associations in India was recently held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, the official said.

He said that DoNER (Development of Northeast Region) Ministry Joint Secretary Harpreet Singh chaired the roundtable interaction meet, where diplomats and envoys from the US, SAARC, EU, ASEAN, Canada, UAE, Dubai, Japan and Finland took part.

Invest India and FICCI have been onboarded as investment facilitation partner and industry partner respectively. Singh apprised that the event would provide a platform for an immersive collaboration between select foreign embassies, the business communities, financial institutions, and relevant government stakeholders for forging mutually beneficial partnerships towards improving the business and trading ecosystem in the northeastern region.

The DoNER Joint Secretary emphasised that the focus is not solely on the summit but concrete outcomes that would materialise post the Summit. He further urged the delegates to participate proactively in forging mutually beneficial partnership to make the Summit a great success.

Industrial production for April rises 4.2%

New Delhi, June 12 (IANS) India's index of industrial production (IIP) rose by 4.2 per cent in April, significantly higher than that for March, when it had touched a five-month low of 1.1 per cent. That number has now been revised to 1.7 per cent.

According to data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on Monday, the IIP growth was 6.7 per cent in April 2022. Retail inflation for May 2023 fell to a 25-month low of 4.25 per cent as food prices fell.

India a case study for nations to create digital public infrastructure: MoS IT

New Delhi, June 12 (IANS)

India which has created a significant and robust innovation ecosystem, like the unified payments interface (UPI) and Aadhaar to benefit millions of its people, will help other nations build and expand their digital infrastructure, Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, said on Monday.

Speaking at the Global Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Summit in Pune, the minister said that UPI, which is one of the world's fastest growing fintech ecosystems, was essentially a government use case of seamlessly transferring subsidies to citizens.

"As the governments around the world implement DPIs, they will see the catalytic benefit of India's startup and innovation ecosystem in their local economies with partnerships. They should make India a case study on DPI," Chandrasekhar told the gathering. On the first day of the summit, the Centre signed the memorandum of understandings (MoUs) with three countries on sharing India Stack -- the successful digital solutions implemented at population scale. At the event, the government floated the concept of 'One Future Alliance' -- a voluntary initiative that aims to bring together all stakeholders to shape, architect and design the future of DPIs that can be used by all countries and all people.