Winning Bizness Economic Desk
G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant has said that the country which is on track to become the third-largest economy globally, would propel 20 per cent of the global economic growth over the next decade.
“In the next three-years, we will overtake Japan and Germany to be the third-largest economy in the world. In a world which is starved for growth, India is an outlier and has emerged as a very resilient powerhouse driving growth,” Mr Amitabh Kant said.
India, which is now the world’s fifth-largest economy is the fastest growing large economy in the world, he observed.
According to Mr Amitabh Kant, the change in India’s economic position is a once-in-a-generation shift.
“We were among the fragile five only a few years ago, and in just 10-years, we moved to the top five,” he said.
“If India is to grow at 9-to-10 per cent over the next three decades and become a developed economy by 2047, we need to improve our learning outcomes, over health outcomes and nutritional standards, in a very big way,” he said.
India’s Retail Inflation at 3.65 Per Cent in Aug
The country’s retail inflation stood at 3.65 per cent in August of this year, according to the All India Consumer Price Index (CPI), data released by the government showed.
The combined inflation (rural and urban) slipped to 3.65 per cent in August as compared to 6.83 per cent in the same month of the last year (August 2023).
However, it has moved northward by 110 basis points (bps) when compared to the previous month’s 3.54 per cent.
An important that requires highlighting here is that this is the second time in nearly five-years that overall retail inflation has slid below the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s four per cent inflation target. The last time this happened was in July of this year.
The Reserve Bank’s inflation target is four per cent with a tolerance band of plus or minus two percentage points meaning the target is within the range of two-to-six per cent.
Urban inflation moved southward to 3.14 per cent in August of this year as compared to 6.59 per cent in August of last year while rural inflation declined to 4.16 per cent in August of this year as against 7.02 per cent in the same month of last year.
The combined Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) shows food inflation stood at 5.66 per cent in August of this year as compared to 9.94 per cent in August 2023.
With respect to urban food inflation, it slipped below five per cent to 4.99 per cent in August of this year as compared to 10.42 per cent in August 2023.
Rural food inflation fell to 6.02 per cent in August 2024 as against 9.67 per cent in August 2023.
An important point to note here is that tomatoes have shown the lowest Year-on-Year (YoY) (-47.91 per cent) as well as the lowest Month-on-Month (MoM) change in index (-28.8 per cent).
Vegetables prices increased the most by 10.71 per cent as compared to other item categories.
Among states in the country, Bihar registered the highest combined inflation among all Indian states in August of this year at 6.62 per cent.
Odisha followed in the second spot at 5.63 per cent and Assam at third at 5.03 per cent.
The southern state of Telangana had the lowest combined inflation of 2.02 per cent followed by Uttarakhand at 2.37 per cent and Delhi at the third position at 2.52 per cent.
Trade Connect e-Platform Aims to Raise India’s Exports Market Share: Minister
India’s Commerce and Industries Minister Mr Piyush Goyal has launched a new trade portal to provide real-time trade-related information to existing and aspiring exporters and exuded confidence that it would help India improve its global market share.
Labelling the initiative as FAST (Futuristic, Accessible, Single window, Transformational), Mr Goyal said that the Trade Connect e-Platform would not only benefit the large exporters but would also assist the growth journey of small entrepreneurs, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs).
The portal serves as a one-stop solution for providing exporters with quick comprehensive trade-related information, thereby addressing information asymmetry while connecting them to various government entities like the Department of Commerce, Export Promotion Councils, Indian missions abroad and other trade exporters.
An important point to note here is that it includes several features such as product and country guides for comprehensive market insights, trade agreements and tariff explorers to unlock the benefits of free trade agreements and sourcing from India to showcase Indian products globally.
Mr Goyal asked stakeholders to provide their feedback about the platform, asserting that a new Grade Connect e-Platform 2.0, with enhanced features and services-based can be introduced before the next Board of Trade meeting.
The Minister further added that the new version of the platform would incorporate Hindi and other official languages besides creating synergies and partnerships to reach the goal of USD 1-trillion merchandise and USD 1-trillion in services exports by 2030.
Tami Nadu Govt Inks Investment Pacts for Over Rs 2,600-cr with US Companies
The Tamil Nadu government has signed investment pacts worth over Rs 2,600-crore with US companies during the recent visit of the state’s chief minister Mr M K Stalin to that country.
MoUs were signed with Jabil and Rockwell Automation for investment and expansion in the southern state.
Both Jabil and Rockwell Automation are Fortune 500 companies. The former is a leading provider of electronics manufacturing services while Rockwell Automation is one of the world’s largest companies in industrial automation and digital transformation with its corporate headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States.
The Tamil Nadu government signed the MoUs with the two companies in the presence of the state’s chief minister Mr Stalin for investments of Rs 2,666-crore and 5,365 jobs, an official release issued stated.
Jabil is a leading provider of electronics manufacturing services and solutions to biggies such as Apple, Cisco, HP and Dell. It has manufacturing units in China, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore and the US.
The MoU between Jabil and the Tamil Nadu government is for setting up an electronics manufacturing unit in Trichy at an investment of Rs 2,000-crore and creating 5,000 jobs.
With respect to Rockwell Automation, the MoU was signed for expanding its electronics manufacturing unit in Kanchipuram at an investment of Rs 666-crore.
Another agreement was signed with Autodesk which is an US multinational corporation that provides software products and services for architecture, construction, manufacturing, media, education and entertainment industries.
The agreement with Autodesk is to enhance the skills of Tamil Nadu’s youth and improve the competitiveness of MSMEs and start-ups in the industrial eco-system.
The company has over 14,000 employees worldwide and is also a Fortune 500 entity.
“During this visit in the presence of the chief minister, MoUs worth Rs 4,350-crore have been signed with 14 leading global companies in San Francisco and Chicago. He (chief minister) has also invited senior officials from various leading companies worldwide to invest in Tamil Nadu,” the release added.
India’s Forex Reserves at a New High
The country’s foreign exchange reserves increased USD 5.248-billion to USD 689.235-billion as of September 6, as compared to USD 683.987-billion in the previous reporting week, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The data showed that foreign currency assets (FCAs), which is the major contributor to the forex reserves increased USD 5.107-billion to USD 604.144-billion as of September 6 as compared to USD 599.037-billion as of August 30, according to India’s central bank’s data.
The foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the Pound, Euro and Japanese Yen held in the forex reserves.
The data also revealed a USD 129-million increase in gold reserves to USD 61.988-billion in the latest filing as compared to USD 61.859-billion in the August-end filing.
Here, a point to note is that gold is the second largest contributor to the country’s forex reserve.
The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) showed a northward movement of USD 4-million to USD 18.472-billion as of September 6, as compared to its previous level of USD 18.468-billion in end-August, according to the Reserve Bank of India data.
The country’s reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) increased USD 9-million to USD 4.631-billion as per the latest data filing, compared to USD 4.622-billion in the previous week’s data, the RBI data stated.
