Winning Bizness Economic Desk
Davos: India Receives Investment Commitments Worth Rs 20-lakh-crore
In a significant development, India has received investment commitments worth over Rs 20-lakh-crore at the World Economic Forum (WEF) held in Davos recently.
The country’s union minister Mr Ashwini Vaishnaw led India’s largest ever delegation to the Forum with five union ministers, three chief ministers and several other state leaders.
He said that trust and talent were the two key factors that attracted global investments to India.
The biggest beneficiary from the Forum was the western coastal state of Maharashtra which attracted eighty per cent of the total investments.
The state’s delegation was led by its chief minister Mr Devendra Fadnavis—it inked 61 MoUs worth Rs 15.70-lakh-crore holding a potential to generate 16-lakh jobs.
The Telangana state delegation led by its chief minister Mr Revanth Reddy signed 20 MoUs worth Rs 1.79-lakh-crore which are expected to generate nearly 50,000 jobs.
The investments are focused on green energy, development of cutting-edge technology and data centres.
The northern state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) presented its vision of evolving into an USD 1-trillion economy, besides bagging some big investments.
Union minister Mr Chirag Paswan announced that global beverage major AB InBev would invest USD 250-million in the country’s beverage sector, spanning several states.
International giant Unilever, known in India as Hindustan Unilever revealed its plans to set up two new manufacturing units in Telangana. Here, it must be highlighted that several other global majors have also explored potential partnerships with Indian companies with over 100 CEOs and top leaders from India participating in the discussions.
India’s Exports to US Up 5.57 Per Cent in Apr-Dec 2024
India’s exports to the United States (US) moved northward by 5.57 per cent to Rs 5,16,596-crore during the April-to-December 2024 period, mainly driven by a healthy demand in the American market for domestic goods, government data showed.
During December 2024, shipments increased by 8.49 per cent to Rs 60,340-crore (USD 7-billion), according to the government data.
Imports during the first nine-months of this fiscal (FY 25) grew by 1.91 per cent to Rs 2,87,908-crore, while in December, it was up by 9.88 per cent to Rs 32,497-crore.
Bilateral trade between April-to-December 2024-25 stood at Rs 8,05,108-crore as against Rs 8,15,452-crore between India and its neighbour China.
Here, it must be pointed out that the US is the country’s largest trading partner from 2021-22. The US accounts for about 18 per cent of India’s total goods exports and over six per cent in imports and about eleven per cent in bilateral trade.
Gujarat Gets USD 57.7-bn FDI Equity Flow in a Decade
The western state of Gujarat received a foreign direct investment equity inflow of USD 57.7-billion between April 2014-to-September 2024, accounting for 86 per cent of the total FDI equity inflow of USD 67.2-billion in the state over the last 24-years.
Between the above period, Gujarat got USD 57.7-billion in FDI equity inflow accounting for 11.7 per cent of the total FDI equity inflow of USD 492.27-billion in the country during this period, according to a report for the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) in December 2024.
In the first-half (H1) of 2024-25, Gujarat’s FDI equity inflow increased to USD 3.95-billion—this was a 72.5 per cent growth compared to USD 2.29-billion in H1 of FY 2023-24.
During the same period, the national FDI equity inflows moved northward from USD 20.49-billion to USD 29.79-billion, clocking a 45.4 per cent growth.
As per the latest report, 86 per cent of the total FDI equity inflow into Gujarat from April 2000-to-September 2024 was registered in the last decade—from April 2014-to-September 2024. The state had attracted USD 9.51-billion in FDI equity inflow from April-to-March 2014.
The DPIIT report said that from April 2000 to September 2024, the country received a total FDI inflow of USD 1.03-trillion indicating the country’s economic growth and the rising confidence of global investors.
Out of this, India recorded FDI equity inflows of USD 708.7-billlion over the past 24-years. The Gujarat FDI equity inflows during this period constituted 9.5 per cent of India’s total FDI equity inflow.
Reliance to Set Up World’s Largest Data Centre in Jamnagar
The Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance group plans to set up what could be the world’s biggest data centre by capacity in Jamnagar, Gujarat. This comes after a flurry of global investments to capitalise on the increasing demand for AI services.
The president of the United States (US) Mr Donald Trump has just announced a USD 500-billion investment over the next four-years to build AI infrastructure in that country.
Mr Ambani is reportedly purchasing AI semi-conductors from Nvidia, a world leader in AI technology to propel his data centre.
This follows the October 2024 announcement by both Reliance and Nvidia of a co-operative effort to construct AI infrastructure in India during a conversation session at the Nvidia AI Summit 2024.
Both companies collaborated with a vision to create AI super-computers and Large Language Models (LLMs) customised for India’s varied languages.
Mr Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s CEO, said that it made perfect sense for India to manufacture its own AI. Mr Mukesh Ambani of the Reliance group highlighted the country’s robust digital connectivity infrastructure. He added that “we can use intelligence to bring prosperity to all people and equality to the world.”
Here, it must be pointed out that the Indian government has also offered major assistance for the country’s AI ambitions, investing over Rs 10,000-crore to fund entrepreneurs, AI initiatives and the creation of LLMs.
Here, a point to note is that establishing semi-conductor production plants is a capital-intensive and time-consuming process requiring a highly specialised staff, which India is now developing.
Healthy Increase in Pune Real Estate Market’s Registrations, Stamp Duty Collections
Pune’s real estate market registered a 25 per cent increase in the total number of property registrations throughout 2024 with 1,90,025 property registrations compared to 1,53,323 registrations and a 33 per cent revenue rise to Rs 7,098-crore from Rs 5,352-crore.
The above numbers are according to data from Maharashtra IGR (Inspector General of Registrations). On a Year-on-Year (YoY) basis, property registrations increased by 18 per cent to 17,348 property registrations in December 2024 from 14,725 in December of the previous year (2023).
On revenue collections, there was an increase of eleven per cent from Rs 560-crore in December 2023 to Rs 620-crore in December 2024. Pune’s housing market witnessed a demand increase for properties priced at Rs 1-crore and above.
The share of this segment expanded from 12 per cent in December 2023 to 15 per cent in December 2024.
India’s Forex Reserves Slide by USD 1.88-bn
The country’s foreign exchange reserves slid by USD 1.88-billion to USD 623.983-billion in the week ended January 17, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s data showed.
Earlier, the overall kitty had fallen by USD 8.714-billion to USD 625.871-billion in the week ended January 10, India’s central bank said.
Here, it must be pointed out that the reserves have been on a declining trend in the last few weeks.
The drop has been attributed to re-evaluation along with forex market interventions by the RBI to help reduce volatilities in the Rupee.
The forex reserves had increased to an all-time high of USD 704.885-billion in end-September.
For the week ended January 17, the Foreign Currency Assets (FCAs), a major component of the reserves, moved southward by USD 2.878-billion to USD 533.133-billion, the RBI data showed.
Expressed in dollar terms, the FCAs include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the Euro, Pound and Yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.
Gold reserves increased by USD 1.603-million to UD 68.947-billion during the week.
The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) increased by USD 17.782-billion, the RBI said. India’s reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was down by USD 74-million at USD 4.122-billion in the reporting week the data showed.
