India Inc

India Inc cheered the Reserve Bank's stance to hold key interest rate on Thursday terming it a "prudent" move in the wake of headwinds emanating from global banking stress and said the move will improve business sentiments by containing the rise in borrowing costs. Industry bodies cautioned that any further hike in the benchmark repo rate at this juncture would have affected India's economic growth even as domestic demand impulses remain healthy. Sanjiv Bajaj, President, CII said the industry body agrees with the central bank's observation that the lagged impact of the past rate hikes should be allowed to percolate into the system, and not stifle demand by further rate hikes. Though the domestic demand impulses remain healthy, headwinds from the global banking stress have gained pace, hence it was important for the central bank to remain cautious in its stance. This move by RBI will help bolster business sentiments by containing the rise in borrowing costs which have constricted th

The UP State Industrial Development Authority (UPSIDA) is looking to buy about 7,000 acres of land in Phase I to add to its existing inventory of 15,000 acres

Across sectors, CFOs are stepping into the role of CEOs as companies see value in their realistic outlook grounded in numbers

Interest rate hikes, global slowdown, stubborn inflation pose risk

India Inc's key credit ratios moderated sharply in the second half of FY23 on expected lines and are likely to go down further, Crisil Ratings said on Monday, maintaining that upgrades will continue to outpace downgrades. The Crisil credit ratio, or the number of upgrades to downgrades, moderated to 2.19 times for the October 2022-March 2023 period, as against 5.52 times in the first half of FY23. There were 460 companies whose debt got upgraded, as against 210 which saw a downgrade. Looked at from the outstanding debt perspective, the agency which rates 7,000 entities said the ratio moderated to 2.47 times, as against 7 times in the first half of the fiscal. The agency's managing director Gurpreet Chhatwal told reporters that it has a "positive bias" on the overall credit scenario quality for FY24, and the upgrades will continue to be higher than the downgrades even though there can be a further moderation in the ratios. Going forward, the key risk factors to watch out for, which

Most top executives appear to be upbeat about sales and profit

Sustained deleveraging, continued revenue, profitability growth boost rating

India's new foreign trade policy is pragmatic and positive, and has set a stage for exporters to increase the country's share in global trade, industry bodies and experts said. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal unveiled a 'dynamic and responsive' Foreign Trade Policy 2023 on Friday with the objective of raising the country's outward shipments to USD 2 trillion by 2030, pushing the rupee trade and incentivising e-commerce exports. Director General of industry chamber CII Chandrajit Banerjee said with many innovative measures, the new FTP will go a long way to help India achieve USD 2 trillion in exports of goods and services and is in line with the many policy announcements to promote exports in the recent past. "At a time when the world is looking for resilient global value chains, FTP 2023 will facilitate the regulatory environment, foster globally competitive firms and make exports more inclusive," he said. Commenting on the policy, Assocham Secretary General Deepak Soo

Seven leading decision-makers met virtually to pick the outstanding achievers in seven categories

The interest burden on India's public finances will be even bigger if the RBI hikes rates further to tame inflation

Among reasons for the shift could be higher cost of servicing debt, bond holders' risk awareness making roll-over option expensive at the time of repayment, and reputation issues, writes T N Ninan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday urged India Inc to increase investment and take advantage of the opportunities unveiled in the Budget 2023-24. Addressing the 10th webinar on Budget, Modi said the government has increased outlay on capital expenditure to Rs 10 lakh crore, the highest ever. In this backdrop, he said, "I would also call upon the private sector of the country to increase their investment just like the government so that the country gets maximum benefit from it." The prime minister further said as opposed to the past, the tax burden has come down significantly in India due to GST, reduction in income tax and corporate tax. This, he said, has resulted in better tax collection. In 2013-14 gross tax revenue was about Rs 11 lakh crore which rose to Rs 33 lakh crore in 2023-24, an increase of 200 per cent. The number of individual tax returns increased from 3.5 crore to 6.5 crore from 2013-14 to 2020-21. "Paying tax is such a duty, which is directly related to natio

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In all, listed IT companies accounted for 47 per cent of incremental growth in India Inc's salary and wages bill in the last 12 months

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday said the responsibility for the trade imbalance with China rests squarely on businesses as well, blaming Indian corporates for not developing the right sourcing arrangements. Speaking at the Asia Economic Dialogue here, Jaishankar said the government is doing its bit by bringing in policies like the thrust on Atmanirbhar Bharat and made it clear that the "massive external exposure" puts national security at threat. Terming the challenge posed by the trade imbalance with China as very serious and formidable, the career bureaucrat turned politician said the responsibility here is not just of the government, but it is an equal responsibility of businesses as well. "Indian corporates have not developed the kind of backwards (integration), vendor supplies, components and parts, ingredients and intermediates that should be supporting us," he said. With lots of people, including former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, asking India to focus on

Of the 1,400 companies surveyed across 40 industries, 46% of organisations are expected to give double-digit salary increases in 2023

Vienna-based RHI Magnesita is investing Rs 3,600 crore in the Indian market over the next two-three years to increase its production capacity and modernise plants, its global CEO Stefan Borgas said. The company has utilised a portion of the Rs 3,600-crore capital expenditure to acquire two refractory assets in India, Borgas told PTI here. "We have earmarked a Rs 3,600 crore investment in India. This would go towards organic and inorganic capacity expansion and modernisation of the Indian manufacturing facilities," the CEO said, adding that the capital infusion will be through its subsidiary RHI Magnesita India Ltd. RHI Magnesita India is a manufacturer and supplier of refractory products, systems, and solutions for industries such as steel, cement, non-ferrous metals, and glass. The company recently completed the acquisition of Dalmia OCL and the refractory business of Hi-Tech Chemicals for Rs 1,708 crore and Rs 621 crore, respectively. The refractory building capacity of the comp

Banks account for most of incremental growth in India Inc earnings

According to a new report, 34% of the surveyed employees feared burnout, 25% feared failure at psychologically unsafe workplaces

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