Economy - Focus Merit

July 25, 2020

Singaporean brokerage firm DBS Bank Ltd has estimated that the Indian economy will contract by 6 percent in FY21 (2020-21).
In its previous forecast, DBS had estimated – 4.8 percent growth for FY21.

July 23, 2020

As per the report of Nomura Holdings, India’s Gross domestic Product(GDP) is likely to contract by 6.1%(-6.1%) in FY21 as economic activity continues to be weak due to COVID-19 pandemic.

July 16, 2020

Mukesh Ambani surged past Silicon Valley tech titan Elon Musk as well as Alphabet co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page to become the world’s sixth-richest person.
The chairman of Reliance Industries, whose wealth surpassed Warren Buffett’s last week, is now worth $72.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

July 14, 2020

Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has become the first Indian firm to hit a market capitalisation mark of Rs. 12 lakh crore.
The shares price of the company surged to a record high of Rs. 1,947 on 13 July 2020, after which the Market cap of the firm rose to Rs 12.32 lakh crore.
The increase in Reliance Industries m-cap comes after it secured deal with Qualcomm Ventures to invest in Jio Platforms for a 0.15 percent equity stake.
This is the 13th deal secured by Jio Platforms in a span of 12 weeks, bringing the total funds raised by the company to Rs 1.18 lakh crore.

July 14, 2020

The United States has retained its position as India’s top trading partner for the second consecutive financial year in 2019-20.
As per the data of the Ministry of Commerce, the bilateral trade between the US and India in 2019-20 stood at $88.75 billion as against $87.96 billion in 2018-19.
In 2018-19, the US for the first time surpassed China to become India’s top trading partner.
China was India’s top trading partner since 2013-14 till 2017-18 and before China, UAE was the largest trading nation in India.
The bilateral trade between India and China dropped to $81.87 billion in 2019-20 from $87.08 billion in 2018-19.

July 14, 2020

Technology giant Google will invest Rs. 75,000 crore (around $10 billion), in India over the next 5-7 years to boost India’s digital economy
This announcement was made by Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai at the sixth edition of ‘Google for India’ virtual event on 13 July 2020.
The dedicated ‘Google for India Digitisation Fund’, will be deployed for this purpose.
The investments will be made through a mix of equity investments, partnerships, and operational, infrastructure and ecosystem investments.

The main focus of the Investments will be on four key areas:

Enabling affordable access and information to every Indian in their own language,
Building new products and services relevant to India’s unique needs
Empowering businesses as they continue to embark in digital transformation
Leveraging technology and Artificial Intelligence for social good in areas like healthcare, education and agriculture.

July 14, 2020

Industry body FICCI said its Economic Outlook Survey has projected the country’s annual median GDP growth for 2020-21 at (-) 4.5 per cent with a minimum and maximum growth estimate of (-) 6.4 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively for 2020-21.
With the rapid spread of COVID-19 pandemic manifesting into an economic and healthcare crisis globally, the latest forecast marks a sharp downward revision from the growth estimate of 5.5 per cent reported in the January 2020 survey.

July 13, 2020

Based on the latest figures, released by the government of United Kingdom, India has moved up one place to become the second-largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) in UK in the financial year 2019-20. It was the third largest FDI source in 2018-29.
United States remained the top source of FDI for UK in 2019-20.
The top five largest source of FDI in UK included US, India, Germany, France and China and Hong Kong.

July 12, 2020

US chipmaking giant Qualcomm’s venture arm has invested Rs 730 crore (approximately $97 million) in Jio Platforms for a 0.15 percent stake. This is the 13th foreign investment in Reliance’s $65 billion digital business in a span of 12 weeks.
The investment will deepen the ties between Qualcomm and Jio Platforms to support Jio Platforms on its journey to roll out advanced 5G infrastructure and services for Indian customers.

July 12, 2020

The state-run electricity giant National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Singrauli’s Unit 1 has emerged as the top-performing unit in the country in the first quarter of the financial year 2020-21 as per the data released by Central Electricity Authority.
Singrauli Super Thermal Power Plant is located at Shaktinagar in Sonebhadra district of Uttar Pradesh. The power plant is the first power plant of NTPC.

Category: Economy