[ad_1]
“You are listening to the Expresso Business Update. Here is the latest news from the world of Indian and International business brought to you by The Indian Express and The Financial Express.
“
Amid global shocks and challenges, the Indian economy presents a picture of resilience, noted Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das in his foreword in the 26th Financial Stability Report on Thursday. The report said that the global economy is facing formidable headwinds with recessionary risks looming large. The interplay of multiple shocks has resulted in tightened financial conditions and heightened volatility in financial markets. India, along with other emerging economies, faces several risks. These include rising borrowing costs, debt distress, elevated levels of inflation, volatile commodity prices, currency depreciation and capital outflows. The outlook for 2023 is even bleaker, with global growth expected to fall to 2.7% in the next year.
Over to the economy sector. India’s current account deficit widened to $36.4 billion, an all-time-high level in absolute terms, in the September quarter owing mainly to a record deficit of $83.5 billion in goods trade and an increase in net outgo under investment income, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India on Thursday. The CAD in the quarter was a worrisome 4.4% of the GDP, up from (revised) 2.2% in the previous quarter and a benign 1.3% in the year-ago period. A relatively small capital account surplus of $6.9 billion in second quarter of Fianncial Year23 wasn’t sufficient to finance the CAD, resulting in a massive depletion – $30.4 billion – of the foreign exchange reserves on a balance of payments basis, as against accretions of $4.6 billion in Q1FY23 and $31.2 billion in second quarter of Financial Year 22.
Meanwhile, A special Central Bureau of Investigation court on Thursday sent former ICICI Bank MD & CEO Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon group founder Venugopal Dhoot to a 14-day judicial custody in connection with a probe into ICICI Bank loan irregularities. The trio’s earlier remand ended on the day but they were unable to get any relief after being produced in the court of special judge S H Gwalani. Special public prosecutor A Limosin, appearing for the CBI, did not seek any further custody for the three. The court then ordered the accused to be sent to judicial custody till January 10. The Kochhars were arrested by the CBI last Friday while Dhoot was held on Monday. The CBI had named the trio, along with companies Nupower Renewables, Supreme Energy Private Limited, Videocon International Electronics and Videocon Industries, as accused in its FIR registered in 2019.
On to the industry sector. The government may announce its intent to roll out the four Labour Codes from the start of the next financial year in the coming Budget, sources said. It is likely to spell out certain changes in the codes to allay the concerns of trade unions and a few state governments that continue to remain wary of the reformist laws. All the four codes were notified by September 2020, but are still hanging fire, as the final rules thereunder are yet to be published. The Centre’s move comes amidst worries that a further delay may push their implementation beyond the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The roll out of the much-delayed Codes has also been a key expectation of the industry and the government has been working to build consensus on its rollout with state governments and trade unions. Sources said that as a last-ditch attempt, the ministry of labour and employment is exploring ways on how to take the process forward. There has also been stiff resistance from the trade unions to the Codes, which they have termed as anti-worker.
Moving on to the big breaking. Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s mother Hiraben, aged 99, passed away at a hospital in Ahmedabad on Friday. A bulletin from the UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre, where she was admitted on Wednesday said Hiraben has passed away. PM Modi had reached Ahmedabad from Delhi on Wednesday afternoon and visited the hospital to meet his mother. Reports say that he had remained at the hospital for more than an hour and had also spoken to doctors at the hospital, a government-funded autonomous medical facility. Hiraben, also called Hiraba, lived at Raysan village near Gandhinagar city with PM Modi’s younger brother Pankaj Modi.
And lastly, Speaking at an event in Mumbai on Thursday to mark the operationalisation of the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement, Piyush Goyal said it would extend Indian industry duty-free access to a broad range of raw materials from Australia. This will improve domestic industry’s competitiveness in manufacturing as well as exports, he added. The ECTA was signed on April 2. He handed over certificates of origin for the first batch of consignments of Indian goods that would get preferential access under the ECTA. He added that the FTA will benefit a large number of sectors, including textiles, gems and jewellery and also information technology.
You were listening to the Expresso Business Update by The Indian Express and The Financial Express. Ask your digital assistant device to play the latest business news from the Indian Express and stay up to date with the happenings in the finance and business stories.
Click here to listen to yesterday evening’s Finance news bulletin
[ad_2]
Source link
