Business Today 4 February 2024

Over the past 10 years, the Narendra Modi government has been able to push through some key reforms in the financial sector. Chief among them are the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana on financial inclusion and, of course, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). As the government nears the end of its second term, one of the biggest moves it is currently engaged in—believed to be a pet project of Prime Minister Modi—is to bring global finance into India in a major way in the form of the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, or GIFT City, the international financial services centre (IFSC) near Ahmedabad. GIFT City is now in the process of getting a major fillip as the government eases regulations, creates infrastructure and ensures ease of…

Foreign tourists visit the Amer Fort in Jaipur DATA TILL OCTOBER 2023 SOURCE CMIE, UNION BUDGET 2023-24; VISION 2047: INDIA HOTEL INDUSTRY 7.2 MILLION No. of foreign tourists who arrived in India in January-October 2023 compared to 4.5 million a year ago 25 MILLION Expected annual foreign tourist arrivals by 2030 against the pre-Covid-19 high of 10.9 million 2019 $22.52 BILLION Of foreign exchange earned from tourism in January October 2023, compared to $13.03 billion a year ago ₹1,939 CRORE Allocation for tourism infra in Budget 2023-24 compared to the Revised Estimate of ₹1,022.86 crore in FY23…

6.3 PER CENT INDIA’S GDP GROWTH PROJECTION FOR 2024—HIGHER THAN INDONESIA (5%) AND CHINA (4.5%), AS PER STANCHART <6 PER CENT LIKELY QUARTERLY INFLATION FOR THE NEXT FIVE QUARTERS, ACCORDING TO CMIE ECONOMIC OUTLOOK ₹19.63 LAKH CRORE TOTAL GST COLLECTIONS IN 2023, WHICH IS NEARLY 12 PER CENT HIGHER THAN ₹17.54 LAKH CRORE IN 2022 ₹364 LAKH CRORE CUMULATIVE MARKET CAP OF ALL BSE-LISTED FIRMS AT THE END OF DECEMBER 2023 COMPARED TO ₹282 LAKH CRORE IN DECEMBER 2022 RIGHT ON TRACK INDIA’S GDP GREW BY OVER 7 PER CENT IN THE PAST TWO QUARTERS DESPITE GLOBAL HEADWINDS SOURCE CMIE ECONOMIC OUTLOOK GROWTH WHEEL INDIA’S INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY WITNESSED YEAR-ON-YEAR POSITIVE GROWTH FOR EVERY MONTH IN 2023 SOURCE CMIE ECONOMIC OUTLOOK CREDITWORTHY PERFORMANCE BANK CREDIT GROWTH HAS WITNESSED SUSTAINED RECOVERY SINCE…

"It has been 20 years since the beginning of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit. In these two decades, this initiative has been a trailblazer and trendsetter. It showed that thinking big is the first step of making a big impact. It showed how a State of India could institutionalize a way to conned Indian and international investors with the aspirations of our youth. It also set a national benchmark which many States successfully emulated, thus strengthening the Indian economy. As always, Vibrant Gujarat Summit continues to achieve new heights with the vision of a prosperous Gujarat for a self-reliant India."Shri Narendra Modi, Hon'ble Prime Minister of India ABOUT VIBRANT GUJARAT GLOBAL SUMMIT Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, conceptualized in 2003 under the visionary leadership of Shri Narendra Modi, Hon'ble Prime Minister of…

AS THE INAUGURATION of the Ram Temple nears, businesses have found a new destination for their investments—Ayodhya in eastern Uttar Pradesh. The town on the banks of the Sarayu River is buzzing with industry, as both private enterprises and government congregate there ahead of the inauguration on January 22. From real estate developers and hotel owners to airlines, the country’s leading corporate houses are heading to the temple town, which wasn’t on their radar till a few years ago. No industry is more emblematic of the frenetic pace of activity there than hospitality. Here, for instance, Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL)—which owns popular brands like Taj Hotels and Vivanta—is coming up with two properties. According to Suma Venkatesh, Executive Vice President–Real Estate & Development at IHCL, the company took the leap…

THE GOVERNMENT IS keen on concluding negotiations for at least three free trade agreements (FTAs) in the next two months to ensure they materialise into conclusive deals before the General Elections later this year. Official sources say India’s commerce ministry is trying to finalise the trade deals with Oman, the UK as well as the four-nation bloc of European countries that includes Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, by February. With two rounds of talks with Oman completed, the India-Oman Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) may be the first one to be signed. The India-UAE trade pact, signed in February 2022, is expected to have given a boost to the negotiations with Oman, while also serving as a model, given that both nations are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council. Fresh talks…