Category: Economy

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the upcoming G20 summit in India remains important despite the absence of Russia and China. Speaking to German radio station Deutschlandfunk on September 1, he said that the forum still has an important contribution to make and a “big damn obligation” to fulfil, particularly as BRICS – a grouping of the world economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – grows in significance.

India, the President of the G20, will host global leaders for the Summit on September 9 and 10 in New Delhi. US President Joe Biden will travel to India on September 7 to attend the summit. He will also have a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the summit, announced the White House.

On September 8, he will participate in a bilateral meeting with PM Modi. During the leadership summit, he and G20 partners will discuss a range of joint efforts to tackle global issues, including the clean energy transition and combating climate change. They will also mitigate the economic and social impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war, and increase the capacity of multilateral development banks, including the World Bank, to better fight poverty, including by addressing global challenges.

Bilateral trade between India and Kuwait has touched an all-time-high of $12.5 billion, Indian Ambassador to Kuwait Adarsh Swaika said in an interview.

Trade between the two countries has seen a 90% yearly jump. While currently the trade is skewed towards hydrocarbon exports from Kuwait and exports of mainly food products from India, bilateral trade has the potential for diversification, the envoy added.

Swaika underlined the excellent possibilities available between the two countries across sectors, such as pharmaceuticals and medical devices, automobiles and related spares, electronics goods and components, high-efficiency solar PV modules, textiles and apparel, white goods, and ceramics. The main potential area of cooperation is in the field of investments from Kuwait to India because of the attractive political and financial investment climate that the country provides, the ambassador added.

Swaika added that Kuwait Investment Authority’s (KIA) investments in India are extraordinarily significant, and expressed hope for further acquisitions. In the interview published on August 23, he said that both countries are working to enhance relations in the areas of food security, tourism, and health cooperation. He noted that medical and health tourism offers tremendous potential for further growth, and India is exploring whether Indian private hospitals can set up their chains in Kuwait.

The Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) – the world’s largest financial inclusion mission – crossed the 500 million mark on August 28 in nine years of its launch, with over ₹2 lakh crore deposits and over 55.5% of the bank accounts belonging to women, said Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

In a statement, the union minister said the last nine years of PMJDY-led interventions and digital transformation revolutionised financial inclusion in the country. She added it is heartening to note that over 500 million people have been brought into the formal banking system. She underlined the collaborative efforts of stakeholders, banks, insurance companies, and government officials to make the scheme a pivotal initiative.

Of the total bank accounts opened under PMJDY, 67% were opened in rural and semi-urban areas. About 340 million RuPay cards have been issued to these accounts without charge, which also provides for a ₹2 lakh accident insurance cover.

Financial inclusion also brings savings of the poor into the formal financial system, provides an avenue to remit money to their families in villages, and takes them out of the clutches of the usurious money lenders, added the minister.

PMJDY was first mentioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address on August 15, 2014.

The Government of India collected Rs 6.53 lakh crore as gross direct tax up to August 10, up 15.73% than the gross collections for the corresponding period of last year, the Ministry of Finance said. The Centre also issued refunds amounting to Rs. 0.69 lakh crore during April 1, 2023 to August 10, 2023, which were 3.73% higher than refunds issued during the same period in the preceding year.

Direct Tax collection, net of refunds, stands at Rs 5.84 lakh crore, which is 17.33% higher than the net collections for the corresponding period of last year. This collection is 32.03 percent of the total Budget Estimates of Direct Taxes for FY 2023-24, the ministry said in a statement.

India collects direct taxes mainly through corporate and personal income tax. Even with the GST regime, the government exchequer makes over half of its revenue through direct taxes. Both taxes are collected by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), a department under the Ministry of Finance. Direct tax collection in India is carried out through a self-assessment system, where individuals and companies are required to self-assess their tax liability and make the payment accordingly.

Singapore is open to the possibility of importing electricity from countries in the region, including India, said a report quoting the Energy Market Authority (EMA) on August 13.

The EMA, a statutory board under the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry, has welcomed proposals to import as much as 4 GW of electricity, added the news report. The body is seeking bids till December 29 and will choose and appoint companies to import the electricity.

Previously, India and Singapore had accelerated plans to set up a connection between their power grids through an undersea cable via the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, helping India supply renewable energy to Singapore. The supply would help address the problem of power market instability in the city-state.

Alternative sources of electricity are needed in Singapore to ensure a reliable and affordable power supply. In the past, it had said it would explore a variety of options, including regional power grids, for expanding its renewable energy due to land scarcity and intermittent solar power.

Media reports add that India has also been in talks with Saudi Arabia and the UAE about connecting their power grids to trade renewable energy.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has announced that the tourists who were forced to leave the island of Rhodes after recent wildfires will be given a free one-week holiday there.

In a TV interview on August 2, Mitsotakis said the tourists could take up the offer in the spring or autumn of 2024. Not a single human life was lost in Rhodes, and no injuries were reported in the wildfires, he added.

Local people and travellers were forced to flee their homes and hotels during the wildfires that destroyed the island in July. About 20,000 tourists were rescued from the wildfires, making the operation the largest evacuation undertaken by the country.

Greece depends heavily on tourism to generate revenue. Rhodes is the ninth-largest island in the eastern Mediterranean. It is also a famous holiday destination and so crucial for the country’s economy that relies heavily on tourism to generate revenue.

The Greek Prime Minister mentioned that the region was always prone to wildfires, but in recent years, climate change had increased the intensity of the natural calamity. July was recorded as the hottest month in human history, with the UN stating that we had entered the era of ‘global boiling.’ 

Inflation in Sri Lanka dropped to 6.3% in July from 12% in June, said the Census and Statistics Office of the Sri Lankan government on July 31. The country saw a single-digit figure for the first time in two years.

The drop in headline inflation is according to the disinflation path predicted by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) in July 2023. A statement from the Census and Statistics Office said that the decrease in the cost of food commodities led to the decline in inflation. Based on the Colombo Consumer Price Index, food prices fell by 1.4% over the past 12 months in the island country.

The last time Sri Lanka recorded single-digit inflation in September of 2021 – at 5.8%. The highest inflation its economy recorded was 69.8% in September 2022. The CBSL said that inflation is expected to moderate further and stabilise around the targeted level over the medium term.

In 2021-22, Sri Lanka faced its worst economic crisis in history due to a shortage of foreign exchange reserves. During the forex crisis, the country curtailed imports, leading to shortages and high prices. The International Monetary Fund bailout of $2.9 billion in March 2023 led to a relaxation in import restrictions and action to end power shortages, improving the situation significantly.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has released its media rights tender for the Indian team’s bilateral matches in the country. The tender document is available for purchase until August 25. The Invitation To Tender (ITT) can be purchased upon submission of a non-refundable fee of Rs 15 lakh.

In the ITT, BCCI has reduced the overall base price to Rs 45 crore per match for the forthcoming media rights cycle. In the recent cycle, the base price stood at Rs 61 crore per match for Disney-Star. The base price is for TV and digital, and for all the formats of international cricket Team India will play at home in the next five years.

In the auction, BCCI is offering 88 cricket matches – 25 tests, 27 ODI, and 36 T20Is – in the current cycle of five years.

For the last bilateral rights cycle (2018-23) floated by BCCI, the Indian cricket board saw valuations touching Rs 6,138 crore – a rise of over one-and-a-half times – with each bilateral match valued at Rs 61 crore. In 2018, Disney Star retained the BCCI media rights for the five-year cycle, surpassing Sony.

The Government of India is in talks with the Bhutanese regime over the rail link between Bhutan and Assam, informed External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar on August 7. The union minister added that Bhutan is keen to open up more places for tourists and that the rail link is advantageous for Assam as well.

To be completed by 2026, the 57-km railway line will be the first railway connection between India and Bhutan. The Indian government will fund the project. Bhutan’s Foreign Minister Dr Tandi Dorji said in April that the Bhutan government will first work on this project, and later look at connecting other regions like Samtse, Phuentsholing, Nganglam, and Samdrupjongkhar.

Dr S Jaishankar said that the government is also looking to conclude the coastal shipping agreement with Myanmar this year. He, however, added that the Myanmar Trilateral highway is a big challenge due to the law-and-order situation in the country.

The Myanmar Trilateral highway is an initiative that will connect India, Thailand and Myanmar. India is undertaking the construction of two sections of this highway in Myanmar. It will construct a 120.74 km Kalewa-Yagyi road section and 69 bridges along the approach road of the 149.70 km Tamu-Kyigone-Kalewa road section.

Israel will build a 100 billion shekel ($27 billion) rail expansion that will connect its remote areas to the city of Tel Aviv and could provide overland links to Saudi Arabia in years to come, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on July 30.

The announcement came after a visit of top US officials to Saudi Arabia in July to advance a possible forging of formal relations between the Kingdom and Israel. In a weekly Israeli cabinet meeting, Netanyahu promoted infrastructure initiatives, including the “One Israel Project.”  The Prime Minister of Israel said the project is designed to reduce travel time by train to the country’s business and government centres to two hours or less.

He added that in the future, the country will also be able to transport cargo by rail from Eilat to the Mediterranean, and link Israel by train to Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula.

The plan, according to Israel’s finance minister, is to complete the high-speed, north-south rail link within the next ten years.