Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is on a two-day visit to Japan to participate in the Quad Summit met the leaders of large and successful business organizations namely Softbank, Suzuki, NEC Corp and Uniqlo. Modi met the founder and board director of Softbank Corporation, Masayoshi Son and lauded his company's role in the start-up sector. They talked about the future possibilities of the company's participation in vital zones such as technology, finance and energy. The discussion also centered around the numerous changes that have been made in order to make business between two countr
India will join the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Forum (IPEF) launched by President Joe Biden next week in Tokyo. The mega ‘economic arrangement’ is established in an effort to counter China’s rising economic clout. According to a top-level source, Biden will extend an invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to join the IPEF in their meeting in Tokyo for Quad Summit. However, a source said India was initially reluctant to join the IPEF and was keen to have a bilateral trade pact with the US and plurilateral agreement under the Quad that included the US, India, Australia and Japan.
The World Bank released a statement on Wednesday. It will provide $30 billion to help ease the food crisis threatened by Russia's war in Ukraine, which has suspended almost all grain exports from the two countries. It added that $12 billion would be given to new projects and over $18 billion from current food and nutrition-related projects that have been approved but have not yet been donated. World Bank Group President David Malpass said the increasing food prices are ruining the impoverished and the vulnerable. He added it is important for countries to state clearly the future output inc
Contrasting to the global growth rate of 3.1%, India’s growth is projected to grow by 6.4% in 2022. According to the UN report, India is the fastest-growing major economy with higher inflationary pressures and uneven recovery of the labour market suppressing private consumption and investment. The Global economic growth is now projected to grow by 3.1% in 2022, down from the forecast of 4% growth released in January 2022. The Global inflation rate is also projected to increase to 6.7% in 2022, more than double the rate of 2.9% between 2010 and 2020, it said. The World Economic Situati
Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has imposed capital control to stem currency depreciation. The country has become Africa’s worst-performing currency after the Zimbabwean dollar lost half of its value in the current year. In a televised speech Mnangagwa ordered all the banks in the country to stop lending with immediate effect to minimise the creation of broad money that is prone to manipulate or abuse the exchange rate. He said, “Banks shall with immediate effect and not process third-party country foreign payments. Third-party foreign payments are susceptible to illicit fina
Production at U.S. factories jumped up more than expected in April in the middle of a never-ending heavy demand for motor vehicles and other items, which should help to support manufacturing work. The Federal Reserve, on Tuesday, said that the manufacturing output increased 0.8% in April after a similar rise in March. But manufacturing, which is 12% of the economy, is facing difficulties from renewed supply chain bottlenecks because of the Russia- Ukraine war and China's zero-tolerance COVID-19 policy. In April, the index of national factory activity of the Institute for Supply Manageme
On the 25th-anniversary celebration of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) held on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a 5G Test Bed, a project collectively handled by eight institutes, led by IIT Madras, and also released a postal stamp. PM Modi was the chief guest of the silver jubilee celebrations that he attended via video conferencing. The PM stated that the 5G technology will bring constructive changes in the country’s administration, make living easy, facilitate doing business, and create employment opportunities. All sectors, including agriculture, educati
The United States and the European Union have collaborated to enhance the manufacturing of microchips and see to Russian false information around the war in Ukraine. The two sides came together outside Paris as part of the Trade and Technology Council (TTC), a council that was formed in 2021 and predominantly targeted to hit back at China's growing power in technology. But much of their discussions centered on Russia and blamed Moscow for an "all-out assault on the truth". They promised to deal with Russian disinformation accusing Moscow of blaming Western sanctions for the scarcity of foo
China and the US are competing to influence the telecommunication sector in Africa. Within a short period, Africa has become the new frontier for the mobile phone sector. Last week, Ethiopia launched a 5G network powered by Chinese telecom giant Huawei in Addis Ababa. Just before that, during a visit to the continent, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman visited the offices of U.S. mobile company Africell in Angola. The company has attracted more than 2 million users since launched just a month ago. She tweeted later, “Today in Luanda, I visited @AfricellAo, an innovative, sta
The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), between India and the UAE which was signed on February 18 and was made effective from May 1 will augment the remittance corridor between the two countries besides creating a conducive environment to produce interoperable digital solutions, according to LuLu Financial Holdings, a topmost financial services company. LuLu Financial Holdings, which has its headquarters in Abu Dhabi, is involved in cross-border payments and has numerous investments in the UAE and India. It operates in 11 countries and runs business deals worth more