News on Indian Economy
For the first time since the pandemic, the domestic pharma retail industry bounced back, recording a rise of over 4% in September, helped by improved sales of chronic drugs and anti-virals used to treat coronavirus. This stems from the optimistic developments in macro-economic indicators, boosting expectations that the economy will pick up.
The Railway Ministry has approved Alstom-built 12,000-horsepower (HP) electric locomotives to run freight trains at a maximum speed of 120 kmph, a statement from the French company said on October 14. Earlier in the year, the railways had inducted WAG 12B electric locomotives, the most powerful ones to run on Indian tracks, according to the company.
India is expected to have 60,000 start-ups and 100 companies with valuation of over USD 1 billion by 2025, a TiE Delhi-NCR report, in association with Zinnov, released on Wednesday said.
The tunnel will provide all-weather connectivity between Srinagar valley and Leh (Ladakh plateau) on NH-1, and will bring about an all-round economic and socio–cultural integration of Jammu & Kashmir (Now UTs of J&K and Ladakh). It involves construction of a 14.15 Km long tunnel at an altitude of about 3000 m under Zojila pass (presently motorable only for 6 months in a year) on NH-1 connecting Srinagar and Leh through Dras & Kargil. It is one of the most dangerous stretch in the world to drive a vehicle & this project is also geo-strategically sensitive.
India is one of the top three choices for overseas investments in the next two-three years, said a survey conducted by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and EY to assess India’s competitiveness in terms of certain parameters and give constructive suggestions to policymakers.
The Naukri JobSpeak Index for September revealed that further opening of the economy with unlocking steps and increased mobility has led to an improvement in hiring activities in sectors such as real estate, auto / ancillary and hospitality / travel compared to August.
French auto major Groupe PSA is set to bring its Citroen brand to India with a top-line premium mid-size SUV called C5 Aircross, followed by a mass market small electric SUV by 2022, reports Economic Times.
As many as 44 bridges built in border areas of Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir were dedicated to the nation by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday.
Furthermore, balance of trade during April-September 2020 has been significantly positive at Rs 9002 Crore (US$ 1.23 billion) as against trade deficit of Rs. 2133 (US$ 29.21) during the same period in 2019. On month to month basis (MoM), India’s agricultural export of essential agricultural commodities during September 2020 has been of Rs 9296 crore (US$ 1.27 billion) against export of Rs 5114 crore (US$ 700.39 million) during September 2019, showing an increase of 81.7%.
Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, National Supercomputing Mission was set up to provide necessary computational power to the Academia, Industry, Scientific and Research Community, MSME and the Start-ups to solve India specific grand challenges and complex real life problems in Science and Engineering.
