The Centre's dividend receipts from CPSEs have exceeded the revised budget estimate by 26 per cent to about Rs 63,000 crore, with PSU behemoths like Coal India, ONGC, Powergrid and GAIL making handsome payouts in the current fiscal. The revised estimates of the Budget presented in Parliament on February 1 pegged dividend receipts from CPSEs at Rs 50,000 crore for the current fiscal. The actual dividend collections have been about 26 per cent higher at Rs 62,929.27 crore in the 2023-24 fiscal ending March 31, 2024, as per the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) website. In March, the government received hefty dividend tranches from ONGC (Rs 2,964 crore), Coal India (Rs 2,043 crore), Power Grid Corporation of India (Rs 2,149 crore), NMDC (Rs 1,024 crore), HAL (Rs 1,054 crore) and GAIL (Rs 1,863 crore). In the last fiscal (2022-23), dividend receipts stood at Rs 59,952.84 crore. Higher dividend is a reflection of the robust financial performance of CPSEs duri

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday vowed to transform the country's economic landscape as he said he has shared the broad parameters of a five-year plan with all the ministries, the state media reported. Sharif, who earlier this month took oath as the prime minister for a second time since 2022 amidst staggering economic and security challenges, chaired a Cabinet meeting in which he shared the five-year plan with all the ministries specifying their targets, reported Radio Pakistan. He emphasised that the ministries would have to devise strategies to achieve these targets and the progress would be reviewed regularly. We have to cut our expenditures and take the country towards self-reliance, he said. Expressing determination to uplift various sectors such as agriculture and information technology, Sharif said We have to take the country on the growth trajectory and create employment opportunities. He was confident that the Ministry of Commerce would take the requisit

Country's economy is projected to grow at 7.6% in the current fiscal year to March 31, according to the latest government estimates

The executive board of the International Monetary Fund confirmed a deal with Egypt to increase its bailout loan from USD 3 billion to USD 8 billion, in a move that is meant to shore up the Arab country's economy which is hit by a staggering shortage of foreign currency and soaring inflation. In a statement late Friday, the board said its decision would enable Egypt to immediately receive about USD 820 million as part of the deal which was announced earlier this month. The deal was achieved after Egypt agreed with the IMF on a reform plan that is centred on floating the local currency, reducing public investment and allowing the private sector to become the engine of growth, the statement said. Egypt has already floated the pound and sharply increased the main interest rate. Commercial banks are now trading the US currency at more than 47 pounds, up from about 31 pounds. The measures are meant to combat ballooning inflation and attract foreign investment. The Egyptian economy has be

India's forex reserves increased by USD 140 million to touch its all-time high of USD 642.631 billion during the week ended March 22, the Reserve Bank said. This is the fifth consecutive week of a jump in the overall reserves. The kitty had increased by USD 6.396 billion to USD 642.492 billion in the previous reporting week. The previous peak level was recorded in September 2021 when the country's foreign exchange reserves reached USD 642.453 billion. The reserves took a hit as the central bank deployed the kitty to defend the rupee amid pressures caused majorly by global developments since last year. For the week ended March 22, the foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, decreased by USD 123 million to USD 568.264 billion, the data released on Friday showed. Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves. Gold reserves

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday reiterated a message he has sounded in recent weeks: While the Fed expects to cut interest rates this year, it won't be ready to do so until it sees more good inflation readings' and is more confident that annual price increases are falling toward its 2 per cent target. Speaking at a conference at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Powell said he still expected "inflation to come down on a sometimes bumpy path to 2 per cent". But the central bank's policymakers, he said, need to see further evidence before they would cut rates for the first time since inflation shot to a four-decade peak two years ago. The Fed responded to that bout of inflation by aggressively raising its benchmark rate beginning in March 2022. Eventually, it would raise its key rate 11 times to a 23-year high of around 5.4 per cent. The resulting higher borrowing costs helped bring inflation down from a peak of 9.1 per cent in June 2022 to 3.2 per cent last .

The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose 0.3% last month, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis said

Domestic demand growth for non-ferrous metals such as aluminium and copper is likely to remain at 10 per cent in the next financial year, Icra said on Friday. The apparent consumption growth for non-ferrous metals in the domestic market remained at 10-13 per cent in the first nine months of the ongoing fiscal supported by the government's push on infrastructure development and encouraging demand from renewables sectors and electric vehicles. "While the demand is expected to remain soft over the next two quarters as government spending moderates around the general elections, the overall demand growth is expected to remain comfortable at 10 per cent in FY24 and FY25," Icra said in a statement. The operating margin of domestic players is also likely to remain stable at 17-17.5 per cent in FY25, like the levels estimated in FY24. Consequently, the rating agency maintains a stable outlook on the sector, it said. "Icra notes that the domestic e-auction premia on coal had eased in recent

Foreign exchange reserves include India's Reserve Tranche position in the International Monetary Fund

Others see a slowing economy and weakening job growth on the horizon, pushing the Fed to cut in order to support the labor market

The Union government said that the move is in a bid to manage the overall food situation and prevent hoarding and unscrupulous speculation

Modi has asked Indian ministries to set annual goals for the next five years that will fit into a 100-day action plan as he chalks out a strategy to fuel further growth in Asia's third-largest economy

The unemployment rate for young people with secondary or higher education was six times higher at 18.4 per cent

The problem is that Pakistan needs India far more than India needs Pakistan. The Indian economy is stable and India remains deeply reluctant to open its markets to other developing countries

Ahluwalia suggested that a portion of central taxes be set aside for this transfer and the remaining be shared between the Centre and the states

Experts say states that announced green policies have led the investment pack

The government must take the lead in ensuring Life Insurance Corporation of India invests in startups, says Amitabh Kant

Speaking about free-trade agreements (FTAs), he said India was in dialogue with the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom (UK), Peru, Chile, and some countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)

Say foreign companies only shifting incremental investments from China, not uprooting themselves.

The eight core industries account for 40.27 per cent of weighting of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). Thus, they have a significant impact on the index