Backed by high traffic growth, India will need more than 2,500 new aircraft deliveries by 2042, Darren Hulst, Boeing vice-president of Commercial Marketing said on Friday. Addressing a press conference, Hulst said to meet rising passenger and cargo demand, South Asian carriers are projected to quadruple the size of their fleets over the next two decades and they will require more than 2,705 new airplanes to address growth and fleet replacement. "Over 92 per cent of that (2,705) or over 2,500 (aircraft India will need) by 2042. It is based on the (forecast given in) middle of the last year," he told reporters. "We project that carriers here (South Asia including India) will need more than 2,700 aircraft deliveries by the year 2042," he said, adding a similar composition of the fleet with more than 2,300 single aisle, nearly 400 wide body aircraft for long haul. According to Boeing, India is the only large economy, a large market in Asia that has evolved to pre-pandemic levels both .

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will opt for a further reduction in fiscal deficit to 5.3 per cent of India's gross domestic product in the upcoming budget for FY25 despite poll pressure, a foreign brokerage said on Friday. The government will meet the FY24 commitment to reduce the important number to 5.9 per cent, BofA Securities said in a note. "We see Centre's fiscal deficit to consolidate further to 5.3 per cent of GDP, despite poll pressure," its analysts wrote in a note. The government will opt for continuing with its strategy of consolidating fiscal deficit through capital expenditure driven growth instead of expenditure compression, it said. The brokerage said digitization-led formalization has aided the fiscal math through tax buoyancy on one side and reducing wasteful expenditure (subsidy leakage) on the other. The government had earlier committed to reduce the fiscal deficit to 4.5 per cent by FY26 as part of its glide path to gradually reduce the gap, which is seen

The country's wheat production is expected to be good this year amid higher coverage, according to Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda. The sowing of wheat, the main rabi (winter) crop, that began in October has been completed. Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Punjab are the top three states having the maximum area under wheat coverage. "As per the sowing data, wheat has been covered in more area and we expect good production this year," Munda told PTI. As per the ministry's data, the total acreage under the wheat crop remained higher at 336.96 lakh hectares till the last week of the current rabi season of the 2023-24 crop year (July-June), as against 335.67 lakh hectares in the year-ago period. On January 3, Food Corporation of India Chairman and Managing Director Ashok K Meena indicated that the country could achieve a new record in wheat production at 114 million tonnes in the ongoing 2023-24 crop year provided weather conditions remain normal. Wheat production stood at a record

The cooperation between India and Singapore in the field of green finance has a promising future, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Suman Bery has said, asserting that the two countries can work within the framework laid out in the G20 New Delhi Leaders' Declaration on sustainable finance. The three-day Singapore visit of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog's vice-chairperson came under the Distinguished Visitors Programme (DVP) of Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It aimed to strengthen bilateral ties and foster mutual cooperation across all levels, according to the foreign affairs ministry here. India and Singapore can make something quickly and important happen in terms of green finance-climate finance within the framework that has been laid out in the New Delhi Leaders' Declaration on sustainable finance, he said after concluding the visit to understand thinking among planners in the city-state. Adopted on September 9 last year, the G20 New Delhi Leaders'

Japanese drinks maker Suntory is prioritising expansion in India while taking a cautious stance on business in China

India on Thursday announced here a new alliance for global good, gender equity and equality, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, with the WEF Founder and Chairman Klaus Schwab offering to partner this initiative with full support. The announcement was made at an India Reception on the sidelines of the WEF Annual Meeting, hosted by apex industry chamber CII and attended by union ministers Smriti Irani and Hardeep Singh Puri as well as WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab, among others. The idea of this alliance emerged from the G20 Leaders' Declaration and India's abiding commitment to the cause of women-led development as propounded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani said. As a follow-up to the activities of the Engagement Group and initiatives under the G20 framework, the Business 20, Women 20 and G20 EMPOWER, this alliance aims to take forward the commitments of the G20 leaders for the benefit of t

GCCs are offshore units of multinational corporations that operate across the globe

Widely regarded as transient, these shocks appear to have imparted volatility and persistence to food inflation which averaged 6.7 per cent during April 2022 to November 2023, it said

Das said the central bank had not mandated any number on credit deposit ratio, and neither do they propose to

It says headline inflation must align with 4% target by second quarter

Swaminathan highlighted that the aforementioned remark was the central bank's expectation from the top management and board of regulated entities

Non-Resident External (NRE) deposits stood at $96.79 billion in November 2023, sequentially up from $96.56 billion in October and $95.31 billion in November 2022

"In India, potential output is picking up with actual output running above it, although the gap is moderate," the RBI said in an article titled 'State of the Economy'

Rating agency ICRA has projected the GDP growth rate to slow down to below 6 per cent in the December quarter, mainly account of sharp fall in kharif crop output, and weak progress in rabi sowing for some crops. india had registered a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 7.6 per cent in the July to September period. The rating agency said the year-on-year growth in ICRA Business Activity Monitor eased for the second consecutive month to a six-month low of 8.1 per cent in December 2023 -- as against 7.9 per cent in December 2022 and 9.6 per cent in November 2023. "This can be attributed to a combination of factors, including easing in momentum of activity after the end of the festive period, tapering of demand for electricity and petrol with the onset of the winter season in North India, as well as unfavourable base effects for some indicators," it said. Despite a moderation in year-on-year growth, the index witnessed a sequential uptick of 1.4 per cent in December 2023, driv

"There is unemployment here and its because of it that people want to leave," said Lekharam, a mason who was among the workers gathered at a recruitment camp in Rohtak, 66 km (40 miles) from Delhi

The country is estimated to have harvested 355.35 million tonnes of horticulture crops in the 2022-23 crop year, about 8.07 million tonnes more than the previous year, as per agriculture ministry data released on Thursday. The ministry has come out with the third production estimate after the harvesting of the 2022-23 horticulture crops. Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda said despite challenges surrounding climate change, horticulture production has gone up, thanks to efforts of farmers and agri-scientists. As per the third estimate released by the ministry, total production of horticulture crops has increased 2.32 per cent (8.07 million tonne) to 355.25 million tonnes in the 2022-23 crop year -- July-June -- from 347.18 million tonnes in the previous year. Of the total horticulture production, fruits production rose to 109.53 million tonne in 2022-23 from 107.51 million tonne in the previous year. Vegetable production, too, increased to 213.88 million tonnes in 2022-23 from 209.14

Asserting that the Indian economy has undergone a significant transformation in the last one decade, three union ministers on Thursday said the country's economic growth now is not only high but also inclusive. Speaking at a session on 'Can India seize its moment' at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2024, union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said India has already seized the moment. "I say so because of the GDP growth we are clocking and the expectations from all quarters for a continued growth momentum," he said. Speaking in the same session, his Cabinet colleague Ashwini Vaishnaw said the last decade has seen a significant transformation in the Indian economy. "Major investments have happened in physical and digital infrastructure. That has had a huge impact on manufacturing and overall economic activity," he said. Smriti Irani, Minister for Women and Child Development, said she agrees with minister Puri that India has already seized the moment. She said India used to have

The three posts include two posts of Joint Secretary and one post of Economic Adviser

The Union Cabinet Thursday approved separate memorandum with the Netherlands, Dominican Republic and Ecuador on cooperation in the field of medical products regulation, an official statement said. The cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was apprised of the three Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) which were signed between the Health Ministry's Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and the respective regulatory authorities of the three countries. The MoU between the CDSCO and the Directorate General for Medicine, Foods and Sanitary Products Organizations of Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistant of Dominican Republic was signed on October 4 last year. Issues of substandard and falsified medicines moving in the international markets, and interaction amongst regulatory agencies are facilitated through the MoU, it stated. Convergence in the regulatory practices could help increasing export of medicines from India and consequentially create employment ...

World Economic Forum's AI Governance Alliance on Thursday said a global effort is needed to create equitable access to advanced artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence holds the potential to address global challenges, but it also poses risks of widening existing digital divides or creating new ones, the alliance said at the WEF Annual Meeting here. It also released a series of three new reports on advanced AI focussing on generative AI governance, unlocking its value and a framework for responsible AI development and deployment. The alliance brings together governments, businesses and experts to shape responsible AI development applications and governance, and to ensure equitable distribution and enhanced access to this path-departing technology worldwide. "The AI Governance Alliance is uniquely positioned to play a crucial role in furthering greater access to AI-related resources, thereby contributing to a more equitable and responsible AI ecosystem globally," said Cathy