A freelancer is a person who acts independently without being affiliated with or authorized by an organization and is thus distinguishable from part-time, full-time or contractual employees.
A freelancer is a person who acts independently without being affiliated with or authorized by an organization and is thus distinguishable from part-time, full-time or contractual employees.
As the Government’s flagship ‘Make in India’ initiative completes 8 years this month, India is on track to attract USD 100 billion in FDI in the current year. In the year 2021-22, India recorded the highest ever FDI at $83.6 billion. According to the Government, FDI has come from 101 countries and is invested across 31 UTs and States and 57 sectors in the country.
The Make in India’ programme, launched to make India atma nirbhar, or self-sufficient, has made significant accomplishments across 27 sectors, including manufacturing and services. To attract foreign investments, the Government of India had opened most sectors to FDI under the automatic route. FDI inflows in India stood at USD 45.15 billion in 2014-2015 and have since consecutively reached record FDI inflows for eight years.
As per the Government, the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme across 14 key manufacturing sectors, which was launched in 2020-21 to incentivise domestic production in strategic growth sectors where India has a comparative advantage, is expected to generate significant gains for production and employment, with benefits extending to the MSME eco-system.
The Government has also launched a USD 10 billion incentive scheme to build a semiconductor, display, and design ecosystem in India. Further, key initiatives targeting the toy industry, which has historically been import-dependent, such as increasing Basic Custom Duty from 20% to 60%, implementing of Quality Control Order, mandatory sample testing of imported toys, granting more than 850 BIS licenses to domestic toy manufacturers, development of toy clusters etc, has led to remarkable growth in the sector.
Toy imports in FY 21-22 have reduced by 70% to USD 110 million (Rs. 877.8 cr.). There has also been a distinct improvement in the quality of toys in the domestic market. Simultaneously, the efforts of the industry have led to an export of USD 326 million (Rs. 2601.5 cr.) of toys in FY 21-22, which is an increase of over 61% over USD 202 million (Rs. 1612 cr.) of FY 18-19.
S&P Global Ratings has projected India’s economic growth at 7.3 per cent in the current fiscal with downside risks. The Ratings Agency has also said that inflation is likely to remain above RBI’s upper tolerance threshold of 6 per cent till the end of 2022.
In its Economic Outlook for Asia Pacific, S&P said India’s growth next year will get support from domestic demand recovery after the coronavirus pandemic.
“We have retained our India growth outlook at 7.3 per cent for the fiscal year 2022-2023 and 6.5 per cent for the next fiscal year, although we see the risks tilted to the downside,” it said.
As per the ratings agency, elevated core inflation would drive up policy rates further in India. It has projected policy interest rates to be 5.9% by the end of this fiscal.
The Reserve Bank of India expects India to grow at 7.2% this current fiscal. Ratings Agency Fitch Ratings had, however, slashed growth estimates from the earlier 7.8% to 7%. The Asian Development Bank had also cut its projection from 7.5% to 7% earlier, while the Indian credit agency, India Ratings and Research had reduced it further from 7% to 6.9%.
Science & Technology Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh announced the launch of the ‘Innovation Roadmap of the Mission Integrated Biorefineries,’ developed by co-leads and active inputs from Brazil, Canada, European Commission and the UK, at the Global Clean Energy Action Forum at Pittsburgh. The Mission aims at greater international collaboration, increased financing for Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration during the next five years, along with public and private investment.
According to the Minister, the Mission aims to fill the void by identifying gaps and challenges in current biorefining value chains, prioritising eight key actions to support the Mission, and guiding the Mission’s overall path in achieving its goal. It also provides policymakers with a strategy framework to establish a rising RD&D portfolio over the next five years, specific financing proposals across the entire spectrum of vital Biorefinery technologies, and rapid action suggestions.
A pilot plant of 10 tons/day capacity with integrated enzyme production is being set up at Panipat, Haryana, which will be commissioned by December 2022. This will be the first indigenous technology for on-site enzyme production. The Minister also pointed out that Indian Oil Corporation plans to supply this indigenous enzyme to a commercial 2G ethanol plant of 100 KL/day, expected to be commissioned by Q2 of 2024.
By 2030, India has agreed to reach 500-Gigawatt non-fossil energy capacity, shift 50% of energy requirements to renewable energy, lower overall anticipated carbon emissions by one billion tons, reduce carbon intensity of the economy by 45% over 2005 levels, and achieve net zero emissions by 2070.
The Cabinet has approved the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy’s proposal for implementation of the Production Linked Incentive Scheme (Tranche II) on ‘National programme on High Efficiency Solar PV Modules’, with an outlay of Rs.19,500 crore for achieving manufacturing capacity of Giga Watt (GW) scale in High Efficiency Solar PV Modules.
The national programme on High Efficiency Solar PV Modules aims to build an ecosystem for manufacturing of high efficiency solar PV modules in India, and reduce import dependence in Renewable Energy, strengthening the Atamnirbhar Bharat initiative and generating employment.
As per the scheme, Solar PV manufacturers will be selected through a transparent selection process. PLI will be disbursed for five years post commissioning of solar PV manufacturing plants on sales of high efficiency solar PV modules from the domestic market will be incentivised.
Outcomes/benefits expected from the scheme:
The Ministry of Communications, Government of India has released the draft Indian Telecommunications Bill 2022, based on a public consultative process it had initiated earlier to develop a modern and future-ready legal framework in telecommunications. In July 2022, a Consultation Paper on ‘Need for a new legal framework governing Telecommunication in India’ was published and comments were invited.
Based on the consultations and deliberations, the Ministry has now prepared the draft Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022. As per the Explanatory note put by the Ministry, the bill seeks to “simplify the framework for mergers, demergers and acquisitions, or other forms of restructuring, by only requiring intimation to the licensing authority.” Further, in the case of a default on payment, the Government will consider extraordinary circumstances such as consumer interest, financial stress, maintaining competition in the sector, or reliability and continued supply of services to decide on deferment of the amount, write-off or conversion of the amount into shares, through a special enabling framework.
The Draft Bill also expands the definition of telecommunication services to include broadcasting services, electronic mail, voice mail, voice, video and data communication services, audiotex services, videotex services, fixed and mobile services, internet and broadband services, satellite-based communication services, internet-based communication services, in-flight and maritime connectivity services, interpersonal communications services, machine to machine communication services and over-the-top (OTT) communication services which is made available to users by telecommunication.
India is the world’s second-largest telecommunication ecosystem, employing more than 4 million people and contributing to about 8% of the country’s GDP. The existing framework for the telecommunications industry is based on the archaic Indian Telegraph Act of 1885. The draft Bill and Explanatory note can be accessed on the Indian Telecommunications website. Comments can be sent to the email ID: naveen.kumar71@gov.in. According to the site, the last date for sending the comments is October 20, 2022.
The Ministry of Food Processing Industry has set up a Grievance redressal to resolve problems of food processing industry during COVID-19 lockdown. Smt.HarsimratKaur Badal said, in a tweet , that industry members facing any problem in operations and distribution of food products could send their queries to covidgrievance-mofpi@gov.in.
She further said the Governmentis committed to ensure the continuity of agro food business, for which a Business Immunity Platform www.investindia.gov.in/bip has been designed as a comprehensive resource to help business and investors get real-time support to ensure hassle free operations
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India notified the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Liquidation Process) (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2022 (‘Amendment Liquidation Regulations’) and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Voluntary Liquidation Process) (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2022 (‘Amendment Voluntary Liquidation Regulations’) on 16th September, 2022.
To enable better participation of stakeholders and streamline the liquidation process to reduce delays and realise better value, the amendment in Liquidation Regulations make the following major modifications:
The Amendment Liquidation Regulations and Amendment Voluntary Liquidation Regulations further lay down the manner and period of retention of records relating to liquidation and voluntary liquidation of a corporate debtor or corporate person, respectively.
The Amendment Liquidation Regulations and Amendment Voluntary Liquidation Regulations are effective from 16th September, 2022. These are available at www.mca.gov.in and www.ibbi.gov.in.
Since its inception, the government’s online marketplace, GeM, has undertaken public procurement of more than Rs 3 lakh crore. As per the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, approximately 2,000 minor and 460+ major functionalities have been introduced on GeM, in the last 24 months for improving ease of doing business. MSEs, especially sole proprietors on GeM can get a loan at the point of acceptance of an order on the GeM platform.
GeM is an end-to-end online Marketplace for the procurement of goods and services. It was launched in 2016, as part of the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for redefining public procurement. GeM has been able to bring about radical changes in the way procurement was done by Government buyers and public sector undertakings. It is contactless, paperless, and cashless and stands on three pillars: efficiency, transparency, and inclusivity.
The buyer base of GeM comprises all Central and State Government departments, cooperative societies and public sector undertakings, while the seller base includes women entrepreneurs, Self Help Groups and MSME sellers from all over the country. There are 62 thousand registered government buyers and 50.90 lakh sellers and service providers, with currently around 300 service categories and over 10000+ product categories available on GeM.
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