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Maharashtra Government notifies public holidays for 2024 under the Negotiable Instruments Act

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More than 100 senior executives from the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, the world’s largest CEO-led community committed to net zero emissions, signed an open letter recently ahead of the COP28 climate conference, calling on leaders from the public and private sectors to accelerate net-zero actions to reduce carbon emissions for the benefit of society, public health and the global economy.

The latest IPCC report has confirmed that the world is on course to breach the critical barrier of 1.5°C warming within the next two decades, setting a path to cascading climate tipping points and irreversible damage to the Earth’s planetary systems. Limiting the average global temperature increase to 1.5°C would require 50% emissions reductions by 2030 – amounting to annual emission reductions greater than what was achieved during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the latest report from S&P Global Market Intelligence, India is poised to become the world’s third-largest economy, surpassing Japan by 2030. The report anticipates that India’s GDP will double, reaching $7.3 trillion, up from $3.5 trillion in 2022. This rapid economic growth will lead to India overtaking Japan as the second-largest economy in the Asia-Pacific region. Currently, Japan holds the third position globally, following the United States and China.

The substantial increase in foreign direct investment into India over the past decade reflects the promising long-term growth prospects of the Indian economy. This growth is driven by a youthful demographic profile and rapidly rising urban household incomes. By 2022, India’s GDP had already exceeded that of the United Kingdom and France. The report also predicts that by 2030, India’s GDP will surpass Germany’s.

Notably, Japan is expected to slip to the fourth position in the world economy rankings based on US dollar valuation, as Germany takes over the third spot. The International Monetary Fund’s projections support this change.

India stands out as an outperformer in the emerging market landscape, with the private sector experiencing the second-fastest sales growth in over 13 years, contributing to overall economic expansion. While Russia reported robust growth, mainland China’s expansion slowed, and Brazil faced economic contraction during the survey period, as highlighted by S&P.

The report also underscores the global economic slowdown, which reached its lowest point in eight months by the end of the third quarter. Furthermore, the first contraction in global new orders and a significant decrease in work backlogs suggest potential weaknesses in the coming months.

The RBI has instructed banks to ensure the presence of at least two Whole Time Directors (WTDs), including the MD & CEO, on the boards of banks. As per the RBI, the number of WTDs shall be decided by the Board of the bank by taking into account factors such as the size of operations, business complexity, and other relevant aspects.

Further, RBI has said that banks lacking two executives in directorial roles must present proposals for the appointment within a four-month timeframe. “Given the growing complexity of the banking sector, it becomes imperative to establish an effective senior management team in the banks to navigate ongoing and emerging challenges. Establishment of such a team may also facilitate succession planning, especially in the background of the regulatory stipulations in respect of tenure and upper age limit for Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD & CEO) positions,” the RBI has said in a statement.

Startups registered with DPIIT will not be subject to assessment proceedings relating to Angel Tax amendments made in Budget 2023.

The Income Tax Department had last month notified new angel tax rules for evaluating the shares issued by unlisted startups to investors.

While previously the angel tax – a tax levied on capital received on the sale of shares of a startup above the fair market value – was applicable only to local investors, the Budget for the 2023-24 fiscal (April 2023 to March 2024) widened its ambit to include foreign investments.

As per the Budget, the excess premium will be considered as ‘income from sources’ and taxed at the rate of up to over 30 per cent. However, startups registered by the DPIIT were exempt from the new norms.

India’s Wholesale Price Index (WPI) reported a provisional annual deflation of 0.26% in September 2023, marking a decline from the previous month’s rate of -0.52% in August 2023. The decline in prices was attributed to decreases in chemical and chemical products, mineral oils, textiles, basic metals, and food products compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.

The WPI and inflation rates for all commodities and major groups for the past three months are:

All Commodities (Weight: 100.0%): The WPI decreased from 152.4 in August 2023 to 151.5 in September 2023, with a corresponding drop in the annual inflation rate from -0.52% to -0.26%.
Primary Articles (Weight: 22.62%): The WPI decreased to 182.4 in September 2023, showing an annual inflation rate of 3.70%, compared to 189.6 and 6.34% in August 2023.
Fuel & Power (Weight: 13.15%): The WPI increased to 153.1 in September 2023, resulting in an annual inflation rate of -3.35%, compared to 149.6 and -6.03% in August 2023.
Manufactured Products (Weight: 64.23%): The WPI increased to 140.3 in September 2023, with an annual inflation rate of -1.34%, compared to 139.8 and -2.37% in August 2023.
Food Index (Weight: 24.38%): The WPI declined to 177.8 in September 2023, showing an annual inflation rate of 1.54%, compared to 186.1 and 5.62% in August 2023.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its World Economic Outlook (WEO) report for October 2023, released on October 10th, has revised India’s economic growth projection for the current fiscal year. It now stands at 6.3 percent, an increase from the previous estimate of 6.1 percent. The IMF anticipates that retail inflation in India will climb to 5.5 percent in fiscal year 2023-24 before gradually declining to 4.6 percent in 2024-25.

“Growth in India is projected to remain strong, at 6.3 per cent in both 2023 and 2024, with an upward revision of 0.2 percentage points for 2023, reflecting stronger-than-expected consumption during April-June,” said the IMF. This is the second time that the IMF has made an upward revision to India’s growth forecast.

The Reserve Bank of India has opted to maintain its key interest rate unchanged, citing persistent inflation as a significant concern. The Monetary Policy Committee, consisting of three members from the central bank and an equivalent number of external members, unanimously decided to keep the benchmark repurchase rate (repo) at 6.50 percent.

The central bank also indicated its intention to uphold tight liquidity through bond sales in order to steer prices closer to the desired target. This marks the fourth consecutive meeting where the rate has remained unchanged, reaffirming their commitment to the “withdrawal of accommodation” stance.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das emphasised that the central bank has identified high inflation as a primary threat to macroeconomic stability and sustainable growth. He reaffirmed the bank’s unwavering dedication to aligning inflation with the 4 percent target on a sustainable basis.

As per the RBI, the main considerations underlying the decision are:

• Global growth is losing momentum. Inflation is easing gradually but remains well above target in major economies. Concerns about higher for longer rates are imparting volatility to global financial markets. Sovereign bond yields have hardened, the US dollar has appreciated, and equity markets have corrected. Emerging market economies (EMEs) are experiencing currency depreciation and volatile capital flows.
• Real gross domestic product (GDP) posted a growth of 7.8 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) in Q1:2023-24 (April-June), underpinned by private consumption and investment demand.
• South-west monsoon rainfall recovered during September and ended 6 per cent below the long period average. The acreage under kharif crops was 0.2 per cent higher than a year ago. The index of industrial production rose by 5.7 per cent in July; core industries output expanded by 12.1 per cent in August. Purchasing managers’ indices (PMIs) and other high frequency indicators of the services sector exhibited healthy expansion in August-September.
• On the demand front, urban consumption is buoyant while rural demand is showing signs of revival. Investment activity is benefitting from public sector capex. Strong growth is seen in steel consumption, cement production as well as in imports and production of capital goods. Merchandise exports and non-oil non-gold imports remained in contraction in August, although the pace of decline eased. Services exports improved in August.
• CPI headline inflation surged by 2.6 percentage points to 7.4 per cent in July due to a spike in vegetable prices, before moderating somewhat in August to 6.8 per cent. Fuel inflation edged up to 4.3 per cent in August. Core inflation (i.e., CPI excluding food and fuel) softened to 4.9 per cent during July-August 2023.
• As on September 22, 2023, money supply (M3) expanded by 10.8 per cent (y-o-y) and bank credit grew by 15.3 per cent. India’s foreign exchange reserves stood at US$ 586.9 billion as on September 29, 2023.

The 28th Meeting of the Standing Advisory Committee (SAC) reviewed the flow of credit to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector. A per the RBI, during the meeting, the SAC reviewed the flow of credit to MSMEs and deliberated on issues related to assessing and bridging the credit gap for the sector, exploring digital solutions for improved credit linkage, accelerating adoption of TReDS, credit support to women entrepreneurs, revival and rehabilitation of stressed MSMEs, and credit guarantee schemes, among others.

The meeting was chaired by RBI Deputy Governor Swaminathan J, who, in his keynote address emphasised the significant role of the MSME sector, particularly in the context of the goal of attaining developed economy status by 2047. He stressed the need for collaborative efforts on the part of all stakeholders to unlock the full potential of MSMEs and highlighted various initiatives taken by the Reserve Bank such as the Account Aggregator (AA) framework, the digital Public Tech Platform to enable delivery of frictionless credit and the regulatory sandbox on MSME lending. He also dwelt on the important role of Industry Associations in information dissemination and capacity building among MSMEs.

India’s External Debt at $629.1 Billion End-June: RBI

India’s external debt reached $629.1 billion by the end of June 2023, marking a $4.7 billion increase from the end of March 2023, according to the latest data released by RBI. Despite the increase, the external debt to GDP ratio declined slightly, reflecting positive economic trends.

The data, presented in compliance with IMF format and the old format, revealed several key findings:

The external debt to GDP ratio decreased to 18.6% by the end of June 2023, down from 18.8% at the end of March 2023.

A significant portion of the increase in external debt, $3.1 billion, was attributed to the valuation effect caused by the US dollar’s appreciation against major currencies. Excluding this effect, the actual increase in external debt would have been $7.8 billion.

Long-term debt, with an original maturity exceeding one year, rose to $505.5 billion at the end of June 2023, indicating an increase of $9.6 billion compared to March 2023.

Short-term debt, with an original maturity of one year or less, saw a decline, constituting 19.6% of total external debt at the end of June 2023, down from 20.6% in March 2023. The ratio of short-term debt to foreign exchange reserves also decreased to 20.8% from 22.2%.

Short-term debt on a residual maturity basis, which includes long-term debt with maturities within the next twelve months, accounted for 42.8% of total external debt, down from 44.0% in March 2023. It represented 45.3% of foreign exchange reserves, compared to 47.4% at the end of March 2023.

US dollar-denominated debt remained the largest component of India’s external debt, comprising 54.4% of the total. Debt denominated in Indian rupees accounted for 30.4%, followed by SDR (5.9%), yen (5.7%), and the euro (3.0%).

The report also noted changes in outstanding debt, with the general government’s debt decreasing while non-government debt increased.

Non-financial corporations held the largest share of outstanding debt in total external debt at 39.8%, followed by deposit-taking corporations (except the central bank) at 26.6%, general government at 21.1%, and other financial corporations at 7.6%.

The composition of external debt revealed loans as the largest component at 32.9%, followed by currency and deposits at 22.9%, trade credit and advances at 19.0%, and debt securities at 16.8%.

Debt service, which includes principal repayments and interest payments, increased to 6.8% of current receipts by the end of June 2023, up from 5.3% at the end of March 2023.