by admin | May 25, 2021 | Banking, Corporate, Corporate finance, Economy, Finance, News
New Delhi : While the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) Financial Conditions Index for the current fourth quarter at 53.2 is showing an increase over the same period a year ago, it marks a fall over the previous quarter and there is also a decrease in the cost of funds index, CII said on Sunday.
Launched in April 2015, the CII-IBA Financial Conditions Index, serves as a key indicator in assessing the short term financial conditions in the Indian economy.
“The CII-IBA Financial Condition index for the Q4 FY2017-18 registered 53.2, which on a year-on-year basis has shown an improvement of five points,” a CII release said here.
“The External Financial Linkages index and Economic Activity Index have shown an improvement in the Q4 FY2017-18 quarter vis-a-vis the last quarter while there has been a compression in the cost of funds index,” it said.
A total of 29 banks and financial institutions participated in the survey that includes 11 public sector banks, 5 private sector banks, 2 foreign banks, 2 co-operative banks, and 9 non- banking financial companies. According to CII-IBA, the total asset of the respondents are approximately Rs 68 lakh crore.
Among the sub-indices, the highest contribution was made by the External Financial Linkages Index followed by the Economic Activity index.
“Within external financial linkages index, the respondents are very optimistic about the increase in foreign exchange reserves and expectation of increase in the money mobilisation through the ECBs (external commercial borrowings), FCCBs (foreign currency convertible bonds), ADRs (American depositary receipts) and GDRs (global depositary receipts (GDRs),” the release said.
“The respondents are also quite optimistic about the increase in net capital inflows.”
The Economic Activity index during the quarter in consideration recorded a value of 62.5, which was the second highest.
“The increase in economic activity index is supported by the expected increase in non-food bank credit and growth in real GDP. The growth in real GDP recorded a value of 83 and non-food bank credit recorded a value of 90, both higher than the previous quarter,” it added.
According to CII, the funding liquidity index for the current quarter registered the value of 60.3, which was a sharp fall from the 85.9 recorded during the previous quarter.
“Within the funding liquidity index, mobilisation from the equity market recorded the highest value of 86, followed by the mobilization in the money market which registered the value of 83,” it said.
“The liquidity adjustment facility has contracted in the current quarter.”
“Industrial activity and consequent linkages to the financial sector are contingent on intervention in 3 spaces – fiscal, sectoral and monetary policy space. There is a clear acknowledgement of actions that have been taken by the Government in fiscal and sectoral space,” CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said in a statement.
Commenting on the Index results for the fourth quarter, IBA Chairperson and Allahabad Bank Chief Executive Usha Ananthasubramanian said: “Overall index reading is optimistic about the financial sector though the cost of fund index has contracted significantly. With inflation apprehension looming large, coupled with drying up of excess liquidity from the system, the room for rate action from the central bank does not exist.”
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Economy, Markets, News
New Delhi : Noting that the GST anti-profiteering clause could lead to hardship, industry chamber Assocham on Sunday urged more clarity in rules to curb price hike arising from a rollout of the new indirect tax regime, saying tax authorities will need to be more sensitive to avoid undue harassment of assessees.
The industry body said in a statement here that there is concern about practical and procedural challenges emerging during the initial implementation period of the anti-profiteering clause under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime which was rolled out last July.
“With the National Anti-Profiteering Authority being established, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has called for greater clarity in rules to curb price increase arising from GST,” it said.
“Practical implementation of the regulations without ambiguity and without untoward scrutiny is required, particularly in the initial days of implementation till the system stabilizes.”
Noting that the anti-profiteering clause was brought in to keep a check on unethical high profits, analyse long-term effects of GST, control price rise and retain consumer trust in the new tax regime, Assocham said the relevant rules say “benefit of input tax credit should have been passed on to the recipient by way of commensurate reduction in prices”.
“However, as this definition is not clear, discretionary bias may creep in,” the statement said.
CII noted that several factors contribute to pricing decisions, such as supply and demand conditions, as well as suppliers’ costs and taxes.
“The anti-profiteering clause of GST law should provide clarity on rules and regulations regarding assessment of valuation and impact of taxes,” it said.
“Tax authorities will need to be sensitive to natural business outcomes and avoid undue harassment. Also, the clause gives relatively less time for adoption of the new provisions. Manufacturers or suppliers may also deal in several products that are not distinguished in their accounting books, so that determining price margins for individual products will be difficult.
“Effective anti-profiteering provisions that are clear are needed to ensure GST provides tax benefits to consumers,” the statement added.
Maining the most radical reworking of the items within the GST four-slab tax structure in November, whereby all but 50 of over 1,200 items remained in the highest 28 per cent bracket, the GST Council, however, also withdrew the novel facility of input tax credit for restaurants as they had not passed on this benefit to consumers.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business Summit, Corporate, Corporate Governance, Events, Social Round-up
Hyderabad : India’s largest makerspace, a prototyping and design centre, will come up here next year and will have equipment worth over $20 million, Telangana’s Industry Minister K.T. Rama Rao announced here on Tuesday.
To be known as T-Works, the facility will come up over 250,00 square feet with many partners offering their software tools and equipment.
Modelled on the lines of makerspaces in other countries and customised to Indian needs, this will probably be the world’s second largest facility of its kind, he said.
Anybody with an idea can collaborate with other people at T-Works and convert his or her designs into working prototype.
“T-Works will be up and running around this time next year,” the Minister said, while addressing India Design Summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, adding anybody could use freely available tools — software, test and measurement equipment — to build any product.
“T-Works will allow anyone young or old school student, graduate or retired professor, man or woman to collaborate with other intelligent individuals and converge their designs on paper or PC and convert it into working prototype,” said Rama Rao, son of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
Open to all Indians, the facility will have CNC machines, cutting machines of all kinds, welding and carpentry tools, PCB assembly machines, and 3D printers of all ranges.
“This I believe is going to change the way we do business especially with respect to design and hardware space in India,” he said.
The Minister said T-Works will help in making products in domains like mechanical, electro mechanic, electronics and semiconductor spaces.
It will also help in making products in automobiles, IoT, avionics, drones, med devices, medical instruments, defence equipment, consumer electronics, telecom products, mobile devices, gadgets and sensors.
“T-Works will become one of cornerstones and essential hub in the wheel in heralding a new wave of entrepreneurs, makers, tinkerers and designers of all kinds, aesthetic, textile, fashion, lifestyle, mechanical and technological,” he added.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Investing, Large Enterprise
New Delhi : Around 80 Indian companies in Germany employing a total workforce of 27,400 generated combined revenues of Euro 11.4 billion in 2016, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said on Sunday citing its joint study conducted on the matter.
Based on interviews with leading Indian chief executives, the study, done by the Bertelsmann Foundation, Ernst & Young (EY) and CII, showed that, since 2010, nearly 140 major investment projects by Indian companies have been initiated in Germany.
“This includes FDI (foreign direct investment) announcements as well as M&As (merger and acquisitions),” a CII release said here.
“Between 2010 and 2016, Germany was the second-largest recipient of Indian FDI in Europe with 96 projects,” it said.
According to the study, the top sectors for investment include automobiles, metals and metal processing, professional, technical and scientific services, pharmaceuticals and chemicals, electrotechnics and machine building.
The study found that Indian companies in Germany currently generate nearly 70 per cent of their turnover in the labour intensive sectors of metals (40 per cent) and automotives (29 per cent). Major players in these sectors are Tata Steel, Hindalco industries and Sona Autocomp.
“The Indian IT industry accounts for a revenue share of nine percent,” CII said.
Access to innovation and technology are important factors that influence the decision to invest in Germany, according to 80 per cent of the CEOs surveyed.
This is borne out by the M&A activity over the past six years, CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said in the statement.
“In fact, one-fifth of the acquisitions made by Indians were found to be in the automotive supplier sector and one-third in the mechanical engineering sector,” he said.
“Moreover, the planned merger of the steel businesses of Tata Group and ThyssenKrupp has taken Indo-German cooperation to a whole new level,” he added.
According to Murali Nair of Bertelsmann Stiftung, Germany should put more focus on government incentives in innovation, such as tax relief for depreciation, in order to encourage long-term commitment of foreign investors.
Besides, 90 per cent of surveyed Indian CEOs were of the opinion that Britain’s exit from the European Union will increase the attractiveness of Germany as an investment location and will help increase the volume and diversity of Indian investments in the country.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance
New Delhi:(IANS) There are signs of a recovery in the economy, albeit a slow one, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said on Sunday.
“What is especially significant is that there are fewer sectors anticipating negative growth,” CII Associations’ Council (ASCON) chairman Naushad Forbes said in a statement here, releasing a survey on the issue.
“There has been a significant and perceptible positive movement in percentage points recorded by many of the sectors which were in moderate and negative growth category a year ago,” Forbes said.
The survey by ASCON for the April-June first quarter, based on responses collected from sectoral industry associations, reveals a slight improvement in growth trends in production over the corresponding period a year ago.
Of the 93 sectors polled, 16.1 percent recorded excellent growth of more than 20 percent during the quarter in question as compared to 7.1 percent in the year-ago period.
However, the share of sectors that saw high growth rates of between 10 to 20 percent has reduced significantly to 9.7 percent in the April-June quarter from 14.3 percent during the same period of the previous fiscal.
The survey tracked the estimated growth trends in terms of production, sales and exports.
Responses were classed under four broad categories — excellent (growth in excess of 20 percent), high (growth in the range of 10-20 percent), moderate (0-10 percent) and negative (below zero).
The share of sectors reporting moderate growth declined marginally to 51.7 percent during the quarter as compared to 51.8 percent in the period a year ago.
urther, the number of sectors recording negative growth has fallen from 26.9 percent in the first quarter last year to 23.6 percent this year.
On the other hand, the survey’s respondents cited industrial relations, transport infrastructure bottlenecks and the cost and availability of finance as moderately important factors impeding growth.
“On the issues impacting growth, margin pressure from stiff competition, competition from imports, shortage of power, high regulatory burden, lack of domestic and export demand, shortage of skilled labour and talent, and high tax burden have been cited as the most important constraints by more than 50 percent of the respondents,” the CII said.
“However, a sustainable recovery would be conditional on improvement in domestic demand and investment revival,” it added.
