Business news highlights: CEA V Anantha Nageswaran sees continued acceleration in GDP despite minor slowdown

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• Here are top quotes from CEA V Anantha Nageswaran’s presser
• Pickup in rural demand. Two-wheeler sales in first four months is higher than last year. Modest rise in tractor sales. Rural consumption has stabilized. A good monsoon will give further filip in coming months
• Gross FDI has been on an uptrend. Net FDI reflected profitable exits in FY24. The decline in net FDI did not reflect loss of confidence in Indian economy. It should act as an inducement in future
• We have continued confidence from foreign portfolio investors. Domestic retail investors also showing resilience Crowding in effect for private sector

India Q1 GDP Data LIVE: External sector is very stable, says V Anantha Nageswaran

CEA V Anantha Nageswaran says slight slowdown in GDP was anticipated due to elections, it was well within anticipation. He also said that growth rate in agriculture is bottoming out. However, services has maintained growth rate. “Demand components have done well in terms of gross fixed capital formation, net exports,” Nageswaran added.

India Q1 GDP LIVE: Growth in infra sectors remained modest, says Ind-Ra economist Paras Jasrai

“Despite an unfavourable base effect, the core sector output grew 6.1% yoy in July 2024 better than the previous month (5.1% yoy). This was higher than India Ratings & Research’s (Ind-Ra) expectations (5.0% yoy). Overall, the growth in the infrastructure sectors remained modest at 6.1% yoy during 4MFY25 (4MFY24: 6.6% yoy),” says Ind-Ra economist Paras Jasrai

India Q1 GDP LIVE: Capex utilisation remained lower at 16.3 percent of Budget estimates

Capex utilisation remained lower at 16.3 percent of Budget estimates between April-July 2024, compared with 23.5 percent during a similar period in the previous fiscal.

India Q1 GDP LIVE: Fiscal deficit narrows to 17.2%

Fiscal deficit narrows to 17.2% of the full year estimate for April-July 2024

• Mining growth at 7.2% versus 7% (YoY) and versus 4.2% (QoQ)
• Manufacturing growth at 7% versus 5% (YoY) & versus 8.9% (QoQ)
• Construction growth at 10.5% versus 8.6% (YoY) and versus 8.7% (QoQ)
• Public Admin & services growth at 9.5% versus 8.2% (YoY) and versus 7.8% (QoQ)
• Trade, hotels growth at 5.7% versus 9.7% (YoY) and versus 5.1% (QoQ)
• Electricity growth at 10.4% versus 3.2% (YoY) & versus 7.7% (QoQ)
• Fin & Real Estate growth at 7.1% versus 12.6% (YoY) and versus 7.6% (QoQ)

India Q1 GDP LIVE: Construction sector soars

Construction grew in double digits at 10.5 percent. Share of private consumption rises to 56.3% from 55.9% in Q1FY24

India Q1 GDP LIVE: A look at investment share of GDP in current prices

Investment share of GDP in current prices declines marginally to 31.3% from 31.4% in the previous year's first quarter

India Q1 GDP LIVE: GDP numbers out

GDP growth fell to five quarter low of 6.7 percent in the first quarter of FY25 compared with 7.8 percent in the previous quarter. (Read More)

India Q1 GDP Data LIVE: A look at Forex numbers

Total reserves in the week ended August 23 up $7.02 billion at $681.69 billion. Similarly, foreign currency assets in week-ended August 23 up $5.98 billion at $597.55 billion

• July Coal Production At 6.8% versus 14.8% (MoM)
• July Crude Oil Production At -2.9% versus -2.6% (MoM)
• July Refinery Products Production At 6.6% versus -1.5% (MoM)
• July Cement Production At 5.5% versus 1.9% (MoM)
• July Electricity Production At 7% versus 8.6% (MoM)
• July Fertiliser Production At 5.3% versus 2.4% (MoM)
• July Natural Gas Production At -1.3% versus 3.3% (MoM)
• July Steel Production At 7.2% versus 6.7% (MoM)

India Q1 GDP LIVE: What comprises of core sector?

Index of Eight Core Sector Industries measures the output of key sectors. These are coal, cement, electricity, crude oil, fertilisers, refinery products natural gas and steel. These sectors have a 40% weight in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

India Q1 GDP Data Live: Which sectors grew faster?

According to the official data, petroleum, fertilizer, steel and cement grew faster.

India Q1 GDP Data Live: Core sector grows to 6.1% vs 5.1 percent in June

India’s core sector growth rose to 6.1 percent in July after it had eased to 5.1 percent in the previous month, according to data released by the government on August 30. The first four months of FY25 recorded 6.1 percent growth compared with 6.6 percent during similar period in the previous year. (Read More)

India Q1 GDP Data LIVE: What MC Poll says about inflation

On the inflation front, the MC Poll median was in line with the RBI's Monetary Policy Committee estimate of 4.5 percent. Inflation eased to a 59-month low of 3.5 percent in July, compared with 5.1 percent in the previous month.

India Q1 GDP Data LIVE: ‘Consumer demand is soft but improving at the margin,’ says SBI Mutual Fund

“Unless the global growth slowdown materialises, we have a sanguine view on India’s growth given the continued momentum in infrastructure thrust (barring a brief lull during election), rising private capex intentions, and continued real estate recovery cycle. Consumer demand is soft but improving at the margin. There has been a weak pick-up in global trade too, aided by inventory normalization in the West,” says SBI Mutual Fund’s Namrata Mittal.

India Q1 GDP Data LIVE: ‘Expect GDP growth to decelerate to 7.1%,’ says Barclays

“We expect GDP growth to decelerate to 7.1% in Q1 FY25 compared with Q4 FY24 (7.8%) and Q1 FY24 (8.2%). Slowing of manufacturing activity and lower government expenditure during the election period likely contributed to slowdown in output growth in the quarter. Robust growth in mining and utilities' production provided an offset to an extent. High growth in tax collections implies that the wedge between GDP and GVA remained,” Shreya Sodhani of Barclays

• “Q1 FY25 GDP is projected to grow by 6.9%, a deceleration from the 7.8% growth observed in Q4 FY24. GVA growth is projected at 6.6% in Q1. The agriculture sector will feel the pinch of lower reservoir level from last year’s poor monsoon and heatwaves affecting productivity. The rabi production is estimated at 155.2 million tons, slightly below the 157.8 million tons recorded the previous year,” CareEdge chief economist Rajani Sinha.
• “However, the annual growth of the sector would be aided by a favourable base of last year. Manufacturing growth is likely to moderate as also indicated by moderation in IIP data and corporate profitability.  Construction sector growth is likely to moderate as it feels the impact of election period. The services sector growth is expected to further accelerate led by Financial, Real Estate, and Professional Services. The services export has held up well despite overall global slowdown,” Sinha added.

India Q1 GDP Data Live: ‘Underlying growth momentum remains strong,’ says India Ratings and Research’s Paras Jasrai

“The underlying growth momentum remains strong as indicated by various high-frequency indicators. There is expected to be a pickup in yoy growth of trade, hotels and transport sector; financial services is also expected to register a strong growth. Both of them would be the key driving factors for growth in 1QFY25,” says Paras Jasrai, India Ratings and Research

India Q1 GDP Data LIVE: ‘After this soft start we expect growth to gain ground,’ says DBS Bank’s Radhika Rao

“We expect growth to moderate to 6.7% yoy in 1QFY25, building in election-related impact which saw consolidated government spending slow in the period along with an uneven start to the monsoon and tepid commodity related gains,” says DBS Bank’s Executive Director and Senior Economist Radhika Rao. She also said that “after this soft start we expect growth to gain ground for rest of the year, taking the full year average to 7% in FY25.”

India Q1 GDP Data Live: Expect growth to have slowed in Q1, says Yes Bank’s Chief Economist Indranil Pan

“We expect growth to have slowed in Q1, driven by a decline in company profits. On the expenditure side, the slowdown in government capital spending, likely linked to upcoming elections, has also contributed to this weakness,” said Yes Bank’s Chief Economist Indranil Pan. He further added that “while some of these factors may correct later in the fiscal year, overall GDP growth for FY25 is projected at 7%, down from 8.2% in the previous fiscal year. This contraction is partly due to the unlikely repeat of last year's high net tax growth.”

India Q1 GDP Data Live: India’s growth slowed to a five-quarter low of 6.8% in Q1FY25: MC Poll

According to a Moneycontrol poll, India’s economic growth is expected to have slowed to a five-quarter low of 6.8 percent in the first quarter of FY25. This slowdown is attributed to a reduction in government spending due to upcoming elections and the impact of heatwaves on the manufacturing sector. The median estimate from a poll of 13 economists suggests that growth will decelerate to 6.8 percent from 7.8 percent in the fourth quarter of FY24, with individual forecasts ranging between 6 and 7.5 percent. (Read More)

India Q1 GDP Data Live: How Lok Sabha Polls may have impacted economic growth

India's economic growth has shown signs of slowing down in the April-June quarter, primarily due to reduced government spending during the national elections and a slowdown in consumer spending, a Reuters report said. According to a Reuters poll involving 52 economists, the projected GDP growth for this period is estimated to be 6.9% year-on-year. This figure is slightly below the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) estimate of 7.1% and significantly lower than the 7.8% growth rate recorded in the previous quarter. The reduction in government spending, which often happens around election periods, can have a dampening effect on economic activity. Additionally, stalling consumption indicates that consumer confidence might be weakening, which could impact various sectors of the economy.

India Q1 GDP Data Live: Goldman Sachs cuts India’s 2024 and 2025 GDP growth forecasts

Goldman Sachs Group has reduced its growth forecast for India by 20 basis points for both this year and the next, attributing the change to a decrease in central government spending, a Bloomberg report said. The bank now anticipates that India's economy will grow by 6.7% in 2024 and 6.4% in 2025. The downgrade for the current year takes into account a 35% year-on-year decline in government expenditure during the April-June quarter, which coincided with the period of the general election, according to a report released on Friday by the bank's economists, led by Santanu Sengupta.

Adani News LIVE: Adani Ports acquires 80% stake in Astro Offshore

Adani Ports has acquired 80 percent stake in global OSV operator Astro Offshore for $185 million, CNBC-TV 18 reports.

Jio Financial Live News: Hopeful of getting regulatory approvals for business with BlackRock, says Jio Financial management

The Jio Financial Services Ltd (JFS) management said on August 30 that it is hopeful of getting regulatory approvals for business with US-based BlackRock Inc. In June 2023, the two companies had formed a 50:50 joint venture to launch asset management services in India and had pledged an initial investment of $150 million each, with hopes to democratise access to investment solutions for investors in the country. (Read More)

India Q1 GDP Data Live: GDP data for April-June quarter to be released today

The Centre will release that GDP data today at 5:30 pm. According to several projections, India's GDP growth would be 7.2 percent in 2024, which is a marked increase from 6.8 per cent previously. For 2025, the GDP growth is pegged at 6.6 percent versus our earlier estimate of 6.4 per cent, Moody’s said ahead of the release of data.

Business News Live: Big update on Zee-Sony case

Zee Entertainment withdraws application and rights to file claims before NCLT with respect to Sony India merger case, says exchange filing.

IndiGo News LIVE: IndiGo will restart operations from Delhi Terminal 1 from September 2

IndiGo will restart operations from Delhi Terminal 1 from September 2

Commodities News Live: Aluminium futures rise on fresh bets

Aluminium prices on Friday climbed 0.86 percent to Rs 229.25 per kilogram in futures trade as speculators built up fresh positions amid a positive trend in the spot market.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange, aluminium contracts for September delivery increased Rs 1.95 or 0.86 per cent to Rs 229.25 per kg in a business turnover of 3,461 lots.

Analysts said fresh positions created by traders amid demand from consuming industries supported aluminium prices in the futures market.

HDFC Bank Live: Lender plans to sell $1.2 bn of loans via rare debt tool, reports Bloomberg

India’s largest private lender HDFC Bank Ltd. plans to sell as much as 100 billion rupees ($1.2 billion) of loan portfolios using a rare debt instrument, as it seeks to cut exposure to certain sectors amid challenges in raising deposits, according to people familiar with the matter.

The bank is in talks with local asset managers including ICICI Prudential AMC, Nippon Life India Asset Management Ltd. and SBI Funds Management Pvt. to issue so-called pass through certificates, a route that has not been used in a decade by the bank, the people said, asking not to be identified as the discussions are private.

News Live: Reservoir storage levels in India surpass last year's figures, show regional variations

The Central Water Commission (CWC) has said the current water storage levels has recorded an increase of 126 per cent compared to last year's corresponding period and 119 per cent of the 10-year average.

As of August 29, the total live storage in these reservoirs stands at 144.333 billion cubic metres (BCM), which is 80 per cent of their total capacity.

This marks an increase of 126 per cent compared to last year's corresponding period and 119 per cent of the 10-year average, referred to as Normal storage.

Business News Live: UK insurer Aviva conspired to dodge India compensation & tax rules: DGGI

An Indian tax agency has found that British insurer Aviva breached local regulations capping commissions to sales agents with a system of fake invoices and clandestine cash payments, according to a notice seen by Reuters. In an attempt to grow operations, Aviva's India business paid about $26 million between 2017 and 2023 to entities who purportedly provided marketing and training services, according to the tax notice sent to Aviva, dated Aug. 3.But the vendors, who did not perform any work, were actually a front for channeling funds to Aviva's agents, said the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), which is responsible for policing violations of indirect taxes. (Reuters)

Bharat Petroleum News LIVE: ‘BPCL aspires to meet 6-7% of nation’s primary energy demand by 2047,’ says BPCL CMD G Krishnakumar

BPCL held its annual general meeting today. Addressing the AGM, Bharat Petroleum CMD G Krishnakumar said, “Demand for major petchem production is expected to rise by 7-8 percent annually. This presents a strategic opportunity to expand refining capacity, alongside with the development of integrated petchem complexes. we aspire to become a dominant player in India's petchem growth story.”

Business news live: France 24 signs distribution pact with Sun Direct in India, reports Bloomberg

France 24 signs distribution pact with Sun Direct in India, reports Bloomberg

Bharat Petroleum News LIVE: BPCL plans to raise Rs 32,000 crore, reports Bloomberg

According to a Bloomberg report, Bharat Petroleum is negotiating with lenders to obtain a Rs 32,000 crore loan, which could become the largest local-currency loan of the year. The State Bank of India will spearhead the transaction, with Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda among the other participating banks. This loan is intended to finance BPCL's ethylene cracker plant in Madhya Pradesh. (Read More)

Zydus Life Live News: Zydus Life gets US FDA nod for this drug

Zydus Life has received the US FDA approval for Scopolamine Transdermal System, CNBC-TV 18 reports. According to the update, this Scopolamine Transdermal patch is usually used to prevent nausea and vomiting after administering Anesthesia to patients.

Global Fintech Fest LIVE: ‘Focusing on saturation of financial inclusivity,’ says PM Modi

“India’s UPI has emerged as a global testament of India’s fintech prowess,” says PM Modi. Lauding the fintech, he said that “amid coronavirus pandemic too, India was among few nations where banking services were functioning smoothly.” (Read More)

Global Fintech Fest 2024 Live: 'Neo banking concept is in front of us,' says PM Modi

In his address, PM Modi said, “digital banking or neo banking concept is in front of us. We are creating a product, which is local but its application is global.”

Global Fintech Fest 2024 Live: PM Modi talks about MUDRA loans

“Rs 27 trillion of credit disbursed through MUDRA loans and 70% beneficiaries are women,” says PM Modi. He also says that now “people are able to see the benefit of becoming part of formal economy .”

Global Fintech Fest 2024 Live: 'Our fintech startups have seen 500% growth,' says PM Modi

“In the last 10 years, investments of more than $31 billion have been done,” says PM Modi. He also said that “in the last 10 years, our fintech startups have seen 500% growth.” Talking about the Jandhan accounts, PM Modi said that “cheaper phones and data and zero balance Jan Dhan accounts have created wonders.”