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<div type="image" title="Indians are getting fancy, and they don&amp;#39;t mind paying a little extra if it means quality and luxury. Most consumer brands are witnessing an uptick in their premium product segment" msid="115018213" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Indians are getting fancy, and they don&amp;#39;t mind paying a little extra if it means quality and luxury. Most consumer brands are witnessing an uptick in their premium product segment&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> It's time to move over from plain, vanilla budget basics! Indians are no longer looking for “best purchases and value buys under Rs 1,000”—at least not as much as before. <keyword id="19895063" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="india" source="keywords">India</keyword>'s getting fancy, and how! From gold-flaked chocolates to swanky SUVs that look like they’re wheeled straight out of a Bollywood blockbuster, Indian companies are rapidly jazzing up their product lines, even faster than you can say the word "premiumization." But what does this mean for Indian companies and consumers? What is this jazz about premiumization all about? Is it just urban India that’s riding this wave, or has rural India also joined the bandwagon? We decode for you. <h2>What's premium, really?</h2>Imagine you’re eating Pav Bhaji at a roadside thela. Later during the day, you decide to dine out at a fancy, upmarket cafe, only to find Pav Bhaji Fondue on the menu. Same same, but much more expensive—often 5 to 10 times higher—for a little more hygiene and some better ambience! Think of premium products as this fondue. They are a notch up your regular, daily-use products soaps or shampoos, and even cars, all packaged luxuriously, offering just about the right touch of quality. The main differentiator, though, would be the price range. <h2>Driving home premium wellness</h2>A recent report by Nielsen suggests that over 70% of urban Indians are okay with paying a premium for their products. And companies are cashing in on this sentiment like never before. This explains why 58% of new products launched so far this year have been in the premium+ segment, as opposed to just 38% of new launches in regular, traditional trade. Take cars, for instance. Indians are no longer vying for a good old <keyword id="19950117" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="maruti" source="keywords">Maruti</keyword> 800 or <keyword id="20400567" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="alto" source="keywords">Alto</keyword>, traditionally known for their healthy mileage, but are rather happy investing in more swanky features that come along with high-end cars. In October 2024, India’s largest car manufacturer, <keyword id="19909974" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="maruti-suzuki" source="keywords">Maruti Suzuki</keyword>, sold 65,948 units of its compact cars like Swift, WagonR, Dzire, and more. Compared to the year-ago period, which saw sales of 80,662 units, this was an 18% dip. But take a look at their SUV (sport utility vehicle) sales for the same period. Cars like Brezza, Ertiga, and Grand Vitara sold about 70,644 units, a 19% uptick from the sales made in October 2023, i.e. 59,147 units. Simply put, when it comes to cars, Indians are saying the bigger, the better! The same is true for India's second biggest automobile manufacturer, Hyundai. Its SUV lineup made up a staggering 68.2% of the firm's total sales made for October 2024. What's more, SUV demand remained largely consistent across urban and rural markets. <h2>Consumers are inching up</h2>FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) are also riding the premiumization wave, with Indians prioritizing their health and wellness and not bothered about dishing out a few extra bucks for the same! You’ll find no dearth of words like organic, vegan, gluten-free, and sugar-free, peppered generously over every product you’ll see today, be it soaps, juices, or more. No wonder then, sales from premium segments in 2024 make up around 27% of all FMCG sales and even contribute a massive 42% to the sector’s value growth in India. Nielsen report further adds that luxury brands that position themselves at twice the price of their category’s average are even witnessing stellar growth. In fact, for most FMCG brands like Tata Consumer Products, <keyword id="20002610" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="hindustan-unilever" source="keywords">Hindustan Unilever</keyword> (HUL), Dabur, and Nestle, it is this premium segment that is growing much faster than their regular ones. And it's not just about daily-use products; Indians are also taking their celebrations a step over. Spirits manufacturer <keyword id="20125704" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="radico-khaitan" source="keywords">Radico Khaitan</keyword> highlighted that for the first half of 2024, their prestige &amp; above segment made for 88.4% of its net sales value. In the same period, the regular popular segment accounted for just 9.1% of their net sales. From Hindustan Unilever, which saw its premium products grow 30% over the last quarter, to <keyword id="20521971" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="kingfisher" source="keywords">Kingfisher</keyword> beer's parent company, <keyword id="20124009" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="united-breweries" source="keywords">United Breweries</keyword>, whose premium product sales volume jumped by 27% during the quarter as opposed to just a 5% rise in overall volumes, everyone is seemingly taking their lifestyle a notch above. Per the Nielsen report, in 2024, a typical global consumer spends about $13.7k per year. This is set to grow by around 2.4% to $14k as early as next year. Even a report by Goldman Sachs also highlighted a similar trend, noting that India’s affluent class, or those earning over $10,000 (Rs 8,42,694.97), is set to reach 100 million in the next 3 years. And where will this consumer spend? On premium products! <h2>Online shopping shifts from mass to class</h2>Amazon’s Great Indian Shopping Festival, which was live between September 27 and October 29 this year, saw 140 crore customers, more than 85% of whom came from non-metro Indian cities. On the site, there was a 400% spike in sales in premium sales across categories like watches, fragrances, handbags, jewelry, and more. Rival <keyword id="19896939" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="flipkart" source="keywords">Flipkart</keyword> noted a similar trend, recording 1.8x growth in premium beauty and personal care products during the first half of this year. <h2>Dialing in premiumness</h2>The Indian smartphone ecosystem has always been dominated by basic phones, or those entry- and mid-range phones that are priced between Rs 10,000 and Rs 6,000. But that has changed in recent times, with premium smartphones (i.e., those priced over Rs 60,000) registering 20%+ growth in 2024. During the first quarter of this year, sales of mass phones (priced between Rs 10,000 and 20,000) reached 44%, compared to 51% in the year-ago period. But it's all sunny and shiny in the mid-premium (priced between Rs 40,000 and Rs 60,000) and super-premium segments (priced above Rs 60,000). Sales growth has burgeoned by as much as 27% and 86% in these categories, respectively. As India continues its march toward becoming the world's third-largest economy by 2027, the premium party is just getting started. Industry experts predict that premium segments will grow faster than you can say "sustainable organic handcrafted artisanal batch of coffee." So the next time you see someone dropping serious rupees on a fancy bottle of black water that also somehow plays music and tracks their hydration (yes, that's a thing), remember: This is just the trailer. Picture abhi baaki hai, mere dost! Do you have a topic in mind you'd want a simpler explanation for, or insights or experiences to share on personal finance and more? Contact us at businessinsider@timesinternet.in.

Simply Put: From Dal to Dolce—India is loving its luxury life

Foreign investors have withdrawn nearly Rs 20,000 crore from Indian stock markets in just five trading days (November 4–8), continuing a trend of large-scale selling that began last month. Experts say investors are now moving their money to China, largely due to the high valuations presently prevailing in Indian markets. In early November, FPIs have offloaded as much as Rs 19,994 crore in Indian markets. The month prior, i.e., October, was one of the worst months in terms of foreign outflows, with FPIs making a net withdrawal of Rs 94,017 crore. Before this, Indian markets faced such a situation during the pandemic, when FPIs withdrew Rs 61,973 crore from equities in March 2020. <h2>Why Are Investors Leaving? </h2>According to Himanshu Srivastava of Morningstar Investment Research India, two main factors are driving this exodus. First is China's renewed appeal due to lower stock valuations and new economic stimulus measures. In a bid to nudge the domestic economy and bail state governments, China recently approved a 10-trillion yuan (US $1.4 trillion) package. Per reports, approximately 60% of this stimulus focuses on allowing local governments to refinance the mountain of debt on them. Srivastava explains foreign investors are also flocking to US dollar and Treasury yields, which have appreciated significantly in the recent past, leading FPIs to anticipate a stronger US economy going ahead. Moreover, high valuations in Indian markets are discouraging foreign investors from putting more money in the economy. As a result, over the past week, the selling pressure eroded Rs 74,563 crore in market value for Reliance Industries, while Bharti Airtel and ICICI Bank lost Rs 26,274 crore and Rs 22,254 crore, respectively. The combined market valuation of six of the top 10 most-valued firms dipped by Rs 1,55,721.12 crore last week. <h2> Silver linings</h2>Despite the ongoing outflux of funds since last month, November also saw unprecedented applications of about 40–50 new FPI registrations, which are eyeing to enter the Indian market. This was due to markets SEBIs recent relaxation to NRIs, permitting them to participate up to 100% and announcing measures for ease of entry and operations in India. On the other hand, FPIs invested Rs 599 crore in the debt general limit and Rs 2,896 crore in the debt voluntary retention route (VRR) during the period under review. So far this year, FPIs have invested Rs 1.06 lakh crore in the debt market. <li class="whitespace-normal break-words"></li>Going ahead, investors will be looking for certain macroeconomic cues, which include corporate earnings reports, India's inflation (CPI) and industrial production (IIP) data on November 12, the US inflation report on November 13, and wholesale price index (WPI) data on November 14.

FPIs withdraw nearly Rs 20,000 crore from equities in the last 5 trading sessions, make a beeline for China and US

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Western sanctions against Russia haven't significantly hindered its wartime economy. </li><li>Analysts say the "porous" nature of sanctions has allowed Russia to sidestep restrictions. </li></ul>Western nations' attempts at ending Russia's invasion of Ukraine via economic sanctions are hitting a snag, and the measures seem not as large a hit to Vladimir Putin as expected. Sanctions and trade restrictions have slammed Russia's economy since it invaded Ukraine two years ago, targeting key areas like energy, freezing foreign assets, and cutting the nation's financial ties to much of the West. But the reality is that Russia's wartime economy has done OK despite all that. Following a 1.2% GDP dip in 2022, Moscow boasted<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-economy-resilience-companies-bankruptcy-rise-sharply-amid-sanctions-2024#:~:text=On%2Dthe%2Dground%20difficulties%20in%20Russia&amp;text=It%20also%20stands%20in%20contrast,high%20interest%20rates%20are%20biting."> a 3.6% annual growth</a> in 2023, hitting an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-economy-worker-shortage-ukraine-war-military-wages-unemployment-2024-1#:~:text=As%20of%20December%2C%20Moscow%20needed,data%20from%20the%20Russian%20government.">all-time low unemployment rate</a> of 2.9%.Russia expert Owen Matthews, author of "Overreach: The Inside Story of Putin and Russia's War Against Ukraine," told Business Insider on Friday that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nord-stream-pipeline-leaks-were-sabotage-explosives-traces-found-sweden-2022-11">the explosion of the Nord Stream pipelines</a> in September 2022 seems to be a bigger blow to Russia's economy than the West's sanctions so far. Analysts said the sanctions toolkit has been "porous," giving Moscow many ways to slip through the web of restrictions, but there's a lot more Western countries can do to ramp up the pressure. Liam Peach, a senior emerging markets economist of Capital Economics, highlighted Russia's adeptness at sidestepping trade restrictions in a note last week. "The US has tightened sanctions evasion on firms that help Russia import through third countries, but trade has a way of finding new routes and it's hard to police. If it is profitable to evade sanctions, some firms will take the risk," he wrote. According to Peach, sanctions haven't halted money from non-Western countries flowing to Russia. Even G7's bid to curb export income through a $60 per barrel cap on the price of oil hasn't really hobbled Moscow's oil trade. <div type="image" title="FX Share of Russian Export Settlement (%)" height="355" width="650" msid="108370159" hostid="261" sizebytes="15328"></div>"The US has noted a large increase in banking flows between Russia and Turkey and the UAE. The West has reduced imports of Russian energy significantly but Russia has largely re-routed oil exports to Asia." Meanwhile, Matthews notes that European nations rarely say no to certain energy supplies from Russia, sabotaging their own attempts at punishing Putin. "The whole kind of dirty secret behind all the European sanctions packages was that, for instance, Europe talked a big game about sanctions against Russia, but they never sanctioned Russian gas," he said. Even with regard to US-dominated financial sanctions, limited headway has been made, according to Matthews. The dominance of the US dollar as a trade and reserve currency forced Russia to de-dollarize, and Russia can still bypass the US-controlled global finance system with the help of China.<div type="image" title="Russia-China Goods Trade (SA, $bn)" height="355" width="650" msid="108370160" hostid="261" sizebytes="14654"></div>"Inadvertently, that sort of sanctions regime has just encouraged more Renminbi denominated transactions and has massively boosted Dubai specifically as the major sort of non-American dominated hub for financial transactions," Matthews said. <h3>What else can the West do?</h3>Peach wrote that the West could squeeze Russian energy more by slapping secondary sanctions on third-party purchases of oil and gas from the country. "Russia doesn't need to borrow from abroad, but it does need foreign currency in the form of energy exports to finance the budget, pay for imports, and stabilize the ruble."But it's unlikely for the West to take this path, he added, given Russia's energy dominance and the risk of sparking volatility that could end up antagonizing partners like India.Alternatively, the US could target Russia's non-oil exports, particularly industrial metals and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/russia-gas-lng-eu-europe-energy-crisis-supplies-western-sanctions-2023-3">liquefied natural gas</a>, Peach added. With current sanctions falling short, Peach estimates GDP growth for the country to clock in at 3.0%-3.5% this year and year-end inflation at 5.5%-6.0%. However, he reaffirmed that sanctions are set to persist."Sanctions are unlikely to be rolled back over the next six years, especially if Russia mobilizes further and pursues a more aggressive war," Peach said, adding that even with a negotiated settlement, unfreezing Russia's foreign exchange reserves is probably "out of the question."

'Porous' sanctions haven't stopped Russia's war, but there's still more the West can do to squeeze its economy

Islamabad [Pakistan], February 11 (ANI): Tough times are ahead for Pakistan as Islamabad and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have failed to reach a staff-level agreement on a much-needed USD 1.1 billion bailout package aimed at preventing the country from going bankrupt. Analysts believe that the current economic crisis in Pakistan is a culmination of decades of faulty policies, reported The <keyword id="12543719" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="al-arabiya-post" source="Orion">Al Arabiya Post</keyword>. Pakistan is seeking a USD 7 billion bailout package from the IMF to prevent the collapse of the economy. While the visiting IMF delegation is asking for several reforms and compliance with its conditionality. The IMF mission, led by <keyword id="14447716" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="nathan-porter" source="Orion">Nathan Porter</keyword>, began talks on January 31 with the Pakistan government represented by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for the ninth review of the assistance package. <keyword id="2093498" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="pm-sharif" source="Orion">PM Sharif</keyword>, while addressing an apex committee meeting in <keyword id="42462" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="peshawar" source="Orion">Peshawar</keyword> following Monday's mosque bombing that killed over 100 people, said, "As I speak, the IMF delegation is in Islamabad and they are giving Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and his team a tough time." Notably, the resource allocation pattern in Pakistan from one budget to another puts a disproportionate focus on populism and militarization. This has put an additional burden on its exchequer leading to an unsustainable fiscal gap, reported Al Arabiya Post. Pakistan Prime Minister <keyword id="11977746" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="shehbaz-sharif" source="Orion">Shehbaz Sharif</keyword> said on February 3 that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was giving a "tough time" to his country over the restoration of stalled bailout package at a time of "unimaginable" crisis. Shehbaz Sharif admitted that the country has no option but to accept the IMF conditionality. "You all know we are running short of resources," Sharif said, adding the country was "facing an acute economic crisis". Moreover, the Pakistrupee, which has been in a steep slide since last week, hit a record low against the US dollar. The Pakistani rupee fell by 1.9 per cent to a record low of 276.58 per dollar in the inter-bank market the same day, according to the Central Bank, reported Al Arabiya Post. As the IMF bailout package is conditional on Pakistan implementing IMF suggested measures, its release would require Islamabad to take tough decisions. After the first round of technical talks between the IMF team and the government concluded on February 4, Pak Prime Minister observed that the lender was imposing conditions that were "beyond our wildest dreams". The discussions covered details of expenditure and revenue performance to identify the policy measures- both revenue and non-revenue- that would have to be taken over the next four months of the current fiscal year. The <keyword id="16465663" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="pak-prime-ministered" source="Orion">Pak Prime Ministered</keyword>, despite calling the IMF conditionality unimaginable acknowledged that the country had no choice but to implement the conditions. It has been seen that Islamabad has a policy obduracy and inertia that prohibit it to shun its populist policies and take reform measures on debt, fiscal, trade and structural fronts to address its economic woes, reported Al Arabiya Post. Analysts opine that the rocky road Pakistan is passing through is its own creation. In the first instance, a debt-dependent growth strategy is itself a sure recipe to fall into a debt trap, especially when industrial growth and diversification are limited and the export basket is primarily made up of primary goods. The debt dependence has also eroded the sovereignty of Pakistan and the country's economic and foreign policies are dictated by those who provide funds. Such dependence on external funding has impeded the structural transformation of the Pak economy and its indigenous growth impetus. Secondly, an artificially designed threat perception in Pakistan created by the vested interests in Islamabad's establishment has totally distorted the allocation of resources in the country giving undue emphasis on militarisation in the name of preparing for a threat that does not exist. The third most remarkable flaw in Pakistan's economic policy is a deliberate and foolhardy choice of missing the development opportunities generated by free trade, reported Al Arabiya Post. While Pakistan has a good location to leverage the presence of two giant economies in its neighbourhood, it has opted to isolate one of them and sided with the other at the cost of huge losses in trade creation. Not giving the Most Favoured Nation status to India and keeping the trade routes closed for direct trade is a self-defeating proposition. Islamabad could no more avoid taking hard decisions. The situation continues to deteriorate. With only around USD 3.10 billion in foreign exchange reserves, which can only cover 18 days' worth of imports, and a shortage of basic goods including food and medicine and ever-spiralling inflation, the choice to comply with the IMF conditionality would not be easy for Pakistan. (ANI)

Tough times ahead for Pakistan as talks with IMF fails over bailout package

New Delhi, Apr 14 () India Inc on Tuesday said the nationwide lockdown extension was necessary to avert a humanitarian crisis, but insisted on the need for a stimulus package to rebuild the economy hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the current lockdown will be extended till May 3, saying it is necessary to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus in the country. He said detailed guidelines on implementation of the new lockdown will be announced on Wednesday, and some relaxations may be allowed after April 20 in places where there are no hotspots. The catastrophic effect of the lockdown on the overall economy and livelihoods of lakhs of migrant workers triggered severe concerns following which a number of state chief ministers in their video conference with Modi on Saturday sought some sort of relaxation for a number of sectors. Late last month, the government announced a Rs 1.7 lakh crore package aimed at providing relief to those hit hard by the lockdown as well as an insurance cover for healthcare professionals handling virus infected people. "Estimates show that India may be losing close to Rs 40,000 crore daily due to the national lockdown with an estimated loss amounting to Rs 7-8 lakh crore during the past 21 days," said Ficci President Sangita Reddy. Further, it is also expected that close to 40 million jobs are at risk during the period April-Sept 2020. Hence, an urgent relief package is also critical, she said. She observed that the Prime Minister's directions on graded opening will help start some production activity to ensure that as soon as lockdown opens, there are no shortages faced. CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said the Covid-19 curve trajectory as of now required a fitting containment response and Prime Minister's decision for continuation of the lockdown is necessary to avert a larger humanitarian crisis. "Prime Minister has also provided a guidance on exit from the lockdown after 20 April which helps industry plan better. "The extension gives the government adequate preparation time to organise an orderly and safe restart of the economy as and when health conditions permit. Industry too can devise its strategies for commencing operations accordingly duringthis extension period," Banerjee said. IT industry body Nasscom said the extension announcement by the government will help India to build on the containment strategy of the last three weeks and strengthen our readiness to support the post lockdown phase. "We are also happy to note the relaxation of restrictions in green zones and hope the government will also announce the economic stimulus packages soon so that we can start focusing on rebuilding the economy. Saving lives and livelihood has to go hand in hand, " it added. Ratul Puri, Chairman Hindustan Power, said while lockdown and social distancing are the only two remedies for fighting the pandemic, there is a widespread impact on the businesses and the overall economy. "Extension of lockdown is a well thought out and much-needed plan in wake of the threats posed by Covid-19. Prime Minister's decision to monitor the effectiveness of implementation and then gradually offer relaxations post 20 April must be welcomed," said Naveen Jindal, Chairman, Jindal Steel &amp; Power Limited. The lockdown that came into effect on March 25 was to expire on midnight of April 14. RSN ANSANS

India Inc stands by lockdown extension call; seeks stimulus package to rebuild economy

<ul><li>CLSA believes that in the next 18 months, RBI might cut 75 basis points or 0.75% in interest rates. </li><li>It already cut its base lending rate by 1.35% this year. </li><li>CLSA expects base rate to come down to 4.4% by early FY21. </li></ul>The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will have to take up an extra responsibility—of pushing the slowing growth in the country. In the last few months, central government too had played its part by reducing corporate taxes and other moves. But the sluggish economy might need more impetus, and the government may not have the cash for it. Research firm CLSA believes thatRBI might end up cutting 75 basis points or 0.75% in interest rates in the next 18 months. This will help banks lend more at lower interest rates, which will help push the economy. The banking regulator has consistently cut the rate at which it lends to banks at every monetary policy since February this year. In all, it reduced its repo rate by 135 basis points to 5.15%. But as per CLSA, it will have to come down to 4.4% by early FY21. “Absent fiscal options, the onus for stimulus remains with monetary policy. The government’s fiscal position has already been stretched by the corporate tax cut, which will widen the fiscal deficit by around 0.7% of GDP,” the CLSA report said. To provide a fiscal boost, the government had reduced corporate tax rate to 21.1% from 34.2%. While this came as good news to many companies, the exchequer has to pay for it. It will also translate to tightened budgets of state governments, which will spend less as tax revenue falls. Government is one of the largest spenders across schemes and measures, and is a key driver of the economy. Added to that, private entities are also not keen on expanding as capital goods imports have almost remained steady. Apart from the existing banking crisis which is leaving them weary of lending, corporates too are wary of growth in times when consumption is shrinking. In fact, large FMCG companies are resorting to price cuts to reverse the slowing trend. “Consumption prospects are clouded by declining rural real wage growth. On RBI’s estimate of sticky 3.8% nominal wage growth for rural labourers over the last 12 months, the rising inflation measure for rural labourers means their real wage growth has turned negative,” the CLSA report said.

India is fast running out of cash to boost the economy-- putting the onus on RBI

Kolkata, May 13 () The industry bodies and leadingbusinessmen in West Bengal on Wednesday lauded the financialpackage and policy interventions announced by the Centre, torevive the country's economy, which has been severely hit dueto the coronavirus-triggered lockdown.The turnover-based definition of MSMEs has addressed along pending demand and extended the benefits to a largenumber of companies, city-based Indian Chamber of Commercesaid in a statement.Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced Rs 3lakh crore of collateral-free loans for small businesses, acut in the tax rate for non-salary payments and measures toprovide liquidity to non-banking companies to help them tideover the disruptions caused by the lockdown."The Rs 3 lakh crore government guaranteed loans tothe liquidity-starved MSMEs would go a long way in stabilisingand strengthening the sector," the industry body said.The power distribution companies, which are facingunprecedented cash flow problem, will be benefited from theemergency liquidity injection to the tune of Rs 90,000 crore,it said.City-based Merchants' Chamber of Commerce presidentVivek Gupta also hailed the Centre for new defenition ofMSMEs."Hope MSMEs will be fully able to extract benefitsfrom the implementing institutions," he said.Bandhan Bank MD and CEO, C S Ghosh, said, "Thespecial liquidity and partial credit guarantee schemes forNBFCs, HFCs and MFIs will ultimately benefit the endconsumers, many of who are in the rural and semi-urban areas."Praising the stimulus package, Village FinancialServices MD and CEO Kuldip Maity said the microfinanceinstitutions have been facing a tough time due to significantcash flow issues."The liquidity infusion measures will help combat therising stress in the sector and eventually, cater to the needyborrowers who are in search of emergency loans to resume theirbusiness operations," he said.Welcoming the package unveiled by the Centre,Engineering Export Promotion Council of India Chairman RaviSehgal said, "Infusion of liquidity through debt and evenequity into the MSMEs is a major step forward."Real estate developers on Wednesday said thegovernment's decision to extend the timeline of completion ofprojects by six months will provide much needed relief to theindustry but sought more measures to improve liquidity, reduceinput cost and boost housing demand.Credai West Bengal President Sushil Mohta appreciatedthe declaration of Covid-19 as "Force Majure" that will givethe "real estate sector some breather"."The sector is very important for restarting theeconomic activities. There is much more to be done. We areexpecting a reduction in interest rates," Mohta said. BSMBDC BDC

Bengal Inc lauds special package to revive economy

<ul class="summary-list"><li>India's stock market overtook Hong Kong's to become the fourth largest in the world.</li><li>The total value of shares in India equaled $4.33 trillion at Monday's close, over Hong Kong's $4.29 trillion.</li></ul>India's stock market is booming, and its value has ballooned so much that it overtook Hong Kong's on Monday, Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-23/india-overtakes-hong-kong-as-world-s-fourth-largest-stock-market?srnd=markets-vp">reported</a>.The total value of shares on Indian exchanges hit $4.33 trillion at Monday's close, compared to Hong Kong's $4.29 trillion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, making it the fourth largest stock market in the world. India <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-stock-market-catching-up-hong-kong-2023-12">passed the $4 trillion mark</a> on December 5, with half of that value built up in just the past four years.The stock market has been galvanized by a growing number of retail investors and strong corporate earnings.Meanwhile, the country's population overtook China's last year, and it has been <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-business-market-entry-barriers-tariffs-supply-chain-china-2023-6">gearing itself up</a> for boom-time economic growth and a flood of foreign investment.Overseas funds poured over $21 billion into Indian stocks last year, and the S&amp;P BSE Sensex, a benchmark index tracking Indian stocks, notched an eighth consecutive year of gains.What has also helped close the gap between the two stock markets is a slumping Chinese economy and property crash, which have prompted foreign investors to shift money elsewhere.Together, mainland Chinese and Hong Kong equities have <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/china-markets-mainland-hong-kong-stocks-losses-economy-woes-2024-1">lost a total of $6.3 trillion in market value since 2021</a>. The <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/.HSI">Hang Seng Index</a>, a benchmark index for Hong Kong stocks, has tanked around 30% in the past year, though it rose slightly on Tuesday on reports that Chinese policymakers are considering a $278 billion stimulus package.

You Searched For "india economy package" and got 8 results

Simply Put: From Dal to Dolce—India is loving its luxury life

Ira Alok Puranik

FPIs withdraw nearly Rs 20,000 crore from equities in the last 5 trading sessions, make a beeline for China and US

BI India Bureau

'Porous' sanctions haven't stopped Russia's war, but there's still more the West can do to squeeze its economy

Yuheng Zhan

Tough times ahead for Pakistan as talks with IMF fails over bailout package

ANI

India Inc stands by lockdown extension call; seeks stimulus package to rebuild economy

PTI

India is fast running out of cash to boost the economy-- putting the onus on RBI

Katya Naidu

Bengal Inc lauds special package to revive economy

PTI

India's stock market overtakes Hong Kong's as the 4th largest in the world

Aruni Soni

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