Samsung on Thursday said consumers can pre-reserve its next Galaxy Z series smartphones and ecosystem products to become eligible for early access and special offers in India.

Customers can pre-reserve the next Galaxy Z series smartphones by paying a token amount of Rs 2,000, the company said in a statement.

“Those who pre-reserve the next Galaxy Z series smartphones will get benefits worth up to Rs 7,000 on purchase of these products,” said Samsung.

Additionally, customers can pre-reserve Samsung’s next Galaxy ecosystem products with a token amount of Rs 1,999 and avail benefits worth up to Rs 6,499 on purchase of these products.

The South Korean giant is set to launch the next generation of Galaxy Z series smartphones and ecosystem devices at its global event on July 10.

“The next frontier of Galaxy AI is coming. Prepare to discover the power of Galaxy AI, now infused into the latest Galaxy Z series and the entire Galaxy ecosystem,” said the company.

The market watchers expect Samsung to unveil its new Galaxy Z Fold series and Galaxy Z Flip 6 with built-in generative AI.

Samsung is also expected to showcase its first Galaxy Ring smart device and Galaxy Watch 7 series.

AGENCIES

Residential sales across top seven cities in India tamed down marginally in the second quarter this year, amid increasing property prices and a high base record of the previous quarter. Housing sales witnessed a quarterly drop of 8 per cent and stood at nearly 1,20,340 units in Q2 2024 across the top seven cities — against about 1,30,170 units sold in Q1 this year.

However, on a yearly basis, there has been a 5 per cent rise in residential sales, according to latest Anarock Research data.

The two western cities – Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Pune – accounted for over 52 per cent of the total sales in the top 7 cities with over 62,685 units sold altogether in these cities in Q2 2024.

NCR is the only city to see a quarterly rise (of 6 per cent) in housing sales in the quarter against Q1 2024.

New launches across the top seven cities continued to break previous records with a 6 per cent rise — from about 1,10,870 units in Q1 to 1,17,170 units in Q2.

MMR and Pune saw the maximum new supply, accounting for 54 per cent of the total new launches, according to the report.

Individually, the two cities saw 31 per cent and 1 per cent quarterly increases in their new supply, respectively.

Notably, Delhi-NCR witnessed a 134 per cent jump (on-quarter) in new supply in Q2 against Q1.

“The quarterly decline seen in housing sales is essentially because of the all-time high base considered in the previous quarter, when more than 1.30 lakh units were sold,” said Anuj Puri, Chairman, Anarock Group.

Most importantly, this drop is also due to the significant hike in property prices over the last one year, which in turn has prompted many investors to take a breather, he added.

Delhi-NCR witnessed the highest quarterly residential price jump of 10 per cent in Q2 while Hyderabad saw the highest yearly jump of 38 per cent in average residential prices.

“However, if prices are kept in check henceforth, housing sales may not be majorly impacted in the upcoming quarters,” said Puri.

AGENCIES

Indian frontline indices again touched an all-time high on Thursday as strong buying was seen in IT stocks. Sensex and Nifty made an all-time high of 79,240 and 24,036 respectively. This is the first time that nifty crossed the 24,000 mark and Sensex exceeded the 79,000 level.

At 12:55 p.m., Sensex was up 418 points or 0.53 per cent at 79,092, and Nifty was up 135 points or 0.53 per cent at 24,004.

Among the sectors, buying is seen in IT, oil and gas, and FMCG while, PSU bank, auto, pharma, and media are top laggards.

According to the experts, “The market will remain bullish in the near-term despite the valuation concerns, and the ongoing momentum has the potential to take the Sensex to 80000 levels.”

“A healthy trend in the market is that now the up move is being led by fundamentally strong largecaps in sectors like banking and telecom,” they added.

In Sensex pack, Ultratech (NS:ULTC) cement, Wipro (NS:WIPR), JSW steel, Infosys (NS:INFY), Tech Mahindra (NS:TEML), NTPC (NS:NTPC), TCS (NS:TCS), and Kotak Mahindra (NS:KTKM) are top gainers. However, L&T, Maruti Suzuki (NS:MRTI), Sun Pharma (NS:SUN), IndusInd Bank (NS:INBK), and Bajaj Finance (NS:BJFN) are top losers.

AGENCIES

Despite stiff competition from various states, including Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, Maharashtra has retained its top position in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows in the country, according to the State Economic Survey 2023-24. The Economic Survey was presented by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in the Assembly on Thursday.

Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had recently said that as per the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade report during 2023-24, the FDI equity inflow in Maharashtra was Rs 1,25,101 crore as compared to Rs 1,18,422 crore in 2022-23.

Since the adoption of the liberalisation policy in August 1991 up to December 2023 all 22,937 industrial projects with an investment of Rs 18,38,445 crore were approved in the state.

The total number of MSMEs registered on the Udyam registration portal up to January 9, 2024, was 33.07 lakh (32.05 lakh micro, 0.91 lakh small and 0.11 lakh medium) with 123.39 lakh total employment.

During 2022-23, exports from Maharashtra contributed 16 per cent to the total exports from India.

As of March 2024, the state has the highest share (19 per cent) in startups recognised by the Union government at the national level.

AGENCIES

Maharashtra economy is set to grow at 7.6 per cent during 2023-24 on the lines of the national economy which is also likely to grow at 7.6 per cent as per the Economic Survey 2023-24 presented by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in the Assembly on Thursday. Maharashtra continues to rank sixth after Telangana, Karnataka, Haryana, Tamil Nadu (NS:TNNP) and Gujarat when it comes to state’s Per Capita Income which is estimated at Rs 2,77,603 during 2023-24 as against Rs 2,52,389 during 2022-23.

As per the advance estimates, the real Gross State Value Added (GSVA) of agriculture and allied activities is expected to grow at 1.9 per cent. The real GSVA of the crops sector is expected to grow by (-)1.5 per cent, Livestock by 6.1 per cent, the Forestry & Logging sector by 9.2 per cent and the Fishing & Aquaculture sector by 2.9 per cent.

The Industry sector is expected to grow at 7.6 per cent and the Services sector is likely to grow at 8.8 per cent. The real GSVA of the manufacturing sector is estimated to grow by 7.5 per cent while the real GSVA of the construction sector is expected to grow by 6.2 per cent. As a result, the real GSVA of the industry sector is likely to grow by 7.6 per cent.

As per the advance estimates of 2023-24, nominal Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) is expected to grow at 10.9 per cent over 2022-23 and is estimated to be Rs 40.44 lakh crore. As per the second advance estimates for 2023-24, the nominal GDP is expected to be Rs 293.90 lakh crore and is likely to increase by 9.1 per cent over 2022-23.

As per the advance estimates of 2023-24, real Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) is expected to grow at 7.6 per cent over 2022-23 and is estimated to be Rs 24.11 lakh crore. As per the second advance estimates for 2023-24, the nominal GDP is expected to be Rs 172.90 lakh crore and is likely to increase by 7.6 per cent over 2022-23.

The average share of the state’s nominal GSDP in All-India nominal GDP (the base year 2011-12) from 2011-12 to 2022-23 is the highest (13.9 per cent), followed by that of Tamil Nadu (8.7 per cent).

During the Kharif season of 2023-24, sowing was completed in 155.64 lakh ha area. The production of cereals, pulses, oilseeds and sugarcane is expected to decrease by 23 per cent, 10 per cent, 2 per cent and 17 per cent respectively while production of cotton is expected to increase by three per cent over the previous year.

During the rabi season of 2023-24, sowing was completed on 58.60 lakh ha. The production of cereals & pulses is expected to decrease by five per cent & four per cent respectively while production of oilseeds is expected to increase by 13 per cent over the previous year.

During 2022-23, the area under horticulture crops is expected to be 22.40 lakh ha and production is expected to be 327.80 lakh MT. The state ranks second in India in organic farm production (27 per cent share) after Madhya Pradesh.

Irrigation potential created up to June 2022 by major, medium and minor irrigation (State sector) projects was 55.60 lakh ha. During 2022-23, the actual irrigated area was 42.33 lakh ha (76.1 per cent).

During 2023-24, crop loans of Rs 60,195 crore and agricultural term loans of Rs 93,926 crore were disbursed through Scheduled Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks and District Central Co-operative Banks

Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme, since inception up to March 2024, an amount of Rs 29,630.24 crore has been deposited in bank accounts of 115.42 lakh small and marginal farmer-beneficiaries in the state.

AGENCIES

 Maharashtra’s public debt is estimated at Rs 7,11,278 crore in 2023-24 against Rs 6,29,235 crore in 2022-23, a rise of 13 per cent.

As per the Economic Survey 2023-24 presented in the Maharashtra Assembly on Thursday by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, though the public debt has increased to 17.6 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) against 16.5 per cent, it is well within the prescribed limits of 25 per cent of GSDP as per the Medium Term Fiscal Policy. The public debt refers to the accumulated outstanding loans and other liabilities of the state.

Further, the state’s outgo towards interest payment increased to Rs 48,578 crore against Rs 41,689 crore during the same period, a rise of 16.52 per cent.

The state’s revenue receipts are estimated at Rs 4,86,116 crore against Rs 4,05,678 crore. Of the 4,86,116 crore, the state’s tax revenue is estimated at Rs 3,96,052 crore comprising Rs 3,26,398 crore from its taxes and Rs 69,654 crore due to share in central states.

The non-tax revenue, including central grants, is estimated at Rs 90,064 crore. Actual revenue receipts (RE) during 2023-24 up to February were Rs 3,73,924 crore (76.9 per cent of RE)

The state’s revenue expenditure is estimated at Rs 5,05,647 crore against Rs 4,07,614 crore. Actual revenue expenditure during 2023-24 up to February was Rs 3,35,761 crore (66.4 per cent of RE). The revenue deficit is likely to be Rs 19,532 crore against Rs 1,936 crore.

As per 2023-24 (RE), the share of capital receipts in total receipts is 25.9 per cent and the share of capital expenditure in total expenditure is 23.0 per cent.

The percentage of fiscal deficit to GSDP is 2.8 per cent, revenue deficit to GSDP is 0.5 per cent.

The total anticipated expenditure for annual schemes 2023-24 is Rs 2,31,651 crore, of which Rs 20,188 crore is on the district annual schemes.

 AGENCIES

The Indian micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector employs about 1.2 crore people, and by 2025, the industry is expected to generate over two lakhs new jobs, a report showed on Thursday.The new job opportunities will span across the services sectors and manufacturing sectors, both across urban and rural India, according to the report by LB Services, a global technology and digital talent solutions provider.

Notably, many emerging industries under the MSME umbrella like e-commerce, logistics, and supply-chain are also expected to witness a surge in new employment.

“Home to 633.9 lakh enterprises, India has the strongest growing cohort of micro, small and medium enterprises, generating mass-scale employment across India, especially in tier 2 and 3 regions,” said Sachin Alug, CEO, NLB Services.

Today, small businesses which comprise 96 per cent of industrial units are the second largest employment generator in the country.

Overall the MSME ecosystem contributes to over 33 per cent of the GDP, driving 62 per cent of the employment on the domestic front.

“However, the average contribution of MSMEs in employment generation across other emerging economies stands at 77 per cent, indicating untapped potential that can be explored in India,” Alug added.

Driven by the surge in digitisation and the post-pandemic shift in the workforce, MSMEs will witness an increased demand for roles in construction, manufacturing, transportation, and supply-chain, etc.

The majority of the new roles will emerge across states like Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu (NS:TNNP), and Telangana, said the report.

Women-led enterprises stand at 20.44 per cent of micro-businesses, 5.26 per cent of small businesses, and 2.77 per cent of medium businesses.

Compared to male-owned MSMEs, women-led MSMEs have registered better growth in income, said the report.

“Over the next five years, we expect another 20-25 per cent surge in women-led MSMEs, which will further complement job creation,” it added.

AGENCIES

India is set to see significant employment growth in the first half of the current fiscal year (FY25) across key industries, led by healthcare, pharma, automotive, manufacturing, engineering and infrastructure sectors, a report showed on Thursday.

The country’s employment market is likely to see an expansion of more than six per cent in the first six months of the current fiscal for 23 industries, according to the report by TeamLease Services, a leading staffing company.

In terms of workforce size growth, the leading industries are construction and real estate, travel and hospitality, electric vehicles (EV) and EV infrastructure.

“With India forecasted to be the fastest-growing G20 economy in 2024, coupled with strong investment demand and easing inflation, the job market remains resilient in the face of global headwinds,” said Kartik Narayan, CEO of TeamLease Staffing.

Nearly two out of five organisations are prioritising skills development, equipping their workforce for the technological advancements that lie ahead, he added.

Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad are the top cities where employment opportunities are thriving.

Generative AI is projected to significantly impact 35 per cent of talent acquisition strategies, reflecting shifts in hiring practices due to technological advancements, according to the report.

The findings indicated a positive hiring sentiment in the Indian employment market, with 56 per cent of surveyed employers stating that their workforce will likely grow in the coming months.

Around 23 per cent anticipate maintaining their current workforce levels.

In terms of in-demand skills, employers are actively seeking candidates with strong communication skills, attention to detail, technical proficiency, and organisational abilities.

AGENCIES

Driven by steep data usage and digital adoption, India is likely to see a five times rise in data centre capacity expansion in years to come, a new report said on Thursday.

The country requires an additional 1.7-3.6 GW (gigawatt) data centre capacity over and above the planned development of 2.32 GW (colocation) capacity.

It is estimated that India will be adding 464 MW of new colocation data centre capacity each year until 2028, according to the report by Cushman and Wakefield.

India’s colocation data centre capacity stood at 977 MW across the top seven cities in the second half of 2023.

About 258 MW of Colo capacity came in 2023 alone.

“This is a formidable number and surpassed the capacity addition in 2022 which stood at 126 MW, indicating a 105 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth,” the report mentioned.

“This exponential growth is driven by several factors, including increased data consumption due to widespread digital adoption and the use of data-intensive technologies.

An average Indian cell phone user consumes over 19 GB of data per month — the highest in the world.

The country is experiencing an exponential rise in adoption of internet services, smartphones, social media, and OTT channels.

Consequently, the demand for data centres is of high interest to transform India’s digital infrastructure.

“Both colocation data centres and cloud firm-owned data centres are being built at growing speeds over the last few years,” the findings showed.

While adding an average of 464 MW of Colo capacity each year until 2028 may seem like good delivery speed, India shall keep building more to capitalise on its digital transformation story, it added.

Over the next five years, India is likely to see fastest growth in penetration of smartphones, internet, OTT subscriptions, and social media usage.

AGENCIES

 The Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) has tightened the noose against illegal colony developers in Gurugram, but the business of non-regularised plotted colonies on agricultural land continues to flourish in the city.

Despite repeated warnings from the Department, many buyers continue to invest their money in these illegal colonies without realising that all their savings may go down the drain.

At the time of selling plots, the dealers and their agents lure the buyers with various facilities such as spacious areas, well-constructed roads, sewerage facilities and power connections.

Once the plots are sold, the dealers vanish leaving people at the mercy of the agents.

In a fresh demolition drive, the Enforcement wing of the Department has demolished five illegal colonies being developed on 13.5 acres of land in Ghamroj, Bhondsi and Sehajawas of Sohna block.

DTCP (Enforcement), Manish Yadav said: “Without concerned authority’s approval, no new colony will be allowed to develop. FIR will be lodged against the land owner and land mafia. A letter has been written to the Tehsildar concerned that he should not register agricultural land in pieces in these colonies which are developing illegally. The cost of demolition will also be recovered from the land owners.”

“We also appealed to people to not invest in these illegal colonies. These illegal colonies come under section 7A of the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act. It is mandatory to take NOC from the Town and Country Planning Department before any activity,” he said.

 AGENCIES