In a first such move, Cloud software major Zoho is likely to mark its presence in eastern Uttar Pradesh this year, the company’s Co-founder and CEO Sridhar Vembu said on Monday.

The Chennai-based SAAS company last year surpassed 100 million users across over 55 business applications.

“We are going to Eastern UP this year, our first major rural expedition North. I wish we could have a meaningful presence everywhere and maybe over the next 20 years we will get there. That is my dream,” Vembu said in a post on social media platform X.com.

Noting that he loves the country and his heritage Vembu said that India “is vast talent waiting for opportunity everywhere in Bharat”.

“I love our nation — while I am proud of my Tamil heritage, I am equally fond of every one of our states and our regions and the vast cultural, spiritual, and civilisational heritage they represent”.

He said that Zoho “wants to create world-class R&D capability wherever we go and there is a speed limit to how fast you can scale up R&D teams and it is not at all like scaling up manufacturing plants”.

He informed that the company is doing well in Kerala’s Kottarakara. The industrial park and R&D centre, majorly focussed on AI and robotics, was launched in February. The centre is expected to generate around 1,000 jobs in Kerala.

According to Vembu, high-end technology companies in rural towns can be crucial to help “stop the exodus of youngsters seeking overseas jobs”.

Zoho began its rural office in Tamil Nadu’s Tenkasi in 2011. It started with hardly 10 employees, and now reportedly has around 900 professionals working in a non-urban area.  AGENCIES

Ambuja Cements, part of the diversified Adani Portfolio, on Saturday announced to invest Rs 1,600 crore to set up a 6 MTPA cement grinding unit in Bihar.

Aimed at boosting infrastructure, the Warisaliganj Cement Grinding Unit is likely to contribute approximately Rs 250 crore per year to the state’s fiscal revenue and creating 250 direct and 1,000 indirect jobs for the state.

“This investment by the Adani Group is a testament to Bihar’s growth potential and our commitment to fostering sustainable development for the people of the state,” said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

The project will be implemented in three phases, with the first phase of 2.4 MTPA at an investment of Rs 1,100 crore targeted to be commissioned by December 2025.

“This investment aligns with the state government’s development programmes and our growth plans. The cement industry is witnessing healthy volumes due to the government’s infrastructure thrust, and Ambuja Cements is well-positioned to support sustainable infrastructure development in the country,” said Pranav Adani, Managing Director (Agro, Oil & Gas) and Director, Adani Enterprises Limited.

“We look forward to collaborating with the state government, authorities, and local communities on this and future projects,” Pranav Adani added.

Adequate provisioning of land for future expansion is in place which will be commissioned in due course at much lower capex, said the company.

The project will meet the growing infrastructure needs of Bihar, aligning with priorities outlined in the recent Union Budget.

The company’s first venture in Bihar marks the largest investment in the state by a cement industry player. AGENCIES

The foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) pumped in Rs 54,727 core in equity and debt in July as India’s strong growth outlook for FY 2025.

An economic survey that was presented before the Union Budget this year projected India’s growth rate to be at 6.5 to 7 per cent for 2024-25.

Market experts, citing the data from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL), said that FPIs have invested Rs 32,364 crore in equity and Rs 22,363 crore in debt in July.

For the full year-to-date, FPI investment in equity stands at Rs 35,565 crore in the country.

Experts cite three key reasons behind massive inflow: strong economic outlook, rate cut and government fiscal discipline.

Experts said: “FII flows into India should increase due to several factors. Firstly, India’s economy is performing better than many global peers, making it an attractive destination for investors. Secondly, with the risk-free rate expected to come down in the USA, investors will likely seek better returns elsewhere, including India. Thirdly, the government’s robust fiscal discipline could lead to a rating upgrade for India, enhancing its investment appeal.”

FPIs activities are influenced by various factors like the performance of the global equity markets, the movement of dollar index, incremental geopolitical events, and opportunities in the Indian markets considering slightly elevated valuation levels.

Another expert said: “This resurgence can be attributed to a stable political environment, ongoing economic reforms, and appealing market valuations within India.” AGENCIES

India has recorded a 3 per cent increase in the area sown under Kharif crops to 904.60 lakh hectares so far this year, compared to 879.22 lakh hectares in the same period last year, according to the latest data compiled by Ministry of Agriculture.

The area under key crops including paddy, pulses, oilseeds, millets, and sugarcane has gone up this year due to better monsoon rains which have facilitated the sowing in unirrigated areas of the country.

The agriculture sector is expected to get a further boost as Finance Minister Niramala Sitharaman has announced an outlay of Rs 1.52 lakh crore in Budget 2024-25 to increase production and resilience in the agriculture and allied sectors.

The measures unveiled to enhance productivity and resilience in the agriculture sector include digital public infrastructure, ‘atmanirbharta’ for oil seeds and large-scale clusters for vegetable production.

Sitharaman said that a strategy is being put in place to achieve atmanirbharta for oil seeds such as mustard, groundnut, sesame, soybean, and sunflower. The government will strengthen their production, storage and marketing.

The Finance Minister also said that large-scale clusters for vegetable production will be developed closer to major consumption centres. The government will promote farmer-producer organisations, cooperatives and start-ups for vegetable supply chains including for collection, storage, and marketing of the products.

The Government has also announced higher Minimum Support Prices a month ago for all major crops, delivering on the promise of at least a 50 per cent margin over costs. AGENCIES

Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Saturday said that the 5th meeting of the joint committee for the review of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) was held at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta.

“It marks a significant milestone in enhancing economic cooperation between ASEAN and India,” the ministry said.

It said that the Indian delegation also held bilateral meetings with counterparts from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam on the sidelines of 5th AITIGA meeting to develop a common understanding of the issues being discussed in the AITIGA review.

“Separate meetings were also held with ASEAN Secretary General Dr. Kao Kim Hourn as well as ASEAN Deputy Secretary General Satvinder Singh to discuss the possibilities in enhancing economic cooperation between India and ASEAN through a review of AITIGA,” the ministry added.

It said that the AITIGA Joint Committee had initiated discussions for review of AITIGA in May 2023 and after finalising its Terms of Reference and Negotiating Structure, AITIGA JC and its Sub-Committees started negotiations in February 2024.

“The first two rounds of negotiations were held in February 2024 in New Delhi and in May 2024 in Putrajaya, Malaysia,” the ministry said.

During the 3rd round of negotiations in Jakarta, Indonesia, all eight Sub-Committees dealing with ‘National Treatment and Market Access’, ‘Rules of Origin’, ‘Standards, Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment Procedures’, ‘Sanitary and Phytosanitary’, ‘Legal and Institutional Issues’, ‘Customs Procedures and Trade Facilitation’, ‘Trade Remedies’ and ‘Economic and Technical Cooperation’ met alongside 5th AITIGA JC and held substantive discussions making significant progress during this round, the ministry said.

It added that all the Sub-Committees reported the outcomes of their discussions to the 5th AITIGA JC which provided further guidance to steer their future work.

“ASEAN is an important trade partner of India with about 11 per cent share in India’s global trade. The review of AITIGA, signed in 2009, will help create further opportunities for businesses on both sides to enhance the level of India-ASEAN trade. The next meeting of the AITIGA Joint Committee will be held in India from 19-22 November 2024,” the ministry said.

The meeting was held between July 29 to August 1 which was co-chaired by Rajesh Agrawal, Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce, India and Mastura Ahmad Mustafa, Deputy Secretary General (Trade), Ministry of Investment, Trade & Industry, Malaysia.

“Delegates from all 10 ASEAN Countries and India participated in the meeting,” the ministry said. AGENCIES

The Union government empowered more than 10,000 technology startups through various schemes in the last five years, said Jitin Prasada, Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology, in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.

The Centre disbursed a total funding of Rs 580 crore to startups through incubators including over 3,600 tech startups supported by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) with a total disbursed funding of Rs 212 crore.

Under the Startup India initiative, “the government undertook flagship schemes such as Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS), Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) and Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups (CGSS)”, Prasada said.

These schemes helped the startups to raise investments from angel investors or venture capitalists or seek loans.

Prasada said with the help of these schemes there are over 1.43 lakh startups operating in India that are recognised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

Initiatives taken by MeitY include Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs (TIDE 2.0), Startup Accelerator of MeitY for Product Innovation, Development, and Growth (SAMRIDH), Next Generation Incubation Scheme (NGIS), Domain specific Centres of Excellence (CoEs), and Theme-based Incubation Centre, Prasada said.

TIDE 2.0 was initiated by MeitY in 2019 with an outlay of Rs 264.62 crore over a period of five years, to extend financial and technical support to institutes of higher learning and premier R&D organisations.

SAMRIDH provides support to selected accelerators for extending accelerator services to startups along with one-to-one matching funding support of up to Rs 40 lakh.

The NGIS Scheme has solution-oriented architecture and aims to handhold 300 tech startups in Tier-2/3 cities over a period of three years with a total budget outlay of Rs 95.03 crore.

MeitY has also envisaged and operationalised 42 CoEs that will aid in making India an innovation hub in emerging technologies.

Entrepreneur parks have also been established through STPI New Delhi, Makers Village in Cochin Kerala, IIIT-Patna and the government of Bihar on medical electronics and Fabless chip design incubation centre at IIT-Hyderabad to boost innovation-led electronic system and design manufacturing. AGENCIES

India ranked fifth in cross-border real estate investments in the Asia-Pacific region, attracting 9 per cent of the total volume of investment within the region in the first half this year, a report showed on Saturday.

According to a Knight Frank report, the total cross-border investments in APAC touched $11.5 billion, with India receiving $3 billion from global private equity investors.

Cross-border investments in Asia-Pacific are projected to rise by more than 33 per cent in H2 2024.

The expected turnaround of global economies in the second half of the year is likely to encourage more foreign private equity players to take advantage of the country’s robust domestic macros, according to the report.

“This influx of investment would boost the performance of Indian real estate and maintain the growth of industry assets,” said Shishir Baijal, Chairman and Managing Director, Knight Frank India.

The office sector accounted for 36 per cent of the total global capital allocation, reflecting the strong appeal of commercial real estate assets.

The industrial sector followed closely with 30 per cent of the investment share, while the residential sector received 15 per cent and retail accounted for 10 per cent, as per the report.

According to the report, cross-border capital flows are significantly shaping the commercial real estate landscape in APAC, driving the search for new investment opportunities. AGENCIES

The Portuguese government announced that it has greenlit a series of significant investments by Redes Energetics Nacionais (REN) aimed at extending and developing the National Transmission Network (RNT).

The approval, announced in a statement by Environment and Energy Minister Maria da Graca Carvalho on Friday, underscores the country’s commitment to enhancing its energy infrastructure and promoting sustainability, Xinhua news agency reported.

The specific investment plan by REN includes the creation of grid connection capacity in the high-demand area of Sines and reinforcements to integrate a photovoltaic plant into the grid.

Additionally, the development of the RNT in the northeast of the country will focus on integrating renewable energy sources and supplying new very high-voltage grid infrastructure.

The minister emphasised the strategic importance of these investments, noting that they serve as a “sign of encouragement” to both domestic and international companies looking to invest in Portugal.

“We want to encourage companies, both domestic and foreign, to invest in our country and contribute to building a more sustainable future,” she stated.

The move aligns with Portugal’s broader energy strategy to foster renewable energy integration and infrastructure development, positioning the country as a leader in sustainable energy solutions in Europe. AGENCIES

In a fillip to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to make India a global semiconductor manufacturing hub, Tata Electronics on Saturday held the ground-breaking ceremony of its chip assembly and testing unit at Jagiroad in Morigaon district, Assam.

The groundbreaking ceremony was held in the presence of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and N. Chandrasekaran, Tata Sons’ Chairman.

Touted as Northeast India’s largest investment project, the Rs 27,000 crore Tata semiconductor plant is likely to generate over 27,000 direct and indirect jobs in the region.

The first phase of the plant is set to be operational by mid-2025.

In March this year, PM Modi virtually laid the foundation stone of a state-of-the-art semiconductor fab in Dholera, Gujarat and a Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) facility in Jagiroad.

The Rs 91,000 crore chip fabrication plant at Dholera will generate over 20,000 skilled jobs in the region.

The Centre in February approved three semiconductor plants – two in Gujarat and one in Assam – for about Rs 1.26 lakh crore. AGENCIES

Indian equity indices witnessed a loss in the last week due to fear of recession in the global market.

On Friday, Sensex ended at 80,981, down 855 points or 1.08 per cent and Nifty closed at 24,717, down 293 points or 1.17 per cent. With this frontline indices snapped an eight-week rally.

On a weekly basis, Sensex and Nifty both posted losses of 0.43 per cent and 0.37 per cent respectively. This is the first time in the last eight weeks that both benchmarks posted a loss.

On a weekly basis, Eicher Motors (5.7 per cent), LTIMindtree (4.8 per cent), Grasim Industries (4.8 per cent), Mahindra & Mahindra (4.8 per cent), Wipro (4.3 per cent) and Hero MotoCorp (3.7 per cent) were the top losers in the Nifty. NTPC (5.9 per cent), BPCL (5.6 per cent), Asian Paints (5.3 per cent), Divis Laboratories (4.2 per cent), Power Grid Corporation (4.1 per cent) were the top gainers.

Market experts said: “The domestic market saw a broad-based sell-off, indicating that it may have reached an exhaustion point due to a lack of new triggers for further upward movement. Q1FY25 earnings have been lacklustre so far, while broader market valuations remain significantly high.”

Among the sectoral indices, Nifty Realty (3.76 per cent), Nifty IT (3.04 per cent), Nifty Auto (2.04 per cent), Nifty FMCG (1.57 per cent) and Nifty (1.16 per cent) were the biggest losers. On the other hand, Nifty Energy (2.53 per cent), Nifty Pharma (1.39 per cent) and Nifty Media (1.19 per cent) were the top gainers in the last week.

“Additionally, weak earnings from the US IT sector, a potential rise in unemployment, the possibility of further rate hikes by the BOJ, and a slowdown in China’s growth are all dampening market sentiment,” they said. AGENCIES