Around the market.

Delay in India-UK Free Trade Agreement

Negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and Britain have been going on from time to time but no time frame has been fixed. Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said that there are several issues which are quite complex and have economic importance for both the countries. All the issues are being carefully examined in a phased manner and it is expected to be completed soon. However, the government is not working on any fixed time frame. However, an internal deadline has been set and phased discussions are underway. Thirteen rounds of talks on the issue have been completed so far and the next round of talks is expected soon between India and Britain's chief negotiators to resolve differences on issues such as movement of vehicles, medical equipment and professionals. British officials may arrive in New Delhi soon for talks. The contract, which started in January last year, was supposed to be completed by Diwali (October 24, 2022) but could not be completed due to several adverse conditions.

Withdraw money from the pension fund only when required

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), which is the regulator of the National Pension System (NPS), has issued a letter on October 27 proposing to provide lump sum i.e. systematic lump-sum withdrawal facility to members. When a member retires or turns 60, he can withdraw up to 60 percent of the total amount deposited in NPS. There is no tax on this. The remaining 40 percent will be used to purchase one or more plans (annual). Currently, members can withdraw the amount at once or defer it for a longer time. By doing so, they are allowed to withdraw once every year. But now the authority has proposed to withdraw a lump sum in some parts by SLW. Now members can withdraw the amount every month, every three months, every six months or once a year till the age of 75 years. So now after retirement a person can withdraw the amount as per his requirement. Withdrawal of funds will now be easier than ever.

Petrochemical Capacity Expansion Plan

Oil and gas producer Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has invested Rs. 1 lakh crore is planned to be invested. In these plants, the crude oil will be directly converted into high quality chemical products. Companies like ONGC extract crude oil from subsea and underground reservoirs, which is the primary source of energy. It is converted into petrol, diesel and aviation fuel (ATF) in oil refineries. As the world looks to move away from fossil fuels, oil companies are looking for new ways to use crude oil. Petrochemicals are chemical products derived from crude oil and are used to make detergents, fibers (polyester, nylon, acrylic, etc.), polyethylene and plastics. ONGC is also considering setting up separate oil-to-chemicals (O2C) projects.

Google plans to invest millions of dollars

Google is now gearing up to strengthen its foothold in the world of AI as well. According to recent news, Google is working on plans to invest millions of dollars in chatbot startup Character.AI. The startup is looking to raise capital to train the model and meet user demand. In this regard, a report said that Google may structure this investment in the form of convertible notes. Let us tell you that Character.AI already uses Google's cloud services and tensor processing units to train the model with Google. If Google makes a new investment in it now, it will deepen the existing partnership between the two.

An investment of $1 billion is required to promote innovation

Infosys founder and chairman emeritus NR Narayana Murthy says India should invest $1 billion annually and $20 billion over 20 years to train teachers at primary and secondary levels to improve the quality of research and education. He said, India should aspire to move towards stage 4 (innovation) in every sector that affects the lives of our poorest citizens in remote parts of the country. The solution to this aspiration is to focus on improving the quality of research and teaching in our institutions of higher learning to generate good ideas, and on the rapid and high-quality implementation of those ideas. To understand the real world around us is to focus on Socratic questioning and related theory, nature needs to improve our primary quality.

India AI program will be launched soon

Stating that the government is gearing up to launch the India AI programme, government sources said the India AI program will be well-funded, well-planned and well-managed. It will focus on real-life based startup ecosystems in agriculture, security and governance. According to industry sources, this program may start on December 11. India will host a three-day global conference on AI in New Delhi from December 12. Clarifies the need to adapt AI systems for human purposes and encourages broader exploration of AI's full potential.

1.5 billion dollars will be invested in local stocks

The latest reshuffle by global index provider MSCI is likely to attract $1.5 billion in local equity investments and strengthen India's position in the MSCI Emerging Markets (EM) index. MSCI recently announced changes to its global benchmark index. MSCI has included 9 Indian companies in its Global Standard Index. These include IndusInd Bank, Suzlon Energy, Paytm, Macrotech Developers, Persistent Systems, APL Apollo Tubes, Polycab India, Tata Motors 'A' and Tata Communications. Shares of companies like Suzlon, Paytm and Tata Motors jumped after MSCI's announcement.

No stocks are excluded from the 'India Pool' for the MSCI Global Index. This adjustment in the index will be applicable from November 30. After this rebalancing, the number of Indian stocks will increase to 131 and the weightage will be around 16.3 per cent, from 15.9 per cent currently, sources said. This move will increase investment by foreign funds. Foreign portfolio investors, who use MSCI indices to allocate their passive funds, have this year invested Rs. 1,217.05 billion worth of Indian equity purchases.