Committee Finds PLI Payments Not Released On Time; NSO Finds 2 Million Small Businesses Shut By 2023

Govt Committee Notes Continued Delays In Payments For PLI Schemes

A high-level government committee has raised concern over continued delays in payment to companies in the production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes, the Business Standard reported.

The committee has called for corrective steps across departments for smooth implementation of the scheme. The government had allocated Rs 1.97 trillion for 14 PLI schemes three years ago in sectors as diverse as mobiles, drones, solar, telecom, textile, and automobiles. As of December 2023, investment worth Rs 1.06 trillion has been made and nearly 500,000 jobs created, according to government data. The committee is chaired by the Cabinet secretary with representations from the DPIIT, NITI Aayog, the Department of Economic Affairs, and the Department of Financial Services. Read more

Almost 2 Million Small Businesses Sank Between 2015 And 2023, Says Report 

Unincorporated enterprises in the manufacturing sector lost nearly 1.8 million establishments and shed 5.4 million jobs between July 2015-June 2016 and October 2022-September 2023, the Business Standard reported.

Analysing the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) and the comparable 73rd round survey in 2015-16 by the National Statistical Office (NSO) showed, the report found almost a 10 per cent fall in these enterprises in the period. Similarly, the number of workers engaged by these establishments declined by nearly 15 per cent to 30.6 million (2022-23) from 36.04 million (2015-16). Unincorporated enterprises typically include small businesses, sole proprietorships, partnerships, and informal sector businesses. More here

Meta AI Rolls Out Chatbot Across Its Apps, Meta.ai Website From Today

Facebook parent Meta is starting to roll out its artificial intelligence chatbot Meta AI in India, Moneycontrol.com reported.

The social networking giant said on June 24 that it was part of its efforts to scale up its AI offerings in an intensely competitive market. This launch comes months after Meta tested the AI chatbot with a section of users in India. Last week, rival Google also extended the mobile app of its AI chatbot Gemini to India with support for nine Indian languages. These launches come after the general elections got over earlier this month. Meta AI will be available in English across the company's suite of apps, including WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. It will also be available through the recently launched Meta.ai website. More here

World Bank Study Finds Post-Pandemic Fall In Wage Aspirations Of Women In Haryana

Pandemic exposure lowered the wage aspirations of young women, especially in rural India, which may have decreased their willingness to migrate to urban areas, the Business Standard reported quoting a recent study by the World Bank.

A working paper found that exposure to the pandemic decreased the “wage aspirations” of young women living in rural areas by 25 per cent after the pandemic. Its authors revealed the effect on “wage expectations” saw a 13 per cent decline after the pandemic. These changes led to a 90 per cent reduction in the “aspiration gap” among young rural women. The research was conducted in Haryana on a sample of 3,180 female vocational trainees between June and August 2022. More here

Govt Moves On Clearing Chinese Joint Venture After 2020 Note

The government may have started moving on approving Chinese companies’ investments in India, the Economic Times reported.

Some Indian companies have resumed their pursuit of government approval for joint ventures with Chinese partners, they said. These approvals are being given on a case-by-case basis.  In 2020, India had issued Press Note 3 limiting investment by a company based in a country that shares a land border with India (such as China) only after government clearance. This had curbed Chinese investment in India, including JVs. Voltas’ proposal to forge a JV with China's Highly Group, with the Tata Group holding a minority stake, did not receive approval, forcing the company to scrap the plan. More here

RBI Gold Reserves Drop To 47 Per Cent Of Its Total Gold Holdings

The Reserve Bank of India's gold reserves parked overseas dropped to a six-year low at the end of March, which is 47 per cent of total. This is the lowest since it started accumulating the precious metal in December 2017, the Economic Times reported.

Data shows that the RBI started bringing the gold to India in March 2022, coinciding with the start of the Russia-Ukraine war. News that the RBI had brought back 100 tonnes of gold from the UK to India emerged at the end of last month. Governor Shaktikanta Das said this was because there is enough domestic storage capacity and nothing more should be read into it. At the end of March, the RBI's total gold holdings amounted to 822.1 tonnes. More here