Top Business stories on 15th November in a capsule
Amazon pumps 2,900 crore in India
In a bid to compete against rival Flipkart, e-commerce giant on Wednesday had announced a 2,900 crore investment in its Indian markets, its second investment in a month.
The fresh investment is part of Amazon's commitment to put in 5 billion dollars into the Indian market. Amazon's investments this year takes its total investment in India to almost double of Flipkart's Rs 8,349 crore. The company had invested Rs 1,680 crore into its India unit in June and Rs 1,620 crore last month, surpassing its investment of Rs 2,010 crore last year.
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Revised GST rates come into effect
More than 200 items will be cheaper from Wednesday as the government’s amendments on the Goods and Service tax (GST) will come into effect. Several daily-use products, such as chocolates, detergents, personal cosmetics such as shampoos and deodorants as well as furniture will cost less. Eating out may get cheaper too, as the government has reduced rates from 18% to 5% in the case of all A/C and non A/C restaurants. The GST Council has been meeting every month since the new tax regime came into effect on July 1. It is headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
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Indian companies created more than 1 lakh jobs in the US: Report
Indian companies have created more than 113,000 jobs in the US and invested nearly $18 billion in the country in one year. A report titled 'Indian Roots, American Soil', which was released by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Tuesday, states that Indian companies have also contributed $147 million towards corporate social responsibility and $588 million as research and development expenditures in US. Together, 100 Indian companies employ 113,423 people across 50 states. As many as 87 per cent of the companies plan to hire more employees locally in the next five years. New Jersey, Texas, California, New York and Georgia are home to the most number of workers in America directly employed by Indian companies.
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Exports fall by 1% in October due to GST concerns
A Sharp fall in merchandise exports have resulted in a 1.2 per cent decline (year-on-year) in exports of goods in October to $23.09 billion. The fall, the first after 14 consecutive months of positive growth, was understood to be due to the impact of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on the export segment. Imports during October went up by 7.6% to $37.1 billion. This widened the trade deficit to $14.01 billion, the highest since $14.08 billion in May 2017. India’s exports had risen 25.67% to $28.61 billion in September, logging its highest growth in the last six months.
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Sensex, Nifty fall for the third straight day
Benchmark indices lost for third consecutive session on Wednesday, with the Nifty falling more than 350 points from its record high hit last week. BSE Sensex closed lower by 181.43 points to 32,760, while the Nifty 50 fell 68 points to close at 10,118. Trade deficit widened to almost a 3-year high of $14 billion last month as imports surged. Bharti Infratel was biggest loser, falling 5 percent followed by Vedanta, Hindalco and Sun Pharma. Asian paints, ICICI bank, Infosys and Asian paints were among the top gainers
