Latest news with #Maharashtra
New York Times
7 hours ago
- Business
- New York Times
Under Pressure, Officials in Western India Move Against Abuse in Sugar Fields
Authorities in western India are taking steps to improve labor conditions for sugar cane cutters after a court ruling and an investigation by The New York Times and The Fuller Project highlighted serious abuses of workers. Journalists revealed last year that women in the Indian state of Maharashtra were pushed to get unnecessary hysterectomies as a way to keep them working in sweltering sugar fields, unencumbered by menstruation or gynecological ailments. The sugar cane-cutting system also has used child labor, pushes young girls into marriage and locks families into debt bondage. The sugar industry is overwhelmingly controlled by the state's political leadership. And major Western brands like Coca-Cola and Pepsico have profited from the system. Government officials, regulators and companies have for years done little or nothing to address these abuses. Politicians say that changing the labor system would cut into sugar profits and make it impossible for factories to compete. The Bombay High Court ruled in March that government must address these problems. And though the court has no direct enforcement power in this case, labor-rights groups say the ruling is important because it is the first official acknowledgment that the system in Maharashtra must change. The court ruled that migrant workers and the middleman contractors who hire them must be registered as a standard employee-employer relationship. That would close a loophole that has allowed sugar companies to deny any responsibility for the workers who cut their cane. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Times of Oman
12 hours ago
- Business
- Times of Oman
India's $81.04 billion FDI inflow signals its emergence as a global manufacturing powerhouse
New Delhi: FDI flows into India increased 14 per cent to USD 81.04 billion in the recently concluded financial year 2024-25, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement Tuesday. Over the past decade, FDI inflows have seen a steady rise--from USD 36.05 billion in 2013-14 to USD 81.04 billion (provisional) in 2024-25. The central government has put in place an investor-friendly Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy, under which most sectors are open for 100 per cent FDI through the automatic route, the commerce ministry boasted. The FDI policy is reviewed on an ongoing basis to ensure that India remains an attractive and competitive investment destination, the commerce ministry statement added. Coming to 2024-25, the services sector emerged as the top recipient of FDI equity, attracting 19 per cent of total inflows, followed by computer software and hardware (16 per cent) and trading (8 per cent). FDI in the services sector rose by 40.77 per cent to USD 9.35 billion from USD 6.64 billion in the previous year. India is also becoming a hub for manufacturing FDI, which grew by 18 per cent in 2024-25, reaching USD 19.04 billion compared to USD 16.12 billion in 2023-24. Maharashtra accounted for the highest share (39 per cent) of total FDI equity inflows in 2024-25, followed by Karnataka (13 per cent) and Delhi (12 per cent). Among source countries, Singapore led with 30 per cent share, followed by Mauritius (17 per cent) and the United States (11 per cent). Over the last eleven financial years (2014-25), India attracted FDI worth USD 748.78 billion, reflecting a 143 per cent increase over the previous eleven years (2003-14), which saw USD 308.38 billion in inflows. This constitutes nearly 70 per cent of the total USD 1,072.36 billion in FDI received over the past 25 years. Additionally, the number of source countries for FDI increased from 89 in 2013-14 to 112 in 2024-25, said the commerce ministry. "In the regulatory domain, the Government has undertaken transformative reforms across multiple sectors to liberalize FDI norms. Between 2014 and 2019, significant reforms included increased FDI caps in Defence, Insurance, and Pension sectors, and liberalised policies for Construction, Civil Aviation, and Single Brand Retail Trading," the statement noted. From 2019 to 2024, notable measures included allowing 100 per cent FDI under the automatic route in coal mining, contract manufacturing, and insurance intermediaries. In 2025, the Union Budget proposed increasing the FDI limit from 74 per cent to 100 per cent for companies investing their entire premium within India.
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- General
- Bloomberg
One Architect's Quest to Save Mumbai's Heritage From Disappearing
Mumbai is a city in the middle of a huge building boom. Signs saying 'Mumbai is upgrading' are visible everywhere, while its residents contend daily with dug-up roads, poor air quality and ever-worsening traffic jams. The danger is that much of the architectural heritage that forms Mumbai's rich, multicultural history gets lost in the upheaval. One resident who has made it her mission to preserve Mumbai's cityscape is conservation architect Abha Narain Lambah, a rare practitioner of the craft in India.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Properties of 18 accused to be auctioned in Vasai-based Jaimuni Cooperative Patpedhi Ltd's Rs 34-crore loan scam
Mumbai: The competent authority under the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act will auction flats, plots, commercial units of 18 persons accused in a Rs 34-crore scam where Vasai-based Jaimuni Cooperative Patpedhi Ltd failed to return deposits collected from the public. The money generated through auction will be used to repay the investors. The scam involved fraudulent loan disbursal to purchase flats that were already mortgaged, with forged documents and collusion between bank officials and builders. Accordingly an FIR was filed at Arnala police station in Oct 2018 for cheating, criminal breach of trust and forgery. Later, the probe was handed over to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) as the defrauded amount was around Rs 34 crore. A senior EOW officer said the process of filing the FIR, arresting the accused, and investigating the case is complete and the properties of the accused have also been identified and are now officially with govt. Under Sections 4(1) and 5(1) of the MPID Act 1999, govt has the powers to seize and auction properties of the accused who have defrauded depositors. Shekhar Ghadge, the sub-divisional officer who has been appointed as the competent authority by state govt, said: "Our first step is to approach the MPID court and further process these properties after which they will be ready for auction." After the auction, the process of distribution of funds among investors shall begin, he added. Satyawan Patil, former director of Jaimuni Cooperative Patpedhi Ltd, said: "This loan scam put depositors' hard-earned money at risk. The biggest loss caused by this scam is that it hampered the reputation of the credit society. I see that justice is being served and on behalf of my colleagues... I welcome this development. This will boost the trust of depositors in the law, which, in turn, is advantageous for the credit society's future. "
Zawya
2 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
Dassault and Reliance unit to make Falcon 2000 business jets in India
A unit of India's Reliance Infrastructure and France's Dassault Aviation have partnered to manufacture Falcon 2000 business jets in India, the companies said in a joint statement on Wednesday. The companies will establish the final assembly line for the jets in Nagpur city in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, marking the first instance of Dassault manufacturing Falcon 2000 jets outside France, the statement added. The French firm aims to deliver the first made-in-India jets by 2028 for corporate and military use. Reliance Infrastructure shares shot up 5% after the news in afternoon trading. (Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Mrigank Dhaniwala)
