Israeli armored personnel carriers head toward the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel, October 15, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AP

One million Gazans displaced in a week, says UN as Israel readies for ground attack

More than one million people have been displaced in the Gaza Strip in the last week, the UN said Sunday, after sustained Israeli bombardment and warnings about a ground attack targeting Hamas commanders.

Seven days of relentless bombing targeting those who masterminded the attack have flattened neighbourhoods and left at least 2,670 people dead in the Gaza Strip, the majority ordinary Palestinians.

Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls | SP says it will contest the election in alliance with Congress

The Samajwadi Party and the Congress, both members of the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), have worked out a seat-sharing agreement for the upcoming Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh. On Sunday, SP leaders expressed confidence that an INDIA bloc government led by the Congress would be formed in the State.

Congress won’t repeat 30% of Rajasthan MLAs, says party’s State chief

The Congress is likely to replace up to 30% of its sitting MLAs in the coming Rajasthan Assembly election, the party’s State unit president, Govind Singh Dotasra, told The Hindu on Sunday.

Mr. Dotasra mocked the BJP for fielding “failed” MPs in the Assembly election to deflect an anti-incumbency trend against the Union government ahead of the Lok Sabha election in 2024.

BJP MP accuses Mahua Moitra of ‘taking cash to ask questions’

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey complained to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Sunday that Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra had allegedly taken bribes from a business house to ask questions in Parliament.

Ms. Moitra denied the allegations and urged the Speaker to first complete the “probe” into Mr. Dubey’s educational qualifications and then hold an investigation into the allegations against her.

New investment slowed again in Q2 of FY24, drops by 13%

Fresh investment announcements in the July-to-September quarter, the second quarter of 2023-24, have dropped to ₹6.9 lakh crore, 13% lower than the first quarter, and 21.5% down from a year ago, driven by a sharp dip in proposed outlays by the Union government and foreign investors, and a broad-based contraction across the manufacturing, mining, infrastructure, and electricity sectors.

ICC World Cup: ENG vs AFG | Gritty Afghanistan leaves England shellshocked

In the past, Afghanistan has let teams like India and Pakistan off the hook in the World Cup. The gritty fighters, with a display of fearless trading of wickets for quick runs, have often paid the price for their inexperience in dealing with the ‘big’ moments of the game.

SC to hear AAP leader Raghav Chadha’s plea against ‘indefinite’ suspension from Rajya Sabha

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on October 16 a plea moved by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha, challenging his indefinite suspension from the Rajya Sabha.

A bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices J. B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra is scheduled to hear the plea of Mr. Chadha, who was suspended on the last day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament on August 11 for “gross violation of rules, misconduct, defiant attitude and contemptuous conduct”, pending a report by the privileges committee.

Study estimates count of UAVs required for the three Services

The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen Anil Chauhan recently ordered two studies to be conducted on major military platforms used by all three services. According to defence sources these platforms are Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and armoured helicopters. The study on UAVs has since been completed with a recommendation to acquire 31 MQ-9B High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) UAVs and 155 Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAVs.

UN aid chief says six months of war in Sudan has killed 9,000 people

Six months of war between Sudan’s military and a powerful paramilitary group has killed up to 9,000 people and created “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history,” the United Nations humanitarian chief said Sunday.

Centre may raise retirement age of scientists from 60 to 65

The Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) is working on a proposal to increase the retirement age of scientists to 65.

Its larger purpose, sources suggest, is to stem the flight of its top, senior scientists to universities and the Indian Institutes of Technology, where the retirement age is 65, The Hindu has learnt.

Railways comes up with innovations to tackle freezing of water in winter

The process of linking Kashmir to Kanyakumari through the new Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project posed a unique challenge to the Indian Railways — that of maintaining water and fuel in liquid form in sub-zero temperatures during the freezing winters of the north. To circumvent the problem of water freezing in toilets and in fuel tanks, engineers at the Rail Coach Factory (RCF) in Kapurthala have designed and implemented indigenous innovations.

Kaziranga reopens with tribute to British-era officer

The Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve reopened on Sunday with a literary tribute to a British-era forest officer who rid its name of any hunting connotations.

Poland’s opposition leader says three parties have enough votes to unseat the Law and Justice party

Polish opposition leader Donald Tusk said that three opposition parties had sufficient votes to win the general election on Sunday after an exit poll projected that they had enough combined support to oust Law and Justice, the governing conservative nationalist party.

Fresh investment announcements in the July-to-September quarter, the second quarter of 2023-24, have dropped to ₹6.9 lakh crore. File
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Fresh investment announcements in the July-to-September quarter, the second quarter of 2023-24, have dropped to ₹6.9 lakh crore, 13% lower than the first quarter, and 21.5% down from a year ago, driven by a sharp dip in proposed outlays by the Union government and foreign investors, and a broad-based contraction across the manufacturing, mining, infrastructure, and electricity sectors.

The decline in investment commitments during Q2 comes on the back of a 45.8% sequential decline recorded in the first quarter, as per Projects Today’s latest investment survey. A total of 2,238 new projects with an aggregate investment intention of ₹6.88 lakh crore were announced in Q2, as against 2,745 new projects worth ₹7.91 lakh crore in Q1, with the projects’ tally contracting 18.5%.

Private investment plans shrank for the second quarter in a row, albeit at a slower pace of 0.24% compared to the 62.5% contraction in Q1. Within the ₹3.93 lakh crore of private investment projects in Q2, announcements from foreign investors shrank 66.5% from Q1 levels to around ₹28,000 crore. Though domestic private players announced 17.8% larger outlays in Q2, the number of new projects fell to 844 from 1,180 in Q1.

Public capex plans down

While public capital expenditure has been driving the investment cycle in recent times, government investments also seem to have lost steam in the first two quarters of this year. Fresh investment intentions sequentially declined 25.6% in Q2 to about ₹2.96 lakh crore from ₹3.97 lakh crore in Q1, which marked a 3.2% fall from the previous quarter.

Within the government sector, new projects from Union government agencies dropped 47.4% in Q2 following a 20.6% contraction in Q1, bringing proposed outlays between July and September to ₹1.02 lakh crore from over ₹2.44 lakh crore in the January-to-March 2023 period.

States’ investment plans recorded a milder 4.7% shrinkage in Q2 vis-à-vis Q1, when they had crossed ₹2.03 lakh crore. The irrigation sector, which is usually driven by smaller-ticket investments initiated by States, was the only segment to clock a sequential uptick in Q2, with project outlays more than doubling to ₹12,000 crore from under ₹5,000 crore in Q1.

Mixed outlook

With several State assembly elections looming and geo-political risks to the global economy getting exacerbated amid weak demand conditions, the outlook for the second half of the year is mixed on the investment front, said Projects Today’s director and CEO Shashikant Hegde. Any hope for an uptick in Q3 and Q4 would depend on higher project announcements from the Union government ahead of next year’s general election.

“After the decline observed in Q2, we may see increased capex announcements from the Central government agencies in the next two quarters, while private firms, especially mid-sized ones, could adopt a wait-and-watch approach given the uncertainties about demand in major world markets and the deteriorating geo-political situation,” Mr. Hegde noted. Moreover, the focus may shift towards large private investors who have already announced projects, seeking government support in getting those investments off the ground.

Among the States, Odisha and Telangana emerged as the top two States, accounting for over a third of proposed investments in the last quarter. Maharashtra, which saw the highest number of new projects (436) worth ₹78,550 crore, was ranked third, followed by Karnataka, with projects worth ₹53,565 crore. Gujarat had the second highest number of projects (222), but was ranked eighth in terms of outlays involved, followed by Madhya Pradesh, which pipped Tamil Nadu that was ranked 10th with 98 projects worth ₹22,347 crore.

Fresh investment announcements in the July-to-September quarter, the second quarter of 2023-24, have dropped to ₹6.9 lakh crore. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Fresh investment announcements in the July-to-September quarter, the second quarter of 2023-24, have dropped to ₹6.9 lakh crore, 13% lower than the first quarter, and 21.5% down from a year ago, driven by a sharp dip in proposed outlays by the Union government and foreign investors, and a broad-based contraction across the manufacturing, mining, infrastructure, and electricity sectors.

The decline in investment commitments during Q2 comes on the back of a 45.8% sequential decline recorded in the first quarter, as per Projects Today’s latest investment survey. A total of 2,238 new projects with an aggregate investment intention of ₹6.88 lakh crore were announced in Q2, as against 2,745 new projects worth ₹7.91 lakh crore in Q1, with the projects’ tally contracting 18.5%.

Private investment plans shrank for the second quarter in a row, albeit at a slower pace of 0.24% compared to the 62.5% contraction in Q1. Within the ₹3.93 lakh crore of private investment projects in Q2, announcements from foreign investors shrank 66.5% from Q1 levels to around ₹28,000 crore. Though domestic private players announced 17.8% larger outlays in Q2, the number of new projects fell to 844 from 1,180 in Q1.

Public capex plans down

While public capital expenditure has been driving the investment cycle in recent times, government investments also seem to have lost steam in the first two quarters of this year. Fresh investment intentions sequentially declined 25.6% in Q2 to about ₹2.96 lakh crore from ₹3.97 lakh crore in Q1, which marked a 3.2% fall from the previous quarter.

Within the government sector, new projects from Union government agencies dropped 47.4% in Q2 following a 20.6% contraction in Q1, bringing proposed outlays between July and September to ₹1.02 lakh crore from over ₹2.44 lakh crore in the January-to-March 2023 period.

States’ investment plans recorded a milder 4.7% shrinkage in Q2 vis-à-vis Q1, when they had crossed ₹2.03 lakh crore. The irrigation sector, which is usually driven by smaller-ticket investments initiated by States, was the only segment to clock a sequential uptick in Q2, with project outlays more than doubling to ₹12,000 crore from under ₹5,000 crore in Q1.

Mixed outlook

With several State assembly elections looming and geo-political risks to the global economy getting exacerbated amid weak demand conditions, the outlook for the second half of the year is mixed on the investment front, said Projects Today’s director and CEO Shashikant Hegde. Any hope for an uptick in Q3 and Q4 would depend on higher project announcements from the Union government ahead of next year’s general election.

“After the decline observed in Q2, we may see increased capex announcements from the Central government agencies in the next two quarters, while private firms, especially mid-sized ones, could adopt a wait-and-watch approach given the uncertainties about demand in major world markets and the deteriorating geo-political situation,” Mr. Hegde noted. Moreover, the focus may shift towards large private investors who have already announced projects, seeking government support in getting those investments off the ground.

Among the States, Odisha and Telangana emerged as the top two States, accounting for over a third of proposed investments in the last quarter. Maharashtra, which saw the highest number of new projects (436) worth ₹78,550 crore, was ranked third, followed by Karnataka, with projects worth ₹53,565 crore. Gujarat had the second highest number of projects (222), but was ranked eighth in terms of outlays involved, followed by Madhya Pradesh, which pipped Tamil Nadu that was ranked 10th with 98 projects worth ₹22,347 crore.