Business Today 16 March 2025

Achieving the vision of Viksit Bharat requires a sustained annual growth rate of 8.5% for the next 22 years, with the initial years demanding a staggering 9%-plus rate, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, a key architect of India’s reforms in the 1990s, tells Surabhi in this 33rd Anniversary Issue of Business Today. Given the current domestic and global economic landscape, how can that come about? The answers are spread across the pages of this issue with top experts and BT reporters weighing in on India’s path to prosperity. As Sajjid Chinoy writes in his essay, India’s playbook to sustain high growth requires several moves, including warding off a trade war with the US and not overly relying on fiscal and monetary policy to boost growth. While many experts call for greater private…

Place of Publication: New Delhi Periodicity of its Publication: Fortnightly Printer’s Name: Manoj Sharma Nationality: Indian 1806, Sylvan View-1, Eldeco Utopia, Sector-93, Noida, Gautam Buddha Nagar Uttar Pradesh-201301 Publisher’s Name: Manoj Sharma Nationality: Indian 1806, Sylvan View-1, Eldeco Utopia, Sector-93, Noida, Gautam Buddha Nagar Uttar Pradesh-201301 Editor’s Name: Mr. Siddharth Zarabi Nationality: Indian Address Flat No. E502, Udyog Vihar, CGHS Limited, Plot No. 12, Sector 22, Dwarka, New Delhi - 110075 Names and Addresses of individuals who own the newspaper and partners or shareholders holding more than one percent of the total capital: Owner: M/s. Living Media India Limited, F-26, 1st Floor, Connaught Place, New Delhi – 110 001. Shareholders holding more than one percent of the total capital of the owner company: 1. Mr. Aroon Purie, 6, Palam Marg,…

THE US AIR FORCE’S F-35 FIFTH-GENERATION FIGHTER AIRCRAFT (TOP) AT AERO INDIA 2025 SOURCE PIB, MINISTRY OF DEFENCE, MEDIA REPORTS ₹1.60 lakh CRORE Expected value of Indian domestic defence production by 2025-26, up from ₹1.27 lakh crore currently 900+ EXHIBITORS Including 150 foreign firms participated, making it the biggest Aero India show ₹700 CRORE Pledged at the iDEX Investor Hub to accelerate investment ₹55,000 CRORE Worth of contracts signed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in 2024 to produce various aircraft equipment…

SET FOR A GROWTH SURGE The Indian AI market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 25-35% till 2027, supported by a large AI talent base and high investments AI market size forecast in India (%) Others include Healthcare, Automotive, Retail and Travel Industries PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE Indian IT majors are investing aggressively to train their employees in AI applications Top 5 companies on the basis of market capitalisation *HCL Technologies did not give exact AI talent in the annual report. It projected to train more than 50,000 employees in FY25. COUNTRY-WISE DISTRIBUTION The US is in the lead as 38% of GenAI start-ups that were launched in 2024 were domiciled there PRIVATE FUNDING DIP Indian AI start-ups have raised more than $16 billion so far. After peaking…

▶ IN MID-FEBRUARY, A DIVISION BENCHof the Delhi High Court overturned a ruling of an international arbitration tribunal in connection with a gas migration dispute between Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and ONGC. The tribunal had ruled in favour of RIL. Following the ruling, the government has raised a demand of $2.81 billion on RIL and its partners. The case concerns extraction of natural gas in the Krishna Godavari (KG) basin in Andhra Pradesh. ONGC claims RIL illegally extracted natural gas from its KG-D6 block between 2009 and 2013. As a result, the gas migrated from its adjacent field, causing it losses, says ONGC. RIL holds a 60% stake in the KG-D6 block. UK-based BP Plc owns 30% and Canada’s Niko Resources 10%. It’s a story that has gone back and forth…

▶ THE LONG, ARDUOUS battle between the Burman family, owners of consumer goods major Dabur India, and the management of Religare Enterprises reads like the plot of a book or TV show. A corporate takeover bid that is opposed by the management, with multiple twists and turns, replete with allegations and counter allegations, and even a rival takeover bid from a foreign investor. The nearly 18-month-long saga since the Burman family made a ₹2,116-crore open offer for 26% of Religare shares to take their holding beyond the 50% mark seems to have come to a conclusion. On February 20, the Burman Group announced it had acquired control of Religare and had been designated as the promoter of the company. The offer was triggered automatically after the Burman family had incrementally…