Combined revenue growth was up by 191% for the period, with marketplaces Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon India leading growth with a revenue growth of 475%.;a study by brokerage Kotak Institutional Securities has revealed.
@Agency news.
Bengaluru : Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw today said it will take an investment worth USD 5 billion in biotechnology to realise the target of making it a USD 100 billion sector by 2025.
“Today, biotechnology is a USD 11 billion sector, growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 20 per cent. We also are aspiring to be a USD 100 billion sector by 2025,” Mazumdar-Shaw said.
Though this seems a “fairly daunting task”, she said, adding that “by investing in human capital and in the sector alone in terms of infrastructure and other research initiatives, I think we can actually deliver on this aspiration.”
“We have estimated that it will take a USD 5 billion investment in biotechnology or life sciences to deliver on this potential of realising USD 100 billion as a sector.”
Mazumdar-Shaw, also the Chairperson of Karnataka Vision Group on Biotechnology, was speaking at the inauguration of 16th edition of ‘Bangalore India Bio 1016’ here.
The event was also attended by Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan and Secretary in Department of Biotechnology K Vijay Raghavan, among others.
Stating that India’s investment in science and technology is at suboptimal level, she called on the government to invest more.
“Amongst all the countries who invest in science and technology we are at a suboptimal level, we actually have here, Korea which actually leads the way in investing in science and technology and I think India needs to basically up its game in science and technology through greater investment,” she said.
“We request the government to make sure that our investment in science and technology only grows and increases, because this is the future of India, this is what will give us demographic dividend from our scientists,” she added.
She said to dominate in the field such as biotechnology and information technology what is paramount is human capital, which will actually shape India’s science and technology prowess in the world. .
The three-day long “Bangalore India Bio” will be covering various spectrum of activities including multi track conferences, international trade show, key note talks, poster sessions, bio invest, global biotech conclave, among others.
@Agency news.
New Delhi : A Chief Minister’s exclusive powers cannot be pre-empted by the Governor, whose powers are “limited” under the Constitution and should be exercised in a fair manner to ensure survival of democracy, the Supreme Court said today.
“Under the Constitution, he (Governor) has not got so much of powers. He has limited powers which should be used in a fair manner, so that democracy survives,” a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice J S Khehar said while examining Governor’s powers, an issue that has arisen in the wake of the political crisis in Arunachal Pradesh.
Observing that the Governor “has no business to call the assembly session on his whims to test the majority of a Chief Minister and his government”, the apex court asked “does it not amount to interfering with the legislative functioning of the House.”
“The Governor cannot pre-empt the powers which are exclusively granted by the Constitution to the Chief Minister and his (council of) ministers,” the bench said.
The bench posed several questions during the hearing of a batch of petitions filed by various Congress leaders challenging the advancement of theArunachal Pradesh assembly session by Governor J P Rajkhowa, when a lawyer of some rebel Congress MLAs justified the actions of the Governor.
Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, the counsel for rebels, said the Governor, being the administrative head, in his “wisdom thought that this (summoning of the House and subsequent business) may be one of the solutions”.
His submission was in regard to the advancing of the assembly session from this January to December last year by Governor Rajkhowa.
The bench, which also comprised Justices Dipak Misra, M B Lokur, P C Ghose and N V Ramana, observed that the right of the Governor under Article 175 (right of the Governor to address and send messages to the House and Houses) of the Constitution was limited.
@Agency report.
New Delhi : India’s economic growth, measured by gross domestic product, grew at 7.3 per cent in the December quarter (Q3), meeting estimates. For the full year, the government now expects GDP to grow at 7.6 per cent, which is slightly ahead of estimates. Last fiscal (2014-15), India’s economy grew at 7.2 per cent.
The upward revision in annual GDP estimates comes as a shot in the arm of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who will present the annual budget on February 29.
“The third-quarter data has surprised on the upside as high frequency indicators such as PMI, some segments in the services sector, and core industrial output (had) pointed to a loss in momentum,” said Shubhada Rao, chief economist at Yes Bank.
The rise in full year growth estimate was made possible because of the upward revision in June quarter (Q1) and September quarter (Q2) GDP growth. The government today revised Q1 GDP growth from 7.1 per cent to 7.6 per cent, while Q2 growth was revised upwards from 7.4 per cent from 7.7 per cent.
December quarter growth was fueled by double-digit growth in manufacturing sector. Most other sectors such as mining, electricity and construction showed robust growth, though the agriculture sector contracted by 1 per cent, government data showed.
“The third-quarter GDP has already started showing a slowdown and agriculture stresses because rabi is also lagging. It is difficult to see any pick-up in agriculture,” said Rupa Rege Nitsure, group chief economist of L&T Finance Holdings.
According to the latest data, Indian economy is expanding at a faster pace than China, where GDP growth hit nearly seven-year low of 6.8 per cent growth in the December quarter.
However, many economists say India’s GDP numbers have been bumped up by the statistical change adopted to calculate growth last year. They say that the pace of expansion of the economy as measured by new GDP numbers don’t match with other economic indicators like auto sales, power demand, and imports of capital goods.
The new data is a headache for Mr Jaitley, who faces tough choices in his February 29 budget over whether to hike borrowing and spending to compensate for the sluggish private sector spending, say economists.
“Our own proprietary tool based on real economy indicators suggest that economic momentum has been decelerating systematically from 1QFY16 to 3QFY16,” said Ritika Mankar, economist at Ambit Capital.
@ Agency report.