[🇮🇳] Indian Economy watch- All new developments.

[Krishna with Flute]

 

[Saif]

Climate change heightens risk of Indian farmer suicides

On a small farm in India’s Maharashtra state, Mirabai Khindkar said the only thing her land grew was debt, after crops failed in drought and her husband killed himself.

www.newagebd.net

Climate change heightens risk of Indian farmer suicides
Agence France-Presse . Beed, India 09 June, 2025, 20:01

Farmers plant rice saplings in a field on a hot summer day on the outskirts of Amritsar, June 9, 2025. | AFP photo.

On a small farm in India’s Maharashtra state, Mirabai Khindkar said the only thing her land grew was debt, after crops failed in drought and her husband killed himself.

Farmer suicides have a long history in India, where many are one crop failure away from disaster, but extreme weather caused by climate change is adding fresh pressure.

Dwindling yields due to water shortages, floods, rising temperatures and erratic rainfall, coupled with crippling debt, have taken a heavy toll on a sector that employs 45 percent of India’s 1.4 billion people.

Mirabhai’s husband Amol was left with debts to loan sharks worth hundreds of times their farm’s annual income, after the three-acre (one-hectare) soybean, millet and cotton plot withered in scorching heat.

He swallowed poison last year.

‘When he was in the hospital, I prayed to all the gods to save him,’ said 30-year-old Mirabai, her voice breaking.

Amol died a week later, leaving behind Mirabai and three children. Her last conversation with him was about debt.

Their personal tragedy is replicated daily across Marathwada, a region in Maharashtra of 18 million, once known for fertile farmland.

Last year, extreme weather events across India affected 3.2 million hectares (7.9 million acres) of cropland -- an area bigger than Belgium -- according to the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment research group.

Over 60 percent of that was in Maharashtra.

‘Summers are extreme, and even if we do what is necessary, the yield is not enough,’ said Amol’s brother and fellow farmer Balaji Khindkar.

‘There is not enough water to irrigate the fields. It doesn’t rain properly.’

Between 2022 and 2024, 3,090 farmers took their own lives in Marathwada, an average of nearly three a day, according to India’s Minister of Agriculture Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Government statistics do not specify what drove the farmers to kill themselves, but analysts point to several likely factors.

‘Farmer suicides in India are a consequence of the crisis of incomes, investment and productivity that you have in agriculture,’ said R. Ramakumar, professor of development studies at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

Farming across many Indian smallholdings is done largely as it has been for centuries, and is highly dependent on the right weather at the correct time.

‘What climate change and its vulnerabilities and variabilities have done is to increase the risks in farming,’ Ramakumar said.

This ‘is leading to crop failures, uncertainties... which is further weakening the economics of cultivation for small and marginal farmers.’

The government could support farmers with better insurance schemes to cope with extreme weather events, as well as investments in agricultural research, Ramakumar said.

‘Agriculture should not be a gamble with the monsoon.’

Faced with uncertain weather, farmers often look to stem falling yields by investing in fertilisers or irrigation systems.

But banks can be reluctant to offer credit to such uncertain borrowers.

Some turn to loan sharks offering quick cash at exorbitant interest rates, and risking catastrophe if crops fail.

‘It is difficult to make ends meet with just farming,’ Mirabai said, standing outside her home, a tin-roofed hut with patch-cloth walls.

Her husband’s loans soared to over $8,000, a huge sum in India, where the average monthly income of a farming household is around $120.

Mirabai works on other farms as a labourer but could not pay back the debt.

‘The loan instalments piled up,’ she said, adding that she wants her children to find jobs outside of farming when they grow up.

‘Nothing comes out of the farm.’

The agricultural industry has been in a persistent crisis for decades.

And while Maharashtra has some of the highest suicide rates, the problem is nationwide.

Thirty people in the farming sector killed themselves every day in 2022, according to national crime records bureau statistics.

At another farm in Marathwada, 32-year-old farmer Shaikh Imran took over the running of the family smallholding last year after his brother took his own life.

He is already more than $1,100 in debt after borrowing to plant soybean.

The crop failed.

Meanwhile, the pop of explosives echoes around as farmers blast wells, hoping to hit water.

‘There’s no water to drink,’ said family matriarch Khatijabi. ‘Where shall we get water to irrigate the farm?’​

 

[Saif]

India’s Maruti-Suzuki cuts near-term EV production amid rare earths crisis

Maruti Suzuki has cut near-term production targets for its maiden electric vehicle e-Vitara by two-thirds because of rare earths shortages, a document showed, in the latest sign of disruption to the auto industry from China’s export curbs. India’s top carmaker, which said on Monday it had not...

en.prothomalo.com

India’s Maruti-Suzuki cuts near-term EV production amid rare earths crisis
​

• Maruti to cut production in first half of FY25-26 by two-thirds​
• ​
• Aims to make up lost ground later to meet full-year target​
• ​
• China’s curbs on rare earth exports have hit global car industry​
• ​
• Indian auto companies yet to see magnet supplies resume​
• ​

AFP New Delhi
Published: 11 Jun 2025, 13: 22

India's car Maruti Suzuki AFP file photo

Maruti Suzuki has cut near-term production targets for its maiden electric vehicle e-Vitara by two-thirds because of rare earths shortages, a document showed, in the latest sign of disruption to the auto industry from China’s export curbs.

India’s top carmaker, which said on Monday it had not seen any impact yet from the supply crisis, now plans to make about 8,200 e-Vitaras between April and September, versus an original goal of 26,500, according to a company document seen by Reuters.

It cited “supply constraints” in rare earth materials that are vital in making magnets and other components across a range of hi-tech industries.

Maruti still plans to meet its output target of 67,000 EVs for the year ending March 2026 by ramping up production in subsequent months, the document said.

China’s curbs on some rare earth exports have rocked the global auto industry, with companies warning of severe supply chain disruptions. While some companies in the United States, Europe and Japan are seeing supplies easing as they secure licences from Beijing, India is still waiting for China’s approval amid fears of production stoppages.

Launched amid much fanfare at India’s car show in January, the e-Vitara is crucial to Maruti’s EV push in the country, marking its entry in a segment that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government wants to grow to 30 per cent of all car sales by 2030 from about 2.5 per cent last year.

The setback could also hurt parent Suzuki Motor, for which India is the biggest market by revenue and a global production hub for EVs. The bulk of the made-in-India e-Vitaras are earmarked for export by Suzuki to its major markets like Europe and Japan around summer 2025.

Maruti told reporters last week the rare earths issue had no “material impact” on the e-Vitara’s launch timeline. Chair RC Bhargava said there was “no impact at the moment” on production, local media reported on Monday.

Maruti and Suzuki did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.

Maruti shares trading on the Indian stock exchange fell as much as 1.4 per cent to the day’s low after the news.

Maruti is yet to open bookings for the e-Vitara with some analysts warning it is already late to launch EVs in the world’s third-largest car market where Tesla is also expected to begin sales this year.

Under its previous plan “A”, Maruti was to produce 26,512 e-Vitaras between April and September - the first half of the fiscal year. Under the revised plan “B”, it will manufacture 8,221, the document showed, indicating a two-thirds cut in its production schedule.

However, in the second half of the financial year – between October and March 2026 - Maruti plans to ramp up production to 58,728 e-Vitaras, or about 440 per day at its peak, versus a previous target of 40,437 for those six months under plan A.

Two supply chain sources confirmed Maruti’s plan to scale back e-Vitara production because of rare earth magnet shortages but were not privy to the exact numbers.

The rare earths crisis comes as Maruti is already grappling to recover market share lost to Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra’s feature-rich SUVs. These companies also lead India’s EV sales. Maruti’s share of India’s passenger vehicle market is down to 41 per cent from a recent peak of about 51 per cent in March 2020.

Suzuki has trimmed its sales target for India to 2.5 million vehicles by March 2031 from 3 million previously, and scaled back its lineup of EV launches to just four, instead of the six planned before, as competition in the South Asian nation intensifies.​

 

[Krishna with Flute]

MSN

 

[Krishna with Flute]

Ola's Indigenous comes with over 15 years of battery life, 5X the capacity of the competition and provides 80% charging within 15 minutes.



Ola Electric has begun integrating its in-house developed 4,680 Bharat Cell into its vehicles, with founder and Chief Executive Bhavish Aggarwal saying the move will strengthen the company’s margins and market position. The company claims that this is India’s first indigenously developed lithium-ion cell.



“The heart of a vehicle is the cell… the biggest cost driver, the biggest performance driver, everything, is the cell,” Aggarwal told NDTV Profit in am exclusive interview. “When our cell comes in, that gross margin will further go up. So then that cell coming in starts this quarter.”

The company formally announced the 4680 Bharat Cell at its annual ‘Sankalp’ event under the theme ‘India Inside.’ It described the battery as India’s first indigenously developed lithium-ion cell, produced at Ola’s Krishnagiri factory. Ola said the new technology would allow faster recharge, improved safety, and lower costs to produce.

The Bharat Cell “comes with over 15 years of battery life, 5X the capacity of the competition and provides 80% charging within 15 minutes,” Ola Electric Head of Research and Development Rajesh Mekkat said in a media statement, adding that rival offerings take 30 minutes to reach 50% charge.


Related video: Ola Electric Unveils New Innovations In A Bid To Regain Market Share | CNBC TV18 (CNBCTV18)
India's largest electric 2 Wheeler maker Ola Electric is facing

Current Time 0:00
/
Duration 5:07

CNBCTV18
Ola Electric Unveils New Innovations In A Bid To Regain Market Share | CNBC TV18
0

View on Watch

The company plans to gradually deploy the Bharat Cell across its products. At the event, Aggarwal also unveiled the Ola Pro Sport scooter equipped with the new cell.

Ola is expanding its vertical integration strategy to reduce dependence on imports. “We’re the only one in that scheme who has put up a factory and is producing commercial cells,” Aggarwal told NDTV Profit.

As part of its Gen 3 initiative, Ola also launched a ferrite motor technology designed to replace rare earth magnets in its products. “India needs to leapfrog to the next generation, as these rare earth magnets are coming from very few nations,” Aggarwal said. Vehicles equipped with the new motor are expected to roll out in the third quarter of the current financial year.

The ferrite motors would serve as “an alternative technology for rare earth magnets in the future,” Ola Electric’s Head of Vehicle Engineering Samraj Dhinakar said.

Ad
MakeMyTrip for Business Travel - 100% GST Invoices on Bookings - Corporate Travel Booking Tool
mybiz.makemytrip.com




The company also introduced AI-enabled MoveOS6 software, which will be available from January 2026. The system includes a voice assistant, collision alert, blind spot detection, and multi-language support. “The MoveOS6 software can tell how a customer can improve the battery life of an electric scooter or motorcycle,” Ola Electric’s Head of Software Engineering Anirbhan Das said.

Ola capped the announcements with a prototype of its Diamond Head electric motorcycle. Aggarwal said the bike, targeted for launch in mid-2027 at a price under Rs 5 lakh, would include remote summon and achieve 0–100 kmph in two seconds. “We want to change the face of (electric) two-wheelers forever,” he said.

MSN

 

[Bilal9]

India sees Asia's biggest earnings downgrades as US tariffs loom​

Garment workers stitch clothes at a textile factory in Noida, India, July 31, 2025. Photo: Reuters

Indian companies have seen the steepest earnings downgrades in Asia, with analysts slashing forecasts as steep U.S. tariffs heighten risks to growth even if proposed domestic tax cuts help cushion the impact.

According to LSEG IBES data, forward 12-month earnings estimates for India's large and mid-cap firms have been cut by 1.2% in the past two weeks, the sharpest in Asia.

India's economy is largely domestic and firms which are part of the Nifty 50 index (.NSEI), opens new tab earn only 9% of revenue from the U.S. but the tariff hike to as high as 50% on exports to the world's largest economy presents a risk to economic growth.

Analysis by MUFG indicates that a sustained 50% tariff could cut India's GDP growth by 1 percentage point over time, with the biggest hit to employment-sensitive sectors such as textiles.

Looking to buoy domestic consumption, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently announced sweeping tax reforms to boost the economy in the face of a trade conflict with Washington.

"It's a little bit of an interesting time given what's happened with the tariffs that have been imposed on India," said Raisah Rasid, global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management.

Valuations are still elevated and "we could potentially see the tariff triggering a broad valuation re-rating downwards and make some of the domestic oriented stocks attractive," she said.


Earnings growth for Indian companies has been in single-digit percentages for five consecutive quarters, below the 15%–25% growth seen between 2020–21 and 2023–24.

Following the April-June earnings announcements, forward 12-month net income forecasts for automobiles and components, capital goods, food and beverages, and consumer durables sectors saw the deepest cuts in earnings estimates, each down about 1% or more, the data showed.

The government's plans to lower consumption taxes are also expected to boost the country's GDP growth. Economists at Standard Chartered pencil in a boost of 0.35-0.45 percentage points in the fiscal year ending in March 2027.

India's real GDP growth averaged 8.8% between fiscal 2022 and 2024, the highest in Asia-Pacific. It is projected to grow at 6.8% annually over the next three years.

Bank of America's latest fund manager survey shows that India has tumbled from the most-favoured to the least-preferred Asian equity market in just two months.

"After disappointing earnings growth of only 6% in 2024, the pace of recovery remains sluggish in 2025, as indicated by both the economic growth parameters and corporate earnings," said Rajat Agarwal, Asia equity strategist at Societe Generale.

 

[Egyptian]

India sees Asia's biggest earnings downgrades as US tariffs loom​

View attachment 21932
Garment workers stitch clothes at a textile factory in Noida, India, July 31, 2025. Photo: Reuters

Indian companies have seen the steepest earnings downgrades in Asia, with analysts slashing forecasts as steep U.S. tariffs heighten risks to growth even if proposed domestic tax cuts help cushion the impact.

According to LSEG IBES data, forward 12-month earnings estimates for India's large and mid-cap firms have been cut by 1.2% in the past two weeks, the sharpest in Asia.

India's economy is largely domestic and firms which are part of the Nifty 50 index (.NSEI), opens new tab earn only 9% of revenue from the U.S. but the tariff hike to as high as 50% on exports to the world's largest economy presents a risk to economic growth.

Analysis by MUFG indicates that a sustained 50% tariff could cut India's GDP growth by 1 percentage point over time, with the biggest hit to employment-sensitive sectors such as textiles.

Looking to buoy domestic consumption, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently announced sweeping tax reforms to boost the economy in the face of a trade conflict with Washington.

"It's a little bit of an interesting time given what's happened with the tariffs that have been imposed on India," said Raisah Rasid, global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management.

Valuations are still elevated and "we could potentially see the tariff triggering a broad valuation re-rating downwards and make some of the domestic oriented stocks attractive," she said.


Earnings growth for Indian companies has been in single-digit percentages for five consecutive quarters, below the 15%–25% growth seen between 2020–21 and 2023–24.

Following the April-June earnings announcements, forward 12-month net income forecasts for automobiles and components, capital goods, food and beverages, and consumer durables sectors saw the deepest cuts in earnings estimates, each down about 1% or more, the data showed.

The government's plans to lower consumption taxes are also expected to boost the country's GDP growth. Economists at Standard Chartered pencil in a boost of 0.35-0.45 percentage points in the fiscal year ending in March 2027.

India's real GDP growth averaged 8.8% between fiscal 2022 and 2024, the highest in Asia-Pacific. It is projected to grow at 6.8% annually over the next three years.

Bank of America's latest fund manager survey shows that India has tumbled from the most-favoured to the least-preferred Asian equity market in just two months.

"After disappointing earnings growth of only 6% in 2024, the pace of recovery remains sluggish in 2025, as indicated by both the economic growth parameters and corporate earnings," said Rajat Agarwal, Asia equity strategist at Societe Generale.

@Jiangnan @Krishna with Flute

 

[Krishna with Flute]

India sees Asia's biggest earnings downgrades as US tariffs loom​

View attachment 21932
Garment workers stitch clothes at a textile factory in Noida, India, July 31, 2025. Photo: Reuters

Indian companies have seen the steepest earnings downgrades in Asia, with analysts slashing forecasts as steep U.S. tariffs heighten risks to growth even if proposed domestic tax cuts help cushion the impact.

According to LSEG IBES data, forward 12-month earnings estimates for India's large and mid-cap firms have been cut by 1.2% in the past two weeks, the sharpest in Asia.

India's economy is largely domestic and firms which are part of the Nifty 50 index (.NSEI), opens new tab earn only 9% of revenue from the U.S. but the tariff hike to as high as 50% on exports to the world's largest economy presents a risk to economic growth.

Analysis by MUFG indicates that a sustained 50% tariff could cut India's GDP growth by 1 percentage point over time, with the biggest hit to employment-sensitive sectors such as textiles.

Looking to buoy domestic consumption, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently announced sweeping tax reforms to boost the economy in the face of a trade conflict with Washington.

"It's a little bit of an interesting time given what's happened with the tariffs that have been imposed on India," said Raisah Rasid, global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management.

Valuations are still elevated and "we could potentially see the tariff triggering a broad valuation re-rating downwards and make some of the domestic oriented stocks attractive," she said.


Earnings growth for Indian companies has been in single-digit percentages for five consecutive quarters, below the 15%–25% growth seen between 2020–21 and 2023–24.

Following the April-June earnings announcements, forward 12-month net income forecasts for automobiles and components, capital goods, food and beverages, and consumer durables sectors saw the deepest cuts in earnings estimates, each down about 1% or more, the data showed.

The government's plans to lower consumption taxes are also expected to boost the country's GDP growth. Economists at Standard Chartered pencil in a boost of 0.35-0.45 percentage points in the fiscal year ending in March 2027.

India's real GDP growth averaged 8.8% between fiscal 2022 and 2024, the highest in Asia-Pacific. It is projected to grow at 6.8% annually over the next three years.

Bank of America's latest fund manager survey shows that India has tumbled from the most-favoured to the least-preferred Asian equity market in just two months.

"After disappointing earnings growth of only 6% in 2024, the pace of recovery remains sluggish in 2025, as indicated by both the economic growth parameters and corporate earnings," said Rajat Agarwal, Asia equity strategist at Societe Generale.

Ofcourse, when tariff is imposed, some companies will be affected. US companies too are affected by India's counter measure.

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/india-pauses-plans-buy-us-arms-after-trumps-tariffs-2025-08-08/