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New Delhi, Mar 28 (PTI) The output of eight key infrastructure sectors slowed down to a five-month low of 2.9 per cent in February, as against 7.1 per cent growth registered a year ago, according to official data released on Friday.

On a monthly basis, the production growth of the core sectors was lower than the 5.1 per cent expansion recorded in January.

The previous low level of growth at 2.4 per cent was recorded in September 2024.

In February, production of crude oil and natural gas recorded a negative growth.

The production growth of coal, refinery products, steel and electricity moderated to 1.7 per cent, 0.8 per cent, 5.6 per cent, and 2.8 per cent, respectively, against 11.6 per cent, 2.6 per cent, 9.4 per cent and 7.6 per cent in February last year.

However, fertiliser and cement output rose to 10.2 per cent and 10.5 per cent, respectively, during the month under review.

The growth of core sectors -- coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity -- was 4.4 per cent during April-February this fiscal. It was 7.8 per cent in the same period last fiscal.

The eight core sectors contribute 40.27 per cent to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), which measures overall industrial growth.

Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist, Head - Research & Outreach, ICRA Limited said, "The core sector growth moderated to a five-month low of 2.9 per cent in February 2025 from 5.1 per cent in January 2025, although this was partly on account of the leap year-related high base.

"As many as five of the eight indicators including coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery and cement output, recorded a weaker YoY performance in February 2025 vis-à-vis the previous month. Given these trends, we expect the IIP growth to ease to 3.0-3.5 per cent in February 2025 from 5.0 per cent in January 2025." PTI RR MR

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New Delhi, Mar 28 (PTI) The US plan to impose reciprocal tariffs will not have much impact on India and create several opportunities for the country, Niti Aayog Programme Director Pravakar Sahoo said on Friday.

Compared to Mexico, China and Canada, which account for 50 per cent of America's total imports, India is favourably placed, he added.

"We are looking at the data at a very dis-segregated level...these are preliminary results, but I can just give you the overview that we are not going to lose. This reciprocal tariff is not going to affect except very specific sectors and in fact, there are opportunities to really capture," he added.

Sahoo was speaking after the release of the second edition of Niti Aayog's quarterly trade watch.

He said that a detailed analysis of the reciprocal tariff plan's impact on India will be presented in the next edition of the report.

The three main competitors in the US market are - Canada, Mexico and China. They account for 50 per cent of the USA's total imports of USD 3.1 trillion. These countries are going to face tariffs in the range of 20-25 per cent.

"So, if we compare our position...and post-imposition of these tariffs on our competitors in the US market, we are much much better off," he said.

The US has imposed 25 per cent import duties on steel and aluminium products from March 12 and it has also announced a sweeping 25 per cent tariff on completely built vehicles (CBUs) and auto parts, a move set to take effect on April 3.

US President Donald Trump has announced imposing reciprocal tariffs in April on America's key trading partners, including India. He has on multiple forums stated that India imposes high tariffs on US goods. The US has already imposed duties on China.

A team of US officials, headed by Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch, is here for negotiations on the proposed bilateral trade agreement with India. The negotiations are likely to conclude on Saturday.

India and the US are aiming to conclude the first phase or tranche of the agreement by the fall of 2025 (September-October). They have also set a target to more than double the bilateral trade to USD 500 billion by 2030 from the current over USD 190 billion.

After the imposition of duties by the US in 2018, the share of China in US imports has declined.

Speaking at the event, Niti Aayog member Arvind Virmani said five countries gained from that - Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Mexico and India.

He suggested looking for trade agreements with those countries with large shares of manufacturing, which are sources of FDI and headquarters of MNCs, as they can act as lead anchor investors.

"The top countries in this context are the US, EU, Japan, UK and S Korea," he said.

According to the Trade Watch, India is one of the top 10 world exporters but holds only a 4 per cent share in global trade.

It added that the country's textile exports are highly concentrated in a few product categories.

India is well-positioned to capitalise on the Bangladesh situation by expanding its presence in key textile segments, particularly in manmade fibre (MMF) textiles, technical textiles, and value-added apparel, it added.

"By strengthening supply chains, enhancing MMF production, and ensuring seamless port operations, India can position itself as a reliable alternative for global buyers looking to diversify their textile sourcing," it added.

China dominates global textile exports, leading in manmade textiles (50 per cent), technical textiles, and traditional segments, such as cotton and carpets.

"India's dependence on China for synthetic fibre and technical textile raw materials

presents a challenge for expanding exports," it said.

The report also said the global trade landscape is increasingly being shaped by geopolitical shifts.

"Tariffs now being the main factor dictating trade patterns. While they may offer short-term relief, they raise costs, distort resource allocation, and weaken long-term competitiveness across countries," it said, adding that the ongoing trade policy shifts continue to reshape India’s economic strategy, bringing both challenges and opportunities. PTI RR CS RR BAL

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New Delhi, Mar 28 (PTI) Over 4.6 crore farmers have been given IDs so far under the digital agriculture mission and efforts are on to help remaining farmers get registered under such digital IDs, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan told the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

Replying to supplementaries, the minister said as many as 7,708 lakh farmers have so far received insurance cover under the PM Fasal Bima Yojna and farmers have received claims of Rs 1.74 lakh crore since 2016 under the scheme which has now emerged as the world's largest crop insurance scheme.

Chouhan termed the digital agriculture mission as a "revolutionary step" which will help change the lives of India's farmers in the country.

"Over 4.6 crore farmers have already got their farmer IDs made and efforts are being made fast with the help of states to get the remaining farmers across the country get such IDs. I urge members also to help in getting the farmer IDs made," he said in the upper house.

On the PM Fasal Bima Yojna, he said farmers on their own get insurance of their crops and informed the house that loanee as well as non-loanee farmers have started getting crop insurance under the scheme.

"I am happy to inform you that the Fasal Bima Yojna has today become the world's largest crop insurance scheme. The scheme was launched in 2016 and so far 7,708 lakh farmers have received insurance cover under the scheme.

"Farmers have made crop insurance claims of Rs 1,74,432 crore under the scheme, even though the farmer's premium was only Rs 32,000 crore. This is PM Narendra Modi government that against Rs 32,000 crore premium, a total of 1.74 lakh crore has gone into farmers' accounts as claims," the minister told members.

Chouhan said had these schemes been there during previous governments then farmers would not have suffered. The previous governments never thought about the plight of farmers, he lamented.

The previous governments had made fun of villages, asking how could POS machines function there without power, he noted.

Common people are getting digitally aware and are using digital technology under PM Modi's government, which has brought in digital revolution and farmers are benefitting from it, the agriculture minister said.

In his written reply, he said the government has approved the Digital Agriculture Mission in September 2024 with a total outlay of Rs 2,817 crore.

"The Mission envisages the creation of a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for Agriculture such as AgriStack, Krishi Decision Support System, and a comprehensive Soil Fertility & Profile Map to enable a robust digital agriculture ecosystem in the country. This, in turn, would drive innovative farmer-centric digital solutions and make reliable crop-related information available to all the farmers on time. The AgriStack DPI consists of three foundational registries or databases associated with the agriculture sector, i.e., Geo- Referenced Village Maps, Crop Sown Registry and the Farmers Registry - all created and maintained by the State Governments/ Union Territories.

"The Geo-Referenced Village Maps are location-based digital maps created by using Satellite and GIS technology. The Crop Sown Registry has been created through the Digital Crop Survey (DCS). Under DCS, details of crop sown in a plot of land, viz. the type of Crop, Area of the plot covered by the crop, irrigation particulars, if any, among others are also captured," he said.

The database, thus, created provides an accurate, real-time crop-area information for every plot of land, he noted.

The Farmers Registry has been envisaged as a dynamic, accurate, verified and approved database of farmers created and managed by the states/Union Territories. It provides for comprehensive and useful data on farmers comprising of authenticated demographic details, land holdings, family details, crops sown, soil health, livestock owned, fishery assets owned and other vocations, the minister said.

"It enables the farmers to digitally identify and authenticate themselves for accessing various benefits and services associated with the agriculture and allied activities viz. credit, insurance, procurement, marketing facilities etc," he noted. PTI SKC HVA

Mumbai, Mar 28 (PTI) Bajaj Electricals on Friday announced the appointment of Sanjay Sachdeva as its chief executive and managing director from April 15.

Sachdeva joins the consumer appliances company after an over three-decade stint with the Unilever group and was working as the chief executive and managing director of its Japan unit in his last assignment, as per an official statement.

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PVR Inox multiplex to host comedy show in April

Amid concerns over low footfalls in theatres for movie watching, PVR Inox on Friday announced that one of its multiplexes in south central Mumbai will be hosting live comedy shows in April.

The multiplex at Phoenix Palladium Mall will be having shows of artists, including Aditi Mittal and Varun Thakur, as part of the shows, announcement for which comes days after a venue hosting comedy shows was vandalized by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's supporters.

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Private sector lender Karun Vysya Bank on Friday announced the opening of four branches in south India, which takes the overall network to 888 branches.

It has opened branches in Kumbakonam, Visakhapatnam, Kannampalayam and Alapakkam, as per an official statement.

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Jiostar on Friday said opening weekend of Tata IPL cricket tournament witnessed a cumulative watch time of 4,956 crore minutes across Jiohotstar and Star Sports Network.

Jiohotstar registered highest-ever reach for the opening weekend of the tournament with 137 crore views, as per an official statement. PTI AA

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Gurugram, Mar 28 (PTI) Seeking to consolidate its position in the high growth low-cost segment, Air India Express aims to carry 30 million passengers in the next fiscal year, plans to have more virtual interline partnerships and offer only economy class seats in all its planes after cabin standardisation.

The Tata Group-owned airline, which currently has a fleet of 104 planes and over 485 daily flights, is focused on deepening its network and expects to add 15 more aircraft in the next financial year. These will include nine white-tail Boeing 737s.

Elaborating on the airline's strategy, its Managing Director Aloke Singh on Friday said the airline has seen significant growth and has carried more than 20 million passengers this fiscal year. The count is projected to rise to 30 million in 2025-26.

The airline's overall weekly departures have increased 50 per cent to 2,727 in the 2025 summer schedule from 1,825 in the year-ago period. The number of destinations will be increased to 54.

The summer schedule of 2025 will be from March 29 to October 25 next year.

While the number of routes has grown significantly, the number of stations has not grown as much. It is the broad strategy that let's look at depth before breadth, Singh said at a briefing.

Among other initiatives, Singh said the airline will look to have more virtual interline partnerships with foreign low-cost carriers and there are six such partnerships at present.

Also, it will look to deepen some of the partnerships to ensure so that the physical transfer is also seamless for the passengers through the virtual interline arrangement.

The virtual interline platform 'AIX Connect' enables travellers to book self-connected itineraries between flights of Air India Express and those of the partner airline.

Meanwhile, the standardisation of its cabins will start in the next fiscal year wherein all planes will only have economy class seats by the first quarter of 2026-27 financial year.

At present, there are business class seats and premium economy seats in many of its aircraft.

For the domestic India market, Singh said certainly all-economy product is better served under Air India Express.

"We expect the last deliveries of the white tails by the first quarter of the next financial year. That will complete the 50 deliveries of Boeing 737-8s," he said.

Of the total 50, over 40 planes will have business class seats.

Generally, white tail planes are those that were originally manufactured for a particular airline and later taken by another airline.

"Delivery delays are also getting offset by the transfers within the Air India Group. In any case, broadly it is what we had envisaged... some aircraft are moving from Air India to our fleet. The idea is to have the fleet fungible and the crew should be able to move seamlessly...," he said.

According to the Air India Express chief, the capacity that is expected to come into the market over the next several years in all probability will stay ahead of demand.

"There is a large amount of capacity that is already coming in. In the short term, we might not have a perfect correlation between demand and capacity... over a period of time, there will be a fair amount of capacity," he noted.

Amid persisting concerns over airfares in the country, Singh said the ticket prices offered by Air India Express are extremely competitive and there can be great bargains if the travel is planned smartly.

"There will always be spurts of demand where capacity may not be able to meet. That is where the self-regulation aspect comes in," he said.

Responding to a query, Singh said geopolitical developments and fuel prices could be the headwinds. PTI RAM TRB