India to attract $100 biilion FDI || Smart limb created by ISRO & More

Good Morning! Today is the first day of Navratri, which literally translates to nine nights in Sanskrit, and it is celebrated to worship Goddess Durga and her nine avatars known as Navdurga. Shubh Navratri!

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MARKET DATA

(Closed on account of Sunday)

ECONOMY

India on track to attract $100 billion FDI this fiscal: Govt

The Central government said on Saturday that India is on track to attract USD 100 billion in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the current fiscal on account of economic reforms and ease of doing business. In 2021-22, India received the "highest ever" foreign inflows of USD 83.6 billion.

The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in India can be made under two routes- automatic and government routes. Under the automatic route, the investor requires no or very less permissions from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) or from the Government of India to invest.

Under the government rules, permissions from the appropriate authorities of the government or the RBI are required to invest in the country.

The reform measures include liberalization of guidelines and regulations, in order to reduce unnecessary compliance burdens, bring down costs and enhance the ease of doing business in India, the statement added.

Meanwhile, during the April-June quarter of the current fiscal, FDI equity inflows in India dipped by 6% to $16.6 billion.

The government is also taking some strategic interventions in addressing the import of low-quality and hazardous toys and enhancing domestic manufacturing of toys, the statement added.

RETAIL

JioMart morphs into e-marketplace to take on Amazon and Flipkart

Key Facts:

• The digital commerce division of Reliance Retail has been adding more suppliers from various categories.

• The process of integrating third-party vendors has been underway for the past few months at India's largest retailer, significantly expanding its selection across various categories.

The Story:

As it prepares to compete with the likes of Amazon and Flipkart ahead of the festival season sales, Reliance Retail's digital commerce platform JioMart will morph into an e-marketplace offering multiple brands- from electronics, consumer durables, fashion and lifestyle, beauty, home, kitchen, and groceries.

JioMart announced in a press release that it would serve as a one-stop shop for all of its customers' buying needs this Diwali, from food to fashion.

Additionally, it stated that there would be exclusive discounts on consumer electronics and durables such as laptops, smartwatches, smartphones, high-definition smart TVs, and mobile accessories as well as additional offers on its own brands like Reliance Digital and Reliance Trends.

INDUSTRY

Exide to power up battery production in India

Key Facts:

• The country is the leader in the lead-acid battery market.

• The global demand for batteries is expected to increase from 185 GWh in 2020 to over 2,000 GWh by 2030.

• The global lithium-ion battery market was valued at some 40.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2020. It is projected that the market will grow at a GACR of 14.6 percent, reaching the size of almost 92 billion U.S. dollars in 2026.

• Exide has entered into a collaboration agreement with SVOLT Energy Technology Co Ltd (SVOLT) which makes and develops lithium-ion batteries and battery systems for EVs and energy storage.

The Story:

Exide Industries, an automotive and industrial battery maker, is eyeing to invest Rs 6,000 crore in the next 8-10 years to set up a 12 gigawatt-hour lithium-ion cell manufacturing unit in Karnataka. The first phase with a capacity of 6 gigawatt-hour is expected to be completed in 27-30 months, a report by BusinessLine (BL) stated.

One of Exide's subsidiaries, Nexcharge, makes lithium-ion battery packs and modules. It is one of the largest such units in India.

The company expects an annual revenue of Rs 10,000 crore- Rs 12,000 crore in the next 8-10 years from the lithium-ion cell business.

"It is difficult to say what percentage of the business lithium ion can comprise (in the future) as the lead acid business will also be growing," Subir Chakraborty, MD and CEO, Exide.

TECH

Google sees Russian Hackers coordinating in the Russia-Ukraine War

Key Facts:

• Russia is known to have the fastest hackers in the world.

• In 2021, the world had 4.1 million cybersecurity professionals, and the US alone has 1.1 million of them.

The Story:

Officials in the U.S. and Europe have warned throughout the war that Russian hackers could lash out against Ukraine’s allies by targeting critical infrastructure and governments with cyberattacks, but so far that has largely failed to materialize.

A growing body of evidence suggests that pro-Russian hackers and online activists are working with the country’s military intelligence agency, according to researchers at Google.

Combined with the other activity related to the war, this has created an unprecedented situation, Mandiant (Google’s cybersecurity group) said, in a report on the hacktivists set to be released on Friday. “We have never previously observed such a volume of cyberattacks, variety of threat actors, and coordination of effort within the same several months,” the report states.

Hacktivist groups have been around for more than a decade. Russian hacktivists launched a devastating online attack against Estonia in 2007 after Estonia removed a Soviet-era statue from its national capital, Tallinn. Banks, government websites and media companies were disrupted for about a week.

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Smart limb created by ISRO to aid the amputees

An artificial smart limb that the India Space Research Organization (ISRO) has created may enable amputees to walk more comfortably. A space technology offshoot that might soon be produced for commercial application is the prosthetic limb. It is anticipated that the smart will cost around ten times less.

Microprocessor-Controlled Knees (MPKs), a recently unveiled smart technology, provide additional capabilities for the amputee beyond those provided by passive limbs that do not use microprocessors. The smart limb, which weighs over 1.6 kilogrammes, according to Isro, allowed an amputee to move roughly 100 metres in the hallway without much assistance.

In accordance with an MoU with the National Institute for Locomotor Disabilities (NILD), the Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya National Institute for Persons with Physical Disabilities, and the Artificial Limb Manufacturing Corporation of India, these smart MPKs are being developed by the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), ISRO (ALIMCO). The smart limb is made up of a microprocessor, hydraulic damper, load and knee angle sensors, a composite knee-case, a Li-ion battery, an electrical harness, and interface components, according to an announcement from ISRO. The control software determines the real-time damping required to achieve the desired gait by adjusting the stiffness of the system after detecting the state of gait based on sensor data. "To increase comfort, walking settings that are specific to amputees can be modified using PC-based software. While walking, the interface graphs the parameters in real-time. Using an engineering model, the design's viability was assessed "In the statement, ISRO added. After receiving approval from the Joint Project Monitoring Committee for conducting walking trials, ISRO tested the technology on an amputee. "Initial walking tests were carried out with parallel bars for support. The amputee could then go around the corridor for roughly 100 meters with the least amount of assistance. The knee's entire mechanism functioned admirably "cited by the Indian space agency.

According to ISRO, the cost of the new technology is expected to be around Rs. 4-5 lakh, compared to Rs. 10–60 lakh for currently existing limbs.