India’s exports rose for the first time in 14 months as recovery in the global economy boosted year-end holiday demand for the South Asian nation’s products.
Overseas shipments increased 18.2 percent to US$13.2 billion in November from a year earlier after sliding an average 21 percent per month since October 2008, according to a trade ministry statement. Imports fell 2.6 percent to US$22.8 billion in November, resulting in the trade deficit narrowing to US$9.6 billion from US$12.3 billion a year ago.
QUICKEST PACE
A return to export growth may boost production at companies in India and bolster the revival in Asia’s third-biggest economy, which expanded 7.9 percent in the three months to Sept. 30 from a year earlier, the quickest pace in six quarters.
Some sectors have started showing signs of improvement. Overseas sales of Indian gems and jewelry jumped 54.8 percent to US$21.4 billion in November compared with US$13.8 billion in the same month a year ago, according to the Gem & Jewelry Export Promotion Council. Vehicle exports rose 25 percent in November from a year earlier, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers said on Dec. 8.
STRENGTHENED
The Indian currency strengthened 4.8 percent last year to 46.5275 per dollar at the 5pm close in Mumbai on Thursday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That was the third-best performance among Asian currencies after Indonesia’s rupiah and the South Korean won.
The rupee gained as foreign funds raised their holdings of the nation’s stocks to a record as the benchmark Sensitive Index rallied the most in 18 years.The Indian stock market was closed yesterday.
Non-oil imports dropped 5.9 percent to US$16.5 billion in November from a year ago, while oil imports rose 7.3 percent to US$6.38 billion in the same month, the government report showed.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San