Page 11 - Banking Finance March 2025

ROUNDUP

After seeking opinion from the stake- More than 90% of FDI in India coming via automatic
holders and conducting a feasibility
study, the government will take a call route
on this, Joshi said. India remains a magnet for global investors, fuelled by its demographic ad-
Stakeholders from Gujarat, Karnataka vantage and the government's emphasis on 'Make in India', though skill de-
and other states requested the exten- velopment continues to demand attention, officials and industry leaders said
sion of mandatory hallmarking to silver, during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum.
the minister added. Speaking on the panel Arijit Barman, Amardeep Singh Bhatia, secretary, De-
BIS director general Pramod Kumar partment for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), said that
Tiwari said discussion with stakehold- the government is encouraging both domestic and foreign investments in
ers is on and the bureau could be ready India, with a focus on manufacturing in the country to serve both domestic
to implement mandatory silver hall- and international markets.
marking within 3-6 months. "Now, if you look at the FDI policy, we have liberalised the entire policy,
The move follows the successful imple- with almost all sectors under the automatic route. If you look at the trends
mentation of mandatory gold hall- of FDI coming in, more than 90% of our FDI is coming through the auto-
marking introduced in June 2021, matic route," he said.
which now covers 361 districts. Echoing Bhatia, Neeraj Aggarwal, chair Asia-Pacific, Boston Consulting Group
According to the minister, about 90% (BCG), said that manufacturing for the global market presents a significant
of jewellery being purchased is now opportunity for India while noting that India's digital infrastructure, espe-
hallmarked. More than 44.28 crore cially Unified Payment Interface (UPI), has become a "great poster child"
gold jewellery items have been hall- for India across the world.
marked with unique IDs since the
launch. elections 2024 and marginal growth Bengal Global Business Summit in
despite a major event like the 2024 Kolkata by Jayen Mehta, managing di-
India ranks 9th among top Men's T20 World Cup, said Parveen rector of Gujarat Cooperative Milk
Sheik, head of business intelligence, Marketing Federation (GCMMF), the
ad markets globally GroupM India. This, along with an in- body that markets dairy products un-
India's advertising industry is projected crease in raw material costs for con- der the brand name Amul.
to grow by 7 per cent year-on-year (Y- sumer-packaged goods and a less-than- The plant will have a capacity of 10
o-Y), or an increase of Rs 10,730 crore, expected festive boost, further im- lakh kg per day for manufacturing dahi,
to Rs 1,64,137 crore in 2025, as per a pacted overall advertising spending. mishti doi, yogurt, lassi and buttermilk.
report released by GroupM, the media
The digital medium is expected to gen- "This integrated dairy plant, which will
investment group under WPP.
erate an advertising revenue of Rs be the largest in eastern India, will also
Globally, India ranks ninth among the 99,137 crore in 2025. Sheik added that process and pack 15 lakh litres of milk
top advertising markets, with the US, this will be driven by artificial intelli- a day along with ice cream, flavoured
China, the UK, Japan, and Germany gence, commerce, retail, media, and milk, paneer, ghee and UHT milk,"
leading the list. hyper-personalisation marketing. Mehta told.
"As global ad spend surpasses $1 tril- The state-of-the-art Amul Bengal Dairy
lion, India emerges as a top four Amul to set up world's plant is being set up at Sankrail Food
growth market, with digital now ac- largest curd plant in Park in Howrah near Kolkata with an
counting for over 60 per cent of ad investment of Rs 600 crore in two
spend," said Prasanth Kumar, chief Howrah for Rs. 600 crore phases by Anandbased Kaira District
executive officer, GroupM South Asia. Dairy giant Amul will set up the world's Cooperative Milk Producers Union Lim-
In 2024, India's advertising spending largest curd manufacturing plant near ited, popularly known as Amul Dairy.
was impacted by lower election-re- Kolkata in West Bengal. Amul Dairy is a member of GCMMF.
lated ad spending during the Lok Sabha The announcement was made at the "The consumers of Bengal have a

10 | 2025 | MARCH | BANKING FINANCE