Cabinet approves ₹10,372 cr. AI corpus
With imports from China and Vietnam rising since last October, India is likely to be a net finishedsteel importer in 202324 after a gap of five years, and is likely to remain so in the coming year as well unless the external demand environment improves meaningfully, rating agency ICRA has said.
Moreover, domestic steel consumption growth is expected to slide to 7%8% after three years of doubledigit growth, down from about 12%13% this year, while higher input costs and soft steel prices will squeeze operating profit for margins for producers by 110115 basis points
The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a ₹10,371.92 crore corpus to fund Artificial Intelligence computing infrastructure and startups in the AI space. This corpus would provide viability gap funding, subsidise projects that may face steeper costs for setting up datacentres and other such facilities.
It will also contribute to application development for government use.
The corpus is the Centre’s largest direct investment in AI, even as efforts to bring more semiconductor fabrication, design and assembly facilities are underway.
The corpus will be disin 202425, according to a ICRA research note.
Domestic demand has already been slowing over December and January, when it grew just 6.5%, after six months of about 16% growth.
“While these are early bursed through the India AI Mission launched last year. “In the Artificial Intelligence area, the progress and solutions from India will be strengthened,” Union Commerce and Industries Minister Piyush Goyal said announcing the corpus. “Graphics Processor Units will be made in PublicPrivate Partnership (PPP) mode,” Mr. Goyal added. trends, the numbers nonetheless hint at demand remaining soft over the next two quarters as the government spending moderates around the election period,” remarked Jayanta Roy, Senior VicePresident and Group Head of Corporate Sector Ratings at ICRA.
On the external front, steelmakers remain on tenterhooks, ICRA said, as multiple structural headwinds in China have propelled its steel exports to a sevenyear high in 2023.
“With most other large steelconsuming hubs globally also facing subpar economic activities in the near term, global steel trade flows have been increasingly redirected to highgrowth markets like India,” ICRA said.