‘India can lead on sustainability initiatives for entire Asia-Paci c’
Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Co. Ltd. (Chola MS) posted a 23% YoY growth in gross written premium (GWP) to ₹7,598 crore for FY24.
Chola MS recorded a pro t before tax of ₹444 crore against ₹264 crore. During the fourth quarter, it recorded a GWP of ₹2,020 crore and PBT of ₹91 crore, the Murugappa group rm said.
The investment corpus crossed ₹16,811 crore with growth in investment income. Solvency margin stood at 1.79 times against the regulatory minimum of 1.5 times, Chola MS said.
India is uniquely positioned to lead on climate change, drive sustainability and ESG initiatives for the entire Asia-Paci c, said Paul Marriott, President, SAP Asia-Paci c and Japan.
“The Asian market represents more than 50% of global emissions, and as one of the fastest growing hotbeds of innovation and economic activity in the region, India is in a unique position to lead against climate change,” he said speaking at the company’s annual tech exposition, SAP NOW India 2024.
Mr. Marriott, a technocrat with a master’s in AI, said it was encouraging to
The escalating geopolitical tensions may have implications for the country’s exports as it is likely to impact global demand, apex exporters’ body FIEO said.
The uncertainties caused by the continuing war between Russia and Ukraine impacted India’s outbound shipments in 2023-24, which recorded a dip of 3.11% to $437 billion. Imports too slid by more than 8% to $677.24 billion.
“If the global situation continues to be like this, it will impact global demand,” said FIEO Director General Ajay Sahai said. “In the rst quarter numbers, the demand slowdown may be visible.” see several Indian rms recognizing the need to embrace investing in sustainability and ESG activities.
Sounding con dent, Mr. Marriott said strong leadership, young talent, sprawling AI and start-up landscape and innovation capabilities across businesses would aid India reach its $30 trillion GDP goal by 2047.
He added that freight rates were softening, giving an indication that demand may be impacted in the times to come.
He also said that India’s rupee depreciated only about 1.3% during 2023-24 as against Chinese Yuan’s 4.8%, Thai Baht’s 6.3% and Malaysian Ringgit’s 7%.
The FIEO DG suggested the government take certain steps for exporters on the liquidity front.
“It is a staggering 10 times from today, but it is possible with the kind of innovations we are seeing in businesses across all the segments,” he said.
He said SAP, the German cloud software rm, is investing signi cantly in India to empower cuttingedge technology to give businesses the next big opportunity in an AI era.
Citing a recent SAP study, he said 86% of Indian
rms saw a positive correlation between sustainability and pro tability, leading to greater investments in sustainability. He added that we must integrate carbon and nancial data to inform decision-making.
(The writer was invited by SAP India to the event)
“Due to demand slowdown, o take of goods will be low so foreign buyers will also take a longer period to make payments. So we require funds for a longer period. Exporters also need interest subvention support,” Mr. Sahai said.
He sought continuation of interest equalisation scheme. On December 8, the Union Cabinet approved an additional allocation of ₹2,500 crore for the continuation of the scheme up to June 30.
The scheme helps exporters from identi ed sectors and MSME manufacturer exporters to avail competitive rates on preand post-shipment rupee export credit. “The rates should be enhanced to 3% and 5%,” Mr. Sahai added.