Mumbai, May 17: The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) to enhance opportunities for clean energy startups in India, Ministry of Commerce and Industry announced on Saturday.

Sanjiv, Joint Secretary, DPIIT said the collaboration will help startups scale technologies that support India’s long-term net-zero goals.

“India’s climate leadership depended on a strong entrepreneurial base. The partnership would open significant opportunities for clean energy startups to scale technologies that support the country’s long-term net-zero objectives,” he stated.

Under the two-year partnership, both organisations aim to boost innovation, sustainability, and entrepreneurship in the clean energy and manufacturing sectors.

The initiative will support early-stage climate-tech startups by helping them access funding, mentorship, pilot projects, and market connections. There is also a provision to extend the partnership beyond the initial term.

As part of the MoU, GEAPP will launch the Energy Transitions Innovation Challenge (ENTICE) — a platform that will offer up to $500,000 in rewards for impactful clean energy solutions.

Investment support will be provided through partners such as Spectrum Impact and Avana Capital.

DPIIT will help link the programme with the Startup India network and ensure its reach through various government schemes.

Sanjiv said India’s leadership in climate action depends on building a strong entrepreneurial base and added that this partnership is a step in that direction.

Saurabh Kumar, Vice President – India at GEAPP, called the MoU a key milestone to drive systemic change.

He said the combined strengths of GEAPP’s global experience, DPIIT’s institutional backing, and Startup India’s network would create new avenues for clean energy innovation in the country.

The agreement was signed by Dr Sumeet Jarangal and Saurabh Kumar in the presence of senior officials from both organisations.

New Delhi, May 16: More than 125 top trade leaders from across the country on Friday resolved to boycott all forms of trade and commercial engagement with Turkey and Azerbaijan, including travel and tourism.

The trade leaders also appealed to the Indian film Industry not to undertake shooting of any film in Turkey or Azerbaijan and if any shooting is done, the business community and the people would boycott such films. The resolution also warns corporate houses not to shoot any product promotion film in Turkey or Azerbaijan.

The decision was taken at a National Conference of Trade Leaders convened by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) here, where representatives from 24 states participated. It was strongly affirmed in the conference to stand in solidarity with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and to oppose stoutly anyone against India at this crucial juncture.

The resolution comes in response to the recent stand taken by Turkey and Azerbaijan in open support of Pakistan, at a time when India is facing a sensitive and critical national security situation. The collective Indian trading community views this as a betrayal, particularly considering the humanitarian and diplomatic support extended to both these countries in the past by India.

Addressing the gathering, CAIT Secretary General and Member of Parliament Praveen Khandelwal said: “It is deeply unfortunate that Turkey and Azerbaijan, who have benefited from India’s goodwill, aid, and strategic support in times of distress, have now chosen to side with Pakistan — a country known globally for its support to terrorism. Their position not only hurts India’s sovereignty and national interest but also directly insults the sentiments of 140 crore Indians.”

The conference noted that Turkey’s repeated anti-India rhetoric at international platforms and its continued support for Pakistan’s narrative is unacceptable whereas Azerbaijan’s alignment with Turkey and public endorsements of Pakistan’s stand reflect a disturbing disregard for India’s long-standing friendship and assistance.

CAIT National President BC Bhartia said the the traders’ community expressed strong resentment and disappointment against both countries, calling their actions “ungrateful and hostile.” It was unanimously agreed that such nations do not deserve any economic cooperation or trade advantage from India.

The trade leaders acclaimed the decision of the government for revoking security clearance for Turkish company Celebi in the interest of national security which is handling services at nine major airports of India.

CAIT said it will also launch a nationwide awareness campaign to educate and mobilise traders, consumers, and travel professionals to join this boycott.

Mumbai, May 16: Economists expect the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) dividend to the government to surpass a record over Rs 2.5 lakh crore this year as the central bank earnings, through the sale of dollars to prop up the rupee as it sharply depreciated during 2024-25, are reported to have shot up. This higher profit will be transferred to the government as a dividend in 2025-26.

The previous record dividend transferred to the government stands at Rs 2.1 lakh crore during 2024-25 which helped to keep the fiscal deficit in check, while enabling the Finance Ministry to continue with its expenditure on big ticket infrastructure projects to spur growth and social welfare schemes to uplift the poor.

This was a record jump from the Rs 87,416 crore transferred to the government in 2023-24 for the profit made in 2022-23. Similarly, the government is expected to get another booster shot through the RBI dividend in the current financial year as well.

“Among the RBI’s earnings, forex transactions are expected to be most significant in light of the in light of the central bank’s measures to lower rupee volatility by strong dollar purchases earlier in fiscal 2025 and difference in the current versus historical exchange rate. Add to this the interest income on government securities and earnings from funds extended to banks in midst of previous tight liquidity. “This transfer could amount to a record high at around Rs 2.5-2.7 lakh crore this year,” said Radhika Rao, senior economist at DBS Bank.

Earnings on forex transactions are expected to be substantial with gross dollar sales tracking at $371.6 billion in fiscal 2025 till February compared to $153 billion in fiscal 2024, according to Gaura Sengupta, chief economist at IDFC First bank. She estimates the RBI dividend to be between Rs 2.6 lakh crore to Rs 3 lakh crore, according to an Media report.

The higher dividend creates fiscal space of 0.1 per cent to 0.2 per cent of GDP, estimates Sengupta. With support from the higher-than-budgeted RBI surplus and savings on a few expenditure heads, the central government is in a fairly strong position to counter the growth slowdown risks and any potential emergency spending requirements.

Apart from helping to lower the fiscal deficit, the RBI dividend will be a significant infusion to core liquidity in the banking system during the current financial year. This will help to keep interest rates low and allow banks to extend more loans to corporates and consumers to accelerate economic growth and create more jobs.

The RBI board of directors met on Thursday to review the economic capital framework which is the basis for deciding the surplus transfer or amount of dividend to be given to the government. The meeting comes ahead of deciding and approving the surplus transfer to the government.

The transferable surplus is determined on the basis of the ECF adopted by the Reserve Bank on August 26, 2019, as per recommendations of the Bimal Jalan-headed Expert Committee to Review the extant Economic Capital Framework of the RBI.

The Committee had recommended that the risk provisioning under the Contingent Risk Buffer (CRB) be maintained within a range of 6.5 to 5.5 per cent of the RBI’s balance sheet.