New Delhi, April 1: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on a two-day visit to Thailand, beginning Thursday, for the sixth BIMSTEC Summit, during which he will meet his counterpart, Paetongtarn Shinawatra and hold bilateral ties.

During the visit, PM Modi will be enhancing India’s deep civilisational linkages, maritime connectivity, and cross-cultural exchanges with member countries of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit.

At the summit, themed ‘BIMSTEC – Prosperous, Resilient and Open’, the leaders are also expected to discuss various institutional and capacity-building measures to augment collaboration within the BIMSTEC framework, the Ministry of External Affairs said last week.

India has been taking several initiatives in BIMSTEC to strengthen regional cooperation and partnership, including in enhancing security; facilitating trade and investment; establishing physical, maritime and digital connectivity; collaborating in food, energy, climate and human security; promoting capacity building and skill development; and enhancing people-to-people ties,” read a statement issued by the MEA.

PM Modi’s visit to the South Asian country at the invitation of the Thai government is expected to strengthen ties and reaffirm India’s commitment to regional cooperation.

This would be the second meeting between PM Modi and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra.

Earlier, PM Modi visited Thailand in 2019, and this visit is expected to build on the positive momentum of bilateral relations.

The last BIMSTEC Summit was hosted by Colombo in virtual format.

Established in June 1997, the BIMSTEC regional grouping forms a unique link between South and South-East Asia with five members from South Asia – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka – and two from South-East Asia, including Myanmar and Thailand.

Thailand is India’s maritime neighbour, a valuable partner in the Act East policy and vision for the Indo-Pacific, and also a highly valued partner in BIMSTEC.

India and Thailand are maritime neighbours with shared civilisational bonds underpinned by cultural, linguistic, and religious ties.

Notably, India recently sent the holy relics of Lord Buddha and two of his main disciples for a 25-day exposition across five different cities of Thailand, and its unprecedented success cemented age-old ties between the two nations.

Mumbai, April 1: Indian equity indices opened lower on Tuesday and recovered in the early trade, as heavyweights like Bharti Airtel and ITC turned green.

At 9:44 am, Sensex was down just 3 points at 77,412, and the Nifty was up 23 points or 0.10 per cent at 23,542.

Markets were led by smallcap and midcap stocks. Nifty Midcap 100 index was up 309 points, or 0.67 per cent, at 52,017, and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index was up 88 points, or 0.55 per cent, at 16,184.

In the Sensex pack, ITC, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, M&M, Power Grid, NTPC, Adani Ports, Nestle, Tata Motors, SBI, UltraTech Cement and HUL were the top gainers. Infosys, TCS, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Sun Pharma, HCL Tech and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the top losers.

Selling pressure was being seen in IT stocks. The Nifty IT index was down by 1.37 per cent.

Apart from this, financial, pharma, FMCG, metal, realty and private bank indices were in the red. On the other hand, auto, PSU bank and energy were in the green.

Hardik Matalia, derivative analyst, Choice Broking said, “After a negative opening, Nifty can find support at 23,300 followed by 23,200 and 23,100. On the higher side, 23,550 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 23,650 and 23,800.”

“The charts of Bank Nifty indicate that it may get support at 51,300 followed by 51,000 and 50,700. If the index advances further, 51,700 would be the initial key resistance, followed by 52,000 and 52,200,” he added.

Almost all markets in Asia are in the green zone. Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, Bangkok and Hong Kong markets are in a boom. The US markets recovered from a seven-month low on Monday and closed with a one per cent gain.

After witnessing buying in the previous six sessions, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers on March 28 as they sold equities worth Rs 4,352 crore. On the other hand, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) continued their buying on the second day as they purchased equities of Rs 7,646 crore on the same day.

New Delhi, March 29: The objective of a taxi service based on cooperative model is to ensure democratic management by active participation of all members, and to ensure that maximum profit earned by such cooperative taxi society is distributed equitably among the taxi drivers who will be members of that society, the government has said.

India is home to over 8 lakh cooperative societies, serving nearly 30 crore members across 30 different sectors.

While replying to the discussion on Tribhuvan Sahkari University Bill, 2025 in the Lok Sabha, Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Amit Shah, said this week that in near future, a cooperative taxi service will be started, in which registration of two wheelers, taxis, rickshaws and four wheelers will be possible and the profit will go directly to the driver.

Based on principles of “Sahakar se Samriddhi”, a taxi-service cooperative will be formed by willing taxi drivers and the management will rest with the members of such society.

“Such an initiative will lead to overall prosperity and improving the income, working conditions, and standard of living for such taxi drivers/members of the cooperative society while providing better services to the consumers,” according to the ministry.

‘Sahkar’ or cooperation is a concept where a group of people voluntarily come together and form a cooperative society or Sahkari society based on mutual benefit and common economic interest.

Sahkari models of economic cooperation have been found to be more fruitful for its members, being more equitable and resulting in inclusive growth for all, like in the case of Amul.

These cooperatives play a crucial role in promoting self-reliance, financial inclusion, and rural development, particularly in agriculture, dairy, fisheries, banking, housing, consumer services, labour, sugar etc.

These cooperatives compete in the market alongside other players including private enterprises. The cooperatives are registered under the cooperative laws of the respective state/UT and societies which work in multiple states/UTs and are registered under the Multi State Cooperative Societies Act.

The government has promoted and assisted startups and other enterprises in the past for equitable and inclusive growth of the nation.