The country added 3.6 gigawatts (GW) of solar open access capacity in the first half of this year, a massive 153 per cent increase compared to the 1.4 GW installed in the same period last year, a report showed on Thursday.

The capacity added in the first half of 2024 surpassed the total annual installations of all prior years,

In the second quarter (Q2) of 2024, India added nearly 1.8 GW of solar open access capacity. Installations in Q2 were up 152 per cent (year-over-year) compared to 712.8 megawatts (MW) in Q2 2023.

Adani Green was the leading seller in the Green Day-Ahead Market (G-DAM), accounting for more than 29 per cent of electricity sold. As of June, the pipeline of solar open access projects was almost 23 GW.

"The demand for open access solar from industries and commercial units has been consistently increasing. Challenges in transmission infrastructure availability, supply chain issues due to ALMM, and lack of uniformity in state regulations are holding back the open access market from exponential growth.

The Centre on Thursday set the target of achieving 500 million tonnes of steel production by 2034, urging the industry to find new ways towards low emission, high productivity, high quality and the use of artificial intelligence (AI).

The country's crude steel production shot up by over 35 million tonnes in the last four years, from 109.14 million tonnes in 2019-20 to 144.30 million tonnes in 2023-24, as per the latest government data last month.

Addressing the ‘ISA Steel Conclave’ in the national capital, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, said the industry leaders should focus their energy on economies of scale through decarbonisation, as "green steel will be in more demand".

Domestic passenger traffic is set to witness 7-10 per cent growth (year-on-year) in FY25 as the Indian aviation industry is likely to navigate towards clearer skies, a report showed on Thursday.

Rating agency ICRA forecasts the domestic passenger traffic to reach 164-170 million in FY25.

It maintained a stable outlook on the Indian aviation industry, amidst the continued growth in domestic and international air passenger traffic, and a relatively stable cost environment.

The Telangana government on Thursday unveiled its vision of Artificial Intelligence City, an ambitious project that will come up on 200 acres near Hyderabad.

The state-of-the-art AI City will serve as a vibrant hub for the AI ecosystem, hosting an AI Advisory Council supported by an AI research and collaboration network, leading universities, global corporations, and innovative startups, as per the state government.

The AI City logo was unveiled by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy at Global AI Summit 2024, which began here on Thursday.

The IT Ministry on Thursday announced the second cohort of its startup accelerator where 125 early-age startups, selected and supported through potential accelerators, will be provided funding support and mentorship.

The last date to submit application under the Startup Accelerators of MeitY for Product Innovation, Development and Growth (SAMRIDH) is October 2.

In the first cohort, 22 accelerators from 12 states were selected through open calls for proposals. These accelerators then selected 5-10 startups each in the focused areas of health-tech, ed-tech, agri-tech, consumer-tech, fin-tech, software as a service (SaaS) and sustainability through a multi-level screening process.

As second cohort is part of the 100-day agenda of the government to select and support 125 startups through potential accelerators so as to achieve the target of nurturing 300 startups.

Buoyed by overall infrastructure growth and expanding commercial market, the hospitality investment sector in the country showed robust growth in the first half this year, according to a new report.

Hotel investment transactions reached $93 million and are expected to reach $413 million by year-end — a 22 per cent increase compared to last year, according to latest data from JLL Hotels and Hospitality Group

Top hotel companies led by contributing 44 per cent of the total transaction volume. It was followed by owner-operators at 30 per cent and high-net-worth individual (HNIs), family offices, and private hotel owners at 26 per cent.

In order to achieve a $30 trillion GDP by 2047, India will require a 20 times growth in the financial services sector, with banks playing a pivotal role, a report showed on Thursday.

Future growth will require $4 trillion of capital base in banks, one-third of which will have to be fresh capital deployment, according to the report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in association with FICCI and Indian Banks’ Association.

India's banking system is in a strong position today acting as an ideal launchpad for the ‘Viksit Bharat’ mission.

The Centre on Wednesday approved the Centralised Pension Payments System (CPPS) that will benefit more than 78 lakh people under the Employee Pension Scheme (EPS), which is part of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).

Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Labour and Employment, said that EPS pensioners can get pension from any bank, any branch, anywhere in India from January 1, 2025.

According to the ministry, there will also be no need for pensioners to visit the branch for any verification at the time of commencement of pension and the pension shall be immediately credited upon release.

In addition, EPFO expects a significant cost reduction in pension disbursement after moving to the new system.

“The approval of CPPS marks a significant milestone in modernisation of the EPFO. By enabling pensioners to receive their pensions from any bank, any branch, anywhere in the country, this initiative addresses the long-standing challenges faced by pensioners and ensures a seamless and efficient disbursement mechanism,” said the minister.

After three days of fall, Indian frontline indices Sensex and Nifty closed on a positive note on Wednesday after Bank of Japan (BoJ) Deputy Governor's comment that it won’t hike rates when markets are unstable, which led to optimism in the international markets as well.

At close on Wednesday, Sensex was at 79,468, up 874 points or 1.11 per cent, while Nifty was up 304 points or 1.27 per cent at 24,297.

On the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), 2,988 shares closed in the green, 945 shares in the red, and 98 shares without any change, which shows that the trend in the market remains positive.