NOVEMBER 20248INDIA AND SAUDI ARABIA TO EXPLORE COLLABORATIONS IN EMERGING SECTORSINDIA'S IRON ORE PRODUCTION RISES BY 5.5 PERCENT COMPARED TO PREVIOUS YEARIndia and Saudi Arabia are exploring collaboration in emerging fields like fintech, new technologies, energy efficiency, clean hydrogen, textiles and mining to further boost trade and investment ties, an official statement said on Friday. These areas were discussed during the recent visit of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal to Riyadh.He co-chaired the second meeting of the economy and investment committee under the India-Saudi Strategic Partnership Council (SPC) along with Minister of Energy, Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud on October 30 in Riyadh."Both countries are exploring collaboration in emerging fields like fintech, new technologies, energy efficiency, clean hydrogen, textiles, mining," the commerce and industry ministry said.During the Future Investment Initiative (FII) event, the minister urged global investors to seize emerging opportunities in India, particularly in high-growth sectors such as artificial intelligence, renewable energy, digital infrastructure and advanced manufacturing.India is the second largest trade partner for Saudi Arabia whereas Saudi Arabia is India's fourth largest trading partner.The bilateral trade between the two countries stood at $43 billion in 2023-24 against $53 billion in 2022-23. Over 2,700 Indian companies are registered as joint ventures/wholly-owned entities, with investments worth about USD 2 billion in the Kingdom.Saudi's direct investments in India amounted to $3.22 billion from April 2000 to June 2024. India iron-ore output in the first half of the current fiscal was 5.5 percent higher than a year ago. The country produced 135 million tonnes (MT) of the ore compared with 128 MT in the same period of the previous fiscal, the mines ministry said on Friday.Production of manganese ore was also higher compared with the first half of FY24-up by 6.2 percent to 1.7 MMT. India also reported higher coal output in October.Among non-ferrous metals, primary aluminium production in the months under review was higher by 1.2 percent from the corresponding period of last year to 20.90 lakh tonnes (LT). Output of refined copper was 4.6 percent higher at 2.50 LT.According to the ministry, India is the world's second-largest aluminium producer, among the top 10 producers of refined copper, and the fourth-largest iron ore producer."These growth trends point towards continued strong economic activity in user sectors such as energy, infrastructure, construction, automotive and machinery," a ministry statement said.Coal production last month reached 84.45 MT-- an increase of 7.48 percent from a year ago.Cumulative coal production for the fiscal up to October 2024 reached 537.45 MT, representing growth of 6.10 percent the coal ministry said in a statement. TOP STORIES
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