Two major foreign firms-Carrefour and Ford- are planning to re-enter the Indian market

1.Carrefour set to enter India through partnership with Apparel Group

French retail giant Carrefour is set to re-enter the Indian market through a strategic franchise partnership with Apparel Group, according to a release from Dubai’s leading retail and lifestyle player in India. Carrefour plans to open hypermarkets, supermarkets, and gourmet stores across the country.  

The partnership will initially introduce Carrefour’s exclusive brands in North India, with plans for nationwide expansion. The first store will open in the National Capital Region in 2025, although the specific format of the store has not yet been disclosed.

Carrefour first entered India in 2010 with cash-and-carry outlets but exited in 2014 due to restrictions on foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail.

2.Tamil Nadu, Ford Motor in talks to restart production eyeing global market

Two years after winding up its India production, global automobile giant Ford Motor Company is in talks with the Tamil Nadu government to restart operations at Maraimalai Nagar near Chennai, where it will focus on exports.

According to media reports, earlier in February, the global auto major was working on a return to the Indian market by using its manufacturing facility in Chennai for the production of hybrid and electric vehicles. 

In 2021, Ford exited the Indian market as it recorded a massive fall in sales but could be eyeing a return, its third to the Indian market, with a focus on EVs. 

3.JSW MG Motors launched its electric crossover sport utility vehicle (SUV) Windsor with a new and ‘disruptive’ pricing mode, assured buyback plan, lifetime battery warranty and free public charging for one years

Under this new battery-as-a-service (BaaS) pricing model, customers can purchase the Windsor at a starting price of Rs 9.99 lakh (ex-showroom) and then pay a battery usage fee of Rs 3.5 per kilometre (km).

The Windsor is a 4.29-metre-long crossover SUV, positioned in the same segment as Tata Motors’ recently launched electric SUV, which measures 4.31 metre. The Curvv EV is priced from Rs 17.49 lakh (ex-showroom).

4.Tata secures £500mn of state aid for UK’s largest steelworks; Financial Times

The UK government will commit £500mn of taxpayer aid to help Britain’s largest steelworks in south Wales move to greener forms of steelmaking, though the wide-ranging deal will still lead to the loss of about 2,500 jobs.

Under the agreement, Indian-owned Tata Steel will invest £750mn of its own money as the company closes its blast furnaces in Port Talbot and starts building an “electric arc furnace”, which is more environmentally friendly but less labour intensive.

Natarajan Chandrasekaran (Chandra), chair of the holding company for the Indian conglomerate, told the Financial Times in an interview on Tuesday that “however painful, it is the right step” to put the industry on a viable and sustainable path.

5.Good news for Mumbaikars! Now drive from Marine Drive to Bandra in just 10 minutes

The Coastal Road, estimated to cost about ₹14,000 crore, will provide a direct connection with the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, reducing the travel time.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde inaugurated the ‘bow-string’ arch bridge connecting the Coastal Road to Bandra-Worli Sea Link, shortening the travel time from nearly an hour to just 10 minutes and improving the overall commuting experience. The Coastal Road, estimated to cost about ₹14,000 crore, will provide a direct connection with the Bandra-Worli Sea Link. The inauguration of the arch bridge has come ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections.

A senior civic official said that northbound vehicles heading to Bandra from South Mumbai via the Coastal Road can directly enter the sea link between 7 am and 11 pm, while the southbound vehicles will have to take the existing route till both arms of the Coastal Road are connected with the sea link.

6.Britain’s National Health Service must reform or die:New Report

The National Health Service — a revered institution that politicians for decades have tried, fitfully, to modernise — is in “critical condition,” a new report warned. 

The NHS offers free health care to all Britons, but has struggled with limited budgets, an aging population, and a huge backlog from the pandemic. Prime Minister Keir Starmer will warn today that it must “reform or die,” the latest in a series of dire messages from the new government, ostensibly aimed at honestly setting out the stakes to voters but which analysts say also seeks to blame the prior Conservative government for Britain’s problems.

That narrative has its downsides, however, risking making Starmer “look powerless,” one senior journalist argued in The New Statesman.

7.Amazon is allowing Audible narrators to clone themselves with AI

 The company says performers will retain creative control over their AI voice and will be compensated on a ‘title-by-title basis.’

Amazon will begin inviting a small group of Audible narrators to train AI-generated voice clones of themselves this week, with the aim of speeding up audiobook production for the platform. The US-only beta test was announced on Audible’s creator marketplace and will be extended to rights holders like authors, agents, and publishers “later this year,” according to Amazon.

8.Neom:The World’s biggest construction project is a magnet for executives behaving badly;Wall Street Journal

Saudi Arabia’s Neom project is contending with corruption, worker deaths, racism and misogyny.

Neom, is Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s (MBS) signature initiative and it markets itself as “the land of the future, where the greatest minds and best talents are empowered to embody pioneering ideas."

In practice, the project has become a magnet for executives with checkered pasts and inappropriate workplace behaviour, according to current and former executives and documents, emails and recordings reviewed by the Journal. After three people died while working on the project, one executive reportedly commented: “You can’t train for stupidity.” Neom said it has zero tolerance for inappropriate workplace behavior.

MBS has made Neom the symbol of his ambitious reform program and is investing hundreds of billions of dollars of oil money building it, with plans to host the Asian Winter Games and the FIFA World Cup there. If Neom fails, the 39-year-old de facto ruler risks squandering his country’s wealth, and his reputation as a reformer.

Mohammed launched Neom to fast-track his kingdom into the modern world. He sectioned off a Massachusetts-sized parcel with plans for its own laws and a liberal, egalitarian environment to attract smart foreigners and businesses.

From Neom’s earliest conception, Mohammed was willing to back controversial executives to translate his bold ideas into reality.

These include a multitrillion-dollar pair of skyscrapers taller than the Empire State Building, designed to run 105 miles long and known as the Line. Neom is meant to be a logistics hub, a tourism destination and a world leader in health, media and renewable energy.