Mobile phones and TV sets manufactured in India would become cheaper with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing cuts in Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on import of their components but smokers would have to pay more as the government has increased taxes. Fully imported cars, including electric vehicles, and those assembled in India with imported parts [...]

The government plans to borrow a record Rs 15.4 lakh crore from dated securities in FY24 to meet its expenditure requirement to prop up the economy. This is higher than the total borrowing of Rs 14.21 lakh crore for the current financial year ending March 31, 2023. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Budget [...]

The defence budget was increased to Rs 5.94 lakh crore for 2023-24 from last year's allocation of Rs 5.25 lakh crore. In the Union Budget presented in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday, a total of Rs 1.62 lakh crore has been set aside for capital expenditure that includes purchasing new weapons, aircraft, [...]

The government on Wednesday announced 11 per cent hike in agriculture credit target to Rs 20 lakh crore for next fiscal year with focus on animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries. The agricultural credit target is Rs 18 lakh crore for the current 2022-23 fiscal. Among other big ticket announcements, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her [...]

A revamped credit guarantee scheme for MSMEs with an outlay of Rs 9,000 crore will be launched from April 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday. In her Budget 2023-24 presentation, she also said the Centre will launch the 'Dekho Apna Desh' initiative to promote domestic tourism. Further, the government will set up National [...]

The government is targeting 5 million tonnes (MT) of green hydrogen production by 2030, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Wednesday in her Budget speech. She also said that the Budget provides for Rs 35,000 crore for priority capital investment towards energy transition and net zero objectives. The government would support setting up of battery [...]

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday announced that Pradhan Mantri-Promotion of Alternate Nutrients for Agriculture Management Yojana (PM-PRANAM) will be launched to incentivise states to promote alternative fertilisers. The move would help to encourage states to reduce use of fertilisers. She said that 30 Skill India international centres will be be set up and Pradhan [...]

The government will bring another dispute resolution scheme under Vivad Se Vishwas-2 to settle commercial disputes, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday. Presenting the Budget 2023-24, she also said a one stop solution for reconciliation and updating of identity of individuals would be established. The Vivad Se Vishwas scheme provides for settlement of disputed [...]

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday announced launch of a new programme to promote research in pharmaceuticals with a view to promoting growth of the sector. She also said facilities in select ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) labs will be made available for research by public and private medical faculties. The domestic pharma industry [...]

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday listed seven priorities of Union Budget 2023-24, including infrastructure, green growth, financial sector and youth power. She said four transformative opportunities can be used in Amrit Kaal for enhancing economic empowerment. The finance minister said digital public infrastructure for agriculture will be built as open source, open standard and [...]

The government made cash transfer of Rs 2.2 lakh crore under the PM-KISAN scheme, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday. Presenting the last full Budget of the second term of the BJP-led NDA government ahead of the general elections in 2024, she said the mission of the government is to achieve knowledge-driven economy. She [...]

Leading stock exchange BSE on Tuesday said its mutual fund distribution platform StAR MF has processed a record 2.52 crore transactions worth Rs 34,923 crore in January. The exchange surpassed its all-time highest record transactions of 2.44 crore achieved in December 2022, the exchange said in a release. The value of transactions processed in January [...]

Equity benchmarks climbed in early trade on Wednesday amid an overall positive trend in the global markets and ahead of the presentation of Union Budget 2023-24. The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex jumped 516.97 points to 60,066.87. The broader NSE Nifty climbed 153.15 points to 17,815.30. From the Sensex pack, ICICI Bank, Tech Mahindra, Asian Paints, [...]

Digital payments across the country registered a growth of 24.13 per cent in a year through September 2022, as per RBI's index that measures the adoption of online transactions. The newly-constituted RBI's Digital Payments Index (RBI-DPI) stood at 377.46 in September 2022 against 349.30 in March 2022 and 304.06 in September 2021. "The RBI-DPI Index [...]

Increasing exports to markets such as Brazil, South Africa and Saudi Arabia are boosting the growth of the country's outbound shipments, FIEO said on Tuesday. Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President A Sakthivel said the Economic Survey has rightly highlighted India's growing and diversifying merchandise trade. "The new diversified markets, including those of Brazil, [...]

Asset management companies are set to move to a shorter redemption payment cycle of T+2 for equity schemes from Wednesday. At present, funds are transferred to investors' bank account within 3 days after the completion of the redemption process. Moving to the T+2 cycle for equity schemes will benefit mutual fund investors. Akhil Chaturvedi, Chief [...]

Goods and Services Tax collection is showing a higher buoyancy than the pre-GST system, auguring well for future resource mobilisation in the economy, the Economic Survey 2022-23 presented in Parliament said on Tuesday. Giving a 5-year analysis of tax collection pre and post-GST, the survey said the taxes which were subsumed in the Goods and [...]

The recent collapse of the crypto exchange FTX and the ensuing sell-off in the crypto markets have placed a spotlight on the vulnerabilities in the crypto ecosystem, the Economic Survey 2022-23 presented in Parliament said on Tuesday. Crypto assets are self-referential instruments and do not strictly pass the test of being a financial asset because [...]

The government's fiscal deficit as of end-December touched 59.8 per cent of the full-year Budget Estimate on subdued growth in revenue collections, according to finance ministry data released on Tuesday. In actual terms, the fiscal deficit -- which is the difference between expenditure and revenue -- was Rs 9,92,976 crore during the April-December period of [...]

Indian companies mobilised Rs 5.06 lakh crore through the equity and debt routes during April-November 2022, a drop of 8.5 per cent from the year-ago period, the Economic Survey 2022-23 said on Tuesday. Fund mobilisation through debt contributed a lion's share to the overall fund-raising during the period under review. Out of the cumulative Rs [...]

Healthy growth in the procurement of goods and services by central and state governments through GeM portal is helping the platform to catch up with global e-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart, the Economic Survey said on Tuesday. The Government e-Market (GeM) portal was launched on August 9, 2016 by the commerce ministry for online [...]

Production of eight infrastructure sectors rose at a three-month high of 7.4 per cent in December 2022 against 4.1 per cent in the same month of previous year on a better show by coal, fertiliser, steel, and electricity segments, according to the official data released on Tuesday. Crude oil output, however, contracted by 1.2 per [...]

Benefits of the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for as many as 14 sectors will help make domestic manufacturers globally competitive, attract investment in cutting-edge technology and make India an integral part of the global value chain, the Economic Survey said on Tuesday. The scheme will benefit the MSME ecosystem in the country, it said. [...]

The number of demat accounts rose to 10.6 crore in November 2022, a sharp surge of 39 per cent on yearly basis, Economic Survey 2022-23 said on Tuesday. However, the incremental additions of demat accounts have been on a declining trend during FY23 relative to FY22, probably because of the increased volatility in the secondary [...]

Leading fund house Axis Mutual Fund is looking to garner Rs 3,000 crore from the new fund offer, Axis business cycles fund, which will open for subscription from February 2. The open-ended equity scheme will follow business cycle-based investing theme, the fund house said on Tuesday. The new fund offer, which will be managed by [...]

Equity benchmarks ended with marginal gains on Tuesday as investors adopted a cautious approach ahead of the Union Budget presentation and the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision. Fag-end buying helped the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex settle with a gain of 49.49 points or 0.08 per cent at 59,549.90. During the day, the benchmark hit [...]

India's sugar production is estimated to fall 5 per cent during 2022-23 marketing year ending September to 340 lakh tonnes as more quantity of sugarcane juice is being diverted for production of ethanol, according to industry body ISMA. Sugar production stood at 358 lakh tonnes in the 2021-22 marketing year (October-September). In a statement, Indian [...]

The gross tax revenues have touched 65 per cent of the Budget estimates at Rs 17.81 lakh crore during the first eight months of the current fiscal till November, propelled by corporate and personal income tax mop-up, according to the Economic Survey 2022-23 presented in Parliament on Tuesday. The survey, authored by Chief Economic Advisor [...]

IndiaMART, one of the largest Indian e-commerce websites, along with four physical marketplaces in Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Mumbai have figured in the latest annual edition of the Notorious Markets List of the US. Released by the US Trade Representative (USTR) on Tuesday, the 2022 Notorious Markets List identifies 39 online and 33 physical markets [...]

India's overall gold demand remained resilient and witnessed a marginal decline of 2.92 per cent in 2022 at 774 tonnes notwithstanding a sharp increase in prices, and the outlook for this year looks bullish, the World Gold Council (WGC) said in a report on Tuesday. The overall gold demand in 2021 stood at 797.3 tonnes, [...]

Foreign direct investment into the country is expected to rebound in the coming months on account of India's high economic growth, and steps to further improve the business environment of India, the Economic Survey said on Tuesday. The rise in global uncertainty in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, FDI equity inflows in the manufacturing [...]

The Adani Group's entry into Israel through its strategic acquisition of the Haifa port will turn this northern coastal Israeli city into a strong and exciting Mediterranean hub, the city's mayor said on Tuesday. A consortium of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) and Israel's Gadot Group won the tender in July last year [...]

India has become the third-largest aviation market in the world and is growing rapidly, with the number of airports increasing to 147 from just 74 in 2014, President Droupadi Murmu said on Tuesday. She also said the Indian Railways is emerging as a modern institution and many inaccessible areas are being added to the rail [...]

Capital expenditure has started pushing private investment and the Budget target of Rs 7.5 lakh crore for the current financial year is likely to be met, the Economic Survey 2022-23 said. The capital expenditure (capex) of the central government which increased by 63.4 per cent year-on-year in the first eight months of FY23 was another [...]

India's solar module manufacturing capacity is expected to reach approximately 95 GW by the end of 2025, according to Mercom Capital. The solar module manufacturing capacity as of September last year was 39 gigawatt (GW), the research firm said in its latest report. "India's solar module manufacturing capacities announced...39 GW at the end of September [...]

Haryana's annual budget for 2023-24 will focus on promoting exports from the state, millet products and creating employment opportunities for the youth, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Monday. "By promoting exports, foreign exchange will come into the country and the economy of the state will be strengthened," he said while addressing the pre-budget [...]

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday said it is expecting some slowdown in the Indian economy next fiscal year and projected the growth to 6.1 percent from 6.8 percent during the current fiscal ending March 31. The IMF on Tuesday released the January update of its World Economic Outlook, according to which the global [...]

Inflation in India is expected to come down from 6.8 percent in the current fiscal year ending March 31 to 5 percent the next fiscal, and then drop further to 4 percent in 2024, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday. “Inflation in India as in other countries is expected to come down from [...]

Equity benchmarks declined in initial trade on Tuesday amid an overall weak trend in the global markets as investors adopted a cautious approach ahead of the Union Budget presentation and interest-rate decision from the Federal Reserve. Also, continuous foreign funds outflow played spoilsport for the markets. The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex declined 203.74 points to [...]

With Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman getting ready to present the last full budget of the Modi 2.0 government, expectations are high that she will meet the demands of all stakeholders, including the common man who is reeling under the price rise. The finance minister has held several rounds of discussions with various stakeholders, and final [...]

Capital markets regulator Sebi on Monday cancelled the registration of three entities -- Kaynet Capital, Kaynet Commodities and Kaynet Finance -- as stock brokers for not meeting the conditions required under intermediaries rules. In addition, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has cancelled the registration of Kaynet Capital as depository participant. Irrespective of [...]

Telecom players have started rolling out 5G services in select pockets but backhaul infrastructure will cost Rs 3 lakh crore over the next 4-5 years, according to ICRA. ICRA noted consistent "healthy improvement" in operating metrics of telcos but added that debt levels continue to remain high and seen at around Rs 6.3 lakh crore [...]

Unsold housing stocks dropped 10 per cent to 4,61,600 units across nine major cities at the end of the December on better sales, PropEquity said on Monday. According to its data, unsold housing inventories stood at 5,12,526 units at the end of the September quarter across these nine cities. "Despite many challenges ...home sales strongly [...]

Benchmark BSE Sensex and Nifty closed higher in a highly volatile trade on Monday, riding on the back of a recovery in IT, oil and financial stocks after a two-day fall. The 30-share Sensex recovered 169.51 points or 0.29 per cent to settle at 59,500.41. During the day, it rose by 313.34 points or 0.52 [...]

The first G20 Energy Transition Working Group(ETWG) meeting under India’s presidency will be organised in Bengaluru from February 5-7 wherein nine special invitee nations including Spain, the Netherlands and Singapore will take part. The meeting will have over 150 participants including G20 member countries, nine special invitee guest nations – Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, the Netherlands, [...]

Senior executives in India are expected to receive an average 9.1 per cent increase in their salaries this year, up from 8.9 per cent in 2022. According to leading global professional services firm Aon plc, the average CEO compensation was Rs 8.4 crore, and it has increased 21 per cent in the last four years, [...]

Retail commodity packages containing more than one pack, including gift and multi-piece packs, are required to mention all mandatory declarations including MRP, on the outer pack, according to the Consumer Affairs Ministry. In the latest directive, the ministry said, "It is observed that the mandatory information is not declared on a retail package containing more [...]

More than nine lakh vehicles, owned by central and state governments, transport corporations and public sector undertakings, that are older than 15 years will go off the road from April 1 and new vehicles will replace them, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said on Monday. Addressing an event organised by industry body FICCI, Gadkari said the [...]

The government has given six months more time till July 15 to edible oil makers, packers and importers to mention net quantity in terms of volume and weight on the labels instead of temperature at the time of packing, as part of efforts to curb unfair business practices. Earlier, the entities were given the deadline [...]