Centre Financial News

₹200 price decrease on household cooking gas cylinders, relieving the oil marketing companies of the impending loss of ₹7,500 crore. As a gift for the women in advance of Raksha Bandhan, the Union Cabinet on Tuesday lowered by 200 rupees the price of a 14.2 kilogramme LPG cooking gas cylinder. The decision was made as criticism of the Centre for its handling of rising inflation has grown.

Flight Centre expects a return to “more favourable dynamics for travellers” after reporting record performance in corporate travel, taking its total sales to their second-highest level ever.

Debate over a caste-based survey in Bihar continued this week with the BJP-led NDA taking potshots at the Nitish Kumar government. The Centre informed the Supreme Court on Monday that it was the only entity that could conduct a census. Meanwhile the Chief Minister and his deputy have continued to stress the difference between a census and a survey.

NEW DELHI : The ministry of heavy industries (MHI) may combine the standards required for the FAME-II and production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for advanced automotive technologies as it weighs the contours of the next phase of its plan to push manufacturing of hybrid and electric vehicles, a senior government official said on Tuesday. The move is seen as a way to streamline processes for auto and auto parts makers who currently have to obtain separate certifications from government-affiliated testing agencies in order to qualify for incentives under FAME-II and the PLI for auto, Kamran Rizvi, secretary, MHI said. The government schemes as they currently stand, including Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME), make for cumbersome form-filling for manufacturers.

NEW DELHI : Underlining that restoration of democracy in Jammu and Kashmir is “very important", the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Union government to indicate a timeframe to restore the statehood of J&K, prompting the Centre to seek 48 hours for making what it called a “positive statement" in this regard. “The government has to make that statement before us that its (J&K’s) progression back to state has to take place.

Heavy Industries, Mahendra Nath Pandey said, “Changes will be made to enable quarterly disbursal of fiscal incentives, addition of more testing agencies for faster clearances, and extending the PLI scheme benefits by a year after consultation with stakeholders.” He was speaking at review meeting under PLI Auto scheme which saw participation from industry representatives. ET had reported earlier this week that the PLI scheme may be extended by a year. These measures are likely to help in better implementation of the 25,938 crore PLI Scheme for Automobile and Auto Component Industry. Applicants under scheme had proposed investment of Rs 67,690 crore, of which Rs.10,755 crore has been invested till June-end this year, an official statement said. Also speaking at the event, Minister of State for Heavy Industry, Krishan Pal Gurjar said the auto industry contributes nearly 7% to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

₹50 lakh to startups and individuals engaged in technical textiles, the ministry of textiles said in a statement on Tuesday. The scheme, called Grant for Research and Entrepreneurship across Aspiring Innovators in Technical Textiles (GREAT), provides the grant-in-aid for up to a period of 18 months.

The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday, while hearing the Article 370 case, asked the Centre to indicate if there is a time frame to restore the statehood for Jammu and Kashmir.

India tries to boost domestic supplies of food grains and onions by restricting exports through levying customs duty and other steps, exporters and government officials are divided on what is the correct market price of the commodities on which the tax is calculated. The lack of a proper system to calculate the tax, say both sides, is being misused by some traders for under-invoicing to nullify the impact of customs duty and illegal shipment of banned commodities. At present, customs duty is calculated on the value of the commodity shown by the exporter in the invoice. “The value of onions shown by some exporters at Kolkata is $150/tonne, while the transport cost of onions from Nashik to Kolkata is $140/tonne. This implies that the exporter purchased onions at Re 0.80-1.00/kg, while the current price of the export quality onion is Rs 23-24/kg,” said an exporter of onion from Maharashtra, who requested not to be identified. Meanwhile, sensing the misuse of the system in the export of non-basmati parboiled rice, the government said on Sunday that only the export contracts having a minimum price of $1,200/tonne will be cleared for shipments under the basmati rice category. India has imposed a 20% customs duty on parboiled rice and banned the export of non-basmati white rice.

NEW DELHI : The government may review its capital expenditure plans for this fiscal year during pre-budget meetings slated to start in October-November, two senior officials said. This comes amid expectations that the Narendra Modi administration will announce a slew of popular schemes in the coming months ahead of general elections early next year.

Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was a «self-extinguishing» and a «temporary» provision. Appearing on behalf of the central government, solicitor general Tushar Mehta argued that a «mistake of the past should not befall upon the future generations», adding that the mistake has been «rectified» by the Centre by abrogating Article 370. Mehta further contended that the Constitution of India lies on a higher platform than that of the J&K Constitution which now stands repealed. The Solicitor General added that Article 370 was used in a «floating way» and any word in Article 370 which became «otiose» was replaced by its successor. Strongly defending the abrogation of Article 370, the solicitor general added that Article 370 could have been abrogated through «an administrative exercise» and that the Parliament committed no illegality, as alleged by the petitioners, by abrogating the Article. Reiterating that the abrogation of Article 370 has brought the people of Jammu and Kashmir on a par with their «brothers and sisters (natives)» of India, Mehta argued that it acted as a barrier in providing welfare legislations to the people of the region.

Centre's submission on pleas challenging the abrogation of Article 370 that the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir is «subordinate» to the Indian Constitution, which is on a higher pedestal.

B L Verma Monday said the Centre has distributed job letters to 5.5 lakh youth since last October and aims to provide 10 lakh jobs by year-end. Addressing a Rozgar mela at the Border Security Force (BSF) headquarters here, Verma handed over appointment letters to 250 candidates, out of a total of 1,000 selected for various Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) such as BSF, CRPF CISF, SSB, and ITBP. This morning, Modi distributed over 51,000 appointment letters to the youth, mostly in the security forces, joined in from 45 locations across the country. Distributing job letters at the event here, Verma said this Rozgar Mela scheme is part of the government's efforts to abate unemployment in the country. «In October 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a commitment that 10 lakh jobs will be given to youth by December 2023.

₹40 lakh per day. Also Read: Delhi: 4 arrested for defrauding US nationals of over $20 million. Details here According to the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), the call center was employing software tools such as VICIdial and eyeBeam.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) — increasing repo rates by 250 bps since last year, incremental cash reserve ratio — and the Central government's export controls have ensured that inflation is relatively under control, opined economists. India's central bank, the RBI, acts to control inflation through its monetary policies while the government does that through governance, infrastructure development that brings down the transaction costs and other ways, they added. «The RBI views inflation largely as a monetary phenomenon. Whether the inflation is due to supply or demand side, and whether it is driven by core or non-core components, the RBI believes that monetary policy intervention is required if the inflation rate breaches the tolerance zone,» Sujan Hajra, Chief Economist & Executive Director, Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers, told IANS. As a result, the RBI bases monetary policy on headline retail inflation (changes in cost of commodities, goods, services) rather than core retail inflation (changes in cost of services and goods excluding food, energy sectors). According to Hajra, the RBI with its mandate for growth support, strikes a balance between inflation management and growth promotion. «Consequently, the RBI may maintain an accommodative monetary policy stance to encourage growth even if the central bank is concerned about the current inflationary environment.

Narendra Modi who on Saturday morning visited the space agency's command centre in Bengaluru. On Saturday, PM Modi congratulated the team of ISRO scientists who were involved in the Chandrayaan-3 project that culminated in the historic lunar landing mission of India. On 24th August, India became the first country to place a lander on the unchartered south pole of the moon.

Narendra Modi on Saturday congratulated the ISRO team for the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the moon. He arrived at the ISRO Telemetry Tracking & Command Network Mission Control Complex today morning.

Mint reported concerns raised by the ministry in this regard. “With the World Cup and Asia Cup around the corner, there will be more of an emphasis on this.

Noida came under scrutiny as a major scam unfolded, involving a network of employees predominantly recruited from the northeastern states of Manipur and Nagaland. As per a TOI report, the call centre, merely four months old, initially operated with a modest team of 25 individuals, each possessing a good command of English and trained to flawlessly emulate American accents.

₹50.02 crore, including interest, for not complying with the phased manufacturing programme norms under FAME II. It had claimed subsidies worth ₹44.3 crore. Under the norms, EV manufacturers benefiting from FAME II scheme need to manufacture the vehicles and components indigenously.

Mint on the sidelines of The Indian Digital Gaming Society (IDGS) gaming conclave. In June last year, the ministry had completely banned these platforms from using any form of advertising to promote these offshore companies. In March, it emphasized that while betting company advertisements have significantly reduced, it is now considering further action to eliminate outdoor media displays, such as hoardings, posters, banners, and auto rickshaw branding.