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₹542 crore, or $66 million, in the third quarter ended December 2023. During the same period last year, the expenses incurred by the company to attract or retain customers, such as discounts, promotions, signing bonuses, or other incentives, stood at $60.7 million. Similarly, marketing and sales promotion expenses for the travel operator also shot up 25% in the third quarter of FY24 ended 31 December to $36.1 million from $28.9 million in the corresponding quarter ended a year prior.

By Ananya Mariam Rajesh

FAME scheme in promoting widespread EV adoption. Sreyas acknowledged the government's dedication to the cause but pointed out a notable disparity in GST rates between EVs sold with fixed batteries (taxed at 5%) and lithium-ion batteries used for swapping (taxed at 18% when sold separately). Anticipating the budget, Sreyas expressed hope for GST parity for EV batteries used in swapping, aligning them with the 5% bracket to fortify the EV landscape.

Something unexpected happened at Davos this year. The conventional wisdom took some tentative steps toward the right. Since the financial crisis of 2008-09, the “global conversations" that take place among business, political and social leaders at the World Economic Forum each year have trended left.

₹6,38,596 crore in 2013-14 to ₹16,63,686 crore in 2022-23. Official data further revealed that the income tax department is allocating increased resources to the collection of direct taxes, despite a substantial rise in the number of taxpayers. This trend suggests a growing reliance on advanced technology and enhanced compliance measures.

₹8,325 crore to the telecom department towards part prepayment of the deferred liabilities pertaining to spectrum acquired at the 2015 auction. The telecom company had won the spectrum worth ₹29,129.08 crore at the auctions that were held in March 2015. It had paid ₹11,374.7 crore, while the upfront amount due was ₹7,832.20 crore.

Telecom infrastructure providers are seeking availability of input tax credit on telecom towers, and have made a plea for an increase in tax depreciation rate and rationalisation of TDS provisions in their Budget wishlist. The players under the aegis of Digital Infrastructure Providers' Association (DIPA) said measures to facilitate ease of doing business will increase investment and contribute to the industry's long-term growth. Being a sunrise sector, telecom has been providing affordable-quality assured communication services, DIPA noted. The association counts Summit Digitel, American Towers, Indus Towers, Ascend Telecom, Cloud Extel, Pratap Technocrats, Crest Digitel, Signotox Towers, Applied Solar Technologies, iBUS Networks, and Suyog Telematics, among its members. DIPA in a release said the telecom infrastructure industry is seeking government support for the availability of input tax credit on telecom towers, increase in tax depreciation rate to 65 per cent from 15 per cent on batteries for industrial and commercial use to ensure cost recovery within three years' economic life of the batteries.

demand from infrastructure and housing sectors, the cement industry is on course to add capacity by 150-160 million tonnes from FY25 to FY28, a report said on Tuesday. In the past five fiscals, the industry has added capacity by 119 million tonnes (MT) per annum to reach a total of 595 MT now, according to a Crisil Ratings report. The capacity addition is for the purpose of meeting the rising demand as well as to consolidate market share in a highly fragmented and competitive industry, the report added.

Bajaj Auto is expected to report strong double-digit growth in earnings for the quarter ended December, aided by higher volumes, price hikes, and easing input cost pressures.

Indian Hotels Co., ITC, Mariott, Lemon Tree, Trident, and Oberoi are also planning hotel openings in the area. ITC is opening a seven-star property, 12 km from the temple. Meanwhile, IHCL is building Vivanta and Ginger-branded hotels.

Angel One shares witnessed another 5% intraday decline today, reaching a low of ₹3,085 per share. This downtrend has persisted since the announcement of its Q3FY24 results on January 15, resulting in a cumulative loss of 20% in share value. After the release of the company's financial results, domestic brokerage firms revised down their earnings estimates for Angel One due to escalating operating expenses.

Crisil’s market research and analytics unit. “As much as 70-75 mt of the capacity addition is expected to be commissioned next fiscal (year), with 50-55% concentrated in the eastern and central regions," the research firm said in a report on Tuesday.

Salaried individuals are expecting a separate deduction for repayment of home loans, enhancements in Section 80C and 80D deductions, and measures to encourage the shift to the new tax regime for home loan borrowers. Here's what a common man wishes from the Finance Minister in the Union Budget on February 1. Presently as per Section 80 CCE the deductions available under Section 80C, 80CCC, and 80 CCD(1) put together are capped at ₹1.50 lakh per year.

My 66-year-old sister has no income and no one to support her after she lost her son. I have decided to sell her flat and move her to a senior living home with a monthly expenditure of Rs 50,000. The sale will leave me with about Rs 1 crore after deducting capital gains tax. How should I invest this amount to generate a monthly income for her? Vidya Bala, Co-Founder, PrimeInvestor.in: Invest in safe options that give around 7% return. Choose from the Senior Citizens’ Savings Scheme, RBI Floating Rate Bonds, and bank fixed deposits that you can lock in at this rate for five years or more. Considering her age, keep at least 10% of the corpus in a combination of savings bank account and short-term bank FDs so that it can be easily liquidated. This will also be necessary to pay taxes, apart from possible medical needs.

Interim Budget 2024 is expected to focus on several key sectors, including social welfare, agriculture, infrastructure, education, and healthcare. The budget may hint at long-term policy initiatives that the new government could pursue after the elections, including public-private partnerships in climate financing.

Investing.com-- The Bank of Japan kept interest rates at historical lows on Tuesday and left its yield curve control policies unchanged, but slightly lowered its inflation outlook for fiscal 2024.

A total of 120 flights (domestic and international) were delayed on account of dense fog last Wednesday. Additionally, a total of 53 flights (including domestic & international) were cancelled because of fog and other operational reasons.

Gold prices were little changed on Tuesday, as traders cautioned to take position ahead of interest rate decisions from a number of central banks and a slew of economic data in the United States.

housing crisis. The two-year cap is expected to result in approximately 360,000 approved study permits in 2024, a decrease of 35% from last year, the immigration ministry said in an official statement. Immigration Minister Marc Miller said the federal government would work with the provinces, which oversee the educational system, to apply the cap, according to a report published by Reuters. He said the main reason for the cap is to protect students who attend colleges, which are often private-public partnerships that provide inadequate services at high costs, but also to ease pressure on housing and services.

Axis Bank: The lender is set to announce its third quarter results for FY24 on January 23. Kotak Institutional Equities estimates the bank to announce Net Interest Income (NII) of ₹124,553 million for Q3FY24, up 8.6% compared to the corresponding period last year. Net profit for Q3FY24 is projected to stand at ₹62,120 crore, up 6% year-on-year.

Vladimir Putin declared the 1867 sale of Alaska “illegal". In a post on X (formerly Twitter), a Ukrainian user ‘Igor Sushko’ wrote, “Putin signed an order insinuating the sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867 was illegitimate. This mofo is trolling the West and our leaders shake in their boots in response." “Hahahah - seriously.