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government's dividend mopup from non-financial central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) and entities in which it holds minority stakes has touched a record ₹61,149 crore, 22% higher than the revised estimate for 2023-24, with almost a fortnight to go this fiscal, according to the latest finance ministry data. Dividend receipts in the first half of March alone totalled nearly ₹10,000 crore. The revised estimate in the interim budget last month estimated the dividend collection for 2023-24 at ₹50,000 crore, higher than initial target of ₹43,000 crore. «The dividend collection has surpassed all expectations this fiscal. CPSEs across sectors have been performing well, and the strong dividend flow is the clearest sign of that,» said an official, who did not wish to be identified. «Also, global crude oil prices didn't quite surge as was feared after the Israel-Hamas war in October last year. So, the profitability of oil companies didn't quite take a beating, which augurs well for dividend flow. Power sector companies, too, have been doing well.»

It is a paradox that though companies are forever trying to cut costs, many avoid taking steps that can enhance the income of their employees without adding to the wage bill. If companies restructure their compensation packages by replacing taxable emoluments with some tax-free perks, they can lower the tax liability of their employees. “The salary structure plays a critical role in determining the tax liability of an individual. Many tax deductions and exemptions are not available under the new tax regime, but certain tax-free allowances can be availed of even under the new regime,” says Avinash Godkhindi, Managing Director and CEO of Zaggle Prepaid Ocean Services. There are several such tax-exempt allowances, including food coupons and reimbursement of expenses on fuel and travel, newspapers and periodicals, phone and Internet (see graphic). The taxable portions of the salary, such as the special allowance, can be reduced to make place for the tax-exempt allowance. Taxpayers who pay a low rent can consider reducing the house rent allowance (HRA) as well. The HRA exemption is linked to the basic pay and is the least of the following three options: the actual HRA received, 50% of basic pay (40% in non-metros), and actual rent paid minus 10% of basic pay. If you pay a high rent and can claim exemption, keep it high, but if the rent is low, replace it with some other allowance. Taxpayers who live in their own houses and don’t pay rent can also reduce the HRA.

In a ruling that could prove to be decisive on Monday, Spain’s High Court upheld the temporary ban on Worldcoin’s (WLD) iris-scanning project, emphasizing privacy concerns. Despite its claim of compliance, it has been under scrutiny over privacy concerns across various nations, with Spain being the latest.

Investing.com — Here is your Pro Recap of the top takeaways from Wall Street analysts for the past week: upgrades for Procter & Gamble, Dollar General (NYSE:DG), UiPath (NYSE:PATH) and Thor Industries (NYSE:THO); downgrade for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

MLB The Show 24, the latest installment of the popular baseball simulation game, is set to release on March 19. With exciting new features and game modes, fans are eagerly anticipating its arrival.

It firmly believes that changing geopolitics, security concerns, and waning trust in China will dovetail to enable India to marry technology and manufacturing. A day before the announcement of the Lok Sabha election dates, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and external affairs minister S Jaishankar sent across the message, underlining the Narendra Modi government’s milestones, as they addressed some of the best minds of India Inc at The Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence in Mumbai on Friday.

Greece won the UEFA European Championship, a triumph so unexpected that at least one squad member had to rearrange his wedding around the team’s progress. The Greek triumph came a few weeks after Porto, led by a charismatic young coach with hair more pepper than salt, lifted the Champions League trophy. That was after Werder Bremen finished the season as champion of Germany and Valencia secured its second Spanish title in three years. The compilation clip might inspire, in older viewers, that bittersweet pang of nostalgia. Werder Bremen should be able to win the Bundesliga. Porto should be contenders to be champion of Europe. You might not want to watch Greece win the Euros again, but it was nice that it happened. Younger fans, though, may well interpret it differently. They have grown up in an era of dominance and dynasty. The sight of these unfamiliar teams lifting trophies might reinforce their suspicion that soccer is rather better now than it was then.

DC vs RCB WPL Final 2024: The fans of Delhi Capitals went through another heartbreak as Meg Lanning-led team faced its second consecutive final defeat in the Women's Premier League. Last year, it was Mumbai Indians and this year Smriti Mandhana-led Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Delhi Capitals by 8 wickets to clinch the championship. The bowlers dominated in today's game as RCB's Shreyanka Patil delivered a breathtaking spell to decimate the strong DC batters.

Baghel on Sunday said the FIR against him in the Mahadev online betting case by the state's EOW was politically motivated and was done to defame him since the BJP anticipates massive loss in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Baghel, a Congress MLA, has been fielded by the party from Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha seat. The state's Economic Offence Wing (EOW) registered a case against Baghel and 18 others in the alleged Mahadev online betting scam based on a probe report submitted by the Enforcement Directorate. «The FIR was registered by the EOW on March 4 then why it was not uploaded in its website and made public? The FIR was made public on Sunday after a newspaper carried a report on this,» Baghel said in the press conference.

Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday said that the result of the state in the much anticipated upcoming Lok Sabha elections will «surprise» everyone. Speaking to the reporters here, the Rashtriya Janata Dal leader said that his party is 'confident' about a good result and is very well prepared for the «mahaprav» of democracy. «The 'mahaparv' of democracy has begun; we are very confident and have made our preparations. We have said this before and will say it again — the results in Bihar will surprise everyone,» Yadav said.

Infosys, Wipro, as well as well-known start-ups, has been hit by a crippling water outage that has left taps dry across parts of the city just weeks ahead of general elections. The water crisis in Bengaluru presents a daunting challenge exacerbated by rapid urbanisation and population growth, and it is impacting households as also the IT and tech hubs' operations, say city residents who are facing stringent water restrictions. Local residents and industry blame the severe water shortage on rapid urbanisation without proper planning, unequal and improper distribution, poor water management and negligence by local authorities.

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Shiv Sena and NCP have made the battle for the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra more interesting, besides the focus on traditional issues like unemployment and farmer suicides. Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra will be held in five phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13 and May 20. Counting of votes will be held on June 4. The BJP-Shiv Sena won 41 of the 48 seats in the 2019 polls, but the Sena has split since and a vast majority of the Bal Thackeray-founded party is now allied with the BJP. The Nationalist Congress Party also split as well with Ajit Pawar joining the ruling alliance in the state, led by Eknath Shinde. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP emerged the top party with 23 seats, followed by the undivided Sena with 18. The undivided NCP had emerged victorious on four seats, the Congress one, while the AIMIM and an Independent accounted for the remaining two. A total of 9.2 crore persons, including more than 50,000 centenarians, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra, an increase of 34 lakh from 2019. Here is how the political landscape in various regions of Maharashtra looks like ahead of the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.

Mother Dairy will invest Rs 650 crore to set up two new plants for processing of milk as well as fruits and vegetables to expand its business amid rising consumer demand. Mother Dairy, which is a leading milk supplier in Delhi-NCR, will also invest another Rs 100 crore to expand capacities of its existing plants. «In our endeavour to expand our distribution and reach to our consumers, we have earmarked a capital expenditure (capex) outlay of over Rs 750 crore to enhance our dairy and F&V (fruits and vegetables) processing capacities across key locations,» Mother Dairy Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd MD Manish Bandlish told PTI. Mother Dairy is coming up with a big dairy plant in Nagpur, Maharashtra with an investment of around Rs 525 crore, he said.

Lok Sabha polls will be held in the state in four phases on May 13, 20, 25 and June 1. In the 2019 general elections, the BJP emerged victorious in 11 seats, while its ally AJSU secured one seat. Both the JMM and Congress have one seat each. For the upcoming polls, while the BJP has announced candidates for 11 of the 14 seats, the INDIA bloc is yet to announce its nominees as talks continue among allies, including the JMM and Congress, over seat sharing.

India, the world’s largest democracy, goes to polls starting April 19, 2024. Campaigning for the elections has been well underway for weeks now, with the Bharatiya Janata Party looking to bag a hat-trick of terms at the Centre while the Congress-led Opposition is trying to break the NDA’s decade-long stronghold. The BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed confidence in coming back to power, this time with a 400+ majority in the Lok Sabha. In 2019, the BJP won the majority as it swept the Hindi heartland and bagged 303 seats in the 543-seat-strong Lower House of the Parliament. The Election Commission formally kicked off the 2024 general election with the announcement of the poll schedule on Saturday. Lok Sabha polls for 543 seats will be held in seven phases starting with voting for 102 seats in the first phase on April 19. The counting of votes will be held on June 4.

₹901 crores. Meanwhile, three companies got listed during the week R K SWAMY, JG Chemical and Gopal Snacks. Also read: Reddit Sees More Than 20% Sales Growth in 2024 in IPO Roadshow “Rise of the domestic capital, flourishing Indian entrepreneurship, improving governance, diligent institutional investors are among reasons likely to keep the IPO market ticking in 2024," said Mahavir Lunawat, Managing Director, Pantomath Capital Advisors Pvt.

Uttar Pradesh with the SP-BSP alliance now replaced by the SP-Congress pact under the INDIA bloc. The Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance in 2019 had offered some resistance to the BJP on a handful of seats in the western and eastern parts of UP, but failed to make a big impact. With BSP supremo Mayawati deciding to duke it out alone this time, it will be up to the SP and Congress to stop the marauding juggernaut of the NDA, which has now has RLD on its side, as well as a number of caste-based regional parties in the Poorvanchal region. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP and allies won 73 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Mayur Patel, Fund Manager, 360 ONE Asset, says “if somebody is willing to take a slightly long-term view, then the equity market outlook seems positive despite premium valuations. In the short term, the risk has gone up manifold in the small and midcap space and that is where we do see material downside in the short to medium term.” After the last two-three very good years, now the market is giving some kind of reality check to the investors which were spoilt by very handsome returns, in largecaps, midcaps and smallcap. Now things are looking slightly shaky for a variety of factors. Are your conversations capturing all of that? Mayur Patel: The equity market performance is never linear and predicting short-term performance is a futile exercise. So, instead we assess the risk-reward by evaluating the price-to-book valuation of the market vis-a-vis fundamental factors.

Moneycontol. “The employer must grant a paid holiday to all eligible employees on the day of the election. They must ensure that there is no deduction or abatement of wages," Moneycontrol quoted Partner at RR Legal, Abhishek Awasthi as saying.

VIX: this index generates a projection of volatility, which can show the speed and range of changing prices over a period. Investors may use the VIX to gauge market sentiment, specifically how fearful market participants feel.