The week in charts: Electric vehicle subsidies, oil price dip, GST relief
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Every Friday, Plain Facts publishes a compilation of data-based insights, complete with easy-to-read charts, to help you delve deeper into the stories reported by Mint in the week gone by. The Cabinet announced a slew of schemes ahead of crucial assembly polls, and the price of Brent crude oil fell below $70 a barrel for the first time since December 2021.
Meanwhile, the union government is likely to announce social security benefits for gig workers next week. The union government on Wednesday announced a ₹10,900-crore electric vehicle subsidy scheme that will provide demand incentives to deploy 14,028 electric buses, and subsidise 2.48 million electric two-wheelers and 316,000 electric three-wheelers. The scheme, which aims to boost electric vehicle adoption, was among several new programmes announced by the Cabinet, including rural roads and hydropower.
The Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme was also extended to senior citizens above 70 years. Brent crude oil prices fell below $70 a barrel on Tuesday, a 33-month low, after key oil producers slashed their global demand forecast for 2024 and 2025. The Opec+ cartel now expects demand to increase by 2.03 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2024, lower than its earlier forecast of 2.11 million bpd.
India's oil demand in 2024 is expected to be 5% higher than in 2023. The price recovered on Wednesday, closing at $70.61. ₹25,000 crore: That is the size of the Maritime Development Fund that the government may approve later this month to support domestic shipbuilding and blue water infrastructure, Mintreported.
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