India's commodity bourses -- Multi-Commodity Exchange and National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange -- are gearing up to launch futures trading in carbon credits.
The grievance redressal mechanism of many big e-commerce players is not up to the mark as the number of complaints received by the National Consumer Helpline has risen sharply over the last four years, Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh said on Thursday. Addressing an event organised by the Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI), Singh said the number of complaints registered on the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) has gone up to 90,000 in November compared to 40,000 in the same month last year. "Four years back, the number of complaints pertaining to e-commerce transactions was 8 per cent of the total complaints.
A large number of associations of small grocery shops have opposed foreign direct investment in multi-brand.
Commodity markets regulator FMC on Wednesday said it has given approval to the Anil Ambani Group to acquire 26 per cent stake in Indian Commodity Exchange from one of its promoters, Indiabulls group.
The government on Friday announced it will release onion from its buffer stock in the targeted regions with immediate effect to ensure prices remain under check till the new crop arrives from October onward. The government is exploring multiple options for disposal of onion: e-auction, e-commerce as well as through states at discounted rates via retail outlets of their consumer cooperatives and corporations, it said. The government has currently maintained 3 lakh tonnes of onion under the Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) to meet any exigencies, if rates go up significantly during the lean supply season.
Over 65 Union ministers are likely to take oath, going by the visual of the meeting Modi held with his likely council of ministers.
Tomato prices are likely to touch Rs 300 per kilogram in the coming days and the prices of vegetables are also on the rise, according to wholesale traders. Kaushik, a member of Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC), said that vegetable wholesalers are facing losses as the sale of tomato, capsicum, and other seasonal vegetables has fallen drastically. He said that the prices of tomatoes have shot up to Rs 220 per kilo from Rs 160 per kilo in the wholesale market, owing to which retail prices can also go up.
Practice of opening bookings for cars prior to launch has been followed by several companies over many years in India.
All India average retail tomato price, which has shot up by 63 per cent to Rs 67 per kg over the last year due to unseasonal rains, are likely to soften from December with the arrival of fresh crop from northern states, the government said on Friday. In the case of onions, retail prices have substantially subsided below to the level that prevailed in 2020 and also 2019, it said. "Tomato arrivals from north Indian states will start from the beginning of December itself, which will add to availability and lead to fall in prices.
'Suddenly we had a new comprehension of affairs, which reminded that the luxury of politics floated atop a foundation by economics.' 'Along with this, finance ministers became crucial in molding the perception and reputation of Union Cabinets.' 'Governments couldn't afford a wrong person in that portfolio,' asserts Shyam G Menon.
Candidates will be short-listed for interview on the basis of the information provided by them in their online application, the statement said.
The government on Monday said it has no plans to ban more farm commodities from futures market and hoped that suspension of trading in soya oil, chana, potato and rubber would not be extended beyond four months.
'If it doesn't, it will continue with measures to infuse liquidity, signalling a new cycle,' predicts Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The wholesale prices of food items surged by 15 per cent during the week ended on September 26 against the same period last year, the government's inflation data shows.
Gautam Adani's alleged proximity to Narendra Modi may dent the latter's self-styled image of incorruptibility, points out Kanika Datta.
To prevent hoarding and check price rise, the Centre on Friday imposed stock limits on all pulses, except moong, held by wholesalers, retailers, importers and millers till October. The stock limits are imposed with immediate effect. An order in this regard has been issued by the Union food and consumer affairs ministry. Retail prices of pulses rose by more than 20 per cent during the January-June period of this year, according to the ministry's data.
The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has issued notices to five e-commerce entities, including Amazon, Flipkart and PaytmMall, as well as various sellers for offering pressure cookers that are non-compliant with BIS norms. The notices were issued on November 18 to Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal, Shopclues and PaytmMall, and the sellers. As part of celebrations of 75 years of Independence - 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav', CCPA has initiated a country-wide campaign to prevent sale of spurious and counterfeit goods that violate Quality Control Orders published by the Centre, the government said in a statement on Monday.
The Centre on Monday issued advisories to news websites, OTT platforms and private satellite channels asking them to refrain from carrying advertisements of offshore betting sites. "...the private satellite television channels are strongly advised to refrain advertisements of online offshore betting platforms and/or their surrogate news websites or any such product/service depicting these platforms in a surrogate manner," the ministry of information and broadcasting advisory said. It also warned private satellite television channels of penal action under applicable laws for violation of the advisory.
'The service charge is given to the employees as a part of their salary. Now, employees have been calling to negotiate their salaries to balance the loss that they will face personally. In which case, we won't be able to retain some of them.'
The proposed amendments to the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, that are envisioned to protect consumer interests, may further compound the impact of multiplicity of regulations on the e-commerce sector, the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) had told the ministry of consumer affairs. IACC, the apex bilateral chamber for Indo-US business, had told the government that the proposed amendments would increase compliance liabilities that risk severely impairing the growth of the sector.
Major portfolios like home, finance and education were on Tuesday allocated to People's Democratic Party ministers by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed who will himself hold the charge of home ministry.
Not displaying the mandatory information, including country of origin, on products sold on their platforms in India, draws government's attention.
Telecom regulator Trai on Monday said that it is working on various technologies to detect pesky calls and messages along with a joint action plan with other regulators to curb financial frauds. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said that Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC) or pesky communication is a major source of inconvenience to the public and impinges on the privacy of individuals. "Now complaints are reported against Unregistered Telemarketers (UTMs), where a surge has been seen in pushing various kinds of UCC SMSes. Additionally, UCC calls are also one of the concerns which need to be dealt with equally along with UCC SMSes," it said.
Among metro cities, tomatoes were sold at Rs 93 per kg in Kolkata, Rs 60 per kg in Chennai, Rs 59 per kg in Delhi and Rs 53 per kg in Chennai on Monday, data showed. The retail price of tomatoes was ruling at more than Rs 50 per kg in over 50 cities out of 175-odd cities tracked by the consumer affairs ministry.
Tomato prices in retail markets of metro cities have shot up to Rs 72 per kilogram on tight supply due to unseasonal rains in key producing states like Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
The Centre received 5.59 lakh public grievances against various government departments in the first half of this year, with the Department of Financial Services (DFS) getting most of such complaints, according to an official report.
The Centre has slapped as many as 148 notices on e-commerce players in the past three months for not complying with the mandatory display of the 'country of origin' tag on products sold. "Of the 148 notices, 56 have compounded it (the offence) and paid up around Rs 34 lakh," a senior official told Business Standard. "Every product has to display the country of origin, along with other basic information," the official added. In the case of e-commerce companies, these details have to be clearly displayed on their portals.
Can ordinary citizens counter this backward march? Can peace activists ensure that the two communities retain their bonds? Do they have a choice, asks Jyoti Punwani.
The Centre had asked the state governments to meet the millers.
In September 2013, FMC was brought under the Finance Ministry.
Paswan, one of India's most prominent Dalit leaders and eight-time Lok Sabha MP died on Thursday at the age of 74.
The industry came under scrutiny after the proliferation of games like cards, casinos, and fantasy sports among young people led to addiction and financial losses, with some reported cases of suicide.
Consumers have to watch out for four marks on hallmarked gold jewellery: BIS mark, purity in carat, assay centre's name and jewellers' identification mark.
Each dept could handle a designated area.
"The national flag will be flown at half mast on October 9 in Delhi and capitals of all states and UTs where it is regularly flown, and also on the day of the funeral at the place where the funeral takes place," a home ministry spokesperson said.
Both red and yellow onions have been imported from Turkey, Egypt and Afghanistan. The shipments are landing at Mumbai port.
The Union ministry of consumer affairs has given the finishing touches to the policy framework to allow foreign direct investment and foreign institutional investment in India's national commodity exchanges.
'As we enter 2025, it must be acknowledged that there is a convergence of capital, influential people (from business and politics) and technology deciding the destiny of others in the name of pride, patriotism, nationalism, nation building, all of it thinly veiled disguises for personal profit and glory,' asserts Shyam G Menon.
Fearing likely shortage, the government on Thursday said it has made an advance plan to import about 10 lakh tonne higher quality of tur dal via private trade this year to meet the domestic requirement. The issue was discussed in a high-level meeting called by the cabinet secretary to review the prices of essential commodities, especially pulses and onions. Tur production is pegged lower at 3.89 million tonne in the 2022-23 crop year (July-June) from 4.34 million tonne in the previous year as per the initial projection made by the agriculture ministry. Tur is a kharif crop.
The proposed e-commerce rule book issued recently by the ministry of consumer affairs does not mention foreign companies or foreign direct investment (FDI) at any place, unlike most other government guidelines for the sector so far. That is a heartening development since the latest proposals could be fine-tuned as e-commerce policy.