The Union government will gain close to Rs 1.6 lakh crore in additional revenues this fiscal from a record hike in excise duty on petrol and diesel that has pushed the total incidence of taxation on auto fuels to 70 per cent of the price. Late on Tuesday evening, the government hiked excise duty on petrol by Rs 10 per litre and that on diesel by Rs 13 a litre to mop up gains arising from international oil prices falling to a two-decade low.
The companies' underrecoveries stood at a whopping Rs 1,39,869 crore last financial year. Of that, Rs 62,837 crore was accounted for by diesel alone.
ONGC is raising debt for a spate of acquisitions over the past year
The run-up to next year's general elections might see some of the top executives of government-run companies getting unlucky. And, the period could become the best in the lives of those waiting in the wings.
'We began foolishly bragging about Saudi-Emirati investment plans as indicative of the sheikhs 'distancing' from Pakistan, including on Kashmir,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Markets crashed due to domestic worries; bluechip stocks tanked too.
The Tata group companies are now more valuable than all the listed central public sector undertakings (CPSUs) or companies in the country. The key 20 listed Tata companies ended the 2021 calendar year with a combined market capitalisation of Rs 23.36 trillion, ahead of the 70 listed CPSUs, which had a combined m-cap of Rs 23.2 trillion. In comparison, these CPSUs had a combined market capitalisation of Rs 16.7 trillion at the end of December 2020 against the Tata group firms' combined m-cap of Rs 15.7 trillion.
Diesel makes up nearly half of fuel demand in Asia's No 3 economy.
Global crude oil prices have slumped by 49 per cent during the same period
The 30-share Sensex ended down 538 points at 26,781 and 50-share Nifty ended down 152 points at 8,067.
The government has tweaked the income tax laws to make it easier for the new owners of loss-making public sector undertakings (PSUs) to carry forward the accumulated losses and set them off against future profits. This will result in significant tax savings for the new owners if they are able to turnaround operations of the ailing PSU within a few years. This will, in turn, boost the post-tax earnings and returns for the new owners.
'The actual price of petrol is Rs 35 and it jumps to Rs 88 because of government taxes.'
The National Democratic Alliance government is weeding out independent directors on the boards of public-sector undertakings (PSUs).
Centre and state governments are steadily increasing excise duties and value-added tax
'I have no problems with the finance ministry or with state governments treating petrol pump prices as the last resort for meeting their ambitious spending targets with very limited revenue resources.' 'But let's do away with this smokescreen of free pricing of petrol and diesel and go back to administered pricing regime,' says Dr Sudhir Bisht.
These firms offer job security and lucrative salries.
Reason behind for the change in his stance: gas price increase.
Markets ended in green on rate cut hope.
Rising oil prices and diminishing cash pile to limit capacity in 2018-19
Sun Pharma was by far the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, surging 8.13 per cent, followed by Dr Reddy's at 4.92 per cent.
After getting Indian Oil Corporation, the nation's largest oil firm, to drop four independent directors and Engineers India Ltd to boot out two, it is now seeking to sack former Power Secretary P Uma Shankar, chartered accountant S Ravi and former BPCL Chairman R K Singh from the board of ONGC.
D-Street is hoping RBI policy review meeting on Tuesday will uphold its stand on easing of interest rates
Reliance Industries Ltd, India's sole private sector refiner, on Monday sought Petroleum Minister Ram Naik's help in getting public sector oil companies to buy fuel from its 33 million tonne Jamnagar refinery in Gujarat.
Saudis are interested in expanding their relationship with India, given it is becoming the main driver of crude demand growth in Asia
On the last day of FY!5, the Sensex ended lower by 18.37 points at 27,957.49.
Analysts are enthused by BPCL's upstream foray and have re-rated the stock in the past couple of years.
I admire Kejriwal's intelligence but pity the fact that he had to use all the ingenuity and scheming to achieve his revenue enhancement goal, says Sudhir Bisht.
Brokers said a flurry of buying by investors in blue-chips mainly influenced the sentiment.
There is the problem of regions in the North East being theatre for power-play by nations with borders and influences converging in those parts, which in turn requires a sizable presence of the armed forces, notes Shyam G Menon.
These have been selected based on the earnings growth prospects and favourable (buy) ratings by brokerages
These refineries, commissioned mostly in the 1950s and 1960s during India's early industrialisation push, are inefficient and costly to maintain compared to their modern counterparts on the coast mainly operated by private companies.
One of the major advantages of buying Iran crude is the additional credit period of 90 days that the country gives to India, compared to 30 days by other countries.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
Oil firms' borrowings could fall by up to Rs 15,000 cr, govt's subsidy bill by 12% .
With the rising price of crude oil, the gap between the desired selling price and the actual selling price -- referred to as under-recovery -- is up to Rs 190 crore (Rs 1.9 billion) a day. The solution is to raise retail prices, an unpopular move.
Changing tracks helps. But, not taking the beaten path isn't always helpful. This is the story of two of India's biggest privatisations - Air India and Bharat Petroleum (BPCL). Nearly two decades after the last privatisation, a landmark divestment concluded this year when the loss-making national carrier Air India was sold to the Tatas.
India has asked refiners that owe about $6.5 billion to Iran for oil imports to build up dollar and euro balances to avoid downward pressure on the rupee if six world powers and Tehran reach a final nuclear deal.
The new government may also introduce a separate scheme for revival of stranded gas-based power projects
It may be the season for corporate matchmaking but India Inc's record of managing partnerships is far from impressive, says Shailesh Dobhal.
Among Sensex constituents, HCL Tech suffered the most by diving 2.26 per cent, followed by HDFC shedding 2.10 per cent.
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