India's fertiliser subsidy bill is likely to shoot up by 55 per cent to record Rs 2.5 lakh crore this fiscal as the government will provide additional funds to make up for the spike in cost from higher import price, top sources said on Thursday. The government will ensure that there is no shortage of fertilisers in the country during the kharif (summer-sown) and rabi (winter-sown) season and it is already in talks with major global producers to import key soil nutrients, they added. According to the sources, Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Mansukh Mandaviya is likely to visit many countries, including Saudi Arabia, Oman and Morocco, soon to secure imports on both short and long term basis.
Ever since the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) allowed motor insurance companies to decide premiums in December 2007, car insurance premiums have fallen sharply. The focus, it seems, is clearly on garnering more retail customers.For instance, in March 2007, the premium for a Honda City was Rs 20,760 in Mumbai. But this year it has fallen to Rs 15,770 - a difference of Rs 4,990.
Mobile phones prices have crashed between 25 per cent and 40 per cent in the last one year, but spare parts remain more or less where they were. Privately, several mobile handset makers said that they prefer to keep the prices of spare parts and batteries high so that customers go for new handsets. In other words, it is a carefully crafted strategy to push handset sales.
The race among Indian automobile manufacturers to make cheap cars, initiated by Tata's Nano will further create pollution, road congestion, global warming and health problems, says a new book.
In a move aimed at checking the revenue loss stemming from Indian shoppers purchasing luxury brands abroad, the government on Friday said it could rationalise import duties."India has high tariffs and we recognise that if you go abroad and buy, then it is a revenue loss for India. So we are working on both duties and countervailing duties," Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said.
Insurance against terror will command a lower premium starting next fiscal, as the pool created in this respect has accumulated a large sum and received less claims.General insurers have agreed to cut down the premium charges for the Market Terrorism Risk Insurance Pool to up to 0.003 per cent of the sum insured for various categories of properties.
The DTH industry in India is likely to witness a price cut in its services in near future, with the government proposing a cut customs duty to zero per cent from the existing 7.5 per cent on specified parts of set top boxes.
Excise duty reductions will help lower prices and stimulate demand for 2&3 wheelers and small cars
Market experts predict that the equity markets are likely to remain volatile for the rest of the year.
Inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) stood at 6.84 per cent in February. In March, 2012, it was 7.69 per cent.
While Lupin is working on a Remdesivir powder for inhalation, Glenmark has tied up with a Canadian Biotech firm for nitric oxide nasal spray that reduces Sars-CoV-2 viral load and thus transmission.
India has capped the prices of 36 drugs, including those used to treat infections and diabetes, in its latest move to make essential medicines more affordable, a senior official of the country's drug pricing authority told Reuters on Friday.
The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) on Thursday said it has increased prices of 62 drugs, which are mainly based on indigenously manufactured insulin, giving a filip to domestic firms.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has slashed the repo rate by 25 basis points from 7.75 per cent to 7.5 per cent with immediate effect.
Existing and new customers will find it easier to manage or raise loans as banks start cutting rates.
While the finance minister made the tax payers slightly happy by raising the individual tax exemption limit to Rs 300,000, he made many others unhappy.
Telecom subscribers in the country can now make intra-state call at the rate of a local call, with the state-owned telecom company Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) extending its group-dialing facility to private operators. Group dialing facility enables local dialing within a state by pre-fixing `95' to the receiver's number.
SBI reduced interest rates on new home, car, truck and farm equipment loans by 50 to 200 basis points from October 8 as a special offer up to December 31 this year. ICICI Bank has lowered interest rates on floating rate home loans by 50 basis points to 11 per cent and on other retail loans by 25-50 basis points.
Depending on the location of theatre in the states, the movie-goers pay anywhere between 40 to 100 per cent tax on a ticket, making India a "highest entertainment taxed" country in the world.
Insurers have introduced new profiling parameters such as marital status, income and even ownership of flat.
Property registrations in Mumbai hit the 100,000-mark till November, marking a 10-year high as "demand enablers" like low prices and cheaper interest rates lure people to buy homes in India's financial capital. The previous 10-year high was 80,746 units in 2018. November 2021 recorded property sale registrations of 7,582 units: an 18 per-cent decline compared to same month last year (YoY) when stamp duty rate was at its lowest level of two per cent, said property consultant Knight Frank India, quoting data from the Maharashtra government's Department of Registrations and Stamps. Compared to October or a month-on-month (MoM) basis, registrations are lower by 12 per cent.
Pakistani cotton scene is turning out to be interesting with domestic producers offering the commodity at rates lower than the international prices.
According to market analysts, Pakistani cotton is available to the international and domestic buyers with a difference of 10 cents per pound to the global price.
National Medical Commission regulations prohibit Indian medical students overseas to transfer programmes from one university to another mid-way.
The oil companies were making a margin of close to Rs 2 per litre, but considering the impact of rise in gasoline rate and appreciation in rupee, the net available margin may be just around Re 1 per litre.
According to sector experts, UDF charges are likely to go up in the absence of ADF.
India may see a structural shift in supplies of crude oil with Russia emerging as a key source of fuels, a development that reduces New Delhi's dependence on West Asian oil, gives Indian refiners better bargaining power with price-setter Saudi Arabia, and improves overall energy security. The unexpected surge in supplies of Russian crude in the last few months, unthinkable until the war in Ukraine, may also deliver other unforeseen gains such as boosting exports of refined fuels to Europe, which historically has counted on Russian shipments. India has jumped on to the bandwagon of opportunistic buying of Russian crude but if calibrated carefully, Urals crude can be a long-term asset for India refiners.
The food ministry is likely to fix the selling price of wheat and rice lower than the current market price.
The Maharashtra government has reduced sales tax on diesel from 34 per cent to 25 per cent.
This can spark off a price war.
Credit card owners can get a personal loan with little or no paperwork, and the rates are quite comparable.
Excise duty on small cars is cut to 8 per cent where as the tax on large- and mid-sized cars has been brought down to 20 per cent.
Half the cost of a foreign tour package is constituted by airfare, which is not affected by the rupee exchange rate.
Tata Capital will offer home loans at lower rates to women borrowers, on the lines of similar offerings being made by state-run institutions like SBI and LICHF.
Rediff reader Tushar Kulkarni, 40 from Dombivali shared some valuable tips.
The Aam Aadmi Party government has delivered on its big ticket poll promises made to Delhi, two weeks after forming the government.
Home, auto and corporate loans are likely to become cheaper as the Reserve Bank on Tuesday slashed the short term lending rate sharply by 0.50 per cent to 8 per cent, signalling banks to cut rates.
Having a single point KYC that is automatically used across all financial and non-financial entities is a single piece of reform that should be an easy win to achieve, points out Harsh Roongta.
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