Committee set up by state govt considering reduction in rates
If the drop in sales over the past two years is anything to go by, India's dream of putting seven million electric vehicles on road by the end of this decade has come a cropper.
While home-grown firms like Tata and Mahindra have been actively participating in the government's e-mobility mission, by launching electrified versions of their existing models, the global firms believe electric is not the best solution for a country where the primary source of power generation is coal, and where infrastructure is a big impediment.
The Uttar Pradesh Defence corridor is estimated to attract Rs 20,000 crore investment and create 250,000 jobs.
India and China are associate partner countries of IEA.
Violence and vandalism at toll plazas point to poor planning. An independent highway regulator would have helped the cause.
The price of diesel sold to bulk users has been hiked by about Rs 25 per litre in line with a near 40 per cent rise in international oil prices, but retail rates at petrol pumps remain unchanged, sources said. Petrol pump sales have jumped by a fifth this month after bulk users like bus fleet operators and malls queued up at petrol bunks to buy fuel rather than the usual practice of ordering directly from oil companies, widening the losses of retailers. Worst hit are private retailers like Nayara Energy, Jio-bp and Shell, who have so far refused to curtail any volume despite a surge in sales.
India's power sector faces annual losses of $27 billion by 2017 unless sweeping reforms are taken to tackle inefficient subsidies, theft and political meddling in utility companies, the World Bank said.
Opposition leader Narendra Modi's message of growth and investment is gaining ground.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday made a strong case for "phased" hike in prices of petroleum products, coal and power as they are "underpriced" warning that failure to control subsidies would lead to cut in plan expenditure.
Reliance Infra-backed BSES discoms have sought Rs 450 crore "dues" from Delhi government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to overcome their immediate "financial difficulties" and avoid black outs in 70 per cent areas even as the AAP dispensation maintained it will not adopt a "lenient" approach in dealing with the firms.
Steep taxes on petrol and diesel add to the cost of economic activity and reduce the Indian economy's competitiveness. The two fuels must be brought under GST's purview, suggests former IAS officer Ajay Shankar.
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the city government not to implement the 50 per cent subsidy announced by it to people who did not pay their power bills from October 2012 to December 2013.
Pledging to alter the policy environment to accelerate economic growth, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday promised to address concerns on GAAR and taxation of the IT sector along with giving high priority to finalisation of the Direct Taxes Code and Goods and Services Tax.
'Mr Kejriwal is almost exactly the package that Mr Modi offers: Personal aggrandisement, the building of a personality cult through full-page newspaper ads day after day, populist schemes involving subsidies (whether affordable or required), abandonment of secular principles, exaggerated claims and no checks on leadership,' points out T N Ninan.
Ratnagiri Gas will be an equal JV between NTPC and GAIL if MSEB which has been offered a small stake does not pick up equity
Maharashtra Cabinet undecided over providing subsidy to private utilities.
This surcharge is to be levied on high-end commercial and industrial consumers of Mumbai's suburbs.
She said that despite government scheme and initiatives ranging from roads to agriculture, housing, scholarships to electricity benefiting lives of people, a false narrative was being created by the opposition that the government was working for cronies.
There is no direct impact of the Russia-Ukraine crisis on India in terms of bilateral trade but a surge in oil prices poses considerable risk to the economy, an analyst report said on Friday. International oil prices which have surged past $100 per barrel "pose risks to external stability and currency movement," a Bank of Baroda Economics Research report said. Russia has launched military operations against Ukraine, stoking fears of significant disruption in the region, including loss of life. The West is ramping up financial sanctions against Russia and support for Ukraine.
Emission norms for automobile industry should be tightened.
Pragmatism and flexibility is a virtue. An untethered and short-term approach to policymaking is a flaw, argues Mihir S Sharma.
The electric vehicle market in India needs a policy push that goes beyond targets, says Vandana Gombar.
Prices of natural gas, which is used to produce fertiliser and generate electricity and is also converted into CNG for use in automobiles as fuel and cooking gas for households, are set every six months -- on April 1 and October 1 each year.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved a five-year-long reform-based result-linked power distribution scheme worth Rs 3.03 lakh crore, for strengthening system of utilities to improve efficiency. Briefing after the CCEA meet here, Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh said, "We have done a lot for power distribution reforms. It needs to be strengthened. Today, the Cabinet has approved the new scheme worth Rs 3.03 lakh crore, including Rs 97,000 crore central outlay." He said the funds would be given to power distribution companies (discoms) to strengthen their system.
India must be prepared for a big, fat fuel import bill in FY23 - barring any further avatars of the Covid virus - as refiners crank up runs, or crude processing rates, to meet the growing demand for fuels, and crude prices soar. Capacity additions by an Indian state-run refiner will reinforce the need for foreign crude. Demand for all fuels is expected to increase by 3-8 per cent next fiscal from 2021-22, reaching pre-pandemic levels, according to analysts and industry experts.
While she primed up spending on infrastructure to create jobs and boost economic activity, Sitharaman did not tinker with income tax slabs or tax rates. Her Budget for the fiscal year beginning April 2022 proposed a massive 35 per cent jump in capital expenditure to Rs 7.5 lakh crore, coupled with rationalisation of customs duty, an extension of time for setting up new manufacturing companies and plans for starting a digital currency and tax crypto assets.
For a petrol car with a Rs 500,000-600,000 price tag, an EV variant would not cost less than Rs 12 lakh, making it virtually unaffordable.
The provisions exempt farmers from attachment of land up to 2.5 acres and provide for prevention of hoarding and black marketing of agricultural produce.
According to the report, the generation projects envisaged for completion by 2018-19 need to be given priority in fuel linkage.
Tesla began taking orders for its $35,000 Model 3 sedan from Indian customers in April last year.
To bring in transparency and curb corruption, the government has put in place a Public Services Guarantee system in the state.
Arvind Kejriwal's road show in Britannia chowk area of Chandni Chowk constituency, nine days ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, drew enthusiastic crowd which had gathered to catch a glimpse of the Aam Aadmi Party chief.
The department has proposed to pool prices of imported and domestically produced natural gas.
Rewarding those who had supported them and refused to pay their power bills during AAP's agitation, the Delhi government on Wednesday decided to give them a 50 per cent relief on their pending bills and also waived the penalty.
The government will also decide in eight to ten days on how to extend the benefit to customers in Mumbai.
'Success will require political skill, not just economic expertise'
'Will you declare MSP for 100 odd crops that the farmers of India grow?'
