The Indian basket represents the price of Oman and Dubai sour grade crude.
If Modi wants to leave a real legacy, breaking India's strategic triangulation would be the real gift, notes Shekhar Gupta.
LPG cash transfer to begin with Mysore, Hyderabad.
The subsidy burden of upstream oil companies, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Oil India Ltd, have risen 42 per cent in a single quarter.
With this move, the option to get Delhi government's power subsidy will no longer be available by default and every year, power consumers will be given an option to continue with power subsidy or not.
Modi had last month launched the 'Give-it-Up' campaign.
The free food scheme is driven by electoral considerations, but its long-term fiscal risks outweigh the short-term gains, cautions A K Bhattacharya.
Oil prices slid to a three-week low on Wednesday on expectations of falling global demand after India , the world's sixth largest oil and gas consumer, lowered its fuel subsidies.
"Attempts should be made to curtail growth of subsidies to achieve nine per cent growth. We are trying to achieve nine per cent growth. Though there are major challenges like global slowdown, we will achieve the target," Singh said.
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The Oil Ministry on October 31 issued orders asking upstream oil and gas producers like ONGC and Oil India Ltd to give Rs 16,729.74 crore (Rs 167.29 billion) to make up for 47 per cent of the Rs 35,328-crore (Rs 353.28 billion) revenue that retailers lost on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene at government controlled rates in second quarter.
In a move to expand volumes in the third-generation (3G) technology data business, incumbent telecom operators, including Bharti Airtel, are coming up with various marketing plans to get better paying customers.
The issue was first raised by Congress MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha during Question Hour, when he asked Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Jogen Mohan if the land in the Kaliabor area was allotted under the state's 'Basundhara' scheme.
In a move that may spook Oil and Natural Gas Corp's (ONGC) planned public offering, the government has hiked the contribution of upstream oil companies toward fuel subsidies to 38.8 per cent for 2010-11 fiscal.
There is only so much that Vijay Deverakonda is allowed to work on from a clueless script that bounces from one wrong choice to another, observes Arjun Menon.
The Petroleum Ministry has asked for Rs 26,000 crore (Rs 260 billion) as fuel subsidy for the third quarter of this financial year, but the finance ministry is inclined to provide only Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) cash support.
Fitch Ratings on Thursday raised its forecast for India's economic growth to 7 per cent for the next fiscal year starting April 1 on the back of strong domestic demand and sustained level of business and consumer confidence. With a stronger-than-expected 8.4 per cent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) during the third quarter (October-December) of the current fiscal year, Fitch saw the Indian economy expanding 7.8 per cent in 2023-24 financial year (April 2023 to March 2024), marginally higher than the government's estimate of 7.6 per cent.
Currently, oil companies sell kerosene at a loss of about Rs 18 per litre.
The government has ordered Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) to pay a near-record Rs 13,764 crore as fuel subsidy for the December quarter, a move that will dent the firm's profitability.
'The global situation is not very good.'
Old age pension, scholarships, Minimum wages under Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, subsidies for ration and LPG would be paid directly to the beneficiaries.
The Centre subsidises the cost of fertilisers as there is a huge gap between selling price and production cost. After receiving Rs 31.83 crore (Rs 318.3 million) as dividend from National Fertilizers Ltd, Chemicals and Fertiliser Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said the fertiliser subsidies would be only in cash, and assured manufacturers that there would not be any problems for them.
In a big push to the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, the government has nearly doubled (increase of 81 per cent) the allocation in five key industry segments from Rs 8,405 crore in the Revised Estimate of FY24 to Rs 15,198 crore in the Interim Budget for FY25. The segments cover over eight PLI schemes, including mobile phones, IT hardware, pharma (PLIs for medical devices, intermediates and pharmaceuticals), food processing, telecom hardware and, auto and auto components. In FY24, DPIIT officials, however, said that the disbursements would be much higher at around Rs 11,000 crore than what has been budgeted for the year.
Aiming at bolstering the sagging economy as well as providing housing to all, the urban poor will get 5 per cent interest subsidy for home loans up to Rs 100,000, taken during the Eleventh Plan period.
Subsidies have been stopped for several manufacturers that are under investigation for alleged violations of local-sourcing rules.
Even though electric two wheeler (e2W) companies saw a slight recovery in July of 12 per cent with 49,518 registrations - after a wash out in June because the government slashed the FAME 2 subsidy by a third - registrations are still lower for the second month in a row compared to April FY24. The slow pace has raised doubts about whether the registrations will reach anywhere near either Niti Aayog's ambitious target of 2.4 million vehicles in FY24 or whether they will be closer to the trimmed down industry expectation of around one million. In June, e2W registrations plunged to a mere 44,253, the worst month in more than a year, as companies hiked scooter prices.
Delhi may become the first state to move to direct cash pay-outs of subsidies on kerosene sold through the public distribution system (PDS). The petroleum ministry said it has "welcomed" a proposal to this effect from the Planning Commission, which acted on a plan suggested by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.
Articulating developing countries' stand at the World Trade Organisation talks, India on Friday stuck to its position that there could not be any forward movement on industrial tariffs until its concerns on agriculture were addressed.
The government has decided to extend the Rs 25,938-crore production-linked incentive scheme for the automotive sector by one year, Union Heavy Industries Minister Mahendra Nath Pandey said on Tuesday. Post extension, the five-year scheme, originally in place from 2022-23 to 2026-27, will be active until 2027-28. At present, incentives are applicable under the scheme for determined sales of Advanced Automotive Technology (AAT) products (vehicles and components) manufactured in India from 1 April 2022 onwards for a period of five consecutive years.
Although India's exports have started growing again after several months of decline, commerce ministry sources told Business Standard that the extension is being considered to sustain growth and stabilise it at 15 to 20 per cent.
Budget ideas from industry are irresponsible
The central government is likely to further consolidate its fiscal deficit by 50 basis points (bps) to 5.9 per cent in FY24 from 6.4 per cent in FY23, according to a recent report released by Goldman Sachs on Tuesday. In the current fiscal year, there is going to be an upside of 0.5 per cent on the receipts side due to higher nominal GDP growth, and higher tax buoyancy because of the formalisation, the report said. The upside to expenditure is mainly going to come from incremental subsidies (0.8 per cent of GDP), in both food and fertilizer, it said. The upcoming pre-election Budget will carry forward the trend of the increased capital expenditure seen in recent years.
Notwithstanding the robust turnaround in the financial performance for the June quarter (Q1FY24), stocks of state-run oil marketing companies have been in a downtrend in the last month. The fall comes on a rise in crude oil prices that have surged to a 7-month high of $88 a barrel. A busy political calendar in the months ahead that may see the government keep a lid on auto fuel prices is also a dampener, analysts said. Shares of Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and Indian Oil (IOC) have shed 9-11 per cent since their respective earnings announcement between July 26 to August 4.
Apex traders' body Federation of Indian Exporters Organisation (FIEO) on Friday demanded extension of the interest subsidy scheme to all sectors with a view to make them globally competitive.
'The CM wants to develop a Film City that would provide the entire value chain of film-making services and infrastructure in one place.'
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation on Thursday said its investments for exploration of oil and gas in India and acquisition of overseas assets would be impacted if government increases the company's subsidy burden.
