Chidambaram insists that the fiscal deficit target of 4.8 per cent of gross domestic product for the year to March 31, 2014, is a red line that will not be breached.
India's electric two-wheeler (E2W) sector is expected to cross the one million mark in 2024 fuelled by rising demand, increased production, and affordability, industry experts said, even as several original equipment makers are expanding their penetration to rural areas. Improved battery technology and innovative features are also likely to fuel growth, they said. "E2W sales will breach the 1-million mark in 2024 as the demand for electric two-wheelers is expected to continue growing due to factors such as environmental awareness, government incentives, and improvements in technology," Hyder Khan, chief executive officer (CEO), Godawari Electric Motors, said.
'I'm pitching India for the strengths we offer, including the English language, engineers, doctors, nurses, professionals, innovative talent of startups.'
The government has exhausted only 39 per cent of its fiscal deficit target in the first half of FY24.
With global trade talks struggling to make some headway, the US on Tuesday declined to improve its offer for reducing farm subsidies and instead sought greater market access in other developed countries such as the European Union.
The sugar industry is now awaiting a subsidy from the government to make exports viable, as prices have fallen in the international market.
The rapid decline in fiscal health and deterioration in the external sector outlook has prompted the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to ask the government to hasten domestic reforms to curb its subsidy bill and encourage renewed equity flows.
While India should be concerned about disparities, the fact is that whereas three decades ago about half the people had incomes greater than $2.15 a day, today seven out of eight do, notes T N Ninan.
Experts recommend awaiting the findings of the 2021 Census, which is yet to be conducted, before introducing population control policies.
Narendra D Modi and his party campaigned in these elections uncharacteristically without any big ideas. Of course, winning each election at all costs could be a big idea as well, observes Shekhar Gupta.
The Centre currently charges 8 per cent CVD on the import of e-bike components. For making e-bikes, firms import motor, battery, and other electronic and mechanical parts from China and Taiwan. Over 55 per cent of components are imported. Also, in order to encourage the use of environment friendly vehicles, the government should provide at least 30 per cent subsidy on the purchase of bike under the New and Renewable energy policy.
The BJP lost 15 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in 2019. Union ministers have been deployed in all 15, tasked with turning the result around.
Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, who is now administering Delhi after President's rule was imposed, on Tuesday made it clear that none of the decisions and initiatives taken by the Aam Aadmi Party government will be scrapped, including the 50 per cent subsidy on power tariff.
Commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal is set to attend a two-day meeting from October 23 at the World Trade Organization (WTO) headquarters in Geneva, that would focus on finding solutions and giving the 'necessary political push' for at least some crucial global trade issues. Next week's meeting comes ahead of the WTO's 13th ministerial conference (MC13), scheduled in Abu Dhabi in February 2024. It will see participation of senior government officials from all WTO member nations.
The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation will pay Rs 852 crore (Rs 8.52 billion) for subsidising petrol and diesel during January-March quarter but state gas utility GAIL India has been spared from the subsidy burden.
India will find it difficult to support new global customs rules without "an assurance and visible outcomes" that a permanent solution is being negotiated over its concerns about public food stockholdings, the trade minister said on Friday.
Fuel retailers sell diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene at government controlled rates which are below market price. The loss they thus incur is made good through cash subsidy from the government and dole from upstream firms like Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced a Rs 11.11 lakh crore spending on infrastructure and vowed to continue reforms as she resisted resorting to populist measures in Modi government's last Budget before general elections, instead choosing to stay on the path of cutting deficit while bolstering measures for focus groups.
With its new premium Primus and Ampere NXG, it is targeting buyers seeking a faster and more stylish ride
Against predictions by most exit polls that the ruling Congress had an edge in the state, the BJP banked heavily on the charisma of the PM.
With just a month left in this financial year, electric two-wheeler sales, so far, are at just 62 per cent of the ambitious target of 1 million units set for 2022-23 by the NITI Aayog. According to VAHAN data, compiled by the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV), 620,006 units of electric two-wheelers were sold across the country in FY23 until February 21. Though the industry may miss the 1-million target, sales in FY23 are already up 146 per cent from 249,621 units sold in FY22.
Moody's Investors Service has warned that India, along with the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam are highly vulnerable to volatile food and energy prices in the Asia-Pacific region as the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues to disrupt supplies and raise the cost of agricultural products, especially cereals and vegetable oils, as well as fertilizers and other agricultural inputs. This is so because these countries have a higher weighting of energy and food prices in their consumer price index (CPI) baskets, Moody's said in its report released on Tuesday. The weighting of energy and food in overall Indian CPI stands at over 55 per cent.
'It has been an ongoing process, talking to the relevant ministries about eliminating leakages and curbing non-core expenditure in various schemes.'
The BJP is the preferred choice because it offers what the Mughals and later British offered in their time: A stable polity and an environment in which business could function, explains T N Ninan.
'The aim is also to probe how the ministry and testing agencies made negligence in examining these OEMs, so that such negligence is avoided in the future.'
Micron plans an assembly testing, marking and packaging project of $1 billion, and talks are on to set up a memory chip plant for captive requirements.
RIL, which began gas production from KG-D6 fields in April last year, is currently producing 63-64 million standard cubic meters per day or 40 per cent of the nation's output.
Indian economy, dubbed the fastest growing major economy in the world, is faced with the single most important pressure point of job creation, says former RBI Governor Raghuram G Ranjan as he makes a strong case for improvement of human capital through skill development. Talking about the book 'Breaking the mould: Reimagining India's economic future', written jointly by him and Rohit Lamba, assistant professor of economics at Pennsylvania State University, Rajan said one of the greatest strength of India is its human capital of 1.4 billion and the question is "how do you make it strong?" The nation needs to create jobs at every level going along the path of development, said Rajan, presently Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at Chicago Booth, USA.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for an examination of the 'entire gamut of taxes and subsidies on energy forms and devices'.
Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said three months before the five state elections, where the 'BJP is staring at certain defeat', and six months before the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP is literally clutching at straws.
The Indian Oil Corporation has taken a hit of about Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) in the first quarter of the current fiscal on selling subsidised LPG and Kerosene below the cost.
According to the third batch of supplementary demands for grants tabled in the Lok Sabha, approval is being sought for gross additional expenditure of over Rs 1.58 lakh crore.
Tata group-owned AirAsia India's inability to get approval for international flights is hurting UDAN, the Indian government's regional air connectivity project that also aims to link cities in Northeast India and Odisha to places abroad. Sources said the civil aviation ministry is waiting for the low-cost airline to come under the full ownership of Tata Sons and become part of Air India, the former state-owned carrier now owned by the private conglomerate, before allowing it to operate international flights. Tata owns 84 per cent stake in AirAsia India and it is understood that the group will complete the process of buying rest of the stake by July's end.
Maharashtra fell behind Gujarat in attracting foreign investment during the MVA's tenure but in the next two years the present government would take Maharashtra ahead, said Fadnavis.
The Karnataka high court has directed the police not to take precipitative action against Aaj Tak news channel's consulting editor Sudhir Chaudhary in an FIR filed against him, but said that there was a prima facie case against him, and it should be investigated.
Economic growth, which we are taking for granted, slows for a completely different set of local or global factors and the Modi premium vanishes, observes Debashis Basu.
The Union government's finances witnessed significant improvement in August after a stressful first four months of the current fiscal year. India's gross tax revenue, comprising both direct and indirect taxes, for the first five months of 2023-24 surged 16.5 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 11.8 trillion. During the April-July period, gross tax revenue increased by a mere 2.8 per cent compared to the Budget Estimate of 12.1 per cent growth for FY24.
Upstream oil firms bear one-third of the revenue that retailers lose on selling diesel, domestic LPG and Kerosene at government-controlled rates.
