The TRS government has distributed 10-12 kg rice per month free of cost to ration card holders during COVID-19 by spending over Rs 720 crore.

Goyal said, the time, guidance and concern shown by PM Modi towards this project demonstrates his sensitivities towards the people of Delhi.

Although the government has room to further reduce excise duty on petroleum products to contain inflation from the fiscal side, emphasis will be on monetary policy to control price pressures, they added.

According to him, India at present has ‘large foreign exchange reserves’, which if necessary the country can easily allow it to burn to cushion the system.

The overall gems and jewellery exports stood at Rs 21,156.10 crore (USD 2.89 billion) in May 2021.

Sanjiv Sanyal, member of the economic advisory council to the prime minister Saturday said that the country's internal market is in a good position and its macroeconomic stability is in a comfortable zone despite the ravage by the pandemic.

The Women and Child Development ministry official said that the findings of this particular project will be then shared with ICMR to see if there can be a third party validation medically for this initiative.

India and the EU on June 17 formally resumed negotiations on the proposed agreements, after a gap of over eight years.

These items will be taxed at 5%, the rate for branded food.

“We are working out a detailed programme on crop diversification soon and we will provide financial support to the programme from our own budget as well as from the central sector scheme,” Singh told FE.

The fishery subsidy, the continuation of which India has been keen on, has been retained.

The governor pointed out that the inflation target range of 2-6% has been given to the MPC to deal with extraordinary situations like the one brought on by Covid. The MPC, therefore, decided to use the band and the flexibility available to it around the 4% level to support growth and the panel has been quite open about it.

Although it's early days, according to agriculture ministry data, kharif crops till Friday have been sown in 9.96 million hectares (MH), around 8% less than corresponding period last year.

The advance tax collections in June quarter stood at Rs 1.01 trillion compared with about Rs 75,783 crore in the year ago period.

He was briefing the media after the conclusion of the 12th ministerial conference -- the highest decision-making body of the WTO (World Trade Organisation).

India has been successful in introducing checks on illegal fishing, under-reporting or outside regulation — IUU (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated) fishing." Fisheries subsidies agreement is the second multilateral pact of the WTO finalised after a gap of nine years. It aims at boosting and promoting sustainable fishing.

In the previous week, the reserves had decreased by USD 306 million to USD 601.057 billion.

A provisional deal between major parties - India, South Africa, the United States and the European Union - limited to vaccines emerged in May and this is largely what has been adopted.

Meanwhile, shares in leading sugar producers such as Shree Renuka Sugars, Bajaj Hindustan Sugar and E I D-Parry (India) Ltd fell between 2% and 6%.

The net direct tax collection of over Rs 3.39 lakh crore includes Corporation Tax (CIT) at over Rs 1.70 lakh crore and Personal Income Tax (PIT), including Security Transaction Tax (STT), at over Rs 1.67 lakh crore.

CEA Nageswaran said that India is becoming inflation intolerant, and it is important to stablise inflation expectations, going forward.

As a diplomat and a former Union minister for civil aviation, Puri — the guest at Express Adda on Friday — was one of the four Cabinet ministers tasked with coordinating the government’s massive efforts towards evacuating Indian students stranded in Ukraine after Russia attacked the former on February 24.

In the letter written to the minister, a copy of which is with FE, ISMA president Aditya Jhunjhunwala said an immediate announcement of next year’s sugar export policy will help the sugar mills to enter into future contracts at better prices.

The Centre's share in employment has declined at the fastest rate in recent years among government-sector employers.

Stagflation refers to a situation where inflation and unemployment are high, while demand remains stagnant in the economy.

In October-December 2019 quarter, the urban unemployment rate 7.9%.

India's commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said: "We will take some solid decisions probably after seven years, subject to a few issues being sorted out in the next few minutes… But nothing is done till everything is done.”

Private weather forecaster Skymet said, “The entire plains of Northwest India will see some relief from the heat and good rains will also be seen in Uttarakhand and Punjab on Friday.”

These hikes have led many to believe that the efforts to control inflation will extract a cost by denting growth prospects. The GDP expanded 8.7 per cent in FY22 after 6.6 per cent contraction in FY21, and is estimated by RBI to expand by 7.2 per cent in FY23.

State finances are vulnerable to a variety of unexpected shocks that might alter their fiscal outcomes, causing slippages relative to their budgets and expectations, said the RBI article prepared by a team of economist under the guidance of deputy governor Michael Debabrata Patra.

The article, published in the RBI's June bulletin, noted that global economic conditions continue to deteriorate as ratcheting up of commodity prices and financial market volatility have led to heightened uncertainty.

The unemployment rate for persons of age 15 years and above in October-December 2021 was 8.7 per cent in urban areas, the 14th Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) showed.

No slabs rejig for now, to discuss multi-year plan, compliance to boost collections

Of the male migrants in the country, one in three moves out of his state, as per the annual periodic labour force survey for July 2020-June 2021 conducted by the National Statistical Office, reports Surya Sarathi Ray.

India has called for expeditious restoration of the almost-dysfunctional Appellate Body of the WTO for dispute resolution, without diluting its core features.

Fresh challenges in the global supply chains, the ban on the export of wheat and curbs on the supplies of iron ore and select steel products, etc, too are going to weigh on the country’s export performance in June.

While small exporters of physical products like textiles, handloom, clothing, footwear, mainly based out of developing countries, are facing both domestic taxes and customs duties, the big digital exporters are being exempted from custom duties due to the moratorium, Goyal said.

The GoM’s main mandate is to review the current tax slab rates, and recommend changes as needed to garner more resources, as the five-year GST compensation mechanism comes to an end this month.

Demand for agricultural products from India is witnessing a surge in many markets despite logistical challenges such as freight costs and container shortages, he added. “Demand for Indian products is increasing and optimum efforts are being made to ensure an uninterrupted supply chain,” Angamuthu told FE.

“The move by UAE authorities is meant to check re-exports of wheat intended for domestic consumption,” Kunal Shah, partner, Kunal Corporation, a Mumbai-based exporter, told FE.

The index of mineral production of mining and quarrying sector for the month stood at 116, which was 7.8 per cent higher as compared to the level in April last year, the mines ministry said in a statement.

"Appreciate the timely dispersal of USD 120 million loan by US International Development Finance Corporation @DFCgov to help small and medium businesses in Sri Lanka to overcome immediate challenges," Wickremesinghe tweeted.

India had on May 14 banned wheat exports except for those backed by already issued letters of credit (LCs) and to countries seeking to ensure food security.

The panel of ministers on GST rate rationalisation is scheduled to meet on June 17 to discuss possible tweaking in tax rates, sources said. The Group of Ministers (GoM) is likely to discuss possible changes in the tax slab, they said, adding that the final report of the panel would take some more time. The […]

DG Okonjo-Iweala called on members to go the extra mile to find convergence on the various issues at stake at the ministerial gathering.

Organisers did not provide a list of foreign businesses attending, but the programme for the more than 100 panel discussions showed few speakers from outside Russia.

Denmark has moved to the top of the 63-nation list from the third position last year, while Switzerland slipped from the top ranking to the second position and Singapore regained the third spot from fifth, a global study showed on Wednesday.

Imports during May 2022 grew by 62.83 per cent to USD 63.22 billion, the data showed.

Industrial production rose 0.7% over a year earlier, recovering from April's 2.9% contraction, government data showed.

Given the negative global spill-overs arising from geopolitical tensions, India’s inflation trajectory has been revised upwards.