Top headlines: Interest on small savings cut; inflation target unchanged

From cutting interest rates on small savings schemes to Cabinet okays Rs 10,900 cr PLI for food processing units, here are top headlines this morning

Govt cuts interest rates on small savings schemes effective from April 1

The government has announced a cut in small savings rates by 50-100 basis points for the first quarter of the new financial year. This is the second time that interest rates on small savings schemes have been cut in the past one year. In the April-June quarter of 2020-21, the government had slashed rates of small savings schemes by 70-140 bps. With the latest cut, interest rates on these schemes have been reduced by a total of 120-240 bps in one year. The rate of interest on Public Provident Fund (PPF) has declined from 7.1 per cent earlier to 6.4 per cent now. The return on Senior Citizens Savings Schemes has come down from 7.4 per cent to 6.5 per cent and that on National Savings Certificates has been reduced from 6.8 per cent to 5.9 per cent. Read More

Govt keeps inflation target at 2-6% for 5 years: DEA secretary Tarun Bajaj

The Centre, on Wednesday, kept the inflation target of the monetary policy framework unchanged at 2-6 per cent for the next five years, until the fiscal year 2025-26. The 4 per cent anchor point target for inflation -- with an upper tolerance limit of 6 per cent and a lower limit of 2 per cent, measured in terms of consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation -- was set by the government in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2016 and its validity expired on Wednesday. Read More

Pune steps up Covid-19 vaccination drive but stares at supply shortage

The wailing siren of ambulances tears through the streets of Pune. They carry the sick to the fast-filling hospitals in the city, which is now the worst affected in the country in the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. The number of infected and those who need hospitalisation is mounting every day. Pune recorded 4,426 new cases on March 28. With its population of 3.1 million, this translates to 1,500 cases per million in a day. (The number of Covid deaths in Pune city has hovered between 25 and 30 for the last few days. Read More

Benchmark indices end FY21 with a gain of 70%, most since 2009-10

The benchmark indices ended FY21 with a gain of 70%, most since 2009-10 when they had bounced off from the global financial crisis. The rebound, both in FY10 and FY21, followed a painful period for the market and has been underp­inned by aggressive stimulus measures by global central banks. In FY20, the markets had posted their biggest yearly loss since FY09. In FY21, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices rose 91 per cent and 115 per cent, respectively. India’s m-cap rose Rs 91 trillion during the year to Rs 204 trillion. Pundits expect returns in FY22 to be muted. Read More

Cabinet okays Rs 10,900 cr PLI for food processing units under 4 buckets

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the much-anticipated production-linked incentive scheme for the food processing sector, paving the way for a rapid expansion of Indian packaged food majors. With an approved outlay of Rs 10,900 crore, the scheme aims to boost local production and export of food items in four categories, apart from special support for innovative items and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the sector. Effective from the financial year 2021-22, the scheme has been designed to offer incentives to select food producers from India to expand their presence in foreign markets by growing production base, retail presence, and marketing and branding in export markets. Taking 2021-22 as the base year, the government aims at achieving an incremental production of worth Rs 33,494 crore by 2027-28. It also estimates to add 250,000 jobs by 2026-27. Read More

Cabinet okays Rs 10,900 cr PLI for food processing units under 4 buckets

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the much-anticipated production-linked incentive scheme for the food processing sector, paving the way for a rapid expansion of Indian packaged food majors. With an approved outlay of Rs 10,900 crore, the scheme aims to boost local production and export of food items in four categories, apart from special support for innovative items and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the sector. Read More

Auto-debit payments: RBI extends timeline for implementation of new rules

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday extended the deadline until September 30 for all stakeholders to move to the new norms on e-mandate for recurring payments of online transactions. It also came down heavily on banks for not implementing the system in time and threatened "stringent supervisory action" if the deadline is missed again. Read More

Adani Group rules post-pandemic rally in FY21, adds Rs 5.34 trn to m-cap

Gautam Adani family-controlled Adani Group was the biggest gainer on the bourses in 2020-21, amid the sharp surge in equity markets in a post-pandemic rally. The seven listed Adani Group companies had a combined market capitalisation (m-cap) of Rs 6.7 trillion on Tuesday — up more than 5x from the group’s m-cap of Rs 1.31 trillion at the end of March 2020. To draw a comparison, the combined m-cap of the top listed companies in Business Standard’s sample is up 79.6 per cent in the last 12 months. Read More

InMobi plans $1-billion IPO on Nasdaq by the end of fourth quarter

The country’s first unicorn, mobile advertising technology platform InMobi, is launching an initial public offering (IPO) in the US for raising up to $1 billion, according to people in the know. The company is planning to list at Nasdaq by the end of the fourth quarter of this calendar year and expecting a $14-15 billion valuation. According to the sources, the company is approaching merchant bankers, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan, and it expects to finalise the line-up quickly. Read More