Top Headlines: FinMin won't exhaust forex for rupee; govt extends PMGKAY

Amid fast-depleting forex reserves, the Finance Ministry signalled that it was not in favour of selling the dollar to defend any particular level of the rupee. The central government on Wednesday extended its free foodgrain scheme for the poor by another three months, till December, ahead of major festivals and elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Read more on these in our top headlines.

Finance Ministry not in favour of exhausting forex reserves to defend rupee

Amid fast-depleting forex reserves, the Finance Ministry on Wednesday signalled that it was not in favour of selling the dollar to defend any particular level of the rupee. “Let it (rupee) reach whatever levels it has to reach. We can’t fritter away reserves on defending some artificial, imaginary rate of exchange,” a senior finance ministry official told Business Standard. Read more
 

Centre extends free food grain scheme till Dec at a cost of Rs 45k cr

The central government on Wednesday extended its free foodgrain scheme for the poor by another three months, till December, ahead of major festivals and elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. The latest extension of the PMGKAY, which was launched in April 2020 during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, will cost the exchequer Rs 44,762 crore over and above the budgeted food subsidy for the financial year 2022-23 (FY23), I&B Minister Anurag Thakur said. Read more
 

TaMo takes a shot at mainstreaming EVs with sub-Rs 10-lakh priced e-Tiago

Twenty-one years after the launch of the two-seater Reva, India gets its first modern, fully-equipped electric passenger vehicle (ePV) priced below the critical threshold of Rs 10 lakh. Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, which has set the pace in this segment, on Wednesday launched the e-Tiago, whose pricing begins at Rs 8.49 lakh, ex-showroom. Read more

RBI unlikely to extend card tokenisation deadline despite merchants' demand

The Reserve Bank of India is unlikely to extend the deadline for businesses to set up an additional layer of security for consumers' credit card data even after some concerns remain over payments failing and revenue losses, say bankers and merchants. Despite a demand by smaller merchants to delay the compliance date, there has been no indication so far by the central bank that there is likely to be an extension in deadline, reported Reuters. Read more

RBI to hike repo rate by 50 bps for 3rd time in a row as rupee slumps

India’s central bank is expected to increase its policy rate by half a point for the third time in a row as the currency’s plunge to a record low this month complicates the battle against inflation. The Reserve Bank of India’s six-member monetary policy committee will raise its repurchase rate by 50 basis points to 5.9%, according to 24 of 35 economists surveyed by Bloomberg as of Wednesday. Read more