Page 61 - Finance Ministry

Global bond index providers reach out to India amid geopolitical shifts

Recent rally in bonds despite US bond selloff signals optimism on global index inclusion

The case for greater centre-state coordination to meet long-term goals

Many public policy experts and policymakers have stated that more mechanisms are needed for regular centre-state coordination and interaction on various issues

Steps to check prices will be felt more significantly in few months: FinMin

The Finance Ministry on Monday attributed the rise in inflation to base effect and increase in food and fuel prices, and stressed that initiatives taken by the government to curb price rise will be felt more significantly in the coming months. According to the data, the retail inflation inched up to 7 per cent in August from 6.71 per cent in July. The ministry further said that the core inflation, which is calculated by excluding the transient components of CPI --'food and beverages' and 'fuel and light' at 5.9 per cent remained below the tolerance limit of 6 per cent for the fourth consecutive month. "The headline inflation based on retail CPI recorded a moderate increase from 6.71 % in July 22 to 7.0 % in August 22. This increase is attributable both to an adverse base effect and an increase in food & fuel prices - the transient components of CPI inflation," the ministry said in a series of tweets. This is the second instance since RBI adopted the inflation targeting approach ...

Top headlines: Retail inflation rises to 7% in August; AI leases 30 planes

India plans to pay about Rs 20,000 crore ($2.5 billion) to the state-run fuel retailers, such as Indian Oil Corp., to partly compensate them for losses and keep a check on cooking gas prices

Govt plans Rs 20,000-cr aid to oil firms hit by soaring costs: Report

The oil ministry has sought a compensation of Rs 28,000 cr, but the finance ministry is agreeing to only about a Rs 20,000-cr cash payout, say sources

FinMin mulls changes in insurance laws to boost penetration: Report

The finance ministry is contemplating changes in insurance laws, including reduction in minimum capital requirement, with a view to increasing the insurance penetration in the country. Insurance penetration in India increased from 3.76 per cent in 2019-20 to 4.20 per cent in 2020-21, registering a growth of 11.70 per cent. Insurance penetration measured as the percentage of insurance premium to GDP witnessed handsome growth during the year, mainly due to the outbreak of COVID-19. The ministry is doing a comprehensive review of the Insurance Act, 1938 and also looking at making relevant changes to help push growth of the sector, sources said, adding the process is at a preliminary stage. One of the provisions being considered is lowering the minimum capital requirement of Rs 100 crore for setting up an insurance business, the sources said. Easing capital requirement would allow entry of differentiated insurance companies like in the banking sector, which has categories like universa

Top Headlines: Direct tax collections jump, broken rice exports, and more

Business Standard brings you the top headlines at this hour

Direct tax mop-up jumps 35.5% to Rs 6.48 trillion in FY23: Govt

The ministry said refunds amounting to Rs 1.19 trillion have been issued till September 8 this fiscal year, 65.3 per cent higher than the refunds issued for the same period in FY22.

Finance Ministry to kick-start budgetary exercise from October 10

The finance ministry will kick-start the exercise to prepare the annual budget for 2023-24 from October 10 in the backdrop of revival of the Indian economy and fears of recession in developed countries. The budget for the next year will have to address critical issues of high inflation, boosting demand, job creation and putting the economy on a sustained 8 per cent-plus growth path. Earlier in the day, the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said inflation is no longer "red-lettered" and the priority for the government now is job creation and boosting growth. "Some of course are red-lettered (priorities), some may not be. Red-lettered ones would of course be jobs, equitable wealth distribution and making sure India is moving on the path of growth. "In that sense inflation is not red-lettered. I hope it doesn't surprise many of you. We have shown that in the past couple of months that we were able to bring it to a manageable level," she said. It will be the fifth budget of the Modi

RBI should be more synchronised with fiscal policy to tackle inflation: FM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the Reserve Bank will have to be more synchronised with the fiscal policy and other factors in taming inflation. Inflation management cannot be singularly left to the monetary policy, which has proved totally ineffective in many countries, she said at a seminar organised by economic think-tank Icrier. "The RBI will have to synchronise somewhat, may be not as much synchronised as other western developed countries would do. I'm not prescribing anything to the Reserve Bank... I'm not giving any forward direction to the RBI but it is the truth that India's solution to handling the economy, part of which is handling inflation also is an exercise where the fiscal policy, together with the monetary policy has to work," she said. There are economies where policy is designed in such a way that the monetary policy and the interest rate management is the one and the only tool to handle inflation, she said. "I would say India's inflation ..

RBI, FinMin ask banks, trade bodies to push cross-border rupee trade

Reserve Bank and the finance ministry on Wednesday asked top management of banks and representative of trade bodies to push exports and import transactions in rupee. It was stressed during a meeting that banks should connect with their foreign counterparts for opening special rupee vastro accounts to facilitate cross-border trade in Indian currency rather than popular mode dollar, sources said. Trade associations and their foreign trading partners should explore opportunities to make use of the framework, sources added. The meeting, which saw participation from various stakeholders, including officials of external affairs and commerce ministries, Indian Banks' Association, urged embassies abroad to promote the mechanism through diplomatic channels. According to sources, countries like Sri Lanka, Argentina and Zimbabwe may be interested in settling bilateral trade in rupee. RBI in July issued a detailed circular asking banks to put in place additional arrangements for export and im

India's digital revolution offers investment opportunities to US, says FM

India's digital revolution offered investment opportunities for the United States, the South Asian country's finance minister said on Wednesday

FinMin to hold meeting with stakeholders to push overseas trade in rupee

The finance ministry will on Wednesday hold a meeting with all stakeholders, including banks and officials of external affairs and commerce ministries, to discuss ways to promote cross-border trade in rupee instead of US dollar. The meeting, to be chaired by financial services secretary Sanjay Malhotra, is expected to see attendance from representatives of the Reserve Bank of India, IBA and industry bodies. Banks would be asked to promote this by asking exporters to negotiate on rupee trade, sources said. RBI in July issued a detailed circular asking banks to put in place additional arrangements for export and import transactions in Indian rupees in view of increasing interest of the global trading community in the domestic currency. The announcement by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to allow cross-border trade transactions in rupee is a timely move and a step towards internationalisation of the currency. Currently, a large part of bilateral trade between India and Russia is gett

GoM on casinos, online gaming taxation may finalise report in 7-10 days

A panel of state finance ministers on taxation of casinos and online gaming on Monday met and decided to seek legal opinion on valuation criteria for all these segments. The Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma said, "After taking the opinion of stakeholders and after successive meetings to seek the suggestions of all members, we will take legal opinion before submitting the final report". The GoM on casinos and online gaming taxation is likely to finalise its report in 7-10 days, he said after the meeting here. The panel in an earlier report had proposed to the GST Council to levy 28 per cent GST on gross sales value as horse racing, online gaming and casinos are akin to betting or gambling. Sources said the GoM is open to considering different rates and valuation mechanisms for online gaming, casinos, and horse racing. The government in May last year set up a panel of state ministers for better valuation of services of casinos, online gaming

India's external debt rises 8.2% to $620.7 bn till Mar 2022: FinMin report

While 53.2% of the debt was denominated in the US dollar, Indian rupee-denominated debt, estimated at 31.2%t, was the second largest, as per the status report released by FinMin

India's external debt of $620-bn is 'sustainable': Finance Ministry report

India's external debt of $620.7 billion, as at end of March 2022, is sustainable and is being managed in a prudent manner, the Department of Economic Affairs, under the Union Finance Ministry, said

Top headlines: Centre's cap on green bond issues, RBI's message, and more

Business Standard brings you the top headlines at this hour

Centre may cap upcoming first green bond issues at Rs 25,000 crore

Green bond proceeds will be used to fund projects which will help India meet COP commitments

GST collection rises 28% in August to Rs 1.43 trillion: Finance Ministry

Collections from Goods and Services Tax (GST) rose 28 per cent to Rs 1.43 lakh crore in August, the Finance Ministry said on Thursday. GST collection has remained over the Rs 1.4-lakh-crore mark for the sixth straight month in August. "Better reporting coupled with economic recovery has been having a positive impact on the GST revenues on a consistent basis," the ministry said in a statement. The gross GST revenue collected in August 2022 stood at Rs 1,43,612 crore of which Central GST is Rs 24,710 crore, State GST is Rs 30,951 crore, Integrated GST is Rs 77,782 crore (including Rs 42,067 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 10,168 crore (including Rs 1,018 crore collected on import of goods), the ministry said. The revenues for the month of August 2022, registered 28 per cent increase than the GST revenues of Rs 1,12,020 crore collected in August 2021.

Export tax on diesel, ATF hiked; windfall tax on domestic oil production up

The government has hiked the windfall profit tax on the export of diesel to Rs 13.5 per litre and that on jet fuel exports to Rs 9 per litre. The levy on domestically-produced crude oil too has been increased by Rs 300 per tonne to Rs 13,300. At the fourth fortnightly review, the government raised the windfall profit tax on the export of diesel to Rs 13.5 per litre from Rs 7, while on ATF (Aviation Turbine Fuel) exports, it was hiked to Rs 9 per litre from Rs 2, according to a finance ministry notification issued on Wednesday.