Page 3 - States

States' loan guarantee more than triples since FY17 to Rs 9.4 trn in FY23

The total loan guarantees extended by 17 major states to their entities have more than tripled to Rs 9.4 lakh crore by FY23 from Rs 3 lakh crore in FY17, says a report. While guarantees are contingent liabilities, they may pose a risk to states' fiscal health if a substantial proportion of the stock needs to be serviced by them, warranting robust guarantee monitoring and prudent extension of guarantees in the future so that the financial system as a whole remains resilient. States often sanction and issue on behalf of their various enterprises, cooperative institutions, and urban local bodies guarantees in favour of their lenders which are generally banks or other financial institutions. The total loan guarantees extended by the 17 major states to their entities have more than tripled to Rs 9.4 lakh crore as of FY23 from Rs 3 lakh crore in FY17. This is equivalent to the entire increase in such guarantees of these states during FY2017-22, Icra Ratings chief economist Aditi Nayar sai

States continue to pay high coupon on debt at over two-year high of 7.72%

The weighted average rates of state debt continued to remain at an over two-year high of 7.72 per cent at the second weekly auction of the quarter on Tuesday, making it the highest so far this fiscal. Accordingly, the spread between 10-year state bonds and benchmark G-sec yield also remained firm at 54 bps, with both inching up by 1 bps from the previous week, according to a note by Icra Ratings' chief economist Aditi Nayar. Nine states raised Rs 19,300 crore from the market selling government securities, which was 34 per cent lower than the amount indicated for this week in the auction calendar. Despite lower supply, the weighted average cut-off inched up to 7.72 per cent, which is the highest so far in FY24 from 7.71 per cent last week. The payout increased in spite of the weighted average tenor remaining unchanged at 11 years. Both this had the spread between the cut-off of the 10-year state bonds and the 10-year benchmark G-sec yield inching up to 54 bps from 53 bps last week,

State rules against basic ethos, spirit of labour codes, finds Study

An objective analysis of these rules indicates that with respect to many of the aspects, there is too much divergence not only between the central and state/UT rules but also among the state rules

Arrested development: States are hardly spending on modernising police

They allot little money from their own budgets and underutilise the money the centre gives them

States' borrowing cost jumps 10 bps to reach 23-week high of 7.56%

States' borrowing cost jumped 10 basis points to 7.56 per cent at the first weekly debt auction of the third quarter on Tuesday and is the highest in the the past 23 weeks. Fourteen states raised Rs 22,500 crore through the issuance of state government securities in line with the indicated amount for this weekly auction for the third quarter calendar. According to Aditi Nayar, the chief economist at Icra Ratings, the auctions saw a steep increase in the cut-offs across tenors leading to the weighted average cost jumping to a 23-week high of 7.56 per cent. It stood at 7.46 percent last week. The higher pricing of the borrowing is despite a steep decline in the weighted average tenor to 13 years from 17 years, Nayar said. Moreover, she said the spread between the cut-off of 10-year state bonds and the new 10-year G-Secs (7.18 GS 2033) yield rose mildly to 33 bps from 32 bps last week. On an annualised basis to the week, the states have drawn down 15.4 per cent more than what they

Centre holds meeting on Covid, asks states to ramp up genome sequencing

Amid detection of newer variants of coronavirus globally, the Centre on Monday held a high-level meeting and asked states to ramp up whole genome sequencing of positive samples and keep close watch on the global variants. Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, Dr P K Mishra, after the deliberations highlighted that while the Covid situation in the country remains stable and public health systems remain geared up, there is need for states to monitor trends of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases, an official statement said. He also emphasised on sending sufficient samples for testing of COVID-19 while ramping up whole genome sequencing and maintaining close watch on the new global variants. An overview of the global COVID-19 situation was given by Health Secretary Sudhansh Pant, including certain newer variants of SARS-CoV-2 virus like BA.2.86 (Pirola) and EG.5 (Eris), which have been reported globally. He underlined that as per the World

36 govt websites faced hacking incidents in first six months of 2023

As many as 36 websites of ministries and departments under the central and various state governments faced hacking incidents in the first six months of 2023, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. Cyber security watchdog CERT-In tracked these incidents. According to data shared by Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar in Lok Sabha, a total of 1,12,474 cyber security incidents have been tracked by CERT-In. "The government is continuously engaged in formulating policies and setting technical standards in the cyberspace to holistically ensure accessible internet and to mitigate threats & vulnerabilities in the cyberspace," Chandrasekhar said in a written reply. As per the data, 36 websites of ministries and departments under the central and various state governments faced hacking incidents. The minister also shared that over 4.29 lakh cyber security incidents pertaining to financial institutions occurred in the first half of 2023.

How many Indians filed non-zero income tax returns in AY 2022-23?

Only nine states and union territories had more than a million non-zero returns

Centre approves release of Rs 7,352 crore disaster relief fund to 22 states

The fund is the primary fund available with state governments for responses to notified disasters

All GST businesses will now have to geocode their addresses: GSTN

GST Network on Friday said it has geocoded 1.8 crore addresses of registered businesses and the functionality is now live for all states and UTs. Geocoding will help in finding out the exact location of the registered entity and check bogus registrations. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has already conducted a pilot for geocoding in a couple of states. In an update to businesses, GSTN said the functionality for geocoding the principal place of business address is now live for all States and Union territories. This feature, which converts an address or description of a location into geographic coordinates, has been introduced to ensure the accuracy of address details in GSTN records and streamline the address location and verification process. "GSTN has successfully geocoded more than 1.8 crore addresses of principal places of business. Furthermore, all new addresses post-March 2022 are geocoded at the time of registration itself, ensuring the accuracy and ..

States must focus on transparency with regard to finances: NITI Aayog CEO

NITI Aayog CEO B V R Subrahmanyam on Monday emphasised on the need to focus on transparency with regard to states' finances as greater transparency will help states raise resources from market at competitive rates. Participating in a seminar organised by the Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP), he also made a case for having a fiscal council like institution to better manage the debt trajectory of the Centre and states. Transparency is more important than uniformity and states should ensure that everything gets reported in some form or the other because the market values transparency, he said. Citing an example, he said, five southern states accounted for 93 per cent of off- budget borrowing last year while all the high deficit states like West Bengal, Punjab and Rajasthan have low off-budget borrowing. "It is all because of market discipline...people are more willing to lend to these five states as compared to West Bengal, Punjab and Rajasthan," he said, adding, there a

Centre approves Rs 56,415 cr to 16 states as special assistance for capex

The highest amount of assistance totalling Rs 9,640 crore will be given to Bihar

3 states, 1 UT raise Rs 5.6K crore in bond auction, TN tops the list

Yields on 10-year state paper harden further

Centre releases Rs 1.18 trillion as tax devolution to state govts

The government is releasing an additional advance installment to the states in this month

Despite heavy supply, debt cost slips marginally for states to 7.32%

Despite larger than notified supplies, the average cost for the states that hit the market on Tuesday will be less in terms of coupons, which slipped by 3 bps to 7.32 per cent. Twelve states have raised Rs 17,300 crore through state government securities in the auction held on Tuesday, which is a sharp 47 per cent higher than the indicated Rs 11,800 crore for this week in the auction calendar. In spite of that, the weighted average cut-off eased by 3 bps to 7.32 per cent from the last auction. The fall is also regardless of the fact that there was a mild rise in the weighted average tenor to 16 years from 15 years, Icra Ratings said in a note. The spread between the 10-year SGS and 10-year Central government security yield remained stable at 35 bps relative to the past week, Aditi Nayar, the chief economist and the head of research & outreach at the agency, said in the note.

5 states project their economies to grow slower than national GDP in FY'23

So far, only 15 states have revealed their projections for the gross state domestic product for 2022-23

NIA raids in 6 states against terror-narcotics smugglers-gangsters nexus

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is carrying out raids at over 100 places in six states in connection with cases related to narco-terror-gangster nexus, officials said. The raids were underway in Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The NIA had registered three cases last year following information suggesting that terrorist outfits and their sympathisers abroad were operating as members of organized criminal gangs active in the northern states of India for targeted killings and violent criminal acts. It has also emerged that the terror-gangster-drug smuggler network was also engaged in smuggling terrorist hardware such as arms, ammunition explosives and IEDs among others across borders through a widespread interstate network of gun runners, illegal arms and ammunition manufacturers and suppliers and explosive traffickers. The NIA has already arrested 19 members of various criminal gangs, two arms suppliers and one financier connected wit

Most pollution boards financially surplus but don't spend on infra: Study

11% of their total expenditure was on infrastructure and 2% was on research, development, and studies

Power Ministry asks states to withdraw any tax on generation of electricity

It has come to the notice of Government of lndia (Gol) that some state governments have imposed taxes / duties on generation of electricity. This is illegal and unconstitutional

States to establish 100 food streets across 100 districts: Centre

The Union Health Ministry, in collaboration with the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, has written to the states and Union Territories to develop 100 food streets in 100 districts across the country. The initiative is being taken up as a pilot project to create an example for other such streets to come up across the country to ensure safe and hygienic food practices. The project aims to encourage safe and healthy practices among food businesses and community members, thus reducing foodborne illnesses and improving overall health outcomes, the Union Health Ministry said in a statement. In a letter to the states, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Manoj Joshi highlighted that "easy access to safe and hygienic food is vital for the good health of citizens". "Safe food practices not only promote the 'eat right campaign' and food safety but will improve hygiene credibility of local food businesses, boost local employment,