What's new

Indian Economy-News & Updates

How is the plan?

  • Good

    Votes: 161 61.7%
  • Average

    Votes: 53 20.3%
  • Poor

    Votes: 47 18.0%

  • Total voters
    261
Modi govt's big reform push: Diesel deregulated, natural gas price hiked

New Delhi: In a major reform push, the government on Saturday deregulated diesel prices but hiked natural gas tariff by 46 percent that will push up fertiliser, power, CNG and PNG rates.

The deregulation of diesel will bring down rates by Rs 3.37 a litre from Sunday and will move in tandem with international cost from next month.

his will be the first reduction in diesel rates in over five years. Diesel price were last cut on January 29, 2009 when they were reduced by Rs 2 a litre to Rs 30.86. Rates had since climbed to Rs 58.97. It will cost Rs 55.6 per litre in Delhi from tomorrow.

After deregulation, government will no longer provide subsidy on diesel.

The long-pending decisions in the oil sector were taken at a Cabinet meeting headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here.
 
One Week, Many Reforms: PM Modi Burnishes Economic Credentials - NDTVProfit.com

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has unleashed a slew of reforms in the past week, scrapping fuel subsidies, simplifying labour rules and pledging to open coal mining to private players in a bid to kickstart the economy.

The reforms are seen as some of the most significant since Mr Modi and his BJP swept the national election in May.
 
(USA) CIA World Facebook 2013

1 United States 16,720,000
2 China 9,330,000
3 Japan 5,007,000
4 Germany 3,593,000
5 France 2,739,000
6 United Kingdom 2,490,000
7 Brazil 2,190,000
8 Russia 2,113,000
9 Italy 2,068,000
10 Canada 1,825,000
11 India 1,670,000
12 Australia 1,488,000
13 Spain 1,356,000
14 Mexico 1,327,000
15 South Korea 1,198,000


india gdp growth drops sharply
 
Big oil discovery made near Ahmedabad

A significant oil discovery has been made near Ahmedabad in the Cambay basin that by some estimates may be the biggest onland find this year.
Jay Polychem (India) Ltd, a unit of city-based Jay Madhok Group, made the oil discovery in the very first well it drilled on the block CB-ONN-2009/8 in Gujarat's Cambay basin.
The firm has since July last year drilled two wells and discovered huge oil pay zones in both the wells, sources said.
The discovery in the well Kharenti-A has been notified to the upstream regulator DGH and the government.
Sources said the discovery by Jay Polychem is huge and similar to oil being produced by ONGC in the neighbouring Padra field as also by GSPC in Ingoli field.
The block is operated by Jay Polychem (India) Ltd with 87% interest, while Jay Polychem Pte Ltd holds the rest.
Cambay basin, which extends from Surat in the south to Sanchor in the north, covers an area of about 59,000 sq km with a hydrocarbon resource of more than 15 billion barrels.
Few dozen discoveries, mostly oil, have been reported in the basin. State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp produces oil from most of them and recently Oilex of Australia too has found tight oil.
Sources said the well Kharenti-A was drilled to a total depth of 858 meters in July last year and encountered significant oil shows of Olpad Formation.
Testing done this month resulted in oil being found in three zones. A gross column of 52 meters was interpreted from log analysis and testing data to be oil bearing, they said.
Initial analysis of the oil samples suggests the presence of oil of API 14.
Sources said the company is taking necessary steps to establish potential of the discoveries.
The firm will further deploy world best technologies used to produce heavy oil in USA, Canada and South America to determine and commence production on commercial basis from the Khrentie field.
Jay commented that the discovery of a significant oil column in their first well in CB-ONN-2009/8 is encouraging for the ongoing prospectivity of the block.
The discovery enhances their understanding of the Olpad Play which extends over the entire block and establishes hydrocarbon potential of the various prospects in the block, the firm said.
Jay had won the block in the 8th round of bidding under New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP).
The discoveries are first in NELP VIII blocks and very significant in the recent times in the Cambay basin.
The 136 sq km CB-ONN-2009/8 was among the 13 onland blocks along with 8 deepwater and 11 shallow water areas that were awarded to explorers in 2010.
The company, which has acquired 200 sq km of 3D seismic data, will drill 5 more wells by next quarter. Site for the new wells has already been acquired and the development is on.
It also has city gas distribution licence to retail CNG to automobiles and piped cooking gas to households in Jallandhar, Ludhiana and Kutch (east).

Big oil discovery made near Ahmedabad - Hindustan Times
 
'Make in India' call gets another taker

Lava to move smartphone manufacturing from China to India: Report | Latest Tech News, Video & Photo Reviews at BGR India

According to the report, Lava will spend Rs 500 crore in the next three years, as it shifts its manufacturing base to India. The company will use its Noida plant, which is currently used for repairs, to manufacture new devices. It will initially invest Rs 20-30 crore, and the plant will have the capacity to manufacture up to 200,000 units a month. This is set to be ramped up to one million by March 2016
 
Sensex hits new record-high of 27,493.59; Nifty crosses 8,200 - TOI Mobile | The Times of India Mobile Site
Friday's trading session ends with a bang,SENSEX up by 593^ points ,NIFTY up by 141^ points,up by almost 1000points,throughout the week.
The BSE sensex and the NSE nifty soared to hit new all-time highs of 27,493.59 and 8,214.65 points, respectively, in opening trade on Friday on sustained fund inflows, driven by a slew of economic reforms announced by the government amidst optimism over strong corporate earnings.
 
Jaitley’s A-team to push key reforms
TNN | Nov 5, 2014, 05.48AM IST
inShare
cb36feddbb2c699e121da8adc3fd127e._.gif

8d06bec864f883e29a88563e9394b87a.jpg

Finance minister Arun Jaitley
NEW DELHI: The government on Monday promoted 22 officers to secretary rank, while undertaking another change in the finance ministry.

Hasmukh Adhia, the new financial services secretary, is a Gujarat cadre IAS officer, a TOI columnist and has a doctorate in yoga from Swami Vivekanand Yoga University, Bangalore. According to his website, he is an IIM gold medallist. He was also the brain behind the karamyogi programme to rejuvenate the bureaucracy in Gujarat.

Adhia replaces G S Sandhu, who launched the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana with over six crore bank accounts opened in 60 days. Sandhu will take over as chairman of the National Authority for Chemical Weapons Convention.

With the slow economic recovery, the government is keen to unleash a series of measures to accelerate growth and attract investment, especially in the manufacturing sector. In a recent interview to TOI, Jaitley, however, said that the reforms need not necessarily be announced in the Budget, indicating that several steps could be taken before the financial exercise on February 28. The Budget is being keenly awaited by investors for clues to the government's economic policy thinking. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked his secretaries for transformational ideas for the Budget and has called for a shift from output to outcomes.

This Budget will, however, be crucial as the Finance Commission's recommendations will have to be implemented, which means that more funds will flow to the states. In addition, the Goods and Services Tax rollout is being keenly watched as it cannot be launched in the middle of a financial year. With the Planning Commission out of the way, the entire expenditure allocation will undergo a change with the finance ministry playing a pivotal role.
 
Visa chooses Bangalore as site for new technology centre

In a bid to strengthen its resources and tap India’s “incredible” pool of talent, global payments provider Visa has chosen Bangalore as the site for its new technology centre in the country.

The new centre will open early next year and fully staffed by early 2017.

Considered the innovation hub of India, Bangalore enables the company to attract a diverse talent of world class from the country’s top universities and be part of a community experiencing tremendous growth in world-class innovation centres and technology facilities.

“India is fast becoming a global technology epicentre with an incredible pool of technology talent,” said Nitin Chandel, senior vice-president of Visa’s Developer Platform based in India.

“The development of a Technology Centre of Excellence in Bangalore is an opportunity to build from the ground-up a culture of innovation that is reflective of Visa’s strategy to open its network to new and different technologies,” he said.

Teams at the new centre will focus on the development of key application programming interfaces (APIs) and software development kits (SDKs) in order to help an expanding group of global partners more easily access VisaNet when creating new commerce and payment experiences.

The announcement is one of many initiatives that Visa has undertaken to strengthen its global technology resources. The company recently opened a 112,000-square foot innovation centre, One Market, at its new office space in San Francisco, California.

It has begun introducing, in select markets, a quick and easy payment service called Visa Checkout, which allows consumers to pay for goods online, on any device, in just a few clicks.

Visa chooses Bangalore as site for new technology centre | Business Standard News
 
Japanese realty major to build townships in India | Business Standard News

Japanese real estate company TamaHome Corporation has entered into a joint venture with Developer Group to create townships in India, the company said Wednesday.
The first two township projects in India will come up in Visakhapatnam in 50 acres and the second in Ludhiana in 150 acres. Both will be in collaboration with Developer Group India Pvt. Ltd.
 
Black money: Almost 289 accounts of HSBC list have no money, says SIT report

NEW DELHI: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money has found that less than half of the HSBC bank list of over 600 accounts did not have any money, while more than hundred names were a repeat, hampering the possibility of any action against them.

The Income Tax Department is now mulling prosecution against 300 entities figuring in the list of 628 entries in the HSBC Geneva list given to the Supreme Court recently, official sources said.

The SIT found and reported that there was no amount shown in almost 289 HSBC Geneva entries, while 122 of them were repeated twice in the same list.

"The SIT found that the biggest impediment in taking action against the people listed in this particular lot was that there were no details about the operations of these accounts. It was not reflected in the list as to when these accounts were opened and what was their transaction history," the sources said.

The report of the SIT, headed by retired Supreme Court Judge M.B. Shah with Justice (retd) Arijit Pasayat as its Vice-Chairman, said the I-T Department had undertaken 150 search or survey operations against those named in the list but prosecution proceedings were yet not final against them.

"Now that this list has been handed over to the apex Court and the cases are nearing time barring stage by the end of this fiscal, the department is mulling to launch prosecution in close to 300 cases," they said.

The SIT has also sought "renegotiation" of various tax information exchange treaties which India has with various countries and tax haven nations in order to effectively curb the menace of illegal funds stashed abroad.

In the report submitted to the government early this year, the SIT has cited the areas of concern for the investigating and enforcement agencies which are tasked to keep a check on these 'black' funds and illegal economy.

"The SIT has asked the government to take up renegotiation of the existing Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs) and the Tax Information Exchange Treaties (TIEAs) in context of some specific countries.

"This is a time-consuming affair but an early start would help the country in accomplishing its desire to crack down on illegal funds kept overseas by Indians," official sources said quoting the SIT report.

As a consequence of this specific request, the government told the SIT that the Finance Ministry has already begun the exercise in this direction.

"The government informed the SIT that out of the 78 DTAAs India had, renegotiation has been taken up with 75 countries for providing banking information under this legal mode of exchange of tax information. The other three countries-- Tajikistan, Iceland and Myanmar-- already have this arrangement," sources said.

The government also told the SIT, sources said, that it has completed renegotiations in approximately 31 cases, has sought the approval of the Cabinet for the same in about 30 cases while India is wanting to have new DTAAs, which will include banking related clauses, with over 50 countries.

In the same report, the SIT also noted an "innovative" method undertaken by the CBDT against these people by allowing them to seek details from Swiss banks themselves in lieu of which they will be allowed waiver in imposition of strict punishment under tax laws.

"The consent waiver was given to over 100 account holders so that they themselves seek information on their Swiss bank accounts and hand it over to the tax department following which they will be prosecuted under lighter degrees of law," they said.

The SIT has also desired that it would want the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to act as the nodal agency for its operations as it enforces the stringent criminal law of Prevention of Money Laundering Act against black money hoarders.

"It is being mulled that some bright officers will soon be deputed in the ED against existing vacancies who would exclusively handle cases entrusted by the SIT," they said.

The SIT has recently also announced that it would seek information against black money hoarders from the public and it will soon announce the communication channel to be used by the general public in this regard. — PTI

The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Latest News
 
Honestly this whole black money list idiocy seems like one large sham to me. Does anybody honestly think that anybody with untaxed wealth in foreign tax havens still has their money in these accounts?
 
Black money: Mauritius assures help to India in SIT's probe

Port Louis: Mauritius, often accused of being a route for round-tripping of funds by Indians, Monday conveyed to Indian government that it was ready to support its Special Investigation Team (SIT) to unearth black money.

This was conveyed to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade Arvin Boolell during a meeting here, the External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said.

Boolell conveyed that Mauritius will take measures to ensure it remains "jurisdiction of repute", he said.

Mauritius used to be the biggest gateway for flow of funds into India through FDI as well as FII routes, but its position has come down amid concerns about this island nation being used for round-tripping of funds.

It recently slipped to the second place after the US in terms of quantum of money being brought in by overseas investors into Indian markets.

According to Sebi, Mauritius accounted for Rs 3.31 lakh crore worth 'assets under custody' of foreign institutional investors in the Indian equity and debt markets at the end of 2013, as against over Rs 4.37 lakh crore in case of the US.

Fund flows from Mauritius have fallen amid concerns about suspected money-laundering, even though this Indian Ocean island nation has been consistently denying such allegations.

India has concerns that Mauritius, which is one of the top sources of foreign direct investments into the country, is being used for round-tripping of funds. Round-tripping is usually referred to routing of domestic investments through Mauritius to take advantage of the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) between the two countries.

The island nation received requests for information in 97 cases from India during one-year period ended August, 2014.

According to a Mauritius government official, 85 per cent of those requests have been resolved and efforts are on to address concerns of Indian authorities in the remaining ones.

"Between August 2013 and August this year, we have received requests in as many as 97 cases for the exchange of information with Indian authorities and we have already provided banking information and other financial details to them in 85 per cent of these cases," M Rawoteea, Head Analyst at Ministry of Finance, Mauritius had told PTI earlier.

Over the past few years, effective exchange of information between the two countries has taken place in at least 170 cases.
 
Back
Top Bottom