The government of India is likely to file an appeal against the Cairn arbitration award contesting its sovereign rights to tax. In December 2020, an international tribunal had unanimously ruled that India violated its obligations under the UK-India Bilateral Investment Treaty in 2014, when the income tax department had slapped a Rs 10,247-crore tax assessment […]
In a bid to provide relief to renewable power producers facing delays in project commissioning due to reasons beyond their control, the government has allowed solar and wind-based generation projects to avail transmission charge waivers even if they fail to set up their plants within June 30, 2023 — the deadline set for projects to […]
The Indian government notified a “modified” scheme to provide financial assistance to distilleries producing first-generation ethanol from feedstocks, including cereals. The assistance will be given for capacity expansion, setting up of new ethanol distilleries or converting molasses-based distilleries to dual feedstock. In a statement, the government said sugar mills, distilleries or entrepreneurs are required to submit an application in a prescribed […]
Petrol prices in Delhi touched an all-time high of Rs 84.2 per litre after rising by 23 paise today. Earlier, the petrol price had touched an all-time high of Rs 84 on October 4, 2018, in Delhi. Diesel prices, today, were also raised by 26 paise a litre, taking the price to Rs 74.38 a litre. While […]
Indian government agencies have continued to procure kharif 2020-21 crops at the designated minimum support prices from farmers as during the current kharif marketing season (KMS) 2020-21 which commenced early this month. According to a Press Information Bureau note, total procurement of paddy across all states in India increased by 48 per cent from 17.7 […]
Among the various measures to improve viability of sugar industry, the government of India has decided to increase production of ethanol. Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have been further instructed to increase the usage of ethanol blending with petrol. A meeting co-chaired by Secretary (Food & Public Distribution), Secretary, Ministry of petroleum and natural gas (MoPNG) […]
The government of India has decided to go ahead with the privatisation of Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) in a time-bound manner. There were speculations that the deadline for submitting the expression of interest (EOI) might be extended further from the current date of July 31. However, Business Standard reports indicate that the government wanted to complete the stake […]
The appetite for sovereign gold bonds (SGBs) has seen a record increase during the first half of this month. In the July 2020 SGB issue, the government sold bonds worth Rs 2,004 crore, according to official data. This means bonds equivalent to gold worth 4.13 tonnes were sold. Ever since the launch of SGBs in November 2015, […]
While the global pandemic has devastated many businesses, it may help usher in the turnaround of a vital section of the Indian food industry — state-run food procurement agencies. India, one of the world’s largest producer of wheat and rice, relies on state-run procurement agencies such as the behemoth Food Corporation of India (FCI) to collect […]
The government is set to start auctioning five mineral blocks in Gujarat and Karnataka having reserves of 667.2 million tonnes today. The development assumes significance in the wake of the Centre asking each state having mineral resources to identify at least five new mining projects for auction with pre-embedded clearance on a pilot basis, with […]