Improving industry demand is expected to prop up India’s energy consumption by over ~75 billion units (BUs) this fiscal, or 5 per cent on-year – the fastest growth in the past three fiscal, says a CRISIL Ratings report. Thermal plants will continue to be the mainstay generator of power to meet the higher demand of […]
About 27 pesticides are likely to be banned by the central government, the union minister for agriculture and farmers’ welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar, announced in Rajya Sabha. The government has already appointed an expert committee in this regard. At the same time, the Standing Committee on Agriculture has invited public opinion on Pesticide Management Bill 2020 and the bill is under […]
India has decided to commercialise half of its current strategic petroleum reserves (SPRs) as the nation looks to enhance private participation in the building of new storage facilities, claims a report from Reuters. The shift in policy was approved this month by the union cabinet. Allowing commercialisation of SPRs mirrors a model adopted by countries such as […]
In an effort to check the rising prices and boost the domestic supply of lentils, the central government has reduced the import duty on masur dal to zero and also halved the Agriculture Infrastructure Development Cess on the lentil to 10 per cent. A notification for the same was tabled in both houses of the […]
The country’s crude oil import bill has increased 190.6% year-on-year to $24.7 billion in Q1FY22 with rising prices of the commodity in the international market and higher procurement volumes with demand for auto fuels increasing. The volume of crude oil imported in the quarter, at 51 million tonne, was 14.7% higher than the same period […]
The union cabinet approved a sum of Rs 22,500 crore as the central government grant for the installation of 25 crore smart prepaid meters across the country under the Rs 3-lakh-crore scheme for power distribution entities (discoms). The total outlay for smart-metering under the scheme is Rs 1.5 lakh crore, of which the Centre will […]
India’s coffee exports have seen a steady decline in the last decade amid growing need for value addition across multiple stages of coffee processing globally and rising demand for specialty coffees, according to a report by global trade finance company Drip Capital, quoting data from Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). India exported nearly USD […]
India’s wind, solar, hybrid (WSH) project capacity is poised to grow from 310 megawatts (MW) at present to about 9,500 MW by 2025, according to a recent report by Bridge to India. In recent years WSH projects have garnered significant interest due to the growing demand for firm green power from both DISCOMs and corporate […]
The government is planning to liberalise the Market Development Assistance (MDA) policy to promote the use of alternative fertilizers, Fertiliser Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said. The MDA policy was earlier limited to city compost only. At present, the government gives MDA of Rs 1,500 per tonne in the form of subsidy for scaling up production and […]
The Biden Administration is expected to continue expansion of the bilateral partnership with India and the driving force of the relationship is concern about China’s growing economic and military power in the region, according to a Congressional report. “Many speculate that the Administration would pay more attention to India’s domestic developments, including on human rights, […]
