The government may set a more ambitious target to reduce the country’s elevated logistics costs, long blamed for eroding its export competitiveness, as it inches closer to finalising a national logistics policy. It will likely set a target to reduce logistics costs by as much as five percentage points over the next four-five years to […]
The southwest monsoon is likely to hit the Kerala coast in two to three days marking the start of the three-month season of rainfall across the subcontinent, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast on Friday. “There is an increase in cloudiness over Kerala coast and adjoining southeast Arabian Sea. Hence, conditions are becoming favourable for […]
To keep the momentum of government spending, the finance ministry has allowed all ministries to utilise the unspent portion of the funds released to them in a quarter in the subsequent quarter. The flexibility can be availed by the ministries and departments in the first quarter of a financial year after intimating the budget division […]
A higher tax slab for online gaming will not only lead to proliferation of a parallel black market but also act as a major barrier when it comes to attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), say industry experts. The reaction comes days after an empowered group of ministers (GoM) — set up to look into taxation […]
Having notified its plan to regulate sugar exports to keep local supplies steady, the food ministry has asked the sugar mills to seek permits from the directorate of sugar to ship out the sweetener between June 1 and October 31, and file details of despatches with the directorate’s portal daily. However, re-exports of refined sugar, […]
The US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) has potential to evolve into a broader trade agreement that will enable India to reap advantage of being in a large region-specific trade bloc after its exit from the China-dominated RCEP, trade economists told FE. However, the group’s focus on pillars such as data flow and climate […]
The government’s cut in the fuel tax and measures to cool prices of iron, steel, coal, plastics and cement may drive down retail inflation in the short term, analysts said. They, however, added that given the stickiness of price pressure, it has to do more to ease supply constraints and curb inflation substantially during the […]
Higher tax revenues will enable the government to minimise additional borrowing requirements, despite a fiscal expansion of close to Rs 2 trillion over the FY23 Budget estimate, provided no significant further relief measures are rolled out, analysts said. The total additional expenditure is seen about Rs 2 trillion on account of higher subsidies on fertilisers, […]
India and the US on Monday signed an investment incentive agreement, which will supersede an earlier agreement and enable the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to continue with its investments in this country. The DFC, a development finance agency of the US government, is currently considering investment proposals worth $4 billion for India, according […]
By N Chandra Mohan There is again a buzz surrounding the provision of a universal basic income (UBI) recommended by a report on the state of inequality commissioned by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM). Introducing a UBI was one suggestion to reduce the widening income gaps towards a more equal distribution […]