Author: Finance Khabar
The government today raised the FDI limit in defence under the automatic FDI route to 74% from the existing 49%. The government will also notify a list of weapons and platforms which will not be open for imports. Every year this list will be expanded, the Finance Minister said, while announcing the fourth tranche of her economic package. “To become self-reliant in defence production, a list of weapons/platforms for ban on import with year wise timelines will be notified. This will help reduce huge defence import bill,” the Finance Minister stated.
Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman as a part of her fourth tranche of the Economic Package today announced that commercial mining of coal would be initiated, from a monopoly. She said that Coal Bed Methane extraction could also be tapped, through deposits. “Rs 50,000 crores for evacuation infrastructure in Coal would be created,” she said. Nearly 50 blocks would be offered initially, and any party could bid for the same. The government will move towards a revenue sharing mechanism instead of fixed pricing, Currently, Coal India and its subsidiaries, have a virtual monopoly in coal mining. With the commercialisation of the…
After an analysis of the grievances received by the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare under the Personnel Ministry, the ministry has issued consolidated guidelines to chairman and managing directors (CMDs) of the pension disbursing banks to create awareness among Central Pension Processing Centre (CPPC)/ bank branches on updated rules and instructions in this regard. Govt Issues Standardised Procedure Rules To Banks On Pension ReleaseThe Personnel Ministry said that banks are adopting different procedures while releasing pension or seeking certificates from pensioners at different periodicity. “It has been observed that updated and consolidated instructions will help improve the processing of…
According to data released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry on Friday, India’s overall exports for the month of April has been estimated to be $27.96 billion, 36.65 percent lower than the same period last year. Overall imports in April fell 47.36 percent from a year ago to $27.80 billion. “Taking merchandise and services together, the overall trade surplus for April 2020 is estimated at $0.16billion as compared to the deficit of $8.67 billion in April 2019,” the ministry said. In April, merchandise exports contracted by a record 60.28 percent to $10.36 billion amid the COVID-19 related lockdown across…
New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today presented the details of the third phase of the economic package of 20 lakh crores. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that India is the third largest grain producer. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced a help of Rs 1 lakh crore for strengthening the agriculture sector. The Finance Minister said that the government is engaged in doubling the income of farmers. This will also help in increasing the price and increase the income of farmers. In the last 2 months, to support farmers, purchase of 74300 crores was done on MSP.…
Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman today announced Rs 10,000 crores for Micro Food Enterprises, under the third tranche of her economic package. The scheme will be launched to help almost 2 lakh micro food enterprises to undertake technical upgradation and to meet good food standards. Existing Micro Food Enterprises, farmer producer organisations, self help groups and cooperatives can gain from the same. The expected outcome would include better health and safety standards, improved income and integration with retail sector.
To promote Herbal Cultivation in India, the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman today announced a sum of Rs 4000 crores. The move aims to cover 10 lakh hectare under herbal cultivation in 2 years and also the corridor of medicinal plants to come up across banks of Ganga. The move is expected to lead to Rs 5,000 crores in income for farmers. The National Medicinal Plants Board will bring 800 hectares area by developing a corridor on the banks of the Ganga.
The headline indices BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 managed to cover the lost ground in the last hour of the trade to close flat in Friday’s volatile session. Sensex hit day’s low of 30,770 and ended flat at 31,098, while Nifty 50 index managed to close above 9,100-mark, at 9,137. The gains were capped by M&M which was down 4.70 per cent and select private bank stocks such as ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank, which were the top contributors towards today’s fall. “The market exhibited volatility before ending flat today following tranche 2 of the stimulus package by…
On Thursday, World Trade Organization head Roberto Azevedo in a surprise move announced that he will step down on a year ahead of his planned departure. “At a virtual meeting of all WTO members on May 14, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo announced that he would step down on August 31, cutting his second term short by exactly one year,” WTO said in a statement. The 62-year-old Brazilian has been director-general since 2013 and is serving a second term that was due to conclude at the end of August 2021. In his statement, Azevedo said that “it is a personal decision…
On Friday, the World Bank approved $1 billion ‘Accelerating India’s COVID-19 Social Protection Response Program’ to support the country’s efforts for providing social assistance to the poor and vulnerable households, severely impacted by the pandemic. With this, the total commitment from the World Bank towards emergency COVID-19 response in India to $2 billion. The response to the COVID-19 pandemic around the world has required governments around the world to introduce social distancing and lockdowns in unprecedented ways, said Junaid Ahmad, World Bank Country Director in India in a webinar interaction with the media. These measures, intended to contain the spread…
The Rating Committee of ICRA has reaffirmed the rating of BEML Limited’s non-convertible debenture (NCD) programme at [ICRA]A+ (pronounced as ICRA A plus). The Outlook on the long-term rating has been revised to Negative from Stable. Instruments with [ICRA]A rating indicate adequate degree of safety regarding timely servicing of financial obligations. Such instruments carry low credit risk. The Rating Committee of ICRA, after due consideration, has reaffirmed the long-term rating of [ICRA]A+ (pronounced ICRA A plus) outstanding on the Rs. 4,500.0 crore (enhanced from Rs. 2,750 crore) Line of Credit (LOC) of BEML Ltd, and also assigned a long-term rating…
Temasek was one of three organizations named Thursday as the latest members to join the initiative by the Libra Association, an independent group based in Switzerland set up to manage the digital currency project. Cryptocurrency investor Paradigm and private equity firm Slow Ventures were the other two new members. Facebook introduced its vision for libra last year as an alternative global digital payment system where a single token would be backed by multiple fiat currencies. That was promptly criticized by regulators who worried if the project went mainstream, it would drastically alter or undermine their roles and disrupt the financial…
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC) said on Friday it will build a semiconductor facility in Arizona, as concerns grow in Washington about the security of the technology supply chain which is largely centered in Asia. Total spending on the project will be $12 billion with TSMC claiming it will directly create 1,600 jobs. Construction is planned to start in 2021 on what would be TSMC’s second manufacturing site in the U.S. The factory will be focused on producing so-called 5-nanometer chips, the latest in semiconductor technology being manufactured today. TSMC’s decision to build a new U.S. chip plant comes as…
The Board of Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd. in its meeting on 14 May 2020 approved the appointment of Mr Arvind Subramanian as Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer with effect from 1 July 2020. He will succeed Ms Sangeeta Prasad who, after a distinguished career of over eleven years with the Mahindra Group, has decided to pursue other interests and had tendered her resignation to the Board of the company on 7th February. At the request of the Board she graciously agreed to stay on till 30th June to ensure smooth transition. Arvind joined the company as Chief Executive Officer…
New Delhi: After the bloodbath on Dalal Street in the month of March, the benchmark indices saw some recovery in April as they tracked their global peers. While BSE Sensex surged 14.42% the 50-stock NSE Nifty surged 14.68%. But amidst the troubled times as almost all Indians refrained from going outside, inflows into equity funds declined sharply to Rs 6,100 crore from Rs 11,723 crore in March. Mutual funds during the month of April were seen picking large-cap stocks like Wipro, Eicher Motors, UPL, and Lupin, said ICICI Direct in a research note, while the top stocks sold by mutual…
Wipro Limited a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company, today announced that it has been positioned as a Leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Managed Workplace Services (MWS), Europe. The report authored by David Groombridge, Claudio Da Rold, Tobi Bet, and Stephanie StoudtHansen and was published on 25 February 2020. “Gartner evaluates the MWS providers based on the quality and efficacy of the processes, systems, methods and procedures that enable each provider’s performance to be competitive and effective, while positively affecting revenue, retention and reputation.” This Magic Quadrant assessed 17 MWS providers on their ability to…
Mumbai: The headline indices BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 failed to cheer the first tranche of the Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus to support Indian economy, which has been battered by a 51-day lockdown to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. BSE Sensex slipped below the crucial 31,200-mark to end at 31,122, while the broader Nifty 50 index breached the psychological level of 9,200, and settled at 9,142. Reliance Industries (RIL), HDFC Bank, HDFC, ICICI Bank and Infosys contributed the most to the indices’ losses today. The fall in the market was mainly on the back of the negative global cues as…
New Delhi: In the second tranche of announcements towards the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Package as relief towards the COVID-19 crisis, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced a special credit facility of Rs 5,000 crore for street vendors which will be launched by the government within a month. Sitharaman said the scheme will facilitate easy access to credit for street vendors who have been largely affected by the nationwide lockdown. Around 50 lakh street vendors are expected to benefit from this scheme as they restart their businesses once the lockdown is lifted. Initial working capital of up to Rs 10,000…
New Delhi: In the second tranche of announcements towards the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Package as relief towards the COVID-19 crisis, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced concessional credit boost for 2.5 crore farmers. In the special drive, farmers who are existing beneficiaries under the PM-Kisan scheme will be given access to Rs 2 lakh crore worth of institutional credit at concessional rates through Kisan Credit Cards. Fishermen and Animal Husbandry farmers will also be included in this drive, the minister said. Apart from this, Sitharaman announced Rs 30,000 crore additional emergency working capital funding for farmers through NABARD which…
New Delhi: In the second tranche of announcements towards the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Package as relief towards the COVID-19 crisis, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced the supply of free food grain to all migrants for two months. This is part of the three measures the government has proposed to support migrant workers who have or are still making their way back to their hometowns amid the nationwide lockdown. Migrants who are neither NFSA or State Card beneficiaries in the state they are stationed will be provided 5 kg of grains per person and 1 kg chana per family…