Department of Commerce and Economics: Commerce Wall Magazine

Finance News

18th April 2022

BUSINESS NEWS

Govt procures 69.24 lakh tonnes wheat so far for nearly Rs 14,000 crore

"Wheat procurement has recently commenced in Rabi Marketing Season 2022-23 in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan," an official statement said.

Exports rise 37% to US$18.8 bn during April 1-14

India's exports increased by 37.01 per cent to USD 18.79 billion during April 1-14 on the back of healthy growth in sectors like petroleum, gems and jewellery, according to a preliminary data of the commerce ministry. Exports during April 1-14, 2021, stood at USD 13.72 billion.

WPI inflation hits 4-month high of 14.55% in March as crude, commodity prices spike

The wholesale price-based inflation rose to a four-month high of 14.55 per cent in March, mainly due to hardening of crude oil and commodity prices, even though vegetables witnessed easing of price pressures. As per the government data released on Monday, WPI inflation has remained in double digits for the 12th consecutive month beginning April 2021.

India's forex reserves enough to cover just a year’s imports As on March 31, 2022, India’s foreign exchange reserves at $ 607.3 billion is equivalent to 12 months of merchandise imports in 2021-22 or 98.8 per cent of outstanding external debt at end-December 2021, according to the latest RBI data. Exactly a year ago in March 2021 reserves were adequate to fund 17.4 months' imports.

Budget capex to boost tax, help India become $5-trillion economy: Finance Ministry

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019 envisioned making India a USD 5 trillion economy and a global economic powerhouse. The Indian GDP is estimated to be around USD 3 trillion in 2021-22.

FDI may touch USD 100 billion in 2022-23: PHD Chamber

However, the inflation scenario has been stoked by rising international commodity prices, particularly of crude oil, it said. "India is expected to attract a USD 100 billion FDI inflow in 2022-23 supported by various ground touching economic reforms and significant ease of doing business in recent years," the chamber said.

India exports rise to record high of USD 418 bn in FY22

Outbound shipments touched an all-time high of $40.38 billion in March, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said as he assured that India will step up wheat supplies to countries hit by the Russia-Ukraine War.

At $30.3 billion, mergers and acquisitions hit four-year high in March quarter

In volume terms, the M&A activity grew 29.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2022, making it the best-ever quarterly number, according to the M&A numbers collated by Refinitiv, an LSEG business, which is among the world's largest providers of financial markets data and infrastructure.

FY22 gross tax revenue exceeds budget estimate by Rs 5 lakh crore

The tax buoyancy, which is a measure of growth in tax revenues as compared to GDP growth, for the year was 1.9 - 2.8 for direct taxes and 1.1 for indirect taxes.

Govt's total liabilities rise 2% to Rs 128.41 lakh cr in December quarter The government's total liabilities rose to Rs 128.41 lakh crore in December quarter from Rs 125.71 lakh crore in the three months ended September 2021, according to the latest public debt management report. The increase reflects a quarter-on-quarter increase of 2.15 per cent in October-December 2021-22.

24 March 2022

Indian firms in a huddle with auditors, valuers over Russian investments as fiscal end draws near: Companies including Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Sun Pharmaceuticals, ONGC, BPCL and Indian Oil have investments in Russia. Their income projections have become next to impossible.

RBI removes lending rate cap on NBFC-MFIs, changes microfinance definition: While this move is on an expected line, RBI surprised the market by raising the annual household income level to 3 lakh for classification of microfinance loans. Earlier, the income caps were kept at Rs 1.25 lakh in rural areas and Rs 2 lakh in urban and semi-urban areas.

FDI inflow to India declines to $74.01 billion in 2021: To promote FDI, the Government has put in place an investor-friendly policy, wherein most sectors except certain strategically important sectors are open for 100 per cent FDI under the automatic route. Further, the policy on FDI is reviewed on an ongoing basis, to ensure that India remains attractive and investor-friendly destination, the minister said.

OECD retains India’s FY24 GDP growth at 5.5%: In its Economic Outlook for Southeast Asia, China and India, the agency said that China’s economy is seen growing 5.1% in both FY22 and FY23.

India achieves $400 billion goods exports target for first time “India set an ambitious target of $400 billion of goods exports & achieves this target for the first time ever. I congratulate our farmers, weavers, MSMEs, manufacturers, exporters for this success. This is a key milestone in our Aatmanirbhar Bharat journey. #LocalGoesGlobal,” Modi said in a tweet.

Digital economy to see exponential growth to USD 800 bn by 2030: FM: “At the same time, the digital economy in India is being pegged at USD 85-90 billion in the calendar year of 2020 and that will see an exponential rise to USD 800 billion by 2030. They should be reaching USD 800 billion in the backdrop of increased internet penetration, rising incomes and also the young Indian population," she said.

RBI will ensure abundant liquidity to support business activities: Shaktikanta Das: “Going forward we will ensure that there is abundant liquidity in the market for the credit system to be active, for the credit system to function normally,” Das said while addressing the CII National Council in the financing capital, his first physical appearance since the start of the pandemic.

ICAI working on research paper on cryptocurrencies ICAI President Debashis Mitra on Tuesday said the institute is working on a research paper on cryptocurrencies, which is expected to be ready in one-and-a-half months. Currently, cryptocurrencies are unregulated in the country. Mitra said once the research paper is complete, it will be submitted to the government.

Value of UPI transactions declined to Rs 8.27 lakh crore in Feb: NPCI data

In January, the value of cashless retail transactions on the BHIM UPI platform stood at Rs 8.32 lakh crore while the total number of transactions was at 461 crore (4.61 billion).

Forex reserves decline by USD 1.425 bn on a dip in currency assets Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.

18 February 2022

Business News: Himanta Biswa Sarma urges Tata Group to invest in Assam

Sarma assured that the State Government will provide all necessary support including certain policy changes, providing capital subsidy etc. to make the state a preferred investment destination of the country. Senior officers of the Government of Assam were also present during this meeting.

Multilateral agencies need to provide more funds to deal with pandemic situations in future: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

The proposed USD 50 billion-worth RST's central objective is to provide affordable long-term financing to support countries as they tackle structural challenges.

Income Tax raids on former NSE MD Chitra Ramkrishna

The IT’s action follows days after SEBI imposed a penalty of Rs 3 crore on Ramakrishna and barred her from associating with any market infrastructure institution or any SEBI-registered intermediary for three years. The probe found that Ramkrsihna shared sensitive information of the bourse with a private person

India economy to grow at quickest pace among large nations: Finmin report

"The current year may as well end with an economic reset manifest of a post-COVID-19 world...Manufacturing and Construction will be the 'growth drivers', triggered by the PLI schemes and public capex in infrastructure," the review report said.

Budget 2022 has removed this tax deduction for current financial year also

Section 14A provides for disallowance of deduction in respect of expenditure incurred by an assessee to earn tax-exempt income. The controversy is whether such disallowance will be made even if the assessee does not earn any exempt income.

LIC files DRHP with Sebi for India's largest IPO, govt to offload 5% stake

The issue is completely an offer for sale of 31,62,49,885 equity shares by the promoter, which holds a 100 per cent stake in the insurance behemoth

Taxing cryptos doesn't mean it's legal, says Nirmala Sitharaman

The finance minister has spoken out at a time when the cryptocurrency tax is geeting a mixed reaction with some pointing towards the fact that bringing the transactions under the tax net is a step towards legalising it.

India's digital currency to debut by early 2023

A top government source said the digital currency issued by the RBI would be numbered in units, just like every fiat currency has an unique number.

12th January 2022

DMI Finance raises $47 million from Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, others

This equity raised by DMI Finance takes its total equity base to USD 500 million. Sumitomo Mistui Trust Bank joins existing investors in DMI Finance including New Investment Solutions and NXC Corporation.

Dell Foundation leads $2.5 million investment in Arthan Finance

Founded by former RBL Bank colleagues Pravash Dash, Kunal Mehta and Gowrisankara rao Alamanda, Arthan Finance offers growth capital to self-employed micro and small enterprises in Tier II and Tier III centres of India.

Family finance: Dharampuria needs insurance to secure risks

Mumbai-based Dharampuria will achieve his primary goals, but buying adequate insurance is very crucial in his financial planning.

PSEB recommends Yogendra Shukla for HOCL's Director Finance post

According to a notification of the Public Sector Enterprise Selection Board (PSEB) dated January 7, it has "recommended Yogendra Prasad Shukla for the post of Director (Finance), HOCL". The interview for the post was held on the same date.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reviews progress on planned mega LIC IPO

LIC IPO is crucial for meeting the Rs 1.75-lakh crore disinvestment target set for current fiscal (April- March). So far this fiscal, Rs 9,330 crore has been mopped up through PSU disinvestment.

Buy LIC Housing Finance, target price Rs 575: Centrum Broking

LIC Housing Finance Ltd. key Products/Revenue Segments include Interest, Fees & Commission Income and Income From Financial Services for the year ending 31-Mar-2021.

Tata takes over IPL sponsorship crown from Vivo

The Tata group has replaced Chinese mobile phone manufacturer Vivo as the title sponsor of the Indian Premier League IPL for 2022 and 2023 seasons, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials have said.

Federal Bank to divest its stake in Fedfina

Private sector lender Federal Bank has decided to divest stake in wholly-owned subsidiary Fedbank Financial Services (Fedfina).

Govt to become single largest shareholder in Vodafone Idea, will hold

35.8% stake

Vodafone Idea’s board has informed the telecom department that it will opt for converting the interest on spectrum and adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues into government equity. In this case, it would mean that government will hold 35.8% and become the single largest shareholder in the third largest telco of the country.

Nabard tries out fintech alliance to support SHGs

While Nabard has been in the forefront of SHG movement, ARTH provides credit, payments and insurance solutions to micro-MSME enterprises. The fintech firm plans to provide financial and technical support in partnerships with specialized entities across occupations to 500 enterprises across Uttar Pradesh impacting 2500 households.

14th December 2021

Depositors should be careful while chasing high returns: RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das

Speaking at the 'Depositors First: Guaranteed Time-bound Deposit Insurance Payment up to Rs 5 lakh', Governor Das said the RBI remains committed to ensuring that the banking system remains robust and resilient.

Robust growth in corporate profits, rapid formalisation of economy are lifting India’s tax collection to record levels

EY India’s analysis shows that revenue from corporate income tax (CIT) jumped by 21% in April-October FY22 compared with the pre-pandemic April-October FY20. Such a high growth is particularly noticeable as the average growth in CIT between FY17 and FY19 was only 13.7%.

Forex reserves fall $4.5 billion in two weeks

The deprecation of the local currency against other major global currencies also weighed on the reserves. Foreign currency assets, which reflects the change in valuation of reserves held in other global currencies like euro, pound sterling and Japanese yen, fell by $1.483 billion to $573.181 billion.

India has 4th largest foreign exchange reserves in world: MoS Finance

India currently has the fourth largest foreign exchange reserves in the world, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary told Lok Sabha on Monday. As on November 19, 2021, he said the forex reserve stood at USD 640.4 billion.

Number of ATMs in India at over 2.13 lakh, says Fin Min

The number of ATMs across the country stood at over 2.13 lakh by the end of September this year, and over 47 per cent of these are in rural and semi-urban areas, the Finance Ministry said

Over 7% YoY decline MSME exports in FY21 in comparison to 1.8% drop in FY20: Govt data

Trade, import, and export for MSMEs: In September this year, the government had announced that it will release Rs 56,027 crore in the current financial year against

pending export incentives due to over 45,000 exporters, around 98 per cent of which were small exporters in the MSME category.

Exclusive: 7 lakh new jobs to come up in khadi, village industries in current fiscal, says KVIC Chairman

Skill, Labour, Talent for MSMEs: KVIC, the nodal agency for implementing PMEGP, had disbursed Rs 2188.78 crore margin money to create 5,95,320 PMEGP jobs across 74,415 micro-enterprises set up amid Covid in India during FY21.

Grofers rebrands as Blinkit with quick commerce space heating up

E-grocery unicorn, Grofers has rebranded itself as Blinkit, as the company places big bets on the quick commerce or 10-minute grocery delivery space, company founder Albinder Dhindsa wrote in a blogpost.

Paytm says GMV in first two months of this quarter up 129%

One97 Communications Ltd, the parent company which owns and operates the brand Paytm reported GMV in first two months of quarter up 129%.

Bank of Maharashtra reduces home and car loans, but expects least impact on NIM

The Pune-headquartered BoM has reduced home loan rates by 40 basis points to 6.4% from 6.8% earlier and car loan rates by 25 basis points to 6.8% from 7.05%. These fine rates will be available for customers with best credit scores from December 13, the bank said.

15th November 2021

"Birsa Munda" Anniversary