Business News at 5:30 pm on 30th May 2022

“You are listening to the Expresso Business Update. Here is the latest news from the world of Indian and International business brought to you by The Indian Express and The Financial Express.
”
The government is expecting a revenue loss of Rs 10,000-15,000 crore annually due to the recent recalibration in customs duty on iron and steel and plastic, an official said on Monday. The government, with effect from May 22, waived customs duty on the import of some raw materials, including coking coal and ferronickel, used by the steel industry, a move which will lower the cost for the domestic industry and reduce the prices. The duty on the import of raw materials used in the plastic industry has also been reduced to lower the cost of domestic manufacturing. Also, to increase domestic availability, the duty on exports of iron ore has been hiked up to 50 per cent, and a few steel intermediaries to 15 per cent.
Meanwhile, Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth on Monday said a consultation paper on cryptocurrencies has been finalised and it will be submitted soon. A lot of consultation has been done from both domestic and other participants, Seth said on the sidelines of an event organised by the Finance Ministry. He also said that a global response is needed to deal with the challenges posed by crypto. On the economy, Seth said despite the challenging environment, India would still be the fastest-growing large economies in the world.
Amid unprecedented rise in cotton and yarn prices in the current season, Union Minister Piyush Goyal has directed the concerned authorities to “finalise the matter early”, as regards to the extension of import duty waiver on cotton till December 31. The government last month exempted all customs duty on import of cotton till September 30, to lower the price of cotton in public interest. The minister for Textiles and Commerce & Industry held an interactive meeting with the newly constituted Textile Advisory Group in Mumbai on Saturday to address issues relating to augmenting present supplies of cotton and also strengthening productivity. To meet the present requirement, the minister called for facilitating import from destinations where stocks are available and resolving procedural requirements. “While addressing the approaches for augmentation in short-term by import, Textiles Secretary Upendra Prasad Singh advised industry to approach the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare for procedural requirements to enable import from some destinations,” an official statement said.
In other news, the government is not looking to impose any new tax on windfall gains that oil and gas producers earned from shooting energy prices, India’s top producer ONGC said Monday. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) reported bumper profits in the March quarter (when international prices soared to a near 14-year high of USD 139 per barrel) and record earnings in 2021-22, triggering talks of the government slapping a windfall tax. “We have not received any communication on this,” ONGC chairman and managing director Alka Mittal said.
Moving on to the economic crisis in Sri Lanka. The World Bank is planning to disburse USD 700 million to crisis-ridden Sri Lanka by re-purposing its existing loans, a move that will help the island nation grappling with an unprecedented economic crisis much-needed breathing space till a bailout package with the IMF is worked out, media reports said on Monday. Sri Lanka is nearing bankruptcy and has severe shortages of essentials from food, fuel, medicines and cooking gas. For months, citizens have been forced to stay in long lines to buy the limited stocks.
Good news for car lovers. Home-grown auto major Mahindra & Mahindra says it is planning to launch the fully electric version of its XUV 300 SUV in the market in the first quarter of next year. The company also announced that it will unveil its electric vehicle business strategy, ‘Born Electric Vision’ of EV concept in August this year. The Mumbai-headquartered company has recently partnered with Volkswagen to explore the use of the latter’s modular electric drive matrix components that can be used in its electric cars. “We will be launching the electric version of XUV 300, which we hope to have in the first quarter of the next calendar year,” M&M executive Director Rajesh Jejurikar said.
And finally, the Dalal Street update. Extending their rally to a third straight day, benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty jumped nearly 2% today on heavy buying in RIL and Infosys amid a firm trend in global equities. The 30-share BSE Sensex rallied 1,041.08 points or 1.90 per cent to settle at 55,925.74. During day, it gained 1,197.99 points to 56,082.65. The broader NSE Nifty jumped 308.95 points or 1.89 per cent to settle at 16,661.40 From the Sensex pack, Titan, M&M, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, TCS, Reliance Industries and UltraTech Cement were the leading gainers. In contrast, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy’s and ITC were the laggards.