Karunjit Singh

Sitharaman urges states to follow suit; Kerala cuts taxes; duty on iron ore exports hiked to 50%

The rupee has depreciated by 4.18 per cent since the beginning of the year and closed Friday’s trading session at 77.44 against the greenback.

'We have seen that it is the fourth country in the world, when we consider installing capacity of renewables. And we have seen out there that they are raising the ambition for (renewable energy capacity) from 450 to 500 gigawatts by 2030.'

Low coal stocks at a majority of India’s thermal power plants have led to power outages across several states including Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Punjab, Jharkhand, and Bihar.

India is staring at a crisis again, this time induced by a debilitating fuel shortage at coal-fired thermal plants, which make nearly 70 per cent of India’s base load power generation capacity.

India has been increasingly looking at international trade as a key engine of economic growth. Earlier this year, it concluded a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement with the UAE and an interim trade deal with Australia.

A total of 713 trips of the South East Central Railway (SECR) have been cancelled till May 25 while 40 trips of the Northern Railways (NR) have been cancelled till May 8.

The Prime Minister has noted that certain states have not reduced VAT; states have attributed rising fuel prices to central taxes. How is fuel taxed, and how are collections shared between the Centre and states?

Over the past week, the total electricity shortage in India hit 623 million units (MU), surpassing the total shortage all of March.

The reluctance to reduce excise duty and VAT on fuel stems from the fact that it constitutes an important source of revenue for both the Union government and the states.

Over past week, shortage of 623 mn units, more than total for all of March

A government official told The Indian Express that Railways will increase the number of rakes for transporting coal to powerhouses to 415 per day from about 380 in the first half of April, after a review meeting by the Ministers of Home, Power, Railways, and Coal.

Low coal inventories at thermal power plants have already led to load shedding in a number of states, including Punjab, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.

On April 7, the electricity shortage rose to 80.1 million units, with the country being short of 6,124 MW of generation capacity during peak demand.

The price of petrol has risen to Rs 104.6 per litre and the price of diesel has risen to Rs 95.9 in the capital after 13 price hikes in 15 days.

The Competition Commission of India has noted that downstream commercial interest of Swiggy and Zomato through private labels and cloud kitchens may affect platform neutrality and requires detailed examination.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Larsen & Toubro (L&T), and ReNew Power (ReNew) have signed a binding term sheet to set up a Joint Venture (JV) company to develop the green hydrogen sector in India. How will the JV help develop the green hydrogen sector?

The agreement will also give about 85 per cent of Australia’s exports zero-duty access to the Indian market, including coal, sheep meat and wool, and lower duty access on Australian wines, almonds, lentils, and certain fruits.

The Ukraine war has led to a disruption in the supply of coal by Russia, which is unlikely to be fully replaced by other suppliers. The shortage, leading to high prices, has pushed up spot power tariffs on the India Energy Exchange.

In a first, India has included government procurement in the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. Why is this significant? What are key industry concerns? What protections are included for the domestic industry?

At the start of trade negotiations, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had announced that the two countries were aiming to conclude an interim or early harvest trade deal by December 2021.

The hike in prices will impact household inflation expectations, and could further hit subdued consumption sentiment.

India has achieved the target of $400 billion in exports in FY2022. What is the significance of this? What areas have been the key drivers of India’s export growth?

The target was achieved with 10 days to spare — exports crossed $400.8 billion on March 21 and there's a likelihood that total exports for the fiscal may cross $410 billion by the end of the month.