1. Govt allows duty-free import of 20 lakh tn per year of crude soyabean, sunflower oil
Tags: Economics/Business
The government on May 24 waived off customs duty and Agriculture Infrastructure Development Cess on 20 lakh metric tonnes of annual import of crude soybean and sunflower oil to reduce domestic prices.
Duty free import of 20 lakh metric tonnes per annum for crude soybean oil and crude sunflower oil will be applicable for two financial years i.e, 2022-23, 2023-24.
It will help in reducing domestic prices and control inflation.
Last week, to control inflation, the government cut excise duty on petrol and diesel and exempted import duty on some raw materials which are used in the steel and plastics industry.
A rise in prices of all commodities from fuel to vegetables and cooking oil led wholesale price inflation to a record high of 15.08% in April, 2022 and retail inflation to an eight-year high of 7.79%.
India mainly imports palm oil from two countries Malaysia and Indonesia.
Whereas other oils such as soya and sunflower come from Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine and Russia.
2. Ruchi Soya to buy Patanjali Food Business for 690 crores
Tags: Economics/Business National News
Edible oil company Ruchi Soya has announced that it will buy the food division of Patanjali Ayurved for Rs 690 crore.
Ruchi Soya Industries Limited will be renamed as Patanjali Foods Limited after regulatory approval.
The 21 products from the food industry acquired include ghee, honey, spices, juices and wheat.
Key points
According to a company source, Ruchi Soya will pay an annual royalty of 1% of the gross turnover of the items to Patanjali Ayurved under the transfer agreement.
The Board of Patanjali Ayurved has approved the transfer of the food business to Ruchi Soya Industries.
Ruchi Soya will receive production units in Padarth (Haridwar, Uttarakhand) and Nevasa (Maharashtra) as part of the agreement.
Employees, assets, contracts, licences and permits, distribution network and consumers associated with Patanjali Ayurved's food retail business will all be transferred.
Patanjali Group had acquired Ruchi Soya in 2019 for Rs 4,350 crore through insolvency proceedings.
3. India bans wheat exports with immediate effect
Tags: National Economics/Business
The central government has banned the export of wheat with immediate effect. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade issued a notification in this regard.
Why has the central government banned the export of wheat?
The export policy of wheat has been amended to manage the overall food security of the country.
The ban has been imposed to support the needs of neighbouring countries and other vulnerable countries.
The decision to ban the export of all types of wheat with immediate effect will bring down the market prices of wheat immediately and bring it closer to the MSP of Rs 2,015 per quintal.
India’s wheat exports
India's wheat exports rose to 7 million tonnes worth USD 2.05 billion in 2021-22 due to strong global demand.
In the last fiscal, about 50 per cent of the total wheat exports were exported to Bangladesh.
The country exported around 963,000 tonnes of wheat this year against 130,000 tonnes in the same period last year.
India was looking to export 10 million tonnes of wheat in 2022-23.
India would send trade delegations to nine countries – Thailand, Morocco, Turkey, Indonesia, Tunisia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Algeria and Lebanon to explore possibilities of boosting wheat shipments.
India’s wheat purchases have also declined sharply by 44 per cent to 16.2 million tonnes as of May 1 in the current Rabi marketing season.
The rabi marketing season runs from April to March.
4. PM Modi launched Madhya Pradesh Startup Policy
Tags: Economics/Business State News
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Madhya Pradesh Startup Policy through video conferencing.
Modi addresses the startup community during the Madhya Pradesh Startup Conclave being held in Indore.
The Prime Minister also launched the Madhya Pradesh Startup portal, which will facilitate and help promote the startup ecosystem.
The Madhya Pradesh Startup Conclave was attended by various pillars of the startup ecosystem including policy makers, innovators, entrepreneurs, academicians, investors, consultants and other stakeholders from government and private sector.
Objective of Policy
Strengthen the startup culture by nurturing entrepreneurial skills
Encourage setting up of new technological business incubation centres
Encourage and inspire youth to develop innovative ideas
Promote entrepreneurship activities among the youth of the state, thereby enabling sustainable and inclusive socioeconomic development across the state
Promote and develop employment opportunities for the youth within the state
Highlight of the policy
An entity shall be deemed to be a Startup for a period of five years from the date of incorporation/registration, If it is incorporated as a Private Limited Company or is registered in India as a Partnership Firm or Limited Liability Partnership.
Turnover of the entity for any of the financial years, since incorporation, should not exceed INR 25 crore.
The entity must work towards innovation, development or improvement of products or processes or services.
The state offers special incentives for women-led startups in the form of interest subsidy of 8% on loans up to three years, not exceeding INR 5 lakh.
The state provides incentives for lease subsidy up to INR 5 lakh for women-led startups.
Startup Ecosystem in Madhya Pradesh
The state's smart cities are serving as platforms to launch incubators and coworking spaces such as Jabalpur Incubation Centre in India.
MP Venture Finance Limited (MPVFL) has been set up to provide access to venture capital funds to startups and has received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
Startup Incubator Cell is managed by the state nodal officer for startups.
There are 1,937 start-ups recognized by the central government in Madhya Pradesh and 45 percent of them are run by women.
About 31 percent startups in the state are located in Bhopal and 44 percent in Indore.
5. India achieves merchandise export of 38.19 billion dollar in Apri
Tags: National Economics/Business
In the first month of the current financial year i.e. April 2022, India's merchandise exports have increased by 24.22 percent and with this it has reached $ 38.19 billion.
Last month, non-petroleum exports were valued at US$ 30.46 billion, showing a growth of 12.32 per cent in exports over the same period last year.
On the other hand, non-petroleum and non-gems and jewellery exports were valued at US$ 27.16 billion last month, showing a growth of 14.38 per cent over the exports recorded in the same period last year.
Petroleum products 113.21 per cent, electronic goods 64.04 per cent and chemicals 26.71 per cent led the way for higher growth in exports during the previous month.
India’s merchandise import last month was 58.26 billion US dollar, an increase of 26.55 percent over 46.04 billion US dollar in April last year.
Non-petroleum imports were valued at US$ 38.75 billion last month, showing a positive growth of 9.87 per cent as compared to non-petroleum imports of US$ 35.27 billion in April last year.
The trade deficit last month stood at US$ 20.07 billion.
6. India launches pilot phase of open e-commerce network
Tags: National Economics/Business
India has launched the pilot phase of Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) in five cities.
ONDC is a UPI-type protocol and the entire exercise is aimed at expanding the reach of the fast-growing e-commerce sector to far-flung areas, helping small retailers and reducing the dominance of online giants.
The initiative also aims to curb the dominance of the two big multinational e-commerce players, who control more than half of the country's e-commerce business.
ONDC is a set of standards for voluntary adoption by vendors or logistics providers or payment gateways.
The pilot phase aims to connect 150 retailers across five cities – Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Shillong and Coimbatore.
Presently 80 firms are working with ONDC and they are in various stages of integration.
These companies are building their apps for sellers, buyers, logistics or payment gateways.
7. GST Revenue collection for April 2022 highest ever at Rs 1.68 lakh crore
Tags: National Economy/Finance Popular Economics/Business
According to the data released by the Union Finance Ministry, the highest level of collection recorded since the implementation of GST in July 2017 rose to Rs 1.68 lakh crore in April.
The gross GST revenue collected in the month of April, 2022 is–
CGST is Rs 33,159 crore
SGST is Rs 41,793 crore
IGST is Rs 81,939 crore (including Rs 36,705 crore collected on import of goods).
Cess is Rs 10,649 crore (including Rs 857 crore collected on import of goods).
Gross GST collection in April 2022 is the highest ever, an increase of Rs 25,000 crore over the previous month's highest collection of Rs 1,42,095 crore.
The revenue for the month of April 2022 is 20% more than the GST revenue in the corresponding month of last year.
During April, revenues from import of goods were 30% higher and the revenues from domestic transactions were 17% higher than the revenues from during the same month last year.
8. Reliance Industries 1st Indian firm to touch Rs 19 lakh crore m-cap
Tags: National Economics/Business
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has become the first Indian company to cross the Rs 19 lakh crore mark by market cap.
RIL shares rose 1.85 per cent to a record high of Rs 2,827.10 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) recently, due to which the company's market valuation also increased to Rs 19,12,814 crore.
The 2 billion dollar deal between Reliance and Abu Dhabi's chemical company Tajiz is the main reason behind the rise in Reliance's shares.
TCS is the second largest IT company by market cap among the listed companies in the Indian stock market after Reliance Industries.
About Reliance Industries
Reliance operates across India in the fields of energy, petrochemicals, textiles, natural resources, retail and telecommunications.
Reliance has 123 subsidiaries and 10 associate companies.
Establishment- 1966
Founder- Dhirubhai Ambani
Headquarters- Mumbai, Maharashtra
Chairman and MD- Mukesh Ambani.
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani is at the eighth position with a net worth of $103.70 billion in the list of world's richest people recently released by Forbes.
9. Star9 Mobility Private Limited to buy 51 percent of govt share in Pawan Hans Limited
Tags: Popular Economics/Business National News
The Government has approved the highest bid of Star9 Mobility Pvt Ltd for sale of Government's entire 51 per cent stake in Pawan Hans Limited (PHL) and transfer of management control.
PHL is a 51:49 joint venture between the government and ONGC that provides helicopter and aero mobility services.
ONGC earlier decided to offer its entire shareholding to the successful bidder identified in the GoI strategic disinvestment transaction, on the same price and terms as the government.
The reserve price for the sale of 51% stake of PHL was fixed at Rs 199.92 crore based on the valuation done by the transaction advisor and asset valuer.
The alternative mechanism comprises Nitin Gadkari, Road Transport and Highways Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister and Jyotiraditya Scindia, Civil Aviation Minister.
Pawan Hans Limited has incurred losses in the last three financial years. The company has a fleet of 42 helicopters.
10. Govt to launch indigenously developed e-commerce network in 100 Indian cities
Tags: Latest Economics/Business National News
The government is planning to launch an indigenously developed online e-commerce network in 100 Indian cities to provide kirana stores and consumers an alternative to multinational platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart.
Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday announced the trial-launch of the open-source system.
The beta launch will unveil the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) and Registry's IT applications, which were launched in Bengaluru on Friday.
UPI is another game-changing idea to democratise commerce.
The project is being prepared in a big way as it will provide a wider choice to all consumers and retailers and will be formally launched after successful testing of the system.
End-to-end testing is being done to create a playbook with an aim to launch it in 100 cities in six months.
The initial test launch, which began in Bengaluru, will also cover cities such as Coimbatore, Bhopal, Delhi and Shillong.
The system will have multiple options for both retailers and customers in terms of cataloguing, inventory, warehousing, suppliers, logistics and payments.
