The railway ministry has allocated Rs 70 crore for the Rayagada Railway Division in Odisha under the East Coast Railway Zone, officials said Friday. The establishment of the Rayagada Railway Division is poised to bring significant benefits to the region, enhancing connectivity and fostering economic growth, they said. The allocation to the state was informed to Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi, who met Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in New Delhi. "I thank the railway minister for addressing the much-awaited and public-centric Rayagada Railway Division issue. We have had thorough discussions with the minister and I am pleased to announce that most of the formalities for the formation of the Rayagada Division is going to be completed. The work will be started soon once the tenders are in place," Majhi said in a statement. The ECoR zone presently has three divisions at Khurda Road, Sambalpur and Waltair. The new Rayagada division will be created by bifurcating Waltair.

The scheme was launched by the Ministry of Heavy Industries in March this year and aims to boost the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) across the country

The CM alleged that the YSRCP government's five-year tenure was marked by lack of capital expenditure, reduced private investments, and a revenue loss of Rs 7 trillion

Production of mobile phones, including electronic components and semiconductor packaging, under the Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) for large-scale electronics manufacturing reached Rs 5.14 lakh crore till June 2024, Parliament was informed on Friday. Minister of State for Electronics and IT Jitin Prasada, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, said that to boost domestic manufacturing and attract investment in mobile phones value chain, including electronic components and semiconductor packaging, Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) for large-scale electronics manufacturing was notified on April 1, 2020. "Till June 30, 2024, incremental investment of Rs 8,390 crores had been made under the PLI scheme. This has led to production of Rs 5,14,960 crores till June 30, 2024," Prasada said. Apple vendors Foxconn, Wistron, Samsung, Pegatron etc qualified for incentives under the scheme. Prasad said the Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and ...

The rupee remained under pressure during the week due to persistent outflows from domestic equities, said dealers

S&P said it does not expect recent parliamentary election results to have a major negative impact on the prospects for fiscal improvements in India

Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has received 29 new proposals worth Rs 3,300 crore from Andhra Pradesh covering various projects, including port development and coastal berths, Parliament was informed on Friday. Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said 13 projects in Andhra Pradesh, valued around Rs 2,500 crore, are currently receiving financial assistance under the Sagarmala scheme. These projects include Ro-Pax and passenger jetties, fishing harbours, port modernisation, and skill development. The ministry has already sanctioned Rs 450 crore for development of these projects, Sonowal said. Additionally, he said the Visakhapatnam Port Authority and Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) have undertaken 36 projects in Andhra Pradesh, with a combined investment of Rs 4,600 crore. Among these, 22 projects worth Rs 2,530 crore have been completed, while 14 projects worth Rs 2,070 crore are in various stages o

While the GST amnesty scheme is a positive step towards improving taxpayer relations, its current form falls short of its potential

Surpassing the all-time high level achieved the previous week, India's forex reserves jumped by another USD 4 billion to USD 670.857 billion for the seven days ended July 19, the Reserve Bank said on Friday. The overall reserves had jumped by USD 9.699 billion to an all-time high of USD 666.854 billion in the week ended July 12. For the week ended July 19, foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, increased by USD 2.578 billion to USD 588.048 billion, the data released on Friday showed. 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. Gold reserves increased by USD 1.329 billion to USD 59.992 billion during the week, the RBI said. The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were up by USD 95 million to USD 18.207 billion, the apex bank said. India's reserve position with the IMF were unchanged at USD 4.610 billion in the reporting we

The country will have 12 new industrial cities in different states like the ones developed in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh and Dholera in Gujarat to further boost domestic manufacturing, a top government official said. Out of this, two are coming up in Andhra Pradesh and one in Bihar. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said that eight such cities are already under different stages of implementation. Trunk infrastructure has been created in four cities - Dholera (Gujarat), Auric (Maharashtra), Vikram Udyogpuri (Madhya Pradesh) and Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and allotment of land plots is underway for the industry. Similarly in the other four, the government's special purpose vehicle is in the process of construction of the basic infrastructure like road connectivity, water and power supply. With eight already under the development stage and the announcement of 12 new in the Budget, the total count of these cities in

India has the highest trade deficit with China in goods but the gap expanded at a lower pace during 2014-15 to 2023-24 as compared to the previous 10 years, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday. In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said that the trade deficit has increased by compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 42.85 per cent during 2004-05 to 2013-14, while the same has come down to 6.45 per cent during 2014-15 to 2023-24 which clearly indicates the success of the government in containing rate of growth of excessive import growth from China during the past ten years. It may also be noted that from 2004-05 to 2013-14, trade deficit grew by approximately 24.8 times while it grew only by 1.75 times from 2014-15 to 2023-24, he said. "India has the highest merchandise trade deficit with China," Goyal said. India's exports to China in 2023-24 stood at USD 16.65 billion, while imports aggregated at USD 101.75 billion, leaving a trade .

Fitch Ratings on Friday said India's post-election budget confirms that the new administration remains committed to reducing the fiscal deficit for FY25 and FY26, despite demands of the coalition government. In the FY25 budget, the government has lowered the Centre's fiscal deficit target for the year ending March 2025 to 4.9 per cent of GDP, from 5.1 per cent in February's interim budget. The government's fiscal deficit target for FY25 is significantly below the 5.4 per cent that the ratings agency anticipated when it affirmed India's 'BBB-' rating, with a stable outlook, in January 2024. "India's post-election budget confirms that the new administration remains committed to reducing the fiscal deficit this and next year, despite the demands of the coalition government," Fitch Ratings said in a statement. The sustained focus on supporting economic growth through high public capex also points to continuity in key areas, it added. "We believe that it should be achievable as the ...

In its recent discussions with stakeholders, the ministry suggested reducing the number of components under PMP in FAME-III from 18 to 12

Since indirect tax figures are not being released, we are treating GST data in the same manner, he says

In a conversation, the chief of the direct tax apex body said that extension of the 15 per cent concessional rate depend on how the companies utilising the benefit

Joshi explained the intention behind the Budget proposals for the financial sector

The FMCG sector is expected to register 6.1 per cent volume growth in the rural market this fiscal, a report from Kantar Worldpanel said, depicting a strong positive outlook. This volume growth in the rural market stood at 4.4 per cent a year ago, while the urban volume growth is likely to remain flat at 4.2 per cent, it added. "Rural market is going to see a seismic shift once there is stability in the macro market," said the report titled 'The Rural Challenge'. The report also predicts that in the near future, rural volumes will catch up with urban growth, which is currently bigger. Now, the rural market is a big and important part of the Indian FMCG industry as it generates half of the FMCG volume and value. The report also pointed out that "FMCG growth is majorly led by population, and not consumption" in rural areas. Stagnation in consumption in the rural market is on account of factors like inflationary pressures, decline in rural household size, higher spending on utilitie

The BJP government in Odisha presented its maiden budget on Thursday with a total estimate of Rs 2.65 lakh crore for the 2024-25 fiscal, laying emphasis on agriculture and women empowerment. The size of the budget for the current financial year was around 15 per cent more than the budgetary estimate of Rs 2.30 lakh crore for the 2023-24 fiscal, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said in the assembly. Majhi, who also holds the finance portfolio, proposed an outlay of Rs 33,919 crore for agriculture, which is about 36 per cent more than the allocation made in the previous year. Of the total budget estimates, programme expenditure was pegged at Rs 1.55 lakh crore, administrative expenditure at Rs 97,725 crore and an outlay of Rs 3,900 crore for Disaster Risk Management Funds, he said. To ensure the speedy empowerment of women, as promised by the BJP in its election manifesto, Majhi allocated Rs 10,000 crore for the 'Subhadra' scheme, a financial assistance programme for women. The chi

State-owned BSNL's total income increased by about 3 per cent to Rs 21,302 crore in the financial year 2023-24, Parliament was informed on Thursday. Minister of State for Communications Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, shared that BSNL's total income was Rs 20,699 crore in 2022-23. The financial data shared by Sekhar shows that BSNL has received Rs 1.16 lakh crore from the revival package approved by the government between financial year (FY) 2020 and FY24. The state-owned firm received Rs 60,203 crore in FY24. The government has approved three revival packages for BSNL and MTNL, comprising Rs 69,000 crore support in 2019, Rs 1.64 lakh crore in 2022 and Rs 89,000 crore in 2023 for allotment of 4G and 5G spectrum. In a separate reply, Sekhar shared a comparative chart of BSNL's debt position as of March 31, 2024, with other telecom operators. According to the chart, BSNL's debt reduced to Rs 23,297 crore in FY24 from Rs 28,092 crore in FY23 and Rs

Indian financial system looks stronger than in the past and the country's economy is an outlier even as strong headwinds globally, Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor M Rajeshwar Rao said. Delivering the J P Morgan India Leadership Series Lecture here, the RBI official also highlighted that India has achieved the highest climate change performance index (CCPI) score among G20 members in 2024, which reflects the country's unwavering commitment to this cause. "This also shows that by aligning economic policies with climate action, we can spur green investments, enhance energy efficiency, and foster sustainable development across the sectors," he said in the lecture on 'Climate Change -- The Emerging Challenge'. Rao said the global financial system is facing strong headwinds from various quarters, including high levels of public debt, stretched asset valuations, economic and financial fragmentation, geopolitical tensions, and risks arising from increasing cyber threats. "Amidst thes