Total consumption however rose 4.6% to a record 233.3 million tonnes in FY24

Fuel demand for FY24 reached a record high of 233.276 million tonnes, up from 223.021 million tonnes the previous year

The value of mobile wallet payments in India, as per a GlobalData report, grew at a CAGR of 72.1 per cent between 2019 and 2023 to reach Rs 202.8 trillion in 2023

Households' sentiments on the general economic situation and employment prospects recorded notable improvements for both the current period as well as the upcoming year

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has asked the commerce ministry to examine the model text of the bilateral investment treaty (BIT) and suggest modifications to further improve the ease of doing business, according to sources. The exercise assumes significance as only seven countries have accepted the existing model text treaty, and most of the developed nations have expressed their reservations on the text with regard to provisions like the resolution of disputes. These investment treaties help in protecting and promoting investments in each other's countries. These pacts are important as India has earlier lost two international arbitration cases against British telecom giant Vodafone and Cairn Energy plc of the UK over the retrospective levy of taxes. Sources said an internal discussion will be held on the model text of the treaty on Monday in the commerce ministry with experts and lawyers. "There will be a presentation in the meeting. We are having an internal discussion on th

Creating adequate fiscal space is important to give impetus to the current growth trajectory, said former President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday. Speaking at an event organised by TIOL here, the former president said no nation can prosper without predictability and certainty in the tax architecture. The fiscal architecture is one of its most important pillars, he said. Sound fiscal management attracts both public and private capital and improves the quality of the public-private partnership. "Over the years, we have made great progress in streamlining our taxation policy. The complex tax regimes themselves have been simplified beyond recognition" he said. Now there are fewer tax slabs, processes have been streamlined. taxation policy has become more predictable and investor confidence improved while ease of doing business has enhanced, he said. All this has been made possible by leveraging technology and going forward faceless tax assessment will be the norm, he said. Speaking at

The bilateral trade between Singapore and India rose to USD 35.6 billion in 2022-23, a growth of 18.2 per cent on the year, a senior diplomat at the Indian High Commission here said on Saturday. Singapore is India's eighth largest trade partner (2022-23), with a share of 3.1 per cent of India's overall trade, T Prabakar, the First Secretary (Commerce) at the high commission said. He was addressing the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) Third International Conference being held in Singapore from April 5-6. Trade between Singapore and India saw a growth of 18.2 per cent in the year and rose to USD 35.6 billion in 2022-23, Prabakar said. Our imports from Singapore in FY 22-23 were USD 23.6 billion, a growth of 24.4 per cent, and exports to the city-state totalled USD 12 billion, up 7.6 billion in the previous financial year," he told some 100 delegates at the conference. In terms of India's exports, Singapore is the sixth largest export destination in the world, and in

Boosting the share of manufacturing in India's economy has been one of the key promises made by Modi, who is seeking a third term in elections that start on April 19

RBI monetary policy: In no hurry to cut repo rate, MPC keeps status quo; retains FY25 growth, inflation forecasts

Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das and Deputy Governor Michael Patra responded to a host of queries in the post-policy interaction with the media. Edited excerpts:

Attempts to clear impression about widespread action; curbs only against outliers for major breaches

Rural demand catching up, consumption expected to support economic growth in FY25, says RBI governor

Das says confident of meeting external financing requirements

As the Indian economy progresses towards the USD 5 trillion target over the next two years and the USD 10 trillion target by 2030, the demand for company secretaries will be tremendous to manage the inflow of capital both from the Indian and international investors, a top domain expert said on Friday. "We have to increase the pool of Company Secretaries (CS) to 95,000 by 2030 and to 1.4 lakh by 2047, the year of Viksit Bharat economy driven by capital flow and the government-initiated infrastructure development, B Narasimhan, President of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI), said here. Currently, ICSI has around 70,000 CS members and over 2 lakh students, he told PTI. Narasimhan gave an insight into the aspects resonating with the Indian economy. We, as CS, are the most recognised profession in the capital market, handling compliances across the board of listed and unlisted companies. SEBI has appointed us as the compliance offices and it is mandatory, he said. Ca

The 'future expectations index', which judges consumer sentiment for the upcoming 12 months, also improved to its highest since mid-2019, the survey showed

India's foreign exchange reserves increased USD 2.951 billion to USD 645.583 billion for the week ended March 29, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday. This is the sixth consecutive week of a jump in overall reserves. The kitty had increased USD 140 million to USD 642.631 billion in the previous reporting week. The country's forex kitty had in September 2021 reached an all-time high of USD 642.453 billion. The reserves took a hit as the central bank deployed the kitty to defend the rupee amid pressures caused majorly by global developments since last year. For the week ended March 29, the foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, increased USD 2.354 billion to USD 570.618 billion, 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 USD 673 million to USD 52.16 .

In exchange for tariff reduction, EFTA countries will increase foreign investments in India

Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday said India has been building up gold reserves as part of its forex deployment. "We are building up gold reserves that is a part of our reserve deployment," Das told reporters at the customary post-policy review press conference here. He did not give any specifics on the quantum of gold buys, but pointed to the official data which shows an increase in the value of gold reserves. As per official data, the value of gold in the forex reserves stood at USD 51.487 billion as on March 22, which is USD 6.287 billion higher than the value as at end-March 2023. As per a recent news report, RBI bought 8.7 tonne of gold in January alone which is the highest in two years. The central bank's gold holdings had touched 812.3 tonne at the end of January from 803.58 tonne in the preceding month, as per the World Gold Council. The price of gold has also seen a rally over the last few months. Earlier in the day, Das announced that the overall forex ..

The junior professionals are likely to outshine senior professionals in terms of salary hike percentage

India will by the end of 2025 stop importing urea as a massive push for domestic manufacturing has helped bridge the gap between supply and demand, Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has said. In an interaction with PTI, the minister noted that the availability of fertilisers is very important for Indian agriculture. He said the country has been using chemical fertilisers for the last 60-65 years to enhance crop production. Now, Mandaviya said, the government is making efforts to promote alternate fertilisers like nano liquid urea and nano liquid di-ammonium phosphate (DAP). "Use of alternate fertilisers is good for crops and soil health. We are promoting it," he said. Asked about achieving self-sufficiency in urea production, Mandaviya said the Modi government has adopted a two-pronged strategy to end dependency on urea imports. The minister highlighted that the government has revived four closed urea plants and is reviving one another factory. He noted that I