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In response to an increase in coronavirus cases, the RBI announced a Rs. 50,000 crore (US$ 6.77 billion) on-tap liquidity window for firms involved in healthcare infrastructure and services on Wednesday.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Government of India, approved today, permissions to Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) for conducting trials for use and applications of 5G technology. The applicant TSPs include Bharti Airtel Ltd., Reliance JioInfocomm Ltd., Vodafone Idea Ltd. and MTNL. These TSPs have tied up with original equipment manufacturers and technology providers which are Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung and C-DOT. In addition, Reliance JioInfocomm Ltd. will also be conducting trials using its own indigenous technology.
A total of 19 companies have filed their application under the Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) for IT Hardware which was notified on 03.03.2021. The scheme was open for filing applications till 30.04.2021. Incentives are applicable under the scheme from 01.04.2021.
In view of the challenges faced by taxpayers in meeting the statutory and regulatory compliances under Goods & Services Tax (GST) law due to the outbreak of the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, the Government has issued notifications, all dated 1st May, 2021, providing various relief measures for taxpayers.
The gross GST revenue collected in the month of April’ 2021 is at a record high of Rs. 1,41,384 crore of which CGST is Rs. 27,837 crore, SGST is Rs. 35,621, IGST is Rs 68,481 crore (including Rs. 29,599 crore collected on import of goods) and Cess is Rs. 9,445 crore (including Rs. 981 crore collected on import of goods). Despite the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic affecting several parts of the country, Indian businesses have once again shown remarkable resilience by not only complying with the return filing requirements but also paying their GST dues in a timely manner during the month.
The Ministry of Finance, Government of India has decided to provide an additional amount of uptoRs 15,000 crore to Statesas interest free 50 year loan for spending on capital projects. The Department of Expenditure has issued fresh guidelines in this regard on the “Scheme of Financial Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure” for the financial year 2021-22.The Finance Minister had in her budget speech announced that the Centre would take measures to nudge States to spend more on infrastructure and to incentivize disinvestment of their public sector enterprises.
Considering the present pandemic situation of COVID-19 and for meeting the demand of medical devices, Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India has permitted the importers of medical devices to import the following categories medical devices for three months from 28.04.2021 onwards,
The Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH) has finalised and recommended quality standards for four spices; cloves, oregano, basil, and ginger, during its fifth session held virtually from 20th -29th April 2021. The committee forwarded these four new standards to the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) for adoption at final step 8, as full -fledged Codex standards.
India has imposed anti-dumping duty on imports of a chemical used in foam making from four regions, including the EU and Saudi Arabia, for five years to guard domestic players from cheap shipments. The duty was imposed following recommendation of the commerce ministry’s investigation arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), which conducted a probe into alleged dumping of ‘Toluene Di-Isocynate’ from the EU, Saudi Arabia, Chinese Taipei and the UAE.
The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to discuss the measures needed to improve Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) Supply for COVID management. PM instructed that these Oxygen Concentrators should be procured at the earliest & provided in states with high case burden.
