News on Indian Economy
In a major boost to India’s rice exports potential especially from eastern region, a consignment has been officially flagged off today from the Paradip International Cargo Terminal (PICT), Odisha to Vietnam.
Alstom has manufactured and delivered the 100th electric locomotive to Indian Railways despite challenges posed by covid-19, the company said. The delivery is part of the contract worth €3.5 billion (Rs 25,000 crore), signed between the ministry of railways and Alstom in 2015 which led to the creation of a joint venture for the project and the largest foreign direct investment project of the Railways.
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.
India’s merchandise exports in April 2021 was USD 30.21 billion, an increase of 197.03% over USD 10.17 billion in April 2020 and an increase of 16.03% over USD 26.04 billion in April 2019.
Minister for Road Transport & Highways and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Shri Nitin Gadkari said that the Government is giving utmost priority to the development of infrastructure and has set a target of road construction of worth Rs.15 lakh crores in next two years.
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.
As a special dispensation, the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance at the recommendation of Ministry of Home Affairs has released in advance of the normal schedule the 1st instalment of the Central Share of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for the year 2021-22 to all the States. An amount of Rs.8873.6 crore has been released to the States.
With the vision to boost agricultural economy, to reduce dependence on imported fossil fuel, to save foreign exchange on account of crude oil import bill & to reduce the air pollution, Government has fixed target of 10% blending of fuel grade ethanol with petrol by 2022 & 20% blending by 2025.
Indian Army in its quest for harnessing renewable energy for its troops inaugurated the First Green Solar Energy harnessing plant of 56 KVA using Vanadium based battery technology in North Sikkim, at an altitude of 16000 ft.
Tremendous progress in information and communication technology has now made it feasible to introduce Online Payment System through web that is expected to make the process of paying all types of charges including freight and ancillary charges simpler, convenient, speedier and transparent. This can be done by enabling on the web an option for the payment of various charges accrued to the customer.
