The petrol price in Delhi was hiked by 25 paise reaching Rs. 89.54 per litre as compared to Rs 89.29 per litre on February 16, according to state-owned fuel retailers. Diesel price in the national capital also touched a new high at Rs 79.95, increasing 25 paise from the previous day.

In Mumbai, the prices rose to Rs 96 per litre and Rs 86.98 per litre for petrol and diesel respectively.Meanwhile, automobile owners in Chennai shell out Rs 91.68 per litre and Rs 85.01 per litre of petrol and diesel. The prices in Kolkata reach Rs 90.78 per litre for petrol and Rs 83.54 per litre for diesel.

The difference in prices in states stems from local and VAT taxes imposed in states. Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had ruled out the possibility of a reduction in taxes on petrol and diesel in order to reduce prices.Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said that the state will cut down the fuel prices by approximately Rs. 7 per l "There is no such proposal at present," he said in Rajya Sabha. He added that taxes are increasedor decreased depending on several factors like the requirement of the government and market situation.

"Both prices of petrol and diesel will be reduced by approximately ₹7. It is being done primarily to ensure that the consumers are not affected by the high prices in order to give some relief to them," said the Chief Minister while speaking to media persons.

The Chief Minister added that the step was taken as the consumers are affected. He further noted that despite the fact that the state is facing financial issues and the VAT collected "from petrol and diesel has helped the state in difficult times of COVID-19, the government has decided that we will be reducing the VAT for petrol and diesel."

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The Reserve Bank on Tuesday permitted resident individuals to make remittances under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) to International Financial Services Centres (IFSCs) in the country.

The decision of the RBI is aimed at deepening the financial markets in the IFSCs and providing an opportunity to resident individuals to diversify their portfolios.

The RBI, in a notification, said it has reviewed the extant guidelines on LRS and decided to permit resident individuals to make remittances under LRS to IFSCs set up in India under the Special Economic Zone Act, 2005. "The remittance shall be made only for making investments in IFSCs in securities, other than those issued by entities/companies resident (outside IFSC) in India," the central bank said.

Further, resident individuals may also open a non-interest bearing Foreign Currency Account (FCA) in IFSCs, for making the above permissible investments under LRS. "Any funds lying idle in the account for a period upto 15 days from the date of its receipt into the account shall be immediately repatriated to domestic INR account of the investor in India," RBI said.

The Reserve Bank on Tuesday permitted resident individuals to make remittances under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) to International Financial Services Centres (IFSCs) in the country.

The decision of the RBI is aimed at deepening the financial markets in the IFSCs and providing an opportunity to resident individuals to diversify their portfolios.

The RBI, in a notification, said it has reviewed the extant guidelines on LRS and decided to permit resident individuals to make remittances under LRS to IFSCs set up in India under the Special Economic Zone Act, 2005. "The remittance shall be made only for making investments in IFSCs in securities, other than those issued by entities/companies resident (outside IFSC) in India," the central bank said.

Further, resident individuals may also open a non-interest bearing Foreign Currency Account (FCA) in IFSCs, for making the above permissible investments under LRS. "Any funds lying idle in the account for a period upto 15 days from the date of its receipt into the account shall be immediately repatriated to domestic INR account of the investor in India," RBI said.

India is set to see investments to the tune of around $500 billion in the renewables sector if the country has to achieve the target of 450 gigawatts (GW) of capacity by 2030, said a report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

The report highlighted that a huge global capital pool is mobilising to invest in renewable energy and grid projects in India, with pull factors including solar power tariffs hitting record lows, plunging solar module costs, record low-interest rates, and the security of government-backed, 25-year power purchase agreements (PPAs). The renewable energy sector in India has received more than $42 billion in investment since 2014.

“We estimate that striving for 450 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030 would require deploying $500 billion of investment over the coming decade – $300 billion for wind and solar infrastructure, $50 billion on grid firming investments such as gas-peakers, hydro and batteries, and $150 billion on expanding and modernising transmission and distribution,” said Tim Buckley, Director Energy Finance Studies, South Asia, at the IEEFA.The country’s untapped renewable potential at 900 gigawatt (GW) is the most in the world. It is estimated that India’s peak power demand will rise to 295GW by 2021-22 and 690GW by 2035.

“Domestic and global institutions across the financial, corporate, energy, utility and government sectors are primed to deploy a wall of capital that India needs to fund its ambitious renewable energy targets,” he added.This includes the capital cost of adding more than 300GW of new renewables infrastructure, firming low-cost but intermittent renewable power generation, and expanding and modernising grid transmission and distribution.

The sources of capital range from private equity, global pensions funds and sovereign wealth funds, to oil and gas majors, multinational development banks and Indian state-owned enterprises and power billionaires, the report added.The report stated that the Indian renewables sector is increasingly dominated by the major independent power producers (IPPs):ReNew Power, Greenko, Adani Green, Tata Power, ACME, SB Energy, Azure Power, Sembcorp Green Infra and Hero Future Energies, and that each has invested strongly in building capacity in international debt and equity markets.

But, these renewable energy giants face growing competition from the likes of Vena Energy/Vector Green, O2 Power, Ayana Renewable Power, Torrent Power and Sprng Energy, as well as Government of India fossil fuel majors starting to rise to the decarbonisation challenge such as NTPC and NLC, with Coal India Limited and Indian Railways increasingly looking to pivot aggressively as well, it said.

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The report said due to the economic downturn, even the union government finances are under pressure, leading to a lower-than-budgeted devolution of Rs 5.50 lakh crore to states in FY21 (revised estimate: RE) as against the budget estimate (BE) of Rs 8.03 lakh crore.

This is Rs 2.53 lakh crore lower-than-budgeted states’ share in central taxes and accounts for nearly 92 percent increase in fiscal deficit in FY21(forecast) over FY21 (BE).

The agency now estimates the aggregate revenue deficit to come in at 3.2 percent, higher than the earlier forecast of 2.8 percent of GDP in FY21.

The union government in its FY22 budget has committed to retaining the vertical share of states in central taxes at 41 percent, as per the recommendations of 15th Finance Commission (FC).

The Union Budget for FY22 has budgeted Rs 6.66 lakh crore for distribution out of the net proceeds of central taxes (FY21RE: Rs 5.50 lakh crore).

The agency said although it estimates the aggregate revenue receipt of the states to grow 8.4 percent y-o-y in FY22 from a decline of 0.6 percent in FY21 (f), the revenue deficit would persist in FY22.

It expects the aggregate revenue deficit of states to come in at 1.5 percent of GDP in FY22 as against FY21 (f) of 3.2 percent.

The pressure on the debt burden is likely to persist in FY22 due to a combination of revenue deficit, some pick-up in capex and repayment of past market borrowings, the agency said.

It estimates the states’ aggregate debt/GDP to rise to 33.9 percent in FY22 from 32.8 percent in FY21 (f).States’ fiscal deficit is now financed mainly through market borrowings and the report estimates the gross market borrowings of states will increase to Rs 8.38 lakh crore in FY22 from Rs 8.2 lakh crore in FY21 (f).

This special FD scheme was launched in May to safeguard the interests of senior citizens as the interest rates were falling rapidly amid the coronavirus pandemic. This special FD scheme is available for senior citizens till March 31.

Bank of Baroda special FD scheme for senior citizens

BoB offers 100 bps higher on deposits by senior citizens. If a senior citizen puts a fixed deposit, the interest rate applicable to the FD will be 6.25 percent under the special FD scheme.

ICICI Bank offers 80 bps higher interest rates on deposits. Senior citizens get an interest rate of 6.30 percent per annum under ICICI Bank Golden Years FD scheme.

HDFC Bank special FD scheme for senior citizens

HDFC Bank offers 75 bps higher interest rates on these deposits. The interest rate applicable to the FD will be 6.25 percent.

SBI special FD scheme for senior citizens

SBI special FD scheme for senior citizens will fetch 80 basis points (bps) interest rate above the rate applicable to the general public. Currently, SBI gives 5.4 percent interest rate on five years FD for the general public. If a senior citizen puts a fixed deposit under the special FD scheme, then the interest rate applicable to the FD will be 6.20 percent.

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In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Hardeep Singh Puri said the equalisation levy collection stood at Rs 338.6 crore in 2016-17, Rs 589.4 crore in 2017-18 and Rs 938.9 crore in 2018-19.

The collection was Rs 1,136.5 crore in 2019-20 and Rs 1,492.7 crore in 2020-21 (up to January 30).Equalisation levy was first introduced by Finance Act, 2016, at the rate of 6 per cent on payments for digital advertisement services received by non-resident companies without a permanent establishment in India, if these exceeded Rs 1 lakh a year.

He also said the US has put out investigation reports on Digital Services Tax (DST) against three countries -- India, Italy and Turkey -- on January 6. The findings are that the DST in these countries discriminates against US companies and burdens or restricts US commerce.

To a query on whether the government is taking steps to remedy the concerns raised, Puri said "such issues are a part of an economic relationship, and feature in the regular bilateral engagements between India and the US".

Replying to another question, he said India is presently "not" negotiating any FTA (Free Trade Agreement) with the US but was engaged with America to arrive at a 'shared understanding' on some of the market access issues faced by exporters on both sides.Separately, the minister said that to support Indian rice bran oil processors to improve technology and equipment for optimum extraction of rice bran oil in the country, the Department of Food and Public Distribution is working with other ministries concerned.

The country's import of rice bran oil stood at 71,580 tonnes during April-November 2020-21.

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