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Coming down hard on Opposition-ruled states, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said some states did not reduce VAT on petrol and diesel despite the excise duty cut by the Centre last November and had done "injustice" to the people by not transferring the benefits of the move to them.

Speaking at an interaction with chief ministers on the emerging COVID-19 situation in the country, Modi said he wanted to flag a separate issue of the challenges being faced by the people due to the global situation.

"The situation of war which has arisen, has affected the supply chain, and in such an environment, the challenges are increasing day by day," Modi said in an apparent reference to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

"This global crisis is bringing many challenges. In such a situation, it has become imperative to further enhance the spirit of cooperative federalism and coordination between the Centre and states," he said.

Flagging the issue of high prices of petrol and diesel, Modi said the Centre had reduced excise duty to reduce the burden of prices of petrol and diesel on the people last November.

He said the Centre had urged states to reduce taxes and transfer the benefit to the citizens.

"Some states reduced taxes but some states did not give any benefit of this to the people. Due to this, the prices of petrol and diesel in these states continue to remain high. In a way, this is not only injustice to the people of these states but it also has an impact on neighbouring states," he said.

Many states such as Maharashtra, West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu for some reason or the other did not listen to the central government and the citizens of those states continued to be burdened, he said.

"I request that what should have been done in November, you should pass on the benefit to the citizens by reducing VAT," Modi said.

Also Read:- India's retail industry to reach $2 trillion by 2032: Report

As the country recovers from the pandemic, the retail industry has resumed its growth trajectory and is likely to witness 10 per cent annual growth to reach approximately $2 trillion by 2032, according to a report.

According to a BCG-RAI report titled "Racing towards the next wave of Retail in India”, while certain industry segments like food and grocery, restaurants and Quick service restaurant (QSR), and consumer durables have recovered to pre-COVID levels, others like jewellery and accessory, apparel, and footwear remain on track to a full recovery.

"The Indian economy continues to be driven by consumption and we are observing that consumption growth is back in the positive territory after the two-year COVID pause,” BCG Managing Director and Senior Partner Abheek Singhi said.

Noting that India’s retail industry will grow to approx $2 trillion in the next 10 years, Singhi said "the next decade will see organised retailers focus on footprint expansion, across all formats – offline and online – to fuel future growth”.

As per the report India’s consumption, which was growing at approximately 12 per cent pre-pandemic, went into negative territory during the pandemic but has now recovered to surpass pre-pandemic growth levels at 17 per cent.

E-commerce in the country is expected to reach $130 billion by 2026, as compared to $45 billion in 2021, according to the report.

"The rising competition and the need for constantly improving the customer value proposition is driving the rise of ecosystems and the customers are approached by players across retail and non-retail. We are seeing examples of this trend already in India and is expected to significantly transform the entire landscape in the future,” added Rachit Mathur, Managing Director and Partner, Consumer & Retail Practice, BCG.

The report is an in-depth study of retail players in the country, identifying challenges in the prevailing environment and highlighting emerging trends and models that can potentially shape the future of retail.

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd's (RIL) became the first Indian listed company to touch the Rs 19-trillion market capitalisation-mark after its shares scaled a record high. The stock hit a new high of Rs 2,827.10, up 2 per cent on the BSE in Wednesday's intra-day trade in an otherwise weak market.

According to the BSE data, RIL m-cap stood at Rs 19.02 trillion at 09:33 AM, with the stock up 1.3 per cent at Rs 2,811.85. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.61 per cent at 56,977.

In the past seven trading days, the stock price of RIL has appreciated by 11 per cent from a level of Rs 2,544 on April 18, 2022. In the past three months, the stock has rallied 20 per cent, as compared to 0.42 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex.

"Reliance industries is firing on all cylinders because its petchem business is doing extremely well on the back of a surge in Oil and Gas prices where Singapore gross refining margin (GRM) is at an all-time high. Its telecom business is unaffected by geopolitical tension and inflation whereas it is exploring synergies in its retail business. It is continuously expanding its path in the renewable energy business that opening more opportunities for the company," said Santosh Meena, Head of Research, Swastika Investmart.

RIL is one of India's biggest conglomerates with a presence in refining or marketing petrochemicals (O2C), oil and gas exploration, retail, digital services and media, making it a well-diversified business entity. In April-December period (9MFY22), O2C and oil and gas contributed 50 per cent to the EBITDA level whereas retail, digital and others contributed 10 per cent, 34 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively.

RIL and Abu Dhabi Chemicals Derivatives Company RSC (TA’ZIZ) on Tuesday signed a shareholder agreement for a chemical project in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi. The development acquires significance as it will focus on chlor-alkali, ethylene dichloride (EDC) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) production, which is used in a wide range of industrial applications.

This is expected to unlock new revenue streams for RIL as well as the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and ADQ, an Abu Dhabi-based investment and holding company, who are strategic partners in TA’ZIZ, a joint venture company. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REPORT

Call it poor judgment or bad luck, but India’s expansion of natural gas coverage to more than 90 percent of its population couldn’t have come at a worse time. In January, Adani Total Gas Ltd. and others won keenly-contested licenses to add new areas to city gas networks; in February, Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. Suddenly, billions of dollars in investment are on shaky ground.

After an extraordinary surge last month, European spot prices of natural gas are stabilising — at three times the average of the past decade. Contracted supplies of liquefied natural gas are cheaper, but with Europe scrambling to secure non-Russian fuel, the discount is shrinking, according to a Bloomberg News report last week. Worse still, it’s unlikely to be a blip: Credit Suisse Group AG predicts that the Russian gas deficit will lead to an annual global LNG shortage of nearly 100 million tons by the middle of the decade.

This isn’t what New Delhi anticipated when it decided to raise the share of natural gas in India’s energy mix to 15 percent by 2030 from under 7 percent now, as part of a plan to improve air quality. India had nine of the world’s 10 most polluted cities in 2020. Natural gas doesn’t eliminate carbon emissions, but it’s an improvement over diesel. It’s something to hold the fort until better options — such as green hydrogen — become affordable for emerging markets.

The environment, however, isn’t the only reason Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a massive push to city gas projects. The move also has political significance. Piped natural gas (PNG) delivered to urban homes relieves the demand pressure on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders. Those can then be pushed to rural areas where the government has helped poor families open 90 million new LPG accounts to help them migrate from burning wood, coal, dung-cake or kerosene to using cleaner cooking gas. The campaign buttressed Modi’s popularity with women voters, which is why the 2016 programme saw a jump in enrolment before his successful 2019 re-election bid.

But the economics of PNG — and compressed natural gas (CNG) supplied to motorists as an alternative to gasoline and diesel — is wobbly. State-run Oil & Natural Gas Corp. and Oil India Ltd. produce gas domestically, as does Reliance Industries Ltd. in partnership with BP Plc. Under a complex pricing formula, this output is allocated to city gas and fertiliser firms, the two biggest users, as well as power stations and LPG plants.

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Life Insurance Corporation is likely to file a preliminary IPO prospectus on Tuesday, sources directly involved in the IPO process told Reuters.

The government is looking to sell a 3.5 per cent stake in the state-owned insurance behemoth and the IPO is likely to open in the first week of May.

The price band for the per equity share is likely to be announced on Wednesday, the sources said.

LIC management and the investment bankers will embark on road shows in six cities across India - including Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Kolkata - where they will be meeting potential investors and analysts starting on Wednesday, one of the sources said.

The road shows are likely to be concluded by the end of this week. In the last two years with the Covid-19 pandemic, physical roadshows had come to a grinding halt but now with infections down the management has decided to re-start the process.

Apart from this, online roadshows covering investors across other regions will also continue, the source added.

The finance ministry did not immediately respond to an email request seeking comment.

New Delhi has already halved its fundraising goal for LIC's IPO to Rs 300 billion ($3.9 billion), having had to cut its valuation estimates after feedback from investors, a government source told Reuters last week.

The monthly collection under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is likely to peak to another all-time high of Rs 1.45-1.50 lakh crore, CNBC-TV18 reported on April 26, citing sources in the Finance Ministry.

The projected numbers mark a consecutive month-on-month (MoM) surge in GST collections. In March, a record-high amount of Rs 1.42 lakh crore was collected, which was 6.8 percent higher as compared to the previous month.

If the projected numbers for April 2022 turn out to be accurate, it would be the 10th month in a row when GST collections would cross the Rs 1 lakh crore-mark.

Also Read | Ministers' panel yet to take a view on GST rate rationalisation

For FY22 as a whole, total GST collections amounted to Rs 14.83 lakh crore, up 30 percent from Rs 11.37 lakh crore in FY21. The Finance Ministry attributed the rise in GST collections to the ongoing economic recovery along with anti-evasion activities and the various rate rationalisation measures undertaken by the GST Council to correct inverted duty structures.

While the GST collections are on a high, deliberations are also reportedly underway to rationalise the taxation rates. The Finance Ministry, on April 25, said that the Group of Ministers - constituted in September last year to deliberate on the rates - was yet to submit their report.

Also Read | CAIT, IFA urge government to roll back hike in GST rate on footwear

The GoM, headed by Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, was set up by the GST Council to recommend ways in which any anomalies in tax rates could be corrected and revenue could be augmented.

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Former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan said that the central bank will have to increase the headline rate at some point. "With inflation soaring in the country, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will, at some point in time, have to raise benchmark interest rates, and it is important for politicians and bureaucrats to understand that the rise in policy rates is not some anti-national activity benefiting foreign investors, but is an investment in economic stability, said Raghuram Rajan, former RBI governor.

In March, headline inflation in the country spiked to 6.95 per cent compared with 6.07 per cent in February. The headline inflation has now breached the 6 per cent mark for three consecutive months. In the recently concluded monetary policy meet, the RBI sharply revised its inflation projection from 4.5 per cent to 5.7 per cent for FY23. Further, the headline inflation is expected to stay above 6 per cent in the first quarter of FY22, as per RBI’s projections. And, for the June-September period, the CPI inflation rate is projected at 5.8 per cent. Consequently, economists have forecast aggressive rate hikes in the next one year.

“Of course, no one is happy when rates have to be raised”, Rajan said in his note. “I still get brickbats from politically-motivated critics who allege the RBI held back the economy during my term. Some of my predecessors were similarly criticized. At such times, it helps to let the facts talk. And the correct facts are important to guide future policy. It is essential that the RBI does what it needs to, and the broader polity gives it the latitude to do so”, he added.

Rajan recalled that when he took over as the governor of RBI in September 2013, India was seeing inflation soar as high as 9.5 per cent. There was a currency crisis too, with the rupee experiencing a free fall. Consequently, the RBI then increased the repo rate from 7.25 per cent in September 2013 to 8 per cent to tame inflation. As inflation came down, the RBI then cut rates by 150 basis points to 6.5 per cent and signed onto an inflation targeting framework with the government.

“These actions not only helped stabilize the economy and the rupee, they also enhanced growth”, Rajan said. “Between August 2013 and August 2016, inflation came down from 9.5 per cent to 5.3 per cent. Growth picked up from 5.91 per cent in June-August 2013 to 9.31 per cent in June - August 2016. The rupee depreciated only mildly over 3 years from 63.2 to 66.9 to the dollar. Our foreign exchange reserves rose from US $ 275 billion in September 2013 to US $ 371 billion in September 2016”, he added.

The RBI has since maintained low inflation and low interest rates through troubling times like the demonetization, the fall-off in growth, and the pandemic. Today, reserves have climbed to over $ 600 billion, allowing the RBI to calm financial markets even as oil prices have climbed, Rajan said.

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Natural farming is the need of the hour as the cost of production of foodgrain has increased due to the use of chemicals and fertilisers, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said on Monday. Addressing the 'National Workshop on Innovative Agriculture' organised by NITI Aayog, Kant further said India is now an exporter of wheat and rice.

"Natural farming is the need of the hour and it is important that we identify scientific ways through which we can ensure farmers can directly benefit from it, thereby increasing their income," he said. Kant added: "The cost of production of foodgrain and vegetables rose due to excess use of chemicals and fertilisers."

Natural Farming ichemicals s a chemical-free farming method. It is considered as an agroecology-based diversified farming system which integrates crops, trees and livestock with functional biodiversity. Also, speaking at the event, NITI Aayog member (Agriculture) Ramesh Chand said there are many methods of natural farming that can be adopted, such as organic farming, diversification and agroecological farming.

The CBI has taken over the probe into the case of coins worth Rs 11 crore going missing from the vaults of the SBI branch in Mehandipur Balaji in Rajasthan, officials said on Monday.

On the high court's directions, the CBI has taken over the FIR earlier registered by the Rajasthan Police.

The matter came to light after the SBI branch decided to carry out counting of money after a preliminary enquiry indicated discrepancy in the cash reserve at the bank.

A Jaipiur-based private vendor was roped in to carry out the counting of coins worth over Rs 13 crore, according to branch account books.

The counting revealed that over Rs 11 crore worth of coins were missing from the branch.

Only 3,000 coin bags carrying about Rs 2 crore could be accounted for and were transferred to the RBI's coin holding branch.

It is also alleged that the employees of the private vendor who was doing the counting were threatened in the night on August 10, 2021 at the guesthouse where they were staying and were asked to refrain from the counting, the FIR has alleged.

The Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Monday said India will consume semiconductors of about $70-80 billion to manufacture electronics products worth $300 billion by 2026 in line with the government's vision.

Chandrasekhar says the government will achieve the target of establishing a semiconductor ecosystem in India depending upon the interest it is getting from around the globe.

He was speaking on the eve of announcing the first conference on setting up the semiconductor ecosystem in the country -- Semicon India 2022 - that is expected to attract Semiconductor leaders from across the world.

He said, "Demand for digital devices and electronics products is only going up. If you have seen our electronics vision document, we have announced a target of $300 billion in electronic manufacturing, with $120 billion in exports. Our consumption, based on $300 billion electronics (production target by 2026), will be almost $70-80 billion of semiconductors," reported by PTI.

Notably, under the Semicon India Programme, the government has received proposals from five companies to set up the electronic chip and display manufacturing plants with an investment of ₹1.53 lakh crore.

Semicon India programme entailed incentives to the tune of ₹76,000 crore.

As per the report, companies like Vedanta Foxconn JV, IGSS Ventures, and ISMC have submitted proposals to set up electronic chip manufacturing plants with a $13.6 billion investment. They have sought the support of $5.6 billion from the government under the ₹76,000 crore programme.

Further, Vedanta and Elest have proposed a projected investment of $6.7 billion to set up display manufacturing units -- used in mobile phones, laptops, etc. They have sought the support of $2.7 billion from the government under the scheme for setting up display fabs in India.

The minister stated that the applications are being processed at the moment and declined to provide an estimated timeline for their approval.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the first-ever Semicon India 2022 Conference at 11 am, on 29th April 2022 in Bengaluru.

Chandrasekhar stated that Semicon India – 2022, a 3-day conference, is being organized to take forward the vision of PM Modi which is to make India a leader in electronics manufacturing, semiconductor design, manufacturing & innovation.

Chandrasekhar said that PM’s vision is to make India a significant player in the Global Semiconductor value chain. First time in the last 75 years- rapid decisive strides have been made in this space, he added. Semicon India 2022 conference will attract the best minds from across the world from the semiconductor industry, research & academia and will act as a big step in fulfilling PM’s vision of making India a global hub for electronics manufacturing and the semiconductor industry.

The ministry will organize Semicon India 2022 conference from April 29 – 01 May 2022 at ITC Gardenia, Bengaluru.

This conference will serve as the first roadshow in the series of a roadshow that the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology will be organizing. Global experts from industry and academia involved in semiconductor design and manufacturing and key representatives from Government are proposed to participate in the event.

As per the ministry, India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) has been set up as an Independent Business Division within Digital India Corporation having administrative and financial autonomy to formulate and drive India’s long-term strategies for developing semiconductors and display manufacturing facilities and semiconductor design ecosystem. Envisioned to be led by global experts in the Semiconductor and Display industry, ISM will serve as the nodal agency for efficient, coherent, and smooth implementation of the schemes.