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Amid uproar in Parliament, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday took to Twitter to clarify the decisions taken by the GST Council in its 47th meeting last month in Chandigarh. The Council recommended reconsidering the approach for the imposition of GST on specified food items like pulses, cereals, flour etc, said Sitharaman in a Twitter thread.

The FM tweeted that certain items including pulses/daal, wheat, rye, oats, maize, rice, aatta/flour, suji/rawa, besan, puffed rice, curd/lassi when sold loose and non pre-packed or pre-labeled, will not attract any GST.

Sitharaman pointed out that this is not the first time these food articles are being taxed and that states were collecting significant revenue from foodgrain in the pre-GST regime. "Punjab alone collected more Rs 2,000 cr on food grain by way of purchase tax. UP collected Rs 700 cr," she tweeted.

"All states were present in GST Council when this issue was presented by the Group of Ministers on Rate Rationalisation in the 47th meeting held in Chandigarh on Jun 28, 2022. All States, including non-BJP States (Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala) agreed with the decision. This decision of the GST Council is yet again by consensus," she said.

"Further, the GoM that recommended these changes was composed of members from West Bengal, Rajasthan, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Goa & Bihar and was headed by CM of Karnataka. It carefully considered this proposal, taking into account the tax leakage," added Sitharaman.

"This decision was a much-needed one to curb tax leakage. It was considered at various levels including by officers, the Group of Ministers, and was finally recommended by the GST Council with the complete consensus of all members," said FM in her concluding tweet.

Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned on Tuesday amid protests by opposition members over imposition of GST on some new items and on price rise issue.

As soon as the House reassembled at 2 pm, opposition members belonging to the Congress, Trinamool Congress, DMK and others came to the well of the House carrying placards to protest against price rise and imposition of the GST on some new items.

After laying of papers by the members, Kirit Premjibhai Solanki, who was on the chair adjourned the House for the day.

Godrej Consumer Products will invest Rs 100 crore over the next three years to spread mass awareness about green lifestyles, a top official said on Tuesday.

The brand, which has launched a ready-to-mix body wash aimed at reducing plastic usage, will spend the money to promote better plastic consumption, its managing director and chief executive Sudhir Sitapati told reporters here.

Amid the widespread regulatory actions like the ban on single-use plastics, Sitapati said banning plastics is not the answer to the current challenges.

He said plastic has solved a lot of problems and democratised consumption by making it possible for people from different strata of society to use various products.

Activist Afroze Shah said corporates need to do more when it comes to sustainability, and also stressed that it is the management of plastic where we need to direct our efforts. Sitapati said the product launched on Tuesday – christened as "Godrej Magic Bodywash” – uses only 16 per cent of plastic by weight and the company aims to reduce it further to 8 per cent in a few years.

The Indian rupee touched another record low as foreign investors continued to sell the nation’s equities.

The rupee declined to 80.0125 per dollar on Tuesday. The currency has been buffeted by nearly $30 billion of foreign outflows from the nation’s equities so far this year -- a record sum -- and concerns over a deteriorating current-account deficit amid elevated oil and commodity prices.

India policymakers have sought to arrest the currency’s decline with a raft of measures -- from intervention to raising duties on gold imports -- with a weaker rupee adding to imported inflation pressures. Other emerging market currencies are also feeling the heat as a hawkish Federal Reserve lures capital toward the US.

The currency has declined 7% this year as a shortfall in India’s current account -- the broadest measure of external finances -- will

probably widen to 2.9% of gross domestic product in the fiscal year ending March 31, according to a Bloomberg survey in late June, nearly double the level seen in the previous year.

India’s central bank is for an orderly appreciation or depreciation in the currency and is intervening in all market segments to curb volatility, Governor Shaktikanta Das said earlier this month.

Strategists at Nomura Holdings Inc and Morgan Stanley continue to remain bearish on the rupee, forecasting the currency may decline to 82 to a dollar by September.

The Reserve Bank of India has foreign-exchange reserves of almost $600 billion, which it has been deploying to protect the rupee. Authorities have raised duties on gold import and raised levies on petroleum exports. The monetary authority has also announced measures to draw more forex inflows into the country and allowed rupee settlement of trade.