Can nano urea help in achieving the stated objective? Can it help to make a dent in the subsidy? The government spends huge sums on fertiliser subsidy — the likely expenditure during the current financial year being about Rs 2,50,000 crore. Credit: AFP Photo Launching an ambitious programme for the promotion of liquid nano fertilisers at the two-day ‘Kisan Samman Sammelan’ at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) on October 17, Prime Minister Narendra Modi exuded confidence that it would help attain self-sufficiency in the crucial sector and help farmers enhance their income while substantially reducing the impact on the environment. Already, the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) — a major fertiliser manufacturer — is producing indigenously-developed nano urea at its Nano Biotechnology Research...
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News & Media
Under IBC, protecting minority shareholders
The soul of IBC mechanism lies in timely detection of stress in a firm and selling it as a ‘going concern’ The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has proposed a framework to protect the interests of public equity shareholders in case of listed companies undergoing insolvency proceedings under the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). In 2016, the Modi Government enacted the IBC. This legislation overrides all other subsisting laws and gives a strong handle to the banks for resolving non-performing assets (NPAs) of lenders. In 2017, it amended the Banking Regulation Act (BRA), giving RBI powers to force banks to act if they don’t on their own. On February 12, 2018,...
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RBI should pause rate hikes, boost growth
Since inflation is driven primarily by supply-side factors, the RBI should avoid too many interest rate hikes In 2016, the Government had put in place an institutionalised framework, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), to formulate monetary policy and determine the key interest rates. It mandated the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to fix rates, especially the repo rate or RR (interest rate at which the RBI lends to banks), in such a manner as to maintain inflation—as represented by the consumer price index (CPI)—within the target range of 4 per cent (+/- 2 per cent) for a five-year period ending March 31, 2021 (the mandate has now been extended for further five years ending March 31, 2026). In the case...
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Nano fertiliser move can be a game changer
Nano fertilisers not just promise to cut down subsidy burden but also improve the income of farmers Inaugurating function of the two-day “Kisan Samman Sammelan” at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) on October 17, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced two major policy initiatives — “One Nation, One Fertiliser” scheme under which all fertiliser manufacturing and market companies will sell all subsidized fertilisers under a single brand Bharat; and promote use of liquid nano fertilisers. While the government intends to use “One Nation, One Fertiliser” scheme to reduce the criss-cross movement of fertilizers that will eventually help reduce freight subsidy bills and make quality fertilizer available at lower cost, adoption of liquid nano urea is meant to help attain self-sufficiency...
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Tax surge a cushion to bear hit from subsidies
But tax collection buoyancy has been slowing down since the last year, which calls for tightening slippages In the past, a shortfall in tax receipts of the Union government vis-à-vis the budget estimate (BE) and excess of expenditure over BE led to high fiscal deficit (FD) year after year. To rein in FD, it often took recourse to non-tax receipts such as dividend from public sector undertakings (PSUs), proceeds from selling government shares in one PSU to another, transfer of surplus by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), proceeds from sale of spectrum for telecom services, etc. This was unsustainable as reliance on non-tax receipts is unreliable. For instance, dividend from a PSU depends on a host of factors specific...
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Shun freebies, avoid bankruptcy
The reckless spending of taxpayers’ money on ‘freebies’ is neither recognised policy/custom nor sanctioned in a court of law. Credit: DH File Photo Hearing a PIL seeking directions against ‘freebies’ on August 3, the Supreme Court sought suggestions on the composition of a committee that can go into the issue “dispassionately” and make recommendations. It gave a sense that it is for Parliament, besides the Election Commission, to take the initiative to enact a law on curbing freebies. The Union government’s standards of financial propriety clearly lays down that “no authority shall exercise its powers of sanctioning expenditure to pass an order which will be directly or indirectly to its advantage; and the expenditure from public moneys should not be...
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High fuel cost: Onus lies on Centre, states
For six months the prices of petrol, diesel have remained unchanged, resulting in heavy losses for refiners Ever since the start of the Ukraine war in February 2022, the international price of oil has been on the boil. Considering that India imports 85 per cent of its oil requirements, this is bound to impact the domestic price of petroleum products (POL). But the Modi government has ensured that the retail price of petrol and diesel have remained unchanged for a record six months. Around 90 per cent of the domestic fuel retail network in the country is controlled by the three Central public sector undertakings (CPSUs) namely, Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum...
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Unyielding Opposition derails power reforms
Power reforms have taken the backseat and promises of reforms and competition have been given up by the Centre The Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2022 proposing amendments to the Electricity Act, 2003, with the stated objective of transforming the power sector, was introduced in Lok Sabha on August 8, 2022. Facing stiff resistance from the opposition parties, it had to be referred to a Standing Committee. The Opposition parties especially those ruling the State governments opposed the amendments on two major grounds: (i) these would result in over-centralization of the power distribution (Under the Constitution, distribution is a State subject even as generation and transmission (G&T) are under the purview of the Union Government]; (ii) these curtail powers of the States...
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Forced scrappage of a fit vehicle is arbitrary
For vehicle scrappage, incentive and not force should be the way, as people with limited income may suffer In an unprecedented order delivered in 2014, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had prohibited petrol vehicles older than 15 years and diesel vehicles older than 10-year from plying in the National Capital Region (NCR). The order was upheld by the Supreme Court (SC) in its pronouncement on October 29, 2018. As for compliance, eight years after the NGT order and four years after SC validation, nearly 4,000,000 such vehicles continue to ply on the roads of the national capital. These include 500,000 diesel-run vehicles and 3,500,000 petrol-run. The transport authorities have reportedly swung into action impounding around 60 such vehicles every day...
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Eschew greed, boost demand
Irrespective of their size or industry sector, all businesses are structured to result in concentration of income in the hands of their owners Even as industries and businesses — both domestic and foreign-owned large corporations — expect the government to formulate policies and take fiscal measures to stimulate aggregate demand to put the Indian economy on an ‘accelerated’ and ‘sustained’ growth trajectory. A key question that needs serious introspection is: What are they doing in pursuit of this overarching goal? An analysis of the financials of India’s largest companies — those comprising the BSE 500 index — with focus on revenue, profits and dividend payouts, over the past five financial years (FY) gives us some clues. The profits of corporations...
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