The Minister said alternative fuels, environment-friendly vehicles and notification on emission standards have been issued for different kinds of fuels in India to bring down air pollution.

 Union Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Mansukh L Mandaviya on Thursday informed the Lok Sabha that 19,82,199 vehicles registered in Bengaluru were over 15 years old. 
His written reply was to a query from Bengaluru Central MP P C Mohan questioning if the Centre was aware that over 16 lakh old vehicles were plying in the city and if any proposal to tackle air pollution had been taken.   

The Minister said alternative fuels, environment-friendly vehicles and notification on emission standards have been issued for different kinds of fuels in India to bring down air pollution. “The government has mandated mass emission standards for BS-VI throughout the country from 1 April, 2020,” Mandaviya said. 

Asked about the old vehicles, a senior official in one of the Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) in the city said the Centre was yet to formulate a “weeding out” order (removal order) against older vehicles in the country. “Unless the government issues a weeding order, we cannot take action against such vehicles. A proposal to ease out such vehicles is pending with the Centre,” the official said. A top traffic cop said, “Unless the RTO issues seizure orders, we cannot take away old vehicles.”

A Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) official felt the government needs to ban older vehicles from other districts or states entering important cities, including Bengaluru. “The Centre also needs to provide some kind of incentive to owners of old vehicles to scrap them. If some subsidy is offered to help purchase new vehicles, then owners will voluntarily do it,” he said. 

Agencies

The Karnataka government on Friday raised the rate of sales tax on petrol and diesel to 32% and 21% respectively. Petrol will cost Rs 70.8 per litre while diesel will cost Rs 64.6 as the increase in the rates will come into immediate effect. The prices of petrol and diesel was Rs 69 and 62.8 on Friday.

The government cited revenue loss for the state due to the drop in crude oil prices in the international market as the reason for the increase in the rates. 

The CM office clarified in a note that despite the revision of prices, the price of petrol in the state remained lower than neighboring states The price of petrol is Rs 72.87 in Tamil Nadu, Rs 71.16 in Kerala, Rs 72.63 in Andhra Pradesh and Rs 74.06 in Maharashtra. 

The note also added that the union government had reduced central excise on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 on October 5, 2018 and also directed oil marketing companies to reduce their margins by Re 1.

The decision by the JD(S)-Congress coalition government is set to have an adverse effect as the Congress party continues its repeated attacks on the central government over rising fuel prices in the country.

This is the third time the coalition government is making a change in the sales tax on petrol and diesel. The government had previously increased sales tax on petrol and diesel from 30 to 32% and 19 to 21% respectively in July 2018, two months after it came into power. The tax was raised in part to help fund the ambitious farm loan waiver scheme laid out by the coalition government. 

However, on September 17, 2018, it reduced the price of petrol by Rs 2 per litre. The reduction came at a time the Congress was putting pressure on the central government over the rising fuel prices in the country.

Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said more than adequate notes of Rs 2,000 are in the system with over 35% of notes by value in circulation being of Rs 2,000.

A finance ministry official said there has been no decision regarding 2,000 rupee note production recently.

Denying reports that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had stopped the production of Rs 2,000 currency notes, the finance ministry today said printing was planned according to the projected requirement.

“Printing of notes is planned as per the projected requirement. We have more than adequate notes of Rs 2,000 in the system with over 35% of notes by value in circulation being of Rs 2,000,” Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said on Twitter. He also said that there had been no decision regarding Rs 2,000 note production recently.

A media report had yesterday claimed the government had stopped the printing of the high-value currency note as it was being used for “hoarding, tax evasion and money laundering”. Another report, by PTI, had said the printing of the Rs 2,000 banknote, introduced post-demonetisation in November 2016, had been brought down to a minimum.

Immediately after the sudden decision to ban old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes by the government, the Reserve Bank of India had come out with the Rs 2,000 note along with a new look 500 rupee note as part of its remonetisation exercise.

According to RBI data, there were 3,285 million pieces of Rs 2,000 notes in circulation at the end of March 2017. A year later (on March 31, 2018), there was only a marginal increase in the number at 3,363 million pieces. Of the total currency in circulation amounting to Rs 18,037 billion at the end of March 2018, Rs 2000 notes accounted for 37.3 per cent, down from 50.2 per cent at the end of March 2017. The old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 bank notes that were scrapped in November 2016 accounted for around 86% of the total currency in circulation at the time.

NEW DELHI: The central government has taken a drastic step in preventing the call drop. Likewise, many telecom service providers, including Idea and BSNL, have received Rs 58 lakh for a call drop. Fined.

BSNL has paid Rs 4 lakh last June. At the same time, Idea would be charged Rs 12 lakh. The Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha told the Rajya Sabha that the penalty was imposed. 

The situation has improved quite a bit since the call drop has been initiated. Similarly, the BTS Count, which has 8 lakh in 2014, has risen to 20 lakh in the last four years, Sinha said. 

Nasheman News : Sensex on Friday opened higher in a sharp contrast to the global markets which suffered heavy losses as slowdown concerns magnified after a weak US factory data outcome.

Earlier Chinese factory data along with that of India’s suggested a global growth slowdown.

The latest addition to the worries was tech major Apple’s announcement of cutting its financial forecast, partly blaming US trade tensions with China along with a slowdown in the Chinese economy.

Apple is one of the world’s largest companies by market value and it was the first time in years that it sharply cut it’s growth forecast.

Despite the underlining negativity, all the sectors on the BSE inched up, led by auto telecom stocks. However, the banking stocks traded on a flat note, up just 0.06 per cent.

The S&P BSE Sensex opened at 35,590.79 from its previous close of 35,513.71 on Thursday.

At 9.23 a.m., the Sensex traded 184.01 points or 0.52 per cent higher at 35,697.72.

The NSE Nifty50 opened at 10,699.70 after closing at 10,672.25 on Thursday.

The Nifty50 traded at 10,725.15 during the morning trade session, up 52.90 points and 0.50 per cent.

The printing of Rs 2000 banknote, introduced post-demonetisation in November 2016, has been reduced to the “minimum” by the Reserve Bank, a top finance ministry official said Thursday.

Soon after the sudden decision to ban old Rs 500/1000 currency notes by the government, the Reserve Bank had come out with the Rs 2000 currency note along with a new look Rs 500 note as part of its massive remonetisation exercise.

The senior official said the RBI and the government from time to time decides on the quantum of currency to be printed on the basis of money in circulation.

When the Rs 2000 note was launched, it was decided that the printing would be “scaled down” going forward, since the new high currency value note was meant for meeting the remonetisation need.

“The printing of 2000 rupee notes has been substantially reduced. It has been decided to limit the printing of 2000 currency notes to minimum. This is nothing new,” the official said.

According to the RBI data, there were 3,285 million pieces of Rs 2000 notes in circulation at end-March 2017. A year after (on March 31, 2018), there was only a marginal increase in the number at 3,363 million pieces.

Of the total currency in circulation amounting to Rs 18,037 billion at end-March 2018, Rs 2000 notes accounted for 37.3 per cent, down from 50.2 per cent at end-March 2017.

The old 500/1000 bank notes that were scrapped in November 2016 accounted for around 86 per cent of the total currency in circulation at that time.

Nasheman News :The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday set up an expert committee to propose long-term solutions for the economic and financial sustainability of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector currently plagued by liquidity and other issues.

An RBI statement said that the committee headed by former Securities and Exchange Board (Sebi) Chairman U.K. Sinha will examine the factors affecting the timely and adequate availability of finance to the sector, as well as study the global best practices regarding MSMEs and recommend its adoption in India.

The move comes a day after the RBI permitted a one-time restructuring of existing MSME loans that are in default but “standard” as on January 1, 2019, without an asset classification downgrade.

To be eligible for the scheme, the aggregate exposure, including non-fund based facilities of banks and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), to an MSME borrower should not exceed Rs 25 crore as on January 1, 2019. 

“It has been considered necessary that a comprehensive review is undertaken to identify causes and propose long term solutions, for the economic and financial sustainability of the MSME sector,” the statement said.

“Towards this end, it was announced in the Fifth Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Statement for 2018-19, dated December 5, 2018, that the RBI will constitute an Expert Committee on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.”

The panel will also review the current institutional framework in place to support the MSME sector, study the impact of the recent economic reforms on the sector and identify the structural problems affecting its growth, the statement added. 

Besides Sinha as the Chair, the committee will have the Additional Secretary, Development Commissioner MSME Ram Mohan Mishra, Financial Services Joint Secretary Pankaj Jain, State Bank of India MD P.K. Gupta, ICICI Bank Executive Director Anup Bagchi, IIM-Ahmedabad Professor Abhiman Das, iSPIRT Foundation Co-founder Sharad Sharma and Dvara Trust Chairperson Bindu Ananth.

Support for MSMEs was one among the contentious issues between RBI and the government leading to the abrupt resignation of previous RBI Governor Urjit Patel last month and the immediate appontment of his successor Shaktikanta Das, who had earlier retired as the Union Economic Affairs Secretary. 

Earlier on Wednesday, Das announced he will hold talks with representatives from the MSME and NBFC segments next week.

The Union cabinet on Wednesday approved the merger of public sector lenders Dena Bank, Vijaya Bank with Bank of Baroda

The Union cabinet on Wednesday approved the merger of public sector lenders Dena Bank, Vijaya Bank with Bank of Baroda (BoB).

Briefing reporters following the cabinet meeting, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the merger will make the “transferee” Bank of Baroda the third largest bank in the country and a “globally competitive entity”.

“There will be no retrenchment of employees as the employees of Dena and Vijaya banks will be transferred to BoB. There will be no problem in service conditions,” he said.

Announced by the government in September last, this reform measure aimed at further consolidation in the banking sector will make BoB the country’s third largest bank with a combined business of Rs 14.82 lakh crore.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced the merger proposal, saying the respective boards of the three banks have been directed to consider the proposal at the earliest.

Jaitley said the merger would create a sustainable mega-bank.

The merger decision was taken by the “alternative mechanism” comprising Jaitley, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

This is the second such exercise in the last 21 months. In the previous such mega merger, five associate banks and the Bharatiya Mahila Bank became part of the state-run State Bank of India on April 1, 2017, making the country’s largest lender among the world’s top 50 banks.

Noting that Dena Bank has been under the Reserve Bank of India’s Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework on account of its massive accumulated non-performing assets (NPAs or bad loans), Jaitley had said the consolidated entity’s capacity to absorb a weaker bank had guided the government’s decision to propose this merger.

Nasheman News : Transport fuel prices in the country, which have been on a slide for some time, will decline further, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday.

Under the daily dynamic pricing regime for fuels, petrol prices have fallen to their lowest levels in over a year across the four major metros.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event here to hand over the 6 croreth free cooking gas (LPG) connection to poor households under the Ujjwala Yojana, Pradhan said the government is expanding the refinery capacity in the country which will bring down the prices of diesel and petrol further.

In tandem with the sharp decline in global crude prices over the last two months, petrol in Delhi sold at Rs 68.65 per on Wednesday, as per Indian Oil Corp data. 

The prices remained unchanged from those on Tuesday. In Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai, petrol per litre on Wednesday cost Rs 70.78, Rs 74.30 and Rs 71.22, respectively. 

The prices for diesel per litre in Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai on Wednesday stood at Rs 62.66, Rs 64.42, Rs 66.14 and Rs 65.56, respectively.

 If you have an account in bank then today is a very important day for you. Banks have brought in a number of changes from first day of the New Year. You may not know about the changes, but they can trouble you in the coming days. Some of the measures may also give you relief.

Here’s what is changing from January 1.  Here we are giving a list of the 5 important changes that will have the greatest effect on your life.1. Debit, Credit Card:If you have a make a magnetic strip debit/ credit card, then it will not work. Get it changed immediately. From Jan 1 only EMV Chip-based credit/debit cards will work.2. Cheque Book changesYour old chequebook will not be valid in New Year. Change it immediately, otherwise your cheques may bounce. Now cheques with CTS (cheque truncation system) will be used.

Now there will be no need to run from one bank to other to get new CTS cheques cleared. An electronic image, including all necessary information, will be sent to the concerned party. These cheques are more secure as they have Void pantograph, which cannot be copied.3. NPS Tax exemption: Here is some relief for you. You will no longer be required to pay tax under NPS, National Pension Scheme. From January 1, 2019, NPS has been brought under EEE category. This means when you withdraw money on maturity, you will not have to pay tax.4. Car price increase:This is bad news for you. From January 1  prices of most cars have been increased by companies.5. Personal Accidental Insurance of Car, Bike and ScooterComparison Personal Accident (CPA) cover for car / commercial vehicle driver or two-wheeler rider from New Year will be increased to Rs 1.5 lakh from Rs 1 lakh. This as per new  IRDA rules.