The Centre is unlikely to cut excise duty on petrol and diesel despite sky-rocekting fuel prices pummelled by a sliding rupee as the government intends to remain focussed on fiscal prudence, a top government official said on Tuesday.

“We cannot reach a point of twin deficit. Current account deficit (CAD) is already widening and an excise duty cut will disturb fiscal deficit (target). We’d rather remain fiscally prudent,” the official told Moneycontrol on condition of anonymity.

Global crude oil price has been on a rise in the last few months and is hovering above $70 per barrel.

Falling value of rupee against dollar, as well as escalated crude oil price has inflated India’s import bill as it is the largest imported commodity into the country.

Public sector banks look to pare stake in insurance ventures to unlock capital, focus on core business
India Inc’s hiring outlook bullish; automation not a risk factor yet: Survey
Centre to discuss ‘Pariwartan’ scheme with lenders
Further, higher import bill has widened the current account deficit – a key measure of a country’s macroeconomic stability and an excess of sum of exports of goods and services, as well as income receivable over imports and income payable.

While the current account deficit had ballooned to 6.7 percent of GDP in 2012-13, the Narendra Modi-led government consistently maintained the deficit to contain it under 2 percent of GDP annually. Experts believe that CAD will worsen to cross 2 percent of GDP in the quarter ended June as against 1.9 percent in 2017-18.

The official further said that the rupee is expected to come down in the near future.

“Rupee is falling because of the trade war and rising oil prices. The US-China trade war has been a major factor behind this slide. This is further hurting Asian currencies,” the official said.

On Tuesday, the rupee closed to a record low of Rs 71.58 per dollar.

At this point, the government can only take advantage of the situation by taking steps to boost exports, the official added.

Rising oil prices continues to remain a concern with petrol price in Mumbai crossing Rs 86 per litre and diesel being sold at Rs 75.74 per litre on Tuesday.

A higher fuel price brings risk of an increased inflation, which could ultimately result in the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hiking key interest rates, which makes borrowing more expensive.

However, the official said that reducing excise duty on fuel will massively widen the fiscal deficit.

Lower revenue from oil could mean that the government may have to curtail its expenditure to stay on the path of fiscal prudence.

“We can’t cut expenditure on social sector schemes such as Ayushman Bharat (health insurance scheme), or on building rural roads. We cannot reduce defence expenditure or interest payments if we decide to cut excise of petrol and diesel,” the official explained.

(PTI)

Even before Bengaluru real estate market could fully recover from the scars of from demonstration, the state government increased the guidance value in and around Bengaluru city. The increase is between 5 to 20%.

According to the Gazette notification issued by the state government, the guidance value has been increased in all the zones of the Bengaluru city and the urban areas of the Bengaluru rural district.

According to the authorities, the state government has given 15 days time to submit objections for the revised guidance value. “It will be implemented from October 1,” said sources.

“Last time guidance value was revised in March 2016. This time, the revision has been done to compensate the revenue loss arising out of the farm loan waiver,” said sources.

San Francisco, Microsoft is releasing the redesigned version of its personal information manager Outlook to Windows and Web users with improved search options, simplified ribbon (toolbars at the top of the window) and options to control and personalise inboxes.

The revamped version of “Outlook” comes with provisions of finding files quicker in the inbox, suggested replies, simplified event creation option and smart-room suggestion to help users find the best rooms for meetings based on time, availability and preferences, Gabriel Valdez from the tech and marketing team for Outlook, Microsoft wrote in a blog post on Tuesday.

Additionally, the “Outlook” redesign also incorporates simpler ways to the “add-in” experience that brings the user’s most used apps into the inbox for faster multitasking, including saving an email directly to notebook, translating emails on the fly or peer-to-peer paying.

“You can also install more add-ins from the Office Store-simply open an email, click the drop-down menu, and select Get Add-ins. Once installed, add-ins will show up in the drop-down menu. You can also choose to pin frequently used add-ins,” wrote Valdez.

Microsoft has also added more ways to manage groups in refreshed “Outlook” version like faster and simpler group creation, richer group card, more efficient group email triage and group Files view that would focus on the latest file activity and group management.

More enhancements would keep coming over the next few months with updated features.

“Based on your feedback, we’ll iterate, improve, refine, or discard them,” Valdez added.

The new Outlook is not yet available on Mac, but the redesign is available now for Windows users in the “Targeted programme” while “Targeted Release” users would get it in the next few weeks.

(IANS)

New Delhi After being pulled up by the government to take concrete steps to stop the spread of misinformation and fake news on its platform, Facebook-owned WhatsApp on Wednesday said it has launched the second phase of its radio ad campaign in the country to create awareness and empower users.

The first phase of the educational campaign was kicked off on August 29 with ads across 46 radio stations of All India Radio (AIR) in states like Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

The second phase of the campaign started on Wednesday on September 5 with radio ads across 83 AIR radio stations in Assam, Tripura, West Bengal, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Orissa and Tamil Nadu.

These campaigns will run in eight regional languages — Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Telugu, Oriya and Tamil — for a 15-day duration, WhatsApp said in a statement.

The campaign has been designed in an easy to understand format to help user’s spot misinformation and further sensitize them about the challenges of fake news and addressing these as a society.

“WhatsApp stands committed in its efforts to address these issues jointly with civil society, stakeholders and the government,” the company said.

These radio campaign highlights tips like understand when a message is “forwarded”; check information that seems unbelievable and photos carefully; question information that upsets you and be thoughtful about what you share.

WhatsApp has also roped in New Delhi-based non-profit Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) to create awareness among its users about the need to verify information.

“Our goal is to help keep people safe by creating greater awareness about fake news and empowering users to help limit its spread,” Ben Supple, Public Policy Manager at WhatsApp, said in a statement.

As part of the new partnership with WhatsApp, DEF has committed to holding 40 training sessions for community leaders in 10 states across the country where there have been worrisome cases of violence and where there will be state polls before the end of the year.

In a meeting with WhatsApp CEO Chris Daniels on August 21, Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad instructed the Facebook-owned platform to comply with the law of the land and take “suitable” steps to prevent its misuse.

The meeting took place after several lynching incidents were linked to the spread of misinformation on the instant messaging platform which has over 200 million monthly active users in India.

WhatsApp has also taken some technological measures to curb the problem of disinformation, including the introduction of the “forwarded” tag and limiting forwarding to five chats at once.

“In addition to the steps we are taking within WhatsApp, we believe impacting lives through the power of education is critical to helping achieve the vision of a ‘Digital India’,” Supple added.

[IANS]

The Indian rupee plunged to a fresh record low of 71.75 to a dollar during the morning trade session on Wednesday.

Around 10.40 a.m. the Indian rupee traded at 71.75 to a dollar — the lowest ever mark — it has touched against the greenback.

It opened the day’s trade at the Inter-Bank Foreign Exchange Market at 71.44 to a dollar from its previous close of 71.58 to a greenback.

Commuters all over the state, who have been already burdened by the increasing prices of diesel and petrol, will have to brace up to meet an increase in bus fare. It is learnt that state transport corporations run by the government have been suffering an average loss of Rs 186 crore per month as diesel price has gone up steeply during the last three months. As this loss is expected to go up further, Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation has submitted a proposal to the government, seeking permission to hike bus fares by 18 percent.

The government is examining this proposal. Sources said that instead of 18 percent, the government might permit a lower rate of hike in fare. Transport minister, D C Thammanna, briefing about the financial condition of the transport corporations, revealed that the corporations had approached the government with a request for fare hike about two and half months back. He said that the proposal would be discussed with the chief minister and a final decision would be taken within a week. He added that when taking a decision on increasing the bus fare, it will be ensured that the passengers are not unduly burdened, and the transport corporations too do not face heavy losses. He said that on account of diesel price hike, the transport corporations are facing financial stress and to meet this situation, they are left with no other option other than increasing bus fare.

Thammanna stated that 40 new buses will be acquired by the transport corporations as there is good demand for sleeper coaches on long distance routes. “We propose to run additional buses to far away destinations during the holiday season. In phases, the menace of private buses will be reined in. The confusion on free passes to students will be addressed within a week,” he assured.

High crude oil prices and negative global cues pulled the Indian rupee to a new record low of 71.43 per US dollar in the late on Tuesday afternoon.

The Indian rupee which opened at 71.24 per US dollar surpassing the previous low of 71.37 per dollar, which it had touched around 9.15 a.m. on Tuesday.

Around 2.45 p.m., the Indian rupee crossed the 71.43 per US dollar mark — the lowest ever mark — against the greenback at the Inter-Bank Foreign Exchange Market.

Indias passenger carriers are suffering from a “double whammy” of a steep rise in fuel costs and the decline in the Indian rupees value, global airlines association IATA said on Tuesday.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the rise in fuel costs was particularly acute for Indian carriers as it makes up 34 per cent of operating costs well above the global average of 24 per cent.

“While it is easy to find Indian passengers who want to fly, it’s very difficult for airlines to make money in this market,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO at the International Aviation Summit being held here.

“India’s social and economic development needs airlines to be able to profitably accommodate growing demand. We must address infrastructure constraints that limit growth and government policies that deviate from global standards and drive up the cost of connectivity.”

IATA’s growth forecast for India indicate a trebling of passenger demand by 2037 when some 500 million people are expected to fly to, from or within India.

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) on Tuesday said it has sanctioned Rs 334.75 crore in August, under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF), to West Bengal for 158 minor irrigation and 23 flood protection projects.

The projects were expected to benefit 20,506 hectare covering 3.09 lakh population in 699 villages of the 22 districts while the flood protection projects would address the problem of rapid bank erosion caused by rivers, according to a statement.

The developmental bank said the implementation of 23 flood protection projects would save around 5,080 hectare of fertile agricultural and home stead lands of farmers of 64 villages which are under area of erosion.

With this cumulative RIDF loan assistance to the state government during the year stands at Rs 1,172.16 crore.

The prices of petrol and diesel hiked again on Monday, hitting an all-time high in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. Oil marketing companies (OMCs) increased fuel rates for the ninth consecutive day. A litre of petrol is selling at Rs. 79.15 in Delhi, Rs. 86.56 in Mumbai, Rs. 82.24 in Chennai and Rs. 82.06 in Kolkata. Diesel rates on Monday were hiked by 39 paise a litre, the steepest increase since the daily revision in prices was introduced in mid-june 2017.
Diesel prices rose to its highest levels of Rs. 71.15 a litre in Delhi and Rs. 75.54 in Mumbai today. Diesel is retailing at a price of Rs. 75.19 per litre in Chennai and Rs. 74.00 per litre in Kolkata, according to daily price notification issued by state-owned oil firms.

Fuel prices vary from state to state due to local levies. The revised rates are applicable from 6 am on September 3, 2018. The surge in fuel prices is largely attributed to the recent rise in crude oil cost and the high excise duty levied on transportation fuel in the country.

Since August 16, petrol prices have risen by over Rs. 2 per litre. Diesel prices on the other hand have risen by Rs. 2.42 a litre during this period. Diesel rates had hit Rs. 69.31 a litre on May 28, but this record was breached on August 27 and on Monday they hit a fresh high.

According to officials, the spike in rates is on account of exchange rate falling to a record Rs. 71 to a dollar, depreciating by Rs. 2.5 in a month. Also, crude oil has gained $7 a barrel in a fortnight, driven by fears that the US sanctions on Iran will likely contract supplies.

Globally, oil prices fell on Monday amid rising supply from OPEC and the United States, outweighing concerns that falling Iranian output will tighten markets once US sanctions bite from November. Output from the producer cartel of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) rose by 220,000 barrels per day (bpd) between July and August, to a 2018-high of 32.79 million bpd, a Reuters survey found.

Many analysts have warned that an economic slowdown because of trade disputes between the United States and other major economies including China and the European Union would drag on oil demand, reported Reuters.

(PTI)