Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved amendment in the Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (M-SIPS)
- The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 18 January 2017 gave its approval for an amendment in the Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (M-SIPS).
- The proposed amendment seeks to further incentivize investments in the electronic sector and will help India in achieving the goal of Net Zero Imports in Electronics by 2020.
- The applications will be received under the scheme up to 31 December 2018 or till such time that an incentive commitment of Rs 10,000 crore is reached, whichever is earlier and in case the incentive commitment of Rs 10,000 crore is reached, a review will be held to decide further financial commitments.
- The incentives will be available for investments made within 5 years from the date of approval of the project and approvals will normally be given to eligible applicants within 120 days of submission of the complete application.
- The proposed committee will have the CEO, NITI Aayog, Secretary Expenditure and Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) as its members.
‘Mission 41K’ was unveiled by Railway Ministry
- With the objective of Reducing energy consumption worth rs. 41,000 crore in railways for next 10 years, the ambitious ‘Mission 41K’ was unveiled by Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on 17 January 2017
- Under this, Indian Railway (IR) would take measures which include moving 90% of traffic to electric traction over diesel. Presently, this is at 50% of the total rail traffic.
- Under "Mission 41K"initiative, IR will electrify 24,000km of rail tracks over the next five years by doubling the annual rate of electrification from 2,000 km to 4,000 km in the next two years.
- It is worth to state that Indian Railways consumed over 18.25 billion units of electrical energy for its traction and non-traction application during 2014-2015 for which it paid a total of Rs. 12,635 crore and diesel traction it spent Rs. 18,586 crore in the same period.
CCEA approved listing of 5 public sector general insurance companies in the stock market
- Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 18 January 2017 gave its go-ahead for the listing of five public sector general insurance companies - New India Assurance, United India Insurance, Oriental Insurance, National Insurance, and General Insurance Corporation of India in the stock market.
- Thus now government will bring down its holdings in these companies from 100% to 75% through the offer of shares in one or more tranches.
Indian Railway launched the non-fare revenue policy
- In a first in Railways, Railways on 18 January 2017 launched the non-fare revenue policy, a offering various schemes for revenue-yielding activities including train branding, rail radio schemes and the mega offer of setting up about 2400 ATMs at platforms of major stations.
- The policy envisages that in addition to the existing identified sites, Railways shall allow advertising at areas hitherto unused such as area along tracks, road overbridges and level-crossing gates.
- The policy will offer out-of-home advertising policy and allow monetisation of railway assets by means of advertising.
IMF Cuts India’s GDP Growth Forecast
- The IMF has cut India’s growth rate for the current fiscal year to 6.6% from its previous estimate of 7.6% and it is beleive that China will do 6.87% growth.
- It was due to disruption caused by the government’s move to invalidate high-value currencies.
- The global growth for 2016 is now estimated at 3.1%.
Rabi crops sowing crosses 616 lakh hactare
- As per data released by the Agriculture Ministry, Rabi crops have been sown in around six crore 16 lakh hectares till date which is about 35 lakh hectares more than last year.
- Wheat has been sown in around three crore nine lakh hectare which is about 20 lakh hectare more than last year.
- Over one crore 55 lakh hectare area has been covered under the cultivation of pulses which is around 16 lakh hectare more under the crop last year. The coarse cereals have been sown in over 54 lakh hectare, Oilseeds in 81 lakh hectare.
OMC to Bear Entire MDR Levy
- Public sector (PSU) oil marketing companies (OMC) will now bear the entire Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) levy on credit/debit card transactions.
- Banks charged 1 per cent on all credit card transactions and between 0.25 per cent and 1 per cent on debit card transactions at fuel outlets.
WPI inflation Rises to 3.39% in December
- Data released by commerce and industry ministry showed WPI inflation at 3.39% in December compared with 3.15% in November that is led by higher inflation in non-food products.
- WPI inflation in manufactured products, increased to 3.6% from 3.2% in the previous month.
- Food inflation turned negative as food prices fell 0.7% in December 2016.
SBI in Pact with Oman’s SGRF
- State General Reserve Fund of Oman (SGRF), a Sovereign Wealth Fund & the SBI will infuse $150 million & $50 million respectively in Oman India Joint Investment Fund (OIJIF).
- The bank is backing the private equity fund for its second offering (Fund II) and decision is driven by the performance in the first fund.
- The first fund of $100 million, has been fully invested across 7 companies.
Sebi Notifies Rules for Foreign Holding
- In order to attract more overseas funds, regulator Sebi has notified rules allowing foreign investors to own up to 15 per cent stake in an exchange.
- Sebi has amended regulations to increase the limit of shareholding of foreign entities in Indian stock exchanges to 15 per cent, from 5 per cent.
