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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News & Media
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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Free fertiliser industry by removing controls
A prospective buyer will have to think a hundred times before deciding to buy a fertiliser Public Sector Undertaking as these are prone to inefficiencies In a big-bang approach to privatisation of Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs) announced in the Budget for 2021-22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had divided them in two broad categories — strategic and non-strategic. The strategic includes four subgroups: atomic energy, space and defense; transport and telecommunications; power, petroleum, coal and other minerals; and banking, insurance and financial services, non- non-strategic includes all other sectors such as industrial and consumer goods, hotel and tourist services, trading, and marketing, etc. As per the plan, the government would privatise all CPSUs in the non-strategic sector (all loss-making enterprises...
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Govt must take fresh look at gas pricing
The rising cost of natural gas has become a new challenge for key sectors such as fertiliser and power Faced with steep rise in the international prices of natural gas or NG triggered by Ukraine war and disruption in global supplies, and its attendant impact on cost of energy to industries across several sectors especially most sensitive ones such as fertilizers, power, etc., the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MPNG) has set up a committee under Dr Kirit Parikh to review the current pricing formula for domestically-produced NG. Out of 54.6 billion cubic meter or bcm consumed in the country, nearly 50 per cent is met from imports such as liquefied natural gas or LNG. Mandated to restructure the...
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Oil price cap to tame Russia will not work
The European Union and other western countries still believe that sanctions could be substitute for military strength despite paying heavy economic costs Faced with steep increases in the price of oil and natural gas or NG, the leaders of the Group of Seven industrial powers or G-7 viz., the United States, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Japan have pledged to put in place a system designed to cap the income of Russia from sale of these products. The move has come in the back of the price of NG on September 4, 2022 being 400 per cent more than last year, while on the following day there was a further 30 per cent hike, courtesy the ‘Nord Stream’ shock...
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