MINISTRY OF FINANCE
10th and 11th Edition of the Status Paper on Government Debt (13 APR 2022 )
The Central Government today released the Tenth and Eleventh Edition of the Status Paper on the Government Debt, which provides a detailed analysis of the overall debt position of the Government of India. The Central Government has been bringing-out an Annual Status Paper on Government Debt since 2010-11.
This paper enhances transparency by providing a detailed account of debt operations during the year 2019-20 and 2020-21 and an assessment of the health of the public debt portfolio based on internationally accepted debt performance indicators. The Government’s debt portfolio is characterised by prudent risk profile. Conventional indicators of debt sustainability, i.e., Debt/ GDP ratio, interest payment to revenue receipts, shares of short-term debt/ External debt/ FRBs in total debt indicate that the debt profile of the Government is comfortably placed in terms of debt sustainability parameters.The Paper also includes a chapter on Medium Term Debt Management Strategy of the Central Government.
For Copy of Status Paper, Click Here
CENTRAL BOARD OF INDIRECT AND CUSTOMS (CBIC)
Centre waives off customs duty on cotton imports till September 30 (APR 14, 2022 )
The Central government has waived off all customs duties on cotton imports till September 30, 2022, to boost the textile exports. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) announced the exemption from customs duty and Agriculture Infrastructure Development Cess (AIDC) on cotton imports in a notification. "This notification shall come into effect on April 14, 2022, and will remain in force up to and inclusive of September 30, 2022," the notification reads.
This exemption would benefit the textile chain- yarn, fabric, garments and made-ups and provide relief to consumers. Textile exports would also benefit, the ministry noted. The Federation of Indian Export Organisations thanked the Finance and Textile Ministers for reducing the customs duty on raw cotton from 10 per cent to zero stating that the duty-free import of raw cotton pushed exports of value-added cotton textile.
For Official Notification, Click Here
INTERNATIONAL TRADE
Chair of EU Parliament's trade panel hopes for early FTA with India ( APR14, 2022 )
The Chair of the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade Bernd Lange, who was on a visit to Delhi had hoped for the early conclusion of a free trade agreement between India and the EU.
A 7-member delegation of the European parliament's international trade committee, led by MEP Lange was in Delhi during which they met Finance Minister Sitharaman, Trade minister Goyal, NITI Aayog chief Rajiv Kumar and top ministry of external affairs officials including Secretary (West) Sanjay Verma, Sandeep Chakraborty, Joint Secretary (Europe West) and Secretary (Economic Relations) Dammu Ravi.
PAYMENT BANKS
WhatsApp gets NPCI nod to extend payments service to 100 mn Indian users ( APR 14, 2022 )
In a major flip to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to make deeper inroads into the Indian digital payments ecosystem, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has approved an additional 60 million users on unified payments interface (UPI) for WhatsApp. With this approval, WhatsApp will now be able to expand the service to 100 million users out of more than 400 million in the country. In November last year, the NPCI approved increasing the user cap for WhatsApp’s payment service from the current 20 million to 40 million users.
The Meta-owned company has introduced several India-specific features in payments on WhatsApp and have seen exciting results. WhatsApp kicked off its ambitious peer-to-peer (P2P) digital payments pilot project in India in 2018 with nearly 10 lakh users.
According to the NPCI, UPI had processed 5.04 billion transactions till March 29, amounting to Rs 8.88 trillion. This was 11.5 per cent higher than the volume of transactions processed in February and 7.5 per cent higher in terms of value of transactions processed.
WORLD AFFAIRS
N.Y. lawyer used law firm as 'personal gold mine,' prosecutors charge ( APR 14, 2022 )
A New York lawyer stole more than $1.2 million from his law firm and spent it on a diamond-encrusted Cartier watch, a $57,000 diamond ring, family credit card bills and other personal expenses, Manhattan prosecutors said Wednesday. Arthur Cohen, 71, was charged with 35 counts including grand larceny, criminal tax fraud, offering a false instrument for filing, falsifying business records and perjury.
To cover his tracks, Cohen fabricated accounting entries and expense reports, prosecutors said. The scheme lasted from January 2014 to February 2020, when Cohen was suspended from Gordon & Silber, prosecutors said. The firm demanded he repay at least some of the money, but instead Cohen sued the firm in New York County Supreme Court, according to the D.A.'s office and court records.
WORD OF THE DAY
A REGULATOPRY SANDBOX is a safe harbour, where businesses can test innovative products under relaxed regulatory conditions. Typically, participating companies release new products in a controlled environment to a limited number of customers for a limited period of time.
DOLLAR VS RUPEE
1 US Dollar = 76.12 Indian Rupee ( April 14, 6:08 PM )
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