Asheville, Sep 1: India is preparing further customs and banking reforms, including risk-based import screening and a high-level review of the banking sector’s role towards building a developed India, Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman said.

In an exclusive interview with media on the sidelines of the G20 Finance Ministers’ meeting here, FM Sitharaman said the next phase would build on changes already made in direct and indirect taxation.

“We’ve done quite a few things about the direct and indirect taxes. Customs, we’ve done some, we’ll have to do more. We’ll be taking those up,” she said.

The government is working to make the movement of imported goods through Indian ports more seamless, the Finance Minister said.

A key proposal involves deploying scanners and concentrating checks on high-risk importers. Other consignments could then be cleared automatically, reducing delays for businesses and easing congestion at ports.

“We are trying to bring in scanners and have high-risk importers alone go through them, and the rest of them can be cleared automatically,” FM Sitharaman said.

“A lot of reforms in the customs area,” she added.

The approach would allow customs authorities to focus their scrutiny on higher-risk imports while facilitating faster clearances in other cases.

However, FM Sitharaman did not provide a timetable for introducing the scanners or implementing the proposed automatic clearance system.

The government has also appointed a high-level committee to examine the banking sector and its future role in achieving India’s development goals.

“The banks, of course, we’ve appointed a high-level committee to look into banking for Viksit Bharat,” she told media.

“That committee will also give its report,” she added, without indicating when its recommendations would be submitted.

Asked about the next stage of the government’s wider reform programme, FM Sitharaman said changes would be taken up as requirements emerged.

“Well, we take it as we go along,” according to her.

The Finance Minister said the Centre had worked with state governments to improve the business environment and reduce the compliance burden on citizens and companies.

“I think together with the states, I will also credit the states, many of them who have come forward to make doing business a bit easier,” she said.

“We, as you know, have reduced a lot of compliance burden on the citizens, whether it is by reforming the Acts, by simplifying the regulations, and also by removing archaic laws,” she added.

More than 1,000 laws had been removed and about 40,000 regulations simplified, according to the Finance Minister.

The government was also maintaining regular consultations with industry, businesses and trade while pursuing bilateral trade and investor protection agreements.

“Constantly, we are engaging with the industry, with businesses, with trade,” FM Sitharaman said.

“Also, the way in which bilateral trade agreements are being signed, we are now pushing ahead with investor protection agreements as well,” she added.

FM Sitharaman said confidence in the Indian banking system was reflected in foreign deposits and investments made by Indians living overseas. The indicators showed a positive story about trust in Indian banks and the country’s macroeconomic position, she said.

The proposed reforms come as India reported 7.8 per cent growth in the first quarter of the 2026-27 financial year. Manufacturing grew by 9.2 per cent, while the financial and professional services sector expanded by 12.1 per cent.

FM Sitharaman also cited the expansion of UPI, NPCI systems and QR-code payments as factors helping small and medium-sized businesses gain access to global markets. She said reforms across government departments and the financial sector had brought out the robustness of the Indian economy.

Mumbai, Aug 31: Domestic equity benchmarks opened lower on Monday weighed down by weakness across Asian markets and a sharp rise in crude oil prices amid renewed tensions in the Middle East.

Sensex opened at 77,130.73, down 133.78 points or 0.17 per cent, while Nifty fell 58.10 points or 0.24 per cent to 24,117.55.

Sector-wise, Nifty Metal was top loser and fell 1.70 per cent, followed by Nifty IT which declined 1.32 per cent. Nifty Media and Nifty PSU Bank also fell up to 1 per cent.

Other sector indices, realty, cement, chemicals and FMCG declined between 0.73 per cent and 1 per cent.

In contrast, Nifty Private Bank was trading marginally positive, edging up 0.06 per cent in early trade.

“Monday’s trading begins with the market facing a few headwinds. From the global equity market perspective, sentiments have turned slightly negative following Fed chief Kevin Warsh’s statement that if inflation persists at rates higher than the Fed’s long-term target, ‘we have work to do’,” said market experts.

The comments have been interpreted by the market as a signal of a possible rate hike at the FOMC meeting scheduled for September 15-16. The resulting rise in bond yields is negative for equities, they said.

Another headwind is the renewed escalation in tensions between the US and Iran, which has pushed Brent crude above the $90-a-barrel mark. The HDFC Bank stock is also likely to remain in focus and could turn volatile amid speculation over the successor to CEO Sasidhar Jagadishan, the experts added.

“Even if the Nifty comes under pressure, lots of action are likely in the broader market which is attracting big buying in recent weeks. A significant recent trend in the market is that the market is giving more preference to growth than value,” according to them.

On the technical front, Friday’s inside bar pattern has retained hopes of an upswing from the vicinity of 24,060, which would also be consistent with the consolidation band that has been in play for the last eight days.

“However, we would wait for a break above 24,215 to signal strength. Alternatively, inability to float above 24,060 would expose 23,575,” the expert said.

Additionally, the market is also bracing for heightened volatility from MSCI’s index rejig under the new closing auction system, while renewed tensions in the Iran war and developments at HDFC Bank added to investor caution.

Meanwhile, international benchmark Brent crude rose more than 2 per cent to $90.67 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 2.06 per cent to $85.09 a barrel.

Asian markets also remained largely weak. Japan’s Nikkei traded more than 1 per cent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.7 per cent and South Korea’s KOSPI slipped more than 1 per cent.

New Delhi, Aug 29: The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on Saturday rejected concerns that the revised price of Compressed Biogas (CBG) under the GOBARdhan Scheme could place a significant additional burden on CNG and household PNG consumers, saying the assessment is based on inconsistent assumptions.

The ministry said the existing pricing mechanism links the price paid to CBG producers to 85 per cent of the retail selling price of CNG. Based on the latest revision, this translates into a CBG procurement price of around Rs 1,478 per MMBtu.

Under the revised GOBARdhan framework, the CBG procurement price has been fixed at Rs 2,110 per MMBtu, representing an increase of around 43 per cent over the prevailing price. However, the ministry clarified that this is the procurement price paid to CBG producers and is not the price directly paid by CNG or household PNG consumers.

The government will provide affordability support of Rs 10 per kg of CBG, equivalent to approximately Rs 215 per MMBtu for CBG containing 95 per cent methane. This support will be funded by the government and will reduce the amount that needs to be recovered through gas consumers.

After accounting for the government support, the effective CBG cost to be recovered through the gas consumer base would be around Rs 1,895 per MMBtu, compared with the prevailing effective price of Rs 1,478 per MMBtu. This translates into an effective increase of approximately 28 per cent, significantly lower than the headline increase in the procurement price.

The ministry further clarified that CBG is not sold to City Gas Distribution (CGD) entities at its procurement price. Instead, it is pooled with other domestically produced natural gas, with the cost distributed across the applicable domestic gas pool.

Under the earlier framework, the cost of CBG was spread only across the limited quantity of Administered Price Mechanism (APM) gas allocated to the CNG transport and domestic PNG segments. Under the new framework, however, the net cost of CBG will be distributed across a domestic gas base that is approximately 2.5 to three times larger than the earlier base.