Connect with us
Tuesday,12-November-2024
Breaking News

Business

Petrol, diesel prices fall sharply in line with Centre’s duty cut

Published

on

 The Diwali morning has brought an early sparkle for fuel consumers as retail prices of petrol and diesel fell between Rs 5-10 per litre on Thursday in line with the Centre’s announcement to cut excise duty on the two petroleum products to contain surging rates.

Accordingly, the pump price of petrol in Delhi fell to Rs 103.97 a litre at 6 a.m. on Thursday from the previous day’s level of Rs 110.04 a litre. The diesel prices fell by a bigger margin to Rs 86.67 a litre in the city from the earlier level of Rs 98.42, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.

In the financial capital Mumbai, petrol prices fell to Rs 109.98 a litre from Rs 115.85, while diesel fell to Rs 94.14 a litre from Rs 106.62, which was also the highest among all metros.

Across the country as well, fuel prices fell between Rs 5-10 per litre after the Centre on Wednesday announced that the excise duty will be reduced by Rs 5 for petrol and Rs 10 for diesel from November 4.

The cut is larger in some states such as Uttar Pradesh and Goa which have also announced VAT cut on petrol and diesel.

The Centre has said that massive reduction in excise on diesel will come as a boost to the farmers during the upcoming Rabi season. It would lose revenue to the tune Rs 40,000-45,000 crore in balance period of FY22 due to excise reduction.

Before Thursday’s price fall, there was a pause on fuel price increase on Wednesday but petrol and diesel prices had spiked for seven consecutive days prior to this to take up the retail rate of petrol by Rs 2.45 per litre in Delhi.

Similarly, diesel prices also increased in last week by Rs 2.10 a litre.

Diesel prices have increased on 30 out of the last 41 days taking up its retail price by Rs 9.90 per litre in Delhi before Thursday’s cut.

The fuel is available at over Rs 100 a litre in several parts of the country and even after the cut it is above this level in several parts of the country.

Petrol prices had maintained stability since September 5 but oil companies finally raised its pump prices last week and this week given a spurt in the product prices lately.

Petrol prices have also risen on 28 of the previous 37 days taking up its pump price by Rs 8.85 per litre.

Since, January 1, 2021, the fuel rates have risen by more than Rs 26 a litre before the duty cuts.

Crude price has been on a surge rising over three year high level of over $85 a barrel now as global demand remains firm while OPEC+ continues to move s lowly on increasing production. It has fallen to around $82 a barrel after China released some oil from its reserve to address supply concerns and exp ected rise in OPEC production.

Since September 5, when both petrol and diesel prices were revised, the price of the two fuels in the international market is higher by around $9-10 per barrel as compared to average prices during August.

The excise duty cut by the Centre is first such exercise since the onset of Covid pandemic early last year.

In fact, the government had revised excise duty on petrol and diesel sharply in March and again in May last year to mobilise additional resources for Covid relief measures.

The excise duty was raised by Rs 13 and Rs 16 per litre on petrol and diesel between March 2020 and May 2020 and was standing high at Rs 31.8 on diesel and Rs 32.9 per litre on petrol before finally the Centre decided on duty cut.

The Centre has also urged states to reduce VAT on fuel to provide a larger relief to consumers.

Accordingly, states such as Uttar Pradesh, Goa have already cut VAT on fuel to enhance the retail fuel price reduction for consumers.

Other states are also expected to follow suit.

Business

Trump Victory Revives The Crypto Mania; Bitcoin Touches 81,000 Mark, Other Virtual Currencies Also Surge

Published

on

The world of cryptocurrency, which was enduring its long-drawn-out winter since the end of the pandemic, appears all set to come out of its ‘haitus’.

And this new surge has been powered by the recent triumph of Donald Trump at the 2024 US election. The president-elect, Donald Trump, who once thought that crypto was a ‘scam’, has come a long way. Donald Trump, by all means, is the most crypto-friendly president that the US has had so far.

Bitcoin

As a result of this newborn optimism, major names in the crypto business. The biggest of them all, Bitcoin, saw the biggest jump. Bitcoin scaled the USD 80,000 mark for the first time.

In the past 5 days, the cryptocurrency has surged in value by 7.76 per cent or USD 5,865.47, taking the overall value to 81,456.88 for one USD. In the Indian context, one Bitcoin is worth Rs 68,72,585.50.

Ethereum

And it is not just Bitcoin that has seen its value gallop. The second biggest name in the crypto world, Ethereum has observed a rise in its price since Trump’s victory. 8.71

In fact, this crypto has seen an even bigger jump of 17.00 per cent or USD 462.66, in the past 5 days, taking the overall value to USD 3,184.54.

Ripple

Another cryptocoin, Ripple, has also seen its prices rise. In the past 5 days alone, the value of this digital currency has jumped to USD 0.59.

This came to pass after an 8.71 per cent USD 0.05 rise in its value.

Dogecoin

The meme coin or a currency that was started as a joke, Dogecoin or ‘Dog Coin’ also saw a gargantuan rise in its prices. Just in the past 5 days, Dogecoin jumped in value by a substantial 49.76 per cent.

The price increased by USD 8.24, taking the overall value to USD 24.80. It is to be noted that Tesla boss Elon Musk, who is a close ally of Donald Trump, is a major proponent of this cryptocurrency.

One of the controversial policies that Trump has advocated throughout his campaign is weakening the US Dollar and loosening any scope of scrutiny on cryptocurrency. In fact, it is even reported that he would ‘fire’ the Security Exchange Commission chair, Gary Gensler. Gensler has been at the forefront of attempts to regulate cryptos.

Continue Reading

Business

India Set To Lead The World In 6G, Says Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia

Published

on

In a bold declaration at the inaugural address of the Indian Mobile Congress 2024 (IMC) on Tuesday, Union Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia has said that India will lead the world in the adoption of 6G.

In his address at the event, Scindia emphasized that India is now prepared to lead the world in the development of 6G technology.

India’s Technological Rise: From Following to Leading

“It is our belief and commitment that India, which followed the world in 4G and marched with it in 5G, will lead the world in 6G,” Scindia stated.

The minister highlighted India’s remarkable achievements in the telecommunications sector over the last ten years, the country has become a global leader in innovation and technology.

“It’s a fundamental change in approach towards technology development,” he said, attributing this transformation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.

Telecom Sector Growth Under PM Modi’s Leadership

“Prime Minister who has always put people at the heart of progress Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas Sabka Vishvas aur Sabka Prayas combined with his second motto, One Earth, One Family and One Future. It is combination of these two mottos that leads India under PM Narendra Modi leadership one of the leading sectors in the committee of Nations,” Scindia said.

Scindia underscored government’s initiatives to bridge the digital divide, particularly through the BharatNet program, the world’s largest rural broadband connectivity initiative to connect every panchayat of the nation. Over the past three years, the government has invested more than USD 10 billion and laid 7 lakh kilometres of fiber across rural India.

Digital Payments and UPI: Pillars of India’s Digital Economy

He cited staggering growth in mobile and broadband connectivity, with mobile connections rising from 94 million to 1.16 billion, and broadband users growing from 60 million to 924 million in just a decade. India’s optical fibre cable (OFC) networks has expanded from 11 million kilometers to 41 million kilometres over the last ten years, he added.

The minister further said that this growth is accompanied by the success of India’s digital payment systems, the 4G stack, and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which serve as pillars of India’s digital economy are expected to contribute significantly to the global digital infrastructure.

Scindia further noted that the government’s efforts to ensure that policy frameworks keep pace with the rapidly evolving digital landscape. “The recent changes to the Telecommunications act 2023 is a case in point. It has been drawing light upon hither to undressed areas such as a high potential sector of satellite communications, addressing the challenges of the digital leader. The most important being cyber security. The telecom sector much like other growth critical sectors in India is aggressive, is ambitioushe said.

“The telecom sector much like other growth critical sectors in India is aggressive, is ambitious and its outlook in our Journey from Amritkal to Shatabdikal is to lead the world,” Scindia said. By mid-next year, India will have achieved 100 per cent saturation of 4G across the entire country, covering even the most remote villages, the minister said.

He emphasised PM Modi’s vision of India as a first mover in 6G technology, underscoring the nation’s resolve to lead the world in future telecom innovations.

“The attitude put forward by the prime minister of not just embracing, but raising ourselves to becoming the first mover in the 6G technology,” he added.

Continue Reading

Business

Indian Markets Gave Better Returns Than China In Last 5 Years, Says Sebi Member

Published

on

Sebi Whole-time Member Ananth Narayan G on Monday reminded investors that Indian equities have consistently delivered 15 per cent returns over the last 5 years whereas the same has been zero or even negative in China.

Terming the Indian markets “sone pe suhaga” for delivering higher returns for lower risks, Narayan also flagged a few areas of caution for investors and asked them to be conscious of the risks.

“There’s a lot of talk about China markets over the last few days. But over the last five years, while Indian markets have given around 15 per cent compound annual growth rate consistently, Chinese markets are nowhere close to that. It’s almost zero. In fact, in some cases, like in Hong Kong, it’s actually negative,” Narayan said.

Speaking at an event marking the start of the Investor Awareness Week at NSE, Narayan said FY24 was a “remarkable” year for India, with the benchmark indices returning 28 per cent and the volatility just 10 per cent.

“That’s like ‘sone pe suhaga’. It’s like the best of all worlds: low risk and very high return,” Narayan said, underlining that there are side effects of this as well.

Making it clear that it will not be the same going forward and investors should not assume it to be a one-way street, Narayan said such handsome returns can lead to complacency and pointed to a lot of youngsters opening up demat accounts to join the bandwagon.

Educating people about risks is very important, Narayan said, giving the analogy of driving a car. “There has to be a light push on the accelerator to get more investors to provide risk capital for the economic growth, we also need to be aware of risks and use the brakes if need be.” He said that 40 per cent of the small and midcap scrips have shot up by 5 times in the last five years, because of an imbalance between inflow of investor money and supply of new paper.

On its part, the capital markets regulator is trying hard to ensure that fund-raising clearances are done early so that there is a steady stream of quality paper supply in the market.

From a broader, longer-term perspective, Indian markets will only go north from here given the economic growth prospects in the country, Narayan said, issuing specific advice to investors.

Investors need to have the right intermediaries to capitalise on this opportunity presented by India, and not fall for the unregistered and fly-by-night ‘finfluencers’ who might be driven by vested interests, he said.

Using the oft-repeated idiom of “all roads lead to Rome”, Narayan remarked that Rome is not a traveller-friendly place and one may get scammed there as well. Therefore, it is important to seek advice from the right people for the investors, he said.

He also said that it is in investors’ interests to trade less and stay invested for longer for higher returns, and added that studies prove the same.

Sebi, which has flagged certain areas like derivatives recently, is not against speculation or participants taking short-term trades, but it would want investors to understand the risks, Narayan said.

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending