New Delhi : The government has collected Rs 10,463 crore in customs duty from imports of gold, silver and platinum between May 13 and August 2 following the increase in import duties on the precious metals, Parliament was informed on Monday.

In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said customs duty collections during the period stood at Rs 10,040 crore on gold, Rs 328 crore on silver and Rs 95 crore on platinum.

The combined customs duty collection from the three precious metals thus amounted to Rs 10,463 crore during the period.

With effect from May 13, the government had increased the import duty on gold and silver to 15 per cent from 6 per cent, while the duty on platinum was raised to 15.4 per cent from 6.4 per cent.

Moreover, consequential changes were also made to duties on related items, including gold and silver dore, coins and findings.

Chaudhary said the government had taken the decision to curb discretionary imports and prioritise foreign exchange for essential imports such as crude oil, fertilisers, industrial raw materials and capital goods.

The duty hike came against the backdrop of rising global uncertainties, including the conflict in West Asia and the effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which had pushed up prices of crude oil as well as food and fertiliser imports.

The minister also informed the House that enforcement agencies seized 161 kg of smuggled gold and arrested 116 persons between May 13 and June 30.

India is the world’s second-largest consumer of gold after China with imports largely driven by demand from the jewellery sector.

Gold imports account for a significant outflow of foreign exchange and are closely monitored by policymakers from a balance-of-payments perspective.

New Delhi: The expenditure on India’s 1,847 major infrastructure projects, currently being implemented by the Centre, has reached Rs 21.97 lakh crore (as of June 2026), which represents over 54 per cent of the total investment of Rs 40.54 lakh crore earmarked for these mega projects, reflecting steady progress in the pace of work, according to a factsheet issued by the government on Monday.

Many projects have reached advanced stages of completion, with around 709 projects exceeding 80 per cent physical progress, while another 337 projects have passed 80 per cent of financial completion, the factsheet states.

The transport and logistics sector leads with the 1,341 projects worth Rs 22.32 lakh crore, reflecting the focus on connectivity.

These projects are playing a crucial role in pushing up the country’s economic growth rate and creating more jobs.

Efficient monitoring of infrastructure projects is being carried out through PAIMANA (Project Assessment, Infrastructure Monitoring and Analytics for Nation-Building) digital platform. Developed by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), PAIMANA is used for monitoring ongoing Central Sector infrastructure projects costing Rs 150 crore or more.

In addition to strengthening project monitoring, PAIMANA has expanded its role to support infrastructure performance monitoring through a dedicated Performance Monitoring Dashboard which was launched on April 16, 2026.

The Performance Monitoring Dashboard brings together performance indicators across key infrastructure sectors in a unified digital platform. The indicators are compiled from official data provided by the concerned Ministries and Departments and are updated periodically based on the latest available information.

A detailed indicator framework spans six infrastructure sub-sectors. These are Power, Civil Aviation, Telecommunications, Railways, Roads, and Ports, Shipping and Waterways.

The Performance Monitoring Dashboard has now been expanded to 165 indicators. This expansion includes the addition of 54 new indicators, significantly enhancing the comprehensiveness of infrastructure performance monitoring.

A single digital interface allows monitoring of performance sector by sector. It offers interactive visualisation and time-series analysis for policymakers, researchers and stakeholders.

A centralised dashboard delivers one cross-sector view of infrastructure sectors. This capability deepens inter-sectoral analysis.

The current framework gauges sectoral performance through growth rates. It reviews year-on-year, month-on-month and cumulative growth, targets and capacity utilisation in chosen sectors, the official statement added.

Mumbai, Aug 9: Milk prices in Maharashtra will increase by Rs 2 per litre for both cow and buffalo milk from August 11 after the Milk Producers and Processors Welfare Association decided to revise retail rates, a move that is expected to impact consumers across the state.

The price hike comes amid ongoing debates over milk pricing and efforts to balance the interests of dairy farmers with those of consumers facing rising household expenses.

Producers and processors have argued that higher procurement and operational costs have necessitated the increase.

The development follows the Centre’s recent clarification that it has no proposal to introduce a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for milk, maintaining that prices will continue to be determined by cooperatives and private dairies based on prevailing market conditions.

In a written reply to a starred question in the Lok Sabha last month, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh, also known as Lalan Singh, said milk pricing remains a market-driven process and that the government is not considering an MSP mechanism for the sector.

The minister said the government is implementing a range of measures aimed at safeguarding dairy farmers’ interests, stabilising milk prices, protecting consumers and strengthening quality monitoring across the dairy value chain.

According to the government, efforts are underway to bring more producers into the organised dairy sector.

As of March 2026, a total of 36,283 new village-level Dairy Cooperative Societies had been established, while 31,150 existing societies had been strengthened.

The government also created milk chilling capacity of 168 lakh litres per day and distributed 76,748 milk quality testing devices across the country.

In addition, projects with a combined milk processing and value-addition capacity of 418 lakh litres per day have been approved to enhance infrastructure and improve efficiency in the dairy sector.

The government highlighted the strong growth in India’s milk production over the past decade.

Milk output rose to 248 million metric tonnes in 2024-25 from 146 million metric tonnes in 2014-15, registering an increase of about 69 per cent.