Prasanta Sahu
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More deals like ONGC-HPCL? Govt mulling mega PSU mergers to met divestment targets
ONGC had bought the Centre’s 51.11% stake in HPCL for Rs 36,915 crore or about 37% of the government’s record Rs 1-lakh-crore disinvestment revenue last year.
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Modi government’s populist promises to push spending by Rs 38,000 crore. Will it impact fiscal deficit?
On February 1, the government had unveiled the Union Budget 2018-19 with an expenditure estimate of Rs 24.42 lakh crore.
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Modicare: Premium to be capped at Rs 1,110
The Centre will likely cap annual premium outgo for the ambitious Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) at Rs 1,110/family, to provide Rs 5-lakh-a-year health cover to 10.74 crore households.
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Disinvestment: Coal India, KIOCL to buy back shares next month
Giving a leg-up to the Centre’s disinvestment scheme, state-run Coal India (CIL) and KIOCL (formerly Kudremukh Iron Ore Co) will buy back their own shares next month.
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Disinvestment: Series of offers to hit market by November-end; buybacks in Q4
The Centre is banking on minority stake sales in PSUs such as ONGC and Coal India, a further fund offer under the existing CPSE-ETF, buybacks by a clutch of firms, monetisation of a portion of SUUTI holdings in Axis Bank and ITC, and strategic sales of a some relatively smaller companies.
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ONGC stake sale: Government may clarify before the OFS that it won’t reimpose onus on upstream firms
Ahead of its proposed 5% stake sale in ONGC via the offer for sale (OFS) route, the government may clarify to investors that it won’t reimpose the burden of subsidy-sharing on the state-run explorer.
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States may pick market assurance mode for new MSP scheme
While the Cabinet is likely to take up the latest proposals of the farm ministry later this week to ensure smooth implementation of the schemes, state governments have already been given green signal to undertake preparatory work.
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Govt may infuse Rs 2,200 cr more into Air India in 2018-19
Centre may infuse additional Rs 2,200 crore in the debt-ridden national carrier later in the current financial year to meet an estimated shortfall in working capital requirement to service loans and pay salary in time.
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Sale of 5% stake: Government readies ONGC OFS
The Centre will likely sell a 5% stake in the country’s largest oil explorer ONGC in what could be one of its largest disinvestment exercises in the current fiscal. At current prices (the ONGC stock closed Rs 176.20 on Monday), the stake sale may fetch the exchequer Rs 11,300 crore.
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Modi government may raise a massive Rs 1.7 lakh crore to fund flagship schemes ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha polls
The Centre’s fund mobilisation via EBRs this fiscal will be used to finance food subsidy arrears, Pradhan Manti Awas Yojana, electrification programme, higher education infrastructure, Swachh Bharat Mission and irrigation among a host of other such schemes.
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Key ministries like Home, Railways raise spending, reflecting Modi government’s priority areas ahead of Lok Sabha polls
Of the top ten ministries in terms of spending capacity, six including rural development, roads and highways, agriculture and railways registered handsome increases in expenditure in the first quarter of FY19.
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MSP schemes: Centre may rope in private traders to cut costs
To implement the policy of assured procurement of whatever quantity that comes to the market of 23 agricultural crops at 1.5 times the production costs, the Centre is likely to come out with three options.
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This smart move by government could save Rs 10,000 crore taxpayer money in funding welfare schemes
With the Public Finance Management System (PFMS) making progress in tracking utilisation of funds up to the last mile and ensuring that funds are transferred only ‘just-in-time’ and not earlier for various schemes, the Centre has managed to cut down floating funds with the bank accounts of implementing agencies by 36% over the past year.
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State governments apply brakes on capex amid revenue worries, social sector focus
While the Centre’s capital expenditure (capex) in the April-June quarter was more than a quarter higher than the year-ago period, the state governments seem to have applied brakes on their capex to curb borrowings and remain on the fiscal consolidation path.
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Bringing the shine back to gold market
NITI convenes an inter-ministry meeting on August 10 to prepare an action plan.
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Heartburn for ONGC: For HPCL, majority owner is still the President of India with 0% stake
Though oil refiner-retailer HPCL was taken over by ONGC in January this year, the former is yet to recognise the upstream major as its promoter in the mandatory quarterly filings with the stock exchanges.
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Capex Plan: ONGC spared buyback obligation
The government has exempted state-owned explorer ONGC from the twin obligations of buying back its own shares and issuing bonus shares in the current fiscal.
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Crop insurance scheme: Still too early to judge, let it stabilise, says NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand
Though the rising claims-to-premium ratio under the NDA government’s flagship crop insurance scheme Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) is raising doubts about its sustainability, policymakers argue that it is too early to make conclusions either way.
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GIC offer for sale likely in second half of this fiscal
The Centre is mulling an offer for sale in the General Insurance Corporation during the second half of 2018-19, a year after its listing. The timing of the OFS, however, would be decided after the stock recoups its recent losses, officials said.
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State Finances: Expenses reined in to meet deficit target
The Centre, wanting to pump-prime the economy, let its fiscal targets slip in FY18 but the state governments went in the opposite direction: many of them cut spending massively to adhere to the deficit targets.
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Direct Benefit Transfer: Savings up 58% to Rs 32,984 crore in FY18
Between FY14 (when the DBT scheme was launched) and FY18, close to Rs 3.7 lakh crore had been transferred to the beneficiaries, mostly as cash paid to their bank accounts but also (increasingly) as in-kind benefits.
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How Uttar Pradesh’s farm loan relief led to big cut in capital expenditure
Uttar Pradesh, the first state to announce a farm loan waiver in the current series of such succour, spent Rs 20,598 crore in 2017-18 to relieve the state’s 34.11 lakh farmers of the onus of repaying their loans, but not without cutting its budget spending drastically from the targeted levels.
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Has GST hit states growth? Here’s the truth
Most states’ pre-GST tax growth was lower than the 14% guaranteed under GST regime
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CPSE capex grew 16% in FY18, went past target
Even though the Centre’s budgetary capital expenditure declined an annual 7% in FY18, companies owned by it and other public-sector undertakings like NHAI and the Indian Railways have sustained their robust capex pace during the year.
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Centre’s Finances: FY18 fiscal deficit at 3.42% versus RE of 3.5%
The Centre has contained its fiscal deficit for FY18 at 3.42% of gross domestic product (GDP), down from 3.5% estimated (RE) when Budget FY19 was presented on February 1.
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CPSE Privatisation: BHEL, MTNL on NITI’s new list
MTNL has a huge staff strength of 27,919 that needs to be taken care of. The telecom PSU, with operations in Delhi and Mumbai, reported a turnover of Rs 2,870 crore and a loss of Rs 2,941 crore in FY17.
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Iran Fallout: FY19 subsidy bill could go up by 1/3
Additionally, if the rupee remains depreciated against US dollar at the current level, the annual financial impact on domestic LPG and kerosene would be Rs 1,130 crore, for every Rs 1 fall in the value of the rupee.
