Among the possibilities, the government could garner some revenues from sale of the BPCL’s 61% stake sale in Numaligarh Refinery, which will be sold to state-run firms.

Ginning units are not keen on buying cotton since most of the workers have left for their villages and they do not have the capital to buy cotton and other processing units are also shut.

The unprecedented situation created by Covid–19 pandemic and lockdown announced by both the Union and state governments from March 24 has led to severe disruptions affecting the economy and impacting people at large and the MSME spinning mills.

Now that the GOI has fixed the base price of sugar and most of the mills have set up distilleries too, to augment their business, the scenario has changed.

The ministry of home affairs (MHA) had on April 19 issued a detailed standard operating procedure while allowing suitable deployment of their skills. As per Census, 2001, the total number of internal migrants in India was 309.385 million.

Since 2009-10, the SMP has been replaced with fair and remunerative price (FRP) and some states like Uttar Pradesh continue to announce state-advised prices which are higher than FRPs.

The association also said hundreds of crores of unclaimed provident fund and employees state insurance corporation contribution lie in banks attracting interest.

After the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cut its policy repo rate by 75 basis points (bps) on March 27, a number of banks and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) followed by cutting their lending rates.

In view of the massive disruption to economic activity due to Covid-19 impact and likely huge shortfall in revenues, the council felt that fiscal response to the crisis should be much more nuanced.

The decline was led by container volumes which fell sharply by 12% y-o-y (in TEU terms; 9% y-o-y in tonnage terms).

Though rabi rice procurement continues till the end of September, the maximum procurement happens by July 15 before monsoon covers the entire country.

The government has taken measures to contain expenditure, like freeze on its employees’ dearness allowance; it has also announced a relief package to support the vulnerable and disadvantaged sections.

Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Monday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi for ad-hoc grant of Rs 1,000 crore from National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF).

In the case of Covid-19, hazardous waste is being generated in hospitals, quarantine zones or red zone areas within cities. They are potential sources of Covid-19 and can cause further spread within the locality.

Although there is no concrete proof, experts believe a large chunk of this is likely to be T-Bill purchases by the RBI from the secondary market.

The state government, in its order, said that the employees' salary for six days every month would be deducted for the next five months.

Besides, the state government will create new bank accounts for some 56 lakh farmers and issue 1.12 crore credit/debit cards to them by the next kharif season to enable them to avail crop loans and other government benefits.

India has firmly established itself as a net steel exporter in FY20 with total steel exports at 11.183 MT (31 % growth over last year) exceeding the total steel imports at 7.164 MT by 4.02 MT.

Agriculture minister Tomar says Rs 18-k cr disbursed under PM-Kisan since lockdown began, to raise share of agriculture-related works under MNREGA to 77% in FY21 from 66% in FY20.

The task force under economic affairs secretary Atanu Chakraborty submitted its final report on the “national infrastructure pipeline” (NIP) to finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

However, the Bench refused to interfere in the matter after the petitioners informed the judges that they were not personally affected and had filed the PILs in public interest.

Crisil expects GNPAs for the financial year 2020 to remain at 9.5%. Considering the Covid-19 impact, Crisil has projected GNPAs in the range of 11-11.5% for the financial year 2021.

The APMC officials pointed out workers usually come to the market yard on pick-up trucks, however, the police have been acting against them as social distancing is not maintained onboard the pick-ups.

Mills in Uttar Pradesh have produced 11.65 MT as on April 30, 2020, which is 3.72 lakh tonne higher than what was produced a year ago. Of 119 mills operated this year, 44 mills have ended their crushing. As many as 75 mills are operating as against 68 mills last year till April 30.

The prime minister is said to have suggested exploring possibility of creating commodity specific Board or Council so that cluster/contract farming takes place as that will help increase agricultural exports from the country.

Delhi’s Azadpur mandi, the country’s largest market yard for these items, saw arrivals of onion, tomato and potato drop by 14-31% during April 16-30 from the previous fortnight.

State governments seem to have collected the lowest-ever inflation-adjusted monthly tax revenue in April.

The central government will likely ramp up market borrowing in the second half of this fiscal, but may be forced to stick to its target for the first half at the moment.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a crucial meeting with home minister Amit Shah and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to firm up strategies for the financial sector in the aftermath of the Covid-19 outbreak.

With the countrywide lockdown set to continue for two more weeks, banks have urged the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to extend the three-month moratorium on loans by another three months beyond May 31.

The National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) has floated draft procedures for submission of audit logs to the regulator by audit companies and chartered accountants (CAs).

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) believe the industry will bounce back in no time as they see demand for microcredit rising soon because of emergency loan requirements of their customers to restart businesses.

The revenue situation will only get worse next month as the lockdown in the whole of April would be reflected in collections in May, said Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi.

Indian manufacturing saw its worst contraction in April, as a nation-wide lock-down hit fresh orders and businesses cut staff at a record pace.

The government is considering a raft of relief measures, including setting up a Rs one lakh crore fund to expedite clearances of dues owed to MSMEs, guarantee on the enhanced limit of loans (up to 20%) and a mechanism to help them pay salaries to their employees.

The Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) for highway projects that insulates private developers from virtually any commercial risks, is putting stress on the highly-leveraged balance sheet of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), and should therefore be ‘downplayed’.

Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee has recommended that India offer cash to the poorest 60% of its population and waive off loan repayments for small businesses in the June quarter, as he pitches for a large enough fiscal package to stimulate demand in the economy ravaged by the novel coronavirus crisis.

At least 13 states hike VAT on petrol/diesel since mid-March, many make liquor costlier with new imposts.

Companies need to seek permission from the local administration – the office of the district magistrate – by submitting a host of information. Apart from the process being tedious and time-consuming, the final decision rests at DM's discretion.

The SARFAESI Act, which is now rarely being used after the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code has come into existence since 2016, allows banks to seize, take control, manage and sell assets of defaulting borrowers without the intervention of any court/tribunal and also ensures speedy recovery.

GSTN added that a taxpayer can now transfer the amount available in an electronic cash ledger from one major head to another major head, keeping the minor head the same.

Grappling with low revenues following the outbreak of Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdown, the UP government hiked the value added tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel and increased the excise duty on liquor.

The e-way bill generated on or before March 24 and expiring during the March 20-April 15 period would now be valid till May 31.

"It is the time to review the policy of cross subsidisation of power as this plays a part in making our industries non-competitive,” former finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said at an online panel discussion on the power sector.

As the lockdown in China was lifted from the beginning of April 2020 onwards, spinners there have been scaling up operations.

In an office memorandum dated April 30, reviewed by FE, the revenue department has said it has approved the release of the RoSL benefits, which will, however, be in the form of scrips, instead of cash.

The New Yorker took the feature reporting prize for Ben Taub’s piece on a detainee at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with judges saying the story offered 'a nuanced perspective on America’s wider war on terror.'

The Italian baroque master’s 'Supper at Emmaus' is usually exhibited at London's National Gallery but, with that shut, Stanhope’s giant interpretation is now on show in Ladywell, southeast London

Clown Me In co-founder Sabine Choucair discusses the group’s new online workshop series, each Friday, ‘Happy Half-Hour’

Schneider and collaborator Ralf Hutter combined the German language lyrics with synthesisers and drum machines to create 'krautrock,' which won Kraftwerk a legion of musician fans, including David Bowie, Madonna, Daft Punk and Kanye West