India's foreign exchange, Forex reserves rose by USD 2.70 billion as on January 12, 2018, official data showed on Friday.The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) weekly statistical supplement showed that the overall Forex reserves rose to $413.82 billion from $411.12 billion reported for the week ended January 5.
India's Forex reserves comprise of foreign currency assets, gold reserves, special drawing rights (SDRs) and the RBI's position with the IMF. Segment-wise, FCAs, the largest component of the Forex reserves increased by $2.68 billion to $389.83 billion during the week under review.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley said the government was well ahead of the target on direct taxes, clocking 18.7% growth between April and January 15. “In the last two-three months, the rate of growth has been reasonably strong,” the minister said after the GST Council meeting.
The statement will help address concerns over the government missing the fiscal deficit target of 3.2% of GDP for the current financial year. The improved mop-up has helped the government slash its planned additional market borrowings of Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore, a move that has comforted the stock and bond markets.
At end of November, the Centre’s fiscal deficit was 112% of the Budget estimate, which added to the fears although the government maintained that there was no reason to panic. While the government is seeking higher dividend from public sector companies (PSUs) and more surplus transfer from the RBI, the central bank is unlikely to oblige. RBI’s surplus transfer was lower than budgeted but the higher-than-expected disinvestment receipts may provide the cushion to the government.
More measures to contain fiscal deficit include conservation of important resources and that includes oil and gas. Saksham-18 is one of those measures, it was applied across India to conserve oil and gas: Like every year, this year too the oil industry, under the guidance of ministry of petroleum & natural gas, is observing Saksham-18 (Sanrakshan Kshamata Mahotsav) from January 16 to February 15 across India.
More measures to contain fiscal deficit include conservation of important resources and that includes oil and gas. Saksham-18 is one of those measures, it was applied across India to conserve oil and gas: Like every year, this year too the oil industry, under the guidance of ministry of petroleum & natural gas, is observing Saksham-18 (Sanrakshan Kshamata Mahotsav) from January 16 to February 15 across India.
This year’s tagline is ‘Indhan Sanrakshan Ki Jimmedari Jan Gan Ki Bhagidari’. The conservation awareness programme was inaugurated by K Muraleedharan, director, Central Glass & Ceramic Research Institute, Kolkata in the presence of RK Mohapatra, state-level coordinator, West Bengal and ED, WBSO of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd and senior officials from HPCL, BPCL and GAIL and Indian Oil and dealers of oil companies at Kolkata.
Muraleedharan highlighted the issue of conservation of petroleum products and tips to be adopted in our daily life. Mohapatra also read out the message of Dharmendra Pradhan, minister, MoPNG, GoI. January 21 will be celebrated as Bicycle Day in the country.