Topic: Taxation
1. E-way bill generation in December 2023 increased to 9.52 crore.
- This is the second highest level so far. This may have some impact on GST collections in January and February.
- The number of e-way bills reached to a record high level of 10.03 crore in October 2023.
- After reaching to record high level in October 2023, the number of e-way bills declined to 8.75 crore in November 2023.
- Increased consumption is the cause of the spike in e-way bill creation, which points to an early trend of growing supply chain and economic demand.
- The increased e-way bill generation is also a result of improved compliance by taxpayers.
- An electronic document created on a portal that certifies the transportation of goods and indicates whether or not tax has been paid is called an e-way bill.
- According to Rule 138 of the CGST Rules, 2017, each registered person who causes the movement of goods with a consignment value of more than ₹50,000 (which may be less for intra-state movement) must produce an e-way bill.
Topic: Infrastructure and Energy
2. In the calendar year 2023, the renewable energy sector reported a 19% decrease in new capacity addition to the grid.
- In 2023, the renewable energy sector added a total of 12.9 GW of new capacity.
- In 2022, the new capacity addition was around 16 GW. This was the largest yearly capacity addition to the grid ever.
- In contrast to the 14 GW increase in 2022, the solar industry added roughly 10 GW of additional capacity between January and December of 2023.
- In 2023, the rooftop solar industry grew by almost 3 GW.
- This is a considerable increase above the 1.9 GW of installations in 2022.
- In the distributed/off-grid solar market, there was an addition of over 500 MW.
- This amounted to roughly 31% fewer installations than in 2022.
- In 2023, the wind power sector reported an increase in new capacity addition at 2.8 GW.
- Gujarat topped in overall capacity addition at about 3.5 GW in 2023.
- Rajasthan added the highest capacity in the solar segment at 2.2 GW. It was followed by Gujarat (1.3 GW) and Maharashtra (979 MW).
- The total grid-connected capacity of renewable energy as of December 31, 2023, was 134 GW.
- The solar power segment made up 73 GW of the overall capacity, with wind power coming in second at roughly 45 GW and biopower at roughly 11 GW. The small hydro section contributed roughly 5 GW.
- With an installed capacity of 24 GW, Rajasthan continued to lead all states in terms of total renewable capacity.
- Gujarat (22 GW), Tamil Nadu (19 GW), Karnataka (18 GW), and Maharashtra (13 GW) followed Rajasthan.
Topic: Banking System
3. Samman RuPay Credit Card has been launched by IndusInd Bank for government employees.
- It is a UPI-enabled credit card that has been introduced by IndusInd Bank in collaboration with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
- The card is especially tailored for government sector employees. It offers different kind of perks to them.
- The card comes with benefits such as complimentary movie tickets, cashback on various expenses, and zero fees on cash advances.
- The card also offers exemptions from surcharges on IRCTC transactions and fuel purchases.
- IndusInd Bank is a Pune-based bank. It was started in 1994.
- Sumant Kathpalia is its CEO. Its tagline is we make you feel richer.
Topic: Corporates/Companies
4. 10% stake in the National Housing Board-promoted company will be acquired by LIC.
- On January 8, the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) said its board has approved the acquisition of up to 10% of the share capital in a company promoted by the National Housing Bank (NHB).
- The investment is to be made in one or more instalments and details about the company have not been disclosed.
- LIC Housing Finance Limited is a LIC housing finance subsidiary, which was established in 1989.
- National Housing Bank (NHB):
- It is the apex regulatory body for the overall regulation and licensing of housing finance companies in India. It is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance, Government of India.
- It was established on 9 July 1988 under the National Housing Bank Act, 1987. It is headquartered in New Delhi.
- The Finance Act, 2019 has amended the National Housing Bank Act, 1987.
- This amendment provides powers to the Reserve Bank of India to regulate Housing Finance Companies (HFCs).
Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market
5. The Bloomberg Emerging Market (EM) Local Currency Index will include Indian government’s Fully Accessible Route (FAR) bonds.
- This will be done gradually beginning in September 2024 and lasting five months.
- Consequently, in September 2024, the Indian FAR bonds will be included with an initial weight of 20% of their whole market value in the EM Local Currency indices.
- Throughout the five months period that will end in January 2025, the weight of FAR bonds will increase monthly in increments of 20% of their full market value.
- In January 2025, they will be weighted at their full market value (100%) in the indices.
- After India FAR bonds are fully incorporated into the Bloomberg Emerging Market 10% Country Capped Index, their weight will be totally capped at 10%.
- By then, the Indian rupee will become the third-largest currency component in the Bloomberg Emerging Market Local Currency Index.
- It would have surpassed the South Korean won and the Chinese Renminbi by then.
- Securities that were free from foreign investment limitations under a “fully accessible route” (FAR) were introduced by the RBI in April 2020.
- India will continue to be excluded from the Bloomberg Global Aggregate and related indices.
Topic: Banking System
6. In order to obtain a license as a small finance bank, Fino Payments Bank has applied to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
- Fino Payments Bank Limited submitted application to the RBI under the Guidelines for "on tap" licensing of small finance banks in the private sector, dated December 5, 2019, during the quarter that ended December 31, 2023.
- Payment banks under control by residents and that have completed five years of operation may be converted into small finance banks in accordance with regulations.
- The Fino Payments Bank began operations in 2017 and completed its five-year of operation in 2022.
- It's a division of Fino Paytech, which has investors including Blackstone, ICICI Group, Bharat Petroleum, Intel, and Life Insurance Corporation of India, among others.
- It is also the only payment bank to be listed on the bourses.
Topic: Reports and Indices
7. According to the SBI Research report, individual income inequality in India has significantly declined in the past 8 years.
- As per an economic research report released by the State Bank of India, individual income inequality in India has substantially decreased between the financial years 2013-2014 and 2021-2022.
- As per the study, the reason for the reduction is significant migration within the income categories at the lower end of the economic pyramid.
- The report is brought out by the Economic Research Department of SBI.
- As per the report, income inequality measured through the Gini coefficient of taxable income has reduced significantly from 0.472 to 0.402 during the financial years 2013-14 and 2021-22.
- As per the report, 36.3% of taxpayers have migrated from lower income to higher income tax bucket.
- The report shows that the top 2.5% of taxpayer’s income contribution has declined from 2.81% to 2.28% during financial years 2013-2014 and 2021-2022.
- The report reveals that the income disparity of people earning less than 3.5 lakhs rupees has declined from 31.8% to 15.8% during financial years 2013-2014 and 2021-2022.
- This means that the percentage of this income group in the overall income has climbed by 16 percent relative to the population.
Topic: Reports and Indices
8. Uttar Pradesh emerged as the top state as a significant contributor to India's MSME sector.
- As per the CBRE report, UP is among the top three states in contribution to India’s MSME sector.
- CBRE South Asia Private Limited released a report titled ‘MSMEs: Unleashing the Engines of Economic Prosperity’.
- MSME activities are mainly concentrated in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh.
- Three states account for around 40% of the total MSMEs registered in India.
- This report was released at the two-day event at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Trade Facilitation Centre in Varanasi.
- Women entrepreneurs and MSME industrial park developers have supported the MSME ecosystem in Uttar Pradesh.
- Agra, Kanpur, Varanasi, Lucknow, Meerut and Ghaziabad emerged as MSME clusters in Uttar Pradesh.
- The report highlighted the key role played by the Udyam scheme.
- CBRE South Asia Private Limited is India’s leading real estate consulting firm.
Topic: Appointments
9. Vikas Sheel has been appointed as the executive director of the Asian Development Bank in Manila.
- Sheel is currently the Additional Secretary and Mission Director of the Jal Jeevan Mission under the Jal Shakti Ministry.
- He has been appointed as ED of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a period of three years from the date of assumption of charge.
- IAS officer Senthil Pandian C has been appointed as ambassador to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva.
- Brajendra Navnit’s tenure as India’s ambassador to the WTO ends on March 31, 2024.
- Parveen Kumar has been appointed as adviser to the Executive Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF).
- Tanu Singh has been appointed as First Secretary, Permanent Mission of India (PMI), WTO.
- Smita Sarangi has been appointed as adviser to the Executive Director, Asian Development Bank, Manila, Philippines.
Topic: Taxation
10. 29,273 shell companies involved in fraudulent Input Tax Credit (ITC) claims have been busted.
- In the last eight months, GST officers have detected 29,273 bogus firms involved in fake Input Tax Credit (ITC) claims of Rs 44,015 crore.
- In the October-December quarter, 4,153 bogus firms with ITC invasion of around 12,036 crore have been detected.
- 2,358 of these bogus firms were detected by the Central GST Authorities.
- Maharashtra topped the list with 926 bogus firms, followed by Rajasthan (507), Delhi (483) and Haryana (424).
- In the December quarter, 926 bogus firms with tax evasion of Rs 2,201 crore have been detected.
- In Delhi, the suspected tax evasion by 483 bogus firms was Rs 3,028 crore.
- 443 bogus firms in Uttar Pradesh with GST evasion of Rs 1,645 crore were detected.
- Firms use fake invoices to avail the input tax credit (ITC) without the supply of goods and services.
- 19 fake firms have been busted in Andhra Pradesh. Information was received about suspected tax evasion of Rs 765 crore.
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