Top headlines: Windfall tax cuts, Reliance Capital auction, and more

Business Standard brings you the top headlines at this hour

Centre cuts windfall tax on crude, export taxes on aviation fuel and diesel

India has cut its windfall tax on crude oil and exports of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and diesel, according to a government notification dated Jan. 16. It cut its windfall tax on crude to 1,900 rupees ($23.28) per tonne from 2,100 rupees per tonne, effective Tuesday.

The government also cut export tax on ATF to 3.5 rupees per litre from 4.5 rupees per litre, and cut export tax on diesel to 5 rupees per litre from 6.5 rupees per litre, the notification said. Read more...

India Inc's yearly outlook 'most cautious in a decade': PwC survey

Nearly six in 10 corporate heads in India (57 per cent) are optimistic about the country’s growth prospects in 2023 in the face of a global slowdown, as well as inflationary and geopolitical concerns, according to a survey by advisory firm PwC. This is “the most cautious outlook in over a decade”, the survey said.

The PwC’s Annual Global CEO Survey, which was launched during the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, showed that 78 per cent of chief executive officers (CEOs) in India and 73 per cent of global CEOs believe that global economic growth will decline over the next 12 months. Read more...

No change in NPV for Reliance Capital, 'number sacrosanct': Torrent

The Torrent group has said its offer for Reliance Capital—the highest—was based on the bankrupt financial services firm' net present value (NPV) and meets guidelines lenders had set before the auction.

Torrent, to buttress its point, highlighted the difference in opinion about its offer between the advisor to Reliance Capital’s committee of creditors (CoC) and the advisor to the administrator appointed by the Reserve Bank of India. Read more...

Statutory auditors to submit annual transparency report, says NFRA

The National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) has issued a draft format of the Annual Transparency Report (ATR) to be submitted by auditors and audit firms every financial year.

The gradual implementation of this filing will start with the statutory auditors of the top 1,000 listed companies by market capitalisation on March 31. Audit firms will have to provide the details of their ownership and legal, governance and management structures. Read more...

India to boost coal imports to cope with harsh weather, freight snags

India's power utilities will likely boost coal imports this year to cope with surges in demand, made worse over the past year by extreme temperatures, and with freight bottlenecks that are disrupting domestic coal supplies, analysts and officials said.

A steady rise in industrial electricity use in recent years has left utilities in India, one of the world's fastest growing major economies and the second-largest coal consumer and importer, with limited leeway to confront extraordinary demand or hiccups in supply. Read more...