Page 26 - Centre

Government receives Rs 6,665 crore dividend from BPCL for FY21

The government has received a final dividend of Rs 6,665 crore from privatisation-bound Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) for the 2020-21 fiscal, DIPAM Secretary said on Wednesday. "Govt received final dividend of Rs 6,665 crore from BPCL for the FY 2020-21. This includes special dividend on account of gains especially on sale of BPCL's stake in Numaligarh Refinery in March 2021," DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey tweeted. In March, BPCL had sold its entire 61.5 per cent stake in Numaligarh Refinery in Assam to a consortium of Oil India Ltd and Engineers India and the Assam government for Rs 9,876 crore. The government is selling its entire 52.98 per cent stake in BPCL. Vedanta Group and private equity firms Apollo Global and I Squared Capital's India unit Think Gas have put in an expression of interest for buying the government's stake. The government has already indicated that it expects to complete BPCL privatisation in the current fiscal. The sale is key to achieving th

Govt forcibly retires five CBI officers, advocate over performance

The officers and the advocate were removed in public interest under clause 56 (j) of Fundamental Rules

Govt notifies framework for traffic management of drones in lower airspace

Current air traffic management (ATM) systems have not been designed to handle the traffic from unmanned aircraft, the framework issued on October 24 stated

Government invites applications for chief economic adviser post

Candidates from recognised universities or recognised research institutions or central regulatory bodies and registered private institutions or financial institutions are eligible

Centre expects tax revenues to be above 10% budget target: Officials

India's economy grew 20.1% between April and June, versus a 24.4% contraction during the same period last year.

Pegasus row: SC to rule on Wednesday pleas seeking independent probe

Citing national security, the Centre had refused to file a detailed affidavit in the matter.

Dearness Allowance hike to 31% effective from July 1: FinMin

The decision will benefit millions of central government employees and pensioners

India makes a quick buck by selling some cheaply bought crude to MRPL

India imports roughly 226 MT (1,656.58 million barrels) of crude oil every year. This meets around 84 per cent of India's total crude oil requirement.

Government issues revised guidelines for international passengers

The new guidelines kick in on October 25

Government sanctions ad hoc bonus to employees for fiscal 2021

Employees who were in service as on March 31, 2021, and have rendered at least six months of continuous service during 2020-21 fiscal year would be eligible for this ad hoc bonus.

Govt receives around Rs 814 cr from 5 CPSEs as dividend this fiscal

The government has received nearly Rs 814 crore as dividend tranches from five CPSEs, including PFC, HUDCO and OIL, this fiscal year, DIPAM secretary said on Monday. "Dividend tranches of about Rs 296 crore and Rs 233 crore have been received respectively from PFC and HUDCO," DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey tweeted. OIL, KIOCL and SJVN have paid about Rs 92 crore, Rs 99 crore and Rs 94 crore respectively as dividend tranches to the government, he added. As per the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) website, so far in the current financial year (April-March), the government has received Rs 8,096 crore as dividend from central public sector enterprises (CPSEs). Besides, Rs 9,110 crore has been mobilised through disinvestment of minority stake in CPSEs.

Govt paying Rs 20 cr daily on Air India, wants quick handover: DIPAM Secy

Two aborted missions, three different ministers, multiple rule changes and two decades later, Indian taxpayers will no longer have to pay Rs 20 crore per day to keep the loss-making Air India flying. While opposition Congress expectedly attacked the decision as selling the family silver, DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said what Tata is getting is not a cash cow but an airline which is bleeding where money needs to be pumped in to refurbish obsolete aircraft and dust up strangled ones while being unable to touch any employee for one year and only be able to resize staff after paying a VRS. "It won't be a very easy task there. Only advantage is they (new Air India owner) are paying the price which they think they can manage. They are not taking the excessive debt accumulated to fund years of losses. We are continuing it as an ongoing concern.... This process has also saved huge amount of taxpayers money going forward," Pandey told PTI. Earlier this month, the government had accept

OVL has right to 30% stake in Iranian gas field, say officials

The field holds 23 trillion cubic feet of in-place gas reserves, of which about 60 per cent is recoverable

Procurement of expensive plane parts after senior official's nod: Air India

The airline in an order stated that if the repair of aircraft parts is going to cost more than Rs 10 lakh, it has to be first approved by the Executive Director Engineering

Govt's foreign policy -- how to lose friends, influence nobody: Rahul

India on Thursday reacted cautiously to Bhutan and China signing the agreement.

Centre removes export curbs on all diagnostic kits, reagents

The export restrictions on these products were imposed in June last year and August 16, 2021 on account of increasing COVID-19 cases

Govt removes additional restrictions on UK citizens arriving in India

This comes after the British government ordered discontinuation of mandatory testing and quarantine norms for those vaccinated with Covishield travelling from India

Maha govt announces Rs 10,000 cr aid for rain-affected farmers

The Maharashtra government on Wednesday announced an assistance of Rs 10,000 crore for farmers whose crops were damaged due to heavy rains in the state. State Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, who holds charge of the finance department, and PWD Minister Ashok Chavan made the announcement jointly here in Mumbai. Agricultural crops on over 55 lakh hectares of land have been damaged due to the extremely heavy rainfall between June and October this year. To provide some assistance to farmers, the Maharashtra government has decided to give financial assistance of Rs 10,000 crore to the affected farmers, the government said in a statement. Farmers who have lost their crops due to extremely heavy rains will get compensated, it said. Irrespective of their land size, farmers will get a compensation for damage of crops on up to two hectares of land, the statement said. The state government has decided not to wait for any further instructions with regard to the NDRF ...

Govt scraps basic customs duty, cuts agri cess on vegetable oils

The move which will help cool prices and increase domestic availability in the festive season

India cuts base import tax on crude vegetable oil imports to zero % -govt

India on Wednesday slashed its base import tax on crude palm oil, crude soyoil and crude sunflower oil to zero from 2.5%