The domestic Passenger vehicle sales fell to 1.05 lakh in June, dropping by 49.6% from 2.09 lakh units in the year-ago period, data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed on Tuesday, according to media reports. Passenger car sales were down 58% at 55,497 units while three-wheeler sales fell 80% to 10,300 units. Two-wheeler sales totalled 10.1 lakh units, down 38.6% in the same month of last year. The industry produced a total of 14.8 lakh vehicles in the April to June quarter, down 79.4% from 72.1 lakh in the corresponding period of last year.

In Q1 FY21, passenger vehicle sales tanked by 78.4% to 1.53 lakh units as compared to 7.12 lakh units in the year-ago period. Commercial vehicles sales saw a steep slide of 85% to 31,636 units in Q1 FY21 as compared to 2.08 lakh units while three-wheeler sales totalled 12,760 units as compared to 1.49 lakh units in Q1 FY20, down 91.5%. Two-wheeler sales plunged by 74.2% to 12.9 lakh units in Q1 FY21 as compared to 50.1 lakh units in Q1 FY20.

The Reserve Bank of India released the July 2020 issue of its monthly Bulletin. The bank noted that the overall financial resource balance of the economy moderated during 2018-19 primarily due to increase in net borrowing of non-financial corporations and moderation in household savings. As per the preliminary estimates, the marginal surplus in the overall financial resource balance turned into a deficit in 2019-20 on account of the widening resource deficits of general government and public non-financial corporations.

The balance sheet of depository corporations continued to remain in contraction mode during 2018-19, reflecting shift in the preferences away from deposits towards other competing financial instruments such as mutual funds and insurance. Liabilities of general government remained at an elevated level during 2018-19 and its financial net worth remained in negative territory. India remained a net borrower from the rest of the world. Loans and borrowing are the most used financial instruments to incur liabilities with a share of 29% in total financial transactions, followed by debt securities and deposits with a share of 20.9% and 18%, respectively.

The Reserve Bank of India has launched the 50th round of its Order Books, Inventories and Capacity Utilisation Survey (OBICUS). The survey is for the reference period April-June 2020 (Q1:2020-21). The Reserve Bank has been conducting the Order Books, Inventories and Capacity Utilisation Survey (OBICUS) of the manufacturing sector on a quarterly basis since 2008.

The information collected in the survey includes quantitative data on new orders received during the reference quarter, backlog of orders at the beginning of the quarter, pending orders at the end of the quarter, total inventories with a breakup between work-in-progress (WiP) and finished goods (FG) inventories at the end of the quarter and item-wise production in terms of quantity and value during the quarter vis-à-vis the installed capacity from the targeted group.

The level of capacity utilisation (CU) is estimated from these responses. The survey provides valuable input for monetary policy formulation. The survey findings are released on the website of the bank regularly. The latest results pertaining to the quarter January-March 2020 will be released shortly. During this quarter, selected manufacturing companies will be approached by the Bank

Covid-19 has changed the world but Indian people, businesses and industries did not succumb to the crisis, and stood out with a unique trait of resilience and constantly evolving the new ways to deal with the situation and turning the crisis into opportunity, said Union Minister for Commerce and Industry & Railways, Piyush Goyal. Goyal was delivering the keynote address at the 184th AGM of Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry via video conferencing with the office bearers and members of one of oldest chambers of the country.

Goyal acknowledged the role of industries and trade bodies of India for coming forward to make India self- sufficient and ready to fight Covid situation in India by producing PPEs, providing infrastructure for ICU beds, isolation facilities and manufacturing masks and other PPEs to the level that India is now capable to export PPEs. As the Unlock has started, Indian economy is improving, as indicated by fright movement, increased electricity consumption. Manufacturing has started with reasonable level of operation. The exports are showing upward trend. He added that before Covid and After Covid worlds will be different and we are preparing moving for the better post-covid world.

As a country, Goyal added that, India should focus on Investment, Infrastructure, and Innovation in the post-covid world, by increasing the production, improving quality of products, trying higher economies of scale, smooth logistics channels, competitive pricing and using innovative practices. The government and trade bodies must work together to boost the growth, to bringing more employment, jobs to youth and engaging with the world with strength and not closing the door for the world but being self-sufficient “Aatma Nirbhar Bharat “ .

Our Indian industries specialised in the specific sectors like auto parts, leather, pharma, footwear, and marine products, have huge potential to promote Indian manufacturing. He invited Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry to help and contribute in the efforts of the Government for improving and simplifying Ease of Doing Business indices and building a robust mechanism for single window clearances and self-regulation structures for industries.

Goyal said that for strong and resilient India, trade bodies have an important role to play. He added that 184th AGM of Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry marks an important milestone as one of the oldest trade bodies in the country. While concluding, Goyal expressed the faith that India can be the world dominant player, by using immense capabilities of its youth and appreciated resilience of 130 crore Indians in these testing times.

Government of India (GOI) has announced the sale (re-issue) of four dated securities for a notified amount of ₹ 30,000 cr. These include (i) '5.09 per cent Government Stock, 2022' for a notified amount of Rs 3,000 crore (nominal) through price based auction, (ii) '5.79 per cent Government Stock, 2030' for a notified amount of Rs 18,000 crore (nominal) through price based auction, (iii) 'GoI Floating Rate Bonds, 2033' for a notified amount of Rs 4,000 crore (nominal) through price based auction, and (iv) '7.19 per cent Government Stock, 2060' for a notified amount of Rs 5,000 crore (nominal) through price based auction. GoI will have the option to retain additional subscription up to Rs 2,000 crore against each of the above securities. The auctions will be conducted by the Reserve Bank of India using multiple price method. Up to 5% of the notified amount of the sale of the stocks will be allotted to eligible individuals and Institutions as per the Scheme for Non-Competitive Bidding Facility in the Auction of Government Securities.

Among the CPI components, inflation of food and beverages declined to 7.29% in June 2020 from 8.37% in May 2020. Within the food items, the inflation declined for vegetables to 1.86%, pulses and products 16.68%, fruits (-) 0.68% and cereals and products 6.49%. The inflation also fell for milk and products to 8.44%, spices 11.74%, sugar and confectionery 4.41% and egg 7.40%. However, the inflation rose for meat and fish to 16.22%, non-alcoholic beverages 4.47%, oils and fats 12.27% and prepared meals, snacks, sweets etc. 4.30% in June 2020.

The inflation for housing eased to 3.55%, while that for miscellaneous items rose to 5.70% in June 2020. Within the miscellaneous items, the inflation for transport and communication increased to 7.14%, personal care and effects 12.43%, education 5.51%, health 4.21%, while it declined for recreation and amusement at 3.01% and rose for household goods and services to 2.29% in June 2020.

The inflation for clothing and footwear increased to 3.53%, while the CPI inflation of fuel and light moved up to 2.69% in June 2020.

The total acreage under kharif crops continues to see good improvement and stood at 580.21 lakh hectares (lh) as on 10 July 2020, recording a rise of 44.13% compared to 402 lh in the corresponding week last year, according to latest sowing data released by the Agriculture Ministry. The acreage under Rice rose by 26% to 121 lh. The area under coarse cereals jumped by around 29.60% to 93.24 lh. The pulses acreage rallied by 162.35% to 64.25 lh. In pulses, the area under arhar stood at 26.18 lh, around 200% more than the acreage reported in the same period last year.

The area under oilseeds stood at 139.37 lh, up 85% compared to the area covered in the same week in the previous season. In oilseeds, acreage under Soyabean stood at 101.46 lh, surging nearly 96% on year. The area under groundnut stood at 32.80 lh, up 62% compared the same week last year. In other commodities, the acreage under cotton rose by 35% to 105 lh. Sugarcane acreage rose marginally by 0.59% to 50.89 lh.

The Income Tax Department has facilitated a new functionality for Banks and Post offices through which they can ascertain the TDS applicability rates on cash withdrawal of above Rs.20 lakh in case of a non-filer of the income-tax return and that of above Rs. 1 Crore in case of a filer of the income-tax return. So far, more than 53,000 verification requests have been executed successfully on this facility.

CBDT said that this functionality available since 1st July 2020, is also made available to the Banks through web-services so that the entire process can be automated and be linked to the Bank's internal core banking solution.

Explaining the details of this facility, CBDT said that now the Bank/Post Office has to only enter the PAN of the person who is withdrawing cash for ascertaining the applicable rate of TDS. On entering PAN, a message will be instantly displayed on the departmental utility: “TDS is deductible at the rate of 2% if cash withdrawal exceeds Rs. 1 crore” [if the person withdrawing cash is a filer of the income-tax return] and “TDS is deductible at the rate 2% if cash withdrawal exceeds Rs. 20 lakh and at the rate of 5% if it exceeds Rs. 1 Crore” [if the person withdrawing cash is a non-filer of the income-tax return].

CBDT said that the data on cash withdrawal indicated that huge amount of cash is being withdrawn by the persons who have never filed income-tax returns. To ensure filing of return by these persons and to keep track on cash withdrawals by the non-filers, and to curb black money, the Finance Act, 2020 w.e.f. 1st July, 2020 further amended Income-tax Act to lower threshold of cash withdrawal to Rs. 20 lakh for the applicability of this TDS for the non-filers and also mandated TDS at the higher rate of 5% on cash withdrawal exceeding Rs. 1 crore by the non-filers.

It may be noted that in order to discourage cash transactions and move towards less cash economy, the Finance (No.2) Act, 2019 has inserted section 194N in the Income Tax Act w.e.f. 1st September, 2019 to provide for levy of TDS @ 2% on cash withdrawal exceeding Rs. 1 crore from a Bank/Post Office account/s subject to certain exceptions.

Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation stated today that for the month of May 2020, the Quick Estimates of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) with base 2011-12 stand at 88.4, marking a drop of 34.71% compared to May 2019. The Indices of Industrial Production for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of May 2020 stand at 87.0, 82.4 and 149.6 respectively. The Quick Estimates will undergo revision in subsequent releases as per the revision policy of IIP.

As per Use-based classification, the indices stand at 105.5 for Primary Goods, 37.1 for Capital Goods, 77.6 for Intermediate Goods and 84.1 for Infrastructure/ Construction Goods (Statement III) for the month of May 2020. Further, the indices for Consumer durables and Consumer non-durables stand at 42.2 and 132.3 respectively for the month of May 2020.

Statements giving Quick Estimates of the Index of Industrial Production for the month of May 2020 at Sectoral, 2-digit level of National Industrial Classification (NIC-2008) and by Use-based classification are given at Statements I, II and III respectively. As mentioned in the Press Release for the IIP for April, 2020, it may not be appropriate to compare the IIP for May 2020 with those of months preceding the COVID 2019 pandemic.

Along with the Quick Estimates of IIP for the month of May 2020, the indices for April 2020 have undergone the first revision and those for February 2020 have undergone the final revision in the light of the updated data received from the source agencies. The Quick Estimates for May 2020 have been compiled at a weighted response rate of 86%, the first revision for April 2020 at a weighted response rate of 91% and the final revision for February, 2020 at a weighted response rate of 92%.

In accordance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for augmenting people’s participation and transparency in the governance, Ministry of Shipping has issued the draft of Aids to Navigation Bill, 2020 for suggestions from the stakeholders and general public.

The draft bill is proposed to replace the almost nine decades old Lighthouse Act, 1927, to incorporate the global best practices, technological developments and India's International obligations in the field of Aids to Marine Navigation.

Union Minister of State of Shipping (I/C) Shri Mansukh Mandaviya said that this initiative is part of the proactive approach adopted by the Ministry of Shipping by repealing archaic colonial laws and replacing it with modern and contemporary needs of the maritime industry. Shri Mandaviya also added that suggestions from the public and stakeholders will strengthen the provisions of the legislation. He further added that the bill aims to regulate state-of-the-art technologies of marine navigation which was earlier used to tangle in statutory provisions of Lighthouse Act, 1927.

The draft bill provides for empowering Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships (DGLL) with additional power and functions such as Vessel Traffic Service, Wreck flagging, training and certification, implementation of other obligations under International Conventions, where India is a signatory. It also provides for identification and development of heritage lighthouses.

The draft bill comprises a new schedule of offences, along with commensurate penalties for obstructing and damaging the aids to navigation, and non-compliance with directives issued by the Central Government and other bodies under the draft bill.

R S Sharma, Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has said that the technology has changed the landscape of broadcasting sector including the distribution, production side, and entire value chain. Addressing a webinar 'Regulating Creativity: Overcoming Legacy Challenges to Shape the Future of M&E', organized during 'FICCI FRAMES 2020', Sharma said that that technology has been the biggest disruptor. There is a huge convergence happening in this sector and the habits of the people have also seen a change. This has provided new opportunities for growth in the sector.

Sharma said that it is the proliferation of high-speed networks in cheaper, smarter devices that will result in rapid growth of the Video on Demand and the OTT services. Convergence of technology in broadcasting sector would enable optimal utilization of networks and encourage mergers and acquisition in telecom and broadcasting operations.

This will result in an increased competition and cost pressures separation of services and application from the networks, and offer opportunity for innovation to meet the consumer demand. Highlighting the role of competition and safeguarding the consumer interests, Mr Sharma said that the consumer deserves to know the cost of what they are consuming.

On one hand India is fighting a strong battle against the global pandemic and the government is equally focused on the health of the economy, noted Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his inaugural address at India Global Week 2020. During the last six years, India has made great gains in areas such as Total financial inclusion, Record housing and infra construction, Ease of Doing Business, Bold tax reforms including the GST, Roll out of the world's largest health care initiative - Ayushman Bharat. These gains have set the foundations for the next round of development initiatives.

The PM noted that Indians have the spirit to achieve what is believed to be impossible and we are already seeing green-shoots when it comes to economic recovery. In this time of a pandemic, we have provided relief to our citizens and undertaken deep structural reforms. We are making the economy: more productive, investment friendly and competitive, he stated. India remains one of the most open economies in the world and the government is laying a red carpet for all global companies to come and establish their presence in India.

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval for extending the contribution both 12% employees' share and 12% employers' share under Employees Provident Fund, totaling 24% for another 3 months from June to August, 2020, as part of the package announced by the Government under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY)/ Aatmanirbhar Bharat in the light of COVID-19, a Pandemic. This approval is in addition to the existing scheme for the wage months of March to May, 2020 approved on 15.04.2020. The total estimated expenditure is of Rs.4,860 crore. Over 72 lakh employees in 3.67 lakh establishments will be benefitted.

A formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for data exchange between the two organizations. The MoU will facilitate the sharing of data and information between SEBI and CBDT on an automatic and regular basis. In addition to regular exchange of data, SEBI and CBDT will also exchange with each other, on request and suo moto basis, any information available in their respective databases, for the purpose of carrying out their functions under various laws. The MoU comes into force from the date it was signed and is an ongoing initiative of CBDT and SEBI, who are already collaborating through various existing mechanisms. A Data Exchange Steering Group has also been constituted for the initiative, which will meet periodically to review the data exchange status and take steps to further improve the effectiveness of the data sharing mechanism.The MoU marks the beginning of a new era of cooperation and synergy between SEBI and CBDT.