The Minister stated that availability of fertilizers is monitored at the State level through data captured in the integrated Fertilizer Monitoring System (iFMS). As per the system, there is no shortage of any fertilizer in the country.

The projected requirement of urea was 59.47 lakh tonnes as on 21 June 2019, while availability stood at 61.82 lakh tonnes and sales at 49.28 lakh tonnes. The projected requirement of P&K (DAP,MOP & Complex) was 46.91 lakh tonnes, while the availability stood at 71.80 lakh tonnes and sales at 30.06 lakh tonnes.

It may be seen from the data above that the availability of fertilizers has been more than the sales.

D.V. Sadananda Gowda stated in detail the steps that are being taken by the Government to ensure adequate supply of fertilizers across the country. He informed that before the commencement of each cropping season, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW), in consultation with all the State Governments, assesses the requirement of fertilizers. After assessment of requirement, DAC&FW projects month-wise requirement of fertilizers.

On the basis of month-wise & state-wise projection given by DAC&FW, Department of Fertilizers allocates sufficient/ adequate quantities of fertilizers to States by issuing monthly supply plan and continuously monitors the availability through following system:

i.) The movement of all major subsidized fertilizers is being monitored throughout the country by an on-line web based monitoring system called integrated Fertilizer Monitoring System (iFMS);

ii.) The State Governments are regularly advised to coordinate with manufacturers and importers of fertilizers for streamlining the supplies through timely placement of indents for railway rakes through their state institutional agencies like Markfed etc.

iii.) Regular Weekly Video Conference is conducted jointly by Department of Agriculture & Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW), Department of Fertilizers (DoF), and Ministry of Railways with State Agriculture Officials and corrective actions are taken to dispatch fertilizer as indicated by the State Governments.

iv.) The gap between demand (requirement) and production is met through imports. The import for the season is also finalised well in advance to ensure timely availability.

In addition to the above steps, the Minister informed that the Government of India is reviving five closed fertilizer plants. These include Talcher, Ramagundam, Gorakhpur and Sindri plants of Fertilizer Corporation of India Ltd. (FCIL) and Barauni plant of Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation Ltd. (HFCL), by setting up new Ammonia Urea plants of 12.7 Lakh metric tonne per annum capacity each. These projects upon implementation/ operationalization will bridge the gap between demand and supply of urea in the country and will rejuvenate the fertilizer sector.

D.V. Sadananda Gowda stated that subsequent to commissioning/ start of the above plants, the indigenous urea production will be enhanced by 63.5 Lakh Metric Tonne per year leading to corresponding reduction in import of urea. Government of India has also proposed to set up a new Ammonia-Urea Plant at Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizers Corporation Limited (BVFCL), Namrup-IV having capacity of 12.70 LMT or Urea through nomination (PSU) route, the Minister added.

In the month of September 2018, Government launched a scheme for disposal of stock of pulses procured under Price Support Scheme (PSS) during Kharif and Rabi season 2017-18, by way of distribution to States/UTs for utilization under various welfare schemes like MDM, PDS, ICDS, etc. with Central subsidy of Rs 15 per kg over the issue price as a one-time measure for a period of 12 months or till PSS pulses stock of 34.88 lakh MT lasts (whichever is earlier).

As per the 3rd Advance Estimates released by Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, production of pulses for the year 2018-19 is estimated to be 23.22 Million MT (MMT) as compared to 25.42 MMT as per final estimates for the year 2017-18.

Government has taken various measures to ensure availability of pulses and moderate its price fluctuations. Such measures include initiatives for increasing production and productivity of pulses through National Food Security Mission (NFSM), announcing appropriate Minimum Support Price (MSP) to incentivize production, etc. Further, Government has signed a MoU with Mozambique for assured supply of Tur and other pulses and also suitably amends trade policy to improve availability, etc.

In addition, calibrated releases are made from buffer stock of pulses from time to time to moderate price fluctuations.

The newly launched Complaint Management System (CMS), symbolizes Reserve Bank of India or RBI’s commitment to improve customer experience in grievance redressal process by ensuring timely resolution of complaints received at the Reserve Bank, noted the RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das. Sustaining the confidence of consumers in banks and other Financial Service Providers (FSPs) through prompt and effective grievance redressal, together with empowering customers through education is pivotal for maintaining trust in the banking system.

CMS envisages improved customer convenience by providing a single window on Reserve Bank’s website for lodging complaints against any regulated entity. The complaint would be directed to the appropriate Office of the Ombudsman/Regional Office of the RBI. The application also improves transparency by keeping the complainants informed through auto-generated acknowledgements and enabling them to track the status of their complaints and file Appeals online against the decisions of the Ombudsmen, where applicable. Further, complainants can also voluntarily share feedback on their experience in obtaining redressal.

CMS will be accessible on desktop as well as on mobile devices. The Reserve Bank also plans to introduce a dedicated Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System for tracking the status of complaints. I am sure, with time; the customer friendly nature of the CMS will be further enhanced. The benefit to the financial system will accrue from seamless access of CMS to the Nodal Officers of banks/Financial Service Providers (FSPs). CMS can generate various reports for monitoring and managing complaints pertaining to each entity.

As per request received from consumers, linkage rationalization of eligible Independent Power Producers or IPPs has been done at Coal India Limited (CIL) for a total rationalized quantity of 2 Million Tonnes. The annual potential savings estimated by Central Electricity Authority for the above rationalization would be about Rs 118 crore. This information was given by the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.

Ministry of Coal has issued the Policy for Linkage Rationalization for IPPs on 15.05.2018. The policy envisages to undertake a comprehensive review of existing sources of coal and consider the feasibility for rationalization of sources with a view to optimize the transportation cost and materialization taking into account coal availability and logistics.

The Government of India has announced the Sale (Re-issue) of (i) 7.00% Government Stock, 2021’ for a notified amount of Rs 3,000 crore (nominal) through price based auction, (ii) 7.27% Government Stock, 2026’ for a notified amount of Rs 3,000 crore (nominal) through price based auction,(iii) Government of India Floating Rate Bonds, 2031 for a notified amount of Rs 5,000 crore (nominal) through price based auction, (iv) 7.62% Government Stock, 2039 for a notified amount of Rs 2,000 crore (nominal) through price based auction, and (v) 7.63% Government Stock, 2059 for a notified amount of Rs 4,000 crore (nominal) through price based auction.

Subject to the limit of Rs 17,000 crore, being total notified amount, the Government of India will have the option to retain additional subscription up to Rs 1,000 crore each against any one or more of the above securities. The auctions will be conducted using multiple price method. The auctions will be conducted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Mumbai Office, Fort, Mumbai on June 28, 2019 (Friday).

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. Both competitive and non-competitive bids for the auction should be submitted in electronic format on the Reserve Bank of India Core Banking Solution (E-Kuber) system on June 28, 2019.

As per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data on global operations, aggregate gross advances of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) increased from Rs 1819074 crore as on 31 March 2008 to Rs 5215920 crore as on 31 March 2014. As per RBI inputs, the primary reasons for spurt in stressed assets have been observed to be, inter-alia, aggressive lending practices, wilful default / loan frauds / corruption in some cases, and economic slowdown.

Asset Quality Review (AQR) initiated in 2015 for clean and fully provisioned bank balance-sheets revealed high incidence of NPAs. As a result of AQR and subsequent transparent recognition by banks, stressed accounts were reclassified as NPAs and expected losses on stressed loans, not provided for earlier under flexibility given to restructured loans, were provided for. Further, all such schemes for restructuring stressed loans were withdrawn. Primarily as a result of transparent recognition of stressed assets as NPAs, gross NPAs of PSBs, as per RBI data on global operations, rose from Rs 279016 crore as on 31 March 2015 to Rs 895601 crore as on 31 March 2018, and as a result of Government's 4R's strategy of recognition, resolution, recapitalisation and reforms, have since declined by Rs 89189 crore to Rs 806412 crore as on 31 March 2019 (provisional data).

Data on NPAs is regularly published by RBI as part of its Financial Stability Reports. NPA data is not collated by RBI in terms of corporate houses / companies. PSB-wise details of gross NPA (GNPA) for Industry category advances in domestic operations and total GNPA in global operations, as per RBI data, are at Annex.

As per RBI provisional data on global operations, as on 31 March 2019, the aggregate amount of gross NPAs of PSBs and Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) were Rs 806412 crore and Rs 949279 crore respectively.

Over the last four years, Government has taken comprehensive steps under its 4R's strategy of recognising NPAs transparently, resolving and recovering value from stressed accounts, recapitalising PSBs, and reforms in banks and financial ecosystem to ensure a responsible and clean system.Steps taken to expedite and enable resolution of NPAs of PSBs, include, inter-alia, the following:

(1) The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) has been enacted, which has provided for the taking over management of the affairs of the corporate debtor at the outset of the corporate insolvency resolution process. Coupled with debarment of wilful defaulters and persons associated with NPA accounts from the resolution process, this has effected a fundamental change in the creditor-debtor relationship. Further, the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 has been amended to provide for authorisation to RBI to issue directions to banks to initiate the insolvency resolution process under IBC. As per RBI's directions under the aforesaid amended provision in the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, banks have been filed cases under IBC before the National Company Law Tribunal in respect of RBI-specified borrowers.

(2) Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act has been amended to make it more effective, with provision for three months' imprisonment in case the borrower does not provide asset details and for the lender to get possession of mortgaged property within 30 days. Also, six new Debts Recovery Tribunals have been established to expedite recovery.(3) Under the PSB Reforms Agenda, PSBs have created Stressed Asset Management Verticals to focus attention on recovery, segregated monitoring from sanctioning roles in high-value loans, and entrusted monitoring of loan accounts of above Rs 250 crore to specialised monitoring agencies for clean and effective monitoring, and created online end-to-end One-Time Settlement platforms for timely and better realisation.

Citing rules, Sitharaman stated that Section 178(5) & 178(6) of the Companies Act, 2013 mandate that every company having more than 1,000 shareholders, debenture holders, deposit holders and any other security holders shall constitute a Stakeholders Relationship Committee to consider and resolve the grievances of the security holders of the company.

Further, to safeguard small investors trading in exchanges in stocks of companies that default on payment, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), in last three years, has initiated action against 22 companies under section 15-I (Adjudication Proceedings) of the Sebi Act, 1992 and against 211 companies under section 11B (Issue of Directions to Companies) of the Sebi Act, 1992, the Minister added.

The Minister further informed that during the year FY 2018-19 Sebi has received 2453 complaints for non-payment of dues and resolved 2746 complaints which include complaints pertaining to previous years also.

FICCI's latest quarterly survey assessed the sentiments of manufacturers for Q-1 (April-June 2019-20) for twelve major sectors namely automotive, capital goods, cement and ceramics, chemicals, fertilizers and pharmaceuticals, electronics & electricals, leather and footwear, medical devices, metal & metal products, paper products, textiles, textile machinery and miscellaneous. Responses have been drawn from over 300 manufacturing units from both large and SME segments with a combined annual turnover of over 3.5 lakh crore.

Capacity Addition & Utilization

In terms of capacity utilization,FICCI survey noted that the overall capacity utilization in manufacturing has witnessed a slight fall to 78% in Q-1 2019-20 as compared to 80% in the previous quarter.The future investment outlook is slightly subdued than that was perceived in Q-1 of 2018-19. 37% respondents reported plans for capacity additions for the next six months as compared to 40% in Q-4 of 2018-19.

High raw material prices, high cost of finance, uncertainty of demand, shortage of skilled labor, high imports, requirement of technology upgradation, low domestic and global demand, excess capacities, delay in disbursements of state and central subsidies and competing countries such as Bangladesh and Vietnam enjoying lower wage cost and export benefits resulting in erosion of competitiveness of Indian exporters are some of the major constraints which are affecting expansion plans of the respondents.

In most sectors covered in the survey namely Automotive, Cement and Ceramics, Leather and Footwear, Paper Products and Textiles Machinery average capacity utilization has either decreased or remained almost same in Q-1 of 2019-20 as compared to Q-4 2018-19.

Table: Current Average Capacity Utilization Levels as Reported in Survey (%)

Inventories

86% of the respondents are expecting either more or same level of inventory in April-June 2019, which is substantially higher than 69% as was the case in Q-1 of 2018-19. This has been largely due to subdued domestic and export demand.

Exports

The outlook for exports is moderateas per the Survey as 34% of the participants areexpecting a rise in exports for Q-1 2019-20and 27% are expecting exports to continue to be on same path as that of same quarter last year. However, exchange rate fluctuations have not led to any significant change in exports as 79% of the respondents reported that the exports were not affected much by rupee fluctuation. Thereby, emphasizing that there were other global factors that are restrictingthe growth of our exports.

Hiring

Hiring outlook for the sector shows a bleak picture as 65% of the respondents mentioned that they are not likely to hire additional workforce in the next three months.This shows a slight improvement from the hiring scenario in the previous quarter Q-4 of 2018-19, where 70% of the respondents were not in favor of hiring additional workforce.

Interest Rate

Average interest rate paid by the manufacturers has slightly decreased to 9.9% p.a. as against 10.3% p.a. during last quarter, but the highest rate remains as high as 14%. The recent cut in repo rate by RBI should come as a relief for the industry if banks pass it on and it expects more reduction in the rates in coming months to drive investments.

Sectoral Growth

Based on expectations in different sectors, it is noted that except sectors like Electronics & Electricals which is likely to register strong growth in Q-1 2019-20, whereas most other sectors are likely to have either moderate or low growth.

Table: Growth expectations for Q-1 2019-20 compared with Q-1 2018-19

Note: Strong > 10%; 5% < Moderate < 10%; Low < 5%

Production Cost

The cost of production as a percentage of sales for manufacturers in the survey has risen for 63% respondents. This, of course, is significantly lower than 72% for Q-4 of 2018-19. This is primarily due to increased cost of raw materials, wages, power cost, rising crude oil prices and increase in finance cost.

Under the Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP,) the estimated employment generated (number of persons) in micro enterprises during the years 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 are 3.58 lakhs, 3.23 lakhs, 4.08 lakhs, 3.87 lakhs and 5.87 lakhs, respectively.

The Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) was launched by the Government of India to make available collateral-free credit to the micro and small enterprise sector. Under the PMEGP scheme, the estimated employment generation has increased from 3.58 lakh to 5.87 lakh during the year 2014-15 to 2018-19.

The Ministry has established 18 Tool Rooms for integrated development of the industries by way of providing quality tools, trained personnel and consultancy in tooling and related areas and upgradation of technology. During the year 2017-18 and 2018-19, these 18 Tool Rooms provided training to 1.47 lakh and 2.08 lakh persons respectively, which has also helped them in self employment.

The Government has taken various steps for generating employment in the country like encouraging private sector of economy, fast tracking various projects involving substantial investment and increasing public expenditure on schemes like Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) and Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana- National Urban Livelihood Mission (DAY-NULM).

The Make in India, Skill India, Digital India schemes are being implemented by the Government and these are likely to enhance the employment base. MUDRA and START UP schemes have been initiated by the Government for facilitating self employment. In order to improve the employability of youth, Ministries/Departments run skill development schemes across various sectors. Government has also implemented the National Career Service (NCS) Project. Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protshahan Yojana has been initiated in the year 2016-17 for incentivizing industry for promoting employment generation.

This information was given by Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) announced its recommendations for the upcoming Union Budget to be tabled by the newly appointed Government in the upcoming parliamentary session. NASSCOM has explored the industrial requirements and perspective of various stakeholders taking their immediate benefits into account to ensure they don’t face any roadblocks in their growth trajectory. With the industry accounting for over 6.6% of the nation’s GDP and employing over 4.1 million skilled individuals, it clear that it has a multiplier effect on India’s economy and promoting it is crucial to achieve the USD 5 trillion GDP milestone by 2024.

India’s strength in IT-BPM services must be consolidated, says the body. It is proposing the establishment of a tax friendly Special Economic Zone policy for the next 20 years would help retain existing tax benefits as well as continue to generate employment while increasing foreign exchange earnings. It is also proposing incentivizing R&D based investments. India’s Engineering, R&D market has grown to USD 30 billion in the financial year 2019 and is estimated to touch USD 42 billion by 2022.

While there has been a continued focus on encouraging IT adoption and allocation of funds across sectors like an Innovation fund for secondary education, currently there are no specific incentives for R&D for IT companies. For this NASSCOM has said that measures to promote the creation of intellectual property in ER&D through incentivizing investments in centres of global MNCs in India and nurturing 1000 technology spin-offs from the ER&D centres in India by especially through 3D printing can help generate direct and in-direct employment for 350,000 people by 2025.

NASSCOM is also proposing incentivizing talent development and skilling.Building on NASSCOM’s initiative to inculcate a well-equipped and future ready workforce in the industry, they have recommended setting a budget of Rs 500 crore for the financial year for co-funding talent development and re-skilling in IT services.

As per latest data of the Agriculture Ministry on 22nd June, kharif sowing declined by more than 12%. The total area covered till the end of the current week was around 91 lakh hectares (lh) against 104 lh in the corresponding week of the previous kharif season. Due to delayed monsoon, several State Governments have advised the farmers not to rush to sowing and wait for the monsoon. At 6.3 lh, the area under rice was 32% lower than at the same time last year. Coarse cereals planting too fell short by almost a similar quantum compared to last year. Against 9.58 lh planted in the same period last year, only 7.4 lh has been covered so far.

As per monsoon data, Of the 36 meteorological subdivisions, 25% have recorded “deficient” rainfall, while six subdivisions recorded precipitation classified under the “large deficient” category. The overall monsoon deficiency is recorded 38% till June 23.

Natural gas output rose 0.1% to 5.39 bcm in April-May 2019 over April-May 2018.

Consumption or sales of fuel products fell 0.3% to 36.28 mt in April-May 2019 over April-May 2018. Sales of petcoke declined 23.9% to 3.07 mt, kerosene 11.4% to 0.52 mt, naphtha 9.3% to 2.02 mt, and bitumen 7.1% to 1.31 mt. Consumption of LDO also fell 5.0% to 0.09 mt, fuel oil 3.6% to 1.01 mt and ATF 1.7% to 1.36 mt. However, the consumption of others increased 23.4% to 2.04 mt, petrol 9.5% to 5.19 mt, lubes/greases 8.6% to 0.61 mt, diesel 2.4% to 15.10 mt and LPG 1.3% to 3.96 mt in April-May 2019.

Among public refineries, the output of Mangalore Refineries dipped 42.8% to 0.64 mt, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation 11.7% to 1.25 mt and Indian Oil Corporation 4.7% to 5.72 mt in May 2019 over May 2018. However, the output of Chennai Petroleum Corporation improved 4.4% to 0.79 mt, Bharat Petroleum Corporation 2.5% to 2.47 mt and Numaligarh Refineries 1.1% to 0.22 mt in May 2019.

Among private refiners, the output of Reliance Petroleum moved up 6.9% to 7.13 mt, while that of Essar Oil declined 2.7% to 1.66 mt in May 2019 over May 2018. Among JV refineries, the output of Bharat Oman improved 9.2% to 0.64 mt, while the output of HPCL Mittal fell 0.2% to 1.01 mt in May 2019.

The cumulative refinery output increased 1.2% to 42.17 mt in April-May 2019. The output of public refineries declined 4.7% to 21.67 mt, while that of private refineries improved 8.0% to 17.24 mt. The refinery output of JV refineries jumped 9.7% to 3.26 mt in April-May 2019. Among public refineries, the output of Mangalore Refineries declined 26.1%, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation 20.0% and Indian Oil Corporation 1.3%, while that of Chennai Petroleum Corporation moved up 5.0%, Bharat Petroleum Corporation 2.4% and Numaligarh Refineries 0.3%.

The overall capacity utilization was lower at 101.9% in May 2019 compared with 105.8% in May 2018, while it was lower at 101.7% in April-May 2019 compared with 101.7% in April-May 2018.

Crude oil output declined 6.8% to 5.52 mt in April-May period of the fiscal year ending March 2020 (April-May 2019), in addition to 1.9% decline recorded in the corresponding period of last year. Output of ONGC declined 4.6% to 3.45 mt, while that of Oil India fell 3.6% to 0.54 mt. Further, the crude oil production of private companies also eased 12.4% to 1.53 mt in April-May 2019 over April-May 2018.

At the start of the Meeting, the Council passed a resolution acknowledging the stellar role played by Shri Arun Jaitley, the former Chairperson of GST Council and expressed its gratitude and appreciation for the exemplary contribution made by him in making the GST Council a shining example of co-operative federalism that it has become today. The Council also thanked the outgoing Members and welcomed the new Members of the Council. It also expressed its deepest condolences at the untimely demise of Shri Prakash Pant, the former Finance Minister of Uttarakhand.

Altogether, 12 Agenda items were discussed during the Council meeting. Some of these items were of regular nature like confirmation of the Minutes of the 34th GST Council Meeting, deemed ratification by the Council of notifications, circulars and orders issued by the Central Government between 12th March, 2019 and 11th June, 2019, taking note of the decisions of GST Implementation Committee, etc.

The Council took a decision regarding location of the State and the Area Benches for the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) for various States and the Union Territories with legislature. It has been decided to have a common State Bench for the States of Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.

The tenure of National Anti-Profiteering Authority has been extended by 2 years.

The Council also decided to introduce electronic invoicing system in a phase-wise manner for B2B transactions. E-invoicing is a rapidly expanding technology which would help taxpayers in backward integration and automation of tax relevant processes. It would also help tax authorities in combating the menace of tax evasion. The Phase 1 is proposed to be voluntary and it shall be rolled-out from January 2020.

During Q4 of FY19, the Central Government issued dated securities worth Rs 156000 crore as against Rs 67000 crore in Q4 of FY18. The weighted average maturity (WAM) of new issuances stood at 14.18 years in Q4 of FY19 (14.70 years in Q3 of FY 19). The weighted average yield (WAY) of issuances for the same quarter was 7.47% compared to 7.82% in Q3 of FY 19. The temporary cash flow mismatches were bridged through issuance of Cash Management Bills amounting to Rs 60000 crore during the quarter. The net average liquidity injection by RBI under Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) including MSF was Rs 52364 crore during the quarter.

The total liabilities (including liabilities under the 'Public Account') of the Government, increased to Rs 8468086 crore at end-March 2019 from Rs 8340027 crore at end-December 2018. Public debt accounted for 89.5% of total outstanding liabilities at end-March 2019. Nearly 28.27% of the outstanding dated securities had a residual maturity of less than 5 years. The holding pattern indicates a share of 40.5% for commercial banks and 24.6% for insurance companies by end-December 2018.

G-Sec yields have softened in Q4 of FY19 with the decrease in weighted average yield of primary issuances to 7.47% from 7.82% in Q3 of FY 19 reflecting the impact of several developments namely decline in WPI and CPI inflation, reduction in the policy repo rate under the LAF by 25 bps, OMO purchase auction (sell/ buy/ swap) and narrowing of trade deficit during Feb-March 2019. The yield on 10-year benchmark G-Sec (7.26% GS 2029) closed at 7.35% on 29 March 2018. Central Government dated securities continued to account for a major share of total trading volumes in the secondary market, with a share of 83% in total outright trading volumes in value terms during Q4 of FY19.