Morning Alert..
At Rs 14.71 trn, direct tax collection hits 86.6% of FY23 target by Jan 10
The Centre’s net direct tax collections, after adjusting for refunds, grew 19.55 per cent during the current fiscal year up to January 10, touching 86.68 per cent of the FY23 Budget Estimates (BE). Data released by the finance ministry on Wednesday showed that gross direct taxes grew 24.58 per cent to Rs 14.71 trillion up to 10 January. Net tax collections during the same period stood at Rs 12.31 trillion compared to the Rs 14-trillion target in the FY23 Budget. Aditi Nayar, chief economist at ICRA Ratings, said she expects direct taxes to exceed the BE by Rs 2.2 trillion on a gross basis. “We expect a healthy overshoot in direct taxes and CGST (central goods and services tax) to absorb a considerable part of the additional expenditure. The fiscal deficit may exceed the budgeted level by Rs 80,000 crore but a higher nominal gross domestic product (GDP) will restrict it to 6.4 per cent of GDP,” she added.
*India may exempt 30 GW of solar plants from equipment duty: Report*
India may exempt some solar projects from paying duties on equipment imports, according to government and industry sources, to bring renewable-energy capacity additions back on schedule and lower consumer power tariffs. Projects with 30 gigawatts of capacity will benefit, the sources said. In March 2021, the government announced 25% basic customs duties on solar photovoltaic cells and 40% on solar photovoltaic modules with effect from April 1, 2022 in order to block Chinese imports and encourage indigenous manufacturing. Exemption is being considered for projects that were awarded under tariff-based bidding by central agencies before the announcement was made on March 9, 2021, according to a government official and two company executives privy to the matter. They asked not to be named.
*Central govt tweaking compressed biogas scheme for better results*
From bundling the bio manure created during Compressed Bio Gas (CBG) production with fertilizers like urea, and mandating higher rates for CBG, the Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transport (SATAT) scheme is now being tweaked to generate more interest from entrepreneurs, officials said. Launched in 2018, SATAT aims to incentivise the production of compressed biogas (CBG) from various biomass sources. Given the abundance of biomass in the country, CBG has major potential to support the development of alternate clean fuel for automotive, industrial, and commercial uses in the coming years. The government had proposed that CBG plants be primarily set up through independent entrepreneurs. But the initial target of having 5,000 CBG plants over the next five years has faltered and the government was refocusing its approach to the scheme, officials had told Business Standard in October 2022.
*Commodity play*
Gold – Rs 55885/10gm, Silver – Rs 68117/kg, Brcrude – Rs 6130/barrel, Degumsyoil – Rs 1296/10kg, Copper – Rs 762/kg.
*Corporate News*
Adani Group to invest Rs 60,000 crore in MP over the next few years.
JSW Paints expects its revenue to touch Rs 5,000-crore mark by FY26.
L&T Finance to increase retail loan portfolio to 75% of total loan book.
SGX Nifty indicates positive start to Indian markets trading at 18005 levels up by 55 points or 0.31%. Dow Jones also ended yesterday`s session in green up by 0.80% at close.
Sector in focus – Banks, IT, Pharma & Metals.
