OTAKUBAY

India's foreign exchange reserves continue to rise and are edging towards USD 600 billion, hitting a nearly one-year high. In the week that ended on May 12 for which data is available, the reserves rose by USD 3.553 billion to USD 599.529 billion. Prior to the May 12 week, they rose by USD 7.196 billion to USD 595.976 billion, RBI data showed. Coming back to RBI's latest data, India's foreign currency assets, the biggest component of the forex reserves, rose by USD 3.577 billion to USD 529.598 billion. Gold reserves during the latest week rose by USD 38 million to USD 46.353 billion. In October 2021, the country's foreign exchange reserves touched an all-time high of about USD 645 billion. Much of the decline since then can be attributed to a rise in the cost of imported goods in 2022. Also, the forex reserves had fallen largely because of the RBI's intervention in the market to defend the depreciating rupee against a surging US dollar. Typically, the RBI, fr

Airports Authority of India (AAI) is back in the black, raking in a profit of Rs 3,400 crore in the fiscal ended March as surging domestic air traffic boosted its financial performance, according to a source. AAI has reported a profit for the first time after the coronavirus pandemic that had significantly impacted air traffic and the aviation sector as a whole. In the financial years -- 2021-22 and 2020-21 -- AAI had reported a loss. While the loss was Rs 803.72 crore in the fiscal ended March 2022, the same stood at Rs 3,176.12 crore in the financial year ended March 2021. These figures excluded exceptional and extraordinary items and tax. The source in the know told PTI that AAI has recorded a profit of Rs 3,400 crore for the 2022-23 financial year. This is a provisional figure and the final figure will be known after the audit of the financial results. The source also said the good performance was mainly due to the high growth in domestic air traffic. In 2022, domestic air

Airports Authority of India (AAI) is back in the black, raking in a profit of Rs 3,400 crore in the fiscal ended March as surging domestic air traffic boosted its financial performance, according to a source. AAI has reported a profit for the first time after the coronavirus pandemic that had significantly impacted air traffic and the aviation sector as a whole. In the financial years -- 2021-22 and 2020-21 -- AAI had reported a loss. While the loss was Rs 803.72 crore in the fiscal ended March 2022, the same stood at Rs 3,176.12 crore in the financial year ended March 2021. These figures excluded exceptional and extraordinary items and tax. The source in the know told PTI that AAI has recorded a profit of Rs 3,400 crore for the 2022-23 financial year. This is a provisional figure and the final figure will be known after the audit of the financial results. The source also said the good performance was mainly due to the high growth in domestic air traffic. In 2022, domestic air

Public sector banks' cumulative profit crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore-mark in the financial year ended March 2023, with market leader State Bank of India (SBI) accounting for nearly half of the total earnings. From posting a total net loss of Rs 85,390 crore in 2017-18, the Public Sector Banks (PSBs) have come a long way as their profit touched Rs 1,04,649 crore in 2022-23, according to an analysis of their financial results. These 12 PSBs witnessed 57 per cent increase in total profit compared to Rs 66,539.98 crore earned in 2021-22. In percentage terms Pune-based Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) had the highest net profit growth with 126 per cent to Rs 2,602 crore, followed by UCO with 100 per cent rise to Rs 1,862 crore and Bank of Baroda with 94 per cent increase to Rs 14,110 crore. However, in absolute term, SBI has reported an annual profit of Rs 50,232 crore in 2022-23, showing an increase of 59 per cent over the preceding financial year. Except for the Punjab National Bank (PNB)

Public sector banks' cumulative profit crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore-mark in the financial year ended March 2023, with market leader State Bank of India (SBI) accounting for nearly half of the total earnings. From posting a total net loss of Rs 85,390 crore in 2017-18, the Public Sector Banks (PSBs) have come a long way as their profit touched Rs 1,04,649 crore in 2022-23, according to an analysis of their financial results. These 12 PSBs witnessed 57 per cent increase in total profit compared to Rs 66,539.98 crore earned in 2021-22. In percentage terms Pune-based Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) had the highest net profit growth with 126 per cent to Rs 2,602 crore, followed by UCO with 100 per cent rise to Rs 1,862 crore and Bank of Baroda with 94 per cent increase to Rs 14,110 crore. However, in absolute term, SBI has reported an annual profit of Rs 50,232 crore in 2022-23, showing an increase of 59 per cent over the preceding financial year. Except for the Punjab National Bank (PNB)

Gevra Mega project in Chhattisgarh of South Eastern Coalfields (SECL) recently became the first mine in the country to achieve 50 million tonne of coal production annually. The government is currently trying to expand its capacity to achieve 70 million tonne output annually which would make it the largest coal-producing mine in Asia. Coal Secretary Amrit Lal Meena during his two-day visit to Chhattisgarh held a high-level review meeting with top officials of the Chhattisgarh government in Raipur. The deliberations in the meeting were centred around issues related to SECL's operations including environmental clearances, forest clearances, land acquisition, cooperation from the state government for rehabilitation and resettlement especially in respect of SECL's mega projects such as Gevra, Dipka and Kusmunda, according to a statement from the ministry of coal released on Saturday. During the meeting, coal secretary emphasised on time-bound completion of the projects with effec

Gevra Mega project in Chhattisgarh of South Eastern Coalfields (SECL) recently became the first mine in the country to achieve 50 million tonne of coal production annually. The government is currently trying to expand its capacity to achieve 70 million tonne output annually which would make it the largest coal-producing mine in Asia. Coal Secretary Amrit Lal Meena during his two-day visit to Chhattisgarh held a high-level review meeting with top officials of the Chhattisgarh government in Raipur. The deliberations in the meeting were centred around issues related to SECL's operations including environmental clearances, forest clearances, land acquisition, cooperation from the state government for rehabilitation and resettlement especially in respect of SECL's mega projects such as Gevra, Dipka and Kusmunda, according to a statement from the ministry of coal released on Saturday. During the meeting, coal secretary emphasised on time-bound completion of the projects with effec

Regulatory body TRAI on Saturday clarified and denied news reports that it was undertaking a drive to probe all past tariff plans for predatory pricing. "There is no special drive being undertaken by TRAI to probe all the past tariff plans filed by telecom companies except those specific plans under examination," the regulator said in a statement on Friday evening. Recently, a media report had said that Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was probing all past tariff plans against all service providers for predatory pricing while offering unlimited 5G data. One of the other important things that TRAI has also clarified over the draft regulations on metering and billing is that proposed regulations reduce the burden of service providers in terms of number of audits being conducted in a year. The regulatory body added that instead of auditing each licensed service area (LSA) in each quarter, audit is proposed on a yearly basis which means each LSA is to be audited o

Regulatory body TRAI on Saturday clarified and denied news reports that it was undertaking a drive to probe all past tariff plans for predatory pricing. "There is no special drive being undertaken by TRAI to probe all the past tariff plans filed by telecom companies except those specific plans under examination," the regulator said in a statement on Friday evening. Recently, a media report had said that Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was probing all past tariff plans against all service providers for predatory pricing while offering unlimited 5G data. One of the other important things that TRAI has also clarified over the draft regulations on metering and billing is that proposed regulations reduce the burden of service providers in terms of number of audits being conducted in a year. The regulatory body added that instead of auditing each licensed service area (LSA) in each quarter, audit is proposed on a yearly basis which means each LSA is to be audited o

Tax Collected at Source (TCS) for spending through international credit cards under RBI's Liberalised Remittance Scheme on overseas tour packages and any other remittance (such as for bonds, shares, and real estate gifts) will be exempted within the annual limits of USD 250,000, the government clarified on Thursday. TCS for these cases, when it crosses USD 250,000 per fiscal, will be now at 20 per cent from July 1, against the earlier 5 per cent. The Finance Ministry said the changes were necessitated as some instances have come to notice where the LRS payments were "disproportionately high" when compared to the disclosed incomes. The new rules under LRS don't change anything except bringing parity between the usage of debit and credit cards abroad. By bringing TCS on credit card under LRS, the government aims at plugging the loophole. Earlier, expenditures through credit cards were not accounted for under the specified LRS limit, which led to some individuals exc