Maharashtra: Stamp duty waiver not to continue, ready reckoner rates stay unchanged

The Maharashtra state government announced it would not extend the 2% stamp duty waiver on property registrations, an initiative that had boosted the real estate sector after the pandemic-induced lockdown, but kept the Ready Reckoner rates unchanged for the 2021-22 financial year.

On a brighter note, the 1% stamp duty waiver for women home buyers, as announced in the state budget on March 8, would come into effect from Thursday. The concession is only for residential units and not for plots of land. Besides, the concession will not be applicable if there is a male co-owner of the unit. The state government had in August 2020 announced a 3% waiver on stamp duty from September to December and subsequently a 2% waiver from January-March in 2021 to boost the realty sector during the pandemic. The waiver had led to a significant upswing in property registrations.

The RR rates, which were revised six months ago, would be continued with for this financial year, stated the circular issued by the government on Wednesday evening.

State revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat tweeted that the regular rates would be applicable from April1.

State Inspector General of Registration and Stamps Shravan Hardikar said that according to the government’s direction, the Annual Statement Rate for 2021-2022 would be the same as it was in 2020-21. The RR rates for residential and commercial properties are announced on Apri l1ever year. In 2020, the revised rates were announced in September because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

On an average, the RR rates were increased by 1.74% last year. The highest average increase (3.91%) in the RR rates was registered in Pune district. 

India slips 28 places in global gender gap index

India has slipped 28 places to rank 140 among 156 countries in World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021, becoming the third worst performer in South Asia. According to the report, India has closed 62.5% of its gender gap to date. It had ranked 112 among153 countries in the 2020 index.

Noting that decline also took place in the economic participation and opportunity sub-index, albeit to a less extent, the report said India’s gender gap on this dimension widened by 3% this year, leading to a 32.6% gap closed till date.

Most of the decline occurred on the political empowerment sub-index, where India regressed 13.5 percentage points, with a significant decline in the number of women ministers (from 23.1% in 2019 to 9.1% in 2021). “Among the drivers of this decline is a decrease in women’s labour force participation rate, which fell from 24.8% to 22.3%. In addition, the share of women in professional and technical roles declined to 29.2%. The share of women in senior and managerial positions also remains low: only 14.6% of these positions are held by women and there are only 8.9% firms with female top managers,” the report said.

The estimated earned income of women in India is only one-fifth of men’s, which puts the country among the bottom 10 globally on this indicator.

Discrimination against women is also reflected in the health and survival sub-index statistics. With 93.7% of this gap closed to date, India ranks among the bottom five countries in this sub-index.

Wide gaps in sex ratio at birth are due to the high incidence of gender-based sex selective practices. In addition, more than one in four women have faced intimate violence in their lifetime, the report said. “Conversely, 96.2% of the educational attainment sub-index gender gap has been closed... Yet, gender gaps persist in terms of literacy: one third of women are illiterate (34.2%) compared to17.6% of men.”

Among India’s neighbours, Bangladesh ranked 65, Nepal 106, Pakistan 153, Afghanistan 156, Bhutan 130 and Sri Lanka 116. Among regions, South Asia is the second lowest performer on the index, with 62.3% of its overall gender gap closed.

The report said India, home to 650 million women, has widened its gender gap from almost 66.8% a year ago to 62.5% this year. 

3 more Rafales land in India

Three more Rafale fighters were expected to touch down in India from France on Wednesday night, which will add to the 11 omni-role jets already inducted by the IAF.

The three Rafales were refuelled mid-air by Airbus MRTT tankers of the UAE Air Force, in yet another indication of close military ties with the Gulf country, during their over 7,000-km flight to the Jamnagar airbase.

Another five Rafales will land in India towards end-April. The IAF will get all the 36 twin-engine Rafales, contracted under the Rs 59,000 crore deal inked with France in September 2016, by next year. The first Rafale squadron, 17 `Golden Arrows’ Squadron, is already operational at the Ambala airbase. The second, 101 `Falcons’ Squadron, will now come up at the Hasimara airbase in West Bengal.

Maharashtra: RT-PCR costs ₹600, antigen kits at ₹150

The state government slashed the rates for RTPCR, rapid antigen and antibody tests further on Wednesday. Now, getting an RT-PCR test in a hospital or a laboratory will cost Rs 600 and home collection Rs800 in Maharashtra.

The public health department on Wednesday issued a notification announcing the new rates. From the initial cost of Rs4,500, the price of RT-PCR was brought down to Rs1,600 in September, Rs850 in December and now to Rs600 at a laboratory or a hospital. The home collection rate is Rs 800 now, down from Rs 2,000 in September. The rate for bulk testing has been fixed at Rs 500, a reduction from Rs 700.

The revised rates for rapid antigen tests are Rs150 in a lab or a hospital, and Rs 200 if carried out in a kiosk or a place of mass collection. An antibody test in a lab or hospital will cost Rs 250 and Rs 350 for ELISA and CLIA .

Highway, rail infra clock record growth

The highway and rail infrastructure registered a record growth in 2020-21 despite the Covid pandemic impacting the first quarter of the year. National highway construction touched 35.6km per day, which is nearly 27% more than that of 2019-20. The Railways recorded the highest ever loading at 1,224 million tonnes, which was 2% more than the total freight transported by the national transporter in 2019-20.

While the cumulative NH construction at 13,000 km exceeded the target set by the highways ministry by 18%, the government could achieve the target in award of contracts at 10,000 km.

Sources said while NHAI, which mostly constructs highways of four lanes and more reported the highest ever construction of around 4,100 km, falling a little short of the target, the construction and widening of highways by the road ministry was close to 7,750 km compared to the target of 5,680 km.

NHIDCL, another wing of highways ministry that undertakes road works in the northeast and hill states, reported construction of 1,053 km in 2020-21. Addressing officials on Wednesday, Union railway minister Piyush Goyal said the total loading of freight was 1,224 million tonnes (MTs) and it was expected to touch1,230 MTs by the evening. He said this achievement was registered despite the shortfall of 70 MTs during the first four month of 2020-21. Goyal said railways had been setting records every month since September registering the highest ever loading of freight. Railway ministry officials also said the revenue from freight movement had touched Rs 1.17 lakh crore on early Wednesday, which was 3% more than 2019-20. “This figure may increase a bit by Wednesday midnight,” said a source.

Cabinet okays nearly ₹11k cr for food processing industry

The Union cabinet approved a Rs.10,900 crore Production Linked Incentive scheme for food processing industry as the Centre sought to rein in farm wastage, ramp up farmer incomes, boost employment and establish India’s own brands of food products in international markets.

The government has cleared a Rs 2 lakh crore PLI package for 13 sectors, including electronics, pharma, air conditioners and speciality steel with the money to be spent over the next five years.

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal, whose ministry did the groundwork for the scheme, said the scheme for food processing was part of the Modi government’s effort to strengthen the farm sector and support farmers through the three farm laws, and will incentivise both domestic and international firms that commit investments and sales in agri-processing businesses.

The scheme, he added will help create 2.5 lakh jobs by 2026-27, boost exports and facilitate expansion of food processing capacity to generate processed food output worth Rs 33,494 crore. The effort is to take the country's food processing to the next level amid rising global demand for Indian ready to eat foods, organic products, processed fruits and vegetables, marine products and mozzarella cheese, Goyal said.

The government also said the first component under the scheme relates to incentivising manufacturing of four major food product segments — ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat foods, processed fruits and vegetables, marine products and mozzarella cheese.

Food processing secretary Pushpa Subrahmanyam said the government will issue an expression of interest by the end of April.

February 2021: Core Sector Output Shrinks 4.6%

India’s core sector output contracted 4.6% in February from a year ago, the worst performance in the past six months, underlining a patchy economic recovery that faces headwinds from a second Covid-19 wave.

The core sector index, which measures the output of eight infrastructure industries — coal, electricity, crude oil, natural gas, steel, cement, fertiliser and refinery products – had risen 0.9% in January and 0.2% in December.

In the first 11 months of the financial year, core sector output was down 8.3% from a year ago, showed the data released by the ministry for commerce and industry on Wednesday. Growth may rebound from next month due to the base effect — core sector output had declined sharply from March 2020 as Covid-19 took hold and the country headed into a lockdown.

India’s key industrial states — Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu — are seeing a Covid-19 resurgence and measures to contain the spread there can dampen industrial growth.

All eight industry segments of the core sector saw a contraction in output in February.

Refinery products reported the sharpest 10.9% contraction followed by cement (-5.5%), coal (-4.4%), fertiliser (-3.7%), crude oil (-3.2%), steel (-1.8%), natural gas (-1.0%) and electricity (-0.2%).