8 new road infra projects to put Lucknow into fast lane

With the approval of eight road infrastructure projects for Lucknow by the road and transport ministry and the state government, people will be able to move through Sitapur Road, Faizabad Road and Gomtinagar areas with ease.

These projects include four flyovers, three elevated roads and a cloverleaf.

After inaugurating the Tedhi Pulia flyover on Friday, defence minister and Lucknow MP Rajnath Singh said that all-round development would ensure a place for Lucknow in top three cities in the country.

He requested the Union road and transport minister Nitin Gadkari, who was also present on the occasion, to grant approval to several other projects proposed by him.

In response, Gadkari said: “Rajnath ji, I have already approved all the projects proposed by you before stepping on the aircraft for Lucknow.” This drew a thunderous applause from the crowd.

According to estimates, over a lakh people travelling into and outside the city through Sitapur Road will enjoy hassle-free ride once the network of flyovers and a cloverleaf proposed in the area gets constructed.

The Tedhi Pulia flyover (2.2 km) on this route was opened for the people on Friday.

The foundation of second flyover (5.05 km) on this route at Khurramnagar was also laid. The third flyover (1.8 km) at IIM Crossing had been approved earlier and construction work will start soon.

The fourth flyover (60 metre) proposed at Engineering College crossing and cloverleaf near Khurramnagar flyover was also approved on Friday.

Once all these projects are operational, a person entering the city will be able to move easily towards the main city through IIM Crossing flyover to Khurramnagar flyover, Tedhi Pulia flyover and Engineering College flyover.

Those who have to go to Indiranagar (Sector 25) and Gomtinagar will be able to take turn from the cloverleaf near Khurramnagar flyover towards Kukrail flyover towards Gomti Barrage and further towards Lohia Path without meandering through the roads within the city.

Highways construction touches record 37 km per day: Gadkari

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that the pace of highways construction in the country has touched a record 37 km per day in financial year 2020-21.

He said the achievement was remarkable as it was achieved despite constraints posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The ministry of road transport and highways has constructed 13,394 km of highways in fiscal year 2020-21. “Tremendous progress has been achieved in building national highways across the country... We have achieved a road building pace of 37 km of highways a day,” Gadkari said.

Gadkari said these “achievements are unprecedented and have no parallel in any other country in the world”.

He said over the past seven years, length of national highways has gone up by 50 per cent from 91,287 km (as of April 2014) to 1,37,625 km (as on March 20, 2021).

“Cumulative cost of ongoing project works has increased by 54 per cent at the end of the financial year 2020-21, compared to the financial year 2019-20 (as on March 31),” the minister said. Total budgetary outlay rose by 5.5 times, from Rs 33,414 crore in the financial year 2015 to Rs 1,83,101 crore for the financial year 2022. It was a slew of steps that saved Indian banks from Rs 3 lakh crore of non-performing assets, he said.

FX Kitty Swells at Fastest Pace

India’s foreign exchange reserves continue to be in record setting mode – FY21 saw $101.5 billion dollars accretion in reserves. This is the steepest rise ever in foreign exchange reserves in one financial year. Data also showed the central bank shored up its forex reserves to $579.3 billion as on March 26. This is slightly down from the record high of $590 billion in January-end.

India’s forex reserves is ranked third in the world after Japan and China.

“On balance, we expect RBI to continue its asymmetrical FX policy of buying FX when USD weakens and allowing depreciation if it strengthens,” said Indranil Sengupta, Chief India economist at BoA Securities. “Large depreciation during global shocks, like 2011, 2013 and 2018, will be a thing of the past.”

“Indian markets will likely see greater portfolio inflows going ahead as adequate FX reserves cut INR risks,” he said in a report.

BoA has forecast RBI’s forex intervention at $93 billion in FY21 and $45 billion in FY22 at a current account deficit of 0.5% of GDP.

The rise in reserves accelerated in recent years. The central bank took 12 years to build its first $100 billion war chest since the balance of payment crisis in 1991, when India had reserves to cover only 15 days of imports. In December 2003, reserves crossed the $100 billion mark for the first time. Now, foreign exchange reserves can cover more than a year’s import payments.

Experts say the reserves pile-up may continue into next fiscal because a current account deficit of less than 1% of GDP may make RBI purchase more US dollars to avoid rupee appreciation. Estimates for next year are around $645 billion by March 2022, says Rahul Bajoria, chief India economist at Barclay's Capital.

There’s however a dilemma for the central bank. Interventions to keep rupee at a level RBI is comfortable during strong forex inflows means buying dollars.

Spot market dollar purchase adds surplus rupees into the banking system, which is already awash with ₹8.3 lakh crore durable net liquidity.

And purchasing dollars through the forwards market, which RBI is doing of late, triggers a rise in forwards premium, prompting spread betters to tap arbitrage opportunities between offshore and onshore currency derivative markets.

RBI’s key policy stance is, however, to build high reserves to minimise the impact of global shocks. “Under an uncertain global economic environment, emerging market economies typically remain at the receiving end,” said RBI governor Shaktikanta Das in a recent speech.

Maharashtra ends financial year with revenues 28% below target

Maharashtra has ended the financial year with its annual revenue 27.6% below the target set for the year, as the pandemic crushed economic activity and tax collection. Figures till March 31 show a gap of Rs 95,893 crore between the target and the actual revenue generated for 2020-21.

Indeed, the revenue generated in 2020-21 was 11.6% lower than the state’s earnings in the previous year. The state’s revenue in 2019-20 was higher by Rs 33,160 crore compared to the pandemic year.

The silver lining was that the revenue generated in March 2021 was higher than in March 2020 by Rs 8,190 crore. Indeed, at Rs 33,721 crore, the revenue generated in March 2021 was the highest in a single month in the financial year. Officials say this is the result of higher tax collections in the last month of the financial year and a larger chunk of payouts from the Centre, including GST compensation and the state’s share of central taxes.

The latest data shows that the state generated revenue worth Rs 2.5 lakh crore during 2020-21 compared to a revenue target of Rs 3.5 lakh crore.

The state’s collection of major taxes was 69% of the annual target, and non-tax revenue collection was 66.6% of the target. In 2019-20, the state’s collection of major taxes was 89.6% of the target and non-tax revenue was 85% of the target.

However, the pandemic also affected the Centre’s tax collections resulting in lowered GST compensation and share of central taxes passed onto states.

Maharashtra ended the financial year with a shortfall in GST compensation from the Centre worth Rs 28,833 crore. The Centre had also cut its tax transfers to states during the year, impacting revenue generation. The state received Rs 13,482 crore less in its share of central taxes compared to the original target. The state was expecting to receive Rs 48,109 crore, but ended up receiving Rs 34,627 crore by the end of the financial year.

The state’s financial position remains bleak at the start of the new financial year. It’s debt is at an all-time high of Rs 6 lakh crore and it faces its highest-ever revenue deficit. The second Covid wave is also expected to hit sectors, including tourism and hospitality, which expect to generate business during the summer vacation.

“Typically, there is not much revenue generation in the first month of the new financial year, but the tourism sector in particular sees a lot of activity, which will be affected by the rise in cases,” said a senior official.

Cut in rate on small savings schemes withdrawn

On Thursday, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government will roll back a steep interest rate cut on small saving schemes such as PPF and NSC, saying it was an oversight, a move seen as an attempt by the BJP to contain the fallout of a decision hitting the common man in the ongoing elections in West Bengal, Assam and three other states.

While the government routinely announces interest rates for small saving schemes at the end of every quarter, the Wednesday’s decision to cut interest rate by up to 1.1 per cent across various small savings schemes, including the National Savings Certificates and Public Provident Fund came a day before the second phase of polling in West Bengal including the political hotbed Nandigram, from where West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is contesting.

The decision to rollback citing “oversight” was taken hours after announcing the steepest cut in the rate on small savings schemes. “Interest rates of small savings schemes of GoI shall continue to be at the rates which existed in the last quarter of 2020-2021, ie, rates that prevailed as of March 2021. Orders issued by oversight shall be withdrawn,” Sitharaman said in an early morning tweet.

Interest rate on Public Provident Fund was reduced by 0.7 per cent to 6.4 per cent while National Savings Certificate was to earn 0.9 per cent less at 5.9 per cent. The highest cut of 1.1 per cent was effected in the one-year term deposit. The new rate was brought down to 4.4 per cent as compared to 5.5 per cent. Interest rates for small savings schemes are notified on a quarterly basis.

Congress said one can imagine the functioning of the economy when such a duly approved order affecting crores can be issued by an “oversight”. Once restored, PPF and NSC will carry an annual interest rate of 7.1 per cent and 6.8 per cent, respectively.

Wipro to Buy Oz Firm Ampion

Wipro said it would buy Australia-based cyber security, DevOps and quality engineering services company Ampion for $117 million in an all cash deal.

The acquisition is part of Wipro CEO Thierry Delaporte’s strategy to go inorganic to add clients and local employees in key markets.

Since taking over as Wipro’s CEO in July, Thelaporte has committed nearly $1.74 billion for acquisition of five companies, including UK-based IT consulting firm Capco for $ 1.45 billion, which the company announced in March.

Ampion was formed through the merger of IT services providers Revolution IT and Shelde. Revolution IT was an IT services company in Australia founded in 2004 and Shelde was a digital IT security company founded in 2010 in Australia.

The merged entity, Ampion, is headquartered in Melbourne, with offices in Sydney, Brisbane, and Canberra. Wipro said in a filing that Ampion’s annual revenue run rate for the year ended June 30, 2020 stood at $85.5 million.

The Australian market is undergoing significant disruption through the adoption of cloud, DevOps, analytics and resilience-related digital capabilities, across enterprises and public sector entities. Wipro and Ampion’s combined offerings, powered by engineering transformation, DevOps and security consulting services will bring scale and market agility to respond to the growing demands of customers.

“Ampion has a success- ful track record and enjoys immense credibility with leading enterprises in the region, a collaborative work culture, and significant local subject matter expertise,” said NS Bala, CEOAPMEA at Wipro. “We see Ampion as a complementary force that will help us expand our footprint and accelerate our journey in the Asia Pacific region.”

The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the quarter ending June 30, 2021.

“Our clients, employees and the entire market ecosystem will tremendously benefit from the synergies of Ampion and Wipro’s combined portfolio of transformation offerings,” said Jamie Duffield, CEO at Ampion. “We believe that Ampion’s experience, talent, capabilities and proven client credentials in ANZ, coupled with Wipro’s global scale, leadership in technology, and a deep understanding of domain and delivery, will make us a truly formidable team.”

Delaporte has been looking at strategic acquisitions to add capabilities in the digital technology areas and expand the Bengaluru-headquartered IT services company’s presence in emerging markets.

GST Mop-up Crosses ₹1L Cr Mark for 6th Straight Month

India’s goods and service tax revenue touched a record in March, with the government collecting almost ₹1.24 lakh crore on a sustained economic recovery and improved compliance with anti-evasion measures. Issuance of e-way bills also touched 71.2 million in March, the highest in three years.

GST revenue crossed the ₹1 lakh crore mark for the sixth straight month and with a steep increasing trend over this period indicate rapid economic recovery post-pandemic, the finance ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

Collections in March were 27% higher than a year earlier, while they increased 14% in the January-March quarter.

Revenue from GST had declined 41% and 8% on-year in the first and second quarters of FY21, respectively, after the Covid-19-induced slowdown. Collections grew 8% and 14% in the following two quarters, indicating a recovery in both GST collections and the economy.

“FY21 is clearly a story of two halves, with 2HFY21 average monthly collections being 50.1% higher than 1HFY21,” said DK Pant, chief economist at IndiaRatings.

Revenue from imports was 70% higher in March and from domestic transactions was 17% higher.

“Increase in collections on imports, accompanied by the increase in domestic transactions, would indicate that the overall production/ consumption cycle is back to normal,” said MS Mani, a senior director at Deloitte India. E-way bills and electronic invoices also show clear signs of economic recovery.

Over 71.2 million e-way bills – needed for the movement of goods of over ₹50,000 in value – were generated in March. On March 24, almost 2.8 million e-way bills were generated, the highest in a day. So far, over 1.8 billion e-way bills have been generated in three years.

March also recorded 83.1 million electronic invoices, the highest number issued in a month since October 2020, when the system was introduced. On the last day of March, 3.74 million e-invoices were generated, the highest in a day in the past six months, when more than 398.1 million e-invoices were generated.

The upward trend in GST over the past few months emerged due to closer monitoring of fake billing, deepdata analytics from multiple sources including GST, income-tax and customs IT systems and effective tax administration.

In addition to improved GST collections over the past six months, the major states reported a significant increase in March from the previous year. Haryana, Delhi, UP, Gujarat, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Telangana have shown up to 25% growth in revenue.

Gross GST revenue collected in March was ₹1,23,902 crore, of which central GST was ₹22,973 crore, state GST was ₹29,329 crore and integrated GST was ₹62,842 crore, including ₹31,097 crore collected on imports. Cesswas ₹8,757 crore, including ₹935 crore collected on imports.