Business

New Delhi: The Income Tax Department has detected “large-scale” under-invoicing of imports after it recently raided a trader of laptops and mobile phones, the CBDT said on Saturday. The searches were carried out on October 10 at locations in the National Capital Region, Haryana and West Bengal. “The evidences found and seized during the course of the search reveal that the payments for such under-invoiced goods to foreign consigners have been made through hawala channels. “Almost the entire business has been found to be run through such modus operandi,” the Central Board of Direct Taxes, the policy-making body for the tax department, said in a statement. It said Rs 2.75 crore cash was seized during the operation. The taxman found that the modus operandi of the trading group “involves impor...

Washington: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman discussed the post-pandemic economic recovery, India’s major role in the global fight against COVID-19 and preparations for the upcoming Climate Change Conference among other issues during her meeting with World Bank President David Malpass. Sitharaman met Malpass at the World Bank headquarters in Washington DC on Friday. “Both sides discussed various issues including #COVID #vaccination, #economicrecovery, preparations for #CoP26, initiative of #WBG for increasing lending space for India, IDA 20 replenishment, knowledge partnership with @WorldBank,” Finance Ministry said in a series of tweets. During the meeting, Sitharaman shared the measures being taken by India to contain the spread of the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, including the m...

SRINAGAR: The Department of Horticulture, Kashmir today celebrated “World Food Day” at Directorate of Horticulture Rajbagh Srinagar. The theme of this year’s celebration was “Safe food now for a healthy tomorrow”. On the occasion Director General Horticulture Kashmir Mr. Ajaz Ahmad Bhat (JKAS), highlighted the importance of celebrating “World Food Day”, and said that future of food is in our hands and nobody should be left hungry ormade to suffer from any form of malnutrition. He further said that we need sustainable agri-food systems that are capable of nourishing 10 billion people by 2050. He emphasized on spreading awareness among the general masses about reducing food losses and wastage, and in view of the food shortage he stressed on reviving food system. Later Director General toured...

Srinagar: Agriculture Production & Farmer’s Welfare Department celebrated world food day, during which various events were organized by the Department in all the districts of Kashmir Division. Principal Secretary Agriculture Production & Farmer’s Welfare Department Navin Kumar Chaudhary highlighted the importance of this day. In his message, he said the world food day is celebrated annually on 16th of October to promote global awareness and action for those who suffer from hunger. He said organic food, free of pesticides, processing or additives is essential to one and all and it not only promises good health but also a brighter future for a sustainable planet. Navin Kumar Chaudhary said that the primary focus is to tackle global hunger and strive to eradicate hunger across the wor...

Washington: The International Monetary Fund is warning of rising threats to the global economic recovery posed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and an outbreak of inflation. The lending agency called Thursday for greater efforts from wealthy nations to boost coronavirus vaccination rates in poorer countries, while also urging the Federal Reserve and other central banks to respond quickly if current inflation pressures prove not to be transitory. The IMF panel that sets policy for the 190-nation organization wrapped up its annual meeting with a joint statement expressing concerns about the wide divergence in vaccination rates between wealthy and poor countries. The group urged greater efforts by wealthy nations toward achieving a goal of having 40 per cent of the population of all countr...

New Delhi: India’s merchandise exports rose by 22.63 per cent year-on-year to USD 33.79 billion in September on better performance by key sectors while the trade deficit hit a record high of USD 22.59 billion as imports of crude oil and gold spiked. Official data released on Thursday showed that merchandise imports were worth USD 56.39 billion in September, a sharp increase of 84.77 per cent compared to the year-ago period. The trade deficit in September widened to an all-time monthly high of USD 22.59 billion due to a significant jump in gold and oil imports. Previously, the trade gap was at a record high of USD 20.2 billion in October 2012. The balance of trade for the first time touched USD 22.59 billion in a month, a DGFT official said. Gold imports during September zoomed to USD 5.11 ...

Pampore: Farmers of Patalbagh village in Pampore area of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district have appealed to authorities for preservation of paddy land. The farmers also demanded modern machinery for harvesting and post harvesting management of paddy. Talking to Kashmir Reader, a progressive farmer of Patalbagh and member of Kisan Advisory Board (KAB), Irshad Ahmad said that rice is the staple food of people of Kashmir. “We eat rice twice a day, we won’t think of any alternative to rice,” he said, adding that in Pulwama district around 16000 hectares of land is under paddy cultivation. The farmers appealed to authorities for protecting this paddy land from being converted to other uses. ” Agriculture sector is the only industry which registered 3 percent growth even during COVID induced knoc...

Washington: India offers a spectrum of opportunities to investors and business firms, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told executives of top American companies as she met and apprised them of various flagship programmes of the Indian government under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat. Sitharaman, 62, is currently in the American capital to attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. On the sidelines of these events, she has been meeting a host of top American CEOs with footprints in India and who have shown interest in seizing the investment opportunities in the country. In her meeting with Amway CEO, Milind Pant, the focus of discussion ranged in the areas of research and development, manufacturing automation, innovation and nutrition segment, the ministry ...

New Delhi: The wholesale price-based inflation eased to a six-month low of 10.66 per cent in September, helped by moderating food prices even as crude petroleum witnessed a spike. WPI inflation has remained in the double-digit for the sixth consecutive month beginning April, and a lower rate of inflation was recorded in March at 7.89 per cent. The high rate of inflation in September 2021 is primarily due to rise in prices of mineral oils, basic metals, non-food articles, food products, crude petroleum & natural gas, chemicals and chemical products etc. as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year, the Commerce and Industry Ministry said in a statement. Inflation in August was 11.39 per cent, while in September 2020, it was 1.32 per cent. Inflation in food articles eased ...

New Delhi: Passenger vehicle wholesales in India witnessed a 41 per cent year-on- year decline in September as semiconductor shortage hit production leading to a drop in supplies from manufacturers to dealers, auto industry body SIAM said on Thursday. Last month, passenger vehicle (PV) sales stood at 1,60,070 units as compared with 2,72,027 units in the year-ago period. As per the latest data by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), two-wheeler despatches to dealers also witnessed a dip of 17 per cent to 15,28,472 units, compared with 18,49,546 in September 2020. Motorcycle despatches declined 22 per cent last month to 9,48,161 units as against 12,24,117 in the year-ago period. Scooter sales were also down seven per cent to 5,17,239 units, from 5,56,205 units a year ago. T...