Business

MUMBAI: Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), a Maharatna’ and a Fortune Global 500 Company is betting big on electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure and has chalked out a plan to offer charging stations at around 7,000 petrol pumps over next few years. The Company has distribution network involving 19,000+ retail outlets (fuel stations) across the country. The EV charging infrastructure will provide the Company a new business opportunity as well as a hedge against the risk of displacement of auto fuels. The EV ecosystem in India is expected to experience a robust growth in the coming years in India as auto manufacturers turn to electric vehicles to attract new consumers. The Companies that stands to benefit from this shift to EVs are the ones with a strong distribution networ...

NEW DEHLI: The total incidence of taxes on petrol has come down to 50 per cent and that on diesel to 40 per cent following a reduction in excise duty by the central government, and by a slightly higher proportion in states that have also cut local sales tax or VAT on the fuel. The retail price of petrol and diesel is decided after adding central excise, commission paid to dealers and value-added tax (VAT) to basic oil prices. The basic oil price is the prevailing international benchmark rate plus freight. On November 1, prior to the duty cuts, central excise of Rs 32.90 a litre and VAT of 30 per cent in Delhi made up for 54 per cent of the retail selling price of diesel, according to price build-up of the fuel available from state-owned fuel retailers. This, after the Rs 5 per litre reduct...

Pithoragarh: Over 1,500 rajma and potato growers of the Munsiyari sub-division of the district have suffered heavy losses with 30 per cent of their crops already got damaged due to the heavy rainfall from October 17-19. The roads damaged in the rains have only compounded their problems leading to extra transportation costs to take their produce to local markets. “The 5-km road from our village to the Mandir market has got badly damaged, we will have to carry rajma on horseback that will cost us Rs 450 per quintal,” Kammu Rawat, a rajma and potato grower from Bona village said. According to the farmer, the motor road from their village to the market is fully damaged up to Thapki. Over 450 families of three rajma and potato producing villages of Bona, Tomik and Golph have suffered damages to...

Rourkela, Odisha: The Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), a unit of SAIL, has registered the “best-ever” production performance for the April-October period in the current fiscal in three key segments of hot metal, crude and saleable steel. During the first seven months of the 2021-22 fiscal, the plant produced 24,63,448 tonnes of hot metal, 22,96,815 tonnes of crude steel and 20,90,372 tonnes of saleable steel, it said in a release on Friday. It achieved remarkable growth of 30.7 per cent, 31.1 per cent and 35.3 per cent respectively over the corresponding period last year. The earlier best April-October performance in all these segments was achieved in FY19. The dispatch from the steel plant also excelled in tandem with production. The RSP supplied 21,04,541 tonnes of saleable steel, achieving t...

SRINAGAR: Ajaz Ahmad Bhat , Director General Horticulture, Kashmir Saturday chaired a review meeting at Directorate of Horticulture Rajbagh Srinagar. The meeting was attended by Chief Horticulture Officers, and other Divisional level officers of the Department. The representatives of empaneled agencies for modified High Density Plantation Scheme also attended the meeting. During the meeting the Director General took review of all the Departmental schemes and emphasized upon all the officers and concerned agencies for timely completion of given targets. He urged the officer to make proper and full expenditure and said that low expenditure on the part of any Officer shall not be accepted. He further instructed them to speed up the implementation of the Modified High Density Plantation Scheme...

Mumbai: New & Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (NREDCAP) in association with EV infrastructure firm RACEnergy on Friday inaugurated the first battery-swapping station in Tirupati to pilot five retrofitted electric autos in the region. This solution offered by RACEnergy helps convert diesel auto-rickshaws into electric. The retrofit kits, along with the battery swapping stations and RACEnergy-made swappable batteries provide a well-integrated, economical and scalable solution, wherein drivers can simply swap their discharged batteries, with the charged ones within 2 minutes, enabling them to be on the road for longer durations, the company said in a release. The advanced technology integration of hot-swapping the batteries takes away any manual intervention of ...

SRINAGAR: Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today accused the earlier governments of deliberately discouraging Start-Ups in Jammu & Kashmir, including in the Kashmir valley, so that the youth could remain perpetually dependent on salaried government jobs and continue hanging around the political masters of the day. As a result, the region’s immense potential for entrepreneurship and self-livelihood remained unexplored, he said. Addressing an interactive meet of Agricultural Start-Ups and farmers, organised jointly by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultu...

SRINAGAR: Under ‘Eat Right Challenge’, Registration Mela and Awareness Camp were held at Soura and Industrial Estate (I.E) Baghi Ali Mardan Khan , here. ‘Eat Right Challenge’, is a flagship programme of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India to create a safe food environment in the country. During the Registration Mela, the Food Business Operators particularly street food vendors in and around Soura were sensitized regarding adoption of safe food practices. On spot 84 registration certificates were issued to these Food Business Operators. The Street Food vendors were further directed to take maximum benefit out of Prime Ministers Svanidhi Scheme. An awareness camp was also held in Industrial Estate Baghi Ali Mardan Khan which was attended by the spice manufacturers, bakers and confec...

Srinagar: With an aim to bring remarkable changes on the career pursuits in Kashmir region, Allen Career Institute, Nowgam, Srinagar felicitated the rankers of recently released NEET results during an impressive function at its Nowgam campus. A felicitation ceremony of Allen’s rankers was held at its Nowgam campus with the speakers and faculty highlighting the role of Allen Nowgam in reaching out to the students’ community in Kashmir with evolved processes of career pursuits. “Kashmir is known for its talent and intelligence. All we have to do is make arrangements and platforms for the young kids who can avail of the facilities and compete in the national level exams. We have to channelize their energy,” Managing Director, Guardian Group of Hostels, an affiliate of Allen Career Institute, ...

New Delhi: Petrol price has been further reduced by as much as Rs 8.7 per litre and diesel by Rs 9.52 in BJP ruled states and UTs – from Ladakh to Puducherry – as they matched the central government’s announcement of a cut in excise duty with slashing of local sales tax (VAT) rates. Buckling under pressure, the Union government had on Wednesday cut excise duty on petrol by Rs 5 per litre and that on diesel by Rs 10 a litre to give reprieve to consumers battered by record-high retail fuel prices. This announcement was matched by 22 states and Union Territories cutting VAT rates in different proportions. This has led to BJP and its partner ruled states witnessing steeper reductions in petrol and diesel prices in comparison to Maharashtra, Delhi, West Bengal and other states that are governed...