In response to an appeal against the Delhi High Court's January 29 ruling upholding the constitutionality of the anti-profiteering provisions of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act and the creation of the National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA), the Supreme Court on Monday served notice to the government.
Because of the GST law's anti-profiteering rules, sellers of goods and services are required to pass on any tax rate reductions or input tax credit benefits to users in the form of corresponding price reductions.

Excel Rasayan filed an appeal, claiming that the provisions are "manifestly arbitrary and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India" because they do not provide a methodology or objective parameters for computing profiteering. A bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud served notice to the Finance ministry, the National Anti-profiteering Authority, its Director General, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, and the GST Council. According to the petitioner, the definition of "commensurate benefit," which is essential for identifying profiteering, is not included in the requirements.
Counsel Abhishek A. Rastogi contended that the clauses equate to the Executive sub-delegating to the National Anti-Profiteering Authority the powers that Parliament has delegated to it as important legislative functions. He said that the measures go beyond Parliament's ability to enact laws under Article 246A of the Constitution.

Over 100 companies, including Hindustan Unilever, Patanjali, Jubilant Foodworks, Reckitt Benckiser, Phillips, Gillette India, Procter and Gamble Home Products, and several others, had moved the HC against the anti-profiteering provisions. The HC upheld the law on the grounds that it “eliminates the levy of multiple taxes, avoids any cascading tax effect, streamlines the credit mechanism by weeding out distortions in the supply chains and ensures a smooth pass-through and transparent mechanism for levying tax."
 

Amitabh Chaudhry, the chief executive officer and managing director of Axis Bank, stated on Monday that the private lender is willing to collaborate with Paytm provided the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approves.

At the Axis Bank's "2023 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500" launch, Chaudhry stated, "Subject to regulatory approval and if the regulator allows us to work with Paytm, of course we will work with them, they are an important player."
Chaudhry made his remarks on the same day that RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das declared that the central bank's choices are well-considered and that there would be no review of its action against Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL).
He stated that while the RBI is not opposed to fintech, safeguarding the interests of depositors and consumers is its main goal. Das noted that the RBI consistently supports the fintech industry and that the bank works to assure the industry's quick expansion.
After the 606th meeting of the Reserve Bank of India's Central Board of Directors, Das made a strong statement to the public, saying, "Let me declare very clearly that there is no revision of this (PPBL) decision at this time. Let me state very clearly that there will not be a review of the decision, if that is what you were hoping for."

"Decisions are not taken in a casual manner," Das continued. In the public interest, decisions are made with the utmost seriousness. This is what I want to draw attention to.
The central bank took a significant step against PPBL on January 31 when it ordered the company to cease taking deposits or top-ups in any client accounts, wallets, FASTags, or other instruments after February 29.
 

Lower income was the reason for the 22% decline in the Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) consolidated net profit to ?422.9 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2023. During the October–December 2022–2023 period, the public sector undertaking (PSU) steel producer reported a net profit of ?542.18 crore.

According to an exchange report by the company, its sales decreased to ?23,348 crore in the third quarter of FY24 from ?25,042.1 crore in the same period last year.
Profits before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or EBITDA, for SAIL's Q3FY24 increased 3.1% to ?2,142.9 crore from the PSU's Q3FY23 total of ?2,078 crore. Additionally, the margin increased to 9.2% from 8.3% in the same quarter last year, a leap of 90 basis points.
"The consistent efforts by the company towards increasing its volumes have had a positive impact on the financial performance despite the significant decline in the price realization during the quarter," SAIL Chairman Amarendu Prakash said in a statement.
According to the official, the company is still firmly committed to achieving sustainable performance, with a focus on decarbonization, better capacity utilization, value addition, improved digitalization, and cost competitiveness.
According to SAIL, the company produced 4.75 million metric tons (MT) of crude steel during the quarter, slightly more than the 4.71 MT produced during the same period last year. Sales volume decreased to 3.81 MT from 4.15 MT in the October–December fiscal year prior.

Additionally, the SAIL Board announced an interim dividend of ?1 per equity share for FY24, with February 20 designated as the record date for interim dividend payment.
SAIL has declared an equity dividend of 15.00%, or ?1.5 per share, for the year ending in March 2023. For the past five years, the PSU has continuously declared dividends and has a strong dividend track record.
 

In December 2022, the rise in industrial output, as determined by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), was 5.1%. November of the previous year saw 2.4% growth in IIP. IIP growth reached 6.1% between April and December of this fiscal year, up from 5.5% during the same time the previous year. India's Index of Industrial Production is expected to increase by 3.8% in December 2023, according to a report from the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation.
The industrial sector's output growth advanced to 3.9% in December 2023 from 3.6% in the previous year, according to the most recent figures. Nonetheless, the growth in power generation decreased to 1.2% in December 2023 from 10.4% in the same month last year. Additionally, the rise in mining output decreased to 5.1% in the reviewed month from 10.1% in the corresponding time last year.
Chief Economist Aditi Nayar of rating agency ICRA stated that the manufacturing sector's improved performance drove the IIP's year-over-year increase to 3.8% in December 2023 from 2.4% in November 2023, in contrast to the slowdown in the growth of the core sector.

"In terms of the use-based categories, only primary goods reported a sequential moderation in December 2023, with all five other categories reporting an improvement," she said. With the available high frequency data for January 2024 appearing promising Nayar said, "we anticipate a modest rise in the IIP growth to 4-6 per cent in that month."

The data also showed that the output of primary goods logged 4.6 per cent growth in December last year, down from 8.5 per cent in the year-ago period. The expansion in intermediate goods segment was 3.4 per cent in the latest month under review, higher than 1.5 per cent recorded in the same period a year ago.

 

Gensol Engineering, a sustainable energy solutions provider, with Matrix Gas and Renewables, a green hydrogen infrastructure developer and natural gas aggregator, on Monday, announced the grant of manufacturing capacity for an advanced electrolyser plant.

"The awarded project, with a manufacturing capacity of 63 MW per annum, is strategically positioned to contribute significantly to India's ambitious goal of producing 5 million metric tons of green hydrogen annually by 2030," said the official press release.

It added that the capacity was awarded to Gensol and Matrix under the sustainable hydrogen innovation and green hydrogen technologies (SIGHT) program PLI scheme's tranche-I, as part of the National Green Hydrogen Mission.

Hero Future Energies (HFE), a renewable energy developer and part of the Hero Group, is exploring green hydrogen project opportunities in India and expects to make announcements in the coming months, its Global Chief Executive Officer, Srivatsan lyer, told ETEnergyWorld.

"Green hydrogen is a focal area of interest for us. We are actively engaging with various customers across India to explore diverse project opportunities. We anticipate making some announcements in the coming months as these discussions progress and materialise into concrete initiatives," he said in an exclusive interaction.

TDP Member of Parliament Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar on Friday demanded that the Centre take steps for revival of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant and review its decision to divest government stake. He was speaking in Rajya Sabha during Zero Hour.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had in January 2021 given in-principle approval for 100 per cent strategic disinvestment of the government shareholding in RINL -- also called Visakhapatnam Steel Plant or Vizag Steel - along with RINL's stake in its subsidiaries/joint ventures

"Subsequent to the decision of the government, there is much discontent among crores and crores of people of Andhra Pradesh. Employees and union of the plant are staging demonstrations and protesting against the decision. The request to reconsider the government decision has been made in different fora by people's representatives," Kumar said.

Shares of TRF, a Tata Group enterprise, surged to their highest level in more than eight years after its plan to amalgamate with promoter Tata Steel was called off earlier this week. The stock, which rose 10% on Friday - the highest tradable limit of the day - to ?432.50, has jumped close to 59% in the past three days following the scrapping of the merger plan.

The scheme of amalgamation between TRF and Tata Steel, announced in 2022, was seen unfavourable for shareholders of TRF. "The swap ratio announced at the time of the merger was not very beneficial for the minority shareholders and the shares had seen a correction then...so this is a reversal of that," said Amit Kumar Gupta, founder of Fintrekk Capital.

JSW Group plans to invest ?40,000 crore in its electric vehicle and component manufacturing projects in Cuttack and Paradip. Both projects are expected to create over 11,000 new jobs in the State.

Investing in phases, JSW Group will set up an EV and EV battery manufacturing unit at Naraj, Cuttack, at an investment of ?25,000 crore.

The group will use the most advanced battery technology with a capacity of 50 GWH and will be the world’s largest single-location project in the sector. It will cater to both mobility and energy storage systems.

The company will also set-up an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) plant for electric vehicles and components in the same integrated complex. Electric vehicle and battery manufacturing will generate employment for over 4,000.

In a case involving lump sum purchases of iron ore, the Chennai bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal found that the mine lease holder, not the customer, is responsible for paying service tax on minerals that are auctioned. This decision provided relief to JSW Steel. In an e-auction overseeing the sale of minerals in the districts of Bellary, Chitradurga, and Tumkur in Karnataka, a monitoring committee established by the SC purchased 16,000 tonnes of lumps of iron ore from Sesa Sterlite.

According to the revenue department, JSW was required to pay service tax under the reverse charge system because it had received services from the monitoring committee.

The central excise commissioner and GST subsequently decided that JSW Steel, not Sesa Sterlite, was responsible for paying the ?5 crore service tax. The corporation then filed an appeal with the appellate panel, which rendered a decision last week.

ACME Group on Friday said it has signed an agreement with gas exchange IGX to explore opportunities of collaborations for developing green hydrogen and ammonia projects in
India. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Manoj Kumar Upadhyay, Founder and Chairman of ACME
Group, and Rajesh Kumar Mediratta, Managing Director and CEO of IGX, at the ongoing India Energy Week in Goa, a statement said.
The agreement covers the partnership across the green hydrogen and ammonia value chain, starting from production to logistics and supply to the industrial customers for use in a range of applications and reduce the overall emissions contributing to the national decarbonization targets, the ACME Group said in the statement.
Ashwani Kumar Dudeja, Group President and Director of ACME Group, said,
"We're collaborating with IGX on developing the market for green hydrogen and its derivatives in India, aiming to pioneer sustainable energy solutions and create liquid and transparent market for

ACME Group on Friday said it has signed an agreement with gas exchange IGX to explore opportunities of collaborations for developing green hydrogen and ammonia projects in
India. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Manoj Kumar Upadhyay, Founder and Chairman of ACME
Group, and Rajesh Kumar Mediratta, Managing Director and CEO of IGX, at the ongoing India Energy Week in Goa, a statement said.
The agreement covers the partnership across the green hydrogen and ammonia value chain, starting from production to logistics and supply to the industrial customers for use in a range of applications and reduce the overall emissions contributing to the national decarbonization targets, the ACME Group said in the statement.
Ashwani Kumar Dudeja, Group President and Director of ACME Group, said,
"We're collaborating with IGX on developing the market for green hydrogen and its derivatives in India, aiming to pioneer sustainable energy solutions and create liquid and transparent market for

India's coal sector has emerged as the top performer among the eight core industries in December 2023, recording a provisional growth of 10.6%, according to the Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) with a base year of 2011-12, as reported by the ministryof commerce & industries.

The coal industry's index reached 204.0 points in December 2023, up from 184.4 points in the same month the previous year, marking a significant year-on-year increase. Furthermore, its cumulative index witnessed a 12.5% rise during April to December 2023-24 compared to the corresponding period of the prior year.

In connection with an attack on a coal mine in Jharkhand's Tetariyakhad in 2020, the NIA raided several sites in Bihar on Thursday and detained a guy along with Rs 1.3 crore, according to an official. According to a federal agency spokesperson, other items found during the raids at two locations each in Bhagalpur and Purnea and one place in Madhepura included a rifle, a pistol, five cell phones, a hard drive, incriminating documents, and various ammunition.
The case concerned an attack at the coal mine carried out by "terror gang" members Sujit Sinha, Aman Sahu, and others. It was first filed at the Balumath police station in Jharkhand in December 2020.

Tata Steel and TRF have canceled their intention to combine the two businesses after Tata Steel provided substantial assistance for TRF to successfully turn around its business operations.

In September 2022, the amalgamation plan was revealed. The boards of both firms informed exchanges on Wednesday that they would not be proceeding with the plan.