Policy Roundup – Key Developments and Highlights this Week

Last Updated on Sep 5, 2022 by Anjali Chourasiya

During the past week, the government initiated several new schemes and reviewed old ones. Renewed focus on exports, production, and energy formed the highlights of economic planning and outlook.

Table of Contents

1. Government targets $300 bn electronics production

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, launched a report titled Globalise to Localise: Exporting at Scale and Deepening the Ecosystem are Vital to Higher Domestic Value Addition. The report explored how India can achieve an electronics production target of $300bn and exports of $120 bn by 2025-26.

Chandrasekhar noted that post-COVID, value chains of electronics are undergoing deep tectonic irreversible changes.

2. Rs. 1.43 lakh cr. collected as GST in August

GST revenues for August 2022 grew by 28% y-o-yr. For six consecutive months now, the monthly GST revenues have crossed Rs. 1.4 lakh cr.

Revenue came from SGST [Rs. 30,951 cr., IGST (Rs. 77,782 cr., including Rs. 42,067 cr. collected on import of goods), and cess (Rs. 10,168 cr., including Rs. 1,018 cr. collected on import of goods).
During the month, revenues from import of goods were 57% higher, and the revenues from the domestic transactions (including import of services) were 19% higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year.

3. International Driving Permit (IDP) mooted

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways issued a notification for greater facilitation of citizens in the issue of IDPs across the country.

India, being a signatory to the Convention on International Road Traffic of 1949 (Geneva Convention), is required to issue IDPs as provided under this Convention, for the acceptance of the same on a reciprocal basis with other countries.
Currently, the format, size, pattern, colour, etc. of the IDP being issued differs across states in India. Due to this, many citizens are facing difficulties with their respective IDPs in foreign countries.

4. Tapping farmers to produce energy

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said the overproduction of sugar is a problem for the economy. While our requirement is 280 lakh tonnes of sugar this year, the production is more than 360 lakh tonnes. Noting that cane production can be repurposed to meet the high requirement of ethanol, the Minister urged the industry to focus on alternative fuels by enabling farmers to become not only food growers but energy producers as well.

5. Coal Ministry targets 1.23 bn tonnes production by 2024-25

Along with the identification of coal resource capacity, railways lines and other supporting infrastructure projects for coal evacuation have been sanctioned.

Of note, Central Coalfields Limited has 19 bn tonnes of coal resources and will contribute 135 mn tonnes by 2025. The construction of the Tori-Shivpur-Kathautia Rail Line will play a major role in reducing the need to transport coal by road.

6. One District One Product (ODOP) initiative

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal mooted the idea of integrating ODOP with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).

The minister said that ONDC would help in further expanding the frontiers of ODOP by bringing buyers and sellers together on a democratic platform.
Terming ODOP as an earnest effort to showcase the rich culture and tradition that India has to offer, the minister said that India’s districts and villages are home to crores of talented weavers, artisans, and craftsmen. Goyal expressed confidence that ODOP would help bring prosperity to those at the bottom of the pyramid.

7. 8 yrs of PMJDY

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) has completed 8 yrs. The aim of the programme has been financial inclusion. The programme grew 3-fold from Rs. 14.72 cr. in March 2015 to Rs. 46.25 cr. as of 10th August this year.

Over 67% of accounts have been opened in rural and semi-urban areas
About 5.4 cr. PMJDY account holders received direct benefit transfers from the Govt under various schemes in June 2022
56% Jan-Dhan account holders are women
Rs. 31.94 cr. RuPay cards issued to PMJDY account holders

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