Govt announces up to 50% cut in toll rates on..., check details here
Government Reduces Toll Charges: Giving a major relief to commercial vehicle owners, the PM Modi-led central government has slashed toll rates by up to 50 percent. The rate cuts will be applicable on sections of National Highways with structures like tunnels, bridges, flyovers, or elevated stretches. Notably, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has revised the National Highways Fee Rule 2008, introducing a new formula for calculating toll charges.
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Hindustan Times
10 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
PM Modi in Brazil for BRICS Summit, Trump tariffs likely in group's focus
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Brazil on Sunday (Saturday evening local time) for the BRICS Summit 2025 in Rio de Janeiro after wrapping his Ghana and Trinidad and Tobago visits. Prime Minister Narendra has a packed agenda for the BRICS Summit 2025 in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro.(AFP) This is the fourth leg of PM Modi's five-nation tour, which began on July 2. Modi then landed in Argentina for the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister in over five decades. Now he is in Brazil, from where he will head to Namibia to cap off his longest diplomatic tour yet. The BRICS summit will be held without the presence of the two big bloc leaders. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin will not attend the meeting this year. However, the annual summit has a packed agenda. PM Narendra Modi in Brazil: India's BRICS agenda PM Narendra Modi's first priority is that the BRICS bloc of nations calls out terrorism in clear terms. The BRICS declaration in Rio de Janeiro is expected to condemn the Pahalgam terror attack, which took 26 lives, mostly of tourists, in the Jammu and Kashmir resort town of Pahalgam on April 22. India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 in response to the attack, targeting terror infrastructure in PoJK and Pakistan. Apart from that, the BRICS summit is expected to adopt a framework for climate finance, collaboration on artificial intelligence, and a new health initiative aimed at reducing disparities. India is also pushing for trade settlement in national currencies, which would reduce the global South's dependence on the US dollar. BRICS on Trump tariffs BRICS leaders' meeting in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday is also expected to decry US President Donald Trump's "indiscriminate" trade tariffs, saying they are illegal and risk hurting the global economy. Emerging nations, which represent about half the world's population and 40 percent of global economic output, have united over "serious concerns" about US import tariffs, according to a draft summit statement reported by AFP. The draft summit declaration does not mention the United States or its president by name, but leaders gathering for talks on Sunday and Monday could amend it. "We voice serious concerns about the rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures which distort trade and are inconsistent with WTO (World Trade Organization) rules," AFP quoted the draft text. The draft text warned that such measures "threaten to further reduce global trade" and are "affecting the prospects for global economic development."
Hans India
12 minutes ago
- Hans India
Govt initiatives drive India to become fourth most equal country
In yet another significant achievement for the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government, India's Gini Index now stands at 25.5, making it the fourth most equal country in the world, after the Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Belarus, according to a World Bank report. The Gini Index is a simple yet powerful way to understand how equally income, wealth or consumption is distributed across households or individuals in a country. It ranges in value from 0 to 100. A score of 0 means perfect equality. A score of 100 means one person has all the income, wealth or consumption and others have none, hence absolute inequality. The higher the Gini Index, the more unequal the country. India's score is much lower than China's 35.7 and far lower than the United States, which stands at 41.8. It is also more equal than every G7 and G20 country, many of which are considered advanced economies. India is not only the world's fourth-largest economy; it is also one of the most equal societies today. This is a remarkable achievement for a country of its size and diversity. It reflects how India's economic progress is being shared more evenly across its population. Behind this success is a consistent policy focus on reducing poverty, expanding financial access, and delivering welfare support directly to those who need it most. According to the government, India's strong standing on the Gini Index is not a coincidence. 'It is closely linked to the country's sustained success in reducing poverty across both rural and urban regions. The Spring 2025 Poverty and Equity Brief by the World Bank highlights this achievement as one of the most significant in recent years,' according to an official statement. According to the World Bank report, 171 million Indians have been lifted out of extreme poverty over the past decade. The share of people living on less than $2.15 a day, which was the global threshold for extreme poverty till June 2025, fell sharply from 16.2 per cent in 2011-12 to just 2.3 per cent in 2022-23. Under the World Bank's revised extreme poverty threshold of $3.00 per day, the 2022-23 poverty rate would be adjusted to 5.3 per cent. India's progress towards greater income equality is backed by a series of focused government initiatives. Some of the key schemes and initiatives are PM Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar and Digital Identity, Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), Ayushman Bharat, Stand-Up India, Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), and PM Vishwakarma Yojana, among others. 'What sets India apart is its ability to balance economic reform with strong social protection. Targeted schemes like Jan Dhan, DBT, and Ayushman Bharat have helped close long-standing gaps. At the same time, programmes such as Stand-Up India and PM Vishwakarma Yojana are helping people create wealth and secure livelihoods on their own terms,' said the government.
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Business Standard
43 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Adani to rival Reliance with PVC plant at Gujarat's Mundra by 2028
Billionaire Gautam Adani's conglomerate will build a 1 million tonne a year PVC plant at Mundra in Gujarat, marking its foray into the petrochemicals sector where Reliance Industries Ltd is the main player, sources said. PVC, or Polyvinyl Chloride, is a synthetic plastic polymer that is widely used to make an array of products - from pipes and fittings to window and door frames, cable insulation, vinyl flooring and wall coverings, credit cards and toys. India's annual PVC demand is about 4 million tonnes, while domestic production capacity stands around 1.59 million tonnes, half of which is with Reliance. PVC demand is projected to grow at a CAGR of 8-10 per cent, driven by sectors such as agriculture as land under irrigation increases, infrastructure aided by water supply and sanitation, housing and pharmaceutical and packaging segments. Adani Group's flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd is setting up a petrochemical cluster in Mundra. Within this cluster, it is constructing a PVC manufacturing plant with a capacity of 1 million tonnes per annum, two sources aware of the matter said. The facility is slated for commissioning by fiscal 2028 (April 2027 to March 2028 financial year). The PVC Project is expected to include capabilities for manufacturing PVC, chlor-alkali, calcium carbide and acetylene units. Adani group is looking to implement the Acetylene and Carbide-based PVC production process, with environment clearance and consent to establish the project, having already been received, sources said. Given the current higher demand and lower supply of PVC in India, the Adani project will help reduce the supply gap and import dependency. The project will pit the group against Reliance, which is currently India's largest PVC producer, with an estimated capacity of around 7,50,000 tonnes per annum. Reliance has PVC plants at Hazira, Dahej and Vadodara in Gujarat. It is looking to double its capacity by 2027. Adani's group and Mukesh Ambani's Reliance had for long moved in non-overlapping orbits, but first clean energy and now petrochemicals would be sectors where they could be competing against each other. Sources said Adani's Mundra plant could in the future be expanded to 2 million tonnes per annum capacity on demand growth. Initially halted in March 2023 due to financial uncertainties and allegations from US short-seller Hindenburg Research, work on the project was resumed last year. The Adani Group has since refocused its resources, raising over USD 5 billion in equity and additional debt, and fully repaid share-backed financing. Financed by an SBI-led consortium, the project will utilise acetylene and carbide-based PVC production processes. Sources said the Adani group is confident of sourcing feedstock given that its portfolio companies have expertise in trading in domestic and international markets. Also, the group's synergy benefits and availability of large land parcels in Mundra, together with access to port facilities will optimise the logistics cost for sourcing of raw material/inventory handling cost as well as for transportation of the final products to the prospective domestic and overseas markets and ensure smooth implementation of the project. They said the Adani portfolio has a proven track record in successfully commissioning and managing large-scale infrastructure and industrial projects, encompassing areas like ports, power, and logistics. It has an abundance of science and engineering graduates, along with a well-trained workforce proficient in various skills.
