Search Results for “Rulka Electricals Limited” – Finschool By 5paisa (2024)

BUDGET 2023-24 has cheered up Indian Industry Leaders and have hailed it as “prudent”, “positive” and “progressive”. The Budget has a clear vision with 7 Priorities or Saptrishi as India enters in the “Amrit Kaal”. The modifications under the new tax regime has provided relief to common man which will certainly boost consumption. The overall perspective of the BUDGET 2023-24 is positive and includes great optimism at every stages for economic growth. This is the year where Finance Minister Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman has used many of the Sanskrit terms like “Shree Anna”, “Panchamrit” and many more which makes this budget unique on its own.

SO HERE IS THE BUDGET 2023-24 ANALYSIS

PART A

The word Amrit Kaal was coined by Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi in the year 2021 during the festivities of 75^th Independence Day. While announcing a new blue print for India’s next 25 years, PM Modi used this phrase. Amrit Kaal has a goal of improving quality of life for Indian habitants and close development gap between rural and urban areas.

The term “Amrit Kaal” comes from Vedic astrology. It refers to a crucial period when humans enjoy greater pleasure. It means the most fortunate time to begin any work.

BUDGET 2023-24 was presented by Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs. While presenting the budget she emphasized that Indian economy is on the right track and despite challenges it is heading towards a bright future.

Finance Minister said that this Budget hopes to build on the foundation laid in the previous budget and the blueprint drawn for India@100. This Budget envisions a prosperous and inclusive India, in which the fruits of development will be enjoyed by all the citizens, especially youth, women, farmers, OBCs, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes.

While presenting the Budget, Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman also said that during the nine years of the government, Indian economy has increased in size from being 10^th to 5^th largest in the world. India has significantly improved its position as a well governed and innovative country with a conducive environment for business.

India has now a rising profile due to several accomplishments like World Class Digital Public Infrastructure namely Aadhaar, Co-win and UPI; Covid-19 vaccination drive, proactive roles in frontier areas such as achieving the climate related goal, mission LiFE, and National Hydrogen Mission.

She Also Pointed Out Certain Points Mentioned Below Before Beginning The Budget

1. During Covid-19 pandemic, Government ensured that no one goes to the bed hungry. Free supply of food grains to over 80 Crore persons for 28 months. Government is implementing from 1^st January 2023, a scheme to supply free food grains to all Antyodha and priority households for the next one year, under PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY). This entire expenditure of Rs 2 Lakh crore will be borne by the government.
2. During the time of challenges, the G20 Presidency gives India a unique opportunity to strengthen its role in the world economy. With the theme of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’.
3. Government has put in efforts since 2014 and have ensured that all citizens of the country gets a better quality of life of dignity. Per Capita Income has more than doubled to Rs 1.97 lakh. The economy has become a lot more formalized as reflected in the EPFO membership.
4. The Finance Minister also pointed out that efficient implementation of many schemes with universalization of target benefits has resulted in the inclusive development. Some schemes such as 7 crore household toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission, 9.6 crore LPG connections under Ujjawala, 220 crore Covid vaccinations of 102 crore persons, 47.8 crore PM Jan Dhan Bank Accounts, Insurance cover for 44.6 crore persons under PM Suraksha Bima and PM Jeevan Jyoti Yojana, and Cash transfer of Rs 2.2 lakh crore to over 11.4 crore farmers under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi has helped to achieve this.

BUDGET 2023-24- AN OVERVIEW

The Amrit Kaal Budget has three vision for Empowered and Inclusive Economy

The Amrit Kaal Budget includes technology driven and knowledge based economy with strong public finances and a robust financial sector and to achieve this, Jan Bhagidhari through Sabka Sath Sabka Prayas is essential. This can be achieved through the three visions mentioned above that is Opportunities for citizens with focus on youth, Growth in Job creation, Strong and Stable Macro Economic Environment

The Finance Minister also discussed about the four opportunities that be utilized during Amrit Kaal which are as follows

1. Economic Empowerment of Women: Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana National Rural Livelihood Mission has become successful by mobilizing rural women into 81 lakh Self Help Groups and also these groups will reach the next stage of economic empowerment through formation of large producer enterprises or collectives with each having several thousand members and managed professionally.
2. PM VIshwakarma KAushal Samman (PM VIKAS):For centuries, traditional artisans and craftspeople, who work with their hands using tools, have brought renown for India and they are generally referred to as VIshwakarma. The art and handicraft created by them represents the true spirit of Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
3. Tourism:The Finance Minister said that the country promotes for domestic as well as foreign tourists, as there is a large potential in tourism. She also added that the sector holds huge opportunities for jobs and entrepreneurship for youth in particular and emphasized that promotion of tourism will be taken up on mission mode, with active participation of states, convergence of government programmes and public-private partnerships.
4. Green Growth: Dwelling on the subject of Green Growth, the FM said that India is implementing many programmes for green fuel, green energy, green farming, green mobility, green buildings, and green equipment, and policies for efficient use of energy across various economic sectors. These green growth efforts help in reducing carbon intensity of the economy and provides for largescale green job opportunities, she added.

BUDGET 2023-24 has 7 major priorities known as Saptrishi which are listed below

So the Saptrishi can be described in following way

“IF YOU GRIP”

I – INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT

F- FINANCIAL SECTOR

YOU- YOUTH POWER

G -GREEN GROWTH

R -REACHING THE LAST MILE

I -INFRASTRUCTURE AND INVESTMENT

P – UNLEASHING THE POTENTIAL

PRIORITY 1- INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT

Inclusive Development projects include benefits such as

1. 9 crore drinking water connections to rural houses
2. Cash transfer of Rs 2.2 lakh crore to over 11.4 crore Farmers under PM-KISAN.
3. Insurance cover for 44.6 crore persons under PMSBY and PMJJY.
4. 8 crore PM Jan Dhan bank accounts.
5. 220 crore Covid Vaccinations of 102 crore persons.
6. 6 Crore LPG connections under Ujjawala.
7. 7 Crore household toilets constructed under SBM.

Farmers, Women, Youth, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes such as OBC, Divyangjan (PWD) and economically weaker Sections (EWS) are specifically covered in Inclusive Development. Overall priority for the underprivileged and sustained focus on Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh and the North East Region is also included. It has two prolonged strategy which was first unveiled in 2019 like Incentivizing the private sector thus creating jobs and pushing growth and “Minimum Government, Maximum Governance” increasing capex and raising more revenues via disinvestment ,

There are three categories which is included in Inclusive Development –Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas

1. Agriculture

• Digital Public Infrastructure for agriculture will be built as an open source, open standard and interoperable public good resulting in good farmer centric solutions, relevant information for crop planning and health, Better access to farm inputs, credit and insurance and growth support of the agri-tech industry and start-ups.
• Funding for Agri-Startups: Agriculture Accelerator Fund will be set up to encourage agri startups by young entrepreneurs in rural areas.
• Agri Credit target to be increased to 20 lakh crore with focus on animal husbandry dairy and fisheries. A new sub scheme of PM Matsya Sampada Yojana with targeted investment of Rs 6000 crore will be launched for fishermen , fish vendors and MSME’s.
• Horticulture: Aatmanirbhar Clean Plant Programme will be launched to boost availability of disease free, quality planting material for high value horticulture crops at an outlay of Rs 2200 crore.
• Millets– To make India a global hub for “Shree Anna”, the Indian Institute of Millet Research, Hyderabad will be supported as Centre of Excellence for sharing best practices research and technologies at the international level.
• Agri Co-operatives- To fulfill the vision of “ Sahakar Se Samriddhi”, the Government plans to establish decentralized storage capacity and set up multiple co-operative societies in uncovered villages over the 5 years.

2. Education and Skilling

• Revamped Teachers training via District Institutes of Education and Training
• National Digital library to be set up for children and adolescents
• States will be encouraged to set up physical Libraries at Panchayat and ward levels.

3. Health

• 157 new nursing colleges will be established in co-location with the existing 157 medical colleges established since 2014.
• Sickle Cell Anaemia elimination mission to be launched. New Programme to promote research in Pharmaceuticals to be launched.
• Joint Public and Private Medical Research to be encouraged via select ICMR Labs.

PRIORITY 2- FINANCIAL SECTOR

Credit Guarantee Scheme: In 2022, the credit guarantee scheme for MSMEs was revamped and will take effect from 1^st April 2023 through infusion of Rs 9000 crore in the corpus. This will enable additional collateral free guaranteed credit of Rs 2 lakh crore. The cost of credit will be reduced by about 1%.

Financial Information Registry: A National Financial Information Registry will be set up to serve as the central repository of financial and Ancillary Information. This will facilitate efficient flow of credit to promote financial inclusion and foster financial stability. A new legislative framework designed in consultation with the RBI will govern this credit public infrastructure.

Small Saving Scheme: In the honor of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, a new one time small saving scheme, Mahila Samman Saving Certificate will be made available for a period of two years up to March 2025. This will offer deposit facility up to Rs 2 Lakh in the name of women or girls with partial withdrawal option. The maximum deposit limit for Senior Citizen Saving Scheme will be enhanced from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 30 Lakh. The maximum deposit limit for the Monthly Income Account Scheme will be enhanced from Rs 4.5 lakh to Rs 9Lakh (for single account) and from Rs 9 lakh to Rs 15 lakh (for joint account)

PRIORITY 3- YOUTH POWER

• Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana

On the Job training, industry partnership, new age courses like AI, robotics, mechatronics, 3D printing, drones etc.

• Skill India Digital Platform

Expanding digital ecosystem to enable demand based formal skilling, linking with employers and facilitating access to entrepreneurship schemes.

• National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme

To provide stipend support to 47 lakh youth in three years.

• Boosting Tourism

50 destinations to be selected and developed as complete package for domestic and foreign tourists.

• Setting Up of Unity Malls in the State Capital

For promotion and sale of ODOPs (One District, One Product), GI and handicraft products.

PRIORITY 4 – GREEN GROWTH

• National Green Hydrogen Mission

An outlay of Rs 19700 crores has been allocated to the National Green Hydrogen Mission to facilitate transition of the economy to low carbon intensity and reduce dependence on fossil fuel imports and make the country assume technology and market leadership in this sunrise sector. The target is to reach an annual production of 5 MMT by 2030.

• GOBARdhan Scheme :

500 new waste to wealth plants under GOBARdhan Scheme will be established to promote Circular Economy which includes 200 compressed biogas CBG plants and 300 community cluster based plants. Total investment here would be Rs 10,000 crore. In due course a 5% CBG mandate will be introduced for all organizations marketing natural and biogas.

• Bhartiya Prakritik Kheti Bio-Input Resource Centers:

Over the next 3 years, the Centre will facilitate1 crore farmers to adopt natural farmingby setting up10,000 Bio-Input Resource Centres, creating a national-level distributedmicro-fertilizer and pesticide manufacturing network.

• Other Investments in Green Energy:

Rs. 35,000 crore for priority capital investments towards energy transitionandnet zero objectives, and energy security (Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas). Battery Energy Storage Systemswith capacity of 4,000 MWH to be supported withViability Gap Funding. Rs 20,700 crore(central support – Rs 8,300 crore) forinter-state transmission systemfor evacuation andgrid integrationof 13 GW renewable energy from Ladakh.

PRIORITY 5- REACHING THE LAST MILE

• New ‘Aspirational Blocks Programme’:

Building on the success of theAspirational Districts Programme, theAspirational Blocks Programmewas recently launched covering 500 blocks. It is aimed at improving the performance of areas across multiple domains such ashealth, nutrition, education, agriculture, water resources, financial inclusion, skill development, and basic infrastructure.

• PM PVTG Development Mission:

To improve socio-economic conditions of theParticularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), Pradhan Mantri PVTG Development Missionwill be launched. An amount ofRs 15,000 crorewill be made available to implement the Mission in the next 3 years under theDevelopment Action Plan for the Scheduled Tribes. The Centre will alsorecruit 38,800 teachers and support stafffor the 740Eklavya Model Residential Schools, serving 3.5 lakh tribal students.

• Water for Drought Prone Region:

In thedrought prone central region of Karnataka, central assistance ofRs 5,300 crorewill be given to theUpper Bhadra Projectto provide sustainable micro irrigation and filling up of surface tanks for drinking water.

• Other Initiatives:

Theoutlay forPM Awas Yojanais being enhanced by 66%to over Rs 79,000 crore. A‘Bharat Shared Repository of Inscriptions (Bharat SHRI)’ will be set upin a digital epigraphy museum, withdigitization of 1 lakh ancient inscriptionsin the first stage.

PRIORITY 6- INFRASTRUCTURE AND INVESTMENT

• Increase in Capex for Infra:

Capital investment outlay increased for the third consecutive year – by33% to Rs 10 lakh croremaking it3.3% of GDP. The‘EffectiveCapital Expenditure’is budgeted at Rs 13.7 lakh crore –4.5% of GDP.

• Support to State Govts for Cap-Investment:

The Government has decided tocontinue the50-year interest free loan to state governmentsfor one more yearto spur investment in infrastructure and to incentivize them for complementary policy actions. The enhancedoutlay for this is Rs 1.3 lakh crore.

• Railways:

A capital outlay ofRs 2.40 lakh crorehas been provided for theRailways– the highest ever outlay and about 9 times the outlay made in 2013- 14.

• Aviation:

50 additional airports, heliports, water aerodromesandadvanced landing groundswill be revived for improving regional air connectivity.

• Other Transportation Projects:

100 critical transport infrastructure projects,for last and first mile connectivity for ports, coal, steel, fertiliser, and food grains sectors have been identified andwill be taken up on priority with investment of Rs 75,000 crore, includingRs 15,000 crore from private sources. AnUrban Infrastructure Development Fund (UIDF)will be established through use ofpriority sector lendingshortfall. UIDF will be managed by theNational Housing Bank, and will be used by public agencies tocreate urban infrastructure in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Rs 10,000 crore on a yearly basiswill be allocated for this purpose.

PRIORITY 7- UNLEASHING THE POTENTIAL

• Reduced Compliances and Jan Vishwas Bill:

To enhance ease of doing business, more than39,000 compliances have been reducedandmore than 3,400 legal provisions have been decriminalizedunder theamendments to the Companies Act 2013. To further the trust-based governance, the Government introduced theJan Vishwas Billto amend 42 Central Acts.

• Centres of Excellence for AI:

To realize the vision of“Make AI in India and Make AI work for India”,threeCentres of excellence forArtificial Intelligencewill be set-up in top educational institutions.

• National Data Governance Policy:

Tofacilitate innovation and research by start-upsand academia, aNational Data Governance Policywill be brought out, which will enableaccess to anonymized data.

• Digilocker for Data Sharing:

AnEntityDigi Lockerwill be set up for use by MSMEs, large business and charitable trusts forstoring and sharing documents online securely,whenever needed, with various authorities, regulators, banks and other business entities.

• Resolving Disputes:

Vivad se Vishwas: Less stringent contract executionfor MSME. Easier and standardized settlement schemeenablingfaster settlement of contractual disputesof Govt and Govt undertakings.

e-Courts: Phase III ofe-courtswill be launched for effective administration of justice.

• 5G Technology:

100 labs for developing applications using5Gserviceswill be set up in engineering institutions to realize a new range of opportunities, business models, and employment potential. The labs will cover, among others, applications such assmart classrooms, precision farming, intelligent transport systems, andhealthcare apps.

WHAT IS THE STATUS OF FISCAL MANAGEMENT?

1. Utilising of Funds for Capital Expenditure

The Finance Minister stated that all states must utilize their fifty year loan for capital expenses by the end of 2023-24. Most of this will happen at the discretion of states but a part will be conditional on states designated for the purpose such as

• Replacing outdatedgovernment vehicles
• Improvingurban planning
• Makingurban local bodies eligible for obtainingmunicipal bonds
• Building housing for police officers
• Constructing Unity Malls
• Creating libraries and digital infrastructure for childrenand adolescents
• Contributing to thecapital expenses of central schemes.

2. Fiscal Deficit Allowed to States:

States are allowed to have a deficit of3.5% of theirGross State Domestic Product (GSDP), with0.5%of this amount specifically designated for power sector reforms.

1. Revised Estimates 2022-23:

• Total receipts, (excluding borrowings):Rs 24.3 lakh crore
• Net tax receipt: Rs 20.9 lakh crore.
• Total expenditure:Rs 41.9 lakh crore
• Capital expenditure: Rs 7.3 lakh crore.
• Fiscal deficit: 6.4%of GDP.

1. BUDGET ESTIMATES 2023-24:

To finance the fiscal deficit in 2023-24 the net market borrowings from dated securities are estimated at Rs 11.8 lakh crore. Thegross market borrowingsare estimated atRs 15.4 lakh crore. Also, the government is committed to sticking to this plan toreduce the fiscal deficit tobelow4.5% by 2025-26.

PART B

The finance Minister Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman provided major relief to the tax payers. The indirect tax proposals contained in the budget aims to promote exports enhance domestic value addition, encourage green energy and mobility.

PERSONAL INCOME TAX

There are five major announcements relating to personal income tax. The revised rebate limit as per the new tax regime is increased to Rs 7 lakh. The tax structure of the new personal tax regime has been changed by reducing number of slabs to five and increasing the tax exemption limit to Rs 3 lakh. This will provide major relief to all tax payers in the new regime.

The benefit of standard deduction has been extended to the salaried class and the pensioners including family pensioner under the new tax regime. Salaried individual will get standard deduction of ₹ 50,000 and pensioner ₹ 15,000 as per the proposal. Each salaried person with an income of ₹ 15.5 lakh or more will thus gain ₹ 52,500, from the above proposals.

The highest surcharge rate in personal income tax has been reduced from 37% to 25% in the new tax regime for income above ₹2 crore. This would result in maximum tax rate of personal income tax come down to 39% which was earlier 42.74%. The limit of tax exemption on leave encashment on retirement of non-government salaried employees has been increased from ₹3 lakh to ₹25 lakh.

The new income tax regime has been made the default tax regime. However, the citizens will continue to have the option to avail the benefit of the old tax regime.

Current and Proposed Tax Slabs:

DIRECT TAX PROPOSALS

To reduce the compliance burden, promote entrepreneurial spirit and provide tax relief to citizens.

• 45% of the returns on tax payers portal were processed within 24 hours.
• Average processing period reduced from 93 to 16 days in 8 years.
• Processed more than 6.5 crore returns this year.

INDIRECT TAX PROPOSALS

The Indirect tax proposals mentioned in the Union Budget by Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman emphasized on simplification of tax structure with fever tax rates so as help reducing the burden and improving tax administration. The number of basic customs duty rates on goods, other than textiles and agriculture, has been reduced from 21 to 13. There are minor changes in the basic customs duties, cesses and surcharges on items including toys, bicycles, automobiles and naphtha.

The Indirect Tax Proposals include

1. Green Mobility : To exempt excise duty on GST Paid compressed bio gas.

2. Electronics : To provide relief in customs duty on import of certain parts of mobile phones. To reduce basic customs duty on parts of open cells of TV panels to 2.5%.

3. Electricals : To increase basic customs duty on electric kitchen chimney from 7.5% to 15%. To reduce basic customs duty on chimney heat coils from 20% to 15%.

4. Chemicals and Petrochemicals : To exempt basic customs duty on chemicals and petrochemicals. To reduce basic customs duty on acid grade fluorspar and crude glycerin to 2.5%.

5. Marine Products : To reduce duty on key inputs for domestic manufacture of shrimp feed.

6. Lab Grown Diamonds : To reduce basic customs duty on seeds used in their manufacturing.

7. Precious Metals : To increase customs duties on articles made from gold and platinum. To increase import duty on silver dore, bars and articles

8. Compounded Rubber : To increase basic customs duty rate on compounded rubber from 10% to 25%.

9. Cigarettes : National Calamity Contingent Duty on specified Cigarettes to be revised upwards by about 16%

Other Tax Reforms:

STANDARD DEDUCTION:

• The new tax regime has proposed toincrease thestandard deductionfor salaried individuals to 50,000 rupeesand the deduction for family pension up to15,000 rupees.

MSMEs:

• The limits forpresumptive taxation have been increased for micro enterprises and certain professionalsas long as the amount received in cash does not exceed5% of the total gross receipts/turnover.
• Thededuction for payments made to MSMEswill only be allowed when payment is actually made to support their timely receipt of payments.

COOPERATIVES:

• Newmanufacturingco-operativesthat start manufacturing before 31.3.2024 will havea lower tax rate of 15%.
• The limit for cash deposits and loans byPrimary Agricultural Co-operative Societies and Primary Co-operative Agricultureand Rural Development Banks has been increased to2 lakh rupees per member.
• Tax Deduction at Source (TDS)on cash withdrawals for co-operative societies has been increased to3 crore rupees.

STARTUPS:

• The date forstart-upsto receive income tax benefits has beenextended to 31.3.2024.The carry forward of losses for start-ups has been increased from7 years of incorporation to 10 years.

ONLINE GAMING:

• Taxability ononline gamingwill be clarified with TDS and taxability onnet winnings at the time of withdrawalor at the end of the financial year.

GOLD:

• Conversion of goldinto electronic gold receipt and vice versa willnot be treated as capital gains.

RATIONALISATION

• Income of authorities, boards and commissions set up by statutes of the Union or State to be exempted from income tax in certain sectors.
• Extension of period of tax benefits to funds relocating to IFSC, GIFT City till 31^st March, 2025.

EXCEPTION FROM INCOME TAX:

• Income of authorities, boards and commissions set up by Union or State lawsfor housing, town and village development, and regulation, will beexempt from income tax.
• Agni veerFundhas been givenExempt-Exempt-Exempt (EEE) status.Payments received by Agni veers enrolled in Agneepath Scheme, 2022 will beexempt from taxes.
• Deduction in total income will be allowed forcontributions to the Agni veer Seva Nidhiaccount by the Agni veer or the Central Government.

EXCEPTION FROM DUTIES:

• Compressed biogascontained in blended compressed natural gas.
• Testing agencies that importvehicles, automobile parts/components, sub-systems,and tires for testing and/or certification purposes.
• Also, thedeadline for the customs duty on specified machinery for lithium-ion cell manufacturing forEV batterieshas been extended to 31.03.2024.
• Denatured ethyl alcoholused in the chemical industry.

LEGISLATIVE CHANGES IN CUSTOMS LAWS:

TheCustoms Act, 1962 is going to be revised to set anine-month deadline for the Settlement Commissionto make a final decision after an application has been filed. TheCustoms Tariff Actwill be revised to make the purpose and scope of Anti-Dumping Duty (ADD), Countervailing Duty (CVD), and Safeguard Measures clearer.

Changes will also be made to theCentral Goods and Service Tax Act:

• The minimum amount of tax for starting aprosecution under GST will be raised from 1 crore to 2 crore. Thecompounding amount for tax will be reduced from 50-150%to 25-100% of the tax amount.
• Certain offences will be decriminalized.
• Thefiling of returns or statements will be limited to a maximum of three yearsfrom the due date.
• Unregistered suppliers and composition taxpayers will be allowed to makeintra-state supply of goods throughE-CommerceOperators (ECOs).

RUPEE COMES FROM

RUPEE GOES TO

CONCLUSION

The Union Budget 2023-24 aims to strengthen India’s economic status. The mood behind this budget presented has been optimistic. The Indian economy is being viewed as a bright star amid crisis and economic slowdown outperforming with it peers. With this Budget India hopes to become a envisioned and prosperous country.

India has now set new rules for mining through its “Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill, 2023”. Through this Bill India wants to secure its mineral supply chain and wants to use clean energy technologies. This bills provision enables collaboration between public and private sector stakeholders towards sustainable resource development. Let us understand in details what is Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill, 2023.

The Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act (MMDR)

• MMDR Act, 1957regulates the mining sector in India and specifies the requirement for obtaining and granting mining leases for mining operations. The MMDR Act, 1957 was amended in 2015 to introduce auction based mineral concession allocation for transparency.
• The Act was further amended in 2016 and 2020 to address specific emergent issues and was last amended in 2021 to bring further reforms in the sector such as removing the distinction between captive and merchant mines, etc.
• The Rajya Sabha has now passed the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2023 for making amendments to Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation)(MMDR) Act, 1957.

What Amendments are done through the Bill?

Why Amendments was Done in the MMDR Act, 1957??

• The primary goal of encouraging private sector participation in the exploration of essential and deep seated minerals within the nation. The bill designates six minerals which are crucial for electric vehicle batteries and energy storage systems as critical and strategic minerals.
• India correctly possesses around six percent of the world’s rare earth reserves. But the contribution to global output stands at just one percent. India and many other countries are striving to achieve net zero carbon emissions.
• The demand for essential metals like lithium and cobalt which are integral parts for applications like semiconductors to aerospace equipment and telecommunication technologies is projected to achieve growth by 2050.
• The bill has developed significance due to the import dependency and vulnerabilities arising from concentrated supply chains. India has recently aligned itself with the Mineral Security Partnership a collaborative initiative joined by Major economies like the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union. Through MSP these countries are focusing to cultivate resilience in mineral supply chains and mitigating vulnerabilities in the availability of essential minerals.
• Presently India is completely dependent on imports from countries like China, Russia, Australia, South Africa, and US to meet the critical mineral demands. The minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, niobium, beryllium and tantalum play vital roles across industries. During FY 2021-2022 India imported lithium products valued at US $ 22.15 million. Notably a substantial segment of these imports consisted of 548.618 million units of lithium-ion batteries entailing a considerable outlay of US $ 1791.35 million.
• Furthermore the challenge is to extract deep seated minerals like gold, silver, copper, zinc, lead, nickel, cobalt, platinum group elements and diamonds. The processes are intricate and capital intensive. As a result India is dependent on imports of these resources. For instance in FY 2022-23 the country imported nearly 1.2 million tons of copper and its concentrates and also the import of nickel totaled to 32298.21 tons, corresponding a value of INR 65.49.

Why Private Sector Participation is Essential and critical for Deep Seated Mineral Extraction??

Private sector participation is crucial for the exploration of critical and deep-seated minerals for several reasons:

• Expertise and Investments: Private sector companies often possess the expertise and resources specialized technical knowledge, advanced exploration techniques, and substantial financial investment needed for these complex and high-risk operations, which can lead to more effective and efficient exploration efforts.
• Involvement of Junior Explorers:Private companies, particularly junior explorers, are often more agile and willing to take risks in exploring uncharted territories. Private Companies involvement may lead to higher number of exploration projects, thereby accelerating the pace of mineral discovery.
• Diversified funding sources:Government agencies sometimes face difficulty due to limited budgets for mineral exploration. Private sector involvement diversifies funding sources, reducing the financial burden on governments and allowing for greater investment in exploration activities.
• Innovation:Private companies are more likely to adopt and develop cutting-edge exploration technologies and methodologies. Their innovation can lead to breakthroughs in mineral discovery and extraction.
• Efficient and Competitive:Private sector participation creates competition, which can drive efficiency and better allocation of resources. This can result in more cost-effective exploration processes.
• Employment and economic growth:Exploration activities, when successful, lead to the establishment of mines and associated infrastructure, creating jobs and contributing to economic growth.
• Reduced government burden:Government agencies may not have the capacity to explore and develop all potential mineral resources. Private sector involvement relieves the government’s burden and allows them to focus on regulatory oversight and environmental management.
• Best practices at Global Level:Private companies bring international best practices and experience to the exploration process, helping to align exploration activities with global standards and norms.

Challenges Faced By India in Mining Sector.

1. Legal Issues

Different formalities and clearances that are required to continue operations conveniently in mining sector. These also include legal obligations that make mining activities unviable and unprofitable.

2. Environmental Issues:

Various mines have to close down due to failure in meeting environmental compliances. Mining is not permitted in certain areas due to the possibility of adverse effects on the population and environment.

3. Lack of New Technology:

The mining sector suffers from the lack of modernized techniques for exploration and extraction. Most of the mines use old and inefficient machinery without making any progress toward the upgrade in technology.

4. Administrative Issues:

The mining sector suffers from the problem of low asset and resource underutilization, especially under the control of public sector units. Moreover, the state governments are generally involved in the auction of mines and there may be ambiguities in political approaches between the center and state.

5. Cost Increase :

The mining sector has to bear the pressure of taxation that makes the operation less profitable. Also, there is a lack of further investment and involvement of private enterprises in mineral exploration.

6. Displacement of Communities:

Several mining zones are located in areas that are the natural habitat of tribes and rural communities. The displacement of these people is a matter of concern. Due to complexities related to the rehabilitation or compensation of these people, it becomes difficult to start the mining activities. Also, there are security threats in some mining belts from local people and agitators.

How India’s Mines and Minerals Bill 2023 encourages private players: Key provisions

The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2023, introduces some important provisions aimed at private sector engagement, which differs with the existing MMDR Act of 1957. Some of the key provisions in comparison include:

• Sub-surface activities in reconnaissance:The MMDR Act, as amended in 2015, currently defines reconnaissance as preliminary prospecting, encompassing aerial surveys, geophysical, and geochemical surveys, and geological mapping. The Mines and Minerals Bill, 2023, expands reconnaissance to include activities like pitting, trenching, drilling, and sub-surface excavation that were previously prohibited.
• Exploration license (EL):The MMDR Act provides permits for reconnaissance, prospecting, mining leases, and composite licenses. The Amendment Bill introduces the concept of an exploration license, allowing reconnaissance or prospecting, or both, for specified minerals. This license covers 29 minerals listed in the Seventh Schedule, which includes precious metals like gold, silver, base metals like copper and nickel, and even atomic minerals.
• Declassification of atomic minerals:Six atomic minerals, previously restricted to government entities, are declassified as atomic minerals under the Bill. These minerals—beryl, beryllium, lithium, niobium, titanium, tantalum, and zirconium—can now be explored and prospected by private players as well.
• Auction mechanism for exploration licenses:Exploration licenses will be granted through competitive bidding by state governments. The federal government will define the auction framework, rules, terms, and bidding parameters.
• Exploration license validity and area:The exploration license is issued for five years, extendable by two years upon application. Activities under a single exploration license can be conducted within an area of up to 1,000 square kilometers. After the initial three years, up to 25 percent of the originally authorized area can be retained by the licensee, subject to submission of reasons.
• Geological reports and incentives:The licensee must submit a geological report within three months of exploration completion or license expiration. If proven resources are found, the state government must conduct an auction for a mining lease within six months of the report. The licensee is entitled to a share in the auction value of the mining lease for the prospected mineral, with the share defined by the central government.
• Federal government-led auctions for critical and strategic minerals:The federal government will conduct auctions for composite licenses and mining leases of specified critical and strategic minerals, including lithium, cobalt, nickel, phosphate, potash, and tin. However, the state government will continue to grant concessions.

Concerns Raised By Industries For Amendment through Mines and Minerals Bill, 2023

Industry experts have raised certain apprehensions regarding the Mines and Minerals Bill, 2023. These include:

1. Revenue generation mechanism: Private companies’ revenue generation depends mostly on a share of the premium paid by mining entities. However, this revenue realization is subject to successful discover of a mine and subsequently auctioning it. The 2023 Amendment Bill mandates mining lease auctions within six months if mineral resources are proven post-exploration. This timeline may not align with historical trends, potentially leading to delays or even non-materialization of auctions due to clearance timelines and deposit complexities
2. Revenue Uncertainty : The lack of clarity in revenue prospects during exploration poses a significant challenge. Private explorers will not have a clear understanding of the revenue they will receive until the premium from a successful mine auction becomes known. This uncertainty might discourage private sector participation, as companies would prefer clearer revenue visibility during exploration.
3. Auction-based allocation: Auctioning is more useful when it is dealing with resources of known value, such as discovered mineral deposits. Auctioning unexplored resources is complex due to the inherent unpredictability in estimating the value of undiscovered mineral resources.
4. Capital investment assurance: A 2012 Supreme Court ruling emphasizes that companies are more likely to invest significantly in exploration and mining contracts if they are assured of utilizing discovered resources effectively. But The 2023 Bill restricts private explorers from directly selling their discoveries, instead, allowing government auctioning. Private explorers are entitled only to a share of the premium at an unspecified stage. This differs from global best practices where private explorers have the option to directly sell their discoveries to mining entities, potentially affecting investment incentives.

The much awaited Interim Budget 2024-2025 was presented by Finance Minister Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman on 1^st February 2024. This was the sixth Budget presented by Mrs. Sitharaman which included announcements ranging from railways, tourism, healthcare, technology, aviation, green energy, aquaculture, housing and more. The tax slab was untouched meanwhile the startups and investments made by sovereign wealth or pension funds were given an extended tax exemption till 31^st March 2025. Let us understand What Interim Budget 2024-2025 is all about.

What is Interim Budget??

• An Interim Budget is presented by the government in the Parliament if it does not have time to present a full budget, or if the general elections are around the corner. If the case of elections are nearing, it is only correct that the incoming government frame the full budget.
• In case, the government is not able to present a full budget before the end of the financial year, it will require parliamentary approval for incurring expenditure in the new financial year until a new budget is passed.
• Until the Parliament discusses the budget and passes through the interim budget, the government passes a vote on account which will allow the government to meet its expenses of administration.

How is an Interim Budget different from the Regular Budget??

• Interim Budget is a budget presented by the Central Government just before the General elections. In the Interim Budget Vote on the account is passed without discussion in Lok Sabha.
• Interim Budget is during the election year, for a duration of approximately 2 to 4 months of the fiscal year.
• The Interim Budget has only a summary of the expenses and income of the previous year. It will not have the component of income through the collection of taxes. In the Interim Budget, the income and expenses of the previous year will be mentioned.
• It also mentions the expenses for a few months till the charge is taken over by the next Government. However, most importantly the sources of income will not be detailed in the Interim Budget. Whereas Union Budget is an annual budget presented by the Central Government in the Parliament.
• The Union Budget has 2 different parts, one part is related to the expenses and income of the previous year and the other part is the plan of the Government to raise funds through taking various measures and how it would be utilized for the development of the nation. Union Budget is passed after complete discussions inLok Sabha.
• The Union Budget will have a component on spending funds for various social welfare measures for the development of a country and describe the ways of raising funds through taxes.

What items are included in the interim Budget?

• The interim Budget includes estimates for government expenditure, revenue, fiscal deficit, and financial performance for a few months, but cannot include major policy announcements.
• An interim budget usually covers the immediate financial needs and allocations for the next few months until the new government can present a complete budget for the entire fiscal year. Generally, interim budgets focus on maintaining continuity and do not introduce major policy changes.
• However, they may include some policy adjustments and new initiatives if there is an urgent need or if they are in line with the ongoing government’s priorities.

Why Finance Minister of India presented Interim Budget 2024-2025??

• India’s Union Finance Minister Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled the much-anticipated interim budget as scheduled on February 1, with key announcements for selected sectors. The overall mood of this budget announcement was astatement of progress, comparing the Indian economy’s performance over the last 10 years – under two consecutive terms of the Narendra Modi government. The budget speech was among the shortest in recent years.
• Modi government appears confident of its position ahead of the general elections, and a ‘broader roadmap’ will be discussed in July after a new government is sworn in. And so the Finance Minister did not introduce any significant new spending programs or expansion of schemes that could be categorized as populist measures.
• The Vote on Account, outlined in Article 116 of the Indian Constitution, allows the government to access funds from the Consolidated Fund of India temporarily, usually for a few months, to cover essential expenses until a full budget is approved.
• This provision is crucial during transitional periods, such as before general elections, when the existing government might be in a caretaker role, limiting its ability to implement new policies or budgetary measures. The Vote on Account ensures the continuity of government operations by sustaining routine expenditures until a new government takes office.

20 Key Points of Budget 2024-2025

1. Sabka Saath , Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwas for Viksit Bharat 2047

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman initiated the speech for Budget 2024-2025 by describing how India has witnessed profound positive transformation in the past 10 years of Modi Government. Also people of India are now looking ahead with a positive hope and optimism for a better India.
• With “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas” mantra and dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi Government was able to overcome the challenges faced in right earnest. Structural Reforms were undertaken, Pro-People Programmes were formulated and implemented promptly. The country got a new sense of purpose and hope as more employment opportunities were created.
• In the second term of Government the responsibilities were doubled and the mantra was changed to “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwas”. The development philosophy of the Government included all elements of inclusivity namely, social inclusivity through coverage of all strata of the society and geographical inclusivity through development of all regions.
• With the whole nation approach of “Sabka Prayas” the country overcame the challenge of pandemic, took long strides towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat, committed to Panch Pran and laid foundations for the Amrit Kaal. Finance Minister further stated that the Government expects to be blessed again by the people to serve again with a resounding mandate.
• Development programmes, in the last ten years, have targeted each and every household and individual, through ‘housing for all’, ‘har ghar jal’, electricity for all, cooking gas for all, bank accounts and financial services for all.
• The worries about food have been eliminated through free ration for 80 crore people. Minimum support prices for the produce of ‘Annadata’ are periodically increased appropriately. These and the provision of basic necessities have enhanced real income in the rural areas. Their economic needs could be addressed, thus spurring growth and generating jobs.
• Government is working with an approach to development that is all-round, all-pervasive and all-inclusive (सर्वांगीण, सर्वस्पर्शी और सर्वसमवर्ेर्शी). It covers all castes and people at all levels.
• Focus will be for four major castes. They are, ‘Garib’ (Poor), ‘Mahilayen’ (Women), ‘Yuva’ (Youth) and ‘Annadata’ (Farmer). Their needs, their aspirations, and their welfare are our highest priority. The country progresses, when they progress. All four require and receive government support in their quest to better their lives. Their empowerment and well-being will drive the country forward.

2. Garib Kalyan, Desh ka Kalyan

• ‘Direct Benefit Transfer’ of ` 34 lakh crore from the Government using PM-Jan Dhan accounts has led to savings of ` 2.7 lakh crore for the Government. This has been realized through avoidance of leakages prevalent earlier. The savings have helped in providing more funds for ‘Garib Kalyan’.
• PM-SVANidhi has provided credit assistance to 78 lakh street vendors. From that total, 2.3 lakh have received credit for the third time.
• PM-JANMAN Yojana reaches out to the particularly vulnerable tribal groups, who have remained outside the realm of development so far. PM-Vishwakarma Yojana provides end to end support to artisans and craftspeople engaged in 18 trades. The schemes for empowerment of Divyangs and Transgender persons reflect firm resolve of our Government to leave no one behind.
• Farmers are our ‘Annadata’. Every year, under PM-KISAN SAMMAN Yojana, direct financial assistance is provided to 11.8 crore farmers, including marginal and small farmers. Crop insurance is given to 4 crore farmers under PM Fasal Bima Yojana. These, besides several other programmes, are assisting ‘Annadata’ in producing food for the country and the world.
• Electronic National Agriculture Market has integrated 1361 mandis, and is providing services to 1.8 crore farmers with trading volume of ` 3 lakh crore.
• The sector is poised for inclusive, balanced, higher growth and productivity. These are facilitated from farmer-centric policies, income support, coverage of risks through price and 6 insurance support, promotion of technologies and innovations through start-ups.

3. Amrit Peedhi-The Yuva

• The Skill India Mission has trained 1.4 crore youth, upskilled and reskilled 54 lakh youth, and established 3000 new ITIs. A large number of new institutions of higher learning, namely 7 IITs, 16 IIITs, 7 IIMs, 15 AIIMS and 390 universities have been set up.
• PM Mudra Yojana has sanctioned 43 crore loans aggregating to Rs 22.5 lakh crore for entrepreneurial aspirations of our youth. Besides that, Fund of Funds, Start Up India, and Start Up Credit Guarantee schemes are assisting our youth. They are also becoming ‘rozgardata’.
• The country is proud of our youth scaling new heights in sports. The highest ever medal tally in Asian Games and Asian Para Games in 2023 reflects a high confidence level. Chess prodigy and our Number-One ranked player Praggnanandhaa put up a stiff fight against the reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsson in 2023. Today, India has over 80 chess grandmasters compared to little over 20 in 2010.
• The empowerment of women through entrepreneurship, ease of living, and dignity for them has gained momentum in these ten years.
• Thirty crore Mudra Yojana loans have been given to women entrepreneurs. Female enrolment in higher education has gone up by twenty-eight per cent in ten years. In STEM courses, girls and women constitute forty-three per cent of enrolment – one of the highest in the world. All these measures are getting reflected in the increasing participation of women in workforce.
• Making ‘Triple Talaq’ illegal, reservation of one-third seats for women in the Lok Sabha and State legislative assemblies, and giving over seventy per cent houses under PM Awas Yojana in rural areas to women as sole or joint owners have enhanced their dignity. Exemplary Track Record of Governance, Development and Performance (GDP).
• India assumed G20 Presidency during very difficult times for the world. The global economy was going through high inflation, high interest rates, low growth, very high public debt, low trade growth, and climate challenges. The pandemic had led to a crisis of food, fertilizer, fuel and finances for the world, while India successfully navigated its way. The country showed the way forward and built consensus on solutions for those global problems.
• The recently announced India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor is a strategic and economic game changer for India and others. In the words of Hon’ble Prime Minister, the corridor “will become the basis of world trade for hundreds of years to come, and history will remember that this corridor was initiated on Indian soil”. Vision for ‘Viksit Bharat’. With confidence arising from strong and exemplary track record of performance and progress earning ‘Sabka Vishwas’, the next five years will be years of unprecedented development, and golden moments to realize the dream of developed India @ 2047.
• The trinity of demography, democracy and diversity backed by ‘Sabka Prayas’ has the potential to fulfill aspirations of every Indian. Guided by the principle ‘Reform, Perform, and Transform’, the Government will take up next generation reforms, and build consensus with the states and stakeholders for effective implementation. For meeting the investment needs Modi Government will prepare the financial sector in terms of size, capacity, skills and regulatory framework.
• For Aspirational Districts Programme Modi Government stands ready to assist the states in faster development of aspirational districts and blocks, including generation of ample economic opportunities. Despite the challenges due to COVID, implementation of PM Awas Yojana (Grameen) continued and we are close to achieving the target of three crore houses.
• Two crore more houses will be taken up in the next five years to meet the requirement arising from increase in the number of families. Rooftop solarization and muft bijli. Through rooftop solarization, one crore households will be enabled to obtain up to 300 units free electricity every month.

4. Benefits expected

• Savings up to fifteen to eighteen thousand rupees annually for households from free solar electricity and selling the surplus to the distribution companies;
• Charging of electric vehicles; Entrepreneurship opportunities for a large number of vendors for supply and installation;
• Employment opportunities for the youth with technical skills in manufacturing, installation and maintenance; Housing for middle class, Government will launch a scheme to help deserving sections of the middle class “living in rented houses, or slums, or chawls and unauthorized colonies” to buy or build their own houses, Medical Colleges.
• Several youth are ambitious to get qualified as doctors. They aim to serve people through improved healthcare services. Modi Government plans to set up more medical colleges by utilizing the existing hospital infrastructure under various departments. A committee for this purpose will be set.

5. Maternal and Child Health Care

• Various schemes for maternal and child care will be brought under one comprehensive programme for synergy in implementation. Upgradation of Anganwadi centres under “Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0” will be expedited for improved nutrition delivery, early childhood care and development.
• The newly designed U-WIN platform for managing immunization and intensified efforts of Mission Indradhanush will be rolled out expeditiously throughout the country.

6. Ayushman Bharat

• Healthcare cover under Ayushman Bharat scheme will be extended to all ASHA workers, Anganwadi Workers and Helpers. Agriculture and food processing.
• The efforts for value addition in agricultural sector and boosting farmers’ income will be stepped up. Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana has benefitted 38 lakh farmers and generated 10 lakh employment. Pradhan Mantri Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Yojana has assisted 2.4 lakh SHGs and sixty thousand individuals with credit linkages.
• Other schemes are complementing the efforts for reducing postharvest losses, and improving productivity and incomes. For ensuring faster growth of the sector, our Government will further promote private and public investment in post-harvest activities including aggregation, modern storage, efficient supply chains, primary and secondary processing and marketing and branding.

7. Nano DAP

• After the successful adoption of Nano Urea, application of Nano DAP on various crops will be expanded in all agro-climatic zones under Atmanirbhar Oil Seeds Abhiyan.
• Building on the initiative announced in 2022, a strategy will be formulated to achieve ‘atmanirbharta’ for oil seeds such as mustard, groundnut, sesame, soybean, and sunflower.
• This will cover research for high-yielding varieties, widespread adoption of modern farming techniques, market linkages, procurement, value addition, and crop insurance.

8. Dairy Development

• A comprehensive programme for supporting dairy farmers will be formulated. Efforts are already on to control foot and mouth disease. India is the world’s largest milk producer but with low productivity of milch-animals.
• The programme will be built on the success of existing schemes such Rashtriya Gokul Mission, National Livestock Mission, and Infrastructure Development Funds for dairy processing and animal husbandry. Matsya Sampada.
• It was our Government which set up a separate Department for Fisheries realizing the importance of assisting fishermen. This has resulted in doubling of both inland and aquaculture production. Seafood export since 2013-14 has also doubled. Implementation of Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) will be stepped up to:

(1) enhance aquaculture productivity from existing 3 to 5 tons per hectare,

(2) double exports to ` 1 lakh crore and

(3) generate 55 lakh employment opportunities in near future. Five integrated aqua parks will be setup.

9. Lakhpati Didi

• Eighty-three lakh SHGs with nine crore women are transforming rural socio-economic landscape with empowerment and self-reliance. Their success has assisted nearly one crore women to become Lakhpati Didi already.
• They are an inspiration to others. Their achievements will be recognized through honoring them. Buoyed by the success, it has been decided to enhance the target for Lakhpati Didi from 2 crore to 3 crore. Technological Changes.
• New age technologies and data are changing the lives of people and businesses. They are also enabling new economic opportunities and facilitating provision of high-quality services at affordable prices for all, including those at ‘bottom of the pyramid’.
• Opportunities for India at the global level are expanding. India is showing solutions through innovation and entrepreneurship of its people. Research and Innovation for catalyzing growth, employment and development.

10. Jai Jawan Jai Kisan

• Prime Minister Shastri gave the slogan of “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan”. Prime Minister Vajpayee made that “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan Jai Vigyan”. Prime Minister Modi has furthered that to “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan Jai Vigyan and Jai Anusandhan”, as innovation is the foundation of development.
• For our tech savvy youth, this will be a golden era. A corpus of rupees one lakh crore will be established with fifty-year interest free loan. The corpus will provide long-term financing or refinancing with long tenors and low or nil interest rates. This will encourage the private sector to scale up research and innovation significantly in sunrise domains. We need to have programmes that combine the powers of our youth and technology.
• A new scheme will be launched for strengthening deep-tech technologies for defence purposes and expediting ‘atmanirbharta’. Infrastructure Development.
• Building on the massive tripling of the capital expenditure outlay in the past 4 years resulting in huge multiplier impact on economic growth and employment creation, the outlay for the next year is being increased by 11.1 per cent to eleven lakh, eleven thousand, one hundred and eleven crore rupees (` 11,11,111 crore). This would be 3.4 per cent of the GDP.

11. Railways

Three major economic railway corridor programmes will be implemented. These are:

(1) energy, mineral and cement corridors,

(2) port connectivity corridors, and

(3) high traffic density corridors. The projects have been identified under the PM Gati Shakti for enabling multi-modal connectivity. They will improve logistics efficiency and reduce cost.

• The resultant decongestion of the high-traffic corridors will also help in improving operations of passenger trains, resulting in safety and higher travel speed for passengers.
• Together with dedicated freight corridors, these three economic corridor programmes will accelerate our GDP growth and reduce logistic costs. Forty thousand normal rail bogies will be converted to the Vande Bharat standards to enhance safety, convenience and comfort of passengers.

12. Aviation Sector

• The aviation sector has been galvanized in the past ten years. Number of airports have doubled to 149. Roll out of air connectivity to tier-two and tier-three cities under UDAN scheme has been widespread. Five hundred and seventeen new routes are carrying 1.3 crore passengers.
• Indian carriers have pro-actively placed orders for over 1000 new aircrafts. Expansion of existing airports and development of new airports will continue expeditiously. Metro and NaMo Bharat.
• Metro Rail and NaMo Bharat can be the catalyst for the required urban transformation. Expansion of these systems will be supported in large cities focusing on transit-oriented development.

13. Green Energy

Towards meeting our commitment for ‘net-zero’ by 2070, the following measures will be taken.

• Viability gap funding will be provided for harnessing offshore wind energy potential for initial capacity of one giga-watt. Coal gasification and liquefaction capacity of 100 MT will be set up by 2030.
• This will also help in reducing imports of natural gas, methanol, and ammonia. Phased mandatory blending of compressed biogas (CBG) in compressed natural gas (CNG) for transport and piped natural gas (PNG) for domestic purposes will be mandated.
• Financial assistance will be provided for procurement of biomass aggregation machinery to support collection.

14. Electric Vehicle Ecosystem

• Modi government will expand and strengthen the e-vehicle ecosystem by supporting manufacturing and charging infrastructure. Greater adoption of e-buses for public transport networks will be encouraged through payment security mechanism. Bio-manufacturing and Bio-foundry.
• For promoting green growth, a new scheme of bio-manufacturing and bio-foundry will be launched. This will provide environment friendly alternatives such as biodegradable polymers, bio-plastics, bio-pharmaceuticals and bio-agri-inputs. This scheme will also help in transforming today’s consumptive manufacturing paradigm to the one based on regenerative principles.

15. Blue Economy 2.0

• For promoting climate resilient activities for blue economy 2.0, a scheme for restoration and adaptation measures, and coastal aquaculture and mariculture with integrated and multi-sectoral approach will be launched.
• The success of organizing G20 meetings in sixty places presented diversity of India to global audience. Our economic strength has made the country an attractive destination for business and conference tourism. Our middle class also now aspires to travel and explore.
• Tourism including spiritual tourism, has tremendous opportunities for local entrepreneurship. States will be encouraged to take up comprehensive development of iconic tourist centres, branding and marketing them at global scale.
• A framework for rating of the centres based on quality of facilities and services will be established. Long-term interest free loans will be provided to States for financing such development on matching basis.
• To address the emerging fervour for domestic tourism, projects for port connectivity, tourism infrastructure, and amenities will be taken up on our islands, including Lakshadweep. This will help in generating employment also. The FDI inflow during 2014-23 was USD 596 billion marking a golden era. That is twice the inflow during 2005-14. For encouraging sustained foreign investment, we are negotiating bilateral investment treaties with our foreign partners, in the spirit of ‘first develop India’.

16. Reforms in the States for Viksit Bharat

• Many growth and development enabling reforms are needed in the states for realizing the vision of ‘Viksit Bharat’. A provision of seventy-five thousand crore rupees as fifty-year interest free loan is proposed this year to support those milestone-linked reforms by the State Governments.
• The Government will form a high-powered committee for an extensive consideration of the challenges arising from fast population growth and demographic changes. The committee will be mandated to make recommendations for addressing these challenges comprehensively in relation to the goal of ‘Viksit Bharat’.
• Amrit Kaal as Kartavya Kaal. Modi government stands committed to strengthening and expanding the economy with high growth and to create conditions for people to realize their aspirations.
• The Revised Estimate of the total receipts other than borrowings is Rs 27.5 6 lakh crore, of which the tax receipts are Rs 23.24 lakh crore. The Revised Estimate of the total expenditure is Rs 44.90 lakh crore.
• The revenue receipts at Rs 30.03 lakh crore are expected to be higher than the Budget Estimate, reflecting strong growth momentum and formalization in the economy. 81.
• The Revised Estimate of the fiscal deficit is 5.8 per cent of GDP, improving on the Budget Estimate, notwithstanding moderation in the nominal growth estimates.

17. Budget Estimates for Fiscal Deficit

• Coming to 2024-25, the total receipts other than borrowings and the total expenditure are estimated at Rs 30.80 and Rs 47.66 lakh crore respectively. The tax receipts are estimated at Rs 26.02 lakh crore.
• The scheme of fifty-year interest free loan for capital expenditure to states will be continued this year with total outlay of `Rs 1.3 lakh crore. We continue on the path of fiscal consolidation, as announced in my Budget Speech for 2021-22, to reduce fiscal deficit below 4.5 per cent by 2025-26.
• The fiscal deficit in 2024-25 is estimated to be 5.1 per cent of GDP, adhering to that path. The gross and net market borrowings through dated securities during 2024-25 are estimated at ` 14.13 and 11.75 lakh crore respectively. Both will be less than that in 2023-24.
• Now that the private investments are happening at scale, the lower borrowings by the Central Government will facilitate larger availability of credit for the private sector.

18. Direct Taxes

• The Government has reduced and rationalized tax rates. Under the new tax scheme, there is now no tax liability for tax payers with income up to ₹ 7 lakh, up from ₹ 2.2 lakh in the financial year 2013-14. The threshold for presumptive taxation for retail businesses was increased from ₹ 2 crore to ₹ 3 crore.
• Similarly, the threshold for professionals eligible for presumptive taxation was increased from ₹ 50 lakh to ₹ 75 Lakh. Also, corporate tax rate was decreased from 30 per cent to 22 per cent for existing domestic companies and to 15 per cent for certain new manufacturing companies.
  . In the last five years, our focus has been to improve tax-payer services.
• The age-old jurisdiction-based assessment system was transformed with the introduction of Faceless Assessment and Appeal, thereby imparting greater efficiency, transparency and accountability.
• Introduction of updated income tax returns, a new Form 26AS and prefilling of tax returns have made filing of tax returns simpler and easier. Average processing time of returns has been reduced from 93 days in the year 2013-14 t o a mere ten days this year, thereby making refunds faster.

19. Indirect Taxes

• By unifying the highly fragmented indirect tax regime in India, GST has reduced the compliance burden on trade and industry. The industry has acknowledged the benefits of GST. According to a recent survey conducted by a leading consulting firm, 94 per cent of industry leaders view the transition to GST as largely positive.
• According to 80 per cent of the respondents, it has led to supply chain optimization, as elimination of tax arbitrage and octroi has resulted in disbanding of check posts at state and city boundaries. At the same time, tax base of GST more than doubled and the average monthly gross GST collection has almost doubled to ₹ 1.66 lakh crore, this year.
• States too have benefited. States’ SGST revenue, including compensation released to states, in the post-GST period of 2017-18 to 2022-23, has achieved a buoyancy of 1.22. In contrast, the tax buoyancy of State revenues from subsumed taxes in the pre-GST four-year period of 2012-13 to 2015-16 was a mere 0.72. The biggest beneficiaries are the consumers, as reduction in logistics costs and taxes have brought down prices of most goods and services.
• The Government has taken a number of steps in Customs to facilitate international trade. As a result, the import release time declined by 47 per cent to 71 hours at Inland Container Depots, by 28 per cent to 44 hours at air cargo complexes and by 27 per cent to 85 hours at sea ports, over the last four years since 2019, when the National Time Release Studies were first started.
• Tax proposals in keeping with the convention, The Finance Minister did not propose any changes relating to taxation and propose to retain the same tax rates for direct taxes and indirect taxes including import duties.
• However, certain tax benefits to start-ups and investments made by sovereign wealth or pension funds as also tax exemption on certain income of some IFSC units are expiring on 31.03.2024. To provide continuity in taxation, the Finance Minister proposed to extend the date to 31.03.2025.
• Moreover, in line with Modi government’s vision to improve ease of living and ease of doing business, the Modi Government wishes to make an announcement to improve tax payer services. There are a large number of petty, non-verified, non-reconciled or disputed direct tax demands, many of them dating as far back as the year 1962, which continue to remain on the books, causing anxiety to honest tax payers and hindering refunds of subsequent years.
• The Finance Minister also proposed to withdraw such outstanding direct tax demands up to twenty-five thousand rupees (₹ 25,000) pertaining to the period up to financial year 2009-10 and up to ten-thousand 28 rupees (₹ 10,000) for financial years 2010-11 to 2014-15. This is expected to benefit about a crore tax-payers.

20. Economy Then and Now

• In 2014 when Modi government assumed the reins, the responsibility to mend the economy step by step and to put the governance systems in order was enormous. The need of the hour was to give hope to the people, to attract investments, and to build support for the much-needed reforms. The Government did that successfully following our strong belief of ‘nation-first’.
• The crisis of those years has been overcome, and the economy has been put firmly on a high sustainable growth path with all-round development. It is now appropriate to look at where we were then till 2014 and where we are now, only for the purpose of drawing lessons from the mismanagement of those years. The Government will lay a White Paper on table of the House.

Vineeta Singh – A woman for whom even sky is not the limit has shown the world what importance does beauty products have and how it boosts confidence among women who aspire for good looks and personality. Sugar Cosmetics which is one of the top cosmetic brands in India is founded by Vineeta Singh. Today Sugar Cosmetics is the choice for strong, independent women. The design is strong and quality is very high. Sugar cosmetics is committed in creating products that are perfect fit for every Indian skin tone throughout all seasons and throughout calendar. Let us understand Vineeta Singh and her success Journey in detail.

Vineeta Singh – Biography

Vineeta Singh Success story is full about her persistence and resilience. She was only 23 when she declined Rs 1 crore job offer from an investment bank just to start her entrepreneurial journey. Now she owns a brand $ 85.5 million in funding and Rs 500 crore annualized revenue. She is one of the most loved Judges in Shark Tank India show because of her leadership skills and consistent efforts to achieve success. While chasing terrifying goals, Vineeta Singh is motivated to create a successful empire doing what she is passionate about-building the best company for women to work at.

Early Life and Education of Vineeta Singh

Vineeta Singh was born in Delhi, India in 1991. She finished her schooling at the Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram in Delhi. Vineeta received her undergraduate degree in the course of Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 2005. Later she got herself into IIM Ahmedabad to pursue her MBA in 2007.

Vineeta Singh Net Worth and Investments

Vineeta Singh is a terrific example for aspiring female entrepreneurs. She has not only earned success for herself but she serves as an inspiration to many aspiring founders. She appears in Shark Tank India as Shark and has invested in the following few start-ups.

Vineeta Singh Family

• Vineeta Singh was born in the year 1983. She is 40 years old. She was born and raised in Delhi. Her mother holds a Ph.D. while her father Tej Singh is a biophysicist at the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences. Vineeta Singh met her husband Kaushik Mukherjee when she was pursuing MBA at IIM. The couple got married in 2011.
• Kaushik serves as the CEO of Sugar Cosmetics. This fact might surprise many readers. But Vineeta had a mind-set of a businesswoman from her childhood. As a child, she made a magazine together with her friend and sold the magazine from one door to another for Rs 3.

Vineeta Singh Career

• Vineeta Singh is the co-founder and CEO of Sugar and Fab Bag. FabBags is a grooming subscription service and was established in the year 2012. Her first summer job at Deutsche Bank was as a student in 2006. With her experience in banking and financial industry has earned her position of Director for Quetzal Verify Private Limited. She continued in that position for five years.
• Vineeta Singh founded Sugar after failing to launch two previous firms and turning down a job offer of “one crore” from a multinational investment company. Vineeta Singh founded her third start up Sugar Cosmetics with her husband Kaushik Mukherjee.
• In the year 2012 when sugar cosmetics was created, defeating a slew of national and global competitors to become India’s fastest growing cosmetics brand in just five years. The company has over 2500 locations in over 130 cities and generates more than Rs 100 crores as revenue through its sales.

Vineeta Singh Story of Sugar Cosmetics

• In the year 2010 Vineeta and Kaushik start their first business, a fashion e-commerce company but fails due to lack of funding and experience. In the year 2011 they started their second business a consulting firm , but that too failed due to lack of clients.
• In the year 2012 they decided to start cosmetics Brand Company and founded Sugar Cosmetics. They bootstrapped the business with their own savings and took a loan from Vineeta’s father. In the year 2013, Sugar Cosmetics launched its first product line, a range of crayon lipsticks which was hit with customers and the company started to gain traction. Sugar started achieving profitability.
• But the company still faced many challenges such as competing with the already established brands. In the year 2015, Sugar Cosmetics raised its first round of funding from a group of Angel Investors. The company used its funds for expanding its product line and marketing efforts. In the year 2016 Sugar Cosmetics partnered with Nykka and Amazon to sell its products.
• The company also launched its e-commerce platform. In the year 2017, Sugar Cosmetics raised its second round of funding from a group of venture capitals. In the year 2018, the company launched its first offline store in Mumbai. The company expanded its product line to include skincare and haircare products. In the year 2019, its third round of funding from a group of private equity investors.
• The company used the funds to expand,, marketing efforts and launched new product lines. In the year 2020, Sugar Cosmetics became one of the popular cosmetic brand among Indian Millennials. The Company also launched its first International store in Dubai.
• Sugar Cosmetics raised its fourth round of funding from a group of global investors. In the year 2022, Sugar Cosmetics becomes one of the leading cosmetic company in Asia and its first flagship store in New Delhi.

Sugar Cosmetics – Name, Tagline and Logo

• The company began its journey as an online supplier of Natural, Paraben free cosmetics. Due to the extraordinary black and white colour combination the visual identity of an Indian cosmetic business is beautiful and refined while also seeming bold and confident.
• The company’s logo is made up of a wordmark with an emblem on left side which serves as the brand signifier and appears on all of the company cosmetics. The Slogan of the Company says “Rule The World, One Look At A Time!!!”

Sugar Cosmetics – Business Model

Sugar Cosmetics Operates as Direct to Consumer(D2C) Business Model. It uses Omni channel approach for running its business. By using this strategy Sugar cosmetics takes advantage of other e-commerce market places such as Amazon and Nykaa to increase its accessibility and reach. The brand emphasizes its global presence through a variety of revenue streams, including both domestic sales in India and international export sales.

Sugar Cosmetics’ business model using these nine building blocks.

1. Customer Segments

• Sugar Cosmetics identified a significant gap in the market for high-quality, affordable, and cruelty-free makeup products catering to young, urban women. Their primary target audience consists of millennials and Gen Z consumers who are conscious of their product choices, and are likely to prioritize ethical and environmentally friendly products.
• By focusing on this customer segment, Sugar Cosmetics has positioned itself as a brand that understands and caters to the unique preferences of its target market.

1. Value Propositions

• Sugar Cosmetics’ value proposition revolves around offering high-quality makeup products that are affordable, cruelty-free, and vegan. The brand emphasizes innovation, using customer feedback to continually improve and expand its product offerings.
• In addition, Sugar Cosmetics is committed to staying on top of the latest beauty trends, ensuring that its customers have access to the most up-to-date makeup options.

Some of the key value propositions that set Sugar Cosmetics apart from competitors include:

• Cruelty-free and vegan products
• Affordable pricing
• High-quality, long-lasting makeup
• On-trend product offerings
• A comprehensive range of makeup products

Channels

Sugar Cosmetics utilizes a multi-channel approach to reach its customers. The brand’s products are available through various channels, including:

• Online: Sugar Cosmetics’ official website, as well as popular e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Nykaa, and Myntra.
• Offline: The brand has also established a presence in brick-and-mortar stores, partnering with retailers like Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop, and Health & Glow. They also operate their own exclusive kiosks in shopping malls.
• This omni-channel approach allows Sugar Cosmetics to be accessible to a wide range of customers, catering to their varying shopping preferences and ensuring that their products are easily available to their target market.

Customer Relationships

• Sugar Cosmetics has built strong customer relationships through effective communication, customer support, and community engagement. The brand uses social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube to share product information, beauty tips, and tutorials. This helps them establish a connection with their audience and keep them engaged with the brand.
• Customer support is another crucial aspect of building customer relationships. Sugar Cosmetics ensures that their customers receive prompt and helpful support through email, phone, and social media channels.
• They also offer a loyalty program called “Sugar Circle,” which allows customers to earn reward points on purchases and redeem them for discounts and exclusive offers.

Revenue Streams

• Sugar Cosmetics’ primary revenue stream comes from the sale of its makeup products, both online and offline. The company generates revenue through its official website, as well as through partnerships with e-commerce platforms and brick-and-mortar retailers. In addition, the brand’s exclusive kiosks also contribute to its overall revenue.

Key Resources

• Sugar Cosmetics’ key resources include its product development team, supply chain, and marketing efforts. The company relies on a strong product development team to create innovative, high-quality makeup products that meet the needs of its target audience.
• The supply chain, which involves sourcing cruelty-free and vegan ingredients and manufacturing the products, is another critical resource for the brand.
• Additionally, the company’s marketing efforts play a significant role in building brand awareness and driving sales. Sugar Cosmetics invests in digital marketing, social media campaigns, and influencer partnerships to reach its target audience and promote its products effectively.

Key Activities

Some of the key activities carried out by Sugar Cosmetics include:

• Product development: Designing and creating innovative, high-quality makeup products that cater to the needs of their target audience.
• Marketing: Implementing marketing strategies to build brand awareness, engage with customers, and drive sales.
• Supply chain management: Managing the sourcing, production, and distribution of products to ensure the highest quality and ethical standards.
• Customer support: Providing prompt and helpful support to customers through various channels to address their concerns and queries.
• Continuous improvement: Using customer feedback and market research to identify areas for improvement and expansion, ensuring that the brand stays relevant and competitive.

Key Partnerships

Sugar Cosmetics has established key partnerships to help them grow and expand their business. Some of their key partners include:

• E-commerce platforms: The brand has partnered with popular e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Nykaa, and Myntra to increase product visibility and sales.
• Retailers: Sugar Cosmetics has formed partnerships with retail stores like Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop, and Health & Glow to make their products more accessible to customers.
• Influencers: Collaborating with beauty influencers and bloggers has played a significant role in promoting the brand and its products to a wider audience.
• Manufacturers and suppliers: Ensuring that they work with ethical manufacturers and suppliers who share the brand’s commitment to cruelty-free and vegan products.

Cost Structure

• Sugar Cosmetics’ cost structure includes expenses related to product development, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution. The company invests in research and development to create innovative products and ensure they meet the highest quality standards.
• Manufacturing costs include sourcing cruelty-free and vegan ingredients, as well as production expenses. Marketing and distribution costs involve promoting the brand and its products and delivering them to customers through various channels.
• Sugar Cosmetics has successfully disrupted the beauty industry with its unique business model that prioritizes innovation, accessibility, and ethical production. By using Alexander Osterwalder’s Business Model Canvas, we can see how the brand has strategically aligned its resources, activities, and partnerships to deliver a compelling value proposition to its target customer segment.
• The company’s focus on cruelty-free, vegan, and affordable products has resonated with its audience, contributing to its rapid growth and expansion.
• As Sugar Cosmetics continues to evolve, it is crucial for the brand to remain agile and adaptable, anticipating market trends and customer preferences. By staying true to its core values and leveraging the Business Model Canvas framework, Sugar Cosmetics can maintain its competitive edge and continue to make a significant impact in the beauty industry.

Sugar Cosmetics – Revenue Model

• The Sugar Cosmetics operating income climbed by 22% during the course of the same fiscal year, rising from Rs 103.71 crore to Rs 126.36 crore. Domestic sales which accounted for 93.1% of the company’s sales and increased by 34.1% from 87.7 crore to Rs 117.61 crores during FY21 were in charge of the company’s overall collections.
• However Sugar Cosmetics export by 45.4% as a result of the pandemic related travel and freight interruptions that the company experienced.
• The crew was able to obtain eyeliner and a kohl pencil from a German manufacturer despite having limited budget. The ‘ Made in Germany’ emblem gave customers peace of mind and helped SUGAR launch successfully. SUGAR at that time decided differently and created a matte version because it thought its customers would prefer a product they could use every day. This turned out to be successful. Throughout pandemic SUGAR Cosmetics built few new brand owned retail locations, prioritising hygiene and safety for its customers. The company is concentrating on growing its mobile app which has more than 1M app installations is less than a year, in order to boost its direct to consumer channels.

Sugar Cosmetics – Challenges Faced

• Unlike, its brand name the road for Sugar was not sweet initially. Juggling between new motherhood and her entrepreneurial dream Vineeta led to a hectic schedule. Business and entrepreneurship generally perceived as male domain hindered Vineeta to source funds.
• Once she met an investor who refused to talk to her since he wanted to have the business talk with a ‘man’. There were several sleepless nights when one hand had office files and the other held a new-born baby. Like every other retail or e-commerce brand, Sugar Cosmetics too faced the problem of managing the credit cycle since it is the key to keeping the working capital cycle to a bare minimum to ensure efficient capital use and rotation.
• They had set up a separate unit that monitored the credit cycle daily to manage finances efficiently. These struggles were part of the venture’s success that rose to become the best lipstick brand. It took 5 years for Sugar Cosmetics to build a team of 1500 of which 75 percent constitute women

Sugar Cosmetics – Funding and Investors

Sugar Cosmetics – Mergers and Acquisitions

The brand is set to venture into new categories, with an imminent entry into the hair care segment following its acquisition ofENN Beauty. Additionally, Singh shares the company’s vision of filing for anIPOby2024 or 2025

Sugar Cosmetics – Products and Launch

The “FAB BAG”

• Kaushik Mukherjee and Vineeta Singh founded the cosmetic subscription service “FAB BAG” in 2012, offering a monthly surprise beauty box for Rs 599. Each box contained a curated mix of five products from the categories of cosmetics, bath and body, skincare, haircare, and fragrances, predominantly featuring new and lesser-known brands sourced internationally.
• The FAB BAG concept provided the team with valuable insights, creating an environment to discern and understand their target market. SUGAR, a brand associated with FAB BAG, aimed to establish itself as a premium brand. The company’s growth strategy relied on enticing mass consumers to upgrade while simultaneously encouraging luxury clients to explore more cost-effective options.

Premium Products

• Despite operating on a constrained budget, the team at SUGAR strategically acquired their initial products—an eyeliner and a kohl pencil—from a reputable German producer. The ‘Made in Germany’ label instilled confidence in customers, contributing to a successful launch for SUGAR.
• During a time when glossy eyeliners dominated the market, SUGAR opted to introduce a matte version, anticipating that their clientele would prefer a product suitable for everyday use. This eyeliner marked the beginning of several successful product launches for
• Recognizing the influential role of Instagram in beauty industry marketing, SUGAR leveraged popular trends such as ‘unwrapping videos’ and ‘before and after’ makeovers to enhance brand awareness.
• The brand’s approach to Instagram influencers is well-balanced, with notable instances like featuring Anmol Rodriguez, an acid attack survivor, in one of their impactful videos. Presently, SUGAR boasts an impressive following of over 5 million on Instagram, surpassing competitors like Color bar.

Unique Packaging

• SUGAR initially embraced a fully digital strategy, entrusting design partner opposite with the mission of crafting attention-grabbing packaging. Opposite opted for a distinctive graphic approach, utilizing low-poly drawings to set SUGAR apart from the prevailing minimal and predominantly black design trend in the industry.
• In August 2023, SUGAR Cosmetics introduced ‘Sugar Play, ‘an innovative makeup range specifically tailored for pre-teens and teens. This pioneering line combines vibrant colors with formulas curated for sensitive, youthful skin.

E-commerce Expansion: Shopify and Mobile App

• In 2015, SUGAR embraced e-commerce by launching a Shopify store, a platform it still actively operates. The company further expanded its digital presence with a successful app release in November 2019, garnering over 1 million downloads and an impressive 5-star rating on both Android and iOS. Social advertisem*nts remain a key focus for SUGAR’s online customer acquisition strategy.

Sugar Cosmetics – Partnerships

Strategic Collaborations: Amazon Prime Exclusive Kit

• In August 2023, coinciding with the highly anticipated second season of “Made in Heaven” on Amazon Prime, SUGAR Cosmetics proudly introduces the exclusive “SUGAR x Made in Heaven” cosmetics kit through a strategic partnership, offering customers a unique beauty experience.

Media Synergy: OMP India Partnership

• InJuly 2023, SUGAR Cosmetics entered into a collaboration withOMP India, entrusting the Mumbai-based agency with the comprehensive management of its media strategy. This partnership signifies a strategic move towards enhancing the cosmetic brand’s media presence and outreach.

Celebrity Alliance: Kareena Kapoor Khan Investment

• Renowned Bollywood icon Kareena Kapoor Khan has not only invested an undisclosed amount in Quench Botanics but also joined forces with Vineeta Singh and Kaushik Mukherjee, co-founders of Sugar Cosmetics.
• Becoming a co-owner of this new venture, Khan’s alliance aims to leverage Singh and Mukherjee’s expertise in the beauty e-commerce sector for the scaling of the emergingKorean skincare brand.

Sugar Cosmetics – Advertisem*nts and Social Media Campaigns

• In the#ShukarHainSUGARHain campaign, the story unfolds with Ranveer Singh nervously introducing his girlfriend Tamannaah Bhatia to his family. Tamannaah gives Ranveer a peck right before the family opens the door, capturing a touching and realistic moment in relationships.
• This endearing story deftly highlights SUGAR’s dedication to long-lasting, smudge-proof cosmetics while also fitting in with the brand’s USP of transfer-proof lipsticks. The advertisem*nt successfully draws in viewers on an emotional level while emphasizing how long-lasting SUGAR’s makeup is.

Sugar Cosmetics – Competitors

The top ten rivals in SUGAR Cosmetics’competitive groupcan be listed as:

Sugar Cosmetics – Future Plans

Global Expansion and Offline Presence

• SUGAR Cosmetics has successfully ventured beyond India, establishing a physical presence in Russia and an online footprint in the United States. The brand, founded in 2015, is committed to amplifying its offline standalone locations, aiming to surpass its existing 100 outlets.
• Recognizing that95%of trading in India still occursoffline,SUGAR Cosmeticsstrategically plans to leverage this market trend. The brand aims to expand and enhance its retail base, emphasizing improvedretail marketing and visual merchandising experiences.

Resilient Expansion Amidst Challenges

• During the pandemic, SUGAR Cosmetics prioritized safety and sanitation, opening five new brand-owned retail stores. The brand’s resilience is evident in its strategic focus on strengthening direct-to-consumer (D2C) channels, particularly by expanding its mobile app, which has garnered over 1 million installations in under a year

Vineeta Singh Shark Tank India

• Vineeta Singh became a household name after her appearances on Shark Tank India. She joined the show in Season 1 and continued to appear in Seasons 2 and 3. Apart from being a smart investor on the show, Vineeta gained attention for her resemblance to “Raju ki Maa” from the popular movie 3 Idiots. This led to many memes spreading on social media, which initially saddened Vineeta, but she later took it supportively.
• She also won hearts with her humor and playful mimicry of other sharks at different events. Throughout the show, Vineeta made several strategic investments, further enhancing her reputation as a savvy entrepreneur

Vineeta Singh Personal and Professional Achievements

• Established in 2015, SUGAR Cosmetics has risen as one of India’s leading cosmetic brands. Despite facing numerous challenges along the way, the brand has continuously evolved to achieve its current success.
• Vineeta’s unwavering dedication, resilience, and hard work have propelled her to become a successful female entrepreneur, earning her recognition through various awards. In addition to her entrepreneurial pursuits, Vineeta is also a sports enthusiast. She has actively participated in several marathons, securing medals for her accomplishments in the sporting arena.

Personal Achievements

Lessons to Learn From Vineeta Singh

• Two failed ventures have not stopped Vineeta from starting SUGAR cosmetics as her third venture. Vineeta`s entrepreneurial journey is a motivational story that can motivate anyone to get up and work. She always believed in herself, which eventually led her to where she is now, running one of thebiggest cosmetic brands in India.
• Vineeta has been featured on the cover of various business magazines. She was on the cover ofForbes as the Most Powerful Women in Business.In 2020 Vineeta Singh was named one of thetop 100 mindful women in the worldby The Economic Times 40 Under Forty.

Nepal and India have signed Power Projects Deals named West Seti Hydropower Project and Seti River Hydropower Project after China withdrew from the projects.

Before we begin Lets Understand Nepal and India Relations

• Nepal and India enjoy excellent bilateral ties.
• Founded on the age-old connection of history, culture, tradition and religion, these relations are close, comprehensive and multidimensional and are pronounced more in political, social, cultural, religious and economic engagements with each other.
• India has been a key development partner of Nepal. The latter received strong support and solidarity from the people and Government of India in advancing its home-grown peace process as well as in the process of writing the Constitution through the elected Constituent Assembly.
• The Government of India has also been substantially supporting Nepal’s reconstruction efforts. Water resource is considered as the backbone of Nepali economy. The issue of water resources has always been getting due prominence in the agenda of bilateral cooperation between Nepal and India for a long time.
• The partnership with India in the areas of trade and transit is a matter of utmost importance to Nepal. India is Nepal’s largest trading partner. India has provided transit facility to Nepal for the third country trade. Both public and private sectors of India have invested in Nepal. The trade statistics reveals phenomenal increase in the volume of bilateral trade over the years between the two countries.

Nepal and China Relations

• The relations between Nepal and the People’s Republic of China are age old and deep rooted. Nepal-China relations have always remained friendly and cordial.
• The historic and multi-faceted bilateral relations between the two countries have evolved since the days of Nepali monk and scholar Buddhabhadra.
• Both countries have a long tradition of exchanging high-level visits on a regular basis which have been contributing to strengthening and consolidating bilateral ties.
• Both countries have been utilizing the bilateral, regional and multilateral forums to hold meetings between the leaders in order to maintain regular contacts and share views on the issues of mutual interests.
• Chinese assistance to Nepal falls into three categories: Grants, interest free loans and concessional loans. The Chinese financial and technical assistance to Nepal has greatly contributed to Nepal’s development efforts in the areas of infrastructure building, industrialization process, human resources development, health, education, water resources. China is the second largest trading partner of Nepal.

Why China Withdrew from the Power Projects

• Initially, the 750MW West Seti was proposed by West Seti Hydro Limited, a storage scheme designed to generate and export large quantities of energy to India.
• However, in March 2019, during the Nepal Investment Summit, the government bundled the West Seti and SR-6 as a joint storage scheme and showcased them at the summit. The projects were among eight hydro schemes showcased at the summit.
• But they received no attention from potential investors. The NHPC Limited, an Indian government hydropower board under India’s Ministry of Power, had submitted a proposal in May to develop the projects.
• The estimated cost of the two projects, according to the Investment Board, is $ 2.4 billion . The West Seti project, first envisioned some six decades ago, is located on the Seti River in far-western Nepal.
• The proposed dam site is located 82 kilometers upstream of the confluence of the Seti and Karnali rivers, forming part of the Ganges basin.
• The project was originally designed as export-oriented with 90 percent of the power intended to be sold to India. However, the project, whose cost was estimated at Rs120 billion at that time, failed to go into construction.
• The cash-strapped project got a boost when China National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Corporation (CMEC) decided to invest in it.
• The CMEC even signed an agreeement duringthe then prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal’s China visit in 2009.
• At that time, CMEC President Jia Zhiqiang and West Seti Hydro director Himalaya Pandey signed a memorandum of understanding in Beijing. The Chinese firm had decided to invest Rs. 15 billion in the project.
• However, the CMEC later opted out of the project saying that Nepal lacked an investment-friendly environment.
• Another important shareholder in the company, the Asian Development Bank, also did not show interest citing a lack of public acceptance of the project and the absence of good governance.
• The project received yet another jolt when the main promoter of the company, Snowy Mountain, stopped sending funds for office operations in August 2010. The government revoked the licence of West Seti Hydro on July 27, 2011.

Nepal choses India for Power Projects

• Investment Board Nepal with India’s state-owned NHPC Limited to develop the two projects—West Seti and Seti River (SR6)—joint storage projects totaling 1200MW.
• The 750MW West Seti and 450MW SR6 projects are spread over four districts—Bajhang, Doti, Dadeldhura and Achham in far-western Nepal.
• The agreement was signed following Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s decision to expand power sector partnership between the two nations.
• The two countries agreed to explore opportunities for expanding and further strengthening mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation in the power sector including joint development of power generation projects in Nepal, development of cross-border transmission infrastructure, bi-directional power trade with appropriate access to electricity markets in both countries based on mutual benefits.
• The challenge lies in the maximum use of natural resources, which has not been possible for Nepal due to certain constraints. . In this scenario, provisions such as bilateral partnerships, especially with economically more viable neighbors such as India, can act as catalysts for Nepal to improve its hydropower setup.
• Nepal’s enormous water wealth and huge hydropower potential may be the answer to India’s ever-increasing requirement for energy. Nepal and India must realize the sensitivity of each other’s positions in South Asia and not overemphasize the trade of electricity.
• This will also help Nepal shed its image of a “buffer” between India and China and replace it with a more credible identity of a crucial supplier of hydroelectric power.

RBI –Reserve Bank of India is planning for next round of interest rate hike in the month of August. But there are no consensus on the size of the move given the absence of any clear guidance from the Apex Bank.

RBI and Rate Hikes

• If the RBI expects that inflation will rise beyond its tolerance limit, it hikes the rate at which banks borrow money from the central bank.
• When the repo rate increases, the cost of borrowing for banks also increases, which is passed to their account holders by increasing the interest rate on loans and deposit rates.
• This also makes borrowing money from the bank a costly affair, which in turn slows down investment and money supply in the market.
• As a result, it limits money supply and brings down the purchasing power of consumers, which helps in controlling inflation.
• The repo rate is reduced when the government intends to infuse money into the market and support economic growth, as it did during the lockdown.

How a small increase in repo rate effects?

• A small hike in repo rate makes borrowing from the commercial banks expensive.Home loan, vehicle loan, education loan, personal loan, business loan, credit cards, mortgages are all influenced by the rate hike.
• When the borrowing cost increases, the common man is discouraged from making unnecessary purchases, thereby reducing the demand for goods and services. This kicks off a chain reaction, leading to a reduction in prices and thereby, the inflation.
• This is simply a game of demand and supply, with the repo rate acting as a catalyst.
  On the other hand, people who have savings and have a fixed deposit, for example,will benefit from an increase in interest rates.
• When borrowing business loans becomes expensive, businesses either reduce or freeze hiring, leading to unemployment. Consumers also put a pause on buying all luxury items including vehicles, which affects the auto industry.
• The real estate sector, which was witnessing good pickup in sales due to the low cost of financing, could be impacted by RBI’s rate hike move. As banks increase their interest rate, it will result in a further rise in equated monthly instalments for existing borrowers and dent new homebuyer’s confidence.
• Low-interest rates are unlikely to come back as the Indian government predicts that the country’s economy will take at least 12 years to overcome the setback from Covid-19. It said that the ongoing structural changes catalyzed by the pandemic can potentially alter the growth trajectory in the medium-term.

What is Repo Rate ?

• Repo (Repurchase) rate is the rate at which the RBI lends shot-term money to the banks. When the repo rate increases borrowing from RBI becomes more expensive.
• Therefore, we can say that in case, RBI wants to make it more expensive for the banks to borrow money, it increases the repo rate; similarly, if it wants to make it cheaper for banks to borrow money, it reduces the repo rate.

Higher Inflation and Interest Rates Puts Common man in trouble

• The war in Ukraine significantly increased the common man’s woes. It elevated commodity prices due to geopolitical tension and affected the global supply-chain, tightening financial conditions globally.
• As a result, due to curbs on imports and high demand for essential commodities, everything from food and beverages to clothing and accessories is expensive today.
• The common people of India were already struggling to manage their daily expenses with limited purchasing power on a minimum wage.
• Due to this soaring inflation, consumers are further losing purchasing power, which is a measure of how many goods or services you can buy with a unit of currency, at afaster-than-usual rate.

Rate Hike in June 2022

• The Reserve Bank of India raised its key repo rate by 50 bps to 4.9% during its June meeting, after May’s surprise 40 bps off-cycle hike, surprising markets had forecast a 40 bps rate hike, aiming to ensure inflation remains within target going forward while supporting growth.
• The annual inflation accelerated to 7.79% in April of 2022, the highest since May of 2014, amid surging food prices. The central bank also raised both the standing deposit facility rate and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the bank rate by 50 bps to 4.65% and 5.15%, respectively.

Rate Hike expected in August 2022

• The RBI acknowledged that inflationary pressures have intensified and have become more broad-based. There is a greater pass-through of input costs to product prices.
• In addition to goods inflation, services inflation is also picking up. The recent spike in tomato prices, revisions in electricity tariffs, and elevated commodity prices are also adding to the inflationary pressures.
• Spillovers from global developments are still unfolding. The price of crude oil, after showing signs of easing, has again inched up to $120 per barrel.
• While the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Food Price Index moderated in May, the cereal price index sub-component continued to escalate. The RBI noted that inflation will likely fall below the upper threshold of 6 per cent only by the end of the year.
• The RBI has projected inflation to decline from 7.4 per cent in the July-September quarter to 6.2 percent in the October-December quarter, and further to 5.8 percent in the January-March quarter. If inflationary pressures accentuate, there could be revisions to the inflation projections for the second half of the year.
• Predictions from the 63 economists polled between July 25 and Aug. 1 ranged from a 25 basis point hike to one of 50 bps when the RBI meets on Aug. 5.
• Over 40% of economists, 26 of 63, expected the RBI to go for a hefty 50 bps hike, taking the repo rate to 5.40%. More than one-quarter of respondents, 20 of 63, forecast a smaller 35 bps hike. About 22%, 14 of 63, said 25 bps while the remaining three said 40 bps.
• A slim majority of economists, 35 of 63, saw the repo rate already reaching 5.75% or higher by end-year, up 10 bps from a July poll, while the median expectation is for at least 6% in the second quarter of next year. The RBI has raised rates twice so far in this cycle, first catching markets off guard with a 40 bps hike at an unscheduled meeting, followed by 50 bps in June.
• The RBI can always reduce the pace of rate hikes from September onwards if inflation and growth momentum softens, but we think it is a risky strategy at this stage to be an outlier in delivering less than 50 bps rate hikes.
• The outlook for next year was even less clear, with end-2023 forecasts ranging from 4.75% to 6.75%. With the RBI a relative laggard in the global tightening cycle, India has seen heavy capital outflows, which have helped drag the rupee to lifetime low close to 80 per U.S. dollar.
• With the dollar expected to remain strong in the short- to medium-term, the RBI has few options to defend the rupee without burning through foreign currency reserves. Just over half of respondents, 20 of 38, who answered an additional question said the exchange rate is playing a larger than normal role in the RBI’s interest rate deliberations.

Conclusion

• RBI only has the monetary tools to arrest demand by making money more expensive or by reducing its ssupply. So when it raises the repo rate it translates in to an increase in lending rates for borrowers.
• But, it does not have control over supply side issues that also impact inflation. For instance, there has been a major.. disruption of supplies due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, which has raised commodity prices of key items like crude.. oil and fertilizers.
• Supply shocks arising out the pandemic and the ongoing geo-political developments have been a cause of concern globally in case of India a significant part of inflation is imported and will require concerned effort to bring under control.
• While the RBI is clearly targeting inflation, on the regulatory side, there were a series of announcements that will have a positive impact on the housing sector as well as further encouraging the use of digital payments. Both the RBI and government were steadfast in their approach to support the economy through the challenging period of the pandemic.
• Due to these factors, we expect the RBI to increase the reporate by another 75 bps this fiscal, and take it 50 bps abovethe pre-pandemic level. This will not, however, hit growth in the real economy with a lag in the current fiscal because as monetary policy impacts thereal economy with a lag.

Peyush Bansal – Biography

Peyush Bansal- The Visionary man who founded Lenskart to transform the way people see and experience the World. Since the beginning of the Company, Lenskart has defied expectations on how people engage with eyewear. Yes Lenskart is all about eyewear and eye care. Peyush Bansal and His company visions for a world where eyewear helps you Do More, Be More. He focused for disrupt in eye wear industry and today Lenskart is one of Biggest Eyewear Brand in India. Let us understand his journey in detail.

Early Life and Education of Peyush Bansal

• Peyush Bansal studied at Don Bosco School, Delhi. After completing his schooling, he prepared for IIT but didn’t get through it. Peyush then decided to study engineering at a foreign university and after so much hard work and effort, he finally got admission to McGill University, Canada.
• Later he got admission into Bachelor of Engineering Honors in Electrical- IT, Control and Automation. From 2002 to 2006 he completed his bachelor’s degree there. While doing their studies he used to work as a part-time receptionist where we developed his interest in computers and coding.
• After completing his studies at McGill University, he started his career as a Program Manager in a popular Tech Giant- Microsoft, USA. He worked there for nearly one year from January 2007 to December 2007. He also completed (MPEFB- Management) from IIM, Bangalore.
• Peyush left his job and in 2008 he moved to India. Despite not having a business idea and experience, he decided to start a new business with a small capital that he had earned from his previous job. In December 2007 he started a company basically an online portal (SearchMyCampus.com) to solve the various issues of college students such as housing, coaching, jobs, transportation, books, etc. After this, he with his friends founded Valyoo Technologies Pvt. Limited which is now known as Lenskart.

Peyush Bansal Net Worth and Investments

• Through dedication and expertise, he has become a beacon of motivation for budding entrepreneurs. As of 2024, Lenskart founder Peyush Bansal’s net worth is estimated to stay approximately Rs. 600 crores.
• Peyush Bansal lives a luxurious life with many luxury cars, as he has a BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and Land Rover. Furthermore, he has also invested in an employee engagement platform at Feedo and dailyobjects.com, a lifestyle brand.
• Peyush Bansal has made numerous investments in companies likePush Sports,Yes Madam, andJewel box (Accessories)within the Educational and Training Services (B2C), Services (B2C Non-Financial), and Accessories industries. Peyush Bansal’s latest investment was on 19-Feb-2024 inPush Sports, a company within the Educational and Training Services (B2C) industry.

Peyush Bansal Family

• Peyush Bansal was born on 26^th April 1985 to Mr..Bal Kishan Bansal and Kiran Bansal. He is married to Nimisha Bansal.
• Peyush has one elder brother and one sister. Peyush and Nimisha has one son.

Peyush Bansal Lenskart India: How It All Began?

• After completing early education, Peyush moved to Canada for further studies from where he completed his engineering degree. After this Peyush did his first job at Microsoft, the world’s biggest company. Peyush used to get package of lakhs at Microsoft. But he was not happy with the work as he wanted to start his own business and he thought to come back to India in the year 2007.
• He launched SearchMyCampus as the first vocational service in 2007. He then went on to find a series of companies including John Jarcobs, Equivalence and Lenskart under which he set up the Lenskart Vision Fund which is a Lenskart Plus Company. In the year 2010, Peyush Bansal founded Lenskart with Sumeet Kapathi and Amit Choudhary. First the Company sold only contact lenses.
• But later on it also started selling sunglasses and eye glasses. Today it has more than 5000 frames and glasses in their portfolio as well as more than 46 different types of high quality lenses and now the company has reached a new heights of success. Today Lenskart has more than 1550 outlets across India. Adopting a franchisee model business. Peyush expanded Lenskart to every region of the country and today he also provides an eye check-up facility.

Business Model of Lenskart

Lenskart operates through a uniquebusiness modelthat has helped it become one of the largest eyewear retailers in India. Here’s a closer look at Lenskart’s business model:

Strategic Partnerships

• Lenskart has developed strategic partnerships with several key players in the eyewear industry. It has collaborated with manufacturers to source high-quality frames and lenses at affordable prices. The company has also partnered with lens manufacturers to develop its own lenses, which it sells under its brand name.
• Additionally, Lenskart has partnered with technology providers to create a seamless online shopping experience for its customers. It has also partnered with brick-and-mortar stores to expand its reach and provide customers with a personalized in-store experience.

Revenue Generation

• Lenskart generates revenue through several streams. Its primary source of revenue is the sale of eyewear products, including frames, lenses, sunglasses, and contact lenses. The company has a wide range of products, catering to customers of all ages and needs.
• Lenskart also generates revenue through its subscription-based services. It offers a subscription service called Lenskart Gold, which provides customers with exclusive benefits, such as free eye tests, free home eye check-ups, and discounts on eyewear products.

Cost Structure

• Lenskart’s cost structure is based on several factors, including the cost of goods sold, marketing and advertising expenses, and technology expenses. The company has a vertically integrated supply chain that helps it keep its costs low. It sources its products directly from manufacturers, eliminating the need for middlemen and reducing costs.
• Lenskart invests heavily in marketing and advertising to increase brand awareness and attract new customers. It uses a combination of traditional and digital marketing channels to reach its target audience.
• Finally, the company incurs technology expenses to develop and maintain its online platform. It has invested in advanced technologies to provide customers with a seamless online shopping experience and personalized recommendations.

Customer Segments in Lenskart’s Business Model

Lenskart’s customer segments can be broadly classified into the following categories:

• Budget-conscious consumers: Lenskart caters to customers who are looking for affordable and value-for-money eyewear solutions. This segment comprises individuals who are price-sensitive and are looking for affordable eyeglasses, sunglasses, and contact lenses without compromising on quality.
• Fashion-conscious consumers: Lenskart also targets customers who are fashion-conscious and seek eyewear that reflects their style and personality. This segment comprises individuals who are willing to spend more on designer eyewear and are looking for a wide range of trendy and fashionable eyewear options.
• Individuals with vision problems: Lenskart also caters to customers who have vision problems and require prescription eyewear. This segment includes individuals who require corrective glasses or contact lenses for near-sightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism.
• Tech-savvy customers: Lenskart also targets tech-savvy customers who prefer to shop online and use digital channels to browse and purchase eyewear products. This segment comprises individuals who are comfortable using online platforms to browse, select, and purchase eyewear products.

Value Propositions in Lenskart’s Business Model

• Wide range of products: The Company offers a wide range of eyewear products, including prescription glasses, sunglasses, contact lenses, and eye care accessories. Customers can choose from a large selection of styles, materials, and colours.
• Affordable pricing: Lenskart offers affordable pricing on its products, making eyewear accessible to a wider audience. The company often runs promotions and discounts, making it an attractive option for cost-conscious customers.
• Convenience: Lenskart offers a convenient shopping experience to its customers. Customers can shop online or in-store, and can even book a home eye check-up service through the company’s website. This makes it easy for customers to get the eyewear they need without having to leave their homes.
• Personalization: Lenskart offers a personalized shopping experience to its customers. The company uses a virtual try-on feature on its website, allowing customers to see how different frames will look on their face. Lenskart also has trained optometrists in its stores who can help customers find the perfect pair of glasses.
• Quality: Lenskart offers high-quality products that are made with durable materials. The company also offers a 14-day return policy, allowing customers to return products if they are not satisfied with their purchase.

Lenskart Funding and Valuation

The largest shareholders of Lenskart include ADIA, Soft-Bank Vision, Kedaara Capital, TR Capita, Alpha Wave Global, Premji Invest, etc. Let’s look at the recent shareholding structure of Lenskart-

The majority of the stakes are owned by Softbank i.e. 20.1% followed by Premji Invest (11.1%) and ADIA (10%).

Fundings so far & Valuation

Lenskart signed a definitive agreement withADIAfor a 10% stake in the company. ADIA invested a massive amount in Lenskart through SWF i.e. Gulf Sovereign Wealth Fund. Let’s look at the latest funding rounds of Lenskart-

Competition Analysis: What Makes Lenskart Stand Out?

1. Integrated Model: Lenskart controls its supply chain, including manufacturing and assembly units. This gives them an edge in ensuring quality control, quicker delivery, and inventory management.
2. Hybrid Retail Strategy: Lenskart’s combination of online and offline stores allows them to cater to a wide range of customers. While the online platform provides convenience, the physical stores offer a touch-and-feel experience, credibility, and immediate service.
3. Technological Innovation: The Company has been at the forefront of using technology to enhance the customer experience. Features like the virtual 3D try-on technology set them apart from many traditional eyewear retailers.
4. Diverse Product Range: Lenskart offers various styles, categories, and price points, ensuring that different customer segments can find products to their liking.
5. Home Services: Their home eye check-up service offers unmatched convenience, helping them stand out in a crowded market and cater to those hesitant or unable to visit physical stores.
6. Private Label Advantage: By creating its private-label brands, Lenskart ensures higher margins and can offer competitive prices. This also allows them better control over product design and innovation.
7. Aggressive Marketing: Lenskart’s branding and marketing campaigns have been prominent, making them one of the top-of-mind brands in the eyewear sector in India.
8. Customer-Centric Initiatives: From easy returns to warranties on products, Lenskart has always focused on building trust and ensuring customer satisfaction.

Peyush Bansal in Shark Tank

• Peyush Bansal, who is arguably the most-admired shark on the show, would have not accepted the show’s offer. When he was first made the offer, he wanted to turn it down. But his wife, Nidhi, insisted that it was a great opportunity.
• And then when they went on their vacation to Maldives. Peyush watched back-to-back episodes on the television in his room while facing some of the most pristine waters one can. He did the same at other engagements as well. Despite him enjoying the show, he wasn’t sure.
• Like most entrepreneurs he was hard-pressed for time, and the show needed lots of it. It’s funny that even when he shot the first time, he wasn’t sure. That’s why he hadn’t signed the show’s contract. Then the lights went on. The shoot and the start-up founders’ energy inspired him. Then, there was no looking back.

Peyush Bansal Personal and Professional Achievements

• He is the recipient of the Red Herring Top 100 Asia Award 2012 for his venture Valyoo Technologies and was awarded ‘Emerging Entrepreneur of the year’ in the Indian e-tail Awards 2012.
• He received the ‘India TV Yuva Awards in 2015.
• Economic Times recognized Peyush Bansal under India’s Hottest Business Leaders under 40. He was also listed in Fortune India’s Best 40 under 40 entrepreneurs in 2019.

5 Companies Launched by Peyush Bansal before Lenskart’s Success

1. SearchMyCampus.com

• Peyush Bansal started SearchMyCampus.com in December 2007 with ₹25,00,000 from the basem*nt of his parent’s house. It was an online portal that helped college students to easily solve common issues faced by them likejobs, housing, coaching, books, transportation, etc. He worked on SearchMyCampus for 2 years.
• Peyush Bansal founded Valyoo Technologies in 2008. Valyoo Technologies is the parent company of Lenskart.

2. Flyrr

• Peyush Bansal started Flyrr in June 2009. It was an online store that sold spectacles, sunglasses and contact lenses. The same idea as Lenskart but concentrated on the US market.
• Peyush faced some problems, which made him realize that in order to run a business smoothly, both operations and delivery had to be controlled by him and his team. He decided to replicate the same model in India, and hence Lenskart was born in November 2010.

3. Watchkart.com

• With Lenskart on track, Peyush Bansal launched another niche venture in May 2011 called Watchkart. Watchkart sold branded watches and catered to a lot of brands like Emporio Armani, Tommy Hilfiger, Fossil, etc.

4. Bagskart

• In August 2011, Peyush Bansal launched Bagskart. Bagskart was another of Peyush Bansal’s niche portals under Valyoo Technologies. BagsKart sold different varieties of handbags.

5. JewelsKart

• With three niche verticals, Lenskart, Watchkart, and Bagskart, already in place, Peyush Bansal started another vertical, Jewelskart. As the name would suggest, JewelsKart sold jewellery of different kinds.
• With a growth of 200%, Lenskart was performing better than all its sister verticals by 2014. Because of low traction and financial losses, Peyush Bansal shut down Watchkart, Bagskart, and Jewelskart in 2015. This helped him focus on Lenskart better and make it the brand it is today.

Lessons to Learn from Peyush Bansal

• Peyush believed firmly in his vision of bringing technology driven eye care to everyone. After doing his Electrical Engineering from Canada, he worked for Microsoft, but in 2007 he left the job to come back to India. He did MBA from IIM Bangalore and founded Lenskart in 2010. It takes guts to leave a well-paid job to pursue your passion.
• Peyush is humble. Not to generalize but people who have studied abroad usually would be more humble as they experience the same in foreign lands, unlike people who have studied in India who would be more boastful of their tags and can be rude as well. In India it is common that’s why we like Ashneer. However, Peyush retained his humbleness after coming back to India as well.
• He respects people and he would like to invest or take a bet on people rather than businesses. He invested in Jugaadu Kamlesh.
• He also believe in Social causes. He invested in Gold life anti suicide rods. He is highly technology centric since he worked at Microsoft in past. He believe that technology can help solve many of the today’s issues. He also has shown the same through his Unicorn Company “Lenskart”..
• He has a purpose to bring eye care to every Indian. He is driven by that purpose. Lastly but not the least, Peyush shows that one don’t need to be cunning or utmost selfish to succeed in business, one can still be successful in business with clear purpose or goal, conviction in that goal and then with the help of technology and automation can produce world class product. Rather than cutting his competition, he has made his product a world class with constant innovation with no competition which can match him. I am not aware of anyone who is competition to Lenskart.

Even before Ukraine Russia war crisis rising Oil prices have always been a cause a concern for Indian Economy. India is most vulnerable to Price rise of Gas, coal, edible oil, fertilizers and metals. With Price Rise Inflation can create worrisome situations. Oil’s relentless surge above $125 a barrel threatens to stoke inflation across Asia, forcing central banks to decide whether to respond to higher prices with tighter policy, or hold off amid the blow to economic growth.

Why Oil Prices are Rising ?

• Russia is the largest non-open supplier of crude oil and Gas to the World. Russia Ukraine war has led to the force majeure by Russians on the oil contracts. Insurance prices for the crude oil tankers also rose due to the war making it more costly.
• Energy giants such as Shell, BP and Exxon all pulled out of Russian energy deals, while the Biden administration has announced a ban on importing Russian oil and other petroleum products, which represents about 8% of U.S.-bound crude shipments.
• Russia’s war in Ukraine went from a threat to reality in late February, which caused crude oil prices to briefly rise above $100 a barrel before retreating back towards $90. Over the following two weeks, crude oil priced climbed steadily as the U.S. and its western allies imposed crippling sanctions on Russia.
• Russia exports about 5 million barrels a day of crude. 60% of the Russia’s Oil gets exported to European Countries and the rest 30% goes to China. Russia is the third-largest petroleum and liquid fuels producer in the world, after the United States and Saudi Arabia.
• It is also a major exporter of crude oil. Since mid-January 2022, the geopolitical risk related to Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine has contributed to higher and more volatile crude oil prices.
• Stronger petroleum demand as the COVID-19 pandemic has begun to ease and slower crude oil production growth have also put upward pressure on global crude oil prices.India imports about 85 per cent of its crude oil requirements and is the world’s third-largest consumer of oil.
• Higher prices would increase the country’s import bill at a time when it is facing a steep budget deficit.

• The Covid Recession hit U.S. and other economies around the globe, oil prices tanked along with the stock market
• Lockdowns and unprecedent disruptions resulted in less energy demand and oil prices fall.
• But Oil demand came back strong later in 2020 as national governments and central banks pumped trillions of dollars into the global economy to support workers and the unemployed. By early 2021, oil had climbed back to pre-pandemic price levels.

OPEC Production cut leads to Higher Prices

• In April 2020, a spat between Russia and Saudi Arabia over proposed output cuts in response to the new Covid-19 pandemic spooked investors, causing the price of oil to fall to historic lows in April 2020.
• The quick rebound in consumption caused crude oil and refined product inventories to fall swiftly from record high levels in mid-2020 to multi-year lows in late 2021.
• That’s why the Biden administration, despite arguing for less fossil fuel consumption overall, has called on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies to increase oil production.
• OPEC’s plan to throttle back its oil wells, and the commitment to that plan will likely maintain upward pressure on prices.

U.S. Oil Production Slow

• U.S oil producers aren’t in a hurry to expand production. For one thing, they don’t want to invest heavily on new wells only to see supply increase, prices decline and their profits dwindle.
• This was a major theme of the fracking boom that helped propel the U.S. to become the number one global oil-producing nation over the last decade and a half. Many companies went bankrupt as they overextended themselves building out infrastructure, only to see oil and gas prices plummet on greater and greater supply.
• Meanwhile, there’s a large push by some of the world’s largest institutional investors, including BlackRock, to steer investment toward companies with low levels of environmental, social and governance (ESG) risk. That’s moved money away from oil and gas producers when those dollars would help increase production.
• Underinvestment because of ESG is one of the confluence of issues causing the oil price to increase.

Why India is most Vulnerable to Oil Price Rise ?

• India relies on overseas purchases to meet about 85 per cent of its oil requirement, making it one of the most vulnerable in Asia to higher oil prices.
• The twin blows of oil prices, already up more than 60 per cent this year, and a weakening rupee may hurt the nation’s finances, upend a nascent economic recovery and fire up inflation.
• There are concerns that elevated oil prices will fire up inflation which is already above the RBI’s tolerance range of 6 per cent.
• Oil prices are determined by global prices and there is a war-like situation in one part of the world and the oil companies will factor that in.
• India exports petroleum products – accounting for more than 13% of its total exports – to more than 100 countries.
• Demand for oil is growing at 3-4% every year in the country. In a decade, India could easily end up consuming more than 7 million barrels a day, say experts.
• Much of the oil goes into keeping some 300 million vehicles on the road and for different industries such as petrochemicals and plastics. India uses diesel to produce some 80,000 mega-watts of electricity. Diesel generators provide electricity to a lot of private housing.
• India’s tax revenues are also heavily dependent on oil. Oil accounts for more than 50% of federal excise duties – tax collected on goods produced within the country. States depend on oil taxes to shore up their revenues.
• For one, it widens India’s current account deficit when the value of imports of goods, services and investment income exceeds exports.
• Second, it puts Pressure on prices at a time when inflation has already climbed to above 6%.
• High oil prices also hurt growth and slow down the economy as people end up spending more money on energy and spend less on other things. And when growth sputters, the government’s fiscal calculations can go completely awry.
• A further slowdown triggered by an oil price shock will leave the government with less money to spend on a planned massive infrastructure push to spur growth and welfare benefits and subsidies.

What Can India Do To Combat Oil Price Rise?

• The Union Government, which is concerned about the rising crude oil prices in the international market owing to the Russia-Ukraine war, may make use of budgetary provisions to tackle the situation.
• Edelweiss Wealth Research in a note has marked out that India’s trade and current account deficit are both set to widen as crude oil prices jack up. The widening of the two deficits will drag the rupee down further.
• India’s monthly crude oil imports averaged 143 million bbl. or $11.3 billion during December 2021-January 2022, when the price of the Indian crude oil basket (ICB) averaged $79/bbl. The ICB at $117/bbl. would shore up the import bill by 48% to $16.7 billion.
• It is at this critical juncture that the Indian government is hoping for a quick de-escalation of the war, failing which muted tariff income and higher social spending will disrupt the government’s budget calculations leaving it with little to no option but to rely further on market borrowings.
• The central government will push for more domestic rice bran oil production, in a bid to counter the inflation in edible oil prices across the country.
• India has huge rice bran oil production potential, given the country’s paddy production, and that this will be exploited going ahead. India’s rice production has surged to a record high in the past few years, owing to the expansion in the area under paddy cultivation.
• The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is holding workshops with states to assess the potential of rice bran oil production in their rice clusters, and enhance the capacity of rice mills to ensure oil is extracted to the maximum.
• The government is undertaking major duty cuts in edible oil imports, and hoped that the effect of these steps will be visible soon and the prices of edible oil will start decreasing in the coming months.
• Mustard oil production in India is set to increase by 10 LT in the coming season, owing to higher area under cultivation, which will also help bring down prices of edible oils domestically.
• The central government has also asked state governments to curb hoarding and impose stock limits on edible oil and oilseeds if necessary, to bring down prices.

Penny stocks are the ones which trade at a very low price. Usually, these stocks lack liquidity and carry high risk. The public information available on these stocks/companies is very limited, which makes it difficult for an investor to understand the future prospects of the business. However, penny stocks with good fundamentals and strong business models have the potential to become multi baggers in the long run. Here are some of these stocks.

Sintex Plastics (SPTL)

SPTL was established by transferring the plastic business (66% of FY17 revenue) and the Prefab & Infra business of Sintex Industries (34% of FY17 revenue). Sintex Plastics, a leading player in custom molding business (mainly composites), stands to benefit from growing trend of composites replacing metal parts across industries. Thus, we expect revenue CAGR of 12.8% over FY18E-20E. We see EBITDA CAGR of 15.6% over FY18E20E due to operating leverage and better product mix over FY18E-20E. Owing to the decline in interest outgo, we expect SPTL to post 17.5% PAT CAGR over FY18E-20E. SPTL is done with its capex cycle and has lowered its focus on w/c intensive Prefab & Infra business, thus enhancing cash generation. This will lead to net debt declining by ~Rs1,500cr over FY17-20E.

Source: 5paisa research

NHPC

NHPC is a hydropower generation company with power generation capacity of 5,171MW in FY17. The company generated 23,275mn units of electricity against a target of 23,000 for FY17. The company is planning a significant expansion of power generation capacity over the coming years. A total of 8,481MW is currently under the clearance/approval stage. This includes plans to setup a thermal plant (1,320MW capacity) through a joint venture. We expect the company to report revenue CAGR of 18.1% over FY18E-20E aided by 7.2% CAGR in generation volumes and Plant Load Factor (PLF) remaining at 62-63% over the same period. We see EBITDA CAGR of 28.2% over FY18E20E aided by better utilization of newly added capacity. We expect PAT CAGR of 20.8% over FY18E-20E.

Source: 5paisa research

MEP Infra

MEP Infrastructure is independently and collectively engaged in toll projects, OMT (Operate, Manage & Transfer), Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) and BOT. Due to MEP’s JV with San Jose India, it is strategically planning to extend its road development portfolio based on HAM. It has bagged 5 new projects under HAM model worth Rs3,230cr. MEP has achieved the first milestone for the Nagpur, Package-II and Mahuva to Kagavadar project. The Authority paid the first milestone payment (20% of physical progress) for Nagpur, Package-II and Mahuva to Kagavadar. The appointment date for other two HAM projects is expected shortly. The company has started collecting toll from 124 entry points to Delhi. EPC order book of Rs3,000cr also provides strong revenue visibility. Thus, we expect 27% CAGR in revenue over FY18E-20E. We see PAT CAGR of 39% over FY18E-FY20E.

Source: 5paisa research

IDFC Ltd

IDFC Limited, through its subsidiaries, operates as a non-banking financial company in India. We expect NII to grow at CAGR of ~23% over FY18E-20E led by ~20% growth in credit. Among segments, faster growth is expected to come from retail. Expansion of banking business and non-interest income growth from AMC and securities business will lead to strong loan book growth. Its NIM is expected to expand by ~20bps yoy to 2.30% in FY18E. We foresee non-interest income to grow by ~16% yoy in FY18E supported by the Infra Development Fund worth ~Rs440cr. Alternative Investment Fund is expected to benefit from PE deals and infra debt management. Due to higher granularity, we expect NPA to improve in FY18E. It has increased its focus on branch efficiency, which should improve cost/income ratio.

Source: 5paisa research

SJVN

SJVN is a power generation company which operates hydro, wind and solar plants. The total power generation capacity at the end of FY17 stood at 1,964.6MW. Hydroelectric sources generate power of 1,912MW with wind and solar accounting for 47.6MW and 5MW respectively. SJVN is also planning to set up a 1,320MW thermal power plant at Buxar, Bihar. The company has committed to develop 1,000MW of solar power generation capacity over the next 5-7 years. We expect the company to report revenue CAGR of 7% over FY18E-20E aided by near ~100% utilization levels over FY18E-20E. We foresee EBITDA CAGR of 6.9% over FY18E-20E aided by better utilization of new capacity added by the end of FY19E. We expect PAT CAGR of 6.9% over FY18E-20E.

Source: 5paisa research

Europe is drawing away much of the global supply to its shores ahead of winter . Because of this India is facing problems for importing natural gas from international markets.

Lets first understand why India needs to Import Natural Gas ?

• India’s domestic production of natural gas can only partially fulfil the expected increase in demand in the coming years, and the country will have to increase its imports to fill the gap.
• Such dependence on external sources makes the country’s energy security vulnerable to regional and global events.
• India requires a sustained supply of energy to support its ambitious growth and welfare targets for the coming years.
• A study by the government think tank, NITI Aayog projects that India’s energy consumption will reach 2,300 million tons of oil equivalent by 2047,of which natural gas will contribute 173 mtoe under the determined effect scenario.
• Natural gas is a clean fuel that has wide-ranging utility in the energy and non-energy sectors. It can be used for power generation, city gas distribution to support domestic activities, as an alternative fuel for the transportation sector, fertilizer and petrochemical industries and in certain other industries.
• Within the power sector, natural gas has received little traction primarily because the per unit cost of electricity generated by a gas-fired power plant in India is higher than that from fossil fuels such as coal.
• Moreover, there has been a shortage in the supply of gas for the power plants. Filling the gap with imported gas cannot be a solution, however, given the financial non-viability of gas sourced from abroad.
• Over the years, India has made adjustments in its strategy to achieve stability in oil imports. From the Gulf to the Arabian Peninsula, India’s sources have been gradually expanding to include countries from Africa and Latin America.
• In the early 1990s and 2000s, India was involved in multi-lateral negotiations for building natural gas pipelines from Iran, Turkmenistan and Myanmar.
• However, these pipeline projects failed to make headway owing to various factors such as fluctuating geopolitical events, differing positions on gas pricing, and changing nature of bilateral relations among countries involved in the project.
• Today India sources substantial amounts of its natural gas imports from Qatar, with whom it has a long-term agreement. India has also been purchasing natural gas from the spot markets.

Europe Importing More Natural Gas

• The European Union reached an agreement with Norway to source more natural gas from the Nordic nation as the bloc tries to lower surging prices and boost security of supplies after Russia, its biggest provider, cut flows to almost half of member states.
• The 27-nation EU is racing to phase out Russian gas and find new sources across the world after President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
• Moscow has started cutting shipments to Europe, affecting 12 member states and pushing Germany to raise its gas-risk level to the second-highest “alarm” phase.
• The supply woes have pushed gas and power prices to record levels, fueling inflation. Europe is paying a very high price for its dependence on Russian gas.
• In 2018, around 40% of EU natural gas imports came from Russia .In the same year, Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned gas monopoly, supplied a total of 200.8 billion cubic meters of gas to European countries, with 81% heading to Western Europe.
• On June 3, the European Unionadopteda sixth package of sanctions, including a partial embargo on Russian oil. The sanctionswill banseaborne imports of Russian crude oil as of December 5, 2022, and ban petroleum product imports as of February 5, 2023.

But can Europe cope without Russian Oil?

• Global crude flows are changing quickly. In the past few months, Europe has started to import more oil from the United States, West Africa, and the Middle East.
• European refiners seeking substitutes for Urals blend couldturn tocrude oil streams fromNorway, Nigeria, Iraq, and the United States, although spot cargoes of many crude oil streams are limited in a tight market.
• Replacing lost volumes from Russia is no small task, but refiners frequently adjust to changing supply conditions. The drop in Russian exports in the past two months has beenlower than expected.
• Even as more oil and gas majors and commodity traders have stopped lifting Russian cargoes, the country has been able to sell more volumes to Asia,particularly India.

Consumption Reduced by Users

• Russia’s Supply cuts have created panic among all the Europeans which is bidding up the LNG prices and pulling cargoes from all directions to fill its storage ahead of winter when increased heating needs boost gas demands.
• Europe’s LNG imports have reportedly risen 56% in the first seven months of this year from the year-earlier period. GAIL has a 20-year contract with Gazprom for an annual 2.5 million tonnes of LNG.
• Customers are unwilling to take replacement supplies at double or triple the expected rate, leaving GAIL with the task of rearranging the available pool among buyers as much as possible.
  

Why India is Facing Difficulty?

• Indian Oil’s tender for a spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo received no bids recently. Even LNG contracted under long term deals is no longer secure as Russia’s Gazprom has suspended supplies to GAIL.
• This has resulted in GAIL reducing gas supplies to industries , including fertilizers power and petrochemical plants. Supplies for the use in CNG vehicles and homes are being maintained. But the industrial segment served by the city gas companies are getting effected.
• Scarcity is the new challenge for Indian gas consumers already battered by high prices, currently at around $42 per mmBtu in the Asian spot LNG market.

How India is overcoming the challenge?

• India and the European Union (EU) share a common fate in terms of fossil fuels: both are poor in proved indigenous reserves and need substantial amounts of imports to fill the gap between domestic production and consumption.
• India, which haslargely remained neutral in its foreign policy in course of the Russia Ukraine conflict, hadpurchased its regular LNG shipmentfrom Russian gas firm Gazprom, with which it had struck a 20-year contractin October last year 2021 to meet its massivedemands.
• The western sanctions onRussian natural gas dipped the gas prices by defaultby over 29% for Indian oil firms, leading to a cut in the losses. India is the world’s fourth largest LNG importer. Net imports have increased by 84% over the past decade.
• Increasing dependence on gas imports is a threat to India’s energy independence and security. Import dependency may lead to vulnerability in the case of international political changes. Spot LNG prices have seen extreme volatility in the past two years, and that has become a major concern for all gas importing countries, including India.
• India has mandated state-runGAIL (India)Ltd to import gas and buy from local difficult fields to meet growing demand growth from household and transport sectors as cheaper supplies from old blocks is not enough, a government order said.

Cost-push inflation happens when the cost of production increases, leading to upward pressure on prices. This article will explore the concept of cost-push inflation, its causes and effects, and how it differs from demand-pull inflation. We will also discuss examples of cost-push inflation, how inflation is measured, and investments that can help beat inflation. So, let’s dive in!

What is cost-push inflation?

Cost-push inflation is when the overall price rises due to increased production costs. Producers face higher expenses when inputs such as labor, raw materials, or energy increase. They pass these increased costs onto consumers by raising prices to maintain profit margins. As a result, the general level of prices in the economy rises, leading to inflation.

Understanding cost-push inflation

The increase in production costs drives cost-push inflation. There are numerous potential causes, including:

• Rising Wages: When wages increase, it directly affects production costs. Higher wages mean increased business expenses, which may result in higher prices for services and goods.
• Raw Material Costs: If the cost of raw materials used in production rises, businesses will need to spend more on inputs. This increase in expenses can lead to inflationary pressures.
• Taxes and Regulations: Tax changes or new regulations imposed on businesses can increase operating costs. These additional expenses can be passed on to consumers through higher prices.
• Exchange Rate Fluctuations: If a country’s currency depreciates, it makes imports more expensive. This, in turn, can increase the cost of production and lead to cost-push inflation.

Graphic Representation of Cost-Push Inflation

Causes of Cost-Push Inflation

Several factors contribute to the occurrence of cost-push inflation:

• Rising Energy Prices: When the cost of energy, such as oil or electricity, increases, it raises the production costs for businesses. As a result, they may increase prices to maintain profitability.
• Increase in Taxes: Higher taxes imposed on businesses can lead to increased expenses, which may be passed on to consumers through higher prices.
• Labor Costs: If wages rise significantly, businesses may raise prices to compensate for the increased labor expenses.
• Supply Chain Disruptions: Disruptions, such as shortages of raw materials or transportation issues, can lead to increased production costs, which may be reflected in higher prices.

Cost-Push Inflation vs. Demand-Pull Inflation

While increases in production costs drive cost-push inflation, demand-pull inflation happens when the overall demand for goods and services surpasses the economy’s ability to supply them. In cost-push inflation, prices rise due to increased costs, whereas in demand-pull inflation, prices rise due to excess demand.

Cost-push inflation is often associated with decreased output or economic growth, as businesses may reduce production in response to higher costs. On the other hand, demand-pull inflation is typically accompanied by increased economic activity and higher employment levels.

Example of Cost-Push Inflation

An example of cost-push inflation can be seen in the oil industry. When the price of crude oil rises notably, it directly affects the cost of production for various sectors, such as transportation and manufacturing. As a result, these sectors may increase the prices of their services and goods to cover the higher expenses incurred due to the increased cost of oil.

What causes cost-push inflation?

A combination of factors can cause cost-push inflation:

• Increased Labor Costs: If labor unions negotiate higher wages for workers, it can lead to cost-push inflation as businesses raise prices to cover the increased expenses.
• Rising Commodity Prices: When the prices of essential commodities like oil, metals, or agricultural products increase, it can directly impact production costs and trigger cost-push inflation.
• Government Policies: Certain government policies, such as increased taxes or regulations, can raise business costs and contribute to cost-push inflation.

What effects cost-push inflation?

Cost-push inflation can have several effects on the economy and individuals:

• Reduced Purchasing Power: As prices rise, the purchasing power of consumers decreases. They may have to spend more on essential goods and services, leaving less money for discretionary spending.
• Lower Economic Growth: Cost-push inflation can lead to reduced economic growth as businesses face higher production costs and may cut back on investments or expansion.
• Impact on Wages: In response to cost-push inflation, workers may demand higher wages to cope with the increased cost of living. This, in turn, can contribute to a wage-price spiral and further inflationary pressures.

How is inflation measured?

Inflation is typically measured using various economic indicators, including:

• Consumer Price Index (CPI): The CPI measures changes in the average price level of a basket of services and goods commonly consumed by households. It indicates the inflation rate.
• Producer Price Index (PPI): The PPI measures changes in the average prices producers receive for their goods and services. It reflects changes in input costs and can indicate potential inflationary pressures.
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Deflator: The GDP deflator measures changes in the overall price level of all final services and goods produced within an economy. It reflects inflation in the entire economy.

What investments beat inflation?

To protect against the erosive effects of inflation, investors can consider the following investment options:

• Stocks: Investing in stocks of companies with a history of outperforming inflation can help preserve purchasing power.
• Real Estate: Real estate investments, such as rental properties or real estate investment trusts, can hedge against inflation, as rental income and property values tend to increase with rising prices.
• Inflation-Indexed Bonds: These bonds adjust their value based on changes in inflation, ensuring that investors’ returns keep pace with rising prices.
• Commodities: Investing in commodities like gold, silver, or agricultural products can act as a hedge against inflation, as their prices tend to rise during periods of inflation.

Can You Beat Inflation with Gold?

Gold is often considered a hedge against inflation due to its historical value and limited supply. During inflation, the price of gold tends to rise, which can help investors preserve their wealth. However, it’s important to note that various factors, including market conditions and investor sentiment, can influence gold prices.

Conclusion

Cost-push inflation occurs when increased production costs increase prices for goods and services. Factors such as rising wages, raw material costs, taxes, and exchange rate fluctuations contribute to this type of inflation. Individuals and businesses must understand the causes and effects of cost-push inflation to make informed decisions.

Inflation can erode purchasing power and impact economic growth. Therefore, investors should consider investment options that can beat inflation, such as stocks, real estate, inflation-indexed bonds, and commodities like gold.