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Time Limit for exercise of option for pension on higher wages extended till 3rd May 2023.

The notice can be viewed on:

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the extension of the term of the 22nd Law Commission of India until August 31st, 2024. The tenure of the current 22nd Law Commission of India is scheduled to end on February 20th, 2023. The various Law Commissions have made important contributions towards the progressive development and codification of the laws of the country. To date, the Law Commission has submitted 277 reports.

The Chairperson and Members of the 22nd Law Commission have recently taken office and have taken up several pending projects for examination and report, which are works in progress. The Commission will consist of: a full-time Chairperson; four full-time Members (including the Member-Secretary); the Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs, as an ex-officio Member; the Secretary, Legislative Department, as an ex-officio Member; and no more than five part-time Members.

During its extended term, the Law Commission will continue to discharge its existing responsibilities, as bestowed upon it by the order dated February 21st, 2020. These responsibilities include:

• Identifying laws that are no longer relevant and recommending the repeal of obsolete and unnecessary enactments.
• Suggesting the enactment of new legislation as may be necessary to implement the Directive Principles and to attain the objectives set out in the Preamble of the Constitution.
• Considering and conveying to the Government its views on any subject relating to law and judicial administration that may be specifically referred to by the Government through the Ministry of Law & Justice (Department of Legal Affairs).
• Considering requests for providing research to any foreign countries as may be referred to it by the Government through the Ministry of Law & Justice (Department of Legal Affairs).
• Preparing and submitting to the Central Government, from time to time, reports on all issues, matters, studies, and research undertaken by it and recommending such reports for effective measures to be taken by the Union or any State.
• Performing such other functions as may be assigned to it by the Central Government from time to time.

Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong recently launched cross-border linkage between India and Singapore using their respective Fast Payment Systems, viz. Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and PayNow.

The UPI-PayNow linkage will enable users of the two fast payment systems in either country to make convenient, safe, instant, and cost-effective cross-border funds transfers using their respective mobile apps. Funds held in bank accounts or e-wallets can be transferred to / from India using just the UPI-id, mobile number, or Virtual Payment Address (VPA).

As per the RBI, to begin with, State Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, Indian Bank and ICICI Bank will facilitate both inward and outward remittances while Axis Bank and DBS India will facilitate inward remittances. For Singapore users, the service will be made available through DBS-Singapore and Liquid Group (a non-bank financial institution). More banks will be included in the linkage over time.

Customers of the above participating banks can undertake cross-border remittances to Singapore using the bank’s mobile banking app / internet banking. To begin with, an Indian user can remit up to ₹60,000 in a day (equivalent to around SGD 1,000). At the time of making the transaction, the system shall dynamically calculate and display the amount in both currencies for convenience of the user.

The Reserve Bank of India has released preliminary guidelines outlining the minimum capital requirements for market risk, as part of its efforts to align banking regulations with the standards set forth by Basel III. The central bank has invited comments on the proposed regulations until April 15, 2023, with the final rules slated to take effect on April 1, 2024.

Under the proposed guidelines, securities in banks’ trading books will be classified separately from those in their banking books, with instruments that can be included in the trading book, which are subject to market risk capital requirements; and those to be included in the banking book which is subject to credit risk capital requirements, listed out.

Banks will be required to establish well-defined policies, procedures, and documented practices for determining which instruments are included or excluded from the trading book when calculating their regulatory capital.

The RBI defines market risk as the potential for losses in both on- and off-balance-sheet positions arising from changes in market prices, with interest rate and equity risk applicable to trading book instruments, and foreign exchange risk (including gold and precious metals) relevant to both trading and banking book instruments.

Read detailed guidelines here.

According to data from the commerce ministry, India’s exports in January declined by 6.58% to $32.91 billion, as compared to $35.23 billion in the same month last year. Meanwhile, imports in January also fell by 3.63% to $50.66 billion from $52.57 billion in January 2022. The trade deficit in January decreased to $17.75 billion from $23.76 billion in December.

However, between April and January this fiscal year, the country’s merchandise exports increased by 8.51% to $369.25 billion, while imports rose by 21.89% to $602.20 billion.

Despite the decline in exports in January, India’s external position remains stable due to a reduction in the merchandise trade deficit, higher services exports, and higher-than-expected remittance growth. Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das anticipates that India will receive more overseas inflows and the current account deficit will ease going forward.

In the third quarter, the situation showed signs of improvement as imports decreased due to lower commodity prices, resulting in a narrowing of the merchandise trade deficit.

The annual rate of inflation based on the all-India Wholesale Price Index (WPI) number fell to 4.73% (Provisional) for January 2023 (over January 2022) against the 4.95% recorded in December 2022. The Commerce Ministry said that the decline in the rate of inflation is primarily attributed to mineral oils, chemicals & chemical products, textiles, crude petroleum & natural gas, textiles, and food products. The month-over-month change in WPI for January 2023 stood at 0.13 % compared to December 2022.

• The index for the primary articles group grew by 0.93% to 174.0 (provisional) in January 2023 from 172.4 (provisional) in December 2022. Prices of Minerals (2.62%), Non-food Articles (1.58%) and Food Articles (0.92%) increased in January 2023 as compared to December 2022. Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas prices declined by 0.85% in January 2023 compared to December 2022.
• Fuel & Power declined by 1.39% to 155.8 (provisional) in January 2023 from 158.0 (provisional) in December 2022. Prices of Mineral Oils declined by 2.13% in January 2023 compared to December 2022.
• The index for manufactured products increased by 0.14% to 141.3 (provisional) in January 2023 from 141.1 (provisional) for December 2022. Out of the 22 NIC two-digit groups for Manufactured products, 12 groups have witnessed an increase in prices, while ten groups have witnessed a decrease in prices. The price rise is mainly attributed to essential metals; tobacco products; electrical equipment; computer, electronic & optical products; motor vehicles, trailers & semi-trailers; other transport equipment; printing & reproduction of recorded media. Some groups that have witnessed a decrease in prices are other manufacturing; textiles; chemical & chemical products; fabricated metal products except machinery & equipment; rubber & plastic products, wearing apparel, in January 2023 compared to December 2022.
• The Food Index consisting of ‘Food Articles’ from the Primary Articles group and ‘Food Product’ from the Manufactured Products group has increased from 170.3 in December 2022 to 171.2 in January 2023. The rate of inflation based on WPI Food Index rose from 0.65% in December 2022 to 2.95% in January 2023.

India’s national accreditation system under the Quality Council of India (QCI) has been ranked 5th in the world in the recent Global Quality Infrastructure Index (GQII) 2021 which ranks 184 economies based on quality infrastructure (QI). India’s overall QI system ranking continues to be in the Top 10 at the 10th position, with the standardisation system (under BIS) at 9th and the metrology system (under NPL-CSIR) at the 21st position in the world.

The GQII measures the relative development of countries’ QI. A formula calculates a score for each country based on its position in the sub-rankings for metrology, standards and accreditation. Geographically, the top 25 QI systems are located in Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific, with some exceptions, such as India (10th), Brazil (13th), Australia (14th), Turkey (16th), Mexico (18th) and South Africa (20th).

As per the government, the rise in India’s accreditation ranking is attributed to the steady growth of conformity assessment bodies (CABs) under the national accreditation system. These are testing & medical labs, product certification bodies, and management systems certification bodies.

The GQII rankings are published and presented post-facto for each year based on the data collected till the end of that year. The 2021 rankings are based on data till the end of December 2021, collected and analysed through 2022. It is an initiative on metrology, standardisation, accreditation and related services, supported by Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Germany.

The Reserve Bank of India has released the results of its 59th round of the quarterly Order Books, Inventories and Capacity Utilisation Survey (OBICUS) conducted during Q3:2022-23 covering 800 manufacturing companies. The survey provides a snapshot of demand conditions in India’s manufacturing sector during July-September 2022.

As per the SUrvey findings, the aggregate level capacity utilisation (CU) for the manufacturing sector improved to 74.0 per cent in Q2:2022-23 from 72.4 percent in the previous quarter. The seasonally adjusted CU for Q2:2022-23 also increased by 20 basis points (bps) to 74.5 percent from its level in the previous quarter.

New orders received by manufacturing companies during Q2:2022-23 were close to their level in the previous quarters but they were substantially higher than that in the corresponding quarter a year ago.

Both raw material inventory (RMI) to sales and finished goods inventory (FGI) to sales ratios declined in Q2:2022-23 as compared to the previous quarter, which was commensurate with higher sales growth and similar level of new orders on sequential basis.

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Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently presented the last full budget of the second term of the Modi-led BJP government, before the General Elections in 2024. Labeled the first during the ‘Amrit Kaal’ or the period of 25 years leading to the 100th year of India’s independence, the budget has gained varied, mostly positive, reactions from the industry experts who have termed the budget as a growth-oriented one, with particular focus on green growth.

Here are reactions from leading industry experts and Bombay Chamber members on the budget: