Discover the top business headlines that are trending across the world today.
The government has made a decision to hike customs duty on crude palm and refined sunflower oil to 20 percent and 32.5 per cent, respectively. As per a senior official, the latest move will "hugely" benefit farmers and will amp up their incomes. The official mentioned on Saturday that the decision to remove the minimum export price along with cutting down the export duty on onions will help the farmers in an extensive way. While basic customs duty on crude palm, soybean and sunflower seed oil has been increased to 20 percent from nil, the duty on refined palm, soybean and sunflower oil has witnessed a jump from 12.5 percent to 32.5 percent. Clearly, there’s a massive support offered to soya and oilseed farmers with Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh getting major benefits.
Indian e-commerce is majorly dominated by giants Amazon and Walmart-backed Flipkart. However, the two giants have been constantly under the scrutiny of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for their anti-competitive practices. It is believed that the two companies engage in deep discounting and vendor bias apart from taking high margins, which means they face criticism from regulators and smaller retailers. “Legally, Amazon cannot participate in discussions about purchase orders, margins, or discounts. However, the company tracks such activities unofficially,” a vendor close to the development revealed. Meanwhile, another report in Reuters highlighted Amazon and Flipkart’s breach of India’s antitrust laws.
India's automotive market is witnessing a massive demand for micro SUVs, and due to its increase in sales, the domestic car industry is seeing a boom amid this year's broader sales slowdown. Hyundai Motor India's Exter and Tata Motors' Punch, both priced under Rs 10 lakh, have become the favourites with sales rising by 72 per cent in the first four months of this financial year. As per a data in Jato Dynamics, a total of 175,330 small SUVs were sold between April and July 2024. Variants of compact models like Maruti Suzuki Brezza, Hyundai Venue, and Tata Nexon too have contributed to the small SUV sales.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued monetary penalties on three non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). As per the RBI notifications on Friday, these have been levied for regulatory lapses and non-compliance with various RBI directives. The three companies include Hewlett Packard Financial Services (India) Private Limited, SMFG India Credit Company Limited, and Muthoot Vehicle & Asset Finance Limited. While the RBI imposed a penalty of ₹10,40,000 on Hewlett Packard on September 3, the decision was taken after the company's financial position was inspected. Eventually, the monetary fines were issued due to non-compliance with the 'Know Your Customer (KYC)' guidelines.
