Winning Bizness Economic Desk

India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that the country’s foreign exchange reserves has slid by USD 3.463-billion to USD 684.805-billion in the week ended October 25, 2024.

The overall reserves had dipped by USD 2.163-billion to USD 688.267-billion in the previous reporting week.

In end-September, the reserves had hit an all-time high of USD 704.885-billion.

For the week ended October 25, foreign currency assets (FCAs), a major component of the reserves, decreased by USD 4.484-billion to USD 593.751-billion, the data showed.

Expressed in dollar terms, the FCAs include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the Euro, Pound and Yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.

Gold reserves increased by USD 1.082-billion to USD 68.527-billion during the week, the Reserve Bank of India said.

The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were down by USD 52-million to USD 18.219-billion, the apex bank said.

India’s reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was down by USD 9-million to USD 4.307-billion in the reporting week, India’s apex bank said.

Electric Two-wheeler Sales Up 85 pc in October

EV two-wheeler manufacturers had a very satisfying month as retail sales of their products shot up 85 per cent on a Year-on-Year (YoY) basis to 1,39,031 units in October of this year.Last year, this figure was 75,164 units.

The northward movement in sales of EV vehicles show that the trend is now gradually shifting from petrol vehicles to electric vehicles.

A total of 9,54,164 electric two-wheelers were sold in the first ten-months of the calendar year (CY) 2024.

This is an increase of 38 per cent on an annual basis.

This figure was 6,92,363 units in the same period last year.

In October of this year, Ola Electric, a company that was facing difficulties regarding service and product quality, sold 41,605 units.

The company sold 27,615 units in August and 24,716 units in September.

This year (2024) has been a roller-coaster ride for Ola Electric so far. In January this year, the company sold 32,424 units.

In March, this sale increased to an all-time high of 53,640 units.

During this period, the company’s market share had reached 38 per cent but after this Ola Electric’s sales continued to decline and market share fell to 27 per cent in September.

Apart from this, sales of other EV two-wheeler companies have also witnessed a northward movement.

TVS Motor sold 29,890 EV two-wheelers. It saw an increase of 81 per cent on an annual basis.

In October of last year (2023), this figure was 16,507 units.

During this period, the company’s market share was 21 per cent.

In September, TVS Motor was at number three position after Bajaj in the EV two-wheeler segment.

However, in October, it again came to number two and Bajaj remained in the third place in October.

In calendar year (CY) 2023, TVS sold 1,66,581 iQubes, which was 94,641 units more than Bajaj Auto’s 71,940 Chetaks.

The gap has reduced significantly in the current year which is now 27,164 units.

Oct GST Collection Clocks 8.9 pc YoY Rise

India’s gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections in October of this year climbed 8.9 per cent on a Year-on-Year (YoY) basis to Rs 1.87-lakh-crore, data from the Union Finance Ministry showed.

In October of last year (2023), the total GST collection stood at Rs 1.72-lakh-crore.

Collections in Central GST (CGST), State GST (SGST), Integrated GST (IGST) and cess increased on a YoY basis, as per the data.

The Central GST mop-up came in at Rs 33,821-crore, State GST at Rs 41,864-crore, Integrated GST at Rs 99,111-crore while cess stood at Rs 12,550-crore during the month.

So far this year (2024), the total GST collection has been higher at 9.4 per cent at Rs 12.74-lakh-crore as compared to Rs 11.64-lakh-crore collected in the corresponding period of last year (2023).

Here, a point that requires highlighting is that October witnessed the second-best GST mop-up. The highest-ever collection was in April 2024 at over Rs 2.10-lakh-crore.

During the month under review, the Goods and Services Tax collection from domestic transactions expanded 10.6 per cent to Rs 1.42-lakh-crore, while revenues from tax on imports increased about four per cent to Rs 45,096-crore.

Refunds worth Rs 19,306-crore were issued during the month, an 18.2 per cent growth over the year-ago period.

After adjusting for refunds, the net GST collection grew eight per cent at over Rs 1.68-lakh-crore.

In FY 24, the total gross GST collection was Rs 20.18-lakh-crore, an increase of 11.7 per cent when compared to the previous financial year (FY 23).

The average monthly collection for FY 24 stood at Rs 1.68-lakh-crore, surpassing the previous year’s average of Rs 1.5-lakh-crore.

The upward movement in recent GST collections reflects a positive trajectory for India’s economy, underscoring robust domestic consumption and buoyant import activity, the Ministry said.

The figures bode well for the country’s fiscal health and economic recovery efforts, signalling resilience amid global uncertainties.

States’ Collection of GST Revenues in October

The western coastal state of Maharashtra collected the most Goods and Services Tax (GST) of Rs 31,030-crore in October of this year, up 14 per cent from October 2023.

The next highest collections were from Karnataka (Rs 13,081-crore), Gujarat (Rs 11,407-crore) and Tamil Nadu (Rs 11,188-crore).

Among the states that clocked the highest increase Year-on-Year (YoY) in GST were Ladakh (30 per cent) and Kerala (up 20 per cent).

The bigger southward movement for the month was in the north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, down 33 per cent to Rs 56-crore from last year’s Rs 87-crore.

Net GST revenue increased 7.9 per cent to Rs 1,68,041-crore in October of this year. Out of this, Rs 1,21,231-crore came from domestic input, while Rs 36,288-crore came from customs.

The GST regime was introduced in July 2017 and is considered as one of the most important economic reforms in the country since 1991 when the economic liberalisation programme was initiated.

GST brought goods and services taxes under one unified system, relacing a varied set of state and central taxes.

Investment, Private Consumption Driving India’s Economic Growth, says IMF Report

India remains the world’s fastest growing economy with investment and private consumption propelling its growth, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in its Regional Economic Outlook for Asia Pacific.

The renowned international entity in its World Economic Outlook report released recently, had retained India’s GDP growth forecasts at seven per cent and 6.5 per cent for FY 25 and FY 26, respectively.

According to the IMF, pent-up demand accumulated during the Covid-19 pandemic has been exhausted as the economy `reconnects’ with its potential growth.

The International Monetary Fund has revised the growth, compared to its April forecast, by 0.2 percentage points amid rural consumption benefiting from an improved agriculture season and public infrastructure investment continuing to expand.

The Asia and Pacific regions are expected to contribute approximately 60 per cent to global growth this year. “This said, the outlook is subject to sizeable economic and geo-political uncertainties,” the IMF said in its report.

A blog post released by the International Monetary Fund alongside the regional outlook said that while manufacturing has been the driver of growth in Asia, a transition to modern, tradeable services could be a new source of growth and productivity.

It said that the growth of services has already drawn about half of the region’s workers into the sector, up from just 22 per cent in 1990, as hundreds of millions moved from factories and farms.