The Signal (weekly highlights)

1. Foreign investment inflows rise to USD 987 million in January 2022

India witnessed net foreign investment inflows of USD 987 million in January 2022, as against net outflows of USD 2.7 million in the preceding month. Net inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) rose to USD 5.9 billion from USD 934 million in December 2021.

During April 2021-January 2022, net foreign investment inflows amounted to USD 24.5 billion, with net FDI inflows of USD 31.5 billion and net FPI outflows of USD 7 billion. Net outflows of foreign portfolio investment (FPI) worsened to USD 4.9 billion from USD 3.6 billion in December 2021.

2. Centre to focus on mines, roadways, BharatNet for asset monetization

The Centre to achieve the ambitious Rs.1.6-trillion asset recycling target for the financial year 2022-23 has decided to focus on monetization of coal & mineral blocks, highway stretches, the BharatNet fiber network and urban real estate

Nearly, Rs.300 billion is likely to be fetched from the monetisation of BharatNet fibre network and BSNL/MTNL towers. Besides this, the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) seeks to generate upfront revenues/investments of Rs.6 trillion from operational infrastructure projects in four years starting 2022-23.

3. Government oil companies increase het fuel prices by 18%

Government owned oil companies have increased jet fuel prices by 18 per cent.

Since fuel costs make up about 40% of costs of airlines, costlier fuel will hit their hopes of an early recovery with the resumption of regular international flights later this month and the summer holiday season.

4. Auto industry commits around Rs. 750 bn investment under PLI scheme

The production linked incentive (PLI) scheme by the Centre for the automobile and auto component sector has attracted 76 per cent more investment than the planned target of Rs.425 billion.

Auto and component manufacturers together have proposed to invest around Rs.750 billion in the country over the next five years.

5. GST collections expected to be Rs. 1.4 tn a month in FY23

Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections are expected to be around Rs.1.4 trillion a month in financial year 2022-23, as against around Rs.1.2 trillion budgeted.

In the ongoing fiscal, the central government will be collecting about Rs.600 billion more in GST revenues than the budget estimate (BE). So far, the CGST collections have exceeded the revised estimate (RE) of 2021-22 by at least Rs.200 billion. The Centre’s CGST receipts have been estimated to be Rs.5.7 trillion, which is Rs.400 billion more than BE.