People can get relief from expensive petrol and diesel soon. The government may allocate one lakh crore to contain the increase in the cost of food and fuel. A plan to allocate this amount from the budgets of various ministries is under consideration. Government sources told that Prime Minister Narendra Modi may take a decision on this in the coming weeks.

Under this scheme, the tax on the sale of petrol and diesel can be reduced. Also, import duty on cooking oil and wheat may also come down. The government had announced a $26 billion plan last year. A decision can be taken this time also to provide relief to the common people and to control the prices of essential commodities. Inflation remains a persistent issue. July retail inflation had risen to a 15-month high. Even more worrying were the prices of vegetables and food items, which have skyrocketed.

According to sources, since assembly elections are to be held in some states of the country like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh this year and general elections next year. In such a situation, Modi has only a few months left to rein in the cost to the voters. However, before taking such decisions, one has to look at the budget deficit, which is being watched by investors all over the world.

The Indian economy is growing at the fastest rate in the world. In such a situation, the government has the capacity to allocate one lakh crore rupees. This is only two per cent of the budget ending in March 2024. The government may also consider a plan to provide cheap loans and houses for the poor while sticking to the budget deficit target. Due to heavy rains and floods in many parts of the country, the prices of many household items have increased. It also includes key ingredients like tomatoes and onions.

Four electric two-wheeler companies, which wrongly received the government's FAME subsidy, have returned Rs 10 crore to customers so far. These companies have to return a total of Rs 300 crore. Ola Electric, Ather Energy, TVS Motor and Hero MotoCorp were investigated by the government on complaints received from customers. These companies were under-reporting the selling price to get the subsidy and were charging customers as add-ons for chargers and software. As per the rule, only those companies were getting subsidy whose electric products cost less than 1.50 lakhs. These companies were keeping the prices low to get the subsidy, but were taking full money from the customers in other ways.

Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has added 20.27 lakh new members under the Employees' State Insurance Scheme in June. Around 24,298 new establishments were registered in June and brought under the social security net of ESIC. A Labor Ministry statement said on Thursday that according to the provisional payroll data of ESIC, 20.27 lakh new employees were added in June 2023.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will invest Rs 1 lakh crore in low-carbon energy opportunities by the end of this decade. This also includes renewable energy and green hydrogen, as it seeks to transform into low-carbon energy.