Latest news with #DevendraFadnavis-led
NDTV
a day ago
- Business
- NDTV
Maharashtra Hikes Liquor Duty Amid Challenge To Sustain Ladki Bahin Scheme
Mumbai: Amid the challenge to sustain its flagship Ladki Bahin scheme, the Maharashtra government has increased the excise duty on liquor. The move will help the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis-led government generate Rs 14,000 crore annually. The hike will be on the Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), country liquor and imported alcohol. A new category, Maharashtra Made Liquor (MML), has also been approved by the Cabinet. The prices of the IMFL and premium foreign liquor brands are also likely to increase by 50 per cent. The excise duty on IMFL has been increased nearly five times the manufacturing cost, specifically affecting products with a manufacturing cost of Rs 260 per bulk litre. The duty on country liquor has also gone up from Rs 180 to Rs 205 per proof litre. The state government, which had promised to increase the funds under the Ladki Bahin scheme, is struggling to sustain its flagship scheme amid the financial burden. Under the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana, a monthly assistance of Rs 1,500 is given to eligible women in the state. Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar has said that the increment will be implemented as the government gets financially stable. Opposition, however, continues to target the ruling Mahayuti alliance, which comprises the BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, for not fulfilling the election promise and the delay in disbursement of instalments. The scheme had turned out to be the game changer in the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections, in which the Mahayuti registered a landslide victory. More than 2.5 crores women have enrolled in the scheme, but the verification after the elections led to the removal of over 9 lakhs beneficiaries. During a recent verification by the Women and Child Development Department, which implements the scheme, it was found that 2,289 government employees were taking the benefit. Their names were then removed. The flagship scheme had also created a rift in the government over the issue of fund diversion. Sanjay Shirsat, the Minister of Social Justice Department from Shiv Sena, had openly criticised the Finance department for diverting funds of his department to pay the instalments of the scheme.
India.com
2 days ago
- Business
- India.com
Bad news for Mumbaikars, Maharashtra government increases excise duty of Alcohol, foreign liquor to cost..., Beer, Wine rate to...
Mumbai: In a major decision, the Devendra Fadnavis-led Maharashtra government has raised the state excise duty on Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) by over 50 percent. The increase in the excise duty will raise the retail prices by over 60 percent. It has also increased the duty on country liquor and imported premium liquor, which will hike their retail prices by 14% and over 25 percent respectively. The excise duty on beer and wine has not been increased. The Maharashtra government is expecting the whopping hike to increase its revenue to Rs 57,000 crore, up Rs 14,000 crore from the Rs 43,620 crore collected in FY 2024-25. It expects 10 percent of the estimated revenue receipts of Rs 5.60 lakh crore for the financial year 2025-26 to come from this. IMFL will now attract four and a half times excise duty on the manufacturing cost instead of the existing three times. 'This will vary based on the manufacturing price but could lead to a huge hike of over 60% in retail prices,' said an excise department official to The Hindustan Times. The cost of IMFL currently ranges between ₹120 and ₹150 for 180 ml, which will now go up to a minimum of Rs 205. Premium brands will cost a minimum of ₹360 for 180 ml as against their current rate ranging between ₹210 and ₹330. The price of 180-ml bottles of country liquor has gone up to ₹80 from the current price of ₹70. The government has introduced a new category called Maharashtra-Made Liquor (MML), which will also be exempt from the price hike. These grain-based MML brands will be priced at a minimum of ₹148 for 180 ml — a rate deliberately aligned with the current IMFL pricing to help MML compete in the same market segment. Beer and wine have been exempted from the excise duty hike. Officials said the retail price of beer, which has a lesser percentage of alcohol compared to hard liquor, is among the highest in the country and was thus exempted.
NDTV
23-05-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
Newly-Inducted NCP Minister Chhagan Bhujbal Gets Food, Civil Supplies Portfolio
Mumbai: Four days after his induction into the Devendra Fadnavis-led cabinet in Maharashtra, senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal was on Friday allocated the food and civil supplies portfolio, a department held by him earlier also. Mr Bhujbal (77), a prominent OBC leader, confirmed he has been assigned the food and civil supplies department in the BJP-led Mahayuti government. The department was without a minister after NCP leader Dhananjay Munde, who helmed it, resigned in March this year. The multiple-time MLA from Yeola in Nashik district was sworn-in as a minister on May 20, marking his return to the cabinet after being overlooked during its first expansion in December last year. A political heavyweight in Maharashtra, Mr Bhujbal had been sulking after he did not get a ministerial berth when Chief Minister Fadnavis expanded his cabinet. In the Mahayuti 1.0 government headed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Mr Bhujbal was the food and civil supplies minister and he held the same portfolio when the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) administration led by Uddhav Thackeray was in office (2019-22).
The Print
08-05-2025
- Business
- The Print
Why Maharashtra wants focus on urban population as metric for fund devolution under Finance Commission
However, it also suggested basing half of this 20 percent on rural population and half on urban population. This will benefit Maharashtra as more than 50 percent of its population live in urban areas. Unlike most other states that have been lamenting the importance given to population while deciding devolution, the Devendra Fadnavis-led Maharashtra government has recommended that the weightage given to the population metric be increased to 20 percent from the previous commission's 15 percent. Mumbai: Arguing for a larger share of funds for developed states, the Maharashtra government has asked the 16th Finance Commission to make a key tweak to the population metric and introduce two new criteria while assessing states to decide devolution of funds. Similarly, the state government has also suggested introducing a criteria to assess states on the incremental contribution to the Union Gross Domestic Product, a demand made by some other states too such as Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Haryana and Telangana, and on sustainable development and green energy. These two criteria were not there while deciding how much states should get in devolution under the 15th Finance Commission. Maharashtra has also asked for grants worth Rs 1.28 lakh crore for specific projects. 'Maharashtra being more urbanised than other states, basing a part of the share on urban population favours Maharashtra. It is a very unique suggestion and so far we have got it only from Maharashtra,' Arvind Panagariya, the chairperson of the finance commission, told reporters in Mumbai Thursday. 'We recognise that there is some legitimacy to demands that performance should also be given some consideration. Whether that consideration will be given will be decided by all members of the commission collectively,' he said. Maharashtra is the 25th state that the 16th Finance Commission is touring. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his deputies Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar met with the 16th Finance Commission Thursday morning and presented a memorandum. 'GDP contribution, urbanisation' The 15th Finance Commission gave 15 percent weightage to population as a criteria while deciding on devolution to states. Maharashtra has asked this to be raised to 20 percent, but consider urban population as a separate metric within this 20 percent. 'The pace of urbanisation has been much faster in some states of India as compared to other states. Maharashtra is one of the rapidly urbanising states both due to migration within the state and also from other states…Local bodies are unable to meet the capital and maintenance and repair costs of various urban infrastructural projects necessitating the state government to step in with full or partial financial assistance,' the state memorandum said. The state's urban population was 45.23 percent of the total population as per the 2011 census, and is projected to have grown to above 50 percent now, the memorandum added. Apart from this, the Maharashtra government has asked for two new criteria, one of which has been a demand made by some other richer states too. Maharashtra wants 2.5 percent weightage to be given to the states' incremental contribution to the GDP. Some of the other states, Panagariya said, have suggested similar weightage keeping in mind absolute contribution to the country's GDP. Maharashtra has also asked for the 16th Finance Commission to 'appreciate the efforts of states for environmental conservation' by giving a 2.5 percent consideration to this criterion. 'For instance, the states which have shown impressive performance in the use of renewable energy sources may be incentivised by giving weightage in horizontal devolution,' the state's memorandum said. Other criteria involved in making assessments for devolution include the area of the state, forest cover and ecology, demographic performance in terms of the total fertility rate and income distance (disparity between the per capita income of a state with the income of the state that has the highest per capita income.) Maharashtra asked to remove districts with a disproportionately high per capita income while arriving at the per capita income of the state. Maharashtra has recommended reducing the importance given to income distance to 37.5 percent from the 45 percent under the 15th Finance Commission and take a re-look at how to calculate the criteria. For this, Maharashtra cited how Mumbai's per capita income substantially distorts the average per capita income of the state while 12 districts languish below the average national per capita income. The Maharashtra government has also asked for Rs 1.28 lakh-crore in grants, a bulk of which is for two purposes. The state has asked for Rs 67,051 crore for river-linking projects in Maharashtra and another Rs 50,000 crore to implement a master plan created with the help of the NITI Aayog to help double the Gross Domestic Product of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region to USD300 billion by 2030. Other special grants that the state government has asked for is including projects such as a new Bombay High Court complex, strengthening prison infrastructure, promoting eco-tourism in Vidarbha and creating hostels for post-graduate medical students in Maharashtra. Also read: Advisory council to 16th Finance Commission breaks with past, focusses on private sector members 'Increase vertical devolution to 50-50' Overall, Maharashtra has argued for the vertical devolution to states, which deals with the distribution of taxes collected by the Union government, to be 50 percent of the total divisible pool. In short, it has argued for the taxes collected by the Union government to be shared equally between the Centre and the states. Under the 15th finance commission, the vertical devolution to states was 41 percent of the total divisible pool. In the memorandum submitted to the 16th Finance Commission, Maharashtra said the state has consistently upheld fiscal prudence by keeping fiscal deficit under 3 percent of the Gross State Domestic Product and debt under 20 percent of GSDP, as prescribed by the Fiscal Responsibility and Budgetary Management Act. The state's own tax revenue, comprising 69 percent of revenue receipts, has also grown, it said. 'However, the decline in grants-in-aid due to discontinued schemes and cost sharing revisions in centrally sponsored schemes has created fiscal stress. Committed expenditure, constituting over 55 percent of revenue receipts, constrains the fiscal space needed for new initiatives, despite Maharashtra's rising capital investments in infrastructure,' the memorandum said, adding that tax devolution should be the primary route of transfer of financial resources to the state. Under the 15th Finance Commission, states got 41 percent of the total divisible pool of taxes as vertical devolution. (Edited by Ajeet Tiwari) Also read: India approves new finance commission to suggest how federal taxes will be shared with states
India Today
29-04-2025
- Automotive
- India Today
Subsidy, toll waiver, tax benefit: Maharashtra okays new electric vehicle policy
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis-led Cabinet on Tuesday approved the Maharashtra Electric Vehicle Policy 2025, offering a suite of incentives aimed at making electric vehicles (EVs) more accessible and appealing across the a total outlay of Rs 1,993 crore over the next five years, the policy seeks to reduce carbon emissions, boost green mobility, and establish Maharashtra as a leading EV state government has approved a new Electric Vehicle (EV) policy, under which passenger EVs will be given subsidies. EV manufacturing and their use should increase in the state," Fadnavis said after the Cabinet meeting. A key feature of the new policy is the exemption of toll charges for electric four-wheelers and buses on three major expressways -- Mumbai-Pune Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Shivdi-Nhava Sheva Atal Setu and the Hindu Hriday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi addition, all four-wheeled EVs will receive a 50 per cent toll discount on other state and national highways maintained by the Public Works toll waivers, the policy offers multiple financial incentives to encourage EV ownership and adoption:Tax and Fee Exemptions: All EVs registered and sold in Maharashtra will be exempt from motor vehicle tax as well as registration certificate fees and renewal Discounts (valid through 2030):10% discount on base prices for electric two-wheelers, three-wheelers, non-transport four-wheelers, State Transport Corporation buses, and private/urban transport buses.15% discount for electric three-wheeler goods vehicles, transport four-wheelers, light and heavy electric goods vehicles, electric tractors, and combined harvesting Infrastructure: To support growing demand, EV charging stations will be installed at intervals of every 25 kilometers along state and national highways."We are looking at making it mandatory for new societies to have EV charging stations, without which occupancy certificates may not be issued," Maharashtra Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik said.
