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Time of India
4 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Ensure door delivery of kerosene to ration shops, Kerala HC tells govt
Kochi: High court has directed the state govt and controller of rationing to take measures to ensure the door delivery of ration kerosene to fair price shops (FPSs) by any method deemed appropriate by the govt, within three months. The bench of Justice N Nagaresh issued the order in response to petitions filed by the All Kerala Retail Ration Dealers Association and others, detailing the hardships faced by FPSs in lifting ration kerosene from authorised kerosene wholesale dealers (KWDs), which forced them to travel more than 60 to 70km. The petitioners also challenged the govt order that fixed the transportation charge at Rs 500 per kilolitre of kerosene for the first 40km, and Rs 5 per kilolitre for each kilometre beyond the first 40, for wholesale dealers. Apart from this, FPSs faced problems from the police and motor vehicles department, as it is not permissible to transport ration kerosene from wholesale depots to FPSs in pick-up vans or auto rickshaws. The petition further stated that earlier, there were 240 KWDs spread across 78 taluks in the state, but now there are only 30 KWDs statewide. In Ernakulam district, only one KWD functions at North Paravur, and retail dealers from faraway places like Kothamangalam have to reach North Paravur to get their kerosene quota. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Purwo Martani: New Container Houses – Take A Look At The Prices! Container homes | Search ads Learn More Undo A committee formed by the state in 2023 to address the grievances of retail dealers had submitted a report in 2024 recommending an increase in the retail dealer commission and the introduction of door delivery of ration kerosene to FPSs to reduce the financial burden on retail dealers. However, no action has yet been taken by the govt on these recommendations. Meanwhile, it was pointed out that the Kollam district collector had permitted a KWD to effect door delivery of kerosene to FPSs. Accordingly, the court directed the state govt and controller of rationing to take appropriate action in this regard. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area. "Get the latest news updates on Times of India, including reviews of the movie Coolie and War 2 ."
Indian Express
7 days ago
- Business
- Indian Express
International use of UPI surges, 6 lakh transactions in first 4 months of FY26
The use of India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for cross-border payments has continued to rise sharply, with more than six lakh transactions being conducted in the first four months of the current fiscal, just 1.5 lakh fewer than the number of such transactions done in all of 2024-25. According to data provided by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in response to a written question in the Lok Sabha on Monday, the total number of cross-border UPI transactions performed so far in this fiscal till July is 6.01 lakh. In all of 2024-25, the number of these transactions stood at 7.55 lakh. In value terms, cross-border UPI transactions worth Rs 169.29 crore have been performed so far in this fiscal compared to Rs 258.53 crore last year, data provided by Chaudhary showed. Should the current monthly rate hold, the number and value of cross-border UPI transactions could rise to 18 lakh and Rs 508 crore, respectively, for the full year. The use of UPI for international payments had sharply increased in 2024-25, when the number of transactions had jumped 20-fold and their value by 13 times compared to 2023-24, when a total of 37,060 transactions worth Rs 19.7 crore were performed. 'The Government, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) have been working towards linking UPI with the FPSs of other countries to facilitate cross-border payments. Presently, UPI is live in 7 countries i.e. UAE, Nepal, Bhutan, Singapore, Mauritius, France and Sri Lanka,' Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary informed the Lok Sabha on Monday. FPS refers to a fast-payment system such as the UPI. Back in February 2023, Singapore became the first country with which Indians could make cross-border person-to-person payments following the linking of UPI with Singapore's own fast-payment system PayNow. Since then, UPI has become operational in six other countries. Linking of fast-payment systems is a key way of cutting down on time and cost inefficiencies in cross-border payments. Towards this, the RBI last year joined Project Nexus of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), a global organisation of central banks. Project Nexus looks to standardise the manner in which fast-payment systems connect to each other. This, according to the BIS, could 'significantly accelerate the growth of instant cross-border payments'. In addition to linking the UPI with other countries' fast-payment systems, India is also helping nations without such systems build their own. These include Namibia, Trinidad & Tobago, and Peru. To be sure, use of the UPI for cross-border payments is still at a fairly nascent stage and is dwarfed by its use domestically. As per latest RBI data, just in the first 10 days of August, as many as 678 crore UPI transactions have been made worth a total of Rs 9.04 lakh crore. Siddharth Upasani is a Deputy Associate Editor with The Indian Express. He reports primarily on data and the economy, looking for trends and changes in the former which paint a picture of the latter. Before The Indian Express, he worked at Moneycontrol and financial newswire Informist (previously called Cogencis). Outside of work, sports, fantasy football, and graphic novels keep him busy. ... Read More
