CENTRE TO SELL 20 LAKH TONNES OF WHEAT

New Delhi: SpiceJet on Tuesday said its board will meet on Friday to consider options to raise funds as well as to convert certain outstanding liabilities into equity shares of the company.

The no-frills airline, which has been grappling with multiple headwinds, including legal woes, is looking to raise fresh capital through issuance of eligible securities to qualified institutional buyers. Besides, the carrier plans to issue equity shares on preferential basis consequent. —PTI

Oyo To Double

Premium Hotels In India In 2023

New Delhi (PTI):The Centre on Tuesday announced sale of an additional 20 lakh tonnes of wheat in the open market to further bring down the retail prices of wheat and wheat flour (atta) and asked flour millers to cut rates with softening in wholesale price of grain.

On January 25, the Centre had announced sale of 30 lakh tonnes of wheat in the open market from its buffer stock to check rise in prices of wheat and wheat flour (atta).

According to an official statement, the government has decided that stateowned Food Corporation of India (FCI) will offload an additional quantity of 20 lakh tonnes of wheat in open market under the

Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS). The stocks will be sold through e-auction to flour mills/private traders/bulk buyers/manufactures of wheat products.

New Delhi: OYO on Tuesday announced its plan to double the number of premium hotels in India with the addition of around 1,800 such hotels in 2023. Its premium hotel brands include Townhouse Oak, OYO Townhouse, Collection O and Capital O. OYO currently has about 1,800 premium hotels in India. The move is aimed at capitalising on the surge in business travel by increasing its footprints across all the major business cities. —PTI

GOLD

DECLINES BY `371; SILVER RATES SEES A

DIP OF `230

New Delhi: Gold price declined `371 to `56,100 per 10 grams in the national capital on Tuesday amid weak global trends, according to HDFC Securities. In the previous trade, the yellow metal had closed at `56,471 per 10 grams. Silver also plunged `230 to `65,742 per kg. “Spot gold prices in the Delhi markets traded at `56,100 per 10 grams, down `371 per 10 grams,” Saumil Gandhi, Senior Analyst - Commodities at HDFC Securities, said. In the overseas market, both gold and silver were quoting lower at $1,833/ounce & $21.68/ ounce, respectively. —PTI

HSBC INDIA PRE-TAX PROFIT JUMPS 15% TO $1.277 BILLION

Mumbai: Foreign lender HSBC on Tuesday reported a 15.04% jump in its pre-tax profit from operations in India at $1.277 billion for 2022. The bank had reported a pre-tax profit of $1.11 billion from its operations in India, which continues to be fourth largest contributor for group profits, in 2021. It has added 1,000 people to its India headcount in 2022, to take the total employee strength to 39,000, its biggest in any market. —PTI

Top Talking Points

 The Centre announced sale of an additional 20 lakh tonnes of wheat in the open market to further bring down the retail prices of wheat and wheat flour and asked flour millers to cut rates with softening in wholesale price

 On Jan 25, the Centre had announced sale of 30 lakh tonnes of wheat in open mkt collectively help in reducing market price of wheat and wheat products for consumers,” it said.

After announcement of the OMSS policy, the food ministry said that prices of wheat and atta have come down but still inflation figure for January 2023 was at 3 months high of 6.52%.

As per the government data, the average prices of wheat across major cities stood at `33.15/kilogram on Monday, while the average prices of atta (wheat flour) stood at `37.63/kg.

Last month, the government announced plans to sell 30 lakh tonnes of wheat in the open market from its buffer stock under the OMSS.

The proposal to sell stocks in the open market was taken by a group of ministers, sources said.

“So far, 50 lakh tonnes (30+20 lakh tonnes) of wheat have been decided to be offloaded under the OMSS. The reduction in reserve price along with additional offloading of 20 lakh tonnes of wheat will

Goods and services exports may reach $1 trillion each by 2030, says Union Min Goyal

New Delhi (PTI): India’s goods and services exports are growing at a healthy rate and are expected to be around $1 trillion each by 2030, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday. The country’s merchandise and services exports touched an all-time high of $422 bn and $254 bn, respectively, in 2021-22.

“My own estimates seem to suggest that we will converge by 2030...Seven years from now at about $1 trillion of goods and $1 trillion of services (exports).

Indians spending over $1 bn/month on foreign travel

Mumbai (PTI): Indians are spending nearly $1 billion every month on foreign travel which is significantly more than the preCovid levels, reveals Reserve Bank data on outward remittances.

During the April-December period of 2022-23, the outward remittances under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme for resident individuals towards ‘travel’ was $9.95 billion.

The corresponding spending on travel during 2021-22 was $4.16 billion, and $5.4 billion in the preCovid year 2019-20, according to the RBI data.

Major Highlights

 The services sector, driven by the IT industry, has created a potential not only in terms of jobs, giving value to talent, but also providing India with an opportunity to showcase to the world its strengths

“That is the trajectory I can see which will mean merchandise doing 8- 9.5% and services doing anywhere between 16-17%”, Goyal said here at an event. The services sector, driv-