Cheers for small savings investors

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Here are the top personal finance news of the day:

We begin with a good news for those having small saving schemes.The government on Friday raised interest rates on select saving schemes by up to 0.3 per cent for the July-September quarter in line with the high-interest rates in the banking system. The highest increase of 0.3 per cent was for the five-year recurring deposit. The new rates for this RD would be 6.5 per cent against the existing 6.2 per cent. The a one-year term deposit with post offices will now earn 0.1 percentage higher at 6.9 per cent and for the two years tenor — 7 per cent. There has been no change in interest rates of other schemes like PPF, NSC etc.

Sensex surges to new high

The markets continued their bull run with the sensex surging 803 points to close at a fresh high of 64718.56. The rally was propelled byforeign fund inflows and a firm trend in the global markets. Intense buying in index heavyweights Infosys, HDFC twins, Reliance Industries and TCS further bolstered sentiment. The NSE Nifty climbed 216.95 points or 1.14 per cent to end at a record high of 19,189.05.M&M was the best performer in the Sensex pack, rising over 4 per cent, followed by IndusInd Bank, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Maruti, Larsen & Toubro, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Power Grid, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Bajaj Finance and Reliance Industries.

Elec 2-wheeler sales plunge

After crossing the 1 lakh sales mark last month for the first time, electric two-wheeler (E2W) sales have plunged nearly 60 percent to 42,124 units in June, data on the Vahan portal showed. The total number of E2Ws sold were 1,05,348 units in May and 4,31,325 units during the first half of this year. Analysts said the decline was largely because of a steep hike in e-scooter prices following a cut in subsidies under the government’s FAME 2 programme.

Apr-May fiscal deficit shrinks

India’s fiscal deficit for the first two months of this fiscal year through May stood at 2.10 lakh crore rupees. The fiscal deficit narrowed from 12.3% reported in the comparable year-earlier period to 11.8% The government aims to cut the fiscal deficit to 5.9% in the current financial year from 6.4% of GDP. In the first two months of FY24, the net tax revenue was Rs 2.78 lakh crore or 11.9 per cent of the BE.

Lexus to hike price of ES 300h

Luxury carmaker Lexus India will increase prices of ES 300h sedan range by up to 2 per cent from July 1, to offset rise in input costs. The company said it is trying to minimise hikes. The current hike is only for the ES 300h range. The ES 300h range starts from Rs 62 lakh. Lexus also said it had started deliveries of fifth-generation RX SUV.

Liquor on Delhi Metro

There is some good news for liquor lovers travelling on the delhi metro. Now one can carry two sealed bottles of alcohol inside the Delhi Metro. However, drinking of alcohol inside metro premises will remain prohibited. The Airport express line however allowed liquor bottles. In case, any passenger is found behaving in an indecent manner under the influence of alcohol, suitable action will be taken against them.

DDA scheme for 5,500 flats opens

The Delhi Development Authority on Friday opened online registration procedure for over 5,500 flats as part of its Phase IV housing programme. Under the scheme, registration will be open for 40 High Income Group (HIG) flats in Jasola, 200 Middle Income Group (MIG) flats in Dwarka and Narela. At the same time, along with 900 Economically Weaker Section (EWS) flats in Narela, registration can be done for a total of 4,400 Low Income Group (LIG) houses in Loknayak Puram, Rohini, Siraspur and Narela.

Retail Investors go bang on ideaForge Tech IPO

The IPO of Infosys backed, drone maker, ideaForge Technology has got amazing response on the D-Street. The IPO quota was subscribed 106 times by 4 pm on the last day. Retail investors showed overwhelming response. Non institutional and retail investors quotas were subscribed more than 80 times. QIBs went absolutely hammer and tong. Their quota was subscribed 125 times. The total size of the IPO is 567 crore rupees. Its GMP had risen to 550 rupees on the last day of the IPO.

All panchayats to be UPI ready

Digital payments are set to take a big leap in rural areas.All panchayats across the country will mandatorily use digital payments for all development work and revenue collection this Independence Day onwards and will be declared UPI-enabled. Almost 98 per cent panchayats have already started using UPI-based payments. By July 15, panchayats have to choose appropriate service providers, and finalise vendors by July 30. Panchayats have also been asked to choose a single vendor which covers the whole area so as to allow economies of scale. It has also been recommended to create a centralised dashboard for monitoring transactions in real time.