Govt cuts import duty on refined palm oil to 12.5 pc
New Delhi, Dec 21: The government on Monday cut the basic customs duty on refined palm oil to 12.5 per cent from 17.5 per cent as part of efforts to increase domestic supplies and bring down the retail prices of the cooking oil.
The revised Basic Customs Duty (BCD) will be effective till the end of March 2022.
The latest move also comes on a day when the government decided to allow traders to import refined palm oil without licence for one more year till December 2022 and markets regulator banned launch of new derivative contracts of crude palm oil and a few other agricultural commodities.
All these measures have been put in place at a time when inflation is ruling high.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has issued a notification which "seeks to reduce BCD on refined palm oil and its fractions from 17.5 per cent to 12.5 per cent till March 31, 2022". The new rate is effective from Tuesday.
With reduction in the duty, the effective levy on both refined palm oil and pamoline will come down to 13.75 per cent, including social welfare cess, from 19.25 per cent, according to Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) Executive Director B V Mehta.
On Monday, the average retail prices of groundnut oil stood at Rs 181.48 per kg, mustard oil at Rs 187.43 per kg, vanaspati at Rs 138.5 per kg, soyabean oil at Rs 150.78 per kg, sunflower oil at Rs 163.18 per kg and palm oil at Rs 129.94 per kg, as per the data available with the consumer affairs ministry.
On the duty cut, Mehta said imports of refined palm oil will increase as duty difference with Crude Palm Oil (CPO) has come down to only 5.5 per cent. The current effective duty on CPO is 8.25 per cent.
Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha, "we will attend to the problem of edible oil price and also some of the essential edible items".
In order to rein in the prices of edible oil, the government has cut import duties on both refined and crude edible oils several times this year. The last reduction on import duty was done by the government on October 14.
Mehta also said the cut in duty will hurt domestic palm oil refineries.
Earlier in the day, the commerce ministry said traders will be allowed to import 'refined bleached deodoerised palm oil' and 'refined bleached deoderised palmolein' without licence for one more year till December 2022.
According to the SEA, India's dependence on import of edible oils is nearly 65 per cent of the total consumption of about 22-22.5 million tonne. The country imports 13-15 million tonne to bridge the gap between demand and domestic supply.
For the last two marketing years (November to October), due to the pandemic, the imported quantity reduced to nearly 13 million tonne.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
