Daily Mains Practice Questions 31-03-2023

KEY POINTS

·        India’s energy imports are estimated to grow 43.6 per cent in FY2023 over the previous year. Energy imports include coal, coke, crude oil, LNG, and LPG.

·        While coal is a significant contributor to CO2 emissions, it remains the critical fuel for electricity generation for most countries.

·        Disruption in oil trade due to sanctions on Russia and the weakening of the US-Saudi Arabia 1970 oil deal put pressure on governments to secure long-term coal supplies.

·        The most significant addition is a rise in average import price from $250/tonne to $370/tonne. India imports about 60 per cent of coking coal from Australia ($11.8 billion).

·        India imports about 59 per cent of steam coal from Indonesia ($13.6 billion). Other significant suppliers are South Africa($3.8 billion), Australia ($1.7 billion), and Russia ($1.6 billion).

·        India, in the 1980s, met 85 per cent of its crude oil needs mainly from ONGC’s Bombay High offshore oil field, but now we import 85 per cent of our needs. A renewed focus on exploration in India will help.

·        Hydrocarbon discoveries have been made in Category-II basins, but commercial production is yet to commence. India must evaluate its options to increase local production.

·        India must also focus on reducing coal imports. There’s not enough scope for reducing the import of coking coal as India does not have high-quality reserves.

KEY POINTS

·        There seems to be good reason for India’s start-up ecosystem to protest the Centre’s decision to bring non-residents into the ambit of its angel tax provisions.

·        Introduced as an anti-abuse measure in 2012, angel tax rules require unlisted companies to cough up income tax at 30.6 per cent whenever they receive a capital infusion at a premium to the fair value of their shares.

·        To arrive at the tax liability, unlisted firms are required to calculate the ‘fair market value’ of their shares using textbook methods such as book value and discounted cash flow, which is quite impractical for early-stage ventures.

·        One understands the original intent of the angel tax provisions, which was to discourage laundering of unaccounted money via unlisted firms disguised as capital investments. 

·        But then this tax is also the relic of an era when the start-up ecosystem was not so vibrant and PE/VC investments were not such a significant driver of inbound FDI (foreign direct investments).

·        Therefore, the time is right for the Centre to discard angel tax and look for other means such as registration of angel investors and disclosure of beneficial ownership of PE/VC/angel funds to plug the abuse of this route.

KEY POINTS

·        While consensus eludes the global community, recent times have seen tangible gains in one segment which is worthy of note.

·        Decarbonisation of road transport has received strong political endorsement, more so among G20 nations. Electrification of mobility is driving this transition.

·        Global trends analysed by International Council on Clean Transportation reveal that light duty electric vehicle (EV) sales stood at 9 per cent of light duty vehicles in 2021 and touched 13 per cent in the later part of 2022.

·        China has crossed the 20 per cent mark, while Europe is close behind. California has unveiled a bold plan of moving to 100 per cent zero emission vehicles by 2035.

·        The Centre is working on a programme of electrifying highways, powered by solar energy. This would help in adoption of heavy duty and medium duty trucks, which are heavily polluting.

·        Current models, in a way are simply shifting the pollution load. Fourthly, corporate India must put money where their mouth is. Lofty pronouncements for the long term won’t suffice.

·        G20 summit is an occasion for India to demonstrate global leadership by announcing a roadmap for decarbonising transport, which would only help breathe clean air into LiFE.