HENCY R SHAH AND ASSOCIATES

Is Ethanol blending the next game changer?  India's E20 India launched a pilot for E20, or petrol blended with 20% ethanol at the ‘India Energy Week’ in Bengaluru, bringing forward by two years the launch of a cleaner-burning version of petrol. What is Ethanol Blending? Ethyl alcohol or Ethanol (C2H5OH) is a biofuel that is naturally made by fermenting sugar. While it is mostly derived by extracting sugar from sugarcane, other organic matter like foodgrains can also be used for its production. As part of its carbon reduction commitments, India has launched the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme to mix this biofuel with petrol to reduce the consumption of fossil fuel. Earlier, the government announced the achievement of E10 target, that is, the petrol used in the country has 10% ethanol in it. Then PM launched the pilot of E20 across at least 15 cities. The same is expected to be rolled out across the country in a phased manner in the coming months and years. Why E20...

Digital Rupee is the future of money Almost nine months after the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman first spoke about the digital currency in parliament, the digital rupee was launched in India. The pilot project launched by the RBI is for wholesale transactions in the bond market. The retail phase for the customers, however, will be launched sometime later. Digital Rupee or CBDC is a new digital form of money issued by central banks. The digital rupee rollout is a big step ahead in India’s digital transformation. It will be an excellent opportunity for India since it will potentially increase the ease of doing business, as well as improve resilience and security of the entire payments infrastructure. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced that the first pilot in Digital Rupee - Retail segment is planned for launch within a month in select locations. The central bank said that nine banks -- State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank,...