Cabinet approves new policy to regulate metro rail services across India

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave its nod for a new metro rail policy for expanding the metro network across various cities in the country, officials said. The new policy was approved by the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to promote 'Make in India' initiative in metro rail projects.

The metro policy will talk about standardising norms and developing a procurement mechanism for implementation of the projects. It will also talk about funding and financing, officials said.

At present, metro projects with a total length of more than 350 km are operational in eight cities - Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai, Kochi, Mumbai, Jaipur and Gurugram.

Metro projects are also under way in Hyderabad, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Pune and Lucknow.

Extends tax exemption for industry in NE, hilly states:

Industries in the north eastern and Himalayan states will continue to get tax exemption till March 2027, albeit as refund, under the current GST regime which was rolled out on July 1, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today.

"Within the framework of the GST Act each industry will be entitled to its own refund mechanism during this particular period (March 31, 2027)," he said after the Cabinet meeting headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Industries in the north eastern and Himalayan states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand under the previous excise regime used to get 10-year exemption, he said.

As per the scheme, industries which commenced operations during the period got excise tax holiday for 10 years, he said, adding that there is a separate residuary period for every industry because of commencement of production and their consequent entitlement of 10 year exemption.

Under the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, there is no provision for exemption but there is one section under the Act which permits refunds. "Therefore, refund would be permitted through DBT. The sunset clause of these exemption has been extended to 2027. 4,284 industrial establishment will entitled to this benefit. Budgetary provision for this Rs 27,413 crore," he said.

Measures taken against 'Blue Whale' game:

Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that tough measures have been taken against 'Blue Whale' game. He also said that clear instructions has been issued to tech platforms regarding this. Under Indian IT ecosystem no initiative will be permitted that provokes young boys to commit suicide; this is plainly unacceptable.

PTI