-Hindustan Times New Delhi: An inter-ministerial panel is likely to discuss on Tuesday a draft bill prepared by the consumer affairs ministry which seeks to punish celebrities who endorse products that are substandard or make misleading claims. The stringent provisions in the bill include a fine of Rs 10 lakh and jail of up to two years for a first offence by celebrities. For subsequent offences, the draft bill provides a fine...

-Livemint.com Considerable differences persist across states in terms of retail inflation, mostly on account of rural food price rise Mumbai: With consumer price inflation fast emerging as the focal point of monetary policymaking in India, perhaps it is time to delve into the not-so-insignificant differences in inflation across states. To begin with, inflation, both retail and wholesale, has risen in recent months. This has raised concerns about the scope of further interest...

-The Indian Express Government has the opportunity to rein in food inflation on a sustainable basis. In his Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi counted his government’s achievements. Bringing down inflation from double digits to below six per cent was emphatically mentioned as one that brought relief to the aam aadmi. Without doubt, we witnessed moderation in the overall consumer price index (CPI) and wholesale price index (WPI) levels in the past...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: With half the state legislatures expected to ratify the Constitution amendment bill to roll out goods and services tax (GST) by early September, the Centre is now moving to the next stage — deciding on the contentious issue of fixing the rates — so that the ambitious reform initiative is in place by April. Sources said the finance ministry is set to hold consultations on the...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Brazil has offered to do "captive farming" of pulses to meet the growing demand in India. Responding to the offer, the consumer affairs ministry is now preparing a detailed proposal. consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan said that the offer came when he met ministers from Brazil during his visit to the the country. "They are ready to grow pulses for us. We need to provide...