Foreign currency overseas sovereign bonds: All you should know

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Budget 2019-20 announced that the government would start raising a part of its gross borrowing programme from external markets in foreign currencies. She added that India's sovereign external debt-to-GDP level is among the lowest globally at less than 5 per cent.

The idea, however, has been criticised by many including economists and allies of the ruling BJP alike, as they argued that it could create long-term economic risks by exposing the government's liabilities to currency fluctuations.

Even Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), the economic wing of the RSS, has opposed the idea of issuance of sovereign bonds overseas.

The government intends to mobilise about Rs 70,000 crore through this route as part of diversification of government's resource mobilisation and leaving more funds for the private sector.

Budget 2019: Petrol, diesel get dearer by Rs 2 a litre on excise duty hike

Fuel prices were revised across the country on Saturday, a day after the announcement of additional excise duty and cess of Re 1 per litre on petrol and diesel.

In Delhi, petrol is being sold Rs 2.45 higher at Rs 72.96 per litre and diesel at Rs 66.69 per litre after a Rs 2.36 hike.

In Mumbai, petrol is being sold at Rs 78.57 while in Kolkata it is retailing at Rs 75.15, higher by over Rs 2 per litre.

On Friday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced a hike in cess on auto fuel prices while presenting the Union Budget 2019-20 in Lok Sabha.

Sitharaman, who presented the first budget of the new government, had said crude prices have softened from their highs, paving way for her to review excise duty and cess on petrol and diesel.

"I propose to increase special additional excise duty and road and infrastructure cess each by one rupee a litre on petrol and diesel," she had said.

However, the Finance Minister dismissed suggestions that levies on petrol and diesel will fuel inflation, saying it was aimed at meeting public funding needs without hurting individual taxpayers and was also a step to move away from fossil fuels to electric vehicles.