Petrol and diesel price August 18: Fuel cost unchanged; Check prices in Delhi, Mumbai, other cities here Petrol and Diesel Rate Today in Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Lucknow: The price of petrol and diesel has been left unchanged for the 89th day by OMCs on August 18. The most recent price reduction had come in Maharashtra when the state government announced a cut in value-added tax (VAT) on petrol by Rs 5 a litre and by Rs 3 a litre for diesel earlier last month. The cut in VAT is likely to cost Maharashtra’s state exchequer Rs 6,000 crore on an annual basis. For the rest of the country, prices have been steady since May 21 when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a cut in excise duty on petrol by Rs 8 per litre, and Rs 6 per litre on diesel. Petrol price in Delhi today stands at Rs 96.72 a litre as against Rs 105.41 a litre prior to the cut in excise duty, while diesel will cost Rs 89.62 a litre as opposed to Rs 96.67. In Mumbai, one litre of petrol today costs Rs 106.31 against Rs 111.35 earlier while diesel retails at Rs 94.27 down from Rs 97.28 per litre earlier. Public sector OMCs including Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) revise the fuel prices daily in line with international benchmark prices and foreign exchange rates. Any changes in petrol and diesel prices are implemented from 6 am every day. Retail petrol and diesel prices differ from state to state because of local taxes like VAT or freight charges. On August 2, the government cut tax on diesel export to Rs 5 per litre and scrapped tax on ATF. However, it raised the additional excise duty (cess) on petroleum crude marginally from Rs 17,000 to Rs 17,750 per tonne. Tax on petrol export was removed earlier last month. Petrol, diesel prices in Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Noida, Gurugram Mumbai: Petrol price: Rs 106.31 per litre, Diesel price: 94.27 per litre Delhi: Petrol price: Rs 96.72 per litre, Diesel price: Rs 89.62 per litre Chennai: Petrol price: Rs 102.63 per litre, Diesel price: Rs 94.24 per litre Kolkata: Petrol price: Rs 106.03 per litre, Diesel price: Rs 92.76 per litre Bengaluru: Petrol: Rs 101.94 per litre, Diesel: Rs 87.89 per litre Lucknow: Petrol: Rs 96.57 per litre, Diesel: Rs 89.76 per litre Noida: Petrol: Rs 96.79 per litre, Diesel: Rs 89.96 per litre Gurugram: Petrol: Rs 97.18 per litre, Diesel: Rs 90.05 per litre Chandigarh: Petrol: Rs 96.20 per litre, Diesel: Rs 84.26 per litre Also Read: Goldman Sachs sees India bonds getting added to JPMorgan Index with an initial 10% weightage Crude Oil price Crude oil prices slipped on Thursday after having risen in the previous session Crude oil prices had hit 6-month lows earlier in the week. The fall in price came amid fears of global recession. Brent crude futures were down 33 cents to trade at $93.32 a barrel. WTI Crude was at $87.71 a barrel, falling 40 cents, according to Reuters.
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In its consultation paper, Sebi has suggested that trustees of mutual funds should focus on market abuse by AMC, its employees and mis-selling by the AMC to increase the asset base.
Also, trustees should be responsible for fairness of fees and expenses charged by the AMC, compare its performance with peers and ensure that AMC’s sponsor is not getting any undue advantage.
In addition to the core areas, the trustees should be responsible for periodically reviewing the steps taken by AMCs for the folios which do not contain all KYC attributes with bank details.
Further, Sebi has suggested that trustees and their resource persons should independently evaluate the extent of compliance by AMC and not merely rely on AMC’s assurances.
To facilitate trustees’ supervision, AMCs should provide them with analytical information.
Presently, the trustees primarily rely on the AMCs for ensuring compliance with the applicable rules.
Under the rules, trustees hold the property of the mutual fund in trust for the benefit of the unitholders. The trustees appoint an AMC to float schemes for the mutual fund and manage the funds mobilised under various schemes, in accordance with the investment objectives.
“In view of the increasing scale and reach of the mutual fund industry, trustees’ role in respect of unitholders’ protection assumes even greater significance,” Sebi said on Friday.
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Over the past decade there has been a five-fold increase in the size of the mutual fund industry. The assets under management (AUM) has surged from Rs 7.93 lakh crore in November 2012 to Rs 39.89 lakh crore in December 2022.
To ensure that trustees devote time and attention to their core responsibilities, Sebi has suggested that for fulfilling other responsibilities, trustees may rely on professional firms such as audit firms, legal firms, merchant bankers for carrying out due diligence on their behalf.
The Sebi also listed some duties trustees can delegate to AMCs. This include ensuring that all systems are in place prior to the launch of any scheme by the AMC, and calculating any income in the mutual fund due to the fund and any income received in the mutual fund for unitholders.
The regulator has proposed to provide a one year time to existing trustees with board of trustee structure to convert into a trustee company, from governance point of view.
Presently, two structures for trustees are permitted — corporate and board of trustees structure. Moreover, there are a few mutual funds which have the board of trustees structure while the trustees of all other mutual funds have adopted the structure of a trustee company.
Considering the enhanced role of trustees over the period of time, Sebi has suggested to increase the minimum number of trustees to adequately perform their functions. Presently, the minimum number of trustees prescribed is four.
Also, it has been proposed that the chairperson of the trustee company should be an independent director.
Sebi has suggested that apart from the meeting of the audit committee of AMCs and trustees (which mostly comprises of independent directors), the board of AMCs and the board of trustees may be mandated to meet at least once a year to discuss the issues concerning the mutual funds.
The regulator proposed that the existing MF Regulations on AMC and its obligations may be amended to include additional clauses with respect to the obligations of the board of AMC.
The proposed amendment may include a clause which casts an obligation on the board of AMC to ensure that all the activities of the asset management company are in accordance with the provisions of these regulations.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has sought comments from public till February 24 on these proposals.