# IMD

• Most parts of Northwest India including Delhi-NCR, may not see a heatwave in April, mainly till the middle of this month.
• But Eastern and Central India and western parts of Gujarat and Maharashtra will face above normal temperatures and more number of heatwave days this month.
• As far as rainfall in April is concerned, the country as a whole is most likely to receive normal rainfall that is 88-112% of the long period average.

# GST

• Goods and services tax collections rose 12.7% to ₹160122 crore in March, which is the second highest monthly mop up.
• The March collections, for transactions in February, point to strong domestic demands despite revenue from imports seeing a slower rise.
• Collections for the full fiscal year are estimated at nearly ₹18.1 lakh crore, an increase of 22% over 2021-22.
• The government is hoping to increase it to over ₹1.6 lakh crore a month during this financial year.

# Car, SUV sales

• As personal mobility made a comeback post the covid shocks, Indians bought cars and that too in record numbers.
• Car and SUV sales grew the fastest in over a decade at 27%, while overall volumes hit the highest ever in the domestic market.
• Maruti expects growth to slow down to 5-7% this year.
• The overall numbers are expected to cross the psychological level of 40 lakh units this fiscal year.

# UPI

• Transactions under the Unified payment interface crossed a new record of ₹14 lakh crore in March 2023.
• The volume of transactions has also hit a new high of 865 crores during the month.
• The value of UPI transactions during March 2023 is 13% higher than the ₹12.35 crore in February 2023.
• March being the last month of the fiscal, all digital transactions see a peak.

# e-market

• The procurement of Goods and services through government e marketplace has surpassed ₹2 lakh crore in the financial year 2022-23.
• Commerce minister Piyush Goyal said the government is conducting price checks to ensure that the prices on the platform are the lowest and vendors on GeM do not sell products cheaper elsewhere.