Markets
gained ground on Thursday with the S&P BSE Sensex rallying over
500 points, or around 1.5 per cent, in intra-day deals. On the
National Stock Exchange (NSE), the Nifty50 moved up around 1.3 per
cent, or 140 points, to hit an intra-day high of 10,813.
Here are
five factors driving the markets:
Status quo
by the US Federal Reserve: The US Federal Reserve held rates steady
at the end of its two-day meeting, which ended Wednesday. The Federal
Open Market Committee “will be patient as it determines what future
adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate may be
appropriate,” the central bank said in a statement Wednesday.
“FOMC
statement and Powell’s press conference confirm our view that the
Fed’s pause is, in reality, the end of the hiking cycle. We expect
the Fed’s target range for the federal funds rate to remain
unchanged for the remainder of the year, followed by rate cuts in
2020 as the economy starts to slide into a recession," said
Philip Marey, senior market strategist at Rabobank International.
Supportive
global cues: Asian stocks rose to a four-month high on Thursday after
the US Federal Reserve pledged to be patient with further interest
rate hikes, signalling a potential end to its tightening cycle amid
signs of slowing global growth. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific
shares outside Japan rose to its highest since October, while Japan's
Nikkei moved up 1 per cent.
Interim
Budget & fiscal prudence: Finance minister Piyush Goyal will
present the Interim Budget 2019 on Friday. Though markets expect the
proposals to have a populist undertone ahead of general elections
scheduled for April / May 2019, they do not expect the government to
sway significantly from the path of fiscal prudence.
Social
activist Anna Hazare's hunger strike entered the second day on
Thursday as he remained defiant on his demand for appointment of
anti-corruption watchdogs at the Centre and in Maharashtra and
resolution of farmers' issues.
A
bandh was also observed by locals in Hazare's native Ralegan Siddhi
village in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district in support of his
demands.
Hazare
is sitting on a hunger strike in his village since Wednesday against
"non-fulfilment" of assurances by the Centre and the
Maharashtra government on the appointment of Lokpal and passage of
the Lokayukta Act in the state.
The
81-year-old Army man-turned-activist has also been demanding
appointment of Lokayuktas in states where such statutory
anti-corruption watchdogs do not exist.
He
has also been demanding implementation of the Swaminathan Commission
recommendations on ways to address agrarian distress, besides some
electoral reforms...Read
More
During
election season, which we’re entering in India, everyone likes the
idea of giving voters more money. Congress Party President Rahul
Gandhi, the de facto opposition leader, says his party will guarantee
a minimum income for the country’s poor if victorious. Reports
suggest that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government may compete
by announcing some form of direct transfer of cash to farmers in the
interim budget to be revealed on Friday, which could cost the
exchequer nearly $10 billion annually.
While
governments everywhere should take care of their most vulnerable
citizens, the idea of guaranteeing a basic income is wrong for India
right now. Fundamentally, it would only work if two conditions were
met. First, large sections of the population would have to be mired
in absolute poverty. And second, all other subsidies and welfare
programs for them would have to be abolished in order to free up the
necessary funds without completely blowing open India’s fiscal
deficit, which is already strained.
Neither
condition prevails in India. While there’s no recent government
estimate of the number of people living below the poverty line,
credible research by the Brookings Institution suggests that extreme
poverty in India, defined as those living on less than $2 a day, now
afflicts only five percent of the population. Granted, that’s still
more than 70 million people. But, for the vast majority of Indians,
the challenge is no longer subsistence, it’s aspiration. No basic
income guarantee will be able to address rising aspirations unless
it’s a very large sum of money. At India’s level of national
income, providing anything more than a subsistence income would
simply be unaffordable...Read
More
The
Budget session of Parliament has begun, a day before the Interim
Budget 2019 will be presented by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal.
With
the Lok Sabha elections around the corner, this year's Budget session
is expected to be a stormy one. While the Opposition will seek to
corner the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -led National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) government on a range of issues, including Rafale, the
problem of farmers and unemployment, the government is expected to
push its legislative agenda that includes the Triple Talaq Bill and
the citizenship (amendment) Bill.
The
session will begin with President Ram Nath Kovind's address to the
joint sitting of the two Houses. Apart from a vote of thanks to the
President's address, the government's legislative agenda for the day
includes replacing three ordinances with Bills. These include the
triple talaq Bill, companies (Amendment) Bill and Medical Council
(Amendment) Bill.
Ahead
of the Budget session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged all the
political parties to ensure Parliament runs smoothly.
With
nearly one in six elementary school teachers not professionally
trained, India must improve its spending on teacher training--just 2%
of the 2018-19 budget allocated for Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan
(‘holistic education programme’) was spent on teachers’
training institutes.The projected budget allocation for the programme for 2019-20 is estimated to be Rs 34,489 crore, an increase of 10.5% from the 2018-19 budget estimate, according to a medium-term expenditure projection statement presented to parliament in August 2018.
Launched in 2018 by combining Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (‘education for all’), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (‘national middle education mission’) and teachers’ education programmes, Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan aims to provide support for both pre-service and in-service teacher training.
Teacher training is imperative for improving learning outcomes in Indian classrooms, as acknowledged by the Three Years Action Agenda of the government think-tank NITI Aayog, as well as in the 2018 budget speech that emphasised on the need for professionally qualified teachers for school education reform.
Only half of 10- to 11-year-olds in India can read a grade II level text (appropriate for seven- to eight-year-olds), as IndiaSpend reported on January 25, 2019. In rural India, almost half of grade V students cannot read a grade II text and more than 70% them cannot carry out simple division...Read More
Residents
of 38 more cities would soon be able to have diesel delivered at
their doorstep as the three oil marketing companies (OMCs) plan to
extend this service by March.
Indian
Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) are providing home
delivery of diesel in nine cities — Pune, Delhi, Jaunpur, Chennai,
Bengaluru, Aligarh, Rewari, Udaipur and Navi Mumbai.
“By
the end of January, we will be having this facility in eight more
cities and will extend it to 30 more cities by March 31,” said an
official close to the development.
Home
delivery of diesel had kicked off in Pune on March 16 last year.
Among the cities with this facility, Navi Mumbai has the largest
sales of 150 kilo litre a month while sales in other cities are at an
average 40-50 kl per month. “The move helps large fleets of
commercial vehicles as it saves both time and money for the fleet
owners,” he added.
The
customer should buy a minimum of 200 litres at a time. However, the
petroleum and explosives safety organisation is yet to give clearance
for the supply of petrol to homes, owing to its inflammable nature.
Firms supply diesel to homes using small tankers that has been
retrofitted with a fuel dispenser. Based on the existing norms, any
customer ordering more than 2,500 litres will need a clearance from
PESO for storage...Read
More
Uber will
now remove riders who despite repeated warnings misbehave or damage
the driver or co-passenger's property, as per the updated community
guidelines of the ride-hailing giant.
The
US-based company has also added a 'Driver Safety Toolkit' - designed
on the lines of a similar offering for riders - to offer a suite of
in-app safety features for its driver-partners in India.
"Courtesy
matters. Riders are expected to exercise good judgment and behave
decently towards other people in the car when riding with Uber...
Riders may lose access to Uber if they don't meet the star ratings
requirements set out in the community guidelines," Uber Head of
Cities (India and South Asia) Prabhjeet Singh told PTI.
Singh
explained that the company will now start removing from its platform
those riders who despite repeated warnings flout Uber's community
guidelines. These riders will be given enough notifications before
they are removed from the platform, and the number of such riders
would be "handful", he said.
"We
have updated Uber's community guidelines which extend the same
behavioral standards to the riders that Uber has for the driver
partners. Even though a vast majority of riders will not be affected
by this update, it reminds a select few what behaviour is expected of
them while using the app," Singh added...Read
More
With
the 2019 interim budget round the corner, stakeholders in the
electronics sector are expecting the government to create a seed fund
of Rs 1,000 crore and abolish the angel tax that has hit start-ups
hard.
“The
Government should create a seed fund of Rs 1,000 crore, which can be
matched by industry and VCs (venture capitalists), to provide seed
funding to build 1,000 start-ups in the ESDM (electronic system
design & manufacturing) space. We have requested the government
to create such a fund in the budget in our wish list submitted to the
ministry,” said Rajesh Ram Mishra, president, India Electronics and
Semiconductor Association (IESA), the trade body representing the
ESDM industry.
“We
have also recommended to the government to abolish angel tax for ESDM
start-ups," Mishra added. "Angel tax and the current policy
of getting the start-up valuation done by a merchant banker are
hitting ESDM start-ups very hard."
According
to IESA, start-ups in electronics and semiconductor space primarily
depend on angel and self-funding, as very few VCs in India are
investing in ESDM companies.
Additionally,
the association has also urged the government to enable research and
development (R&D) through provisioning separate budget to fund
projects of national interest in the electronics and semiconductor
domain and enable collaborative R&D among public sector
undertakings, SMEs and start-ups.
With
electronics becoming a key enabler in creating an ‘intelligent’
economy like smart homes, smart transportation, smart cities, the
association has urged the government to provide support to create 50
intelligent electronics incubators collaborating with industry in
various technology and industry verticals in mission mode similar to
Atal Innovation Mission.
Former
finance minister Yashwant Sinha it would be "entirely improper
and unconstitutional" if the Modi government presents a full
budget ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, as he asked it to stick to the
convention of outgoing dispensations presenting an interim budget.
A strong
critic of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government, Sinha
also accused it of "dressing up" economic figures despite
the country facing an "unprecedented" agrarian distress,
employment not picking up and the huge non-performing asset (NPA)
problem being not tackled the way it should have been.
Interacting
with reporters at an event in Indian Women's Press Corps, he said
Priyanka Gandhi's entry into active politics will have a positive
impact and strengthen the Congress.
Taking a
swipe at the government over present economic conditions, he said it
would now claim by "tweaking" figures ahead of the general
election that "river of milk" is flowing in the country and
people were never happier.
Amid
speculation that the government may present a full budget on February
1, Sinha said there is no precedence of an outgoing government doing
so.
"It
would be entirely improper and unconstitutional on the part of this
government to present a full budget," he said, adding that it
should neither table the economy survey, which is generally presented
a day before the budget is tabled, not present the Finance Bill.
Union
Minister Radha Mohan Singh on Wednesday said the Budget will be
dedicated to farmers in the country as part of the government efforts
to double their income by 2022.
"It
was a matter of pride that due to the implementation of various farm
schemes, India has become among the leading economies in the
agriculture sector," he said at a conference organised by the
Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI) here on 'Government, Industry
and Farmer can work together to make farming more profitable'.
He
said the government's decision to boost investment in agriculture had
brought transformation in the sector and the upcoming Budget will be
dedicated to farmers.
While
the budgetary outlay of the Agriculture Ministry was Rs 1.21 lakh
crore during 2009-2014 of the previous government, the Modi
government had increased it to Rs 2.11 crore during 2014-19, he said.
India
has one of the world’s largest programmes to expand renewables--a
doubling of capacity over the next four years--but India’s
ambitious 2022 target of generating enough non-coal energy to replace
the equivalent of 175 coal-powered plants is veering off track.
On
February 1, 2019, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has a
chance to get things back on track, help India reduce its addiction
to coal, help clean the country’s air and meet the global
climate-change commitments of the world’s fourth-fastest growing
carbon polluter
After
record growth in the installed capacity of renewables over the four
years to 2017, capacity addition slowed down in 2018. The main
reasons: an anti-dumping duty imposed by the government on imported
solar modules to aid domestic manufacturing, higher rates of taxation
under the goods and service tax (GST) and unclear policy.So, the last budget before 2019 general elections is of particular significance to the renewables sector, which comprises electricity from solar, wind, hydro and bio power.
These
are the issues the budget must contend with:
Due
to a 2018 slowdown, the government will have to install 3.5 times
more capacity every month than its average speed for the last four
years.
A
new duty on imported solar modules--which meet more than 80% of the
country’s need--increased production costs and threaten the
competitiveness of solar tariffs against those of coal.
Higher
GST rates on solar modules and services are driving away investors
and manufacturers. Delays in a long-term policy to remove
uncertainty from the sector is holding back new investment.
India
stepped up its spending on school education by 9.35% from 2014-15 (Rs
45,722.41 crore) to 2018-19 (Rs 50,000 crore). But education’s
share in the total union budget fell from 2.55% to 2.05% in this
period, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of budgetary data.
On
February 1, 2019, when the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
presents its last budget before general elections, it will have to
address a critical issue in India’s school education: Its quality
compares poorly with many south Asian and BRICS nations even though
India spends a higher percentage of its gross domestic product (GDP)
on education.In rural
India, almost half of grade V students cannot read a grade II text
and more than 70% them cannot do division, said the Annual Status of
Education Report (ASER) 2018. These numbers indicate a fall in
standards over the last 10 years.
Why
schooling needs special attention this budget
The school
education system in India is facing a shortage of trained teachers
and a lack of proper infrastructure. Here are some factors that need
to be addressed in the budget:
92,275
government schools at both elementary and secondary level have only
one teacher to teach all the subjects, Satya Pal Singh, minister of
state for human resource development told the Lok Sabha on January 1,
2019.
1 in every
4 schools in rural India does not have an electricity connection, as
per ASER and almost the same number lacks a library. A computer is
available only in 21.3% of rural schools.250.53 million children in India are in the age group of 6-15 in 2017, as per government data, and in need of a good education.
Budgetary
allocation to the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship
(MSDE) has witnessed a 237% increase over the last four years, from
Rs 1,007 crore (actual expenditure) in 2015-16 to Rs 3,400 crore
(budget estimate) in 2018-19, according to ministry data.
The
2018-19 allocation, however, represents a “drastic cut” by the
ministry of finance against the Rs 7,696.54 crore requested by the
MSDE, due to underutilisation of funds allocated to the MSDE in
previous years, revealed a parliamentary committee report in March
2018. The committee warned that the budget cut would “adversely
affect various schemes” implemented by the ministry tasked with
skilling India’s youth.
In
November 2018, the government’s aim to skill 10 million youth under
the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY, or Prime Minister’s
Skill Development programme) by 2020 was found to be 64% short of
meeting the target. Just over 3.6 million people had been enrolled in
PMKVY by November 30, 2018, government data showed. Among these, 3.39
million had received training and 2.6 million had received
certification after training--66% and 74% short of the target,
respectively.
There is a
direct link between India’s underskilled workforce and high
unemployment rates. Unemployment has been a key challenge for the
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. The unemployment rate
for people aged 15 years and above in India was 3.4% in 2013-14,
which saw a further increase to 3.7% in 2015-16, according to a
government reply to the Lok Sabha on July 23, 2018, which did not
provide data on numbers of unemployed.The
unemployment rate rose to a four year high (3.9%) in 2016-17,
Business Standard reported on January 11, 2019, citing the labour
bureau’s sixth annual employment-unemployment survey...Read
More
The country's largest car
maker Maruti Suzuki India launched an updated version of its popular
premium hatchback Baleno, priced between Rs 5.4 lakh and Rs 8.77
lakh.The updated Baleno features a new sporty front grill with wider
stance, apart from having precision cut smoked two-tone 16-inch alloy
wheels, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a statement.
Besides, it also has a new
infotainment system with rear parking camera integration, navigation
with live traffic and vehicle information, and alerts on the screen
further add to the driving convenience, it added.
Commenting on the launch, MSI
Senior Executive Director, Marketing and Sales R S Kalsi said,
"Keeping our customer-centric philosophy at the core of product
conceptualization, this new Baleno will further enhance the brand's
appeal".He said the Baleno has been a resounding success for
Maruti Suzuki in the highly competitive premium hatchback segment.
"Recently, it has
achieved another landmark in its journey by achieving a milestone of
5 lakh sales within a record time of 38 months," Kalsi added.The
Baleno continues to be available in both 1.2 litre petrol and 1.3
litre diesel engines options...Read
More
Technology
Reviews:
Asus,
the Taiwanese manufacturer of computer peripherals, recently launched
Asus F570ZD, a laptop for entry- level gamers and for those on the
lookout for a dedicated performance laptop to enhance their daily
workflow. While the innards present in the laptop make it an exciting
purchace, I took a deeper look to find out that is it still a
valuable product when it comes to casual gaming and everyday
computing.
Asus
F570ZD review:
Asus
F570ZD is compact with the typical ASUS built. The sea green accent
on the Asus logo and the sea green borders give a quirky finish to
the laptop. The back has a shiny-metal black finish that gives a
premium feel to the device. Apart from that, there is little else
that stands out in this laptop's design. The bezels are thick but not
huge and we wonder why thin bezels are not yet brought to mid-level
laptops.
Asus F570ZD review As far as performance is concerned, the F570ZD is a great performer but with minor flaws. The AMD Ryzen 5 processor works great, but somehow the absence of a SSD mars the performance to a large extent. The laptop take a bit of time to start up as well as load high-end games like FIFA 2019 or Metro Last Light Redux.
The 8GB RAM works in tandem with the processor to belt out decent performance and the NVIDIA GTX 1050 graphics also work perfectly but the absence of SSD (solid state drive) is felt throughout. The boot up time is plain annoying, with about a minute of time wasted before the laptop actually boots. While the innards work in tandem to enhance the performance, the heat management issue crops up after a few hours of extensive use. The fans become noisy after extensive use but the noise is bearable and wont cause much problem...Read More
Election
News:
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on slammed the Congress-led UDF for
implicating former Isro scientist Nambi Narayanan in an espionage
case, saying they did so “as some party leaders wanted to settle
political scores”.
“A
few years ago, a hard working and patriotic Isro scientist Nambi
Narayanan was implicated in a false case just because a few UDF
leaders wanted to settle political scores,” Modi, who was in Tamil
Nadu and Kerala to announce a series of projects on Sunday, said in
Thrissur.
During
his visit to the two states, the Prime Minister inaugurated an
integrated refinery expansion complex of Bharat Petroleum Corporation
at the Kochi Refinery and unveiled a foundation plaque for All India
Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Madurai.
Speaking
at the Kochi refinery, Modi said the NDA government had taken
“decisive steps” to bring down crude oil import by 10 per cent
and save precious foreign exchange for the country.
Eleven
oil PSUs have adopted the modern ‘lignocellulosic’ route for
establishing twelve 2G ethnol plants in 11 states. “To cut down on
import of crude oil, government has taken decisive steps towards
reducing imports by 10 per cent and saving precious foreign
exchange,” Modi said, adding that six MoUs have been signed in this
direction...Read
M0re
Technology
News:
South Korean electronics manufacturer Samsung is gearing up to unveil the Galaxy M-series today (January 28). Aimed at millennials, the Galaxy M-series is expected to have at least two variants – the Galaxy M20 and the Galaxy M10. These India-first smartphones will also be the company’s first to sport a V-shaped notch screen, similar to the dewdrop or waterdrop notch screens seen in Oppo, Vivo and Realme devices. Both these smartphones will be Amazon-exclusive and will be available on the e-commerce platform and Samsung online store
Samsung Galaxy M20
In
terms of specifications and features, the Samsung Galaxy M20 is
expected to be a power-packed unit in the M-series. It is expected to
be powered by Samsung’s recently announced Exynos 7-series 7904
system-on-chip, paired with either 3GB or 4GB of RAM.
Though
the M-series is expected to feature a triple-camera module in at
least one of the devices, the M20 would have a dual-camera set-up on
the back – as seen in promotional material and social media
campaigns. The phone is also expected to be powered by a 5,000 mAh
battery, a first in Samsung smartphones.
Samsung
Galaxy M10
The
Galaxy M10, on the other hand, is expected to be a feature-rich
offering with a design similar to the M20. It is also expected to be
powered by the Samsung Exynos processor.
However,
exact model and SoC specifications are still unknown. This phone
would also have a dual-camera module on the back. The phone might
notget the 5,000 mAh battery, unlike the M20...Read
More
Market
News:
Oil
prices fell on Monday after US energy firms added rigs for the first
time this year in a sign that crude production there will rise
further.
US
spot crude oil futures were at $53.37 per barrel at 0027 GMT, down 32
cents, or 0.6 per cent, from their last settlement.
International
Brent crude oil futures were at $61.37 a barrel, down 27 cents, or
0.4 per cent.Analysts said high US crude oil production, which hit a
record 11.9 million barrels per day (bpd) late last year, was
weighing on oil markets.
In
a sign that output could rise further, US energy firms last week
raised the number of rigs looking for new oil for the first time in
2019, adding 10 facilities, to 862, Baker Hughes energy services firm
said in its weekly report on Friday.
Beyond
oil supply, a key question for this year will be demand-growth.Oil
consumption has been increasing steadily, likely averaging above 100
million bpd for this first time in 2019, driven largely by a boom in
China...Read
More
The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) in its entirety, dismissing all petitions by operational creditors who had challenged the validity of the code.
The only change, the top
court said, would be that the definition of connected persons would
now include persons connected only to the corporate debtor or the
defaulting company.
A detailed copy of the
judgment is awaited
Companies like Swiss Ribbons,
Shivam Water Treaters, and Ganesh Prasad Pandey, an individual
petitioner, had challenged various provisions of the IBC, such as
Sections 7, 12 and 29. The petitioners had listed discriminatory
treatment given to a certain classes of operational creditors and
alleged that the IBC was unfair as it was protecting the rights of
only financial creditors.
Section 7 of the IBC deals
with the initiation of the corporate insolvency resolution process of
a company based on a petition moved by the financial creditor,Section
7 of the IBC deals with the initiation of the corporate insolvency
resolution process of a company based on a petition moved by the
financial creditor...Read
More
Navneet
Education Limited was founded by Gala Group in 1959; and since then
has been India’s most loved educational content provider. Navneet
also manufactures stationery, general books and children’s books in
multiple Indian and foreign languages making it a dominant player in
the field of publishing.
Navneet
Foundation believes that giving is the greatest form of grace. Since
our inception, we continue to touch the lives of millions through our
philanthropic endeavors. Our contributions span fields like
Education, Healthcare, Disaster Relief, Animal Welfare, and
Affordable Housing.
Vikas,
Gala, Grafalco, YOUVA, TOPClass and TOPScorer are prominent brands
owned by Navneet that are much loved by students and teachers alike.
In December 2016, we acquired Encyclopaedia Britannica (India) Pvt.
Ltd.’s Indian curriculum division for publishing CBSE textbooks.
With this acquisition, Navneet will focus on serving the regional
teaching and learning needs with supplemental digital solutions.
Over
the decades, Navneet has emerged as the preferred brand for
educational products among teachers and students. The immensely
popular products like Vikas workbooks, Gala practice books, YouVa
full-scapes, are hot favorites amongst the young segment of India.
These products are bestsellers not just because of their superior
quality but also because of the nostalgic association of 90’s kids
Ravneet Gill, a career banker
with Deutsche Bank, will succeed Rana Kapoor as the managing director
and chief of YES Bank. Kapoor’s tenure ends on January 31.Gill, currently Chief
Executive of Deutsche Bank’s business operations in India, is
expected to take charge latest by March 1, YES Bank said in a
statement.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
has approved the appointment of 57-year-old Ravneet Gill for a
three-year term.The YES Bank board will meet on January 29 to
finalise the delegation of powers for the transition management in
the interim period till Gill assumes office.
Ravneet Gill to be YES Bank
boss after Rana Kapoor's tenure ends on Jan 31 Kapoor's role in the
bank as well as those in the bank's subsidiaries will also be decided
in the meeting.
Ravneet Gill to be YES Bank
boss after Rana Kapoor's tenure ends on Jan 31 Meanwhile, the board
has appointed Maheswar Sahu, former Gujarat cadre IAS officer, and
Anil Jaggia, former banker with HDFC Bank, as additional directors
(independent). It will also recommended the RBI appointments of
Ashish Agarwal as the executive director.
The bank, in its submission
to the RBI on January 10, had stated that Gill was their
most-preferred candidate for the top post. The appointment will be
subject to shareholders’ nod at the bank’s Annual General Meeting
in June...Read
More
The
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has named ICICI Bank’s former
managing director and chief executive officer (MD and CEO) Chanda
Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar, along with his firms, as
“accused” in the Rs 3,250-crore Videocon loan case.
The first
information report (FIR) registered on Thursday said the accused,
including Videocon Industries (VIL) and its chairman and MD,
Venugopal Dhoot, sanctioned certain loans to private companies in a
criminal conspiracy and cheated ICICI Bank to the tune of Rs 1,730
crore.
Explaining
the modus operandi, the CBI said ICICI Bank sanctioned credit
facilities of Rs 3,250 crore to several companies belonging to
Videocon group such as Trend Electronics, Century Appliances and
others which were in violation of the Banking Regulation Act, Reserve
Bank of India rules and the bank’s credit policy. The Rs
3,250-crore credit amount was part of a total loan of Rs 40,000 crore
sanctioned to the Videocon group by a 20-bank consortium.
The agency
said it had investigated the quid pro quo where Dhoot made an
investment of Rs 64 crore in Deepak Kochhar’s NuPower Renewables
through his firm Supreme Energy (SEPL). Dhoot also transferred the
same to Pinnacle Energy managed by Kochhar through a “circuitous
route” between 2010 and 2012...Read
More
Companies
News:
The
Karnataka government is in the process of calling for fresh tenders
of Donimali iron ore mines and may go in for auction in case the
state-owned NMDC does not sign the contract agreeing for 80 per cent
premium in the next three weeks, sources close to the development
said.
However,
PR Tripathi, former CMD of NMDC says the imposition of 'heavy'
premium on a public sector undertaking is not tenable as per law.NMDC
has suspended iron ore mining from its Donimalai mine in Karnataka
following the state governments decision to impose 80 per cent
premium on ore sales from that minewhose lease hasbeen extended by
the Karnataka government with effect from November 4 for a period of
20 years.
"Based
on the request by the CMD of NMDC (N Baijendra Kumar)the matterwas
again referred to the Karnataka Advocate General. But instructions
have gone to the officials concerned to prepare fresh tender document
for auction of mines allotted to NMDC if they don't execute the lease
documents in the next three weeks. Because the AG may not give a
different opinion than what he has already given," sources told
PTI.
When
contacted, Karnataka Mining Secretary Rajendra Kumar Kataria
justifying the premium, said the state Law Department gave its
opinion and the state cabinet had also approved imposition of the
premium.Tripathi alleged the state government became greedy and said
the premium is applicable only in case of fresh auctions of mines but
not for lease renewals...Read
More
Election
News:
With the
general elections less than 90 days away, Congress President Rahul
Gandhi on Wednesday appointed his sister, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra,
general secretary in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, which
constitutes roughly 40 Lok Sabha seats, including their family
bastions of Amethi and Rae Bareli and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
Varanasi constituency.
Priyanka,
who turned 47 earlier this month, has been an important,
behind-the-scenes figure in the party’s decision-making processes
for over a decade, but Wednesday’s announcement marks her official
political debut. With UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi having already
indicated her desire to retire from electoral politics, the move
could pave the way for Priyanka’s entry into the electoral arena
and she could contest from Rae Bareli, the seat currently represented
by her mother, party sources said.
Her
appointment, however, opened the Congress to renewed attacks from the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over “dynastic politics” and "lack
of inner-democracy".
BJP
Spokesperson Sambit Patra said the Congress had admitted to Rahul
Gandhi having “failed” in providing leadership.
The
Congress's allies, including Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi
Yadav, welcomed the news, though. Congress strategists believe
Priyanka's charisma would help the party perform better in key states
of UP and Bihar in the Lok Sabha polls. The appointment has
ramifications, at least in UP, not just for the principal rival BJP,
but also the frenemies Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party
(SP)...Read
More
The
central government has decided to frame a rule that would mandate
regulators and other autonomous bodies to transfer surplus funds to
the exchequer, said two government sources privy to the development.
The new guideline is expected to come in a month.
The
move would make theSecurities
and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and a dozen other
regulators, such as the Insurance Regulatory and Development
Authority of India (Irdai) and the Pension Fund Regulatory and
Development Authority (PFRDA), to shell out a significant portion of
their reserves into the Consolidated Fund of India. The Centre has
been eyeing these resources that would help it reduce fiscal deficit.
Experts, however, said this could infringe on the independence of the
regulatory bodies.
We
have asked Sebi to provide details of expenses they require for their
internal operations. The rest of it would go to a public account and
the government can allocate funds as and when required,” said a
source cited above. According to him, a final consensus is required
on the operational aspect of the surplus fund. This needs more
deliberation.
New
rule will give surplus reserves of Sebi, pension regulator to
govtSebi holds the highest surplus reserves, followed by Irdai, among
autonomous bodies. So, the government is planning to first amend the
Sebi Act; later, changes would be made to other Acts of the governing
bodies...Read
More
With eight days to go before the
Narendra Modi government presents its interim Budget on February 1,
the Prime Minister on Wednesday entrusted Railway Minister Piyush
Goyal with ministerial portfolios of finance and corporate affairs
till Arun Jaitley comes back from the US.
Jaitley underwent a surgery in the
US on Tuesday. With doctors having advised him two weeks’ rest,
Goyal is set to present the interim Budget — the final Budget of
the Modi-led government’s current tenure, which comes less than 90
days before the Lok Sabha polls and could contain key announcements.
According to a Rashtrapati Bhavan
communique, issued at 8.55 pm, the President, as advised by the PM,
directed that during the period of Jaitley's indisposition, the
finance and corporate affairs portfolios, held by him, be temporarily
assigned to Goyal. It said Goyal would continue to hold his existing
portfolios: Railways and coal.
The communique stated that Jaitley
“be designated as minister without portfolio during the period of
his indisposition or till such time he is able to resume his work as
minister of finance and minister of corporate affairs.”...Read
More
To have
one airline limping forward on the brink of bankruptcy may be
regarded as a misfortune. To have two looks like carelessness.
That’s
the fundamental problem for India’s aviation industry, home to the
critically ill Jet Airways India Ltd. and its state-owned rival Air
India Ltd., which more or less died in 2012 but has been kept on life
support thanks to ongoing infusions of taxpayer cash.
Facing
collapse, Jet has been trying to restructure its debt and seeking
bailout money from founder Naresh Goyal and leading shareholder
Etihad Airways PJSC. Should those attempts fail, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi will have to explain the loss of 23,000 jobs ahead of
May elections.
Air India,
known locally as the Maharajah, has been in similarly dire straits.
An attempted privatization last year attracted zero expressions of
interest. The government is considering a fresh turnaround plan, the
Indian Express reported in September...Read
More
Google signage is seen at Google headquarters in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S.,Technology
News:
As
the country braces for the general elections this year, technology
giant Google on it is bringing more openness to election advertising
online and is enabling voters to get the election-related information
they need.
To
bring more transparency to the online election ads, Google is
introducing an India-specific ‘Political Advertising Transparency
Report’ and searchable ‘Political Ads Library.’
Through
these initiatives, which will go live in March this year, the company
is looking at providing comprehensive information about who is
purchasing election ads on Google platforms and how much money is
being spent. This year, over 850 million Indians are expected to cast
their votes to elect the country’s next government.
“We’re
thinking hard about elections and how we continue to support
democratic processes in India and around the world,” said Chetan
Krishnaswamy, director, public policy, Google India, adding, “We
are bringing more transparency to election advertising online, and
surfacing relevant information to help people better navigate the
electoral process...Read
More
Companies
News:
Seeking
to ease investor concerns, embattled drug major Sun Pharmaceutical
Industries on Tuesday announced plans to unwind loans of Rs 2,238
crore given to a Dubai-based company, Atlas Global Trading FZC, and
transfer the distribution of the domestic formulation business to a
subsidiary from a separate entity.
Sun
Pharma said the company’s consolidated balance sheet had
receivables of Rs 2,238 crore from a non-related party. “This
liability was in respect of Atlas assuming the damages on account of
Protonix patent litigation settlement entered by Sun Pharma, which
was disclosed in Sun Pharma’s annual report for fiscal year 2014,”
it said in a statement.
Last
month, when investors had asked Sun Pharma Managing Director Dilip
Shanghvi about the loan in a conference call, he said it was given to
a “non-related” party, but did not give details.
Responding
to Business Standard queries, Sun Pharma clarified Atlas Global or
any of its subsidiary was not a related party at any point in
time...Read
More
Individuals
who have carried out high-value transactions but have not filed their
income tax returns for the assessment year 2018-19 would get 21 days
time to submit their responses, the CBDT said Tuesday.
The
21-day time period would be from the date of receiving e-mail or SMS
from the I-T Department regarding non-filing of tax returns.
In
cases where no return is filed or no response is received for
Assessment Year (AY) 2018-19 within the stipulated time, the
department would consider initiating proceedings under the Income Tax
Act 1961.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said data analysis has identified "several potential non-filers" who have carried out high value transactions in 2017-18 but have still not filed returns for AY 2018-19. CBDT, however, did not disclose the number of such non-filers...Read More
Companies
News:
India’s
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi rode to power five years ago on his business friendly
credentials and the promise of generating millions of jobs. Now an
airline is on the verge of collapse, bringing Modi’s image under
attack just months before national elections.
Struggling
in a competitive market where basic air fares can get as low as 2
cents, Jet Airways India Ltd., the country’s second-biggest
airline, has piled on $1.1 billion in debt and failed to pay loans
and salaries. With about 23,000 jobs at stake, pressure is building
on Modi for a rescue package as a collapse would mean bad optics in
his re-election bid in a poll due by May.
While
Modi is not to blame for the unraveling of Jet Airways -- the airline
was brought to its knees because of high fuel prices and intense
competition -- his policies to make air travel affordable to more and
more Indians didn’t help it either. The fate of the teetering
carrier is now part of the opposition’s narrative that businesses
are ailing, with the $2.6 trillion economy losing jobs on Modi’s
watch...Read
More
Companies
News:
The
battle for the Indian consumer was never going to be an all-American
affair.
Walmart
Inc.’s splashy acquisition last year of Flipkart Online Services
Pvt., the homegrown e-tailer giving Amazon.com Inc. a solid run for
its money, might have given the impression of a two-horse race. But
as I argued (here and here), billionaire Mukesh Ambani wasn’t going
to watch from the sidelines.
And
last week India’s richest man jumped right into the fray. Ambani,
chairman of the petrochemicals-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance
Industries Ltd., has a four-legged plan to connect India’s 30
million small retailers with consumers. One, neighborhood marts will
be connected to Reliance Retail Ltd.’s footprint of almost 10,000
stores, offering them common inventory-management, billing and tax
platforms as well as low-cost payment terminals. That will give the
expanded retail network formidable sourcing power.
The
second hook is Ambani’s telecom business. Consumer e-commerce in
India is dominated by the urban middle class. Out of the country’s
500 million Internet users, almost 200 million live in rural areas
where one out of four goes online less than once a month. No wonder
the number of online consumers, while growing rapidly, is expected to
be only about 120 million this year. Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. alone
has 280 million digital subscribers...Read
More
Economy & Policy:
I
was six when my parent took me to see my first movie -- the 1937
animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Since I was raised in
a home without television, the moving picture had a profound visceral
effect on me.
As
the tension built, I was completely overwhelmed by the sound and the
evil laughter of the queen, and my unabated high-decibel reaction to
what was happening on screen greatly annoyed the other patrons,
forcing my parents to leave the cinema hall. Today, I watch with
admiration as six-year-olds sit unmoved through hyper-realistic
gruesome action and horror movies. This is because they have had
screens surround them ever since they were born and are therefore
less impacted by the digital content they consume.
There are many in our country who are similarly experiencing the Internet for the very first time without the advantage of being immunised through previous exposure. Many of them are illiterate, which makes it harder for them to determine the truth value of online content.
This
potential for manipulation through digital media has a “novelty
effect” which reduces with time. Therefore, it is important that we
don’t over-regulate social media based on the current impact on
citizenry...Read
More
Companies News:
Global
dairy major Lactalis will buy Mumbai-based Prabhat Dairy, a
bulk producer of milk and dairy products, in its third acquisition
in India.
Prabhat told the stock exchanges on Monday that Lactalis’s Indian subsidiary Tirumala Milk Products was acquiring its dairy business for Rs 1,700 crore, which is 1.17 times its FY18 sales of Rs 1,442 crore. The transaction is subject to mandatory approvals. The company did not specify a timeline for completion of the deal, but analysts expect it to be done in the next six months.
At Monday’s closing price of Rs 93.05 per share, Prabhat’s market capitalisation stands at Rs 909 crore.Kotak Mahindra Capital Company was the financial advisor to Prabhat on the deal. Veritas acted as the legal advisor.
Besides
the dairy business, the transaction also involves sale of 100 per
cent shareholding in Sunfresh Agro Industries, a subsidiary of
Prabhat, via a share purchase agreement, the company said...Read
More
Companies
News:
Fourteen
people are zeroing in on acquisition targets for the RP-Sanjiv Goenka
group’s fledgling FMCG business. This segment is expected to clock
in revenues of Rs 10,000 crore, or about a quarter of the group
turnover, in the next five years. According to Sanjiv Goenka, the
group turnover in five years would be around Rs 40,000 crore from the
present level of Rs 26,000 crore. Power distribution and FMCG are
likely to lead the pack, followed by retail, IT and carbon black.
The
non-power businesses demerged from CESC —Spencer’s Retail and
CESC Ventures comprising FMCG, BPO, realty, and the new entities —
are likely to get listed soon. The size of the FMCG business is Rs
500 crore, but the plans are ambitious. An acquisition, for instance,
would give it a foothold in a new segment. The size of acquisition
being weighed? Goenka makes it clear that he doesn’t want to limit
to any size, it could even be Rs 1,000 crore or more.
An
FMCG fund has been started. Like a private equity, it picks up stake
in small firms. While the primary objective is to make money, the
fund gives an opportunity to acquire the firms. Two investments have
been made so far: The Souled Store (which does franchisee printing of
clothes for Disney etc) and True Elements (into breakfast
cereals)...Read
More
Companies
News:
Online
grocery firm BigBasket is increasing its focus on organic food
products, and expects this segment to contribute around Rs 250 crore
to its overall revenues in financial year 2019-20 (FY20).
The
Bengaluru-headquartered firm on Sunday unveiled new gluten-free and
healthy products under 'bb GoodDiet' range at the Organics &
Millets 2019 International Trade Fair here.
"We
are observing a strong demand for organic products from a specific
segment of customers who are very health conscious. This category
grew more than two times since last year," said Seshu Kumar
Tirumala, national head, buying and merchandising, BigBasket...Read
More
Current
Affairs:
The
Congress said that because Lok Sabha elections are on the horizon,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has started panicking and therefore is
criticising the formation of the four-member committee for EVMs.
Speaking
to the media, Congress leader P L Punia said: "As elections are
approaching, Prime Minister Modi is panicking and is in anxiety and
doesn't know what to say. We have objections with EVMs and we have
informed the election commission about the same."
"We
want that vote should be done on ballot papers. Ballot paper should
be used for voting instead of EVMs," Punia added.
West
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said that a
four-member committee had been formed to clarify opposition parties'
stand on EVMs in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections..Read
More
Amid the crisis in the NBFC sector, Tata Capital, the financial services arm of the Tata Group, is looking at a growth of 25-30 per cent per year in its loan book in the next financial year (FY20) and beyond.
With
the loan book value of the company at Rs 70,000 crore, a 25-30 per
cent growth could take it up to Rs 1 trillion in 2020. At present, it
has three lending arms — Tata Capital Financial Services, Tata
Capital Housing Finance and Tata Cleantech — a joint venture with
International Finance Corporation.
Rajiv
Sabharwal, managing director and chief executive of Tata Capital,
said, “We want to grow at 25-30 per cent and also ensure that our
portfolio quality and return to investors remains good.”...Read
More
A
day after Jet Airways’ foreign partner Etihad Airways told lenders
that promoter Naresh Goyal must not keep more than a 22 per cent
stake and that he should have no role in running the airline, the man
at the centre of the controversy has hit back.
Jet
founder Goyal, in a letter dated January 16, has told State Bank of
India (SBI) chairman Rajnish Kumar that he was willing to infuse Rs
700 crore and also pledge all his shares in the company provided he
can have at least 25 per cent stake in the airline. Goyal currently
controls 51 per cent while Etihad holds 24 per cent in Jet.
In
what looks like a no-holds barred corporate battle for control and
ownership between the once close partners, Goyal has pointed out in
case his stake falls below 25 per cent, he would not be able to
infuse fresh funds or pledge shares until the markets watchdog grants
him an exemption related to the takeover cide...Read
More
Companies
News: Nissan Motor Co Ltd's US arm said it plans to lay off up to 700 contract workers at its Mississippi assembly plant, citing slowing sales of its vans and Titan pickup trucks.
The
company has about 6,500 direct employees and contract workers in
Canton, Mississippi.
The
news comes as the Japanese automaker grapples with the arrest of
former Chairman Carlos Ghosn in November.
The
lay-offs are unrelated to Ghosn's ouster as chairman, spokesman Brian
Brockman said.
The
automaker said it was cutting production shifts of Nissan Vans to one
from two, and Frontier and Titan pickup trucks to two shifts from
three.
Brockman
said that while the affected direct Nissan employees on those shifts
will be reassigned to other areas of the plant, some associates will
remain unassigned...Read
More
Finance
Minister
Arun Jaitley said that the interim Budg exist,” Jaitley
said.et, to be presented on February 1, will be within the existing
conventions. Its contents, however, will be dictated by economic
compulsions and realities of the day, he added.
Amid
concerns over his health, Jaitley was speaking live from New York and
addressing an event in Mumbai organised by CNBC TV-18. Ahead of the
next meeting of Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) Monetary Policy
Committee (MPC), Jaitley also said that real interest rates in India
cannot be higher than most major economies.
“There
is a convention for interim Budgets, on what you can and cannot
present. Ordinarily, there should be no reason to move away from that
convention, but then the larger interests of the economy always
dictate what should be in the interim Budget,” Jaitley said,
without disclosing details.
“If
we look at the bigger picture, there have been successes over the
last few years. There have also been challenges. Without getting into
specifics, some of those challenges really can’t afford to wait.
There is a necessity to address some of them. We intend to work
within the parameters of the conventions that...Read
More
ICICI Bank appointed two additional independent directors continuing the attempt to improve the private sector lender’s reputation as well as governance standards.
“The board of directors of the bank at its meeting held today appointed B Sriram and Rama Bijapurkar as additional (independent) directors of the bank with effect from January 14, 2019, for a period of five years, subject to the approval of shareholders,” said the bank in a filing to the exchanges.
Sriram was MD and CEO of IDBI Bank from June 30, 2018, to September 29, 2018. Previously, he was working with the State Bank of India (SBI) for 37 years after joining the bank as a probationary officer in 1981. He has held various key assignments within the bank and the group in credit and risk, retail, operations, IT, treasury, investment banking and international operations…Read More
