From O P Bhatt replacing Mistry at Tata Steel to 8 years of 26/11: 5 key developments

In other news, Narendra Modi attacks Opposition for criticising note ban

Business Standard brings you a list of five key developments across the country.

O P Bhatt replaces Cyrus Mistry as Tata Steel chairman

The Tata Steel board met on Friday, the second time since Cyrus Mistry was removed as Tata Sons chairman on October 24, and moved a resolution to remove him from the helm of the company. He was replaced by independent director O P Bhatt. Six directors supported the resolution while three, including independent director Nusli Wadia, opposed the move. O P Bhatt was elected as the chairman of the company till the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of shareholders on December 21.

Unaccounted deposits to attract 50% tax

Those who deposited their black money in banks, disclosing it to be untaxed wealth, since the government announced demonetisation will now have to pay income tax at 50% and a quarter of the portion of the unaccounted income would remain with the government for four years, as per amendments planned to the Income Tax Act by the Centre. The amendments will be tabled in Parliament for approval by Monday or Tuesday, a top government official said on Friday.

Preparedness for demonetisation: Modi takes on Opposition 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday indicated that he was unlikely to beat a retreat on his government’s move to demonetise Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes, even if it meant the Opposition uniting against him and the winter session being washed out. At a morning event to mark the Constitution Day, Modi said people have criticised demonetisation on the pretext the government did not make ample preparations. “I think the pain of such people is that the government did not give a chance (to them) to make any preparation,” he said. The PM said these same people would have lavished praise on him if they had got 72 hours to make their preparations.

Smartphone shipments likely to decline 18%

Shipments of feature phones are expected to decline 25% and smartphones 18% sequentially in the December quarter because of demonetisation, according to International Data Corporation (IDC). Also, shipments of personal computers are likely to shrink 33% and tablets 23% as sales suffer due to the cash crunch. During the September quarter, shipments of personal computers rose 31% and tablets 8%, IDC said.

Remembering 26/11 attacks

Dr N P Vaswani, who stared the death in the face eight years ago, says he is so busy that he has no time to look back and this has kept him going. But when Vaswani, a survivor of Mumbai terror attack of November 2008, has time to think, the memory haunts him. "By God's grace, I am so busy, that I don't look behind. But when I sit idle I feel disturbed. Whole day I am busy with my patients, if I had been idle, I would have died. So, my work has kept me alive," he told PTI as another anniversary of the attack which began on November 26, 2008, approaches.