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8:34 PM

RBI lifts curbs on Mahindra unit's use of third party for loan recovery

RBI lifts curbs on Mahindra unit's use of third party for loan recovery

8:30 PM

CBI chargesheets CG Power and Industrial Solutions, Gautam Thapar in Rs 2435-cr bank fraud case

The CBI has filed a charge sheet against CG Power and Industrial Solutions and its former promoter Gautam Thapar in an alleged Rs 2435-crore bank fraud case that affected 12 banks, officials said.

 

This comes after the agency conducted a probe for nearly 19 months into the allegations of diversion of bank funds, and manipulation of account books among other charges against the company, Thapar and other senior executives, they said.

 

Thapar is already facing multiple probes into his alleged links with Yes Bank co-founder Rana Kapoor who was booked by the CBI under corruption and fraud charges.

8:27 PM

Govt approves Rs 28.11 cr to extend interest-free loan to Andhra tobacco farmers

The government on Wednesday said it has approved Rs 28.11 crore to extend the interest-free loan to tobacco farmers of Andhra Pradesh.

 

This measure will help the FCV (Flue Cured Virginia) tobacco farmers overcome the damage caused by Mandous Cyclonic rains, the commerce ministry said in a statement.

 

The interest-free loan to the eligible farmers will be administered by the Tobacco Board, it added.

8:21 PM

Karnataka govt gets court notice on 'one nation, one digital platform'

The High Court of Karnataka has issued notice to the State government on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition, challenging the non-implementation of the national e-vidhan application (NeVA) scheme.

 

The State government went ahead with its own e-vidhan scheme instead.

 

The NeVA aims at promoting digitalisation to provide a platform for the functioning of both Houses of Parliament, Assemblies and councils. The Centre shares 60 per cent of the cost of the platform for the State which has a total outlay of Rs. 673.94 crore

 

Karnataka decided to implement its own scheme at a cost of Rs 253 crore based on a report submitted by KEONICS.

 

The PIL says the State government is unnecessarily spending Rs.253 crore, when it could have availed itself of by merging the scheme with the Centre's.

8:12 PM

Karnataka HC stays 5% cap on service fee for online autorickshaw-hailing

The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday stayed the Transport Department notification, fixing a cap of 5 per cent on service charge collected by online aggregators for autorickshaw-hailing.

 

The notification issued on November 25, 2022 was challenged by the aggregators Ola and Uber. The earlier notification derecognising such service was challenged too.

8:05 PM

West Bengal Governor provided Z+ VIP security cover by Centre

West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose has been accorded Z-plus category VIP security cover of armed central paramilitary commandos by the Union home ministry, officials said on Wednesday.

 

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has been entrusted with the task, they said.

 

A contingent of about 25-30 armed personnel will provide the security cover to Bose in shifts whenever he travels to any part of the country.

7:57 PM

Global macro headwinds may moderate growth for Indian IT services industry in mid-term: ICRA

The evolving global macroeconomic headwinds could moderate growth for Indian IT services industry over the medium term, ICRA said on Wednesday.

 

Rating agency ICRA, in its recent research report, has cited that given the Indian IT services industry generates about 60-65 per cent of revenues from the US market and 20-25 per cent from the European market, it remains susceptible to macroeconomic uncertainties and adverse regulatory changes in these key operating markets.

7:54 PM

Delhiites adopting new tech, EV contributes to 16.7% of vehicles sold in Dec: Kailash Gahlot

Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot on Wednesday said 16.7 per cent of the vehicles sold in December last year were electric ones, and the figures showed that the residents of the capital were quite forthcoming in adopting the new technology.

 

Addressing a press conference, Gahlot said 7,046 electric vehicles were sold in December and also claimed that Delhi had the highest share of EVs in vehicle sales in that month among all states and Union Territories.

7:43 PM

Treat tobacco crop like any other agricultural produce: FAIFA to FM

Tobacco crop needs to be treated like any other agricultural produce and tax burden on legally manufactured tobacco products in India is adversely impacting its growers, Federation of All India Farmer Associations said on Wednesday.

In its pre-Budget demand, Federation of All India Farmer Associations (FAIFA), which claims to represent farmers and farm workers of commercial crops across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Gujarat, asked for extension of benefit under RoDTEP (Refund of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products) to the tobacco sector.

7:31 PM

98.7% decline in Kala-azar cases since 2007 in India, says Health Ministry

There has been a 98.7 per cent decline in cases of Kala-azar from 44,533 in 2007 to 834 in 2022 in India, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

 

India is committed to eliminating Kalaa-azar from the country by 2023, it said.

 

Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, who chaired a high-level meeting to review the status of Kala-azar disease in the four endemic states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal, said 632 (99.8 per cent) endemic blocks have already achieved elimination status (less than one case per 10,000).

7:20 PM

Coal India, trade unions ink pact for 19% minimum guaranteed benefit

State-owned Coal India Limited (CIL) and trade unions have agreed to a 19 per cent minimum guaranteed benefit of the monthly emolument, benefitting 2.38 lakh non-executive workers, an official statement said on Wednesday.

 

In this regard, "CIL and the four central trade unions BMS, HMS, AITUC and CITU have inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), recommending 19 per cent Minimum Guaranteed Benefit (MGB) for 2.38 lakh non-executive employees as part of the ongoing National Coal Wage Agreement XI (NCWA-XI)," Ministry of Coal said in a statement.

7:14 PM

Govt to provide DD free set-top box to over 8-lakh families in remote, border areas

Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting regarding the Broadcasting Infrastructure and Network Development (BIND) scheme at a cost of Rs 2,539.61 crore.

Through the scheme, the government intends to distribute over eight lakh DD Free set-top boxes to people living in remote, tribal and border areas.

6:58 PM

Cabinet okays Rs 2,614 crore investment in Himachal's Sunni dam project

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved the investment of Rs 2,614.51 crore for the 382 MW Sunni dam hydro-electric project in Himachal Pradesh by SJVN Ltd.

 

The amount also includes Rs 13.80 crore as budgetary support from the Centre for enabling infrastructure.

 

Ex-post facto approval is given for cumulative expenditure incurred amounting to Rs 246 crore till January 2022.

6:54 PM

India's GDP nearing to $20 trillion, per capital income at $10k by 2047, says Bibek Debroy

India's GDP will be close to USD 20 trillion by 2047 and per capita income may reach USD 10,000 (at current value of USD), Bibek Debroy, chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, said on Wednesday.

 

Virtually addressing the inaugural session at the 57th Annual Conference of the Indian Econometric Society (TIES) held at the University of Hyderabad (UoH) here, he said though the COVID-19 pandemic may have passed, still there is a lot of uncertainty around the world on what is happening in China, about the Russia-Ukraine conflict, growth prospects in Europe and the USA.

 

In 2047, India will have a per capita income of the value of today's dollars of 10,000 US Dollars. The average size of the GDP will be approaching close to 20 trillion US Dollars too. India, therefore, will be a transformed society, a press release from the varsity quoting Debroy said.

6:29 PM

Microsoft to invest in autonomous trucking startup Gatik: Report

Microsoft Corp is in advanced talks to invest in Gatik, a California-based autonomous driving startup, as part of its cloud partnership with the company, two people familiar with the discussions told Reuters.

 

Microsoft plans to invest over $10 million in a financing round that values Gatik at more than $700 million, the sources added. As part of the deal, Gatik will use Microsoft's cloud and edge computing platform Azure in developing autonomous delivery technology for trucks.

6:17 PM

Courts have not been set up to validate govt's illegal decisions, says Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena

The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) on Wednesday said the courts have not been set up to validate "illegal decisions" of the government, and to declare demonetisation as valid was tantamount to defending "economic massacre".

 

While four judges of the Supreme Court bench held the 2016 demonetisation carried out by the Narendra Modi government to be valid, "the country is proud of Justice (B V) Nagarathna who recorded it bluntly that it was a high-handed move", the editorial in the party's Marathi newspaper 'Saamana' said.

6:02 PM

Kerala govt to implement third 100-day-action plan from February 10

The Kerala government on Wednesday decided to implement its third 100-day-action plan from February 10 to ensure that all the projects announced in the 2022-23 budget are executed.

 

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who chaired the evaluation meeting today asked all the departments to ensure that maximum projects are included in the 100-day-action plan.

6:00 PM

Din in Chhattisgarh Assembly as BJP seeks probe into 'irregularities' in free rice distribution

The Chhattisgarh Assembly witnessed uproar on Wednesday when the opposition BJP alleged irregularities in the distribution of free rice allocated by the Centre to the state under a welfare scheme and demanded a probe by a House committee.

 

Opposition MLAs trooped into the well of the House while shouting slogans on the issue. Some of them tore papers and threw them towards the dais of Speaker Charandas Mahant.

5:51 PM

Myanmar junta to free more than 7,000 prisoners under amnesty

Myanmar junta to free more than 7,000 prisoners under amnesty, Reuters reported.

5:42 PM

Only 41% transplanted trees survived in 1st half of 2022: Delhi govt's outcome budget

Only 41 per cent of the over 8,500 trees transplanted in Delhi using modern technology in the April-September period last year have survived, according to the Delhi government's outcome budget for first two quarters of the current financial year.

 

According to the government data, 64 per cent of the 3,457 trees transplanted in 2021-22 have survived.

 

Between April and September last year, 8,508 trees were transplanted using modern technology and only 41 per cent are alive. A total of 23 projects requiring translocation of trees were approved during the period.

5:36 PM

Twitter says it will relax ban on political advertising

Twitter says it will ease up on its 3-year-old ban on political advertising, the latest change by Elon Musk as he tries to pump up revenue after purchasing the social media platform last year.

 

The company tweeted late Tuesday that we're relaxing our ads policy for cause-based ads in the US."

 

We also plan to expand the political advertising we permit in the coming weeks," the company said from its Twitter Safety account.

 

Twitter banned all political advertising in 2019, reacting to growing concern about misinformation spreading on social media.

5:30 PM

Centre sticks to demand for increased share in Vedanta oil block

Central government will stick to its demand for a 10% increase in its share of the revenues from conglomerate Vedanta's Barmer oil and gas block, a top government lawyer said on Wednesday.

 

The Supreme Court has been hearing a dispute between Vedanta and the federal government related to an extension of the production-sharing contract for the Barmer asset in the western state of Rajasthan.

 

5:21 PM

CRPF to send additional 1800 troops to Jammu and Kashmir

Central Reserve Police Force will send additional 18 companies (1800 troops) to Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of killings of civilians in recent terror attacks in Rajouri district. Personnel will be deployed in Poonch and Rajouri districts, ANI said citing sources

5:15 PM

Citigroup cuts India's current account deficit forecast to below 3% of GDP

Citigroup lowered its projection for India's current account deficit (CAD) to 2.9% of gross domestic product (GDP) for the current fiscal year, citing the growth in the country's service exports and a lower oil price forecast.

 

The brokerage had, in August last year, said it expected India's CAD to be as high as 3.9% of GDP for the fiscal year ending March 2023.

5:09 PM

Walmart gets $1 billion tax bill for shifting PhonePe HQ to India

Walmart and other shareholders of digital payments app PhonePe will have to pay tax worth around $1 billion after the fintech firm shifted its headquarters to India from Singapore last year, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter

5:07 PM

BJP's 'politics of deceit' has even dragged down home ministry: Mehbooba Mufti

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday hit out at the BJP saying its "politics of deceit" has dragged down even the home ministry.

 

She was reacting to a ministry report on Jammu and Kashmir.

 

"Shocked that BJPs politics of deceit has dragged down even the Home Ministry. Not only does this report reek of lies but it also discredits a crucial portfolio once headed by Sardar Vallabhai Patel," Mehbooba said in a series of tweets.

4:42 PM

Harish Rawat holds silent protest over anti-encroachment drive in Haldwani

Former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat held a silent protest on Wednesday in support of residents of Banbhoolpura area in Haldwani agitating against the removal of encroachments from railway land in compliance with a high court order.

The protesters said the removal of encroachments will render them homeless and jeopardise the future of their school-going children.

The High Court had on December 20 ordered the removal of encroachments from railway land in the Banbhoolpura area of Haldwani by issuing a one-week advance notice.

4:32 PM

Sonia Gandhi admitted to Delhi hospital for treatment of respiratory infection

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has been admitted to our hospital today. She has been admitted, to the Department of Chest Medicine, for observation and treatment of a viral respiratory infection: Dr Ajay Swaroop, Chairman (Board of Management), Sir Ganga Ram Hospital

4:19 PM

SC stays Allahabad HC order directing Uttar Pradesh to hold urban local body polls without reservation for OBCs

Supreme Court has put stay Allahabad HC order directing Uttar Pradesh to hold urban local body polls without reservation for OBCs

4:09 PM

Jharkhand shuts primary schools till Jan 8 amid cold

All primary schools in Jharkhand will remain closed till January 8 amid the cold wave that gripped the state, according to a government notification.

The minimum temperature in Ranchi will be hovering between 7 and 10 degrees Celsius till January 8 with fog and cloudy sky. The mercury will rise from January 9, the weather office said.