News digest: Black Friday for D-Street, pet industry, Modicare, and more

The government's decision to reintroduce the long-term capital gains tax has spooked foreign portfolio investors

Black Friday for D-Street: Worst post-Budget market performance since 2009

Higher taxes on equity investments and declining risk appetite among global investors amid an increase in US bond yields saw the benchmark Sensex slide 840 points, or 2.3 per cent, to 35,907 and the Nifty 50 index tank 256 points to 10,760. This was the worst single-day fall since November 2016, when the Centre banned the use of high-denomination currency notes, and the worst after-budget day performance since 2009. Read More

Budget 2018: Modi govt uses Finance Bill to extract spending room till 2024

The Narendra Modi-led government is using the Finance Bill 2018 to insert provisions in the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, in a move that will enable it to incur higher-than-mandated borrowing, and possibly spending, till the 2024 Lok Sabha election cycle. Read More

LTCG tax: Higher taxes spark panic among foreign portfolio investors

The government’s decision to reintroduce the long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax has spooked foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), who rushed to the finance ministry on Friday to seek relief. Sources said FPIs were concerned about the escalation in the costs for investing in India vis-à-vis other Asian and emerging markets (EM). Overseas investors were also worried whether the ‘grandfathering’ relief would be extended to them. Read More

Modicare to cost Rs 100 bn, states may baulk at new health insurance scheme

A day after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced the world’s so-called largest health insurance scheme covering 500 million people in the country, the NITI Aayog and the Union health ministry indicated that the government’s new flagship scheme was likely to cost the exchequer anywhere between Rs 100 billion and Rs 120 billion. The Union government said it would provide 60 per cent funds, and the state governments were expected to pool in the remaining 40 per cent. Read More

From fashion to hostels, India's pet industry is pulling out all the stops

At the edge of Delhi, nestled in the hushed silence of tony Chattarpur farms is a paradise for pets. A place where dogs shed stress, not hair. They become friendlier and happier as they spend their days running about on the green grass, eating a meal of organically-grown vegetables mixed with tender-fleshed chicken sourced from a supplier to airline kitchens — and, most important, attending counselling sessions. Read More