Page 2532 - Business Finance
NCP slams Maha govt on 'faltering' economy; Minister hits back
Senior NCP leader Dhananjay Munde Sunday hit out at the Maharashtra government for the state's "faltering economy" and demanded a white paper on it. Quoting a report of the Finance Commission, Munde said the state's tax revenue had decreased by over 9 per cent in the period 2014-17 when compared to the period 2009-13. "A white paper should be published over the state's faltering economy. Our previous demands made in the state Legislature have been ignored. The government does a jugglery of figures every time and hides the truth," Munde claimed. He said Rs 12,000 crore allotted to the state by the Centre had remained unused and thus had to be returned. "The Finance commission's report has laid bare all the facts now. How has revenue declined in the last 4 years when the government had levied a huge number of taxes all these years?" he questioned. The Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council said that he will move a breach of privilege motion against the .
HDFC Bank most valuable Indian brand 5th year running: Survey
Private sector HDFC Bank has become Indias most valuable brand for the fifth year in a row with a 21 per cent rise in its brand value to $21.7 billion over the previous year, according to a survey.
DRDO successfully tests anti-tank missile
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Sunday successfully tested a low-weight indigenously developed man-portable anti-tank guided missile (MPATGM) at its Ahmednagar range, officials said.
CAIT seeks early rollout of ecommerce policy
Traders' body CAIT Sunday sought early introduction of the ecommerce policy in the wake of festive season beginning October 15. In a statement, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said: "In absence of any policy, ecommerce portals will play their dirty game of predatory pricing, deep discounting and loss funding and vitiate the ecommerce market of the country". It also urged Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu to restrict preferred sellers of ecommerce firms from selling products on these portals, claiming that these sellers are instrumental in malpractices. The government has set up a group of secretaries to look into the issues, with concerns being raised on some proposals of the draft e-commerce policy. The initial draft e-commerce policy had suggested several steps to promote growth of the fast growing sector. It said online retail firms may have to store user data exclusively in India in view of security and privacy concerns. The draft stated that any group ...
CAIT calls for early introduction of e-commerce policy
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) Sunday pitched for early introduction of the e-commerce policy as it apprehends vitiation of the market by e-commerce portals through "predatory pricing" and "deep discounting" during festive season beginning October 15. "In the absence of any policy just before the festive season beginning October 15, e-commerce portals will play their dirty game of predatory pricing, deep discounting and loss funding, which will vitiate the market," CAIT National President B C Bhartia said in a statement. "Hence, we call for early introduction of e-commerce policy as early as possible," he added. Urging Union Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu to restrict preferred sellers of e-commerce companies to sell products on e-commerce portals, Bhartia alleged that they were "instrumental" in indulging in all sorts of malpractices. He said the government has already issued first draft of e-commerce policy and a panel of secretaries is already in ...
BJP govt's step to boost economy are 'half-baked and half-hearted': Cong
The Congress Sunday dubbed as "half-baked and half-hearted" the steps announced by the BJP government to boost the economy and said they reflected the "bankruptcy" in its economic vision and they will have an adverse impact. Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the last ditch attempt by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to check rupee devaluation and control the current account deficit (CAD) reflects the bankruptcy of economic vision of 'Modinomics' that has failed India's economy. "Half-hearted, half-baked and feeble measures announced by the finance minister, after a meeting chaired by the prime minister, reflect the myopic and parochial economic vision of a government caught in a web of its own making," he alleged in a statement. "The measures are superfluous, parochial and would not have the desired impact, except for taking the country to pre-liberalisation era. Their impact would be adverse on economy," he claimed. The Congress leader ..
Fuel prices rise unabated, petrol nears Rs 90/litre in Mumbai
The rise in domestic fuel prices continued unabated on Sunday, with the price of petrol nearing the psychological Rs 90 a litre mark in Mumbai and the fuel selling at Rs 89.29 under the dynamic pricing regime.
Pradhan urges Odisha govt to slash taxes on petrol, diesel
Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday urged the Odisha government to cut taxes on fuel in order to bring down prices of petroleum products in the state. "Several states have reduced taxes on fuel and Odisha government needs to follow their footsteps by slashing taxes on petro products in order to provide relief to the people," Pradhan told reporters here. The cooperation of the state government is required to bring fuel prices under control, he said. Stating that states get benefited whenever crude oil prices rise in the international market, Pradhan said the Odisha government, which was collecting around Rs 3,000 crore tax from fuel in 2014, now gets Rs 7,000 crore. Reacting to the Union minister's comments, BJD spokesman Pratap Deb sought to know what happened to the "huge taxes" collected by the central government from fuel during the last four-and-a-half years. He said the Centre, which was earlier charging 6 per cent excise duty on petrol, is now ...
Tata Steel begins work on blast furnace at UK plant
Tata Steel has launched an ambitious project to significantly extend the operational life of one of the two huge blast furnaces of its UK's largest steelworks at Port Talbot in South Wales. The plant's giant Blast Furnace 5, which has been running for the past 15 years producing almost 30 million tonnes of iron, is now being drained so vital engineering work can be carried out inside, extending its life by five to seven years, Tata Steel said Friday. "This is the biggest single investment we have made at the Port Talbot site for more than five years and demonstrates our commitment to building a stronger and more sustainable steelmaking business in the UK now and in the future," said Bimlendra Jha, CEO of Tata Steel's UK business. Once the heart of the furnace, which is normally more than 1,200 degrees Celsius, has cooled, skilled engineers will begin work to replace parts of the heat resistant interior and vital structural parts, it said. The project, costing tens of millions of ...
Govt moves to arrest Re depreciation to have limited impact:
The government's rupee depreciation arresting measures announced Friday may not drive fund inflows and are a negative from a longer term perspective as they increase short term debt, a HDFC Bank report has said. "Considering that most of the measures aim at increasing short-term external debt or in effect worsen the risk profile of companies (by increasing un-hedged exposure), could actually be considered negative," the note released Saturday by one of the largest private sector lenders said. Increase in short term external commercial borrowings or foreign institutional investor exposure "could lead to further worsening of vulnerability ratios and the global investors might actually take this negatively", it warned. The measures include permitting manufacturing sector entities to avail ECBs up to USD 50 million with a minimum maturity of one year versus the earlier period of three years, removing caps on single group exposure for foreign investors, exemption from ...
360 Realtors' brokerage income doubles to Rs 104 cr in FY18; aims over Rs 200 cr revenue this fiscal
Property brokerage firm 360 Realtors' revenue more than doubled to Rs 104 crore last fiscal year by facilitating sales of over 4,000 housing and commercial units, its top official said Sunday. With signs of revival in housing demand, the Gurugram-based firm, having a sales force of more than 1,000 people, has set an aggressive target of facilitating deals of about 7,500 units this fiscal year. 360 Realtors competes with the likes of PropTiger.com, ANAROCK and Square Yards in the organised property brokerage business, which has now come under the ambit of new realty law RERA. "We sold 4,023 units worth Rs 2,682 crore during 2017-18, which was more than double from the previous fiscal," the company's founder and MD Ankit Kansal told PTI. In the 2016-17 fiscal year, he said the company had sold 1,732 units worth Rs 1,221 crore. Its brokerage income also more than doubled to Rs 104 crore from Rs 46 crore during the review period. Asked about the current fiscal, Kansal said: "We have ...
India should be 10% of our global revenues in 5-10 years: Cisco CEO
US tech giant Cisco is betting big on digitisation initiatives in India and its over 10,000-strong local team here to drive growth, with the country expected to account for 10 per cent of its global revenues in the next few years, its CEO Chuck Robbins has said. Speaking to PTI, Robbins said: "We have seen very balanced growth across India over the last several years...When we really started some of our initiatives 3-4 years ago, it (India) was a small percentage of our business. But, it has been growing rapidly and I think over the next 5 to 10 years, India should easily become 10 per cent of our revenues, there is no reason it shouldn't. And maybe even more". He did not comment on the current contribution from the Indian market as the company does not break out country-specific revenue numbers. For FY2018, the company's global revenue grew three per cent to USD 49.3 per cent. Previously, Robbins has said India is among Cisco's largest markets along with countries like the US, Japan .
Ensure area allotted to effigy makers is available to them sans hindrance: HC to SDMC
The Delhi High Court has directed the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) to ensure that the area allotted to artisans, who make Ravana effigies for Dussehra, is exclusively available to them "without any hindrance". A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao also directed SDMC to provide water, electricity and security measures by September 19 at the site allotted to the artisans for doing their work. It also directed the corporation to put up notices in public areas indicating where the effigies are available for sale. The SDMC had earlier told the court that two plots of land have been identified in west Delhi for artisans making Ravana effigies ahead of the festive season. The bench had earlier asked the south Delhi civic body to charge the artisans only Rs 1.50 per square feet per month for this year. The court was hearing a PIL initiated on its own after it came across a news report saying that several Ravana effigies, built by artisans who came here from ..
Sebi has rights to regulate auditors for activities under its regulations: Corp Affairs Secy
Markets watchdog Sebi is "well within its rights" to regulate auditors with respect to activities under its regulations, a senior government official said amid chartered accountants' apex body ICAI raising concerns about the proposal. Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas also said that there will be no "cross cutting regulations". His comments come against the backdrop of Sebi proposing stricter norms for fiduciaries, including chartered accountants, cost accountants, company secretaries and valuers, in the securities market. The proposed changes to the Sebi (Fiduciaries in the Securities Market) Regulations are likely to be discussed at the regulator's board meeting on September 18. "Sebi is well within its rights to have a regulatory control over auditors with respect of certifications which are required by Sebi under their Act and their regulations," Srinivas told PTI in an interview. Asserting that there is a "clear demarcating line", he said that in every legislative ...
Has BJP found free crude oil source, asks Chidambaram
Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Sunday took a dig at the BJPs claim that fuel prices will be brought down soon, saying the saffron party must have found a source of free crude oil.
Mandatory third party insurance for vehicles to benefit consumers, insurers: Experts
Even as customers buying cars and two-wheelers post September 1 need to shell out more as premium with Irdai making long-term third party insurance mandatory, industry and experts feel it will ultimately benefit consumers besides the insurers. It addresses the issue of under-insurance and inculcate a sense of compliance among those who otherwise evade the law by not buying the third party motor insurance after the initial year of vehicle purchase, said an analyst. Following an order from the Supreme Court, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) has directed the insurance companies to offer three-year third party insurance cover for new cars and five-year such policy for new two-wheelers from September 1, 2018. The new guideline will contribute to higher premium income for the companies selling motor insurance. However, chinks remain as customers will be bound to make long term premium without the freedom of choice to make a switch from one insurer to ...
Pakistan Railways to sell land to clear deficit
Pakistan's railways minister has proposed the sale of railway land to end nearly Rs 37 billion deficit and requested Prime Minister Imran Khan to promulgate an ordinance for the purpose. Railways currently faces a deficit of Rs 37 billion as induction of new trains and high expenses take toll on the state-owned entity's revenue. With costs running high, and several Railways' assets unable to add to the company's bottom line, the entity has run into losses for years now, The Express Tribune reported. "The prime minister has sought details of the precious land owned by the railways in different cities within a fortnight," Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad said on Saturday. Ahmad, the newly-appointed minister for railways, said all the land, which belongs to Pakistan Railways, would be retrieved from those who had grabbed it as the state-owned entity owns a huge amount of land but it is either been encroached or has not been used commercially. However, "no action will be taken ...
Pradhan suggests Odisha reduce tax on fuel
Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday suggested the Odisha government reduce taxes on fuel to provide relief to the people of the state.
Odisha gets first 'Tribes India' outlet
Odishas first "Tribes India" outlet has come up in the state capital here showcasing a wide range of ethnic and tribal products from across the country. The showroom was inaugurated by Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram on Saturday, offers products ranging from jewellery and handicrafts to handlooms and home furnishing items made by tribal artisans. The outlet was opened at the initiative of Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED). Oram said a variety of products including pottery, jewellery, handicrafts and clothes made by tribals from over 27 states would be sold from the outlet. Market linkage would be provided to tribal artisans for sale of their products through the new outlet, Oram said adding it would become one of the biggest centres of its kind in eastern India. The minister said that no stone should be left unturned in ensuring empowerment of tribals through trade and all steps be taken to ensure that they get opportunities ..
IFCI expects resolution of NPA cases worth Rs 8,000 cr during this fiscal
State-owned IFCI has intensified its recovery process and expects resolution of several NPA cases worth Rs 8,000 crore during the course of the year, a top company official said. Earlier this year, IFCI saw recovery from resolution of various loan default cases, including Bhushan Steel, Monnet Ispat, Oswal Foods, Blue Coast Hotels and Rama Industries. "From April 1, 2018, till date, we have recovered about Rs 503 crore from the resolution or One Time Settlement (OTS) of debt. Over and above this, we have recovered approximately Rs 160 crore from the sale/buyback of unquoted equity," IFCI Executive Director V S V Rao told PTI. As many as seven cases were resolved through the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and payment has been received in Bhushan Steel, Basai Steel & Power Limited and Monnet Ispat cases, he said. In the remaining cases, the payments are expected by the end of third or fourth quarter except one case where liquidation has been approved by the Committee of ...