Page 2533 - Business Finance

GRSE to diversify into exports, may bag Guyanese order soon

Completely dependent on the Indian Navy for orders, the IPO-bound state-run ship builder GRSE is targeting to diversify into exports and is set to get an order from Guyana soon, a top official has said. The Kolkata-headquartered company has executed one export in the past for the Mauritian government. "We are in talks to make a passenger ship with a capacity of 500 people for Guyana. The size of the contract will not be very high as compared to Naval vessels, but exports is a segment we want to focus on," Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) chairman and managing director Rear Admiral (Retd) V K Saxena told PTI. A senior company official elaborated that the order pertains to assistance to the South American nation granted by the Indian Government and added that the order will be executed through a line of credit extended by the EXIM Bank of India. When asked about the order size, the official said it may be over Rs 100 crore, but made it clear that the ...

Exclusive: Saudi Arabia to auction detained tycoon's real estate assets - sources

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia will auction real estate owned by indebted billionaire Maan al-Sanea and his company starting next month to help repay billions of riyals due to creditors, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

UP accounts for 38 pc of India's sugar output in 2017-18

Allaying fears about the sugar industry, Uttar Pradesh Cane Development Minister Suresh Rana said better management by the Yogi Adityanath government has resulted in the state accounting for 38 per cent of the entire sugar production in the country. The state produced 32 million tonnes of sugar in the 2017-18 season (October-September), which comes to 38 per cent of the entire sugar produced in the country, the minister told PTI Sunday. "It is a matter of pride for the state that Uttar Pradesh accounted for 38 per cent of the total sugar produced in the country," he said in an interview. Stressing that the sugar industry in the state is on the right path with the Yogi Adityanath government initiating all-round steps for the welfare of the sugarcane growers, Rana said that crushing by the mills has gone up considerably under the BJP government. While it was 82 crore quintals in 2016-17, it rose to 111 crore quintals in 2017-18, the minister pointed out, adding that the area on which it

Notices to sugar mills in Maha over Rs 1,200 cr dues

The Maharashtra government has issued notices to co-operative sugar mills in the state which have defaulted on repayment of loans worth over Rs 1,200 crore taken by them, an official said. Some district central cooperative (DCC) banks in the state are facing a financial crisis due to non-repayment of loans given to cooperative sugar mills controlled by leaders from the opposition Congress and the NCP, he said. State Finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar has also directed the co-operative department to come up with a 'white paper', listing the loans taken by these cooperative institutions and the amounts re-paid so far. A senior official from the co-operative and marketing department told PTI that five DCC banks are in a financial crisis after lending money to 11 cooperative sugar mills controlled by "big" leaders from the Congress and the NCP. These banks are in Solapur, Wardha, Nashik, Buldhana and Osmanabad districts. "Sugar mills have not repaid loans worth Rs 1,223.93 .

Can bring EVs into India if there is enough market demand: Honda's Goel

The company is looking at an EV strategy and it should be ready in time to get an EV here as and when the market demands

ClearTax expects 40 lakh ITRs to be filed through its portal this fiscal

With increased government focus on tax compliance, ClearTax Sunday said it expects at least 40 lakh filings through its online returns filing portal during the current fiscal ending March 2019. As many as 30 lakh income tax returns have been filed through the ClearTax portal till August 31 -- the last date for filing ITRs for financial year 2017-18 by salaried individuals and entities under the presumptive tax scheme, ClearTax Founder Archit Gupta said. This represented a growth of around 95 per cent over the 16 lakh returns filed through the portal last year. "With the government focus on compliance, we hope that we will end this year with 40 lakh I-T returns filed by salaried class, entities under presumptive income scheme and also businesses who have to submit tax audit report, through ClearTax portal," Gupta told PTI. As per income tax department data, I-T returns filing surged 71 per cent to 5.42 crore till August 31. This was led by a massive eight-fold jump in returns filed by .

States set to miss FY19 fiscal targets; borrowing to jump to

Funding of farm loan waivers, poll-related spending and other populist measures are likely to ensure that states are set to miss their fiscal consolidation targets budgeted at the beginning of the year, says a report. "Given the factors such as funding of crop loan waivers, election-related spending and the flood relief will see the states miss their fiscal consolidation targets," Icra said in a weekend note. The states' fiscal deficit is primarily financed by issuing state development loans (SDLs). In April-August of FY19, gross issuance of SDL contracted by 3.4 per cent to Rs 1.32 trillion, primarily led by a sharp decline in issuance by UP, Maharashtra and Gujarat. However, excluding these three states, total SDL issuance by the remaining states has grown 14.7 per cent in the first five months of FY19. Icra also estimates that Rs 1.3 trillion of SDLs are scheduled to be redeemed in FY19, much higher than Rs 0.8 trillion redeemed in FY18. "Given the sharp rise in the .

Swedish equipment maker Atlas Copco expects India to be No 3

Sweden-based industrial tools and equipment manufacturer Atlas Copco plans to make India its manufacturing hub and expects the country to be its third largest market in global sales, a top company official has said. The company, which specialises in manufacturing of compressors, pumps, vacuum cleaners and tools used in the industrial business segments, has been present in the domestic market since the past 60 years and has manufacturing facilities in Pune, Nashik and Hyderabad. "Currently, India is the fifth largest market for us. Considering the higher economic growth, we see large demand for our products. We hope going forward, India will be at number 3 for us in terms of revenue, Atlas Copco President and CEO Mats Rahmstrom told PTI here. He further said India, with its largest talent pool with engineering skills, will also be its manufacturing hub going forward. "India is no longer a low cost manufacturing centre mainly because of the kind of talented engineers the .

Duff & Phelps expanding services to leverage opportunities presented by IBC

US-based advisory firm Duff & Phelps is planning to focus on distressed M&A space and is broadening its reach to even those companies that are in the "pre-NCLT" stage, a senior company official said. Duff & Phelps has executed valuation mandates for six of the twelve largest insolvency cases in India as part of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and has a team of close to 120 people locally working on projects related to the IBC legislation. "There are two distinct ways the IBC space is developing. One is formally entering the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) where the case is resolved in a formalised court driven process, and the other is to bring companies that are in distress, to the negotiating table earlier than the NCLT route," Varun Gupta, country managing director for India, told PTI. Gupta further said: "There is a significant opportunity that is opening up in the pre-NCLT space and Duff & Phelps is targeting that space as well". IBC, which provides .

Comm Min eases process to avail export incentives under MEIS scheme

The commerce ministry's foreign trade arm DGFT has simplified the procedure for traders to avail export incentives under the MEIS scheme, a move aimed at promoting ease of doing business for exporters. Under Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS), the government provides duty benefits depending on the product and country. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) will start the process of system driven approval of the MEIS claim applications from tomorrow in respect of exports made through EDI (electronic data interface) shipping bills. The move will enable automatic approval of claims made by exporters to avail incentives under this scheme and the new process is allowed through electronic data interchange ports. "Under the new system -- E com Module for MEIS, regional authorities will not check the MEIS applications. It will be automatically approved. DGFT officials will have to just attest the print and the duty credit scrips," a government official said. Rewards under ..

US tariffs on steel, aluminium may impact local metal industry: Report

The decision to impose steep tariffs by the United States on steel and aluminium may impact the domestic metal sector, a report has said. On March 8, 2018 US President Donald Trump imposed a 25 per cent tariff on steel imports and 10 per cent on aluminium. "The decision to hike tariff on aluminium and steel by 10 per cent and 25 cent, respectively made under a section 232 of American federal Act of 1962, may impact the Indian metals sector. "(However) It would be difficult to estimate what would be the quantum of impact on Indian steel and aluminium exports consequent to imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminium, the Indian exports may become costlier and uncompetitive in the US market especially against other countries who are exempted from levy of tariff by the US," Industry body Assocham said in its latest report 'Global Tariff War: Implications and Challenges'. Besides, it could also affect the prices of other metals like zinc and nickel. The US is the world's largest steel ...

Working with Comm Min to ensure FDI coming in defence sector clearly reflected in data: Sitharaman

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said she is working with the commerce ministry to ensure that foreign direct investments coming in the sector are reflected in the FDI data clearly. Currently, she said, there is a problem in collating foreign direct investment (FDI) data related to the defence sector. "I am working with the commerce ministry so that the numbers are very clear," she said, adding that a lot of investment is happening in this segment. "Many Indian players themselves are producing a lot of major items for instance recently we have given the order for India made guns. How is that possible....so there is lot happening. But, I suppose if you just go in search of defence FDI, probably you are searching where it is not clearly defined," Sitharaman told PTI in an interview. The minister was replying to a question on why FDI in defence sector has not picked up despite liberalisation of the foreign investment norms. She also said that there is a need to clearly define goods ...

Sebi to discuss introduction of common application form for FPIs

Markets regulator Sebi is likely to consider a proposal to introduce a common application form for foreign investors to enter into the domestic capital market, a move expected to improve ease of doing business, senior officials said. Besides, Sebi is expected to deliberate on a proposal on doing away with the requirement of one per cent security deposits for public issuance of debt securities. Further, it is likely to discuss on the procedure of transmission of securities in physical mode and the regulator may take up the issue of consistency in respect of payment of fees for seeking certain exemptions from the compliance with Sebi norms. The board of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) may discuss these issues in its meeting scheduled this week, they added. Currently, FPIs have to file a separate form to register themselves with the markets regulator. Besides, they have to approach bank for opening bank account, income tax department for PAN (Permanent Account Number) and ..

Petrol, diesel continue upward march

Citizens are yet to witness a relief in terms of purchasing fuel, as petrol and diesel prices have once again been hiked.Petrol in New Delhi is being sold 28 paise higher at Rs. 81.91 per litre, and diesel at Rs. 73.72 per litre after a hike of 18 paise.In Mumbai, the price of petrol has mounted to nearly Rs. 90 per litre, while diesel is retailing at Rs 78.26 per litre respectively.The rising prices of fuel come less than a week after the Congress Party and 21 other regional and national parties observed a 'Bharat Bandh' on account of the consistent rise in fuel prices and urged the government to take necessary steps to reduce citizens' woes.However, the Centre has maintained that external factors, including a rise in international crude oil prices, are influencing domestic fuel prices.

Trump pushing for $200 bn tariffs on China

The Donald Trump administration is pushing forward to slap trade tariffs amounting to USD 200 billion of Chinese products as the trade war between Washington and Beijing showed no signs of abetting. However, the announcement of the same is yet to be made.Earlier this week, the US president had met with top officials and has directed them to proceed with the plan to impose tariffs on China.CNN quoted a White House spokeswoman, Lindsay Walters, saying, "The President has been clear that he and his administration will continue to take action to address China's unfair trade practices. We encourage China to address the long-standing concerns raised by the United States."The latest threat from Washington comes as US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has been working to break the deadlock to stop the escalating trade war between the two countries. He had even extended an invitation to Beijing to resume trade negotiations even before the proposed tariffs are yet to kick in.Welcoming the US' ..

JetSetGo to start urban air transport service next week

JetSetGo, which currently manages the largest fleet of private jets and helicopters in India, plans to start an "on-demand urban air transport service" -- SkyShuttle -- from September 17.

Traders' body launches 'Rath Yatra' against Walmart-Flipkart deal

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Saturday started a 90-day "National Rath Yatra" protesting against foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail and the Walmart-Flipkart deal.

Anti-capitalism group targets French banks a decade after Lehman Brothers demise

PARIS (Reuters) - Anti-globalisation activists threw black liquid soap across the glass-front of a bank in Paris on Saturday, one of several actions planned in France and Germany in protest against banking practices a decade after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

France to replace 'Exit Tax' on capital gains, target fiscal cheats

PARIS (Reuters) - France will abolish a tax imposed on the capital gains of top earners and entrepreneurs who leave France and sell their assets with a more-targeted levy designed to deter tax optimisation, a finance ministry spokesman said on Saturday.

Confident of strictly maintaining fiscal deficit at 3.3%: Jaitley

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday reiterated that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central Government is confident of strictly maintaining the fiscal deficit target at 3.3 per cent.Addressing the media here, Jaitley said, "The Prime Minister took a review of the various departments of the Ministry of Finance, following which he expressed his satisfaction with regard to the broad parameters in relation to the economy and the macroeconomic parameters which are emerging this year. The government is confident and will strictly maintain the 3.3 per cent fiscal deficit target.""As far as capital expenditure is concerned, which is necessary for maintaining a high trajectory growth, already we have spent about 44 per cent of the budgeted expenditure till August 31 and we'll end the year without any cuts and will maintain the 100 per cent capital expenditure," Jaitley added.The Finance Minister also expressed the government's confidence in maintaining a growth rate higher ...