Page 2646 - Business Finance
Niti Aayog VC's remark against Raghuram Rajan laughable: Congress
The Congress has criticised NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar for blaming former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan for the slowdown in country's economy.Kumar, on Monday said that Rajan's policies on non-performing assets (NPAs) led to the slowdown in the economy and not the government's demonetisation drive.Speaking to ANI, Congress MP Rajeev Gowda said, "Rajiv Kumar was also ahead in attacking Raghuram Rajan in his efforts in cleaning up the banking system. The NPA's were being identified by Raghuram Rajan and it is important to identify them. BJP has done a horrible job in not acting early enough and strong enough. Trying to pass the buck and blame on Rajan is just an absolute mistake and it has no credibility or factual basis."Talking about the decline in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), he said, "We had a global financial crisis in 2008 after that every country went through a slowdown. The Congress and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) did a tremendous job ..
Argentina's president announces new austerity measures
Argentina's president Mauricio Macri on Monday announced he was slashing his government's bureaucracy in half and restoring taxes on grain exporters as part of sweeping new austerity measures to stabilize the economy. The center-right president admitted in a speech to the nation that Argentina was facing "an emergency," after its currency, the peso, lost more than half its dollar value this year. "We must confront a fundamental problem: to not spend more than we have, to make efforts to balance the state's accounts," he said in the televised address. He pledged a pared-down government following cuts that would see the number of ministries slashed from 22 to 10 in an effort to save money, demoting more than half his ministers. The move had little immediate effect on the markets, slipping back near the record lows of last week, closing 2.7 percent lower at 39.04 to the dollar. Thousands of laid-off government workers took to the streets of Buenos Aires to protest the government's ...
Bring petrol, diesel under GST immediately: Congress
Criticising the Centre over the "relentless" rise in prices of petrol and diesel, former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday said that the Congress party demands petrol and diesel be brought under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) immediately.Relentless rise in prices of petrol and diesel is not inevitable. Because, the price is built up by excessive taxes on petrol and diesel. If taxes are cut, prices will decline significantly. Congress demands that petrol and diesel be brought under GST immediately," Chidambaram tweeted."Centre blaming the States is a spurious argument. BJP forgets its boast that BJP is ruling 19 States. Centre and States must act together and bring petrol and diesel under GST," he added.In the national capital, petrol is being sold Rs.0.31 higher at Rs 79.15 per litre, while diesel prices have been hiked by Rs.0.39 to a price of Rs 71.15 per litre.In Mumbai, meanwhile, petrol price has breached the Rs 86 mark, and is being sold at Rs 86.56 per litre ...
IndiGo, GoAir offer low-fare tickets for September-March travel (Lead, with corrections)
Budget carriers IndiGo and GoAir on Monday offered low-fare tickets for travel during September 2018 to March 2019.
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank says in merger talks with two rivals
ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) said it is in early merger talks with Union National Bank and Al Hilal Bank, which could potentially form a lender with $113 billion in assets.
India will soon be digital payment society: Finance Ministry
With monthly transactions crossing 300 million mark through Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Finance Ministry officials on Monday said digital payment will soon be the norm in the country.
Digital revolution has only small impact on inflation: ECB's Weidmann
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Rapid technological advances cut inflation only marginally and temporarily, Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann said on Monday, weighing in on one of the biggest debates in modern central banking.
Argentina unveils 'emergency' austerity measures, grain export taxes to balance budget
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - President Mauricio Macri on Monday announced new taxes on exports in the world's third-biggest soy producer and steep cuts to government spending in an "emergency" bid to balance next year's budget as his center-right government aims to persuade the IMF to accelerate a $50 billion loan program.
Banks with over 10 branches to have ombudsman: RBI
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday asked all scheduled commercial banks with more than 10 branches to appoint an Internal Ombudsman (IO). It, however, excluded Regional Rural Banks (RRB) from the requirement.
SPPU removes chapter on builder DSK from commerce syllabus
The Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) has removed a chapter on city-based real estate developer D S Kulkarni, an accused in a multi-crore cheating case, from the commerce curriculum for under-graduate course. The chapter on Kulkarni titled "Leader in Real Estate Business" was part of "Yashogatha", a textbook written by Dr P C Shejwalkar for Marathi subject for the first year B.Com course, a senior varsity official said tonight. Kulkarni and his kin including wife Hemanti, son Shirish and daughter-in-law, besides senior officials of the DSKDL Group, are in jail in connection with the cheating case. In view of the present cheating case, some political parties and organisations had approached the varsity to exclude the chapter from the curriculum. "A review committee was set up and as per its report, the varsity has decided to exclude the chapter on Kulkarni from its curriculum of first year B.Com. The chapter will not be taught to the students from this academic year .
GMR Infra divests stake in four Indonesian firms
GMR Infrastructure said Monday it has divested entire stake in four Indonesian coal mining entities through its step down subsidiaries. "...PTBSL Group entities have ceased to be subsidiaries of the company," GMR Infrastructure said in a filing today. The company had announced in May 2017 regarding signing of conditional share and mandatorily convertible bonds purchase agreement by the step down subsidiaries of the company, GMR Infrastructure (Overseas) Limited and GMR Energy (Netherlands) B.V., for divestment of their entire stake in the 4 Indonesian entities, PT Barasentosa Lestari, PT Duta Sarana Internusa, PT Dwikarya Sejati Utama and PT UNSOCO -- together PTBSL Group Entities, to PT Golden Energy Mines Tbk. Shares of GMR Infrastructure closed at Rs 20.25 a unit on the BSE, down by 4.03 per cent from previous close.
My views on GDP's decline were fact-based: Rajiv Kumar
Discussion is on policies, not people, said NITI Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar on Monday, clarifying his views on the GDP decline that took place in six successive quarters, starting from the last quarter 2015-16.Taking to Twitter, Kumar said, "My views on GDP's decline being unrelated to solely demonetisation and having begun way before with stricter norms of NPA by RBI under Mr Rajan R fact-based and self-explanatory but some misleading headlines have coerced me to reiterate that the discussion is on policies not people.""GDP growth peaked at 9.2 percent in Jan- Mar 2016 but declined successively for 6 quarters. NPAs rose exponentially to 10.5 lakh crore for loan's given out during 2010/11-13/14 to rise and commercial banks virtually stopped lending to industry. Medium and small industry was particularly hit," he added.Earlier in the day, Kumar said that economic growth in six quarters starting from the last quarter of 2015-16 slowed down due to rise in Non-Performing Assets ...
ECB's stimulus purchases dwindle to all-time low in August
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank's debt purchases in August under its stimulus programme were the lowest since the scheme began amid light summer volumes on financial markets, data showed on Monday.
British MPs question financial aid to India
Some of Britain's MPs from the ruling Conservative party on Monday questioned the UK government's financial assistance programme for India, which will involve 52 million pounds for 2018-19 and 46 million pounds for 2019-20. A few weeks after the government's Department for International Development (DfID) released its "India Profile" for the coming years in July, Tory MP David Davies said India did not "want or need" UK aid and that "in effect we are sponsoring an Indian moon launch". In reference to India's 95.4 million-pound "splurge" on lunar probe Chandrayaan-2, which is expected to launch later this year, other Tory MPs also attacked the financial assistance ear-marked for India. "Here we are spending money in a country that has not only got its own space programme but is developing its own overseas aid programme. To be honest, the government needs looking at if it thinks that is an appropriate way of spending taxpayers' money," Tory MP Phillip Davies told 'Daily Express', a ...
GTL Infrastructure moves HC against action under Bankruptcy Code
Chennai-based telecom tower company GTL Infrastructure, which owes over Rs 4,000 crore as loans to a consortium of banks led by Union Bank of India, has approached the Madras High Court challenging the action initiated against it under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. GTL Infra, after Chennai Network Infrastructure (CNIL) was merged with it, had a debt of Rs 13,318 crore, which stood at Rs 10,000 crore in April 2017. After a strategic debit restructuring (SDR), the debt was reduced to Rs 4,841 crore. Subsequently, the banks discontinued the restructuring scheme and downgraded the companies account as a 'Non-Performing Asset' (NPA). A part of the loan was then converted as equity of the company to be sold to an Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC). According to the petitioner, in February, Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company (EARC) jointly with the Bank of Merrill Lynch offered an initial bid of Rs 2,000 crore on a full cash basis against the outstanding dues of all the lenders ...
Bring petrol, diesel under GST immediately: Chidambaram
As petrol and diesel prices hit new highs on Monday, former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said the Centre and states must act together to bring petrol and diesel under GST immediately.
NPAs through phone calls generated during NDA rule: Congress
Congress on Monday said Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) through phone calls were generated during NDA rule as it increased from 6.4 per cent to 9.4 per cent in MSME sector in the past three years.
London-listed Vedanta Resources to go private on October 1
Mining major Vedanta Resources' Chairman Anil Agarwal will take the London-listed company private on October 1, Agarwal's family trust announced on Monday.
Majority of people are not comfortable borrowing money from relatives: Study
Only one in three people are comfortable borrowing money from close relatives, while rest depend on either formal or informal sources for their needs, as per a study done by consumer finance firm Home Credit. As a first choice to borrow money from, 45 per cent in Delhi prefer parents whereas 39 per cent prefer their friends in the financial capital Mumbai, it said. People in Delhi borrow more for marriage (36 per cent) and investment in business (33 per cent) from family and friends, whereas people in Mumbai borrow more for asset purchase-consumer electronics (31 per cent), household expenses (30 per cent) and travel (23 per cent), it said. Overall, most people want to pay back the loan in monthly installments but 38% of people in Delhi want to pay back the entire loan amount together, it said.
Railway Board chairman visits Chakradharpur division of SER
Railway Board chairman Ashwani Lohani Monday visited Chakradharpur division of South Eastern Railway to oversee steps taken for capacity enhancement, a SER spokesman said here. Lohani held a meeting with senior SER officers to discuss steps taken for capacity enhancement of Chakradharpur division, which is a major loading area of coal and iron from the mines situated there, for the railway. During his visit, the Railway Board chairman inspected Noamundi loading siding and overviewed the rapid loading system, the spokesman said. Lohani also met a host of gangmen at Noamundi and distributed safety kits, including raincoats, helmets, shoes etc, to them. He visited Dangoaposi, Chaibasa and Chakradharpur stations and met with every segment of staff, who shared their experience and facilities and amenities provided to them, the spokesman said. He was apprised about the highest freight loading during the month of August when SER carried 13 million tonnes of freight against ...