MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Benchmark domestic stocks today lost around 0.9 percent amid negative global cues. The Sensex at Bombay Stock Exchange declined 335 points, or 0.88 percent to close at 37,736. Similarly, Nifty at National Stock Exchange fell 101 points, or 0.9 percent, to settle at 11,102.
 
In the broader market at BSE, the Mid-cap and Small-cap outperformed the Sensex. Mid-cap closed 0.38 percent down and Small-cap slipped 0.43 percent.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that there’s a huge opportunity to enable small businesses and individuals in India to buy and sell things through its messaging platform WhatsApp.

“We want to enable that,” said Zuckerberg, during a Q2 earnings call. “That starts with enabling payments.”

He said a big part of the partnership that Facebook has with telecom network Jio will be to wire up and get thousands of small businesses across India on-boarded onto WhatsApp, to do commerce in India. India is the biggest market for WhatsApp, with more than 400 million users, according to industry sources.

“We’re really excited about the opportunity there (India),” said Zuckerberg. “And once we prove that out with Jio in India, we’re planning on expanding it to more folks in India and to other countries as well. But, there’s no doubt that India is a huge opportunity.”

Jio Platforms, the digital arm of Reliance Industries (RIL) and which includes Jio and e-commerce venture JioMart, has raised $20 billion in three months from investors such as Facebook, Google, Silver Lake and KKR. This includes $5.7 billion invested by Facebook in April.

This month JioMart, Reliance Retail’s beta online consumer grocery platform, debuted its JioMart app on Google Play Store and Apple’s iOS App Store.

JioMart is taking on rivals such as Walmart-backed Flipkart and Amazon which are also rapidly bringing kiranas and local shops onto their platforms. Only 7 per cent of the $1.2-trillion retail market is online, and these players are aggressively eyeing the remaining 93 per cent.

During the earnings call, Zuckerberg said India is the largest country by the size of the community that the company is already serving. He said India should be one of the fastest-growing business opportunities as well to help businesses grow there, and “we’re very excited about that.”

When asked to comment on the efforts with WhatsApp Pay in India and Brazil, Zuckerberg said that the company is working with regulators in these countries.

“We're optimistic that we’ll be able to move forward. Although it’s taking longer than we would ideally like,” said Zuckerberg.

This month, Abhijit Bose, WhatsApp India head, announced plans to foray into lending, micro-insurance and pension products.

Facebook’s rival Google is also foraying into the digital lending space in India which is set to become a $1 trillion opportunity in the next five years, according to the sources. Its digital payments app Google Pay is forming strategic partnerships with fintech firms to offer credit to the consumers, signalling a larger interest to tap the financial services market in the country.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Reserve Bank of India is likely to leave repo rate unchanged in the upcoming policy review meeting and the Monetary Policy Committee may look for "unconventional policy measures" to ensure financial stability, says a report.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), headed by the RBI Governor, is scheduled to meet for three days beginning August 4 and will announce its decision on August 6.

"We believe an August rate cut is unlikely. We believe that the MPC could now well debate what further unconventional policy measures could be resorted to in the current circumstances to ensure financial stability is continued to be addressed," an SBI research report- Ecowrap said.
 
"This has happened because of a proactive RBI using liquidity among others as a tool to serve its policy objective," the report said.

To reduce the cost of funds and rigidity in deposit structure of Indian banks (both public and private) have lowered the savings bank deposits rate, which has around 40 per cent weight in the deposits basket.

This has helped banks to reduce their one-year marginal cost of fund-based lending rate (MCLR) by 55 bps during March to May 2020, it said.

The report states that people's preferences of financial assets during lockdown and in subsequent months will give a fillip to the financial savings in the country.

"We expect a jump in financial savings in FY21, also as a result of the precautionary motive," it added.

The supply side constraints due to the lockdown have led to a spike in CPI inflation to 7.2 per cent in April, but eased marginally to 6.1 per cent in June, it said adding that the real returns for savers have turned negative.

"If we look the CPI inflation adjusted deposit rate (real interest rate), it has turned negative to () 0.8 per cent in December 2019, when inflation touched 7.4 per cent and deposits rate 6.6 per cent and thereafter continued in the negative zone due to the uptick in inflation and downward interest rate scenario," the report said.

The report expects that inflation will remain at elevated levels for the next few months so the real interest rate will continue to be in the negative zone.

"We believe in the current scenario, this will be appropriate for financial markets as a negative real rate is unlikely to hurt household financial savings given the uncertainty surrounding pandemic," it stated.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: The BSE Sensex on Thursday bounced back by 218 points at 38,289.42 as buying was seen in Technology, IT, Telecom and Health Care stocks. The Nifty of National Stock Exchange rose by 60.20 points to 11,263.05. 

The sectoral indices include IT, Telecom and Technology stocks lifted the market. The Mid Cap moved up by 0.31 per cent and Small Cap by 0.45 per cent. In 30 scrips,21 advanced while nine declined. The gainers were TCS by 2.57 per cent to Rs 2333.45, HCL Technologies by 2.43 per cent to Rs 710.80, Asian Paints by 1.99 per cent to Rs 1772 and Tech Mahindra by 1.49 per cent to Rs 685.95.

The losers were Indusind Bank by 2.14 per cent to Rs 539, Sun Pharma by 0.73 per cent to Rs 489.40, Powergrid by 0.72 per cent to Rs 180.50 and Kotak Bank by 0.73 per cent to Rs 1379.55. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Gold prices jumped on Tuesday to Rs 52,700 from Rs 52,450 per 10 gram, while silver climbed to Rs 66,050 from Rs 66,000 per kilogram, according to Good Returns website.

Gold jewellery prices vary across India, the second-largest consumer of the metal, due to excise duty, state taxes, and making charges.

In New Delhi, the price of 22-carat gold rose to Rs 51,500 per 10 gram, and in Chennai to Rs 50,740. In Mumbai, the rate was Rs 51,400, according to the Good Returns website. The price of 24-carat gold prices in Chennai was at Rs 55,310.

On MCX, August gold futures climbed 1.13 per cent to Rs 53,187 per 10 gram. Silver September futures jumped to Rs 65,354 per kilogram. MCX has decided to accept gold and silver bars refined at domestic refineries for deliveries, subject to final regulatory approval.

MCX received the approval of Sebi for the launch of Gold Mini options with Gold Mini (100 grams) bar as underlying, MCX said in a statement.

Analysts are now expecting high volatility in gold, saying the near-term risk of profit-booking is high, even as fundamentals remain strong. Gold, on Tuesday, too, had witnessed massive swings in the international market — it first surged as high as $1,974 an ounce, then declined as low as $1,900 before closing at $1,944.

Metal Focus report stated: “While the price outlook remains constructive for gold, we caution that positioning feels stretched. This is evidenced by a significant rise in trading volumes across key commodity exchanges in recent days. The wild volatility witnessed on Wednesday also supports our view. Should the dollar slide show a temporary pause or even reverses, further profit-taking (in precious metals) appears likely.”

In the international market, gold was trading flat at USD 1,958.30 per ounce, while silver also depicted muted trend and was quoting at USD 24.27 per ounce.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Union Government has extended the deadline for filing income tax returns for 2018-19 fiscal by two months till 30th of September.

In a tweet, the Income Tax Department said, in view of the constraints due to the COVID pandemic and to further ease compliances for taxpayers, it extended the due date for filing of Income Tax Returns  from 31st of July 31 to 30th of September 30. 
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Domestic equity benchmark Sensex jumped over 100 points in opening session on Wednesday tracking positive cues from Asian peers.

The BSE Sensex was trading 114.99 points or 0.30 per cent higher at 38,607.94; while the NSE Nifty was up 32.45 points or 0.29 per cent at 11,333.

In the previous session, the 30-share Sensex had settled at 38,492.95, up 558.22 points or 1.47 per cent, and the Nifty climbed 168.75 points or 1.52 per cent to end at 11,300.55.

Exchange data showed that foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 245.95 crore on a net basis on Tuesday.

IndusInd Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 4 per cent, followed by UltraTech Cement, Tata Steel, Sun Pharma, L&T and ICICI Bank.

On the other hand, Infosys, HCL Tech, Nestle India, M&M, Reliance Industries and Tech Mahindra were among the laggards.

According to traders, domestic stocks opened on a positive note tracking global equities ahead of US Federal Reserve's policy outcome, scheduled to be announced later in the day.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul were also trading higher, while Tokyo was in red.

Stock exchanges on Wall Street ended on a negative note in overnight trade.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.11 per cent higher at USD 43.66 per barrel.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: At least 88 per cent of the Indian workers prefer to have the flexibility of working from home, (WFH), while 69 per cent believe their productivity has increased while working remotely, a new survey revealed on Wednesday.

The survey conducted by expense, travel and invoice management solutions provider SAP Concur, also shows that merely 11 per cent of Indian organisations have embraced end-to-end digital finance and administrative processes.

Across India, 36 per cent of mid-large sized companies are still using manual processes for submitting business expenses, the study said.

According to the survey, manual processes in expense management and the resulting inefficiencies may be causing India estimated productivity losses of $2.25 billion per year.

"Bringing in digital transformation for expense claims or invoice processing can have a huge multiplier effect on business and cost control and at the same time provide the operational agility needed for business continuity," Mankiran Chowhan, Managing Director-Indian Subcontinent, SAP Concur, said in a statement.

The study also found that current expense management systems' support for modern payment methods is inadequate.

According to the data, more than a third (39 per cent) of respondents said they want their expense management software to integrate with external apps to enable added functionality like reimbursement of payments made through super apps (umbrella apps containing other apps).

While 76 per cent employees in India said their organisations provide subsidies or completely pay for a mobile plan, broadband internet and IT peripherals, 22 per cent Indian employees want their organisations to pay for all expenses needed for a productive working environment at home, the report said.

The survey also revealed that 79 per cent of Indian employees strongly link their overall finance and administrative experience and their overall satisfaction of working for their organisations.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Government has banned 47 more Chinese apps. Earlier, it had  banned 59 China-based apps on the grounds of national security and data privacy.

Official sources said these 47 apps are clones of the previously banned Chinese apps. Last month, the government had banned Chinese apps including TikTok Lite and Helo Lite.

The order said, "Any bidder from countries sharing a land border with India will be eligible to bid in any procurement whether of goods, services (including consultancy services and non-consultancy services) or works (including turnkey projects) only if the bidder is registered with the Competent Authority."

The Competent Authority for registration will be the Registration Committee constituted by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). Political and security clearance from the Union Ministries of External and Home Affairs, respectively, will be mandatory.

India had on June 29 banned 59 Chinese apps, including the widely popular TikTok app, after a violent face-off at the Line Of Actual Contol (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh in which 20 Indian soldiers died. Chinese forces also suffered casualties but haven't come out with an official number yet.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Equity gauges Sensex and Nifty started the session with marginal gains on Monday, tracking positive Asian shares.

In opening deals, BSE Sensex was trading 54.76 points or 0.14 per cent higher at 38,183.66; while Nifty was up 9.40 points or 0.84 per cent at 11,203.55.

Asian shares were trading mostly higher in afternoon trade on Monday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.41 per cent lower at USD 43.24 per barrel.

On Friday, the Sensex had settled 11.57 points, or 0.03 per cent, lower at 38,128.90; and the Nifty had ended 21.30 points, or 0.19 per cent, down at 11,194.15.

On weekly basis, the Sensex gained 1,108.76 points or 2.99 per cent, while the Nifty jumped 292.45 points or 2.68 per cent.

Exchange data showed that foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 409.88 crore on a net basis on Friday.

Growing tensions between the US and China largely led to subdued sentiment in financial markets globally in recent weeks.

Global stocks had lost steam last week tracking growing geopolitical tensions.

Meanwhile, the number of cases around the world linked to COVID-19 has crossed 1.6 crore and the deaths are over 6.5 lakh.

In India, the death toll due to the disease has surpassed 32,000-mark and the number of infections topped 14 lakh.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Precious metals Gold and Silver started the week with strong gains as their futures on the Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX) soared to more gains. August gold future rose by Rs 800 pricing at Rs 51,833 per 10 gram, while silver gained Rs 3,400 and was being traded at Rs 64,617 per kg.

Last week, both gold and silver prices had jumped by 4% and 15%, respectively. Gold at present is trading at a nine-year high, while silver is at four-year high. Market experts say investors are looking for safe-haven assets in the time of Covid and, therefore, the two metals are turning out to be most promising. Besides, rising US-China tension is also contributing to the price hike.

Nish Bhatt, CEO of Millwood Kane International an investment consulting firm, attributes the gain for yellow metal to a weak US Dollar, EU leaders approving a recovery plan worth 750 billion euros and an expectation of US Fed keeping interest rates near record low level till the end of 2022. He adds that fall in value of other asset class and global uncertainties have also helped Gold climb record high levels.

Notably, Indian consumers prefer to invest in gold and silver jewellery generally. The prices for both the metals vary across the country due to excise duty, state taxes and making charges. So experts suggest that before you buy your physical gold in the form of jewellery, bars or coins, please ensure the best prices are being offered.

The country currently has several other alternatives to gold jewellery. These are ETF (exchange traded fund), Gold fund of Fund, Gold mining Stocks, equity-based gold funds, gold bars and coins, to name a few. Paper gold which is trading through paper is also turning out to be a better option as physical gold requires several provisions while selling gold i.e. requirement of PAN card if the gold jewellery transaction is over Rs 50,000. Besides, a wealth tax is imposed on investments over Rs 30 lakh and the tax amount is 1% of the total investment. 20% capital tax is also imposed on physical gold and Gold ETF.

Bhatt adds that gold is traditionally used as a hedge against inflation and global economies are considering further stimulus to boost growth which may fuel inflation further. “We expect precious metals to trade firm until the number of global cases of Covid 19 is under control or a vaccine is introduced in the market which is still a few months away.”
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Reserve Bank of India releases Financial Stability Report. Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das says, "the country's financial system is sound but the need of the hour is to remain extremely watchful and focussed."

Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das has asked banks to desist from extreme risk aversion during COVID-19 pandemic. In his foreword to the bi-annual Financial Stability Report, Das said, the top priority right now for banks and financial intermediaries should be for augmenting capital levels and to improve resilience.

Das said, the country's financial system is sound but the need of the hour is to remain extremely watchful and focussed. He said governments, central banks and other public agencies across countries have made coordinated efforts to alleviate financial stress and build confidence among businesses, investors and consumers.

While maintaining that outlook for the financial system and markets remains highly uncertain, the Governor, however, added that signs of gradual recovery from the nationwide lockdown are visible.

Making it clear that there is no room for complacency on cyber security, Das said, IT platforms that have worked well in times of social distancing need to consolidate the gains in the post-pandemic period.

Meanwhile, RBI’s financial stability report has said that gross non-performing assets of banks may jump from 8.5 per cent in March 2020 to 12.5 per cent by March 2021 under the baseline scenario.

The report underlines that, a combination of fiscal, monetary and regulatory interventions in response to COVID-19,  has ensured normal functioning of financial markets. It adds that simmering global geopolitical tensions and economic losses on account of the pandemic are major downside risks to global economic prospects.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: India's foreign exchange reserves surged by 1.275 billion dollars to reach a fresh life-time high of 517.637 billion dollars in the week ended 17th July, 2020. 

Foreign currency assets, a major part of the overall reserves, increased by 1.245 billion dollars to 476.880 billion dollars. In the previous week, the reserves had swelled by 3.108 billion dollars to end at 516.362 billion dollars. Gold reserves also went up by 13 million dollars to end at 34.743 billion dollars. India's special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund rose by 2 million dollars to reach 1.455 billion dollars, while the country's reserve position also increased by 15 million dollars to 4.560 billion dollars.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Department of Posts has extended all small savings schemes upto the branch post office level. The decision aims to empower rural India by bringing all Post Office Savings schemes to the doorstep of the people living in rural areas.

The new order has allowed Branch Post Offices to offer facilities of Public Provident Fund, Monthly Income Scheme, National Savings Certificate, Kisan Vikas Patra and Senior Citizen Savings Schemes. People will now be able to deposit their savings into these popular schemes through the post office in their village itself.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: India Post, here, has launched a special kind of envelope to carry Rakhis to deliver them to their destinations in minimum time period. 

The envelope, a non-tear, water-resistant self-adhesive envelope with interplay of vivid colors throughout with a price of Rs 10 and to be available in all the post offices from Saturday, July 25th

'These envelopes bearing distinctive characteristics are an innovative attempt of India Post, Mumbai, to keep the spirit of love and festivity unabated, even at times of crisis and to strengthen the emotions of love and brotherhood amongst people", Postmaster General India Swati Pandey said.

She further said that all mails of Raksha Bandhan will be treated as first class mail, helping them reach their destination before/on the day of the occasion, by latest, at the cost of an ordinary mail. The colourful design of the envelopes will facilitate its easy identification and aid quicker transmission. “Even during this critical period of partial lockdowns and challenges, India Post will ensure that all mails related to Raksha Bandhan reach their destinations”, the Post Master General added.

Similar special envelopes have been introduced in other postal circles as well.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Equity benchmark Sensex plunged over 300 pts in early trade on Friday tracking losses in financial stocks amid global equity selloff.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 307.31 points, or 0.81 per cent, lower at 37,833.16.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty declined 83.10 points, or 0.74 per cent, to 11,132.35.

HDFC was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, shedding around 2 per cent, followed by Axis Bank, Asian Paints, SBI, ICICI Bank, Kotak Bank, IndusInd Bank and HDFC Bank.

On the other hand, Sun Pharma, Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra and Infosys were among the gainers.

In the previous session, the BSE barometer finished 268.95 points, or 0.71 per cent, higher at 38,140.47, and the Nifty advanced 82.85 points, or 0.74 per cent, to close at 11,215.45.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market on Thursday, purchasing equities worth Rs 1,740.50 crore, provisional exchange data showed.

According to traders, domestic market turned weak as negative news flow from the US spurred concerns over global economic recovery.

The US got another dose of bad economic news on Thursday as the number of laid-off workers seeking jobless benefits rose last week for the first time since late March, intensifying concerns that the resurgent coronavirus is stalling or even reversing the economic recovery.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo were trading with significant losses.

Stock exchanges on Wall Street too ended on a negative note in overnight session.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.39 per cent to USD 43.48 per barrel.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: India's concerted efforts to strengthen the business climate and encourage investment in trade have helped attract investment, but the country needs further economic reforms to ensure sustainable and more inclusive growth, according to the IMF.

The remarks by International Monetary Fund's Chief Spokesperson Gerry Rice on Thursday came in response to a question on the recent FDI announcements made by global giants like Facebook and Google in India.

In recent weeks, several international companies have pledged USD 20 billion FDI in India, and a whopping USD 40 billion this year so far.

"Concerted efforts have been made in recent years, in India, to strengthen the business climate and encourage investment in trade, and these have helped to attract investment and improve the current account financing mix and also help to contain external vulnerabilities,” Rice told reporters at a news conference here.

“Relevant reforms have included the new bankruptcy code, the National Goods and Services Tax. These have helped to gain in India's doing business ranking, moving up rapidly in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index, up to 63 in 2020, from 100 in 2018, significant progress there, indeed,” Rice said.

"Nonetheless, further economic reforms, including labour, product mixed land, and others, and additional infrastructure investment are necessary, in our view, to attract even more investment, and to ensure sustainable and more inclusive growth in India,” he said in response to the question.

Recently, the IMF in its update to the World Economic Outlook projected India’s growth rate at -4.5 per cent, and then six per cent recovery, for the fiscal year 2020-21 and fiscal year 2020-22, respectively, he said.

“Our projection for fiscal year ’20-2021 was revised down, as was the case for most countries driven by the impact of the pandemic,” Rice said.

“On balance, I think we would say the risks to the economic outlook remain," he said.

Despite gradual recovery in activities and a solid agricultural performance, the downside risks remain.

"The main downside risk is, of course, the continued spread of the pandemic,” he noted, referring to the coronavirus pandemic.

"Further outbreaks could require additional lockdowns, and concerns about the virus could also dampen consumer confidence and delay the economic recovery. Again, this is the case not just in India, but in many countries, Rice said.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: The indian stock market on Thursday jumped by 268.95 pts to close high at 38,140.47 following gains in Energy, Health Care, Auto, Oil and Gas and Realty stocks.

The nifty of national stock exchange too moved up by 82.85 pts to 11,215.45. The Nifty recorded days high and low at 11,239.80 and 11,103.15 pts respectively. 

Sliding by 58 pts on Wednesday, the BSE sensex opened on a weak note at 37,814.92 fell by 57 pts, during the day it lost nearly 133 pts to 37,738.59 days low. Till the end of the session, it erased earlier losses, and rallied nearly 354 pts to 38,225.93 days high before closing at 38,140.47, advancing by 268.95 pts from its previous close.

The sectoral indices like Energy, Health Care, Auto, Oil and Gas and Realty lifted the market. In scrips, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, SBI, Tech Mahindra and ITC moved up while selling in Axis Bank, Hind Unilever, Infosys, TCS and L & T capped from further gain s, broker informed.

Reliance market capitalisation (m-cap), including the partly paid shares, crossed the Rs 13.5trillion mark after both the stocks hit their respective new highs on the BSE on Thursday. RIL shares closed at Rs 2,060.65 apiece on the BSE. The stock hit an all-time high of Rs 2,079 in the intra-day deals.

The Mid Cap rose by 0.98 pc and Small Cap by 0.61 pc. In 30 scrips, 21 advanced, 8 declined and one remained unchanged. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Airline major SpiceJet has been allowed to operate flights between India and US.

Accordingly, the Centre has designated the airline as an Indian scheduled carrier to operate between India and the US.

The designation allows for the international expansion of the airline. However, commence dates or destinations have not been revealed.

"It gives me immense pleasure to share that SpiceJet has been designated as an Indian scheduled carrier to operate between India and the US," said Ajay Singh, Chairman & Managing Director, SpiceJet on Thursday.

"This designation would help us plan for our international expansion in a much better and calibrated manner. I have always maintained that there is an opportunity in every adversity and the present crisis situation has seen SpiceJet rise to the occasion and play a pivotal role."

According to Singh, from operating over 4,300 cargo flights to carrying over 24,000 tonnes of cargo to operating over 400 charter flights to bring back thousands of stranded Indian nationals back home, SpiceJet has worked non-stop during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Presently, only Air India operates flights between India and the US.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: People might have to take multiple doses of a potential Covid-19 vaccine to protect themselves from the disease, said Microsoft Co-founder Bill Gates.

The billionaire philanthropist told CBS News on Wednesday that "none of the vaccines at this point appear like they'll work with a single dose."

Over 150 Covid-19 vaccines are currently at different stages of development, with a few now advancing to the late stage clinical trial.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated $300 million towards the global effort to beat Covid-19.

In a blog post, Gates had earlier said that developing a safe and effective vaccine is an urgent need to combat the pandemic.

"We need to make billions of doses, we need to get them out to every part of the world, and we need all of this to happen as quickly as possible," he wrote.

The world will need to manufacture and distribute at least seven billion doses of the vaccine -- or possibly 14 billion, if it is a multi-dose vaccine - to beat the pandemic, he said.

This is because in order to stop the pandemic, the vaccine will have to be made available to almost every person, Gates said.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: The BSE Sensex on Wednesday slipped by 194.91 pts to 37,735.42 in opening session, as selling was seen in Auto, Capital Goods, IT and Finance stocks. The Nifty of National Stock Exchange too fell by 54.65 pts to 11,107.60.

Though, the Sensex opened higher by 248 pts to 38,178.07, it immediately went in red as selling pressure was seen in Auto, IT and Finance stocks. 

The Sensex registered intra days high and low at 38,199.27 and 37,731.34 pts respectively. The Nifty registered intra days high and low at 11,238.10 and 11,106.95 pts respectively. The Mid Cap declined by 0.27 pc and Small Cap by 0.43 pc. 

In 30 scrips, 10 advanced,19 declined while one remained unchanged. The losers were Hind Unilever by 2.29 pc to Rs 2266, Bajaj Finance by 2.64 pc to 3206, IndusInd Bank by 1.95 pc to Rs 513.20 and Maruti Suzuki by 6021.60.

The gainers were Axis Bank by 3.70 pc to Rs 462.70, Sun Pharma by 1.31 pc to Rs 483.50, ITC by 1.09 pc to Rs 194.35 and Powergrid by 0.86 pc to 175.10.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Gold futures touched newer heights on the the Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX) by crossing Rs 50,000 mark per 10 grams, rising more than 1 percent while silver prices climbed nearly 6 percent to trade at high of Rs 61280 per kg.

At 12.26 pm On the Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX), August gold contracts were trading 1.04 percent at Rs 50,040 per 10 gram. September futures for silver were trading 5.98 percent at Rs 60773 per kg. 

In the international market Gold jumped more than 1% on Wednesday to its highest in nearly nine years, driven by a weaker dollar and as expectations of more stimulus to resuscitate pandemic-hit economies lifted the metal`s appeal as an inflation-hedge.

Spot gold was up 0.9% at $1,857.86 per ounce by 0232 GMT, after hitting its highest since September 2011 at $1,865.35 earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures rose 0.8% to $1,858.20.

A Reuters poll showed the metal could push towards record highs over the next 18 months as the crisis encourages investors to hoard it as a hedge against possible turmoil in wider markets.

Silver soared again, rising 5% to $22.40 per ounce, its highest since October 2013.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Equity benchmark Sensex rallied over 500 points in early trade on Tuesday tracking heightened buying sentiment across the board amid strong cues from global markets as hopes of a COVID-19 vaccine boosted investor confidence.

After hitting a high of 37,923.38, the 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 462.77 points, or 1.24 per cent, higher at 37,881.76.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty rose 136.35 points, or 1.24 per cent, to 11,158.55.

ICICI Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying around 3 per cent, followed by Maruti, Kotak Bank, Axis Bank, Power Grid and HDFC Bank.

On the other hand, Bajaj Finserv and ITC were the laggards.

In the previous session, the BSE barometer ended at 37,418.99, up 398.85 points or 1.08 per cent, and the broader Nifty rose 120.50 points or 1.11 per cent to end at 11,022.20.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market on Monday, purchasing equities worth Rs 1,709.97 crore, provisional exchange data showed.

According to traders, domestic market participants tracked global stocks rally as hopes of a COVID-19 vaccine increased their risk appetite.

A coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford appears safe and induces a strong immune response within the body, scientists announced on Monday after the first phase of "promising" human trials against the deadly disease.

In India, AIIMS-Delhi also began recruiting volunteers for conducting human clinical trials of the indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine candidate Covaxin.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul were trading on a positive note.

Stock exchanges on Wall Street too ended with significant gains in overnight session.

The number of COVID-19 cases around the world linked to the disease has crossed 1.46 crore.

In India, the number of infections spiked to 11.55 lakh, according to the health ministry.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.18 per cent to USD 43.36 per barrel.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 came into force yesterday. Briefing the media about the new law through a video conference in New Delhi yesterday, Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said that this new Act will empower consumers and help them in protecting their rights through its various notified Rules and provisions.

He said the Act includes establishment of the Central Consumer Protection Authority, CCPA to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers. The CCPA will be empowered to conduct investigations into violations of consumer rights and institute complaints or prosecution, order recall of unsafe goods and services, order discontinuance of unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements, impose penalties on manufacturers or endorsers or publishers of misleading advertisements. Mr Paswan said, the rules for prevention of unfair trade practice by e-commerce platforms will also be covered under this Act. The gazette notification for establishment of the Central Consumer Protection Authority and rules for prevention of unfair trade practice in e-commerce are under publication.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty started on a positive note on Monday, driven by gains in financial and IT shares.

The BSE Sensex jumped 238.75 points or 0.64 per cent to trade at 37,258.89; and the NSE Nifty rose 79.15 points or 0.73 per cent to 10,980.85 in opening deals.

Financial and IT stocks primarily drove the rally on indices in early trade.

On the Sensex, the prominent gainers were HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, HCL Tech, Infosys and Axis Bank.

On Friday, the BSE Sensex had ended 548 points or 1.5 per cent higher at 37,020 and the NSE Nifty had gained 162 points or 1.5 per cent to close at 10,902.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) had bought equities worth Rs 697.08 crore on a net basis on Friday, exchange data showed.

Meanwhile, other Asian markets, barring Shanghai, were trading mostly lower.

Experts said that global markets will remain cautious amid spurt in the number of COVID-19 cases world over.

Oil prices dipped on Monday, weighed down by rising coronavirus infections that could derail a recovery in fuel demand.

Brent crude was down 0.56 per cent, at USD 42.88 a barrel.

The total number of coronaivrus cases in the country has surpassed 11 lakh and death toll has topped 27,000.

Globally, 14,633,412 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and 608,542 have died, data showed.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Income Tax Department is all set to start an e-Campaign on voluntary compliance of Income Tax for the convenience of the taxpayers from today. The 11-day campaign will focus on the assessees or taxpayers who are either non-filers or have discrepancies in their returns for the financial year 2018-19.

The objective of the e-campaign is to facilitate taxpayers to online validate their tax and financial transaction information available with the I-T Department and promote voluntary compliance, especially for the assessees for 2018-19 so that they do not need to get into notice and scrutiny process.

This e-campaign is being run for the benefit of the taxpayers. Under this e-campaign the Income Tax Department will send email and SMS to identified taxpayers to verify their financial transactions related information received by the I-T department from various sources such as Statement of Financial Transactions, Tax Deduction at Source, Tax Collection at Source and Foreign Remittances.

Data analysis has identified certain taxpayers with high value transactions who have not filed returns for Assessment Year 2019-20. In addition to the non-filers, another set of return filers have also been identified wherein the high value transactions do not appear to be in line with their Income Tax Return.

Under the e-campaign the taxpayers will be able to access details of their high value transaction related information on the designated portal. There would be no need to visit any Income Tax office, as the response has to be submitted online. The last date for filing as well as revising the Income Tax Return for Assessment Year 2019-20 is 31st of this month. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Unexpected rise in diesel prices despite slower demand has extended the gain for the transport fuel over petrol in Delhi.

With a 12 paise hike in diesel price in New Delhi on Monday while petrol prices remaining steady, the gap between the two auto fuels has further widened in the national capital. Last month, diesel prices overtook that of petrol in Delhi, in an unprecedented development.

Diesel was priced at Rs 81.64 per litre on Monday in the national capital, higher than the previous level of Rs 81.52 a litre. Petrol prices, however, remain unchanged at Rs 80.43 a litre, the same level as June 29 when its pump price rose marginally by 5 paise over previous days price.

With this, diesel is now over a rupee higher than petrol, overturning the advantage of running a vehicle on the fuel. With the price trends in diesel, it may soon catch up with petrol prices in other metros as well.

Along with the national capital, diesel prices marginally increased in other metro cities as well but there the price of transportation fuel is still between Rs 6-8 per litre lower than petrol.

Oil companies began daily revision of the two auto fuels from June 7 after keeping the price unchanged for 82 days during Covid-19 induced lockdown. Since then petrol and diesel prices have increased by Rs 9.5 and Rs 11.5 per litre respectively. Last week petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged for four days before diesel prices started increasing on Sunday and again on Monday.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Government of India (GoI) has sent a notice to the micro-blogging platform Twitter and sought details of the Indian accounts possibly impacted by the global hack that happened last week, the sources said on Saturday (July 18, 2020).

Sources said that the notice was sent to Twitter on Friday night in which the government sought answers from Twitter on how many Indian accounts were compromised during the global hack of last week. It also sought to know if Indians, who have been impacted, have been informed about the hack. 

The notice was issued by India's cybersecurity nodal agency CERT-In to Twitter asking the micro-blogging platform for full details of the recent global hack targeting high-profile users, as it sought complete information on the number of Indian users affected as well as the impact on data, the sources said.

The source said that CERT-In has also asked Twitter for information on the number of users from India who have visited the malicious tweets and links.

The government has also demanded information on vulnerability exploited by attackers and modus operandi of the attack and sought details of remedial actions taken by Twitter to mitigate the impact of the hacking incident.

Response from Twitter is still awaited in this regard.

Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) swung into action after reports that hackers gained access to Twitter's systems to hack accounts of many global corporate leaders, politicians, celebrities and businesses.

Twitter Inc said on Saturday (July 18) that hackers were able to download account information for up to eight accounts involved in the hack of its systems this week, but said none of them were verified accounts.

The company said the unidentified attackers targeted 130 accounts and were able to reset passwords to take control of 45 of them and tweet from those accounts. It said the attackers attempted to download data for 'up to eight' non-verified accounts.
 
Twitter said hackers were able to view personal information including email addresses and phone numbers of the 130 targeted accounts, but were unable to view previous account passwords.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]:  Equity benchmark Sensex rallied 548 points on Friday, buoyed by gains in index-heavyweights Reliance Industries, HDFC twins, ICICI Bank and HUL.

After trading on a positive note through the day, the 30-share BSE Sensex ended 548.46 points, or 1.50 per cent, higher at 37,020.14.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty surged 161.75 points, or 1.51 per cent, to close at 10,901.70.

ONGC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying 5.52 per cent, followed by Titan, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and Bajaj Finance.

On the other hand, TCS, Nestle India, Infosys, HCL Tech and Axis Bank were the laggards.

According to traders, stock-specific buying in key index majors drove the market during the session amid positive sentiment in most overseas markets.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul ended in the green, while Tokyo closed with losses.

In Europe, stock exchanges in Germany and the UK were trading with gains, while those in France witnessed losses in early deals.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.97 per cent to USD 42.95 per barrel.

In the forex market, the rupee appreciated 16 paise to close at 75.02 against the US dollar.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Income Tax Department has rolled out new Form 26AS with an aim to assist Tax payers in filing quick and correct Income Tax Return (ITR). The new form will carry some additional details on taxpayers financial transactions as specified in the Statement of Financial Transactions (SFTs) in various categories.
 
The additional details will facilitate voluntary compliance, tax accountability and ease of e-filing of returns. In a media statement, the Central Board of Direct Taxes has said that these SFTs will handhold the taxpayers while filing their ITR. It said, the new form will also calculate the correct tax liability based on these entries. The new Form 26AS is expected to bring in further transparency and accountability in the tax administration.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Railway Board Chairman VK Yadav has said that all capitals of North-Eastern states will be connected to the rail network by 2023.

He said, these are very important projects which topped railway's agenda during the last five years. He told media persons that work to connect capitals of Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Meghalaya is in progress. Mr Yadav said attempts to connect every part of Jammu and Kashmir to the railway are underway at full speed, and the Katra-Banihal rail link project is likely to be completed by December 2022.
 
He said this is a very difficult project and there are a lot of hardships in the last phase because it requires the construction of a large number of tunnels and bridges. He said work on the last stretch of 111 kilometers from Katra to Banihal is in progress and the project is targeted to be completed by December 2022.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The civil aviation ministry has set up a single-window clearance mechanism to expedite various investment proposals in the domestic aviation industry.

"MoCA (Ministry of Civil Aviation) has an Investment Clearance Cell (ICC) for prompt assistance and clearance," the ministry said in a tweet on Saturday.

The setting up of the ICC was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in 2020-2021 Union Budget in February this year, as per MoCA.

According to a ministry order of July 16, the link of which has been attached with the tweet, the cell was also set up following an order from theDepartment of Promotion of Industry and Trade (DPIT) on July 1 in this regard.

The 10-member ICC will be headed by Amber Dubey, joint secretary in the aviation ministry, according to the MoCA order.

The ICC has been mandated to serve as a single-window system for attracting investment and its terms of reference include accelerating investments, bringing projects to the Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS) which require special incentive, policy interventions, expeditious clearances and systematic references, among others, the MoCA order said.

The ICC will also identify projects and report to EGoS and maintain active contacts with investors and work with the states, duly adopting ways of on-boarding the states to make them a part of the institutional set-up, it said.

Besides, the ICC will also identify policy and regulatory issues that come in the way of investments and engage with potential investors to bring the proposal for consideration of EGoS, the order stated.

Of the rest nine members on board, five are from the aviation ministry, one each from Airports Authority of India and its cargo and logistics business subsidiary AIACLS, one from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and one to be co-opted by the chairman as per the requirements, it added.

The Indian aviation sector is hit severely by the coronavirus pandemic and economic downturn.

Ratings agency Icra expects India's GDP to contract by 9.5 per cent this fiscal on account of the localised lockdowns put in place by various state governments and rising cases of coronavirus infection.

India's COVID-19 cases surged to 10,38,716, while the death toll from the disease rose to 26,273 on Saturday, according to government data.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Benchmark domestic stocks today advanced more than one percent even as global cues were negative.

Sensex at Bombay Stock Exchange closed 420 points, or 1.16 percent, up at 36,472. Similarly, the Nifty at National Stock Exchange gained 122 points, or 1.15 percent, to settle at 10,740.

In broader market at BSE, the Mid-cap also added 0.71 percent while the Small-cap logged loss of 0.13 percent.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: As Twitter went through the worst-ever cyber attack on any social media platforms on Thursday, at least 367 users transferred around $1,20,000 (over Rs 90 lakh) to hackers in Bitcoins before the Twitter teams swung into action to stop the cryptocurrency scam that hit several top-notch public profiles.

According to the cybersecurity firm Kaspersky, the major scam flags the fact that we are living in the era when even people with computer skills might be lured into a scammers trap and even the most secure accounts can be hacked.

"In our estimates, within just two hours, at least 367 users have transferred around $1,20,000 in total to attackers. Neither a website/software is entirely immune to bugs nor is the human factor immune to mistakes. Therefore, any native platforms might be compromised," Dmitry Bestuzhev, Cybersecurity expert at Kaspersky, told IANS.

Twitter admitted it was a "coordinated social engineering attack by people who successfully targeted some of our employees with access to internal systems and tools".

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has also apologized.

"Tough day for us at Twitter. We all feel terrible this happened," Dorsey tweeted after the accounts of major public figures including US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Apple and Uber were simultaneously hacked by attackers to spread a cryptocurrency scam.

Arjun Vijay, Co-Founder and COO of Giottus Cryptocurrency Exchange, said such scams have happened in the past but never at this scale.

"It was a well-coordinated attack where multiple accounts got hacked at the same time, with the same tweets directing users to the same scam site," he said in a statement.

"The hacker had complete access to Twitter. He could post anything from any of the official accounts. But he chose to seek Bitcoins through false promises. People should be more careful," Vijay warned.

Paul Ducklin, Principal Research Scientist at cybersecurity firm Sophos said that if Musk, Gates, Apple, Biden or any well-known person or company wanted to hand out huge amounts of money on a whim, they wouldn't demand that you hand them money first.

"That's not a gift, it's a trick, and it's an obvious sign that the person's account has been hacked. If in doubt, leave it out!" he said.

Cryptocurrency transactions don't have the legal protections that you get with banks or payment card companies.

"There is no fraud reporting service or transaction cancellation in the world of cryptocurrency. Sending someone cryptocoins is like handing over banknotes to in an envelope - if they go to a crook, you will never see them again. If in doubt, don't send it out!" he added.

Some high-level employees at Twitter were targeted by Social Engineering campaigns to gain access to high profile accounts.

"If purely digital companies like Twitter can be breached through social engineering attacks, then other organizations and individuals are not safe either. Cybersecurity is everybody's responsibility and employees can be an organisation's best defence," Himanshu Dubey, Director, Quick Heal Security Labs, said.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Equity benchmark Sensex rallied 420 points on Thursday, led by stellar gains in Infosys, even as global markets faced selling pressure amid spiking coronavirus cases.

After a highly volatile session, the 30-share BSE Sensex settled 419.87 points, or 1.16 per cent, higher at 36,471.68.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty surged 121.75 points, or 1.15 per cent, to 10,739.95.

Infosys rallied around 10 per cent after the IT major posted a stronger-than-expected 12.4 per cent rise in the first quarter consolidated net profit to Rs 4,272 crore, helped by large deals, and said its FY21 revenue is likely to grow by up to 2 per cent.

M&M, Nestle India, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Bank, HCL Tech and Axis Bank were the other gainers.

On the other hand, Tech Mahindra, ITC, NPTC, PowerGrid, Titan and ONGC finished with losses.

According to traders, rally in IT stocks led by Infosys kept investor sentiment positive, but massive selloff in Chinese stocks and concerns over recovery amid rising COVID-19 cases induced volatility in the session.

Bourses in Shanghai plunged 4.50 per cent as investors seemed disappointed with the pace of economic recovery.

China's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 3.2 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2020, the country's National Bureau of Statistics said earlier in the day.

Following negative cues from Chinese equities, benchmarks in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul ended on a weak note.

Stock exchanges in Europe were also trading in the red in early deals.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.71 per cent to USD 43.48 per barrel.

In the forex market, the rupee settled 3 paise lower at 75.18 against the US dollar.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Despite some signs of recovery, the global economy faces continued challenges, including the possibility of a second wave of Covid-19, and governments should keep their support programs in place, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva has said.

Activity "has started to gradually strengthen ... But we are not out of the woods yet", Ms Georgieva said in a message to G20 finance ministers ahead of their weekend meeting in Saudi Arabia.

The Washington-based crisis lender late last month downgraded its growth forecasts.

It now expects global GDP to fall by 4.9% this year due to the deeper contraction during lockdowns than previously anticipated, and only a "tepid recovery is expected for next year".

The $11 trillion in stimulus provided by the G20 nations helped to prevent a worse outcome, but "these safety nets must be maintained as needed and, in some cases, expanded", Ms Georgieva urged in a blog post.

She highlighted measures including paid sick leave for low-income families and access to health care and unemployment insurance.

But the recovery faces risks, she said, including the possibility of "a second major global wave of the disease could lead to further disruptions".

While she acknowledged that the "substantial and rising debt levels are a serious concern," Ms Georgieva said "at this stage in the crisis, however, the costs of premature withdrawal are greater than continued support where it is needed".

Many countries have moved to reopen, so, "clearly, we have entered a new phase of the crisis," she said in a blog post, adding it will require "further policy agility and action to secure a durable and shared recovery".

Many jobs that have been lost amid the pandemic may never come back, so workers will need support and training to move into new sectors.

"The bottom line is that the pandemic is likely to increase poverty and inequality", she said, but noted that policymakers have "a once-in-a-century shot" at building a better, greener and more equitable world.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Even though both exports and imports were deep in the red due to the Covid-19 pandemic, official data showed that India emerged as a net exporter in June.
 
As per the data, the country recorded a trade surplus of USD0.79 billion in June as against a deficit of USD15.28 billion during the like period of 2019.

"This is the first time in the last decade that India is a net exporter," the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement.

Accordingly, the contraction in India's exports eased in June, as merchandise exports stood at USD21.91 billion.

The contraction caused by Covid-19 pandemic narrowed down to (-) 12.41 per cent in June on a year-on-year basis from a (-) 36 per cent fall reported in May.

On a YoY basis, the country's exports fell during the month under review to USD21.91 billion from USD25.01 billion reported for the corresponding period of the previous year.

In terms of sequential movement, the country's merchandise exports in May stood at USD10.36 billion.

"Major commodity groups which have recorded positive growth during June 2020 vis-a-vis June 2019 are iron ore, oil seeds, rice, oil meal, spices, other cereals, organic and inorganic chemicals, cereals preparations and miscellaneous processed items, fruits and vegetables, drugs and pharmaceuticals, tobacco and coffee," the statement said.

According to the data, the non-petroleum and non-gems and jewellery exports in June were USD18.48 billion, as compared to USD19.15 billion in June 2019, exhibiting a negative growth of (-) 3.51 per cent.

However, the country's imports declined at a far higher rate than exports in June.

India's June imports declined by (-) 47.59 per cent to USD21.11 billion from USD40.29 billion reported for the corresponding month of 2019.

In May, imports had declined by 51.05 per cent to USD22.20 billion from USD45.35 billion reported for the corresponding month of 2019.

"Oil imports in June were USD4.93 billion which was 55.29 per cent lower in dollar terms compared to USD11.03 billion in June 2019," the statement said.

"Non-oil imports in June 2020 were estimated at USD16.18 billion which was 44.69 per cent lower in dollar terms compared to USD29.26 billion in June 2019," it added.

Besides, the non-oil and non-gold imports were USD15.57 billion in June, recording a negative growth of (-) 41.37 per cent, as compared to non-oil and non-gold imports of USD26.57 billion in June 2019.

Trade Promotion Council of India's Chairman Mohit Singla said "The next month's exports performance will be even better as the industry is on the uphill and growth trajectory.

"As the forward and backward linkages of economic activity are gradually repairing, the supply shock is fading and thus making produce readily available to meet demand."

Similarly, EEPC India Chairman Mr Mahesh Desai "As more and more ma rkets open up, we expect further uptick in the exports in the coming months. However, the fiscal 2020-21 appears to be full of challenges and India wou ld surely need an out-of-box strategy to face the global downturn, owing to u nprecedented pandemic.

"The manufacturing needs to be supported in further opening up of operations both by the Centre and the states."

ICRA's Principal Economist Aditi Nayar said the underlying dynamics o f this trade surplus remain unpalatable, given the implications for the strength of domestic demand.

"The contraction in merchandise imports remained widespread in June, with few categories such as medicinal and pharmaceutical products, vegetable oils and pulses warding off a de-growth in that month, suggesting that domestic demand remained constrained even during the unlock phase," Nayar said.

"The imports of gold were subdued in Q1 FY2021, with demand restrained by both elevated prices as well as economic uncertainty amid the Covid-19 crisis. Demand for gold is unlikely to revive meaningfully before the festive and marriage season, in our view," Nayar added.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Richest Indian Mukesh Ambani on Wednesday announced his group's digital arm Jio developing a homegrown 5G telecom solution.

"Jio has designed and developed a complete 5G solution from scratch. It will be ready for trials as soon as 5G spectrum is available and can be ready for field deployment next year," Ambani said at Reliance Industries' annual general meeting.

Jio's global-scale 4G and fibre network is powered by several core software technologies and components. "It is this capability and know-how that positions Jio on the cutting edge of another exciting frontier – 5G," he said.

Jio Platforms, with over 20 startup partners, has built world-class capabilities in technologies such as 4G, 5G, Cloud computing, Devices and OS, Big Data, AI, AR/VR, Blockchain, Natural Language Understanding and Computer Vision, he said.

"Using these technologies, we can create compelling solutions across multiple industry verticals like media, financial services, new commerce, education, healthcare, agriculture, smart cities, smart manufacturing & smart mobility," he said, adding Jio Platforms is conceived with vision of developing original, captive intellectual property, using which we can demonstrate transformative power of technology across multiple ecosystems – first in India, and then rest of world.

In the next three years, Jio will connect half a billion mobile customers, a billion smart sensors and 50 million home and business establishments, Ambani said.

"We have fully kickstarted five accelerators of growth of digital connectivity: Mobile broadband, JioFiber, Jio’s enterprise broadband, broadband for SMEs, and Jio’s Narrowband Internet-of-Things (NBIoT)," he noted. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Reliance India chairman Mukesh Ambani said Wednesday Google will invest over Rs 33,737 crore for a 7.7 per cent stake in Jio Platforms taking the string of investments well over Rs 152,000 crore.

"We are delighted to welcome Google as a strategic investor in Jio Platforms. We have signed a binding partnership and an investment agreement under which Google will invest Rs 33,737 crores for a 7.7 per cent stake in Jio Platforms," Ambani said at the company's annual general meeting.

This takes the cumulative fund raising by Reliance in less than three months to Rs 2,12,809 crore, he said.

This includes investments by Facebook and other investors in Jio Platforms and Rs 53,124 crore Rights Issue, and investment by BP in fuel retailing venture.

"It is in excess of our net debt of Rs 1,61,035 crore at the end of FY19-20," he said. "Reliance is now truly a zero net debt company, well ahead of my goal of March 2021. It has an extremely strong Balance Sheet that will support growth plans for its three Hyper-Growth Engines — Jio, Retail and O2C."

Google chief executive Sundar Pichai had on Monday announced plans to invest Rs 75,000 crore in India over the next five to seven years to help accelerate the adoption of digital technologies in the country.

Announcing the Rs 75,000 crore investment through 'Google for India Digitisation Fund', Pichai asserted that the move is a reflection of company's confidence in the future of the country and its digital economy.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: The BSE Sensex on Wednesday spurted by 570 pts to 36,603.91 in the opening session on the back of strong global peers. 

The Nifty of National Stock Exchange too rose by 156 pts to 10,763.35. The Sensex registered intraday high and low at 36,603.91 and 36,297.65 pts respectively.

The Nifty registered intraday high and low at 10,765.80 and 10,683.45 pts respectively. 

The Mid Cap was up by 0.93 pc and Small Cap by 1.13 pc. The indices that kept the market strong for another day were IT, Bankex, Metal and Power.

Infosys gained 2 per cent ahead of the announcement of its June quarter results later in the day. Besides, Reliance Industries was also trading one per cent higher ahead of the company's 43rd Annual General Meeting which will be held via videoconferencing later in the day. 

Moreover, Wipro surged 14 per cent after reporting better-than-expected quarterly numbers. Today, a total of 53 companies including Infosys, Bandhan Bank, and Larsen & Toubro Infotech, are scheduled to announce their quarterly results.

The gainers were Infosys by 5.34 pc to Rs 825, Tech Mahindra by 4.86 pc to Rs 627.30, Axis Bank by 4.71 pc to Rs 437.70 and IndusInd Bank by 2.93 pc to Rs 525.80. 

In 30 scrips, 28 advanced while 2 declined. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Government has kicked off the ‘Make in India’ app innovation challenge, in a bid to encourage the local app makers and improving the entire Indian app ecosystem.

Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in partnership with Atal Innovation Mission – Niti Aayog has launched Digital India AatmaNirbhar Bharat Innovate Challenge to identify the best Indian Apps that are already being used by citizens and have the potential to scale and become world class Apps in their respective categories

The Challenge will run in 2 tracks.

(1)TRACK 1 : Promotion of Existing Apps

(2)TRACK 2 : Development of New Apps

The focus of the Track 1 App Innovation Challenge, is to identify the best Indian Apps that are already being used by citizens and have the potential to scale and become world class Apps in their respective categories.

AatmaNirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge Track 1 has been launched in the following 8 broad categories:- 

(1)Office Productivity & Work from Home

(2)Social Networking

(3)E-Learning

(4)Entertainment

(5)Health & Wellness

(6)Business including Agritech and Fintech

(7)News

(8)Games

PROCESS FOR INNOVATION CHALLENGE 

• The Innovation Challenge is available on www.innovate.mygov.in

• The last date of submission of entry is 18th July 2020

• The applicant needs to apply only online to submit their proposals by registering and logging on MyGov portal: www.mygov.in

• Applicants are advised to provide self-contained proposals with essential supporting materials provided as uploads for an informed and fair evaluation/review

• No changes will be accepted once proposals are submitted

• Providing incorrect information will lead to outright rejection of proposals

WHAT ARE THE EVALUATION PARAMETERS ? 

Applicants Proposal/Apps will be evaluated on some parameters

• Ease of use

• Robustness

• Security features

• Scalability

There will be a two stage Selection Process:

• 1st Stage - Screening of eligible entries

• 2nd Stage - Evaluation by Jury, with actual Demo

WHAT IS THE SELECTION PROCESS ?

• Jury with experts from Private Sector & Academia will Evaluate

• Shortlisted Apps will be awarded & put on Leader boards

• Government will adopt suitable Apps & guide them to maturity

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER ?

The Innovation Challenge will be available on www.innovate.mygov.in/app-challenge from 4th July 2020. The last date of submission of entries is 18th July 2020.

• Launch of Innovation Challenge: 4th July 2020, on innovate.mygov.in

• Last date for Submission: 18th July 2020 at 5:30 P.M

• Screening of Entries Received: 20th to 24th July 2020

• Evaluation by the Jury: 27th July to 3rd August 2020

• Final Announcement: 7th August, 2020

 Following Awards will be given in each of the Eight Categories

• First Prize Rs. 20 Lakhs

• Second Prize Rs. 15 Lakhs

• Third Prize Rs. 10 Lakhs

For the purposes of evaluation, Jury may create sub categories in each category and then Apps will be classified into respective subcategories, based on functionality and evaluated.

• First Prize Rs. 5 Lakhs

• Second Prize Rs. 3 Lakhs

• Third Prize Rs. 2 Lakhs

Subsequent to this App Innovation Challenge, Track 2 of the AatmaNirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge seeks to identify Indian start ups / entrepreneurs /companies and encourage them with ideation, incubation, prototyping and roll out of applications.

There is tremendous scope in India in various sectors for new Apps which solve specific issue for India and the world. If you can think of making traditional Indian games more popular via Apps? If you can develop Apps with targeted and smart access to the right age group for learning, gaming, etc? This challenge is for you . Start Coding for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]:  Equity benchmark Sensex dropped over 300 points in early trade on Tuesday, dragged by losses in financial stocks amid selloff in global markets.

After touching a low of 36,339.07, the 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 277.05 points, or 0.76 per cent, lower at 36,416.64.

In similar movement, the NSE Nifty fell 74.85 points, or 0.69 per cent, to 10,727.85.

Shares of the HDFC duo led the fall in the indices, shedding up to 3 per cent, after HDFC Bank said it has launched a probe into its auto lending practices following allegations against the conduct of a long-time executive who retired on March 31 this year.

IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, Maruti and SBI were among the other laggards.

On the other hand, HCL Tech, Infosys, Nestle India, UltraTech Cement and ITC were the gainers.

In the previous session, the BSE barometer ended 99.36 points, or 0.27 per cent, higher at 36,693.69, and the Nifty closed 34.65 points, or 1.15 per cent, up at 10,802.70.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market on Monday, purchasing equities worth Rs 221.76 crore, provisional exchange data showed.

According to traders, besides stock-specific actions, negative cues from global markets amid escalating US-China tension and rising COVID-19 cases dampened investor sentiment here.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul were trading with significant losses.

Stock exchanges on Wall Street also ended on a negative note.

Asserting that the "Chinese predatory world view" had no place in the 21st century, the US, in a major policy decision on Monday, categorically rejected the territorial claims made by Beijing in South China Sea, stating that it has no legal grounds to unilaterally impose its will on the region.

On the coronavirus front, the number of cases around the world linked to the disease has crossed 1.30 crore.

In India, the number of infections spiked to 9.06 lakh, according to the health ministry.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 2.06 per cent to USD 41.84 per barrel.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: India’s passenger cars sales dipped 57.98 percent as compared to the same period last year, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said on Tuesday.

The automobile sector in India is grappling with poor demand owing to coronavirus pandemic-induced lockdown.

“A dip of 57.98% has been registered in the sales of passenger cars in June 2020, as compared to June 2019,” SIAM said in a virtual conference.

The industry body said that sales of utility vehicles decreased by 31.16 percent in June 2020, as compared to June 2019. Sales of vans dipped by 62.06 percent in June 2020, as compared to June 2019.

Sales of passenger vehicles witnessed a dip of 49.59 in June 2020, as compared to June 2019, according to the latest data by SIAM. Two-wheelers and three-wheelers saw a dip in sales by 38.56% and 80.15% respectively in June 2020, as compared to June 2019.

Total exports of passenger vehicles, three-wheelers and two-wheelers witnessed a decrease of 56.31 percent, 34.98 percent and 34.25 percent respectively in June 2020, as compared to June 2019, SIAM said.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Google said on Monday that it plans to invest $10 billion in India in the next five to seven years as the search giant looks to further expand its presence in the key overseas market.

Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google, today unveiled Google for India Digitization Fund through which the company will be making the investments in the country.

"We’ll do this through a mix of equity investments, partnerships, and operational, infrastructure and ecosystem investments. This is a reflection of our confidence in the future of India and its digital economy," he said at the company's annual event focused on India.

Earlier today Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with Pichai and discussed a range of subjects like a new work culture in coronavirus times, data security and cyber safety.

Investments will focus on four areas:

* First, enabling affordable access and information for every Indian in their own language, whether it’s Hindi, Tamil, Punjabi or any other

* Second, building new products and services that are deeply relevant to India’s unique needs

* Third, empowering businesses as they continue or embark on their digital transformation

* Fourth, leveraging technology and AI for social good, in areas like health, education, and agriculture

India is a key overseas market for Google, where a range of its products and services including Search, YouTube, and Android have made inroads with much of the entire online population.

More than 500 million people in India, the world's second most populous nation with 1.3 billion people, are online today and more than 450 million smartphones are in active usage in the country.

"There’s still more work to do in order to make the internet affordable and useful for a billion Indians...from improving voice input and computing for all of India’s languages, to inspiring and supporting a whole new generation of entrepreneurs," said Pichai.

Google, like every other American tech giant, though makes only a fraction of its revenue from the world’s largest internet market. But that does not appear to be a priority for any American or Chinese tech giant in India that are currently searching for their next hundreds of millions of users in developing markets.

Facebook, which rivals with Google and Amazon in India, made a $5.7 billion investment in Reliance Jio Platforms, the top telecom operator in the nation in April this year to digitize 60 million mom and pop stores in the country.

Reliance Jio Platforms, a four-year-old subsidiary of India's most valued firm Reliance Industries, has raised more than $15.7 billion since the second half of April from 12 high-profile investors.

During his visit to India early this year, Jeff Bezos said Amazon plans to invest an additional $1 billion in India, totalling the company's to-date commitment to $6.5 billion.

Google's announcement today also comes at a time when India appears to be shutting its door for Chinese firms. New Delhi last month banned 59 apps and services developed by Chinese companies. Among those that have been banned include ByteDance's Tencent, Alibaba Group's UC Browser, and Tencent's WeChat. Some industry players believe that this ban would help American tech giants further expand their tentacles across India as they would face less competition.

Sanjay Gupta, the head of Google in India, said the company's new $10 billion commitment to India today shapes the future of many of its products ands services in the country. "We are recommitting ourselves to partner deeply and support India in becoming a truly digital nation," he said.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: The BSE Sensex on Monday jumped by 99.36 pts at 36,693.69 following gains in Energy, Telecom, IT and Technology stocks. 

The nifty of national stock exchange too moved up by 47.15 pts to 10,815.20. The Nifty recorded days high and low atn10,894.05 and 10,756.05 pts respectively. Tumbling down by 143 pts on Friday, the Sensex opened on a strong note at 36,880.66, up by 286 pts. It surged by 430 pts to 37,024.20, days high. 

In late trade, it erased earlier gains and finished at 36,693.69, rising by 99.36 pts from its previous close. 

It was dropped by 61 pts to 36,533.96, days low. The sectoral indices like Energy, Telecom, IT, FMCG, Metal and Technology lifted the market. While, Financial, Banking, Realty and Utilities stocks declined today. In scrips, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and Infosys gained while Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, Powergrid, ICICI Bank and SBI eased.

The Mid Cap rose by 0.05 pc while Small Cap fell by 0.15 pc. In 30 scrips, 19 advanced while 11 declined.  
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Indian economy has started showing signs of normalcy with ease in lockdown restrictions across the country, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said Saturday.

He added that post containment of Covid-19, a very careful trajectory has to be followed in orderly unwinding of countercyclical regulatory measures. 

The financial sector should return to normal functioning without relying on regulatory relaxation as the new norm, he added.

"Indian economy has started showing signs of going back to normalcy after easing of restrictions," Governor Das said at the 7th SBI Banking and Economics Conclave.

While the multi-pronged approach of the Reserve Bank has provided a cushion from the immediate impact of the pandemic on banks, the medium-term outlook is uncertain and depends on the COVID-19 curve, he said.

"Policy action in medium-term would require a careful assessment of how the crisis unfolds," he said, adding that building buffers and raising capital will be crucial not only to ensure credit flows but also to build resilience in the financial system.

The country's banking and financial system is capable of rising to the occasion in meeting this challenge, he asserted.

In these challenging times, banks have to improve their governance and sharpen their risk management, he said. 

Banks will also have to raise capital in an anticipatory basis instead of waiting for a situation to arise, Das noted.

The economic impact of the pandemic due to the lockdown and anticipated post-lockdown compression in economic growth may result in higher non-performing assets and capital erosion of the banks, Das cautioned. A recapitalisation plan for public and private sector banks has therefore become absolutely necessary, he said.

Addressing the seventh SBI Banking & Economics Conclave, through a video call, he said that the top most priority for RBI is growth, while financial stability is equally important.

"RBI has strengthened its offsite surveillance mechanism to identify emerging risks. RBI is engaged with all stakeholders for resolution for Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank," Das said.

On RBI policy, he said that the action for medium-term will require a careful assessment of how the crisis unfolds. "Coronavirus pandemic will result in high NPAs and capital erosion. Building buffers, raising capital crucial for ensuring credit flows and to build resilience in financial system," he said.

He said that the pandemic is the worst health and economic crisis in 100 years with unprecedented negative consequences for output, jobs, and well being. "It dented the existing world order, global value chains, labour and capital movements across globe," he said.

Talking about the economic impact of the pandemic, the governor said, "Repo rate was cut mainly to tackle the slowdown in growth which was visible at that time. The MPC has decided, as you would be aware, to cumulatively, cut the Policy repo rate by 115 basis points. So from February 2019 the total rate cut that RBI has undertaken is 250 basis points."

Indian economy has started showing signs of going back to normalcy after easing of restrictions, said Das. However, he stressed on the need for a structured mechanism with legal backing to deal with stressed assets.

The governor further said that the Indian economy has started showing signs of normalcy with ease in lockdown restrictions across the country. He added that post containment of Covid-19, a very careful trajectory has to be followed in the orderly unwinding of countercyclical regulatory measures.

In these challenging times, banks have to improve their governance and sharpen their risk management, he said, noting that banks will also have to raise capital in an anticipatory basis instead of waiting for a situation to arise.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Extending rally for the fourth consecutive week, the BSE Sensex zoomed up by 572.91 points or 1.59 per cent at 36,594.33 on strong global peers as investors focused on the prospect of economic recovery and progress on potential coronavirus drugs. 

The Nifty gained 160.70 points or 1.51 per cent to settle at 10,768.05. Though the market remained volatile during the week, it managed to kept it's rally intact.

The BSE Mid-Cap index advanced 108.13 or 0.81 per cent to settle at 13,396.83. BSE Small-Cap index added 200.76 points or 1.59 per cent to settle at 12,803.78 on Monday, tracking positive global cues. Sensex rallied 465.86 points to settle at 36,487.28. Nifty surged 156.30 points to settle at 10,763.65. 

On Tuesday, Sensex gained 187.24 points to settle at 36,674.52. Nifty added 36 points to settle at 10,799.65.

On Wednesday, snapping a five-day rising streak. Mixed global triggered profit booking in domestic shares. Sensex tumbled 345.51 points to settle at 36,329.01 and Nifty lost 93.90 points to settle at 10,705.75.

On Thursday, the BSE Sensex jumped 408.68 points to settle at 36,737.69. Nifty climbed 107.70 points to settle at 10,813.45. On Friday, the BSE Sensex lost 143.36 points to settle at 36,594.33. Nifty fell 45.40 points to settle at 10,768.05.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]:  After Facebook Inc, Reliance Industries has closed deals to sell a minority stake in its digital arm to four other investors, receiving a total of over Rs 30,062 crore.

In a regulatory filing, Reliance said it has closed sale of 6.13 per cent stake in Jio Platforms with L Catterton, The Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and General Atlantic.

Reliance had sold a total of 25.09 per cent stake in the subsidiary which houses India's youngest but largest telecom firm, Jio, to 11 investors for Rs 1,17,588.45 crore.

It had earlier this week closed the deal with the biggest investor Facebook when it received Rs 43,574 crore from Jaadhu Holdings, LLC (a wholly owned subsidiary of Facebook Inc).

"Jio Platforms Ltd has allotted equity shares to Jaadhu Holdings following which Jaadhu Holdings holds 9.99 per cent of the fully diluted equity share capital of Jio Platforms Ltd," the company had said on July 7.

Now, Interstellar Platform Holdings Pte Lte of L Catterton has paid Rs 1,894.50 crore for a 0.39 per cent stake in Jio Platforms. The Public Investment Fund paid Rs 11,367 crore for a 2.32 per cent stake while Silver Lake units -- SLP Redwood Holdings Pte Ltd and SLP Redwood Co-Invest (DE), L.P. -- have bought 2.08 per cent stake for Rs 10,202.55 crore.

General Atlantic Singapore JP Pte Ltd has bought 1.34 per cent for Rs 6,598.38 crore.

"We hereby inform that, after receipt of all requisite approvals, Jio Platforms Limited, a subsidiary of the company, received the subscription amounts" from the four investors, it said.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Drugs Controller General of India has approved Itolizumab for restricted emergency use on COVID-19 patients with moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome.
 
Drugs Controller General of India has approved Itolizumab injection for the treatment of 'cytokine' release syndrome in moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome in patients due to COVID-19. After satisfactory result from clinical trials, the drug was approved.
 
Itolizumab injection is already an approved drug of Biocon Limited used for the treatment of patients with active moderate to severe psoriasis.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Equity benchmark Sensex dropped 143 points on Friday, dragged by losses in financial stocks and negative cues from Asian peers.

The 30-share index ended 143.36 points, or 0.39 per cent, lower at 36,594.33. The NSE Nifty shed 45.40 points, or 0.42 per cent, to close at 10,768.05.

Axis Bank was the top loser in the Sensex pack, skidding over 3 per cent, followed by IndusInd Bank, Titan, HDFC, ICICI Bank, ONGC and HDFC Bank.

On the other hand, Reliance Industries, Sun Pharma, HUL, Bharti Airtel and TCS were among the gainers.

According to traders, domestic benchmarks followed the negative trend in other Asian equities as concerns over a fresh spike in COVID-19 cases and its impact on economic recovery weighed on investor sentiment.

The number of cases around the world linked to the disease has crossed 1.22 crore and the death toll has topped 5.54 lakh.

In India, the number of infections has spiked to 7.93 lakh, with 21,604 fatalities.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul ended with significant losses, while stock exchanges in Europe started on a positive note.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude futures slipped 2.08 per cent to USD 41.47 per barrel. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The 2020 annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group will likely be held in a primarily virtual format due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the leaders of the two institutions announced.

In a joint statement on Thursday, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and World Bank Group President David Malpass said they are recommending the annual meetings, scheduled for October 12-18, be held in a "primarily virtual format", given the ongoing global health crisis, reports Xinhua news agency.

"While we are preparing for a virtual scenario, we remain flexible with the format of the meetings in light of developments and will work, in consultation with our Executive Boards, to accommodate the needs of our membership," the statement read.

The annual meetings usually bring thousands of government officials, business people, journalists and other representatives from across the globe to the two institutions' headquarters in downtown Washington D.C.

"Our goal is to serve our membership effectively while ensuring the health and safety of Annual Meetings' participants, staff, and the local community in the Washington D.C. area," the statement added.

In April, the two multilateral institutions already held the 2020 IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings in a virtual format.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Auto fuel prices have again gone a momentary pause with oil marketing companies keeping the pump prices of petrol and diesel unchanged on Thursday.

In the National Capital petrol is still priced at at Rs 80.43 a litre while diesel prices remain a tad higher at Rs 80.78 a litre.

After keeping priced unchanged for previous seven days the oil companies had increased the price of diesel by 25 paisa. A litre in Delhi on Wednesday while keeping petrol prices unchanged.

Delhi is the only metro city where Diesel is priced higher than petrol and this has been maintained since June 24, when for the time ever the transportation fuel climbed up over petrol.

Officials in oil marketing companies said that diesel prices are seeing more volatility in international market so the price changes in the fuel segment has been higher. But with global oil prices also rising again and set to touch $43 a barrel, expectation is that fuel prices may again see an uptick in coming days.

Before Wednesday, Fuel prices remained unchanged for the seven consecutive day till Tuesday when oil companies raised the price of diesel.

Prices of the transportation fuel have had a pause after rising to record levels 23 of the past 33 days after the oil marketing companies (OMC) resumed the daily price revision system from June 7 that kept the petrol and diesel prices to rise incessantly till June 29.

During the daily hike till June 29, diesel prices in Delhi recorded a new feat by overtaking petrol prices, making the common man feel the heat.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]:  The BSE Sensex ended lower on Wednesday, snapping its 5-day winning streak as IT and auto stocks witnessed profit booking after the recent rally. Lower opening of European indices also impacted sentiments. The BSE Sensex ended 345.51 points or 0.94% lower at 36,329.01 while the Nifty50 index settled 93.90 points or 0.87% down at 10,705.75. Although Nifty Bank remained in the positive territory throughout the session, it fell in the last hour of trade.

Among Nifty stocks, Zee Entertainment was the top loser, down 4.49% followed by Bajaj Finance and Asian Paints, which fell 4.29% and 3.41% respectively. Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, HCL Tech, Bajaj Finserv, Eicher Motors, Titan Company, Infosys, Grasim, TCS were the other prominent losers in the Nifty.

Meanwhile, IndusInd Bank was the top gainer in Nifty, up 5% as reports suggested that US-based hedge fund Route One Investment Company has initiated talks to increase its stake in the private sector lender. Vedanta, JSW Steel, Hindalco, SBI, Dr Reddy's Lab, HUL, Tata Steel, ITC, IOC, Sun Pharma, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Auto were the other big gainers in the Nifty, rising between 0.18%-2.60%.

Market breadth remained negative. Out of the 1,635 stocks traded on the NSE, 652 stocks ended higher while the other 983 shares closed with losses.

The rupee also depreciated 9 paise to settle at 75.02 against the US dollar on Wednesday tracking volatile domestic equities, rising crude oil prices and strengthening American currency. While foreign fund inflows supported the rupee, factors like strong dollar, volatile domestic equities and rising COVID-19 cases dragged the local unit down, Forex traders said.

Global markets

European shares traded lower. Germany's DAX fell 0.80%, London's FTSE 100 shed 0.22% while France's CAC 40 index declined by 1.02%. US stock futures were trading nearly flat indicating slow start on Wall Street today. Asian shares mostly ended higher except for Japan's Nikkei and South Korea's Kospi.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held review meeting with CMDs of 23 Central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) on Tuesday to boost expenditure in the economy.

Secretaries of Ministries of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Power, Coal, Mines and Atomic Energy also attended the meeting. In 2019-20, the capital expenditure (CAPEX) by the 23 CPSEs stood at one lakh 66 thousand 29 crore against the target of one lakh 64 thousand 822 crore rupees, which is 101 per cent.
 
FM said, CPSEs have a very important role in giving a push to the growth of the economy. She encouraged the CPSEs to perform better to achieve targets and to ensure that the capital outlay provided to them for the year 2020-21 is spent properly and within time. The Finance Minister said, better performance of CPSEs can help the economy in a big way to recover from the impact of Covid-19.
 
FM stated that extraordinary situation requires extraordinary efforts and with collective efforts, we will not only perform better but also help the Indian economy to achieve better results. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Taking yet another step towards adoption of clean fuel, Indian Railways has successfully tested a batterypowered rail engine. The engine named 'Navdoot' has been built in the Jabalpur division of the railway and works in dual mode.

Railways Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted a video of the engine to inform of the success of the 'Navdoot' test run. He wrote, "This battery-powered loco is a sign of a bright future, which will be a major step forward in saving foreign exchange with diesel and preserving the environment."
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Extending its gains to the fifth straight session on Tuesday, BSE barometer Sensex rose 187 points, led by gains in software major Infosys and financial stocks, disregarding weak global cues and surging coronavirus cases. Easing tensions between India and China did help investor sentiment.

Both benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty settled at closing levels last seen on March 6.

“Benchmark indices were volatile in trading today, after swinging from losses to end the day flat, with a positive bias. This was in spite of negative global cues, due to renewed uncertainty regarding economic recovery and delay in complete opening up of economies from lockdowns,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

“These uncertainties regarding the sustainability of the market rally was visible in the Indian markets also but were offset by gains in IT and financials Index. Any impact seen on momentum, which has been driving the market along with liquidity, can lead to nervousness in the markets and investors are advised to watch out for the same,” added Nair.

The 30-pack Sensex, after briefly slipping into the red zone during the day, rose 187 points to end at 36,675 while peer Nifty climbed 36 points to shut shop at 10,800.

A total of 17 Sensex stocks closed higher. Infosys contributed more than half to Sensex’s total gains as it rose 4.01 per cent. Consumer goods financier Bajaj Finance rose 7.84 per cent after the recent business updates suggested things are not as bad for the non-banking finance companies (NBFC) as previously thought.

Private lenders ICICI Bank and Axis Bank rose 3.84 per cent and 3.09 per cent, respectively, while HDFC climbed 0.96 per cent.

NSE’s India Vix fell for the fifth day in a row. It dropped 0.07 per cent to 25.18.

Despite the gains, the market breadth was neutral, as gainers and losers were almost equal on the BSE.

Broader markets were in sync with benchmark, with BSE midcap and smallcap indices rising 0.58 per cent and 0.57 per cent, respectively.

BSE IT index was the top sectoral gainer as it advanced 2.10 per cent. BSE Finance followed next with a 1.73 per cent gain.

Oil & Gas index turned out to the worst loser for the day as it shed 2.42 per cent.

Suzlon Energy hit 5 per cent lower circuit limit after it posted a net loss of Rs 824 crore for the quarter ended March 31. It had posted a net loss of Rs 293 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries (RIL) shed 1.48 per cent on profit booking after the stock logged a new high in the previous session.

Bandhan Bank jumped 10.65 per cent after the lender reported healthy loan and deposit growth in the April-June quarter on a yearly basis despite nationwide Covid-19-induced lockdown.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Chief information security officer in the Prime Minister's Office, Mr Gulshan Rai, Yesterday said that there has been a 200 per cent rise in cyber incidents in the country in the last two months, but those cannot be blamed on Chinese actors. While speaking during an interaction organised by payments company EPS in Mumbai, he said a shift in the service sector to work from home  due to COVID-19 lockdown has heightened the incidents. He said people are increasingly downloading unverified apps that lack security features.

Mr Rai said there are dedicated agencies which are monitoring the situation and also preventing the attacks. He urged people to be extremely cautious about what they download and stick to verified applications only.

To a question on reliance on Chinese products, he said China is a world leader in manufacturing and everyone buys from the country knowing that they are vulnerable. He said this is where Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call on self-reliance is crucial and added that other countries including America and European nations are also looking at ways of reducing dependence on China.

In cases of critical infrastructure like refineries and power plants, Mr.Rai said it is a blessing in disguise that many facilities in India are not connected to the wider internet but eventually efficiency needs will force them to get connected and there will be a need for better security at such facilities.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: The HDFC Bank has reduced the marginal cost of funds-based lending rates (MCLR) on loans across tenors by 20 basis points with immediate effect.

Following the reduction, MCLRs of the bank will range from 7.10 per cent to 7.65 per cent.

The bank's overnight MCLR now stands reduced to 7.10 per cent and its one-month MCLR is 7.15 per cent. One-year MCLR will now be 7.45 per cent, while three-year MCLR stands at 7.65 per cent.

Banks review MCLR every month. Last month the HDFC Bank had reduced MCLR across tenors by 5 bps.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: With parity between the prices of petrol and diesel, there is no economic logic for buying diesel cars as with the same running cost, the acquisition cost differential is very high.

In an interview with news agency, Shashank Srivastava, Executive Director (Marketing & Sales), Maruti Suzuki India Limited said that under BS VI, the differential between diesel and petrol cars is to the tune of Rs 1.25 to Rs 2 lakh. Srivastava said that at the same running cost, with petrol and diesel at the same price, or even diesel higher in some states, there is no economic logic for buying diesel cars.

He said that till 7-8 years back, diesel was cheaper by Rs 32 compared to petrol and diesel cars were 60 per cent of total sales.

Thereafter, the government allowed free float of fuel prices and last year the differential fell to Rs 7 and diesel car share fell to 28 per cent.

Srivastava said in the last quarter, it was only 17 per cent, the share has been falling due to the convergence between the petrol and diesel prices. In the smaller cars segment, it was only 5 per cent.

Currently, there is almost parity in diesel and petrol prices and in some states, diesel is even higher.

Srivastava said there is no economic logic now for diesel cars to be bought. In BS VI vehicles, the differential is Rs 1.25-2 lakh, meaning that diesel cars are more expensive.

Srivastava said that with a similar running cost why would consumers want to pay extra. In higher segment for SUVs, some consumers still prefer diesel vehicles but in small cars and sedans there is no no economic logic, he said.

Srivastava said the new fuel option that is gaining traction is CNG as the running cost is low compared to petrol and diesel at only Rs 1.5 per km. Even last year, CNG gained 6-7 market share and in some of the models, the CNG penetration is as high as 70 per cent.

The government policy to boost the network is also a positive as the outlets at 2100 in the country are expected to go up to 3000-3500 this year.

On the demand dynamics, Srivastava said June was a good representative month after a long gap. The enquiries, bookings are at 80-85 per cent of pre-Covid levels. "It's a good comeback", he said but added that part of this is also large pent up demand from the previous months.

Maruti has opened 2800 of its showrooms. On the supply side, industry is at 50 per cent of pre-Covid levels.

On the emerging consumer trends, Srivastava said consumers are shifting the choice downwards due to income loss and uncertainty in jobs and business loss. This is being reflected in bookings with a higher percentage of bookings towards smaller cars. This share was 55 per cent earlier but now it is higher at about 65 per cent.

He added that during times of stress, people tend to shift towards the established brands and are less experimental.

Also, the demand for pre-owned cars is increasing, the only issue there is that supply is less as people are holding on to their vehicles for longer time and they are not being sold in used cars.

Srivastava said another trend is that consumers are apprehensive of public transport and want to have their own vehicles.

On financing of cars, Srivastava said 80 per cent of retail sale is through financing. The post Covid liquidity of banks is good thanks to government measures. However, some of the banks are little more cautious in lending and are reviewing credit worthy of business and individuals as income levels will be impacted.

Maruti has rolled out financing arrangements with more flexibility on tenure, EMIs and cash down requirements to help consumers.

On the future triggers for demand, Srivastava said the current spike in demand has an element of pent up demand and the long term demand will be linked to fundamentals of economy and how the Covid situation evolves.

There could be an upside if the vaccine comes earlier and a downside, if the number of cases goes up. Srivastava said there is uncertainty and demand situation is difficult to predict.

He said there is revival of rural demand with a good crop and encouraging monsoons. In addition, the Covid effect on rural areas is much less while it is more in the larger cities.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Equity benchmark Sensex rallied over 300 points in early trade on Monday tracking massive buying momentum in Asian peers and foreign fund inflows.

After touching a high of 36,389.01, the 30-share index was trading 310.29 points, or 0.86 per cent, higher at 36,331.71, while the NSE Nifty rose 99.70 points, or 0.94 per cent, to 10,707.05.

IndusInd Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, advancing around 4 per cent, followed by HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra, SBI, Axis Bank, ITC and Tech Mahindra.

On the other hand, Bajaj Auto, PowerGrid, Titan and HUL were among the laggards.

In the previous session, the BSE barometer settled 177.72 points, or 0.50 per cent, higher at 36,021.42, and the broader Nifty rose 55.65 points, or 0.53 per cent, to end at 10,607.35.

Foreign institutional investors turned net buyers in the capital market on Friday, purchasing equities worth Rs 857.29 crore, provisional exchange data showed.

According to traders, domestic indices rallied on positive sentiment led by hopes of a COVID-19 vaccine, improving macroeconomic conditions and massive buying-interest in global benchmarks despite surging coronavirus cases across the world.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul soared up to 4 per cent on hopes of more government stimulus to support economic recovery.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.63 per cent to USD 43.07 per barrel.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: The Indian equity market kept it's supremacy for the third straight week as the BSE Sensex zoomed up 850.15 point or 2.42 per cent, breaching 36K level at 36,021.42 in week under review on positive global cues.

The Nifty of National Stock Exchange (NSE) gained 224.35 points or 2.16 PC to settle at 10,607.35.

Global stocks rose on optimism about a continued recovery in economic activity, offsetting the concerns raised by an unabated rise in virus infection.

Recovering domestic macro data also cheered Investor sentiment. BSE Mid-Cap index added 30.26 or 0.23 pc to settle at 13,288.70. The BSE Small-Cap index fell 27.26 points or 0.22 pc to settle at 12,603.02.

On Monday, on the back of mixed global cues amid rising coronavirus cases. The ongoing IndoChina border tensions also weighed on investor sentiment Sensex declined 209.75 points or 0.6% at 34,961.52.The Nifty fell 70.60 points to settle at 10,312.40.

On Tuesday, the Sensex declined 45.72 points to settle at 34,915.80. Nifty too fell 10.30 points at 10,302.10 and from Wednesday it kept it's Winnipeg streak intact till Friday.

On Wednesday, positive Asian cues and recovering domestic macro data cheered Investor Sensex rallied 498.65. points to settle at at 35,414.45. The Nifty jumped 127.95 points to settle at 10,430.25.

On Thursday, mirroring positive global markets Sensex rallied 429.25 points to settle at 35,843.70. Nifty jumped 121.65 points to settle at 10,551.70.

On Friday, July 3, 2020, Sensex rallied 177.72 points to settle at 36,021.42. Nifty spurted 55.65 points to settle at 10,607.35.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Fuel prices remained unchanged on Saturday making it the fifth consecutive day when pump prices of petrol and diesel have remained static.

Fuel prices have gone for a longer pause after rising on 22 of the past 28 days. The oil marketing companies (OMC) began their daily price revision system from June 7 that kept the petrol and diesel prices to rise continuously by an average 50-60 paise per day.

In the national capital, petrol price on Saturday stood at Rs 80.43 per litre and diesel at Rs 80.53 a litre, same level as the last four days when OMCs went for a pause and kept the prices unchanged.

Sources in public sector oil companies said consumers could get relief from the regular price rise of the two petroleum products in coming days as the pause for four days now could be replicated if global oil prices remained soft.

Also, the oil companies have covered most of the shortfall when for 82 continuous days (from March 14 to June 6) petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged while the government substantially raised taxes on the products.

But with global oil prices now again rising over $42 a barrel, there could be an instance that petrol and diesel prices may begin their daily rise again. But for this to happen, the current level of crude price has to rise further.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Road Transport and Highways Ministry is planning to provide All India Tourist Authorization or Permit through online mode to any tourist vehicle operator in the country.

The Ministry has invited suggestions from the public and stakeholders for the proposed draft rules known as, ‘All India Tourist Vehicles Authorization and Permit Rules, 2020’ published on 1st July 2020. The scheme entails flexibility in the form of authorization or permit. Under the scheme, the permit will be valid for a period of three months or its multiples not exceeding three years at a time. This provision has been incorporated keeping in mind those areas of the country where there is a limited season of tourism. The draft rules state that the permit shall not be granted to a vehicle after the completion of twelve years from the date of first registration of the vehicle and all such authorizations or permits shall be issued within 30 days of submission of applications. The application along with the specified fee shall be made in electronic form on the website of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways or Transport Authority.

The objective of these rules is to promote tourism across the country and enhance the revenue of the government. Tourism industry in the country has increased manifold in the last ten to fifteen years. The growth has been contributed by both domestic and international tourists.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: In a major relief to the Goods and Service Tax taxpayers, the government has decided to cap the maximum late fee for form GSTR-3B at five hundred rupees per return. This will be applicable for the tax period from July 2017 to July 2020 subject to returns being filed before 30th September of this year.

Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, CBIC said, there will be nil late fees if there is no tax liability and in this regard a notification has been issued. It said, this step has been taken after the various representations were received from taxpayers to provide relief.

Recently, CBIC has provided the facility of SMS filing of NIL statement of Form GSTR-1 from 1st July. The filing of NIL statements through SMS would improve ease of GST compliance for over 12 lakh registered taxpayers.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Rising for the third straight session, equity benchmark Sensex jumped 178 points on Friday, tracking gains in Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and TCS amid buoyancy in global markets.

Regulatory approval to Cadila Healthcare's Zydus for human trials of a potential COVID-19 vaccine too boosted domestic investor sentiment, traders said.

After touching a high of 36,110.21, the 30-share BSE index settled 177.72 points, or 0.50 per cent, higher at 36,021.42.

The NSE Nifty rose 55.65 points, or 0.53 per cent, to end at 10,607.35.

Bharti Airtel was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying around 4 per cent, followed by Bajaj Auto, TCS, Titan, HCL Tech and Reliance Industries.

On the other hand, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel and HDFC Bank were among the laggards.

According to traders, domestic indices took cues from Asian peers that followed overnight gains on Wall Street after positive jobs data release in the US.

Despite hopes of a COVID-19 vaccine, gains were capped as rising coronavirus cases across the world weighed on the market mood, they added.

The number of cases around the world linked to the disease has crossed 1.08 crore and the death toll has topped 5.20 lakh.

In India, the number of infections has touched 6.25 lakh, with 18,213 fatalities.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul ended on a positive note, while those in Europe opened in the red.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 1.69 per cent to USD 42.41 per barrel.

On the currency front, the rupee appreciated 38 paise to settle at 74.66 against the US dollar.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Union Government has launched  the Special  Liquidity Scheme of 30 thousand crore rupees  to improve the liquidity position for Non-Banking Finance Companies- NBFCs and Housing Finance Companies- HFCs. The scheme was  launched yesterday  through a Special Purpose Vehicle in the form of SLS Trust set up by SBI Capital Markets Limited (SBICAP).

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced it on 13th of March this year. Ministry of Finance in a statement said, Reserve Bank of India will provide funds for the Scheme by subscribing to government guaranteed special securities issued by the Trust. The total amount of such securities issued outstanding shall not exceed 30 thousand crore rupees at any point of time. The Central Government will provide an unconditional and irrevocable guarantee to the special securities issued by the Trust.

The Scheme will remain open for three months for making subions by the Trust. The period of lending by the Trust will be for a period of up to 90 days. The financing would be used by the NFBCs and HFCs only to repay existing liabilities and not to expand assets.

This facility is a part of the Central Government and RBI’s efforts to alleviate the concerns of the market participants on the availability of funds to the sector.

Any NBFC including Micro-finance Institutions registered with RBI and any HFC registered with the National Housing Bank complying with the given  conditions will be eligible to raise funding from the said facility. 
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Equity benchmark indices ended strong on Thursday following heavy buying in IT, auto and energy scrips.
 
The BSE S&P Sensex closed 429 points or 1.21 per cent higher at 35,844 while the Nifty 50 edged up by 122 points or 1.17 per cent at 10,552.

Most sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the positive zone with Nifty auto gaining by 2.8 per cent and IT by 2.6 per cent.

Among stocks, Mahindra & Mahindra was the top gainer by moving up 6.4 per cent to Rs 531 per share. Hero MotoCorp rose by 5.2 per cent to close at Rs 2,680 per unit.

IT stocks too fared well with HCL Technologies edging higher by 3.4 per cent, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services by 3.2 per cent each.

Cipla, Titan, IndianOil Corporation, Tata Steel and HDFC also traded with a positive bias.

However, private banks and FMCG majors suffered declines with Axis Bank down by 1.9 per cent, Kotak Mahindra Bank by 0.2 per cent, Hindustan Lever by 0.6 per cent, Nestle India and Britannia by 0.1 per cent each.

Meanwhile, Asian markets traded in the positive zone following positive news overnight around the development of a potential coronavirus vaccine.

A COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech has been found to be well tolerated in early-stage human trials.

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong led gains among the region's major markets, rising 2.85 per cent. Japan's Nikkei rose by 0.11 per cent and Shanghai's Composite was up by 2.13 per cent. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: IndiGo said on Thursday it will give a 25 percent discount on the airfare to doctors and nurses till the end of 2020 as they are at the forefront of the battle against the coronavirus pandemic.

"The nurses and doctors will be required to provide valid hospital IDs at the time of check-in as a proof of their identity," the airline said in a press release. 

"The discount will be offered while booking through IndiGo's website, valid for sale and travel from July 01, 2020 till December 31, 2020," it added.

Passenger loads continue to be low in domestic flights, the operations of which resumed on May 25 after a gap of two months.

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Twitter on Thursday that 71,471 passengers travelled on 785 flights on July 1. This means, on an average, there were 91 passengers in a plane on Wednesday. Since the commonly used A320 aircraft has around 180 seats in it, this means that the passenger load was just around 50 per cent on July 1.

IndiGo has termed the aforementioned scheme as a "Tough Cookie" campaign.

"As part of the initiative, IndiGo will track the Tough Cookie journey to make it special every step of the way, starting from a complementary cookie tin at check-in, welcome announcement at the boarding gate, special Tough Cookie sticker on the PPE and in-flight announcement giving them a warm welcome on-board," it said.

Scheduled international passenger flights continue to remain suspended in India.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The World Bank will give $ 750 million as loan to India for strengthening small businesses that form the backbone of the country’s economy and were devastated in the coronavirus pandemic.

The emergency lending will ensure liquidity for some 1.5 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) and protect millions of jobs, said the Bank said in a statement referring to how India’s government small businesses.

The money will help government’s efforts to channel liquidity to MSME through a range of instruments, including credit guarantees, and de-risk lending from banks and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs).

It would improve the funding capacity of funding channels such as the NBFCs and Small Finance Bank (SFBs) and help them respond to the urgent and varied needs of the MSMEs. This will cover support for government’s refinance facility for NBFCs. The International Finance Corporation is separately providing direct support to SFBs through loans and equity.

Junaid Ahmad, World Bank’s country director for India, said the loan supports the government’s policy framework and it’s not funding a specific expenditure. It would work with government for specific sectors in the next stage.

The Bank has lent $5.13 billion to India in financial year 2020 (FY2020) which ended on June 30, 2020. The disbursals to India have been about $ four billion in Fy20, said Ahmad in conference call with media.

India's financial system benefited from early and decisive measures taken by the Reserve Bank of India and the Government of India (GOI) to infuse liquidity into the market. Given current uncertainties, lenders remain concerned about borrowers’ ability to repay – resulting in limited flow of credit even to the viable enterprises in the sector.

The coronavirus has devastated the MSME sector, which contributes 30 percent of India’s GDP and 40 percent of exports. The sector, which employs about 150-180 million people, is today burdened with cancelled orders, loss of customers and supply chain disruptions – causing a sharp fall in revenues.

The cash flow shortage is exacerbated by constraints to accessing finance, potentially leading to solvency problems. The broad-based loss of cash flows has triggered a chain of non-payments throughout the economy, including to the financial sector, it added.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Equity benchmark Sensex surged over 200 points in early trade on Wednesday tracking gains in index-heavyweights Reliance Industries, HDFC and ITC amid positive cues from global markets.

The 30-share index was trading 205.60 points, or 0.59 per cent, higher at 35,121.40, while the NSE Nifty rose 51.90 points, or 0.50 per cent, to 10,354.

ITC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, surging around 2 per cent, followed by Axis Bank, HDFC, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, SBI and Reliance Industries.

On the other hand, NTPC, Kotak Bank, L&T, ONGC and Nestle India were among the laggards.

In the previous session, the BSE barometer closed 45.72 points, or 0.13 per cent, down at 34,915.80; while the NSE Nifty slipped 10.30 points, or 0.10 per cent, to 10,302.10.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers on Tuesday, offloading equities worth Rs 2,000.08 crore, provisional exchange data showed.

According to traders, local indices followed gains in global benchmarks which rallied on positive macroeconomic numbers indicating recovery in world economies.

Auto sales data will also be closely watched by the participants to access the pace of recovery in the domestic economy, they said.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul were trading with significant gains, while those in Tokyo were in the red.

Stock exchanges on Wall Street rallied over 1 per cent in overnight session on positive macroeconomic data.

International oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 1.14 per cent to USD 41.74 per barrel.

On the domestic front, India recorded a current account surplus of USD 0.6 billion or 0.1 per cent of GDP for the January-March quarter against a deficit of USD 4.6 billion or 0.7 per cent of GDP in the year-ago period, the Reserve Bank said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the fiscal deficit during the first two months of the current financial year widened to Rs 4.66 lakh crore or 58.6 per cent of the budget estimates mainly on account of poor tax collection due to coronavirus-induced lockdown.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Oil Marketing Companies marginally increased the price of 14.2 kg non-subsidised LPG cylinder by Re 1 in Delhi, effective Wednesday.

The price of the 14.2 kilogram cylinder of non-subsidised LPG gas in Delhi will now be Rs 594 per cylinder as against Rs 593 on June 1. Prices were hiked by upto Rs 4.50 in other metros mostly because of different local sales tax or VAT rate.

In Kolkata, prices were increased by Rs 4.50 per cylinder to Rs 620.50, Rs 3.50 per cylinder to Rs 594 in Mumbai and Rs 4 per cylinder to Rs 610.50 in Chennai.

The government currently subsidises 12 cylinders of 14.2 kilograms each per household in a year. Additional purchases have to be made at the market price.

The oil companies also revised upwards the price of aviation turbine fuel by about 7.5 per cent to Rs 41,992.81 per kl in the national capital, according to a price notification by Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). The ATF prices increased twice in June by a record 56.6 per cent or Rs 12,126.75 per kl on June 1, and by Rs 5,494.5 per kl or 16.3 per cent increase on June 16. The increase in July is by Rs 2,922.94 per kl.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The country's manufacturing activity contracted for a third straight month in June, albeit at a much shallower pace, as demand and output continued to suffer from three months of lockdowns to quell the spread of the coronavirus, a private survey showed. The virus has infected over five lakh people, stalling economic activity, but Wednesday's survey suggested the worst may be over for the economy, at least for now.

While the Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, compiled by IHS Markit, increased to 47.2 last month from 30.8 in May it was still below the 50-mark separating growth from contraction. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected 37.5.

"India's manufacturing sector moved towards stabilisation in June, with both output and new orders contracting at much softer rates than seen in April and May. However, the recent spike in new coronavirus cases and the resulting lockdown extensions have seen demand continue to weaken," noted Eliot Kerr, an economist at IHS Markit.

The April-June period was the worst quarterly performance since the PMI survey began in March 2005, in line with a Reuters poll predicting Asia's third-largest economy contracted last quarter for the first time since the mid-1990s.

Input and output prices declined for a third consecutive month in June, and manufacturers continued to cut staff.

However, a continued decline in price pressures might provide additional breathing space for the Reserve Bank of India to announce further easing measures. It has already cut its repo rate by a cumulative 115 basis points since the lockdown started on March 25.

Still, optimism about the coming 12 months hit a four-month high in June.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The gross GST revenue collected in June 2020 is 90 thousand 917 crore rupees of which CGST is 18 thousand 980 crore, SGST is 23 thousand 970 crore and IGST is 40 thousand 302 crore rupees. It also includes 15 thousand 709 crore collected on import of goods and Cess is seven thousand 665 crore rupees.
 
The GST collections for April was 32 thousand 294 crore rupees which was 28 per cent of the revenue collected during the same month last year. In May, 62 thousand nine crore rupees was collected out of which was 62 per cent of the revenue collected during the same month last year.
 
The GST collections for the first quarter of the year is 59 per cent of the revenue collected during the same quarter last year. Our correspondent reports, however, a large number of taxpayers still have time to file their return for the month of May, 2020.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Vodafone Idea, the country's third largest telecom operator, on Wednesday reported a staggering net loss of Rs 73,878 crore in the financial year ended March 31, on account of provisions for the Supreme Court mandated statutory dues. That marked the highest ever net loss reported by an Indian firm. The firm - which has to pay Rs 51,400 crore dues after the top court ordered the non-telecom revenues to be included in calculating statutory dues - said the liability has cast a "significant doubt on the company's ability to continue as a going concern".

Vodafone Idea's net loss widened to Rs 11,643.5 crore in the January-March period of financial year 2019-20, from Rs 6,438.8 crore in the previous quarter, and Rs 4,881.9 crore in the quarter ended March 31, 2019, the telecom major said in a regulatory filing.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) estimates the company's dues related to adjusted gross revenue (AGR) at Rs 58,254 crore for period up to financial year 2016-17, but the company has pegged the dues at Rs 46,000 crore "after adjustment of certain computational errors and payments made in the past not considered in the DoT demand". Of the total dues, it has made a payment of Rs 6,854.4 crore so far.

The company took a hit of Rs 1,783.6 crore on account of AGR-related liabilities, and Rs 3,887 crore on account of one-time spectrum charges (OTSC), both of which were recognised as exceptional items during the quarter ended March 2019.

Revenue from operations in the quarter ended March 31, 2020 came in at Rs 11,754.2 crore. For the full year financial year that ended on the same day, Vodafone Idea's losses stood at Rs 73,878.1 crore, as against Rs 14,603.9 crore in financial year 2018-19.

The company said that the financial results for the year ended March 31, 2020 are not comparable with the corresponding period a year ago due to the merger between Vodafone India and Idea Cellular which took effect in August 2018.

The revenue from operations for financial year 2019-20 stood at Rs 44,957.5 crore, as against Rs 37,092.5 crore in 2018-19.

Vodafone Idea said in a statement that its revenue rose 6 per cent compared to the previous quarter driven by prepaid tariff hikes effective December 2019.

"Our focus on rapid network integration, as well as 4G coverage and capacity expansion, has further improved customer experience. We thus continue to lead the league tables on 4G data download speeds across several states, metros and large cities. We have achieved our full opex merger synergy target," said Ravinder Takkar, managing director and CEO, Vodafone Idea.

The next Supreme Court hearing on the AGR matter is scheduled to be held in the third week of July, he added.

"Meanwhile, we continue to actively engage with the government seeking a comprehensive relief package for the industry, which faces critical challenges," Mr Takkar said.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: In a major relief to the Goods and Service Tax taxpayers, maximum late fee for form GSTR-3B capped at five hundred rupees. This will be applicable for tax period from July, 2017 to July, 2020 subject to returns being filed before 30th of September this year.
 
Recently, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, CBIC has decided to provide the facility of SMS filing of NIL statement of Form GSTR-1 from 1st of July. The filing of NIL statements through SMS would improve ease of GST compliance for over 12 lakh registered taxpayers. 
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Railways has decided to expand to 350 local train services in Mumbai from today.

At present, a total of 200 services are being run, out of which 130 services are running between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Kasara/Karjat/Kalyan/Dombivali/Thane on main line and 70 services are running between CSMT and Panvel on harbour line.
 
150 more services will be added to the existing services making the total to 350 services. The number of services may be modified as per the requirement to ensure social distancing norms. AIR correspondent reports that considering the State Government's request to allow some more employees in essential services to travel by suburban local trains, railways have decided to add 150 more services from today.
 
These trains will halt at major stations only and will cater to the essential staff permitted to travel by select suburban services. The categories instructed by the Ministry of Home Affairs include defence personnel and employees of Central Government, Income Tax, GST and Customs and Department of Posts, along with employees of Nationalised Banks, Mumbai Port Trust, Judiciary and Raj Bhavan.
 
Only these employees are permitted to travel in these select suburban services. To ensure social distancing in the coaches, unlike its seating capacity to accommodate about 1,200 persons, only about 700 are to be allowed per train.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The government’s decision to ban 59 Chinese apps, including the powerful social media platforms like TikTok, WeChat and Helo, will have a snowballing effect on China’s international soft-power push under the ‘Digital Silk Road’ programme. 

Though other countries with active user base of Chinese apps may not immediately follow suit, the Indian action will initiate the process of rethinking about their implication in terms of national security. The move comes at a time when China has been accused in Europe and the US of using its imports of telecom and other equipment for spying purposes.

India has managed to stir a debate against the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), President Xi Jinping’s pet programme to enhance worldwide influence through connectivity infrastructure, by loudly opposing it and refusing to allow it. This led to Malaysia cancelling and later restructuring a major Chinese backed rail project and several other countries demanding price discounts from Chinese companies on infrastructure projects. 

Chinese apps are usually bundled with Chinese-made mobile phones which are sold across the world. In India, they control the bulk of the market. The ban of these apps will seriously affect their sales and open new market segments for other major brands besides some low-end phones made in India. 

India has the largest user base on the short-video platform, TikTok, with 120 million active users. This is followed by US at nearly 40 million, Turkey at 28 million, Russia 24 million, Mexico 20 million, Brazil 18 million and Pakistan 12 million.

WeChat which is akin to WhatsApp has not made much of an impact in India, but it has a huge potential. WeChat Pay, the transaction platform within the social media app, is available in 40 countries and in 12 different currencies other than the Chinese Yuan. 

“Chinese ban of Google, Facebook and other apps created an ecosystem that led to the creation of many successful Chinese apps. This could be an opportunity for the development of apps in India,” Kunal Sinha, a consumer and media expert in Mumbai, who spent many years in Shanghai, told Outlook.

On the other hand, a large number of Indian technology start-ups are financed with Chinese money, he pointed out. “Developing new apps in India would require alternative sources of funds,” Sinha said. 

This is an opportunity for Indian companies to enter in non-technology sectors to enter the field and make the most of the massive market that has been suddenly made available by the government decision to ban Chinese apps. The question is whether they will move quickly enough. 

Issuing the ban order, the government said the concerned applications are engaged in activities “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order”.

There is no doubt that the large-scale prevalence of the banned apps, particularly on Chinese branded mobile phones, has caused serious vulnerabilities when it comes to spying and information gathering. 

Tiktok has proved to be extremely popular with young Indians eager to express their creativity through short videos and managed to create a positive view of China in young Indian minds. The ban has created a vacuum which cannot be immediately met by YouTube which operates at a different level.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The government has again extended the deadline to bid for Air India by two months till 31st August. This is the third time the deadline has been extended.

The divestment process for the national carrier was initiated on 27th of January this year. Issuing a corrigendum to the Expression of Interest (EoI) for sale of Air India, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management said the deadline has been extended in view of the request received from the interested bidders due to the prevailing situation arising out of COVID-19. 

While issuing the EoI in January, the last date for bids was kept at 17th of March which was later extended till 30th April and further extended to 30th of this month.
 
Besides, the date for intimation to Qualified Interested Bidders has also been extended till 14th of September, 2020. The government in January this year restarted the divestment process and invited bids for selling 100 per cent equity in the state-owned airline, including Air India's 100 per cent shareholding in AI Express Limited and 50 per cent stake in Air India SATS Airport Services Private Limited. 

In 2018, the government had offered to sell 76 per cent stake in the airline.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Indian equity market ended over 0.5 per cent lower on Monday, dragged down by financial and metal stocks. The Standard and Poor’s warning that the Indian economy is in deep trouble also weighed on investor sentiment. The rater has projected the Indian economy's growth to contract by 5 per cent this fiscal.

Further, the decline in global stocks due to a surge in the Covid-19 cases continued to be on the investors' radar.  

The headline index S&P BSE Sensex slipped 210 points or 0.6 per cent to settle at 34,961.52. During the session, the index hit a high and low of 35,032.36 and 34,662.06 levels, respectively. 

NSE's Nifty ended the day at 10,312, down 71 points or 0.68 per cent. 

Among individual stocks, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, and Bajaj Finance slipped up to 5 per cent.  Notably, S&P had downgraded the ratings of both Axis Bank and Bajaj Finance during the weekend. On the other hand, shares of ITC rose as much as 4 per cent after the announcement of its March quarter results.

Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea ended 7 per cent higher at Rs 11.12 on the BSE ahead of its March quarter results due tomorrow. 

The trends at the sectoral front remained weak as barring Nifty FMCG, all the other indices on the NSe ended in the red. Nifty PSU Bank index slipped over 3 per cent while Nifty Metal index fell 2.64 per cent. Nifty FMCG, on the other hand, gained 0.72 per cent. 

The second-rung stocks underperformed the benchmarks. For instance, the Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 1.6 per cent while the Nifty SmallCap 100 index shed 1.38 per cent.

Global markets

World shares hit two-week lows and oil fell nearly 2 per cent on Monday as the relentless spread of the coronavirus curbed optimism on the global economy, prompting investors to take shelter in safe-haven bonds and gold.

European stocks opened slightly lower, after Asian shares ended deep in the red playing catch up with Wall Street’s ugly close on Friday as some US states reconsidered their reopening plans.

MSCI’s world shares index was off 0.2 per cent, hitting its lowest level since June 15 dragged down by Japan’s Nikkei shedding 2.2 per cent and Chinese blue chips off 0.9 per cent. E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 were up 0.1 per cent.

In commodities, oil prices slid. Brent crude dropped 84 cents, or 2 per cent, to $40.18 a barrel at the time of writing of this report, and US crude fell 72 cents, or 1.8 per cent, to $37.77.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Reliance Jio continues at the top spot as the largest telecom company in terms of subscribers as it added over 62 lakh new users in February, followed by Bharti Airtel which added 9 lakh.

At the end of February, Reliance Jio had over 38.28 crore subscribers and Bharti Airtel had a subscriber base of over 32.90 crore, showed the data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

State-run BSNL also added over 4.39 crore subscribers taking its total tally to nearly 11.99 crore.

On the other hand the erosion of Vodafone Idea's subscriber base continued as it lost 34.67 lakh subscribers bringing its total base down to 32.55 crore.

"Total wireless subscribers (2G, 3G & 4G) increased from 1,156.44 million (115.64 crore) at the end of Jan-20 to 1,160.59 million (116.05 crore) at the end of Feb-20, thereby registering a monthly increase rate of 0.36 per cent," said the TRAI statement.

However, wireless subscription in urban areas decreased from 64.45 crore at the end of January to 64.32 crore at the end of February and wireless subscription in rural areas increased from 51.19 crore at the end of January to 51.73 crore at the end of February.

Monthly growth rates of urban and rural wireless subscription were 0.20 per cent and 1.06 per cent respectively, it said.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: In the backdrop of COVID-19, the Indian Railways has decided to suspend the regular train services till August 12.
 
"During the lockdown period, booking of tickets were allowed till 14 April 2020 with advance reservation period of 120 days. Some of the passengers had booked tickets for regular trains being run before lockdown for the journey up to August 12, 2020 ( 120 days from 14 April 2020)." The Railways said in a statement.

"In order to facilitate full refunds to those passengers, who had booked tickets on or prior to 14 April 2020, the Railways has decided to refund the amount of the tickets." It added.

However, all 230 Special Trains, which are presently operational and tickets have been booked on or after 21 May 2020 will continue to run as scheduled.

Railways is monitoring occupancy position of these special trains on a regular basis and whenever a decision is taken to introduce new special trains, the schedule will be notified.

Earlier, on the implementation of the lockdown in the country, regular timetabled trains of Indian Railways were stopped and later the booking of tickets in these trains was also stopped from 14 April.

However, as a result of the 120-day advance ticket booking facility, booking was done in trains till August 12. The tickets amount was refunded by the Indian Railways by cancelling the regular time-tabbed trains till June 30.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Facebook CEO Mark Zukerberg said on Saturday that his company it will start to label potentially harmful posts that it leaves up because of their news value.

The more hands-on approach comes as the social media firm is under pressure to improve how it moderates the content on its platform, including posts by US President Donald Trump.

More than 90 advertisers have joined a boycott of the site, BBC reports. Consumer goods giant Unilever on Friday added its name to the list, citing a "polarized election period" in the US. The maker of Dove soap and Ben & Jerry's ice cream said it would halt Twitter, Facebook and Instagram advertising in the US "at least" through 2020.

"Continuing to advertise on these platforms at this time would not add value to people and society," it said. "We will revisit our current position if necessary." Zukerberg said the firm would ban ads that describe different groups, based on descriptors such as race or immigration status, as a threat. It will also remove content - even from a politician - if it determines that it incites violence or suppresses voting.

He also said the firm will attach a label to "problematic" content that falls outside of those categories.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: After underperforming many developed markets for the better part of the past two years, the Indian equity markets are now pulling ahead of their peers in North America and Western Europe.

The benchmark BSE Sensex is up 14.2 per cent in the past one month against a 3 per cent appreciation in the Dow Jones during the period.

In the same period, the United Kingdom’s benchmark FTSE 100 is up 2.1 per cent, France CAC 40 index 7.3 per cent, and Germany’s DAX Index 6 per cent (see chart).

In contrast, the Sensex has been a laggard compared to stock indices in the developed markets in the past one year. For example, it is down 11.3 per cent since June last year against a 0.6 per cent rise in the Dow Jones during the period and 1.6 per cent rise in the Dax index during the period.

The Indian markets also underperformed the US counterparts over a three-year period. In the past three years, the Sensex is up 12.3 per cent against a 20.3 per cent rally in the Dow Jones during the period.

Experts attribute this to technical reasons and benign liquidity rather than any material change in India’s economic outlook or corporate earnings. “A relatively good performance by the Indian markets in the past few weeks is largely due to technical reasons as the Sensex tries to catch up with its global peers. Corporate earnings in India are likely to remain depressed, given the rising tally of Covid-19 cases and new containment measures such as suspending train services,” said U R Bhat, director, Dalton Capital Advisors.

Others see a strong influence of monetary expansion in developed markets feeding emerging ones, including India.

“The market movement is now largely a function of liquidity. Foreign portfolio investors have been net buyers in the past two and half months after they sold heavily in March and February. This inflow has been supplemented by domestic investors, including mutual funds, pushing markets higher,” said G Chokkalingam, founder and managing director, Equinomics Research & Advisory Services. According to him investors hope a significant part of nearly $11 trillion worth of fiscal and monetary stimulus by the United States, Western Europe, and Japan will come to emerging markets like India, lifting stock valuations and corporate earnings in the forthcoming quarters.

There is, however, a disjunction between the Indian markets’ relative outperformance and underlying corporate earnings.

Corporate earnings for the March 2020 quarter suggest that India Inc has taken a bigger knock from the pandemic than their peers in North America and Western Europe. This shows in the Sensex’s underlying earnings per share (EPS), which track the combined net profits of the 30 companies that comprise the index. The index underlying EPS is down 7.6 per cent since the beginning of the current calendar year in line with corporate performance during the January-March 2020 quarter.

In contrast, the Dow Jones underlying EPS is down 5.2 per cent during the year so far, and it’s 5 per cent lower in the case of the Dax. The FTSE 100 and CAC 40, have, however reported a much bigger decline in underlying EPS due to the presence of commodity heavyweights in these two such as Royal Dutch Shell, BP, BHP, Total, and ArcelorMittal.

At the macro level, economists expect India’s GDP to do relatively well than in developed markets in the current fiscal year.

“According to most estimates, the GDP decline in India due to the pandemic will be lower than in developed markets by 50-100 basis points. But India’s growth recovery in FY22 will also be relatively low,” said Madan Sabnavis, head economist, CARE Ratings.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Continous increase in the prices of fuel has affected the sale of items in vegetable and fruit markets.
 
The transporters said to the reporter that due to the increase in the prices of petrol and diesel, the transportation cost has been also been hiked, resulting in making the food products costlier for the consumers.

"Since transportation costs have increased, the market has become costlier. Due to this, the sale has also decreased," a vegetable seller in the Azadpur market said.

Fuel prices were hiked by the oil marketing companies for the 21st day in a row on Saturday.

Petrol and diesel will now cost Rs 80.38 per litre and Rs 80.40 per litre respectively in Delhi.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has launched a Channel Selector App which will facilitate subscribers to view their TV subscription and modify the same.

The App facilitates subscribers to check their own subscription, view all channels and bouquets provided by their DTH/ Cable Operator.

TV subscribers can choose only the channels of interest and remove unwanted channels. They can get optimized solution and get best combination of user selected channels / bouquets in same price or in less price. Subscribers can also avail the facility to add channels in the applicable NCF (Network Capacity Fee).

The App allows users to modify existing subscription and check the real time status of their subscription request.

The App fetches the data of Subscriber from respective DPOs platform through APIs. The subscribers will be authenticated by OTP on their Registered Mobile Number (RMN). In case there is no registered mobile number of a subscriber with DPO, subscriber will get OTP on his/her TV screen.

The channel selector app is available on both Google Play Store and Apple Store. DTH and Cable TV Customers can see their subscription, modify subscription and set new subscription using this app. Another feature of the app is optimisation of the subscription before it is sent to DTH or cable operator, TRAI said.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Equity benchmark Sensex surged over 300 points in early trade on Friday tracking gains in index-heavyweights Infosys, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank amid positive cues from global markets.

The 30-share index was trading 355.04 points, or 1.02 per cent, higher at 35,197.14, while the NSE Nifty jumped 100.55 points, or 0.98 per cent, to 10,389.45. 

In the previous session, the BSE barometer closed 26.88 points, or 0.08 per cent, lower at 34,842.10, and the broader Nifty slipped 16.40 points, or 0.16 per cent, to close at 10,288.90. 

Foreign institutional investors turned net sellers on Thursday, offloading equities worth Rs 1,050.61 crore, provisional exchange data showed. 

According to traders, broad-based buying on the first day of the new monthly derivatives series and positive cues from global equity markets lifted benchmarks in opening session.

Stock exchanges on Wall Street jumped over 1 per cent in overnight session. 

Meanwhile, International oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 1.27 per cent to USD 41.57 per barrel.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Petrol price in the national capital on Friday crossed Rs 80 per litre mark, for the first time in more than two years, as oil companies continue to raise petrol and diesel prices in line with costs.

Oil companies hiked petrol price by 21 paise per litre and diesel by 17 paise a litre, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 80.13 per litre from Rs 79.92 while diesel rates were increased to Rs 80.19 a litre from Rs 80.02.

Rates have been increased across the country but the final retail selling price differs from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

In Mumbai, petrol is priced at Rs 86.91 per litre and diesel at Rs 78.51.

Petrol price has crossed Rs 80-mark for the first time in more than two years, while diesel rate is at an all-time high. Petrol had last crossed Rs 80 mark in September 2018.

While diesel price has been hiked for the 20th straight day, petrol price has been raised on 19 occasions in less than three weeks.

The cumulative increase since the oil companies started the cycle on June 7 now totals to Rs 8.87 for petrol and Rs 10.8 in diesel.

Diesel had for the first time become costlier than petrol in Delhi on Wednesday.

However, diesel is costlier than petrol only in the national capital where the state government had raised local sales tax or VAT on the fuel sharply last month. It costs less than petrol in other cities.

On June 7, oil companies restarted revising prices in line with costs after ending an 82-day hiatus during which they adjusted steep excise duty hikes by the government against the fall in benchmark international oil rates. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: As gold prices in Delhi crossed the Rs 50,000 mark for 10 grams, driving this surge is the frenzy in the gold trading markets in London, New York and Switzerland as record demands for delivery of gold are coming, unprecedented in recent times.
 
Gold prices zoomed to Rs 50,405 per 10 grams as the safe haven asset hit new highs.

In a blog, Ronan Manly, precious metals analyst with BullionStar has flagged some of the unsual going ons in the London and New York markets.

There have been large trading losses at bullion banks, for example HSBC, Manly said. The gold borrowing rates have been rising, bullion banks are scrambling to secure physical gold to send to New York, there have been sharp drops in COMEX gold futures open interest (OI), huge volumes of gold bar exports from Switzerland to New York, record gold inventory build-ups in COMEX approved vaults and record numbers of COMEX gold contracts moving to delivery (June and April).

Trend watcher Ritesh Jain said in a tweet, "Something which has not happened in the history A stunning 2.8 M oz of gold was marked for delivery in last month contract... equating 88 tonnes worth $4-5B. Somebody is really taking a big call that USD will be devalued significantly."

Jain has pointed out that the huge gold delivery is linked to a potential weakness on the anvil in the US dollar.

Manly said the COMEX 100 oz gold futures contract, along with the London OTC gold market, between them have a near monopoly on gold price discovery, and are the playground of the LBMA bullion banks such as JP Morgan, HSBC, Scotia, and Goldman Sachs which dominate and control both venues.

On the Comex, while the April deliveries of 31,666 contracts were unprecedented, that was just a warm up, something which became apparent when the intent for deliveries notices for the June contract started showing up from late May onwards, manly wrote.

On 29 May, first notice day for June deliveries, COMEX released a report showing that short holders had indicated that they were moving an incredible 28,375 contracts for delivery on the first day, which was nearly as many contracts as went through in the whole of April, itself a previous record month.

Manly said from there the contracts intending to deliver just piled, over 7,000 the next day, 6,000 the day after that, to a situation where there are now 52,010 June contracts lined up for delivery.

That's 5,201,000 ozs of gold or 161.7 tonnes. With June Open Interest now at tiny levels, it looks like 5.2 million ozs is now more or less the amounts of gold warrants which will be delivered for June.

With 5,201,000 ozs of gold (161.7 tonnes) involved in these delivery notices, this is interestingly just a few tonnes more than all the gold that was exported from Switzerland to the New York during March and April, i.e. 42.7 tonnes in March and 110.6 tonnes in April, for a combined 153.3 tonnes.

"Switzerland never normally exports gold to the US. In fact, the US usually exports gold to Switzerland gold to Switzerland ? to be refined. Why was 153.3 tonnes rushed into New York during late March and April. Were these COMEX deliveries known about in advance?" Manly wrote.

Experts say the rally in gold prices is primarily on account of new COVID cases globally. This in turn has dented hope of a quick global economic recovery and US Fed's comment on bleak employment outlook in the US.

The rupee depreciating against the US dollar is also helping rally in gold prices in India. "Gold prices have rallied over 15 per cent (YTD) and nearly 25 per cent up in the last 1 year. Expect gold to remain in focus till clarity emerges on a vaccine and new cases are under control," Nish Bhatt, Founder iamp; CEO, Millwood Kane International said.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Burning a hole in common man's pocket, petrol and diesel prices were hiked for the 19th consecutive day in the National Capital on Thursday. 

Higher by 14 paise over its Wednesday price, diesel has been priced at Rs 80.02 per litre while petrol is retailing at Rs 79.92 a litre after 16 paise surge. 

The spiralling cost of fuel has angered the citizens with the principal opposition -- Indian National Congress -- criticising the Centre over it. The party has announced a mass protest on June 29 against the unprecedented rise , during which Congress workers will sit on a two-hour 'dharna' from 1000 hrs at every district headquarter.

Later, it will also hold a massive online campaign i.e. "Speak-Up on Petroleum Price hike". Historically, the prices of petrol and diesel in India was regulated, i.e. the government was involved in the deciding the retail price. The government deregulated the pricing of petrol in 2010 and diesel in 2014. This allowed oil marketing companies to determine the price of these products, and revise them every fortnight.

But this time, the unprecedented crisis triggered by the novel coronavirus pandemic, changed the demand of fuel during the lockdown period. 

So in a bid to make up for the losses incurred during 82 days of nationwide lockdown, when the demand for petrol and diesel plunged in the country, OMCs have been daily increasing fuel prices in the country since June 7.
 

IMF revises down global economy forecast
NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised down its forecast for the global economy amid mounting COVID-19 fallout, warning of record debt levels in both advanced and emerging markets and developing economies.
 
Global output is projected to decline by 4.9 per cent in 2020, 1.9 percentage points below the IMF's April forecast, followed by a growth at 5.4 per cent in 2021, indicating a grimmer economic outlook as the pandemic continues to ripple across the globe, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Compared to our April World Economic Outlook forecast, we are now projecting a deeper recession in 2020 and a slower recovery in 2021," IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath said in a virtual news conference on Wednesday, noting that these projections imply a cumulative loss to the global economy over two years of over $12 trillion from the crisis.

"The downgrade from April reflects worse than anticipated outcomes in the first half of this year, an expectation of more persistent social distancing into the second half of this year, and damage to supply potential," Gopinath said.

The multilateral lender is projecting a synchronized deep downturn in 2020 for both advanced economies, and emerging market and developing economies, noting that over 95 per cent of countries are projected to have negative per capita income growth this year.

Advanced economies are projected to contract 8 percent this year, 1.9 percentage points lower than the forecast in the April WEO, according to the updated report.

The US economy is expected to shrink 8 per cent, the Euro Area is on track to contract 10.2 per cent, and the Japanese economy could decline 5.8 per cent.

Emerging markets and developing economies, meanwhile, are projected to shrink by 3 per cent this year, 2 percentage points below the April WEO forecast, the report showed.

Brazil and Mexico are projected to contract by 9.1 and 10.5 per cent respectively, while India's economy could see a contraction of 4.5 per cent.

The latest report also showed that global growth is projected at 5.4 per cent in 2021, which would leave the 2021 GDP some 6.5 percentage points lower than in the pre-COVID-19 projections made in January 2020.

"The unprecedented global sweep of this crisis hampers recovery prospects for export-dependent economies and jeopardizes the prospects for income convergence between developing and advanced economies," Gopinath said.

The Chief Economist also noted a high degree of uncertainty surrounds this forecast, with both upside and downside risks to the outlook.

On the upside, better news on vaccines and treatments, as well as additional policy support, could lead to a quicker resumption of economic activity, she said.

On the downside, further waves of infections could reverse increased mobility and spending, and rapidly tighten financial conditions, triggering debt distress, Gopinath said, adding that geopolitical and trade tensions could damage fragile global relationships at a time when trade is projected to collapse by around 12 per cent.

Warning that the crisis will also generate medium-term challenges, Gopinath said that public debt this year is projected to reach the highest level in recorded history in relation to GDP, in both advanced and emerging markets and developing economies.

Over 75 per cent of countries were now reopening at the same time as the pandemic was intensifying in many emerging market and developing economies, and several countries have started to recover, Gopinath told reporters.

"However, in the absence of a medical solution, the strength of the recovery is highly uncertain and the impact across sectors and countries highly uneven," she said.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Equity benchmark Sensex advanced over 200 points in early trade on Wednesday tracking gains in index-heavyweights Reliance Industries and ITC amid sustained foreign fund inflows.

After touching a high of 35,679.74, the 30-share index was trading 220.35 points, or 0.62 per cent, up at 35,650.78. 

Similarly, NSE Nifty rose 56.45 points, or 0.54 per cent, to 10,527.45. 

In the previous session, the BSE barometer rallied 519.11 points, or 1.49 per cent, to close at 35,430.43; while the NSE Nifty soared 159.80 points, or 1.55 per cent, to end at 10,471. 

According to analysts, news of disengagement between India and China has relieved participants, after days of heated arguments. 

Further, positive sentiment in global markets and unabated foreign fund inflows also supported domestic equities, they said. 

International oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.52 per cent to USD 42.41 per barrel.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Petrol price on Tuesday was hiked by 20 paise per litre and diesel by 55 paise as the oil companies increased prices for the 17th day in a row that took the cumulative increase to a steep Rs 8.5 and Rs 10.01 per litre, respectively.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 79.76 per litre from Rs 79.56, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 79.40 a litre from Rs 78.55, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or value added tax.

The 17th daily increase in rates, since oil companies on June 7 restarted revising prices in line with costs after ending an 82-day hiatus in rate revision, has taken diesel prices to fresh highs. Petrol price too is at a two-year high. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Covid-19 pandemic is likely to bring down India’s per capita income (PCI) by 5.4 per cent in the financial year 2020-21 (FY21) to Rs 1.43 lakh from Rs 1.52 lakh in FY20, suggests the latest report by the economic wing of State Bank of India (SBI). This decline in PCI is higher than the nominal GDP decline of 3.8 per cent, the report says.

Among states, Delhi, Chandigarh, and Gujarat will be the worst hit with PCI falling 15.4 per cent, 13.9 per cent and 11.6 per cent, respectively in FY21, the report says. At the other end of the spectrum are Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, and Manipur that are likely to witness the least drop in PCI during this period.

“Our results indicate that at all India level, PCI will decline by 5.4 per cent in FY21 to Rs 1.43 lakh. This decline in PCI is higher than the nominal GDP decline of 3.8 per cent. Globally also, the decline in per capita GDP of 6.2 per cent in 2020 is significantly greater than the 5.2 per cent decline in global GDP,” wrote Dr. Soumya Kanti Ghosh, group chief economic adviser, State Bank of India.

Rich states (states whose per capita income is greater than all India average), the report says, will be most affected in PCI terms. For instance, in Delhi and Chandigarh, the decline in PCI is almost thrice than the decline at all India level.

“A total of 8 states and Union Territories are supposed to witness a decline in PCI in double digits in FY21 and that is most alarming. These states constitute as much as 47 per cent of India’s GDP. This is due to the fact that these are the urban areas (and red zones also) where lockdown was implemented most severely. The closure of markets, shopping complexes, and malls adversely affected the income of these areas. Even after the opening of markets (in a staggered manner), the number of customers is still 70-80 per cent less than the normal times," Ghosh said.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Petrol price on Monday was hiked by 33 paise per litre and diesel by 58 paise to take retail rates to record high as the oil companies increased prices for the 16th day in a row.

In 16 days, petrol price has been hiked by Rs 8.3 per litre and diesel by Rs 9.46 - a record increase in rates of the fuel in any fortnight since pricing was deregulated in April 2002.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 79.56 per litre from Rs 79.23 while diesel rates were increased to Rs 78.55 a litre from Rs 78.27, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or value added tax (VAT).

The increase in rates since June 7 is the highest in any fortnight. When petrol and diesel pricing was deregulated in April 2002, oil companies revised rates every fortnight in line with the cost. They switched to daily price revision in May 2017 to allow cost to reflect instantaneously in retail rates.

According to pricing data, the maximum rates have increased in any fortnight was Rs 4-5 per litre.

The 16th daily increase in rates, since oil companies on June 7 restarted revising prices in line with costs after ending an 82-day hiatus in rate revision, has taken diesel prices to fresh highs. Petrol price too is at a two-year high.

Prior to the current rally, the peak diesel rates had touched was on October 16, 2018, when prices had climbed to Rs 75.69 per litre in Delhi. The highest-ever petrol price was on October 4, 2018, when rates soared to Rs 84 a litre in Delhi.

When rates had peaked in October 2018, the government had cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 per litre each. State-owned oil companies were asked to absorb another Rs 1 a litre to help cut retail rates by Rs 2.50 a litre.

Oil companies had quickly recouped the Re 1 and the government in July 2019 raised excise duty by Rs 2 a litre.

Taxes make up for nearly two-third of the retail selling price. As much as Rs 50.69 per litre, or 64 per cent, in petrol price is due to taxes - Rs 32.98 is the central excise duty and Rs 17.71 is local sales tax or VAT.

Over 63 per cent of the retail selling price of diesel is taxes. Out of the total tax incidence of Rs 49.43 per litre, Rs 31.83 is by way of central excise and Rs 17.60 is VAT.

In Mumbai, petrol price has gone up from Rs Rs 86.04 per litre to Rs 86.36 on Monday. Diesel rates have increased to Rs 77.24 a litre from Rs 76.69 a litre, according to the price notification.

The 82-day freeze in rates this year was imposed in mid-March soon after the government hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel to shore up additional finances.

The government on March 14 hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 3 per litre each and then again on May 5 by a record Rs 10 per litre in case of petrol and Rs 13 on diesel. The two hikes gave the government Rs 2 lakh crore in additional tax revenues.

Oil PSUs Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL), instead of passing on the excise duty hikes to customers, adjusted them against the fall in the retail rates that was warranted because of fall in international oil prices to two decade low.

International oil prices have since rebounded and oil firms are now adjusting retail rates in line with them. 
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]:  Equity benchmark Sensex jumped over 400 points in early trade on Monday led by gains in index-heavyweights Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and HDFC, amid positive global cues and foreign fund inflow.

After touching a high of 35,170.08 in early trade, the 30-share index was trading 421.66 points, or 1.21 per cent, higher at 35,153.39. Similarly, NSE Nifty surged 122.95 points, or 1.20 per cent, to 10,367.35. 

Bajaj Finserv was the top gainer in the pack, rising around 7 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Auto, IndusInd Bank and ICICI Bank. 

Reliance Industries jumped over 2 per cent, trading at its record high of Rs 1,804.10. On the other hand, TCS, ONGC, M&M and Infosys were among the laggards. 

In the previous session, the BSE barometer settled 523.68 points, or 1.53 per cent, higher at 34,731.73, and the broader Nifty surged 152.75 points, or 1.51 per cent, to 10,244.40. 

On a net basis, foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 1,237 crore in the capital market on Friday, provisional exchange data showed. 

According to analysts, besides stock-specific action, fresh foreign fund inflows buoyed market sentiment here. 

On the global front, bourses in Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo were trading with gains in early deals, while those in Hong Kong were in the red. 

International oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.02 per cent to USD 42.20 per barrel.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]:  The rupee on Monday appreciated 17 paise to close at 76.03 (provisional) against the US dollar in line with positive equity markets amid sustained foreign fund inflows.

Besides, a weak US dollar against major global currencies also aided the rupee's upward movement, forex dealers said.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened strong at 76.16 and it further rushed to touch a high of 75.98 during the trade.

The domestic currency finally settled at 76.03 against the US dollar, registering a rise of 17 paise over its previous close of 76.20.

On the equities front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 442.58 points higher at 35,174.31 and broader Nifty rose 123.10 points to 10,367.50.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market, as they bought equity shares worth Rs 1,237 crore in the previous trading session on Friday, according to provisional exchange data.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.31 per cent to 97.31.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.21 per cent to USD 42.28 per barrel.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: With the market capitalisation of Reliance Industries (RIL) crossing the Rs 11-trillion mark on Friday, its Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani has become the ninth richest billionaire globally on the Forbes Real-time Billionaires List with a net worth of $64.6 billion. Ambani is ahead of Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the 10th and 11th richest, respectively, and behind Zara founder Amancio Ortega.

In March 2020, Ambani was ranked 21st on Forbes’ annual billionaire list, with a net worth of $36.8 billion, while Page and Brin were 13th and 14th. Since then, Ambani has gone ahead of Walmart’s Walton family members, Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, and Alibaba founder Jack Ma.

RIL’s shares hit a new all-time high of Rs 1,788.60 on the BSE on Friday before ending at Rs 1,759.50 (up over 6 per cent) following Ambani’s statement on Friday that the company had become net debt-free ahead of its March 2021 deadline.

As of March 2020, Reliance had a net debt of Rs 1.61 trillion. The company managed to turn itself net debt-free after raising Rs 1.68 trillion via a 24.7 per cent stake sale in Jio Platforms and the rights issue.

In the past two months, Jio Platforms, the company’s digital services subsidiary, has raised Rs 1.15 trillion, offering a 24.7 per cent stake to a clutch of global investors, including Facebook, marquee private equity firms, and sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The company has included the entire proceeds of the Rs 53,124-crore rights issue, the biggest share offer in the country, in its calculation. However, it has received only 25 per cent of the issue proceeds (Rs 13,281 crore) in the ongoing financial year; the remaining 75 per cent would come in FY22.

When asked about actual fund infusion, an RIL executive said the company had signed definitive agreements for stake sale in Jio Platforms and shareholders had committed to subscribe to the rights issue. The fund infusion would happen after required approvals and in accordance with the timelines, he added. Along with the proposed stake sale in the petro-retail joint venture to BP, the funds raised would be in excess of Rs 1.75 trillion, the company said.

An IPO of the retail business and Jio is planned in five years, it added. As of March 2020, the company had a gross debt of Rs 3.36 trillion, and cash and cash equivalents of Rs 1.75 trillion.

“Exceeding the expectations of our shareholders and all other stakeholders, again and yet again, is in the very DNA of Reliance. Therefore, on the proud occasion of becoming a net debt-free company, I wish to assure them that Reliance in its golden decade will set even more ambitious growth goals, and achieve them,” Ambani said in a statement.

“Reliance turning net-debt free ahead of schedule is a positive catalyst and will help sustain the valuation. The Rs 1.68 trillion fundraising gives the company ability to invest and experiment in new business categories. No other Indian corporate is so well placed to tap new opportunities,” said Rajiv Sharma, head of research, SBICAP Securities.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: The benchmark index of Bombay Stock Exchange posted a huge gain of 950.84 points or 2.81 per cent, breaching 34k level to 34,731.73 in a week under review on positive global cues.

Key indices ignored the potential fallout of India-China tensions and rising number of virus infections. 

The gains were led by index heavyweight Reliance Industries. Nifty too gained 271.50 points or 2.72 per cent to settle at 10,244.40. BSE Mid-Cap rose 203.69 or 1.62 per cent to settle at 12,803.84. BSE Small cap soared 431.84 points or 3.65% to settle at 12,277.11.

The Sensex tumbled down by 552.09 points on Monday to settle at 33,228.80. Nifty 50 lost 159.20 points to settle at 9,813.70. On Tuesday, amid high volatility as strong global cues Sensex gained 376.42 points to settle at 33,605.22. Nifty rose 100.30 points to settle at 9,914.

Following a tension between India and China on Ladakh border, the Sensex, on Wednesday, declined 97.30 points to 33,507.92. Nifty too fell by 32.85 points to settle at 9,881.15. On Thursday the Sensex jumped 700.13 points to settle at 34,208.05. Nifty rallied 210.50 points to settle at 10091.65.

On Friday, the market ended with strong gains supported by positive global shares. Sensex jumped 523.68 points to settle at 34,731.73. Nifty rallied 152.75 points to settle at 10,244.40. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]:  Billionaire Mukesh Ambani on Friday said his flagship firm Reliance Industries is now net-debt free after a record Rs 1.69 lakh crore fund raising in under two months.

In a statement, Ambani said Reliance raised Rs 1.15 lakh crore from global tech investors by selling a little less than a quarter of the firm's digital arm, Jio Platforms Ltd, and another Rs 53,124.20 crore through a rights issue.

The company had a net-debt of Rs 1.61 lakh crore as on March 31, 2020.

"I have fulfilled my promise to the shareholders by making Reliance net-debt free much before our original schedule of March 31, 2021," he said.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) has decided to terminate the contract with Beijing National Railway Research and Design Institute of Signal and Communication Group limited. In a statement, DFCCIL said, the contract has been terminated due to poor performance of the company.
 
In 2016, the Chinese company had won the contract to install signalling system and telecommunications work in over 400 kilometre of rail lines of kanpur Deendayal Upadhyaya section.
 
DFCCIL said, despite the passage of four years there is only 20 per cent progress in the work. Non availability of their engineer and authorised personnels at site was serious constraint. The physical work also could not progress as they have no tie up with local agencies.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The nationwide clamour for boycott of Chinese goods is getting louder amid the Ladakh face-off, with traders urging the Centre to direct e-commerce firms to restrict the sale of items from the Dragon land.

Of the total import from China, retail traders sell goods worth around USD 17 billion, mostly comprising toys, household items, mobiles, electric and electronic goods and cosmetics among other things, which could possibly be replaced by Indian products, a national trading body said.

"We, at 'Federation of All India Vyapar Mandal', are advising our members to clear their stocks of Chinese products and refrain from placing fresh orders. We are also requesting the government to restrict e-commerce companies from selling Chinese products," V K Bansal, the association's general secretary, told PTI.

Sushil Poddar, the president of the Confederation of West Bengal Traders Association, said its members have been told to shun trading in Chinese goods as much as possible.

Another national traders' body, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), has decided to step up its movement against the boycott of Chinese goods, under its campaign 'Bhartiya Samaan-Hamara Abhimaan'.

It released a list of over 450 broad categories of commodities, comprising 3,000 Chinese products.

CAIT has also written an open letter to several celebrities, asking them to stop endorsing made-in China products.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Petrol price on Wednesday was hiked by 55 paise per litre and diesel by 60 paise a litre, marking the 11th consecutive day of increase in rates that now totals to Rs 6.02 for petrol and Rs 6.4 for diesel.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 77.28 per litre from Rs 76.73, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 75.79 a litre from Rs 75.19, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

This is the 11th straight day of increase in rates since oil companies on June 7 restarted revising prices in line with costs, after ending an 82-day hiatus in rate revision.

The freeze in rates was imposed in mid-March soon after the government hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel to shore up additional finances.

Oil PSUs Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) instead of passing on the excise duty hikes to customers adjusted them against the fall in the retail rates that was warranted because of fall in international oil prices.

In 11 hikes, petrol price has gone up by Rs 6.02 per litre and diesel by Rs 6.4 a litre.

Petrol price hiked by 55 paise/litre, diesel by 60 paise; 11th straight day of increase
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: India received $51 billion in foreign investment in 2019 and was the world's 9th largest recipient of foreign direct investments (FDI) in 2019, according to a report by the UN's trade body.

The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said in a report on Monday that a lower but positive economic growth in India in the post-Covid-19 pandemic period and India's large market will continue to attract market-seeking investments to the country.

The World Investment Report 2020 by the UNCTAD said that India was the 9th largest recipient of FDI in 2019, with $51 billion dollars of inflows during the year, an increase from the 42 billion dollars of FDI received in 2018, when India ranked 12 among the top 20 host economies in the world.

In the developing Asia region, India was among the top five host economies for FDI.

The report said that global FDI flows are forecast to decrease by up to 40 per cent in 2020, from their 2019 value of $1.54 trillion. This would be for the first time since 2005 that global FDI falls below the $1 trillion mark.

Foreign direct investment to developing economies in Asia, hit hard by the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic, are projected to decline by up to 45 per cent in 2020.

In South Asia, FDI is also expected to contract sharply in 2020.

In India, the biggest FDI host in the subregion, with more than 70 per cent of inward stock, the number of greenfield investment announcements declined by four per cent in the first quarter, and Merger & Acquisitions contracted by 58.

However, the country's economy could prove the most resilient in the region. FDI to India has been on a long-term growth trend. Positive, albeit lower, economic growth in the post-pandemic period and India's large market will continue to attract market-seeking investments to the country, the report said.

It added that the magnitude of the logistical challenges during both the lockdown and the recovery remain a big downside risk for FDI in the medium term for India.

The digital economy and real estate and property development, two industries that attracted growing FDI before the pandemic, could evolve in different directions, the report said adding that the digital economy will likely see continued investments, real estate and property development will face significant pressures from slowing demand and financing constraints.

India's most sought-after industries, which include professional services and the digital economy, could see a faster rebound as global venture capital firms and technology companies continue to show interest in India's market through acquisitions, the report said.

The report noted that investors concluded deals worth over $650 million in the first quarter of 2020, mostly in the digital sector in India.

Large deals in energy were also concluded, such as the acquisition by Total (France) of Adani Gas (India), valued at $800 million.

FDI flows to South Asia increased by 10 per cent to $57 billion in 2019, the growth driven largely by a rise in investment in India, which further relaxed investment barriers in mid-2019 (including in retail, insurance and downstream coal processing).

FDI to India, the largest South Asian recipient, increased 20 per cent to $51 billion, sustaining the country's upward FDI trend, the report said.

Most of the investments were in the information and communication technology and the construction industry.

ICT investments into India have evolved from information technology services for global companies to the rapidly growing local digital ecosystem, with many local and regional digital champions, particularly in e-commerce (such as Flipkart and Zomato), attracting international investment, the report said.

A number of mega deals also contributed to M&A activity. These included investments in internet companies, which amounted to $2.7 billion,14 as well as the $7 billion acquisition of Essar Steel (India) by a Japanese-Indian joint venture.

Outflows from South Asia grew 6 per cent, driven by investment from India. Yet they remained small, representing only one per cent of global outflows.

Companies in India are the subregion's largest investors, with more than 90 per cent of outflows in 2019.

Investments from India are expected to decline in 2020, with the largest MNEs revising their earnings down by 25 per cent in early 2020 due to the impact of the pandemic, it added.

The report said that flows to developing Asia will be severely affected due to their vulnerability to supply chain disruptions, the weight of global value chains-intensive FDI in the region and global pressures to diversify production locations.

In 2019, FDI flows to the region declined by 5 per cent, to $474 billion, despite gains in South- East Asia, China and India.

The report stressed that global FDI flows will be under severe pressure this year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, dropping well below the trough reached during the global financial crisis and undoing the already lackluster growth in international investment over the past decade.

Flows to developing countries will be hit especially hard, as export-oriented and commodity-linked investments are among the most seriously affected.

The outlook is highly uncertain. Prospects depend on the duration of the health crisis and on the effectiveness of policies mitigating the pandemic's economic effects, said UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Wholesale prices in the country witnessed a deflation of 3.21 per cent in May due to sharp decline in prices of fuel and power, even as food articles turned expensive.

"The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly Wholesale Price Index (WPI), stood at (-) 3.21 per cent (provisional) for May 2020 as compared to 2.79 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year," the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.

Inflation in food articles during May stood at 1.13 per cent, as against 2.55 per cent in April. In fuel and power basket, deflation stood at 19.83 per cent in May, as against 10.12 per cent in the previous month.

Manufactured products witnessed a deflation of 0.42 per cent in May.

Due to the nationwide lockdown imposed since March 25, the ministry had released truncated WPI inflation data for April, with figures of food, primary articles and fuel and power.

However, it has advised its field offices to collect price data through electronic means and the final index for the month would be released next month.

"Price data is collected from selected institutional sources and industrial establishments spread across the country online through web based portal maintained by the National Informatics Centre (NIC)," the ministry said.

The final print of March WPI inflation stood at 0.42 per cent as compared to its provisional levels of 1 per cent reported on April 14, 2020, the ministry said.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday said that till day 21 of the resumption of domestic flights in the country, there were 714 departures and 714 arrivals, and the numbers continue to grow.

"Our airports continue to function smoothly. On Day 21, 14 June 2020 till 2359 hours. Departures 714 and 72,583 passengers handled. Arrivals 714 and 72,439 passengers handled. Total movements 1,428 with 1,45,022 passenger footfalls at airports. The total number of flyers is 72,583," Puri tweeted.

All scheduled commercial passenger flights were suspended in India on March 25 after the Central government imposed a lockdown to contain the spread of COVID19. Domestic flights in the country resumed operations from May 25.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Maruti Suzuki Alto has been crowned India’s best-selling car for 16 years in a row, the company said on Monday.

Launched in September 2000, Alto became India's bestselling car in 2004.

“The unparalleled mass acceptance of Alto has helped it emerge as the largest selling model in the highly competitive passenger car segment for the last 16 consecutive years,” Maruti said.

 “Consistently setting new benchmarks in the Indian auto Industry, Alto is the undisputed leader in India for 16 years in a row establishing its dominance in the competitive entry segment. owing to its unparalleled performance, compact design, easy manoeuvrability, high fuel-efficiency, affordability and timely convenience and safety related upgrades. Backed by a strong legacy, Alto continues to appeal to customers across the length and breadth of the country, with 76% customers choosing it as their 1st car,” Shashank Srivastava, Executive Director (Marketing & Sales), Maruti Suzuki India Limited said.

Alto was India’s first entry level car to become BS6 compliant and offers a fuel efficiency of 22.05 km/l for Petrol and 31.56 km/kg for CNG. The standard safety features in the new Alto include driver side airbag, ABS and EBD, reverse parking sensor, high speed alert system and seat belt reminder for both driver and co-driver. It also complies with latest crash and pedestrian safety regulation.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Petrol price on Saturday was hiked by 59 paise per litre and diesel by 58 paise as oil companies for the seventh day in a row adjusted retail rates in line with costs since ending an 82-day hiatus in rate revision.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 75.16 per litre from Rs 74.57, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 73.39 a litre from Rs 72.81, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

This is the seventh daily increase in rates in a row since oil companies on Sunday restarted revising prices in line with costs, after ending an 82-day hiatus.

In seven hikes, petrol price has gone up by Rs 3.9 per litre and diesel by Rs 4.

The freeze in rates was imposed in mid-March soon after the government hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel to shore up additional finances.

Oil PSUs Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL), instead of passing on the excise duty hikes to customers, adjusted them against the fall in the retail rates that was warranted because of a decline in international oil prices. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: India's foreign exchange reserves have surged by a massive 8.22 billion dollars to cross the half-a-trillion mark for the first time. The reserves rose to 501.70 billion dollars for the week ended 5th of June, helped by a whopping rise in foreign currency assets. A RBI press release informed that foreign currency assets, a major part of the overall reserves, rose by 8.42 billion dollars to 463.63 billion dollars. 
 
In the previous week, the reserves had advanced by 3.44 billion dollars to end at 493.48 billion dollars. Total value of the gold reserves, however, continued to decline. Gold reserves declined by 329 million dollars to end at 32.352 billion dollars. India's special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund went up by 10 million dollars to 1.44 billion dollars, while the country's reserve position also rose by 120 million dollars to 4.28 billion dollars.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday that no late fees will be levied on registered entities with nil GST return filing between July 2017 and January 2020. 

For small taxpayers, with turnover of upto Rs  5 crore, for the supplies effected in February, March and April 2020, the rate of interest for late furnishing of return has been reduced to 9 per cent from 18 per cent per annum. 

In other words, small taxpayers will not be charged any interest till the notified dates for relief and thereafter 9 per cent interest will be charged till September 31. 2020. Ms Sitharaman chaired the 40th GST Council meeting via video conferencing. In a virtual media briefing, she said GSTR-3B late filing fee is capped at Rs 500. 

As a measure to clean up pendency in return filing, late fee for non-furnishing Form GSTR-3B for the tax period from July 2017 to January 2020 has been reduced, she said. She also said in July, there will be a meeting to discuss exclusively on agenda point including compensation cess to be given to states. Dates will be fixed subsequently, she added.

Minister of State Anurag Thakur and Finance Ministers of States and UTs were also present in the meeting. 

Ms Sitharaman said,'Footwear and fertiliser are other two sectors where we are looking at correction of inverted duty structure.'
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Equity benchmark Sensex recovered over 1,400 points from the day's lowest to close 242.52 higher on a highly-volatile day on Friday after a sharp selloff in early trade. 

After plunging 1,190.27 points to hit a low of 32,348.10, Sensex rebounded to settle 242.52 points, or 0.72%, higher at 33,780.89.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty rose 70.90 points, or 0.72%, to close at 9,972.90 after hitting an intra-day low of 9,544.35.

The gains in the Sensex pack was led by M&M, Bajaj Finance, Hero Motocorp and HDFC twins. ONGC, Tech Mahindra, PowerGrid, Infosys, Kotak Bank and TCS were among laggards. 

In the Nifty pack, ZEEL, ONGC, Tech Mahindra and PowerGrid were among the laggards while M&M, Infratel, Bajaj Finance, Hero Motocorp were the top gainers.

According to experts, the market witnessed a sharp fall in the opening session due to the negative cues from Wall Street and rising coronavirus cases in India. 

Global investors sentiments were hit after the US Federal Reserve on Thursday indicated that the US economy will shrink 6.5% in 2020 and the unemployment rate will be 9.3% at year's end. 

The number of coronavirus cases across the world has crossed 75 lakh and the death toll has topped 4.21 lakh. India on Friday recorded the sharpest one-day spike in coronavirus cases with the tally rising to 2.97 lakh while the death toll jumping to 8,498. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre to take a stand on refunding by airlines on cancellation of tickets during the lockdown, and suggested that the airline operators must extend the credit period for two years.

A bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M.R. Shah suggested that a credit note by airlines must have a life of at least 2 years, and for any route, if that is the way out.

The top court also emphasised that the Centre must take a stand on this matter. The bench asked the Centre and airlines to sit together and devise modalities on the ways to refund the passengers for cancellation of their tickets during the lockdown.

The observation from the top court came on a plea filed by Pravasi Legal Cell through advocate Jose Abraham. The plea urged the top court to declare non-refunding of the amount of the tickets by airlines as "illegal and violative of the Civil Aviation Requirement" issued by the DGCA.

The petitioner contended that airlines, instead of providing full refund of the amount collected for cancelled tickets, are providing a credit shell, valid up to one year.

Abraham said Solicitor General Tushar Mehta suggested if the person wants to change the original destination of the journey, then it should be allowed. During the hearing, a counsel suggested that the DGCA should call a meeting of airlines to discuss this issue.

The top court said it will list the matter in the third week of July.

The plea cited the Ministry of Civil Aviation's (MCA) April 16 office memorandum, which directed all airline operators to refund the full amount collected for all tickets booked during the first phase of the lockdown period, from March 25 to April 14, for domestic and international air travel.

The MCA memorandum said if a passenger seeks refund during the first lockdown phase for travel during the second lockdown period (from April 15 to May 3), still the airline has to refund the full amount without levying any cancellation charges.

The plea contended that the Office Memorandum leaves out the vast majority of passengers who had booked tickets before the flights operations were banned, and thus indirectly approves the practice of the airlines providing credit shell for booking affected before the lockdown, though the same clearly violates the refund rules of the DGCA.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said, the Public Sector Banks have disbursed 12,200 crore rupees to the States and Union Territories so far. She also said, PSBs have sanctioned loans worth 24 thousand 260 crore rupees under the 100 per cent Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme including the disbursed amount.

Maximum disbursements were made by the State Bank of India followed by Canara Bank. SBI disbursed more than seven thousand five hundred crore rupees whereas Canara bank disbursed 814 crore rupees. Public Sector Banks have disbursed maximum amounts to Tamil Nadu followed by Uttar Pradesh.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that as the country goes through challenging times amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, the government and the industry need to take bold decisions to grow rather than taking a conservative stance.

Addressing the 95th annual plenary session of the Indian Chamber of Commerce through video conference, Modi outlined the reform measures undertaken under the 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' economic package.

Talking of the "bold" reforms the government has taken and what the country's business environment requires, Modi said it is time to move from "command and control" mode to "plug and play" mode, implying the minimal requirement of government intervention in businesses.

He said that the country needs to make this pandemic a turning point for the country and make itself self reliant. India should be able to produce every product that it imports, Modi said.

The Prime Minister further said that the industry needs to have a globally competitive domestic supply chain.

Referring to the much talked about relationship of environment, livelihood and industries, Modi said that "people, planet and profit" should be the focus of business, which according to him can be balanced.

Citing the creation of the International Solar Alliance as a "great opportunity", he noted that Indian companies should invest in the research and development (R&D) for solar equipment manufacturing and solar battery storage which would help companies cater to all the three aspects of "people, planet and profit".

According to him, timely investment in R&D for solar rechargeable batteries would be the next big thing and will give India the edge in this emerging sector.

He also asked the Kolkata-based industry body to come up with investments in the segment of jute bags and other accessories as the country moves towards a plastic-free future.

Talking of the banking reforms taken by the government in the past few years, he said that those considered "have-nots" also have bank accounts now under the Jan Dhan scheme.

Prime Minister also acknowledged the contribution of the Indian Chamber of Commerce for developing the manufacturing sector in the east and north east India.

Asking the industry to move ahead and invest more to achieve growth, he assured them of government's commitment to support businesses and corporates.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: The BSE Sensex on Wednesday jumped by 290.36 pts to close positive at 34,247.05 on fresh buying in Realty, Bankex, Finance and Energy stocks. 

The nifty of national stock exchange too jumped by 69.50 pts to 10,116.15. The nifty registered days high and low at 10,148.75 and 10,036.85 respectively.

Tumbling down by 413 pts on Tuesday, the day opened in green, as the Sensex was up by 83 pts to 34,029.14. It rallied by 394 pts to 34,350.17 days high before closing at 34,247.05, advancing by 290.36 pts from its previous close. 

Meanwhile, it fell by 93 pts to 33,949.46, days low. The sectoral indices like Realty, Bankex, Finance, Energy and Health-Care lifted the market. In scrips, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Bank, Reliance industries, HDFC, Axis Bank and SBI gave support to rise the market.

However, selling in Auto, Metal, Oil and Gas and Capital Goods capped from further gains, broker informed. Scrips include HeroMoto Corp, Bajaj Auto, Tata Steel, ONGC and Titan declined today.

The Mid cap rose by 0.81 pc and small cap by 0.92 pc. In 30 scrips, 17 advanced while 13 declined.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: After a contraction in the current financial year, India's economy is forecast to bounce back with a sharp growth rate of 9.5 per cent next year provided it avoids further deterioration in financial sector health, Fitch Ratings said on Wednesday. The coronavirus pandemic will lead to shrinking of the already slowing economy in 2020-21 that started in April. Fitch Ratings forecast a 5 per cent contraction in the GDP in the ongoing financial year.

"The pandemic has drastically weakened India's growth outlook and laid bare the challenges caused by a high public-debt burden," Fitch Ratings said in its APAC Sovereign Credit Overview released on Wednesday. "After the global crisis, India's GDP growth is likely to return to higher levels than 'BBB' category peers, provided it avoids further deterioration in financial sector health as a result of the pandemic," it said forecasting a 9.5 per cent real GDP growth next year.

India on March 25 instituted the world's largest lockdown to combat the novel coronavirus, halting almost all economic activities. The lockdown has been repeatedly extended, although some restrictions have been eased from May 4 in zones with fewer infections.

"However, new cases have continued to rise," it said. To support the economy, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has eased monetary policy by cutting policy rates and providing liquidity through long-term repo operations. Prudential requirements for banks have also been eased to free up liquidity for lending.

"The government has announced stimulus measures amounting to 10 per cent of GDP, of which the fiscal component of about 1 per cent of GDP is significantly less than many of India's peers," the rating agency said. General government debt already stood at 70 per cent of GDP in 2019-20, well above the 'BBB' rating median of 42 per cent. India's ratio of public debt/GDP is expected to rise to 84 per cent of GDP in 2020-21 – up from a forecast of 71 per cent when Fitch Ratings affirmed the 'BBB-' rating in December 2019.

"This is based on our expectation of slower economic growth in FY21 and wider fiscal deficits, assuming that the government's fiscal response remains restrained," it said. "The credit profile is strengthened by relative external resilience stemming from solid foreign-reserve buffers, but weakened by some lagging structural factors, including governance indicators and GDP per capita." Listing positives for India, Fitch Ratings said there was greater confidence in a sustained reduction in general government debt over the medium term to a level closer to the 'BBB' peer median. 

Also, there is a possibility of higher sustained investment and growth rates without the creation of macroeconomic imbalances, such as from successful structural reform implementation. Among the negatives was a material increase in the fiscal deficit, causing the gross general government debt/GDP ratio to be placed on a sustained upward trajectory. Other negative was loose macroeconomic policy settings that cause a return of persistently high inflation and widening current-account deficits, which would increase the risk of external funding stress, it said.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: As a massive fire broke out in a leaking gas well in Assam on Tuesday, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan said that the Centre and Oil India Ltd (OIL) are committed to the safety and well-being of people of the state.

Taking to Twitter, the minister said that he spoke to Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and has assured him of the centre's commitment.

"@dpradhanbjp assured CM Assam @sarbanandsonwal that MoPNG and @OilIndiaLimited are committed for the safety and well-being of people of Assam," he said in a tweet.

The gas leak in Assam's Tinsukia district started on May 27 at a well site of Oil India Ltd, post which efforts have been made to plug the leakage which did not result in much success.

In another tweet, Pradhan also said that a team of Oil India Ltd led by its CMD have been at the site from day one of the leakage to control the situation. Further, crisis management team of ONGC is also on the ground to further emergency response, he said.

Experts from a Singapore-based firm ALERT also arrived on the spot and are trying to plug the leakage.

The state government, on the other hand, has sought the Indian Air Force's help to douse the blaze. Chief Minister Sonowal talked to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh seeking help from the IAF, officials said.

An Oil India statement said that the well caught fire even while the clearing operations were on at the site.

The oil well at Baghjan in Tinsukia, around 550 km east of Guwahati, has been leaking gas for the past 14 days, causing enormous damage to the region's wildlife, wetlands and biodiversity.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Snapping a winning streak of last two sessions, the BSE sensex dropped by 413.80 pts to settle at 33,956.69 following selling in Telecom, Bankex, Finance, Technology and Energy stocks amid positive global cues.

The nifty of national stock exchange too fell by 120.80 pts to 10,046.65. The nifty registered days high and low at 10,291.15 and 10,021.45 respectively. 

Gaining by 389 pts in last couple of session, the Sensex opened higher by 150 pts to 34,520. It  surged by 441 pts to 34,811.29 days high.

Later, it nosedived nearly 489 pts to 33,881.29 days low, before closing at 33,956.69, down by 413.89 pts from its last close. The sectoral indices that dragged the market were Telecom, Bankex, Oil and Gas, Finance, Technology and Energy stocks.

In scrips, ICICI Bank, Bhart Airtel, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance and Kotak Bank tumbled down during the day.

The Mid Cap fell by 0.21 pc and Small Cap by 1 pc. Of 30 scrips, 9 advanced while 21 declined. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: As India reels from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Bank projects the country's economy to shrink by 3.2 per cent in the current fiscal year, the worst performance since 1979.
 
The Bank said on Monday that the world was facing its worst recession since the World War II and per capita incomes would fall plunging millions into poverty.

Making the forecast for India, the Bank said "Stringent measures to control the spread of the virus will heavily curtail activity, despite some support from fiscal and monetary stimulus. Spillovers from weaker global growth and balance sheet stress in the financial sector will also weigh on activity."

The Bank's Global Economic Prospects report cut the last fiscal year's gross domestic product (GDP) growth for India to 4.2 per cent and forecast it to fall by 3.2 per cent in 2020-21 "when the impact of the pandemic will largely hit".

The last time India had recorded a negative growth rate was in 1979 when it was -5.24 per cent.

The Bank forecast the global economy to shrink by 5.2 per cent this year resulting in a "largest fraction of economies experiencing declines in per capita output since 1870".

The projected 3.6 per cent drop in per capita income this year "will tip millions of people into extreme poverty this year" ,the report warned.

"This is a deeply sobering outlook, with the crisis likely to leave long-lasting scars and pose major global challenges," World Bank Group Vice President Ceyla Pazarbasioglu said.

The report expected global growth to rebound to 4.2 per cent next year.

The economies of developed countries are expected to shrink by 7 per cent this year but grow by 3.9 per cent next year.

The Bank's latest report presents a very negative turn around for India since January when it had projected the country to be the fastest growing major economy with a growth rate of 7.5 per cent in 2019-20 and in the current fiscal year.

The UN had projected last month a modest growth rate of 1.2 per cent for India in the current fiscal year.

The central banks in virtually all major economies in the South Asian region have been able to take measures to stimulate economic activity, the Bank report noted.

Although South Asia had delayed and initially smaller COVID-19 outbreaks, the number of cases is increasing rapidly in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, the report said.

"The region has a high share of workers employed in the informal sector, which adds to the health and economic challenges of dealing with the pandemic," the Bank said.

Among the external factors impacting the region, the Bank listed spillovers from major trading partners; losses in supply chain linkages, and protracted low oil prices with depressed economic activity in the Middle East that could cut remittances.

But it said the lower oil prices and more subdued economic activity are keeping inflation generally contained in the region.

China's growth in 2020 is projected at 1 per cent and 6.9 per cent in 2021.

The Bank forecast Pakistan's growth to shrink by 1.2 per cent in the last fiscal year and by 0.2 per cent in the next.

For Bangladesh, the Bank's forecast is 1.6 per cent growth for the last fiscal year and 1 per cent for the next.

Sri Lanka's growth is projected to shrink by 3.2 per cent in the current calendar year and remain flat next year.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Petrol price on Tuesday was hiked by 54 paise per litre and diesel by 58 paise a litre - the third straight daily increase in rates after oil PSUs ended an 82-day hiatus in rate revision.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 73.00 per litre from 72.46, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 71.17 a litre from Rs 70.59, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.

This is the third daily increase in rates in a row. Oil companies had on Sunday restarted revising prices in line with costs, after ending an 82-day hiatus.

Prices were raised by 60 paise per litre each on both petrol and diesel on Sunday as well as on Monday. In all, petrol price has gone up by Rs 1.74 per litre and diesel by Rs 1.78 a litre in three days.

Oil PSUs - Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) - had put daily price revisions on hold soon after the government on March 14, hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 3 per litre each.

Oil companies did not pass on that excise duty hike, as well as the May 6 increase in tax on petrol by Rs 10 per litre and Rs 13 a litre hike on diesel by setting them off against the decline in retail prices that should have effected to reflect international oil rates falling to two-decade low.

International rates have since rebounded and oil companies having exhausted all the margin are now passing on the increase to customers, an industry official said. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has reviewed functioning of Public Sector Banks with regard to loan sanctions for MSMEs and other companies under Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme. In a meeting held yesterday, with the head of the banks, she lauded their efforts for achieving sanctions of over 20 thousand crore rupees under the Atmanirbhar Package within a short span of time.
 
The Finance Minister advised bank officials to maintain proactive outreach at branch level and make loan forms and formalities simple. Ms. Sitharaman exhorted all public sector banks to continue focused approach to hand out loans to every eligible MSME. The Finance Minister reiterated that loans under the Credit Guarantee Scheme are meant for meeting credit needs of all kinds of companies and are not only restricted to micro, small or medium enterprise.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Madhya Pradesh has emerged the top state in the country in wheat procurement on support prices. The state government has purchased over 1.27 crore tonnes from farmers. It is almost equal to the 33 per cent of total wheat procured in the country.

As per the official information, out of the total wheat procured, 118 lakh metric tonnes has been safely stored, which is almost 95 per cent of the quantity purchased. This time, 81 per cent of farmers who were registered came to procurement centres to sell wheat, which is a record too.

Social distancing norms were adhered to in view of the coronavirus outbreak and SMSes were sent to manage the number of farmers at procurement centers.

Money was transferred into farmer bank accounts in seven days on an average. So far, an amount of Rs 20 thousand 253 crore has been deposited in the accounts of 14 lakh19 thousand farmers.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan gave top priority to management of wheat procurement. In 75 consecutive meetings chaired by him on the issue from March 23, wheat procurement was reviewed daily.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The global economy, which has plunged into a severe contraction, will shrink by 5.2 per cent this year due to the massive shock of the coronavirus pandemic and the shutdown measures to contain it, the World Bank said Yesterday. The coronavirus recession is the first since 1870 to be triggered solely by a pandemic, World Bank President David Malpass said in his foreword to the latest edition of the Global Economic Prospect report released in Washington Yesterday.

According to the report, economic activity among advanced economies is anticipated to shrink by seven per cent in 2020 as domestic demand and supply, trade and finance have been severely disrupted.

Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDEs) are expected to shrink by 2.5 per cent this year, their first contraction as a group in at least 60 years, it said. Per capita incomes are expected to decline by 3.6 per cent, which will tip millions of people into extreme poverty this year, according to the report.

According to World Bank President Malpass, beyond the staggering economic impacts, the pandemic will also have severe and long-lasting socio-economic impacts that may well weaken long-term growth prospects -- the plunge in investment because of elevated uncertainty, the erosion of human capital from the legions of unemployed and the potential for ruptures of trade and supply linkages.

The current projections suggest that the coronavirus recession will involve a decline in global per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 6.2 per cent, making it the deepest global recession since 1945-46, and more than twice as deep as the recession associated with the global financial crisis, the report said.

Current forecasts suggest that in 2020, the highest share of economies will experience contractions in annual per capita GDP since 1870, it said.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Soon, you may be able to withdraw cash from an ATM without touching any part of the machine. AGS Transact Technologies, a provider of cash and digital payment solutions and automation technology, on Monday said it has successfully developed and tested a touchless ATM solution in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ‘contactless' solution, currently under demo at interested banks, enables a customer perform all the steps required to withdraw cash from an ATM using the mobile app itself.

The customer simply has to scan the QR code displayed on the ATM screen and follow the directions on their respective bank's mobile application.

This includes entering the amount and mPIN required to dispense the cash from the ATM machine.

According to the company, the QR code feature makes cash withdrawals quicker and more secure, and negates the chances of compromising the ATM Pin or card skimming.

"The new Touchless ATM solution is an extension of the flagship QR Cash solution which ensures safety of the users and will provide a seamless cash withdrawal experience with enhanced security," said Ravi B. Goyal, Chairman and MD, AGS Transact Technologies Ltd.

With minimum investment, the banks can enable this solution for their ATM networks by upgrading the existing software.

AGSTTL has so far installed, maintained and managed a network of over 72,000 ATMs across the country and also provides customised solutions to leading banks.

The company earlier introduced UPI-QR based Cash withdrawal solution in partnership with Bank of India.

This is how the solution works.

Open the Bank mobile application on your smartphone and select QR Cash Withdrawal. Enter the amount you wish to withdraw on the mobile app and scan the QR code on the ATM screen.

Next, confirm the amount by clicking on ‘proceed' in the app and enter the mPin to authenticate the transaction. Now collect the cash and receipt and you are done.

"The seamless, cardless and touchless withdrawal method is designed to provide easy transaction flow, without the need to touch the ATM screen or enter the pin," said Mahesh Patel, President and Group Chief Technology Officer, AGS Transact Technologies.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: India's foreign exchange reserves surged by 3.43 billion dollars to reach a fresh all-time high of 493.48 billion dollars in the week ended 29th of last month. A Reserve Bank of India press release has informed that foreign currency assets, a major part of the overall reserves rose by 3.50 billion dollars to 455.21 billion dollars. 
 
In the previous week, the reserves had increased by three billion dollars to end at 490.044 billion dollars. Total value of the gold reserves, however, continued to decline. Gold reserves went down by 97 million dollars to end at 32.682 billion dollars. India's special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund remained unchanged at 1.43 billion dollars, while the country's reserve position rose by 31 million dollars to 4.16 billion dollars. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]:Your dreams of buying a new home might have been dampened by the outbreak of Coronavirus, but don't let it through you out of course.

Due to the lockdown, developers have started showcasing their properties online via virtual tours. This is a completely new concept for Indians who have always believed the touch and feel technique, especially when making a high ticket purchase. People are skeptical to proceed further and are wary of buying a property. But the fear of losing the dream home, may outweigh the far of COVID-19.

A buyer can consider the builder and whether there are appropriate government approvals and other documents ready, but may nevertheless end up buying a wrong Vastu (place of residence), as there is much excitement on the other factors. While many developers say their buildings are vastu compliant, it is best to have some knowledge about it. Vastushastra is the ancient science that gives insights into spatial structures and guides one in home designing and building larger constructs. The guidelines of Vastushastra have scientific explanation and if adhered to, attract positivity in your place of dwelling/business premise and thereby in your lives.

As per Vastushastra, generally in a building with four flats (more or less) per floor, we would find one apartment 60 percent positive; two would be 35 percent -40 percent positive and the other one about 20 percent. Now at same location with the same cost with the same area and facilities/amenities, a smart buyer under the guidance of a vastushastra expert can get best among the all options available.

Here are a few guiding steps from Dr Raviraj Ahirrao, Co-founder, Vastu Raviraj

Choose a minimum of three options of your dream home. It is best to get a Vastu expert on board to evaluate on all aspects of a home and then select the best based on their suggestion.

Always prefer main entrance in the North, North - East or East.

Consider having much open space and openings in the North to East region

It's highly essential to have morning sun rays in your vastu but setting sun rays should be avoided.

Kitchen should be in South-East, the master bed room in South-west, children bed room in North-West - these are some of the highly essential factors, that needs to be followed seriously.

One of the most important factors is the abode of the God or your prayer corner which every buyer can or should follow strictly and that should be in the North to East region.

It is highly risky to trust the directions mentioned on floor plan or a brochure of real estate project as we have experienced errors in 98 percent of cases evaluated in the last 21 years.

According to vastushastra every premise should be square or rectangular. In India it is highly difficult to get such premises, but we should avoid premises with cuts.

Now a days developers claim that their projects are Vastushastra compliant. But in most cases these claims are found false. To verify such claims, one should ask for the contact details of the vastu consultant.

If buyers start insisting for house as per vastushastra, then developers will have to respect the customer demand. Fortunately, such projects have started coming up.

It is highly difficult to get a premise that is 100 percent Vastushastra compliant. But by the guidance of a Vastusahstra expert you can apply powerful remedies and make your premise hugely positive by removing the Vastu doshas. These corrective measures are long-lasting, one time investment and at minimal costs.

During these tough times when homes are our only refuge you should look at Vastushastra as an investment and not an expenditure. It's like a preventive vaccine that safeguards us in our finances, health, career, academics, harmony, coordination, relationships along with career, growth, stability. In short Vastushastra influences each and every aspect of our personal, professional iamp; business plus commercial aspects of human life.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: The BSE Sensex on Friday jumped by 306.54 points to close at 34,287.24 following gains in Metal, Telecom, Materials and Realty stocks tracking positive global cues.

The Nifty of National Stock Exchange too rose by 113.05 points to 10,142.15. The Nifty registered days high and low at 10,177.80 and 10,040.75 respectively. 

Sliding by 128 points on Thursday, the Sensex opened higher by 307 pts to 34,198.55. During the day, it spurted by 425 points to 34,405.43, days high, before closing at 34,287.24 up by 306.54 points from its previous close. 

It registered days low at 33,958.02, fell by 62 points. The stocks include, Metal, Telecom, Materials, Industrials and Power lifted the market. In scrips, State Bank of India, was a star gainer up nearly eight per cent as it posted a net profit of Rs 3,581 crore for the March quarter of FY20 (Q4FY20). The profit grew 326.93 per cent from Rs 838 crore clocked in the year-ago quarter (Q4FY19). Sequentially, the profit declined by 35.85 per cent.

In scrips, SBI, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance and HDFC Bank advanced while selling in TCS, Hind Unilever, Bajaj Auto and Infosys restricted from further gains, broker informed. Mid cap rose by 1.79 per cent and Small Cap by 2.51 per cent. In 30 scrips, 21 advanced while nine declined. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: A survey released by the Reserve Bank has showed that Indian economy may contract by 1.5 percent in FY21 though the next fiscal is expected to be much better.

"Real gross domestic product (GDP) is likely to contract by 1.5 per cent in 2020-21 but is expected to revert to growth terrain next year, when it is likely to grow by 7.2 per cent," said the Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF) sponsored by the RBI.

It added that real gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) is likely to register negative growth of 6.4 per cent in 2020-21 but is expected to grow by 5.6 per cent in 2021-22.

Real gross value added (GVA) is expected to decline by 1.7 per cent this fiscal but record 6.8 per cent growth in 2021-22, supported by uptick in industrial and services sector activities, said the SPF survey based on response of 24 panellists.

The study added that Real private final consumption expenditure (PFCE) is expected to decline by 0.5 per cent during 2020-21 but likely to record 6.9 per cent growth during 2021-22

Headline consumer price index (CPI) inflation is expected at 5.6 per cent in Q1:2020-21, but moderate thereafter to 2.8 per cent by the fourth quarter of 2020-21, the study said

“CPI inflation excluding food and beverages, pan, tobacco and intoxicants and fuel and light is expected at 3.8 per cent in Q1:2020-21 and moderate gradually to 3.1 per cent by Q4:2020-21,” it added.

The RBI has also released two other surveys –one on Consumer confidence and the other on Households' Inflation Expectations Survey.

RBI survey has showed that consumer confidence has collapsed to historic low amid the coronavirus pandemic

"Consumer confidence collapsed in May 2020, with the Current Situation Index (CSI) touching historic low and the one year ahead Future Expectations Index (FEI) also recording a sharp fall, entering the zone of pessimism," the Consumer Confidence Survey (CCS) released by the RBI said.

The study on 'Households' Inflation Expectations Survey' found that households' median inflation perception and expectations increased sharply in May 2020 as compared with the March 2020 round of the survey.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Equity benchmark indices swung between gains and losses on Thursday but ended lower with private banks suffering the most on profit booking. 

The BSE S&P Sensex (/topic/sensex) closed 129 points or 0.38 per cent lower at 33,981 while the Nifty (/topic/nifty) 50 dipped by 32 points or 0.32 per cent at 10,029. Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed Nifty (/topic/nifty) private bank down by 3.1 per cent, financial service by 2.7 per cent and realty by 1.6 per cent. Nifty (/topic/nifty) pharma moved up by 2.1 per cent and IT by 1.8 per cent.

Among stocks, Asian Paints (/topic/asian-paints) lost by 4.6 per cent to close at Rs 1,636.90 per share while HDFC dipped by 4 per cent. Bajaj Finserv and Bajaj Finance slipped by 2.3 per cent and 4 per cent respectively. Private lenders had a bad day with IndusInd Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank dipping by 3.5 per cent each, Axis Bank by 3.4 per cent, HDFC Bank by 2.6 per cent and ICICI Bank by 2.4 per cent. 

However, Vedanta (/topic/vedanta) moved up by 7.7 per cent to Rs 104.15 per share and Bharti Airtel by 5.7 per cent. Tech Mahindra, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Sun Pharma and Cipla too traded with a positive bias. Meanwhile, Asian shares (/topic/asian-shares) rose to a two-month high as government stimulus expectations (/topic/government-stimulus-expectations) supported investor confidence in an economic recovery from the global coronavirus pandemic.

Japan's Nikkei was up by 0.36 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng by 0.17 per cent and South Korea's Kospi by 0.19 per cent.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: The India consumer storage market shipments grew eight per cent in the first quarter of this year compared to the previous quarter with SanDisk dominating the overall market, said a report from CyberMedia Research (CMR).

However, on the back of Covid-19, the market declined by 21 per cent year-over-year.

"Brands were ready with ample stock in January and February to maintain smooth supply and demand process during this period. However, with the onset of Covid-19, the market was predictably disrupted with slowdown in both demand and supply," Shipra Sinha, Lead Analyst, CyberMedia Research, said in a statement.

The Pen Drive market grew by 16 per cent quarter-over-quarter and Micro SD market remained flat in Q1, said the report titled "India Consumer Storage Flash Devices Market Review".

It showed that SanDisk has been the undisputed leader for 24 consecutive quarters with its market share increasing year-over-year. SanDisk shipments recorded 27 per cent growth in Q1 2020 over the previous quarter.

HP continued to be on the second spot with four per cent market share followed by Samsung.

Samsung shipments also recorded 44 per cent growth quarter-over-quarter.

"Q2 2020 will see the market face the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, with shipments anticipated to decline by 15-20 per cent QoQ," Sinha said.

"However, from the short and long-term perspective, the demand is anticipated to claw back. This will be driven by feature rich smartphones requiring need for enhanced storage devices."
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: The benchmark index of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Wednesday rallied by 597 pts, breaching 34K level to 34,422.71, a three- month-high in opening trade tracking positive global cues. 

The Nifty of National Stock Exchange (NSE) too rose by 180 pts to 10,159.35. The sectoral indices like Bankex, Finance, Capital Goods and Consumer Durable kept the rally intact for the fifth straight session today.

The Sensex registered intraday high and low at 34,422.71 and 34,412.71 pts respectively. The Nifty registered intraday high and low at 10,159.35 and 10,067.45 pts respectively. The midcap was up by 1 pc and small-cap by 1.39 pc. Of 30 scrips, 25 advanced while 5 declined. 

As many as 15 companies including Aurobindo Pharma, BPCL, and Cholamandalam Investment are scheduled to announce their March quarter results today. A late-session rally pushed Wall Street to solid gains overnight. The Dow Jones rose 1 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 0.82 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.6 per cent. 

Asian stocks followed Wall Street's lead. Japan’s Nikkei was 2 per cent higher and Australian ASX 200 rose 1.1 per cent in Wednesday's early trading. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Public Sector Banks have sanctioned collateral free loans worth three thousand 200 crore rupees in a single day under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed that largely the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) located in over three thousand TIER-2 towns were covered on the first day of sanctions of the collateral free loans. The amount sanctioned will help the MSMEs to meet the expenses towards payment of salaries, rent and restocking of goods.

While making announcement of the financial stimulus of over 20 lakh crore rupees under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, Sitharaman laid out the scheme for Emergency Credit Line Guarantee to the MSMEs. Collateral free loans worth three lakh crore rupees with one year moratorium was provisioned under the scheme.

Under this scheme, MSME and borrowers from other stressed sectors with up to 25 crore rupees of total borrowing were allowed to avail an additional 20 per cent of the outstanding loan from banks and other financial institutions. The additional lending by banks and financial institutions is 100 per cent guaranteed by the Government of India.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Equity benchmark Sensex surged 879 points on Monday, driven by gains in Reliance Industries, HDFC twins and TCS as investor optimism heightened after the government began the process of unlocking the economy.

Positive cues from global markets too buoyed investor sentiment here.

After skyrocketing 1,250 points during the day, the 30-share index settled 879.42 points or 2.57 per cent higher at 33,303.52.

Similarly, NSE Nifty surged 245.85 points or 2.57 per cent to finish at 9,826.15.

Bajaj Finance was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 11 per cent, followed by Titan, Tata Steel, SBI, M&M, HDFC, IndusInd Bank and Reliance Industries.

On the other hand, Sun Pharma, Nestle India and UltraTech Cement were among the laggards.

According to Narendra Solanki, Head- Equity Research (Fundamental), Anand Rathi, Indian markets started the week on a positive note following upbeat Asian market peers and the sentimental positive news of ''Unlock-1'' and hopes of economy gradually opening up took hold.

"The market further rallied in the afternoon session with much broad-based buying seen in both large and mid cap stocks tracked by respective indices," he added.

The home ministry on Saturday said ''Unlock-1'' will be initiated in India from June 8 under which the nationwide lockdown effectuated on March 25 will be relaxed to a great extent, including opening of shopping malls, restaurants and religious places.

The number of coronavirus cases in India crossed 1.90 lakh and the death toll climbed to 5,394, as per the health ministry data.

Globally, the number of cases linked to the disease has crossed 61.66 lakh and the deceased tally stood around 3.72 lakh.

Meanwhile, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul settled up to 3 per cent higher, and those in Europe opened with significant gains.

International oil benchmark Brent crude futures were trading 0.21 per cent higher at USD 37.91 per barrel.

On the currency front, the rupee appreciated 8 paise to provisionally close at 75.54 against the US dollar.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Microsoft CWEO Satya Nadella has joined Apple CEO Tim Cook and Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai in condemning the death of African-American George Floyd, saying our identity, our very existence is rooted in empowering everyone on the planet.
 
In a note to Microsoft employees, Nadella said that every-day racism, bias and hatred in the news today is not new.

"It's far too often the experience and reality in daily lives, particularly for the Black and African American community," he said.

"I know it's not enough to just have empathy for those impacted, for the communities who are experiencing this hate, firsthand, who are scared for their safety, and for their loved ones," Nadella added.

He said that in this moment, people can start by checking in with each other, ask colleagues how they're doing and what they need, have empathy for what others are feeling.

"It's incumbent upon us to use our platforms, our resources, to drive that systemic change, right? That's the real challenge here. It's not just any one incident, but it's all the things that have led to the incident that absolutely need to change".

Demonstrations and riots have spread to cities across the US after a video went viral of Floyd being suffocated to death by a white police officer in the Minneapolis on May 25.

Microsoft last year launched the Criminal Justice Reform Initiative. This initiative invests in partnerships and programmes working to drive reforms, focusing on policing.

"Have empathy for those who are scared and uncertain, and join me and everyone on the senior leadership team, in advocating for change in our company, in our communities, and in society at large," said Nadella.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: India's foreign exchange reserves rose by over $3 billion during the week ended May 22.

According to the RBI's weekly statistical supplement, the overall forex reserves increased to $490.044 billion from $487.039 billion reported for the week ended May 15.

India's forex reserves comprise foreign currency assets (FCAs), gold reserves, special drawing rights (SDRs) and India's reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

On a weekly basis, FCAs, the largest component of the forex reserves, edged higher by $3.035 billion to $451.706 billion.

However, the value of the country's gold reserves decreased by $127 million to $32.779 billion.

Besides, the SDR value inched up by $8 million to $1.432 billion.

The country's reserve position with the IMF increased by $89 million to $4.12 billion.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has formally launched the facility for instant allotment of PAN on near to real time basis.

This facility is now available for those PAN applicants who possess a valid Aadhaar number and have a mobile number registered with Aadhaar.

The allotment process is paperless and an electronic PAN, (e-PAN) is issued to the applicants free of cost.

The beta version of the facility of instant PAN through Aadhaar based e-KYC was started on 12th of Feburary on the e-filing website of Income Tax Department.

Since then, over 6.77 lakh instant PANs have been allotted with a turnaround time of about 10 minutes, till 25th of this month.

A total of 50.52 crore PANs have been allotted to the taxpayers, out of which, around 49.39 crore are allotted to the individuals and more than 32.17 crore are seeded with Aadhaar so far.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Around 60 percent people in India are not happy with the relaxations imposed by the government in the fourth phase of the nationwide lockdown, reveals a new survey.

The survey, conducted over 2.5 lakh people by Public, a location based homegrown social app revealed 86 percent even said that they are not going out for dining, socializing or travelling, after completion of the third phase of lockdown.

The survey which captured 300+ districts, had people giving their opinion on how they are adjusting with the extended lockdown and the ease of restrictions.

With the relaxation announced by Prime minister Narendra Modi for the fourth phase of nationwide lockdown, only 13.2 percent claimed that they are going out for dining, socializing with their friends or travelling. Additionally, 49 percent feared that India is yet to control the spread of coronavirus.

With the increasing case tally of infections on a daily basis, 11 percent people estimated that the number of active COVID-19 cases will be more than 5 lakh.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Railways has transported 48 lakhs passengers to their home states through Shramik Special trains. Railways Ministry said, a total of three thousand 543 Shramik Special trains have been operationalized from various states across the country in the last 26 days.

"Railways had started running Shramik Special trains from 1st May, to move migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons stranded at different places due to lock down. 85 per cent of the expenditure of Shramik special trains is being borne by the Centre and states are paying 15 per cent in the form of fare. The top five States from where maximum trains originated are Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. While the top five states where maximum trains terminated are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. IRCTC has distributed more than 78 lakh free meals and more than one crore water bottles to travelling migrants. In addition to Shramik specials, Railways is running 15 pairs of special AC trains and has decided to run 200 more trains from 1st of June. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: In West Bengal, Domestic Flight operations from Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata began this morning.

Flight movements will also be started from Bagdogra in Siliguri and Andal Airport in West Burdwan District of the state today. The State Government has issued advisory for all domestic flight passengers.
                   
"Health screening of all passengers have been made compulsory. Only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board on plane with mandatory wearing of the face mask. Passengers have to be abide by the norms of social distancing. The 10 points guidelines says that asymptomatic passengers will be permitted to go out of the airport with an advisory that they will self monitor their health for 14 days. In case any passengers develop symptoms of COVID they will inform in local hospital for medical interventions. Sample will be collected for COVID test from all symptomatic passengers and will be taken to them to the nearest COVID health centre. On arrival from plane all passengers have to submit filled up self-declaration form on their health status to the officials at the airport.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Covid-19 is expected to accelerate digital adoption in India and as online trends take shape, behavioural modification could strengthen, with contactless shopping, payments, and delivery taking hold, according to US financial services house, Morgan Stanley.

A research report said 2020 will likely see increasing online penetration in grocery and put a few Super Apps into motion.

Digital trends in India are beginning to take hold. India's digital economy is still in the initial phase, but it has witnessed considerable progress over the past five years.

Ecommerce penetration touched 3 per cent of India's retail market in 2019, much lower than the 26.7 per cent in China and ~22 per cent in the US.

Digital payments through a unified payments interface (UPI) started inflecting in 2017 (post demonetization) and were at 9.2 per cent of GDP in 2019, vs zero three years prior. Data usage in the past few years has seen a 'hockey stick' growth, due particularly to high video consumption, Morgan Stanley said.

Covid-19 could fast-track some of the developments: India's total online shopper base remains low at 30 per cent of its internet population, versus 78 per cent in China and 70%+ in the US, and has been a limiting factor for growth.

"We believe a larger increase in its online shopping base is needed to drive growth in its digital economy. We think Covid-19 has the potential to do just that, at least until a vaccine is widely

available, which is currently expected by summer 2021, and beyond that, hopefully these behavioral modifications will become somewhat permanent," the report said.

"We have seen the power of online in the past few months as start-ups have helped consumers shop, pay for bills, converse, entertain, and collaborate without much physical contact. We believe that this digital adoption has the power to pull growth forward by a few years in India's internet industry," the report added.

In a post-Covid-19 world, India's online shopping population could see a sharp increase, online penetration in grocery could finally inflect as eCommerce and new entrants make a bigger push in this category, digitization of small and medium business (SMB) enterprises could take centre-stage, investments in segments such as gaming, edtech, healthtech, and cloud could increase, another outcome that we think is easy to predict in broad terms, but almost impossible to do so with precision, is changes to the competitive landscape.

According to Morgan Stanley, several start-ups may need to curtail their activities or completely close their businesses due to a lack of adequate growth capital, which could further propel the category leaders along with possible M&A opportunities; and there could be the emergence of a few large tech companies (Super Apps or category leaders) in the next 5-10 years.

On the company's new commerce initiative, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries mentioned in his July 2018 AGM speech that the next big growth opportunity is the online-to-offline new commerce

platform that would synergize the power of the physical retail business with the digital infrastructure created by Jio.

As highlighted in the AGM, the company's plan is to deploy Merchant Point of Sale for such local shop owners, which would enable them to manage inventory, keep digital records and file returns, improve working capital management, retain and upgrade customers, access new customers, run promotion and loyalty programs, accept digital payments, etc.

This is similar to China, where Alibaba's foray into new retail included the Ling Shou Tong (LST) B2B platform that already had onboard 1mn out of the 6mn 'mom & pop' stores in China.

"We think a 'new normal' will emerge in a post-Covid-19 world, and digital adoption could accelerate further Covid-19 has had a significant impact on the global economy and is likely to alter the

way we live, do business, and interact with each other going forward. We believe that we have seen the true power of digital technologies unleash across businesses and in our daily lives," the report says.

The launch of Reliance Jio's 4G telecom services in September 2016 helped spur the digital economy in India as it propelled internet usage in the country, with fast, reliable, and cheap 4G services

leading to significant growth in data usage (especially on music and video content).

"Incrementally, we believe that Covid-19 has relieved some apprehension relating to digital transactions and, as the saying goes, every adversity presents an opportunity. We believe Covid-19 could accelerate the shift to online transactions (such as eCommerce and payments) and provide a tailwind to growth in India's digital economy," it added.

"New Commerce is a massive new business opportunity of $700 billion.The main purpose of New Commerce is to completely transform the unorganized retail market, which accounts for 90% of India's retail industry," Ambani said at the RIL AGM in August, 2019.

Reliance Retail and WhatsApp have entered into a commercial agreement to accelerate Reliance Retail's new commerce business on the Jiomart platform using WhatsApp.

Jiomart is a platform that helps RIL support small merchants and kirana stores in serving end-consumers. RIL aims to focus on 60mn micro, small and medium-sized businesses along with the 30mn small merchants and millions of SMEs with the digital platform (per a company press release). Amazon India has also announced a $1 billion investment over the next five years to digitize 10mn SMBs, enabling $10 billion in cumulative exports by Indian businesses selling on Amazon worldwide by 2025.

Mobile gaming could propel engagement levels on a potential Super App in India: M One of the categories that could propel engagement levels on a smartphone is gaming, a segment that has yet to pickup significantly in India and could be explored by key players pivoting to a Super App structure.

Mukesh Ambani, RIL Chairman, in a February 2020 interaction with the Microsoft CEO said, "There is a huge potential for gaming to grow in India with increasing broadband connectivity. Gaming will be bigger than music, movies and television shows put together."
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Android version of Coronavirus tracking app, Aarogya Setu becomes the first government product in the world to be made open source, bumping up its transparency credentials. Government informs 11.5 crore people have downloaded the app so far and 8 lakh people have done their self-assessment.

Aarogya Setu, India's Covid-19 contact tracing, syndrome mapping and self assessment mobile app is now open source. Announcing it, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said, transparency, privacy and security have been the core design principles of Aarogya Setu since its inception and opening of the source code to the developer community signifies Government's continuing commitment to this principle.

He said, it is a unique thing as no other government product anywhere in the world has been open sourced at this scale.

Speaking on app's vulnerability and privacy, NIC DG announced a bug bounty programme for the app which will be hosted on the Innovate platform. The bug bounty programme will enable developers to share bugs and other issues with the app as well. There are three categories for security vulnerability with bounty of Rs 1 lakh.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: The BSE Sensex rose over 350 points on Tuesday to trade over the psychological mark of 31,000 points tracking gains in the Asian markets.
 
Healthy buying was witnessed in FMCG, capital goods and metal stocks.

Around 10 a.m., Sensex was trading at 31,030.52, higher by 357.93 points or 1.17 per cent from the previous close of 30,672.59.

It had opened at 30,864.27 and has so far touched an intra-day high of 31,086.70 and a low of 30,835.01 points.

The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange was trading at 9,143.65, higher by 104.40 points or 1.15 per cent from the previous close.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar has presented a seven-point model for India's development. During the Facebook Live Dialogue organised by the RSS-affiliated organisation Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal, he emphasised the need to make development a public movement on the lines of the freedom movement. He also stressed on making the indigenous language a contact language instead of English.

During the session on Sunday, Kumar said: "Today, most of the people put the responsibility of development on government agencies... this approach is wrong. We all should move beyond selfishness and do something for the nation. Every citizen should play proper role for the development."

The NITI Aayog Vice Chairman's seven-point development model for the development of India include replacing English with the indigenous language as a contact language, governance with accountability and transparency, development approach, giving importance to the private sector, focussing on the employment scenario, making farming profitable and reducing the burden on farmers, linking urbanisation with the development of villages, and reconciliation with nature in place of victory over nature.

"We have to remove developmental inequality. We talk about online education but the fact is that only 35 per cent of schools in India have internet connection and only 65 per cent of schools have electricity," Kumar said.

Rajiv Kumar said that in the changing times we need to amend the village development model of Mahatma Gandhi. "The world is changing very fast. Technology and consumer needs are also changing. Therefore, it is not possible for any village or any country to meet all its needs. In the changing scenario, a village or country is not able to There is a need to produce and export more than the purchases or imports for consumption. Therefore, self reliance should be the model of India's rural development," he added.

On the changing scenario of urbanisation, he said that "we no longer need to be in one place for the exchange of ideas and innovations".

"We can meet in a virtual cloud (internet). Therefore, there is no longer the need for big cities of modern times."

The Deputy Chairman of NITI Aayog answered several questions. Dr. Rajesh Biniwal, convener of the Research for Resurgence Foundation, conducted this dialogue.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Civil Aviation Ministry has decided to restart the regional air connectivity services under the UDAN scheme. Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that preference will however be given to flights connecting North-East region, hill states, islands and other short haul routes. In a tweet, he said that the flights will be augmented under the scheme in a calibrated manner. 

Civil Aviation ministry has said that all operational routes up to 500 km stage length, all operational helicopter routes and routes with no viability gap funding will be permitted to resume operations. Selected airline operators will also be allowed to operationalize the awarded routes under the UDAN scheme, including seaplanes on the permitted routes. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has found that 63% of people it surveyed in northern India are gearing up to travel within three months of relaxation of the coronavirus lockdown, but most of them have ruled out any international travel.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the survey was conducted online among a limited sample of 250 respondents across Chandigarh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh.

The survey has also found that post the coronavirus lockdown, hygiene standards maintained by hotels would be the single most important deciding factor for tourists while selecting the place to stay.

Around 68% of the respondents said hygiene standards would determine their choice of hotels. Around 59% of the respondents said the use of protective gear was the most important precaution they would take during travel, with ‘Aarogya Setu’ App being the preferred choice of around one-fifth of the respondents.

Close to two-thirds of the respondents would like to travel within three months of relaxation of the lockdown.

Around 17% of people said they saw travel as an important means of rejuvenation.  While 33% of the respondents are likely to resume travel within a month, about 30% said they would wait for three months. However, about 7% of the respondents said they would prefer to wait for a year.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: The India's equity market continued to be under pressure during the entire week, as the Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE) Sensex registered a drop of 425.14 points or 1.37 pc to settle at 30,672.59 amid high volatility. 

Besides the rising number of Coronavirus cases throughout the world, investor sentiment suffered due to deterioration in relations between United States and China. 

The latest round of rate cut's announced by the RBI and other steps to boost the Corona virus-hit economy doesn't seem to have aroused enthusiasm among investors. 

The National Stock Exchange Nifty too slipped by 97.60 points or 1.07 pc to settle at 9,039.25. The BSE Mid-Cap fell by 230.30 points or 2 pc to settle at 11,270.02 whereas BSE Small-Cap declined registerd a fall of 164.63 points(1.54 per cent) to settle at 10,524.23 points. 

On Monday, the Sensex tumbled down 1,068.75 points to settle at 30,028.98. Nifty too lost 313.60 points to settle at 8,823.25. 

On Tuesday, due to momentum in other Asian markets amid optimism regarding a potential vaccine for the Corona virus, the sensex rose by 167.19 points to settle at 30,196.17. 

Nifty gained 55.85 points to settle at 8,879.10. On Wednesday, supported by firmness in HDFC twins and Reliance Industries. Sensex jumped 622.44 points to settle at 30,818.61. Nifty too gained 187.45 points to settle at 9,066.55.

On Thursday, extending its winning run for the third straight session. Sensex rose by 114.29 points to settle at 30,932.90. The Nifty 50 index rose 39.70 points to settle at 9,106.25. On Friday, the Sensex and the Nifty ended lower, ending their three-day rising streak due to negative global cues. Sensex was down 260.31 points to settle at 30,672.59. Nifty too fell 67 points to settle at 9,039.25.
 

NEW DELHI [maha Media]: Abhas Jha, an Indian economist, has been appointed by the World Bank to a key position on climate change and disaster management in South Asia, the global lender said.

Jha's appointment comes at a time when Cyclone Amphan has badly hit West Bengal, Orissa in India and Bangladesh.

In his capacity as World Bank's Practice Manager for Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management for South Asia, one of the top priorities of Jha will be to encourage and help the South Asia region (SAR) Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change team to connect and collaborate across Global Practice boundaries, the bank said in a statement on Friday.

And also to the World Bank to conceive and deliver innovative and high-quality development solutions to respond to client demands and strengthen disaster risk management and climate action in the region, the statement said.

Based out of Singapore, Jha will also work closely with other Practice Managers, Global Leads and Global Solutions Groups to incubate, pilot and scale-up innovative and high-quality development solutions, and to promote the generation and flow of global knowledge to serve these countries, the bank said.

According to the bank, Jha's mandate is to nurture, lead, inspire and deploy a team of highly qualified professionals to deliver the best solutions for these countries.

Jha, an Indian national, joined the Bank in 2001 in the office of the Executive Director for Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka and has since worked in Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and Central Asia, and East Asia and the Pacific regions.

His most recent assignment is Practice Manager for Urban Development and Disaster Risk Management in the East Asia and Pacific region. His area of jurisdiction includes India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Maldives.
 

BENGALURU [Maha Media]: Amazon.com Inc’s India unit said it would hire 50,000 temporary workers to meet a surge in online shopping in the country, where customers have been stuck indoors for two months in a lockdown to fight the coronavirus outbreak.

E-commerce firms faced massive disruption in the initial days of the lockdown in India, but a slow easing of the stringent regulations has allowed them to resume large parts of their operations.

“(The move) will also keep as many people as possible working during this pandemic while providing a safe work environment for them,” said Saxena, Amazon’s VP for customer fulfillment operations in APAC, MENA & Latam.

The temporary hires will work in Amazon’s fulfillment centers and as part of its delivery network, the company said, making the announcement at a time when various other companies in the country have been forced to cut jobs as they try to tide over the health crisis.

Amazon itself has pushed its annual global Prime Day event, traditionally a summer affair, to September, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

In India, where the Jeff Bezos-led company faces stiff competition from Walmart Inc’s Flipkart, Amazon earlier said it plans to create 1 million jobs by 2025.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Reserve Bank on India (RBI) on Friday said India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth will be in negative territory in 2020-21 as the outbreak of coronavirus has disrupted economic activities.

In a televised address, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the global economy is heading into recession. He also said inflation outlook is "highly uncertain".

"Domestic economic activity has been impacted severely by the two-month lockdown," he said and added that the top-six industrialised states that account for 60 per cent of India's industrial output are largely in red and orange zones.

He said high-frequency indicators point to collapse in demand, and there is a plunge in demand for electricity and petroleum productions.

The biggest blow is to private consumption that accounts for 60 per cent of domestic demand, the governor said.

Das said the combined impact of demand compression and supply disruption will depress economic activity in the first half of the current fiscal.

"Assuming that economic activity gets restored in a phased manner in the second half of this year and taking in consideration favourable base effect, it is expected that combined fiscal, monetary and administrative measures currently undertaken by both the government and RBI create conditions for a gradual revival of activities in the second half of 2020-21.

"GDP growth in 2020-21 is estimated to remain in the negative territory with some pick up in growth impulses in the second half of 2020-21 onwards," he said.

On inflation, Das said headline inflation may remain firm in the first half of the current financial year, and ease in the later part of the year. 
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Equity benchmark Sensex pared opening losses to turn positive in early trade on Friday amid gains in index-heavyweights Reliance Industries, Infosys and SBI.

After starting over 250 points lower, the 30-share index made a U-turn to rise over 70 points to 31,005.19.

The index, turned choppy in the first hour of trade ahead of Reserve Bank of India's press conference, scheduled for 1000 hours.

NSE Nifty was quoting 4.35 points or 0.05 per cent lower at 9,101.90.

Buying in Reliance Industries offset the negative sentiment in the market as the scrip jumped over 1 per cent after the company announced the sale of a 2.32 per cent stake in its digital unit to US private equity giant KKR for Rs 11,367 crore.

This the fifth deal in four weeks that will inject a combined Rs 78,562 crore in the oil-to-telecom conglomerate to help it pare debt.

UltraTech Cement, SBI, Infosys, Tech Mahindra were among the other gainers.

On the other hand, Tata Steel, HCL Tech, PowerGrid and NTPC were among the laggards.

In the previous session, the BSE barometer settled 114.29 points or 0.37 per cent up at 30,932.90, while the broader Nifty advanced 39.70 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 9,106.25.

Foreign portfolio investors offloaded equities worth Rs 258.73 crore in the capital market on Thursday, provisional exchange data showed.

Besides stock-specific action, investors are cautious ahead of Reserve Bank of India's announcement, traders said.

Further, weak cues from global markets and spiking COVID-19 cases in the country hit investor sentiment, they added.

India witnessed the biggest single-day spike with 6,088 COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 1.18 lakh. The death toll rose to 3,583, according to the health ministry.

Globally, the number of cases linked to the disease has crossed 51 lakh and the death toll has topped 3.32 lakh.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul were trading significantly lower.

Hong Kong led a sell-off across Asian equities after China introduced proposals to enact a national security law for the city.

Stock exchanges on Wall Street ended with losses in overnight session.

International oil benchmark Brent crude futures were trading 3.72 per cent lower at USD 34.72 per barrel.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Moody's Investors Service on Friday said India's economy is expected to contract for the first time in more than four decades saying economic damage owing to the coronavirus-induced lockdown will be significant with lower consumption and sluggish business activity.

Even before the coronavirus outbreak, Indian economy already was growing at its slowest pace in six years and with the stimulus measures announced by the government falling short of expectations, the disruptions are likely to be greater.

"We now expect India's growth to register a real GDP contraction for the fiscal year ending in March 2021 (fiscal 2020-21), from our earlier projection of zero growth," it said in a research note.

It however expected the economy to see a recovery in fiscal 2021-22, somewhat stronger than its earlier forecast of 6.6 per cent growth.

"Economic damage as a result of India's continued coronavirus lockdown, now extended through May 31, will likely be significant and reflect the country's inherent economic vulnerabilities and fiscal constraints, with wide-ranging effects on both the public and private sectors," it said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed a nationwide lockdown to control the spread of coronavirus on March 25. It has been extended thrice, with the fourth phase set to expire on May 31.

The lockdown has presented a challenge to the country's unorganised sector, which accounts for more than half of GDP.

The first phase of lockdown largely affected low-income households and daily wage earners.

Restrictions have been eased gradually in the subsequent phases as the government attempts to restore normalcy to economic activities. In the current fourth phase, states have autonomy to decide on the delineation of areas into red, orange and green zones depending on outbreak intensity.

With India now in the fourth phase of its coronaviorius lockdown, the disruption to incomes will likely keep household consumption under pressure for the rest of the year, it said.

While the government's cumulative policy response brings total headline stimulus announcements to a sizeable Rs 20.9 lakh crore, or 10 per cent of GDP, and includes a range of support measures that will bring a degree of relief to rural households and small businesses, the measures are unlikely to offset lower consumption and sluggish business activity resulting from the extended lockdown.

"Direct fiscal stimulus spending by the government is likely to be in the range of 1-2 per cent of GDP, as most of the government's plans take the form of credit guarantees or are aimed at easing liquidity concerns for affected sectors," Moody's said. "The quantum of direct fiscal spending falls short of our expectations and is unlikely to provide much additional impetus to growth."

Moody's said the economic shock from the lockdowns and fiscal policy response is expected to result in significant slippage from the central government's budgeted deficit target of 3.5 per cent of GDP for fiscal 2020-21.

While the direct fiscal spending by the government in the stimulus is limited to 1-2 per cent of GDP, weaker overall revenue and disinvestment receipts (from government asset sales), will likely drive up the deficit in fiscal 2020-21, it said.

Before the start of the lockdown in March, activity indicators such as passenger car sales (a proxy for urban demand) and motorcycle sales (a proxy for rural demand) already pointed to weak household demand.

Also, inflation had outstripped nominal wage growth, reducing the purchasing power of rural households.

Preliminary estimates from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy indicate that the national unemployment rate surged to more than 20 per cent within a week of the lockdown, a nearly threefold increase compared with the rate before the pandemic.

"Even as restrictions gradually ease, disruption to incomes will likely weigh on household consumption for the rest of the year. Lower consumption and sluggish business activity will result in a sharp decline in India's economic growth in fiscal 2020-21," it said.

The rating agency expected the economic shock from the coronavirus and the fiscal policy response to result in significant slippage from the central government's budgeted deficit target for fiscal 2020-21.

Stating that asset quality of financial institutions will deteriorate and finance companies' liquidity will be under pressure, it said asset quality will deteriorate significantly, although it will not be visible in near-term reported numbers because of regulatory forbearance.

Automobile, oil and gas, and mining companies will bear the brunt of the downturn. Corporate sectors that are sensitive to consumer demand, sentiment and supply chain disruptions will be particularly hard hit. Companies that provide essential goods and services have low exposure, it said.

Weaker demand, it said, will weigh on power and transport sectors. "Power demand will likely weaken substantially in fiscal 2020-21. The transportation sector will be under severe stress because of the decline in consumer demand and travel restrictions," it noted.

The economic slowdown will hit the performance of commercial vehicle and micro, small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) loans. "The effects will be more significantly negative if the outbreak spreads and suspension of business activity is prolonged," it said.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: The Reserve Bank on Friday announced a Rs 15,000-crore line of credit to the Export-Import Bank of India, to help the sagging foreign trade.

The central bank said Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM Bank) depends on foreign currency borrowings for its operations and as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is unable to raise the resources, due to which the facility is being extended.

"It has been decided to extend a line of credit of Rs 15,000 crore to the EXIM Bank for a period of 90 days from the date of availment with rollover up to a maximum period of one year so as to enable it to avail a US dollar swap facility to meet its foreign exchange requirements," Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das said.

He said the country's export-import trade has suffered because of external demand crippling owing to the pandemic and decline in import of essential goods and services.

Among other measures, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has also decided to increase the maximum permissible period of pre-shipment and post-shipment export credit sanctioned by banks from the existing one year to 15 months, for disbursements made up to July 31, 2020, Das said.

On the imports front, it has been decided to extend the time period for completion of remittances against normal imports into India (except in cases where amounts are withheld towards guarantee of performance) from six months to 12 months from the date of shipment for imports made on or before July 31, 2020, Das said.

According to Das this will provide greater flexibility to importers in managing their operating cycles in a COVID-19 environment.

As part of the developmental and regulatory policies, the RBI also announced help to Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) on the refinance front through the roll over of a three month, Rs 15,000-crore facility announced earlier.

In order to provide greater flexibility to SIDBI in its operations, it has been decided to roll over the facility at the end of the 90th day for another period of 90 days," Das said.

For the financial markets, in view of the difficulties reported by the Foreign Portfolio Investors and custodians for adhering to the condition of investing at least 75 per cent of allotted limits are invested in three months, the RBI granted an additional three months to fulfil this requirement.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday the three-month moratorium on payment of installments on term loans to banks, non-bank financial institutions (NBFCs), including housing finance companies and other financial institutions is being extended by another three months.

“In view of the extension of the lockdown and continuing disruption on account of Covid-19, these measures are being further extended by another three months from June 1 to August 31,” Das said during a press conference through video, his third such address to the media during the coronavirus pandemic. Das said the decision was taken in an unscheduled meeting of RBI’s monetary policy committee (MPC).

The announcements also came as the country entered the fifth day of the fourth phase of the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the virus. The RBI had allowed financial institutions a three-month moratorium on payment of installments on term loans on March 27.

The moratorium allowed by RBI will help borrowers in easing the burden on their savings and avoid turning defaulters.

The RBI on Friday unexpectedly cut its repo rate by 40 basis points for a second time this year after an off-cycle policy review to counter the economic fallout from an ongoing nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease.

RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said the short-term lending rate now stands at 4% down from 4.4% earlier. The reverse repo rate was also reduced by 40 basis points to 3.35%. Shaktikanta Das said in a video conference that the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) had voted to maintain its “accommodative” stance and that five out of six members in favour of a rate cut.

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]:  The Airports Authority of India (AAI) on Wednesday issued a standard operating procedure (SOP) to airport operators as it was announced earlier that domestic flights would resume services from May 25. One of the required procedure to be followed was the installation of Aarogya Setu app for every traveller except for children below 14 years of age.

In a report by news agency, the AAI SOP also said, "Passengers shall compulsorily walk through screening zone for thermal screening at a designated place in the city side before entering the terminal building."

Airport operators were ordered to make appropriate arrangements for sanitisation of a passenger's bags before his or her entry into the terminal building, the SOP pointed out.

The AAI manages more than 100 airports across the country. However, major airports like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad are managed by private companies.

Earlier on Wednesday, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had announced that the domestic flight services would resume from May 25 onwards in a calibrated manner.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Domestic passenger flights will recommence from Monday after a gap of two months. 

'Domestic civil aviation operations will recommence in a calibrated manner from Monday 25th May 2020,' Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said in a tweet on Wednesday.

All airports and air carriers are being informed to be ready for operations from May 25, he said in his missive.

The Minister said Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) guidelines for passenger movement are also being separately issued by the Civil Aviation ministry. 

To control the corona virus infection, all domestic passenger flights in the country were banned since March 25, although cargo planes and special permitted passenger aircraft were in operation. International flights have been closed since March 22.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Ministry of Labour & Employment has implemented the decision to cut employees' provident fund (EPF) contributions to 10 per cent from the existing 12 per cent for three months till July.

This would increase 4.3 crore organised sector employees' take home pay and reduce the liability of 6.5 lakh employees reeling under liquidity crunch under lockdown to contain COVID-19.

The decision is estimated to infuse liquidity of Rs 6,750 crore in next three months.

The labour ministry in a notification issued on Monday stated that the reduction in EPF contributions shall be applicable "in respect of wages payable by it for the months of May, June and July, 2020".

Therefore the take home pay due in June, July and August would increase, while the employers' contributions due in June, July and August would reduce.

Giving reason for the move it stated "whereas due to COVID-19 pandemic, lockdown is in force across the country and the Central Government after making necessary inquiry is satisfied that to provide liquidity in the hands of employers and employees, there arises a need to amend the notification of April 9, 1997."

Last week, Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced reduction of statutory provident fund contribution by both employers and employees for next three months.

The Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) and public sector undertakings (PSUs) will however continue to contribute 12 per cent as employer contribution to the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).

This reduction of the EPF contributions will be applicable for workers who are not eligible for 24 per cent EPF support under PM Garib Kalyan Package and its extension.

The government is contributing employers and employees contributions of 24 per cent of basic wages for those establishments that have up to 100 employee and 90 per cent of whom earn under Rs 15,000 monthly wage since March.

Last week, Sitharaman had also announced the extension of the benefit under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) for three months, where the government would contribute entire 24 per cent of EPF contributions till August, giving relief to 3.67 lakh employers and 72.22 lakh employees.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The government’s effort to provide a boost to the coronavirus-hit economy focuses on more on the medium-term rather than offering immediate support, according to a recent note by Goldman Sachs economists.

In a May 17 note, Goldman Sachs economists Prachi Mishra and Andrew Tilton predicted that India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will contract by an annualised 45 per cent in the second quarter from prior three months or the June quarter.

This is almost double of what the global investment banker had predicted in its earlier forecast for the same period — a 20 per cent slump.

In the note, the researches expect a stronger sequential rebound of 20 per cent in the third quarter of the year, but they fear that India’s real GDP will fall by 5 per cent in this fiscal, which is a major blow to the country’s economy.

The fact that the lockdown has been extended to May 31, albeit some relaxations, means many sectors including the all-important aviation sector will not be able to resume operations. The broader travel and tourism industry continues to bleed as well.

While Goldman economists have not changed their projections for the fourth quarter of FY21(14%) and the first quarter of next year (6.5%), they said that the stimulus announced by the government to deal with the crisis may not be enough to prevent a slow recovery.

The government had announced a Rs 20 lakh crore coronavirus relief package for affected businesses and citizens, but the economists explained that it lacks immediate support.

“There have been a series of structural reform announcements across several sectors over the past few days,” Prachi Mishra and Andrew Tilton wrote.

“These reforms are more medium-term in nature, and we, therefore, do not expect these to have an immediate impact on reviving growth. We will continue to monitor their implementation to gauge their effect on the medium-term outlook.”

The economists also mentioned in their note that India’s targeted policy support is “tepid” compared to packages announced by other emerging economies.

They said all the fresh prediction has been based after factoring in all conditions like the extension of the lockdown, workforce constraints and more.

The Goldman Sachs economists also advised the government to offer “discretionary fiscal policy support” for minimising any further impact of the pandemic on businesses.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The government's reform moves and stimulus package will only help the deeply-impacted growth process in the medium term of over three years and will not push up the GDP in the short term, analysts at two foreign brokerages said on Monday.

The analysts at Bank of America (BofA) and Nomura maintained their earlier GDP estimates suggesting a contraction of 0.1 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively, for FY21 even after the announcement of the Rs 20 lakh crore economic package.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last week announced a stimulus of up to Rs 20 lakh crore or 10 per cent of GDP, with a view to help arrest the slide in growth because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the specifics of the package in a series of press conference ending Sunday.

The package may fall short of mitigating the near-term challenges for some businesses, but it is better designed to improve India's medium-term growth potential and attract long-term risk capital, analysts at the Japanese brokerage Nomura said.

They also added that there are no silver bullets in the package.

Concurring with this view, BofA analysts said reforms in agriculture, mining, power and industry, higher foreign direct investment in defence and opening up of all sectors to the private sector will help to push up potential growth over time.

In the near term, GDP will likely contract by 12 per cent in the June quarter, and by 0.1 per cent in FY21, they added.

Maintaining its 5 per cent contraction estimate, Nomura said the government has aimed for maximum bang for minimum buck as most of the relief is either regulatory in nature or reflected in its contingent liabilities, rather than explicit budgetary support.

The brokerage said the dent to the fiscal deficit as a result of the package will be only 0.8 per cent, and India will end FY21 with the gap number at 7 per cent.

It, however, welcomed that the government has used the crisis to push through politically sensitive reform measures.

Nomura said that the packages have so far desisted from addressing the woes of particular sectors like travel and hospitality, and the additional money provided for employment guarantee will ensure migrants to stay back in the villages and may cause labour supply issues in cities.

BofA said the Reserve Bank will go for a 0.75 per cent more of rate cuts by October and conduct open market operations of USD 75 billion to find the fiscal deficit.

The Finance Ministry will follow up with interest subventions for small businesses and real estate, and use instruments like recap bonds to recapitalise state-run lenders, it added.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Chinese billionaire Jack Ma is stepping down from the board of SoftBank Group Corp., as the Japanese technology company struggles over its risky investments such as office-sharing venture WeWork.

Tokyo-based SoftBank announced Ma's resignation Monday, ahead of releasing financial results. It did not say why he was leaving.

Ma, co-founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, has been focusing on philanthropy lately, such as donating masks and test kits to help in the efforts against the new coronavirus pandemic.

SoftBank announced three new board members, including SoftBank Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto and Waseda University professor Yuko Kawamoto.

Another new member is Lip-Bu Tan, founder of Walden International, a venture capital firm focused on computer chips, cloud and artificial intelligence. He is also chief executive of Cadence Design, a US electronic design automation software and engineering services company.

Also Monday, SoftBank said it was buying back its own shares, of up to 500 billion yen (USD 4.7 billion) in value, to shore up its bottom line.

SoftBank is a major investor in Alibaba. Ma, who joined the SoftBank board in 2007, has a close relationship with SoftBank founder and Chief Executive Masayoshi Son.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Following are the highlights of the fifth and final tranche of the Rs 20 lakh crore comprehensive economic package announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to tide over the COVID-19 crisis:

* Additional Rs 40,000 cr allocation for MGNREGS to provide employment boost

* Public expenditure on health to be increased

* Ramp up health centres in rural and urban areas for any future pandemics

* Suspension of fresh initiation of insolvency proceedings up to 1 year

* Threshold to initiate insolvency proceedings raised to Rs 1 crore from Rs 1 lakh

* Decriminalisation of Companies Act violations involving minor technical defaults

* Most of compoundable offences sections to be shifted to internal adjudication mechanism

* Allowed direct listing of securities by Indian firms in permissible foreign markets

* Govt opens all sectors to private companies, while public sector enterprises to play role in defined areas

* At least one enterprise in strategic sectors but private sector to be allowed

* PSEs to be privatized in non-strategic areas; timing to be based on feasibility etc

* State borrowing limit raised to 5 per cent from 3 per cent for FY'21; to unleash Rs 4.28 lakh crore

* Part of the enhanced state borrowing to be linked to specific reforms

* Total stimulus package stands at Rs 20,97,053 crore, including RBI's liquidity measures of Rs 8,01,603 crore since February 2020

* Announced Rs 1,92,800 crore schemes including Rs 1.70 lakh crore PM Garib Kalayan Yojana in March

* First tranche of stimulus amounted to Rs 5.94 lakh cr; second Rs 3.10 lakh cr; third Rs 1.50 lakh cr and Rs 48,100 cr in fourth and fifth tranches.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Industry body Assocham and FICCI have welcomed the measures announced by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as part of fourth tranche of economic package. FICCI President Dr Sangita Reddy said that Government is turning the crisis into an opportunity for India, the government is turning the crisis into an opportunity for India.
 
She said, the measures announced were in the same direction of creating more opportunities for Indian industry and leveraging the strengths of both large business houses as well as start-ups. These measures will lay the foundation for long term growth and provide impetus to sectors that can help share the future of India.
 
ASSOCHAM General Secretary Deepak Sood said, major policy decisions across the most critical and strategic sectors  unveiled by Finance Ministe today clearly demonstrates the Narendra Modi Government's resolve to stay on course of bold economic reforms, undaunted by the Covid-19 global health crisis.
 
He said, the announcements on major policy reforms, combined with the previous three tranches of the 20 lakh crore rupees economic package  to deal with the human and economic costs of the Covid-19 lend a confidence to 130 crore Indians, that with a strong and cohesive leadership both at the Centre and states, any crisis can be dealt with courage. He said, decisions like corporatisation of Ordnance Factories with the stock listing option and a positive list for the domestic companies for Defence production would go a long way in making India self-reliant. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The pan-India electronic agriculture trading portal, e-NAM has reached milestone of one thousand Mandis across 18 States and three Union Territories. Agriculture Ministry said, 38 additional Mandis were integrated with the e-NAM platform yesterday. The 38 new Mandis include 19 from Madhya Pradesh, 10 Mandis from Telangana, four from Maharashtra and one each in Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Kerala and Jammu and Kashmir.

According to reports, e-NAM has become a tool for social distancing during lockdown. States are promoting virtual trading platform like e-NAM thereby reducing human intervention in handling of the produce and trading ensured through online mode. E-NAM was launched in 2016, with the aim of networking the existing Mandis on a common online market platform as One Nation, One Market for agricultural commodities in the country.

The online digital market aims at reducing transaction costs, bridging information asymmetries and helping expansion of market access for farmers and other stakeholders. In last four years, e-NAM has registered a user base of one crore 66 lakh farmers, one lakh 31 thousand traders and more than one thousand Farmers Producers Organizations.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The bigger global effort to stabilise oil prices involving all major oil producers, including the US has started showing its impact with global crude oil prices remaining steady since the big fall in April.

Benchmark Brent crude is hovering over $32 a barrel now while US crude WTI, which fell to historically low level of minus -- $37.63 a barrel, is now at over $29 a barrel. The price have been steady for last couple of weeks largely on account of a slight pick up in demand owing to gradual opening of the economies across the world facing Covid-19 lockdown. Also, the sustained efforts of big oil producers to cut production to stabilise oversupplied market is now being results.

According to a report by ICICI Securities, Iraq and Kazakhstan have finally begun output cuts and it now appears OPEC+ output would be down 9.4 million barrels of oil per day (mbpd) month-on-month in May. Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait have announced additional cuts of 1.18 mbpd suggesting OPEC+ output may be down 1.7 mbpd in June, 2020. US oil output last week at 11.6m b/d is down 1.44m b/d from the recent peak. US oil rig count is down by 57 per cent over the last eight weeks suggesting output decline would continue.

Moreover, US crude inventory was down by 0.7m b/d last week after rising by 104m bbls over the preceding 15 weeks. US oil demand last week was up 3m b/d (22 per cent) from the recent lows and down just 14 per cent YoY.

"Thus, recent data suggests that output cuts and demand recovery are gathering pace. It augurs well for oil price and ONGC's share price outlook," the brokerage said in its report.

The International Energy Association (IEA) has also raised its CY20 and Q2 demand estimates by 0.7-3.2m b/d due to better-than-estimated mobility in OECD countries and likely fall in population under the lockdown to 2.8bn by end-May from 4bn at peak.

Moreover, global demand is expected to recover by 3.9m b/d month-on-month and supply to reduce by 12m b/d month-on-month in May, 2020. IEA has said that this indicates that supply surplus may contract to 10.4m b/d in May, 2020 from 26.3m b/d in Apr'20. Further, supply surplus should contract in June, 2020 as OPEC+ output declines by 1.7m b/d MoM and there is further recovery in global demand.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: The BSE Sensex on Friday fell by 25.16 points to settle at 31,097.73 in highly volatile trade as selling pressure was witnessed in Realty, Bankex, Auto and IT stocks amid positive Asian Market.

The nifty of national stock exchange too eased by 5.90 pts to 9,136.85. The nifty registered days high and low at 9,182.40 and 9,050 respectively. 

High volatility was witnessed during the day. Slumping by 885 pts on Thursday, though the sensex opened higher by 174 pts to 31,296.28, it immediately went in red. Erasing gains of early trade, it dropped nearly 352 pts to 30,770.48, days low.

In last hour, it was recovered from days low but ended negative only at 31,097.73, easing by25.16 pts from its previous close. The sectoral indices like Realty, Bankex, Auto, IT and Finance kept the market weak for another day today.

In scrips, M&M, Axis Bank, Indusind bank, HeroMoto corp and Sun Pharma declined today. The mid cap fell by 0.31 pc and small cap by 0.16 pc. In a pack of 30 scrips, 20 declined and 10 advanced. Though the Asian stocks rose on Friday but ended week lower as deteriorating US-China relations add to uncertainties over how fast economies can recover as they start to emerge from lockdowns. Worries about confrontations between the two largest economies in the world eclipsed Chinese economic data, which showed its economy is gradually recovering from the shock of the coronavirus outbreak.

Japan's Nikkei rose 0.6 per cent while mainland Chinese shares were mixed. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2 per cent but down about 1 per cent so far this week In commodities, oil prices jumped more than 3 per cent, touching more than one-month highs.
 

NEW DEDLHI [Maha Media]: American industry suffered the most severe plunge on record last month with factories, mines and utilities battered by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Federal Reserve said Friday that its industrial production index tumbled a record 11.2 per cent in April.

Manufacturing output also posted a record drop 13.7 per cent as production of cars, trucks and auto parts plummeted more than 70 per cent.

Production of aerospace and other transportation products, metals and furniture fell around 20 per cent.

Output dropped 6.1 per cent at mines and 0.9 per cent at utilities.

The implosion of the US industrial sector was not unexpected, but the scale of the collapse was stunning.

Jennifer Lee, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, wrote one can't help but grimace."

Industry was running at 64.9 per cent of capacity last month, shattering the previous record low set in the Great Recession year 2009.

Factory capacity utilization also hit a record low 61.1 per cent.

Manufacturing may get a boost over the coming week as auto plants begin to reopen.

Auto output at the large factories is slated to resume on Monday, said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities, so we should see a pickup in manufacturing activity in May."

The lockdowns and travel restrictions imposed to combat COVID-19 have brought economic activity to a near-standstill.

The United States lost nearly 21 million jobs last month, and unemployment surged to 14.7 per cent, highest since the Great Depression.

US gross domestic product the broadest measure of economic output is expected to crater at a 40 per cent annual rate from April-June, biggest drop in records dating back to 1947.

The Commerce Department reported Friday that retail sales dropped a record 16 per cent in April.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Equity benchmark Sensex plunged 886 points on Thursday, tracking heavy losses in index heavyweights Reliance Industries, HDFC twins, Infosys and ICICI Bank amid a selloff in global markets.

Further, market players were disappointed as the immediate spend out of the government's Rs 20 lakh crore fiscal stimulus package was seen to be relatively small, raising doubts about the revival of growth any time soon, experts said.

After crashing over 955 points during the day, the 30-share index settled 885.72 points or 2.77 per cent lower at 31,122.89.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty tanked 240.80 points, or 2.57 per cent, to 9,142.75.

Tech Mahindra was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, cracking over 5 per cent, followed by Infosys, HDFC, IndusInd Bank, Reliance Industries and NTPC.

On the other hand, Hero MotoCorp, L&T, Maruti, UltraTech Cement and Sun Pharma led the gainers' chart.

Indian market opened on a negative note following overnight negative close in US markets as the Fed warned that the coronavirus crisis raises longer-term growth concerns and could result in an extended period of low productivity growth and stagnant incomes, said Narendra Solanki, Head- Equity Research (Fundamental), Anand Rathi.

Further, investor reaction to the first set of measures in the relief package announcement by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was mixed and traders await follow up announcements, he noted.

"During the afternoon session, market further weakened as truncated WPI data added to the pessimism," he said.

As per data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry, wholesale price index (WPI) deflation in primary articles was 0.79 per cent in April, as against an inflation of 3.72 per cent in March.

The fuel and power basket saw a deflation of 10.12 per cent in April, against 1.76 per cent deflation in the previous month.

Meanwhile, Asian markets were in the red after the World Health Organization warned that the coronavirus "may never go away".

On top of that, US Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell warned of a "highly uncertain" outlook for the world's top economy.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul closed with losses. Stock exchanges in Europe were also trading on a negative note in early deals.

International oil benchmark Brent crude futures surged 3.85 per cent to USD 30.32 per barrel.

On the currency front, the rupee slipped 10 paise to provisionally close at 75.56 against the US dollar.

In India, the death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 2,549 and the number of cases climbed to 78,003, according to the health ministry.

Globally, the number of cases linked to the disease has crossed 43.47 lakh and the death toll has topped 2.97 lakh.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a massive financial package to revive the country's economy by outlining a total stimulus of Rs 20 lakh crore, or 10 per cent of the country's GDP, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has now suggested that the government should invest 5 per cent of GDP in the healthcare sector.

"IMA bats for cash transfer to the poor, investment of 5 per cent of GDP in health by governments and provide stimulus to clinics, small and medium hospitals run as professional medical practice." said Dr R.V. Asokan, Secretary General of the IMA.

The Association said it believes that India will slide down in health parameters including lifespan, infant mortality and maternal mortality if issues of unemployment and poverty are not addressed on a war footing.

The Association said that if timely measures are not taken then the conquered and forgotten diseases are bound to re-emerge.

"TB that kills over 2,200 Indians daily, in today's scenario, is expected to upscale at least by 15 per cent. The road to Health begins by taking poverty head on and the clock starts with an appropriate response to the migration crisis both in scale and quality," it said.

The Association said that the Universal Basic Income and Universal Health Coverage have now become affordable and are no longer a luxury, but in fact a tool of survival. While the sophisticated response of the healthcare insurance model seems to be a failure, public health infrastructure and human resources remain the insurance against any exigencies.

Dr Rajan Sharma, National President of the IMA, said "The current lockdown has partitioned us horizontally between haves and have nots. Looking at the scale of migration and the tales of human miseries, the uncertainties hanging over their lives are heartrending."

"Providing for the hapless migrants today and for their tomorrow is our top most priority. Instead of increasing shifts to 12 hours we should focus on implementing 4 shifts of 6 hrs each to accommodate more people. Creation of low-tech jobs in agriculture, road construction and irrigation invest into the disempowered section of the society," he added.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Equity benchmark BSE Sensex zoomed 637 points on Wednesday, driven by gains in banking stocks ahead of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's press conference to unveil provisions of the Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package announced by the government.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement of the massive economic stimulus to revive the coronavirus-hit economy boosted domestic investor sentiment, traders said.

After rallying 1,474.36 points during the day, the 30-share index surrendered some early gains to settle 637.49 points or 2.03 per cent higher at 32,008.61.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty jumped 187 points, or 2.03 per cent, to finish at 9,383.55.

Axis Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, surging around 7 per cent, followed by Ultratech Cement, L&T, ICICI Bank, SBI, M&M and Bajaj Finance.

On the other hand, Nestle India, Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel and HUL ended in the red.

The Prime Minister on Tuesday announced a massive new financial package on top of the previously announced measures for a combined stimulus of Rs 20 lakh crore.

He said the package will be around 10 percent of the GDP and "will play an important role in the 'Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan' (self-reliant India campaign)", adding that the "announcements made by the government so far, the decisions of the RBI and today's package totals to Rs 20 lakh crore."

The special economic package will have emphasis on land, labour, liquidity and laws, and will be for "our labourers, farmers, honest tax payers, MSMEs and cottage industry", Modi said.

On the currency front, the rupee appreciated by 5 paise to provisionally close at 75.46 against the US dollar.

Meanwhile, bourses in Shanghai and Seoul ended with gains, while Hong Kong and Tokyo closed in the red.

Stock exchanges in Europe started off with significant losses.

International oil benchmark Brent crude futures slipped 1.30 per cent to USD 29.59 per barrel.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Indian pharma industry on Wednesday hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasising on making India self-reliant and said his speech captured the need of the moment in these trying times.

"The Prime Minister's speech captured the needof the hourperfectly.IPA lauds PM's vision on 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' and self-reliance,"Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA)Secretary General Sudarshan Jain said in a statement.

During these unprecedentedtimes, the pharmaceutical industry has worked with the government in an integrated manner and continued to operate with vigour to drive local expertiseand truly live up to its title as the 'Pharmacy of the World', he added.

"Having said that, providing impetus to domestic manufacturers willstrengthen the industrygoing forward.This will usher a new era for the country's healthcare and pharma sector," Jain said.

The government had earlier come out with greater contours ofactive pharmaceuticalingredient (API)policy which is expected to increase self-reliance in fermentation-based API industry, he added.

"IPA is committed toproviding quality medicines to thepatients in need and we applaudHon'ble PM's vision fora self-reliant India, Jain said.

In similar vein, the Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association (IDMA) also praised Modi's speech on emphasis on self-reliance.

"The PM has very rightly mentioned in his address to nation that it was only the 'local' which came to our help during these unprecedented times," IDMAExecutive Director Ashok Kumar Madan said.

Whether HCQor any other formulation, India's uninhibited exports to all nations and its neighbours have again proved India's image as 'Pharmacy of the World', he added.

"IDMA with its membership of large, medium and small enterprises across the country,reassures the nation of pharma industries' commitment to serve the nation and the humanity," Madan said.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Nearly half of Indian consumers are more worried about frauds while making digital transactions amid the coronavirus crisis, shows a study.

About 28 per cent of consumers are now exercising more caution while making payments using various digital modes, according to a study conducted by YouGov and ACI Worldwide, a real-time electronic payment and banking solutions provider.

"Almost half of Indian consumers (47 per cent) are more concerned about digital payments fraud now than when the novel coronavirus first emerged," the study said.

Vulnerability to fraud remains the biggest consumer concern when it comes to digital transactions (54 per cent), followed by risk of failed transactions (42 per cent).

Efforts to encourage contactless digital payments over cash as a hygiene measure are resonating with consumers one-third (32 per cent) have increased their usage of digital payments (credit and debit card, mobile wallet and other UPI-based payment methods) aimed at helping curb the spread of COVID-19.

Around 75 per cent of consumers are using a digital payment method at least once a week and 44 per cent using one almost daily, the study of 1,006 adults in metro areas such as Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad showed. The survey was carried out online.

"The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic provides another opportunity for fraudsters to dupe unsuspecting consumers. However, it is encouraging that consumers are showing heightened awareness of digital payments fraud and a willingness to adapt behaviours, ACI Worldwide's vice president and country leader (South Asia) Kaushik Roy said.

Nearly 31 per cent of the respondents have been a recent victim of card or digital payments fraud or know someone among their immediate family or friends who has. Close to 17 per cent of those occurrences have been within the last month.

When asked about digital payment fraud risks, fake apps and websites are the biggest, according to 52 per cent of respondents, followed by compromised password/credential information (43 per cent) and spyware/malware (39 per cent).

The study said if impacted by fraud, around 60 per cent of respondents would first call their bank to block their account, indicating that during this time of heightened awareness consumers consider their bank the first line of defense.

Twelve percent would first report fraud activity to police or a cybercrime unit, while a mere four per cent would turn to public social media channels first, it showed.

Nearly 75 percent recognize one-time password (OTP) as a key anti-fraud mechanism deployed by their bank, according to the study.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: India Inc on Tuesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement of a Rs20 lakh crore stimulus package was the "need of the hour" as it will pave the way for post pandemic recovery and unleash the next wave of economic growth.

In his speech, Modi announced that the total stimulus India is marshalling together to limit the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the economy will be a little less than 10 per cent of the GDP and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be announcing the exact details soon.

Industry bodies said the Make In India flagship will emerge as a key catalyst for attracting new investment, driven by much needed bold reforms in the areas of land, labour and liquidity.

"We appreciate that the Prime Minister spoke about the areas of land, labour, liquidity and simplification of laws which are the key challenges of the economy. Reforms in these four areas will truly unleash the next wave of economic growth within this crisis situation," CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said.

Ficci President Sangita Reddy said the strengthening of the five pillars economy, infrastructure, system, demography and demand will pave the way for India returning to a higher sustained growth path again.

"We expect that the contours of the package to be announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will address the needs of the poor and needy, MSMEs and also the industry and common man on the whole. The stress on land, labour and liquidity is what is required to make India self-reliant," she added.

The main focus of the Prime Minister's 33-minute speech, which acknowledged that the coronavirus scare is here to stay for long, was self reliance.

Assocham Secretary General Deepak Sood said, "The 5-pillars of building a self-reliant India would take us towards becoming a credible global force that reaches out to the world from a position of strength but with a sense of responsibility and humility."

He said along with the economic package, the bold reforms across all the sectors - agriculture, taxation, infrastructure, human resource and the financial system - would go a long way to attract investment and revive demand in the economy. The Make In India flagship would be a key catalyst for new investment, be it local or global, Sood added.

The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) also hoped that a focused package to support the Indian Automotive Industry would be announced by the Finance Minister, when she announces the details of the package.

Nisha Biswal, President, US-India Business Council, said, "At Rs 20 lakh crore, the overall response will go a long way toward stabilising the Indian economy and positioning it for post-pandemic recovery. It will also support industry's efforts to put tens of millions of Indians back to work safely and minimize the spread of the novel coronavirus."

PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry President D K Aggarwal said thestimulus package, at this juncture, is need of the hour to refuel economic fundamentals of the economy and resume the economic activity.

Auto major Mahindra and Mahindra's managing director Pawan Goenka said Modi has caught the attention with the Rs 20 lakh crore number.

"We cannot be hostage to the virus and need to get on with our lives. We have to start buying local and be vocal about it," Goenka, a part of the conglomerate with a global footprint, said in a tweet.

Harsh Goenka of RPG Enterprises called it a powerful booster to the economy and a timely lifeline which will benefit all sections of the people and lift a lot of struggling sections out of trouble.

Adar Poonawala, who leads Serum Institute of India, world's largest vaccine maker, said USD 200 billion stimulus is the right commitment and hoped for proper utilisation of the money to help the needy.

"I hope this money actually ends up in the hands of the people who need it the most, and does not get lost in complicated schemes," he tweeted.

Gautam Singhania of textiles and garment maker Raymond said the country is "migrating from merely battling a pandemic to bringing a paradigm shift in the economic affairs" to become self-reliant and welcomed the vision outlined to make local products global.

Japanese electronics major Panasonic's head for the country, Manish Sharma, said it is a "fairly large package" and appreciated the intent to expand domestic manufacturing and becoming a part of the global supplu chains "considering the geopolitical environment".

Greaves Cotton's Nagesh Basavanhalli said the quantum of the package was a surprise and hoped that it will help the manufacturing sector. "The industry is now looking forward to the finer details of this enormous package," he said.

In a big push to revive the economy, Modi has announced a Rs 20 lakh crore package, which combined the government's recent announcements on supporting key sectors as also measures rolled out by the Reserve Bank of India.

In a televised address to the nation, the prime minister said the details about fourth phase of the lockdown will be made known before May 18, adding it will be different from the earlier phases.

The third phase of the lockdown ends on May 17.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Equity benchmark Sensex dropped over 400 points in opening session on Tuesday dragged by losses in index-heavyweights HDFC twins, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank amid weak cues from global markets.

After touching a low of 31,097.50, the 30-share index was trading 400.20 points or 1.27 per cent lower at 31,161.02.

Similarly, NSE Nifty declined 103.95 points, or 1.13 per cent, to 9,135.25.

Asian Paints was the top loser in the Sensex pack, falling over 3 per cent, followed by HDFC duo, Maruti, ONGC, HUL, ICICI Bank and Kotak Bank.

On the other hand, UltraTech Cement, Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma, ITC and NTPC were trading higher.

In the previous session, the BSE barometer settled 81.48 points or 0.26 per cent lower at 31,561.22, and the broader Nifty fell 12.30 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 9,239.20.

Foreign portfolio investors purchased equities worth Rs 534.87 crore in the capital market on Monday, provisional exchange data showed.

According to traders, weak cues from global markets on fears of a second wave of coronavirus infections spooked investors across Asia.

After weeks of no new cases, Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the outbreak first emerged, reported six new infections in two days and South Korea announced its biggest spike in new cases in more than a month.

Following the reports, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul were trading with significant losses.

On Wall Street, stock exchanges settled on a positive note.

International oil benchmark Brent crude futures were trading 0.24 per cent higher at USD 29.70 per barrel.

In India, the death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 2,293 and the number of cases climbed to 70,756 on Tuesday, according to the health ministry.

Globally, the number of cases linked to the disease has crossed 41.77 lakh and the death toll has topped 2.86 lakh.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesdayexpressed confidence that the MSME, village and cottage industry will grow to new heights on the back of Rs 20 lakh crore package announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The minister for MSMEs and Road Transport and Highways said, "through this historical package, the Prime Minister has fulfilled the expectations and aspirations of the MSME, village and cottage industry sector."

Gadkari said, with abundant resources, superior technology and raw materials, India can soon become self-reliant in all sectors. He said, the Prime Minister has also envisioned India as a super economic power in global economy.

The minister said that the economic slowdown due to COVID-19 pandemic should be taken as a blessing in disguise and strive to maintain positivity and self confidence to take India ahead.

Gadkari said the nation will remember this gesture of the Prime Minister for a very long time.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: National Disaster Management Authority has issued guidelines to states regarding the reopening of closed industrial institutions due to lockdown.

The guidelines have been issued in view of Vishakhapatnam chemical leak incident.

The states have been asked to maintain preparedness of the disaster management system.

NDMA has instructed industries to take all necessary precautions.

Industries have been advised not to fall for the high target race, as soon as the factory starts, first trial or test run should be done properly.

The guidelines have also mandated continuous testing of all devices under Safety Protocols . 

Moreover, Employees should be made aware of safety norms and if the industries face problems, they can seek cooperation from the state and the administration.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The COVID-19 pandemic has threatened to make education outcomes worse and without aggressive policy, the virus outbreak across the globe will have immediate costs on both learning and health of children and youth, according to the World Bank's education team.

Experts from the World Bank have pointed out that even before the pandemic, the world was facing a "learning crisis" and already off track to meet Sustainable Development Goal 4, which commits all nations to ensure that, among other ambitious targets, all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education.

The World Bank has been working with different UN agencies in forming guidelines as well as policy suggestions for minimising impact of the pandemic on education sector.

"Before the pandemic, 258 million children and youth of primary- and secondary-school age were out of school and low schooling quality meant many who were in school learned too little. Even worse, the crisis was not equally distributed. The most disadvantaged children and youth had the worst access to schooling, highest dropout rates, and the largest learning deficits," the team has pointed out in a report titled "The COVID-19 Pandemic: Shocks to Education and Policy Responses".

According to Jaime Saavedra, Global Director for Education at the World Bank, the pandemic now threatens to make education outcomes even worse.

"The pandemic has already had profound impacts on education by closing schools almost everywhere in the planet, in the largest simultaneous shock to all education systems in our lifetimes. The damage will become even more severe as the health emergency translates into a deep global recession," he said.

The World Bank's education team asserted that it is possible to counter the "shocks" and turn crisis into opportunity.

"The first step is to cope successfully with school closures, by protecting health and safety and doing what they can to prevent students' learning loss using remote learning. At the same time, countries need to start planning for school reopening. That means preventing dropout, ensuring healthy school conditions, and using new techniques to promote rapid learning recovery in key areas once students are back in school," the report said.

"As the school system stabilizes, countries can use the focus and innovativeness of the recovery period to 'build back better'. The key is to not replicate the failures of the pre-COVID systems, but instead build toward improved systems and accelerated learning for all students," it added.

Pointing out that there are long term costs involved, the team has called for aggressive policy action.

"The policies to turn this around can be grouped in three overlapping phases--coping, managing continuity, improving and accelerating. As rules around social distancing are gradually relaxed, systems need to ensure that schools reopen safely, student dropout is minimized, and learning recovery starts," it said.

According to UNESCO estimates, over 154 crore students are severely impacted by closure of educational institutions across the world amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

UN agencies--UNESCO and UNICEF along with World Bank and the World Food Programme, had recently come up with guidelines on how to safely reopen schools in view of COVID-19 and also warned that widespread closures of educational facilities present an unprecedented risk to children's education and wellbeing.

Globally, over 41 lakh people have been infected with COVID-19, and the total number of deaths from the deadly virus now stands at 2.83 lakh.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Moody's Investors Service on Friday said it estimates India's GDP growth to hit zero' in FY21 and pointed to a wide fiscal deficit, high government debt, weak social and physical infrastructure, and a fragile financial sector.

The quality of India's economic growth has declined in recent years, demonstrated by financial stress among rural households, relatively low productivity and weak job creation, the agency said.

In its forecast for FY21, the agency estimated India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth at zero, meaning the country's economic growth will remain flat this financial year, and the same is seen accelerating to 6.6 per cent in FY22.

In its credit opinion which comes following the change in the forecast, Moody's warned that the COVID-19 "shock will exacerbate an already material slowdown in economic growth, which has significantly reduced prospects for durable fiscal consolidation".

Analysts across the board have been certain about the heavy economic toll that the pandemic will take on the country.

Moody's local arm Icra has pegged for a contraction of up to 2 per cent in the growth as a result of the crisis, which has seen the country being put under a lockdown for nearly two months to arrest the spread of infections.

Late last month, Moody's had slashed its calendar year 2020 GDP growth forecast to 0.2 per cent.

Its negative outlook on the sovereign rating, which was revised last in November 2019 from stable', reflects increasing risks that economic growth will remain significantly lower than in the past, it said, adding that this takes into account the deep shock triggered by the virus outbreak.

Meanwhile, India's credit strengths include a large and diverse economy, favourable demographic potential and a stable domestic financing base to fund the government debt, it noted.

In March, the government had announced a relief package worth Rs 1.7 lakh crore, and there are speculations of another follow-up package in the offing.

These measures will reduce the depth and duration of India's growth slowdown, but there is a probability of an "entrenched weakening" on prolonged financial stress among rural households, weak job creation and a credit crunch among non-bank financial institutions, it said.

Reform prospects, which can take care of some of the concerns with the Indian economy, have "diminished", the agency said.

It further warned that a downgrade in the rating could happen if the fiscal metrics weakened materially, and made it clear that a "negative" outlook indicates that an upgrade in the rating is unlikely in the near term.

However, the outlook can be changed to "stable" if the fiscal metrics stabilise, it added.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Microsoft on Thursday launched its latest Surface Book 3, Surface Go 2, Surface Headphones 2 and Surface Earbuds in select markets that will roll out to the rest of the markets in coming months.

Surface Go 2 starts at $399, Surface Book 3 will be available at $1599, Surface Headphones 2 are priced at $249 and Surface Earbuds will cost $199.

All these products will be available starting May 12, said the company.

Surface Go 2 offers a larger 10.5-inch PixelSense display, improved battery life and a model with up to 64 per cent faster performance than the original, with 8th Generation Intel Core M options for the first time.

Paired with Surface Pen, Surface Go 2 aims to allow distance learners and remote workers to stay digital.

Surface Book 3 features 13-inch or 15-inch high-DPI PixelSense Display. It is powered by 10th Generation Intel Core processors and choice of discrete NVIDIA GeForce GTX or Quadro RTX GPUs.

It comes with up to 32GB of RAM and the fastest SSD the company have ever shipped.

For people who love to game, Surface Book 3 15-inch has an NVIDIA GeForce GTX GPU with enough power to play the top Xbox Game Pass for PC titles at 1080p in a smooth 60 frames per second.

Surface Headphones 2 comes with 13 levels of ambient noise control with up to 20 hours of clear sound.

Surface Earbuds features intuitive touch controls so that one can start a phone call or change the song without taking out phone.

The company also launched Surface Dock 2 which aims to expand workspace with a simple magnetic click and delivers faster charging and a new multi-port Microsoft USB-C Travel Hub.

Surface Dock 2 is priced at $259.99 and the Microsoft USB-C Travel Hub is priced at $99.

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: The BSE Sensex on Wednesday recovered by 232.24 pts to close positive at 31,685.75, snapping a losing streak of last two sessions on fresh buying in Telecom, Bankex, Auto and Finance stocks amid mixed trend in global market.

The nifty of national stock exchange too moved up by 65.30 pts to 9,270.90 High volatility was witnessed during the day.

Slumping by 2263 pts in couple of sessions, day opened positive at 31,577.63 pts,up by 124 pts. It spurted by nearly 517 Pts to 31,970.84, days high, before closing at 31,685.75, up by 232.24 pts from its previous close.

Meanwhile, it nosedived by 295 pts to 31,158.75, days low. The nifty registered days high and low at 9,346.90 and 9,116.50 respectively.

The sectoral indices include, Telecom, Finance, Bankex, Auto and Materials pushed the market up. However, selling in FMCG, Energy, Consumer Durable and Oil and Gas capped from further gains, broker informed.

The scrips like M andM, Bajaj finance, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Bhart Airtel advanced. Mid cap rose by 0.78 pc and small cap too moved up by 0.49 pc. In 30 scrips, 20 advanced while 10 declined.

Mixed trend was seen in Global shares today simmering US-China tensions cast a pall over markets.

MSCI’s index of global shares was trading flat. The pan-European STOXX 600 was 0.3 per cent higher, with losses in oil and gas shares weighing on the index. Wall Street futures were positive, with E-minis for the S&P500 up 0.6 per cent. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside of Japan climbed 0.7 per cent. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday while China markets reversed early losses, sending the bluechip index up 0.6 per cent. 

Oil prices rose above $31 a barrel anticipating recovery in demand as some countries ease coronavirus lockdowns offset a report showing a higher-than-expected rise in US inventories.

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The government on Tuesday evening hiked excise duty by a record Rs 10 per litre on petrol and Rs 13 per litre on diesel to garner Rs 1.6 lakh crore additional revenue as it repeated its time-tested formula of not passing on gains arising from a slump in international oil prices.

Retail prices of petrol and diesel will not be impacted by the tax changes as state-owned oil firms will adjust them against the recent fall in oil prices, industry officials said.

According to a notification issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, special additional excise duty on petrol has been hiked by Rs 2 per litre and road cess has been hiked by Rs 8 a litre.

In case of diesel, special additional excise duty has been hiked by Rs 5 per litre and road cess has been raised by Rs 8 a litre.

With this, the total incidence of excise duty on petrol has risen to Rs 32.98 per litre and that on diesel to Rs 31.83.

The tax on petrol was Rs 9.48 per litre when the Modi government took office in 2014 and that on diesel was Rs 3.56 a litre.

This is the second time since March that the government has hiked excise duty to mop up gains arising from fall in international oil prices. It had raised excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 3 per litre each in March to garner about Rs 39,000 crore.

Petrol and diesel prices have not been revised since March 16 despite international oil prices falling to a two-decade low. The gains will now be adjusted against the excise duty hike.

Petrol costs Rs 71.26 a litre in Delhi and a litre of diesel comes for Rs 69.39.

The government had between November 2014 and January 2016 raised excise duty on petrol and diesel on nine occasions to take away gains arising from plummeting global oil prices.

In all, duty on petrol rate was hiked by Rs 11.77 per litre and that on diesel by 13.47 a litre in those 15 months that helped government's excise mop up more than double to Rs 2,42,000 crore in 2016-17 from Rs 99,000 crore in 2014-15.

It cut excise duty by Rs 2 in October 2017 and by Rs 1.50 a year later. But it raised excise duty by Rs 2 per litre in July 2019.

Government sources said the Centre has taken this step of increasing duty to raise some revenue in view of a tight fiscal situation. This would help in generating the resources to meet the expense of coronavirus fight.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Within days of Facebook's Rs 43,574 crore deal, Silver Lake - one of the world's largest tech investors - on Monday agreed to invest Rs 5,655.75 crore to buy a 1.15 per cent stake in billionaire Mukesh Ambani's digital unit that houses India's youngest but biggest telecom firm.

The investment in Jio Platforms is at a 12.5 per cent premium to the Facebook deal and more such strategic and financial investments are likely to be made going ahead.

"Silver Lake will invest Rs 5,655.75 crore into Jio Platforms," Reliance said in a statement. "This investment values Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs 4.90 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.15 lakh crore and represents a 12.5 per cent premium to the equity valuation of the Facebook investment announced on April 22, 2020."

Facebook had bought a 9.99 per cent stake in Jio Platforms for USD 5.7 billion (Rs 43,574 crore) at an enterprise value of Rs 4.62 lakh crore.

Strategic and financial investors are to form 20 per cent of Jio Platform, half of which was picked by Facebook. Silver Lake is one of the investors and more such investments are likely.

"Jio Platforms, a wholly-owned subsidiary of RIL, is a next-generation technology company building a digital society for India by bringing together Jio's leading digital apps, digital ecosystems and India's #1 high-speed connectivity platform under one umbrella," the statement said.

"Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, which provides connectivity platform to over 388 million subscribers, will continue to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jio Platforms."

With approximately USD 40 billion in combined assets under management and committed capital and a singular focus on the world's great tech and tech-enabled opportunities, Silver Lake is the global leader in large-scale technology investing. Its investments have included Airbnb, Alibaba, Ant Financial, Alphabet's Verily and Waymo units, Dell Technologies, Twitter and numerous other global technology leaders.

"In the wake of the severe economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, globally and especially within India, this partnership with one of the most renowned tech-investors globally, Silver Lake, has special significance," the statement said.

Commenting on the transaction with Silver Lake, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Ltd, said, "I am delighted to welcome Silver Lake as a valued partner in continuing to grow and transform the Indian digital ecosystem for the benefit of all Indians.

"Silver Lake has an outstanding record of being a valuable partner for leading technology companies globally. Silver Lake is one of the most respected voices in technology and finance. We are excited to leverage insights from their global technology relationships for the Indian Digital Society's transformation."

Commenting on the investment, Egon Durban, Silver Lake Co-CEO and Managing Partner, said, "Jio Platforms is one of the world's most remarkable companies, led by an incredibly strong and entrepreneurial management team who are driving and actualizing a courageous vision.

"They have brought extraordinary engineering capabilities to bear on bringing the power of low-cost digital services to a mass consumer and small businesses population. The market potential they are addressing is enormous, and we are honoured and pleased to have been invited to partner with Mukesh Ambani and the team at Reliance and Jio to help further the Jio mission."

The transaction is subject to regulatory and other customary approvals.

Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisor to Reliance Industries and AZB & Partners and Davis Polk & Wardwell acted as legal counsels. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Equity benchmark Sensex plummeted over 1,500 points in opening trade on Monday dragged by selloff in index-heavyweights HDFC twins, ICICI Bank, TCS and Infosys amid negative cues from global markets.

The 30-share index was trading 1,513.68 points or 4.49 per cent lower at 32,203.94, and the NSE Nifty plunged 425.70 points, or 4.32 per cent, to 9,434.20.

ICICI Bank was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, sinking over 8 per cent, followed by IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra, HDFC and HDFC Bank.

Shares of Reliance Industries fell over 1 per cent after the oil-to-telecom conglomerate on Thursday posted its biggest ever drop in quarterly net profit. Its net profit in January-March slipped 37 per cent to Rs 6,546 crore, the lowest in three years.

Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Silver Lake - one of the world's largest tech investors - agreed to invest Rs 5,655.75 crore to buy a 1.15 per cent stake in Jio Platforms.

Sun Pharma was the sole gainer in the BSE index.

In the previous session, the BSE barometer settled 997.46 points or 3.05 per cent higher at 33,717.62, while the Nifty soared 306.55 points, or 3.21 per cent, to 9,859.90.

Market remained closed on Friday for Maharashtra Day'.

Foreign portfolio investors were net buyers in the capital market on Thursday, as they purchased equity shares worth Rs 1,968.80 crore, according to provisional exchange data.

The government on Friday extended the nationwide lockdown till May 17.

According to analysts, the market has realised that the cascading effect of the restrictions on the domestic economy and corporate earnings is much more than anticipated.

Besides, selloff in other Asian equities too spooked investors, traders said.

Bourses in Hong Kong and Seoul were trading significantly lower, while those in Shanghai and Tokyo were closed for a holiday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude futures were trading flat at USD 26.41 per barrel.

Meanwhile, global tally of coronavirus infections was over 35 lakh, with around 2.47 lakh deaths.

The death toll due to COVID-19 in India rose to 1,373 and the number of cases climbed to 42,533 in the country, according to the health ministry.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Benchmark index of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) jumped 2,390.40 points or 7.63 pc to settle at 33,717.62 in a week under review on hopes for an effective COVID-19 treatment.

Sentiment also got a boost after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday, April 27, 2020, announced a special liquidity facility of Rs 50,00. crore for mutual funds in the wake of the winding up of six debt funds by Franklin Templeton.

Firm global cues also boosted sentiment as investors worldwide were optimistic over the slowing of new virus cases and welcomed moves by policymakers to support the coronavirus-hit global economy.

NSE Nifty rallied 705.50 points or 7.71pc to settle at 9,859.90. BSE Mid-Cap index advanced 549.25 or 4.79 per cent to settle at 12,013.45. The BSE Small-Cap index spurted 468.30 points.points or 4.40 pc to settle at 11,101.84. 

The equity market kept winning streak intact throughout the week. On Monday, the Sensex, gained 415.86 points to settle at 31,743.08. The Nifty rose 127.90 points to 9,282.30.

On Tuesday, the barometer S&P BSE Sensex advanced 371.44 points to settle at 32,114.52. Nifty gained 98.60 points to settle at 9,380.90. 

On Wednesday, the Sensex, rose 605.64 points to 32,720.16. Nifty added 172.45 points to 9,553.35.

On Thursday, Sensex gained 997.46 points to settle at 33,717.62. Nifty 50 too gained 306.55 points to settle at 9,859.90.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Friday said it did not sell a single unit in the domestic market last month due to coronavirus-led nationwide lockdown.

The company had zero sales in the domestic market in April 2020, MSI said in a statement.

This was because in compliance with the Government orders all production facilities were closed, it added

The company, however, exported 632 units from Mundra port following resumption of port operations.

The company said the units were dispatched ensuring all safety guidelines.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Tarun Bajaj, an old hand at the Finance Ministry, on Friday assumed charge as the Economic Affairs Secretary.

He comes back to North Block at a time when the economy is facing headwinds due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to taking over this post, he was the Additional Secretary in Prime Minister's Office.

Bajaj, a 1988 batch IAS officer, replaces Atanu Chakraborty, who retired on Thursday.

"Shri Tarun Bajaj takes over as the new Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), here today after superannuation of Shri Atanu Chakraborty on 30.04.2020," the Finance Ministry said in a tweet.

Before joining Prime Minister's Office in 2015, Bajaj was Joint Secretary in Economic Affairs Department, looking after multilateral funding agencies division.

He worked as Joint Secretary and Director in Department of Financial Services.

As a Joint Secretary in Department of Financial Services for four years, he was looking after insurance division.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: A total of about 790 health insurance claims amounting to about Rs 15.75 crore for Covid-19 have been lodged with the non-life insurers across the country till date, said an industry official.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity the official told IANS that the Covid-19 related health insurance claims are highest from Maharashtra at about 380 and followed by Delhi (about 140) West Bengal (about 75) and Tamil Nadu (about 51).

The officials said about 790 claims have been lodged claiming about Rs 15.75 crore with several non-life insurers.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Almost 1.6 billion workers in the informal economy, nearly half of the global workforce, face an immediate danger of losing their livelihoods due to the continued sharp decline in working hours because of the COVID-19 outbreak, the International Labour Organization has said.

More than 430 million enterprises in hard-hit sectors such as retail and manufacturing risk "serious disruption", the UN agency added.

The findings appear in the ILO Monitor third edition: COVID-19 and the world of work, released Wednesday.

Globally, there are some 3.3 billion workers. Two billion have jobs in the informal economy, the most vulnerable workers in the labour market.

The agency said 1.6 billion in the informal economy "have suffered massive damage to their capacity to earn a living" as a result of the economic meltdown triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Due to lockdowns or because they work in hard-hit sectors, these workers globally have seen a 60 per cent drop in income during the first month of the crisis, according to ILO estimates.

This translates into a more than 80 per cent decline in Africa and the Americas, 70 per cent in Europe and Central Asia, and 21.6 per cent in Asia and the Pacific, the ILO said.

ILO Director General Guy Ryder said as the pandemic and the jobs crisis evolve, the need to protect the world's most vulnerable workers becomes even more urgent.

"For millions of workers, no income means no food, no security and no future. Millions of businesses around the world are barely breathing. They have no savings or access to credit," he said.

"These are the real faces of the world of work. If we don't help them now, they will simply perish."

The UN agency estimated that compared to the pre-crisis levels, there will be a 10.5 per cent deterioration in working hours during the second quarter (Q2) of the year, equivalent to 305 million full-time jobs. Previous projections had put the figure at 6.7 per cent, or 195 million full-time workers.

The situation has worsened for all major regions, again compared to pre-crisis levels. Q2 estimates suggest a 12.4 per cent loss of working hours in the Americas, and 11.8 per cent for Europe and Central Asia. All other regions are above 9.5 per cent.

The ILO added that the proportion of workers living in countries where workplace closures have been recommended, or required, has decreased from 81 per cent to 68 per cent over the past two weeks.

While this is largely due to changes in China, measures have been stepped up elsewhere.

At the same time, 436 million enterprises operating in wholesale and retail, manufacturing, accommodation, and other economic sectors that have been hardest hit, face "high risks of serious disruption".

The ILO called for "urgent, targeted and flexible measures" to support both workers and business, particularly smaller enterprises and those in the informal economy.

"Measures for economic reactivation should follow a job-rich approach, backed by stronger employment policies and institutions, better-resourced and comprehensive social protection systems. International coordination on stimulus packages and debt relief measures will also be critical to making recovery effective and sustainable. International labour standards, which already enjoy tripartite consensus, can provide a framework," it said.

The ILO also stressed that international coordination on stimulus packages and debt relief measures will be critical to making recovery effective and sustainable.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: India needs to be cleverer in lifting lockdown and open up its economy in a "measured way" soon as it does not have the capacity to support people across the spectrum for too long, former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan said on Thursday.

He was deliberating on the economic impact of the COVID-19 in a conversation with former Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

To Gandhi's question on how much money would be needed to help the poor in the current situation, the former RBI chief said India needs Rs 65,000 crore to help the poor in the times of pandemic and considering its total GDP, it can afford to do that.

Rajan also asserted that India cannot afford to be a divided house especially in times when "challenges are so big".

The dialogue between Gandhi and Rajan was a first of its kind initiative that was broadcast on Congress' social media handles.

"We have to be cleverer about opening up...We need to open up in a measured way but as fast as possible so that people start having jobs. We don't have the capacity to support people across the spectrum for too long. Being a relatively poor country, people start out with significantly lower reserves," Rajan said.

"It is all too easy to have a lockdown forever, but obviously that is unsustainable for the economy," the economist said.

India has been in lockdown since March 24 to curb the spread of coronavirus

Gandhi said infrastructure connects people and that gives opportunity, but if there is division and hatred, that disconnects people.

There is an infrastructure of division and hatred and that causes as big a problem, the former Congress chief said.

Agreeing with Gandhi, Rajan said, "Social harmony is a public good. Having everyone believe that

they are a part of this system, an equal part of the system is essential. We cannot afford to be a house divided especially in these times when our challenges are so big.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Equity benchmark Sensex soared over 900 points in opening trade on Thursday tracking heavy buying at ICICI Bank, Infosys, HDFC twins and Reliance Industries counters amid rally in global stocks.

After hitting a high of 33,640.73, the 30-share index was trading 895.69 points or 2.74 per cent higher at 33,615.85.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty shot up 247.20 points, or 2.59 per cent, to 9,800.55.

Maruti was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying nearly 7 per cent, followed by M&M, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Tata Steel, Bajaj Auto, Axis Bank and Bajaj Finance.

Shares of Reliance Industries, HUL and Tech Mahindra were trading on a positive note ahead of their earnings announcements.

On the other hand, Sun Pharma was the sole laggard.

In the previous session, the BSE barometer settled 605.64 points or 1.89 per cent higher at 32,720.16, while the Nifty advanced 172.45 points, or 1.84 per cent, to close at 9,553.35.

Foreign portfolio investors turned net buyers in the capital market on Wednesday, as they purchased equity shares worth Rs 722.08 crore, according to provisional exchange data.

Investor sentiment improved on hopes that gradual lifting of global lockdowns would help start economic recovery, they added.

Investor sentiment was buoyed by news of a possible breakthrough in testing for a treatment of COVID-19.

Top US epidemiologist Anthony Fauci said that Gilead Science's remdesivir "has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery".

Further, the US Federal Reserve signalled on Wednesday that it will keep its key short-term interest rate near zero for the foreseeable future as part of its extraordinary efforts to bolster the economy.

Bourses in Shanghai and Tokyo were trading with significant gains, while those in Hong Kong and Seoul were closed for a holiday.

On Wall Street, key indices ended with massive gains in overnight trade.

International oil benchmark Brent crude futures rallied 9.57 per cent to USD 26.55 per barrel.

Meanwhile, global tally of coronavirus infections was over 31.93 lakh, with around 2.27 lakh deaths.

The death toll due to COVID-19 in India rose to 1,074 and the number of cases climbed to 33,050 in the country, according to the Union health ministry.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday said it has approved USD 1.5 billion loan to India to help fund its fight against coronavirus pandemic.

The loan has been sanctioned with a view to support immediate priorities such as disease containment and prevention, as well as social protection for the poor and economically vulnerable sections.

It is fully committed to supporting the Indian government in its response to this unprecedented challenge, said ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa.

"The quick-disbursing fund is part of a larger package of support that ADB will provide in close coordination with the government and other development partners.

"We are determined to support India's COVID-19 response programs and ensure that they provide effective support to the people of India, especially the poor and vulnerable," Asakawa said in a statement.

The Manila-headquartered multilateral agency said its COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support (CARES) Program will contribute directly to the improvement of access to health facilities and care, as well as social protection for more than 800 million people, including families below the poverty line, farmers, health care workers, women, senior citizens, people with disabilities, low wage earners, and construction workers.

The CARES Program is funded through the COVID-19 pandemic response option (CPRO) under ADB’s Countercyclical Support Facility. CPRO was established as part of ADB’s USD 20 billion expanded assistance for developing member countries' COVID-19 response, which was announced on April 13.

As per the ADB, the CARES Program will be provided with a USD 2 million technical assistance grant to support the government to strengthen its operational framework and efficient targeting, delivery, and monitoring and evaluation of its pro-poor economic package, as well as its health sector and social protection interventions.

"India has taken proactive and decisive measures to contain COVID-19 to protect lives, including the implementation of social distancing, community quarantine, and testing and tracking," it said.

The government’s COVID-19 response program includes a USD 2 billion health sector project to rapidly ramp up test-track-treatment capacity and a USD 23 billion pro-poor relief package, which will provide additional social protection measures targeting the poor, women, vulnerable population, and disadvantaged groups, the bank noted.

Insurance coverage for all types of health workers engaged in the COVID-19 response is also included. Around 65 per cent of the package is in the form of direct social assistance and protection to the poor and vulnerable, including women.

In the medium term, ADB said it will support government efforts and coordinate with other development partners to stimulate the economy, build capacity for monitoring and evaluation of government programs, and improve economic resilience against future shocks.

This will include the economic recovery of affected industries and entrepreneurs through better access to finance for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises; a credit enhancement facility for infrastructure projects; and the strengthening of public service delivery at national and state levels.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The United Nations (UN) on Firday released its World Happiness Report and India was at a dismal 144 rank of a total 156 nations surveyed. India has been scored at 3.573 points nestled between Lesotho and Malawi nations. Pakistan, on the other hand, has been ranked 66 with a score of 5.693.

On top of the charts is Finland rated as high as 7.809 points for the third consecutive year with Denmark (7.646) and Switzerland (7.560) at the no 2 and 3 spots, respectively. Followed by Iceland (7.504) and Norway (7.488), completing the top five positions in the ranking.

The data used to compile this ranking was collected in the years 2018 and 2019. For the report, researchers asked people to evaluate their own levels of happiness, and took into account measures such as GDP, social support, personal freedom and levels of corruption to give their own nation a happiness score.

One of the authors of the report John Helliwell in a statement said, "The happiest countries are those 'where people feel a sense of belonging', where they trust and enjoy each other and their shared institutions. There is also more resilience, because shared trust reduces the burden of hardships, and thereby lessens the inequality of well-being."

However, the impact of the lockdowns imposed by several contries due to the impact of coronavirus outbreak has not been taken into account. The author of the report predicts that the lockdown conditions imposed on residents could, paradoxically, boost happiness in future. 

"The most frequent explanation seems to be that people are pleasantly surprised by the willingness of their neighbours and their institutions to work in harness to help each other," the team said on the report's website.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Fitch Ratings on Friday cut India's growth forecast to 5.1 per cent for FY 2020-21, saying the coronavirus outbreak is likely to hit business investment and exports.

Fitch had in December 2019 projected India's growth at 5.6 per cent for 2020-21 and 6.5 per cent in the following year.

In its Global Economic Outlook 2020, Fitch said the number of people affected by coronavirus will keep rising in the coming weeks but that the outbreak will remain contained. However, there are downside risks to this scenario.

"Supply-chain disruptions are expected to hit business investment and exports. We see GDP growth to remain broadly steady at 5.1 per cent in the fiscal year 2020-2021 following growth of 5.0 per cent in 2019-2020," Fitch said.

For 2021-22, Fitch projected India's growth to be 6.4 per cent.

"The outbreak of the virus is hitting sentiment, while local governments have rolled out measures to contain the

spread of the virus, such as closing schools, cinemas and theatres. While India's linkages with China (e.g. trade and tourism) are modest, manufacturers in India are heavily reliant on key Chinese intermediate inputs especially of electronics and machinery and equipment," Fitch said.

The WHO has declared coronavirus pandemic. Over 2 lakh people have been infected globally and the disease caused by it COVID-19 has claimed over 9,000 lives. In India, there are about 195 positive cases and 4 deaths so far from the deadly virus.

The difficulties facing the Indian economy have been exacerbated by Yes Bank failure, it said.

"Fragilities in the financial system will further undermine sentiment and domestic spending. The overall financial system remains burdened with weak balance sheets, which will limit any upside to credit and growth despite policymakers' efforts in recent months to ease stresses, Fitch added.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Goa's tourism industry may suffer

a loss of over Rs 1,000 crore because of the coronavirus outbreak, a tourism body said, urging the government to provide tax reliefs to tide over the crisis.

Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) held a meeting on Thursday to review the stringent curbs imposed by the state government in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The state tourism industry will lose roughly Rs 1,000 crore because of the pandemic. At least 60,000 to 75,000jobs will be lost if remedial measures are not taken," a statement issued by TTAG read.

According to TTAG, the chartered flight season ended abruptly since last week, following the Central government's decision to discontinue visas for foreign travellers.

The TTAG has demanded that financial institutions provide six to nine months' moratorium on all principle (EMI) and interest payments on loans and overdrafts.

"Sanctioned loans should be disbursed and there should be free flow of sanctioned credit to enable firms to deal with their liquidity crisis," the body said.

The industry body also suggested the use of funds from MNREGA to support salaries of employees in tourism and hospitality industries till the time revival happens.

"To enable establishments to liquidate their assets, stamp duty should be reduced and the registration fees should be capped," the TTAG urged.

The tourism stakeholders also suggested at least a 50 per cent reduction in GST to tide over the crisis.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Indian equity markets jumped, in line with their global peers, on Friday, lifted by across-the-board bargain buying, especially in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries and HDFC. However, weakness in HDFC Bank capped the gains.

ONGC (up 16%), IT stocks like HCL Tech and TCS (both up 11%), and Reliance Industries (up 9%)  contributed to Sensex's over 2,000-point upmove to 30,380 levels. However, the index pared some of the gains in the final hour of the session and was hovering around 29,730 levels, up 1,440 points. HDFC Bank (down 4 per cent) remained a drag on the index. The Nifty50 index also shot up to 8,790 levels but climbed off the highs to trade around 8,640 levels, up 370 points.

The Nifty sectoral indices were trading largely in the green.  Nifty IT index, up over 8 per cent, gained the most. Besides, Nifty FMCG index was up 5 per cent and Nifty Metal index 4 per cent. Nifty Bank index recovered over 1,000 off intra-day lows.

In broader markets, the S&P BSE MidCap was up 561 points, or 5.25 per cent, and the S&P BSE SmallCap traded 450 points, or 4.64 per cent, higher.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday announced setting up of a task force under Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman which will take necessary actions "in the near future" after analysing the coronavirus pandemic situation.

According to government sources, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hold a meeting with MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari, Animal Husbandry Minister Giriraj Singh, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel on Friday to assess the situation in order to work out a package.

Calling for "resolve and restraint" to fight coronavirus, Modi asked the entire country to observe 'Janta curfew' on Sunday.

In a nearly 30-minute national broadcast, he asked people to stay indoors and work from home as much as possible while underscoring the dangers of coronavirus, saying the world has never seen a crisis as grave as this.

The novel coronavirus cases in India rose to 195 on Friday after 22 fresh cases were reported from various parts of the country, according to the Health Ministry data.

Globally, the death toll from the virus has risen to over 9,800 with more than 232,650 cases in 158 countries and territories.

"The PM had set the stage for more action to follow. The Covid- 19 Task Force under the FM's leadership can be expected to come out with concrete proposals very soon," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

The huge oil bounty from the crude crash can be used for this, he said adding that PM's appeal is a curtain raiser for the concrete actions to follow soon.

World over, market sentiments improved as governments stepped up measures to cushion the financial blow of the pandemic, analysts said, adding that concerns over the rapid spread of the virus remained.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul jumped up to 4 per cent, while Tokyo was in the red.

Stock exchanges on Wall Street too ended on a positive note.

Meanwhile, the rupee too appreciated 37 paise to 74.74 against US dollar in morning session.

Global oil benchmark, Brent crude futures rose over 2.04 per cent to USD 29.05 per barrel.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: US and European economists were predicting a recession as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic which has so far infected over 211,300 people across the world and killed 8,847 others since it first emerged in China last December.

The Initiative on Global Markets at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business published the results of 74 economists on the likelihood of a major recession, reports Xinhua news agency.

A majority of respondents agreed that a recession was likely, with a bigger 82-per cent majority among European experts than a 62-per cent amongst the ones in the US.

"A sharp slowdown is likely; whether it will be persistent enough to rise to the level of a recession is not clear yet," commented Anil Kashyap of Chicago Booth.

Jean-Pierre Danthine of the Paris School of Economics was certain that two quarters would register negative growth but further developments notably depends on policy reactions.

Stanford University's Kenneth Judd was among the few to disagree that a major recession was on the horizon.

"If it is like ordinary flu, then (the) economy should quickly recover. COVID-19 only threatens old and feeble economic expansions," said Judd.

Among the majority who agreed a major recession is a likely consequence of the pandemic, several note the impact of the measures taken to contain the outbreak have already disrupted economic activities.

"The contagion rate worries more than the mortality rate itself as it shuts down the whole economy to contain effects on the health system," said Elena Carletti of Bocconi University.

Stemming the spread requires "stopping economic activity altogether", which is "a major supply shock", added Luigi Guiso of the Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance.

"Even if (the) death rate is low, it will be because containment has been effective, and that will adversely affect aggregate supply and demand," said Patrick Honohan of Trinity College Dublin.

Richard Schmalensee at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said: "'Major' might be a bit too strong, but the precautionary measures being taken in many countries will have a significant disruptive effect."

Global stock markets have suffered steep losses during the past two weeks.

US stocks triggered four circuit brakers to halt panic selling, European stock continued to plunge with little losses recovered, and major world currencies depreciated severely against the American dollar as investors flew to stockpile safe haven assets.

While China starts to resume work and production with the peak of the outbreak having passed, elsewhere in the world a majority of companies were now implementing work-from-home policies amid a surge in confirmed cases in such countries as Italy, Spain and the US.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]:  The Indian rupee touched a record low against the dollar on Thursday, trading at over Rs 75 per dollar against its previous close of Rs 74.26 a dollar.

Around 12.45 pm, it was trading at Rs 75.14, or 1.24 per cent weaker than its previous close.

The recent depreciation in the Indian currency has been on the back of persistent pressure of coronavirus fears on global markets along with a free fall in oil prices. The dollar also strengthened against other Asian currencies.

Stock markets also plunged on Thursday as Sensex fell below the 27,000-mark and Nifty50 breached the 8,000 mark for the first time in over three years during the initial trade.

In a bid to increase liquidity and enhance confidence in the market amid the coronavirus crisis, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday announced it would purchase government securities worth Rs 10,000 crore through open market operations.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has denied reports that the social networking giant is talking to the US government to share users' location data from their smartphones.

NBC News and The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are tapping tech companies like Facebook for users' location data.

In a press call on Wednesday, Zuckerberg said the reports were "largely overstated", denying that the company was in discussions to give the US government any location data reports CNET.

"We're not aware of any active conversations or asks with the US or other governments at this point asking for access to that data specifically," Zuckerberg said.

Facebook had a Disease Prevention Map programme for almost a year, which it provided to health organisations around the world using location data from people who opt in.

"I don't think it would make sense to share people's data in a way where they didn't have the opportunity to opt in to do that," said Zuckerberg.

"We're exploring ways that aggregated anonymized location information could help in the fight against COVID-19," the company said in a statement.

Google confirmed to CNN that it is also exploring ways to use aggregated, anonymized data to help in the coronavirus effort.

Apple said it has not been a part of the location data discussions with the US government.

The Trump administration is not the only country to consider technology-based tracking. Israel this week passed a proposal to track coronavirus patients on a far more detailed level, using location tools meant for counterterrorism purposes.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani today appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in Mumbai in connection with a money-laundering probe against Yes Bank promoter Rana Kapoor and others.

The officials said that the agency is expected to record the statement of Ambani under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Anil Ambani's nine group companies are stated to have taken loans of about 12,800 crore rupees from the bank that reportedly were under stress.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Sensex index on Thursday plummeted 1,818.61 pts to 27,050.90 in the opening session. Nifty index tanked 526.40 pts to 7942.40. 

Meanwhile, the Rupee plummeted 70 paise to 74.96 against US dollar in early trade.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Railways on Thursday cancelled 84 more trains, which will not operate between March 20 and March 31 in view of coronavirus and low occupancy, officials said.

With this, the total number of cancelled trains has climbed to 155.

The national transporter had cancelled around 99 trains on Wednesday night.

"All passengers having tickets in these trains are being informed about it individually," the official said.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Nearly 25 million jobs could be lost worldwide due to the coronavirus pandemic, but an internationally coordinated policy response can help lower the impact on global unemployment, according to a UN agency.

In its preliminary assessment report titled "COVID-19 and world of work: Impacts and responses", the International Labour Organization (ILO) calls for urgent, large-scale and coordinated measures across three pillars - protecting workers in the workplace, stimulating the economy and employment, and supporting jobs and incomes.

The ILO said these measures include extending social protection, supporting employment retention (i.e short-time work, paid leave, other subsidies), and financial and tax relief, including for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

It also proposes fiscal and monetary policy measures, and lending and financial support for specific economic sectors.

The economic and labour crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic could increase global unemployment by almost 25 million, the ILO said.

"However, if we see an internationally coordinated policy response, as happened in the global financial crisis of 2008/9, then the impact on global unemployment could be significantly lower," it added.

The report provides different scenarios of how unemployment and underemployment will be impacted due to the coronavirus.

Based on different scenarios for the impact of COVID-19 on global GDP growth, the ILO estimates indicate a rise in global unemployment of between 5.3 million ("low" scenario) and 24.7 million ("high" scenario) from a base level of 188 million in 2019. By comparison, the 2008-09 global financial crisis increased global unemployment by 22 million.

Underemployment is also expected to increase on a large scale, as the economic consequences of the virus outbreak translate into reductions in working hours and wages.

Self-employment in developing countries, which often serves to cushion the impact of changes, may not do so this time because of restrictions on the movement of people (eg service providers) and goods, it said.

The note said that falls in employment also meant large income losses for workers to the tune of between USD 860 billion and USD 3.4 trillion by the end of 2020. This will translate into falls in consumption of goods and services, in turn affecting the prospects for businesses and economies.

Working poverty is expected to increase significantly too, as "the strain on incomes resulting from the decline in economic activity will devastate workers close to or below the poverty line," the ILO said.

It estimates that between 8.8 and 35 million additional people will be in working poverty worldwide, compared to the original estimate for 2020 (which projected a decline of 14 million worldwide).

Underscoring the need for swift and coordinated policy responses, ILO Director-General Guy Ryder said "this is no longer only a global health crisis, it is also a major labour market and economic crisis that is having a huge impact on people."

"In 2008, the world presented a united front to address the consequences of the global financial crisis, and the worst was averted. We need that kind of leadership and resolve now," he added.

The ILO note warns that certain groups will be disproportionately affected by the jobs crisis, which could increase inequality.

These include people in less protected and low-paid jobs, particularly youth and older workers and women and migrants too, who are vulnerable due to the lack of social protection and rights, and women tend to be over-represented in low-paid jobs and affected sectors.

"In times of crisis like the current one, we have two key tools that can help mitigate the damage and restore public confidence. Firstly, social dialogue, engaging with workers and employers and their representatives, is vital for building public trust and support for the measures that we need to overcome this crisis.

"Secondly, international labour standards provide a tried-and-trusted foundation for policy responses that focus on a recovery that is sustainable and equitable. Everything needs to be done to minimise the damage to people at this difficult time," Ryder said.

The coronavirus outbreak has killed 8,809 people and infected 218,631 across 157 countries and territories, according to a tracker maintained by Johns Hopkins University.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Union Minister for Telecommunication Ravi Shankar Prasad has assured that the government is committed for revival of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited.

Replying to a question in Lok Sabha today, he said that the employees who have opted for voluntary retirement are being taken care of and their dues will be settled as per the scheme devised by the government.

He also told that the dues if any, for the contractors will be settled so that the contract employees will get their salaries.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) has sent out an advisory to its members to shut down the operations of their restaurants till March 31, 2020 or till such time when there are no new coronavirus cases reported for a few days.

In a statement, the restaurant body has said that although the decision entails major financial impact, but temporarily shutting down operation would be in the larger interest of its members, their employees and the customers.

"We at NRAI have been closely following what has been happening with the coronavirus outbreak. We find ourselves today in an unprecedented situation where we are compelled to make some difficult decisions which have massive financial implications on our businesses, but we are doing this in the larger benefit for our teams, our guests and our communities," it said.

The industry body which represents over 50 lakh restaurants across the country, further said that as most of the employees in restaurants use public transport to commute they run a "huge" risk of getting infected and further becoming carriers of the deadly virus.

"Hence, in order to avoid any such risk we advise all our members to shut down their operations and help curtail the spread of the deadly virus. We are also trying our best to ensure the well-being of our employees while they remain confined to their homes."

The NRAI statement noted that the food service works on the high proportion of fixed operating costs and the decision to shut down is extremely hard on the businesses.

It further said that it intends to work with all stakeholders in the ecosystem, from landlords to various departments of the government, banks and financial institutions and seek their support in mitigating the losses as far as possible.

As per the association, this is an extraordinary situation its expects support such as converting fixed rentals to variable revenue share, allowing input tax credit on GST, moratorium on loan repayment, waiver of interest, reduction on energy costs, deferred payment of license fee and taxes.

In India, the total number of coronavirus cases has reached 147 with 130 active cases as of Wednesday morning, as per the Union Health Ministry. These include 122 Indians and 25 foreigners.

A total of three deaths has been reported so far in the country, one each in Delhi, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Yes Bank CEO-designate Prashant Kumar has assured customers that complete operational normalcy will be restored from 6 PM today. Stating that there are absolutely no worries on the liquidity front, Mr. Kumar said all the bank branches and ATMs have adequate supply of cash. He also clarified that there would not be any need to depend on external sources for liquidity.

Assuring depositors that there is no need to worry about the safety of their deposits, Mr. Kumar said customers will enjoy all the banking services as they did before the moratorium.  

Mr. Kumar also ruled out a forensic audit of the lender's books but also remained non-committal on continuing to pay the present 5-6 per cent interest on deposits. The retired SBI banker, who will formally take over as the Chief Executive and Managing Director on 26th of this month, said he expects recoveries worth 8,500-10,000 crore rupees in the March quarter itself as provision of almost 72 percent has already been made.

It may be recalled that Reserve Bank had imposed a moratorium on Yes Bank earlier this month, capping withdrawals at 50,000 rupees per depositor after it found that the new management is unable to raise the urgent core capital which had fallen much below the mandated level.

The moratorium will be lifted at 6 PM today, as per the reconstruction scheme notified and that it will be back to normal operations. Besides SBI being a major shareholder now, ICICI Bank, HDFC, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bandhan Bank, Federal Bank and IDFC First have also invested in the private lender as per the reconstruction scheme announced by Reserve Bank. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The relentless selling on Dalal Street continued on Wednesday with no signs of abating as stocks across-the-board, especially financial sector, fell like a pack of cards. Threat of economic fallout emananting from pandemic Coronavirus (Covid-19) continued to weigh on investor sentiment. Moreover, statements by global brokerages Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs that the coronavirus has triggered a global recession spooked investors further.

The S&P BSE Sensex sank 1,710 points or 5.6 per cent to end the day at 28,869.51. IndusInd Bank continued to bleed and ended at Rs 460 apiece, down 24 per cent. Other bluechip financial names such as HDFC Bank, HDFC, Bajaj Finance, and Axis Bank plunged up to 11 per cent. Investors lost around Rs 5.39 trillion today. In the past three days, they have lost Rs 15.1 trillion. 

Of 30 constituents, 28 declined and only two - ONGC and ITC ended in the green. ONGC witnessed a phenomenal rise in the fag-end of the session and closed 10 per cent higher at Rs 66 apiece. 

On the NSE, the benchmark Nifty breached 8,500 level to end at 8,469 points with 44 constituents declining and just 6 advancing. Sectorally, all but Nifty Media ended in the red. Nifty Media ended at 1,158, up 4.50 points or 0.39 per cent. Nifty Private Bank index tumbled 7 per cent to 11,219 while Nifty Bank slid around 6 per cent to 20,854 levels. 

In the broader market, the Nifty Midcap 100 index declined 5.5 per cent to 12,614 and the Nifty SmallCap index closed the day at 4,020 down over 6 per cent.

Global Markets
US stock futures and several Asian shares fell in choppy trade on Wednesday, as worries about the coronavirus pandemic eclipsed hopes broad policy support would combat the economic fallout of the outbreak. In Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.3 per cent, led by a 4.9 per cent fall in Australia while Japan’s Nikkei gained 1.6 per cent. US stock futures fell 3 per cent in Asia. 

European stock index futures fell more than 5 per cent as fears over the relentless global spread of the coronavirus. 

In commodities, oil prices fell for a third session to be down about 17 per cent so far this week as the outlook for fuel demand darkened amid travel and social lockdowns triggered by the coronavirus epidemic.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Amid speculation that Centre may be veering around to discontinue high value notes from circulation, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur has said that government has no plan to withdraw Rs 2,000 notes and these are being dispensed through many bank ATMs.

In a written reply in Lok Sabha, the Minister, said that in view of the higher circulation of Rs 500 and Rs 200 denomination bank notes, State Bank of India has issued communication to its local head offices to reconfigure ATMs for currency notes of the said denominations.

With less number of Rs 2,000 notes visible in market for last couple of month s there was speculation that government may be planning to take it out of ci rculation.

Thakur said that as getting change for Rs 2,000 notes was becoming a problem, SBI and Indian Bank decided to reconfigure their ATM to support lower denomination Rs 500 and Rs 200 notes.

He clarified that printing of notes was done by government on the advise of RBI and while doing so effort is made to maintain balance of currencies in ci rculation.

Currently, Rs 7.40 lakh crore worth of Rs 2,000 notes is in circulation. The circulation of Rs 100 notes is of the value of Rs 1.96 lakh crore while that of Rs 50 nite is Rs 43,784 crore.

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Private equity and venture capital investments recorded a 24-month low of USD 1.7 billion in February this year, primarily on account of significant decline in large deals, says an EY report.

According to the IVCA-EY monthly PE/VC roundup, uncertainty over the impact of COVID-19 is expected to act as a significant headwind to Indian PE/VC investments.

The rapid spread of the pandemic over the past 30-45 days has spiked business risk premiums, which has already led to significant downward correction in capital markets around the world, which in turn has impacted fund inflows.

Further, travel restrictions and inability of people to meet face-to-face is expected to delay work-in-progress deals and limit the number of new deals from being struck, the report said.

"After a good start to PE/VC investments in 2020, both investment and exit activity have declined considerably in February 2020. The decline in value of PE/VC investments is primarily on account of the number of large deals (over USD 100 million) going down substantially," said Vivek Soni, Partner and National Leader - Private Equity Services, EY India.

There were five large deals worth USD 700 million in February 2020 compared to nine deals worth USD 2.0 billion last year and five deals worth USD 1.4 billion in January 2020.

"This is the lowest aggregate value of large deals in over 19 months. The largest deal announced in February saw General Atlantic invest USD 200 million in BYJU'S, an edtech company, followed by Warburg Pincus' investment of USD 150 million in Apollo Tyres Limited," the report said.

Soni further said that besides the coronavirus scare, domestic issues concerning taxation policies impacting InvIT's and REITS and lingering issues over the financial health of some of our domestic banks and NBFCs, will act as sentiment dampeners, potentially slowing down large ticket PE/VC investments in the short term.

In the medium term, however valuations are expected to moderate, and may open up good opportunities for PE/VC investors.

From a sector point of view, education sector (USD 311 million across five deals) has emerged as the top sector for the first time due to the large investment in BYJU'S, followed by technology (USD 271 million across 18 deals) and real estate (USD 232 million across three deals).

Financial services, that has traditionally been one of the top sectors, was relegated to the fifth place with USD 162 million invested across nine deals, the report said.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday lowered India's GDP growth forecast for 2020 calendar year to 5.3 per cent, on coronavirus implications on the economy.

Moody's had in February projected a 5.4 per cent real GDP growth for India in 2020. This too was a downgrade from 6.6 per cent earlier forecast.

The 5.3 per cent real GDP growth forecast for 2020 compares to 5.3 per cent growth estimate for 2019 and 7.4 per cent achieved in 2018.

Stating that there was significant economic fallout from more rapid and wider spread of the coronavirus, the rating agency on Tuesday said dampening of domestic consumption demand in affected countries exacerbates disruptions to supply chains and cross-border trade of goods and services.

"The longer the disruptions last, the greater the risk of global recession becomes," it said.

Moody's forecast a 5.8 per cent growth rate for India in 2021.

"A number of governments and central banks have announced countervailing measures, including fiscal stimulus packages, policy rate cuts and regulatory forbearance; however, the effectiveness of policy easing will be blunted by measures to contain the outbreak, and policy space is constrained for some sovereigns," it said.

Also, tighter funding conditions and exchange rate depreciation could stress sovereigns with high foreign currency exposure, heavy reliance on external market funding or low foreign currency reserve coverage, it said.

Moody's said oil price shock adds to growth and fiscal pressures for exposed sovereigns. "A period of lower oil prices will further weigh on the economic and fiscal fundamentals of oil exporters, while mitigating the trade shock for importers."
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Equity benchmark Sensex jumped nearly 500 points in early trade on Tuesday amid value-buying in recently-hammered stocks even as investors fretted over an impending economic global recession led by Covid-19 pandemic.

After gyrating over 1,000 points in a highly volatile opening session, the BSE barometer was trading 475.45 points or 1.51 per cent higher at 31,865.52.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty advanced 163 points, or 1.77 per cent, to 9,360.40.

In the previous session, the Sensex logged its second-biggest drop in absolute terms, plunging 2,713.41 points or 7.96 per cent to finish at 31,390.07. Likewise, the Nifty slumped 757.80 points or 7.61 per cent to end at 9,197.40.

On a net basis, foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 3,809.93 crore on Monday, data available with stock exchanges showed.

Tata Steel was the top gainer, followed by Maruti, Sun Pharma, HUL, ONGC and Reliance Industries, while HDFC twins, ICICI Bank, Kotak Bank and Titan were the top laggards.

According to traders, despite heightened volatility amid fears of an economic recession, investors began bottom fishing at lower levels.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Japan were trading on a positive note, while those in Seoul were in the red.

In overnight trade, Wall Street indices collapsed in their worst day since 1987, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq dropping about 12 per cent and the Dow sinking nearly 13 per cent on new coronavirus (Covid-19) scare.

The number of deaths around the world linked to the virus has topped 7,000, after Italy announced a new surge in fatalities, with over 1,75,000 infections recorded globally so far.

In India, the number of infected cases stood at 125, as per union health ministry log.

After market hours on Monday, the Reserve Bank hinted at a rate cut but stopped short of a decision, belying market expectations at a hurriedly called presser even as it announced some liquidity enhancing measures to contain the economic fallout from the coronavirus.

But Governor Shaktikanta Das was quick to assure that the Reserve Bank has "enough policy tools and stands ready to take any measures" needed to help the economy tide over the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

In two liquidity enhancing measures, Das announced another round of USD 2 billion dollar-rupee swap on March 23, and in another measure he said the RBI will continue to conduct the long-term repo operations (LTROs) of up to Rs 1 lakh crore as and when the market needs it.

The rupee appreciated 22 paise to 74.03 against US dollar in morning session.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose over 2.10 per cent to USD 30.67 per barrel.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Troubled private lender Yes Bank will be dropped from benchmark index Nifty 50, banking index Nifty bank and other Nifty indices from March 19, NSE Indices said on Monday.

Earlier, the changes were scheduled to happen on March 27, NSE Indices, a subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), said in a statement.

However, in light of the recent developments relating to Yes Bank and its reconstruction scheme, NSE Indices' Index Maintenance Sub-Committee (IMSC) has decided to accelerate the removal of Yes Bank from Nifty 50 and Nifty Bank and also remove it from all Nifty equity indices from Thursday, March 19.

Shree Cement will replace the private lender in Nifty 50 and in Nifty bank index, Bandhan Bank will find a place.

The troubled lender will also be removed from Nifty 100 and Nifty 500.

In Nifty 100, Adani Transmission will replace Yes Bank, while in Nifty 500, Sterling and Wilson Solar will be added.

Earlier in February, NSE Indices had announced that on account of Yes Bank being excluded from Nifty 50 and Nifty 100, it was being included in Nifty Midcap 150, Nifty Midcap 50, Nifty Midcap 100, Nifty MidSmallcap 400 and Nifty Midcap Liquid 15 from March 27.

In light of the decision to exclude Yes Bank from all our equity indices, the lender will not be included in these indices from March 27 and the replacements of Yes Bank in these indices will be announced in due course.

On Saturday, the government had notified the Yes Bank Limited Reconstruction Scheme, 2020, a day after cabinet approval.

Under the scheme, State Bank of India will invest for 49 per cent equity in Yes Bank and other investors are also being invited.

There will be a three-year lock-in period for all the investors. However, the lock-in period for SBI would be only for the 26 per cent of the shareholding.

The moratorium, which was placed by Reserve Bank of India on March 5, restricting withdrawal to Rs 50,000 per account, will also be lifted by 6 pm on Wednesday.

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: In a bold and emergency move, the US Federal Reserve has announced it would cut its target interest rate near zero to help shore up the country's economy amid the rapidly escalating global coronavirus pandemic. 

"The coronavirus outbreak has harmed communities and disrupted economic activity in many countries, including the United States," the Fed said in a statement on Sunday after an emergency policy meeting, adding global financial conditions have also been significantly affected.

The central bank noted that the effects of the coronavirus will 'weigh on' US economic activity in the near term and pose risks to the economic outlook. 

Therefore, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the Fed's policy-making committee, decided to lower the target range for the federal funds rate to 0-0.25 percent, CNN reported. 

It also marked the Fed's unprecedented second emergency rate cut since the 2008 financial crisis, as the central bank is scheduled to hold its next policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday.

In addition to rate cuts, the Fed also said it will increase its holdings of Treasury securities by at least 500 billion dollars and its holdings of agency mortgage-backed securities by at least 200 billion dollars over coming months.

It also struck a deal with five other foreign central banks, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank, to lower their rates on currency swaps to keep the financial markets functioning normally.

The Fed's latest action came less than two weeks after it slashed rates by a half percentage point in an emergency move that failed to reassure nervous investors, as the coronavirus outbreak has posed "evolving risks" to economic activity.

About 55 business and academic economists recently polled by The Wall Street Journal expect, on average, US gross domestic product (GDP) to contract at an annual rate of 0.1 percent in the second quarter due to the epidemic.

That is a large downgrade from forecasts in February, when those economists expected US GDP growth of 1.9 percent from April to June, the poll showed.

The United States reported 3,244 COVID-19 cases as of Sunday afternoon with at least 62 deaths, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Resuming its free fall, the BSE Sensex plunged over 2,713 points on Monday, tracking a selloff in Asian peers as the coronavirus pandemic continued to wreak havoc on markets.

Dalal Street was buzzing with speculation of an inter-meeting rate cut by the RBI after Governor Shakitkanta Das called a press conference at 1600 hours amid widespread calls for a rate cut following similar steps by the world's leading central banks.

The rupee depreciated 55 paise to 74.31 per US dollar (intra-day).

The 30-share BSE index settled 2,713.41 points or 7.96 per cent lower at 31,390.07.

Likewise, the broader NSE Nifty gave up the 9,200 level, slumping 757.80 points or 7.61 per cent to close at 9,197.40.

All Sensex components ended in the red. IndusInd Bank was the top loser, followed by Tata Steel, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Infosys and ITC.

According to traders, market became more volatile after RBI's surprise press conference announcement.

Many analysts, over the past week, have said the RBI has legroom to cut rates to the tune of 65 bps by June. Some like Barclays and BofA have also spoken about the likelihood of an inter-meeting cut (before the April 3 policy meeting).

Global markets have been roiling in fears of a global economic recession led by restrictions in wake of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

Indian markets opened on the negative side following subdued Asian markets post surprise cut by US Fed on Sunday, said Narendra Solanki, Head- Equity Research (Fundamental), Anand Rathi Shares & Stock Brokers.

Reacting to the shutdown taking place globally due to coronavirus scare, mood of the market remained dampened as credit pressures intensified on India Inc, he added.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai dropped 3.40 per cent, Hong Kong 4.03 per cent, Seoul 3.19 per cent and Tokyo cracked 2.46 per cent.

Markets in Europe crashed up to 8 per cent in early trade.

Meanwhile, Brent crude oil futures melted 7.53 per cent to USD 31.30 per barrel.

Covid-19 has claimed over 6,000 lives and infected more than 1,62,000 people across the globe.

The number of infected cases in the country stood at 110 on Monday, the Union Health Ministry said.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]; The coronavirus outbreak has caused panic among the common people and resulted in precautionary measures across several states in India including shutting of malls and theatres.

These measures and concern among the public, although very necessary and timely, would have a severe financial impact on the country's retail sector, sector experts said.

Anuj Kejriwal, MD and CEO of Anarock Retail said: "Amid the rising number of coronavirus cases in the country, the order of closure of malls and multiplexes across many top cities by the respective state governments to prevent people congregating for any reason, has caused the organised retail scene in these cities to come to a grinding halt."

Along with schools and colleges, malls and movie theatres among other places and events of mass congregation of people have been shut for the next one or two weeks across several states.

Harkirat Singh, Managing Director, Aero Club, the parent company of the brands Woodland and Woods, said that walk-ins at malls and stores have seen a hit of at least 20-25 per cent and the impact is bound to continue till situation improves.

According to Anarcok Retail data, the eight major cities of India have 126 malls sprawling over more than 61 million square feet area, and out of them, 101 malls have multiplexes attached.

"Wherever it has been mandated, there will therefore be a high number of establishments that need to shut down for operations. Even short-term closures will have significant financial implications," Kejriwal said.

He, however, said that what matters more is that these establishments attract massive footfalls and in a health crisis like the coronavirus pandemic, shutting them down can be a major step forward in terms of harm prevention.

This week, the Delhi government announced of a shutdown of cinemas along with schools and colleges till March 31.

Several shopping malls in the National Capital Region (NCR) already have a deserted look due to the concerns of the deadly virus being spread.

Delhi-NCR has 33 malls, out of which 18 malls have movie theatres attached. Film exhibitor PVR has said that it respects the advisory issued by the administrations in Kerala, Delhi and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir to shut down all cinema halls till March 31, 2020 as a precautionary and preventive measure to prevent spread of COVID-19.

"We believe that this is a temporary situation and remain buoyant about the film business in India, and our own growth prospects. We also look forward to continuing to serve our guests in the states of Kerala, Delhi and UT of Jammu and offering them a world class movie going experience April 1, 2020 onwards," it said.

Ravi Saxena, Managing Director of kitchen appliances brand Wonderchef, was of the view that the number of new cases have declined in China and that should be looked as a positive sign and felt that the impact in India may be limited.

"There might be a limited impact in india but we are confident of it not being strong enough to impact the sales through the year," he said.

Aero Club's Harkirat Singh said that as people have had to stay mostly indoors due to the virus outbreak, such a situation is bound to impact the businesses, but hoped that that the situation would be short-lived and a solution to the crisis will be found soon.
 

New Delhi (Mahamedia) The government has notified the Yes Bank Reorganization Scheme. Accordingly, the ban on the private sector bank stuck in crisis will be lifted on 18 March. Current Administrator Prashant Kumar has been appointed as Managing Director and CEO of the newly formed board. The Gazette notification stated that the Yes Bank Reorganization Scheme would be effective from March 13, 2020. After the issuance of the notification, the customers of Yes Bank can get a discount for withdrawal from Wednesday, March 18 at 6 pm. This notification has been issued under the Banking Regulation Act 1949. At present, the Reserve Bank has banned the bank and has set a withdrawal limit for customers of Rs 50,000. The ban was imposed for 30 days but now the government has asked for the ban to be lifted within three working days after the notification for the restructuring plan was issued.

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Oil prices swung more than six per cent on Friday, but were still on track for their biggest weekly loss in more than a decade owing to a price war and the spreading coronavirus pandemic.

In another day of volatile trading, both main contracts initially dipped more than two per cent, tracking heavy falls across global markets that have suffered some of their biggest losses in years.

But the commodity abruptly changed course in Asian afternoon trade, with West Texas Intermediate rising four percent to $33 a barrel and Brent crude up 3.9 per cent at USD 34.50.

The much-needed rally came after the US military launched air strikes in crude-rich Iraq and stocks rebounded, with Asian bourses pulling back from early lows and European equities surging at the open.

Nevertheless, prices of US benchmark WTI are still down more than 20 percent this week and on course for their biggest weekly drop since the global financial crisis of 2008.

Brent, the global benchmark, is down about a quarter for the week, Bloomberg News reported.

Crude markets were plunged into turmoil Monday after top exporter Saudi Arabia sparked a price war with Russia over a row about slashing output to support the virus-battered energy sector.

That sent Brent and WTI through the floor, with both falling by a third.

The virus outbreak added to downward pressure, as growing concerns about a global recession and travel restrictions -- including a temporary ban on travel from Europe to the US -- dimmed the outlook for demand.

"The scale of the oil price crash would have economists and analysts re-evaluating their forecast for growth, and even increase the urgency among central bankers to cut interest rates," said Phillip Futures in a note.

Emergency measures by central banks Thursday failed to douse concerns about the economic toll from the deadly disease, and markets suffered their worst day for decades.

The price war started after Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members pushed for an output cut to combat the impact of the virus outbreak.

But Moscow, the world's second-biggest oil producer, refused -- prompting Riyadh to drive through massive price cuts and pledge to boost production.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: National carrier Air India has announced temporary suspension of its flight services to Rome, Milan and Seoul. Official sources said in New Delhi that while services to Rome in Italy are being discontinued from March 15 to March 25, flight operations to Milan in Italy and Seoul in South Korea will remain suspended between March 14 and March 28.

The decision came following the government suspending all visas, except a few categories such as diplomatic and employment, till April 15 to prevent the spread of coronavirus yesterday.

Passengers of an Air India flight from Milan to New Delhi, which landed at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport yesterday, were screened as part of the ongoing preventive measure.

The operating crew of the flight has self-quarantined for 14 days, an Air India official said.

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: From employee absences to supply chain disruptions to plunging financial markets, businesses across the globe are scrambling to respond to the impact of new coronavirus and a new survey has found that only 43 per cent of organisations have a plan for dealing with COVID-19 globally.

According to the global research firm Forrester's ongoing 'PandemicEX' survey, 29 per cent of employees polled are afraid to go to work due to the risk of exposure to the virus.

At the same time, 45 per cent employees find their work lives disrupted by the coronavirus whether they come into direct personal contact with the virus itself or not, according to VP and Principal Analyst James McQuivey.

In many continuity plans, the CIO may be leading the effort to focus on the risk of an IT systems outage.

But for COVID-19, said VP and Group Director Stephanie Balaouras, "You definitely want to put your head of HR in charge of the response, because so much of what you're going to implement is going to be about policies, as opposed to technology."

In short, any long-term planning will be difficult until the duration of this pandemic is better known.

"If things get worse, spending and supply across a variety of markets could drop off. But if the spread of the disease is contained and fears subside, markets could see a significant uptick," the findings showed.

Not only do companies have to have a continuity plan for keeping the businesses afloat, but they should also recognise that employees are the assets that will keep the businesses going ahead of, during, and after any coronavirus effects.

"CIOs may have to push out spending and project plans if technology suppliers and internal IT teams are impacted further," said VP and Principal Analyst Andrew Bartels.

Remote access technologies will play a huge role if a huge portion of the workforce will need to work from home or other remote locations.

"But remember, for a large outbreak, during which potentially 20 per cent of your own employees (plus contractors, partners, etc.) are affected, it will be important to have succession or backup plans in place for critical roles and skills," said Balaouras.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Crude oil futures on Thursday plunged 4.83 per cent to Rs 2,363 per barrel as participants trimmed their positions in line with weak trend overseas.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange, crude oil for March delivery dropped by Rs 120 or 4.83 per cent, to Rs 2,363 per barrel with a business volume of 50,316 lots.

Crude oil for April delivery was quoting lower by Rs 124, or 4.87 per cent, to Rs 2,420 per barrel with an open interest of 1,097 lots.

Globally, West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 4.43 per cent to USD 31.52 per barrel and Brent Crude slumped 4.05 per cent to USD 34.34 per barrel in New York.

Analysts said the fall in crude oil futures was mostly due to trimming of positions by participants amid weak demand.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Equity benchmark Sensex crashed over 2,700 points and the broader Nifty sank below 9,700 (intra-day) on Thursday, wiping off over Rs 9 lakh crore worth investor wealth, after WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, spiking fears of a global economic recession.

After opening around 1,200 points lower, equities continued their downward spiral, with domestic BSE Sensex plummeting 2,707.39 points to 32,990.01 in morning session.

The 30-share index was trading 2,267.21 points, or 6.35 per cent, lower at 33,430.19 at 1230 hours.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty hit a low of 9,648.65, cracking 809.75 points. It was trading 658.55 points, or 6.30 per cent, down at 9,799.85.

The rupee plunged up to 82 paise to 74.50 against US dollar in morning session. It, however, pared some losses, quoting 46 paise down at 74.14.

The carnage on Dalal Street eroded investor wealth worth Rs 9,15,113 crore, taking the total m-cap to Rs 1,27,98,444.93 crore on the BSE.

The m-cap of BSE-listed companies stood at Rs 1,37,13,558.72 crore at the end of trading on Wednesday.

The day's selloff was triggered after the World Health Organization (WHO), late Wednesday night, termed the the new coronavirus or COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic, and expressed deep concern over the "alarming levels of inaction".

Following the announcement, US President Donald Trump suspended all travel from Europe, excluding the UK, to the US for the next 30 days to stop the spread of the virus.

Brent crude oil futures were around 4 per cent down at USD 34.37 per barrel, after the travel ban.

All Sensex components were trading in the red. Axis Bank was the top loser, tanking over 10 per cent, followed by SBI, Hero MotoCorp, ITC, M&M, Bajaj Auto and Titan.

According to traders, volatility peaked in global markets after WHO's announcement describing the coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic.

Besides selloff in global equities, massive plunge in international oil prices and depreciating rupee added to investor concerns, they added.

Incessant foreign fund outflow also spooked market participants, traders said.

On a net basis, foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 3,515.38 crore on Wednesday, data available with stock exchanges showed.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai dropped over 1.50 per cent, Hong Kong 3.50 per cent, Seoul 3.80 per cent and Tokyo cracked up to 4.40 per cent.

In overnight trade, the Dow fell into a bear market, and futures pointed Thursday to another rout in New York and Europe.

"Globally, a fall of 20 per cent from the recent peak is normally considered as a bear market. However, the definition does not hold good in India. Given its high beta, Indian markets have corrected by 25-30 per cent number of times as recovered quite quickly to resume the uptrend," said Gaurav Dua, Sr Vp, Head Capital Market Strategy & Investments, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

COVID-19 has claimed over 4,200 lives and infected more than 117,330 people across 107 countries and territories. China remains the hardest-hit with over 80,000 infections and 3,000 deaths.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday said it has reduced its fixed deposit rates for certain tenors and marginal cost of funds-based lending rates (MCLR) across various tenors.

Making it a second reduction in a month, the public sector bank has reduced retail term deposits (less than Rs 2 crore) by 10 to 50 basis points for a few tenors.

Fixed deposits (FDs) maturing between 7 days to 45 days will offer an interest rate of 4.50 per cent as against 4 per cent earlier.

Interest rates on FDs maturing in one-year and above have been reduced by 10 basis points.

One-year to less than two-year tenor FD will earn an interest rate of 5.90 per cent against 6 per cent earlier.

FD for similar tenor will fetch an interest rate of 6.40 per cent instead of 6.50 per cent for senior citizens.

The bank has also reduced interest rates on bulk term deposits (Rs 2 crore and above) by 15 basis points for 180 days and above tenors.

FD rates in the bulk category for tenor of one-year and above will earn 4.60 per cent instead of 4.75 per cent.

In February, the bank had slashed term deposits rates by 10-50 basis points in the retail segment and 25-50 basis points in the bulk segment.

Further, the one-year marginal cost of fund-based lending rate (MCLR) has been reduced by 10 basis points to 7.75 per cent from 7.85 per cent earlier, the bank said.

This is 10th consecutive cut in MCLR by the bank in the current fiscal.

Overnight and one-month MCLRs have been reduced by 15 basis points to 7.45 per cent each. Three-month MCLR has been revised to 7.50 per cent from 7.65 per cent.

The new two-year and three-year MCLRs stand reduced by 10 basis points to 7.95 per cent and 8.05 per cent, respectively.

The rates became effective from March 10.

On Monday, another state-run lender Union Bank of India had announced cut in its MCLR by 10 basis points across all tenors, effective March 11.

This is the ninth consecutive rate cut announced by the Mumbai-based bank, since July 2019.

The bank has cut its one-year MCLR to 8 per cent from 8.10 per cent.

The overnight MCLR has been revised to 7.55 per cent, while the new one month rate stands at 7.60 per cent, the bank had said.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has assured depositors that there is no concern regarding the safety of their deposits in any bank. The Reserve Bank of India said in a tweet yesterday that as Yes bank's financial matter came up, a concern raised in certain sections of media about the safety of deposits of certain banks. This concern was based on analysis which is flawed.

The RBI stated that the solvency of banks is internationally based on Capital to Risk Weighted Assets Ratio (CRAR) and not on market capitalization. The Apex bank added that it closely monitors all the banks and hereby assures all depositors that there is no such concern of the safety of their deposits in any bank. Earlier, Chief Economic Adviser K V Subramanian also said that the m-cap ratio is an incorrect way to measure the safety and solvency of a bank. He further added that Capital to Risk (Weighted) Assets Ratio (CRAR) is the standard measure for the safety of a bank. Pointing out figures, the CEA said that Indian banks have 80 percent more capital than the globally mandated norm for CRAR. He stated that the global norm for CRAR is eight percent. Compared to that, Indian banks have on average 14.3 percent CRAR which indicates that Indian banks have 80 percent more capital than the globally mandated norm.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Moody's Investors Service on Monday cut its growth forecast for India to 5.3 per cent for 2020 from 5.4 per cent estimated earlier, as it expects the coronavirus outbreak to dampen domestic demand globally.

In its update on Global Macro Outlook for March, Moody's said the virus outbreak has spread rapidly outside China to a number of major economies. "It now seems certain that even if the virus is steadily contained, the outbreak will dampen global economic activity well into Q2 of this year," it said.

Moody's baseline forecasts assume that the number of cases would keep increasing globally and there would be travel restrictions through the April-June period.

Apart from supply chain disruptions, it also expects consumption and investment to be affected and prices of oil and other commodities to remain around current lows until the end of June.

Accordingly, Moody's has revised growth forecasts for G20 economies to 2.1 per cent, 0.3 percentage point lower than the previous baseline. China's 2020 growth forecast has also been reduced to 4.8 per cent from the previous estimate of 5.2 per cent.

For the US, growth of 1.5 per cent is now expected, down from the previous estimate of 1.7 per cent.

For India, Moody's has projected growth at 5.3 per cent for 2020, lower than 5.4 per cent GDP expansion projected in February, taking into account baseline scenario of significant global disruption.

Moody's said baseline forecasts for this year are based on two assumptions-- the disruption of economic activity in the first half of this year will be followed by some recovery in global factory production and consumer demand in the second half; and warmer weather in the Northern Hemisphere in the spring and summer will weaken the spread of the virus.

"Since the publication of our last Global Macro Outlook update in mid-February, the coronavirus outbreak has spread rapidly outside China to a number of major economies including Korea, Iran, Italy, Japan, Germany, France and the US.

"Previously, we assessed the effects of the virus mainly on aggregate demand in China, global travel and global factory output resulting from disruptions in supply chains through East Asia," Moody's noted.

It is now clear that the shock will additionally dampen domestic demand globally, which will affect a wide range of non-traded activities across countries and regions simultaneously, it said.

Further, Moody's has also analysed the downside scenario of 'extensive and prolonged slump' in case of significant increase in coronavirus cases or increasing public fear that the virus will not be contained and oil price stays around USD 40-50 for 2020.

In such a downside scenario, Moody's expects India's growth to fall to 5 per cent in 2020, China (3.7 per cent) and the US (0.9 per cent).

Stating that global recession risks have risen, it said that the longer the outbreak affects economic activity, the demand shock will dominate and lead to recessionary dynamics.

"In particular, a sustained pullback in consumption, coupled with extended closures of businesses, would hurt earnings, drive layoffs and weigh on sentiment. Such conditions could ultimately feed self-sustaining recessionary dynamics. Heightened asset price volatility would magnify the shock," Moody's added.

According to Moody's Global Macro Outlook 2020-202l, the baseline growth for 2020 has been revised for all G-20 economies. Accordingly, these countries, as a group, are now expected to grow by 2.1% in 2020, 0.3 percentage point lower Moody's previous forecast.

The 2020 growth forecast for China has been lowered to 4.8% from our previous estimate of 5.2%., for US to 1.5% in 2020, down from our previous estimate of 1.7%.

For India the downside risks of COVID-19 are relatively lower with baseline growth forecast changing by mere 10 basis points from February assessment of 5.4% to 5.3%. Even in case of extensive slump, India's growth is projected to fall to 5%.

Moody's has said that global recession risks in wave of coronavirus spread have increased.

"The longer the outbreak affects economic activity, the demand shock will dominate and lead to recessionary dynamics. In particular, a sustained pullback in consumption, coupled with extended closures of businesses, would hurt earnings, drive layoffs and weigh on sentiment. Such conditions could ultimately feed self-sustaining recessionary dynamics. Heightened asset price volatility would magnify the shock," it said in its report.

Previously, Moody's assessed the effects of the virus mainly on aggregate demand in China, global travel and global factory output resulting fro m disruptions in supply chains through East Asia. It is now clear that the s hock will additionally dampen domestic demand globally, which affect a wide r ange of non-traded activities across countries and regions simultaneously.

Moody's said that Fiscal and monetary policy measures will likely he lp limit the damage in individual economies. Policy announcements from fiscal authorities, central banks and international organisations so far suggest that policy response is likely to be strong in affected countries.

"The US Federal Reserve's decision to cut the federal funds rate by 50 basis points and the announcements from the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan assuring policy support will limit global financial market volatility and partly counter the tightening of financial conditions."
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]:  Crash in crude oil price and Coronavirus (Covid-19) fears triggered another round of across-the-board selling in the equity market on Monday. Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty slid over 6 per cent during the intra-day session before trimming some of their losses later. The indices witnessed their biggest one-day fall ever in absolute terms. 

The S&P BSE Sensex shed 1,942 points or over 5 per cent to settle at 35,635. Reliance Industries (RIL) tumbled around 14 per cent to hit its 52-week low of Rs 1,094.95 on the BSE. It was the biggest contributor to the index's fall. Other index stocks that witnessed heavy selling were ICICI Bank, HDFC, TCS, Infosys, and HDFC Bank. 

On the NSE, the Nifty50 index slipped below 10,500-mark to end at 10,451, down 538 points or 5 per cent. All the sectoral indices on the NSE ended in the red with metals taking the hardest knock. Nifty Metal index slipped around 8 per cent to 2,015 levels while Nifty Media ended at 1,425, down over 6.5 per cent.

Nifty Bank ended at 26,470, down 1,331 points or 4.8 per cent. 

Volatility index India VIX increased over 21 per cent to 31.05 levels. 

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended at 13,554, down 673 points or 4.73 per cent and the S&P BSE SmallCap index lost over 4 per cent to 12,771-mark. 

Oil prices crash
Losing more than a quarter of their value, oil prices were set on Monday for their biggest daily rout since the first Gulf War, after Saudi Arabia cut its official prices in a market already reeling from the impact of the coronavirus on global demand. Brent crude futures were down $11.38, or 25 per cent, at $33.89 a barrel by 0732 GMT, after earlier dropping to $31.02, their lowest since Feb. 12, 2016. Brent futures were on track for their biggest daily decline since Jan. 17, 1991, when prices dropped at the start of the first Gulf War.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell by $11.12, or 27 per cent, to $30.16 a barrel, after touching $27.34, also the lowest since Feb. 12, 2016. The U.S. benchmark was potentially heading for its biggest decline on record, surpassing a 33 per cent fall in January 1991.

Global markets
Global stocks plunged on Monday and prices for crude oil tumbled as much as 33 per cent after Saudi Arabia launched a price war with Russia, sending investors already panicked by the coronavirus fleeing for the safety of bonds and the yen. European markets suffered hefty losses in early trade with London dropping more than 8 per cent, Frankfurt falling more than 7 per cent and Paris almost matching those losses. In Asia, stocks and emerging market currencies with exposure to oil tumbled in volatile trade while the safe-haven yen surged. Heavy selling was set to continue on Wall Street with US futures hitting their down limit.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 4.4 per cent in its worst day since August 2015, while Shanghai blue chips fell 2.9 per cent.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Stock markets plunged around Asia on Monday, as panic selling set in with traders fretting over the economic impact of the new coronavirus and digesting a free-fall in the oil price.

By mid-morning, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index had dropped 5.10 per cent or 1,058.06 points to 19,691.69, while the broader Topix index was off 5.01 per cent or 73.69 points to 1,397.77.

Other markets in the region were also suffering with Hong Kong stocks down 3.8 percent at the open, Australia off more than five percent and equities in New Zealand and South Korea both down by just under three percent.

In China, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dived 1.56 per cent while the benchmark Philippine stock exchange index opened down nearly four per cent.

Driving the declines was a ferocious sell-off in the oil markets sparked by top exporter Saudi Arabia slashing prices -- in some cases to unprecedented levels -- after a bust-up with Russia over oil production.

The two main oil contracts were both down about 20 per cent in morning Asian trade, with West Texas Intermediate sliding to around USD 32 a barrel and Brent crude to USD 36 a barrel.

The foreign exchange markets were also extremely volatile, with traders snapping up the yen -- seen as a hedge against global instability -- and selling off the dollar amid uncertainty over coronavirus in the United States.

Marito Ueda, senior trader at FX Prime, told AFP: "Fears over the virus's impact on the global economy and a plummet in US yields had investors seeking the safe-haven yen." "It is essentially flight from the dollar," he added.

A stronger yen tends to push down Japanese stocks, and exporters from the world's third-top economy were especially hard-hit, with Nissan and Sony down more than five percent and Toyota down 3.60 per cent.

Banks also plunged, with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial trading down nearly four percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial off by almost five percent.

Stephen Innes, chief market strategist at AxiCo, said the markets were suffering from a perfect storm of factors.

"The yen surged... at the market open this week as investors dove into safe havens on accelerating COVID-19 cases in Europe, and as Saudi Arabia triggers a price war for oil, adding another level of unwanted panic to a market already thick with fear," he said.

The dollar fetched 104.15 yen in early Tokyo time, after dipping to around 103.83 yen in Sydney time, the lowest level since November 2016. That compares with 105.40 yen in New York late Friday.

Markets were not helped by data showing that the Japanese economy had declined more than initially thought -- even before the outbreak of the coronavirus.

The country's gross domestic product during the October-December quarter was revised down to a contraction of 1.8 per cent, compared to an earlier estimate of 1.6 per cent.

"Unfortunately, any recovery in Q1 has been nipped in the bud by the global spread of the coronavirus," said Tom Learnmouth, Japan economist at Capital Economics. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar on Saturday said the bank has received the draft scheme of reconstruction for crisis-hit Yes Bank.

Bank officials are doing due diligence of the draft scheme, he added.

"We have received draft scheme of reconstruction for Yes Bank. Our investment and legal team is doing due diligence," Kumar told reporters here.

He also said many potential investors have approached SBI after seeing the draft scheme.

Kumar further said the interest of shareholders will not be compromised.

On Friday, the RBI announced a draft scheme of reconstruction for cash-starved Yes Bank.

In its draft 'Yes Bank Ltd. Reconstruction Scheme, 2020', RBI said the strategic investor bank will have to pick up 49 per cent stake and it cannot reduce holding to below 26 per cent before three years from the date of capital infusion.

The draft came a day after the RBI imposed a moratorium on Yes Bank, restricting withdrawals to Rs 50,000 per depositor till April 3. The RBI also superseded the board of the private sector lender, which is now being headed by former deputy managing director and CFO of SBI Prashant Kumar.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Stressing on the need of economic diplomacy as one of the core components of India's foreign policy, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday noted that the country has so far offered 300 Lines of Credit (LoCs) to 64 countries that further involve 539 development projects.
 
"Economic diplomacy is the heart of any policy today. Be it Act East policy, Neighbourhood Policy. What we have done through the economic channels have really made the difference out there. If brand recognition, market access, business development are practical measures of support but I do believe that there's a larger strategic intent and a strategic purpose which business and government can convey together," Jaishankar said at the Global Business Summit.

Providing an overview of how economic diplomacy has become a very effective tool to achieve various national objectives, the External Affairs Minister said, "I can say this with a great deal of confidence that today if you go to an Indian embassy, they exclude a receptivity and extend a degree of support which perhaps Indian business would not have encountered a few years earlier."

This is not just with regards to high-value transactions, but today, "we are much more business-friendly than we have been. But are we there? Are we doing enough? Not a 'No' but probably not a 'Yes'," he said.

"Do other governments do for their businesses abroad? 'Absolutely, yes'. I have seen visiting dignitaries bring up business issues, sometimes very specific issues, during their visit to India. And today, I believe, our systems have to fully appreciate that standing up for business abroad is rooting for jobs at home."

"Others get it. It's time we did," Jaishankar added.

The dignitary further added that a positive attitude towards business must be backed up with supportive policies.

For example; Lines of Credit extended by the government to partner countries with soft rates of interest to promote the country's business interest abroad. Today, these LoCs have grown in scale and intent to range from executing projects abroad to extending services and supplies products, he said.

What is common among these LoCs is that all have a minimum Indian content usually 65- 75 per cent and each in their own way has helped to provide market access abroad for our companies. "These LoCs have a sovereign guarantee. It helps our countries to operate in difficult markets where they would normally not venture," Jaishankar stated.

It is noteworthy that some of the leading companies in India have made their first foray into our neighbourhood and countries in Africa through LoCs, he said.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Enforcement Directorate (ED) has raided the Mumbai residence of Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor in connection with a money-laundering probe against him and others.

Official sources said, Kapoor is being questioned at his home by the ED team.

The raid is being conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and is aimed at collecting evidence.

The central agency is probing Kapoor's role in connection with the disbursal of a loan to a corporate entity and the subsequent alleged kickbacks reportedly received in his wife's accounts.

The case against Kapoor also has links with the DHFL probe as the loans lent by the bank to the company allegedly turned NPAs. 

Reserve Bank on Thursday imposed a moratorium on the capital-starved Yes Bank, capping withdrawals at 50,000 rupees per account and superseded the board of the private sector lender with immediate effect.

Yes Bank will not be able to grant or renew any loan or advance, make any investment, incur any liability or agree to disburse any payment. As per RBI's draft reconstruction scheme, State Bank of India will pick up 49 per cent stake in the crisis-ridden Yes Bank under a government-approved bailout plan.

Meanwhile, a lookout circularhas been issued against Kapoor and his wife to prevent them from leaving thecountry.  
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]:  The government on Friday sought Parliament's approval for an additional spending of Rs 54,000 crore to meet its commitments towards GST compensation to states and cover for enhanced dearness relief and pension needs of its employees.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the second batch of supplementary demands for grants in the Lok Sabha that among things include a sum of Rs 20,000 crore required for releasing GST compensation for states and union territories.

The supplementary demand for grant is an additional grant required to meet the required expenditure of the government over and above the amount for which parliamentary nod was taken earlier.

In November, Sitharaman had taken Parliament's approval for additional spending of Rs 21,246 crore as part of first supplementary demand for grant.

The government has sought gross additional expenditure of Rs 4.8 lakh crore, but net cash outgo is expected only to the tune of Rs 53,963.58 crore.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Market benchmark Sensex plunged 894 points on Friday following intensifying rout in global stocks on coronavirus concerns, while the regulatory curbs on Yes Bank further soured sentiment.

After nosediving over 1,459 points during the day, the 30-share index settled 893.99 points or 2.32 per cent lower at 37,576.62.

Likewise, the broader NSE Nifty tanked 279.55 points or 2.48 per cent to close at 10,989.45.

Shares of Yes Bank tanked over 55 per cent after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) placed the lender under a moratorium, capping deposit withdrawals at Rs 50,000 per account for a month and superseding its board.

The bank will not be able to grant or renew any loan or advance, make any investment, incur any liability or agree to disburse any payment.

The unusual move late Thursday evening came hours after finance ministry sources confirmed that State Bank of India (SBI) was directed to bail out the troubled lender.

Tata Steel was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, cracking over 6 per cent, followed by SBI, IndusInd Bank, HDFC, ICICI Bank and ONGC.

Bajaj Auto, Maruti and Asian Paints were the only gainers.

According to analysts, investors took the Yes Bank episode very negatively, raising questions on the stability of the overall Indian financial system.

Further, domestic stocks faced intense heat as the global markets continued their free fall on the back of coronavirus concerns, they said.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo sank over 2 per cent.

European benchmarks were also trading significantly lower in their morning sessions.

Brent crude oil futures fell 2.54 per cent to USD 48.72 per barrel.

On the currency front, the Indian rupee depreciated 32 paise to 73.24 per US dollar (intra-day).
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Payment services provider PhonePe has suffered an outage after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday put the bank under moratorium.

In a tweet, PhonePe said that its services are temporarily unavailable as it is going through an unscheduled maintenance activity.

"We are temporarily unavailable. We are going through an unscheduled maintenance activity. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. We'll be back soon," it said.

Sameer Nigam, founder CEO of the company, however, confirmed that the outage is a result of placement of Yes Bank under the moratorium.

"Dear @PhonePe_ customers. We sincerely regret the long outage. Our partner bank (Yes Bank) was placed under moratorium by RBI. Entire team's been working all night to get services back up asap. We hope to be live in a few hours. Thanks for your patience. Stay tuned for updates," Nigam tweeted.

The apex bank on Thursday evening placed the bank under moratorium for 30 days and capped the withdrawals from Yes Bank at Rs 50,000. It also superseded the board of directors of the private lender for 30 days and appointed former SBI CFO Prashant Kumar as the bank's administrator.

The RBI said the financial position of Yes Bank Ltd has undergone a steady decline, largely due to the bank's inability to raise capital to address potential loan losses and resultant downgrades, triggering invocation of bond covenants by investors, and withdrawal of deposits.

The bank has also experienced serious governance issues and practices in the recent years which have led to its steady decline.

The development has also caused somewhat panic among a section of Yes Bank account holders who rushed to the ATMs after the RBI announcement and many reportedly found that ATMs had run out of cash.
 

NEW DELHI [Media]: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said that Reserve Bank of India is working towards for early resolution of Yes Bank issue. RBI governor has assured that here will be no loss to any Yes Bank depositor, the finance minister said, adding that the steps taken to take control of Yes Bank is in interest of depositors, bank and the economy.

"I want to assure every depositor's money is safe, and I’m in constant touch with RBI," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.

Both RBI and government are looking at Yes Bank issue in detail and the course of action will be in everyone's interest, Sitharaman said.

The immediate priority is to ensure Yes Bank customers are able to withdraw money within ?50,000, she added.

Earlier in the day, RBI chief Shaktikanta Das pledged to act swiftly to resolve the Yes Bank crisis. The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday capped withdrawals at ?50,000 and imposed strict limits on operations at the country’s fourth-largest private lender, while a rescue plan is devised within 30 days. In a statement late on Thursday, the regulator said it was forced to step in after Yes Bank’s latest effort to raise new capital failed to materialize and as the lender “was facing regular outflow of liquidity."

“It will be done very swiftly, it will be done very fast," Das told reporters in Mumbai on Friday, adding that 30 days was the “outer limit." “Let me assure you the Indian banking sector remains sound and safe."

Yes Bank’s shares, which plunged 85% following the seizure, pared some of the losses to trade down 50% Das’s comments. The benchmark BSE Sensex tumbled 3%.

State Bank of India said on Thursday that “an in-principal approval has been given by the board to explore investment opportunity" in Yes Bank. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]::India's record has shown a massive decline among world's 25 largest democracies in the new report by Freedom House, the oldest American organisation dedicated to the support and defence of democracy around the world, a report in The Telegraph stated. 

America based Freedom House has placed India among "countries in the spotlight'' along with Haiti, Iran, Nigeria, Sudan, Tunisia, Turkey, Hong Kong and Ukraine. This category shows a list of the countries where important developments have affected their democratic nature and deserve special observation in 2020.

According to the report by Freedom House, there are three reasons behind this steep fall: Abrogation of article 370, which gave a special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, the implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam and the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

India has ranked 83rd in the 'Freedom in the World 2020' report along with Timor-Leste and Senegal. This is near the bottom of the list of the countries categorised as "Free", with only Tunisia receiving a lower score. India fell sharply by four points, the worst decline among the world's 25 largest democracies this year.

Whilst half of the world's democratic countries have seen a degradation of their scores, India's drop is the sharpest and could "blur the values-based distinction between Beijing and New Delhi'', the India chapter in the Freedom in the World 2020 report noted.

It was mainly because of the conduct of elections, that India received a "Free" rating. But this report tersely criticises Modi government for pushing the country away from the "founding commitment to pluralism and individual rights, without which democracy cannot long survive".

The report says, "Almost since the turn of the century, the United States and its allies have courted India as a potential strategic partner and democratic counterweight to China in the Indo-Pacific region.
 

BHOPAL [Maha Media]: THERE is good news for fliers of capital city as if everything goes well IndiGo airlines will begin operations from Bhopal to Allahabad now renamed as Pryagraj, Agra, Lucknow and Kolkata in the upcoming summer season.

“The airline will start operations to these four cities by March-end. 

We will get the summer schedule soon,” said airport director, Flight Lt Akashdeep Mathur. 

These will be 68-78 seat flights, he added.

With this, the number of flights from Bhopal airport will increase further. 
 
At present, Bhopal is directly connected to Mumbai, Delhi, Raipur, Lucknow and Hyderabad. Patna and Jaipur are also connected via a stopover at Lucknow. 

The airport director said that the management is looking at proposals to connect other cities too.

“Over the last one and a half years, we have been trying to bring more airlines to Raja Bhoj Airport. 

Our focus has been to connect as many cities as possible,” he said. 

“The arrival of IndiGo is just the beginning. Our efforts have started paying dividends,” the director added. 

He said that his plan is to woo passengers who have to travel on long-distances in trains.  

As of now the board class examinations are going on and after the exams are over people plan to travel in the summer vacations and huge rush of passengers are witnessed at looking after the increased footfall at airport new summer schedule would be released with competitive airfares.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]:  In a major setback to former chief of ICICI Bank, the Bombay High Court has dismissed her plea challenging her termination as the bank's Managing Director and CEO on Thursday.

A division bench comprising Justice N.M. Jamdar and Justice M.S. Karnik accepted the ICICI Bank's contention that the petition was not maintainable as it was a contractual dispute concerning a private body.

In her plea filed in November 2019, Kochhar had also challenged the private bank's actions seeking to recover various amounts towards the clawback of bonuses and stock options given to her between April 2009-March 2018 for her alleged role in extending loans of Rs 3,250 crore to the Videocon Group which benefited her husband Deepak Kochhar.

Kochhar was sacked from the bank a few months after she voluntarily quit and later she challenged her dismissal in January 2019 while the mandatory 'prior sanction' was given by the Reserve Bank of India in March 2019.

Her lawyer Vikram Nankani had argued that the termination came months after the ICICI Bank cleared her voluntary resignation on October 4, 2018 and hence the subsequent termination was "illegal, untenable and unsustainable in law".

The bank's counsel Darius Khambata contended that the reliefs sought by Kochhar in her plea are not maintainable and must be dismissed as ICICI Bank is a private entity administered under the Companies Act and not the state or its agency.

Khambata pointed out that the delay in the RBI sanction was due to the pending submission report of the probe commission headed by retired Justice B.N. Srikrishna, and asserted that the termination of her service was legal with due procedures followed.

The bank said that the inquiry report revealed how Kochhar had not fulfilled her contractual duties, failed to disclose her personal interests through her husband who was a director of a firm being probed for illegalities along with the Videocon Group, which was against the Code of Conduct and applicable laws, rules and regulations.

The high-profile Kochhar was in the limelight for the 2012 Videocon Group loan and the subsequent developments pertaining to her husband's company NuPower which was the alleged beneficiary.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Worries over economic slowdown owing to Coronavirus outbreak continued to weigh on the investor sentiment Thursday as equities once failed to retain early gains and ended flat. 

The S&P BSE Sensex  ended at 38,471, up 61 points or 0.16 per cent. TCS, HUL, Bharti Airtel and HCL Tech were the major contributors to the index's gains. During the day, the index hit a high and low of 38,887.80 and 38,386.68, respectively. 

NSE's Nifty 50 ended at 11,269, up 18 points or 0.16 per cent. 

YES Bank had a field day today as the stock ended 26 per cent higher at Rs 36.85 apiece on the BSE after news reports suggested the government has approved a plan for State Bank of India to lead a consortium that will buy stake in YES Bank. SBI, on the other hnad, ended over 1 per cent higher at Rs 288.3 apiece. READ MORE
 
In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended 0.3 per cent higher at 14,571 levels while the S&P BSE SmallCap index gained 0.29 per cent to settle at 13,591 levels.

On the sectoral front, PSU banks and FMCG stocks made decent gains while realty, metal. and media counters suffered losses. Nifty PSU Bank index added 1.39 per cent to 1,892 levels while Nifty FMCG ended at 29,530.50, up 1 per cent.  

Global Markets
Asian shares rallied for a fourth straight session on Thursday as US markets swung sharply higher and another dose of central bank stimulus offered some salve for the global economic outlook. Asian markets followed, if more cautiously. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.7 per cent, in its fourth day of gains.

Japan's Nikkei rose 0.9 per cent and hard-hit Australian shares finally managed a bounce of 1.1 per cent. Shanghai blue chips put on 1.3 per cent.

In commodity markets, oil prices rebounded by more than 1 per cent on a smaller-than-expected rise in crude oil inventories in the United States.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Retirement fund body EPFO on Thursday lowered interest rate on provident fund deposits to 8.5 per cent for the current financial year, said Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar on Thursday.

The EPFO had provided 8.65 per cent rate of interest on EPF for 2018-19 to its around six crore subscribers. The decision was taken at a meeting of the the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation's (EPFO) apex decision making body -- the Central Board of Trustee.

"The EPFO has decided to provide 8.5 per cent interest rate on EPF deposits for 2019-20 in the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) meeting today," Gangwar told reporters after the meeting here.

Now, the labour ministry requires the finance ministry's concurrence on the matter. Since the Government of India is the guarantor, the finance ministry has to vet the proposal for EPF interest rate to avoid any liability on account of shortfall in the EPFO income for a fiscal.

The finance ministry has been nudging the labour ministry for aligning the EPF interest rate with other small saving schemes run by the government like the public provident fund and post office saving schemes.

The EPFO had provided 8.65 per cent rate of interest to its subscribers for 2016-17 and 8.55 per cent in 2017-18. The rate of interest was slightly higher at 8.8 per cent in 2015-16.

It had given 8.75 per cent rate of interest in 2013-14 as well as 2014-15, higher than 8.5 per cent for 2012-13.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: UN economists announced a likely USD 50 billion drop in the worldwide manufacturing exports in February alone as the extent of the damage to the global economy caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) moved further into focus.

Citing the China Manufacturing Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI), Pamela Coke-Hamilton, who heads UNCTAD’s Division on International Trade and Commodities, said that it had fallen to 37.5 - a drop of about 20 points – the lowest reading since 2004.

“This also correlates directly to exports and also implies a two per cent drop in overall exports,” she said, with a resulting “ripple effect” worldwide “to the tune of a USD 50 billion fall in exports.”

Because China has become the main supplier of finished products and so-called “intermediate” products used in countless industries - from chemical for pharmaceuticals to parts for digital cameras and the car industry - concerns about the long-term disruption to supply chains there, has left many companies around the world “fearful” that their own output may soon be affected, UNCTAD said.

“Of course, if the virus continues to spread and gets out of control, and we see closures not only in China but also in India and the United States and everywhere else in the world, then it would be a big problem,” said Alessandro Nicita from UNCTAD’s Division on International Trade and Commodities.

“Ultimately, the economic impact of this virus depends on the measures that countries apply to contain the virus. So, China has done a great job in containing the virus, but it has sacrificed a little bit the economy, at least in the first few weeks. So, planned closures, restriction to movement of people, which were all necessary; but there is an economic effect when you take those measures.”

In addition to the falling manufacturing levels, UNCTAD also highlighted a decrease in the number of container ships leaving Shanghai in the first half of February (from around 300 a week to 180), which then returned to normal levels in the second half of the month.

“Right now, the impact on the global value chains is already being felt and will continue probably for a few months,” Coke-Hamilton said.

“But if it rebounds, say in the next few months, then the long-term or year-long impact will be a little different and will be better. So, it depends on what happens in China.”

In remarks made at a joint press conference with the head of the World Bank Group, the IMF Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, said that the UN-backed global funds would make up the shortfall, in effect, by offering to inject around USD 50 billion into low-income and emerging market nations, pending requests for support.

"Thanks to the generosity of our shareholders, we have about USD 1 trillion in overall lending capacity,” she said.

"For low-income countries, we have rapid-disbursing emergency financing of up to USD 10 billion (50 per cent of quota of eligible members) that can be accessed without a full-fledged IMF programme,” she added.

The IMF chief added that members can access emergency financing through the Rapid Financing Instrument.

"This facility could provide about USD 40 billion for emerging markets that could potentially approach us for financial support. We also have the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust – the CCRT – which provides eligible countries with up-front grants for relief on IMF debt service falling due.

"The CCRT proved to be effective during the 2014 Ebola outbreak, but is now underfunded with just over USD 200 million available against possible needs of over USD 1 billion."

She called on member countries "to help ensure that this facility is fully re-charged and ready for the current crisis", and said that the Fund was "fully committed to supporting our member countries, particularly the most vulnerable. We have the tools to help and we are coordinating closely with our partner institutions.” 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The government on Wednesday permitted NRIs to own up to 100 per cent stake in disinvestment-bound Air India.

The decision comes at a time when the government is looking to sell 100 per cent stake sale in the national carrier.

Union minister Prakash Javadekar said the Cabinet has approved allowing Non-Residents Indians (NRIs) to hold up to 100 per cent stake in Air India.

Allowing 100 per cent investment by Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) in the carrier would also not be in violation of SOEC norms. NRI investments would be treated as domestic investments.

Under the Substantial Ownership and Effective Control (SOEC) framework, which is followed in the airline industry globally, a carrier that flies overseas from a particular country should be substantially owned by that country's government or its nationals.

Currently, NRIs can acquire only 49 per cent in Air India. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the airline is also 49 per cent through the government approval route.

As per the existing norms, 100 per cent FDI is permitted in scheduled domestic carriers, subject to certain conditions, including that it would not be applicable for overseas airlines.

In the case of scheduled airlines, 49 per cent FDI is permitted through automatic approval route and any such investment beyond that level requires government nod.

On January 27, the government came out witha Preliminary Information Memorandum (PIM) for Air India disinvestment. It has proposed selling 100 per cent stake in Air India along with budget airline Air India Express and the national carrier's 50 per cent stake in AISATS, an equal joint venture with Singapore Airlines.

Under the latest disinvestment plan, the successful bidder would have to take over only debt worth Rs 23,286.5 crore while the liabilities would be decided depending on current assets at the time of closing of the transaction.

This is the second attempt by the government in as many years to divest Air India, which has been in the red for long.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Resuming its downward spiral, equity benchmark Sensex ended 214 points lower after a highly volatile session on Wednesday as concerns over rising cases of coronavirus in India kept domestic investors on the edge.

After gyrating over 945 points during the day, the 30-share index settled 214.22 points or 0.55 per cent lower at 38,409.48.

The broader NSE Nifty closed 52.30 points or 0.46 per cent down at 11,251.

Top laggards in the Sensex pack included IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, ITC, UltraTech Cement and HDFC Bank, while Sun Pharma, Tech Mahindra, M&M and Asian Paints ended with gains.

Traders said the domestic market turned increasingly jittery as 28 coronavirus cases were confirmed in India. At the beginning of the session, only six cases were reported.

Global stocks, on the other hand, rallied after the US central bank cut its benchmark interest rate by a sizable half-percentage point in an effort to support the economy in the face of the spreading coronavirus.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell noted that the coronavirus "poses evolving risks to economic activity".

The rate cut, however, failed to cheer Indian investors. There are still a lot of uncertainty on how the major economies will contain the spread of the virus, according to Ashika Institutional Equity Research.

"Thus, we remain skeptical that Fed rate cut will stabilise markets sentiments due to coronavirus outbreak," it said.

Bourses in Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo ended on a positive note, while Hong Kong settled with losses.

Stock exchanges in Europe opened up to 1 per cent higher.

Brent crude oil futures rose 0.58 per cent to USD 52.16 per barrel.

On the currency front, the Indian rupee depreciated 14 paise to 73.34 per US dollar (intra-day).
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: World Bank has unveiled a 12 billion dollar aid package that will provide fast-track funds to help countries combat the coronavirus outbreak. World Bank President David Malpass told reporters that the goal is to provide fast, effective action that responds to country needs. The funds, some of which are targeted to the world's poorest nations, can be used for medical equipment or health services and will include expertise and policy advice.

Malpass said the money will go to countries that request help. The bank has been in contact with many member nations, but he did not specify which are likely to be the first to receive aid.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Gold prices on Tuesday rose by Rs 129 to Rs 42,085 per 10 gram in futures trade as speculators were indulged in creating fresh positions amid a firm global trend.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange, gold contracts for April traded higher by Rs 129, or 0.31 per cent, to Rs 42,085 per 10 gram in a business turnover of 1,558 lots.

The yellow metal for June delivery edged up by Rs 107, or 0.25 per cent, to Rs 42,300 per 10 gram in a business turnover of 70 lots.

Fresh positions built up by participants on positive cues from global markets mainly led to rise in gold prices, analysts said.

Globally, gold prices rose 0.30 per cent to USD 1,599.60 per ounce in New York.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Panic selling in the last hour of the session after two new COVID-19 cases were detected in Delhi and Telangana spooked equity market on Monday, thus sending the benchmark indices into the negative territory for the seventh session in a row.

The S&P BSE Sensex, which hit a high of 39,083.17, up 786 points during the day, erased all its gains to settle at 38,144, down 153 points against Friday's close of 38,297.29. State-run lender State Bank of India (SBI) ended as the biggest loser on the index with 5 per cent decline while IT major HCL Tech (up over 2 per cent) emerged as the biggest gainer. Besides SBI, Reliance Industries (RIL), Axis Bank, and Bajaj Finance contributed the most to the index's fall.

On the NSE, the 50-share Nifty index ended at 11,133 points, down 69 points or 0.62 per cent.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index slipped 0.65 per cent to 14,504 levels and the S&P BSE SmallCap index ended 0.77 per cent lower at 13,604 levels.

Volatility index India VIX climbed nearly 8.5 per cent to 25.20 levels.

On the sectoral front, except Nifty IT, all the other indices ended in the negative zone. Media stocks bled the most with the Nifty Media index plunging over 4.5 per cent to 1,595 levels. PSU Bank stocks were next on the list. Nifty IT, on the other hand, gained around 1.5 per cent to 15,428.

Shares of Tata Power hit an over 13-year low of Rs 45.35, down 3 per cent, on the BSE in an otherwise firm market on Monday. Thr stock has fallen 13 per cent in the past week on the back of heavy volumes after concerns emerged that the electric utilities firm may snap power lines to five states beginning March if they don't agree to tariff increases. The stock of the Tata Group Company was trading at its lowest level since July 28, 2006.

Global Markets

Asian shares regained a measure of calm on Monday as markets bounced after a searing sell-off last week and as investors pinned hopes on a likely coordinated global monetary response to help soften the economic blow of the coronavirus outbreak. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1 per cent, up for the first time in four sessions and recovering from a fall of about 0.3 per cent in early trade.

E-minis for the S&P500, which were down more than 1 per cent at one point, were last up 0.5 per cent.

Oil prices rebounded more than $1 a barrel on hopes of a deeper cut in output by OPEC after earlier hitting multi-year lows.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Government has collected over one lakh five thousand crore rupees as Goods and Services Tax in February this year which is eight percent more than the GST collected in the same month of last year.

Out of the total revenue, Central Goods and Service Tax (CGST) is over 20 thousand crore rupees, State Goods and Service Tax (SGST) is over 27 thousand crore and Integrated Goods and Service Tax (IGST) is over 48 thousand crore rupees.

Finance Ministry said, during the month of February, the GST revenue from domestic transactions has shown a growth of 12 percent over the revenue during the month of February last year.

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Fitch Solutions on Monday cut its forecast for India's economic growth to 4.9 per cent in the current fiscal that ends March 31, saying manufacturing could come under pressure from weak domestic demand and supply chain disruptions due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The GDP growth is forecast to recover slightly to 5.4 per cent in 2020-21 (April 2020 to March 2021), it said.

"We at Fitch Solutions are revising down our forecast for India's real GDP growth to 4.9 per cent in FY2019/20, from 5.1 per cent previously, and 5.4 per cent in FY2020/21, from 5.9 per cent previously," the agency said in its outlook for the country.

India's real GDP growth decelerated to 4.7 per cent in the third quarter (October-December) from an upwardly revised 5.1 per cent in the second quarter owing to slower government consumption, a steeper contraction in gross fixed capital formation and a smaller net exports contribution.

"A failure of the FY2020/21 Union Budget to provide support to the industry will also bring little reprieve for a sluggish industry already coming under heavy pressure from a credit squeeze following the collapse of several key Non-Bank Financial Companies (NBFCs)," it said.

NBFCs are a key channel in which consumers obtain loans for vehicle and housing purchases.

"Our revision is due to our view for disruption in the automotive and electronics supply chain from the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak in China to weigh on India's export manufacturing sector, and for this to have negative knock-on effects on the broad services sector," Fitch Solutions said.

It expected a mild pick-up in growth in the next fiscal assuming an easing of the virus spread from June, which should see a broad-based improvement in the economic activity.

"We expect manufacturing activity to come under further pressure from weak domestic demand and also supply chain disruptions due to the Covid-19 outbreak, which started in China. Weak manufacturing activity would also have a knock-on impact on slowing services growth," it said.

It expected manufacturing and services to pick up in FY2020/21. "We also expect economic activity to be supported by an improvement in the agriculture sector through better harvest prospects and fiscal support announced in the FY2020/21 Union Budget."

The growth deceleration in the third quarter was mainly due to a collapse in gross fixed capital growth, which contracted by 4.5 per cent, and slowdown in government consumption growth to 11.8 per cent from 13.2 per cent in the second quarter.

"We expect manufacturing (14 per cent of GDP) growth to remain weak over the near term," it said noting that the contraction in manufacturing eased slightly to 0.2 per cent in Q3, from 0.4 per cent in Q2.

Also, a continued contraction in total vehicle sales, suggests that the outlook for the automotive industry remains weak, Fitch Solutions said forecasting that the total vehicle demand would remain weak over the coming months, which should also see production remain in contraction.

Auto industry contributes 7.5 per cent to the total GDP and accounts for half of the manufacturing GDP.

On the external front, supply chain disruptions due to the Covid-19 outbreak, which began in China, will also severely curtail manufacturing activity across automotive and electronics due to a shortage of parts.

The coronavirus outbreak in China has prompted the Chinese authorities to implement varying degrees of lockdowns on many cities nationwide.

"Extended factory work stoppages after the Lunar New Year holiday in January, domestic restrictions travel, and labour shortages even as the Chinese government attempts to get factories to resume operations have severely disrupted supply lines across the world," it said.

China supplies between 10-30 per cent of automotive components used in India's automotive manufacturing, with the proportion supplied being two to three times higher for the electric vehicle segment.

For the Indian electronics manufacturing sector, China accounts for 75 per cent of the total value of components used in televisions and 85 per cent in smartphones, supplying parts from mobile displays, printed circuit boards, memory and LED chips to air conditioner compressors and washing machine motors.

Also, services (52 per cent of GDP) growth will also come under intense headwinds over the near term owing to likely work stoppages in manufacturing following a lack of inputs.

"We forecast real GDP growth to recover slightly to 5.4 per cent in FY2020/21, with the pick-up to be broad-based. Our forecast assumes that the Covid-19 outbreak will be contained by H1FY2020/21, although we stress that there remains significant downside risks to this forecast as there is still limited visibility on the virus spread in developing markets," Fitch Solutions said.

Expecting agriculture to benefit from strong fiscal support announced during the FY2020/21 Union Budget, it said a normal monsoon, as forecast by Skymet in January should also see a significant improvement in the 2020 summer harvest versus 2019.

A likely ramping up of manufacturing activity to clear backlogged export orders would also support stronger growth in the sector.
 

New Delhi (Mahamedia) It is time for people to be happy because just before the festival of Holi, there has been a huge cut in the price of LPG and new rates have been implemented from today, the un subsidized 14.2 kg LPG cylinder has become cheaper by Rs 52.50. If, then the 19 kg commercial cylinder has also become cheaper by Rs 84.50.
This means that the 14.2 kg LPG cylinder which you used to get for Rs 893.50, now you will be able to get it for Rs 841 only and for the 19 kg commercial cylinder you will have to pay only Rs 1465.50.

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the economy is doing well in the difficult circumstances and this will make the government go forward with more confidence.
 
Speaking at a private news channel's awards event in Mumbai yesterday, Ms Sitharaman said that the Centre has loosened its purse strings as much as it can on fiscal deficit worries and also willing to consider further requirements.

The Minister stated that she is not expecting a shock on the growth on either side and suggested that a rise in the number is a sign of economy doing well.

The Finance Minister added that the government is mulling creating a Development Finance Institution (DFI) to help fund the  102-lakh crore rupee infrastructure funding, but hinted at a larger reliance on the private sector in doing so.

To a question on the ways of driving of consumption, where there was a fall in growth numbers, Ms Sitharaman said, there are multiple policies including the corporate tax cuts, personal tax cuts and direct benefit transfers. She also stressed that the government is also pushing banks to lend more to all categories like retail, agriculture, vehicle, home and so on.

Acknowledging that credit growth is yet to pick up, the Minister made it clear that banks cannot be wild in writing loans and were specifically asked to avoid the mistakes of 2008-09, when excess lending to pump-prime the economy resulted in issues of NPAs.

On the Corona virus scare, Ms Sitharaman said, there is no need to immediately press the panic button at present, but added that industry executives have warned her about challenges cropping up if the crisis continues for three weeks.

On the Goods and Services Tax, she said that the focus is on making the network more efficient so that difficulties in compliance are done away with
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Top officials of the finance ministry are set to meet government departments responsible for a range of industries on Saturday to discuss further steps amid mounting fears over the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on the Indian economy. A senior finance ministry official told reporters on Friday that the government was weighing the impact on different sectors and may step in to deal with any disruption in trade.

Top brass of the ministry will meet on Saturday to assess the feedback from different arms of the government handling aviation, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, textiles and heavy industries on ways to deal with the coronavirus threat, another official told reporters.

The panic about the spread of Covid-19 derailing economic growth was visible in the markets on Friday with investors rushing for safe haven assets, such as gold, in place of equities, forcing the rupee to shed 60 paise from previous close to settle at 72.21 against the US dollar at the end of day’s trade.

According to Care Ratings Ltd, in the worst-case scenario based on certain extreme assumptions, India’s exports could fall by $13.4 billion in case of a shutdown by China. The analysis said trade disruption could impact real gross value added (GVA) or gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.29-0.43% in a simulated scenario on an annual basis.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: With the year 2020 coming with that one extra day in February, which is known as the Leap Day, Google has marked the special day with a doodle illustration.

Google on Saturday celebrated Leap Day with an animated illustration where the dates jumped from a 28 to 29.

The extra Leap Day takes the number of days in a calendar years from 365 days in a year to 366.

Such a day occurs every four years to maintain the calendar year in synchrony with the astronomical year, or the time it takes Earth to make a full circle around the sun.

Leap day occurs in years that are multiples of four or can be evenly divided by 400.

A catch here is that a year ending with 00 is not a leap year. But if the year '00' is preceded by a multiple of four, remains a leap year.

For example, 1700 or 1900 are not leap years, but 2000 or 2400 are!

Going back in history, it was Romans who first designated February 29 as the leap day.

Think before you leap with any discovery, if done, the day could be celebrated only once in four years! 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: More than 1,700 BSE-listed stocks, mostly from the mid-cap and small-cap space, witnessed heavy selloff on Friday, as equity markets crashed amid rising fears of the coronavirus outbreak turning into a pandemic.

As many as 323 shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange from Group A, B, T and Group Z, dropped to their 52-week low levels.

While, a total of 205 companies on BSE saw their share prices touching their lowest permissible level for the day.

However, as many as 274 stocks defied the broader market trend and were trading in the positive territory, while 57 stocks breached the upper circuit limit.

As many as 24 stocks touched their one-year highs, even as the broader market sentiment remained sluggish amid tremendous selling pressure.

Out of the 2,124 companies being traded on BSE, 274 were in the positive territory. 83 stocks remain unchanged at 1100 hours.

Domestic equity benchmark Sensex plummeted over 1,100 points on Friday amid a massive selloff in global equities as rising coronavirus cases outside China stoked fears of a pandemic that could dent world growth.

The 30-share index sank 1,194.12 points to 38,551.54, while the NSE Nifty cracked 363.50 points to 11,269.80.

Market capitalisation (m-cap) of BSE-listed companies also saw a massive decline as the carnage in the equity market wiped out investor wealth worth Rs 4,65,915.58 crore. Total m-cap stood at Rs 1,47,74,108.50 crore in morning session.

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: National oil marketer Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on Friday said it is ready to supply low emission BS-VI fuels from April 1 and that there will be a marginal increase in retail prices.

The largest oil supplier has spent over Rs 17,000 crore to upgrade its refineries to produce the low-sulphur diesel and petrol, the company's chairman Sanjiv Singh told reporters here.

Without disclosing the quantum of price increase, Singh said, there will definitely be a marginal increase in retail prices of the fuels from April 1 when the whole country will be run on new fuels, which will have sulphur content of only 10 parts per million (ppm) as against the present 50 ppm.

But let me assure you, we will not be burdening the consumers with a steep hike, Singh said.

He said, state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) have invested Rs 35,000 crore to upgrade their refineries, of which Rs 17,000 crore have been spent by IOC alone.

Earlier this week, the sell-off bound BPCL said it had invested around Rs 7,000 crore for the same. ONGC-run HPCL has not so far disclosed its readiness for BS-VI supplies or its capex on the same.

HPCL had said from February 26-27 it was ready with BS-VI fuels and that it would sell only the new fuels from March 1.

IOC switched to BS-VI fuel production a fortnight ago and all its depots and containers are ready now, Singh said.

However, he said some remote locations, where the intake is very low, will take some more time to switch. But the company is planning to drain out the entire BS-IV stock and replenish the new fuels at such locations, he added.

Further, it has been reported that the companies will have to increase prices by 70-120 paise a litre, but Singh said, to arrive such a weighted average is not possible given the complexities of each refinery.

He, however, asserted that the price hike will not be a burden on consumers.

We are not looking at this investment from a purely return on investment basis, but this is a national mandate and we have done it.

Having said that, all those countries that moved to low emission fuels are charging higher prices; and from April 1, our prices will also be benchmarked against Euro VI prices as against the present practice of cost-plus model, Singh concluded.
 

GUWAHATI [Maha Media]: Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman is on a day-long visit to Guwahati today to hold discussions on the Union Budget 2020- 21, which presented in Parliament on February 1 last.

She was received by state Finance Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sharma and others at the Guwahati airport this morning. 

The Finance Minister will meet with industry representatives, trade bodies, investment bankers and interact with them on various themes and provisions in the Union Budget. 

She will also hold another detailed interactive session with economists, academicians, policy experts, tax experts and various other opinion leaders regarding the salient features of the Budget.

Sitharaman is also scheduled to hold a press conference in the city in the evening. The Finance Minister had similar interactive sessions in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Indian economy will soon bounce back from its worst showing in 11 years as a steep cut in taxes will help attract investments and the massive infrastructure spending revives economic activity, mining baron Anil Agarwal said.

Besides spending on building infrastructure, the government should focus on exploiting natural resources the country has and look at stake sale in most PSUs.

Public sector firms have the potential to produce three-times more than the current output and should be operated independently, he told PTI here.

"I think it (economy) will bounce back. It has tremendous potential. I see light at the end of the tunnel, it is not far. The economy will kick start soon," he said adding the rollout of Goods and Services Tax (GST) had a temporary impact but it is being straightened now.

Indian economic growth plunged to an 11-year low in the July-September quarter when it clocked 4.5 per cent expansion. The government has forecast a 5 per cent GDP growth for the full 2019-20 fiscal that ends in March but many experts believe the growth rate will be lower than the projection.

Agarwal, the founder and chairman of Vedanta, said the government cutting tax on companies to the lowest in the world will attract investment but companies need a little hand-holding to see their projects through.

"India has the lowest tax in the world and a natural place for investments to come in. If somebody wants to do business in a democratic country, India is the best place," he said.

The government in September last year cut the corporate tax rate to 22 per cent from 30 per cent and in the budget for 2020-21 announced reduction in personal income tax rates for those who were willing to give away present exemptions and rebates.

"When you start a project anywhere in the world, the government makes sure the project is completed. In India, you are left alone."

Apart from environmental norms, all other regulations for businesses must be relaxed, he said.

Also, a free hand must be given to producers of natural resources such as oil and copper as they can then rapidly scale up production and help cut imports, he said. "A free hand to produce will cut short time."

Agarwal said India has tremendous resources of gold, copper, oil and other minerals and they should be explored and produced. "Don't hold licenses, auction reserves. As long as government revenues and interest, as well as the environment, are protected, they should allow companies to produce. They should not tell how it is to be produced."

India imports oil, gold, coal and copper, he said. "We import 85 per cent of our oil requirement. We import almost 100 per cent of our gold requirement. We import a lot of coal. Today, our imports are close to USD 400 billion. This might increase," he said advocating harnessing the full potential of resources within the country.

Besides, the government should sell its stake in public sector companies to allow professional boards to run them.

"PSUs have the potential to produce three times more than what they are currently doing. A public sector bank has a valuation of USD 1 billion but a similar-sized private bank would have 10 times higher valuation, why? Because the government bank is being controlled by a bureaucrat. That has to go," he said.

He said the massive investment in infrastructure such as road and highways, ports and airports will revive the economy and foreign investors are eager to invest in such projects.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has emphasised the need for better data sharing between customers and Public Sector Banks (PSBs) at the regional level.

Addressing a function in New Delhi, she said banks require judicious mix of personal customer information and data. Ms. Sitharaman said government wants to use data analytics in banking sector.

The Minister pointed out that many branch level officers in public sector banks do not have enough information on government schemes. She said, bank branches in hinterland suffer as employees cannot speak in customers' mother tongue. 

Ms Sitharaman said, the bank employees should speak local language.  The Minister also launched Ease 3.0 for smart, tech-enabled banking for aspiring India.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Gold prices on Thursday jumped Rs 259 to Rs 42,763 per 10 gram in futures trade as speculators widened their bets tracking positive trend overseas.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange, gold contracts for April traded higher by Rs 259, or 0.61 per cent, to Rs 42,763 per 10 gram in a business turnover of 2,918 lots.

The yellow metal for June delivery edged up by Rs 279, or 0.65 per cent, to Rs 42,989 per 10 gram in a business turnover of 102 lots.

Fresh positions built up by participants on positive cues from global markets mainly led to rise in gold prices, analysts said.

Globally, gold prices rose 0.65 per cent to USD 1,653.70 per ounce in New York.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Market benchmark Sensex plunged nearly 400 points in opening session on Wednesday tracking losses in index-heavyweights RIL, HDFC twins and ICICI Bank amid heavy foreign fund outflow and weak global cues.

After starting over 393.03 points lower, the 30-share index pared some losses to trade 201.94 points, or 0.50 per cent, down at 40,079.26.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty dropped 58.10 points, or 0.49 per cent, at 11,739.80.

Top losers in the Sensex pack included Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, Reliance Industries and HDFC shedding up to 2 per cent.

On the other hand, HUL, Nestle India, PowerGrid and Asian Paints were trading with gains.

In the previous session, the Sensex settled 82.03 points, or 0.20 per cent, lower at 40,281.20, and the Nifty declined 31.50 points or 0.27 per cent to end at 11,797.90.

According to traders, besides weak cues from global markets amid rising concerns over coronavirus outbreak beyond China, heavy foreign fund outflow too weighed on market sentiment here.

On a net basis, foreign institutional investors (FPIs) sold equities worth Rs 2,315.07 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 1,565.28 crore on Wednesday, data available with stock exchanges showed.

Stock exchanges in Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo were trading with losses, while bourses in Shanghai turned positive.

Equities on Wall Street plunged in overnight trade after American health authorities said they ultimately expect the novel coronavirus to spread in the United States and are urging local governments, businesses, and schools to develop plans like cancelling mass gatherings or switching to teleworking.

Brent crude oil futures rose 0.50 per cent to USD 54.53 per barrel.

The rupee appreciated 6 paise to 71.78 against the US dollar in morning session.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump is important to America's national security interest and global economy, a group of US lawmakers has said.

Senator Ted Cruz, who was the runner-up for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2016 election, said on Monday that India is a friend, an ally and the largest democracy on Earth.

"Trump and Modi meeting is important to US national security and the global economy. Last year I was proud to welcome PM Modi to Texas, where I reaffirmed my commitment to the India-US friendship," Cruz said in a tweet.

Congressman Pete Olson said "great to see" Trump being welcomed by India, one of America's biggest partners in both trade and diplomacy.

"I look forward to seeing what comes out of this historic visit, including a new US-India military partnership!" Olson said in a tweet.

Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy told Fox News how Trump's warm welcome in India exemplifies the strong bond the countries share, and how the world is safer because of it.

"To have this relationship (with India) changes the course of history going forward. I give this president a great deal of credit... this creates a much bigger bond, and so for the president to do this and build with (Prime Minister) Modi, this makes the world stronger...," McCarthy said.

"A strong India-US relationship on trade and defence is vital to combatting Chinese influence around the world. It is right for our nation to push India to set a higher standard on human rights and religious freedom as we work together on key issues," said Senator James Lankford.

As the US continues to expand its relationship with India, particularly in trade, the US "must also talk about" human rights and religious freedom, he said.

"The Senate spoke with one voice in 2015 that religious freedom should be part of trade negotiations," Lankford said.

The first day of President Trump's visit to India projected a strengthened US-India partnership, a growing strategic and defence relationship and a much-needed and showy boost for both leaders, who have recently faced serious domestic political challenges, said Persis Khambatta, managing director of consulting firm South Asia BGA.

"The strong personal relationship between President Trump and Prime Minister Modi could play an important role as both countries continue to negotiate a trade deal in the near future - while it remains stalled for now, progress on trade is still a vitally important component of overall relations going forward," Khambatta said in response to a question.

Addressing the massive "Namaste Trump" rally at Motera stadium, President Trump on Monday said that Prime Minister Modi's rise from his humble background underscored the "limitless promise of the great nation", remarks which reflected the bonhomie shared by the two leaders.

The chemistry between Trump and Modi was evident at the event as the two leaders hugged each other multiple times and heaped praise on each other in front of nearly one lakh people at the new-look Motera stadium in Gujarat.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das has said that slowing credit growth is one of the most critical challenges for the banking industry. He said credit growth has moderated to 7-7.5 per cent this year and there is a need to focus on prudent lending by the banks.

Addressing the Mint annual banking conclave in Mumbai yesterday the apex Bank Governor stated that to facilitate the flow of credit, the RBI has taken several steps like reducing repo rate, facilitating bank refinance to NBFCs for onlending to priority sector and providing long-term repo operation (LTRO), among others.

He said the strength of a banking system depends on the strength of its corporate governance that fosters a robust and ethics-driven compliance culture.

He added that the RBI can only lay down certain rules, guidelines or sign post but as the custodian of the depositors' money and having an accountability to both the depositor and shareholders,  banks will have to necessarily focus on improving their governance and compliance culture.

Das said besides structural changes, digital disruptions will continue to transform the banking sector.

The governor said that the RBI's endeavour has constantly been to improve the efficacy of its supervisory and regulatory functions, so that the resilience of the regulated financial entities can be enhanced.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Billionaire Gautam Adani's energy and infrastructure conglomerate is considering bidding to buy Air India and is pouring into bid documents before finalising a plan, sources said.

The government is offering to sell its entire holding in the loss-making carrier along with its entire interest in its low-cost arm and 50 per cent in the ground handling unit.

Sources with knowledge of the development said the mergers and acquisition (M&A) team of Adani Group is scrutinising Air India bid documents and the interest was at a preliminary stage.

Bidding, they insisted, would depend on the due diligence.

If Adani bids, it will join likes of Tata Group, Hindujas, IndiGo and New York-based fund Interups who are said to be considering putting in an expression of interest (EoI) at the close of the bid deadline next month.

Adani Group's spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comments.

Sources said Adani sees synergy in Air India and its airport operations. It last year won bids to operate six airports at Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram, and Mangalore.

The deciding factor for Adani to bid for Air India would be the debt and losses.

The buyer will have to take on a fixed debt of Rs 23,286.5 crore along with certain identified current and non-current liabilities. The airline has been in losses during the last few years.

While the privatization bid document does not place any restriction on Adani from bidding for Air India, Airports Authority of India (AAI) restricts an airline or a group owning an airline to hold no more than 27 per cent in the airports.

A similar clause restricting airlines or group owning airlines from owning more than 10 per cent in Delhi airport recently resulted in the collapse of the Tata-GIC group's investment in GMR.

Air India and its subsidiary, Air India Express own about 120 aircraft at FY18-end and 126 aircraft till September last year.

After its unsuccessful bid to sell Air India in 2018, the government this time has decided to offload its entire stake. In 2018, the government had offered to sell its 76 per cent stake in the airline.

Of the total debt of Rs 60,074 crore as of March 31, 2019, the buyer would be required to absorb Rs 23,286.5 crore, while the rest would be transferred to Air India Assets Holding Ltd (AIAHL), the special purpose vehicle.

As a precursor to Air India sale, the Cabinet in February 2019 approved setting up AIAHL to transfer Rs 29,464 crore worth loans of the national carrier and its four subsidiaries-- Air India Air Transport Services (AIATSL), Airline Allied Services (AASL), Air India Engineering Services Ltd (AIESL) and Hotel Corporation of India (HCI).

Also, non-core assets - painting and artifacts - as well as other non-operational assets of the national carrier too will be transferred to the SPV.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Market benchmarks Sensex and Nifty opened on a volatile note on Monday tracking tepid cues from global markets amid concerns over the impact of coronavirus epidemic on world economy.

After opening over 150 points higher, the 30-share index pared all gains, trading 34.62 points, or 0.09 per cent, lower at 40,328.61.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty was trading down by 17.15 points, or 0.14 per cent, at 11,812.25.

HCL Tech was the top loser in the Sensex pack, followed by Sun Pharma, Titan, Tech Mahindra and Bajaj Auto.

On the other hand, NTPC, ONGC, HUL, Asian Paints and Tata Steel were trading with gains.

In the previous session, the Sensex settled at 40,363.23, dropping 806.89 points or 1.96 per cent -- the second biggest one-day fall in 2020, while the broader NSE Nifty sank 251.45 points or 2.08 per cent to 11,829.40.

Meanwhile, on a net basis, foreign institutional investors (FPIs) sold equities worth Rs 1,160.90 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 516.21 crore on Monday, data available with stock exchanges showed.

According to traders, global equity markets were still unnerved by the spread of coronavirus to countries beyond China.

Stock exchanges in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo were trading with heavy losses, while bourses in Seoul turned positive after Monday's selloff.

Brent crude oil futures rose 0.18 per cent to USD 55.87 per barrel.

The rupee appreciated 10 paise to 71.85 against the US dollar in morning session.

"The growing risk aversion is clearly visible in the sudden spike in safe heaven asset like gold prices seen lately and the surge in volatility index," said Gaurav Dua, Sr VP, Head - Capital Market Strategy & Investments, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

In addition to global uncertainties, he said the expiry weak and the fiscal year end pressure only adds to the volatility in the near term.

Traders said market participants eyeing cues from US President Donald Trump's two-day visit to India, which will end later in the day.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: A brand new India is welcoming US President Donald Trump in 2020 -- showcasing a thriving digital economy with robust transformation that is underway across industries -- which previous US presidents never witnessed, Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani said here on Monday.

The US President and his family received a rousing welcome from an estimated 1.10 lakh people at the Motera stadium in Ahmedabad, the first day of their two-day state visit to India.

"India that he (Trump) will see in 2020 is very different from India that either President (Jimmy) Carter saw or (Bill) Clinton saw or even (Barack) Obama" witnessed when they visited the country, Ambani told the visiting Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella during an interaction at the company's ‘Future Decoded Summit' here.

Nadella is also in India for a three-day official visit this week.

Ambani said that Motera stadium is a shining example of how India is progressing ahead.

"The digital infrastructure in that stadium is better than any other place in the world. This is new India as we begin 2020," Ambani told Nadella.

Ambani is likely to be at the CEO roundtable and lunch along with other top industry honchos in New Delhi with Trump on Tuesday.

"I have no doubt in my mind that we will be among the top three economies in the world," Ambani told Nadella.

"The next generation will see a very different India than what you (Nadella) and I have grown up in," he said.

"Every entrepreneur in India has the potential to become a Dhirubhai Ambani or Bill Gates," Ambani added during a fireside chat session with Nadella.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella on Monday urged Indian business leaders to build technology capabilities that are inclusive in nature.

Beginning his three-day visit to India, Nadella was addressing Microsoft's Future Decoded CEO Summit here.

"Indian CEOs need to build own tech capability and ensure that the solutions are inclusive," he said.

Stating that the last decade saw emergence of the aggregators, he asserted that aggregators are not enough alone. "We need to ensure that digital interventions lead to broadening of productivity."

Nadella stated that 72 per cent of jobs for software engineers in India are outside of the technology industry.

Speaking at the same event, Rajesh Gopinathan, chief executive and managing director of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) said the company prefers to train internal talent for the changing technologies and ensure that good quality talent is retained, rather than searching for it externally.

He said the millennials possess phenomenal knowledge and are quick learners as well, but need to be trained on the same.

The era of multi-year projects in IT is over; and three years ago, TCS took a bet to completely adopt Agile technologies by 2020, he said.

59 per cent of all the developers are now working on Agile, he added.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Gold prices on Monday jumped Rs 401 to Rs 43,067 per 10 gram in futures trade as speculators increased their bets tracking positive trend overseas.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange, gold contracts for April traded higher by Rs 401, or 0.94 per cent, to Rs 43,067 per 10 gram in a business turnover of 2,117 lots.

The yellow metal for June delivery edged up by Rs 406, or 0.95 per cent, to Rs 43,269 per 10 gram in a business turnover of 125 lots.

Fresh positions built up by participants on positive cues from global markets mainly led to rise in gold prices, analysts said.

Globally, gold prices rose 0.93 per cent to USD 1,664.20 per ounce in New York.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Global tech major Microsoft on Monday announced a partnership with SBI to train differently-abled people find jobs in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector.

Over 500 differently-abled youths will be upskilledin the first year of the collaboration.

It is an ideal partnership. This is a new beginning in training and finding people with any kind of disability but employable. Our experience with them has been fantastic, SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar told reporters here.

Microsoft's president of global sales, marketing and operations Jean-Philippe Courtois said there are 26 million differently-abled people in India and it is essential to use newer ways to use technology to enable them participate in the 21st century economy.

A company statement said SBI Foundation and Microsoft will develop an artificial intelligence powered market place that will enable the BFSI industry to connect more easily with differently-abled people for upskilling and employment opportunities.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Union Minister for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan has said that the government aims to make Chhattisgarh a steel hub of the country. Talking to media persons in Bhilai city yesterday, Mr. Pradhan said, the steel industry has an important role to play in making India a five trillion dollar economy.

During his two-day visit to Chhattisgarh, the Minister visited the Bhilai Steel Plant in Durg district and held meetings with the plant officials. He directed the officials of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) to draw an Action Plan to enhance production and ensure safety at its plants. Mr Pradhan also held a discussion with the representatives of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to promote steel ancillaries in the region by developing a local eco-system.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has launched ‘5G Hackathon’ in association with government, academia and industry stakeholders. Aimed at shortlisting India's focused cutting edge ideas that can be converted into workable 5G products and solutions, the Hackathon that began yesterday will be spread across three phases. The event will culminate in a grand felicitation ceremony at India Mobile Congress on the 16th of October this year. Winners of the various phases will share a total prize pool of 2.5 crore rupees.

The 5G technology provides quantum leap over 4G in terms of speed, peak data rate, latency, spectrum efficiency and connection density. The Hackathon will convert innovating ideas into products and solutions in different verticals and develop India specific use cases around 5G. The 5G Hackathon is open to developers, students, start-ups, SMEs, academic institutions and registered companies in India and  NRIs. Stakeholders can participate as individuals or as a team to present use cases for the 5G network in the Indian context.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: India ranked 77th on a sustainability index that takes into account per capita carbon emissions and ability of children in a nation to live healthy lives and secures 131st spot on a flourishing ranking that measures the best chance at survival and well-being for children, according to a UN-backed report.

The report was released on Wednesday by a commission of over 40 child and adolescent health experts from around the world. It was commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO), UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and The Lancet medical journal.

In the report assessing the capacity of 180 countries to ensure that their youngsters can survive and thrive, India ranks 77th on the Sustainability Index and 131 on the Flourishing Index, it said.

Flourishing is the geometric mean of Surviving and Thriving. For Surviving, the authors selected maternal survival, survival in children younger than 5 years old, suicide, access to maternal and child health services, basic hygiene and sanitation, and lack of extreme poverty.

For Thriving, the domains were educational achievement, growth and nutrition, reproductive freedom, and protection from violence.

Under the Sustainability Index, the authors noted that promoting today's national conditions for children to survive and thrive must not come at the cost of eroding future global conditions for children's ability to flourish.

The Sustainability Index ranks countries on excess carbon emissions compared with the 2030 target. This provides a convenient and available proxy for a country's contribution to sustainability in future.

The report noted that under realistic assumptions about possible trajectories towards sustainable greenhouse gas emissions, models predict that global carbon emissions need to be reduced from 397 giga tonnes to 228 gigatonnes per year by 2030 to maintain even a 66 per cent chance of keeping global warming below 15C.

It said that the world's survival depended on children being able to flourish, but no country is doing enough to give them a sustainable future.

"No country in the world is currently providing the conditions we need to support every child to grow up and have a healthy future," said Anthony Costello, Professor of Global Health and Sustainability at University College London, one of the lead authors of the report.

"Especially, they're under immediate threat from climate change and from commercial marketing, which has grown hugely in the last decade," said Costello former WHO Director of Mother, Child and Adolescent health.

Norway leads the table for survival, health, education and nutrition rates - followed by South Korea and the Netherlands. Central African Republic, Chad and Somalia come at the bottom.

However, when taking into account per capita CO2 emissions, these top countries trail behind, with Norway 156th, the Republic of Korea 166th and the Netherlands 160th.

Each of the three emits 210 per cent more CO2 per capita than their 2030 target, the data shows, while the US, Australia, and Saudi Arabia are among the 10 worst emitters. The lowest emitters are Burundi, Chad and Somalia.

According to the report, the only countries on track to beat CO2 emission per capita targets by 2030, while also performing fairly within the top 70 on child flourishing measures are: Albania, Armenia, Grenada, Jordan, Moldova, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Uruguay and Vietnam.

"More than 2 billion people live in countries where development is hampered by humanitarian crises, conflicts, and natural disasters, problems increasingly linked with climate change," said Minister Awa Coll-Seck from Senegal, Co-Chair of the commission.

The report also highlights the distinct threat posed to children from harmful marketing.

Evidence suggests that children in some countries see as many as 30,000 advertisements on television alone in a single year, while youth exposure to vaping (e-cigarettes) advertisements increased by more than 250 per cent in the US over two years, reaching more than 24 million young people.

Studies in Australia, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and the US among many others have shown that self-regulation has not hampered commercial ability to advertise to children.

Children's exposure to commercial marketing of junk food and sugary beverages is associated with purchase of unhealthy foods and overweight and obesity, linking predatory marketing to the alarming rise in childhood obesity, it said.

The number of obese children and adolescents increased from 11 million in 1975 to 124 million in 2016 an 11-fold increase, with dire individual and societal costs, the report said.

To protect children, the authors call for a new global movement driven by and for children.

Specific recommendations include stopping CO2 emissions with the utmost urgency, to ensure children have a future on this planet; placing children and adolescents at the centre of global efforts to achieve sustainable development, the report said.

New policies and investment in all sectors to work towards child health and rights; incorporating children's voices into policy decisions and tightening national regulation of harmful commercial marketing, supported by a new Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, it said.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The race for SEBI chairman has picked momentum with the current whole-time member of the market regulator Madhabi Puri Buch leading the race as the current incumbent Ajay Tyagi will demit office on February 28.

Apart from Puri's experience with market, government is also keen for a first woman to head SEBI. But that said, the criteria for heading SEBI is certainly not gender based and the selection would be only on the eligibility parameters set by the selection panel headed by Cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba. The Sebi chairman's position equals that of a secretary in the government.

The selection panel is expected to meet by the middle of next week to take a call on the appointments.

The Centre had called for applications from interested candidates before February 10 after inviting applications from candidates from January last week through a public notice.

The appointment will be subject to vigilance clearance and other prescribed processes, it said.

The candidates will be shortlisted by The Financial Sector Regulatory Appointments Search Committee (FSRASC), which then will recommend the shortlist to the government. The FSRASC, headed by cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba, is a panel that selects regulatory chiefs in India.

Sources said two top finance ministry bureaucrats -- Finance secretary Rajeev Kumar, DEA Secretary Atanu Chakraborty are also in the list of candidates. Injeti Srinivas, secretary, ministry of corporate affairs who was earlier on SEBI board is also there. All three are due for retirements.

It is government's prerogative to call any candidate it deems fit to be SEBI chairman even without the person formally applying. The high profile case of NSE co-location scam saw finality during Tyagi's time with SEBI imposing penalty on NSE and other restrictions for its alleged involvement.

Tyagi is also eligible for a new term if selected till he attains 65 years of age. U.K. Sinha, Tyagi's predecessor was given an extension, being the chairman of SEBI for six years. Sebi's whole-time member Madhabi Puri Buch's term ends in April this year.

N.S. Vishwanathan, currently on the board of Sebi, is also on the list of candidates.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Vodafone Idea on Thursday paid Rs 1,000 crore more to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) towards its statutory dues, a senior official said.

The company had paid Rs 2,500 crore to the government towards adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues on Monday. In all, it owes Rs 53,000 crore to the telecom department.

The DoT source said that notices will also be sent to Tata Teleservices for recovery of full dues in a day or two. The company had paid Rs 2,197 crore to the government on Monday, while DoT's calculations peg the outstanding amount at over Rs 14,000 crore.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Union Minister for Commerce and Industries Piyush Goyal has said that the Indian pharma and biotech industry is expected to grow to 100 billion dollars by 2025 from the current size of about 40 billion dollars. He predicted an annual growth rate of 10 per cent despite the global slow down and the recent Corona virus outbreak. Speaking at the CEO’s Conclave on the second day of the ongoing Bio-Asia in Hyderabad last evening, the Minister assured the industry that the government will be supporting the life sciences industry to thrive further by granting patent approvals in a record period of time.

Mr Goyal further said, the price controls in the country worked huge in favour of the people and reiterated that the recent policies and price controls on drugs and medical devices will benefit society at large. The Minister also assured the industry that he will call for a meeting during the second week of next month to address all the issues pertaining to the industry. The CEOs of various Biotech and Pharma companies discussed how to leverage on the strengths in generics, vaccines and tech industry to win the race further.

Earlier, Genome Valley Excellence Award has been presented to Novartis CEO Dr Vas Narasimhan. The BioAsia will continue today.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: With 95 per cent of the organisations planning to increase their Cloud spend in the next 12 months, half of the Indian enterprises will operate in a Hybrid multi-cloud environment by 2021, the International Data Corporation (IDC) said on Wednesday.

While organisations are looking at multiple clouds, they are also simultaneously dealing with the challenges of managing a Hybrid multi-cloud environment.

"Enterprises in India are looking at cloud as a key enabler to meet their business priorities. As per IDC's 'Cloud Pulse 2Q19', 75 per cent of organizations in India have plans to invest in the cloud-based infrastructure and applications to meet their business goals," said Rishu Sharma , Principal Analyst, Cloud and Artificial Intelligence, IDC India.

Cloud will become the enabler for all things digital but will bring in challenges associated with the management of multiple clouds and traditional systems, he added.

With organizations progressing on their digital journey, Cloud has become the backbone for all new-age technologies.

By 2021, 50 per cent of the enterprises in India will rely on a mix of on-premises/dedicated private clouds, several public clouds, and legacy platforms to meet their infrastructure needs.

"By 2022, 30 per cent of enterprises in India will deploy unified VMs, Kubernetes, and multicloud management processes and tools to support robust multicloud management and governance across on-premises and public clouds," said the report.

By 2023, a third of India enterprise applications will be deployed in a containerized hybrid cloud/multicloud environment to provide agility, delivering a frictionless deployment and management experience.

"Organisations are looking for partners that can help them bridge the talent gap, reskill existing staff and develop access to new resources," said Swapnil Shende, Senior Market Analyst for AI at IDC India.

For organisations to establish a winning cloud strategy, the operational and management challenges cannot be ignored and require a strict discipline when it comes to visualize resources and manage overall performance, said the IDC's India-contextualised 'Worldwide Cloud Predictions for 2020' and beyond.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is to hold a meeting of Secretaries today to discuss disruption in supply of raw materials from China after outbreak of Novel Coronavirus. Yesterday, the Finance Minister held a meeting with Industry and other bodies to assess the impact of Novel Corona virus outbreak and any disruptions posed by it to India's trade.

Talking to reporters after the meeting in New Delhi, the Minister said, representatives from pharma, textiles, chemicals, auto, paints and telecom sectors shared their views with regard to impact of the virus. She said during the meeting, chemicals, pharma and solar equipment makers were very vocal about disruption in supply of raw materials from China.

The Finance Minister said, after the Secretary level meeting a discussion will be held with PMO and some response will be announced at the earliest. Ms Sitharaman also said that there is no concern about price rise so far following the outbreak of Corona virus. She added that it is too early to talk about impact of the virus outbreak on Make in India initiative.  

The meeting was attended by senior officials from Union Ministries and Departments including Customs and representatives from various sectors. Business leaders from FICCI, CII, ASSOCHAM also attended it.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Tata group firm TTSL on Monday said it has paid Rs 2,197 crore to the government to settle outstanding arising from the Supreme Court ruling on adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues for telecom firms.

"Tata Teleservces Ltd and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd have made a payment of Rs 2,197 crore to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) towards license fee and spectrum usage charges," it said in a statement.

The payment is to settle all its AGR outstanding.

"TTSL and TTML have also submitted to DoT the details of calculations in support of the payment," it said.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Tata Group Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Manchester for his contribution to innovation and philanthropy.

The UK university said the award was presented to the 82-year-old industrialist in Mumbai recently during the India tour of President and Vice Chancellor Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell.

"Ratan is inspirational. For him, philanthropy and innovation are spokes of the same wheel, each leading towards the improvement of lives which is the very same ethos we share at the University of Manchester," Rothwell said.

"He is an example to big business, small enterprise, to researchers and developers, those who give and those who can give more. We believe that he will be an example to our students as they grow to become global citizens," she said.

The university's citation notes that under Tata's leadership, from 1991 to 2012, the group became a global name and one of the largest conglomerates in the world, with the acquisition of major international brands such as Tetley, Daewoo, Corus, Jaguar and Land Rover.

"Ratan has equally made a deep impact in philanthropy through the Tata Trusts, which he chairs. Under his guidance, the different Trusts, set up over time by Tata family members since 1892, have come together as a unified operating entity to target their talent and resources to pursue important causes that are good for India.

"Some of the most important causes Ratan has championed are nutrition, sanitation, cancer care, rural poverty alleviation, and social entrepreneurship," notes the citation.

The varsity said that the honorary doctorate recognised his sense of social responsibility and philanthropy.

"Social Responsibility is one of Manchester's three core strategic goals sitting equally alongside our commitments to world-class research, and outstanding learning and student experience," it said.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Market benchmark BSE Sensex tumbled over 245 points to trade at 40,810 in openings deals on Tuesday on hectic selling by investors across sectors amid growing concerns over the economic impact of coronavirus epidemic.

The NSE gauge Nifty fell about 75 points to trade at 11,971 in early trade.

Analysts said worries persist over rising death toll and the economic fallout from the novel coronavirus.

The death toll from China's coronavirus epidemic climbed to 1,868 on Tuesday as 98 more people died while the total number of confirmed cases jumped to 72,436.

On Monday, the Sensex closed with losses of 202.05 points, or 0.49 per cent, at 41,055.69. While, the Nifty settled lower by 67.75 points or 0.56 per cent at 12,045.80.

Asian shares were also trading on a subdued note on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the rupee opened 11 paise lower at 71.42 against the US dollar in opening trade on Tuesday.

Foreign institutional investors had sold equities worth Rs 374.06 crore on a net basis on Monday, according to provisional exchange data.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Global credit rating agency Moody's Investor Services on Monday said the Indian economic revival will likely to be shallow.

In its report, 'Coronavirus clouds growth outlook just as the economy showed signs of stabilization', Moody's said the economic revival of India is likely to be shallow.

"India's economy has decelerated rapidly over the last two years. Real GDP (gross domestic product) grew at a meagre 4.5 per cent in Q3 2019," Moody's said.

Improvements in the latest high frequency indicators such as PMI (Purchasing Managers' Index) data suggest that the economy may have stabilized, Moody's said.

While the Indian economy may begin to recover in the current quarter, it will be slower than previously expected, Moody's said.

"Accordingly, we have revised our growth forecasts to 5.4 per cent for 2020 and 5.8 per cent for 2021, down from our previous projections of 6.6 per cent and 6.7 per cent, respectively," Moody's said.

Pointing out that the revival of domestic demand - rural and urban, is key for economic momentum, the credit rating agency also said the resumption of credit growth is also important.

"As data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) shows, credit impulse in the economy has deteriorated throughout the last year as a result of the drying up of lending from non-bank financial institutions as well as from banks, Moody's said.

The rating agency also said Indian banks were not willing to lend and lower their lending rates despite rate cuts by the RBI.

"As a result, non-food bank credit growth decelerated to 7.0 per cent in nominal terms in December 2019, down sharply from 12.8 per cent a year earlier.

"The deterioration in credit growth to the commercial sector is particularly stark. Nominal credit to industry grew at only 1.6 per cent year-on-year in December 2019, while credit to the services sector registered 6.2 per cent nominal growth, and credit to agriculture and related activities grew 5.3 per cent," Moody's said.

On the impact of the deadly coronavirus spread from China, Moody's said it is still too early to make a final assessment of the impact on China and the global economy.

"We have revised our global GDP growth forecast down, and we now expect G-20 economies to collectively grow at 2.4 per cent in 2020, a softer rate than last year, followed by a pickup to 2.8 per cent in 2021," the rating agency said.

According to Moody's assumptions, the virus outbreak will cause disruption in Q1 economic activity.

"Under our baseline forecast, the spread of the coronavirus will be contained by the end of Q1, allowing for resumption of normal economic activity in Q2.

"At present, China's economy is by far the worst affected. However, the rest of the world also has exposure as a result of a hit to global tourism in the first half of this year and short-term disruptions to supply chains," Moody's said.

Moody's also said the effects on the global economy could compound if the rate of infection does not abate and the death toll continues to rise, because supply chain disruptions in manufacturing would become more acute the longer it takes to restore normalcy.
 

HYDERABAD [Maha Media]: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said that there is no timeline for phasing out exemptions on personal income tax for those who opted to remain in the old regime.

She told a news conference here that her ministry wants to move step by step to achieve the eventual goal of a simplified, exemption-free and reduced rate of tax incidence.

"We have not made up our mind," she said when asked what would be the time frame to phase out exemptions.

"At the moment we have only started second alternative with some exemptions removed or some exemptions included, although the original intention was to remove all exemptions and give a clear simplified reduced rate of income," she said.

The minister said the gradient of increase of income tax for different income slabs is gentle and there is no sharp increase.

"This year, while proposing the second alternative we have not compelled anyone to leave the exemptions and come here (second alternative). For the sake of clarity we also issued a complete matrix, explaining the net gain for a particular income."

Sitharaman also said it was up to the assessee to decide and the ministry would not force anyone to come to the new system.

She, however, pointed out that a simulation model worked out on the basis of an assumption that second alternative had been introduced in the last year revealed that 69 per cent would have net benefit and about 11 per cent would have want to opt for second alternative because of the simplification of the process.

"I am not aware of any such measure," she said when asked to comment on reports that the circulation of Rs 2,000 notes were being restricted. She said it was not proper for her to respond to allegations.

She also evaded reply to a query about banks voicing concern over the likely impact of the Supreme Court's order to the telecom companies to pay their dues to the department of telecom ministry.

"The concerned ministry (Communications Ministry) is looking into. It is not proper for me to comment," she said.

Sitharaman was talking to the media after interacting with representatives of trade and industry and other stakeholders on Union Budget.

She said this the ministry started this exercise taking the budget to different cities by meeting industry trade bodies, domain experts, economists and others, make clarifications which they might want, and explain aspects of budget.

She said the exercise was already completed in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. She will have a similar meeting at Bengaluru on Monday. Similar interactions are planned in Guwahati and Lucknow.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: With the government coming down heavily on telcos after the Supreme Court's rap, Bharti Airtel on Monday said it has paid Rs 10,000 crore to the telecom department towards statutory dues.

The company said it will make payment of balance amount after self-assessment exercise.

"The...amount of Rs 10,000 crore has been paid on behalf of Bharti Airtel, Bharti Hexacom, and Telenor," the Sunil Mittal-led company said in a statement.

As much as Rs 9,500 crore has been paid on behalf of Bharti Airtel (including Telenor India which merged with the company), and another Rs 500 crore for Bharti Hexacom.

As per the government's assessment, Airtel owes nearly Rs 35,586 crore in statutory dues, including licence fee and spectrum usage charge.

After facing the ire of the Supreme Court for putting on hold recovery of dues from telecom companies, the telecom department on February 14 began issuing orders asking firms such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea to clear past dues immediately.

The DoT swung into action and started issuing circle or zone-wise demand notices to firms, asking telcos cough up their liabilities immediately or face action in line with licence terms without any further notice.

Some circles like UP (West) insisted that payment be made by Friday 11.59 PM, while others like UP (East) zone said its field office will remain open even on Saturday (February 15) to facilitate payment of liabilities by companies - underlining the telecom department's resolve to collect the unpaid dues at the earliest and indicating its unwillingness to yield further on timelines.

On February 14 (Friday), Airtel had said it will pay Rs 10,000 crore to the Department of Telecommunications by February 20 and the remaining before March 17.

But on Monday, the company rushed to make part payments and said, "we are in the process of completing the self assessment exercise expeditiously and will duly make the balance payment upon completion of the same, before the next date of hearing in (the) SC".

The company said it will also submit supporting details at the time of making balance payment.

In all, 15 entities owe the government Rs 1.47 lakh crore -- Rs 92,642 crore in unpaid licence fee and another Rs 55,054 crore in outstanding spectrum usage charges.

These dues arose after the Supreme Court, in October last year, had upheld the government's position on including revenue from non-core businesses in calculating the annual Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) of telecom companies, a share of which is paid as licence and spectrum fee to the exchequer.

The apex court last week directed the managing directors and directors of telcos and other firms to explain why contempt action be not taken against them for non-compliance of its order to pay adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues to the DoT.

Taking strong note of the non-compliance of its order, a bench of Justice Arun Mishra, Justice S Abdul Nazeer and Justice M R Shah expressed anguish over the order passed by the DoT's desk officer, staying the effect of its verdict in the AGR matter.

Vodafone Idea Ltd is confronted with the dues worth Rs 53,000 crore - its liabilities add up to Rs 24,729 crore of spectrum dues and another Rs 28,309 crore in licence fee.

Vodafone Idea, in a regulatory filing on Saturday, had said it is assessing the amount that can be paid towards AGR dues, although it reiterated that continuation of business in India will depend on "a positive outcome" of its modification plea filed before the apex court.

"The company proposes to pay the amount so assessed in the next few days," VIL had said.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has signed three concession agreements with Adani Enterprises for operations, management and development of Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru airports.
 
In a statement, the AAI said that the agreements were signed on Friday with the group's subsidiary companies, namely, Adani Ahmedabad International Airport Ltd, Adani Lucknow International Airport Ltd, and Adani Mangaluru International Airport Ltd.

The concessionaires are required to take-over the three airports after fulfilling certain conditions precedents within 180 days from February 14 and will operate, manage and develop the airports for the next 50 years, in accordance with the terms and conditions specified in the Concession Agreements.

The agreements were signed by BK Mehrotra, Executive Director, Strategic Initiative Unit on behalf of AAI and Behnad Zandi, Chief Executive Officer - Airports Adani Enterprise Ltd at Corporate Headquarters of AAI in the presence of Chairman, AAI, Board Members and other senior officials of AAI and Adani Enterprises Limited.

An International competitive bidding process for PPP transaction for six airports -- Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru Guwahati, Jaipur, and Thiruvananthapuram -- was initiated by the AAI during December 2018 and Adani Enterprises Limited had emerged as the highest bidder for these airports.

During July 2019, the Central Government conveyed the approval for the award of concession to the Highest Bidder for Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru airports. In respect of the remaining three airports, the approval of the Central Government is awaited.

The concessionaires shall pay AAI a per passenger domestic fee of Rs 177, Rs 171 and Rs 115 for Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru Airports respectively (both embarking and disembarking passengers) and in case of international passengers, the Concessionaire will pay two times of per passenger domestic fee. Further, the per passenger fee will be revised annually taking into account of the variation in the CPI (IW).

"The concession fee that AAI would receive will be utilized for the maintenance and development of other brownfield airports and also the development of RCS -UDAN and other Greenfield airports across the country," the statement read.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today held a post-budget meeting with the Central Board of Directors of Reserve Bank of India in New Delhi.

Briefing media after the meeting, the Finance Minister said, they are monitoring banks on credit flow to the agriculture sector. She said the merger of banks did not come up for discussion during the meeting.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said, the credit growth is expected to pick up in the coming months. The surplus liquidity is helping monetary policy transmission.

The RBI will ensure that there is adequate liquidity. Mr Das said, the transmission of rate cuts are slowly and steadily improving and are expected to improve further.

The RBI Governor further said that the growth projection of six percent has been given for the next year which is in line with the Economic Survey projection.

The Union Budget earlier this month raised the fiscal deficit target to 3.8 per cent of the GDP for 2019-20, from the 3.3 per cent pegged earlier, due to revenue shortage.

"The direct inflationary impact of any budget is fiscal deficit number, when borrowing goes up, but the government has adhered to the principle of fiscal prudence. The 'escape clause' under FRBM Act, the deficit number in the current year as well as the next year are very much within the parameters set as per FRBM committee recommendations," Das said.

He was talking to reporters after the customary address of the finance minister to the central board of RBI post budget.

The government has utilised 'escape clause' under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, which allows the Centre to breach its fiscal deficit target by 0.5 percentage points at times of severe stress in the economy, including periods of structural change and when growth falls sharply.

"The good part of the government borrowing is also budgeted to come from small savings. Therefore, I don't see much of an inflationary impact. Declining crude prices has definitely positive impact on inflation...The main reason for spike in inflation is because of food inflation, mostly milk, fish, and various protein related items. Core inflation has slightly edged up because of revision of telecom tariffs," he said.

Retail inflation based on consumer price index (CPI) soared to a near six-year high of 7.59 per cent in January, surpassing the Reserve Bank of India's comfort range primarily on account of rising vegetable and food prices.

This was the highest rate of inflation since May 2014, when it came in at 8.33 per cent.

Similarly, wholesale prices-based inflation accelerated to a 10-month high of 3.10 per cent in January mainly due to costlier food articles, particulary onion and potato.

On inclusion of core inflation in the monetary policy framework, Das said, "Internally we are reviewing, we are analysing how MPC framework has worked over the last 3.5 years. There is already an internal review process going on. At the appropriate time if required we will have dialogue and discussion with the government. At the moment, it is under review within the RBI."

Asked if the board considered payment of interim dividend to the government, the governor was non-committal and said if any decision is taken, it will be made public.

"For greater transparency we are uploading minutes of RBI's central board meeting. If any decision is taken, it will be uploaded on the website," he said.

On moderating credit growth, Das said there are signs of uptick and the momentum is gathering pace.

The flow to commercial sector is seen rising from October till now and credit flow from all sources -- banks, domestic market and external commercial borrowing -- has improved to Rs 7.5 lakh crore, he said, adding nearly Rs 6 lakh crore flow has happened between October and January to the commercial sector.

"Within that if you look at bank credit to the commercial sector, it was actually a negative growth at the end of September by about Rs 1.3 lakh crore or so. Now it is plus Rs 2.7 lakh crores, the latest number we have at the end of January. So this is within the total number I mentioned," he said.

The momentum is gathering pace, he said, adding "credit flow is slowly and steadily reviving and thanks to the various measures announced in the budget and in the run up to the budget by the government and the reserves, which the RBI has announced, we do hope and we do expect the credit flow to improve in the coming months."

Replying to a question on alignment of RBI's accounting year with financial year, Das said, "It is under consideration, you'll hear very shortly on that."

RBI follows the July-June accounting year.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Saturday said it will have internal discussions in case there are any issues arising out of the Supreme Court order regarding AGR dues.

On Friday, the Supreme Court threatened contempt proceedings against top executives of Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and other telecom firms for failing to comply with its directive to pay an estimated Rs 1.47 lakh crore in past dues.
 
Das did not offer any specific comments about the order, which might have ramifications on banks in terms of their exposure to the financially-stressed telecom companies.

When asked about the order, Das said it would be internally deliberated upon, if at all there are issues arising out of it.

On Friday, State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Rajnish Kumar said it was incumbent on telecom companies to find money and that it would be safe to presume that they would have made some arrangements for it by now.

His remarks came hours after the apex court order on the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues matter.

Meanwhile, addressing the media after the RBI's board meeting here, Das said that credit growth is expected to pick up in the coming months.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who also addressed the board, said the finance ministry was monitoring banks on credit flow to the agriculture sector.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: More than 17 crore PAN cards will become inoperative if not linked with the Aadhar by end of March.
 
In a move with large scale disruption potential, the Income Tax Department has said that Permanent Account Number (PAN) will become inoperative if not linked with Aadhaar by March 31, 2020.

It may be recalled that the deadline for linking of PAN and Aadhar has been extended several times and the latest deadline ends on 31 March, 2020.

As per the latest figures, over 30.75 crore PANs have already been linked to Aadhaar. However, 17.58 crore PANs are yet to be linked with the 12-digit biometric ID.

The Supreme Court had in September 2018 declared Aadhaar as constitutionally valid and held that the biometric ID would remain mandatory for the filing of income tax returns and allotment of PAN cards.

"Where a person, who has been allotted the permanent account number as on July1, 2017 and is required to intimate his Aadhaar number under sub-section (2) of section 139AA, has failed to intimate the same on or before March 31, 2020, the permanent account number of such person shall become inoperative immediately after the said date for the purposes of furnishing, intimating or quoting under the Act," the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said.

Through a notification, the CBDT amended Income Tax rules and inserted Rule 114, stipulating the "manner of making permanent account number inoperative".

The notification said that persons whose PANs become inoperative shall be liable for all the consequences under the I-T Act for not furnishing, intimating or quoting the permanent account number.

For those linking PAN with Aadhaar after March 31, 2020, the I-T department said it shall "become operative from the date of intimation of Aadhaar number".

Section 139 AA (2) of the Income Tax Act says that every person having PAN as on July 1, 2017, and eligible to obtain Aadhaar, must intimate his Aadhaar number to the tax authorities.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Friday showed that the annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI (Wholesale Price Index), stood at 3.1 percent for January when compared to 2.59 percent in December and 2.76 percent in the same month of the previous year.

Build up inflation rate in the current financial year so far is 2.50 percent compared to 2.49 percent in the corresponding period of the previous year. 

The index for the "primary articles" declined by 1.1 percent to 147.2 from 148.8 in December with sub-index on 'Food Articles' group falling by 1 percent to 160.8 from 162.5 in the previous month as prices of fruits, vegetables, tea, arhar, beef, pork and gram eased. 

The index for ' Non-Food Articles' group dropped by 1.4 percent to 132.1 in January from 134.0 in the previous month, led by decline in prices of floriculture, castor seed and skins (raw) by 1 percent each. However, fuel and power saw a 1.4 percent rise in its index to 102.7 from 101.3 in December while the index for manufactured products rose by 0.4 percent to 118.5 in January. 

Earlier this week, the government released retail inflation data (CPI) that rose to 7.59 percent in January, the highest since May 2014 and the second consecutive month that CPI has breached upper band of RBI's inflation target.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Friday backed moves by the OECD group of free-market economies to reform the way online giants are taxed worldwide, even if that means companies like his own paying more to national governments.

"We also want tax reform and I'm glad the OECD is looking at this," Zuckerberg says in published extracts of a speech he will make in Germany on Saturday.

"We want the OECD process to succeed so that we have a stable and reliable system going forward," he added.

The digital tax has emerged as a key bone of contention between the US and France in particular, after Paris imposed its own tax on US digital giants such as Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple last year.

Washington has slammed the move as discriminatory, but both sides agreed last month to pursue a global framework under the aegis of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), with Paris suspending its collection of the tax until December 2020.

Britain has, however, vowed to press ahead with its own digital tax despite the potential impact on its hopes of forging a trade deal with the United States as it exits the EU.

Things have got more complicated thanks to an alternative proposal by Washington for a so-called "safe harbour" option which analysts say would essentially render compliance optional and jeopardise the chances of reaching a comprehensive deal by the end of this year.

The next deadline facing the OECD negotiators is early July, when the 137 participating nations are to meet to agree on the main policy elements of the digital tax.

Zuckerberg will tell a security conference in Munich on Saturday that Facebook accepts that any new OECD system for online tax "may mean we have to pay more tax and pay it in different places under a new framework".

The OECD said in a statement on Thursday that the tax changes under discussion would bring in four percent more global corporate income tax worth $100 billion (92 billion euros) annually.

The revenue gains would be "broadly similar across high, middle and low-income economies, the OECD added in a statement.

"The aim is to ensure that multinational enterprises conducting sustained and significant business in places where they may not have a physical presence can be taxed in such jurisdictions," it explained.

This would put an end to the practice seen in Europe currently where multinational online companies operating in several countries base their headquarters in a low-taxing regime such as Luxembourg or Ireland to minimise their fiscal outlay.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Railway Minister Piyush Goyal inaugurated the first phase of East-West Metro in Kolkata yesterday evening.

The passengers services in this 5.8 Kilometers stretch between Salt Lake's Sector five and Salt Lake Stadium will begin today. Mr Goyal announced that the remaining 10.6 Kilometers starches of East-West Metro will be completed by December 2021. 

Mr Goyal also launched and dedicated several other Railway projects for West Bengal from the same venue.

More than 2,400 crore rupees have been spent for first phase of East-West Metro. On completion, it will connect two old cities Kolkata and Howrah.

It will be Country's first underwater train lines where trains will play in tunnels under river Hooghly. 
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: It is too early to tell the economic toll from the virus outbreak in China, but the hit to global growth should be "mild," International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva said Wednesday.

The death toll from the new coronavirus epidemic in China has climbed past 1,350, but hopes have risen that the outbreak could peak later this month.

The IMF is expecting a "V-shaped impact," with a sharp decline in activity in China followed by a sharp recovery, meaning there likely will only be a "mild impact on the rest of the world," Georgieva said on CNBC.

But she cautioned: "It is still too early to make projections," and the global economy is "somewhat less strong" than it was when China faced the SARS virus epidemic in 2003.

"China was different, the world was different. This virus is clearly more impactful and the world economy then was very strong," she said.

The IMF projects China's economy will grow 6.0 percent this year, compared to 10 percent in 2003.

US officials likewise are reluctant to provide forecasts but say the impact on the American economy probably will be short-lived.

"There's no question it's having a significant impact in China," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told legislators Wednesday. But for the US economy "I don't expect that the coronavirus will have an impact beyond this year."

He echoed the comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, saying, "we're obviously monitoring very carefully."
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: State-run Indian Oil on Wednesday hiked the price of non-subsidised liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders across metro cities by over Rs 100. The new rates would be applicable from today.
 
The LPG cylinder prices had not increased after January 1, 2020.

According to Indian Oil, "In Delhi price of Indane gas rose to Rs 858.50 (increased by Rs 144.50), in Kolkata Rs 896.00 (increased by Rs 149), in Mumbai Rs 829.50 (increased by Rs 145) and in Chennai Rs 881.00 (increased by Rs 147)."

Indian Oil is the country's largest fuel retailer which supplies LPG under brand Indane.

Currently, LPG consumers in the country have to purchase the fuel at market prices. The government subsidises 12 cylinders of 14.2 kg each per household in a year by providing subsidy amount directly in the bank accounts of users.This subsidy amount depends on changes in the average international benchmark LPG rate and foreign exchange rate.

In Kolkata, the LPG cylinder price is now at Rs 896.00, up by Rs 149. The price of the 14 kg Indane gas in Mumbai is at Rs 829.50, up by Rs 145. In Chennai on the other hand, the price is at Rs 881.00, which is an increase of Rs 147. The Indane gas delivers cylinders to over 11 crore households. Reportedly the company supplies around 30 lac Indane cylinders every day at the doorsteps of houses across India.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Gold prices edged lower in Indian markets today, tracking muted global cues. On MCX, April gold futures fell 0.12% to ?40,362 per 10 gram, extending losses to the second day. Tracking gold, silver also edged lower today with futures on MCX declining to ?45,625 per kg. In the previous session, gold prices had slipped about ?250 per 10 gram while silver nearly ?500 per kg.

Gold is likely to see some selling pressure at higher levels, says SMC Global. Gold can dip lower towards ?40,200 while facing resistance near ?40,600 while silver can dip towards ?45,500 while taking resistance near ?46,000, the brokerage said in a note.

Gold prices were flat in global markets today although uncertainty over the impact of the outbreak supported the safe-haven metal. Risk concerns about the coronavirus epidemic remains in place while on the other hand positive economic data from the US has supported risk assets like equities, said Abhishek Bansal, chairman and managing director of Abans Group.

Spot gold was flat at $1,567.62 per ounce. Among other precious metals, palladium inched up 0.1% to $2,344.20 an ounce, silver was flat at $17.64, and platinum shed 0.3% to $966.41. China's senior medical adviser on Tuesday said that the coronavirus outbreak may be over by April even though the death toll surpassed 1,100.

Also on Tuesday, US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told Congress that the U.S. economy is in a good place but he cited the potential threat from the coronavirus in China.

Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund or ETF, rose 0.67% to 922.23 tonnes on Tuesday.

Back in India recent data showed that gold exchange-traded funds or ETFs in India saw a net inflow of ?200 crore in January, the highest infusion in seven years. It also marked the third consecutive monthly inflow in gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) data showed a net sum of ?202 crore was pumped in gold-linked ETFs in January as compared to ?27 crore in the preceding month.

Analysts attributed the inflow to geopolitical tensions in different parts of the globe, global slowdown concerns and worries over the impact of the coronavirus. 
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Indian markets advanced today in tandem with their Asian peers, with benchmark index Sensex rising over 400 points in early trade. The broader Nifty regained 12,200. Among the Sensex stocks, HUL was the top gainer, rising over 4%. RIL, Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Nestle India Tata Steel, SBI, and ICICI Bank among the other top gainers.

Elsewhere, shares of IRCTC reversed early losses and were up 1% today. The company reports its Q3 earnings later today.

Siddhartha Khemka, head of retail research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Private, said: "Global sentiment turned positive as a slowdown in the rate of new infections in the coronavirus outbreak provided some relief. Further Chinese workers and factories slowly returned to business following a Lunar New Year holiday that was extended due to the deadly coronavirus outbreak. Even oil prices rose after weeks of decline as China resumed business; however the market would assess demand situation in China over next few sessions."

Asian shares were mostly higher higher today, although coronavirus continued to weigh on investor sentiments. Investor sentiments in Asia were also cheered somewhat by Wall Street, where modest gains overnight nudged the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to all-time highs for the second straight day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished essentially flat.

China reported 97 more deaths from the new disease, pushing the total dead past 1,100, even as the country remained largely closed down to prevent its spread. The number of cases worldwide is about 45,000, all but a few hundred in China.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hit back at former minister P Chidambaram for his 'incompetent doctors' attending to economy remark, saying there was nothing to learn from the people who gave the mountain of NPAs along with twin balance sheet crisis.

Replying to the debate on her Budget for 2020-21 in Rajya Sabha, she said FDI "ran out of the country in 2012-13" under "competent doctors" overseeing the economy.

She said defence of India was paralysed and did not have equipment under the UPA.

There was more sarcasm than content in Chidambaram's criticism of the Budget, she said. "We are certainly predisposed about not repeating mistakes of UPA."

She went on to list the twin balance sheet crisis faced by the banks and the mounting NPA and fleeing defaulters.

Also, free trade agreements (FTAs) entered into by the UPA are hurting the country, she said.

The finance minister said green shoots of recovery were visible with a rebound in industrial activity and GST collection crossing Rs 1 lakh crore-mark in six months of the current fiscal.

Food inflation has not been allowed to cross acceptable thresholds under the Modi government, she said.

The minister also said that fiscal discipline was maintained all through under the Narendra Modi government.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Finance Minister Nirmal Sitharaman today said foreign investors continue to show confidence in India. Replying to discussions on Union Budget 2020-21 in the Lok Sabha, Mrs Sitharaman said banks are now better equipped to fund growth investment.

Asserting that government  will invest over one lakh crore rupees in infrastructure development by 2024-25, Finance Minister said county’s economy is moving forward. Expressing happiness that RBI came up with creative solutions to boost growth, the Minister said that there is steady growth in GST revenue collections. She said for the betterment of youth many steps have been taken by the government. Ms Sitharaman's reply is underway in the Lok Sabha.
 

KOLKATA [Maha Media]: IndiGo, India’s leading airline, announces four-day special Valentine sale on travel across 6E network within India, with all-inclusive fares starting at Rs 999. 

The airline is offering 1 million seats on discounted fares from February 11 to 14. The sale is valid for travel from March 1 to September 30, 2020, an IndiGo spokesperson on Tuesday said. William Boulter, Chief Commercial Officer, IndiGo said, “We are delighted to announce the four-day special sale effective from today till Feb 14, 2020, kickstarting Valentine’s celebrations a little early. We strive to offer more flexibility and choice to our customers with this special sale and are hopeful that our customers will use this sale to plan their travel and make their occasions more memorable. 

We endeavour to consistently provide an on-time, courteous and hassle-free experience across an unparalleled network at affordable fares”.

Customers booking their tickets through HDFC PayZapp wallet can avail an additional 15 per cent cashback up to Rs 1000. 

Additional offers include 10pc cashback up to Rs 1500 on booking through Federal Bank debit card and 12pc cashback up to Rs 5000 on EMI payments on booking with IndusInd Bank credit card. Our customers booking sale fare can also avail a flat 10pc off on pre-booking seats or meals. 

These offers will be applicable on bookings made through IndiGo’s distribution channels. Both corporate and leisure customers who wish to plan their travel can book tickets via our official website https://www.goindigo.in/. 

"Our customers can now browse our new and improved website in Hindi as well at https://www.goindigo.in/hi-in/homepage.html," the spokesperson added.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The government has no plans to give permanent status to the finance commission, Union Minister Anurag Singh Thakur said on Monday.

Currently, the government appoints finance commission for a fixed term.

While replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, Thakur also said the RBI was also not considering any proposal to give permanent status to the commission.

" No, Government of India is not considering any proposal to give permanent status to Finance Commission," the Minister of State for Finance said in a written reply to the lower house.

Core responsibilities of the finance commission include evaluating the state of finances of the Union and State governments, recommending the sharing of taxes between them, laying down the principles determining the distribution of these taxes among states.

The government in November extended the term of 15th Finance Commission, headed by former bureaucrat N K Singh, by one year to October 30, 2020.

The term of the commission was originally set to end in October 2019, but was extended by one month to November 30.

Singh presented the first report pertaining to financial year 2020-21 to the government in December 2019.

"The recommendations made by the Finance Commission will be examined in the ministry in consultation with various departments and approval of Cabinet will be sought," Thakur said in the House.

In accordance with approval of the Cabinet, "an explanatory memorandum as to the action taken on the recommendations made by the 15th Finance Commission will be laid on the floor of both the Houses of Parliament during Budget Session," he added.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Aviation regulator DGCA has said that foreigners who went to China on or after January 15 will not be allowed to enter India. In a circular to airlines, DGCA said, foreigners who have been to China on or after January 15 are not allowed to enter India from any air, land or seaport, including Indo-Nepal, Indo-Bhutan, Indo-Bangladesh or Indo-Myanmar land borders. 

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation reiterated that all visas issued to Chinese nationals before February 5 have been suspended. The aviation regulator, however, clarified, these visa restrictions will not apply to aircrew, who may be Chinese nationals or other foreign nationalities coming from China.

Among Indian airlines, Air India and IndiGo have suspended all of their flights between the two countries.

On February 1 and 2, Air India conducted two special flights to the Chinese city of Wuhan evacuating 647 Indians and seven Maldivians.

Till date, three Indians have tested positive for novel coronavirus in Kerala.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Market benchmark Sensex dropped over 150 points in opening session on Monday tracking losses in global equities amid rising concerns over coronavirus outbreak.

The 30-share BSE index was trading 171.90 points or 0.42 per cent lower at 40,969.95, and the broader NSE advanced 51.45 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 12,046.90.

In the previous session, Sensex closed 164.18 points or 0.40 per cent lower at 41,141.85, and the Nifty settled at 12,098.35, down by 39.60 points or 0.33 per cent.

Meanwhile, on a net basis, foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 161.93 crore, while domestic institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 178.59 crore on Friday, data available with stock exchanges showed.

Tata Steel was the top loser in the Sensex pack, cracking up to 5 per cent, after the company reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 1,228.53 crore for the quarter ended on December 2019.

It had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,753.07 crore during the same quarter a year ago.

Mahindra & Mahindra, ONGC, NTPC, PowerGrid, Titan and IndusInd Bank were also in the red.

On the other hand, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Auto, HDFC and SBI were trading with gains.

According to traders, domestic equities were trading on a negative note following weak cues from global equities as concerns over the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic kept investors on edge.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul were trading with significant losses.

Global crude benchmark Brent slipped 0.20 per cent to USD 54.36 per barrel.

The rupee appreciated 9 paise against the US dollar to 71.34 in morning session.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The government is in the process of reintroducing the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill, but the timeline has not been decided, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday.

FRDI was withdrawn in August 2018 after a backlash on a clause that put the onus on depositors to ‘bail in’, in case of bank failure. Considering that the deposit insurance cover was only Rs 1 lakh at the time, the Bill led to a huge outcry as it said deposits could be used to nurse a failing bank back to health.

In the recent Budget, the government increased deposit insurance cover to Rs 5 lakh. Besides, insolvency laws were also tweaked to accommodate financial institutions.

“It (FRDI Bill) was once introduced and withdrawn for some reasons. We have started to work on it again. I don’t know when I will introduce it,” the finance minister said.

Sitharaman said meeting depositors of PMC Bank during her last visit to Mumbai was “heart-wrenching”.

However, she did not clarify if the increased deposit insurance cover would apply to PMC Bank depositors as the proposal hadn’t been passed by Parliament.

Sitharaman was in Mumbai with finance ministry secretaries as part of the government’s outreach efforts on the Budget. The team will visit other cities, including Chennai on Saturday and Kolkata on Sunday to answer queries on the Budget. In Mumbai, Sitharaman and her team met social workers, scholars, academicians, economists, fund managers and journalists.

Sitharaman said she will assess how her new personal tax scheme will be accepted by the people, and she will take a call on whether exemptions should be discontinued altogether based on that. In the Budget, the finance minister created a personal income tax structure with two options, one without exemptions but at a lower tax rate, and another with exemptions and the existing tax rates.

“Eventually, we want to have an income tax framework for India, which will be simple. The rates will come down to the minimum, which will help people to comply. I am not forcing anybody, I am giving an alternative. We will see this year, how many will be comfortable to move here, through the year understand it, and based on that we can move further,” Sitharaman said.

Defending the tax structure, Sitharaman said in another session earlier in the day that last year when the government offered a similar tax structure to Indian companies, 90 per cent accepted lower tax rate bereft of any exemption. The minister expressed concerns that while the government wanted to lower income tax rate, the exemptions wouldn’t allow that. The government now hopes that 80 per cent of individual taxpayers would move to the new regime. The government ran a simulation of 578,000 returns that showed that 69 per cent of taxpayers would be better off under the new regime, while 11 per cent wouldn’t be impacted. The government expects the latter group to accept the new regime as it would help them.

According to the finance minister, the government doesn’t want to dictate to people about where they should save. The choice should be of taxpayers themselves, Sitharaman said.

Similarly, when in the interactive session some promoters of financial firms raised the issue of high dividend distribution tax, the finance minister defended her stance in letting the dividend tax be assessed in the hands of the receivers and not the company, as that would help the middle class pay lower taxes. However, the high income group need to pay about 43.5 per cent tax on an instrument that has been distributed to them after the company paid its taxes to the government already, the promoters argued.

On LTCG

Under criticism for not abolishing the long term capital gains tax (LTCG), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said her ministry will wait for one "normal year" before taking a call on the cess.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Anil Ambani, the brother of Asia’s richest man has pleaded poverty in his dispute with three Chinese banks seeking $680 million in defaulted loans. 

“The value of my investments has collapsed,” Anil Ambani said, according to a court filing by the banks in a London lawsuit. 

“The current value of my shareholdings is down to approximately $82.4m and my net worth is zero after taking into account my liabilities. In summary, I do not hold any meaningful assets which can be liquidated for the purposes of these proceedings.” 

The lawsuit was filed by three state-controlled Chinese banks which argue that they provided a loan of $925 million to Ambani’s Reliance Communications Ltd. in 2012 with the condition that he personally guarantee the debt. The comments were disclosed on Friday as Ambani sought to avoid depositing hundreds of millions of dollars with the court ahead of a trial. 

The embattled Indian tycoon says that while he agreed to give a non-binding “personal comfort letter,” he never gave a guarantee tied to his personal assets -- an “extraordinary potential personal liability.”

The 60-year-old is the brother of Mukesh Ambani, who’s worth $56.5 billion and is the wealthiest man in Asia. Anil, on the other hand, has seen his personal fortune dwindle over recent years, losing his billionaire status. His Reliance Communications filed for bankruptcy last year. 

The banks asked Judge David Waksman to force Ambani to put up $656 million into the court’s account.

Representatives for Ambani’s Reliance Group said they couldn’t immediately comment. They said the group will issue a statement once the court issues the final order make. The tycoon argues that an order requiring him to do so would hinder his ability to defend himself in the case, Howe said. 

“There’s no evidence of some giant pot of gold that he can pull $1 million, let alone $10 million, let alone $100 million,” Howe said. 

Bankim Thanki, an attorney representing Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China, said in a filing that Ambani’s statements are “plainly a yet further opportunistic attempt to evade his financial obligations to the lenders.” 

Ambani was caught up in another legal wrangle last year when India’s Supreme Court threatened him with prison aer Reliance Communications failed to pay Rs 5.5 billion ($77 million) to Ericsson AB’s Indian unit. The judges gave him a month to find the funds, and his brother, Mukesh, stepped in just in time to make the payment.

Anil said in a filing that he recognized that the judge would want to know if he could satisfy any order to put up funds from outside resources, including his family. 

“I can confirm that I have made enquiries but I am unable to raise any finance from external sources,” he said. Judge Waksman had said in an earlier ruling that he believed Ambani’s defence would be shown to be “opportunistic and false.” 

Ambani’s lawyer told the judge that as a result of the comments the tycoon’s relatives were unlikely to lend any funds. 

There is a “very substantial risk they will never get it back,” Howe said.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the General Budget has been prepared to meet the aspirations of the people, improve economic development and provide a caring society. Interacting with the members of trade associations, industrialists, chambers of commerce, banking, insurance and cooperatives on the Union Budget in Chennai today, Ms Sitharaman said, it is the objective of the Government to keep everyone in the loop even as Budget was to be passed in Parliament. She said that this was the longest period for the preparation of the budget to include all the stakeholders into consideration. The Minister pointed out that 16 salient points were taken from the various stakeholders of rural development and agriculture alone when the budget was being prepared.

Listing out the various achievements of the Government in improving the economy, Ms Sitharaman assured that the government is working towards the goal of reaching an eight percent growth rate.

Referring to the increase in investments, the Minister said that foreign direct investments have increased to the maximum level and foreign exchange reserves were intact. She said, introducing a new system on Income Tax was a new thought to ease the complications in filing tax returns. She also told that utmost care would be given to entrepreneurs of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and explained that the Ministry of Finance would be ready to help in cases where loans were denied by banks to those who avail loans. She said that the Ministry would be launching a separate cell to address the issues with regard to the MSMEs.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: A day after Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy announcement, SBI, India's biggest bank, has cut its lending rates, making home and auto loans cheaper. SBI has also cut its fixed deposit or FD rates. SBI today announced announced a reduction in its MCLR, or marginal cost of funds based lending rate, by 5 basis points across all tenors, with effect from 10th February. After today's rate revision, the one-year MCLR comes down to 7.85% per annum from 7.90% per annum. This is the ninth consecutive cut in MCLR by SBI in FY 2019-20, the bank said in a statement.

Home loan rates are expected to fall further as SBI said "the impact of recent RBI policy measures and reduction in deposit rates will be reflected in the next review of MCLR."

In Thursday policy review, the RBI kept its repo rate unchanged but announced many measures to boost credit, moves that may cool off interest rates further.

The RBI temporarily removed the cash reserve ratio (CRR)—which requires banks to set aside 4% of their deposits—for every new retail loan made to finance automobiles, homes, and to small businesses till 31 July. The central bank also said that it will now conduct one-year and three-year term repo auctions to inject up to ?1 trillion into the banking system, a move that will help bank raise money at a cheaper rate.

SBI also today cut its fixed deposit rates or FD rates by 10-50 bps while also slashing bulk term deposit rates, attributing the move to surplus liquidity in the system.

SBI is the largest commercial bank in terms of assets, deposits, branches, customers and employees. It is also the largest mortgage lender in the country. As on December 31, 2019, the bank has a deposit base of over ?31 lakh crore.

MCLR rates are based on the bank's own cost of funds. If your home loan is linked to SBI's MCLR rate, the latest cut may not bring down your EMIs immediately. MCLR-based loans typically have a one-year reset clause.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Indian Railways, which has taken up the task of modernising over 400 railway stations across the country, on Thursday showed glimpses of 14 stations where revamp work has been completed.

In a tweet, the Ministry of Railways said, "Indian Railways constantly strives to provide modern facilities and comfortable travel to its passengers. For this, the work of redevelopment and rejuvenation of railway stations across the country is going on rapidly."

The ministry also attached a 2.21-minute long video clip to highlight the works of modernisation across its network, showing the modern amenities in 14 railway stations.

Indian Railways has been working on beautification and modernisation of railway stations for the past couple of years. From constructing foot-over-bridges to installing lifts and escalators, Railways has been working had to improve station infrastructure.

Railways is aiming to provide airport-like facilities to train passengers. Recently, Varanasi's Manduadih railway station was transformed completely. The transformed station now has a spacious waiting area, circulating area, booking/reservation office, cafeteria, food court, waiting rooms and more.

Similarly, the ministry also highlighted the works done at stations like Walsad and Chayapuri in Gujarat, Karnool and Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, Warangal in Telangana, Sainagar Shirdi and Solapur in Maharashtra, Selam in Tamil Nadu, Dimapur in Nagaland, Durgapur in West Bengal, New Tinsukia and Rangia in Assam and New Delhi.

In the video, the ministry also highlighted the premium trains launched by the Piyush Goyal-led ministry like the semi-high speed Vande Bharat Express and the IRCTC operated luxurious Tejas Express.

The Indian Railways has planned to modernise 400 stations across India.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Indian equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty edged lower in opening deals on Friday, tracking subdued Asian market.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading lower by 56.87 points or 0.14 per cent at 41,249.16, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 13.60 points or 0.11 per cent to 12,124.35 in early morning trade.

On Thursday, the Sensex had settled 163.37 points, or 0.40 per cent, higher at 41,306.03 and the Nifty had closed up 48.80 points, or 0.40 per cent, at 12,137.95 after the RBI left the policy rates unchanged but maintained its accommodative stance to boost growth.

Both equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty had logged their fourth straight gains on Thursday.

Global crude benchmark Brent advanced 0.33 per cent to USD 55.30 per barrel.

On the currency front, the Indian rupee dropped 9 paise to 71.27 per US dollar in morning deals.

Exchange data showed foreign investors pulled out Rs 560.36 crore on a net basis from the Indian equity market on Thursday.

On the global financial market front, Asia was trading lower, while US stocks consolidated gains for a fourth consecutive day to climb new record highs, as sentiment kept improving on China's pledge of tariff cuts on American goods.

In the sixth bi-monthly monetary policy review of 2019-20, the kept the repo rate unchanged at 5.15 per cent while retaining its accommodative stance.

The central bank also kept the GDP growth estimate unchanged for the current fiscal at 5 per cent but projected a pick up to 6 per cent in the next financial year.
 

MUMBAI (MAHAMEDIA) The Reserve Bank of India, in its last monetary policy review of the current financial year, has not made any changes to it keeping the repo rate unchanged. The repo rate remains unchanged at 5.15 percent. Earlier, the repo rate was reduced by 1.35 percent, after 5 consecutive cuts. The central bank has said that it will try to keep the policy stance as long as possible. All six members of the Monetary Policy Committee voted in favor of keeping the policy rate unchanged. Significantly, the Reserve Bank has not made any change in interest rates for the second time in a row. Earlier in the December meeting also, the RBI kept interest rates stable.
The RBI has said that the economy continues to soften, with the economic growth rate remaining below the potential. The Reserve Bank also expects inflation to remain high in the near future. Overall, the inflation outlook is highly uncertain. 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Union Cabinet has decided to bring Cooperative banks under the regulatory mechanism of Reserve Bank of India. Briefing media persons after the Cabinet meeting, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadkar said the move will ensure greater accountability and transparency in the functioning of Cooperative Banks. Mr Javedkar said Cooperative Banks need to fulfill regulatory requirements set for scheduled commercial banks.

Mr. Javedkar said the cabinet also approved the IIIT Laws Amendment Bill 2020. Five IIITs in the PPP mode at Surat, Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Agartala and Raichur will be declared as Institutions of National importance.

After this decision, the total number of IIITs which have been declared the institutions' national importance has gone up to 25.

Union Cabinet also gave in-principle approval to set up a new major port at Vadhavan near Dahanu in Maharashtra.

The project will cost over 50,000 crore rupees.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Insurance cover on bank deposits has been increased to five lakh rupees from one lakh rupees. The decision came into effect from yesterday.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a statement that the cover is provided by the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the RBI. This, the RBI said, has been done with a view to providing a greater measure of protection to depositors.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday had made the announcement regarding increasing insurance cover to five lakh rupees in her Budget Speech.

Earlier, Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar said the Department of Financial Services has given approval for raising deposit insurance cover.

The move will help boost confidence of people in the banking system.

As the insurance cover stands increased, the banks will pay a premium of 12 paise against 10 paise per 100 rupees deposited.

The deposit insurance scheme covers all banks operating in India, including private sector, cooperative and even branches of foreign banks. There are some exemptions such as deposits of foreign governments, deposits of Central and State Governments, and inter-bank deposits. Deposit insurance was static at one lakh rupees since 1993.

The demand for raising the deposit insurance limit gained momentum after a run on a large-sized multi-state cooperative bank, the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank (PMCB) after it came under an RBI Administrator for financial irregularities pertaining to loans to real estate firm HDIL.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Over five crore farmers were yet to get the third instalment of money under the Centre's ambitious PM-Kisan scheme, aimed at providing direct support of Rs 6,000 annually to them, according to the latest Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare data.

The total amount of the scheme, which came into effect on December 1, 2018, is to be paid in three equal instalments of Rs 2,000 every four months.

The data showed about 2.51 crore farmers have not got even the second instalment and 5.16 crore of them were yet to get the third instalment.

Over 9 crore farmers have registered themselves under the scheme between December 2018 and November 2019, it said.

Of these, 7.62 crore or 84 per cent of farmers have received the first instalment.

The money through the second instalment was given to nearly 6.5 crore farmers and the amount under the third instalment was given to 3.85 crore beneficiaries, according to the data received in response to an RTI query filed by this PTI journalist.

The agriculture ministry, in its response, gave three sets of data mentioning the benefits given to farmers under the scheme between December 2018 and November 2019.

It said 4.74 crore farmers were registered between December 2018 and March 2019.

Of them, 4.22 crore received the first instalment, 4.02 crore the second and 3.85 crore the third.

There was no mention why nearly 50 lakh, 70 lakh and 90 lakh registered farmers during this period did not get the first, second and third instalment respectively.

There was no registered beneficiary in West Bengal and Sikkim, hence no amount was disbursed during this period, according to the data.

Giving details of the 3.08 crore farmers registered between April and July last year, it said 2.66 crore and 2.47 crore beneficiaries have got their first and second instalments respectively.

The RTI reply did no mention why around 40 lakh and 61 lakh registered farmers during this period did not get their first and second instalment respectively.

"The beneficiaries are eligible for the instalment for the period in which he/she gets registered and subsequent periods, thereafter. Therefore, the third instalment is not due for the beneficiaries registered in the period April 2019-July 2019," the ministry said.

There was no registered beneficiary during this period in West Bengal, Punjab and Chandigarh and therefore nobody was paid first and second instalments.

The ministry said around 1.19 crore beneficiaries were registered between August and November 30, 2019, of these nearly 73.66 lakh farmers have been given the first instalment.

There was no mention of payment of first instalment to over 45 lakh eligible beneficiaries during the period.

"The beneficiaries are eligible for the instalment for the period in which he/she gets registered and subsequent periods, thereafter. Therefore, the second and third instalments are not due for the beneficiaries registered in the period August 2019 to November 2019," it said.

The ministry was asked to provide the total number of farmers, state-wise, and the amount received by them under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi or PM-Kisan scheme.

"PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme has been implemented from December 1, 2018. It is stated that PM-Kisan is a continuous and ongoing scheme, in which the financial benefits are transferred to the bank accounts of the identified beneficiaries as and when their correct and verified data is uploaded by the concerned states/union territories on PM-Kisan web portal," the ministry said in the RTI response vide its letter dated December 26, 2019.

The data of beneficiaries so uploaded by them undergoes a multi-level verification, including by banks, and only then the amount is released to the beneficiary, it said, adding that www.pmkisan.gov.in website can be accessed to get more details on the operational guidelines of the scheme.

According to the data updated on the website on February 3, around 8.82 crore farmers have been registered and 8.41 crore have received the first installment, 7.56 crore the second instalment, 6.19 crore the third and 3.03 crore have received the fourth installment.

In Assam, out of 16.97 lakh farmers registered during this period, 14.02 lakh got the first instalment, 13.72 lakh received the second and 9.87 lakh the third.

Of the 42.34 lakh registered beneficiaries in Maharashtra, 36.98 lakh got the first instalment, 31.53 lakh the second and 27.67 lakh got the third instalment.

As many as 23.83 lakh farmers in Kerala received their first instalment, 18.79 lakh got the second and 18.43 lakh the third. A total of 26.13 lakh beneficiaries were registered in the state between December 2018 and March 2019.

There was no beneficiary registered during the period from West Bengal, which has refused to implement the scheme, according to the ministry's response.

In Uttar Pradesh, nearly 9.57 lakh out of 19.64 lakh farmers have got the first instalment. In Gujarat, nearly 1.22 lakh out of 1.98 lakh registered farmers got the first instalment.

Around 9.78 lakh farmers out of the 17.18 lakh registered beneficiaries have received the first instalment in Madhya Pradesh. In Odisha, only 5,507 farmers out of 5.6 lakh registered farmers have got the first instalment, the ministry said.

None of the 7,326 farmers registered in Sikkim was paid the first instalment, according to the ministry's reply. In Delhi, 1,447 farmers out of 1,734 have got the first instalment.
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Market benchmark Sensex jumped over 100 points in opening session on Wednesday tracking gains in index-heavyweights Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank amid firm recovery in global equities.

The 30-share BSE index was trading 115.08 points or 0.28 per cent higher at 40,904.46, and the broader NSE advanced 26.15 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 12,005.80.

In the previous session, Sensex closed at 40,789.38, up 2.30 per cent or 917.07 points. This was the biggest single-day rise for the Sensex since September 23, 2019. Likewise, Nifty settled at 11,979.65, surging 2.32 per cent or 271.75 points.

Meanwhile, on a net basis, foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 366.21 crore, while domestic institutional investors purchased shares worth Rs 601.86 crore on Tuesday, data available with stock exchanges showed.

Mahindra and Mahindra, Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech and L&T were among the top gainers in the Sensex pack.

While ITC, Infosys, Hero MotoCorp, Asian Paints, Titan, UltraTech Cement and HDFC were trading in the red.

According to analysts, markets were trading in the positive territory on the back of encouraging data points related to the domestic economy.

Other factors like substantial fall in crude prices, a rise in Indian rupee and positive Asian markets also helped the market move higher, they added.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul were trading with significant gains.

Exchanges on Wall Street too ended higher on Tuesday.

Brent crude oil futures rose 1.15 per cent to USD 54.58 per barrel.

The rupee appreciated 4 paise to 71.21 against the US dollar in morning session.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The employees' union of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) will stage an hour-long walk-out strike on Tuesday to protest against the government's move to sell its stake in the state-run insurer through an initial public offering 

In the Union Budget announced on Saturday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the government, which holds 100 per cent stake in LIC, will sell a part of its holding through an initial public oering (IPO).

"As an immediate reaction to the proposal to list LIC, All India LIC Employees Federation will hold onehour walk-out strike on February 4," the union said in a statement. Listing of LIC is against national interest as over the years it has been playing a pivotal role in nation building activities, it said.

On a capital base of Rs 5 crore, the union said LIC's valuation surplus was Rs 53,211.91 crore, life fund stood at Rs 28.28 lakh crore and asset under management over Rs 31.11 lakh crore at the end of FY19.

“Being one of the biggest financial institutions of the country, any move to privatise LIC will shake the confidence of the common man and will be an aront to our financial sovereignty. The very purpose of LIC to provide insurance coverage to socially and economically backward class at a reasonable cost will be defeated and motto will change from service to profit,” the statement said.

Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur said the listing of LIC will help bring in greater transparency, public participation and also deepen the equity market.

“Government came out with the idea (LIC listing). The details will follow and it will be in the interest of LIC and its policyholders. Interest of LIC and policyholders will be safeguarded,” Thakur recently said.

Finance secretary Rajiv Kumar on Sunday said the listing may be done in the second half of the next financial year.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said the government has been very transparent in setting the new fiscal deficit target, which has been pegged at 3.5 per cent for the next financial year beginning April 1.

"There are a lot of speculations regarding the fiscal deficit. Earlier, there was a situation in the previous regime where fiscal deficit numbers were fudged. We are not going to fudge the data," she said while speaking at an event held at Ficci here.

"We shall not repeat mistakes of the previous regime of splurging that happened. We are putting money for public asset creation, connectivity to particular districts, which do not have basic infrastructure. We are very transparent in setting the new fiscal deficit target," added Sitharaman.

"We expect the industry to move the economy forward. The government is there to support the industry. We are putting money where assets have to be created. We have given the roadmap. The Budget is not sector-specific. The attempt is to take a prudent route to achieve the targets set," she added.

She further said that many people have been speculating that the fiscal deficit would cross 4 per cent. "We may have a situation wherein you want the government to spend on pump-priming the economy," she said.

On being asked why was the Sensex not happy on the Budget day, Sitharaman said: "But I see them being happy today. Monday is the true working mood, and today's mood is that they are happy. Aren't they? Not exuberant but happy somewhat."

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on being asked why Sensex was not happy on Budget day, she said: "But I see them being happy today. Monday is the true working mood, and today's mood is that they are happy. Aren't they? Not exuberant but happy somewhat."

The fiscal deficit target for the next financial year beginning April 1 has been pegged at 3.5 per cent, down from 3.8 per cent in the current fiscal of 2019-20.

This is consistent with the government's abiding commitment to macroeconomic stability as part of medium-term fiscal policy cum strategy statement 2020-21, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said on Saturday.

Besides, it demonstrates the government's clear intent of achieving fiscal targets and affirming commitment towards prudent fiscal management and boosting investments, she said while presenting the Union Budget 2020-21 in Parliament.

"Section 4(2) of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM) 2003 provides for a trigger mechanism for a deviation from the estimated fiscal deficit on account of structural reforms in the economy with unanticipated fiscal implications," Sitharaman had said.

"Therefore, I have taken a deviation of 0.5 per cent, consistent with Section 4(3) of the FRBM Act both for revised estimate 2019-20 and Budget estimate 2020-21," she added.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Just two days after presenting the Budget for Financial Year 2020-21, the Central government on Monday (February 3, 2020) announced that it will release all due Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation to all the states in two instalments. Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur gave the reply in Lok Sabha on Monday after several MPs from Telangana and Odisha complained during Question Hour that their states were not getting the share of the GST and Integrated Goods and Service Tax (IGST).

"All due GST compensation will be given to states in two instalments," Anurag Thakur replied. The minister said GST (Compensation to States) Act, 2017 provides for compensation to States/UTs (UT with legislature only) on account of revenue loss due to implementation of GST on a bi-monthly basis. Accordingly, he said, the states have been paid GST compensation on a bi-monthly basis with effect from July, 2017.

Thakur said the GST Compensation has been released till September, 2019 and the next bi-monthly GST Compensation is due for October-November, 2019. The minister said a total of Rs 2,10,969.49 crore has been released as GST compensation to states so far including UTs of Delhi and Puducherry after implementation of GST with effect from July 1, 2017.

Period for which compensation has been released: July, 2017March 2018 - Rs 48,785.35 crore; April 2018March 2019 - Rs 81,141.14 crore; AprilMay 2019 - Rs 17,789 crore; June July 2019 - Rs 27,956 crore; AugSept 2019 - Rs 35,298 crore.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Non-resident Indians (NRIs) working in income tax-free jurisdictions such as the UAE will have to pay tax only on their income generated in India, and not on their earnings outside the country, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Sunday.

Sitharaman said the clarification will be included in the statute to clear any confusion among tax officials.

A provision in the Finance Bill, 2020 said that an Indian citizen who is not liable to be taxed in any other country or territory shall be deemed a resident of India. This led to worries that NRIs working in countries that do not tax personal income would be taxed in India on their global earnings, similar to how residents are taxed on their global income. A 30% tax plus cess and surcharge on NRIs’ income abroad would leave less money in their hands.

The finance ministry also said that in case of an Indian citizen who becomes a deemed resident of India under the provision in the Finance Bill, “income earned outside India by him or her shall not be taxed in India unless it is derived from an Indian business or profession. Necessary clarification, if required, shall be incorporated in the relevant provision of the law".

“I would certainly not desire any confusion in the minds of the tax authority. If there is any confusion in the minds of assessees, I am here to answer," the minister said, when asked if the government was open to tweaking the Finance Bill provision to avoid officials attempting to tax global income of NRIs.

The intention of redefining the concept of residence for tax purposes was to plug a gap that leaves the India income of NRIs out of the tax net because they do not live here, Sitharaman said.

“An NRI living in another country earns money there that is not taxed there at all. He has some earnings through something in India, but does not pay tax here either because he does not live here. What we are saying is that for the income generated in India pay a tax. If you have property here that generates rental income here, but because you live there, you pay tax neither there nor here. I am not taxing what you earn in Dubai," the minister said.

Sitharaman also said the finance ministry would come out with a detailed impact assessment of the new low income-tax rate scheme for individuals, who forgo tax incentives, to offer clarity to people regarding its benefits.

“Eventually, we should have a system where the tax rate is significantly lower and simpler for people to comply with. That means removing all exemptions and ifs and buts. Today, the middle and low income people need more money in their hands and we offered this scheme," the minister said.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: India's coal import increased by 7.6 per cent to 185.88 million tonnes (MT) in the April-December period of the current fiscal.

Coal imports in December rose by 13.3 per cent to 20.52 MT compared to 18.10 MT in the year-ago month, according to provisional data by mjunction services.

Non-coking coal imports were at 14.21 MT in December 2019 against 12.5 MT in December 2018. Coking coal imports were at 4.47 MT against 3.76 MT imported in December 2018.

"There was slight uptick in import activities during the month, thanks to the recovery in steel prices and steady demand from sectors like cement and sponge iron," mjunction MD and CEO Vinaya Varma said.

Going forward, import demand may subside a little due to current volatility in non-coking coal prices and increased supply of coal from domestic sources, he said.

During the April-December period, coal and coke imports were at 185.88 MT, up by 7.66 per cent compared to 172.65 MT in the same period last year.

India imported 235.2 million tonnes of coal in 2018-19 valued at Rs 1.7 lakh crore.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country has increased to USD 284 billion during 2014-19, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday while presenting the Union Budget for 2020-21.

"India's FDI got elevated to the level of USD 284 billion during 2014-19 from USD 190 billion that came in during the years 2009-14," she said.

The foreign inflows into India grew 15 per cent to USD 26 billion during the first half of the current financial year.

Sectors which attract maximum foreign inflows include services, computer software and hardware, telecommunications, automobile and trading.

Singapore continued to be the largest source of FDI in India during the first half of the financial year with USD 8 billion investments. It was followed by Mauritius, the US, the Netherlands, and Japan.

FDI is important as the country requires major investments to overhaul its infrastructure sector to boost growth.

The government last year relaxed foreign investment norms in sectors such as brand retail trading, coal mining and contract manufacturing.

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Indian economy experienced some abrupt slowdown in 2019 due to turbulence in non-banking financial institutions and major reform measures such as GST and demonetisation, but it is not in a recession, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has said.

"The Indian economy indeed has experienced an abrupt slowdown in 2019. We had to revise our growth projections, downwards to four percent for last year. We are expecting 5.8 per cent (growth rate) in 2020 and then an upward trajectory to 6.5 percent in 2021," Georgieva told a group of foreign journalists here on Friday.

"It appears that the main reason for this slowdown was the non-banking financial institutions experiencing a turbulence," she said on the eve of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presenting the annual budget in Parliament on Saturday.

She said India had undertaken some important reforms that over the longer term would be beneficial for the country, but they do have some short-term impact.

"For example, coming with the unified tax system, and the demonetisation that took place. These are steps that over time are beneficial, but of course they might, might be somewhat disruptive over short term," Georgieva said in response to a question.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director said that there is not a lot of fiscal space in India. “But we also recognise that the policies of the government on that side, on the fiscal side have been prudent. We will see how the reading of the budget, the submission of the budget goes, tomorrow,” she said.

In the medium-term, she said, the IMF remains optimistic about India. “This is why we see that upswing potential for the growth in the country,” she said.

Georgieva said that the current economic slowdown cannot be described as a recession. "No.... You're far from that. But it is a significant slowdown, not the recession," she said.

The IMF managing Director noted that the consumption in India also slowed down and that contributed to the overall slowdown in the economy. The IMF would be keen to see what India does to get relatively sound macroeconomic fundamentals to pay off in terms of better growth trajectory, she said ahead of the budget.

One thing that is important for India is that budgetary revenue have been below target. "The country knows that. The finance minister knows it. They need to increase budgetary revenue collection so they can improve their fiscal position. I said it's tight on the spending side, but I also want to stress that there is room to improve collection on the revenue side," she said. 
 

MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Market benchmark Sensex slumped over 200 points in opening session on Saturday ahead of the release of the Union Budget to be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman later in the day.

After shedding 279 points in early trade, the 30-share BSE index was trading 124.96 points or 0.31 per cent lower at 40,598.53, and the broader NSE slipped 23.10 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 11,939.

In the previous session, Sensex settled 190.33 points, or 0.47 per cent, lower at 40,723.49, after the Economic Survey suggested relaxing fiscal deficit target to boost growth from a decade low.

Likewise, the broader NSE Nifty shed 73.70 points, or 0.61 per cent, to finish at 11,962.10.

On a net basis, foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 4,179.12 crore, while domestic institutional investors purchased shares worth Rs 3,816.44 crore on Friday, data available with stock exchanges showed.

Tech Mahindra, PowerGrid, Tata Steel, NTPC, Kotak Bank and HCL Tech were among the top laggards, shedding up to 3 per cent.

On the other hand, HUL, UltraTech Cement, Maruti and Asian Paints were trading with gains.

According to analysts, investors are cautious ahead of the Union Budget as all eyes will be on how centre is going to bring growth as any increase in spending would result in widening of fiscal deficit.

Negative cues from global markets amid concerns over China's coronavirus outbreak continued to weigh on investor sentiment here, traders said.

Benchmarks on Wall Street ended with sharp losses on Friday.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: India is now the fifth largest economy in the world and the Central government debt has reduced to 48.7 per cent of GDP from 52.2 per cent in March 2014, Finance Minister Nirmma Sitharaman said on Saturday.

Presenting the Union Budget for 2020-21, she said growth of 7.4 per cent was surpassed in 2014-19 with average inflation of 4.5 per cent.

Sitharaman also listed out various welfare schemes like affordable housing, direct benefit transfer (DBT) and Ayushman Bharat.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said that the government's debt has reduced to 48.9 per cent from 52.2 per cent, while presenting the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha.
 
"The government debt came down to 48.9 per cent from 52.2 per cent," she said.

She said: "Our people should be gainfully employed, our businesses should be healthy, for all minorities, women and people from SCs and STs. This Budget aims to fulfil their aspirations."

"With renewed vigour, under PM's leadership, we commit ourselves to present the people of India with all humility and dedication. People have reposed faith in our economic policy," she added.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: India has banned exports of all kinds of personal protection equipment, including clothing and masks used to protect people from air borne particles.

The move assumes significance as there could be a spurt in demand for such products due to outbreak of novel Coronavirus that has claimed more than 200 lives in China while the number of confirmed cases reached near 10 thousand.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade, DGFT in a notification said, export of all varieties of personal protection equipment including clothing and masks used to protect the wearer from air borne particles or any other respiratory masks or any other personal protective clothing including coveralls and N95 masks is prohibited with immediate effect.
 

NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Economic Survey 2019-20 in the Parliament today. The Key Highlights of the Economic Survey 2019-20 are as follows:

Wealth Creation: The Invisible Hand Supported by the Hand of Trust

* India’s dominance as global economic power for three-fourths of economic history manifests by design.

* Kautilya’s Arthashastra postulates the role of prices in an economy (Spengler, 1971).

* Historically, Indian economy relied on the invisible hand of the market with the support of the hand of trust:

* Invisible hand of the market reflected in openness in economic transactions.

* Hand of trust appealed to ethical and philosophical dimensions.

* Post-liberalisation, Indian economy supports both pillars of the economic model advocated in our traditional thinking.

* Survey illustrates enormous benefits accruing from enabling the invisible hand of the market.

* Exponential rise in India’s GDP and GDP per capita post-liberalisation coincides with wealth generation.

* Survey shows that the liberalized sectors grew significantly faster than the closed ones.

* Need for the hand of trust to complement the invisible hand, illustrated by financial sector performance during 2011-13.

* Survey posits that India’s aspiration to become a $5 trillion economy depends critically on:

* Strengthening the invisible hand of the market.

* Supporting it with the hand of trust.

* Strengthening the invisible hand by promoting pro-business policies to:

* Provide equal opportunities for new entrants.

* Enable fair competition and ease doing business.

* Eliminate policies unnecessarily undermining markets through government intervention.

* Enable trade for job creation.

* Efficiently scale up the banking sector.

* Introducing the idea of trust as a public good, which gets enhanced with greater use.

* Survey suggests that policies must empower transparency and effective enforcement using data and technology.

Entrepreneurship and Wealth Creation at the Grassroots

* Entrepreneurship as a strategy to fuel productivity growth and wealth creation.

* India ranks third in number of new firms created, as per the World Bank.

* New firm creation in India increased dramatically since 2014:

* 12.2 % cumulative annual growth rate of new firms in the formal sector during 2014-18, compared to 3.8 % during 2006-2014.

* About 1.24 lakh new firms created in 2018, an increase of about 80 % from about 70,000 in 2014.

* Survey examines the content and drivers of entrepreneurial activity at the bottom of the administrative pyramid – over 500 districts in India.

* New firm creation in services is significantly higher than that in manufacturing, infrastructure or agriculture.

* Survey notes that grassroots entrepreneurship is not just driven by necessity.

* A 10 percent increase in registration of new firms in a district yields a 1.8 % increase in Gross Domestic District Product (GDDP).

* Entrepreneurship at district level has a significant impact on wealth creation at the grassroots.

* Birth of new firms in India is heterogeneous and dispersed across districts and sectors.

* Literacy and education in a district foster local entrepreneurship significantly:

* Impact is most pronounced when literacy is above 70 per cent.

* New firm formation is the lowest in eastern India with lowest literacy rate (59.6 % as per 2011 Census).

* Physical infrastructure quality in the district influences new firm creation significantly.

* Ease of Doing Business and flexible labour regulation enable new firm creation, especially in the manufacturing sector.

* Survey suggests enhancing ease of doing business and implementing flexible labour laws can create maximum jobs in districts and thereby in the states.

Pro-business versus Pro-markets

* Survey says that India’s aspiration of becoming a $5 trillion economy depends critically on:

* Promoting ‘pro-business’ policy that unleashes the power of competitive markets to generate wealth.

* Weaning away from ‘pro-crony’ policy that may favour specific private interests, especially powerful incumbents.

* Viewed from the lens of the Stock market, creative destruction increased significantly post-liberalisation:

* Before liberalisation, a Sensex firm expected to stay in it for 60 years, which decreased to only 12 years after liberalisation.

* Every five years, one-third of Sensex firms are churned out, reflecting the continuous influx of new firms, products and technologies into the economy.

* Despite impressive progress in enabling competitive markets, pro-crony policies destroyed value in the economy:

* An equity index of connected firms significantly outperformed market by 7 % a year from 2007 to 2010, reflecting abnormal profits extracted at common citizens’ expense.

* In contrast, the index underperforms market by 7.5 % from 2011, reflecting inefficiency and value destruction inherent in such firms.

* Pro-crony policies such as discretionary allocation of natural resources till 2011 led to rent-seeking by beneficiaries while competitive allocation of the same post 2014 ended such rent extraction.

* Similarly crony lending that led to wilful default, wherein promoters collectively siphoned off wealth from banks, led to losses that dwarf subsidies for rural development.

* Undermining Markets: When Government Intervention Hurts More Than It Helps

* Government intervention, though well intended, often ends up undermining the ability of the markets to support wealth creation and leads to outcomes opposite to those intended.

* Four examples of anachronistic government interventions:

* Essential Commodities Act (ECA), 1955:

* Frequent and unpredictable imposition of blanket stock limits on commodities under ECA distorts:

* The incentives for the creation of storage infrastructure by the private sector.

* Movement up the agricultural value chain.

* Development of national market for agricultural commodities.

* Imposition of stock limits on dal in 2006-Q3, sugar in 2009-Q1 and onions in September, 2019 spiked up the volatility of the retail and wholesale prices of onions.

* The Ministry of Consumer Affairs must examine whether the ECA is relevant in today’s India.

* With raids having abysmally low conviction rate and no impact on prices, the ECA only seems to enable rent-seeking and harassment.

* Survey suggests there is clear evidence for jettisoning this anachronistic legislation.

* Drug Price Control under ECA:

* The regulation of prices of drugs, through the DPCO 2013, led to increase in the price of the regulated pharmaceutical drug vis-à-vis that of an unregulated but similar drug.

* The increase in prices is greater for more expensive formulations than for cheaper ones and for those sold in hospitals rather than retail shops.

* These findings reinforce that the outcome is opposite to what DPCO aims to do - making drugs affordable.

* Government, being a huge buyer of drugs, can intervene more effectively to provide affordable drugs by combining all its purchases and exercising its bargaining power.

* Ministry of Health and Family Welfare must evolve non-distortionary mechanisms that utilise Government’s bargaining power in a transparent manner.

* Government intervention in Grain markets:

* Policies in the food-grain markets led to:

* Emergence of Government as the largest procurer and hoarder of rice and wheat.

* Crowding out of private trade.

* Burgeoning food subsidy burden.

* Inefficiencies in the markets, affecting the long run growth of agricultural sector.

* The food-grains policy needs to be dynamic and allow switching from physical handling and distribution of food-grains to cash transfers/food coupons/smart cards.

* Debt waivers:

* Analysis of debt waivers given by States/Centre:

* Full waiver beneficiaries consume less, save less, invest less and are less productive after the waiver, compared to the partial beneficiaries.

* Debt waivers disrupt the credit culture.

* They reduce formal credit flow to the very same farmers, thereby defeating the purpose.

* Survey suggests that:

* Government must systematically examine areas of needless intervention and undermining of markets; but it does not argue that there should be no Government intervention.

* Instead it suggests that the interventions that were apt in a different economic setting may have lost their relevance in a transformed economy.

* Eliminating such instances will enable competitive markets spurring investments and economic growth.

Creating Jobs and Growth by Specializing in Network Products

* Survey says India has unprecedented opportunity to chart a China-like, labour-intensive, export trajectory.

* By integrating “Assemble in India for the world” into Make in India, India can:

* Raise its export market share to about 3.5 % by 2025 and 6 % by 2030.

* Create 4 crore well-paid jobs by 2025 and 8 crore by 2030.

* Exports of network products can provide one-quarter of the increase in value added required for making India a $5 trillion economy by 2025.

* Survey suggests a strategy similar to one used by China to grab this opportunity:

* Specialization at large scale in labour-intensive sectors, especially network products.

* Laser-like focus on enabling assembling operations at mammoth scale in network products.

* Export primarily to markets in rich countries.

* Trade policy must be an enabler.

* Survey analyses the impact of India’s trade agreements on overall trade balance:

* India’s exports increased by 13.4 % for manufactured products and 10.9 % for total merchandise.

* Imports increased by 12.7 % for manufactured products and 8.6 per cent for total merchandise.

* India gained 0.7 % increase in trade surplus per year for manufactured products and 2.3 % per year for total merchandise.

Targeting Ease of Doing Business in India

* A jump of 79 positions to 63 in 2019 from 142 in 2014 in World Bank’s Doing Business rankings.

* India still trails in parameters such as Ease of Starting Business, Registering Property, Paying Taxes and Enforcing Contracts.

* Survey has numerous case studies:

* For merchandise exports, the logistics process flow for imports is more efficient than that for exports.

* Electronics exports and imports through Bengaluru airport illustrate how Indian logistical processes can be world class.

* The turnaround time of ships in India has almost halved to 2.48 days in 2018-19 from 4.67 days in 2010-11.

* Suggestions for further Ease of Doing Business:

* Close coordination between the Logistics division of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, Ministry of Shipping and the different port authorities.

* Individual sectors such as tourism or manufacturing require a more targeted approach that maps out the regulatory and process bottlenecks for each segment.

Golden jubilee of bank nationalisation: Taking stock

* Survey observes 2019 as the golden jubilee year of bank nationalization

* Accomplishments of lakhs of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) employees cherished and an objective assessment of PSBs suggested by the Survey.

* Since 1969, India’s Banking sector has not developed proportionately to the growth in the size of the economy.

* India has only one bank in the global top 100 – same as countries that are a fraction of its size: Finland (about 1/11th), Denmark (1/8th), etc.

* A large economy needs an efficient banking sector to support its growth.

* The onus of supporting the economy falls on the PSBs accounting for 70 % of the market share in Indian banking:

* PSBs are inefficient compared to their peer groups on every performance parameter.

* In 2019, investment for every rupee in PSBs, on average, led to the loss of 23 paise, while in NPBs it led to the gain of 9.6 paise.

* Credit growth in PSBs has been much lower than NPBs for the last several years.

* Solutions to make PSBs more efficient:

* Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) for PSBs’ employees.

* Representation on boards proportionate to the blocks held by employees to incentivize employees and align their interests with that of all shareholders of banks.

* Creation of a GSTN type entity that will aggregate data from all PSBs and use technologies like big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning in credit decisions for ensuring better screening and monitoring of borrowers, especially the large ones.

Financial Fragility in the NBFC Sector

* Survey investigates the key drivers of Rollover Risk of the shadow banking system in India in light of the current liquidity crunch in the sector.

* Key drivers of Rollover Risk:

* Asset Liability Management (ALM) Risk.

* Interconnectedness Risk.

* Financial and Operating Resilience of an NBFC.

* Over-dependence on short-term wholesale funding.

* Survey computes a diagnostic (Health Score) by quantifying the Rollover risk for a sample of HFCs and Retail-NBFCs (which are representative of their respective sectors).

* The analysis of the Health Score has the following findings:

* The HFC sector exhibited a declining trend post 2014 and overall health of the sector worsened considerably by the end of FY2019.

* The Score of the Retail-NBFC sector was consistently below par for the period 2014 -19.

* Larger Retail-NBFCs had higher Health Scores but among medium and small Retail- NBFCs, the medium size ones had a lower score for the entire period of 2014-19.

* Survey suggests that the Health Score provides an early warning signal of impending liquidity problems.

* Equity markets react favourably to increase in Health Score of individual HFCs and Retail-NBFCs.

* The Survey prescribes this analysis to efficiently allocate liquidity enhancements across firms (with different Health Scores) in the NBFC sector, thereby arresting financial fragility in a capital-efficient manner.

Privatization and Wealth Creation

* Survey examines the realized efficiency gains from privatization in the Indian context and bolsters the case for aggressive disinvestment of CPSEs.

* Strategic disinvestment of Government’s shareholding of 53.29 per cent in BPCL led to an increase of around Rs. 33,000 crore in national wealth.

* Survey presents an analysis of the before-after performance of 11 CPSEs which underwent strategic disinvestment from 1999-2000 to 2003-04:

* Financial indicators such as net worth, net profit, return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE) etc of the privatized CPSEs, on an average, have improved significantly.

* Privatized CPSEs have been able to generate more wealth from the same resources.

* Survey suggests aggressive disinvestment of CPSEs to:

* Bring in higher profitability.

* Promote efficiency.

* Increase competitiveness.

* Promote professionalism.

Is India’s GDP Growth Overstated? No!

* GDP growth is a critical variable for decision-making by investors and policymakers. Therefore, the recent debate about accuracy of India’s GDP estimation following the revised estimation methodology in 2011 is extremely significant.

* As countries differ in several observed and unobserved ways, cross-country comparisons have to be undertaken by separating the effect of other confounding factors and isolating effect of methodology revision alone on GDP growth estimates.

* Models that incorrectly over-estimate GDP growth by 2.7 % for India post-