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August 23, 2017 Thomson Reuters The Cabinet approved a proposal on Wednesday to set up a ministerial panel to speed up consolidation of state-run banks as part of its efforts to revive credit and economic growth. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will name the members of the panel, which will oversee proposals for mergers from the boards of the banks, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said after a meeting of the federal cabinet. New Delhi owns majority stakes in 21 lenders, which account for more than two-thirds of banking assets in Asia's third-biggest economy. But these banks also account for the lion's share of more than $150 billion in sour assets plaguing the sector, and need billions of dollars in new capital in the next two years to meet global Basel III capital norms. Banking sector reforms are a major plank of Modi's administration to revive credit growth, which has slowed to multi-decade lows as banks struggle with bad loans. After top lender State Bank ...

Aug 23, 2017, TIMESOFINDIA.COM, With inputs from PTI and IANS The government on Wednesday raised the creamy layer ceiling to Rs 8 lakh per annum from the existing Rs 6 lakh for central government jobs and also announced setting up of a commission to work out sub-categorisation within Other Backward Classes (OBCs) for a "more equitable distribution of reservation benefits". Briefing reporters on the decisions taken by the Union cabinet, finance minister Arun Jaitley said those in the OBC category earning up to Rs 8 lakh per annum would now get the reservation benefits. On setting up of a commission to examine the sub-categorisation, he said, "The proposal is that there will be sub-categorisation within the OBC list for the purposes of central government employment. In this connection, the National Commission for Backward Classes had given its recommendation in 2011." He said the Parliamentary Standing Committee gave the same recommendation in 2012-1...

Aug 23, 2017 IANS- The Economic Times BENGALURU: India ranks eighth among countries most frequently targeted for web application attacks and stands fifth on the list of source countries, with close to 12 million attacks sourced from the country, a new report said on Wednesday.  According to a report by Cloud delivery firm Akamai, there has been a 28 per cent year-over-year (YoY) increase in total Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks globally in the second quarter of 2017.  The rise, which was followed after three quarters of decline, was mainly attributed to 'PBot' malware which emerged as the foundation for the strongest DDoS attacks.  "Events like the 'Mirai botnet', the exploitation used by 'WannaCry' and 'Petya', the continued rise of 'SQLi' attacks and the re-emergence of 'PBot' all illustrate how attackers will not only migrate to new tools but also return to old tools that have previously proven hig...

August 23, 2017 our Bureau-Bussinessline Japanese drugmaker Eisai Pharmaceuticals has introduced its anti-epileptic drug Fycompa (perampanel) at an India-specific price. The company was clear that India would see a differential price for this product, said Sanjit Singh Lamba, Managing Director, Eisai Pharmaceuticals India. The drug is priced at less than one dollar per tablet, as compared to $ 12 to $15 in the United States and Europe, he said. he drug is available in India in three strengths, at Rs 33 for 2 mg, Rs 55 for 4 mg and about Rs 70 for 6 mg, he said. Though the product had received local approval in November 2016, its roll-out had to incorporate the implications of GST, he said, as it had to be imported from the company's plant in the United Kingdom. The drug attracts 12 per cent GST. A patented drug, Fycompa is a once-daily oral dose taken at bedtime. And its convenience increases compliance, he said. The drug is an adjunctive or add-on therapy for the tre...

A ugust 23, 2017 Special Correspondent-The Hindu As the second scheduled fuel outage in the first reactor of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) that commenced on April 13 has been completed, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has given permission for operating the reactor again for power generation. Subsequently, power generation in the reactor was expected to cross significant level before this week-end, sources in the KKNPP said. Of the 163 enriched uranium fuel assemblies in the 1,000 MW VVER (water-cooled water-moderated) rector – each measuring 4.57 metres and weighing about 705 kg – 50 spent fuel assemblies were removed during the maintenance and replaced with fresh bundles. The 65-day-long first fuel outage of the first reactor commenced on June 24, 2015. Though the exercise took more time than expected as it was the first experience with a 1,000 MW Russian reactor for KKNPP engineers, the maintenance of the reactor was successfully completed, offici...

August 23, 2017 Rediff.com According to government data, the prices have still not crossed the MSPs in some mandis. Import restrictions on tur, urad and moong before the harvesting season seem to be working as their prices have started climbing up from below their minimum support prices. Prices of tur, urad and moong have climbed 5-10 per cent in August in the Navi Mumbai wholesale market. According to government data, the prices have still not crossed the MSPs in some mandis. Prices of whole tur and moong rose by Rs 200-300 per quintal after Monday evening’s announcement to Rs 4,800 and Rs 5,000, respectively.   Whole tur prices are still little below their MSP. Tur prices corrected in the international market in August from $400 per tonne to $300 per tonne as Indian demand waned after the restriction on imports. n the last few weeks most pulses are down 10-15 per cent in the international market. On August 5, the government put tur in the list of restric...

August 24, 2017 The Times of India-Newspointapp.com NEW DELHI: A draft national medical devices policy that could bring most medical devices within the ambit of price regulation while also outlining measures to boost local manufacturing of devices has been circulated by the Centre. The proposal, which comes soon after a draft national pharma policy, marks continued government activism to reduce costs of medical care and control insurance payouts in view of steep treatment and hospitalisation expenses in the private sector. Currently, only a few critical medical devices are under indirect price control and 80% of all devices are imported products. This poses a challenge for the government when regulating prices of even select devices like stents or knee implants as it has to base its calculations on landed price of imports. The draft suggests creation of a national medical devices authority to promote local manufacturing as well as a separate pricing policy and a di...

August 24, 2017 Vinod mahanta, Sachin Dave-The Economic Times MUMBAI: On a Friday afternoon this month, Milind Kothari looked at his WhatsApp message with a furrowed brow. The India head of BDO, a leading professional services firm, had received a message from his turnaround and business support partner, Sundaresh Bhat, who had just taken over as interim resolution professional (IRP) on an order by the National Company Law Tribunal. Bhat had found himself in a tough position in one of the cases after he reached Gujarat, to take stock of things at the comp any. As soon as he reached its premises, he was surrounded by about 200 angry workers, who said they had not been paid by the company for 18 months.  At the Mumbai office, Kothari, after reading his colleague’s messages, was fearful that Bhat may be manhandled by the angry mob.  “In their mind, I was the new owner of the company, it’s way too complicated for me to explain how insolvency works to angry worke...

August 24, 2017 Megha Mandovia, Saloni Shukla-The Economic Times MUMBAI: Tata Steel BSE 0.88 %, India’s second-largest private steelmaker, has expressed interest in bidding for debt-ridden Essar Steel, whose lenders have filed for revival of the company under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, two people with knowledge of the development said.  “Tata Steel has informally conveyed to us their interest in bidding for Essar Steel BSE 0.41 %,” a senior executive at one of the lenders told ET.  An investment banker familiar with the matter said Tata Group’s new chairman, N Chandrasekaran, is keen to get back the ‘top steelmaker’ tag that it lost to JSW SteelBSE 2.36 %.  Essar Steel, which operates a 10 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) facility in Gujarat, is facing insolvency proceedings after it failed to service debt. Tata Steel is currently undertaking projects to raise capacity to 18 MTPA from 13 MTPA now. If the steelmaker acquires Essar Steel, it wou...

August 24, 2017 PTI-The Economic Times GUWAHATI: With China not sharing hydrological data with India this year, the Assam government has decided to ask the Centre to seek it. Assam wants to conduct research on how despite no massive rainfall the state was hit by third wave water.  External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has recently stated that the ministry has not received hydrological data from China on river Brahmaputra and Sutlej so far this year.  India has a bilateral agreement with China to share  information on cross-border rivers. Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “I had a talk with Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu and he informed me that the rainfall in the state was not abnormal.”   Reference:- http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/assam-to-ask-government-to-seek-chinese-hydrological-data/articleshow/60199049.cms