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LiveMint, Mihir Dalal, Anirban Sen, August 01, 2017 Bengaluru:  Snapdeal, run by Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd, has walked away from a potential sale to Flipkart and will now try and survive as an independent entity by selling its logistics unit and cutting costs. The decision is a win for Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl (chief executive officer) and Rohit Bansal (chief operating officer), who  were against the sale from the beginning. For now, they have won the bitter boardroom battle against Snapdeal’s largest investor SoftBank Group Corp., which was pushing for the sale to Flipkart. “Snapdeal’s vision has always been to create life-changing experiences for millions of buyers and sellers across India. We have a new and compelling direction—Snapdeal 2.0—that uniquely furthers this vision, and have made significant progress towards the ability to execute this by achieving a gross profit this month. In addition, with the sale of certain non-core assets, Snapdeal is e...

Indian Express, Arun Kumar, August 01, 2017 How much of the high denomination currency demonetised on November 8, 2016 is back with the Reserve Bank of India? Everyone wants to know but the answer eludes all. The finance minister, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on July 25, said that the bank is in the process of reconciling the notes to obviate any errors. He added that RBI’s machine processing capacity is being augmented. Incredible that it is being done at this late stage. Also, the answer will not be available any time soon. The implications of the delay are many and go beyond the failure of demonetisation to tackle black money. For instance, there is a link of this with the extent of counterfeit currency and its detection or with the case pending in the Supreme Court regarding granting one more chance to return the demonetised notes to those who, for genuine reasons could not return them, and therefore stand to lose a part of their wealth. According to media re...

The Economist, July 23-27, 2017 In big ways and small, China is making its presence felt across the continent IN CRISP white uniforms and standing to attention beneath a fluttering red flag with five golden stars, the sailors on board the People’s Liberation Army ships setting sail for Djibouti on July 11th represent a significant step for China. When they arrive they will open the Middle Kingdom’s first military base abroad since the Korean war. It is a canny first foray. China has prepared the ground with low-key deployments of blue-helmeted troops to UN operations in places such as South Sudan. And it has placed the base in a country that is likely to cause the least offence. America already has a large airfield and naval station in Djibouti. From there it conducts counter-terrorism operations, and watches the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, both much used by smugglers trafficking drugs, weapons and people. And China’s main regional rival, India, cannot argue that th...

India Today, Ekta Handa, July 31, 2017 Genetically modified mustard will hit the market as the GEAC (Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee) of India has given its approval. Anti-GM activists have requested Prime Minister Modi to ensure that the release of the genetically modified mustard is declined. The GEAC gave a thumbs up to GM Mustard on Thursday, July 27. Now, the fate of the production this genetically modified crop depends the decision of the central government. The application for allowing the commercial production of GM Mustrad was put in by Deepak Pental, noted genetics scientist and ex-vice chancellor of Delhi University. The GEAC gave a go-ahead to the GM Mustard after a sub-committee was set up to examine the effects of its use. Last year, the GEAC had observed that the GM Mustard is safe for consumption by human beings. Activists from the Sarson Satyagrah have condemned the GM Mustard and has also urged PM Modi to make sure the application for the...

NEW DELHI: No steps have been taken for the introduction of Sharia-compliant  mutual funds  in India, the  Reserve Bank of India  ( RBI ) has said.    Replying to an RTI application filed by a PTI correspondent, the central bank said the Government of India had sought its comments on the launch of Sharia-compliant mutual funds by State Bank of India in December 2014.     The RBI submitted its reply the same month, it said.     The Islamic or Sharia-compliant financial system is based on the principles of not charging an interest on deposits, as it is prohibited under Islam.     "The Reserve Bank of India has not taken any step for introduction of Sharia-compliant mutual funds in India," the reply said.     The RBI was asked to provide details on the introduction of Sharia-compliant mutual funds in the country.     The  SBI  had in 2014 announced the launch of th...

PTI, July 31, 2017 The scam-hit National Spot Exchange ( NSEL ) has urged markets regulator  Sebi  to resolve the Rs 5,600-crore payment crisis in the larger interest of investors.   The payment crisis at NSEL -- part of Jignesh Shah-led FTIL group -- came to light in late 2013.   Since then, multiple agencies including Sebi, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) and the  Reserve Bank of India  (RBI) are probing the irregularities at the now-defunct NSEL.   In a public notice, NSEL has requested the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to resolve the  market crisis.   "This appeal is for the purpose of resolving the crisis in the larger interest of all genuine victims, including us," the erstwhile spot exchange said.   Besides, NSEL has explained its point of view on various aspects of the crisis. It alleged that "four years have been lost just because of wrong path and wrong targeting".   "Our...

ET Telecom, MuntazirAbbas, July 31, 2017 NEW DELHI: State-run  Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd . expects to get the government’s approval soon for using airwaves in 700 MHz band for offering 4G services, and  5G services in the future, chairman Anupam Shrivastava said.   The state-run telco has written to the  Department of Telecom  (DoT) to allocate airwaves in the 700 MHz band for rolling out 4G services.   “Six slots of 5 MHz are already available in the 700 MHz band and we have asked for a slot to be allocated to us. We are looking at it also for offering ultra-high speed 5G services in the future,” Shrivastava said.   The telco is entering into an alliance with Chinese gear maker  ZTE , following a similar partnership with Finnish firm Nokia, for 5G services, the  BSNL  chairman said. “For 5G services in rural and dense urban areas, 700 MHz, sub-700 MHz and unlicensed bands such as 2.5 GHz and 5.2 GHz will be used f...

Surendra Singh, TNN, July 31, 2017 NEW DELHI: Remember the 2014 Oscar-winning sci-fi movie "Interstellar", where a group of volunteers travels across the galaxy in search of a new home for humanity? In real life, however, only five Nasa spacecraft have gone beyond the planets of our solar system.  Interstellar missions   (travelling between stars or planetary systems) remain only in the realms of possibility.   Indian Space Research Organisation  ( Isro ) became part of a global project that will help bring star travel closer to reality, when its  PSLV  C38 rocket launched six prototypes of tiny interstellar spacecraft, or sprites, into low-earth orbit on June 23 this year.  The good news is that one of these six stamp-sized sprites, which weigh just 4gm and are 3.5cm long, has managed to establish contact with ground stations, becoming the smallest spacecraft ever to do so. It's being seen as a giant step in space technology, with the Isro lau...

Financial Express, July 31, 2017 Ramendra Singh Last week, the government announced its plan to consolidate the public sector banks (PSBs) from currently 21, to 10-12 in the next few years, and create 3-4 global level behemoths such as  SBI , which is already among top 50 biggest banks in the world. As the first step, many associates of SBI have already been successfully merged with the parent company.  RBI  also favours the creation of the multiple levels banking structure in the country, where large global banks such as SBI, co-exist along with the regional banks such as Andhra Bank, and the local level banks. However, the purpose of such an exercise leaves a huge doubt in people’s mind, as to what the government is trying to achieve? Our PSBs have not really risen to the expected standards. Recent reports suggest that PSBs faced 56% growth in bad loans in 2016 compared to previous year. This is set to rise, due to setback to the SME segment during demone...

By:  Shayan Ghosh  | Mumbai |   Updated: July 31, 2017 With the NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) allowing insolvency proceedings to be initiated against companies even if winding-up petitions are pending before high courts, provided these have not been “admitted”, some headway has been made in resolving the problem of non-performing assets. Several defaulting companies had argued that insolvency proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) would be infructous if winding-up petitions were pending before high courts. The aggregate debt involved in seven stressed companies, now cleared for insolvency proceedings, is Rs 1.3 lakh crore, a little over half the amount that these companies owe banks. The Reserve Bank of India ( RBI ) had identified 12 companies, which owe lenders Rs 2.4 lakh crore, that banks should refer to the NCLT.Companies cleared for insolvency proceedings, and for which interim resolution professionals (IRPs) have been appoint...

July 28, 2017,  11:26 PM  IST   ET Edit  in  ET Editorials   |   India   |   ET The Lok Sabha has amended the Companies law, reportedly to facilitate compliance. The Centre can now cap the number of subsidiaries a company can have, and also limit the number of intermediary companies through which investment can be made. The aim is to check the proliferation of shell companies without an operational business. To deem all shell companies as being underhand is not correct. A large conglomerate may, indeed, require to have many holding companies that conduct business separately. So, instead of limiting the number of holding companies, a more sensible way out would be for the government to mandate that companies declare their beneficial owners, following the practice in the UK. ' Already, Aadhaar gives every Indian resident a distinct digital identity. The linking of Aadhaar to the permanent account number eliminates duplicate PANs for i...