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Teena Thacker, Aug 4, 2017 Two India-based pharmaceutical companies have been barred from receiving World Bank contracts after an investigation revealed that they had engaged in “fraud” and “misconduct”, the multilateral lender said. Mumbai-based contraceptive drugmaker Famy Care Ltd and Olive Healthcare, a pharmaceutical company that manufacturers dietary supplements in soft gelatin dosage forms, were banned from participating in World Bank-financed projects for “violating procurement guidelines” The announcement was made by the World Bank’s Sanctions Board following investigations by integrity vice presidency (INT), which is responsible for investigating corruption in World Bank-financed projects. Famy Care and Olive Healthcare did not respond to emails sent by  Mint seeking comments. Mumbai-based Olive Health Care was disqualified until January 2028 from participation in World Bank-financed projects. INT claimed that the company “knowingly engaged in fraudulent pra...

Neetu Chandra Sharma & Mayank Agarwal Aug 5, 2017 In a counter to the intense opposition to GM mustard from civil society, a forum representing India’s biotechnology sector has now written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling anti-genetically modified crops activists “anti-national” and accusing them of fear mongering to derail “indigenous scientific research”. The forum requested the prime minister to take action against the activists. The letter sent by the Association of Biotech-Led Enterprises-Agriculture Group (ABLE-AG) on Thursday adds fuel to the controversy over GM mustard. It is the latest in a series of letters written by anti-GM and pro-GM groups in past few months. Last week, 34 medical experts  wrote  to the prime minister requesting him to reject the “environmental release” of GM mustard, stating that the country should not be forced to face the risks and dangers associated with the crop. Reacting to that, ABLE-AG, in its letter, said: “This is...

PTI, Aug 04, 2017 Karvy Computershare on Friday said that its joint venture partner Computershare and some other existing shareholders have decided to exit the firm by selling their stakes to American private equity (PE) firm General Atlantic, for an undisclosed sum. While the Australia-based Computershare owns 50% in Karvy Computershare, the statement did not specify how much other shareholders own and will be selling. Hyderabad-headquartered Karvy Computershare is the country’s largest investor and issuer services provider for the asset management industry and companies and services over 90 million investor accounts for its clients. Under the agreement present managing director C. Parthasarathy will continue to be “a meaningful shareholder” in the company and will elevated as the chairman of the board. Founded in 1995, Karvy Computershare became a joint venture (JV) between the Karvy Group and the Melbourne-based Computershare in 2004. The company is also licensed by th...

PTI, Aug 4, 2017 Infosys Ltd has declined a request from its most high-profile founder N.R. Narayana Murthy to make public the report of an external consultant appointed to look into the charges of misgovernance. Murthy, who was chairman of Infosys till 2014 and still holds 3.44% stake (along with family members) in the company, had asked the full report by Gibson Dunn and Crutcher to be made public. Infosys had claimed in June that the external expert had cleared the management of charges of wrongdoing, as was alleged by an anonymous complaint, after a detailed and extensive investigation. “The company does not plan to make the report public,” Infosys said in a statement. Gibson Dunn and Crutcher had been mandated to probe the whistleblower allegations of CEO Vishal Sikka being paid excessive compensation in relation to the Panaya acquisition. “The summary finding statement of this investigation is also available on our website,” Infosys said. The company explained...

PTI, Aug 4, 2017 State-owned Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) on Friday said it will acquire up to a 50% stake in the Adani Group-backed Mundra LNG import terminal in Gujarat for an estimated Rs750 crore. The board of India’s largest oil firm gave “in-principle approval for acquiring up to 50% equity in GSPL LNG Ltd, which is setting up a 5 million tons per annum LNG terminal at Mundra Port in Gujarat”, the company said in a statement. GSPL LNG Ltd is a joint venture of Gujarat State Petroleum Corp. and Adani Enterprises Ltd. GSPL LNG Ltd will hold the remaining 50% stake in the LNG terminal that is nearing completion. Adani and GSPC are equal partners in GSPL LNG Ltd. While the company did not give the acquisition cost, an official said roughly 30% of the Rs5,040 crore project cost is equity and IOC would pay for half of it. A final number would be arrived at after valuation exercise is completed, he added. IOC said the LNG terminal would be commissioned in the fourth quarter of 2017-...

Jayshree P Upadhyay, Aug 5, 2017 In a first-of-its-kind move to increase debt disclosures by corporate entities, the market regulator on Friday tightened the norms for listed companies that end up defaulting on loan repayments. The move by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) comes against the backdrop of Rs10 trillion of stressed assets piling up in the banking system. “Corporates in India are even today primarily reliant on loans from the banking sector. Many banks are presently under considerable stress on account of large loans to the corporate sector turning into stressed assets and non-performing assets (NPAs),” Sebi said in a circular released on Friday. Currently, the Sebi Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements Regulations require specific disclosures on delay or default in payment of interest or principal on debt securities, including listed non-convertible debentures, listed non-convertible redeemable preference shares, and foreign currency c...

PTI, Aug 5, 2017 Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday termed as “malafide” a plea of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy seeking some documents from the party in the  National Herald  case. The Gandhis, in their reply filed before a court, said Swamy’s plea was “an attempt to make out a new case”. The Gandhis and four other Congress leaders, against whom the complaint has been made, also said that the BJP leader’s plea was “a ploy to delay proceedings in the case” and “an absolute disgrace for the precious time of the court and of the larger judicial process”. “Such an approach is impermissible in law. The endeavour of the complainant to have access to documents and then decide what his case actually shall be, displays the malafide nature of the current application,” the Congress politicians said. The reply said that Swamy has been making “persistent efforts” to have access to documents by filing applications. The BJP politician, meanw...

PTI, Aug 7, 2017 Pakistan on Monday said that it was not bound by the recently concluded treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons as it failed to take into account the interests of all stakeholders. Foreign office (FO) said in a statement that the treaty on prohibition of nuclear weapons, adopted by a vote on 7 July did not fulfil these essential conditions–both in terms of process and substance. It said Pakistan, therefore, like all the other nuclear armed states, did not take part in its negotiations and cannot become a party to the treaty. Over 120 countries in the United Nations voted to adopt the first-ever global treaty to ban nuclear weapons. Eight other nuclear-armed nations, including the US and China did not participate in the negotiations for the legally binding instrument to prohibit atomic weapons. “Treaties that do not fully take on board the interests of all stakeholders fail to achieve their objectives..Pakistan does not consider itself bound by any of t...

By DAVID BARBOZA AUGUST 4, 2017 As the Chinese government develops drones, the American technology giant Qualcomm is helping. The same goes for artificial intelligence, mobile technology and supercomputers. Qualcomm is also working to help Chinese companies like Huawei break into overseas markets in support of China’s “go global” campaign to develop big multinational brands. Qualcomm is providing money, expertise and engineering for Beijing’s master plan to create its own technology superpowers. Big American companies fiercely protect their intellectual property and trade secrets, fearful of giving an edge to rivals. But they have little choice in China — and Washington is looking on with alarm. To gain access to the Chinese market, American companies are being forced to transfer technology, create joint ventures, lower prices and aid homegrown players. Those efforts form the backbone of President Xi Jinping’s ambitious plan to ensure that China’s compani...

Adam Satariano, Aug 7, 2017 The devil’s bargain underlying the internet economy is that people get free usage of websites such as Google and Facebook in exchange for letting companies collect all sorts of personal data that can be used to sell advertising and other services. But in recent years European governments have pushed back, arguing the balance of the trade has gotten overly skewed in favor of giant technology companies. In the latest example, the U.K. is proposing a new privacy law that aims to make it easier for citizens to erase personal data and old pictures from FACEBOOK, Google and other internet sites. The ruling Conservative Party, in its campaign platform this year, pledged to give people more control of their online personal information. The proposed law, which needs approval from Parliament, would give people stronger rights to seek the removal of online browsing data, according to a document released Monday by the U.K. Department of Digital, Culture,...

Rajesh Bhayani & Dilasha Seth, Aug 09, 2017 A month after goods and services tax (GST) roll-out, a sudden deluge of gold imports from free trade partner South Korea has alarmed New Delhi. Swinging into action, the government is examining several options, including levy of safeguard duty on gold imports from South Korea to plug the route. Officials brainstormed on the matter through Tuesday, it is learnt. Among others, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia met Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia to assess the situation. In July itself, 8,400 kg of gold, essentially in coins, came to the country from South Korea, compared to almost nil last year in the same month. Sources said that traders may be exploiting the favourable reduction in tax incidence under GST by routing imports through Seoul, to take advantage of the India-Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), the free trade pact.  ''There is a sharp rise in gold imports after GST implementation, only ...

Vandana Shiva,  Aug 9, 2017 For two decades, the Poison Cartel (now reduced to three — Bayer Monsato, Dow Dupont, Syngenta Chem China) has been corrupting our governments, our regulatory agencies and some of our scientists to push their hazardous GMOs that do not work and claim patents and royalties based on scientific fraud. Monsanto’s corruption of regulatory agencies and attack on science and scientists is getting exposed. In the recently released “Monsanto Papers” made public through discovery in a court case filed by 100 cancer victims against Monsanto, it has become evident that not only are Monsanto’s products (Roundup and Roundup Ready crops) carcinogenic, but Monsanto has attacked the United Nations’ World Health Organisation and scientists like Dr Eric Seralini whose research established Monsanto’s links to cancer. On March 10, 1995, Mahyco (Maharastra Hybrid Seeds Company), a collaborator with Monsanto, imported 100 grams of the Bt Cotton seed without approval from t...