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August 20, 2017 Rachita Prasad, Arijit Barman-The Economic Time. MUMBAI: Ending months of negotiations with various stakeholders, Essar Group will be announcing the closure of its $13-billion deal to sell flagship Essar Oil to a consortium led by Russian energy major  OAO Rosneft  on Monday morning.  Rosneft, along with Russian private fund United Capital Partners (UCP) and Swiss commodity trading firm Trafigura, are buying 98 per cent in Essar Oil that includes India's second largest refinery at Vadinar and nearly 3,000 fuel retail outlets.  The transaction, announced by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin last October during the BRICS Summit has been much delayed over haggles by Essar's creditors and India's intelligence establishment raising several red flags.  Essar declined to comment. The transaction will help Essar deleverage its balance sheet by half in one shot and will also enable the promoter ho...

August 20, 2017 Amrita Nair Ghaswalla-Businessline Hundred per cent foreign direct investment in defence manufacturing has been termed the need of the hour with senior government officials pushing for the inclusion and participation of foreign companies in the manufacture of military transport aircraft, battle tanks and armoured vehicles. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had held a meeting with government officials recently and conducted a review of the current Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy. The government has been looking to further liberalise the FDI regime to attract foreign investments in various sectors, including defence and retail. An official present during this meeting said that the FDI policy is subject to industrial licence and such licences are granted by the Licensing Committee in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), which takes into account the security clearances by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Senior officials in the DIPP ...

August 20, 2017 Arunima-CNN-NEWS18 As Petitions Challenge Validity of Article 35-A, Key 1954 File Goes Missing ew Delhi: Union home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi has confirmed that a crucial file from 1954 that justified the insertion of Article 35-A into the Constitution has gone missing from the high-security vaults of the North Block and the government hopes to find it soon.  The admission comes amid the legal challenge on the constitutional validity of the article, which accords special rights and privileges to the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir. Speaking exclusively to CNN-News18, Mehrishi though clarified that it was not the file with the legal opinion of the then Attorney General that has gone missing. “The only file which has been misplaced is the one which had the cabinet note that was put up in 1954 for constitutional amendment. We hope to locate it soon,” he said.  The home secretary blamed poor record keeping for the ‘misplacement’ of the fil...

August 20, 2017 PTI- The Economic Times NEW DELHI: As many as 322 infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore or above each have seen cost overrun of Rs 1.71 lakh crore due to delays and other reasons by March 2017, according to a report.  "Total original cost of implementation of the 1,231 projects was Rs 15,59,571.06 crore and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be Rs 17,31,162.47 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of Rs 1,71,591.41 crore (11 per cent of original cost)," a flash report by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) said.  Out of 1,231 projects, a total 322 projects reported cost overrun, the report said.  The flash report provides details on the status of the 1,231 central infrastructure projects that cost Rs 150 crore and above.  In March, 2017, out of 1,231 projects, nine were ahead of schedule, 324 were on schedule, 327 were delayed and 322 projects showed cost overrun.  The...

August 20, 2017 AFP-Dawn India has drawn up a shopping list for tens of billions of dollars of foreign fighter jets, armoured vehicles, submarines and helicopters but it will only sign the cheques if they are made in India. The world's largest defence importer has announced a new policy inviting foreign defence manufacturers to set up shop as minority partners in India. It initiated the bidding process for submarines in July. Such deals would boost job creation and bring key defence technologies into India. Foreign companies say the opportunity is too good to miss. Europe's Airbus Group, angling to sell its Panther helicopters, has said that if it wins a contract worth several billion dollars and expected to span at least a decade, it would make India its global hub for the multi-purpose choppers. The company currently builds them at Marignane in France. Lockheed Martin says if its F-16 fighter jets are selected ─ it will likely compete with Saab...

August 17, 2017 Naveed Siddiqui-Dawn The United States' decision to  declare Hizbul Mujahideen a specially designated terrorist organisation  led by an internationally recognised terrorist is "saddening", the Foreign Office said on Thursday. Addressing a weekly media briefing, FO spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said that Kashmiris' struggle for their right to self-determination has been rightfully continuing for the past 70 years. He said Indian occupation forces had used excessive force against people in India-held Kashmir and they are " continuing to do so ". The US has always appreciated Pakistan's sacrifices in counter-terrorism efforts, the spokesman said, adding that the US government has repeatedly said that it appreciates its relations with Pakistan. He further said that the primary issue in Pakistan-India relations is that of Kashmir "which has to be resolved through dialogue". The blacklisting of Hizbul Mujahid...

August 18, 2017 Editorial- Dawn Six weeks after it designated Syed Salahuddin, a Pakistan-based but IHK-born and raised Kashmiri leader, as a global terrorist, the US has taken another disturbing step to politically and diplomatically align itself with India. In a move seemingly designed to coincide with India’s Independence Day, the US State Department declared the Hizbul Mujahideen a Foreign Terrorist Organisation and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. The designations, according to the State Department, “seek to deny HM [Hizbul Mujahideen] the resources it needs to carry out terrorist attacks. Among other consequences, all of HM’s property and interests in property subject to US jurisdiction are blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with the group”. Given that the Hizb is a separatist organisation focused on India-held Kashmir, it is not clear how disruptive the US actions will be in practice. So why has the US ...

August 20, 2017 FE Bureau-Financial Express As many as four US law firms have initiated investigations against Infosys to probe whether it had violated any US SEC regulations. As many as four US law firms have initiated investigations against Infosys to probe whether it had violated any US SEC regulations. This comes a day after the IT major announced the resignation of CEO Vishal Sikka. Goldberg Law PC, a national shareholder rights litigation firm in the US, announced that it is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Infosys. Other firms, such as Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, Pomerantz Law Firm, and Rosen Law Firm, are looking at whether the company directors were engaged in any securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. Goldberg Law PC said its investigation will focus on whether Infosys and its certain officers and/or directors violated the federal securities laws. Similarly, Rosen Law Firm is also preparing a class action lawsuit to recover...

August 20, 2017 PTI- Financial Express To ensure compliance with prevention of money laundering rules, leading exchange BSE has asked trading and clearing members to report preparedness for furnishing Aadhaar details of their clients by the year-end. To ensure compliance with prevention of money laundering rules, leading exchange BSE has asked trading and clearing members to report preparedness for furnishing Aadhaar details of their clients by the year-end. In June, the government had amended the Prevention of Money Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules. According to two separate BSE notices, trading members have to “report on their preparedness and highlight issues, if any, with regard to compliance” with the amended PML rules. While trading members have to submit report on their preparedness by August 23, clearing members and custodians have to do the same by August 25, the Prevention of Money Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005 has been amended as per th...

A ugust 20, 2017 Archis Mohan-Rediff.com With over three million people affected across 24 districts in Assam because of floods, India stated that China has not shared hydrological data with India during the current monsoon season. Under a 2006 agreement, China shares hydrological data, from May 15 to October 15, for the Brahmaputra and Sutlej rivers every year. The ministry of external affairs, however, said it would be 'premature' at the current juncture to connect China not sharing hydrological data as a fallout of New Delhi and Beijing's military standoff in Doklam. The last meeting on the issue between the two sides was in June 2016. MoUs (Memorandums of Understanding) were also signed in 2013 and 2015. "China has to share the data periodically, even daily during the flooding period. But no data has been shared by the Chinese side this year," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said. Data has not been shared could be to do with 'technical iss...

August 20, 2017 rediff.com Qatar has been funding and supporting terrorist organisations.' 'It has used its media to spread lies and create unrest in neighbouring countries Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to India  Saud Mohammed Alsati , tells  Aditi Phadnis  that his country along with three others cut diplomatic and consular ties with Qatar because it reneged on its past commitments and assurances and continued to shelter extremist and terror groups. Last month a group of four countries led by Saudi Arabia issued a list of 13 demands to Qatar, which included severing ties with Iran, outlawing the Muslim Brotherhood and closing down Al Jazeeran, and warned... or else. Qatar did not comply. Now what? It is important to understand why the four countries -- Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain -- took the step of cutting diplomatic and consular ties with Qatar. We have been engaging with Qatar since 2012 and before to persuade them to stop the...

August 20, 2017 ENS Economic Bureau-The Indian Express Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairman Ajay Tyagi on Saturday said that the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) will help boost investor confidence and encourage fund inflows into the corporate bonds market, especially in low-rated instruments.The bankruptcy law was enacted to ensure time-bound settlement of insolvency and enable ease of doing business. From an investors’ standpoint, an effective and robust bankruptcy regime is important for developing the corporate bonds market. Investors have been shying away from low-rated corporate bonds and even if the rating is of investment grade, given the high rate of defaults,” said Tyagi who was speaking at the insolvency and bankruptcy summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here. “Successful implementation of the IBC will increase confidence among investors, including foreign ones, and is likely to increase liquidity in low-rated pape...

August 20,2017 Jochelle Mendonca, Kunal Talgeri- The Economic Times PALO ALTO, AUGUST 18, 2017:  The video cameras in the empty conference room on the US West Coast were on. As were the prying eyes in Bengaluru. In a few minutes, the live news feed would take the two subjects to thousands of TV viewers across India. InfosysBSE -5.37 % chairman R Seshasayee walked in first. It was 1.30 in the morning — never a time to face the world. His face possessed the sort of calm that comes after a hurricane has passed.  ome hours before, the stock markets and all stakeholders had been informed of Vishal Sikka’s decision to step down as chief executive. The stock dropped to a low of 13% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), and pared losses to close at 10%. That’s Rs 22,000 crore wiped off the market cap. Co-chair of the board Ravi Venkatesan later said: “The day has been like a blur.”  Well after Sikka walked into the conference room, Seshasayee recounted the conversa...

August 21, 2017 Rahul Sachitanand, Rajiv Singh- The Economic Times Nearly 16 hours or 740 km north of Delhi is the cold desert mountain valley of Spiti, nestled among the Trans-Himalayas. It is often cut off from the mainland by snow drifts from early October every year. But around Diwali last year, internet commerce giant Amazon, in its quest to dominate India’s ecommerce market, made its first delivery to this region of some 34,000 inhabitants in Himachal Pradesh.  For the Seattle-based Amazon, which has bet $5 billion on its India operations, this exploration of the hinterland is just another of its moves to extend the seeming duopoly in the country’s internet commerce market where Amazon and arch-rival Flipkart (fresh from a $2.5 billion fund-raise, increasing its kitty to $6 billion) are distancing themselves from the competition.  Big Two Battles   With wary venture capitalists drastically cutting their investments in cash-burning startups an...