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The Hindu, Vidya Ram, March 29, 2017 Asks whether caste should be included under ‘race’ while framing law. The British government on Tuesday published details of a long-awaited 16-week public consultation on whether caste should be introduced as an aspect of race in anti- discrimination  legislation. The government said that while there was “no place” for any form of prejudice and discrimination based on a person’s origins, it wanted to be careful “not to create or entrench any notion of caste consciousness or caste-based practices into British society, which may prove counterproductive or divisive”. “This consultation is about how to ensure that there are appropriate and proportionate legal protection against unlawful discrimination because of a person’s origins with due consideration given to how such protections would be implemented in practice,” the consultation says. Extent of discrimination It has also published a feasibility study on the ability to me...

Rouhan Sharma, Financial Express, September 25, 2017 Essar Ports is planning to set up a “cluster of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) terminals” along the Indian coastline, the first phase of which would entail an investment of approximately Rs 2,000 crore. Rajiv Agarwal, MD & CEO, Essar Ports, told FE that the company would build the first LNG terminal at Hazira, where it already operates an all-weather, general cargo/dry bulk terminal.  “We will construct two terminals on the east coast and two on the west. The first one will be in Hazira. We should be able to complete construction sometime in FY19,” Agarwal added. He said the firm is already in talks with private customers to tie up for long-term agreements for supplying LNG. Meanwhile, the firm also said it has invested Rs 830 crore at its terminal in Visakhapatnam Port where the capacity is being enhanced from 12.5 million tonne per annum (MTPA) to 23 MTPA. Link:  http://www.financialexpress.com/industry/essar-p...

Shayan Ghosh, Financial Express, September 25, 2017 The committee of creditors to Bhushan Steel is reluctant to sanction fresh interim funding of around Rs 500 crore as part of the corporate insolvency process, senior bankers told FE. The company already owes banks a whopping Rs 44,500 crore. Bankers said that they conveyed their decision to the resolution professional (RP) Vijaykumar V Iyer, after he presented the plan at a recent meeting.“We have pointed out we already have a large exposure to Bhushan Steel and any additional loans will be difficult to recover,” the bankers mentioned above said. They added that the RP may look at other institutions such as asset reconstruction companies which are keen to offer loans at higher interest rates. Bhushan Steel, which owes banks a whopping Rs 44,447 crore, had initially objected to the insolvency proceedings alleging SBI had inflated the dues by around Rs 100 crore.  The company’s counsel had said that SBI classified both term ...

PTI, Economic Times, September 24, 2017 India's rice output is likely to fall by 1.9 million tonnes (MT) to 94.48 MT in kharif season this year on account of poor rain as well as floods, official sources said. The production of pulses and coarse cereals is estimated to have fallen, dragging the overall foodgrains output in kharif (summer-sown) season to 134.67 MT from record 138.52 MT in last kharif, as per the sources. Kharif foodgrain basket comprises rice, pulses and coarse cereals. Harvesting will starrt from next month. Barring sugarcane, the production of all major kharif crops is likely to decline. The Union Agriculture Ministry will release its first advance estimate on Monday. Rice output is estimated to fall at 94.48 MT in the kharif season of the 2017-18 crop year (July-June) from the record 96.39 MT in last kharif, the official who did not wish to be named said. Pulses output could drop to 8.71 MT from the record 9.42 MT due to depressed pr...

PTI, September 24, 2017 Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has said its pipeline of speciality and innovative products over the next three to four years is expected to act as a defence against generics price erosion and competition, and will boost profitable growth. Over the last few years the company has invested significantly to mark the step-wise transition from generics to an innovation-driven organisation, according to the company’s annual report. “Our pipeline of speciality products, to be rolled out over the next three to four years, is expected to act as a defence against generics price erosion and increase in competition, and boost profitable growth,” Glenmark Chairman and Managing Director Glenn Saldanha said. “Over the next three years, generics will continue to fuel our growth. After that we expect the unlocking of revenues from the speciality/innovation business.” The next few years will see consistent revenues and profitability without the need for inorganic growth th...

Somesh Jha, Sept. 24, 2017 The Union government is open to the idea of giving operations of railway lines to private players for enhancing competition, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said in an interview. “It’s an exciting proposition. We will be able to generate competition in the process and improve customer satisfaction,” Mr. Goyal told  The Hindu  on board the Mahanama Express train, launched between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s old constituency in Vadodara and his present one in Varanasi on Friday, ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections. Mr. Goyal, who took charge of the Railway Ministry on September 4 after Suresh Prabhu resigned following a string of derailments, said he was studying various models for attracting more private players. No cap on safety funds Claiming that he was willing to spend unlimited funds on safety, he said clearing the backlog for track renewal would be the focus, and a zero accident rate would be an aspiration. “In my working,...

Kalyan Parbat, Devina Sengupta, Sept. 25, 2017 The 57% cut in interconnect usage charge and decision to scrap it altogether from January 2020 is likely to drive incumbent telecom operators such as Bharti AirtelBSE -1.43 %, Vodafone India and Idea CellularBSE -2.62 % to rapidly launch and expand calling over VoLTE technology, and unveil more bundled offers to protect their turf, said analysts and industry experts.  This could trigger a faster shift to data services from voice, which accounts for about 80% of revenue at present, they said. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India last week slashed IUC to 6 paise per minute, with effect from October 1. IUC is paid by a mobile carrier where a call originates to the mobile network where it terminates.  In recent reports, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch and CLSA said that any move towards zero IUC, or a bill-and-keep model, would automatically compel incumbents to upgrade networks to voice over LTE or VoLTE, a ...

Ruchika Chitravanshi, Vinay Pandey, Economic Times, September 25, 2017 The corporate affairs ministry has disqualified another 200,000 directors for holding posts in defaulting companies that have not filed their financial returns for the last three years or more, taking the total number to over 300,000, while cancelling the registration of another 10,000 companies.  These directors won’t be able to hold board seats in other companies as well and may have to resign soon from them, potentially impacting other firms as well.  While the current law does not provide for any appeal, the government is thinking of exercising “the review power to take any such plea into consideration,” PP Chaudhary, minister of state for corporate affairs, told ET. “By operation of law, these directors are disqualified but we have to see under what provision of law we can examine this. If we need to frame a rule we will do it.”  According to Section 167 of the Companies A...

Neeraj Chauhan |  TNN, Times of India, September  25, 2017 In another potential setback for Vijay Mallya, the CBI and Enforcement Directorate are preparing to chargesheet the controversial tycoon for allegedly diverting a large chunk of funds from the Rs 6,027-crore loan he took for his now- defunct Kingfisher Airlines+ from a consortium of banks led by State Bank of India. The money was allegedly diverted to shell companies in seven countries, including the US, UK, France and Ireland, official sources said. CBI and ED sources claimed the evidence would strengthen their case for Mallya's extradition from the UK. An official refused to divulge the exact amount laundered by Mallya from the Rs 6,027 crore loan money+ but said "it's huge". Mallya, who could not be contacted for his response, has previously denied charges of wrongdoing. Link:  http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/mallya-diverted-most-of-rs-6000-crore-loan-to-shell-companies/articleshow/6...

Sachin Parashar |  TNN  |  Times of India, Sep 25, 2017 Pakistan PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi last week yet again flaunted+ his country's tactical or nonstrategic nuclear weapons, saying they were meant to deter the Indian Army's 'cold start' doctrine+ . While Abbasi declared that Pakistan's nuclear assets, including the tactical nukes, were under a robust command-and-control system, the short-range weapons meant to be used early in a conventional conflict with India are vulnerable to accidents and risk of landing up with terrorists. According to a recent report by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), Pakistan has stored its nuclear forces at nine different locations across the country. Renowned US nuclear weapon expert and co-author of the report Hans Kristensen said Pakistan's nuclear warheads may be located in storage facilities near the bases the report identifies, and that these bases themselves appear to house nuclear-capable launchers t...

PTI, Indian Express, Sept. 24, 2017 Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Sunday said that 95 mobile manufacturing companies have set up their plants under the new government. “Today 95 mobile manufacturing factories have come in India and India is becoming a big hub of electronics and mobile manufacturing. 32 have come in Noida and Greater Noida,” Prasad said at Capital Foundation Annual Lecture. He was speaking on ‘Emerging Digital World In India’. “In Silicon Valley 51 per cent of new inventions are IT based and 14 per cent of those are created by Indian minds there. That is how India is emerging,” Prasad said. He said that young entrepreneurs are growing their businesses and raising hundreds of millions from investors. “Every day we are adding 3-4 start-ups. They are IITians, they left their jobs in America and come back to India,” Prasad said. The minister complimented the Supreme Court for leveraging digital technology in expediting judicial processes. “We ...

 Harish Damodaran , Shaji Vikraman, Indian Express, Sept. 25, 2017 Even as the Narendra Modi government prepares to unveil a package of measures to address the current slowdown, the elbow room to spend more to boost the economy may be far less than in 2008-09, when the then UPA regime unleashed a fiscal stimulus in response to a global financial meltdown. The primary reason for this is the sizable holdings by foreign portfolio investors (FPI) in Indian debt, which wasn’t a significant restraining factor then. Consider this. On September 15, 2008, when Lehman Brothers collapsed and triggered a worldwide economic crisis, FPIs held a mere $5.59 billion in Indian debt. But nine years later, on September 22, their outstanding net investment in government securities and corporate bonds was $72.76 billion. Out of this, $41.59 billion or over 57 per cent has come since the Modi government’s taking over on May 26, 2014 — a period marked by relatively low inflation, fiscal conserva...

Business Line, September 21, 2017 Here’s a warning that public sector banks (PSBs) and their owners — the government — need to sit up and take notice. Private sector banks (PVBs) will increasingly eat into PSBs’ market-share on the advances front, going by credit rating agency ICRA’s assessment. The agency has assessed that the market share of PVBs in banking sector advances is expected to increase to about 40 per cent by FY 2020 from 27.5 per cent as on March 31, 2017. According to ICRA, this increase in PVBs’ market-share is after considering the capital constraints of PSBs, and assuming an incremental market-share of 80 per cent for PVBs and a credit growth of 7-9 per cent for the banking sector during FY 2018-2020. Incremental credit PVBs had an almost 100 per cent share in the incremental bank credit in the trailing twelve months (TTM) at the end of Q1 (April-June) FY18, said ICRA. Karthik Srinivasan, Group Head Financial Sector Ratings, ICRA, opined that the Ind...