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October 10, 2017 6:10 AM Naveen Jindal-led Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) has sold its two oxygen plants,  located in its integrated steel units in Raigarh and Angul and having 3,638 tonne per day capacity, to Srei Equipment Finance for `1,121 crore to part fund its debt obligation which stood at around `45,500 crore as on June-end. At the same time, the debt-laden firm has also entered into a leaseback agreement with the Kolkata-based company to run the two oxygen plants for continued operations of the steel manufacturing units. “The divestment of oxygen plant assets is a significant development to make JSPL an asset-light company so as to further enhance the inherent cost efficiencies,” said JSPL CEO (steel business) Naushad N Ansari in a release. Though Srei Equipment Finance will be the owner of the oxygen units, JSPL will continue to manage these plants. Jindal has been talking on divesting its non-core assets to pare debt for sometime now. The divestment

October 10, 2017 5:57 AM As the domestic solar manufacturing sector battles the Chinese industry for market share, discovery of low solar tariffs are putting additional pressure on Indian equipment makers. Ashish Khanna, executive director and CEO,  Tata  Power Solar, believes that investment in technology to offer better quality products to clients is one way to tackle the situation. The company recently spent more than Rs100 crore on modernisation of its Bangalore facility. The company increased its revenue by more than two-and-a-half times in two years to reach Rs 2,262 crore. In an interview with Anupam Chatterjee, Khanna spoke on various issues. Excerpts: How can Indian solar panel manufacturers confront the increasing penetration of Chinese players? By the end of this year, Donald Trump is expected to announce a decision about American solar manufacturing. Europe also has some protective domestic policies. It is not easy for Indian manufacturers to export solar

October 10, 2017 6:01 AM Ekart Logistics, the logistic arm of  Flipkart , has allocated Rs 3,000 crore for investments and acquisitions, recent filings with the Registrar of Companies show. The development comes just days after Singapore-based group firm Klick2Shop Logistics Services International infused `641 crore into Ekart, which is being run by Instakart Services. Ekart Logistics earlier this year suspended the customer-to-customer courier service within months of its launch. It also halted its hyper-local delivery services that were piloted in Bengaluru last year. Ekart was acquired by Flipkart from WS Retail, a primary seller on its marketplace, and is being run by a group entity, Instakart Services, since 2015. Besides offering core e-commerce services such as third-party logistics services to other e-commerce players , it also provides warehousing and fulfillment facilities to retail sellers. Reference: Reference: http://www.financialexpre

Anushree Bhattacharyya  and  Hita Gupta  | New Delhi |  Published: October 10, 2017 5:47 AM Each government scheme, then, is free to dip into this list to come up with a list of beneficiaries depending upon the criterion it wishes to use. Paytm E-commerce, which operates Paytm Mall, reported a total loss of Rs 13.6 crore in the first seven months of operations ended March 31, 2017, according to company’s filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). In 2016, three separate businesses were carved out of the parent company, One97 Communications. The businesses were Paytm Wallet, Paytm Payments Bank and Paytm  e-commerce.  The company incurred Rs 12.4 crore in employee benefit expenses, which contributed 60% of the total expenses of Rs 21 crore. In an email response, a Paytm Mall Spokesperson said, “These are the initial years for Paytm Mall and we have a long-term perspective on building a successful tech business. We will help customers receive the same trusted retail exper

Oct 10, 2017, 02.00 AM IST  The road transport and highways ministry’s ambitious programme to construct 44 economic corridors at a cost of Rs 5 lakh crore is likely to get the Cabinet’s approval soon.  The project involves construction of 24,000 km of new highways, as well as feeder routes alongside these roads. It is aimed at faster movement of cargo, along with developing multimodal logistics hubs and parks on the periphery of major commercial centres. “We have sent it (the proposal) to the Cabinet for approval. The nod is expected soon,” a senior road ministry official said.  Around 80% of the total work would be government-funded engineering procurement and construction (EPC) projects, the official said. The remaining would be undertaken as public-private partnerships under the hybrid annuity model. The government will spend more than Rs 4 lakh crore on its own on the project in the next five years.  In a recent interview with ET, road transport and highways minis

Madhvi Sally Oct 10, 2017, 02.03 AM IST  The country is headed for good rabi season despite below normal monsoon rains, thanks to a surge of rainfall in the last week of September that replenished soil moisture, agriculture secretary Shobhana K Pattanayak has said. The late rains will benefit planting of rabi crops such as wheat and chana, Pattanayak said on Thursday.  “We are expecting a very good rabi season, so that should make up for all the minuses which has been ascribed for kharif,” he said. The season's total rainfall for the country is 5% below normal, but it will not make any impact on planting that will begin in a fortnight, he said.  Most parts of northwest and central India received deficit rainfall, but farmers in Punjab and Haryana have access to canal irrigation that helps them plant even if rainfall is scanty.  Pattanayak attributed his confidence on rabi harvest to an extended monsoon. “It (Monsoon) is now in withdrawal phase but still not comple

October 10, 2017 1:47 am Stating that the status of the energy sector in India was “highly uneven”, Prime Minister  Narendra Modi  on Monday hinted at further reforms in many areas in the sector. At an interaction here with oil and gas CEOs and experts from across the world, he also recognized the need for a comprehensive energy policy. “Now with this liberalised regime India offers around $300 billion investment opportunity in the next 10 years in the oil and gas sector. We want investors, both domestic and global, who can bring in the best technology and capital,” petroleum minister  Dharmendra  Pradhan had told the gathering during the meeting. Speaking to reporters later, Pradhan added that the prime minister urged the industry players to have more investments to have both vertical and horizontal growth in the sector. According to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), FDI inflows into India’s petroleum and natural gas sector between April 2000 and June

New Delhi |  Updated: October 10, 2017 6:43 am Former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, whose son Karti is facing a CBI probe over graft charges in connection with Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance for a media house, told the Supreme Court on Monday that the BJP-led government has been carrying on a “politically motivated vendetta” against him and his son since it assumed office. “Since the NDA government came to power, the central government has been carrying on a politically motivated vendetta against my family and, especially, my son. The agencies of the central government have not spared the friends of the first respondent (Karti) or even persons remotely connected with him,” Chidambaram said in an affidavit. The court is seized of plea by the CBI challenging a Madras High Court order staying the Look Out Circular (LOC) against Karti and others in the case which relates to FIPB clearance for INX Media when Chidambaram was finance minister. The Congre

Oct 09, 2017, 01.35 PM IST  Kailash Satyarthi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for waging a peaceful struggle to protect children from being exploited as labour, assured them today that he would make all efforts to ensure their safety.  He urged the children in Jammu and Kashmir to stay away from violence, and said "together, we will win this battle". Without naming separatists and militants active in the Valley, he asked them not use children to achieve their goals. "Children...can achieve everything with education. They are your children and our children too," he said. Satyarthi is on a Bharat Yatra to spread awareness about crimes against children. Last week, he held several programmes in Uttar Pradesh. He had begun his Yatra from Kanyakumari. In Srinagar, he addressed students drawn from various schools. "I will knock the doors of governments in Delhi and in Srinagar. Tell them to allow children to study and rise as high as they can,"

Oct 09, 2017, 01.08 PM IST  The Delhi High Court today granted six-months time to the Centre to look into accounts of political parties, including the Congress and the BJP, for traces of foreign funds.  A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar gave the "last opportunity" to the Ministry of Home Affairs for compliance of its 2014 judgement, in which the high court had found both parties flouting the norms of the FCRA by accepting donations from Indian subsidiaries of UK-based VedantaBSE -2.32 % Resources.  Section 4 of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) prohibits a political party or legislature from accepting foreign contributors. On March 28, 2014, the high court had ordered the Election Commission and the Ministry of Home Affairs to look into the accounts of political parties and take action within six months. However, MHA represented by central government's standing counsel Monika Arora, sought extension

Shyamlal Yadav  | New Delhi |  Updated: October 10, 2017 7:06 am Every bank has been told that it will be your responsibility to ensure that wherever you have a branch, you have to give loans to two persons in the area — a youth who is a Dalit or an Adivasi, and a woman — to help them start a new enterprise, new business. That’s what Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the launch of the Stand Up India initiative in Noida on April 5, 2016. Records show that 17 months after this assurance, barely six per cent of the 1.3 lakh bank branches have provided Stand Up India loans to Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe individuals. And less than 25 per cent of the branches have provided loans to women in the general category. This is according to data on loans obtained from the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, by The Indian Express under the Right to Information Act. According to the data received, 21 public sector commercial banks, 42 regional rural banks and nine pr

Oct 09, 2017, 07.33 PM IST  All NGOs, which receive foreign donations, have been directed by the home ministry to register themselves with a platform offered by the Niti Aayog to ensure better transparency, efficiency and accountability.  In a notification, the ministry said that existing NGOs, which were registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, and those which are seeking registration or prior permission or accepting foreign contributions are required to register with the DARPAN portal of the Niti Aayog  The portal enables NGOs to enroll centrally and thus facilitates creation of a repository of information about NGOs sector-wise. It facilitates NGOs to obtain a system generated unique ID as when signed.  The NGOs were directed to register with the DARPAN with necessary information such as organisation PAN, email, mobile number and name of chief functionary as mandated in the portal to generate a unique identification number.  "Please note t

Oct 10, 2017, 01.44 AM IST The central government has started an internal exercise to ascertain merger candidates from among the public sector banks (PSBs). The move comes as state-run lenders are yet to approach the finance ministry with their consolidation plans. A senior government official, while confirming the internal exercise, said the final decision will be taken by banks after commercial considerations. At present, there are 21 state-run lenders including the State Bank of IndiaBSE -1.97 %, the country’s largest. “We are just looking at all the options and their viability. If banks ask us, we will suggest to them what our findings have been but it is for the banks to initiate the process,” he said, adding that that the exercise will also help identify any other impediments or legal issues that may delay the process. Under the Bank Nationalisation Act 1969, there are provisions allowing such mergers. However, such decisions must be approved by Parliament. To speed up the proc

 Oct 09, 2017, 08.38 PM IST The Supreme Court today asked the government to take action against those foreign accounting firms which are operating in India and found violating the law in any manner. A bench, comprising Justices A K Goel and U U Lalit, was informed by the Centre that they were taking action against the firms which were violating the provisions of the Companies Act "Rule of law has to be established. You (government) see whether law is violated or not and take action. If you are taking action, nothing is required to be said by us. We are not looking into individual matters," the bench said. "If the state is looking into it, we do not think we have to give any directions," the court said. It, however, said that it would hear all the objections raised by the respective parties in the matter as it cannot "brush aside the objections" without hearing them. "We will consider everybody's objection. We are open to decide all the objection

By Debjit Chakraborty, Dhwani Pandya and Saket Sundria  Oct 09, 2017, 07.04 PM IST  Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil giant has “mega investment” plans for the world’s fastest growing oil market, according to Saudi Arabian Oil Co.’s chief executive officer. The company, popularly known as Saudi Aramco, plans to create a fully integrated business in India and is interested in partnering with Indian companies, including in a planned large refinery project on India’s west coast, CEO Amin Nasser said in New Delhi on Monday. “India has all the signs of a prosperous economy that is on the move. This is a market of investment priority and not a choice anymore,” Nasser said at the Indian Energy Forum by CERAWeek. “We have a number of partners with whom we are going to have serious discussions.” Saudi Arabia has been edged out as the top oil supplier to India amid an intensifying race among producers to retain their most-prized markets. India, which imports about 80 percent of its crude re