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Rediff.com, October 10,2017 This flight of capital began in early August due to risk-aversion created first by rising geopolitical tensions due to North Korean aggression and second by the US Fed’s decision to shrink its balance sheet. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have pulled out over $3.2 billion from the domestic stock market in the September quarter (data till September 28). Other emerging markets (EMs), including South Korea ($2.8 billion), Indonesia and Taiwan (at $2.1 billion each) and South Africa ($1.4 billion), too, saw pull-back by foreign investors, lower pace, according to the Bloomberg data as on September 29. This flight of capital began in early August due to risk-aversion created first by rising geopolitical tensions due to North Korean aggression and second by the US Federal Reserve’s decision to shrink its balance sheet, which caused the US dollar to appreciate against most global currencies. As mentioned, the sell-off was more pronounced i...

The Hindu, PTI, October 10,2017 The IT industry is looking at adjusting the talent pool, considering major hiring in junior and mid levels while contemplating layoffs in the senior slab Indian IT professionals are likely to see reduced job opportunities in the next six months as traditional roles are increasingly getting disrupted in the wake of automation and digitisation according to a survey. Experis IT Employment Outlook Survey released on Tuesday by Experis IT-ManpowerGroup India says that IT hiring intentions will further slacken between October 2017—March 2018. The IT industry is looking at adjusting the talent pool, considering major hiring in junior and mid levels while contemplating layoffs in the senior slab, the survey of 500 Indian IT employers across India has said. “The collective number of layoffs that the IT giants are contemplating is way higher than what the Indian IT industry has ever witnessed and this trend is likely to continue for the next ...

The Hindu, New Delhi, PTI, October 10,2017 Biotechnology firm Biocon on Tuesday said the United States health regulator has issued complete response letter (CRL) for proposed biosimilar Pegfilgrastim, indicated for use in cancer treatment. The company, however said it does not expect this CRL to impact the commercial launch timing of biosimilar Pegfilgrastim in the U.S. This product is a part of the biosimilars portfolio being developed jointly by Biocon and Mylan. “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration [USFDA] has issued a complete response letter for Mylan’s Biologics License Application (BLA) for MYL-1401H, a proposed biosimilar pegfilgrastim,” Biocon said in a regulatory filing. It said: “The CRL relates to the pending update of the BLA with certain CMC [Chemistry and Manufacturing Control ] data from facility requalification activities post recent plant modifications. The CRL did not raise any questions on biosimilarity, pharmacokinetic/ pharmacodynamic data,...

The Hindu, Bengaluru, October 10,2017 The centre will complement the bank’s existing GBS centres in China, India and Malaysia which collectively provide employment opportunities to 19,000 people Standard Chartered Bank on Tuesday opened its global business services centre in Bengaluru to deliver support, client due diligence and advisory services for corporate and institutional banking customers using the latest technologies in data, robotics and software development. “The centre in Bengaluru will also house the bank’s global centres of excellence in specialised areas including data analytics, anti-money laundering, financial crime surveillance and financial control,” Kwan Chee Sun, Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Business Services Private, said. “This will enable the bank to achieve numerous benefits including efficiency gains and economies of scale in transaction monitoring, centralised client due diligence and the co-location of specialised risk manag...

The Hindu, Varghese K George, Washington,  October 11, 2017 It also lowers the country’s growth for 2018 to 7.4%, 0.3 percentage points less than its previous two projections in July and April. India’s economic growth for 2017 and 2018 will be slower than earlier projections, the International Monitory Fund (IMF) said in its latest World Economic Outlook released on Tuesday. The report cited “lingering impact” of demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax for the expected slow down during the current and the next year.   The IMF projected India to grow at 6.7% in 2017 and 7.4% in 2018, which are 0.5 and 0.3 percentage points less than the projections earlier this year, respectively.   India’s slowdown is happening while the world economy is picking up steam and is projected to grow faster than earlier calculations, in 2017 and 2018. The IMF has revised upwards “global growth projections to 3.6% for this year and 3.7% for next — in both case...

The Economic Times, Bloomberg,Shruti Srivastava | Updated: Oct 10, 2017, India is reviving attempts to overhaul its half-century-old direct tax laws as it looks to increase the share of collections from the lowest in a decade.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is working to ensure that tax payers don’t need to submit multiple returns and have quicker options of redress should a dispute arise, said people familiar with the matter. A new bill will probably be ready by early 2018 for stakeholder comments, they said, asking not to be identified citing rules on speaking with the media. About 10 trillion rupees ($153 billion) -- some 63 percent of India’s annual budgeted revenue or the size of Qatar’s economy -- are locked in litigation due to byzantine tax rules and varying interpretations. Costly compliance and loopholes keep about 99 percent of the population outside the income tax net, making India one of the worst places in the world if you are a tax paye...

The Economic Times, Reuters| Oct 10, 2017, MUMBAI: Indian banks' sour loans hit a record 9.5 trillion rupees ($145.56 billion) at the end of June, unpublished data shows, suggesting Asia's third-largest economy is no nearer to bringing its bad debt problems under control.  A review of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data obtained through right-to-information requests shows banks' total stressed loans - including non-performing and restructured or rolled over loans - rose 4.5 percent in the six months to end-June. In the previous six months they had risen 5.8 percent.  While banks remain the main source of funding for India's companies, the stubborn bad debt problem has eaten into bank profits and choked off new lending, especially to smaller firms, at a time when an economy that depends on them is stalling.  India grew at its slowest pace in three years in April-June - a concern for the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who faces elections in ...

The Times of India, Reuters | Updated: Oct 10, 2017,  LONDON: Offering kidnapped women and girls to jihadist fighters as sex slaves or wives helps militant groups lure and retain members, while sex trafficking can bankroll their extremist operations, a UK-based think-tank said on Monday. Groups such as Boko Haram in Nigeria and Islamic State in Syria and Iraq may resort more to such practices as they lose ground militarily, the Henry Jackson Society said in its report. "Propaganda on sexual slavery serves as an incentive for new recruits and foreign fighters, with the promise of wives and sex slaves acting as a 'pull factor'," researcher Nikita Malik said in the report. "Religious elements are infused into sexual violence practices to skirt around the moral wrongdoing of rape," she said. Since it began its insurgency in 2009, Islamist militants Boko Haram have abducted thousands of girls and women in northeast Nigeria - most notably the m...