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October 11, 2017 1:56 am In what will help India adopt a better mechanism for price discovery of both domestic as well as imported gas, the petroleum ministry will seek the Union Cabinet’s approval for a domestic gas trading hub. Stating this on Tuesday, petroleum minister  Dharmendra  Pradhan also said his ministry was in the process of creating an internal think-tank to assist in priority areas like foreign investment, moving towards gas-based economy, financing models, using technology and curbing hydrocarbon imports. Members of the think-tank will be Daniel Yergin (IHS Markit), Chanda Kochhar (ICICI Bank), Vijay Kelkar (economist), Dev Sanyal (BP), Ashok Belani (Schlumberger), Vijay Swarup (ExxonMobil), K V Kamath (BRICS New Development Bank), Rahul Dhir (GTI Group) and Satish Pai (Hindalco). Currently, the price of natural gas in the country is determined through a government-mandated formula that links the local price to rates prevailing in gas-surplus nations....

11 October 2017  01.13 BST Equifax has admitted that almost 700,000 UK consumers have had their personal details accessed following a cyber-attack, a figure far higher than previously thought. As well as affecting more Britons, the hack also resulted in significantly more damaging data being leaked on those who were affected. The information lost by the US credit monitoring firm included partial credit card details, phone numbers and driving licence numbers. The Information Commissioner’s Office said that it was still investigating the company, which had initially claimed just 400,000 British residents had been affected. “We continue to investigate what happened at Equifax and how UK citizen’s information came to be compromised,” an ICO spokesperson confirmed. “It is a complex and fast-moving case and we are working closely with other UK regulators and our counterparts in Canada and the US. “We have been pressing Equifax to confirm the scale and any impact on UK ci...

 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 private sector banks h...

The Economic Times,  Updated:  Oct 10, 2017,  By:  By  ECONOMICTIMES.COM The Tata Group, which founded Air India 85 years ago and was then forced to relinquish control, said it will look at bidding for the airline put up for sale by the government.  If it acquires Air India, it will be 64 years after its nationalisation.  Tata would "definitely look" at Air India once the government finalised the privatisation process, N. Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata group's holding company Tata Sons, told a TV channel, Reuters said in a report.  He said Tata, which already has two small airline joint ventures in India, one with Singapore Airlines and the other with Malaysia's AirAsia Bhd, was still not clear about what a sale would look like.  The history will come full circle with the move, underlining not only the sorry fate of government-owned enterprises but also how India's indigenous business groups refused to fade out ev...

Rediff.com, October 09, 2017,  Even the well heeled in metros find it difficult to go completely digital. Cash withdrawals from ATMs are back at the same level as they were before demonetisation. It has been 11 months since demonetisation was carried out to give India, among other things, a digital push. The results, at best, have been mixed. And, cash continues to rule. In Delhi, purchasing a 55-inch television at a prominent electronic shop in Mayur Vihar Phase 1 means a levy of 2.5 per cent for swiping the card. But, there is a cashback of five per cent. Your net benefit: 2.5 per cent. Pay in cash and the shopkeeper is happy to give you an additional five per cent discount. On a product that costs Rs 89,000, this translates into a significant saving. In Mumbai, things aren’t, too, different. Cash continues to rule at restaurants. Arya Bhavan, a popular eatery in Matunga, charges a flat fee of Rs 10 from any customer who chooses to pay by card. Says ...

The Hindu Business Line,  Updated: October 10, 2017  | Our Bureau OPEC expects India’s oil demand to increase by over 150 per cent to 10.1 million barrels per day by 2040 from around 4 million barrels per day currently. Crude oil supply from non-OPEC countries is unlikely to impact the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and it will continue to be the main supplier for consumers such as India. This was stated by OPEC’s Secretary-General, Mohammad Barkindo. He said that global oil demand growth in 2018 will remain almost flat. In 2017, the demand growth was 1.5 million barrels a day and in 2018 it will be 1.54 million barrels a day. Crude oil inventories have been declining and falling in line with production cuts by OPEC members, he said, while remaining noncommittal on pricing. Speaking to journalists at the India Energy Forum by CERAWeek, Barkindo said: “We have seen an unprecedented over 100 per cent compliance with the supply adjus...

The Hindu Business Line, October 10,2017 | Our Bureau  The government will create a 'think-tank' that will help achieve the import reduction and transition to gas economy targets. Speaking to journalists at the India Energy Forum by CERAWeek, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan said, "We are forming an internal think tank consisting of experts to advise on technology and build a successful gas network in the country. This is being formed to reduce the target set by the Prime Minister to reduce oil import dependence by 10 per cent" Pradhan said that Executive Vice President of Regions and Chief Executive of Alternative Energy at BP, Dev Sanyal, Executive vice president Technology at Schlumberger, Ashok Belani, Economist and Head of Government Committee on natural gas price, Vijay Kelkar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Bank, Chanda Kochhar will be a part of this think tank. Chief of the New Development Ban...

Rediff.com,   October 10, 2017 With the amendment, firms like EY and Deloitte can work as resolution professionals instead of only their partners enrolling as insolvency professionals. The ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) is gearing up for some crucial amendments to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) to provide more rights to individual consumers, including worried homebuyers. Other consumers who might also benefit are telecom subscribers, said sources. A senior official from the MCA said there was a bit of problem in ensuring that homebuyers receive a status equal to banks, as lenders will then become reluctant to lend to builders. The Jaypee Infratech case led to these discussions in the ministry. When the company went in for insolvency proceedings, homebuyers were left in the lurch, with no way to file their claims. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) had issued Form F, using which house owners could raise their claims. ...