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Business Standard,  October 17, 2017 When a naturally fiery orator like Narendra Modi turns to something as dull as PowerPoint to explain himself, you know he has a problem. That’s what Mr. Modi did recently in an hourlong address to an institute for company secretaries, amid growing doubts about the Indian prime minister’s vaunted skills as an economic administrator. Mr. Modi’s performance was characteristically confident, but also oddly bristly. He attacked critics who “take pleasure in spreading pessimism” as forcefully as he defended his government’s economic record. Drawing from the Mahabharata, Mr. Modi likened naysayers to a character known for constantly running down one of the ancient epic’s heroic figures. The speech came after a triple-barreled assault on the government by eminences associated with Mr. Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Their onslaught began last month with Subramanian Swamy, a Harvard-trained economist and senior BJP leader. In a te

Financial Express October 17, 2017, New Delhi The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) on Monday signed an agreement with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) for an investment of $1 billion, sealing the first major deal since it was set up close to two years ago. As part of the pact, ADIA will become the first institutional investor in NIIF’s Master Fund and a shareholder in the NIIF’s investment management company. Six domestic institutional investors — HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company, HDFC Asset Management Company, Housing Development Finance Corporation, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance and Axis Bank — will also join the NIIF Master Fund along with ADIA and the government, the finance ministry said in a statement. The deal follows an earlier memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the finance ministry and the UAE government to mobilise long-term investment into NIIF. India had also signed MoUs with Qatar

The Economic Times, Yogima Seth October 17, 2017, New Delhi The government has drafted an ambitious Rs 1.2 lakh crore plan to provide universal social security coverage for the poorest fifth of the country as part of a bigger scheme that’s being planned for all individuals.  This broader programme envisages three categories — the poorest 20%, who will get a government payout; those who subscribe on their own and formal sector workers who will need to set aside a fixed proportion of income toward the scheme.  The labour ministry, which has drawn up the proposal, will soon send it to the finance ministry for vetting and funding with the intent of rolling it out next year as a compulsory scheme that could well form a key welfare platform ahead of the next general election. The scheme will have two tiers. The first of these comprises mandatory pension, insurance (both death and disability) and maternity coveragescheme and the second, optional medical, sickness and unempl

The Hindu, Kallol Bhattacherjee October 16, 2017 Urging India to respect reciprocal privileges, diplomats posted in New Delhi have complained to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) that the new GST regime altered the tax-exempt status of the foreign missions. The change of status and other issues were addressed at a workshop organised by the MEA recently, even as the ambassadors complained that the GST regime threatened the confidential nature of diplomacy. “Pre-GST, diplomats based in India were entitled to tax-exemption at the point of purchase of goods. Post-GST tax exemption status is altered as now missions have to pay tax first and claim it later from the Government of India. This process increases office work and multiplies avoidable expenditure,” said Ambassador of Mali Niankoro Yeah Samake, who explained that the tax exempt status of diplomatic missions is part of the reciprocal system that Indian missions enjoy abroad. Ambassador Samake explained that t

Business Line, Palak Shah October 16, 2017, Mumbai The DCB Bank counter is being probed by market regulator SEBI for alleged insider trading and front running. Source close to the regulator told BusinessLine that the probe is primarily linked to the period around October 2015 when DCB Bank shares had suffered a severe crash. During the second quarter results in October 2015, DCB announced an ambitious target for branch expansion to 300 from around 150 in the coming years and even said it would double its employee headcount to over 5,000 from 3,700. But to the surprise of many, the bank proactively issued a warning that such an aggressive expansion plan would affect its ROA (return of assets) and profitability. Soon after the announcement, DCB shares hit the lower circuit of 20 per cent. From around ₹140 at the start of October, DCB shares had crashed to ₹80 by the end of the month without any meaningful broader market move. The share price had nearly doubled to ₹150 i

The Economic Times, Himanshi Dhawan October 16, 2017 ,New Delhi NEW DELHI: More than 80% of New Delhi's tap water is contaminated by plastic microfibres, new research has shown. This is the third highest contamination rate in the world after the US (New York and Washington DC) and Beirut, Lebanon. These findings are part of a study conducted after testing 150 samples of tap water collected by news website Orb Media from five continents.  Though many in Delhi's well-off circles do not use tap water for drinking, large swathes of the capital's population have no access to safe drinking water.  Research found the US had the highest contamination at 94%. Plastic fibres were found in samples taken from various sites, including the Congress buildings and Trump Tower in New York. Beirut was marginally behind at 93% followed by India at 82%. European nations, including UK, Germany and France, had the lowest contamination rate of 72%.  These microscopic fragmen

The Economic Times October 16,2017 Former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy said today he will take legal steps to secure a copy of the judicial commission report on the 2013 multi-crore solar scam, which had rocked the state under the previous Congress-led UDF government headed by him. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's stand that a copy of the Justice G Sivarajan Commission report cannot be given before it was tabled in the state assembly was "unfortunate", Chandy told reporters here. "I am not asking for the report on the presumption that it will be favourable to us ... Only if we get a copy of the report, we will know what allegations have been made against us, the circumstantial evidence and statements on the basis of which the government had decided to proceed against us," he said. The report was necessary to "factually evaluate" the commission's findings and government decision based on it, he added. Indicating that

Economic Times October 16, 2017, New Delhi Mandava Prabhakar Rao has become a headache for one of the world's biggest agri-biotech firms, Monsanto. The owner of India’s largest hybrid seed company Nuziveedu Seeds Ltd (NSL) has taken on the global biggie for long.  His royalty dispute with Monsanto, which is now being bought by Bayer, has propelled him to headlines.  While Monsanto has settled the royalty dispute with several other Indian firms, Rao refuses to compromise. NSL said on Saturday it would not settle a long-standing intellectual property dispute with  Monsanto  over genetically modified (GM) cotton.  However, a Monsanto spokesman told Reuters that NSL had already collected the royalty fee from India's cotton farmers and instead of honouring the mutually agreed bilateral contract, it continued to default on payments rightfully due to MMB, Monsanto's Indian joint venture.  Rao was recently re-elected for the third time as the head of Natio

The Hindu-Business line, Rajiv Kumar October 16, 2017,New Delhi NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar has pitched for fiscal stimulus to boost growth with a rider that additional expenditure should be used only for increasing productivity and capital expenditure. Faced with slowing economic growth, the industry has been clamouring for a stimulus package from the government. “I do see a case for stimulus,” Kumar told PTI in an interview. He added however that additional expenditure should be used judiciously. Kumar’s comments come amid Finance Minister Arun Jaitley saying that he has not promised any fiscal stimulus, but would respond to the emerging situation. “I have not used that phrase (fiscal stimulus). I said, we will respond to situations and your fraternity translated the word respond as meaning stimulus. So you are the ones who should be answering and not me,” the Minister told reporters in Washington yesterday in response to a question. Jaitley’s r

Money Control, Shreya Nandi October 16, 2017 , India  India's wholesale inflation moderated to 2.60 percent in September, aided by softening food prices, although a sharp surge in onion prices, ahead of the festival season can pinch households’ kitchen budget. In August, wholesale inflation stood at 3.24 percent in August and 1.36 percent in September 2016. Wholesale inflation rate, measured by WPI, is a marker for price movements in bulk buys for traders and broadly mirrors trends in shop-end prices. Latest price data released by the commerce ministry today showed that food prices, especially wheat, pulses, potatoes minerals and oilseeds continued to fall. However, prices of onion—a key ingredient used in Indian kitchen--witnessed nearly 80 percent jump in September as compared with a contraction (-)76.58 percent during the same period a year ago. Heavy rains in Maharashtra and Karnataka has led to a demand-supply mismatch of onions, resulting in higher pri

The Hindu, Una Galani October 15, 2017 Recapitalisation bonds may return India is eyeing a circular solution to fix its banking mess. New Delhi might revive so-called “recapitalisation bonds”, which it used back in the 1990s. This makes sense given that banks are flush with deposits after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ban on big banknotes. New Delhi will recapitalise its banks in the next few months, senior finance ministry official Sanjeev Sanyal said last week. He added that options included a mix of reducing the government’s stakes to 52%, a direct cash injection, and recapitalisation bonds. Local banks need as much as $65 billion by 2019 to meet Basel III standards, Fitch Ratings reckons. With valuations below book value for most state banks, the government could raise barely $6 billion by reducing its stake in around 20 lenders. Nor does New Delhi have much cash to deploy in direct injections, since it is already stretched to meet a 3.2% fiscal-deficit target.

The Times Of India, Naomi Cantoni TNN October 16, 2017, London Delhi has been named as the worst megacity in the world for sexual violence against women, in a poll conducted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. In the first survey of its kind, Delhi has gained the dubious distinction of being the worst megacity when it comes to women feeling at risk of rape, harassment and sexual attacks. The city is already known as the 'rape capital' of India. The survey was conducted in 19 of the world's biggest megacities (as ranked by the United Nations) between June and July 2017. The latest survey comes just months before the five-year anniversary of the Nirbhaya gang rape. of the Nirbhaya gang rape. Delhi, the world's second-most populous city, with an estimated 26.5 million population, was ranked in the survey as the worst megacity in the world for rape, sexual attacks and harassment of women alongside Brazil's Sao Paulo. Delhi was ranked the fourth most d

The Telegraph, Jayanta Roy Chowdhury October 17, 2017, Dhaka A flood of Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh threatens to hold captive India's efforts to cobble together a Bimstec free trade pact which would cover nations with combined GDP of over $3 trillion. "We all have our geopolitical considerations, but this (Rohingya exodus to Bangladesh) has strong ramifications for the security of our region. If we don't work jointly on it... I fear it may undo some of the good work that has happened over the years," warned Gowher Rizvi, the international affairs adviser to the Bangladesh Prime Minister at the Track-II India-Bangladesh security dialogue held here last week. Around 5.2 lakh Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh's Cox Bazar area from Myanmar's Rakhine province in the last two months after the Myanmar army began a crackdown on the community following a surprise raid on a large number of military and police posts in the remote border prov