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The Economic Times June 19, 2018 What do you do when you are dependent on a global power, and it ditches you when you need it the most? You decide to become self-reliant. That's what India set out to do two decades ago, and is now on the verge of accomplishment.  When Pakistani troops took positions in Kargil in 1999, one of the first things Indian military sought was global positioning system (GPS) data for the region. The space-based navigation system maintained by the US government would have provided vital informat information, but the US denied it to India. A need for an indigenous satellite navigation system was felt earlier, but the Kargil experience made the nation realise its inevitability.  Two decades later, NavIC, India's own GPS which has been developed to challenge the current GPS system of the West, is in the final stages of launch. It will soon be offered as an Indian counter to foreign systems currently being used by companies and others.“Reque...

TRIBUNE June 18, 2018 At last the dreaded commander of the banned terrorist organisation, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has been eliminated in a US-operated drone attack in Kunar province of Afghanistan, reportedly conducted on 13th June. Media reports also informed that the TTP has confirmed the killing of its chief whereas Afghan president Ashraf Ghani also echoed the reports of the killing of Fazlullah. With the killing, a very critical chapter in the history of terrorism in Pakistan has ended. Fazlullah became the TTP head in November 2013 after the death of then TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud, who was also killed in a US drone attack in Waziristan. The killing of Fazlullah hours after a day-long visit of Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Bajwa to Kabul speaks volume of the importance of cooperation — which is unfortunately quite lacking — between Kabul and Islamabad in jointly fighting the menace of cross-border terrorism. Fazlullah had been hiding in Afghanistan si...

The Mint June 18, 2019 The troubles for the ICICI Bank Ltd board go beyond appointing a successor to the incumbent chief executive Chanda Kochhar, with India’s second largest private bank struggling to retain the faith of foreign portfolio investors. At least three foreign investors, including Baillie Gifford and Co., Abu Dhabi Investment Council, Noosa, and Commonwealth Bank of Australia, have cut their shareholdings in ICICI Bank, according to filings with the stock exchange, and two executives familiar with the development. On 9 April, Baillie Gifford sold 29.4 million shares of ICICI Bank at Rs 280 apiece, while Abu Dhabi Investment Council, Noosa, sold 1.77 million shares, at Rs 289 per share on 4 June, according to the filings with the stock exchanges. In May, Commonwealth Bank of Australia sold its entire stake in ICICI Bank, said one of the executives cited above, requesting anonymity. “Foreign investors are not happy with this uncertainty over allegatio...

The Indian Express June 19, 2018 India imports around 80 per cent of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) – raw materials required to make finished drugs – from China on volume basis. This is despite the cost of manufacturing APIs being similar in India as well as China, according to a study released by commerce minister Suresh Prabhu on Monday. “Cost between India and China is highly competitive with only difference of 3 per cent i.e. in labour cost, rest remains in competition with the Indian market. Though the material, depreciation and indirect personnel cost remains the same as of India, there is an upsurge in the imports (of APIs) from China,” stated the study titled – ‘Enhancing Indian exports of pharmaceutical products to China’. According to the study, the upsurge in imports is due to following reasons: “They (Chinese companies) have huge capacities built up by the government and are now managed by the private industry. There is also significant bank suppor...

THE ECONOMIC TIMES June 18, 2018 The stage is set for intensification of attempts at public sector bank consolidation after a presentation by State Bank of India (SBINSE -1.54 %) chairman Rajnish Kumar at a recent meeting of bankers, although it isn't quite clear on who will make the first move.  Bankers and government officials told TOI that Kumar made a detailed presentation on SBI's experience with the merger of five associate banks, pointing out how there were some initial niggles during the first few months, along with heightened anxiety. But things have settled down smoothly and the positive impact is now visible.  The presentation talked about how there were apprehensions about the impact on stock of bad debt, integration and staff issues. SBI, however, saw it as a move to gain size, something that has eluded Indian banks.  While officials said lenders have started initial discussions on the long-pending consolidation efforts, with the Centre ba...

The Hindu June 18, 2018 With India becoming the biggest consumer of data, the country is leaving no page unturned to strengthen its data storage capabilities. Plans are afoot to set up the country’s fifth data centre, which is expected to be the biggest so far and to be located in Bhopal. To be undertaken by National Informatics Centre (NIC), under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), this data centre will have five lakh virtual servers, the highest so far in any centre in India. It had recently opened one of the biggest data centres in Bhubaneswar, second after the Delhi centre. The three others are in Delhi, Hyderabad and Pune. The government has spent ₹200 crore to set up the Bhubaneswar centre. According to senior officials at NIC, the land is already available through the Madhya Pradesh government and soon there will be ‘ground breaking ceremony’, and the building would be operational within the next two years. “India’s digita...

Business Standard June 18, 2018 ICICI Bank today announced that its CEO Chanda Kochhar has decided to go on leave till the completion of an external enquiry into alleged conflict of interest in extending loans to some corporates like Videocon and named Sandeep Bakhshi as the chief operating officer. Bakhshi, who has been the MD and CEO of ICICI Bank's life insurance arm, would handle "all the businesses and corporate centre functions" of the bank. His appointment is for a period of five years starting tomorrow, subject to various approvals. "All executive directors on the board of ICICI Bank and the executive management will report to him. Bakhshi will report to Chanda Kochhar, who will continue in her role as MD and CEO of ICICI Bank," the bank said in a statement In Kochhar's absence, he would report to the board. The latest development also comes in the backdrop of  Kochhar and her family members facing allegations of quid pr...

The Wire June 19, 2018 Chinese ambassador Luo Zhaohui’s push for trilateral cooperation between China, India and Pakistan under the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation umbrella was dismissed by New Delhi with a reiteration of the long-established position that India-Pakistan relations are a no-go area for third countries. On Monday, Chinese ambassador Luo Zhahohui inaugurated a seminar on “Beyond Wuhan: How far and fast can China-India relations go”, where he made the proposition which elicited an Indian rebuttal before the day ended. Noting that China-India relations have gone beyond bilateral scope, Luo said that the two sides “should continue to push forward ‘China India Plus’ cooperation”. Pivoting to the recent SCO summit, Luo noted that security cooperation was one of the three pillars of the regional group. “Some Indian friends suggested that China, India and Pakistan may have some kind of trilateral cooperation under the SCO. If a China-Russia-Mongolia trilate...

The Wire June 19, 2018 India’s telecom ministry has sought the attorney general’s (AG) opinion on its controversial decision to allot spectrum worth Rs 11.7 lakh crore in the E- and V-bands without auctions. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has sent a file to the law ministry, seeking the AG’s opinion, said sources. The decision to do so puts a curious spotlight on the current attorney general, K.K. Venugopal, who in the past has represented Vodafone in the Supreme Court when the telecom operator argued that the spectrum allocated to it should not be put up for auction. At the time, in 2015, Vodafone and other telcos were challenging a DoT order that had rejected their request for licence extension and instead asked them to obtain spectrum through auction. A Supreme Court verdict in the 2G case in 2012 makes it mandatory for the government to allot spectrum to operators only through auction. The arguments put forth by Venugopal in the Supreme Court...