Posts

Showing posts from September 27, 2018

To contain widening current account deficit: Govt raises import tariffs on 19 items

The Indian Express AAnchal Magazine, Deepak Patel September 27, 2018 The government on Wednesday increased customs duty on total 19 categories of “non-essential items” such as washing machines, refrigerators, radial tyres, and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) that saw an import of around Rs 86,000 crore in 2017-18. The hike in customs duty on these items will be effective Thursday, the Finance Ministry said in a statement. While the Centre said it had taken the decision to hike tariffs “to curb import of certain imported items” and that these changes aim at narrowing the current account deficit (CAD), analysts are of the view that the move is unlikely to have any significant impact on curtailing the size of the CAD in 2018-19. For instance, in 2017-18, ATF imports were 0.03 per cent of total imports in value terms (in US dollar). Import of washing machines of less than 10 kg and radial tyres are other categories where volumes are limited. According to the decisions, the import

PNB to seek Rs 5,431-crore fund infusion from govt

The Indian Express EANS, Economic Bureau September 27, 2018 While the earlier fund infusion was to help PNB meet minimum regulatory capital requirement, this round of capital injection will enable the lender to step up growth in lending. Punjab National Bank’s (PNB) board will meet on Thursday to seek Rs 5,431 crore capital support from the government through preferential issuance of equity shares. While the earlier fund infusion was to help PNB meet minimum regulatory capital requirement, this round of capital injection will enable the lender to step up growth in lending. The announcement by PNB comes within a day of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announcing that the government will consider state-owned banks’ request for advancement of capital infusion. “The meeting of Board of Directors of the Bank is scheduled to be held on 27th September, 2018 for considering infusion of Rs 5431 crore by Government of India by way of preferential issue of Equity share and Fix

NIA busts LeT-linked terror funding racket, arrests three

Image
The Indian Express Deeptiman Tiwary September 27, 2018 The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested three people from New Delhi for allegedly receiving terror funding from Lahore-based Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF), a front-end organisation of proscribed terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). The agency has seized around Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 43,000 in Nepali currency from the three accused, identified as Mohammed Salman, Mohammed Salim and Abdul Rashid Wani. “Salman, the key accused, was the one receiving the money. The other two are couriers. Salman is basically from Uttawar, in Mewat region of Haryana. He was into tour-taxi and dairy products businesses, but had incurred losses. Later, he visited Saudi for Umrah. He also visited Dubai a few years back where he met few Pakistani nationals and thereafter he had started getting funds through hawala,” an NIA officer said. Wani is from Kashmir and Salim hails from Delhi, sources said. The arrests

Meghalaya mulls NRC-like exercise

The Hindu PTI, September 27, 2018 State govt. to soon hold an all-party meeting on the issue.  The Meghalaya government will soon hold an all-party meeting to discuss an NRC-like exercise in the State, Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma announced in the Assembly on Wednesday. He said the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government is on the job and the State has various ways to check illegal immigration, ensuring that indigenous people are protected. Growing demand “We intended to call an all-party meeting to discuss with stakeholders before embarking on an exercise such as the NRC,” Mr. Sangma said. He was replying to a short-duration discussion on news reports that the demand for conducting an NRC-like exercise in all the Northeastern States is growing. The National Register of Citizens is a record of all legal citizens and it was created for Assam in 1951. It is being updated under the Supreme Court’s supervision with March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date for genu