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Hindustan Times,  March 04, 2019 Pakistani authorities detected 8,707 suspicious financial transactions last year in the country’s banking system, an increase of almost 57% over the previous year, at a time when the country is facing growing pressure from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for failing to curb terror financing. The Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU), Pakistan’s central agency for probing information related to money laundering and terror financing, issued 8,707 suspicious transaction reports (STRs) last year, as against 5,548 STRs in 2017. A total of 1,136 STRs were issued in January and February alone, Dawn newspaper reported on Monday. During a recent meeting, authorities reported to PM Imran Khan that terror financing is a serious issue from a global perspective, and it is in Pakistan’s interest to “put its house in order”, the report said. At its plenary meeting in Paris last month, FATF said Pakistan has made limited progress in curbing terror financ

Business Line March 03, 2019 Six cities across the country have been selected as “live laboratories” for a pilot project under which 1,000 houses will be built using innovative technologies that are low-cost, sustainable and disaster-resistant, according to a senior official of the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry. On the sidelines of the Construction Technology India - 2019 (CTI-2019) Expo-cum-conference here, HUA Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra told media that 54 Proven Technology Providers with 32 new technologies from 25 countries were evaluated by the Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) at the exposition. “Six cities have been identified to serve as live laboratories for the Lighthouse project. These are Rajkot (Gujarat), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Agartala (Tripura) and Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh),” he said. Mishra said that technology adoption will happen in other States and Union Territories, as well. Construction Over the

Business Line,  March 03, 2019 France, which assumed the March Presidency of the United Nations Security Council, has reiterated its support for  India  as the permanent member of the powerful UN organ, saying the UNSC's enlargement is the "first crucial part" towards its reform. India  has been calling for the reform of the  UN Security Council  along with Brazil, Germany and  Japan  for long, emphasising that it rightly deserves a place at the UN high table as a permanent member. France, a veto-wielding permanent member of the 15-nation Security Council, last month moved a fresh proposal in the UNSC along with the US and the UK to designate Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. Reiterating its support for India, Germany and  Japan  as permanent members of an expanded Council, France said that enlargement of the powerful UN organ in both permanent and non-permanent categories is the "first crucial

Financial Express March 03, 2019 Business magnate  Mukesh Ambani  seems to be developing a penchant for partnering with startups. Textile-to-telecom giant Reliance Industries has now entered into agreements to acquire two startups, first, last mile logistics delivery service Grab A Grub and second, software services firm C-Square Info Solutions. Around a week back, it had entered into agreements to acquire three startups – language localisation technology platform Reverie Language Technologies, software-as-a-service startup Easygov, software simulation services company SankhyaSutra Labs, according to regulatory filings and media reports. The acquisitions follow Ambani’s plan to enter around $36 billion India’s e-commerce market dominated by foreign rivals such as  Amazon  and Walmart. During an event in Gujarat in January this year, Ambani had announced plans of launching an e-commerce venture that would leverage its near 300 million Jio customers and 10,000 outlets of its re

Financial Express  March 03, 2019 Given how RJio is grabbing market share so aggressively, it is easy to dismiss Vodafone Global CEO Nick Read’s comments on the telecom regulator’s (Trai) decisions hurting all telcos except RJio as typical of a loser. But it is not just Read, Trai is accused of bias by the appellate tribunal (TDSAT) and the Supreme Court. And telecom’s highest policy-making body, the Telecom Commission (TC), has also found fault with Trai on many occasions; TC has asked Trai to explain how it reached the conclusions it had on spectrum pricing—the higher the reserve price, the more it hits telcos who are not as cash-rich as RJio—but Trai refused to do so. One of the issues raised by the older telcos was Trai’s sharp 57% cut in IUC levies. While Trai had justified this by arguing that newer-generation networks—like RJio’s—had lower termination costs, this made little sense since India had legacy networks as well. While the telcos’ challenge to this is pending b

The Economic Times March 04, 2019 NEW DELHI:  India  is set to sign a $3-billion deal with  Russia  this week to lease another nuclear attack submarine that will be customised and fitted with indigenous communications systems and sensors.  The deal for the  Akula class submarine  — dubbed  Chakra III  after the first two similar vessels India obtained from Russia — will be the biggest signed with Moscow since the $5.5-billion contract for the S-400 air defence system was finalised last year.  Sources told ET that the intergovernmental agreement for the submarine lease is likely to be inked on March 7 and that the vessel will be ready by 2025 after an extensive building programme on mothballed hulls at a Russian shipyard.  CHAKRA II LEASE MAY BE EXTENDED   The Chakra III will be in service for at least 10 years and will replace the Chakra II that was obtained under similar conditions in 2012. It is believed that the lease of the Chakra II, which is to expire in 20

Business Line March 03, 2019 President Ram Nath Kovind has given his assent to an Ordinance that allows voluntary use of Aadhaar as ID proof for obtaining mobile SIM cards and opening bank accounts. The Ordinance — necessitated because the Rajya Sabha could not approve a Bill after its passage by the Lok Sabha — was promulgated on Saturday. Last week, the Cabinet approved the promulgation of an Ordinance to give effect to changes proposed in Aadhaar and two others legislations. The amendments provide for stiff penalties for violation of norms set for the use of Aadhaar and violation of privacy. It bans storing of core biometric information as well as Aadhaar number by service providers in cases of individuals who have voluntarily offered the national ID as a means of authentication. The ordinance gives effect to the changes in the Aadhaar Act such as giving a child an option to exit from the biometric ID programme on attaining 18 years of age. The amendments make it cle

Business Line March 03, 2019 India has insisted that larger developing countries should also be extended flexibilities at the fisheries negotiations of the World Trade Organisation that would allow them to retain some subsidy programmes important for small-scale fishers. “At a recent meeting on fisheries subsidies, India said it was getting a sense that the rhetoric that larger developing countries should give more commitments was having a bearing on the fisheries subsidies negotiation and should be avoided,” according to a government official. Some developed countries have been insisting at the WTO that larger developing countries like India and China should not continue to get special & differential treatment but India and many others have said it would go against the body’s original mandate. At the fisheries meeting, India said members should “be true to the mandate” and ensure that special and differential treatment be built into the fisheries subsidies agreement

Business Line March 03, 2019 The Commodity Derivatives Advisory Committee has urged market regulator SEBI to take up the issue of GST on companies associated with delivery on the exchange platform, with the GST Council. The advisory committee wants sellers on the exchange platform to issue integrated GST (IGST) so that the buyers can set off the credit in totality. In most cases, GST is currently split between Central and State GST. For instance, when a seller registered for GST in Rajasthan gives delivery of goods to a buyer from Uttar Pradesh on the exchange platform, the buyer cannot set off State GST paid to the Rajasthan government in Uttar Pradesh. To work a way out, the seller in this case has to register for GST in Uttar Pradesh and issue a separate bill to the buyer. This process is practically impossible as the seller cannot open offices in every buyer’s location. It leads to unnecessary cost for maintaining office at different locations and filing four quarterly

Hindustan Times March 03, 2019 Niti Aayog has been tasked with drawing up a list of non-core assets of various CPSEs, both healthy and sick ones, as a first step towards finance ministry’s plan to monetise such assets and unlock value to shareholders. This is part of the overall plans of the government to lay down procedure and mechanism for monetisation of non-core assets of central public sector undertakings (CPSEs), which include mainly land and building. “Niti Aayog will draw up the list of non-core assets owned by CPSEs which can be sold separately after discussion with a consultative group comprising officials from administrative ministries, Department of Economic Affairs, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM),” an official told PTI. The process would take about six months’ time, the official added. The report of Niti Aayog will be taken up by the alternative mechanism on disinvestment, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, following

Business Line March 02, 2019 Germany’s car industry is to invest nearly 60 billion euros ($68 billion) over the next three years on electric cars and automated driving, the head of the VDA car industry association said ahead of the Geneva motor show. “We will invest over 40 billion euros in electric mobility during the next three years, and another 18 billion euros will be invested in digitisation and connected and automated driving,” VDA president Bernhard Mattes said in a statement on Saturday. The range of electric car models from German manufacturers would treble to around 100 in that period, he said. The Geneva International Motor Show, where manufacturers showcase their latest models and concepts, runs from March 7 to 17. “The ramp-up of electric mobility is coming in Europe,” Mattes said. “Without it, the EU’s CO2 targets cannot be achieved by 2030,” he added, calling for what he called appropriate regulatory conditions across Europe. Germany, together with a

Business Line March 04, 2019 With less than one month left in the current financial, banks will have to work overtime to meet the Mudra loan lending target of Rs 3 trillion, as only about Rs 2 trillion have been disbursed till February 22. As on February 22, the total loan disbursed under the Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Ltd (Mudra) scheme stood at Rs 2,02,668.9 crore as against sanctioned amount of Rs 2,10,759.51 crore, said a government data. The latest data of the finance ministry said over 3.89 crore Mudra loans have been sanctioned this fiscal so far. According to the Budget 2018-19, the government intends to disburse loans of up to Rs 3 trillion in the current financial year ending March 31. In 2017-18, the lending at Rs 2,46,437.40 crore had exceeded the target. In fact, lending under the scheme has exceeded the targets in all previous fiscal. The scheme was launched on April 8, 2015, for providing loans up to 10 lakh to the non-corporate, non-farm

The Indian Express, March 03, 2019 The government has approved a Rs 14,000-crore special economic zone (SEZ) project of Adani Power in Jharkhand, which will export entire power generated to Bangladesh, an official said. The project was approved by highest decision-making body on SEZ — Board of Approval — chaired by the commerce secretary, in its meeting on February 25, the government official said. Adani Power (Jharkhand) Ltd has sought approval for setting up of sector specific SEZ for power at villages — Motia, Mali, Gaighat and adjacent villages in Godda district, Jharkhand over an area of 425 hectare. It has received formal approval for the land in possession of 222.68 hectare area and in principle approval for remaining 202.32 hectare. Two supercritical units of 800 MW each would be set up with an investment of Rs 14,000 crore which would include setting up of a water pipeline and power evacuation system. It will be ready by the end of 2022. The company has

Mint March 03, 2019 New Delhi : Five of the 10 most valued Indian firms together added  ₹ 35,503 crore in their market valuation last week, with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) topping the chart among the gainers. While  TCS ,  ITC ,  Infosys , SBI and ICICI Bank witnessed rise in their market capitalisation (m-cap) during the trading week ended Friday, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), HDFC Bank, HUL, HDFC and Kotak Mahindra Bank saw losses on the other hand. TCS saw its valuation rise by  ₹ 24,671.93 crore to  ₹ 7,47,343.7 crore, positioning at the top of the ladder among the ten blue-chip firms. ITC added  ₹ 4,328.83 crore to  ₹ 3,40,369.6 crore and Infosys valuation gained by  ₹ 3,407.55 crore to  ₹ 3,23,782.7 crore. The m-cap of SBI jumped by  ₹ 1,963.41 crore to  ₹ 2,43,597.3 crore and that of ICICI Bank rose by  ₹ 1,131.27 crore to ₹ 2,27,770.4 crore. On the other hand, the market valuation of Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) dropped by  ₹ 7,110.87 crore to  ₹ 3,75,55

Financial Express, March 03, 2019 Central Bank of India on Saturday put on the block stressed assets worth Rs 3,322 crore, including its exposure to Essar Steel India with an outstanding balance of Rs 423.61 crore, Bhushan Power & Steel (Rs 1,550.07 crore) and Alok Industries (Rs 1,251.10 crore), to be sold on a full-cash basis to any interested bank, asset reconstruction company, non-banking financial company or foreign investor. Notably, all three stressed accounts are undergoing corporate insolvency resolution proceedings. In fact, among stressed accounts currently being resolved under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, Essar Steel has witnessed the most number of lenders wanting a quick exit. Only last month, State Bank of India finally shelved its plans to sell its `1,543-crore exposure to Essar Steel amid poor response despite several extensions. Last week, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal directed its Ahmedabad bench to take a decision on Arcelor Mittal’s