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The Print March 15, 2019 Mumbai:  Shashikant Rathi, who has dominated India’s local bond underwriting business for over a decade at Axis Bank, says the industry now faces its biggest challenge since the global financial crisis. Shock defaults since last year by shadow bank IL&FS group and a new electronic bidding platform have disrupted the $108 billion market where underwriters like Rathi help companies raise money by selling debt securities. Sales of rupee corporate bonds that tend to pay the highest fees have fallen this quarter to a 2016 low. “The market is in complete chaos,” Rathi, the 41-year-old executive vice president and head of treasury and markets at Axis Bank in Mumbai, said in an interview. “I haven’t seen such a crisis since the 2008 Lehman bankruptcy.” A surprise rate cut by the central bank last month and expectations of further easing as early as April haven’t lowered funding costs much, with spreads on top-rated 10-year corporate paper near the h...

APN Live March 15, 2019 Although the move to get Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) founder and leader Azhar Masood designated as ‘global terrorist’ was blocked by China in UN Security Council, France – which had moved the proposal with UK and US – has decided to freeze his assets in its country. France said it will also raise the issue with its European partners to include Masood on the European Union (EU) list of people suspected of being involved in terrorism. Masood’s JeM had claimed responsibility for the February 14 attack in Kashmir’s Pulwama in which 40 CRPF soldiers were killed. Expressing its support for India, France said it has always been and always will be by India’s side in the fight against terrorism. France had first moved the proposal in the UNSC to list Azhar as a designated global terrorist in the wake of the Pulwama attack. The move found as many as 13 co-sponsors: aside from the US and UK among the other permanent members of the Security Council, 10 non-permanent ...

The Indian Express March 15, 2019 Citing risk to national and global reputation of India’s statistical bodies due to political interference, 108 economists and social scientists in a joint statement on Thursday appealed to all economists and statisticians to raise their voice against “the tendency to suppress uncomfortable data”. Any statistics that cast an iota of doubt on the achievement of the government seem to get revised or suppressed on the basis of some questionable methodology, the statement said, giving examples of upward revision of GDP growth rate for 2016-17, interference of NITI Aayog in GDP back series and withholding of the release of Periodic Labour Force Survey for 2017-18 by the government. They called upon economists and social scientists to “impress upon the government authorities, current and future, and at all levels, to restore access and integrity to public statistics, and re-establish institutional independence and integrity to the statistical organ...

Business Standard March 14, 2019 China's growing presence in the northern part of the Indian Ocean is a challenge for India but New Delhi is keeping a close eye on the deployment of Chinese ships and submarines in the region, Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba has said. Admiral Lanba, who is on a four-day visit to Britain, also said that no nation has invested as much as China in shipbuilding. The growing presence of the Chinese navy in the Indian Ocean where it already acquired a logistic base at Djibouti has aroused concerns in India besides acquisition of the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka on a 99-year lease. China has maritime disputes in the East China Sea with Japan and, stakes claim on 90 per cent of the South China Sea, where Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counter claims. "No nation has invested as much as China in shipbuilding. It is a challenge; we keep a close eye on their presence and deployments... it is here to stay,"...

The Hindu Business Line March 14, 2019 Palm oil emerged as a flashpoint in a potential trade war between the European Union and some of the world’s largest developing nations after the bloc imposed stricter limits on how the crop can be used in green fuels. The European Commission on Wednesday restricted the types of biofuels from palm oil that may be counted toward the EU’s renewable-energy goals and introduced a certification system. Indonesia and Malaysia, which supply 85 per cent of the crop, have warned that they are ready to retaliate against what they see as “discriminatory” rules. Palm oil prices have dropped 18 percent since the start of 2018 partly because of a campaign by environmental groups to reduce use of the crop in fuels that was endorsed by the European Parliament. The EU rules left some loopholes that will weaken the overall impact of the restrictions. Benchmark futures fell for the seventh day on Thursday, the worst streak since November. “The exemptio...

Financial Express March 14, 2019 State-owned ONGC’s nine biggest oil and gas fields including Mumbai High and Vasai East came tantalizing close to being sold to private and foreign companies but the plan was nixed after strong opposition from within the government, sources said. A high-level committee headed by Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar late last year considered “transferring” western offshore oil and gas fields of Mumbai High, Heera, D-1, Vasai East and Panna as well as Greater Jorajan and Geleki field in Assam, Baghewala in Rajasthan and Kalol oilfield in Gujarat to private/foreign companies. Multiple sources in Niti Aayog and government said, the plan to give away fields producing 95 per cent of India’s current oil and gas could not go through because of very strong opposition from Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) as well as some quarters within the government who found something amiss in the proposal. Besides the 9 fields, 149 marginal fields, that contribu...

Financial Express March 14, 2019 Visiting Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara to get convenient for pilgrims! Soon, India will construct a “state-of-the-art” terminal for the Kartarpur corridor. The corridor will be built at a cost of Rs 190 crore. It is being said that the passenger terminal building (PTB) complex will be equipped with all the necessary passenger amenities in order to facilitate pilgrims intending to visit the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara. The popular Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara is located across the border in Pakistan. An official of Ministry of Home Affairs was quoted in a PTI report saying that for the construction of the “state-of-the-art” PTB complex at the Kartarpur Sahib corridor, the ministry has already approved a detailed plan. The project got the ministry’s nod following the Cabinet decision in the month of November last year to construct the Kartarpur corridor, linking Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district to the International Border. This work has been ...