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Livemint April 23, 2019 A panel named by India’s central bank to study its capital structure is likely to identify excess reserves of up to 3 trillion rupees ($43 billion), or 1.5 percent of gross domestic product, according to  Bank of America Merrill Lynch . The view from  BofAML  lends itself to a debate over Reserve Bank of India’s reserves, with one school of thought believing that the monetary authority holds surplus capital that can be handed over to the government and the other saying the  RBI has insufficient reserves . BofAML’s note comes as the panel led by former central bank Governor  Bimal Jalan prepares to submit its report in the coming weeks . While finance ministry officials have supported transfer of surplus reserves to help the government meet budget goals, a central bank-backed thinktank found that the RBI’s capital buffer that’s below the global average capital to asset ratio. “Our stress tests throw up a range of one trillion rupees plus only from c

The Hindu April 23, 2019 Iranian lawmakers on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a Bill that labels all U.S. military forces as terrorist, state TV reported, a day after Washington ratcheted up pressure on Tehran by announcing that no country would any longer be exempt from U.S. sanctions if it continues to buy Iranian oil. The Bill is a step further from the one last week, when lawmakers approved labelling just U.S. troops in West Asia as terrorist, in response to the U.S. terrorism designation for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards earlier this month. On Monday, President Donald Trump decided to do away with waivers as part of the administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign on  Iran .  Iran’s Foreign Ministry promptly brushed off Mr. Trump’s move to stop the oil waivers, saying the Islamic Republic “basically has not seen and does not see any worth and validity for the waivers.” Parliamentary vote On Tuesday, 173 out of 215 lawmakers at the Parliament session in Tehran vo

The Economic Times Anumeha Chaturvedi, Kailash Babar April 24, 2019 The National Companies Law Tribunal (NCLT) has scheduled the ITC hearing for June 18 and has asked the company to prove its eligibility to be heard in the petition alleging oppression and mismanagement against Leelaventure, but ITC cannot buy shares from the open market in the interim to prove its point in the next hearing or partner with another minority shareholder to show they qualify jointly, lawyers familiar with the matter said. ITC currently holds a 7.92% stake in Leelaventure. To be heard for a petition, citing oppression and mismanagement, the petitioner must have 10% of the issued share capital of a company under Section 244 of the Companies Act or have about 100 shareholders or one tenth of the total number of shareholders making the petition.  Lawyers said if LIC, which has a 2.38% stake in Leelaventure and has separately complained to Sebi, or any other minority shareholder sides with IT

The Economic Times April 24, 2019 The government Tuesday extended the ban on import of milk and its products, including chocolates, from China till laboratories at ports for testing presence of toxic chemical melamine are upgraded. Food regulator FSSAI had recommended extending the ban until all labs at ports are modernised to test the chemical.  The ban was first imposed in September 2008 and extended subsequently from time to time. The latest ban imposed by the government ended Tuesday.  "Prohibition on import of milk, milk products (including chocolates, chocolate products, candies/confectionary/ food preparations with milk or milk solids as an ingredient) from China is extended until the capacity of all laboratories at ports of entry have been suitably upgraded for testing melamine," the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification.  However, it has not mentioned any timeline for upgradation of that capacity of all laborator

The Economic Times April 24, 2019 The Directorate General of Anti-profiteering has charged Procter & Gamble India with profiteering from cut in goods and services tax to the extent of about Rs 250 crore by not passing on the benefits to consumers.  “The investigation covered the entire range of products sold by the company and found anti-profiteering of about Rs 250 crore,” a DGAP official said.  DGAP has submitted its report on the matter to National Anti-profiteering Authority, which will now hear the case and pass an order, the official said. The maker of Tide detergent and Pantene shampoo could face a penalty if the authority confirms the DGAP report. If found guilty, NAA can also direct P&G to reduce prices, and refund benefit availed to consumers. The Indian unit of the world's biggest consumer goods firm controls more than half the market for sanitary napkins, diapers and shaving razors, a quarter in shampoo segment and about a fifth of India

The Economic Times Ayan Pramanik April 24, 2019 With the Trump administration tightening regulations for H-1B visa holders in the United States, software professionals, mostly Indian, are making a beeline to Canada, said two people with direct knowledge of the people movement. A large chunk of technology professionals on H-1B visas in the US are Indians, with the country offering 85,000 H-1B visas each year.  The Canadian government has adopted a programme called Global Skills Strategy in 2017, which has set a target to welcome 3,10,000 new permanent residents in 2018 and 3,30,000 in 2019. According to a report called ‘Building a Nation of Innovators’ by the Canadian government, 40,833 jobs and 3,625 applications have been approved for high skilled immigrants as of November 2018.  StackRaft, a startup that facilitate borderless technology sector recruitment in the US and in Canada, said software professionals are opting for Canada due to liberalised visa regime.

Business Today April 24, 2019 The Reserve Bank of India's surprise announcement of new open market purchases of government bonds is a sign the central bank is stepping up efforts to increase the economic impact of its policy decisions, analysts say. The RBI's two rate cuts this year, totalling 50 basis points, have not been followed with moves of a similar magnitude by commercial banks, which are reluctant to take risks while sitting on a pile of non-performing loans. But RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, who took over in December, has shown more willingness than his predecessor Urjit Patel to experiment with liquidity management in a bid to smoothen the transmission mechanism of his policies. If banks don't lower their interest rates, consumers and businesses don't benefit from RBI's moves, and the overall growth impact of rate cuts is less than intended. In an unexpected move late on Tuesday, the RBI announced a new set of open market operation

The Express Tribune April 24, 2019 By Sharam Haq The current structure of the federal finance ministry is the weakest since the 1990s, remarked former finance minister Dr Hafiz Pasha. Speaking at the launch of his book, ‘Growth and Inequality in Pakistan’, Pasha said the capacity of the Ministry of Finance was shamefully low and it was not able to control the ongoing crisis. “They don’t have the capacity nor do they have a senior professional economist who is specialised in fiscal policy,” he said. “The DG debt was hired after a gap of many months and it’s not surprising; believe me we are running into a difficult economic state.” Apart from institutional capacity, he outlined consistency and credibility as other major issues for the current government. “Unfortunately, the government has not demonstrated a very good record in this area, which did not give positive signals to private-sector investors,” he said, referring to the confusion and varying statements on g

The Print April 24, 2019 There are a lot of people in the world who can plausibly claim ignorance of China’s foul campaign against its Muslim minority, but UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is not among them. Six months ago, the UN’s own committee on the elimination of racial discrimination released a devastating report on how China arbitrarily and systematically detains Uighurs in the western part of the country. Just last month, the UN high commissioner for human rights pressed the Chinese for access to the Uighur minority, only to be stonewalled again. And yet Guterres is acting as if it’s business as usual with China. This week he will travel to Beijing to attend a forum to promote China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative, an ambitious plan where China provides often-predatory loans to other countries to build ports, railways and other transportation infrastructure. In and of itself there is nothing right or wrong with this project. Wealthy countries loan poorer

Reuters April 25, 2018 By Sanjeev Miglani Details began to emerge in Sri Lanka on Wednesday of a band of nine, well-educated Islamist suicide bombers, including a woman, from well-to-do families who slaughtered 359 people in Easter Sunday bomb attacks. The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the coordinated attacks on three churches and four hotels. If that connection is confirmed, the attacks looks likely to be the deadliest ever linked to the group. Both the Sri Lankan government and the United States said the scale and sophistication of the coordinated bombings suggested the involvement of an external group such as Islamic State. The Islamist group released a video late on Tuesday through its AMAQ news agency, showing eight men, all but one with their faces covered, standing under a black Islamic State flag, declaring loyalty to its leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. The one man in the video with his face uncovered was Mohamed Zahran, a Sri L

The Economic Times April 24, 2019 The UAE's state-run oil company ADNOC has signed a long-term sales agreement with the Indian Oil Corporation for its high-quality base oil ADbase.  Indian Oil will use the ADbase oils to manufacture high end engine oils for India's growing automotive sector, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) made the announced on Tuesday.  "The signing of this important sales agreement with another major base oil consumer in a large and growing market is testament to the quality and reliability of ADNOC's Group III base oil ADbase," said Ahmad Bin Thalith, Acting Senior Vice President of Refined Products Sales, in ADNOC's Marketing, Supply and Trading directorate.  We look forward to working with IndianOil and to increasing the supply of ADbase to the Indian market, which continues to see strong demand for high quality base oil and finished lubricants," Thalith said.  Indian Oil is the largest seller of fi

The Hindu April 24, 2019 By- Shriram Lakshman The exemption from sanctions for India’s activities to develop Chabahar Port in Iran, despite the May 2 expiry of exemptions from U.S. sanctions for importing Iranian oil , was attributable to U.S. President Donald Trump’s South Asia strategy a State Department Spokesperson said. “The President’s South Asia strategy underscores our ongoing support of Afghanistan’s development as well as our close partnership with India. We seek to build on our close relationships with both countries as we execute a policy of maximum pressure on the Iranian regime,” the spokesperson told The Hindu via an email. The Hindu had sought confirmation that India’s Chabahar-related activities would be exempt from sanctions and also sought clarification if the U.S.’s use of its financial might to pressure its partner and allies in Asia and Europe ran counter to longer-term American interests in those regions. The spokesperson clarified that Chabahar

The Hindu April 24, 2019 By Amiti Sen While the EU alleges that India levied excess duties, New Delhi maintains it has not violated any rule.  India is likely to come under more pressure at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to roll back import duties on mobile phones, cameras and certain other products in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector with five countries, including Canada, the US, Thailand, Singapore and Chinese Taipei, seeking permission of the dispute settlement body (DSB) to join the consultations the EU has initiated with New Delhi on the matter. “We are yet to arrive at a mutually suitable date for consultations with the EU on the matter of duties imposed on ICT products. The number of members who would want to be part of it may go up further as there is a lot of interest in this case. However, we are very clear that India has not violated any rule,” a government official told BusinessLine. In its request for consultations filed with

The Hindu April 24, 2019 China is expected to promote a recalibrated version of its Belt and Road initiative at a summit of heads of state this week in Beijing, seeking to allay criticism that its flagship infrastructure policy fuels indebtedness and lacks transparency. The policy championed by Chinese President Xi Jinping has become mired in controversy, with some partner nations bemoaning the high cost of projects. Western governments have tended to view it as a means to spread Chinese influence abroad, saddling poor countries with unsustainable debt. While most of the initiative's projects are ongoing, some have been caught up by changes in government in countries such as Malaysia and the Maldives. Projects that have been shelved for financial reasons include a power plant in Pakistan and an airport in Sierra Leone, and Beijing has in recent months had to rebuff critics by saying that not one country has been burdened with so-called “debt traps”. Xi launched

News 18 April 24, 2019 By utkarsh Anand The Supreme Court on Wednesday summoned CBI director, Delhi Police Commissioner and the Intelligence Bureau chief to examine issues of judicial corruption and alleged attempts to frame Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi in a sexual harassment case. A three-judge bench led by Justice Arun Mishra called the heads of the three institutions at 12.30pm, saying the deliberations with them will take place inside the judges' chamber. The court was hearing the matter, registered suo motu after allegations of sexual harassment against CJI Ranjan Gogoi came to light. It was in receipt of an affidavit by lawyer Utsav Bains who claimed there was a conspiracy to falsely implicate the CJI in the harassment case since Justice Gogoi put an end to the 'cash for judgment' racket being run by 'fixer' Romesh Sharma. On Tuesday, Bains was summoned for Wednesday when he showed up and adduced additional materials to corrobo