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Times of India June 03, 2019 Over 6,800 cases of bank fraud involving an unprecedented Rs 71,500 crore have been reported in 2018-19, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said. A total of 5,916 such cases were reported by banks in 2017-18 involving Rs 41,167.03 crore, it said. As many as 6,801 cases of fraud were reported by scheduled commercial banks and select financial institutions involving an amount of Rs 71,542.93 crore in the last fiscal (increase of over 73 per cent in the fraud amount), the Reserve Bank said in reply to an RTI query filed by this PTI journalist. In the last 11 fiscal years, a total of 53,334 cases of fraud were reported by banks involving a massive amount of Rs 2.05 lakh crore, the central bank's data said. During 2008-09, a total of 4,372 cases were reported involving an amount of Rs 1,860.09 crore. In 2009-10, Rs 1,998.94 crore worth fraud was reported in 4,669 cases.A total of 4,534 and 4,093 such cases were reported in 2010-11 an...

The print  June 03, 2019  Continuing its efforts to clamp down on bogus companies in its second term, the Modi government expects to deregister 20,000 companies by the end of this year, a senior government official told ThePrint. The move comes after the ministry of corporate affairs sought know-your-customer (KYC) details of all the registered companies in March. While the government has already received KYC details of about five lakh companies, another five to six lakh companies are yet to submit the information. The government is hoping to receive the KYC details of the remaining companies by 15 June, said the official who didn’t wish to be identified. The KYC details of companies include submission of registration number, address of registered office, names of the board of directors, among others. The process also requires photographs of directors standing outside the registered office premises. Further, the companies are also required to report their b...

The Print  June 03, 2019 Indian investors already facing a much-anticipated central bank decision this week will now have to juggle the implications of an economic soft patch and Donald Trump making good on his trade threat against the nation. Growth cooled to 5.8% in the first three months of the year, the slowest pace in several quarters, according to a report on Friday. That took the expansion in the fiscal year to March 2019 to 6.8%, lower than the 6.9% median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. The data has also intensified calls for the Reserve Bank of India to loosen monetary policy and the government to boost fiscal policy. Added to the mix was the U.S. announcing on Friday that it would terminate India’s designation as a developing nation effective June 5, eliminating an exception that allowed the country to export nearly 2,000 products to the U.S. duty-free. “A third consecutive rate cut now looks a done deal at the RBI’s meeting” this week, Shilan Shah, s...

Business Standard June 02, 2019 Economists have cautioned the government about a fiscal stimulus to revive the economy, whose growth had plunged to a five-year low of 5.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2018-19. They have said if a stimulus is needed it should be different from what was provided in 2008-09, when the economy faced the ripple effects of a global meltdown following the Lehman Brothers collapse. Some economists said a stimulus should not be given now. Arvind Panagariya, former NITI Aayog vice-chairman and professor of economics at Columbia University, said: “Any talk of fiscal stimulus is ill-advised. The government must stay the course on fiscal consolidation.” He said if it expanded borrowing to finance a stimulus, it would crowd out private investment, which is more productive and efficient. Instead, he advised that the RBI must seriously consider knocking down the interest rate by 50 basis points. The RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee wi...

Business Standard June 03, 2019 Investors may still be underestimating the full risk to the global economy from a trade war, even after US stocks capped the worst month of the year. A recession could begin in as soon as nine months if President Donald Trump pushes to impose 25% tariffs on an additional $300 billion of Chinese exports and China retaliates with its own countermeasures, according to Chetan Ahya, chief economist and global head of economics at Morgan Stanley. "My recent conversations with investors have reinforced the sense that markets are underestimating the impact of trade tensions," Ahya wrote in a note. "Investors are generally of the view that the trade dispute could drag on for longer, but they appear to be overlooking its potential impact on the global macro outlook." That was followed by a warning from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which now expects the US to impose 10% tariffs on the remaining $300 billion worth of imports from...

Business Standard June 03, 2019 Spice Jet Ltd. has received many proposals to buy into the company, and the Indian budget carrier is willing to evaluate an offer only if it’s strategic, its chairman and majority shareholder said. “SpiceJet has enough cash,” Ajay Singh said in an interview, while attending an industry conference in Seoul. “We have to see if this serves SpiceJet’s long-term interests, and when we come to that determination, we’ll do something. These are typical in a situation when an airline is doing well and the market is as promising as India.” SpiceJet, which almost shut down in 2014 after running out of cash, scripted a comeback since original co-founder Singh played the white knight. The shares have jumped about 70 per cent this year, hovering near their all-time high, as the grounding of debt-laden Jet Airways India Ltd. let the no-frills carrier increase capacity and market share. SpiceJet is India’s biggest budget airline after InterGlobe Aviation...

Financial Express June 03, 2019 India became a net importer of steel, after a gap of three years, in 2018-19. The industry has already asked the government to reimpose a safeguard duty of 25% in line with such protectionist steps being taken by the US, the EU, Turkey etc. Arresting the trend of increasing steel imports, addressing the decline in local prices of the alloy and ensuring adequate supply of iron ore and capital for expansion projects are on the top of agenda for the new steel minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The growing predatory imports, which disrupted the domestic market since 2014-15 for two years has started haunting the industry once again. India became a net importer of steel, after a gap of three years, in 2018-19. The industry has already asked the government to reimpose a safeguard duty of 25% in line with such protectionist steps being taken by the US, the EU, Turkey etc. “If not done immediately, imports at a cheaper rate, will eat out the profit...

The Indian Express June 03, 2019 The Pakistan press has continued to analyse Narendra Modi’s victory and its implications for India, bilateral relations and matters of nationalism and religion in South Asia. In its June 1 editorial, Dawn weighs in on what Modi 2.0 could mean for Kashmir. The paper strikes an ominous tone — quite in keeping with its line and that of most media in Pakistan — on the Indian state’s role in Kashmir. It says that in its first term, the Modi government put in place a “brutal approach, with a militarised response to Kashmiris’ yearning for freedom and dignity. In fact, the radical Hindu BJP said it would end Kashmir’s special constitutional status, and remains committed to this dubious goal.” It remarks that “the cycles of ugly violence” have become the norm in the Valley and unless New Delhi “comes up with a new approach, they will show no signs of abating”. Yet, the editorial ends with questions, that hint that there is as yet time for a course ...

DefenseWorl.Net June 01,2019 Russia will offer customizable Mikoyan MiG-35 fighter to the Indian Air Force (IAF) which is looking to acquire 114 combat aircraft to supplement its depleting fleet of fighters. Russia is open to the idea of integrating additional advanced weapons, local weapons and RD-33OVT engine to provide super maneuverability to meet with the IAF's requirement, idrw.org reported Saturday. Also included are KRET/Phazotron Zhuk-A active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, modern electro-optics system with distributed apertures, MSP-418KE active jamming pods, IRST and other capabilities borrowed from country's fifth generation fighter program. The main competition is between Dassault Rafale, Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, Saab's Gripen, Eurofighter Typhoon, Russian MiG-35 and Lockheed Martin F-16. Lockheed Martin offered India its newly configured F-21 fighters to be manufactured indigenously in the country during the Aero India 20...

The Indian Express June 03, 2019 The Jammu and Kashmir Police has forwarded to the Centre a Kashmiri man’s application for bringing back his business graduate son, who had joined terror outfit ISIS and is now in the custody of the US-allied forces in Syria, to India, officials said Sunday. Adil Ahmed, a Kashmir-resident who had completed his MBA from Queensland in Australia, was captured by the US allied forces in Syria after he had surrendered along with many ISIS activists earlier this year, the officials. Ahmed had moved to Syria in 2013 and informed his family that he was working with an NGO there. His father Fayaz Ahmed, who works as a contractor and runs a departmental store, still cannot believe that his son had joined the deadly terror group and has been moving from pillar to post for the return of his son. “I am hopeful that since the new government has taken over in New Delhi, things will move on (in bringing back his son),” he said. The officials said the app...

The Indian Express June 03, 2019 India and China are projected to account for nearly half of the air passenger growth worldwide over the next two decades, with travellers coming from all walks of life, according to global airlines’ grouping IATA. With more number of people making air travel, India was one of the fastest growing domestic aviation markets in the world for nearly five years continuously. However, the growth turned negative in April mainly due to flight cancellations and subsequent grounding of full service carrier Jet Airways. Brian Pearce, Chief Economist at the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Sunday said the negative growth in the Indian market was temporary and that the market would expand as Indians want to travel more. In his address at the annual general meeting here, IATA Director General and CEO Alexandre de Juniac said the developing markets are expected to provide the majority of additional passenger demand. “India and China alone are...