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News 18 June 04, 2019 The Narendra Modi led BJP-NDA government is planning to curb the pollution by giving a major push to electric vehicles in India. As per a report on CNBC-TV18, government sources have informed that the Nitin Gadkari led Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has started working on a draft notification proposing to ban all the IC engine powered two-wheelers and three-wheelers in India starting 2025 for two-wheelers and 2023 for three-wheelers. Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog, a think tank body of Modi Government welcomed the move by the government and said he will extend the electrification drive to all the delivery vehicles and state buses. He also said to allocate more funds once the Rs 10000 Crore allocated to the FAME II scheme are utilized. The Ministry of Urban Development last year launched the Green Urban Transport Scheme (GUTS) with the aim to reduce carbon emissions from the public transport vehicles in the country. The ministry proposed an INR 25...

BusinessLine,  June 04, 2019 The women sangams (groups) of the Deccan Development Society have bagged the United Nation’s Equator Prize for 2019. They have been selected for standing as ‘an outstanding example of a local, nature-based solution to climate change and sustainable development.’ The women farmers, majority of them are Dalits, have been building their own seed banks and growing millets in the predominantly rain-fed villages of Sangareddy district. To mark the achievement, the DDS is felicitating six women for their contribution to the ecology and innovations in rainfed millet cultivation on June 5. The six women farmers are: Maisanagari Ratnamma, Begari Tuljamma, Chilkapalli Ansuyamma, Nagwar Sunandamma, Yerrolla Kanakamma, and Nadimidoddi Anjamma. “This year, a total of 847 nominations have been received by the UN from 127 countries. Of them, only 20 were given this prestigious award,” said PV Satheesh, Director, DDS. https://www.thehindubusine...

BusinessLine June 03, 2019 The Goods & Services Tax Council may consider rationalising levy on textile items, a move that is expected to help the sector to be more competitive in the global market. “The Government is deeply concerned about the present status of the textile sector. Considering the labour-intensive nature of the sector, concrete steps are required. Removing tax anomaly could be one such steps,” a senior government official told BusinessLine. As of now, barring raw silk, khadi yarn and some other items, there are three rates — 5, 12 and 18 per cent — for various textile items. Though there is a refund mechanism for the exporters, it takes time and affects the exporters’ efficiency. In countries such as China, Indonesia, and Thailand there is a single rate. It is 16 per cent in China, 10 per cent in Indonesia and 7 per cent in Thailand, making them more competitive. There also issues with Customs duty. India has more than 300 tariff lines for textiles items...

BusinessLine June 04, 2019 IndianOil , Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) will be laying the world’s longest LPG pipeline, from Kandla (Gujarat) to Gorakhpur (UP). An IndianOil statement said the 2,757-km cross-country pipeline will connect three major States — Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh — to the western coast and reach LPG to 22 bottling plants (BPs) of the three oil marketing companies (OMCs). A joint venture agreement to this effect was signed here on Monday evening. The Kandla-Gorakhpur LPG pipeline is estimated to cost about ₹10,000 crore. It will be implemented through a joint venture company where IndianOil will hold 50 per cent and the other two OMCs will hold 25 per cent each. “The pipeline will source LPG from three import terminals on the west coast and two refineries (at Koyali and Bina) and supply it to 22 bottling plants of the three OMCs connected en route — three in Gujarat, six in Madhya Prades...

The Telegraph June 04, 2019 The new government is pressing ahead with the auction of 5G spectrum within six months, despite the industry showing little interest in the sale on account of exorbitant base prices. Ravi Shankar Prasad, the newly appointed telecom minister, said the government would hold a mega spectrum auction, including 5G, and that 5G trials would start within the next 100 days. “I am of the belief that in the current calendar year, we will auction spectrum. We have adequate spectrum available,” he said after taking charge of the ministry. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has recommended the auction of about 8,644 MHz of spectrum, including those for 5G services, at an estimated total base price of Rs 4.9 lakh crore. Both Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel have opposed the auction. Vodafone Idea has said an auction was not feasible until next year as the industry needed time to develop India-specific applications for 5G. Airtel has ca...

Firstpost June 04, 2019    New Delhi: Having initiated a crackdown on a suspected coterie of fraudsters in the IL&FS case, the government's financial fraud probe agency SFIO has recommended necessary action against the guilty auditors and also a detailed internal investigation by the RBI to identify reasons for the delay in detecting the lapses. The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has also recommended a necessary action as per the Companies Act by the current management of IL&FS Financial Services (IFIN) for recovery of the losses suffered by the company due to the fraudulent conduct of the coterie, officials said. In its first chargesheet, the SFIO has identified a nine-member coterie behind the huge financial fraud at IFIN, which it alleged connived with the statutory auditors and some independent directors to defraud the company while running it as a personal fiefdom. The chargesheet has been filed after an extensive probe into the affair...

Financial Express June 04, 2019 Nipah virus in Kerala: State’s Health Minister KK Shailaja on Tuesday morning confirmed that the youth being treated at a private hospital in Ernakulam has tested positive for Nipah virus. The result of test was confirmed by the Pune-based National Institute of Virology. “The results of blood samples of the student, which were tested at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune, have confirmed Nipah. The result came this morning. The student has been admitted to a private hospital,” she told reporters. The 23-year-old was admitted to a hospital Ernakulam last week after showing symptoms of Nipah virus. Reports say that he had traveled with a group of 22 students from Idukki to Thrissur for some work. When he went back to his house, he was suffering from high fever with no signs of abating. He was then admitted to a private hospital in Ernakulam. Doctors collected blood samples and sent it to Pune for confirmation of Nipah. Shailaja also ...

Financial Express June 04, 2019 A three-year plan for a 10-fold growth in digital payments, enabling recurring payments on all digital channels and a lower interchange for card payments are among the recommendations made by the Nandan Nilekani-headed high level committee on deepening of digital payments. Of the 73 recommendations meant for the government, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), industry and the department of telecommunications, a few seek a relook at some RBI guidelines. For instance, the report has asked for recurring payments — for things like loan repayments, systematic investment plans (SIPs) and media subscriptions — to be enabled for all modes of digital payments, including the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). The central bank is understood to have categorically disallowed the introduction of a recurring payments feature on UPI 2.0 in spite of representations in its favour. The report, posted on the RBI website on Monday, also recommends a review of at least ...

Business Standard June 03, 2019 Jignesh Patel, a former business executive and currently Fellow of Center for Healthcare Entrepreneurship(CfHE) at the Indian Institute of Technology-Hyderabad (IITH) has won funding from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to implement an innovative vaccination service on wheels in three cities in India. His concept is expected to improve vaccination coverage among children of low-income families. The project envisages providing mobile vaccine service, including a smart phone-based management application that provides customised vaccinations at homes and schools at a lower cost, to ensure children in all sections of the society receive the medication. Patel, who joined CfHE in 2018, is a winner of 'Grand Challenges Exploration (GCE)' Grant and will take up his project titled 'VaccineOnWheels.com' under the firm Jivika Healthcare Private Limited in Gurgaon, Allahabad and Surat as a pilot project using the funding. The idea behind ...

Firstpost June 03, 2019 Industrialist Sanjay Dalmia, Dinesh Kumar Himatsingka, Executive Chairman of Bangalore-based Himatsingka group, are among about a dozen Indians with Swiss bank accounts whose names have been made public in Switzerland’s Federal Gazette with regard to the ongoing probe into offshore accounts by the Income Tax authorities. The names of Dinesh Kumar Himatsingka’s brother Ajoy Kumar Himatsingka, Renu Tharani, Rakesh Kathiota, Pankaj Kumar Saraogi, Nalini Bhaskaran have also been made public after their details were sought by the Indian authorities. Email queries to Sanjay Dalmia's office, Himtasingka and Saraogi did not elicit any response. Another reminder sent last week remained unanswered. This story will be updated as and when they respond. According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs record, Pankaj Kumar Saraogi is the director in at least 9 Kolkata-based companies. As per the Federal Gazette notification, Sanjay Dalmia's name was ma...

The Indian Express June 04, 2019 The Reserve Bank of India on Monday barred S R Batliboi & Co LLP, one of India’s leading chartered accountancy firms, from taking up statutory audit of commercial banks for one year on account of lapses in an audit assignment. However, the RBI did not disclose the details of the lapses by S R Batliboi & Co. The one-year period starts from April 1, 2019, the RBI said in a release. In June 2018, the RBI had put in place an enforcement action framework in respect of statutory auditors for the lapses in the statutory audit of commercial banks. “On account of the lapses identified in a statutory audit assignment carried out by the firm, S.R.Batliboi & Co. LLP, Chartered Accountants, it has been decided that RBI will not approve the said firm for carrying out statutory audit assignments in commercial banks for one year starting from April 1, 2019,” the RBI release said. https://indianexpress.com/article/business/companies/rbi-bars-...

The Indian Express June 04, 2019 The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has issued two fresh showcause notices to HDFC Trustee Company and its managing director and other officials initiating adjudication proceedings in relation to investments of fixed maturity plans (FMPs) in debt instruments of Essel Group companies. Earlier on May 10, the market regulator had sent two showcause notices on the same matter to HDFC AMC. In an exchange filing on June 1, 2019, HDFC AMC said: “We now wish to inform you that Sebi has issued 2 (two) additional show cause notices initiating adjudication proceedings against HDFC Trustee Company Limited, i.e. the trustee company of the HDFC Mutual Fund, and our Managing Director, Mr. Milind Barve and few other officials of the Company on May 31, 2019 in relation to the same subject Kotak Mutual Fundsmatter.” “We are working with our legal advisors and are in process of responding to the said adjudication notice,” HDFC AMC said. The AMC...

The Indian Express June  06, 2019 Three months after New Delhi had toned down its criticism of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) reference to Jammu and Kashmir, India on Monday raised the decibel and rejected the OIC’s reference to Kashmir as “unacceptable” and said that the grouping has “no locus standi”. Advertising behest. x This is a turnaround from the March 2 statement earlier this year when India had merely said that Jammu and Kashmir is an “integral part of India and is a matter strictly internal to India”. But, unlike previous statements, it did not say in the March 2 statement that OIC has no locus standi and that India is rejecting the statement. In its final communique at the Mecca summit, the OIC reiterated its support for the “legitimate rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir” and even appointed a special envoy for the state. The OIC is an international organisation comprising 57 member states, 53 of them Muslim-majority nati...