Happy Media

By Sarim Naved,The Wire Dated: July 24, 2019 The National Investigation Agency was set up in a hurry after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. The objective behind setting up this agency was to have a national police force for investigating a select class of criminal offences which pose a direct threat to national security. The NIA was introduced by the then UPA government to show its seriousness in dealing with terrorism. While the debate in parliament regarding the NIA focused a lot on terrorism and the harm it caused to society, no data or information was produced to show that the individual state police forces and the Central Bureau of Investigation had failed to prosecute terrorist offences. At the same time, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was also amended to make the standard for bail in such cases more strict. Almost 11 years later, both laws are sought to be amended again. While the NIA Act has been amended, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment B...

www.macrobusiness.com Dated: July 26, 2019 Professor Sandra van der Laan casts her eyes over the complex corporate structure for Adani’s Australian operations. “It looks to me like a corporate collapse waiting to happen,” she says. “It has all the hallmarks of the big corporate failures we’ve seen over the last 20 to 30 years.” Professor van der Laan, a forensic accounting specialist who heads the discipline of finance at the University of Sydney, has a reputation for picking “corporate collapses waiting to happen”. A decade ago, she and fellow academic Sue Newberry warned that ABC Learning — then Australia’s biggest private childcare provider and the largest publicly listed childcare company in the world — was a house of cards. It subsequently failed in spectacular fashion, causing a crisis in the industry. She examines a diagram of Adani’s Australian structure: a labyrinth of trusts interposed between private companies and Indian stock market-listed ...

By Sonal Bhutra, CNBC-TV18    Dated: August 02, 2019 The bond yields of one of India's largest real estate players, Lodha Group, spiked to 71 percent on Thursday, indicating the possibility of default by the company. However, Lodha Group in its statement to  CNBC-TV 18, said that its bond is extremely thinly traded and hence, price is highly variable. They added that their debt is high but there is no interest or repayment default and their debt maturity is greater than three years. The real estate firm admitted that it is facing challenges and is hit by the liquidity crunch in the sector. There has been negative action by rating agencies in the past and the company said that it is with respect to the refinancing/repayment of its US dollar denominated bond. Lodha Group has made arrangements for repayment and definitive documentation is underway. They expect the process to be completed in the next 8-10 weeks. However, in the interim, they believe the rati...

The Wire, July 31, 2019 Agricultural income earned by an individual in India is exempt from any payment of income tax, making it an attractive classification. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has found in its latest report that the income tax department did not adequately verify whether Rs 500 crore declared as agricultural income was actually from agricultural sources and allowed applicants the tax benefit that accrues to agricultural income. The CAG studied the income tax returns of 6,778 applicants and found that in 1,527 cases (22%) the documentation provided was inadequate. In 716 cases, land records were not available. In another 1,270 cases, proof of agricultural income such as ledger accounts, bills and invoices were not available. The highest proportion of these cases pertain to Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. In Maharashtra, for instance, in 303 (63%) of the 484 cases, the CAG found that adequate documentation was not provided. But, th...

     LiveMint, August 01, 2019 The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday allowed Bank of China to offer regular banking services in the country. All commercial banks, like SBI, HDFC Bank, Punjab National Bank and ICICI Bank, are in the Second Schedule. Banks falling under this schedule have to adhere to the norms of the RBI. "We advise that the 'Bank of China Limited' has been included in the Second Schedule to the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934...," the central bank said. In another notification, the RBI said 'Jana Small Finance Bank Limited' too has been included in the Second Schedule. Further, the name of 'The Royal Bank of Scotland plc' has been changed to 'NatWest Markets Plc' in the Second Schedule.Meanwhile, 'National Australia Bank' has ceased to be a banking company within the meaning of the Banking Regulation Act, the RBI said and added that it has been excluded from the Second Schedule. Reference: https://...

Indian Express Dated: August 02, 2019 THE BOMBAY High Court on Thursday directed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to file an affidavit stating reasons behind changing the features and size of currency notes from time to time.A bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice N M Jamdar was hearing a petition filed by the National Association of the Blind (NAB), seeking directions to include distinctive features in new coins and notes for easier identification by the visually impaired. Chief Justice Nandrajog asked the counsel appearing for RBI why was there a complusion to change the notes. “You (government) keep saying it is because of fake currency. I doubt that reason. Demonetisation showed that it was a myth that Rs 10,000 crore were taken away by Pakistan,” he said. “What is the compulsion of RBI to change features of notes from time to time? What is the compulsion of RBI to change the size of the notes,” the court asked while directing the RBI to file an affidavit. In...

By Varun Singh, India Today Dated: August 01, 2019 The major automobile companies of India today came out with their monthly sales data for July 2019 and the numbers are not at all encouraging. The prominent carmakers like Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Mahindra & Mahindra and Honda have all suffered a drop in their sales during the month. The case is similar with companies like TVS and Royal Enfield. The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India has been witnessing a decline in sales for the past six months and reported a 33.5 per cent dip in total sales to 1,09,264 units in July 2019. The cumulative sales of Hyundai Motor India fell 3.8 per cent to 57,310 units during the month. Mahindra & Mahindra has registered a fall of 15 per cent in total monthly sales to 40,142 units in July 2019, while the domestic sales of Honda Cars India have dived 48.67 per cent to 10,250 units in the same month. TVS Motor Company has reported a sales decline of 13 per cent to...

The Tribune, August 01, 2019 Pakistan has asked all militant groups operating in Kashmir, including Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Toiba, to lie low till the October meeting of the international watchdog against money laundering and financing of terrorism — the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The FATF, at its June meeting in Florida, had set an October deadline for Pakistan to fix the deficiencies in its anti-money laundering measures and in combating financing of terrorism so as to avoid degradation from the grey list to being blacklisted. Getting on the FATF blacklist could cripple the neighbouring country financially. Islamabad is banking on the support of the United States in light of the renewed bonhomie between the two countries following Pakistan premier Imran Khan’s visit, which saw US President Donald Trump offering to mediate or arbitrate in Kashmir, that was followed by a strong rebuttal by New Delhi. Before Khan undertook the visit to Washington, Pakistan ha...

The Hindu, Dated August 02, 2019 United States President Donald Trump on Thursday said it was up to India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute but he was ready to assist if the two South Asian neighbours wanted him to help in resolving the decades-old issue. Mr. Trump was referring to his last week’s meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, wherein he offered to help resolve the Kashmir issue. India has rejected the offer, while Pakistan has welcomed his statement.“It’s really up to Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi (to accept the offer of mediation),” Mr. Trump told reporters responding to a question on India not accepting his offer of mediation on Kashmir. “Have they accepted the offer or not?”, Trump sought a clarification when asked about India’s rejection of his mediation offer. “I think they are fantastic people — Khan and Modi — I mean. I would imagine they could get along very well, but if they wanted somebody to intervene, to help them . and...

Oilprice.com, August 01, 2019 Oil traders – along with financial markets everywhere – were disappointed with the decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve despite the first interest rate cut since the global financial crisis a decade ago. The Fed cut rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday, and one would think that the monetary easing would push up equities and commodities. Crude oil, priced in dollars, tends to benefit with the central bank cuts rates, as it tends to weaken the dollar and make oil more affordable for much of the world. However, markets were clearly disappointed. Stocks plunged late Wednesday and oil opened up sharply down on Thursday. The dollar was up while WTI and Brent were off by nearly 3 percent. The Fed said that it was acting in order to sustain the economic expansion, but the decision had some dissenting votes. Some on Fed’s board opposed a rate cut at all due to the strength of the economy. But financial markets really fell after Fed Chairman Jerom...