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Financial Express October 17, 2019 According to the latest Bloomberg data, FPI investments in Indian corporate bonds stood at Rs 2.014 lakh crore, with foreign investors utilising 63.53% of the available limit of Rs 3.17 lakh crore. Foreign portfolio investor (FPI) interest in Indian corporate bonds has been waning over the last few months, with their investments hitting a 10-month low in October, as the perception on credit risk of Indian companies continued to deteriorate because of slowing demand, rising stress across sectors like real estate and NBFCs and a bearish view on the rupee. According to the latest Bloomberg data, FPI investments in Indian corporate bonds stood at Rs 2.014 lakh crore, with foreign investors utilising 63.53% of the available limit of Rs 3.17 lakh crore. It is noteworthy that at its peak in March this year, FPI investments in Indian corporate bonds stood at Rs 2.194 lakh crore when foreign investors had utilised over 75% of the available lim...

The Financial Express October 17, 2019 The Trump administration dispatched its top officials to Turkey on Wednesday for emergency talks to try to persuade Ankara to halt an assault on northern Syria, while Russian troops swept into territory abandoned by Washington in a sudden retreat. Robert O’Brien, White House national security adviser since last month, arrived in Turkey aiming to meet Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday. Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are expecting to meet the following day with President Tayyip Erdogan. The administration is trying to contain the fallout from Erdogan’s decision to send forces last week to attack Syrian Kurdish militia that were Washington’s close allies. Erdogan again insisted there would be no ceasefire, and said he might call off a visit to the United States next month because of the “very big disrespect” shown by U.S. politicians. He also denounced the United States for taking the “un...

The Print October 16, 2019 NAYANIMA BASU Pakistan may continue to remain in the ‘grey’ list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for yet another year as the Paris-based terror-funding watchdog might let it off the hook with a stern warning at its plenary, which begins Wednesday and ends Friday. The reasons are manifold. Ever since Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan assumed office last year, Islamabad has not left any stone unturned in lobbying hard with international powers, right from the US to China, to get off the grey list. Pakistan was put on the grey list in June last year for its failure to curb terror financing and money laundering.  The grey list is one step away from being blacklisted, which can wreak havoc on Pakistan’s already fragile economy. Being on the blacklist will impact Pakistan’s ability to do business with other countries, diminish its ability to borrow from multilateral institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and hurt th...

Firstpost October 17, 2019 Indiabulls Housing Finance on Wednesday said it has filed a criminal complaint with the Mumbai Police against some persons for spreading wrong information about the company. According to the company, some persons are spreading "false, malicious messages" about the company through various social media platforms such as tweets and are doing "wrongful loss". "The company has filed a criminal complaint with Mumbai Police which is addressed to the Cyber Police Station, Cyber Crime, CID, Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai," said Indiabulls Housing Finance in a regulatory filing. The application of FIR contains "specific proofs" against those persons for spreading false messages against the company, and seeks action against the persons involved in this. "The complaint states that accused persons have hatched a pre-planned criminal conspiracy with intent to cause wrongful loss to Indiabulls Housing ...

Daily Mail October 16, 2019 By  KATELYN CARALLE Tulsi Gabbard defended herself Tuesday during the 2020 Democratic debate against claims she is a 'Russian asset.' The Hawaii Congresswoman and Iraq combat veteran was a forceful presence when the conversation on stage turned to foreign policy, specifically the situation in northern Syria following Donald Trump's withdrawal of U.S. forces there. 'First of all, we've got to understand the reality of the situation there, which is that the slaughter of the Kurds being done by Turkey is yet another negative consequence of the regime change war we've been waging in Syria,' Gabbard said. 'Donald Trump has the blood of the Kurds on his hand, but so do many of the politicians in our country from both parties who have supported this ongoing regime change war in Syria that started in 2011,' she continued, before blasting members of the 'mainstream media' who she said have been '...

The Economic Times October 16, 2019 Kirtika Suneja NEW DELHI: Farmer and civil society organisations on Wednesday questioned the government about the benefits of the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade agreement especially when the economy is going through a period of slowdown and there are apprehensions from many sectors. They said various sectors of the Indian economy including agriculture, dairy, services and data would be impacted, going by the leaked texts of the agreement and asked why the government is involved in e-commerce negotiations in the pact when it is opposed to even engaging on the subject at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Stating that major manufacturing sectors are facing serious headwinds, essentially due to sagging domestic demand, the Forum For Trade Justice said: “Acceding to RCEP at this juncture will accentuate the uncertainties and could result in loss of jobs and incomes which the country can ill affo...

The Hindu October 17, 2019 Parminder Jeet Singh In a digital economy, data is the central resource. The Prime Minister recently compared data to property at the advent of the industrial era. Data is being considered as a nation’s new wealth. How data will be employed fruitfully, and its value captured, will decide a nation’s rank in the emerging new global geo-economic and geo-political hierarchies. The global digital or artificial intelligence (AI) economy is currently a two-horse race between the U.S. and China. It is feared that all other countries, including the European Union (EU) and major developing countries such as India, will have to become fully digitally dependent on one of these two digital superpowers. This will considerably compromise their economic and political independence, something referred to as digital colonisation. The shift to digital power, and its concentration, is very evident. Seven of the top eight companies by market cap globally today are ...

Business Standard October 17, 2019 T E Narasimhan   Mining entities in Karnataka are expecting iron ore prices to fall as supply from NMDC's Donimalai mines is likely to restart. Also, lesser offtake due to a decline in demand for the steel sector. To ensure seamless renewal of mining leases allocated to the government companies, the Union government recently amended the Minerals (Mining) by Government Companies Rules, 2015. A major beneficiary would be NMDC, which got into a legal battle with the Karnataka government over Donimalai, after it was asked to pay a premium equivalent to 80 per cent on what was extracted from there for lease renewal. Instead, NMDC went to court and stopped mining operations last November. The company is now waiting for state clearances to resume operation. As for the steel industry in Karnataka, it imported around six million tonnes of iron ore during 2018-19, due to shortage and inferior domestic quality. Seshagiri Rao, group fi...

Business Standard October 17, 2019 Megha Manchanda Reliance Jio has accused Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) of fraudulently claiming interconnect usage charge (IUC) from it, for incoming calls on landline numbers. It asked Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to penalise the three entities and to direct them to refund the money, with interest. In a letter to Trai, it alleged the three firms have allotted mobile numbers as customer care or helpline numbers to companies such as Oyo, Justdial, and Videocon D2H. A breach, it says, of the IUC regulations Trai issued in 2003. These prescribe separate charges for calls terminating on wireless and wireline numbers — current per minute termination charges are 6p and nil, respectively. Jio said in all these cases the mobile number acts as a virtual number for routing customer care and helpline-related calls. “Thus, even when the calling party is dialling the mobile numbers, all su...

Business Standard October 16, 2019 Sachin P Mampatta Wealth manager Karvy Private Wealth in its tenth annual India Wealth report said the individual wealth is likely to grow at a CAGR of 13.2 per cent to Rs 799 trillion as India becomes a $5-trillion economy. The report estimates this will happen around FY24. Individual wealth grew at 9.6 per cent to reach Rs 430 trillion over the last year, helped by growth in the financial assets. Financial assets grew 10.96 per cent and physical assets like land grew at 7.59 per cent. “Direct equity continues to hold the fort in terms of investment preference in India. This shows the belief of investors in the Indian markets notwithstanding the volatility it has been through. We believe that India’s drive towards a ($5 trillion) economy will have a cascading positive effect on individual wealth by 2024,” said Abhijit Bhave, chief executive officer, Karvy Private Wealth in a statement on Wednesday. He expects the ranks of the weal...

The Indian Express October 17, 2019 Anju Agnihotri Chaba With raw cotton rates falling below MSP over the past few weeks after an excellent beginning when the going market rate was much higher than the MSP benchmark, the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has entered the North region market, mainly Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana, to purchase the narma or kapas (raw cotton) directly from the farmers. The Indian Express explains why the CCI’s entry won’t help the farmers much. Why has the CCI entered the market? The government has fixed Rs 5450 per quintal as kapas MSP. In the beginning, when the first picking of the cotton started over a month back in Punjab, the rate was quite above the MSP and farmers have had sold it at the rate of Rs 5600 to above Rs 6100 per quintal. But for the past over two weeks, the rates started coming down and currently the rate is between Rs 4800 to Rs 5,000 per quintal which is Rs 400 to 600 per quintal below the MSP in all the main mandie...

Hindustan Times October 17, 2019 The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has reviewed steps taken by Pakistan to counter money laundering and terror financing during meetings underway in Paris and is expected to rule on whether harsher sanctions will be imposed on the country by Friday. A Pakistani delegation led by economic affairs minister Hammad Azhar told the meetings that Islamabad has made positive progress in 20 out of 27 points in an action plan finalised by the intergovernmental watchdog. The FATF expressed satisfaction at the measures and Pakistan's progress in various areas, according to local media reports. The reports further said that support extended by Turkey, China and Malaysia resulted in the FATF deciding not to include Pakistan on its 'black list'. The FATF also gave Pakistan more time to implement outstanding measures, the reports added. China, Turkey and Malaysia also appreciated the steps taken by Pakistan though some concerns wer...

News18 October 16, 2019 Kashmir apples with messages like "We want freedom", "I luv Burhan Wani", and "Zakir Musa come back" written on them were found in boxes bought by fruit sellers in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, prompting police to probe the matter. The fruit sellers on Wednesday threatened to boycott apples from Kashmir if the government fails to take action as people are refusing to purchase them due to these messages. The sellers opened the boxes purchased from the wholesale market here only to find the messages written on the fruits with black marker. Led by president of Kathua wholesale market Rohit Gupta, sellers here held protests and raised anti-Pakistan and anti-terrorist slogans. "The boxes were from Kashmir and the messages were written in English and Urdu," Gupta said, demanding that the government and police take strict action against those behind this. The police, meanwhile, have launched a p...

The Indian Express October 17, 2019 Mirroring the deepening slowdown in the economy, commercial lending exposure in the country has declined 2.6 per cent, or Rs 1,70,000 crore, to Rs 63.8 lakh crore in the June quarter of 2019-20 from Rs 65.5 lakh crore in March 2019, said a TransUnion CIBIL- SIDBI study. Despite several rate cuts by the RBI, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have recorded a slide in credit exposure. “Entities having less than Rs 25 crore credit exposure have reported a lower credit growth rate of 12 per cent in the year ended June 2019 as against a growth rate of 23.1 per cent last year. Very small segment (less than Rs 10 lakh exposure) have registered a credit growth of only 11.3 per cent in June as against a growth rate of 26.2 per cent last year,” says the study. Of the Rs 63.8-lakh crore commercial lending exposure, micro and SME segments account for Rs 15.7 lakh crore exposure (24.5 per cent of commercial credit outstanding). While mi...