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Economic Times October 17, 2019 Iman Khan’s desperate bid to break Pakistan’s isolation by playing a mediator in Iran’s troubled diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia and the US hasn’t yielded any immediate result as New Delhi and Riyadh gear up for a bilateral summit. The first Indo-Saudi Strategic Partnership Council will be held in Riyadh end of October in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Crown Prince Mohd Bin Salman. While the Pakistani prime minister met both the Saudi king and the crown prince in Riyadh on Tuesday to emerge a mediator to defuse crisis, the Saudi leadership did not offer any response to Khan’s suggestions. Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs Adel al-Jubeir said Riyadh did not ask Islamabad to mediate and Tehran believes that the crises could be resolved with or without mediation, according to local media reports. Khan was accompanied by a high-level delegation, including foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, special as

Scroll.in October 18, 2019 Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said the government was “preparing in advance” for the nationwide rollout of the National Register of Citizens by constructing detention centres all over the country. “The process [of detention] will be managed by the Foreigners Tribunals,” he said in an interview to News18. “The government has its own preparations to make. There is a legal process where FTs are concerned. That process has just started.” Shah reiterated that the government will “throw out infiltrators” before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Bharatiya Janata Party president has repeatedly claimed that the NRC exercise would be implemented across the country. BJP leaders from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Tripura and Haryana have also called for the exercise to be implemented in all the states. The final NRC list in Assam was published on August 31. The list, which is an exercise to establish bonafide citizens, excluded more than 19 lakh

Live Mint October 17, 2019 Rural household consumption slumped to a seven-year low in the September quarter, in a sign that the prolonged agrarian distress and near-stagnant rural incomes have eroded demand for consumer goods, market researcher Nielsen said. Consumption of packaged consumer goods by rural households also grew at a slower pace than in urban areas for the first time in seven years, Nielsen said in a quarterly report on Thursday. The rural economy has been plagued by falling crop prices and declining incomes, resulting in a severe slump in demand. Falling income has not only singed farmers but also landless wage workers, who together account for two-thirds of all rural households. In the September quarter, rural grew at 5% in terms of value, sharply slower than 20% reported in the year earlier. Urban India grew at 8% compared with 14% in the year-ago period. Across urban and rural markets, September quarter growth rates dropped to 7.3% from 16.2% i

NDTV October 17, 2019 High-resolution satellite images show that the construction of China's first full-sized aircraft carrier is progressing steadily alongside expansive infrastructure work that analysts say suggests the ship will be the first of several large vessels produced at the site. The images of the Jiangnan shipyard outside Shanghai were taken last month and provided to Reuters by the non-partisan Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), building on satellite photos it obtained in April and September last year. Noting a series of pre-fabricated sections, bulkheads and other components stacked nearby, CSIS analysts say the hull should be finished within 12 months, after which it is likely to be moved to a newly created harbour and wharf before being fitted out. The vast harbour on the Yangtze River estuary, including a wharf nearly 1 kilometre long and large buildings for manufacturing ship components, is nearly complete. Much of the harbo

Firstpost October 18, 2019 Finally, some great news! India’s fastest-growing financial subscriptions service, Moneycontrol Pro, is available both on the website and mobile apps. Moneycontrol Pro offers curated markets data, independent equity analysis, insights into investment styles and exclusive trading recommendations. In sum, all the information you need for wealth creation. Lower taxes mean higher earnings but that’s just the tip of the iceberg A number of companies have declared that they have shifted to the new lower corporate tax rate while declaring their September quarter earnings. Their post-tax profit rose by a much higher rate than PBT. While the earnings bump is good news for shareholders of these companies, the tax cuts’ effects don’t end there. For instance, HUL’s management mentioned it was working on different scenarios on how to reorient manufacturing and its supply chain. This could mean significant changes to how it has done business. Other compan

Hindustan Times October 17, 2019 The Indian retail market will grow to $1,200 billion by 2021 and $1,750 billion by 2026, a FICCI-Deloitte report said, adding that the country’s e-commerce market is expected to touch $84 billion by 2021 and $200 billion by 2026. “Growth is expected not only from large cities and metro but also tier-2 and tier-3 cities. Organised food and grocery sectors are expected to reach $75.1 billion by 2025 and online shoppers expected to increase from current 15% of the online population to 50% by 2026,” FICCI said in a statement quoting the report ‘Evolve for Consumer’. The FMCG companies and retailers in India are evolving at a rapid pace and facing major disruption in various parts of the value chain. Innovative solutions, technologically advanced start-ups, hi-tech processes, modernisation and digitisation of back-end operations, tech-savvy consumers, and a growing internet and smartphone penetration are few major factors causing this disrupt

Hindustan Times October 17, 2019 Investors can find no better place in the world than India that has a democracy loving and capitalist respecting environment, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said. She also assured international investors at an interaction session at the IMF’s headquarters that the government was continuously working to bring reforms. “It (India) is one of the fastest growing (economies) even today. It has the best skilled manpower and a government that is continuously doing what is required in the name of reforms, above all democracy and rule of law,” Sitharaman said on Wednesday. Responding to a question on why investors should allocate funds for India, she said that even if the court system is a bit delayed, India is a transparent and open society. The rule of law works and there are a lot of reforms happening, even those to cut down delays, she said. “So you will not have anything better... democracy loving, capitalist respecting en

The Week October 16, 2019 Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee urged the Indian government not to worry too much about fiscal deficit and instead, asked the Centre to spend more on people. "My prescription even today would be to not tighten the belt. Do not come up with a tough fiscal policy and pretend that the situation needs tough fiscal and monetary policies. It will be dangerous for the country," Banerjee told THE WEEK in an exclusive interview.  "The government should not forget that those (poor) people need money to survive. For the economic growth that is very important," he further added explaining about the significance of government spending. His comments come at a time when a section of economists have questioned the Centre for doling out sector-wise monetary reliefs to encourage consumption and arrest the current economic downturn.  Urging the Centre to act fast, Banerjee said, "Give money to the poor. Increase public spending. Induce gr

The Print October 17, 2019 The International Monetary Fund warned that global economic risks have risen as central banks reduce borrowing costs and that stronger oversight is needed to ease threats to an already shaky expansion. “While easier financial conditions have supported economic growth and helped contain downside risks to the outlook in the near term, they have also encouraged more financial risk-taking and a further buildup of financial vulnerabilities, putting medium-term growth at risk,” the IMF said Wednesday in its latest Global Financial Stability Report. The policy easing that has helped support global growth has also fueled a further increase of financial risks, and threats to global growth and financial stability remain “firmly skewed to the downside,” the fund said. It added that policy makers “urgently need to take action to tackle financial vulnerabilities that could exacerbate the next economic downturn.” The latest warnings come a day after the

The Print October 17, 2019 Since the beginning of the trade war between China and the U.S., most economists have warned that rising protectionism would trigger an economic slowdown. A few years into this conflict, the evidence suggests that a deceleration is indeed taking place. This week, the International Monetary Fund warned that global growth will fall to 3% this year, the lowest rate since the financial crisis, as the tit-for-tat between Washington and Beijing takes its toll on confidence and investment. There may be an equally dangerous threat that economists so far have neglected: this slowdown, combined with a decade of ultra-loose monetary policy, could cause a wave of defaults among corporations. This double whammy could threaten the world’s financial stability. The recent deceleration in the world economy has already prompted many central banks around the world to stop bringing monetary policy back in line with pre-financial crisis norms. From the U.S. Fe

The Indian Express October 16, 2019 Sri Lanka will seek India's assistance to introduce electronic voting machines on a trial basis in the next provincial polls, the island nation's top election official said on Wednesday. Speaking to reporters, Chairman of the Election Commission Mahinda Deshapriya said, "I hope to do a trial at the next provincial election." The island nation will hold presidential elections on November 16 and the results will be announced two days later on November 18. The polls will be held from 7 am to 4 pm. There are 35 candidates in the fray. Deshapriya said he expected at least 85 per cent voter turn for the presidential elections. Sri Lanka has over 15 million eligible voters. The election chief said electronic voting systems will replace the current manual paper voting, for which the Indian government's assistance would be taken, in the next provincial polls, dates for which have not yet been announced. He said th

Financial Express October 17, 2019 JSW Steel Coated Products had moved a petition before the DGTR for imposition of the trade remedial measure on imports India has imposed a provisional $29-$200 a tonne anti-dumping duty to rein in burgeoning and predatory imports of galvalume steel products from China, Vietnam and Korea which were causing material injury to the domestic industry. The duty will remain in effect for six months. JSW Steel Coated Products, a unit of Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Steel, had moved a petition before the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) for imposition of the trade remedial measure on imports of the high-end aluminium and zinc coated flat products (galvalume) that find application in roofing purposes to making auto parts. Following investigations, the DGTR found that exporters from these three countries were sending galvalume to India “below their normal values”, causing “material injury” to the domestic producers like JSW Steel, Tata S