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The Indian Express Dated: November 27, 2019 Three youths from Kerala, including two women, who were among more than 20 from the state who left for Afghanistan in 2016 to join the Islamic State, are suspected to be among hundreds of IS operatives who surrendered before Afghan authorities in the last one week. Sources said the possibility of more Indians among the surrendered terrorists can not be denied. Based on photographs of the surrendered IS affiliates obtained from national agencies, intelligence officials in Kerala have prima facie identified three persons. “We have unofficially come to the conclusion that the surrendered include Thasleem of Pappinassery in Kannur, Aysha alias Sonia Sebastian, and Rahaila. There is no official confirmation but we have come to the assumption matching their photographs,” sources said. Some families in Kerala are now keeping their fingers crossed, anticipating the return of missing family members, in the wake of the surrender. A soft...

The Indian Express Dated: November 27, 2019 More than half of the officers have been charged by CBI in cases of “illegal gratification”, sources said. One of them was caught accepting a bribe of Rs 65,00,000, while another official is accused of having been a part of criminal conspiracy. In another round of compulsory retirement of tax officers, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Tuesday retired 21 Group B officials on charges of corruption and bribery under Fundamental Rule 56(J), taking the total number of tax officers compulsorily retired to 85 this year. Advertising More than half of the officers have been charged by CBI in cases of “illegal gratification”, sources said. One of them was caught accepting a bribe of Rs 65,00,000, while another official is accused of having been a part of criminal conspiracy. Officials who have been compulsorily retired were posted in places such as  Rajahmundry , Visahakapatnam, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Thane, Nagpur,...

Business Line Dated: November 26, 2019 As London does more rupee trading than Mumbai, authorities in India are taking steps to get foreigners to transact onshore. Analysts say that will be no easy task. Ref:  https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/money-and-banking/why-indias-big-plan-to-bring-rupee-trading-home-is-an-uphill-task/article30089204.ece

Live Mint Dated: November 26, 2019 Mumbai:  Reserve Bank deputy governor M.K. Jain on Tuesday warned bankers about the growing stress in Mudra loans, which has crossed more than  ₹ 3.21 lakh crore system-wide, and asked them to monitor such loans closely as unsustainable credit growth in the sector can risk the system. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the Mudra scheme in April 2015 with much fanfare to offer speedier credit up to  ₹ 10 lakh to small businesses which are non- corporate, non-farm small/micro enterprises and which normally do not get bank funds due to their poor and mostly no credit rating. These loans are extended by banks, NBFCs, RRBs, cooperative banks and small finance banks. Interestingly, it can be recalled that within a year of the launch of the scheme, the then Reserve Bank governor Raghuram Rajan had warned of asset quality troubles bubbling in the scheme but the then finance minister Arun Jaitely had brushed aside the concerns....

The Telegraph Dated: November 26, 2019 Indian economy may have slowed for the sixth consecutive quarter in July-September to 4.7 per cent, Fitch group firm India Ratings and Research said on Tuesday, as it lowered GDP growth forecast for current fiscal for the fourth time. The Indian economy expanded 5 per cent in April-June, its slowest annual pace since 2013. The 4.7 per cent projection for the second quarter of the current fiscal would mark six consecutive quarters of slowing growth, a first since 2012. This comes despite a recent series of fiscal stimulus, including reduction in corporate tax rates. "India Ratings and Research has revised its GDP growth forecast for FY20 to 5.6 per cent. This is the fourth revision and has come in after the agency had revised its FY20 GDP growth forecast only a month ago to 6.1 per cent," the rating agency said in a statement. The revision, it said, became "inevitable as the high-frequency data now suggests that the a...

The Quint Dated: November 22, 2019  By: FRANCESCA MARINO A few lines, only in the local newspapers, as usual. An abusive center for sending, receiving and lending money with the  hawala  system, concealed behind an internet point, was seized in the Borgo Station in Udine by the Provincial Command of the Finance Police. As it is well known, the  hawala  system is prohibited by international and national anti-money laundering regulations, because it allows cash transactions without leaving a trace. And it is often, too often, used by mafia and pro-jihadi organisations to fund their activities. And, according to reports, this was the case in Udine. How a Small Town in North Italy Emerged as Terror-Funding Epicenter At the end of an investigation conducted by the military of the Economic and Financial Police, it was found that behind an inactive internet point, a different kind of activity was going on in the shop: they were receiving and sendi...

First Post Dated: November 27, 2019 By:  Tara Kartha There is the someone who moved the Peshawar High Court against the extension of the General on the grounds that he is a Qadiani. Alongside is the inevitable speculation on possible unhappiness within the Pakistan Army at the turn of events. Powerful families who usually have a foot in the government and in the army are furious. In what is a shock of almost seismic proportions,  Dawn news  reported that the chief justice has set aside the notification on an extension to the present Pakistan Army chief, until a hearing tomorrow. That in itself is news. Even more surprising is the whole process in terms of what did happen and what didn’t, which lead to the present court decision. First, it seems a number of petitions have been filed in court against the extension given to the General, among which is one by an institution called The Jurists Foundation, an unknown organisation that seems to have no ...