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Supreme Court has ordered the Delhi government to implement the notification dated March 3, 2017, which stated that the minimum wage for graduates should be at least Rs. 19,572. The notification stipulated the minimum wage for various different work categories in Delhi. SC also ordered that the various appeals filed in this case should be addressed with speedy hearings. These appeals were filed by various employers and factory owners. In this notification, the minimum wages have been fixed for several notified jobs. According to the notification, the wages for several sections of workers were fixed. The wages for workers are mentioned below:     Unskilled worker- Rs. 14,842 per month     Semi skilled worker- Rs. 16,341 per month     Skilled worker- Rs. 17,991 per month The notification also mentioned the minimum wages for staff like clerks and supervisors, whose wages are mentioned below:     Non matriculation staff- Rs. 16,3...

Gurugram-headquartered healthtech startup 1MG has now added yet another global investor to its cap table with fresh funds and offering intellectual property. According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs filings accessed by Inc42, the company on Thursday (January 30) received an infusion of INR 71 Cr ($9.9 Mn) from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The company offered 20,629 class 5 preference shares at a nominal value of INR 100 with a premium of INR 34,317.87 per share. However, it noted that the fair market value of each share is INR 22,008.81 per share. However, the company had floated an offer for INR 73 Cr to raise $10 Mn and had said that share value may vary based on RBI’s fluctuating dollar-INR rate. The company said that this is a part of the shareholder agreement signed in June 2019 between the investors and the company, when it had raised Series D funding. The agreement has since been amended and reinstated with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s mention. Relat...

The Indian economy experienced some abrupt slowdown in 2019 due to turbulence in non-banking financial institutions and major reform measures such as GST and demonetisation, but it is not in a recession, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has said. “The Indian economy indeed has experienced an abrupt slowdown in 2019. We had to revise our growth projections, downwards to four percent for last year. We are expecting 5.8 per cent (growth rate) in 2020 and then an upward trajectory to 6.5 percent in 2021,” Georgieva told a group of foreign journalists here on Friday. Follow Budget 2020 LIVE updates “It appears that the main reason for this slowdown was the non-banking financial institutions experiencing a turbulence,” she said on the eve of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presenting the annual budget in Parliament on Saturday. She said India had undertaken some important reforms that over the longer term would be beneficial for the country, but they do have some short-...

A KEY THEME the Economic Survey emphasises across chapters is the importance of wealth creation which, it says, is better achieved through liberalisation of the economy and promotion of the private sector. It highlights several areas from banking to cement and steel where opening up the sectors to private players has led to massive efficiency gains, increased profitability, improved return on assets, and better access and service to customers. On disinvestment, an analysis carried out in the survey shows that strategic sale of majority stake to private players produced much better results, indicating its preference for privatisation of government-owned companies. It argues for the setting up of a holding company structure — on the lines of Singapore government-owned Temasek Holdings — to carry out stake sale in central public sector enterprises (CPSEs). “The aim of any privatisation or disinvestment programme should, therefore, be maximisation of the government’s equity stake value.T...

Chinese government has confirmed that they've successfully cured it's first patient of the deadly Wuhan Corona-virus. The deadly Corona-virus has already claimed its 110th patient with over 90,000 currently infected. The Chinese government has shut down all transport systems including trains and airports in other to curb the deadly virus. Most cities including Wuhan have also been shut off from the outside world so that infected patients does not leave. As China battles to complete a world record of setting up a 1000 bed hospital in 7 days, the corona virus has now been recorded in 16 countries with Ivory Coast in Africa been the latest country to get the Virus. A student who arrived the country was showing symptoms of Coronavirus and was detained at the airport. He was found to have traveled through China. Meanwhile, the Chinese government has announced to the world that they've successfully treated and discharged it's first patient of the deadly Wuhan coronavirus. T...

Over the past few days, the mainstream press has vigorously pushed back against a theory about the origins of the coronavirus that has now infected as many as 70,000+ people in Wuhan alone (depending on whom you believe). The theory is that China obtained the coronavirus via a Canadian research program, and started molding it into a bioweapon at the Institute of Virology in Wuhan. Politifact pointed the finger at Zero Hedge, in particular, though the story was widely shared across independent-leaning media. The theory is that the virus, which was developed by infectious disease experts may have originated in the Wuhan-based lab of Dr. Peng Zhou, China's preeminent researcher of bat immune systems, specifically in how their immune systems adapt to the presence of viruses like coronavirus and other destructive viruses. Somehow, the virus escaped from the lab, and the Hunan fish market where the virus supposedly originated is merely a ruse. Now, a respected epidemiologist who recent...

GST collections have crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore mark for the third month in a row in January with improved compliance and plugging of evasion, sources said on Friday. According to provisional numbers, total GST revenue was Rs 1.1 lakh crore in January, they said. The GST collection is in line with the target set by Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey after a high-level meeting with senior tax officials earlier this month. Domestic GST collection during the month so far is around Rs 86,453 crore while Rs 23,597 crore has been collected through IGST and cess collection. The total collection of GST revenue in December has come at Rs 1.03 lakh crore. Going by the provisional numbers, growth in the domestic GST collection comes about to 11.5 per cent while the IGST on import of goods contracted by 6 per cent, sources said. The number of GSTR 3B returns filed till Thursday was 82.8 lakh. The government this month set an ambitious target of Rs 1.1 lakh crore...

After 47 years of sitting at the European Union’s top table, the UK on Friday exited the 28-member group to beat an independent path into a future some see as a new dawn and others a leap into the unknown. It is the first time a member-state has left the group whose origins lie in efforts in the aftermath of the Second World War to counter impulses of extreme nationalism. The moment of exit – 11 pm GMT – was described as a ‘bittersweet’ one by many, including Ireland PM Leo Varadkar. There was sadness in various quarters in the UK and across Europe after nearly five decades of close engagement brought together not only rules, regulations and markets, but also personal relationships and families. Pro-Brexiteers partied to celebrate the occasion. The Bexit Day, ending years of wrangling since the 2016 referendum, was marked by low-key events staged by the Boris Johnson government. Indian and other businesses based in the UK continue to await clarity on future trade and mobility arrange...

The area under hybrid rice cultivation has not made big headway due to lack of supportive infrastructure, huge disparity in commodity prices (offered by millers and commission agents), inadequate government procurement infrastructure and the lack of investment in R&D to improve taste and cooking quality, according to a Bayer official. Just around 3 million hectares out of the 43 million hectares under rice cultivation is said to be hybrids. Consumer requirements “The area under hybrid rice, however, has grown at a CAGR of 10 per cent over the last three years,” said Ajeet Chahal, Commercial Lead (Central), Bayer CropScience Ltd. “In the early years of introduction, the focus was on yield enhancement. Eventually, it has shifted towards parameters such as grain quality to cater to a larger section of consumers.” “Though rice is widely consumed in southern India, consumers have specific grain quality requirements. They prefer short slender fine rice, but the current hybrid offerings...