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FINANCIAL EXPRESS JULY 26, 2020 In a bid to secure its Internet banking channels as also mobile, card, call centres and ATMs, among others, against cyber fraud, the state-owned Bank of Maharashtra has joined hands with Uniken, a pioneer in the field of digital security in India. The bank will use Uniken’s REL-ID technology for Omni-channel security. The REL-ID technology by Uniken has been modelled for defence-in-depth functions that will help secure the bank’s mobile apps by protecting them against phishing, pharming and malware attacks. health insurance, senior citizen health insurance, Corona-specific insurance policies, Corona Cover, Corona Rakshak, Corona Kavach, high cost of treatment of corona, IRDAI, cost of hospitalisation4 reasons why you should invest in health covers of your parents early than in their 60’show to save tax on property sale, how to save tax on sale of residential property, long-term capital gain tax, sale of property in india, tax on selling p...

THE PRINT JULY 28 2020 The “One Nation One Ration Card” system will include about 800 million people under the world’s biggest food-security program. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration is betting that nationwide portability of rations can help bring migrants back to cities after the world’s largest lockdown — imposed in March with just a few hours’ notice — left many without food or money. Under the program, people are now allowed to take their quota of foodgrains from a “fair-price shop” anywhere in India by giving their ration card number and providing biometric authentication. Until now Indians could only receive the rations in their hometowns, which could discourage some from moving away in search of work. “One of the key challenges faced by the migrant workers in the cities at the beginning of the lockdowns was the lack of food security and a lack of access to foodgrains,” said Ashwajit Singh, managing director of New Delhi-based IPE Global Pvt Ltd., whi...

THE HINDU  JULY 27, 2020 Japan has asked India not to raise import tariffs or impose restrictions on intermediate products sourced from China by Japanese companies based in the country, including those manufacturing automobiles and consumer durables. In a representation given to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) recently, officials from the Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) said that raising tariffs or restricting imports of crucial raw materials sourced mostly from China could hurt production activities in India and also hamper exports, a Japanese official told BusinessLine. JETRO survey “The list of about 990 items that Japan wants India to exempt from possible import restrictions has been prepared based on a survey by Japan’s External Trade Organisation (JETRO), a body under METI. JETRO sent questionnaires to 1,023 Japanese manufactures in India and about 106 companies responded listing their important im...

THE ECONOMIC TIMES JULY 27, 2020 India is eyeing a major reset of its free trade agreements, including exiting those that have brought few tangible benefits to the country and have instead hurt domestic industry, government officials said. “All options are on the table… There is a view that if any trade agreement has not worked out as expected, we should also look at exiting such a deal,” one official said, adding that a final call on the future strategy for such arrangements would be taken at the highest level. Most trading arrangements have a clause for a review or exit. There is renewed focus on trade deals with the US, the European Union and the UK, which are key markets for Indian exporters and are keen to diversify their sourcing. India opted out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership deal in November and the trading arrangement with the 15-member grouping that includes China remains off the table for now, another official said. India could...

HINDUSTAN TIMES JULY 24, 2020 India’s biggest asset sale program is drawing interest from global investors despite the volatility in the oil markets and devastating fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. As many as 81 queries were sent by prospective bidders vying for state-owned oil refiner-cum-fuel retailer Bharat Petroleum Corp., according to officials with knowledge of the matter. While the questions from multiple international oil majors is a reflection of interest, it doesn’t mean they will translate into bids, they said, without disclosing how many companies have sought clarifications. A government official had previously said that several top oil producers from the Middle East and Russia’s Rosneft PJSC have shown interest in buying BPCL, which is India’s third-biggest refiner and second-largest fuel retailer. The Indian government is in the process of clarifying these queries through a corrigendum to the offer document, and will go ahead with the privatization...

HINDUSTAN TIMES JULY 27, 2020 India will hand over 10 railway locomotives to Bangladesh on Monday, reflecting a renewed focus on the “neighbourhood first” policy to bolster economic ties and connectivity within the region amid the border standoff with China. The handover of the broad gauge diesel locomotives, part of grant assistance from the Indian side, is in line with a commitment by New Delhi during Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit last October, people familiar with the development said on condition of anonymity. The locomotives will be handed over during a virtual event to be joined by external affairs minister S Jaishankar and railways minister Piyush Goyal and their Bangladeshi counterparts AK Abdul Momen and Mohammed Nurul Islam Sujon, as well as envoys of the two countries and senior officials. The handover will come close on the heels of the first cross-border container train reaching Bangladesh on Sunday with 50 containers of FMCG goods and...

HINDUSTAN TIMES JULY 26, 2020 A bidding process already underway for an Indian government contract will not be scrapped merely because of a Chinese firm’s participation, two government officials said on Sunday, adding that this is being done to avoid unnecessary delays in the execution of key projects. On Thursday, the Centre said that companies from nations that share a border with India will be barred from bidding for government contracts for goods and services until they register with the industry department. It said the decision was taken to “strengthen the defence of India and national security”; the move is being seen as an effort to counter China amid a tense border stand-off with the neighbouring nation. The order, which did not name any country, is applicable for all prospective tenders, and also for the tenders that have already been invited but not yet awarded. The two government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said an ongoing tender proce...

BUSINESS TODAY JULY 26, 2020 The much-awaited Financial Action Task Force (FATF) mutual evaluation of India's anti-money laundering regime and legal measures framed to check financial crimes, scheduled for this year, has been postponed till early next year in view of the coronavirus pandemic, officials said. They said the on-site review to be conducted by experts of the global body was scheduled to begin in September-October but the FATF secretariat in Paris has conveyed to India that the review is being tentatively pushed to January-February next year. The FATF is a global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog that sets international standards to prevent illegal activities in the economic and financial channels of a country and its inter-connected linkages across the world. It conducts "peer reviews of each member on an ongoing basis to assess levels of implementation of the FATF recommendations and provides an in-depth description and analysis...

HINDUSTAN TIMES JULY 26, 2020 Over the years China has made several attempts to take ultimate control of the political and economic affairs of Pakistan. Since 2016, President Xi Jinping has pushed for China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and a CPEC authority that would bring the country’s infrastructure and power-generation projects under his direct control. Though the proposal was rejected by the Nawaz Sharif government, it was finally accepted by Prime Minister Imran Khan. According to an article by Ali Salman Andani published in the Asia Times, Khan, a puppet of the military establishment, was able to manipulate the law to fulfil Xi’s desires to control the planning ministry of Pakistan. “I consider Pakistan’s Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives as one of the most crucial state institutions, whose senior bureaucrats could implicitly scrutinise and resist Xi’s draconian CPEC scheme, as they had access to all of the secret documents on ...

FINANCIAL EXPRESS JULY 26, 2020 Panchayat funds will be audited online as for the first time the Ministry of Panchayati Raj has decided to carry out an online audit of 20 per cent of the estimated 2.5 lakh gram panchayats (GPs) across the country for the financial year 2019-20. This will be conducted using AuditOnline, an open-source application which facilitates the online and offline audit of accounts to improve the transparency and accountability of the utilisation of the funds. According to the communication to states sent by the Ministry, the auditing of the 20 per cet GPs will be carried out on a pilot basis. This will be scaled up to 100 per cent Panchayats across India in the next financial year 2021-22. For this purpose, the accounts of the panchayat for the year 2019-20 have been completed and closed in e-Gram SWARAJ, (Simplified Work-based Accounting Application for Panchayati Raj), which was launched on the National Panchayati Raj Day. The Fifteenth Finance Comm...