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 Hindustan Times August 11, 2020 India’s newly-acquired  five Rafale fighters  are practising night flying in the mountainous terrain of Himachal Pradesh so that the Golden Arrows squadron with its Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missile and SCALP air-to-ground stand-off weapon will be ready if the situation deteriorates on the 1,597 km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Ladakh sector, people familiar with the matter said. The first batch of Rafale fighters, which landed at the Indian Air Force air base at Ambala on July 29, are “fully operational” with the first 18 platforms to be placed in Ambala and the next 18 fighters to be based in Hasimara air base near the border with Bhutan. India has contracted to purchase 36 jets made by Dassault Aviation, South Block officials said. A government official said the top-of-the-line fighter jets are staying away from the LAC lest the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) radars in occupied Aksai Chin identify their frequency signatures and

 Hindustan Times August 11, 2020 Maintaining peace along the disputed boundary and deepening strategic trust with India is one of China’s diplomatic priorities, the Chinese foreign ministry has said, adding that Beijing will try to expand “shared interests” with neighbours in the future. Responding to a query about China’s diplomatic priorities as the Covid-19 pandemic impacts the world and international diplomacy, foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian briefly outlined Beijing’s plans for way ahead in bilateral ties with the US, Russia, EU, Japan, and India.,  “For the China-India relationship, the two sides should jointly safeguard peace and security in the border areas and maintain a steady and sound development of bilateral ties”, Zhao said. “We will continue to deepen strategic mutual trust and expand shared interests with our neighbours and other developing countries”, he said in a statement published on the Chinese foreign ministry’s website on Monday night. Zhao was respondi

 The Telegraph August 11, 2020 The Supreme Court on Monday asked telecom operators Reliance Communications (R-Com) and Aircel and others why they went in for insolvency proceedings when they had more than Rs 40,000-crore dues in adjusted gross revenues hanging over them. The court asked the department of telecommunications (DoT)  why it did not move the apex court against the insolvency cases at the National Company Law Tribunal where national resources such as spectrum were listed as assets, meaning they could be sold to pay off dues.  Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the DoT,  told the bench of Justices Arun Mishra, Abdul Nazeer and M.R. Shah: “We have told the NCLT that spectrum can’t be owned by anyone… We have raised the point that a company which is to go into insolvency cannot show the spectrum as one of the assets. Spectrum cannot be owned by anyone like this. Government is the trustee. Spectrum is a national asset.” The bench, which is hearing  the case relating t

 The Telegraph August 11, 2020 Rajouri resident Mohammad Saleem has been frantically searching his cousin and friend Ibrar Ahmad, a class XII student, and two other relatives missing for the past three weeks. After “rumours” surfaced on social media that they might have been killed by security forces across Pir Panchal mountains in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district on July 18, he was overwhelmed with anxiety since Sunday. There is no way for him to confirm, as the “rumours” suggested, that the three men killed by security forces in a gunfight in Amshipora village of Shopian and declared “unidentified militants” could be his missing relatives. So, he requested this correspondent to share the picture showing the three bodies. “I have seen the picture,” cried Saleem, 19, after this newspaper sent him the picture that was available on the social networking sites, through WhatsApp. “The one in the middle is my brother Ibrar (cousin)…I am shocked, can’t understand how this can happen. I w

 Money Control August 10, 2020 Rajasthan government is planning to join hands with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to support MSME units in the state. Under the arrangement, the SIDBI would set up a Project Management Unit (PMU) to provide assistance to certain cluster-based sectors like textiles in Bhilwara and handicrafts in Jodhpur, a state government official said. In a meeting with the state government officials held on August 10, SIDBI representatives highlighted various clusters where they would like to work and how they would reach out to small entrepreneurs, using their expertise for providing consultation, appropriate solutions and guidance for availing benefits under current schemes. “With the active participation of the consultants provided by SIDBI, the cluster level challenges of MSMEs would be easier to address and MSMEs will also be able to avail benefits under relevant schemes,” Archana Singh, Commissioner- Industries said. The objective is aimed

The Indian Express August 10, 2020 Prachi Mishra, chief India economist, Goldman Sachs, projects that  India’s real GDP would contract  by 4.4 per cent in FY21; this would be the deepest recession India has witnessed since 1980. The key question that markets are confronted with is — what will be the key macroeconomic drivers of Indian growth  going forward? “Discretionary fiscal policy support, defined as targeted support to households and businesses, the kind of policy support that can revive any economy quickly in times of an unprecedented shock like we have seen, is tepid in our view,” she states. “Indeed, credit rating agencies appear to be less worried about the worsening of fiscal and debt positions in the short-term — in fact, it is the reverse. They appear to be more concerned about the fact that India may not have the administrative and fiscal capacity to implement large fiscal support, and that would be a headwind to growth,” she writes. What would reassure markets and avoid

 The Indian Express August 11, 2020 The Goods and Services Tax (GST), rolled out in July 2017, marked a major shift from the traditional production-linked tax to a consumption-based tax. The new regime subsumed state levies such as VAT, sales tax, octroi/entry tax together with central levies such as central excise and service tax. States gave up some of their taxation rights in lieu of the Centre passing on their revenue share under GST and also compensating them for potential revenue losses in the first five years. The tussle between the Centre and the states, which has escalated in recent weeks, involves the passing on of this share, and the payments under the compensation cess head. What does GST include? GST includes a tax levied by the Centre on the intra-state supply of goods and/or services called Central GST (CGST), and a corresponding tax levied by states/UTs called the State GST (SGST/UTGST) on these goods and services. CGST and SGST are levied simultaneously on every purcha

 The Indian Express August 11, 2020 COVID-19 may be a blessing in disguise if it allows India to reform its tax system in order to make it work towards inclusive growth and sustainable development rather than targeting only investment-led economic growth. After all, India’s tax-GDP ratio was only 10.9 per cent in 2019, as against the OECD average of 34 per cent. The taxation policy of the Indian government has been problematic on two grounds. Not only has it been pro-rich (and anti-poor), but it has deprived the state of important fiscal resources — both particularly damaging in the context of the COVID crisis. After abolishing the wealth tax in 2016, which was replaced by a 2 per cent surcharge on super-rich individuals (taxable income of over Rs 10 crore), the  Narendra Modi  government rolled back the increase in surcharge in 2019. More importantly, corporate taxes were slashed from 30 per cent to 22 per cent to attract foreign investors and induce Indian companies to invest. In par

 The Indian Express August 11, 2020 That businessman is Sarang Kale and two of his companies figure in the chain of transactions red-flagged in the forensic audit conducted by Grant Thornton. Raising questions of round-tripping through a maze of firms, an influential Pune-based businessman received over Rs 52 crore from an IL&FS (Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd.) group company which he then used to repay his initial loan to the very same IL&FS company. That businessman is Sarang Kale and two of his companies figure in the chain of transactions red-flagged in the forensic audit conducted by Grant Thornton. Records show that on January 7, 2017, IL&FS Transportation and Network Ltd (ITNL), an IL&FS Group Company, gave an unsecured loan of Rs 52 crore to Rajasthan Land Holdings Ltd, a company that had no revenue-generating business. This is a subsidiary of Road Infrastructure Development Company of Rajasthan Ltd. (RIDCOR), which is a joint venture betwee

 Money Control August 11, 2020 CEO Vinita Gupta does not name the drugs. Analysts say move will not have much effect on Indian pharma sector. Gupta says US business was down 26 percent in Q1FY21 Q-o-Q. Efforts under way to bring Metformin back into the market within Q2FY21. Lupin  has started shifting the manufacture of some drugs from India to the US, following the US government's policy of 'Buy American', directing federal agencies to give priority to drugs made in US factories, CEO Vinita Gupta told  Moneycontrol  during an interview. US President Donald Trump had last week signed an executive order directing federal agencies to buy certain essential medicines solely from US factories. Lupin is the first pharma company to do so after Trump’s order. Gupta did not name the drugs or categories that have been shifted. Analysts said Lupin’s move does not have much effect on the Indian pharma sector as Trump’s order mainly applies to public procurement by US departments and st

The Indian Express August 11, 2020 C. Raja Mohan writes: Unlike Beijing and Moscow, Delhi has no incentive to pick sides between Trump and Biden. It can deal productively with both. But Delhi is conscious of the current unprecedented churn in US domestic politics and the breakdown of the internal consensus on foreign and economic policies. China  and Russia tend to agree on most international issues these days. Thanks to the deepening strategic partnership built over the last two decades in opposition to the US’s dominance, Moscow and Beijing have had one of the most stable great power relationships of the 21st century. But Beijing and Moscow seem to disagree on one important issue — the US presidential elections set to take place in the first week of November. While China’s preference seems to be in favour of the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party, Joe Biden, Russia would rather have US President Donald Trump retain the White House. Given the global impact of US policies, eve