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The Indian Express August 19, 2020 MAHARATNAS TO navratnas, energy giants to power majors, 38 PSUs have dipped into their Corporate Social Responsibility funds to together contribute over Rs 2,105 crore to the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) fund since it was launched on March 28, records accessed by The Indian Express under the RTI Act show. The fund, which was set up following the Covid outbreak, had a corpus of Rs 3,076.62 crore on March 31, 2020, of which Rs 3,075.85 crore was listed as “voluntary contributions”, according to its official website. The Indian Express sent RTI queries to 55 PSUs and received, until August 13, responses from 38, which showed that they contributed a total of Rs 2,105.38 crore over the past five months from budget allocations in 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. Significantly, on May 28, replying to a query from The Indian Express on the contributions received, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO...

The Telegraph  August 19, 2020 Reliance Industries on Tuesday announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Netmeds, the Chennai-based online pharmacy, for a cash consideration of around Rs 620 crore. Under the terms of the deal, RIL subsidiary Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd will pick up a 60 per cent stake in Vitalic Health and a direct 100 per cent stake in three of its subsidiaries —Netmeds Marketplace, Tresara Health Private Ltd, and Dadha Pharma Distribution Pvt, the Mukesh Ambani-owned entity announced late on Tuesday night. Speculation about the deal has been brewing for a while and it now sets the stage up for a battle royale in the online pharmacy space after Amazon launched its own venture that has already started accepting orders for both over the counter and prescription-based drugs in Bangalore earlier this week. It will also have to contend with existing players like 1Mg and Medlife. This investment is aligned with our commitment to provide digi...

Business Today August 18, 2020 After the Chinese central bank's investment in mortgage lender HDFC Ltd created a flutter in the Indian market earlier this year, the People's Bank of China has now made an investment in ICICI Bank. The Chinese bank has emerged as one of the investors in ICICI Bank's Rs 15,000 crore capital raising exercise which ended last week. The Chinese bank signed a cheque of Rs 15 crore in the private bank under the qualified institutional placement. People's Bank of China was amongst the 357 institutional investors which included domestic mutual funds, insurance companies and global institutions that subscribed to the issue. The prominent investors among them were Government of Singapore, Morgan Investment and Societe Generale. It makes good sense for the Chinese central bank, which is flush with funds, to diversify part of its war-chest in countries like India rather than stay invested in US and Europe. US and China are already loc...

First Post August 18, 2020 The public policy director of Facebook India, Ankhi Das, along with two others, has been named in a first information report filed by Raipur-based journalist Chhattisgarh. The Chhattisgarh Police has said that the FIR was registered in Raipur based on the complaint of Awesh Tiwari, who is the state bureau chief of a local news channel, for allegedly hurting religious sentiments. As perThe Quint, the FIR has alleged that Das had “pressured her employees to not take down several hate speech posts prior to the Lok Sabha elections.” This was done “to make political gains in the Indian market.” The other two named in the FIR are Ram Sahu, a resident of Mungeli in Chhattisgarh, and Indore resident Vivek Sinha. An investigation is underway and further action will be taken accordingly, Senior Superintendent of Police Ajay Yadav. All three have been booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 295(a) (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrag...

The Print  August 18, 2020 The Narendra Modi government is likely to conduct interviews on 22 August for the post of deputy governor in the Reserve Bank of India (RBI),  The position has been lying vacant for over four months after N.S. Vishwanathan retired on 31 March. Vishwanathan, who retired three months ahead of schedule due to health reasons, was in charge of portfolios including banking regulation, which formulated important policies like stressed asset resolution and bank licences. The vacancy will be filled up with an internal candidate from the central bank. All 12 RBI executive directors were made eligible for the interview. However, only eight will be appearing for the interview. Four of them — the chief financial officer of RBI, two from specialised cadre and one of the executive directors of the supervisory department — have opted out. Reference:  https://theprint.in/economy/interviews-for-rbi-deputy-governor-post-likely-on-22-august-...

Dawn August 18, 2020 Israel's Mossad spy agency chief Yossi Cohen visited the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for security talks, Emirati state media reported on Tuesday, days after the two countries agreed to establish diplomatic ties. Cohen discussed “cooperation in the fields of security” and regional developments with the UAE's national security adviser, Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in Abu Dhabi, reported the official WAM news agency. The United States, Israel and UAE, along with some other Gulf states, have a common foe in Iran.  Cohen's trip marked the first visit to the UAE by an Israeli official after the announcement last week by US President Donald Trump that the two countries had agreed to normalise relations. As part of the deal, the Jewish state agreed to suspend the annexation of occupied West Bank territories, although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the plan was not off the table in the long run. The Israel-UAE deal is only t...

The Indian Express August 19, 2020 The geopolitical realignment in the Middle East, marked by last week’s agreement on the normalisation of relations between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, intersects with the equally significant reorientation of the Subcontinent’s relationship with the region. “As Pakistan rediscovers its tradition of aligning with non-Arab powers, India must renew its defence of Arab sovereignty,” argues C Raja Mohan, Director, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. Here is the essence of the emerging contradiction between Saudi Arabia and the UAE on the one hand and Pakistan on the other. Saudis and Emiratis see sharpening existential threats to their kingdoms from both the Sunni Muslim brotherhood backed by Turkey and Shiite Iran’s regional expansionism. On the other hand, Imran Khan appears to be dreaming of a new regional alliance with Turkey and Iran. Pakistan is also betting that a rising China and an assert...