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The Indian Express August 24, 2020 In a turn of events that had been expected by New Delhi, Pakistan on Sunday stepped back from its acknowledgment — which became public on Saturday — of the presence of terrorist Dawood Ibrahim on its soil. Dawood, one of the most wanted men in India, figured in a list of 88 individuals published as a Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) by Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to escape blacklisting by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). On Sunday, however, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry in a statement brushed aside as “baseless and misleading” reports in the media that said Islamabad had “admitted to the presence of certain listed individuals on its territory”. The SRO mentioning Dawood was a “routine matter”, it said. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued two consolidated SROs on 18 August, 2020, reflecting the current status of the UN Taliban and ISIL (Da’esh) and AQ Sanctions list. These lists contain names of individuals and enti...

The Indian Express August 24, 2020 The outlay for a key scheme, under which exporters will be reimbursed for all embedded taxes paid on inputs consumed in outbound shipments, could be “much higher” than the Niti Aayog’s much-curtailed estimate of Rs 10,000 crore a year, GK Pillai, former commerce and home secretary, who now heads a panel to fix the refund rates, told FE. Although Pillai refrained from offering a precise estimate of the allocation under the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) scheme, he said the committee’s intention is not to leave out any event that causes tax content in exports. All the imposts that are not subsumed by the goods and services tax (GST) will be built into the RoDTEP rates, in a potential relief for exporters battered by the pandemic. The government had envisaged an annual allocation of about Rs 50,000 crore under the RoDTEP scheme to make exports zero-rated. This new scheme is to replace the extant Merchandise Ex...

The Indian Express August 24, 2020 The slow pace in the recovery of loans has come to the spotlight with some banks not reporting the wilful default by Gujarat-based Sterling Group to credit information companies (CICs). Sterling Group is one of the largest corporate loan defaults involving about Rs 15,600 crore. The number will go up if the amount claimed by operational creditors is taken into account. Banks are required to file details of all defaults to CICs under the CIC (Regulation) Act. While many banks including Bank of India and IDBI Bank have declared the account as wilful defaults, some banks have not done so even after six-seven years. When the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) took up the matter with Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), the latter informed it had initiated action for classifying the account as wilful defaulter but had kept the same in abeyance due to receipt of a one-time settlement (OTS) proposal. The borrower had not paid the amount fully to the bank and had...

The Indian Express August 24, 2020 April-June may be the first time that India’s economy would contract year-on-year since the government started coming out with quarterly estimates of GDP from 1996-97. But the data for the quarter, to be released by the National Statistical Office on August 31, could also show GDP falling for the first time in spite of agricultural production going up. The country’s GDP registered an annual decline, at minus 5.2%, last in 1979-80. But that year also recorded negative growth for agricultural GDP, at minus 12.8%. Even the previous GDP contractions of 0.3% in 1972-73, 3.7% in 1965-66, and 1.2% in 1957-58 were accompanied by farm output falling by 5%, 11% and 4.5% respectively. The first quarter of 2020-21 (April-March) may turn out differently. Most investment banks and rating agencies are predicting the economy to shrink this fiscal, with the Reserve Bank of India’s latest survey of professional forecasters pointing to a median estimate of...

Live Mint August 23, 2020 With the US and the European Union signing a mini trade deal on Friday, the focus has now shifted to the long-drawn trade package being negotiated by India and the US with a wafer-thin margin left for resolving the pending differences before the US elections in November. In a small but significant breakthrough in trade relations, EU last week agreed to eliminate tariffs on American lobsters while the US will reduce duties on a range of European products such as glass crystal and cigarette lighters. A limited trade package under negotiations between India and the US since 2018 is expected to cover tariff-related concessions for US farm products, especially dairy items, pricing of pharmaceutical products such as stents and knee implants, and information and communication technology products. In return, Washington is expected to restore benefits accorded to Indian exporters under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), which was terminated by ...

The Print August 23, 2020 Amid the ongoing standoff between India and China in the Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), New Delhi and Washington will be holding their first virtual 2+2 format dialogue between foreign and defence ministries in September, ThePrint has learnt. The plan to hold the 2+2 ministerial meeting through videoconferencing has been in the works since July even as tensions between New Delhi and Beijing have intensified with talks of disengagement between Indian and Chinese troops making no headway, sources said. This round of the 2+2 talks will be led by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh from the Indian side, while the US will be represented by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary Mark Esper. During this round, the two sides might finally sign the last of the US’ defence foundational pacts — Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA). The pact will enable India to avail US ex...

Financial Express August 22, 2020 Kerala Government and most of the political parties have strongly objected to the Union Government’s decision to hand over the management and operation of Thiruvananthapuram airport to a private bidder . The Union Cabinet had on Wednesday approved the proposal for leasing out airports at Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram through public-private partnership. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, raising concerns on the unilateral decision that ignored Kerala’s requests that the airport’s management be transferred to a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) in which the state government is a major stakeholder. The Kerala CM in his letter stated that it would be difficult to offer cooperation in the implementation of the decision in view of the unilateral decision taken by the Government of India without giving credence to the cogent argument put forward by the state government. The CM has requested for a r...

The Telegraph August 24, 2020 Seeking to wriggle out of the Financial Action Task Force’s grey list, Pakistan has imposed tough financial sanctions on 88 banned terror groups and their leaders, including Hafiz Saeed, Masood Azhar and Dawood Ibrahim. It ordered the seizure of all their properties and freezing bank accounts, The News reported on Saturday. The Paris-based FATF put Pakistan on the grey list in June 2018 and asked Islamabad to implement a plan of action by the end of 2019. However, the deadline was extended later because of the pandemic. The government issued two notifications on August 18 announcing sanctions on key figures of terror outfits such as 26/11 mastermind and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Saeed, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Azhar, and terrorist Ibrahim. Ibrahim, who heads a vast and illegal business, is India’s most wanted terrorist after the 1993 Mumbai bombings The Pakistan government has targeted 88 leaders and members of terrorist groups, ...

The Indian Express August 24, 2020 The rift between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia over Jammu and Kashmir is out in the open. A delegation led by Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa visited Saudi Arabia, but  were denied a meeting  with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). Now, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to secure support. Saudi-Pakistan ties The relationship between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan was most prominent during the 1971 war between India and Pakistan. According to reports of that time, Saudi Arabia had denounced the Indian action as “treacherous and contrary to all international covenants and human values” and found no justification for the Indian aggression except “India’s desire to dismember Pakistan and tarnish its Islamic creed”. Saudi Arabia is also reported to have transferred arms and equipment including the loan of some 75 aircraft to Pakistan. After the war, Saudi Arabia consistent...

Live Mint August 22, 2020 India’s largest lender has performed spectacularly against competitors, both state and private banks, and become a global investor darling. Its rapid growth model is now made precarious by India’s sour financial environment and economic slump. HDFC Bank is one of the most popular emerging-market equities in the world. Its popularity has been justifiable: the bank hasn’t posted anything less than a strong double-digit return on equity in any year over the past 20. Its proportion of nonperforming assets is markedly lower than the competition and fewer than 10% of its loans are covered by the country’s moratorium on loan and interest repayments. It is valued as if it isn’t going to stop. The company’s price-to-book ratio stands at 3.32 times, the second-highest world-wide among banks with a market capitalization of more than $50 billion. If HDFC Bank’s share price fell 30%, the company would remain the most expensive bank of its size or larger anyw...

The Print August 20, 2020  The Chinese military is reportedly constructing a surface-to-air missile site as well as other infrastructure on the banks of the Mansarovar Lake in the India-Nepal-China tri-junction area near the Lipulekh pass, new satellite images have indicated. An image shared by an anonymous satellite imagery analyst, who goes by the Twitter handle @detresfa_, is understood to be showing a village where new roads have been built and suspected red tents have been put up for accommodation. The image also shows a surface-to-air missile (SAM) site on the banks of the Mansarovar, which is considered holy in Hinduism. Media reports say China has mobilised a battalion strength of People’s Liberation Army soldiers near the Lipulekh pass in Uttarakhand. A report by news agency  ANI  in June had said the Indian armed forces have deployed their advanced very quick-reaction SAM defence systems in eastern Ladakh. The tri-...