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 The Telegraph Online December 09, 2020 The agency kept its forecast for the next fiscal and the following year unchanged at 11 per cent and 6.3 per cent growth, respectively.  Fitch Ratings on Tuesday has lowered its forecast of contraction of the Indian economy for the fiscal to 9.4 per cent against 10.5 per cent contraction earlier, taking note of the sharper than expected growth in the second quarter of the current fiscal. Fitch kept its forecast for the next fiscal and the following year unchanged at 11 per cent and 6.3 per cent growth, respectively. The report said the coronavirus-induced lockdown has inflicted severe economic scarring and the country needs to repair balance sheets and increase caution about long-term planning. The projections compare to a GDP growth of 4.2 per cent in 2019-20 fiscal and 6.7 per cent annual expansion between 2015 and 2019. Fitch said the Indian economy staged a sharper rebound in the July-September quarter from the coronavirus-induced recession.

The Telegraph Online December 09, 2020 At the India Mobile Congress on Tuesday, Ambani said Reliance Jio would roll out 5G by the second half of 2021 using indigenous technology only to be contradicted by Mittal who said the country would be ready for 5G tech in the next two-three years even as his deputy Gopal Vittal chipped in with his view that local 5G technology posed an existential threat.   Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Mittal have differed over the rollout of 5G services in the country and the need to hold early spectrum auction. At the India Mobile Congress on Tuesday, Ambani said Reliance Jio would roll out 5G by the second half of 2021 using indigenous technology only to be contradicted by Mittal who said the country would be ready for 5G tech in the next two-three years even as his deputy Gopal Vittal chipped in with his view that local 5G technology posed an existential threat. The Centre is yet to clear the air on the timing of India’s much awaited maiden 5G spectrum sale or th

 Mail Online December 07, 2020 Charlie Moore Beijing has claimed that  coronavirus  may have spawned outside  China  and travelled to a wet market in Wuhan via frozen food exports from countries including Australia.  An article in the government-controlled  Global Times  newspaper on Sunday said the idea the virus was imported into the Huanan wet market last year 'cannot be ruled out' - although it admitted there is no supporting evidence. Beijing has been pushing the theory since October when experts tracing an outbreak in Qingdao city found living coronavirus samples on packets of imported frozen cod.   The Global Times also claimed Australia has been 'the pawn in the US regional strategy in the recent years' and pictured a cartoon of a kangaroo projecting the shadow of an eagle, the national emblem of America Western scientists say the theory is 'highly speculative' and believe it is much more likely that the disease passed from bats to another animal species

 Indian Express December 09, 2020 Speaking at an event, 'The Road to Atmanirbhar Bharat', organised by Swarajya magazine, Amitabh Kant said these reforms need to be implemented and more are needed in logistics and power sectors to make India a manufacturing powerhouse competing with China NITI AAYOG CEO Amitabh Kant said Tuesday “tough” reforms are “very difficult in the Indian context,” as “we are too much of a democracy” but the government has shown “courage” and “determination” in pushing such reforms across sectors, including mining, coal, labour and agriculture. In his remarks, coming amid talks between the government and protesting farmers over the new agricultural laws, Kant said the changes in the legislation provide alternatives to farmers to sell their crops without doing away with the system of MSP (minimum support prices) and mandis. Speaking at an online event, ‘The Road to Atmanirbhar Bharat’, organised by Swarajya magazine, Kant said these reforms need to be impl

 Mint December 08, 2020 Gireesh Chandra Prasad The  Centre ’s receipts from excise duty, the bulk of which comes from  petrol , diesel and crude oil, has shown a sharp 40% year-on-year jump in the first seven months of this fiscal, even as the pandemic and the economic recession brought down overall tax receipts by 16%. The Centre’s receipts from excise duty stood at  ₹ 1.6 trillion in the April-October period, markedly above the  ₹ 1.14 trillion collected in the same period a year ago, data from the Controller General of Accounts showed. In the same period, receipts from corporate tax, personal income tax, goods and service tax ( GST ) and the cess collected from items in the 28% GST bracket showed a contraction ranging from 17-37% from the year-ago levels. This reflected the loss of incomes and a demand slump in the economy. The sharp fall in global oil prices earlier this year had given the government an unexpected revenue source, prompting increases in the taxes on petrol and diese

 Mint December 08, 2020 Swaraj Singh Danjhal, Asit Ranjan Mishra SUUTI took advantage of the buoyancy in the market and sold 61.43 lakh shares of Axis Bank between 2-4 Dec. The central government has sold nearly one crore shares of  Axis Bank  worth around  ₹ 600 crore in the last two weeks held through the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (SUUTI). SUUTI took advantage of the buoyancy in the equity market and sold 61.43 lakh shares of Axis Bank between 2 and 4 December, fetching the government  ₹ 374.21 crore, according to stock exchange filings. Between 26 November and 27 November, it sold 36.25 lakh shares for  ₹ 221.47 crore. SUUTI held a 4.33% stake in the bank as of 30 September, according to exchange filings. However, its shareholding in the lender is down to 3.92% following these trades. Parliament bifurcated UTI in 2002 after the company’s US-64 investment plan ran into trouble, creating SUUTI and UTI Asset Management Co. Pvt. Ltd. The former holds the assured-r

  Mint December 08, 2020 Upmanyu Trivedi The 18.4% stake owned by Mistry family in Tata Sons is worth as much as  ₹ 80,000 crore ($10.9 billion), Tata’s lawyer Harish Salve told India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday. A $13 billion valuation mismatch is setting the stage for the next round of clash between the  Tata group  and billionaire Pallonji Mistry’s conglomerate. The 18.4% stake owned by Mistry family in Tata Sons Pvt. is worth as much as  ₹ 80,000 crore ($10.9 billion), Tata’s lawyer Harish Salve told India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday. Mistry’s  Shapoorji Pallonji Group  had made a truce offer to swap its Tata Sons stake for shares worth $24 billion in the listed Tata firms. Salve was informing the court about Tata Sons’ financial health and the Tata Group hasn’t directly responded to SP Group’s offer. Differences over what each side considers a fair valuation of the Tata stake was widely expected to be the next frontier in the biggest corporate feud in recent Indian history. Tata’s v