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 Business Standerd December 16, 2020 T E Narsimhan In October, Punjab and Sind Bank had also reported the account of IFIN as fraud with outstanding dues of over Rs 561 crore to the RBI. Indian Bank  said on Tuesday said that it has reported to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) the account of IL&FS Financial Services (IFIN) as fraud with outstanding dues of over Rs 408 crore. In October, Punjab and Sind Bank had also reported to the RBI the account of IFIN as fraud with outstanding dues of over Rs 561 crore. In September 2018, the government ordered an SFIO probe into the affairs of IL&FS and its subsidiaries. In October, the same year, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) suspended the erstwhile board of IL&FS amid the financial turmoil. On the resolution process proposed by the new board of directors of IL&FS, the company said it has submitted several progress reports and updates to the NCLT. The scam at the IL&FS group came to light in September 20...

 Business Standerd December 15, 2020 PTI This proposal will be considered as part of the govt efforts to help clear outstanding dues to sugarcane farmers, according to sources. The   Union Cabinet   may on Wednesday consider a proposal to provide export subsidy worth Rs 3,600 crore to sugar mills for the marketing year 2020-21, as part of its efforts to help them clear outstanding dues to sugarcane farmers, according to sources. The food ministry has proposed Rs 3,600 crore subsidy for exports of 60 lakh tonnes of sugar in the marketing year 2020-21 (October-September), they added. The sources said the proposal is likely to be taken up by the Cabinet in its meeting on Wednesday (December 16). In the previous marketing year 2019-20, the government provided a lump sum export subsidy of Rs 10,448 per tonne, costing the exchequer Rs 6,268 crore. The ministry has proposed lower export subsidy for the current marketing year 2020-21. Mills exported 5.7 million tonnes of sugar ag...

 The Telegraph Online December 16, 2020 Special Correspondence At a virtual chat Mark Zuckerberg, he said it was Facebook's investment of $ 5.7 billion in Jio Platforms that set the ball rolling for FDI into India  Reliance Industries Ltd  chairman Mukesh Ambani on Tuesday forecast that India will grow to be among the top three economies in the world in the next two decades and that it would become a premier digital society. At a virtual chat with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Ambani said  it was the social media giant’s investment of $ 5.7 billion in Jio Platforms in April that set the ball rolling for FDI into India during the pandemic. The result has been that India has received the largest ever FDI during April-August 2020 over any comparable period. “And during the pandemic, India has attracted the largest foreign direct investment in its history. Mark, we have our own example of how Jio and Facebook concluded our partnership right in the middle of lockdown.”“I ...

 Business Standerd December 16, 2020 Sohini Das Cold chain of agriculture research body may come in handy Global pharma major Pfizer may price its vaccine lower in India than in the UK and the US, sources in the know said. The government in the recent past had indicated that India wouldn’t be keen to procure the Pfizer-Biotech vaccine because of its high cost and the extreme cold chain requirement at minus 70 degree Celsius. Responding to the concern over the temperature requirement, a senior government official pointed out that India had cold chain infrastructure, owned by the Department of Agricultural Research and Education, that would be sufficient for a vaccine like the one ... https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/pfizer-may-price-covid-19-vaccine-lower-in-india-than-in-uk-and-us-120121501347_1.html

 The Print December 15, 2020 Ameya Pratap Singh and Urvi Tembe With measures like MSP, India has been carefully treading the thin line between food and livelihood security and practices classified as 'trade distorting' under the WTO law. can India legally guarantee minimum support price, or MSP, to its farmers without contravening its obligations under the World Trade Organization law? What are these laws surrounding domestic price support measures and agricultural subsidies and what are India’s commitments? Until now, with domestic support measures like MSP, India has been carefully treading the thin line between food and livelihood security and practices classified as “trade distorting” under the WTO law. India has been a founding member of the WTO and is a signatory to the multilateral Agreement on Agriculture (AoA), which, among other things, regulates domestic subsidies granted by governments in the agricultural sector. The ‘disciplines’ on agricultural subsidies aim to cu...

 Financial Express December 15, 2020 F E Bureau The company is gearing up to launch the first of its range of electric scooters in the coming months. The new manufacturing plant – expected to be operational in a year's time – aligns with Ola's global vision to move mobility into a more sustainable, accessible and connected future. Ride-hailing platform Ola on Monday said it has inked an agreement with the Tamil Nadu government to invest Rs 2,400 crore for setting up its first electric scooter factory at Hosur in the state. Upon completion, the factory will create nearly 10,000 jobs and will be the world’s largest scooter manufacturing facility that will initially have an annual capacity of 2 million units, a company statement said. “We are excited to announce our plans to set up the world’s largest scooter factory. This is a significant milestone for Ola and a proud moment for our country as we rapidly progress towards realising our vision of moving the world to su...

 The Telegraph Online December 15, 2020 Reuters Singapore became on Monday the first Asian country to approve Pfizer Biotech corona virus vaccine and said it expects to start receiving shots by the end of the year. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, 68, said he would be among the early recipients in the city state of 5.7 million people, which has one of the lowest fatality rates globally from the coronavirus. The government said it expects to have secured enough vaccines for everyone by the third quarter of next year. “My colleagues and I, including the older ones, will be getting ourselves vaccinated early. This is to show you, especially seniors like me, that we believe the vaccines are safe,” Lee said in a national broadcast, adding that the vaccines would be free, voluntary and given first to healthcare workers and the elderly. Singapore has also signed advanced purchase agreements and made early down payments on promising vaccine candidates including those being de...

 The Telegraph Online December 15, 2020 A staff reporter Till date in 2020, the average Indian investment banking pool has jumped 30 per cent to $800-900 million from $600-700 million in 2019 Investment bankers are bullish about their business, backed by a healthy pipeline of initial public offers, mergers and acquisitions and private equity investments. Till date in 2020, the average Indian investment banking pool has jumped 30 per cent to $800-900 million from $600-700 million in 2019. This is expected to rise to $1 billion over the next 2-3 years. During the year, deals in the equity capital market accounted for 37 per cent of the banking fee pool followed by private equity at 37 per cent. Mergers and acquisitions accounted for the remaining 26 per cent. While fundraising via IPO has jumped 2.25 times to Rs 45,000 crore compared with Rs 20,300 crore in 2019, QIP has also doubled t...

 The Indian Express December 15, 2020 Harikishan Sharma The Narendra Modi-led government is said to have taken a political call not to yield to the protesting farmers’ demand that the three laws be repealed — but is willing to continue talks with them. “A repeal is not possible; and a 0-1 binary will not work. The government has given an amendment option. It is also willing to change the wordings of the three laws based on farmer concerns,” said a top government source who is in the know of developments in Krishi Bhawan. “The door for talks is always open.” On Day 19 of the protests, leaders of 32 farm unions escalated their agitation by observing a day’s hunger strike beginning 8 am at the Singhu border. The police, meanwhile, put up shipping containers using cranes on NH-44 to firm up the barricades already fortified with dumpsters laden with sand and barbed wire to prevent protesters from entering Delhi The Narendra Modi-led government is said to have taken a politi...

 The Indian Express December 15, 2020 Express News Service The CDS was speaking at the launch of the first Project 17A stealth frigate ‘Himgiri’, an addition to the might of the Indian Navy, built by the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited (GRSE), in Kolkata. Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat on Monday said that “high levels of preparation are underway on land, sea and air” as “China attempts to change the status quo on Line of Actual Control (LAC) along the northern border”. The CDS was speaking at the launch of the first Project 17A stealth frigate ‘Himgiri’, an addition to the might of the Indian Navy, built by the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited (GRSE), in Kolkata. The PSU was awarded a contract, amounting to over Rs 19,293 crore, for construction of three stealth frigates under Project 17A. General Rawat said the Indian armed forces will leave no stone upturned to safeguard the nation against any eventuality and Himgiri wi...

 The Indian Express December 14, 2020 Kurunjit Singh The Sebi requires, since April 1, 2020, that the top 1000 listed companies by market capitalisation have a woman board member who is also an independent director. The NASDAQ stock exchange in the US may soon require all companies listed on the bourse to include at least one female board member as well as one member from a racial minority group or from the LGBTQ community on their board of directors. There also are in place diversity requirements from Indian companies and their compliance with these rules. What are the diversity requirements that Indian companies need to meet? All public companies which are listed on stock exchanges and companies with either a paid-up capital of Rs 100 crore or annual turnover over Rs 300 crore are required to have at least one woman board member under the Companies Act. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) further requires, since April 1, 2020, that the top 1000 listed...

 The Indian Express December 14, 2020 Reuters The results are crucial for India, where the vaccine is being tested on humans in mid- to late-stage trials by Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. Russian coronavirus vaccine developers published fresh results from their trial of the Sputnik V vaccine on Monday based on new data, and said the shot had again been found to be 91.4% effective in providing protection from Covid-19 . The results are crucial for India, where the vaccine is being tested on humans in mid- to late-stage trials by Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. More than 100,000 people have already been vaccinated against the disease as part of Russia’s mass inoculation programme, which began in September alongside a Moscow-based human trial of the shot. The new results are based on  data from 22,714 participants in the trial, and were published after 78 confirmed coronavirus cases were reported among the group, researchers at the Gamaleya Instit...

 Hindustan Times December 13, 2020 Kunal Gaurav According to several media reports, IRCTC has started sending out emails with a 47-page attachment titled ‘PM Modi and his government’s special relationship with Sikhs’. The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has denied reaching out to the Sikh community through emails on behalf of the central government amid ongoing farmers’ protests. IRCTC refuted the reports suggesting it had sent out the mails, highlighting the relationship between Sikhs and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to people with surname ‘Singh’ and those from the Punjab region. It said the emails were sent to all and that such activities are not unprecedented. “It may be informed to all that the comments of IRCTC have not been quoted correctly and the mails have been sent to all irrespective any particular community...This is not the first instance. Earlier also such activities have been undertaken by IRCTC to promote government welfare sche...

 First Post December 13, 2020 The Associated Press However, Prime Minister Boris Johnson played down hopes of a breakthrough, saying the 'most likely' outcome was that the two sides wouldn't reach a deal and would trade on WTO term. Brussels : Throwing overboard a self-imposed deadline, the European Union and Britain said on Sunday they will "go the extra mile" to clinch a post-Brexit trade agreement that would avert New Year's chaos and cost for cross-border commerce. British prime minister Boris Johnson and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen had set Sunday as the decisive moment for a breakthrough or breakdown in deadlocked negotiations. But they stepped back from the brink, saying there was too much at stake not to make a final push. "Despite the exhaustion after almost a year of negotiations and despite the fact that deadlines have been missed over and over, we both think it is responsible at this poi...

 First Post December 13, 2020 Press Trust of India Chaudhary was arrested on Saturday from Gandhinagar for allegedly embezzling Rs 14.8 crore that was meant to give bonus to employees of Dudhasagar Dairy cooperative in Mehsana, of which he was a former chairman, a state CID official said  Chaudhary was arrested on Saturday from Gandhinagar for allegedly embezzling Rs 14.8 crore that was meant to give bonus to employees of Dudhasagar Dairy cooperative in Mehsana, of which he was a former chairman, a state CID official said. Ahmedabad :  Vipul Chaudhary, former chairman of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) has been arrested for his alleged role in a Rs 14.8 crore embezzlement case involving bonus of employees of a Mehsana-based dairy entity to which he was connected, police said on Sunday. Chaudhary was arrested on Saturday from Gandhinagar for allegedly embezzling Rs 14.8 crore that was meant to give bonus to employees o...

 The Telegraph Online December 14, 2020 Reuters The US expects to immunize 100 million people, or about 30 per cent of its population, by the end of March. The first shipments of Pfizer Inc’s Covid-19 vaccine left a factory in Michigan early on Sunday on a convoy of semi trucks, kicking off a historic effort to stop a surging pandemic that is claiming more than 2,400 lives a day in the US. Mask-wearing workers at a Pfizer factory in Michigan began packing the first shipments of its vaccine in dry ice shortly after 6.30am on Sunday. Three trucks carrying pallets of boxed, refrigerated vaccines rolled away from the Kalamazoo facility at 8.29am, escorted by body armour-clad security officers in a pickup truck and an SUV. The US expects to immunize 100 million people, or about 30 per cent of its population, by the end of March, US Operation Warp Speed chief adviser Dr Moncef Slaoui said in an interview with Fox News Sunday. About 2.9 million doses of the vaccine are to tr...

 The Indian Express December 14, 2020 Sunny Verma, Sundeep Singh Concerns over PSU stocks over the last year have led to foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) lower their holdings, as they pumped in a net of `1.56 lakh crore into equities in April-November, but did not pay much attention to state-owned companies. The government has renewed its focus on improving the market capitalization of state-owned companies and banks in line with the profitability and other financial parameters. Sources said state-owned companies are increasing their interactions with institutional investors to look at ways to study the reasons for lag in their performance and how it can be improved. Even as consumption-focused government-owned companies such as IRCTC , IGL, MGL have done well on stock exchanges, most are lagging their private sector counterparts across sectors. Given that equity benchmark indices have made lifetime highs after crashing in March due to sudden shock of Covid-19 pandemic ...

 The Indian Express December 15, 2020 Udit Mishra China followed a radically different approach by creating incentives and institutions needed for a market economy. Dear Readers, The farmer protests in the national capital refuse to weaken and with each passing day more and more people in the country seem to be growing curious about the wisdom behind the government’s new farm laws. At The Indian Express , we have written several “Explained” pieces about what the new farm laws aim to do, what the current state of Indian farmers is, including those hailing from Punjab and Hfrom Punjab Haryana — the two states which have opposed the farm laws the most. Incidentally, these are also the two states that benefitted the most under the previous policy regime. One is the question of whether these reforms will benefit the farmers or not. This is a question of economics. Broadly speaking, the government’s argument is that opening up the agriculture sector to market forces will no...