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 The Indian Express December 24, 2020 Cabinet approves 100% FDI in DTH services Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Prakash Jaavdekar said, “Due to our I&B guidelines, this field was not getting the benefit of 100 per cent FDI'. The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved revised guidelines for Direct-to-Home (DTH) broadcasting services, allowing 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) as well as increasing the licence period to 20 years. Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Prakash Jaavdekar said, “Due to our I&B guidelines, this field was not getting the benefit of 100 per cent FDI. Now, from today’s decision, after changing the guidelines, the guidelines will have the same guidelines as Commerce Ministry, and will come under 100 per cent FDI.” Under the revised guidelines the licenses will be issued for a period of 20 years, compared to 10 years at the moment, and will be renewed for a 10-year period. The license fee has been r...

 The Telegraph Sep 25, 2020 Harley-Davidson Inc said on Thursday it would discontinue its sales and manufacturing operations in India, effectively abandoning the world’s biggest motorcycle market after a decade of unsuccessful efforts to gain a foothold. The move involves $75 million in restructuring costs, some 70 redundancies and the closure of its Bawal plant, walking away from a market worth about 17 million bike and scooter sales a year. It will retain only a scaled-down sales office in Gurgaon. “As part of The Rewire, an overhaul of its operating model and market structure, the company is changing its business model in India and evaluating options to continue to serve its customers,” a press release said. he Harley-Davidson dealer network will continue to serve customers through the contract term. “The present contract term is till December,” said Adarsh Tulsyan, proprietor of the sole Harley Davidson dealership in Calcutta.  The company has a total of 33 dealerships in ...

 Indian Express Sep 24, 2020 Georage Mathew, Sandeep Singh After an association of close to 84 years, the Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry (SP) Group has offered to exit from Tata Sons as protracted litigation with the Tatas has affected the business expansion plans of the SP Group, which has a debt burden of over Rs 30,000 crore. The market value of SP Group’s stake in the listed entities of Tata Group is estimated to be over Rs 148,000 crore, going by the market capitalisation of all listed group firms. It remains to be seen how the Tatas will raise the cash to acquire SP Group’s stake. What is the latest case all about? Earlier this month, Tata Sons moved the Supreme Court seeking to restrain SP Group firms from raising capital against security of their shareholding in Tata Sons. The Tatas argued that the articles of association (AoA) stipulate that shares cannot change hands, including to lenders or other parties, and the right of first refusal rests with Tata Sons. The SP Group was p...

 Hindustan Times Sep 22, 2020 Rajiv Jaishwal The government must take measures to boost demand, usher in an aggressive interest rate regime, provide support to informal economy, extend moratorium to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and revive distressed sectors such as real estate and hospitality to bring growth back on track, Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) chairman and managing director Sanjiv Mehta said on Monday. In a conversation with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) president Sangita Reddy, Mehta said the government needs to take “special measures” to revive growth as “60% of our economy depends on private consumption” and “demand is the basis of the economy moving into a virtuous cycle”. “Demand will lead to more investments, investments will lead to more employment, the confidence will go up, people will start spending more and the economy will again, hopefully go back to the kind of rhythm we have seen in the past... Aggressiveness ha...

China Daily Dated: 19-06-2019 Zhang Jie The sales figures recorded by "618" online shopping festival show a vibrant market and consumption upgrading trend in China. China's e-commerce platforms registered record high sales during "618" online shopping festival from June 1 to June 18 this year. JD, the company behind the creation of the festival to mark its anniversary, saw 201.5 billion yuan ($31.53 billion) worth of orders to close the campaign on Wednesday, exceeding 159.2 billion yuan a year ago, a year-on-year increase of 26.57 percent. Pinduoduo, a major online retail player focusing on low-tier cities and towns, reported its order volume surpassed 1.1 billion during this year's spree, with the gross merchandise volume, or GMV, surging 300 percent from last year. Suning said its order volume jumped by 133 percent year-on-year during June 1 to 18 at 18:00 pm, with the home appliances order volume growing 83 percent. Juhuasuan, Alibaba...

The Telegraph June 24, 2020 The Narendra Modi government is tightening the screws on Chinese companies. The government has winched up its economic retaliatory response by making it mandatory for sellers to declare the country of origin of the goods and services on the government procurement portal, GEM. The Government e-Marketplace (GEM) portal has also enabled a filter that requires sellers to declare the percentage of local content in the products they sell through the platform, ostensibly in a bid to promote the Make in India movement. A Make in India filter will ensure that the government and its agencies only pick products that contain a minimum of 50 per cent local content, the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement. Total purchases through the GEM portal are expected to increase to Rs 3 lakh crore from a mere Rs 50,000 crore in the last fiscal — and the latest changes will raise protectionist barriers against imported goods.The notice does not single out Ch...

The Dawn June 24, 2020 The Climate Pledge Fund will back efforts by startups and other firms in multiple sectors to “facilitate the transition to a zero carbon economy”, Amazon said in a statement.  The initiative “will look to invest in the visionary entrepreneurs and innovators who are building products and services to help companies reduce their carbon impact and operate more sustainably”, said Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos.  “Companies from around the world of all sizes and stages will be considered, from pre-product startups to well-established enterprises. Each prospective investment will be judged on its potential to accelerate the path to zero carbon and help protect the planet for future generations.” The move follows an announcement by Bezos last year that Amazon would accelerate its own efforts to cut its carbon footprint while encouraging others to join his “Climate Pledge” aimed at meeting goals of the Paris accord on climate ahead of sch...

The Firstpost June 24, 2020 Posted   By Jonathan Stempel A Missouri appeals court on Tuesday rejected Johnson & Johnson's bid to throw out a jury verdict in favor of women who blamed their ovarian cancer on its baby powder and other talc products, but reduced damages by more than half to $2.12 billion.  The Missouri Court of Appeals lowered the original $4.69 billion verdict from July 2018 after dismissing claims by some of the 22 women and their families who sued.  But it said the plaintiffs proved that J&J and an affiliate concealed for decades that its talc products contained asbestos, "worked tirelessly" to ensure that testing protocols would not detect asbestos in all talc samples, and published articles downplaying the safety hazards of talc.  "Plaintiffs proved with convincing clarity that defendants engaged in outrageous conduct because of an evil motive or reckless indifference," the court said. "There was significant reprehensi...

Reuters Small and mid-sized businesses around the world are being hit hardest by the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns and about a fifth say they risk shutting down permanently within three months, a survey by the International Trade Centre (ITC) showed on Monday. "The lockdown has led to major revenue drops for most and the survival of many is at stake," the 176-page report released by the Geneva-based ITC, a joint agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization. In its global business impact survey of thousands of companies in 132 countries between April and June, nearly two-thirds of micro and small firms said they were "strongly affected" by the impact of lockdowns versus 43 percent of large ones. bout 1/5 of small and medium firms (SMEs) said they risked shutting down permanently within three months, it showed. The findings could implications for global employment since small businesses are the biggest employers.  "With the majority ...

The Indian Express June 23, 2020 US President Donald Trump has issued a proclamation to suspend issuing of H-1B visas, which is popular among  Indian IT professionals , along with other foreign work visas for the rest of the year. Trump said the step was essential to help millions of Americans who have lost their jobs due to the current economic crisis. Issuing the proclamation ahead of the November presidential elections, Trump has ignored the mounting opposition to the order by various business organisations, lawmakers and human rights bodies.The proclamation that comes into effect on June 24, is expected to impact a large number of Indian IT professionals and several American and Indian companies who were issued H-1B visas by the US government for the fiscal year 2021 beginning October 1. Explained: How US pause on work visas will impact Indian companies They would now have to wait at least till the end of the current year before approaching the US diplomatic...

The Telegraph June 23, 2020 R eliance Industries on Monday became the first Indian firm to hit a market valuation of $150 billion during the day. In the morning trade, the company’s market valuation jumped Rs 28,248.97 crore to Rs 11,43,667 crore ($150 billion) on the BSE. However, it failed to continue the momentum and at the close of the trade, the company’s market valuation remained at Rs 11,07,620.56 crore ($145.68 billion). The heavyweight stock surged 2.53 per cent to a record high of Rs 1,804.10 during the day on the BSE. However, fag-end selling emerged on the counter and it declined 0.70 per cent to close at Rs 1,747.20. On the NSE, it erased all early gains and closed at Rs 1,752.50, 0.39 per cent lower after rising 2.54 per cent to an all-time high of Rs 1,804.20 during the day. RIL on Friday became the first Indian company to cross the Rs 11-lakh crore market valuation mark. Its market valuation crossed Rs 11 lakh crore in the previous session as its ...

Business Line  June 01, 2020 Proposal allows New Delhi to defer commitment on opening up market Largest trading bloc To urge India back to the negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), its 15 member countries have offered New Delhi the option of deferring commitments related to opening up its market. This means, India would not have to make any commitment on this crucial issue at the time of signing the agreement, according to a diplomat from a member country. “The deferral means that India does not need to worry about RCEP’s impact on the broadening of its trade deficit with China and other member countries when it signs the RCEP agreement,” the diplomat told  BusinessLine . India quit talks with the RCEP — which includes the 10-member ASEAN, China, Japan, Australia, South Korea and New Zealand — in November 2019, as it could not agree on crucial issues including the level of market opening being demanded by the members, especia...