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Economic Times June 05, 2020 By Aman Pramanik Getting loans a tough ask for most MSMEs: GAME's Ravi Venkatesan Venkatesan said most small firms are still “confused” about the government’s recent stimulus measures for the sector, such as the Rs 3 lakh-crore collateral-free loans and the Rs 10,000 core fund-of-funds for equity infusion into MSMEs. Venkatesan said most small firms are still “confused” about the government’s recent stimulus measures for the sector, such as the Rs 3 lakh-cro .. In a survey report released on Thursday, AIMO said more than 70% of MSMEs would reduce headcount. There would be more clarity on the extent of job losses by August-end as most MSMEs are still uncertain about the return of their workers, it said. “Generally, there is a great sense of openness (on government’s part) as they are realising that they do not have all the answers. A lot of the action is happening at the state and local level,” Venkatesan said, adding that the Centre “has a gre...

The Telegraph A bench comprising Justices D. Y. Chandrachud and M.R. Shah dismissed the bail plea of Sanjay Chandra, MD of the group, and some others who have been in jail since August 2017 in connection with the alleged fraud. The Centre must file response by January 15. The Supreme Court has directed the Centre to forthwith take over the management of real estate giant Unitech by appointing independent directors after a forensic audit revealed that home buyers’ money worth over Rs 5,000 crore had been diverted to tax havens such as Cyprus, thereby affecting the completion of at least 74 projects and damaging the interests of 12,000 customers. A bench comprising Justices D. Y. Chandrachud and M.R. Shah dismissed the bail plea of Sanjay Chandra, managing director of the group, and some others who have been in jail since August 2017 in connection with the alleged fraud. “We would now expect the Union of India to act proactively in the matter and inform this Court o...

The Indian Express Published By: Ashish Aryan US-based retailers Walmart and Amazon on Monday stepped up efforts to boost their image of being MSME-friendly by launching similar, albeit different, training programmes for India. Walmart, which had earlier this year bought a controlling 77 per cent stake in home-grown  Flipkart , announced the creation of a supplier training and development programme ‘Walmart Vriddhi’. The programme aims to train 50,000 small businesses so as to enable them to be suppliers for global supply chains. The global retail conglomerate has tied up with NGO Swasti to open 25 training institutes where it aims to train micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) entrepreneurs in tailored courses. “The Vriddhi programme will encourage Indian suppliers to make for online and offline customers around the world, including, but not limited to, the supply chains of Flipkart and Walmart,” Judith McKenna, president and CEO, Walmart International, sa...

The Telegraph Published By: Anonymous 'Small units are the backbone of our economy and it is important that they have complete support in their journey into e-commerce' Global retail giants Walmart and Amazon are strengthening their partnerships with micro, small & medium enterprises (MSMEs) ahead of the launch of an e-commerce venture by Reliance Industries later this month. Under the Vriddhi supplier development programme, Walmart aims to train 50,000 small businesses to expand their domestic capabilities and participate in the global economy. Institutes will be opened under the Vriddhi programme, which will be strategically located near the manufacturing clusters and are part of Walmart’s “long-term commitment to India”, Walmart International president and CEO Judith McKenna said. Amazon India has also announced that it has partnered the CII to facilitate MSMEs to develop their business further by listing and selling their products and services online....

First Post  Published By: Anonymous Ujjivan Small Finance Bank's IPO attracted heavy investor demand on the final day of bidding on Wednesday as the issue was subscribed a whopping 165.64 times. The Rs 750-crore IPO, which was open from 2-4 December, received bids for 2,053 crore shares against the total issue size of 12.39 crore shares.  The price range for the offer was fixed at Rs 36-37 per share Ujjivan Small Finance Bank's initial public offering (IPO), which attracted heavy investor demand after its launch on 2 December, status is expected to be finalized today, according to a news report. Accordingly, the investors who had applied for Ujjivan Small Finance Bank IPO will be able to check their  allotment status  through their application number, DPID/Client ID or PAN, said a report in  Mint . Subscribers of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank shares can also check the allotment status on the website of Karvy Fintech wh...

First Post July 19, 2019 Press Trust of India Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Thursday lowered the growth forecast for India from 7.2 to 7 percent for the current fiscal, due to moderation in growth prospects for the advanced economies which could adversely affect tradable services. ADB, however, maintained that India would continue to remain the fastest-growing major economy ahead of China. Releasing its update on the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2019, it said China will grow at 6.3 percent in 2019, and slip further to 6.1 percent in 2020, mainly on account of continuing trade war with the US. India's economic growth, it said, is expected to inch up again to 7.2 percent in FY2020 (2020-21), helped by recent reforms to improve the business climate, strengthen banks, and relieve agrarian distress, ADB said in the supplement. Notably, the 7.2 percent economic growth projection in April this year was also curtailed from ADB's earlier projection of 7.6 ...

The Telegraph July 18, 2019 By Editorial Board The tremors could rock domestic bond markets, raising the frightening prospect of a ‘foreign tail wagging an Indian dog’ The Narendra Modi government has sparked another ‘demonetization’ moment — this time it is over its decision to float sovereign bonds on overseas markets. The finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, who made the shock announcement in her budget on July 5, insists that there have been extensive discussions before the government decided to push ahead with an idea that previous regimes had flirted with but never worked up the courage to take. The government believes it has a compelling argument for a foreign currency-denominated sovereign bond issue. It does not want to crowd out private borrowers from the domestic capital market; it intends to borrow money at a very low cost in order to fund a part of its Rs 7.03 lakh crore fiscal deficit; and it wants to bring down the real rate of interest for industry from t...

The Indian Express July 14, 2019 By PR Sanjai The plan to sell bonds overseas comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces shrinking options to raise funds as a slowing economy crimps tax revenues. India’s plan to issue foreign currency debt has no real benefit and is fraught with risks, according to former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan. A global bond sale won’t reduce the amount of domestic government bonds the local market has to absorb and the country should worry about short-term “faddish investors buying when India is hot, and dumping us when it is not,” Rajan has said. Rajan adds to the growing chorus of opposition to the plan Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced earlier this month. The plan to sell bonds overseas comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces shrinking options to raise funds as a slowing economy crimps tax revenues. Investors have also been concerned about his plans to borrow a record 7.1 trillion rupees ($103 billion) this fisca...

First Post July 15, 2019 Press Trust Of India Housing finance firm DHFL has said the developments in last few quarters threaten its ability to continue as a going concern, as the company posted biggest-ever quarterly loss of Rs 2,223 crore for the fourth quarter ended 31 March. The debt-ridden company had reported a profit of Rs 134.35 crore in the same quarter previous fiscal. "In the backdrop of a significant slowdown in disbursement and loan growth post-September 2018, the financials of the company have been quite strained for the quarter impacting the overall performance of the year," the company said in a late evening regulatory filing on Saturday. The operating profit was Rs 372 crore for the quarter and Rs 2,378 crore for the whole year. "However, due to the additional provisioning of Rs 3,280 crore (including net loss on fair value), the company reported a net loss of Rs 2,223 crore for the quarter and net loss of Rs 1,036 crore for the whole year,...

The Dawn July 15, 2019 By Afshan Subohi    The staff report released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last week must have provided some measure of comfort to the champions of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as well as China that chose Pakistan to be the first key destination for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which aims to sustain its economic triumph and realise future ambitions. If this is just a coincidence, it is intriguing. After a long lull, there is light blipping again on the CPEC drawing board. Last Friday, a 55-member Chinese delegation of business executives met Prime Minister Imran Khan and reportedly committed to ploughing $5 billion investment over the next five years. “Probably the interaction with the Chinese delegations was already planned, but the fact that it did materialise as soon as details of the IMF deal were made public kindled new hope for the future,” commented a top leader of the government’s economic team. ...

By Our Correspondent/ August 12, 2018 Caretaker finance minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar has hinted Pakistan is in contact with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for possible technical assistance and capacity building. Dr Akhtar, who has served the Manila-based financial institution in various positions during 1990-2011, said she is also playing an active role in connecting the new government with the ADB. She said this during a meeting with the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) board of directors on Saturday. ADB confident of continued growth in Asia “The minister apprised that she is in contact with the finance minister-designate of the newly-elected government, as well as ADB for possible support in the areas of technical assistance and capacity-building,” stated the PSX in a press statement. At present, Pakistan is in contact with multiple international financial institutions and friendly countries, including the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), China and Saudi Arabi...

Deepak Patel | New Delhi | Updated: August 9, 2018 3:14:02 am Negotiations between India and Australia on the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) are in a “slow period” currently and it is quite understandable as both the countries are heading into general elections, said Australian High Commissioner Harinder Sidhu in New Delhi on Wednesday. While releasing the report titled ‘An India Economic Strategy to 2035’, Sidhu said: “We are going through that process right now, the CECA, and it is never a steady pace. These things move quickly for a while and then they slow down and then they move again. We are just in a slow period at the moment. It is quite understandable, India is going into an election and Australia is going into election. We expect some slowing down in these kinds of arrangements.” The report has been authored by Peter Varghese, Chancellor, University of Queensland, who was the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Austra...

Financial Express February 16, 2018 The AAP government has spent an average of Rs 70.5 crore annually in the past three years on advertisements -- four times more than the previous government's expenditure on print, electronic and outdoor advertising, according to an RTI reply. The AAP government has spent an average of Rs 70.5 crore annually in the past three years on advertisements — four times more than the previous government’s expenditure on print, electronic and outdoor advertising, according to an RTI reply. In the first year after assuming office in February 2015, the current government spent Rs 59.9 crore on advertisements, Rs 66.3 crore the next year and Rs 85.3 crore up to December 31, 2017, the Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP) said in reply to an RTI application by IANS. The average annual expenditure of the AAP government on advertisements from April 2015 to December 2017 was Rs 70.5 crore. The Congress’ average was Rs 17.4 crore in the la...

The Times of India , February 15, 2018 Hit by a Rs 11,400 crore fraud, state-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB)  has cautioned other banks about the modus operandi of the scam.  "It has been reported through a preliminary investigation that the  suspected fraud has been carried out by the perpetrators in collusion  with the staff of one of our branches in Mumbai," PNB said in a letter   sent to various banks, including those from the private and public   sector as also to foreign lenders. Punjab National Bank fraud: Top developments  The letter said it was found through the SWIFT trail that one junior   level official unauthorisedly and fraudulently issued Letters of  Undertaking (LoUs) on behalf of some companies belonging to Nirav Modi   Group.  The companies were maintaining only current accounts with the branch   and none of the transactions were routed though the Centralised   B...

The Indian Express, PTI, February 11, 2018 The Reserve Bank will soon have greater flexibility in terms of managing its liquidity operations with the addition of one more tool ‘Standing Deposit Facility Scheme’ to its kit. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget has proposed to amend the RBI Act to empower the central bank to come up with an additional instrument for liquidity management. The proposal forms part of the Finance Bill 2018 which is scheduled to be approved by Parliament by March 31. “That is to provide one more tool for liquidity management. There is no more MSS (market stabilisation scheme),” Economic Affairs Secretary S C Garg told PTI. The Reserve Bank proposed in November 2015 the introduction of the SDF by suitably amending the RBI Act. This will provide the RBI a new tool for liquidity management, particularly in times when the money market liquidity is in excess to deal with post-demonetisation like scenario. Post-demonetisation, t...

The Economic Times,  By Reuters, 2018, Washington The Pentagon has restricted the release of critical information on the progress being made in the war in Afghanistan, a move that will limit transparency, the US government's top watchdog on Afghanistan said on Monday.  For years, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, has published a quarterly report that includes unclassified data on the amount of territory controlled or influenced by the Taliban and the government.  In a report published late on Monday, SIGAR said, however, it was told not to release that information. The military also classified, for the first time since 2009, the actual and authorized total troop numbers and attrition rate for the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, or ANDSF.  "The implication is that I think the average American who reads our reports or reads your press accounts of it, has no meaningful ability to analyze how his money ...