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G Balachandar, Business Line,  Dated : 13/02/2018 The government’s proposed Defence Production Policy 2018 should focus on removing the hurdles for domestic companies, said industry representatives and analysts. There is a big opportunity for the government not only to get in more local content for defence equipment, but also to generate thousands of jobs. Currently, India is one of the largest importers of conventional defence equipment. According to government statistics, about 60 per cent of India’s defence requirements are met through imports. The new policy, mentioned by the Finance Minister in his Budget speech, seeks to promote domestic defence production by public sector, private sector and MSMEs, a moved aimed at achieving self-reliance in defence procurement and production. “Certain companies will be encouraged to focus on certain aspects of defence production. It will lead to consolidation and scale and make those companies more competitive. It will also crea...

The Indian Express Harish Damodaran  February 13, 2018 Minimum temperatures are likely to come down by 2-3 degrees Celsius in Northwest, Central and Western India over the next 48 hours, the IMD said. The current spell of rain in North and Central India will be beneficial to the standing rabi crop, especially wheat, though there are concerns over chana (chickpea) and masur (lentil) that are in the maturity or harvesting stages. “This rain is very good for wheat in Punjab, Haryana and much of northern India, as were the showers around January 25,” said G P Singh, director of the Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research at Karnal, Haryana. “The crop here is in the pre-flowering stage, and the rain will help bring down temperatures, and provide much-needed water.” The India Meteorological Department (IMD) reported fairly widespread precipitation across Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra’s Vidarbha and Marathwada regions on Sunday...

Business Line, Dated 13/02/2018 The Task Force drafting a new Direct Taxes Code may recommend replacing various tax-free perquisites that salaried tax payers currently enjoy with a higher level of standard deduction in a bid to make taxation of salaries less complex. Such a move will be in line with the Budget decision to replace reimbursement of medical bills and transport allowance with a standard deduction of  ₹ 40,000. Leave travel allowance, which enables allows people to claim deduction for domestic travel twice in a block of four years, may too get scrapped. The same Task Force is also expected to recommend Exempt, Exempt, Tax (EET) regime be applied on all savings and investment that are meant to provide social security to individuals after retiring from active employment. The Task Force is scheduled to submit its report before the end of May. These proposals are not entirely new. Such recommendations had been made by the committee that had written the Direct T...

The Business Line, February 09, 2018 The government on Friday said it hopes to achieve a target of 22.5 crore mobile handsets being manufactured from India in the current financial year from 17.5 crore handsets last year. “Mobile manufacturing is taking place across India including seven manufacturing facilities in Tamil Nadu, seven in Delhi, and seven in Haryana. We are very open minded for manufacturing India and we welcome global companies to manufacture here,” Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Electronics and Information Technology and Law & Justice, told reporters here. “Manufacturing is not only for India, but also for the global markets,” he said, adding that there are 19 electronic clusters in India, out of which 15 clusters are ready for manufacturing electronics. Addressing the media on the Budget, Prasad said the Finance Minister has given enough to push for the ‘Digital India’ programmes. The Finance Minister has doubled the sanction to  ₹ 3,073 crore in ...

The Indian Express Nirupama Subramanian   February 13, 2018  It is easy to see inside several military camps, and the holes in the perimeter walls of many are plugged with iron-sheet jugaad. The February 10-11 attack was not the first time the Sunjuwan Army camp in Jammu was targeted. In June 2003, two fidayeen had entered the camp about 4.30 am and attacked sleeping soldiers. They were said to have cut a wire fence on their way in; this time, at least three terrorists are said to have entered through a nullah. In 2003, 12 soldiers were killed. Then Army Chief Gen N C Vij had visited the camp and ordered more fortifications there and at other camps that were protected by only barbed wire. This time, five soldiers and a civilian have been killed. On February 10, as the attack was under way, the government sanctioned Rs 1,487.27 crore for perimeter fortification at military installations across India. Old story, new question Over the last 15 years or s...

Business Line, February 13, 2018 Shares of Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd (ONGC) climbed as much as 3.8 per cent to Rs 194.5, their highest since February 2. The stock posted its biggest intraday percentage gain since January 23. The company-led consortium has won a stake in Abu Dhabi National Oil Co’s (ADNOC) 40-year offshore oil concession. ADNOC had signed an agreement on Saturday with ONGC Videsh-led consortium giving the group 10 per cent stake in the new Lower Zakum offshore concession, with a participation fee of 2.2 billion dirhams ($600 million). The consortium includes Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Bharat Petro Resources Ltd, an upstream arm of refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL). BPCL fell 2.2 per cent, and IOC 0.5 per cent. ONGC had on Friday posted a smaller-than-expected profit in the Dec quarter. Link : http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/markets/stock-markets/ongc-picks-up-10-stake-in-adnoc-offshore-oil-concession-shares-jump-4/article22730107.ece

Business Line, February 12, 2018 India’s “biggest” foreign policy challenge in the coming years will be to deal with an “increasingly assertive China” but New Delhi has to be more nuanced and self-confident in its approach towards Beijing, a former top diplomat said today. Former Indian Ambassador to China, Ashok K Kantha, said enhanced people to people engagement between the Asian neighbours can impart stability in bilateral relations despite differences between them. Dealing with an assertive China Addressing a conference titled “Enhancing India-China People to People Relations,” here, Kantha said China has started describing its contested territorial claims including with India as part of its core interests as “non-negotiable”. “Management of boundary question becomes more difficult. And Doklam was just the example,” he said, referring to the 75-day tense border stand-off between the two countries last year. Doklam will not be the last case when “we run into serious ...

Business Line, Amiti Sen,  February 12, 2018  Cryptocurrencies pose a major threat to the financial stability of the country, and Budget 2018-19 rightly sounded the voice of caution about them, Shaktikanta Das, Member, 15th Finance Commission, and former economic affairs and revenue secretary, said on Monday. “Crypto currencies have the potential to become Ponzi schemes. I think the Finance Minister has sounded the voice of caution against them at the right time, and I am quite sure that the government will check the whole practice,” Das said in his keynote address at a Post Budget Talk organised by  BusinessLine  and SASTRA Deemed University, Powered by FICCI. Das, who is also India’s Sherpa to the G-20, pointed out that in any country, under the statute it is the central bank (which, in India’s case, is the RBI) that is legally authorised to issue currencies for doing transactions on behalf of the sovereign. “Suddenly, in recent years, because of some...

Dawn  Baqir Sajjad Syed February 13, 2018  ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain last Friday quietly promulgated an ordinance amending the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 with regards to proscription of terrorist individuals and organisations to include entities listed by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) — in a move that would end a longstanding ambiguity over the status of Hafiz Saeed-linked Jamaatud Dawa and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) by firmly placing them on the list of proscribed groups. The promulgation of the ordinance was made public on Monday. The ordinance amends Sections 11-B and 11-EE of Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 (XXVII of 1997). Section 11-B sets out parameters for proscription of groups, whereas 11-EE describes the grounds for listing of individuals. Both sections would now include Sub-Section ‘aa’, according to which organisations and individuals “listed under the United Nations (Security Council) Act, 1948 (XIV of 1948), or” will b...

Financial Express February 13, 2018 The European Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) emergency airworthiness directive (EAD), warning of a potential “dual engine” in flight shutdown on A320neo-family aircraft powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1100G geared turbofan (GTF) engines, late last week has not only upstaged the expansion plan of the country’s fastest-growing airline, IndiGo, but has also raised some pertinent issues about aviation safety in the country. The development has forced the civil aviation ministry to come out and say it will look into all aspects related to safety. Post the EASA’s directive, Airbus has conveyed to its A320neo customers that it has halted deliveries of this aircraft type. “Product safety boards of Pratt & Whitney and Airbus, post evaluating the PW1100G-JM engine issue, have decided that all neo deliveries are on hold till further notice.” IndiGo in a statement said in the last 18 months, it has done 69 engine replacements as best p...