Happy Media

The Hindu January 06, 2020 Author: Dakshiani Palicha “Innovate, patent, produce and prosper,” was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new motto for young scientists, at the inaugural function of the 107th Indian Science Congress. He suggested innovation and patenting will “make our production smoother” — but, in reality, it is the process of patenting any innovation itself that’s complicated and harrowing, and needs greater attention. To safeguard against frivolous patents, the Patents Act, 1970 has imposed certain ‘restrictions’ on patentability. One well-known example is Section 3(d) of the Act — brought to fore in 2013 during the controversial case of Novartis’ Glivec — which aims to prohibit ‘evergreening’ by barring patenting of products which are only slight variations of known substances. Although it does curb monopolistic behaviour by industry giants, it also discourages solutions achieved through deeper research of established concepts. But this is not all. New technolo...

The Hindu January 06, 2020 The Middle East has been thrown into chaos in the wake of the US assassination of Iran’s Major Gen Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds special forces and the second-most powerful figure after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran’s vowed to retaliate, and rockets have already landed near the US Embassy in Baghdad. This conflagration could destabilise oil prices at a time when India’s economy is in fragile health. Meanwhile, with the US now an oil exporter, higher prices could help it narrow its trade deficit. India, a major Iranian oil buyer before US pressure forced a halt, purchases two-thirds of its crude from the Gulf, with Iraq the top supplier. Oil prices rose $3 right after the attack and Indian pump prices were hiked Monday. Gold prices have also hit six-year highs and the BSE slid by 800 points on Monday. Reference: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/editorial/after-soleimani/article30495979.ece

The Hindu January 04, 2020 Amid the epidemic levels of youth use of e-cigarettes and the popularity of certain products among children, the United States Food and Drug Administration has issued a policy prioritising enforcement against certain unauthorised flavoured e-cigarette products that appeal to kids, including fruit and mint flavours. Under this policy, companies that do not cease manufacture, distribution and sale of unauthorised flavoured cartridge-based e-cigarettes (other than tobacco or menthol) within 30 days risk FDA enforcement actions, the regulator said. “By prioritising enforcement against the products that are most widely used by children, our action seeks to strike the right public health balance by maintaining e-cigarettes as a potential off-ramp for adults using combustible tobacco while ensuring these products don’t provide an on-ramp to nicotine addiction for our youth,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar. Gates foundation gets new head Refere...

The Indian Express January 07, 2020 The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) Monday dismissed the petition filed by the Registrar of Companies (RoC) seeking modification in the former’s judgment passed in the Tata-Mistry case. A two-member Bench headed by NCLAT Chairman Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya dismissed the plea filed by RoC, saying, “there is no ground to amend judgment dated December 18, 2019.” On December 18, the NCLAT had directed to reinstate Cyrus Mistry as the executive chairman of Tata Group and also termed conversion of Tata Sons from a public company to a private one by the RoC as “illegal”. Tata Sons moved the Supreme Court last week against NCLAT’s December 18 order. The RoC, which comes under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, had sought to be impleaded as a party in the two petitions and deletion of words “illegal” and “with the help of the RoC” used by the appellate tribunal in its 172-page judgment. The NCLAT had termed the appointment of N Chan...

Live Mint January 06, 2020 The RBI on Monday revised the Supervisory Action Framework (SAF) for urban cooperative banks to ensure expeditious resolution of financial stress being faced by some of them. The move comes in the backdrop of the scam in Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank causing distress to over 9 lakh depositors. "Keeping in view the experience gained, it has been decided to further rationalise the SAF to make it more effective in bringing about the desired improvement in the UCBs as also expeditious resolution of UCBs experiencing financial stress," said a RBI notifications. The central bank also added that it will continue to monitor asset quality, profitability and capital/net worth of UCBs under the revised SAF. As per the revised norms, a UCB may be placed under SAF when its net NPAs exceed 6% of its net advances. Depending upon the severity of the stress, the RBI may ask them to curtail their lending powers, among other safeguard...

The Hindu January 05, 2020 Author:  D. Ravi Kanth Is the World Trade Organization dying? Why does America disregard the authority of the Appellate Body? The story so far:  Even as the trade war between China and the United States shows no signs of ending, Washington has paralysed the World Trade Organization’s Appellate Body, which acts as a supreme court for international trade. In December 2019, the U.S. chose to spike the Appellate Body by starving funds for its functioning. It also stalled the selection process for filling six vacancies at the Appellate Body. Consequently, the Appellate Body is left with only one member, who will not be able to deliver any rulings on pending trade disputes — a minimum of three members is required to adjudicate any dispute. What is the World Trade Organization’s Appellate Body and why is it in the news? Global trade disputes are complex and difficult to resolve. For proper enforcement of trade rules, a binding, two-stage disp...

The Hindu January 03, 2020 Amid global uncertainties and falling imports, the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council is looking to tap new markets, while making further inroads in the US as the Government there levies a more punitive duty on jewellery imports from China. India’s exports of gems and jewellery are largely concentrated in the US, the UAE and Hong Kong, which account for about 80 per cent of the total exports. Under a new strategy chalked out for the cut and polished diamond industry, the GJEPC will focus on Russia, Brazil, the UK, Vietnam, Singapore, France, Italy and Germany, and for gold jewellery on Qatar, Australia and Thailand. Besides, it is exploring the UAE, the UK, Germany and Singapore for coloured gem stones and Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and South Africa for export of imitation jewellery. Impact of US-China trade war Colin Shah, Vice-Chairman, GJEPC, said the trade war between the US and China has challenged the concept of globalis...

The Hindu January 02, 2020 A large number of retail clients and brokers are yet to gear up for SEBI’s new margin norms that came into effect from January 1, with regard to the cash segment. A representation made by brokers to SEBI has highlighted several practical problems in immediately adjusting to SEBI’s circular. According to a recent circular, even selling of shares would require clients to deposit prior margin with the broker, which was not the case so far. The regulator changed a 14-year-old practice of buying and selling of shares for a large number of retail players in India’s market. The circular was issued by SEBI on November 20, 2019. Brokers are calling up their clients and asking them to shift their demat accounts to the brokerage or be ready to deposit initial margin money to avail any kind of buying or selling limit. If a client has a demat and trading account with the same broker, margin for selling of the shares may not be required. Data from depositor...

The Hindu January 05, 2020 A number of trusts set up in overseas tax havens using a complex maze of entities have come under the scanner of Indian and Swiss authorities for suspected tax evasion by parking of illicit funds in Switzerland-based banks, as per notices issued to those entities. In addition, several individuals who are suspected to have moved abroad after evading taxes back in India are also being probed and their banking details are in the process of being shared by the Swiss authorities with their Indian counterparts. As per the notices published in Switzerland’s federal gazette over the past one month, these individuals, including some businessmen, as also trusts based in Cayman Islands and companies have been asked to appoint their nominees in case they want to appeal against sharing of their banking details with India. Trusts, especially those set up in jurisdictions like Cayman Islands, Panama and British Virgin Islands, have often been seen as routes...

The Hindu January 05, 2020 The government on Sunday said eight states, including Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Karnataka, have finalised action plan for agriculture export policy which aims to double such exports. “The Agri Export Policy was announced last year with an objective of doubling the export and ensuring doubling of farmers’ income...Many states have nominated nodal agency and nodal officer. Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Punjab and Karnataka have finalised the State Action Plan and other states are at different stages of finalisation of the action plan,” the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement. The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has been adopting a focused approach for ensuring greater involvement of the state governments for effective implementation of Agri Export Policy (AEP). Throughout the year APEDA held a series of meetings with state gov...