Economic Concerns of India for 2019

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/toi-edit-page/an-economic-agenda-for-2019-the-challenges-india-faces-and-the-reforms-it-needs-to-carry-out-now/

Business and Economy news - July 2017

         

• According to 2nd National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) State Investment Potential Index (N-SIPI 2017) report - Gujarat retained top position in list of 21 states and UTs with most investment potential, followed by Delhi and Andhra Pradesh.

• According to Asian Development Bank, India will achieve GDP growth rate of 7.4 % in 2017-18 and 7.6 % in 2018-19.

• Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2017 presented in Lok Sabha, seeking to amend Banking Regulation Act 1949 and replace Banking Regulation (Amendment) Ordinance 2017. It authorises RBI to -

• Direct banking companies to resolve the problem of stressed assets and Initiate insolvency resolution process on specific stressed assets.

• Issue other directions for resolution, appoint or approve authorities or committees to advise banking companies for stressed asset resolution. Recovery proceedings will be carried out under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016.

• Chhattisgarh government will merge all district cooperative central banks (DCCBs) of state into a single State Cooperative Bank, to serve farmers with better and efficient banking facilities.

• China based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) approved USD 329 million loan to build access roads to 4,000 villages in Gujarat. 
• FINO Payments Bank commenced operations as a payments bank. FINO Payments Bank is 4th entity to start functioning as a Payments Bank in India, after Airtel, India Post and Paytm. FINO Payments Bank is 4th entity to start functioning as a Payments Bank in India, after Airtel, India Post and Paytm.
• Government approved Labour Code on Wages Bill which will ensure a minimum wage across all sectors by integrating existing labour related laws. The Labour Code on Wages Bill consolidates the Minimum Wages Act 1948, Payment of Bonus Act 1965, Payment of Wages Act 1936 and Equal Remuneration Act 1976.

·         Government approved selling government’s entire 51.11% stake in Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd to Oil and Natural Gas Corp.Government is 51% owner of HPCL and 68% owner of ONGC. HPCL's addition will make ONGC third-largest refiner in country after IOC and Reliance Industries.

• ICICI Bank will be selling personal loans of up to Rs 15 lakh through its ATMs.
• Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani along with venture capitalist Sanjeev Aggarwal has launched a $100 million venture fund called Fundamentum to back mid-stage startups that solve unique Indian problems in consumer technology space.
• RBI imposed penalty of Rs. 3 crore on Union Bank of India for non-compliance with directions on Know Your Customer (KYC) norms. 
• Punjab National Bank (PNB) will block all Maestro debit cards from 31st of July 2017 if card holders do not replace it with a more secure EMV chip based card by end of July.
• Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) for the first time crossed Rs 5 lakh crore in market capitalisation. RIL is second firm to cross Rs 5 lakh crore in market capitalisation and is also currently most valued company in India. Tata Consultancy Service (TCS) was first company to hit Rs 5 lakh crore in market capitalisation milestone in July 2014.
• Lok Sabha passed Companies (Amendment) Bill 2016 to amend Companies Act 2013, to strengthen corporate governance standards, initiate strict action against defaulting companies and help improve the ease of doing business in India.

Business and Economy news - June 2017

1. a.)According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India’s current account deficit (net difference between inflows and outflows of foreign currencies) narrowed during 2016-17 to 0.7% of the GDP, from 1.1% in 2015-16 due to India's trade deficit narrowing down to $112.4 billion in 2016-17 from $130.1 billion in 2015-16.

b.) Net FDI inflows  in 2016-17 got narrowed to $35.6 billion from $36 billion during 2015-16.

c.) Finance Ministry asked all ministries tasked with clearing foreign direct investment proposals in the 12 sectors that require government’s nod to take a decision on such proposals within 60 days. It is being done to speed up the FDI Process.

2. According to UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2017, US, China and India are top 3 FDI Receiving Destinations.  FDI inflows into India remained USD 44 billion.

3. Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) approved $150 million equity investment loan for India Infrastructure Fund as AIIB’s first equity investment to fund private projects. IIIF will invest this amount in mid-cap infrastructure companies in India.

4. Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) signed MoU with Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) to enable members of its housing scheme to avail subsidy and interest subvention under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). Under housing scheme, EPFO allows its subscribers for withdrawing up to 90 % of their EPF accumulations to buy homes.

5. Government approved Initial Public Offer of Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited, for issuing 139000000 fresh equity shares of Rs.10 each to The public.

6. Government approved Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to enter into 2 separate MoUs with Securities market regulators of the European Union and Iran.

7. Government approved introducing Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill 2017 that will provide resolution framework for financial sector entities to deal with bankruptcy situation in banks, insurance companies, and other entities.

It will also result in repealing of the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation Act, 1961 to transfer the deposit insurance powers and responsibilities to the Resolution Corporation.

8. Government approved recommendations of 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) on allowances.

9. Government has cut interest rates on farmers' loans by 5 % (earlier 9% to now 4%), on loan up to Rs 3 lakh. Farmers who do not pay interest in time, will have to pay interest at rate of 7 %.

10.World Bank's Global Economic Prospects (GEP) projected GDP growth rate of 7.2% for India in 2017-18 as against 6.8% growth in 2016-2017. World bank also expects India’s growth rate to remain at 7.5% in 2018 and 7.7% in 2019. Global growth forecast in 2017 and 2018 at 2.7% and 2.9% respectively. 

 HSBC (Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) Predicted India's GDP Growth To Remain 7.1 %                 In 2017-18. As per Official Data, India's GDP grew 6.1 % during January-March Quarter (Q4 2017) and GDP growth rate for full year (2016-17 ) remained 7.1 %.

11.India signed $275 Million Loan agreement with Manila (Philippines) based Asian Development Bank (ADB) for improving urban services in 64 small towns in State of Madhya Pradesh.

12. Kerala Passed State State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) Act, leaving J & K as only remaining state to not have passed State GST, which is to be implemented from July 01, 2017.

13. RBI identified 12 bank accounts constituting nearly 25% of gross bad loans for immediate referral and resolution under the bankruptcy law. Each of 12 identified accounts was having more than 5,000 crore rupees of outstanding loans.

14. National Stock Exchange (NSE) launched its international exchange in the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City). NSE IFSC Ltd (global exchange promoted by NSE) will remain operational for a longer period than NSE during a trading day.

15. RBI has placed Central Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra under prompt corrective action (PCA) which puts restricts on banking activities such as from lending, hiring and expanding branches. RBI has so far triggered PCA for 6 banks – IDBI Bank, UCO Bank, Dena Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Central Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra.

16. RBI has placed Central Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra under prompt corrective action (PCA) which puts restricts on banking activities such as from lending, hiring and expanding branches. RBI has so far triggered PCA for 6 banks – IDBI Bank, UCO Bank, Dena Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Central Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra.

17.In the RBI second bi-monthly monetary policy review of 2017 only change in Monetary Policy is that RBI has cut Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) by 50 basis points to 20% (To be applicable from June 24, 2017). RBI reduced growth projection for the current fiscal to 7.3% from 7.4%.

18. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) approved Telenor India's Merger with Bharti Airtel. The deal is now pending final approval by other authorities such as CCI (Competition Commission of India).

19. World Bank approved USD 250-million loan for Skill India mission, aimed at making Indian youth more employable through reskilling. SIMO is a 6 year programme in support of National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (2017-23). Under this, persons in age group of 15-59 will acquire skill training irrespective of their employment status.

20. Rajesh Lodha, the former CFO of Piramal Enterprises has been appointed as the MD and CEO of Shriram Capital.

21. Public Sector Banks will need Rs. 95,000 Crore more by FY 2019 as their NPA-s will increase through 2019, forecasts a recent report of Moody's investor services.

November 2016 - Business and Economy news

Ø  Aimed Audience – General news readers, CA students

•         16 of 22 public sector banks skipped paying dividends to Government in 2015-16 due to mounting NPA

•         New GST law requires, E-commerce giants Flipkart and Snapdeal will have to deduct 2% TCS while making payments to their suppliers

•         Airtel launched India's First Payments Bank services (in name of Airtel Payment Bank Limited) in Rajasthan.

•         Akodara village in Sabarkantha district of Gujarat became India's first digital village.

•         PM Narendra Modi announced demonetization of currently circulated notes of 500 and 1000 denominations.

•         Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) hiked Minimum Support Price (MSP) of wheat and pulses to boost output of these rabi crops 

•         Bank of America (BofA) lowered India’s economic growth estimates by 30 basis points to 7.1 % for the current fiscal after demonetization.

•         Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) signed 3 Bilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) with United Kingdom (UK), The total number of APAs signed [both- bilateral and unilateral] so far is 111 including this.

•         Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) extended duty drawback facility on all textile products for 1 year to boost exports.

•         Competition Commission of India approved amalgamation of Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) into State Bank of India (SBI).

•         Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) extended duty drawback facility on all textile products for 1 year to boost exports.

•         GST Council finalised 4 tier Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate structure with a multiple-slab rates. GST will be levied at multiple rates ranging from 0% to 28%.

•         Government allowed National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to disburse Rs 21,000 crore to help farmers to sow Rabi crops.

•         Government announced that it will present Union Budget 2017 - 18 on February 1 .

•         Government has set up target of increasing LPG coverage to 75% by 2019.

•         Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of Public sector banks (PSBs) rose to 6,30,323 crore as against 5,50,346 crore in June 2016, showing 14.5 % increase in a quarter.

•         India’s GDP grew at 7.3% in 2nd quarter of 2016-17. 

•         India’s first banking robot Lakshmi launched by Kumbakonam-based City Union Bank (CUB) in Chennai (Tamil Nadu). Lakshmi will be first on-site huamanoid (robot) in India.

•         National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) reduced rate of interest for long term Capital Gain Tax Exemption Bonds (u/s 54EC of Income Tax Act 1961) to 5.25%, from 6

•         PM Narendra Modi launched Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana (PMAY-G), flagship housing for all scheme Under PMAY-G, Government aims to provide affordable and safe houses to every rural household living below poverty line by 2022..

•         Taxation Laws (Second Amendment) Bill 2016 passed in Lok Sabha. Scheme namely Taxation and Investment Regime for Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana 2016 proposed in the Bill, That allows people to deposit undisclosed money in their accounts till April 1, 2017.

(More at: http://taxheal.com/key-points-pradhan-mantri-garib-kalyan-yojana-2016.html )

October 2016 - Business and Economy News

• As per World Bank’s biannual economic update South Asia Economic Focus, India's GDP growth will remain 7.6 % in 2016 and 7.7 % in 2017.
• International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast India’s GDP growth at 7.6 % for FY17 (2016-17 ) and FY18 (2017-18) in its World Economic Outlook (WEO) report.
• As per BSE Data on Market Capitalization
• TCS
• Reliance Industries 
• HDFC Bank
• ITC Limited
• ONGC

were ranked as the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd,4^th ,5^th most valuable company respectively.

• Finance Ministry has set up a Public Debt Management Cell (PDMC), with a view of streamlining government borrowings and better cash management for deepening bond markets. It has been planned to upgrade PDMC to Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) in another 2 years.
• Goods and Services Network (GSTN) and Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for sharing of data on foreign exchange realisation and Import Export code data.
• Government proposed 4 GST rate slabs for new indirect tax regime namely:
• Standard GST rate of 18 %
• 6 % - Costly items and necessary food items
• 12 % - FMCG and Food Items
• 26 % - Luxury Items
• India's foreign exchange reserves reached a record new high of USD 371.99 billion
• Incorporation of companies made simpler by MCA through introducing Simplified Proforma for Incorporating a Company Electronically (SPICe) e-Form-32, where Memorandum and Articles of Association need to be filed electronically,
• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) permitted startups to raise external commercial borrowings (ECBs) of up to $3 million in a financial year for three year tenure.
• Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommended Department of Telecom (DoT) to impose penalty of 3,050 crore rupees on Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea cellular,  for non-compliance of  licence conditions and service quality norms and high rate of call failures and congestion at interconnect points for Reliance Jio with ulterior motive of stifling competition 

September 2016 - Business and Economy News

• 22nd Issue of Annual issue of India's External Debt has stated that India's External debt is currently US$ 485.6 billion at end of March 2016, increasing by US$ 10.6 billion over previous year.
• Food and Consumer Affairs Ministry issued guidelines to regulate direct selling and multi-level marketing businesses to protect consumers from Ponzi frauds, titled Direct Selling Guidelines 2016 framework following SEBI notifying that it does not have purview to regulate ponzi schemes
• Andhra Pradesh stood first among states in attracting industrial investments in 2015-16.
• Reliance Communications (RCom) and Maxis Communications Berhad (MCB) signed a deal for the merger of wireless business of Aircel Limited with Reliance Communications (RCom). Merged entity will be country’s fourth-largest telecom company in terms of customers and revenue.
• Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) filed IPO papers with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its Initial Public Offering (IPO). The move is first of its kind by any stock exchange in India.
• Asian Development Bank (ADB) sanctions $631 million loan for India’s first coastal industrial corridor between Visakhapatnam (Vizag) and Chennai. 
• Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved winding up of Hindustan Diamond Company Private Limited (HDCPL)
• Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved ‘Project SAKSHAM’ as the  New Indirect Tax Network (Systems Integration) of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). The total cost of the project would be 2256 crores, to be incurred over 7 years.
• Central Board of Direct Taxes collected Rs. 65,250 crores as part of the Income Disclosure Scheme 2016.
•  Goods & Services Tax (GST) Council decided to exempt businesses with annual turnover below 20 lakh out of GST net.
• Government approved drought assistance of Rs. 1269 crore for Maharashtra.
• formation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council and Creation of the GST Council Secretariat in New Delhi approved by Government
• As a part of budget reforms, Government approves merger of Railway budget with General budget and removal Plan and non-plan expenditure bifurcation in the union budget.
• Government approved simplification of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Policy 2016. Some prominent changes are:
• FDI beyond 49% has been permitted through government approval route, in cases giving access to modern technology for the country or for other reasons.
• Entities undertaking single brand retail trading have been relieved from local sourcing norms up to 3 years that were put earlier. Entities in single brand retail trading of products having ‘state-of-art and ‘cutting edge technology have been relieved from local sourcing norms up to 5 years.
• Government approved to raise 31300 crores in FY 2016-17 to boost infrastructure spending.
• Government notified constitution of Six Member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) with
• Government raised salary cap of beneficiaries to Rs.21,000 per month from Rs.15,000, to be eligible for Employees State Insurance (ESI).
• Department of Commerce amends Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) to give further  fillip to exports.
• New products introduced under the ambit of MEIS to take the total coverage to 7103 item.
• HDFC Bank named India’s most valuable brand by the BrandZ Top 50 list released by WPP Group.

August,2016 - Business and Economy News

• RBI estimates India’s growth rate to be 7.6% for FY 2016-17 in its annual report for the FY 2015-16.
• After Assam, Bihar ratified the Constitution 122^nd Amendment Bill for the introduction of GST in the country.
• Cabinet approved foreign Investment through automatic route in NBFC-s entity which are regulated by any financial sector regulators. Those not regulated will have to get the approval of FIPB approval.
• Centre notified Inflation target of 4% until 2021 with an tolerance band of +/- 2% i.e. 6% or 2%. If CPI is out of this range for 3 consecutive years, it will constitute a monetary policy failure.
• Hindustan Copper Limited launched India’s first Nickel producing facility at Ghatshila, Jharkhand
• Centre imposes a penalty of USD 380 Million(Rs. 2500 Crore) Reliance industries limited for failing to achieve the target production at KG D6 fields.
• India’s economic growth rate in first quarter of 2015-16 is 7.1%.
• Jharkhand became first state to implement Public Fund Management System (PFMS), which aims tracking fund disbursement on real time basis from government to various levels.
•  Sports channel Ten Sports  sold by Zee Entertainment Enterprise (ZEEL) to Sony Pictures Networks for $385-million (about Rs 2,579 crore)
• Parliament passed Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debts Laws Amendment Bill 2016. It amends Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act, 2002, Recovery of Debts due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act (RDDBFI), 1993, Depositories Act, 1996, Indian Stamp Act, 1899. It allows District Magistrate (DM) to take possession of the collateral of the defaulter within 30 days of default.
• Reliance Cement Company Private Limited accquired by Birla Corporation Limitedfor 4800 crore rupees
• RBI launched http://sachet.rbi.org.in/ which facilitates  people to know about entities allowed to collect deposits.
• Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) told Supreme Court that Ponzi schemes are not under its ambit  and the respective State Governments are law enforcement agencies to curb Ponzi Schemes in response to SC’s question that what government and SEBI  were doing to curb the menace of ponzi schemes. 
• Goldman Sachs has predicted Indian economy to grow at 7.9% in 2016-17.
• Syndicate Bank, launched fund transfer based on ‘Aadhaar Number through NUUP(National Unified USSD Platform)’, using an ordinary mobile phone without internet connection.

Important Business News between 20th July, 2016 and 31st July 2016

·         Airtel to acquire the 4G spectrum of Aircel in 8 Telecom circles including Tamil nadu, Odisha

·         Delhi high  court restrained workers union of 5 associate banks of SBI from going strike.

·         Nirma Ltd to buy Lafarge India’s Cement assets in a deal worth $1.4 Billion.

·         British Oil and Gas explorer Cairn Energy has sought a compensation $5.6 Billion for breach of UK-India Investment treaty at an International arbitration panel for IT department making a retrospective tax demand. If the Arbitration panel fails to order in favour of Cairn Energy Ltd., it has said it should be compensated for the loss of value of shares amounting to $ 5.587 Billion.

(http://www.theweek.in/news/biz-tech/cairn-energy-seeks-usd-5-6-bn-compensation-from-india.html)

·         BSE has introduced online bidding platform for Sovereign Gold bonds after receiving approval from RBI

·         Reliance Jio to offer free Local and ISD voice calls along with 4G Voice and data services.

·         Cabinet Committee on Economic affairs has approved 15% stake sale in National Buildings Construction Corporation Ltd(NBCC) which is expected to yield Rs.1706 Crore.

·         India Ratings Ltd has projected a Loan CAGR of 9% during the period FY16-19 due to limited capital availability.

·         The Income declaration scheme due dates have been staggered that:

o   25% of the payments shall be paid before 30.11.2016

o   Another 25% of the payments shall be paid before 31.03.2017

o   remaining shall be paid before 30.09.2017

·         SIT on black money has recommended Supreme court that

o   Cash payments in excess of Rs. 300,000/- be banned

o   Possession of cash in excess of Rs. 15,00,000/- be banned.

·         Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari has offered US electric car manufacturer Tesla land near Major Indian ports to have India as its manufacturing hub in Asia.

·         Unified Payment Interface to become operational this month- Raghuram Rajan.

(Know more about API@ http://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/unified-payments-interface/article8470746.ece)

·         Changes to Benami Transactions (Prohibition) act,2015 gets cabinet nod. The proposed changes include confiscation of Benami property other than those declared under Income disclosure scheme

·         Income tax department to issue 7 Lakh letters to Individuals seeking details of high value transactions made during the last 8 years without PAN information

·         Amendment to Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Central rules, 1971 to raise the minimum wages to Rs.10,000 stalled after facing objection from various interest groups.

·         A workers union has moved to Delhi high court against Food Corporation of India’s move of hiring contract laborers. Earlier labour ministry issued a notification for hiring contract labourers for FCI going against the recommendation of its own advisory council. Various notifications since 1985 have prohibited hiring of contract labourers for FCI. The recent notification denotified all the prohibitions instituted hitherto.

·         Essar group has decided to sell 73% of its stake in Essar oil to reduce its corporate debt which has heaped to the tune of Rs.100,000 Crore.

·         Labour ministry’s decision to invest in ETF  the funds of EPF is too early in the current market scenario : Finance and Investment Panel of EPF

·         Sanjiv Puri appointed as the new COO for ITC

·         RBI has imposed Rs. 27 Crore penalty on 13 banks including HDFC, Bank of Baroda, PNB for violation of KYC norms and Anti-money laundering norms.  It has also warned 8 other banks including Kotak Mahindra, Axis bank, ICICI, SBI.Federal bank, OBI.

·         Centre approves Foreign stock exchanges, depositories, banking companies and commodity derivative exchanges to own upto 15% in Indian stock exchanges.

·         India’s GDP growth for FY 16-17 may rise up to 7.9% : CRISIL

·         The Union cabinet has approved to remove the additional levy of 1% by manufacturing states and 100%  compensation of revenue loss to the states for 5 years.

·         R.Sheshayee steps  down as Ashok Leyland Non-executive vice chairman ending his four decades of affiliation with Ashok Leyland.

·         Centre to issue demand notice worth Rs. 12,400 Crore to 6 telecom companies including Airtel, Idea, Vodafone after CAG’s report indicting underreporting of revenues by the telecom companies.

·         SEBI to ease listing norms by doing away with the clause that imposes a cap of 25% on the shareholding by a individual together with the Person acting in concert in an entity.

·         India looking for options to counter trade sanction that US is trying to impose on India to the tune of $ 452 million on the ground of violation WTO order in poultry import ban case.

·         Centre infuses Rs. 22,915 Crore  of capital to the Public sector banks as part of  its programme “Indradhanush” launched last year.

·         Employee’s compensation act,1923 to be amended with new  provisions such as:

o   Penalty in the range of Rs. 50,000-Rs.100,000 in case of failure to report by employer about accident in the premises of employer.

o   No appeal against labour commission order by the employer in case of compensation upto Rs.10,000/-

Important Business News between 1st July, 2016 and 10th July 2016

·                     World bank commits $1Billion for India’s solar energy programme.

·                     CAG proposes auditing of regulators like RBI.

·                     India entered into Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement(DTAA) with Cyprus. Cyprus is to be removed from Notified Jurisdictional Areas specified in the Income tax Act retrospectively with effect from 1^st November 2013. Any payment to a Person located in the Notified Jurisdictional Area would be regarded as International transaction with Associated Enterprises attracting Transfer Pricing provisions under the Income tax act, 1961.

·                     N.S.Viswanathan appointed as new Deputy Governor of RBI.

·                     The country's biggest oil refinery to be set up at the west coast by the IOC, BPCL, HPCL, EIL together at a cost of $30Billion.

·                     A joint study conducted by Texprocil and EY has said that Textile and apparel sector will create 29 Lakh jobs only in the next 5 years as against the earlier estimate of 1 Crore jobs. The shrinkage is due to the automation in sector.

·                     Apparel Exports Promotion Council(AEPC) has said that the Apparel sector expects Rs.5000 Crore investments in the current Fiscal year.

·                     China’s OPPO Electronic corp. becomes the first company to approach the government for expansion since the relaxing of the FDI norms in single-brand retail and wholesale in June 2016

·                     April – June  of 2016 witnesses highest quarterly mobilization in IPO-s in the last 9 years

·                     India’s 13^th Major port at Enayam near Colachel in Tamil Nadu got ‘in-principle’ nod from cabinet.

·                     CBEC has issued a circular directing revenue officials to not to collect tax during stay by the Appellate authorities.

·                     Ministry of Labour and Employment has issued notification increasing the ceiling of salary for Pension from Rs. 6500 to Rs.15000. Government has also fixed the minimum pension at Rs.1,000.

·                     ICDS implementation deferred by 1 year. ICDS to be with effect from 01.04.2016.

·                     Government to divest its minority stake in 51 Firms, which it holds through SUUTI(Specified Undertakings of UTI) besides closing sick firms that are beyond revival.

·                     Congress, which has been demanding to cap the overall GST rate at 18% and scrapping of an additional 1% to compensate manufacturing states now proposes ring-fencing tax rate.

Important Business news between 20th June, 2016 and 30th June, 2016

•                     Raghuram Rajan announced his decision to not to continue as RBI Governor, when his term ends on September 4,2016.

•                     Bandaru Dattatreya, Union Labour minister has said that the ministry would consult Ministry of External affairs and Commerce ministry for inserting provisions related to treatment of labours in the trade agreements between countries after facing opposition from Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), a RSS affiliated organization against the India’s stand in the recently concluded ILO conference in Geneva. Earlier India has expressed its dissent to include labour standards as part of the provisions in trade agreements as it would affect India’s prospects for export and economic growth.

•                     Boeing and Tata Advanced systems laid the foundation for setting up joint venture “TATA Boeing Aerospace Ltd” in Hyderabad to co-produce Boeing AH-64 Apache Helicopter Fuselages.

•                     Government has relaxed FDI norms to permit 100% foreign investment in aviation sector, Greenfield pharma projects, Cable networks, DTH and Mobile TV and food product e-commerce and 74% in Brownfield pharma projects. Previously, FDI in Defence sector is permitted over 49% only if the investor brings in “State-of –the –art” technology. Now the condition to bring in “State-of –the –art” technology has been done away with.

Source: http://zeenews.india.com/business/news/economy/modi-govts-big-reform-push-approves-100-fdi-in-defence-civil-aviation-pharma_1897870.html

•                      Ministry of Finance has announced that Public Provident Fund (PPF) account can be closed prematurely after completing five years for reasons such as higher education or expenditure towards medical treatment.

•                     Y.C.Deveshwar to step down as MD of ITC in 2017 and stay as Non-executive chairman. Under Deveshwar’s tutelage ITC grew tenfold and forayed into FMCG business.

•                     PSB-s to get Rs.10,000 to 12,000 crore in the current fiscal year in addition to the           Rs. 25,000 crore provisioned in the Budget to tackle the problem of rising NPA-s.

•                     GST Bill to be taken up this moonson session- Nirmala Sitharaman,

•                     Reliance communications and Aircel are set to sign a merger deal to merge their wireless business and form the 4^th largest telecom company in the country.

•                     Britain has voted to leave European Union in the referendum conducted across the nation. The terms of Britain exiting EU will be decided through negotiation that is to happen over a 2 Year period. David Cameron will step down as Prime minister.

•                     India’s bid to get NSG membership didn’t succeed in the NSG Plenary session at Seoul, South Korea. But countries like US have expressed hope that India might get membership around the end of the year.

•                     India has become a member of Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). MTCR is a partnership of 35 Countries to prevent proliferation of missile and unmanned aerial vehicle technology. Interestingly, China, which stymied India’s membership in NSG is not a member of MTCR.

•                     RBI deputy governor Urjit Patel, former deputy governors Rakesh Mohan and Subir Gokarn, and State Bank of India chair Arundhati Bhattacharya in race for the next RBI Governor.

•                     Moonson Session to start from July 18.