'I'm pitching India for the strengths we offer, including the English language, engineers, doctors, nurses, professionals, innovative talent of startups.'
Crypto assets should not be granted official currency or legal tender status, the much-awaited synthesis paper by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Financial Stability Board (FSB) has said ahead of the G20 leadership summit under India's presidency. However, the report has argued against a blanket ban on activities linked to crypto assets, explaining that such a move can be costly as well as technically demanding to enforce. Central banks should avoid holding crypto assets in their official reserve as they pose a risk to monetary and global financial stability, according to the synthesis paper.
The Competition Commission of India has introduced draft regulations for combinations or mergers, under the new competition Act, to bring global deals in the digital space, including those involving Big Tech companies, under its scanner. The draft regulations would provide guidance on the valuation of merger transactions and the criteria for assessing sustainable operations in India for companies. The proposed rules mention that if the number of users and subscribers, or the turnover or gross merchandise value in India is over 10 per cent of the global figure, the company would be considered to have substantial business operation in India and would need CCI approval for the merger.
The government is confident of meeting the fiscal deficit target of 5.9 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and the nominal GDP target of 10.5 per cent despite pressure in the initial months of FY24, Economic Affairs secretary Ajay Seth told Business Standard. Normally the initial months of any financial year see proportionally a higher fiscal deficit because the expenditure is evenly paced while revenue picks up in the later months, he said. "This year the proportional fiscal deficit so far is much closer to the target than in most other years.
The government is "extremely disappointed" with the latest report of the Moody's rating agency on India's economic outlook. The report, a senior government official said, was highly contradictory and called the rating agency's credibility into question. Referring to the Moody's statement that "India's fiscal strength remains a key weakness in the sovereign credit profile...", the official remarked: "How can my strength be my weakness? Moreover, they are unwilling to have a like-to-like comparison with India."
The finance ministry has cautioned that global and regional uncertainties and domestic disruptions may keep inflationary pressures elevated in the coming months, warranting "greater vigilance" by the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). "Russia's decision to terminate the Black Sea grain deal, along with dry conditions in major wheat-growing areas, caused a price spike in cereals. Domestic factors like white fly disease and an uneven distribution of monsoon exerted pressure on vegetable prices in India," the ministry said in its latest Monthly Economic Report for July, released on Tuesday. However, the report maintained, the recent price surge in certain food items "is expected to be transitory". "Tomato prices are likely to decline with the arrival of fresh stocks by the end of August or early September.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) is contemplating an increase to the existing strength of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) benches to handle the growing case load. The ministry is currently analysing the time taken by each bench to dispose of matters and the total number of cases being handled by each bench. "We need to first determine our requirement, given that the NCLT handles both Company Act and insolvency and bankruptcy matters. "The latter constitutes the majority of the case burden.
Benches of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) should not get into questioning a company's default once it is established by the creditors, particularly financial creditors, for admission to the corporate insolvency process. This is one of the key themes of the draft guidelines for the NCLT, which are being finalised by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), a senior official said. According to the official, while the company law matters could involve the "principle of natural justice" and justify extended proceedings to hear all parties concerned, the same does not apply to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) proceedings.
Improved monsoon, solid fiscal performance, and capex push by the public and private sectors augurs well for India's macroeconomic stability and growth, the finance ministry's monthly economic review for June 2023 said. But the report said that while India's domestic fundamentals remain strong, negative cross-border spillovers and adverse global developments could act as a deterrent in achieving the high growth path this financial year. "An improved matching of aggregate supply and aggregate demand in the Indian economy underpins the progress made in the control of domestic inflation and the consequent strengthening of macroeconomic stability," the review said.
India appears poised to sustain its growth in a more durable way than before with the economy carrying the momentum from FY23 into the current fiscal year, the Annual Economic Review for 2022-23 released by the finance ministry on Thursday said. However, the report cautioned that escalation of geopolitical stress, enhanced volatility in global financial systems, sharp price correction in global stock markets, a high magnitude of El-Nino impact, and modest trade activity and FDI inflows, are factors that could constrain the pace of growth. "Should these developments deepen and dampen growth in the subsequent quarters, the external sector may challenge India's growth outlook for FY24," the finance ministry said.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday met top officials of the finance and corporate affairs ministries to review the implementation of various announcements of the Union Budget FY24. "The finance minister underlined the importance of continuous assessment of progress to ensure that various announcements are implemented in a time-bound manner," the finance ministry said in a tweet. Sitharaman also discussed in detail various issues on the digital competition laws with Rajeev Chandrashekhar, the minister of state for entrepreneurship, skill development, electronics and technology.
'Global coordination, convergence, market complexities and dynamics and cross-border enforcement compound the existing challenges we face.'
Larger firms feel that the smaller players have muddied the waters for the IBC process, leading to excessive regulation of resolution Professionals.
The investor education and protection fund authority (IEPFA) has reached out to top hundred companies to reduce the documentation required for individuals trying to claim their shares, according to a senior government official. Recently, the Supreme Court-appointed expert panel on the Adani-Hindenburg case had raised issues such as capacity constraints faced by IEPFA in clearing these claims which are over Rs 5,000 crore. "Our immediate priority is to ensure that claims of those investors whose application was approved a year ago but the transfer has not gone through yet are settled first.
Both Jet Airways and Go First have met with a similar fate of landing up in insolvency, albeit for different reasons. Whether Go First will be able to avoid the sharp erosion in value like in the case of Jet, experts say, will depend on how quickly it is able to restart operations and retain its slots at airports. Go First, owned by the Wadia group, filed for voluntary corporate insolvency resolution on May 2 due to inadequate capacity utilisation that led to a cash crunch.
'For our traditional membership base, it would be an access to disruptive ideas,' FICCI President Subhrakant Panda tells Asit Mishra/Business Standard.
'In real estate project insolvency, no one size can fit all.'
The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has named Ravneet Kaur, a Punjab cadre IAS officer of 1988 batch, as chairperson of the Competition Commission of India (CCI). Kaur will hold the post for five years or until attaining the age of 65. She is the second woman to serve in an 'economic regulator' role after Madhabi Puri Buch, who was appointed chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India last year and the first woman to head the country's chief national competition regulator.
In what could result in a complete overhaul of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), the insolvency regulator has sought public comments on the regulations it notified under the code to date. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has given a window of eight months ending December 31 to all stakeholders to share their views on its regulations. IBBI has called the exercise "crowdsourcing of ideas".
The government is planning to draft rules for the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to deal with Insolvency and Bankruptcy (IBC) cases, according to official sources. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) is also looking to fill all vacant posts at various NCLT Benches by August and put in place an IT-enabled system that would use artificial intelligence (AI) for case management. The NCLT, adjudicating authority for matters related to company affairs, was constituted before the IBC came into effect.
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