The main purpose of the meeting is to assess their views on reforms that are required to attract long-term capital into the country.
Control over PSU banks is what is allowing the government to drive this scheme.
The Union Budget 2021-22 has made it easier for sovereign wealth funds and pension funds to invest in Indian infrastructure projects, but some of the new rules may need more clarity, experts said. The proposed regime requiring investments through holding companies may have adverse tax implications for such funds and may create an arbitrage between the new and old projects, they said. Besides, the ownership structure of holding companies through which investments are to be made requires further clarification, they added.
Could it have been more reformist? Of course, but this is an election year Budget, observes Akash Prakash.
Fitch Ratings on Wednesday said India's high fiscal deficit would pose a challenge in lowering the debt to GDP ratio, which is expected to rise above 90 per cent in the next five years. It said India entered the pandemic with little fiscal headroom from a rating perspective. Its general government debt/GDP ratio stood at 72 per cent in 2019, against a median of 42 per cent for 'BBB' rated peers.
India will need an annual investment of Rs 15 trillion in infrastructure over the next five years, says Chandrajit Banerjee, DG, CII.
The approval was announced by Environment Minister Greg Hunt, who said "after undertaking a thorough assessment and consideration under national environment law, I have approved the Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Infrastructure project, subject to 36 strict conditions".
Infosys, in 2019, was given the contract to develop the new portal. It was launched in June last year and stakeholders had reported glitches and difficulties in the functioning of the portal. "On the I-T project, we are extremely proud that as of December 31, as was reported, 5.8 crore returns were filed through that timeframe.
'If the government was serious about co-opting the corporate sector meaningfully in the fight against COVID-19, it could have specified activities beyond cheque-writing,' notes Kanika Datta.
Over 80% of graduate engineers passing out of universities in India are unemployable. With digitisation going mainstream, this skill deficit can be redressed through world-class training material, points out Ankit Shyamsukha, CEO, ICA Edu Skill.
The government has put off by one month the levy of an additional Rs 2 per litre excise duty on petrol and diesel that is not doped with ethanol and bio-diesel in a bid to give the industry more time to implement the measure.
Billionaire Gautam Adani's son Karan will helm the cement firms his group has acquired to become India's second largest cement player and extend his burgeoning empire that spans from ports and energy to airports and telecom.
Amendments would be required in the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970 and the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1980 for privatisation, sources said.
The 15 proposals were cleared following recommendations by Foreign Investment Promotion Board.
Operator syndicate could be behind stock hammering, suspects regulator.
With the Jaypee acquisition, the Suraksha group, which made lenders an offer of Rs 7,736 crore, will be able to expand its footprint in north India after making inroads in Mumbai's real estate market over the past year. Sudhir Valia, the promoter, was a co-founder and executive director of India's biggest pharmaceutical firm, Sun Pharmaceuticals, and is a close relative of Dilip Shanghvi.
The average time lag between the date of occurrence of a fraud and its detection is 23 months; for large frauds (Rs 100 crore and above), it was 57 months.
Housing sector to benefit from Budget.
The dollar bond market has been a favourite for Indian firms in 2014.
Banks have written off bad loans worth Rs 10,09,511 crore during the last five financial years, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed Parliament on Tuesday. The non-performing assets (NPAs), including those in respect of which full provisioning has been made on completion of four years, are removed from the balance sheet of the bank concerned by way of write-off, she said in a reply to Rajya Sabha. "Banks write off NPAs as part of their regular exercise to clean up their balance sheet, avail tax benefit and optimise capital, in accordance with RBI guidelines and policy approved by their boards.
'Short term volatility is likely due to various factors, global and domestic; investors may use this as an opportunity to increase the allocation to equities.'
Some sectors like aviation, hospitality, travel and tourism, and automobile have witnessed zero cash flow since the lockdown began.
'Unemployment barely figures in the Budget except as a derived demand from the industry and infrastructure.' 'There is no effort at direct attack on unemployment.'
He said trust and confidence were the backbone of any financial system and one should never underestimate the power of ethics and values.
When an NRI returns to India, he should be aware of his tax residency status.
The decision to procure the fleet was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said.
Exuding confidence in sustaining the tempo of credit growth, public sector bankers said on Wednesday that consolidation in the public sector bank (PSB) space has given them a robust base to scale. The privatisation of PSBs can be done through divestment of government stake to a wider base of investors without haste. There is nothing to worry about at this point (high credit offtake) as underwriting standards and risk management are much better.
With the objective of making the country a manufacturing hub for domestic and foreign companies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is launching the NDA government's "Make in India" campaign today.
However, survey by Japanese firm shows India as most preferred Asian market for Japanese investors.
Brand India's societal divisions and distortions have remained as much relevant in 'liberal' America and Europe as it still is in the structurally stratified Indian society of the 21st century, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
From Dabur to HUL, here are 10 stocks with significant rural exposure in the auto, agri-chemical and fast moving consumer goods sectors, which should see an uptick in sales growth.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the upcoming Budget for 2021-22 will sustain the momentum of public spending on infrastructure and have a "vibrancy" to ensure the economic revival continues. She also said the pace of divestment, which has been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, will pick up in the coming months. "We shall definitely sustain the momentum of public spending in infrastructure. Because that is the one way we assure that the multipliers will work and the economy's revival will be sustainable.... "I am conscious that the forthcoming Budget will have a vibrancy that is so required for the economy's revival, sustainable revival," she said at the Assocham Foundation Week. The Budget for the 2021-22 fiscal is expected to be tabled in Parliament on February 1.
According to highly placed sources, the finance ministry is likely to extend ECLGS and other loan guarantee schemes for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), hospitality and tourism sector, and the health infrastructure beyond March 31, Business Standard has learnt. This is likely to be announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as part of her Budget speech on February 1.
Foreign Direct Investment into India rose by 13 per cent in 2020, boosted by interest in the digital sector, and while fund flows "declined most strongly" in major economies such as the UK, the US and Russia due to the Covid-19 pandemic, India and China "bucked the trend", the UN has said.
Stating that open markets mean more opportunities, Modi said during the last six years the government has made many efforts to make the Indian economy more open and reform oriented.
In a first of its kind move, the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), the ticket booking arm of the Indian Railways, is looking to monetise its bank of passenger data while conducting business with private and government companies. IRCTC has a large bank of data related to every online railway ticket ever generated as it is the country's only railway ticketing platform, an IRCTC official told Business Standard. The public sector undertaking, which has sought the services of a consultant to assist with the monetisation process, plans to raise Rs 1,000 crore through this exercise.
Whether one likes it or not, services constitute the value-addition sector that the country has to build on, using its comparative advantage in infotech and related skills, suggests T N Ninan.
These jobs don't necessarily require a degree in engineering or specialisation in coding.
Top officials in key ministries, including finance and IT, are of the opinion that a sensitive payments system such as UPI should not be on a platform whose security is possibly compromised.
