Brokerages maintained bullish views on the State Bank of India (SBI) stock, after India’s largest public sector lender reported highest ever quarterly profit for the December quarter on better margins. The bank expects better profitability in fourth quarter as well, led by improved asset quality, one-off gains from SBI Cards IPO and lower tax.The country’s largest lender on Friday reported a 41.18 per cent YoY rise in its standalone net profit at Rs 5,583 crore, driven by an improvement in asset quality and strong interest income.Emkay Global Financial Services maintained a ‘Buy’ rating on SBI with a 12-month price target of Rs 380.“We have raised FY20 estimates by 23 per cent, factoring in earnings beat in Q3, lumpy resolutions and one-off gains from cards IPO, partly offset by residual DHFL/ICA-related provisions,” the brokerage said.Gross non-performing assets (NPA) improved to 6.94 per cent from 8.71 per cent YoY while net NPAs stood at 2.65 per cent as against 3.95 per cent. Fresh slippages in the quarter spiked to Rs 16,525 crore from Rs 4,523 crore in the year-ago period, on account of mortgage lender- Dewan Housing Finance (DHFL).Motilal Oswal Financial Services also retained a ‘buy’ call on the stock with a price target of Rs 425, indicating a 33 per cent upside from the previous close.“SBI reported a strong operating performance in a tough quarter, led by NCLT recoveries, improving fee income trends and controlled opex. We believe that SBI has prudently improved PCR over the last few years, and has one of the lowest stressed assets amongst corporate banks, which will drive a sharp decline in credit cost to 1.3 per cent and 1.1 per cent by FY21 and FY22, respectively. Also, further NCLT write-backs or subs monetisation will boost earnings,” Motilal Oswal Financial Services said in a report.
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Friday, January 31, 2020
Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Narcos: Mexico, Homeland, and More: February 2020 TV Guide to Netflix, Amazon, and Hotstar
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Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Narcos: Mexico, Homeland, and More: February 2020 TV Guide to Netflix, Amazon, and Hotstar
Brooklyn Nine-Nine season 7, Narcos: Mexico season 2, Altered Carbon season 2, Homeland season 8, Al Pacino’s Hunters, Taj Mahal 1989, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver season 7, Locke & Key — here’s our February 2020 TV guide to Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar, Apple TV+, and Comedy Central.
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Will Sofia Kenin's power hold sway over Garbine Muguruza's solidity?
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Thousands turn out to mourn Kobe Bryant
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Barcelona sign young duo Francisco Trincao and Matheus Fernandes
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Can India spend its way out of a slump? All eyes on Budget
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Eco Survey: Thalinomics in a time of rising prices
New Delhi: The affordability of a vegetarian thali improved by 29% between 2006-07 and 2019-20 and that of a non-vegetarian thali by 18% over the 13-year period, according to the survey.The survey has used the thali – a plate of food – as an example of something that people encounter every day in an attempt to make economics relate to the common person.Jharkhand topped the list of states with the most affordable thalis in both categories in April-October 2019. Two vegetarian thalis for a household of five in Jharkhand required about 25% of a worker’s daily wage, according to the survey.The survey analysed data from the Consumer Price Index for industrial workers for about 80 centres in 25 states/ Union Territories from April 2006 to October 2019 to arrive at the cost of a thali as part of ‘Thalinomics.’ Using the annual earnings of an average industrial worker, the survey calculated that a vegetarian household saved Rs 10,887 on an average per year, assuming five individuals had two thalis a day, while households eating non-vegetarian thalis saved Rs 11,878 a year.“Both across India and the four regions – North, South, East and West – we find that the absolute prices of a vegetarian thali have decreased since 2015-16 though it increased during 2019,” it said. “This is owing to significant moderation in the prices of vegetables and dal from 2015-16 when compared to the previous trend of increasing prices.” 73826050 According to the survey, many reform measures were introduced since 2014-15 to enhance productivity of the agricultural sector as well as efficiency and effectiveness of agricultural markets for better and more transparent price discovery.Food inflation based on Consumer Food Price Index declined to a low of 0.1% in 2018-19 against 1.8% in 2017-18, 4.2% in 2016-17 and 4.9% in 2015-16. However, the government revised the inflation projection from 3.5-3.7% in the second half of 2019-20 to 4.7-5.1%.“Though everyone knows food inflation has fallen in the last few years, the Survey has put it in the context of overall household savings, which is relevant as it is a significant amount for a low-income family,” said Bidisha Ganguly, chief economist at Confederation of Indian Industry.After 2015-16, there was an average gain of around Rs 3 per vegetarian thali at the all-India level (Rs 0.1 in 2016-17, Rs 2.8 in 2017-18, Rs 4.6 in 2018-19 and Rs 4.4 in 2019-20), resulting in an average yearly gain, in nominal terms, to about Rs 10,887. The gain is, on average, 6.5% of an individual worker’s yearly wages. For a non-vegetarian thali, the gain was Rs 1.8 in 2016-17, Rs 2.4 in 2017-18, Rs 4.5 in 2018-19 and Rs 4.2 in 2019-20, resulting in an average yearly gain of about Rs 11,787.
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Banking on ESOPs: Just do it and get paid for it
KOLKATA: The Economic Survey has proposed skin in the game for employees of public sector banks through a stock option plan.Public sector bank employees are paid fixed salaries, which, according to the survey, does not encourage risk-taking and innovation. Although PSBs control 70% of India’s banking market, they lag considerably in performance metrics when compared to their peers.“Employees can constitute one of the blocks of new owners of PSBs through ESOPs that is conditioned on employee performance,” the survey said. “Ownership by motivated, capable employees across all levels in the organisation could give such employees tangible financial rewards for value enhancement, align their incentives with what is beneficial to the PSB, and create a mindset of enterprise ownership for employees.”The proposal comes when the Indian Banks’ Association and bank unions have been negotiating wage increases. The payslip component for PSB employees is revised every five years.Bank unions agreed only recently to a performance-linked incentive scheme for their members, to be paid over and above the fixed component, in banks that report a minimum 5% growth in operating profit. The incentive scheme is likely to be implemented from FY21.An ESOP, on the other hand, will reward only good performers. The survey said that a portion of the government stake can be transferred to employees exhibiting good performance.
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Economic Survey 2020: PSBs need a techtonic shift
MUMBAI: State-run banks hobbled by soaring bad loans and poor performance can look forward to have a new life with the help of fintechs to fight back and use tools like GPS to conduct better due diligence on borrowers to play a meaningful role in India’s march towards a $5-trillion economy, the Economic Survey said.With data and analytics taking the centre stage in almost all industries, state-run banks can pool all their data into one entity like in the case of GST Network, to improve their analytical capabilities that could provide them an edge over their private peers, it said. Data sciences, machine learning and artificial intelligence could help the banks, which have more than 70% market share, to make a difference to the economy, it said.“PSBs have many important ingredients in place to cater to this new demand,” said the survey. “They have local market insights and relationships based on operating histories spanning many decades. Their geographic footprint is vast. PSBs, however, need significant investments in capabilities to exploit the coming datarich environment in India. Analytics based on market data are quite capable of providing accurate predictions of corporate distress.” 73825376 PSBs have been dragged down by bad loans over the past few years and they compare poorly with their private sector peers in terms of returns to investors. Because of this, their market valuations are also lower leading to losses to the government and wasting of taxpayer money.Public banks accounted for 85% of bank frauds, while their gross non-performing assets exceeded Rs 7.4 lakh crore in FY19; an amount which exceeds government’s entire infrastructure expenditure in the fiscal. Similarly, just by plugging PSBs’ loan losses, which came at Rs 66,000 crore in FY19, the government “could nearly double the nation’s budgetary allocation for education,” it said.73825465 Estimates show that every rupee of taxpayer money invested in PSBs in 2019 lost its value by 23 paise, while for the private sector it created value.While banks are getting merged to create bigger ones, the collaboration on data could be a game changer.“PSBs will be able to enhance efficiency by fulfilling their role of delegated monitors if all the PSBs can pool their data into one entity,” it said. “Private information held by their corporate borrowers leads to contracting problems, because it is costly to assess solvency of a borrower or to monitor her actions after lending has taken place.”The survey proposes that these banks stick GPS devices on pledged assets to track the location of assets.
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Live: Will it be a middle class budget?
Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her second Union Budget on Saturday. Budget includes detailed statement of the estimated revenues and expenditures to be incurred by the government in a particular fiscal year. Stay here for important and quick updates on the Centre's most important business-centric presentation:
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Coronavirus Outbreak: Google Launches New SOS Alert to Offer Accurate Information, Safety Tips
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Can India spend its way out of a slump? All eyes on Budget
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The CEA tries to fight an outdated bogeyman
New Delhi: The Economic Survey revives an old tall tale about Microsoft. A helicopter flying over Seattle loses all communication and navigation facilities. As its pilot struggles to find her bearings, she suddenly spots a tall building and quickly writes out a question in as large letters as she can squeeze in on as large a piece of paper she can lay her hands on: "Where am I?" People in the building see her plight and immediately write out a reply: "You are in a helicopter." The pilot then finds her way to a spot where she can land. Her lone passenger asks her how she managed to figure out her coordinates from that cryptic answer. She replies that she figured out she must be above the Microsoft Tower, because the answer she got, like all Microsoft technical support and documentation, was technically correct and completely useless. The survey is a bit like that.Microsoft has come a long way since then and even become the world’s most valued company. The survey does not hold out a happy story as in the case of either the pilot or Microsoft. It fights bogeymen: socialism, public ownership, cronyism, state intervention in functional markets, opposition to improving ease of doing business. 73825095 These ghosts have been exorcised long ago, at least in theory. The survey discovers, with dazzling originality, that India’s banking is stunted, relative to the size of its GDP, and that non-banking finance companies can be fragile. But the solution to the asset liability mismatch inherent in bank or NBFC credit to infrastructure, a market for corporate bonds, is conspicuously absent in the Survey.The survey is eloquent about exports, but silent on the contradiction between efficiency that exports call for and the increasing doses of protection the government has been ladling out to industry — of course, not the 'connected firms' the Survey disparages in a separate section — to bloat their inefficiency. The survey champions the invisible hand of the market, but is loath to let the market determine if India should go in for labour-intensive assembly or capital-intensive lines of exports. It recommends joining global value chains.The survey does have a strong point: a good exposition of econometrics put to real world use. For example, it firmly disproves the notion that India’s free trade agreements have hurt us more than helped us. In the process, it demolishes an argument to keep out of RCEP, the China-led trade group India chose not to join. The survey is delightful grist to the argumentative Indian's mill, and not much of a policy guide beyond first-principles free-marketism. Since governments stopped using Economic Surveys as a guide to policy some time back, this probably does little harm.
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Industry leaders, peers raise a toast to good news
PUNE: It was at a friend’s beach party — Vishal Misra and Arvind Krishna were trying to (unsuccessfully it turned out) retrieve a kite belonging to Misra’s son that was stuck on a treetop.Misra, professor in the department of computer science at the University of Columbia, remembers this incident with the newly appointed IBM CEO vividly. Misra had first met Krishna when trying to decide between a stint in academia and a career at IBM. “We’ve known each other socially for 20 years,” Misra told ET. “What I remember from our encounter back in 2001— when I was trying to decide between Columbia and IBM — was that he sincerely wished me luck and did not badmouth Columbia or life in academia,” Misra, who recalls Krishna as a warm, friendly guy, said.Krishna, who takes over from Virginia (Ginni) Rometty on April 6, is currently Senior Vice President for Cloud and Cognitive Software at IBM, which includes IBM Research, IBM Cloud, and IBM’s Security and Cognitive Applications businesses.The 57-year-old electrical engineering alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology - Kanpur was born in Dehradun to Major General Vijay Krishna and Arti Krishna, who worked for the welfare of Army widows. Like most army kids, Krishna — a PhD in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign — went to more than one school — primary education at Mount St. Mary’s School in Delhi to Stanes Higher Secondary School in Coonoor in Tamil Nadu.“Unlike many fresh PhD’s who are technically smart but lack business and industry acumen, he showed his deep understanding of industry trends. That has been Arvind’s distinguishing talent — to combine deep technical understanding with an encyclopaediac knowledge of industry and competition,” said Inder Gopal, professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, who hired Krishna into IBM Research.Gopal recalls that Krishna —who is married to Sonia Jain and has two children — came highly recommended by his PhD advisor Bruce Hajek. “Everything he does has a well-articulated technical or business basis. I may not always have agreed, but I respected his judgement and he was usually right,” Gopal, who quit IBM but later rejoined as Krishna’s boss, said.Krishna was always meticulous and focused, said Sunil Singhal, his first cousin — also an IIT-Kanpur alumnus and who runs an environment focused business in Delhi.“His father was in the Corps of Signals and continued to be involved with engineering institutes after his retirement. So, Arvind has got some of that in his genes,” Singhal said, adding his hard work was paying off.IIT-Bhilai director Rajat Moona, who was Krishna’s batchmate, told ET that he was creative and organised. “We never thought that we will be so close to the top of the world's best hardware and software industry. Proud of him and feel fortunate to know him,” Moona said.Persistent Systems Chairman Anand Deshpande, who has known him for two decades, said Krishna understands technology very well. “He’s very sharp and focused and in our meetings was always clear about what he wanted. IBM will do well to have him there,” Deshpande said.Another batchmate, Nagendra Nath Sinha, who is currently Secretary, Department of Border Management, summed it up best in a tweet congratulating the three-decade-old IBM veteran. ‘Congratulations @ArvindKrishna on being named CEO of IBM. It is another feather in your cap. We are proud to have been your batchmates at IIT Kanpur.’
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GDP no longer in a pickle on CEA’s special thali
If you always predict an economic rebound you will sometimes be right. After false predictions for five quarters, which saw GDP growth slide steadily down to 4.5%, the Economic Survey has predicted a big rebound to an annual 6-6.5% in 2020-21. Much will depend on the world economy, which slowed almost everywhere in 2019 and has been hit further by a virus outbreak in China that threatens to disrupt supply chains. If the world economy recovers, so will India’s. If not, the remedies prescribed by the survey, many of which are commendable, may not do the trick.Last year’s survey emphasised the need for major reforms in the police-judicial system and education. The government did not act immediately on that good advice. It remains to be seen whether it will accept this survey’s advice to reduce government intervention in grain markets, drug price controls, trade curbs under the Essential Commodities Act (ECA), and debt waivers. Political populism has long trumped economic sense on these issues.Wealth CreationAs former European Union president Jean-Claude Juncker once said, “We all know what is to be done. What we don’t know is how to get re-elected after doing it.” Maybe the crash in economic growth might galvanise the government into radical action as opposed to the usual incrementalism.Quoting the Thirukkural profusely, hoping this will better convince the Swadeshi Jagran Manch and Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh than quoting Milton Friedman or Friedrich Hayek, the survey waxes lyrical about an economy focusing on wealth creation, driven by dashing new entrepreneurs in a pro-business atmosphere accompanied by a revival of the government-business trust that broke down earlier this millennium. It hails the invisible hand of the market that Sangh affiliates cannot see, perhaps because it is invisible. Competitive markets are needed to ensure a level playing field that aids the best entrepreneurs rather than the best-connected ones, the survey says, arguing a 10% rise in new firms in a district raises GDP by 1.8%.The document also points to the data that the equity index of politically connected companies significantly outperformed the overall stock market by 7% a year before the CAG’s report on the spectrum sale scam in 2011. After that, politically connected companies underperformed the overall market by 7.5% per year, suggesting a big decline in cronyism. Some old cronies are, in fact, now biting the dust. Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index shows India improving greatly on this front since 2011.Reforms PushOn the survey’s stress on reforms, it should be pointed out that the easiest reform today may be huge cuts in the food buffer stock. Stocking increases the grain price by 40% above procurement cost; so, high stocks are wasteful and costly while becoming politically irrelevant since grain accounts for a decreasing share of food spending.The Essential Commodities Act distorts prices, discourages investment in warehouses and foils a modern commodity market. The survey shows that ECA raids have no impact on prices and have a very low conviction rate. And also that full debt waiver beneficiaries consume, save and invest less and are less productive than partial waiver beneficiaries. They disrupt the credit culture and so unwittingly reduce the credit flow to farmers.The survey wants to repeal or amend the Factories Act, Essential Commodities Act, Food Corporation of India Act, Sick Textile Undertakings Act, Land Acquisition Act (2013) and Recovery of Debts (DRT) Act. That is a brave agenda but will face stiff political hurdles.The same goes for labour reforms. The survey notes that economic growth has been much faster in states that have opted for flexible labour policies (Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab) than inflexible states (West Bengal, Kerala, Jharkhand, Bihar and Assam).Private sector companies must get entry into all sectors, ending preferences or monopolies for public sector enterprises. The survey examines the performance of closed sectors with those open for private investment, and finds the latter grow much faster. Examples are minor ports versus major ports, private road transport versus government-owned railway transport, steel and cement versus government-dominated coal.73824541 Assemble in IndiaThe survey makes a brave but not entirely convincing attempt to prove that official GDP growth data are accurate and not inflated, as claimed by critics like former chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian. The government’s own chief statistician, Pradeep Srivastava, recently penned a newspaper column saying that his consumer surveys were unreliable because people lied to surveyors.Nomiracle economy has been able to sustain 7% growth without buoyant exports. Indian exports have hardly grown at all since 2013. The survey advocates integration of India into global value chains, so that “Assemble in India” becomes a key part of Make in India. It estimates that this approach can create 40 million jobs by 2025 and 80 million by 2030. However, rising import tariffs, price controls, tax disputes and constantly changing rules make India an unattractive final assembly point. The latest World Development Report says that the logistical turnaround cost in India is thrice that of China’s and double Bangladesh’s.The survey implicitly makes a good case for India joining the China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) that the government recently opted out of. It rebuts claims that existing free trade agreements (FTAs) have been bad for India. After accounting for all confounding factors in FTAs, it finds that India’s manufactured exports increased 13.4% while manufactured imports rose 12.7%. Total merchandise exports rose 10.9% against 8.6% for imports, a net gain in both cases.Privatisation is a powerful instrument to increase productivity and yield funds for fresh investment in essential infrastructure. The survey examines 11 public sector companies that were privatised, comparing their performance with that of their peers in the same industries. Remarkably, the net worth of the privatised companies rose by Rs 2,290 crore, almost double the Rs 1,250 crore registered by their peers. Clearly privatisation works, and that may be one reason for the government decision to push forward boldly on this front.The survey stresses the need for financial sector recapitalisation and reform to step up credit needed by a burgeoning economy. It detects high levels of risk in shadow banks. Its research shows that Indian banks are small compared to peers in other countries, and suggests huge increase in bank size. This may mean further mergers of public sector banks.
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Over 500 million Indians now use smartphones, 77 percent of who are online: techARC
Over 500 million Indians are now using smartphones, a 15 percent increase from 2018 primarily due to brands like Xiaomi and Realme that continue to bring new users to the ecosystem, a new report said on Thursday.
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Huawei Denies German Report It Colluded With Chinese Intelligence
Huawei, the leading maker of telecoms network equipment, denied a newspaper report on Wednesday that alleged the German government was in possession of evidence that it had cooperated with Chinese intelligence.
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Coronavirus: Tesla Ordered to Shut Down Shanghai Factory
China has asked Tesla to temporarily shut down its Shanghai factory, a move that may "slightly" impact the profitability of the Elon Musk-led electric car company in the first quarter of 2020, top company executives have said.
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Tesla Extends Its Profit Run, Promises Record Production
Tesla on Wednesday posted the second quarterly profit in a row on record vehicle deliveries and said it would produce more than 500,000 units this year, as the electric carmaker's shares surged to new highs.
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Is Samsung Galaxy A51 a Worthy Redmi K20 Rival?
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Thursday, January 30, 2020
WhatsApp Pay in 6 months, says Zuckerberg
BENGALURU: Facebook expects to roll out WhatsApp Pay in a number of countries in the next six months, even as its payment licence remains stuck in India.Facebook is working on building technology infrastructure to turn its private messaging apps, WhatsApp and Messenger, into private social platforms where users can hang out and engage with businesses. “One example that we've been working on is WhatsApp Payments where you're going to be able to send money as quickly and easily as sending a photo,” said Mark Zuckerberg on an earnings conference call with analysts, while talking about the growth of commerce and payments on private messaging apps.“I'm really excited about this, and I expect this to start rolling out in a number of countries and for us to make a lot of progress here in the next six months,” he said.WhatsApp’s payment feature, called WhatsApp Pay, is designed to run on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) — developed by the National Payments Corporation of India — which allows users to pay others or do business transactions through their bank accounts. Its licence has not been approved in India yet as it has to complete localising all the data within the country’s borders. WhatsApp has about 400 million users in India. The payment feature is currently running in pilot mode. If the company gets a payment licence for a full-fledged rollout, other players in the market, including Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm will face stiff competition. Zuckerberg said commerce and payments are areas that will be important for private social platforms such as WhatsApp and Messenger, as well as social networking sites Facebook and Instagram. Beyond WhatsApp Payments, Zuckerberg said the company is working on several other efforts to help facilitate more commerce from Facebook Marketplace to Instagram Shopping. “We’re taking a number of different approaches here, ranging from people buying and selling to each other directly to businesses setting up storefronts, to people engaging with businesses directly through messaging and a number of things on payments --using existing national systems like India's UPI to creating new global systems,” he said.Facebook beat Wall Street estimates in the quarter ended December but slowing profit growth dragged down share prices. Net income rose 7% year-over-year to $7.3 billion, compared to 61% growth over 2018.
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India may ease its grip on insurance
The Centre is likely to drop the clause that mandates control of insurance companies by Indian promoters as it seeks to enhance foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in the industry to 74% from 49%, said people with knowledge of the matter.The government has held several meetings with the insurance regulator, insurers and consultants on higher FDI in the sector. Many global insurers, such as Metlife and Generali, have not raised their stakes in Indian operations due to the clause that was introduced in 2015.“The government will amend the relevant provision while dropping control and ownership clause of the Insurance Act through the Finance Bill,” said an official at the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai).73788679 Cabinet Note in the Work“It has decided to prepare a cabinet note proposing higher FDI of 74%,” the official said.The FDI increase is being evaluated very carefully, said a source close to the development. “The complexity of ‘Indian owned and controlled’ is involved, and the government is looking to address this issue,” he said. Regulations on royalties, dividends, ring-fencing of balance sheets and board composition are also likely to be reviewed, said another person who had attended the meetings.It’s been proposed that overseas investors start at 49% and raise their stake to 74% over time. However, foreign insurers have suggested that the limit be set at 74% from the outset.The government raised the FDI ceiling in insurance to 49% from 26% in March 2015. This prompted foreign promoters to increase their stakes in joint ventures besides paving the way for initial public offerings. Among the listed life insurers are HDFC Life, SBI Life and ICICI Prudential. Listed general insurers include ICICI Lombard, GIC Re and New India Assurance. India has 24 life insurance companies and 34 general insurance companies.Before the 2015 change, the Insurance Act did not require domestic ownership and control. It was therefore possible for offshore strategic partners to have substantial control, including over reserved matters or veto rights on operational and financial policy decisions.The government increased the FDI limit in insurance intermediaries to 100% in September, a move aimed at opening up the large-scale professional advisory space to investment.
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Sustainable fares needed to ensure viability of airlines: Hardeep Singh Puri
New Delhi: Civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri called for sustainable and rational airfares that would ensure viability of the sector, while adding that it was a free market and the government has no plan to regulate ticket pricing.“You know the fares between Delhi and Mumbai are lower than what they used to be 20 years ago. Average fares used be Rs 5,100 but it’s Rs 4,600 today. Clearly, something is wrong here. It should also be our responsibility to ensure viability of the airlines,” Puri told ET in an interview.Puri said airlines were free to decide prices themselves, but the government will follow a policy of ‘administrative encouragement’. He said the Japanese had in the past followed a system of ‘administrative guidance’ and gave the example of the watch industry.“There were three major watch manufacturers in Japan and they could have done to each other what our carriers are doing to each other today. So, they divided the world into three markets for the three manufacturers and they all prospered,” he said.‘No Plan to Regulate Fares’“The approach will not be of administrative guidance here in India but of administrative encouragement. Sometimes, you use a margin of persuasion and just point towards a direction. It’s a relationship of respect between the government and the airlines, and if we make a suggestion of sustainable and rational pricing, airlines would look into it,” he added.Puri said any plan to raise fares faced a lot of resistance but people need to understand that low fares were not good for the market in the long run. “So, lower prices may be good for consumers today but with this pricing, an airline might make it difficult for other airlines to survive. And once that happens, the airline that survives will start raising fares, which may not be a good situation,” he said.Airlines blame each other for unsustainable pricing. While the smaller carriers blame the market leader IndiGo for low fares, IndiGo in turn attributes them to the newer entrants.Unlike the telecom sector, where the regulator has floated a consultation paper on whether there should be a floor or ceiling on tariffs, Puri said there was no such plan for airfares. “One of our low-cost carriers was selling ticket on Delhi-Mumbai sector for as little as Rs 1,100. Somebody suggested that why not put a floor or cap on it. If you put either, airlines would make that floor or cap the norm,” he said.AIRPORT PRIVATISATIONThe government earlier this week released the preliminary information memorandum inviting bids for the privatisation of Air India. The minister said the privatisation programme for the national carrier had attracted interest from a large number of entities, both domestically and internationally. He said its assets, its large market shares both in the domestic market as well as the international market of India, its access rights, its prime slots at international airports, as well as India’s potential as a huge aviation market, all made Air India attractive proposition for suitors.Puri acknowledged that the last attempt to privatise Air India during the first time of the Modi government was unsuccessful. “Look, I was not the civil aviation minister then. If I had been the aviation minister then, I would not have gone for it,” he said, adding that an undertaking of this kind was better attempted in the beginning of a five-year term, rather than the end of the term, as was done in 2018.“Lots of things went wrong... Fundamental differences…like we wanted to keep control and keep 24% in the airline. All the analyses that I have seen say this is a great improvement and a much more sweetened offer. My policy level advice to my colleagues in the aviation ministry is to put yourself in the shoe of the buyer and then decide the details,” he said.When asked about the Swadeshi Jagran Manch’s (SJM) opposition to the AI privatisation programme, Puri said he would have been surprised if that had not happened. “The committee headed by the home minister is capable of dealing with all that. We have to understand we are losing Rs 26 crore on Air India daily. These could be used to provide better facilities to the people of India, in terms of building roads and toilets,” he said. Home minister Amit Shah is heading the Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism that approved the bid document and which is overseeing the sale process.
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Bank deposit cover may be doubled to Rs 2 lakh
Mumbai: The government is discussing a proposal to double the insurance cover on bank deposits to Rs 2 lakh and an announcement to this effect may be made in the February 1 budget, said several people with knowledge of the matter. The move comes after the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) faced flak over their handling of the closure of Punjab & Maharashtra Co-operative Bank (PMC), which downed shutters in September last year, leaving thousands of depositors high and dry.The government is expected to bring about these changes through an enabling amendment that would increase the deposit cover in the future without tinkering with the Deposit Insurance & Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) Act.“Looking at the aftermath of the PMC Bank crisis, doubling of the deposit cover will be a much-anticipated breather for bank deposit holders,” said Ashvin Parekh, proprietor of Ashvin Parekh Advisory Services. “The only challenge to my mind is who will now bear the added cost of a higher insurance premium? ”Safety of bank deposits took centre-stage after the collapse of PMC Bank. Currently, the DICGC Act, 1961, provides deposit insurance of up to Rs 1 lakh and the rest of the amount is forfeited in the event of a bank failure. This compensation was last fixed more than 25 years ago. 73788743 The government is also considering proposals on allowing emergency access to deposit insurance when a bank fails, inflation indexation of the insurance cover and risk-based pricing of the insurance premium depending on the health of the financial institution.“The biggest bone of contention is higher premium payout if the deposit cover is raised. I think banks will have to bear the burden of that, but at least they should consider forcing less robust institutions to pay a higher premium cover,” said a senior banking official.Many Requests Made to Raise LimitRBI data showed more than 78% of PMC Bank depositors had deposits below Rs 50,000. As per an SBI analysis, 61% of the total deposit accounts in India are under Rs 1lakh, around 70% are under Rs 2 lakh and 98.2% are under Rs 15 lakh. There have been several calls to raise the deposit cover. The issue had come up at the time of the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill, which the previous government introduced in 2017 and then withdrew the next year. Data on Cross Country Deposit Insurance Coverage limit shows that deposit insurance coverage in India is one of the lowest at $1,508 as against $250,000 in the US and $111,143 in the UK.
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Wipro CEO Abidali Neemuchwala steps down
BENGALURU: Wipro said its CEO Abidali Neemuchwala has resigned due to family commitments but that he would stay on until a successor was appointed.The company said its board has initiated a search to find its next leader."We thank Abid for his leadership and contributions to Wipro. Over the last four years, Abid helped build a strong execution mindset, drove key acquisitions and scaled our digital business globally," chairman Rishad Premji said in a statement.Neemuchwala joined Wipro from TCS in April 2015 as Group President and COO. He was elevated to CEO in February 2016.
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Coronavirus contamination: Indian handset companies call up govt for clarity
The association has issued a limited advisory to its members based on one from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “There is real fear among workers that the highly contagious virus might spread through machinery, components and devices imported from China,” Mohindroo said.from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/2U8hI8h
Messi on song as Barca storm into Copa del Rey quarters
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Gold eases on China data, but set for monthly gain amid virus fears
US gold futures declined 0.8 per cent to $1,570.70.
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IBM CEO Ginni Rometty to Step Down in April; Cloud Boss Arvind Krishna to Succeed
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Wipro CEO Abidali Neemuchwala steps down
The company said its board has initiated a search to find its next leader.from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/37FYkn6
A film festival to hard sell government's internet coupons
According to a top official, CSCs have been given the mandate to offer last-mile internet connectivity through BharatNet to homes, through a system of pre-paid monthly coupons. These services can be either through WiFi or direct-to-home fibre. “Movies and entertainment seem to be a good proposition to get people to pay for the internet for the first time,” said a senior government official.from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/2GGfTrf
Coronavirus: WHO declares global emergency as death toll hits 213
The World Health Organization declared a global emergency over the new coronavirus, as China reported Friday the death toll had climbed to 213 with nearly 10,000 infections. Beijing has taken extreme steps to stop the spread of the virus, including effectively quarantining more than 50 million people in Wuhan and surrounding Hubei province.
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Indians will fly out today if China allows
Beijing is yet to approve India’s request to operate two aircraft to fly back Indian nationals. The Indian side is hoping evacuation will finally begin Friday evening. "Indian nationals have been alerted about evacuation plans for Friday evening. It will materialise though only if Chinese authorities approve it," said a source in New Delhi late on Thursday evening.
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Private trains have 20 cos interested in running them
NEW DELHI: About 20 companies in infrastructure and transportation sectors, including Bombardier India, Adani Ports, France’s Alstom, Spain’s Talgo, Macquarie group, Tata Realty, among others, have evinced interest in operating private passenger trains in India, officials aware of the development said.Bids for the operating 150 private trains on hundred routes will open in the next two to three months and contracts are likely to be awarded in the next fiscal.The Indian Railways has proposed to operate 150 private trains on 100 routes in the first phase of the plan to allow private companies into the passenger train segment, a first of its kind development.Government think-tank Niti Aayog has estimated an investment opportunity of Rs 22,500 crore in the segment. The 2019-20 budget had pegged the national transporter’s requirement of infrastructure investment at Rs 50 lakh crore over 12 years, necessitating the involvement of private players in the sector.73787835 In two meetings held on December 31 last year and January 20, companies across sectors were present to discuss the modalities of the project.NIIF, Hyundai Rotem Company, CAF India, Hitachi India, Medha Servo, Thoth Infrastructure, CRRC ZELC, BEML, Siemens, IRCTC, Bharat Forge, Gatx, Gateway Rail Freight, KEC International, Essel Group and RK Associates were among the other players present at the stakeholders meet.“Companies present at the meeting raised concerns around proper risk allocation in the contract,” an official close to the development told ET. “At the end of the day, this is a contract, and people need to be sure that in case one party reneges on it, what would be the mechanism going forward,” the official said.The official quoted above said a railway regulator, which will look into pricing of tickets in these trains, among other issues, will bring in some comfort for private players.Earlier this week, the Railway Board Chairman VK Yadav said it will take at least two years for private trains to be operational on ground. While a pilot has already been conducted, with IRCTC having started operation of two trains over the last six months, the Indian Railways is still working on finalising a request for qualification (RfQ) document for these tenders. A draft RFQ document prepared by Niti Aayog proposed grant of concession to private players for running 150 passenger trains on 100 paths bundled into 10-12 clusters with a 35-year concession period.The Indian Railways currently faces huge supply side constraints and is unable to meet the demand in the passenger segment. Projects like the dedicated freight corridors and multi-tracking, which essentially means laying additional track on a particular route, will ease congestion and enhance its network. It would also mean more business for the private sector.Currently, the railways runs around 13,000 passenger trains on its network, but around 20,000 trains are required to meet the demand, Yadav said. The Indian Railways is expecting a jump of around 60-70% after upgradation of its network.
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NPPA seeks clarification on Gilead's drug pricing plea
NEW DELHI: India’s drug pricing regulator has raised a red flag against price exemption plea made by US drug maker Gilead Sciences for its medicine for treatment of chronic Hepatitis B, revealed NPPA in its minutes of the meeting.Observing that the submission by Gilead was also tantamount to ever greening, which would mean a monopoly over patent term of the drug and as an effect pricing, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority has sought clarifications from the company. Gilead had sought exemption from price control for its Tenofovir Alafenamide tablets (brand name Vemlidy) to capture a major chunk of Rs 140-crore market for chronic Hepatitis B in India.Tenofovir Alafenamide is available under different brand names in India. Mylan sells it as Hepbest, Cipla as Tenvir, Zydus as Tenohep, Dr Reddys as Durataf, among others. According to the data available with Pharmatrac, sales of this product across companies stood at Rs 39. 2 crore for the 12-month period ending December 19.73788101 Opposing Gilead’s “multi-layered” plea seeking exemption from price control, NPPA in its minutes of the meeting dated January 20 revealed that Gilead had used three separate entities, one for seeking patent, another for approval of drug and a third for price exemption.According to the price regulator, the application for exemption was filed by Gilead Sciences, which is a US-based company, and the patent granted by the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks to the same Gilead Sciences for Methoxy Phosphonate Nucleotide Prodrug. The drug controller granted permission to import finished formulation of Tenofovir Alafenamide 25 mg tablet to Gilead Sciences India, an Indian company, and the new drug is to be manufactured by Gilead Sciences, Ireland.ET has reviewed the minutes of the meeting.The Authority has asked the company to provide information about the relationship among the “three entities — Gilead Sciences (the patent holder), Gilead Sciences India (to whom import licence for the new drug has been granted) and Gilead Sciences, Ireland (manufacturer),” revealed the minutes.“After receipt of details of relationship status from the company, further necessary examination would be undertaken regarding eligibility for exemption under para 32(i) of DPCO 2013,” observed NPPA.The price regulator has also sought clarification from the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) as to whether the foreign company, the applicant, the patent holder and the manufacturer can be treated as the same entity for the purpose of granting exemption from price control.NPPA also observed that the application is for exemption from price fixation of Tenofovir Alafenamide tablet whereas the patent has been granted for “Methoxy Phosphonate Nucleotide Prodrug”. It has asked the patent office to expedite the same.Gilead was granted patent in 2010 for a term of 20 years from July 2001. It is, however, unclear as to why Gilead took nine years to get clearance. An email sent to Gilead on Thursday did not elicit any response.The company had sought exemption from price control for five years from the date of commencement of marketing of the product.NPPA said the company has already given voluntary licence to many companies for manufacturing/marketing the products “Tenofovir Alafenamide 25 mg tablet” in India.
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Mega textile parks on the anvil; government revamps scheme
NEW DELHI: To attract higher foreign investment in the textile sector, India has planned a complete overhaul of a scheme to create world-class infrastructure facilities for setting up textile units.The government is considering a plan to set up 1,000-acre mega textile parks as it revamps the Scheme for Integrated Textile Park (SITP) whose slow progress is attributed to delay in obtaining land and other statutory clearances from state governments and slow fund mobilisation by the textile parks. Launched in 2005, the scheme aims to provide industry with state of the art world-class infrastructure facilities for setting up their textile units. A total of 59 textile parks have been sanctioned under SITP by the textiles ministry out of which 22 textile parks have been completed and rest are under various stages of construction Textiles ministry has circulated a cabinet note, a senior government official told ET.73788058 As per another official, the overhauled scheme could be part of the proposed textile policy for which many detailed studies are going on. “The idea to make mega textile parks is to attract FDI,” said another official.From April 2000 to September 2019, India's textiles sector received Rs 19,398.71 crore or $3.3 billion of FDI which is 0.74% of the total inflows.Under the SITP, infrastructure facilities for setting up of textile units are developed in a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model, with the government granting upto 40% of project cost with ceiling limit of Rs 40 crore for each park.An expert committee on textiles had in 2015 suggested the idea of mega textile parks and proposed the ministry to partner with states to set these up so as to be able to absorb about $5 billion per year of fresh investment. It recommended that Mega Textile Parks should be developed especially in the planned Industrial Corridors and be provided cheaper and reliable power supply. Textile manufacturers and exporters concurred that the extant textile park scheme is not successful.“The government is not happy with the existing scheme and the size of the parks now which can be anything above 20 acres. These are smaller parks and they also have not taken off very well,” said a Delhi-based manufacturer of textiles and apparel.As per the manufacturer, there is empty space in the parks and a lack of investment climate has hindered the scheme’s progress.Experts said the government may also revamp the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (ATUFS) which is used to promote technical textiles and generate employment in the apparel and garment sectors.
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Coronavirus: MWC 2020 Barcelona to Go Ahead Despite China Virus Spread, Says GSMA
Mobile World Congress, an annual telecoms industry event that draws more than 100,000 visitors to Barcelona, will go ahead as planned on February 24-27 despite the international spread of a virus that has killed 132 people in China.
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US 'Disappointed' by UK Decision to Use Huawei 5G: Official
The US is "disappointed" by London's decision to approve plans to use technology from Chinese telecoms giant Huawei in the country's 5G cellular network, a US official said Tuesday.
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Huawei's Telecom Network Involvement in Countries Apart From the UK
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson granted Huawei a limited role in Britain's 5G mobile network on Tuesday, defying US pressure to exclude the Chinese company from next-generation communications over fears Beijing could use them to spy.
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Huawei Granted Limited 5G Role in the UK by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Defying Trump
Prime Minister Boris Johnson granted Huawei a limited role in Britain's 5G mobile network on Tuesday, frustrating a global attempt by the United States to exclude the Chinese telecoms giant from the West's next-generation communications.
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EU Will Not Ban Huawei, but Impose 'Strict' 5G Rules
The EU will not ban Chinese telecom giant Huawei or any other company in Europe, a top official said on Tuesday, despite intense pressure from Washington to shun the firm over spying fears.
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Saif Ali Khan: A Star in Bollywood — and on Netflix
Saif Ali Khan, bonafide Bollywood royalty and star of Netflix hit Sacred Games, says India's massive film industry does not need international audiences to thrive. But that may not be a good thing, he cautions.
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India vs New Zealand Third T20I Cricket Match Today: How to Watch Live, Follow Scores Online
India vs New Zealand T20I cricket match is set to begin at 12:20pm today. India is currently leading the series 2-0 and will be looking to seal the series with another win over New Zealand in the ongoing T20I series.
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Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Neeraj Chopra crosses Olympic qualification mark
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Hackers Infiltrated UN Servers Last Year in a 'Sophisticated' Attack
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Realme Fitness Band Leak Gives Us First Credible Look at the Smart Band
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China virus: Over 1,700 new cases, toll at 170
Thursday's figures cover the previous 24 hours and represent an increase of 38 deaths and 1,737 cases for a total of 7,711. Of the new deaths, 37 were in the epicenter of the outbreak in Hubei province and one in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
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Samsung Hit by Weak Demand in Key Products as It Prepares to Launch New Galaxy Flagship Phones
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Pin-up CEO or Mr Fixit? The curious case of Aditya Ghosh
From posing for a groupfie with former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to golgappas in Goa to sitting on a dinghy boat art installation at the Serendipity Arts Festival, the bromance between Ritesh Aggarwal, Oyo’s frenetic founder and Aditya Ghosh, till recently the most high-profile CEO catch for the entire Indian start up eco-system, always seemed absolutely tailor made for Instagram likes.PDAs apart, when Ghosh, a former lawyer turned high-profile corporate executive who took IndiGo to soaring heights decided to check into Oyo Hotels and Homes as its CEO for India and CEO, in November 2018, the move was billed as strategic. Be the brain trust, confidante and consigliere to Agarwal. Someone who will have a calming influence on the 26-year old restless entrepreneur from Puri. Many would even compare Ghosh to an Eric Scmidt who lent business expertise to Google’s founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Or Steve Ballmer who succeeded Co-founder and CEO Bill Gates in Microsoft And pivoted the tech corporation towards a devices and services strategy. But barely a year later, on December 2nd, Ghosh was catapulted to the board of India’s second most valuable firm as a non executive director in a management transition that seemed as intriguing as it was perplexing. Since then, sources within the company said, Ghosh does not have any executive responsibility or operational role.“The perspective I hope to bring, is two-fold - One, having run a large, publicly-traded profitable business for a long period of time, and second, having the unique experience of being the person on the board, who would have also run a large region for Oyo, for about a year," Ghosh had told ET after “stepping up.”But not everyone is buying that. “This is not a global board like Google. Oyo is no Oracle. This is a soft landing for Ghosh,” quipped an investor in the company on condition of anonymity.For an executive who was obsessed about transparency and internal communication, he also has stopped coming to office daily. Instead works out of a different location said officials in the company. Interestingly, one of them claim Ghosh has not sent out an email since the last one month to the team. The last email he sent was on December 2nd, the day he was announced as moving to the board. The email mentioned that he will "actively focus” on 5 areas -- safety and security, stakeholder relations, corporate governance and customer experience and revenue management." All absolute musts before a planned IPO.Today two Mckinsey alums – Rohit Kapoor, CEO India and South Asia and Mandar Vaiya, CEO - South East Asia & Middle East – are believed to be Agarwal’s A team along with Maninder Gulati, Chief Strategy Officer who oversees European operations and Abhinav Sinha –the Paolo Alto based COO. “There is an IIT, ISB, Mckinsey, BSG cohort that is as thick as thick can be.. Ghosh could never break through,” said another employee who recently quit the company. “Aditya has joined the board of Oravel Stays Pvt Ltd. As a consequence, objectivity and impartiality in decisions and accountability for actions require that he recuse himself from day-to-day executive responsibilities of the kind that were typical during his time as CEO for India SA,” an Oyo spokesperson said.So what gave? ET spoke to several past and current employees, investors, close associates to piece together the tale behind the transition.Many would argue this product vs growth argument is at the core. While Ghosh over emphasised improving the product to minimise customer complaints, for Agarwal it was business growth at any cost. Incidents such as murder and an alleged rape in an Oyo property seemed to bothered him incessantly. Yet others claim Ghosh was not as hands on as he was expected to be. “He was a rather ineffectual leader who gave up early,” said an employee. Over the last year since taken charge, business development managers were given stiff targets to meet, especially in Tier 1 cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata etc), where there was saturation, and the concerns and pain points were around operational stability. So losses swelled more than sixfold to Rs 2,384.69 crore in the fiscal year ended 31 March 2019, even as revenue jumped more than fourfold during the same period, according to a valuation report filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) in November.In hindsight, even when Ghosh joined he was meant to head and oversee two markets – India and Nepal while Agarwal personally kept an iron grip of new frontiers like China and Japan. Even currently, Agarwal is based in the Valley.“Ghosh was the face of Indigo but in reality everybody knew the entire credit goes to the co-founders Rakesh Gangwal and Rahul Bhatia,” said an old colleague from the airline who has followed Ghosh’s career path closely. “They coached Ghosh perfectly.”But a handful did follow Ghosh to Oyo including people like Srikrishna R, who had worked in Indigo for over a decade before joining last year as VP of Sales and Distribution. Similarly, Ashish Banga, who is heading HR, Oyo International as per their Linkedin profile is another example.On November 20th last year, while travelling to Miami, Florida, Agarwal ordered a cheesecake for Ghosh in a late night impromptu party as he completed 365 days in the organisation. "Every day I have learnt something new; unlearned and learned all at the same time; experienced highs and lows; challenged my own assumptions and perceptions; evolved as a person; pushed the boundaries" Ghosh wrote in a social media post and went on to add "To many more mountains to climb ahead! ?? Still Day Zero." A few days later Ghosh was "elevated."
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A trimmed Budget cheque for India's farmer
NEW DELHI: The agriculture ministry has sought 20% less funds for the PM-KISAN scheme — that pays farmers Rs 6,000 a year — for 2020-21 because some states have been slow in identifying beneficiaries, and many existing recipients are yet to be Aadhaar verified.The ministry has sought Rs 60,000 crore for the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana for the next fiscal while the government had allocated Rs 75,000 crore for this year, an official familiar with the development told ET.This is because the government has been able to disburse only Rs 44,000 crore so far this fiscal under the scheme, the person said.The government had initially hoped to transfer money to 145 million beneficiaries, but so far only 95 million farmers have been registered under the scheme out of which 75 million have been Aadhaar verified.The rest 20 million registered farmers will get the benefit only after verification of their Aadhaar details, as agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar had last month said PM-KISAN funds will only be transferred to Aadhaar-authenticated bank accounts of eligible farmers.The ministry has sought a lower amount for the scheme to align the allocation with realities such as zero beneficiaries identified by West Bengal, the official said. “We have asked for a more realistic budget based on our existing database and potential beneficiaries,” he said.“We have to depend on state governments to verify the beneficiaries before we can transfer instalments,” the official said. 73752584 ‘Scheme helped agriculture sector’“States are not keeping pace with our speed. Therefore, we are lagging a bit, ” the official said.Apart from West Bengal, which refused to participate in the scheme, some states have been slow in implementing it. Bihar, for example, has registered only one third of its farmers because of lack of digital data. Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have identified 55-60% of their farmers as beneficiaries while Chhattisgarh has verified less than half of its farmers. Uttar Pradesh has verified 85% of the 25 million farmers it has, as per the agricultural census of 2016, while Rajasthan has registered 80% of its farmers.The government had launched this scheme in February 2019, covering small and marginal farmers owning up to two hectares of land. It disbursed over Rs 6,000 crore in last fiscal out of the budgeted Rs 20,000 crore.After getting re-elected, the Narendra Modi government had relaxed the landholding criteria, making the scheme open for large farmers as well.Experts believe the scheme has benefitted the agriculture sector.PK Joshi, fellow at National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said farmers in Uttar Pradesh used money to buy farm inputs. “We conducted a study where we found that money of PM-KISAN was used in buying fertilisers when it was disbursed before the sowing season,” he said.“It’s a very good scheme. Its success, however, will depend on the timing of disbursal. If it’s given before the onset of sowing, money will be utilised for farming purpose, else it will be diverted. States should actively participate.”Former agriculture secretary SK Patnaik said it is far too ambitious to expect such a large scheme to cover each and every beneficiary. “Since the success of this scheme depends on data from states, the Centre has done a great job in pushing them,” he said. “West Bengal, which has around 70 lakh beneficiaries, refused to participate in this scheme. Similarly, many states are struggling with farmer data, slowing down the pace. I believe in the coming years, this scheme will have more farmers under its ambit,” he said.
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DHFL siphoned off Rs 13K cr through 1L fake borrowers
MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has told a dedicated court dealing with money laundering offences that Rs 12,773 crore was allegedly siphoned off over the past decade from DHFL through about one lakh fictitious borrowers which were created to route the money into about 80 shell companies.The agency, probing arrested promoter of the embattled home financier Kapil Wadhawan, told a Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMLA) court that the Wadhawans had allegedly used a part of these funds to pay the late drug lord Iqbal Memon, alias Iqbal Mirchi.The agency arrested Kapil Wadhawan on Monday. His brother, Dheeraj, is out on bail.“Wadhawan, through five shell companies, purchased three properties at Worli from Iqbal Mirchi. The value of these properties, as per book accounts, was shown Rs 111 crore, but a payment of more than Rs 150 crore was made in Dubai through the hawala channel. The loans were given to these shell companies by DHFL in a circuitous manner, and a part of this loan was used to make payments to Mirchi,” said an officer privy to the probe details. “An amount of Rs 12,773 crore (yes)was actually siphoned off through fraudulent loans to 100,000 fictitious customers, using 79 paper companies.”The ED is probing a property deal comprising the purchase of three dilapidated buildings in Worli, which were illegally acquired by Mirchi and subsequently sold to Sunblink Real Estate, an alleged front company of the Wadhawans. The ED has relied on the statement of Heena Cheda, partner at Hariyani & Co, to claim that the Wadhawans paid Rs 199.50 crore to Mirchi for the purchase of these properties.The agency believes the money is actually Mirchi’s proceeds of crime.ED told the court that DHFL had given Rs 1,500 crore in loans to Faith Realtors, Marvel Township, Able Realty, Poseidon Realty, and Random Realtors around 2010-2011. These loans were outstanding in the books of DHFL until July 2019, with total outstanding of Rs 2,186 crore.“Investigation has revealed that there are no documents available with the office of DHFL with regard to these loans. At the time of sanctioning these loans, no collateral was taken/given. These companies appear to be shell companies as deposed by their respective directors. These persons also deposed that the beneficiary owners of these companies were the Wadhawan brothers,” said the agency’s earlier remand application.The court remanded Kapil Wadhawan to ED's custody until Friday.
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Lamborghini eyes double digit growth in 2020
Mumbai: Sustained demand for Urus SUV and several new cars lined up for 2020, has spurred Italian super sports car maker Automobili Lamborghini to target double digit growth in a falling super luxury car market for those priced above Rs 2.5 crore.Lamborghini retailed one vehicle every week in India and crossed 50 units annual sales mark for the first time in 2019. The firm registered a growth of over 15% in a market that declined over 18%.Matteo Ortenzi, CEO of Asia Pacific region at Automobili Lamborghini told ET, the growth in India matched the growth for the brand around the world. With the new Urus and other new additions during the year, Ortenzi expects the momentum to sustain. “We expect the market to take off in the years to come and our strategic vision is to see India breaking into top five markets in APAC region and top 10 markets globally in the years to come," added Ortenzi.
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Bharti Realty may invest 10 k crore to develop office space at Aerocity
Mumbai: Bharti Realty is planning to invest over Rs 10,000 crore to develop 10 million sq ft grade A office space in the next phase of expansion of Delhi’s Aerocity. Spread in about 100 acres near the Delhi airport, the proposed Gateway and Downtown districts will have an additional 2.5 million retail space, making it one of the biggest commercial district in the country.According to SK Sayal CEO, Bharti Realty Limited, the construction is expected to start by year end and within three years, they will start delivering at least a million in phases. Of the 10 million square feet space, Bharti plans to keep 20% of it as retail like it has done in the Worldmark one and two in the Aerocity.“Our plan is to develop one of the best project and this is going to be iconic. Such a premium area at that size is not available anywhere and with global companies coming to India, they will prefer Aerocity as their headquarter,” said Sayal.The two districts will have combination of multiple buildings and due to height restrictions, buildings can’t be beyond eight floor.“Gateway will be developed first and every six month we will keep on adding at least a million sq ft space. It will take 7-8 years to complete the project,” Sayal added. According to international property consultant Savills India, base rents remained largely stable across most micromarkets in 2019, in all 3 key cities comprising NCR, on a YOY basis.However, minor movements in rentals were recorded for some of the micromarkets. For instance, in Delhi, the Aerocity micromarket saw an increase of 5-7%.Current rentals at Aerocity are R 210 to R 250 and in phase two of Aerocity, the leasing will start around that rate and will go over R 300, making it one of the most expensive office space in the country.The phase one of Aerocity has 1.33 million square feet of mixed use but 80% of it is office space and almost 100% is leased out. “People are looking for more areas. We have started getting request for leasing but we are not in a hurry. We will start leasing when we are closer to completing the structure,” Sayal added.
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Meme makers laughing all the way to the bank
Memes have emerged as a lucrative profession for its creators. Last week, when Zomato acquired UberEats, competitors took no time to engage with users through this newage content-marketing tool, which had become an instant hit when it began life on social media a few years ago.from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/31431Ew
Kohli and Shastri's trust in us helps make our bowling attack the best: Umesh Yadav
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Bala Devi first Indian woman footballer to bag foreign contract
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BCCI's new Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru to cost nearly Rs 500 crore
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Manchester City reach League Cup final despite loss to Manchester United
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Facebook Climbs to 2.5 Billion Monthly Active Users in Q4, Warns Revenue Growth Slowing
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China shutdowns hit Indian electronics companies
KOLKATA: Smartphone and consumer electronics companies in India said they were staring at production cuts and possible delays in launch of new products due to the coronavirus outbreak in China that has disrupted component supplies. The scale of the impact would depend on how long the disruption continues.China accounts for 75% of total value of components used in TVs and almost 85% in case of smartphones. All critical components like mobile displays, open cell TV panels, printed circuit boards, capacitors, memory and LED chips are imported from China. Air conditioner compressors and washing machine motors are also among sourced from that country.Chinese vendors have hiked component prices by 2-3% due to supply shortages triggered by factory shutdowns, and this could rise further unless the situation improves in the next few days.‘Not prepared for extended holiday’The hike in component prices, in turn, could result in an increase in product prices in India.The coronavirus has been blamed for more than 130 deaths so far, with nearly 6,000 confirmed cases as of Tuesday. The virus has rapidly spread across China and to 16 other countries. Media reports said industrial activity in China has come to a standstill, and may be impacted further.“Factories in India were prepared for the usual Chinese New Year shutdown. But several cities there have extended the holiday, and companies have asked workers not to report for work for the next few days. This will likely have an impact on manufacturing in India since the extended holiday was not factored in,” said a senior executive at a leading smartphone brand, who requested anonymity.Vacation extendedThe New Year holiday was scheduled to end on January 31, but authorities in several Chinese cities have extended the vacation till February 9, and this could get prolonged further. Hong Kong, the main gateway to China for freight and business, too has suspended cross-border travel for now. “Production will be badly hit. There will be at least 15-20 days’ delay in supply of components. We have closed our purchase office there. New product launches will be delayed. If this continues, there will be chaos since no company holds stock in large quantities due to fluctuating input prices and subdued domestic demand,” said Avneet Singh Marwah, CEO of Super Plastronics, the company that sells Kodak and Thomson brand televisions in India.BPL India chief operating officer Manmohan Ganesh said several Chinese component makers had hiked prices by 2-3%. “This could go up further if the shortage continues, and then brands will be forced to hike prices,” he said. Two industry executives said Chinese smartphone brands may face problems in software R&D work and component supplies, which would hit India production. A spokesperson for Xiaomi said India operations weren’t affected right now since the company had planned for the shutdown during New Year.73753018 Alternative suppliersApple CEO Tim Cook said during an earnings call on Wednesday that the company is working on a mitigation plan to make up for any production loss in China, and is tapping alternative suppliers. Consumer Electronics & Appliances Manufacturers Association president Kamal Nandi, however, said it would be difficult to quickly develop alternative supply sources for components. Nandi, also the business head at Godrej Appliances, said the industry operates with 20-30 days of raw material inventory.Sunil Vachani, chairman at homegrown contract manufacturer Dixon Technologies, said shortages and production disruptions were likely if Chinese factories didn’t open after the extended holidays.
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Bidder JSW Steel a related party, can’t be given immunity: ED to NCLAT
MUMBAI: The ED has told the appellate bankruptcy court that JSW Steel will not get immunity from the criminal charges being faced by Bhushan Power & Steel if it acquires the latter, because both are related parties.The agency also said that a Section under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, which gives protection to the acquirer from prior offences committed by a bankrupt company, will not apply in this case since the provision was added to the law after lenders cleared JSW’s proposal to acquire Bhushan Power. This provision under Section 32A, it told the court, cannot be applied retrospectively.JSW, which is seeking immunity from charges before going ahead with the deal, declined comment.Bhushan Power’s former promoters are facing charges of financial irregularities and money laundering. In an affidavit filed in the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, the ED said JSW and Bhushan Power are related parties through a joint venture.JV founded in 2008The ED is looking into whether one party had helped the other in the alleged offences. JSW Steel, which has offered to pay over Rs 19,000 crore to acquire Bhushan Power, had sought to be excluded from regulatory and criminal probes against the target company under the watch of its erstwhile management. It has also sought exemption from attachment of the target company’s assets.Last October, the ED had attached a factory of Bhushan Power in Odisha’s Sambalpur. Subsequently, the attachment was released by the NCLT. The agency has challenged the order in the appellate body.In its affidavit filed on January 17, the ED said the relation between the two companies needs to be probed further. It said JSW Steel and Bhushan Power are shareholders, with stakes of 24.09% and 49%, respectively, in a venture called Rohne Coal Company. The agency said it wants to look at all the arrangements entered into between the two shareholders. Citing filings before the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the affidavit said the joint venture company, founded in 2008, is “still in operation”.On the application of Section 32A of IBC, included through an amendment in December 2019 to provide immunity to the corporate debtor and its assets from an offence committed prior to the commencement of the insolvency process, the ED said there is no provision that gives retrospective effect to the section.Ministry of Corporate Affairs sources is of the view that they cannot give a clean chit to anyone. In the ministry’s affidavit, it is likely to explain the intent of the provision.“Section 32A is clearly worded, if investigation agencies have reasons to believe based on material facts, the protection will not be available. The MCA will merely explain intent of the provisions. We cannot give a clean chit to anyone,” said a senior official. In its affidavit, the ED said the Section was introduced with effect from December 28, 2019, while JSW’s resolution plan for Bhushan Power was approved on September 5, 2019.“The liability of corporate debtor shall not cease for the impugned offences under PMLA as the resolution plan… is not resulting in change in management or control of the corporate debtor to a person who was not a related party of the corporate debtor, for the reason that JSW Steel is a ‘related party’ of the corporate debtor, being an associate company which has formed a joint venture with the accused-corporate debtor,” said the affidavit.
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New scheme in the works to push discoms clear dues of over Rs 83k cr
New Delhi: The Union government is working on a scheme to push state distribution utilities to pay more than Rs 83,500 crore they owe to power producers within six months, power and renewable energy minister RK Singh told ET.“We are working on a schedule for repayment of legacy dues of distribution companies to power plants. We will give six months time (from the launch of the scheme) to discoms to make the payments. We will offer incentives for on-time payments and penalise states if the discoms do not comply,” he said.He said the incentives and penalties are being worked out by the power ministry and the scheme will be announced soon.According to data available on the power ministry’s Praapti Portal, as of September 2019, the outstanding payments of distribution companies to power plants totalled Rs 83,588 crore. Of this, the overdue outstanding amount is Rs 69,139 crore. Rajasthan, UP, Jammu & Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Goa and Karnataka are the big defaulters.Andhra Pradesh discoms have paid Rs 1,900 crore of the Rs 2,500 crore they owed to power generators. In his meeting with state government officials on Tuesday, Singh directed distribution companies to clear payments for the months of October, November and December, too.The power ministry had earlier directed discoms to open letters of credit in favour of power purchases to stop creation of further discom dues. With the new scheme, the ministry proposes to liquidate the accumulated dues.73753169 Singh on Monday said the Centre’s Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojna (Uday) was not a failure as it reduced average commercial losses of distribution companies. A new scheme for the revival of utilities may be announced in the Union Budget this Saturday, he said.ET had earlier reported that the government was considering a grant of more than Rs 1.1 lakh crore to state power distribution companies under a new bailout scheme that would mandate discoms with high losses to either privatise operations or appoint distribution franchisees and invest in upgradation of infrastructure.The government expects to spur about Rs 3 lakh crore of investments in the distribution sector through the latest discom restructuring scheme that it claims to be different from three previous initiatives. “The scheme is reform and result-oriented, where the distribution companies will invest first and get money only when they perform,” a senior government official had said.
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Gold edges up as Fed flags coronavirus concerns
US gold futures climbed 0.5 per cent to $1,577.70.
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Airtel Thanks Promotion Offers Discounted Google Nest Mini to Xstream Box Buyers: All You Need to Know
Airtel is running a promotion for the Xstream Box buyers that will enable them to purchase Google Nest Mini at a discounted price of Rs. 1,699.
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Jio Largest Telco in Terms of Revenue, Customer Base: India Ratings
Reliance Jio has become the largest telecom player by revenue and subscriber base, India Ratings said on Monday.
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UK Faces Crucial Choice on Huawei With Global Implications
Britain faces a crucial choice on Tuesday over whether to allow China's Huawei Technologies to build its next-generation wireless networks. The decision has implications for the country's diplomatic relations with the United States, which is pushing allies to shun the Chinese company over cybersecurity concerns.
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Tuesday, January 28, 2020
India eye maiden T20I series win in New Zealand
A ruthless India are expected to seal their maiden T20 International series win in New Zealand and only a special comeback from the struggling hosts in the third game here on Wednesday can delay what seems inevitable.
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How Facebook Thinks Its Independent Oversight Board Should Work
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Coronavirus: Apple Supplier Foxconn Says Plans in Place to Meet Production Obligations After Outbreak
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Trump comes to India next month with a $10-bn trade deal
NEW DELHI: India and the US are likely to finalise a mega trade deal pegged above $10 billion (more than Rs 71,000 crore) next month when United States Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer visits New Delhi.The deal, whose legal vetting is underway, will be signed during US President Donald Trump’s visit to India, and is a precursor to a free trade agreement between the two nations, officials in the know of the plans said.Lighthizer and commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal are likely to meet in the second week of February to finalise the terms of the deal. Trump is expected to be in India during February 24-25, his first visit here as head of state. 73719143 There were meetings on the planned deal in Davos during the World Economic Forum. A six-member team from the US administration was in Delhi over the weekend, meeting Goyal and the relevant line ministries to discuss the contours of the proposed pact.Goyal had met Lighthizer in the US last year.‘Medical Devices Issue Resolved’“It is a fairly large deal,” said an official aware of the details. The issue of medical devices, which was a key obstacle in the trade talks between the two countries, is resolved, the official added.India and the US have been entangled in a series of trade spats across various sectors. The deal could touch upon Washington’s demand of doing away with duty on American information and communication technology goods along with market access for its dairy products and duty cuts on Harley-Davidson motorcycles. The US is also keen to sell more almonds to India. New Delhi, on the other hand, had sought market access to its fruits including grapes.“We expect the full deal to be signed this time and the longer-term idea is an FTA,” the official added.India also wants restoration of benefits under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP).Under the GSP, certain products can enter the American market duty-free if the beneficiary developing country meets the eligibility criteria established by US Congress. The benefits to India were withdrawn from June 5, 2019, after the US dairy and medical devices industries alleged that Indian trade barriers affected their exports.In 2018, India exported goods worth $6.3 billion (as per USTR figures) to the US under the GSP, accounting for around 12.1% of India’s total export to the US.The average duty concession accruing on account of GSP was almost $240 million in 2018. “We want GSP as it spreads across sectors, from textiles to agriculture, and we want access for our goods in the American market,” the official said.Goyal had earlier told ET that any imported product which had got animal feed into the food chain was a redline for India if it was not properly marketed as a non-vegetarian, because of the religious sensitivities around it. Opening up access to certain agricultural products where India is self-sufficient and wants to protect the farming community is another such issue, the minister had said.“There are always certain issues where one takes extra precautions and ensures that it doesn’t affect the Indian ecosystem, but usually in a trade deal, there are no complete no-nos. One can always work around and find sustainable solutions which can be acceptable to all parties,” he had said.Lighthizer is coming first to close the deal and he will come again with Trump to announce it, officials said.The two sides have been engaged in talks to iron out the differences which began in 2018, when the US levied global additional tariffs of 25% and 10% on the import of steel and aluminium products, respectively. India responded by levying retaliatory tariffs on 28 products originating or exported from the US with effect from June 16, 2019, for which Washington dragged it to the World Trade Organization.India’s exports to the US in the April-November period of fiscal 2020 totalled $35.6 billion, compared with imports of $25.1 billion. In the whole of fiscal 2018-19, exports were $52.4 billion and imports, $35.5 billion.
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The trick that's helping Ola retain drivers
BENGALURU: Drivers on ride-hailing platform Ola have spiked 7-10% in seven metro cities, after the homegrown aggregator rolled out revised standardised commissions to keep drivers active during peak hours, two people directly in the know of the matter told ET.The new payout structure, with an average take rate of 20% for the company, gives drivers a more predictable and transparent view of earnings as well as charges on tolls, taxes, commissions and parking. ET first reported Ola’s revamped incentive structure on January 6. An Ola spokesperson confirmed the new commissions structure.Retaining drivers has been a tough task for both Ola and rival Uber as falling incentives have led to lower earnings. The revamped payout is Ola’s strongest push in two years to keep drivers on its side, they said. “It also strategically comes at a time when Uber has moved its focus towards profitable growth globally, giving Ola the leeway to strengthen its presence in its home market,” an investor in the company said. Uber has not visibly changed its incentives, drivers told ET. “Ola’s earnings structure for partners is designed to maximise revenue and encourage highest quality of service and availability on the platform, in a sustainable fashion...,” the Ola spokesperson said.Both Ola and Uber continue to fight for customer wallets but keeping the supply of drivers consistent has been their biggest issue. “At a time when car ownership is falling, consumers are willing to pay more for predictable supply during peak hours,” a person closely tracking the mobility space said. “The key to this business is keeping active driver supply with incentives under check,” he added.An Ola driver dashboard of a trip in Bengaluru that ET accessed showed that the company charged a commission of about 20% on the fare, 5% in taxes, as well as a consumer service fee of 5.5% for its in-app entertainment Ola Play. Rides to the airport have an additional parking charge which is deducted from earnings, while Ola reimburses toll charges. 73718827 “Over the last three months, a lot of bottoms-up research and demand-supply mapping work has been done to frame these structures in a way that, on average, Ola keeps its take rate at 20-22%. Drivers, too, see value in being active on the platform at the right time,” the second person quoted earlier who is familiar with the developments said.The revised structure is not expected to hurt its path towards profitability, he added. “Balancing growth with profitability is where the power of platform comes into play,” the Ola investor quoted earlier in the story said. Ola has other models to make money for riders, including its membership program Ola Select, in-ride entertainment Ola Play and financial services. It also has a strong presence in the corporate segment and high margin businesses like outstation and self-drive.Ola’s decision to rejig its incentives structure comes at a time when rival Uber has sold its loss-making food delivery unit in India to Zomato and is expected to ramp up focus on its core ride-hailing business.“We constantly ensure sustainable earnings opportunities for our driver-partners... These fares are dynamic, as is our business model,” an Uber spokesperson said.
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April will be the cruellest month for FPIs
Mumbai: Foreign investors have sought grandfathering benefit from the government as a new global tax framework which kicks in from April this year may see them getting slapped with capital gains tax notices unless tax treaties are reworked, consultants and experts said. Taxmen may question or deny tax exemption given under current existing treaties with foreign countries after April 1 as the new multilateral instrument (MLI) regime has no provision for grandfathering or exemption from tax for investments made before a certain period.MLI is a common tax treaty or agreement India will have with all the countries and will replace the different tax treaties the country now has. These treaties provided grandfathering benefit. For instance, the separate amended treaties with Singapore, Mauritius and Cyprus protected investments made before April 2017 from higher or new taxes on capital gains. GAAR, the General Anti Avoidance Rule, introduced in 2016, also provided this protection.But the MLI, which is going to replace everything from April 1 is silent on grandfathering. “With effect from 1April 2020, 30 tax treaties entered into by India will get modified as a result of MLI. Having regard to the insertion of principal purpose test, there is an apprehension whether capital gains exemption under the relevant tax treaties can be challenged by revenue authorities, despite the “grandfathering” under GAAR as also some of the tax treaties. The government should issue a clarification on the matter to allay taxpayer concerns,” said Himanshu Parekh, head, corporate and international tax, KPMG. 73718434 Tax experts say that unlike the current tax treaties the MLI framework is stricter and investors cannot just escape by showing “substance” in tax havens.“Under MLI, the threshold to claim treaty access is generally stricter and to that extent investors will need to take cognisance of this. Even though Singapore treaty has a grandfathering clause for cap gains on equities, the MLI once in play, will mean that investors will need to adhere to the higher threshold, unless India and Singapore agree otherwise,” said Sameer Gupta, tax markets leader, EY India.Investors fear that tax department can dig out cases for the last eight years as it’s allowed under tax regulations.For instance, any sale of investment by an American PE fund after 2022 and where the investment is dated 2015 and routed through Singapore, could trigger a tax issue. In 2022, MLI would have replaced Singapore tax treaty and the taxman can straight away deny grandfathering benefit. To add to it, the taxman can also question rationale for investing in India through Singapore instead of directly from the US.“Under tax treaties FPIs could show substance by showing employees in jurisdiction, but MLI only speaks about purpose of investment. Now one explanation can be given that Singapore was only used to pool money from global investors and saving tax was only an outcome of that, but a tax officer can reject this explanation,” said a tax advisor.As per the MLI framework Indian tax authorities can levy penalties and additional taxes if it’s found that the purpose of using a tax haven or a jurisdiction was to save tax. More than 100 countries including India, signed the OECD multilateral convention in Paris in 2017 that aimed to check cross border tax evasion by MNCs.Tax experts say that under GAAR framework—that also aims at catching investors that escape taxes— any officer can issue notices to investors.“Just like in the case of GAAR, it would be worthwhile to introduce the concept of an Approving Panel to whom each case of PPT should be referred to before the Tax Officer actually invokes it,” said Parekh.
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Infosys sets up team to scale platform unit
BENGALURU: Infosys has set up a multi-disciplinary internal team to help scale up its platforms business, as the Bengaluru-headquartered IT services company looks to tap the growing demand for products from clients.The platforms could be proprietary software used to host educational content or process mortgages. IT companies are betting on a platform play to help offset margin contraction caused by the increasing commoditisation of their core business. Software companies need to make one-off investments in building the platform, but the returns could be exponential if a slew of customers adopt it. “We have a platform council which looks at how to scale these platforms faster. It is a cross-functional group of people,” Salil Parekh, CEO of Infosys, told ET in a recent interview. “We have a clear view that we want to scale our platforms. If we see the client view is that they want to use platforms, we will continue to build them out,” he said.The council comprises 14 senior executives from its marketing, delivery and service teams to leverage both existing platforms and create new ones, Parekh said. “This is an internal construct to accelerate it because when you build a platform you do need multiple disciplines to work together,” he pointed out. Infosys’ larger rival, Tata Consultancy Services, has seen multi-billion dollar deals from its insurance platform and has built others for pharma and retail.Infosys bought mortgage platform Stater last year and has its own insurance platform, McCamish. It is also looking at growing its skilling platform WingSpan and a blockchainbased platform to settle trades. Parekh, however, said building and scaling platforms will not be a quick process. “It takes a lot of time and it also takes multiple attempts. What I think is more likely is that we will work on five to 10 platform concepts, and in three, five, seven years, one or two of them will be quite successful,” Parekh said. Infosys does not break down standalone revenue from platforms.There are two types of platform strategies, analysts said. One, in which the IT firm owns the entire intellectual property (IP) and the other, where the it helps the client build the platform and contributes intellectual property or a component of the platform.“It appears that Infosys is increasing its investment in IP so it can better participate in both strategies. The total ownership strategy is the most risky of the two, and takes considerably more investment,” said Peter Bendor-Samuel, CEO of IT advisory firm Everest Research.
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How 'Indian-sized' Kobe Bryant appealed to our sensibilities
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Halep destroys Kontaveit to reach Australian Open semis
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On-scene investigation of Kobe crash ends, site cleared
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Gold steady as markets gauge virus impact, await Fed decision
US gold futures fell 0.3 per cent to $1,565.10.
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iPhone Sales Rise for the First Time in a Year as Apple Braces for Coronavirus Impact
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Infosys sets up team to scale platform unit
The platforms could be proprietary software used to host educational content or process mortgages. IT companies are betting on a platform play to help offset margin contraction caused by the increasing commoditisation of their core business. Software companies need to make one-off investments in building the platform, but the returns could be exponential if a slew of customers adopt it.from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/2tZRLgj
Buyers stand to lose if phone companies go for price parity: Experts
Mobile phones often cost Rs 2,000-3,000 less on e-commerce channels than in physical stores owing to exclusive deals with handset brands. Currently, e-commerce channels account for nearly 40% of overall sales of smartphones while bricks-and-mortar stores sell the bulk of handsets, according to data from TechArc Research.from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/2U2lsYK
China virus toll passes 130, foreigners leave
Countries on Wednesday began evacuating their citizens from the Chinese city hardest-hit by an outbreak of a new virus that has killed 132 people and infected more than 6,000 on the mainland and abroad.
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Alcohol firms urge Andhra Pradesh government to clear Rs 765-crore dues
MUMBAI: An association of liquor and beer suppliers has urged the Andhra Pradesh government to clear at least half their dues, pending since September last year, saying uncertainty in payments will lead to a liquidity crisis.The state government has taken over the liquor retail business. Andhra Pradesh accounts for nearly 8-10% of the overall spirits and beer consumption in India. The suppliers are seeking immediate release of Rs 765 crore by the state.The Association of Liquor and Beer Suppliers — which represents companies such as United Spirits, Pernod Ricard, United Breweries and AB InBev — said the state excise department’s sales receipts were Rs 7,081 crore over the past four months and it was holding back 15% of the total proceeds from suppliers. The trade body called it “appalling and unjust”. ET has a copy of the letter.73718048 The Andhra Pradesh finance ministry and excise department did not respond to ET’s queries.The liquor industry in the state works on a revenue model, purely on credit terms, towards stocks and duties and the excise department makes payments on the stock’s value and advance duties only after the entire stock is sold.“Holding the payments for September-December is cascading to a huge deficit in availability of working capital to re-invest in further supplies,” says the letter sent to the principal secretary of the state’s finance ministry and to the Andhra Pradesh State Beverage Corporation.“Keeping in view the above delays, we humbly request you to release immediately 50% of the amount of Rs 1,533 crore (Rs 765 crore), which can at least meet the demand after the Sankranthi festival,” it said.Late last year, the state introduced a new bar policy which includes cancellation of existing bar licences, issuance of new permits from January 2020 and reduction in the number of bars by 40%.This has already resulted in a sharp decline in alcoholic beverage volumes in the state — for the October-December quarter, spirits volumes were down 32% year-on-year, while beer volumes were down 63%. January numbers are similar too — spirits volumes are down 40%, while beer volumes have declined 56% over the past three weeks, according to state excise department data.This comes at a time when companies have been witnessing slower growth sequentially every quarter because of increased taxes and curbs on liquor in a few states.United Breweries, which controls nearly half the beer market with brands such as Kingfisher, had said that unless there was a dramatic turnaround in the economy overall, 2020 would continue to be challenging for the industry.“There will be a base effect. We will hopefully see growth in Q1 (January-March) this year since the base effect of Q1 of 2019 was depressed due to elections. But that gets negated by the fact that Andhra Pradesh, which was a large market, will be significantly reduced because of government policies,” UB’s managing director Shekhar Ramamurthy told ET earlier this month.
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