Economy

There was lot of focus, effort to tweak the PPP framework Reviving private sector investment in infrastructure will need an innovative sector-by-sector overhaul of the existing PPP models, CRISIL MD & CEO Ashu Suyash explains in an interview. Excerpts: The main takeaway from the CRISIL report is that the share …

SC order has no impact, says UIDAI Banks and post offices will continue to enrol people for Aadhaar and update their data, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has said. The Supreme Court has only ruled that Aadhaar is not mandatory for opening bank accounts, but the norms set …

Modi hopes the country will become engine of world economic growth Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Uttarakhand’s first investors summit on Sunday, saying India is the ideal investment destination in the world today with major social and economic changes sweeping the country.Addressing top business leaders and industrial houses at “Destination …

31 children died of diphtheria in September; nearly half of the diphtheria cases reported globally are from India The leafy, unhurried campus of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation-run Maharishi Valmiki Infectious Diseases Hospital (MVIDH) masks an ugly truth. Witness to 31 child deaths due to diphtheria last month, with the …

losing money overseas, it is working on a solution. Furthermore, he praised the ability and leadership of Ford’s chief executive, Jim Hackett, who he said was doing “a really good job.” “I don’t think it’s even close to a crisis,” he said. Not everyone shares his confidence. The automaker’s bottom …

Habitat for Humanity India, an NGO, plans to build or repair 6,000 homes of those affected by the deluge in Kerala. The initiative is being taken up by the NGO as part of the second edition of Jacqueline Builds — a unique campaign featuring Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez. The second …

Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg on Friday said the GDP growth is expected to be higher than the RBI’s projection of 7.4% for the current fiscal. “Government welcomes MPC statement and decision to keep the rates unchanged. Government’s assessment of inflation is in line with the MPC’s assessment. We …

‘Focus on equity for long-term funding’ The on-going crisis in IL&FS has made Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to consider tightening the norms of asset-liability management (ALM) of non-banking finance companies (NBFCs). The RBI observed that those entities were relying heavily on short-term funds for lending to long-term projects. “I …

As new data comes in, we would look into changing our policies, says RBI Governor It is important that the fiscal deficit target is maintained, says RBI Governor Urjit Patel, in an interaction with the media. Edited excerpts: Is there a risk to fiscal deficit in an election year as …

‘The agencies seem to have gone by names of IL&FS’ shareholders, overlooking the cash flow situation’ The role of credit rating agencies has come under the scanner in the wake of the Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS) imbroglio. IL&FS and its subsidiaries were rated AAA for their commercial …

Changes policy stance to ‘calibrated tightening’ to indicate that rates can only rise or stay stable hereon in this cycle Contrary to market expectation, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to hold the key policy rate at 6.5% in the fourth bimonthly policy …

Canadian Cancer Society releases international status report India has been ranked fifth in the listing of countries that have pictorial health warning on tobacco products, with experts here quick to add that the country is making tremendous progress towards creating public awareness on the health hazards of tobacco abuse. ‘The …

Personal I-T collections increase 19.1% Gross direct tax collection during the first six months of the financial year rose 16.7% to Rs. 5.47 lakh crore, the Finance Ministry said on Thursday. “The provisional figures of direct tax collections up to September 2018 (half-yearly figures) show that gross collections are at …

Decision after creditors’ committee appeals to Bench for another chance to parties to pay off debts The Supreme Court on Thursday struck a reconciliatory note in the ArcelorMittal-Numetal spat in relation to the auction of distressed Essar Steel by giving both companies a fortnight to pay off the NPAs of …

Appoints Vineet Nayyar as MD, chalks out roadmap to put troubled firm back on track by month end The newly appointed board of troubled project developer and financier Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) met on Friday to take stock of the situation, and started preparing a roadmap to bring …

Rajasthan had last month cut its state VAT by Rs. 2.5 per litre, while Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh both had cut their VAT rates by Rs. 2 per litre. West Bengal and Kerala had cut their VAT rates on petrol and diesel by Rs. 1 per litre in September and …

Arbitrary pricing, says committee; asks for detailed report Parliamentarians slammed private airlines for the “exorbitant increase in excess luggage charges” at a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Transport Tourism and Culture on Thursday. The majority of private airlines allow only 15 kg of luggage on domestic flights and charge …

Jaitley asks States to match this with reduction in VAT rates for overall Rs. 5 relief The Centre has decided to effect a cumulative cut of Rs. 2.5 per litre on fuel prices, with the Centre absorbing Rs. 1.5 of this and the oil marketing companies Rs. 1, Finance Minister …

Tightening the norms for issuance of e-way bill, the GST Network has made it mandatory for businesses and transporters to mention PIN codes of places of loading and unloading of consignments. Quoting of PIN codes will help in calculating the correct distance and determine the validity of the e-way bill, …

Hindustan Oil Exploration Company Ltd. (HOEC) has signed a revenue sharing contract with the Government of India for the exploration block in Assam it won under the Open Acerage Licensing Policy (OALP) Bid Round I. The bid round-I of OALP was launched in January 2018 under the liberalised Hydrocarbon Exploration …