Panel on doubling farmers’ income mulls major reforms
A committee formed by the Centre to double farmers’ income by 2022 is considering major reforms in agriculture sector, like adopting a profit-centric approach and to aim at increased productivity and reduced cost of cultivation. The inter-ministerial panel, constituted in April last year, is also looking at suggesting market reforms in a big way and increasing focus on sub-sectors of agriculture like animal husbandry, poultry and fisheries. “What we (are) really looking at is to recommend strategies that would be practical in nature and would help both the governments at the national level and state level and also down the line to adopt practices which are very practical in doubling the income of farmers,” committee’s chairman Ashok Dalwai told PTI in an interview. He was in Hyderabad last week for an event.
Legal hurdle forces Sebi to defer decision on allowing commexes to launch options
A legal hurdle has compelled Sebi to defer a decision allowing commodity exchanges like MCX and NCDEX to launch the much-awaited options instrument. The Sebi board will have to discuss the “legal” ssue with the department of economic affairs, a Sebi official told ET without elaborating. He added though that the matter would be taken up on a “priority” footing and “expedited” as soon as possible.
Now, employment registration can be done in post offices
Post offices will now provide services such as employment registration centres for rural youth through National Career Services portal and will also be authorised to issue Aadhar-linked digital life certificates to EPFO pensioners. This is part of the MoU signed by the Department of Posts and Union ministry of Labour. “Young people can now register their names for employment in the post offices offline also.
Perception challenges? Infosys board blinks, changes severance pay norms
Infosys has changed the severance pay rule of its management team after founder N R Narayana Murthy criticised the board of directors over violation of corporate governance norms in giving excessive pay to a departing executive. The disclosure comes ahead of chief executive Vishal Sikka’s meeting with institutional investors on Monday and a board-convened first media interaction in its history. This was after public criticism from Murthy and his former colleagues, T V Mohandas Pai and V Balakrishnan, rattled Infosys and the information technology (IT) industry.
SEBI closely watching Infosys developments; CEO to meet investors
As IT giant Infosys remains embroiled in differences between its founders and the top management, markets regulator Sebi is keeping a “close watch” on all the developments with a “special focus” to ensure that minority investors’ interest is safeguarded. Infosys has become the latest major corporate to attract regulatory attention for alleged corporate governance lapses being played out in public after Tatas, United Spirits and Ricoh India, among others. “We have been keeping a close watch on developments relating to all such companies with a primary focus to ensure that the minority shareholders’ interest is not hurt, while we are also conscious about the interest of institutional investors,” a senior official said.
P Chidambaram asks FM Arun Jaitley to cut indirect taxes immediately
Former finance minister P Chidambaram, who feels the Union Budget for 2017-18 is “aimless and directionless”, says the government should immediately cut indirect taxes across the board to revive the sagging economy. Demonetisation, he said, damaged India’s GDP growth in 2016-17 and fears that its shadow will fall on 2017-18 and some parts of 2018-19. He also said lack of creation of jobs for the youth is a powder keg and a small spark can lead to a large explosion. Resentment may not be visible but it can be a “silent killer”. “What is the overarching goal of this budget? It is aimless and directionless,” said Chidambaram, who has presented nine Union Budgets in a span of nearly two decades. “Sometimes, you chase growth. Sometimes, you chase financial and monetary stability. Sometimes, the goal is boosting growth in a slowing economy,” he told PTI in an interview.
Commodity market development needs focused regulatory push
The need to further develop commodity markets in both spot and derivative segments came up for special discussion at the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s post-budget meeting with SEBI board in the capital on Saturday. The recently announced Union Budget had a proposal to look into integrating these two segments for the commodity markets. Later at a separate board meeting of the market regulator, it was also decided to undertake a comprehensive review of the regulation pertaining to Market Infrastructure Institutions (MII) – stock exchanges, depositories and clearing corporations.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
Commerce Ministry plans merger of commodity boards
The Commerce Ministry is planning merger of the commodity boards and set up an umbrella organisation in order to improve production and exports of plantation crops like tea, coffee and spices. Some of these boards were set up way back in 1940s and their merger could help in harmonising their activities and in turn, enhance the quality and boost exports. The five commodity boards, under the Ministry of Commerce, are responsible for production, development and export of tea, coffee, rubber, spices and tobacco. “India has a huge potential to boost agri exports. One board will provide better services. So, we are working to form one specialised body with different verticals,” a senior commerce ministry official told media.
LIC buys additional 2% stake in Infosys
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) on Saturday said it has acquired an additional 2% stake in Infosys Ltd in over three years ending February 2017, taking its total shareholding in the Bengaluru-based software major to 7.02%. The disclosure comes at a time when the company’s founders and its board have clashed over the issues of corporate governance, chief executive officer (CEO) Vishal Sikka’s compensation and severance pay of former chief financial officer (CFO) Rajiv Bansal.
Govt to come out with plan ‘Indradhanush 2.0’ for recapitalisation of banks
Government plans to come out with ‘Indradhanush 2.0’, a comprehensive plan for recapitalisation of public sector lenders, with a view to make sure they remain solvent and fully comply with the global capital adequacy norms, Basel-III. ‘Indradhanush 2.0’ will be finalised after completion of the asset quality review (AQR) by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which is likely to be completed by March-end.
Residential sales down 20%, launches slip 8% in Q3 FY’17
Residential sales across top 9 cities of India declined by 20 per cent in Q3 FY’17 compared with a 4% fall in the previous quarter. In absolute terms, sales shrunk from 54,721 units in Q2 FY’17 to 43,512 units in Q3 FY’17. The pace of decline witnessed during the quarter is the highest in the past 12 quarters, highlights PropTiger’s ‘Realty Decoded’ report for the October-December quarter of the financial year 2016-17 (Q3 FY’17). The report further highlights that before demonetisation, the monthly average residential sales and launches during July-Oct months were at around 19,000 units and 18,000 units, respectively; which were affected drastically on account of currency demonetisation. The monthly average sales and launches were reduced drastically during Nov-Dec months by 40% and 49%, respectively. The average drop in sale for the quarter however was at 20% on account of strong performance witnessed during the month of October.
Firms owe Rs 7L cr in taxes, duties to govt
When finance minister Arun Jaitley said in his budget speech that the majority of corporates under report profits to avoid taxes, he may have exposed only the tip of the iceberg. The latest finance ministry data shows that domestic and multinational companies owe a staggering Rs 6,89,138 crore to the tax department in outstanding arrears. This includes corporate tax, central excise duty and service tax arrears as on December 31, 2016. Sharing the data in Parliament, minister of state for finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar said that all efforts were being made to recover the dues. He, however, did not give a deadline for recovering the arrears. “All efforts for expeditious recovery of outstanding direct and indirect taxes are being made. However, no timeframe for complete recovery of all arrears can be specified. Fresh direct tax demands are created and recoveries of arrears are made in an on-going basis,” he said.
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