IMF cuts India’s growth rate to 6.6% due to note ban
India may lose the “fastest growing major economy” tag to China in 2016-17 with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowering India’s growth forecast for the year by a full percentage point to 6.6% because of disruption caused by the government’s move to invalidate high-value currencies. In its update to the World Economic Outlook (WEO) released in October, IMF said India is likely to grow 6.6% in 2016-17, against its earlier estimate of 7.6%. IMF said the Chinese economy grew by 6.7% in 2016 as against the previously projected 6.6%. China’s growth forecast in 2017 was raised to 6.5% from 6.2% projected in October due to “expected policy stimulus”. The Fund follows calendar years for most countries, but the April-March period for India.
Source: Livemint
Daiichi Sankyo opposes Fortis Health stake sale, moves Delhi HC
Ranbaxy promoters’ Malvinder and Shivinder Singh’s plan to sell stake in Fortis Healthcare seems to have hit a roadblock. Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo, has moved the Delhi High Court seeking to block the sale claiming it would dilute assets and hamper recovery of damages from the Singh brothers for the 2008 sale of Ranbaxy, reports Economic Times . Daiichi had alleged the brothers had concealed crucial information while selling Ranbaxy for USD 4.6 billion in 2008, following which a Singapore tribunal had ordered the brothers to pay Rs 2,562 crores. The brothers are contesting this arbitration award in Delhi HC.
Source: Money Control
Inflation up 3.39 per cent, may rise further in January and February
As wholesale prices rose 3.39 per cent in December, India Inc today said the focus should be on growth-oriented reforms that boost consumption, investment and job creation, while economists opined that inflation may rise in January and February. “At this juncture, it remains critical to further growth considerations. The latest index of industrial production numbers have reported an improvement; but this has come on the back of a favourable base.
Source: Economic Times
Limited room to reduce fiscal deficit to 3 per cent in FY’18: Moody’s
The government is likely to achieve its fiscal deficit target of 3.5 per cent of GDP in the current fiscal but higher infrastructure spending will limit the room to reduce it further to 3 per cent in 2017-18, Moody’s said today. The credit rating agency expects the government to renew its commitment to increase capital spending and address the short-term disruptive impact of demonetisation in the Budget to be unveiled onFebruary 1, 2017.
Source: Economic Times
GST now set for July 1 roll-out, dual control hurdle finally over
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on Monday broke a deadlock over issues of administrative control over assessees and broadly agreed to roll out the GST from July 1, instead of the earlier deadline of April 1. Whether a state or the Centre will assess an entity would be decided by a computer programme. The Council also resolved a logjam over the right to tax economic activities within 12 nautical miles from India’s coasts.
Source: Business Standard
RIL to invest another Rs 30,000 crore into Jio Infocomm
Reliance Industries is planning to invest a sum of Rs. 30,000 crore into Reliance Jio Infocomm to further its development and improve its signal strength. The company in its board meeting held earlier on Fridaydecided to invest another Rs. 30,000 crore into its telecom unit and sell 600 crore preference shares to raise the amount. These preference shares will be sold through a rights issue and will be nine percent non-cumulative optionally convertible (OCPS) available at Rs. 50 each including a premium of Rs. 40.
Source: Business Standard
SC issues notice to WhatsApp, Centre on data privacy
“Take it or leave it !” is how the Supreme Court reacted first as it Mondaystarted hearing a PIL that has sought to assert right to privacy for WhatsApp and Facebook users in India. But minutes later, a bench led by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar was convinced that contours of right to privacy on social media and online chat groups must be examined by the top court — irrespective of the fact that whether such services were free or whether users had pressed “Ok” and “Proceed” buttons on their mobile phones and computers when the data sharing policy popped up on the screen.
Source: Indian Express
India fares poorly in global talent competitiveness index
India stood 92nd in the latest rankings of the global talent competitiveness index. Switzerland topped the rankings, with Singapore coming second. United Kingdom was in the third position. The report accompanying the rankings said that India’s information technology (IT) sector is already witnessing jobless growth, paralleling the recently publicised downside of the tech boom in the United States—not enough jobs. It said that within the group of upper-middle-income countries, BRICS countries are not getting stronger. In recent years, we have witnessed a cooling off in the growth of emerging markets, and the big emerging countries are among those that had decelerated the most.
Source: Governance Now
BSE fixes IPO price band at Rs 805-806, to raise Rs 1,243 cr
Leading bourse BSE has fixed the price band at Rs 805-806 per share for its upcoming initial public offering (IPO), through which it aims to raise up to Rs 1,243 crore. The IPO opens on January 23 and closes on January 25, which will be the first by a domestic stock exchange. During the initial share sale- this year’s first as well- shareholders will sell 15.43 million shares estimated to be around Rs 1,243.44 crore at the higher end of the price band.
Source: Times of India
Tata Steel using drones to monitor Jharkhand mine
Tata Steel has started using drones on a pilot basis to monitor its mine at Noamundi Iron Mine in Jharkhand. The objective of the drone application in mine monitoring covers surveillance of the mining area, lease boundary inspection, inspection of safety zone, counting vegetation in reclaimed area and quarry and dump profiling for volume calculations. This trial is conducted by Skylark Drones, a Bengaluru-based firm which specialises in drone application in various industries, said Tata Steel in a statement on Monday.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
2.4 million new demat accounts opened last year, highest since 2008
The number of dematerialized (demat) accounts opened in India last year was the highest since 2008, as more retail investors opted to invest in stocks in a country where people traditionally prefer gold, real estate and bank deposits. As many as 2.4 million new accounts were opened in 2016, according to data from depositories National Securities Depository Ltd, and Central Depository Services Ltd. That compares with nearly 3 million accounts opened in 2008.
Source: Livemint
Rs 10,000 crore Start-up India fund may get an overhaul
The department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) is set to overhaul its Rs10,000 crore start-up funding scheme by allowing venture capital (VC) funds to invest half of the corpus in start-ups and the rest of it in firms at a more mature stage to reduce capital risk. The VC funds that manage the corpus on behalf of the government are currently mandated to invest the money only in start-ups. The Union cabinet cleared the Fund of Funds for Start-ups under the Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi) in June for contribution to various VC funds registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India as part of the Start-up India Action Plan unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2016.
Source: Livemint
Muthoot Finance to raise up to Rs 1,400 crore via NCDs
Muthoot Finance plans to raise up to Rs 1,400 crore through a public issue of NCDs, the subscription for which opens on Tuesday. The non-convertible debentures (NCDs) will have face value of Rs1,000 each, aggregating to Rs1,300 crore, and unsecured NCDs of Rs1,000 each aggregating to Rs100 crore, totalling up to Rs1,400 crore, the Kochi-based gold finance company said in a release. “The tranche issue is with a base issue size of Rs200 crore with an option to retain over-subscription up to shelf limit of Rs 1,400 crore,” it said.
Source: Livemint
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