- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5c4b8b96-87bd-11e5-8a12-b0ce506400af.html India’s Narendra Modi has announced plans to liberalise foreign investment rules, as he tries to give fresh impetus to his government’s stuttering economic programme having suffered a drubbing in state elections last weekend. Facing criticism that he has failed to push through big reforms since taking power last year, Mr Modi unveiled a package of measures to ease the often daunting restrictions faced by global companies in sectors such as defence and retail. India’s latest attempt to woo foreign capital comes as Mr Modi heads to the UK for a three-day visit later this week, in which British companies are expected to unveil $15bn worth of trade and investment deals. “Today's FDI related reforms will touch 15 sectors,” Mr Modi said on Twitter. “India is unstoppable on the path of economic progress [and] . . . wants the world to see the tremendous opportunities India offers.”
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dbf805e6-6f1c-11e4-b060-00144feabdc0.html Royal Dutch Shell has won a significant victory in its long-running $3bn battle with India’s revenue authorities, in a judgment with implications for dozens of tax disputes involving multinational companies in Asia’s third-largest economy.
- http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2014-12/12/content_19070308.htm Rising smartphone star Xiaomi Corp is facing a major setback in India after a local court halted its sales over a patent dispute. The sudden ban may weigh on Xiaomi's performance in its most important overseas market and its ambitious globalization plans, industry insiders said. The Delhi High Court told Xiaomi and its local e-commerce partner Flipkart to stop importing and selling devices in India until Feb 5, when the court will hear Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson AB's patent-infringement petition, Indian newspaper The Economic Times reported on Thursday. http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/3dfc93d6-8103-11e4-896c-00144feabdc0.html
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/cd0c9b5e-ad2f-11e4-a5c1-00144feab7de.html An Indian court has launched an inquiry into allegations Xiaomi disobeyed an order restricting its phone sales as part of a patent case with implications for the Chinese smartphone maker’s expansion plans. In December, the court banned Xiaomi from selling or importing phones into India following a complaint from Ericsson alleging patent infringement. The move appeared a severe blow to the company’s prospects in what it said was its most important international growth market.
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/886be9f2-6b28-11e5-8608-a0853fb4e1fe.html india plans to end long-running tax disputes with global companies including Cairn Energy and Vodafone in an effort to shed a reputation for unfairly targeting foreign investors. A series of protracted tax rows has dented India’s standing as an investment destination in recent years, in turn undermining attempts by Narendra Modi, the prime minister, to attract fresh capital from abroad.
- The Indian government has begun reviewing a number of the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreements (CECAs) signed by previous administrations. In particular, it has turned its attention to those treaties that have created a perceived imbalance, specifically those relating to the country's trade with South Korea, Japan and the ASEAN bloc. While the reviews were sparked by a number of factors, the majority are believed to relate to burgeoning trade deficits and / or the declining market share of Indian products in certain partner economies. One of the first to come under such scrutiny was the India-ASEAN FTA. http://economists-pick-research.hktdc.com/business-news/article/International-Market-News/India-Reviews-Free-Trade-Agreements-After-Palm-Oil-Flood-Warning/imn/en/1/1X308LSH/1X0AECY2.htm, see also http://economists-pick-research.hktdc.com/business-news/article/International-Market-News/India-Reviews-Free-Trade-Agreements-After-Palm-Oil-Flood-Warning/imn/en/1/1X308LSH/1X0AECY2.htm
tariff
- https://www.reuters.com/article/india-import-tariffs/update-1-india-raises-import-tariffs-on-19-items-in-bid-to-stem-rupee-slide-idUSL4N1WC4HO India said on Wednesday it is raising import tariffs on 19 “non-essential items,” marking a further tilt toward protectionism as it tries to reduce its widening current account deficit and tackle a sharp slide in the rupee. The new tariff structure, which goes into effect Thursday, will see the government raise customs duties on items such as air conditioners, refrigerators, footwear, speakers, luggage and aviation turbine fuel, among other items.
The move could hit imports from countries like China and South Korea, which manufacture some of the high-end washing machines, refrigerators and air conditioners sold in India.
industrial township
- Pithampur
- japan, se asian and far east countries industrial township
- The Madhya Pradesh government has set the ball rolling to build two world-class industrial hubs on 1,200-acre land in Pithampur industrial area earmarked for investors from Japan and Korea. Madhya Pradesh is one of the six states where the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC), a USD 90-billion government-sponsored infrastructure project with aid from Japan, is setting up industrial zones to spur development. The proposal, a part of the early-bird projects under Pithampur-Dhar-Mhow investment node of the DMICDC, has got the go-ahead from its chief executive officer and managing director Alkesh Kumar Sharma, an industry department official said. Sharma was also shown a presentation of the Narmada water supply project for Pithampur. The government agency has finalised a consultant, M/s Stupa, for the project and work is expected to start by August 2016. “While a Japan industrial town will be set up in one of the hubs, the government is also in talks with Korean investors. https://www.hindustantimes.com/indore/twin-industrial-hubs-in-pithampur-mp-govt-looks-for-financier/story-gofeR96F4HQ2PlruUL312J.html
Tax
- tax treaties
- to renegotiate tax treaties which denied share capital gains tax
- case of india singapore tax treaty
- issue of transfer pricing dispute
- http://www.afr.com/news/world/indian-business-hails-approval-of-national-tax-system-20160804-gqkuon India's parliament has approved a long-awaited overhaul of the country's fragmented tax system to create a genuine single market in one of the most significant reforms to the Indian economy since liberalisation began 25 years ago. The bill - debated in New Delhi for nearly a decade - will amend the constitution to permit replacing the patchwork of national, state and local levies with a single value added tax system.
- https://www.ft.com/content/8063ced6-1460-11e7-80f4-13e067d5072c India’s finance minister has hailed the “revolutionary” move to replace a morass of state and federal levies with a single goods and services tax, 11 years after it was first proposed. The bill was finally passed by parliament on Wednesday.
- gst
privatisation
- airline
fdi
- Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to be abolished (budget 2017-8 measure)
government procurement
- The government’s ‘India first’ policy for official procurement has ejected Chinese companies from pipeline projects worth Rs 3,000 crore being built by state-run Gail IndiaBSE -2.87 % Ltd, giving a big boost to domestic steel firms and carrying forward Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ‘Make in India’ mission. Indian steel firms are poised to win orders worth tens of billions of dollars without losing business to Chinese supplies which they find suspiciously cheap. Read more at:
infrastructure
- trade infrastructure export scheme will be launched in 2017-8
ppp
- Steps to re-vitalise PPPs announced in india budget 2016: > Public Utility (Resolution of Disputes) Bill will be introduced during 2016-17, > Guidelines for renegotiation of PPP Concession Agreements will be issued, > New credit rating system for infrastructure projects to be introduced
- https://www.ft.com/content/e41527fa-2ae9-11e7-bc4b-5528796fe35c Hundreds of Indian property developers could be forced to shut up shop as a result of tough rules introduced this month to protect homebuyers after repeated failures to deliver promised apartments. The regulations are an attempt by the Indian government to rein in irresponsible developers that have flourished under a lax regime, using cash from pre-selling apartments to cover overheads and buy land, rather than construct homes. Venkaiah Naidu, India’s minister of housing and urban poverty alleviation, says the regulations will “remove the taint” on the sector. The rules will demand that developers secure full approvals before selling homes, pay interest to buyers for delays, and put 70 per cent of pre-collected money into escrow accounts, so it can be used only for construction and land costs. Developers who infringe these rules can be jailed for up to three years.
Bankruptcy
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4faaa62c-17f7-11e6-b197-a4af20d5575e.html India’s parliament has passed the country’s first national bankruptcy law, a move that could turn one of the slowest insolvency regimes of any major economy into one of the fastest. The reform will give banks a clear path to wresting control of insolvent companies unable to repay their debts. Its adoption is seen as a major breakthrough that will allow banks to recover their dues in a timely manner, in contrast to the current system in which they often wage protracted legal battles in an attempt to recover what they are owed.
- http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21699933-financial-sector-india-being-improved-rather-overhauled-bureaucrats
monetary policy
- https://www.ft.com/content/e52dab06-b093-11e6-a37c-f4a01f1b0fa1 How move to axe large notes has hit banks, ecommerce, property and consumer goods
- https://www.ft.com/content/5f2adf44-06ef-11e7-97d1-5e720a26771b When Indian banks open on Tuesday after a holiday weekend, the era of cash rationing that followed Narendra Modi’s cancellation of most of the country’s currency will have come to an end.
- https://www.ft.com/content/e9d96174-422b-11e8-803a-295c97e6fd0b India’s ailing finance minister Arun Jaitley assured citizens on Tuesday that the country has sufficient cash to meet its economic needs, amid reports of a widespread currency shortage, with ATMs in many regions running dry simultaneously. Mr Jaitley, who has been working from home while undergoing treatment for kidney problems, said certain regions are suffering a “temporary shortage” of currency but vowed the problem would be “tackled quickly.” The empty ATM’s have revived memories of the disruption after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dramatic November 2016 ban on the use of high-value bank notes, which then accounted for 86 per cent of the cash in circulation. In a press statement on Tuesday, the finance ministry said India had “unusual spurt in currency demand in the country in the last three months.” India’s cash in circulation is now back to the pre-demonetisation levels of nearly $284bn as of April 6, but the cash-to-GDP ratio remains lower at around 10.9 per cent, compared to the pre-cash ban level of 12 per cent. The finance ministry said India’s currency supply had been increased by nearly $7bn in the first thirteen days of April, with demand for cash particularly strong in several southern and northern states, including Karnataka, which is holding state legislative assembly elections next month.
bank
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/c651a960-e45e-11e4-9039-00144feab7de.html The biggest names in Indian business — including Anil Ambani, the Aditya Birla group and the Bajaj group — entered the fray in 2013 when the Reserve Bank of India decided to grant licences to establish new banks for the first time in a decade. But it was Bandhan — a Kolkata-based microlender serving poor rural women — that stunned India’s financial community by securing one of just two coveted general banking licenses, finally awarded a year ago.
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/3fd858d6-4677-11e5-b3b2-1672f710807b.htmlIndia is set to grant licences to 11 businesses to launch new so-called payments banks, including UK-based telecoms group Vodafone and billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, marking a significant shake-up of the country’s financial sector. Cautious regulators have generally handed out only a handful of new licences to private sector lenders each decade over India's recent past, leaving the banking system dominated by slow-growing state-backed institutions.
digital payment
- to establish payment regulatory board under reserve bank of india and launch of adhar payment app (budget 2017-8 measure)
credit finance
- https://www.ft.com/content/921d7a8a-65fc-11e7-8526-7b38dcaef614 Mr Rokade, 39, had suspended his milk sales to join an unusual agricultural strike that rippled across the western state of Maharashtra from his home district of Puntamba. He and other farmers, who borrowed heavily in recent years but have since been caught out by falling prices, wanted the government to help them by wiping out their bank loans. While the strike hurt almost no one except the strikers, Maharashtra’s government — fearing a political backlash among rural voters — responded by pledging to waive farm loans worth Rs340bn ($5.2bn). It is one of four Indian states that have announced a waiver plan in recent months, prompting farmers to agitate for similar steps in others across India, where agricultural loans account for 14 per cent of bank lending. The trend has sparked alarm among economists about the impact on credit discipline and strained state government finances, citing adverse consequences of previous loan waivers in India.
insurance
beef
- The Union Cabinet has cleared a proposal to grant higher export incentives for onions, a move that is aimed at improving the domestic prices of the commodity whose lower-than-profitable rates have hit growers in states such as Maharashtra and Karnataka. Onion exporters will now qualify for a 10% export incentive, up from 5% earlier, under the so-called ‘Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS)’, which is administered by the directorate-general of foreign trade. The scheme mainly offers duty benefits to exporting Indian traders, which vary across products and export destinations. “The export incentives granted for onions under the MEIS from existing 5% to 10% is in the interest of farmers. This will result in better price for onion in domestic markets,” a government statement said on Friday. While this isn’t a direct export subsidy but an export incentive in the form of duty relief, the move will make exports more viable, which in turn is expected to encourage overseas sale of surplus onions from the domestic market, thereby helping improve prices.https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/govt-doubles-export-incentive-on-onions-to-shore-up-prices-boost-shipments/story-mVC6TXFMv0v5YUKZ1QmG5K.html
noodles
- 印度西孟加拉邦喜馬拉雅山腳的主要茶葉產區逾40萬工人前日罷工，要求政府和園主將工人最低日薪增加兩成。今次持續3天的罷工行動獲20多個工會支持，附近著名的大吉嶺茶葉產區暫未受影響。印度採茶工人聯合工會中央委員會主席查克拉博蒂表示，來自370個茶葉種植園的40多萬工人參與罷工，要求最低日薪從169盧比(約 19.3港元)增至203盧比(約23.2港元)。目前茶葉生產正值高峰期，但近期季候雨阻礙採茶工作，加上罷工事件，將令資方蒙受重大損失，工會希望藉 此向園主施加最大壓力。http://pdf.wenweipo.com/2018/08/09/a23-0809.pdf
diamond
- gold control policy 1947-63
- pre liberalisation 1963-90
- post liberalisation 1990- 2007
- http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21695558-indias-government-tries-curb-imports-goldagain-tarnished-appeal A SMALL room on the eighth floor of Mumbai’s former cotton exchange is where jewellery goes to die. At the Master Bullion Assaying & Hallmarking Lab in the heart of the gold district, superheated crucibles melt elaborate bangles and earrings into bars a central banker might recognise. This alchemy is being promoted by the government under a new “monetisation” scheme designed to reduce India’s imports of gold: the melted bling can be traded for a bond which will return the same amount of gold several years down the line, with interest of up to 2.5% in the interim. Gold is the bane of India’s exchequer. Indians vie with Chinese as the world’s biggest consumers, buying just under 1,000 tonnes a year and stashing it in anklets, safe-deposit boxes and Hindu temples. As all but a few bangles’ worth is imported, only oil accounts for a bigger share of India’s trade deficit. To put it another way, the imports cost India more dollars every year than it attracts from foreign institutions investing in stocks and bonds, points out Ajit Ranade, an economist.
oil
- integrate public sector oil major (budget 2017-8 measure)
aviation
- https://www.ft.com/content/9a15db70-bd75-11e8-94b2-17176fbf93f5 Boeing has called for India to rewrite its rules on buying foreign weapons as Narendra Modi’s government battles to contain the controversy surrounding India’s €8bn purchase of 36 fighter jets from France’s Dassault. New Delhi on Saturday rebutted comments by François Hollande, the former French president, that suggested India pushed Dassault to sign a subcontract with the Mumbai-based tycoon Anil Ambani. The government said in a statement: “The government has stated earlier and again reiterates that it had no role in the selection of Reliance Defence [Mr Ambani’s company] as offset partner.” But Pratyush Kumar, the president of Boeing India, has said India — the world’s biggest arms importer — should revamp its procurement system entirely, arguing the current rules are costly and self-defeating. He has argued that so-called “offset contracts”, which are subcontracts handed to local partners such as Reliance to boost the Indian economy, are not doing what ministers intended.
- https://www.ft.com/content/d62bbeec-bcab-11e8-94b2-17176fbf93f5 Ministers in New Delhi are pushing for a package of relief measures to help India’s ailing airlines, which are struggling to cope with a sharp rise in oil prices and a collapse in the rupee. The country’s domestic aviation market has been growing more quickly than any in the world for the past few years, but airline profits have dropped off in the past six months because of higher fuel prices. With Jet Airways, the country’s second-largest airline, already in significant financial difficulty, the government is pushing for measures to help control costs and make it easier to secure funding. Officials have told the Financial Times that there are three measures under consideration: reducing the tax on aviation fuel, reducing the tax on aircraft servicing and allowing companies to borrow more. But they added that ministers were not yet considering bailouts of individual companies such as Jet, preferring instead to see what happens during the lucrative festival season in the last three months of the year.
railway
- new metro rail act to be enacted (budget 2017-8 measure)
taxi
- Govt. led by visionary Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has a vision for converting all vehicles in India to electric vehicles by 2030.http://indiacsr.in/overview-indias-2030-vision-electric-vehicle/
media sector
- https://www.ft.com/content/005a968c-4207-11e7-9d56-25f963e998b2 Mr Bisht runs Delhi University’s photocopy shop, a crowded room crammed with photocopiers and computers where students queue to get their entire course material copied for a fraction of what it would cost to buy the books. Following the decision in March of three international publishing companies — Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and Taylor & Francis — to drop their legal case against Mr Bisht, his business is functioning with impunity. The trio claimed his photocopying business undermined their intellectual property, but the Delhi high court ruled that it was not in students’ interests to shut him down. The companies appealed but later dropped the case, citing “longer-term interests”. Executives say they had given up hope of winning, but believed they could still make money in the country long term.
e-commerce
- second hand
facebook
- For speedy settlement of commercial disputes, the Cabinet had in August cleared a bill to amend the Arbitration Act to fix a timeline for arbitrators to resolve cases. The bill was not introduced in Parliament. Under the proposed amendments to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, an arbitrator will have to settle a case within 18 months. However, after the completion of 12 months, certain restrictions will be put in place to ensure that the arbitration case does not linger on, the sources said. In the initial ordinance approved by the Cabinet in December last year, the timeline was fixed at nine months. The formulation was changed after inter-ministerial discussions. The amendments to the law come amidst keenness of the government to attract the greater foreign investment. Certain foreign companies were said to be hesitant to do business in India because of the long-drawn litigations. Another amendment to the law puts a cap on the fee of an arbitrator. The arbitrator will now also have to spell out if there is a conflict of interest in a case he or she is taking up. The Prime Minister has been stressing on steps to promote ease of doing business in India. In its report submitted last year, the Law Commission had also supported amendment to the arbitration law to help India become a favoured destination, after Singapore and London, for international arbitration. The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, which also met today, decided to take a call on convening the Winter Session of Parliament on October 26. Once the session, likely to commence after November 19, starts, the government will have to seek Parliament’s approval for the ordinances within 42 days/six weeks or else these will lapse. - See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/govt-clears-two-ordinances-for-speedy-settlement-of-commercial-disputes/#sthash.D5iVMFgh.dpuf
- amendment to streamline international dispute resolution arrangement of infrastructure (budget 2017-8 measure)
- http://www.economist.com/news/business/21678773-long-awaited-bankruptcy-code-should-help-owners-and-lenders-business-going-bust
- https://www.ft.com/content/7babd578-493e-11e8-8ae9-4b5ddcca99b3 After a nationwide manhunt, Neeraj Singal was finally tracked down and seized by fraud investigators at an upscale New Delhi hotel in 2014. Accused of involvement in the bribing of bankers, a charge Mr Singal denies, the scion of the Bhushan Steel empire was hauled off for questioning. Within days he was released on bail and returned as the controlling shareholder of Bhushan, built by his father from a door hinge producer into one of India’s largest industrial groups. Four years on, the case remains stuck in India’s overloaded courts system, with no sign of resolution. Mr Singal is one of a group of businessmen whose wealth grew exponentially after a series of liberalising reforms in the 1990s. There was a time when the “promoters”, or controlling shareholders, of India’s top companies were widely seen as beyond the law. The more controversial of these tycoons weathered criminal allegations and financial reverses while keeping a firm grip on some of India’s biggest businesses. “No big businessman had been put behind bars, and they knew they could ward off their lenders through very lengthy legal processes,” says Prabodh Agarwal, chief financial officer at IIFL Holdings, a financial group. “They were always going to stay in charge.” Yet Mr Singal has just had his prized steel business, with an annual capacity of 5.6m tonnes but debts of nearly $7bn, torn from his grasp. It is the biggest scalp so far in a major overhaul of India’s bankruptcy system , widely seen by analysts as a redrafting of the rules of capitalism in the country.
family
- The Special Marriage Act, 1954 is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted to provide a special form of marriage for the people of India and all Indian nationals in foreign countries, irrespective of the religion or faith followed by either party.[1] The Act originated from a piece of legislation proposed during the late 19th century. Marriages solemnized under Special Marriage Act are not governed by personal laws. In 1872 Act III, 1872 was enacted but later it was found inadequate for certain desired reforms, and Parliament enacted a new legislation. Henry Sumner Maine first introduced Act III of 1872, which would permit any dissenters to marry whomever they chose under a new civil marriage law. In the final wording, the law sought to legitimize marriages for those willing to renounce their profession of faith altogether ("I do not profess the Hindu, Christian, Jewish, etc. religion"). It can apply in inter-caste and inter-religion marriages.[3] Overall, the response from local governments and administrators was that they were unanimously opposed to Maine’s Bill and believed the legislation encouraged marriages based on lust, which would inevitably lead to immorality. The Special Marriage Act, 1954 replaced the old Act III, 1872. The new enactment has 3 major objectives:
- New Delhi urged to delay goods and services tax ft 11apr17
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-4658300/Little-India-struggles-tax-revolution.html India has vowed that a new nationwide tax will revolutionise the economy by bringing more businesses into the digital system to enrich state coffers, but for shopkeeper Sanjay Kumar Rai, who has never used a computer, the transition is terrifying.
- Indian businesses split over benefits of Modi’s tax reform ft 18jul17
- https://www.ft.com/content/29073f74-9d3b-11e7-8cd4-932067fbf946 The success of India’s biggest tax reform since independence has come into question as businesses seek rebates worth more than two-thirds of everything collected in the new levy’s first month. A triumphant New Delhi last month said it had collected more than $14bn under the new single goods and services tax (GST) — in line with its own targets despite a series of early glitches. However, business owners are seeking $10bn of that back as tax credits.
- https://www.ft.com/content/d529d48c-dc1b-11e7-a039-c64b1c09b482 India’s historic goods and services tax, which came into force in July, aimed to address this chronic drag on the economy. With the value-added taxes imposed by India’s 29 states now subsumed under a single national system, the need for tax enforcement at state border checkpoints has vanished, and most have been shut. The previous system encouraged manufacturers to distribute their goods from warehouses within each state, encouraging the growth of a huge, fragmented network of small warehouses. Others simply avoided using warehouses — to protect their cash flow from the lag between paying tax at the state border and receiving payment for a sale — and instead supplied dealers directly from their factories. The GST era will upend this paradigm, benefiting large players such as Mahindra Logistics, which will be able to offer economies of scale at their regional hubs, Mr Sarkari says.
- https://www.ft.com/content/28817b60-dbe2-11e7-a039-c64b1c09b482 Like other exports, overseas tea sales are exempt under India’s tax code. But while merchants could previously claim a tax exemption, under the new goods and services tax (GST) they must pay the levy in full and then seek a refund. India’s then-commerce minister promised before the GST was unveiled in July that 90 per cent of refunds would be processed within 10 days. Instead, the new regime’s IT backbone has proved unable to process exporters’ claims, resulting in severe delays to payouts. In the southern city of Coimbatore, small tea exporters are faced with five months of outstanding refund claims, tying up a fifth of their working capital and forcing them to cut back their trading, says Dipak Shah, managing director of Crystal and chairman of the South India Tea Exporters’ Association.
- https://www.ft.com/content/9609a0ca-0d99-11e8-8eb7-42f857ea9f09 this month’s penalty appears to be just a prelude to New Delhi securing a greater share of the revenue of US digital giants, some of which have hundreds of millions of users in India but report only a tiny portion of their profit there. The push could also see India taking a leading role as global governments struggle to decide on a system for taxing multinational companies in the digital age.
privatisation
- airline
- https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/from-air-india-to-partially-foreign-owned-airline/articleshow/62448397.cms Foreign airlines welcomed the government's decision to allow them own a piece of Air India, but said their interest in the national carrier would depend on the details of the policy. The Cabinet on Wednesday removed a restriction on foreign investment in Air India, a decision that government officials and aviation industry executives said would give a boost to the efforts to sell the debt-laden and lossmaking airline.
fdi
- Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to be abolished (budget 2017-8 measure)
government procurement
- The government’s ‘India first’ policy for official procurement has ejected Chinese companies from pipeline projects worth Rs 3,000 crore being built by state-run Gail IndiaBSE -2.87 % Ltd, giving a big boost to domestic steel firms and carrying forward Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ‘Make in India’ mission. Indian steel firms are poised to win orders worth tens of billions of dollars without losing business to Chinese supplies which they find suspiciously cheap. Read more at:
infrastructure
- trade infrastructure export scheme will be launched in 2017-8
ppp
- Steps to re-vitalise PPPs announced in india budget 2016: > Public Utility (Resolution of Disputes) Bill will be introduced during 2016-17, > Guidelines for renegotiation of PPP Concession Agreements will be issued, > New credit rating system for infrastructure projects to be introduced
- https://www.ft.com/content/e41527fa-2ae9-11e7-bc4b-5528796fe35c Hundreds of Indian property developers could be forced to shut up shop as a result of tough rules introduced this month to protect homebuyers after repeated failures to deliver promised apartments. The regulations are an attempt by the Indian government to rein in irresponsible developers that have flourished under a lax regime, using cash from pre-selling apartments to cover overheads and buy land, rather than construct homes. Venkaiah Naidu, India’s minister of housing and urban poverty alleviation, says the regulations will “remove the taint” on the sector. The rules will demand that developers secure full approvals before selling homes, pay interest to buyers for delays, and put 70 per cent of pre-collected money into escrow accounts, so it can be used only for construction and land costs. Developers who infringe these rules can be jailed for up to three years.
Bankruptcy
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4faaa62c-17f7-11e6-b197-a4af20d5575e.html India’s parliament has passed the country’s first national bankruptcy law, a move that could turn one of the slowest insolvency regimes of any major economy into one of the fastest. The reform will give banks a clear path to wresting control of insolvent companies unable to repay their debts. Its adoption is seen as a major breakthrough that will allow banks to recover their dues in a timely manner, in contrast to the current system in which they often wage protracted legal battles in an attempt to recover what they are owed.
- Essar Steel has moved the Gujarat High Court against insolvency proceedings initiated by the banks on the direction of the Reserve Bank (RBI). The high court issued notice to the RBI and leader of the banking consortium SBI and posted the matter for Friday, sources said.When contacted, a company spokesperson said: "Essar Steel has moved the Gujarat High Court, which has posted the matter for hearing on 7 July, 2017."Clamping down on bad loans, the RBI had last month identified 12 accounts for insolvency proceedings with each of them having over Rs 5,000 crore of outstanding loans, accounting for 25 percent of total NPAs of banks.http://www.firstpost.com/business/npa-resolution-essar-steel-moves-high-court-against-insolvency-proceedings-3778467.html
- http://www.firstpost.com/business/npa-resolution-essar-steel-moves-high-court-against-insolvency-proceedings-3778467.html
- https://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21731846-defaulters-will-no-longer-be-able-cling-their-companies-indias-new
Foreign investment
- http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-30/india-said-to-mull-1-5-million-residence-visa-to-woo-investment
labour market
- https://www.economist.com/news/asia/21729012-country-missing-out-its-demographic-dividend-ever-more-indians-are-struggling-find-work
Financial sectorForeign investment
- http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-30/india-said-to-mull-1-5-million-residence-visa-to-woo-investment
labour market
- https://www.economist.com/news/asia/21729012-country-missing-out-its-demographic-dividend-ever-more-indians-are-struggling-find-work
- http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21699933-financial-sector-india-being-improved-rather-overhauled-bureaucrats
monetary policy
- https://www.ft.com/content/e52dab06-b093-11e6-a37c-f4a01f1b0fa1 How move to axe large notes has hit banks, ecommerce, property and consumer goods
- https://www.ft.com/content/5f2adf44-06ef-11e7-97d1-5e720a26771b When Indian banks open on Tuesday after a holiday weekend, the era of cash rationing that followed Narendra Modi’s cancellation of most of the country’s currency will have come to an end.
- https://www.ft.com/content/e9d96174-422b-11e8-803a-295c97e6fd0b India’s ailing finance minister Arun Jaitley assured citizens on Tuesday that the country has sufficient cash to meet its economic needs, amid reports of a widespread currency shortage, with ATMs in many regions running dry simultaneously. Mr Jaitley, who has been working from home while undergoing treatment for kidney problems, said certain regions are suffering a “temporary shortage” of currency but vowed the problem would be “tackled quickly.” The empty ATM’s have revived memories of the disruption after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dramatic November 2016 ban on the use of high-value bank notes, which then accounted for 86 per cent of the cash in circulation. In a press statement on Tuesday, the finance ministry said India had “unusual spurt in currency demand in the country in the last three months.” India’s cash in circulation is now back to the pre-demonetisation levels of nearly $284bn as of April 6, but the cash-to-GDP ratio remains lower at around 10.9 per cent, compared to the pre-cash ban level of 12 per cent. The finance ministry said India’s currency supply had been increased by nearly $7bn in the first thirteen days of April, with demand for cash particularly strong in several southern and northern states, including Karnataka, which is holding state legislative assembly elections next month.
bank
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/c651a960-e45e-11e4-9039-00144feab7de.html The biggest names in Indian business — including Anil Ambani, the Aditya Birla group and the Bajaj group — entered the fray in 2013 when the Reserve Bank of India decided to grant licences to establish new banks for the first time in a decade. But it was Bandhan — a Kolkata-based microlender serving poor rural women — that stunned India’s financial community by securing one of just two coveted general banking licenses, finally awarded a year ago.
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/3fd858d6-4677-11e5-b3b2-1672f710807b.htmlIndia is set to grant licences to 11 businesses to launch new so-called payments banks, including UK-based telecoms group Vodafone and billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, marking a significant shake-up of the country’s financial sector. Cautious regulators have generally handed out only a handful of new licences to private sector lenders each decade over India's recent past, leaving the banking system dominated by slow-growing state-backed institutions.
- https://www.ft.com/content/83870976-d8dc-11e6-944b-e7eb37a6aa8e The world's third-largest mobile phone operator, Bharti Airtel, has become the first telecoms group to launch banking operations in India, as increased smartphone usage in developing countries drives non-banks to experiment with traditional finance.
digital payment
- to establish payment regulatory board under reserve bank of india and launch of adhar payment app (budget 2017-8 measure)
credit finance
- https://www.ft.com/content/921d7a8a-65fc-11e7-8526-7b38dcaef614 Mr Rokade, 39, had suspended his milk sales to join an unusual agricultural strike that rippled across the western state of Maharashtra from his home district of Puntamba. He and other farmers, who borrowed heavily in recent years but have since been caught out by falling prices, wanted the government to help them by wiping out their bank loans. While the strike hurt almost no one except the strikers, Maharashtra’s government — fearing a political backlash among rural voters — responded by pledging to waive farm loans worth Rs340bn ($5.2bn). It is one of four Indian states that have announced a waiver plan in recent months, prompting farmers to agitate for similar steps in others across India, where agricultural loans account for 14 per cent of bank lending. The trend has sparked alarm among economists about the impact on credit discipline and strained state government finances, citing adverse consequences of previous loan waivers in India.
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/58de4222-c8c9-11e4-b43b-00144feab7de.html India’s parliament on Thursday passed a long-delayed bill allowing foreign investors to increase stakes in local insurers from 26 per cent to 49 per cent, boosting the economic reform drive of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “This matters because it is one of the first major foreign investment reforms this government is managing to push through,” said Rashesh Shah, chairman of Edelweiss, a Mumbai-based financial services group.
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/ddcfbdb4-d867-11e4-8a68-00144feab7de.html A good health or travel insurance policy protects its owner against unlikely but potentially significant future events — a description that for years seemed just as apt for India’s long-delayed attempts to open up its own insurance sector to greater foreign investmentBut after nearly a decade of political wrangling, Narendra Modi, the prime minister, last month passed legislation allowing foreign players to increase their stakes in local joint ventures from 26 per cent to 49 per cent, kicking off a scramble for exposure to India among the world’s insurance groups. About $3bn could flow into the sector if the five largest foreign life insurers in India take up the full 49 per cent increase, according to Kotak, a broker. Other estimates suggest at least as much again could come in, if other smaller foreign players with local life and general insurance partners do likewise.Higher foreign limits are also expected to prompt a round of new flotations, led by Britain’s Standard Life, which this month is likely to finalise plans for a mooted listing of about 10 per cent of its joint venture with the housing finance group HDFC.“There are maybe four or five large players who can go for an IPO over the next two years, and we are one them,” says Amitabh Chaudhry, chief executive of HDFC Standard Life, the country’s second-largest private sector life insurer.
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/61b22c3a-125f-11e5-8cd7-00144feabdc0.html Around $3bn was expected to flow into the sector if the five largest foreign players, led by Prudential and Standard Life, took advantage of the opening, according to research from Kotak, a broker. The two UK-based insurance groups have said they would like to increase their stakes in local ventures they run respectively with ICICI, which is India’s largest private sector bank by assets, and HDFC, a housing finance company. However, both now face a setback relating to guidelines, published after the passage of the legislation, that were intended to clarify what is meant by the requirement that local partners such as ICICI and HDFC be “Indian owned and controlled”, people familiar with the situation say. Both ICICI and HDFC are majority owned by foreign institutional investors but historically neither has been treated by India’s insurance regulator as foreign-owned. The recent regulatory guidelines have effectively — and potentially accidentally — altered that situation. The regulations state that “Indian ownership” means that “more than 50 per cent of the equity capital” in any partnership must be “beneficially owned by resident Indian citizens or Indian companies”. The new guidelines suggest that ICICI and HDFC are technically in breach of the law, and mean that Prudential and Standard Life are not eligible to increase their existing minority stakes.
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e8d1ea68-1645-11e5-8095-00144feabdc0.html India is set to agree a shake-up of listing rules for start-ups this week amid rising fears of an exodus of fast-growing technology companies to Singapore and the US, according to people familiar with the situation. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the country’s markets regulator, is expected to green-light the rules at a meeting on Tuesday, paving the way to launch a new trading platform later this year, with lighter regulation to attract listings from sectors such as ecommerce.
beef
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/46149ada-c17e-11e4-8b74-00144feab7de.html India’s western state of Maharashtra, home of the country’s financial capital Mumbai, has introduced a draconian beef ban, which would allow for up to five years imprisonment for sale or possession of the meat. The comprehensive beef ban, backed by the state’s new Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party administration, is one of the toughest attempts yet to prevent beef-eating in India, where many members of the Hindu majority, especially those of the upper castes, revere cows as sacred.
- http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/03/23/india-beef-idINKBN0MJ0HC20150323 Maharashtra, India's second most populous state, extended a ban on the slaughter of cows to bulls and bullocks this month and other BJP-led states such as Jharkhand and Haryana have also tightened restrictions on trading beef.Critics say tougher anti-beef laws discriminate against Muslims, Christians and lower-caste Hindus who rely on the cheap meat for protein, and fear they could pave the way to a nationwide ban that would threaten thousands of jobs.
- The Union Cabinet has cleared a proposal to grant higher export incentives for onions, a move that is aimed at improving the domestic prices of the commodity whose lower-than-profitable rates have hit growers in states such as Maharashtra and Karnataka. Onion exporters will now qualify for a 10% export incentive, up from 5% earlier, under the so-called ‘Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS)’, which is administered by the directorate-general of foreign trade. The scheme mainly offers duty benefits to exporting Indian traders, which vary across products and export destinations. “The export incentives granted for onions under the MEIS from existing 5% to 10% is in the interest of farmers. This will result in better price for onion in domestic markets,” a government statement said on Friday. While this isn’t a direct export subsidy but an export incentive in the form of duty relief, the move will make exports more viable, which in turn is expected to encourage overseas sale of surplus onions from the domestic market, thereby helping improve prices.https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/govt-doubles-export-incentive-on-onions-to-shore-up-prices-boost-shipments/story-mVC6TXFMv0v5YUKZ1QmG5K.html
noodles
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/a67a9a48-0916-11e5-881f-00144feabdc0.html Indian food safety authorities have launched a probe into Nestlé’s popular Maggi instant noodles, after regional inspectors in Uttar Pradesh said they found dangerously high levels of lead and excess monosodium glutamate. Ram Vilas Paswan, the minister of consumer affairs, said the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India was testing Maggi packets from across the country, with results expected in the next few days.
- 印度西孟加拉邦喜馬拉雅山腳的主要茶葉產區逾40萬工人前日罷工，要求政府和園主將工人最低日薪增加兩成。今次持續3天的罷工行動獲20多個工會支持，附近著名的大吉嶺茶葉產區暫未受影響。印度採茶工人聯合工會中央委員會主席查克拉博蒂表示，來自370個茶葉種植園的40多萬工人參與罷工，要求最低日薪從169盧比(約 19.3港元)增至203盧比(約23.2港元)。目前茶葉生產正值高峰期，但近期季候雨阻礙採茶工作，加上罷工事件，將令資方蒙受重大損失，工會希望藉 此向園主施加最大壓力。http://pdf.wenweipo.com/2018/08/09/a23-0809.pdf
diamond
- http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21679493-remarkable-cottage-industry-under-pressure-hard-faces NINE-TENTHS of the world’s natural diamonds pass through the Indian state of Gujarat, where in and around the city of Surat they are cut and polished before being sold on through the trading houses of Antwerp and Dubai. Diwali, a Hindu holiday marked by gift-giving, fell in early November. By this time of year, shops around the world are stocked with the gems to last till Christmas. It is when the diamond-polishing workshops of Surat, on the Arabian Sea, shut down for an annual unpaid, month-long break for their workers. Perhaps half a million diamond-cutters head home for the holidays, while shop managers sit down to settle their accounts in homemade chopri, or bank books. A port once notorious for an outbreak of plague in 1994, but since then nicely spruced up, Surat has for generations been home to what may be the world’s biggest cottage industry. Perhaps 2,000 of the 5,000-odd operations that buy diamonds for polishing are reasonably large, employing 300-500 grinders, most of them migrant workers. The rest are small family-owned affairs with maybe a couple of grindstones. Many struggle to afford the rough diamonds in the first place.
- gold control policy 1947-63
- pre liberalisation 1963-90
- post liberalisation 1990- 2007
- http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21695558-indias-government-tries-curb-imports-goldagain-tarnished-appeal A SMALL room on the eighth floor of Mumbai’s former cotton exchange is where jewellery goes to die. At the Master Bullion Assaying & Hallmarking Lab in the heart of the gold district, superheated crucibles melt elaborate bangles and earrings into bars a central banker might recognise. This alchemy is being promoted by the government under a new “monetisation” scheme designed to reduce India’s imports of gold: the melted bling can be traded for a bond which will return the same amount of gold several years down the line, with interest of up to 2.5% in the interim. Gold is the bane of India’s exchequer. Indians vie with Chinese as the world’s biggest consumers, buying just under 1,000 tonnes a year and stashing it in anklets, safe-deposit boxes and Hindu temples. As all but a few bangles’ worth is imported, only oil accounts for a bigger share of India’s trade deficit. To put it another way, the imports cost India more dollars every year than it attracts from foreign institutions investing in stocks and bonds, points out Ajit Ranade, an economist.
oil
- integrate public sector oil major (budget 2017-8 measure)
aviation
- https://www.ft.com/content/9a15db70-bd75-11e8-94b2-17176fbf93f5 Boeing has called for India to rewrite its rules on buying foreign weapons as Narendra Modi’s government battles to contain the controversy surrounding India’s €8bn purchase of 36 fighter jets from France’s Dassault. New Delhi on Saturday rebutted comments by François Hollande, the former French president, that suggested India pushed Dassault to sign a subcontract with the Mumbai-based tycoon Anil Ambani. The government said in a statement: “The government has stated earlier and again reiterates that it had no role in the selection of Reliance Defence [Mr Ambani’s company] as offset partner.” But Pratyush Kumar, the president of Boeing India, has said India — the world’s biggest arms importer — should revamp its procurement system entirely, arguing the current rules are costly and self-defeating. He has argued that so-called “offset contracts”, which are subcontracts handed to local partners such as Reliance to boost the Indian economy, are not doing what ministers intended.
- https://www.ft.com/content/d62bbeec-bcab-11e8-94b2-17176fbf93f5 Ministers in New Delhi are pushing for a package of relief measures to help India’s ailing airlines, which are struggling to cope with a sharp rise in oil prices and a collapse in the rupee. The country’s domestic aviation market has been growing more quickly than any in the world for the past few years, but airline profits have dropped off in the past six months because of higher fuel prices. With Jet Airways, the country’s second-largest airline, already in significant financial difficulty, the government is pushing for measures to help control costs and make it easier to secure funding. Officials have told the Financial Times that there are three measures under consideration: reducing the tax on aviation fuel, reducing the tax on aircraft servicing and allowing companies to borrow more. But they added that ministers were not yet considering bailouts of individual companies such as Jet, preferring instead to see what happens during the lucrative festival season in the last three months of the year.
railway
- new metro rail act to be enacted (budget 2017-8 measure)
taxi
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/555cf52c-7188-11e5-8af2-f259ceda7544.html Uber and Ola hit by new taxi app regulations in India
- Govt. led by visionary Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has a vision for converting all vehicles in India to electric vehicles by 2030.http://indiacsr.in/overview-indias-2030-vision-electric-vehicle/
- hkej 1june18 shum article
media sector
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a20e3d80-99ac-11e5-bdda-9f13f99fa654.html Attempts by Rupert Murdoch's Star India and other global media groups to capitalise on recent moves opening up India’s broadcasting sector to foreign investors are being stymied by regulatory barriers, according to senior industry figures. India last month said foreign companies could now own 100 per cent of cable and direct-to-home satellite operators, up from 74 per cent previously, potentially bringing substantial new funds into the country’s $7bn television sector. The liberalisation was designed in part to attract investment from major global media groups, such as Time Warner, Comcast or Liberty Global. Mr Murdoch’s Star India, an arm of 21st Century Fox, already holds a 20 per cent stake in Tata Sky, a satellite joint venture with India’s Tata group. But separate regulations designed to limit cross-media ownership are in effect stopping diversified media companies — for instance those with both satellite and content production divisions — from taking advantage of the liberalisation.
- https://www.ft.com/content/005a968c-4207-11e7-9d56-25f963e998b2 Mr Bisht runs Delhi University’s photocopy shop, a crowded room crammed with photocopiers and computers where students queue to get their entire course material copied for a fraction of what it would cost to buy the books. Following the decision in March of three international publishing companies — Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and Taylor & Francis — to drop their legal case against Mr Bisht, his business is functioning with impunity. The trio claimed his photocopying business undermined their intellectual property, but the Delhi high court ruled that it was not in students’ interests to shut him down. The companies appealed but later dropped the case, citing “longer-term interests”. Executives say they had given up hope of winning, but believed they could still make money in the country long term.
e-commerce
- http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/finance/20160403/00202_013.html 印度商務部日前頒布通知，批准外國企業對印度的電商平台進行100%的直接投資，從而首次全面開放這一規模達數百億美元的市場，但仍將限制外商對自營型電商公司的投資。
- second hand
- http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/finance/20160406/00202_027.html Apple個如意算盤未必打得響，事關佢哋舊年申請進口二手iPhone入印度賣遭拒，早排再次申請，當地業界反對更激烈，理由係怕「製造電子垃圾」、「打擊本土智能手機生產商」、「違背鼓勵印度製造嘅國策」乜乜乜。點解今次反對再激啲？話說印度新成立嘅電子製造業組織Mobile and Communications Council亦公開反對，仲質問政府點解進口汽車要面對300%關稅之際，仲要考慮批准進口二手機？該組織包括印度最大手機品牌好似Micromax、Intex、三星……咦？三星，明晒。
- Critics of the programme say that Facebook’s generosity is cover for a landgrab. They argue that Free Basics is a walled garden of Facebook-approved content, that it breaches consumer privacy by sucking up all the data generated by users of the service, and that it is anticompetitive to boot. Moreover, critics fear that if new internet users are merely Facebook users, other online businesses will have no choice but to operate within Facebook’s world. Nandan Nilekani, an Indian tech luminary opposed to Free Basics, suggests that, instead, the government subsidise a monthly allowance of free mobile data for each user. Facebook counters that the programme is open to all-comers that meet certain technical requirements, that user data are stored for only 90 days, and that there is no profit motive: the service does not include advertising. As for suppressing local competition, Facebook argues, “there is no greater threat to local innovation than leaving people offline.” If, as Mr Zuckerberg says, Free Basics users quickly graduate to paying for full internet service, India’s ferociously competitive mobile operators should provide it cheaply. And if Free Basics proved popular there would be little to stop India’s big media and e-commerce groups from creating rival services to attract new surfers to their web offerings. Over the past few weeks, Facebook has run an extensive campaign with full-page ads in Indian newspapers touting Free Basics. Newspapers, blogs and television channels have presented arguments and counterarguments every day. Even All India Bakchod, a popular comedy collective, got into the act. The group’s video arguing against Free Basics has been watched 800,000 times on YouTube—and another 350,000 on Facebook itself. Activists in India won early victories in 2015, leading Facebook to change the name of its service from internet.org, which they said was misleading, and forcing the company to accept more services than those it handpicks. In December the TRAI suspended Free Basics in India pending the results of its consultation. The TRAI has received 1.4m notes of support for Free Basics as part of this process, driven largely by an automated response tool Facebook used to gather support from its Indian users. But the regulator says it may have to disregard them, since they do not answer the question it is asking. The TRAI itself will deliver its verdict at the end of this month.http://www.economist.com/news/business-and-finance/21685292-critics-argue-mark-zuckerbergs-generosity-cover-landgrab-facebooks-free-internet
- http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35522899 India's telecoms regulator has blocked Facebook's Free Basics internet service app as part of a ruling in favour of net neutrality. The scheme offered free access to a limited number of websites. However, it was opposed by supporters of net neutrality who argued that data providers should not favour some online services over others. The free content included selected local news and weather forecasts, the BBC, Wikipedia and some health sites.
Technology
- funds
startup
- profit 100% claim deduction for 3 years out of 7 years
Alcohol ban
- http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/bihar-a-dry-state-from-today/article8437543.ece Four days after promulgation of partial prohibition in Bihar on April 1, the Nitish Kumar government on Tuesday decided to impose a total ban on alcohol in towns and cities. The decision to ban sale and consumption of India Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) in municipal and town council areas with immediate effect was taken at a Cabinet meeting, the Chief Minister told reporters here. The Nitish Kumar government had banned sale and consumption of country and spiced liquor in rural areas from April 1 this year, but had allowed sale of foreign liquor in towns and cities.
bean import curb
- India relaxes bean import curbs. China Daily - 2017-09-01
Tobacco
- http://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-tobacco-idUSKCN0XB1GO India's tobacco industry has sought to delay strict new health warning rules by appealing to the country's highest court, a move anti-smoking activists say could backfire given that the court has ruled against cigarette makers in the past.
Earlier this month Indian tobacco companies, some backed by "Big Tobacco" firms in the West, effectively went on strike by closing factories in protest against demands that 85 percent of a cigarette packet's surface be covered by health warnings, up from the older requirement of 20 percent. The industry estimates the stoppages cost it as much as $68 million a day, taking cumulative losses to up to $850 million. Similar battles have played out around the world in recent years as governments try to discourage smoking. On a few occasions, major tobacco producers have resorted to drastic action by freezing output.
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c67ab0e2-0bab-11e6-9456-444ab5211a2f.html Shares in India’s licensed producer of Marlboro-branded cigarettes fell 17 per cent on Tuesday on news of a government plan to ban all foreign direct investment and licensing of foreign brands in the tobacco sector. India passed a law allowing 100 per cent foreign ownership of tobacco manufacturing operations in 1998, only to reverse course and ban foreign investment in such assets in 2010. Yet “technology collaboration” — which included the production of foreign-branded cigarettes under licence by local companies — was allowed to continue.
- http://www.reuters.com/article/us-tobacco-itc-idUSKCN0Y00US India's biggest cigarette maker, ITC Ltd, said on Monday it had resumed production in phases, complying with new rules on pictorial warnings from the federal government. The company had shut its plants from May 4 as it worked to get much larger health warnings on cigarette packs, even as a court hears objections to the new rules. "ITC cigarette factories have resumed production in a phased manner, with the specified 85 percent graphical warning pending hearing by the Karnataka High Court," a company spokesman told Reuters in an email.
- http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/2103755/indias-delhi-government-tells-philip-morris-quit-ads The state government in India’s capital told Philip Morris International and other tobacco companies on Saturday to remove all advertisements from tobacco shops in the city, warning them of legal action if they do not comply.The order, sent by Delhi state’s chief tobacco control officer S. K. Arora, comes days Reuters reported that Philip Morris was promoting Marlboro cigarettes, the world’s bestselling brand, by advertising them at tobacco shops and distributing free cigarette samples. Government officials said such tactics flout the law.
monsanto
arbitration- funds
- Tech acquisitionand dev fund
- Restructured tech upgradation fund scheme
- Amended tech upgradation fund scheme
startup
- profit 100% claim deduction for 3 years out of 7 years
Alcohol ban
- http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/bihar-a-dry-state-from-today/article8437543.ece Four days after promulgation of partial prohibition in Bihar on April 1, the Nitish Kumar government on Tuesday decided to impose a total ban on alcohol in towns and cities. The decision to ban sale and consumption of India Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) in municipal and town council areas with immediate effect was taken at a Cabinet meeting, the Chief Minister told reporters here. The Nitish Kumar government had banned sale and consumption of country and spiced liquor in rural areas from April 1 this year, but had allowed sale of foreign liquor in towns and cities.
“But, the tremendous response of people particularly women and children against liquor in Patna and other towns in a short period of four days only convinced us that a conducive environment against alcohol has been created in the state and that’s why we decided to go for total ban on liquor after four days only,” he said. On toddy, which has created controversy in recent days following intervention of RJD president Lalu Prasad against its stoppage in view of interest of people associated with the trade, Mr. Kumar said the Cabinet decided to strictly impose the 1991 guidelines which allowed the consumption of ‘neera’ (drink from palm trees before sunrise) but disallowed the consumption of toddy (after sunrise when the palm tree liquid gets fermented and gains alcoholic properties). The 1991 guidelines prohibited the sale and consumption of ‘neera’ within 50 metre of places like hospital, education institutions, religious places among others in towns and 100 metres radius in rural areas, he added.
- https://www.ft.com/content/132a7e44-8970-11e6-8cb7-e7ada1d123b1Carlsberg, the Danish brewer, opened its seventh brewery in India two years ago: a $25m plant, capable of brewing 50m litres a year of beer, in Bihar — a state of nearly 100m. Alcohol demand was growing in the state and the brewery was mostly intended to sate local drinkers’ thirst. But on April 5, the Carlsberg plant, like all the breweries and distilleries in Bihar, was ordered to halt production and shipment of its brews.The languishing brewery is an appropriate symbol for India’s alcoholic beverage market. Although sales are estimated by Euromonitor to hit $39bn this year, the country of 1.2bn people remains one of the world’s most untapped markets. In the past decade, multinationals like Diageo, Pernod Ricard, SABMiller, Heineken and Carlsberg have all bet on growth in India, given its young population, rising incomes, changing attitudes towards alcohol and taste for western spirits and beers. Per capita consumption, at 4 litres a year, is a fraction of that in the west and many other emerging Asian economies, suggesting there is plenty of room to grow. “When we look at different parts of the world, India really stands out in terms of the growth numbers projected,” says Abanti Sankaranarayanan, head of corporate relations at United Spirits, India’s largest spirits company, formerly run by tycoon Vijay Mallya, which Diageo recently paid £1.8bn to buy. “It is a less penetrated market for alcohol, and it’s a market very attuned to what we call western-style drinks.”In a notoriously difficult country for business, the drinks industry faces special hurdles. India’s states each have their own regulatory controls on the production, marketing and distribution, and even pricing of alcohol. United Spirits, for example, says it needs 200,000 permissions, licences and approvals a year to operate its business.- India relaxes bean import curbs. China Daily - 2017-09-01
Tobacco
- http://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-tobacco-idUSKCN0XB1GO India's tobacco industry has sought to delay strict new health warning rules by appealing to the country's highest court, a move anti-smoking activists say could backfire given that the court has ruled against cigarette makers in the past.
Earlier this month Indian tobacco companies, some backed by "Big Tobacco" firms in the West, effectively went on strike by closing factories in protest against demands that 85 percent of a cigarette packet's surface be covered by health warnings, up from the older requirement of 20 percent. The industry estimates the stoppages cost it as much as $68 million a day, taking cumulative losses to up to $850 million. Similar battles have played out around the world in recent years as governments try to discourage smoking. On a few occasions, major tobacco producers have resorted to drastic action by freezing output.
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c67ab0e2-0bab-11e6-9456-444ab5211a2f.html Shares in India’s licensed producer of Marlboro-branded cigarettes fell 17 per cent on Tuesday on news of a government plan to ban all foreign direct investment and licensing of foreign brands in the tobacco sector. India passed a law allowing 100 per cent foreign ownership of tobacco manufacturing operations in 1998, only to reverse course and ban foreign investment in such assets in 2010. Yet “technology collaboration” — which included the production of foreign-branded cigarettes under licence by local companies — was allowed to continue.
- http://www.reuters.com/article/us-tobacco-itc-idUSKCN0Y00US India's biggest cigarette maker, ITC Ltd, said on Monday it had resumed production in phases, complying with new rules on pictorial warnings from the federal government. The company had shut its plants from May 4 as it worked to get much larger health warnings on cigarette packs, even as a court hears objections to the new rules. "ITC cigarette factories have resumed production in a phased manner, with the specified 85 percent graphical warning pending hearing by the Karnataka High Court," a company spokesman told Reuters in an email.
- http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/2103755/indias-delhi-government-tells-philip-morris-quit-ads The state government in India’s capital told Philip Morris International and other tobacco companies on Saturday to remove all advertisements from tobacco shops in the city, warning them of legal action if they do not comply.The order, sent by Delhi state’s chief tobacco control officer S. K. Arora, comes days Reuters reported that Philip Morris was promoting Marlboro cigarettes, the world’s bestselling brand, by advertising them at tobacco shops and distributing free cigarette samples. Government officials said such tactics flout the law.
monsanto
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/3e6c834c-e68a-11e5-ac45-5c039e797d1c.html An increasingly bitter row between New Delhi and Monsanto, the US chemicals group that revolutionised Indian cotton farming, is fuelling concerns over how foreign companies are treated in the country even as the government seeks to lure international investment. Monsanto’s biotech arm transformed India’s cotton industry with the introduction in 2002 of genetically modified, pest-resistant cotton seeds. They are now sold to 7m farmers in the country. But the company is threatening to quit India amid an acrimonious dispute with authorities over royalties for its technology. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration last week slashed the royalties paid to Monsanto’s local joint venture, Mahyco Monsanto Biotech, by 70 per cent. Monsanto, having heard rumours of a move, warned the week before last that a price cap would force it to “re-evaluate every aspect of our position in India”. New Delhi’s intervention will exacerbate anxieties over the treatment of foreign companies in India even as Mr Modi tries to woo more foreign investors to bolster economic growth. “There was a conflict between the seed companies, which were paying royalty, and Monsanto and that has spiralled out of control,” says Ajay Jakhar, of the Bharat Krishak Samaj, the Indian Farmers Forum. “This leaves the door open for other arbitrary decision making and will curtail investments into new products.” Monsanto is the latest in a string of companies including Vodafone, Cairn Energy and Nestlé to complain of unfair or capricious treatment, despite Mr Modi’s attempts to portray his administration as business friendly.
- For speedy settlement of commercial disputes, the Cabinet had in August cleared a bill to amend the Arbitration Act to fix a timeline for arbitrators to resolve cases. The bill was not introduced in Parliament. Under the proposed amendments to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, an arbitrator will have to settle a case within 18 months. However, after the completion of 12 months, certain restrictions will be put in place to ensure that the arbitration case does not linger on, the sources said. In the initial ordinance approved by the Cabinet in December last year, the timeline was fixed at nine months. The formulation was changed after inter-ministerial discussions. The amendments to the law come amidst keenness of the government to attract the greater foreign investment. Certain foreign companies were said to be hesitant to do business in India because of the long-drawn litigations. Another amendment to the law puts a cap on the fee of an arbitrator. The arbitrator will now also have to spell out if there is a conflict of interest in a case he or she is taking up. The Prime Minister has been stressing on steps to promote ease of doing business in India. In its report submitted last year, the Law Commission had also supported amendment to the arbitration law to help India become a favoured destination, after Singapore and London, for international arbitration. The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, which also met today, decided to take a call on convening the Winter Session of Parliament on October 26. Once the session, likely to commence after November 19, starts, the government will have to seek Parliament’s approval for the ordinances within 42 days/six weeks or else these will lapse. - See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/govt-clears-two-ordinances-for-speedy-settlement-of-commercial-disputes/#sthash.D5iVMFgh.dpuf
- amendment to streamline international dispute resolution arrangement of infrastructure (budget 2017-8 measure)
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/f18937d8-8db4-11e5-94a4-639039952d45.html India’s competition watchdog has imposed $40m in fines on three of the country’s private airlines after complaints from courier companies including FedEx and DHL that the carriers colluded to fix fuel surcharges for freight. Wednesday’s ruling against IndiGo, Jet Airways and SpiceJet by the Competition Commission of India is the first of its kind against the country’s airlines, though politicians have previously expressed anger at private carriers for sharp increases in fares during peak holiday travel seasons.
- http://www.economist.com/news/business/21678773-long-awaited-bankruptcy-code-should-help-owners-and-lenders-business-going-bust
- https://www.ft.com/content/7babd578-493e-11e8-8ae9-4b5ddcca99b3 After a nationwide manhunt, Neeraj Singal was finally tracked down and seized by fraud investigators at an upscale New Delhi hotel in 2014. Accused of involvement in the bribing of bankers, a charge Mr Singal denies, the scion of the Bhushan Steel empire was hauled off for questioning. Within days he was released on bail and returned as the controlling shareholder of Bhushan, built by his father from a door hinge producer into one of India’s largest industrial groups. Four years on, the case remains stuck in India’s overloaded courts system, with no sign of resolution. Mr Singal is one of a group of businessmen whose wealth grew exponentially after a series of liberalising reforms in the 1990s. There was a time when the “promoters”, or controlling shareholders, of India’s top companies were widely seen as beyond the law. The more controversial of these tycoons weathered criminal allegations and financial reverses while keeping a firm grip on some of India’s biggest businesses. “No big businessman had been put behind bars, and they knew they could ward off their lenders through very lengthy legal processes,” says Prabodh Agarwal, chief financial officer at IIFL Holdings, a financial group. “They were always going to stay in charge.” Yet Mr Singal has just had his prized steel business, with an annual capacity of 5.6m tonnes but debts of nearly $7bn, torn from his grasp. It is the biggest scalp so far in a major overhaul of India’s bankruptcy system , widely seen by analysts as a redrafting of the rules of capitalism in the country.
family
- The Special Marriage Act, 1954 is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted to provide a special form of marriage for the people of India and all Indian nationals in foreign countries, irrespective of the religion or faith followed by either party.[1] The Act originated from a piece of legislation proposed during the late 19th century. Marriages solemnized under Special Marriage Act are not governed by personal laws. In 1872 Act III, 1872 was enacted but later it was found inadequate for certain desired reforms, and Parliament enacted a new legislation. Henry Sumner Maine first introduced Act III of 1872, which would permit any dissenters to marry whomever they chose under a new civil marriage law. In the final wording, the law sought to legitimize marriages for those willing to renounce their profession of faith altogether ("I do not profess the Hindu, Christian, Jewish, etc. religion"). It can apply in inter-caste and inter-religion marriages.[3] Overall, the response from local governments and administrators was that they were unanimously opposed to Maine’s Bill and believed the legislation encouraged marriages based on lust, which would inevitably lead to immorality. The Special Marriage Act, 1954 replaced the old Act III, 1872. The new enactment has 3 major objectives:
- To provide a special form of marriage in certain cases,
- to provide for registration of certain marriages and,
- to provide for divorce.
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