Regulator SEBI grows its anti-fraud powers with new year

New Delhi: It was a year that was marked with scams from large corporate like Sahara to unknown individuals perpetrating SMS investment. Also, a lot many penal actions and even more policy measures by SEBI to safeguard the investors interest were issued.
                                                 
To help it bring to book fraudsters and other market manipulators, SEBI was also conferred with greater powers. The market regulator has lined up numerous regulations to ensure effective execution of these powers along with safeguards against any possible misuse.Read more

US economic recovery in 2014 to boost IT, pharma, agri and banking Jobs in India

New Delhi: Information technology (IT), pharmaceutical, agri-based industries and banking sectors will remain the largest employment generation sectors in 2014, industry lobby Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) said in a recent report.‘These sectors will stand out despite the fact that the present state of economy where in a large majority of sectors, net employment is being lost and not created does not support large scale employment’, the study said.

                                       

The report said that employment generation in India will benefit from economic recovery in the US.Read more

 

5,000 km road projects in Bihar and Gujarat worth R 1,1911 crore

New Delhi: Of many key decisions taken on Thursday, Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved two new road projects worth Rs. 1,911 crore for Bihar and Gujarat. The Bihar and Gujarat road projects are estimated to cost the government Rs. 1,408 crore and Rs. 503 crore, respectively.

‘The CCEA has approved the project for the development of four laning of 93 km-long (approx.) Gaya-Hisua-Rajgir-Nalanda-Biharsharif section on National Highway-82 in Bihar. The project will be completed within three years of signing of the contract agreement.

                                      

The total project cost is estimated at Rs. 1,408.85 crore including Rs. 1,216.16 crore as civil construction and supervision works and Rs. 192.69 crore as the cost of land acquisition, rehabilitation and pre construction activities’, a statement from the roads ministry said.Read more

 

CCI imposes penalties worth R 2,000 crore to ensure fair trade

New Delhi: To ensure fair play and competition in the market, the youngest regulator of India, Competition Commission of India (CCI), this year slaped penalties worth nearly Rs. 2,000 crore on erring entities during 2013, with maximum of Rs. 1,773 crore on state-run miner Coal India.

                                             

To enhance trade practices, penalties have been lashed out over cases involving Jet Airways, state-run Coal India and cricketing body BCCI.Read more

 

Over 18,000 jobs created in service tax & customs collection wing

New Delhi: Over 18,000 additional posts have been sanctioned in the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), the government wing tasked with the collection of service tax, excise and customs duty, as part of a cadre restructuring plan.

                            

The Union Cabinet recently gave its approval for the creation of the 18,067 posts, thus taking the strength of CBEC on paper from 66,808 to 84,875 staff members, officials said.Read more

PepsiCo India invests R 1,200 crore to build biggest ever plant

Hyderabad: Beverage and snacks giant PepsiCo plans to make a hefty investment of over Rs. 1,200 crore to build its biggest plant in India. The manufacturing unit shall be built in city Sri of Andhra Pradesh. On her recent trip to India, Indra Nooyi had announced an investment of Rs.33,000 crore for expansion in India.

                                        

‘PepsiCo intends to invest more than Rs. 1,200 crore in the project, which is part of the recently announced plans by PepsiCo and its partners to invest Rs. 33,000 crore in India by 2020’, PepsiCo announced in a statement.Read more

Assocham asks govt to impose 30% export duty on iron ore pellets

New Delhi: Industry body Assocham on Friday asked the government to impose 30% export duty on iron ore pellets, fines and lumps with immediate effect to discourage circumvention of export duty and increase iron ore availability for domestic steel industry.
‘Iron ore production in India has plummeted significantly by 14% to 70 million tones (mt) in the first half (H1) of 2013–14 from 82 mt in the corresponding period last year’, Assocham said in a letter addressed to Finance minister P Chidambaram.
                             
‘Ironically, while the domestic iron and steel industry is facing severe shortage of iron ore and is operating at very low capacity utilization, at the same time the exports of iron ore are registering a triple digit growth on sequential quarter basis’, it said in the letter.Read more 

New Delhi's Connaught Place is world's seventh

New Delhi: New Delhi's Connaught Place has slipped two notches to become the world's seventh costliest office destination. The British architecture still stands tall and is one of fine examples of civil engineering across the globe.Thanks to a slowdown in the realty market and a fall in rupee's exchange rate that the central area of the Indian national capital slipped two positions lower, property consultant CBRE has said. Occupancy cost of CP stood at $156.65 per sq ft per annum.
                              

Mumbai's Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) plummeted to 15th position from 11th, while Nariman Point stood at 32nd position compared to its earlier 26th position. CBRE Prime Office Occupancy Costs survey provides data on office rents and occupancy costs as of September 2013.Read more

 

Is RBI governor Raghuram Rajan under Congress

New Delhi: He is a reformist and has global exposure and an expert when it comes to banking and economy. Soon after he was sworn in as governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), he clean bolded analysts and was nicknamed ‘rockstar economist’.

                                 

Raghuram Rajan, RBI governor, is the one who predicted 2008 US property bubble burst. He is the man who travelled world before coming back to his land and promised Indians of a stable economy when he took command of reigns of the apex bank in his able hands in September 2013.Read more

Bank employees call for a strike across PSU banks

New Delhi: Government banks employees across India went on a strike on Wednesday demanding a hike in salaries along with other demands. Banks had informed the customers well in advance about the likely inconvenience due to the strike.

All the members to nine bank employees and officers unions have gone on strike, United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) convener C H Venkatachalam said.

                                

The dialogue between Indian Banks Association (IBA) and UFBU held on 14 December on wage revision had failed to produce any results, General Secretary of National Organisation of Bank Workers Ashwini Rana told reporters. Read more

Finance Minister P Chidambaram battles RBI governor Raghuram Rajan

Mumbai: The tussle between the incumbent RBI governor Raghuram Rajan and Finance Minister is out in the public now with both sides criticising each other openly in front of national media. Just days ago Governor Rajan had criticised government of delaying key reform bills in the winter session of the parliament. Rajan held that any further delay would jeopardise the economy irreparably.Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday pitched for limiting the Reserve Bank's mandate to monetary policy formulation and banking regulation, and for delegating its other functions to government or other regulators.

                                            

It (RBI) is the monetary authority and it will be a regulator of banks, but all other functions I think should be revisited and we should ask ourselves whether RBI is the best authority to discharge those functions or is there any other authority in the system which can take over those functions or is it necessary to create a separate authority’, Chidambaram told a panel discussion on the occasion of celebrating the 20th anniversary of NSE here.Read more

 

Headline inflation recorded at 7.52% as per WPI

New Delhi: After an appalling retail inflation rates released on Thursday, as expected, inflation data as per the wholesale price index (WPI) for the month of November are equally disappointing. Inflation has leapt at wholesale level by 52 basis points (bps). The figure released by the Press Information Bureau on Monday sees the WPI resting at 7.52%.
                                                
CPI data on Thursday had indicated in advance the gloomy picture of wholesale market. It was evident that wholesale inflation data is going to be as poor. While WPI for the month of October settled down at 7%, staggeringly, WPI figure for the month of September has been revised to 7.05% from earlier 6.46%.
Read more 

Mumbai's Tulip Star Hotel up for auction at R 1,300 crore

Mumbai: Juhu-based (Mumbai) Tulip Star Hotel is up for sale. According to a report published in Times of India, the six-acre sea-facing property on Juhu Tara Road is being auctioned with a reserve price of Rs. 1,315 crore. The property is being sold out because owner V Hotes failed to repay a loan worth Rs. 235 crore.
                  

The sale will be held for land, buildings and structures, machinery, plant, fixture and fittings. 1n 2001, V Hotels (then Tulip Hospitality Services) had acquisitioned the hotel under the divestment programme from Hotel Corporation of India for Rs. 153 crore.Read more

 

Beijing Airport to Panama Canal

Infrastructure around the globe is progressing at a fast pace. Civil engineers round the globe are erecting marvels. India’s infrastructure is growing along with the world as well.Of late, Hyderabad Metro Rail project was accredited as best global architecture 2013 in Global Infrastructure leadership Forum.

                                    

Panama Canal is a 77.1 kilometres long strait to route logistic ships. A masterpiece of civil engineering, the channel was opened in 1914. The canal links Atlantic Ocean to Pacific Ocean. The process to widen the canal is still on.Read more

World's top 10 nations with highest per capita income

ndia was once a goldfinch; however, now there are richer countries in the world. Do you know most rich countries in the world? Probably you have an idea. Here, we provide you the list of top 10 rich countries of the world. The list was prepared by one of the top financial magazines of the world, Forbes.
                                 

According to the rich list prepared by Forbes, Russia is 91st, China is 94th and India is 98th richest country of the world. There are various factors that are considered before preparing the list – namely, wealth, research, investment, red tapism, corruption, financial freedom, share market performance, investor protection.Read more

 

Anand Sharma extends WTO talks to resolve food security standoff between India and USA

Bali: With the world trade organisation (WTO) giving time to USA and India to bridge their differences over the contentious food security issue, the last day of the trade talks here is expected to be longer than usual to avert a collapse of the negotiations.
                                      
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma was scheduled to return on Friday ‘but he is not going’, sources said, adding ‘the last ditch effort to reach on a consensus is expected to go on till late’.Read more

India is 94th least corrupted country in the world, Pakistan 134th: 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index

New Delhi: In an annual 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index, Transparency International has revealed the levels of corruption prevailing in countries across globe. The organisation ranks countries based on administrative and political corruption on a scale from 100 (absolutely clean) to 0 (most corrupt).

The CPI has positioned India as the 94th least corrupt nation in the world. Although no country is sans corruption, Denmark and New Zealand have topped the chart with their regions being 91% corruption free.

                                 

The top 10 corruption free countries on the list are

1. Denmark – 91% Corruption Free

2. New Zealand – 91% Corruption Free

3. Finland – 89% Corruption Free

4. Sweden – 89% Corruption Free

5. Norway – 86% Corruption Free

6. Singapore – 86% Corruption Free

7. Switzerland – 85% Corruption Free

8. Netherlands – 83% Corruption Free

9. Australia – 81% Corruption Free

10. Canada – 81% Corruption Free

 Read more

Cabinet determined to clear divestment roadblocks for BHEL and Coal India

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked nodal ministers of BHEL & CIL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited and Coal India Limited) to prepare a divestment plan for the public sector undertakings (PSUs), confirmed Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
      

The government is determined on raising funds through the stake sale of the two state-owned companies and dividend payment to the government. The dignitaries present were told by nodal officers and unions that the market conditions are not favourable to carryout disinvestment plan in BHEL.Read more

 

Mumbai Taj Hotel accused of negligence

Lonndon: The UK High Court here on Monday began a three-day hearing of a compensation claim case by a British man paralysed during the Mumbai terror attacks 5 years ago.Wheelchair-bound Will Pike is suing the owners of Mumbai's iconic Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, the scene of a three-day terrorist siege in November 2008, over alleged negligence in providing security despite several warnings that an attack was imminent.

                            

‘He did not choose to bring this claim lightly but only after long, anxious and careful thought’, the 33-year-old freelance filmmaker's counsel Philip Havers told Justice Stewart in the court.Pike's law firm, Leigh Day, is arguing against an attempt by the Indian Hotels Company Limited, owners of Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, to prevent the case being heard in a UK court.Read more

 

Waiver for UP sugar millers to commence crushing

Lucknow: After an over-10-day battle between the UP state government and UP sugar millers, the impasse has thawed with millers bending and yet unsatisfied with the conclusion. The adamant Akhilesh Yadav government stopped the momentum before it could have turned into a snow ball by what is now alleged as coercion by UP Sugar Mill Association (UPSMA).

 









The sugar millers have called off the stand-off and have agreed to commence crushing operations soon. However, the mills have decided to make the payment of cane to farmers in two instalments. The first payment shall be made of Rs. 260 a quintal. The remaining Rs. 20 per quintal will be paid off at the end of the crushing season.Read more