RBI
POLICY DECISION BEFORE NOON ON THURSDAY
The Reserve Bank of India will announce its monetary
policy decision before noon on Thursday. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)
will meet during February 5 to 7, 2019, for the Sixth Bi-monthly Monetary
Policy Statement for 2018-19. The resolution of the MPC will be placed on the
website at 11.45 am on February 7, 2019 the central bank said in a statement on
its website. The reasons are not clear for the change in timing. On the
previous occasion, the RBI had released the policy statement at 2.30 pm.
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CAN'T
DISCLOSE BLACK MONEY REPORTS AS PARLIAMENTARY PANEL EXAMINING THEM: FINANCE
MINISTRY
The Finance Ministry has declined to share
copies of three reports on the quantum of black money held by Indians inside
the country and abroad, saying they were being examined by a Parliamentary
panel and disclosing details will cause a breach of privilege of the House.
These reports were submitted to the government more than four years ago.
Replying to an RTI query, it said the study reports of the NIPFP, NCAER and
NIFM were received by the government on December 30, 2013, July 18, 2014, and
August 21, 2014, respectively. The reports and government's response to it have
been forwarded to Lok Sabha secretariat for placing them before the Standing
Committee on Finance, the ministry said. The Lok Sabha secretariat has informed
that the same has been placed before the committee which will examine it, it
said in a reply to an RTI application filed by this PTI correspondent. It denied
to share the copies of these reports saying the disclosure would cause breach
of privilege of Parliament and, therefore, the information sought is exempt
from disclosure under Section 8 (1) (c) of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The section bars information, the disclosure of which would cause a breach of
privilege of Parliament. The reports were submitted to the panel on July 21,
2017. There is, at present, no official assessment on the quantum of black
money in India and abroad. According to a study by US-based think-tank Global
Financial Integrity (GFI), an estimated USD 770 billion in black money entered
India during 2005-2014. Nearly USD 165 billion in illicit money exited the
country during the same period, the latest report by the global financial
watchdog said. The issue of black money has attracted a lot of public and media
attention in the recent past. So far, there are no reliable estimates of black
money generated and held within and outside the country, the Finance Ministry
had said while ordering the studies in 2011. These estimates were based on
various unverifiable assumptions and approximations, it had said. The Terms of
Reference (ToR) for the studies included the assessment or survey of
unaccounted income and wealth, and profiling the nature of activities
engendering money laundering both within and outside the country.
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UNCLAIMED
BANK DEPOSIT PILE CROSSES RS 8,000 CRORE
Unclaimed deposits of bank account holders
have crossed a record Rs 8,000 crore, with stricter KYC norms making extraction
of funds difficult unless the next of kin of the deceased can establish the
legitimacy of their claims. According to the latest figures released by the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Rs 8,864.6 crore is lying unclaimed in 2.63 crore
accounts with all bank groups as of December '16. Ironically, unclaimed
deposits have doubled in four years between 2012 and 2016 - both by way of
volume and value - despite increasing policy support for genuine deposit
holders seeking to withdraw funds. The number of accounts where funds remained
unclaimed has doubled from 1.32 crore in 2102 to 2.63 crore in 2016. By way of
value, too, unclaimed deposits have more than doubled from Rs 3,598 crore to Rs
8,864.6 crore in the same period. The RBI has advised banks to display the list
of unclaimed deposits that are inactive for at least 10 years on their
respective Web sites. The list must contain the names of the account holders
and their addresses so that it becomes easier for claimants to access.
Unclaimed fixed deposits or savings and current accounts are transferred to a
bank’s head office from a branch after 10 years. Individual banks are required
to submit a return to the RBI within 30 days of the close of the calendar year
for all accounts that have not been operated for 10 years. The country’s
largest lender State Bank of India tops the list, with Rs 1,036 crore lying in
47 lakh inactive accounts that include both term deposits and CASA. Canara bank
follows with Rs 995 crore in 47 lakh inactive accounts, and Punjab National
Bank with Rs 829 crore in 23 lakh inactive accounts. The unclaimed money is not
free cash for banks. Interest on savings bank accounts should be credited
regularly regardless of an account’s status. If a fixed Deposit Receipt matures
and proceeds are unpaid, the amount left unclaimed with the bank will attract
the savings bank rate of interest. Besides, banks have to park 4% as cash with
the RBI as Cash Reserve Requirement. RBI has advised banks to ensure proper
audits of funds lying in inoperative accounts. Since 2015, the balances in
unclaimed deposits are to be parked by the bank in its Deposit Awareness and
Education Fund until any claim is settled, and these funds ought to be used for
enhancing financial literacy.
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COST
OVERRUN BILL ON 363 INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS RISES TO RS 3.42 TRILLION
As many as 363 infrastructure projects, each
worth Rs 150 crore or more, have shown cost overruns to the tune of over Rs
3.42 trillion owing to delays and other reasons, a report said. The Ministry of
Statistics and Programme Implementation monitors infrastructure projects worth
Rs 150 crore and above. Total original cost of implementation of the 1452
projects was Rs 18,27,757.29 crore and their anticipated completion cost is
likely to be Rs 21,70,036.32 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of Rs
3,42,279.03 crore (18.73% of original cost), the ministry's latest report for
October 2018 said. Of these 1,452 projects, 363 reported cost overruns and
375-time escalation. According to the report, the expenditure incurred on these
projects till October 2018 is Rs 7,91,102.87 crore, which is 36.46 per cent of
the anticipated cost. However, it said the number of delayed projects decreases
to 304 if delay is calculated on the basis of latest schedule of completion.
For 700 projects, neither the year of commissioning nor the tentative gestation
period has been reported. Out of the 375 delayed projects, 111 have overall
delay in the range of 1 to 12 months, 61 are delayed by 13 to 24 months, 95
reflect delay of 25 to 60 months and 108 projects show 61 months and above
delay. The average time overrun in these 375 delayed projects is 45.14 months.
The brief reasons for time overruns as reported by various project implementing
agencies are delays in land acquisition, forest clearance and supply of
equipment.
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RBI MPC
MAY CHANGE POLICY STANCE TO NEUTRAL THIS WEEK: EXPERTS
The RBI's Monetary Policy Committee is likely
to change its policy stance to neutral in its meeting this week on low
inflation footprint but would refrain from cutting interest rates due to fiscal
challenges and rising crude oil prices, experts said. The bimonthly meeting of
the MPC is scheduled from February 5 to 7. It would be the first MPC meeting
under RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, who took charge in December 2018 following
sudden exit of Urjit Patel. Bank of Baroda Chief Economist Sameer Narang
observed that the MPC may change its monetary stance to neutral on February 7
from calibrated tightening'.
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PIYUSH
GOYAL WILL ADDRESS RBI BOARD ON FEBRUARY 9
Finance minister Piyush Goyal is scheduled to
address the customary post-budget meeting of the central board of the RBI on
February 9. The meeting will take place two days after the sixth monetary
policy review which is expected to take a call on policy rates. According to
sources, the board meeting would also take up request of the government for
interim dividend for the current fiscal. The government expects Rs 28,000 crore
from the RBI as interim dividend for the current fiscal based on the financial
position of the first half of the central bank. The RBI, which follows
July-June financial year, paid Rs 40,000 crore as dividend for the current
fiscal.
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SUPREME
COURT SEEKS RBI RESPONSE IN DATA LOCALISATION MATTER OF WHATSAPP PAYMENT
SERVICE
The Supreme Court Friday asked RBI to respond
to an application looking to implead it as a party in a matter seeking
directive to US-based WhatsApp to comply with data localisation norms for
providing payment service in India. A bench of Justices R F Nariman and Vineet
Saran issued notice to the RBI on an impleadment application by NGO, Centre for
Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC), which has filed a petition in the
court claiming that WhatsApp has not fully complied with the central bank’s
circular which prescribed data localisation norms. The norms relate to storing
of payment related data within India, which has 200 million WhatsApp users. Issue
notice on the application for impleadment of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as
respondent, the bench said and posted the matter for hearing on March 5. Solicitor
General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, had also told the court that
RBI was needed to be made a party in the case as issue pertains to data
localisation. In its petition, the NGO has sought direction to restrain the
instant messaging platform from proceeding with its payment service unless it
fully complied with the provisions of the RBI. In its plea, the CASC said that
to open a bank account, a customer needs to comply with KYC norms laid down by
the RBI and various other formalities. The petition also alleged that the social
media giant does not comply with tax and other laws of India, but its reach was
such that it is used by everyone, be it a commoner or even the judges of the
apex court.
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FDI
POLICY ON E-COMMERCE
In order to ensure due compliance of the FDI
policy on e-Commerce, Press Note 2 (2018) has been issued. It puts in place
certain conditions. These conditions include
· An entity
having equity participation by e-commerce marketplace entity or its group
companies, or having control on its inventory by e-commerce marketplace entity
or its group companies, will not be permitted to sell its products on the
platform run by such marketplace entity.
· e-Commerce
marketplace entity will not mandate any seller to sell any product exclusively
on its platform only.
· This
Press Note is effective from February 01, 2019.
Representations have been received to defer
the implementation of Press Note 2. The FDI policy on e-Commerce, first
pronounced through Press Note 2 of 2000, permitted 100% FDI in B2B e-commerce
activities. With a view to provide clarity to the extant policy and after
extensive stakeholder consultations, guidelines for FDI on the e-commerce were
issued vide Press Note 3 (2016). To provide further clarity to FDI policy on
e-commerce, Press Note 2 (2018) was issued. Stakeholder consultations on
creating a framework for National Policy on e-Commerce with representatives
from Government Ministries, Departments, Reserve Bank of India, industry
bodies, e-commerce companies, telecom companies, IT companies and payment
companies have been held. Issues regarding the e-commerce sector are regularly
reviewed by the Government. The e-commerce sector is expected to keep growing
in future because of a number of reasons. The FDI policy on e-commerce has
remained unchanged. Better enforcement of this policy will contribute
significantly to growth of this sector over medium and long term.
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MINISTRY
OF LABOUR NOTIFIES RULES TO ALLOW EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN IN MINES
In exercise of the power conferred under
sub-section (1) of section 83 on the Mines Act, 1952 (35 of 1952), the Central
Government hereby exempts the women employed in any mine above ground and in
any mine below ground from the provisions of section 46 of the Mines Act, 1952,
subject to the following conditions namely:-
(a) In the case of women employed in any mine
above ground
· The owner
of a mine may deploy women between the hours of 7 pm and 6 am in the mine above
ground including opencast workings;
· the
deployment of women shall be after obtaining the written consent of the
concerned woman employee;
· the women
so deployed shall be provided with adequate facilities and safeguards regarding
occupational safety, security and health;
· the
deployment of women shall be subject to the framing and implementation of
Standard Operating Procedures on the basis of the guidelines issued in this
regard by the Chief Inspector of Mines from time to time;
· the deployment of women shall be in a group of
not less than three in a shift.
(b) in the case of women employed in any mine
below ground
· the owner
of a mine may deploy women between the hours of 6 am and 7 pm in technical,
supervisory and managerial work where continuous presence may not be required.
· the
deployment of women shall be after obtaining the written consent of the
concerned woman employee
· the women
so deployed shall be provided with adequate facilities and safeguards regarding
occupational safety, security and health;
· the
deployment of women shall be subject to the framing and implementation of
Standard Operating Procedures on the basis of the guidelines issued in this
regard by the Chief Inspector of Mines from time to time;
· the
deployment of women shall be in a group of not less than three.
The Mines Act, 1952, restricted the
employment of women in underground mines and also in opencast or aboveground
workings of the mine during night hours between 7PM and 6AM. Several women
employees groups, industry and students enrolled with various institutions
persuing mining engineering courses at degree and diploma levels have been
representing to the government at different forum that women should be provided
equal employment opportunity for working in mines. Requests from Mining
Companies were also received. Ministry of Labour & Employment has taken a
decision in line with the recommendations of the Section 12 committee set up
under Mines Act, 1952 and in consultation with Ministry of Home Affairs,
Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Mines, Ministry of Coal
and Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to allow the employment of women in
aboveground mines including opencast workings between 7PM and 6AM to all
categories of employees and in belowground working between 6 AM and 7 PM in
technical, supervisory and managerial work where continuous presence may not be
required vide Gazette Notification No. 393 ( S.O. 506(E)) dated 29 January
2019. The safeguards like obtaining the written consent of the women employee,
deployment in groups of not less than three (03) and provisions for framing and
implementation of Standard Operating Procedures on the basis of the guidelines
issued in this regard by the Chief Inspector of Mines, have been incorporated.
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INCLUSIVE
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT THROUGH MSMES
Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME)
have supported inclusive growth and development across the country thereby
reducing the regional imbalance. Giriraj Singh, said NITI Aayog has identified
117 Aspirational Districts in the country. Ministry of MSME has taken measures
for acceleration of MSME development efforts in these districts. The MSME
Ministry implements various schemes and programmes for promotion and
development of MSMEs throughout the country including backward districts. The schemes/programmes
of MSME Ministry include Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme
(PMEGP), Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI), A
Scheme for Promoting Innovation, Rural Industry and Entrepreneurship (ASPIRE),
Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Micro and Small Enterprises, Credit Linked
Capital Subsidy Scheme (CLCSS), National Manufacturing Competitiveness
Programme (NMCP), Micro & Small Enterprises - Cluster Development Programme
(MSE-CDP), National Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Hub.
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EMPOWERING
WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP THROUGH MSME SCHEMES
Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises (MSME) is empowering women entrepreneurs through its different
schemes 1.38 lakh projects have been set up by the women entrepreneurs under
Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) Scheme since inception
and upto 23.01.2019. The projects set up by women entrepreneurs are about 30%
of total projects set up under PMEGP. Minister of State (Independent Charge)
for MSME, Giriraj Singh, informed. PMEGP, a major credit-linked subsidy scheme
since 2008-09, helps set up micro enterprises and to generate employment in
rural and urban areas of the country. The maximum cost of the project under
PMEGP scheme is Rs.25.00 lakhs for manufacturing sector units and Rs.10.00
lakhs for units under service sector. Under the scheme, women entrepreneurs are
covered under Special Category and are entitled to 25% and 35% subsidies for
the project set up in urban and rural areas respectively. For women
beneficiaries, own contribution is only 5% of the project cost while for
general category it is 10%. PMEGP is implemented through Khadi and Village
Industries Commission (KVIC). The Minister further informed that during 2016-17
and 2017-18, under the Khadi Programme of KVIC, women entrepreneurs have set up
30437 projects for which margin money of 85,305 lakh Rupees have been
disbursed.
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STATES
ASKED TO QUICKLY IDENTIFY SMALL FARMERS FOR INCOME SUPPORT SCHEME: NITI
The Centre has written to all states,
directing them to quickly identify small and marginal farmers who will receive
Rs 2,000 as the first installment by March-end under the Rs 75,000-crore income
support package announced in the Budget, Rajiv Kumar said Saturday. The
government has already earmarked Rs 20,000 crore for disbursement in the
current fiscal to an estimated 12 crore farmers. Kumar expressed confidence
that there would not be any major difficulty in implementing this farm package,
except in north-eastern states where it might take a little more time. The
Ministry of Agriculture has been working on this (proposal) and therefore they
will pursue it on a mission mode. This is one scheme where implementation has
to be ensured. We should be able to do it, he said. Kumar said in some states
preparations will have to be done on an urgent basis and to that end the
secretary agriculture has written a letter on February 1, addressed to all the
chief secretaries and principal secretaries agriculture. For financial
benefits, the landowners whose names appear on land records as on February 1
will be eligible under the PM-Kisan scheme. Kumar said it might take a little
longer in this region where there are community rights on land parcels. He said
an alternative mechanism will be developed and approved by a committee of union
ministers and the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region to implement
this scheme. When asked whether Rs 6,000 per year or Rs 500 a month was enough,
Kumar said: Rs 500 is not a mean amount for a poor farmers. If you visit the
poor farmers today, this money can be used for consumption, this money can be
used for sending child to school, it can used to buy water for irrigation.
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WE MIGHT
END UP 2018-19 WITH 3.3% FISCAL DEFICIT: DEA SECRETARY
Subhash Chandra Garg Saturday exuded
confidence that FY2018-19 will end with a fiscal deficit of 3.3 per cent of the
GDP, marginally lower than the revised estimate of 3.4 per cent for the year.
He also said the government has maintained the glide path towards achieving the
fiscal deficit target of 3 per cent by 2020-21 and eliminate primary deficit. Deviations
which have happened in the last two years are very nominal. Secondly, these
don't go beyond the trend of the glide path this year it was to be 3.3 per
cent, it has been 3.4 per cent which is lower than 3.5 per cent. We might
actually end up the year with 3.3 per cent and stick to Budget Estimate, he
told. So, the path leads to 3 per cent by 2020-21. The adjustment required is
0.3 or 0.4 per cent. I think we can credibly do it in 2020-21. I think we have
no plans to revise it (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act), he
said. The document projects nil primary deficit for 2020-21 and 2021-22
financial years. The reduction of the primary deficit is a positive sign as it
shows reduced usage of borrowed funds to pay for existing liabilities, the
document said. It also said there has been a slight decrease in gross tax
revenue estimates for 2018-19 to the tune of about Rs 23,067 crore mainly on
account of lesser than the anticipated collection of GST.
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AFTER
LEAK BOMB, BIBEK DEBROY SAYS GOVT TO CONDUCT NEW SURVEY TO SHOW ENOUGH JOB
CREATION
Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council
chief Bibek Debroy said new national sample survey on employment would be
conducted by the government. The survey would show that there has been
substantial job creation, he told. The states are largely responsible for
creating business environment and jobs, he also told. We will have a new round
of the NSS which will soon be announced and I am sure that that particular survey
will show that there has been substantial employment and substantial job
creation, he added. Interestingly, it comes a day after a leaked media report
citing the the ‘Periodic Labour Force Survey’ (PLFS) published by the National
Sample Survey Office (NSSO), said the unemployment rate in India stood at 6.1
per cent in the period of 2017-18, which is a high rate in the last 45 years.
The government hasn’t still officially published this report that was prepared
in the month of December 2018. Debroy also told PTI that the country does not
have any robust statistical data on job creation after FY12.
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GOVT
SLASHES STARTUP INDIA KITTY TO RS 25 CR; MAKE IN INDIA GETS MORE MONEY
The government has reduced the allocation for
Startup India programme in the Budget 2019-20 but added more monies to the Make
in India kitty. According to the budget documents, the allocation for Startup
India programme has been slashed to Rs 25 crore for 2019-20 from the revised
estimate of Rs 28 crore in 2018-19. There are 19 components under the Startup
India action plan spanning across areas such as simplification and
hand-holding, funding support and incentives, and industry-academia partnership
and incubation, according to the documents. On the other hand, Make in India
programme that received increased budgetary allocation include scheme for
investment promotion (Rs 232.02 crore), scheme for implementation of national
manufacturing policy (Rs 8.47 crore), and fund of funds (Rs 100 crore).
Overall, the total allocation for Make in India initiative was increased to Rs
473.3 crore for 2019-20 as against the revised estimate of Rs 149 crore in
2018-19.
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ARUN
JAITLEY SAYS NO MAJOR SOCIAL AGITATION INDICATES IT HASN'T BEEN JOBLESS GROWTH
Arun Jaitley Sunday rejected criticism of
giving a 'jobless economic growth' saying the absence of any major social or
political agitation in the last five years indicates government schemes have
created employment. Jaitley, who is here for medical treatment, justified the
absence of any major mention of job creation in the Interim Budget presented on
February 1, saying such budgets are different from the normal budget speeches
as they are more like a report card and a road map. Why is it that India, in
the last five years, hasn't seen a major social or political agitation? If
there is no job creation, there will be discontent. Where is that visible? he
said. Rout of incumbent governments is a foregone conclusion when such
discontent is there but during current times the opposition parties are teaming
up because they know they do not stand a chance otherwise, he said. Normally,
outgoing governments in such environments, their rout is predicted. But today
political rivals want to come together because they know for anyone of them it
is not possible to take on Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and his party, he
said. Jaitley said it is not as if suddenly in five years the productivity
levels in India have gone up that all organisations are now running with half
their staff. The empirical evidence is to the contrary. Jaitley also said
questions are being raised as to how GDP increased after demonetisation, as
reflected in the revision in economic growth numbers for 2017-18 fiscal. I have
been asserting from day one that it (GDP) has to increase after demonetisation.
There was no settled global model on what happens post-demonetisation, there
were no studies and therefore a former Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) made a
statement that there will be a 2 per cent drop. And everybody else accepted
this as a prediction of a prophet of doom, he said. Demonetisation, he said,
compelled people to deposit almost their entire cash, or 86 per cent of India's
currency, into banks. This meant that many cash transactions that previously
went unrecorded for the purposes of GDP came on record. He noted that money
deposited in banks went to mutual funds, from there they were channelled to
NBFCs, real estate sector, automobile purchase and more capital expenditure.
Transactions now emanating from that deposited money became recordable
transactions. The anonymity attached to the owner of cash was gone. Now the
owner of the cash was identified, he said.
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ARUN
JAITLEY HINTS AT RAISING RS 500 A MONTH CASH SUPPORT TO FARMERS IN FUTURE
Union Minister Arun Jaitley Sunday hinted
that the Rs 500 a month cash dole to small farmers may be increased in the
future as the government's resources grow and said states can top up this
amount with their own income support schemes. He also slammed Congress
President Rahul Gandhi for ridiculing the scheme announced in the Interim
Budget for 2019-20 by equating it to Rs 17 a day dole, saying the opposition
leader must grow up and realise that he is contesting a national election and
not a college union poll. The plan to give Rs 6,000 cash to 12 crore small and
marginal farmers every year together with government schemes for giving them a
house, subsidised food, free healthcare and hospitalisation, free sanitation,
electricity, roads, gas connections, twice the amount of credit at very cheap
rate are all aimed at addressing farm distress, Jaitley told. This is the first
year where it (farmer income support scheme) has begun. I am sure as the
government resources improve, this can be increased, he said. On nearly 15
crore landless farmers being left out of the scheme, he said they have rural
employment guarantee scheme MNREGA plus other benefits for the rural
population. What is the biggest thing that the Congress claims that they ever
did? (UPA regime Finance Minister) P Chidambaram announced a Rs 70,000 crore
farm loan waiver (but) actual distributed was only Rs 52,000 crore. (Also), CAG
said a large part of that money went to traders and businessmen and converted
itself into a fraud, he said. The present government, he said, is starting off
over and above the lakhs of crores we are putting into rural areas. We are
starting off with Rs 75,000 crore a year and I foresee this amount increasing
in the years to come. And if the states top it up, some states have already
started with the scheme, I think the others must emulate them, it will
increase, he added. Jaitley, who is here for medical treatment, said the state
governments too have a responsibility to address farm distress by bringing
their own income support schemes. Some state governments have started it, he
said. So my advise to what I call the 'Nawabs of Negativity' is ask your own
state governments to top it off with their own income support schemes. Ideally,
like the GST, this is a case where all political parties must defy party lines
and in the spirit of cooperative federalism, have a Centre plus state scheme.
He said most of the central schemes are divided into 60:40 ratio, so let us
enhance this to 60:40 in the spirit of cooperative federalism and instead of
giving criticism, let the states give 40 (per cent). In addition to the
fertiliser subsidy - another big amount, the healthcare, cheap ration, over a
dozen other things you are spending on. This is just an add-on, this (income
support) is not something being thrown in the air. The Congress doesn't
understand it because it did nothing, he said.
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PAYOUTS
TO RYOTS FROM THIS MONTH ITSELF: ECONOMIC AFFAIRS SECRETARY
The government will start disbursing a
substantial amount under the income support scheme for small farmers this month
itself as beneficiary data are already in place a top official of the Finance
Ministry said. Land record data are available. We have all the information
about small and marginal farmers, Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra
Garg told PTI. The government last year released Agriculture Census 2015-16 and
most States have moved to electronic record-keeping. Mr. Garg said the
Agriculture Department would now relate the holdings to the families which will
receive assistance. They (Agriculture Department) expect to make disbursements
of substantial amounts in the month of February itself. That is the expectation
and confidence of the (Agri) department, he said. Supplementaries would be
presented in the current session to seek Parliament’s nod for spending an
additional ₹20,000 crore for the
scheme, he said.
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15.56
LAKH LOANS WORTH RS 7.23 LAKH CR SANCTIONED UNDER MUDRA SCHEME: PIYUSH GOYAL
Finance Minister Piyush Goyal Friday said the
government has sanctioned 15.56 lakh loans amounting Rs 7.23 lakh crore under
the Mudra scheme of which an overwhelming majority were woman beneficiaries
Under the Mudra scheme, the government has sanctioned 15.56 lakh loans
amounting Rs 7.23 lakh crore, he added. Terming Ujjwala Yojana providing free
cooking gas connection as a remarkable success story, Goyal said out of 8 crore
free LPG connections under Ujjwala, 6 crore connections to poor women have
already been provided. The finance minister also said gratuity limit has been
increased from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 30 lakh Commenting on India's growing clout in
entrepreneurship, he said India has become the second largest hub of startups.
On infrastructure, he said the country now has 100 operational airports and
passenger traffic has doubled in the last five years. India is the fastest
highways developer in the world with 27 km of highways built each day, he said.
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10 CRORE
FARMERS TO GET RS 2,000 BY MARCH-END: JUNIOR AGRICULTURE MINISTER
The government will pay 100 million farmers
Rs 2,000 each by the end of March and will be able to swiftly transfer
subsequent instalments under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PMKISAN)
scheme for small landholders, minister of state for agriculture Gajendra
Shekhawat told. The minister said the first payment may not be as easy as
subsequent transfers. Distribution of the second part would be easier as all
the beneficiaries will have their bank accounts linked with Aadhaar to make the
process swift, he said. Experts and former bureaucrats said the rollout could
face challenges, particularly in big states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh
where land records may not have been fully digitised. Speed would be of the
essence with polls due in a few months Shekhawat said the government has asked
states for lists of eligible farmers, but the Centre already had a wealth of
data for the scheme. We have the database of majority of the farmers as they
are already our beneficiaries of various subsidy schemes, he said. Moreover,
soil health card is also our main source of data. I don’t think any state would
like to lag behind in this exercise. Economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra
Garg said. They would do it on a campaign mode to get it as fast as possible,
Garg told. The basic criterion is ready. Small and marginal farmers owning land
of up to 2 hectares need to be identified. Interim finance minister Piyush
Goyal said in his budget speech that in the current fiscal, Rs 20,000 crore
will be provided for the scheme, effective December 1, 2018, to help farmers
owning up to 2 hectares. This amount is enough to pay 100 million farmers one
instalment of Rs 2,000. In the next fiscal, Rs 75,000 crore has been allocated,
which can pay 120 million farmers three such instalments. Experts said the
scheme faces challenges. Former agriculture secretary Siraj Hussain said
PM-KISAN was a good scheme that could be the precursor to a Universal Basic
Income (UBI) in a few years. He said that implementation would be difficult,
although the government had asked states on February 1 to prepare a database of
small and marginal farmer families and link it to an ID, mobile number and bank
details and that Aadhaar would not be required for the first instalment.
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GOVERNMENT
EYEING RS 90,000-CR DIVESTMENT IN FY20
The government raised its disinvestment
target for 2019-20 by 12.5 per cent to Rs 90,000 crore even as less than half
of the budgeted target of Rs 80,000 in the outgoing fiscal has been realised in
the first 10 months. So far, the government has raised Rs 35,532 crore from the
sale of its shares in the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) in 2018-19.
The government has expressed confidence of meeting the target, saying most
sales happen in last quarter. The government received over Rs 1 lakh crore from
disinvestment proceeds during 2017-18. We are confident of crossing the target
of Rs 80,000 crore this year, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said while
presenting the Interim Budget on Friday. The government plans to use the
divestment fund of Rs 90,000 crore to finance expenditure on infrastructure
project, education, health sectors and investment in the railways towards
capital expenditure in 2019-20, as per the Budget documents. While
disinvestment collections were never above Rs 50,000 crore, it went beyond Rs 1
lakh crore in previous fiscal 2017-18 against the budgeted target of Rs 72,500
crore.
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CPSES
LINED UP FOR IPOS, WILL MEET RS 90,000-CR DISINVESTMENT TARGET: DIPAM
The Finance Ministry on Saturday said 10
CPSEs including THDCIL, RailTel and TCIL, have been lined up for initial public
offering (IPO) and plans are afoot to launch sector-specific ETFs to meet the
ambitious Rs 90,000 crore disinvestment target for 2019-20. Besides, the
ministry plans to march ahead with the strategic disinvestment of a host of
CPSEs and monetise non-core assets of state-owned companies, said Atanu
Chakraborty. We have about 10 IPOs which are lined up already. Then there are a
lot of companies which have to meet their minimum public shareholding target.
We will also bring a new theme-based ETFs. Then there would be strategic
disinvestments and post elections we would top it up sharply and asset
monetisation framework will see the light of the day next year, Chakraborty
told. The Interim Budget has set a target of Rs 90,000 crore to be mopped up
from CPSE disinvestment in 2019-20, higher than Rs 80,000 crore in the current
financial year. In the 10 months of the current fiscal so far, Rs 36,000 crore
has been raised through stake sale in CPSEs, as well as tranches of Exchange
Traded Funds (ETFs) and share buybacks. The government has an uphill task of
mopping up another Rs 44,000 crore from disinvestment by March-end. All
transactions are in place to meet the Rs 80,000 crore target set for current fiscal,
Chakraborty said. The government is expected to raise around Rs 12,000 crore
from share buyback offerings by CPSEs, including ONGC, Coal India and IOC. In
addition, about Rs 15,000 crore would come in from PFC buying out government
equity in REC. Further, the strategic disinvestment of Pawan Hans is also
expected to be completed by March 2019.
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SPECIAL
PURPOSE VEHICLE FOR DEBT: AIR INDIA GETS RS 2,600 CRORE
The interim budget for 2019-20 has made a provision
of Rs 2,600 crore for the special purpose vehicle (SPV) that will take over
about Rs 30,000 crore of Air India's total debt of more than Rs 55,000 crore.
This provisioning, on top of Rs 1,300 crore allocated for this fiscal, will
enable the SPV - AI Asset Holding Co - to service the debt. The government is
in the process of transferring about Rs 29,434 crore of AI's debt to the SPV,
along with some of the airline's subsidiaries, like its ground handling arm AI
Air Transport Services, and real estate holdings. The plan is to sell the
assets transferred to the SPV and gradually write off the loans it has taken
over. The process of transferring debt is on. Clearances are being taken and
the entire procedure should take one to two months, said an official. AI needs
lenders' approval to transfer the debt. The airline's current annual debt
servicing is about Rs 4,500 crore and transferring the debt will mean
significant relief to AI. The interim budget has also granted Rs 1,084 crore
for acquiring two new Boeing 777s that are being prepared to be India's
state-of-the-art Air India One, with the provisions for current fiscal being Rs
3,545 crore. These two planes are being retrofitted with latest security and
communication systems at Boeing Defence's Dallas-Fort Worth facility in the US
and are expected to be ready later this year.
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GOVT TO
BORROW RS 79K MORE TO MEET THE ENTIRE BURDEN OF PM-KISAN SCHEME
The Union government has estimated its
borrowings for the next fiscal to go up by Rs 79,000 crore (compared as budget
estimate of 2018-19 with 2019-20), topping the figure of Rs 7 lakh crore for
the first time in history of the country. In this budget, the NDA government
has announced Rs 6,000 support a year to every small and marginal farmer having
a landholding of less than 2 hectare. PM Kisan scheme would require Rs 75,000
crore in 2019-20. A careful examination of the budget papers would reveal that
the increase of Rs 79,000 crore in the government’s overall borrowing for
2019-20 is mainly on the account of Rs 75,000 crore budget outlay for the
PM-Kisan scheme announced in the election year. Finance minster Piyush Goyal
has pegged the government’s total borrowings in 2019-20 to be Rs 7.03 lakh
crore, which is more than double of the government’s total capital expenditure
of Rs 3.36 lakh crore for the same period. India’s total interest payment
liabilities are nearly one fourth of its total budget of Rs 27.84 lakh crore in
the next fiscal. These two factors, high interest payment liability coupled
with high revenue expenditure which has been estimated at Rs 24.47 lakh crore
or 88% of the total budget, reflect the inadequate allocation for capital
expenditure. Increasing capital expenditure substantially is crucial for
achieving high growth rate in an emerging economy like India that requires more
roads, ports, schools and hospitals for its growing population. However,
India’s capital expenditure has been stuck at just 10-12% of the total budget
for last several years. One of the main reasons behind India’s constantly high
revenue expenditure is the country’s large interest payment liability which is
almost one third of the total revenue expenditure of the central government. It
simply shows that every year the federal government is forced to borrow more
and more money to meet its interest payment liabilities. Payment of this
extremely large amount of Rs 6-7 lakh crore per year actually doesn’t result in
reduction of the Union government’s total debt payment liabilities which has
been pegged at Rs 82.03 lakh crore in September 2018 as nearly 95% of the total
borrowing of the governments goes into interest payments of old loans. In fact,
the Union government’s interest payment liabilities are Rs 21,000 crore more
than the total GST collection in the current fiscal which is pegged at Rs 6.44
lakh crore.
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HEALTH
BUDGET FOCUSES ONLY ON AYUSHMAN BHARAT, OTHER SCHEMES IGNORED
Making Ayushman Bharat scheme the
representative of all the healthcare initiatives in Budget 2019-20, Narendra Modi-led
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government forgot to focus on unprecedented
disease burden looming large on the country. While the total health budget
allocated to the ministry of health and family welfare for 2019-20 is ₹61,398.12 crore against ₹52,800 crore in 2018-19, an increase of
16.3%, the highest increase was witnessed in Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan
Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) i.e. ₹6,400
crore. During the launching year of the scheme 2018-19, government allocated ₹2,400 crore to the scheme this year the
increase has been over 166%. Piyush Goyal said that by 2030 his government will
work towards a distress free healthcare and a functional and comprehensive
wellness system for all. Ignoring health areas, the centre has curtailed budget
under the head of flexi pool for non-communicable diseases (NCDs), injury and
trauma which are the largest cause of death in the country. While in the year
2018-19, the budget for the said head was ₹1,004.67
Crore, this year the budget has been slashed to ₹717
crore. The budget for national program for prevention and control of cancer,
diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke has also suffered cuts from ₹295 Crore in 2018-19 to ₹175 crore in 2019-20. This is when the
estimated proportion of all deaths due to NCDs has increased from 37.09% in
1990 to 61.8% in 2016, according to Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)
India state-level disease burden study report ‘India: Health of the Nation’s
States’, released in 2018. Goyal claimed that the past five years have seen massive
scale up of healthcare and ₹3,000
crore through free treatment made available under Ayuhsman Bharat scheme. Lakhs
of poor and middle class people are also benefiting from reduction in the
prices of essential medicines, cardiac stents and knee implants, and
availability of medicines at affordable prices through Pradhan Mantri Jan
Aushadhi Kendras, Goyal said. India’s spending on health continues to be very
low with around 1.4% of the GDP. According to the latest annual report of Central
Bureau of Health Intelligence 2017-18, India spends less than some of its
neighbour countries such as Bhutan (2.5%) and Sri Lanka (1.6%).
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INTERIM
BUDGET TO SUPPORT CONSUMER SPENDING, ECONOMIC GROWTH: USIBC
A top American business advocacy group on
Friday lauded the interim budget presented by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal,
saying that the many positive elements in it will support consumer spending and
economic growth We see many positive elements that will support consumer
spending and economic growth, including a boost in defence and health spending,
as well as a renewed focus on digitisation of government processes as well as
artificial intelligence, US India Business Council (USIBC) president Nisha Desai
Biswal, told PTI. The creation of a single window for approvals in film
production will boost the media and entertainment industries as well as
measures on anti-piracy, she said. USIBC applauds the interim budget released
by the government, she added. However, the budget comes on the heels of
disappointing moves by the Indian government to mandate a rushed implementation
of changes in its e-commerce policy, she rued. The Indian government’s failure
to extend the February 1 deadline to comply with the foreign direct investment
policy in e-commerce has already created disruptions in the industry and
disadvantaged Indian consumers and suppliers, she said. The policy changes add
unnecessary costs and burdens to e-commerce platforms and will inhibit growth in
the e-commerce sector in India, Biswal said. With this Budget, growth is likely
to improve further and will help meet the 7.5 per cent real GDP target, Rishi
said. The 13 per cent increase in the Department of Health and Family Welfare
budget confirmed the government’s dedication to Healthy India initiatives and
its commitment to serving the poor and needy.
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INDIA'S
SOVEREIGN RATING PROFILE TO BE EVALUATED BASED ON POST-ELECTION BUDGET: FITCH
Pre-election spending has led to fiscal
slippage by a modest margin but the sovereign rating profile of India would be evaluated
based on the medium term outlook in the post-election Budget, Fitch Ratings has
said. However, there was a 0.1 per cent slip in the fiscal deficit estimate for
the current financial year. It was revised to 3.4 per cent from the budgeted
3.3 per cent. For the next fiscal, fiscal deficit has been pegged at 3.4 per
cent of GDP, up from 3.1 per cent as per the fiscal consolidation roadmap
outlined earlier. Stephen Schwartz said the announced interim budget is largely
as anticipated, with pre-election spending pressures giving rise to a second
consecutive year of fiscal slippage by a modest margin, thereby delaying plans
to reduce the high general fiscal deficit and debt burden. Longer term fiscal
trends are more important to the sovereign rating profile, and we will evaluate
these in the context of the post-election budget, which should provide
additional guidance on the medium term outlook, Schwartz said. Wood said as per
the budget, capital expenditure will rise more slowly next year, following a
notable rise in full year 2018-19. On the whole, these measures are largely in
line with expectations in an election year, he added.
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INTERIM
BUDGET FOCUSED ON RURAL, AGRI SECTOR: DBS BANK
The Interim Budget for the financial year
2019-20 has a strong focus on the rural and agricultural sector and also
suggests that economic priorities have taken precedence according to a leading
bank. Presenting the interim budget for FY 2019-20 ahead of the general
elections due in April-May this year, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday
proposed an array of incentives for both the middle-class and farmers. Singapore’s
DBS Bank said there was a marginal slippage in the FY19 and FY20 fiscal deficit
targets, resulting in a sharp increase in the borrowing quantum. Friday’s
Budget announcements suggest that economic priorities have taken precedence
over near-term fiscal consolidation as the 3 per cent of Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) fiscal target stands delayed, Radhika Rao, economist at DBS’ Group
Research, wrote in a commentary on the Indian Budget. She said the
consumption-push and growth stimulus will be positive for growth, but limits
the scope for an aggressive monetary easing cycle. We also note that this
Interim Budget holds till July 2019, when a full-year Budget is likely to be
tabled, after the general elections, she said. The outgoing year and FY20
marked a modest fiscal slippage. The government revised up the FY19 fiscal
deficit at -3.4 per cent of GDP vs -3.3 per cent in the budgeted estimate. This
was broadly in line with our expectations where -3.5 per cent was seen as a red
line for any deterioration in the math. The slippage is more notable for FY20,
to -3.4 per cent vs -3.1 per cent laid out in the roadmap, built on a 11.5 per
cent nominal GDP growth projection, said Rao. The breakdown reveals that the
government has built in aggressive revenue assumptions in FY20, despite
factoring in a slowdown in nominal growth to 11.5 per cent vs a revised 11.8
per cent in FY19. The recent reduction in GST rates, higher thresholds and a
wider umbrella of tax payers under the composition scheme are also likely to
slow collections further in FY20, Rao pointed out. Income tax revenues are also
projected to improve factoring in a wider tax base and improved compliance.
Under other revenue heads, excise duty collections are expected to moderate as
oil prices ease and past tax cuts bite, she said. Dividends and profit
transfers from the Reserve Bank of India and other public sector entities, is
projected to increase marginally from Rs 1.2 trillion to Rs 1.4 trillion. With
lack of fresh revenue generating measures in the interim budget, much of the
funding is likely to arise from higher markets-based borrowings, she said. Higher
revenue projections are meant to plug an increase in spending requirements as
the government has adopted a pro-consumption focus in the Interim Budget, said
Rao.
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AMAZON,
WALMART LOSE OVER $50 BILLION IN MARKET VALUE AFTER E-TAIL POLICY CHANGE
US-based corporations Amazon and Walmart,
which owns 77% stake in India’s largest online retailer Flipkart, together lost
over $50 billion in market capitalisation on Friday after the government’s
updated e-commerce policy came into effect. Both companies have made big bets
on the Indian retail market - with Amazon committing $5 billion here while
Walmart spent $16 billion last year to buy a controlling stake in Flipkart. Nasdaq-listed
Amazon’s shares fell by 5.38% to $1626.23, losing $45.22 billion in market
capitalisation. Walmart’s share price fell by 2.06% to $93.86 on NYSE, losing
$5.7 billion in market capitalisation. At the close of trade on Friday in the
US, Amazon was valued at $795.18 billion while Walmart was at $272.69 billion. Part
of the fall in share price of Amazon, which also reported its fourth-quarter
results on Thursday, was driven by the company’s plans to increase spending not
related to India. But Amazon’s international sales, which includes the India
business, also saw a slower growth even before the new policy came into effect.
Amazon’s International net sales grew by 15% to $20.83 billion during the
quarter ending December 2018, as compared to a 29% growth in the year-ago
period. At the same time, it was able to narrow its International losses by 30%
to $642 million for the quarter, from $919 million in the corresponding quarter
last year. Walmart is expected to declare its quarterly results later this
month. Flipkart said that it was disappointed about the government’s rush to
implement the updated e-commerce policy and not allowing an extension to
restructure the business. Amazon has also said that it will engage with the
government for further clarifications to minimize the impact on our customers
and sellers.
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AMAZON,
FLIPKART SALES FALL A THIRD AS FDI NORMS KICK IN
Online marketplaces Amazon and Flipkart have
seen as much as a third of sales volume disappear on their platforms since the
new foreign investment rules in ecommerce came into effect three days ago,
people privy to the matter told. The new regulations bar some of the business
practices that foreign funded ecommerce companies followed, such as having a
stake in companies that sold products on their platforms. The rules categorise
sellers who drive more than 25% of their overall sales from a single marketplace
as entities of that marketplace and bar them, too. Since Friday, the platforms
have pulled product listings from joint-venture and preferred sellers, and
capped inventory, leading to fewer selections, higher prices, longer-thanusual
delivery time, and a 25-35% fall in sales, the people said. Amazon spokesperson
said: All sellers make their own independent decisions of what to list and when
and we cannot comment on that. Restructuring at both companies is on as we
speak, said a person aware of the changes. The impact of the new rules on these
companies is much more than that from the introduction of goods and services
tax which had impacted the whole retail economy, he said.
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WHEN CBI
DOES ITS JOB, OPPOSITION CALLS IT POLITICAL VENDETTA: SITHARAMAN
Defence Minister said, The CBI has got to do
its job or not? When CBI does its job, the opposition parties call it a
political vendetta, when it doesn't, they call it a caged parrot. Let them make
up their (Opposition) minds. Targeting Mamata Banerjee for hampering the CBI
investigation in chit fund scam involving state police commissioner Rajiv
Kumar, Sitharaman stated that the Opposition needs to make up its mind about
CBI and its operations. A full-blown face-off between West Bengal's Mamata
Banerjee government and the Centre erupted as a CBI team moved to arrest Kumar
on Sunday, which in turn were unceremoniously denied entry to Kolkata Police
chief's residence and then detained. Escalating her confrontation with the
Centre, Banerjee started a sit-in on Sunday night to protest, in what her
Trinamool Congress party called a coup by the Modi government. The Defence
Minister further stated that the BJP will move the Supreme Court against West
Bengal government for denying permission to conduct rally by Yogi Adityanath.
The TMC is worried about the growing popularity of the BJP in West Bengal and
this state is now turning out to be a difficult place for BJP workers in the
state, she added. Extending support to Mamata, her party workers also staged a
'rail roko protest' in Rishra and Asansol over the ongoing issue. The TMC
workers have also burnt an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Asansol.
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INDIA MAY
BREACH 3.3% FISCAL DEFICIT TARGET AS OIL PRICES RISE: MOODY'S
Credit rating agency Moody's Investors
Service said there are risks of India breaching the 3.3 per cent fiscal deficit
target for the current financial year as higher oil prices will add to
short-term fiscal pressures. According to the US-based agency, the current
account deficit (CAD), which is the difference between inflow and outflow of
foreign currency, will widen but will not jeopardise India's external position;
and the gap will remain significantly narrower than five years ago. Higher oil
prices add to short-term fiscal pressures, following cuts in the goods and
services tax on some items and relatively high increases in minimum support
prices for some crops. We see risks that the deficit will be wider than
budgeted, Moody's said. The government has budgeted fiscal deficit to be at 3.3
per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the current fiscal ending March
2019. Fiscal deficit during April-June quarter of current fiscal had touched
68.7 per cent of Budget estimates. Also driven by higher oil prices and robust
non-oil import demand, Moody's expects the current account deficit to widen to
2.5 per cent of GDP in the fiscal year ending March 2019, from 1.5 per cent in
fiscal 2018. Joy Rankothge said, higher oil prices and interest rates will put
pressure on the government's budget and the current account. However, growth
prospects remain in line with the economy's potential, around 7.5 per cent this
year and next. This robust growth, large foreign exchange reserves, a
predominantly domestic funding base, strengthened monetary policy management,
and macroprudential regulations on bank lending in foreign currency will
broadly contain the credit impact of the higher oil prices and rising interest
rates, Rankothge said. Moody's said oil prices at current levels will raise
expenditures and add to existing pressures on the fiscal position stemming from
the lowering of goods and services tax (GST) rates on a range of consumer goods
and a tax cut for small businesses as well as the relatively high minimum
support prices set for this year. Brent crude futures is currently hovering
around USD 76.51 a barrel. However, a temporary fiscal slippage, if any, will
not offset India's robust nominal GDP growth and large domestic financing base
which helps keep the government's debt burden broadly stable, Moody's added.
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ASIAN
INTERNET LOBBY TO FIGHT INDIA'S PLANS TO POLICE SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT
An Asian internet lobby group, whose members
include Alphabet's Google and Facebook, on Thursday criticised Indian
government's plans to regulate social media content The proposal drafted by
India's technology ministry in December would compel Facebook, WhatsApp and
Twitter to remove within 24 hours content deemed to be unlawful including
anything affecting the sovereignty and integrity of India. Tech giants are
preparing to fight the changes in the intermediary guidelines, Reuters has
reported. While Internet intermediaries fully support addressing issues like
malicious misinformation, we strongly feel that blanket regulation that is
overly broad and contains vague and ambiguous language will jeopardise
citizens' fundamental rights to privacy and free speech, Jeff Paine, Managing
Director of the Asia Internet Coalition (AIC), said in a statement. The AIC has
also voiced its concerns in a letter responding to an invitation by India's
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology for public comments and
suggestions on the draft rules by January 31. In addition to interfering with
the fundamental rights of freedom of speech and expression, and right to
privacy the Draft Rules impose burdensome obligations on the intermediaries,
the AIC said in the letter.
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WILL
OPPOSE CITIZENSHIP (AMENDMENT) BILL, CENTRE WILL HAVE TO WITHDRAW IT: MAMATA
BANERJEE
West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool
Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee Saturday said her party would oppose the
Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and demanded that the BJP-led government at the
Centre withdraw the contentious piece of legislation She was reacting to Prime
Minister Narendra Modi seeking the TMC’s support for the passage of the bill,
at a rally in Thakunagar in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district. The
Centre will have to withdraw the Citizenship Bill. There is no question of
supporting it. We will oppose it. We will not let him (Modi) succeed, Banerjee
said. In his speech at the event organised by the Matua community, Modi praised
the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and sought the Trinamool Congress’ support for
it. The Bill, he said, would bring justice and respectability to those who
faced religious persecution. India got Independence after splitting it into
pieces. People thought they can make a living in the country of their choice,
but there they faced atrocities and torture because of communal malice Hindus,
Sikhs, Jains and Parsis. It was because of this that we brought the Citizenship
Bill. These people have no place to go other than India. Should they not be
given justice and respectability? I ask the TMC to support the Bill and
facilitate its passage in Parliament, Modi said. The Matuas originally hail
from erstwhile East Pakistan and began migrating to West Bengal at the
beginning of the 1950s, mostly due to religious persecution. Many of them are
claimed to have still not got Indian citizenship. The Citizenship (Amendment)
Bill, passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8, seeks to provide Indian citizenship
to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Trinamool
Congress had staged a walk out from the Lok Sabha last month demanding that the
Bill be sent to a parliamentary panel.
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CITIZENSHIP
AMENDMENT BILL: LAW AND ORDER SITUATION UNDER CONTROL, SAYS ASSAM CHIEF
SECRETARY
While Assam is witnessing raging protest
against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, Assam chief secretary Alok Kumar said
that law and order situation is under control however challenging. Appealing
for restrain, Kumar while talking to media said, the administration is ready
for tackling any situation Ever since the bill is passed in Lok Sabha on
January 8, Assam is witnessing series of bandh, blockades and protests across
the state. There has been nude protest and demonstration of black flags to BJP
leaders. There has been couple of incidents of scuffles in Tinsukia and
Nalbari. Kumar said Assam is passing through a phase which is challenging. The
law and order situation of Assam is under control as of now but it is
challenging. In a democratic set up people have the right to protest. However,
certain deviations are observed. Taking off cloths and protesting by that means
may not be the right way. Kuladhar Saikia said that as many as eight cases have
so far been registered in Assam over sporadic incidents of violence.
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BANGLADESHIS
ILLEGALLY ENTERING WEST BENGAL, WILL USE TECHNOLOGY TO SEAL BORDERS, SAYS
RAJNATH SINGH
Rajnath Singh on Saturday said the Centre
will use technology to seal the international borders of both West Bengal and
Assam with Bangladesh, through an integrated border management system. Singh
alleged that Bangladeshis are illegally entering West Bengal He added that the
Centre had sought land from the West Bengal government to erect fencing to seal
the border with Bangladesh, but is yet to receive it. Now, we have decided to
use technology to seal both international borders with Bangladesh using a
comprehensive integrated border management system, Singh said. The move will
help prevent infiltration as well as smuggling, and ensure safety and security
of the nation amid a changing demographic profile of West Bengal. He said,
Maximum violence takes place in West Bengal as per records. None of the ‘Ma,
Mati and Manus’ (mother, land and people) are safe under their rule. Nearly 100
BJP workers have been killed in the state and none of those involved will be
spared, Singh asserted. Political violence should end in West Bengal. And for
that to happen, Bengal will have a BJP CM in 2021, he said.
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FARMERS
ORGANISATION ANNOUNCES DHARNA BEFORE ASSEMBLY
Farmers organisation Naba Nirman Krushak
Sangathan (NNKS) Saturday announced to launch indefinite dharna before the
Odisha Assembly demanding social security allowance for cultivators. The
agitation is planned keeping in view the Odisha Assembly’s budget session which
begins from February 4. Thousands of farmers from across the state will
participate in the agitation, said NNKS convenor Akshya Kumar. The NNKS has
been agitating for fulfillment of their long-standing demands of price, pension
and prestige, Kumar said. He said the farmers also demanded Rs 5,000 per month
for 36 lakh farmers of the state with an annual budget requirement of Rs 21,600
crore. We demand the state government to allocate Rs 21,600 crore to ensure
social security allowance for farmers, Kumar said. About 3 lakh farmers from 30
districts will congregate on February 6 to gherao the Odisha Assembly. We
demand provision for farmers in the interim state budget, Kumar claimed.
Alleging that implementation of KALIA scheme is aimed at diverting attention
from real issue, Kumar said the ministerial committees has failed to resolve
the farmers problems.
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INTERIM
BUDGET 2019 WILL REFLECT 'SABKA SAATH, SABKA VIKAS' MANTRA: TOMAR
Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs
Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision
of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' will be reflected in the Interim Budget. The
BJP-led government has presented the Budget four times before this in which
there were many provisions keeping in mind the poor, youth and development.
'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' has been our government's mantra and it will reflect
in the Budget, Tomar told.
#For Source of Information copy and paste the heading in google.
Thanks & Regards,
CS Meetesh Shiroya
Thanks & Regards,
CS Meetesh Shiroya
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