GENERAL UPDATES 20.04.2019

1,500 RULES SCRAPPED IN 5 YRS TO HELP BUSINESS: PM MAKES HIS ELECTION PITCH

Modi said on Friday his government had scrapped 1,500 rules in five years to improve ease of doing business in the country, speaking to small traders as he campaigns to be reelected for a second term. Governments boasted of making new rules--I had said I will remove a regulation every day if come to power. I have tried to make your life and business easy in last five years, Modi said. Modi said his government's reforms like Goods and Services Tax had cut red tape and improved transparency. India's ranking in terms of ease of doing business has improved by 65 notches, he said as the crowd chanted his name.

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MODI A FAILED PRIME MINISTER: RAHUL GANDHI

Rahul Gandhi on Thursday termed him a failed Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a free gift to Anil Ambani - Rs 30,000 crore. Of the past 45 years, employment opportunities have been the lowest in the last 5 years. Narendra Modi is a failed prime minister and now he is losing the elections, Gandhi told. Case filed by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi against him, Congress president said that defamation cases are nothing new. Modi did not create employment opportunities but ended employment. The reasons behind this are demonetisation and GST. We will give a simple GST, give 22 lakh government jobs in a year and employment to 10 lakh youth in panchayats, he added.

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PIL AGAINST LOAN WAIVERS IN ELECTION MANIFESTOS FILED IN SC

A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed by advocate Reena N. Singh in the Supreme Court seeking restraint on loan waiver schemes announced by political parties in their election manifestos. The petition in the apex court will come up for hearing on Monday before Justice S.A. Bopde. It comes against the backdrop of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, in which farm distress is one of the major issues confronting the government. The petition has been filed against 41 respondents, including the chief secretaries of states and union territories. The other respondents include the union ministries of finance and agriculture, the Reserve Bank of India and the Election Commission. The 'farm distress' issue has assumed importance given that 342 seats of the 542 parliamentary constituencies in India are rural (another 144 are semi-urban), according to numbers based on Census 2011 classification. The petitioner stated that the waiver of farm loans destroys credit culture. Singh argued in the petition that people are trapped in the hope of getting a waiver while people who pay back loans feel cheated. The petition seeks a complete ban on political parties from advertising in their election manifesto any monetary or loan waiver scheme. It has requested that the Union and the state governments not be permitted to reduce or waive loans.

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ALL IS WELL WITH MODI’S MUDRA LOANS; NPAS WITHIN RBI LIMITS, SAYS FINANCE MINISTRY OFFICIAL

The non-performing assets (NPAs) under Modi government’s flagship scheme Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) for promoting small businesses are within the Reserve Bank of India’s permissible limits, but there are a few PSU banks which may have breached the RBI threshold a senior finance ministry official said. The RBI had flagged the issue of rising NPAs under Mudra scheme with the government early this year. The finance ministry had received a letter from the central bank about the burgeoning stress levels under the scheme. The overall NPA level in Mudra scheme is around 5%, which is less than the Basel norms. But there are a few PSU banks which may have crossed the RBI’s threshold which is little worrisome, the official told. However, according to the other media reports, the NPA level in Mudra loans had crossed Rs 11,000 crore in January. According to the provisional data of the government, the total loan disbursed up to March 22 in FY19 under the Mudra scheme stood at Rs 2,73,748.57 crore, while in FY 18 and FY19, the government had disbursed Rs 175312.13 crore and Rs 132954.73 crore respectively.

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GOVT LOOKING AT REITS MODEL TO MONETISE LAND ASSETS OF CPSES, ENEMY PROPERTY

The finance ministry is looking at innovative Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) model for sale of land assets of CPSEs and also those which are classified as 'enemy property' by the government. The finance ministry is looking at the REITs model along with other modes like leasing or outright sale of land assets for monetising non-core assets of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) which have been identified for strategic disinvestment, an official said. The ministry is also considering REITs model for monetisation of immovable enemy property. Although market regulator Sebi had notified REITs guidelines in 2014, the market for this instrument for investment in real estate is yet to pick up. With regard to sale of immovable enemy properties, the guidelines said the assets would be identified for disposal in consultation with the stakeholders including the respective state governments. Enemy property refers to the assets which were left behind by people who migrated to Pakistan or China and are no longer citizens of India. The Custodian of Enemy Property for India (CEPI) or the Ministry of Home Affairs will select the properties for disposal and will also certify that a clear title deed is available and the property is free of any encumbrances and encroachment. Although the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) under the finance ministry has spelled out the several model which could be used for monetising land assets, the final call will be taken by a ministerial panel headed by the finance minister. One of the models proposed by DIPAM is 'Direct Contractual Approach' under which large upfront payments for the land could be made to government coupled with small annual payments or small upfront payment coupled with annual payments. Adoption of one or the other model would depend upon many factors like type and use of asset, objective of monetisation and various other factors, an official said. The other model could be the one being used by NHAI under which operations of an existing revenue generating assets are entrusted to a private party for specified period on specific terms and conditions like the 'Toll-Operate-Transfer' (ToT). Another model which could be considered is to transfer the land to state-owned NBCC for developing affordable housing or central/state government offices.

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BANKS BOARD BUREAU IDENTIFIES 75 SENIOR OFFICERS FOR LEADERSHIP ROLES IN PSBS

The Banks Board Bureau (BBB), the apex body for selection of whole-time directors of state-owned lenders, has identified 75 senior management personnel of public sector lenders to take over leadership role in the future. From a pool of 450 senior management personnel across nationalised banks, an inaugural batch of around 75 personnel has been identified this year to help nationalised banks take on the current and emerging challenges as well as help create a leadership pipeline, BBB said in its activity report for the October 2018-March 2019 period. They are presently undergoing deeper assessments after which individual development plans will be generated. Shortly, a globally ranked Indian institution will be identified where every year the identified personnel will undergo intensive leadership development journey, it said. It has made a case for giving a complete autonomy to banks to decide organisational structure for better efficiency. B P Sharma, also suggested revamping credit governance architecture in nationalised banks to reinforce efforts to minimise credit costs and enhance efficiency of credit allocation. Incentivise maximisation of risk-adjusted income and disincentivise operational inefficiencies by aligning compensation with right performance metrics through the introduction of performance-based compensation through Employee Stock Option Scheme, which is different from Employee Share Purchase Scheme, and Performance Linked Incentives, the report said. It further said the Bureau was assigned with the task of recommending personnel for appointment as directors in government-owned insurance companies. In this regard, on January 4 this year, it made its recommendations for appointment of chairman and managing directors of LIC.

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INDIA STILL NOT POWER-SURPLUS NATION; PEAK DEFICIT AT 0.8 PERCENT, ENERGY DEFICIT AT 0.6 PC IN 2018-19

India has again missed the chance to become an electricity-surplus nation by a whisker as its peak power deficit stood at 0.8 per cent and the overall energy deficit remained 0.6 per cent in 2018-19. In its load generation balancing report (LGBR) for 2018-19, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) had pegged overall energy and peak power surpluses at 4.6 per cent and 2.5 per cent, respectively, indicating that India would be a power-surplus country in the financial year. In 2017 also, the CEA in its LGBR had projected that India would become a power-surplus nation in 2017-18. But, the peak power deficit was 2.1 per cent, while overall electricity deficit was 0.7 per cent across the country in that financial year. According to the latest CEA data, during peak hours, as much as 175.52 gigawatt (GW) was supplied against demand of 177.02 GW leaving a deficit of 1.49 GW or 0.8 per cent in 2018-19. The data showed that as much as 1,267.29 billion units (BUs) of electricity was supplied against the demand of 1,274.56 BUs leaving an overall electricity or energy deficit of 7.35 BUs or 0.6 per cent during 2018-19. A power sector expert said, The deficit is primarily due to discoms not being able to buy power. Their total outstanding due was Rs 40,698 crore toward power generators till January this year. He added that India can be a power-surplus state as its installed power generation capacity is around 356 GW against the peak demand of about 177 GW. The power generation can be doubled provided distribution companies (discoms) pay their dues promptly. During March 2019, the overall energy deficit was 0.4 per cent. As much as 108.19 BUs of electricity was supplied against the demand of 108.66 BUs in March. The peak power deficit in the month was 0.4 per cent as 168.74 GW power was supplied against the demand of 169.46 GW.

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HC DISMISSES PLEA SEEKING REVIVAL OF JET

The Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition seeking to revive Jet airways saying, can’t ask the government to rescue a sick company The petition sought a direction to the consortium of banks and financial institutions led by the State Bank of India to provide bare minimal funds to the airlines to operate flights, to meet the cost of fuel, pay salaries to employees and to meet other essential expenses. The petition stated, It is the duty of the Ministry of Finance to ensure that the consortium of lenders of Jet Airways continues to provide the requisite operational finance to the Airways to ensure that the interests of consumers and its employees numbering nearly 23,000 and of those associated with the said services are protected. The court said, We cannot ask the government to rescue a sick company. The only thing we can do is that if you get a hat, we can pass it around this courtroom for collecting money for charity. While dismissing the plea, the High Court directed the petitioners to approach the National Company Law Tribunal

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BANK UNIONS WRITE TO MODI, WANT GOVERNMENT TO TAKE OVER JET AIRWAYS

Mumbai-Bank unions Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take over grounded Jet Airways to secure the future of the 22,000-odd employees of the carrier. In a letter to Modi, the All-India Bank Employees Association also said government must ensure that banks are not forced to lend to the crippled airline

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INDIAN CARRIERS HAVE 'LIMITED FREEDOMS' TO OPERATE AS TRUE COMMERCIAL BUSINESSES: IATA

Airlines in India have limited freedoms to operate as true commercial businesses and the country is a challenging market for the carriers despite the huge aviation potential, according to global airlines' grouping IATA. The comments from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which has nearly 290 airlines as members, also comes at a time when Jet Airway has temporarily closed down its operations due to cash crunch. Albert Tjoeng, said that while the aviation potential of India is huge, it is a challenging market for airlines. Airlines have to deal with high operating costs - fuel, taxation, airport charges - in a very competitive environment. Fuel costs makes up 34 per cent of operating costs of Indian carriers when the industry average is about 24 per cent. Coupled with the depreciation of the Indian rupee, it is a double whammy for the airlines, he said in a statement. Airlines have limited freedoms to operate as true commercial businesses. These issues need to be addressed to strengthen the Indian airline industry, Tjeong said.

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JET AIRWAYS UNION CHIEF SEEKS CBI PROBE IN AIRLINE’S WOES

The president of All India Jet Airways Officers and Staff Association and Nationalist Congress Party leader Kiran Pawaskar has alleged a conspiracy behind the move to oust Naresh Goyal from his airline and has called for a CBI investigation into the matter. Pawaskar said that he was told by the management that the airline was forced to suspend flights as it did not receive any funds from lenders led by SBI to carry on its operations. He questioned the decision to force a grounding, stating that there were employees reporting for work and there were enough planes parked in airports around the country. If Naresh Goyal could manage to run the business for 25 years, why was this conspiracy hatched to remove him? There have been reports quoting banks that once Goyal steps down, the lenders will release Rs 1,500 crore. Where is the money now? he said. Pawaskar said that even today 51% shares are held by Naresh Goyal. If there are no investors, who should the employees reach out to?Alleging that there was a hidden motive behind ousting Goyal, Pawaskar said that it should be investigated by the CBI. He said that if Goyal was chairman, he would be answerable. If there is no chairman, than who is answerable?

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BANKS SEEK RBI'S SPECIAL PERMISSION TO CONVERT JET AIRWAYS' DEBT INTO EQUITY

In the absence of general guidelines from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), State Bank of India (SBI), on behalf of the lenders’ consortium, has sought special permission from the central bank for conversion of debt into equity in Jet Airways (India) Ltd. This comes after the Supreme Court quashed the RBI’s 12 February circular allowing such conversions in companies with negative net worth. SBI, on behalf of the lenders’ consortium, had earlier proposed to convert the airline’s debt into equity for a notional value of ₹1 for a 51% stake in the distressed company.

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GOVT TO ALLOCATE 440 VACANT JET SLOTS TO OTHER AIRLINES

With Jet Airways suspending operations, as many as 440 slots are vacant at Delhi and Mumbai airports which will be allocated to other airlines in a transparent manner, a senior official said Thursday. Pradeep Singh Kharola also said Jet Airways is expected to provide information next week to the ministry about tickets booked by passengers and how it plans to refund them. The grounding of planes by Jet Airways has resulted in capacity reduction in the domestic sector, which has also led to a spurt in airfares in many sectors. The ministry has also asked airlines to keep fares at affordable levels and not indulge in predatory pricing ways. The ministry on Thursday held separate meetings with airport operators and airlines, where issues related to slots, passengers and fares were discussed. Kharola Thursday said the 440 slots vacated by Jet Airways at Delhi and Mumbai airports would be allocated to other airlines on an interim basis through a rational, fair and equitable manner. There are 280 vacant slots at Mumbai airport and over 160 at Delhi airport. These two aerodromes are among the busiest in the country. The slots would be allocated for three months by a committee, comprising officials from the DGCA, Airports Authority of India (AAI) and respective airports. Kharola also said around 30 more planes would be inducted by various airlines in next three months. Besides, a decision on 20-30 leased planes of Jet Airways that have been grounded is likely next week as some airlines have expressed interest in taking them, he added. With the additions, Kharola said there would be a healthy growth in capacity. The credit card companies are also holding back some money. They have not been transferring all the money to Jet Airways. We have the cushion there, Kharola said.

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'AIR INDIA TAKEOVER OF JET WILL ENSURE LUCRATIVE ROUTES'

Government-owned Air India can take over Jet Airways and get back the lucrative international/domestic routes if there are no white knight for the private airline said a top All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) leader. The government-owned Air India can take over Jet Airways if no investor is interested in taking it. If that happens, many of the lucrative international and domestic routes will come to Air India. There is no point in banks continued lending to Jet Airways as their loan of about Rs 8,500 crore is already a non-performing asset (NPA), C.H. Venkatachalam, told. There could be rationalisation of staff so that a good number of jobs can be saved, he added.

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JET AIRWAYS CRISIS: LENDERS EXPLORE WAYS TO UTILISE 15 JET PLANES, PROTECT VALUABLE ASSETS

Lenders are exploring ways to utilise about 15 planes owned by Jet Airways and also discussing with authorities on protecting the valuable assets, including airport slots, of the now-shuttered airline, banking sources said. As they wait for completion of the bidding process for stake sale, the domestic lenders, led by SBI, are looking at options to raise funds from available assets of the carrier, which has served the Indian skies for nearly 26 years. Left with no cash to continue flying, the once-mighty Jet Airways on Wednesday suspended operations temporarily -- a decision that has also left more than 20,000 employees as well as various other stakeholders in the lurch. As concerns mount over the future course of Jet Airways, the sources said lenders have been proactive and cannot be blamed for the current situation at the airlines. They (lenders) have been actively engaging with the company for almost nine months ever since the airlines started incurring cash losses and have been urging the management to come forward with a definite plan for resolution. Unfortunately, the management and the promoter delayed in taking a decision leading to the present situation. The lenders continued to support the airline during this period, one of the sources said.

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AIR INDIA BOSS LOHANI MAY MEET SBI CHIEF OVER LEASING OF WIDE-BODY JET PLANES

Ashwani Lohani is likely to meet State Bank chairman Rajnish Kumar Friday over the national carrier's plans to lease five wide-body Boeing planes from the now grounded Jet Airways. The SBI-led consortium of lenders are now running the airline under a debt recast plan. The Air India chairman had written to SBI chief Wednesday expressing interest in taking on lease five of the Boeing 777s from Jet and deploy them in key international routes. And the meeting, expected to take place in New Delhi, is in furthering this.

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JET AIRWAYS ISSUES GAG ORDER, ASKS EMPLOYEES NOT TO SPEAK WITH MEDIA

The grounded Jet Airways has issued a gag order to its employees advising them to refrain from speaking with external stakeholders An internal mail accessed by IANS suggests that talking with external stakeholders especially the media might impact the bidding process for airline's stake sale. We are currently at a critical stage of our bid process that is being led by our lenders. We urge you to refrain from engaging with the media and let the task of interaction with external stakeholders (especially the media) be restricted to our colleagues at corporate communication team, the mail sent late on Thursday said.

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570 CANDIDATES WITH CRIMINAL CASES IN 3RD PHASE OF LOK SABHA POLLS

A whopping 570 candidates out of a total 1,612, who are contesting in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections, have declared criminal cases against them, according to Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) data published on Friday. The data cites that among the major parties, 40 out of 90 Congress candidates and 38 out of 97 candidates of the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) have criminal cases amongst them. The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has the least number of candidates with criminal cases against them. Fourteen candidates have declared that they have been convicted. Thirteen candidates have declared murder cases against them, 29 have declared cases related to crime against women such as rape, assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty, husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty, against themselves. Only 26 candidates have declared cases related to hate speech. According to the data, 63 out of the 115 constituencies have been put in the red alert category, where three or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. Apart from criminal cases, the affidavits of candidates were also screened on financial and education background. The ADR concluded in its report that 392 candidates have declared personal wealth in crores. The Samajwadi Party's Kumar Devendra Singh Yadav has declared Rs 204 crore in his total assets. He is followed by Bhonsle Shrimant Chhatrapati of the National Congress Party, with assets worth Rs 199 crore. The report also estimates that an average Rs 2.95 crore have been identified in the declaration of every candidate, who has declared wealth in excess of Rs 1 crore.

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INDIA'S ONLINE RETAIL MKT TO CROSS $170 BN BY FY30, SAYS JEFFERIES REPORT

Online retail in the country that is growing at a faster pace, is expected to be $170 billion by FY30, growing at a CAGR of 23 per cent, according to a Jefferies report. The online retail, which is currently around 25 per cent of total organised retail market in India, can potentially increase to around 37 per cent of the total organised retail market during this period, the report said. Currently, the total online retail in the country is pegged at $18 billion. Spends per online shoppers, which is estimated at Rs 12,800 is expected to increase to Rs 25,138 by FY30, with consumers shopping online for other segments, beyond electronics and apparel. It noted that electronics, including mobile phones, has grabbed the market share from physical retailers, largely due to heavy discounting and cashback online in electronics. Apparel and electronics have been present as categories in online retail space quite some time now in India, but online grocery is increasingly witnessing new consumers as companies such as Bigbasket and Amazon Pantry are heavily advertising there discounting days, which takes place at the start of every month. We believe that new customers will continue to enter the online grocery, given low differentiation in grocery and convenience for consumers. However, penetration of online retail in grocery will continue to remain lower, it said. However, it observed that product quality remains a key concern for most of the consumers shopping online and there have been lot of instances in the country where consumers have got a counterfeit or a fake product, especially in categories such as perfumes and cosmetics. Quality remains a key issue for consumers while shopping online. Though online retailers are taking steps to address this issue, it will take some time and hence some consumers will continue to stay away from online shopping, especially for big-ticket, branded items. The adoption of online retail should continue at a fast pace, as convenience seems even more important. Apart from quality, breach of data and data security are also key issues hampering adoption of online retailing, it added.

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WE ARE FAR BETTER: IAS OFFICERS DON’T FEEL THREATENED BY LATERAL ENTRY IN CIVIL SERVICES

The Indian bureaucracy is unperturbed by the recent selection of nine private sector professionals as joint secretaries as they feel outsiders with no exposure to Indian reality cannot succeed in policy making at the highest level of government. When an officer joins the Indian Administrative Services (IAS), he gets wide exposure and remains rooted to the ground reality unlike private sector professionals who are not familiar with the problems of the common people, a senior IAS officer told. The government set up is completely different from the private sector, said another IAS officer. Private sector professionals take decisions on the basis of profitability, he said requesting anonymity. Recently, the Modi-government selected nine professionals mainly from the private sector to bring in fresh talent in the policy making. The UPSC has cleared the names of these nine professionals as joint secretaries in the department of revenue, financial services, economic affairs, agriculture and farmers welfare, road transport and highways, shipping, environment, forest and climate change, new and renewable energy, civil aviation and commerce. When asked whether they feel any threat to their positions because of the lateral entry, most of the officials said there is no threat because of the diverse experience in the administrative services and the stringent training one goes through initially. When we joined, this was the best job. We were the chosen ones. It’s now after globalisation that the private sector has gone to another level. Why should we feel threatened when we have a solid exposure and relevant experience. The private sector professional’s experience may come in handy in one particular area but we have a wider perspective, another official added. Many bureaucrats even suggested that the movement of top officials should be vice-versa and the IAS officers should be deputed in some top private institutions to prove their competence. All top positions in the government as well as private sector should be advertised in the newspapers and job portals and IAS officers should also be given an equal chance to compete for that position so that they can prove their mettle.

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20 STATES JOIN PAN-INDIA SINGLE EMERGENCY HELPLINE NUMBER '112'

Twenty states and Union territories have so far joined a pan-India network of single emergency helpline number '112' on which immediate assistance can be sought by anyone in distress, officials said Friday. The '112' helpline is an integration of police (100), fire (101) and women (1090) helpline numbers and the project is being implemented under the central government's Nirbhaya Fund. The single number for emergency services is similar to '911' in the United States. The 20 states and UTs include Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Jammu and Kashmir and Nagaland, a Home Ministry official said. The Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) envisages a single pan-India emergency number '112', which is an internationally recognised number, to target all types of emergencies A panic button is already provided on all mobile phones, which on activation will trigger an emergency call to '112'. The Emergency Response Centre (ERCs), being set up by the States and UTs, can receive panic signal via voice call to '112', email requests on state ERSS website or the '112' mobile app, the official said. The '112' India app provides for 'shout facility' designed especially for women, for enlisting support of volunteers, who have registered themselves with the state police, for emergency response. To access emergency services, a person can dial '112' on a phone or press the power button of a smart phone three times quickly to send a panic call to the Emergency Response Centre. In case of a normal phone, a long press of the '5' or '9' key will activate the panic call. A total of Rs 321.69 crore has been earmarked for this Emergency Response Support System out of which Rs 278.66 crore has already been released to the States and the UTs from the Nirbhaya Fund, set up following the infamous 2012 Delhi gangrape case, another official said.

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50% LOCAL SOURCING LIKELY FOR COMPANIES TO BOOK EV RIDE UNDER FAME-II

The government will insist that electric vehicle makers source at least 50% of their components locally if they want to avail of its incentive programme and bid for its orders, even as it looks to promote local manufacturing and discourage imports. An inter-ministerial steering committee led by Amitabh Kant has decided that only companies that meet the 50% localisation threshold will be eligible for the incentives that will be available under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME-II) scheme to boost electric mobility as well as the ‘Make in India’ initiative. Government will not use taxpayers’ money to subsidise imports but will push for 50% localisation content as we want to promote local manufacturing, Kant told. The steering committee, which held its first meeting on April 1, has finalised the mission’s approach to make domestic industry competitive at the global level. While two-wheeler makers have expressed their inability in meeting the criteria for 50% localisation citing their limitations, Tata Motors and M&M have agreed to localise for electric buses, government insiders told. The government has earmarked Rs 10,000 crore under FAME-II to roll out one million electric buses in the country in the next three years besides electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers.

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BUSINESS SENTIMENTS DOWN BY 7.7% IN SECOND QUARTER COMPARED TO LAST YEAR: D&B REPORT

Business sentiments continue to decline for the country's financial and macro-economic conditions in the second quarter of the year compared to the same period a year before, as per a Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) report. Dun & Bradstreet Composite Business Optimism Index stands at Index stands at 78.4 during Q2 2019 as against 85.0 during Q2 2018 marking a 7.7% decline as per the report. According to the report the sentiments were marginally up by 6.3% compared to the first quarter. D&B Composite Business Optimism Index stands at 78.4 during Q2 2019, an increase of 6.3% as compared to Q1 2019, the report said. The earlier decline in the business sentiments were down due to the banking fraud and its impact continue to unfold, and the tightening actions on LoUs and LoCs have led to reduced liquidity. Also, there is an apprehension of tighter regulatory and lending norms. Further, India is unlikely to remain immune to the sabre-rattling and posturing by leaders that are key to global trade, the report had said. The jump in the sentiments the second quarter compared to the first quarter this year however was mainly due easing of liquidity and foreign investors warming up to India, the report said. The Dun & Bradstreet Business Optimism Index for Q2 2019 has marginally increased compared with the previous quarter as a result of several positive developments: The monetary easing and liquidity support by some of the major Central Banks globally, steady inflow of foreign investments, increase in aggregate investment limit for Foreign Portfolio Investors, measures to improve flow of funds to the commercial sector, easing norms and cost of borrowing overseas for importers, easing depreciation pressures over rupee, increased forex reserves, increasing corporate profitability and expectation of election related spending are likely to have supported optimism levels during Q2 2019, said Manish Sinha.

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RELIANCE TO START GAS PRODUCTION FROM R-CLUSTER IN SECOND HALF OF FY21

Reliance Industries has stated that it will start natural gas production from R-Cluster gas field in the flagging KG-D6 block in the Bay of Bengal from the second half of the 2020-21 fiscal. Reliance and its partner BP Plc of UK had in June 2017 announced an investment of Rs 40,000 crore in the three sets of discoveries to reverse the flagging production in KG-D6 block. These finds were expected to bring a total 30-35 million cubic metres (1 billion cubic feet) of gas a day onstream, phased over 2020-22. R-Cluster will be first to come on stream. R-Cluster development is on track for first gas in 2H FY21, Reliance said in an investor presentation after its fourth-quarter earnings. For MJ, the third of these fields, bids for major long lead items such as drilling tangibles and FPSO is underway, Reliance said adding a rig has already been committed for drilling of wells on the field.

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WIPRO SAYS CRITICAL BUSINESS OPERATIONS UNAFFECTED BY CYBER ATTACK

Wipro Ltd Friday said a cyber attack on few of its employee accounts has not impacted its critical business operations and the firm has taken remedial measures. In a regulatory filing, the company said it became aware of potentially abnormal activity within its network about 10 days back in respect of few of its employee accounts, who were subjected to an advanced phishing campaign. Upon learning of the above, the company promptly kicked off its standard operating procedure for addressing such incidents. We began investigating the incident, identified and isolated the employee accounts which were impacted, took remedial steps to contain the incident and mitigate any potential effects of the incident, Wipro said. It also informed the handful of customers where the affected employees are engaged. We would like to clarify that the incident did not impact the company's ongoing critical business operations, it said. Wipro said it has used its industry-leading cybersecurity practices and partner ecosystem for remedial steps and has shared this intelligence with its partners to develop the AntiVirus signatures.

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MUKESH AMBANI’S JIO HAS 300 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS NOW CONSUMING 10.9GB 4G DATA PER MONTH

In its quarterly earnings report, Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio announced a monumental addition to the subscriber base, which now stands at 300 million since its commercial run began. With a net addition of 26.6 million subscribers in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year, Jio claims it is now one of the largest mobile data networks in the world and is now processing a data of more than 3 exabytes per month. Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd reported a net profit of Rs 840 crore in the fourth quarter while its revenue from operations stood at Rs 11,106 crore in Q4 2018-19. The company said in its report that its ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) jumped to Rs 126.2 per month in the last quarter of the fiscal year, giving a push to bring about the lowest churn in the industry at 0.75 per cent per month. While the net addition of subscribers remained steady for the company, the gross additions scaled up to 33.2 million subscribers after modest disruption in the third quarter, owing to the changes in the KYC process introduced by the government. Jio 4G LTE network would soon cover every district, taluk, gram panchayat and village of India with targeted population coverage of 99%. Our constant endeavour is to offer gold standard digital experience to all our users across the country, Mukesh Ambani, said in the earnings call report. Jio’s subscribers showed a healthy behaviour by consuming an average of 10.9GB per month while the average voice consumption per user was 823 minutes a month. The video consumption on the Jio network was responsible for driving the most usage with a rise of 500 crore hours per month.

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INDIA’S PER-CAPITA SOFT DRINK CONSUMPTION TO BE ALMOST DOUBLE TO 84 BOTTLES A YEAR BY 2021: VBL

The Indian soft drink market might continue its robust growth trajectory as annual per-capita bottle consumption is expected to reach around 84 by 2021, according to a report by PepsiCo India’s bottling partner Varun Beverages Ltd (VBL). The industry would have a broad-based growth across categories, especially helped by juices and bottled water, VBL said in its 2018 Annual Report. It will be helped by key growth drivers such as under-penetration of the segment, growing middle class, rising affordability and urbanisation, and rural electrification besides continued innovations towards product packaging and sizing. Within carbonates, non-cola carbonates, especially lemon-based ones, are expected to grow faster, said VBL. Carbonated beverages account for 51 per cent of PepsiCo’s sales volumes in India. It further said: The bottled water category is expected to see a robust volume growth with increasing awareness among consumers about water-borne diseases and shortages in drinking water in the urban areas. Moreover, rising health awareness is also driving juice consumption and it is increasingly becoming part of the regular breakfasts and social gatherings, said VBL. The Indian soft drinks market is in growth phase and the gap between urban and rural consumption is on the decline, it added. In India, there is a steady decline in rural-urban consumer gap, driven by increasing interest and readiness to spend in the rural markets, it said. Consumption in India’s soft drinks was 44 bottles per capita in 2016, which is relatively lower compared to matured markets such as the US, where the per-capita consumption is 1,496 bottles. In Mexico, it was 1,489 bottles, 1,221 bottle in Germany and in developing markets such as Brazil at 537 bottles. This under-penetration is likely to correct with consumption expected to almost double to 84 bottles by 2021, it said.

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MEDIA CLARIFICATION ON SWACHH BHARAT MISSION (GRAMEEN)

The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation would like to place on record its response to the claims made in the piece about the progress made under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) and the veracity of the findings of the National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey 2018-19. The piece compares the nationwide 90240 household survey, NARSS, conducted in over 6000 villages, with a study of four states conducted by r.i.c.e. that surveyed merely 1558 households in 157 villages in the four States. Surprisingly, the piece seems to attach greater credibility to this statistically insignificant and non-representative sample survey than the large-scale NARSS survey. It is relevant to mention here that the methodology and processes of NARSS have been developed and approved by an empowered and independent Expert Working Group (EWG) comprising leading experts on statistics and sanitation which include Prof. Amitabh Kundu, Dr N. C Saxena, World Bank, UNICEF, BMGF, Water Aid India, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI), among others. The EWG oversaw the entire survey process and some of the members also conducted field visits to validate the data collection process and do a thorough quality check on the results. The survey has found toilet usage in rural India to be 96.5%. Two more independent surveys conducted in the past by the Quality Council of India in 2017, and National Sample Survey Organization in 2016, also found the usage of these toilets to be 91% and 95% respectively. These results speak for themselves and cannot conceivably be achieved without true behavior change happening at the grassroots. The claims made in this opinion piece about the programme being focused on toilet construction rather than behavior change, therefore, seem to be either ignorant or biased. The piece goes as far as to quote a 2008 study with the aim to debunk a programme that was launched only in 2014. Glaring inconsistencies like this, aside from quoting anecdotal incidents in an attempt to debunk statistically proven results points further to the obvious bias of the authors. The Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) is a people-led sanitation movement in rural India and is on track to achieve an ODF India by October 2019.

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H D KUMARASWAMY ACCUSES PM OF NOT SHARING DETAILS OF BALAKOT AIR STRIKES

H D Kumaraswamy Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of not sharing complete details of Balakot air strikes. Modi took on Kumaraswamy for saying the matter of air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan's Balakot should not be overpublicised fearing the vote bank bank would get angry. Now tell me, Where is Congress and the JD(S) vote bank? Is it in Bagalkot or Balakot? This Congress-JD(S) has to decide, the prime minister said. Kumaraswamy said, We do not know anything about the air strike. We read only in the newspapers. You (Modi) did not give the complete information to the people of India about the air strikes. He (Modi) publicises it as if he himself carried out the air strike and nobody had ever crossed the Pakistan border in the past, the chief minister said. Did Narendra Modi form Bangladesh? It is Indira Gandhi's gift. What have you (Modi) done? Kumaraswamy said. You (Modi) must have seen it. You only went there with a shawl to celebrate an event with the (then) prime minister (Nawaz Sharif). What discussions you had there? What harmony you could establish with the Pakistan prime minister whom you gave the shawl? he said.

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GANDHIJI CALLED HIMSELF ‘BANIYA’, NAAMDARS CALL TRADERS ‘CHOR’: PM MODI

Modi renewed attack on the Congress on Friday while seeking support of the traders’ community for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Lok Sabha elections at a national convention of traders in New Delhi. The naamdars of the Congress don’t see anything except themselves. Gandhiji called himself a baniya (trader) with pride. But the naamdars of the Congress brand all the businessmen as chor (thieves). Today’s Congress doesn’t know about history. The naamdars don’t know about the traders’ contribution to the progress of the country, said PM Modi. The prime minister said the previous governments under the Congress created an impression that traders were thieves, which hurt the self-respect of the community. PM Modi said, You (traders) are the biggest stakeholders in the development of the country. The prime minister spoke about the goods and services tax (GST) at length at the meet in a bid to address the concerns of the traders following the roll-out of the new indirect tax regime in July 2017. He said, GST has brought transparency in trade. This is why the number of registered traders has doubled. Revenue of the states has doubled. The GST Council works on your suggestions Earlier we had to wait for one budget to the next budget now concerns of traders are addressed in two months, said PM Modi, adding, After GST roll-out, children of traders are sticking to the family business ducking the trend of looking for new avenues. PM Modi promised to create a traders’ welfare board and introduce traders’ credit card if the party is voted to power. He also announced a scheme for the traders registered under the GST regime. The beneficiary would be entitled for accidental insurance of up to Rs 10 lakh.

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WILL TAKE RAHUL TO UK COURT: LALIT MODI ON CONGRESS CHIEF'S 'CHOR' REMARK

Lalit Modi on Friday hit out at Rahul Gandhi over his all thieves have Modi in their surnames jibe and said he would take the Congress chief to a court in the United Kingdom. The papu @rahulgandhi says All MODI's are CHOR's. Well he will be taken to court in the UK by Me. But reality is that the world knows 5 decades of daylight looting of India was and is done by none other than the Gandhi family, Lalit tweeted.

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PRAGYA THAKUR'S COMMENT ON KARKARE HER PERSONAL VIEW, KARKARE A MARTYR: BJP

The BJP Friday distanced itself from Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur's controversial comment that IPS officer Hemant Karkare died in 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks as she had cursed him, saying it was her personal view which she might have made due to years of physical and mental torture. The BJP believes that Karkare died while bravely fighting terrorists. The BJP has always considered him a martyr, the party said in a damage-control exercise. The party, which has fielded Malegaon blast accused Thakur from Bhopal in the Lok Sabha election, claimed she had suffered physical and mental torture for years in police custody that might have caused her to make such a statement. The comment is her personal view, it added. Karkare, who headed the Mumbai anti-terror squad, had died in the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008.

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MY POLITICAL ENTRY WILL COINCIDE WITH NEXT ASSEMBLY POLLS IN TN, SAYS RAJINIKANTH

Tamil ‘superstar’ Rajinikanth on Friday said his formal political entry will coincide with the next assembly polls in Tamil Nadu. The remarks virtually reiterate his earlier announcement that he will float a party by the next assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, due in 2021, and contest from all the 234 seats. Asked if he would take a decision based on the outcome of bypolls to 18 assembly segments held on Thursday along with 38 Lok Sabha seats, Rajinikanth said he will respond after the results are out. To a question if the results may lead to assembly polls in the state and whether he would then face them, the actor shot back, Ready to face, whenever they are held.

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TITAN, FOUR INDIAN JEWELLERS IN WORLD’S TOP 100 LUXURY COMPANIES; SECRET BEHIND INDIA’S GROWTH

Titan and four Indian jewellers were named in top 100 global luxury brands but not a single one of them was in top 20, per a report. Vying a spot among big luxury goods companies and their popular brands such as Louis Vuitton, Estee Lauder, Cartier, Gucci, Prada, among others, India’s Titan, Kalyan Jewellers, PC Jewellers, Joyallukas and TBZ made it to the list, according to Deloitte’s Global Powers of Luxury Goods 2019 report. Among Indian names, the list was mostly dominated by jewellery companies — Kalyan Jewellers India Pvt. Limited, PC Jeweller Ltd, Joyalukkas India Pvt. Limited, and Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri Limited with the exception of Titan. The report also gave an insight into the luxury goods market, pegging it around $247 billion. Within the 100 global brands, 20 of them are growing fastest based on their CAGR. Three Indian companies featured in this list as well. For FY15-17, Titan with a CAGR of over 19%, PC Jeweller with a CAGR of over 14% and Joyallukas with CAGR of little less than 13% are among the fastest growing top 20 luxury companies. Globally, Canada Goose Holdings Inc., Coty Luxury and Furla lead the list with India’s Titan following closely. Markets beyond metros and rising number of HENRY’s (High-Earners-Not–Rich-Yet) in India is a major driving force for this market, per Deloitte report.

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MANY ESSENTIAL DRUGS PRICED MUCH HIGHER THAN MANUFACTURING COST: WHO

Around 40% of the essential medicines in India with lowest MRP are priced significantly higher than estimated production costs an assessment by the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows highlighting the exorbitant profiteering by pharmaceutical companies and the scope for lowering prices of drugs. While innovative and newer drugs for cancer, hepatitis C and rare diseases are out of reach of many due to their unaffordable prices, even off patent drugs which are in the market for long and commonly used for diseases like HIV, tuberculosis and malaria are priced very high with huge margins over their cost of production. This results in high expenditure pushing people into poverty. In India over 75% of health expenditure is out-of-pocket, of which the major chunk is spent on medicines. This is despite India being a manufacturing hub and the biggest supplier of low cost generic medicines to the world.

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Thanks & Regards,
CS Meetesh Shiroya