TAXATION UPDATES 23.04.2019

NO INPUT TAX CREDIT IF GST RETURNS NOT FILED, SAYS HC

The Telangana High Court has ruled that no input tax credit (ITC) is available unless GST returns are filed and a taxpayer is liable to pay penalty on the entire liability. The ruling is expected to have a significant impact on all businesses that use tax credits available on inputs and raw materials to reduce payment in cash. Until a return is filed as self-assessed, no entitlement to credit and no actual entry in the electronic credit ledger takes place. As a consequence, no payment can be made from out of such a credit entry, Justices V Ramasubramanian and P Keshava Rao said in a case involving Megha Engineering & Infrastructures and GST Authorities. The company had delayed filing the GST returns from July 2017 to May 2018 when its tax liability added up to Rs 1,014 crore. It had ITC of Rs 968 crore and it claimed that the shortfall was to the tune of Rs 45 crore. While the tax authorities demanded 18% interest on the entire amount, Megha Engineering argued that interest should only be calculated on the net tax liability, after deducting ITC from the total liability. The court upheld the department's view. The ruling has very wide implication as almost all taxpayers, who delayed filing returns and have paid interest only on cash payment of tax and not on the GST amount set off by them through ITC. The issue will open floodgate of litigation and demands of interest by GST officials are imminent.

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TAX EVASION OF OVER RS 1,350 CRORE DETECTED IN RAIDS AGAINST HINDUSTAN POWERPROJECTS

The Income Tax department has detected tax evasion of more than Rs 1,350 crore during search and seizure operations conducted against Hindustan Powerprojects, a company owned by the nephew of Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath, sources said. The search action was undertaken on the basis of credible information and has led to detection of large scale tax evasion of more than Rs 1,350 crore, the CBDT said. According to the details provided by the CBDT, the group was operating through a maze of shell companies and indulged in bogus billings, over-invoicing of imports and round-tripping of funds. During the search operation, taxmen found that a maze of shell companies was being used as conduits for providing entries to the group and 'accommodation entries' in the garb of bogus unsecured loans/share application money to the tune of Rs 370 crore was detected. They also found evidence of inflating expenses through bogus billing of Rs 330 crore in the case of a power plant of the group and the money so siphoned off was collected in US Dollar through hawala operators. A handwritten diary containing records of 'out of books' cash receipts worth Rs 240 crore was seized from the office. The CBDT also found bogus loans of Rs 30 crore in a group company and investigations revealed that the loan entry of Rs 30 crore in one of the group companies was an accommodation entry arranged by an entry operator against equivalent cash. Besides, unaccounted payment of Rs 9 crore towards the purchase of a property has also been detected and unaccounted assets of Rs 3 crore has been seized during the search.

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NORTHEAST HIGH-VALUE CASH DEALS UNDER I-T LENS

With five Lok Sabha constituencies across Assam and Tripura going to polls on Tuesday, Directorate General of Income Tax Investigation has a constituted a special task force to investigate thousands of suspicious high-value cash deposits and withdrawals in 68 banks operating in the Northeast. The task force will submit its preliminary findings within a month and strict action will be initiated wherever unexplained cash deposits are found In Assam, Guwahati, Kokrajhar, Barpeta and Dhubri will go to polls on Tuesday. Across the four Lok Sabha seats in Assam there are 9,577 polling stations and around 200 companies of security forces are deployed. For East Tripura, there are 1,349 polling stations. In Tripura, show cause notices are being served to 13 polling personnel for negligence in duty under Representation of Peoples Act 1951. The polling personnel are asked to reply as to why disciplinary action should not be taken against them. While for four Lok Sabha constituencies there is 74, 77,062 eligible voters including 36,61,570 females, for East Tripura total electors is around 12,61,879. In the final phase in Assam there are 54 candidates, while East Tripura has 10 candidates.

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BOMBAY HC SETS ASIDE CBDT’S PLAN OF REWARDING CITS-APPEAL

The Bombay high court has set aside that portion of CBDT’s action plan that sought to incentivise commissioners of income tax-appeals (CITs-A) who pass ‘quality’ orders, which could be detrimental to taxpayers. Any temptation in the guidelines, referred to as incentives for disposal of an appeal in a particular manner would not stand the test of law, the high court held in its written order made available on April 22. As the financial year 2018-19 was coming to a close, CBDT apprised the court that it would carry out the requisite amendments in the action plan for the next financial year 2019-20. However, coming down strongly against the plan to incentivise appellate commissioners for quality orders, the court held: the guidelines in its existing form for the past financial year also cannot be allowed to have effect. CBDT’s action plan for the financial year 2018-19 had set out that the CITs A would be allowed additional performance credits of two units for every quality appellate order passed. The term ‘quality’ orders included cases where the CIT-A enhances the order of the I-T officer (in other words, the quantum of tax demand is increased) or where he strengthens the order of the I-T officer. It also included instances where the CIT-A levies a penalty on the additions confirmed by him to a taxpayer’s income. When taxpayers dispute their tax demands, raised by the I-T officer, they approach the CIT-A. This is the first level of appeal. Based on facts of the case and legalities involved, orders passed by the appellate commissioner can swing either in favour of the taxpayer or the I-T department. The high court noted that while the CBDT has wide powers under section 119(1) to issue orders, instructions and directions to other I-T authorities, as it may deem fit, for proper administration of the I-T Act, it does not empower the CBDT to issue instructions or directions to make a particular assessment or dispose a case in a particular manner. It also observed that appellate commissioners have already passed orders under the shadow of the incentivisation programme contained in the action plan. In this background, tax experts point out that this order of the high court gives a better standing to aggrieved taxpayers, when they appeal against orders of the appellate commissioners. The Chamber of Tax Consultants had also challenged the directions issued by the CBDT in its action plan for disposal of a certain number of appeals of specified categories, within a specified period of time. The high court did not find this direction as objectionable.

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FILES OF CGST DEPARTMENT VANISH

Deputy director of Director General Of Goods And Service Tax, intelligence, on Sunday filed a complaint with Naranpura police stating that several files of the department (CGST), kept in Central Excise Housing Colony in Pragati Nagar, have been stolen The deputy director, Yogesh Pandurang Unde, stated in his FIR that thousands of files of the department were kept in quarter number M-37 in flat number 220 of the Central Excise Colony. An inspector, Dharmendra Sharma, was given responsibility of security of those files. On Thursday evening, a contractual staff, Ashwin, had locked the flat in which those files were kept. On Saturday morning, Unde got a call from another staffer, Premchand Jain, who told him that lock of quarter number M-37 is broken and its door is open. When Unde reached there, he found files of the department lying all around and some of them missing. Unde said he is yet to assess how many files have been stolen. Naranpur police registered an offence under IPC sections 454 (trespass), 457 (house-trespass or house-breaking by night in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment) and 380 (theft) and began an investigation.

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GST: INTEREST PAYABLE ON TOTAL TAX LIABILITY INCLUDING A PORTION OF WHICH IS LIABLE TO BE SET-OFF AGAINST ITC, SAYS HYDERABAD HC

A two-judge bench of the Hyderabad High Court has held that the interest under section 50 of the Central GST Act, 2017 is payable on the total tax liability including a portion of which is liable to be set-off against the input tax credit The petitioner is engaged in the manufacture of MS Pipes and in the execution of infrastructure projects and a registered taxpayer under the GST. The petitioners claimed that the GST portal is designed in such a manner that unless the entire tax liability is charged by the assessee, the system will not accept the return in GSTR – 3B Form. As a result of this, even if an Assessee was entitled to set off, to the extent of 95%, by utilizing the ITC, the return cannot be filed unless the remaining 5% is also paid they claimed. The grievance of the petitioner was that there was a delay in filing GSTR 3B for the periods October and November, 2017 and February and May, 2018 due to the shortage of ITC, available to off-set the entire tax liability. According to the petitioner, the total tax liability of the petitioner for the period from July, 2017 to May, 2018 was Rs.1014,02,89,385/- and the ITC available to the credit of the petitioner during this period was Rs.968,58,86,133/-. They claimed that they could not make payment and file the return within time due to certain constraints. However, the entire liability was wiped out in May, 2018. After the tax liability was discharged by the assessee, the department levied interest at 18%, under Section 50 of the CGST Act, 2017. After perusing the wordings of section 50, the bench comprising Justice V. Ramasubramanian and Justice P Keshava Rao said that the liability to pay interest under Section 50 (1) is self-imposed and also automatic, without any determination by any one. Hence, the stand taken by the department that the liability is compensatory in nature, appears to be correct. Until a return is filed as self-assessed, no entitlement to credit and no actual entry of credit in the electronic credit ledger takes place. As a consequence, no payment can be made from out of such a credit entry. It is true that the tax paid on the inputs charged on any supply of goods and/services, is always available But, it is available in the air or cloud. Just as information is available in the server and it gets displayed on the screens of our computers only after connectivity is established, the tax already paid on the inputs, is available in the cloud. Such tax becomes an in-put tax credit only when a claim is made in the returns filed as self-assessed. It is only after a claim is made in the return that the same gets credited in the electronic credit ledger. It is only after a credit is entered in the electronic credit ledger that payment could be made, even though the payment is only by way of paper entries, the bench said. Admittedly, the petitioner filed returns belatedly, for whatever reasons. As a consequence, the payment of the tax liability, partly in cash and partly in the form of claim for ITC was made beyond the period prescribed. Therefore, the liability to pay interest under Section 50 (1) arose automatically. The petitioner cannot, therefore, escape from this liability, the bench added. Citing the proposed amendment providing the levy of interest only on the amount payable through the electronic cash ledger, the Court said that the recommendations of the GST Council are still on paper. Therefore, we cannot interpret Section 50 in the light of the proposed amendment.

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HIGHER IMPORT DUTY SOUGHT ON CHINESE LEATHER, FOOTWEAR

Industry has raised alarm bells as imports of finished leather goods and footwear from China have increased amid falling exports of these products from India. Even though India is a net exporter of raw hides and skins to China, it is a net importer of footwear and other articles of leather such as handbags, saddlery and harnesses from its neighbour. Footwear is a major import item from China into India, accounting for about 68% of total footwear import into the country. Value-added products such as leather products and footwear constituted 91% of imports of leather, leather products and footwear from China, as per industry estimates. As far as leather and footwear sector is concerned, balance of trade now is in favour of China, said an official in the know of the issue which was recently discussed at a meeting of the department of commerce and various industry bodies on containing the trade deficit with China which was down by $10 billion to $53 billion in 2018-19. In the April-January period of 2018-19, India’s import of footwear from China was $353.33 million and that of leather articles was $321.6 million. However, India’s export of these products to China was $34.1million and $21.3 million, respectively, even though the skins and hides to produce leather goods such as saddlery and handbags are exported mostly from India. We have raised our issues and the ministry is reviewing it. We have asked the import duty on Chinese footwear to be increased from 25% to 35% because of a negative trade balance on footwear, said a leather industry representative who was present at the meeting. China imposes 5-7% import duty on bovine finished leather, 5.6% duty on sheep or lamb finished leather, and 9.8% tariff on goat finished leather under the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement, of which India is also a member. This may be brought down to zero, as there is no import duty for finished leather in India, the industry representative said.

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INDIA, CHINA SHOULD BE SENSITIVE TO EACH OTHER’S CONCERNS, VIJAY GOKHALE TELLS CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTER

Vijay Gokhale on Monday held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and reviewed the progress of bilateral ties post Wuhan summit, emphasising that both countries should be sensitive to each other’s concerns. Gokhale’s visit for bilateral consultations is taking place amid renewed optimism that the vexed issue of listing of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by UN, which has been stalled by China, is headed for a resolution in the coming weeks. Gokhale met Wang, who is also the State Councillor, a high-level post in the hierarchy of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), at the sprawling Zhongnanhai complex, the seat of power of China as it houses the offices and residences of the country’s top leaders. In his opening remarks, Gokhale said both sides were making efforts to implement the understandings reached at last year’s informal summit at Wuhan between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping. As your excellency said we will work together with the Chinese side to deepen understanding to strengthen trust to implement the decisions that are taken by the leaders and to do it in a manner in which we are sensitive to each other’s concerns, he said. One of the issues that was expected to figure during this round of talks was China’s continued attempts to block efforts to list JeM chief Azhar as global terrorist by the UN. China blocked Azhar’s designation for the fourth-time recently stalling efforts by the US, the UK and France move at the 1267 UN counter terrorism committee following the February Pulwama terrorist attack. It was the first technical hold put up by China post Wuhan summit.

Also, India continues to have strong reservations to join China’s mega Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) due to its objections over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as it is being laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Both the issues have become major irritants in the bilateral ties. Geng Shuang told a media briefing here that, As to specific issues the two sides have far more common interests than differences. The two sides should accommodate each other’s concerns and advance bilateral relations, he said. We hope the two sides will step up coordination and cooperation to sustain the sound momentum in bilateral relations. China is ready and would like to work together with India to this end, he said. Both sides have far more common interests than issues, we should promote unity and coordination, Geng said. Since the Wuhan Summit, the two sides have enjoyed good momentum in bilateral relations, we must sustain that. The Indian Foreign Secretary also said that after the summit, the two sides have had active political interactions and fruitful practical cooperation, he said.

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CONGRESS UNVEILS NATIONAL SECURITY PLAN

The Congress on Sunday said unemployment, farm distress and vulnerability of different sections of society continue to be the top election issues for the party as it officially unveiled the vision document on national security prepared by former chief of the Army’s Northern Command, Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda (retd). Asked if the report, made public before the third phase polling on Tuesday, seeks to counter BJP’s strong narrative on national security, Mr. Chidambaram said, National security is an important aspect of the narrative. But to say that it is dominating the narrative is completely wrong. The number one issue remains unemployment The number two issue is farm distress and the number three issue is security of various sections — women, Dalits, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, forest dwellers, journalists, academicians, NGOs, he said. We have taken several features of Lt. Gen. Hooda’s plan (in the manifesto). These ideas will be implemented when we form our government. Our approach is not ad hoc, our approach is not impulsive. It is after a careful study and deliberation and necessary measures will be taken. Our interest is to protect India’s national security, said Mr. Chidambaram, who had taken over as Home Minister soon after the 26/11 attacks in 2008. He also said that the Congress had not questioned the Balakot air strikes and it was the international press that had questioned the claims on the number of casualties.

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SUPREME COURT TELLS GUJARAT GOVT TO PAY RS 50 LAKH COMPENSATION TO BILKIS BANO

The Supreme Court today asked the Gujarat government to pay compensation of Rs 50 lakh to Bilkis Bano The court, while hearing a plea of Bilkis Bano, also directed the Gujarat Government to provide Bilkis Bano, a government job and accommodation as per rules. Bilkis Yakub Rasool was 19 years old and pregnant when she was gang-raped during the 2002 Gujarat riots. The horrifying incidents occurred in Randhikpur village near Dahod on March 3, 2002 when she and her family was attacked by a mob.

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STAND BY MY POLITICAL SLOGAN, SAYS RAHUL GANDHI; SC ISSUES CONTEMPT NOTICE

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued contempt notice to Congress president Rahul Gandhi for the statement on the Rafale verdict. The apex court said that it would hear on April 30 contempt plea filed by BJP's Meenakshi Lekhi against Rahul Gandhi along with petitions seeking review of its verdict in Rafale case. I am expressing regret only for attributing the slogan to Supreme Court. I stand by my political slogan ‘Chowkidar chor hai’. I regret for attributing it to Supreme Court, Abhishek Manu Singhvi submitted on behalf of Rahul Gandhi. The court then issued a contempt notice to him and listed the matter along with review petition for hearing on April 30. I have extracted judgment of the Court. We did not have time to file contempt cases, said Singhvi. The BJP in its submission said, Rahul Gandhi in his affidavit said he did not read the order. According to us, the affidavit submitted by him is no apology. It is a lip service of apology. On hearing senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi on behalf of Gandhi in the contempt petition we deem it fit to issue notice to the respondent (Rahul) Gandhi, a bench headed by Chief Justcie Ranjan Gogoi said. We also direct the registry to list the review petition along with the contempt petition next Tuesday, the bench also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna said. Rahul Gandhi will have to appear next Tuesday since it is a criminal contempt petition and a notice has been issued.

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EVMS ACROSS INDIA FAULTY OR VOTING FOR BJP: AKHILESH YADAV

EVMs across India are either malfunctioning or voting for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Samajwadi Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said on Tuesday. Akhilesh Yadav quoted District Magistrates as saying that election officials were not trained to operate the electronic voting machines (EVMs). More than 350 of them had been replaced, he said. This is criminal negligence for a polling exercise that costs Rs 50,000 crore. Should we believe DMs or is something far more sinister afoot? he asked.

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READY FOR ALLIANCE WITH AAP IF HARYANA DEMAND IS DROPPED: RAHUL GANDHI

The Congress, despite having announced its candidates for all the Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, is still open to an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Congress is ready to forge an alliance with the AAP 'until the last second', provided its chief Arvind Kejriwal drops its Haryana demand, party president Rahul Gandhi told. The two parties had held several meetings in the past few weeks to form an alliance for the Lok Sabha elections. They had even agreed on a 4+3 formula for Delhi, with AAP contesting on four seats and Congress three. However, talks broke down over AAP's insistence that the grand old party should agree to share seats in Haryana, Chandigarh and Punjab apart from Delhi. The 3:4 alliance in Delhi was made subject to a pact in Haryana by AAP.

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MILLIONS OF YOUNGSTERS STEPPING OUT TO VOTE WANT 'NYAY': RAHUL GANDHI

Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday expressed confidence that millions of youngsters stepping out to vote want 'Nyay' (justice) for every Indian and will cast their ballot wisely. His appeal came aspolling began for the third phase in which 116 Lok Sabha seats, including all constituencies in Gujarat and Kerala, are going to polls. I'm confident that they want NYAY for every Indian and will vote wisely, he tweeted and tagged a short video of the Congress' 'Ab hoga Nyay' theme focusing on youngsters.

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VOTER ID STRONGER THAN IED: PM MODI AFTER VOTING IN AHMEDABAD

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said people must vote in large numbers as the power of the Voter ID is stronger than the IED (improvised explosive device) used by terrorists. Terrorists' weapon is IED while democracy's strength is Voter ID. I believe that the power of Voter ID is much more stronger than the IED. Understand the importance of Voter ID and vote in large numbers, Modi told. Modi said voters of India were wise to decide whom to vote. They know the difference between good and bad. He said the feeling one gets after voting was akin to what one feels after the holy dip during the Kumbh.

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WHY NYUNTAM AAY YOJANA WON’T END POVERTY

The 1971 surrender by Lieutenant General AAK Niazi in Bangladesh with 93,000 soldiers is a perennial source of Pakistani shame. But history is kinder to General Niazi’s legacy; he was cut off from his army, his troops were low on rations, the local population was hostile, and he presided over East Pakistan for only two days. In other words, he faced an impossible situation. But ending India’s poverty is hardly an impossible situation and the surrender to income without work of the NYAY scheme is an inferior bet to fixing our infrastructure of opportunity. Why is India poor? Despite completing the more difficult project of creating the world’s largest democracy on the infertile soil of the world’s most hierarchical society, why haven’t we created the world’s largest economy? It surely wasn’t God’s will that it should take 72 years for 1.3 billion Indians to cross the GDP of 66 million Britishers. Cultural explanations are weak; the so called Hindu rate of growth of 2% increased to 7% after 1991. India still has poverty because the brilliant politics after 1947 was coupled with nutty economics that sabotaged competition, entrepreneurship and productivity. Too many Indians work in low productivity geographies (Karnataka has the same GDP as UP with a third of the people), low-productivity sectors (50% of our labour force in agriculture only produces 14% of our GDP, while IT employs 0.7% of our labour force and produces 8% of GDP), low-productivity firms (our 63 million enterprises only translate to 19,500 companies with a paid-up capital of Rs 10 crore) and low productivity skills (this year the bottom 10% of engineers will make less salaries than the top 10% ITI graduates). Income guarantee proponents suggest Scandinavian social democracies as inspiration but forget that the World Bank Ease of Doing Business scale ranks Denmark 3rd, Norway 7th and Sweden 12th of 190 countries. Their dense social security nets are underwritten by remarkably free economies compared to India’s regulatory cholesterol universe; 60,000+ compliance rules, 3,600+ filings, and 5,000+ changes every year. This cholesterol is partly responsible for our agrarian distress; the only way to help farmers is to have less of them. But migration has been blunted by low formality. Income guarantees may be interesting and viable for rich countries trying to prevent people from falling into poverty but are hardly an idea whose time has come for countries trying to pull people out of poverty. We are far from the productivity frontier, short on resources, and don’t have to be Western to be modern. Poverty is not like cancer where every malignant cell must be removed or will come back Instead, poverty is like being overweight or obese. The fight is hard and slow; victories are partial, sometimes you regress. But keeping up the fight by all methods can mitigate obesity. Eventually, diet and exercise will become a way of life and a healthier body will yield tangible benefits. For an economy this involves fixing the infrastructure of opportunity that breeds productivity; low inflation, low regulatory cholesterol, more formal enterprises, more taxpayers, good urbanisation, faster bankruptcy, higher manufacturing employment, decentralisation, payment digitisation, higher credit to GDP ratio, reliable infrastructure, better government schools, vocationalised higher education, more apprenticeships, labour reform, efficient employment exchanges, and civil service reform. The role of the government is not setting things on fire but creating the conditions for spontaneous combustion.

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RAHUL GANDHI CLEARS AMETHI NOMINATION THREAT, SAYS HE HAS NO CLUE WHO RAUL VINCI IS

The Election Commission (EC) on Monday declared Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s nomination from Amethi as valid An independent candidate from Amethi had questioned the citizenship and educational qualifications of the Congress chief. The development comes after the lawyer of Rahul Gandhi informed the returning officer that the Congress chief never took citizenship of any other country. Rahul Gandhi was born in India and he holds an Indian passport, he never took citizenship of any other country. His passport, Voter-ID, and his income tax, everything is of India, KC Kaushik said. The lawyer also said that he did not know who Raul Vinci was or where he came from. Rahul Gandhi had done his M.Phil in 1995 from University of Cambridge, he said. The candidate from Amethi had objected to Gandhi saying he had declared himself a foreign citizen in a certificate of a company registered in the UK. A non-citizen can’t contest polls here, he said. He also said that there were some mistakes in his educational qualification certificates. Based on this, the BJP too demanded answers from Rahul Gandhi on his citizenship and educational qualifications.

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DELHI COURT SENDS TO DISTRICT JUDGE COMPLAINT AGAINST RAHUL GANDHI FOR REMARKS AGAINST PM MODI

A Delhi court Monday sent to District Judge the complaint seeking direction to the police to register an FIR against Congress President Rahul Gandhi for making allegedly seditious remarks in 2016 against Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing him of hiding behind the blood of soldiers and cashing in on their sacrifice. Preeti Parewa said that since the accused was a sitting MP, the court was not empowered to take up the matter and was sending back the case to District Judge for allocating it before the designated court.

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EC SUBMITS DETAILED REPORT ON MODI BIOPIC TO SUPREME COURT

The Election Commission on Monday submitted its detailed report to the Supreme Court on the biopic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi took the EC’s report on Modi’s biopic and asked the poll panel to supply a copy of the report to the producer of the movie. The bench, which also comprised Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna, has now fixed the plea of producers challenging the EC’s ban on the movie for hearing on Friday, April 26.

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RAJNATH SINGH SAYS THE DAY INDIA WILL BE FREE FROM CONGRESS, IT WILL BECOME POVERTY-FREE

Rajnath Singh said Sunday that the day India will be free from Congress, it will become poverty-free He said Congress had made several promises but did not fulfil them and if someone has to learn to reduce poverty then they should take lessons from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Turn the pages of history and you will find that Congress made several promises but did not fulfil them. People can take lessons from Prime Minister Narendra Modi how poverty is reduced, Singh said during an election meeting in Kolayat area of Bikaner in support of BJP nominee Arjun Ram Meghwal.

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YOU CAN DO ‘ILU ILU’ WITH PAKISTAN, BUT WE WILL RESPOND TO THEM WITH BULLETS: AMIT SHAH TO MAMATA

Accusing TMC chief Mamata Banerjee of questioning the air strikes to appease her minority vote bank, Amit Shah on Monday said she can do Ilu Ilu (I love you) with Pakistan but if that country fire bullets on us we would respond with cannon balls. ‘Apko (Mamata) Pakistan ke saath ilu ilu (I love you) karna hain toh kijiye. Lekin agar Pakistan goli marega toh hum gola marenge’ (If you are interested in showing love with Pakistan, you can do that but we would respond to their bullets with canon balls), Shah said, referring to the popular Hindi song from a film in the early 1990s. BJP chief also said that his party will scrap Article 370 of the Constitution which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir and introduce National Register for Citizens across the country after returning to power.

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PAKISTAN CRITICISES INDIA FOR CONFINEMENT OF SEPARATIST LEADER YASIN MALIK

Pakistan on Monday criticised India for arresting and confining separatist leader Yasin Malik in connection with a case related to the funding of terror and separatist groups in Jammu and Kashmir. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested JKLF chief Malik on April 10 after a special NIA court in Jammu gave the go ahead for his custodial interrogation by the probe agency. Malik, who was shifted to Tihar jail under police protection, was taken into preventive custody in February by the Jammu and Kashmir police and shifted to Jammu’s Kot Balwal jail. Malik, whose organisation JKLF was banned last month by the Centre, is also facing two CBI cases. These relate to the kidnapping of Rubaiya Saeed, daughter of then Union home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, in 1989, and the killing of four IAF personnel in 1990.

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HIGH-LEVEL REVAMP: ANTI-HIJACK PANEL TO NOW INCLUDE PMO BRASS

The government has revamped its high-level anti-hijack panel to include top officials the Prime Minister’s Office, especially National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, who will be empowered to coordinate any immediate military response However, as per the order dated April 11, the panel will continue to be headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha despite presence of senior PMO officials. The government had come under considerable criticism for replacing the Cabinet Secretary with the NSA as head of the Strategic Policy Group last September. It was argued that the move gave the NSA unbridled powers, which are beyond the checks that apply on a cabinet secretary. This group was created following the recommendations of the Kargil Review Committee in 1999. The anti-hijack panel was always headed by the cabinet secretary along with secretaries of home and defence as its members. It included commissioner of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and the Director General of Civil Aviation. It was modelled after the National Crisis Management Committee. The fresh order besides upgrading the membership also states that a control room will be set up within the Cabinet Secretariat in Rashtrapati Bhavan. Heads of R&AW and the Intelligence Bureau will also be members. The newly constituted panel will have as many as 15 top officials including pre-identified nominated members who can represent regular members in case they cannot be present. NSA who has been instrumental in several operations in the recent past has been made part of the panel to coordinate response with security and defence forces in cases of aircraft hijacks, a senior government official said. While there have been no major incidents of hijack, alarm bells rang just after the Pulwama attack in February when the BCAS sounded a high alert after an anonymous call claimed that an Indian Airlines flight could be hijacked to Pakistan.

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WORK RESUMES FULL STEAM ON MALDIVES COASTAL RADARS

After an initial stumble following political uncertainty in the Maldives, work on setting up a coastal surveillance radar chain in the island nation has resumed full steam, with technical teams from India finishing installation work to get the system operational. The radar chain—which will link up with similar systems in India, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Seychelles—will provide a comprehensive live feed of ship movements in the Indian Ocean Region that can be used by friendly navies. Seven out of the 10 radars that had to be set up are now being fitted with the latest systems that can relay location information, videos and images live to a central command unit. While the civil work on the seven radars had been completed, the political turmoil before the change of government in November 2018 had held up operationalisation of the chain. Three other radars had been functional but could only relay AIS (automatic identification system) data and are currently being upgraded by teams from Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), the sources said. Once complete, these can be integrated into the 600-crore Coastal Surveillance Radar System (CSRS) project. As part of the plan to increase maritime domain awareness in the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai attack, coastal surveillance radars have been set up in Sri Lanka (6), Mauritius (8) and Seychelles (1). India also set up an Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) in December that will share real-time maritime information with friendly nations in the region. In the future, officers from Indian Ocean littoral will be invited for permanent deployment at the Gurgaonbased centre which India believes will help reduce illegal maritime activities by providing intelligence and the means to enforce the law.

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DELHI COURT DIRECTS CBI TO GIVE CLOSURE REPORT DOCUMENTS OF MISSING JNU STUDENT’S CASE TO MOTHER

A Delhi court on Monday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) to give copies of all statements and documents related to the closure report of probe into missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmed’s case to his mother within two weeks. Naveen Kumar Kashyap directed the probe agency to supply the documents in physical or electronic form and asked the investigating officer of the case to appear before it in person on May 7. The court’s order came while hearing a protest petition filed by Ahmed’s mother, Fatima Nafees, against the CBI closure report in the case. The lawyer appearing argued that she has not been supplied statement of witnesses.

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JIO TOPS 4G DOWNLOAD, VODAFONE UPLOAD SPEED IN MARCH

With 22.2Mbps (megabits per second) average download speed, Reliance Jio topped the 4G download speed chart of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for March. For Jio, its an improvement over 20.9 Mbps achieved in February. Reliance Jio was the fastest 4G operator in 2018 with the highest average download speed all through the year. Performance of Bharti Airtel dipped marginally in March to 9.3Mbps from 9.4Mbps in February, according to the data published by the telecom regulator. Average 4G download speed on Vodafone network improved marginally to 7Mbps in March from 6.8Mbps in February. Idea registered a marginal decline in average download speed from 5.7Mbps in February to 5.6Mbps in March. Vodafone topped the average 4G upload speed chart in March with 6Mbps, which is same as February. Idea and Airtel network registered slight decline in average 4G upload speed at 5.5Mbps and 3.6Mbps, respectively, in March, while Jio witnessed improvement with 4.6Mbps average upload speed.

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RELIANCE JIO MAY HIKE PRICES TO MEET RS 9,000 CR ANNUAL SPEND ON CAPACITY LEASE DEALS

Reliance Jio Infocomm may be pushed to raise prices in this financial year as it needs to spend about Rs 9,000 crore a year on its long-term capacity leasing deals with special purpose vehicles (SPVs) created to hold its demerged fibre and towers assets, coupled with the capital raising plans of rivals Vodafone Idea (VIL) and Bharti Airtel, said analysts. The likelihood of Jio raising prices is higher today than it was six to nine months ago, which has positive implications for incumbent peers, particularly, Vodafone Idea, JP Morgan said in a note. The US brokerage said investors increasingly believe Vodafone Idea and Airtel’s capital raising plans, signalling their capacity to fight, may prompt Jio to rethink its pricing stance, especially on whether it can afford to keep expanding its balance sheet investments for the next two three years. VIL and Airtel plan to raise about Rs 25,000 crore each through rights issues to boost their countrywide 4G push to effectively battle Jio. Jio’s management, however, reiterated at its post-results analyst call last week that the telecom operator would not tweak tariffs and would continue to focus on gaining subscriber market share. Users gained but India’s older carriers got hurt. But headline prices — albeit low — have been stable for more than 16 months now, indicating signs of stability, especially with the market having been reduced to three private players. Jio’s tower and fibre SPVs, managed by infrastructure investment trusts, removes refinancing requirements for the country’s youngest telco but would encumber it with a material cash cost in the early years since Jio has inked a 20-year pact for 50% of the fibre capacity and is also the anchor tenant on the 175,000-odd towers. Some experts stressed though that Jio’s costs would decrease once external tenants come on board, though others said bringing new operator tenants won’t be easy for the tower SPV as both incumbent telcos have their own tower arms (Indus Towers and Bharti Infratel). Goldman Sachs estimates RIL’s capex intensity in telecom to drop significantly in 2019-20 with demerger of Jio’s tower and fibre assets along with 99% population coverage. Jio’s capex in the fourth quarter of FY20 was pegged at Rs 21,500 crore and total capex for the fiscal stood at $10 billion (about Rs 70,000 crore). Analysts say a reason could be that Jio is capitalising lesser than previously its depreciation and amortisation costs, and recognising more in the P&L as coverage reaches 99% of the country’s population.

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LEVERAGE, DEALS & A SUCCESSION PLAN: MUKESH AMBANI HAS AN EYE ON THE FUTURE

When Saudi oil minister Khalid al-Falih made his second visit to India in less than three weeks in March to attend Akash Ambani’s wedding, it was expected that a Reliance-Saudi Aramco alliance was just round the corner. Al-Falih, also Saudi Aramco’s chairman, had previously let the cat out of the bag — first in December during the Udaipur festivities that marked Isha Ambani’s wedding, then in February when he accompanied Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman for a state visit to India. New Delhi is number one priority for Riyadh, he said. On February 20, Lutyen’s Delhi had even been buzzing with speculation that a deal announcement was due. What came instead at that time was an innocuous statement from the Saudi Aramco chief executive Amin Al-Nasser about joint investments with Reliance in refining and petrochemicals, almost echoing his boss’ previous statements. But for those who still find it difficult to fathom that Mukesh Ambani would seriously consider diluting his hold over the Reliance Industries (RIL) crown jewel, especially since he has always chosen to build rather than buy in his home market, here’s a reality check. RIL has been the busiest dealmaker in India Inc, buying businesses and selling stakes in them. In the past two years or so, it has bought or invested in around 27 businesses, half of them in the telecom and media space, to bulk up operations that are still at the growth stage. These range from music streaming apps and cable networks to telecom software and hardware units. Of a total $5.3-billion of investment in the past five years, 79% has been allocated toward deals in the telecom sector, Morgan Stanley estimates. At the same time, for perhaps the first time, the company has been proactively exploring asset monetising even in its core home market through stake sales, innovative structures such as infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs) or even the outright sale of assets and businesses. This, evidently, is a new strategy after the failed bid for Lyondell Bassell in 2009-10 or the misadventures in US shale gas, and has much to do with ensuring that the legacy of fiscal discipline endures as it is. Reliance will sell stakes in firms that own its fleet of very large ethane-carrying ships to Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines, it said on April 17. Reliance Jio Infocomm has already transferred its fibre and tower assets into two separate InvITcontrolled special purpose vehicles (SPVs) to reduce liabilities of $15 billion. Ambani has also been negotiating with Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co for months now, for an equity partnership at the flagship refining and petrochemicals business. He has already sold his private pipeline entity for $2 billion to Brookfield, with an option of buying it back after two decades. After investing more than $40 billion to create the world’s largest 4G network for Jio, India’s richest man would certainly like to take some money off the table. With net liabilities of $45.1 billion, according to Jefferies, even Reliance needs to think of fiscal management, especially when it needs ammunition for the costly upcoming retail battle with deep-pocketed global rivals Amazon, Walmart-owned Flipkart and Alibaba. But, having turned 62 this April, this portfolio management exercise by Mukesh Ambani is also about baby steps toward succession planning. Investors also prefer cleaner, leaner structures or verticals, discounting holding companies or a mixed bag of operations that tend to distract management. Conglomerates across the world have had to face the wrath of activist shareholders who have clamoured for carveouts and spinoffs to unlock value. Reliance has always chosen its partners carefully. Bringing BP on board in 2011 was as much about its deep-water drilling and natural gas expertise as it was for the cash. The recent M&As are all aimed at creating a digital ecosystem around Jio, acknowledged Anshuman Thakur, the telecom unit’s strategy head. Lots of things we do organically, but we come across entrepreneurs, business leaders who are doing interesting work on technology, on platforms that can be integrated with Jio, he said on April 18. There are certain core capabilities that some of these companies bring, such as national language processing or artificial intelligence (AI), so we are looking at those capabilities… There are people focusing on them so it helps to expand faster, and this is with focus on whole digital services layers.

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NEW PLAYERS WILL EXPAND MARKET MORE: FLIPKART'S KALYAN KRISHNAMURTHY

Walmart-owned Flipkart said the imminent entry of a third player — Reliance Industries — is not a worry as it would expand the market further and benefit all stakeholders Kalyan Krishnamurthy said his first since tightened FDI rules for the sector came into effect in February — that the online retail market in India is thinly penetrated and quite a few problems would need solving to make it sizeable. We believe if more players operate in this space, it will further expand the market and benefit all the stakeholders, like kirana stores, small and medium-sized merchants and consumers who will gain from innovation in the sector, he said. Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries is expected to shake up the country’s online retail market when it launches later this year, and the group has already started pulling out own brands — across apparel, lifestyle and other categories — from online marketplaces of potential competitors including Flipkart and Amazon. Jeff Bezos’ Amazon and Flipkart have been the two leading players in the Indian ecommerce market, which is expected to touch $200 billion in size by 2027, according to estimates by Morgan Stanley. This is the big opportunity that the retail-to-refining conglomerate is looking to tap as it plans to leverage its reach through Reliance Jio and Reliance Retail and create an omni-channel play. Krishnamurthy said Flipkart supports any regulation that would help create stability in the sector and facilitate a growth-driven regulatory framework that benefits merchants and customers. Flipkart’s business had not seen any impact since February 1, when the ecommerce rules kicked in, he said. I’m absolutely not going anywhere. I’m super committed to the Flipkart-Walmart partnership. Flipkart is an opportunity to organise industries like commerce and logistics, that too in a country like India, he said. Getting Flipkart IPO-ready is also part of the company’s long-term strategy, Krishnamurthy said, without specifying a timeline. People close to the company, however, said the IPO could come through as early as the first half of 2021, and that efforts are already underway to prune cash burn, and compliance and forecasting. In smaller cities, growth has been double of what we have across the top 10 cities, which is why ecommerce companies have been pushing to tap the next 30-40 cities over the past few years, he said.

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MILLIONS IN THIS DIGITAL WORLD STILL USE '123456' AS THEIR PASSWORD

When it comes to using passwords in this increasingly digital world, are people simply too lazy to use strong ones and consistently change them, or is it that generating a strong password is a very hard task? There are about 4.4 billion internet users, and about 3.5 billion social media users with about 3.3 billion people using social media on mobile devices, according to data from wearesocial.com. Yet, of the billions of passwords floating online, the password '123456' has been found 23 million times in the breaches that Troy Hunt collected. You might think that choosing a more complex password such as 'oreocookie' is better. But even that has been seen over 3,000 times, the report notes. Only 15% say they know a great deal about how to protect themselves online, which relates to current protective behaviours. The lack of awareness is particularly prominent amongst older people, according to a 21 April NCSC blog. NCSC has also released a file containing the top 100,000 passwords from the 'Have I Been Pwned' data set. If you see a password that you use in this list you should change it immediately, recommends NCSC. But does releasing breached passwords help criminals? These passwords, explains NCSC, are already in the public domain. By building awareness of how attackers use passwords obtained from breaches, we can make it harder for those attackers, and help you to reduce the risk to your customers or employees. According to the NCSC study, 70% believe they will likely be a victim of at least one specific type of cyber crime over the next two years, and most feel there would be a big personal impact. The UK Cyber Survey was carried out by Ipsos MORI. According to Troy Hunt, Making good password choices is the single biggest control consumers have over their own personal security posture. McAfee warns consumers that cybercriminals are continuing to access personal information through weak passwords, phishing emails, connected things, malicious apps and unsecure Wi-Fi networks. McAfee is committed to helping consumers take the necessary steps to protect what matters through the tips listed below.

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APPLE'S 5G IPHONES TO SPORT QUALCOMM, SAMSUNG CHIPS

Apple is expected to release a 5G-equipped iPhone in 2020 powered by chipsets from Qualcomm and Samsung that would take the total iPhone shipments to 195-200 million units in two years, according to Apple expert and predictor Ming-Chi Kuo. In April, Apple and Qualcomm settled their long-drawn legal war over patents and licensing at an undisclosed amount and Apple agreed to buy chips from Qualcomm again as part of the settlement. We expect Apple will likely adopt 5G baseband chips made by Qualcomm (focus on mmWave markets) and Samsung (focus on Sub-6GHz markets) for lowering supply risk, reducing costs and having better bargaining power, the report quoted the TF International Securities analyst Kuo as saying. According to him, the introduction of a 5G-enabled iPhone could create a wave of upgrades and purchases, especially for high-end models.

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FACEBOOK'S FLOOD OF LANGUAGES LEAVE IT STRUGGLING TO MONITOR CONTENT

Facebook Inc's struggles with hate speech and other types of problematic content are being hampered by the company's inability to keep up with a flood of new languages as mobile phones bring social media to every corner of the globe. The company offers its 2.3 billion users features such as menus and prompts in 111 different languages, deemed to be officially supported. Reuters has found another 31 widely spoken languages on Facebook that do not have official support. Detailed rules known as community standards, which bar users from posting offensive material including hate speech and celebrations of violence, were translated in only 41 languages out of the 111 supported as of early March, Reuters found. Facebook's 15,000-strong content moderation workforce speaks about 50 tongues, though the company said it hires professional translators when needed. Automated tools for identifying hate speech work in about 30. The language deficit complicates Facebook's battle to rein in harmful content and the damage it can cause, including to the company itself. Countries including Australia, Singapore and the UK are now threatening harsh new regulations, punishable by steep fines or jail time for executives, if it fails to promptly remove objectionable posts. The community standards are updated monthly and run to about 9,400 words in English. A Facebook spokeswoman said this week the rules are translated case by case depending on whether a language has a critical mass of usage and whether Facebook is a primary information source for speakers. The spokeswoman said there was no specific number for critical mass. She said among priorities for translations are Khmer, the official language in Cambodia, and Sinhala, the dominant language in Sri Lanka, where the government blocked Facebook this week to stem rumors about devastating Easter Sunday bombings. At least 652 million people worldwide speak languages supported by Facebook but where rules are not translated, according to data from language encyclopedia Ethnologue. Another 230 million or more speak one of the 31 languages that do not have official support. Facebook uses automated software as a key defense against prohibited content. Developed using a type of artificial intelligence known as machine learning, these tools identify hate speech in about 30 languages and terrorist propaganda in 19, the company said. Machine learning requires massive volumes of data to train computers, and a scarcity of text in other languages presents a challenge in rapidly growing the tools, Guy Rosen, told.

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SRI LANKA DECLARES EMERGENCY FROM MIDNIGHT

Sri Lanka will enforce a state of emergency from midnight Monday in the wake of the deadly Easter blasts that killed 290 people and wounded more than 500 others, enhancing the counter terrorism powers of the security forces. The decision was made during a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) chaired by President Maithripala Sirisena. The NSC has announced plans to impose a conditional state of emergency from midnight, said a statement from the president’s media unit. It said the measures would target terrorism and would not limit freedom of expression. These will be limited to counter terrorism regulations. This is being done to allow the police and the three forces to ensure public security, the statement said. Emergency regulations would give police sweeping powers to deal with situations of breaches of security. The government also declared Tuesday as a national day of mourning. According to the statement, Sirisena will seek international assistance to combat terrorism in the island nation.

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SRI LANKA BLASTS: COAST GUARD PUT ON HIGH ALERT, SECURITY BEEFED UP AROUND KOCHI NAVAL BASE

In the wake of a series of blasts that ripped through churches and luxury hotels on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka, leaving 290 people dead the Indian Coast Guard has been put on high alert along the maritime border with the island nation and security has been beefed up around the naval base in Kochi. The development came after Sri Lankan Health Minister and government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said that a local radical Muslim group National Tawheed Jamath was suspected of plotting the deadly explosions. Amid concerns that the perpetrators of the attack might try to escape the island nation through the sea route, the Coast Guard has deployed a number of ships and Dorniers — aircraft used to conduct surveillance — to identify suspicious boats along the maritime border. Coast Guard on high alert along the maritime boundary with Sri Lanka. Ships and maritime surveillance aircraft Dornier have been deployed on the maritime border to prevent any attempts by suicide bombing perpetrators to escape from Sri Lanka.

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US SET TO SHOW FRESH SIGNS OF STABILISING AFTER RECENT ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN

The US economy is set to show fresh signs of stabilising and indeed even strengthening after its recent soft patch. After a run of data last week exceeded forecasts, the government on Friday reveals its first estimate of gross domestic product for the first quarter. Wall Street estimates are creeping higher with the consensus of economists surveyed by Bloomberg pointing to a 2.2 percent advance. A gauge published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta comes in at 2.8 percent. Less confident are the economists at Bloomberg Economics, who project expansion of 1.5 percent. A substantial inventory glut — the byproduct of 2018 trade tensions — is contributing to weak readings on economic activity at the start of the year and may be the most overlooked near-term economic risk, said Bloomberg Economics’ Yelena Shulyatyeva and Carl Riccadonna. This is partly responsible for the overly bearish assessment of economic prospects. However, as this mini-inventory cycle runs its course, growth will be poised to significantly outperform in the second half. Ahead of the GDP report, data Thursday will show the strength of durable goods orders in March, with the median forecast in the Bloomberg survey for a 0.7 percent gain after a 1.6 percent decline. Also scheduled for next week are trade talks between the US and Japan. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is desperate to avoid tariffs or quotas on auto exports, as President Donald Trump wants to crack open Japan’s agricultural market and reduce a $60 billion trade deficit. The Bank of Canada sets interest rates and releases its quarterly monetary policy report on Wednesday although no change in the benchmark is expected. Germany’s Ifo business confidence index will probably be the most-watched indicator on the sputtering motor of the euro region at a time when European Central Bank officials are wondering if their stimulus settings are enough to generate inflation. The business climate reading is out on Wednesday and forecast to come in at 99.9, up from 99.6. European consumer confidence data is released on Tuesday and expected to show a moderate improvement from February. In Stockholm on Thursday, Riksbank officials are set to become the latest group of central bankers to backtrack on plans to tighten monetary policy amid fading inflation. Ukraine also sets rates.

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INDIA TO SURGE PAST US IN STEEL USE IN 2019, RANK NEXT ONLY TO CHINA: STUDY

India will outstrip the United States to become the second largest steel consuming nation in the world in calendar 2019 after China. China, the largest market for steel, will ace the rankings with an estimated consumption of 843.3 million tonnes in 2019. In 2020 too, India will pip US to finish as the second largest user of steel, according to World Steel Association (WSA). The usage of finished steel products in India is pegged at 102.8 million tonnes in 2019, rising to 110.2 million tonnes (mt) in 2020. The country’s steel use in 2018 was 96 million tonnes. Against India's marked gains, WSA projects only a flattish growth in US steel consumption in 2019 at 101.4 mt, a trifle better than 100.2 mt in 2018. In 2020, US steel consumption is seen at 110.2 mt. While fiscal deficit might weigh on public investment to an extent, the wide range of continuing infrastructure projects is likely to support growth in steel demand above seven per cent in both 2019 and 2020, the industry association said in its short-range outlook (SRO) for April 2019. Steel demand in developing Asia excluding China is expected to grow by 6.5 per cent and 6.4 per cent in 2019 and 2020 respectively, making it the fastest growing region in the global steel industry. Demand for steel in China, though, will drop to 834.9 mt in 2020. WSA has estimated that global steel demand will climb to 1,735 mt in 2019, an increase of 1.3 per cent over 2018. In 2020, the demand is projected to grow by one per cent to reach 1,752 mt.

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DONALD TRUMP TO END WAIVERS, ESCALATING IRAN FEUD; OIL PRICES CLIMB

The Trump administration said it won’t renew waivers that let countries buy Iranian oil without facing U.S. sanctions, a move that roiled energy markets and risks upsetting major importers such as China and India. This decision is intended to bring Iran’s oil exports to zero, denying the regime its principal source of revenue, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement Monday. The U.S., Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, three of the world’s great energy producers, along with our friends and allies, are committed to ensuring that global oil markets remain adequately supplied, according to the statement. Brent for June settlement on London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange climbed to $73.72 a barrel at 9 a.m. in New York, up 2.4 percent for the session. Prices briefly were up as much as 3.3 percent intraday, touching a new high for 2019. The current set of waivers -- issued to China, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey -- expire May 2. Donald Trump said in a tweet that Saudi Arabia and others in OPEC will more than make up the Oil Flow difference in our now Full Sanctions on Iranian Oil. Trump’s efforts to cut Iranian supplies have rocked oil markets in the past year. After running up above $85 a barrel in anticipation of sanctions, oil plunged to near $50 in the last three months of 2018 as the administration unexpectedly granted the waivers.

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US WILL NOT REISSUE WAIVERS FOR IRAN OIL IMPORTS: WHITE HOUSE

Donald Trump has decided not to reissue waivers in May to Iran's oil buyers, the White House said in a statement on Monday. The United States, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to take timely action to assure that global demand is met as all Iranian oil is removed from the market, the White House said. The Trump administration and our allies are determined to sustain and expand the maximum economic pressure campaign against Iran to end the regime's destabilising activity threatening the United States, our partners and allies and security in the Middle East, it added. US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said that the United States is not extending any waivers exempting importers of Iranian oil from US sanctions and there will be no grace period for those economies to comply. We're going to zero. We're going to zero across the board, Pompeo stated after the White House announced an end to waivers in order to pressure Iran over its nuclear program. There are no (oil) waivers that extend beyond that period, full stop, he added.

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CHINA WANTS 'TRANQUILITY', NAVY CHIEF SAYS AHEAD OF NEW WARSHIPS REVEAL

China's navy wants maritime tranquillity and good order, its chief said on Monday, ahead of a parade to mark its 70th anniversary at which the military is expected to display new warships including nuclear submarines and destroyers. President Xi Jinping is overseeing a sweeping plan to refurbish the People's Liberation Army (PLA) by developing everything from stealth jets to aircraft carriers as China ramps up its presence in the South China Sea and around self-ruled Taiwan, which has rattled nerves in the region. The navy has been a key beneficiary of the modernisation plan, with China looking to project power far from its shores and protect its trading routes and citizens overseas. Last month, Beijing unveiled a target of 7.5 percent rise in defence spending for this year, a slower rate than last year but still outpacing its economic growth target. Tuesday's parade in the waters off the eastern city of Qingdao will feature 32 vessels and 39 aircraft, some of which will not have been unveiled before, as well as warships from 13 foreign countries including India, Australia and Vietnam. China's navy is willing to, together with other navies, tackle maritime security challenges and maintain maritime peace, tranquillity and good order, stay committed to maritime security and development and actively provide more public goods for world maritime security, Shen, who is close to Xi, said.

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Thanks & Regards,
CS Meetesh Shiroya