The Kerala government has no plans to make Aadhaar mandatory for availing benefits under various schemes, State Industries and IT Minister P K Kunhalikutty said in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday (21 January, 2014).However, Kuhnalikutty said the decision to link Aadhaar with government benefits has to be taken at political and policy level and only after taking people into confidence, such decisions would be implemented."We have to convince the people that it is good," he said while addressing a press conference in connection with the 17th National Conference on e-governance to be held in Kochi from January 30.In Kerala, nearly 97 per cent of the population has been enrolled under Aadhaar and 2.75 crore people have been given UID number. But the issue of linking Aadhaar with various benefits is a question of policy and political one, he said.All the 14 districts have been covered under the national programme of Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme.On initiatives of e-governance, he said e-office project has been started in a section of the Finance Department in government secretariat. "The objective is to make Kerala the first e-office secretariat in the country," he said, adding, Kerala is now billed as the most e-ready state in the country.(PTI)
Read More
The rupee is higher with activity both on the bid and offer sides, with mainly foreign banks on the sell side and a large state-run bank being a buyer.The pair has traded in a 61.45-61.54 range, last 61.51/52 versus Monday (20 January) close of 61.62/63.Foreign banks have been buyers of $2.8 billion of rupee debt in January.The euro holding steady against USD, staying above a two-month low of $1.3508.(Reuters)
Read More
The Congress party-ruled state of Maharashtra will cut electricity tariffs by 15 to 20 per cent, television channels reported on Monday, 20th January.The state cabinet had accepted the recommendation of a panel of ministers to cut tariff, the TV channels said. Further details were not immediately available.The move follows the decision by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi, earlier this month to subsidise power tariffs for lower usage customers. This had led lawmakers from several other states demanding similar cut in power tariffs ahead of national elections that need to be completed by May.India suffers peak hour power shortages of around 4 per cent as higher demand from cities and industries outpaces growth in power generation capacity.(Reuters)
Read More
Google took its biggest step — to go deeper into consumers’ homes — with a $3.2 billion deal to buy smart thermostat and smoke alarm maker Nest Labs, scooping up a promising line of products and a prized design team led by the godfather of the iPod, Tony Fadell. Nest will continue to operate its own brand after the all-cash deal closes. The deal is the second largest in Google’s history after the $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola in 2012, which marked Google’s first major entry into hardware. The Nest deal gives Google a stepping stone into an important new market at a time when consumer appliances and Internet services are increasingly merging. “Home automation is one of the bigger opportunities when you talk about connecting everything. This deal furthers their strategy around that,” says an analyst.On TargetFirms that help Target Corp. process payments could face millions of dollars in fines and costs resulting from the unprecedented data breach that struck the retailer over the holiday shopping season. Investigators are still sorting through just how thieves compromised about 40 million payment cards and the information of about 70 million Target customers. It is believed Target’s partners could face consumer lawsuits and fines that payment networks such as Visa and MasterCard often levy after cyber security incidents. As a precautionary measure, Citigroup will replace all customer debit cards involved in the data breach at Target.Stepping On The GasVolkswagen (VW) recently announced that it plans to make a sport utility vehicle tailored for the US market and will invest $7 billion over five years in the region in order to increase sales. Europe’s largest automaker reiterated its goal of selling 1 million Volkswagen and upscale Audi vehicles annually in the US by 2018 as it launches more locally made cars, in a sign of renewed commitment to the market after a sales decline of its core VW brand. In 2013, the VW Group, which also owns the Porsche, Bugatti and Lamborghini marques, sold 600,000 cars in the US.Double WhammyApple will refund consumers at least $32.5 million to settle a longstanding complaint that the technology firm billed US consumers for charges incurred by children through mobile apps without their parents’ consent. Under the terms of the settlement, announced by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Apple will also need to change its billing practices to ensure it obtains consent from parents before charging for such in-app spending. “You can’t charge consumers for purchases they didn’t authorise,” said FTC, estimating that children spent millions of dollars without their parents’ knowledge. In an internal memo, Apple CEO Tim Cook referred to a class action settlement reached in June 2013 that required the firm to pay around $100 million to parents whose children made unauthorised purchases, saying the FTC’s settlement “smacked of double jeopardy”.Back In BlackEuro zone industrial production in November rose much more than expected, signalling stronger momentum behind the bloc’s economic recovery in the last quarter of 2013. Industrial production in 17 countries sharing the euro jumped 1.8 per cent month on month in November, after an upwardly revised 0.8 per cent drop in October, the EU’s statistics office Eurostat said. The monthly rise, euro zone’s strongest since May 2010, was fuelled by a 3-point jump in the output of capital goods and a 2.2 per cent rise in the production of consumer durable goods such as electronics and cars. Production in EU’s largest economy, Germany, grew 2.4 per cent, showing its strongest rise since July 2011, while output in the second largest, France, rose 1.4 per cent.Clean-Up ActChina plans to establish a nationwide trading system for pollution permits as part of efforts to use market mechanisms to help clean up its environment, said the environmental protection ministry. Minister Zhou Shengxian said China was working on new regulations for pollution permits and would also publish proposals for new pilot trading projects as soon as possible. Five cities and regions set up new pilot carbon trading platforms last year to encourage local enterprises to address soaring greenhouse gas emissions and two more will be launched in 2014.Health ChecksThe International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently added Denmark, Finland, Norway and Poland to its list of countries that must have regular check-ups of their financial sectors, under an effort to prevent a repeat of the global financial crisis. The IMF in 2010 had identified 25 other countries where financial sector evaluations will be mandatory. These reviews had been voluntary prior to the 2008-09 financial crisis, which showed how quickly financial problems in one country could spread to its neighbours and the rest of the world. More than half of the 29 financial sectors the IMF deems “systemically important” are located in Europe. “The financial sectors of these jurisdictions are highly interconnected, not just with each other, but also with other major financial centres,” the IMF said about the focus on European financial centres.High SpiritsSuntory Holdings said it would buy US spirits company Beam for $13.6 billion, in a deal that would make the Japanese company the world’s third largest spirits maker. Including the assumption of Beam’s net debt, the deal is valued at $16 billion. It brings together Beam’s Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark bourbons, Courvoisier cognac and Sauza tequila with Suntory’s Yamazaki, Hakushu, Hibiki and Kakubin Japanese whiskies, Bowmore Scotch whisky and Midori liqueur. The deal is the latest example of how Japanese liquor companies are seeking to quench their thirst for overseas growth as the population in their home market shrinks.(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 10-02-2014)
Read More
Compiled by MoynaGraphic by Prashant Chaudhary (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 10-02-2014)
Read More
We had heard of income, sales, and excise taxes but, for the first time, we heard about a Jayanthi tax in Delhi. Till the time that was not paid, files could not be moved”— Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat, referring to former environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan“It was like doing an open heart surgery on a runner during a marathon”— Sanjay Reddy, vice-chairman of GVK Group, on building the new terminal at the Mumbai International Airport“We want the big guys to spend the money and figure out what works and what doesn’t, and then we want to copy it”— Bill Crawford, CEO, Rockville Bank, on the bank’s technology strategy“He seems to have convinced himself that history will treat him kindly. He is being over-optimistic”— K. Natwar Singh, former foreign minister, referring to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Anand Sharma“If we are to be the third-largest economy, then we need to start behaving like one”— Sashi Mukundan, head, BP India, on delays in securing regulatory approvals“It’s very tough to sell the message that you are growing and you are cutting. Which is it?”— Fritz Nauck, director at McKinsey & Co, on banks emphasising on both cost cuts and growth“It is simply populism heading towards anarchy... arbitrary and regressive”— Anand Sharma, commerce minister, on the AAP-led Delhi government’s decision to disallow FDI in multi-brand retail(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 10-02-2014)
Read More
The rupee lower on global dollar strength, the pair at 61.58/59 versus its Friday's (17 January) close of 61.54/55. Strong fund inflows continue into debt, with data showing six consecutive session of buying through Thursday (16 January), totalling over $2.5 billion, helping support INR.Local stocks down 0.2 pct, in line with Asian peers.The US dollar started Monday (20 January) near a two-month high, having enjoyed a solid comeback last week after a string of mostly upbeat data convinced markets the Federal Reserve will continue its gradual withdrawal of stimulus. US markets are shut on Monday for a holiday.(Reuters)
Read More
Trust in governments worldwide took a dive last year with Washington's reputation a notable casualty as President Barack Obama grappled with a budget showdown, the Snowden spying crisis and the botched rollout of "Obamacare".Just 37 per cent of college-educated adults told the Edelman Trust Barometer that they trusted the US government - 16 points down on a year earlier and seven points below the global average.The United States was not quite at the bottom of the heap as levels of trust in governments in some Western Europe countries including France, Spain and Italy were even lower, but the scale of the American decline was particularly dramatic.The mood of disillusionment was amplified because it came off a brief phase of enthusiasm for the role of the state in preventing economic Armageddon, said Richard Edelman, head of U.S. public relations firm Edelman, which commissioned the study."In 2008 and 2009, it was a case of government to the rescue and everybody said government saved the day. That raised expectations - but then you get crushed," he told Reuters.In the case of the United States, three big negatives have weighed heavily in the past year: the impasse between Democrats and Republicans over the budget; the crisis over spying revelations by former U.S. contractor Edward Snowden; and the fumbled rollout of the contentious Obamacare healthcare system due to technical problems with a federal website."There is almost despair in some aspects of government. How does a computer system not work for healthcare? That is just a competence question," Edelman said.The results of the annual trust survey were released on Monday (20 January, 2014) before being presented at the Jan. 22-25 World Economic Forum meeting in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.As a result of the loss of faith in the state around the world, the gap in trust between government and business has widened to a record level, with corporations now enjoying a 14-point advantage.That gap was especially large in India, as the country heads into elections amid a wave of corruption scandals, and in Brazil, where alleged corruption, bus fare hikes and high public spending for the 2014 soccer World Cup have fuelled anger.Trust in business overall stabilised at 58 percent. But while confidence in some industry sectors is high - such as technology and autos - there are still widespread demands for more regulation of financial services, energy and food.Family-owned and small businesses are more trusted than big business across the globe, and there are notable regional variations, with companies based in the main emerging markets suffering a big trust deficit compared to Western firms.The survey took the opinions of 6,000 college-educated, relatively affluent people aged 25-64 in 27 countries, from Oct. 16 to Nov. 29. (Reuters)
Read More
President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday (19 January) expressed confidence that food grain production this year will break all records over the previous years and agriculture growth rate could touch four per cent."It is expected this year our food grain production will break all records over our past record of 259 million tonnes in 2011-12 and 250 million tonnes in the previous year," he said while inaugurating a Krishi Vigyan Kendra building.Lauding agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and his ministry's role over the good performance in the sector, he said that India today has not only emerged as the largest producer of rice but also largest exporter in rice."We have also emerged as the second largest exporter of wheat, sugar and cotton," he said.The President said that while in the first half of this year agriculture growth has touched 3.6 per cent, it will touch four per cent shortly.Mukherjee also expressed confidence that the country will be able to fulfil the obligation of food security to the people after the enactment of National Food Security Act.On the role of science and technology in the agricultural sector, he said that the proposed farm innovation fund will encourage development of new product technologies and methodologies by the farmer.(PTI)
Read More
Financial details of Indians bringing in gold from abroad after duty payment will be shared by customs authorities with Income Tax department to check suspicious ferrying of the yellow metal into the country.According to norms, an Indian who has been living abroad for over six months can bring in a kg of gold legally after payment of duty. The duty, which is charged at the rate of 10 per cent, is payable in currency of the nation where the gold was bought.Besides, a man can also bring in gold jewellery worth Rs 50,000 and women Rs one lakh, without payment of any duty, provided they live abroad for more than a year.Officials in the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), lead agency responsible for checking smuggling and customs duty evasion among others, said at least 3,000 kg of gold has been legally brought into the country after payment of customs duty during 2013-14."There has been a rise in people bringing in one kg of gold legally. There is a possibility of an organised gang of hawala operatives who could be exploiting these people after paying money. The PAN card details of these flyers are being shared with Income Tax department to ascertain source of their income and avoid possibility of any wrongdoing," a senior DRI official said.There is a suspicion that the gold is being sold to bullion traders, they said.The official cites that there is huge profit in legally bringing gold to India. An individual can make at least Rs two lakh if he sells a kilogram of gold (which costs about Rs 1.61 lakh) bought from foreign nations here. The DRI officials, who plead helplessness in checking this new modus operandi, are working in close coordination with their customs counterparts to maintain a data of such people. "There is nothing we can do. After all they are paying duty. It is a legal thing," the official said.While there was no all-India compiled figure available with the DRI on gold brought into the country legally, he said airports in southern part of the country (especially Kerala) are seeing spurt in this activity."Field officials have been alerted to keep a check on flyers and bullion traders. We will also seek help of Enforcement Directorate (ED) to check involvement of any hawala dealer in this," the official added.The high demand of gold has been a matter of concern for Finance Ministry which is grappling to rein in Current Account Deficit (CAD), difference between the outflow and inflow of foreign currency. The CAD touched a historic high of USD 88.2 billion or 4.8 per cent of GDP in 2012-13 and was mainly attributed to high imports of petroleum products and gold.India, the largest gold consumer in the world, has imported 830 tonnes of gold in 2012-13.(PTI)
Read More
