A controversy erupted over alleged delay in grant of permission for Narendra Modi's rally scheduled for tomorrow in the constituency, with BJP crying foul and demanding that the Election Commission remove the electoral officer. As the campaign fever soared ahead of the May 12 vote in the constituency where Modi is in the fray, BJP leader Arun Jaitley today alleged that the district magistrate, who is serving as electoral officer for Varanasi Lok Sabha polls, was making "unbelievable" excuses to "deny" security approval for the rally, which was a right of any candidate. BJP said it has written to Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath against the local electoral officer and has demanded his removal. Modi is scheduled to hold a public meeting at Beniya Bagh area here tomorrow evening, after another rally in Rohania, a rural assembly constituency outside the main Varanasi city but within the Lok Sabha constituency. The permission was being held back for Beniya Bagh on the grounds that it was very crowded and unfit for holding rallies, officials said, while adding that the administration had also got certain requests from the general public for not allowing rallies in such areas due to security risks. Top officials, however, sought to blame the delay in approval to non-receipt of ground report from security agencies and said a final decision could be taken by evening. They claimed that the request for the rally in Beniya Bagh area here was received yesterday only. They said that the district administration was waiting for the ground report from the police and local intelligence unit and a final decision on approval for the rally would be taken thereafter. Terming the situation as "unprecedented", Jaitley said, "Holding public meeting in his constituency is right of every candidate and Narendra Modi cannot be denied the same." "If the approval is denied on the basis of some back-dated letter or so-called intelligence alerts about security issues, they are only excuses. We have written to the CEC and hope the situation to become clear very soon," he said. When asked whether BJP suspects that UP state government was behind the "denial", Jaitley said, "I do not know who is interfering, but the DM as an electoral officer is free to decide on such things and he is not supposed to come under any kind of pressure. "We have written to CEC to seek his removal from here." Varanasi goes to polls on May 12 and the campaigning will end on May 10 evening here. Modi is pitted against AAP's Arvind Kejriwal and Congress' Ajay Rai. ADM (City) MP Singh told reporters that the application which they had received yesterday from BJP for Modi's rally has been forwarded for getting inputs from local police station and also from local intelligence unit (LIU). The report from LIU and police?have not yet been received to make a final decision for granting permission, he added. On the issue of Ganga Aarti at ghats, in which Modi was scheduled to participate tomorrow, Singh said that he was not yet aware of this and would only clarify when he receives the final report from LIU and police. The grant of? permission is yet to be finalised for the rally, Singh said. BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said the Varanasi administration was obeying an "unwritten order" and there is an "undeclared understanding" between them and the ruling Samajwadi Party. She said it was for the first time a candidate was denied permission to hold a rally in his own constituency. She said though the venue was pre-booked, the payment has not been made yet. "It is absolutely unacceptable. We are quite surprised," she said. (Agencies)
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“We’re still this toddler in a grown man’s body in many ways”—Andrew Mason, chief executive, Groupon Inc, at an employee meeting, stressing on the need for the daily deals site to grow“There is no simple recipe for appropriate policy”—Janet Yellen, chairman, Federal Reserve, calling for a ‘pragmatic’ approach to US monetary policy at the Fed’s annual central banking conference“We bit off way too much, too early,”—John Mulligan, chief financial officer, Target, in a frank assessment of the company’s aggressive foray into Canada that resulted in weak second quarter results“Today, wealthy Indians are finding it cheaper to get their children married in Thailand than in Indian hotels. It’s a hard reality”—Arun Jaitley, finance minister, criticising the existing higher taxation on the tourism sector that has led to fewer visitors and lower revenue collection“Now serving 600,000,000 monthly active users”—Jan Koum, CEO, WhatsApp, in a recent statement“Being a software superpower, India should now emerge as a global factory”—B.D. Park, president and CEO, Samsung South-west Asia, on how India is set to become the next global factory as China is losing its competitive edge“More and more you use an application on your phone and the Web to interact with us, the future of call centre jobs will be less. In reality, these jobs will not exist in five years”—David Thodey, CEO, Telstra, at a conference(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 22-09-2014)
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Capital market regulator SEBI seems to have taken upon itself to prevent unscrupulous corporate entities and fly-by-night operators from defrauding retail investors of their hard-earned money.Following its victory in the Sahara case, SEBI has now taken up cudgels against Pearl Agrotech Corporation (PACL), which is alleged to have flouted ‘SEBI Collective Investment Schemes’ norms while raising public funds to invest in real estate and agriculture farmlands. SEBI has now asked PACL to return over Rs 49,000 crore to investors who have participated in their investment scheme since 2005. “The business/activities/schemes/plans offered and operated by PACL are Collective Investment Schemes (CIS). The natural consequences of such findings would be to inter alia direct PACL and its directors and promoters to refund the monies, which have been collected in an unauthorised manner, with promised returns to investors,” said SEBI directive to PACL.As per PACL’s submission to SEBI, the company has raised public funds worth Rs 49,100 crore to deal in real estate — mostly buying land, holding it for a definite period and then selling it to make decent profits. In its report, PACL has stated that it had agricultural and commercial land assets worth over Rs 11,700 crore. The company claims to have repaid funds to 1.2 crore investors out of the total 4.6 crore. SEBI, however, is not comfortable with these disclosures.“By its own admission, PACL does not have enough land bank compared to the amount mobilised by it from customers. The outstanding dues to customers as on 31 March 2014 is Rs 29,420.65 crore and the value of total land in the form of ‘stock –in-trade’ as on 31 March 2014 is Rs 11,706.96 crore. PACL does not have assets corresponding to the amounts of monies raised by it from public,” SEBI contended.Based on these points, SEBI has asked PACL to return the money collected from investors (with promised returns) within three months, besides winding up business operations immediately.In 2002, SEBI had first directed PACL to align its schemes as per CIS norms. The company challenged SEBI in the Rajasthan High Court and secured a verdict in its favour. In 2011, SEBI moved the Supreme Court challenging PACL’s claims. The SC roped in the services of IT department and CBI to conduct an enquiry into PACL’s workings. In February 2014, CBI registered a case against the promoters of PACL on alleged charges of misappropriation of public funds. This strengthened the position of SEBI, which directed the company to wind up operations. PACL may approach the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) for relief against the SEBI order. If SAT upholds SEBI’s views, it may well be the end of the road for PACL.(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 22-09-2014)
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The rupee failed to maintain initial gains against the American currency and was quoted at 60.12 per dollar in the morning trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market.The rupee resumed higher at 60.02 per dollar as against the last closing level of 60.11 on initial selling of the American currency by banks and exporters.However, it failed to maintain initial gains and dropped to 60.13 per dollar before quoting at 60.12 at 1000 hours on fresh dollar demand from banks and importers.It moved in a range of 60.00-60.13 per dollar during the morning deals.In New York market, the British pound took a run at $1.70 yesterday after strong service-sector data added to speculation that the Bank of England could be forced to raise interest rates sooner than expected.Meanwhile, the Indian benchmark Sensex was quoted lower by 49.51 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 22,458.91 at 1000 hours.(PTI)
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The rousing start given to the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the ambitious financial inclusion programme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has, perhaps, no parallels in the history of Indian banking system. Fifteen million new zero-balance savings accounts (against a target of 10 million) were opened on the day of its launch on August 28, thanks to the active participation of private and public sector banks all over the country. The scheme got operational in just two weeks after Modi announced it in his maiden Independence Day speech. Such a feat was accomplished through day-long camps in over 77,000 locations and participation of 20-odd chief ministers and high ranking officials.However, the real crowd puller was the scheme itself. Each account, taken as part of PMJDY, comes with a host of benefits like a RuPay debit card with a Rs 5,000 credit facility, Rs 1,00,000 accident insurance cover, and a Rs 30,000 life insurance cover to those enrolling before 26 January 2015. While there is no doubt about the intention and potential of the scheme, one cannot convincingly conclude that all the 15 million families that opened bank accounts on 28 August are first timers, or that the account opening melas in the coming months will be able to enrol only those people who have never been exposed to the formal banking system. First, the bank account opening process is so simple that there is hardly any mechanism to check duplication of enrolment. Second, there is no mechanism at this stage to verify the veracity of the declaration by the new account holders that they did not have any bank account. Since unique identification number or Aadhaar is not mandatory for opening bank accounts under the scheme and also there is no way to check bank accounts of people across banks in the country, it’s quite possible for many of the early members of PMJDY to have been enrolled earlier into the banking system. Even among the zero balance accounts opened during the financial inclusion plan of the previous government, more than half are dormant and many such account holders could well have availed of the PMJDY scheme. Modi wants all 75 million un-banked households to be made part of the financial system by 26 January 2015. Going by the initial enthusiasm, PMJDY will certainly surpass the targeted numbers by the deadline. But that would still not guarantee that all the un-banked households for which the yojana has been specifically created, are on board.Besides, financial inclusion on such a scale anytime soon may not be possible for banks due to a host of operational and logistical problems, Even if the households, statistically speaking, are included within the banking system, they could be years away from true financial inclusion. As an idea, PMJDY definitely deserves praise, but without all the hype.— Joe C. Mathew(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 22-09-2014)
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At a shabby government health centre in the rural bastion of India's ruling Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, mothers cradling sick babies sidestep dogs sleeping in unlit corridors.There is no power, there are no nurses on duty and only two doctors - one suffering from a crippling neurological disease - trying to treat 60 to 70 patients a day in sweltering heat.Few places in India illustrate more clearly how loyalists' support for the ruling Congress party, and the Gandhi family that leads it, has been tested than Amethi, its traditional stronghold around 300 miles southeast of New Delhi.Many people in a constituency that has elected the Gandhis to parliament since 1980 feel they have been left behind and voters are getting angry, threatening family scion Rahul's bid to retain the seat when locals cast their vote on Wednesday (7 May)."We are with the Congress party, we have always been from the time of our forefathers," said Arun Sharma, a local barber. "But we are not happy. Rahul just comes and waves from his car, and goes away."Congress leaders disagree, and counter that to a large extent, Rahul's hands are tied.Uttar Pradesh, the northern state of 200 million people where Amethi is located, is run by a regional party that, while loosely allied to Congress, has ruled mainly in the interests of its low-caste supporters.The state plays a critical role in building roads and providing power, and lobbying efforts by the Gandhis to secure better amenities for Amethi have often proved ineffectual."These health centres and schools - these are the responsibility of the state government," said Rita Bahuguna Joshi, former head of the state unit of Congress and now running on a party ticket from Lucknow, capital of Uttar Pradesh."It is the non-cooperation of successive governments that has been the problem. Rahul makes every effort, but they don't implement them. They want to show him in a poor light."Nonetheless, Hindu nationalist candidate Narendra Modi senses victory in the five-week election that ends next week, and his opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is striking at the heart of the Gandhi family in a bid to weaken it.Modi, who opinion polls show is favourite to be India's next prime minister, has campaigned on a platform of economic growth while criticising what he views as state handouts by Congress that India can ill afford.He has also stepped up personal attacks on Rahul, 43, mocking him as a pampered princeling who has failed to back up talk of empowering India's poor with results."The question is are they really interested? The arrogance of the family has gone sky-high," Modi thundered to applause at an opposition rally in Amethi on Monday."You didn't ask for Mercedes cars, you didn't ask to go to America, all you asked for was drinking water, jobs for your children," he added, taking the fight to the Gandhis in their own back yard."But the mother and son couldn't be bothered," Modi said in his most direct attack yet on Rahul and his mother, head of the Congress party Sonia Gandhi.Gandhis' Mixed LegacyAdding to pressure on Rahul and Congress, the BJP has put up a well-known television actress to run against him in Amethi. In the past the opposition would tend to field weak candidates, reflecting the futility of the exercise.Now, youths wearing saffron-coloured BJP headbands roam the area on motorbikes shouting slogans in support of Modi, a rare sight in a constituency where the Congress party flag was the only one visible for years.Scattered among Amethi's wheat fields stand shuttered cement plants that Rahul's father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi inaugurated. Many schools lack teachers and seven out of 10 homes have no toilet.Sharma, the barber, quit his job at a factory making car windshield wipers because he was earning only 70 rupees ($1.16) a day, less than the minimum wage.Abdul Ansari, who had come to the barber shop, said his extended family had 20 children and none of them had received an education because the government school had closed.They could not afford the dozens of private schools that had opened up, some of them in garages."The children are on the streets all day, doing nothing."It is hardly an advertisement for a party that has championed the poor since Rahul's great-grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, led India to independence in 1947.Enter PriyankaIn an interview with the Times of India on Tuesday, Modi said that if Congress' tally dropped to below 100 seats in India's 543-seat lower house - which would be its worst ever result - the Gandhis may face a threat from their own party.Responding to the onslaught by Modi and the BJP, Congress has deployed Rahul's sister Priyanka, a natural politician in the mould of grandmother Indira, to lead a rearguard campaign in Amethi over the past two weeks.Party leaders remain reluctant to countenance the possibility of personal defeat for Rahul. Allies also say he is working hard behind the scenes to reform Congress and prepare it for future battles."Rahul is here for the long term. In fact he is operating at multiple levels," said Jairam Ramesh, a federal minister and a confidant of the family."From day one he has made it clear, in internal meetings as well as outside that, while he is fighting the 2014 election, he is also seeding the future Congress."Indian political experts also say that Congress has suffered setbacks in the past and bounced back."The Gandhi family is the glue that holds the party together, that stops the party from crumbling into factions," said Siddharth Varadarajan, former editor of The Hindu newspaper. (Reuters)
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Until a few months ago, investors were not willing to touch real estate and infrastructure companies even with a barge pole. This sentiment, however, seems to be fast changing. The sector has seen significant inflows over the past six months. The exposure of foreign portfolio investors to real estate companies has gone up from Rs 13,700 crore in December 2013 to Rs 15,300 crore in May 2014. Domestic asset managers have also bumped up their investments in the realty sector from Rs 6,300 crore last July to Rs 14,200 crore currently. The BSE Realty Index has kept pace with broader indices and logged over 42 per cent gains since last year. The sector is likely to perform even better once Reserve Bank starts cutting interest rates. Therefore, it may not be a bad idea for investors to start looking for opportunities in realty sectors. The only word of caution being — stay away from heavily leveraged developers — Shailesh MenonSore Over MoreMint Road is abuzz with talk of a fifth deputy governor (DG), but it has caused heartburn. It’s not about the credentials of the person who is sought to be inducted — Nachiket Mor, a former executive director at ICICI Bank — but rather about the power structure at RBI. There has always been a “senior most” among the four DGs, but that has never meant anyone having more powers over the rest. A DG as a ‘chief operating officer’ is a new corner office. The unions on their part are worried that ‘career’ RBI officials may lose a chance to move up the ladder if just one DG is to be from the ranks even as a fifth one is added. While out-of-the-box thinking is fine, but to say that it can only come from an ‘outsider’ is pushing the envelope. Governor Raghuram Rajan will do well to encourage such thinking within the cadre as well. Who knows what pops out? — Raghu MohanStartup LoveThe Indian IT startup sector is getting attention from industry lobby groups Nasscom and iSpirit (Indian Software Product Industry Roundtable) like never before. Last year, Nasscom, the industry’s older and larger association, launched its ‘10,000 Startups’ initiative. The move was seen as a bid to shake off accusations that Nasscom represented the interests of only major IT services companies. iSpirit, set up last year, has launched ‘BootUPIndia initiative’ to reach out and support startups. While both industry associations diplomatically say they complement each other, startups appear to be enjoying all the attention. Given the challenges and difficulties that most Indian startups face, one can only say more power to anybody who enables them to succeed. — Venkatesha BabuRudderless At The HelmThe government is yet to get its act together as far as public sector undertakings (PSU) are concerned. At present, as many as 34 PSUs either do not have a chairman or have only part-time functionaries at the helm of affairs who do not take interest in the day-to-day running of their companies, leave alone strategy making. In fact, the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB), which is tasked with recommending candidates for the post of PSU directors and chairmen, sends as many as 12 names every month to the government. However, these names seem to get stuck at the Central Vigilance Commission. If the government is indeed serious about reviving the economy, it must find a mechanism at the earliest to speed up the clearance process for the appointment of chairman and other functional directors of PSUs. How can PSUs perform better if they remain headless? — Neeraj ThakurPat Comes The NormsThe Indian Patent Office’s revised draft guidelines are a welcome move as they seek to bring Indian intellectual property rules into conformity with global standards. Besides a spate of litigations between innovator companies, generic makers and the government in recent times, there has also been an increase in the workload of Indian patent offices — they granted nearly 1,300 patents between 2011 and 2013, as against 970 between 2007 and 2011. Moreover, the Indian IP office has also been functioning as an International Search Authority and International Preliminary Examining Authority since October 2013. Still, there is a need to appoint qualified patent professionals as well as ensure speedy decision-making and more clarity on controversial sections which talks about evergreening of patents. — P.B. JayakumarThe Power Of ManyPower minister Piyush Goyal’s proposal on merging the smaller power PSUs into bigger ones deserves to be lauded. Specifically, the proposal revolves around the possibility of merging all the smaller hydro PSUs such as SJVN, THDC and NEEPCO into National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) and creating a mega entity. The proposal also entails transfer of NTPC’s hydro power assets to NHPC, as well as reverse transfer of over 4,000 MW of thermal assets controlled by hydro players to NTPC. The creation of mega PSU entities will allow for efficient pooling of resources and management. In the era of liberalisation, the public sector should be competing with the private sector, and not with its brethren in the public sector, as was the norm in the controlled economy. — Neeraj ThakurThe Ride To Recovery?The twin launches of the sedan Zest and the Bolt hatchback are a bold attempt by Tata Motors to boost its sagging fortunes in the domestic passenger car market. The latest offerings are, without doubt, far superior to anything that the company has made in the domestic market so far. While all domestic car manufacturers have struggled over the past two years owing to the economic lump, Tata Motors has been the worst-hit. The company has managed to sell just 6,400 cars per month on average. Analysts expect the feature-laden Zest and the Bolt to sell between 10,000 and 15,000 units per month. In case these numbers do not materialise, the company’s passenger car unit could find its troubles that started with the failure of the Nano assuming ever bigger proportions. — Sachin Dave(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 22-09-2014)
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A day after the best economic growth figures in more than two years greeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first three months in office, the finance minister on Saturday (30 August) predicted faster growth to come.Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said he expected GDP growth higher than the 5.7 per cent it clocked in the three months until June as a series of government measures take effect.The GDP numbers were released on Friday (29 August)."With the long-term impact of all the initiatives we have taken, I am sure, the impact in the coming quarters will be much larger," Jaitley said, citing rising manufacturing orders and renewed investor interest in India.Since taking office in May, the government has loosened restrictions on foreign investment in defence, moved to reduce red tape for business and started tentative labour reforms.Speaking late on Friday, Modi said the measures had resulted in economic stability and India would "very soon" achieve "greater heights".Jaitley said inflation was on a downward trend and that he was more confident now of meeting a tough fiscal deficit target of 4.1 per cent set in the budget in July, despite having breached the target in the first four months of the year."What was then accepted as a challenge, with the first quarter (GDP) results, I think, it is something that is certainly achievable," he told reporters."My confidence today of achieving this target is much more."India's high deficit and consequent government borrowing is often cited as a constraint on growth, since it squeezes the availability of credit for private companies.Some private economists consider the deficit target optimistic, citing weak tax receipts in a sluggish economy and high federal expenditure commitments.But the finance minister said tax receipts would improve later in the year and that work on reducing subsidies that weigh on the deficit would start this year. Another finance ministry official said sales of government stakes in state-run companies would begin within three months.Jaitley said economists who cast doubt on the government's predictions should accept that India was changing for the better and look for "silver linings" rather than "gloom."(Reuters)
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