Today's Hot Stories - March 15, 2014
10 Headlines for Today(1) Ishrat case: Court notice to Amit Shah
(2) Houses burned in Assam along Nagaland border
(3) Obama seeks to stay neutral in CIA-Senate spat
(4) Ruias stuck to 70 pence/share offer for Essar Energy
(5) Maruti asked to explain plant transfer to Suzuki
(6) US sues 16 big banks that set key rate
(7) PV Sindhu wins but Saina Nehwal loses in Swiss GP
(8) Rosberg tops final practice ahead of qualifying
(9) Flavia Pennetta stuns Li Na to reach Indian Wells final
(10) Free rides to combat pollution in France, Belgium
5 Stories for Today
(1) Black money in polls: I-T starts helpline for Delhi
(2) Rwandan ex-intel chief convicted in genocide trial
(3) Banks invite bids for Rs.42,800 crore NPAs ahead of tough norms
(4) Flipkart, India's reply to Amazon, sees $1 bn sales
(5 Inflation eases to 9-month low, RBI interest rates seen on hold for now
(1) Black money in polls: I-T starts helpline for Delhi
The Income Tax department has floated a toll-free helpline number for general public to alert it about any suspicious movement of large sums of cash in the national capital during polls.
The investigation wing of the department has created a control room and complaint monitoring cell at its office here on the instructions of the Election Commission (EC) which wants to curb the use of black money and illegal inducements in the poll process.
The toll-free number — 1800110132 — will be monitored round-the-clock and will be supervised by a senior officer in the rank of joint director (I-T), a senior official said.
The department has also prepared a team of chosen sleuths which will be monitoring black money related instances with special emphasis on the measures deployed for the election period, a senior I-T officer said.
The EC has created an Election Expenditure Monitoring cell within its establishment to monitor illegal money and other such bribes to voters during the forthcoming parliamentary polls in Delhi.
The I-T department is a part of this mechanism. Delhi has seven Lok Sabha seats and will vote on April 10.
Source: The Times of India
(2) Rwandan ex-intel chief convicted in genocide trial
Paris court delivered France’s first-ever conviction for genocide, sentencing a Rwandan former intelligence chief to 25 years in prison over the 1994 killings of at least 500,000 people in the African country.
The landmark trial of 54-year-old Pascal Simbikangwa, on Friday, sets off what could be the first of dozens of French trials into one of the 20th century’s greatest atrocities two decades after it happened.
In a late night verdict after 5½ weeks on trial, he was found guilty of genocide and complicity to crimes against humanity. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Simbikangwa’s lawyers would appeal.
While French officialdom wasn’t on trial, critics say France was too supportive of Rwandan government and for too long turned a blind eye to the genocide.
Simbikangwa proclaimed his innocence and insisted he never even saw any of the bodies that littered the country’s roads and towns at the time.
In his final appeal to the jury on Friday morning, Simbikangwa insisted that the “authenticity of my innocence needs no more proof”.
Prosecution and defence lawyers noted the seminal nature of the trial, the first in which a French court has decided on a case of genocide.
Critics “many of them French citizens” say authorities from then-President Francois Mitterrand down thought that France’s strong support for the Hutu-led Rwandan government was wise. Naively at best, those officials helped some perpetrators to flee Rwanda and others with ties to the genocide lived in France for years unpunished, the critics say.
French prosecutors are investigating about two dozen cases into Rwandans allegedly linked to the genocide, plus several others over alleged rape and complicity in genocide that haven’t yet identified a defendant. A former military police officer, Paul Barril, is under investigation for allegedly having struck a deal to provide arms, munitions and training to Rwandan forces at the height of the genocide.
It is not yet clear when or if such cases will go to trial, but some sought to use the Simbikangwa trial to focus attention of the alleged French role in the genocide. Riot police encircled about 10 activists who shouted “France was complicit in Rwanda’s genocide!” as they tried to demonstrate outside the courthouse. They didn’t have the proper permit, and were escorted away, officials said.
The proceedings in the Simbikangwa trial were squarely focused on his own case. He appealed to the jury’s “conscience”, and asked for a prayer for Tutsis and Hutus who died though he showed no personal remorse.
Source: The Hindu
(3) Banks invite bids for Rs 42,800 crore NPAs ahead of tough norms
Banks, most of them government-owned, are biting the bullet and seeking to sell a record $7 billion of bad loans to asset reconstruction companies as they rush to clean up their books ahead of stringent norms kicking in next year. About 40 banks have invited bids for bad loans worth Rs 42,800 crore, said bankers who did not want to be named. This is almost four times the amount that were put up for auction in past quarters.
The sudden eagerness on the part of banks to get junk loans off their books has also led to the rejuvenation of asset reconstruction companies (ARCs), which have been dormant for nearly a decade.
State Bank of India, the country's biggest, heads the pack with loans of Rs 7,600 crore up for sale, followed by Bank of India at Rs 4,600 crore. United Bank of India, which ranks the worst in proportion of bad loans to advances, is putting up Rs 900 crore of bad assets for auction, while Central Bank of India is seeking to sell Rs 3,000 crore of them.
All these banks are state owned. '' The confidence reposed in ARCs by the banks will have to be borne out or else they will not come back to sell stressed assets next year," said P Rudran, managing director and CEO of Asset Reconstruction Company of India Ltd or Arcil. Indian banks are facing their worst-ever bad loan crisis in more than a decade as a slowing economy and government indecision have led to companies defaulting. Gross bad loans rose to 4.1% of assets in the December quarter from 4% in the September quarter, said rating company ICRA.
Banks willing to accept haircuts
Furthermore, the central bank is encouraging banks to clean up their books and be active in both preventing good accounts turning bad and getting rid of NPAs so they can actively lend to companies when the economy recovers. The rush to dispose of stressed loans by banks is also to guard themselves against higher loan loss provisions that take effect in March 2015.
Unlike the current practice in which restructured loans are treated as standard assets even when they are under stress, RBI has mandated that all recast loans have to be classified as non-performing accounts attracting higher provisions from March 2015. The auction process has also gained momentum since banks, which have so far largely resisted the sale of loans on the grounds that they can do a better job of recovering the money, are willing to accept haircuts and security receipts in exchange for such debt.
"It's a good sign that banks are utilising ARCs to sell off bad loans and secondly banks are transferring stressed loans before the value of the loan is (a complete) loss, which is a sign of a maturing market," said Siby Antony, managing director and chief executive at Edelweiss ARC. However, loan recovery itself will take a different trajectory in the next decade as banks push managements harder to invest in equity and courts throw out frivolous litigation against recoveries. The Madras High Court recently rejected pleas against State Bank of India's recovery proceedings from companies such as Tamil Nadu Organic, Gangtori Textiles, Yoga Nectar Ayurceuticals and DR Logistics. They had challenged the electronic auction of property to recover dues.
Source: The Economic Times
(4) Flipkart, India's reply to Amazon, sees $1 bn sales
Flipkart, India's answer to US online giant Amazon, said on Saturday its sales would cross the milestone $1 billion-mark this year, ahead of schedule, in the country's exploding e-commerce market.
Founded in 2007 by two ex-Amazon.com employees and university friends, Flipkart.com has become India's biggest shopping portal hit and has drawn backers such as New-York based venture capitalists Tiger Global Management LLC.
"In March 2011 we announced by 2015 we wanted to hit $1 billion" in sales when they stood at just $10 million, said founders Sanchin Bansal and Binny Bansal, who happen to share the same surname but are unrelated.
Now the privately held firm expects to hit $1 billion in sales "one year before our target" which means "we've grown 100 times in the last three years," the pair, who pool operational responsibilities, said in a statement.
The figures reinforce Flipkart's leadership position in the Indian e-retail market.
The founders, now both 32, said they were "happy and proud" at the progress of Flipkart in which they invested an initial $10,000.
The Bansals are seen as typical of the new risk-ready breed of entrepreneurs that has emerged in India amid years of fast economic growth, relying not on inherited wealth but their own-start up talents to launch businesses.
"E-merchandise retailing sales stood at $1.6 billion in 2013. By 2018, we think they will be $14 billion and in 2023 they will reach $60 billion," Saloni Nangia, president of leading consultancy Technopak Advisors, told AFP.
While there were already Indian online sellers, Flipkart helped sales take off by allowing customers to pay cash-on-delivery, a move Nangia calls a "game-changer".
An increasing number of Indians are going online but they are uncomfortable giving credit card details over the Internet. Others do not have a credit card and the Flipkart method allows them to place orders.
"This cash-on-delivery system helped consumers gain trust in online shopping -- they saw products arrive," Nangia said.
Flipkart began selling books but then expanded to mobile phones, televisions, cameras, computers and home appliances.
It has yet to report a profit in the fiercely competitive market with its nearest rival, eBay-backed Snapdeal, targeting $1 billion turnover by mid-decade. The world's biggest online retailer, Amazon, also entered the market last June.
More retailers are seen going online as real estate is costly "so it makes it hard to have bricks-and-mortar stores", said Nangia.
India's vast young population, rapidly embracing the Internet, would "drive the e-tailing story", she added.
Now, months after putting retail store plans in India on hold, the world's largest retailer, Walmart, is readying a major e-merchandising push in the country based on the Amazon model, media reports say.
Source: Hindustan Times
(5) Inflation eases to 9-month low, RBI interest rates seen on hold for now
Inflation in India falls to nine-month low of 4.68 per cent in February due to easing prices of kitchen staples like onion and potato, creating some headroom for RBI to cut interest rate in its forthcoming monetary policy.
The food inflation, based on Wholesale Price Index (WPI), dropped to 8.12 per cent in February, compared to 8.8 per cent in the previous month as the rate of price rise slowed in almost all items, except fruits and milk.
Inflation, which is on decline since December, was 5.05 per cent in January. Prior to February, the lowest WPI was recorded in May 2013 at 4.58 per cent. In June, it had inched up again to 5.16 per cent.
As per the data released today, rate of price rise for onions - on annual basis - contracted 20.06 per cent in February. Similarly rate of price rise in potato slowed to 8.36 per cent.
The overall inflation in the vegetable basket dropped to 3.99 per cent, from 16.6 per cent in January. There was also a drop in prices of pulses, cereals and wheat.
However, fruits, milk and other protein-rich items like egg, fish and meat became costlier in February compared to the previous month. Inflation in fruits was 9.92 per cent as against 5.32 per cent in January and in milk it was 8.45 per cent compared to 7.22 per cent.
Inflation in the manufactured items, like sugar and edible items, was 2.76 same as in January.
Meanwhile, December inflation has been revised upwards to 6.4 per cent, from 6.16 per cent estimated earlier.
The Reserve Bank of India, which has maintained a hawkish interest rate regime to tame inflation, is scheduled to announce the next monetary policy on April 1. Industry has been demanding a cut in interest rates to boost economic growth, which has slowed to a decade-low level.
The retail inflation, based on Consumer Price Index and also factored in by RBI, fell to a 25-month low of 8.1 per cent in February.
Cooling inflation seen RBI leaving rates steady on April 1
India's wholesale inflation eases to 9-month low, rates seen on hold for now
(Reuters) India's wholesale price-based inflation eased to a nine-month low in February as food and fuel prices moderated, raising expectations that the central bank would leave interest rates unchanged at its policy review next month.
The wholesale price index (WPI), long regarded as India's main inflation measure, rose a slower-than-expected 4.68 percent last month from a year earlier.
A 10 percent drop in wholesale vegetable prices from January helped overall inflation ease for the third straight month.
Friday's data comes on the heels of a faster-than-expected slowdown in consumer inflation, which eased for a third straight month to a 25-month low of 8.10 percent in February.
It is also the last major economic data before the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) policy review on April 1 and national elections that begin on April 7.
"For policy, CPI is more relevant and based on latest CPI reading, we expect RBI to keep rates steady in the April policy review," said A. Prasanna, an economist at ICICI Securities Primary Dealership Ltd in Mumbai.
In its bid to tamp down inflation, the RBI has raised interest rates three times since September, even as the country's economic growth sputtered.
While cooling prices have raised the odds that rates will be left on hold for now, some analysts say the reading on core inflation could determine the eventual outcome of the upcoming monetary policy review.
Core WPI inflation, which strips out volatile food and fuel prices, accelerated to 3.15 percent from 3 percent in January.
Elevated core inflation prompted new RBI chief Raghuram Rajan to deliver a surprise rate hike of 25 basis points in January.
That concern pushed up the benchmark 10-year bond yield by 3 basis points to 8.77 percent on Friday.
"Even with tepid growth and falling inflation, the RBI is unlikely to lose its focus on managing inflation expectations," analysts at Barclays wrote in a note after the data.
"Of late, Governor Raghuram Rajan had indicated that interest rates are appropriate
now, but CPI inflation and inflation expectations will need to be lowered over time in order to generate sustainable growth."
Outlook
A central bank panel advised Rajan in January to pursue managing consumer inflation as the RBI's main policy objective. It also suggested moving to a retail inflation target of 4 percent in three years, with a 2 percent band on either side.
That stoked market fears it may start aggressively tightening policy soon if price pressures did not sharply abate.
Rajan says price stability is a necessary condition to promote economic growth and has rejected views of a trade-off between the two.
This has prompted analysts at Credit Suisse to predict three more rate increases of 25 basis points each, beginning in the September quarter this year.
"This may sound hawkish but if the governor is truly committed to crushing inflation expectations much higher rates are likely to be required in time," said Robert Prior-Wandesforde, director of Asian economics research at the financial services company.
To what extent this forecast materialises would depend on the support Rajan receives in his inflation fight from a new government after the elections in April and May.
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, has already cautioned against inflation targeting, advising the central bank to give equal focus to price stability and growth.
Worries
The outlook on food prices could keep both the RBI and the government on their toes.
Hail and heavy rains in the past two weeks have damaged crops, which may push up food prices again.
An uncertain outlook for this summer's monsoon rains due to the El Nino weather pattern is also worrying policymakers.
Any flare-up in food prices will not be a good news for the ruling Congress party.
It is seeking a third term in the national elections but is trailing in most opinion polls and is widely expected to be defeated, in part due to its failure to control inflation and arrest the country's economic slowdown.
Source: The Indian Express
Disclaimer: All news stories and content sourced from freely available material on the internet. All sources are acknowledged.
No comments:
Post a Comment