UP to buy 600 electric buses, targets 10,000 for public transport by 2024

In order to accelerate its electric vehicles (EV) roadmap, the Yogi Adityanath government will soon float tenders for the supply of 600 electric buses for public transport across major cities in Uttar Pradesh.

The buses are proposed to be deployed in Lucknow, Kanpur, Prayagraj (Allahabad), Agra, Ghaziabad, Varanasi, Mathura, Gorakhpur and Shahjahanpur.

Apart from sourcing electric buses from private companies, the UP urban transport directorate would also facilitate setting up of charging stations and maintenance infrastructure to service the vehicles under the same tendering process.

The government has estimated 200,000 charging stations would be set up across UP in the next few years to cater the growing fleet of public and private EVs.

Chairing a review meeting here Friday, UP urban development minister Ashutosh Tandon directed officials to speedily complete the tendering for 600 electric buses even as he also instructed for replacing existing fleet of buses with new CNG buses.

On August 6, the Adityanath cabinet had cleared the much awaited state EV policy, which is projected to attract private investment to the tune of Rs 40,000 crore over the next 5 years and create nearly 50,000 job opportunities.

“We have envisaged by 2024, nearly 70 per cent of public transport buses in UP would be electric, with about 10,000 new buses being introduced for the purpose,” UP cabinet minister and state government spokesperson Sidharth Nath Singh had told the media after the crucial cabinet meeting.

So far, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra had rolled out their EV policies. However, being the largest consumer state, UP is counting on the high growth potential of the sector vis-a-vis peer states.

The new policy promises sops to encourage private investment in the EV space, which is among the topmost priorities of the Centre to promote green transport, cut emissions and pare burgeoning oil import bill.

“The policy focuses on three main planks -- promoting manufacture of EVs in the state, setting up charging stations and generating demand for such vehicles,” Singh said, adding the sector was key to cutting emissions and reducing oil imports.

Under the policy, the state has offered various incentives, including land cost subsidy of 25 per cent, up to Rs 50 lakh subsidy on capital investment (capex) for technology transfers and Rs 25 lakh capex subsidy on charging stations to mega anchor units and ultra mega battery units.

The policy further offers 100 per cent rebate on registration of e-vehicles, apart from 25 per cent rebate on road tax.

Addressing an event in Lucknow on July 28, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran had observed the Group saw immense potential in UP for renewable energy and EV segments even as he noted UP was the most important state and its success was imperative for achieving the country’s target of becoming $5 trillion economy by 2024.

Vodafone Idea dismisses BofA-ML report of exiting six telecom circles

Telecom operator Vodafone Idea on Saturday categorically denied and dismissed the speculation that the company may exit six telecom circles where it has seen a dip in its revenue.

A recent Bank of America Merril Lynch (BofA-ML) report said it believed Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) would exit the six circles in C-Circle where it has been continuously losing revenue market share with share below 20 per cent. The report has identified Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, North East and Assam from where VIL may exit.

"There has been reportage in some media that Vodafone Idea may exit six circles Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, North East and Assam. We categorically deny and dismiss this speculation as completely baseless and factually incorrect. Vodafone Idea remains committed and will continue to serve its millions of customers in these circles," Vodafone Idea said in a statement.

The telco has lost revenue share in most circles where the merger of the two mobile networks has been completed, according to a report by JM Financial.

Vodafone India and Idea Cellular started integration of their networks after completing their merger on August 31, 2018. They have repeatedly expressed confidence of improving performance after their merger and integration of their network.

The report said that during the first quarter of the current financial year, Vodafone Idea saw quarter-on-quarter revenue market share erosion in all circles, except Himachal Pradesh.

The highest revenue market share (RMS) loss for VIL was observed in the Metro and A circles, specifically Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Mumbai.

Skullcandy Jib Plus wireless earbuds review: Affordable but lacks the oomph

Skullcandy has a new offering for people switching from wired earphones. The Jib Plus wireless earphones are lightweight, fit easily in the ear, and offer a battery back-up of up to six hours on a single charge.

Priced at Rs 2,499, the in-ear headphones have a decent built quality and the flat cables make them less susceptible to accidental snapping. There are dedicated buttons for volume control. The set is splash resistant, too, and you can activate Google Assistant or Siri to make things easier.

These features make it look an ideal audio device, but does Jib Plus tick all the boxes on sound quality? Let's find out.

Sound quality

Skullcandy has taken care of most of the factors when it comes to bringing out a decent audio piece. Jib Plus is lightweight and I could carry it easily around the neck. The earbuds sit comfortably in the ear and don't slip off even during workouts and light running. However, the maker missed a crucial parameter that's a must in today's audio gadgets -- an impressive sound output.

Jib Plus lacks bass and delivers a treble-heavy output. I felt the sound was not loud enough, which is something unusual in Skullcandy earphones.

The earphones offer a decent battery life, and I could listen to music and take calls for about 5-6 hours on a single charge. I took a few calls using the earphones, but the background noise spoiled the experience. I had to hold the microphone closer, especially when outdoors, so the other person could hear me, but that's a lot of efforts.

Skullcandy Jib Plus earphones Skullcandy Jib Plus earphones

Verdict

Skullcandy could have done better with Jib Plus, as the sound quality isn't up to the mark. Also, there are quite a few options in the budget category that deliver an impressive sound output along with other features that Jib Plus offers, so it isn't a sweet deal.

Bank employees stage protest against govt's decision to merge PSBs

Members of the All India Bank Employees' Association on Saturday staged a protest in Delhi against the Centre's decision to merge 10 public sector banks into four entities.

Employees of all public and private sector banks wore black badges to work as a mark of protest to the government's decision.

The Association's General Secretary, C H Venkatachalam said the government's move was "ill timed" and needs a review.

A rally opposing it was also planned by the Association, Venkatachalam told PTI.

He alleged the merger of public sector banks would mean closure of six banks.

The BJP government at the Centre had on Friday unveiled a mega plan to merge 10 public sector banks into four, to create fewer and stronger global-sized bankers as it looks to revive economic growth.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Friday said 10 public sector banks -- Punjab National Bank, Canara bank, Union Bank of India, Indian Bank, United Bank of India, Allahabad Bank, Syndicate Bank, Corporation Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Andhra Bank would be merged.

"Government may call it a merger.. six banks which have been built up over the years will disappear from banking scenario", Venkatachalam said.

He recalled that when the financial recession was experienced world over in 2008, the domestic banking system was safe because of public sector banks.

On further course of action, he said the Union would meet in New Delhi on September 11 to decide on going on strike.

GDP slump signals significant slide in investment, consumer demand: Ficci

India's economic growth dropping to an over six-year low of 5 per cent in April-June 2019 is indicating a "significant deceleration" in both investment and consumer demand, industry body Ficci said on Saturday.

Expressing "deep" concerns over sluggishness in the growth momentum, Ficci President Sandip Somany said "the latest GDP growth numbers are below expectations and point towards a significant deceleration in both consumption and investment demand."

He, however, hoped that a series of measures being taken by the government and the central bank to reverse this slowing trajectory would help improve economic situation in the subsequent quarters, according to a Ficci statement.

"The mega bank consolidation plan, liberalisation of FDI guidelines and the stimulus package are comprehensive and address the key pain areas of the economy," he added.

With a mix of both broader measures and sector specific interventions, the Indian economy and the industry would come out of this weak patch soon, he said.

The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the recent economic reforms undertaken by the government and the RBI will create a strong and resilient economic environment in the country and rejuvenate GDP growth rate in the coming quarters.

PHDCCI President Rajeev Talwar said: "The big ticket economic reforms including recapitalisation of public sector banks, rollback of enhanced surcharge on foreign portfolio investors, payment of all pending GST refunds to MSMEs...are inspiring and would go a long way to foster strong, stable and inclusive growth environment in the country."

Going ahead, he said, further reforms in ease of doing business at the ground level especially for the small and medium sized businesses along with desired reforms in labour laws such as fixed term employment for flexibility in hiring by industry across the states would be crucial to strengthen the manufacturing sector.

India's economic growth has slumped for the fifth straight quarter to an over six-year low of 5 per cent in the three months ended June as consumer demand and private investment slowed amid deteriorating global environment.

Having lost the tag of the world's fastest-growing economy earlier this year, India's GDP growth was behind China's 6.2 per cent in April-June, its weakest pace in at least 27 years.

After Thapar, fraud-hit CG Power sacks CRO Venkatesh for alleged misconduct

After removing founder Gautam Thapar as chairman of the company, the board of fraud-hit CG Power and Industrial Solutions has sacked the firm's CFO V R Venkatesh over alleged "misconduct" and breach of trust.

The board of the company at its meeting on Friday "terminated the employment of V R Venkatesh as the Chief Financial Officer of the company, for cause, with immediate effect," CG Power said in a regulatory filing.

"The termination of the employment of Venkatesh is due to the grave nature of the misconduct and breach of trust on his part and having knowingly undertaken actions which were detrimental to the interests of the company and its stakeholders," it said.

Venkatesh could not be contacted for comments.

Company CEO and Managing Director K N Neelkant, who was sent on leave on May 10 by the board to enable proper investigation into financial irregularities, continues in his role for now.

However, some investors and lenders have questioned his continuance given that the fraud involving some assets of the firm being provided as collateral and the money from the loans siphoned off by "identified company personnel, both current and past, including certain non-executive directors", happened under his watch.

The board-instituted investigation had also found some liabilities and advances to related and unrelated parties being understated.

The company has restated its financial results for the previous fiscal taking into account the unstated liabilities, the filing said.

"Certain unauthorized/unapproved banking transactions in the nature of loans (unauthorized transactions/ loans) taken from banks / financial institutions (lenders)/a connected party aggregating to Rs 635 crores were not disclosed in the Standalone Financial Results of prior years / periods by off-setting against certain related and unrelated party balances," the company's auditors said in the audit note furnished with the restated statement.

It said interest expenses of Rs 90.93 crore which were serviced by the company in relation to these unauthorized loans were accounted under different heads in the Standalone Statement of Profit and Loss and "were mispresented in the financial statements/ results of prior years / periods."

"The company also has loans including interest receivables and advances recoverable from related and unrelated parties, as reinstated on March 31, 2019, aggregating to Rs 2,439.94 crore for which further interest income aggregating to Rs 337.61 crore is currently not recorded as at March 31, 2019," it said.

On August 29, the board has removed Thapar as the chairman of the company through a circular resolution approved by a majority of the members. Thapar opposed the resolution, while CEO and Managing Director K N Neelkant had abstained from voting.

Thapar, who had not commented on the issue since the company disclosed financial irregularities on August 20 after a marathon board meeting on the previous day, had in a statement after his removal said: "No promoter or promoter entity has derived any undue benefit. There is simply no fraud."

The reports following the Board meeting of August 19, 2019 are disheartening. Indeed, I would say that the reports do not reflect facts.

"In the interests of all stakeholders, including banks and financial institutions, I must say that no funds lent by banks nor any funds of CG have been misappropriated. The money has been applied with due Board approval. All inter-corporate transactions have been fully authorised by the Board," he said.

The board was headed by him during that period.

Thapar would, however, continue to be a member of the board -- a position from which only shareholders can remove him.

Though a founder promoter of CG Power, Thapar lost almost all of his shares after lenders in past years invoked pledges he had created to borrow money. He currently has only 8,574 shares out of 62.6 crore shares of the company.

Burger King eyes highway stop-overs as key drivers of its growth in India

After setting up 212 restaurants across 50 cities in the country, Burger King is focussing on expanding its restaurant chain across the upcoming world-class stopovers on the highways and sees them as a major growth avenue for the company.

"Significant investment is being undertaken to develop the country's highways and a lot of these are coming up with nice built-in stoppages and rest areas that are being now auctioned off. That is becoming a major development for us especially in the northern parts of the country. We are eyeing this avenue of growth," Burger King India's chief executive officer, Rajeev Varman told Business Standard.

The company will collaborate with stop-over management consolidators who will participate in the bids to develop food courts and rest areas along the highways. Such stop-overs will house multiple brands of restaurants and will have modern amenities for passengers and travellers to halt and rest.

This expansion will be funded internally by investors in the Indian entity of Burger King. Everstone holds around 87 per cent in the company while the US-based brand parent, Burger King Corporation, holds around 12 per cent. Varman also holds a stake.

The new focus area follows the company's recent decision to enter east India, after finalising its distribution centre and setting up several restaurants across high traffic locations such as malls, airports, standalone eateries and others.

Since its entry into India in 2013, Burger King, known for its whoppers, has build its network chain across prominent malls either as full restaurants or as food courts. It as has also tapped high streets and metro station locations in Delhi and Mumbai, and is present in some of the software parks as well. Burger King has also set up outlets in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Cochin airports and is aiming to increase its presence in more airports.

Varman said despite the surge in cloud kitchens and online food delivery, Burger King will continue to focus on the brick-and-mortar model. In the last fiscal year, it had opened 58 new outlets and this year, it has so far opened 26. Thirty more will come up by the end of December.

"We have a massive brand and are present in over 100 countries around the world. We are not interested in hiding this brand and prefer high-traffic locations that offer high visibility -- that is more exciting for us. For us, the real experience is to have customers come in to a Burger King restaurant and feel the ambience and experience the products," he told this newspaper.

Asked if the company sees any looming issues with the vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes it is offering, Varman said such incidents continue to happen and the industry has to deal with it. In the recent past, some delivery agents of Zomato had resorted to a strike in Kolkata after they refused to deliver non-vegetarian food to customers.

Burger King is already profitable at the store level, and Varman is of the view that in the last fiscal year, the company has turned EBITDA positive.

At least 10 feared killed, 40 injured in Maharashtra factory explosion

At least 10 workers were killed and 40 injured in an explosion of gas cylinders at a chemical factory in Dhule district of Maharashtra on Saturday morning, police said.

At least 100 workers were present in the factory in Waghadi village in Shirpur taluka when the explosion occurred around 9:45 a.m., a senior police officer told PTI.

"Ten workers were killed and 40 injured in the explosion," Dhule Superintendent of Police Vishwas Pandhare said.

Pay more for IRCTC tickets from Sep 1: Check service charges on AC, non-AC

E-tickets bought through IRCTC will get costlier as the Indian Railways has decided to restore service charges from September 1, according to an order.

The IRCTC will levy a service charge of Rs 15 per ticket for non-AC classes and Rs 30 for AC classes, including first class, according to the August 30 order issued by IRCTC.

Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be applicable separately.

The service charges were withdrawn three years ago to promote digital payments, a pet project of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government.

IRCTC used to levy a service charge of Rs 20 on every non-AC e-ticket and Rs 40 for every AC ticket before it was withdrawn.

Earlier this month, the Railway Board had given its approval to the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to restore the mechanism of charging service charge from passengers booking online tickets.

In a letter dated August 30, the Board had said the IRCTC, railways ticketing and tourism arm, had made a "detailed case" for the restoration of service charge on booking of e-ticket and the matter has been examined by the "competent authority".

It further said the Finance Ministry has contended that the scheme of waiving of service charges was a temporary one and that the railway ministry could begin charging e-tickets.

Officials say that after service charges were discontinued, IRCTC saw a 26 per cent drop in Internet ticketing revenue in financial year 2016-17.

Twitter CEO account hacked, racial tweets supporting Nazi Germany posted

Twitter said Friday the account of chief executive Jack Dorsey had been "compromised" after a series of erratic and offensive messages were posted.

The tweets containing racial slurs and suggestions about a bomb showed up around 20:00 GMT on the @jack account of the founder of the short messaging service before being deleted.

Some of the tweets contained the hashtag #ChucklingSquad which was believed to indicate the identity of the hacker group.

The messages contained racial epithets, and included a retweet of a message supporting Nazi Germany.

"We're aware that @jack was compromised and investigating what happened," a Twitter spokesperson said.

A barrage of comments fired off on the platform questioned why the Twitter co-founder didn't secure his account with two-factor authentication, and how disturbing a sign it was that the service wasn't to keep its own chief safe on the platform.

"If you can't protect Jack, you can't protect... jack," one Twitter user quipped.

The news comes with Dorsey and Twitter moving aggressively to clean up offensive and inappropriate content as part of a focus on "safety." "This might be the only way to get rid of racist tweets on this platform," a Twitter user commented.

Twitter recently announced they would meet with Manchester United representatives regarding calls for more to be done in preventing racist abuse of footballers on social media platforms.

British-based security consultant Graham Cluley said the incident highlighted the importance of two-factor authentication, where a user must confirm the account via an external service.

"Everyone should ensure they have 2FA enabled, use unique password, and double check what apps they've linked to their accounts," Cluley tweeted.

"Hard to say at moment how he was compromised, but one of those reasons most likely."

Cybersecurity researcher Kevin Beaumont said the account appeared to have been hijacked "via a third party called Cloudhopper, which Twitter acquired about 10 years ago and had access to his account." Cloudhopper enables users to send tweets on their phones via SMS.

The incident raised fresh concerns about how social media users -- even prominent ones -- can have their accounts compromised and used for misinformation, a point highlighted by Canadian member of parliament Michelle Rempel Garner.

"Between bots, trolls and abuse, I've been skeptical about @Twitter as a viable platform for some time now," Rempel Garner wrote.

"But the fact it took the platform's owner (@jack) about 30 min to get his hacked account under control is deeply problematic, and makes me worry as an elected official.

Boris Johnson's plan to suspend Parliament survives early court test

Opponents of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s move to suspend parliament in the final weeks before Brexit lost the first of several legal bids to stop him on Friday. Scottish judge Raymond Doherty rejected the request for a temporary injunction pending a full hearing in the case on September 6.

“I’m not satisfied that there’s a need for an interim suspension or an interim interdict to be granted at this stage,” Doherty said in his ruling.

Queen Elizabeth II has already given the go-ahead to shutter parliament between mid-September and October 14 — just two weeks before the Brexit date of October 31.

The move was widely seen as limiting the time for parliamentarians to move against Johnson, who has said Britain must leave the EU with or without a deal. Legal bids to halt the suspension have also been launched in Belfast and London.

Former prime minister John Major, a strong supporter of EU membership, has said he will seek to join the London legal action.

Johnson announced the surprise decision on Wednesday to dismiss parliament — known as proroguing — next month for nearly five weeks. The move sent shockwaves through British politics, triggering a furious outcry from pro-Europeans and MPs opposed to a no-deal exit.

Wrong-footed, Johnson’s opponents labelled the suspension of parliament a “coup” and a “constitutional outrage”. Johnson said he wants to “step up the tempo” in talks with the European Union to strike a new Brexit deal. Johnson wants the so-called backstop, the fallback provisions regarding the Irish border, scrapped completely.

“While I have been encouraged with my discussions with EU leaders over recent weeks that there is a willingness to talk about alternatives to the anti-democratic backstop, it is now time for both sides to step up the tempo,” he said.

There are growing concerns among some major players in the EU that Britain will not be able to come up with realistic alternatives to the backstop in time. A spokesperson for the European Commission said they were willing to work “24/7 throughout this long process”.

“We expect the UK to come forward with concrete proposals as President (Jean-Claude) Juncker made clear to Prime Minister Johnson earlier this week.” The backstop is included in a divorce deal the EU agreed with Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, which parliament has rejected three times.

Ireland’s Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said Britain had come up with “nothing credible” to replace the backstop.Opponents of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s move to suspend parliament in the final weeks before Brexit lost the first of several legal bids to stop him on Friday. Scottish judge Raymond Doherty rejected the request for a temporary injunction pending a full hearing in the case on September 6.

“I’m not satisfied that there’s a need for an interim suspension or an interim interdict to be granted at this stage,” Doherty said in his ruling.

Queen Elizabeth II has already given the go-ahead to shutter parliament between mid-September and October 14 — just two weeks before the Brexit date of October 31.

The move was widely seen as limiting the time for parliamentarians to move against Johnson, who has said Britain must leave the EU with or without a deal. Legal bids to halt the suspension have also been launched in Belfast and London.

Former prime minister John Major, a strong supporter of EU membership, has said he will seek to join the London legal action.

Johnson announced the surprise decision on Wednesday to dismiss parliament — known as proroguing — next month for nearly five weeks. The move sent shockwaves through British politics, triggering a furious outcry from pro-Europeans and MPs opposed to a no-deal exit.

Wrong-footed, Johnson’s opponents labelled the suspension of parliament a “coup” and a “constitutional outrage”. Johnson said he wants to “step up the tempo” in talks with the European Union to strike a new Brexit deal. Johnson wants the so-called backstop, the fallback provisions regarding the Irish border, scrapped completely.

“While I have been encouraged with my discussions with EU leaders over recent weeks that there is a willingness to talk about alternatives to the anti-democratic backstop, it is now time for both sides to step up the tempo,” he said.

There are growing concerns among some major players in the EU that Britain will not be able to come up with realistic alternatives to the backstop in time. A spokesperson for the European Commission said they were willing to work “24/7 throughout this long process”.

“We expect the UK to come forward with concrete proposals as President (Jean-Claude) Juncker made clear to Prime Minister Johnson earlier this week.” The backstop is included in a divorce deal the EU agreed with Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, which parliament has rejected three times.

Ireland’s Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said Britain had come up with “nothing credible” to replace the backstop.

Merger of PSBs: Move to improve efficiency, bargaining power, says industry

The government’s decision on four sets of mergers of public-sector banks (PSBs) will expand scale of operations, improve efficiency, and enhance competitive higher bargaining power, according to rating agencies and the industry.

However, benefits from these measure, being structural in nature, will accrue in the long term. Effective integration, corporate governance, and skilfully managing human resources have a greater bearing on outcomes, they added.

State Bank of India Chairman Rajnish Kumar said the announcements were a clear recognition that bigger banks had a greater ability to absorb shocks. It will help them reap economies of scale as well as raise the capacity to raise resources without depending unduly on the exchequer, he added.

Srikanth Vadlamani, vice-president, Financial Institutions Group, Moody's Investors Service, said consolidating PSBs would improve scale of operations. But there will not be any immediate improvement in their credit metrics because all of them have relatively weak solvency profiles.

Merger of PSBs: Move to improve efficiency, bargaining power, says industry

It will help improve their competitive position in segments where their share of customer wallet tends to be low, he said.

Prakash Agarwal, head, Financial Institution, India Ratings and Research (Fitch Group), said: “Bank consolidation is a good move. The steps to improve corporate governance and grooming leadership, if followed through with the right intent, resources and commitment, can go a long way in addressing the challenges that PSBs are facing.”

Sandip Somany, president, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said this would enhance lending capacity, and enable deploying better technology, a larger branch network, and an enhanced national and global presence.

Anil Gupta, vice-president and sector head, ICRA, said recent precedents showed the amalgamation process took up to six months and the management bandwidth of the merging banks might get occupied amid this process. The choking of management bandwidth should not result in a slowdown in credit flow.

Of the five banks under prompt corrective action (PCA), capital has been announced for three banks, i.e. Indian Overseas Bank, Central Bank of India, and UCO bank. Capital infusion is unlikely to be sufficient for taking these banks out of PCA in the immediate future, he added.

P S Jayakumar, managing director and chief executive officer of Bank of Baroda, pointed out “the combined institutions will be better than the earlier ones, a sum of the whole. The acceptance for what is best for the breed and the employees, regardless of where the idea came from, is critical. The employees of the larger institutions, treating the other as equal, is very critical.”

Rashesh Shah, chairman and chief executive, Edelweiss Financial Services, said consolidation in the banking sector would create higher efficiencies through better utilisation of capital, higher profitability, greater credit disbursal, and focused customer service. Autonomy to banks will help them take efficient commercial decisions, improve risk management and governance, strengthen balance sheets, and enhance valuations.

Niranjan Hiranandani, senior vice-president, Association of Chambers of Commerce, said bank mergers and reforms showed the government’s resolve to revive sentiment.

Goldman Sachs joins predictions of deeper India rate cuts as slowdown drags

The deceleration in India’s economic growth to the slowest in six years prompted  Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to join other lenders in predicting deeper interest-rate cuts by the central bank to revive the pace of expansion.

The Wall Street firm expects the Reserve Bank of India to reduce interest rates by 50 basis points in the next quarter, compared with its earlier estimate of 25 basis points. Elsewhere, Barclays Plc forecast an additional 65-basis-point decrease by the end of this year and Kotak Mahindra Bank estimated a 75-point reduction will come from the RBI.

“We now think a 50bps rate cut is likely in fourth quarter, with risks skewed toward deeper cuts,” Prachi Mishra, chief India economist at Goldman Sachs in Mumbai, wrote in a note. The gross domestic product surprised strongly to the downside, leading to an adjustment in growth forecasts, she wrote.

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Goldman slashed its growth forecast to 6 per cent for the current fiscal year to March from 6.9 per cent earlier. Barclays cut its prediction to 6 per cent from 6.3 per cent before Friday’s release that showed growth in the $2.7 trillion economy slowed for a fifth straight quarter to 5 per cent in the three months ended June, the slowest pace since March 2013.

The central bank reduced the benchmark repurchase rate by an unconventional 35 basis points in its August meeting, the fourth rate cut this year. It has been the most aggressive of central banks in Asia in lowering rates.

Sovereign bonds fell in August, with the yield on benchmark 10-year notes rising by 19 basis points amid worries the government may borrow more to finance any potential fiscal stimulus to boost a slowing economy. The rupee’s 3.7 per cent decline in August also weighed on bonds.

Fiscal deficit crosses 77% of budgeted target in first four months of FY20

The Centre’s fiscal deficit touched 77.8 per cent of the Budget Estimates (BE) at Rs 5.5 trillion in the first four months of the financial year 2019-20 (FY20), against 86.5 per cent in the year-ago period.

The deficit stood at 8.8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of FY20 (Q1FY20), an improvement over the Q1FY19 figure of 9.5 per cent.

The government managed to keep the deficit, in terms of percentage of BE, at a lower level in April-July of FY20 compared to last year largely because of its expenditure compression, mainly capital expenditure (capex). Moderation in capex in terms of percentage of BE may have an impact on the economic growth numbers amid muted private investments.

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Also, despite talks of revenue problems, the government was able to keep its income at the same level as last year in terms of percentage of BE. In fact, the tax income was slightly higher than during April-July of FY19 in this regard, keeping the overall revenue receipts steady. 

Fiscal deficit crosses 77% of budgeted target in first four months of FY20

At Rs 3.4 trillion, tax revenues of the Centre constituted 20.5 per cent of BE in the first four months of FY20 against 19.8 per cent in the last year’s corresponding period.

It is yet to be seen how these tax numbers pan out in August as direct tax collections have dwindled so far in FY20.

Non-tax revenues fell to Rs 44,000 crore, which was 14 per cent of BE, compared to 17.6 per cent a year ago. However, the Rs 1.76 trillion to be transferred by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to the Centre would come handy to the government on this count now.

“Transfer from the RBI will help the government attain the fiscal deficit target of 3.3 per cent of GDP during FY20. However, increased expectations of lower GST collections amid slowdown in the economy could exert upward pressure on the fiscal deficit,” said Madan Sabnavis, the chief economist at CARE Ratings.

Non-debt capital receipts, at about Rs 14,000 crore, accounted for 14.2 per cent of BE against 14.7 per cent a year ago. Disinvestment receipts stood at about Rs 12,000 crore, representing 12 per cent of BE — the same as the first four months of the last year.

The government kept its expenditure at about Rs 9.5 trillion, or 34 per cent of BE, in the first four months of FY20 against 36.4 per cent a year ago.

Within that, capex stood at just Rs 1.1 trillion, constituting 31.8 per cent of BE against 37.1 per cent a year ago.

Similarly, revenue expenditure was kept at Rs 8.4 trillion, accounting for 34.3 per cent of BE against 36.3 per cent the previous year. This was despite higher fertiliser subsidies in these four months than a year ago. Revenue expenditure of the Department of Fertilizers constituted 41 per cent of BE in April-July period against 31 per cent a year ago.

After taking out capex, the Centre’s revenue expenditure stood at Rs 4.6 trillion, accounting for 94.1 per cent of BE. By this time last year, this part of the deficit has covered the entire BE as it stood at 106 per cent of the estimates.

Controlling revenue deficit is taken as a better way to check fiscal deficit than capex, which is required for economic growth.

RBI's present fund transfer grossly inadequate, says Piyush Goyal

Commerce minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) decision to transfer only Rs 52,637 crore from its excess reserves is “grossly inadequate” given the central bank’s huge buffers, and more should have had been done to boost growth.

He also took a jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s criticism on the transfer being akin to “stealing”, saying there is no point debating with “uninformed and uneducated” people.

“Personally, this is grossly inadequate, the RBI is sitting on a large amount of unproductive capital which it is not using, it is lying in the reserves of foreign banks and giving us barely any returns,” Goyal told the India Economic Conclave in Bengaluru this evening.

He said the Bimal Jalan committee has been “too conservative” in assessing the reserve requirements, calling out the recommendation of not accepting the Rs 8 trillion of unrealised gains as wrong.

“The argument that this is unrealised reserves does not hold water,” Goyal said, adding he has read a lot of reports by reputed people which say India has reserves far higher reserves than many other countries. He added in the scenario of appreciating rupee — the potential reason why we need the high reserves — the RBI will anyways intervene to stop the movement up and pile up more reserves in the process.

“Does the RBI ever foresee a position where they will intervene and the rupee will ever become Rs 50 to a dollar? Should the rupee be appreciating? Beyond a point, it will make our goods uncompetitive in the world market,” he said. To the criticism that Rs 1.76 trillion transfer being a loot, Goyal explained that Rs 1.23 trillion is part of the regular surplus transfer.

“You need to understand what these reserves are. Rahul Gandhi can say what he likes, but beyond that what is the scope of debating with uninformed and uneducated persons who can’t understand elementary economics,” he said.

Goyal also hit out at the UPA government for signing lopsided free trade agreements with countries like the Asean grouping, which overlook national interests.

“I am aghast at how the (UPA) government used to take foreign trade and foreign policy. For the last two years, we have been trying to set it right,” he said. Goyal said we are not in a recession, but conceded that the growth has slowed down. He said the government is conscious of the same and acting to help the economy.

To a question on whether we should expect more stimulus measures, he said we may differ on the adjectives, but more measures are on the way. Goyal countered a question on high unemployment saying it is far from reality, and pointed out that it is still difficult to get a driver or a carpenter.

1.9 million left out of Assam's final NRC list, police on high alert

The much-awaited final list of the Assam National Register of Citizens was announced today, even as security was beefed up in the state and the police was put on alert.

Prateek Hajela, State Coordinator, NRC, said a total of 3,11,21,004 persons were found eligible for inclusion in the final list and 19,06,657 persons including those who did not submit their claims, were left out.

Meanwhile, some 218 companies of the central paramilitary forces are on the ground, even as no untoward incident was reported immediately after the final list was out.

A press statement released by the NRC confirmed that after considering all those already included and after disposal of all claims and objections and proceedings under Clause 4(3), a total of 3,11,21,004 numbers of persons were found eligible for inclusion in Final NRC, while 19,06,657 persons, including those who did not submit claims, were left out.

The final NRC is a supplementary list that includes or leaves out those whose names were not included in earlier drafts, or against whom objections had been raised.

Applicants can find out their status at NRC sewa kendras (NSKs) and offices of circle officers and deputy commissioners or log on to the NRC official site (nrcassam.nic.in).

NSKs across the state were flooded today with anxious applicants who wanted to find out whether or not they were included in the final list.

Prior to the announcement, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had tried to assuage the people stating that those excluded will not be regarded as foreigners and will be given a chance to appeal.

What if your name doesn't feature?

You will not be declared a foreigner and will not be detained

You can appeal within 120 days in foreigners’ tribunals, which will ascertain your citizenship status on the basis of provisions of Foreigners Act, 1946, and Foreigner (Tribunals) Order, 1964

Various political parties are also ready to provide you free legal aid

You also have the option of appealing in HC and Supreme Court

Read the full press release by Office of State Coordinator, NRC:

1.9 million left out of Assam's final NRC list, police on high alert

IL&FS receives 14 binding bids from multiple bidders for 10 road assets

Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) has received binding bids from multiple bidders for 10 of its road assets under the roads transportation vertical.

IL&FS has received 14 binding bids for its road assets across three categories — green, amber and red. These 10 road assets accounted for 19 per cent of the total debt of the beleaguered group, with debt to the tune of Rs 17,700 crore.

Jharkhand Infrastructure Implementation Company (JIICL) is the only green asset that has received a binding bid.

Among the amber assets, five road projects that have received bids include Jharkhand Road Projects Implementation Company (JRPICL), Moradabad Bareily Expressway (MBEL), Chenani Nashri Tunnelway (CNTL), Hazaribagh Ranchi Expressway (HREL) and Jorabat Shillong Expressway (JSEL).

Also, JRPICL and MBEL are in the process of being re-classified from amber to green on the basis of the restructuring proposals agreed with its lenders, IL&FS said in a statement.

IL&FS receives 14 binding bids from multiple bidders for 10 road assets

Baleshwar Kharagppur Expressway (BKEL), Pune Sholapur Road Development Company (PSRDCL), Road Infrastructure Development Company of Rajasthan (RIDCOR) and Sikar Bikaner Highway (SBHL) are among the four red category road assets that have received binding bids.

Moreover, the board, headed by Uday Kotak, managing director and CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank, as a part of the overall resolution process for the IL&FS group, initiated sale of a number of other group assets. This seeks to address a significant portion of the group’s debt.

“The sale processes for these assets, including education, waste management, technology, real estate and key international assets, are currently under way and binding financial bids are expected in stages over the next few months,” said IL&FS.

Meanwhile, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has cleared the sale of seven operating wind energy special purpose vehicles or SPVs of the IL&FS group to ORIX Japan for an equity value of around Rs 593 crore.

ORIX has also agreed to take over the entire SPV debt, totaling around Rs 3,700 crore.

Zomato and Swiggy agree to resolve issues, meet in September again

The National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) and top two online food aggregators, Zomato and Swiggy, have agreed to discuss and resolve the issues between them at the earliest. The two sides will meet again in the second week of September.

“On Thursday, NRAI deliberated eight critical issues pertaining to the online delivery space with Swiggy and Zomato. Both of them deduced issues of deep discounting, high and uneven commission charges, data masking and mandatory bundling of services which are crippling the restaurant industry. There is an in-principle agreement to resolve these issues within specific timeline,” NRAI said of the meeting that went on till late in the night.

On August 26, NRAI had written to Zomato, Swiggy, UberEats, and Foodpanda, raising eight critical issues it has with the companies. These were deep discounts, high and uneven commission charges, arbitrary terms and conditions, lack of transparency, customer data masking, aggregators developing their own brands based on customer data, forcing restaurants to use aggregator services, arbitrary rules of engagement, and non-transparent ways of ranking restaurants on the platforms.

Also, NRAI had started a logout campaign on August 14 against aggressive pricing and deep discounting. “We had a detailed meeting with NRAI where we discussed all issues faced by the industry and agreed to work towards solutions sustainable for all participants. We have agreed to meet in a short time to discuss potential solutions,” said a Zomato spokesperson.

After a public showdown between NRAI and Zomato, the Gurugram-based company’s founder, Deepinder Goyal, said in a tweet last week the food aggregator would no longer engage with the restaurants on the ongoing #logout campaign.

NRAI said the meeting on Thursday with Zomato “began with a false note as they stated their intention to introduce Zomato Gold on the delivery vertical as well. This is an entirely unacceptable proposition to NRAI”.

Swiggy said: “Swiggy and the NRAI are committed to creating value for both restaurants and consumers in a sustainable manner. We have had a constructive and collaborative dialogue today and have agreed to reconvene on all the points that were discussed.” NRAI said Swiggy’s approach in the meeting was “constructive”.

Amazon and Indian trader group in public spat over discounted products

Amazon.com defended its business strategies in India as it came under fire from a local trader group on Friday over discounted products on the global e-commerce giant's website.

New e-commerce foreign investment rules that took effect in India from February were designed to help small traders by curbing heavy online discounting, but traders have complained that big online retailers use complex business structures to circumvent the rules and continue to burn billions of dollars to offer discounts.

The issue has become one of the biggest trade irritants between New Delhi and Washington.

At an open panel discussion on Friday - organised by India's competition watchdog - the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) reiterated its concerns to Amazon's senior corporate counsel, Rahul Sundaram, sparking a heated public confrontation. The CAIT represents 500,000 merchants and traders in India.

Sundaram said Amazon was abiding by all the rules and does not influence prices of products its website, adding that the company provides growth opportunities to more than 500,000 sellers online.

The trade body, however, was in no mood to accept Sundaram's statement.

CAIT's Praveen Khandelwal pointed out to Sundaram that an air conditioning unit available at 42,000 rupees in the offline retail market was sold for 35,000 rupees on Amazon's website and asked what "magic" was used to offer such a discount.

Sundaram hit back with a personal example, saying he had once spent half a day once walking around New Delhi markets to buy an air conditioner and managed to secure a discount of 6,000 rupees.

"It is a factor of the entire retail market that you will get discounts," he said.

The new rules introduced in February followed complaints from small traders who said that the e-commerce giants used their control over inventory from affiliated vendors to create an unfair marketplace.

In June the Indian government warned Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart that they must ensure compliance with the new regulation, adding that it will not allow deep discounts that affect small shopkeepers.

At one point during Friday's discussion, Amazon's Sundaram said the company's 57 warehouses in India provide logistics support to small sellers and traders, which served only to rile Khandelwal further.

"We are not small ... Don't call us small, please," came the CAIT representative's angry retort.

JCB India on Friday announced appointment of Subir Chowdhury as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.

Chowdhury will take over as the MD and CEO of JCB India by year-end, the company said in a statement. Chowdhury, who is currently JCB India's Chief Operating Officer, will replace Vipin Sondhi.

"Subir Chowdhury has a proven track record at JCB and I am delighted he is taking up the position as MD and CEO," JCB Group CEO Graeme Macdonald said.

Before joining JCB India, Chowdhury was Director Manufacturing for Whirlpool, based in New Delhi.

FDI norms eased for single brand retail, digital media, manufacturing

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday relaxed the rules for single-brand retail, more than seven years after the foreign investment cap was removed for the segment to attract marquee foreign brands such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Ikea and others into the country. The latest government move is in line with the recent Budget announcements on FDI changes.

While 30 per cent local sourcing remains a mandatory condition for single-brand retail, the government has now agreed to a long-standing industry demand to make things easier for foreign retailers. With the change, foreign retailers’ India buy for exports will be factored in to meet the 30 per cent domestic sourcing norm. Companies in the single-brand space can also start online retailing without opening brick-and-mortar stores first, something that was not allowed earlier. While 100 per cent FDI is allowed in single-brand retail, whenever the foreign investment exceeds 51 per cent, the mandatory local sourcing norm kicks in.

It was not immediately clear whether the new rules would enable Apple to open fully-owned stores in India or not. Most analysts were optimistic about the Tim Cook-led American major making an entry after the latest rule change. But, others such as Arvind Singhal, chairman of Technopak Advisors, argued manufacturers like Foxconn, which make products for Apple, may not be able to comply with the sourcing norms even after the relaxation. Foxconn’s sourcing from India is believed to be marginal for the export market unlike in the case of chains like Ikea and H&M.

Foreign companies including Ikea, which brought the first big piece of FDI in single-brand retail, see the latest Cabinet decision as a positive. Welcoming the move, Swedish furniture major Ikea, which had committed Euro 1.5 billion investment in the country in 2012, said in a statement that the company was committed to increase local sourcing from India.

Besides single-brand retail, the Cabinet allowed 100 per cent FDI under automatic route in contract manufacturing and commercial coal mining and related processing infrastructure. Sourcing for contract manufacturing will also be counted towards total sourcing commitments.

Also, for the first time, the government has set an FDI cap at 26 per cent for digital news media, which till now was not covered under any foreign investment rules. Digital media companies with more than 26 per cent FDI will now be required to bring down their foreign equity level.

Officials said they would start a case by case assessment of organisations that have already hit the cap.

“There’s a slowdown in the FDI situation worldwide. Even in this situation, we hope India maintains its pre-eminent position after these announcements,” Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said while briefing the media in New Delhi after the Cabinet meeting.

Investors now want to open manufacturing centers globally, Goyal said. ‘’They are looking at India to make products for the Indian markets as well as for exports. We have till now focused on those that retail in India, but the country gets a double advantage when investors export from India.’’

As for the single-brand decision, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), the nodal body for investment-related policy, will now also count local sourcing in phases. It will be counted as an average of the total value of the goods purchased by a retailer in the first five years in a single block. After that, the sourcing norms will kick in annually.

“Single brand reforms will have a long-lasting impact in boosting market hygiene, enhancing customer satisfaction and most importantly raising mobile handset retail to international standards. Iconic stores of global standards have a symbolic value for the nation too”, said Pankaj Mohindroo, of India Cellular And Electronic Association.

For coal mining, so far 100 per cent FDI under automatic route was only allowed for captive coal production. It has now been decided to permit 100 per cent FDI for not just commercial coal mining but for associated processing infrastructure as well, including coal washery, crushing, coal handling, and separation.

“Given climate change related challenges, consumption of coal is in decline in OECD countries and even in China. Fresh investment in coal sector from global mining majors, is quite challenging going forward,” said Debashis Mishra, leader, energy, resources and industrials, Deloitte India.

“Sub-scale size of mines, challenges relating to land acquisition and getting statutory clearances, law and order challenges in coal belt will also be factors considered by large foreign players before deciding to invest in Indian coal sector,” Mishra said.

Google to move Pixel smartphone production out of China: Report

Alphabet Inc’s Google is shifting its Pixel smartphone production to Vietnam from China starting this year as it builds a cheap supply chain in Southeast Asia, the Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday.

The move comes as labour costs are rising in China along with added pressure from spiralling tariffs due to the ongoing Sino-U.S. trade tensions.

The U.S. internet giant plans to move most of its American-bound hardware out of China, including the Pixel phones and its smart speaker Google Home, Nikkei said.

The company plans to ship about 8 million to 10 million smartphones this year, double from a year ago, making Vietnam a key part of Google’s drive for growth in the smartphone market, the newspaper added.

Google will shift some production of the Pixel 3A phone to Vietnam before the end of this year, Nikkei reported citing sources.

For its smart speakers, some production is likely to be moved to Thailand but the company’s new product development and initial production for its hardware lineup will still be in China, the newspaper said.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter, outside regular business hours.

No decision yet on airspace closure to India: Pak Foreign Minister

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that no decision has been taken yet to close the airspace to India, underlining that any such step would be taken after looking into each and every aspect of the move through consultation.

Qureshi dismissed as speculative reports suggesting that the airspace was being shut for India, the Dawn reported.

Talking to reporters during a visit to the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) on Wednesday, he said the issue did come up for discussions during the recent federal cabinet meeting but the final decision in this regard would be taken by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

A decision to this effect will be taken after due consideration and looking into each and every aspect of the move through consultation, he was quoted as saying.

Qureshi's statement came after Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry took to the twitter on Tuesday and announced that the government was considering complete closure of airspace to India and complete ban on use of Pakistan land routes for Indian trade to Afghanistan.

Pakistan had fully closed its airspace in February after an Indian Air Force strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camp in Balakot. The country opened its airspace for all flights except for New Delhi, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur on March 27.

On May 15, Pakistan extended its airspace ban for flights to India till May 30. It fully opened its airspace for all civilian traffic on July 16.

Tensions between India and Pakistan spiked after India abrogated provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution to withdraw Jammu and Kashmir's special status and bifurcated it into two Union Territories.

Pakistan expelled the Indian High Commissioner after it downgraded the diplomatic ties with India in protest to India's decision to end Jammu and Kashmir's special status.

Pakistan also suspended its trade with India and stopped the train and bus services.

Apple to start online sales in India soon with local sourcing rules eased

Apple Inc is poised to start online sales of its devices in India within months, a person familiar with the matter said, benefiting from new rules making the world’s fastest-growing smartphone market more attractive to foreign brands.

On Wednesday, India eased rules that forced companies such as Apple to source 30% of their production locally -- a requirement the iPhone maker has been lobbying against for years -- to include exports as part of the requirement.

That rule posed a problem for electronics brands because most of its devices and components are manufactured in China. The government also allowed so-called single brand retailers to set up online stores before physical shops.

With escalating trade tensions damaging ties between the US and China, New Delhi’s latest investment rules could provide a boost to Apple, allowing it to grow sales in the country and possibly help it reduce its high dependency on China by building out an alternative supply chain in India.

The Cupertino, Calif-based device and services company will begin selling its iPhone, iPads and Apple Mac computers online in the coming months. It’s also firming up the Mumbai location of its first company-owned brick & mortar store in India -- likely to open next year -- the person said, asking not to be identified as the details are confidential. Selling online will be a big step forward for Apple in a country where counterfeit products abound in online platforms increasing buyers’ distrust.

Apple didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comments.

Some of the phone maker’s older devices are assembled by Taiwanese contractor Wistron Corp. in a factory in Bangalore, while the world’s largest contract manufacturer, Foxconn Technology Group, tests assembly of Apple’s latest iPhone X in a factory near Chennai.

Apple has an insignificant share of the India’s booming smartphone market as its high prices and hefty import tariffs of as much as 20% put its products beyond the reach of average Indians. Sales of the iconic iPhones slid dramatically in 2018 and early 2019, forcing the phone maker to offer steep discounts on even its latest models.

India with 1.3 billion people is the last remaining large market for smartphone makers, and the new rules pave the way for Apple to control its own retailing and branding, both online and offline. Currently, it sells through franchisee stores and via online retail platforms such as Amazon India and Walmart-owned Flipkart Online Services Pvt.

India’s online retail market is surging and smartphones account for a chunk of e-commerce companies’ sales. Over a fifth of the phones sold in the country are through online channels and through direct sales, Apple could win greater customer loyalty and even out the playing field with Chinese brands such as Xiaomi and OnePlus, which have gained popularity in the market on aggressive online selling strategies.

Need Chidambaram's custody to unearth larger conspiracy: ED tells SC

Money laundering is an offence against "society and nation", the ED told the Supreme Court Thursday and said it needed custodial interrogation of former finance minister P Chidambaram to unearth the larger conspiracy in the INX Media money case under PMLA.

The Enforcement Directorate told a bench of Justices R Banumathi and A S Bopanna that it cannot show the material collected during the probe to Chidambaram at this stage as the evidence related to money trail of layers of money might be erased.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for ED, said there is no requirement of "exposing the materials, sources and evidence to the accused at the stage of pre-arrest bail" and investigation is the exclusive domain of the probe agency.

"Money laundering is an offence against the society and the nation and probe agency has a right and duty to unearth the entire conspiracy," he told the bench, adding that the apex court has consistently held that economic offences are "gravest of grave" irrespective of the sentence prescribed for it.

"I have materials to show that laundering of money continued after 2009 and even today (in the INX Media case)," he said, adding that the ED wants to interrogate Chidambaram in custody and without the "protective umbrella" of anticipatory bail.

The apex court is hearing a plea filed by Chidambaram who has challenged the August 20 verdict of the Delhi High Court denying him anticipatory bail in the INX Media corruption and money laundering cases lodged by the CBI and ED.

The arguments in the case would continue during the day.

Jack Ma takes on Elon Musk over future of Artificial Intelligence

JAck Ma believes artificial intelligence poses no threat to humanity, but Elon Musk called that "famous last words" as the billionaire tech tycoons faced off Thursday in an occasionally animated debate on futurism in Shanghai.

The Chinese co-founder of Alibaba and the maverick industrialist behind Tesla and SpaceX frequently pulled pained expressions and raised eyebrows as they kicked off an AI conference with a dialogue that challenged attendees to keep up, veering from technology to Mars, death, and jobs.

However, the hot topic in the hour-long talk was AI, which has provoked increasing concern among scientists such as late British cosmologist Stephen Hawking who warned that it will eventually turn on and "annihilate" humanity.

"Computers may be clever, but human beings are much smarter," Ma said. "We invented the computer -- I've never seen a computer invent a human being."

While insisting that he is "not a tech guy," the e-commerce mogul added: "I think AI can help us understand humans better. I don't think it's a threat."

Musk countered: "I don't know man, that's like, famous last words." He said the "rate of advancement of computers in general is insane", sketching out a vision in which super-fast, artificially intelligent devices eventually tire of dealing with dumb, slow humans.

"The computer will just get impatient if nothing else. It will be like talking to a tree," Musk said.

Mankind's hope lies in "going along for the ride" by harnessing some of that computing power, Musk said, as he offered an unabashed plug for his Neuralink Corporation.

Neuralink aims to develop implantable brain-machine interface devices, which conjures images of "The Matrix", whose characters download software to their brains that instantly turns them into martial arts masters.

"Right now we are already a cyborg because we are so well-integrated with our phones and our computers," said Musk, 48.

"The phone is like an extension of yourself. If you forget your phone, its like a missing limb."

But humanity will also have more leisure time in the future as AI takes on much of the burden of transporting, feeding, and thinking for earthlings, said Ma.

"People could work as little as three days a week, four hours a day with the help of technology advances," he said.

Ma, 54, who steps down next month as head of Alibaba Group, questioned Musk's push to develop spacecraft that could help us colonise Mars.

"We need a hero like you, but we need more heroes like us improving things on earth," Ma said.

Musk countered that we must master interplanetary travel in case earth becomes uninhabitable.

Scientists like Hawking have said the same, citing the risk of nuclear war, a devastating virus, global warming or asteroid collision.

But not to worry: both agreed that human mortality is a good thing as each generation brings new ideas to the global challenges we face.

"It's great to die," Ma said, with Musk adding: "That's probably true.

Sell liquor lying in bar in 8 days or destroy it: Delhi govt to restaurants

All stocks of wine and beer transferred from store room to the bar counter must be sold within 3 days, says a Delhi government order. Cheaper liquor brands which are priced under Rs 1,500 must be cleared within 5 day, says the order.

However, brands costing up to Rs 6,000 have been allowed 8 days, according to the notification of the National Capital Territory government issued on Aug 26.

This move comes after multiple raids that resulted in heavy fines or even cancellation of licences and blacklisting the restaurants in the recent past. 

The notice reads: "It has been brought to the notice of this department that this practice of not following First In First Out and keeping liquour bottles at the bar counter for a duration beyond their normal period of consumption has potential for misuse through refilling/adulteration. Department has also received complaints in this regard. The matter has, therefore, been reviewed..."

After the expiry of the period, the stocks have to be destroyed within 7 days and inventory maintained of such stocks.

The order comes into effect on August 31 at 10 am.

The Indian Wine Academy, a private consultancy, however has voiced its concern, saying it smacks of corruption. "The policy would increase corruption many-fold and restaurants and hotels would be at the mercy of their new lords and masters who draw considerable clout in any case, immaterial of which government is currently ruling", says the organisation. 

Gujarat Ports on alert after intel says Pak commandos may enter India

Security has been beefed up at all ports in Gujarat after intelligence inputs warned that "Pakistani commandos are likely to infiltrate into Indian Territory" through Kutch area.

The input states that the commandos may infiltrate through sea route to create communal disturbance or terrorist attack in Gujarat.

Citing the input, Adani Ports and SEZ issued a statement advising shipping agents and internal departments to take utmost measures of security and prevent any untoward situation in Gujarat state.

"It is advised that all ships at Mundra Port take utmost security measures and maintain a vigilant watch," the Adani statement says.

The move comes days after the Indian Navy also warned of possible terror attack from the sea side.

"We receive inputs about possible terrorist infiltrations from time to time and we have enhanced the security at all vital installations in Kutch district, including the Kandla port," Inspector General of Police (border range) D B Vaghela told PTI.

J&K Governor announces 50,000 govt jobs for Kashmiris in next 3 months

The Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) administration will try filling 50,000 vacancies in government jobs in the next two-three months in the soon-to-be-created Union Territory, J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik said on Wednesday.

Malik, addressing his first press conference after Parliament revoked provisions of Article 370 in the first week of August, said the Centre would soon make a ‘big’ announcement on J&K.

In New Delhi, government sources denied reports that it has constituted a Group of Ministers, or GoM, to look into development, economic and social issues for J&K and Ladakh. While there was speculation of it, the government did not announce any special package for either Ladakh or J&K. The two union territories come into existence on October 31. The governor's promise on jobs echoes the commitment that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made to the people of the region in his address to the nation earlier this month.

In his press conference, the J&K Governor sought to justify detention and imprisoning of mainstream politicians. He said times spent by politicians in jail would help them in their political careers. “Don't you want that people should become leaders. I have gone to jail 30 times. Those who will go to jail, will become leaders. Let them be there. The more they spend time in the jail, the more they will claim during elections...that I have spent six months behind bars...

Malik also said restrictions in J&K were necessary to prevent civilian causalities. The Internet is a handy tool for anti-national elements and the restoration of connections will be deferred for some more time, Malik said. He said pellet guns were used by security personnel during protests in the Kashmir Valley, but said forces took precaution to prevent injuries.

Government sources said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be visiting Ladakh on Thursday. Senior officials of the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry will visit J&K and Ladakh soon to explore the possibilities of expansion of educational facilities there Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ said.

Speaking at an event to distribute awards for community radio in the national capital, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said the "biggest punishment" for people is when they have no means of communication. He also extolled the benefits of scrapping of provisions of Article 370.

"This is the power and need of communication...when people store everything in their hearts and are unable to tell anyone about it, is the biggest punishment. When you cannot talk to anyone, you cannot contact anyone and you have no tool to communicate, that is the biggest punishment," he said, adding that one of the biggest medium of communication is community radio.

SBI economists slam 'intelligentsia' for 'misunderstanding' RBI autonomy

Economists at the state-run State Bank Wednesday hit out the defenders of the central bank autonomy, saying the RBI's independence has been "misunderstood by the intelligentsia".

In a note prepared in the context of the Bimal Jalan committee report which cleared transfer of Rs 1.76 trillion of its surpluses to the government, the economists said fears of "heavens falling" stoked by the "scholars" have been given a burial by the panel's recommendations.

Stating that the Rs 52,000-crore surplus payout is much lower than the estimates, the economists said, "the questions on the central bank are often misunderstood".

It can be noted that a slew of commentators, including former governor YV Reddy, D Subbarao, Raghuram Rajan, and Urjit Patel and also former deputy governor Viral Acharya among others, had been vociferously warned against the idea of government "raiding" the central bank's balance sheet.

Acharya had gone public with his reservations while still serving the RBI, warning of the "wrath of markets" if the central bank's independence is compromised.

In their note, the SBI economists said 

---

 is the only central bank in the world with both "a goal and instrument independence" and also reminded that as per the Constitution, the Reserve Bank's policies ought to be aligned with that of the executive.

Meanwhile, it said the government will "comfortably" meet the 3.3 percent fiscal deficit target for FY20, thanks to the Rs 1.76 trillion windfall from the RBI's reserves.

The additional resources will help cover up for the Rs 90,000-crore tax revenue shortfall, according to its estimate.

It said additionally, the government has the ability to cut the capital expenditure this year as well if need be.

Meanwhile, in a note, India Ratings said the RBI payout will help marginally ease pressure on the government finances. The rating agency, however, added that the large transfer is a one-time event and is unlikely to stoke inflation either.

Irdai to revisit motor third party obligation regulations for insurers

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) has constituted a working committee for reviewing the current motor third party obligation regulations for insurers and make recommendations to modify the current framework.

In June 2015, the insurance regulator had specified a formula for calculating motor third party obligations for insurers. But, after the apex court decision on issuance of long term motor third party policies as well as concerns raised by various insurers on the formula used for calculation of motor third party obligations, the insurance regulator felt that a review of the whole process is required.

According to the insurance act, every general insurer has to underwrite a minimum percentage of insurance business in third party risks of motor vehicles.

The committee constituted by the IRDAI will be headed by J Anita, General Manager, Irdai and other members of the committee include Basudev Sanyal, Chief Manager, United India Insurance, K B Mehra, Chief Manager, National Insurance, Loknath Kar from ICICI Lombard and others. A Srihari, IRDAI non-life member is also a part of the committee.

The committee has been asked to submit its report within three months.

Govt-owned AIC mulls launching crop reinsurance services outside India

Government-owned Agriculture Insurance Company (AIC) is planning to launch crop reinsurance services outside India, particularly in South Asia.

The company received approval from IRDA (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority) for inward insurance (reinsurance services in a foreign country). It is currently in discussions with intermediaries to launch the product by January 2020.

“Our solvency ratio is 2.99 compared to the regulatory need of 1.5 and our capital base is over Rs 3500 crore. Given our expertise in crop insurance, we want to help other developing countries. We feel we are well equipped to provide reinsurance support to them,” Rajeev Chaudhary, managing director and chairman of AIC told Business Standard.

AIC is looking to launch reinsurance services in countries like Nepal, Sri Lanka, Philippines and Bangladesh in the initial phase.

AIC was established by the government as the sole implementing agency for its then flagship crop insurance programme, National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS). After the launch of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna, the domestic crop insurance market in India has become competitive with many private companies joining the bandwagon. However, AIC still continues to enjoy a major share of around 50 per cent in the crop insurance market. This year, the total premium collection of the firm is expected to be around Rs 13000 crore, said Chaudhary. Last year, its premium collection was about Rs 7000 crore.

“In medium term, AIC would be diversifying to offer insurance products for other allied activities in agriculture, viz, cattle, farm equipment fisheries and poultry insurance. Besides, the company is also planning to launch insurance products for commercial and plantation crops. We want to make AIC one stop solution for all the insurance needs of farmers, he said.

Notably, India is one of the biggest reinsurance market for global companies after the launch of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna. In view of the large repayments to global reinsurers, the government is considering an overhaul in the reinsurance mechanism by creating a pool for claim settlements on the domestic front. Under the proposed pool mechanism, while private firms can retain a small part of the premium, a large part goes to the pool, which will serve to pay out the claims. In the initial years, when the pool is small, proposals such as budgetary support from the government is also being discussed. In the last six seasons, close to Rs 5,000 crore has flown to the books of foreign reinsurers, as overall claim ratio has been just around 77 per cent, which has led the government to rethink the involvement of reinsurance companies in the business.

People may have to work just 12 hours a week thanks to AI, says Jack Ma

Billionaire Jack Ma, long an outspoken advocate for China’s extreme work culture, says that people should be able to work just 12 hours a week with the benefits of artificial intelligence.

People could work as little as three days a week, four hours a day with the help of technology advances, the Alibaba Group Holding Ltd co-founder said at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai Thursday. He spoke on-stage with Elon Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla Inc who is building manufacturing facilities in the city. 

Just this year, Ma endorsed the China tech sector’s infamous 12-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week routine, so common it earned the moniker 996. In one blog post, China’s richest man this year dismissed people who expect a typical eight-hour office lifestyle, defying a growing popular backlash.

“I don’t worry about jobs,” Ma said on Thursday, making an optimistic case that AI will help humans rather than just eliminate their work. “Computers only have chips, men have the heart. It’s the heart where the wisdom comes from.”

For agricultural loans, bankers call for longer repayment period

In view of the significant stress in the agriculture sector, bankers at the state-level consultancy meet in Kolkata have called for longer repayment periods for loans under Kisan Credit Card (KCC) from 12 months to 36 or 48 months.

There were also deliberations on allowing farmers to take fresh loans even if they fail to repay the entire loan, as long as they service the interest.

Based on direction from the department of financial services, public sector banks started a three-stage consultation process last week.

 

They focused on nine issues, including digital banking, credit to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and agriculture sectors, direct transfer of benefits as well as education loans, among other issues.

This month has seen intra-bank as well as inter-bank meetings to discuss key issues. The final set of suggestions from all the meetings will be sent to the Centre, which will organise a meeting with banks in the first week of September.

“Stress in the agriculture sector is touching double digits and is a phenomenon visible across the banking sector. Bankers are really concerned about the issue,” said Ashok Kumar Pradhan, managing director and chief executive officer (MD & CEO) of United Bank of India, at a press meet in Kolkata last week.

There were also suggestions to have an agriculture credit guarantee scheme, and a stronger institutional network to prevent multiple lending in the agriculture sector.

Some of the suggestions at the branch level also included the need to press the government for digitisation of land records, failing which there had been instances of multiple borrowings.

At the branch-level meet, Rajnish Kumar, chairman, State Bank of India, too, stressed the need to revamp agriculture and MSME lending practices, given the high stress in these sectors.

Bankers have also suggested the need to have a credit guarantee mechanism for the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), the government’s flagship credit scheme for micro and small enterprises. It is another source for a big chunk of the non-performing assets or NPAs.

Among other suggestions, the need for cyber security to promote digital transactions was also discussed. According to Pradhan, the bank would suggest to the government the need to have an umbrella organisation in the sector for protection against cyber frauds. Banks could pool in funds for an organisation to address cyber security concerns, said Pradhan.

The falling share of business of public sector banks in the banking industry was also a cause of worry for banks, he said.

The share of public sector banks in the banking industry has come down from around 75 per cent four years ago to nearly 67 per cent now, with non-banking finance companies cornering a large chunk, he said.