Today Sector News – 17.04.2018
* AVIATION: The Bombay High Court said that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation must not "blindly" follow international guidelines on air safety but must use its own "independent mind" to ensure the safety of passengers.
* BANKING: The finance ministry is 'sympathetic' towards bankers' request for increasing the default period for term loans to 30 days from one day, as stipulated by the Reserve Bank of India in February.
* ECONOMY: Subscribers of Employees' Provident Fund, from now on, will get 15% of their contribution to the fund as equity units of exchange-traded fund that the EPFO invests in, a government release said.
* FUNDS: ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund is planning to launch a fund of funds on the Bharat 22 Exchange Traded Fund scheme, to attract investor interest in the ETF which has seen erosion of 58% of the original corpus through substantial redemptions.
* INFRASTRUCTURE: In May, Maharashtra will start development of 6,756 km of the total approved road projects of 14,844 km of rural roads under the hybrid annuity model. The government has signed a $48-mln loan agreement with the World Bank to enhance community-led landscape management in certain regions of Meghalaya.
* INSURANCE: The heads of four public sector insurance companies are expected to meet officials in the finance ministry on Wednesday to discuss the merger proposal of United India Insurance, National Insurance and Oriental Insurance.
* OIL & GAS: The government plans to launch a natural gas trading hub by October, creating an Indian gas benchmark which will spark a surge in consumption of the cleaner-burning fuel.
* POWER: The power ministry has categorised charging batteries of electric vehicles as a service, a move which will help such stations operate without licence and encourage the use of e-vehicles. The Supreme Court has slapped a penalty of 119 mln rupees on ReNew Power for delaying the commissioning of a 51 MW solar power project in Madhya Pradesh by more than 210 days. NuPower Renewables attracted investments of over 3.20 bln rupees in five tranches from Mauritius starting March 2011, exactly the time Deepak Kochhar acquired full ownership of the company, the RBI said in its 2016 report.
* RAILWAYS: The Indian railways' plans to generate 390 bln rupees from non fare sources over 10 years have become doubtful, with the national transporter withdrawing tenders for out-of-home advertisements and advertisements on train owning to a "low industry response" and technical reasons". The Indian Railways will spend 90 bln rupees over the next three years to procure new wagons as it seeks to up its game in goods transportation.
* REAL ESTATE: Three developers--India Infoline, Galaxy group and Kanodia group--have shown interest in completing the projects of beleaguered builder Amrapali and will invest 12 bln rupees in these unfinished projects.
* REGULATORY: The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has asked manufacturers of polyvinyl chloride pipes to carry warning signs that the product contains lead.
* TAXATION: The ministerial panel, under Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi, on Goods and Services Tax return simplification will meet tax experts and representatives from industry today.
* TELECOMMUNICATION: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had launched the beta version of a website to allow users to compare tariffs across different mobile operators in various circles.
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* BANKING: The finance ministry is 'sympathetic' towards bankers' request for increasing the default period for term loans to 30 days from one day, as stipulated by the Reserve Bank of India in February.
* ECONOMY: Subscribers of Employees' Provident Fund, from now on, will get 15% of their contribution to the fund as equity units of exchange-traded fund that the EPFO invests in, a government release said.
* FUNDS: ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund is planning to launch a fund of funds on the Bharat 22 Exchange Traded Fund scheme, to attract investor interest in the ETF which has seen erosion of 58% of the original corpus through substantial redemptions.
* INFRASTRUCTURE: In May, Maharashtra will start development of 6,756 km of the total approved road projects of 14,844 km of rural roads under the hybrid annuity model. The government has signed a $48-mln loan agreement with the World Bank to enhance community-led landscape management in certain regions of Meghalaya.
* INSURANCE: The heads of four public sector insurance companies are expected to meet officials in the finance ministry on Wednesday to discuss the merger proposal of United India Insurance, National Insurance and Oriental Insurance.
* OIL & GAS: The government plans to launch a natural gas trading hub by October, creating an Indian gas benchmark which will spark a surge in consumption of the cleaner-burning fuel.
* POWER: The power ministry has categorised charging batteries of electric vehicles as a service, a move which will help such stations operate without licence and encourage the use of e-vehicles. The Supreme Court has slapped a penalty of 119 mln rupees on ReNew Power for delaying the commissioning of a 51 MW solar power project in Madhya Pradesh by more than 210 days. NuPower Renewables attracted investments of over 3.20 bln rupees in five tranches from Mauritius starting March 2011, exactly the time Deepak Kochhar acquired full ownership of the company, the RBI said in its 2016 report.
* RAILWAYS: The Indian railways' plans to generate 390 bln rupees from non fare sources over 10 years have become doubtful, with the national transporter withdrawing tenders for out-of-home advertisements and advertisements on train owning to a "low industry response" and technical reasons". The Indian Railways will spend 90 bln rupees over the next three years to procure new wagons as it seeks to up its game in goods transportation.
* REAL ESTATE: Three developers--India Infoline, Galaxy group and Kanodia group--have shown interest in completing the projects of beleaguered builder Amrapali and will invest 12 bln rupees in these unfinished projects.
* REGULATORY: The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has asked manufacturers of polyvinyl chloride pipes to carry warning signs that the product contains lead.
* TAXATION: The ministerial panel, under Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi, on Goods and Services Tax return simplification will meet tax experts and representatives from industry today.
* TELECOMMUNICATION: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had launched the beta version of a website to allow users to compare tariffs across different mobile operators in various circles.
