Today Sector News – 26.03.2018
* AUTOMOBILE: The proposed vehicle scrap policy for mandatory disposal of more than 20-year-old commercial vehicles will go for the Cabinet nod in a month and once brought in will result in additional flow of 100 bln rupees into government coffers, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said. Kia Motors India, a unit of Hyundai Motor Corp of South Korea, is likely to participate in bids to supply electric vehicles to the government once its manufacturing unit is commissioned in the Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.
* AVIATION: The Bombay High Court asked the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to list the steps being taken to check the airworthiness of all Pratt and Whitney 1100 engines that power A320neo aircraft. The government may issue expression of interest for the sale of Air India and its subsidiaries within the next two months. The government is planning to invite bids by end 2018 for construction of a second international airport in the National Capital Region near Jewar in Uttar Pradesh, Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Nayan Choubey said today.
-The Telangana government cut value added tax on aviation turbine fuel to 1% from 16%.
-In a major push to the government's flagship regional connectivity scheme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi plans to almost double its reach by starting subsidised flights to 100 airports in the country.
-The government is likely to include a clause in the share purchase agreement to ensure Air India employees do not lose jobs immediately after privatisation.
* BANKING: The Monitoring Group on Cash and Debt Management met to finalise the government's market borrowing programme for the the first half of the next financial year starting April. The Reserve Bank of India may crack the whip on its senior officials in the wake of the massive 126-bln-rupee fraudulent letter of undertaking issuance scam at PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK.
- Former NITI Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya has made a strong case for privatisation of public sector banks with the exception of STATE BANK OF INDIA, saying that political parties serious of forming government in 2019 should include the proposal in their manifesto.
* ECONOMY: India is likely to approach the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement body on its own, questioning the duty hike on steel and aluminium products by the US, after American authorities made an exception for the European Union, Australia, Canada and Mexico late on Thursday evening.
-Federal Reserve officials on Friday said they want to see more details about new tariff policies before deciding whether any policy response is warranted, holding to their view that more interest rate hikes are needed.
-Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu pitched for a free trade agreement with Africa with a view to boosting economic ties between the two regions.
-Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan reached New Delhi for official trade talks.
* ENERGY: The commerce ministry's investigation arm Directorate General of Anti-Dumping & Allied Duties said it is terminating its anti-dumping probe on imports of solar cells from China, Taiwan and Malaysia.
* FAST MOVING CONSUMER GOODS: Air conditioner makers, including VOLTAS, Daikin and Panasonic, are expecting a high double digit growth in sales this year on account of reports of rise in average temperature this summer, increasing disposable income and availability of power in smaller cities.
-Mobile phone makers such HMD Global, Lava and Panasonic are finalising plans, including investments, for higher scale of local manufacturing, in tandem with the government's likely imposition of duty on imported printed circuit board assembly from the coming fiscal year.
* FINANCE: Financial services firm Fino Paytech is targeting to raise up to 2.5 bln rupees in equity for expanding its flagship payments bank and also the non-bank finance business.
* GOVERNMENT: A parliamentary panel has recommended earmarking a defined portion of proceeds from divestment of state-owned enterprises for funding revival, restructuring and modernisation proposals of sick public sector undertakings that have the potential to turn around.
* INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: The government has issued a notice to London-based Cambridge Analytica, asking the data-mining and analysis firm if it was given any assignment to utilise data of Indians from the recent Facebook data breach.
-Only a third of India's information technology services firms are compliant with a European data protection law to be effective in May, says analyst, warning that potential damages of any breach of privacy of user data from the continent could cost companies as much as 4% of their revenue.
* INFRASTRUCTURE: The government is planning to invite bids by end 2018 for construction of a second international airport in the National Capital Region near Jewar in Uttar Pradesh. As many as 359 infrastructure projects, each worth 1.50 bln rupees and above, have shown cost overrun to the tune of 2.18 trln rupees due to delays and other reasons.
* INSURANCE: The government is keen to launch the National Health Protection Mission before Aug 15. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority has extended the deadline for linking unique identity number Aadhaar with various insurance policies until the Supreme Court decides on the matter.
* MINING: The government is looking at the possibility of clarifying an interpretation of the Mines & Minerals Development Regulations to undo the damage caused by what officials call a "retrospective reinterpretation" of Section 21(5), as a result of which the Supreme Court passed an adverse judgment last August.
* OIL & GAS: Indian Commodity Exchange is planning to launch futures contracts in petrol and diesel which will enable fuel dealers to hedge their price risks.
-The government has extended the last date for bidding in the first round of auction of oil and gas blocks under the open acreage licensing policy by a month to May 2.
-Local fleet owners are resisting a move by state-run oil refiners seeking government approval allowing them to buy as much as 35% of their annual crude imports on a cost, insurance and freight basis.
* RAILWAYS: The government is likely to extend sovereign guarantee to the bonds issued by the Indian Railways Finance Corporation, making it easier for the financial arm of Indian Railways to borrow desired funds from the Life Insurance Corporation of India.
* REALTY: About 400 real estate developers, including listed companies, have received notices from the indirect tax department for inflated credit claims under the goods and services tax. Singapore's CapitaLand and investment firm Xander Group Inc are the front runners to acquire Pune-based information technology parks, which is owned by US fund Blackstone Group. Realty firm Embassy group will invest 13.50 bln rupees to develop four new hotels in Bengaluru as part of its expansion plan in hospitality business.
* STEEL: The National Company Law Tribunal has advanced the hearing on Essar Steel dispute to Mar 27 from Apr 4 as the ruling needs to be pronounced before the second round of binding bids takes place. Legal experts have differed over the eligibility of ArcelorMittal India's bid for Essar Steel, according to minutes of the meeting held by the committee of creditors of the distressed steel maker. The legal opinions received by the resolution professional of Essar Steel from law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and senior counsel Darius Khambata differed on the eligibility of the bids made by ArcelorMittal.
* TAXATION: A parliamentary panel has asked the government to formulate a concrete action plan to recover tax arrears that have reached 11.5 trln rupees.
* TELECOMMUNICATION: The distressed telecom industry has called upon the government to make policy changes to help lower cost, including that of spectrum, and make it easier to do business by smoothening the process of laying fibre, for instance, and enable greater levels of digitisation to help usher in 5G technology at the same time as developed markets. State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam will invest about 43 bln rupees to expand network in 2018-19, and another 50-60 bln rupees is likely to be utilised for government telecom projects.
* TRADE: India will deal with unilateral trade actions taken by any country "as per appropriate rules" and provide support to its exporters, Trade Minister Suresh Prabhu today said.
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* AVIATION: The Bombay High Court asked the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to list the steps being taken to check the airworthiness of all Pratt and Whitney 1100 engines that power A320neo aircraft. The government may issue expression of interest for the sale of Air India and its subsidiaries within the next two months. The government is planning to invite bids by end 2018 for construction of a second international airport in the National Capital Region near Jewar in Uttar Pradesh, Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Nayan Choubey said today.
-The Telangana government cut value added tax on aviation turbine fuel to 1% from 16%.
-In a major push to the government's flagship regional connectivity scheme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi plans to almost double its reach by starting subsidised flights to 100 airports in the country.
-The government is likely to include a clause in the share purchase agreement to ensure Air India employees do not lose jobs immediately after privatisation.
* BANKING: The Monitoring Group on Cash and Debt Management met to finalise the government's market borrowing programme for the the first half of the next financial year starting April. The Reserve Bank of India may crack the whip on its senior officials in the wake of the massive 126-bln-rupee fraudulent letter of undertaking issuance scam at PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK.
- Former NITI Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya has made a strong case for privatisation of public sector banks with the exception of STATE BANK OF INDIA, saying that political parties serious of forming government in 2019 should include the proposal in their manifesto.
* ECONOMY: India is likely to approach the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement body on its own, questioning the duty hike on steel and aluminium products by the US, after American authorities made an exception for the European Union, Australia, Canada and Mexico late on Thursday evening.
-Federal Reserve officials on Friday said they want to see more details about new tariff policies before deciding whether any policy response is warranted, holding to their view that more interest rate hikes are needed.
-Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu pitched for a free trade agreement with Africa with a view to boosting economic ties between the two regions.
-Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan reached New Delhi for official trade talks.
* ENERGY: The commerce ministry's investigation arm Directorate General of Anti-Dumping & Allied Duties said it is terminating its anti-dumping probe on imports of solar cells from China, Taiwan and Malaysia.
* FAST MOVING CONSUMER GOODS: Air conditioner makers, including VOLTAS, Daikin and Panasonic, are expecting a high double digit growth in sales this year on account of reports of rise in average temperature this summer, increasing disposable income and availability of power in smaller cities.
-Mobile phone makers such HMD Global, Lava and Panasonic are finalising plans, including investments, for higher scale of local manufacturing, in tandem with the government's likely imposition of duty on imported printed circuit board assembly from the coming fiscal year.
* FINANCE: Financial services firm Fino Paytech is targeting to raise up to 2.5 bln rupees in equity for expanding its flagship payments bank and also the non-bank finance business.
* GOVERNMENT: A parliamentary panel has recommended earmarking a defined portion of proceeds from divestment of state-owned enterprises for funding revival, restructuring and modernisation proposals of sick public sector undertakings that have the potential to turn around.
* INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: The government has issued a notice to London-based Cambridge Analytica, asking the data-mining and analysis firm if it was given any assignment to utilise data of Indians from the recent Facebook data breach.
-Only a third of India's information technology services firms are compliant with a European data protection law to be effective in May, says analyst, warning that potential damages of any breach of privacy of user data from the continent could cost companies as much as 4% of their revenue.
* INFRASTRUCTURE: The government is planning to invite bids by end 2018 for construction of a second international airport in the National Capital Region near Jewar in Uttar Pradesh. As many as 359 infrastructure projects, each worth 1.50 bln rupees and above, have shown cost overrun to the tune of 2.18 trln rupees due to delays and other reasons.
* INSURANCE: The government is keen to launch the National Health Protection Mission before Aug 15. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority has extended the deadline for linking unique identity number Aadhaar with various insurance policies until the Supreme Court decides on the matter.
* MINING: The government is looking at the possibility of clarifying an interpretation of the Mines & Minerals Development Regulations to undo the damage caused by what officials call a "retrospective reinterpretation" of Section 21(5), as a result of which the Supreme Court passed an adverse judgment last August.
* OIL & GAS: Indian Commodity Exchange is planning to launch futures contracts in petrol and diesel which will enable fuel dealers to hedge their price risks.
-The government has extended the last date for bidding in the first round of auction of oil and gas blocks under the open acreage licensing policy by a month to May 2.
-Local fleet owners are resisting a move by state-run oil refiners seeking government approval allowing them to buy as much as 35% of their annual crude imports on a cost, insurance and freight basis.
* RAILWAYS: The government is likely to extend sovereign guarantee to the bonds issued by the Indian Railways Finance Corporation, making it easier for the financial arm of Indian Railways to borrow desired funds from the Life Insurance Corporation of India.
* REALTY: About 400 real estate developers, including listed companies, have received notices from the indirect tax department for inflated credit claims under the goods and services tax. Singapore's CapitaLand and investment firm Xander Group Inc are the front runners to acquire Pune-based information technology parks, which is owned by US fund Blackstone Group. Realty firm Embassy group will invest 13.50 bln rupees to develop four new hotels in Bengaluru as part of its expansion plan in hospitality business.
* STEEL: The National Company Law Tribunal has advanced the hearing on Essar Steel dispute to Mar 27 from Apr 4 as the ruling needs to be pronounced before the second round of binding bids takes place. Legal experts have differed over the eligibility of ArcelorMittal India's bid for Essar Steel, according to minutes of the meeting held by the committee of creditors of the distressed steel maker. The legal opinions received by the resolution professional of Essar Steel from law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and senior counsel Darius Khambata differed on the eligibility of the bids made by ArcelorMittal.
* TAXATION: A parliamentary panel has asked the government to formulate a concrete action plan to recover tax arrears that have reached 11.5 trln rupees.
* TELECOMMUNICATION: The distressed telecom industry has called upon the government to make policy changes to help lower cost, including that of spectrum, and make it easier to do business by smoothening the process of laying fibre, for instance, and enable greater levels of digitisation to help usher in 5G technology at the same time as developed markets. State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam will invest about 43 bln rupees to expand network in 2018-19, and another 50-60 bln rupees is likely to be utilised for government telecom projects.
* TRADE: India will deal with unilateral trade actions taken by any country "as per appropriate rules" and provide support to its exporters, Trade Minister Suresh Prabhu today said.
