Jet reinstates 3 aircraft into fleet post engine work

NEW DELHI: India's Jet Airways Ltd has reinstated three aircraft into its fleet after completing engine work, the airline said in a statement on Thursday.The cash-strapped airline on Wednesday said it had grounded eight aircraft, of which three were temporarily grounded for engine normalization while it was in the process of delivering three aircraft to lessors due to the scheduled expiry of lease terms.Jet is working to finalise a rescue deal with its bankers and shareholder Etihad Airways after its financial troubles were worsened by a rising debt-pile, amid intense competition in the Indian aviation sector and higher oil prices.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2CXnX4E
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NGT seeks committee's view to limit petrol pumps across the country

NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal has directed a committee comprising officials from the Ministry of Petroleum and the Central Pollution Control Board to look into the issue of increase in number of petrol pumps across the country and sought a report on the issue.A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice S P Wangdi asked the panel to submit action taken report to the tribunal by April 30."The first meeting of the Committee may be held within one month and on review of the subject matter, appropriate guidelines be issued by the Central Pollution Control Board, in exercise of its statutory power within three months thereafter," the bench said while posting the matter for hearing on July 5.The direction came after taking note of a plea filed by one Gyanprakash seeking a cap on number of petrol pumps so as to avoid adverse impact on the environment.The applicant referred to a news item to submit that large number of petrol pumps are being opened without any concern for environment and without any guideline about sustainability.The plea has also made reference to the guidelines issued by Indian Road Congress "General Conditions of Siting", laying down distance from the highways and distance between the two fuel stations.

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उपचुनाव नतीजे: 1-1 से बराबरी पर रहा मुकाबला, जींद में खिला कमल तो रामगढ़ में जीती कांग्रेस

देखा जाए तो जिस राज्य में जिसकी सरकार है, वही पार्टी उपचुनाव में जीत दर्ज कर पाई। दोनों ही विधानसभा सीटों पर विधायक और एक प्रत्याशी के निधन के कारण उपचुनाव की स्थिति बनी थी।

from Latest And Breaking Hindi News Headlines, News In Hindi | अमर उजाला हिंदी न्यूज़ | - Amar Ujala http://bit.ly/2GdhB4r

सुप्रीम कोर्ट का सहारा प्रमुख सुब्रत रॉय को अदालत में हाजिर होने का आदेश

सहारा मामले की सुनवाई रंजन गोगई वाली बेंच कर रही थी और इस बेंच ने कहा कि सहारा ग्रुप ने अभी तक 15,000 करोड़ ही जमा किए हैं। इस बेंच में एके सिकरी और एसके कौल भी शामिल है।

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LIVE: पूर्व राष्ट्रपति प्रणब मुखर्जी कुछ ही देर में प्रदान करेंगे 'अमर उजाला शब्द सम्मान'

शब्दों की महान परंपरा के सतत सम्मान और श्रेष्ठतम सृजन को रेखांकित करने के लिए शुरू किए गए ‘अमर उजाला शब्द सम्मान’ कुछ ही देर में नई दिल्ली के तीन मूर्ति सभागार में पूर्व राष्ट्रपति प्रणब मुखर्जी प्रदान करेंगे।

from Latest And Breaking Hindi News Headlines, News In Hindi | अमर उजाला हिंदी न्यूज़ | - Amar Ujala http://bit.ly/2TmAp4J

जॉर्ज फर्नांडीजः अंतिम यात्रा के दौरान लोगों ने पूछा, ऐसा नेता अब कब आएगा?

पूर्व रक्षा मंत्री जॉर्ज फर्नांडीज का पार्थिव शरीर आज पंचतत्व में विलीन हो गया। उनकी इस अंतिम यात्रा में उनके संघर्ष के दिनों के साथी रहे नीतीश कुमार और शरद यादव सहित पूर्व प्रधानमंत्री मनमोहन सिंह और लालकृष्ण आडवाणी जैसे कई नेता पहुंचे।

from Latest And Breaking Hindi News Headlines, News In Hindi | अमर उजाला हिंदी न्यूज़ | - Amar Ujala http://bit.ly/2D6i4ST

Sabarimala Verdict Review Petitions To Be Heard By Top Court On Wednesday

About 48 review petitions challenging the Supreme Court's September verdict that allowed women of reproductive age into the Sabarimala temple will be considered by the top court on February 6.

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Can You Guess Who The Little 'Ms Botanist' In This Throwback Pic Is?

Hint: The actress was last seen in the 2018 film Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi. Can you guess now?

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Yamaha Motor India sales head Roy Kurian quits

NEW DELHI: Yamaha Motor India's head of sales and marketing Roy Kurian has put in his papers after serving the company for over 15 years.Kurian, who joined the company in 2003, has resigned with immediate effect."I think 15 years is a good enough period in a company. I contributed to the company in whatever way possible. It is now time to take new challenges," Kurian, who was the company's senior vice-president, sales and marketing, told PTI.He was instrumental in the Japanese firm gaining foothold in the Indian market. Kurian was responsible for expanding sales network as well helping the company surpass the target of achieving one million sales per annum in domestic and export markets."The target of achieving one million sales in domestic market, however, remains unrealised," Kurian said."I never thought I would ever leave such a great company, but I have decided to move on and take my career in a new direction," he said.When asked about his next assignment, Kurian declined to comment.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2UtPHor
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ICC ropes in Coca-Cola as official sponsor

MUMBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday announced a five-year global partnership deal with beverage manufacturer Coca-Cola Company.The partnership will see Coca-Cola’s brands becoming exclusive non-alcoholic beverage partners of the ICC until 2023.The five-year agreement includes all ICC events around the world including the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 in England and Wales, the ICC men’s and women’s T20 World Cups in Australia in 2020, the ICC Women’s World Cup 2021 in New Zealand and the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in India in 2023 amongst other global tournaments. ICC has signed similar partnerships with alcobev brands, Royal Stag and Bira 91.The deal with Coca Cola will strategically align both the ICC and The Coca-Cola Company for the long-term by combining the strength of The Coca-Cola Company’s diversified portfolio of over 500 brands as well as worldwide reach with ICC’s ambition to expand the sport’s footprint globally.David Richardson, CEO, ICC, said, “It is our pleasure to welcome Coca-Cola on board as an ICC partner for the next five years... the popularity of the three formats with pinnacle global events in each makes this an exciting time for major brands to be associated with our sport.”T Krishnakumar, President, Coca-Cola India and South West Asia, added, “Cricket is a global sport and a passion shared by more than a billion people across gender, generations and cultures. In-line with our long history of partnering with major sporting events globally, our strategic partnership with ICC, reinforces our long-standing commitment to refresh sports fans and enhance their entertainment experience.”The Coca-Cola Company has an eight-decade long association with Olympics, four decades with the FIFA and nearly 25 years with World Cup Rugby.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2DKXo4e
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Why India can't have an income scheme

By Dhiraj NayyarDuring election season, which we’re entering in India, everyone likes the idea of giving voters more money. Congress Party President Rahul Gandhi, the de facto opposition leader, says his party will guarantee a minimum income for the country’s poor if victorious. Reports suggest that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government may compete by announcing some form of direct transfer of cash to farmers in the interim budget to be revealed on Friday, which could cost the exchequer nearly $10 billion annually.While governments everywhere should take care of their most vulnerable citizens, the idea of guaranteeing a basic income is wrong for India right now. Fundamentally, it would only work if two conditions were met. First, large sections of the population would have to be mired in absolute poverty. And second, all other subsidies and welfare programs for them would have to be abolished in order to free up the necessary funds without completely blowing open India’s fiscal deficit, which is already strained.Neither condition prevails in India. While there’s no recent government estimate of the number of people living below the poverty line, credible research by the Brookings Institution suggests that extreme poverty in India, defined as those living on less than $2 a day, now afflicts only five percent of the population. Granted, that’s still more than 70 million people. But, for the vast majority of Indians, the challenge is no longer subsistence, it’s aspiration. No basic income guarantee will be able to address rising aspirations unless it’s a very large sum of money. At India’s level of national income, providing anything more than a subsistence income would simply be unaffordable.Press reports say the government’s idea would be to replace existing subsidy programs with a direct cash transfer. But, realistically, the chances of any Indian government, no matter how committed to fiscal rectitude, cutting down India’s gigantic maze of welfare programs is negligible, probably zero. In fact, it’s hard to name any government welfare scheme that has ever been abolished in India. Many have been renamed, tweaked, often expanded, but never eliminated altogether. Given the reality of an extremely competitive polity, no politician will risk being labeled anti-poor by abolishing even one, let alone the entire gamut, of welfare schemes. Any cash-transfer scheme will thus likely be a top-up over everything else.Perhaps the biggest problem with such ideas taking center stage in India’s political economy right now is that it distracts attention from the more pressing task at hand — creating high-quality jobs. Whoever wins the next election, whether Gandhi’s Congress or Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party or a third alternative, may end up implementing some version of an income guarantee. That would probably yield a short-term political dividend. Ultimately, however, any new government will be judged by whether or not it can create jobs. Welfare can never be a substitute for productive employment.For politicians who have shied away from job-creating but politically difficult economic reforms — in banking, as well as land and labor laws — a well-delivered welfare scheme may buy time. It would be so much better for India, though, if the case for reform was argued with the same intensity and implemented with equal alacrity. India might, after all, be able to afford one more welfare measure if it were accompanied simultaneously by big-bang market reforms.(Dhiraj Nayyar is chief economist at Vedanta Ltd. and the author of “Modi and Markets: Arguments for Transformation.”)

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Jio GigaFiber User Answers All Your Questions About Jio's Broadband Service

Jio GigaFiber price, plans, installation process and everything explained first hand by someone with a Jio GigaFiber broadband connection.

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Saira Banu And Dilip Kumar's Grandniece Is Reportedly Marrying This Actor

Sayyeshaa and Arya met while filming Ghajinikanth and their next film is Kaappaan

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SBI Reportedly Left Banking Data of Millions Unprotected Online

The alleged unprotected server of SBI was housed in a Mumbai data centre and included two months of data from SBI Quick service.

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शशि थरूर का विवादित ट्वीट- हिंदी, हिंदू, हिंदुत्व की विचारधारा देश को बांट रही है

कांग्रेस नेता शशि थरूर एक बार फिर विवादों में हैं। इस बार विवाद का मुद्दा उनका एक ट्वीट बना है। थरूर ने एक ट्वीट करते हुए लिखा कि हिंदी, हिंदू, हिंदुत्व की विचारधारा देश को बांट रही है।

from Latest And Breaking Hindi News Headlines, News In Hindi | अमर उजाला हिंदी न्यूज़ | - Amar Ujala http://bit.ly/2ToSxeq

जींद उपचुनावः बांगर की धरती पर 52 साल में पहली बार खिला 'कमल', रणदीप सुरजेवाला की करारी हार

नगर निगम के बाद जींद उपचुनाव में भी बीजेपी ने इतिहास रचते हुए बड़ी जीत दर्ज की है। 52 साल में पहली बार बांगर की धरती पर 'कमल' का फूल खिला।

from Latest And Breaking Hindi News Headlines, News In Hindi | अमर उजाला हिंदी न्यूज़ | - Amar Ujala http://bit.ly/2SkPfvi

सर्वर पर पासवर्ड लगाना भूल गया SBI, लाखों ग्राहकों के खातों की जानकारी लीक

SBI DATA LEAK: टेकक्रंच की एक रिपोर्ट के मुताबिक स्टेट बैंक ऑफ इंडिया अपने सर्वर को सुरक्षित करना भूल गया था जिसके कारण लाखों लोगों के बैंक की जानकारी लीक हो सकती है।

from Latest And Breaking Hindi News Headlines, News In Hindi | अमर उजाला हिंदी न्यूज़ | - Amar Ujala http://bit.ly/2DLkoA2

New H-1B rule decisively shuts the door on most Indian techies

The US has announced a new H-1B visa filing rule from April under which priority would be given to foreign workers with advanced degrees from American universities, a decision that could impact professionals who received higher education in countries like India and China.The H-1B visa, popular among Indian IT professionals, is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.The final rule reverses the order by which the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) selects H-1B petitions under the regular cap and the advanced degree exemption.Among other things, it introduces an electronic registration requirement for petitioners seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions.To be published in the Federal Register on Thursday, the new rule will go into effect on April 1, though the electronic registration requirement will be suspended for the fiscal year (FY) 2020 cap season, the USCIS said."These simple and smart changes are a positive benefit for employers, the foreign workers they seek to employ, and the agency's adjudicators, helping the H-1B visa programme work better," said USCIS Director Francis Cissna.Early this month, President Donald Trump said that he wants to bring in changes in the H-1B visa systems so that holders of these visas can stay in the country and accelerate their path to citizenship.The new registration system, once implemented, will lower overall costs for employers and increase government efficiency, he said.Cissna said the USCIS is also furthering Trump's goal of improving the immigration system by making a simple adjustment to the H-1B cap selection process.“As a result, US employers seeking to employ foreign workers with a US master's or higher degree will have a greater chance of selection in the H-1B lottery in years of excess demand for new H-1B visas,” Cissna saidEffective from April 1, the USCIS will first select H-1B petitions (or registrations, once the registration requirement is implemented) submitted on behalf of all beneficiaries, including those that may be eligible for the advanced degree exemption.Thereafter the USCIS will select from the remaining eligible petitions, a number projected to reach the advanced degree exemption.Changing the order in which the USCIS counts these allocations will likely increase the number of petitions for beneficiaries with a master's or higher degree from a US institution of higher education to be selected under the H-1B numerical allocations, a media statement said.Specifically, the change will result in an estimated increase of up to 16 per cent (or 5,340 workers) in the number of selected petitions for H-1B beneficiaries with a master's degree or higher from a US institution of higher education.The USCIS will begin accepting H-1B cap petitions for fiscal 2020 on April 1, 2019. The reverse selection order will apply to petitions filed for the FY 2020 H-1B cap season.Based on the feedback, the USCIS said it has decided to suspend the electronic registration requirement for the fiscal 2020 cap season to complete user testing and ensure the system and process are fully functional.Once implemented, the electronic registration requirement will require petitioners seeking to file H-1B cap petitions, including those that may be eligible for the advanced degree exemption, to first electronically register with the USCIS during a designated registration period.Only those whose registrations are selected will be eligible to file an H-1B cap-subject petition. the USCIS expects that the electronic registration requirement, once implemented, will reduce overall costs for petitioners and create a more efficient and cost-effective H-1B cap petition process for USCIS and petitioners, according to an official statement.The H-1B visa is valid for three years and can be renewed for another three years. The number of H-1B visas granted annually is capped at 65,000, and another 20,000 are reserved for people who hold advanced degrees from US higher education institutions. When demand exceeds the supply — as it often does — a lottery system is triggered.The final rule changes the selection process so that all registrations are first applied to the 65,000 visa cap. After that, US Citizenship and Immigration Services will select from the remaining applicant pool to fill the degree cap. The agency has said the process could increase the number of H-1B holders who have advanced degrees.

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Bulls storm D-Street, Sensex up 665 points

The domestic equity market saw a sudden bounce in Thursday’s trade amid F&O expiry and a day ahead of the Interim Budget due on Friday. Sensex closed with a gain of 665.44 points, or 1.87 per cent, at 36,256.69, while Nifty settled 179.15 points, or 1.68 per cent, higher at 10,830.95.Analysts attributed the jump to short-covering ahead of F&O expiry and expectation of something good in the Interim Budget.Inaugurating the Budget session of Parliament, President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday urged the government to focus on farmers, poor and the middle class, which analysts saw as hints of what’s in store in tomorrow’s Budget. Going by the buzz on Dalal Street, here are the five key factors that fuelled the rally in stocks: Budget expectations: President Ram Nath Kovind in his address to Parliament on Thursday urged the government to focus on farmers, poor and the middle class. Analysts saw it as hints of what’s in store in tomorrow’s Budget. Budget sops for the middle class and rural India can push consumption and also domestic savings, which has been a key driver of the domestic stock market in recent months. “It is a pre-Budget rally. The market is assuming something good in tomorrow’s Budget. There is some short-covering also ahead of F&O expiry,” said Sanjeev Jain, AVP, Ashika Stock Broking. The dovish commentary from the US Fed also lifted market sentiment, he added.Robust global cues: Most Asian markets traded in the green in morning trade following gains on Wall Street after the US Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged and said it would be patient with further rate hikes. Hang Seng and Nikkei advanced up to 1 per cent. In the US market, Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.77 per cent in overnight trade while S&P500 index surged 1.55 per cent. Rupee appreciates vs dollar: A strengthening rupee also boosted market sentiment. The domestic currency rose by 26 paise to 70.86 against the greenback in opening trade amid weakening of the greenback in overseas markets.Buying in heavyweights: Buying emerged in heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Infosys and the HDFC twins, which gave the Sensex a 320-point boost in afternoon trade. Shares of Reliance, Infosys, HDFC and HDFC Bank were up between 2 per cent 3.50 per cent at around 1.05 pm (IST).Govt may meet fiscal target: Market participants also got some booster after economists at SBI Research said the government seems to be on course to meet its fiscal deficit target for this financial year and the same is likely to pegged at Rs 6.72 lakh crore, or 3.2 per cent of GDP, for next financial year, assuming a moderate nominal GDP growth of 11.7 per cent.Market sentiment also got a boost from fresh buying by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), who infused a net of Rs 130.25 crore on Wednesday. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers to the tune of Rs 502.26 crore, provisional data showed. Analysts said investor sentiment was buoyed by dovish comments from the US Federal Reserve after it left key US lending rates unchanged on Wednesday.

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An outgoing govt has no business announcing policies: Sinha

I am very happy that more and more people are talking about some kind of universal basic income or income 67772353 67771647 67770152 support scheme for farmers, Yashwant Sinha, Former Finance Minister, tells Supriya Shrinate of ET Now. Sinha also says none of the data released by government has any credibility and that demonetisation and GST played havoc with employment generation.Edited excerpts:Reports seem to suggest that unemployment rate in India in 2017-18 was at a 45-year high. The last time we saw unemployment this high was in 1972-73! How bad is 6.1% unemployment for an economy that claims to be the fastest growing in the world?It is extremely bad. And that perhaps is the reason that the government is not allowing this data to come out officially. I have been saying for some time now that government statistics cannot be believed anymore because we are aware of any number of instances including the bad data series on GDP growth which was released only after being manipulated. So, none of the data being released by the government has any credibility now. The government has been interfering with the data, manipulating it and this is the latest example of it.Everyone is aware on the basis of anecdotal evidence that both demonetisation and GST played havoc with existing employment. Why do you think these people had to raise the rural employment guarantee scheme budget to Rs 62,000-63,000 crore per year? It was only because the centres of economic activity all over the country have been destroyed. The people who used to work there have gone back, especially from the poorer states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.67770504 Is there any nuanced way to look at this data? More people are looking into this but the counter argument is that labour force participation rate (LFPR) has been consistently going down since 2004. It was 39.5% in 2011-12, it has actually gone down to 36.9% in 2017-18. How do you explain that?Yes, one reason which is offered for this is that more people are getting educated, joining educational institutions and going to skilling centres. They are looking for quality employment and there is a constant need for them to improve themselves. That is the reason why perhaps there are more younger people in educational institutions and the skilling centres than out in the job markets seeking jobs. At some point of time, when the cycle completes itself, they will start seeking jobs. The point to be noted is that despite the labour participation rate going down, the unemployment rate is going up, which means that we are not able to cater to the needs of lesser number of people seeking jobs.One statistic which really stands out and which is where the focal point of the budget perhaps is going to be the joblessness for rural male youth between 15 to 29. It was at 5% in FY2012. That has gone up to 17.4% in FY2018. Add to that the rural stress that is already there. What can the budget possibly do to move the needle on jobs?Not this budget. This budget cannot do anything because the term of this government or the mandate of this government is coming to an end over the next three months. A government whose term and whose mandate is coming to an end has no business dealing with the future and the established constitutional practice is that they will only present a vote on account and seek three months or four months expenditure sanctioned from parliament.But that is precedent. Nothing legally binds them to not be able to do something?This is the argument that is being advanced by the government. The conventions of the constitution are as important and as valid as sacrosanct as the written word of the constitution. If we violate a constitutional convention, we cannot say no that it is not written, it has evolved over last seven decades in our country. The entire British system works on the basis of conventions, there is no written constitution. So conventions cannot be treated in cavalier fashion like this and say that there is no written word. There are two big issues on which perhaps election 2019 is going to be fought; a) jobs and b)agriculture. I know the budget can possibly not move the needle and you believe it is from a constitutional perspective not right to do so either. But can the budget incentivise formal sector job creation by the private sector? I was asked this question by another interviewer and I said for job or employment creation, let us look at the amount of work which we have to do in this country. We have to build thousands of kilometres of national highways, lakhs of kilometres of rural roads and construct crores and crores of houses. Then there are pending schemes like the SagarMala which is the parallel in the sea for the national highway programme. Then we have the linking of rivers to be done. Then we have to set up so many new townships as China has done, where people will move only a short distance away from the village and start living in better surroundings. There they will find employment opportunities also. There is so much work to do. Only if this country started doing that work, we will have enough employment opportunities.Recently, there was a report in the media about employment generation and GDP growth. They started from 1972 and found that the Vajpayee years from 1999 to 2004 were the best. But employment generation was high because a lot of economic activity was happening. The economic blueprint of the budget is going to be laced with political realities of the day. Are you in some sense relieved that as far as agriculture is concerned, nobody is now talking about a blanket loan waiver? Agriculture is clearly in focus because of much agrarian stress taking place in our agriculture and rural areas. The reason for that is very obvious. Agricultural prices in the market have crashed and the farmer is not getting adequate prices for his produce. Something has to be done. I am very happy that more and more people are talking about some kind of universal basic income or income support scheme for the farmers. Much more important than loan waiver to my mind is the issue of guaranteeing an income for the farmer which will resolve the conflict between the farmer who is the producer and the consumer, that is the whole society. This is the only way in which that conflict can be removed.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2BcEHoa
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Sensex Closes 665 Points Higher, Nifty Settles At 10,830

Axis Bank, Tata Motors, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HDFC Bank were the top gainers on the 30-share Sensex.

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This Protein Shake Is the Ultimate Weight Loss Companion You Were Looking For

Here's a delicious protein-rich shake you can make at home. This shake packs the antioxidant-rich goodness of berries and the ever-so nutritious cottage cheese and chia seeds.

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BJP Wins Haryana's Jind, Congress' Randeep Surjewala Concedes Defeat

The ruling BJP has won Haryana's Jind, a crucial assembly by-election, in which the Congress -- which won the Ramgarh seat in Rajasthan today -- trailedat number three, behind the newly launched...

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Modi plans to raise rural spending by 16%

India is likely to raise its rural welfare spending by 16 percent for the fiscal year beginning April, two government sources said, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi tries to woo the farm vote ahead of a general election due by May this year.In its interim budget on Friday, the government is set to earmark about Rs 1.3 lakh crore ($18.25 billion) for the Ministry of Rural Development, up from Rs 1.12 lakh crore in the current fiscal year, said the sources with direct knowledge of budget discussions.The sources didn't wish to be named as the discussions were not public. Interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal is likely to announce the increased allocation in his budget presentation to parliament's lower house.Modi's government is under pressure to step up support for the countryside, where more than two-thirds of India's 1.3 billion people live.Farm incomes have been ravaged in the past year by low crop prices and rising costs, and voters' concerns about the government's rural policies was evident in the loss of key state elections by Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party late last year.On Monday, the leader of India’s main opposition Congress party, Rahul Gandhi, promised to provide the poor with a minimum income if his party wins the election. The BJP has dismissed Gandhi's promise as an unaffordable gimmick.The plans for rural development may require an additional allocation of funds in a full budget announcement that this government would likely make in July if it is re-elected, the sources said.Among the key welfare programmes run by the Ministry of Rural Development, the highest allocation will be for the flagship rural job guarantee programme, which enables people in the countryside to seek government-paid work for up to 100 days in a year.The government is expected to give about Rs 60,000 crore for the job guarantee programme for the 2019-20 fiscal year, 9 percent more than the previous year, the sources said.The Ministry of Rural Development also plans to raise wages for nearly 70 million current beneficiaries of the job programme, said the sources.A parliamentary panel last year asked the ministry to increase the programme's wages as they were lower than those paid to farm labourers elsewhere.The government is likely to allocate about Rs 30000 crore, a three-fold increase, under another key state-run rural welfare plan which will give financial assistance to nearly 30 million poor people, including widows and the disabled.It intends to increase the monthly benefit from 200 rupees currently and increase the number of beneficiaries from 20 million now, the sources said.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2GaLTVn
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H&M crosses Rs 1,000-crore sales mark in India

MUMBAI: Fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz’s yearly India sales crossed Rs 1,000 crore sales mark three years after entering the country but growth at 29% was significantly slower than preceding years when it doubled business each year. For the year to end of November, sales climbed to Rs 1109 crore from Rs 860 crore a year ago, the world’s second-largest clothing firm said in a statement issued on Thursday. During the year, the retailer expanded stores aggressively - it opened 12 doors last year - and kept prices lower than rivals. H&M, which follows a December-November financial year, entered India in October 2015. It has opened, on average, a store every month, taking the tally to 39 now. Earlier, the company had said it would open 50 stores in India with an investment of Rs 700 crore by 2020.The retailer also entered the Indian online market last year. In its three years of operations, H&M has surpassed several brands by sales, including Levi Strauss and Benetton, which have been in the country for two decades now, and Marks & Spencer, which started a decade ago. However, Spanish chain Zara, which opened its first store in India in 2010, is still the biggest international apparel brand in the country with sales of Rs 1221 crore during 2017-18. The clothing chain, that runs nearly 5000 stores worldwide, reported a 5% increase in yearly sales globally. In India, its sales rose 43% to Rs306 crore during quarter ended November, double than a year ago period when it grew 20%. "Against a backdrop of rapid changes in the fashion industry, in 2018 we accelerated our transformation to future proof our business, ending a challenging year for the H&M Group and the sector with strong signals that we are on track," Karl-Johan Persson, global CEO at H&M said in the statement. The Stockholm-based brand stocks fast fashion items created in-house and teams up with designers for one-time collections. It keeps a large inventory of basic, everyday items sourced from places including India and Bangladesh that carry a lower price tag than most of its rivals. This contrasts the Zara model, which is based on imitating the latest fashion, making affordable versions and stocking them for just a few days.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2HET1eY
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Nomura: Farm package, yes, but Budget won't be very populist

Sonal Varma, MD and Chief India Economist, Nomura, is of the view that Budget 2019 is going to be more balanced in populism and fiscal prudence. But it has to create enough domestic tailwind 67770152 67755186 67738133 s to create more jobs, she told ETNow. Edited excerpts:What should be the priority tomorrow – stick to fiscal deficit, do not miss on the headline number, I mean the government may use a lot of financial jugglery to make that number look good. But do you think it is imperative for the government or the finance minister to stick to 3.3 per cent, that is the headline number?Well, the context is clearly that we have more or less with some hiccups say in four years of fiscal prudence and the question is whether it is now fork in the road, given elections, and we move towards populism. The question is, can we balance the two. And our sense is that actually we might see the government balancing the two. This year, unlike FY18, there are not any oneoff like GST and therefore we do think that 3.3 per cent is going to be met. But yes, the rural side of the economy does face a lot of pressure. The question to ask there is, do they need one-time income transfer or there are sort of perennial or perpetual income transfer scheme that needs to be set in place. There are clearly some longer term issues that need to be resolved, but I do not think we have had enough time and discussion on these issues. So our sense is, the government might announce more of a one-time sort of cash transfer to farmers. But the way to balance it out in terms of not slipping on the deficit target too much for FY20 would be perhaps by a bit more aggressive assumptions on the revenue side, sharing some of the costs with the states. Overall, it is going to be more balanced in terms of not too much fiscal slip as the markets are fearing but having some package for farmers. On the whole, we think it is going to be sort of populist talk, but the relatively more prudent walk in terms of numbers. There is the talk right now that this time around perhaps the government is not only going to try and please rural India but also offer perhaps a bounty for MSMEs and even the middle class. What is your expectation there, what could be done here?When we talk about the middle class, we usually are talking about some sort of income tax cuts, slab changes, rate changes, and the like. But given that this is an interim Budget, significant amendments to the Income Tax Act are quite unlikely. Barring the government giving out the vision of what it might do if it comes back to power for the middle class, we are not expecting any big tax changes, particularly addressing the middle class. Now, the MSME definitely is a segment that has faced multiple stress points from demonetisation to GST and then the NBFC liquidity issues. There could be some sort of support for this sector, but that could be in the form of some interest rates waiver or some interest rate subvention perhaps for this sector. Like I said, we are not expecting any big tax changes for the middle income.I know you have addressed the question on fiscal deficit and how the government may walked the path of prudence fiscal management on that front. But let us go with the assumption that they miss the number by a few basis points. So, 3.3 per cent becomes 3.5 per cent and they indicate which is not really something that is set in stone because there is going to be a new government at the helm by then. How much of that would derail sentiment, how much of that would really make investors feel like okay they could have done better?Well, the focus is a lot more on what the government intends to do in FY20 because it is fairly clear that the pressures on the revenue side are quite significant for FY19. Even if they meet 3.3 per cent or the scenario that you are giving that they do not meet, we are getting to that essentially via a lot of pending payments getting pushed out to next year. The way we are achieving these targets itself is sort of questionable and there are medium term risks. We need to look at this in the context of our macro policies in India generally becoming more expansionary. Are macro policies -- in this particular case fiscal policies -- moving towards boosting consumption and taking money away from investment? While there may be disappointment or optimism, it really depends on what the expectation is going into the Budget. The main thing we are looking at is whether the composition of growth in India is going to move more towards consumption and away from investment, which is I would say the exact opposite of what we need at this point in time. Like I said, one is whether the government is able to balance the farm requirement with fiscal prudence and second, what does it mean in terms of growth composition because of course that has broader macro implications not only on twin deficits but also on the monetary policy side.Can I safely say look, this year’s Budget is no different, there would be optimistic assumptions on the revenue front and there would be pessimistic assumptions or low assumptions on the expenditure front. That is how they will make the numbers look good.Well, given the extent of slip we are potentially staring at even in FY19, getting to this number of course means that a lot of payments are getting pushed out to FY20, so yes your point is right. If the government does show a consolidation for next year for FY20, it has to be via fairly aggressive assumptions on the tax front, on the disinvestment front. One will also have to assess how much spending they have budgeted on the farm package and some of the regular payments they make. Of course, we will be going through how credible the numbers are and in general, it does seem to us that the consolidation perhaps might be based on fairly aggressive revenue assumptions. Two years ago Finance Minister Arun Jaitley gave goalpost for where the corporate tax rate would settle and he has to follow a glide path. He has reduced corporate tax rates after that. Do you think in this Budget, corporate tax rates have to go down, otherwise they will not achieve the glide path of 25 per cent that was indicated 2-3 years ago?Well, we are definitely not expecting this. I think clearly the glide paths have changed not just for the corporate tax but even for the fiscal part, given the shortage on the GST front. The extent of GST shortfall we are seeing right now really constrains the government in terms of giving too many fiscal tax sops or reductions right now. Given the fiscal situation which is fairly constrained, there is no space. This may not be directly within the Budget statement, but the data that have come out from the National Sample Survey Office which looks at Periodic Labour Force Survey has highlighted that unemployment in India has reached 45-year high at 6.1 per cent with youth unemployment being much higher and there being a case of severe joblessness in especially rural areas. What the government is doing is of course plugging the gaps and handing over money in the hands of people associated with the rural economy, but it is really at the core about bringing in productivity gains and creating more jobs. Can the Budget address that issue?The thrust of policies since 2014 has been one on building public infrastructure in various spaces, all sorts of logistics, transportation network, and the like.Second, there is the entire Make in India, do not import, produce it domestically, let us create domestic manufacturing facilities for defence or railway locomotive or be it electronics.Third, job creation in India cannot just be in the manufacturing sector. It has to be but cannot solely be there. You need to also create more jobs in the services sector and there is a certain level of skill training that the segment of the population requires. Even if you are trying to address the rural concerns on the farming side, one of the options is to get migration of workers outside of farming which tends to see low productivity into some of the non-farm activities, which requires creating opportunities there. So, there is a whole set of things that need to be done. In terms of government efforts, some of this has been done and is work in progress in terms of public infrastructure. A lot more needs to be done in terms of creating manufacturing facilities or skill development. It is clearly work in progress and one thing that has become very clear is that the global growth environment is looking like it is going to slowdown clearly in the next 12 months. The challenge for us is we do not need to offset the global headwinds but create enough domestic tailwinds to be able to create jobs. It is a much bigger challenge. The Budget, of course, is quite limited in terms of what it is going to do. But it is the broader thrust of policy that becomes a lot more important.At a time like this, given all the parameters we have discussed, where do you see the yield in the currency headed because there is a fresh concern on liquidity as well, especially with NBFCs?As far as the Budget is concerned, there are clearly fears of a very populist Budget. It is not going to be extremely populist. Yes, a farm package but a lot more balanced Budget. It could be slightly positive relative to expectations of huge populism.But there are two concerns that we do have beyond the Budget. One is growth outlook. We do still think that expectations that growth is going to be able to sustain above 7 per cent in the 12 months look very difficult, given the global slowdown and the domestic political uncertainty, which is going to negatively impact investment. Second, the political uncertainty itself is going to have an impact. The growth disappointment and the political uncertainty to our mind would mean higher risk premia for India and that could weigh on the currency into the elections. But the growth outlook is positive from the bond yields perspective because we have the RBI policy meet next week. While we do not think the MPC is going to change the policy rates, we do think they are going to change the stance back to neutral. Sometime in the third quarter of the calendar year, we do think that benign growth and inflation environment would set the stage for a rate cut in India. Directionally, that is going to be positive but for now, of course, we need to navigate the headwinds that are there.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2MI4XM3
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Hexaware plans to spend $ 250-300 million on acquisitions in three years

Hexaware is looking to spruce up the growth momentum through inorganic route. The company plans to spend $250-300 million in the next two-three years on acquisitions through borrowings and internal accruals.“Our cash position is strong at $ 120 million with no debt. We would like to use the cash and may be some borrowings to acquire skillsets over the next two-three years,” the company’s CEO and executive director, R Srikrishna told ET. He expects 5-6% incremental revenue growth through acquisitions during the period. The Mumbai based mid-sized software company’s revenue grew by 11.6% growth to $ 677.7 million in the fiscal ended December 2018. It has guided for a strong 12-14% organic revenue growth for 2019. Any acquisitions during the period will therefore further boost the growth momentum.Hexaware paid dividend of Rs 8.5 per share with face value of Rs 2 in 2018. While it expects to retain the absolute amount of dividend, Srikrishna pointed out that the actual amount will depend upon the extent of acquisitions.The company’s revenue increased by 3.5% sequentially to Rs 1,252.4 crore in the December 2018 quarter. Operating profit (EBIT) and net profit dropped by 5.9% to Rs 668.4 crore and by 28.3% to Rs 123.4 crore respectively following outgo on salary increments.

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To Rahul Gandhi's "Fuhrer" Jab On Jobs Report, BJP's "Mussolini" Retort

Rahul Gandhi today used the term "Fuhrer" to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi over a report that says that the country's unemployment rate was at a 45-year-high in 2017-18. The National Sample...

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8 Indians Caught In Visa Scam In US Undercover Op, Many Face Deportation

Hundreds of Indian students could face criminal cases or be deported after agencies in the United States unearthed a huge university scam to lure foreign students. Eight Indian student recruiters have...

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विधानसभा सत्र में शामिल नहीं हुए मुख्यमंत्री, बिपिन रावत ने परिकर से की मुलाकात

वहीं बजट पेश करने के एक दिन बाद राज्य के मुख्यमंत्री विधानसभा के बजट सत्र की सुबह की कार्यवाही में शामिल नहीं हुए। सदन से उनकी इस गैर हाजिरी का कोई कारण नहीं बताया गया।

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ट्रांसपेरेंसी इंटरनेशनल रिपोर्ट: इन उपायों से भारत में कम हुआ भ्रष्टाचार लेकिन इतना काफी नहीं

ट्रांसपेरेंसी इंटरनेशनल रिपोर्ट के अनुसार सरकार के उपायों से भारत में कम हुआ भ्रष्टाचार लेकिन अभी भी बहुत कुछ किया जाना जरूरी है। 

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'Mom Was Upset With Me': Priyanka Tells Ellen A Wedding Secret

Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas had a destination wedding in Jodhpur in December

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4th ODI: In India's Crushing Loss To New Zealand, An Embarrassing Record

India were bundled out for a paltry 92 in the 4th ODI with New Zealand taking just 14.4 overs to reach the target.

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अखिलेश के बाद अब मायावती पर जांच की आंच, स्मारक घोटाले में सात जगहों पर ईडी की छापेमारी

यूपी में रिवरफ्रंट व अवैध खनन में जांच व पूछताछ के बीच अब स्मारक घोटाले का जिन्न बाहर निकल आया है। इसे लेकर प्रवर्तन निदेशालय (ईडी) की टीम ने लखनऊ में सात जगहों पर छापेमारी की।

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ईश्वर भी चाहता है कि ट्रंप राष्ट्रपति बने : व्हाइट हाउस

presidential elections: अमेरिका के राष्ट्रपति डोनाल्ड ट्रंप के पास विरोधियों की कमी नहीं है लेकिन उन्हें ईश्वर का समर्थन हासिल है। ट्रंप की प्रवक्ता सारा सैंडर्स ने यह कहा है।

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Sensex Jumps Over 600 Points, Nifty Crosses 10,800: 10 Things To Know

Domestic stock markets registered sharp gains on Thursday tracking strength in Asian peers as a dovish stance by the Federal Reserve boosted sentiment. The S&P BSE Sensex surged as much as 508.12...

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45 वर्षों के उच्चतम स्तर पर पहुंची बेरोजगारी, सरकार के लिए बढ़ी चिंता

भारत में बेरोजगारी की समस्या पिछले 45 वर्षों के उच्चतम स्तर पर पहुंच गई है। नेशनल सैंपल सर्वे कार्यालय (एनएसएसओ) द्वारा किए गए एक सर्वे में इस बात का खुलासा हुआ है। इससे केंद्र सरकार की परेशानी बढ़ सकती है।

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Chrome 72 Rolled Out for Desktop, Android, and iOS Users: Here's What's New

Chrome 72 for Android brings along upgrades for the media player notifications while using Incognito tab, and more.

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Samsung Galaxy M20, Galaxy M10 Get Their First Software Update

Samsung Galaxy M20, Galaxy M10 are now receiving firmware version M105FDDU1ASA7 and M205FDDU1ASA9 respectively.

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कर्नाटक के सीएम कुमारस्वामी बोले, 'हां, मैंने कहा था मैं इस्तीफा दूंगा'

कर्नाटक के मुख्यमंत्री कुमारस्वामी ने गुरुवार को अपने इस्तीफे वाले बयान पर कहा है कि उन्होंने इस्तीफा देने की बात कही थी।

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नहीं थम रही लालू परिवार की मुश्किलें, आयकर विभाग ने जब्त की राबड़ी और बेटी हेमा की बेनामी संपत्ति

लालू परिवार के ऊपर मंडरा रहे संकटों के बादल फिलहाल छंटने का नाम नहीं ले रहे हैं। गुरूवार को आयकर विभाग की एडजुकेटिंग अथॉरिटी ने लालू प्रसाद यादव की पत्नी राबड़ी देवी और बेटी हेमा यादव संपत्ति को जब्त करने का आदेश दिया है।

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इमीग्रेशन नियमों की अनदेखी करने पर अमेरिका में 600 भारतीय छात्र गिरफ्तार

600 भारतीय छात्रों को अमेरिका में आप्रवासन नियमों के उल्लंघन के आरोप में हिरासत में लिया गया है। अमेरिकी तेलुगु एसोसिएशन के मुताबिक सभी छात्रों को आप्रवासन एजेंसी के छापे के बाद हिरासत में लिया गया है।

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Congress@100 In Rajasthan After Win, BJP Leads In Haryana Seat: 10 Points

The Congress won the Ramgarh seat in Rajasthan today, adding one to its tally to touch the half-way mark in the 200-seat assembly. Haryana's ruling BJP is leading in the bypoll in Jind, which is a...

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Called "Junior" PM Modi ''Sir'' To Satisfy His Ego: Chandrababu Naidu

Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi once again, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday said he addressed him as 'sir' to satisfy his ego for the sake of the state.

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'Realise Your Lies Are Making Things Worse:' Krish On 'Manikarnika' Row

Manikarnika row: Krish has posted tweets with screenshots of his chats with team members who claimed that he has shot most of part the film

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Ekta Kapoor Is A Mom, Welcomes Baby Boy Via Surrogacy: Report

Many congratulations to Ekta Kapoor! The baby boy was reportedly born on January 27 and is keeping healthy

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Here Is Why Chicago Is Setting Its Train Tracks On Fire

Images of train tracks on fire in Chicago have gone viral on social media recently. However, they have been set on fire for a very good reason - to combat the freezing temperatures and keep them...

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Fans Savagely Troll Michael Vaughan For Jibe At India's Batting Collapse

India were bowled out for 92 in the 4th ODI against New Zealand and Michael Vaughan took to Twitter to have his say on the matter.

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4th ODI: New Zealand Thrash India By Eight Wickets

Highlights: India vs New Zealand 4th ODI: India were bowled out for paltry 92 runs.

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Actor Thanks Sushma Swaraj For Help While Detained At Moscow Airport

Karanvir Bohra was detained for some time for travelling with a damaged passport

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OnePlus Pulls OxygenOS Beta Updates for 4 Phones After Reports of Bricking

OxygenOS Open Beta 26 was released for the OnePlus 5 and Open Beta 24 for the OnePlus 5T, while the OnePlus 6 and OnePlus 6T received OxygenOS Open Beta 12 and Open Beta 4, respectively.

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Unemployment Rate Highest In 45 Years, Reveals Stalled Report: 10 Points

The country's unemployment rate was at a 45-year-high of 6.1 per cent in 2017-18, according to the National Sample Survey Office's (NSSO's) periodic labour force survey (PLFS), which has been accessed...

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"Went To His Daughter's Wedding": 3rd Judge Exits Interim CBI Chief Case

A third Supreme Court judge withdrew from the hearing today on a petition challenging the appointment of M Nageswara Rao as interim chief of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Justice NV...

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Tomorrow, PM Modi's Big Chance to Woo Voters Before Polls

Fiscal deficit is forecast to widen to 3.5 per cent of the gross domestic product in the year to March, and reach 3.3 per cent in the next financial year, according to the median estimate in a...

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Weight Loss: This Slimming Juice May Cut Belly Fat And Fire Up Metabolism

Here's a refreshing weight-loss-friendly juice recipe you can prepare at home with simple ingredients like turmeric, cucumber and ginger root.

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Man Hits Sleeping Parents With Hammer, Then Stabs Them In Maharashtra

A 20-year-old man allegedly hit his parents with a hammer and then stabbed them in Maharashtra's Palghar district on Wednesday, the police said. The accused, Jamnesh Pawar, is on the run, news agency...

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Bizarre Run-Out In Big Bash League Will Leave You In Splits. Watch

The run-out happened during a match between Melbourne Renegades and Sydney Thunder.

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Rahul Gandhi Debuts In Front Row Of Parliament Central Hall

Rahul Gandhi was a new face in the front rows of the central hall of parliament as President Ram Nath Kovind addressed both houses on the opening day of the Budget session. The Congress president sat...

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Top BJP Leaders Seen With Right-Wing Leader Who Shot At Gandhi Effigy

Hindu Mahasabha leader, Pooja Shakun Pandey, who shockingly enacted the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi at Aligarh on Wednesday was seen with former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan...

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Madam, Don't Send Us to Insolvency Court, India Firms Tell Bank

Lenders lost out on 4,000 crore rupees in additional income due to delays in the resolution process beyond the time mandated by law, according to rating company ICRA.

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Madam, not NCLT please: SBI finally sees what fear can do

By Saloni Shukla and P R SanjaiWith 1.8 trillion rupees ($25 billion) in bad corporate debt to clean up, State Bank of India is having an easier time negotiating with founders keen to avoid the nation’s two-year-old bankruptcy law, according to Anshula Kant, a managing director overseeing stressed assets at the lender. That’s because a crackdown by policy makers has convinced business owners that they risk losing their companies once the courts become involved.“The first thing they say when they come to us is ‘Madam please don’t send us to NCLT,’" she said, referring to the National Company Law Tribunal, which oversees bankruptcy cases. If the founder is “genuine we don’t want him to lose the company.”Recent bankruptcy proceedings that wrested prominent companies from their owners were a wake up call for India’s business community, previously used to walking away from debts without major consequences. At the same time, the regulator has pressured banks to take defaulters to court, giving lenders just 180 days to recast loans once a payment is missed.The crackdown helped reduce the bad-debt ratio at India’s banks to 10.8 percent in September from 11.5 percent six month earlier, though it remains among the worst for a major economy. For SBI, it stands at a one-year low of 9.95 percent. 67767858 SBI is working with the founders of several mid-sized companies to restructure loans and escape bankruptcy proceedings, said Kant, who joined SBI in 1983 and was previously the lender’s chief financial officer. One-time settlements are a “preferred choice” if founders have funding, with the bank willing to take a haircut of as much as 40 percent, she said.The bankruptcy process itself is better suited for accounts where several lenders are involved, making it hard to get everyone to agree to a restructuring, according to Kant.Consensus building isn’t the only difficulty with the fledgling law. Legal challenges from founders, losing bidders and operational creditors have forced courts to extend the 270-day deadline for debt resolution that was enshrined in the law.SBI recently sought bids for $2.2 billion of loans to Essar Steel India Ltd. after the company’s founders challenged the mill’s sale. Essar was among the first 12 companies forced before the nation’s bankruptcy court by the regulator in 2017.Lost IncomeLenders to the so-called ‘dirty dozen’ lost out on 40 billion rupees in additional income due to delays in the resolution process beyond the time mandated by law, according to rating company ICRA. The number of cases of corporate debtors admitted before the courts that are yet to be resolved stood at 816 in September, it said.SBI is also working to increase the amount of money it sets aside for soured corporate loans. The lender plans to raise its provisioning to about 70 percent by March 2020 from about 57 percent currently, Kant said.“We want a cleaner balance sheet,” she said. “It will be our endeavor that all corporate non-performing loans will be provided up to 70 percent by end of the next fiscal.”

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2RpsNg1
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Why ICICI must be made to answer on Chanda

by Andy MukherjeeIndia’s ICICI Bank Ltd. is seeking to claw back bonuses and stock options paid to departed Chief Executive Officer Chanda Kochhar. That gives shareholders of the nation’s second-biggest private sector lender some justice. But the board should be made to hang its head in shame.Allegations of conflict of interest against the CEO first arose in October 2016. At the heart of the scandal was a 32.5 billion rupee ($456 million) loan to Videocon Group. Kochhar’s husband had beneficial business dealings with Videocon Managing Director Venugopal Dhoot, yet the CEO didn’t recuse herself from the credit committee that sanctioned the loan in 2012.For more than a year, the board of directors sat on a whistleblower’s complaint. Worse still, when the media started asking questions, Chairman Mahendra Kumar Sharma gave Kochhar a hasty vote of confidence in March last year. Finally, when it became clear to everyone except the board that her continuing at the bank was a problem, it ordered an inquiry by a retired judge. Even then, Kochhar agreed only to go on leave. Shortly afterwards, Sharma finished his term and was gone. 67765863 67761966 67758842 67762586 It’s only now that the inquiry has found Kochhar violated the bank’s code of conduct that ICICI has decided to treat her October resignation – tendered while she was on leave – as a termination. Kochhar says she is “utterly disappointed, hurt and shocked" by the decision. She’s right to be shocked. Which Indian board willingly reopens a book after making every effort to close it? Even now, the new directors would have liked to forget the whole thing and move on. That’s impossible, now that the government’s investigative agency has charged Kochhar, her husband and Videocon’s Dhoot with criminal conspiracy and cheating. The Central Bureau of Investigation’s first information report also names Kochhar’s predecessor and successor among people who could be investigated in the future.Suddenly it has become important for ICICI to draw a line between Kochhar and the bank; this time last year, she was the bank. The directors who helped her cultivate that image of invincibility abdicated their duty to uphold governance. Leave aside the Videocon loan, and the “illegal gratification and undue benefit” Indian sleuthsallege she received via her husband. Ask instead why the board was giving her a performance bonus that it now wants to take back. For piling up bad loans? ICICI directors shouldn’t get a free pass from regulators. Otherwise, they’ll just show up at other boards, perpetuating a culture of CEO worship that’s at odds with their role as stewards of public shareholders. Indian investors deserve better.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2TmgumE
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A 45-year low drives home India's jobs pain

India's unemployment rate rose to a 45-year high during 2017-2018, the Business Standard claimed, quoting a government survey, in the latest setback for Prime Minister Narendra Modi just months before a tightening election and a day before the Union Budget.The assessment by the National Sample Survey Office conducted between July 2017-June 2018, showed the unemployment rate stood at 6.1 percent, the highest since 1972-73.The survey has become a political issue after the acting chairman and another member of the body that reviewed the job data resigned saying there was delay in its release. The head of the government-funded National Statistical Commission PC Mohanan said on Wednesday that he and colleague J Meenakshi were unhappy at the non-publication of jobs data that had been due for release in December and alleged interference by other state agencies over backdated GDP data.The report claimed that joblessness stood at 7.8 percent in urban areas compared with 5.3 percent in the countryside.The data is significant because this was the first comprehensive assessment of India's employment situation conducted after Modi's decision in November 2016 to withdraw most of the country's banknotes from circulation overnight, the report said.India's economy has been expanding by 7 percent plus annually -- the fastest pace among major economies -- but the uneven growth has meant there are not enough jobs created for millions of young Indians entering the workforce each year. This has put pressure on Modi as he seeks to retain power in a general election due by May.Earlier this month, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, a leading independent think-tank, said the country lost as many as 11 million jobs last year.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2DMpfBb
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How India's culture of ‘bending rules’ challenges FDA

By Ari Altstedter and Anna EdneyPerched on the edge of a sheer rocky outcropping, Mylan NV’s flagship pharmaceutical factory looms over a patchwork of farmers’ fields like one of the medieval hill forts that dot the landscape in this part of India.Mylan is the world’s second-largest manufacturer of generic drugs, and though it’s run from Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, its operations three hours inland from Mumbai exemplify the central role India has come to play in the global generic-drug industry. About half of Mylan’s workforce is based in India. The company’s president rose through the ranks of its Indian unit. And that hulking, green, glass-and-concrete complex mounted on the hill is one of Mylan’s largest factories. One of the drugs made in that plant is destined for the U.S., where it’s the second-best-selling generic version of Lipitor, taken by millions of Americans to control cholesterol and lower their risk of heart attack. But a review of thousands of reports submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration shows Mylan’s version of Lipitor is more likely to be associated with negative side effects than its rivals: 60 percent more than the top-selling generic version made by a Canadian company and quadruple that of the third-best-selling generic made by an India-based company, according to the reports from doctors, patients and pharmacists.The so-called adverse events listed in the documents, obtained through a public-information request, include diarrhea and muscle spasms. For some users, the drug didn’t work at all. And one report about an 82-year-old patient listed the adverse event as death.The FDA didn’t comment specifically on the reports but cautioned that they don’t all indicate a causal relationship to the drug. “Looking only at the number of AE reports for a particular drug does not give a complete picture of its risk profile, compared to other drugs,” said Sarah Peddicord, a spokeswoman for the FDA. A yearlong investigation by Bloomberg News into the generic-drug industry shows FDA inspections at factories from West Virginia to China have found reason to doubt the data meant to prove that drugs made there are safe and effective. The Mylan plant in India is just one of the places inspectors say they’ve uncovered such alleged problems. But the persistence of these doubts around the world hasn’t slowed the FDA’s push to bring a record number of new generics to pharmacy shelves in America, as it tries to deliver on President Donald Trump’s promise of lower drug prices. 67769957 India is the world’s largest exporter of generic drugs, making almost 40 percent of all new generics the FDA approved in 2018 through October. The FDA has found cause for alarm over the years at Indian factories across companies and around the country, from open toilet drains found at a sterile facility owned by Mumbai-based Wockhardt Ltd. to malfunctioning equipment at one of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories’ plants in south India. Since then, a Dr. Reddy’s spokesperson said, the company has strengthened “laboratory practices and procedures, quality control data security’’ and other critical areas. Wockhardt didn’t respond to a request for comment.While bad laboratory practices are usually at the root of the suspect data that inspectors are finding all over the world, in India there have also been high-profile cases of “overt and deliberate fraud,” bringing the manufacturing culture there under particular scrutiny, said Janet Woodcock, the head of the FDA’s center that reviews drugs. Woodcock didn’t identify specific companies.The agency increased inspections in India by 18 percent last year after two years of declines, underscoring the fact that India may pose the FDA’s biggest challenge as it struggles to ensure drugs are cheaper but also safe. “I don’t think everything’s fine, and I’m upset about it, but there’s not much you can do,” because India’s low production costs makes its pharma industry “enormously important” to the U.S., said Bruce Downey, former chairman of an industry lobbying group who now sits on the board of Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc., the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based generic drugmaker. “In New Jersey, there’s dozens of FDA inspectors. In India, there’s a dozen for the entire country.” In a statement about the adverse-event reports, Mylan lawyer Mitchell J. Langberg said that “any conclusions, inferences or extrapolations about the quality of products made by Mylan based on this data is unreasonable and unreliable.” Mylan cited a disclaimer on the FDA’s website saying the number of such reports associated with a drug should not be used to determine the likelihood of a side effect occurring, and said the quality-control issues the FDA found at its factory in India did not impact the quality of its drugs. The High Cost of Cheap PillsA year-long investigation by Bloomberg News into the generic-drug industry shows FDA inspections at factories from West Virginia to China have found reason to doubt the data meant to prove drugs are safe and effective. This is the third of four parts. The FDA uses the adverse-event-reports database to look for new safety concerns and monitor products after they’ve been approved. The reports have not been medically verified, according to the FDA.What Bloomberg found in the agency’s records highlights what’s at stake in the questions that persist around industry-supplied data used to confirm the safety of generic drugs: When a doctor prescribes one, how do patients know it will work the way it should? If the data submitted by the drug’s manufacturer can’t be trusted, they don’t know. Doubts about generic-drug companies’ data aren’t unique to India. But when you ask veterans of India’s pharmaceutical industry why the questions linger here, they use a singular term to explain it: jugaad. The Hindi word, translated as “creative improvisation” when it was held up in the Harvard Business Review in 2010 as an example for corporate America, has been elevated to something of a national ideal in India. It’s credited with the rise of the country’s two global industries, technology and drugmaking. In both, Indian companies with far fewer resources than foreign rivals came up with cheaper, more effective ways of doing things that ended up being a competitive advantage.But the word can have a darker connotation: Get it done at all costs.“It’s kind of bending the rules, breaking the rules, and finding shortcuts—and in some cases, outright misdemeanors,” said Jagdish Dore, who runs pharmaceutical-industry consultancy Sidvim LifeSciences in Mumbai. “And the pharma industry is not one where you can bypass rules and regulations.” People who closely follow the Indian business world trace jugaad’s emergence to the colonial era, when laws and regulations were often in service of British interests, rather than Indian ones, and so fair game to be skirted, bent or broken. After independence in 1947, the period of heavy handed government control and regulation of the economy known as the “License Raj” further cemented a flexible approach to the rules as a precondition for success in India.In some ways, the country emerged out of a kind of state-sanctioned jugaad. Frustrated by the high price of drugs made by foreign firms, the Indian government tweaked its laws in the 1970s so that instead of a drug itself being protected, a company could patent only the process for making it.That meant open season on any major brand-name drugmakers’ products, so long as the legions of highly trained scientists being pumped out of India's research institutes could find a different method for synthesizing them. By the time India opted back into the international patent system in 2005, the country had developed so much capacity for cheaply producing copycat drugs, it was poised to take over the global generics industry. Today, India’s thousands of drug companies not only supply the country’s poor with affordable medicine, but have become a key source of drugs for the rest of the developing world. They played a central role in bringing down the price of lifesaving antiretroviral drugs that have helped contain the AIDS epidemic. Mylan’s plant is a supplier of these, too. Globally, India accounts for 20 percent of generic-drug exports.But its drug industry also was responsible for one of the most dramatic examples of data manipulation in the history of the generics business. In 2013, New Delhi-based Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. pleaded guilty to the manufacture and distribution of adulterated drugs, and paid a $500 million penalty to the U.S. Justice Department, after widespread data manipulation was found at two of its factories.India became a focus for the FDA, and regulators have uncovered a steady stream of suspicious behavior at numerous companies, from computer files found deleted to employees caught on a company’s own security cameras shredding documents the night before an inspection, according to FDA inspection documents posted to the agency’s website. The FDA calls these data-integrity problems. The concerns got bad enough that Margaret Hamburg, who ran the agency under President Barack Obama, traveled to India herself in 2014 to get a handle on the problem. That year, the FDA stepped up oversight, resulting in additional sanctions in 2015, when Indian plants accounted for 60 percent of the 20 warning letters handed down from the FDA’s Office of Manufacturing Quality. The regulatory scrutiny has taken a toll on the companies. FDA warning letters bar new product launches from a facility, restraining revenue growth. Since 2015, an index of Indian pharma company stocks has declined 25 percent on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The broader market, India’s benchmark S&P BSE Sensex Index, has rallied almost as much the other way over the same period.That’s helped put pressure on the country’s pharma barons—a coterie of homegrown billionaires whose net worth is tied up to a large extent in their company's stock. In the last two years, the most important executives have gathered for annual forums at an upscale hotel in Mumbai to hold forth about the primacy of a “culture of quality” to an audience of enthusiastic middle managers and visiting FDA officials. D.G. Shah, a white-haired veteran of Pfizer’s India operations who now runs the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, an industry body representing the largest domestic companies, has organized the panels. Shah said the root of the problem in India’s generics industry is cultural, but insisted a lax attitude toward process and procedure is to blame. “That’s the lifestyle, that’s the way people live in this country,” he said in an interview in Mumbai. He takes as an example the perpetual traffic jam honking away outside his window, where motorists habitually violate the rules of the road, and high concrete barriers are in place to keep cars, motorcycles and scooters from seeking a shortcut by darting into oncoming traffic or up on the sidewalk.“Culture change is not something that can happen overnight,” said Shah, whose group is undertaking training programs with its member companies to help a new attitude trickle down to all employees. “Culture and behavior change requires continuous effort.”While the number of FDA inspections in India and China has fluctuated in recent years, India’s share of FDA warning letters from the agency's Office of Manufacturing Quality began to decline in 2016 as companies in China received more. Last year, out of 53 warning letters issued worldwide, 10 went to drug factories in India and 16 in China.Shah said such figures are evidence that Indian companies have made progress ensuring that a disregard for the rules doesn’t make it to the factory floor. In 2016, an FDA inspector visited Mylan’s flagship factory about an hour’s drive outside the ancient holy city of Nashik in western India, where it makes its version of Lipitor for the U.S. According to an agency warning letter, the inspector found that quality-control technicians there had disregarded about 72 percent of failing quality checks in a six-month period—for no good scientific reason. He couldn’t rule out the possibility that staff were retesting failing drugs until they passed.Interviews with nine current and former employees at the plant produced more innocuous explanations for what contributed to the problem. They said investigating why a drug fails testing is time-consuming, and whether due to time pressure, ignorance or just laziness, it was easier to say the tester spilled some of the sample or made some other mistake and then test again. If the batch passed the second test, it was assumed to be fine.The Mylan employees, who requested anonymity because they still work for the company or elsewhere in the pharmaceutical industry, said that members of the quality-control team at that plant faced constant pressure to get the drugs out the door as fast as possible. This made it harder to properly investigate why a batch failed.Other times, technicians could be diligent about investigating the reason for a failed test, but not as thorough about filling out the report to document their work, either because they didn't know how or had difficulty with English. Some of the employees Bloomberg spoke to said plant managers had been aware of the problem and were instituting training courses to correct it at the time of the 2016 inspection.Asked about the workers’ comments, Mylan spokeswoman Lauren Kashtan said all medications at the company’s facilities are made “under stringent processes, procedures and rigorous testing designed to ensure that they meet the highest standards for quality, safety and efficacy. Any explicit or implicit suggestion that Mylan employees circumvented data and quality systems that jeopardized the quality of the medications we manufacture—for time pressures or any other reason—is simply false.”When FDA inspectors visited Mylan’s plant again last year, they made note of four potential violations of manufacturing guidelines, but the issue around invalidated test results was not one of them. One of the potential violations was a lack of soap and hand-drying equipment in the bathroom.In the earlier statement from its lawyer, Mylan said last year’s inspection resulted in the lifting of the FDA warning letter against its plant issued after the 2016 audit. In the intervening time, the company spent “millions of dollars” on employee training and to have a third party audit and certify its investigation results, it said. Mylan said that it had not experienced serious quality-control issues with respect to the production of its generic version of Lipitor in India, and that it also manufactures that drug in the U.S.Another FDA inspection of the Nashik plant about a week ago “found no repeat observations from prior inspections,” Kashtan said, and the facility was in compliance. As for Mylan’s version of Lipitor being more likely to be associated with adverse events than other top-selling generic versions, the company said it’s more appropriate to compare its safety record with the original branded drug made by Pfizer Inc. Adjusted for the number of patients who use each version, Pfizer's is associated with adverse-event reports at a rate “thousands of times” more than Mylan’s, Mylan said.When asked about the greater number of adverse-event reports for Pfizer versus makers of generic Lipitor, an FDA spokeswoman said it was because patients often don’t know they’re on a generic and identify their medicine by the well-known brand name of the company that invented it, rather than the drug’s chemical name used by generic companies who copy it. That means versions made by generic makers are often misidentified in the database, she said.A spokesman for Pfizer, Thomas Biegi, said Lipitor, or atorvastatin calcium, “is the most-studied statin and has a well-established efficacy and safety profile. Since its approval in the U.S. more than 20 years ago, Lipitor has been prescribed to millions of patients and studied in more than 400 clinical trials.”To help Indian factories change their culture in the wake of the Ranbaxy scandal, FDA leadership originally planned to put more inspectors on the ground. This proved harder than expected. Instead, the number of India staff shrank from a high of 12, in 2013. to only four at one point in 2017. Eight FDA employees are stationed at the India outpost now, including two drug inspectors, the agency said.The original argument for having foreign offices was that staff would have a chance to learn the customs of the country and build key relationships with government officials to instill best practices, said the FDA’s Woodcock. Inspectors based in-country also don’t need a visa for each round of inspections, while those based in the U.S. do. Countries can use visas as a way to punish the U.S. for actions they don’t like, such as trade wars, and to protect their domestic businesses.“It’s very difficult to separate or segregate a particular industry or a particular factory from the society in which we live.”The problem is that the FDA can’t find people who want to live in India, Woodcock said. Difficulty hiring forced the agency to close its Mumbai office in 2016. Because of those challenges, the agency has largely ditched plans to build up offices in India and China and is instead relying on a U.S.-based cadre of inspectors who fly overseas for a few weeks at a time, she said. This cadre was supposed to number as high as 20 people, but 12 were serving in its ranks as of December. The agency expects that number to go up to 17, and says any of its 255 drug inspectors in the U.S. can fly to foreign plants as well if needed. Amid those staffing challenges, the number of so-called surveillance inspections the FDA has conducted in India, like the ones at Mylan’s plant, have fluctuated. The number fell 7 percent in fiscal 2016 and then a further 4 percent in fiscal 2017, to 174. But in fiscal 2018, it jumped 18 percent, to 206.About 700 Indian factories are licensed for exporting to the U.S. They sprawl across a country that could fit Texas four and a half times, where 22 major languages are spoken. Getting tens of thousands of workers, spread from tiny villages to sprawling megacities, to change their habits is a herculean task.Rishikesha Krishnan, a professor at the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, related a story of one foreign regulator visiting a drug factory of a company he declined to name. The inspector’s first question when he arrived after negotiating India’s chaotic roads was, “Guys, how can you maintain quality in your plant if this is the way things are outside?’”“I think this is one of the challenges the pharmaceutical industry has always faced,” Krishnan said. “It’s very difficult to separate or segregate a particular industry or a particular factory from the society in which we live.”—With assistance from Ed Strong, Rahul Satija, and Naomi Kresge

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2UtRVEA
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Varun Beverages set to buy Pepsi’s bottling distribution ops in South, West

New Delhi: Diversified group RJ Corp-owned Varun Beverages (VBL) is set to acquire PepsiCo’s company-owned bottling, sales and distribution operations in South and West India for its carbonated drinks business and the announcement is expected within this week itself, a top official directly aware of the developments said. This will give the BSE-listed VBL national franchise ownership of the New York-based PepsiCo’s India bottling operations. VBL is already the franchise partner for PepsiCo’s bottling operations in the North and East and accounts for over 51% of its India sales volume.“The details of the deal have been finalised; senior managers are going to key cities to meet employees and brief them about the change in franchising. A few regulatory approvals are pending and the announcement to employees about the franchising is expected very shortly,” this official said.ET had reported in its January 14 edition that PepsiCo and RJ Corp are in advanced talks for the same.The maker of soft drink brands Pepsi and Mountain Dew has been divesting its bottling operations globally to operate asset-light businesses across world markets. The transaction will involve largescale transfers of employees and assets.“Close to 200 employees across functions and levels have quit over the past 12-15 months, the company hasn’t been able to attract much top-tier talent and carbonated soft drinks as a category has lost resilience,” this official said.The size of the deal is expected to be anywhere between Rs 2,400 and Rs 2,700 crore which is more than RJ Corp had paid in 2014 for PepsiCo’s bottling operations in the North and East. The business is about 130 million cases of carbonated soft drinks plus water, the official quoted above said. PepsiCo will continue to own the brand name and sell concentrates to franchisees, while sales and distribution will be operated by the franchisees.The $1.6-billion RJ Corp, among PepsiCo’s top three bottlers globally, has been associated with the beverage and snack maker since close to three decades. Its businesses include franchisee operations for Yum Restaurants-owned Pizza Hut and KFC and Coca-Cola-owned coffee chain Costa Coffee — both are operated under RJ Corp’s other group company Devyani International (DIL). Besides, DIL runs its own Cream Bell brand of dairy products and grocery retail chain JMart.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2Gi5N0T
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Taproot Dentsu beats Ogilvy India for Indian Premier League deal

Taproot Dentsu, the creative agency behind popular campaigns for Bharti Airtel (Airtel girl campaigns), WhatApp (Share joy, not rumours) and Uber, has won one of the most prestigious creative accounts for any advertising agency — the Indian Premier League (IPL).Taproot will be working on all the creatives of IPL 2019, expected to kick off on March 23.Star India did not respond to an ET query, while Agnello Dias, chief creative officer, Taproot Dentsu, refused to comment for this story.“Taproot has done some superb work in the past and their ideas for IPL were fantastic. We will roll out the campaign created by Taproot Dentsu very soon,” said a highly-placed source.This will be the first time that Ogilvy India will not be involved with the IPL. For the last 11 seasons, Ogilvy has been associated with the cricket-entertainment league and has been creating campaigns for the BCCI.While Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) and the BCCI used to run separate campaigns, when Star India won the media rights, BCCI and Star jointly ran the campaign last year. “Last year’s campaign by Ogilvy did not touch the right chord. Some of the IPL campaigns of the past have been very catchy and memorable. We wanted something new,” the source added.Incidentally, Star India had roped in former Airtel executive Rajiv Mathrani as chief marketing officer for Star Sports in September last year. Mathrani has worked closely with Taproot on the Airtel campaigns.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2GdPzG2
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Nifty headed for 2nd straight F&O series loss; YES leads gainers

NEW DELHI: Benchmark indices Nifty and Nifty Bank are headed for a drop in January F&O Series. This might just turn out be a decline for the second series in a row.India VIX -- a barometer for market volatility -- is on course for a turnaround as it looks to break a losing streak for two derivative series.Two sectors -- auto and media -- have lost sharply, by more than 10 per cent each in the ongoing series. Only 3 have stood out amid the losses – IT, energy and pharma. Infra and metals also featured in the loser's category.Dish TV, DHFL, Ashok Leyland and Indiabulls Housing Finance were among worst performers in the ongoing F&O series, plunging 36 per cent, 32.6 per cent, 21.4 per cent and 20.4 per cent, respectively. Shares of Reliance Communications dropped 20.3 per cent. Two Nifty firms are among the top five gainers in the F&O space in the ongoing series. One Nifty stock also featured among top losers.Yes Bank topped the F&O pack, with 12 per cent change in January derivative series. Dish TV saw the maximum loss of 36 per cent.

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Sanjiv Bhasin: Expect a 500-700 pt market rally in February

Midcaps and a large part of select PSUs can be huge outperformers but it is going to stock specific. There is scope 67766363 67768162 67757642 to be contrarian in a number of sectors, Sanjiv Bhasin, Executive VP-Markets & Corporate Affairs, IIFL Securities, tells ET Now.Edited excerpts: At the beginning of the year, the view was that US markets will remain under pressure, emerging markets will come back and the rally would be led by India. But now, everything has gone up and we are feeling left behind. Why is India underperforming the world with such good macros?Consensus generally tends to get proved wrong. Now, we were of the view that the Dow is due for a very strong rally and the dollar should weaken. Yesterday bond yields hit 2.68%, which tells you that Donald Trump has won over the Fed chairman and now there is dovishness which seems very good news for emerging markets. For India, there is this overhang of NBFCs and disclosures by DHFL, Zee. but being an Indian, we know this is part and parcel of all market moves. We are extremely positive. We think the results from select largecaps and midcaps have been extremely flattering and this could prove to be a lull before the storm. We will go up from 11000 to 11200 in February and I can reiterate that by 15th of April, you should be close to new highs. That aside, the midcaps and a large part of select PSUs can be huge outperformers and so it is going to more stock specific, but I do not rule out a 500-700 point rally in the month of February.A 500-point rally, did I hear you right? What could be the trigger, what will take us 2-3% higher on the Nifty?Two things; a) you will get over the budget where there could be some surprise packages in the form of tax exemption and b) the RBI turning extremely dovish and a rate cut coming. We know that we are in the realm of low inflation, low yields and the RBI trigger, liquidity and foreign flows on a strong rupee will all be the caveats for February being a very good month. Let us talk about some of the policy sensitives. You highlighted how the accommodative stance from RBI would help the policy sensitive or the rate sensitive sectors. Could there be a contrarian opportunity in real estate?Yes. Real estate assets have never been cheaper and stocks have actually been underperforming miserably. Once we get through these elections and see stability, it is a given that real estate prices as fixed assets should get a lion’s share of the money rather than gold. I am very bearish on gold. I would say that fixed assets will do well including real estate. Our top pick continues to be Godrej Properties followed by Sobha and maybe a Prestige Estate. These are three stocks where we can actually put a lot of money and be confident because the churning has separated men from the boys. Real estate can stand to gain by the middle of this year and later from there. The ICICI Bank numbers are good. The ADR shot up by about 8-9% overnight but the stock has also moved 40% in this fiscal itself. How much scope does it have to move forward from here? That is a good point. Smart money has been buying ICICI right from the time both the two agony aunts of Axis and ICICI left and if you were contrarian there, you have really made a lot of money. I still think we are headed much higher. Rs 700 is something which I do not rule out in the next one and a half years on ICICI and Rs 800 on Axis Bank. These are going to be prime plays on the corporate lending side and we have seen a cleansing of balance sheet. I can even add that State Bank should be a big outperformer in this trio of stocks. Another stock which I am very bullish on is IDFC First Bank. That will be the star of 2019 and Mr Vaidyanathan will see that bank is a huge outperformer in the next one year.What is the call on IT, especially the bigwigs?We have had two stocks as contrarian plays; MindTree and HCL Tech. We stand by that and Wipro is the dark horse which has out beaten all. We think these three should be the best combination to play on the IT side. You have advocated Maruti but what is the view with some of the two-wheeler names in the wake of the expected big allocation for the farm sector? Will that trickle down into consumption numbers for autos, the two-wheelers? We have seen autos go through the proverbial problem of competition like in telecom. Bajaj Auto stands out and they have given away part of the margins to get market share and that seems to be working. But I think this is just the lull before the storm, this has been a very strong sector for the last three years and this quarter we have seen problems because of insurance overhang of NBFCs. I still think that both Bajaj Auto and Hero are looking very good on the two-wheeler side. You even have Eicher and TVS. So, if you bought a basket of stocks and went for a SIP. rather than one outright purchase, you can make a fair amount of money. Consumption is going to come back once you get lower rates. Following the NBFC fiasco, most of the other banks started to lend very aggressively and insurance is now on the back burner. So. I am relatively bullish on autos. As a contrarian one of my top picks is Ashok Leyland. It is the third largest bus maker in the world. It will have 50% market share in India and you have seen state governments now get on the prologue of electric vehicles where Ashok Leyland has a first over there. Also in the LCV, MHV side. I think they are going to show strong numbers March quarter onwards. So at Rs 80-82, this is a very good bargain buy with a target of 125 to 135 by next Diwali. What has gone wrong for Godrej Consumer? HUL is growing at 10% plus, ITC is growing at 8-9% plus. Other companies which have reported numbers so far, are not bad including Asian Paints. Why is Godrej Consumer the odd one out?It could be a one quarter hiatus and I do not see that lasting. I think they will be back. We have seen the strong numbers in durables particularly the likes of Havells, Bajaj Electrical, Voltas and like you mentioned, the discretionaries and the sales of Asian Paints, ITC. Godrej Consumer definitely deserves to be bought. It is a pedigree name, the brand is doing extremely well and it is just a matter of time where higher costs will start to reduce and margins will expand. I think this quarter onwards you should start to see much better traction on volumes.But the management has said that 2019 will be a bad year for them! Do you think this is an indication of what is happening to the sector per se or this is isolated to Godrej Consumer?No, it could be isolated to them because there is competition which has brewed up over there and like I said, they are a very conservative management. They under promise and over deliver and that is what stands out for Godrej. However, consumption is a mixed bag. We have seen autos weak but we have durables doing extremely well. A company-specific move may be on the cards but definitely the broader band of peer groups are doing extremely well. So ITC continues to be our top pick over there and we think that they are going to just expand much more on the other businesses which is evident in the numbers on paper, hotels and the FMCG.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2WwmdZ2
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Global smartphone market declined for first time in 2018

The overall global smartphone market declined for the first time in 2018, registering 4 per cent drop from 1,558.8 million unit shipments in 2017 to 1,498.3 million units 2018, Counterpoint Research said on Thursday.The fourth quarter smartphone shipments for 2018 recorded a decline of 7 per cent, marking it the fifth consecutive quarter of smartphone decline.Samsung had 19 per cent share, followed by Apple and Huawei, both at 14 per cent, globally. Xiaomi with 8 per cent market share was fourth."The decline in smartphone shipments can be attributed to lengthening replacement cycles in developed markets like US, China and Western Europe," said Tarun Pathak, Associate Director at Counterpoint Research.Smartphone original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) tried to push sales by adding features such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), multiple camera assemblies, full-screen displays and in-screen fingerprint scanners, etc."But consumers held on to their devices longer due to the absence of ground-breaking innovations and higher prices of devices being offered by the OEMs," Pathak added.Huawei, OPPO and Vivo continue to dominate with strong performances in China, India, Asia and parts of Europe.Samsung and Apple saw tough times as demand for their flagship phones waned due to competition from affordable yet premium phones from Chinese brands such as Huawei and OnePlus, the report said."The collective smartphone shipment growth of emerging markets such as India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Russia and others was not enough to offset the decline in China, which was responsible for almost one-third of global smartphone shipments in 2018," said Research Analyst Shobhit Srivastava.Xiaomi reached a record fourth position for the full year after two years of setbacks thanks to immense growth in India.It has surpassed OPPO globally to take back the fourth position."BBK Group (which owns OPPO, Realme, Vivo and OnePlus brands) is collectively the world's third largest manufacturer, even bigger than Huawei in terms of volume," said the report.Huawei continued to have its sights on Apple and should surpass Apple as the second largest brand globally in 2019 if it does not face any sanctions from the US the way ZTE was cut-off from American suppliers, noted the report.

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उपचुनाव नतीजे: जींद में मतगणना केंद्र पर बवाल, पुलिस ने किया लाठीचार्ज

शुरुआती रुझानों में रामगढ़ में भाजपा के प्रत्याशी सुखवंत सिंह पीछे जबकि कांग्रेस की साफिया खान आगे चल रही हैं। जींद से भाजपा प्रत्याशी कृष्ण मिड्ढा मैदान में हैं। उनके खिलाफ कांग्रेस के रणदीप सुरजेवाला मैदान में हैं।

from Latest And Breaking Hindi News Headlines, News In Hindi | अमर उजाला हिंदी न्यूज़ | - Amar Ujala http://bit.ly/2sZGngg

Kumbh Mela 2019: विहिप की दो दिवसीय धर्मसंसद आज से शुरू, मोहन भागवत पहुंचे

विश्व हिंदू परिषद (विहिप) के सेक्टर-14 स्थित शिविर में गुरुवार यानि आज से दो दिनों तक चलने वाली धर्मसंसद की शुरुआत हो गई है।

from Latest And Breaking Hindi News Headlines, News In Hindi | अमर उजाला हिंदी न्यूज़ | - Amar Ujala http://bit.ly/2HIXr4s

बजट सत्र: राष्ट्रपति ने पेश किया मोदी सरकार का रिपोर्ट कार्ड, जानें अभिभाषण की बड़ी बातें

अपने अभिभाषण में राष्ट्रपति ने मोदी सरकार कि रिपोरिट कार्ड पेश किया। साढ़े चार साल के दौरान मोदी सरकार की उपलब्धताओं और योजनाओं की जानकारी सांसदों को दी।

from Latest And Breaking Hindi News Headlines, News In Hindi | अमर उजाला हिंदी न्यूज़ | - Amar Ujala http://bit.ly/2CZQvKW

जम्मू-कश्मीर: अनंतनाग में पुलिस चौकी पर आतंकी हमला, 3 सीआरपीएफ जवान और महिलाएं समेत 6 घायल

दक्षिणी कश्मीर के अनंतनाग जिले में वीरवार को आतंकियों ने सुरक्षाबलों को निशाना बनाकर ग्रेनेड हमला किया। इसमें सीआरपीएफ का एक जवान व पांच नागरिक घायल हो गए। घटना के बाद पूरे इलाके की घेराबंदी कर तलाशी अभियान चलाया गया।

from Latest And Breaking Hindi News Headlines, News In Hindi | अमर उजाला हिंदी न्यूज़ | - Amar Ujala http://bit.ly/2G0zO62

सीजेआई, जस्टिस सीकरी के बाद नागेश्वर राव के खिलाफ सुनवाई से एन वी रमण भी हुए अलग

सुप्रीम कोर्ट के न्यायमूर्ति एन वी रमण ने एम नागेश्वर राव को सीबीआई का अंतरिम निदेशक नियुक्त करने के केंद्र के फैसले को चुनौती देने वाली याचिका पर सुनवाई से खुद को अलग किया। 

from Latest And Breaking Hindi News Headlines, News In Hindi | अमर उजाला हिंदी न्यूज़ | - Amar Ujala http://bit.ly/2Be1K2e

राजस्थान में कांग्रेस ने जीता रामगढ़, बहुमत से अब भी है एक सीट दूर

सात दिसंबर को राज्य की 200 में से 199 सीटों के लिए मतदान हुआ था। रामगढ़ सीट पर बसपा प्रत्याशी के निधन के कारण चुनाव टाल दिया गया था।

from Latest And Breaking Hindi News Headlines, News In Hindi | अमर उजाला हिंदी न्यूज़ | - Amar Ujala http://bit.ly/2Tmj1NG

उत्तराखंड: उत्तरकाशी में दो बार महसूस किए गए भूकंप के झटके, आपदा प्रबंधन विभाग हुआ सक्रिय

उत्तराखंड के उत्तरकाशी शहर में आज दोपहर दो बार भूकंप के झटके महसूस किए गए।

from Latest And Breaking Hindi News Headlines, News In Hindi | अमर उजाला हिंदी न्यूज़ | - Amar Ujala http://bit.ly/2BbFlT4

ट्राई को मिला हाईकोर्ट से झटका, 1 फरवरी से नहीं लागू होंगे DTH-केबल के नये नियम

1 फरवरी से लागू होने जा रहे डीटीएच, केबल नियमों पर दूरसंचार नियामक प्राधिकरण (ट्राई) को देश की दो हाईकोर्ट से झटका मिला है। इससे फिलहाल टीवी दर्शकों को राहत मिल गई है। हालांकि इस मामलें पर आज सुनवाई होनी है।

from Latest And Breaking Hindi News Headlines, News In Hindi | अमर उजाला हिंदी न्यूज़ | - Amar Ujala http://bit.ly/2sUZZ5v

'हिटमैन ब्रिगेड' को बोल्ट ने दिया जोरदार झटका, न्यूजीलैंड ने चखा पहली जीत का स्वाद

NZ v IND Live: न्यूजीलैंड पहले करेगी गेंदबाजी, शुभमन गिल को मिला डेब्यू का मौका

from Latest And Breaking Hindi News Headlines, News In Hindi | अमर उजाला हिंदी न्यूज़ | - Amar Ujala http://bit.ly/2sWqSFW

अगस्ता वेस्टलैंड केस: भारत लाए गए दो और दलाल, सुबह 4 बजे से पूछताछ जारी

अगस्ता वेस्टलैंड वीवीआईपी हेलीकॉप्टर के कथित घोटाला मामले में भारत सरकार को बड़ी कामयाबी मिली है। क्रिश्चन मिशेल को भारत लाने के बाद अब दो और दलालों को भारत लाया गया है।

from Latest And Breaking Hindi News Headlines, News In Hindi | अमर उजाला हिंदी न्यूज़ | - Amar Ujala http://bit.ly/2G0ivlA

रिटायर हो चुके हैं आलोक वर्मा, सरकार ने कहा एक दिन के लिए ऑफिस आएं

सरकार ने आलोक वर्मा से कहा है कि एक दिन के लिए ऑफिस आएं।

from Latest And Breaking Hindi News Headlines, News In Hindi | अमर उजाला हिंदी न्यूज़ | - Amar Ujala http://bit.ly/2DLjTpC

सेवानिवृत शिक्षक ने फांसी लगाकर जान दी

सेवानिवृत शिक्षक ने फांसी लगाकर जान दी

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