IndiGo commences daily direct flights on Agartala-Aizawl-Guwahati route under UDAN

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Under UDAN scheme, budget airline IndiGo on Saturday launched daily direct flights on the Agartala-Aizawl-Guwahati route, facilitating passengers to travel among the northeastern states.

Under the UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme, the Air India, IndiGo, Air Asia, GoAir and other airliners are operating their flights among the northeastern states and other major cities in India.

In Aizawl, Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga flagged-off the 78-seater Agartala bound IndiGo flight. Airlines sources said that the IndiGo would introduce airbus-320 on the Aizawl-Delhi route in the near future.

Currently, the Air India and Go Air are operating their flights from Aizawl’s Lengpui airport connecting Kolkata and Guwahati.

In Agartala, Tripura transport and tourism minister Pranajit Singh Roy in presence of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) Regional Executive Director (NER) Sanjeev Jindal and other dignitaries flagged-off the IndiGo flight.

Singh Roy said that with this new flight, from now onwards daily 19 flights of various airlines including Air India would be operated from the Agartala’s Maharaja Bir Bikram airport connecting Kolkata, Delhi, Guwahati, Aizawl and other cities in India.

Jindal said that there are plan to operate flights from Agartala-Shillong route.

He said that air connectivities are being upgraded under the UDAN scheme, announced by the government earlier.

“UDAN is under the regional connectivity scheme that aims at regional airport development with the objective of ‘let the common citizens of the country fly’ by making air travel affordable and widespread, to boost inclusive national economic development,” the AAI Regional Executive Director (NER) said.

He said that under the AAI’s corporate social responsibility scheme, various projects were undertaken in different northeastern states to improve the livelihood of the local people especially the tribals.

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Reliance Industries buys 37.7% stake in textile manufacturer Alok Industries for Rs 250 crore

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on Saturday said it has acquired 37.7 percent stake in textile manufacturer Alok Industries Ltd for Rs 250 crore.

Reliance had jointly with JM Financial Asset Reconstruction Co Ltd bid for acquiring Alok Industries that was auctioned under the insolvency and bankruptcy law by lenders to recover their unpaid loans.

The Ahmedabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had last year approved the joint bid.

“Please note that in accordance with the approved Resolution Plan, ALOK has today allotted 83.33 crore equity shares of Re 1 each at a premium of Rs 2 per equity share for cash at a total consideration of Rs 250 crore to RIL,” Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) said in a regulatory filing.

Pursuant to this acquisition, RIL will hold 37.7 percent equity share capital of Alok Industries, it added.

Also, in accordance with the approved resolution plan, Alok Industries has allotted 250 crore 9 percent Optionally Convertible Preference Shares (OCPS) of Re 1 each for cash at par, for a total consideration of Rs 250 crore to RIL.

In March 2019, the Ahmedabad bench of the NCLT had approved the sole RIL-JM Financial ARC bid for Alok for Rs 5,050 crore. RIL had planned to raise about Rs 4,550 crore through bank loans while infusing Rs 500 crore equity in the company.

Alok Industries, incorporated on March 12, 1986, is an integrated textile manufacturer headquartered in Mumbai with interests in the polyester and cotton segments.

It has a product suite comprising of cotton yarn, apparel fabrics, bed linen, terry towels, embroidery, garments and polyester yarn. The company has representative offices for sales promotion in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It posted a profit of Rs 2,283.82 crore on a turnover of Rs 3,128.76 crore in 2018-19.

“Approval of National Company Law Tribunal, Ahmedabad Bench and Competition Commission of India have been received,” the filing said.

SBI, the lead bank, had initiated insolvency proceedings against Alok Industries in June 2017. It was among the 12 accounts with outstanding loans greater than Rs 5,000 crore that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked banks to refer to the NCLT process.

Alok Industries owed lenders a total of Rs 30,000 crore.

Disclaimer: Network18, the parent company of CNBCTV18.com, is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Bad news for Indians. From April 1, you have to pay $50,000 more for US investor visa

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Beginning April 1, Indians wishing to immigrate to America will now have to pay an additional $50,000 for the EB-5 or the US investor visa, a media report said.

Although this additional tax would impact all visa categories, it will predominantly create a barrier for people investing in the EB-5 visa programme, the American Bazaar daily said in the report on Friday.

In 2019, the EB-5 investor visa programme, for the first time since the 1990’s, increased the minimum investment amount to $900,000.

With this increase in minimum investment, the new 5 percent additional tax would mean that applicants would have to pay the extra $50,000, when they move money to an escrow account in the US to fulfil their application criterion.

“The changes to the tax on remittances is a reminder to Indians to carefully plan their tax position before making the move to the US,” the American Bazaar quoted Mark Davies, Global Chairman, Davies & Associates LLC, as saying.

“People seeking to emigrate who do not wish to pay this tax at source and rather account for it later may wish to move their money ahead of the new rules coming into effect.

“It is possible to pre-emptively move money into an escrow account in the US until such a time as they are ready to proceed with emigration process,” he added.

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Shiv Sena government appoints Param Bir Singh as new commissioner of Mumbai Police

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government on Saturday appointed senior IPS officer Param Bir Singh, the current Director-General of the state Anti
Corruption Bureau (ACB), as the new Police Commissioner of Mumbai replacing Sanjay Barve.

Appointment of Singh, who was posted as the Director General (DG) of the Maharashtra Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), was announced a day after state home minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh ruled out granting a third extension to Barve.

Interestingly, the ACB headed by Singh had given a clean chit to NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who is currently the state deputy chief minister, in connection with an alleged scam involving 12 Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) projects, in December last year.

Singh’s predecessor Barve was recently embroiled in a controversy over granting the work to digitise Mumbai Police records to a firm owned by his son and wife pro bono (without charging money).

In a video message posted on Twitter, home minister Anil Deshmukh said, “Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Barve is retiring today. Singh has been named as his successor. This announcement has been made after discussion with the honourable chief minister.” Singh had also served as commissioner of Thane Police.

Addressing his maiden press conference after taking charge as the Mumbai police commissioner, Singh said ensuring the safety of women will be among his priorities, apart from cracking down on underworld activities, extortion and curbing street crimes.

“My predecessor Sanjay Barve has done a good job. Our priority will be to tackle street crimes and ensuring the safety of women. I have had an old association with Mumbai Police,” he said.

Singh said that the Mumbai Police and crime branch can tackle any challenge on the law and order front. The new police commissioner said that police will
crack the whip on criminals who are trying to extort money in the name of gangsters. “We will clamp their criminal activities with a professional investigation,” he added.

When asked about the protests against the new citizenship law, Singh said, “Holding protests is a democratic right, but they should be held as per law. Nobody is allowed to take the law into their hands while holding demonstrations”.

Meanwhile, the government has directed Bipin K Singh, the Additional Director General (ADG) of the ACB, to take the additional charge as the DG of the anti-graft agency.

In the past, Param Bir Singh had served as DCP in several important zones in Mumbai, and as Superintendent of Police (SP) of Chandrapur and Bhandara districts earlier, a statement said. He had also served as the Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) in the state, it added.

During Singh’s tenure as Thane Police Commissioner, police had arrested fugitive Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s younger brother Iqbal Kaskar from Mumbai in 2018. Thane Police had also unearthed a drug racket with Bollywood connections.

Earlier in the day, outgoing Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Barve was given a ceremonial farewell by his colleagues at the Naigaon police headquarters in Mumbai.

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State-owned Allahabad Bank lowers external benchmark-linked loan pricing

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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State-owned Allahabad Bank on Saturday announced a cut of up to 40 basis points in the interest rate on external benchmark-linked products.

“…the Asset Liability Management Committee (ALCO) of the Bank has decided to revise interest rates for the products linked to External Benchmark with effect from 1st March 2020,” the bank said in a regulatory filing.

While the RBI’s repo rate remains unchanged at 5.15 percent, the three-month MIBOR (Average) has reduced to 5.75 percent from 6.15 percent.

MIBOR refers to the Mumbai Interbank Offered Rate.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Government exempts Meril’s new coronary stent MeRes 100 from price control

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The national pharmaceutical regulator NPPA has exempted a new coronary stent developed by Meril Life Sciences from price control for five years under a provision of the Drug Price Control Order 2013.

The company has got an exemption for its product MeRes100TM BRS – Sirolimus-eluting bioabsorbable vascular scaffold system from the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), Meril Life Sciences said in a statement. The company said it will start commercial production of the stent in a couple of months.

After much deliberation, “the authority decided that exemption may be granted to Meril Life Sciences Pvt Ltd under para 32 (ii) of DPCO 2013 for their coronary stents ‘MeRes 100 – Sirolimus-eluting bioabsorbable vascular scaffold system’ as per the recommendation made by the multidisciplinary committee of experts,” the NPPA said in minutes of its meeting.

The authority also directed the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) to ensure close safety monitoring of the coronary stents that have been exempted in public interest, as per the minutes of the meeting held on February 25, 2020.

The government had in 2017 had slashed the prices of life-saving coronary stents by up to 85 percent.

Meril Life Sciences Corporate Strategy VP Sanjeev Bhatt told PTI: “The positive decision by NPPA confirming non-applicability of DPCO 2013 under Para 32 for MeRes100 BRS, made the post an exhaustive multi-stakeholder review, demonstrates the commitment of the Indian Government to encourage not only ‘Make in India’, but also Research in India.”

An extensively researched innovation, MeRes100 BRS is backed by three-year efficacy and safety clinical trial data, and has received eight patents worldwide, he added.

“We are committed to introducing MeRes100 BRS in India and the world responsibly by undertaking a range of measures to ensure effective access and right use, including conducting a 2,000-patient large scale randomized study, building 1,000-patient Indian and global patient registries and ongoing education of interventional cardiologists,” Bhatt said.

Under para 32 (ii) of the DPCO 2013, the provisions of DPCO 2013 order shall not apply to “a manufacturer producing a new drug in the country by a new process developed through indigenous Research and Development and patented under the Indian Patent Act, 1970 (39 of 1970) (process patent) for a period of five years from the date of the commencement of its commercial production in the country.”

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Government’s total receipts at Rs 12.82 lakh crore in April-January 

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The government’s total receipts during the April-January period of current fiscal stood at Rs 12.82 lakh crore, while total expenditure for the said period was Rs 22.68 lakh crore.

The government of India has received Rs 12,82,857 crore up to January 2020, an official statement said.

Tax revenue stood at Rs 9,98,037 crore, while non-tax revenue stood at Rs 2,52,083 crore. Non-debt capital receipts stood at Rs 32,737 crore, which includes Rs 18,351 crore of disinvestment proceeds, the statement added.

Besides, Rs 5,30,735 crore has been transferred to state governments as ‘Devolution of Share of Taxes’ by the centre in the period under consideration, which is Rs 11,003 crore lower than the previous year, the statement added.

Under tax devolution, the share in central taxes is distributed among states based on a formula.

Meanwhile, the total expenditure incurred by the central government stood at Rs 22,68,329 crore out of which Rs 20,00,595 crore is on revenue account and Rs 2,67,734 crore is on capital account.

Out of the total revenue expenditure, over Rs 4.71 lakh crore is on account of interest payments and over Rs 2.62 lakh crore is on account of major subsidies.

India’s fiscal deficit in the first 10 months through January stood at Rs 9.85 lakh crore or 128.5 percent of the revised budgeted target for the current fiscal year, according to government data released on Friday.

Earlier this month, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had raised fiscal deficit target to 3.8 percent of the GDP from 3.3 percent pegged earlier for 2019-20 due to shortfall in revenue collection.

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All that you need to know about Mutual Funds last week

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Stock markets witnessed the worst week since the global financial crisis in 2008 as virus-related disruptions fueled fears of a recession in the US and Eurozone.

Benchmark US indices S&P 500 and NASDAQ fell over 10 percent. While the speed of correction is scary, do note that this is not the first time this has happened. In fact, this is the 47th worst 6-day correction in the US Dow Jones index in its over 100+ year price history.

Of course, investors are asking what next? In a twitter poll, we ran, while 35 percent of investors voted the time to buy the dip is now, around 39 percent of investors chose to SIP and chill.

We are big fans of sticking to your plan and your asset allocation. If your plan was to buy on dips, do that. If it wasn’t, don’t. Don’t buy on dips just because your friends are. Similarly, sell if you need the money for a planned expense. Don’t sell thinking you will be able to buy back lower, it is easier said than done. In short, no one knows how this will actually play out. So keep it simple.

Gold is up over 10 percent in 2020 thanks to risk aversion due to coronavirus. Gold prices hit a record high in India this week, as Gold is an effective portfolio diversifier in times of crisis, besides being a shield against inflation and a lender of last resort during economic uncertainties. All top 5 best performing funds this week were gold funds. Our founder and CEO Gaurav Rastogi (@rustapharian) spoke with CNBC-TV18 about investing in Digital Gold.

Movers & Shakers

1/ Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund has announced that Claude A Accum has ceased to be an Associate Director of Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Limited with effect from 24 February 2020.

Quote of the week

But the world is ever more interdependent. Stock markets and economies rise and fall together. Confidence is the key to prosperity. Insecurity spreads like a contagion. So people crave stability and order: Tony Blair

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

SBI Cards raises Rs 2,769 crore from Monetary Authority of Singapore, HDFC Mutual Fund, other anchor investors

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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SBI Cards and Payment Services has raised Rs 2,769 crore from 74 anchor investors, ahead of its initial share sale starting on March 2.

Anchor investors are institutional investors who are offered shares in an initial public offering (IPO) ahead of its opening.

Singapore government, Monetary Authority of Singapore, HDFC Mutual Fund, Government Pension Fund Global and Birla Mutual Fund, are among the anchor investors.

Shares have been allotted at the offer’s upper price band of Rs 755 apiece, as per a regulatory filing.

There are 12 mutual funds among the 74 anchor investors, who have been allocated 3,66,69,589 shares and its value stood at Rs 2,768.55 crore.

The price band for the share sale — which would be open from March 2 to 5 — has been fixed at Rs 750-755 apiece. SBI Cards expects to raise around Rs 9,000 crore through the IPO.

As per draft paper for the IPO, SBI Cards would offer up to 130,526,798 equity shares through an offer-for-sale route. This would include offloading of up to 37,293,371 shares by SBI and 93,233,427 scrips by Carlyle Group.

In addition, the company would issue fresh equity shares worth Rs 500 crore. SBI holds 76 percent in SBI Cards and the rest of the stake is held by Carlyle Group.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

As coronavirus outbreak rattles global markets, Donald Trump tries to shift blame

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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As global markets plunged amid growing fears about the coronavirus outbreak, President Donald Trump and his allies pulled from a familiar playbook Friday and blamed others for the slide. It’s a challenging sell for a president who has lashed his fate to Wall Street like no other.

The president’s team responded to the biggest one-week Wall Street sell-off in more than a decade with a deflection strategy, playing down the threat and eagerly parcelling out responsibility to Democrats, the media and the entrenched government bureaucracy.

Trump tweeted that “The Do Nothing Democrats” had wasted time on impeachment and “anything else they could do to make the Republican Party look bad” while defending his own response, which many Democrats have deemed sluggish and scattershot.

“They’re doing everything they can to instil fear in people, and I think it’s ridiculous, and I think they’re very disreputable,” Trump later told reporters at the White House before leaving for a campaign rally in South Carolina.

“So some people are giving us credit and some people aren’t. But the only ones that aren’t, they don’t mean it. It’s political. It’s politics.”

Some of his closest allies amplified that message and accused the administration’s perceived enemies of hyping the threat posed by the virus, which has killed more than 2,800 people — most of them in China, where it originated.

“The flu kills people,” said acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual gathering for conservative activists.

“This is not Ebola. It’s not SARS. It’s not MERS. It’s not a death sentence. It’s not the same as the Ebola crisis.”

Mulvaney went on to accuse the news media of giving short shrift to administration efforts to combat the virus — namely, barring entry by most foreign nationals who had recently visited China — in favour of focusing on negative stories about Trump.

“Why didn’t you hear about it? What was still going on four or five weeks ago? Impeachment, that’s all the press wanted to talk about,” Mulvaney said.

“The reason you’re seeing so much attention to it today is that they think this is going to be the thing that brings down the president. That’s what this is all about.” The travel restrictions were widely covered in the news media.

Donald Trump Jr. embraced another unfounded conspiracy theory, claiming without evidence that Democrats were rooting for people to die.

“For them to take a pandemic and seemingly hope it comes here and kills millions of people so they can end Donald Trump’s streak of winning is a new level of sickness,” the president’s eldest son said on “Fox and Friends.”

The comment drew an immediate rebuke from Democrats, including Rep. John Garamendi of California, who said Trump Jr. should keep his distance after the “totally outrageous” comment because “there would be a serious altercation.”

The president has been consumed by the virus’ impact on Wall Street, peppering aides with questions about the markets and supply chains, according to three White House officials and Republicans close to the West Wing. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Even as the White House has ricocheted from scandal to controversy to tempest over the past three years, including the president’s impeachment, the nation’s economy has hummed steadily along, giving Republicans reason to stick with the president and bolstering Trump’s reelection chances.

While Trump remains confident in the economy, citing low unemployment numbers and growth in the GDP, he has told confidants that a recession or slowdown would be perilous to his presidency.

His reelection campaign has built much of its messaging around a strong economy, and it fears becoming vulnerable to attacks on that front.

This week’s relentless sell-off has demonstrated how little authority Trump holds over the stock market, undermining his previous claims to voters in speeches and tweets that repeated gains reflected his leadership.

Instead, the Trump administration’s words and actions have inspired little confidence among investors who are grappling with the costs and disruptions of the actions needed to contain the virus that causes COVID-19.

Investors have felt too afraid to hold out their hands and, in the parlance of traders, catch the falling knife that has been the US stock market.

“We’re looking at a serious economic downturn because of coronavirus,” tweeted 2020 Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren, “and the Trump administration is bungling every aspect of this crisis.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow