QBiz: GSTN Portal to Open on 24 July; Rate Cut for RBI in August
The Quint brings to you important business stories from the previous day.
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1. GSTN Portal to be Ready for Invoice Uploading From 24 July
Businesses can start uploading their sale and purchase invoices generated post 1 July on the GSTN portal from 24 July, a top company official said.
The Goods and Services Tax has kicked in from 1 July and so far, the GST Network – the company handling the IT backbone for new tax regime – has been facilitating registration of businesses.
(Source: PTI)
2. RBI Seen Going for Rate Cut in August MPC Meeting
With inflation falling to record low levels and industrial growth slipping to below 2 percent, bankers and economists feel the pressure has increased on the Reserve Bank of India to go for a policy rate cut in the monetary policy committee meeting next month.
The six-member monetary policy committee (MPC) headed by RBI Governor Urjit Patel will meet on 1-2 August for the third bimonthly monetary policy review of 2017-18. The MPC in its previous review in June had retained the repo rate at 6.25 percent for the fourth straight time citing risk to inflation.
(Source: PTI)
3. Number of Public Sector Banks May Go Down to 12 as Govt Mulls Consolidation
The government is working on a consolidation agenda with a view to creating 3-4 global-sized banks and reduce the number of state-owned lenders to about 12, an official said.
The 21 public sector banks would get consolidated to 10-12 in the medium term, the official said. As part of a three-tier structure, the official said, there would be at least 3-4 banks of the size of State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender.
Some region-centric banks like Punjab and Sind Bank and Andhra Bank will continue as independent entities while some mid-size lenders would also co-exist, the official added.
(Source: PTI)
4. Diageo Will Hold Back Payment to Vijay Mallya, Plans to Recover Dues From Him
Diageo Plc, the world’s largest liquor company, will hold back the remaining $35 million of the $75 million it had agreed to pay Vijay Mallya as part of a settlement, said two executives aware of the development. It will instead seek to recover dues from the absconding businessman, they added.
These dues include $135 million that Diageo had given to Standard Chartered Bank as a conditional guarantee for the liabilities of Watson Ltd, a company affiliated with Mallya. The British liquor company will also claim Mallya’s stake in the Force India Formula One team that had been pledged as security for Watson.
Diageo, the maker of Johnnie Walker scotch and Smirnoff vodka, paid $40 million of the settlement that was reached last year after Mallya agreed to walk away from United Spirits (USL). The rest of the money was to be paid in two equal instalments over the next few years.
(Source: Economic Times)
5. Bharat Petroleum Makes Its First US Oil Purchase, Buys Mars, Poseidon
Bharat Petroleum Corp has made its first purchase of US oil, buying high sulphur crudes Mars and Poseidon in a tender, its head of refineries R Ramachandran said.
BPCL is the second Indian refiner to buy US Gulf crude after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington last month when President Donald Trump said the United States looked forward to exporting more energy products to the world's third-biggest oil buyer.
BPCL has bought a cargo containing 500,000 barrels each of Mars and Poseidon for delivery from 26 September to 10 October.
(Source: Business Standard)
6. Uber Backers Said to Discuss Stock Sale to SoftBank, Others
Uber Technologies Inc. shareholders and its board, led by early backer Benchmark, have discussed selling some of their shares to SoftBank Group Corp. and other potential investors, people familiar with the matter said.
The talks represent a major turning point for the company. It has amassed more than 500 investors who fought to own a piece of the world’s most-valuable startup. The fact that some of the earliest backers now want to reduce their stakes suggests the scandals and other troubles this year have taken a toll.
The deal could include an injection of new money into the ride-hailing startup, the people said. They asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations. It’s unclear what valuation those shares would carry or how much may be sold.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
7. Google Plans to Double Headcount for Cloud Business in India
Google plans to double its headcount in India for its cloud business this year as it gets ready to battle it out with Amazon and Microsoft’s dominance in the country, its top executive told ET.
The public cloud services market in India is projected to grow 38 percent in 2017 to $1.81 billion, according to Gartner, as the market in country remains vastly untapped.
(Source: Economic Times)
8. Paytm Online Shopping Platform Delists 85,000 Sellers
Paytm Mall, owned by Paytm E-Commerce Pvt Ltd, is revamping the onboarding process for sellers and has delisted as many as 85,000 of them to ensure quality control on its brand-new platform.
The company has made it mandatory for sellers to furnish brand authorisation letters. “The sellers will undergo strict quality and service audits that will include their registration number, location of the commercial establishment, shop photos and goods and services tax identification number, among other things, to list products on the platform. These criterion blocks fraudulent merchants from signing up and creating a bad customer experience on the platform,” the company said.
(Source: Business Standard)
9. Investors Move Away From High-Risk Fixed Maturity Debt Funds
Overheated markets are a concern not just for equity investors, but for those investing in debt too.
Just as fund managers are increasing their allocations to mid- and small-cap stocks whose valuations are frothy, debt fund managers are stacking up lower-rated debt, which carry higher risk.
According to data from ACEMF, two-thirds of the 771 Fixed Maturity Plans (FMPs) had allocated their assets into relatively risky debt instruments, rated AA and below towards the end of June.
In value terms, 27 percent of the ₹90,000-odd crore assets under management of FMPs, valued around ₹24,000 crore, were invested in ‘AA’ and below rated debt instruments.
This is way above the 10 percent exposure to lower rated bonds in March 2014.
(Source: The Hindu Businessline)
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