QBiz: Govt Says 3.79 Lakh Jobs Created in Central Dept & More

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1. Govt Claims Over 3.79 Lakh New Jobs Created in Central Departments

As debate intensifies over rising unemployment in the country, the Narendra Modi government claims to have generated over 3.79 lakh jobs between 2017 and 2019 in its various establishments, according to the interim Budget for 2019-20.

The government said it has generated 2,51,279 jobs in central government establishments between 2017 and 2018. This is estimated to go up by 3,79,544 to reach 36,15,770 on March 1, 2019, shows an analysis of documents of the interim budget, presented by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on 1 February.

(Source: BloombergQuint)

2. Thermal Power Projects With Rs 2.5 Lakh Crore in Investments Facing Stress

Investments worth over Rs 2.50 lakh crore in thermal power projects (based on domestic coal, imported coal and gas) are facing stress, and immediate remedial measures are needed to ensure that they are revived in a time-bound manner, as per a report.

The ASSOCHAM-Grant Thornton joint study noted that the country's power sector has been one of the highly stressed sectors in recent times, with loans worth approximately Rs 1 lakh crore having turned bad or been recast.

(Source: BloombergQuint)

3. RBI’s MSME Restructuring Scheme to Benefit Loans Worth Rs 1 Lakh Crore

The Reserve Bank of India’s restructuring package for small businesses announced last month will help recast Rs 1 lakh crore of loans for 7 lakh eligible micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), a top government official has said.

The estimate from the Department of Financial Services (DFS) Secretary Rajiv Kumar is much higher than domestic rating agency ICRA's assessment of Rs 10,000 crore. It comes even as some banks have seen a reluctance among the target MSMEs to take advantage of the scheme.

He said the scheme will help free up additional resources which will fuel demand and create further opportunities in the industry.

(Source: BloombergQuint)

4. Vodafone Idea Plans to Invest Rs 20,000 Crore in Network Over 15 Months

The country’s largest telecom firm Vodafone Idea is planning to invest around Rs 20,000 crore in networks over the next 15 months, according to company officials. “We have given capex of Rs 270 billion for financial year 2019 and financial year 2020, combined together. Out of that, roughly Rs 70 billion has been spent in first nine months. In next 15 months we are looking at capex deployment of Rs 200 billion,” Vodafone Chief Financial Officer Akshaya Moondra told analysts in a tele-conference.

The company is also planning to raise Rs 25,000 crore through rights issue, in which the promoter shareholders — Vodafone Group and Aditya Birla Group — have reiterated to the board that they intend to contribute up to Rs 11,000 crore and Rs 7,250 crore, respectively as part of such rights issue.

(Source: Financial Express)

5. IMF Warns of Global Economic ‘Storm’ as Growth Undershoots

The International Monetary Fund on Sunday, 9 February, warned governments to gear up for a possible economic storm as growth undershoots expectations. “The bottom-line — we see an economy that is growing more slowly than we had anticipated,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde told the World Government Summit in Dubai. Last month, the IMF lowered its global economic growth forecast for this year from 3.7 percent to 3.5 percent. Lagarde cited what she called “four clouds” as the main factors undermining the global economy and warned that a “storm” might strike.

The risks include “trade tensions and tariff escalations, financial tightening, uncertainty related to (the) Brexit outcome and spillover impact and an accelerated slowdown of the Chinese economy”, she said.

(Source: Financial Express)

6. Hiring At Top IT Firms Rises Fourfold in 2018

India’s top 10 information technology (IT) companies added 114,390 engineers to their workforce in 2018, a more than four-fold increase from the previous year. While the numbers are the best in five years, few are predicting a similar showing in 2019.

Much of the jobs added in 2018 may have been because of increased hiring in the US under pressure from the Donald Trump administration and customers outsourcing large contracts on the condition that the vendors absorb some of their employees, two human resources (HR) executives said.

(Source: Livemint)

7. KKR, General Atlantic May Invest in PhonePe

Private equity (PE) firms KKR & Co. and General Atlantic LLC have expressed interest in investing in Flipkart’s digital payments arm, PhonePe Pvt. Ltd, two people familiar with the matter said.

Some existing investors of Walmart Inc.-owned Flipkart, such as Tiger Global and Tencent, are also likely to invest in PhonePe, the people said, requesting anonymity.

They said that Walmart is yet to finalise a plan to spin off PhonePe and may still decide against it. Also, Walmart will retain a majority stake in PhonePe even if it is spun off as an independent unit, they added.

(Source: Livemint)

8. Amazon Puts on Hold Plans to Buy Stake in Future Group

Global online marketplace giant Amazon has indefinitely put on hold its plans to buy stake in Kishore Biyani’s Future Group, it is learnt. According to sources in the know, Amazon is also reassessing the More retail chain stake buy, as it is at the moment unsure of India’s retail climate.

The investment arm of Amazon had set aside close to $2 billion to invest in various retail chains, to expand its offline footprint. Still assessing the damage caused by sudden change in foreign direct investment (FDI) in e-commerce norms, which forced it to overnight change its plans.

(Source: Business Standard)

9. Angel Tax Row: Govt Seeks to Soften the Blow for Start-Ups

The revenue department has stepped in to address the concern of start-ups about harassment by the income tax department. The complaints relate to money being debited from frozen bank accounts of at least two start-ups.

Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey is learnt to have written to TiE, an entrepreneurs’ collective, to make a list of start-ups that have received tax notices from the department. Once the list is in, the revenue department is planning to instruct its officials to stop the proceedings, people involved in discussions told Business Standard.

(Source: Business Standard)