1. ED Wants ‘Fugitive’ Tag for Vijay Mallya
The enforcement directorate on Monday, 18 June, requested a special court to label businessman Vijay Mallya as a fugitive under a recently promulgated law that allows the government to confiscate and sell assets of an offender, an ED official said. Mallya would be the first to be tried under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance, the official said.
The request was part of a fresh charge sheet against Mallya for alleged money laundering in connection with a Rs 6,900 crore loan granted to the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, the official said on condition of anonymity. The special Prevention of Money Laundering court has not taken cognisance of the charge sheet.
(Source: Livemint)
2. ICICI Bank Names Bakhshi Interim Head as CEO Chanda Kochhar Goes on Leave During Probe
ICICI Bank named group veteran Sandeep Bakhshi as its interim head, and said Chief Executive Chanda Kochhar would go on leave pending the completion of a probe over an alleged conflict of interest that has led to months of controversy for the lender.
Bakhshi, who currently heads ICICI’s life insurance arm, will take up a newly created position of chief operating officer at the bank for a five-year term beginning 19 June, pending regulatory approvals, the bank said in a statement late on Monday, 18 June.
(Source: Reuters)
3. Rising Oil Prices: Can't Afford Petro Excise Duty Cut: Arun Jaitley
Finance minister Arun Jaitley gave the strongest hint yet from anyone in the government that it would not be cutting excise duties on motor fuel, despite rising crude oil prices.
The revenue department has made it clear to the prime minister’s office (PMO) that for every rupee/litre cut in excise duties, the Centre will forgo revenue of Rs140 billion, Business Standard has learnt.
In a blog posting on Monday, 18 June. Jaitley said state governments and citizens should all strive to increase the country’s ratio of non-oil tax to gross domestic product (GDP).
(Source: Business Standard)
4. Myntra Eyes 40 Percent Jump in Sales During Its ‘End of Reason’ Sale in June
Flipkart-owned online fashion retailer Myntra, which is on track to meet the target of increasing its gross merchandise value (GMV) by 50 percent this year, is aiming to grow its sales by at least 40 percent during its flagship season-end sale in June.
In an interview, Myntra CEO Ananth Narayanan said that 70 percent of all orders placed during its End of Reason Sale will be delivered by a network of kirana stores. Like the previous editions of End of Reason Sale, Myntra has tied up with a vast network of kirana stores, to help speed up deliveries.
(Source: Livemint)
5. Govt to Meet Fiscal Deficit Target of 3.3 Percent Despite Being Election Year: Piyush Goyal
The government is committed to meeting the fiscal deficit target of 3.3 percent for the current fiscal despite it being an election year, said finance minister Piyush Goyal on Friday, 15 June. He also said that there will not be a spending cut to meet the target as the government has enough alternative resources for planned expenditure.
Fiscal deficit stood at 3.53 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), broadly in line with the government’s revised estimates for 2017-18.
“Fiscal digit this year will be down to 3.3 percent and I can assure you that we are monitoring and working to ensure that fiscal deficit will be contained at 3.3 percent despite this being an election year,” Goyal said.
(Source: PTI )
6. PMO Awaits Panel Report on Overlap in Jobs Numbers
The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has asked the labour ministry to assess the recently launched payroll data and figure out the extent of overlap with its own quarterly employment survey (QES) that presented a vastly different picture of employment generation in the country. As a result, the labour bureau’s eighth QES, which was due in May, has been put on hold, said officials.
"The PMO has set up a technical committee with a mandate to present its recommendations on employment numbers," said a senior government official, who did not wish to be identified.
(Source: The Economic Times)
7. Exporter Refunds Worth Rs 25,000 Crore Stuck for GSTN Lacuna: Mitra
West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra on Monday, 18 June said that exporters across the country were awaiting refunds to the tune of Rs 25,000 crore, which have been stuck due to the "inability" of the GST Network (GSTN).
"There have been three lakh applications from exporters of the country, involving Rs 25,000 crore, which are awaiting refunds," Mitra, also a GST Council member, said during an exports conclave, a part of the Bengal Global Business Summit 2019 roadshow.
The GSTN auto verifies refund claims, but it is unable to do so, and therefore, manual verification is relied upon that leads to huge pileup of applications and impacts the working capital of the exporters, the minister said.
(Source: PTI)
8. Caution Grips Sensex, Nifty as Trade War Concerns Intensify
Indian equity benchmarks edged lower as caution gripped Dalal Street after concerns rose over escalating protectionist standoff between the US and China.
The S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.21 percent or 74 points to 35,548 and the NSE Nifty 50 index declined 0.17 percent or 18 points to 10,800.
The market fears that if protectionism comes in, globalisation goes out of the window... it can lead to a lot of constriction for the global economy and artificial barriers coming up... so markets are trying to digest if it is Trump's way of posturing or will anything come on 5 July, said market expert Ajay Bagga.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
9. India Set to Join European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on Monday, 18 June, unveiled plans for a first-of-its-kind conference in India to welcome the country as its newest member.
The inaugural EBRD-FICCI Business Forum in Mumbai on Friday, 15 June is themed around 'mobilising private sector finance in the EBRD region and how Indian companies can benefit'.
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) partnered event is backed by the Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM) with the aim of bringing together government officials, EBRD experts, and investors and prominent business people to highlight the multilateral bank's efforts to mobilise private sector finance in the economies where it invests, and what the opportunities are for the Indian private sector.
(Source: PTI)
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