QBiz: Budget’s Health Scheme to Cover 40% Indians, and More
Here is a roundup of the top business stories of the day.
advertisement
1. Budget 2018 Has Good Proposals for Agriculture, Rural Areas
The Budget has good proposals for agriculture and the rural areas, health, senior citizens, and education infrastructure.
The rural sector will get all-weather roads to connect to markets, which is going to have a tremendous impact in the long term. Rural housing has been given a massive boost, and the free LPG programme has been rightly extended to 8 crore families, as against 5 crores.
The government has committed to contribute 12 percent of the wages of the new employees in the EPF for all the sectors for next three years, while also reducing women employees’ compulsory contribution to 8 percent.
(Source: Financial Express)
2. Budget 2018: Bitcoin Prices Slump to Lowest This Year After India Clampdown
Bitcoin slumped to its low for the year after seeing more than $44 billion in market value lost during January after India’s finance minister Arun Jaitley announced a clampdown on cryptocurrency in Union Budget 2018.
After reaching a record high of $19,511 on 18 December, Bitcoin has lost more half its value as the digital token has been weighed down by expectations of more government oversight globally, fears of price manipulation, the susceptibility of exchanges to hacking and lingering concern that it’s all just an asset bubble. Facebook announced a ban on cryptocurrency ads this week.
Bitcoin declined as much as 8.7 percent on Thursday to $9,100, the lowest since November, in part on concern India may crack down on cryptocurrencies. That follows a spate of recent negative headlines, including a $500 million heist from a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange.
(Source: Livemint)
3. Budget 2018 on Healthcare: ‘Modicare’ to Cover 4 out of Every 10 Indians
A mega health insurance scheme which aimed to cover four out of 10 Indians was one of the highlights of Thursday’s Union budget. Finance minister Arun Jaitley termed it ‘Modicare’, on the lines of Obamacare, the American universal health insurance plan launched during the presidency of Barack Obama.
The National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) aims to offer health insurance up to Rs5 lakh per family per year, covering over 100 million vulnerable families, benefitting about 500 million people. Both secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation will be covered. Jaitley claimed that Modicare will be more successful than Obamacare.
“A major highlight of the Budget is the launching of the scheme which is India’s leap towards universal health coverage...This will be the largest government-funded health protection scheme and will ensure that impoverishing spending by the poor and the vulnerable will diminish,” said NITI Aayog member Vinod Paul.
Data from the socio-economic caste census of 2011 will be used to choose NHPS’s beneficiaries. States will roll out the scheme, while a national health agency with robust fraud control mechanisms will be created under the health ministry. There will be no cap on the family size, said two people familiar with the matter.
In order to provide cashless, paperless and quality medical care involving hospitalisation, state-level health agencies will be formed to implement the scheme.
(Source: Livemint)
4. Apple Delivers Record Profit, Seeks to Allay iPhone X Fears
Apple today reported a USD 20 billion profit in a record-setting quarter and said sales of its newest iPhone X smartphone were better than expected.
Revenue in the final three months of last year increased 13 per cent to USD 88.3 billion, according to the California- based technology giant.
"We're thrilled to report the biggest quarter in Apple's history, with broad-based growth that included the highest revenue ever from a new iPhone lineup," said Apple chief executive Tim Cook.
The earnings come amid concerns over weak demand for the newest and most expensive iPhone X, the 10th anniversary edition of the iconic smartphone. Apple also forecast that revenue in the current quarter would be between USD 60 billion and USD 62 billion in an outlook less rosy than analysts had expected.
(Source: PTI)
5. Union Budget 2018: Some PSU Assets to Be Monetised via InvIT Route
Presenting the Union Budget 2018-19, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that some assets of public sector units will be monetised through the infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) route. He also proposed a unified regulator for financial services in International Financial Service Centre (IFSC) at Gift City.
“IFSC at Gift City, which has become operational, needs a coherent and integrated regulatory framework to fully develop and to compete with other offshore financial centres. The government will establish a unified authority for regulating all financial services in IFSCs in India,” said Jaitley.
Apart from this the Finance Bill, 2018 has listed a number of amendments in SEBI norms to give it more freedom to levy monetary penalties for violations by alternative investment funds (AIFs), InvITs, real estate investment trusts (REITS), investment advisers and research analysts among others.
(Source: The Indian Express)
6. Vodafone India’s Q3 Revenue Declines as Tariff War Continues
The telecom tariff war continued to take its toll on Vodafone India Ltd’s revenue, which declined 23.1 percent to Rs 8,496 crore in the quarter ended 31 December.
Revenue was also impacted due to a regulation-induced cut in interconnect usage charges, parent Vodafone Group Plc said in a statement on Thursday.
Vodafone India, in the statement, said that its parent continues to explore potential monetisation options for shares held by Idea and Vodafone in Indus Towers. Vodafone and Idea will also receive about Rs 7,850 crore from the announced sale of Vodafone and Idea’s standalone towers to American Tower Corp.
Under the terms of its merger agreement with Idea Cellular, Vodafone will contribute net debt equivalent to Idea’s net debt at completion plus Rs 2,500 crore into the joint venture, subject to customary closing adjustments.
The company also said that it will match any incremental equity raised by Idea prior to completion of the group. Vodafone said that Indian operations faced a 29.2 percent decline in inter-connection revenues due to a slash in Interconnected Usage Charge (IUC) rates.
(Source: Livemint)
7. FY19 Revenue Loss Estimated at 7k Cr
In a big boost to the small and medium enterprises, the finance minister Arun Jaitley announced a reduction in corporate tax rate from existing 30 percent to 25 percent, for companies with turnover of up to Rs 250 crore.
While the finance minister fell short of achieving the roadmap he promised on corporate tax four years ago, he said that the move is aimed towards fulfilment of his promise to reduce corporate tax rate in a phased manner. “I now propose to extend the benefit of this reduced rate of 25 per cent also to companies who have reported turnover up to Rs 250 crore in the financial year 2016-17,” said Jaitley.
While the decision will benefit the entire class of micro, small and medium enterprises that account for almost 99 percent of companies filing their tax returns, he said that it will lead to an estimated revenue loss of Rs 7,000 crore in the financial year 2018-19. The markets, however, were left disappointed with the announcement as they expected a reduction in corporate tax rates across the board.
(Source: The Indian Express)
8. Budget 2018: Corporate Tax Cut to Boost Make in India
The reduction in corporate tax for medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs) with a turnover of up to Rs 250 crore is likely to galvanise the government’s Make in India initiative.
This is so because apart from reducing the tax burden on them, the Budget 2018 has hiked customs duties on a host of items like mobile and electronics accessories, furniture items, and toys, etc, which are manufactured by such firms.
This combination of a reduction in corporate tax, as well as protection from imported goods, would enable them to step-up manufacturing and increase their market share. They could also diversify into newer areas.
“The reduction of corporate tax to 25 percent for SMEs (turnover of up to Rs 250 crore) is a great move towards enabling them to play a larger role in Make in India,” said Amar Shankar, partner, advisory, EY India.
(Source: Financial Express)
9. Indian Overseas Bank Receives Rs 173.06 Cr Capital Infusions from Govt
Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) on Thursday said it has received Rs173.06 crore capital infusions from the government in the current fiscal.
In a regulatory filing, the IOB said it has received Rs 173.06 crore as contribution of the central government in the preferential allotment of equity shares of the bank as government’s investment during the 2017-18 fiscal.
“The bank has received the said amount of Rs 173.06 crore on 31 January 2018,” it said.
(Source: PTI)