1. South Korea to Invest Rs 10,000 Cr on New Delhi Railway Station Renovation
South Korea has come forward to redevelop the New Delhi railway station, one of the busiest terminals in the country, as a world-class facility. The station, which caters to more than five lakh passengers in a day, will be converted into a swanky complex at an estimated cost of Rs 10,000 crore.
The redevelopment of New Delhi station is part of Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu’s emphasis on attracting substantial revenue through redevelopment of 400 stations with private participation.
If everything goes accordingly, there will be a joint inspection of New Delhi station with South Korean team soon.
(Source: PTI)
2. Vodafone India-Idea Merger May Be Sealed in a Month
UK’s Vodafone Plc and Aditya Birla Group’s Idea Cellular Ltd are likely to finalise within a month the mega merger deal that will create India's largest telecom firm, according to sources.
If the deal is successful, the combined entity will create India's largest telecom firm with a revenue share of around 40 percent and a subscriber base of over 380 million, according to India Ratings and Research.
The proposed merger of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular will create an entity with a revenue of around Rs 77,500-80,000 crore besides eliminating duplication of spectrum and infrastructure capex, the rating agency said in its report.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
3. Tata in Early Talks to Join RCom-Aircel-MTS Combine to Take on Jio
Reliance Communications and the Tata Group are believed to have initiated talks to explore a possible union that could see Tata Teleservices join forces with the merged RCom-Aircel and MTS, persons familiar with the matter told ET.
Anil Ambani, chairman of the Reliance Group, is believed to have approached N Chandrasekaran, the newly anointed Tata Sons chairman to discuss the matter, said people aware of the development.
“Nothing has been finalised yet,” one of them said, noting that there are some obstacles such as Tata Tele’s debt of about Rs 30,000 crore. The legal issue regarding NTT Docomo’s exit from Tata Tele also needs to be resolved, the person said.
(Source: Economic Times)
4. Paytm to Invest Rs 600 Crore over 10 Months to Expand QR Code Payment System
Online payments firm Paytm, will invest Rs 600 crore over the next 10 months to expand its QR code-based payment network, the company said on Monday.
Our zero percent merchant transaction fee coupled with an aggressive merchant acquisition rate, will help us take QR code-based payments to every nook and corner of this countryKiran Vasireddy, Senior Vice President, Paytm
Paytm is expected to launch their payments bank within the next 30 days and has set an ambitious target of 200 million accounts, across current accounts. savings accounts and mobile wallets within the first 12 months of it’s launch.
(Source: Livemint)
5. GST Council Clears Compensation Bill
The goods and services tax (GST) Council on Saturday formally approved a Bill for compensating the state governments for any revenue loss they might have to suffer in the first five years in the GST regime, as the constitutionally empowered body entered the last lap of its key legislative business.
The Centre has set a 1 July deadline for ushering in the GST regime, the journey towards which has been a decade-long and chequered one, marred by political squabbles and bureaucratic turf battles.
The GST Network, the IT backbone for running GST, must be up and running and the businesses will have to get ready for the proposed destination-based tax on consumption that will replace all major existing indirect taxes except the basic customs duty and have a seamless input tax credit facility.
(Source: Financial Express)
6. Electronics Payments Gaining Pace Post Demonetisation: Nomura
Electronic transactions are growing rapidly after demonetisation, but the growth was already healthy even before the note ban, says Nomura in its report titled ‘India - A less-cash economy’.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) payment data show that volume growth of retail electronic payments rose to 37.7 percent y-o-y in December 2016 from 22.7 percent in October 2016, while value growth of electronic payments rose to 23 percent from 16.9 percent.
While most analysts and industry bodies oppose this provision, saying it would disrupt market dynamics, some say if it is judiciously used by the government as a tool to curb inflation, it might be legitimate.
(Source: Economic Times)
7. Domestic Air Passenger Traffic up 25% in January
India’s domestic air passenger traffic zoomed up by 25.13 percent during last month to 95.79 lakh, official data showed on Friday.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in its statistical analysis:
Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January 2017 were 95.79 lakh as against 76.55 lakh during the corresponding period of previous year thereby registering a growth of 25.13 percent.
According to the data furnished by DGCA, domestic air passenger traffic had increased by 23.91 percent during December to 95.52 lakh from 77.09 lakh during the corresponding month last year.
In November 2016, the passenger traffic rose by 22.45 percent to 89.66 lakh.
(Source: IANS)
8. Nine Lakh Accounts Under Operation Clean Money 'Doubtful'
Nearly half of the 18 lakh people under the I-T scanner for suspicious bank deposits post cash ban have been put in the ‘doubtful’ category, but action against them will follow only after the new tax amnesty scheme ends on 31 March.
Since Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) runs till 31 March, action against any depositor can be taken only after the scheme closes as the depositor may choose to disclose the wealth and pay taxes.
Sources said as many as 9 lakh accounts of the 18 lakh people who have got SMS are considered “doubtful”
(Source: PTI)
9. Capgemini's India Chief Says 65% of IT Employees Can't Learn New Skills
With the domestic IT industry staring at a shift in nature of work due to increasing use of digital technologies, Capgemini has said a majority of the workforce cannot imbibe emerging skill-sets, and warned of high job losses at the middle and senior levels.
“I am not very pessimistic, but it is a challenging task and I tend to believe that 60-65 percent of them (IT employees) are just not trainable,” Capgemini India’s chief executive Srinivas Kandula told news agency PTI.
He also said more number of students are now being hired from lower grade engineering colleges, which has ensured that the rise in wages has been negative by a huge margin.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
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