1. Govt to Break up Air India Into Four Parts to Speed up Privatisation Process
The proposed privatisation of Air India Ltd has gained momentum, with the government deciding to break the airline into four units and offer to sell at least 51 percent in each of them besides transferring most of the non-core debt owed by the carrier to its own balance sheet.
The core airline business comprising Air India and Air India Express—the low-cost overseas arm—will be offered as one company, and the process will be completed by the end of 2018, minister of state for aviation Jayant Sinha said in an interview with Bloomberg on Monday. Its regional arm, ground handling and engineering operations will also be sold separately in the same process.
(Source: Livemint)
2. Diesel Price at All-Time High as Crude Oil Surges in International Markets
Diesel price rose to an all-time high on Monday as crude oil price continued to advance in global markets, impacting India’s oil import bill and inflation.
Diesel price touched Rs 61.74 a litre in Delhi, while petrol hit Rs 71.18 a litre, the highest since 1 August 2014, according to information provided by the largest refiner Indian Oil Corp Ltd.
Price of crude oil surged in global markets as production cuts by Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia constrained supplies. Crude oil accounts for about 90 percent of the production cost of auto fuel.
(Source: Livemint)
3. What Roadmap India-Israel CEOs Forum Has Charted to Enhance Bilateral Trade to $20 Bn by 2022
To further strengthen the India-Israel trade ties and boost business between the two nations, leading business leaders from India and Israel on Monday submitted wide-ranging recommendations in the area of innovation across sectors to PM Narendra Modi and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to achieve US$ 20 billion bilateral trade turnover in the next five years from the present level of US$ 5 billion.
The goal was envisaged during the first meeting of CEOs Forum in July 2017. The recommendations were submitted to the two Prime Ministers at the second meeting of India-Israel CEOs Forum organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Manufacturers Association of Israel (MAI) on Friday, coinciding with the visit of Benjamin Netanyahu and a high-powered official and business delegation to India.
(Source: Financial Express)
4. Wholesale Price Inflation Slows to 3.58% in December
Wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation unexpectedly slowed to 3.58 percent in December from 3.93 percent in the previous month because of a slower pace of growth in food prices.
Data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Friday showed inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), accelerated to a 17-month high of 5.21 percent in December from 4.88 percent a month ago. This is the final set of data that finance minister Arun Jaitley will have before him as he sits down to finalize the Union budget for 2018-19, to be presented on 1 February.
(Source: Livemint)
5. Panel Sets out an Action Plan to Make Agriculture Profitable
In a detailed action plan for doubling farmers’ incomes, a top government panel has proposed major reforms to the existing administrative structure.
This includes an overhaul of the Union agriculture ministry, setting up a three-tier planning and review mechanism through district, state and national level committees and an annual ease of doing agribusiness survey.
The committee on doubling farmers’ incomes (DFI), which was set up in April 2016, has also suggested adoption of a liberalised land leasing policy to recognise tenant farmers, contract farming, freeing up of agricultural markets and strengthening decentralised procurement of crops by states.
(Source: Livemint)
6. India’s Trade Gap At Its Widest In Three Years As Crude, Gold Imports Surge
India’s trade deficit in December was at its widest in over three years as a surge in import of gold, precious jewellery and crude oil offset rising exports.
The trade deficit, the gap between exports and imports, stood 41.1 percent higher compared to last year at $14.88 billion, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce. The deficit was at $13.83 billion in November.
India's import bill went up 21.12 percent over last year to $41.9 billion. The rise in imports was due to higher prices of gold and crude oil as the two commodities form nearly one-third of the country’s inbound shipments.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
7. Union Bank Looks To Sell Essar Steel, Bhushan Steel Loans
Public sector lender Union Bank of India has sought bids to sell its exposure in Essar Steel Ltd and Bhushan Steel Ltd., two of the largest stressed accounts under resolution through India’s new bankruptcy law.
The bank is selling Rs 1,569 crore worth of loans of Essar Steel and Rs 1,130-crore Bhushan Steel loans through competitive bidding, it said in a notice. The lender has sought bids from banks, non-banking finance companies and asset reconstruction companies by 22 January.
Essar Steel and Bhushan Steel were among the 12 large corporate accounts which the Reserve Bank of India had shared with banks in June last year for immediate resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. Together, they owe lenders more than Rs 1 lakh crore.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
8. Kamala Mills Fire Takes Toll on Resto Bars in Mumbai
It has been a week since London Taxi, the resto bar in Lower Parel, known for its sugarless cocktails and global progressive cuisine resumed operations. London Taxi had shut down on its own following the fire outbreak in the restaurants in the Kamala Mills compound located behind it. Footfalls in the restaurant have been down by more than 50 percent since operations resumed and getting back lost business and changing perceptions of diners will take time, a spokesperson said.
"Footfalls have drastically come down for us and people are hesitant to come over. The entire Kamala Mills area which used to be buzzing over weekends was deserted. Some news reports mentioned us being affected incorrectly but thankfully we were unharmed and no damage was done to us. That has affected our brand image. We are trying to get the word out but normalising operations will take time," she added.
(Source: The Economic Times)
9. Manage Interest Rate Risk on Your Own: RBI's Viral Acharya to Banks
The Reserve Bank of India signalled it wouldn't intervene in the bond market to ease the pain and bail-out banks from adverse movement in interest rates and threw the ball in treasury departments' court saying instead of praying for regulatory relaxations they should equip themselves with derivative products.
"Interest rate risk of banks cannot be managed over and over again by their regulator," deputy governor Viral Achrya told the audience at the annual Fixed Income and Money Market Dealers Association meet. " Market liberalisation does not just involve the regulator easing business processes, introducing new products and creating new markets; it also requires participants to take initiative to re-skill themselves for constantly evolving market conditions and products."
(Source: The Economic Times)