1. Congress: ‘Save Economy from Ignorant Policy Makers’
Claiming that the NDA government’s economic policies were “replete with governance and management misadventures and mistakes”, the Congress on Sunday said the country needs to be rescued from the “hands of ignorant and incompetent policy makers”.
“For every economic problem, the government’s response only seems to be propaganda, sloganeering and manufactured statistics. The Modi government has chosen to live in denial of India’s job problem, hiding behind a facade of compromised research claiming that the economy generates more formal sector jobs than any other country in the world,” the party said in its economic resolution.
As the Congress laid out its economic agenda for the coming years, its top economists came down heavily on the NDA. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh accused the government of “messing up the economy” while former finance minister P Chidambaram warned that whoever comes to power in 2019 would face a “major crisis”.
(Source: The Indian Express)
2. Airfares May Remain High in April-May as Planes Stay Grounded
Airfares, which jumped after low-fare airlines IndiGo and GoAir grounded a total of 14 flights since February due to engine problems, have since come down, but are expected to remain high in the holiday months of April and May.
According to data from travel website Yatra.com, the price of New Delhi-Mumbai economy class tickets surged to Rs 15,797 - 29,644 (for the cheapest and most expensive tickets respectively) on 13 March for the same day, while that for Delhi-Kolkata was Rs 6,117 - 18,825.
Regular non-peak season economy fares are Rs 5,000 - 8,000 for Delhi-Mumbai and Rs 6,000 - 8,000 for Delhi-Kolkata.
A Delhi-Mumbai ticket is expected to cost Rs 4,807 - 17,797 for flights on 19 March while that of Delhi-Kolkata is expected to be Rs 5,857 - 25,561, according to Yatra.com data.
“There was a huge surge (in airfares) during one or two days (13-14 March) as there were huge amounts of (flight) cancellations. Very few seats were available for customers to rebook since the load factors were high. But the ticket prices have come down to near normal (levels),” Yatra’s chief operating officer (business to consumer) Sharat Dhall said.
Dhall expects airfares to remain at least 5% higher during the summer schedule, and affected airlines to raise their capacity to address demand.
(Source: Livemint)
3. Insolvency Norms: Power Firms Ask for Special Dispensation
The Association of Power Producers (APP) asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for special relaxation for the power sector in its guidelines on when insolvency proceedings would be triggered.
The industry body said the stress in the sector is largely due to irregularity in payment from discoms, regulatory delays, and coal supply constraints, which are beyond the control of power companies.
In a letter written to RBI governor Urjit Patel, the APP said discoms delay regular payments by three-four months, and currently receivables to IPPs stand at about Rs 8,300 crore. Additionally, Rs 7,800 crore is stuck due to various delays in receiving orders from regulators.
The IPPs are not compensated for the extra money they have to shell out to buy coal at higher prices due to insufficient supply (only 60% of requirement) by Coal India.
(Source: Financial Express)
4. Former Tata Group GC Bharat Vasani Joins Cam as Corporate Partner
Former Chief legal and general counsel for the Tata Group, Bharat Vasani, has now been inducted by leading law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas as its corporate partner. Vasani, who had been at the helm of legal affairs in Tata Sons in the last 17 years, will join his new office in Mumbai from 19 March.
In a statement to announce his appointment, Cyril Shroff, managing partner, CAM, said, “Vasani’s rich and diversified industry experience, with a variety of businesses across sectors, would add immense value to our firm and will further enhance our capabilities to support our clients.”
Vasani said, “I am excited about this new chapter in my life and look forward to contributing and adding value to the firm.”
(Source: The Times of India)
5. States Not to Revert to Fiscal Deficit Below 3 Percent
With the UDAY burden off, state governments in aggregate were expected to revert to well below 3 percent fiscal deficit in the current financial year, but an analysis by FE of 14 state budgets presented recently suggests they might not. As the year is drawing to a close, seven of these states have revised their FY18 fiscal deficits to be higher than projected a year ago, with the slippage ranging from a marginal 0.1 to profligate 4.63 percentage points.
Unless the other states in aggregate do remarkably better than assumed — there are slim chances of this, the combined fiscal deficit of states in FY18 could turn out to be substantially higher than the estimated 2.69 percent of the gross domestic product, and possibly, cross the 3 percent threshold, prescribed under the respective Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Acts and the 14th Finance Commission, by a good margin.
Worse, the slippage is despite nine of the 14 states reducing their capital expenditure from the budgeted level.
(Source: Financial Express)
6. SEBI Moves to Plug WhatsApp Leaks
The market regulator is weighing tighter oversight to check leakage of privileged company information in the wake of unpublished financial results finding their way into WhatsApp groups, two people aware of the development said.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is considering asking companies to frame a policy on how to handle unpublished price-sensitive information, or UPSI, and convey the policy to employees; monitor big share price changes before important events like earnings releases; conduct background checks on employees dealing with such information; identify people involved in major deals and ensure information given to junior or external teams is on a need-to-know basis; and create separate work spaces with secured access for those preparing and discussing issues that are price-sensitive.
“These measures have been suggested by some members who are part of a panel on “fair market conduct”. The panel has four subcommittees and is expected to submit a report next month to the regulator,” said the first of the two people cited earlier.
SEBI formed the committee, led by former law secretary TK Viswanathan on 1 August 2017 to review its rules on insider trading and unfair trading practices.
(Source: Livemint)
7. NCLT Rules Resolution Bids Submitted After Deadline Need Not Be Considered
A single bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Kolkata on Tuesday ruled that the bids submitted by a resolution applicant after the bidding deadline need not be considered, a ruling that can set a benchmark for several other pending cases.
The tribunal also said the final decision to accept a resolution plan rests with the committee of creditors (CoC) and if the plan approved is in line with the insolvency and bankruptcy code(IBC), the tribunal would uphold the validity of the decision taken by the CoC.
The tribunal was hearing petitions filed by Omkara Infrastructure Pvt Ltd and Simplex Credit and Industries Ltd against the resolution professional of Divya Jyoti Sponge Iron Pvt Ltd Arun Kumar Gupta.
The two applicants separately alleged discrimination by Gupta.
(Source: Livemint)
8. Let Gujarat Supply Coal to Troubled State’s Three Units, Says SBI
State Bank of India (SBI) has come out with a set of workable solutions to salvage three imported fuel-based power plants in Gujarat-the Mundra units of Tatas and Adani and Essar Power’s Salaya unit-that are in trouble after the Supreme Court struck down regulator-granted compensatory tariffs.
At a recent brainstorming session in Ahmedabad, SBI, the lead lender for all three units, has proposed the state government buy imported coal and supply to the plants while only paying the generators the fixed cost – 40% of the tariff.
While the state government requested some time to assess the suggestion and its potential impact on the state’s finances, the viability of “tariff correction” under a bilateral agreement between the generators and state-run discom GUVNL, the committed long-term buyer of electricity from these plants, is also being explored, sources privy to the matter told FE.
The three power plants, in which Rs 60,000 crore capital investments have been made, are under the theat of becoming of non-performing assets; Adani Power Mundra unit’s outstanding debt stood at Rs 28,750 crore in June 2017 while Tata’s unit had a debt of around Rs 15,000 crore at that time. Essar’s Salaya unit has an outstanding debt of around Rs 6,500 crore at present.
(Source: Financial Express)
9. Engie May Sell Stake in India Solar Operations
French energy firm Engie SA, one of the largest foreign investors in India’s solar space, plans to sell a stake in its Solairedirect unit that has been actively bidding for projects here, said two people aware of the development.
Engie plans to set up 2 gigawatt (GW) of capacity in India by 2019 and has an 810 mega watt (MW) solar portfolio.
“All operational solar projects in India will be transferred to a subsidiary firm in which the equity stakes will be sold,” said one of the two people cited above requesting anonymity.
“Engie is trying to raise money through equity divestment in Solairedirect operations,” said the second person, who also didn’t want to be named.
Solairedirect also participated in the bids for setting up the Bhadla solar park in Rajasthan that saw India’s record low tariff of Rs2.44 per unit. With €66.6 billion in annual revenue, Engie has been trying to expand its presence in India’s clean energy space.
There is growing overseas interest in India’s clean energy programme, with the government targeting 175GW of clean energy capacity by 2022.
(Source: Livemint)
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