1. India’s GDP Grows At 7.7% In March Quarter As Recovery Strengthens
India’s economy expanded at its fastest pace since demonetisation as government spending continues to drive the recovery. GDP rose at 7.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017-18, compared with 6.1 percent in the same period last year, and a revised 7 percent in the quarter ended December, according to data released by the Central Statistics Office. A Bloomberg poll of economists had pegged the growth at 7.4 percent.
For the full financial year, GDP grew at 6.7 percent, compared with 7.1 percent in the previous year. Gross value added growth, which strips out the impact of indirect taxes and subsidies, stood at 7.6 percent in the January-March quarter and at 6.5 percent for the full year.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
2. Centre To Ask ONGC To Bear Fuel Subsidy To Help Cut Petrol, Diesel Price
The Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion has referred a complaint of the RSS-affiliated SJM on the $16-billion Walmart-Flipkart deal to the Reserve Bank of India, the Enforcement Directorate, the Competition Commission of India and the Income Tax Department.
The Sangh’s economic offshoot Swadeshi Jagran Manch had alleged that US retail giant Walmart Inc was “circumventing” rules for a “back-door entry” into India with its majority stake acquisition of Flipkart.
SJM's co-convener Ashwani Mahajan had also written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking him to ensure that interest of those at the bottom of the pyramid in retail and agriculture space was safeguarded.
(Source: PTI)
3. AirAsia India Blames The One Person Not Yet Being Investigated By CBI
While the CBI may have swung into action only this week, officials at AirAsia India Ltd. and its key shareholder Tata Sons Ltd knew of the dubious financial transactions with alleged lobbying firm, HNR Trading, as far back as 2016. They were also informed that the owner of the firm, a Rajendra Dubey, had a suspected association with an international terrorist.
This came to light when in 2016 consultancy firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India was appointed to investigate certain malpractices at AirAsia India. The Deloitte special review report red-flagged questionable transactions with HNR Trading and other firms associated with Dubey.
But AAIL says its “board and the majority shareholder Tata group did not know about the existence of these entities”.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
4. India Becoming a Major Mobile Manufacturing Hub: Ravi Shankar Prasad
India is becoming a major manufacturing hub of mobile phones with the number of handset factories in the country going up to 120, Union Minister for Law and Justice and Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad said. “When our government came, there were just two mobile factories in India. Just two. How many factories have come in India? 120 in the last three and half years. India is becoming a big manufacturing hub of mobile phones,” he said. The government was pushing medical electronics and other areas in electronics in a big way, he said.
Prasad was addressing a meeting on Four years of Modi governance Key initiatives and development outcomes organised by the Telangana unit of BJP. The Union Minister, who highlighted a number of achievements of the NDA government, said the country’s economy was on “a good wicket” during the last four years. “Four years down the line, India has got the highest foreign investment. Be it IMF, be it World Bank, be it other international think-tank, Moodys, Indias (growth) rate shall be 7.3 percent to 7.5 percent. Inflation is under control,” he said
(Source: Financial Express)
5. Air India Finds no Takers as Deadline for Submitting Interest Ends
The government’s bid to sell off loss-ridden Air India has come a cropper with not a single entity showing interest in the national carrier till Thursday, the last day for doing so.
“As informed by the transaction adviser, no response has been received for the expression of interest (EoI) floated for the strategic disinvestment of AI. Further course of action will be decided appropriately,” the aviation ministry tweeted after 5 pm, the deadline for submissions. Civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu and his deputy Jayant Sinha opted to stay quiet on the failed attempt to sell the cash-guzzler even as they were busy tweeting about a pick-up in the economy.
(Source: The Times of India)
6. For Iran Trade, India May Reach Out to Europe
India will soon engage with European nations on measures to keep banking channels operative in order to protect Indian import of Iranian oil following the US decision to abandon the nuclear deal with the Islamic republic and reimpose sanctions.
An Indian delegation, comprising senior officials from the ministries of external affairs and petroleum, plans to visit key European capitals early June to get a sense of the continent’s preparedness to keep the nuclear deal alive after the American pull-out, and push for measures that would help shield trade with Iran, officials said.
(Source: Financial Express)
7. Infrastructure Sector Sees Growing Foreign Investor Interest
For global pension funds, large private equity (PE) players and patient capital investors with buckets of cash and a willingness to stay for the long haul, the Indian infrastructure sector is beginning to look like a smart option. The numbers speak for themselves. In just the past 6-7 months, such investors have tied up or are in the process to raise large sums of capital to invest in infrastructure projects, particularly roads and renewable energy. Collectively, these funds could invest a few billion dollars in India infrastructure.
The biggest among these is I Squared Capital, which is close to raising $6.5 billion for its second infra-focused fund. I Squared Capital invests in multiple geographies including India. Edelweiss Infrastructure Yield Plus Fund has commitments of around $300 million and aims to raise up to $1 billion, while the government’s National Investment and Infrastructure Fund and the UK government have committed $700 million to invest exclusively in Indian infrastructure.
(Source: Livemint)
8. Govt May Not Infuse Extra Capital into Fraud-hit PNB
Fraud-hit Punjab National Bank (PNB) will not receive any additional capital from the government over what has been budgeted and will have to rely on recoveries of dues under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and proceeds from sale of non-core assets, according to a senior government official.
Earlier this month, PNB reported a record net quarterly loss of Rs 13,417 crore in the quarter ended March, reeling under payouts to other banks following a $2-billion fraud, tighter loan classification norms by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and losses in its bond portfolio.
(Source: Livemint)
9. Idea Completes Sale Of Tower Business To ATC As Merger With Vodafone Draws Near
Idea Cellular Ltd has completed the sale of its mobile tower business to ATC Telecom Infrastructure Pvt, paving the way for the merger with Vodafone India to form the country’s largest telecom operator.
The telecom firm sold its 9,900 towers across India to ATC for Rs 4,000 crore, it said in a filing with the stock exchanges. Its potential environment Vodafone had also sold its standalone tower business to ATC in April for Rs 3,850 crore.
Idea and Vodafone join rivals like Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Reliance Communications Ltd. that have been selling assets to pare debt in India’s competitive telecom market. The entry of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd hurt the profitability of other operators as they cut tariffs to meet Mukesh Ambani's cheap data offerings, and triggered consolidation in the sector.
(Source: Livemint)
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