1. GST Council Meet Today: Relief for Exporters, SMEs on the Cards
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, in its upcoming meeting on Friday, is likely to give a major relief to exporters as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
These segments have been affected the most by the new indirect tax regime, which has depressed the economic growth numbers in the first quarter of the current financial year because of destocking on account of uncertainties before the GST was introduced on 1 July.
Source: Business Standard
2. Kishore Biyani Acquires Hypercity For Rs 655 Crore From Shoppers Stop
Kishore Biyani’s Future Retail Ltd will buy the Hypercity large-format stores from Shoppers Stop Ltd, as the retailer continues to expand amid a growing share of formal trade in the $670-billion market.
Future Retail will acquire the loss-making hypermarket chain with 19 outlets for Rs 655 crore in a cash-and-stock deal, it said in a stock exchange filing on Thursday. It will issue up to 93.1 lakh shares to real estate developer K Raheja Corp Group-owned Shoppers Stop and other shareholders at Rs 537 apiece, aggregating to Rs 500 crore. The remaining Rs 155 crore would be paid in cash, according to the filing.
Source: BloombergQuint
3. Kotak Panel Proposes Bigger Board, at Least 50% Independent Members
The Uday Kotak-led panel on corporate governance on Thursday submitted its report to the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India, suggesting a host of changes including the composition and role of the board of directors, transparency in the appointment of independent directors and their role in company management.
SEBI has put the report up on its website inviting public feedback.
Source: BloombergQuint
4. India Inc Wants Government to Speed up Job Creation
India will have to speed up job creation to enhance productivity, which, in turn, will give the much needed push to economic growth, business and industry leaders at the India Economic Summit said.
“World over, growth has come from increase in productivity. It will take care of jobs. We get too negative about global developments. I think growth will improve in the upcoming quarters for India,” Adi Godrej, chairman of Godrej group said at the summit jointly organized by the World Economic Forum and the CII.
Source: Economic Times
5. Mukesh Tops India Rich List, Adds $15 Billion to His Pile
For the tenth straight year, Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani has emerged as India’s wealthiest person, as his net worth swelled to $38 billion (nearly ₹2.5 lakh crore). The wealth of India’s 100 richest rose by 26 percent despite economic hiccups.
Wipro’s Azim Premji was a distant second with a net worth of $19 billion, moving up two places from last year, while Sun Pharma’s Dilip Shanghvi slipped from his earlier second place to the ninth ($12.1 billion) on Forbes magazine’s annual India Rich List 2017’.
Source: PTI
6. Railways Can Create 1 Million Jobs, Says Piyush Goyal
The government will “very soon” float a global tender to procure tracks for modernising the railways, which can create a million jobs within a year through various areas across its ecosystem, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said today.
He further said that safety will be priority for the railways and there would be no limit to funding it.
The comments of the new railways minister come after a spate of rail accidents in the last few month leading to loss of lives.
Source: PTI
7. Services Activity Returns to Growth in September on Stronger Demand
Activity in India’s services companies limped out of contraction in September as demand recovered and pushed firms to increase hiring at the fastest pace in over six years, a business survey showed on Thursday.
The lingering impact of the government’s cash ban late last year pushed growth in Asia’s third-largest economy to slow unexpectedly to a three-year low of 5.7% in the April-June quarter from a year earlier.
Source: Livemint
8. India's Wind Power Tariff Falls to a Record Low of Rs2.64 per Unit
India’s wind power tariff fell to a record low of Rs 2.64 per unit in an auction conducted by state-run Solar Energy Corp. of India (SECI) for 1 gigawatt (GW) of wind power contracts that ended on Thursday.
While ReNew Power Ventures Pvt. Ltd and Orange Sironj Wind Power Pvt Ltd bid Rs2.64 per kilowatt hour (kWh) to win contracts for 250 megawatts (MW) and 200MW each, Inox Wind Infrastructure Services Ltd and Singapore-based Sembcorp Industries Ltd’s Green Infra Wind Energy Ltd bid a tariff of Rs 2.65 per unit for securing contracts of 250MW each. Adani Green Energy (MP) Ltd also bid Rs 2.65 per unit to win a 50MW contract.
Source: Livemint
9. M&M Expresses Disbelief Over Rival Tata Motors' Bid Price for Government EV Contract
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), the sole maker of electric vehicles in India, expressed disbelief over the bid price submitted by rival Tata Motors, which won a contract to supply electric vehicles to the government.
“We find the price (quoted by Tata Motors) hard to comprehend,” Mahindra managing director Pawan Goenka said, conceding that the price quoted by Tata Motors BSE -0.06 % was significantly lower than its bid.
Source: Economic Times
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