1. SC Seeks Govt's Answer on Cash Withdrawal Pain
The Supreme Court on Friday sought a response from the Centre on issues related to demonetisation, such as whether or not district cooperative banks can be allowed to accept deposits with certain conditions and could there be a minimum assured weekly withdrawal from banks.
The bench, headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur and comprising Justice A M Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud, said when the minimum weekly withdrawal limit had been fixed, then why were people not able to get that amount.
Can we say that this will be the minimum assured weekly withdrawal amount that a person can get from the bank?Supreme Court Bench
(Source: Business Standard)
2. Rupee Closes Weaker Against US Dollar
The Indian rupee on Friday weakened against the US dollar, tracking losses in its Asian peers. Traders are also cautious ahead of key macro economic data due next week.
Rupee closed at 67.42 per US dollar, down 0.09% from its previous close of 67.36. The home currency opened at 67.52 against the US dollar. So far this year, it has fallen 1.87%.
(Source: Livemint)
3. Aggression by Rivals May Push Jio to Persist With Freebies
Reliance Jio Infocomm could offer free services even beyond 31 March next year, with the top three phone companies unleashing an all-out price war against the Mukesh Ambani-owned company with similar plans that bundle free voice calls and data, analysts and industry experts said.
Jio may decide to extend freebies a couple of months beyond March 2017 if incumbent telcos get more aggressive on 4G pricing,Rajiv Sharma, telecom analyst, HSBC
(Source: The Economic Times)
4. Budget 2017 May Bring More Tax Pain for Digital Transactions
After taxing Indian advertising on foreign digital platforms and then Indian purchases from foreign e-commerce sites, the government may consider expanding the scope of these taxes, say tax experts.
Eight of the 10 tax experts Bloomberg Quint spoke with expect an expansion of the Equalisation Levy that was introduced by the central government in the Union budget 2016. The remaining two said that they won’t be surprised if this happens.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
5. Sensex Closes at Fresh 1-Month High on Global Cues
The market rally went on for the second day on Friday, with the Sensex spurting 53 points to bring up a fresh 1-month closing high of 26,747, in keeping with strong global indices amid investor optimism. On a weekly basis, both key indices—the Sensex and the Nifty—recorded their best gains since 2 September by rising 516.52 points, or 1.96%, and 174.95 points, or 2.16%, respectively.
The BSE Sensex after shuttling between 26,803.76 and 26,707.81 closed at 26,747.18, up 52.90 points, or 0.20%, on continuous foreign capital inflows. This is the highest closing since November 11. The index had rallied 457 points in the previous session.
(Source: Livemint)
6. Several Money-Laundering Networks Uncovered by I-T Dept
Many in India will tell you that the answer to some of the world’s most complex problems is ‘jugaad’. It turns out this is exactly how some Indians are converting their unaccounted wealth into white money.
Investigations conducted by the Income Tax department have revealed several money-laundering networks that are spreading across the country, helping people turn their cash hoards into legal tender, ever since the government demonetised old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.
In the course of one such investigation in Nagpur, a surprised account holder was informed that Rs 3.29 crore had been deposited into her account after 8 November.
(Source: BloomberQuint)
7. Flipkart Leads Way With 5% Rise in Smartphone Sales
Online retailer Flipkart strengthened its no. 1 position in the smartphone market on the back of high-selling models from Xiaomi and Motorola, taking away share from rivals Amazon and Snapdeal.
Flipkart had a 45% share of smartphones sold online in India in the quarter ended September, up 5 percentage points from the share it had in the three months ended June, according to data from Hong Kong-based Counterpoint Technology Market Research.
(Source: The Economic Times)
8. Suit for Damages Filed Against Ratan Tata, Others
Six shareholders of Tata group companies have moved the Bombay High Court claiming damages from Tata Sons interim chairman Ratan Tata and 29 others for losses suffered by investors after shares of key group companies fell following the sacking of Cyrus Mistry as group chairman in October.
Pramod Shah, Kalpana Shah, Vinesh Shah and Jesal Bhansali have filed the petition through Markand Gandhi & Co seeking unspecified damages.
(Source: The Economic Times)
9. Tax Collections Avert Cash Crunch Blues
The absence of an adverse impact because of demonetisation on total tax receipts till November-end surprised economists. While collections under the income disclosure scheme (IDS) explain it partly, indirect tax numbers, which include excise duty, not showing any effect of the withdrawal of high-denomination currency notes was puzzling.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on 8 November announced the withdrawal of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.
In the period between April and November, excise duty collections rose 43.5% to Rs 2.43 lakh crore, showed the figures released by the Finance Ministry on Friday. Budget estimates for 2016-17 predict a 12.15% rise in 2016-17 over the previous financial year.
(Source: Business Standard)
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