2016 Golden Peacock Award for Corporate Governance

'Maharatna' firm, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has won the prestigious 2016 Golden Peacock Award for Corporate Governance. The award was received by Ashwini Kumar, CEO of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) on behalf of SAIL during the 16th London Global Convention on Corporate Governance and Sustainability in London, UK. SAIL was presented the award on account of its exemplary performance in the field of corporate governance that is for balancing the interests of all the stakeholders of the company -- shareholders, management, customers, suppliers, financiers, government and the community.

About Golden Peacock Award:

Golden Peacock Awards, instituted by the Institute Of Directors (IOD), India in 1991, are now regarded as a benchmark of Corporate Excellence worldwide.

Golden Peacock Awards, established now for over 25 years, excel. Golden Peacock Awards for Corporate Leadership and Institutional Excellence, over the time, have become a hallmark of excellence, both locally and globally. No award has achieved such respectability and admiration from the industry as the ‘Golden Peacock Awards’, which today receives around 1000 applications for various Awards each year. This is largely due to its transparent and 3-Tier evaluation process, based on internationally recognized criteria. Besides recognition & Award, mere preparation of information and compilation of data required for ‘Self-Appraisal Report’, helps to align & inspire the entire workforce and rapidly accelerates the pace of systems improvement in an organization. Award winners are eligible to use the Golden Peacock Awards Logo with year on all printed and promotional materials, which evidences the highest accolade received by the organisation.

ICICI Bank and Truecaller announces partnership

ICICI Bank announced a partnership with mobile app firm Truecaller for a new Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-based mobile payment service. This feature will allow users of the app to instantly create a UPI ID, send money to any UPI ID or a mobile number registered with the BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) app. It will also enable users to recharge their mobile number from within the Truecaller app itself. The partnership makes the Truecaller and ICICI Bank platform among India's largest mobile payment platform with 150 million customers of the app gaining access to UPI-based payments.

First live payments bank

Airtel has launched India's first live payments bank,which would provide an interest of 7.25% per annum on deposits offering services in Rajasthan in a limited scale. The payments bank is testing systems and processes ahead of a full scale, pan-Indian launch, the company said in a statement. The pilot will run at 10,000 Airtel retail outlets where basic banking services will be provided. Airtel Payments Bank is planning to expand its merchant network in Rajasthan to 100,000 by the end of the year. Customers can open bank accounts by using Aadhaar based e-KYC. Airtel subscriber’s mobile number will function as a bank account number. The bank will accept deposits not exceeding Rs 1 lakh. It cannot perform lending activities, except while giving loans to its employees on approval of the board.

FICCI president

Chairman and managing director of Cadila Healthcare Ltd, Pankaj Patel has been elected president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) for 2017. At present Pankaj Patel is Chief Managing Director of Zydus Cadila. He is actively involved in various educational institutions and is on advisory committees and academic councils of several educational institutions such as IISER (Kolkata), IIM Ahmedabad etc. He is also the Vice President, Executive Chairman and Trustee of the Gujarat Cancer Society and Chairman of the Gujarat Cancer and Research Institute, one of the largest of its kind regional Cancer Centre in India.

Nobel Peace Prize 2016

 Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos  has awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the peace process with Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels. He dedicated the prize to the victims of his country's civil war. He was selected for the prestigious award by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

He is second Colombian to win Nobel Prize after writer Gabriel Gracia Marquez who had won the literature Prize in 1982. Santos is also second Latin American to receive Nobel Peace Prize after Guatemala’s Rigoberta Menchu had won it in 1992.

Russian company took over Essar Oil

Russia's state-controlled oil giant Rosneft took over India's second biggest private oil firm Essar Oil in an all-cash deal valued at about $13 billion.The all-cash acquisition, which includes the assumption of Essar Oil’s $5.5bn debt, marks the largest foreign direct investment in India to date.The deal was announced in the presence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a BRICS summit in Goa on October 15.Rosneft bought a 49 per cent stake in Essar Oil's refinery port and petrol pumps, while Netherlands-based Trafigura Group Pte, one of the world's biggest commodity trading companies, and Russian investment fund United Capital Partners split another 49 per cent equity equally. The remaining 2 per cent is held by minority shareholders after delisting of Essar Oil. 

IRDA slaps Rs.31 lakh fine on Canara HSBC

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has slapped a penalty of Rs.31 lakh on Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company.

IRDA has penalised Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company on charges including, delay in payment of claims, non-adherence to product specifications and violating licensing of corporate agents norms.

American, US Airways announces merger

 American Airlines and US Airways decided to merge which is a $11 billion deal. The resulting entity will be the world's biggest airline.

The combined entity will be known as American Airlines.

The merger would reduce the number of major U.S. airlines to four — the new American, United, Delta and Southwest.

The new American would have more than 900 planes, 3,200 daily flights and about 95,000 employees, not counting regional affiliates. It will be slightly bigger than United Airlines by passenger traffic, not counting regional affiliate airlines.

FIPB clears IKEA's bid to invest in single-brand retail

Swedish furniture giant IKEA has received the nod from FIPB( Foreign Investments Promotion Board,the government's single-window body to clear foreign investment proposals), to set up stores in India. It will become largest FDI deals in single-brand retail so far, which will bring in investment of over Rs 10,500 crore in India. 

Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram announced this.

IKEA Group proposes to invest this amount through a 100 percent subsidiary. IKEA group  are manufactures and sellers of home and office furnishing products.

IKEA's intends to set up 25 stores in India for which they already have permission from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) in the Commerce and Industry Ministry. The proposal will now have to be cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) as the FIPB can clear investment applications worth up to Rs 1,200 crore only.

Rangarajan panel

Government committee, led by C. Rangarajan, Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council has favoured complete decontrol of the sugar industry, dispensing immediately with the levy sugar obligation and administrative control on non-levy sugar. These recommendations are in line with the industry’s demand for easing controls.The committee also pitches for a stable trade policy and a moderate duty on imports and exports, but wants outright ban or quantitative restrictions done away with.

IMF cuts India's growth forecast

Due to low business confidence and sluggish structural reforms, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has slashed the growth forecast of India to 4.9 per cent for 2012. Earlier, the IMF had projected a growth rate of 6.1 per cent for this fiscal. Indian economy expanded by 5.5 per cent in the first quarter of financial year 2012.

National Investment Board(NIB)

To speed up clearances for mega infra projects, the Union Government has decided to establish National Investment Board. Describing the scaled down growth target of 8.2 per cent for the 12th plan as 'realistic',  Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said, the cabinet was expected to establish a National Investment Board(NIB, to be headed by Prime Minister) this week, to speed up clearances for projects that are now bounced from one ministry to another in a process that can stretch for years and frustrates investors.

Economic reforms round-2

49% FDI in insurance, 26% in pension sector
After foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail sector, the Union Cabinet hiked FDI limit in pension and insurance sectors. Still foreign investors would not be able to gain controlling shares of pension and insurance providing companies as the cap being fixed at 49 per cent for insurance sector and 26% for pension sector. 
This is against the recommendation of Parliament's standing committee on finance headed by BJP's Yashwant Sinha to cap FDI at 26%.

Companies Bill
Breaking a legislation deadlock Companies Bill gets the cabinet nod to incorporate crucial changes. The bill deals with the competition law.

Parekh panel suggestions

Parekh panel on financing of infrastructure headed by HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh suggests big-ticket reforms to attract investment in the infrastructure sector, it recommended increasing electricity charges and rail fares.
The committee also recommends 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in the telecom sector as against current 74 per cent.
The panel also suggested raising prices of natural gas.

The pannel thinks these recommendations will help in attracting Rs 51.46 lakh crore for funding infrastructure sector during the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), said the report which was presented to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The report adds, "a time-bound action plan...with a view to improving the enabling environment for private investment which is expected to finance about 47 per cent of the projected investment during the 12th Plan".

Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission

The Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission(FSLRC), headed by former Justice B. N. Srikrishna suggests key regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) and the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) should be merged into a Unified Financial Agency (UFA).
It also suggested setting up of a financial redressal agency (FRA) to address consumer complaints against companies across the financial sector.
At present, while the stock market is regulated by SEBI, the activities in the commodities market are looked after by the FMC. The insurance sector is regulated by the IRDA, while the PFRDA is responsible for managing the pension sector.
The FSLRC was set up to recast the financial sector legislations in tune with the contemporary requirements of the sector.

Kelkar panel recommendations

The Committee headed by former Finance Secretary Vijay Kelkar asked Government to eliminate various subsidies in phases by hiking prices of LPG, kerosene, diesel and food grains  by one-third by 2014-15 in ration shops to deal with the deteriorating fiscal situation. 
It also suggested a slew of bold measures to cut the subsidy bill, which did not find favour with the government.
About disinvestment, the Committee said that in absence of adequate steps the government will be able to raise around Rs 10,000 crore, as against the budget target of Rs 30,000 crore.
It cautions that in absence of these measures, the fiscal deficit of the government could shoot up to 6.1 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the current financial year where as it can can be contained to 5.2 percent with the proposed reforms.

Triple Five scheme

The Union Government set up a directorate, under Tea Board, which will serve small tea growers, Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry.
The initiative is now only for the tea sector. This could be extended to other plantation sectors, if needed, Scindia said.
He added that some of the areas of importance for the tea sector were re-plantation and rejuvenation, increase in exports, and tackling challenges such as labour shortage and higher mechanisation.
The government had come out with the Triple Five (555) scheme to increase Indian tea exports.
It is 555 scheme because, the focus would be on five markets with five major measures for five years. For the first phase, the government had sanctioned Rs.6.5 crore for this scheme.

Centre confident of disinvestment target

Kelkar Committee report pegged the receipts from disinvestment this fiscal at Rs.10,000 crore, way below the budgeted target of Rs.30,000 crore. But the government appeared confident in raising Rs.25,000-30,000 crore through sell-off of the Centre’s equity in public sector undertakings (PSUs) and thereby remain as close as possible to the fiscal deficit target of 5.1 per cent of GDP (gross domestic product) set for the financial year. The disinvestment is purely based on the equity market conditions, so if the condition is good government will be able to achieve the target.
Appreciation of rupee will help reduce subsidy bill and contain inflation, says Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram. 

Fiscal deficit could be higher than estimates in FY’13

The government now expects fiscal deficit —gap between expenditure and revenue —could overshoot the Budget target of 5.1percent and touch 5.3 percent of the GDP this financial year, Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram says.
In the first four months of 2012-13, fiscal deficit has already crossed 50 percent of Budget Estimate of Rs 5.13 lakh crore, or 5.1 percent of GDP.

According to the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC), India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is likely to be 6.7 percent this fiscal given the economic slowdown.

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http://gk4banking.blogspot.com/2012/09/3-fiscal-deficit-target-for-fy15-not.html
http://gk4banking.blogspot.com/2012/09/growth-estimates-by-s-and-pmeac.html

Growth estimates by S&P and PMEAC

S&P version:
Even after the FDI decisions and policy changes Standard and Poor’s (S&P) has lowered the growth forecast for India to 5.5 per cent for this fiscal, from 6.5 per cent projected earlier, citing “volatile” global economic situation. Lack of monsoon is the main reason for for this cut. 
“A trifecta featuring a slowdown in China, ongoing troubles in the eurozone, and a weaker recovery in the U.S. leads us to forecast slower economic growth rates for Asia Pacific,” S&P said.

PMEAC version:
Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Chairman C. Rangarajan expects India to grow at a much higher rate of 6.7 per cent which is better than last year. He expects the growth to pick up in the second half and will compensate for the first half which saw a muted growth.