Daily Sector News Today – 18.12.2017

Daily Sector News Today – 18.12.2017

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* AUTOMOBILE: Ford India and Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding to assess the feasibility of a common digital mobility solution for commuters in the city. Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers is seeking two tax rates for passenger vehicles under the Goods and Services Tax instead of multiple rates levied currently.

* AVIATION: With more routes set to be operational under the Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik scheme, the civil aviation ministry is likely to face paucity of funds in providing viability gap funding to participating airlines.

* BANKING: The Reserve Bank of India has revised the guidelines to fix liability for co-operative banks and customers in case of unauthorised digital transactions. RBI Governor Urjit Patel has reiterated his impassioned call for providing emerging market economies safety nets such as access to global foreign exchange swap lines, currently available to only a few "privileged" countries. The government will bear charges related to the merchant discount rate arising from small-value transactions conducted through debit cards, Bharat Interface for Money, and Aadhaar-enabled payment system for two years, the Union Cabinet said.
 - In order to increase credit availability to small businesses, the finance ministry has asked public sector banks to open micro, small and medium enterprises-intensive branches. Industry body CII suggested the government to bring down its holding in most public sector banks to 33% over the next three years to recapitalise banks.

* CORPORATE: Reliance Group has filed a 50-bln-rupee case in the Gujarat High court against Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi, accusing him of making "false, defamatory, and libellous statements". The Adani group, which has a presence in the power, coal, and maritime sectors, would soon foray into the highway construction sector.

* ECONOMY: With some amount of disinflation under way, inflation expectations are getting re-anchored and this is indicative of the credibility earned by the new monetary policy framework, which has played an important role in "shaping inflation expectations and outcomes", according to Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel.
 - The Union Cabinet has approved the Indian Footwear, Leather & Accessories Development Programme to generate employment in the leather and footwear sectors, with an approved expenditure of 26 bln rupees. The government is likely to raise around 700 bln rupees through recapitalisation bonds by February to provide capital to public sector banks. Not all state-owned banks may benefit from the recapitalisation bonds as the allocation of these bonds entirely hinges on the performance of these lenders. The government is overhauling the process followed by banks for mapping Aadhaar-linked bank accounts to subsidy payments.

* FAST MOVING CONSUMER GOODS: The Karnataka High Court has stayed the Supreme Court's directive of pictorial warnings covering 85% of the packets of tobacco products. The Food Safety Standards Authority of India has given manufacturers of instant noodles time till Jun 30, to implement the new labelling norms.

* INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Andhra Pradesh government has signed a memorandum of understanding with USbased research-and-development company, X Development LLC, to bring free-space optical communication to India. The Indian information technology and business process outsourcing industry faces a regulatory 'tsunami' in the European Union, and could face harsh fines if it fails to meet a May 2018 deadline to comply with data security stipulations.

* INFRASTRUCTURE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has committed an investment of 900 bln rupees in the next two to three years to build a network of highways and roads in the north eastern region.

* INSURANCE: UK's financial services group Legal & General plans to sell its 26% stake in India First Life Insurance, joint venture between Legal & General, BANK OF BARODA and ANDHRA BANK.

* STEEL: Lenders to Essar Steel is mandating that the bidder must have at least 5 bln rupees in cash balance, or provide a bank guarantee for a similar amount, and provide a resolution plan with approval from the  resolution professional.

* PHARMACEUTICALS: The Supreme Court set aside a Delhi High court order which had overturned a government ban on sale and manufacturing of 344 fixed dose combination drugs in December last year. Audits of Indian drug manufacturing facilities by the US Food and Drug Administration are set to rise sharply, triggered by the Mutual Recognition Agreement reached in October.

* POWER: The power ministry may ask distribution companies to accept the revised tariffs quoted by power plants to win coal contracts in auctions without waiting for the regulator's nod.

* RAILWAYS: The Cabinet has approved conversion of non-cumulative redeemable preference shares worth 40.80 bln rupees held by the government in Konkan Railway Corp into compulsorily convertible non-cumulative preference shares. The Indian Railways is planning to overhaul the signalling system by replacing old signals with new one on the entire network of more than 66,000 km. The new system will cost the railways 600 bln rupees.

* REAL ESTATE: Real estate developers may face investigation by National Anti-profiteering Authority for allegedly denying consumers the benefit of reduced tax burden under the goods and services tax.

* TELECOMMUNICATIONS: Vodafone India has appointed Manish Dawar as chief financial officer with effect from Jan 1, replacing Thomas Reisten who is moving to Vodafone Group plc. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is likely to release guidelines for unsolicited commercial communications by Jan 15 after completing consultations with stakeholders. Malaysia's Maxis Bhd, remains committed to loss making Aircel, its Indian telecom operations, after having invested $7 bln over a decade without generating returns. The telecom department is planning to allocate E and V band spectrum, which are required to connect mobile towers, through auction instead of fixed fee as suggested by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.