Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by Suraj »

Nirav Modi's getting a whole rap sheet in his name. On top of defrauding PNB, he's been breaking SEZ rules. Now he has not just the RBI, but a legitimate arm of FinMin - the IT department - after him.
Nirav Modi diverted Rs 12.16-bn SEZ diamonds to domestic market: I-T Dept
The Income Tax department has found that in the last financial year the Nirav Modi group had illegally diverted Rs 12.16 billion of diamonds meant for export from its special economic zone to the domestic market, selling them in cash.

The Director-General of Income Tax (Investigations) had found that in 2016-17, the group which had units at the Surat SEZ diverted high quality diamonds imported for processing and export, to the domestic market for huge profit. Instead, low-quality diamonds were exported to associate units abroad to keep up the appearances.

Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, along with directors of the Modi and Gitanjali groups are under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Department for allegedly committing fraud amounting to Rs 114 billion against Punjab National Bank, whose Letters of Undertaking and Foreign Letters of Credit were illegally used to raise and rollover money.
NiMo's current defence - that GoI destroyed his ability to repay his creditors by publicizing this - is basically massaged words saying 'had you all kept quiet I'd have been able to negotiate to repay something using inflated valuations'.

In reality, his business isn't worth the inflated value. So GoI had done nothing wrong; it would be moral hazard to enable him to pay off some off his debts with inflated valuations his business isn't worth. They'll just put him out of business, and his rivals will be more than happy to pick it up while he watches.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by IndraD »

Today SC trashed a PIL on PNB scam into bin calling it publicity litigation, giving ample time to GoI to investigate the scam. SC also pulled the PIL lawyers for unnecessarily using PILs. http://www.livelaw.in/pnb-scam-ag-oppos ... JM.twitter
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by IndraD »

https://www.gaonconnection.com/samvad/v ... ndian-bank

this article is in Hindi: it claims when polls were near India Gandhi made phone call to local bank asking to hand over Rs 60 lakh without any paper work. That established pathway for powerful people looting bank money exploiting loopholes.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by nash »

Not sure where to post this
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/busine ... 12721.html
"One of the two defence industrial corridors mentioned in the budget, one is proposed in the Bundelkhand region of the state which will bring an investment of Rs 20,000 crore and generate employment avenues for 2.5 lakh people," the Prime Minister said at the Investors Summit-2018 here.
First corridor AFAIK is in TN which will be link between Bangalore and Cheenai. This we can understand as there are many defence labs and companies in these 2 cities.

But in Bundelkhand region what we can expect to come up
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by Supratik »

Shaurya, the NPAs were primarily due to two reasons. Poor governance due to which projects were stuck leading to NPAs. And crony capitalism with favourable businessmen getting credit that they don't deserve e.g. Mallya. The first has been tackled to some extent e.g. the stuck projects in road building have come down but not entirely eliminated yet. The second case is that previously govt and banks would like to restructure defaulting loans or waive it entirely. Now the bankruptcy code is in play and many firms are on the verge of liquidation or up for grabs. Several big shots have had to sell their or are selling part of their businesses. So it is incorrect to say that this govt has not done anything. Scams are more difficult to game but hopefully the Nirav Modi case will lead to more regulatory tightening.

Having thought about it for a while I am veering round to the view that most of these PSBs need to be privatized. Maybe just keep SBI and one or two more performing PSBs. The rest should be either merged or privatized. True that privatization is no panacea for preventing bank failures but these PSBs are just one more layer to aid corruption through the politician-banker-businessmen nexus although thankfully the loan mela era is hopefully over. At least the private banks will be answerable to the market and investors.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by vsunder »

nash wrote:Not sure where to post this
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/busine ... 12721.html
"One of the two defence industrial corridors mentioned in the budget, one is proposed in the Bundelkhand region of the state which will bring an investment of Rs 20,000 crore and generate employment avenues for 2.5 lakh people," the Prime Minister said at the Investors Summit-2018 here.
First corridor AFAIK is in TN which will be link between Bangalore and Cheenai. This we can understand as there are many defence labs and companies in these 2 cities.

But in Bundelkhand region what we can expect to come up

Why not? Armoured Corps is based in Babina some 15 miles from Jhansi, BABINA is an acronym that has now become the name of the town.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babina,_Uttar_Pradesh

IAF station Maharajpur, Gwalior is where 7 Battleaxes are based and is also where there is an electronic range. There are a lot of important defence establishments in Bundelkhand, --- Jhansi, Bhopal, Kanpur and Gwalior. Kanpur and Bhopal adjoin Bundelkhand, while Jhansi is Bundelkhand.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by nash »

vsunder wrote:

Why not? Armoured Corps is based in Babina some 15 miles from Jhansi, BABINA is an acronym that has now become the name of the town.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babina,_Uttar_Pradesh

IAF station Maharajpur, Gwalior is where 7 Battleaxes are based and is also where there is an electronic range. There are a lot of important defence establishments in Bundelkhand, --- Jhansi, Bhopal, Kanpur and Gwalior. Kanpur and Bhopal adjoin Bundelkhand, while Jhansi is Bundelkhand.
Bhopal and Kanpur are two extreme end of Bundelkhand region, people here though don't consider Bhopal as part of this region but yes this can be work out as link similiar to First Defense corridor.

Whatever I saw in this region is mostly military bases, it doesn't have anything similar in scale like Bangalore. Yes unlike Bangalore and Cheenai, lot of barren land is there in UP-MP border and other places which can be a case of some Green field projects.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by Suraj »

5.5 million GST returns filed in January
As many as 5.5 million goods and services tax (GST) returns have been filed for January so far, Goods and Services Tax Network Chairman Ajay Bhushan Pandey said on Wednesday.
The last date for filing initial GSTR-3B returns for a month is the 20th of the subsequent month. Hence, the sales returns for January had to be filed by February 20.

However, businesses can continue to file returns with a late fee.“The total number of 3B GST returns filed in January till date is 55 lakh (5.5 million),” Pandey told reporters here.

The number is expected to go up when the government releases the GST collection figure later in the month as more businesses continue to file returns.
FDI inflow increases by only 0.27% to $36 bn during Apr-Dec 2017
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country grew by a meagre 0.27 per cent to $35.94 billion during the first 9 months of the current fiscal, according to the DIPP data.

The FDI inflows were $35.84 billion during the April-December period of last fiscal, 2016-17.

In rupee terms, however, the FDI recorded a negative growth -- inflows dipped by 4 per cent to Rs 2.31 trillion, as per the data the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.

The major sectors which attracted overseas inflows during the period include services ($4.62 billion), telecommunications ($6.13 billion), computer software and hardware ($5.15 billion) and construction activities ($2.5 billion).
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by Suraj »

State Development Loans surge to Rs 3.2 trn till January, Maharashtra tops
The borrowings by various state governments through State Development Loans have gone up 8.7 per cent this financal year (till January-end).

Total borrowings by the states in this period stood at Rs 3.24 trillion compared with Rs 2.98 trillion in the same period of FY17.

In terms of volume of borrowings, Maharashtra topped with Rs 366 billion followed by Tamil Nadu (Rs 342 billion) and Uttar Pradesh (Rs 338 billion), according to a study on 'Debt Market Review' by CARE Ratings.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by nam »

chanakyaa wrote: As I analyzed these cases (NiMo, Mallya, LalitMo etc.), what I couldn’t digest were the observations that how easily these accused have the ability to settle themselves and their families abroad (of course having lot of money helps), how conveniently these people are intimated so they can leave the country ahead of matter becoming public, conveniently their cases eventually fade from public memory, and all this without the name of any senior bureaucrat or politician coming out in open (yeah some low level employees get thrown under the bus).
It does not work that way. There is no way of preventing these chaps from leaving the country and defaulting. And there is no need for any bureaucrat to inform them to leave the country. Most of these guys will have a foreign citizenship for rainy days.

Regarding the loans, given these are establishment business, banks will give them the option of restructuring their loans. You cannot arrest someone, because they defaulted on one month's of payment. Banks have to label them as wilful defaulter, only then any legal action can be taken. And banks don't give out such a label until they have exhausted all other options.

During this time, there is nothing preventing a person to leave the country. What will you stop him for?

If banks are aggressive in declaring anyone missing a single payment as defaulter, then there will millions of normal citizens who will under legal action for missing monthly home/car loan payments. This is neither practical nor useful for the economy.

This is where the Bankruptcy law is so important. The banks should be aggressive in applying this law to retrieve their loans once the person defaults.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by arshyam »

nam wrote:This is where the Bankruptcy law is so important. The banks should be aggressive in applying this law to retrieve their loans once the person defaults.
Which reminds me...

As IBC Begins To Deliver, Modi Government Set To Win First Skirmish Against Crony Capital’s Defaults by R Jagannathan, Swarajya
Is the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s run of bad luck with bad banks and bad loans about to turn? While the discovery of a Rs 11,400 crore fraud in the Punjab National Bank has only left red faces all around, it appears as if the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) is about to bring us good news.

From all accounts, the initial default cases involving steel, power and cement assets seem to be about to deliver in spades, thanks to a healthy combination of good assets and a favourable turn in the commodity cycle.
Against an accumulated debt of Rs 50,000 crore, Bhushan Steel, if sold for Rs 35,000 crore to the Tatas, will involve a haircut of only 30 per cent for lenders – which is way above what they may already have provided for in their balance sheets. This means their balance sheets will get a positive boost once the bid goes through.
The companies mentioned above could end up giving the banks cash to the tune of Rs 75,000-100,000 crore – and huge profit-and-loss account relief at a time of serious financial crisis. It will prevent a further deterioration in profits, and, in some cases, actually help bump up profits where haircuts are lower than provisions.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by VKumar »

IndraD wrote:https://www.gaonconnection.com/samvad/v ... ndian-bank

this article is in Hindi: it claims when polls were near India Gandhi made phone call to local bank asking to hand over Rs 60 lakh without any paper work. That established pathway for powerful people looting bank money exploiting loopholes.
Yes. This is the infamous Nagarwalla case. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_Nagarwala_scandal
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by ShauryaT »

Supratik wrote:Shaurya, the NPAs were primarily due to two reasons. Poor governance due to which projects were stuck leading to NPAs. And crony capitalism with favourable businessmen getting credit that they don't deserve e.g. Mallya. The first has been tackled to some extent e.g. the stuck projects in road building have come down but not entirely eliminated yet. The second case is that previously govt and banks would like to restructure defaulting loans or waive it entirely. Now the bankruptcy code is in play and many firms are on the verge of liquidation or up for grabs. Several big shots have had to sell their or are selling part of their businesses. So it is incorrect to say that this govt has not done anything. Scams are more difficult to game but hopefully the Nirav Modi case will lead to more regulatory tightening.

Having thought about it for a while I am veering round to the view that most of these PSBs need to be privatized. Maybe just keep SBI and one or two more performing PSBs. The rest should be either merged or privatized. True that privatization is no panacea for preventing bank failures but these PSBs are just one more layer to aid corruption through the politician-banker-businessmen nexus although thankfully the loan mela era is hopefully over. At least the private banks will be answerable to the market and investors.
The NPA problems are neither new nor limited to a few fabulous cases. The issue is structural and started with the bank nationalization act of 1969. Its protagonists will tout the expansion of banking, expansion in deposits and availability of credit to "priority" sectors. All of this has been at the cost of bank profitability and efficiencies and you can trace NPA's, right since the 70's. In my view, the chief cause of the high inflation nature of the Indian economy can be traced to this issue. The policy was not about the efficient use of capital but about claimed social justice mixed with blatant political use and misuse.

Our dear PM continues in the same tradition a al Jan Dhan, with the claimed expansion of banking to all and using its channels to make government subsidies more efficient but Jan Dhan is not about the efficient use of capital. However, well-intentioned it is in the same mode of social justice, centralized and is more about politics than economic policy.

So long as politicians seek to control capital for political ends (as they are wont to) the efficient use of capital will suffer. Almost 50 years into the cycle even with a minister who is "honest" an entire culture of sycophancy, corruption, inefficiency and blatant political misuse is so ingrained that the ONLY hope is to clear the Augean stables through a "transformation", not an attempt to make a flawed system perform better. This is my biggest disconnect with the current government.

Garibi Hatao was an economic disaster but a political masterstroke. Good politics does not have to be good economics. It is not popularity that will save the day but indeed strong doses of direly needed medicine and not quackery! Capital works best when it adheres to the principles of capitalism and bank capital cannot prosper until it is allowed to work in such a manner.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

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An Unnamed IAS Officer Levels Serious Allegations Of Corruption Against Big-Four Firm KPMG India


An Unnamed IAS Officer Levels Serious Allegations Of Corruption Against Big-Four Firm KPMG India

By PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA AND ABIR DASGUPTA | 23 February 2018

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An anonymous letter written by a civil servant, addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has levelled serious allegations against the multinational consulting firm KPMG’s India operations. In the letter, which is dated 5 December, a senior bureaucrat—who claims to be a member of the elite Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and holds the post of a director in the union government—accuses the group of exercising influence over key government officials by, among other means, recruiting their children and relatives. It alleges that there is a pattern of influence among senior officers in the central and state governments and top executives in KPMG India. Other allegations stated in the letter include the purported offer of a bribe to a bureaucrat, and the awarding of crucial government contracts to international firms, to the detriment of domestic industry.

A KPMG spokesperson strongly denied the imputations of impropriety but did not refute particular claims made in the letter.

The unnamed director writes that the letter was intended to bring to the prime minister’s notice “rampant corruption … in collusion with private sector MNC consultants.” The author states that they have withheld their identity “on fear of persecution by fellow bureaucrats.” Reliable sources have confirmed to these reporters the authenticity of the letter, which has been doing the rounds in government circles in recent weeks.

Headquartered in the Netherlands, KPMG is one of the “big four” accounting and financial consultancy networks across the world, along with Ernst & Young, PwC (earlier PricewaterhouseCoopers) and Deloitte, all of which have significant operations in India.

The allegations described in the letter are serious. The director alleges that a senior executive in KPMG India’s government advisory services offered a joint secretary posted in their department a “substantial bribe” in exchange for the award of a large consulting project. The director states that the joint secretary declined the bribe. However, the director adds, the joint secretary chose not to report the matter, allegedly in fear of KPMG’s clout among senior officers of the IAS and the Indian Police Service (IPS) in the central and state governments.

The director details the manner in which such clout in the corridors of power is allegedly achieved. They list a number of jobs held in KPMG by relatives of senior bureaucrats, purportedly in order to curry the officials’ favour. Such jobs are well remunerated—earning close to Rs 40 crore over the course of a professional career, according to the letter—and are akin to a “bribe” of a similar amount, the director states.

The officer has listed the names of nine senior officers whose close relatives hold jobs with KPMG—their names are deliberately being withheld in this report. These include relatives of several former and current top officers in the Ministry of Urban Development, including the son of a former secretary in the ministry who is currently posted in the Ministry of Home Affairs, and who earlier served in a key position in Jharkhand. The nephew of an additional secretary in the same ministry and the son of a former joint secretary are listed as well. Importantly, one of these civil servants currently holds a crucial position in Modi’s flagship Smart Cities mission.

Other relatives named in the letter include the daughter of an IAS officer from the Gujarat cadre who served as a secretary in the home ministry and the sons of: a senior IAS officer belonging to the Rajasthan cadre, a former joint secretary in the home ministry who was formerly the chairman of the Airports Authority of India, a former senior IAS officer from the Andhra Pradesh cadre, a former chief secretary of Telangana, and a former finance secretary to the government of India.

The letter alleges that each of these officers were in key positions when their relatives were hired by KPMG, and that the firm was subsequently awarded large consulting projects by the concerned departments. The urban-development ministry features prominently in the letter—KPMG is executing the ministry’s Swachh Bharat and Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) projects. Other flagship government projects with which KPMG is associated and which are mentioned in the letter include Make in India, the Smart Cities mission, the Startup India initiative, the Bharatmala project for roads and highways, the Sagarmala project for ports and maritime development, and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). The letter alleges that consulting firm is associated with government projects involving a total outlay of over Rs 5,000 crore.

Featuring prominently in the letter are also allegations against the India head of KPMG, Arun Kumar. Prior to his appointment to KPMG, Kumar served as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and the Director General of the US and Foreign Commercial Service during US president Barack Obama’s second term. The director claims that in his role as the chairman and CEO of KPMG India, Kumar has favoured American firms for contracts in government missions. The letter claims that American firms such as Cisco, IBM, Dell, Hewlett Packard, Honeywell, United Technologies and Otis have bagged equipment contracts under the prime minister’s flagship Smart Cities programme, to the disadvantage of Indian firms and costing India “lacs of jobs.” This, the director alleges, is linked to KPMG India’s involvement with the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), the arm of the US government that works to advance the country’s business and economic interests globally. The USTDA, the director states, has hired KPMG India to work with the US government to “push US firms into the Smart Cities program.” “Hence tenders are coming out with Cisco equipment specifications, making it impossible for competent Indian firms … to compete.”

The director alleges that “[s]uch ability to deeply influence Indian government functioning arises from the fact that many of our senior bureaucrats are compromised as their children work for the US MNC consulting firms.” Further, the letter alleges that the malaise is spread across “the Big Four consulting firms, who have practically infested all our governments.” “A quick investigation will reveal that government projects worth over Rs 300,000 crores are being handled by US consulting firms and that atleast 100 top bureaucrats have their children or relatives working in these consulting firms,” the director alleges.

We reached out to KPMG India regarding the allegations contained in the letter. A spokesperson for the firm rejected the accusations and questioned the motivations of the director, terming the letter “instigated and written with malicious competitive intent.” Though the spokesperson said that the letter is “replete with factual errors,” these were not pointed out. Further, the spokesperson did not deny specific claims contained in the letter—such as the employment of the individuals concerned, or the involvement of KPMG India in the projects mentioned, and the alleged roping-in of US firms into Indian government projects. The full statement sent by the spokesperson reads:

The accusations made in this anonymous letter alleging wrong doing in KPMG’s work for the Government of India are totally baseless. KPMG has worked with the Union and various State Governments over the past years with many diverse stakeholders, and has always conducted its business with utmost transparency and the highest standards of integrity and ethics. KPMG is a best-in-class organization that has been operating for over 25 years in India with a solid, irrefutable track record.

Talent at KPMG is recruited solely on the basis of merit and the organization has robust processes to ensure objectivity and fairness in selection and promotions. To suggest that KPMG associates have been hired on account of their parentage and linking its government work to such hires is an affront to the qualifications and expertise of the employees and to the organisation’s world class credentials. We have examined the insinuations in the letter and find them replete with factual errors apart from being slanderous.

It is unfortunate that the writer has stooped to insinuate motives to the KPMG India Chairman who returned to India after a distinguished career in the US, where he played an important and constructive role in the advancement of India-US relations. His work at KPMG India has no relation, whatsoever, with his prior role in the US Government. His work in India only demonstrates his professional and personal commitment to the growth and development of India, the country of his birth.

KPMG notes these allegations are mischievous and emphatically rejects them. Our guess is that the letter is instigated and written with malicious competitive intent.

A top executive employed in one of the Big Four multinational consultancy firms, reacting to the letter on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the prevalence of corrupt practices in the business of consultancy. He said that “in continuation of the policy of privatization of public resources, it appears that a new cosy relationship has evolved between crony capitalists, government officers and consulting firms.” “Given the fire from the CAG (the Comptroller and Auditor General) faced by government officers in earlier cases of alleged attempts to privatize public resources such as the 2G (second-generation telecommunications spectrum) scam, Coalgate, etc, a convenient mechanism has got formulated, wherein decisions of government officers are now based on ‘neutral’ third party consulting firms, reducing the accountability of the officers and the decisions leading to profiteering by crony capitalists,” the executive said.“The crony capitalists gain, the government officers gain as their children get lucrative employment in the consulting firms and the consulting firms gain as they receive hefty fees from public coffers.”

KPMG is not the only firm that has recently been accused of such impropriety—in early February 2018, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the regulator for the securities market in India, banned the Indian arm of PwC from auditing any firms listed in the country, for the forthcoming two years. SEBI took this action against PwC based on its alleged role in the Satyam scam, in which the computer-services company inflated its earnings by close to $1 billion. SEBI stated in its order that the consulting firm, which was auditing Satyam, failed to “independently check the veracity of the monthly bank statements.” The board said that it felt compelled to take a “stern view of … fraudulent practices, particularly when persons tasked with protecting the interest of investors are themselves hand-in-glove with the main perpetrators of the fraud.”

In the wake of the 2008 global economic crisis, the discourse around wealth inequality and the “revolving door” relationships between major multinational corporations and governments, which foster the maintenance of such inequality, have gained significant prominence. These allegations add to this conversation, and point to a growing familial and caste-community nexus in India that appears to control major levers of governance, public investment and policy, in concert with powerhouse multinationals.

While such a claim—of exercising influence by forming “alliances” with senior government functionaries through the employment of their relatives—may be difficult to prove in court, it is precisely through such ambiguity and the plausible deniability it offers to the concerned officers that the informal networks of power that constitute familial and clan relations can come to capture many of India’s formal institutions of governance.

In conclusion, the anonymous director writes that they are confident that the prime minister will take “swift action” to prevent more “damage” to the country’s interests. The director adds that they are “proud” of Modi, and takes a “pledge” to support his “war against corruption, both from within the government and from private sector.” “I completely believe in your war cry – ‘Na Khayengey, Na Khaneydeyngey’ – ‘I will not be compromised and I will not let others be compromised,’” the director wrote.

The Caravan wrote to the Prime Minister’s Office, enquiring whether any action has been taken on the director’s complaint. At the time this article was published, the PMO was yet to respond. The article shall be updated when a response is received.

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Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and Abir Dasgupta are independent journalists.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

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SC Asks Centre To Regulate Foreign Auditors Operating In India, Says Unchecked Firms Could Adversely Affect Country’s Economy
Taking a serious note of unchecked auditing bodies adversely affecting the country’s economy, the Supreme Court has said that the Centre may consider setting up of a three-member experts committee to look into the issue of regulating the multinational accounting firms (MAFs) operating in India.

The apex court observed that absence of "revisiting and restructuring oversight mechanism" to regulate such accountancy firms might have adverse impact on the existing chartered accountancy profession and unchecked auditing bodies could also adversely affect the economy of the country.
An Outlook issue in August last year had brought to light how as a profession chartered accountants were facing their worst crisis of credibility with allegations of money laundering staining their white collars forever. One of the articles in this package by S. Gurumurthy had particularly looked at how foreign firms had shattered the ethical legacy that drove the professional standards of Indian CAs.
READ ALSO: How They Make The Ledger Lie
On Friday, a bench comprising Justices A K Goel and U U Lalit said the Centre could consider steps for effective enforcement of the provisions of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) regulations.

"Absence of revisiting and restructuring oversight mechanism as discussed above (in the judgement) may have adverse effect on the existing chartered accountancy profession as a whole on the one hand, and unchecked auditing bodies can adversely affect the economy of the country on the other," the bench said in a 75-page judgement.

The court's order came on two petitions, including the one filed by NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), which had alleged that foreign accountancy firms were practising in India in violation of law.

The NGO had also sought a probe against foreign accountancy firms operating in India for allegedly indulging in financial irregularities and fudging of accounts.

It noted that as per reports of the study group and expert group, enforcement mechanism was not adequate and effective and these aspects were required to be looked into by the experts in the government.

"The Union of India may constitute a three member committee of experts to look into the question whether and to what extent the statutory framework to enforce the letter and spirit of sections 25 and 29 of the CA (Chartered Accountants) Act and the statutory code of conduct for the CAs requires revisit so as to appropriately discipline and regulate MAFs," the bench said.

It referred to two laws of the USA in this regard and said that the committee may also consider the need for an appropriate legislation or any other appropriate mechanism for oversight of profession of the auditors.

"The question whether on account of conflict of interest of auditors with consultants, the auditors’ profession may need an exclusive oversight body may be examined. The committee may examine the study group and the expert group reports referred to (in the judgement), apart from any other material," it said.

"The committee may call for suggestions from all concerned. Such committee may be constituted within two months. Report of the committee may be submitted within three months thereafter. The Union of India may take further action after due consideration of such report," the apex court said.

It also said that the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) might further examine all the related issues at appropriate level within three months and take steps as considered necessary.

The bench observed that it appreciated that it was for the policy makers to take a call on the issue of "extent to which globalisation" could be allowed in a particular field and the conditions, subject to which the same can be allowed.

"In the present context, having regard to the statutory framework under the CA Act, current FDI Policy and the RBI circulars, it may prima facie appear that there is violation of statutory provisions and policy framework effective enforcement of which has to be ensured," it said.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by chetak »

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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by chetak »

This report was used in an attempt to shame India at Davos.

I wonder at whose behest such a report had even been complied.??



Oxfam scandal reveals dark side of do-gooder NGOs



Oxfam scandal reveals dark side of do-gooder NGOs

February 25, 2018, Swapan Dasgupta in Right & Wrong | India | TOI

All news is selective and none more so than foreign news. On the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Davos, the UK-based Oxfam released what many considered an explosive report. Entitled Reward Work, Not Wealth, the report suggested that “82% of the wealth generated last year went to the richest 1% of the global population, while the 3.7 billion people who make up the poorest half of the world saw no increase in their wealth.” Adding an Indian dimension to the horror story of global inequity, the report added India’s richest 1% garnered as much as 73% of the total wealth generated in the country in 2017.


That the report had an explicitly political objective was made clear by the head of Oxfam India in her press statement: “The billionaire boom is not a sign of a thriving economy but a symptom of a failing economic system. Those working hard… are struggling to fund their child’s education, buy medicines… and manage two meals a day. The growing divide undermines democracy and promotes corruption and cronyism.” Predictably, there was no mention of the numbers that had been lifted out of poverty thanks to the robust growth.

The report got a lot of play in the Indian print media and was flaunted by those who have never reconciled themselves to the end of the socialist raj. But then, sensational reports by activists invariably receive lavish coverage, not least because the messengers of doom are skilled in ‘advocacy’. After all, the prevalence of misery, often real but sometimes exaggerated, constitutes the very rationale of their existence.

Curiously, but perhaps not so, there was hardly any media coverage in India of a scandal that erupted barely a fortnight later in London. On February 11, the Sunday Times (London) revealed that nearly 120 charity workers had been dismissed over the past seven years for sexual offences that British prime minister Theresa May has dubbed “horrific.” There were 87 incidents involving Oxfam, 31 involving Save the Children and two that concerned Christian Aid. There was even a reported case of child abuse in India by an employee of the Grail Trust. The worst cases, however, related to the cynical sexual exploitation of local women in Haiti in the aftermath of the horrific earthquake in 2011.

At a House of Commons Committee hearing, a British MP suggested that the aid workers viewed local women like “trinkets” and Priti Patel, a former minister, said that the sector had become a refuge for “predatory paedophiles”. The outrage was strong enough for the British government to suspend the 32 million pounds of public money it donated to Oxfam annually and some 7,000 individual donors to cancel their standing orders.


Maybe that was overstating the point since NGOs also have very dedicated and idealistic individuals in their ranks. But it is a commentary on the cynicism that has affected the cash-rich global organisations eliciting Christmas donations for proverbial ‘humanitarian disasters’ and campaigning against pro-rich policies that they think nothing of violating the norms of transparency they recommend for others.

Oxfam, for example, suppressed till last week an internal report from 2011 that documented the perversions of some of its senior staff. And a former CEO of Save the Children who should have been drummed out in disgrace was given a sweetheart termination package and made his way to Unicef as deputy CEO.

The extent to which the Oxfam scandal in the UK is indicative of the rotten underbelly of the global piety industry is a matter of conjecture. There are good NGOs that have modest aims and work with dedication among vulnerable communities. Then there are those that began with a sense of mission but then acquired fame and fortune that turned them into businesses specialising in international conference tourism, if not quasi-political outfits.


NGO stalwarts in India, for example, transformed themselves into policy makers during the previous UPA government thanks to the patronage of Sonia Gandhi’s National Advisory Council. Many of them have now developed a vested interest in the perpetuation of poverty and are in the forefront of the opposition to Aadhaar, on the ground it violates the privacy of the poor. A few teamed up with AAP during the 2014 general elections and left a trail of forfeited security deposits.

For long, it was considered offensive to question the loftiness of the NGOs and their international donors. The Oxfam scandal has shown that underneath the holy robes is a lot of sin.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by Falijee »

India’s financial A.Q. Khan network
By M.D. Nalapat | 25 February, 2018
Sunday Guardian
Our ‘A.Q. Khan of Indian Finance’ has moles everywhere.
General Pervez Musharraf—whose record in conning his masters (whether these be in Islamabad or Washington) is unparalleled—made out that all Pakistan-related proliferation was caused by A.Q. Khan, who was retired and therefore “no longer a government official”. Living up (or down) to its reputation of being irrationally credulous where its own favourites were concerned, the CIA apparently bought Musharraf’s story, as did the US administration. So whatever took place was the consequence of the independent activities of a single scientist gone rogue, and not part of a GHQ program to make some extra money through nuclear commerce, adding to its profits from staples such as the South Asian narcotics and hawala networks. A.Q. Khan was complicit in the nuclear proliferation emanating from Pakistan, but as part of a network that comprised hundreds of retired and serving scientists, military personnel and civil servants. Mush, the con man that he is/was :mrgreen:
In India, an “A.Q. Khan network” has been operating since 2004, again with multiple players, but this time in the financial markets and not the nuclear technology field. As yet, however, the Government of India has shown no indication that it is aware of this network and the systemic risk it poses.
The CBI, ED, DRI and RBI claim to have finally realised that the deliberate defaulting of bank loans through collusion between businesspersons, politicians and officials has reached levels that threaten to sharply slow down the Indian growth story. Such malpractices have coexisted with RBI policies that ensure a lucrative and risk-free margin to multiple foreign financial institutions, even while the central bank has been draining large tranches of manufacturing and service industries of affordable finance. Arbitrage is the name of the game in India, and North Block has long specialised in incentivising such activities by those holding foreign currency, while adopting measures limiting the spread of the bond market. There is indeed a trillion dollar need for infrastructure, but to rely on middle class savers to fund such expenses is unrealistic. What is needed is to replicate what the US did over a century ago while developing its railroad system, which was to attract large flows of funds from wealthy overseas investors through the bond market.
The clerk or junior manager in India, who parks his or her meagre savings in LIC, should not be expected to shoulder the financial burden of ensuring that infrastructure in India reaches minimally acceptable global standards. Rather, wealthy pension funds in the EU or in North America should be incentivised to invest in bonds created for the purpose, rather than continue to pour money into the equities market and make huge returns through rigging of prices, in the process cheating the small investor of his savings.
Gitanjali Jewellery is not the only private company in which the LIC bought shares at peak value, only to suffer losses once prices inevitably came down to levels better matching fundamentals. India’s financial “A.Q. Khan network” first drove equity prices higher and higher through using its influence in the FII community and over government policy (sometimes simply by official statements of intent of policy) and thereafter “persuaded” public institutions to purchase such shares, much of which were held by India’s “Khan” and his cronies. Profits were assured through insider knowledge, and such moneys were raised through looting of middle class investors.
Given price fixing and rigging in several of the stock prices in India, a citizen may ask as to why so much discretion has gone the way of SEBI, an institution where our own “A.Q. Khan” is said to have got appointed those who did his bidding. Our “A.Q. Khan of Indian Finance” has moles everywhere, including in the present dispensation, who give his syndicate real time information collected by the banking system, by exchanges and by other agencies, not to mention prior knowledge of impending monetary and fiscal measures. And yet, it seems that no investigative agency has connected the dots to unmask India’s own counterpart to A.Q. Khan and his network, such as by checking on his continuing contacts and past history with officials manning sensitive agencies. Real time information still being made available to him by accomplices include data which can be used to so manipulate equity markets enough to generate close to Rs 75 crore a day of pure profit for him alone, parked abroad through payment highways created by monetary authorities “so as to meet the needs of global commerce”. The same authorities who sent the informal economy into the ICU by choking them of liquidity from 8 November 2016 onwards.
ust as Pakistan’s A.Q. Khan operated through a network of serving and retired officers, so does his financial sector counterpart in India. Otherwise it would not have been possible for him to, inter alia (a) get selected helpful CMDs and EDs of banks, (b) make government banks sell loans at low rates to private banks, which almost immediately resold them at a profit, (c) engineer Corporate Debt Restructuring deals where the money saved by the borrower would be split with “Khan”, (d) get so-called “watchdogs” to ignore or compound cases of favourites, while going after those deemed as a threat to the network’s underground business empire, (e) creating dossiers, including manufactured data, on target individuals and ensuring that agencies go after them on the basis of dodgy evidence, and even (f) postpone the introduction of enhanced security features in India’s currency by many years, while ensuring that companies blacklisted by the Home Ministry continued to supply vital items involving currency printing in the country. Depressingly, this list goes on and on and on.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs to be informed about the activities of the financial “A.Q. Khan network” operating in India at speed since 2004, and which seems not at all to have been inconvenienced by the 2014 Lok Sabha election results. India’s “A.Q. Khan” has damaged the economy severely since 2004, by subverting critical financial infrastructure so as to ensure that his global and local moneybag associates increase the zeroes in their offshore holdings of undeclared money at the expense of a country where 300 million people go to bed hungry every night. Just as the Pakistan state had “no knowledge” of the A.Q. Khan network, neither it seems is the Government of India aware of the domestic financial A.Q. Khan network, comprised of high roller operators busily sabotaging the future of India. Mr Nalapat needs to name names :D

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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by Suraj »

ShauryaT: it would really help if you can back up your post with data . On first glance it appears to conflate unrelated things into one narrative unnecessasarily .
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by ShauryaT »

Suraj wrote:ShauryaT: it would really help if you can back up your post with data . On first glance it appears to conflate unrelated things into one narrative unnecessasarily .
It will help for you to be more specific on what parts are troublesome to a well-informed person like you. The lack of performance of PSB's and its mounting NPA's is not an unknown topic with nearly 16% of assets (as of now) marked as stressed and neither is there any dearth of views of the bank nationalization act and its effects. The post was not a reflection of a single data point or even a few of them. It is an observation based on what one has read and experienced. But, if you insist on data points then read the Nayak Committee Report or works of Vijay Joshi, TN Ninan and really a host of others. The views and data points are there in spades and available across decades. The post indeed has a sweeping view formed along the following lines. https://m.rbi.org.in/Scripts/Publicatio ... x?id=18050
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by SaraLax »

Falijee wrote:India’s financial A.Q. Khan network
By M.D. Nalapat | 25 February, 2018
Sunday Guardian

[quote]Our ‘A.Q. Khan of Indian Finance’ has moles everywhere.
General Pervez Musharraf—whose record in conning his masters (whether these be in Islamabad or Washington) is unparalleled—made out that all Pakistan-related proliferation was caused by A.Q. Khan, who was retired and therefore “no longer a government official”. Living up (or down) to its reputation of being irrationally credulous where its own favourites were concerned, the CIA apparently bought Musharraf’s story, as did the US administration. So whatever took place was the consequence of the independent activities of a single scientist gone rogue, and not part of a GHQ program to make some extra money through nuclear commerce, adding to its profits from staples such as the South Asian narcotics and hawala networks. A.Q. Khan was complicit in the nuclear proliferation emanating from Pakistan, but as part of a network that comprised hundreds of retired and serving scientists, military personnel and civil servants. Mush, the con man that he is/was :mrgreen: [/size]
In India, an “A.Q. Khan network” has been operating since 2004, again with multiple players, but this time in the financial markets and not the nuclear technology field. As yet, however, the Government of India has shown no indication that it is aware of this network and the systemic risk it poses.
The CBI, ED, DRI and RBI claim to have finally realised that the deliberate defaulting of bank loans through collusion between businesspersons, politicians and officials has reached levels that threaten to sharply slow down the Indian growth story. Such malpractices have coexisted with RBI policies that ensure a lucrative and risk-free margin to multiple foreign financial institutions, even while the central bank has been draining large tranches of manufacturing and service industries of affordable finance. Arbitrage is the name of the game in India, and North Block has long specialised in incentivising such activities by those holding foreign currency, while adopting measures limiting the spread of the bond market. There is indeed a trillion dollar need for infrastructure, but to rely on middle class savers to fund such expenses is unrealistic. What is needed is to replicate what the US did over a century ago while developing its railroad system, which was to attract large flows of funds from wealthy overseas investors through the bond market.
The clerk or junior manager in India, who parks his or her meagre savings in LIC, should not be expected to shoulder the financial burden of ensuring that infrastructure in India reaches minimally acceptable global standards. Rather, wealthy pension funds in the EU or in North America should be incentivised to invest in bonds created for the purpose, rather than continue to pour money into the equities market and make huge returns through rigging of prices, in the process cheating the small investor of his savings.[/size]
Gitanjali Jewellery is not the only private company in which the LIC bought shares at peak value, only to suffer losses once prices inevitably came down to levels better matching fundamentals. India’s financial “A.Q. Khan network” first drove equity prices higher and higher through using its influence in the FII community and over government policy (sometimes simply by official statements of intent of policy) and thereafter “persuaded” public institutions to purchase such shares, much of which were held by India’s “Khan” and his cronies. Profits were assured through insider knowledge, and such moneys were raised through looting of middle class investors.
Given price fixing and rigging in several of the stock prices in India, a citizen may ask as to why so much discretion has gone the way of SEBI, an institution where our own “A.Q. Khan” is said to have got appointed those who did his bidding.Our “A.Q. Khan of Indian Finance” has moles everywhere, including in the present dispensation, who give his syndicate real time information collected by the banking system, by exchanges and by other agencies, not to mention prior knowledge of impending monetary and fiscal measures. And yet, it seems that no investigative agency has connected the dots to unmask India’s own counterpart to A.Q. Khan and his network, such as by checking on his continuing contacts and past history with officials manning sensitive agencies. Real time information still being made available to him by accomplices include data which can be used to so manipulate equity markets enough to generate close to Rs 75 crore a day of pure profit for him alone, parked abroad through payment highways created by monetary authorities “so as to meet the needs of global commerce”. The same authorities who sent the informal economy into the ICU by choking them of liquidity from 8 November 2016 onwards.
Just as Pakistan’s A.Q. Khan operated through a network of serving and retired officers, so does his financial sector counterpart in India. Otherwise it would not have been possible for him to, inter alia (a) get selected helpful CMDs and EDs of banks, (b) make government banks sell loans at low rates to private banks, which almost immediately resold them at a profit, (c) engineer Corporate Debt Restructuring deals where the money saved by the borrower would be split with “Khan”, (d) get so-called “watchdogs” to ignore or compound cases of favourites, while going after those deemed as a threat to the network’s underground business empire, (e) creating dossiers, including manufactured data, on target individuals and ensuring that agencies go after them on the basis of dodgy evidence, and even (f) postpone the introduction of enhanced security features in India’s currency by many years, while ensuring that companies blacklisted by the Home Ministry continued to supply vital items involving currency printing in the country. Depressingly, this list goes on and on and on.
.... [/size]Mr Nalapat needs to name names :D

[/quote]

I did not read the above article from the website ... still i feel many can make a fair guess about who this 'Financial A.Q.Khan of India' might be..
*Sarcasm_ON*
How much blessed must this land of India be for having given birth to this duo of father - 'Financial A.Q.Khan of India' & son
*Sarcasm_OFF*

* It must be one of the implicitly & already wealthy generations of male born from a daughter of the erstwhile Raja of Chettinad (a hereditary title conferred on S. R. M. Annamalai Chettiar in Tamilnadu by the King of England during the British ruled period of India).

* That 'Financial A.Q.Khan of India' was first a Communist leaning guy who ran a legal journal called Radical Review. He was a member of Students Federation of India along with Columbia University educated N.Ram - of 'The Hindu' - in his early years.

* Later this 'Financial A.Q.Khan of India' went to do a MBA from Harvard University (late 1960s) and he is often taunted by Dr.Subramanian Swamy (his then teacher of the mandatory economics paper) for having failed in the Economics subject. In this youtube video -
Dr.SS claims he still keeps the mark sheets of many of his students - since it may help him in one way or the other. But he graduated with an MBA finally. Click and watch just for 2 minutes of this very interesting Youtube Video ( Youtube Video of Dr.Subramanian Swamy - My Legal Pursuits - October 2017 Mumbai )

* He was once a union leader in the MRF company based out of Chennai and then even the Youth Congress president of TN during the late 1970s & 1980s. He got elected to Lok Sabha for the first time from the Sivaganga LS seat on an INC ticket in the year 1984. But presently knowledgeable sources in his own community of that region indicate that he has always been looked from with in the community as an arrogant, totally low performing MP from the perspective of the growth of that backward district of TN and majority of his own community prefers not vote for him or his son since last few LS elections. Indeed - he has lost a few times from the Sivaganga seat and even in the 2014 LS elections, his Son who contested as the INC candidate lost his own deposit and came 4th behind a BJP candidate. This "Financial A.Q.Khan of India" has held numerous ministership positions over the past few decades - across Commerce, Finance and Home ministries. He seems to have kept many of his agents inside CBI, ED, RBI, SEBI and etc organizations even when his government had been voted out in 2014 and this seems to give him too much real time inside info on how the cases are moving against him and thus the ability to thwart those investigations.

* Dr.Subramanian Swamy raised a case of corruption against this "Financial A.Q.Khan of India" (who was then the Minister of State - Commerce) in 1992 under INC rule of the country (Narasimha Rao was PM). This "Financial A.Q.Khan of India" & his equally controversial spouse had invested in Promoter's quota shares of Fairgrowth Financials Pvt Ltd (a firm tainted with the supporting Harshad Mehta stock market scam) at less than market rate. Narasimha Rao readily accepted the offer to resign from this 'Financial A.Q.Khan of India' at that time. But the present FM of NDA-2 fought on behalf of this 'Financial A.Q.Khan of India' in the courts and the "Financial A.Q.Khan of India" got back to the cabinet of ministers in 1995.

* Currently "Financial A.Q.Khan of India" & his son are mired in numerous corruption investigation cases .. Dr.Subramanian Swamy is pursuing the Aircel Maxis case against them, then there is also the INX Media money Laundering case (NewsX channel & etc run by controversial Peter & Indrani Mukherjea). The Father & Son duo were humiliated and challenged publically by journalist & Swadeshi ideologue Gurumurthy - who revealed their benami company ownership & related masking tactics and challenged the Lawyer 'Financial A.Q.Khan of India' to sue the New Indian Express newspaper for having published this article on the Benami Holdings of the Father & Son in the year 2015. But "Financial A.Q.Khan of India" does not have the truth on his side and has gone quiet on his earlier threats of suing the journalist & the newspaper that published this article. If he were to sue - it would eventually further reveal his own lies on the Money Laundering being done through benami ownership of companies by his son. I ...so enjoyed ... this newspaper articles based duel between the "Financial A.Q.Khan of India" and Journalist Gurumurthy - where the nose of 'Financial A.Q.Khan of India"'s was publicaly broken.
Till the deadly fact of Wills and benami were brought out, Father-Character kept denying the facts exposed. He termed the first story of the NIE (17.9.2015) as so “ridiculous” and “laughable” that he thought it was “not necessary to issue a rebuttal”. But “as some other media had carried the same report recklessly, he could not remain silent” and would place the papers with lawyers to act. On the same day the NIE responded saying that it stood by its report and welcomed him to sue. Father-Character remained silent and thereafter virtually backed out. On October 23, 2015, the NIE brought out the affidavit of the Commissioner of Income Tax before the Central Administrative Tribunal, which nailed Father-Character’s lies. Father-Character still remained silent. When the Income Tax and Enforcement departments raided Son-Character in December 2015, Father-Character “condemned the attempt” to link Son-Character’s friends to his son and to “harass them”.

He said: “If the government wants to target me, it should do so directly” adding “he and his family were quite prepared to face” the ‘malicious onslaught’ of the government. But after the NIE put out the Wills in April 2016 and established that the shares of Advantage were held benami for Son-Character, Father-Character fell totally silent. Why doesn’t he simply sue the NIE if its exposes have been false and if the Wills are not true? Even now, he is welcome to sue the NIE as he had threatened us on September 21, 2015. The test in the FIR filed by the CBI is that if Advantage is indirectly owned by Son-Character, he will be found holding the smoking gun. That will seal the fate of both father and son.

Wills prove the CBI case
The FIR filed by the CBI action against Son-Character in the case of the Peter-Indrani Mukherjee couple media outfit INX Media Private Limited alleges that Son-Character had brokered for the Mukherjees to get illegal FIPB permits by leveraging his relation with his father who was the Finance Minister in 2007 and got paid for it in Advantage. The FIR says the payment was made to Advantage to conceal the fact that it was quid pro quo for Son-Character’s brokering services, which will fix him and his father. At that time in 2007, Son-Character was actually owning over 75% Advantage through Ausbridge as brought out by the NIE.

After Son-Character divested himself of the ownership of Advantage on record, he got the benamis to execute Wills in favour of his daughter and kept the Wills in his possession. Neither Son-Character nor his father has, even after a year, denied the Wills or that they were found in Son-Character’s possession. Father-Character, who had no guts to sue the NIE then, now says that the Modi government is so afraid of his weekly articles against it that it had put the CBI on him to shut his mouth. The simple truth is that both father and son are done in by the Wills, which prove the CBI case. As an astute lawyer Father-Character cannot be unaware of it.
We are still awaiting the completion of the investigation in both the cases & fervently hope the INX Media case atleast ends before
the next LS election. Dr.Subramanian Swamy's case is something else and he will ensure that it does not get junked even if the government were to change at the centre.

I have dropped enough hints on this person. So you make up who this 'Financial A.Q.Khan of India" would be .

But many of the above controversial actions of his cannot even be seen in his profile on wikipedia. I would very much want these details to be included in his Wikipedia profile. Can anybody help us in this activity ?.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by vijayk »

Lot of good things happened

- DBT saving a lot of money
- Coal/Mining/Telecom auctions fetching funds for Govt.
- Increase in FDI
- Lower Oil biils

Results: Lower Debt/Deficit

Still Economy looks and feels bad. Does anyone have a finger on the pulse of the economy to explain in layman's terms. Is it all due to DeMO & GST?
vijayk
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by vijayk »

http://www.firstpost.com/business/servi ... 68129.html
Services, industrials to lift Q3 GVA print to 6.8%; GDP to improve to around 7.5% in fourth quarter: Icra

After a muted first half, the gross value added (GVA) growth is likely to improve to 6.8 percent in the third quarter, helped by an improvement in the services and industrial sectors, says a report. In the second quarter, GVA growth was at 6.1 percent.

"We expect GVA growth at basic prices in year-on-year terms to print a sequential recovery of 6.8 percent in third quarter led by the services (at 8.8 percent from 7.1 percent) and industry (at 6.8 percent from 5.8 percent), even as growth of agriculture, forestry and fishing (to 1.5 percent from 1.7 percent) is likely to ease," Icra said in a report on Monday.

Representational image.Representational image.
Headline GVA growth in the third quarter is likely to mildly exceed 6.7 percent printed a year-ago. During the first half of this fiscal, economic activity remained muted, partly on account of the structural transition to goods and services tax (GST), but signs of a pick-up in growth are starting to appear.

The rating agency's principal economist Aditi Nayar said higher growth in volumes in manufacturing and some of the services sub-sectors and in the government's expenditure, a favourable base effect and an improvement in corporate earnings are expected to contribute to a sequential recovery in the y-o-y growth of GVA at basic prices in the third quarter.

Growth in the services sector is likely to record a base-effect led pick-up to nearly 8.8 percent in Q3 from 7.1 percent in Q2, reflecting the improvement recorded by indicators such as bank credit, cargo handled at major ports, passengers carried by domestic airlines and foreign tourist arrivals.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by Supratik »

Uttam
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by Uttam »

vijayk wrote:Lot of good things happened

- DBT saving a lot of money
- Coal/Mining/Telecom auctions fetching funds for Govt.
- Increase in FDI
- Lower Oil biils

Results: Lower Debt/Deficit

Still Economy looks and feels bad. Does anyone have a finger on the pulse of the economy to explain in layman's terms. Is it all due to DeMO & GST?
I am not at all sure what you mean by "feels bad?" It feels bad to how many people? Or is it just you show it feels bad? Personal opinions don't matter much in the data driven field of economics. Please quote a reliable stats that says the economy feels bad to the majority of Indians.

For all the power and development in stats and econometrics, it can only explain trends in groups and not individuals. The individual feelings are relegated to epsilon (i.e. the error terms)!
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by disha »

Supratik wrote:More trouble coming.

https://in.finance.yahoo.com/news/finan ... 53159.html
^Trouble for whom? No doubt everybody and their brother or sister who has to do with banking irregularity is up in arms against the current GOI.

Here are the details from the above article:
The Finance Ministry on Monday, 26 February, released a list of 9,500 non-banking financial companies, categorising them as ‘high risk financial institutions’.

The list, released by the Financial Intelligence Unit of the ministry, states that the named companies do not comply with the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), as of 31 January.

The named companies reportedly came under the scanner of the Income Tax department and the Enforcement Directorate for illegally converting banned currency notes into legal tender after demonetisation was announcement in November 2016.

According to a report in Times of India, many of the financial institutions were found converting bank notes by issuing back-dated cheques and fixed deposits in return for receiving cash as deposits, overriding the RBI’s direction against doing so.

The daily further says that the PMLA stipulates that all non-banking financial institutions have a principal officer to report all suspicious and cash transactions above Rs 10 lakh. The PMLA also requires that the said officer record all such transactions in the prescribed manner and report them to the FIU.

The act further states that then institutions can hide the identity of the clients for five years.
The list is here http://fiuindia.gov.in/pdfs/quicklinks/ ... 1.2018.pdf

Please go through the above list. And see who is in charge for each of the NBFCs (Non-Banking Financial Corporations). In nutshell, all the "management" of the non-banking companies in the above list should be put in jail just for aiding the black money.

The above is cleaning the augean stables and we are complaining about the "stench" wafting around while the clean up is in progress!

Added later:

Somehow I find the following NBFC in the above list amusing!
8760 Tulip Investment Private Limited (FormerlyTulip Investments Ltd.)
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by vijayk »

Uttam wrote:
vijayk wrote:Lot of good things happened

- DBT saving a lot of money
- Coal/Mining/Telecom auctions fetching funds for Govt.
- Increase in FDI
- Lower Oil biils

Results: Lower Debt/Deficit

Still Economy looks and feels bad. Does anyone have a finger on the pulse of the economy to explain in layman's terms. Is it all due to DeMO & GST?
I am not at all sure what you mean by "feels bad?" It feels bad to how many people? Or is it just you show it feels bad? Personal opinions don't matter much in the data driven field of economics. Please quote a reliable stats that says the economy feels bad to the majority of Indians.

For all the power and development in stats and econometrics, it can only explain trends in groups and not individuals. The individual feelings are relegated to epsilon (i.e. the error terms)!
Some one posted the statistics of Cattle purchases in cattle markets in Rajasthan and MP and compared 2014 to 2017. I will try to find and add here. But the number of cattle purchases went down from tens of thousands to few hundreds. They are making an appeal to PMO to pay attention. Looked genuine concern.

Wondering anyone in Fin minsitry and/or PMO paying attention to this. There is serious market distress in rural India if that is true. Not sure about the reason. I hope someone takes this seriously
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by vish_mulay »

I don't know much about Raj and MP but rural MH had fall in cattle sell (I come from semi rural area in MH), because there was lot of agrarian stress sell in 2013-2015 due to drought. Last 2 years there is reduced cattle sell as most farmers are not selling due to good grass feed availability. However, there is no demand for new cattle purchase and that's sort of worrying. FYI milk production is record high and corporates are not giving good prices for milk as of now. We need to move into milk processing big time (cheese, butter or milk powder).
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by putnanja »

The media is trying to create a mood of gloom and doom, but I don't see that happening on the ground. Air travel is growing at more than 15% for last 2-3 years with smaller tier-2 cities driving growth. Real estate has bounced back and prices have increased in last six months, at least in South India as per my own and others anecdotal evidence. FMCG sector is growing as are white goods/appliances industry. Auto industry has been growing consistently over the last several quarters. eCommerce sales/revenues has been growing by leaps and bounds.

Nothing on the ground suggests stagnation or upcoming recession. If one remembers the previous 2011/12 recession, one could see decline across all major industries. I don't see any evidence of that now. Looks like an orchestrated campaign to show the govt in bad light is underway from last couple of years since demonetization.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by jaysimha »

.repost
Last edited by jaysimha on 28 Feb 2018 10:03, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by jaysimha »

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Last edited by jaysimha on 28 Feb 2018 10:04, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by ShauryaT »

SBI chief Rajnish Kumar hits back at critics seeking PSB privatisation
This guy is funny, saying look all the loans taken is by private sector and they default so private sector bad. :lol:

But below is from the horse's mouth, PSB's are about "social justice" IOW: about politics. Job security and this entire mai baap culture sets in. The stench is not with the people of India, who have no option but to work within the system provided to them. The stench has accumulated in a state apparatus and a flawed structure, who's original sin traces to 1969!

Letting bank capital do its natural job led by market forces in a regulated environment is the need of the day, not another social justice program. Mr. Modi: Fulfill your promise. The government should not be in the business of business. This is a golden opportunity to strike.
State Bank of India chairman Rajnish Kumar said those living in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones at others and that the private sector’s claims of higher corporate governance standards sound hollow in light of their high rates of debt default and bankruptcy cases.

Kumar, the chairman of the country’s largest bank by assets, hit back at critics of staterun enterprises and their calls for privatising state-run banks in an interview to ET on Monday.

He said almost all bad loans and poor governance standards cases are from private sector enterprises while state-run firms have high governance standards.

“If the private sector is all about good corporate governance then tell me which public sector company is in NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) today?

They are all private sector companies,” Kumar said. “They all default and sit in the front rows of the industry associations. That is the reality today. So when somebody is preaching, preach… for sure, but also look at the reality.

Why are these defaulters sitting in the front row and bankers are sitting in the back row?’’

A debate is raging about whether the government should privatise state-run banks after Punjab National Bank recently disclosed the biggest fraud in the nation’s history. It was reported that about Rs 11,300 crore had been swindled from the bank by companies of Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi in collusion with a few bank employees.

Billionaire Uday Kotak, executive vice-chairman of Kotak Mahindra Bank, has said that there is no need for so many state-run banks. At the Global Business Summit last week, experts suggested that it may be time to relook at lowering of government ownership.

But SBI’s Kumar said that there is a certain role that state-run entities play for the betterment of society which the private sector would not be willing to do. “There is a huge socio-economic agenda which only public sector banks cater to,’’ said Kumar.

“Does anyone speak about who will run branches in the troubled and remote parts of the country where you have to walk for 12 hours to reach the branch?’’ On the PNBBSE -12.11 % scam, Kumar said he is hopeful that the systemic credibility would be maintained with fulfilling of all commitments.

“I am very confident that PNB will not do anything that will erode the faith in the Indian banking system,’’ said Kumar.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by disha »

jaysimha wrote: 9,500 NBFCs categorised as ...

dont know where that updated list available????..
Just read my post above yours :)
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by Uttam »

vish_mulay wrote:I don't know much about Raj and MP but rural MH had fall in cattle sell (I come from semi rural area in MH), because there was lot of agrarian stress sell in 2013-2015 due to drought. Last 2 years there is reduced cattle sell as most farmers are not selling due to good grass feed availability. However, there is no demand for new cattle purchase and that's sort of worrying. FYI milk production is record high and corporates are not giving good prices for milk as of now. We need to move into milk processing big time (cheese, butter or milk powder).
Yet, there are almost no signs of anti-incumbency in the elections.
vish_mulay
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by vish_mulay »

None what so ever. Farmers are very happy with jalyukth and farm pond scheme. There were issues with access to e mandi and base prices. I think this years budget has addressed those concerns to some extent. Many farmers are still not aware of farm insurance by state govt. hope that changes. Loan waiver has not made much impact as my region was not loan stressed to begin with. I firmly believe that nagar region will solidly stay behind BJP in 2019. Hope there are no major derailment until then. Good mansoon good water availablity has brought good money to farmers. Surajsaan pls remove this post if it not pertinent to the thread.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by yensoy »

vish_mulay wrote:I don't know much about Raj and MP but rural MH had fall in cattle sell (I come from semi rural area in MH), because there was lot of agrarian stress sell in 2013-2015 due to drought. Last 2 years there is reduced cattle sell as most farmers are not selling due to good grass feed availability. However, there is no demand for new cattle purchase and that's sort of worrying. FYI milk production is record high and corporates are not giving good prices for milk as of now. We need to move into milk processing big time (cheese, butter or milk powder).
I am afraid we don't have a story for milk unless we figure out what to do with bulls which obviously don't produce any milk. As things stand, these are long-term burdens for the dairy farmer, many of who have switched to buffaloes which evidently are ok to (sell off to) slaughter for meat. It is best that the population at large understands that milk production has its side effects, and makes peace with this fact.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by jaysimha »

disha wrote:
Just read my post above yours :)
oyla,,, hit-wicket from my side..will have to be careful next time
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by A Deshmukh »

ToI: Karti Chidambram arrested.
CA was already arrested.
No coverage by news aggregators.
Deans
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Post by Deans »

A Deshmukh wrote:ToI: Karti Chidambram arrested.
CA was already arrested.
No coverage by news aggregators.
Finally ! Though he must have complained of chest pain by now and will get bail tomorrow, thanks to daddy.
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