United Bank of India declares Vijay Mallya as wilful defaulter

"We have declared Vijay Mallya and three other directors of Kingfisher Airlines as wilful defaulters," United Bank of India Executive Director Deepak Narang said.

The Grievance Redressal Committee (GRC) of the bank has declared directors Ravi Nedungadi, Anil Kumar Ganguly and Subash Gupte as wilful defaulters.

Post this declaration, these persons and the entity would not be able to borrow from the bank in future. They would also lose Director-level positions in companies. Criminal proceeding could also be initiated against these persons if warranted.

Narang said the decision of GRC would be conveyed to the Finance Ministry, Reserve Bank of India, and Securities and Exchange Board of India for their information and action.

The GRC meeting was convened on Monday after a Calcutta High Court division bench allowed the bank to initiate the process of declaring them as wilful defaulters last week.

The GRC had asked directors to be present before it but no one turned up. Instead, they had sent a letter through their lawyer stating that they had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in Supreme Court and pending the judgment the bank should not proceed in this regard.

The Kolkata-based bank is the first PSU lender to initiate the process of declaring Vijay Mallya and three other directors of the grounded Kingfisher Airlines as willful defaulters a couple of months ago.

Subsequently, other banks such as State Bank of India, IDBI Bank and Punjab National Bank have also initiated the process of declaring KFA and its directors as willful defaulters.

The bank's exposure to Kingfisher Airlines was around Rs 350 crore as part of consortium led by State Bank of India.

The consortium of 17 banks, has an outstanding debt of about Rs 4,022 crore from the now-grounded carrier and outside the consortium, the bank gave about Rs 60 crore loan for Pre-Delivery payment.

As part of the recovery process, banks in February last year decided to sell a portion of the collateral with them, including shares of its group companies United Spirits Ltd and Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd, Mallya's Goa villa, Kingfisher House in Mumbai and the Kingfisher brand, which was valued at over Rs 4,000 crore at the time it was pledged.

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AirAsia launches free user trial of on board WiFi service

The trial will be available for free for up to 60 passengers on selected flights from now until October.

The Airline has not given details of the sectors on which WiFi would be available.

Those using the service will have an Internet data quota of 1 MB and will enjoy a special package allowing them to chat via applications like LINE, WhatsApp and WeChat.

Passengers will be informed via an in-flight announcement if the plane is equipped with the WiFi service.

They will be able to try the service by logging on to the Connectivity Portal with a digital token code that is automatically generated upon clicking the ‘Get Access’ button on the portal.

Each token code is valid for one device and the free user trial will be on a first-come, first-serve basis.

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Stock markets dream run continues as Sensex, Nifty log new peaks

The Sensex, which rose for the fifth straight day, has closed at a new peak in each of last three sessions. Brokers said trading activity also picked up pace ahead of the expiry of monthly equity derivatives on Thursday.

Defence stocks were in the limelight and rose by up to 20 percent on Wednesday after government notified increase in FDI limit to 49 percent through approval route in the sector.

The benchmark S&P BSE 30-share Sensex resumed on strong footing and traded in a range between 26,599.12 and 26,492.50 before registering its fresh closing high of 26,560.15, a net rise of 117.34 points or 0.44 percent. It surpassed its previous closing peak of 26,442.81 logged on Tuesday.

The 50-issue CNX Nifty of the NSE also opened higher and moved in a tight range of 30 points before ending up by 31.30 points or 0.40 percent at 7,936.05 new closing peak. Its previous peak on closing basis was 7,913.20 (August 22).

"Positive global cues and likelihood for further monetary stimulus from European Central Bank (ECB) boosted the market sentiment stocks from oil and gas sector also gained on hopes of proper reforms for subsidies," said Nidhi Saraswat, Senior Research Analyst, Bonanza Portfolio.

Sentiments remained upbeat after Oil Ministry said it will seek Cabinet nod for freeing diesel prices after retail rates achieve parity with global levels, and has proposed to cut subsidy payout by upstream firms like ONGC and Oil India by half, said Jayant Manglik, President-retail distribution, Religare Securities.

Most Asian indices rose tracking US stocks that jumped a new peak on Tuesday after data showed consumer confidence rose in August for a fourth straight month, to its strongest level since February 2008. Also, durable goods orders surged in July to a new monthly record.

Europe was under pressure with the FTSE (UK) mildly up as "Ukraine issue was in focus", said Kiran Kumar Kavikondala, Director and CEO, WealthRays Securities.

 

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Indian e-commerce cos to invest up to USD 1.9 billion on infrastructure

According to a joint study by consultancy firm PwC and industry body ASSOCHAM, Indian e-commerce industry will spend USD 950-1,900 million by 2017-2020 on infrastructure, logistics and warehousing.

"The total spend on warehousing and sortation centres could be as high as 3-6 per cent of top-line revenues, which represents an cumulative spend of over USD 450-900 million of spend in warehousing till 2017-2020," ASSOCHAM-PwC study said.

The industry is expected to spend an additional USD 500- 1,000 million during the same period on logistics functions, leading to a cumulative spend of USD 950-1,900 million till 2017-2020, it added.

The study, Evolution of e-Commerce in India, estimates that over the next three to four years, there will be an addition of 7.5-15 million square feet of space in the form of fulfilment centres.

This indicates an addition of 6-12 percent to the space available in form of organised warehousing in India and almost 25-50 percent of all the incremental addition of consumption driven warehousing space in the same period, it added.

 "The potential of sector and the likely liberalisation in form of FDI could be a vital factor in attracting significant investments resulting in better infrastructure and robust supply chains," PwC Director (Operations) Saurabh Srivastava said.

The growth of e-commerce industry has a huge potential in the country translating into huge gains for the manufacturing industry, infrastructure and jobs, he added.

"Size of the e-retail industry is poised to be USD 10-20 billion by 2017-2020," the study said.

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Diesel can be market-priced by September as crude falls to USD 100

Estimating diesel under-recoveries, or losses, to fall to 30 paise a liter after the price hike on September Goldman Sachs said in a report, "This implies we could effectively be done with the monthly cycle of diesel price increases in next two months and diesel will be market-priced."

In January 2013, the government allowed oil marketing companies (OMCs) to monthly raise diesel rates in small doses of 40-50 paise a liter towards wiping out losses. Since then, rates have cumulatively risen by Rs.11.24 per liter in 18 installments.

OMCs, effective Aug 16, are incurring combined daily under-recovery of about Rs 230 crore on the sale of diesel, PDS kerosene and domestic LPG.  Meanwhile international crude prices hovered near 14-month lows of USD 100 a barrel as worries over conflict in Iraq eased, and as higher Libyan oil output added to ample supplies coupled with weak demand. Price of Indian basket on Monday decreased to USD 100.04 per barrel.

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Gold remains weak on sluggish demand, global cues

However, silver found fresh buying support from industrial units and recovered by Rs 420 to Rs 43,300 per kg.

Traders said apart from subdued demand from jewellers and retailers, a weakening global trend on easing of tensions in Ukraine mainly kept pressure on gold prices.

Furthermore, strengthening rupee against the US dollar, making imports cheaper and shifting of funds towards surging equity markets also influenced gold prices, they said.

Globally, gold in New York fell 0.56 per cent to USD 1,297.20 an ounce in Monday's trade.

In Delhi, gold of 99.9 and 99.5 percent purity traded Rs 50 each down at Rs 28,550 and Rs 28,350 per ten gram respectively. The yellow metal had lost Rs 220 in the past three days.

Sovereign, however, recovered by Rs 100 to Rs 24,800 per piece of eight gram on some buying.

On the other hand, silver ready rebounded by Rs 420 to Rs 43,300 per kg and weekly-based delivery by Rs 100 to Rs 42,680 per kg.

Meanwhile, silver coins continued to be asked at last level of Rs 76,000 for buying and Rs 77,000 for selling of 100 pieces.

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A check for linguistic discrimination

The controversy arisen out of UPSC’s CSAT pattern even after 67 years of Independence once again put a stamp on the subject that Hindi and other languages are facing neglect since a long time. The kind of dominance, which existed in the context of English during British Rule, is still prevalent in India. It’s indeed quite disappointing that this very mind-set has not changed that English is synonymous with knowledge. What’s unfortunate is our policy makers often boast of derailment and degradation of Indian languages and though vernacular languages are not seen with ignorance these days, it’s also true that these languages have yet to make a place for themselves in government functioning especially at the top level. If the CSAT paper of preliminary examination, which has been considered mandatory for testing administrative skill since 2011, is being seen as the basis to discriminate between Hindi and other languages, there are some concrete reasons behind that as well. The results of past three years have made it clear that the number of students clearing UPSC exams in Hindi and other Indian languages have come down all of a sudden. It’s the main reason behind thousands of students in the national capital were compelled to take their anger into streets. 

It’s not proper that English language should be at helm in bureaucracy and judiciary and other languages will keep on languishing in the fringes. English has always been given a push and priority not only in public sectors but also in private sectors. Since proper policies are not being implemented, especially when it comes to promotion and development of languages, the nation is witnessing emergence of societies of diverse nature. First, that very section, which is fluent in English and climbing top positions by dint of their command over the language and another section which is still loitering in a clueless manner mainly since they have learnt Indian languages.  This scenario exists at such a time when the percentage of people having command over English across the country stands at just 10 percent. But what’s surprising is that this smaller section of the population has gone on to dominate the remaining 90 percent. It can’t be denied that in the contemporary era, knowledge of English is quite important and at the same time, it needs to be understood that language can’t be the sole yardstick of knowledge. The irony of the matter is that the unnecessary inclination towards English language is confined not only to cities but also to rural areas where proficiency in English is projected as the sure shot measure to success.

The students, who are protesting against CSAT, deserve sympathy. Not only because English language can have an impact on their process of selection in the civil services exams but also because the kind of education they have pursued right from the outset did not make them that much compatible to face stiffer challenges. If the students who studied in Hindi or other Indian languages are finding themselves weaker before those who have been taught in English, our educational system is only to be blamed. Why our educational system could not make them competent enough so that they can crack civil services examinations in the language they have been taught? Why it’s often assumed that there is a little scope of development of a student’s personality and caliber in other languages apart from English? There is also another question – if students’ requests are taken into consideration, will it cover up the flaws in our educational system? The issue is not just confined to CSAT but that very education which is failing to impart knowledge to students in a proper manner and hence, is not becoming a factor in personality development. There is one more reality associated with our society, which is divided on the basis of language. People who are well-versed in English are more prosperous compared to those whose knowledge of the language is not that good. The situation is such that discrimination is seen among the employees on the basis of proficiency over English in the same organization. Those who are well-versed with the language register a faster growth and the others are subjected to indifferent behavior. This is creating a feeling of neglect in them.

Our policymakers need to deliberate on this subject that why Indian languages have been subjected to discrimination of this magnitude? This has happened mainly because the government refrained from replacing English with Hindi as official language and promoting other Indian languages after Independence. A nation develops in a fast paced manner only when there is only one or two language to carry out all government functioning. In the presence of more languages, not only it creates problem in communication but also leaves an impact on administrative capabilities and hampers productivity.  In this context, the situation of India is quite strange as states have been formed on the basis of language and there are several states as well where multiple languages are spoken. In such a scenario, Hindi could have replaced English but due to narrow minded approach of some leaders and mainly because of their opposition, this idea was dropped. Its disastrous consequences are now out in open in front of all. Since government as well as private sectors basically depends on English, its acceptance is also widely growing and this is happening at the expense of Hindi and other Indian languages. What could be more unfortunate then no concrete step coming to the fore to make Hindi the national language especially when the language is reaching out to each and every corner through media, cinema and other forms of entertainment? The politicians need to ask this question themselves that whether they want to see Hindi or English as national language? If their prime aim is to establish English as India’s national language then they will have to get rid of their gammon of promoting and pushing Hindi.

The controversy on CSAT has not only kicked-off a debate over language but also raised questions over issues related to social justice. The issue of reservation, which was seen as a medium to bringing in social equality has been reduced to a prime ammo of vote-bank politics. If the questions related to language are solved and Hindi, along with other languages get their well-deserved weightage, the subject of reservation can be rendered ineffective to a considerable extent. It needs to be mentioned here that the section that are not well versed with English is languishing in backwaters and their lack of command over the language is acting as a major impediment in moving towards the path of development. The nation can’t progress by deviating away from its cultures and traditions and social equality can’t be brought as well.  In such a scenario, we need to take such measures to ensure that Indian languages don’t fall victim to discrimination and receive all the glory and respect it deserves. By making Hindi the official language, we can restore and rekindle the lost confidence among people. This will eventually lead to the materialization of the concept of one India – best India.

(An original copy of the article published in Hindi on July 27, 2014 translated by the English editorial. The author is the Group Editor of Dainik Jagran)

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Rajnath Singh launches Web application of Delhi Police

Motivating the Delhi Police to work effectively and efficiently Rajnath said, “Delhi Police should ensure the honour of uniform with their high quality of conduct.”

“Officers should earn greater faith and confidence of the people through delivery of work,” he added.

Rajnath also ensured Delhi Police officials of all the support to mordanise their system.

“Government will provide all assistance and guidance to make the Delhi Police as the most modern police of the country,” said Rajnath.

The Home Minister mentioned that the difficulties experienced by the people to obtain PCC will be addressed with the issuing of this certificate electronically.

He further mentioned that annually about one lakh people are expected to benefit with this scheme.

Expressing full confidence in Delhi Police Rajnath congratulated the force for adopting high technology in policing.

Earlier, Commissioner of Delhi Police B S Bassi also explained different e-applications adopted by the Delhi Police in the sectors of lodging of reports of lost items and a cell phone based application by the traffic unit of Delhi Police.

Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Najeeb Jung, Home Secretary, Anil Goswami, Director, Intelligence Bureau (DIB), Syed Asif Ibrahim, Chief Secretary of Delhi, S K Shrivastava and other senior officials of MHA and Delhi Police were also present on this occasion.

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Toyota Kirloskar sales declines 4.3 percent in July

In the domestic market, TKM sold 11,921 units in July 2014, up 3.52 percent as compared to 11,515 units in July 2013.

During the month, the company exported 1,926 units of Etios.

Commenting on the sales performance, N Raja, Senior Vice President (Sales and Marketing) said: "Both the Corolla Altis and the Etios Cross have been well accepted by the customers. We sold 882 units and 888 units of the Corolla Altis and Etios Cross, respectively".

Innova and Fortuner also continue to maintain leadership position in their respective segments, he added.

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India fifth largest producer of wind energy

Annual growth rate of renewable energy in India in the last decade has been about 22 percent, said Seetharam, who was earlier this month appointed India's permanent representative to International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
   
India is one of the 21 members of the Abu Dhabi-based IRENA and the current vice-chairman of its council.
   
Seetharam said hydropower, bio-energy and solar energy are other areas that have good potential and sharing experiences and international cooperation is the way forward to tap this potential.
   
"There are plans during the 12th five-year plan (2012-17) to add an additional renewable capacity of 30 GigaWatts. This includes 15 GigaWatts of wind, 10 GigaWatts of solar, 2.7 GigaWatts of biomass and 2.1 GigaWatts of small hydro," Seetharam said.
   
Further, he said that all these require huge investment. According to him, during the 12th five-year plan, the projected investment into renewable is to be four times above the 11th five-year plan.
   
The 11th five-year plan had projected an investment of Rs 892 billion and for the current plan it has gone up to Rs 3,186 billion.
   
Seetharam said that renewable energy solutions are relevant to India as they can be generated in remote areas that are difficult to access from the central grid. Renewable energy allows you to produce energy where it is consumed even in remote areas where you can have wind, solar or biogas.
   
India recently became the 19th member to designate a permanent representative to IRENA, an intergovernmental organization that supports countries in their transition to a sustainable energy future, and serves as the principal platform for international cooperation.
   
IRENA promotes the widespread adoption and sustainable use of all forms of renewable energy in the pursuit of sustainable development.

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Nokia to buy part of Panasonic's network business

"Nokia Networks has entered into a memorandum of understanding to acquire part of the wireless networks business of Panasonic System Networks Company Ltd," Nokia said in a statement on Thursday.

The agreement covers Panasonic's mobile phone (LTE/3G) wireless base station system business for mobile operators and related wireless equipment system business, it said in the statement.

The two firms plan to conclude the agreement by the end of September this year, with expected closure scheduled on January 1, 2015, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

As part of the deal, fixed assets and business contracts with Panasonic's customers are being transferred to Nokia Networks in Japan, including Panasonic employees involved in the business.

"Japan is a key market for us, and this agreement is a major milestone in forging closer ties in Japan. The acquisition of part of Panasonic's wireless network business would further strengthen our mobile broadband portfolio and add significant value for Japanese operators," Nokia Networks Executive Vice President (AMEA) Ashish Chowdhary said.

Through this acquisition, Nokia Networks aims to reinforce and further improve efficiency and quality control for product development and R&D.

It will also help strengthen Nokia's market share for base station systems and related wireless equipment in Japan.

In addition, Nokia Networks plans to leverage its extensive global experience and technical leadership in mobile broadband to grow its business in the acquired domestic carrier segment globally, it said.

Source: Business News

Putin, Ukraine President discuss possible ceasefire: Kremlin

"The issue of possible ceasefire in the area of a military operation in Ukraine's southeast has been touched upon," the Kremlin.
  
Putin expressed concern over the deaths of the two Russian media workers and stressed the importance of ensuring safety of reporters working in Ukraine, the Kremlin said.
  
"Petro Poroshenko expressed condolences over the deaths of Russian media representatives and assured the Russian president that a relevant investigation would be conducted following his order," Putin's office said.
  
The pro-Western Ukrainian leader also vowed to take necessary measures to protect reporters covering the conflict, the Kremlin added.
  
Earlier, the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, known by its acronym VGTRK, said one of journalists, Igor Kornelyuk, was killed after being caught up in a mortar attack near the city of Lugansk.
  
Later the state company confirmed the death of another of its employees, sound technician Anton Voloshin, who had earlier been considered missing.
  
Voloshin's body was found by Ukrainian rebels at the site of the attack and identified by his colleague, a cameraman who was filming the attack but escaped uninjured, Russian television said.
  
Kornelyuk died of his injuries in a local hospital. The bodies of the two would be handed over to their relatives on Wednesday.
  
Kornelyuk and Voloshin became the first Russian media employees to die while covering the Ukraine crisis.
  
Their deaths brings to five the number of journalists killed in Ukraine since the start of the year, according to Reporters Without Borders. More than 200 have been injured or attacked.

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South-West monsoon arrives in Odisha

Director of the Meteorological Department SC Sahu said the South-West monsoon is covering coastal districts of Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore.

The monsoon also hit some parts of districts like Gajapati, Ganjam, Khurda, Cuttack and also some portions of adjoining interior districts of Jajpur, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj, the MeT office said.

Conditions are favourable for further advance of South-West monsoon into remaining parts of coastal Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and some parts of Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha and east Uttar Pradesh during next 48 hours, Sahu said.

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Akhilesh reshuffles Cabinet, drops one Minister

Yadav removed Minister of State for Entertainment Tax Taj Narain Pandey, an official statement said. Portfolios of nine Cabinet Ministers and two Ministers of state were also changed.
  
Balram Yadav who previously held Panchayti Raj has been given the Jail Administration, which was earlier with Rajendra Chaudhary.
  
Chaudhary has been given the portfolio of Political Pensions, the release said.
  
Senior Minister Ram Govind Chaudhary was divested of Child Nutrition. He will now only have Basic Education department with him.
  
Brahmashankar Tripathi has been divested of Vocational Education and Skill Development departments and has been left with only the responsibility of Home Guards department, the release said.
  
The departments of Khadi and Gramodyog have been taken from Kailash and given to Sports and Youth Welfare Minister Narad Rai.
  
Kailash has been given the portfolio of Panchayti Raj while Agriculture minister Manoj Pandey has been given Science and Technology.
  
Iqbal Mahmood has been made the Minister for Fisheries and Public Enterprises divesting him of the Secondary Education department, which will be now be with previous Fisheries Minister Mehboob Ali.
  
Minister of State (Independent) for non-conventional energy Vijay Kumar Misra has been given Religious Endowment department while Minister of State for Science and Technology Abhishek Misra has been given Vocational Education.....

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ICICI Bank launches 'iMobile' app for Windows phones

The new app is available for download on the Windows Phone Store for mobile phones on the Windows 8 operating system.

"With this new app, our mobile banking application is now available on all major platforms including iOS, Android and Blackberry," ICICI Bank director Rajiv Sabharwal said.

The app also introduces the next level of customer convenience by offering one-touch access to important services on its dashboard, he added.

The app lets the user select his favourite past recharge transaction and allows a quick recharge without having to enter all the details again.

Other key features of the app include fund transfer, bill payment and an account view across savings, current account, fixed and recurring deposits, credit cards, loans, demat and public provident fund account.

The bank, with over one-fourth of market share in value terms, has close to 20 lakh mobile banking customers.

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Bulls take a break; Sensex tanks 476 points after three-week gains

Market sentiment remained weak as overseas investors were net sellers in the first four sessions of the week.
   
The Sensex resumed higher at 24,693.89 and once again crossed 25,000 mark to quote at 25,175.22 on strong initial buying before the swearing-in of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister on Monday.
   
The 30-share index, however, declined afterwards to 24,163.62 on profit-booking before finishing the week at 24,217.34, showing a loss of 476.01 points, or 1.93 percent over the previous week's close.
   

In the last three weeks, the key BSE barometer had gained a whopping 2,289.46 points, or 10.22 percent.
   
The NSE 50-share Nifty tumbled by 137.15 points, or 1.86 percent, to end at 7,229.95. It had gained 672.30 points, or 10.04 percent, in the previous three weeks, which were dominated by election-related developments.
   
"Investors preferred to remain on sidelines ahead of GDP data, which came at 4.7 percent for 2013-14 announced on late Friday (after market hours), and RBI policy review next week," said Jayant Manglik, President-retail distribution, Religare Securities.
   
Going ahead, RBI's monetary policy on June 3 and the first Budget of the Modi Government shall be major triggers for the market, according to Rakesh Goyal, Senior Vice-President, Bonanza Portfolio.

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Indians can invest up to USD 125,000 overseas annually

"In view of the recent stability in the foreign exchange market, it has been decided to enhance the eligible limit to USD 125,000 without end-use restrictions except for prohibited foreign exchange transactions such as margin trading, lottery and the like," the Reserve Bank of India said in its Second Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Statement.

The RBI had in August last year reduced the ceiling from USD 200,000 to USD 75,000 per person in a financial year under the Liberalized Remittance Scheme (LRS) in view of the worsening current account deficit and a volatile rupee.

The LRS allows residents to acquire and hold shares, debt instruments or other assets outside India without prior approval of the RBI.

In the monetary policy, the RBI also permitted all residents and non-residents, except citizens of Pakistan and Bangladesh, to carry up to Rs 25,000 in Indian currency notes while leaving the country.

This has been done with a "view to facilitating travel requirements" of non-residents visiting India, the RBI said. Currently, non-residents visiting India are not allowed to take out any Indian currency while leaving the country.

The current limit for carrying domestic currency notes for Indians travelling overseas is Rs 10,000.

India's current account deficit narrowed to 1.7 percent of GDP in 2013-14 from a record USD 88.2 billion or 4.8 percent of GDP, in 2012-13.

The monetary policy review document said that robust inflows of portfolio investment, supported by foreign direct investment and external commercial borrowings, kept external financing conditions comfortable and helped add to reserves.

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Better NPA picture for fourth quarter likely, says RBI Deputy Governor

 The banking system's non-performing assets (NPA) position for the fourth quarter of 2013-14 is likely to come out better than the third quarter, Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor R Gandhi said.

Use of credit ratings could be an important proactive step that a bank can take to stem the problem of increasing level of NPAs and stressed assets, he said at an Assocham organised national conference on 'Growing NPAs in banks'.

Use of external ratings

However, banks need to balance the use of external ratings, as the recent financial crisis has highlighted the dangers of over dependence on ratings.

As at end December 2013, the gross NPAs of the domestic banking system was 4.4 percent of gross advances. The final figure for March 2014 is yet to be known.

While some may view this ratio (4.4 percent) as reasonable given the economic conditions prevalent in the country and elsewhere, the total stressed assets in the banking system (which include NPAs and restructured standard assets) as at end December 2013 was 10.13 percent of gross advances of banks, Gandhi said.

"This is a cause of concern for the Reserve Bank", he said.

Why are NPAs increasing?

Gandhi highlighted that the NPA increases have been more pronounced in the case of public sector banks.

There are various factors affecting the asset quality of scheduled commercial banks adversely such as the current slowdown, global and domestic, persistent policy logjams, delayed clearances of various projects, aggressive expansion by corporates during the high growth phase etc...

Source: Today Business News

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Party hasn't given me copy of manifesto: Congress candidate

Naik said he has not been able to read the manifesto because he has not been given the document yet.

"I have not read the manifesto yet because I haven't been given the copy of it, by the party yet," Naik said while addressing a press conference.

The election manifesto has been released by the state Congress last week, a few days after the Congress released its national manifesto.

Naik, who has been linked to Goa's drug mafia in a legislative committee report, also said that he was unaware of the election promise made by the Congress state unit in the manifesto to appoint a central agency to probe Goa's narcotics market.

“What is that? I am not very sure. I told you, I have not read the manifesto yet!” Naik said.

Reacting to Naik's claim that he has not been given a copy of the manifesto, state Congress president John Fernandes said the former’s erroneous answer was because of nervousness and exhaustion caused due to constant campaigning.

"I am sure, if he logs on to our website, he can access the manifesto. He is exhausted and tired of campaigning and must have wrongly said that he hasn't read the manifesto," Fernandes said.

(Agencies)

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Ranbaxy Laboratories locked out of its biggest market with API shutdown

Ranbaxy Laboratories on Tuesday suspended all shipments of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) produced at its Toansa and Dewas plants in order to enable it to review processes and controls.

The two factories are currently banned from shipping products to the US following quality concerns. Last month, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) prohibited Ranbaxy from shipping to its biggest market any APIs made at its facility in Toansa in Punjab. The sanction was the latest in a series of regulatory rebukes for India’s largest drugmaker by revenue since Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo took control of the company in 2008.

A spokesperson for Ranbaxy said supplies to other markets such as Europe and India would not be significantly impacted since only 15% of the company’s API requirement was sourced from its own plants, with 85% of raw materials bought from other sites approved by foreign regulators including the US FDA and the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority. APIs are raw materials used to make finished drugs.

The Ranbaxy scrip fell as much as 2.7% in early trade on the news but closed 1% higher at Rs 367.05 on the BSE.

“Since the company has voluntarily withdrawn its production, we believe it would have made alternative arrangements for the production of the withdrawn APIs,” Sarabjit Kour Nangra, vice-president, research (pharma), Angel Broking, said.

The Toansa ban, which followed similar action on two plants in 2008 — Paonta Sahib (Himachal Pradesh) and Dewas (Madhya Pradesh) — and Mohali (Punjab) in September 2013, means Ranbaxy can no longer export to the US from India.

Ranbaxy said in a statement on Tuesday THAT it was “currently examining processes and controls” at all its API manufacturing units. “This voluntary decision was taken as a precautionary measure and out of abundant caution to better allow the company to assess and review the processes and controls,” it said in the statement.

Ranbaxy also said it has set up a committee to provide oversight on manufacturing and quality operations, systems, organisation and integrity.

Daiichi Sankyo said that it is committed to continuing to offer full support for Ranbaxy to improve quality standards. “The temporarily.

Source: Hindi News

From Financialexpress News