Rupee Hits 9 Month Low at 62.25 against Dollar

Indian rupee hit its bottom line in nine months against the US dollar on Dec 1 as the partially convertible rupee traded 62.25 per dollar in early trade.

The rupee has fallen for five straight weeks now. It dropped nearly 0.5 per cent last week. In November, the rupee declined 1.1 per cent.

The rupee is weakening because of global factors. A broad rally in the dollar has led to weakness in nearly all currencies. The euro and the yen are also trading at multi-year lows against the dollar. The dollar topped 119 yen to its highest since July 2007.

Expectations of a cut in interest rates on Tuesday are also weighing on sentiments, analysts say.

Parliament May Consider GST Bill This Session

India is likely to introduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill in parliament in the present session, according to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

The government has proposed to implement GST Bill, which provides for a uniform indirect tax structure, from April 1, 2016 and the new Finance Commission may look into the issues related to the new indirect tax regime.

The GST will subsume indirect taxes like excise duty and service tax at the central level and VAT on the states front, besides local levies.

There are differences between the Centre and states on some issues with regard to the implementation of GST that includes the revenue neutral rate and keeping petroleum, liquor out of the ambit.

While a sub-committee on GST has suggested that the revenue neutral rate of GST be pegged at about 27 percent, the states are yet to decide on it. It had suggested states GST at 13.91 percent and Central GST at 12.77 percent.

Besides, states have been demanding that petroleum, alcohol and tobacco should be kept out of the purview of GST.

WGC Hails India for Lifting Gold Restrictions

World Gold Council (WGC) hailed India’s decision to curb gold import restrictions and said the metal’s supply through official channels will improve and benefit genuine exporters and manufacturers of gold jewellery.

Welcoming the government’s surprise move, WGC India Managing Director Somasundaram PR said “The timing of this development though surprising, will definitely boost confidence in general, and in the jewellery industry, in particular.

“The official supply situation must now ease to the benefit genuine exporters and manufacturers of gold jewellery.”

The sharp gold imports in recent months were not triggered by changes in demand estimates but were more likely due to expectation of additional curbs, he added.

Asserting that India should move beyond curbs on gold imports, Somasundaram said: “It is time to re-engage all stakeholders to develop a coherent long term policy on gold that is aligned to the national growth objectives.

India last week scrapped a scheme under which it was mandatory for importers to export 20 per cent of the gold they imported. It was put in place in August 2013 to check high gold imports that had widened the current account deficit.

Revamped KVP Offers Attractive Rates

Revamped Kisan Vikas Patra, or KVP, a small savings scheme has come up with exciting offers to gain more popularity among rural Indians.

The Scheme now offers 8.67% interest and will double the principal during its maturity period of 100 months.

Though the investment matures in eight years and four months, one can redeem it after the lock-in period of two years and six months and thereafter in a block of six months by getting a pre-determined maturity value.

KVP certificates will be in denomination of Rs 1,000, Rs 5,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 50,000. There is no cap on the amount that can be invested.

Initially, the certificates will be sold through post offices. Later, they will also be available at designated branches of public sector banks.

The certificates can be bought singly or jointly and can be transferred to any person/persons multiple times. The facility of transfer from one post office to another anywhere in India is also available. One can also avail of a loan against the certificates.

Hero Moto Corp to Set Up Argentina, Brazil Plant

After setting up a plant in Colombia, India’s largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp plans to set up manufacturing units in Brazil and Argentina.

Hero Moto Corp MD & CEO Pawan Munjal said "We will get into manufacturing in Brazil. Argentina also requires us to manufacture locally, which is also on the cards. We would like to enter the Brazilian market along with the Rio Olympics in 2016, we believe that the factory in Colombia will be a good hub for supply to other markets for us in Central and Latin America".

Hero MotoCorp launched six of its best-selling bikes here as part of its target to clock 1.2 million unit sales from global business by 2020.

The two-wheelers rolled out include the 100 cc bikes - Splendor iSmart, Eco Deluxe, and Passion-Pro; the 125 cc Glamour; the 150 cc Hunk and the 225 cc Karizma ZMR. The bikes will be sold in 120 outlets spread across the country.

With this, the New Delhi-headquartered Hero MotoCorp will be the first Indian two-wheeler company to have a manufacturing plant in Latin America. The plant in Colombia is expected to go on stream by the middle of 2015.

Coca Cola to Open Rs 1000 Cr Plant in Karnataka

By Sheeja Sasindran

Coca Cola, the soft drinks giant has been allotted 250 acres of land in Karnataka to set up a bottling plant worth around Rs 1000 crore to employ 500 people, mostly from local villages.

The project is being established at Kadechur and Badiyala villages of Yadgir District.

Top officials of Coca Cola met Karnataka chief Minister Siddaramaiah and apprised him of the details about their proposal at Yadgiri Industrial area.

The Chief Minister assured support to the proposal and also advised company officials to provide employment to the family members of all those whose land would be acquired and other locals.

Facebook page of the CM said “ Coca Cola will be investing more than 1000 crore in this project. Our object is to develop Karnataka as a whole and therefore will be focusing on all districts. We will not limit our developmental focus to the centre of power and will ensure employment to our youths in all districts.”

ATF Price Cut to Help Airline Companies

Airline companies in India received a much awaited relief after oil companies reducing the prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF).

ATF prices were reduced to Rs 59,943 a kilolitre from December 1, 4.1 per cent lower than the previous month. Domestic airlines' fuel bill in the second half of 2014-15 is estimated to come down by a combined Rs 1,200 crore.

ATF for domestic carriers has become 11.22 per cent cheaper since October and is expected to see more price cuts in the next three months. According to estimates by the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (Capa), fuel costs could fall by an average 15 per cent in the January-March period.

Since ATF accounts for over 50 per cent of domestic carriers' operating costs, this implies a substantial six per cent fall in their costs during the period. Airlines had bought Rs 18,674 crore worth of ATF for domestic flights last financial year.

For SpiceJet, Jet Airways and Air India, the price cut would mean a substantial reduction in losses. SpiceJet, for instance, had a fuel bill of Rs 3,252 crore in 2013-14. If it consumes the same amount of ATF as last year, it would save around Rs 200 crore on fuel cost in the October-March period. That would help it reduce its losses (Rs 1,003 crore last financial year).

Oil, Gold hit lowest levels

Global oil and gold prices continued their southern journey in early trade Monday (Dec 1) on different geo political reasons.

Gold prices tumbled after Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected the proposals to boost gold reserves in a referendum while oil prices hit five-year lows after OPEC held back from cutting output in the face of a supply glut.

Gold fell more than two per cent at one point to $1,142.90 per ounce, its lowest level in more than three weeks, while silver also took a hit, falling more than six per cent to a five-year low below $14.50 per ounce.

US crude fell more than two per cent to a five-year low of $64.10 per barrel, with the fall from June exceeding 40 per cent.

Sinking oil and commodity prices are causing massive realignments in markets.

HAL Wins Rs 100 Crore Deal In Mauritius

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has entered an agreement with Mauritius government worth nearly Rs 100 to acquire its Dornier aircraft for maritime surveillance.

The contract was signed in Mauritius capital Port Louis by Kan Oye Fong Weng Poorun, Senior Chief Executive, Prime Minister’s Office (Mauritius) and S Subrahmanyan, Managing Director, HAL (MiG Complex and Accessories), the company said in a statement.

The inclusion of Dornier in the National Coast Guard, Mauritius Police Force, would result in an extensive enhancement of the present search and rescue capability and provide strategic depth to policing the extensive Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), it said.

HAL has supplied helicopters like Cheetah, Chetak and Dhruv, and two Dornier aircraft in maritime version to Mauritius in the past.

Varanasi Set to Become India’s First Smart City

Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency is drawing close to turn into a smart city, as urban development ministry laid out the plan of the ambitious project.

Prime Minister Modi, who was elected in May to represent Varanasi, has taken personal responsibility to upgrade the city into one of the first smart cities in India.  Modi has a vision of building 100 'smart' cities in India.

The organizers and businessmen who will be the part of the project were present at the 'seminar on intelligent cities'.

Secretary of India's Urban Development ministry, Shankar Aggarwal interacted with the people and officials involved with the ambitious project.

Aggarwal said a smart city may have diverse significance for different groups belonging to various fields.

Meanwhile, Aggarwal said that they will engage each and every citizen of the state and take their suggestions regarding the development of their city.

"We have come up with a concept paper that is on our website. We have asked for suggestions from the people. After the suggestions are gathered, there will be work on citizens engagement, asking people their need and then will come up with a city development plan," said Aggarwal.

Students to Get Free Craft-Making Training in Kerala

Handicrafts Development Corporation of Kerala Ltd is getting ready to provide expert training for school students in the state in craft-making free of cost.

The ambitious training programme, planned to be implemented with the support of the union government, is aimed at inculcating interest for craft making among the youth and pass on the state's centuries' old legacy of handicraft making to the next generation, Corporation sources said.

The programme would be implemented in two or three districts in the initial phase and would be expanded to other districts after evaluating its success. The training would be free of cost and students would be selected based on their interest in handicraft making.

The Corporation also planned to sell through its outlets handicraft products made by students, during the annual school work experience fairs in the state.

The initiative would help students find a market for their products and woo more youngsters to the field of craft making, sources said.

Spicejet Gets Relief after Billionaire Stake Purchase

Troubled airliner SpiceJet received a much awaited relief after billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala acquired a 1.4% stake in it by purchasing 75 lakh equity shares worth R13.41 crore.

According to BSE’s bulk deals data, Jhunjhunwala’s asset management firm Rare Enterprises made the purchase on Friday.

The investment, though miniscule could send out a positive signal to investors as the company scouts for investors to turn around the operations. On Friday, shares of SpiceJet closed up 18.36% at R18.24 on the BSE.

During the July-September quarter, SpiceJet reported a reduction in its net loss by 45% to R310.44 crore. This was on the back of higher load factor and passenger revenue and lower expenses.

As of September 30, Kal Airways holds 29.24% in the airline, while Kalanithi Maran held 24.24%. During the same period Ewart investments held 1.79% while Kalpana Singh held 1.41% stake in the airline.

The Kalanithi Maran-promoted carrier’s revenue increased by 15% to R1,449.94 crore during the September quarter while its expenses were down by 2% to R1,749 crore.

Mobile Plays Big Role in US Black Friday Sales

Mobile played a big role in this year’s Black Friday sales in the US as nearly 47 per cent of online traffic coming via mobile devices as online retail sales registered 8 per cent increase from last year.

The holiday shopping season certainly started earlier this year, with a number of retailers online and off running discounted sales beginning on Thanksgiving Day. Amazon, for example, started running deals on its site mid-day, and that choice seemed to work out well for the retailer.

Amazon was up 25.9% year-over-year, outpacing e-commerce as a whole, but eBay grew just 3.0% over Thanksgiving Day 2013. Mobile this year also played a part in crashing Best Buy’s website.

Online sales were up 8.5% over the same period on Black Friday 2013, it found. Though mobile didn’t claim over half of online traffic as it did on Thursday, its percentage of the online sales is steadily increasing. This Black Friday, mobile sales accounted for 26.1% of all online sales, an increase of 24.7% year-over-year.

Also continuing Black Friday trends, iOS shoppers remained more valuable to retailers with an average order size of $127.34 – higher than Android, at $101.82. iOS also sent more traffic than Android with 31.8% of all online traffic versus 14.5% on Android. And finally, Apple iOS sales accounted for 20.2% of total online sales, nearly four times that of Android, which drove only 5.6% of all online sales.

Jet Airways to Stop ‘Konnect’ Offering

India based private airliner, Jet Airways is to stop its no-frills ‘Konnect’ offering and might roll out a single full-service product soon.

The move is aimed at boosting occupancy and increasing yields. The airline had launched the Konnect service in 2009 to complement its full-service offering and Konnect now constitutes 60 per cent of its domestic inventory.

The airline is also planning a ‘Guest First’ programme to enhance passenger experience on-ground as well as on-board and is training its ground staff and cabin crew on the new service procedures. Changes are also being made to in-flight menu and cabins are being spruced.

Jet hopes a single uniform service will help attract corporate travellers and arrest a slide in market share and load factor. It reported a market share of 20.5 per cent in October, compared with 25.2 per cent in January.

The Konnect brand was being offered on both Jet Airways and JetLite aircraft. The airline did not pay agents a commission for Konnect flights operated with JetLite aircraft. This would now change and agents would be paid commission on all flights, a source said.

India Withdraws Gold Import Curbs

In as surprise move, India, world’s second largest gold consumer has announced the withdrawal of the so-called “20:80 scheme” and restrictions placed on import of gold.

Analysts said the move was prompted by the comfortable position on the current account deficit front and healthy build up of foreign exchange.

As per the rule, 20% of all imported gold had to be mandatorily exported before any new shipments could be brought in. The scheme was introduced in July 2013 to rationalize the import of gold in any form/purity, including import of gold into the country as the country’s current account deficit surged to 4.8 per cent in the April-June 2013 quarter.

India remained the second biggest gold consumer after China. Gold imports jumped 280 per cent to $4.17 billion in October. India imported 95,673 kg of gold in September, the highest level in the first six months of this financial year.

In August, imports stood at 50,213 kg. Imports of the precious metal in April, May, June and July were 43,207 kg, 52,612 kg, 77,681 kg and 45,269 kg, respectively.

BSNL Introduces ‘Mescure’ Security System

India’s BSNL launched a mobile security value added service that will allow its customers to track location of their lost mobile phones, remotely lock the device and erase data, among others.

BSNL is offering the solution, Msecure, in association with Beyond Evolution.

"Through Msecure solution user can remotely manage data contained in his or her lost mobile handset," BSNL Director for Consumer Mobility Anupam Shrivastava said in a statement.

The application will also provides complete call log details of the lost mobile at pre-determined intervals to emergency number feeded in the mobile.

Through the application, user will be able to remotely lock device, erase data and track location of the lost device.

The application will send the location details through SMS to the emergency number. The application also allows a user to remotely raise an alarm on the lost or misplaced device.

"Security of mobile handsets has become a cause for concern owing to important data stored in it. Loss or theft may leads to unauthorized access and possible misuse of such data," BSNL said.

Railways Launches 24 Hrs 1800-111-322 Helpline No

As an additional safety measure, an All India Security Helpline ‘1800-111-322’ has been operational at railway Board to enable passengers to seek security related assistance round the clock.

The Railways has also decided to set up an integrated security system consisting of electronic surveillance of vulnerable stations through Close Circuit Television Camera network, access control, anti-sabotage checks to strengthen surveillance mechanism over 202 sensitive railway stations.

All the ladies special trains running in metropolitan cities are being escorted by lady RPF constables to ensure proper security to the lady passengers.

The Railway Ministry also proposed for amendment in the Railway Protection Force Act to create a more effective security mechanism for Indian Railways.

Kerala gets $100 million ADB loan for ASAP

Kerala gets an ADB loan of $100 million for its Additional Skill Acquisition Program (ASAP). An agreement was signed with Asian Development Bank (ADB) to support the State of Kerala in its initiative to increase the employability of higher secondary and undergraduate students by way of providing opportunities to improve their English fluency and IT skills, and to learn market relevant, in-demand vocational skills outside regular school hours. Nearly 2,35,000 needy students in Kerala will be benefited under the program during 2014-2018.

This $100 million loan for supporting Kerala’s Additional Skill Acquisition Program (ASAP) is the first Results Based Lending (RBL) facility from ADB in India. Key outputs of market-relevant vocational training introduced in post-basic education; enhanced access to quality vocational training; increased awareness and facilitation of private sector participation as also improved program management and monitoring and evaluation would be considered for disbursement of due amounts.

India Apr-Oct Fiscal Deficit Hits Rs 4.76 Lakh Crore

India’s April October fiscal deficit was Rs 4.76 lakh crore at the end of October, a staggering 89.6 per cent of the full year target of Rs 5.31 lakh crore. For April-October last year, the fiscal deficit was 84.4 per cent of the FY14 target.

Net tax revenues for April-October 2015 were about Rs 3.69 lakh crore, or 37.7 per cent of FY15 budgeted estimates (BE) of Rs 9.77 lakh crore, while non-tax revenue for the period was Rs 1.11 lakh crore, about 52.3 per cent of FY15 BE of Rs 2.12 lakh crore. For the same period of last year, tax and non-tax revenues had reached 40.3 per cent and 57.8 per cent of FY14 targets, respectively.

 Non-debt capital receipts were Rs 6,264 crore, or 8.5 per cent of FY15 BE of Rs 73,952 crore, compared with 12.2 per cent for the same period last year, mainly on account of not even a single disinvestment moving this year.

Non-Plan expenditure was Rs 6.95 lakh crore for April-October, or 57 per cent of FY15 BE of Rs 12.20 lakh crore, compared with 59 per cent for the same period last year. Plan spending for April-October was Rs 2.67 lakh crore, or 46.4 per cent of FY15 BE of 5.75 lakh crore, compared with 48.3 per cent for the same period last fiscal.

Xiaomi to Set Up Own India E-Commerce Platform

Stepping further into India, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi plans to set up its own e-commerce platform in India to sell its devices and accessories and is also looking at possibilities to assemble phones here in the future.

Xiaomi exclusively sells its devices globally through online flash sales. In India, it has partnered with Flipkart to sell its devices, the Mi3 and Redmi 1S smartphones. Xiaomi, which entered India just three months ago, has sold 500,000 units up till now.

“E-commerce is core to us. We will continue to sell phones with Flipkart for a long time. But we are also looking at having our own e-commerce platform to sell our products,” said Manu Jain, operations head, Xiaomi India and hopes to get it ready by 2015.

At the same time, it is exploring options to start assembling phones in the country. “We are only exploring that right now (third party assembly). The entire ecosystem needs to be in place for that. We will have to study regulations, taxation related issues as well. So there is no timeline for when we will start assembling here,” he said.

Xiaomi’s devices are assembled by Foxconn, which also makes smartphones for Apple and Blackberry, in China.

India to Establish Environment Regulator

India will set up an environment regulator that will have powers to appraise industrial projects. But it will not have powers to penalize violators of green laws.

This development follows inter-ministerial and inter-state consultations over the months after a Supreme Court order to set up an autonomous body for appraising projects and authorizing the body to penalize offenders.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said his ministry had inter-ministerial consultations and consultations with states for setting up of a regulator/authority.

Javadekar added the regulator would oversee the process of accreditation of environment impact assessment (EIA) consultants, improve the quality of EIA reports and appraisal, appraise projects for environment clearance, enforce conditions of project proponents seeking green nod and implementing the National Forest Policy (NFP).

The Supreme Court had, on January 6, directed the government to appoint a national regulator. The court had suggested an independent body be set up for appraising projects, enforcing environmental clearance conditions and imposing penalties.

India Hints At New Law on Black Mone

India is considering amending the anti-money laundering and Income Tax laws to get back the black money stashed abroad, admitting that there are weaknesses in them.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley hinted about this in Lok Sabha. While making it clear that there was a need for tax-friendly regime with reasonable taxes, he said there was also need to put the fear of law into the offenders.

This could be done by providing for criminal prosecution and seizing of assets in India of those whose money is stashed abroad illegally so that the money comes back, he said.

On Tax system, he said "our tax system has to be friendly to tax payers, both procedurally and otherwise. And that is exactly what step by step we are trying to do. The taxation should be reasonable so that the government expenses are met, tax base widened and tax evaders don't have incentive.

OPEC Rejects Output Cut As Price Fall Continues

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting countries (OPEC) has decided to keep its output target on hold despite drastic oil price decline.

The cartels decision was keeping mind that with cheap crude in oversupply, a reduction would only cut into its share of the market without a lasting boost in prices and with others outside the cartel making up the difference.

OPEC has traditionally relied on output cuts to regulate supply and prices. Instead, the move to maintain a production target of 30 million barrels a day appeared to reflect acceptance of the Saudi view within OPEC that short-term pain had to be accepted for later gain.

The Saudis and their Gulf allies hope to put economic pressure on rival producers in the US, which need higher prices to break even. In the long term, that could help reaffirm OPEC's dominance of the oil market.

It would also be good news for consumers and oil-importing nations. The global price plunged $5 to a four-year low of $72.76 a barrel. As recently as June it was around $115.

WTO Approves Framework on Customs Norms

Accepting India’s demand to remove constraints on food stockpiling, WTO approved a framework for a global pact to ease customs norms.

The approval comes days after the impasse between the US and India over food stockpiling was resolved through direct contact between US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 13.

This is the first major pact reached by WTO members since the multilateral trade body came into existence in 1995. The agreement will now have to be ratified by governments of member countries and can come into effect sometime next year.

In July, India had refused to ratify the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) - meant to ease customs norms - demanding that the WTO members find a permanent solution to the issue of public stockholding of foodgrain to feed its poor and an extension of the peace clause.

Under the peace clause, a WTO member is not penalised for breaching the food subsidy cap. A developing nation can provide food subsidy of up to 10% of its total farm output.

Air India Cuts Rate on Selected Global Routes

In order to attract more passengers, India’s national airliner Air India announced limited-period heavily discounted two-way fares on select global flights, starting Rs 19,999 ahead of the winter holiday rush.

Inclusive return fares under the Short-Term Global Winter Sale Bonanza, which covers some of the major global destinations across the US, Europe, Far East, Australia, China, Russia, Singapore and Thailand, are available for sale from November 26 to December 2 for travel up to November 15, 2015, Air India said in a release.

Air India has a network of 33 global destinations spread over the US, Europe, Canada, Far-East and South-East Asia and the Gulf besides domestic routes.

Under the winter special offer, fares for Delhi-Chicago /New York and Delhi-Melbourne/Sydney routes have fares have been cut down to Rs 49,999. For the Delhi to Rome/Milan/Frankfurt/Paris/London and Birmingham routes to as low as Rs 39,999, Air India said.

Similarly, the fares for a journey to Tokyo/Osaka/Seoul from Delhi have been slashed to Rs 39,999 while for Bangkok/Singapore the fares from Delhi have been reduced to Rs 19,999, Air India said.

Reserve Bank Issues Final Norms for Small Banks

Reserve Bank of India issued final guidelines for payments and small banks that aim to take banking services to more people and small businesses.

The RBI aims to push financial inclusion by setting up these niche outfits, small finance banks that can have all-India operations and payments banks, which can accept more deposits.

The guidelines open up a window of opportunity for entities which did not bag new bank licences in April.

Shriram Capital, Janalakshmi Financial Services, Magma Fincorp and Muthoot Finance, among others, are expected to throw their hats into the ring to set up small banks.

The Department of Posts, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Tata Teleservices, Western Union and online digital payment players such as Paytm, Oxigen and MobiKwik have expressed interest in floating payment banks.

The minimum paid-up equity capital for both small and payment banks has been pegged at Rs100 crore. Small banks will be required to maintain a minimum capital adequacy ratio of 15 per cent of the loans on a continuous basis.

The small bank will be required to extend 75 per cent of its credit to the priority sector. Payments banks can accept deposits, current and savings bank, from individuals, small businesses and other entities. However, they cannot accept non-resident Indian deposits.

SAARC Summits End with Last- Minute Energy Deal

After the stalemate, an agreement to salvage the SAARC summit at Kathmandu came at the last minute as heads of state attending their first summit in three years have reached a deal on energy sharing.

The agreement will enable greater cooperation in the power sector among South Asian countries.

On the last day of the two-day summit on Thursday, the leaders flew to a mountain resort near Nepal’s capital Kathmandu and agreed on electricity sharing through a common grid.

During the retreat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif shook hands and talked in a group, but did have one-on-one dialogue, according to Nepalese officials.

Indian officials have already said exchanging courtesies among the leaders did not mean talks between the two South Asian nations.

PMJDY Now Targets 10 Crore Bank Accounts

Indian government has revised the target for opening of accounts under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) from 7.5 crore to 10 crore by January 26 to ensure that at least one account for each household in the country.

As per the latest figure, about 8 crore accounts have been opened under the flagship financial inclusion scheme of the government.

In a review meeting, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told the officers that Aadhar card numbers may also be seeded with bank accounts as the same will help in directly transferring the subsidies to the bank accounts of the desired sections of the society under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme.

It was informed that 7.64 crore bank accounts have been already opened under PMJDY till November 18, out of which Public Sector Banks (PSBs) have opened 6.15 crore accounts, Regional Rural Banks(RRBs) 1.28 crore accounts and private sector banks 20 lakh accounts.

India to Extend E-Visa Regime in Phases

Nine Indian international airports began welcoming foreign tourists from 43 more countries and provide e-visas from Thursday.

All arrangements, including the software for the system, are now ready at nine international airports -- Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Goa.

Visitors from over 43 countries, including Germany, the US, Israel and Palestine, will be able to avail the much-awaited electronic visa facility.

Russia, Brazil, Germany, Thailand, UAE, Ukraine, Jordan, Norway and Mauritius, among others, would be getting the e-visa facility in the first phase. Mexico, Kenya and Fiji are also being considered for being given the e-visa facility.

As per the government decision, all countries, except a few in the "prior list", would be brought into the e-visa regime over the next two years.

Barring a few like Pakistan, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Somalia, all the countries will be covered under the e-visa regime in phases.

The e-visa is expected to give a big boost to foreign tourist arrivals in the country. About 51.79 lakh foreign tourists visited India during January-September.

Thirteen countries currently enjoy the visa-on-arrival facility, including South Korea, Japan, Finland, Singapore, New Zealand, Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos.

Tourism Industry Raises Concern Over Bird Flu

Kerala’s Tourism industry remained worried whether the outbreak of avian influenza in some districts would keep away tourists from the state as peak tourism season has already begun in God’s Own Country.

However, tourists flow to the state remained normal and no cancellations of room bookings or houseboats have been reported so far as no countries have issued travel advisories.

Tourism Industry in the state wants the government to step in to prevent travel advisories being issued by nations in the wake of the reporting of bird flu.

The travel, trade, and hospitality industry is apprehensive as confirmation of bird flu has come from Alappuzha which is the centre of houseboat operations, weeks before Christmas and New Year.

Minister for Tourism A. P. Anil Kumar said he had already asked houseboat operators to take preventive steps. “They have informed me that only fish and bottled water would be provided to the guests,” the Minister said. The operators have decided to skip the toddy shops during the cruise in the backwaters.

India to Continue with GM Crop Field Trials

Putting aside all controversies surrounding GM crop field trials in the country, Indian government said it is of the view that research in GM and confined field trials for generating bio-safety data with all due precautions should be allowed to continue in national interest.

 ‘As of date, there is no ban on GM crop field trials neither by the Government nor the Supreme Court,’ Environment minister Prakash Javadekar said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

He said a Technical Expert Committee (TEC) was constituted vide Supreme Court order to address issues related to genetically modified crop field trials.

‘All experimental field trials are conducted as per the stringent norms prescribed in the ‘Guidelines and Safety Operating Practices for the Conduct of Confined Field Trials of Transgenic Plant, 2008’ which is as per international best practices,’ he added.

AI Makes Profit From 3 Out Of 120 International Routes

India’s national airline, Air India is hardly making any profit as only 9 out of 370 daily flights of the flag carrier are currently profitable.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Civil aviation Minister Mahesh Sharma told Parliament that of the 120 international flights, only 3 make money, while on the domestic, front 6 break even.

This assertion, which is in the form of a written reply to the Lok Sabha, is a stark contrast to recent claims by the AI management that performance is improving across several operational parameters such as passenger load factors and yields.

The routes AI makes money on are Delhi-Leh, Delhi-Kolkata, Leh-Jammu, Delhi-Srinagar, Srinagar-Leh and Delhi-Hyderabad-Vijayawada. While most of these routes see limited competition, this also means that the carrier is making losses on Delhi-Mumbai route. Delhi and Mumbai airports account for about 60 per cent of all national air traffic. The three international routes registering profits are Cochin-Kozhikode-Jeddah, Kozhikode-Sharjah and Kolkata-Yangon.

India May Amend Key Labour Laws

Indian government said it was "actively" considering amendments to various labour laws including the Child Labour Act, Factories Act and Minimum Wages Act.

Union Minister for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya told Rajya Sabha that the proposal to amend various labour laws are formulated on the basis of detained tripartite consultation with union ministries, state governments, employers' and employees organizations which is a continuous process.

He said his ministry keeps receiving demands to amend labour laws from various stakeholders from time to time in order to bring them in tune with better enforcement of labour laws, streamlining inspection mechanism, more coverage of labour rights and with emerging needs of the economy which include facilitating investments.

Another proposal is to empower the Central government also to make rules under the Factories Act on some important provisions.

Modi Proposes ‘SAARC Business Traveller Card’

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has proposed to create a “SAARC business traveller card” among other far-reaching measures to integrate the region.

Attending in his maiden SAARC summit, Modi said India is ready to play a big brother's role and also suggested “special purpose facility” for infrastructure project.

He also spoke about a vision to create cross-border industrial corridors and common electricity grids, emphasising greater air, road and rail connectivity.

“Infrastructure is my greatest priority in India. And, I also want to set up a Special Purpose Facility in India to finance infrastructure projects in our region that enhances our connectivity and trade…India will now give a business visa for three to five years for SAARC. Let's make it even easier for our businesses through a SAARC business traveller card,” Modi said.

Hailing Modi’s remarks, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said his proposals on a SAARC business traveller card, special purpose facility for financing regional infrastructure, and cross-border industrial corridors — were “innovative and very pertinent”.

India’s exports to South Asian countries were $17.5 billion in 2013-14, about 5.6 per cent of our total exports. Our imports from these countries reached $2.5 billion in 2013-14, about 0.5 per cent of India’s total imports, said CII.

Alibaba To Invest More In India

World’s largest online and mobile e-commerce company by GMV (gross merchandise value) said it plans to invest more in India and help technology entrepreneurs in the country.

Speaking at a FICCI event, Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba said “ the company is already working with many businesses in India and invest more in India, work with Indian entrepreneurs, India technologists to improve the relationship of the two nations and to improve the great lives of human beings”.

Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his leadership, Ma said that it is the best time for both the countries to work together.

Terming India a nation of mobile phones, he said, this is a nation with which China can work together and it is a great opportunity for entrepreneurs of the two countries. Ma said that Internet is a young business for the young and India has a lot of young people.

Ma, the richest man in China with a fortune of about USD 24.4 billion, founded Alibaba in 1999 in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province.

WGC, IIM-A To Set Up India Gold Policy Centre

In an attempt to conduct cutting-edge research on all aspects of India’s gold industry, Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) and the World Gold Council (WGC) announced the setting up of the India Gold Policy Centre.

Situated on the IIM-A campus, the Centre is being set up with a financial grant from WGC and will operate from next month. The first-of-its-kind initiative may well emerge as one of the top think-tanks for fuelling the engine of the Indian economy.

The objective of the Centre is to develop insights into how significant stocks of gold that India owns can be used to advance growth, employment, social inclusion and the economic wealth of the nation, said Ashish Nanda, Director, IIM-A.

India holds an estimated 22,000 tonnes of gold, valued at over $1 trillion. This asset can be used to enhance the nation’s prosperity by putting it to work for the economy, creating jobs, developing skills, generating exports and revenues.

“To develop gold’s potential, we need to understand its role in the economy through high quality data, insights and research,” said Somasundaram PR, Managing Director, India, WGC.

The Centre aims to conduct research, having practical applications the industry and stakeholders can use, leading to the development of an effective gold ecosystem in the country.

It will provide innovative solutions and insights for the gold industry through research intended to study the growth and development of gold industry in India and globally. The move will help IIM-A enhance its research environment.

US Business Community Keen On India

American business community, the Alliance for Fair Trade with India said it would wait and watch on Modi Government's trade policies, particularly the areas of concern.

In a statement issued at the conclusion of Indo-US Trade Policy Forum meet in New Delhi, it said "We look forward to concrete and near-term steps to address and resolve these barriers".

This was the first trade policy meeting between the two countries after a gap of four years.

US Trade Representative Michael Froman lead the American delegation while Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman represented India at the talks.

"Only then can the United States and India reach the full potential of their economic relationship. We will continue to engage at every level to urge progress and results toward a fair and level playing field in US-India trade," the statement said.

The statement also thanked Froman and his team for their hard work in re-starting the Indo-US Trade Policy Forum after a four-year hiatus and for advancing meaningful conversations with India about longstanding and new barriers US business are facing in India.

India to reopen Kudankulam Nuke Plant Soon

After being closed for nearly three months, Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) in Tamil Nadu is expected to resume power generation by the first week of December.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Department of Atomic Energy said the unit was shut down in view of certain observations in its turbine during its operation. The power generation is now expected to resume by the first week of December 2014,” Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Department of Atomic Energy, said in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

“The turbine was opened and its various components have been inspected. The required repair/rectification job, in accordance with the recommendations of the Russian manufacturers, is nearing completion. Efforts are on to make the turbine ready for the start up by early December 2014,” Singh added.

The Minister also informed that measures are being taken to avoid recurrence of such an event in unit 2 of the KKNPP, which is presently under commissioning and is also being prepared for hot run.