Nasheman News :  Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is in the US for a medical check up, will return home on Friday, well ahead of the Budget presentation on February 1, official sources said.

“The Finance Minister is set to return on the evening of January 25,” said a senior official. “The interim budget will be presented by him for sure,” he said. He added that the process for printing of Budget documents began on Monday. 

Jaitley, 66, left for the US on January 13 for what was believed to be a medical check-up relating to his kidney ailment. He had undergone a renal transplant surgery in May 2018.

However, there has been wide speculation that he may not be able to return early to present the interim budget, which will be his last before the general elections this year.

Jaitley had recently hinted that it may not be a simple interim budget or vote on account, which is generally the tradition in an election year. The full budget is presented by the new government after the elections.

“Ordinarily, there should be no reason why we should move away from that convention but there is a larger interest of the economy that always dictate what goes into that interim budget,” he said on Thursday.

Informed sources said that the government may roll out schemes to help increase farmers’ income, reduce farm input costs and raise credit flow to farmers. 

Ministers of State for Finance Pon Radhakrishnan and Shiv Pratap Shukla on Monday held the annual pre-budget ritual, Halwa Ceremony, to mark the beginning of printing of Budget documents in the North Block, the seat of Ministry of Finance.

NEW DELHI: Several positive and negative examples are being made to secure the Indian economy. According to a study conducted by the International Human Rights Group Oxfam, the wealth of Indian billionaires last year was Rs 2,200 crore. Is over.

The country’s wealthiest wealth grew by 39% last year; But the bottom 50% of the population below the country has seen a mere 3% increase. The Oxfam Study Report is today revealed on Monday.

World billionaire wealth globally is 12 percent higher than last year. That means their fortune is over $ 2.5 billion daily. 

At the same time, the poorest wealth of the world’s population has fallen by 11 percent. 

The Oxfam Report, an international human rights group released before the annual meeting of the five-day World Economic Forum (WEF) in Switzerland’s ski resort town, has pointed out that the economic gap between rich and poor in the world is rising concerns. 

India’s total population The poorest Indians in the 10th, 13.6 crore, have been warned that they have fallen into debt since 2004.

Agencies

NashemanNews : Nepal’s central bank has announced the ban of Indian currency notes with denominations above Rs 100.

The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on Sunday issued a circular for the institutions licensed by it notifying them about the ban, reports Xinhua news agency. 

Nepal’s cabinet in December had decided to ban the use of these currency notes. 

The decision to ban these notes has come a time when the NRB has requested the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) arequesting the latter to allow Nepal to use currency notes with all denominations.

Currently, only the notes with a denomination of Rs 100 and below are freely exchangeable in Nepal.

Nasheman News : In an effort to accelerate indigenous production of defence systems, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday inaugurated a Tamil Nadu Defence Industrial Corridor here that is expected to attract Rs 3,123.50 crore worth of investment.

Inaugurating the corridor, Sitharaman said the Centre had decided to have two corridors – in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu – despite the demands from states like Karnataka and Maharashtra.

Tiruchirappalli is about 350 km from Chennai.

The Minister also spoke about the Defence Ministry’s initiatives to ensure that the Indian industry engages with the country’s armed forces to co-create best defence technologies.

According to Sitharaman, the development of these specialised corridors will facilitate a well planned and efficient industrial base.

Several public and private sector organisations announced investment projects worth about Rs 3,100 crore, said the Defence Ministry.

Major players like Lockheed Martin, LMW and others announced their plans to set up units in the corridor.

The Ordinance Factory Board (OFB) announced its plans to invest about Rs 2,305 crore in Tamil Nadu.

The companies that have announced their investments are: BEL (Rs 140.50 crore), BEML (Rs 40 crore), BDL (Rs 150 crore), MDL (Rs 15 crore), TVS (Rs 30 crore), Data Patterns (Rs 75 crore), Alpha Designs (Rs 100 crore), AIDAT (Rs 163 crore) and Aerospace Engineers (Rs 105 crore).

Speaking at the event, Vivek Lall, Vice President, Aeronautics Strategy and Business Development at Lockheed Martin, said the company has identified seven companies as potential manufacturers of components for future F-16 aircraft.

Sitharaman also launched CODISSIA Defence Innovation and Incubation Centre in Coimbatore through video conference.

Recently, a defence industrial corridor in Aligarh was launched.

Later speaking to reporters, Sitharaman said the opposition parties did not hear the government’s responses to the allegations made about the Rafale deal.

She said the opposition parties were flying paper planes, taking photos and shouting when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was speaking and wondered how the Congress can say that the government’s answers were not satisfactory.

Nasheman News : Transport fuel rates were hiked sharply on Sunday as global crude oil rates continued to climb handsomely following the implementation of output cuts by global oil producers from January 1.

State-run oil marketing companies increased petrol rates by 23 paise per litre while diesel prices went up by 29-31 paise across the four major metros, making it among the sharpest hikes ever since rates had been rising this month following a prolonged period of fall. 

Petrol and diesel prices have increased by more than Rs 2 per litre each during January. 

As per data from Indian Oil Corp, petrol price in Delhi was increased to Rs 70.95 per litre on Sunday while in Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai the fuel cost Rs 73.05, Rs 76.58 and Rs 73.65 respectively.

Similarly, the price of diesel went up on Sunday in the national capital to Rs 65.45 per litre.

In Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai, diesel sold at Rs 67.23, Rs 68.53 and Rs 69.14 a litre respectively.

With petroleum products being outside the GST regime, prices vary as a result of local taxes. 

As per the country’s dynamic pricing mechanism, the domestic fuel prices depend upon international fuel prices on a 15-day average and the value of the rupee.

Following the implementation of production cuts by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC producers, global crude rates have been hardening and the UK Brent crude closed over the weekend at over $62 a barrel after having fallen below $50 last month. 

The agency is probing the case after taking cognisance of an FIR filed by the NIA against Naik, who is said to be based in Malaysia at present.

The ED has attached fresh assets worth Rs 16. 40 crore in connection with its money-laundering probe against controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, it said on Saturday.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), in a statement, said it had issued a provisional order for attachment of Naik’s assets, located in Mumbai and Pune, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The estimated value of the immovable assets was Rs 16.40 crore, the central probe agency said.

This is the third such attachment in the case by the ED.

The agency is probing the case after taking cognisance of an FIR filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against Naik, who is said to be based in Malaysia at present.

With the latest order, the total value of assets attached in the case by the ED stands at Rs 50.49 crore.

Nasheman News :Total liabilities of the government has increased 49 per cent to Rs 82 lakh crore in the last four-and-half years during the Narendra Modi government, as per the 8th Edition of the Status Paper on Government Debt released Friday.

Compared to the latest data available till September 2018 when the total debt of the Central government stood at Rs 82,03,253 crore, the corresponding amount till June 2014 was Rs 54,90,763 crore, the Finance Ministry’s data on government borrowings shows.

The huge surge in government’s debt has been propelled by 51.7 per cent growth in public debt from Rs 48 lakh crore to Rs 73 lakh crore in the four-and-half year period, which in turn was driven by 54 per cent rise in internal debt to about Rs 68 lakh crore.

Dependence on market loans show a similar rise of 47.5 per cent to more than Rs 52 lakh crore during the period. While debt raised through gold bonds was nil at the end of June 2014, it stood at Rs 9,089 crore including the gold monetisation scheme.

The Central government, in the status paper on government debt, gave a detailed analysis of the overall debt position of the government of India. It has been bringing out an annual status paper on government debt since 2010-11, the Finance Ministry said.

“The overall liabilities of the Central government are on a medium-term declining trajectory and government’s debt portfolio is characterised by prudent risk profile,” the paper, covering details of fiscal deficit financing operations of the government, however, said.

“Government is primarily resorting to market-linked borrowings for financing its fiscal deficit. Conventional indicators … indicate that debt profile of the government is comfortably placed in terms of debt sustainability parameters and is consistently improving,” it added.

While the country’s debt has been on the rise, little help is expected from the fiscal deficit side in the current financial year. The fiscal deficit in the first eight months till November stands at Rs 7.17 lakh crore, or 114.8 per cent of the Rs 6.24 lakh crore full year’s target.

By: Shaheen Raaj 

YES BANK SIGNS MOU WITH KIA MOTORS 

Yes Bank, India’s 4^th largest private sector Bank, recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kia Motors, world’s 8^th largest automaker, to enter into a strategic financing partnership, making itone of the 1^st ever Indian banks to become their preferred financier. The benefits of this partnership will be extended to the entire auto value chain, Auto dealers as well as customers, covering multiple car models offered by Kia Motors India. Kia Motors is all set to enter Indian market by 2^nd half of 2019 with an all-new mid-SUV which was previewed at 2018 Auto Expo. The partnership will utilize Yes Bank’s capabilities to provide a comprehensive range of attractive financing options for Kia Motors’ customers in India, helping support the company’s continued growth & expansion plans in different geographies. Through the partnership, Yes Bank will be able to provide end to end financial solutions to Kia Motors India. The Bank will offer financing & banking solutions to both the Kia car dealers with products such as Term Loans, Cash Credit, Inventory funding et al, as well as the end consumers. The Bank will work towards satisfying the customers’ needs through auto loans with easy monthly repayment plans best suited for individual consumers. Moreover, Yes Bank will also leverage its chat bot based platform, YES mPower bot, allowing it to deliver superior customer experience with 1 min loan approval across all the retail touch points. The partnership will focus on providing easy financing opportunities for the dealers & also make it easy for eligible buyers to acquire brand new Kia vehicles. Besides providing financing solutions, Yes Bank will also work towards developing exclusive digital banking solutions for Kia Motors in India.

Nasheman News : Customs officials on Thursday seized garments worth Rs 3 crore after intercepting a trawler which attempted to smuggle out goods to Bangladesh through the Sunderban riverine route.

An official said the department’s preventive and intelligence branch acted upon a report that fishing trawlers were being used to smuggle various goods to Bangladesh. 

“The route being taken by the smugglers was narrowed down to a specific area near Patharpratima zone in the Sunderbans,” said the official.

Acting on a tip-off, the department’s marine vessels with officers were deployed at Namkhana. They spotted the trawler early on Thursday.

After being chased by customs’ officials for about 12 km, the trawler moved towards the right bank of Ramganga river and its crew jumped off it and ran away into the forest.

“On a preliminary examination of the seized trawler, about 300 gunny bags containing garments worth Rs 3 crore were recovered,” official said.

He said efforts were on to trace the owner and crew of the trawler.

Nasheman News :  The design for the crew module and crew service module for India’s Gaganyaan first manned space mission, slated for launch in 2022, are in the finalisation process, a top official of the Indian space agency said.

“We have set up a new centre called Human Space Flight Centre and the work relating to Gaganyaan is being managed from there. 

“The design work relating to the proposed manned mission is underway and will be finalised soon,” K. Sivan, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told media.

“The design for crew module (that would carry the Indian astronauts) and crew service module will be finalised soon,” Sivan said.

“We are not designing these for the first time. We already have the necessary infrastructure,” he added.

The ISRO had already flight tested its crew module and its recovery some years back.

Last year, ISRO tested the crew escape system. The test was over in 259 seconds, during which the crew escape system along with crew module soared skyward, then arced out over the Bay of Bengal and floated back to Earth under its parachutes about 2.9 km from Sriharikota.

The crew module reached an altitude of nearly 2.7 km under the power of its seven specifically designed quick acting solid motors to take away the crew module to a safe distance without exceeding the safe g-levels.

On the selection of astronauts, Sivan said that will be the responsibility of the Indian Air Force (IAF), but there is time as the manned mission is slated for 2022, he added.