Domestic cooking gas LPG prices have been hiked by over Rs 2 per cylinder after the government increased the commission paid to LPG dealers.

A 14.2-kg subsidised LPG cylinder in Delhi will now cost Rs 507.42 as against Rs 505.34 previously, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. This followed an order of the Oil Ministry that raised the dealer’s commission. In that order, the ministry said the domestic LPG distributors’ commission for 14.2-kg cylinder and 5-kg cylinder was last fixed at Rs 48.89 and Rs 24.20 respectively in September 2017.

“Pending finalisation of De-Novo Study for revision of LPG distributors’ commission and taking into consideration the increase in transportation costs, wages etc, it has been decided to revise the distributors’ commission to Rs 50.58 per 14.2 kg cylinder and Rs 25.29 per 5 kg cylinder as an interim measure,” the order said.

This is the second increase in rates this month, the earlier one being on November 1, when prices went up by Rs 2.94 per cylinder because of tax component on base price.

The new dealer’s commission will be made up of Rs 30.08 establishment charges and Rs 20.50 delivery charges for a 14.2-kg cylinder. For 5 kg cylinder, the establishment charges have been fixed at Rs 15.04 and the rest Rs 10.25 are delivery charges, the ministry order said. Customers who collect their refills directly from distributor’s premises will continue not to be charged for delivery, it said. Before the hike, the dealer’s commission was made up of Rs 29.39 establishment charges and Rs 19.50 delivery charges for a 14.2-kg cylinder. For 5 kg bottle, the establishment charges were Rs 14.70 and delivery charges Rs 9.50.

All LPG consumers have to buy the fuel at market price. The government, however, subsidises 12 cylinders of 14.2-kg each per households in a year by providing the subsidy amount directly in bank accounts of users. This subsidy amount varies from month to month depending on the changes in the average international benchmark LPG rate and foreign exchange rate. When international rates move up, the government provides a higher subsidy. But as per tax rules, GST on LPG has to be calculated at the market rate of the fuel. The government may choose to subsidise a part of the price but tax will have to be paid at market rates.

This has led to an increase in price.

On November 1, the non-subsidised or market price LPG rates went up by Rs 60 per cylinder to Rs 939. Because of the rise in dealer’s commission, the price is now Rs 942.50 per 14.2-kg cylinder.

PTI

Indian Bank, which has lent over Rs 1,800 crore to Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS), on Friday said that most of its loans to the crisis-hit company were ‘good’.

“The bank’s exposure to IL&FS is Rs 1,809 crore. Out of the 10 loan accounts, six are for special purpose vehicles (SPV of IL&FS) whose revenues are ring-fenced with an escrow account,” Padmaja Chunduru, Managing Director and CEO, told reporters here.

She said that one account had turned bad three years ago and that the state-run lender had made necessary provisions.

One loan of Rs 172 crore slipped into the non-performing category recently.

Chunduru said that two more loan accounts totalling about Rs 130 crore were under the watch list.

Indian Bank’s total exposure to the non-banking finance companies is Rs 20,477 crore, accounting for 12.40 per cent of its gross advances as of September 30.

The 30-scrip S&P BSE Sensex on Friday opened in green over mixed global cues and a recovering rupee.

However, the Sensex lost over 170 points minutes into the trading.

Healthy buying was witnessed in healthcare and capital goods counters whereas index-pivotals– finance and banking — stocks were in red.

The Sensex of the BSE opened at 35,258.13 from its previous close at 35,237.68.

At 9.20 a.m., the Sensex traded at 35,064.84 lower by 172.84 points or 0.49 per cent.

The Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) opened at 10,614.70 after closing at 10,598.40.

The Nifty traded at 10,558.85 during the morning trade session, down 39.55 points and 0.37 per cent.

IANS

 Google CEO Sundar Pichai has said the company has worked out a new comprehensive policy to address diversity and sexual harassment that became a great concern of Google employees.

In an email to Google workers, Pichai on Thursday admitted that Google has “not always gotten everything right in the past,” for which he felt “sincerely” sorry and vowed to make some changes, Xinhua news agency reported.

Pichai’s disclosure came after over 20,000 Google employees worldwide walked out last week in protest of sexual harassment at the company and its improper handling of sexual misbehaviour allegations against top executives.

Google “will provide more transparency on how we handle concerns. We’ll give better support and care to the people who raise them,” said the Google CEO.

He said Google will take more powerful steps to address sexual harassment, including making arbitration optional for individual sexual harassment and sexual assault claims.

“We’re revamping the way we handle and look into your concerns… we will update and expand our mandatory sexual harassment training,” he said.

“We will double down on our commitment to be a representative, equitable, and respectful workplace,” Pichai promised.

The new policy changes unveiled by Google have virtually met most of the requirements by Google protesters, except the one that demanded a place for an employee representative on the company’s board.

Organisers of last week’s massive protests called for more transparency in handling sexual harassment, employee empowerment, and inequality over pay and work opportunities.

The global walkout spread to many countries in Europe, North America and Asia, including Britain, Singapore, Japan, Germany, and Google’s headquarters in Mountain View in northern California.

 Ridiculing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “knowledge of economics”, the Congress on Thursday ripped into him for the “reckless” decision of demonetisation that it said wrecked the economy and consumed many lives.

On the second anniversary of the Modi’s 2016 decision to ban Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes, the Congress launched a campaign “Destruction by Demonetisation” highlighting the havoc caused by the move and how it was a complete failure.

The party will also hold a nationwide protest on Friday.

A host of party leaders including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh came out in stringent criticism of demonetisation.

Calling it an “ill-fated” and “ill-thought” exercise, Singh said the scars and wounds of the decision were only getting more visible with time and its deeper ramifications were still unravelling.

He asked the government not to indulge in any further unorthodox, short-term economic measures that could cause more uncertainty in the economy and financial markets.

Singh said November 8 was a day to remember how economic misadventures can roil the nation for a long time and asked the government to restore certainty and visibility in economic policies.

“Today marks the second anniversary of the ill-fated and ill-thought demonetisation… The havoc that it unleashed on the Indian economy and society is now evident to everyone.

“It is often said that time is a great healer. But unfortunately, in the case of demonetisation, the scars and wounds of demonetisation are only getting more visible with time,” he said in a statement.

Singh said that beyond the steep drop in headline GDP growth numbers after demonetisation, the deeper ramifications of note ban were still unravelling.

“Small and medium businesses that are the cornerstone of India’s economy are yet to recover from the demonetisation shock,” he added.

“Notebandi (note ban) impacted every single person, regardless of age, gender, religion, occupation or creed.”

Addressing the media, former union minister and Congress leader Anand Sharma held Modi solely responsible for the note ban and called it a money laundering scheme that helped the BJP and its industrialist cronies.

“It was an arbitrary and reckless decision that led to economic disaster and misery, deaths of large number of citizens, loss of millions of jobs and wiping out of small traders and businesses,” said Sharma.

“The PM will never oblige with answer either to the media or Parliament. He is less than literate in economics and less knowledgeable in history. So he makes his own history and his own economics. He thinks he is wiser then (John Maynard) Keynes when it comes to economics because no PM in the world would do what he has done,” he said.

Sharma also said that Modi’s claims that the Indian economy was running on black money tarnished the country’s image globally.

The Congress leader also ridiculed Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who on the day sought to justify demonetisation saying it was aimed at “formalising the economy”.

“The Finance Minister should stay away from defending the decision as he was never consulted before when it was taken. His defences are an insult to the people of the nation who suffered countless miseries.

Never before a finance minister has been reduced to an apologist of an arrogant Prime Minister,” said Sharma dismissing Jaitley’s arguments in support of demonetisation.

IANS

At least two dozen domestic and international flight arrivals and departures were hit after a large number of contract workers resorted to a flash strike at the Mumbai airport early on Thursday, officials said.

“Due to a sudden industrial situation at Mumbai Airport by Air India Air Transport Services Ltd (AIATSL) employees, some flights have got delayed. We are assessing the situation and all efforts are being made to minimize the delays or disruptions,” the national carrier tweeted.

To tackle the situation, the AI summoned the permanent employees to normalize the flight operations, especially the early morning departures which were delayed by around two hours.

According to AI, eight arrivals and 16 departures comprising domestic and international services were delayed by an average two hours due to the agitation, disrupting passenger schedules at the height of the Diwali festival.

The reasons for the unforeseen protest was not immediately clear, with speculation ranging from non-disbursement of Diwali bonus to reinstatement of sacked labourers.

IANS

Beijing As India eyes the world’s biggest tea market in China, an Indian firm on Friday struck a $1 million export deal with a Chinese company.

Indian company Jay Shree Tea & Industries Ltd signed the contract with Chinese company COFCO (China Tea) for export of black tea, the Indian Embassy said here.

The deal, signed at China’s International Import Expo in Shanghai, came after an Indian tea promotional event was organised by the Indian Embassy in Beijing.

China is India’s 10th largest tea export destination. Last year, India’s export of tea to China was worth $25 million.

There is a rising demand for Assam CTC (crush, tear, curl) black tea, known for its strong colour and flavour.

(IANS)

New York The US dollar rose slightly against other major currencies as investors remained cautious about the upcoming results of the US mid-term elections.

In late New York trading on Tuesday, the euro fell to $1.1412 from $1.1417 in the previous session, and the British pound increased to $1.3093 from $1.3048 in the previous session, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Australian dollar was down to $0.7215 from $0.7216.

The US dollar bought 113.39 Japanese yen, higher than 113.22 Japanese yen of the previous session. The US dollar decreased to 1.0032 Swiss francs from 1.0039 Swiss francs, and it increased to 1.3139 Canadian dollars from 1.3108 Canadian dollars.

Investors kept a close watch on whether Democrats will claw back control of the US House of Representatives and Republicans will hold on to its Senate majority. Analysts believed that a divided US Congress would undermine the dollar’s value for a short term.

The greenback has recently been boosted by Friday’s robust jobs report, which recorded a sharp rise in both employment and average earnings, as well as an unchanged unemployment rate.

Investors remained positive that the upbeat jobs data will encourage the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates again in December, which in turn adds to the dollar’s value in the global market.

(IANS)

San Francisco Microsoft’s Head of digital Assistant Cortana is leaving the company by the end of the year, as Cortana has moved from the Artificial Intelligence (AI) research division into the Experiences and Devices group.

First reported by ZDNet on Tuesday, Javier Soltero, Vice President of Cortana, confirmed his departure in a tweet posted to his personal account.

“I’ve made the decision to leave Microsoft. The past 4 years have been an incredible experience. I’m humbled to have been a part of building something that 100M+ users depend on every day and grateful to have worked with some amazing people,” Soltero tweeted.

Soltero helped Microsoft improve its Outlook iOS app.

He later became the overall head of Outlook before taking on the Cortana role in March this year.

Last month, Microsoft confirmed that Cortana was one of the technologies that management was moving from AI + Research to the Experiences & Devices team, which is under Executive Vice President Rajesh Jha.

“Microsoft is in the midst of trying to reposition Cortana from a standalone digital assistant to more of an assistance aide,” the report said.

(IANS)

Keeping in tune with expectations, gold sales have notched a sharp fall of 40 per cent this year compared to 2017 Diwali owing to high prices and overall negative market sentiments, a leading retailers body said on Monday.

“Though there are crowds, people are not buying as per the expectations, but merely making token purchases of 5-10-20 gm to mark the auspicious day. Mostly gold coins/guineas are moving while small, medium or big articles of jewellery are virtually ignored,” said Mumbai Jewellers Federation President Rakesh Shetty.

However, another industry body, the All India Gem & Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC), said that contrary to expectations, gold and jewellery sales have zoomed during ‘dhanteras’ and the positive trend was expected to continue till the upcoming winter wedding season.

“The past three days have surprised even the industry. People are literally out in droves in shops and showrooms to make gold purchases. Since two months, till last Saturday, the market situation was extremely gloomy,” said GJC President Nitin Khandelwal.

However, this time the purchases – mostly in small jewelleries of 10 gm (1 tola) or multiples – is for end-user purposes and not as investments, with the prospects of gold prices shooting up with the likely increase in US dollar rates soon.

“Our expectation is that USD may touch around Rs 85 in the near future given the current international scenario. Along with that, gold itself would shoot up to Rs 45,000 per tola (10 gm). Plus, the upcoming winter marriage season is also driving up the sales,” Khandelwal told IANS.

The market sentiments are positive despite the gold rates going up from Rs 30,000/tola in ‘dhanteras’ 2017 to around Rs 31,500/tola this year, which portends good for the industry.

Adopting a cautionery stand, World Gold Council Managing Director P.R. Somasundaram said that though the feedback from the industry suggests good footfalls, “the demand could be moderate” in view of the recent sharp increase in gold prices.

“Organised players seem better places, a trend that has become evident in recent years after a spate of transparency measures. Digital wallets and online buying also seem to be growing in popularity, though they are relatively small,” Somasundaram said.