Indian television channels CNBC-TV18 and ET Now cited sources as saying that Patel could quit.

The RBI and the finance ministry declined to comment.

The government has invoked never-before-used powers under the RBI Act that allow it to issue directions to the central bank governor on matters of public interest, the Economic Times newspaper reported.

It said the government had sent letters to the RBI governor in recent weeks exercising powers under section 7 of the RBI Act on issues ranging from liquidity for non-bank finance companies, capital requirements for weak banks and lending to small- and medium-sized companies.

Section 7 says that ‘the Central Government may from time to time give such directions to the Bank as it may, after consultation with the Governor of the Bank, consider necessary in the public interest’, a statute that has not been used in independent India, according to the Economic Times.

The 10-year benchmark bond yield rose to 7.87 per cent from its previous close of 7.83 per cent.

The rupee fell to 73.99 to the dollar from 73.6750 on Tuesday, after touching 74.04, its lowest since October 15.

“It is difficult to believe that the RBI governor will resign because it is unprecedented and would look quite irresponsible and (an) immature step,” said a senior trader at a foreign bank. “But it is quite worrisome to see the government trying to continuously interfere into the RBI’s operations.”

Tensions between the RBI and the government have spilled into the public domain after Deputy Governor Viral Acharya said last week that undermining central bank independence could be “potentially catastrophic”, indicating the authority is pushing back against government pressure to relax its policies and reduce its powers ahead of a general election due by May.

Adding to the row, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley blamed the central bank for failing to stop a lending spree during 2008-2014 that left banks with $150 billion of bad debt.

Patel and other regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, met Jaitley and other top finance ministry officials at a meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council on Tuesday to discuss the liquidity crunch.

However, there was no sign of resignation by Patel at the meeting, officials said.

Patel and his deputy governors are expected to meet top finance ministry officials on Friday.

(Reuters)

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE opened on a positive note on Wednesday during the morning trade session.

It opened at 33,963.09 points, touched a high of 34,050.12 and a low of 33,912.47. It was trading at 33,970.58 points up by 79.45 points or 0.23 per cent from its Tuesday’s close at 33,891.13.

On the other hand, the broader 50-scrip Nifty at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) opened at 10,209.55 points after closing at 10,198.40 points on Tuesday.

The Nifty is trading at 10,218.65 points in the morning.

IANS

Mumbai with 35 operators is the leading destination for establishing a data centre, followed by Bengaluru with 27 and Delhi-NCR with 19, a report said on Tuesday.

Tech growth, Smart City initiatives and easy availability of land andinfrastructure has emerged as strong demand drivers for opening data centres in India, said the report by Los Angeles-based CBRE Group, one of the the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm.

According to CBRE South Asia Pvt Ltd, Mumbai has led the data Centre business as it is one of the global cable landing locations in the country.

Cable landing stations or submarine cables are vital international telecommunication links between countries across the world, making them an essential element in telecommunication services including broadband connectivity.

Mumbai presently has four of the 10 cable landing stations in the country.

“Overall, the data centre market outlook looks positive on the back of the availability of land and skilled talent pool along with a huge, untapped market. Moreover, a slew of policy reforms undertaken by the Indian government have generated enthusiasm among overseas investors,” said Anshuman Magazine, Chairman, India and South-East Asia, CBRE.

Maharashtra and Telangana are among the quickest states to tap into the growing demand for data centres by announcing several incentive schemes for the sector.

Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh too have formulated policies for the IT-ITeS segment as well as introduced a single-window clearance system to encourage investors.

Despite having immense potential to become a data centre hub in the APAC region, the report also identified several hurdles in this path.

“Several states in India are yet to formulate policies for this segment. Additionally, issues such as a cumbersome approval process for the acquisition of infrastructure and prolonged environmental clearances also need to be addressed,” said the report.

Sharpening its attack on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the Congress on Tuesday accused the government of trying to destroy autonomous institutions like the Reserve Bank of India and alleged him of interfering in the work of the central bank.

“I have been surprised today by the sharp attack of the Finance Minister on the RBI and its performance. The central bank is independent and autonomous,” Congress leader Anand Sharma told reporters here.

He said that it was in the interest of India and the economy that the RBI alone remains the regulator for the banks for the lending, borrowings and fixes the rates for the banks.

“Only the RBI must have the powers to regulate the public sector banks and none else. This government has ignited a fire through its repeated interference from day one. And now government move to take charge of the monetary policy is a very ominous move,” he said.

“It (attack on RBI) cannot be accepted. It must be opposed. Government being the spending authority, cannot become the monetary authority for the country. Equally important is to remember the role of the RBI as the payment regulator cannot be diluted or taken away by a government nominated body,” the Congress leader said.

His remarks came soon after Jaitley on Tuesday held the central bank responsible for the mountain of bad loans, saying the RBI looked the other way when banks lent indiscriminately during 2008-14 to keep the economy humming.

“Under Modi and BJP, they are damaging all the independent institutions of the country which have their role in maintaining governance and administration like CBI, ED, IT, DRI, Central Universities and many others,” he said.

“I want to make one thing very clear today to Jaitley, since he specifically commented from the year 2008. Very eminent Governors of the RBI, far more competent than Jaitley or Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were there. And that time also the country had the benefit of an eminent economist of unimpeachable integrity in Manmohan Singh as country PM,” he said, adding 2008 was the year when the big financial crisis enveloped the global economy.

“The RBI played a stellar role. It ringfenced the Indian economy and the big economies across the globe took note of the functioning of the RBI,” he said. Even in other big countries their central banks could not effectively ringfence their economy as the RBI did in India,” Sharma said.

Criticising Jaitley for insulting the RBI, he said, “Today Jaitley saying that the RBI is not competent, not capable, is the most unfortunate thing. I demand Jaitley to take his words back and apologise for insulting RBI.”

He said that it was not the first time that the government tried to interfere in the work of the RBI. “The first example the entire world saw was on November 8, 2016 (demonetisation) when 85 per cent currency was invalidated by the Prime Minister,” he said.

“That was the first biggest attack on RBI when it was forced in a board room to take that step,” he alleged.

The Congress leader described Modi and Jaitley as incapable leaders and said, “they have damaged the economy. They have no thinking, and they have wrong policies and wrong direction.”

Slamming the government over the depreciating value of the Rupee, Sharma said, “On the one hand they say that we have the fastest growing GDP and economy and on the other hand there is no investment in the economy, industries shutting down and no employment generation and the rupee value depreciating.

He said that the Indian rupee has lost 16 per cent since January 2018. “And the Prime Minister is busy talking about all matters which are irrelevant and not paying attention to what he and his Finance Minister have proved to be not only inefficient but thoroughly incompetent when it comes to managing of the economy, which has been nose diving.”

“What explanation they have, fastest economy there is a grave contradiction and the worst performing currency in Asia.

“Therefore we demand from this government to desist from destroying another autonomous institution, to retrace their steps and engage in dialogue and consultations rather than seeking to justify what is wrong and unjustified,” Sharma added.

IANS

HDFC Bank on Monday said the RBI had approved the re-appointment of Aditya Puri as managing director of the bank for another two years.

“Reserve Bank of India, vide its letter dated October 22, 2018, has accorded its approval to HDFC Bank Ltd. for re-appointment of Aditya Puri, as MD & CEO of the bank, from November 1, 2018 to October 26, 2020 (i.e. till the date of his attaining the age of 70 years),” the bank said in a filing to stock exchanges.

Shareholders had already approved his appointment in 2015 for five years subject to the RBI’s approval, it added.

Puri has been with HDFC Bank since 1994, making him the longest-serving head of any private bank in the country. During his tenure, he led the bank through two major mergers in the Indian banking industry — merger of Times Bank Ltd and Centurion Bank of Punjab Ltd with HDFC Bank.

PTI

The Mayors of Paris, Copenhagen, Seoul, and Medellin on Monday called for vehicle manufacturers to stop producing petrol and diesel cars as soon as possible to protect the health of children in cities around the world.

In the wake of an alarming new research released by the World Health Organization (WHO) earlier in the day, the mayors also urged every city around the world to help their youngest citizens by signing the C40 Green and Healthy Streets Declaration.

The declaration commits mayors to procure only zero-emission buses from 2025 and ensure that a major area of their city is zero emission by 2030.

“The children of Paris and cities around the world have the absolute right to breathe clean air,” Mayor of Paris and Chair of C40 Anne Hidalgo said.

“They have no power to change the environment they are growing up in, so we as responsible adults and political leaders must act on their behalf.”

“The problem of petrol and diesel vehicles polluting our streets needs to be fixed if we want to improve air quality and protect the health of our children,a said Frank Jensen, Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, and Vice-Chair of C40 Cities.

The WHO report “Air pollution and child health: Prescribing clean air” urges “strong action from decision-makers to protect the most vulnerable, voiceless citizens: children who have little or no control over the air they breathe”.

It says every day around 93 per cent of the children globally under the age of 15 years (1.8 billion children) breathe air that is so polluted it puts their health and development at serious risk. Tragically, many of them die.

To tackle the man-made crisis, mayors of the world’s big cities are already committing to the bold action required to deliver clean, safe air for all to breathe, as well as delivering on the highest goals of the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement.

Twenty-six cities have already committed to Green and Healthy Streets. They included Paris, Copenhagen, London, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Seoul, Barcelona, Quito, Vancouver, Cape Town, Seattle, Mexico City, Auckland, Milan, Rome, Warsaw, Oslo, Rotterdam, Medellin, Heidelberg and Birmingham.

More than 80,000 buses run on the streets of these 26 cities, representing a major shift towards zero emission vehicles in the world’s great cities.

IANS

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday invited Japanese businessmen to engage more with India to speed up the investment process in New Delhi.

“I always talk about ‘strong India strong Japan’. On this occasion, I express my gratitude towards Japanese businessmen to show their faith in India. I invite you all to engage with India to speed up investment process there,” Modi said while interacting at the Business Forum Summit here.

Modi, who arrived here on Saturday for his annual bilateral summit with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, said: “Some years ago, I spoke about making a mini-Japan in India. It’s a matter of great happiness for me that today, you are working in an even larger number in India.”

The Indian Prime Minister thanked the Japanese government and companies, saying: “Our Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor project is also moving forward,” because of Japan’s collaboration with India.

He said that under the ‘Make in India’ initiative, India has the potential to become a manufacturing hub.

“I have always kept ease of doing business as my priority. India was at 140th position in the ‘ease of doing business’ ranking of the World Bank when he took over the responsibility of the government in 2014. Now India has reached 100th position and we are working towards better ranking,” Modi added.

This is Modi’s third visit to Japan for the summit and his 12th meeting with Abe since 2014.

San Francisco Sending a strong signal towards dominating the emerging $1 trillion Hybrid Cloud market, tech major IBM has announced to acquire Open Source Solutions leader Red Hat for a massive $34 billion.

The acquisition, IBM’s biggest so far, will provide open approach to Cloud, featuring unprecedented security and portability across multiple clouds, a joint statement said late Sunday.

The deal, once goes through, will make IBM top Hybrid Cloud provider in an emerging $1 trillion growth market.

“The acquisition of Red Hat is a game-changer. It changes everything about the cloud market,” said Ginni Rometty, IBM Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.

“IBM will become the world’s top hybrid cloud provider, offering companies the only open cloud solution that will unlock the full value of the cloud for their businesses,” she added.

Red Hat will operate as a distinct unit within IBM’s Hybrid Cloud team.

IBM will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Red Hat for $190 per share in cash, representing a total enterprise value of approximately $34 billion.

Most companies today are only 20 per cent along their cloud journey, renting compute power to cut costs.

“The next 80 per cent is about unlocking real business value and driving growth. This is the next chapter of the Cloud. It requires shifting business applications to hybrid cloud, extracting more data and optimising every part of the business, from supply chains to sales,a informed Rometty.

IBM and Red Hat will be positioned to accelerate Hybrid multi-cloud adoption.

“Open source is the default choice for modern IT solutions, and I’m incredibly proud of the role Red Hat has played in making that a reality in the enterprise,” said Jim Whitehurst, President and CEO, Red Hat.

“Joining forces with IBM will provide us with a greater level of scale, resources and capabilities to accelerate the impact of open source as the basis for digital transformation and bring Red Hat to an even wider audience,” he added.

IBM’s and Red Hat’s partnership has spanned 20 years, with IBM serving as an early supporter of Linux, collaborating with Red Hat to help develop and grow enterprise-grade Linux and more recently to bring enterprise Kubernetes and hybrid cloud solutions to customers.

These innovations have become core technologies within IBM’s $19 billion Hybrid Cloud business.

IBM and Red Hat will continue to build and enhance Red Hat partnerships, including those with major cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Alibaba and more, in addition to the IBM Cloud.

“IBM is committed to being an authentic multi-cloud provider, and we will prioritise the use of Red Hat technology across multiple clouds” said Arvind Krishna, Senior Vice President, IBM Hybrid Cloud.

The Red Hat acquisition by IBM is the third-biggest in the history of US technology.

The biggest acquisition was the $67 billion merger between Dell and EMC in 2016 and JDS Uniphase’s $41 billion acquisition of optical-component firm SDL in 2000.

Last week, Microsoft closed a $7.5 billion acquisition of the code hosting and collaboration company GitHub.

(IANS)

Mumbai Healthy buying in interest rate sensitive stocks and healthcare sector buoyed the key domestic equity indices to trade on a flat-to-positive note during Monday’s morning trade session.

However, broadly negative Asian stock markets dented investors’ sentiments.

Index-wise, the Sensex opened at 33,549.88 points from its previous close of 33,349.31 points.

Around 9.30 a.m., it traded at 33,370.57 points, up by a little over 21 points or 0.06 per cent.

Similarly, the Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) made marginal gains.

The NSE Nifty50 traded at 10,070.90 points during the morning trade session, up 40.90 points and 0.41 per cent.

(IANS)

Facebook has removed 82 Pages, Groups and accounts for what it calls “coordinated inauthentic behaviour” that originated in Iran and targeted people in the US and Britain.

“While we have found no ties to the Iranian government, we can’t say for sure who is responsible,” Nathaniel Gleicher, Head of Cybersecurity Policy at Facebook said in a statement on Friday.

The people behind these Pages and accounts represented themselves as US citizens, or in a few cases UK citizens — and they posted about politically charged topics such as race relations, opposition to the US President, and immigration on Facebook and Instagram.

Facebook said its threat intelligence team first detected this activity one week ago and conducted an internal investigation.

“Despite attempts to hide their true identities, a manual review of these accounts linked their activity to Iran,” Gleicher said.

The activities on Facebook were revealed just weeks before the midterm election in the US and while a heated Brexit debate continues in Britain.

“Given the elections, we took action as soon as we’d completed our initial investigation and shared the information with US and UK government officials, US law enforcement, Congress, other technology companies and the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab,” Gleicher said.

Facebook said about 1.02 million accounts followed at least one of these Pages, about 25,000 accounts joined at least one of these Groups, and more than 28,000 accounts followed at least one of these Instagram accounts.

This is not the first time Facebook has removed Pages and accounts linked to Iran. In August, the social network removed 600 Pages and accounts originating from Russia and Iran for engaging in “inauthentic behaviour”.