The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged India to strengthen the ability of banks to go after debtors and warned that debts negatively impact investments.

“The corporate debt overhang and associated banking sector credit quality concerns exert a drag on investment in India,” the IMF’s World Economic Outlook report released on Tuesday said.

While the 2017 recapitalisation plan for major public sector banks “will help replenish capital buffers and improve the banking sector’s ability to support growth”, it “should be part of a broader package of financial reforms to improve the governance of public sector banks, and banks’ debt recovery mechanisms should be further enhanced,” the report said.

Underlining the seriousness of the bad loans or non-performing assets problem, the Reserve Bank of India said in a December 2017 report that such loans were 10.2 per cent of all the banking assets till September 2017 and was projected to grow to 10.8 per cent by March and 11.1 per cent by September 2018.

Bad loans issue has come to the fore in India in recent months with the disclosure of fugitive jeweller Nirav Modi’s alleged $2 billion-scam involving the Punjab National Bank.

Another cautionary note in the IMF report said: “India’s high public debt and recent failure to achieve the budget’s deficit target call for continued fiscal consolidation into the medium term to further strengthen fiscal policy credibility.”

Overall, “the medium-term growth outlook for India is strong,” the report said.

“Growth is expected to gradually rise with continued implementation of structural reforms that raise productivity and incentivise private investment,” it added.

The IMF reiterated that India was on its way to achieve growth rates of 7.4 per cent for 2018 and 7.8 per cent for 2019 – the highest globally for major economies.

The report pointed out that it “has made progress on structural reforms in the recent past, including through the implementation of the goods and services tax, which will help reduce internal barriers to trade, increase efficiency, and improve tax compliance.”

But it stressed that India’s important challenge is to enhance inclusiveness for which further reforms are needed.

“The main priorities for lifting constraints on job creation and ensuring that the demographic dividend is not wasted are to ease labour market rigidities, reduce infrastructure bottlenecks, and improve educational outcomes,” it said.

(IANS)

In order to make navigation easy, Google is reportedly testing a new feature in Maps that will use landmarks, including restaurants, as points of reference to give directions to a commuter.

“So instead of telling you to turn right onto Acacia Avenue, for example, it might tell you to turn after the KFC,” a report in Engadget said late Tuesday.

It said that the feature has only been seen in the New York City and Google has not announced whether the update would be rolled out widely.

The news comes a day after Google announced that it has joined hands with CyArk — a California-based 3D laser scanning non-profit — to build virtual reality (VR) representations of historical sites around the world that are at risk of destruction due to human conflict or natural disasters.

The joint effort — called the Open Heritage project — would use CyArk’s (short for cyber archive) laser-scanning technology to capture and archive the imperiled archaeological wonders from all over the world, the Verge reported.

The archived data could be re-created in VR format, so that it can be preserved and explored online either on a computer, through a mobile device, or while wearing a VR headset.

Founded in 2003 to digitally record, archive and share the world’s cultural heritage, CyArk has recorded over 200 monuments in all seven continents.

The company uses laser-scanning system, as well as high-resolution photography captured by drones and DSLR cameras.

Google and CyArk are also planning to release the source data of the models.

The Open Heritage models will be available online and on the Google Arts and Culture mobile apps for iOS and Android. Those mobile apps will also support the VR tours through Google’s Daydream platform, the report said.

(IANS)

Amid the reports that ATMs are running low on cash in several parts of the country, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday held Prime Minister Narendra Modi directly responsible for the situation.
The recent cash crunch as a result of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’ Government’s weak banking system.

He also took a dig at BJP-led Central government’s slogan ‘Ache Din’ and questioned as to when ‘these goods days’ are going to come.
“Modi ji has destroyed the banking system of the country, that’s what I have to say about it. During demonetisation also we were forced to stand in queues as he (Prime Minister Modi) snatched 500-1000 rupee notes from our pockets and put in businessman Nirav Modi’s pocket,”
The people in various states of the country, including Delhi, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Bihar are facing cash crunch and are not able to withdraw cash from some ATMs.
Banks in Gujarat said they were not getting enough cash from the Reserve Bank of India, complaints started emerging about ATMs going dry. Complaints started coming in from small towns like Unjha and Jamnagar. Businessmen and farmers are the worst hit as the trading cycle has been affected adversely.

Amid reports of ATMs running dry in several states, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said it reminds her of the demonetisation days.

She also asked whether a “financial emergency” was going on in the country.

“Seeing reports of ATMs running out of cash in several states. Big notes missing. Reminder of #DeMonetisation days. Is there a Financial Emergency going on in the country? #CashCrunch #CashlessATMs,” Banerjee tweeted.

Currency shortage was reported in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh in the past few weeks.

There were also complaints of shortage in parts of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Bihar on Monday.

However, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said the government has reviewed the situation and “there is more than adequate currency in circulation”.

According to the Reserve Bank of India data, currency in circulation as on April 6 was Rs 18.17 lakh crore.

While focused cyberattacks per organisation have more than doubled this year, the businesses globally are able to detect and block nearly 87 percent of those breaches — from 70% in 2017 — a new Accenture study said on Tuesday.

“Despite making significant progress, only two out of five organizations are currently investing in breakthrough technologies like Machine Learning (ML), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation, indicating there is even more ground to be gained by increasing investment in cyber resilient innovations and solutions,” the findings showed.

Ransomware and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks form the category of focused attacks.

The “2018 State of Cyber Resilience” study was conducted from January to mid-March 2018 and investigated focused attacks defined as having the potential to both penetrate network defenses and cause damage, or extract high-value assets and processes from within organizations.

“Only one in eight focused cyberattacks are getting through versus one in three last year, indicating that organizations are doing a better job of preventing data from being hacked, stolen or leaked,” said Kelly Bissell, Managing Director of Accenture Security.

“For business leaders who continue to invest in and embrace new technologies, reaching a sustainable level of cyber resilience could become a reality for many organisations in the next two to three years,” Bissell projected.

With 13 per cent of focused attacks penetrating defenses, organisations are still facing an average of 30 successful security breaches per year which cause damage or result in the loss of high-value assets.

On average, 89 per cent of respondents said their internal security teams detected breaches within one month compared to only 32 per cent of teams last year.

This year, 55 per cent of organisations took one week or less to detect a breach compared to 10 per cent last year.

“Although companies are detecting breaches faster, security teams are still only finding 64 per cent of them, which is similar to last year, and they’re collaborating with others outside their organisations to find the remaining breaches,” the study noted.

This underscores the importance of collaborative efforts among business and government sectors to stop cyberattacks.

For the study, the global professional services company surveyed 4,600 enterprise s

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has invited comments on draft notification proposing amendment to Rule 44E, Form 34C, 34D and 34DA as per BEPS Action 5, for improving transparency in tax rulings.

Under Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action 5, exchange of rulings on Permanent Establishment (PE) by Authority for Advance Rulings is required to be done not only with the countries of residence of all related parties with whom taxpayer enters into transaction, but also with the country of residence of the immediate parent company and the ultimate parent company.

Therefore, in order to implement the recommendations made under Action 5 of BEPS Action Plan to bring greater transparency in cross national transactions, Form 34C and 34D (Forms for Advance Rulings) are required to be modified so that details such as name, address and country of the residence of non-resident’s immediate parent company or ultimate parent company etc. are captured at application stage itself.

Further, vide Finance Act, 2017, the definition of the term “applicant” for the purpose of Advance Rulings has been amended by substituting clause (b) of section 245N of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (the Act). Therefore, consequential amendments are required in Rule 44E and respective Forms to bring them in harmony with the amendment to the Act.

Accordingly, a draft notification has been framed and uploaded on the website of the Income Tax Department at www.incometaxindia.gov.in for comments from stakeholders and general public. The comments and suggestions on the draft Rules and Forms may be sent by 30th April, 2018 electronically at the email address, ts.mapwal@nic.in.

Hindusthan Samachar/Shri Ram Shaw

Global software major Wipro and India’s largest public sector lender State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday committed transitioning their respective global fleets into electric vehicles by 2030.

Both became the first major Indian businesses to join the international non-profit organisation, The Climate Group’s, global electric vehicles initiative, EV100, for accelerating the roll-out of electric vehicles worldwide.

Wipro will begin rolling out its plan in New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune, involving nearly 2,000 vehicles, before addressing international markets, according to The Climate Group. It has already leased around 50 electric vehicles in Hyderabad and New Delhi.

In addition to transitioning to electric vehicles, SBI will also set up charging stations in major residential spaces to support the uptake of electric vehicles by its staff.

The news follows the launch of Centre’s National E-Mobility Programme in March, which will see the government purchasing 20,000 electric vehicles.

This is in line with India’s most recently stated ambition of ensuring that 30 per cent of all vehicles on the road are electric by 2030.

Through EV100, leading businesses can help increase demand for electric vehicles and improve the availability of charging infrastructure, currently a significant barrier to electric vehicle adoption in India.

The announcement by Wipro and SBI comes as The Climate Group has started rolling out EV100 in India, following its global launch in New York in September 2017.

“We are thrilled to welcome Wipro and SBI to EV100. Their leadership on electric vehicles will send a strong demand signal to the market in India and beyond,” The Climate Group India Director Jarnail Singh said.

“We expect many more companies to follow their lead, joining hands with the government to bring about a faster roll-out of electric vehicles, boosting low-carbon economic development for all,” added Singh.

To encourage employees to use electric vehicles, Wipro has also launched corporate vehicle ownership and lease programmes and installed charging points at all its major facilities in India.

(IANS)

India and Egypt today held talks on providing new opportunities for investments in IT, education and health, and discussed ways to further strengthen bilateral ties.

The talks were held between India’s Ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya and Alexandria Governor Mohamed Sultan on the sidelines of celebration the an India Day held in the coastal city of Alexandria.

“We met the Governor in the morning and thanked him for the support provided to Indian investments and to Indians in Alexandria as well as to Indian cultural activities, especially the International Yoga Day,” Bhattacharyya said.

“We discussed new opportunities for investments in IT, education and health. I briefed him on establishment of infrastructure projects, to which he responded very favourably, noting priority in transport and public utilities,” he said.

The film festival was opened with the popular Indian film ‘Om Shanti Om’ starring Shah Rukh Khan. An exhibition on Gandhi is also being organized

The 32-hour countdown for Thursday’s early launch of the IRNSS-1L navigation satellite is progressing smoothly at the Sriharikota rocket port, around 105 km from here, Indian space agency officials said.

The countdown began at 8.04 p.m. on Tuesday.

The 1,425-kg satellite — part of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) — will be carried by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket XL variant that will blast off on Thursday at around 4.04 a.m., said an official of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

This will be the ninth of the IRNSS satellite series and will be a replacement for IRNSS-1A as its rubidium atomic clocks have failed. The atomic clocks are important to provide the accurate positional data.

Simply put, the IRNSS or NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation) is similar to the US-owned GPS.

The Rs 1,420-crore Indian satellite navigation system NavIC consists of nine satellites — seven in orbit and two as substitutes.

The IRNSS-1L will be the second satellite that will be sent up as replacement for IRNSS-1A. The first replacement IRNSS-1H satellite launch mission ended in a failure.

Each satellite has three Rubidium atomic clocks and a total of 27 clocks for the navigation satellite system (including the standby satellites) were supplied by the same vendor.

Like its other IRNSS predecessors, IRNSS-1L also carries two types of payloads for navigation and ranging.

The navigation payload of IRNSS-1L will transmit navigation service signals to the users. This payload will be operating in L5-band and S-band.

The ranging payload of IRNSS-1L consists of a C-band transponder, which facilitates accurate determination of the range of the satellite. IRNSS-1L also carries Corner Cube Retro Reflectors for laser ranging.

The four stage/engine PSLV-XL stands 44.4 metres tall and weighs 321 ton at the
lift-off stage.

Around 19 minutes 20 seconds after the lift-off, the rocket will sling IRNSS-1L at an altitude of around 507 km.

According to ISRO, NavIC is useful for fishermen to reach potential fishing areas. The fishermen can also get alert messages relating to bad weather, high waves or when they approach international maritime boundary line.

These services are provided through a software application on a smart phone.

The Indian space agency also said NavIC is useful for merchant ships in their navigation and also during search and rescue operations.

In the road transport sector, NavIC helps commuters to traverse distances and also enable transport operators to track their vehicles.

According to ISRO, the navigation system is also helpful for railways in tracking trains and also giving an alert in the case of unmanned level crossing.

The Indian space agency said NavIC is also used for other applications like location-based services, survey and alignment, time synchronised services

NavIC provides two types of services — standard positioning service and restricted service. The former is for all users while the latter is an encrypted service only for authorised users.

Starting in July 2013, the Indian space agency has launched eight navigation satellites, with the last one launched on Aug 31, 2017.

The Aug 31 mission was a failure as the rocket’s heat shield did not separate three minutes after the rocket’s lift-off. As a result, the IRNSS-1H remained housed inside the heat shield.

Each satellite has a life span of 10 years.

(IANS)

In the fall of 2011, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission released its original Tour of the Moon, a five-minute animation that takes the viewer on a virtual tour of our nearest neighbour in space. Six years later, the tour has been recreated in eye-popping 4K resolution, using the same camera path and drawing from the vastly expanded data trove collected by LRO in the intervening years.

The tour visits a number of interesting sites chosen to illustrate a variety of lunar terrain features. Some are on the near side and are familiar to both professional and amateur observers on Earth, while others can only be seen clearly from space. Some are large and old (Orientale, South Pole-Aitken), others are smaller and younger (Tycho, Aristarchus). Constantly shadowed areas near the poles are hard to photograph but easier to measure with altimetry, while several of the Apollo landing sites, all relatively near the equator, have been imaged at resolutions as high as 25 centimetres (10 inches) per pixel.
The new tour highlights the mineral composition of the Aristarchus plateau, evidence for surface water ice in certain spots near the south pole, and the mapping of gravity in and around the Orientale basin.