Burden of proof on Mistry as battle lines form for Tata legal showdown

As India's biggest corporate showdown heads from the boardroom to the courtroom and brings in a Who's Who of the country's legal profession, ousted Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry vows a multi-layered battle for governance reforms at the $100 billion conglomerate, people close to him say.

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Mistry, who was dismissed from his post in October and has since left boards at other Tata group companies, will step up his legal fight with patriarch Ratan Tata and others and make his case in any regulatory investigations into the Tata group, three people familiar with Mistry's strategy said.

Mistry has so far broadly laid out three sets of allegations: breaches of governance within the Tata group; misconduct at Tata ventures; and the illegality of his ouster.

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Fast-food chains cultivate untapped workforce

American fast-food chains have become an unlikely source of female employment and empowerment in India, a country where traditionally most women are kept
from working outside the home.

The increasingly female face of a new Indian workforce shines at suburban Delhi’s Mall of India. Close to half the employees in its five floors of newly opened food and fashion outlets are women. Just across the street in the old shopping district, females are few and far between. Even the women’s clothing stores are almost entirely manned by men.

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“I wouldn’t feel comfortable working with so many other men there,” said Poonam Rawat, a 21-year-old woman who works at Wendy’s in the mall. “Besides, my family would never give me permission.”

Despite great progress in recent decades, India is still a tough place to be a woman. The country has one of the most-skewed sex ratios in the world, with men significantly outnumbering women, the result of selective abortion and infanticide.

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Demonetisation: Rs 50,000 as penalty for possessing old notes after Dec 30?

The government is mulling an ordinance to bring a new law under which possessing, transferring or receiving over Rs 10,000 in banned 500 and 1,000-rupee notes post December 30 will be a punishable offence.

Reports said that there could be a cap of holding no more than 10 notes of each after December 30 and violation of the rule could draw a fine of a minimum of Rs 50,000 or 5 times the amount in question -- whichever is higher, but there was no confirmation. There will be a criminal liability and a municipal magistrate will hear cases involving violation and decide on penalty.

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Holders of such currency have an option to deposit them in RBI by March 31 but even that period may be curtailed, they said.O

Of the Rs 15.44 lakh crore worth of 500 and 1000 rupee notes in circulation on November 8, close to Rs 13 lakh crore have been deposited in accounts or exchanged for valid currency.

There was no official word on the move which is likely to come up before the Cabinet on Wednesday.

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Jet Airways flight veers off runway in Goa, all passengers evacuated safely

Jet Airways flight 9W-2374 from Goa to Mumbai skidded off the runway at Goa's Dabolim airport on Tuesday with 15 passengers suffering “minor” injuries during the evacuation.

Financial News :

The flight veered off the runway due to a technical glitch. However, all 161 people on board were evacuated. Reports said the incident occurred at around 5 am Flight 9W 2374 which had arrived from Dubai and was bound for Mumbai, was about to take off when it skidded off the runway.

Eight passengers who suffered minor bruises have been taken to the hospital

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In a first, govt to penalise individuals for polluting Ganga

The Narendra Modi Government is planning to penalise those found guilty of polluting the Ganga river, in a first of its kind bill which aims to ensure cleanliness and uninterrupted flow of the river.

The Ganga act is being prepared by a panel headed by Justice Girdhar Malviya, and once it is being finalised the bill will be taken up the Union Cabinet, Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti told reporters here.

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"I want to ensure ensure cleanliness (Nirmalta) and uninterrupted flow (avirlta) of Ganga from its origin till its submerge into sea. Therefore, there will be provisions to punish and penalise those founded guilty of polluting or checking the flow of this holy river," Bharti said.

The minister added that she has been requesting the committee to submit its report for the Ganga act at the earliest so that the law could be implemented.

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Post demonetisation, digital payments are down 15%

Contrary to the government’s aims of increasing digital payments through notebandi, the number of cashless payments–through online, mobile banking, debit cards and immediate payment service (IMPS)–reduced by 15% in November 2016, when compared to October 2016, after rising since January 2016, when compared to the previous year.

In a year that will be remembered in history for notebandi–a colloquial term for the withdrawal of 86% of the value of India’s currency in circulation on November 8–the amount transacted digitally reduced by 8% in November 2016 over the previous month. Reduction in both the number of transactions and the value of money transferred, shows a reduction in general consumption immediately after notebandi.

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Still, cashless payments in October 2016 increased 22%, when compared to October 2015.

Cashless payments decline in November 2016; pick up in December
Compared to October 2016, the number of all kinds of cashless transactions, except cheque payments, decreased in November 2016, the month when old Rs 1,000 and old Rs 500 notes were demonetised. Except for mobile banking, the money transferred using all means reduced in November 2016.

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McDonald's, Pizza Hut & KFC are empowering Indian women; here's how

American fast-food chains have become an unlikely source of female employment and empowerment in India, a country where traditionally most women are kept from working outside the home.

Latest News India : 

The increasingly female face of a new Indian workforce shines at suburban Delhi’s Mall of India. Close to half of the employees in its five floors of newly opened food and fashion outlets are women. Just across the street in the old shopping district, females are few and far between. Even the women’s clothing stores are almost entirely manned by men.

“I wouldn’t feel comfortable working with so many other men there,” said Poonam Rawat, a 21-year-old woman who works at Wendy’s in the mall. “Besides, my family would never give me permission.”

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Wadia files criminal suit against Tatas

Nusli Wadia, the former independent director on the board of Tata Steel and Tata Motors, on Friday filed a criminal defamation suit against Tata Sons Interim Chairman Ratan Tata, the company and its directors. Larsen & Toubro Chairman A M Naik, Godrej group director Tania Godrej-Dubash will be among others who would be witnesses to Wadia’s good character.

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The suit has been filed, in the court of additional chief metropolitan magistrate, against a special notice to remove Wadia from the boards of the Tata firms for purportedly acting in concert with former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry and galvanising other directors against the Tatas. 

It said all the accused, individually and collectively, have defamed Wadia by circulating false, baseless and libellous material about him with the sole intention of lowering his reputation. Wadia said the special notices were sent on the letterhead of Tata Sons and have been signed by F N Subedar, chief operating officer and company secretary of Tata Sons. All directors of Tata Sons have been made accused except Mistry and Farida Khambata.

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Wadia voted out of Tata Chemicals; Bhaskar Bhat, S Padmanabhan to come in

Shareholders of Tata Chemicals have voted out Nusli Wadia as an independent director of the company with 75.67 per cent votes going in favour of a resolution moved by Tata Sons to remove him at the company's extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Friday.

According to a regulatory filing by Tata Chemicals, out of the total of 25.48 crore shares of the company, 14.91 crore shares were voted. Out of this, 11.28 crore were in favour of the resolution to remove him.

Company Results :

The company said 3.62 crore votes, accounting for 24.33 per cent of votes polled, were against his removal.

Tata Chemicals also said the shareholders have approved a resolution to appoint Bhaskar Bhat as a director of the company with 79.26 per cent of votes going in his favour.

It further said the shareholders have also approved the appointment of S Padmanabhan as director of the company with 89.29 per cent voting in favour of a resolution for his appointment.

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Strong law against benami property: Modi defends changes in note ban rules

Dismissing the criticism of frequent changes in rules after demonetisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday alleged that those who cannot endorse corruption and black money openly are relentlessly finding fault with his government. He vowed to take forward the fight against unaccounted money and corruption by implementing a strong law against benami properties.

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“I assure you this is just the beginning in our fight against corruption. We have to win this war. There is no question of stopping... there is no question of retreat,” said Modi, under sharp attack from the Opposition over demonetisation, with Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi levelling allegations of “personal corruption” against him.

In his last monthly address this year in the Mann ki Baat programme, Modi defended the changes in the rules related to deposits and withdrawals, saying these have been done to reduce people’s problems and defeat the forces which are out to thwart his government’s fight against black money and corruption.

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How Modi govt lobbied Moody's for ratings upgrade, but failed

India criticised Moody's ratings methods and pushed aggressively for an upgrade, documents reviewed by Reuters show, but the US-based agency declined to budge citing concerns over the country's debt levels and fragile banks.

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Winning a better credit rating on India's sovereign debt would have been a much-needed endorsement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's economic stewardship, helping to attract foreign investment and accelerate growth.

Since storming to power in 2014, Modi has unveiled measures to boost investment, cool inflation and narrow the fiscal and current account deficits, but his policies have not been rewarded with a ratings upgrade from any of the "big three" global ratings agencies, who say more is needed.

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'Sniff test' may help reveal if you're at Alzheimer's risk

Soon, diagnosing early Alzheimer's disease may be as simple as measuring a person's sense of smell.

Breaking news:

A new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania confirms that administering a simple sniff test can enhance the accuracy of diagnosing this dreaded disease.

Neurologists have been eager to find new ways to identify people who are at high risk of Alzheimer's dementia but do not yet show any symptoms. There is a widespread consensus that Alzheimer's medications now under development may not work after dementia has set in.The sniff test also appears to be useful for diagnosing a pre-dementia condition called mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which often progresses to Alzheimer's dementia within a few years.

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Vitamin D improves gut flora, metabolic syndrome

Extra Vitamin D can restore good bacteria in the gut, according to a study on mice, giving hope in the fight against risk factors for diabetes and heart disease.

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Scientists have now discovered that Vitamin D deficiency is necessary for this syndrome to progress in mice, with underlying disturbances in gut bacteria.

The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Physiology, found that an insufficient supply of Vitamin D aggravates the imbalance in gut flora, contributing to full-scale fatty liver and metabolic syndrome.

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IT hiring at 10-year low, Infosys takes campus hires as interns

India’s second largest software exporter Infosys Ltd is offering paid internship to campus hires before taking them on rolls, a move that that would impact new jobs across the IT sector when hiring by technology services companies is already at a ten-year low.

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The Indian technology services sector is facing its worst growth period in close to a decade as they see clients reducing budgets on traditional outsourcing work, which is not being offset by growth in newer areas such as digital and cloud. In addition, routine maintenance work of customer applications or IT infrastructure, where freshers are normally deployed have been taken over by automation or robots. 

With use of automation, these companies are shifting their employees from projects, where their jobs have become redundant and training them on skills to match new requirements. Infosys and its cross town rival Wipro shifted more than 8000 employees from projects to other roles due to automation during the first half of this fiscal.

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BJP calls Mamata 'maharani of corruption', rejects her charges

Calling West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee 'maharani of corruption', The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday said police were doing their work and it was not a part of political vendetta.

"What Mamata is doing against Hindus in Bengal? The way they are being assaulted is a political vendetta. The police will do what they have to and it is not a part of political vendetta," said BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh.

Singh further said Mamata is talking about raids in Delhi and Tamil Nadu, but she has forgotten that raids were also conducted on bureaucrats in Rajasthan, where it is BJP's government.

Taking a jibe at the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief, Singh said that Mamata is called the 'maharani of corruption', but now she has to answer not only for the Saradha and Narada scams but also the Rs 10,000-crore Rose Valley scam.

"We are working within the frame of Constitution. There are checks and balances within the Constitution to keep a check on the functioning of government and whoever will violate it, will be pulled up," he said.

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PM likens opposition to Pakistan; attacks Manmohan, Chidambaram, Rahul

In an aggressive speech, with oodles of sarcasm thrown in, more reminiscent of his election campaign speeches in the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today equated opponents of ‘note ban’ of trying to shield the corrupt, just as Pakistan starts firing on Indian border posts to distract Indian Army so that infiltrators can sneak into Jammu and Kashmir under its cover.

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The PM also attacked Congress leadership, particularly former PM Manmohan Singh and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi. Questioning the former PM's integrity, Modi expressed surprise that there was no blot on Singh even when he has been part of India's economic policy think tank since the early-1970s.

The PM was speaking at the foundation laying ceremony of Mahamana Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Cancer Centre in Varanasi, his Lok Sabha constituency. Modi said when he announced ‘note ban’ decision he didn't think it was possible that politicians and political parties would be so unashamed as to come out openly to defend the corrupt.

 

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RBI slaps fine on 5 foreign banks for violating FEMA rules

The Reserve Bank on Wednesday imposed penalty on five foreign banks, including Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered Bank, for violation of its instructions on reporting requirements of the FEMA.

The three other banks are: Bank of America, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi and The Royal Bank of Scotland.

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RBI said they have been fined for violation of its instructions on reporting requirements of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA).

"The penalties have been imposed in exercise of the powers vested in the Reserve Bank under the provisions of Section 11(3) of FEMA 1999, taking into account, the violations of the instructions/directions/guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India, from time to time," RBI said.Germany's Deutsche Bank has been imposed fine of Rs 20,000, while Bank of America, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, The Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered Bank have been fined Rs 10,000 each.

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Full text of Nusli Wadia's letter to Tata Motors shareholders

Amid an ongoing battle between ousted Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry and Ratan Tata, Nusli Wadia, an independent director on the board of Tata Motors, on Thursday wrote a letter to the shareholders of the company defending his role on the board and questioning the allegations levelled against him by Tata Sons.

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"... It is my duty to point out to you, the baseless and false allegations that have been made in the explanatory statement by Tata Sons supporting the resolution to seek my removal. I addressed each of the allegations that they claimed to be their reasons for my removal none of which were linked to my performance as Independent Director," he wrote.

Wadia again referred to Tata Nano as an ill-conceived investment that had been a drag on the company's finances. "I have outlined events relating to some key decisions of the Board. Most important of all is Taqata Motrors' ill-conceived investment in NANO, the car that neither sells nor is viable as every sale of the vehicle is at a substantial loss to the company."

Here is the full text of Nusli Wadia's letter to Tata Motors shareholders:

My Dear Shareholders,

I had sent you a few days ago, a detailed letter setting out my response to the resolution proposed by Tata Sons for my removal as a Director of your Company.

As I mentioned, I have served your Company as an 'Independent Director' for more than 18 years having been invited by JRD Tata, my mentor and Godfather.

 

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'Demonetisation may have cost banks Rs 3,000 cr per day'

On Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) withdrew its previous directive that required deposits above Rs 5,000 in old currency notes be justified to two bank officers. To understand the impact of this move, Business Standard spoke to the HARVINDER SINGH, general secretary of the All India Bank Officers Confederation.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has withdrawn its previous directive that required deposits above Rs 5,000 in old currency notes to be explained to bank officers. What do you make of this?

A: We have been pleading before RBI and Ministry of Finance that instructions issued for general public must be always clear. What was happening was that instructions issued through electronic media or notifications were reaching banks much later than when the people at large were coming to know. There was time gap between the implementation of the instructions issued by the RBI/government because when the instructions reach banks, they would have to modify their systems so that the instructions are implemented.

For example, one instruction came that we will permit withdrawal of 2.5 lakhs per family where there are marriages. Lot of conditionality were put. But these instructions were made viral during the mid of the day but actually these instructions were received by banks two days after. For these 2-3 days bank officers were facing a lot of problem.

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Meet the BS Banker of the year 2015-16: HDFC Bank's Aditya Puri

Aditya Puri, managing director of HDFC Bank is the Business Standard Banker of the Year for 2015-16.

He was selected by a six-member jury headed by former Economic Affairs Secretary C M Vasudev, for the bank’s commendable contribution in the digital banking space as well as the lender’s deep reach in rural and semi-urban India. At the same time, the bank maintained its healthy profits over the years and also kept a leash on its asset quality.

The other jury members were former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governors Anand Sinha and H R Khan, Edelweiss Group Chairman Rashesh Shah, Ican Investment Advisors Chairman Anil Singhvi, and Ambit Capital CEO — Institutional Equities Saurabh Mukherjea.

In the first screening proposed by Business Standard, two filters were used: asset size of over Rs 50,000 crore and a growth in net profit in 2015-16. The result was a dominance of new private sector banks and small public sector banks.

The jury decided to modify the filters and went on to do a more rigorous analysis to rise above “cold statistics”. Statistics, the jury argued, could be made favourable by pursuing narrow banking.

Thereby, a need was felt to emphasise the risk taking ability of the bank and its leader at a time when a slowing Economy meant more bad asset accretion in proportion to the rate of expansion of the lending book.

“We are trying to select the best banker. Should we give the award to someone who is completely risk averse and decided to not contribute much towards industrial development and rural penetration? I think not,” Vasudev set the standard for the rest of the jury.

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Leather goods hub at Dharavi struggles to hide cash crunch pain

Arshad Khan is unsure of how long he can carry on with the low sales at Kohinoor Leather, his retail outlet of leather goods at Dharavi — the largest slum in Asia.

“There has hardly been any sale today. This has been the case since Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes were banned (on November 8),” said Khan. This is unusual for this time of the year. “The December quarter, which coincides with the beginning of winter, is the peak business period for us,” he added. “Leather jackets, in particular, are popular during this period.”

Khan is not the only one to suffer losses following demonetisation. Almost all retailers at the market in north-central Mumbai have a similar story to tell, their faces barely concealing their emotions.

The ban on high-value notes has crippled the leather hub. Business is down by about 70-80 per cent at most, as consumers hold back on purchases. Corporate and retail orders have also dried up at manufacturing units.

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New rules: You can deposit more than Rs 5,000 in bank accounts only once till 30 Dec

Demonetisation

Deposits of old notes exceeding Rs 5,000 can be made only once per account until December 30 2016, the RBI and the government clarified on Monday. The new set of limits is to check laundering of unaccounted cash.

If someone has more than Rs 5,000 in old notes, a deposit will only be allowed after the depositor satisfactorily answers why they couldn't put the money into their account earlier.

The questioning of depositor will be made on record and an audit trail will be created for a 'later stage'. A satisfactory explanation on the deposit made would be 'needed'.

What does the new rule say?

As per the RBI guidelines, deposits (using old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000s) in excess of ? 5000 into a bank account will be received for credit only once during the remaining period till December 30, 2016.

What procedure will be followed while making these deposits?

RBI: “The credit in such cases shall be afforded only after questioning tenderer, on record, in the presence of at least two officials of the bank, as to why this could not be deposited earlier and receiving a satisfactory explanation. The explanation should be kept on record to facilitate an audit trail at a later stage.”

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Bajaj rides into Royal Enfield's turf with Dominar 400

Automobile companies mostly refrain from taking on the competition while launching a new product. However, Rajiv is breaking the norm.

The managing director of two-wheeler major Bajaj Auto has positioned the company's new and 'best' product,Dominar 400, as a direct  competitor 

Launching the 373cc premium sports bike here, he said the company was entering a "segment that has an existing tall leader with 80% market share. This segment is not open for anyone to simply enter and walk away with the market", he added in a reference to Eicher Motor's Royal Enfield range

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Full text: Ratan Tata is not stepping down from Tata Trusts

Ratan Tata on Friday clarified that he will not be stepping down as chairman of Tata Trusts any time soon after several media reports said that the trusts have asked an external consultant to advise them on the process of selecting a new chairman to replace Tata.

Tata Trusts controls a 66 per cent stake in the $100 billion Tata conglomerate's holding company.

Here is the full statement from Tata: 

Further to news reports that have appeared in the media today, Mr. Ratan Tata, Interim Chairman, clarified that there are no plans for his stepping down from the chairmanship of the Tata Trusts at this point in time.

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Demonetisation travails continue even as govt says it's printing more Rs 500 notes

Even after over a month of demonetisation, cash starved people continued to queue up outside banks and ATM kiosks on Thursday while the Union government said it was focusing on printing new Rs 500 notes to ease the liquidity situation over the next 2-3 weeks.

Continuing the crackdown on black money, the Income Tax Department raided two branches of a private bank in the national capital region unearthing 20 fake accounts while officials recovered Rs 10 crore from several lockers of a bank in Pune.

Serpentine queues at banks and ATM kiosks have become a daily affair since the Narendra Modi government's November 8 decision to spike high-value currency notes. There was no change in the routine across the national capital as people from all walks of life endeavoured to lay hands on much needed cash.

There were also altercations among the customers and officials after some of the bank branches ran out of money. Many customers complained that they were never informed if there was any cash left or not.

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There is no magical on-off switch that will allow India to transform into cashless economy

The demonetisation step of the Modi government, for the most part, appears to be hugely problematic. Several expert commentators – including Ajay Shah, Prabhat Patnaik, Swaminathan Aiyer, Manmohan Singh and several others – have pointed out that given the high dependence on cash transactions in the Indian economy, the resulting liquidity crunch, the diminished purchasing power and the reduced ability to transact is likely to badly hurt the macro economy and the damage to the informal sector – especially to small firms and retailers – is likely to be severe and permanent.

Also, being saddled with cash and unable to invest due to a lack of economic activity, the banking sector may face a crisis. Ultimately, the poor and the underprivileged will likely be the worst hit – as they usually are.

Given that 86% of the currency was wiped out overnight, it seems unlikely that the RBI can systematically pump money into the economy soon enough to mitigate the problem. We will have to wait and see how the events will unfold and how soon the economy can recover, but it will be naive to assume that the demonetisation step will eradicate the deep rooted corruption and the black money problem forever.

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Ramdev's Patanjali fined Rs 11 lakh for misleading advertisements

A local court in Haridwar has slapped Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurved's five production units with a fine of Rs 11 lakh for "misbranding and putting up misleading advertisements" of their products.

ADM Lalit Narayan Mishra's court has asked the company to pay the fine within a month.

Patanjali Ayurved was found guilty of misbranding as the products being shown by the company as produced at its own units were in fact manufactured somewhere else, the court said.

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'Amazon Prime Video' goes live in India: Top ten things to know about the service

Amazon Prime has launched its Prime Video service in Mumbai today. Amazon is all geared-up to give a tough fight to Netflix that recently announced its first local series 'Sacred Games'. Amazon Prime Video will offer the users unlimited approach to streaming of exclusive Amazon Originals, movies, and TV shows on a subscription basis. The new Amazon Prime video service can be seen as an extension of Amazon's Prime service which offers services like free delivery of products on a priority basis, along with an early access to lightning deals.

Amazon has made the "Amazon Prime Video" app available on Android and iOS. If you are an existing Amazon Prime subscriber, then you can start using the app immediately.

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Rs 12.4 lakh crore of old notes deposited in banks till December 10

Demonetisation

Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor R Gandhi on Tuesday said Rs 12.4 lakh crore of old notes have been deposited in banks till December 10. The remarks came during an impromptu press meet with news agencies Doordarshan, PTI and ANI.

RBI Deputy Governor SS Mundra was also present in the meeting, who said the central bank has suspended its staff in Bengaluru who was arrested on Tuesday on charges of colluding with bank officials in changing notes. The official in question was a junior staff who was visiting bank branches on a supervisory capacity, Mundra said.

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Why OPEC's production cut might not have the desired effect

After months of speculation by oil market watchers, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) recently announced a six-month production cut of 1.2 million barrels per day (b/d) with the aim of driving up the price. It’s set to take effect on Jan. 1.

Saudi Arabia will be responsible for a little less than half of the total, or just under 500,000 b/d, followed by 210,000 for Iraq and about 135,000 for Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates each. A nonmember, Russia, pledged to cut about 300,000 b/d as part of the deal.

The move, which could be extended for another six months, was in response to the expected continuation of weak oil market conditions: too much supply and too little demand. The result was that for the first time since 1998, OPEC reported a collective current account deficit of almost US$100 billion in 2015, compared with a surplus of $238 billion in 2014.

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