Daily Financial News Analysis – 24th Dec’19 – Free PDF Download

GK

• Name the new president of industry body Assocham.

• Name the new President of industry chamber Ficci for 2019-20.

• Cabinet Committee On Investment And Growth
• The newly formed Cabinet Committee on Investment and Growth held its  first meeting on Monday as the  government looked at boosting  spending to bring back a sputtering  economy on track.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the first meeting of the CCIG, which  was set up in June after the Bharatiya  Janata Party won a second term in

New Foreign Secretary

• Modi government approved the appointment of Indian ambassador to the United States Harsh Vardhan Shringla as the next foreign secretary.

• 1984-batch Indian Foreign  Service  (IFS) officer
• A fluent French speaker
• 2014 to 2016: ambassador to Bangkok
• High Commissioner to Dhaka for two
• Served at UNESCO in France, UN in New York besides Vietnam, Israel and  South Africa.
• He was critical in ensuring that the decisions of Article  370 and  the  Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) do not adversely impact bilateral relations between New Delhi and Washington DC.
• He served in the Ministry of ExternalØ Affairs (MEA) as Joint Secretary for Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Maldives and therefore understands the neighbourhood

Black Money

• The Ministry of Finance has refused to share details of Swiss bank accounts of
• Such disclosures are prohibited under “confidentiality provisions” of a tax  treaty signed between the two countries
• Disclosure of tax related information and information sought/obtained from foreign  governments is exempted under section 8 [a] and 8 [1] [f] of the Right to  Information [RTI] Act.
• India and Switzerland signed a multilateral convention called Mutual  Administrative Assistance in Tax  Matters, which enables the two countries  to automatically exchange financial data.
• This September, India got the first set of Swiss bank account details from
• Last year, the Swiss National Bank’s annual report said money kept by Indians in Swiss  banks rose over 50% to 1.01 billion Swiss  francs (Rs 6,974 crore) in 2017.

Govt to defer new exports scheme

• The government has decided to defer the introduction of a Rs 50,000-crore  exports programme to the next fiscal  from the proposed date of 1|Jan|20
• This scheme was supposed to replace its flagship, but WTO-incompatible,  Merchandise Exports From India  Scheme (MEIS).
• Exporters’ request to grant them more time to prepare for a transition.
• MEIS to new scheme called Remission of Duties and Taxes on Export Product  (RoDTEP).
• The new scheme is supposed to  reimburse all taxes and duties paid on  inputs consumed in exports in sync with  the WTO norms.
• WTO’s appellate body remains

FASTags

• Electronic toll collection across national highways is nearing  the 50%
• Since December  15,  while  all  toll  lanes  have  been  converted to FASTag
• Leeway: 25% of lanes at every toll plaza are hybrid.
• 15|Jan|2020: only one hybrid lane for both cash and electronic transactions will be allowed.
• On an all-India level, toll collection via FASTags has reached 46%, and it is  growing every day.
• “We are assuming that around 50% of the fleet is yet to get FASTags,” the  official said.
• The government is expecting that by the middle of January 2020, FASTags  should account for 75-80% of total  transactions at toll plazas.

Microdot Technology

• The government  on  Monday  notified rules  allowing  automakers  to  equip vehicles with microdots.
• Aim: checking vehicle thefts and fake spare
• The Ministry of Road Transport And Highways (MoRTH) had in July this year  issued a draft notification amending  the Central Motor  Vehicles Rules  (CMVR) of 1989.

• Microdot technology involves spraying the body and parts of the vehicles or any other machine with  microscopic dots, which give them a unique
• The microdots and adhesive are  permanently  affixed and cannot be removed unless the vehicle  itself is damaged.
• The nano-size (5mm) metal particles generally carry information regarding the registration and the  chassis number of  the vehicles  for them to be  identified.

Further Push Road Safety

• 11-17|Jan|2020: Road Safety Week
• The transport ministry is expected to ramp up efforts on road safety, with  widespread campaigns, rallies,  and  health check ups for workers to spread  awareness about the subject.
• Ministry has also extended a financial support of ₹10 lakh to every state and  union territory.
• Road accidents in India claimed over 5 lakh lives in the country in 2018, with over-speeding of vehicles being  the biggest reason for casualties.
• A total of 4,67,044 road accidents have been  reported by States and  Union Territories (UTs) in the calendar  year 2018, claiming 1,51,417 lives and  causing injuries to 4,69,418 persons.
• Our country is economically losing the worth of one to three per cent of the 

Pre-Budget Meet

• Experts from water and sanitation sectors met Finance Minister Nirmala
  1. challenges pertaining to water conservation, waste management,  drainage in India etc
• “Experts felt there is a need to scale up rural sanitation and hygiene  besides providing sustainable solutions  to water scarcity and health issues,” it

Electricity use down by 20%

• Power demand  decline  has  been  sharper  in  the industrialised states of Maharashtra and Gujarat.
• Given that industrial and commercial consumers have a much higher share in total power consumption in both  these states (54% in Gujarat and 46% in Maharashtra)  compared with pan-India average of nearly 40%, it is  clear muted activity in factories has been one of the  principal reasons for the fall in demand for electricity.

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