Daily Financial News Analysis – 8th August’20

Table of Contents

Protect Data

IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad: India has taken the lead in ensuring data security and sovereignty of its citizens by blocking apps such as TikTok and US President Donald Trump has taken note of this move in his executive orders.
“India has been pursuing all means to protect the digital security, privacy, and rights of its citizens. It has exercised sovereign powers for defence and security of India while blocking apps including TikTok and the move is now resonating globally”.
US President Donald Trump issued separate executive orders banning US residents from transacting with ByteDance, owner of popular video-sharing app Tik-Tok, as well as with Tencent-owned WeChat app.
The order takes effect in 45 days.
Trump also touched upon India and Australia in the order against WeChat.
Prasad said it was a matter of personal satisfaction that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the ministry of electronics and IT had blocked the Chinese apps.
The ban in the US comes at a time tech giant Microsoft is in talks with ByteDance to explore a purchase of the TikTok service in North America, Australia and New Zealand.

SBI Chief

The government has asked State Bank of India chairman Rajnish Kumar to appear for an interview to fill the position that he would be vacating this October, possibly signalling one more term for him.
Three managing directors of the country’s largest lender — Dinesh Kumar Khara, Arijit Basu and CS Setty — are also likely to be interviewed for the top job.
The interview will be conducted online by the Banks Board Bureau on August 18 or 19
The post of the fourth MD is lying vacant at SBI after Partha Pratim Sengupta took charge at Indian Overseas Bank as the CEO.
While it would appear to be unprecedented for a chairman to be part of a panel to be interviewed for the position he already holds, it may, according to people familiar with the situation, send a message that the government prefers tried and tested hands in key positions instead of risking a new leader at a time when the financial system is facing unprecedented crises.
The government also risks sending out a wrong signal if the existing chairman doesn’t get another term even after being called for the interview, said the people cited.
The government recently extended the term of Securities & Exchange Board of India chairman Ajay Tyagi.
It has also offered an extension to Union Bank of India chief executive Rajkiran Rai, in this case without any interview.
Kumar’s current term comes to an end on October 7.
He had taken charge at SBI on October 7, 2017, just three months ahead of his scheduled superannuation date.
According to the statute, the chairman or CEO of a public sector bank can continue till the age of 65.

Bilaspur-Leh railway line

Piyush Goyal is scheduled to apprise Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Bilaspur-Leh line seeks to significantly expand access to projects as well as support movement of troops and equipment to border areas, boosting Jammu and Kashmir’s connectivity with the rest of the country.
Goyal’s presentation will include newer deadlines for freight corridors.
Fast tracking bullet trains, revenue shortfall on account of the Covid-19 pandemic, station redevelopment, ways to mop up additional revenue to keep railways afloat and private investment in various railways projects.
Railway cadre merger is another crucial area which the minister is expected to take up.
Goyal has said previously that the Covid-19 virus outbreak had altered timelines and deadlines for completion of projects.

CAG Audit

The Comptroller & Auditor General of India will take up PM Kisaan, Ayushman Bharat, e-NAM and minimum support price mechanism for audit this year to see their effectiveness and efficiency.
It plans to rope in domain experts for certain audits, said the outgoing CAG Rajiv Mehrishi on Friday.
The authority, for example, is in talks with Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, for the audit of Delhi Metro.
GC Murmu, who resigned as the lieutenant general of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, will take charge as CAG on Saturday after being sworn in by President Ram Nath Kovind.
Mehrishi, a 1978 retired IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre, was appointed CAG in September 2017.
In key farm sector schemes including the pan-India electronic trading platform National Agriculture Market (e-NAM), CAG is working out the objectives, but the focus of the audit would be on the effectiveness of the platform and whether it was providing reasonable access to farmers.
It will also undertake audit of direct benefit transfer with a focus on coverage, including correct inclusion of payments that are actually directly made to beneficiaries, identification of beneficiaries, efficiency and design of payments process.

Chinese PET Resin

The commerce and industry ministry has sought a provisional anti-dumping duty on Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) resin imports from China.
A complaints was filed by the two biggest makers of PET resin in the country i.e. Reliance Industries and IVL Dhunseri Petrochem Industries
The ministry has suggested imposing $15.54-$200.66 per metric tonne on the imports.
PET resin is used in textiles, plastic bottles, tires, undersea cables and 3-D printing, among others.
Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) can only recommend the duty. The finance ministry takes a final call on imposing it.
China’s share of PET resin imported into the country rose from 5% in April-September 2018 to 10% in April-June 2019, DGTR said, adding India is the single largest market for Chinese exporters.

E-invoicing

Implementation of e-invoicing for companies with over ₹500 crore revenue will begin from October 1, the Group of Ministers on information technology for Goods and Services Tax (GST), headed by Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Modi, was informed by officials during a meeting on Friday.
About 48,000 GSTINs are above ₹500 crore, which contribute to over 45% of the tax revenue.
Simplified filing of returns to ease taxpayers’ difficulties under the Returns Enhancement and Advancement Project’ (REAP) was also discussed.
The program was proposed by Infosys non-executive chairman Nandan Nilekani at the GST Council meeting in March.

India Handloom Brand

The government has registered 1,590 products across more than 180 product categories under ‘India Handloom Brand’ to provide quality assurance to consumers, textiles minister Smriti Zubin Irani said on Friday.
‘India Handloom Brand’, launched in 2015, endorses the quality of handloom products.
At an online event to mark National Handloom Day, Irani also said that nine of the 28 weavers’ service centres have been upgraded with respect to research and marketing with the assistance of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT).
95% of the world’s handcrafted fabric is made in India and the idea is to increase the price that the weavers get for their product by 20 times.
Irani also launched the mobile app and backend website for handloom mark scheme which will help ascertain how authentic a product is through unique and dynamic QR code labels affixed on each product.
She also launched the ‘My Handloom’ portal for individual weavers and other organisations for applying for benefits under various handloom schemes, such as block-level clusters.
The portal is to act as a one-stop shop for information on all handloom schemes.
It will retain information, ensure transparency and provide realtime status update on applications under national handloom development programme among other things.