Snehal khanna Blog

Just as growth appears to be no longer a pressing problem, another familiar threat has reappeared: India's macroeconomic numbers don't look quite as stable as they should. LATEST NEWS :   You’d think the Indian economy had returned to rosy health. It seems to have recovered from two enormous disruptions -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s decision just over a year ago to withdraw 86 percent of the currency in circulation, and the poorly-planned rollout in the middle of 2017 of a new goods-and-services tax. Exports are no longer declining, as they had for several quarters; indeed, for the last month that data is available, they rose 30 percent. The Purchasing Managers’ Index expanded the fastest it has in five years. At least one international ratings agency has upgraded India’s credit rating. Most importantly, growth sped up last quarter for the first time since early 2016. There’s every reason to think it’ll bounce back towards the 7-7.5 percent range shortly. ...

Trends like bundled offers, 4G-LTE feature phones could become mainstream in 2018 LATEST NEWS :  Once growing at a breakneck pace, smartphone sales slowed considerably in 2017 to 14 per cent, analyst firm Counterpoint Research reckons. The phase that began in 2011 made India the fastest growing major smartphone market in the world by 2013, when the market more than doubled to 44 million handsets. Signs of a slowdown were visible by early 2016. During the year, growth in shipments fell to 18 per cent from over 61 per cent in 2015, in which year the market had crossed the 100-million mark.   Shipments in 2016 were affected during the last two months because of demonetisation. Expect for the lingering effects of the note ban for a few weeks in January and early February, smartphone shipments in 2017 were normal but are likely to have remained at 130-135 million for the full year. This is 10-14 per cent higher than the previous year’s shipments of 118 million hands...

The new Rs 10 note will be issued by the central bank under the Mahatma Gandhi series and it will sport the picture of the Konark Sun Temple LATEST NEWS :  Still haven't gotten used to the new Rs 200 notes in bright yellow (or is it orange)? Soon, you will be paying your balance using chocolate coloured Rs 10 notes. According to reports, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is set to issue new Rs 10 notes that will be chocolate brown in colour. The new Rs 10 note will be issued by the central bank under the Mahatma Gandhi series and it will sport the picture of the Konark Sun Temple, which is situated in Odisha, Moneycontrol reported on Thursday. Further, citing people familiar with the matter, the financial daily reported that around one billion pieces of the new note have already been printed by the RBI. The last time the design of the old Rs 10 note was changed was in 2005, the report added. The new design, the financial daily said, was approved by the government jus...

Modi said his government is committed to developing a development-centric eco system which is free of corruption LATEST NEWS :  Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that he is ready to pay the political price for the steps taken by him for a better India and asserted he would not be deterred. Addressing a gathering here, he said his government is committed to developing a development-centric eco system which is free of corruption and is citizen centric. He also said that post demonetisation, the black money, which was part of a parallel economy, has now become part of the formal system. Inaugurating the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit here, Modi said data mining after the note ban is also helping government track down those involved in corruption. Appreciating the role of Aadhaar in delivering services to the people and also checking pilferages, he said the system would also work as a tool to track down benami properties. Also read this : N Ko...

CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said the government needs to encourage the use of debit and credit cards LATEST NEWS :  After deciding to revoke the legal tender of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes in November last year, the Narendra Modi -led central government might now be working on another disruptive step to boost digital transactions — banning the cheque book. A senior functionary of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on November 16 said the Centre might withdraw the bank cheque book facility in the "near future" to encourage digital transactions. CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said the government needed to encourage the use of debit and credit cards. "In all probability, the Centre may withdraw the cheque book facility in the near future to encourage digital transactions," he said. Impact of cheque book facility withdrawal Demonetisation was a big disruption for most Indians, right from poor labourers to...

Given the expertise, focus and core competency of mobile wallet players like Paytm and Mobikwik, it makes more sense for banks to partner such players than building or pushing own e-wallet apps LATEST NEWS : An accelerated digital adoption in India, especially after the Narendra Modi government’s November 2016 move to demonetise high-value currency notes, and the subsequent spike in electronic payments, are credited with scripting a success story for mobile wallet companies. And, with a loss of market share in the payments space that ensued, banks also jumped on the bandwagon and launched their own e-wallets. Now, however, with their wallet customer base, user interface and innovation not matching well enough with the numerous offers that niche wallets provide, banks are struggling to compete. On the post-demonetisation digital drive, Ritesh Pai, chief of digital office, YES Bank, says: “Some users who never had an active interface with the banking system also embraced pre...

In recent weeks, most Opposition parties, but particularly the Congress, have chosen to focus their attack on the Modi government on its handling of the economy, lack of jobs and farm distress LATEST NEWS :  Former finance minister and Bharatiya Janata celebration (BJP) veteran Yashwant Sinha’s modern day criticism of the Narendra Modi government’s moves has given the Congress birthday celebration, which has struggled to build a marketing campaign around the present status quo’s disasters on the financial the front, a prime shot inside the arm. while Sinha responded the decision of his “national obligation” to talk up, BJP’s Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy and Sangh Parivar fellow vacationer S Gurumurthy have also spoken earlier approximately the negative state of the economy. Congress chief and some other former finance minister P Chidambaram, who held a press briefing later inside the day to highlight the monetary slowdown the united states turned into deali...

High-value transactions of more than Rs 50,000 and above require PAN details LATEST NEWS     :     Of the 1.1 million permanent account numbers (PAN) that the government deactivated last month, income-tax (I-T) sources say a majority were duplicates and were being used to open share-trading and demat accounts, transact on the stock markets, and operate in shell firms. The I-T department has discovered one individual could have five to seven PAN cards, each with a slightly different spelling of the holder’s name. According to I-T officials, such people, who have been identified as small- and medium-sized stock brokers, sub-brokers and their clients, have evaded taxes. They could have evaded so by using one card for filing tax returns, and others for investing in financial instruments or making high-value transactions, said a senior tax official. High-value transactions of more than Rs 50,000 and above require PAN details. Dur...

Centre has two weeks to respond; apex court says people cannot be made to suffer Latest news : In a big relief to all those who are bearing the brunt of demonetisation , the Supreme Court on Tuesday rapped the Centre and asked them to give another chance to "genuine people to deposit old notes". The Centre has been given two weeks to respond. Rebuking the Centre for setting up a deadline for depositing demonetised currency, the apex court observed, "One cannot make people suffer if they have genuine reasons, should be allowed to deposit old notes". The Supreme Court today asked the Central government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), whether a window can be provided to the people who could not deposit their old Rs. 500 and 1,000 currency notes. The Central government told the division bench of the Apex Court today that it would file an affidavit in the case The apex court was hearing a petition filed by advocate Sudha Mishra and others...

Firm's Q4 profit dived 41% to Rs 48 cr; sets target of 65% occupancy by FY18-end from 47% currently Latest news : Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (AHEL) is focusing on increasing its occupancy to improve growth, which declined in the financial year (FY) 2016-17. The hospital has set the target of achieving 65 per cent occupancy by the end of the current FY from the 47 per cent occupancy at present, said senior management of the company. AHEL had posted a 40.7 per cent fall in profit at Rs 48.16 crore in the fourth quarter of the FY17 as compared to Rs 81.31 crore for the same period of the previous FY on a standalone basis. "The business plan this year is to see how we can improve our occupancy and fill in at least 400 more beds. We have a lot of vacant beds because of the new hospitals. First plan is to see how we can fill up the new beds and increase the occupancy from the current 47 per cent to around 65 per cent this year," said a senior official. Through a...