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Daily Update 29-May-2017 Economic Times • Beleaguered RCom in danger of getting NPA status • Transfer of pharma IP assets abroad under RBI lens • Brookfield Asset Management in talks to buy towers of Idea, Vodafone • Fashion retail picks up pace again as e-commerce sites cut discounts • Migration to 5G will be challenging for India: Experts Business Standard • Flipkart's Snapdeal muscle will help it fight Amazon - Flipkart would have an additional $60-80 million in its coffers, say sources • Airlines collected UK airport tax despite exemption, claim travel agents • CBSE Class 12 pass percentage dips, girls continue to outperform boys • IOC seeks 2,700 acres to expand Paradip petrochem project • Bankers value Taj Mansingh at Rs 1,000 crore - But bids for the luxury property may go up to Rs 3,000 cr, say experts • IPO mart revs up in 3 yrs of Modi govt, garners Rs 45,000 cr Mint • ICAI steps in to check if bad loans are being misreported - A

India and Russia, both looking to undertake joint economic projects in the resource-rich Eurasian region, are expected to launch a process to create a free trade  zone under the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to St Petersburg on June 1-2. India will soon formalise the FTA with EAEU and the announcement of it is likely to be made following the annual summit between Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 1, officials said.Both sides have accepted a report prepared by the Joint Feasibility Study Group on India-EAEU FTA and the formal negotiations would begin by July, they said. EAEU comprises Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. India's FTA with EAEU is expected to open up a huge market with a trade potential of $37-62 billion. The current trade between India and the five Eurasian countries is $11 billion. The FTA with the Eurasian countries was dictated by India's need to diversify into new marke

Honda Cars India has tied up with IBM Watson IoT for IBM Cloud for `Honda Connect', its connected car platform. The partnership is initially for Honda's India operations, with a possibility of being rolled out to other markets. Hilal Khan, Operating Head IT, Honda Cars India told ET that both the companies have a long partnership in other areas like R&D and manufacturing globally, and while this collabora tion was local to start with, it has the potential to go global. “The dynamics of Indian market and Indian IT are very different and if we can showcase the success of this technology and use cases in India, it could be done globally,“ said Khan. Karan Bajwa, managing director, IBM India, said, “This is a very important use case for IBM Cloud, driven by the surge in connected devices. It is estimated there will be 30 billion connected devices by 2020 so it is important to create a platform, and an ecosystem, to manage this scale. Connected cars will be an im portant a

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to come out by June-July with guidelines to regulate the Indian peer-to-peer (P2P) lending market. The RBI had floated  a consultation paper in April 2016 on the Indian P2P lending that has been taking roots in India. The discussion paper is to be followed by formal guidelines for  the sector, which currently is self-governed. The borrowing-lending channel Faircent.com, which is run by Gurugram-based Fairassets Technologies India Pvt. Ltd, said the sector will grow over a period of time as more and more people become aware of this vertical. “The guidelines are expected by June or July, however, it was supposed to come out in October last year but delayed initially due to demonetization, followed by early budget and then elections in few states,”Fairassets Technologies India founder and chief operating officer Vinay Mathews said in an interview. Mint, New Delhi, 29th May, 2017

The goods and services tax (GST) Council is likely to clarify on the tax rate applicable to solar modules at its next meeting in early June, which might reverse a decision to set an 18% rate on the key component of solar energy infrastructure, company executives say. Under the final GST rates, which takes effect on 1 July, solar modules have been classified under an 18% tax slab; the present effective tax rate on them is zero. The ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) has informally communicated to the sector that this might be an anomaly and that a clarification is likely to be  issued when the GST Council meets on 3 June, according to companies.  The clarification could likely set the tax rate on solar modules at 5%—similar to that on the wind sector. Solar modules make up for about 60% of a solar project’s  overall cost and eight out of 10 top module suppliers in the Indian market are from China. Prominent Indian module makers include Waaree Energies Ltd, Tata Power  S

The labour ministry has proposed to reduce the employer´s contribution to the Employees´ Provident Fund (EPF) from 12 per cent to 10 per cent. The proposal, which will be opposed by trade unions, will come up for approval in the meeting of the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) on Saturday. Around 50 million employees in the country receive provident fund contributions. The move, according to the labour ministry, will increase the takehome salary of employees. But trade unions opposing the move termed it an attack on social security. According to the agenda paper of the meeting, the Employees´ Provident Fund Organisation´s (EPFO´s) CBT will consideraproposal to lower “the rate of contribution to be paid by employer and equal contribution by employees from the present 12 per cent to 10 per cent by issue of appropriate order by the Central Government”. The Employees´ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, empowers the Central government to lower the contribution rate and

Amid clamour in industry over tax rates decided by the GST Council, Vanaja Sarna, chairperson of the Central Board of Excise and Customs, ruled out a review, barring a few rare cases.   She also said the government was set for the July 1 roll-out of the GST and industry must gear up for the new regime. The government is flooded with representations from industries, including FMCG, automobiles, railways and solar power, to revise rates. The GST Council in its last meeting decided rates for 1,211 items and 500 services. Around 60 per cent of the items will fall in the 12 per cent and 18 per cent tax slabs. “Industry should know that anything that was finalised in the council meeting will not be revisited now, barring six or seven remaining items. There will never be an end to demands for reviewing rates. Let the GST roll out and then these can be taken up,” Sarna told this newspaper. She, however, added a few tax rates could be revised later. “Like all budgetary changes, a view can