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India's agriculture growth slips to 4.5% in Q4 on higher base For 2017-18, overall full year, growth in agriculture and allied activities was estimated at 3.4 per cent as against 6.3 per cent clocked in 2016-17 India’s agriculture growth in the January to March quarter of 2017-18 dipped to 4.5 per cent as compared to 7.1 per cent in the same period last year despite a bumper production largely because of higher base. Though, the 4.5 per cent growth in agriculture and allied activities clocked during the fourth quarter of 2017-18 was highest in the year, but it wasn’t good enough to pull overall farm sector growth to over 4 per cent in 2017-18 full year. For 2017-18, overall full year, growth in agriculture and allied activities was estimated at 3.4 per cent as against 6.3 per cent clocked in 2016-17. Going forward, experts believed that if monsoon remains fairly normal in 2018 also, India might clock a 4 per cent growth in agriculture and allied activities. Graph Gross Va

Tax Reforms to Expand Revenue Base: Moody's Tax reforms are likely to expand revenue base in fast growing economies like India but they will be most effective when accompanied by lowering of fiscal deficit and effective management of expenditure, Moody’s Investors Service said on Thursday. The Business Standard, New Delhi, 1st June 2018

RBI withdraws rule exceptions for NBFCs owned by govt The decision will ensure both types of NBFCs stand on an equal footing on compliance with specific RBI rules The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has ended the special dispensations granted earlier for non-banking financial corporations (NBFCs) owned by the government. Instead, it has specified a roadmap, stretching till 2021-22, for these lenders to meet the norms on capital adequacy, provisioning and corporate governance. Among the entities affected are IFCI, Power Finance Corporation, India Infrastructure Finance Company, Indian Railway Finance Corporation, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency and Housing & Urban Development Corporation. “It has been decided to make the NBFC regulations applicable to government NBFCs, as per the timeline” provided in the new circular, states RBI’s notification. Some of the changes that government NBFCs would now have to comply with include the treatment of income recognition, beside

  Bank strike: Digital operations, delayed salaries to give some pain ahead Various rounds of wage negotiations between banks and unions have failed to make headway Branch-level operations, including cheque clearance and cash deposits, took a hit on Wednesday after 1 million bank employees participated on the first day of a two-day nationwide strike called by unions demanding wage hike. While ATM functions were not affected much, about 80 per cent were operational, some digital transactions were hit. A total of 3.9 million instruments, including cheques and demand drafts worth Rs 217 billion could not be processed by banks during the day, said C H Venkatachalam, general secretary of the All India Bank Employees' Association. The impact is expected to be similar on Thursday. The strike resulted in the shutdown of around 85,000 branches of public sector banks and some of those of the older private sector banks, for the full day, Venkatachalam said. However, operations of ba

Moody's cuts India's growth forecast to 7.3% from 7.5% on higher oil prices Moody's, however, maintained its 2019 growth forecast at 7.5 per cent Moody's Investors Service on Wednesday cut India's 2018 growth forecast to 7.3 per cent from the previous estimate of 7.5 per cent, saying the economy is in cyclical recovery but higher oil prices and tighter financial conditions will weigh on the pace of acceleration. Moody's, however, maintained its 2019 growth forecast at 7.5 per cent. "The Indian economy is in cyclical recovery led by both investment and consumption. However, higher oil prices and tighter financial conditions will weigh on the pace of acceleration. "We expect GDP growth of about 7.3 per cent in 2018, down from our previous forecast of 7.5 per cent. Our growth expectation for 2019 remains unchanged at 7.5 per cent," it said in an update of its 'Global Macro Outlook: 2018-19'. Moody's said growth should benefit fr

SEBI  shuts FII-to-FII trades; huge demand seen for HDFC Bank stock on Jun 1 Facility was extensively used in case of stocks such as HDFC Bank, where FII investment limits are often fully utilized Market regulator the Securities and Exchange board of India (Sebi) has scrapped the special window meant for inter-se trading between foreign institutional investors (FIIs). The move would hurt foreign institutional investors (FIIs) who used to avail this window to deal in stocks such as HDFC Bank, where FII investment limits are often fully utilized. Also known as ‘6 lac series’, the facility allowed shares change hands among FIIs. In some cases, this window generated more volumes than the main trading window. For instance, in the past three months the trading volumes in ‘6 lac series’ of HDFC Bank is 42 per cent that of overall volume in the stock. The decision to scrap the special trading platform has come just two days before window of trading for FIIs is to open in HDFC Bank. T

 India Won’t Levy Duty on Solar Gear Imports Govt rejects proposal of DG of safeguards to impose 70% duty on solar imports from China and Malaysia The government has decided not to impose safeguards duty on solar equipment from China and Malaysia, overruling the directorate general of safeguards’ recommendation of a 70% levy that had delighted local manufacturers but alarmed developers who felt that the steep rise in input costs would make projects unviable. The Delhi High Court disposed of a petition challenging the proposed duty after the government’s counsel said the directorate general of safeguards’ recommendation was not binding. The counsel showed the court confidential minutes of a meeting held by the standing committee on safeguards, which had decided not to impose the duty. Anand Kumar, secretary, ministry of new and renewable energy, confirmed there would be no provisional safeguard duty. “As of now there will be no duty,” he told ET. ISMA Petition “If it ever