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CAD at 2.5% of GDP not a worry, govt geared to deal with outflows: FinMin With rising oil prices, depreciating rupee and outflow of portfolio investments, there are concerns that CAD might rise in the current fiscal Current account deficit (CAD) at 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) won’t be a worry as the government has the required instruments to deal with any imbalance created due to foreign fund outflow, Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said on Tuesday.  “2-2.5 per cent CAD is not a problem for us.... If there is stability, in the current year capital account (inflows) should be good enough to take care and we may not worry even if it (CAD) reaches 2.5 per cent,” Garg said.  CAD, which is the difference between the inflow and outflow of foreign exchange, jumped to Dollar 48.7 billion, or 1.9 per cent of GDP, in 2017-18 fiscal. This was higher than  Dollar  14.4 billion, or 0.6 per cent, CAD in 2016-17 fiscal.  With rising oil prices, depreciating rupe

Probe into 80,000 shell firms hits dead end as govt fails to trace PANs The government had sent notices to 226,000 companies for not filing statutory returns The probe into 80,000 shell companies struck off by the Registrar of Companies (RoC) in the first lot has hit a dead end. The government had not been able to trace the Permanent Account Numbers (PANs) of 80,000 companies, which was hampering investigations, officials of the corporate affairs ministry said.  “Banks were asked to furnish the transaction data of these shell companies. But they did not respond despite multiple reminders. Banks have told us that without PAN card details, it was not possible to track these companies,” one of the officials said. PAN is compulsory for any transaction above Rs 50,000. So far, the government has transaction details of only 73,000 companies. These companies deposited Rs 240 billion at the time of demonetisation.  Many of these firms were found evading taxes. In a recent communication

PSBs to focus on credit needs of 'genuine' companies, says Piyush Goyal PSBs promise to boost credit; 4,500 companies to be assessed; banks to work on two-stage process Public sector banks (PSBs), in a meeting with Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday, have decided to chalk out a road map for supporting the credit needs of “genuine” companies.  The banks would take up the credit needs of “genuine, deserving, well-performing and good companies” in two stages, Goyal said.  In the first stage, the PSBs will conduct a focused study on the credit needs of around 4,500 companies, with borrowings in the range of Rs 2 billion to Rs 20 billion. In the second stage, the credit needs of companies with borrowings of up to Rs 2 billion — mostly micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) — will be covered. “One of the thoughts before the PSBs is to support MSMEs along with genuine and good companies that need working capital finance or loans on investments in fixed assets and have

 PMO Awaits Panel Report on Overlap in Job Numbers Min told to assess quarterly survey & payroll data The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has asked the labour ministry to assess the recently launched payroll data and figure out the extent of overlap with its own quarterly employment survey (QES) that presented a vastly different picture of employment generation in the country. As a result, the labour bureau’s eighth QES, which was due in May, has been put on hold, said officials. “The PMO has set up a technical committee with a mandate to present its recommendations on employment numbers,” said a senior government official, who did not wish to be identified. “Based on the recommendations of the committee, the PMO will take a call on whether to suspend one of these exercises or to publish both sets of data while keeping in mind the overlap between the two.” The four-member committee, led by former chief statistician of India TCA Anant, is expected to submit its report by month

 Serious Fraud Investigation Office to hire 13 consultants  The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) is looking to hire 13 consultants in various fields on a contractual basis. As per a public notice, the probe agency plans to recruit four people each as consultants in the areas of law and financial analysis as well as five more in other fields.  The consultants would be engaged at two levels -- consultant-I and consultant-II -- depending on their experience in the respective areas.  The hiring plans also come at a time when the agency is probing a significant number of cases related to financial irregularities, including the nearly Rs 13,000 crore fraud at Punjab National Bank allegedly involving diamond merchant Nirav Modi and his associates.  The posting of consultants could be at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad offices of the SFIO.  "Expression of interest is invited from eligible applicants for engagement as consultant-I/ consultant-II purely on short

Centre Plans to Set Up National Discom The Union government plans to set up a national power distribution company that will handhold state discoms in electricity distribution activities and ensure time-bound implementation of central schemes. The proposed company will compete with private firms and contractors to bag contracts of state-run distribution companies for appointing franchisees or engineering tenders, officials said. Apart from small distribution consultancy wings in Rural Electrification Corporation, Power Grid Corporation and NTPC, the central government has no presence in electricity distribution sector. “The Union government has presence in all the power sector segments, be it financing, generation or transmission, but power distribution has always been out of focus and a laggard in the entire system,” said a senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “There has been demand from sections of society to have a national level distribution corpor

Jaitley Shuns Demand for Sharp Cut in Tax on Fuel Minister says suggestion is a ‘trap’ that will burden India with ‘unmanageable debt’ Finance minister Arun Jaitley rejected the demand for a sharp cut in taxes on fuel, saying the suggestion was a “trap” that would burden India with “unmanageable debt,” as he highlighted the macroeconomic stability achieved by the government India has firmly established itself as the world’s fastest-growing major economy with “phenomenal” 7.7% growth in the March quarter, Jaitley said in a Facebook post on Monday. This followed two challenging quarters due to structural reforms including demonetisation, the goods and services tax (GST) and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). “The future looks much brighter than the past. This trend is likely to continue for some years,” said Jaitley, who is recuperating after a kidney transplant. Railway minister Piyush Goyal is handling the portfolio in his absence. On the issue of employment, Jaitley s