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The primary objective of making an investment should be generation of long-term returns and preservation of capital. This is intertwined with a number of other factors that are primary or fundamental, such as the state of the economy, the level of inflation, nature of government policies, corporate profitability and the overall liquidity conditions.

Apart from these factors, there are secondary drivers that determine returns. One such secondary factor is currency exchange rate, which is particularly relevant when one makes cross-border investments. Investors in dollar-denominated assets are likely to benefit from the current trend of depreciating rupee v/s the US dollar, as their realisations in rupee terms will be higher. This, in turn will shore up returns as well.

Rationale for cross border investments

Along with the risk of short-term volatility, cross-border investments also face the risk of currency movement. Mere high returns coming from an overseas investment due to depreciation in local currency should not be the primary consideration while making cross-border investments. Returns should be justifiably higher for the higher level of risk involved due to currency fluctuations. 
In the current context, keeping in mind the US dollar-rupee example, the dollar-denominated investments by Indian investors have done quite well. There are two reasons for the same - (1) the US economic growth has gathered pace, and (2) corporate profitability in the US has improved, sending US stocks higher. The recent depreciation in the rupee versus US dollar has added to the gains.

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Advantage of foreign stocks/funds

Investors can benefit from an allocation to international funds/stocks. The US dollar-based funds have generated returns in the range of 25-30% and some even higher in the last one year. This is almost double the returns from domestic equities for the same period. However, one must be aware of the rapidly changing global investment landscape that not only brings opportunities, but also throws up new challenges. Buying into a Microsoft, Google, Apple could just give you the edge you were looking at and, that too, from within the comforts through a feeder fund available in India. At the same time, currency risk is always critical. An appreciating local currency will eat into returns.

BY: Bhavesh Sanghvi

(The author is CEO of Emkay Wealth Management)

Source: DNA Money

Generation of long-term returns and preservation of capital should be the&nbsp;primary objective of making an investment.


Investors in dollar-denominated assets likely to benefit from depreciating rupee against USD

The cut in the total expense ratio by Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) sent the share price of two listed asset management companies (AMC) plunging on Wednesday. HDFC Asset Management Co and Reliance Nippon Life AMC saw a massive decline in their stock prices on Wednesday.

Both publicly traded mutual fund (MF) companies touched a record low on Wednesday before recovering slightly. Shares of HDFC AMC, which went public last month, slumped as much as 9.29% on BSE before closing at Rs 1408.55 per share, down 8.55%. Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management too closed at Rs 190 on the 30-share barometer, falling 11.28% from the previous close. This was the worst single day fall for both the companies from the time of their listing.

The market regulator, on Tuesday, announced a slew of proposals approved by its Board, including a downward revision in the total expense ratio charged by the fund houses. Sebi capped the fees charged by AMCs in the range of 1.05-2.25% for open-ended equity schemes, depending on the asset size of the companies. An AMC having assets over Rs 50,000 crore can charge a TER of 1.05%, while a fund house with an asset up to Rs 500 crore can charge a TER of 2.25%.

Earlier, the TER slab structure for open-ended schemes started at 2.5% base TER on the first Rs 100 crore of the asset under management (AUM) of the scheme, moderating gradually to 1.75% on all AUM above Rs 700 crore, according to a report by Morgan Stanley.

A research report by CLSA said it is anticipating an impact of around 25% on the sector’s income. The brokerage firm said that the move can lead to 15-25 bps reduction in equity fees and bring down equity TER to 1.7-1.8%. This will impact all funds and should be effective in the coming two-three months. Larger AMCs may see a higher impact given a higher share of equity AUM and larger funds.

The fee cut could lead to a nearly 25% impact on sector earnings in FY18 or a 17% impact for Reliance AMC (FY19CL) and 25% for HDFC AMC, the report said. CLSA also said mutual fund distribution fees form 15% of revenue and a 10 bps cut in their fee could impact FY19 PBT by 4%.

Radhika Gupta, CEO, Edelweiss MF, said that schemes with size will now be cheaper to investors, who enjoy the benefit of scale. A focus on trail based income, more transparency in commission structures and correcting the incentives for marketing closed-ended fund is a positive.

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On the other hand, Morgan Stanley in its report said the magnitude of TER cut was sharp and surprising. “We cut our estimates for equity and overall gross revenue/ annual average AUM (AAAUM) by about 20bp and 11bp, respectively,” it said, adding the stock has been weak in anticipation of adverse regulation.

The market regulator, on Tuesday, announced a slew of proposals approved by its Board, including a downward revision in the total expense ratio charged by the fund houses. Sebi capped the fees charged by AMCs in the range of 1.05-2.25% for open-ended equity schemes, depending on the asset size of the companies.&nbsp;


Big worry! This is why HDFC AMC, Reliance Nippon Life AMC need to fret

The Appointments Committee of Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi&nbsp;has cleared the names of 10 senior executives to head as many public sector banks (PSBs). The posts were lying vacant for six to 12 months. In a significant reform measure in the banking sector, the government for the first time appointed five deputy managing directors (DMDs) of State Bank of India (SBI) to head PSBs so that the management skills at the biggest lender migrate to smaller banks, where lending practices need to be beefed up for better performance.

SBI DMDs who will head other PSBs are Mrutyunjay Mahapatra, in charge of strategy and digital payments, who will move as MD and CEO of Syndicate Bank; Padmaja Chundru, DMD in charge of new business at SBI, will head Chennai-based Indian Bank; Pallav Mohapatra, DMD in charge of SBI’s critical stressed assets group, will move as MD and CEO of Central Bank of India; J Packirisamy, DMD, mid-corporate accounts will move as MD and CEO of Andhra Bank, and Karnam Shekhar will move to Dena Bank as MD and CEO.

Bank Board Bureau (BBB) had recommended appointing six DMDs of SBI to head smaller PSU banks. Except for C V Nageswar, DMD in charge of global markets at SBI, all the other five DMDs have been appointed.

Besides the top executives of SBI, executive directors (ED) of other banks have been elevated as MD and CEO of the remaining five that were headless. S S Mallikarjuna Rao, ED at Syndicate Bank has been appointed MD and CEO of Allahabad Bank initially for a period of three years. Rao’s tenure will be extendable up to the date of his superannuation, i.e, January 31, 2022, the order said.

A S Rajeev, executive director of Indian Bank, has been named MD and CEO of Bank of Maharashtra for an initial period of three years and extendable up to two years after “review of his performance”, it said.

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Atul Kumar Goel and S Harisnakar have been appointed MD and CEO in UCO Bank and Punjab &amp; Sind Bank, respectively. Goel is ED, Union Bank of India, and Harisankar is ED of Allahabad Bank. Ashok Kumar Pradhan, the current ED of United Bank of India, will be elevated and the MD and CEO of the bank. 
The appointments come more than two months after they were recommended by the BBB, an advisory body formed by the government for top level appointments in the banks.

The government has also appointed members on the local Board of southern, northern and eastern Boards of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Rakesh Jain has been appointed as the southern Board member, Revathy Iyer and Raghevendra Narayan Dubey on the northern local Board while Sachin Chaturvedi has been appointed on the eastern local Board of the central bank.

Source: DNA Money

Big move by Modi govt: PM deploys these 10 men to whip Public sector banks into shape 

The escalating trade war is pushing stock markets and rupee deep into nervousness. Both the Sensex and Nifty fell on Tuesday for the second day as crude prices rose and rupee fell. Investor sentiment was dampened after the US announced the further imposition of new tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth imports from China on Monday, escalating the trade war. China, in turn, retaliated with a duty hike on $60 billion of the US imports.

The rupee fell 46 paise and closed at a lifetime low of 72.97 against the US dollar from the previous close of 72.50 on Monday. Panic dollar demand from the importers and speculative traders sent the domestic currency sinking to a historic low of 72.99 in late afternoon deals with very little chance of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) intervention. The benchmark 10-year government bond rose 8.14%.

Sensex plunged 294.84 points, or 0.78%, closing at a one-month low of 37290.67. The broader Nifty slipped the 11300 mark and settled at 11278.90 tanking 98.85 points, or 0.87%. Though the indices started the day positively, heavy selling in the financial and auto stocks changed the action.

“Selling pressure increased on the bourses due to a spike in oil prices led by factors like the implication of the US sanction on Iran and supply constraints. Domestic triggers failed to add momentum despite fall in inflation, government policies to contain current account deficit (CAD) and consolidation in PSUs. This situation will ease once the global bond and currency market stabilise which is currently under pressure given the chaos over oil and Fed rate hike,” Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services said.

Investors have lost Rs 2.72 lakh crore in two days of market fall. Sensex fell almost 800 points in two days.

“Its everything negative for the markets. Nifty one-and-a-half month low on Tuesday. We will see more 600-700 points correction in Sensex,” said Chandan Taparia, derivatives and technical analyst at Motilal Oswal Financial Services. He said Nifty will trade in the 11171-11250 zone in the coming days.

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SBI, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Axis Bank and Tata Motors were the worst performing scrips on Sensex shredding as much as 4.06%.

Source:&nbsp;DNA Money

Both the Sensex and Nifty fell on Tuesday for the second day as crude prices rose and rupee fell.


Indian rupee all set to hit shocking 73 mark against dollar

Atal Bihari Vajpayee, our beloved former prime minister, changed the narrative of infrastructure development in India by envisioning a future, which had no correlation to the past and present. He dreamt about a connected and integrated India, while his team of officers detailed and implemented the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP) – 100 times bigger and larger than the annual investments in national highways at that point of time.

It was truly a case of BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goals), accompanied by meticulous planning and effective execution!

In the second half of the decade of 1990s, the annual plan outlay for national highways by the Ministry of Surface Transport (as it was known then) was all of Rs 500 crore per annum. It was indeed audacious to have then conceived the NHDP of Rs 54,000 crore for the Golden Quadrilateral, North-South and East-West Corridors, covering a total of about 13,000 km of NH.

Leaping into the future: A trillion dollar dream

Prime Minister Narendra Modi &amp; Union Minister Nitin Gadkari have accelerated the momentum through the conception and roll-out of 'Bharatmala Pariyojana', involving an outlay of Rs 7 lakh crore. However, if the nation is to pay homage to the departed soul and continue the legacy of the Visionary, one definitive way would be to expand and upgrade 'Bharatmala Pariyojana', and make it at least 50 times bigger and larger than the current annual investments in the national highways sector.

Today, the combined annual outlays of Ministry of Road Transport &amp; Highways (MoRTH) and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) aggregate to Rs 1,50,000 crore, in addition to investments being made by the private sector. How inconceivable is it to now plan for a trillion dollar or Rs 7 lakh crore programme?

Just think of the economic, social and political benefits of a trillion dollar programme covering the length &amp; breadth of national highways across 718 districts of the country. On an average, this would tantamount to an investment of about Rs 10,000 crore per district over a ten-year period. Even assuming that 30% of such investments would be towards labour payments (both direct &amp; indirect), it would tantamount to creating almost 6,000 crore man-days of jobs (or say 30 crore man-years of employment, assuming 200 man-days per man-year) over the duration of the programme, assuming average daily wages of Rs 350 per man-day.

Go further and then think of the multiplier effect of such investments. It would spur economic activity in every nook and corner of the country. There would be increased and efficient movement of people and goods with savings in travel time and vehicle operating costs (VOC). It would stimulate the transportation sector, with all the attendant benefits of jobs for drivers, helpers, mechanics and what have you. There would be rest areas, way-side amenities, food courts, shopping malls, et al – creating millions of entrepreneurs and service industry jobs. It would lead to encouraging and providing fillip to local arts and handicrafts, by providing easier access to markets and products. To adapt an old proverb, "If you cannot take Mohammed to the Mountain, then take the Mountain to the Mohammed".

A programme like this would truly help build an India of limitless opportunities, even as it reduces boundaries and distances between people and places. The unintended benefits it would have on improving the law &amp; order situation in the backward states would be game-changer for these states. This is turn would improve the "Ease of doing business" and accelerate the pace and quantum of investments in states like UP &amp; Bihar.

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Equitable expansion of national highways network

Of course, the true genius of Vajpayee lay in conceiving the 'Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana' (PMGSY), along with funding thereof, which is changing the face of rural India – providing all weather roads, where none existed before. It has changed the paradigm of development and has been amongst the biggest factors to improved productivity, market access and enhanced rural incomes.

Thanks to the rapid expansion of PMGSY roads, all efforts of successive governments have still not been able to increase the length of national highways beyond 2% of total road network of the country. The scope and possibility of increasing this percentage of national highways to total road network of the country may therefore be limited, due to continued investments in PMGSY.

At present, India has 1,20,543 km of national highways for an estimated population (2017) of 131.66 crore as in 2017 implying 915 km of NH for every 1 crore population. However, there are huge disparities in the distribution of NH across states. More populous states like UP and Bihar have less than half the national average, when it comes to this ratio of length of NH/State population. For the two most populous states, the ratios are as low as 388 km (8,711 km for 22.46 core population) and 413 km (4,839 km for 11.72 crore population), respectively. Is it any coincidence, that the per capita income in these states is less than half the national per capita income?

The above analysis provides a solid case for reducing regional disparities, and substantially increasing NH lengths in the most populous states of the country like UP &amp; Bihar. As a first step, we should resolve that we shall construct/upgrade/provide at least 1,000 km of NH for every 1 crore population. For states which have lesser population density (e.g. north-eastern states &amp; hilly States), maybe the norms can be relaxed and they can have even 1,500 km of NH for every 1 crore population.

As a first step, we should ensure that every state has at least 1,000 km of NH for every crore of population. This may lead to consequential increase in the length of National Highways from current 1.2 lakh km to say 1.6 lakh km or thereabouts, but that would be most welcome!

Standardising the national highways configuration 
More importantly, the time has come to increase the width of all national highways to at least 4-lane national highways, with the roads becoming wider as they approach cities &amp; urban settlements, in a defined time-frame of no more than 10-12 years. We can no longer afford to have single or two-lane national highways. When anyone travels on these national highways, which are the highest category of roads (as per Indian Roads Congress), there must be a sense of pride and safety. There must be minimum level of expectations.

Highway professionals, whether bureaucrats in charge of the programme or technocrats responsible for technical specifications and standards, have found logic in traffic density to vary the width of national highways. The current leadership team, led by union minister Nitin Gadkari, has taken a step in the right direction by its decision to upgrade all NH to at least two-lane with paved shoulder. But that is not enough!

Managers are judged on performance parameters by the adage "Walk the Talk". However, leaders are remembered for what they say, for "The Talk" they do. Their words and talks are what inspire and provide direction. We need to stop thinking about infrastructure development as an economic stimulant or fulfilling an existential requirement. It has to be viewed as an act of nation building. It has to be viewed in the context of our long-term strategy, of our hopes and aspirations for the future of this country. We need to make the country "Future Ready"!

Maybe it is an opportune time for Prime Minister Modi to do the BIG TALK and set a National Vision &amp; Goal - that over the next 10-12 years, or say by 2030 - All national highways would be upgraded to being safe &amp; signal-free four-lane divided highways, with appropriate signages, road markings &amp; road furniture, way-side amenities &amp; rest areas and adequate service roads, as may be necessary.

In case it is decided that a particular stretch does not deserve, or cannot be up-graded to four-lane NH, for whatever reasons, then let there be professional and political courage to de-notify such stretches to being state Roads, or whatever appropriate.

Obviously, being four-lane is minimum criterion, with traffic potential and proximity to human settlements determining the ultimate width. One suggestion is that the NH may be widened to eight-lane highways, with 2/3 lane service roads (in both directions), for the first 25 km around 100 most populous cities of India; reducing to six-lane highways, with 2-lane service roads (in both directions) for next 25 km thereafter. On-going improvement works on Delhi-Meerut NH and Delhi-Panipat NH just illustrate and support this argument.

The government should not stop at this but go further. 'Bharat Mala Pariyojna' has envisaged 24 multi-modal hubs across the country, with ring roads around select cities. With before-time completion of Kundli Manesar Expressway, Delhi would soon have a 270 km ring-road around it. This would, inter alia, ensure that commercial vehicles not destined or originating in Delhi do not choke the city. Ring roads already exist around Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and some other cities. This national programme needs to be expanded to include world-class ring roads around at least the 100 most populous cities of India and all state capitals. We should also make special plans for roads passing through urban area to be equipped with footpaths and cycle tracks.

To make these roads safe and signal-free, it would obviously require larger investments than otherwise planned. It would require extensive construction of flyovers, grade separators, vehicular under passes (VUPs), cattle under passes (CUPs), pedestrian under passes (PUPs) and/or foot over bridges (FOBs), in addition to railway over bridges (ROBs) and road under bridges (RUBs). In any case, it is a requirement when highways pass through sensitive environment areas like wild-life sanctuaries &amp; national parks. I am sure, we can accord similar respect and consideration to our fellow human beings, especially those who live alongside or near these national highways.

Road safety to be the cornerstone 
Safety is, of course, much more than just about provision of physical infra-structure and/or addressing black spot issues. It is about the '3 E's of Engineering, Education &amp; Enforcement. Even as our national highways need to be designed and then built to global safety standards, there is an equally urgent (if not more important) need to focus on issue of driving licenses. We have to ensure that nobody, repeat nobody, gets a "driving license to kill". The driving licenses have to be issued only after proper, fool-proof and fail-safe, driving tests – both theory &amp; practical. Any investment made for this purpose would be more than justified. Road safety can also be integrated with skill development programme in terms of training and digitisation.

Best of engineering &amp; education would come to naught, if there is lax compliance. We have to have rigorous enforcement of traffic laws and driving behaviours. The DOs &amp; Dont's are well-established. We have to enforce them consistently and without exception. Technology, including video surveillance cameras, can play a huge role in the matter. Let us remember that safety is non-negotiable. Only option to safety is either fatality or bodily harm.

Standardisation of road configuration 
Natural corollary of this programme would be to have uniform and consistent standards &amp; specifications across various categories of roads. To illustrate this point, while all highways must be minimum four-lane highways, all state highways must be at least two-lane with paved shoulders (10.5 metre). Similarly, all major district roads (MDRs) should be minimum two-lane width (7.5 metre) with earthen shoulders, while all other district roads (ODRs) should be of intermediate width (5.5 metre).

The states should be urged to adopt and implement these standards in similar time-frame. This would require another trillion dollars. In other words, the country will witness two trillion dollars of investments in roads &amp; highways alone.

Roads are our ultimate wealth creators 
Once we agree on the programme, the funding can always be worked out. Who would have thought that Vajpayee is not just day-dreaming, when he envisaged a highway development programme that was 100 times the then annual outlay of the ministry.

My thoughts would be incomplete without quoting former US President John F Kennedy, who when questioned that US can afford to have good roads because it is a rich country responded:

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"It is not our wealth that built our roads but it is our roads that built our wealth"…

BY: Rohit Modi

(The writer is CEO at Essel Infra and Smart Utilities)

Source: DNA Money

Prime Minister Narendra Modi &amp; Union Minister Nitin Gadkari have accelerated the momentum through the conception and roll-out of 'Bharatmala Pariyojana', involving an outlay of Rs 7 lakh crore.


Tribute to Vajpayee: How Modi govt can trigger job Tsunami across India with this step

Let me share a story. King Krishna Deva Raya was challenged by the neighbouring king to either fight a war or surrender his kingdom.

The king wasn't too keen to fight a war because it only killed people and was a waste of money. So he approached wise Tenali Rama and asked – "How can I avoid the war and not yet lose my kingdom?"

Tenali suggested that instead of the war, they fight over a game of chess. The loser obeys the winner's order. Both kings agreed to decide their fate over the board of chess. Tenali Rama represented King Krishna Deva Raya and won the game.

Upon winning Tenali Rama asked a weird gift, he said: "The game of chess has 64 squares. I want one grain of rice for the first square, two for the second square, four for the third square, eight for the fourth square...basically to keep doubling the amount of grain as you move on to the next square."

The losing king laughed at this small gift. As he started obeying the order, as he approached the third row, his entire granary was empty. He realised his mistake and begged for forgiveness. He said: "You are not only brave, but are wise too."

The amount of grains on each square on the chess board would add to 18.45 million trillion (enough to cover the land surface of earth or fill Indian soil half feet deep).

The secret behind the magic

Let me use a simple example by taking two numbers (5)10 and (10)5. If you calculate, you will notice that (5)10 is greater than (10)5. The number (5)10 (that is, five multiplied 10 times with itself) equals 97,65,625 whereas (10)5 (that is, 10 multiplied five times with itself) equals 1,00,000. The first number five is a smaller number, but grows very big by multiplying for more number of times.

This leads me to the secret sauce of wealth creation – The Power of Compounding. We all studied the formula A = P (1 + R)N during our school days. Unfortunately, we only look at half the picture, that is, R-return. While it is the T-time horizon that is far more critical and important to the compounding effect.

The power of compounding works like magic with increasing time horizon. Higher the time horizon, bigger is the impact of the magic. It does not efficiently work for time horizon less than five years.

To illustrate the power of compounding I have picked three equity funds that have completed more than 20 years of existence. Now if you did a Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) of Rs 5,000 per month across any of three funds; what would have been the investment and accumulated funds as on September 14, 2018?

Over the first five years, your investment of Rs 3 lakh (by doing SIP of Rs 5,000 per month) value would have grown to anywhere between Rs 3.89 lakh to Rs 4.24 lakh; adding a gain of just Rs 0.89 lakh to Rs 1.24 lakh, despite having a very favourable equity market.

Over the last 10 years your investment of Rs 6 lakh would have nearly doubled to Rs 11.16 lakh -12.67 lakh.

The real magic happens when the investment amount of Rs 12 lakh, that got invested over a period of 20 years, significantly multiples anywhere between 8.8 times and 10.5 times, accumulating between Rs 1.05 crore to Rs 1.26 crore.

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In your journey of wealth creation make time your ally and see the power of the secret sauce create magic to your financial portfolio.

BY: Tanwir Alam

(The writer is founder and CEO, FINCART)

The power of compounding works like magic with increasing time horizon. Higher the time horizon, bigger is the impact of the magic. It does not efficiently work for time horizon less than five years.


Want to get rich? Unleash the magic of compounding by making this your best ally

Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) chairman Anil Ambani has lashed out against the government entities for delaying the payment of arbitration awards worth around Rs 6,300 crore.

While addressing the shareholders on Tuesday at the company’s annual general meeting, Ambani said, “It is an unfortunate fact of doing business in India that despite amendments to The Arbitration Act by the Central government and clarity from the Supreme Court in multiple judgements, many government entities continue to drag their feet on arbitration award payouts to the detriment of shareholders’ interest.”

He even referred to the example of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s appeal wherein RInfra won the arbitration award after 68 hearings over a period of four years.

“We subsequently also won the appeal in the Delhi High Court in a single bench which took seven months to deliver its judgement. This matter has been now pending with the division bench for an additional seven months. It has been five-and-a-half years since we went into arbitration and almost a year-and-a-half since we won the arbitration award, but the arbitration payout is nowhere to be seen. This creates asymmetry where we, as a corporate entity, remain answerable as we rightly must to all our lenders for loan and interest repayment. But the defaulting entity has no accountability and nothing to answer for,” Ambani said.

There are three government entities - DMRC, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the government of Goa - who have yet to pay arbitration award to RInfra. The total amount from all the three put together is approximately Rs 6,300 crore.

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As of March 2018, Rs 5,165 crore was due from DMRC for the Delhi Airport Metro Express. Since then, interest accrued on the outstanding amount has also piled up.

Reliance Infra had also won Rs 292 crore in February from the government of Goa for non-payment of electricity dues. The third amount pending is Rs 200 crore it had won in August from NHAI for the delay in providing land to TD Toll Road Pvt Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of RInfra, resulting in construction cost overrun and loss of revenue.

Source: DNA Money

Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) chairman Anil Ambani has lashed out against the government entities for delaying the payment of arbitration awards worth around Rs 6,300 crore.

&nbsp;


Reliance Infrastructure chief Anil Ambani lashes out at govt entities

Ritesh Agarwal's five-year-old hospitality player Oyo and former Myntra co-founder Mukesh Bansal's health and wellness firm Cure.Fit bagged the first and second spots in the LinkedIn's 2018 top 25 start-ups list for India.

The world's largest professional network said in a statement that from consumer tech to health tech and logistics to hospitality, the 25 companies represent the thriving start-up landscape in India, which is the third largest start-up ecosystem in the world.

"The top start-ups list brings to light how these young companies are disrupting industries and attracting talent in India. The debut edition of the India list sees a diverse mix of consumer-driven businesses and business-to-business (B2B) start-ups across industries such as health and wellness, hospitality, fin-tech, and e-commerce," said Adith Charlie, editor - India, LinkedIn.

B2B companies comprise 50% of the list whereas 20% of the companies, Nineleaps (at number 10), Zapr Media Labs (17), BrowsterStack (18), SigTuple (20) and Exadatum (25) are deep technology companies. The annual ranking, LinkedIn said in a statement, is informed by the billions of actions taken by more than 50 million professionals on its network in India.

To be eligible, companies had to be independent and privately held, have 50 or more employees, be seven years old or younger and be headquartered in the country on whose list they appear. LinkedIn measured start-ups based on employment growth, engagement, job interest and attraction of top talent and the methodology time frame was from July 2017 through June 2018.

"Employment growth is measured as percentage headcount increase over one year, which must be a minimum of 15%. Engagement looks at non-employee views and follows of the company's LinkedIn page as well as how many non-employees are viewing employees at that start-up. Job interest counts what rate people are viewing and applying to jobs at the company, including both paid and unpaid postings.&nbsp;

Attraction of top talent measures how many employees the startup has recruited away from LinkedIn Top Companies, as a percentage of the start-up's total workforce. Data is normalised across all eligible start-ups," LinkedIn said in the statement.

QUITE A DIVERSE MIX

<ul>
	<li>The debut edition of the India list has a diverse mix of consumer-driven businesses and (B2B) start-ups&nbsp;&nbsp;</li>
	<li>B2B firms comprise 50% of the list whereas 20% of the companies are deep technology start-ups</li>
</ul>

Source: DNA Money

The world's largest professional network said in a statement that from consumer tech to health tech and logistics to hospitality, the 25 companies represent the thriving start-up landscape in India, which is the third largest start-up ecosystem in the world.

&nbsp;


Start-ups in India: Oyo, Cure.Fit, Dunzo are the most sought after 

Finance minister Arun Jaitley is likely to meet the bank chiefs on September 25 to review the performance of the public sector banks (PSBs). The minister is likely to discuss the issue of non-performing assets (NPAs) with the heads of PSBs and progress made so far in the recovery of bad loans. The government-run banks account for major chunk of bad loans in the banking sector. The annual performance review meeting will also take stock of credit flow to various sectors including Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), agriculture, education, and to the weaker sections of society.

The minister will also review the government-run schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, MUDRA Yojana and Stand-up India, as well as social security schemes, including Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Yojana (PMJJY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY).

The meeting comes at a time when the banks are grappling with NPAs to the tune of Rs 9 lakh crore and the government, in order to clean up the sector, is moving to create stronger banks through consolidation of PSBs. On Monday, the government announced merger of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank with Bank of Baroda (BoB) to create the country’s third largest bank. The move is part of the government’s efforts to clean up the banking sector.

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With NPAs and increasing cost of banking operations, the government is looking at the consolidation as an option for weak banks to survive.

Source: DNA Money

The finance minister will also review the government-run schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, MUDRA Yojana and Stand-up India.


Bank crisis: Bad loans hit Rs 9 lakh mark, Arun Jaitley orders meet with PSB chiefs

Providing relief to foreign portfolio investors, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said a revised circular on know-your-customer (KYC) norms will be issued soon. “The proposed draft circular and proposed amendments in Sebi (FPI) Regulations, 2014 were discussed by the Board and broadly agreed upon. The revised circular, in this regard, will be soon issued separately,” it said in a press release.

Earlier this month, the FPI lobby group raised concerns that the Sebi circular on KYC norms restricting non-resident Indians (NRIs) and overseas citizens of India (OCIs) from being beneficial owners of FPIs result in an outflow of $75 billion from the Indian market. Sebi soon lashed out, saying the claims were “irresponsible” and “preposterous”.

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It has approved a regulatory framework to allow foreign entities to trade in commodity derivatives market, except for sensitive commodities. The minimum net worth required for the eligible foreign entities to participate in domestic commodity derivatives markets is $500,000.

Source: DNA Money

Providing relief to foreign portfolio investors, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said a revised circular on know-your-customer (KYC) norms will be issued soon. “The proposed draft circular and proposed amendments in Sebi (FPI) Regulations, 2014 were discussed by the Board and broadly agreed upon.


India gives massive relief to foreign investors after big controversy

Reliance Communications (RCom) on Tuesday said it will exit the telecom business completely and will focus on real estate going forward.&nbsp; Reliance Communications has obtained approval of 100% Indian and foreign lenders on its asset monetisation plan for overall debt resolution, company’s chairman Anil Ambani said at the annual general meeting on Tuesday.

At present,&nbsp; Reliance Communications&nbsp;is serving 35,000 businesses through the enterprise, data centres, undersea cables and international voice calling verticals and will get half of its revenues from abroad.

Reliance Realty, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Communications, at present owns and operates DAKC, a 133-acre registered IT park in Navi Mumbai. DAKC will be developed to create a commercial space of 30 million square feet and the valuation of this development project, as per HDFC Realty, is estimated to be over Rs 25,000 crore.

The company already has 3 million sq ft of built-up space, which will be leased out to multi-nationals and the company expects revenue accruals through it from this financial year itself.

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The telecom sector is saddled with a debt burden of over Rs 7.7 lakh crore and employment in the sector has halved over the last two years. The hyper-competition in the industry has led to over 20 lakh job losses.

“There has been a creative destruction of the telecom sector resulting in creation of oligopoly, which is going towards a duopoly and maybe even a monopoly in the future,” Ambani said.

Reliance Communications owes about Rs 45,000 crore to a group of 38 lenders, including Chinese banks.&nbsp;

Source: DNA Money

Reliance Communications (RCom) on Tuesday said it will exit the telecom business completely and will focus on real estate going forward.&nbsp;Reliance Communications has obtained approval of 100% Indian and foreign lenders on its asset&nbsp;monetisation plan for overall debt resolution.

&nbsp;


Anil Ambani: Creative destruction of telecom sector resulting in oligopoly  

Headache’s popular antidote Saridon is back on the sale counter after the Supreme Court on Monday gave relief to three drug manufacturers who claimed that their products were approved prior to 1988.

The three medicines that will now be available for public distribution and sale are Piramal Healthcare’s Saridon, Glaxo Smithkline’s Piriton Expectorant, and&nbsp; Juggat Pharma’s Dart.

The pharma companies approached the apex court against the September 7 decision of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare banning 328 fixed dose combinations (FDC) under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 in larger public interest.

The ban came as a result of a recommendation made by the Drug Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) which initially recommended banning 349 FDCs but later trimmed the list following an SC order to exempt 15 FDCs as they were approved prior to 1988.

These 15 drugs included the popular cough and cold expectorant Phensedyl and Tixylix. These drugs alone have a market share of over Rs 700 crore.

Dealing with the petition filed by the pharmaceutical companies, a bench of Justices Rohington F Nariman and Indu Malhotra decided to issue notice to the Centre seeking response.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi who represented Piramal argued that Saridon was a drug approved prior to 1988 and there was no reason they should be denied the similar benefit available to the other 15 drugs.

He said that his product is quite popular drug had been in the market for over a decade.

The ban, Rohatgi said, simply states that the FDC has no therapeutic value which is incorrect.

The bench allowed the request and removed the ban not just on Saridon, but also on Piriton and Dart on similar footing. The Union health ministry submitted that the DTAB had examined each drug before recommending the ban. The counsel for Centre informed the bench that the three drugs seeking exemption were issued licence by the concerned government department after 1988. But when the bench sought details of the same, it was not made available.

The court decided to lift the ban for the time being while keeping the matter pending with it. The bench reasoned that if the court had recently ordered the 15 FDCs to be kept out of the ban, similar relief ought to be given to the similarly placed drugs, unless the Centre is able to produce proof to the contrary. The DTAB had submitted its recommendation to the Centre in June this year. The manufacturers informed the court that they had not been supplied the DTAB findings.

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Recently, even the Delhi High Court had allowed drug manufacturer Wockhardt to sell its Ace Proxyvon tablets.

Source: DNA Money

Saridon is back on the sale counter after the Supreme Court on Monday gave relief to three drug manufacturers who claimed that their products were approved prior to 1988.


That's a relief! Saridon rid of ban headache

The steps announced by the government to attract foreign inflows and support the rupee fell short of market expectations as the currency continued to weaken.

The rupee ended the day’s trade on Monday at 72.51 to a dollar, down 0.90% from its previous close of 71.86. It&nbsp; opened at 72.49 and fell to a low of Rs 72.69 as foreign investors deserted both Indian equities and debt.

“The weekend measures by the government to salvage the currency fell short of expectations. It was expected that if the measures are not strong enough, the rupee was bound to be under pressure,” said a currency trader with a public sector bank. The government also plans to restrict unwanted imports and boost exports. However, foreign investors had expected more concrete steps to prop up the rupee.

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Broad strength in the dollar amid reports that the US was likely to impose more tariffs on Chinese goods also weighed on the rupee, dealers said.

An analysis by IDBI Bank said that the dollar held above a recent 1-1/2 month trough against a basket of major currencies on Monday, with investors cautiously awaiting news on the implementation of the US tariffs on an additional $200 billion of Chinese imports. The dollar index held at 94.965 against a basket of major currencies, well above Friday’s 94.359, which was the lowest since end-July, the analysis showed.

“The dollar was last at 111.99 yen, within a kissing distance of Friday’s 112.16 which was the highest since mid-July. It gained 0.9% last week. The euro was last at $1.1624, down from a three-week top of $1.1721 set on Friday. The pound also retreated, dropping from last week’s peak of $1.3145 to trade at $1.3071,” said an IDBI Bank report.

Though there were talks of launching an NRI bond issue, the government unveiled a few measures that failed to attract the foreign portfolio investors.

Source: DNA Money

Indian rupee: Talk of further US tariff on Chinese products spooks currency market


Modi Govt steps to stop rupee fall fail; US is the villain of piece

Retail inflation fell below 4% to a 10-month low of 3.69% in August on the back of a fall in vegetables, fruits and pulses, showed data released by the Central Statistics Office on Wednesday.

The inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 4.17% in July and 3.28% in August last year.

Retail inflation has remained above Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) targeted rate of 4% since October last year.

RBI will be considering this set of data for formulating its next bi-monthly monetary policy on October 5. The central bank has been mandated to keep retail inflation at 4% level (with a margin of 2% on either side).

“Consumer food inflation came in at 13-month low at 0.29%. This was primarily due to decline in inflation of fruits, deflation in vegetables and continued deflation in pulses. Fuel and light inflation at 8.5% was highest in last 60 months,” said Devendra Kumar Pant, chief economist at India Ratings and Research.

“The moderation in the core inflation to 5.9% in August 2018 was broad-based, which is a positive sign. The base-effect led to a fall in housing inflation to a nine month low in August 2018,” said Aditi Nayar, principal economist at Icra.

“But the looming impact of revised MSPs, surge in crude oil prices and sharp weakening of the rupee would push up the inflation prints in H2 FY2019,” she added.

“The dip in the August 2018 CPI inflation below the Monetary Policy Committee’s medium-term target of 4.0%, juxtaposed by the looming inflation risks, the robust GDP growth print for Q1 FY2019 and the continued weakening of the rupee, would complicate the next monetary policy decision,” Icra said.&nbsp;&nbsp;

On balance, the scales appear tipped toward a third consecutive rate hike in the October 2018 policy review unless crude oil prices and the rupee record an appreciable reversal in the intervening period, it said.

&nbsp;

Retail inflation fell below 4% to a 10-month low of 3.69% in August on the back of a fall in vegetables, fruits and pulses, showed data released by the Central Statistics Office on Wednesday.


RBI to cut rates? CPI inflation now under 4% despite skyrocketing petrol, diesel prices 

Expectations of an economic package following the news of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plans of holding a review meeting on the economy and the currency on Sunday saw the rupee surging 83 paise to 71.86 per dollar in late afternoon trade - one of the strongest rallies in nearly 18 months.

Forex traders said Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was also present in the market, selling close to $1-1.5 billion that helped the rupee shave off losses.

The unit ended a hectic day of trading, rebounding 51 paise at 72.18, after crashing to a lifetime low of 72.91 in early trade. During the day it ranged between Rs 71.86 and Rs 72.91.

After the rupee began to gain ground, Union economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg also tweeted to say that government and RBI are on the job to protect the rupee.

“Government and RBI will do everything to ensure that rupee does not slide to unreasonable levels. Today’s correction seems to reflect that realisation,” Garg tweeted. He said there was “no fundamental rationale” for the rupee to depreciate to levels seen till Tuesday. “It reflected an over-reaction of market operators,” Garg said on Wednesday.

“The intervention was to the tune of $1-1.5 billion, but that is only a drop in the ocean in a market where the average daily trading volume is $20 billion.

The news that that government would meet for an economic package for the currency rescued the rupee from further losses,” a forex trader with a bank said.

“We still hold on to the view that a strong intervention by RBI would strengthen the rupee. The rebound was after intervention from RBI followed up by the plans of the government to hold review meetings on the currency and economy. So the market is expecting some action so the rupee strengthened. The government did some verbal intervention and RBI did its bit, both of which helped the currency,” said M S Gopikrishnan, head, financial markets, Standard Chartered Bank.

Another forex trader with a foreign bank said, “RBI has left all the talking to the government while it sits mum, intervening feebly in the market. If no concrete measures are taken on Sunday, it will take no time for the rupee to depreciate sharply.”

Source: DNA Money

Expectations of an economic package following the news of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plans of holding a review meeting on the economy and the currency on Sunday saw the rupee surging 83 paise to 71.86 per dollar in late afternoon trade - one of the strongest rallies in nearly 18 months.


DNA Money Correspondent