Business Today October 25, 2015

According to statistics put up on the CEA website, at the end of May 2015, a total of 19,706 villages remained to be electrified in the country. These are the villages that have no electricity connections at all. There are probably double the number of villages that have some sort of electricity line passing through them, but where the houses have no power connection. And an even larger number of villages where homes might have a power connection, but do not enjoy more than an hour or two of electricity at best any day. Even bigger towns and big cities often have many areas that see power cuts for seven to eight hours a day. The current estimates are that some seven crore households and about 28 crore people in…

Black Money Act a Mere Eyewash This refers to your cover story on black money (White Money, Black Money, Grey Money, October 11, 2015). It would be naive to imagine that a mere Act can help the government bring back all the black money to the country swiftly. I believe that this issue has been given undue coverage and attention, especially in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi promising `15 lakh in every citizen’s account if he was voted to power. Black money does not work in isolation; as the story shows, it is not only impossible to track, but even more difficult to indict people for holding it. For the past six decades, governments of various countries have helped build the system of black money. How does one…

INTERVIEW “Brick-and-mortar and mobile banking to grow together” In an exclusive interview with Business Today’s Anand Adhikari, SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya speaks about the emerging digital banking trends in India businesstoday.in/sbi-bhattacharya NEWS More Indian Drug Firms Come Under US FDA Scanner This Year Out of the eleven warning letters issued so far by the Office of Manufacturing Quality of the US FDA this year, six were issued to India-based drug companies businesstoday.in/pharma-scanner2015 Torrent Wins Patent Battle Against Novartis Novartis AG and Mitsubishi Pharma Corporation lost a patent fight with Torrent Pharma in the US over Novartis’ block buster multiple sclerosis drug Gilenya businesstoday.in/novartis-gilenya New Kwid on the Block The launch of Renault Kwid has taken the competition in entry-level car segment to a new level. With the entry version priced…

“My name is Raghuram Rajan and I do what I do” After a surprise cut in the policy rate by 50 basis points, the central bank governor had to deal with questions from the press corps, some of whom called him Santa Claus while others hinted that he was a monetary hawk at heart. Rajan said that he was neither – he just did what he thought was right. Reportedly, his children did not like his quote though... BEHIND EVERY SUCCESSFUL MAN IS HIS MOTHER The prime minister got emotional at the Facebook headquarters while describing how hard his mother worked to raise him. The Congress party insisted that Modi’s mother devotion was a bit of a sham, given that he did not invite his mother for his swearing in…

PUTTING HEADS TOGETHER WHAT: Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund. WHEN: October, Lima, Peru WHAT TO LOOK FOR: Brainstorming sessions on the challenges ahead for the global economy. Nearly 16,000 participants from 188 countries will descend on the Latin American city for the meetings. MERKEL IN INDIA WHAT: German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits India WHEN: October 4-6 WHAT TO LOOK FOR: Intergovernmental consultations to strengthen bilateral cooperation in areas such as green energy, smart cities, infrastructure development, skill development, clean river projects, etc. TOWARDS A GREENER PLANET WHAT: Eye on Earth Summit WHEN: October 6-8, Abu Dhabi WHAT TO LOOK FOR: Before the climate talks on tariffs in November, it is a good opportunity for countries to understand the…

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley did not mince his words while defending the minimum alternate tax (MAT) controversy in March 2015, when foreign institutional investors criticised the government for levying retrospective tax. In a strongly-worded message Jaitley had declared that India was no tax haven. “Let it be clearly understood that India is not so vulnerable that every legitimate tax demand can be considered as tax terrorism. We are not a tax haven and we don’t intend to be one,” he had said. Foreign portfolio investors (FPI), however, did not take kindly to the FM’s words. Between March and April, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty fell around 9 per cent from 9,000 to the 8,100 level. And, this has not gone unnoticed. In September, the government clarified that MAT will…