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Govt. Appoints Arvind Virmani As Full-Time Member Of NITI Aayog

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He is the former chief economic advisor of India and a senior economist. He served as executive director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), representing India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan

The government appointed Arvind Virmani as a full-time member of NITI Aayog. He is the former chief economic advisor of India and a senior economist.

The Prime Minister of India heads the Aayog which presently has three members, V K Saraswat, Ramesh Chand and VK Paul. , It is the premier think-tank of government of India.

The cabinet secretariat in a notification said that the Prime Minister has approved the appointment of Arvind Virmani as full-time member of NITI Aayog with immediate effect and until further orders, on the same terms and conditions as are applicable to full-time members of NITI Aayog.”

Prior to his experience as executive director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), representing India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, he served as the 13th chief economic adviser in the finance ministry from 2007 to 2009.

Also, from February 2013 to August 2016, he served as a member of the technical advisory committee of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monetary Policy.

Virmani is the founder-chairman of Foundation for Economic Growth and Welfare.

In the macroeconomics, growth and finance, international trade and tariffs and international relations sectors, he has published various articles.

His books include The Sudoku of India’s Growth, From Uni-polar To Tri polar World: Multi-polar Transition Paradox, Propelling India From Socialist Stagnation To Global Power.

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Maple Highways Acquires Eastern Peripheral Expressway In Rs 6,267 Cr

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The acquisition of the Toll Operate Transfer (TOT) project from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is the largest road transaction that has taken pace this year. The six-lane express highway which stretches to 135-km is operative since 2018 which was designed to decongest Delhi’s commercial traffic

The Maple Highways said that it has acquired the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) in a Rs 6,267-crore deal. It is a dedicated India road investment platform of Canada-based pension fund CDPQ, which encircles the National Capital Region (NCR), on 11 November.

Under the asset monetisation programme by the government this year, the acquisition of the Toll Operate Transfer (TOT) project from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is the largest road transaction that has taken pace.

The six-lane express highway which stretches to 135-km is operative since 2018 which was designed to decongest Delhi’s commercial traffic. It runs through Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, covering the eastern side of the NCR.

Maple Highways and CDPQ said that in order to explore more opportunities they continue to offer long-term shareholder value by sourcing mature toll road assets with long residual lives, established traffic and stable cash flows.

In the world, CDPQ is the second-largest institutional investor in infrastructure. It possess net assets of cash available for distribution to 45 billion in its infrastructure portfolio, including in India.

India still remains to be strategically important market for CDPQ considering country’s long-term growth potential and infrastructure needs, according to the fund.

law

Govt Declares Census, NPR Database As CII

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The computer resources relating to Census Monitoring and Management System, Self-Enumeration and Civil Registration System (CRS) web portals, among other has been declared by the central government being as critical information infrastructure (CII) of the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India

The government has declared certain databases relating to the Census and the National Population Register (NPR) as critical information infrastructure (CII).

The union home ministry through a notification said that the decision came after exercising the powers conferred to it within the Information Technology Act, 2000, (Amended 2008).

The computer resources relating to Census Monitoring and Management System, Self-Enumeration and Civil Registration System (CRS) web portals, mobile applications for House Listing, Population Enumeration and National Population Register updation has been declared by the central government being as critical information infrastructure (CII) of the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India, the notification said.

As per the notification, the linked databases have also declared being CII. It includes the NPR database, Census database and CRS database, computer resources setup and installed at National Data Centre, Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, Delhi, and Disaster Recovery Site and Data Centres at Bengaluru and Lucknow.

Under the law, the computer resources of all related dependencies of the above-mentioned entities have also been declared as “protected systems”. The notification valid with immediate effect. Hence, considering the notification the Census 2021 has been put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic and may begin in the near future.

CFO World

Govt Appoints 9 Judicial, 6 Technical Members At NCLT

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The appointment these members will stand for a period of five years from the date they assume their charge or till they attain the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. In total the NCLT comprises of 28 benches along with a sanctioned strength of 63 members. Also, the tribunal too is facing shortage of support staff which includes court masters, officers, assistant registrars and stenographers

The government has made appointment of 15 judicial and technical members in total at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), which is currently dealing with a shortage of judges.

The matters relating to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and companies’ law are adjudicated by NCLT. As of now nine judicial members and six technical members have been appointed to the NCLT, according to an official order.

The appointment these members will stand for a period of five years from the date they assume their charge or till they attain the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.

The judicial members include former Madras High Court Judge Justice (Retd) T Krishna Valli, former Allahabad High Court Judge Justice (Retd) Vikas Kunvar Srivastav, Senior Government Advocate at the Department of Legal Affairs Mahendra Khandelwal, CAT Judicial Member Bidisha Banerjee, advocates Praveen Gupta and Ashok Kumar Bhardwaj

Others are Retd District Judge Punjab Kuldip Kumar Kareer, Retd District Judge Gautam Budh Nagar Vishesh Sharma and District Court Judge in Commercial Court, Delhi Higher Judicial Service Sanjiv Jain. 

The technical members appointed are Chartered Accountant Prabhat Kumar, UCO Bank’s former Executive Director Charan Singh, former Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Member Anu Jagmohan Singh, Retd Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax Ashish Verma; former Director and Head of AML Compliance at Citi Bank India Madhu Sinha and former Secretary at the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying Atul Chaturvedi (IAS (Retd)), according to the order dated 5 November. 

In total the NCLT comprises of 28 benches along with a sanctioned strength of 63 members. It includes 31 each from the judicial and administrative sides along with its president, who heads the principal bench in New Delhi.

The NCLT President Chief Justice (Retd) Ramalingam Sudhakar said that although there have been various shortcomings such periodical reduction of members which is currently 28 out of 63, and infrastructure requiring improvement in metropolitan cities being Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata, under the IBC, the scope of adjudication has been rewarding and result oriented.

In addition to this, the tribunal too is facing shortage of support staff which includes court masters, officers, assistant registrars and stenographers.

CFO World

Govt Asks Its Nominees On PSB Boards To Review Reform Path

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Mostly senior officials from the finance ministry, being the government nominees on bank boards, will give suggestions regarding course correction and periodically review and if required. Further, information to Public Sector Banks (PSBs) will be provide in order to build partnerships and achieve synergistic outcomes. The formation of a common talent pool along with senior level domain experts from all PSBs is also being worked out.

The government directed its nominees to actively review the three-year business reform roadmap of their respective banks. Those nominees are on the boards of state-run banks. This move aim is to make sure that big lenders support smaller banks in certain key areas like loan underwriting, information technology and human resource development. 

According to an official. banks have also been asked to set up cross-functional teams to enable faster implementation of the reform agenda.

Mostly senior officials from the finance ministry, being the Government nominees on bank boards, will give suggestions regarding course correction and periodically review and if required. In addition to that the Indian Banks’ Association has also identified representatives who will oversee bank-specific roadmap. 

Further, information to Public Sector Banks (PSBs) will be provide in order to build partnerships and achieve synergistic outcomes. The lenders will look at operationalising co-lending partnerships, keeping a focus on priority sector areas like home loans and other retail portfolios. This come from the plan discussed during PSB Manthan, held earlier this year.

The co-lending disbursements surged 4.5 times to Rs 2,901 crore during last quarter of 2021-22 from Rs 643 crore a year ago, as per a report submitted by the banks.

The formation of a common talent pool along with senior level domain experts from all PSBs is also being worked out. Whereas the Indian Bank will lead this initiative for Chennai-Bengaluru banks and the Punjab National Bank will be the head for Delhi-Kolkata banks, and for Mumbai-Pune banks. The State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda will spearhead the programme together.

CFO World

Govt Extends Quality Control Order Date For 2 Steel Grades Till 23 Jan

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The extension will last for three months till 3 January 2023, as per the notification dated 1 November 2022. The ferrosilicon is imported from countries such as Bhutan, South Africa etc to make CRGO (cold rolled grain-oriented steel) and alloy steel

The government through a notification extended the enforcement date of its Steel and Steel Products Quality Control Order for two grades of ferrosilicon and ferronickel by three months till January 2023.

“The Steel and Steel Products Quality Control Order dated December 22, 2020, and subsequent order dated April 26, 2022, the date of enforcement of Indian Standards (IS) is here by extended. For the product ferrosilicon- specification IS No 1110:1990 and specification for ferronickel IS No. 4409:1973 is extended,” said the notification.

The extension will last for three months till 3 January 2023, as per the notification dated 1 November 2022.

The ferrosilicon is imported from countries such as Bhutan, South Africa etc to make CRGO (cold rolled grain-oriented steel) and alloy steel. These are utilised for manufacture transformers, motors, rotors and other electrical items, according to experts.

The order provides an ease for the import of these two grades facilitating no duty for another three months, according to the notification.

The expert said that ferronickel is imported majorly from European countries despite Russia and China producing stainless steel and alloy steel. Such steel is applied in white goods, metros, railways etc., reported a media agency.

The decision of government is welcomed, the expert added.

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India’s GDP Growth May Surpass IMF’s Projection For Next Year: V Anantha Nageswaran, CEA

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Enhanced capital formation will lead to high growth. Recently, the IMF had projected the real growth for this year at 6.8 per cent and 6.1 per cent for the upcoming year for India. There may be a 0.5 to 0.8 per cent addition to the 6 per cent baseline numbers

The chief economic adviser (CEA) of India, V Anantha Nageswaran is hopeful about India clocking better economic growth than what the International Monetary Fund had projected for the next fiscal.

He said that enhanced capital formation will lead to high growth. Recently, the IMF had projected the real growth for this year at 6.8 per cent and 6.1 per cent for the upcoming year for India. 

Nageswaran said that the growth rates in the upcoming years may slightly be on higher side. They will be better than what these numbers are, as there exists a possibility of India’s capital formation cycle perming better post one decade of retrenchment.

Expectedly, India’s public digital infrastructure has crossed an inflection point. Also, It will contribute to the formalisation of the economy leading to higher growth, he said.

In his opinion there may be a 0.5 to 0.8 per cent addition to the 6 per cent baseline numbers.  Also, he said that normally the fiscal policy and monetary policy are synchronised and counterbalance each other. 

Commenting on high debt-to-GDP ratio, he said that sustainability is not focus a concern and it may go down with asset monetisation. By using asset monetisation proceeds, India can bring down its debt which will help in improving the credit rating. According to him, it can be the best fiscal stimulus that India can provide.

AI

Centre To Deregulate Uplinking Of Satellite Television Channels Soon

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The Secretary, Information and Broadcasting, Apurva Chandra said that out of 898 television channels broadcast in the country, 532 use foreign satellites to uplink and downlink their services, on 28 October. The countries like Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan which are neighbouring to India can also use our country as a hub for uplinking their television channels

The government plans to deregulate uplinking of satellite television channels in a bid soon. This will make India an uplinking hub.

The Secretary, Information and Broadcasting, Apurva Chandra said that out of 898 television channels broadcast in the country, 532 use foreign satellites to uplink and downlink their services, on 28 October.

While addressing the India Space Congress Chandra said that to make India a hub, we want to deregulate uplinking to satellites within the guidelines.

He said that guidelines related to the uplinking and downlinking were issued last in 2011 and the process to revise it was underway.

Soon within a month, the guidelines will be revised, Chandra told reporters later.

The countries like Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan which are neighbouring to India can also use our country as a hub for uplinking their television channels, the secretary said.

Chandra said that an approval of USD 102 million (one million = 10 lakh) was made by the government in remittances to foreign satellite operators during last two years. Such approval was made to provide uplinking and downlinking services to television channels.

He noted the importance of self-reliance in the satellite broadcasting sector which can be achieved by manufacturing more satellites in the nation.

Presently, Singapore is used as the hub various satellite television channels to broadcast their channels. The deregulation of uplinking could help India emerge as a hub, he added.

CFO World

Govt To Establish Grievance Appellate Committees For Social Media In 3 Months

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The aim to set-up such committee is to allow users an alternative dispute resolution method of social media sites such as Meta (former Facebook) and Twitter. The platforms are allowed some exemption in performing “due diligence” on user-generated content. The Grievance Appellate Committee will comprise of three-person body with a chairperson and two full-time members appointed by the central government

As per the media reports, the government plans to establish centrally appointed Grievance Appellate Committees (GACs). Such will take place within three months of the notice of amendments to the Information Technology (IT) Rules of 2021 under the IT Act.

The aim to set-up such committee is to allow users an alternative dispute resolution method of social media sites such as Meta (former Facebook) and Twitter.

Expectedly the notification containing final text of the proposed amendments in the IT Rules of 2021 will be released in coming days. Such amendments were initially made available for public consultation in June this year.

The intermediaries are also directed by final regulations to “respect all the rights guaranteed to the citizens under the Constitution, notably in Articles 14, 19 and 21.” And requires to set shorter deadlines of 24 hours to act on sensitive content. The platforms are also allowed some exemption in performing “due diligence” on user-generated content.

According to the final draft requirements, the Grievance Appellate Committee will comprise of three-person body with a chairperson and two full-time members appointed by the central government. The above-mentioned members will comprise of one ex-officio member and two independent members.

If anyone finds the decision of an intermediary being unfair, he will have a period of 30 days to file an appeal against the decision, according to the provisions laid down in the draft.

Previously, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had taken the decision of moving ahead with its disputable proposal and appoint multiple Government Advisory Committee (GACs) despite the industry been lobbying for a self-regulatory body. The government thinks that the platforms’ response to user complaints are slow, according to an official.

The formations of government-backed GACs faced objections by Companies and raised doubt on the independence of such forums and highlighting issues with free speech. Hence, the government then asked the sector itself to develop a self-regulatory model. However, that could not be achieved due to lack of agreement on a framework among the major platforms.

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Shiprocket Enables India’s First Inter-City Logistics On ONDC

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This will enable the sellers in selecting a trusted delivery partner in order to pick up the products from 24,000 pin codes on ONDC. Also, both cash-on-delivery and prepaid shipping facilities will be made available to the customers. Presently, Shiprocket serves around 1,00,000 sellers in the country. Also, ONDC and Shiprocket are working towards enabling warehousing-as-a-service on ONDC. Such will help small and medium businesses to serve same-day shipping services to their customers

The logistics solution provider, Shiprocket said that it went live on Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), enabling first ever inter-city logistics on the e-commerce network supported by the government, on 27 October. Its first ever successful transaction was fulfilled on 22 October.

The co-founder of Shiprocket, Saahil Goel said that to reach every independent retailer across nation and enable them with state-of-the art technology, is firm’s mission. This will serve the retailers in better delivery management and enhance customer experience. Also. It will allow them to compete on even keel with the existing larger platforms.

This will enable the sellers in selecting a trusted delivery partner in order to pick up the products from 24,000 pin codes on ONDC. Also, both cash-on-delivery and prepaid shipping facilities will be made available to the customers.

Every retailer now operating from towns and cities, whether being small and medium logistics providers, will now be able to offer their services through Shiprocket on the ONDC network.

CEO, ONDC, T Koshy said that ONDC aims at enabling an inclusive e-commerce ecosystem for all the businesses from small village in a remote corner of India. Building confidence and the opportunity for retailers allowing them to sell their products to customers anywhere in the country is our mission.

Presently, Shiprocket serves around 1,00,000 sellers in the country. Also, ONDC and Shiprocket are working towards enabling warehousing-as-a-service on ONDC. Such will help small and medium businesses to serve same-day shipping services to their customers.

Being a Ministry of Commerce initiative, ONDC will allow sellers target this massive market by offering an equitable and secure platform. The platform integrates multiple sellers, buyers and logistics players.

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