ECONOMY AFFAIRS SEPTEMBER 2016

ECONOMY AFFAIRS SEPTEMBER 2016

• Parliamentary panel to examine merger of budgets
   With the Cabinet's approving the merger of Railway Budget with General Budget, the parliamentary panel on finance has decided to 'examine' the move along with its "ramifications thereof
  
  Ending a 92-year-old practice, the Cabinet had decided to scrap a separate budget for railways and merge it with General Budget, presentation of which would be advanced to spur spending and boost the economy.
  
  The Committee on Finance has selected the "Budgetary Reforms including Merger of Railways Budget with General Budget -- Ramifications thereof," according to the Lok Sabha bulletin dated September 22.
  
  As part of a major overhaul of the budget process, the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also decided to do away with classifications of expenditure into Plan and Non-Plan, making the exercise simpler.
  
  To facilitate early presentation of the Budget, the finance ministry had proposed that the Budget Session of Parliament be convened sometime before January 25, a month ahead of the current practice. The parliamentary panel headed by the Congress MP M Veerappa Moily, will review the all budgetary reforms. Besides the budget, the panel has also selected to review the disinvestment policy, banking sector in the country, Reserve Bank of India's emerging role and its framework.
  
  The committee will also review the performance of regulatory bodies -- Securities Board of India (SEBI), Competition Commission of India (CCI) and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA).
  
  Similarly, the performance of other bodies -- Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd (SHCIL), National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) and Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), will also be reviewed.
  
  The panel will also evaluate the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), Central Statistical Office (CSO)and streamlining of statistics collection machinery in the country.
  
• 86 MoUs signed during tourism summit
  A three day Incredible India Tourism Investors' Summit was organised by the Union Tourism ministry along with CII for the first time in the capital
  
  The summit, which concluded on 23rd September, will become an annual feature henceforth. Besides, there are plans to set up an investor facilitation desk and task force to promote tourism.
  
  The first Incredible India Tourism Investors' Summit witnessed signing of 86 pacts worth around Rs 15,000 crore for the development of tourism and hospitality projects.
  
  Gujarat leads the tally with signed pacts worth nearly Rs.9,000 crore, followed by Karnataka -Rs.2,600 crore, Rajasthan -Rs.1,000 crore, Uttarakhand -Rs.500 crore and Chhattisgarh -Rs.12 crore.
  
  The three-day summit was aimed at inviting investments from foreign and domestic players to fund 700 tourism-related projects from 29 states requiring over Rs.50,000 crore.
  
  The ministry of tourism has decided to set up a task force, with representations from the states and other stakeholders, to take forward certain policy measures and attract more investment.
  
  The ministry will be setting up an investor facilitation desk to handhold investors and facilitate projects. India has seen a rise in tourism with Foreign tourist arrivals in June 2016, growing 7.3 per cent to 5.50 lakh as compared with 5.12 lakh during the month of June, 2015.
  
  For the January-June period of 2016, 41.86 lakh visited India registering a growth of 8.9 per cent compared with the same period the previous year.
  
• Tax dept unveils draft rules for registration under GST
  The Central Board of Excise and Customs, CBEC has come out with three draft rules for registration, invoice and payments under Goods and Services Tax, GST. The draft rules were unveiled in less than a week after the first meeting of the GST Council. The draft rules provide for online registration by residents within three days of submission of application.
  
  For non-residents who will come under the purview of GST, they will be required to electronically submit the application for registration at least 5 days prior to the commencement of business.
  
  The government aims to implement the new indirect tax regime GST from 1st of April next year and the GST Council will hold its second meeting on 30th of this month to finalise rules for GST.
  
  The draft rules also provide that if a tax official fails to take action on registration application within the stipulated time frame, the application for grant of registration shall be deemed to have been approved.
  
  As per the draft norms, the applicant seeking registration will have to submit PAN, mobile number, email address on the common portal or through a facilitation centre.
  
• GST council's nod to 5 draft rules
  Government is working on a target date of April 1, 2017 for the rollout of Goods and Services Tax. In the Meet the council approved 5 sets of draft rules on registration, payment, refund, returns and invoices.
  
  The GST Council will now meet on October 18-20 to decide on tax rate. In the last meet GST council had approved the threshold for GST implementation.
  
• Joblessness at 5-year high, reveals survey
  Joblessness in India is running at a five-year high of 5% of the 15-plus-years work force. Over a third of working people are employed for less than a year and 68% of households are earning up to only Rs 10,000 per month, according to a new employment-unemployment (EU) survey report conducted by the Labour Bureau.
  
  Over 7.8 lakh persons in 1.6 lakh households were surveyed across the country between April and December 2015. Expectedly, urban areas continue to provide more and better paying jobs compared with the rural areas. While 82% of job seekers get year-round jobs in urban areas, just 53% of rural job seekers manage to get such security.
  
  About 42% of workers in rural areas work for less than 12 months in a year, a result of dependence on seasonal agriculture work. Unsurprisingly, this means that 77% of the rural households end up with an average monthly income of less than Rs 10,000. In urban areas, about half the households earn between Rs 10,000 and Rs 50,000 per month.
  
  These findings of the first large sample survey after the Modi government took power in June 2014 show that even after more than a year of seeing the new government's policies in action, the situation on the ground continues to be dire and effectively the same as in the preceding UPA's rule. It shows a continuation of a distressing job situation — and hence economic status — that was reflected in earlier surveys like the 68th round of NSSO and the Socio-Economic & Caste Census (SECC) in 2011-12.
  
  Women's employment continues to stagnate with 8.7% of women in the labour force without jobs. Comparison to previous surveys done by the labour bureau show that the unemployment rate rose from about 3.8% in 2011 to 4.9% in 2013.
  
  This was a period of relative economic slowdown compared to earlier in the decade. But growth has been recorded at 7.3% in 2015-16 — yet the jobs situation has worsened. The Modi government's pronouncements for job creation, like Make in India, Start-Up India and Digital India do not seem to have had the desired impact.
  
  The labour bureau survey also found that about 47% of the working population was self-employed. This would be mostly farmers, shopkeepers, and enterprise owners. But the low economic level of this section is revealed by the fact that 85% of such households had a monthly income of less than Rs 10,000. Another 33% of households earn their living through casual employment.
  
  Regular wage or salary earning households make up just 17% of all, although this is the kind of work that pays more with 43% of people earning more than Rs 10,000.
  
• Solid demand, milestone reforms to sustain India's growth: ADB
  An Asian Development Bank study has forecast that the Indian economy will remain on a strong growth path and grow by 7.4 percent this fiscal. The ADB said growth will be aided by implementation of key structural reforms, robust consumer demand, and higher agricultural output.
  
  The latest Asian Development Outlook 2016 Update also said that as corporates successfully de-leverage and bank reform boosts lending, recovery in private investment will help drive growth to 7.8 per cent in 2017. It noted the adoption of structural reform to attract more foreign direct investment, and passage of legislation to allow a national tax that will create a more integrated and productive economy.
  
  The report said South Asia is developing into Asia's fastest growing sub-region, driven by solid growth in India. It said India is likely to expand its trade in IT services.
  
• India ranked 39 on global competitiveness index
  The government’s initiatives to improve the business and policy environment received thunderous validation from the World Economic Forum, which recorded India’s ascendance by 16 ranks to the 39th spot in the Global Competitiveness Index in 2016-17. India, which ranked 55th last year, registered the sharpest improvement among 138 countries assessed. India is now the second-most competitive country amongst the five-nation BRICS bloc, behind China, which is at the 28th spot.
  
  The WEF’s acknowledgement of India’s global competitiveness comes barely days after the rating agency Moody’s raised concerns over the health of the country’s banking sector and the insufficient evidence of “tangible” reforms, and said that a rating upgrade must await a year or two.
  
  Noting that India now has the highest GDP growth among the G-20 countries, the WEF report credited improved monetary and fiscal policies as well as lower oil prices for the improved economy.
  
  However, it also noted the areas of concern, including the labour market, which is marked by “rigid regulations and centralised wage determination, especially in the manufacturing sector, and millions of unprotected and informal workers.”
  
  Ahead of the GST (goods and services tax) regime, which is expected to be rolled out from April 1, 2017, the report noted that the e?ciency of the domestic market is hindered by ?scal regulations, in particular the varying rates of value-added tax.
  
  The domestic market is also challenged by large power and financial sector public sector enterprises, which are marred by non-performing loans, it added.
  
  According to the Index, Switzerland ranks as the most competitive nation, followed by Singapore and the US. The Netherlands and Germany are at the fourth and fifth spots, respectively. The Global Competitiveness Report 2016-17 also noted that declining openness is threatening global growth and prosperity. It also underlined that monetary stimulus measures such as quantitative easing are not enough to sustain growth and must be accompanied by competitiveness reforms.
  
• PAC forms sub-committee to look into public-private partnership projects
  The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament (PAC) has formed a sub-committee to look into the public private partnership (PPP) projects in the country. The sub-committee has been asked to submit a report ahead of the winter session of Parliament scheduled in November.
  
  Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Shantaram Naik will be the convenor of the sub-committee. Senior MPs P Venugopal, Bhartruhari Mahtab, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy and Nishikant Dubey will be the members in the panel.
  
  PAC chairmen and Comptroller and Auditor Generals in the past have been demanding a more proactive role for the CAG in auditing PPPs.
  
• World Bank agrees to name Jim Yong Kim to 2nd term as President
  The board of the World Bank has unanimously agreed to name Jim Yong Kim to a second term as President. Kim had been the only candidate in a process. The Bank's board offered a strong endorsement of Kim's record, including setting the goal of eliminating extreme global poverty by 2030. The board also said an effort under Kim to cut bank spending had reduced administrative costs by 400 million dollars, money then reinvested to support the bank's goals.
  
• Govt's first strategic sale gets Cabinet nod
  The Union government formally started strategic sales on 28th September with the Allahabad-based Bharat Pumps and Compressors (BPCL) getting the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA)'s in-principle approval for privatisation. The government has budgeted Rs 20,500 crore to come from strategic sales this financial year.
  
  In a separate decision, the Cabinet also cleared closure of Hindustan Cables (HCL). For this purpose, it also cleared a Rs 4,777.05 crore package for paying wages, offering early retirement schemes and converting government loan into equity in the company.
  
  The CCEA also approved a proposal to provide Rs 111.59 crore as non-Plan loan to BPCL, which manufactures heavy duty pumps and compressors, CNG gas cylinders, cascades to oil refineries, petro-chemicals, chemicals, fertiliser and downstream industries.
  
  The loan will help the company pay statutory dues such as provident fund and gratuity of retired employees and the outstanding dues of CISF and, hence, come out of legal complications.
  
  This is the first strategic sale approved by CCEA, after the previous National Democratic Alliance government privatised Jessop & Company some 12 years back.
  
  The government had planned to privatise some public sector undertakings (PSUs) in 2015-16 and budgeted Rs 28,500 under this head. But nothing came of it and the government scaled down projections for this year's receipts compared to the previous year.
  
  After 35 years of operations, beginning in 1970, BPCL was referred to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR). Its net loss tax swelled to Rs 2,791.12 crore in 2012-13 from Rs 524.26 crore the previous year, according to latest data available.
  
  Established in 1952, HCL had four manufacturing units at Rupnarainpur and Narendrapur (West Bengal), Hyderabad (Telangana) and Naini (UP). It was set up to cater to the needs of government-owned telecom companies BSNL and MTNL for manufacture of cables. Because of the rapid change in telecommunication technology (wire-line to wireless), the demand for such cables reduced drastically.
  
  There will be cash infusion of Rs 1,309.90 crore and non-cash infusion of Rs 3,467.15 crore in the company. The non-cash portion will be used for conversion into equity of the Centre's outstanding loan (including interest) as on September 30, 2016. Secured creditors of HCL, led by the State Bank of India, had opted for a One Time Settlement (OTS) of dues, which include complete waiver of interest and settlement of principal amount of Rs 305.63 crore.
  
  There has been no production activity in the company since January2003. According to guidelines issued by the Department of Public Enterprises, workers of companies that are being closed down have to be given VRS at 2007 notional pay scale, irrespective of the scale at which they are working. The guidelines, aimed at expediting closure of ailing PSUs, were reissued by the department on on 28th September. HCL was part of 17 ailing PSUs that were planned to be closed down.
  
• Govt notifies Monetary Policy Committee
  The government on 29th September notified the six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), paving the way for it to decide key interest rates from the October 4 policy meeting onwards. The MPC has been tasked with deciding benchmark interest rates, something which the RBI governor used to decide till now. As per the provisions of the RBI Act, out of the six members, three members will be from the RBI and the other three members of MPC will be appointed by the central government
  
  The central government has accordingly constituted, through a gazette notification dated 29th Sept 2016, the Monetary Policy Committee of RBI
  
  The three RBI members of the MPC are Patel, Deputy Governor R Gandhi, and Executive Director Michael Patra. The central government’s nominees to the MPC are Chetan Ghate, an Indian Statistical Institute professor; Pami Dua, who teaches at the Delhi School of Economics; and Ravindra Dholakia, a professor at Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad.
  
  The central government appointees to the MPC shall hold their posts for a period of four years. A committee-based approach for determining the monetary policy will add lot of value and transparency to monetary policy decisions. The meetings of the MPC will be held at least four times a year and it will publish its decisions after each such meeting.
  
  The inflation target for the MPC and RBI to meet, of 4 per cent (+/-2 per cent) had already been notified by the government earlier. The target stands till March 31, 2021.
  
• Govt to expand Direct Benefit Transfer to 147 schemes by March 2017
  Government is planning to expand Direct Benefit Transfer and double the number to 147 schemes by March 2017. Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa said government has launched pilots for paying subsidy on food, kerosene and fertiliser directly via bank accounts of beneficiaries.
  Benefits and subsidies in 74 schemes of 17 government departments and ministries are paid directly to beneficiaries under DBT as of now.
  
  Mr Lavasa said, the Centre has implemented 30 per cent of the recommendations of the expenditure management commission that was set up to suggest reforms to overhaul the subsidy regime and lower fiscal deficit. He said government hopes to achieve accurate targeting of beneficiaries, weed out duplication, and curb leakages through DBT.
  
• India notifies BS VI emission standards, experts welcome move
  The Centre has notified the Bharat Stage (BS)-VI emission standards for two-wheelers and four-wheelers from April 2020 across the country. With this, the government has decided to skip the BS-V emission standards and move directly to BS-VI from the BS-IV norms currently being followed in various cities.
  Automobile makers have urged the government to make available the testing BS-VI compliant fuel a year sooner across the country.
  The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, through a notification dated September 16, has given the Union Petroleum Ministry four years to make BS-VI fuels available to auto companies.
  Oil companies will be investing more than Rs.60,000 crore towards BS-VI fuels. BS-VI is the Indian equivalent of the Euro-VI norms. At present, BS-IV norms are being followed in over 30 cities while the rest of the country follow BS-III norms.
  
  The government had earlier planned to implement BS-V norms from 2020 and BS-VI norms from 2022. However, it decided to skip BS-V norms and advance the implementation of BS-VI norms following the Supreme Court’s intervention.
  
• Govt to build one crore houses by 2019 under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna: Tomar
  According to the Union Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, the Centre has set a target of providing housing to all by 2022. ). One crore houses will be constructed by 2019 under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna.
  
• Centre announces third list of smart cities
  Centre on 20^th September announced the third list of smart cities. These include five cities from Maharashtra, four each from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Punjab, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and one each from Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat, Nagaland and Sikkim.
  According to the Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu, over 1 lakh 44 thousand crore rupees have been proposed for 60 cities under smart city plans. He said, 27 of 63 participating cities have qualified.
  From Maharashtra Thane, Nashik, Nagpur, Kalyan Dombivali and Aurangabad have made it to the list. Gwalior and Ujjain from Madhya Pradesh qualified for the third list.
  From Rajasthan, Kota and Ajmer and from Gujarat Vadodara have made the cut. Amritsar and Jalandhar from Punjab and Madurai, Salem, Thanjavur and Vellore from Tamil Nadu were included in the Smart City Mission.
  Kohima, Capital city of Nagaland and Namchi in Sikkim are two cities from North-East incorporated in the list. Spiritual city Tirupati from Andhra and industrial city Rourkela of Odisha are also part of the Mission.
  The list also includes Hubli-Dharwad, Mangaluru, Tumakuru and Shivamogga from Karnataka and Varanasi, Agra and Kanpur from Uttar Pradesh. The cities were put through three rounds of tough competition where they were evaluated on a variety of factors. The first list of the smart cities was announced earlier this year.
  The city will have facilities such as assured water and power supply, sanitation and solid waste management systems, efficient urban mobility and public transportation, IT connectivity and e-governance, among others.
  
  Each city will receive Central assistance of 200 crore rupees in the first year and 100 crore rupees over the three subsequent financial years. State governments and respective urban local bodies will also match the Centre’s contribution. The Government aims to transform about 100 cities by 2019-20.
  
• ADB to loan $631 mn to first coastal corridor
  Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $631-million loan to the proposed Vishakhapatnam-Chennai industrial corridor (VCIC), the first coastal one in the country.
  On 20^th September, the Manila-Based regional development financing bank approved the loan which will help develop infrastructural amenities and industrial capabilities in and around major cities in Andhra Pradesh such as Vishakhapatnam, Kakinada and the proposed state Capital of Amravati.
  While the VCIC is aimed at promoting export-oriented manufacturing in the region, it also aims to leverage port infrastructure to evacuate these exports. One of these, the Krishnapatnam port, has the potential to match the entire container cargo handling capacity of India’s west coast.
  JNPT port in Mumbai, the biggest container handling port in India, processes around 55 per cent of the country’s containerised cargo or around 4 million TEUs.
  The VCIC is part of the larger East Coast Economic Corridor (ECEC), extending more than 2,500 km from Kolkata in West Bengal and Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu. The government is banking on the ECEC to create industries, jobs and give a fillip to connectivity along the east coast.
  The ADB loan comprises a $500-million debt for financing infrastructure like roads, power generation and drinking water, among others. It also includes a $125-million loan to help policy interventions by the government for improving ease of business and creating a corridor management body. The loan would be disbursed as soon as the Andhra Pradesh government finalises awarding the contracts to various developers for creating infrastructure within the project area.
  
  The first tranche of $245 million is expected to reach the government by the first quarter of 2017. The second tranche is expected to be approved by ADB in 2018. ADB also has an option to increase the loan. The Andhra Pradesh government will also be giving $215 million for VCIC.
  
• PMO nod for closure of sick govt. companies
  NITI Aayog’s proposal for shutting down 17 sick or loss-making government companies has received the go-ahead from Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). A second set of proposals from the Aayog for strategic sales aimed at reducing government ownership to below 51 per cent in about 22 public sector companies has also got the green signal from the PMO.
  This second list includes the Miniratna helicopter services operator Pawan Hans Limited, Scooters India Limited, Cement Corporation of India Limited and three plants of the Maharatna Steel Authority of India (SAIL) located at Salem, Durgapur and Bhadravati.
  Government companies in the hospital services business and the construction consultancy industry are also on the list of PSUs for strategic disinvestment. The approval from the PMO is not for outright 100 per cent sales, the government won’t exit these companies, but will go on to be a minority shareholder post disinvestment.
  The Finance Ministry is approaching the Cabinet for its approval separately for each of the strategic sales the PMO has approved. It expects minimum resistance as the administrative ministries were brought on board. The list of loss-making companies to be closed includes Indian Oil-CREDA Biofuels Ltd and CREDA HPCL Biofuel Ltd, both Jatropha oil-focussed subsidiaries of state-owned petroleum giants.
  
  Also on the list are National Jute Manufactures Corporation Limited and its subsidiary, Birds Jute and Export. Bharat Wagon and Engineering is another public sector unit (PSU) that is all set to be shut down. Before these PSUs are shut down, the Centre will offer voluntary retirement to their employees.
  
• India to clock 8% growth over next few years: S&P
  Backed by broadening of domestic consumption base, S&P Global Ratings projects India to clock a growth of 8 per cent over the next few years. It said India's structural reform agenda has maintained strong momentum and should propel growth higher.
  
• Union cabinet nod for merging Rail budget with General Budget
  The Union Cabinet on 21^stSepptember approved the merger of the Railway Budget with the General Budget, signalling the end of a 92-year tradition.
  As part of a revamp of the Central government’s budgetary process, it also cleared proposals to advance the presentation of the General Budget and scrap the distinction between the Plan and Non-Plan Expenditures. Till now, the Union Budget was presented on the last working day of February. A separate Railway Budget was started by the British in 1924 as most government spending was concentrated in the sector. This is the first time in 16 years that the government has decided to review the budgetary process.
  Jaitley announced that while the Cabinet had taken an in-principle decision to advance the budgetary process, the exact dates for presentation of the Budget will be decided based on the calendar for State Assembly elections. The move will help even the flow of government expenditure throughout the fiscal year by ensuring that the Budget is passed by March 31.
  To help the government in its policy planning for the Budget, the Central Statistics Office will provide provisional Advance Estimates of national income or GDP by January 7, although it will still be officially released in February.
  Regarding the merger of the Railway and General Budget, Jaitley said the distinct identity of the Railways and its functional autonomy will continue.
  A proposal to merge Railway Budget has come from various committees, Jaitley said, adding that recently a NITI Aayog panel headed by Bibek Debroy had also said “that the size of the Railway Budget is very small and to present it separately is not required.”
  The capital at charge of Railways, which is estimated at Rs. 2.27 lakh crore, will be wiped out and there will be no dividend liability, which is estimated at Rs. 9,700 crore. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said more modalities for the merger will be discussed but added that financial autonomy of the Railway officers will continue. He also expressed hope that the merger will help the Railways increase its capital expenditure.
  
  From 2017-18, the government will also move to an expenditure classification of capital and revenue and do away with the classification of Plan and Non-Plan expenditures.
  
• Nod for optical fibre link between Chennai, Andaman and Nicobar
  The Centre on 21^st September has given its approval for provision of a direct communication link through a dedicated submarine Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) between the Mainland (Chennai), and Port Blair along five other islands — Little Andaman, Car Nicobar, Havelock, Kamorta and Great Nicobar.
  The estimated cost of the project is Rs. 1,102.38 crore, including operational expenses for five years. The project is likely to be completed by December 2018.
  The approval would equip Andaman & Nicobar Islands with appropriate bandwidth and telecom connectivity for implementation of e-governance initiatives through establishment of enterprises and e-commerce facilities.
  The Prime Minister was given a presentation on the vision for holistic development, which involved inputs from the NITI Aayog, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and other senior officials.
  Officials informed the Prime Minister that developmental activities for the islands shall be centred around basic infrastructure, tourism, agriculture (including organic agriculture and fisheries), and carbon-neutral energy generation.
  
  Emphasising on the strategic importance of India’s island wealth, Modi stressed the potential for tourism in these areas. Urging the officials to speedily firm up plans for island development, the Prime Minister said solar energy should be used extensively in this exercise.
  
• Centre sanctions more funds for infra spending
  The Union Cabinet on 21^stSeptember gave its nod for raising extra budgetary resources (EBR) of Rs. 31,300 crore in the financial year 2016-17.
  This will be used to finance the funds to be raised by Power Finance Corporation, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), Inland Waterways Authority of India, and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
  This is to supplement the efforts of the Centre to improve infrastructure spending and the revenue-capital mix of the expenditure for sustainable growth
  
  Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had, in his Budget speech, said the government would permit mobilisation of additional of additional finances to the extent of Rs. 31,300 crore by NHAI, REC, IREDA, NABARD and Inland Water Authority through raising of bonds during the fiscal year.
  
• Centre, States agree on timetable for deciding on GST rate and completing legislative business
  Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, the Centre and the states agreed on a timetable for deciding on GST rate and for completion of legislative business.
  According to Jaitley, starting from 22^nd Setpember, the council has roughly 2 months to resolve all outstanding issues. In GST council meet two suggestions on threshold for exemptions was received.
  
  The Minister also informed that the draft rules with regard to functioning of GST Council was circulated during the meeting. However a consensus eluded the 1st GST Council meeting on exemption limit for applicability of the new national sales tax.
  
• Centre unveils sops to boost goods exports
  In the backdrop of the continued decline in growth of Indian goods exports, the commerce ministry extended support to certain new products and enhanced the rate of incentives for some other under the reward programme called Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS).
  With this the total number of items covered under the scheme has been increased from 5,012 to 7,103, an official statement said. The total government support extended under the scheme has been enhanced from the present Rs 22,000 crore to Rs 23,500 crore per annum, it added.
  The major highlights of the support include addition of 2901 products in the scheme. These include several items of traditional medicines, marine products, dried onion, processed cereal products and value added items of plastics, leather articles and suitcases.
  The products that will get incentives also include engineering goods, fabrics, garments, chemicals, ceramics, glass products, leather goods, newspapers, periodicals, silk items, made ups, wool products, tubes and pipes.
  
  The rate of incentives of 575 product items falling under 11 products categories have been increased. These include products of iron and steel, handicrafts, moulded and extruded goods, rubber, ceramic, glass, auto tyres and tubes, industrial machinery engineering items, IC Engines, machine tools / parts, items of wood, paper, stationary, footwear, auto seats, steel furniture, prefabs, items under the category of butter, ghee and cheese, dried egg albumin and rubber products. Under the MEIS, the rates of the duty credits range from 2-5 per cent.
  
• Exemption threshold for GST fixed at Rs 20 lakh: FM
  Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the exemption threshold for Goods and Services Tax, GST has been fixed at 20 lakh rupees. The limit came on the 2nd day of GST council meeting in New Delhi, The exemption threshold for GST in North-Eastern states has been fixed at 10 lakh rupees.
  
  Earlier, moving towards rolling out GST from April 1, Centre and states on 22^nd September agreed on a timetable for deciding on the tax rate and completion of legislative work but differences remained on the turnover limit for exemption from the new tax.
  
• Sebi relaxes InvITs, REITs rules; sops to foreign investors
  The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) board meeting on 23^rd September amended the regulations for infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs) and real estate investment trusts (REITs) to facilitate their growth and allowed foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to directly trade in debt markets.
  The regulator also discussed floating a consultation paper on corporate governance issues in compensation agreements such as non-compete fees at the board meeting held at the new National Institute of Securities Market campus in Navi Mumbai.
  Sebi amended the rules for FPIs to trade directly in corporate bonds. According to the new rules, Category I and Category II FPIs can now access debt markets directly without any brokers, while direct participation for Category III would be allowed only through e-book platform of stock exchanges.
  According to the new regulations, InvITs and REITs can now invest in a two-level special purpose vehicle (SPV) structure through the holding company. The holding company in both vehicles would have to distribute 100 per cent cash flows realised from the underlying SPVs and at least 90 per cent of the remaining cash flows.
  Sebi also reduced mandatory sponsor holding in InvITs to 15 per cent, removed the limit on the number of sponsors and rationalised the requirements for private placement of InvITs.
  
  For REITs, the regulator removed the limit on the number of sponsors, introduced the concept of sponsor group, and allowed investment up to 20 per cent in under-construction assets.
  
• Five-Year Plans officially declared dead from FY18
  Five-Year Plans will come to an end with the conclusion of the 12th Five-Year Plan on March 31, 2017, closing another chapter in India’s Nehruvian legacy.
  A Budget circular issued by the finance ministry on 22^ndSeptember said, There would henceforth be no Five-Year Plan post the 12th Plan. The circular basically justified the need for doing away with Plan and non-Plan classification of government expenditure and replacing it with revenue and capital break-up.
  There were indications that the Five-Year Plans would be scrapped once the Planning Commission was replaced with the Niti Aayog from January 1, 2015.
  However, Niti Aayog will come up with a review of the 12th Five-Year Plan. It will not be a mid-term review, but an assessment of the first four years of the Plan, which means a period between 2012-13 and 2015-16. The Niti Aayog is already preparing 15-year vision document that will replace the Five-Year Plan from the next financial year.
  This will be framed keeping in mind the country's social goals and the sustainable development agenda. There will also be a seven-year National Development Agenda which will lay down the schemes, programmes and strategies to achieve the long-term vision.
  For the first Development Agenda, the review would be done in 2019-20, in line with the termination year of the 14th Finance Commission. The National Development Agenda will also deal with issues related to internal security, defence and external affairs.
  The Five-Year Plans first started in 1951 under the country's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. In July 1951, the Planning Commission presented a draft outline of a plan of development for the period of five years, starting from April 1951.
  
  Since then, India regularly had Five-Year Plans till the 12th one, which ends this year, except 1966-69, when the five-year Plans were replaced with annual Plans. There were no Five-Year Plans in 1979-80 and 1990 to 1992.
  
• Union Cabinet approves formation of GST Council
  The Union Cabinet on 12th September approved the process, formation and functioning of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council.
  
  The council will consist of the Finance Minister and State Finance Ministers. It will make recommendations on important issues related to GST, including items and rates.
  
  President Pranab Mukherjee had given his assent to the 122nd Constitutional Amendment Bill in the first week of August, which will pave the way for roll out of GST. Over 18 states have ratified the bill so far. The GST is a single indirect tax which will subsume most of the central and state taxes such as VAT, excise duty, service tax and central sales tax.
  
  The Cabinet also approved creation of Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) for creation of infrastructure in premier educational institutions. It will help give a push for high-quality infrastructure in educational institutions.
  
  HEFA would be jointly promoted by an identified Promoter and Human Resources Development Ministry with authorized capital of two thousand crore rupees. Government equity will be one thousand crore rupees and would be a Special Purpose Vehicle. It would leverage equity to raise upto 20 thousand crore rupees for funding projects.
  
  The Cabinet gave its nod to the extension of contract between Ministry of Earth Sciences and the International Seabed Authority for exploration of Polymetallic Nodules for a period of 5 years. The contract is expiring on 24th March next year. By extending the contract, India's exclusive rights for exploration of Polymetallic Nodules in the allotted area in the central Indian Ocean basin will continue.
  
  It will open up new opportunities for resources of commercial and strategic value in area beyond national jurisdiction. It will also provide strategic importance for India in terms of enhanced presence in Indian Ocean.
  
  The Cabinet also gave its nod to the signing and ratification of the Extradition Treaty between India and Afghanistan. The treaty will provide a legal framework for seeking extradition of terrorists, economic offenders and other criminals.
  
  Cabinet also approved signing of the Technical Arrangement between India and Switzerland on the identification and return of Swiss and Indian Nationals and its implementation.
  
  It gave its ex post-facto approval for the Memorandum of Understanding between India and Kenya on cooperation in the field of National Housing Policy Development and Management. The MoU was signed in July this year at Nairobi during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
  
• CCEA gives nod to raise buffer stock of pulses to 20 lakh tones
  Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 12th September gave its nod to raise buffer stock of pulses to twenty lakh tonnes from eight lakh tonnes. It will be done at an estimated cost of 18,500 crore rupees to keep prices stable and encourage farmers to grow dal crop
  
  The stock will be built through domestic procurement and imports of 10 lakh tonnes each. The specific variety of pulses and their respective quantities for the stock, their phasing and procurement will be decided based on price and availability position. Releases from the stock and procurement in subsequent year would be based on the prevailing pulse scenario as well as buffer stock position. Requisite funds for this operation would be provided to the 'Price Stabilisation Fund' Scheme of the Department of Consumer Affairs.
  
  For creating the buffer stock, the domestic procurement operations will be undertaken by the central agencies or any other agency as decided by the government. State governments may also be authorized, wherever possible, to undertake the procurement in a manner similar to decentralized procurement of food-grains.
  
• Centre issues fresh guidelines for flexi-fund for CSS
  Government has issued fresh flexi-fund guidelines that will give more freedom to states in spending money under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) to meet local developmental requirements.
  
  Under the new norms, flexi-funds in each CSS has been increased from the current 10 per cent to 25 per cent for states and 30 per cent for Union Territories. Finance Ministry said, States can use the fund to undertake mitigation or restoration activities in case of natural calamities, or to satisfy local requirements in areas affected by internal security disturbances.
  
  The guidelines said, that state governments will have to constitute a state-level sanctioning committee to avail of the flexi-fund facility. The flexi-fund facility is not for CSS which emanate from a legislation, like MNREGA. The Ministry said, based on the recommendations of the sub-group of chief ministers and consultations with stakeholders, Niti Aayog had issued instructions for rationalisation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes
  
• Railways flexi fares comes into effect
  Railways new flexi system came into effect on 8th September. Indian Railways has clarified that the move is experimental and would apply to three premium trains only
  
  The fares will be applicable on Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains. 10 per cent of the seats will be sold in the normal fare in the beginning; it will go on increasing by 10 per cent with every 10 per cent of berths sold with a ceiling of 50 per cent. The flexi fare system introduced by Indian railways will not affect the common man.
  
  Flexi fare system will be introduced only on an experimental basis. 142(high ended) trains out of 12,500 trains and 3,200 mail express trains are covered under this system.
  
  1.1% of total trains will fall under flexi fare system. This system will affect only 1.5 lakh people out of 2.3Crore passengers. That means only 0.65% of total passengers will fall under this scheme.
  
  Also, there is a ceiling limit for the upper fare which ranges from 1.1 to 1.5 times base fare. And Indian railways is not the only railways following flexi pricing. Russian railways, European railways, UK, French, American railways, Japanese railways have been following dynamic pricing since long.
  
  Indian railways has introduced this system on an experimental basis only. Earlier Indian railways introduced optional travel insurance scheme for the passengers for their welfare.
  
• Rcom and Aircel merged
  In the biggest consolidation deal in India's telecom sector, Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications and Maxis Communications, promoters of Aircel, on 14th September said they would merge their wireless businesses to form the fourth-largest telecom operator in the country.
  
  R-Com will demerge its wireless business and transfer it to the new entity, while the standalone business will focus on the enterprise segment and data centre businesses. Sistema will continue to hold 10 per cent in standalone R-Com. R-Com's shares ended the day three per cent higher at Rs 50. Both R-Com and Maxis will hold 50 per cent each in the new entity.
  
  With 171 million subscribers and a revenue market share of over 11 per cent, the new entity will have a better shot at survival, as competitive intensity picks up.
  
  The new entity will have an asset base of over Rs 65,000 crore ($9.7 billion) and net worth of Rs 35,000 crore ($5.2 billion). Both RComm and Aircel have decided to cap the debt of the merged entity at Rs 28,000 crore with both Aircel and RCom transferring Rs 14,000 crore each. Aircel had a debt of Rs 26,000 crore while RCom had Rs 40,000 crore of debt.
  
  RCom's overall debt will reduce by Rs 20,000 crore ($3 billion) or over 40 per cent of its total debt, and Aircel's debt will reduce by Rs 4,000 crore ($600 million), upon completion of the transaction in 2017.
  
  RCom will continue to own and operate its high growth businesses in the domestic and global enterprise space, data centers, optic fibre and related telecom infrastructure, besides owning valuable real estate.
  
• RBI forms panel to review commodities hedging guidelines
  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 14th September set up a working group committee to review the guidelines on hedging of commodity price risk by residents in the overseas markets, drawing members from the central bank, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), commercial banks and corporates.
  
  The working group will be headed by Chandan Sinha, RBI's executive director, and will assess the risks faced by resident entities and their hedging requirements, identify gaps in the existing regulatory framework in relation to the hedging requirements, suggest the broad principles for guiding the regulatory regime for overseas hedging of commodity risks and recommend a modified framework for residents hedging commodity risk overseas
  
• Govt to link all ration cards to Aadhaar by end-FY17
  The Union government has decided to complete the linking the bank accounts to Aadhaar numbers of all the beneficiaries of large social schemes, including the National Food Security Act, by March 2017. Once done, the delivery of these schemes would be based on biometric authentication linked to Aadhaar or direct cash transfers to linked bank accounts of beneficiaries.
  
  The directions came after a meeting held at the Prime Minister's Office in June this year to link not only cash-based benefits but also those in kind under different central schemes to Aadhaar. Since then, the Centre has repeatedly written to states to make the transition.
  
  On 15th September, the government moved a step closer to making the use of Aadhaar mandatory. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) sent out a circular asking all government authorities in the Centre and states to identify schemes, benefits and processes where the Aadhaar platform would be made compulsory.
  
  But, the results of deploying Aadhaar-based biometric authentication in the public distribution system (PDS) across a few states are yet to be made public by the central government, leaving states to divulge data, if they wish, in different formats. Some of these states have reported relatively high failure rates at times.
  
• India grabs 112th spot on World Economic Freedom Index
  India slips by 10 positions and ranks 112th amongst 159 countries and territories included in the Economic Freedom of the World: 2016 Annual Report, released worldwide on 16th September by Centre for Civil Society in conjunction with Canada’s Fraser Institute.
  
  Neighboring countries- Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka ranked 78th, 108th and 111th respectively in the report gaining an edge over India. On the other hand, China, Bangladesh and Pakistan staggeringly lagged behind India positioned at 113th, 121st and 133th ranks respectively. Hong Kong has again emerged at the first position this year.
  
  The report is based on data from 2014 (the most recent year of available comparable data) and measures the economic freedom (size of government, legal system and property rights, sound money, freedom to trade internationally and regulation) by analysing the policies and institutions of all159 countries and territories. India has fared badly in all categories i.e. legal system and property rights (86), sound money (130), freedom to trade internationally (144) and regulation (132) except the size of the government (8).
  
  Hong Kong has the highest level of economic freedom worldwide, followed by Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, Canada, Georgia, Ireland, Mauritius, United Arab Emirates, Australia, and United Kingdom at 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th positions respectively. Australia and the United Kingdom have tied for the 10th position this year.
  
  The 10 lowest-ranked countries are: Iran, Algeria, Chad, Guinea, Angola, Central African Republic, Argentina, Republic of Congo, Libya and lastly Venezuela. Other notable countries include the United States (16), Germany (30), Japan (40), France (57) and Russia (102).
  
• Andhra Pradesh becomes second state to achieve 100% electrification
  Andhra Pradesh has become the second state in the country after Gujarat to achieve 100 per cent electrification of households, a latest report according to JM financials.
  
  JM Financials published the report based on a national -level survey on electrification in various states.
  Discussing this through a tele-conference with top officials of the Energy Department
  
  Access to electricity was a key socio-economic development indicator, but this was an area where there was still a significant gap in India.
  
  About 35 per cent rural households in states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and Assam still lacked access to power supply
  
• World Bank to invest nearly 1,000 crore rupees for improvement of inland waterways in Assam
  World Bank will invest nearly 1,000 crore rupees in Assam for the betterment of the inland waterways. It was conveyed to State Transport Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary by Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari.
  
  The Union Minister also assured to re-construct jetty for which 100 percent assistance will be given by the Centre. On the other hand, emphasising on road safety, driving school will be set up in all districts of Assam. It is also decided that driving license will be issued from the proposed driving schools later. Road accidents claimed lives of thousands of people every year in Assam and so the government has given much stress on road safety.
  
  On the other hand, Mr Patowary also requested Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to include tea course at Tocklai Tea Research Centre in Jorhat. He also urged the Union Minister to shift head office of Tea Board to Guwahati from Kolkata.
  
• DoT unveils new norms on SIM upgradation
   The Department of Telecom, DoT has come out with new guidelines on SIM upgradation from 2G to 3G or 4G. It can be done only with a clear go-ahead from mobile users and on their request. The new guidelines have already come into effect.
  
  To upgrade the SIM card, the subscriber will have to generate a request through customer care or online or point of sale of the company.
  
  Once the request is received, the operator will issue a new SIM card to the subscriber. The new norms will put an end to automatic upgradation of SIM to allow high-value service by some operators.
  
  On receiving affirmative confirmation from the subscriber, the operator may initiate the process of deactivation of the old SIM card and activation of the new one.
  
• SIT on black money asks RBI to share information
  The special investigation team (SIT) on black money has asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to develop an institutional mechanism, in consultation with the revenue department, to share export-import and foreign exchange (forex) transaction information with investigative agencies, to curb illicit financial flows out of the country.
  
  In an August 11 letter to the central bank, the committee, headed by Justice M B Shah (retired), called for a mechanism to allow sharing of information of RBI databases with enforcement authorities – the department of revenue intelligence (DRI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) - for verification.
  
  The three databases managed by the RBI - referred to by the SIT - are the foreign exchange transactions electronic reporting system (FET–ERS), export outstanding data and monitoring of advance remittances against imports.
  
  The panel has also asked the revenue department to identify a single-point agency within the department, which could access information from three databases and thereafter disseminate them to various enforcement agencies.
  
  All authorised dealers are obligated to report each forex transaction in FET–ERS. The SIT has suggested that this data should also capture the PAN (permanent account number) of the importer or the exporter and that the RBI take necessary steps to get the same done on an urgent basis.
  
  The SIT feels that the data can be shared, only by having one agency such as the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) or any other agency, as a data warehouse. Meanwhile, the committee also recommended the ED, DRI and the ministry of commerce to analyse under-invoicing of trade bills to channel black money.
  
  The SIT, appointed by the Supreme Court in its report last month, had recommended a Rs 3 lakh cap on cash transactions and a Rs 15 lakh limit on cash holdings to curtail black money in the economy.
  
• Centre launches NIDHI for nurturing ideas and innovation into start ups
  Centre has launched a new program called National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations (NIDHI) for nurturing ideas and innovation into successful start ups.
  
  According to the Science and Technology Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, the programme will focus on helping startups to meet their funding, infrastructure and other mentorship needs. He said, youth of the country are highly talented and innovative and through NIDHI, government will help them to give their ideas concrete shapes.
  
  There are eight component of NIDHI that support each stage of a budding startup from idea to market. The Minister said, the first component is PRAYAS (Promoting and acclerating young and aspiring innovators and startups) which aims to support innovators to grant upto 10 lakh rupees. The Minister said, during the current financial year, Department of Science has allocated 180 crore rupees, with a view to drive the innovation and startup centric new initiative.
  
• India on path of becoming hub for hi-tech world manufacturing: UN
  United Nations has said, India is on the path of becoming a hub for high-tech world manufacturing even as global manufacturing growth is expected to remain low this year.
  
  UN Industrial Development Organisation said this in its quarterly World Manufacturing Production report. It said, world manufacturing output is expected to increase by only 2.8 per cent this year due to weakened financial support for productive activities.
  
  According to the latest GDP data released in India, the manufacturing sector grew 9.1 per cent during April-June this year, a slight decline from 9.3 per cent clocked in January to March.
  
• Centre announces financial package for Andhra Pradesh
  The Centre on 7th September announced a financial package for Andhra Pradesh that includes full funding of Pollavaram irrigation project, tax concessions and a special assistance, but stopped short of giving the state a special category status.
  
  Andhra Pradesh, which financially suffered because of creation of separate state of Telangana in June 2014, will get a railway zone as also all cost incurred on the irrigation part of Pollavaram project from the date it was declared a National Project on April 1, 2014 will be funded by the Centre.
  
  Citing constraints placed by the 14th Finance Commission in grant of special category status to Andhra Pradesh, he said an amount equivalent to what that categorication would have fetched, would be given to the state in form of a Special Assistance Measure for five years.
  
  This will be in form of form of externally aided project, he said, adding the state would also get two tax concessions, details of which will be notified by the CBDT shortly.
  
  Andhra Pradesh has been demanding a Special Category State (SCS) status from the Centre ever since the state's economic powerhouse Hyderabad, which housed several IT and pharmaceutical companies as well as PSUs, went to Telangana in the bifurcation.
  
  Running a revenue deficit and no capital to boast of, a special status would have given the state preferential treatment in getting central funds assistance and tax breaks.
  
  While the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act does not mention of SCS for the state, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had on the floor of Rajya Sabha on February 20, 2014 promised to grant the status to the state for five years.
  
• President nod to Constitution Amendment Bill on GST
  President Pranab Mukherjee on 8th September gave assent to Constitution Amendment Bill on Goods and Services Tax (GST), a major step towards rolling out the new indirect tax regime which the Modi government wants to come into effect from April 1 next year. The passage of the bill will pave the way for setting up of a GST council that will decide the tax rate, cess and surcharges.
  
  The GST is a single indirect tax which will subsume most of the central and state taxes such as Value Added Tax (VAT), excise duty, service tax, central sales tax, additional customs duty and special additional duty of customs. The Parliament had on August 8 passed the bill which was then circulated to state governments seeking its ratification.
  
  A Constitution amendment bill needs to be ratified by the legislative Assemblies of at least 50 per cent of the states. The bill was sent to the President's secretariat after as many as 17 states, BJP-ruled Assam being the first, ratified the bill.
  
  The other states which have passed the legislation include Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Nagaland, Maharashtra, Haryana, Sikkim, Mizoram, Telangana, Goa, Odisha and Rajasthan.
  
  Now that the bill has got Presidential assent, the government will notify the GST Council, which will decide on the tax rate. Headed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the Council will comprise state Finance Ministers.
  
  The states and the Centre are working overtime and talking to stakeholders to draft the Central GST, State GST and Integrated GST laws, which are to be passed in the Winter Session of Parliament.
  
  The CGST and IGST will be drafted on the basis of the model GST law. The states will draft their respective State GST (SGST) laws with minor variation incorporating state-based exemptions. The IGST law would deal with inter-state movement of goods and services.
  
• World Bank and NDB agreed to strengthen cooperation especially in infrastructure
  The World Bank and the New Development Bank, NDB, set up by five emerging economies have agreed to strengthen cooperation, especially in infrastructure. World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim, and NDB President, K.V. Kamath, signed a memorandum to this effect 9th September.
  
  The NDB was launched in July last year by the five BRICS nations- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The two institutions agreed to co-finance infrastructure projects and exchange information and knowledge on loans.
  
• 16 states ratify GST Constitution Amendment Bill
  Government will seek Presidential assent for the landmark Constitution amendment bill for GST as 16 states have ratified the legislation. With Odisha approving the Bill at a special assembly session on 1st September, 50% of the states have ratified the GST bill.
  
  According to the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley the requisite number of states have ratified the GST Constitution Amendment Bill and now it can go for Presidential assent.
  
  Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said the government is ahead of schedule for implementation of GST. He said, instead of 30 days kept for states' ratification, it is achieved in 23 days.
  
  The government plans to roll out the new indirect tax regime from April next year. The biggest tax will create uniform market for seamless movement of goods and services with one tax rate. Since Parliament passed the Constitution Amendment bill last month, 16 states have ratified the bill.
  
  They include Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland. Maharashtra, Telangana and Odisha.
  
  After the Presidential assent, the government will notify the GST Council. The council will decide on the tax rate, cess and surcharges which are to be subsumed and also decide on the goods and services which would be exempted from the purview of the new indirect tax regime.
  
  The states and the Centre are working overtime and talking to stakeholders to draft the Central GST, State GST and Integrated GST laws, which are to be passed in the Winter Session of Parliament. The CGST and IGST will be drafted on the basis of the model GST law. The states will draft their respective State GST (SGST) laws. The IGST law would deal with inter-state movement of goods and services.
  
• Railway launches insurance scheme for passengers travelling on e- ticket
  Railway on 1st September launched an insurance scheme for passengers travelling on e- ticket. The insurance cover will be upto 10 lakh rupees.
  
  According to the Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu to avail the facility, train passengers have to pay 92 paisa premium. He said, a person booking a train ticket through the IRCTC website will be eligible for the travel insurance and it is optional.
  
  The Minister said that the insurance cover will not be applicable for children upto 5 years of age and foreign citizens. The facility will be available only for confirmed and RAC ticket passengers.
  
  The scheme offers travellers or nominees a compensation of 10 lakh Rupees in the event of death or total disabilty, 7.5 lakh Rupees for partial disability, upto 2 lakh Rupees for hospitalisation expenses and 10,000 rupees for transportation of mortal remains from the place of a train accident.
  
• Centre notifies National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme
  Centre on 1st September notified National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme. The Scheme has an outlay of 10,000 crore rupees with a target of 50 Lakh apprentices to be trained by 2019-20. Ministry of Skill development, it is for the first time a scheme has been notified to offer financial incentives to employers. Under the scheme, government will share 25 per cent of prescribed stipend subject to a maximum of 1,500 rupees per month per apprentice with employers. All transactions including registration by employers, apprentices, registration of contract and payment to employers will be made as online mode.
  
  Eligible employers shall engage apprentices in a band of 2.5 per cent to 10 per cent of the total strength of the establishment. Employers have to register on the apprenticeship portal to avail benefits under the scheme.
  
  Apprenticeship Training is considered to be one of the most efficient ways to develop skilled manpower for the country. It provides for an industry led, practice oriented, effective and efficient mode of formal training.
  
• Urban unemployment climbs to 11.24% in August, rural 9.18%
  The unemployment rate for urban areas read 11.24 per cent in August 2016, higher than the 9.18 per cent in rural pockets, according to data compiled by BSE and CMIE.
  
  The overall figure for the country stood at 9.84 per cent, showed data prepared by BSE in collaboration with the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), a business information firm.
  
  BSE and CMIE had launched the world's first high-frequency data on unemployment and consumer sentiment in April 2016. Unemployment rose in urban India to 11.24 per cent from 10.76 per cent in July 2016. As per the data, unemployment has been lower in rural regions, but the rate rose to 9.18 per cent in August -- its highest since January 2016.
  
  The rise in unemployment in urban India poses a challenge. It is apparently an outcome of low capacity utilisation as is evident from RBI's OBICUS surveys and low investment activity as is seen in CMIE's CapEx surveys. The overall unemployment rate was 8.65 per cent in July and 8.84 per cent in June.
  
  Advent of the South-West monsoon that led to sowing and other farm activities from early June had apparently absorbed a large part of the labour force that remained unemployed during the dry pre-monsoon month of May. However, the sharp rise in unemployment shows a possible slowing down of rural economic activity.
  
• Reliance Jio declared attractive plans
   From September 5, the much-awaited Reliance Jio will be launched for public subscription, and its parent company Reliance Industries Ltd’s chairman Mukesh Ambani, on 1st September promised that the services will remain free until December 31, as part of its introductory offer.
  
  Jio claims to offer the lowest data tariffs in the world at less than a dollar per gigabyte, compared with an average $3.5 per GB currently offered by other telecom operators in the country.
  
  With Jio’s plans a subscriber has additional benefits such as unlimited night-time data, 100 SMS per day, different amounts of data on its public Wi-Fi hotspots, etc.
  
  According to Jio, another ace up its sleeve is the “free voice calls”. While the company claims that the calls would remain free even beyond the introductory offer.
  
• British Columbia first foreign govt to issue masala bond
  The Canadian provincial government of British Columbia became the first foreign government entity to raise Masala bonds on the London Stock Exchange, garnering Rs. 500 crore on on 2nd September from investors across Europe, Asia and America.
  
  The bond was rated ‘AAA’ by three global agencies and offered a yield of 6.62 per cent semi-annually. The bond matures on January 9, 2020.
  
  Masala Bonds: Masala bonds are rupee denominated overseas bonds. Masala bonds will help to internationalise the Indian rupee and also deepen the Indian financial system. By issuing bonds in rupees, an Indian company is shielded against the risk of currency fluctuation, typically associated with borrowing in foreign currency.
  
  Besides helping diversify funding sources, the cost of borrowing could also turn out to be lower than domestic markets. In 2013, the first masala bonds were issued by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), an arm of the World Bank. IFC then named them Masala bonds to give a local flavour by calling to mind Indian culture and cuisine.
  
• Maharashtra tops in ease of doing business, new rankings gauge shows
  According to the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Maharashtra is the best state in India, in the Ease of Doing Business (EDB) parameters. The new gauge has given 21 major states entirely different ranks when compared with the only other previous measure of this sort, the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index.
  
  The latest measure produced by the Asian Competitiveness Institute (ACI) research centre of the School extends the definition of ease of doing business beyond the core measure of business friendliness that the Bank had focussed on for successive years.
  
  In parallel, the ACI released its annual competitiveness report for Indian states, which used four criteria to find that Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu had again emerged as the most economically competitive Indian states in 2016. Haryana emerged as a surprise performer, improving its competitiveness ranking from 14 in 2014 to 10 in 2016.
  
  The EDB report, which was shared with a select group of journalists on Friday, ranked Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, Goa and Andhra Pradesh as the top five states respectively, whereas these states were ranked 8, 1, 15, 19 and 2 by the Bank.
  
  The ACI’s EDB Index includes 81 indicators that include Business Friendliness (40 per cent weight), Attractiveness to Investors (40 per cent) and Competitive Policies (20 per cent). It also balances “hard data” from each state with the results of surveys undertaken amongst investors, government officials and academic experts in this area.
  
• ED attached Mallyas assets
  ED attaches fugitive Mallya’s assets worth over Rs 6,000 crore. The Enforcement Directorate has attached additional assets worth over Rs 6,000 crore belonging to Vijay Mallya and his defunct Kingfisher Airlines, taking the total value of attached properties of the fugitive businessman to over Rs 8,000 crore.
  
  Mallya had fled to London earlier this year after the ED and CBI asked him to join investigations. He was wanted by the agencies in a case of defaulting on loans to the tune of Rs 9,000 crore taken from half a dozen government banks and laundering a part of this money to his shell companies abroad.
  
  The present attachments are based on an SBI case filed with CBI. The ED had later filed a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and attached properties.
  
  An ED probe revealed that Mallya had deliberately kept shares worth Rs 3,600 crore -- pledged with UTI Investment Advisory Services Ltd and other financial institutions without substantial underlying liabilities -- hidden from a consortium of banks from which he had borrowed. His total outstanding principal amount with the consortium remains over Rs 4,900 crore.