Google to open its 2nd India Cloud region in 2021

Google on Thursday announced plans to open its second Cloud region in India --in Delhi next year -- and help regulated industries such as healthcare and financial services, as well as public sector organisations across the country achieve their cloud goal.

Google launched the Mumbai region in 2017. The new cloud region will expand Google’s existing network, which stands at eight regions in the Asia Pacific and 22 regions globally.

“At Google Cloud, our mission is to accelerate every organisation’s ability to transform through data-powered innovation with leading infrastructure, platform, industry solutions and expertise designed to meet our customers where they are on their journey to the cloud,” said Rick Harshman, Managing Director, Google Cloud Asia Pacific.

IMF chief says coronavirus erases hopes for stronger growth in 2020

The global spread of the novel coronavirus has crushed hopes for stronger growth this year and will hold 2020 global output gains to their slowest pace since the 2008-2009 financial crisis, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Wednesday.

The IMF now expects 2020 world growth to be below the 2.9% rate for 2019, and revised forecasts will be issued in the coming weeks, Georgieva told a news briefing. Trade wars pushed global growth last year to the lowest rate since a 0.7% contraction in 2009.

The changed forecast would represent a more than 0.4-percentage-point drop from the 3.3% growth the IMF had estimated for 2020 in January as U.S.-China trade tensions eased.

“Global growth in 2020 will dip below last year's levels, but how far it will fall and how long the impact will be is still difficult to predict,” Georgieva said.

She declined to say whether the escalating health crisis could push the world into a recession. Reuters

All you need to know about BS-VI fuel

Studies show that vehicles are a major source of pollutants that cause climate change. Cutting down on vehicular emission will also result in better air quality in cities. In a bid to bring down pollution levels, the Central government has announced that from April 1, 2020, all vehicles sold in India should comply with Bharat Stage-VI, or BS-VI emission standards.

The Bharat Stage emission standards are the legal limits on the amount of air pollutants like carbon monoxide and particulate matter that a vehicle in India can emit. These standards are targeted at making improvements in three areas -- emission control, fuel efficiency and engine design.

Reliance Retail acquires Shri Kannan Departmental Store

Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries (RIL), has acquired 100 per cent stake in Tamil Nadu—based Shri Kannan Departmental Store Private Limited for Rs 152.5 crore.

RIL in a regulatory filing said that the investment will further strengthen the group’s retail operations and its presence in the state of Tamil Nadu and will further enable its retail and new commerce initiatives.

“Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, has acquired 7,86,191 equity shares representing 100 per cent of the equity share capital of Shri Kannan Departmental Store Private Limited (SKDS) for a consideration of Rs 152.5 crore,” the company said in a filing late on Wednesday evening.

Incorporated on September 15, 1999, Shri Kannan Departmental Store is engaged in the business of retailing fruits and vegetables, dairy, staples, home and personal care and general merchandise to consumers. It currently operates 29 stores across Coimbatore and nearby areas with a retail area of over 6 lakh square feet. IANS

COVID-19 | SEBI says gauging virus impact

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is assessing the possible impact of COVID-19 on the markets and taking steps to tackle the same, said S. K. Mohanty, whole-time member, SEBI.

“SEBI is aware of the coronavirus and the possible impact that it can have on the market. We are taking necessary steps,” he said. on the sidelines of a capital market summit organised by industry body Assocham.

“We’ve seen the RBI statement. Whatever has to be done, has to be done. We are internally assessing the situation,” he added.

2 bank unions announce strike on March 27 opposing mergers

Two major unions in the banking sector — All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA) and All India Bank Officers Association (AIBOA) will go on strike on March 27 opposing the mega bank mergers approved by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday, said a top leader of AIBEA.

“Banks themselves face problems due to huge pile of bad loans. While the public sector banks made a total gross profit of Rs 150,000 crore for the year ended March 31, 2019, because of total provisions towards bad loans, etc. amounting to Rs 216,000 crore, the banks ended in a net loss of Rs 66,000 crore,” C.H. Venkatachalam, General Secretary, AIBEA, said.

“Can anyone believe that merger of banks will result in recovery of the huge corporate bad loans? Rather, as we have observed after merger in State Bank of India (SBI), bad loans in SBI has gone up. Same risk is facing these banks now,” he said.

According to Venkatachalam, the unions have planned series of protests this month peaking with the strike on March 27. IANS

SC order on cryptocurrency will offer only temporary relief

Even as virtual currency investors and businesses welcomed the Supreme Court’s order on cryptocurrency, the relief for such players may be only temporary given that the Centre, in a draft law, has proposed to ban all private cryptocurrencies.

“... Our main objective is to create a dialogue with policymakers and develop a comprehensive framework for crypto assets in India paving the way for innovation,” said, Sohail Merchant, CEO, Pocketbits.in, and member of IAMAI’s Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Committee. “As an industry body, we look forward to a more open dialogue with the government.” IAMAI was among entities that had approached the Supreme Court in 2018 over the RBI circular prohibiting regulated entities from “providing any service in relation to virtual currencies, including those of transfer or receipt of money in accounts relating to the purchase or sale of virtual currencies.”

Yes Bank shares up 15% after reports of SBI picking up stake

Manojit Saha reports:

Stocks of Yes Bank went up over 15% after unconfirmed media reports that the government has approved a plan for State Bank of India to buy stake in the private sector lender.

SBI shares, however, tanked 5% after the news came in.

Yes Bank has been trying to raise capital and in talks with investors for sometime now, but nothing has been finalized.

Reports suggest the investors that had shown interest in Yes Bank does not inspire confidence that it will get regulatory approval.

Rupee freefall continues, down 5 paise in early trade against U.S. dollar

The Indian rupee continued its downward journey on Thursday, sliding another 5 paise to trade at 73.44 against the U.S. dollar amid mounting fears of a coronavirus-led economic slowdown.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the local unit started the session on positive note but soon nervousness surrounding coronavirus gripped the forex market sentiment, pulling the rupee down to 73.44 against the previous day’s close of 73.39 a dollar.

Further weakening sentiment, foreign investors offloaded securities worth ₹878.38 crore on Wednesday.

RBI deputy governor seeks early retirement

Manojit Saha reports:

N.S. Vishwanathan, one of the deputy governors of Reserve Bank of India, has sought early retirement due to health related issues, sources said.

Mr Vishwanathan, a career central banker, was due for retirement on July 3. He was appointed as RBI deputy governor in 2016 and last year the government had reappointed him for another year.

Mr Vishwanathan was in charge of the supervision department, among others.

Equitas bank gears up to go public

Having received the nod from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its initial public offering (IPO), Equitas Small Finance Bank is gearing up to go public as soon as possible, said a top executive. “As of now, we don’t have any deadline for the IPO. We are working on going public as quickly as possible,” said P.N. Vasudevan, MD and CEO of the bank. The IPO comprises fresh issue of ₹550 crore and an offer-for-sale of eight crore equity shares.

The offer price and date will be decided by ESFBL and promoters selling the shares in consultation with book running lead managers in accordance with the book building process and red herring prospectus. JM Financial, Edelweiss Financial Services and IIFL Securities are the book running lead managers to the issue.

Tax officials threaten to cut workload in protest over working conditions

Indian tax officials on Wednesday threatened to cut their workloads in protest over working conditions, a move that could dent New Delhi's tax collection just as the government scrambles to fill coffers before the fiscal year ends on March 31.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is pushing to shore up revenue as India's once-booming economy grows at roughly 11-year lows.

Corporate and income tax collection for the current year is likely to fall for the first time in at least two decades, several senior tax officials have told Reuters.

In a statement on Wednesday, two unions representing some 97% of tax officials said they were beginning action for improved working conditions, including the resolution of “pay anomalies” and set contracts for casual workers.

If demands are not met, the unions are planning to stop submitting certain reports and halt search and seizure operations on March 12, before putting an end to overtime work on March 15. Reuters

SBI Cards IPO subscribed 15.49 times

The initial public offer of SBI Cards and Payment Services, which closed for bidding for institutional investors on Wednesday, was subscribed 15.49 times, with bids received for nearly 155.4 crore equity shares as against 10.03 crore shares on offer in the price band of ₹750 to ₹755.

The segment reserved for institutional investors was subscribed nearly 57 times, with bids received for nearly 139 crore equity shares.

Sensex jumps nearly 200 points; Nifty above 11,300

Ashish Rukhaiyar reports:

Amidst an overall strong global trend, the Indian equity indices opened Thursday on a strong note, gaining over 0.50% during the first hour of the trading session.

At 9:20 am, the 30-share Sensex was trading at 38,596.12, up 186.64 points or 0.49%. The broader Nifty was at 11,315, up 64.20 points or 0.57%. The overall market breadth was also strong with more than 700 stocks gaining ground, as against less than 300 declines.

Elsewhere in Asia, the benchmarks in Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and China all were trading higher on Thursday.

Telcos still owe Centre ₹1.30 lakh crore in AGR dues

The Centre on Wednesday said it had till now received only ₹15,896.51 crore from telecom firms as payment towards their adjusted gross revenue-related dues.

This is about 11% of the total estimated dues of ₹1,46,336.98 crore, leaving ₹1,30,440.47 crore still to be paid ahead of the next Supreme Court hearing on the issue on March 17.

Replying to a query on whether the government proposed to take any action over non-compliance of order on payment of dues, Minister of State for Communications Sanjay Dhotre said the government had directed the licensees to make the payments in accordance with the October 24, 2019, Supreme Court order.

Govt to take action for non-payment of AGR dues

The government has directed the telecom service providers (TSPs) to make payments as per the Supreme Court judgment on AGR and in case of non-payment action will be taken as per licence agreements.

This was stated in reply to a question in Lok Sabha on Wednesday by Minister of State for Communications Sanjay Dhotre.

Dhotre said that the government has directed the TSPs to make payments as per the Supreme Court judgement of October 24, 2019.

In case of non—payment of dues to Department of Telecommunications, the government will take action as per the licence conditions of the TSPs.

In a reply to a related question, Dhotre said the Supreme Court had detached the public sector undertakings (PSUs) from the AGR judgement and directed them to seek relief from the appropriate forum. IANS