India's bid to join US alliance could irk China, Pak: media

Mumbai, Jul 15: In a mega investment announcement, Reliance Industries (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Wednesday said that Google will invest ₹ 33,737 crore in Jio Platforms for an equity stake of 7.73%.

Google is investing at an equity valuation of ₹ 4.36 lakh crore, said an RIL regulatory filing.

"Jio Platforms Limited, a subsidiary of the Company, today signed binding agreements with Google International LLC pursuant to which Google would invest ₹ 33,737 crore for a 7.73 % equity stake in Jio Platforms Limited on a fully-diluted basis. Google is investing at an equity valuation of ₹ 4.36 lakh crore," it said.

The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

Speaking at the Annual General Meeting of RIL, Ambani said that he looks forward to working with investors in Jio Platforms in a collaborative way.

Making another major announcement, the RIL Chairman said that Jio has designed a complete 5G solution and it will be available for trials as soon as spectrum is available.

Jan 6: India’s Finance Ministry has delivered a challenge to its revenue collectors: meet tax targets despite $20 billion of corporate tax cuts.

Through a video conference on Dec. 16, officials were exhorted to meet the direct tax mop-up target of 13.4 trillion rupees ($187 billion), a government official told reporters. Collection in the eight months to November grew at 5% from a year earlier, against the desired 17%.

The missive shows Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s urgent need to buoy public finances in a slowing economy where April-November tax collections were half the amount budgeted. Authorities withheld some payments to states and have capped ministries’ expenditure as the fiscal deficit ballooned beyond the target.

The government’s efforts to maintain its deficit goal goes against advice from some quarters, including central bank Governor Shaktikanta Das, who urged more spending to spur economic growth.

It’s uncertain though how much room Modi’s administration has to boost expenditure, given that it may already be borrowing as much as 540 billion rupees through state-run companies, a figure that isn’t reflected on the federal balance sheet. Uncertainty about public finances pushed up sovereign yields in November and December, compelling Das to announce unconventional policies to keep costs in check.

“This is not a time to conceal the fiscal deficit by off-budget borrowing or deferring payments,” said Indira Rajaraman, an economist and a former member of the Reserve Bank of India’s board. “If they were to stick to the target, that would be catastrophic because there is so much pump-priming that is needed right now.”

GDP grew 4.5% in the quarter ended September, the slowest pace in more than six years as both consumption and investments cooled in Asia’s third-largest economy. Only government spending supported the expansion, piling pressure on Modi to keep stimulating.

S&P Global Ratings warned in December it may downgrade India’s sovereign ratings if economic growth doesn’t recover. Government support seems to be waning now, with ministries asked to cap spending in the final quarter of the financial year at 25% of the amount budgeted rather than 33% allowed earlier. This new rule will hamstring sectors including agriculture, aviation and coal, where not even half of annual targets have been disbursed.

As the federal government runs short of money, it’s been delaying payouts to state administrations.

Private hospitals have threatened to suspend cash-less services to government employees over non-payment of dues, while a builder informed the stock exchange about delayed rental payments from no less than the tax office itself.

India is considering a litigation-settlement plan that will allow companies to exit lingering tax disputes by paying a portion of the money demanded by the government, the Economic Times newspaper reported Saturday.

The move will help improve the ease of doing business besides unlocking a part of the almost 8 trillion rupees ($111 billion) caught up in these disputes. The step, which is being considered as part of the annual budget, could also bridge India’s fiscal gap.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has refused to comment on the deficit goal before the official budget presentation due Feb. 1.

A deviation from target, if any, “will need to be balanced with a credible consolidation plan further-out,” said Radhika Rao, an economist at DBS Group Holdings Ltd. in Singapore.

Kochi, Apr 4: France on Saturday evacuated 112

French citizens stranded in Kerala and Tamil Nadu in a special Air India flight, official sources said here.

The Embassy of France had made a request to the Kerala government to facilitate the journey of the French citizens stranded due to the lockdown announced by the central government to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus.

The French citizens, mostly tourists and those who came for Ayurvedic treatment, were brought here by the state tourism department 24 days ahead of their trip.

They underwent a medical examination before boarding the flight for Paris from Cochin International Airport at 08.13 am on Saturday, officials said.

The Air India flight was chartered by the French government for evacuating its citizens in various cities in India including Kochi, Bengaluru and Mumbai.

On Friday, Gulf nation Oman had evacuated its 46 citizens stranded in Kochi in an Oman Air flight.