Morning Brief: India To See 7 Per Cent Growth: ASSOCHAM; Muslim Board Opposes Triple Talaq Bill; Call To Act On NPAs

Good morning, dear reader! Here’s your morning news and views brief for today.

ASSOCHAM Sees 7 Per Cent Growth In 2018: Economic growth in India may touch 7 per cent in 2018, said a report. “Against GDP growth of 6.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2017-18, the economic expansion may reach the crucial 7 per cent mark by the end of September 2018 quarter, while inflation may range between 4 and 5.5 per cent towards the second half of the next calendar year with the monsoon being a key imponderable,” said ASSOCHAM in its ‘Year-Ahead Outlook’. The chamber said its projections for the 7 per cent GDP growth are based upon the assumption of stability in the government policies, good monsoon, pick-up in industrial activity and credit growth and stable foreign exchange rates. “A realisation seems to be dawning that growth per se is not enough, the benefits must be seen in the form of higher employment. The year 2018 would see policies in this direction,” it said, highlighting that the stress in the agriculture sector is traceable to lack of reforms in the rural economy.

Muslim Board Opposes Triple Talaq Bill: The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) said on Sunday that it will request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to withhold and withdraw a proposed bill that criminalises the practice of instant triple talaq. Criticising The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017, AIMPLB spokesperson Sajjad Nomani said: “After observing the provisions mentioned in the bill, it looks like that it is a kind of a conspiracy to grab the power of divorce from Muslims.” The proposed bill that criminalises the practice of instant divorce, also “empowers” Indian Muslim women by giving them a larger say in dissolving marriages, custody of minor children and the right to seek maintenance from their estranged husbands, according to the cabinet-cleared controversial legislation opposed by Muslim groups. “If government wants to stop triple talaq, then it can take our suggestions. We will help in solving the issues under the constitutional provision of Muslim laws,” he said.

New Price Support Scheme For Farmers On Way: The Union government is planning to launch a new price support scheme for farmers to prevent distress sales at prices below the minimum support price (MSP). The proposed scheme comes against the backdrop of a record harvest of cereals and pulses in 2016-17, which led to wholesale prices plunging below MSPs. Under the proposed “market assurance scheme”, states will be free to procure all crops from farmers for which MSPs are announced, except rice and wheat, which are already being procured by the centre for the public distribution system. The centre will compensate states for any losses capped at 30 per cent of the procurement cost. It will be the states’ responsibility to dispose of the procured crops. The proposed scheme will ensure an assured price for the farmer, mitigating the price risks faced by farmers after harvest.

Government Urged To Take Urgent Remedial Measures To Contain NPAs: A parliamentary panel has asked the government to take urgent remedial measures to reduce volume of non-performing assets (NPAs) in the system and strengthen vigilance mechanism. There is an urgent need for banks to reduce stressed assets and clean up the balance sheets which would increase their ability to raise capital and improve credibility, the Committee on Petitions said in its report tabled in Parliament. The panel recommended that the government make appropriate amendments in “the archaic provisions of the SBI Act and other relevant laws to disclose the names of individuals” who owe money to the banks or are responsible for bad loans on account of their default to repay”. It also recommended that the existing vigilance mechanism should be re-visited and, if required, the same be amended to provide more teeth to existing mechanism. There is a need for establishment of a more robust vigilance mechanism to put a check on the incidences of irregularities, malpractices, corruption, etc, at all levels in the functioning of banks.

Indian Army To Buy 120 High-Tech Drones To Boost Surveillance: To strengthen intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities and improve the effectiveness of its operations, the Indian Army is planning to acquire high-tech unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). It is laying the groundwork for buying more than 120 high-altitude, long-endurance UAVs, a senior officer said. Such UAVs can fly at over 60,000 feet and remain airborne for more than 30 hours. The army is also waiting for local vendors to respond to a request for information (RFI) for 60 short-range remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) that can operate for 10 hours at 15,000 feet. India is also in talks with the US for the possible sale of 22 Guardian UAVs at a cost of $2 billion. An RFI for UAVs, a naval variant of Predator B drones, was issued to the US Office of Defence Cooperation on 14 November. The IAF has projected a requirement of over 100 US-made Predator C/Avenger armed UAVs. India does not have weaponised drones at the moment.

Early Stage Venture Capital Investments Slide: Early stage venture capital investments in India plunged to a three-year low this year, says data. This year so far has seen 435 angel and seed transactions, translating to about $244.6 million (Rs 1,627.26 crore), down almost 35 per cent from the same year-ago period. Compared with 2015, angel and seed deals this year have dropped by more than 46 per cent in terms of value, according to data collated by VCCEdge. Industry experts attribute the reluctance in backing early-stage ventures to a lack of exits for angel investors, cumbersome regulatory policies, particularly around taxation, and a desire to back startups that have the ability to garner loyal and paying customers. Additionally, series-A investments have dropped by about 30 per cent to $492.6 million, across 133 deals, as compared with 2016, highlighting the continuing cautiousness exhibited by early-stage investors in the country's startup ecosystem.

Rs 83 Crore Investment Vow To Support Rural Development Research: The Union government will invest Rs 83 crore to support innovative research for affordable technical solutions for rural development under the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA). The decision, taken at a meeting chaired by Human Resources and Development Minister Prakash Javadekar, also approved a plan of action to scale up the UBA to a total of 8,250 institutions in three years. “These 8,250 institutions would adopt 40,000 villages and would involve more than 20 lakh students in the effort," Javadekar said. He also said that the research projects of the higher educational institutions will be selected through "a challenge method," which means only best of the research proposals will be cleared under the scheme. "The institutions for Unnat Bharat Abhiyaan would be selected through a challenge method. An amount of Rs 83 crore would be spent in training, orienting and monitoring the programme," the HRD Minister said.

North Korea Condemns New UN Sanctions As Act Of War: North Korea slammed the latest United Nations (UN) sanctions imposed on it over the country's widely-condemned intercontinental ballistic missile tests, describing the move as an "act of war". “We fully reject the latest UN sanctions... as a violent breach of our republic's sovereignty and an act of war that destroys the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and a wider region," Pyongyang's foreign ministry said. It was the first official reaction from Pyongyang, a day after the UN Security Council unanimously passed new, US-drafted sanctions that will restrict oil supplies vital for the impoverished state. The third raft of sanctions imposed on the North Korea this year came about three weeks after Pyongyang test-fired its longest-range ICBM, which it said was capable of striking all major US cities.

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