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<b>At paltry Rs 150 crore, gold bonds scheme fails to glitter:</b> The government's much-touted sovereign gold bond scheme has failed to cut much ice with the public, if the final amount of about Rs 150 crore is any indication, say bankers, who also blamed the high issue price as the biggest dampener. Public sector bankers also attributed the many market holidays and affinity of the public towards physical gold for the subdued demand for ambitious sovereign gold bond scheme, which was the maiden offering by the government so far. The overall funds collected under the scheme are pegged at around Rs 150 crore. "The primary reason for this is the higher issue price. The RBI had set it at Rs 2,684 a gram, whereas the market price was lower. Why should somebody buy at higher price," said a banker. (22/11/2015) (Reuters)
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<b>7th Pay Commission report to hurt state finances: Debroy</b>: The 7th Pay Commission's recommendations will take a heavy toll on fragile finances of states and force them to scale back their development spends, Niti Aayog Member Bibek Debroy says. He felt that once the Centre implements the 7th Pay Commission's recommendations, it's "impossible" for the states to hold back a hike in their employees' salaries. "There are serious repercussions arising from the Seventh Pay panel report, as in the two earlier Pay Commissions, on finances of states, which will go for a toss," he said. He added that the Railways, which is already reeling under financial constraints, will also suffer. In a big bonanza for the central employees and pensioners, the 7th Pay Commission has recommended a 23.55 per cent increase in salaries, allowances and pension, involving an additional outgo of Rs 1.02 lakh crore per annum. (22/11/2015) (Reuters)
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<b>Investors' pressure pushing start-ups against wall: Ronnie Screwvala</b>: Pressure from investors is the root cause of start-ups being pushed to the wall as they are being forced to scale up operations too fast, says UTV Group founder Ronnie Screwvala. "Several startups have had to scale back operations lately. It is not an ecosystem issue, but plain silly investor pressure to have a multi-city strategy that is creating these problems," Screwvala said. A whopping $14 bn got pumped into the country's startups in 2014, though the tap has not yet turned dry, but this year it has started declining and hovers around $13 bn to date. In the last few weeks, several startups, including Zomato, TinyOwl, and Housing.com, have sacked hundreds of their employees. (22/11/2015)
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<b>Green cover shrinks as urbanisation takes toll on Bengaluru</b>: India's Silicon Valley-Bengaluru is fast losing its green cover with urbanisation having risen by 125 per cent between 2000 and 2014, researchers at Indian Institute of Science (IISc) claimed. Rapidly urbanising at a pace of 4.6 per cent, Greater Bengaluru has witnessed a decline of vegetation and water bodies by 62 and 85 per cent respectively in this period. The IISc team studied data of Greater Bengaluru from 1999 to 2014 and used software to analyse the land use patterns and understand the change in urban cover. The study found that during this time, urban land use – for buildings, roads, – had increased by 184 per cent, while vegetation had decreased from 45 per cent to a mere 8.4 per cent. The water bodies also diminished to a mere 0.74 per cent – a drastic reduction of 85 per cent. (22/11/2015) (Reuters)
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<b>Centre to give Rs 3,250 cr for decongestion, dev work in Delhi</b>: Urban Development Ministry has decided to give a total of Rs 3,250 crore to Delhi government, DDA and North Corporation to decongest the city and carry out several development projects, its minister M Venkaiah today said. The Union minister made the announcement here at the launch of 'Swachch Delhi Abhiyan' to be held from November 22-30 that seeks to clear the capital of garbage and construction waste. "From the Urban Development Fund in my ministry, Rs 3,250 core will be provided for decongestion and development works in the capital city, which would be distributed to the Delhi government, NDMC and DDA for implementing various projects," Naidu said. (22/11/2015) (PTI)
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<b>India to grow faster than 7.5% in coming years: PM</b>: Projecting India as a bright spot amid global slowdown, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the country is "running at" 7.5 per cent and will grow "even faster" in the coming years. "India is today the fastest growing major economy in the world…We are running at 7.5 per cent per year, but will grow even faster in the coming years," he said while addressing the Indian diaspora on the second day of his three-day visit to Malaysia. "Every major global institution has placed its bets on India growing strongly," Modi said. (22/11/2015) (PTI)
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"We are going to operate New Delhi-Kochi-Dubai route with a Dreamliner from February 1," Air India Chairman and managing Director Ashwani Lohani said today. (PTI)
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Commenting on the Union Budget proposal 2016-17, Essar Power Ltd MD Sushil Maroo said, "There is the increase in the Clean Energy Cess from Rs 200 to Rs 400 per metric tonne. "The impact of this step has yet to be seen; we estimate an increase of 10 paise per unit in power tariffs," he said. (PTI)
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2. Despite difficult global environment, India likely to be fastest growing major economy in the world in 2016
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<b>India hits out at Kerry for terming it a 'challenge' at Paris meet</b>: India today hit out at US Secretary of State John Kerry for his remarks that India will be a "challenge" at the upcoming crucial Paris climate meet, saying they were "unwarranted" and made it clear that it is "not in the habit of taking any pressure from anybody". Terming Kerry's comments as "unwarranted and unfair", India also blamed the "attitude" of some of the developed countries for the problem of climate change. "It is in a way unfair to say that India will be a challenge. It is actually not doing justice with India. The US is our great friend and strategic partner. His (Kerry's) comment are unwarranted and unfair. The attitude of some of the developed countries is the challenge for the Paris conclusion," Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said. (22/11/2015) (Reuters)
H-1B visa bill introduced to scrap lottery, end OPT program for foreign workers
