New Delhi: India is among the eight Asia-Pacific markets, which are part of the 20 fastest growing markets in terms of its population of high net worth individuals (HNWIs). Other markets include Hong Kong, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Singapore. The total wealth held by India’s high HNWIs, who have investible assets in excess of $1 million (Rs 4.9 crore) was $582 billion (Rs 28.59 lakh crore) during 2010. This is equivalent to 34.23% of the country’s total gross domestic product (GDP) of $1.7 trillion (Rs 73.07 lakh crore), as per the latest government data.

India’s elite have a networth equivalent to more than a third of its total GDP and their numbers grew by one-fifth in 2010, according to the Asia-Pacific Wealth Report released on Thursday by Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and Capgemini.

India also has the highest number of billionaires in the age group of 31 to 45 as against Japan and Hong Kong, which have HNWIs above 66 years of age. “The key drivers of wealth in India is the real GDP expansion by 9.1% in 2010, and the market capitalisation, which increased by 24.9% in 2010,” says Pradeep Dokania, managing director and chairman, Global Wealth and Investment Management, India DSP Merrill Lynch limited.

The second reason is the national savings as a percent of the GDP increased to 33.5% in the year 2010. “Peaking inflation could give a negative impact on the household savings and could also have a negative effect on the rising number of HNWIs in India,” said Dokania.

New Delhi: Harun Rashid Khan, a career central banker who worked with Thorat for years, has been appointed as the new deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). As the deputy governor he has been appointed for a period of three years.

Khan, who succeeds Shyamala Gopinath who retired last month, has superseded three executive directors and has been appointed for term of three years. In his new avatar, Khan would be in charge of external investment, internal debt management, foreign exchange and payments and settlement systems.

In a three-decade stint with the RBI, Khan has handled a wide range of assignments ranging across departments such as rural credit, currency management, banking supervision and regulation, debt management, reserve management, exchange control, personnel administration and internal accounts of the RBI. Prior to becoming executive director in 2007, he was principal of the College of Agricultural Banking , based in Pune. That stint provided Khan with an opportunity to mingle with RBI staffers across all cadres.

Khan has been a familiar face for treasurers and bond houses. Many others in the financial sector started noticing him after a report on rural credit and microfinance was unveiled. A committee headed by Khan had suggested measures to expand banking in rural India. Based on its recommendations, RBI expanded the list of business facilitators and business correspondence for achieving financial inclusion.

Those who have worked closely with Khan say he is mild but sharp. “He may not be as articulate as Usha Thorat and KC Chakrabarty, but if needed, he is able to send across a message,” said a senior RBI official.

However, a lot has changed since the time Thorat was in charge of debt management and now. The money and forex markets are now far more integrated with the overseas markets now than in the past. Also, there are newer products and currency exchanges coming up in the country which was not the case a few years ago. Mr Khan’s challenge will be to deal with growing inter-linkages not only between domestic and foreign markets, but also inter-linkages within different markets at home front.

Khan, going against the stereotype, happens to be a pure vegetarian. Some of his closest friends call him ‘vegetarian Khan.’

New Delhi: The strategies of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for inclusive growth “stood exposed a few years ago when the Arjun Sengupta Commission report highlighted that the “other India” gained very little from most pro-poor schemes.

NREGA was UPA I flagship programme that helped them come back to power (Courtesy: The Hindu)

The key findings of the latest National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) survey bring to the fore, yet again, the futility of pursing misguided job-generation policies in the name of lofty goals instead of going for all-out reforms, said economists and political analysts.

“The latest data reinforce the conviction that what we actually want are reforms, not mere schemes,” said renowned economist Shankar Acharya . The government may not face any direct political threat, but they are following wrong policies in its efforts to achieve something big, he added.

The Manmohan Singh-led UPA government began showcasing the grand idea of financial inclusion in its first stint starting from 2004 and later expanded its pro-poor schemes to the second term as it looked to warm up to the aam aadmi (common man).

It also drew flak from other political parties, especially the Left, which calls the UPA’s pro-poor policy a “policy of deception” by creating greater avenues for profit maximisation for the corporates at the cost of increasing burdens on the common man.

According to the latest NSSO data, only 2 lakh jobs were created annually from 2004-05 to 2009-10, when the first UPA government was in power compared with 12 million jobs created by the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) from 1999-00 to 2005-05. The latest survey was conducted between July 2009 and June 2010.

Madhu Kishwar, senior fellow at the centre for the Study of Developing Societies, said: “These schemes such as the MNREGA and others are only band-aid solutions to address poverty and generate jobs.”

“What is actually required,” said Kishwar, who is also a member of the National Commission on Enterprises in the Unorganised and Informal Sector, “are economic reforms in non-corporate sectors such as agriculture and labour”.  She added that the poor can’t wait for benefits of liberalisation to trickle down. Instead, they need reforms that directly help them earn more, said she.

New Delhi: Delhi based industrialist Vivek Bharat Ram is pressing for “penal tax” on diesel vehicles.

Ram has written a letter to the Finance Minister Pranab Mukharjee, dated June 18, a copy of which is available with the BeyondHeadlines, demanding action on the Kirit Parkih Report at the earliest.

File photo of Tata Nano car at an auto expo

He writes, “I am unable to understand how the Government is continuing with its flawed policy of not putting a penal tax on diesel vehicles.”

He added, “As it is unlikely that the government will put diesel on a free float like petrol” and so the recommendations of the Parikh Report must be implemented.

In earlier letter to the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Ram had written, “You are aware that there are mainly two large manufacturers who produce primarily.” diesel vehicles and, through the automobile associations, they have a strong lobby to keep status quo.”

The two companies hinted at, but not named, are Tata Motors and Mahindra &d Mahindra.

He wrote this letter “in continuation” to his earlier letter dated May 20.

He again took a dig at those companies writing, “The general perception is that this flawed policy continues to remain at the behest of two major manufacturers in the automobile industry…”

He further alleged, “If this is true this matter is a scam of huge proportions costing the Government tens of thousands of crores of rupees every year.”

He argued that such a “policy is distorting the investment policies of automobile companies” as because of cheap diesel price they are forced to making huge investments in diesel technology.

Parikh Report had argued that, “If you are putting heavy tax on petrol because it is for luxury consumption and if you don’t want to put the similar tax on diesel, then obviously we have to put the same kind of tax on diesel vehicles like SUVs and others.”

Parikh had further added, “If the government desires, it could consider imposing an upfront tax on personal (diesel) vehicles.”

Environment Minister Jiaram Ramesh, last year, too had echoed similar views.

New Delhi: DMK supremo K Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi and the MD & CEO of Kalaignar TV, Sharad Kumar, have been arrested in the 2G spectrum scam case. The arrest followed soon after a special CBI court rejected their bail pleas on Friday. The DMK MP is sent to Tihar Jail, where the other accused are also lodged.

File photo of Kanimozhi

Kanimozhi, however, argued in the court for leniency and stated that she was not aware of what’s happening at the TV channel as she was just a 20 per cent stakeholder in the company. She had also blamed the management of the channel, while the CBI accuses her of being the ‘brain’ behind the channel.

CBI had named Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar as co-conspirators in its April 25 supplementary chargesheet, after it tracked the illegal money trail of Rs 214 crore. The 2G spectrum scam relates to irregularities in the allocation of airwaves to telcos which caused huge losses to the exchequer.

Kanimozhi had requested for bail after being named a conspirator in the 2G scam case. The CBI had found that Kalaignar TV – the channel started by the Karunanidhi family after its fallout with the Maran brothers – had received easy loans indirectly from the owners of one of the beneficiaries of the alleged 2G scam – Swan Telecom.

Kanimozhi’s fellow DMK leader A Raja and Swan Telecom Director Vinod Goenka, Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd MD Sanjay Chandra, and three top officials of Reliance ADA Group – Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair – had been sent to Tihar jail a month ago.

Opposition BJP has meanwhile welcomed the arrest.

New Delhi: BeyondHeadlines Team is proud to announce that it now will have a special new section for Africa.

BH has got a written permission from ‘News from Africa’ (www.newsfromafrica.org) for using their content with due credit. NFA is a ‘noble initiative.’ It is an “independent online news agency that publishes news and feature stories written from an African perspective” and is a not for profit organization.

www.newsfromafrica.org

Our aim at BH is to become a platform for ‘alternative news’ by going beyond headlines of mainstream news reporting. We, however, do not ignore the general news updates as well.

In our two months life, we have already many first to our credits.

NFA will only help us spread our reach.

Six months after the Common Wealth Games, $70 million payment of 20 foreign companies are still pending and is severely damaging India’s reputations in the international market.

The RTI report dig out by Subhash Chandra Agarwal, of which BeyondHeadlines has a copy, reveals that the high commissioners of eight countries in India, Australia, Britain, Germany, Belguim, France, Italy, Netherland and Switzerland had written a complain to the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Ajay Maken and to the Finance Minister, requesting them to facilitate the payments of companies from their respective countries.

The High Commissioners stated in the letter dated 14^th February, 2011, “Four months after the event finished nearly twenty companies from our countries still await full payment against contracts entered, into in good faith; These companies made ‘a substantial contribution to the success of the Games, bringing world-class skills and capabilities to India. The combined amount owed to these ‘companies is close to US $70 million, as you will, appreciate, this, has caused considerable financial difficulty for all and some in a critical position.”

It’s not only the Shunglu committee, investigating the CWG scam, but the foreign companies are also concerned about Prasar Bharti.

The High Commissioners also stated that, “Our concerns extend beyond the Organizing Committee, (OC), embracing bodies such as the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Prasar Bharati (PB).”

They also complained that these foreign companies have not yet received the required clearances from the Reserve Bank of India and Central Board of Excise and Customs to release shipping containers, transporting equipments to the foreign companies.

The  high commissioners of these eight European countries also wrote in their written complain: “The delay in settling these matters is damaging India’s national reputation, including as a’ host of major sporting events, denting the confidence of foreign business and raising doubts about the enforcement of contracts.”

Responding to the letter, Sindhushree Kuller, Secretary of Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports had called for a meeting of concerned ministries and government agencies.

The high-level committee, headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General V K Shunglu, appointed by the Prime Minister to look into allegations of irregularities in the conduct of the sporting event, had recommended strict action against then Chief Executive Officer of Prasar Bharati B S Lalli and then Director General (Doordarshan) Aruna Sharma for providing “undue benefit” to Sis Live and Zoom Communications in the award of broadcasting rights of Commonwealth Games.

India’s fifth largest bank Union Bank of India has launched direct tax payment facility through its more than 2000 ATMs.

Launching the income tax payment facility through UBI’s ATMs State Finance Minister Namo Narain Meena said that this facility will bring small individual taxpayers under the ambit of e-payment of direct taxes, which was earlier beneficial for large corporate only.

“The coming together of CBDT and Union bank of India to provide ATM based payment of income tax is an excellent facility for the common people to pay tax. We have more than forty thousand ATMs deployed in the country. Income tax payment through authorized bank’s ATM would go a long way in bringing common citizens with in the fold of e-payment of taxes and this payment will not cause any charge”, said Namo Narain Meena.Union Bank of India M.V.Nair believe that payment of income tax through ATM is yet another fulfillment of the brand promise of the Bank to provide choice of channel to customers for undertaking various transactions.

“Today’s program is partnership between revenue department and a large bank like UBI for the convenience of millions of taxpayers and customers”, said MV Nair.

After one time registration at bank’s portal, customers will be able to make their income tax payments on ATMs. They will be able to generate their challan on Bank’s portal. Registration for Income tax payment will also be extended through the UBI branches.

Presently UBI has a network of around 2600 ATMs and by March 2012 it is aiming to have a network of 5000 ATMs.

New Delhi: Post CBI’s raid at several locations of the DB Realty Group on March 28, sources say a confirmation on the likely arrests of executives of the DB Realty Group and Kusegaon Realty is on the cards. As CBI confirmation is awaited on the development in the 2G scam probe, CNBC-TV18′s Siddharth Zarabi shares exclusive details.

He reveals, “the two names that has been doing the around has been Asif Balwa who is suppose to be a Director on DB Realty and Rajiv Agarwal, who is suppose to be an senior executive in Kusegaon Realty.” He further says that the CBI is expected to reveal to the Supreme Court the action that it has taken, including the two arrests so far, according to the sources.

Below is a verbatim transcript of Siddharth Zarabi’s report. Also watch the accompanying video.

On March 28 evening, the CBI raided several locations and premises of people connected with the DB Realty Group. These raids went on till last night and two executives were held. Until now, there is no official announcement made by the CBI but we expect that the announcement may come in the Supreme Court shortly.

The two names that has been doing the around has been Asif Balwa who is suppose to be a Director on DB Realty and Rajiv Agarwal, who is suppose to be an senior executive in Kusegaon Realty which is suppose to be a subsidiary and associate firm of DB Realty Group. Kusegaon came in the purview in recent past with regard to this 2G probe as an alleged conduit of fund flows, which ultimately ended up in Kalaignar TV that is controlled by the.

The CBI is expected to reveal to the Supreme Court the action that it has taken since yesterday, including the two arrests so far, according to the sources.

The CBI and the Directorate of Enforcement will submit separate status reports to the Supreme Court which is monitoring the 2G probe with regard to the investigation done so far. There is also a sense of expectation that the charge sheet will be made public at the court. The Supreme Court is likely to be apprised of the contents of the charge sheet. However, the charge sheet is to be filed at a separate court under the Delhi high court or special court which has been notified on March 28. This morning of March 29, the additional solicitor general has also briefed the Supreme Court about the creation of that court. The event is likely to take place on the 31st March and it is likely that the Supreme Court may issue direction in this overall matter. This is because all the petitions seeking cancellation on telecom licenses have been clubbed together be it the Prashant Bhushan petition or the petition filed by Subramanian Swamy.

BeyondHeadlines News Desk

After a two-year gap, Pakistan and India have decided to hold technical level talks next month for the removal of hindrances for increasing bilateral trade.

The Indian Commerce Secretary will visit Pakistan towards the end of April to resume talks on trade issues, which remained stalled following the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, the Dawn quoted a senior official, as saying.

When contacted, Pakistan Commerce Secretary Zaffar Mehmood confirmed that his Indian counterpart would visit Pakistan, but said that he did not know about the exact dates of the visit.

“Even we have not finalised the agenda of the meeting”, he added.

According to the official, Pakistan had already set a stage for the resumption of talks, especially on trade, as the government unilaterally expanded the ‘positive list’ with India last month.

“This will provide a solid base for full-fledge resumption of the composite dialogue that was effectively used by New Delhi in seeking maximum market access for Indian products in Pakistani market,” the official commented.

The proposed meeting of the Interior Secretaries of both countries next week in New Delhi will also pave the way for the trade talks.

These two highest-level talks will set a stage for a full-fledged meeting on all issues at the foreign ministers-level meeting expected to be held in July.

A trade source said that Pakistan might raise the issue of non- tariff barriers (NTBs) on the plea that these barriers restrict the export of Pakistani essential commodities to the highly protected Indian market.

A customs officer said that reductions in customs duties would not serve any purpose in increasing the regional trade until these NTBs are removed.

Pakistan is trading with India through a positive list, a list of products importable from India.

The positive list included 42 items for trading in the year 1986, which was expanded to 1,145 items in the year 2011, showing that Pakistan has diverted its global trade towards India in the past few years.