Daily Sector News Today – 14.12.2017

Daily Sector News Today – 14.12.2017

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* BANKING: Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the non-performing assets in the banking system as the biggest liability for the government and the one that was inherited from his predecessor. Modi put the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in a spot when he asked what the industry body and other such organisations were doing when banks were being "forced" by the previous government to lend to certain "select industrialists".
 - Banks are set to refer a majority of the 28 loan defaulters cited in the Reserve Bank of India's second list to bankruptcy courts starting Thursday, as the central bank prods lenders to speedily resolve bad loans clogging their balance sheets. Reserve Bank of India deputy governor B. P. Kanungo has said that banks have been losing money in their merchant acquisition business and will continue to lose under the revised merchant discount rates, the charges paid by shops to banks on card payments. Banks would need to set aside an additional 100 bln rupees as provisions for accounts in the Reserve Bank of India's second list that are set to be referred to the National Company Law Tribunal.

* ECONOMY: The government has extended the deadline to link Aadhaar and permanent account numbers with financial services to Mar 31 or six months from the opening of the account, whichever is later, the finance ministry said. The government has signed a loan agreement with the World Bank for $250 mln for the Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion project, also called SANKALP.
 - India's headline inflation rate based on Consumer Price Index is likely to cross the 5.0% mark for the first time in 16 months in December, due to an unfavourable base effect and continued impact of increase in house rent allowance.

* ENERGY: The imposition of Goods and Services Tax has led to a 10-12% rise in overall cost of solar projects, the All India Solar Industries Association has said.

* FINANCE: UK-based CDC Group Plc has committed $10 mln to Veritas Finance for development of new technology to lower the cost for customers and for expansion in existing locations and also into Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

* GOVERNMENT: The Delhi government has formed a nine-member committee to look into the issue of overcharging for drugs and disposables by hospitals, as well as into their alleged unethical behaviour, State Health  Minister SatyendarJain said.

* INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: The government has spent 5.43 bln rupees in the form of incentives to various bidders for the government-backed business process outsourcing promotion scheme, Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said. Foreign workers in the US on a H1B work visa, the most sought after among  Indian information technology professionals, may work for more than one company.

* INFRATRUCTURE: Foxconn, the world's largest contract manufacturer of electronic devices, is looking to invest 60 bln rupees to set up a 200-acre plant in the special economic zone of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust near Mumbai.

* OIL AND GAS: The government is closely watching the movement in prices of crude oil and major fuels and will consider the interest of consumers on a priority basis while taking any decision with regard to the high incidence of excise duty on petrol and diesel, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said. Crude oil production in the US is seen averaging at 10.02 mln bbl per day in 2018, higher than the forecast of 9.95 mln bpd in November, US Energy Information Administration said in its Short Term Energy Outlook.
 - In 2018, global demand for oil is seen increasing by 1.51 mln barrels per day, 28,000 bpd more than the forecast in November, due to a likely improvement in demand from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said in a monthly report.