PNB fraud case: London court issues arrest warrant against Nirav Modi

• The arrest warrant against PNB fraud accused Nirav Modi was issued on the basis of ED's extradition request
• On 9 March, ED said the UK home secretary has referred India's request for Nirav Modi's extradition to a London court

RCom scraps telecom asset sale to Reliance Jio

• RCom, Reliance Jio end deal for want of required regulatory approvals, RCom says
• RCom had announced the telecom asset sale to Reliance Jio in December 2017

Pramod Sawant to be new Goa Chief Minister

• Pramod Sawant will be the 11th Chief Minister of the coastal state
• Two MLAs from the BJP alliance partners will be made deputy chief ministers

RCom pays ₹460 crore to settle Ericsson dues

• RCom's payout to Ericsson potentially saves billionaire Anil Ambani and two RCom directors from a jail term
• RCom owes a total ₹571 crore billion rupees to Ericsson, including a one-time settlement of ₹550 crore

NCLAT gives conditional nod to ArcelorMittal's ₹42000 cr plan for Essar Steel

• The appellate tribunal will look into the issue of discriminatory distribution of funds between financial and operational creditors
• NCLAT asked the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Board of India to submit a ratio of the distribution of funds

Gunman kills 3 on Dutch tram, mayor says terror likely

• The suspected gunman is at large, authorities raise terrorism threat to its highest level in Utrecht province
• Dutch radio says security has been increased at the seat of the government in The Hague following reports of the shooting

DGCA calls meeting with airlines on Tuesday to discuss rising air fares

• A significant number of cancellations by Jet Airways and SpiceJet in the last few weeks has led to an increase in air fares
• Naresh Goyal-led Jet Airways on Monday said it has grounded four more planes and would delay paying interest on maturing debt 

OPEC to scrap April meeting but keep oil cuts in place

• The next regular talks set to be held on June 25-26
• US sanctions on Iran and Venezuela key factors; US raises own oil exports while pressing sanctions  

L&T set to buy 20.4% in Mindtree, make open offer for another 31%

• L&T has agreed to pay ₹981 per share to buy the entire stake held by CCD) founder V.G. Siddhartha and two of his CCD firms
• According to sources, the deal is likely to value Mindtree at ₹16,250 crore

BEA says data shows "clear similarities" between Boeing crashes

• The data extraction was verified by the Ethiopian Accident Investigation Bureau, the BEA and the US National Transportation Safety Board
• A computer's response to an apparently faulty angle of attack reading is at the centre of an ongoing probe into the Lion Air disaster

Net direct tax collection crosses ₹10 lakh crore mark

• The entire advance tax data from across the country has not come yet
• The net direct tax collection during April-January of this fiscal stood at ₹7.89 lakh crore

Data Debate: 131 CAs counter 108 economists on statistics concerns

• India is poised to move on a higher growth trajectory, say 131 CAs, counteriing concerns expressed by 108 economists that India's statistical data is in shambles
• The 131 CAs termed the concerns raised by the 108 economists as 'baseless allegations with political motivations'

Telangana govt, Ola sign MoU to strengthen Hyderabad’s traffic infrastructure

• Under the MoU major roads in Hyderabad will be mapped
• This data will be provided to respective departments of Telangana govt, which monitor road conditions and maintain their overall quality in Hyderabad

Why Embassy Office Parks’ REIT offering is expected to get lapped up

• The pertinent question for an investor is: will the good times in this segment continue and will investors get a steady return on investment
• The REIT offering is a joint venture of two well-known companies, realty developer Embassy Group and US-based private equity firm Blackstone Group

Azim Premji’s charitable trusts grow richer on dividends, share sales

• The two trusts earned ₹11,357 cr by way of dividends, share sales and buybacks in the last nine years
• Azim Premji’s trusts received bonus shares issued by Wipro in June 2010, June 2017 and March 2019

PM Modi leads nation in paying last respects to Manohar Parrikar

• Parrikar, a former defence minister, given a state funeral
• It was attended by Modi, Amit Shah, Devendra Fadnavis, a host of senior BJP leaders and representatives from political parties

RBI officials meet bankers, seek feedback on new liquidity tool: Sources

• There were some speculations that the RBI had timed the move to also absorb potential bunched-up forex inflows at March-end
• The RBI will conduct a forward dollar/rupee buy-sell swap auction worth $5 billion on 26 March

Can Google Create the Netflix of Gaming?

• More than 25,000 members of the video game industry are scheduled to descend on San Francisco for the geeky, and often sleepy, annual gathering known as the Game Developers Conference
• Google has been privately testing Project Stream

Apple launches 10.5-inch iPad, updates Mini ahead of 25 March event

• With the new launch, the iPad will come in four different screen sizes, ranging from 7.9 inch to 12.9 inch
• The new iPad mini starts at $399 for the WiFi model and $529 for the WiFi plus cellular model

Central Bank to raise up to ₹270 crore by issuing shares to employees

• The bank's board on Monday approved a proposal to raise equity capital by issuance and allotment of up to 10 crore shares
• The shares under the scheme will be allotted to eligible employees

Hotel Leela Venture to sell hotels, property to Brookfield for $576 million

• The company will sell four Leela hotels at Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi and Udaipur and its property in Agra to Brookfield
• Hotel Leela Venture sell four of its hotels and a property to a fund sponsored by Brookfield Asset Management for ₹39.50 billion

IndiGo lures Jet Airways’ pilots with better compensation

• IndiGo is offering compensation for overdue salaries, on-the-spot job offers to senior Jet Airways pilots
• Indigo will hire 120 expatriate pilots by June 2019, taking their total number to 160 

Shapoorji Pallonji gears up to list solar EPC biz

• Group plans to raise ₹4,000 crore through share sale in a bid to reduce debt
• Sterling and Wilson, which houses the group’s solar EPC business, is likely to file draft documents with Sebi by early April

How joblessness eats into household savings

• The dent on India’s savings rate will eventually affect investments into areas the country needs badly
• Given that consumption rates are estimated to have risen in FY19 to 59.5%, the savings rate may have fallen again this fiscal. 

BSNL, MTNL may leverage assets in their turnaround plan

• The department of telecommunications (DoT) had to give MTNL ₹171 crore last week to pay salaries
• Both have been making losses continuously since 2009-10 and have been declared “incipient sick”.

How Modi outwits Congress with ‘chowkidar’ poll slogans

• Amit Shah, Piyush Goyal are among senior BJP leaders who added the word chowkidar to their username on Twitter after Modi did it
• With the use of slogans like Main Bhi Chowkidar and Chowkidar Phir Se, BJP has started an outreach programme on social media to connect to the people on a mass scale

Over 1 billion feature phones to be sold in 3 years

• In 2019, a little more than 400 million feature phones would be sold globally, according to a market report
• The growth of feature phones is driven by the revival of the Nokia-branded features phones and the popularity of the Jio Phone

Jet Airways grounds 4 more planes for non-payment of lease rentals

• The total number of aircraft that are non-operational due to non-payment of lease rentals is 41
• Grappling with financial woes, the carrier has been looking at ways to raise fresh funds

RBI data localisation rule may compromise fraud detection in India: Mastercard 

• Last year, RBI asked payment firms to ensure their data are stored exclusively on local servers
• Mastercard’s Miebach said that Mastercard is still working on how to ensure the Indian data is protected

Rupee strengthens past 69-mark; hits seven month high as trade deficit narrows

• So far this year, the rupee has gained 1.2%
• Traders were also cautious before the Federal Reserve’s Wednesday monetary policy decision

Timeline for issuance of tax return intimation is 12 months

• The timeline for issuance of intimation is 12 months from the end of the financial year in which the return is filed
• You can also login to the income tax portal to check the status of the tax return or call the help desk of the CPC

Opinion | Reserve Bank of India is full of surprises these days

• Now RBI is buying dollars to create domestic liquidity, will it continue to snap up as many government bonds?
• The RBI’s new boss is stuck between a rock and a hard place

Oil slips on economic slowdown, but OPEC-led cuts still support

• Brent crude oil futures were at $67.03 per barrel, down 13 cents, or 0.2%, from their last close
• Crude markets remain broadly supported by supply cuts led by producer group OPEC and US sanctions against Iran and Venezuela

Jet Airways delays payment to debenture holder

• Jet Airways will delay paying interest to its debenture holder, due March 19, owing to financial constraints
• Jet Airways has been saddled with debt of over $1 billion 

Most health insurance plans exclude pre-existing diseases for four years

• Do make full disclosure about the previous medical treatment to avoid disputes at the time of claim
• An alternate way to enhance coverage for your son will be through a super top-up health insurance

Blackstone-Embassy REIT game changer for India's real estate sector  

• Embassy Office Parks REIT would be India’s first real estate investment trust
• It plans to raise ₹4,750 crore (including the anchor allocation) from its 18-20 March IPO

It is still too early to invest in ‘smart beta’ ETFs

• While the ‘new age’ ETFs may provide niche exposure to your portfolio, tread carefully as it comes with the challenge of liquidity and rebalancing
• Investors should know that liquidity is poor in many ETFs, pushing up the cost of buying and selling

What a personal loan costs you

• As personal loans come with high interest rates, continuous default will put you on a downward spiral
• Here are some of the lowest personal loan interest rates offered by various banks

Term plan premiums: A ready reckoner

• A look at premium rates for some insurance policies of a sum assured of 1 crore across three age categories for policy terms of 30, 25 and 20 years
• The claims settlement rate is measured by the value of the policies as a lower settlement rate is indicative of high ticket-size policies being rejected

India’s first REIT is finally here. Should you invest?

• Though REITs are less volatile, there is no historical data for comparison in India
• REITs shall be tax exempt except the interest income received from the SPV and rental income from property owned directly by REITs

Opinion | Markets don’t help you create wealth. Responsible investing does

Key to wealth creation via equities is to select a basket of high quality low risk stocks

Opinion | Night-time commerce offers India a growth opportunity

The after-dark economy is grossly neglected as a generator of value. It’s about time the government helped kick-start it

How these startups are helping enterprises by offering solutions

• We profile two startups that are offering enterprise solutions using new-age technologies.
• Fintech startup Zeta, co-founded by Bhavin Turakhia and Ramki Gaddipati aims to digitise employee benefits

Why playing PUBG Mobile can get you arrested in Gujarat 

• PUBG Mobile took the gaming world by storm, having been downloaded 200 million times as on December 2018
• PUBG Mobile ban by Gujarat state government, the Rajkot police took 10 college students in custody for violation three days ago

China hints at resolution on Masood Azhar’s UN listing

• The issue of UN listing JeM chief Masood Azhar as a terrorist would be resolved soon, says Chinese envoy to India Luo Zhaohui
• Such a move would help bolster ties between the two neighbours

Spotlight on Indian talent with Unilever’s new hires

• Among EMs, India is among the largest contributors of top executives to Unilever
• Currently, 200 employees of HUL are working on global assignments within Unilever

GST Council to issue new tax norms for real estate

• New rules to guide the usage of credit for taxes paid on raw materials and services
• Policymakers intend to provide relief to developers to the maximum extent possible

Deadline for ACCIL’s bid likely to see extension

• The committee of creditors (CoC) of ACCIL is considering extending the deadline or starting a second round so as to invite more bids
• ArcelorMittal is likely to show interest in ACCIL if its acquisition of Essar Steel goes through