Corporate tax to be cut gradually, says Nirmala Sitharaman

• The government will support wealth creators: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman
• The corporate tax cut was part of the budget proposal last month

Govt exempts NBFCs, listed firms from debenture reserve requirements

• The move will make it cheaper for NBFCs, listed firms to raise funds and deepen the nation's bond market, the government said
• The move will also create more of a level-playing field between NBFCs, and commercial banks

Vodafone Idea CEO Balesh Sharma resigns

• Balesh Sharma will take up a new role with the Vodafone Group
• Ravinder Takkar, currently Vodafone Group’s representative in India, has been appointed as his successor with immediate effect

IndiGo and SpiceJet to shift operations from Delhi's terminal 2 to terminal 3

• IndiGo will shift a part of its operations to terminal 3 from terminal 2, SpiceJet will shift its entire operations to terminal 3 from terminal 2
• GoAir, which also operates from terminal 2 in New Delhi, will not shift its operations to terminal 3

Economic slowdown 'very worrisome', new set of reforms needed: Raghuram Rajan

• Raghuram Rajan said the govt needs to fix the immediate problems in power, NBFCs and come out with a new set of reforms to energise private sector to invest
• The former RBI governor also called for a fresh look at the way GDP in India is calculated

Expert panel submits draft direct tax code to Nirmala Sitharaman

• The proposals in the draft code are aimed at bringing more certainly to taxation of personal and corporate income as well as capital gains
• The gist of judicial pronouncements made since 1961, when the current tax law came into force, are also likely to be brought in one place for easy reference

US economists expect recession in the next 2 years

• The survey came out after Donald Trump pushed back against talk of a looming recession as a raft of US data reports last week showed a mixed picture on the economy
• The survey showed 38% economists expect a contraction of growth next year, while 34% don't see it until the following year

Saudi women get a new right: Allowing their kids to travel

• Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has put loosening social restrictions at the heart of his economic transformation plan for Saudi Arabia
• Saudi women’s rights activists have campaigned for years against the kingdom’s guardianship system

Wilbur Ross says US to ease Huawei sanctions for another 90 days

• Some telecom companies in the US are 'dependent' on Huawei, and thus a 90-day reprieve was deemed appropriate, says Ross
• The announcement follows an upbeat tweet from Trump indicating the US was ‘doing very well with China, and talking’

RBI governor's pill for the economy: Positive attitude

• The mood today ranges from existential angst to a positive attitude: Shaktikanta Das
• 'One does realise that there are challenges in the economy, severe external global headwinds and India cannot live in isolation'

Why business has its back to the wall

• Steps are needed to get businesses to invest, banks to lend, consumers to spend, and taxman to be circumspect
• While the problem of mounting unserviceable debt has dragged on for several years, a slew of steps announced by Modi govt, ostensibly to clean up the system, further added to the uncertainty

RBI to 'formalise' linking of loans to external benchmark

• I think the time has come to formalise the linking of the lending rates on new loans to external benchmarks like the repo rate: RBI governor Shaktikanta Das
• 'We are monitoring the developments in this regard and whatever steps are required in the coming weeks, will be taken by the RBI'

How the world's richest family invests its wealth

• For now, the Walton family’s holdings outside of Walmart are a fraction of their overall wealth
• But that is shifting

IKEA products can now be ordered online in Mumbai. Check out opening offers

• Mumbai will see a multichannel offer including smaller format stores, and a big format store in Navi Mumbai, IKEA said in a statement
• IKEA's online store is offering 1,000 products, including storage boxes and doormats, priced below ₹200

How a former MakeMyTrip executive built a challenger to Oyo

• Similar to Oyo, RedDoorz signs on budget hotel owners, provides them with software and standardized supplies, and trains their staff
• Both Oyo and RedDoorzare riding a surge in independent travel as younger Asians grow more affluent

'Army was ready for conventional war with Pakistan in run up to Balakot strikes'

• In the wake of Pakistan's sharp reaction to India's decisions on Jammu and Kashmir, the Army has been put on high alert along the Line of Control
• The Indian Army was prepared for a conventional warfare with Pakistan which would have included going inside Pakistan

Double-digit growth unlikely for FMCG sector, revival expected next year: Nestle

• Nestle's Suresh Narayanan said there will be 'period of low growths' for the FMCG industry but with 'decent single digit'
• Suresh Narayanan said FMCG would not have a degrowth as it deals with essential items

CCI puts in place green channel route for M&A approvals

• The green channel concept would allow for an automatic system for speedy approval of combinations subject to certain conditions
• Norms pertaining to combinations under the competition law have been amended

Jammu: IAF helicopter pulls up four people stranded in Tawi river to safety

• Most of them were fishermen and they got stranded near the under-construction bridge after the water level surged in Tawi River
• Garud Commandos went down and tied a hook on the fishermen to pull them up

China plans to make Shenzhen a 'better place' than Hong Kong

• Weeks of rallies, demonstrations have plunged Hong Kong into crisis — which Beijing is now framing as an opportunity for Shenzhen's development
• By 2035, Shenzhen will 'lead the world' in overall economic competitiveness, the released by the Chinese govt said

Double-digit growth unlikely for FMCG sector, revival expected next year: Nestle

• Suresh Narayanan noted that there will be 'period of low growths' for the FMCG industry
• He was hopeful of FMGC sector getting back with double-digit growth in an year

ICICI Bank moves to revamp its office culture, discards cabins, some grades

• The bank has scrapped grades of employees above AGM rank, retaining grades only for executive directors and MD
• The private sector lender has also allowed 500 employees access to its executive dining room, which was earlier open only to the top tier of the management

RIL's Aramco deal to lower its FY21 earning by 9%: report

• After the Aramco deal is completed, Reliance Industries’ operating cash flow will drop by 14%, says a Morgan Stanley report
• RIL plans to sell a 20% stake at an enterprise value of $75 billion

Lionsgate Films brings streaming service to India, to co-produce movies

• STARZPLAY, the premium subscription platform from Lionsgate, and Vodafone Idea have joined hands to launch Lionsgate Play in India
• The video streaming service will be available to Vodafone Play and Idea Movies and TV subscribers

Tesla shows interest in India’s plans to build battery plants

• The robust global interest comes amid the govt’s push to make India a hub for making EVs and their components
• India will need six gigawatt-scale facilities (of 10GWh each) by 2025 and 12 by 2030, according to a NITI estimate

Railways landmark: 3000th station gets Wi-Fi, 1000 enabled in just 15 days

• The railways' free Wi-Fi facility at stations began from Mumbai Central in January 2016 and within 16 months it was live at 1,600 stations across India
• The railways plans to provide free Wi-Fi facility at all its stations, around 6,000

‘Mission Mangal’ clocks record opening weekend

• Over four days, Mission Mangal has also emerged as Akshay Kumar’s highest opening weekend ever
• John Abraham’s Batla House had a decent extended weekend of around ₹33.50 crore over the first four days

SoftBank to lend staff $20 billion for buying stakes in 2nd Vision Fund: Report

• The second Vision Fund aims to raise $108 billion
• In addition to its employees, SoftBank is also expected to collect money from Apple, Microsoft, and Foxconn

India could soon be world leader in uses of behavioural economics: Cass Sunstein

Making toilets available is one of the greatest public policy achievements in the world in the last quarter of a century, says Sunstein

RIL again becomes most valued firm by market valuation

• At close of trade on Monday, RIL's m-cap stood at Rs8,19,073.62 crore, which is Rs7,226.43 crore more than that of TCS m-cap of Rs8,11,847.19 crore
• RIL shares rose by 1.15% to close at Rs1,292.10 on the BSE

FinMin mulls stress fund for infra sector: Housing Secretary

• NAREDCO and real estate industry body CREDAI too have been demanding creation of stress fund to complete stuck projects
• Home buyers of the national capital region are most affected with developers like Jaypee Infratech, Amrapali and Unitech defaulting in completing their housing projects on time

Climate change may shrink India's economy by 10%: Study

• Prevailing economic research anticipates the burden of climate change falling on hot or poor nations, said researchers from the University of Cambridge in the UK
• Some predict that cooler or wealthier economies will be unaffected or even see benefits from higher temperatures

Info Edge’s investments drag Q1 performance, stock valuations remain lofty

• In the first quarter ending June, Info Edge’s standalone revenue growth remained healthy at 20.5% yoy, much in line with analysts estimates
• Its flagship portal, Naukri though has seen a decent growth, driven by IT and IT services

NSA Ajit Doval briefs Amit Shah on Kashmir situation

• Doval, who had recently spent around 11 days in the Valley amid the security lockdown, returned to Delhi recently
• It was Doval's first direct briefing for the Home Minister at his office

Crypto behemoth Binance is planning a rival to Facebook’s Libra

• Binance said it plans to create an independent 'regional version of Libra' —the digital coin being developed by Facebook and partners
• Binance CEO Zhao 'CZ' Changpeng said its open blockchain project, Venus, is intended to 'empower developed and developing countries to spur new currencies'

Social media accounts need to be linked with Aadhaar to check fake news, SC told

• The suggestion was made by the Tamil Nadu government which is facing resistance from Facebook Inc
• Facebook claims that its Whatsapp messages are end-to-end encrypted

India sees dramatic rise in cyber attacks post-Kashmir decision

• On Sunday, the official website of the Bihar Education Department was hacked
• Last month, CERT-In informed the Parliament that over 24 websites of central ministries, departments and state governments were hacked till May

Rapido acqui-hires Mumbai-based Vahanalytics in cash and stock deal

• Data Vahanalytics allows organizations to track their vehicle fleet operations
• Rapido currently operates bike taxis in 13 cities primarily in south India, including Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mysuru

IKEA enters Mumbai market with online store

• Unlike most of its global markets, IKEA has adopted a multichannel strategy in Mumbai
• Through IKEA’s online portal, customers in Mumbai can access to over 7,500 of its products

No lavish weddings in Kashmir: Mutton sellers, wazwan cooks, pay the price

• The wedding cancellations have severely affected the businesses, which sustained on these occasions
• As the guest lists have shorted significantly, it directly translates to a lesser quantity of mutton being consumed at the weddings

Reliance Jio adds 82.6 lakh subscribers in June: Trai data

• Subscriber churn continues for Vodafone Idea, Airtel in June, according to data released by Trai
• Jio shook the mobile telephony market with free voice calls and dirt cheap data in 2016

The most stressed district courts in India

Bihar, UP and Odisha account for the bulk of highly-stressed district courts, shows an analysis based on parameters including pendency rate, infra deficit