Viral Acharya’s exit raises fresh questions over RBI’s independence

• Acharya, who joined RBI as a deputy governor in January 2017, was supposed to complete three years in his role
• While it is not yet known who will succeed Acharya, expectations are that it will be an external candidate

Making of Azim Premji: The Philanthropist

The inside story of how Wipro’s founder meticulously put in place the plan to give away his fortune to charity

L&T tightens its grip on Mindtree, buys out Nalanda Capital’s stake

• If L&T achieves all its share purchase targets, it will end up holding 66% in Mindtree, worth at least ₹10,800 crore
• Last week, L&T launched its open offer to buy a 31% stake from the public shareholders of Mindtree

Cabinet gives its nod to rules that aim to make roads safer

• The road transport and highways ministry is expected to present the bill in the ongoing Parliament session
• The bill also has a provision that allows the c entre to recall vehicles, in case a defect in the vehicle is causing harm to the environment or the people

Same sex couples in India lack basic financial rights

• No legal documentation to prove their union presents hurdles for LGBTQ+ partners
• Lack of insurance coverage from partners means that LGBTQ+ Indians need to have a higher rate of savings

Huawei offers India a ‘no back door’ pact

• Huawei, facing pressure from the US, hopes the ‘no back door’ pact will assuage India’s security concerns
• Since the last year, the US has been pressing its allies to ban Chinese firm Huawei from 5G roll-outs

IndiaMart IPO off to strong start: Key things to know before you invest

• IndiaMart is the first company to test IPO market under Modi 2.0
• At the upper end of the price band, IndiaMart offer is expected to raise about ₹475 crore

Why the government is pushing EVs to fight climate change

• The accord aims to pursue efforts to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels
• Mint looks at the government’s effort towards rapid adoption of electric mobility as a way to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions

Reliable estimate of black money not possible, says panel

• The maximum amount of black money was generated in sectors like real estate and mining, according to studies
• NCAER estimates put wealth stashed outside India from 1980 to 2010 at $384-490 billion

Sebi board plans to tighten rules for pledged shares by promoters

• Regulator to widen the definition of encumbrance and heighten disclosures on encumbered shares
• Move comes in the wake of the recent spotlight on MFs’ exposure to loan against share scheme

Cabinet clears amendments to strengthen NIA, widen its ambit

• Once both Houses of Parliament approve amendments, the agency will investigate terror cases abroad
• The proposal to amend both the NIA Act and the UAPA has been in the pipeline since 2017

Pompeo discusses Iran with Gulf allies amid escalating crisis

• The talks covered protection for ships in the Gulf, after attacks on tankers in recent weeks that US has blamed on Iran
• Pompeo and Prince Mohammed reiterate that the ‘two countries stand side by side in confronting the hostile Iranian activities and in combating terrorism’

RBI plans for transferring excess reserves opposed and delayed

• Sources say Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg is in favour of higher transfer
• Deputy Governor Viral Acharya, whose resignation was only disclosed on Monday, had also defended the RBI's excess reserves

BJP, Congress spar over Kovind’s address in Parliament, governance record

• Senior leaders of both parties took political potshots during lengthy discussions in both the Houses of Parliament
• Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Choudhary took on the BJP government on issues of economy, unemployment among others

Congress disbands district panels in UP, to examine charges of indiscipline

• The party named leader of Cong’ s legislative party, Ajay Kumar Lallu, as in-charge for organizational changes in east UP
• The move comes on the back of Congress’ worst ever performance in the state, where it won just one Lok Sabha constituency out of 80 seats

Number of wilful defaulters in nationalised banks up 60% to 8,582 in 5 years

• Recovery of ₹7,654 crore has been done from wilful defaulters' accounts during the last five financial years, the FM said
• The minister was replying to a question whether the cases of wilful defaulters of banks have increased during the last five years

Donald Trump imposes new U.S. sanctions on Iran, including supreme leader

• Donald Trump also said the sanctions would have been imposed regardless of the incident over the drone
• The Trump administration wants to force Tehran to open talks on its nuclear and missile programmes and its activities in the region

As US-China row rages, Asean cautions against a zero-sum game

• Leaders agrees to lead the shaping of the economic and security architecture of the Indo-Pacific region
• The document is significant as it seems to seek a distance between China and other powers who have unveiled Indo-Pacific strategies, most notably the US

SC seeks centre, Bihar govt reply to PIL over deaths due to AES

• A probe has been ordered against Union health minister Harsh Vardhan and Bihar minister Mangal Pandey
• Inadequate steps to prevent the outbreak, coupled with negligence have resulted in several deaths, it alleged

Viral Acharya’s exit from Reserve Bank takes away a key voice of dissent

• Deputy governor Acharya was one of the dissenters in Feb and Apr monetary policy meetings
• The exit before Acharya’s term ends has rekindled concerns over RBI’s independence

Equity investors need to reset their return expectations from the markets

The decision to make is whether you want to take a call on the economy picking up a bit and buy into beaten down sectors, says Manish Gunwani, chief information officer, equity, Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management

Weakness in key biz segments casts a shadow of gloom on Bharat Forge’s earnings

• Medium, heavy commercial vehicle sales have been falling on a year-on-year basis for the last six months
• The overall cyclical weakness in these key segments has resulted in negative sentiment on the Street

BSP and SP will no longer contest polls together: Mayawati

• The attitude of the SP leadership has made her party realize they won’t be able to defeat the BJP in future, she said
• The announcement comes a month after the announcement of the results of the Lok Sabha elections, which the two parties contested as allies against BJP

Do you need a dengue-specific health cover?

• The rising number of dengue cases in India has prompted some insurance companies to offer dengue insurance policies. But is it value for money?
• It is wiser to invest in regular health cover with higher sum insured than to buy many disease-specific plans

Mahindra Finance looks to raise $460 million from offshore markets

• NBFC is in process of raising $160 mn in overseas loans, could raise another $300 mn via offshore bonds
• Mahindra Finance is looking to tap the overseas markets to raise funds through a mix of loans, bonds

LIC cuts 2% stake in Axis Bank

• LIC sold 5,25,06,202 shares through open market
• With the sale of these shares, stake of LIC in the private sector bank has now come down to 10.2%

Governments must regulate social networks: Facebook's Clegg

• Clegg told an audience in Berlin that countries like China would not wait for the west to set standards for the internet
• Clegg, the former leader of British Liberal Democrats party, said there was a 'pressing need' for new 'rules of the road' on issues including data privacy and election rules

Promoters sell 10% stake in Emami for ₹1,230 crore

• Promoters, who now own 52.74% in the firm, don’t intend to dilute the stake further
• The latest stake sale follows a 10% stake sale by promoters in Feb that helped them raise ₹1,600 crore

Long-term investors look for stability, which India has: Asit Bhatia

• Bhatia, managing director, global corporate and investment banking, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, focuses on the outlook for foreign capital inflows
• We have seen RBI and govt have a commonality of views. Therefore, they will ensure confidence returns, says Asit Bhatia

India, US nearing industrial security pact for defence tech transfers

• A draft of the agreement called Industrial Security Annex will go up before the Union cabinet for approval in the next few weeks
• Lockheed Martin and Boeing are both in the race for a deal estimated at over $15 billion to supply the Indian Air Force with 114 fighter planes to replace its ageing fleet of Mig 21 jets

Changing to batteries will not reduce one iota of pollution: Venu Srinivasan

• This is not like Aadhaar, not a software and print cards, TVS Motor Co Chairman & Managing Director Venu Srinivasan said
• Bajaj Auto Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj added that 100% transition is completely uncalled for

Jet Airways creditors asked to submit claims by 4 July

• The airline owes over ₹8,500 crore to a consortium of 26 banks led by State Bank
• The resolution professional for Jet Airways has invited claims from all creditors to the grounded airline

At 8 mn, Jio adds the most subscribers in April; Airtel loses the most at 3.3 mn

• Mobile phone customer base grew by 490,000 subscribers to 1.16 billion in April, says a TRAI report
• State-run BSNL was the only other gainer with over 0.2 million new subscribers taking its total tally to around 115.9 million

Opinion | Give financial pride to LGBTQ+ community

Many partnered gay couples end up having problems with bequeathing their wealth

SRF: Robust growth in specialty chemicals biz yields good crop for now

• The backward integration, wide product portfolio in fluorochemicals are giving SRF a competitive advantage
• Revenues and net profit surged 35% and 39%, respectively, in FY19

63 Moons files complaint against DPIIT secretary

• Company claims Ramesh Abhishek ‘misled’ government on its merger with NSEL
• Former regulator FMC had written to govt recommending 63 Moons’ merger with NSEL

Bhupathi’s beauty brand Scentials raises funding from Unilever Ventures

• The startup plans to use the funds to ramp up its distribution and marketing platform, Bhupathi said
• The company is centered on designing, developing, manufacturing and distributing products through multiple brands

How upskilling can make the return to work easier

Updating your knowledge and skills to what an employer needs now and in the near future is the only way to overcome the perceived shortcoming of a break in career

For this serial entrepreneur, travel sparks business ideas

Jaypore’s Shilpa Sharma says travel has steered her into interesting meetings and entrepreneurship opportunities

CIL’s relaxed production target still looks stiff

• It took the company three years to increase production from around 500 mt in FY16 to 606 mt in FY19
• To meet its FY25 target, annual incremental production would need to be almost twice that rate at 66 mt a year

Illicit money outflows average 10% of GDP: Parliamentary panel

• The finding was part of a report by The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance
• The sectors where unaccounted income is found to be highest included real estate, mining, pharmaceuticals, tobacco industry, film industry, educational institutes

Opinion | Our premature push for electric vehicles

The government should reconsider its rush to get India to adapt to a mode of transport whose  overall  benefits  to  Earth  are  unclear.  Let the market  disrupt  the  auto  sector  on  its  own

IPO long-term strategy, currently focused on driving e-commerce growth: Flipkart

• The statement comes amid reports that Flipkart is looking at tapping into the US equity market by 2022
• An IPO has always been part of Flipkart's ambitions and long-term strategy but right now, we don't have a time frame on that, a Flipkart spokesperson said

8 Maruti Suzuki models among top 10 best selling cars in India

• Maruti Swift was the best-selling model last month clocking 17,039 units
• Maruti Dzire sold 16,196 units last month, occupying the third position

IndiGo Mumbai-Jaipur flight makes emergency landing after oil leak

• The number of passenger on board the aircraft could not be immediately known
• During the cruise at 31,000 ft, the flight crew after noticing tank fuel quantity getting reduced

Filling Iran oil gap in India: US supplies outshine Middle East crude

• India bought about 184,000 barrels per day oil from US over Nov 2018 to May 2019, compared with about 40,000 bpd in the year-ago period
• Donald Trump's administration renewed sanctions against Iran last year over its nuclear programme

Will digitization cause the next financial crisis?

Digitization and militarization may aggravate the underlying structural conditions behind the Great Depression of 2008 and trigger a similarly dire crisis, says study

Rupee closes near two-week high

• So far this year, the rupee has fallen 0.2% against the US greenback
• The 10-year bond yield was at 6.846%, compared with Friday's close of 6.856%

MEA proposed manufacture of e-passports on priority: Jaishankar

• Jaishankar said the partnership between MEA and Department of Posts is a wonderful example of the best practice in citizen-centric governance
• He said optimal use of the technology should be made along with the tools provided by the government's initiatives under Digital India