New Delhi, June 26
As part of its inflation-control strategy, the government today imposed a Minimum Export Price (MEP) of $450 per tonne on potatoes to increase supply in the domestic market and lower prices.

Annually around 1-2 lakh tonne of potatoes are exported to various destinations. With a view to check the rising prices and augment domestic supplies, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has decided to impose an MEP of $450 per tonne.

As part of the government's effort to rein in food prices, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced that the government would impose export curbs in the form of higher MEP on onions and potatoes.

While the MEP on onion of $300 per tonne was notified on June 17, the same on potatoes was announced today.

As per the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for the month of May, there has been an increase of 40% in the wholesale price of potatoes as compared to their prices in March. Similarly, there was an increase of 30% in the retail price of potatoes for the same period.

Further, rates of potatoes saw an increase of 37% to 114% from March till June in the four metro cities of the country. 

New Delhi, June 26
Companies will now have a more wide range of activities to choose to fulfil the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) norms under the new Companies Act.

The government has expanded the activities allowed and included housing for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), disaster management, rural development, road safety and skill development of agriculture labour under the CSR programmes.

Besides, slum re-development projects will also be covered under "measures for reducing inequalities faced by socially and economically backward groups", which is a permitted CSR activity under the new rules.

Under the new Companies Act, which came into effect from April 1, 2014, certain class of profitable entities is required to shell out at least 2% of their three-year annual average net profit towards CSR activities.

CSR rules are applicable to companies having at least Rs 5 crore net profit, or Rs 1,000 crore turnover, or Rs 500 crore net worth.

In case these entities are unable to spend the required amount, reasons for the same have to be given to the ministry.

Providing more clarity on social welfare spending norms for corporates, the Corporate Affairs Ministry has issued a seven-page circular containing clarifications on which all activities are permitted or not permitted for the new norms.

Works in the areas of disaster relief and setting up of trauma care around highways in case of road accidents would also be covered, while any project meant for development of rural India would be a permitted CSR activity.

The ministry has said the stakeholders must "liberally" interpret the CSR-related provisions of the new Companies Act.

New Delhi, June 26
The Supreme Court today agreed to hear a PIL seeking a directive to the government to immediately recover about Rs 20,000 crore as tax dues from telecom major Vodafone, instead of going ahead with arbitration proceedings.

A summer vacation Bench comprising Justices Vikramajit Sen and Shiva Kirti Singh told the petitioner, former Additional Advocate-General Bishwajit Bhattacharyya, that his plea would be listed for hearing on July 1.

The PIL said the income tax law did not recognise conciliation as a dispute-settlement mechanism.

Vodafone group has initiated an international arbitration despite the Centre appointing former CJI RC Lahoti as arbitrator in the tax dispute case.

According to the government, the transaction is taxable because it involves Indian assets, whereas Vodafone says the transaction was between two overseas companies and as such there is no tax liability under Indian laws.

The government had sent a tax notice to Vodafone in 2007 seeking payment of Rs 7,990 crore which now stands at Rs 20,000 crore, including penalty and interest. The SC had ruled in 2012 that Vodafone was not liable to pay the tax, but the government changed the rules in the Finance Bill 2012, passed by Parliament on March 16, 2012, bringing such transactions under the ambit of the IT Act with retrospective effect.

New Delhi, June 26
In a bid to give fillip to power transmission across the country, the government today approved nine new projects with an aggregate cost of over Rs 12,500 crore.

The fast tracking of putting up of high-capacity inter-state transmission lines will benefit several states such as Haryana, Chhattisgarh, UP, MP, Maharashtra etc, by enabling high-capacity 765kv lines carrying up to 2,100 MW each apart from construction of new 765/400kv substations.

The projects will help evacuate power from central generating stations such as 660MW Sipat of NTPC, 1,600MW Gadarwara, private sector generating stations such as Sassan UMPP (1,320 MW). Congestion will also be reduced in Haryana region by the strengthening of the northern transmission system.

Projects will be developed through tariff-based competitive bidding process inviting participation from all bidders including private sector.

These projects were mainly stuck in the approval process in the government since last several months. The approval to go ahead with implementation was granted immediately.

In the country as a whole, the total inter-regional transmission capacity of about 28,000 MW will be added in the next 3 years so that the total capacity is enhanced to more than 66,000 MW by 2017.

Mumbai, June 26
The RBI today said the overall asset quality of banks has improved in the recent past with a reduction in bad loans, although systemic risks have increased.

"Banking sector risks have increased since December 2013, as shown by the Banking Stability Indicator.

"Though there was a marginal improvement in asset quality, concerns remain about the liquidity and profitability aspects. Stress tests indicate higher vulnerability for public sector banks as compared to their private sector counterparts," the RBI said in its ninth Financial Stability Report released today.

However, the RBI said further significant deterioration was unlikely under normal conditions.

The report said the marginal improvement was due to sales of non-performing assets and an overall improvement in asset quality by banks during the March quarter.

It said stress on the system has increased mainly due to liquidity and profitability pressures. The decline in the growth rate of credit and risk-weighted assets of banks, coupled with a decrease in Tier-1 leverage ratios, indicates efforts at repairing balance sheets have been rewarding.

The half-yearly report said various banking stability measures, based on co-movements in bank equity prices, indicate that distress dependencies within the banking system, which were rising during H2 of 2013, have remained at the same level since January 2014 mainly due to improved sentiments in stock prices.

The stress tests indicate the need for a higher level of provisioning to meet the expected losses of banks under adverse macroeconomic conditions.

BRIEFLY

Flipkart unveils tablet for Rs 9,999
New Delhi:Flipkart today launched its calling tablet for Rs 9,999. The 7-inch tablet branded Digiflip Pro is expected to help the domestic online marketplace increase revenue and expand its presence in the multi-billion dollar electronics business. — PTI