Current Affairs - 19 August 2015

General Affairs

PM Modi Takes Data Off Bihar Website to Attack Nitish Government

• NEW DELHI:  Prime Minister Narendra Modi today pitched a BJP government for Bihar at an election rally, reeling off statistics that he said proved there is "jungle raj" in the state.
  
  Riots were up 72 per cent, murders were up 46 per cent and the number of serious crimes were up by a third between January and June this year in Bihar, the Prime Minister alleged, saying he had got his statistics off a Bihar government website.
  
  "Statistics show there is trouble ahead," PM Modi warned and added, "On every parameter, the life of the common man is at peril."
  
  

  The BJP, the PM said, was the only answer. "In this election do you want to stop these murders and riots?  You just have to elect a strong government. You just have to stand by us," the Prime Minster said, to a crowd of about 70,000 in Bihar's Saharsa.
  
  In assembly elections due in Bihar by November, the BJP takes on an alliance of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United, Lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress.
  
  In earlier elections, the BJP and Nitish Kumar fought on the same side and for years accused Lalu Yadav of unleashing "jungle raj" or lawlessness in his party's rule in the state.
  
  Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav, bitter rivals for years have been brought together by a common need to defeat PM Modi's BJP, which almost swept last year's national election months after it was dumped by Mr Kumar.
  
  Nitish Kumar, who ended that alliance when it became clear that Mr Modi would be projected by the BJP as its candidate for prime minister, has been the chief target of the PM's attacks in his election rallies in Bihar.

APJ Abdul Kalam's Inspirational Message Animated in Web Comic

• NEW DELHI:  Late former President APJ Abdul Kalam's inspiring and motivational message and minimalistic lifestyle forms the basis for a new art based web comic.
  
  A quote by the "Missile Man of India" from his 1999 autobiography "Wings of Fire" has been animated by Zen Pencils, online comic portal by Australia-based freelance artist Gavin Aung Than.
  
  The comic begins with a depiction of a young girl whose passion for swimming is frowned at by persons of authority presumably her parents.
  
  

  Than introduces Dr Kalam's words intended to equip at least a few young people to stand up to the authoritarianism in society.
  
  "A characteristic feature of the authoritarianism in our society is its insidious ability to addict people to the endless pursuit of external rewards, wealth, prestige, position, promotion, approval of one's lifestyle by others, ceremonial honours and status symbols of all kinds," Dr Kalam wrote.
  
  "To successfully pursue these goals they have to learn elaborate rules of etiquette and familiarize themselves with customs, traditions protocols and so on.
  
  "The youth of today must unlearn this self-defeating way of life," said the country's 11th President.
  
  In his autobiography Dr Kalam recounts how he, a poor country boy from the small town of Rameswaram went on to study physics, work his way through the ranks of the Defence Research and Development Organisation and then the Indian Space Research Organisation. He visited NASA and the Goddard Space Flight Centre in the United States during the height of the space race.
  
  The scientist, aeronautical engineer and writer had during his 40 year scientific career pioneered India's space missile and nuclear programmes.

Witness Number 20 Turns Hostile in Ajmer Blast Case

• JAIPUR, RAJASTHAN:  One more witness in the Ajmer shrine blasts case, Ram Charan Patel turned hostile in a Jaipur court today, bringing the total number of hostile witnesses to 20, in a case in which the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has charged right wing extremists including some Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) members for the blast which killed three people in 2007.
  
  Mr Patel had testified to providing shelter to a key accused, including bomb planters, has now retracted. Earlier, these statements were recorded in before a judicial magistrate to ensure there is no pressure from investigators. But starting in November 2014, they began to turn hostile claiming that they were pressured by the anti-terror agency to testify. The last such flip by a witness was in May 2015.
  
  

  The RSS is BJP's ideological mentor, and heads the Sangh Parivar, an umbrella of Hindu nationalist organisations.  
  
  Earlier in June, Rohini Salian, the special public prosecutor in the Malegaon case where again Sangh Parivar members are accused had said since the government changed, she has been asked to go soft on the case by an NIA official.

Maggi Row: Food Safety Regulator Reviewing Court's Order, Yet to Decide on Future Course

• NEW DELHI:  Food safety regulator FSSAI is reviewing the Bombay High Court order that last week quashed its order to ban Maggi, and has not yet decided if it will challenge the order in Supreme Court.
  
  The Bombay High Court had on August 13 quashed the orders of FSSAI and Maharashtra FDA banning nine variants of Maggi noodles in the country.
  
  The court had provided a conditional relief to the popular snack's manufacturer Nestle India as it ordered a fresh test of samples in three independent laboratories across India.
  
  

  "Nothing has been decided so far on approaching Supreme Court. As of now we are reviewing the court's order," a senior FSSAI official said.
  
  The court had said that if the fresh tests show that lead content was below permissible limit, then the company will be allowed to manufacture and sell Maggi again in the country.
  
  When contacted a health ministry official said, "We are studying the order and will go by the rule book."
  
  Following the court's order, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) Chairman Ashish Bahuguna had said "Supreme Court option is neither ruled in nor ruled out."
  
  Mr Bahuguna also said that if he finds that the court had not taken regulator's submissions only then he will think of going to Supreme Court.
  
  FSSAI and FDA in first week of June had ordered the recall of Maggi noodles saying the samples of noodles tested by them contained 'lead beyond permissible limit'.

Ranil Wickremesinghe to Return as Sri Lankan Prime Minister

• COLOMBO:  Incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe is set to take oath as Sri Lanka's new Prime Minister of a unity government today after his United National Party (UNP) appears close to a simple majority, with rival Mahinda Rajapaksa admitting defeat in the closely contested parliamentary polls.
  
  Wickremasinghe, 66, would take oath in a simple ceremony at the Presidential Secretariat and the cabinet of national government would be appointed later, media reports said.
  
  The UNP appears to have won at least 11 of the 22 electoral districts with the rival UPFA winning 8 districts.
  
  

  "I invite all of you to join hands," Wickremesinghe today said in a statement as the count neared completion.
  
  "Let us together build a civilised society, build a consensual government and create a new country," he added.
  
  The UPFA's big victory margins in January presidential election, however, have not been affected by the UNP's gains or the votes that have gone to the Marxist JVP or the People's Liberation Front.
  
  Although the final result is yet to be announced, election authorities said the UNP will fall short of a simple majority of 113 in the 225-member assembly.
  
  In the north's Tamil districts, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) appears to have made a clean sweep by winning three districts.
  
  Meanwhile, Rajapaksa, 69, said his UPFA had lost after a close battle with UNP.
  
  The two-time president was quoted in the media reports as saying that he conceded defeat "after a good fight".
  
  President Maithripala Sirisena had vowed not to make Rajapaksa premier even if his UPFA wins a majority.
  
  A group of Sirisena supporters is likely to join a broad-based national unity government led by Wickremesinghe, who was appointed as Premier soon after Sirisena came into power.
  
  Sirisena was Rajapaksa's health minister until he came forward as the opposition unity candidate to challenge the then president last year.
  
  He then handed Rajapaksa a shock defeat in the polls. A total of 196 members have been elected for a five-year term while 29 will be appointed based on the national proportion of votes polled by each party.

Business Affairs 

Bad debts cloud outlook for private sector banks

• Private sector banks have seen their loan books deteriorate at a faster pace than state-owned peers over the past three quarters, raising concerns that a slower economic recovery could mean writedowns estimated at around $1.5 billion.

  The spike at private sector lenders such as ICICI Bank and Axis Bank follows a push to grab market share from dominant state banks.

  They account for some 70 per cent of all outstanding loans but have pulled back on new credit for much of the past year, to keep a lid on bad debt.

  Investors, who have long favoured private banks for their comparative nimbleness and cleaner balance sheets, say the higher exposure to heavily indebted companies is becoming a cause for concern in an economy that has been slow to take off.

  "What has happened is that there are a few large accounts in the infrastructure and metals space that have stressed balance sheets in the private banks," said Mahesh Patil, co-chief investment officer at fund managers Birla Sun Life Asset Management which holds shares in Indian banks.

  "That is something we are concerned about and we are watching the sector very carefully."

  According to numbers reported by the banks, state banks hold $44 billion of nearly $50 billion gross loans classified as bad.

  But Reuters calculations based on publicly available data show the problem is growing at a faster pace at private banks.

  Combined gross bad loans at 15 publicly traded private sector lenders, excluding restructured loans, grew quarter-on-quarter at 7.5 per cent, 6.9 per cent and 10.4 per cent over the past three quarters to the end of June, the calcuations show.

  That compares to state banks, where sour debt grew at 6.2 per cent, 3.2 per cent and 8.8 per cent, respectively.

  The Indian arm of ratings agency Fitch estimates private sector banks - or those with a heavy corporate exposure - could be forced to take a hit of around Rs 100 billion ($1.5 billion).

  Corporate sector has one of the highest debt levels among emerging markets and one of the lowest interest coverage ratios, a measure of the ability to repay - a problem given a substantial economic recovery could come only in 2016-17.

  Against this background, analysts have raised concerns over the growing exposure of private sector banks to sectors including steel, infrastructure and power, questioning loans provided or refinanced even after these sectors started to show signs of strain.

  A financial stability report published by the central bank in June said that under its worst case scenario, private sector banks' gross bad loan ratio could almost double.

  In a note based on public records but disputed by several of the banks quoted, investment bank UBS wrote last month that loan approvals to stressed companies by banks it covers rose 85 per cent in the past three years.

  Axis Bank, for example, has lent to some of the most troubled Indian infrastructure and steel heavyweights including Jaiprakash Associates and Essar Steel.

  It said in July that Jaiprakash was meeting its obligations with "some delay".

  "We are very conscious of the state of these groups and continue to monitor these exposures," Axis Bank Executive Director V. Srinivasan said.

  "If we take any additional exposure it is against very high quality collateral and cashflows. Other banks such as ICICI which saw bad loans in the quarter to June rise 40 per cent year-on-year are rapidly expanding into retail banking to vary their loan book. Finally all banks are in the same ocean of water," said Uday Kotak, managing director at Kotak Mahindra Bank.

  Country's fourth-largest private sector lender said it saw bad loans surge after the $2.4 billion acquisition of ING Vysya Bank. ($1 = Rs 65.3200)

Moody's lowers India's growth forecast to 7% on monsoon concerns

• Rating agency Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday lowered India's growth forecast to 7 per cent for 2015, from 7.5 per cent projected earlier, citing monsoon concerns and cautioned that further risks to growth stems from slow pace of reforms.

  "We have revised our GDP growth forecast down to around 7 per cent, in light of a drier than average monsoon although rainfall was not as low as feared at the start of the season", Moody's Investors Service said in its 'Global Macro Outlook for 2015-16'.

  Saying that India's growth outlook is resilient beyond short-term monsoon effects, Moody's has retained growth forecast for 2016 at 7.5 per cent. "One main risk to our forecast is that the pace of reforms slows significantly as consensus behind the need for reform weakens once the least controversial aspects of the governments plan have been implemented", Moody's said. It said as a net importer of commodities, India's growth outlook benefits from the fall in commodity prices over the past year. Also the country is little affected by demand from China and more generally slower global trade growth.

  Moody's said economic activity will continue to strengthen on the back of a gradual implementation of reforms that foster domestic and foreign investment. Consumption growth will continue to be supported by large income gains as inflation has fallen to relatively low levels by the country's past standards and favourable demographics.

  "Barring a large shock to commodity prices or food inflation, we think that the central banks inflation targets are achievable", it added. Maintaining inflation at lower levels than in the past will support real incomes and spending.

  "As long as the central banks objective is credible, it will also foster investment by providing more visibility about future revenue growth and margins", Moody's said. It added that growth in 2015-16 will also be supported by an accommodative fiscal policy stance and the budget focuses on sustained economic growth as a driver of narrower deficits.

Slump in Indian corporate earnings set to continue

• Corporate India looks to be heading for its fourth consecutive drop in quarterly net profit as companies battle cheap imports and delay investments to expand capacity due to high interest rates.

  This prolonged slump would make it tougher for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to hold to its plan to accelerate economic growth to over 8 per cent in the fiscal year ending March 2016, from 7.3 per cent the previous year.

  The collective net profit of 80 Indian companies, each with a market value of more than $100 million, fell 8 per cent in the April-June quarter, year-on-year, according to Thomson Reuters data.

  And the decline is expected to continue in the current quarter that runs to the end of September: analysts forecast net profit will fall 6 per cent at these firms, which include mobile carrier Bharti Airtel, IT services exporter Infosys, and Tata Motors, according to the data.

  Corporate India is expected to have to wait until the following quarter to see a pick-up - analysts forecast earnings will rise 8 per cent in the three months to December, ending four quarters of falling profits.

  But this will still be some way short of the double-digit growth seen early last year.

  JSW Steel, India's third-largest steelmaker, posted its first consolidated quarterly loss in seven quarters last month, hit by a sharp fall in steel prices and a flood of cheap imports of the alloy into the country.

  "Margins are under pressure across the industry in spite of commodity prices coming down," said Joint Managing Director Seshagiri Rao.

  "Demand is not improving and there is this threat of imports, all these things together I think margins will be really under pressure even going forward," he told Reuters. "There is definitely a case for (a) reduction in interest rate."

  India executives say the threat of cheaper imports of goods ranging from steel to electronics has risen significantly with the Chinese economy slowing down and global companies looking for new markets for their products.

  "These (imports) are substantially at lower prices, aided by depreciation of yuan, depreciation of yen and depreciation of won relative to rupee. That is also a major pressure point for the prices to come down in India," Rao said.

  While a drop in the prices of the crude oil and some raw materials in recent months is a positive for many Indian corporates, the impact on earnings will be countered by sluggish demand, forcing companies to delay investments that would boost economic growth.

  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reduced its policy rate by three-quarters of a per centage point, to 7.25 per cent, since embarking on an easing cycle in January, but the benefits for the broader economy have been limited because of commercial banks' reluctance to lower their lending rates.

  R. Shankar Raman, chief financial officer of conglomerate Larsen & Toubro said the private sector was in "a very difficult situation".

  "We have a peculiar situation where, before the private sector comes to invest ... the overall viability of the business should improve."

SAT upholds $7.5-bn refund order against PACL

• The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has upheld a decision by the market regulator ordering property developer PACL to return $7.5 billion to investors, in a case seen as a test of the watchdog's ability to clamp down on unregulated investment products.

  PACL had appealed an order from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) last year that deemed the company's investment products illegal for not complying with rules on so-called collective investment schemes.

  In its order, Sebi said PACL was selling fixed-return investment products disguised as land-for-fund schemes. It told the firm to return Rs 49,100 crore ($7.52 billion) it raised from 58.5 million customers.

  PACL argued it sold land to customers and not investment products.

  But the SAT, in an order published on Tuesday, backed the regulator.

  Sebi has stepped up its scrutiny of unregistered investment products over the past two years, plugging regulatory loopholes that had long allowed unregulated entities to raise billions of dollars from small investors. Many ended up losing their life savings in pyramid schemes.

  In 2015 alone, Sebi has passed 91 new orders closing down unregulated funds and demanding refunds for investors.

  However, critics still question the regulator's ability to enforce its directives, citing the example of conglomerate Sahara, which has yet to pay back $5.7 billion to investors despite the Supreme Court upholding Sebi's case two years ago. Sahara, whose founder is in jail, says it has reimbursed investors.

China stocks slump 6 per cent on fears of further yuan depreciation

• Chinese stocks plunged on Tuesday as the yuan weakened against the dollar reigniting fears that Beijing may be intent on a deeper devaluation of the currency despite the central bank's comments that it sees no reason for a further slide.

  "Concerns that companies may pull more money out of China as the economy slows and speculation that the government may begin to scale back its massive support for the
  country's stock markets also prompted investors to take profits after a run-up in prices over the last few weeks", traders said.

  The Shanghai Composite Index closed down 6.1 per cent at 3749.12 points in its biggest daily decline since July 27 snapping a three-day winning streak. The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen fell 6.2 per cent at 3825.41. Volatility in both indexes spiked in the afternoon in what is becoming a mysteriously recurring pattern in China's stock markets since Beijing stepped in to avert a full-blown price crash in early summer.

  The yuan fell against the dollar on Tuesday despite a slightly stronger midpoint set by the central bank and traders expect the currency to remain under downward pressure as the economy struggles. The People's Bank of China devalued the currency last week by nearly 2 per cent triggering an avalanche of selling by investors who feared Beijing wanted to engineer a much sharper decline to support weak exports.

  The PBOC was later forced to step into the market and tell state banks to support the currency. Shares of importers and firms with high US dollar-denominated debt have been under pressure along with Chinese airlines which face higher fuel bills following the devaluation.

  The central bank made its biggest injection of funds into money markets in more than six months early on Tuesday adding to worries that liquidity was tightening as investors moved more capital out of the country. Minsheng Securities estimated 800 billion yuan ($125 billion) had flowed out in July and August alone.

  Investors have also grown more concerned that Beijing may begin to withdraw its unprecedented support for share prices. China's securities regulator said last Friday that the government will allow market forces to play a bigger role in determining stock prices, the first official signal from Beijing that it could be moderating its efforts to prop up its equity markets via state-backed financial institutions.

  "The CSRC made it clear last week that the state will withdraw from regular market intervention to support share prices," said a senior trader at a major Chinese brokerage in Shanghai.

  "Because sentiment has been weak since the sharp fall that began in June, people believe the market itself cannot support current share price levels without the state's support", the trader said.

  Selling was broad based. The CSI 300 infrastructure index fell 8.4 per cent, the energy index dropped 6.1 per cent, and the real estate index tumbled 7.3 per cent despite data which showed Chinese home prices rose for the third month in a row in July.

General Awareness

Important Mobile Phone Makers Countries List

• • Hello Friends,
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    Australia	1	Kogan
    Bangladesh	1	Walton
    Brazil	2	Gradiente Positivo
    Canada	1	BlackBerry
    China	16	Huawei BBK Coolpad Gionee Haier Lenovo Meizu OnePlus Sagetel formerly Ningbo Bird Technology Happy Life TCL Corporation Vivo Electronics Xiaomi Tech Zopo Mobile ZTE oppo
    Czech Republic	2	Jablotron Verzo
    Denmark	1	Lumigon
    Finland	3	JollaMicrosoft MobileTwig Com
    France	6	Alcatel Archos Bull MobiWire Thomson Wiko
    Germany	5	AEG Grundig Mobile Telefunken Tiptel Siemens
    India	16	Celkon Mobiles HCL Technologies iball Intex Technologies Karbonn Mobiles Lava Mobiles Micromax Mobile Olive Telecommunications Onida Electronics Reliance Communications Simmtronics Spice Digital Videocon WickedLeak XOLO YU Televentures
    Indonesia	4	Nexian Evercoss MITO Polytron
    Italy	5	Brondi NGM Olivetti Onda Mobile Communication Telit (discontinued)
    Japan	12	Fujitsu Kyocera Communications Mitsubishi Electric (discontinued) NEC NEC Casio Mobile Communications Panasonic Sanyo Sansui Sharp Corporation Sony Mobile Communications Toshiba
    Latvia	1	Just5
    Malaysia	2	M Dot Ninetology
    Mexico	3	Kyoto Electronics Lanix Zonda
    Netherlands	3	Fairphone John’s Phone Philips
    North Korea	1	Koryolink
    Pakistan	2	QMobile Voice Mobile
    Philippines	3	Cherry Mobile (Re-brand of China made phones) Starmobile (Re-brand of China made phones) Cloudfone (Globe Telecom Phone)
    Poland	1	Manta Multimedia
    Romania	1	Allview
    Russia	7	Explay Gresso Highscreen RoverPC teXet Sitronics Yotaphone
    South Korea	5	KT Tech LG Pantech Samsung VK Mobile (discontinued)
    Spain	3	Bq GeeksPhone Vitelcom
    Sweden	3	Doro Ericsson (discontinued) Nautiz by Handheld Group
    Taiwan	8	Acer Asus BenQ DBTel Dopod E-TEN Gigabyte Technology HTC
    Thailand	4	AIS DTAC True Wellcom
    Tunisia	1	Evertek
    United Arab Emirates	1	Thuraya
    United Kingdom	5	Binatone Bullitt Group INQ (discontinued) Sendo (discontinued) Vertu
    United States	9	Amazon Apple BLU Firefly Google Nexus InfoSonics Microsoft Mobile Motorola Mobility Sonim