Friday Key Developments Finance Bill Proposes Amendments For
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February 12, 2021 – Friday Key Developments Finance Bill proposes amendments for enabling FPIs to subscribe to listed debt of REITs, InvITs The finance ministry on Thursday said the Finance Bill has proposed amendments permitting foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) an entry into debt financing of emerging investment vehicles REITs and InvITs. In the Union Budget for 2021-22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to permit FPIs to invest in listed debt securities issued by REITs and InvITs. In this context, the Government of India as part of the Finance Bill, 2021, has proposed amendments in the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 and Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992. Amendments have also been proposed in the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 and the Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/finance-bill-proposes-amendments-for-enabling- fpis-to-subscribe-to-listed-debt-of-reits-invits/articleshow/80867709.cms Air travel becomes expensive: Govt raises limits on domestic airfares by 10-30 pc Passengers will have to shell out more money for air travel from now as the Civil Aviation Ministry on Thursday increased the lower and upper limits on domestic airfares by 10 to 30 per cent.These new limits would remain “in force up to March 31, 2021, or until further orders”, the ministry said its order on Thursday. While announcing the resumption of scheduled domestic flights on May 21 last year, the ministry had placed limits on airfares through seven bands classified on the basis of flight duration. The first such band consists of flights that are of less than 40 minutes duration. The lower limit for the first band was increased on Thursday from Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,200. The upper limit in this band was set at Rs 7,800, which was Rs 6,000 earlier. https://www.financialexpress.com/lifestyle/travel-tourism/air-travel-becomes-expensive-govt-raises-limits-on- domestic-airfares-by-10-30-pc/2192888/ Centre hints at regulatory guidelines for social media A day after the Centre’s warning to Twitter, Union Cabinet Minister for Information Technology and Law Ravi Shankar Prasad indicated that stronger regulatory measures are on the anvil for social media. Prasad told Rajya Sabha on Thursday that his department and the Information and Broadcasting Ministry are working on specific guidelines for social-media platforms. “The work is in progress,” he said, and asked social-media platforms to strictly follow Indian laws and the Constitution, especially on reasonable restrictions to freedom of speech. Prasad reiterated the government’s stated firmness on the direction to Twitter to suspend about 500 accounts and the counter-assertion by the microblogging site on grounds of freedom of speech. The Minister asserted that no platform is above the Constitution of the country. https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/national/centre-hints-at-regulatory-guidelines-for-social- media/article33812383.ece?homepage=true Skill development ministry to move an amendment to Apprenticeship Act, 1961 in monsoon session In a move aimed at improving the ease of doing business for employers and widening the scope of apprentices, the skill development ministry will move an amendment to the Apprenticeship Act, 1961 in the monsoon session of Parliament. Some of the changes in the decades old Act include outsourcing apprentice aggregation to third-party and expanding the definition of establishment to include new sectors like trade, commerce or any industrial activity. Further, the government plans to open up apprenticeship opportunities for students while pursuing education while allowing employers to send their apprentices on the manufacturing locations abroad and allowing virtual training of theoretical components, the skills development secretary Praveen Kumar said. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/skill-development-ministry-to-move-an- amendment-to-apprenticeship-act-1961-in-monsoon-session/articleshow/80863465.cms Economy Inflation staying above 6% seen as risk to RBI's interest rates path India’s central bank may have to propose raising interest rates if inflation holds above its target for a third straight quarter, prompting monetary and fiscal policy makers to double down on efforts to keep prices in check, according to a person familiar with the matter. Headline inflation has stayed above 6% for the past two quarters, and breaching that level during the January-March period would require the Reserve Bank of India to inform the government in writing why its Monetary Policy Committee failed to meet its goal of keeping price-growth within the 2%-6% band mandated by law. The central bank would also be required to suggest remedial action, which in this case would be to raise interest rates to douse price pressures, the person said, asking not to be identified as the deliberations are private. Any rate hike proposed as a remedy risks snuffing out a nascent recovery in Asia’s third-largest economy, the person said. https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/inflation-staying-above-6-seen-as-risk-to-rbi-s- interest-rates-path-121021101014_1.html India at forefront in global efforts to fight Covid-19: President Kovind President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday said India has been at the forefront in the global efforts to forge a decisive and coordinated response to COVID-19 to ensure collective health and economic well-being.Addressing an event, he said under the government of India's vaccine maitri initiative, highly affordable vaccines made in India have already reached several countries, re-enforcing its reputation as the pharmacy of the world. The president accepted credentials from Ambassador/High Commissioner from the Republic of El Salvador, Panama, Tunisia, the United Kingdom and the Argentine Republic in a virtual ceremony, according to a statement issued by Rashtrapati Bhavan.Kovind conveyed his good wishes to the envoys on their appointment. https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/india-at-forefront-in-global-efforts-to-fight-covid-19- president-kovind-121021101075_1.html Targeting to conclude BPCL strategic sale by June: DIPAM Secy The government is targeting to conclude the strategic sale of BPCL in the June quarter, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said on Thursday. “I think we are targeting the first quarter (of 2021-22 fiscal). The engagement is intense now, it is at the due diligence stage. Our process is of value maximisation, and we have to take all precautions to see the value is maximised,” Pandey said at an event organised by Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund. The government has received three preliminary bids for buying of controlling stake in India’s second-largest fuel retailer Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL). https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/targeting-to-conclude-bpcl-strategic-sale-by-june-dipam- secy/2192910/ India's 'legacy challenges' have grown in scale and intensity: Army chief In a reference to the eastern Ladakh row, Chief of Army Staff Gen MM Naravane on Thursday said the situation along the northern frontier highlighted the nature of threats facing India in preserving its territorial integrity and sovereignty, noting that the "legacy challenges" have only grown in scale and intensity.He said while the Indian Army will continue to prepare and adapt to the future challenges, the more "proximate, real and present dangers" on India's "active borders" cannot be ignored.The Army Chief was addressing a seminar organised by Centre for Land Warfare Studies, a leading military think-tank.For the last nine months, thousands of Indian and Chinese troops have been engaged in a bitter border standoff in eastern Ladakh that created severe strain in overall bilateral ties. On Thursday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced in Parliament that both sides reached an agreement on disengagement of troops in the north and south bank of Pangong lake which is a major face-off site. https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/india-s-legacy-challenges-have-grown-in-scale-and- intensity-army-chief-121021101147_1.html Ministry in talks for skilled overseas jobs for Indians The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has identified job opportunities for about 3.7 million skilled Indian workers abroad in the blue- and grey-collared categories. The jobs are in 15 countries including the Gulf, the US, Germany, Switzerland, Singapore and New Zealand and Australia, over the next five years. The Ministry is trying to collaborate with its foreign partners to lay down mutually acceptable parameters for the same, a government official has said. The Ministry is also hopeful that a draft Cabinet note for amending the Apprenticeship Act, 1961, to enhance employment opportunities in pace with changing nature of work space, will be submitted in April 2021 after discussions with stakeholders, MSDE Secretary Praveen Kumar said. https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/ministry-in-talks-for-skilled-overseas-jobs-for- indians/article33813618.ece DMEO to evaluate 28 centrally sponsored schemes: Rao Inderjit Singh The Development, Monitoring and Evaluation Office, under the aegis of NITI Aayog, has undertaken the evaluation of centrally sponsored schemes under 28 umbrella schemes, planning minister Rao Inderjit Singh said in response to a question in Rajya