Government extends date to claim GST transition credit till Nov 30

NEW DELHI: The government Thursday extended the deadline by a month till November 30 for businesses to claim credit of transitional stock in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. "Form GST TRAN-1 (with revision facility) extended to November 30, 2017," said a tweet by GST@GOI, the official twitter handle of the government for GST. TRAN-1 is to be filed by those businesses that are keen to claim credit for taxes paid before the launch of GST on July 1.

Seven firms in race to be strategic sale advisor for Air India stake sale

NEW DELHI: As many as seven firms, including KPMG, BNP Paribas and Rothschild India Pvt Ltd, are jostling with each other to advise the government for the strategic sale of Air India and its subsidiaries. The other entities that have applied to act as transaction advisor for the share sale are EY, Grant Thornton, Edelweiss and ICICI Securities, according to an update posted on the website of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM). The Cabinet, in June, had decided on strategic disinvestment of the loss-making Air India, which is staying afloat on taxpayers' funds, and a ministerial panel is working on the modalities. Seven law firms, including Hammurabi and Solomon Partners, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, have applied to act as legal advisors in the share sale.

Electronic major eyes 200 acres at JNPT SEZ, says Gadkari

NEW DELHI: Keen to set up an about Rs 6,000 -crore facility at JNPT Special Economic Zone (SEZ), a global electronic major has sought 200 acres there, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said Thursday. JNPT is one of the top 12 major ports under the control of the Centre. "A global electronic major has sought 200 acres of land at JNPT SEZ. It is keen to invest Rs 6,000 crore and create employment to the tune of 40,000," Gadkari, who holds the portfolio of shipping, road transport, highways, water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation, told PTI. However, he did not disclose the name of the firm or the country. Sources said it is an electronic major from Taiwan.

Sensex, Nifty scale new peaks on F&O expiry, earnings cheer

MUMBAI: Extending their record-setting run for the second session, Sensex and Nifty ended at fresh lifetime highs on Thursday on short-covering following derivatives expiry amid optimism over earnings. The BSE Sensex gained 104.63 points to end at 33,147.13, while the broader Nifty spurted 48.45 points to finish at 10,343.80. Both the key indices had climbed to lifetime highs on Wednesday as well, buoyed by the government's massive Rs 9 lakh crore package to boost the economy. The 30-share Sensex resumed lower at 33,025.17 and declined to 32,835.06 in a volatile session on profit booking at higher levels. It later bounced back to touch a record intra-day high of 33,196.17, before finishing at 33,147.13, up 104.63 points, or 0.32 per cent.

Sujit Prasad takes charge as executive director of Sebi

NEW DELHI: Markets regulator Sebi Thursday said Sujit Prasad has taken charge as its executive director. In July, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had promoted two senior employees -- Amarjeet Singh and Nagendraa Parakh -- as executive directors (EDs). Other EDs are P K Nagpal, S Ravindran, S V Murali Dhar Rao, S K Mohanty and Ananta Barua, as per the regulator's website. According to a release issued by Sebi on Thursday, Prasad has taken over as an executive director. In June, the regulator had invited applications for the post of EDs in general as well as legal streams. Sebi had announced that appointments would either be on deputation or contractual basis, for an initial period of three years.

Banks need to handhold MSMEs to push job creation: Rajiv Kumar

NEW DELHI: Banks need to handhold the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector and help it grow as the entities form the backbone of the economic activity and generate a number of jobs, said Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar. The government's decision to provide Rs 2.11 lakh crore capital support through various means, including Rs 1.35 lakh crore of recapitalisation bonds, will not only strengthen the balance sheet of the state-owned lenders, but help them support industries and MSMEs, he said. Citing two major problems of the MSME sector, Kumar said they face cash crunch and limited market access.

RIL, BP submit plan to develop deepest gas find by 2021-22

NEW DELHI: Reliance Industries and its partner BP plc of UK have submitted to the government a $2 -2.5 billion plan to bring to production India's deepest gas discovery by 2021-22. The partners yesterday submitted to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) a field development plan (FDP) for the MJ-1 gas find, which is located about 2,000 meters directly below the currently producing Dhirubhai-1 and 3 (D1 and D3) fields in the eastern offshore KG-D6 block, sources with direct knowledge of the development said. MJ-1 is estimated to hold a minimum of 0.988 Trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of contingent resource. With this, RIL-BP have finalised investment plans totalling $5-5.5 billion.

Housing sales dip 18% in 9 major cities in Jul-Sept quarter

NEW DELHI: Housing sales dropped 18 per cent year-on year to 44,755 units in nine major cities during the September quarter on continued slowdown in the property market, a report said Thursday. New launches of homes fell by 53 per cent to 22,115 units in the second quarter of the current fiscal due to the implementation of new real estate law RERA, said the report by realty portal PropTiger.com. It said seven cities -- Pune, Noida, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Ahmedabad -- witnessed decline in sales as well as launches, while only two cities Mumbai and Gurugram saw rise in demand and supply.

BharatNet phase-1 rollout likely by Dec, says Telecom Secretary

NEW DELHI: The Department of Telecommunications expects to complete the rollout of the first phase of the BharatNet scheme by December, Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said Thursday. BharatNet, previously called the National Optical Fibre Network, is the government's programme to connect 250,000 gram panchayats with high-speed internet. The first phase aims to connect 100,000 villages, and the second phase will cover the remaining 150,000 villages. Under the first phase, the optic fibre network has reached 83,000 gram panchayats, Sundararajan said on Thursday. Stating the importance of optic fibre, she said it is time to recognise that the "digital i-ways are going to be more important than roadways".