INDIA, UK TO GO FOR STRONGER DEFENCE TIES
NEW DELHI: India and the United Kingdom will take steps to forge partnerships to strengthen cooperation in areas ranging from aircraft carriers, counter terrorism, air force training and shipbuilding to UN peacekeeping, said a joint statement issued after the defence ministers of the two countries met on Thursday.
Defence minister Arun Jaitley and his British counterpart Michael Fallon asked the relevant steering groups to finalise proposals for consideration at the next defence consultative group that is scheduled to meet later this year. Fallon arrived in India on Tuesday for a four-day official visit.
The two sides said the bilateral partnership would seek to create stronger military-to-military engagement, including training and advanced joint exercises between the two militaries.
“The renewed engagement will place capability and technology development at its core and seek to harness the complementary strengths of both nations in defence manufacturing,” the statement said. NEWDELHI:Bank holidays on Good Friday and Sunday as well as a shortfall in cash supply could trigger a weekend monetary crisis at ATMs in the country, especially the western and southern states.
Banking sources said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is supplying only about 25% of the cash required for ATMs in several states such as Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka and Kerala.
Banks and cash logistics companies are finding it difficult to replenish ATMs in these states. The country has more than 200,000 ATMs.
The situation is better in New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and the rest of northern and eastern India. West Bengal and Odisha have adequate cash supply, bankers said. “The cash situation has stabilised considerably but once again problems are cropping up. Supply is thinning … complaints have started pouring in,” said NSG Rao, the secretary of the Cash Logistics Association.
The association represents cash logistics companies such as SIS Prosegur and CMS, which are hired by banks to ship cash and replenish ATMs.
The situation could exacerbate into a crisis as banks will be open only on Saturday in the next three days, starting with Good Friday on April 14, which is a national holiday.
Sources said the cash shortage is expected to stabilise in the next two weeks.
“It could be because of the state elections … typically more cash is supplied to states going to the polls. That’s done to prevent lawand-order disruption. Things are expected to fall in place by this month-end,” a senior executive with private sector bank said.
Bank ATMs ran dry after the government scrapped 500- and 1,000-rupee notes last November and triggered a cash shortage. The shortfall eased in January, with the government pumping new 500- and 2,000-rupee notes into the system.
But ATM replenishment is getting hit after the RBI lifted restrictions on withdrawals from savings accounts, prompting banks’ to ensure enough cash for their customers at their branches. NEWDELHI: A group of politicians, including some Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Andhra Pradesh, have come under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), following seizures of ₹15.75 crore in demonetised notes from a premise near Jhandewalan metro station in the national capital early this week.
The seizures were made by the directorate of revenue intelligence, which took 10 people into custody — mostly businessmen dealing in real estate, jewellery and trading. ED sources told HT the accused pointed the probe agency towards the Andhra politicians, when interrogated.
The agency is likely to take over the probe as preliminary findings point to possible links between the seized cash and MLAs, said agency sources.
“A probe will be undertaken to find out the source of money and also whether it was a case of money-laundering ,” said a senior ED official. Sources said the accused have allegedly told their interrogators that they were mere handlers of the money and the seized cash belonged to several politicians. “These allegations have to be probed further and then only can a case be made out against suspects,” the official added. Under section 7 of the newly-enacted Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Act, 2017, whoever is found in possession of the defunct notes shall be punished with a fine which may extend to ₹10,000 or five times the amount of the face value of the specified bank notes involved in the contravention, whichever is higher.