Rahul kicks up kickback storm, Modi’s Diwali gift for MSME’s, more Indians to enjoy card privileges than ever & more in today’s shot of headline..

• Rahul steps up attack on Rafale

The murky Rafale deal waters got murkier still with Congress President Rahul Gandhi making the accusation that Dassault Aviation had paid kickbacks to Anil Ambani’s firm to win the contract. Further, while Dassault has stated on record that the deal was given to Anil’s firm as it had land next to the airport, Rahul stated that in fact, Dassault “invested” Rs 284 crore in Reliance’s loss making company (that had a turnover of just Rs 8 lakh), using which the latter company purchased land. In fact, Rahul has raised the pitch to the extent of saying that the PM will not survive if the deal is probed. He has also expressed his support for a Joint Parliamentary Committee on the deal.

•  59-minute loans – the ‘minute’ details

Loans of upto Rs 1 crore in 59 minutes for MSMEs as a Diwali gift? An announcement like this has Brand Modi written all over it. The PM announced this innovative scheme as part of a package of 12 poliicies to enhance credit to MSMEs and create more jobs. So what’s it all about? The issue seems to be the crisis of confidence in MSMEs. The RBI Mint report has admitted is that MSME credit has further caused mayhem in the MSME sector due to a greater decline in the already falling credit. GST, on the other hand has also impacted exports according to the Mint Street Memo Report.Among the other schemes, businesses registered under GST are entitled to 2% subsidy on interest and exporters’ subvention will increase from 3% to 5%. Loan applicants can be scrutinised using their GST and income tax returns and cash flows, which are already available with banks.

•  PNB still in ‘modi’fied era post-scam

Public sector entity Punjab National Bank is still struggling to recover from the Rs 14,356 crore scam allegedly perpetrated by Nirav Modi & Mehul Choksi, which hit it in early 2018. The bank posted its third successive quarterly loss at Rs 4,532 crore for the quarter ending September 2018. This has surpassed a Bloomberg estimate by 13 brokers, which had estimated a net loss of Rs 1,349.2 crore. The provisioning made by PNB for non-performing assets has increased to Rs 7,733 crore as compared to Rs 2,964 crore in the year-ago period. This is a net loss for the state exchequer, as PNB has done tax write backs of Rs 8,458.6 crore in the last three quarters. The PNB stock has dropped in value by 57% till date this year on concerns of asset quality.

• Debit cards surge, marketers in for a treat

India has been a laggard in financial inclusion parameters for decades. However, the scenario seems to be changing pretty fast in the last few years. Projections indicate that India is expected to reach 1 billion debit cards soon, while it had just 84 million a decade back. The major catalyst of this surge has been the Jan Dhan Yojana, which was launched to provide financial services to underprivileged sections of society while also facilitating formalisation in the Indian economy. Rupay cards issued with Jan Dhan Accounts have reached 560 million according to sources. Even volume and value of transactions have increased phenomenally over the last five years – from 579 million transactions worth Rs 1.6 billion in August 2013 to 1.16 billion transactions worth Rs 3.24 trillion in August 2018. Usage has also moved beyond just cash withdrawal. Around five years ago, ATM transactions accounted for 90% of debit card transactions in volume and 95% in value. Today, around 31% of volume and 15% of value is taken up by point-of-sale (PoS) and e-commerce transactions. For marketers, these statistics are certainly a good reason to redraw their strategic roadmap for the Indian market in the coming years.

• 400 Bihar trainee cops run riot , try to lynch senior

400 trainee police constables ‘revolted’ in Patna by attacking DSP Mohammad Mashluddin, who had denied leave to one of their colleagues - Savita Pathak (22). Savita was suffering from dengue, and had requested for leave, which was turned down. The melee had the distinct flavour of a junior vs senior clash, as the trainees not only tried to lynch the DSP, but also attacked the Rural SP, City SPs of Patna central and east, and several DSP’s when the latter tried to control the situation. That Savita was ‘forced’ to perform traffic duty despite her high fever (on top of being denied leave) was the final nail that caused tempers to boil over. The incident raises questions against workplace ethics and rights across the country, especially in small town & rural India.

• U.S allows 8 countries to buy Iranian oil despite sanctions

In what is widely being interpreted as a strategic ‘setback’, the U.S. has allowed eight countries - including close allies Japan, India and South Korea - to continue purchasing Iranian oil even after sanctions are re-imposed on Tehran in the coming week ( following Washington’s withdrawal from a nuclear deal between Tehran and other global players). This seems to be a ‘well thought-out response’ from the US, after these countries expressed a desire for the sanctions to be waived so that they can continue buying oil. That the sanctions will cause global oil & gasoline prices to spiral up further, and that the U.S. Midterm elections aren’t far away, may have influenced the Trump Leadership’s decisions in a big way. 

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