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New Delhi: Bajaj Auto on Thursday reported a 10 per cent increase in its total vehicle sales at 4,41,306 units in September.The Pune-based automaker had sold a total of 4,02,035 vehicles in September 2019.Total two-wheeler sales in September stood at 4,04,851 units as compared to 3,36,730 units in the same month of 2019, a jump of 20 per cent, Bajaj Auto said in a regulatory filing.Total commercial vehicles sales, however, plunged 44 per cent in the previous month to 36,455 units as compared to 65,305 vehicles sold in September 2019, it said.Total domestic sales went up by 6 per cent to 2,28,731 units as against 2,15,501 units in September 2019.In September, Bajaj Auto's exports went up by 14 per cent to 2,12,575 units compared with 1,86,534 units in September 2019.

There can be a huge dichotomy between how companies perform prior to IPO and post IPO, says Dipan Mehta, Founder & Director, Elixir EquitiesThere are two D-Street debuts -- Chemcon as well as CAMS. a) what do you make of those and b) are there any primary market offerings which you particularly like? There is UTI AMC and Mazagon Shipbuilding too?As a general rule, we do not advocate participating in the primary market, the reason being that these companies are relatively unknown and their track record as a listed company is not really available to investors to judge. Also, there can be a huge dichotomy between how companies perform prior to IPO and post IPO. However, I think CAMS India is definitely a portfolio stock given its strong position in the market and secular growth momentum as well as steady cash flows. It meets a lot of the parameters for a long-term investment idea but is fairly priced per se and on listing, you may get 15-20% type of upside and that could take away a l...

Currently if a National Pension System (NPS) subscriber exits his/her investment prematurely or if their PRAN has been deactivated due to final exit, they will have to open a new NPS account (with new PRAN) if they are eligible to join back. However, now the Pension Fund Regulatory Authority (PFRDA) has given NPS subscribers two options to rejoin the scheme. According to the PFRDA press release issued on September 23, 2020, these are the two option now available with subscribers to rejoin NPS, who exited prematurely: Subscribers can open a new NPS account with a new PRAN, if they are otherwise eligible to join NPS.Subscribers can continue in NPS with the same PRAN by redepositing the amount withdrawn earlier (up to 20 per cent) into their NPS account (same PRAN). However, this option of redeposit to continue the existing PRAN can be availed only once.What is PRAN?Under NPS, each subscriber is allotted a Permanent Retirement Account Number or PRAN, which is unique to them. One subscribe...

SAN DIEGO: President Donald Trump is planning to cut refugee admissions by 3,000 to 15,000 in 2021, submitting his proposal to Congress less than an hour before the deadline for the fiscal year's figure was to expire, the administration announced late on Wednesday. The 40-year-old resettlement program has been dwindling under his administration and the 2021 figure will continue to shrink it. The 2021 figure is a 16% reduction over 2020's admissions. The 1980 Refugee Act requires presidents to issue their determination by Oct. 1 for the next fiscal year. The president also must consult with Congress before making his determination, though ultimately it is up to him. Trump froze refugee admissions in March amid the coronavirus pandemic, citing a need to protect American jobs as fallout from the coronavirus crashed the economy. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the administration is committed to the country's history of leading the world in providing a safe place for refugee...

Gig economy workers in ride-hailing, delivery and cleaning segments have been hit the hardest by the coronavirus-induced lockdown, with 81% of them facing sharp declines in their incomes.

NEW DELHI: Shares of Computer Age Management Services (CAMS) made a decent debut on Thursday, as the scrip got listed at Rs 1,518 on BSE, a 23.41 per cent premium over its issue price of Rs 1,230.The IPO, which was sold from September 21 to September 23 in the price band of Rs 1,229-1,230, was subscribed 47 times.Earlier, the Rs 2,242-crore IPO of Warburg Pincus-backed CAMS received bids for 60,19,36,188 shares against the offer size of 1,28,27,370 shares.The portion meant for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) was subscribed 73.18 times, non-institutional investors 111.85 times and retail individual investors 5.44 times.Meanwhile, shares of Chemcon Speciality Chemicals listed at Rs 731, a 115 per cent premium over its issue price of Rs 340 on NSE.CAMS is a technology-driven financial infrastructure and services provider to mutual funds and other financial institutions.Headquartered in Chennai, the company is co-owned by NSE Investments, Warburg Pincus, Faering Capital ACSYS Investm...

Anam Hashim has overcome several odds to become what she is today – a professional motorcycle athlete. “Motorcycle riding is not considered a sport in India – particularly the field that I chose, which is stunt riding,” Hashim, said at ET Women’s Forum.The 25-year-old comes from a conservative Indian Muslim family. When she took up the sport, Hashim would field questions like, “Who will marry you if your face gets injured?”She ignored such comments to focus on what she wanted. Using the internet to search for stunts, bikes and role-models, Hashim found Sarah Lezito, a French stunt rider. Lezito inspired her to start the trend among women in India as well.Hashim is the first woman to do a solo ride to the gruelling Khardung La pass, that too on a scooter. The trip, which was her first solo, was a life-changing experience for her. Before the trip, Hashim had been bullied by male stunt riders who would always egg her to give up. The trip acted as a getaway from the negativity and made her...

The ‘Women in the IT sector in India’ survey, which has responses from 5,388 IT professionals across India from 22 to 47 years of age, shows that 60% women and 40% men possess high decision making and creative thinking in the beginning of their careers.

From October 1, 2020, i.e., today, tax will be collected at source from individuals for foreign remittances made through the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) and for buying foreign travel packages. TCS or tax collected at source will be leviable on these transactions/payments if they are above specified limits as per section 206C(1G) of the Income-tax Act, 1961. TCS was imposed on these transactions by the Finance Act, 2020. However, individuals can claim credit for the TCS at the time of filing income tax return in a manner similar to TDS or tax deducted at source. Here is a look at the rules regarding applicability of TCS and how much tax is leviable as TCS on the specified transactions.Rules regarding applicability of TCSThe provisions related to TCS will impact you only if the transaction amount crosses the specified limit. As per income tax laws, TCS will be applicable on foreign remittances under the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) LRS if the total amount remitted exceeds Rs...

If the government goes for 5G auction right now, it is likely to be under-bid and that would be great for Jio but if that does not come through, then even Bharti after it recovers from its recent fall presents a good buying opportunity at the current price, says independent analyst Anand Tandon. Where do you see opportunity and potential within the FMCG sector? How are you looking at the overall festive demand? From a portfolio perspective, one must have FMCG as part of the portfolio, but from the point of view of trying to make exceptional returns or outperforming the market, most of that had been already done even before we got into this kind of situation. It has been the best performing sector for many years now and that was largely because most of the other sectors were reasonably priced and were not showing the kind of earnings that was expected of them. Now there is some chance the cyclical sectors will actually do a little better going forward because they have come off a very l...

If before October 20, the Tatas and the Shapoorji Pallonji group managed to agree on some meeting point and come to a settlement, then consent terms could be filed in the Supreme Court so that no further proceedings would take place , says HP Ranina, Senior Advocate, SC.Cyrus Mistry’s valuation is unacceptable to Tata Sons, they have carried their own study and they see the figure to be much lower than that. Do you think that is going to be the next battle?Whether it is going to be a battle or not is not the issue. The issue is that if they do not agree to the valuation, then this thing just does not go through. In other words, the Shapoorji Pallonji Group has agreed to sell their stake provided the Tatas accept the price. If the Tatas feel that the price which Shapoorji Pallonji expects is very high compared to their understanding of the value of their property, then the whole thing will just simply not go through. If it does not go through on October 20, when the matter comes up in t...

By Sumit GangulySome within India’s chattering classes seem convinced that a Biden presidency bodes ill for India. Their misgivings, it appears, stem from some adverse comments that both former vice-president Joseph Biden and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, have made about the state of human rights in Jammu & Kashmir. They also stem from his criticism of NRC and CAA.Obviously, these criticisms may well pique segments of India’s attentive public. That said, it would be a critical error to assume that a handful of statements made on the campaign trail are somehow indicative of the overall orientation of Biden’s likely foreign policy towards India. Instead, it is worth examining his prior record as well as his general foreign policy stance to glean some meaningful clues about his possible India policy. More to the point, it is vital to contrast his foreign policy outlook with incumbent President Donald Trump’s record.At the outset, it needs to be underscored that Biden would ...

Mumbai: Indian stock indices are likely to rise further irrespective of the outcome of the US Presidential election in November if historical data is anything to go by.Data show the Sensex gained 3 per cent to 14 per cent during the six months after the US election outcomes in four out of last five occasions. What could go against the past trend this time is that the market has already risen 50 per cent in the past six months while economic uncertainties on account of the coronavirus pandemic remain.The post-election data for index performance for one month also showed indices gained in four out of five previous US elections.The 2000 and 2004 elections saw Republican George W. Bush being elected President, while Barack Obama was elected President in 2008 and 2012, followed by Donald Trump in 2016.Market strategists are of the view that India has nothing to worry about on geopolitical basis.“No matter who is the President, that person and the administration will seek to have closer rela...

Mumbai: Two leading brokerages said the 20 per cent decline in shares of Bharti Airtel in the last one month is overdone. CLSA and UBS maintained buy on the stock on Wednesday, with their price targets projecting as much as a 70 per cent upside. The stock ended down 3.3 per cent at Rs 420.9 on Wednesday.CLSA said its sensitivity analysis reveals that Bharti’s stock more than factors in the adjusted gross revenue burden risk of matching Jio’s post-paid and over-the-top offers and tariff hike uncertainty, said CLSA, which has a target price of Rs 715 on the stock.“There is no renewed tariff aggression from Jio, and Bharti market share has upside potential. Bharti active subscribers are ahead of Jio, while the stock valuation is at a 25-50 per cent discount to past EV/Ebitda multiples and Jio deal valuations,” said CLSA.Meanwhile, UBS’ Evidence Lab results showed that Airtel is making steady progress and the risk-reward is attractive.Airtel’s share as primary SIM has increased in the last...

New Delhi: More than a dozen JDU MLAs may not get tickets this time as the party is planning to field fresh faces in order to counter anti-incumbency. The decision comes after the party conducted an internal survey and collected feedback from ground workers and common people in all the constituencies, said people aware of the matter.The entire exercise was directly monitored by Bihar chief minister and JDU president Nitish Kumar, who sat in the party office on a regular basis last week and personally met more than 1,000 party workers from different constituencies in order to gauge their opinion.A lot of workers expressed their views on anti-incumbency against the sitting MLAs. Kumar also met all 69 party MLAs and those candidates who had lost the 2015 assembly election. According to the people cited earlier, Kumar was unhappy with the MLAs because there were several claimants for party tickets from these constituencies. “If there is already a JDU MLA, there shouldn’t be a question on h...

By Manoj SinhaMahatma Gandhi was trained as a barrister, but appearing before the court in his Great Trial in 1922, he identified himself as a farmer and weaver. This was his way of identifying himself with the masses, a great majority of whom depended on farming and lived in villages. He stressed on rejuvenation of village life in his Constructive Programme, which was his manifesto of Poorna Swaraj. For the Jammu and Kashmir administration, there can be no more befitting tribute to Gandhiji than taking governance to people in rural areas of the union territory. Thus, under the ‘Back to Village 3’ (B2V-3) scheme, we are launching a campaign on October 2 to take the government machinery to the citizen’s doorstep with a dedicated mission – ‘Samagra Gram Seva and Vikas’ – serving the villages to achieve equity, growth and inclusion.Such a mission cannot succeed without people’s participation. So, our emphasis is on community participation for execution of crucial growth drivers at the gra...

KUALA LUMPUR: Asia has become the world's surveillance hotspot and is at risk of serious privacy breaches as measures rolled out to contain the spread of COVID-19 become permanent in many countries, researchers warned on Thursday. The Right to Privacy Index (RPI) published by British-based risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, rated 198 countries for privacy violations stemming from mass surveillance operations, retention of personal data, home searches and other breaches. According to the findings, Asia was the world's highest-risk region for violations with a deterioration in recent years. "Asia as a region risks sleep-walking into serious privacy breaches if there isn't transparency when it comes to data use with respect to COVID-19 surveillance measures," said Sofia Nazalya, a human rights analyst at Verisk Maplecroft. Asian countries scored worse on average than nations in other regions, Singapore-based Nazalya, the author of the study, told the Thomson Reuters...

NEW DELHI: A number of leading technology entrepreneurs are joining hands to petition the government seeking support to create an overarching Indian digital app ecosystem to counter what they view as the dominance of US technology giants Google and Apple. At a meeting on Tuesday, the group discussed ways to establish a large-scale platform that will host local apps and break the duopoly of Google's Play Store and Apple's App Store, as well as a national-level lobby group to represent their interests, people privy to discussions told ET.The founders, including Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Yashish Dahiya of Policybazaar and Murugavel Janakiraman of Matrimony.com, also plan to approach the country's banking regulator as well as the finance ministry seeking redressal for Google's recent move to increase commission on purchases made on its app store.'App Neutrality'Sources said such a move by Google would sound the death knell for the Indian startup ecosystem. ...

MUMBAI | BENGALURU: Food delivery apps Swiggy and Zomato have received notices from Google stating that the in-app gamification feature used by both platforms violate its Play Store guidelines, multiple sources told ET.Zomato confirmed the development to ET and termed the notice “unfair”.“We are a small company and have already realigned our business strategy to comply with Google’s guidelines. We will be replacing Zomato Premier League with a more exciting programme by this weekend,” a company spokesperson said.A spokesperson for Swiggy declined to comment but said the restaurant discovery platform had temporarily paused its in-app gamification product. “Earlier, the notice was to comply with the guidelines by Thursday, but Google has given an extension. Swiggy has also asked for more clarity on Google’s policies,” a person directly aware of the matter said.For both the food delivery companies, major cricketing event IPL has been touted as the best time to garner a larger share of con...

A technical problem forced a halt to all trading on Tokyo's stock exchanges on Thursday, with no information on when activity would resume, the bourse's operator said. "Trading in all shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange is suspended due to glitches linked to the delivery of market information," Japan Exchange Group said in a statement. An official told AFP that trade was suspended from 8:35 am (2335 GMT Wednesday). Orders were also not being received. The precise nature of the glitch was not explained further, but it meant the country's top indexes -- the Nikkei 225 and the Topix -- were unable to open at the start of the trading day. The issue was also affecting trade on several other exchanges, including in Nagoya and Sapporo. The Osaka exchange was functioning normally though, Japan Exchange Group said. The trading halt closed one of the few major markets open in Asia on Thursday, with bourses in Hong Kong, Shanghai, South Korea and Taipei all closed for holiday...

New Delhi: India on Wednesday raised with China its refusal to recognise the status the Union Territory of Ladakh. ET has learnt that the matter was raised at Wednesday’s meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs. India stated it has never accepted the so-called unilaterally defined 1959 Line of Actual Control.The two nations also agreed that senior commanders should meet soon to work out early troops withdrawal from eastern Ladakh in accordance with bilateral pacts and protocols.The two sides reviewed the situation on the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh and had detailed discussions on developments since the August 20 WMCC meeting, an MEA statement said in New Delhi. The meeting discussed how to implement the ‘five-point consensus’ foreign ministers recently.“They emphasised the need to implement steps outlined in the joint press release issued after the last meeting of the senior commanders to avoid misunderstandings and ...

New Delhi: Even before the Covid-19 lockdown was announced, Odisha’s Ganjam district imposed Section 144 on March 15 to prevent crowding in public places.It was also the first district in the state to impose Rs 200 fine for not using a mask. The move had its desired effect. There wasn’t a single Covid-19 case in the district until May 1.However, things changed dramatically in early May as over 4.3 lakh migrant workers returned home by trains, buses and on foot. Many of them came from Covid-19 hotspots. The first e case was reported on May 1 and the numbers rose to over 700 by July end.A second wave hit Ganjam when migrants ended their quarantine period to join families, thereby bringing in milder viral loads to villages. By August, the district’s positivity rate stood at 59% --one of the highest in the country during that period.However, in September, Ganjam scripted a turnaround.It reported over 200 active cases and a positivity rate down to 1.27% from the worrying 60% mark.Ganjam’s d...

New Delhi: India has set up a screening panel to vet all Chinese foreign investment proposals and those considered “non-controversial” could be approved, a senior government official told ET. More than 100 proposals involving foreign direct investment (FDI) from China are pending. Prior government clearance was made mandatory for FDI from countries sharing a land border in April. This was widely seen to be directed at curbing Chinese takeovers of companies amid stock market volatility in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. This scrutiny intensified following tension on the border.The screening panel is headed by the home secretary and has the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) secretary as a member.“An inter-ministerial committee has been set up to look at the proposals that various ministries had received that were forwarded to the home ministry for security clearance,” said the official cited above. The proposals that are “non-controversial” could be appro...

LONDON: Royal Dutch Shell announced on Wednesday plans to cut up to 9,000 jobs, or over 10% of its workforce, as part of a major overhaul to shift the oil and gas giant to low-carbon energy. Shell, which had 83,000 employees at the end of 2019, said that the reorganisation will lead to annual savings of $2 billion to $2.5 billion by 2022.

Within the private sector banks, I see a continuous churn. Just as what has happened to MNCs, the old private sector banks in the last 20 years, there will be winners and losers, says the Co-founder, of Ashmore Investment. Globally it looks like markets are in a risk-off mood. Are we in for an extended patch of volatility with some collateral damage in stocks or do you think the force of liquidity will continue to surprise us?I think the markets have been undecided about the future course of action for a while now. We have seen fairly sharp pullbacks both in India as well as internationally. Obviously we have seen some signs of economic recovery month on month everywhere in the world, including in India but the question everybody is asking is has the market already taken into account all of that potentially good news? At this point in time, in case of India, should we look out to March 22 for earnings or calendar 21 in the case of the other markets in the world is the mood question. On...

By Suvashree GhoshIndia’s delayed monetary policy meeting adds to growing uncertainty for bankers over how to bolster lending and handle record levels of bad debt.The Reserve Bank of India’s decision to reschedule this week’s interest-rate meeting makes it difficult for lenders to price loans and deposits because they usually track the monetary policy’s outlook for liquidity and interest rates. Banks monitor the regulator’s projections for economic growth, which is closely linked to credit demand.Lenders usually make these decisions at monthly asset-liability meetings, planned for shortly after the RBI’s monetary policy statement, according to bankers with knowledge of the meetings who asked not to be named because they are private. Banks have now rescheduled these meetings, they said.The RBI on Monday abruptly postponed its policy announcement, without giving a reason. Governor Shaktikanta Das, in recent weeks, has flagged his growing concerns about the health of the nation’s fragile ...

By Naomi KresgeVaccines alone won’t be enough to fight Covid-19, Novartis AG Chief Executive Officer Vas Narasimhan said. Treatments will also play a crucial role.Significant supplies of highly effective vaccines probably won’t be available until the end of next year, according to Narasimhan, who headed development for Novartis’s former vaccines unit before it was sold to GlaxoSmithKline Plc five years ago.Even once such a vaccine is on the market, he said, it probably won’t protect everyone -- as is the case with seasonal flu.“At minimum, therapeutics are a bridge to those high-volume, high-efficacy vaccines,” Narasimhan said in an interview. “Likely even beyond the point of vaccines being broadly deployed, we will need therapeutics for those patients who still become ill from the virus.”Some of the biggest strides against the pandemic so far have come from therapies, with the use of drugs such as steroids to help prevent serious damage to the lungs. The verdict is still out, meanwhil...

A top fund manager believes in the current environment it is a good strategy for investors to deploy money into equity mutual funds through new fund offers (NFOs). A NFO is generally open for 15 days and after that the fund manager deploys money over a 1-3 month period slowly giving him the flexibility to take advantage of any volatility that comes in due to high valuations and the US elections.Given the sharp run up of 46% in the Nifty since its lows of March 23 and high PE of 33, fund managers believe there could be volatility ahead and so adopting a staggered approach is important. “We thought it is a good opportunity to raise money through the launch of our ESG NFO primarily because even though the markets have recovered, a month or two down the line at the time of NFO deployment, there is scope for increased levels of market volatility as they will be watching out for the outcome of the US Election and how the pandemic plays out across the globe,”says S Naren, Chief Investment Off...

The first 2020 US presidential election debate could well have had one single topic: President Donald Trump Does Not Have a Plan. Democrat challenger Joe Biden, looking like the president’s second cousin in the same striped tie, dark suit and bleached face as his opponent, was for the motion. While Trump, looking the born-again Republican that he is (remember, from August 2001 to September 2009, this New Yorker was a Democrat) didn’t seem exactly against the motion. And therein lies the real issue along which which Americans will exercise their vote on November 3: Is President Donald Trump not having a plan a good thing or a bad thing?Traditionally, American voters have liked to have a Man with a Plan in the Oval Office. But Trump has shaken up a thing or two in terms of popular perception in that department by invoking fears of a ‘socialist’ takeover and the perceived shades of ‘over-government’ that the threat accompanies. He mentioned it at least a couple of times during the Clevela...