Business

New Delhi, Sep 29 (IANS) A Goods and Services tax (GST) evasion worth Rs 824 crore has been detected against 15 insurance companies as well as several non-banking financial companies (NBFCs).

According to sources privy to developments, these companies were reportedly found to be availing input tax credit (ITC) without underlaying supply of goods and services.

Sources informed that on the basis of specific inputs received against ICICI Prudential Insurance for reportedly availing ineligible ITC without underlaying supply of goods and services, certain other common intermediaries were also identified.

They informed that on further probe it was revealed that these entities had reportedly formed an arrangement to pass on ineligible ITC in the guise of marketing services and fraudulent invoices were allegedly raised by following a systematic modus operandi in connivance with each other.

Sources aware of developments said that the modus operandi was systematically planned and executed mainly at the behest of insurance companies.

The probe is learnt to have revealed that the insurance companies had been executing the modus since the inception of GST, sources pointed out.

Subsequently, searches were conducted by officials of Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) at the premises of several insurance companies and NBFCs in multiple cities, sources informed.

While the searches are still underway, sources said that ICICI Prudential reportedly paid Rs 100 crore in cash voluntarily under Section 74(5) of CGST Act, 2017 during the course of investigation.

Sources further informed that so far, GST evasion to the tune of Rs 824 crore has been unearthed and various insurance companies which availed and utilised ineligible ITC have voluntarily paid a total amount of Rs 217 crore in cash under Section 74(5) of CGST Act, 2017.

--ians
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New Delhi, Sep 29 (IANS) Goods and Services Tax (GST) evasion worth Rs 824 crore has been detected against 15 insurance companies as well as several non-banking finance companies (NBFCs).

According to sources privy to developments, these companies were found to be availing input tax credit (ITC) without the underlying supply of goods and services.

Sources informed that on the basis of specific inputs received against ICICI Prudential Insurance for reportedly availing ineligible ITC without underlaying supply of goods and services, certain other common intermediaries were also identified.

They said that on further probe, it was revealed that these entities had formed an arrangement to pass on ineligible ITC in the guise of marketing services and fraudulent invoices were raised by following a systematic modus operandi in connivance with each other.

Sources aware of developments said that the modus operandi was systematically planned and executed mainly at the behest of insurance companies.

The probe is learnt to have revealed that the insurance companies have been executing the modus since the inception of the GST, sources said.

Subsequently, searches were conducted by officials of Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) at premises of several insurance companies and NBFCs in multiple cities, the sources added.

While searches are still underway, sources said that ICICI Prudential has voluntarily paid Rs 100 crore in cash under section 74(5) of CGST Act, 2017 during the course of investigation.

Sources further informed that so far GST evasion to the tune of Rs 824 crore has been unearthed and various insurance companies who have availed and utilised ineligible ITC, have voluntarily paid a total amount of Rs 217 crore in cash under Section 74(5).

--IANS
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Ahmedabad, Sep 29 (IANS) Budaun Hardoi Road Private Ltd (BHRPL), Hardoi Unnao Road Private Ltd (HURPL) and Unnao Prayagraj Road Private Ltd (UPRPL) -- wholly owned subsidiaries of Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) -- have achieved Financial Closure for the access-controlled six lane (expandable to eight lane) greenfield Ganga Expressway Project (Group-II, III & IV) in Uttar Pradesh (UP) respectively on DBFOT (Toll) basis under PPP mode.

The concession period shall be 30 years. The Ganga Expressway in Uttar Pradesh, which will connect Meerut with Prayagraj, will be India's longest expressway to be implemented on DBFOT basis. Of its 594-km length, AEL will build 464 km from Budaun to Prayagraj, which comprises 80 per cent of the expressway project.

"India is building at a record pace the road infrastructure it needs for its development, and we are delighted to be providing the much-needed road connectivity all across the nation," said K.P. Maheshwari, CEO, Road Business, Adani Enterprises Ltd.

"The State Bank of India has underwritten the entire debt requirement of INR 10,238 Crore for the Ganga Expressway Projects (BHRPL, HURPL & UPRPL). With this facility from the SBI, we have moved a step closer to providing our country and the state of UP with another landmark infrastructure," said Maheshwari.

AEL's road portfolio has grown to 18 projects with more than 6,400 lane kms and an asset value exceeding Rs 44,000 crore spread over ten states in India -- Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Gujarat, West Bengal and Odisha. The portfolio has a mix of HAM (Hybrid Annuity Mode), TOT (Toll-Operate-Transfer) and BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) type assets.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Sep 29 (IANS) Elon Musk-run Tesla has appointed billionaire and Airbnb Co-founder Joe Gebbia to its board of directors.

According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gebbia has replaced Oracle Chairman and CTO Larry Ellison who left the board earlier this year.

"We are pleased to welcome Joe Gebbia to Tesla's Board of Directors, effective September 25, 2022," Tesla said in a blog post on Wednesday.

In July, Tesla CEO Elon Musk congratulated Gebbia on stepping back from his role at Airbnb after "a wild 14 years."

Gebbia, a designer and entrepreneur, has spent the last 14 years of his career as co-founder of Airbnb. The service he built with his co-founders transformed the hospitality industry, allowing travelers seeking local experiences to book homes in nearly every country around the world.

"Since the 2007 inception in his San Francisco living room, Airbnb has enabled mutual trust for over 4 million hosts to share their homes. Hosts have since welcomed more than 1 billion guest arrivals and earned over $150 billion, creating economic impact worldwide," said Tesla.

Most recently, Gebbia departed his full-time operating position and transitioned to an advisor role while serving on the Board of Directors of both Airbnb and Airbnb.org.

He's begun working on his next startup, acquired a stake in the San Antonio Spurs, gives back via his commitment to the Giving Pledge, and serves on other boards and councils.

Ellison had joined Tesla board in 2018, along with former Walgreens exececutive Kathleen Wilson-Thompson.

--IANS
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Lucknow, Sep 28 (IANS) The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to upgrade the security system in the banking sector.

Principal secretary, home, Sanjay Prasad said, surveillance systems and data storage would be made more effective to strengthen the security system of banks.

Following a meeting with the bank officials, Prasad said bank officers have been further directed to check the circulation of counterfeit currency and provide better facility of Internet banking to the customers.

"Adequate arrangement of CCTVs should be made mandatory in all the bank branches, currency chests and ATM branches. Security equipment, alarms, sirens and other gadgets installed in banks should be checked regularly. The banks should also make proper arrangements for fire safety," he said.

Bank officials have been asked to make adequate arrangements for fire prevention in all banks and to compulsorily conduct fire audits regularly.

The government also called for better coordination between the banking sector and the state government, particularly the police.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 27 (IANS) Digital infrastructure services provider Cloudflare on Tuesday announced a $1.25 billion 'Workers Launchpad Funding' programme to help startups grow their businesses.

The company partnered 26 leading venture capital firms to help startups building applications on Cloudflare Workers, a highly-scalable serverless computing platform that allows developers to build or augment apps without configuring or maintaining infrastructure.

"While we can provide the technology, we're thrilled to partner with some of the leading venture capital firms on the Workers Launchpad Funding Program, who will potentially invest more than a billion dollars in funding towards great startups built on Cloudflare Workers as they scale," said Matthew Prince, Co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare.

The venture capital firms include Altimeter Capital, Altos Ventures, Amplify Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, boldstart ventures, Cowboy Ventures, Lightspeed, Norwest Venture Partners, Threshold Ventures and others.

If selected by the participating venture capital firms, companies may receive a cash investment from these participating firms, as well as mentorship and support from Cloudflare.

With Cloudflare's network spanning more than 275 cities in over 100 countries around the world, developers can deploy code close to their users, bringing the speed, performance, and scale of Cloudflare to their customers.

Since 2017, more than 500,000 developers have built on Cloudflare's developer platform and launched more than three million applications.

"We look forward to seeing Workers enable a new class of edge-native companies, and we're excited to invest in these companies," said Renee Shah, Partner at Amplify Partners.

Enrique Salem, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures added that Cloudflare has created a platform that simplifies the development experience while maintaining cost-effectiveness to help empower startups and entrepreneurs, both big and small.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 27 (IANS) Reliance Retail, Indias largest retailer, on Tuesday announced the launch of its fashion and lifestyle department store format, Reliance Centro.

The first Reliance Centro store was launched in Delhi's Vasant Kunj area.

Reliance Centro is aimed at democratising fashion in India by strengthening its reach and connect with consumers – right from categories like apparels, footwear, cosmetics, lingerie, sportswear to luggage and accessories with over 300 Indian and international brands.

Reliance Centro's core offerings are curated to make it the one stop fashion destination for all the fashion conscious mid-premium segment customer. For the fashionistas of Delhi, Reliance Centro is sure to appeal to their evolving tastes and meet the need for high definition fashion, through all seasons and for all ages.

The Reliance Centro store at Vasant Kunj embraces modern looks and ambience featuring an exciting range of good quality and fashion merchandise that is relevant to today's consumers. With wide variety of brands and style options available across key lifestyle categories the offering is designed to cater to every occasion – from parties to festivals to wedding, making Reliance Centro the preferred fashion destination for all needs.

Shoppers in Delhi can now look forward to a uniquely special and superlative shopping experience for trendy fashion with a wide range of products catering to Women, Men and kids.

This 75,000 sq ft store, which is one of its kind store in this region, is a complete department store with range of over 300 brands and more than 20,000 style options for the entire family.

This new shopping destination has a special inaugural offer for its customers, besides great relevant fashion at amazing prices. The inaugural offer to get Rs 1,500 off on shopping worth Rs 3,999 or get Rs 2,000 off on shopping worth Rs Rs 4,999 and above.

Residents can head to the Reliance Centro store at Vasant Kunj for the joy of a great shopping experience.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 24 (IANS) The National Broadband Mission (NBM) under the Ministry of Communications on Saturday tweeted (and later deleted) that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will officially roll out the 5G services in India on October 1 -- the same day when the India Mobile Congress (IMC) kicks off which will heavily focus on 5G and related domains.

All the top telecom honchos -- including Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani and Founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises Sunil Bharti Mittal -- are scheduled to join the keynote address at the sixth edition of the IMC that will take place at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, from October 1-4.

"Taking India's digital transformation & connectivity to new heights, Hon'ble PM, @narendramodi, will roll out 5G services in India; at India Mobile Congress; Asia's largest technology exhibition," read the screenshot of the tweet (now deleted from the NBM handle).

The event will see participation from telecom gear manufacturers and other industry stakeholders, in the presence of IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

According to sources, the government may showcase some successful 5G testbeds being run in the country by Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea at the IMC 2022, jointly organised by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

During his Independence Day address from the ramparts of the Red Fort, the Prime Minister had said that the 5G services will be launched in India soon.

Vaishnaw last month said the government expects 5G services to be rolled out in the country by October 12, and the Centre will make sure that the prices are affordable for the consumers.

Vaishnaw said that installations are being done and telecom operations are busy with the seamless rollout of 5G services.

The government will ensure that the 5G plans remain affordable for the public, the minister said.

The 5G services would be rolled out in a phased manner and during the first phase, 13 cities are likely to get the 5G internet services.

The cities are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Jamnagar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune.

Just like 3G and 4G, telcos will soon announce dedicated 5G tariff plans and according to industry experts, consumers may pay more to access the 5G services on their devices.

An immediate tariff war with the launch of 5G is unlikely, but it "will be competitive as India continues to be a price-conscious market".

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 24 (IANS) India was the fastest growing Internet of Things (IoT) module market with more than 264 per cent growth in the second quarter this year, a report showed.

Although growing on a lower base, the growth in IoT modules in India was driven by smart meters, telematics, point of sale (POS) and automotive applications, according to Counterpoint Research.

Global cellular IoT module shipments grew 20 per cent (year-over-year) in Q2 2022.

"The IoT module market is going through a critical phase where the Chinese brands have become bigger, making it very difficult for international brands to grow in silos," said senior research analyst Soumen Mandal.

The global cellular IoT module market continued to recover despite a tighter supply chain, Covid-19 lockdowns in China and macroeconomic headwinds.

The growth was driven by the ongoing digital transformation involving potential applications around critical infrastructure and logistics catered by some key fast-growing low-tier cellular technologies such as Cat-1 and NB-IoT.

"Further, module players modified their product offerings, striking partnerships across the value chain, from newer connectivity solution providers to acquiring some key competitors, as the IoT industry enters a very exciting growth phase," the report noted.

China retained its position as the world's largest IoT market, contributing to more than half of the demand despite the lockdowns.

"With six out of the top 10 IoT module vendors being from China and with the rising geopolitical competition and data privacy concerns, international players see an opportunity to consolidate and carve out a dichotomy in this segment," said Mandal.

The 5G IoT module shipments remain steady with prices still high and many projects still in pilot stages.

"It will take at least a couple of years to reach an inflection point. We expect the second half of 2023 to see a ramp-up for the 5G IoT modules with good pan-country 5G coverage and scale," said Associate Director Mohit Agrawal.

--IANS
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London, Sep 23 (IANS) To tackle high inflation, the Bank of England (BoE) has increased interest rates by 0.5 percentage points to 2.25 per cent, the highest since 2008 and the seventh successive since December 2021, as well as the second 50-basis-point increase in a row.

The central bank announced on Thursday that it will "take the actions necessary" to return inflation to the 2 per cent target sustainably in the medium term, reports Xinhua news agency.

The country's consumer price index (CPI) rose by 9.9 per cent in the 12 months to August, down from the 40-year high of 10.1 per cent in July.

Also on Thursday, the BoE decided to reduce the stock of purchased UK government bonds financed by the issuance of central bank reserves by 80 billion pounds ($90 billion) over the next 12 months to a total of 758 billion pounds.

The bank said that its staff now expected the UK's gross domestic product (GDP) to fall by 0.1 percent in the third quarter, below August's projection of 0.4 per cent growth, and a second successive quarterly decline.

It cemented fears that the UK economy will soon slide into recession.

Despite support packages announced by the UK government this month to cap energy prices, the BoE said energy bills will still go up and, combined with the indirect effects of higher energy costs, inflation is expected to remain above 10 percent over the following few months, before starting to fall back.

--IANS
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