Upfront

Quote

"Right from the beginning we have kept a very precise focus on security"

- Navin Kumar, Chairman, Goods and Services Tax Network, revealed that an eight-layered security wall has been built by Infosys to ensure data of 8 million taxpayers from across 29 states, UTs and the Central government, is protected.

$300 million or 0.1 per cent of GDP, is India's current account deficit in the June quarter. It has narrowed sharply from a high of $6.1 billion, or 1.2 per cent of GDP, in the year-ago period. 

Taper Fade

The 20-member consortium of lenders to loss-making Essar Steel has decided to recast the `44,000-crore worth bad loans instead of taking a 50 per cent haircut by selling it to Asset Care and Reconstruction Enterprise. Private sector lenders HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Federal Bank have already sold their Essar Steel NPA exposure worth `2,200 crore.

Central Bank Turns Dovish

In his first interaction with senior economists, RBI Governor Urjit Patel downplayed the risk of inflation, and hinted that the central bank will maintain a liberal stance on interest rates and liquidity to focus on growth. Will the RBI go for a rate cut in its next monetary policy review on 4 October?

Dragon Frowns

With Chinese telecom major Huawei shifting its manufacturing base to India, state-run Global Times raised the red flag saying Beijing needs to worry about job cuts due to shifting of production bases to the world's second largest economy.

Jio Effect

Vodafone India has slashed data rates for both prepaid and postpaid customers with 4G smartphones - 10 GB data at the price of 1GB for up to three months. The move follows Bharti Airtel's special 4G data pack matching Jio's data rates of 1GB of high-speed data for about `50.