News of the Month
India’s dream of
borderless trade
grinds to a halt at
checkpoints
T
he rollout of a nationwide goods and
services tax (GST) from April was
supposed to sweep away hundreds of
checkpoints on India’s state borders,
paving the way for the seamless movement of goods from the tropical south to
the Himalayas in the north.
But political opposition and the dilution of some of the tax’s key tenets
mean hopes are fading that the checkposts will be demolished any time soon,
a major blow for India’s economy.
The rollout of the long-delayed GST
regularly tops the list of demands made
by CEOs of Indian and foreign companies.
At the Walayar checkpoint in south
India, lines of idle trucks stretch as far
as the eye can see in both directions
along the tree-lined interstate highway,
waiting for clearance from tax inspectors that can take days to complete.
Germany’s DWTV launched in India
D
WTV is a 24-hour channel that will
focus on news from Europe, as well
as regional issues from Asia. Deutsche
Welle (DW), Germany’s public service
broadcaster, upped its South Asian presence with the launch of DWTV in India.
The news channel will feature 24 hours
of programming in English with a focus
on news, lifestyle and regional content
for Asia. It was launched on September
17th by the German ambassador to India, Martin Ney and Prasar Bharati CEO
Jawahar Sircar in Delhi.DWTV
8
DWTV will mainly have
news from Europe and the
world, along with a programming focus on regional news
and events from Asia. It will
also feature documentaries,
talk shows and programmes
covering culture and lifestyle. Some of these include
Euromaxx, Arts.21, Tomorrow Today and Discover
Germany.
Last year, Prasar Bharati had signed
an MoU with Deutsche Welle, to make
DD India available on the Hotbird 13B
satellite. The latter covers the whole of
Europe, Central Asia and the Arab world
of West Asia and North Africa. The reciprocal distribution of DWTV on DD’s
Freedish stems from this agreement.
The channel will also be available on
platforms such as Dish TV and Airtel and
on cable networks like Asianet, Hathway,
DEN Networks, InCable Network, Ortel
and GTPL.
Due to delays entrepreneurs have
stopped sending their trucks to the international container terminal at nearby
Cochin, instead diverting them hundreds of kilometres to a smaller regional port and onwards via Sri Lanka.
Bank of Maharashtra’s
Mudra debit card
B
ank of Maharashtra launched the
Mudra card in Nashik under the Prime
Minister Mudra Scheme, with an aim to
fulfill the needs of micro/small entrepreneurs engaged in all non-farm sector income-generating activities such as manufacturing, trading and services whose
credit needs are up to Rs. 10 lakh.
The card was launched by the Chairman-cum-Managing Director, S Muhnot,
on the occasion of the bank’s 81st foundation day celebrations today.
Issued as a Rupay debit card, the Mudra
card is a flexible credit product that meets
the working capital needs of micro and
small entrepreneurs as cash can be withdrawn from any ATM or merchandise purchased using POS machine.
Moreover, the bank is planning to open
fully automated five branches in Nashik
under the title of Utkarsha during the
2015-16 financial year. The bank already
has such three modernised branches operational in Pune.