Merit Financial News

Speaker Mike Johnson is forging ahead to pass a bill to support Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, despite threats from his right rump to topple him. He’s correct on the policy merits, and he deserves support from Members of both parties given what a potential Ukrainian defeat would mean for U.S. national security.

A key element is to enhance coordination among MDBs. While the diverse structures of MDBs have their own merits, addressing new global challenges will require resources and capabilities of a magnitude beyond the capability of any single MDB. The current dynamism on the reform agenda stems primarily from the pressure exerted by the shareholders via various forums, including the UN, the G7, and the G20. Among these, the role of the G20 has been particularly crucial. Starting with balance sheet optimisation measures in 2015, the G20 has been slowly and steadily nudging the MDBs to identify necessary actions to strengthen themselves for meeting spiraling development financing needs. The 2022 recommendations from the Independent Review of MDBs' Capital Adequacy Frameworks (CAF) were a significant outcome.

Aditya Srivastava as the topper for the Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2023. Hailing from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, Srivastava has made his mark with a background in Electrical Engineering. His achievement is a testament to his hard work and dedication towards his goal of serving the nation through the civil services.

Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Tuesday declared the results for the Civil Services Exam 2023, with «Aditya Srivastava» securing the top rank. «Animesh Pradhan» and «Donuru Ananya Reddy» secured the second and third ranks respectively, it said.A total of 1,016 candidates cleared the examination and have been recommended for different central government services, the UPSC said. The Civil Services Exam is conducted annually in three stages — preliminary, main and interview — by the UPSC to select officers of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among others. Click here to download the full UPSC CSE 2023 Exam Result Here

Long-winded and often-unedifying judicial processes are said to be among the reasons foreign investors resist dispute resolution in India. New Delhi’s demand that Indian options be exhausted before overseas arbitration is sought gets in the way of bilateral investment treaties too.

Billionaires and Senator Bernie Sanders agree on at least one thing: They see a four-day work week in America’s future. Hedge fund manager Steve Cohen is investing in golf courses because he anticipates a big increase in leisure time, and IAC founder Barry Diller is expecting people to be in the office only four days a week. Sanders has even proposed legislation to reset the work week to 32 hours.

National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has dismissed the plea filed by four unit buyers of Parsvnath Landmark Developers to initiate insolvency proceedings against the subsidiary of Parsvnath Developer. The appellate tribunal upheld the orders of the Principal bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), which on October 17, 2023, rejected their plea on technical grounds as the number of petitioners was only four, while the total number of allottees by Parsvnath Landmark is 488. The matter relates to La Tropicana Khyber Pass, a Delhi-based project of the realty firm.

A federal judge has ruled that Woodford Reserve undermined unionization efforts at its Kentucky distillery by awarding pay raises, relaxing its vacation policy and handing out bottles of whiskey to workers before a vote on whether to unionize

Mint. According to the order, Emami has been able to make out a strong prima facie case on merits insofar as the matter of passing-off is concerned.

natural gas in the energy mix to 15% by 2030, said GAIL chairman Sandeep Kumar Gupta. In an interview to ET's Sanjeev Choudhary, the former finance chief of Indian Oil Corporation, who took over as the chief of India's largest gas marketer and transporter in 2022, said the government should mandate the use of natural gas in refineries and steel making, and make emissions a factor in the merit order for electricity despatch to help gas-based power compete with coal-based supply. He also said natural gas should come under the goods and services tax (GST) regime, production-linked incentive (PLI) should be extended to LNG-powered vehicles and GST on CNG-powered vehicles should be slashed to 5% from 28%, on a par with electric vehicles (EVs). Edited excerpts: How does the global gas market look? The global gas market is well supplied and there is no concern about LNG prices. The OPEC+'s arbitrary production cuts, however, have an impact on LNG prices that are linked to crude oil. The situation can correct if the producer group reviewed its decision and took responsible action.

introduce its new Counseling Program called College Ready. Enlisting the help of a college admissions counseling service is an invaluable resource during a student’s admissions journey. Caroline and Jose, Ivy Central’s Counselors not only provide guidance on key aspects of the admissions process such as essay brainstorming and interview preparation, but they also leverage their decades of experience to build exceptional profiles with their students that make them into highly sought after candidates for the world’s top universities.

Krishna Trilokcand Vasvani, Jaipur, Rajasthan.  

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has decided to increase the scope of theIncome Tax Department in filing of appeal cases in tribunals and courts. It has been directed by CBDT via a circular dated March 15, 2024, that the tax department can now file appeals with income tax tribunals and courts without considering the tax effect amount for certain specified cases based on the merit of the case. Among the specified cases, one is about penny stocks which falls under the category of cases involving organised tax evasion including cases of bogus capital gain/loss through penny stocks and cases of accommodation entries. «Monetary limits given with regard to filing appeal/SLP shall be applicable to all cases including those relating to TDS/TCS under the Act with the following exceptions where the decision to appeal/file SLP shall be taken on merits, without regard to the tax effect and the monetary limits,» said CBDT in its circular dated March 15, 2024.

ANI, Vallabh had said that he had asked the high command of the Congress to stop criticising Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani. This was after the Adani Group chairman was given a clean sheet by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), which had launched an investigation into him over allegations made by US-based short-seller Hindenburg. "The Congress has made a habit of going at Adani and Ambani (Reliance Industries chairperson Mukesh Ambani) night and day.

Cognizant Technology Solutions has postponed its annual salary increases for this year by four months to August, the Economic Times reported. It is now scheduled to implement them for eligible employees from August 1, the paper said citing two sources. Last year, the company, listed on Nasdaq, had granted salary hikes to its employees in April.

Lok Sabha elections, poll graffiti and wall paintings are becoming common across West Bengal, demonstrating its unmatched power to grab the attention of voters. In Siliguri, a mural by Trinamool Congress portrays a figure resembling Prime Minister Narendra Modi being cautioned by Lord Ram to maintain a safe distance and win the elections on his own merit. Hundreds of miles away in Kolkata's Jadavpur, a graffiti by CPI(M)'s student wing SFI compares TMC to the «demon» of Sandeshkhali and BJP to a «dacoit», urging voters to reject both. Another graffiti by CPI(M), with images of LPG cylinder, reads 'tel theklo satake, gas gelo hazare, bhaktagan mookh kholena bazare' (the price of oil has breached the Rs 100 mark, price of LPG has reached Rs 1,000 but supporters of BJP are silent).

Congress over its assertion to protect democracy, asking how it was possible with the party «taking» the support of SDPI, the political arm of the banned PFI, besides being in alliance with the DMK which she said was «renowned for burning the Constitution.» Campaigning for the BJP's North Chennai candidate RC Paul Kanagaraj, for the April 19 Lok Sabha polls, she also slammed the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu over its leaders' alleged anti-Sanatana Dharma comments. «Today I stand in a state that is renowned for its spiritual power...which is renowned for our culture and that is why the nation is outraged when DMK leaders attack Sanatana Dharma, when the DMK leaders try to bring disrepute to the Hindu religion and today they stand exposed in front of the country when they speak about India and Indianness,» she said. She also slammed the Congress.

IT services giant Cognizant Technology Solutions has deferred its annual salary hikes this year by four months. It now plans to roll them out to eligible employees from August 1, two people confirmed to ET. Last year, the Nasdaq-listed firm had given hikes to employees in April1.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce chief executive Victor Dodig doesn’t expect a flurry of interest-rate cuts any time soon.

JSW Energy Ltd has decided to raise up to ₹5,000 crore from qualified institutional placement (QIP) of equity in one or more tranches at a floor price of ₹510. Assuming that the entire amount is raised at the floor price, it will lead to about 6% equity dilution. The company had the option of either raising funds in the parent company or in JSW Neo Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary having green energy generation projects.

Zomato, India’s leading online food delivery platform, has said that the company has received a service tax demand and penalty order of over ₹184 crore for the period October 2014 to June 2017. Stressing that the company will file an appeal against the order before an appropriate authority, the food aggregator said the demand order is for non-payment of service tax of certain sales made by the foreign subsidiaries and branches of the company to its customers located outside India, in a late-night regulatory filing Zomato said.