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A press conference at the Ministry of Finance in Riyadh gave details of the Financial Sector Conference to be held this month.

Saudi fi nancial meet to attract regional, intl expertsJEDDAH: A major confer-ence taking place in Saudi Arabia this month will at-tract 2,000 business and financial leaders from the Kingdom, the region and across the world.

The Financial Sector Conference (FSC) is to be held on 24 and 25 April at the King Abdul Aziz Inter-national Conference Center in Riyadh.

The event is being or-ganized by the Ministry of Finance, the Saudi Ara-bian Monetary Authority (SAMA) and the Capital Market Authority (CMA). It is the latest high-profile conference hosted in the Kingdom as part of an effort to attract investment, share expertise and develop Saudi Arabia’s financial sector.

Khal id Al-Homoud, member of the CMA Board of Directors and the FSC Su-pervision Committee, said the event was among the

most prominent financial conferences in the world and will be attended by “in-ternational corporations, in-ternational rating agencies,

experts and specialists in finance, investment, bank-ing and insurance.”

“The FSC highlights the Kingdom’s position as the largest financial market in the Middle East, as it

provides a single platform for all Saudi financial sec-tor stakeholders to engage in fruitful dialogue,” Al-Homoud, said during a press

conference at the Ministry of Finance.

Fahad Al-Saif, Head of the Debt Management Of-fice, Advisor to the Finance Minister and chairman of the FSC technical commit-

tee, said sessions at the conference will cover the Saudi financial sector, Is-lamic finance and FinTech.

“We envision the FSC

being the largest platform for financial dialogue in the Middle East and among the top financial sector events in the world, serving as a key catalyst for innovation, forging partnerships and

building relationships be-tween financial institutions and investors,” Al-Saif said.

The conference will be held under the patronage

of King Salman and at-tended by Finance Minis-ter Mohammed Al-Jadaan, SAMA governor, Ahmed Al-Kholifey, and Energy Minister Khalid Al Falih, among others.

Rajesh Gupta

Indian-American receives IEEE McDowell AwardCALIFORNIA: Rajesh Gup-ta, a professor of computer science and engineering at University of California San Diego, has been awarded the W. Wallace Mc-Dowell Award by the IEEE Comput-er Society for his seminal contribu-tions in design and implementation of microelectronic systems-on-chip and cyberphysical systems.

G u p t a c u r -rently serves as founding director of the Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute at UC San Diego.

According to a univer-sity press release, Gupta has led several large scale projects including NSF Ex-peditions on Variability and DARPA projects under Data Intensive Systems (DIS) and Circuit Realization at

Faster Timescales (CRAFT) programs.

He also leads NSF project MetroInsight and a co-PI on DARPA/SRC Center on Com-

puting on Net-work Infrastruc-t u r e ( C O N I X ) with the goal to build new genera-tion of distributed cyber-physical systems that use city-scale sensing data for improved services and au-tonomy. His past

contributions include Sys-tem modeling and SPARK parallelizing high-level syn-thesis, both of which have been incorporated into in-dustrial practice.

Gupta received a bach-elor of technology in elec-trical engineering from IIT Kanpur, India; a master of science in EECS from Uni-versity of (Contd. on page 2)

Most job seekers want to stay in UAE for at least fi ve yearsDUBAI: Nearly three quar-ters of job seekers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia would like to live and work in the Middle East for more than five years, according to a new survey from global recruitment consultancy Michael Page.

Close to 30pc said they would like to stay in the Middle East for more than 15 years.

Additionally, 64pc of re-spondents are positive about the current job market situa-tion and 80pc of respondents are optimistic it will get bet-ter in the next six months, said the quarterly report.

The Q1 2019 job mar-ket survey collected data from 850 respondents in the Middle East, mainly in managerial to executive level roles.

The Q1 2019 job mar-ket survey collected data from 850 respondents in the Middle East, mainly in managerial to executive

level roles.The top three reasons

respondents cited for living and working in the Middle

East were career prospects, salary and standard of liv-ing. Dubai remains the most attractive city for employ-ment, compared to other cities in the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iran, Jordan, Leba-non and Saudi Arabia.

The data was collected

on a voluntary basis from candidates who applied for a job or submitted a CV on the Michael Page website.

The 850 respondents, 76pc male and 23pc female, were mainly in managerial to executive level roles. More than 80pc were between the ages of 25 and 50 years old.

In terms of professional experience and education, 70pc had more than five

years of experience and 85pc had college degrees.

Almost half of job seek-ers said they were looking

for new employment for a better salary package. Forty-four per cent said their cur-rent role was not offering opportunities for further development, 38pc wanted to broaden their responsibili-ties and 32pc were looking for a better work-life balance.

Mukesh Ambani among TIME’s list of 100 most infl uential people NEW YORK: Reliance In-dustries Chairman Mukesh Ambani and public-interest litigators Arundhati Katju and Menaka Guruswamy, who spearheaded a historic legal battle for LGBTQ rights in India, are among the Indi-ans who have been named by TIME magazine in its prestigious list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The Time 100 Most In-fluential People 2019 list was released Wednesday, naming the world’s most influential pioneers, leaders, titans, art-ists and icons of the year.

The list includes Indian-American comedian and TV host Hasan Minhaj, US Pres-ident Donald Trump, Pope Francis, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, iconic golfer Tiger Woods and Face-book founder Mark Zuck-erberg. Writing the TIME 100 profile for Ambani, Anand Mahindra, chairman of business conglomerate the Mahindra Group, said

Ambani’s father Dhirubhai was a visionary in Indian business, whose Reliance Industries conglomerate pioneered ways of targeting

global scale.“But Ambani’s vision is

now even more ambitious than that of the father whose bless-ings he unfailingly invokes at the launch of each initiative,” Mahindra wrote adding that the scale of his Reliance Jio mobile-data network, which has already connected over 280 million people in India with low-cost 4G, is “impres-sive by any standard.”

Mahindra cites Ambani’s promise in 2003 through an advertising tagline that his company would “put the world in the palm of your hand.”

“It won’t be long before he delivers on that promise,” he said. Award-winning actor Priyanka Chopra wrote a pro-file for Katju and Guruswa-my, the pioneering women who led from the front in the fight to ensure equal rights for the LGBTQ community in India and were among the lead lawyers representing gay petitioners to have the ban on consensual gay sex struck down in the country.

“Arundhati and Menaka have helped take a giant step for LGBTQ+ rights in the world’s largest democracy. In their committed fight for justice, they have shown us that we as a society must continue to make progress, even after laws are changed, and that we must make an effort to understand, accept and love,” Chopra said.

Mukesh Ambani

Walmart committed to Indian market: Dough McMillionBENGALURU: Walmart CEO Doug McMillon says ‘com-mitted’ to Indian market almost a year into writing a $ 16 billion cheque for Flip-kart, Walmart CEO Doug Mc-Millon said the retail giant continues to be committed to the Indian market given the huge opportunity that the country presents.

McMillon, who is on a two-day trip to Bengaluru, also highlighted that a level-playing field is important to ensure growth for businesses operating in the country.

He was accompanied by EVP Corporate Affairs Dan Bartlett and Dirk Van den Berghe (EVP and Regional CEO Asia and Canada). The executives also met the lead-ership of Walmart India, Walmart Global Sourcing and Walmart Labs.

McMillon addressed em-ployees in a townhall, where he was asked a range of questions.

According to sources, McMillon expressed satis-faction at the progress made by Flipkart and said Walmart is aggressive on the Indian market given the size of the opportunity.

Asked about the recent regulatory challenges in the Indian market, McMillon said Walmart has operations across multiple countries and complies with local laws in individual markets but asserted that a level-playing field is important and that is what businesses seek.

The government had tightened norms for e-com-merce firms with foreign investment with effect from February 1.

These regulations barred online marketplaces like Flipkart and Amazon from

selling products of com-panies where they hold stakes and banned exclu-sive marketing arrange-ments that could influence product price. A separate e-commerce policy for the burgeoning sector is also

in the works. At that time too, Walmart had said it was disappointed with the changes but hoped for a col-laborative regulatory process going forward that results in a level-playing field.

McMillon lauded the ef-forts of Flipkart for the prog-ress made in taking online shopping to millions of new customers in India.

Sources said McMillon also asserted that Flipkart should maintain its leader-ship position in the Indian market.

Flipkart Group Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Rajneesh Kumar said McMil-lon is in India for an internal business trip.

“As part for the trip, he interacted with Flipkart’s leadership team and em-ployees. (Contd. on page 2)

Doug McMillon

Indian refi ners turn to OPEC to make up Iran oil gapNEW DELHI: Indian refiners are increasing their planned purchases from OPEC na-tions, Mexico and the US to make up for any loss of Iranian oil if the US enforces sanctions more harshly from next month, sources and company officials said.

All four Indian state-owned refiners that buy Iranian oil are confident of securing additional barrels from other producers, com-pany officials said.

The state refiners have not yet placed orders for Iranian oil for May, when the current waiver expires, pending clarity from the US.

India’s Bharat Petroleum Corp. (BPCL) and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL) have tapped Iraq to make up for Iranian oil, while Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) has signed its first annual

contract with US suppliers and raised supplies from Mexico.

“There will be no supply constraints. The supply can come from both OPEC and non-OPEC nations like the

US,” said MK Surana, chair-man of Hindustan Petroleum Corp, which purchased up to 1.5 million tons per year of Iranian crude in 2018/19.

OPEC and other produc-ers including Russia have gradually tightened supply through 2019 to reduce a global glut. OPEC and its partners may not renew the

curbs when they expire after June because of the risk of over-tightening the market.

IOC, India’s top refiner and Iran’s biggest Indian client, will cut Iranian oil imports to 6 million tons, or about 120,000 barrels per day, in the 2019/20 period from 9 million in 2018/19, and has raised the optional volumes it can buy from other producers to 2 million tons, a company official said.

“Our optional quantities under term deals are higher than last year. We have op-tional contracts with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other suppliers ... They will sup-ply more if we want,” the official said, adding his firm would also buy more US oil if required.

IOC also hopes to buy 1.5 million tons of Mexican oil in 2019, (Contd. on page 2)

2 EMIGRATION Friday, April 19, 2019

Published by IPEPCIL Publications LtdRNI No.: MAHENG/2018/76663

Publisher: Supreet M.J.Editor : E.L. VaidyanathanVolume No.: 1, Issue: 55

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LIPSYNCH You are never too old to start learning and you’re never too young to aim high and achieve great things.

— Asa Hutchinson.

GST is here to stay

The much reviled Goods and Services Tax (GST) has started receiving accolades from its own critics. In March, GST raked in its record collection and ended

the financial year 2018-19 on a vibrant note. Gross GST col-lections of Rs 06 trillion in March have helped the govern-ment close this fiscal year with Rs11.77-lakh- crore in the GST kitty, against revised estimates of Rs 11.47-lakh-crore it set out in the Interim budget, defying all apprehensions of a significant shortfall. But despite this last-minute rise in collections, the Centre’s share of GST for the year at Rs 4.3-lakh-crore hasn’t overshot its revised estimate of Rs 5.03-lakh-crore. With direct tax collections said to be falling short by a whopping Rs 60,000 crore for the year, the Centre’s ability to meet its fiscal deficit target of 3.4pc depends on whether it manages to mop-up enough non-tax revenues to fill the gap. Till elections, nothing will be clear. It is intriguing that GST collections should pick up in the last three months of FY19 to touch a 13 to 15pc year-on-year growth, when consumption indicators in the economy have been losing steam. The last three months have seen India’s high-frequency economic indicators such as automobile sales, IIP and core sector output register sharp deceleration after charting a revival in the first nine months. One possible explanation for this is that better growth in the services sector has buoyed GST collections, even as manufacturing has slipped. But it is more likely that the GST Council’s drastic pruning of items in the highest tariff band of 28pc and its rationalisation of rates to correct sector-specific anomalies in recent meetings, have paid off in the form of higher col-lections. Harnessing the cen-tralised data generated by the GST Network, the revenue department has also redoubled its efforts to curb evasion in recent months. It has tracked down invoice mismatches, tightened e-way bill rules and has carried out a rash of raids and even arrests.

This seems to be bringing dividends in the form of improved compliance with the number of GSTR 3B return-filers hitting 75.9 lakh in March compared with 72.4 lakh in Dec 2018. In a media interview, the CEO of GST Network claimed that compliance rates under GST were 15pc better than those under the erstwhile VAT and service tax regimes. Overall, it is good to see the much-criticised GST stabilised in the second year of its operations, with businesses get-ting over their initial reservations with this landmark tax reform. Buoyant collections in recent months also hold out a strong message to policy-makers that low tariffs and ease of compliance must accompany anti-evasion measures to meet collection targets.

GST was first introduced in France and it was con-sequently, Japan, South Korea, UK, UAE and Australia followed suit. Introducing anything new is fraught with opposition and so was the case with GST in India. A single tax saves time and operational expenses. GST replaced the nuisance called Octroi, which was the fountainhead of corruption and harassment.

Editorial

The National American University awards honorary doctorate to Shabnam Asthana and other eminent personalities.

Shabnam Asthana awarded Honorary doctorate by National American UniversityMUMBAI: The National American University, Delaware USA, during its recently concluded convocation ceremony held at the Raheja Classique Club in Mumbai honoured eminent personalities from various fields with Hon. Doctorates for their profound “dedication to the progress and advancement of the society and the World’s community.”

Shabnam Asthana, noted PR personality and influencer was awarded an Hon. Doctor-ate in Business Administration. Shabnam expressed her elation at being lauded as a multi-talented professional who had worked in diverse fields encompassing Journalism, Marketing, Sales, Corporate Communications, Corporate Affairs, Administration, PR, Event Management and training and added that the prefix of Dr. now came with a greater sense of responsibility and a big measure of resolve from her end to continue giving her best to her profession and the society.

UNESCO experts ready to assist reconstruction of iconic Notre DameUNITED NATIONS: Two-thirds of the largely medi-eval roof of the famed Notre Dame cathedral in Paris have gone after the devas-tating fire in Paris, but UN cultural experts are standing by to offer help in rebuild-ing the iconic structure, UNESCO World Heritage Centre Director Mechtild Rössler said.

Rössler, who visited the site said that the cathedral is a universal symbol and the centre of France and its devastation has left people across nations shocked. She described seeing people praying outside the stricken symbol of the city and the nation, still trying to take in the scale of the disaster.

“I saw many, many peo-ple going from the Metro, to the site of Notre Dame, and I have to say many are still in a state of shock, because it’s not only the Christian community, it’s a building for all of us,” she said.

“Really, it’s a universal symbol and it’s the centre of France, I think this is really shocking people profoundly

and they lost something that is part of their identity”.

Rössler said that a team of UNESCO experts is on hand to investigate the sta-bility of the stonework and potential damage to stained glass windows, echoing a statement by the UNESCO Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, in which she an-nounced that a rapid dam-age assessment would be carried out as soon as pos-sible with the authorities.

After visiting the site of Notre Dame, Azoulay said

“we are all heartbroken. The Cathedral is part of the

World Heritage site officially known as Paris, Banks of the Seine, inscribed on the World Heritage List, in 1991.

Notre Dame represents a historically, architecturally, and spiritually, outstand-ing universal heritage. It is also a monument of liter-ary heritage, a place that is unique in our collec-tive imagination,” said the UNESCO chief, adding that the inferno which engulfed the cathedral, but appears to

have left the medieval stone-work intact, reminds us of

the power of heritage that connects us to one another.

We are receiving mes-sages of support from all over the world.

The cathedral, where con-struction began in the 1160s extending for more than a century, is considered to be the finest example of the French Gothic style of archi-tecture, with its groundbreak-ing use of rib vaults and but-tresses, stained glass rosettes and sculpted ornaments.

Indian-American receives...(Contd. from page 1)California, Berkeley; and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University.

Earlier he worked at Intel Corporation in Santa Clara, California, and on the computer science faculty at Uni-versity of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and UC Irvine. Gupta holds the Qualcomm Endowed Chair in Embedded Microsystems at UC San Diego and INRIA International Chair at the French international research institute in Rennes, Bretagne Atlantique. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, the ACM and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Walmart committed...(Contd. from page 1)He is delighted with the progress the team is making to take e-commerce to next 200-300 million customers in India, and bring a great selection through right affordability construct to consumers in the country,” Kumar said.

McMillon also commended Flipkart Group CEO Kalyan, Phone-Pe CEO Sameer Nigam and the team for their role in leveraging technology and innovation for solving challenges in India’s digital commerce. Krishnamurthy said Walmart’s long-term, strategic partnership with Flipkart was immensely valued by everyone.

Indian refi ners turn...(Contd. from page 1)compared with 1 million tons last year, the source said.

Officials from state-owned National Iranian Oil did not immediately reply to requests for comment on the Indian refin-ers’ plans to purchase less Iranian crude. Refinery officials said that their 2019/20 crude import strategy was not contingent on Iranian oil, and was more flexible than in previous years.

“We don’t have a watertight plan for the year, we have op-tional quantities so that it is possible to find replacement if any country goes out for any reason,” said an MRPL official.

During previous sanctions against Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq raised supplies to India to grow market share in the country, the world’s third-biggest oil consumer and importer. Last year, MRPL signed its first annual deal with Iraq to buy 1.5 million tons of Basra oil in 2019.

Nine-year old Indian girl wins $1m in Dubai raffl eDUBAI: An Indian girl in Dubai has won $1 million, six years after she won a Dh1.2m luxury car.

But her father will keep the “million-dollar secret” from his daughter until the weekend, he said hours af-ter her name, Eliza M., was picked up in a Dubai Duty Free (DDF) Millennium Mil-lionaire draw.

The father of the 9-year old, a grade four student in a Dubai school, believes his family can wait for the big surprise to be revealed over the weekend unless they happen to find it out through news reports, in which he would not divulge his name.

“I have been buying these tickets for 15 years. I have spent about Dh300 to Dh400 thousand dirhams so far. If I can wait for 15 years for this day, they can wait for a couple of more days,” said the father who identi-fied himself as N.M.

N.M. said he has been buying the tickets alter-nately in the names of Eliza and his other daughter who is a year younger.

“They don’t check the news. They get to know if we won or not from my face. I am good at hiding my emo-tions. Anyway, I am normal now, after the initial excite-

ment,” he said.With nine as his lucky

number, he had bought ticket No. 0333 online under Eliza’s name for the promo-tion’s series 298.

She became the 140th Indian national to win a million dollars in the pro-motion since its inception in 1999.

Eliza was barely three years old when she won a top-of-the-range McLaren MP4 12C Coupe in DDF Finest Surprise Draw in 2013. “We couldn’t attend the prize presentation then as she fell very sick. We had to divert our car to the hos-pital and get her admitted,” N.M said.

N.M. had then sold the supercar with a showroom price of Dh1.2million for Dh800,000 and used it for clearing his debts.

However, this t ime, he had promised Eliza he would take her on a Europe trip if she won. “I will do it when they have their next vacation,” he said.

N.M says he plans to save the rest of the amount for his daughters’ future and will not stop trying his luck again.

“I will continue to buy these tickets. I have already got the one for the Series 300.”

Dubai wins top US green building certifi cationDUBAI: Dubai has become the first city in the Arab world and the Middle East and North Africa to get the Platinum Rating in the Leed (Leadership in Energy and En-vironmental Design) for cities certification awarded by the US Green Building Council (USGBC), said a top official.

“The Platinum Rating is the highest rating for a city’s sustainability performance benchmark. Qualifying cit-ies are measured, within a comprehensive framework, according to 14 metrics re-lating to the energy and water sector, waste treat-ment, transportation, hu-man experience, education, prosperity, equality, health, and safety,” remarked Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, the managing director and CEO of Dubai Electricity and Wa-ter Authority (Dewa).

“This award is a tribute to the efforts and vision of Sheikh Mohammed and the diligent and cohesive efforts of governmental entities and authorities in the emirate,” he added.

Commending the feat, Sheikh Hamdan bin Moham-med bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, said Dubai’s rapid growth in various vital sec-

tors has been guided by the vision of HH Sheikh Moham-

med bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minis-ter and Ruler of Dubai.

Sheikh Mohammed’s di-rectives to incorporate sustain-able development strategies in plans for the future have led to great progress in the clean energy sector, he noted.

Sheikh Hamdan pointed out that Dubai aims to con-

solidate its position as a global hub for sustainable development. The city is un-dertaking a range of sustain-able projects including the world’s biggest concentrated solar power project and the world’s tallest solar tower, he added.

DCB Bank net profi t rose 50pc MUMBAI: Private sector DCB Bank said its net profit rose by 50pc to Rs 96 crore during the fourth quar-ter ended March 2019 on healthy core income and restricted bad assets.

The bank’s net profit was Rs 64 crore in the cor-responding January-March quarter of 2017-18. Its total income rose 15pc to Rs 400 crore during the quarter, compared with Rs 349 crore in the corresponding period of the fiscal ended March 2018, the bank said.

The net interest income increased 14pc to Rs 301 crore, while non-interest in-come rose 17pc to Rs 99 crore.

For the entire financial year 2018-19, the net profit of the bank rose 33pc to Rs 325 crore as compared with Rs 245 crore in the year-ago period. Income during the year was up by Rs 1,499 crore from Rs 1,306 crore in the preceding fiscal.

On the asset front, the bank’s gross non-performing assets (NPAs) stood at 1.84pc of gross advances as on March 31, 2019, as compared to 1.79pc as on March 31, 2018. Net NPA ratio stood at 0.65 per cent as compared to 0.72 pc.

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D I S C L A I M E R

MUMBAI: E-commerce platform Snapdeal said it is looking to ex-pand its technology team with the addition of 120 engineers this year as it enhances personalisation and recommendation features for its us-ers. The company, which competes with larger rivals like Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart, said its ‘Snapdeal 2.0 strategy’ (launched in August 2017) has helped driving 3X growth in business volumes,

while reducing costs by 90 per cent.

“This resurgence also enabled Snapdeal to become the first e-commerce company in India to become cash flow positive, giving it the freedom to invest its earnings in growing the business,” Snapdeal said in a statement.

The company said it had hired nearly 150 new team members, mostly in the technology, engineer-ing, product and design teams in 2018-19. Interestingly, more than half of the new hires in 2018-19 were former employees opting to rejoin across technology, supply chain, user growth, marketing and business verticals at Snapdeal.

“In the coming months, Snap-deal is looking to hire nearly 120 engineers who will work on various projects in the domains of machine learning, gamification, personalisation, cloud-agnostic production systems, etc.” it added.

Snapdeal: E-commerce giant hunts for engineers

The positions span across entry, mid and senior positions in ar-eas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, full stack, Java back-end, and front-end engineer-ing, it said.

Snapdeal said it is also looking at adding vernacular components to the buying experience. “The technology team is helping Snap-deal to deepen its efficiency initia-tives… improve the experience for

users and also lower the cost of operations. Technology continues at the heart of Snapdeal 2.0’s suc-cess in driving growth, superior experience and more efficient op-erations,” it noted.

Snapdeal, which had seen its business being impacted severely by the intense competition in the e-commerce segment, had in 2017 dumped a USD 950-million take-over offer from rival, Flipkart. It was then that Snapdeal co-found-ers, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal had said Snapdeal will pursue a fresh strategy in the Indian market.

This strategy has helped Snap-deal narrow its consolidated losses substantially to Rs 613 crore for 2017-18 from Rs 4,647.1 crore in 2016-17. Apart from trimming headcount, the company also sold its payment services unit, Freecharge to Axis Bank and Vul-can Express to Kishore Biyani’s Future Supply Chain Solutions.

NEW DELHI: Faced with a lackluster response from bidders, the Central government is planning to overhaul

the whole coal mining auction pro-cess. “The current auction process is not attracting any bidders. In the past, we had cancelled bidding several

Govt to chalk out new policy for coal biddingtimes as there were no takers. Last year, we had tweaked some norms to make it more business-friendly, but

there is still no interest.So, there is a need to overhaul the

process,” a senior official from the coal ministry told this publication. He

said they have consulted the finance ministry, which would help them in setting the new terms and condi-

tions. The move was initiated after the government had to cancel the sixth and seventh rounds of coal mine auctions in March, under which it was planning to put on sale 19 blocks. Under the sixth round, the government had earlier announced the auction of 13 blocks for the regulated sec-tors, including iron and steel, cement and aluminium.

In the seventh tranche, the coal ministry had said it would auction six coking coal blocks for iron and steel sector. The tender process was initiated on October 25, 2018, also included the recent proposal from the coal ministry to al-

low private companies to sell up to 25 per cent of production in the open market. However, despite this, the auction attracted no bidder.

NEW DELHI: Aimed at helping its partners to reach their business goals, Oyo on Thursday launched a new programme --- Open Partner Engage-ment Network - for its asset (hotel) owners in India and South Asia part-nered with the company. The service include support in terms of payment, finance, technology and innovation, query resolution.

The company also introduced upgraded version of an app for asset owners ‘Co-Oyo’ to monitor progress and to provide complete visibility on all business and customer metrics. “Today with the launch of OPEN- OYO Partner Engagement Network, we

Oyo launches new programme for its partner hotelsare laying the foundations of a structured way of exchanging ideas, provid-ing support and most important-ly, building a relationship of trust on which w e h o p e t o build the next several decades to come,” said Aditya Ghosh, CEO, OYO India and South Asia.

Stressing on the importance of being in touch on a real-time basis in this fast moving world, Ghosh said, “we are proud to be the first to have this app in the hospitality industry.”

OYO said its core promises to its partners include ‘transparent payment protocols’ under which asset owners will receive 18 per cent interest on delayed payments and resolution for exceptions will be done before the due date. OYO said it will enable access to easier financing options for part-ners looking to make improvements through banks and other financial institutions with whom it has forged partnerships. Further, the company

introduced a Central Response hotline (+91-9310777888) through which asset owners can directly share their queries and expect resolutions.

Currently, more than 15 cities in India have more than 200 OYO asset owners and that over 640 of its asset owners were able to clock over Rs 1 crore in gross booking value with OYO in 2018, it said. The budget hotel chain has over 8,700 asset owner part-ners spread across nearly 260 cities in India and South Asia. In March, Oyo Hotels and Homes announced an investment commitment of Rs 1400 crores for the current fiscal in India and South Asia.

NEW DELHI: Air India wants to take 4-5 wide-body Boeing 777 aircraft of the now-grounded Jet Airways and may hold discussions for it with the airline’s lead lender State Bank of India (SBI).

The move is aimed at catering the peak demand on various interna-tional routes such as India-Gulf and India-UK.

Jet Airways has 10 Boeing 777 in its fleet which it used to serve vari-ous popular destinations in Europe and North America before halting the entire international operations.

“Air India has expressed its interest to take some of the B777s on lease. The initial proposal is there,” an in-dustry source said.

Air India keen on taking 5 grounded Jet Airways Boeings

A SBI spokesperson could not be reached for comment on the devel-opment.

After Jet Airways suspended its international operations the airfare on most of the foreign routes have jumped sharply with tickets on routes like Mumbai-London becoming pro-hibitively expensive.

Air India wants to capture the traffic on these routes by deploying additional capacity.

Last week, low-cost carrier SpiceJet had announced to induct 16 B737 into its fleet which were earlier operated by Jet Airways. The airline would take another six aircraft and operate them on domestic routes in few weeks.

While many domestic carriers have grabbed the opportunity created by suspension of Jet Airways’ operations and launched new flights on domestic routes, additional capacity is yet to be mounted on international routes to fill the gap.

GULF JOBS & CAREERS 5Friday, April 19, 2019

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� �� �� �� �� �� �� � ��Puzzle #: 55 Diffi culty : Medium

Sudoku Puzzle Rules: To solve a Su-doku puzzle, every digit from 1 to 9 must appear in each of the nine verti-cal columns, in each of the nine horizontal rows and in each of the nine boxes.Solution for Puzzle # 55 will be in next issue.

Fun Corner

Sudoku Puzzle 54 Answer

Your wellness

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT),

Roorkee have identified a new method to detect two of

the worst forms of cancer in women – breast and ovarian cancer. The research team,

New method to detect breast, ovarian cancer foundled by Professor Kiran Am-batipudi from the institute’s biotechnology department, identified certain proteins present in the saliva which

act as potential biomarkers indicative of breast and ovarian cancer metastasis.

For the research, the team collected samples from healthy individuals and compared them to samples collected from stage IV breast and ovarian cancer patients, and those ovarian cancer patients who had undergone at least three cycles of neoadjuvant che-motherapy.

“The salivary proteins were analysed by mass spectrometry indicative of pathophysiology of breast and ovarian cancers and were compared to healthy and ovarian chemotherapy subjects. Collectively, 646 proteins were identified, of which 409 proteins were confidently identified across

all four groups. In addition to 409 identified proteins, 352 proteins were common in all groups, while 57 were either present/absent exclusively in one group or common in any two/three groups,” IIT Roorkee said in a statement.

Prof Ambatipudi said that due to the heteroge-neous and asymptomatic nature of breast and ovarian cancers, their early detec-tion has been difficult using traditional methods such as mammography, blood flow patterns by colour-flow Doppler imaging and transvaginal ultrasound examination, due to high diagnostic costs and radia-

Taking the stairs, cy-cling or walking

to work may help you live longer, regard-less of age, sex and starting fitness level, a large-scale s t u d y u n -veiled claims.

“ P e o p l e t h i n k t h e y have to start going to the gym and exercising hard

Walking, cycling may help you live longer: StudyFrom spare parts and

guns, 3D printing is becoming a promising

approach in engineering per-

tion exposure. “Our attempt was to uti-

lise saliva as a non-invasive sample source to identify specific protein biomark-ers, which indicate breast and ovarian cancer metas-tasis. In patients who have undergone three cycles of chemotherapy, the salivary proteins can also act as an indicator of the patient’s response to chemotherapy,” he said.

“Although it is essential to clinically validate these proteins in a large cohort of subjects but the results of the present study serve as an initial step towards the development of saliva-based clinical tests,” he added

sonalized tissues and organs in cases when regeneration of cells is difficult and re-placement of damaged ones

is expensive.Scientists at the

Tel Aviv University achieved a break-through by 3D print-ing a heart using the patient’s own cells.

For the first time, the scientists used fully personalised non-supplemented materi-als as bio-inks for 3D printing, the research

Scientists 3D print heart in major medical breakthroughto get fitter,” said Elin

Ekblom-Bak, from the Swedish School of Sport

and Health Sciences in Stockholm.

“ B u t it doesn’t have to be that com-p l i c a t e d . For most p e o p l e , j u s t b e -ing more active in daily life – taking the

stairs, exiting the metro a station early, cycling to work – is enough to benefit health, since levels are so low to start with. The more you do, the bet-

ter,” Ekblom-Bak said in a statement.

The study included

316,137 adults aged 18-74 years who had their first occupational health screening between 1995 and 2015 in Sweden.

paper explains. The bio-inks do not provoke an immune response, thereby mini-mising complications after transplantation.

Scientists extracted fatty tissue from the patient and processed them to form diverse personalised bio-inks to 3D print the heart, complete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles, and chambers.

The National Eligi-bility Entrance Test (NEET) will be con-

ducted by the NTA on May 5, 2019. The national level medical test by NTA to fill MBBS and BDS seats will be held in 154 cities all over India. This year, for the pen and paper-based exam, 15.19 lakh candidates have applied in the 37 day’s registration window.

As the exam count-down begins, NEET 2019 is giving medical aspirants heebie-jeebies. Students are wrapping the last min-ute preparation and are ready to hit the bulls-eye. Still, what will happen on the exam day bring jitters which eventually may bring the applicant’s confidence down. So, to do away with the D-day nervousness, here are some ways to

NEET 2019: Preparation strategy for last monthcalm yourself mentally and physically.

A day before the exam Do not overthink, just pon-der that tomorrow will be the usual day, like taking a regular mock test. Taking a

walk in the fresh air, mild exercise can help to pacify the senses. Eating healthy food and taking tight sleep helps the body to lighten. It also relaxes the mind and boosts the concentration.

Circumvent trouble On the exam day, students must steer away from unes-sential conversations. It is futile to ask others “how much they have prepared” or “how many mocks they

have done”. Just remember “self-confidence is the best outfit”. Also, ensure to have all the documents on exam day to avoid any hassle. Carry the NEET 2019 Ad-mit Card and valid identity

proof.Take a deep breath and

relax There can be mo-ments on exam day where students overwhelm them-selves with overthinking. So, in that situation, a little self-talk can really help. Give self-motivation and repeat the mantra “I can do it”. Also, on the exam day, be comfortable. Wear light clothes. Once seated, relax and sit straight, try not to slouch or move legs up and down.

Don’t start right away, make a strategy When stu-dents are a little nervous, they tend to miss some basic fundamentals. Before starting the exam, read the instructions carefully. As the exam will have three sections. Just go through the paper once and have a quick glance. Then go

ahead with a section which seems doable and scoring. Just give the best, the NEET Result will definitely reflect the hard work.

Bubble the correct way in the exam, it is important to mark the answers in the right way. Sometimes students solve all the ques-tions first and then bubble the answers. In that case, it is likely that candidates fell short of time. So, after solving every question, bubble the response with the correct question num-ber immediately. If doubt-ful, mark it, answer it later. Post-exam, candidates will able to cross-check them with official NEET 2019 answer key. As the three-hours progress, keep the confidence high. Whenever there is a dip, just take deep breaths.

As a part of its latest recruitment drive, the Railways has

cancelled a couple of va-cancies at indianrailways.

RRB recruitment 2019Application date revised for ministerial isolated category posts

gov.in. Interested and eligible railway job aspi-rants need to note that

the vacancies have been cancelled in the ministe-

rial and isolated category posts. Along with this, the last date of online appli-

cations has also been e x t e n d e d f o r t h e same posts. In order to miss any last minute rush, it is advised to the candi-dates that they fill the application

form soon enough in order to not miss the

deadline.The railway recruit-

ment process for ministe-rial and isolated category posts will be done in a Single Stage Computer Based Test (CBT) that will be followed by a Stenog-raphy Skill Test (SST)/Translation Test (TT)/Performance Test (PT)/Teaching Skill Test (TST), whichever is applicable. Document verification and medical examination will be conducted there-after. Take a note of the details mentioned below to know more.

All those candidates who have applied for the above mentioned Diesel Locomotive Works in the above categories are now allowed to modify their RRBs/Railways/PUs and category options. They are allowed to make the required changes till April 30, 2019. It is to be noted that in order to make the modification in the application, candi-dates will not be charged any fees.

RRB Recruitment 2019: Revised ScheduleClosing of Online Registration of Applications: April 22, 2019; till 23.59 hrsClosing Date and Time for Payment of Application Fee through-– Online (Net Banking/Credit Card/Debit Card/UPI): April 28, 2019 till 23.59 hrsSBI Challan: April 26, 2019 at 13.00 hrs.Post Office Challan: April 26,2019 at 13.00 hrs.Final Submission of Applications: April 30, 2019 at 23.59 hrsRRB Recruitment 2019: Post cancellation detailsThe Indian Railways, in view of the change of work pattern in Diesel Locomo-tive Works (DLW), Varanasi has withdrawn certain vacancies of DLW. They are1. Staff & Welfare Inspector- 1 post2. Junior Translator/Hindi- 1 post

Border Security Force (BSF) has invited ap-plicants for posts of

Head Constable in Group C. Under the recruitment, vacancies of 1072 Head Constable posts is going to be filled. The online application process for

the recruitment will start from May 14 and end on June 12, 2019. Interested candidates can apply for the recruitment between these dates.

Out of total 1072 va-cancies, 300 are for Head Constable (Radio Operator) and 772 for Head Constable

BSF to fi ll up 1072 vacancies of Head Constable posts

(Radio Mechanic). Can-didates can apply for the recruitment only through online mode. Candidates who wish to apply for the recruitment should visit the official website of BSF which is www.bsf.nic.in after May 14, 2019. On

the home page, click on the recruitment notice and read all the information carefully.Below are the important points regarding the re-cruitment.

14 May 2019: Com-mencement of submission of online application

12 June 2019: Last date for submission of online application

Vacancies for Head Con-stable (Radio Operator) – 300 Posts

Vacancies for Head Con-stable (Radio Mechanic)- 772 Posts

Eligibility CriteriaHead Constable:

Candidates should be 12th passed or equivalent from a rec-ognised university and possess two years Industrial Training Institute Certificate (ITI) in the relevant subject.

The age limit of candidates is 18 to 25 years. (Relaxation will be given to re-

served category students as per government norms).

The recruitment pro-cess will consist of written test, physical test, descrip-tive test and final medical exam.

Fees: SC/ST, female can-didates – No fee; General/OBC – Rs 100

Aegis School of Data Science presents Ae-gis People Analytics

Conference (APAC) 2019 scheduled on April 26, 2019 at Four Points by Sheraton, Vashi, Navi Mumbai with an attempt to create a new era of learning and understand that in turn will pave way to a deeper understanding and better development to advance people analytics practice in the HR industry.

A recent LinkedIn re-search report states 77pc increase in specialized ana-lytics professionals in Hu-man Resource in India. With APAC 2019, HR leaders can now turn to analytics to an-swer critical questions about workforce planning, skills gap, employee retention, and more, in order to enhance

Aegis School presents APAC conference

the sector.At the conference, tech

demo will showcase innova-tions and advancements, that different companies have made for the betterment of your organization and how these innovations can help you change the design of your company in a positive way.

APAC 19 is an hub for HR community by experts across sectors as industry veterans will address benefits of peo-ple analytics in organizations with a healthy discussion between domain leaders such as Dr Abhijit Gangopadhyay, Dean, Aegis School of Data Science (Opening Address), Courtney Mcmahon, Head Global People Analytics, AIG (Keynote Speaker), followed by panel discussions from various other speakers.

6 IN FOCUS Friday, April 19, 2019

I manage a Dubai company and after having issues with our previous business bank, we decided to open a new account with Emirates NBD. We met a member of staff on Oct 8. We had to obtain some additional items but they were forwarded to the bank by October 26. We chased the bank several times but were asked for du-plicate information; items that could have been provided ages ago. Then, on Nov 22, we pointed out that due to this delay the company was about to be penalised as we had been unable to comply with the re-quirements of the Wages Protection System because we did not have an operational bank account. We continued to chase the bank, not least as our contact went on holiday, and we had to find someone else to tell us what was going on. We are getting desperate to get this account open so the business can continue to operate properly. Can you help?

After receiving this enquiry, I made contact with Emirates NBD last month and the bank promised to look into the matter straight away. You later notified me that the bank had told you there were no further requirements and the account has been opened.A spokeswoman for the bank subsequently advised: “We are pleased to inform you that our group customer expe-rience team contacted (you) and provided you with the necessary clarifications and the matter has been resolved. We have offered you our sincere apologies for this discrep-ancy and for any inconvenience caused. Emirates NBD appreciates its customers’ feedback and will take every opportunity to further review and enhance any internal processes that require attention.”

Lifetime banI left the UAE in 2010 and was reported as absconding. I then returned and as I was unable to work, I was then deported and given a lifetime ban. Can I come back to the country and work again?

Lifetime bans are usually issued where someone has been convicted of a crime, so there may be more to this than has been disclosed. This falls under Federal Law No. 6 for 1973 Concerning Immigration and Residence. Article 28 of this law states: “An alien who has been deported may not return to the country except with special permission from the Minister of Interior.” You can contact the General Directorate of Residence and Foreigner Affairs for the emirate in which you were living. This is part of the Ministry of the Interior and regulates the entry and exit of travellers to the UAE. Each emirate has its own similar office with its own website.

Offshore accountI have an offshore bank account in the Isle of Man and will be returning to the UK later this year. Will I have to close this account when I move home? Can I move the money to the UK at a later date and will I be taxed on it when I am back?

There is no legal issue in maintaining an offshore bank account when you are UK resident for tax purposes provided the appropriate declarations are made. You will need to notify your bank of your new ad-dress to ensure they are aware of your status and when it changes.If you are resident in the UK and move money from your offshore bank account to one in the mainland UK you should only be taxed on any interest that is being transferred. Unlike UK bank accounts, where interest is taxed on an annual basis and partly deducted at source depending on your tax bracket, offshore banks operate a system of “gross roll up” of interest, meaning tax is not deducted. This means that if you transfer any inter-est earned offshore to the UK this must be declared just as you would declare income and may be subject to income tax depending on your total income and marginal tax rate.

Extending probationI work for a five-star hotel in the UAE and have finished my probation period. My employer, however, wants to extend my probation period by one more month. I have signed a paper to agree to this ex-tension. I only found out my notice period had been extended after my agreed notice period had ended. I am concerned they are taking advantage as I don’t know the law and I want to know what are my rights. What to do?

The issue of the rights of employers and employees is covered in UAE Labour Law and this applies to the hotel and its staff. Article 137 of the law states: “The worker may be employed for a probation period not

Wage protectionexceeding six months where the employer may terminate the services of the worker without notification or end of service gratu-ity. The worker may not be employed by the same employer for more than one proba-tion period. Should the worker successfully complete the probation period and pursues in his job, the said period shall be deemed as a part of the service period.” Therefore, if you have already been with the hotel for six months, his probation period cannot be extended and he will be considered a permanent employee under UAE law. If, however, the initial notice period was for a shorter period and the additional month takes the total period to no more than six months, the probationary period can be extended with the agreement of both par-ties. As you signed a letter to this effect, this will be considered to be his agreement to the extension provided the law has not been breached.

Lump sum to maidI have employed a maid for several years but my children are now grown up and she will be leaving the country to return to the Philippines. I want to make sure she gets what she is entitled to but she says the law has changed and now all helpers must be paid an end of service gratuity. I have not heard about this. If a gratuity is payable, does this have to be backdated to the start of service, so for six years -- which would be very expensive for me or just from when this new law was passed? How is it calculated?

Legislation to protect domestic workers came into effect in Sept 2017 and this law, Federal Law no 10 of 2017, was designed to clarify the rights of all domestic em-ployees and as well as housemaids. The law also covers domestic drivers, nannies, privately employed tutors and coaches, private nurses and a few other specified categories. It covers the way that contracts of employment are set up, days of rest, holidays, working hours, terminations and disputes and states that their employment rights fall under the remit of the Ministry of HR and Emiratisation. When this new law was initially discussed, there were suggestions and requests that it included a gratuity payment but this is not mentioned on any UAE Government sites, so I am given to understand it did not make it into the final legislation. This means there is no legal requirement for employers to pay any gratuity to domestic staff on termination of their employment. That said, there are many cases where individual households decide to make a lump sum payment to their employees when they leave but they are under no legal obligation to do so and any payment is entirely discretionary.

Tax on alimony?My husband and I are separating with the intention of eventually getting divorced. He plans to stay in the UAE, possibly permanently, but my children and I will be moving back to the UK in the next few months. It has been agreed that he will send money to my UK bank account every month to support the children and pay towards my bills. It is unlikely he will spend more than a couple of months in the UK each year to visit the children. Does this will make a difference to the payments he can make to me? Someone told me the laws had recently changed and he could be taxed on the money he sends if I am residing in the UK. Has the tax situation changed for a case such as ours?

The UK operates a system of indepen-dent taxation for married couples, so you will each be treated separately in respect of liability for UK taxes and your tax residency. You will be deemed UK resident once you move back to the UK but he will keep his status as UK non-resident for tax purposes. This means he can send his UAE income to the UK without it being liable for UK income tax. There have been no recent changes in the tax rules for British expatriates nor have any been announced. The rules last changed significantly in April 2013 when the Statutory Residency Test came into effect and clarified the number of days people can spend in the UK before becoming liable for UK tax, based on cer-tain circumstances and what are known as “connecting factors”’. The previous guide-line of 90 days is no longer relevant and many people have found they can spend more time in the UK than before without jeopardising their tax status, although the rules can be stricter if carrying out work in the UK.

GULF FAQs Three Indian teams win awards at NASA annual rover challengeWASHINGTON: NASA has awarded three teams from India as part of the US space agency’s annual Hu-man Exploration Rover Challenge which invites high school and college students to build and test roving vehicles for future missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond. The team from KIET Group of Institu-tions in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, won the “AIAA Neil Armstrong Best Design Award”, which recognises systems best designed to meet the Rover Challenge performance requirements, NASA said in a statement.

The Mukesh Pa te l School of Technology Man-agement and Engineering from Mumbai, Maharash-tra, won the “Frank Joe Sexton Memorial Pit Crew Award” — for ingenuity and persistence in over-coming problems during the race — as well as the “System Safety Challenge Award”. A team from Love-

ly Professional University in Phagwara, Punjab, won the “STEM Engagement

Award”, presented to the team that best informed others about rocketry and other space-related topics.

Nearly 100 teams took part in the competition, hailing from a record num-ber of countries, including the US, Bangladesh, Bo-livia, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Germany, Mexico, Morocco and Peru. Indian-American NASA astronaut and two-

time spaceflight veteran Sunita Williams attended the second day of the event,

interacting with teams and participating in the day’s activities.

The International Space Education Institute of Leipzig, Germany, won first place in the high school division with 91 points; and a team from University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez won the college/university division with 101 points. Teams were awarded points based on the successful

navigation of obstacles and completion of tasks. The competition, hosted by NA-

SA’s Marshall Space Flight Cen te r and held at the US Space & Rock-et Center, this year marked 25 years since the inaugu-ral event, the statement said.

“We are so proud to con-gratulate this year’s winners,

and every team that com-peted,” said Bob Musgrove, Acting Manager of the Of-fice of STEM Engagement at Marshall. “The creativ-ity, skill and resourceful-ness demonstrated each year on the rover course are the very traits that paved our path to the Moon in 1969, and the ones that will continue to carry NASA forward to the Moon again in 2024,” said Musgrove.

ABU DHABI: A young In-dian sailor aboard a ship, which was anchored off a coast in Dubai, has been reported missing since March 9, according to a media report. The sailor, identified as 23-year-old Jagadeeswara Rao, had

come to the UAE as a seaman in September last year on a visa sponsored by Emirates Shipping Com-pany LLC, the report said.

Indian sailor missing from ship off Dubai coastRao disappeared from a vessel that was anchored 3.5 miles off Port Rashid in Dubai.

On March 9, Rao’s friend “Dileep Kumar called up his home in Andhra Pradesh and in-formed that Jagadeeswara

is missing from the ship, where they worked togeth-er,” D Ramu, a health and safety manager at a Dubai company where the sailor’s

father Srinivasa works as a welder, was quoted as say-ing by the report.

Rao was on duty on the day he disappeared, he said, adding that when his reliever went to take over the shift, he didn’t find him on the ship’s deck, following which he immediately informed the ship authorities and the coastguards. A complaint has been registered with the Ports Police, Ramu said.

The Indian Consulate in Dubai has also taken up the matter with the local authorities and is pursu-ing it. “We had taken it up with the foreign office, the police and the Federal Transport Authority. We have been pursuing the matter. However, they have not been able to find him,” the Consulate said.

KUWAIT: Expatriates will now have to pay a fee of KD10 ($33) when getting medical treatment at a poly-clinic, Kuwait’s health min-istry said.

The measure seeks to ease congestion at public hospitals, while allowing government-run clinics to take in more patients, it said.

The move comes after the country increased healthcare fees for foreigners for the first time in more than two decades in 2017.

At the time, the ministry said that expatriates who have annual health insur-ance will need to pay KD2 ($6.63) at a polyclinic, KD5 at a hospital, KD10 at out-patient clinics and KD10 per day at public wards.

Kuwait further hikes healthcare fees for expatsA stay in intensive care

was also changed from being free to costing KD30 ($100) per day and a stay in a pri-vate room in a hospital was set at KD50 ($165.70) per day not including surgeries, tests and x-rays.

Maternity costs as well as the prices for surgeries were also increased.

Later that year, Kuwait also more than doubled the annual health insurance fees for expats.

Reports said the fee was

increased from KD50 ($165) to KD130 ($430) to cov-er primary and secondary healthcare.

Foreign residents cur-rently make up around 70pc of Kuwait’s 4.6 million popu-lation.

DUBAI: Two Indians get six-month imprisonment for stealing 900 juice boxes in Dubai. Two Indian expats and a Pakistani were sentenced to six months of im-prisonment by a Dubai court for stealing 900 boxes of juice from a food catering compa-ny’s branch at a police academy.

The court has also imposed a fine of Dh 150,000 (approx Rs 28 lakh) on the trio. They were also ordered to pay a fine of Dh 23,760 (approx Rs 4.50 lakh) each, according reports. The three will be deported to their respective countries upon comple-tion of their jail sentences.

The thefts took place at the company’s branch in Al Barsha between April 2017 and May 2018. The stolen

products were worth Dh 23,760 (approx Rs 4.50 lakh).According to the report, the 33-year-old Indian

warehouse keeper allowed his two transportation worker accomplices a 31-year-old Indian and a 30-year-old Pakistani to keep a large quantity of juice boxes when the deliveries were made instead of de-positing them at the warehouse. They sold the juice later.

While the keeper collected Dh 10,800 (approx Rs 2 lakh) from the unlawful deal, he signed receipts and

bills that the merchandise was delivered and deposited at the warehouse. The three have been convicted of embezzlement, forgery, use of forged e-documents and criminal complicity.

Two Indians sentenced to six-months for stealing

DOHA: Two women won seats on Qatar’s 29-member municipal council, the Gulf emirate’s sole elected body, the elections committee said

Sheikha al-Jafiri and Fatima al-Kuwari retained the seats they had won in 2015.

Five women were among the 85 candidates standing in election for the emirate-wide council. The other three failed to win seats.

“There was a large turn-out by women and the num-ber of female voters in my constituency exceeded the number of males, which in-dicates their political aware-ness,” Sheikha al-Jafairi said.

“I wish there were more women but I tell them do not despair and continue to fight.” Qatar held its first municipal election in 1999.

Two women elected to Qatar municipal council

CORPORATE NEWS 7Friday, April 19, 2019

India recorded its high-est ever exports in the last fiscal accounting

for $540 billion trade. This included $330 billion in terms of merchandise ex-port and $210 billion in

terms of services, noted union minister for com-merce and civil aviation Suresh P Prabhu. India’s trade deficit with China that was a staggering $63 billion has come down

Indian exports touched $540b in 2018-19by $10 billion in the last fiscal resulting in saving of Rs 70,000 crore to the exchequer.

Prabhu who canvassed support for DK MP Nalin Kumar Kateel through road

shows and public meet-ings, said by paring $10 billion in trade deficit with China, India has saved the amount that would otherwise have to be repatriated to the neigh-

bouring Communist giant. The launch of industrial corridors within too will help the country in perk-ing up its trade volumes, results of which will be visible soon.

Noting that his ministry has finalised the agricul-ture-export policy, Prabhu said farmers of Karnataka will benefit immensely from it. This will facilitate in the export of agriculture and horticulture products, he said, adding the policy will also benefit fisher-men in that fisheries is an integral component of the same. “We are looking at export of value added fisheries product which has potential to be a major foreign exchange earner,” Prabhu noted.

State-run power pro-ducer NHPC is hop-ing to tap lending

institutions based abroad in order to raise funds for its hydel power capacity expansion projects, in an effort to beef up its hydel power production capacity by nearly a third to ten gigawatt by 2022. NHPC’s current generation capacity stands at around 7.1 GW, and the company is look-ing to shell out a capital expenditure of up to Rs 3,800 crore for the finan-cial year ending March 2020. The company has spent a capex of around Rs 2,000 crore in the pre-vious financial year ended March 2019.

“The government has recognised large hydro-

NHPC to tap into overseas fundingpower as renewable energy which might help us ac-cess cheaper funding from multilateral lending insti-tutions,” said Balraj Joshi, chairman and managing di-rector at NHPC. Currently, the state-owned hydropower de-veloper is in ini-tial discussions with AFD (Agence Fr a n ç a i s e d e Développement) and KfW in order to lend around Rs 2,800 crore for its Teesta-IV project for a tenure of 18 years.

“They have also shown interest. We have request-ed World Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency too for the same project and are trying to

tap Canadian Pensions Funds and Australian fund,” said Joshi, adding that the company would fix the deal as and when it gets the best deal.

NHPC is also eyeing

renewable energy inves-tors from across the world. “We will be conducting a roadshow soon in Singa-pore where we will float these requirements. Be-sides Teesta-VI and Teesta-

IV, we also need funding for the Ratle project which is in Jammu and Kash-mir,” he said. Meanwhile, NHPC is looking at taking over some of the country’s stressed hydel power proj-

ects to expand its generation capac-ity.

For instance, it says it is inter-ested in bidding for Athena Ener-gy’s Demwe proj-ect in Arunachal Pradesh. “After successfully win-

ning the bid for Lanco Teesta-VI, we are eyeing the 1,750-MW capacity Demwe hydro project as the tariff is cheaper and the cost of the project is also lesser,” said Joshi.

Private sector lender ICICI Bank has an-nounced the launch

of insta car and two-wheel-er loans that will provide existing customers final sanction letters instantly.

The first service, called ‘Insta Auto Loan’, enables

over two million pre-ap-proved customers to avail the final sanction letter of a car loan instantly and digitally up to Rs 20 lakh

Instant car, two-wheeler loan from ICICI bankfor a tenure of up to seven years, ICICI Bank said in a statement.

The second initiative, named ‘Insta Two-Wheeler Loan’, offers over 12 mil-lion pre-approved custom-ers the facility to get instant sanction of loan up to

Rs 2 lakh for a ten-ure of up to three years, it said. Both the plans will offer 100 per c e n t o f t h e o n -

road price of the vehicle, it added.

“Armed with the sanc-tion letter, which is valid for 15 days, the customer

can simply visit his/her preferred vehicle dealer across the country, select the vehicle, submit final documents and get the loan disbursed in a few working hours. This is a marked im-provement over the current average of few days that a customer needs to complete the entire process,” it said.

Leveraging upon data analytics and technology, the bank has introduced a bouquet of instant prod-ucts, including the coun-try’s first instant credit card, insta personal loan, instant digital credit called PayLater, insta overdraft facility for MSMEs, in-stant opening of Public Provident Fund account facility, among others, the bank said.

IT services giant Wipro said its net profit in-creased by 38.4pc to

Rs 2,493.9 crore in the March 2019 quarter, and announced a Rs 10,500

crore buyback programme.The Bengaluru-based

company had posted a net profit of Rs 1,800.8 crore in the January-March 2018 period, Wipro said in a

Wipro Q4 net up 38pcBSE filing.

Its revenue from op-erations - under IND AS accounting norms - grew 8.9pc to Rs 15,006.3 crore in the period under review

from Rs 13,768.6 crore in the year-ago period.

For the full fiscal (2018-19), Wipro saw its net profit in-creasing by 12.6pc to Rs 9,017.9 crore, while revenue from operations was up 7.5pc to Rs 58,584.5 crore.

The Wipro board has also approved a Rs 10,500 crore buyback plan under which it will buy back up to 32.3 crore shares at Rs 325 apiece, the filing added.

Sterling and Wilson, a solar engineering, procure-

ment and con-struction firm promoted by Shapoorji Pal-lonji and Com-pany has filed draft papers with markets regulator Sebi to raise about Rs 4,500 cr through an initial public offer.

The IPO will be an offer for sale by the company’s chairman Khurshed Yazdi Daruvala and Shapoorji Pallonji and Company, ac-cording to the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP).

Sterling and Wilson files for Rs 4,500 crore IPO

ICICI Securities, Axis Capi-tal, Credit Suisse Securities

(India), Deutsche Equities India, IIFL Holdings, SBI Capital Markets are the global coordinators and book running lead manag-ers. IndusInd Bank and YES Securities (India) are the book running lead man-agers to the issue.

The Cabinet has ap-proved the pact with Cambodia for coop-

eration in communications. With Denmark, the Cabinet gave its approval for a co-operation agreement in re-newable energy with focus on offshore wind energy.

The Cabinet was also apprised about an MoU signed in May 2018 with Brazil to collaborate on innovation in science and technology besides biotech-nology education, training and research. The Cabinet was apprised about an MoU under which the Depart-ment of Posts will issue postage stamps on Queen Hur Hwang-ok of South Korea by 2019-end.Wind Energy

An agreement was

Cabinet approves MoUs with fi ve countriessigned in March 2019 be-tween India and Denmark for cooperation in the field of renewable energy with focus on offshore wind energy

“The Union Cabinet,

has given its approval for a cooperation agreement between Ministry of New and Renewable Energy of India and Ministry for En-ergy, Utilities and Climate of the Kingdom of Denmark on strategic sector coopera-

tion in the field of renew-able energy with a focus on offshore wind energy and a letter of intent to establish an Indo-Danish Centre of Excellence for renewable energy in India,” the state-

ment said.The areas of co-

operation would include technical capacity building for management of off shore wind projects, measures to develop and sustain a highly

efficient wind industry — onshore as well as offshore, measures to ensure high quality of wind turbines, components and certifica-tion requirements, fore-casting and scheduling of offshore wind, it said.

India’s top refiner Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has set up a trading desk at its

office in Delhi to buy crude oil from international market on a real-time basis, helping it cut import price by lock-ing in best price and quality, it’s Director (Finance) A K Sharma said.

IOC, which buys 30pc (15 million tonne) of its oil requirement from spot or current market, had set up a trading office in Singapore in 2017 but has now developed in-house software and trad-ing team to buy crude oil on a real-time basis.

It made the first purchase through the desk on March 25 when it bought one mil-lion barrel of Nigeria’s Ag-bami crude, he said. While private sector firms like Reli-

IOC to buy crude on real-time basis from New Delhi deskance Industries have had a local trading desk for buying of crude and exporting fuel it produces, IOC would be the first state-owned refiner to set up such a desk.

Sharma said the Singa-pore desk was used to buy crude oil on a short-tender basis where the purchase was decided in two-hour time after receipt of offers from an international seller. This is compared to 10 hours

taken to decide on purchase in traditional tenders.

But with a trading desk at its office in the national capital, IOC is deciding on purchases on a real-time basis, he said. “This helps us get the best price and most suitable, value giving crude,” he said.

In traditional tenders as well as short tenders floated through the Singapore office, IOC would seek quotations from international sellers for a particular grade and quan-tity of crude oil. It would decide on the price based on the lowest bid rate with no scope of any negotiations on the offer.

However, with the trading desk now, it on a real-time basis negotiates with crude traders, often pitching price

of one with another to get the best rate. “We have set up a compliance process,” he said. “We have estab-lished an in-house process where four traders, without interacting with one another, lock in the best available price. A supervisor, who does not have the benefit of the identity of the seller, then instructs for further ne-gotiations on an offer based on offers from other sellers. The traders then negotiate with the seller to bring down the price.”

IOC plans to transfer the trading desk once it stabilises in Singapore to do the real-time purchase of quantities of crude oil it buys from the spot market. Also, it could trade on fuel its refineries would export, he said.

Amazon is work-ing towards mak-ing premium smart-

phones more affordable for Indian customers by partnering with banks, financial institutions and credit rating companies to offer buyers credit options to pay for the devices at their convenience.

These steps, along with efforts to constantly bring on board a broader selec-tion of smartphone brands, are aimed at widening and expanding Amazon’s foot-print in this category.

“We’ve noticed the mo-ment we provide some of the affordability initiatives to customers, we see an up-tick in adoption and sales of the brand,” Noor Patel, director, category manage-ment, Amazon India said. Most mobile-phone compa-nies have started funding these affordability plans

Amazon to make premium phones affordablebecause they see better returns on investment.

On average, one in three customers buys a smartphone on a no cost EMI basis and one in five

purchases a smartphone on exchange, Patel said.

“Marrying affordability with aspiration is the big-gest insight that we have got and we’re doubling down on this one,” he said.

Demand in the pre-mium smartphone cat-egory (costing Rs 25,000 and above) on Amazon India grew close to 33pc in January-March from a year earlier compared with

40pc growth in demand for mass phones (costing between Rs 10,000 and Rs 25,000) in the same period.

The average sale price of smartphones in India is expected to rise by over 1 8 p c t o $190-$210 (Rs 13,000- Rs 15,000) by this year-

end amid increasing de-mand for mid-segment devices with premium features, according to ana-lysts from Counterpoint Technology Market Re-search, International Data Corporation and techARC.

“We’ve seen a shift in ASPs of smartphones. To meet the aspirations of the Indian consumers, we need to target affordability of smartphones,” said Patel.

Telangana will add another 1,000 MW of solar energy ca-

pacity in next six to eight months taking the total installed capacity to over 4,500 MW, a senior offi-cial said. Telangana stands second in solar with a total generation capacity of over 3,500 MW.

Another 1,000 MW are in the pipeline which will

be commissioned likely in the next six to eight months, Telangana State Renewable Energy Devel-opment Corporation Ltd Vice-Chairman and MD N Janaiah said.

Telangana to add 1,000 MW solar power

Businesses with an annual turnover of over Rs 2 crore can

now start filing GST audit reports for fiscal 2017-18 as GST Network (GSTN) has made its format available on its portal. The audit report for 2017-18, the first year of the goods and services tax (GST) imple-mentation, is to be filed by June 30.

The ministry on De-cember 31, 2018, notified the annual returns forms GSTR-9, GSTR-9A and GSTR-9C. The GST Council in December extended the last date for filing these forms by three months to June 30.

GSTN has now made available offline utility of GSTR-9C which can be filled up by taxpayer and uploaded on the portal.

Businesses with TO over Rs 2 cr can now start fi ling GST audit reports for FY18

GSTR-9 is the annual return form for all taxpay-ers registered under GST, GSTR-9A is for composi-tion taxpayers.

GSTR-9C is a reconcili-ation statement, duly veri-fied and signed by a char-

tered accountant or a cost accountant, and required to be furnished along with fil-ing of annual return by the taxpayer whose turnover is above Rs 2 crore during a financial year.

EY Tax Partner Abhishek Jain said the industry was long awaiting the offline

utility and the mechan-ics of filing the GSTR-9C online.

“Clarifications like digi-tal signature of auditor be-ing required, balance sheet and profit/loss account being attached, etc, should help businesses plan well for executing this compli-ance,” Jain said.

AMRG & Associates Partner Rajat Mohan said timely availability of the utility for filing GST an-nual audit report is a great assistance to taxpayers, especially those having a multi-locational places of business.

“Taxpayers have more than 75 days to file GST annual audit reports and in case they start early then there would be no need for any extensions on the last day,” Mohan added.

8 Travel / Entertainment

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Spicejet to add fi ve more 90-seaterBombardier Q400s to fl eetBudget carrier SpiceJet

said it plans to ex-pand its regional jet

fleet to 32 aircraft by adding five more 90-seater Bombar-dier Q400s.

The move is aimed at augmenting capacity in the domestic markets especially on regional routes, following the near collapse of Jet Air-ways, which has resulted in massive surge in air fares be-sides mismatch in demand and supply amid peak travel season.

Three of these planes will join the fleet in the next ten days while the remain-ing two will be inducted

by June, SpiceJet said in a statement.

The Gurugram-based no-frills carrier had last week announced dry leasing of 16 Boeing 737-800 NG for the carrier. “As part of our efforts to augment capac-ity and minimise passenger inconvenience, SpiceJet will induct five more Q400s in addition to the 16 B737s we announced last week,” Spice-Jet chairman and managing director Ajay Singh said.

The sudden reduction of aviation capacity should in no way hamper air connec-tivity to the smaller towns and cities of India and as the

country’s largest regional operator, SpiceJet will make

all possible efforts in this direction, Singh said.

The 90-seater variant is part of SpiceJet’s second pur-

chase order for up to 50 Q400 turboprops placed in Septem-

ber 2017 worth $ 1.7 billion.Spicejet has already

inducted f ive planes as part of this order. It also operates a 78-seater vari-ant of the same aircraft. SpiceJet operates 516 aver-age daily flights to 60 destinations, including 51 do-mestic and 9 in-ternational ones.

The air l ine has a fleet of 48 Boeing 737, 27

Bombardier Q-400s and one B737 freighter.

Air travel likely to get cheaper as DGCA reviews airfaresAs airfares soared

and flights were can-celled, aviation reg-

ulator DGCA asked airlines to reduce fares on ten high-density domestic routes to “reasonable levels.

A senior official at DGCA said that ticket prices on high-density routes have risen up to 30pc in last one month. Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said that aviation ministry will also convene a meeting of airlines, airport representatives over capac-ity expansion and airfare issues on April 18. Kharola also said that 90pc of Jet’s slots which are not being used were being temporarily distributed to other airlines.

He added that around 21 planes are expected to be added to the fleet of domestic carriers by the end of May. Together, there would be a good number of additional planes to meet the peak season demand, the regulatory officer said. Some

of the airlines are also in dis-cussions with lessors to take deregistered aircraft of Jet Airways. SpiceJet recently had announced inducting

16 Boeing planes, which were used by Jet Airways earlier.

Earlier in the day, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu had called for a review of issues related to struggling Jet Airways, including rising fares and flight cancellations.

“Directed Secretary @MoCA_GoI to review issues related to Jet Airways, espe-cially increasing fares, flight cancellations etc,” Prabhu

said in a tweet.Reeling under a debt

of over Rs 8,000 crore, Jet Airways has grounded al-most its entire fleet and is

currently operating only 5 planes, according to civil aviation officials. The man-agement of the airline has sought funds from the lend-ers to remain operational, but lenders are yet to final-ize any plan on this.

Unconfirmed reports said that Jet Airways which held a board meeting re-quested the release of at least Rs 400 crore from lend-ers. Jet CEO Vinay Dube is believed to have written a

letter to chief lender SBI in this regard. The manage-ment also reportedly has warned lenders that it has board’s approval to halt all operations if lenders don’t agree to finance.

In a filing to BSE, Jet Airways reacted to queries from the stock exchanges on a media report that said “Jet Airways likely to tempo-rarily shut down its opera-tions” stating it is awaiting emergency liquidity sup-port from the consortium of lenders led by State Bank of India.

It said that the opera-tions have been severely impacted due to the liquid-ity conditions and added “The company’s leader-ship, in consultation with its Board of Directors, is engaged with lenders in connection with the said emergency funding request to arrest further deteriora-tion of its services and minimize inconvenience to its guests.”

Jet Airways’ last fl ight lands in Mumbai

Jet Airways’ last flight (S2 3502) from Amritsar to Mumbai landed at Mum-

bai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Air-

port (CSMIA) at around 12:20 am on Thursday, after the airline announced on Wednesday that it is tempo-rarily suspending all flight operations.

Jet Airways has tempo-rarily suspended all flight

operations. This comes close on the heels of lend-ers rejecting a Rs 400 crore emergency funding.

In a statement announc-

ing the suspension of its flight operations, Jet Air-ways said that it was in “constant engagement with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and Ministry of Civil Aviation in this regard”.

Etihad Airways, IBS Software sign contract to improve operational effi ciency

In a landmark develop-ment, Etihad Airways, the national airline of the

UAE, and IBS Software (IBS) have signed a contract to en-hance the airline’s operations.

IBS, a leading provider of new generation IT travel solutions, was selected to replace the airline’s existing network control system and develop a hub management system, allowing the airline’s employees to move away from manual processes to highly intuitive technology.

This is expected to help Etihad increase its on-time performance, improve oper-ational efficiency, maintain network integrity and to enhance hub connectivity,

a press release said.Under the contract, Eti-

had Airways would use IBS solutions to automate the monitoring and manage-ment of guests and baggage journeys, especially when the journey involves a con-nection through the airline’s Abu Dhabi Hub.

At a global level, the technology would allow for more efficient aircraft assignment and flight track-ing, throughout the air-line’s network. The new systems would also enable enhanced situational aware-ness through dashboards and alerts presented to the operational control team, as well as faster and more ef-

fective decision making for operational issues through suggested resolutions.

“Through this strategic partnership, we are delight-ed to integrate IBS technol-ogy into our control centres to fulfil our commitment to delivering exceptional service,” Vice President Global Airports & Network Operations, Etihad Airways, John Wright said.

VK Mathews, Executive Chairman of IBS Group said this deal demonstrates the industry acceptance of IBS’s technology solutions to ef-fectively support the needs of an airline renowned for its disciplined business practices.

In a heart-warming ges-ture, the UAE’s only S ikh Gurdwara in

Dubai, will host iftar for

workers throughout the holy month of Ramzan, offering vegetarian meals, according to a media re-

Dubai Gurdwara to hold daily iftar during Ramzanport. The Gurdwara in Jebel Ali, which has been hosting an interfaith iftar during every Ramzan in

the past six years, will of-fer iftar meals to workers in the area everyday dur-ing this year’s Ramadan,

Surender Singh Kandhari, the chairman of the Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara, said during Baisakhi festi-

val celebration.“There are a lot of Mus-

lim workers here. There

are not many places from where they can break fast. We will invite these work-ers to have iftar from our gurdwara,” Kandhari said. He said the free vegetarian meal (langar) offered to ev-ery visitor in the gurdwara will be given to those visit-ing to break the fast also.

“We will add dates, fruits, rose milk, buttermilk and some Indian snacks like pakora, samosa also for them. We expect to host 100 to 200 people every day dur-ing Ramzan,” said Kandhari.

Five US-Indians awarded Soros Fellowships

Five US-Indians among 30 recipients of the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. Founded by Hun-garian immigrants, Daisy M. Soros and her late husband

Paul Soros, the program honors continuing generations of im-migrant contributions to the US. Indian-Americans selected for the 2019 fellowships include Sunil Kumar Joshi, Shamik Masharak, Samir Paul, Indira Puri and Shreyas Vissapragada.

Sunil Kumar Joshi

Shamik Masharak Samir Paul Indira Puri Shreyas Vissapragada

India seeks bids for construction of Expo 2020 Dubai pavilion

India’s NBCC (formerly National Buildings Con-struction Corporation

Limited) has invited tenders from leading Dubai-based developers and engineering companies for the construc-tion of the country pavilion at the Expo 2020 gala event to be held in the city next year.

The mega pavilion will be built at an estimated cost of Dh109.5 million ($30 mil-lion), it stated.

The global open per-centage rate e-tenders are open to only those compa-nies based in Dubai which have a valid licence or registration from the gov-ernment, said the Delhi-based company in its tender notification.

The scope of work in-cludes design, engineering

and operation and mainte-nance of the facility. The

last date for submitting the tenders is May 10, it added.