NEW DELHI ,Nov 17,2020: India is considering a plan to allow up to 26% foreign direct investment from countries with which it shares a land border, including China, without government scrutiny for some sectors, the Economic Times reported on Tuesday, citing government officials.
In April, India had stepped up scrutiny of investments from companies based in neighbouring countries, in what is widely seen as a move to stave off takeovers by Chinese firms during the coronavirus outbreak.
The Indian government’s April 17 notification had said investments from an entity in a country that shares a land border with India will require government approval, meaning they can not go through a so-called automatic route.
The Economic Times report said that a panel of top government officials was discussing various options on easing rules for investment from neighbours and a decision is likely soon.
The commerce and industry ministry did not immediately reply to an email from Reuters seeking comment.
Tensions between India and China remain high with tens of thousands of troops deployed along the remote Himalayan border, even as the two countries are formulating a plan to end months of military standoff.
AMSTERDAM ,Nov 13,2020: Tata Steel will split its Dutch and British steel operations with immediate effect, as it is looking to sell the Dutch arm, a source close to the company told Reuters on Friday.
Swedish steelmaker SSAB earlier on Friday confirmed it is in discussions with Tata Steel Group over the potential acquisition of the IJmuiden steel mill in the Netherlands and related downstream assets.
New Delhi, Oct 29,2020: The Railways on Thursday said train operations in Punjab remain suspended due to the ongoing agitation by farmers.
No train services have resumed, spokesperson for Northern Railways said on Thursday amid speculations that train operations had been restored in the agitation hit state.
“Some papers have published that train services in Punjab have been resumed. It is clarified once again that this is nothing but false news and trains are not running as of now,” Deepak Kumar, Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of Northern Railways said.
“These papers are quoting NR press release dated 22 October wherein goods trains services were resumed for one day and stopped because of uncertainty and safety of the train operations staff. This is for the information of all concerned,” Kumar said.
Jan 21,2020: Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump have agreed to extend negotiations on a dispute over a French tax on digital giants to the end of the year, postponing Washington’s threat of sanctions against Paris, a French diplomatic source said Monday.
The source said the French and US leaders, who spoke on Sunday, had agreed to give negotiations a chance to “find a solution in an international framework” and avoid “a trade war that will benefit no one”.
Macron tweeted earlier Monday that he had had a “great discussion” with Trump on the issue. “We will work together on a good agreement to avoid tariff escalation,” he said.
The White House said the two men spoke and “agreed it is important to complete successful negotiations on the digital services tax, and they also discussed other bilateral issues.”
The dispute began last year when Paris approved a levy on up to three percent of revenues earned by technology companies in France, as international efforts dragged on to find a new model for taxing revenues earned via online sales and advertising.
Tech companies often pay little tax in countries in which they are not physically present.
Washington said the tax singled out US companies such as Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Netflix, and threatened duties of up to 100 percent of the value of French imports of such emblematic goods as Champagne and Camembert cheese.
On January 7, the two sides gave themselves 15 days to reach a deal to avert the US threat of duties on up to $2.4 billion of French goods.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who has been conducting intensive negotiations for the last several weeks, was less sanguine than Macron, describing the talks as “very difficult” earlier Monday.
Avoiding sanctions that could be announced as soon as Wednesday is “far from assured”, he told French television LCI.
Le Maire is due to meet US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos on Wednesday.
They are expected to continue talks seeking a negotiated agreement in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
“France is pursuing its objective of fair taxation on digital companies and finding a compromise within the framework of the OECD,” the French presidency said on Monday.
France has said it would drop its tax if an international agreement is reached.
After blocking the OECD talks for several years, Washington relaunched them last year only to make proposals in December which France rejected.