BQuick On Oct. 5: Top 10 Stories In Under 10 Minutes
Top news, must-read stories and columns—all served up in less than 10 minutes.
This is a roundup of the day’s top stories in brief.
1. GST Compensation: Consensus Elusive
The good and services tax council failed to reach a consensus on the issue contentious issue of pending GST compensation for the states at its 42nd meeting today.
The decision has now been deferred to Oct. 12 when the council will meet again.
However, the Centre will disburse the amount collected as compensation cess this year, approximately Rs 20,000 crore, to states by tonight, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a media briefing.
Sitharaman said that no state will be denied their dues even if a consensus is not reached on Oct. 12.
She also said that the compensation cess will be extended beyond 2022.
2. Waiving Compound Interest: Finding The Good In A Bad Idea
It is now near certain, that we will see a new class of waivers introduced into the Indian banking lexicon. The compound interest or ‘interest-on-interest’ waiver, writes Ira Dugal.
The ideal option would have been to reject calls for any waiver of compound interest.
Having decided to do something, perhaps the idea should be to minimise the harm.
Beyond the decision, the implementation will not be easy and questions will arise along the way.
A cumbersome exercise awaits.
3. Nifty Ends Off Day's High
Indian stocks extended gains for a third session as an easing of restrictions and steps to support business fueled optimism that earnings may improve.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended 0.7% or 276 points higher at 38,973. However, the index fell nearly 300 points from the day's high.
The NSE Nifty 50 index too pared gains, but managed to close above the 11,500-mark, ending 0.8% higher.
Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. became the second Indian firm after Reliance Industries Ltd. to hit Rs-10-lakh-crore market cap.
TCS will on Wednesday consider its third share buyback proposal to reward stakeholders.
Shares in Angel Broking Ltd. fell 10% on their trading debut, the first disappointing listing by an Indian company in more than six months.
Follow the day’s trading action here.
Globally, cases crossed 3.5 crore leaving over 10.3 lakh people dead.
The World Health Organization estimated 10% of the global population may have been infected with Covid-19, outstripping the official estimates from governments around the world.
U.K. warned of a “very tough” winter as Europe faces rising infections.
Iran recorded its worst day yet, with cases surging.
Follow the global spread of the virus here.
10. Trio Wins Nobel For Medicine
Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice of the U.S., and Michael Houghton of the U.K. were awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their seminal discoveries that led to the identification of a novel virus, Hepatitis C.
The three scientists have made “a decisive contribution to the fight against blood-borne hepatitis, a major global health problem that causes cirrhosis and liver cancer in people around the world,” the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet said in a statement on Monday.
The Nobel Foundation is increasing the award amount to reflect a rise in its own returns.