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The National Day of Kuwait was celebrated in Mumbai on Tuesday. Mr Abdul Rehman C.H, President, Dr. Suresh Kumar Madhusudhanan, General Secretary of IPEPCIL and Mr. T. V. Un-nikrishnan with His Excellency Khaled Al Mukrait, Vice Consul of Kuwait in Mumbai, at the function. (More pics on page-8).

H1-B visa issue raised in Modi-Trump talkNEW DELHI: H1-B visa was among the many issues US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed during a re-stricted and delegation-level bilateral talks on Tuesday, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said.

“There is a strong and vibrant Indian community in the US and it is contributing to both the US economy and society. It was pointed out to the US side about how Indian professionals contrib-

ute to increasing competi-tiveness of the higher-tech sector. Apart from this, the Indian professionals also provide value to the Ameri-can society by virtue of their democratic background,” the foreign secretary said and added that brutalisation of professionals was also discussed between the two leaders.

The H1-B visa has been a contentious issue between the two countries ever since Trump conceptualised the

idea of restricting the number of such visas and also chang-ing some of its clauses. Ac-cording to Trump’s plan, the spouses of H1-B visa holders would not be allowed to work in the US as is the case now. Indian companies provide one of the highest numbers of applicants for H1-B with major tech companies like Infosys, Wipro and TCS mak-ing up the bulk of them. Shringla also spoke about the large student community in the US.

“We know that there is a large Indian student com-munity of around two lakh in the US. This helps to better people to people con-nect between the two coun-tries,” the foreign secretary said. Trump and Modi held talks for close to two hours. Discussions were held on increasing co-operation in the fields of defence and security, energy, technology and trade, people-to-people connect and on other global and regional issues.

Corona: Saudi suspends entry for pilgrims, touristsRIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Thursday temporarily sus-pended visas for pilgrims wishing to visit the holy city of Makkah over coronavirus fears, the foreign ministry said. The government is “suspending entry to the Kingdom for the purpose of Umrah and visiting the Prophet’s Mosque temporar-ily”, the foreign ministry said in a statement, referring to the pilgrimage to the holy city of Makkah that can be undertaken at any time of year. Umrah attracts tens of thousands of devout Mus-lims from all over the globe each month.

The foreign ministry said it was also suspending visas for tourists visiting from coun-tries where the new virus is

a “danger”. The ministry of foreign affairs said that this precautions comes in comple-tion of the efforts taken to provide the utmost protection to the safety of citizens and residents and everyone who intends to come to the King-dom to perform Umrah or visit the Prophet’s Mosque or for the purpose of tourism. “This precautions based on the recommendations of the com-petent health authorities to apply the highest precaution-ary standards, and take proac-tive preventive measures to prevent the arrival of the new coronavirus (Covid-19) to the Kingdom and its spread,” the ministry added.

The authorities have also suspended the use of the national identity card to

travel to and from the King-dom by Saudi nationals and Gulf citizens, in order for the concerned authorities at the entry points to verify from which countries visi-tors came before their arrival to the Kingdom, and apply health precautions to deal with those coming from those countries. Saudi Arabia affirms that these procedures are temporary, and subject to continuous evaluation by the competent authorities. The foreign ministry calls on citi-zens not to travel to countries where the new coronavirus is spreading. Even as the num-ber of fresh cases declines at the epicentre of the disease in China, there has been a sud-den increase in parts of Asia, Europe and the MidEast.

Saudi forms sport, tourism ministries RIYADH: Saudi Arabia an-nounced a cabinet reshuf-fle with several portfolios changing hands and new ministries created for sports and tourism. Former Saudi energy minister Khalid Al Falih, who was removed last year, was appointed to lead the kingdom’s newly created investment ministry.

The investment ministry replaces the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, removing Ibrahim Al Omar from his post there. Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki, who has been leading the Gen-eral Sports Authority, was ap-pointed sports minister. Prince Abdulaziz is a former racing driver and winner of several international competitions. He competed at Le Mans in 2012 and other high-profile events. (Contd. on page 2)

Over 12 lakh new jobs created in Dec, says ESIC NEW DELHI: Around 12.67 lakh jobs were created in Dec 2019 against 14.59 lakh in the previous month, according to payroll data of the Employ-ees’ State Insurance Corpora-tion (ESIC). Gross enrolments of new subscribers with ESIC were 1.49 crore during the entire financial year 2018-19, the National Statistical Office (NSO) said in a report.

The report also showed that during the Sept 2017-Dec 2019 period, around 3.50 crore new subscribers joined the ESIC scheme. The NSO’s report is based on the payroll data of new subscribers of various social security schemes run by

ESIC, retirement fund body EPFO and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). It has been releasing the payroll data or new subscribers data of these three bodies since April 2018, covering a period starting from Sept 2017.

The report showed that gross new enrolments with the ESIC during the Sept 2017-March 2018 period were 83.35 lakh. A net of 10.08 lakh new enrolments with the Employees’ Prov-ident Fund Organisation (EPFO) were recorded in Dec 2019, compared with 10.09 lakh in Nov last year. In 2018-19, as many as 61.12 lakh

new subscribers on a net ba-sis joined the social security schemes run by EPFO. Simi-larly, the net new enrolments were 15.52 lakh during Sept 2017-March 2018.

The latest data showed that during Sept 2017-Dec 2019, around 3.12 crore new subscribers joined the EPF. The report said that since the number of subscribers are from various sources, there are elements of overlap and the estimates are not addi-tive. The NSO said the report gives different perspectives on the levels of employment in the formal sector and does not measure employment at a holistic level.

UAE bans all flights with Iran over corona ABU DHABI: The United Arab Emirates has banned all flights to and from Iran over the outbreak of the new coro-navirus, just a day after its spread was announced across multiple MidEast nations from the Islamic Republic.

The UAE, home to long-haul carriers Emirates and Etihad, remains a key in-ternational transit route for Iran’s 80 million people. The flight ban, which will last at least a week, shows the grow-ing concern over the spread of the virus in Iran amid worries the outbreak may be larger than what authorities there now acknowledge.

The Emirates’ General Civil Aviation Authority

made the announcement via the country’s state-run WAM news agency, just hours after Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for inter-national travel, said there would be restrictions on flights there. “All passenger and cargo aircraft travelling to and from Iran will be suspended for a period of one week, and could be up for extension,” the author-ity said. “The decision is a precautionary measure undertaken by the UAE to ensure strict monitoring and prevention of the spread of the new coronavirus.”

Emirates, the govern-ment-owned carrier based in Dubai, flies daily to Tehran.

Its low-cost sister airline, FlyDubai, flies to multiple Iranian cities, as does the Sharjah-based low-cost carri-er Air Arabia. The announce-ment came after Bahrain said it would suspend all flights from Dubai and Sharjah, a neighboring UAE emirate that is home to Air Arabia, for 48 hours. Bahrain’s health ministry raised the number of infected cases from the new virus to eight, saying that all had travelled from Iran via Dubai. Four of them have been identified as Saudi nationals. The cases were confirmed upon arrival to Bahrain during screenings at the airport, and prior to the suspension on flights to

Dubai and Sharjah, accord-ing to Bahrain’s official news agency.

Dubai has been screen-ing passengers on incoming flights from China, where the outbreak began in Dec. Long-haul carriers Emirates and Etihad are among the few international airlines still flying to Beijing. However, the outbreak in Iran only be-came public in recent days. The novel coronavirus has infected more than 80,000 people globally, causing around 2,700 deaths, mainly in China. The WHO has named the illness COVID-19, referring to its origin late last year and the coronavirus that causes it.

Indians, Pakistanis racefor stalled Dubai projectsDUBAI: There is a rush of investors, mostly from India and Pakistan, buying stalled residential projects in Dubai. They are pumping in fresh funds to complete the proj-ects before year-end. The main target: Low- to mid-rise under-construction build-ings that had hit the 40-50pc completion mark. They’re unfinished projects as the original developer ran out of funds.

“That would be the ideal status for an investor coming in – they don’t have to spend months trying to get clear-ance for designs, contrac-tors, etc.,” said Mohammed Mustafa, Managing Director at Emsquare Engineering

Consultants. “The structure is mostly done, and at that stage, a mid-rise building will only take another five to eight months for completion.”The top locations for these in-vestors are projects in JVC (Jumeirah Village Circle), Arjan and clusters within Dubailand.Spike in demand

These investors are rea-sonably certain that once Expo 2020 Dubai opens in Oct it will set off a cap-tive demand for mid-market residential options. “So, any-where from just before Oct 2020 to after April 2021, there will be an influx of visitors and a need for short/long-term stays,” said Mus-

tafa. Investors do not want to spend any time on more paperwork for themselves -- Mohammed Mustafa of Emsquare Engineering Con-sultants. “It will be the peak time for renting out… or selling the entire building,” he said. “Even after the Expo, these investors are confident they can generate optimum yields – typically about eight per cent or so.”

A lot depends on the price investors are willing to pay to acquire the delayed projects. On average, recent deals have been in the Dh40 million to Dh60 million range. Inves-tors are also particular that the projects they pick should not be on RERA’s (Real Estate

Regulatory Agency) “Tanmia” list of shelved/delayed proj-ects. “Investors do not want to spend any time on more pa-perwork for themselves,” said Mustafa. “The deal is struck with the developer directly, whom they pay off minus all liabilities. They bring in specialist contractors/project consultants and immediately start work on site.”

Emsquare, for example, is now working on multiple “turnaround” projects, both as a consultant and as inves-tor-partner. It is also handling a G+30 development in Business Bay, where the de-veloper ran out of funds. This project is headed for a late 2021/early 2022 completion.

EPFO members to get higher pensionNEW DELHI: The govern-ment has notified a change in the Employees Pension Scheme (EPS), 1995, which is likely to benefit over six lakh pensioners as per re-ports. According to the noti-fication, eligible members of Fund Organisation (EPFO) will get normal pension if they had opted for commuta-tion of pension.

What is commutation of pension? As per the EPS, a member eligible for pension was allowed to take part of their monthly pension as lump sum in advance. This is called commutation of

pension. As per the previous rules, an employee could commute (or take as lump-sum) up to one third of the monthly pension and receive 100 times of the amount as lump sum and opt for re-duced monthly pension for the rest of the life. If the per-son opted for commutation, the pension was reduced for the entire life to two-third.

However, the option of commutation of pension was withdrawn in Sept 2008. “The erstwhile Para 12A of the EPS 95 scheme provided for commutation of monthly pension. A lump sum of 100

times of one-third of the monthly pension was per-mitted, however only 2/3 of the monthly pension could be drawn as regular pension. This provision was deleted effective Sept 26, 2008 con-sidering the actuarial deficit under the EPS 95.” said Saraswathi Kasturirangan, Partner, Deloitte India.

So, from Sept 2008, one could not opt for commuta-tion of pension that is take part of their monthly pen-sion as lump sum.

Who will benefit? So, now as per the new notifica-tion those (Contd. on page 2)

India produces more billionairesMUMBAI: As the Hurun Glob-al Rich List 2020 unveiled its ninth edition, a major lot from the list of 2816 billionaires was from Mumbai. There has been an increase of eight bil-lionaires, making it 50, com-pared with 42 in 2019.

Topping the chunk from the maximum city, Mukesh Ambani of Reliance bagged the ninth spot on the Top 100 list with US$67 billion in net worth, minting Rs 7 crore ev-ery hour. Ambani is followed by energy and infrastructure conglomerate Gautam Adani at the 68th position, after his wealth increased from $ 7.1 billion to $17 billion. Mean-while, Uday Kotak who ruled at 38th rank tumbled down to the 90th position on the list with only $15 billion.

Cyrus Pallonji Mistry of Tata Sons is on the 158th po-

sition with a $11 billion net worth, followed by Veteran Mumbai investor Radhakis-han Damani of grocery retail chain DMart, who became India’s retail king after his wealth increased 80pc to $10.6 billion. The constants who reclaimed their place on the list include Nusli Wadia of Britannia with $7.2 billion, Kumar Mangalam Birla of Aditya Birla with $ 5.7 billion and Adi Godrej with $4.5 bil-lion. Others include Niranjan

Hiranandani, Choksi fam-ily of Asian Paints, Kishore Biyani of Future Group and Sharad P Chauhan & family of Parle Group to name a few.

The Huren Global Rich List 2020 made India claim third position globally, after China and US. According to the re-port, India added more than three billionaires every month in 2019 summing it up to 34. There are a total of 169 Indian billionaires on the list, of which 32 are based outside of India.

India’s import of US oil jumps 10-foldNEW DELHI: US oil supplies to India have jumped 10-fold to 2,50,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the last few years, visiting US Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said. Speak-ing at a business meeting alongside US President Donald Trump, he said Indian imports of US oil were 25,000 bpd a couple of year ago, and have now risen to 2,50,000 bpd. US is India’s sixth largest oil supplier. India began import-ing crude oil from the US in 2017 as it looked todiversify its import basket beyond the OPEC nations.

2 EMIGRATION Friday, February 28, 2020

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

Publisher: Supreeth M.J.Editor : E.L. VaidyanathanVolume No.: 2, Issue: 41

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LIPSYNCH “Actions speaks louder than words. Prove what you say by your actions.”

—An American proverb

Trump-Modi bonhomie

No other visit by the head of a nation has generated so much speculation, interest, hype and hoopla as that of US President Donald Trump’s maiden state

visit to India. The excitement started a few weeks before the actual visit with the media speculating on the proposed trade deals, military packages, the likely mouth-watering menu for the dignitaries to the shopping list of the first lady of the US. It had all the ingredients of a royal visit and the persons who were behind supervising this lavish arrange-ments definitely deserve all the credit. So are the various departments of the state governments of Gujarat , UP and the central government. The security for the world’s most powerful man worked like a clock-like precision.

In a state visit that lasted a little under 48 hours, an en-tire day was taken up by bonhomie, speeches, a mandatory visit to the Taj Mahal and a brush with Gandhian values. Modi pulled all the stops to create a spectacular show in Ahmadabad on Monday much to the praise of his host at the Motera Stadium. There was no dearth of photo opportuni-ties such as the now famous warm hugs before the serious business of getting down to hard talks and negotiations and deliberations. The evident rapport between Trump and Modi cannot be ignored as an aspect of furthering US-India relations and as the two countries increasingly forge a stronger bond and expand on their mutual areas.

Photo opportunities apart, the $3 billion defence deals including Apache and MH 60 Romeo helicopters deserve kudos. Like with other trading partners of the US, Trump was fixated on reducing the over $24 billion deficit in the nearly $150 billion annual Indo-US trade. He wanted In-dia to step up imports more than he was ready to open up his country for Indian exports. True, all successive Indian governments since the 1990s, have diversified defence im-ports, steadily reducing reliance on Russia. From more than three-fourths only a few decades ago, the military imports from Russia now stand at about 58pc. The US is emerging as a major supplier of India’s defence needs. With Trump helpfully lifting ban on the sale of sensitive military equip-ment, growing relationship at the political level between the two countries has naturally led to higher imports of vital military hardware by India in recent years did produce some excellent results..

Trump is facing re-election in November and would be happy to see his warmth towards Modi and India translate into valuable support from the powerful Indian-American community, particularly the affluent Gujaratis . Trump, too, is lending some political cover for Modi, who is facing con-siderable international criticism for his government’s recent moves on Kashmir and the amendment of citizenship laws. That Trump avoided any direct criticism of Modi on these is-sues will be noted around by all. In their investment in each other’s political success, Modi and Trump are also elevating the bilateral relationship to a higher level. So far so good.

Editorial

President of Myanmar U Win Myint being received by Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Rameswar Teli on his arrival in New Delhi.

Move to save ailing realty sectorMUMBAI: There is some success in the Maharashtra government’s move to boost the ailing real estate indus-try in Mumbai.

High-level delegations from UN and Emaar Group from UAE are meeting the Minister of Housing Jiten-dra Awhad in the first-half of March to explore invest-ment opportunities. Emaar Group may directly invest or through a joint venture while UN can provide a long- term loan at low inter-est rate. It is important when the MVA government is al-lowing foreign direct invest-ment (FDI) into the housing sector and it hopes to sign at least one such agreement in the next three months.

Awhad said: “The two delegations will discuss their involvement in Mum-bai’s realty sector for rede-

velopment and rehabilita-tion of slums and also for other categories. These agencies may join hands with the government agen-cies including Maharashtra Housing and Area Develop-ment Authority and Slum Rehabilitation Authority.”

Last week, Awhad at a realty conclave had said that the government may seek 15 to 20pc equity in case any foreign firm approaches it and willing to invest 100pc in any project. This is to assure the investing firm the govern-ment’s support to such proj-ects through clearances.

The decision by UN and Emaar Group teams to visit Mumbai comes against the backdrop of a series of ini-tiatives taken by the state government and housing ministry to revive the realty sector which is on death-

bed. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray recently met the representatives of the realty sector and formed the com-mittee headed by the chief secretary to seek solutions which will be balanced for both developers as well as the state government.

The realty sector had pressed for a cut in the pre-mium charges, development cess, and Metro cess so that project costs which are very high can come down and developers can survive. Fur-thermore, CREDAI-MCHI and NAREDCO called upon the state government to implement the unified de-velopment control rule as soon as it is possible. More-over, Thackeray, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Awhad last month met top bankers who had assured to provide finance to the realty sector.

Vivekananda Yoga varsity tostart post-graduate courseLOS ANGELES: The Vive-kananda Yoga University (VAYU) set up its initial

campus in Los Angeles with a budget of $ 5 million as the world’s first yoga uni-versity outside India. VAYU will facilitate collaborative research, credit transfers and joint programmes with multiple premier univer-sities across the world in the field of yoga. VAYU will facilitate collaborative research, credit transfers and joint programmes with multiple premier universi-ties across the world in the field of yoga.

Now, the university has announced the launch of its post-graduate course in the US, along with research into the ancient Indian practice, with admissions beginning in April. Sree Sreenath, a Professor from Case West-ern University, has been named its president and In-dian yoga guru HR Nagen-dra as its chairman, the uni-versity said. The Master’s programmes will roll out from Aug 2020 under the leadership of Sree Sreen-ath. The announcement by the university came within three months of receiving official recognition from the Bureau for Private Post-secondary Education, Cali-fornia in Nov 2019. VAYU will facilitate collaborative research, credit transfers and joint programmes with multiple premier univer-sities across the world in the field of yoga. The uni-versity was created to help thousands of yoga teachers in the US whose yoga edu-cation was limited to 200 or 500 hours of certificate pro-grammes, said Prem Bhan-dari, a member of the Vayu board of directors.

Indian tech w orkers on H-1B v isasincreasingly mov ing to CanadaWASHINGTON: Indian-American tech workers on H-1B visas are emigrating to Canada at an “astonishing pace” thanks to more restric-tive immigration policies under the Trump adminis-tration and the difficulty of obtaining green cards in the US, according to an expert.

The number of Indians, who became permanent residents in Canada, in-creased from 39,340 in 2016 to 80,685 in 2019, through the first 11 months of 2019, an increase of more than 105pc, according to Stuart Anderson, Executive Direc-tor of National Foundation for American Policy. In an article in Forbes magazine, Anderson said full-year Ca-nadian statistics will likely show more than 85,000 In-dian immigrants in 2019.

Canada is benefiting from a diversion of young Indian tech workers from US destinations, largely because of the challenges of obtaining and renewing H-1B visas and finding a reliable route to US perma-nent residence,” the article quoted Peter Rekai, founder

of the Toronto-based immi-gration law firm Rekai LLP, as saying in an interview. “I think mainly it is the tre-mendous amount of uncer-tainty and confusion about the future of H-1B workers that is prompting them to move to Canada and even to UK, and in some cases even back to India for want of any viable alternative,” Bharath Goli who had briefly worked for Intel before working with Gap Tech in San Francisco Bay area told a TV channel in an interview in Jan.

Rekai notes that many US and Indian technology companies have opened affiliate offices in Canada. The Canadian government, for its part, has streamlined its work permit process for tech workers and provides a clear path to permanent residence. In the US, the de-nial rate for H-1B petitions for continuing employment (primarily for existing em-ployees) is 12pc under the Trump administration, four times higher than the denial rate of three per cent in FY 2015. For new employees on H-1B petitions the de-

nial rate was 24pc through the first three quarters of FY 2019, compared with six per cent in FY 2015.

Anderson in the Forbes article said quoting Rekai that: “Indian nationals are ideally suited to Canada’s points-based selection sys-tem, which places a high val-ue on youth, post-secondary education, and high-skilled foreign and (especially Ca-nadian) work experience.” High-level English language skills are required to qualify for permanent residence un-der Canada’s Express Entry points system, which may be one reason the number of immigrants from China has remained relatively flat in the past few years, the ar-ticle noted. The article said another factor in the rise of Indian immigrants to Cana-da is the ability of Canadian universities to attract inter-national students at record levels. In 2017, the number of international students in Canada increased by 20pc. In 2018, international stu-dent enrollment at Cana-dian universities rose again, by 16pc.

US-Indians among Sloan Research FellowsNEW YORK: Six Indian Amer-ican early-career scholars are among 126 recipients of the 2020 Sloan Research Fel-lowships, the Alfred P Sloan Foundation announced. Win-ners receive $75,000, which may be spent over a two-year term on any expense support-ive of their research.

Indian American Fel-lows include Monika Raj, assistant professor of Chem-istry and Biochemistry at Auburn University (Chem-istry), Ami Bhatt, assistant professor of Medicine (He-matology) and of Genetics at Stanford University (Com-putational and Evolutionary Molecular Biology), Sanjam Garg, assistant professor in the Department of Electri-cal Engineering and Com-puter Sciences at Univer-sity of California, Berkeley and Aditya Parameswaran, assistant professor at Uni-versity of California, Berke-ley’s I School and Depart-ment of Computer Science (Computer Science), Vedika Khemani, assistant profes-sor of Physics and, by cour-tesy, of Applied Physics at Stanford University (Phys-ics) and Ila Varma, assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics at the Uni-versity of Toronto (Math-ematics).

Fellows from the 2020 cohort are drawn from a

diverse range of more than 60 institutions across the US and Canada, “There is a wide variety of winning institutions, but each one has successfully attracted, retained and nurtured truly promising junior faculty,” says Daniel L. Goroff, direc-tor of the Sloan Research Fellowship programme.

Open to scholars in eight scientific and techni-cal fields—chemistry, com-puter science, economics, mathematics, computation-al and evolutionary molecu-lar biology, neuroscience, ocean sciences, and phys-ics—the Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded in close coordination with the scientific community.

Awarded annually since 1955, the fellowships hon-our scholars in the US and Canada whose creativity, leadership, and indepen-dent research achievements make them some of the most promising research-ers working today. “To receive a Sloan Research Fellowship is to be told by your fellow scientists that you stand out among your peers,” says Adam F. Falk, president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “A Sloan Research Fellow is some-one whose drive, creativity, and insight makes them a researcher to watch.”

Plea for extension of OCI card renewal deadlineNEW YORK: Following a state-ment issued by the Indian Min-istry of Home Affairs about the deadline for renewal of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cards, an eminent Indian-American social activist Prem Bhandari is among those who have urged the MHA to extend the renewal deadline till Dec 31, 2020.

Many Indian-origin trav-ellers faced difficulties in boarding flights as airlines frequently misinterpreted the rules or were inflexible al-though Indian immigration has been allowing people to enter the country without new OCI cards or even without old passports. Many Indian-origin travellers faced difficulties in boarding flights as airlines frequently misinterpreted the rules or were inflexible al-though Indian Immigration has been allowing people to

enter the country without new OCI cards or even without old passports.

The card, among other ben-efits, acts as a multiple entry, multi-purpose lifelong visa for Indian-origin foreign nationals to visit India. In Dec 2019, the home ministry’s foreigners di-vision issued an office memo-randum directing the relevant government agencies and airlines that OCI cardhold-ers younger than 20 and older than 50 years of age who have renewed their passport must get their OCI cards linked to the new documents. They were given time till June 30, 2020 to renew their OCI card.

Based on feedback from Indian-Americans and the di-aspora community, Bhandari said that June 30 is not enough time as this needs a massive awareness campaign on the part of the Indian government.

Saudi forms sport, tourism...

IAF evacuates 76 Indians from WuhanNEW DELHI: An Indian Air Force aircraft on Thursday evacuated 76 Indians and 36 foreign nationals from the coronavirus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan. The C-17 Globemas-ter III transport aircraft was sent to Wuhan and it carried 15 tonnes of medical supplies for coronavirus-affected people in China. On its return, the aircraft brought back 112 people, including 23 citizens from Bangladesh, six from China, two each from Myanmar and the Maldives and one each from South Africa, the US and Madagascar. Earlier, India had evacuated around 650 Indians from Wuhan in two Air India flights. “In all 723 Indian nationals and 43 foreign nation-als have been evacuated from Wuhan, China in these three flights,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. On the medical supplies delivered by India to China, the MEA said they will help augment the country’s efforts to control the coronavirus outbreak which has been declared as a public health emergency by the World Health Organisation.

“The assistance is also a mark of friendship and solidarity from the people of India towards the people of China as the two countries also celebrate 70th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations this year,” it said.

(Contd. from page 1)Tuesday’s royal decree

will turn the Saudi Commis-sion for Tourism and Nation-al Heritage into a full tourism ministry with the chair-man of directors, Ahmad Al Khatib, becoming minister. The kingdom has been in-vesting heavily in tourism to boost the number of non-religious visitors as it seeks to diversify its economy and end reliance on oil and gas. Late last year, it had an-nounced tourism visas and

made it easier for visitors to travel to the kingdom to attend cultural and sporting events. Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia has rapidly developed a local cultural scene and international acts

travel to the country on a near-weekly basis. Several roles will now be merged. The civil service ministry will be merged with labour and social development and renamed the HR and social development ministry.

EPFO members to EPFO...(Contd. from page 1)who opted for commutation prior to Sept 2008 (when the option of commutation of pension was withdrawn), will get increased pension, as per the above example Rs 6,000 after the completion of 15 years from the date of such commutation.

Friday, February 28, 2020 3GULF JOBS & OPPORTUNITIES

Please visitwww.newsandnriconnect.com

CRANE OPERATOR (100 TONS)

4 GULF JOBS & OPPORTUNITIES Friday, February 28, 2020

An IPEPCIL initiative to help Gulf job-seekers

Indian Personnel Export Promotion Council (IPEPCIL)

is a 40-year-old professional body devoted to resolving the grievances of overseas placement community. This council

consists of only registered recruiting agencies who are legally and professionally engaged in sending manpower to overseas,

particularly to the Gulf nations.

IPEPCIL Publications (P) Ltd.IPEPCIL Publications is publishing NEWS AND NRI CONNECT,

which is the “Gateway to Global Opportunities”. Published from In-dia’s business capital Mumbai, this bi-weekly (Tuesday and Friday) newspaper is circulated pan-India. This English newspaper carries Gulf and national placement advertisements and provides authentic and useful information of Indian and overseas recruitment, critical news packets of job opportunities and crucial changes in policies that affects the industry.

Coming from the stable of highly experienced professionals in the placement business, NEWS AND NRI CONNECT will uphold the highest standard of ethics and professionalism. We will publish only authentic advertisements to protect our job aspirants. A newspaper runs on its credibility and we are committed to this trust.

IPEPCIL Publications (P) Ltd.O � ce N o. 1001, 10th Floor,N avjivan C om m ercial Prem ises C o-op. Society Ltd.,Lam ington R oad, (D r.D .B.M arg), M um bai C entral, M um bai - 400 008.

GATEWAY TO GLOBAL JOB OPPORTUNITIES

DISCLAIMERReaders are requested to verify and make appro-priate enquiries to satisfy themselves about the veracity of an advertisement before responding to any published advertisements in this news-paper. NEWS AND NRI CONNECT, its publisher and owner IPEPCIL Publications do NOT vouch for the authenticity of any advertisement or ad-vertiser or for any of the advertiser’s products and /or services. In no event can the owner, pub-lisher, printer, editor, director, employees of this newspaper/company be held responsible/liable in any manner whatsoever for any claims and /or damages for advertisements in this newspaper.

Friday, February 28, 2020 5GULF JOBS & CAREERS

Your wellness

In the present-day world where hectic lifestyle predominates, food

habits have seen a major shift, and consuming out-side food has become an obvious choice due to con-straint of time. This has led to health concerns. One such largely increasing and less focussed issue is of worms in the digestive sys-tem and more so, about the lack of knowledge around deworming. It refers to the process of getting rid of worms that enter the hu-man body.

Worm infestation is a

Deworming among adults: A necessary processcommon issue that is seen mostly among children, but due to the change in lifestyle patterns this in-fection is also seen among the adults. In most cases, worm infestation is not a life-threatening infection but it can lead to various clinical problems. In In-dia, worm infestation is one of the reasons which is causing increase in infant morbidity. This is mostly caused due to the unhy-gienic lifestyle that one leads and one of the com-mon modes are through the consumption of uncooked

meat.Tapeworm, roundworm

and hookworms are the major types of worms that infest in the walls of the stomach. The worms which usually gets into the stom-ach through food, starts tak-ing the nutrition from our bodies and it may migrate to lungs, brain, eyes etc. Some of the major signs and symp-toms that can be observed in case of worm infestation include fever, abdominal pain, itching at the rectal area, loss of weight and ap-petite, tiredness, anaemia along with loose stools and

vomiting. In adults, this may lead to deterioration of adult productivity, ham-per nutritional levels, cause cough, seizures depending on the site where the worm gets lodged.

While deworming among children has gained attention worldwide but deworming among adults remains an unnoticed is-sue. Studies, however, show that deworming should be carried out among adults too, periodi-cally.

These worm infections are observed to be more

common where people are surrounded by poor sew-age disposal, inadequate water treatment and poor food sanitation. Some of the ways in which humans can get parasitic worms include:

• Lick from one’s pet• Walking barefoot• Swimming in a pool

with untreated water.• Not washing hands

before and after meals or before preparing food

• Under-cooked meat• Accidental swallow-

ing/ ingestion of eggs, lar-vae, cysts or adult worms

living in food, drink, soil and faeces

Personal hygiene and household cleanliness is of utmost importance to prevent infestation. Some steps that can be followed as a daily practice are:

• Washing vegetables (especially green leafy veg-etables) and fruits before consumption

• Cut and scrub your nails regularly

• Ensure that the toilets, bedroom and laundry area are disinfected every day.

• Thoroughly wash clothes, towels and bed

linen • Washing the hands

regularly especially after using the washroom as well as before and after the meals must be a habit.

A single dosage of Al-bendazole 400 mg elimi-nates the worm existing in the intestine but specific treatment needs to be done for different worms and symptoms secondary to it. A simple stool test con-firms the worm infestation in most cases. The author is consultant-internal med-icine, Columbia Asia Hos-pital, Hebbal

Men, beware! What you eat is directly linked to your

reproductive health. A re-cent study has found that a bad (read: everything junk and unhealthy) diet can affect your sperm quality and count, and even bring it down. Conducted by US researchers, the study found that young men who ate junk food on the regu-

lar had a significantly-less sperm count than those who ate healthy food.

For the study, the sperm quality of some 3,000 Dan-ish men was analysed, keeping in mind their eat-ing habits. Published in

Bad diet can affect sperm countthe journal JAMA Network Open, the study found that those men who ate a lot of pizza, burgers, fries and sugary foods, had a 25pc lower sperm count than those who ate veggies, fish and fruits. In fact, their sperm count was said to be around 167 million to the 122 million count of un-healthy eaters.

In other words, be-

tween 2017 and 2019, the semen samples were stud-ied by researchers, who came to the understand-ing that the median total sperm count was 140 mil-lion per ml, well within the normal range set by the

World Health Organisation (WHO) — that of 40 mil-lion to 300 million. The respondents were divid-ed into four food groups: western pattern, prudent pattern (healthiest), open-sandwich pattern and veg-etarian-like pattern (low in meat). As mentioned before, while the healthi-est eaters had a count of 167 million, they were fol-lowed by those who ate mainly vegetarian, with 151 million.

The study reaffirms the fact that food is directly linked to the reproduc-tive health of men. In fact, n u m e r o u s other stud-ies have shown that the quality of semen has dete-riorated in many western countries in the last few decades.

Men who consumed recreational drugs, smoked, had a high BMI, or used muscle-enhancing supplements, were not in-cluded in the study.

If you want your children to stay in shape, do not allow them to indulge

in burgers and pizzas. Re-searchers have found that fast food intake can inde-pendently contribute to excess weight gain among children.

Being overweight and obese increases the risk of numerous physical and psy-chosocial problems during childhood, including fatty liver disease, Type-2 diabe-tes and depression.

“We now know from our studies and others, that kids

who start on the path of extra weight gain during

this really important time frame tend to carry it for-ward into adolescence and adulthood, and this sets them up for major health consequences as they get older,” said first author Jen-nifer Emond, Assistant Pro-fessor at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, US.

Eating fast food can make kids fat“To our knowledge, ours

is the first study to follow a cohort over time and to show that fast food, by it-self, uniquely contributes to weight gain,” explained Emond.

Previous research has shown that fast food intake is common among children and has suggested that there is an association between

fast food consumption and children becoming over-weight or obese. But it has not been clear whether eat-ing fast food independently

contributes to excess weight gain at such a young age.

In an effort to make this determination, the investi-gators followed a cohort of more than 500 pre-school age children (ages 3 to 5) and their families in south-ern New Hampshire for one year.

The height and weight of the children were mea-

sured at the beginning and end of the study published in the journal Pediatric Obe-sity. Parents reported their children’s fast food intake

frequency weekly - from 11 chain fast food restau-rants - in six online surveys that were completed at two-month intervals.

The researchers found that at the beginning of the study, about 18 per cent of the children were over-weight and nearly 10 per cent were obese.

Importantly, about 8 per cent of the children transi-tioned to a greater weight status over the one-year pe-riod.

“Unlike with past re-search, we were able to ad-just for other factors - such as exercise and screen time - that could possibly explain away this relationship,” Emond said.

“Findings from this re-search should be used to inform guidelines and poli-cies that can reduce fast food marketing exposure to children and help support parents who may be strug-gling to adopt healthier eating behaviours for their kids,” she added.

Indian Institute of Man-agements (IIMs) and Indian Institute of Tech-

nology (IITs) have formed a consortium to promote entrepreneurship ecosys-tem through research and

collaboration around inno-vation, the business school said.

“IIMs in Bengaluru, Kol-kata and Kozhikode and IITs in Bombay and Madras have formed the Innova-

IIMs, IITs form consortiumtion-Venturing and Entre-preneurship in India Net-work (iVEIN) to leverage their strengths and work with incubators, investors and the government for disseminating knowledge,”

the institute said in a state-ment.

Noting that innovation, venturing and entrepre-neurship were getting at-tention from policymakers, IIT-Madras management

studies professor Thillai Rajan said the three areas would play a key role in the country’s economic growth.

“The iVEIN network will facilitate research in the field among the aca-

demic fraternity and create avenues for disseminating knowledge through confer-ences and journal publica-tions,” said Rajan.

The network will also create a strategic bridge

between stakeholders, strengthen the ecosystem and synthesise the knowl-edge that is in silos among different groups.

“As academic incubators play a critical role, iVEIN will help create a platform for them to share best prac-tices and take lead in pro-moting activities like re-search that are neglected by the private ecosystem,” said IIM-Bangalore professor Venkatesh Panchapagesan on the occasion.

The network will also document Indian experi-ences in entrepreneurship and innovation and create a data-based knowledge for all stakeholders.

“The initiative will give a fillip to entrepreneurship in the country by aiding policy formulation, imple-menting innovation and helping managerial prac-tice,” said the statement.

Software giant IBM and NASSCOM Founda-tion have jointly an-

nounced the culmination of the first year of the New-collar Employability Skills Program under this more than 2,500 students from 23 colleges across the regions of Karnataka, NCR and Hary-ana completed this certified course on emerging tech-nologies of data science and

IBM, NASSCOM makes over 2,500 students employment ready

cloud computing.“The skills development

collaboration with education institutions and our program partners, the response we received from new age em-ployers - with over 750 stu-dents receiving new collar employment offers - more than 60 per cent of these stu-dents being girls - are all in-dicating that the ecosystem is gearing up for the skills

and the jobs of the future,” Manoj Balachandran, Lead-er, Corporate Social Respon-sibility, IBM India Pvt. Ltd.

This corporate social responsibility intervention by IBM engaged students through an on-campus ap-proach in a 204 hour-long blended training model that uses online and face-to-face training immersions to build skills in new-age tech-

nologies like Data Science and Cloud Computing.

“We are delighted to see this new and unique initia-tive succeed and are happy to share that we will be con-tinuing this partnership for the second year and make 2500 more students from non-tech institutes employ-able,” Ashok Pamidi, CEO, NASSCOM Foundation, added.

IN FOCUS6 Friday, February 28, 2020

GULF FAQs

I was employed by a company that is based in the mainland of Dubai and my employer terminated my employment recently. My performance at my company was good and I received certificates for my job-related assignments. Does the employer have the right to terminate an employee who has ex-celled in his employment? Am I entitled to claim compensation for arbitrary dismissal by my employer?

As your employment was based in the mainland of Dubai, the provisions of Federal Law No. 8 of 1980 regulating Employment Relations in the UAE (the “Employment Law”) and the subsequent Ministerial Orders are applicable. In the UAE, an employer may terminate an employee on various valid grounds including but not limited to dis-ciplinary actions, poor performances, long term health issues and genuine economic challenges faced by the employer. However, if the employee feels that his termination is arbitrary and not based on one of the afore-mentioned reasons, he may approach the Ministry of HR and Emiritisation (the Mohre) and thereafter, the court which has jurisdic-tion to hear the matter if necessary. This is in accordance with Article 122 of the Employ-ment Law, which states: “An employee’s ser-vice shall be deemed to have been arbitrarily terminated by his employer if the reason for the termination is irrelevant to the employer and more particularly, if the reason is that the employee has submitted a serious complaint to the competent authorities or has instituted legal proceedings against the employer that has proved to be valid.”

If your employer can prove that they are compelled by economic challenges to cut costs, then the termination may not be consid-ered as arbitrary dismissal. However, if your employer is unable to prove economic chal-lenges for cost-cutting then the termination may be considered as arbitrary. The Employ-ment Law is silent on cost-cutting as a ground for termination. Further, if you believe that your termination is arbitrary then you may also claim compensation up to three months’ salary for arbitrary dismissal from your em-ployment. This is in accordance with Article 123 of the Employment Law, which states:

“a). Where an employee is arbitrarily dismissed, the competent court may order the employer to pay him compensation. The court shall assess such compensation with due regard to the nature of the work, the amount of prejudice he has sustained and his period of service, and after investigating the circumstances of the work. The amount of the compensation shall in no case exceed the employee’s remuneration for three months calculated on the basis of the last remuneration he was entitled to.

b) The provisions of the preceding para-graph shall not prejudice the employee’s right to the gratuity he is entitled to and the termina-tion notice allowance provided for in this law.”

You may approach your employer and request for compensation for arbitrary dis-missal if you believe that your termination of employment was arbitrary in nature. If your employer does not agree with you and if he does not compensate you after your request for arbitrary termination, then you may approach the Mohre and file a complaint against your employer. U mrah on visit visa

I am going to Saudi Arabia from Mum-bai on tourist evisa. Can I perform Umrah?

The General Authority for Tourism and National Heritage in Saudi had affirmed in Jan 2020 that those who have obtained an entry visa to the US, the UK or a European (Schengen) visa can enter the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and obtain a visit through air-ports and other ports only. A source in the General Authority for Tourism and National Heritage said that this is a continuation of the work of launching the tourist visa, and the kingdom’s opening of its doors to the world, and in line with what was included in the tourism system and the visit regula-tions for the purpose of tourism.

It was said that there is an existing committee chaired by the chairman of the board of directors of the General Authority for Tourism and National Heritage, Ahmed bin Aqeel Al-Khatib, working to define the goals and the mechanism for applying the structure of the visitor visas. Those who obtain a tourist or commercial visa to these countries can now enter the kingdom and obtain a tourist visa through the visa upon arrival only, and they are not included in the electronic visa. The visitor to the Kingdom must have used his visa to visit America, Britain, or any of the Schengen countries, before entering the kingdom. He added that

W rongfully terminated in UAE? y ou are entitled for compensation

this step is one of several steps the kingdom has taken in order to attract tourists from different countries of the world. The General Authority of Civil Aviation circulated to the national air transport companies to allow the holders of these visas after verification before the ending of procedures of travel.

Muslims travelling to Saudi Arabia with an evisa can now perform Umrah outside of Haj season only, according to the infor-mation provided on Saudi Arabia evisa website. Nevertheless, for non-Muslims, the Saudi Arabia Tourist eVisa is granted for tourism purposes only and the visitors are forbidden from visiting the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.

Important things to consider before ap-plying for Saudi Arabia Tourist e-visa:

1) Travellers must have their passport with at least six- month validity from the date of arrival and have at least one page available for stamping.

2) The visa allows applicants multiple entry in Saudi Arabia and visitors can re-main in the country for up to 90 days total.

You can apply for a Saudi Arabia tourist e-visa if the purpose of your visit is leisure (tourism). Possession of a tourist visa for Saudi Arabia does not provide automatic right of entry for the holder into the country. The immigration officer at the port of entry may refuse entry to any person, if he con-siders that such a person is unable to fulfil the immigration requirements or that such person’s presence in Saudi Arabia would be contrary to national interests or security.

How to get the visa on arrival: Tourist can apply for visa on arrival at one of Saudi Arabia’s entry points if any of the following conditions apply: The tourist is from one of the countries in the eligible countries list.*The tourist is holding US, UK or Schengen visas.

Following are the requirements: 1) The visa is valid. 2)The visa type is either tourist or business 3) The visa has to be used at least once and have an entry stamp of the issuing country.4) Travel must be with Saudia or any other of Saudi Arabia’s national air carriers.G o for legal aid

I filed a complaint against my employer in the emirate of Abu Dhabi pertaining to which a final judgment is yet to be pro-nounced by the court and the status of the case is at the execution level. I have been residing in the country for the last eight months in order to attend the court proceedings. However, I have not been re-ceiving any remuneration during the same period. Can I return to my home country (India) after appointing a lawyer to attend court proceedings on my behalf?

Pursuant to your query, it may be noted that you may appoint a lawyer by issuing a power of attorney that is duly notarised by the notary public in Abu Dhabi in favour of the appointed lawyer to represent you in any further court proceedings that may take place in the case, which has resulted from the complaint filed by you against your employer. This is in accordance with Article 55 (1) of Federal Law No. 11 of 1992 on the Civil Procedures Law (the “Civil Procedures Law”), which states: “The court shall accept from the parties whoever they shall appoint as proxy according to the law.”

Further, the power of attorney shall enable the appointed lawyer to prove his appointment before the court adjudicat-ing upon the case filed by you. This is in accordance with Article 55 (2) of the Civil Procedures Law, which states: “The proxy must establish his appointment as proxy for his client by an official document.”

The notarised power of attorney shall allow the appointed lawyer to represent you during court proceedings and perform the necessary actions and procedures to defend your rights and take preventative measures until the issuance of a final judgment. This is in accordance with Article 57 of the Civil Procedures Law, which states: “The litiga-tion proxy empowers the attorney with the authority to perform the necessary acts and procedures in order to file the legal action, follow it up, defend and to take precaution-ary measures until the decision on its merits is rendered, in the degree of prosecution to which he was entrusted and to notify such decision, without prejudice to the matters to which the law requires a special authorisa-tion.” Based on the aforementioned provi-sions, you may appoint a lawyer to represent you in court proceedings that may further take place by issuing a power of attorney that is duly notarised by the notary public. Thereafter, you may return to your home country, should you wish to.

US President Donald Trump with President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

DUBAI: Dubai Ruler His High-ness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum on Tues-day issued a decree on the regulation of advertisements in Dubai.

The new decree seeks to regulate the advertisement sector and promote closer in-teraction between governing bodies and the advertisement industry. Broadly, the new decree seeks to preserve the visual appearance and beauty of the city and ensure adver-tisements harmonise with the design of buildings. The decree also seeks to uphold public and traffic safety and monitor advertisements to pre-vent misinformation and viola-tions of public order, morals and customs. The new decree is applicable to all advertise-

No ads on residential, govt buildings in Dubaiments in the emirate of Dubai, including private development zones and free zones.

According to the decree, it is strictly forbidden for any entity to display adver-tisements in Dubai without obtaining prior permission from competent authorities. Authorities responsible for providing permission in their respective jurisdictions in-clude Dubai Municipality, Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), Department of Econom-ic Development, the authority managing a private develop-ment zone, the authority man-aging a free zone, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Dubai Maritime City Authority. Ac-cording to the decree, Dubai Municipality, in collaboration with other concerned entities,

will develop a set of guidelines detailing all the procedures, requirements and technical specifications for obtaining advertisement permits.

All applications for adver-tisement permits must satisfy the requirements outlined in the guidelines. After obtaining the permit, the applicant must fully comply with the specifi-cations in the permit, includ-ing the dimensions, timeframe, advertisement method and all other procedures and techni-cal specifications outlined in the guideline. Pursuant to the decree, advertisements cannot be placed on historic build-ings, places of worship, grave-yards, traffic lights and signs, government buildings, trees, restricted areas, military areas, residential buildings and any

other location restricted by authorised entities.

Once the authorised period for displaying the advertise-ment is over or the contract has expired, the advertising company must remove the ad and restore the location to its original state.

The decree also specifies the fines and penalties for violations. The violator can appeal in writing to the Direc-tor General of the concerned government entity within 30 days of the date of the fine notification. The chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai will issue the bylaws required to implement this decree. The new decree will be published in the Official Gazette and will be effective three months after.

Trump invites Ambani to invest in US

Air New Zealand tests beds foreconomy classWELLINGTON: Air New Zealand has an-nounced a proposal to put beds in economy class, which it claimed could prove a “game changer” for passengers desperate to stretch out on long-haul flights. The airline, which operates some of the world’s most lengthy flights from its remote South Pacific base, said the “Economy Skynest” aimed to bring pod-bed technology to the skies.

“A clear pain point for economy travel-lers on long-haul flights is the inability to stretch out,” the airline’s chief marketing officer Mike Tod said. “The development of the Economy Skynest is a direct response to that challenge.” The pods contain six beds, each measuring 200 by 58 cms (80 by 23 inches) with a pillow, sheets, blankets, ear plugs and a privacy curtain. The idea is that the pods sit in the economy class cabin and passengers pre-book sessions in them to break up long-haul flights, rather than occupying them for the entire journey. The beds will not be introduced for at least a year, as the airline works through getting the concept approved by regulators. “This is a game changer on so many levels,” said a spokeswoman for the firm, which said it was willing to license the Skynest to other airlines.

NEW DELHI: Commending Reli-ance Industries (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani for transforming India’s telecom sector and his strategic investment in the energy sector in the US, President Donald Trump invited him to invest in his tax-friendly country. “Great job you have done. Thank you,” Trump told Ambani who briefed him about the RIL investment in the US and India business at the CEO roundtable event organised at the US embassy here.

“We are investors in the US in the energy sector and have invested $7 billion towards that,” Ambani told Trump who immediately re-plied: “$7 billion, yeah, big one.” Trump then asked him: “You’re doing 4G. Are you going to do 5G too?” Ambani said that Reliance Jio is the only network in the world that doesn’t have a single Chinese equipment manufacturer for the 5G trials. To this, Trump chuckled: “That’s good! Put a bid in one?”

India’s leading telecom opera-tor Reliance Jio has only partnered

with non-Chinese equipment manufacturers like Samsung to date. Ambani applauded Trump for low tax rates in the US that makes the country a business-friendly destination. “All of us in the business community are really supportive. We do acquisitions in the US and they’re getting ap-proved fast and we hope that will continue for the Indian compa-nies,” said Ambani.

Trump said this would hap-pen only till he is there as the US President. “It will happen till I am there but if the wrong one gets elected, that won’t happen at all. Everything will come to a halt, your unemployment rate will come to eight or nine or 10pc and a lot of bad things will happen,” the US President told the gathering.

“I think we are the favourites to win,” he added, saying that some say 65pc people want him to come back to power but the rest 35pc still don’t. “It would be devastating as the economy has never been as good as today,” Trump told the packed room.

M auritius funds w ill continueto get registration, says SebiMUMBAI: The market reg-ulator has clarified that foreign investors from Mau-ritius will continue to be eligible for registration in India but will face tougher disclosure requirements.

Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi’s) state-ment comes after the island nation, a tax haven and the second-largest source of for-eign portfolio investments into India after the US in 2019, was placed on an international terror-financing watch list. Funds coming from Mauri-tius will now be subjected to stricter know-your-client (KYC) disclosures, compliance

and regulatory scrutiny, a Sebi spokesperson said. Fund man-agers were, however, sceptical whether Sebi will allow them to register as foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) under the regulations.

Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a Paris-based monitor-ing group to tackle terrorism financing and money launder-ing, last week put countries, including Mauritius, Pakistan and Cayman Island on its grey list, which indicates the jurisdictions have weak rules to prevent money laundering and terror financing. The list also includes countries that have committed to resolving

identified strategic deficien-cies within agreed time frames and are subject to increased monitoring. Richie Sancheti, head of investment funds at law firm Nishith Desai Associ-ates, said that Sebi’s move is pragmatic. “The guidance from FATF to its members (which includes India) in such cases is to take this into account in their risk analysis. Accord-ingly, the view taken by Sebi to not restrict participation by Mauritius-based FPIs and new applicants is pragmatic. Had Mauritius been classi-fied as a “non-co-operative country” in addition to a bar on FPI participation, it could

have also triggered restriction on LRS (liberalised remit-tance scheme) remittances to Mauritius-based outbound structures,” said Sancheti.

“Non-FATF countries were seldom a favourable destina-tion for US or UK investors. But for funds looking for treaty ben-efits in certain type of invest-ment instruments, Mauritius has always been a favoured route. The Sebi clarification is a big boost for Mauritius since the cloud of negativity is now gone. However, we may still see enhanced monitoring on FPI as well as FDI investments,” said Neha Malviya, director of Wil-son Financial Services.

CORPORATE NEWSFriday, February 28, 2020 7

To make Bank of Baro-da (BoB), a preferred banking partner for

the start-up community in the country and establish-ing connect with at least 2,000 start-ups over the next two years, the state-run bank has launched start-up banking initiative. The scheme was launched by Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar across 15 cities in the country. “It will include 15 Baroda Start-up branch-es that will offer a bouquet of tailor-made banking products and services that have been designed keep-ing in mind the unique and specialised banking requirements of start-ups,” Rajiv Kumar said.

The products include customised current ac-counts, state-of-the-art

BoB launches start-up initiativ e payments gateways, cor-porate credit cards, corpo-rate salary accounts and credit facilities apart from other existing products of the bank. “Start-ups will be instrumental in shap-ing the MSME landscape in

the country over the next few years. We see a busi-ness opportunity in iden-tifying young and talented businesses and increasing engagement with them as they become bigger,” said Sanjiv Chadha, MD and CEO, Bank of Baroda.

The bank currently

boasts of more than 400 start-ups as its customers. In addition to banking so-lutions for start-ups, the bank will also ensure that it meets the ancillary needs of start-ups by partnering with marquee service providers

to assist start-ups by way of cloud credits, mentor-ship, co-working space, legal and accounting services among others. There are many banks like HDFC and Yes Bank which is offering similar

services for the start-ups. HDFC Bank offers exclu-sive service to start-ups through SmartUp Zones, set up in 70 of its branches in 30 cities. The service in-cludes helping them list on BSE, capital support, and multiple business services among others.

Apple to open its retail store in India next yearApple has some great

news for its loyal customers as the

company is planning to open a retail store in India next year. Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed the compa-ny’s plan while answering a question from investors on Apple’s roadmap in In-dia. The store will be Ap-ple’s first branded physical store in India. Opening a retail store had been in Tim Cook’s mind for a very long time. He had said that the company was working with the government to seek ap-proval for setting up retail stores in India while dis-cussing Apple’s Q2 2019 results. He had added that Apple will come to India with sort of all of their might.

The Union govern-

ment’s move to ease local-sourcing norms for single-brand retailers in August 2019 may have proved shot in the arms for apple. The earlier existing norms were deal-breaker for for-

eign firms. Subsequently, it was widely believed that the easing of norms would eventually pave way for Apple setting up its retail stores in India.

Govt widens scope of

audit report to check corpo-rate frauds and scamsGovt widens scope of audit report to check corporate frauds and scamsKirana shops hold ground amid competi-tion from ecommerce, su-

permarts; what’s helping them stay afloatKi-rana shops hold ground amid competition from ecommerce, su-permarts; what’s helping them stay afloat.

Apple had shown its eager-

ness to serve Indian custom-ers as well as thanked the Narendra Modi government post the reforms brought in by them for single-brand re-tailers. Apple is growing at an unprecedented rate in the

Indian market. The Cu-pertino-based giant made iPhone registered double-digit growth in sales in India. There were higher demands for Apple-made iPads as well in the Q3 of the financial year 2019-20. Apple had posted its high-est-ever quarterly revenue at $ 91.8 billion, with an increase of nine per cent from the corresponding quarter of the last finan-cial. Apple net profit also jumped to an all-time high of $ 22 billion.

With new models coming at regular in-tervals of time with su-preme features and at a price comparable to other premium smart-phones, Apple seems to have finally cracked the India code.

A start-up ecosystem with living solutionsRate My Stay, a Ben-

galuru-based start-up, was launched

in association with Christ University, on the oc-casion of celebrating achievements of the De-partment of Professional Studies. Spearheaded by IIT-Bombay alumnus Amit Sarawagi, the app aims to provide a solution to students and parents with respect to quality living facilities outside the campus. It has been designed to inform stu-dents about accommoda-tion in specific localities according to their choice of specifications.

Speaking about the idea, Sarawagi who is

currently the Audit Prac-tice Leader at Grant Thor-ton, recalled that during the initial days of training from the university, he no-ticed that while on-campus accommodation was lim-ited, facilities outside were below par, which raised concerns. “There is hardly a database, website or an app which provides living options available to a stu-dent. Among the options available, many do not match the description. On our platform, we capture feedback from the user on a macro-level, which is in real-time,” says Sarawagi, adding that each facility on-boarded to the platform goes through the most min-

ute of checking processes, ranging from a broken fau-cet clean to quality, each parameter holds weightage on the facility rating.

“During our research, 32pc were not satisfied with the hygiene levels main-tained at most facilities. When we dived deeper into this, 71pc said they want a clean washroom. When we put all the on-boarded facilities, they will have to abide by these parameters, each holding a significant amount of weightage and will also generate a healthy competition by maintaining the quality,” he adds.

For students at the uni-versity, the platform comes as a long-awaited change.

For second-year stu-dents Rishika Gaur and Gulnar Puri, the conve-nience factor, especially for students from other states, is a major bonus. “I made five trips in a week to finalise on a proper accommodation facility. This platform provides options with real-time data and saves time in filtering options,” Gaur says. Ask them on whether there’s a big-ger issue at hand and Puri says, “The location definitely matters, even when you look for a PG, more than a clean room and washroom, safety measures should be in place accordingly.”

After banning life in-surers from selling indemnity-based

health policies a few years back, Insurance Regulatory and Development Author-ity of India is now examin-ing the feasibility of allow-ing them again.

IRDAI (Health Insurance) Regulations 2016 allows Life Insurance Companies to offer benefit-based health insurance products only. Representations have been received from life insurance companies to allow them to offer indemnity products as well, the regulator said.

Indemnity-based health plans are insurance policies

Life insurers can soon offer health insurance policy

in which the insured is re-imbursed the actual expense incurred during hospitalisa-tion up to the total sum in-sured under the policy.

Historically Health insur-ance is recognised as one of the important elements of health care and health insurance premiums have been registering a significant CAGR of around 20 per cent in the preceding 10 years in India. It is in this context that IRDAI is making a feasi-bility study.

A few years back, life insurers had started offer-ing such plans. However, in July 2016, IRDAI had banned them from offering them.

According to industry, IRDAI had found that in-demnity cover was a ser-vice more than a product and did not want life in-surers to sell them as their core competency is not providing health cover.

Now IRDAI has formed a committee, which will look into feasibility and the business scope for life insurance companies to offer indemnity based health insurance products and extant statutory provi-sions that are applicable in this regard. The Com-mittee shall submit its rec-ommendations within two months.

Indian retail market pegged to reach at $1.3 trillion by 2025Notwithstanding a

slowdown in con-sumption due to

the sluggish economy, the Indian retail market is es-

timated to reach $1.3 tril-lion by 2025, helped by multiple structural, socio demographic and economic drivers, says a recent study. According to a study jointly released by Boston Consult-ing Group and Retailers Association of India titled R’etail 4.0: Winning the

20s’, the retail market stood at $ 0.7 trillion in 2019.

“India’s long-term con-sumption and retail growth drivers are expected to pro-

vide a strong foundation for future growth. Indian retail market is estimated to reach $ 1.1-1.3 trillion mark by 2025, reporting a CAGR of 9-11pc from 2019,” it said.

The report noted that data and technology driven disruptions along with sup-ply side innovations will

shape the future of the re-tail landscape.

“With the onset of digi-tal revolution, it is impera-tive for retailers to embrace data and technology to shape consumer shopping preferences and minimise costs prompting retailers to up their game. Also, in-creased margin pressures, retail space crunch, rising costs are putting consid-erable strain on business models thus pushing retail-ers to innovate to win in the next decade,” it said.

According to Abheek Singhi, Managing Director and Senior Partner, BCG the Indian retail market is still fragmented and offers an opportunity for the top five retailers to more than double their share from less than five per cent to over 10pc in the next decade.

SBI Card IPO price band fi xed at Rs 750-755Top lender State Bank of India’s (SBI) IPO Committee

has set the price band for its initial public offering (IPO) in the range of Rs 750-755 per equity share.

In a regulatory filing, State Bank of India has said that a discount of Rs 75 per share will also be offered to the “eligible employees”.

“State Bank of lndia has been informed by SBI Cards that the IPO Committee of SBI Cards in consultation with the Book Running Lead Managers have finalised the price

band to range between Rs 750 and Rs 755 per equity share. An em-ployee discount of Rs

75 per equity share will be offered to eligible employees in accordance with the terms and conditions stipulated in the Red Herring Prospectus dated February 18, 2020,” it said.

Further, the IPO Committee has finalised the bid lot for the offer at 19 equity shares and in multiples of 19 equity shares thereafter. SBI Cards will launch its IPO on March 2 to raise about Rs 9,000 crore. The proceeds are to be used by the parent SBI to enhance credit growth.

The IPO comprises a fresh equity issue worth Rs 500 crore and an offer for sale of up to 130,526,798 equity shares. This will include up to 37,293,371 share sale by SBI and up to 93,233,427 shares on offer by Carlyle Group, the company said in its prospectus.

The bidding process will close on March 5. SBI Cards is second-largest credit card issuer in India, with an 18 per cent market share.

Ban on Bandhan Bank network expansion liftedThe Reserve Bank has allowed Bandhan Bank to ex-

pand its branch network after considering the ef-forts made by the private lender to comply with the

licensing conditions.The central bank in September 2018 had barred Band-

han Bank from expanding its network as the lender failed to reduce the promoters’ stake to 40pc from close to 82pc within the stipulated three-year time frame of commenc-ing operations.

“We would like to inform that the Reserve Bank of In-dia vide its letter dated February 25, 2020 has informed that though the bank is still not in compliance with the licensing condition on dilution, considering the efforts made by the bank to comply with the said licensing con-dition,” Bandhan Bank said in a regulatory filing.

Currently, the promoters’ holding in the bank is 62pc. The bank said RBI has lifted the regulatory restriction on branch opening, subject to the condition that the bank ensures that at least 25pc of the total number of banking outlets opened during a financial year are opened in un-banked rural centres, it added.

Bandhan Bank had commenced operations on August 23, 2015. According to RBI’s bank licence norms, a pri-vate sector bank’s promoter will need to pare holding to 40pc within three years, 20pc within 10 years and to 15pc within 15 years.

Bandhan Bank currently has 4,288 banking outlets, including branches.

Hindustan Unilever to fl oat subsidiaryFMCG major has an-

nounced its plans to set up a subsidiary, which

would be primarily engaged in manufacturing activities.

The company’s board has given a go-ahead to a proposal to set up a step-down unit, Hindustan Uni-lever Ltd (HUL) said in a statement.

According to sources, HUL is incorporating the subsidiary to get the benefit of the new corporate tax rate, which has been reduced to 15pc from 25pc for new manufacturing companies.

“The company would initially invest around Rs 500 crore to Rs 600 crore

in the new subsidiary,” a source said, adding the in-vestment will be increased substantially later.

The new manufacturing unit will be making prod-ucts mostly for the FMCG segment, they said.

In September last year, the government slashed the

corporate tax rate to 22 pc without any exemptions or incentives and to 15pc from 25pc for new manufacturing

companies.“This subsidiary

has been formed to leverage the growth opportunities in a fast-changing busi-ness environment and will help HUL in becoming more agile and customer-focused,” said HUL

in the statement. “This com-pany will be incorporated with an authorised share capital of Rs 2,000 crore,” it added.

For 2018-19, HUL,

which sells products un-der popular brands such as Dove, Surf Excel and Kis-san, had posted revenues of Rs 38,224 crore.

On December 3, 2018, Anglo-Dutch FMCG giant Unilever had announced the acquisition of the health food portfolio, including popular brands Horlicks and Boost, from GlaxoS-mithKline in India and over 20 other markets for £3.1 billion (about Rs 27,750 crore). Under the deal, Uni-lever’s Indian arm, HUL, is acquiring GSK CH India via an all-equity merger, valu-ing the total business of the latter at Rs 31,700 crore.

Wipro Digital acquires US-based Rational Interaction

With an aim to en-hance its cus-tomer experience

offerings, software giant Wipro’s digital arm has ac-quired US-based Rational Interaction, company said.

The company said, “the acquisition will scale our digital offerings to chief mar-keting officers, connecting Rational’s ability to map the customer journey with our ability to design and build experiences at global scale.”

According to the firm, a single marketing effort can-not generate long-term rev-enue, as such development

requires an ecosystem of con-nected touchpoints and the new acquisition will enable companies to create customer experience programme with strategic advice and customer lifecycle management.

“Expertise in digital mar-keting and experience man-agement complements our capabilities across digital en-gineering, architecture and design,” said Wipro Digital’s head Rajan Kohli said.

Rational Interaction was founded in 2009 and its headquar-ter is in Washington state with 300 employees and offices in Seattle, Bellvue, Dublin and Sydney.

Cipla gets US FDA warning letter

Drug firm Cipla said that the US health regulator has issued

a warning letter to the com-pany for its manufacturing facility in Goa for serious violations of good manufac-turing practices observed during an inspection last

September. A warning letter implies breach of good man-ufacturing practices and sub-sequently, the applications for new drugs to be produced from the facility will be put on hold till further notice.

8 Travel / Entertainment Friday, February 28, 2020

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K U W A IT N A TIO N A L DA Y CE LE B R A TED IN M U M B A I

A dani may bid for A ir India

With the govern-ment pushing for the disinvestment

of Air India, industrial con-glomerate Adani Group may emerge as one of the bidders for the debt-laden national carrier. According to highly placed sources group has held internal rounds of de-liberations on whether or not to submit an Expression of Interest (EoI) and that the discussions are still in the preliminary stage.

If the company actually submits an EoI, it would be a major move towards further diversification of the com-pany which has business interests across sectors right from edible oil, food to min-

ing and minerals. It also en-tered into airport operations and maintenance business and won bids for privatisa-tion of six airports, Ahmed-abad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Gu-wahati, Thiruvanathapuram and Mangaluru in 2019. On being contacted, the com-pany did not comment on the matter. Air India is one of the most important di-vestment targets for the cur-rent fiscal to reach the huge Rs 2.1-lakh-crore target.

The government in Jan restarted the divest-ment process of the airline and invited bids for sell-ing 100pc of its equity in the state-owned airline, in-cluding Air India’s 100pc

hareholding in AI Express and 50pc in Air India SATS Airport Services. After its unsuccessful bid to sell Air India in 2018, the govern-ment this time has decided to offload its entire stake. In 2018, it had offered to sell its 76pc stake in the airline.

Of the total debt of Rs 60,074 crore as of March 31, 2019, the buyer would be re-quired to absorb Rs 23,286 crore. Air India, along with its subsidiary Air India Ex-press, has a total operational fleet of 146 airplanes. Fur-ther, the disinvestment de-partment has extended the last date for submission of written queries on the Perfor-mance Information Memo-

randum and Share Purchase Agreement to March 6. The last date for submission of written queries on PIM and SPA was originally set for Feb 11, following which the Department of Investment and Public Asset Manage-ment (DIPAM) on Feb 21 is-sued 20 clarifications on the queries raised and expected. Any delay in the tentatively rolled out timeline would also delay the DIPAM’s plan to identify the pre-qualified bidders by March 31 and the financial bids invitation as well. It is expected to take more than two months after the selection of the pre-qual-ified bidders to complete Air India’s sale.

Corona: 25,000 Cathay Pacificstaff to go on unpaid leaveOver 25,000 Cathay

Pacific Airways staff have agreed to take

unpaid leave, according to an internal memo from CEO Augustus Tang, in which he thanked employees for their support as the airline con-tends with the impact of the coronavirus.

The CEO, who took over last year after his predeces-sor Rupert Hogg was ousted amid the fallout from anti-government protests in Hong Kong, said Cathay’s business challenges “remain acute”. The airline has about 33,000 employees worldwide, with nearly 20,000 in Hong Kong. Cathay has sharply cut its

flight capacity because of the impact the virus has had on travel, presenting a fresh challenge after the protests in Hong Kong weighed on the company’s performance in the second-half of 2019. Chief

Customer and Commercial Officer Ronald Lam had said last week that financial re-sults in this first six months of this year will be “significantly

down” from a year earlier.Tens of thousands of

flights that could have car-ried millions of passengers in and out of China have been cancelled because of the virus. Asian carriers may lose $27.8 billion in revenue this year because of the out-break, which includes a $12.8 billion loss for Chinese airlines, according to the In-ternational Air Transport Association. Cathay is par-ticularly exposed because almost half of its revenue comes from its base in Hong Kong and mainland China. The airline plans to slash 90pc of its capacity to China in the next two months.

Maharashtra to formulate new tourism policyThe Maharashtra

government is in the process of for-

mulating a new tourism policy for the state which includes beach shacks in Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts, Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray told the assembly.

Thackeray informed that a proposal is also un-der consideration for devel-opment of resorts and ho-tels in the coastal Konkan region. “Infrastructure in Konkan is also being up-graded with development of the Mumbai-Goa high-way, an airport at Chipi in Sindhudurg and the Coast-al Road,” he said.

He also said tourism is not on the priority list of Asian Development Bank (ADB). To this, leader of the opposition Devendra Fadnavis said the ADB

gives funds for road devel-opment and infrastructure works, which can be used for the construction of the Coastal Road. Responding to Fadnavis, deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said the government is working in

this direction. The Coastal Road is an under construc-tion eight-lane, 29.2-km long freeway that would run along Mumbai’s west-ern coastline connecting Marine Lines in the south to Kandivali in the north.

Naomi Campbell walks the runway during the Kenneth Ize show as part of Paris Fash-ion Week.