Page 16 - Banking Finance November 2017

ROUNDUP

Government gives approval to OPPO to open retail Coal India finalises wage

stores revision agreement, fixes
India has given Chinese smartphone maker Oppo the go-ahead to open its own 20% hike
single-brand retail stores, boding well for rivals like
Coal India Ltd has concluded an
Apple, which are seeking similar approvals. Oppo has
agreement
become the first pure play smartphone brand to win
with its work-
such a clearance in the world’s No. 3 smartphone
market, where Apple has been vying for a bigger ers for revi-
market share. sion of pay,
capping a
Although India allows foreign firms to sell directly to year of negotiations. The revision of
consumers through a ‘singlebrand retail’ route, companies must source 30% of pay under the five-year agreement,
the products locally. The country moved to partially relax those conditions in 2016, from July 2016 to June 2021, will raise
exempting foreign retailers from the sourcing rule for three years in a bid to the miner’s annual wage bill by an
attract more investment. estimated Rs.5,667 crore.

The Oppo decision is positive for companies like Xiaomi and Vivo, which have This is significantly lower than the hike
been trying to get similar approvals, Tarun Pathak, an analyst at Counterpoint agreed upon in 2012. Last time, Coal
Research, said. And it might mean approval for Apple, whose sales in India are India had agreed to a hike of 25%,
mainly driven by its older generation iPhones, Pathak said. leading to an annual cost escalation of
around Rs.6,500 crore. Salaries and
India rejects new WTO rules for e-commerce wages account for 50% of Coal India’s
total costs. This time, workers settled
India has rejected fresh efforts by a clutch of countries led by the European Union
(EU), Japan, Canada and Australia to negotiate for a hike of around 20%.
new global e-commerce rules under the aegis of Medicines may soon
the World Trade Organization (WTO).
have to list ex-factory or
During an informal meeting at the WTO recently,
the EU, Canada, Australia, Chile, Korea, Norway landed price
and Paraguay, among other countries, circulated Medicines may soon come labeled
a restricted draft ministerial decision to establish with the “landed
“a working party” at the upcoming WTO ministerial meeting in Buenos Aires and price” if they
authorizing it to “conduct preparations for and carry out negotiations on trade- are imported,
related aspects of electronic commerce on the basis of proposal by Members”. or “ex-factory
price” if locally
India fears that new rules could provide unfair market access to foreign compa- made, along with the maximum re-
nies, hurting the rapidly growing domestic e-commerce platforms. A key demand tail price, a move that the govern-
by the developed countries is to make permanent the current ban on customs ment claims will bring more transpar-
duties on global electronic transactions—they were suspended in 1998.
ency in pricing.
Jan Dhan Accounts helped in increasing savings The Central Drugs Standard Control
Organization has proposed amending
Villagers who opened bank accounts under the Prime Minister's Jan Dhan Yojana Rule 96 of the Drugs and Cosmetics
(PMJDY) may be saving more and cutting back on their consumption of alcohol Act to make such pricing information
and tobacco, a study by the economic research wing of the State Bank of India mandatory for all drug makers, ac-
(SBI) suggests. This may have also slowed inflation in rural areas. cording to government officials in the
When the PMJDY programme was launched there were fears that higher circu- know. The ministry of health and
lation of money would stoke inflation. The study using retail inflation data showed family welfare will soon come out
that states with more than 50% share of Jan Dhan accounts in villages had a with a draft notification to this effect,
"meaningful drop in inflation". according to a government official.

16 | 2017 | NOVEMBER | BANKING FINANCE

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