The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court today dismissed a leave to appeal petition by Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus against a High Court (HC) order eventually obligating him to pay Taka 12 crore tax. A four-member bench of the apex court chaired by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique rejected Yunus’s petition after hearing, upholding the HC order. (BSS Reported) “The latest Appellate Division verdict has upheld the High Court order that legitimatized the NBR (National Board of Revenue) tax imposed on the money donated by Dr Yunus to his three charitable trusts”, Attorney General AM Amin Uddin told journalists. Three other members of the bench are - Justice M Enayetur Rahim, Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam and Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim. Earlier, the HC in a verdict asked Yunus to pay around Tk 12 crore as tax on the money he donated to his trusts namely Dr Yunus Trust, Yunus Family Trust and Yunus Center Trust. The attorney general said NBR imposed around Tk 15 crore tax on the donated money in different years and Prof Yunus has already deposited over Tk 3 crore to the office concerned before challenging the decisions. On May 31, the HC delivered the verdict saying that the decision of imposing tax on the money gifted by Yunus to his three charitable trusts is "legal". On June 20, a leave-to-appeal was filed against the HC order. On July 9, the chamber court set July 17 for hearing in the Appellate Division. On July 17, the Appellate Division adjourned till July 23 the hearing on the appeal against the High Court verdict.

During her two-day visit to India, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock took some time off her busy work schedule to explore the streets of Old Delhi. Taking to Twitter, the German Ambassador to India and Bhutan, Philipp Ackermann shared some pictures of Baerbock which he captioned, "Packed & productive - a super exciting Day 1 of Minister @ABaerbock draws to a close. Great talks with @DrSJaishankar, an enriching visit to Sis Ganj Gurudwara followed by shopping with Shashi Bansal in Chandni Chowk and using Paytm to pay!" In the photographs shared by the German envoy, Baerbock was seen in the company of some women at the Sis Ganj Gurudwara and later checking out Indian ethnic dresses at a local shop in Chandni Chowk. To pay for her purchase, the foreign minister used the Digital payment method Paytm. Taking to Twitter, Baerbock described that for her the official visit to India felt like she was "visiting a friend". She shared a picture with Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and captioned it in German, "Not only because we have seen each other so often this year - the world situation makes our close coordination more than necessary - my first official visit to #Indien feels like visiting friends. Thank you very much, dear @DrSJaishankar." The German foreign minister arrived in Delhi on December 5 and also visited Rajghat in national capital and paid her respects to Mahatma Gandhi. She also took a ride on the Delhi Metro. On Tuesday, a German delegation led by Annalena Baerbock met Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel at Nirvachan Sadan.   Source: ANI

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today told the parliament that the country's balance of payment (BoP) would possibly see a downbeat due to the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war. "In the context of COVID-19 and Russia-Ukraine war, weak growth of world economy, disruption of the supply chain, increase of cost of fuel oil, gas, food products, consumer goods, industrial raw materials and international freight cost in the global market, decline in exports and downbeat of remittance created possibility of negative impact on BoP," she said. The leader of the house said this while answering a tabled question from Jatiya Party lawmaker Mashiur Rahman Ranga during Prime Minister's question-answer session. Replying to the same question, Sheikh Hasina said her government has shown remarkable success in keeping both the budget deficit and debt levels at sustainable and bearable levels for the past 14 years. She said that it has been possible to keep the budget deficit within five percent of GDP despite various domestic and international economic problems including the Coronavirus situation. The debt and GDP ratio is also at a comfortable level, she added. The Prime Minister also said at the end of 2021-22 fiscal year, debt and GDP ratio was 34 percent, which is well below the internationally recognized debt status threshold for Bangladesh. She also highlighted various steps of the government to deal with the situation. Responding to a question of Jatiya Party lawmaker elected from Dhaka Syed Abu Hossain, the Premier said that there is no electricity crisis in the country considering the fact that the country has the production capacity in line with the demand. She, however, said efforts are on to get rid of the crisis, which was created due to ongoing global fuel oil crisis, through maintaining austerity in using electricity and planned load-shedding to save fuel oil. Sheikh Hasina mentioned that despite having the capacity of electricity production in some cases the government has imposed load shedding in between 1000-2000MW for saving the fuel oil. "The government has taken various measures to keep the load shedding on a limited scale to tackle the ongoing global crisis," she said. She hoped that if the electricity generated from the new coal based power stations were included in the national grid and if the austerity could be ensured in electricity usage, it would be possible to get rid of the ongoing temporary load shedding soon. "By this time two vessels carrying fuel oil will reach the country meaning that the uninterrupted supply of fuel oil will continue," she said. She said that the import schedule of fuel oil considering country's for the next six months (July-December) has been ensured with the supplying company. In response to a question from Habibur Rahman, a member of Bogra-5 Constituency, the Prime Minister said that a total of 6,836 peacekeepers are currently engaged in 8 peacekeeping missions under the United Nations, of which 521 are women. A total of 161 peacekeepers have been killed and 258 injured so far while discharging their duties in the mission, she said. Source: BSS AH

Amid severe energy crunch and unprecedentedly expensive fuel imports, Pakistan is seeking more gas imports on deferred payments from Qatar, which is irritated by roadblocks to its infrastructure investment plans, particularly in import terminals. Authorities in Islamabad are engaging with Qatar at different levels to ramp up Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) supplies to Pakistan to make up for shortage of four to five cargoes (about 400-500 million cubic feet of gas per day) every month. At almost every engagement, the other side wants to hear an update on the removal of hitches to its plans to set up a merchant LNG terminal near Karachi. The government has failed in last three attempts over the past couple of weeks to secure even a single cargo for July from the spot market as whatever quantities are available in the spot or otherwise are herded by the United States towards Europe suffering energy shortages amid the Russia-Ukraine war and ready to pick every molecule at any cost. The single bid again from Qatar at $40 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) for a July delivery was too expensive to be accepted against Qatar’s long-term contract price of $11-14. For the next few months, it looks highly unlikely that the government can use its own capacity as sport price of LNG is not viable. Informed sources said Minister of State for Petroleum Dr Musadik Malik visited Qatar a few weeks ago for additional LNG quantities. When approached, he chose not to comment on Qatar specifics but said the government was tapping all avenues to see how additional molecules are secured to meet needs of the local industry and the people at competitive costs. He said various pricing models were in his mind, but the real challenge was the availability of additional energy quantities. He said the government would encourage private investment for competition and end monopolies. “We would not like to see a few faces in every field,” he said. The sources said the Qatari ambassador in Islamabad also recently called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and had a follow-up session with Dr Malik to convey that Qatar Energy was getting all the wrong vibes about its LNG terminal. However, it is not only Qatar’s Energas but also Mitsubishi’s Tabeer Energy that have been running around with licences for LNG terminals, marketing and sales without any success on signing of pipeline capacity. Informed sources said not only the gas companies but regulatory bodies and relevant ministries had been delaying the contract signing for pipeline capacity or providing third party access to two upcoming merchant terminals — private projects without government guarantee for LNG sales and purchases with private sectors on commercial terms. They have even received threats that their soon-expiring licences would not be renewed. In the meanwhile, options for construction of new terminals for Pakistan many be diminishing as European clients rush for additional LNG processing capacity. Dr Malik again wrote to Qatar that the government of Pakistan and its people appreciated Doha for its continued support, particularly in the supply of LNG under mutually beneficial long-term contracts. He reiterated that Pakistan’s “desire to enhance the number of cargoes of LNG from Qatar under the two existing long term sale purchase agreements, on deferred payments” and reassured that Pakistan “government is also diligently working to do away with the stumbling blocks relating to third party access which will accelerate the process of investment by Qatar Energy in infrastructure development for LNG import”. The petroleum minister said Islamabad realised the limitations on account of the current turmoil in the energy markets but expected “a positive response” from Qatar for additional LNG cargoes that would further strengthen bilateral friendship. Informed sources said Qatar Petroleum believed that merchant LNG terminals were being road blocked to create space for expansion of existing LNG terminals developed with government guarantees. The two new private licencees — Qatar’s Energas and Japan’s Tabeer — were particularly perturbed by a narrative at a recent Turnaround Conference of the Planning Commission about possible inability of Energas and Tabeer to come up with new terminals and hence expansion of existing terminals after withdrawal of international arbitration and local accountability cases. Energas and Tabeer were not invited to the conference. The two existing terminals were awarded through a tender process in which the entire capacity of the terminal and is associated infrastructure was for the sole use of the government. The terminal operators were given a guaranteed rate of return on the basis of roughly $100 million per annum for the next 15 years. As part of the contacts, the government had the right to provide access to third parties through its own quota for the purpose of reducing its financial exposure. The existing terminals, however, now want to increase throughput capacity (LNG volumes) at additional charge from new customers, on top of over and above the guaranteed payments from the government. This would also mean reduced storage and increased throughput on the government capacity. Officials said such an arrangement could entail legal questions and would need the tender process to be amended. Also, the Sui gas companies — the sole distributors of gas — would have to agree to waive their rights on storage and berthing and throughput containment to accommodate third parties. Already, the existing six cargo throughputs per month from a 170,000 cubic metres of storage is already well above global standards with a significant exposure on the guaranteed LNG long-term contracts from Qatar. Tabeer and Energas are seeking to build new terminals for their own consumption and their private clients and at their own private industry risk unlike $100 million per annum guaranteed for the first two terminals. Both have already received the go-ahead from cabinet and its other forums to utilise the pipeline capacities but Sui companies have still not executed contracts despite strict reminders from the energy ministry and the regulator, Ogra. Qatar has yet again asked Islamabad that it wants to invest in Pakistan to allow its infrastructure to remain feasible with backup supplies. Without such infrastructure, long-term contracts may be at risk as seen in Europe in recent months where because of low storage, LNG cargoes were either stranded or sold to other markets at significant discounts to buyers. Doha may not commit additional long-term contracts for the consideration that the value chain in Pakistan was unable to accommodate more than 10 long-term cargoes per month on the two terminals. Source: Dawn

On Thursday, the US pushed India hard on Russia sanctions and alternative payment mechanism for transactions with Moscow but New Delhi stood firm on its strategic autonomy including its conduct of foreign policy. The US criticism came as Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov landed here for a meeting with PM Narendra Modi and his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar. The strong message from the US was delivered both in Washington and New Delhi. "Now is the time to stand on the right side of history, and to stand with the US and dozens of other countries, standing up for freedom, democracy and sovereignty with the Ukrainian people, and not funding and fueling and aiding President Putin's war," US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters in Washington on Wednesday. She called reports of the India-Russia transaction arrangement "deeply disappointing," while adding that she hadn't seen the details. Dan Tehan, Australia's trade minister who also spoke at the briefing, said it was important for democracies to work together "to keep the rules-based approach that we've had since the second world war." India is weighing a plan to make rupee-ruble-denominated payments using an alternative to SWIFT after the US and European Union cut off seven Russian banks from using the Belgium-based cross-border payment system operator. On Thursday, India and the US held discussions on economic partnership, including at G20 and Indo-Pacific region, besides American sanctions on Russia and its possible consequences for New Delhi. ET has learnt that during discussions with visiting Deputy NSA Daleep Singh, India presented its viewpoint on the Rupee-Rouble Trade Mechanism and harped on Russia's presence in several international organisations even as the US attempted to dissuade India from reducing dependence on Russian energy resources and defence items. The current G20 President, Indonesia, has made it clear to the West that it has no plans to drop Russia from the invitee list. "Foreign Secretary @harshvshringla met US Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics & G20 Sherpa Daleep Singh. Discussed bilateral economic cooperation & strategic partnership. Look forward to working together on global issues of mutual interest, including in G20," an MEA spokesperson tweeted without any mention of any discussion on Russia and sanctions. Sources indicated to ET it would be unfair to describe that meeting solely focused on Ukraine as the agenda was wide ranging. Talking to a select group of reporters here on Thursday, Singh said India's energy imports from Russia are not sanctioned but India is encouraged to reduce imports. "Nations will face consequences for bypassing sanctions," he claimed. However, he noted that friends such as the US and India don't set "red lines" and his discussions in New Delhi amounted to an "honest dialogue" about protecting core principles underpinning global peace and security. Source: economictimes

Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government, India has witnessed over the last few years a reinvigorated emphasis on ensuring that as many transactions take place through the digital means. This has made technology-based platforms extremely popular within different sections of society, especially the educated and urban classes. Though the shift to these digital platforms was a foregone conclusion, the same would happen so swiftly that it took everyone by surprise. Notwithstanding the presence of private Indian players like PhonePe, PayTM, RazorPay as well as international giants like GPay, PayPal, PayUmoney, etc the most successful and user-friendly interface has been that of BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) launched by the government of India. Adding a new dimension to the same, an even more advanced, effective, transparent and reliable platform called the e-RUPI was launched. Based on BHIM, the Reserve Bank of India and National Payment Corporation of India collaborated to develop a platform geared at utilizing SMS and QR code technology to seamlessly transfer funds to the bank account of the service provider. One of the major advantages of the platform is that the seamless one-time payment mechanism would enable users to redeem a voucher without swiping any cards or even be able to conduct all forms of Internet banking through a QR code. In a situation like the gloomy pandemic where distancing ourselves from one another has taken a form of its own, e-RUPI puts forth an interesting aspect of a contactless payment mechanism as well. Therefore, for a large population, e-RUPI appears to be the first step towards going digital in a responsible and transparent manner. Apart from the contactless aspect of the payment, which may become obsolete when the situation begins to normalize, one may begin to think how the e-RUPI would turn out to be any different/better than other forms of digital payment. Unlike how the amount to be delivered to the beneficiary by the government is sent across to the bank account of the said individual, e-RUPI ensures that the said allocated amount can be utilized only for the purpose with which the earmarked amount was given. Apart from being a safeguard mechanism to ensure that the amount sent across is utilized for the same purpose, the mechanism also renders the role of middlemen obsolete thereby reducing corruption within the peripheries of the framework. Interestingly, with the help of partner banks, government entities or corporate players may be able to generate their own e-RUPI vouchers and receive payments through the service provider centers. It is clear that the nation is way past the stage when technology was considered the right of only the most affluent classes. Through what is often referred to as the JAM trinity (Jan Dhan Yojana – Aadhaar – Mobile), various mobile applications were developed aimed at creating a more transparent framework through which the necessary subsidy or aid could be sent without the fear of middlemen wreaking havoc or stealing from the poor either. This has seeped in to the extent that the Indian government has been able to provide monetary benefits for up to 300 schemes via the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) model. In fact, not just subsidy or aid transfer, even procurement of a record Rs. 85,000 crore rupees (850 billion rupees) has taken place through this technology, saving in total about Rs. 1.75 lakh crores that could have leaked ordinarily. The pilot project for the digital platform was implemented within the health sector where it met with spectacular results. An interesting case study with this regard was the situation of a non-governmental organization that wanted to contribute towards the vaccine procurement at a private hospital. Through e-RUPI, the organization would now be able to provide vouchers to a select number of people in need who would then be able to get vaccinated. This form of charity would be geared towards the selected goal i.e., vaccination and would not be used for any other purpose either. Many experiments were conducted with the e-RUPI as well, with multiple individuals, groups or organizations that were able to bear the treatment expenditure or buy medicines for other individuals. Essentially, anyone with a mobile phone (not necessarily a Smartphone) may now be able to make the payment for their essential goods and services verifiable through the SMS/QR code technology that would only be used for the intended purpose. Over the last decade, the rapid pace at which India has progressed in the field of digital technology has been nothing short of magical. The Indian population has taken to digital payments like fish takes to water, with a large number of monetary transactions at toll plazas, shops, account transfers, restaurants, etc. taking place via mobile phones alone. A large number of developing countries are aspiring to imitate the Indian success story when it comes to digital payments. Source: Saudi Gazette