Boost to Make in India: Modi govt awards 56 defence licences to private cos like

Mahindra, Tata & Pipavav

The Narendra Modi government has awarded a record 56 defence manufacturing

permits to private sector entities in the past
year, which is more than the 47 licences its predecessor UPA granted in the
preceding
three years combined and underlines its determination to have indigenous defence
production as a cornerstone of its
'Make in India' drive.

The Tatas will now be able to upgrade major fighting units like the T 90 and T 72
tanks of the Indian Army,
while Mahindra, which has been steadily expanding its defence business in the past
year, has been given permits in a
number of areas, including manufacturing naval systems like torpedoes, sea mines
and boats

The permits are not only for the big boys of Indian industry, many of
whom have existing defence arms and will be able to diversify their portfolios..

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hyundai to take on M&M, Renault, Nissan in the Indian mass-SUV market with its
Creta

The SUV segment was growing since 2013 at an annual rate of 25 per cent but it
has
declined in the January-May period by about 6 per cent. With Creta, we are
confident of not only bringing volume to

Hyundai but also turning around the segment," HMIL Senior Vice-President Sales
and Marketing Rakesh Srivastava told
reporters here at the preview of the new model.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------PM Narendra Modi launches Smart Cities Mission, says Centre committed to urban
India

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------India leads FDI in South Asia with 34 billion investment in 2014: Report

India leads regional inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in South Asia
accounting for $ 34 billion investment during
2014 and the upward trend is likely to continue this year also, according to a UN
report which placed China as the
world's largest FDI recipient.

FDI inflows to the country (India) surged by 22 per cent to about $ 34 billion"
improving its position to 9th top host
country for FDI in 2014, over its rank of 15th in 2013, the UNCTAD's World
Investment Report 2015 says.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------Government proposes income tax benefits for debit/credit card payments

The finance ministry has prepared a draft discussion paper proposing benefits such
as an appropriate tax rebate or a 1-2%
reduction in value added tax for establishments that accept electronic payments
and income tax rebates for consumers
paying a certain proportion of their expenditure through electronic means.

One way to curb the flow of black money is to discourage transactions in cash. Now
that a majority of Indians has,
or can have, a RUPAY debit card, I therefore, propose to introduce soon several
measures that will incentivise credit or
debit card transactions and disincentivise cash transactions.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Oil up as US crude contract expires; eyes on gasoline, Greece

Oil reversed losses to end slightly higher on Monday as short-covering ahead of the
expiry of the front-month contract
in US crude lifted a market burdened by concerns about creeping gasoline
inventories.

Worries about the potential fallout from the Greek debt crisis also weighed on oil
prices initially, offsetting positive
impact from a stockpile draw at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery point for US crude
futures reported by oil services firm
Genscape.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------India's aviation growth to be double of global average: Airbus

Eyeing big orders from Indian airlines, world's leading aircraft maker Airbus has said
that India's aviation market
will grow at over 10 per cent annually in next ten years, which would be double the
average global growth rate.

We are expecting an annual growth rate of over 11 per cent for the domestic market
in India over the next ten years,
while the combined growth rate for domestic and international routes would also be
more than 10 per cent.