Daily News Wrap | India's inflation above tolerance; DRI unearths customs duty evasion by Oppo India

National

India logs 16,906 new COVID cases, 45 deaths

India logged 16,906 fresh COVID infections in the last 24 hours. This is an increase of 3,291 infections as compared to yesterday. The active cases in the country have gone up to 1,32,457.

As many as 45 patients succumbed to the virus during this period. The death toll in the country now stands at 5,25,519. According to the Ministry, 15,447 COVID patients recovered in the last 24 hours taking the total number of recoveries to 43,01,18,747.

Under the nationwide vaccination drive a total of 1,99,12,79,010 vaccines have been administered so far.

Central govt initiatives help North East increase export

To give a boost to the export of horticulture products grown in North-Eastern (NE) states, the government is now up with a robust strategy to promote locally produced agricultural products to the international markets.

The NE region is a potential hub for the export of agricultural produce to neighbouring countries as well as other foreign destinations. There has been a significant increase in the export of agricultural produce from NE states like Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Meghalaya in the last few years, stated a government release.

The NE region witnessed an 85.34% growth in the export of agricultural products in the last six years as it increased from USD 2.52 million in 2016-17 to USD 17.2 million in 2021-22. The major destination of export has been Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Middle East, the UK and Europe.

Finance

India's inflation above tolerance for 6th consecutive month

India's retail inflation eased marginally to 7.01% in June from 7.04% in the previous month helped by softening crude and edible oil prices, while staying above the central Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) tolerance limit for the sixth consecutive month.

The RBI predicts retail inflation to continue to remain high till the third quarter of the current financial year 2022-23, before lowering. Apart from this, domestic wholesale inflation has been in double-digits for over a year now. At present, RBI's mandate is to keep retail inflation at 4% with a tolerance band of 2% points, i.e. 200 basis points on either side.

Indian stock indices rise marginally

Erasing two-days of losses, Indian stock indices gained marginally in early trade on Wednesday. The latest softening of global crude oil prices and signs of inflation slowly receding are likely to have lent support to the equity markets. Global crude oil prices have fallen below the psychological level of $100 per barrel after several weeks.

Today, Sensex was at 54,092.73 points, up 206.12 points whereas Nifty was at 16,115.55 points, up 57.25 points. Among the Nifty 50 companies, 41 were in the green and while 8 declined in the morning session. Whereas, one Nifty stock was unchanged.

Business

DRI unearths customs duty evasion by Oppo India

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) conducted searches at the office premises of Oppo India and the residences of its key management employees. This led to the recovery of incriminating evidence indicating misdeclaration in the description of certain items imported by the company.

The revenue intelligence agency in a statement said it has detected customs duty evasion of around ₹4,389 crore. According to the DRI, an investigation pertaining to Oppo Mobiles India was conducted in January.

The investigation revealed that Oppo India had remitted or made provisions for payment of 'Royalty' and 'Licence Fee' to various multinational companies, including those based in China, in lieu of the use of proprietary technology/brand/IPR license. It also showed willful misdeclaration of funds and monetary figures

This happens to be a direct violation of Section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962, with Rule 10 of the Customs Valuation Rules 2007. The alleged duty evasion by Oppo India on this account is ₹1,408 crore.

Bajaj Healthcare forays into opiate processing

Bajaj Healthcare has forayed into highly-regulated opiate processing as it received two tenders from the central government for manufacturing of concentrated poppy straw and alkaloids/active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) from unlanced poppy capsules along with straw through CPS-Reg and opium gum.

Letter of Award includes manufacturing of alkaloids and APIs from the processing of 500 tonnes of the unlanced poppy capsule along with straw, besides alkaloids and APIs from the processing of 100 tonnes of opium gum on an annual basis, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

The company plans to execute both these tenders at their manufacturing unit located at Savli in Gujarat.

International

Taliban to sign security agreement with Qatar

After expressing their opposition to any kind of foreign support in terms of providing security, the Taliban is now willing to sign a security agreement with Qatar.

Taliban's acting Minister of Defense, Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid said that Kabul and Doha are expected to sign an agreement for security cooperation. He made the announcement after returning from his Qatar visit. Yaqoob said that the agreement will be assessed by the officials of the Taliban to decide whether or not it will be signed.

"Qatar is interested in an agreement to be signed between the defense ministries of Qatar and Afghanistan. There will be a security pact, based on which the two countries will cooperate with each other. I look at it as a good step and we will consult on this agreement," he told media sources.

Technology

Nothing Phone (1) pre-orders now live in India

Nothing has launched its much-awaited first smartphone called Phone (1) which will be available in India for a pre-order price of Rs 31,999.

The 6.55-inch device offers 50MP dual camera at the rear, a refined Nothing operating system (OS), 120Hz OLED display with HDR10+ and a custom-built Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+ chipset.

For pre-order customers, Nothing will be available on Flipkart for 8GB/128GB (Rs 31,999), 8GB/256GB (Rs 34,999) and the 12GB/256GB (Rs 37,999).

For general buyers, Phone (1) will be available in both white and black colours, with three variants -- 8GB/128GB (Rs 32,999), 8GB/256GB (Rs 35,999), and 12GB/256GB (Rs 38,999).

The sale of Nothing Phone (1) in India will start on Flipkart from 7 p.m. on July 21.

Sports

Bumrah's career-best 6/19, openers lead India to 10-wicket win over England

Jasprit Bumrah's career-best show with the ball (6/19) followed by a solid unbeaten opening stand between Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan led India to a crushing 10-wicket win over England in the first ODI and take 1-0 lead in the three-match series at The Kennington Oval, here on Tuesday.

Bumrah's sensational performance helped India bowl out England for a paltry 110 in 25.2 overs after winning the toss and opting to bowl first in bowling-friendly conditions. The 28-year-old with his career-best ODI figures of 6 for 19 became the first Indian pace bowler to take six wickets in an ODI in England. He was well supported by Mohammed Shami, who bagged 3 for 31 en route to becoming the joint third-fastest to 150 wickets, and Prasidh Krishna (1/26).

Skipper Jos Buttler (30 off 32) was the highest scorer for England, who kept losing wickets at regular intervals. David Willey (21 off 26), and Brydon Carse (15 off 26) were the other main contributors for the hosts.

Brief scores: England 110 all out in 25.2 overs (Jos Buttler 30, David Willey 21; Jasprit Bumrah 6/19, Mohammed Shami 3/31) lost to India 114 for no loss in 18.4 overs (Rohit Sharma 76 not out, Shikhar Dhawan 31 not out) by 10 wickets