M S Dhoni did right by taking time for 'top-rated' knock against WI: Jasprit Bumrah

Dhoni's rate of scoring has been a topic of debate in the ongoing showpiece.

India's pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah feels Mahendra Singh Dhoni played a "top-rated" knock in the World Cup clash against the West Indies and did the right thing by taking his time in the middle.

Dhoni's rate of scoring has been a topic of debate in the ongoing showpiece. On Thursday, the former skipper scored 56 off 61 balls, exploding in the last over, to help India post a winning 268-run total on the board against the Caribbeans.

"The innings that he played is the kind which is very under-rated. Sometimes you might feel that he is batting slow but sometimes it is important that he takes time, which he did," Jasprit Bumrah said on 'bcci.tv'.

"He absorbs the pressure and takes the game deep. It was top-rated innings and got us to 268, which was a good total on this pitch.

He knew there were pinch-hitters coming later so he could take his time. Youngsters can learn a lot from this knock," he added.

Speaking of his own performance, the world No.1 ODI bowler reflected on the two-wicket haul which could well have been a hat-trick.

"While bowling the hat-trick ball I was hoping the batsman (Kemar Roach) would expect a fast yorker. So, I thought I would bowl a slower one. I executed it as well but he managed to stop it.

But I am glad I could execute what I planned," he said referring to the 27th over delivery.

India will next face England on Sunday in Birmingham.

Busienss Standard

PM Modi's July 5 budget key to reviving India's animal spirits

Analysts expect the new Modi government's first budget on July 5 to tweak fiscal levers to give a boost to the economy and get it back on a faster growth track.

Budget 2019 : India's economy showed signs of fragility in May after April's uptick, suggesting a sustained recovery needs a fiscal stimulus from newly re-elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.

Overall activity from eight high-frequency indicators compiled by Bloomberg News show the economy lacked momentum, with the dot remaining unchanged from a month ago. A renewed tightness in liquidity conditions kept business activity subdued. The dashboard is a measure of “animal spirits,” a term coined by British economist John Maynard Keynes to refer to investors’ confidence in taking action.

As gross domestic product growth slowed to a five-year low of 5.8% in the first quarter of 2019, the Reserve Bank of India this month did its part to support the economy by lowering interest rates for a third time and switching to an accommodative stance. Further, analysts expect the new Modi government’s first budget on July 5 to tweak fiscal levers to give a boost to the economy and get it back on a faster growth track.

Here are the details of the dashboard:

Business Activity

In a worrying sign, activity in India’s dominant services sector has been slowing. The seasonally adjusted Nikkei India Services Index fell to 50.2 in May, its weakest level in 12 months. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in activity, while anything below it signals contraction.

The slowness in services was offset by a faster pace of expansion in manufacturing activity. That helped the Nikkei India Composite PMI Output Index remain unchanged at 51.7 in May from a month ago. The reading was the lowest since September.

The survey showed factory gate prices were broadly unchanged from April, indicating pipeline price pressures are likely to stay subdued. The trend mirrors slowing demand pressures in the economy that’s led to an easing in core inflation -- which strips out volatile food and fuel prices.

Exports

Probably the only silver lining. Exports grew 3.9% in May from a year ago, with a large part of the increase coming from non-oil products. Non-oil exports growth was at 5.1%, after contracting 3.1% in April. Nevertheless, imports outpaced exports leading to a higher trade deficit. Oil imports grew 8.2% year-on-year, with sharp increases month-on-month despite a drop in prices of India’s crude basket.

Budget 2019: 7 ministries, depts yet to earmark funds for tribal schemes

The guidelines state that the 41 identified ministries and departments have to earmark at least 4.3% funds for DAPST.

Seven central ministries and departments have not earmarked funds for tribal welfare schemes in their budget for 2019-20 and 12 have "kept the provision below the level stipulated by the Niti Aayog", officials said Wednesday.

In 2017, the Niti Aayog developed new guidelines obligating 41 central ministries and departments to earmark funds for "Development Action Plan for Scheduled Tribes" (DAPST), earlier known as Tribal Sub-Plan.

An official said the guidelines were finalized in January 2019, which means complete adherence cannot be ensured this financial year.

"Since the ministries decide their allocations for various schemes by November-December and the guidelines were finalised in January, any corrective action is possible next year only," the official said.

The guidelines state that the 41 identified ministries and departments have to earmark at least 4.3 per cent funds for DAPST.

In January, the Department of Economic Affairs wrote to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, saying 7 ministries/departments have not earmarked funds for DAPST and 12 have "kept the provision below the level stipulated by Niti Aayog", according to the official.

It had asked the 19 "deviating" ministries and departments to take "corrective action".

Budget 2019

Budget likely to charge up electric vehicle push with tax incentives

The govt is also examining extension of tax holiday for units operating or planning to set up operations in special economic zones.

With promotion of clean energy high on government agenda, the upcoming Budget 2019 is likely to incentivise manufacturing of electric vehicles (EVs) in the country.

This is also expected to drive foreign direct investment or FDI into the country.

In line with the government’s road map for EVs in the next four years, the Budget may offer investment-linked incentives to manufacturers with respect to capital expenditure incurred for setting up operations, according to officials in the know.

“With a clear timeline to switch to clean energy vehicles, we are examining tax incentives to encourage players into the EV segment. Besides operations, investment in technology transfers and R&D will also need to be encouraged,” said a government official.

The Budget for FY20 may allow deduction on account of capital expenditure incurred for setting up business under Section 35AD(1) of the Income Tax Act for environment friendly EVs. The move will help bring down tax liability of such firms, leaving them with more income to invest in technology transfers.

ALSO READ: Auto stocks decline post NITI Aayog's directive on electric vehicle

The move goes in hand with other measures to promote the sector, such as proposed reduction in the goods and services tax (GST) rate for EVs to 5 per cent from 12 per cent and that for its batteries from 18 per cent to 12 per cent.

The matter is currently with the fitment committee and a decision will be taken on this in the next GST Council meeting.

The government is also examining extension of tax holiday for units operating or planning to set up operations in special economic zones (SEZs), beyond the sunset date of 2020, for a few sectors, including EVs. The move will encourage foreign EV players with expertise to set up manufacturing base in the country and export to rest of the world. It will also aid swifter skill transfer to domestic players.

Section 10AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961, provides for tax exemption on profits made from export by a unit set up in an SEZ.

The exemptions include deduction of 100 per cent export-related profit for first five years and 50 per cent for the next five years.

Budget 2019: Sitharaman urged to bring cigarette taxation to pre-GST level

There has been a 32% increase in illegal cigarette trade, increasing from 19.5 billion sticks in 2011 to 25.7 billion sticks in 2017.

Budget 2019 : The Federation of All India Farmer Associations (FAIFA) has urged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to correct an error in cigarette taxation under the new tax regime, which did not account for the cascading effect on excise duty that existed in the pre-GST system.

FAIFA is a non-profit organisation that represents the cause of farmers and farm workers of commercial crops across the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Gujarat.

In a letter written to the Finance Minister, which has also been submitted to various concerned Ministries including the PMO, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Ministry of Labour, the association has highlighted that error in cigarette taxation has inadvertently increased compensation cess rates that has resulted in additional taxes of around 13 per cent above the pre-GST levels.

"Any additional burden caused by the increase in compensation cess rates will put further pressure on the livelihood of Indian tobacco farmers. As observed in the past that increase in taxes have resulted in the inflow of huge quantities of illicit cigarettes in the market," the FAIFA letter to Sitharaman said.

The legitimate cigarette industry size in India, which was at 110 billion sticks in 2011-12 as per industry estimates, has dropped by 25 per cent to about 83 billion cigarettes in 2016-17. In contrast, the illegal, duty-evaded cigarette segment has grown to about 26 billion cigarettes in 2017, i.e., almost one-fourth of the industry.

To ensure livelihood support for tobacco farmers, FAIFA has appealed to roll back tax increase so that taxes on the sector comes back to pre-GST revenue neutral rates. The federation has also said that government should have a tax policy that disincentives illicit trade of cigarettes. It has also urged for reinstatement of tobacco export incentives to boost the economy of Indian Flue Cured Virginia (FCV) farmers.

"... we would like to underline that the principle of revenue neutrality has been reiterated time and again by the government in respect of fixation of tax rates in the GST era," Javare Gowda, President, Federation of All India Farmer Associations (FAIFA), said making a case for restoring taxation to pre-GST levels.

The entire legal cigarette value chain is presently reeling under penalising taxation on account of continuous increases in excise duties and compensation cess on cigarettes, which have cumulatively gone up by 202 per cent between 2011/12 and 2017/18 leading to shrinkage of cigarette volumes by more than 25 per cent since 2012/13, FAIFA has said.

Know the Union Budget: What is a Finance Bill and why is it important?

Finance Bill, introduced each year to give effect to the financial proposals of the central government for the next financial year, includes a Bill for supplementary financial proposals for any period.

Budget 2019 : When a piece of legislation is yet to be passed as a law by the Houses of Parliament, it is termed a Bill. A Finance Bill is a Bill that, as the name suggests, concerns the country's finances — it could be about taxes, government expenditures, government borrowings, revenues, etc. Since the Union Budget deals with these things, it is passed as a Finance Bill.

Rule 219 of the Rules of Procedure of Lok Sabha states: ‘Finance Bill’ means the Bill ordinarily introduced in each year to give effect to the financial proposals of the Government of India for the following financial year and includes a Bill to give effect to supplementary financial proposals for any period.

There are different kinds of Finance Bills — the most important of them is the Money Bill. The Money Bill is concretely defined in Article 110. A Money Bill is certified by the Speaker as such — in other words, only those Financial Bills that carry the Speaker’s certification are Money Bills.

Article 110 states that a Bill shall be deemed to be a Money Bill if it contains only provisions dealing with all or any of the following matters:

The imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax;

The regulation of the borrowing of money or the giving of any guarantee by the Government of India, or the amendment of the law with respect to any financial obligations undertaken or to be undertaken by the Government of India;

The custody of the consolidated Fund or the Contingency Fund of India, the payment of moneys into or the withdrawal of moneys from any such Fund;

The appropriation of moneys out of the consolidated Fund of India;

The declaring of any expenditure to be expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund of India or the increasing of the amount of any such expenditure;

The receipt of money on account of the Consolidated Fund of India or the public account of India or the custody or issue of such money or the audit of the accounts of the Union or of a State; or

Any matter incidental to any of the matters specified in sub clause (a) to (f)

A Bill shall not be deemed to be a Money Bill by reason only that it provides for the imposition of fines or other pecuniary penalties, or for the demand or payment of fees for licences or fees for services rendered, or by reason that it provides for the imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax by any local authority or body for local purposes

Budget 2019 agriculture wishlist: Increase farmer income, investment in R&D

Irrigation, doubling farmers' income, agricultural finance, R&D are some of the key points the government needs to focus on.

Union Budget 2019 

Key challenges

Doubling farmers’ income: In the past, focused efforts in agriculture has been around increasing yield, mechanisation, reducing post-harvest losses, etc., that are indirectly linked to farmer remuneration. However, there is still a huge gap in the optimum price realisation by farmers.

Agricultural finance: Access to finance forms is an integral part for the overall value chain performance in agriculture. While Kisan Credit Card provides sufficient credit options and benefits, efficient implementation still remains a challenge.

Irrigation: Over 50% of our agriculture is still rain fed, hence, there is an associated uncertainty leading to reduction in growth. There is thus a need to increase the coverage of irrigation. It is estimated that a total of 27 million hectares area has the potential of drip irrigation application, showcasing a huge potential to reach out to more farmers.

Research and development in agriculture: Considering India's dependency on agriculture, it is highly imperative to invest in R&D. India spends 0.30% of agricultural GDP on agricultural research. Besides, private sector participation in the sector is relatively lower.

Market linkages and integration: The farmers need be better connected to the end consumer. The number of stakeholders across the agricultural value chain need to be reduced.

Agricultural infrastructure: There is still a lack of sufficient supporting infrastructure at various value chain stages creating lacunae such as lack of adequate primary processing centers, cold chain, warehouses leading to an increase in post-harvest losses and distress selling at times.

Technology and innovation: There’s a need to integrate technology and innovation closely in the agriculture sector. Global trends such as drone technology, block chain, FinTech, traceability need to be strengthened in Indian context.

Business Standard

India likely to let budget deficit rise as tax receipts fall short

Business groups have urged the government to consider cutting the corporate tax rate and introducing incentives to boost new investments.

Budget 2019 : The government is likely to overshoot the budget deficit target previously set for the current fiscal year, three officials have warned, as a slowing economy creates a big shortfall in tax collections and prompts new stimulus plans.

New Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents her first budget on July 5, for the fiscal year ending March 2020. It is also the first budget of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's second term after his government was returned in a landslide election win last month.

Since becoming prime minister in 2014, Modi succeeded in improving public finances, trimming the fiscal deficit to 3.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) from 4.5% in 2013/14, mostly through subsidies cuts and fuel taxes.

He is now, however, under pressure to loosen the purse strings to follow through on election promises such as increased spending on roads and housing and tax cuts for companies and individuals.

"There is no other option but to defer the fiscal consolidation target as boosting economic growth and reviving private investment is our top priority," a senior finance ministry official involved in the budget discussions, told Reuters.

Such a decision would ultimately be made by the prime minister's office after consultation with advisers, he said.

That may well mean raising the fiscal deficit target to as much as 3.6% of GDP from an already upwardly revised target of 3.4%, set in February's interim budget, he said. The original goal, set in February 2018, had been 3.3%.

India's benchmark 10-year bond yield pushed up by another 3 basis points to 6.87% following the Reuters story, traders said.

Yields had closed at 6.79% on Thursday and had been up due to gains in global crude prices.

Slipping fiscal discipline would hurt the "credibility" of the budget and in turn hit investment, the bond market and the rupee, analysts say.

Business Standard

PM Modi interacts with 40 economists, industry experts ahead of Budget

The meeting was also attended by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State (independent charge) for Statistics and Programme Implementation Rao Inderjeet Singh.

Budget 2019 : Ahead of the next month's Union Budget, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday interacted with economists and industry experts on current economic situation and took note of their suggestions.

In the interactive session organised by NITI Aayog on 'Economic Policy - The Road Ahead', over 40 economists and other experts participated.

"During the session, participants shared their views, in five distinct groups, on the economic themes of macro economy and employment, agriculture and water resources, exports, education and health," said a release issued by the Prime Minister's Office.

The Prime Minister thanked all participants for their suggestions and observations, on various aspects of the economy.

The meeting was also attended by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State (independent charge) for Statistics and Programme Implementation Rao Inderjeet Singh.

NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar and senior government officials were also present.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be presenting the full Budget for 2019-20 on July 5 in the Lok Sabha.

It will be first full Budget of the Modi 2.0 government.

Business Standard

Chinese smartphone maker Coolpad appoints Fisher Yuan as India CEO

In his role, Yuan will oversee the company's day-to-day operations, a statement said.

Chinese smartphone maker Coolpad on Friday announced appointing Fisher Yuan as the chief executive officer for company's India operations.

He succeeds Syed Tajuddin, who exited the company earlier this year. In his role, Yuan will oversee the company's day-to-day operations, a statement said.

Coolpad, which had entered the Indian market in 2008, said the new appointment will help the brand further augment its product, technology, and marketing strategies to create a targeted value proposition for the diverse Indian market.

"As Coolpad further strengthens its presence in India, Fisher will create a strategic road map for optimum market penetration on the back of the brand's consumer-centric R&D practices," it added.

Fisher moves to the CEO position after holding several leadership roles at Coolpad.

He spent three years as the vice-president for sales and supply in India, and has also worked in the Chinese market as the company's sales director.

"Having spent several years with Coolpad, I have learned that the company's growth mission and vision are perfectly aligned with my own... Over the next few years, we plan to disrupt the Indian consumer market with innovative technology by making it available at extremely affordable price points," Yuan said.

Business Standard

Walmart to pay $282 mn for violating anti-corruption rules in 4 countries

According to the US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), these violations were conducted by Walmart's third-party intermediaries who made payments to foreign government officials.

International retail giant Walmart Thursday agreed to pay over $282 to various US bodies to settle charges of violating anti-corruption regulations while conducting its business in India, China, Brazil and Mexico.

According to the US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), these violations were conducted by Walmart's third-party intermediaries who made payments to foreign government officials without reasonable assurances that they complied with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or FCPA.

SEC has charged Walmart with violating FCPA by failing to operate a sufficient anti-corruption compliance programme for more than a decade as the retailer experienced rapid international growth.

Walmart agreed to pay more than $144 million to settle the SEC's charges and approximately $138 million to resolve parallel criminal charges by the Department of Justice for a combined total of more than $282 million, SEC said.

"Walmart valued international growth and cost-cutting over compliance," said Charles Cain, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division's FCPA Unit.

"The company could have avoided many of these problems, but instead Walmart repeatedly failed to take red flags seriously and delayed the implementation of appropriate internal accounting controls," he said.

Walmart consented to the SEC's order finding that it violated the books and records and internal accounting controls provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

According to the SEC's order, Walmart failed to sufficiently investigate or mitigate certain anti-corruption risks and allowed subsidiaries in Brazil, China, India, and Mexico to employ third-party intermediaries who made payments to foreign government officials without reasonable assurances that they complied with the FCPA.

The SEC's order details several instances when Walmart planned to implement proper compliance and training only to put those plans on hold or otherwise allow deficient internal accounting controls to persist even in the face of red flags and corruption allegations.

Business Standard

NCLT sets 90-day deadline for Jet Airways bankruptcy resolution

Jet stopped operations on April 17 leaving over 14,000 employees in the lurch.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Thursday admitted the insolvency petition moved by State Bank of India (SBI) — under section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) — against Jet Airways, and instructed that the resolution process be wrapped up in 90 days as the matter is of national importance.

Typically, the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) should be completed in 180 days, and an extra 90 days’ time is granted in case the process doesn’t conclude in the stipulated period. The interim resolution professional (RP) has been instructed to submit fortnightly progress reports on the CIRP process, with the first to be filed on July 5, the day of the next hearing.

The tribunal also declared a moratorium on recovery of dues from Jet, the country’s first aviation firm to be admitted for bankruptcy. Jet had over 120 planes, of which only about a dozen have not been de-registered by the civil aviation regulator. The rest of the planes had their leases terminated and many of them have been inducted by other airlines in India or abroad.

Also, on a day which saw the beleaguered airline being admitted under the insolvency process, Jet shares posted their highest single-day gain on the bourses on Thursday, rising 93 per cent on the BSE to end at Rs 64 after declining 75 per cent in the previous 10 sessions. Such a movement in share prices is highly unusual.

ALSO READ: Jet Airways: Exit is best

Moreover, presiding judges V P Singh and Ravi Kumar Duraisamy did not take cognizance of the Dutch court order that had declared Jet bankrupt, given that cross-border insolvency is still not in place under the IBC and because the jurisdiction of the corporate debtor rests with the tribunal (as the company is listed in India).

SBI, in its plea, said the airline had defaulted on working capital loans of up to Rs 970 crore. Jet had a working capital facility of Rs 505 crore. This account was overdrawn by around Rs 460 crore for 30 days. The lender had also provided a term loan facility of Rs 1,292 crore to the carrier, which owes over Rs 8,000 crore to a consortium of 26 lenders.

Business Standard

Budget 2019: Union Budget 2019

Nirmala Sitharaman budget speech and full budget impact on Markets and Indian economy.

The Union Budget of India is a statement of the revenue and expenditure of the government for a financial year.

It is referred to as the Annual Financial Statement in Article 112 of the Indian Constitution. The finance minister of the Union government presents it in the Lok Sabha.

A full budget is not presented by the government in an election year. It presents an interim budget instead. The incoming government then presents the full budget 2019 after being sworn-in.

The interim budget is presented for a part of the fiscal year. The government can give the account for the whole year and the next government can change the estimates and expenditure plan when the budget 2019-20 is read after the government is sworn-in.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance was elected for another term in May, 2019. Prime Minister Narendra Modi allocated the finance portfolio to Rajya Sabha MP Nirmala Sitharaman.

This is the first time in India's history that a woman has been given the independent charge of the finance ministry.

The budget 2019 will be read by Nirmala Sitharaman on July 5 in Lok Sabha. The main focus will be on macroeconomic numbers and promises made by the BJP in its election manifesto. Job generation and growth are likely to be focus areas for the new government. Agriculture, taxation and infrastructure will be the sectors to watch out for in the budget.

Article Source BS

PM Narendra Modi starts pre-Budget meets to brainstorm on economy

The focal point of the interaction was drawing a road map for reforms across departments leading up to the ease of doing business and economic growth.

In the run-up to the Union Budget, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has lined up a string of meetings spread across days. He began the exercise on Tuesday with a meeting of top bureaucrats in finance and other key ministries to finalise the government's priorities. The focus is clearly on reviving the economy and creating jobs, officials in the know said.

Next, the PM will interact with economists, bankers and sectoral experts through the week to brainstorm on pressing issues such as agriculture, reforms and effective implementation of signature schemes and projects.

Tuesday’s meeting at the PM’s residence, attended by all the five secretaries in the finance ministry besides top officials of other economic ministries and NITI Aayog, cleared a five-year vision plan for the government to make India a $5-trillion economy by 2024, it is learnt. Also, the future course of PM’s pet projects like doubling farmers' income, PM-Kisan, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, piped water for all, and electricity for all came up for discussion.

The focal point of the interaction was drawing a road map for reforms across departments leading up to the ease of doing business and economic growth. GDP growth, which has been a controversial issue recently due to doubts raised over government data, was discussed too. Stepping up government revenues while carrying out reform to push GDP growth, which slipped to a five-year low of 6.8 per cent in 2018-19, also figured in the meeting, sources said.

With the farm sector facing headwinds, Modi had last week stressed upon the need for structural reforms in agriculture to boost private investment, strengthen logistics, and provide ample market support to farmers.

The PM is expected to meet senior finance ministry bureaucrats on Thursday to discuss issues relevant to the Union Budget, to be presented on July 5.

Apart from reform announcements to be made in the Budget, the government’s fiscal consolidation roadmap, revenue position and expenditure commitments will be taken up at the meeting.

Business Standard

Facebook plans to create global financial system based on cryptocurrency

The cryptocurrency, called Libra, will also have to overcome concern that Facebook does not effectively protect the private information of its users.

Business Standard : Facebook unveiled an ambitious plan on Tuesday to create an alternative financial system that relies on a cryptocurrency that the company has been secretly working on for more than a year.

The effort, announced with 27 partners as diverse as Mastercard and Uber, could face immediate skepticism from people who question the usefulness of cryptocurrencies and others who are wary of the power already accumulated by the social media company.

The cryptocurrency, called Libra, will also have to overcome concern that Facebook does not effectively protect the private information of its users — a fundamental task for a bank or anyone handling financial transactions.

But if the project, which Facebook hopes to begin next year with 100 partners, should come together, it would be the most far-reaching attempt by a mainstream company to jump into the world of cryptocurrencies, which is best known for speculative investments through digital tokens like Bitcoin and outside-the-law e-commerce, like buying drugs online.

The company has sky-high hopes that Libra could become the foundation for a new financial system not controlled by today’s power brokers on Wall Street or central banks. “It feels like it is time for a better system,” David Marcus, head of Facebook’s blockchain technology research, said in an interview. “This is something that could be a profound change for the entire world.”

Marcus and other Facebook executives conducted press interviews ahead of the unveiling of their project at the historic San Francisco Mint, a nearly 150-year-old building that once housed one-third of the US gold reserve.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, has discussed his fascination with cryptocurrencies in recent years. And over the last few months, he has promised to offer users better privacy on company-owned services like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

But improving the privacy of users will make it harder for Facebook to show them ads tailored to their interests. A virtual financial network, if it should work, would be a way for the company to find new revenue if ad sales should drop.

The payment system would also help Facebook and other American companies compete for financial transactions in developing countries, where WeChat, developed by the Chinese company Tencent, already offers a highly profitable payments system built into its popular messaging product.

Indian-American population up by 38% in 7 yrs, 630,000 undocumented: Report

The increase in illegal Indian-Americans can be attributed to Indian immigrants overstaying visas, the report said.

Business Standard : The populationof Indian-origin people in America grew by 38 per cent in seven years between 2010 and 2017, a South Asian advocacy group has said in its latest demographic report.

There are at least 630,000 Indians who are undocumented, a 72 per cent increase since 2010, the South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) said in its snapshot.

The increase in illegal Indian-Americans can be attributed to Indian immigrants overstaying visas, it said.

Nearly 250,000 Indians overstayed their visa in 2016 therefore becoming undocumented, it said.

In general, the population of American residents tracing their roots to South Asia grew by 40 per cent. In real terms, it increased from 3.5 million in 2010 to 5.4 million in 2017, SAALT said.

The Nepali community grew by 206.6 per cent since 2010, followed by Indian (38 per cent), Bhutanese (38 per cent), Pakistani (33 per cent), Bangladeshi (26 per cent) and Sri Lankan populations (15 per cent).

There are currently at least 4,300 active South Asian Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients. As of August 2018, there are approximately 2,550 active Indian DACA recipients. Only 13 per cent of the overall 20,000 DACA eligible Indians have applied and received DACA.

SAALT said that as far as DACA recipients from other countries are concerned, there are 1,300 from Pakistan, 470 from Bangladesh, 120 from Sri Lanka and 60 from Nepal.

The immigrant population density of the country shows that undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants live in New York (19,000); Michigan (4,000); Virginia (3,000); and California (2,000).

The demographic snapshot is based primarily on Census 2010 and the 2017 American Community Survey.

According to the report, income inequality has been reported to be the greatest among Asian Americans.

Nearly one percent of the approximately five million South Asians in the US live in poverty.