Top headlines: Mumbai realtors run out of land, Neeraj Chopra is brand icon

Business Standard brings you top headlines this morning

India is considering changes to its proposed e-commerce rules, seeking to give clarity to companies on business terms.  Neeraj Chopra, India's only gold medal winner at the Tokyo Olympics, is set to see his brand endorsement value shoot up.

New licensing regime for urban co-operative banks in the pipeline

A brand new licensing regime for urban co-operative banks (UCBs) is on the cards for financially sound and well-managed co-operative credit societies. This comes 17 years after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stopped issuing them, with the number of UCBs now at 1,539, down from 1,926 in 2003-04.

A rethink on constituting a board of management (BoM) for UCBs with deposits of over Rs 100 crore is also in the works, along with the framing of modalities for a national umbrella organisation. (Read more)

Oberoi to Hiranandani, top Mumbai realtors turn to building redevelopment

Leading property developers, such as Oberoi Realty, Tata Realty and Infrastructure, and Hiranandani, have turned to redevelopment of existing buildings in the expensive parts of Mumbai as a way of augmenting revenue. Experts estimate that Mumbai’s redevelopment projects could be worth Rs 30,000 crore. As such, they are not new.

What is new is that the big developers are interested in them. Leading the race is Oberoi Realty, which has set up a separate team for these projects. (Read more)

A brand called Neeraj Chopra, India's new sporting superstar

According to brand experts, Chopra has vaulted himself into the elite club of Indian athletes whose brand values can rake in endorsements by the dozens. They add that the man with the golden arm could even surpass some, if not all, top cricketers — the demigods who stand well above athletes from other disciplines in India. (Read more)

DoT likely to set up a panel for telco financial relief package

The Department of Telecom­munications (DoT) may appoint an external consultant or set up a panel to finalise financial relief to the sector.

It is learnt that the department is likely to consult an external agency for the revival package that is expected to provide relief to the sector besides being a lifeline for Vodafone Idea. At the time of bringing the revival package for state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam, the Centre had sought remarks from the likes of IIM Ahmedabad and Deloitte. (Read more)

Centre mulls changes in draft e-commerce rules, give clarity on flash sales

The Centre is considering changes to the consumer protection rules on e-commerce that may include redrafting related party sales and clarity on flash sales, after consultation with industry and e-commerce players.

Government officials said the revised rules will be notified soon, and will clear ambiguities on the proposed amendment that are aimed at further tightening the regulatory regime of the e-commerce space in India. (Read more)

6) Retrospective tax: India eyes entry into global bond indices in a year

Central government officials are now hopeful the erasure of retrospective tax law will allow entry into the global bond indices within this calendar year. An entry into some of these indices is expected to generate an additional $20 billion of foreign investment into the economy.

The government also hopes to clear one more tax issue, that of withholding tax on investments, for which the announcement is to be made soon. For the last two years, the government of India is attempting to list its sovereign debt papers in some of the global bond indices.  (Read more)

7) India's high antibody count may mean a less severe Covid-19 third wave

India’s high seroprevalence of over 67 per cent suggests that a significant part of the population has Covid antibodies but the government is being cautious about making any herd immunity claims. (Sero­pre­valence is the percentage of individuals in a population who have antibodies to a pathogen; and herd immunity is when a large portion of a population becomes immune to a disease, making its spread from person to person unlikely.) While some experts believe that a large part of India is still vulnerable to the virus that could trigger a third wave. (Read more)

8) Census operations set to resume soon, to avoid caste calculations

Census operations, aborted due to Covid, are set to resume soon. In a huge rush of orders, the ministry of home affairs has filled in the vacant positions of director of Census operations in states over the last week.

The states covered include large ones like Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh as well as smaller states and union territories like Mizoram and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, among others. Corresponding vacancies in the headquarters of the ministry have also got filled up. (Read more)

9) Minimum one-way Delhi-London airfare zooms over Rs 1 lakh, DGCA data shows

As per the data compiled by the DGCA on Sunday, minimum one way airfares from Delhi to London are priced from Rs 1,03,191-1,47,544 in August. Tickets were available only on four days on British Airways website for month of August, it shows. (Read more)

10) Tokyo Olympics: From 3DAT to robots, the Games that went high-tech

A breathtaking drone light show by Olympic Partner Intel was one of the highlights of the Opening Ceremony, as Tokyo 2020 came to life. Following the traditional parade that saw the participating athletes march into Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium on July 23, a fleet of 1,824 Intel Premium drones took to the sky above the venue and formed a complex set of geometrical shapes before transitioning into the blue-and-white chequered emblem of Tokyo 2020. (Read more)