THE MERCURIAN TIMES

RELIANCE COMMUNICATIONS CHARGED WITH PENALTY The Supreme Court reserved its verdict on the contempt plea filed by Ericsson India against Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom) Chairman Anil Ambani and two others for non-clearance of dues to the tune of Rs 550 crore on Wednesday. A bench comprising Justices RF Nariman and Vineet Saran said that they were reserving its verdict. Ericsson India, which had signed a seven-year deal in 2014 to operate and manage RCom's nationwide telecom network, had alleged that it had not been paid the dues of over 1,500 crore and challenged the debt-ridden firm before National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). The Supreme Court held Reliance Communications (RCom) chairman Anil Ambani in contempt for not paying Ericsson’s dues worth Rs 550 crore despite having the money to do so, threatening to send the businessman to jail for three months if he didn’t cough up what was owed in four weeks. The stock tumbled after the decision. The...

A BIG ROADBLOCK FOR THE E-COMMERCE GIANTS, HOMEGROWN FIRMS GO FULL THROTTLE The amended guidelines on Foreign Direct Investment in the e-commerce sector have made India a difficult place to do business for the foreign industry giants. On December 26, 2018, the central government announced two major policy changes- There cannot be any equity participation by the marketplace or its group companies in a vendor The inventory of a vendor cannot be controlled by the marketplace. That is to say, that more than 25% of the vendor’s purchases cannot be by the marketplace entity. These new FDI rules have been implemented on 1 st February 2019. They have led to a widespread disruption in the online market. They negatively impact the exclusive deals, discounts and cash backs offered by the global competitors. USISPF president says, “Such policies are regressive in nature. They ultimately harm the consumers, who are kings in the retail market.” The new rules threaten huge investments made b...

WHEN YOU LOOK IN THE MIRROR  When you look in the mirror, what do you see? The person that you truly are, or the person that others want you to be? Do you see the fire in your eyes, or has the society dulled your spark? Has your thinking made a change in the world, or has the world made a change in your thinking? When you look in the mirror, you should see the strong, talented and remarkable person you are. Recall all those times when you thought you couldn’t go further, you thought you had no choice, yet here you are today. Remember the beaming smile you gave yourself that day when you got your favourite gift, or scored well in an exam, or any of the other things that made you happy. Or when, without any reason, you just sat in front of your mirror, thinking, observing. All these times, you were truly yourself. No one was influencing your thoughts, your decisions. And these are the times that should be cherished. We live in a society where everyone hides behind a fak...

La Vie There’s a void in my heart An emptiness that grows within me A pain which rips every inch of my body Layer by layer, Slowly and painfully. An absence of something in me,  Which I don’t know how to set free. For that’s all I could see I no longer craved love and affection, For I understood that with love, pain is complementary. Pain which destroys everything when it explodes, For which there is no medicine to cure. But such is life,as they say, A bittersweet symphony We laugh, We cry We love We survive, Such are the rules of the game We call life. -Aarushi

THE INTERIM UNION BUDGET The Interim Union Budget of 2019,which was a Revolutionary Budget in itself, was released on 1st February'19  and became  the first Interim budget that is presented by an Interim Finance Minister.  With it, it brought a gift to million of taxpayers in India and gave a promise of a brighter future to the younger generations.   With the basic exemption limit being raised to Rs 5 Lakhs from Rs 2.5 Lakhs,it gave a huge sigh of relief to a number of Middle Class Taxpayers.  The salaried employees also got an additional benefit of Rs 10,000 as the standard deduction got increased to Rs 50,000 from Rs 40,000. Besides, gratuity limit is increased from  Rs 10L to  Rs 30 L. Several Reforms in TDS and GST have also been suggested. It can be said that the budget has made sure that all categories of people get benefit from it in some way or the other. "We are poised to become a 5 trillion dollar economy in the next ...