New Delhi: Its close to a year since the implementation of GST, and a significant percentage of the country's chief financial officers believe that it had a positive impact on the overall business climate, says a Deloitte survey.

According to Deloitte India's annual CFO Survey, 77 percent CFOs believe that GST has had a positive impact on the overall business.

Moreover, 57 percent of CFOs are now willing to take greater business risks, as the next couple of years are expected to be a period of consolidating gains from recent reforms.

"Introduction of GST necessitated a relook at the existing business models by CFOs. It had far-reaching implications on business functions, where the impact was on taxation, finance, legal, IT systems and supply chain. Overall, GST's value proposition has been appreciated by CFOs," said Porus Doctor, Partner, Deloitte India.

New Delhi: Powerdistribution company BYPL has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Business Finland, a Finnishgovernment agency, for collaborative activities in different areas, including energy efficiency and electric vehicles. 

The agreement was signed last week by BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL) chief executive officer PR Kumar and Jukka Holappa, commercial councilor and head 'Business Finland' India, at the Embassy of Finland here, said a BYPL spokesperson. 

The three year MoU on 'cooperation in the power distribution sector' will encompass joint studies, pilot projects, knowledge-sharing and consultancy, research projects for inducting future and emerging technologies at the distribution utility level. 

India ended their campaign at the Archery World Cup in Salt Lake with one gold, one silver and one bronze after Deepika Kumari defeated Germany's Michelle Kroppen 7-3 in the women's recurve individual final on Sunday. India had earlier won two medals on Saturday as Abhishek Verma continued his rich vein of form this year by winning a silver in the compound men's individual event. He also won a bronze in the compound mixed team event with Jyothi Surekha Vennam.]

This was the experienced Kumari's first gold at the World Cup after a gap of six years. With this win, she further qualified for the circuit Final -- her seventh appearance in the same, to be held later this year. She has won four World Cup Final silvers in the past (2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015).

"Finally! That's what I said when I won this gold medal", Deepika said.

China's central bank said on Sunday it would cut the amount of cash that some banks must hold as reserves by 50 basis points (bps), releasing $108 billion in liquidity, to accelerate the pace of debt-for-equity swaps and spur lending to smaller firms.

The reserve reduction, the third by the central bank this year, had been widely anticipated by investors amid concerns over market liquidity and a potential economic drag from a trade dispute with the United States.But the 700 billion yuan ($107.65 billion) in liquidity that the central bank said will result from the reduction in reserves was bigger than expected. Expectations of a cut had risen after the State Council, or cabinet, said on Wednesday monetary policy tools including targeted cuts in banks' reserve requirement ratios will be deployed to strengthen credit flows to small firms and keep economic growth in a reasonable range.

NEW DELHI: Indian swimmer Sandeep Sejwal put up an impressive performance to clinch the gold medal in men's 50m breaststroke event at the Singapore National Swimming Championships in Singapore on Saturday.

Besides, Virdhawal Khadegrabbed a creditable silver medal in the 50m freestyle event with a timing of 22.68 seconds even as compatriot Aaron Agnel Dsouza crashed out in the semifinals.

Competing against a host of international swimmers, Sandeep broke the Singapore meet record with a timing of 27:59 seconds to win the gold. He bettered his own time of 27.68 seconds in the semi-final by 0.09 seconds.

R Praggnanandhaa has become India’s youngest and world’s second youngest Grandmaster after he made it to final round of the Gredine Open in Italy. All of 12 years and 10 months old, Praggnanandhaa is being showered with heaps of praises, if just a cursory glance through the Internet is all to go by. He beat Moroni Luca Jr in the eighth round and was then paired with GM Prujjsers Roeland, leading him on to make the third norm.

While Praggnanandhaa became the second youngest Grandmaster of the world of all time, the fourth spot in youngest Grandmasters too, is held by an Indian — Parimarjan Negi, at the age of 13 years and 4 months.

Indian hockey team registered their second consecutive win of the Champions Trophy as they defeated Olympic champions Argentina 2-1. India sit at the top of the table.

Goals from Harmanpreet Singh and Mandeep Singh guided sixth-ranked India to a comfortable victory.

India had thrashed arch-rivals Pakistan 4-0 in their inaugural match.

Harmanpreet Singh opened the scoring for India as he found the back of the net from a penalty corner in the 17th minute.

India did not have to wait long to double the lead. In the 28th minute, Mandeep Singh scored as he doubled India's advantage.

This was Mandeep's second goal of the Champions Trophy in two matches.

On its website dedicated to the Day, the United Nations calls the abuse of widows and their children “one of the most serious violations of human rights and obstacles to development today.”

“We must consider both the vital role widows play in our society, the ways in which gender inequality impacts their ability to thrive on their own, and the specific recognition and attention that they need from all of us,” underscored Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women in her message for the Day.

Across a wide range of countries, religions and ethnic groups, when a woman’s husband dies, she is left destitute – often illiterate or uneducated with no access to credit or other economic resources – rendering her unable to support herself or her family, according to the UN.

According to UN Women’s 2018 Turning Promises into Action: Gender Equality in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, nearly one-in-ten of the estimated 258 million widows globally live in extreme poverty – with little or no input to policies impacting their survival.

“When widows with young children lose property, income and other assets—especially in the absence of support for unpaid care work—they may be forced to take their daughters out of school to work or help take care of siblings and housework,” continued Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“This is how gender inequality perpetuates itself, continuing the cycle of disadvantage for girls and women for decades to come,” she added.