From the Newsroom: AirAsia Group may exit India; CCB arrests R Sampath Raj

In your evening news brief, From the Newsroom, AirAsia Group indicates that it could exit India; Goldman Sachs revises India’s growth forecast; former Bengaluru Mayor R Sampath Raj arrested; Prime Minister Narendra says there was a need to ensure that countries supporting and assisting terrorists are held guilty; World Health Organization praises Uttar Pradesh government for Covid-19 management strategy, and India asserts it is time for a “decisive movement” to achieve the long-delayed reform UN Security Council.

Here is the top news of November 17, 2020:

AirAsia Group Berhad has given its strongest indication to date that it could exit India, saying on Tuesday it was reviewing its investment in a joint venture airline there.

The group said in a statement that its operations in India, like those of its now-shuttered Japan business, have been draining cash and adding to the group's financial stress.

"Cost containment and reducing cash burn remain key priorities evident by the recent closure of AirAsia Japan and an ongoing review of our investment in AirAsia India," it said.

After sharply cutting India’s economic growth forecast to a 14.3% contraction barely two months ago, American Brokerage firm Goldman Sachs Tuesday revised upward it estimates to -10.3% in 2020-21 on the back of announcement of effective vaccines that could allow containment policies and mobility.

It also projected India’s GDP to rebound to a 13% growth in the next financial year (2021-22).

This marks the second such upgrade in India’s growth estimates after Moody’s last week revised upward the GDP forecast.

Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths arrested former Mayor R Sampath Raj, an accused in a case of August 11, DJ Halli and KG Halli riots, on Monday late night. He was on the run for over a month.

Sampath was reportedly arrested from his hideout in Benson Town in North Bengaluru on Monday late night by a team headed by assistant commissioner of police (ATC), CCB, Venugopal. Sandeep Patil, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), confirmed his arrest and said, further details about him would be shared after questioning him.

Asserting that terrorism is the "biggest problem" facing the world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said there was a need to ensure that countries supporting and assisting terrorists are held guilty, in an oblique reference to Pakistan.

Addressing the summit of five-nation grouping BRICS via videoconferencing, the prime minister also said there was a need to tackle the problem of terrorism in an organised manner.

The 12th BRICS summit, hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin, was also attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has praised the Uttar Pradesh government for its Covid-19 management strategy terming it as a good example for other states to follow, an official statement said here on Tuesday.

"The UP government's strategic response to Covid-19 by stepping up contact tracing efforts is exemplary and can serve as a good example for other states," Roderico Ofrin, WHO Country Representative, said in a statement issued by the state government.

A handful of countries are using the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) as a “smoke-screen” and stopping progress on reforming the Security Council, which has become “impaired”, India has said, asserting that it is time for a “decisive movement” to achieve the long-delayed reform of the powerful UN body.

India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador T S Tirumurti, speaking in the UN General Assembly on ‘Question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council’, lamented that nothing has moved for more than a decade in the IGN except hearing passionate statements on the need for reform.

Source: DHNS/ PTI/ Reuters