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The government is looking into cases of alleged tax evasion by three mobile companies of China and notices have been given to them, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

Replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour, the minister said the three companies are Oppo, Vivo India and Xiaomi.

The Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has issued a notice to mobile company Oppo for total customs duty of Rs 4,389 crore and these are on the grounds of mis-declaration of certain goods leading to a short payment in customs duty, she said, adding, "duty evasion we think is about Rs 2,981 crore".

"Undervaluation of imported goods for the purpose of payment of customs duty, that we think is an evasion of Rs 1,408 crore," she said.

She said voluntarily they have come about to deposit Rs 450 crore, much against the demand of Rs 4,389 crore. Regarding the other companies, she said Xiaomi is another mobile company which deals with assembled MI mobile phones.

"Three show-cause notices have been issued to them and the approximate duty liability there is about Rs 653 crore.For the three show cause notices, they have been issued, they have deposited only Rs 46 lakh," the minister said.

The third company is Vivo India, for whom also there is a demand notice issued for Rs 2,217 crore for which they have deposited Rs 60 crore as voluntary deposit, she informed the House.

"Besides these, the ED is looking at 18 companies that were established by the same group Vivo and there they have voluntarily remitted Rs 62 crore as deposit but the parent company outside of India has the total sales of 1.25 lakh crore.

"Of the Rs 1.25 lakh crore total sales, Vivo has transferred through these 18 companies huge amounts of funds and it is believed that Vivo India has, in turn, remitted 0.62 lakh crore to its parent company which is outside India," Sitharaman said.

The insurance regulator has stiffened the anti-money laundering rules as part of consolidation of the guidelines for the sector.

The rules issued to consolidate and update guidelines on anti-money laundering replaces the assorted norms issued since 2013. The key change is that exemptions and relaxations from the guidelines for companies have been done away with. So no life, general, or health insurer can claim any relaxations to comply with the money-laundering rules, as set out by the Reserve Bank of India.

Also, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority has made the level of risk assessment a function of the size of the business of the companies. So the “periodicity of conducting anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism programme review and compliance audit and risk assessment (shall) not be fixed but based on risk exposure by the insurer”.

The guidelines come as the regulator is preparing the ground for a larger exposure of foreign companies and a wider range of domestic financial sector companies to enter the sector. Globally, all regulators are upping the ante on these risks.

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Although the recent spate of high-frequency data has raised hopes of a sustained economic recovery, experts see Asia’s third-largest economy facing headwinds from a slowing global growth and monetary tightening by its central bank.

India's manufacturing activity remains robust with the S&P Global Purchasing Managers' Index hitting an eight-month high of 56.4 percent in July, indicating that price pressure has started to cool off.

This was supported by other fundamentals recorded in July. The month saw passenger car sales jumping 16 percent, while goods and services tax revenue spiked to its second highest level of Rs 1.49 lakh crore. Eight core industries continued to average 12.7 percent in June.

While the domestic demand recovery that will ensure that growth remains reasonably robust, there are several countervailing risks going ahead, economists pointed out.

Fears of a crisis worsened with the Indian currency being battered in recent weeks amid the global risk-off, slipping below the key psychological level of 80 to a dollar. Since India runs a perennial trade deficit, this also adds to the inflationary pressure in the economy.

By Kevin Buckland

TOKYO (Reuters) - The dollar hung near a three-week low to major peers on Monday as markets continued to wager that the Federal Reserve has less tightening to do with the U.S. economy at risk of recession.

The dollar index, which measures the currency against six counterparts, edged 0.1% lower to 105.89, slipping back toward Friday's low of 105.53, a level not seen since July 5.

Data at the end of last week tossed the greenback in both directions, rising initially after the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index showed the fastest inflation since 2005, only to sink after the final University of Michigan report - closely watched by Fed policymakers - showed slipping consumer inflation expectations.

The big economic focus for this week will be the monthly U.S. jobs report on Friday.

Traders currently price about 31% probability that the Fed will keep its current 75 basis-point pace of rate hikes at its next meeting on Sept. 21, with 69% odds for a smaller half point increase.

"Markets look to be betting the Fed has done the lion's share of its task on inflation and will be receptive to slowing activity data," Taylor Nugent, a markets economist at NAB in Sydney, wrote in a client note.

The dollar slipped 0.22% to 132.925 yen, heading back toward the six-week low of 132.505 reached on Friday.

The currency pair is extremely sensitive to changes in U.S. long-term Treasury yields, with the benchmark 10-year hovering around 2.67% after sliding to the lowest since early April at 2.618% at the end of last week.

The euro, however, edged 0.07% lower to $1.0218, continuing its consolidation near the middle of its range over the past week and a half.

Sterling was about flat at $1.2186, after hitting the highest since June 28 at $1.2245 on Friday. Markets are laying 67% odds for a half-point rate hike on Thursday, compared to 33% probability of a quarter-point increase.

The Reserve Bank of Australia sets policy on Tuesday, and is expected to deliver another half point increase, with traders seeing just a 16% chance of a smaller quarter point tightening.

The Aussie dollar slipped 0.19% to $0.69775 on Monday, but after touching a six-week high of $0.7032 in the previous session.

"Should the market continue to hear what it wants from the Fed, the Aussie can readily spend more time above $0.70," NAB's Nugent said.

"But $0.65-0.70 is still seen containing most of the price action in coming months."

Insignia Ventures Partners has raised $516 million for its latest funds as the Southeast Asia-focused early stage tech venture fund doubles down on the region's digital economy.

"We could have raised a much higher amount but we have learned that smaller, tighter funds do better," Insignia's founding managing partner Yinglan Tan said in a statement on Monday.

The fundraising includes $388 million for Insignia's third fund, $28 million for an entrepreneurs' pool that invests alongside the main fund and an Annex Fund I at $100 million, said the five-year-old firm that has backed more than 70 companies.

Venture capital firms have been ramping up investments in Southeast Asia as rising consumer adoption of digital platforms since the COVID-19 pandemic fuels startups across many sectors.

Insignia said investors for its third fund, which was oversubscribed, included sovereign wealth funds, university endowments and family offices from Asia, Europe and North America.

"We see a once-in-a-decade opportunity to capture outlier returns, as the winners become very obvious when the tide goes out," said Tan, referring to the weak market environment.

Like global peers, Southeast Asian tech firms have seen sharp declines in their share prices from late last year as investors baulk at higher valuations and slowing economies.

Insignia's portfolio companies include Southeast Asian car marketplace Carro, Indonesia's biggest tech firm GoTo, and Indonesian digital investment platform Ajaib.

India collected Rs 1.49 lakh crore as Goods and Services  Tax (GST) in July, posting an increase of 28 percent from the same month last year, the finance ministry said on August 1.

Compared to the money collected in June, the July GST mop-up was 3 percent higher.

"For five months in a row now, the monthly GST revenues have been more than Rs 1.4 lakh core, showing a steady increase every month," the finance ministry said in a statement.

Of the total GST collections, Central GST was Rs 25,751 crore, while State GST was Rs 32,807 crore. Integrated GST was Rs 79,518 crore and cess was Rs 10,920 crore.

The government settled Rs 32,365 crore to Central GST and Rs 26,774 crore to State GST from Integrated GST. As such, post settlement, the total revenue of the Centre and the States in July was Rs 58,116 crore and Rs 59,581 crore, respectively.

On the fourth day of the ongoing spectrum auction, the government earned an incremental revenue of Rs 232 crore. The bidding continues as telcos are engaged in a race for spectrum in the 1800 MHz band in just one circle: Uttar Pradesh (East). The 1800 MHz band is meant mostly for 4G services.

After 23 bidding rounds, with seven on Friday, the government’s total revenue from the auction has touched Rs 149,855 crore. The bidding will resume on Saturday.

The price of the spectrum increased by more than 44.8 per cent over the base price of Rs 18.65 crore per block (each block of 0.2 MHz). And the demand continued to be in excess of supply, like it was on Thursday, with telcos collectively bidding for 75 blocks while the availability remains at 54.

While the government was able to rustle up a final bid amount of Rs 145,000 crore on day one in four rounds, it added only Rs 4,855 crore in the next three days after additional 19 rounds. In the last two days, the revenue has gone up by just Rs 401 crore.

ALSO READ: Has the 5G auction been a success?

Analysts say that the war will end if one of the players blinks. The telcos have made a total demand for 15 MHz of spectrum. This is much more than what is available (10.8 MHz). The excess demand is for 4.2 MHz, based on the numbers.

With 16 MHz of spectrum in 1800 MHz band in the UP (East) circle, Bharti Airtel is clearly looking to hit the 20 MHz mark, say analysts. They point out that Reliance Jio, with 10 MHz, might be wanting to double its spectrum. Even Vodafone Idea, with 10 MHz, may be in the race for the same in this circle.

Despite the auction hitting the fifth day, the price of the 1800 band in UP (East) at Rs 135.09 crore per MHz is still cheaper than the reserve price in the 2021 auction, experts explain. It was at Rs 153 crore a MHz then. So there may be a lot of action still left.

From the operators’ perspective, UP (East) for Bharti accounts for a substantial 10.2 per cent of its total subscriber market share. Bharti is ahead of Reliance Jio in the circle. However, it accounts for 7.6 per cent of Bharti’s overall revenue share. In the case of Jio, which is number two in the circle, it accounts for 8 per cent of its overall subscriber base and 7.19 per cent share of its revenues. For Vodafone Idea, however, it accounts for 7.82 per cent of its overall subscriber base but only 4 per cent of its overall revenues.

Except in UP (East), the base price in these auctions is equivalent to the market price, prompting industry stakeholders and analysts to point at a ‘’faulty’’ structure. This is mainly due to the steep base price

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 16 urged the judiciary to speed up the release of undertrials languishing in various jails awaiting legal aid. Addressing the first All India District Legal Services Authorities Meet here, he also said that ease of justice was as important as ease of doing business and ease of living.

"There are several undertrials in jails awaiting legal aid. Our District Legal Services Authorities can take up the responsibility of providing legal assistance to undertrials," the prime minister said.

Modi urged district judges attending the conference to speed up the release of undertrials using their offices as chairpersons of district-level undertrial review committees.