Newsmakers: Mallya booked under money laundering law, India growth forecast lowered and more

Reform or perish: Arun Jaitley's message to states
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has called upon states to reform to attract investment, saying investors do not like policy paralysis and prefer destinations that offer more favourable business and political environment. "In addition to co-operative federalism, India has also become a competitive federalism. The future would be competitive federalism because it's not Centre-state relation, but it is states and states competing with each other in order to attract investment," he said.

Fitch lowers FY'17 India growth forecast to 7.7%
Fitch Ratings lowered India's economic growth forecast for next fiscal to 7.7 per cent, but maintained the GDP projection for current fiscal at 7.5 per cent. Fitch, in December, forecast an 8 per cent GDP growth in 2016-17 supported by the government's beefed-up capex spending and gradual implementation of a broad-based structural reform agenda.

General Motors hikes prices by up to Rs 51,000
General Motors India on Monday hiked prices of its entire vehicle range by up to Rs 51,000 in order to offset the impact of new levies proposed in the Union Budget 2016-17. "We are undertaking price adjustments on the entire range of Chevrolet vehicles due to increase in cess and additional luxury tax announced in the Union Budget. The amount ranges from Rs 3,500 to Rs 51,000 depending on the model and the variant," General Motors India Vice-President Sales, Hardeep Brar said.

CBDT halves refunds issue timeline to 15 days this fiscal
Concerned over the rising cases of refund-related grievances of the tax-paying public, CBDT on Monday issued fresh directions to the Income Tax Department asking it to process all such cases, pending this fiscal, within 15 days instead of the stipulated 30 days.

Vijay Mallya, others come under Enforcement Directorate radar, booked under money laundering law
In fresh trouble for liquor baron Vijay Mallya , the Enforcement Directorate has registered a money laundering case against him and others in connection with the alleged default of over Rs 900 crore loan from IDBI Bank. Official sources said the agency recently filed charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on an FIR registered last year by CBI in the same case.