The Delhi Assembly will today take up the motion of confidence moved by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a show of strength amid allegations by his party that the BJP was trying to “poach” AAP MLAs.

Arvind Kejriwal, also the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Chief, is likely to appear before a Delhi court today and explain why he had skipped the five earlier summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the liquor policy case.

Mr Kejriwal’s move also comes ahead of the ED’s sixth summons to appear before it on February 19.

Moving the vote of confidence motion in the Assembly yesterday, Mr Kejriwal said two AAP MLAs told him that they were approached by members of the BJP who claimed that the Delhi chief minister would be arrested soon.

“The MLAs were told that 21 AAP legislators have agreed to leave the party and more are in touch with the BJP. They offered the MLAs Rs 25 crore to join the BJP. The MLAs told me they did not accept. When we spoke to other MLAs, we found that they had not contacted 21, but seven. They were trying to carry out another Operation Lotus,” Mr Kejriwal said.

“I want to show that none of our MLAs defected, and all remain steadfastly aligned with us,” he said.

This is the second time when the Arvind Kejriwal government has sought a trust vote. The Aam Aadmi Party has 62 MLAs in the 70-member Assembly and the BJP has eight.

The court had last week summoned Mr Kejriwal to appear before it today, noting that the AAP chief was “legally bound” to comply.

In its complaint, the ED has alleged that the Delhi chief minister intentionally did not want to obey the summons and kept on giving “lame excuses”. If a high-ranking public functionary like him disobeyed the law, it would “set a wrong example for the common man i.e. the Aam Aadmi,” the agency said.

The AAP chief has skipped five summons so far and he and his party have repeatedly claimed that the summonses were illegal and the agency’s only aim is to arrest him.

Ever since the first summons was issued by the Enforcement Directorate, there has been intense speculation that the Delhi chief minister would be arrested by the agency after his questioning.

With three of its leaders — Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and Satyendra Jain — behind the bars, AAP has long been anticipating the eventuality and has discussed the possible courses of action. They even want Mr Kejriwal to remain the Chief Minister and do his job from jail.

The CBI contends that liquor companies were involved in framing the excise policy, which would have brought them a 12 per cent profit. A liquor lobby it dubbed the “South Group” had paid kickbacks, part of which was routed to public servants. The Enforcement Directorate alleged laundering of the kickbacks.

The BJP has alleged that the proceeds of the alleged scam were used by the AAP to fund its large-scale campaign in Gujarat, in which it got a 12.91 per cent votes and established itself as a national party.

Paytm Payments Bank has received a small breather with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) giving the company an extension to wind down its operations. The RBI had asked Paytm Payments Bank to shut its operations by February 29 after persistent non-compliance with regulations and an ongoing money laundering probe into overseas transactions on the platform. The deadline has now been extended to March 15 giving the struggling fintech pioneer more time to forge new partnerships to keep running its business as smoothly as possible.

The move also helps the bank’s customers who have been asked to “make alternative arrangements with another bank” before March 15, RBI said in a statement on Friday.

The parent company, Paytm, has taken several measures, including shifting its account to a new bank to ensure seamless merchant settlements. The company has assured customers that Paytm QR codes, soundboxes, and card machines will continue to function even beyond March 15.

For existing Paytm Payments Bank customers, here’s a breakdown of how the latest move by RBI will impact various aspects of their banking experience:

Bank Accounts With Paytm Payments Bank

Customers can continue to use, withdraw, or transfer funds from their accounts until the available balance.
No fresh deposits will be accepted after March 15, 2024, except for interest, cashbacks, sweep-ins from partner banks, or refunds.
Customers cannot transfer money into their Paytm Payments Bank account through UPI/IMPS after March 15, but withdrawals are allowed.
Salary credits will not be accepted after the deadline, and the RBI has advised customers to make alternative arrangements with another bank by mid-March.
After March 15, 2024, users will not receive subsidies or direct benefit transfers in their Paytm Payments Bank account.

Bill Payments, Wallet And Other Services

Automatic bill payments will continue until the existing balance in the account runs out, but no further credits or deposits will be allowed after March 15.
Customers can continue using, withdrawing, or transferring funds from the wallet until the available balance. No top-ups or transfers will be allowed into the wallet after March 15, 2024.
Existing FASTags can be used to pay tolls using the balance already in the account, but no top-ups will be allowed after March 15.
Merchants linked to accounts other than Paytm Payments Bank can continue using the existing setup. However, those linked to Paytm Payments Bank for payments can only receive refunds, cashbacks, sweep-ins, or interest after March 15.

The clampdown on Paytm Payments Bank came after authorities found hundreds of accounts on the platform which had been created without proper identification. These accounts with inadequate Know-Your-Customer (KYC) conducted transactions worth crores of rupees on the platform, prompting a money laundering probe.

More than 1,000 users were found to have linked the same Permanent Account Number (PAN) to their accounts. The compliance submitted by the bank was found to be incorrect during verification processes conducted by both the RBI and auditors.

Two of the world’s leading economies – Japan and the UK – recently entered into recession, highlighting the financial struggles that countries have been facing after the Covid pandemic.

Britain recently revealed a 0.3 percent contraction in the fourth quarter of 2023 and has officially entered a recession. This economic setback poses a formidable challenge for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose Conservative party faces the prospect of a general election later this year.

Simultaneously, Japan, once poised to become the world’s largest economy, has also been struggling to recover after the Covid pandemic which crippled the country’s finances. Japan has now slipped to the fourth position below Germany in the list of the world’s largest economy.

Germany is already grappling with challenges in its export-dependent manufacturing sector and faces headwinds from soaring energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Moreover, the European Central Bank’s decision to raise interest rates and uncertainties surrounding the budget, coupled with a chronic shortage of skilled labor, further hamper Germany’s economic growth.

The spotlight has now turned on India, which has emerged as a beacon of opportunity for investors. Projections from the International Monetary Fund suggest that India is poised to overtake both Japan and Germany in terms of economic output, with estimates placing the shift in 2026 and 2027, respectively.

India remains the fastest-growing large economy and its growth is projected to reach 6.2 per cent in 2024, according to the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2024 report.

India is currently the world’s fifth-largest economy, placed behind the US, China, Japan and Germany.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the US in 2023 was $27.94 trillion, while China’s was $17.5 trillion. India’s GDP is about $3.7 trillion but growing at a sizzling rate of around 7%.

India is benefiting from growing interest from multinationals, which see the country as a key alternative manufacturing base in the context of developed economies’ supply chain diversification strategies.

The gap between developed countries and emerging nations is shrinking, with India now all set to capitalise on the opportunity to become a significant player in the global economic landscape. The shifting dynamics present a moment for India to assert its influence and contribute substantially to global growth in the coming years.