Bank of Japan, RBI conclude deal for raising BSA to USD 50 bn
The Bank of Japan (BOJ) and RBI today concluded an agreement that expands the maximum amount of the bilateral swap arrangement (BSA) between the two coutries to USD 50 billion.
The agreement was signed by BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda and RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan and has become effective as of today, the Reserve Bank of India said in a statement.
"With this agreement, the current BSA, effective for 3 years from 2012 to 2015, is expanded from the original size of USD 15 billion," it added.
The BSA aims at addressing possible short-term liquidity difficulties and supplementing the existing international financial arrangements, as one of the efforts in strengthening mutual cooperation between Japan and India.
"This expansion of the BSA will contribute to the stability of global financial markets including emerging economies," the RBI said.
The BSA shall be effective until December 3, 2015.
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NABARD reduces refinance rate for banks
National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development or Nabard has slashed refinance rates by 20-30 basis points to boost farm investment and building warehouses.
"These measures are expected to give a boost to banks for extending investment credit and creation of much-needed warehousing infrastructure for agricultural commodities in the country," Nabard said Thursday.
The agriculture loan refinance bank has took the decision in its first board meeting under new chairman Harsh Kumar Bhanwala, who assumed charge late last month.
Nabard has lowered the rates by 20 bps to 9.70% per annum for a five-year loan and to 9.90% for a three-to-five loan. Commercial banks including regional rural banks, state cooperative banks and primary urban cooperative banks will benefit from this move which comes on effect from January 7.
Further, banks drawing refinance of Rs 500 crore and more in a single transaction will get an additional 10 bps reduction, making the effective rate 9.60% and 9.80% respectively for five years and three-to-five years. State cooperative agriculture and rural development banks will get this 10 bps additional benefit for minimum Rs 200 crore refinance in single tranche.
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LIC launches new Jeevan Anand plan
LIC has re-launched its “Jeevan Anand” plan, a participating non-linked plan which offers an attractive combination of protection and savings.
This product provides financial protection against death throughout the lifetime of the policyholder with a special feature wherein it offers cover for whole life even after payment of maturity amount.
The policy can be taken from age 18 years to 50 years with age of policyholder on policy maturity age not exceeding 75 years. The policyholder can choose policy term from minimum 15 years to maximum of 35 years. The minimum sum assured is Rs 1 lakh and in multiples of Rs 5,000.
The policy matures at the end of the chosen policy term and the surviving policyholder will get Basic Sum Assured along with Vested Simple Reversionary Bonus and Final Additional Bonus.
The sum assured on death during the term of the policy will be higher of 125 per cent of Basic Sum Assured or 10 times of annualised premium.
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Give a missed call to know your bank balance
It is quite common for some to give a missed call to their friends so that the other person calls him/her back.
What if your bank allows such a facility? Not for transaction. It is only for enquiring about the balance in your account.
Syndicate Bank has introduced such a facility for its customers.
In an informal chat with Business Line, on the sidelines of the inauguration of the office of the Field General Manager of the bank at Manipal on Friday, T.K. Srivastava, Executive Director, said that the bank launched the facility of missed-call to its customers a month ago.
After giving a missed call to a dedicated number, the customer will get his/her balance amount in the account as an SMS, he said. The customer will not be charged for the facility.
To a query on the reason for starting this service, Srivastava said a majority of the calls to the call centres are made to know the balance amount. Sometimes the call is put on hold for a few minutes. This leads to waste of money and time of the customer.
Considering this, the bank came up with the idea of introducing the missed-call service, he said adding that the customers will have to follow the procedures related to SMS banking
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Another former SC judge faces sexual harassment charge
After the Justice A.K. Ganguly episode, yet another law intern has alleged sexual harassment at the hands of another former Supreme Court judge in 2011.
According to highly placed sources, the law intern had, in fact, sent a complaint to Chief Justice of India P. Sathasivam in November last, bringing the incident to his notice and requesting action against the judge concerned.
At that time, as a three-member Supreme Court panel was enquiring into the allegations levelled against Justice Ganguly, this complaint was not considered.
Later, the CJI reportedly informed the intern that he could not do anything in view of the Full Court decision on December 5 not to entertain any more complaints against retired judges. She was asked to ‘take appropriate action under law’ and, accordingly, the intern is likely to file a writ petition, the sources added.
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Nilekani ready to contest LS polls on Congress ticket
The Congress is likely to field Nilekani from Bangalore South, a middle-class centric constituency, known for its antipathy towards Congress since the late 1970s, from where BJP General Secretary Ananth Kumar has won five times
The third-seeded Isner, playing with an right ankle injury he picked up at the Hopman Cup the previous week, took a crucial minibreak to open the first set tiebreaker. In the second tiebreaker, he rallied from 3-0 down and closed with an ace on his third championship point.
A newly built railway platform here has entered into the record books as the longest railway platform in the world, according to the Railways.
General Manager North Eastern Railways (NER) K.K. Atal unveiled the certificate given by the Limca Book of Records to Platform No. 1 of the railway station at a press conference here on Friday.
According to the certificate, the length of the platform is 1,355.40 metre. It was inaugurated on October 6 last year.
Till now, the record was held by the railway platform at Kharagpur in West Bengal. The platform is 1,072.5 metre long.
Mr. Atal said while the average passenger traffic has declined in other Railway zones, NER has registered an increase of 0.57 per cent during the current fiscal year.
More than Rs. 1,200-crore revenue has been earned from passenger traffic up to December last year, he said.
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Nirbheek, India's first gun for women, launched
Priced at Rs 1,22,360, Nirbheek was launched on January 6 and has already received around 80 formal enquiries and over 20 bookings. "At least 80% bookings are from women licensees," says Abdul Hameed, general manager of IOF. Described by arms experts as an Indian hybrid of a Webley & Scott and Smith & Wesson, for its simple mechanism and light frame, it is the smallest revolver made in India — an ideal to fit a purse or a small hand bag.
In a state where government offers arms licences as incentive to achieve wheat procurement and immunization targets, it is not surprising that a total of 11,22,814 persons have licensed arms as per the state home department records. This is over four times the count of firearms available with the Uttar Pradesh Police (2.5 lakh). Hence a ready market already seems in place for Nirbheek.
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Ali Larayedh, the Prime Minister of Tunisia resigned
Ali Larayedh, the Prime Minister of Tunisia resigned from his office on 9 January 2014. With his resignation, the country will be led by the caretaker Government of technocrats led by led by new Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa.
He resigned following a deal between the Islamist Ennahda Party of Ali Larayedh and the secular opposition for a transition to the democracy in the country. It’s likely that the name of Mehdi Jomaa will be announced by the President of Tunisia for appointment. Tunisia as a country has been the birthplace of the Arab Spring and its transition to democracy.
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