RBI included Hong Kong and Macau in the sensitive list
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has included Hong Kong and Macau in the sensitive list of countries — along with Pakistan and China — that will require its prior approval to set up business or related activities in India.
“Accordingly, applications from entities registered in or resident of Hong Kong and Macau, for establishment of liaison, branch, project offices or any other place of business by whatever name called should require prior approval from RBI,” the central bank said. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Iran and China are already in the sensitive list which means entities and residents of these countries will need prior RBI permission to establish a branch office or a liaison office or a project office in India.
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BMB ties up with SBI Cards
Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) and SBI Cards have joined hands for roll-out of credit cards to customers of India’s first women-focused commercial bank. This will be the first instance of a public sector bank promoting a white-label credit card issued by SBI Cards. Under this arrangement, SBI Cards will issue and process the credit cards as white-label cards, allowing BMB to brand the cards as their own without having to invest in infrastructure. A white-label card does not carry the brand of the issuer (SBI Cards) on its face. It will only in this case carry the brand of BMB. The agreement was signed by Usha Ananthasubramanian, Chairman and Managing Director, BMB, and Pallav Mohapatra, CEO, SBI Cards, here on Thursday. “We will look to cross-sell the credit cards to our customers and build volumes.
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NSE to open bond future counter from January 21
NSE will launch bond futures on 10-year Government bond with a coupon of 8.83 per cent on January 21.
One lot of these bond futures would mean a notional principal amount of Rs 2 lakh or 2,000 bonds of face value Rs 100 each.
The quotes for the instrument would be price-based, similar to a G-Sec quote with the value of one contract equalling price multiplied by 2,000. Three serial monthly contracts would be traded with the near-term contract expiring on the last Thursday of every month.
The base price would initially be decided theoretically and on subsequent days it would equal the contract’s daily settlement price.
3% operating range
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MFe vie to tap economic growth in Europe
As Europe steps out of a prolonged recession, mutual fund houses have begun launching schemes to tap the investment opportunity in that developed market.
JP Morgan Asset Management will open subscription for the Europe Dynamic Equity Offshore Fund on Friday. The fund-of-funds scheme will invest predominantly in the JP Morgan Funds – Europe Dynamic Fund, an equity fund which invests primarily in an aggressively-managed portfolio of European companies. The fund will be benchmarked against the MSCI Europe Index.
The MSCI Europe Index, which captures large- and mid-cap representation across 15 developed markets in Europe, gave out a return of 15.7 per cent in the last one year. Ccompanies such as Nestle, HSBC Holdings, Roche, Vodafone and Novartis are part of the index.
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Arunachal Pradesh witnessed the first trial run of rail engine
Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday witnessed the first trial run of a rail engine as it rolled into the State capital from Harmutty in Assam’s North Lakhimpur district.
The railway line project, started in October 2008, was scheduled to be completed in November 2012, official sources said. The delay was attributed to existence of five high tension power poles along the tracks and forest clearance at Gumto area that was obtained only on January 8, 2013. As the State’s power department would remove the high tension power line by March 15, 2015, the formal train service could begin from April, 2015 subject to clearance by the Commissioner of Railway Safety, the project officer said. — PTI
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Nasa discovered potentially hazardous asteroid 2013 YP139
NASA discovered a new potentially hazardous asteroid named 2013 YP139 on 29 December 2013. It was confirmed by the NASA on 15 January2014. It was first discovered by NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE). The Researchers at the University of Arizona used the Spacewatch telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory southwest of Tucson to confirm the discovery.
The 2013 YP139 is about 43 million kilometers from Earth. On the basis of Infrared brightness, it is found to be 650 meters in diameter and extremely dark like a piece of coal. NEOWISE‘s sophisticated software picked up the moving object against a background of stationary stars. The asteroid circles the Sun in an elliptical orbit titled to the plane of solar system. It is possible for its orbit to bring it as close as 482803 km from Earth, a little more than the distance to the Moon. But it will not come that close within the next century. NEOWISE was originally called as Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) which made the most comprehensive survey to date of asteroids and comets. In 2010 and early 2011, WISE discovered more than 34000 asteroids and characterised 158000 throughout the solar system. Its reactivation in September 2013 followed 31 months in hibernation.
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Goa Government approved the proposal to increase Reservation for OBC to 27%
The 19 castes included in the list of other backward classes (OBCs) in the state will henceforth enjoy 27% reservation in government jobs and admission to professional colleges.
The cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal to increase the reservation for OBCs from 19.5% to 27%. The 27% reservation for OBC will come into effect from the date the notification is issued, chief minister Manohar Parrikar said.
The increased reservation for OBCs assumes importance in view of the parliamentary elections due in the coming months. Parrikar said that BJP had assured in its election manifesto that reservation for OBCs would be hiked in proportion to their population in the state and this has now been done.
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Deepika and Farhan won best actors at Screen Awards
Actress Deepika Padukone, who gave the industry four blockbusters last year, was awarded the Best Actress while Farhan Akhtar walked away with the Best Actor for his power packed performance in 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag' at the 20th Screen Awards.
Deepika bagged two honours--the Best Actor award (female) for 'Ram-Leela' and the most popular choice award (female) for 'Chennai Express'-- at the ceremony here last night.
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Sirajuddin Qureshi elected as the President of IICC
Doordarshan Director General S M Khan has been elected as one of the trustees in board for India Islamic Cultural Centre (IICC), a centre of excellence for Islamic art, culture and civilisation here.
Sirajuddin Qureshi was elected as the president for the third time in a row defeating Shakeel-uz-Zaman Ansari, Member National Commission for Backward Castes, while Delhi Minorities Commission Chairman Safdar H Khan, got elected as Vice-President, a press release said.
IICC members, who are spread across the country and many other international geographic locations, voted in favour of S M Khan in high numbers.
He thanked all his supporters and assured them to fulfil their aspirations and expectations which each one of them has from the centre through his role as a trustee.
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Wholesale Inflation declined to five-month low of 6.16 percent in December 2013
India's wholesale price based inflation declined to 6.16 percent in December, the lowest in five months, on the back of slower rise in food prices, government data showed Wednesday.
The country's main inflation measure based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) was 7.31 percent in the corresponding month of previous year.
The inflation was recorded at 7.52 percent in November 2013, the highest level in 14 months largely to a sharp jump in food and vegetables prices.
According to data released by the ministry of commerce and industry here, prices of food articles increased by 13.68 percent in December year-on-year. This is sharply lower than 19.93 percent jump registered in the previous month.
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