on 23-Dec-2020 (Wed)

He said RBI has advised all banks, non-deposit taking NBFCs (with an asset size of ₹5,000 crore) and all deposit-taking NBFCs to “assess the impact of COVID-19 on their balance sheet, asset quality, liquidity, profitability and capital adequacy for the financial year 2020-21.”

Mr. Das said the minimum capital requirements of banks, which are calibrated based on historical loss events, may no longer be considered sufficient enough to absorb the losses in the present circumstances.

“Meeting the minimum capital requirement is necessary, but not a sufficient condition for financial stability. Hence, it is imperative that the approach to risk management in banks should be in tune with the realisation of more frequent, varied and bigger risk events than in the past,” he said.

He said the supervisory approach of the RBI would be to further strengthen its focus on developing financial institutions’ ability to identify, measure, and mitigate the risks.

“The new supervisory approach will be two-pronged - first, strengthening the internal defences of the supervised entities; and second, greater focus on identifying the early warning signals and initiate corrective action,” he said.

He said the thrust of the approach is, to improve the risk, compliance, and governance culture amongst the financial institutions. He said in commercial banks there needs to be separation of ownership from management.

“The off-site assessment framework, which takes into account macro and micro variables, is more analytical and forward looking and aimed at identifying vulnerable sectors, borrowers as well as supervised entities,” he added.

Emphasizing that the Reserve Bank is making continuous assessment of the changing trajectory of financial stability risks and upgrading its own supervisory framework to ensure that financial stability is preserved

Industry body FICCI on Sunday said its Economic Outlook Survey has projected the country’s annual median GDP growth for 2020-21 at (-) 4.5%.

Industry body FICCI on Sunday said its Economic Outlook Survey has projected the country’s annual median GDP growth for 2020-21 at (-) 4.5%.

While addressing SBI Banking and Economics Conclave on Saturday, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das

According to the survery, some of the stimulus measures are reaching to the ground — especially through the credit guarantee scheme for MSMEs and support through MGNREGA — which is positive.

“The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI (Wholesale Price Index), stood at -1.81% (provisional) for the month of June, 2020, as compared to 2.02% during the corresponding month of the previous year,” the Commerce and Industry Ministry said in a statement.

Seven years after talks on a free trade agreement were suspended, India and the European Union (EU) are set to agree on a “High-level dialogue on Trade and Investment” to restart negotiations. The announcement is expected at a virtual “EU-India Summit” led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, who will engage with President of the European Council Charles Michel and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, accompanied by High Representative Josep Borrell.

Vietnam, which is emerging as a formidable competition to many economies, has already signed at a trade pact with the EU.

After intense negotiations for an FTA with the EU, talks have been stalled since 2013 after differences on various issues could not be ironed out.

India, which has not signed any trade agreement since 2012, will soon revive talks on the possible free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union and the US. Even as the Narendra Modi government opted out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), it is keen on inking trade deals with other economic blocs, a highly placed source said, adding that India could gain significantly amid a growing anti-China sentiment in many parts of the world.

India, which has not signed any trade agreement since 2012, will soon revive talks on the possible free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union and the US. Even as the Narendra Modi government opted out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), it is keen on inking trade deals with other economic blocs, a highly placed source said, adding that India could gain significantly amid a growing anti-China sentiment in many parts of the world.

The Bombay Club, comprised eminent Indian industrialists who while supporting the process of economic liberalisation in 1993 sought protection and measures for a level-playing field.

The E.U.-China summit was held on June 22 and similar summits were held with the leadership of Japan and South Korea as well last month.

During this summit, India and the E.U. are expected to conclude several agreements including a roadmap for cooperation, an agreement on civil nuclear cooperation and launch a maritime security dialogue as well as negotiations between Europol and the CBI.

Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) as the EU-India FTA is known, which have failed to be resumed despite several commitments by the leaders, including at the last E.U.-India summit in 2017.

The official said trade with India formed under 3% of the E.U.’s global trade, which is “far below” what was expected of the relationship.

The official said trade with India formed under 3% of the E.U.’s global trade, which is “far below” what was expected of the relationship. Conversely, the E.U. is India’s largest trading partner and investor, and accounts for 11% of India’s global trade. The official also said the E.U. has reservations about the model “Bilateral Investment Treaty” (BIT) that New Delhi has proposed, especially on dispute mechanisms in Indian courts.

As part of the reform process for the farm sector, the government amended the six-and-a-half-decade-old Essential Commodities Act to deregulate food items, including cereals, edible oil, oilseeds, pulses, onion and potato.

The amendment, besides deregulating production and sale of food products, will provide for no stock limit to be imposed on any produce.

(a) the supply of such foodstuffs, including cereals, pulses, potato, onions, edible oilseeds and oils, as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify, may be regulated only under extraordinary circumstances which may include war, famine, extraordinary price rise and natural calamity of grave nature;

(a) the supply of such foodstuffs, including cereals, pulses, potato, onions, edible oilseeds and oils, as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify, may be regulated only under extraordinary circumstances which may include war, famine, extraordinary price rise and natural calamity of grave nature;

---

(b) any action on imposing stock limit shall be based on price rise and an order for regulating stock limit of any agricultural produce may be issued under this Act only if there is--

The Farming Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020, proposes to bar state governments from imposing taxes on sale and purchase of farm produce undertaken outside the mandis and give farmers the freedom to sell their produce at remunerative prices.

n the backdrop of likely rise in Non Performing Assets (NPA) due to the pandemic, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced guidelines for “Fair Practices Code” (FPC) for Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs) to ensure highest standards of transparency and fairness while dealing with their stakeholders.

All ARCs registered with banks have been asked to put in place FPC duly approved by their Board.

This directive is in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 9 of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Securities Interest Act, 2002, the RBI said.

The members then questioned him on how the government could renege on the commitment to the States. At this, “he [Mr. Pandey] pointed out that the GST Act has provisions to rework the formula for paying compensation to the State governments if the revenue collection drops below a certain threshold,” one of the members said on condition of anonymity.

The Finance Ministry on Monday said the Centre had released the final instalment of ₹13,806 crore of GST compensation for the financial year 2019-20.

Stating that recent agriculture reforms have opened new opportunities, the RBI Governor said the farm sector is emerging as a bright spot.

In his address to India Inc at a CII event, Das said both private and public sectors have to play an important role in developing infrastructure that requires huge investments.

Ms. Sitharaman, in a conversation with Hero Enterprise Chairman Sunil Kant Munjal, said the government as part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat package had announced opening up of all sectors for private participation.

“The final call as to which are the secto₹ which are going to be called ‘strategic’ is not made yet, that has to be announced and I can’t preempt what announcement is likely to come.

For the 2020-21 fiscal, the government has set a disinvestment target of ₹2.10 lakh crore. Of this, ₹1.20 lakh crore will come from disinvestment of public sector undertakings and another ₹90,000 crore from stake sale in financial institutions.

“There are already nearly 22-23 such PSUs which have been cleared by the Cabinet for disinvestment. The intent is clear that at least for those which had already been cleared by the Cabinet, we will have to disinvest,

under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS), micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) can avail loans.

Once the moratorium lifts, and if the borrowers who had opted for it start to default on their loans, a spike could be observed in the Special Mention Accounts (accounts which have high potential to turn into NPAs later) in the September report.

The BJP has not challenged or rejected Rao’s 1991 architecture. A full-fledged embrace and an aggressive pursuit of it even now could provide the BJP and the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi a lodestar to steer the economy out of the choppy waters it is in at present.

Dr. Manmohan Singh’s 1991-92 Budget speech marked the beginning of the end of the ‘Licence Raj’ in India.

Dr. Manmohan Singh’s 1991-92 Budget speech marked the beginning of the end of the ‘Licence Raj’ in India. The Budget also announced the reduction of import duties and paved the way for foreign-manufactured goods to flow into India.

A disastrous model

In the late 1980s, transnational corporations started shifting the production base to smaller companies in developing countries, especially Asia, in search of cheap labour and raw materials. Developed countries supported the move because shifting the polluting and labour-intensive industries suited them as long as ownership remained with their companies. Thus, the world witnessed the development of global supply chains in many products starting with garments, wherein huge companies with massive market power dictated the terms to smaller manufacturers down the value chain to produce cheaply.

In the case of health products, China became the global supplier of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), personal protective equipment (PPE), and medical devices diagnostics.

the U.S. President invoked the Defense Production Act of 1950 to ramp up N95 mask production. Under this legislation, the U.S. President can direct U.S. manufacturers to shift from their normal manufacturing activities to produce goods according to the directions of the government.

The dismantling of the ‘Licence Raj’ resulted in the elimination of channels of information for the government, which is crucial to make informed policy choices. For instance, as part of the removal of ‘Licence Raj’, the government stopped asking for information from the manufacturer to file the quantity of production of various medicines. As a result, it has taken weeks now and a series of meetings for the government to gather information about stocks and the production capacity of pharmaceutical companies. Similarly, there were difficulties in finding out India’s production capacity of PPE, medical devices and diagnostics. The only government data available in the public domain is with regard to the production of vaccines.

Global supply/production chains not only destroyed the manufacturing base in developed and developing countries; they also resulted in loss of jobs and poor working conditions in these sectors. Developing countries were asked to ease their labour protection laws to facilitate global production and supply chains popularly known as global value chains. As a result, people were forced to work in precarious working conditions without any social security net. This created an unorganised army of labourers and is preventing many developing country governments from effectively offering relief.

Since its launch on October 7, 2019 and implementation of first phase, faceless scrutiny assessment scheme has provided for assessment of income tax in electronic mode

Since its launch on October 7, 2019 and implementation of first phase, faceless scrutiny assessment scheme has provided for assessment of income tax in electronic mode, where taxpayers need not see face-to-face any tax officer or visit an I-T office and can e-file reply on the income tax portal.

Separately, a Finance Ministry official said that now almost 99 per cent returns are e-filed. Out of more than 6 crore returns filed annually, only about 3 lakh returns come under scrutiny on the basis of select risk parameters.

“Cases are centrally selected for scrutiny using computer aided selection for scrutiny. Some scrutiny cases are also selected manually on the basis of specified criteria. Old assessments can also be re-opened if the assessing officer has sufficient reason to believe that some income has escaped assessment, the official said.

The government has already notified revised Form 26AS which would have additional details on taxpayers’ high-value financial transactions, like cash deposit/withdrawal, property purchases, undertaken during a financial year and would facilitate voluntary compliance and ease of e-filing of I-T returns.

It said a combination of aggressive policy easing, and the liquidity measures caused yields on G-Secs to drop to their lowest level in more than a decade. However, long-term rates have not fallen commensurately with short-term rates, steepening the G-Sec yield curve.

Despite the increase in government borrowings and the significant loss of revenue due to the lockdown, the government securities (G-secs) market remained resilient and stable owing to targeted interventions by the RBI comprising Long Term Repo Operations (LTROs), outright Open Market Operations (OMO) purchases and Operation Twists, the article said.

‘G-Sec yields fell to lowest in a decade’

Technology giant Google will invest $10 billion (₹75,000 crore) in India over the next five-seven years with a focus on digitising the economy and building India-first products and services

He said the investment will focus on four areas important to digitization including enabling affordable access and information for every Indian in their own language, building products and services that are deeply relevant to India’s unique needs, empowering businesses in their digital transformation journey and leveraging technology and AI for social good, in areas like health, education, and agriculture.

In April, social networking major Facebook bought 9.9% stake in Jio Platform for ₹43,573.62 crore, while e-commerce giant Amazon had in January announced $1 billion investment over five years to help digitise small and medium businesses.

68° 7′ east to 97° 25′ east longitude

8° 4′ north to 37° 6′ north latitude

8° 4′ N to 37° 6′ N latitude and 68° 7′ E to 97° 25′ East longitude.

outhernmost point of the country is the Pygmalion Point or Indira Point is located at 6° 45′ N latitude.

Rann of Kachachh to Arunachal Pradesh is 2,933 km.

India is the seventh largest country of the world.

India accounts for about 2.4 per cent

India, Tropical or Temperate Country?

• The temperate part (north of Tropic of Cancer) is twice the area of tropical part.
• But India has always been treated as a tropical country for two different reasons – physical and cultural.

The Indo-Pakistan boundary is the result of partition of the country in 1947 under the Radcliffe award of which Sir Cyril Radcliffe was the chairman.

• Jammu and Kashmir, Sir Creek are the major disputed regions.

This boundary runs roughly along the watershed between the Brahmaputra and Ayeyarwady [Irrawaddy].

The Trans Himalayas

• The Himalayan ranges immediately north of the Great Himalayan range.
• Also called the Tibetan Himalaya because most of it lies in Tibet.
• The Zaskar, the Ladakh, the Kailas and the Karakoram are the main ranges.

The Nanga Parbat (8126 m) is an important range which is in The Zaskar Range.

K2 (8,611 m)[Godwin Austen or Qogir] is the second highest peak in the world and the highest peak in the Indian Union.

The northern most range of the Trans-Himalayan Ranges in India is the Great Karakoram Range also known as the Krishnagiri range.

The Ladakh Plateau lies to the north-east of the Karakoram Range

Sikkim

Nathu La Jelep La [important trade route connecting Kalimpong (near Darjeeling) with Lhasa in Tibet, passes through Jelep La (4,386 m)]

It is mainly formed of the central crystallines (granites and gneisses) overlain by metamorphosed sediments [limestone]. {Rock System}

The western syntaxial bend occurs near the Nanga Parbat where the Indus river has cut a deep gorge

The deep gorges of the Indus, the Satluj, the Brahmaputra etc.

The Indian Scops Owl lives in dense foliage and is better heard than seen

The Indian Scops Owl is quite a common species (not as common as the Spotted Owlet though), in urban developments but has learnt to camouflage and hide from civilization for its safety.

In this small species (23-25 cm), individuals can be very variable in colour from pale grey-brown to warm rufous brown with finely streaked underparts, a thin black line around the facial disc, and dark brownish-orange eyes. Its scientific name, Otus bakkamoena, has been derived from the Latin word otus, meaning small-eared and bakkamoena from the Sinhala name Bakamuna

The Indian Scops Owl is mostly nocturnal, usually sleeping during day and becoming active in the late hours of the evening, when it sits on trees near lampposts and hunts down small rodents and insects. A keen eyesight and incredible sense of hearing makes owls formidable hunters.

This species is often considered a subspecies of the Eurasian eagle-owl Bubo bubo and is very similar in appearance.

They are seen in scrub and light to medium forests but are especially seen near rocky places within the mainland of the Indian Subcontinent south of the Himalayas and below 1,500 metres (5,000 ft) elevation.

Mastering the cognitive knowledge within a field such as obstetrics and gyne- cology is a formidable task.