1. SBI ties up with Snapdeal to offer seller finance
State of Bank of India (SBI) on Thursday entered into a seller financing scheme with e-com major Snapdeal. Under the scheme, SBI will provide loans to small and medium enterprises at easier interest rates. Data regarding the sellers will be provided by Snapdeal.
"Rates of interest will be determined by the credit worthiness of the seller," Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman, SBI, said after signing the MoU with Snapdeal. The country's biggest lender (SBI) had an MSME loan book of approximately Rs. 170,000 crore as on December 31, 2014.
The seller financing scheme will help MSMEs — traders, sellers and manufacturers — scale up their operations by catering to their working capital requirements, Bhattacharya said. According to Kunal Bahl, CEO, Snapdeal, there are at least 150,000 sellers associated with Snapdeal. E-com major Snapdeal operates in a marketplace model.
2. SBI ties up with PayPal to enable cross-border transactions
State Bank of India (SBI), on Thursday, entered into a strategic partnership with digital payments company, PayPal, to facilitate cross-border trade and payments.
The service will be extended to SBI and PayPal users both in India and abroad and is targeted at small and medium enterprises (SMEs). SBI currently, has over 900,000 SME customers.
According to B Sriram, Managing Director &Group Executive (National Banking), SBI, attempts are also being made to extend the services for domestic transactions.
"Currently the tie-up will be for cross-border remittances and payments. We are looking to explore the domestic payments space too in the coming days," he said after signing an MoU with PayPal.
This will be SBI's first such tie-up for remittances and payments.
According to Sriram, SBI is also looking at exploring opportunities in e-visa, e-governance, and remittances for the Clean Ganga Campaign with this tie-up.
He, however, did not give details of how volumes for such cross-border transactions will be impacted post this tie-up with PayPal.
3. National Payments Corp gets nod to tie up with China UnionPay
Close on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China, India's National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which runs the RuPay payment card network, has received the Reserve Bank of India's approval to tie up with the Chinese government-supported payment card network China UnionPay International.
This will allow Chinese tourists and people working in India to be able to use automated teller machines (ATMs) and point of sale (PoS) terminals in India to withdraw cash in the Indian currency.
This could offer healthy competition to global players such as the US-based MasterCard and Visa, which offer services in India but not in China.
China has its own local card payment system managed by UnionPay International, which is not supported by Visa and Mastercard, which is why Chinese customers cannot use their cards in India as of now.
NPCI Chief Executive AP Hota said the two sides have signed a memorandum of understanding, but were still working out the details of the tie-up. Under the approval, China UnionPay's cards will be accepted at all the ATMs and point of sale terminals in India through NPCI's network, Hota said.
About 2 million Chinese tourists visit India each year. NPCI has a network of 1.1 million PoS terminals and 195,000 ATMs in India, which can be used by customers from China, Hota said on the sidelines of an NPCI event.
“The commercial and technical agreements with both the Japanese and Chinese payment processors are to be finalised, following which we will open services to the people of both these countries by March 2016,” Hota said.
NPCI, which is backed by RBI and processes India's retail transactions, will also launch a credit card in early 2016. At present, the number of RuPay card issuance has grown to over 160 million.
NPCI has also launched RuPay Platinum Debit Card to further its card payment network.
4. US President Barack Obama entered Guinness Book of World Record
President of the United States (US) Barack Obama entered Guinness Book of World Record for reaching a million followers in a span of mere 5 hours after going live.Barack Obama debuted on Social Media Platform Twitter with @POTUS account.
He beat the previous record, which was set in April 2014 by Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr., after the actor reached a million followers in 23 hours and 22 minutes.
The US President already has the account @BarackObama, which has amassed nearly 60 million followers. However, the new @POTUS account is associated with the presidential office - or as Obama puts it.
5. Anti Terrorism Day observed across India
21 May: Anti Terrorism Day/ Martyrdom of Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi
Anti-Terrorism Day was observed across India on 21 May 2015. The day is annually observed on the death anniversary of seventh Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who was assassinated at an election rally near Chennai by a suicide bomber from the LTTE on 21 May 1991.
The day is observed to make people aware of the ongoing terrorist activities and the precautions to be taken by the commoners to prevent these acts of terrorism. Its motive is to promote unity, peace and harmony across the nation.
On this day, government employees are administered an anti-terror and violence pledge. Apart from this, several discussions, debates, cultural programmes and lecturers are held on the issue of terrorism and violence across the country.
6. Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai won the 2015 Man Booker International Prize
Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai won the prestigious Man Booker International Prize for 2015. His name was announced as the sixth winner of the award at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
With this award, Krasznahorkai born in 1954 received a cash prize of 60000 pound. He joined the league of other awardees, namely Albanian novelist Ismail Kadare (2005), Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe (2007), Canadian author Alice Munro (2009), and American writer Philip Roth (2011) and American writer Lydia Davis (2013).
7. Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the new headquarter of Coal India Ltd at Rajarhat in West Bengal
Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the new headquarter of Coal India Ltd at New Town Rajarhat in West Bengal
The inauguration was held in the presence of Union Minister of state for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal and the Minister of State for Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Babul Supriyo.
The new building came up at a sprawling 27000 Sq. Ft. area and it was built by the National Building Corporation (NBCC), a public sector company of Urban Development Ministry.
Coal India Limited (CIL), a Maharatna company, is the largest coal producer company in the world. It contributes around 81% of the coal production in India.
8. ISRO announced to launch ASTROSAT in October 2015
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced that ASTROSAT will be launched in October 2015 by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C-34 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
Features of ASTROSAT
• ASTROSAT is the first dedicated Indian space observatory mission aimed at studying distant celestial objects
• The mission is capable of performing observations in Ultraviolet (UV), optical, low and high energy X-ray wavebands at the same time.
• The satellite will be launched to a 650 km near equatorial orbit around the Earth.
• ASTROSAT carries four X-ray payloads, one UV telescope and a charge particle monitor.
• Apart from ISRO, four other Indian institutions, viz., Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) and Raman Research Institute (RRI) are involved in the development of payloads among which two of them were developed in collaboration with Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and University of Leiscester (UoL), UK.
The ISRO also announced that the spacecraft is fully assembled and in the coming days it will undergo several environmental tests like Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) , Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC), Thermal Vacuum, Vibration, Acoustic tests.
9. 9th Session of the India-South Africa Joint Ministerial Commission held in Durban
9th Session of the India-South Africa Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) was held in Durban . The session was co-chaired by Minister for External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Foreign Minister of South Africa Maite Nkoana-Mashabane.
Main points discussed during the 9th session of JMC
• To make it more result-oriented, the two ministers agreed to work under the framework of a five year strategic programme of cooperation and decided to establish a new Joint Working Group on Trade & Economic matters on it.
• They also identified priority areas of cooperation and they are defence, deep-mining, science and technology, agriculture & food processing and insurance.
• Both sides also agreed to set up a Sub-Committee on Science & Technology and promote cooperation in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
• Swaraj and Mashabane also discussed regional and multilateral issues including BRICS, IBSA, IORA, counter-terrorism, cyber security, reforms of multilateral institutions, especially the United Nations Security Council.
10. Union finance Ministry constituted Shah Committee to look into the issue of MAT on FIIs
Union finance Ministry constituted Shah Committee to look into the issue of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) on Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs).
The committee will be headed by Justice A P Shah while the other members are Dr. Girish Ahuja, a chartered accountant and former Associate Professor of Commerce, Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi and Dr. Ashok Lahiri, former Chief Economic Adviser and Executive Director, ADB and currently Chairman of High Level Committee to interact with Trade and Industry on tax laws.Further, the committee would examine the matter relating to levy of MAT on FIIs for the period prior to 1 April 2015.
It will also examine all the related legal provisions, judicial/quasi judicial pronouncements and such other relevant aspects as it may consider appropriate. The committee has been requested to give its recommendations on the above issue expeditiously.
The committee shall set its own procedure for regulating its work. The term of the committee will be for one year or such period as may be notified by the Government from time to time.
The committee may interact with various stakeholders as it may deem fit. The committee may also invite officers from Department of Revenue including the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) for consultations/discussions as may be necessary.
Union Finance Ministry had announced the decision to set up the committee on 7 May 2015. The committee was appointed to resolve the contentious issue of MAT between the tax authorities and the foreign investors.
As per the Finance Act, 2015 the 20 percent MAT on Capital Gains made by FIIs is waived off from the financial year 2015-16. However, the issue of imposing MAT for past years (till 2014-15) has become controversial as the FIIs raised objections to 68 notices (in lieu of 602 crores rupees) issued by the International Taxation Wing of the Income Tax Department in lieu of MAT.
11. Maharashtra decided to amend Factories Act, 1948 to allow women to work in night shifts
State Government of Maharashtra decided to make amend Section 66(1)(c) of the Factories Act, 1948, so that women employees can work in night shifts.
Section 66(1)(c) of the Factories Act, 1948 restricted women from working at a factory between 7 PM and 6 AM.
The decision was taken following demands from several labour union leaders and politicians to allow women to work post 7 pm. However, the factory managements will have to provide security to women working in night shifts.
With this decision, Maharashtra joined the league of selected states like Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh that allow women to work in night shifts or are in the process of doing so.
The other proposed changes to the Factories Act, 1948 include
• Workers to be eligible for paid leave after working for 90 days in a year instead of the existing 240 days or more.
• It would not be mandatory for workers to take the management's permission for overtime, the limit for which in three months will be increased to 115 hours from the current 75.
The decision of the state government to change the 67-year-old existing law will bring a much needed help for workers working in more than 14000 factories across the state.
State of Bank of India (SBI) on Thursday entered into a seller financing scheme with e-com major Snapdeal. Under the scheme, SBI will provide loans to small and medium enterprises at easier interest rates. Data regarding the sellers will be provided by Snapdeal."Rates of interest will be determined by the credit worthiness of the seller," Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman, SBI, said after signing the MoU with Snapdeal. The country's biggest lender (SBI) had an MSME loan book of approximately Rs. 170,000 crore as on December 31, 2014.
The seller financing scheme will help MSMEs — traders, sellers and manufacturers — scale up their operations by catering to their working capital requirements, Bhattacharya said. According to Kunal Bahl, CEO, Snapdeal, there are at least 150,000 sellers associated with Snapdeal. E-com major Snapdeal operates in a marketplace model.
2. SBI ties up with PayPal to enable cross-border transactions
State Bank of India (SBI), on Thursday, entered into a strategic partnership with digital payments company, PayPal, to facilitate cross-border trade and payments.
The service will be extended to SBI and PayPal users both in India and abroad and is targeted at small and medium enterprises (SMEs). SBI currently, has over 900,000 SME customers.
According to B Sriram, Managing Director &Group Executive (National Banking), SBI, attempts are also being made to extend the services for domestic transactions.
"Currently the tie-up will be for cross-border remittances and payments. We are looking to explore the domestic payments space too in the coming days," he said after signing an MoU with PayPal.
This will be SBI's first such tie-up for remittances and payments.
According to Sriram, SBI is also looking at exploring opportunities in e-visa, e-governance, and remittances for the Clean Ganga Campaign with this tie-up.
He, however, did not give details of how volumes for such cross-border transactions will be impacted post this tie-up with PayPal.
3. National Payments Corp gets nod to tie up with China UnionPay
Close on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China, India's National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which runs the RuPay payment card network, has received the Reserve Bank of India's approval to tie up with the Chinese government-supported payment card network China UnionPay International.
This will allow Chinese tourists and people working in India to be able to use automated teller machines (ATMs) and point of sale (PoS) terminals in India to withdraw cash in the Indian currency.
This could offer healthy competition to global players such as the US-based MasterCard and Visa, which offer services in India but not in China.
China has its own local card payment system managed by UnionPay International, which is not supported by Visa and Mastercard, which is why Chinese customers cannot use their cards in India as of now.
NPCI Chief Executive AP Hota said the two sides have signed a memorandum of understanding, but were still working out the details of the tie-up. Under the approval, China UnionPay's cards will be accepted at all the ATMs and point of sale terminals in India through NPCI's network, Hota said.
About 2 million Chinese tourists visit India each year. NPCI has a network of 1.1 million PoS terminals and 195,000 ATMs in India, which can be used by customers from China, Hota said on the sidelines of an NPCI event.
“The commercial and technical agreements with both the Japanese and Chinese payment processors are to be finalised, following which we will open services to the people of both these countries by March 2016,” Hota said.
NPCI, which is backed by RBI and processes India's retail transactions, will also launch a credit card in early 2016. At present, the number of RuPay card issuance has grown to over 160 million.
NPCI has also launched RuPay Platinum Debit Card to further its card payment network.
4. US President Barack Obama entered Guinness Book of World Record
President of the United States (US) Barack Obama entered Guinness Book of World Record for reaching a million followers in a span of mere 5 hours after going live.Barack Obama debuted on Social Media Platform Twitter with @POTUS account.
He beat the previous record, which was set in April 2014 by Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr., after the actor reached a million followers in 23 hours and 22 minutes.
The US President already has the account @BarackObama, which has amassed nearly 60 million followers. However, the new @POTUS account is associated with the presidential office - or as Obama puts it.
5. Anti Terrorism Day observed across India
21 May: Anti Terrorism Day/ Martyrdom of Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi
Anti-Terrorism Day was observed across India on 21 May 2015. The day is annually observed on the death anniversary of seventh Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who was assassinated at an election rally near Chennai by a suicide bomber from the LTTE on 21 May 1991.
The day is observed to make people aware of the ongoing terrorist activities and the precautions to be taken by the commoners to prevent these acts of terrorism. Its motive is to promote unity, peace and harmony across the nation.
On this day, government employees are administered an anti-terror and violence pledge. Apart from this, several discussions, debates, cultural programmes and lecturers are held on the issue of terrorism and violence across the country.
6. Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai won the 2015 Man Booker International Prize
Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai won the prestigious Man Booker International Prize for 2015. His name was announced as the sixth winner of the award at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
With this award, Krasznahorkai born in 1954 received a cash prize of 60000 pound. He joined the league of other awardees, namely Albanian novelist Ismail Kadare (2005), Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe (2007), Canadian author Alice Munro (2009), and American writer Philip Roth (2011) and American writer Lydia Davis (2013).
Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the new headquarter of Coal India Ltd at New Town Rajarhat in West Bengal
The inauguration was held in the presence of Union Minister of state for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal and the Minister of State for Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Babul Supriyo.
The new building came up at a sprawling 27000 Sq. Ft. area and it was built by the National Building Corporation (NBCC), a public sector company of Urban Development Ministry.
Coal India Limited (CIL), a Maharatna company, is the largest coal producer company in the world. It contributes around 81% of the coal production in India.
8. ISRO announced to launch ASTROSAT in October 2015
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced that ASTROSAT will be launched in October 2015 by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C-34 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
Features of ASTROSAT
• ASTROSAT is the first dedicated Indian space observatory mission aimed at studying distant celestial objects
• The mission is capable of performing observations in Ultraviolet (UV), optical, low and high energy X-ray wavebands at the same time.
• The satellite will be launched to a 650 km near equatorial orbit around the Earth.
• ASTROSAT carries four X-ray payloads, one UV telescope and a charge particle monitor.
• Apart from ISRO, four other Indian institutions, viz., Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) and Raman Research Institute (RRI) are involved in the development of payloads among which two of them were developed in collaboration with Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and University of Leiscester (UoL), UK.
The ISRO also announced that the spacecraft is fully assembled and in the coming days it will undergo several environmental tests like Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) , Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC), Thermal Vacuum, Vibration, Acoustic tests.
9. 9th Session of the India-South Africa Joint Ministerial Commission held in Durban
9th Session of the India-South Africa Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) was held in Durban . The session was co-chaired by Minister for External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Foreign Minister of South Africa Maite Nkoana-Mashabane.
Main points discussed during the 9th session of JMC
• To make it more result-oriented, the two ministers agreed to work under the framework of a five year strategic programme of cooperation and decided to establish a new Joint Working Group on Trade & Economic matters on it.
• They also identified priority areas of cooperation and they are defence, deep-mining, science and technology, agriculture & food processing and insurance.
• Both sides also agreed to set up a Sub-Committee on Science & Technology and promote cooperation in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
• Swaraj and Mashabane also discussed regional and multilateral issues including BRICS, IBSA, IORA, counter-terrorism, cyber security, reforms of multilateral institutions, especially the United Nations Security Council.
10. Union finance Ministry constituted Shah Committee to look into the issue of MAT on FIIs
Union finance Ministry constituted Shah Committee to look into the issue of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) on Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs).
The committee will be headed by Justice A P Shah while the other members are Dr. Girish Ahuja, a chartered accountant and former Associate Professor of Commerce, Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi and Dr. Ashok Lahiri, former Chief Economic Adviser and Executive Director, ADB and currently Chairman of High Level Committee to interact with Trade and Industry on tax laws.Further, the committee would examine the matter relating to levy of MAT on FIIs for the period prior to 1 April 2015.
It will also examine all the related legal provisions, judicial/quasi judicial pronouncements and such other relevant aspects as it may consider appropriate. The committee has been requested to give its recommendations on the above issue expeditiously.
The committee shall set its own procedure for regulating its work. The term of the committee will be for one year or such period as may be notified by the Government from time to time.
The committee may interact with various stakeholders as it may deem fit. The committee may also invite officers from Department of Revenue including the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) for consultations/discussions as may be necessary.
Union Finance Ministry had announced the decision to set up the committee on 7 May 2015. The committee was appointed to resolve the contentious issue of MAT between the tax authorities and the foreign investors.
As per the Finance Act, 2015 the 20 percent MAT on Capital Gains made by FIIs is waived off from the financial year 2015-16. However, the issue of imposing MAT for past years (till 2014-15) has become controversial as the FIIs raised objections to 68 notices (in lieu of 602 crores rupees) issued by the International Taxation Wing of the Income Tax Department in lieu of MAT.
11. Maharashtra decided to amend Factories Act, 1948 to allow women to work in night shifts
State Government of Maharashtra decided to make amend Section 66(1)(c) of the Factories Act, 1948, so that women employees can work in night shifts.
Section 66(1)(c) of the Factories Act, 1948 restricted women from working at a factory between 7 PM and 6 AM.
The decision was taken following demands from several labour union leaders and politicians to allow women to work post 7 pm. However, the factory managements will have to provide security to women working in night shifts.
With this decision, Maharashtra joined the league of selected states like Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh that allow women to work in night shifts or are in the process of doing so.
The other proposed changes to the Factories Act, 1948 include
• Workers to be eligible for paid leave after working for 90 days in a year instead of the existing 240 days or more.
• It would not be mandatory for workers to take the management's permission for overtime, the limit for which in three months will be increased to 115 hours from the current 75.
The decision of the state government to change the 67-year-old existing law will bring a much needed help for workers working in more than 14000 factories across the state.
12. eBay emerges largest online perfume mall in India
With over 100 leading perfume brands on their platform, eBay India (www.ebay.in) has emerged as the largest online perfume mall in India.
The launch of the online mall with over 1,000 SKUs will allow consumers to shop from an array of premium brands, including Giorgio Armani, Bvlgari, Hugo Boss, Chanel, and Davidoff, at a minimum 30 per cent discount.
The overall size of the perfume industry in India (both organised and unorganised) is currently estimated at Rs. 2,000 crore, which is projected to grow by 50 per cent to Rs. 3,000 crore.
The current online perfume market is at Rs. 148 crore which is projected to grow by about 120 per cent to Rs. 345 crore. As Indian consumers are increasingly turning to online shopping, the online market share of the perfume category, which is currently 7 per cent of the total perfume market, is set to increase to approximately by 11 per cent.
Karnataka contributes to approximately 10 per cent of the total perfume market in India.
13. Highest paid Infoscian is COO Pravin Rao
Infosys Chief Operating Officer UB Pravin Rao is the highest-paid Infoscian during the financial year 2015, ahead of CEO Vishal Sikka.
Rao, earned a total compensation of Rs. 5.82 crore which included a base salary of $109,583, bonus and incentive of $616,509 and annual commission of $244,554, according to a filing with the SEC.
Chief Financial Officer Rajiv Bansal was the second highest-paid executive during the financial year earning Rs. 4.5 crore for the Bengaluru-based IT major which included a base salary of $124,567, bonus and incentives worth $450,980 and commissions to the tune of $172,700, the filing added.
With over 100 leading perfume brands on their platform, eBay India (www.ebay.in) has emerged as the largest online perfume mall in India.
The launch of the online mall with over 1,000 SKUs will allow consumers to shop from an array of premium brands, including Giorgio Armani, Bvlgari, Hugo Boss, Chanel, and Davidoff, at a minimum 30 per cent discount.
The overall size of the perfume industry in India (both organised and unorganised) is currently estimated at Rs. 2,000 crore, which is projected to grow by 50 per cent to Rs. 3,000 crore.
The current online perfume market is at Rs. 148 crore which is projected to grow by about 120 per cent to Rs. 345 crore. As Indian consumers are increasingly turning to online shopping, the online market share of the perfume category, which is currently 7 per cent of the total perfume market, is set to increase to approximately by 11 per cent.
Karnataka contributes to approximately 10 per cent of the total perfume market in India.
13. Highest paid Infoscian is COO Pravin Rao
Infosys Chief Operating Officer UB Pravin Rao is the highest-paid Infoscian during the financial year 2015, ahead of CEO Vishal Sikka.
Rao, earned a total compensation of Rs. 5.82 crore which included a base salary of $109,583, bonus and incentive of $616,509 and annual commission of $244,554, according to a filing with the SEC.
Chief Financial Officer Rajiv Bansal was the second highest-paid executive during the financial year earning Rs. 4.5 crore for the Bengaluru-based IT major which included a base salary of $124,567, bonus and incentives worth $450,980 and commissions to the tune of $172,700, the filing added.
14. Eminent Economist Mrinal Datta Chaudhuri passed away
Eminent economist and academics Mrinal Datta Chaudhuri passed away in Pune, Mahrashtra. He was 81. Chaudhuri who also served as the policy advisor to the previous UPA government was known for providing valuable policy inputs to the Indian planning process and the economy as a whole through his research papers.
He also was known for authoring a research paper on challenges of economic reform in the context of both State and market failures in 1990, just before the collapse of the erstwhile Soviet Union and India’s lurch towards globalization.
Eminent economist and academics Mrinal Datta Chaudhuri passed away in Pune, Mahrashtra. He was 81. Chaudhuri who also served as the policy advisor to the previous UPA government was known for providing valuable policy inputs to the Indian planning process and the economy as a whole through his research papers.
He also was known for authoring a research paper on challenges of economic reform in the context of both State and market failures in 1990, just before the collapse of the erstwhile Soviet Union and India’s lurch towards globalization.
1. SBI ties up with Snapdeal to offer seller finance
State of Bank of India (SBI) on Thursday entered into a seller financing scheme with e-com major Snapdeal. Under the scheme, SBI will provide loans to small and medium enterprises at easier interest rates. Data regarding the sellers will be provided by Snapdeal.
"Rates of interest will be determined by the credit worthiness of the seller," Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman, SBI, said after signing the MoU with Snapdeal. The country's biggest lender (SBI) had an MSME loan book of approximately Rs. 170,000 crore as on December 31, 2014.
The seller financing scheme will help MSMEs — traders, sellers and manufacturers — scale up their operations by catering to their working capital requirements, Bhattacharya said. According to Kunal Bahl, CEO, Snapdeal, there are at least 150,000 sellers associated with Snapdeal. E-com major Snapdeal operates in a marketplace model.
2. SBI ties up with PayPal to enable cross-border transactions
State Bank of India (SBI), on Thursday, entered into a strategic partnership with digital payments company, PayPal, to facilitate cross-border trade and payments.
The service will be extended to SBI and PayPal users both in India and abroad and is targeted at small and medium enterprises (SMEs). SBI currently, has over 900,000 SME customers.
According to B Sriram, Managing Director &Group Executive (National Banking), SBI, attempts are also being made to extend the services for domestic transactions.
"Currently the tie-up will be for cross-border remittances and payments. We are looking to explore the domestic payments space too in the coming days," he said after signing an MoU with PayPal.
This will be SBI's first such tie-up for remittances and payments.
According to Sriram, SBI is also looking at exploring opportunities in e-visa, e-governance, and remittances for the Clean Ganga Campaign with this tie-up.
He, however, did not give details of how volumes for such cross-border transactions will be impacted post this tie-up with PayPal.
3. National Payments Corp gets nod to tie up with China UnionPay
Close on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China, India's National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which runs the RuPay payment card network, has received the Reserve Bank of India's approval to tie up with the Chinese government-supported payment card network China UnionPay International.
This will allow Chinese tourists and people working in India to be able to use automated teller machines (ATMs) and point of sale (PoS) terminals in India to withdraw cash in the Indian currency.
This could offer healthy competition to global players such as the US-based MasterCard and Visa, which offer services in India but not in China.
China has its own local card payment system managed by UnionPay International, which is not supported by Visa and Mastercard, which is why Chinese customers cannot use their cards in India as of now.
NPCI Chief Executive AP Hota said the two sides have signed a memorandum of understanding, but were still working out the details of the tie-up. Under the approval, China UnionPay's cards will be accepted at all the ATMs and point of sale terminals in India through NPCI's network, Hota said.
About 2 million Chinese tourists visit India each year. NPCI has a network of 1.1 million PoS terminals and 195,000 ATMs in India, which can be used by customers from China, Hota said on the sidelines of an NPCI event.
“The commercial and technical agreements with both the Japanese and Chinese payment processors are to be finalised, following which we will open services to the people of both these countries by March 2016,” Hota said.
NPCI, which is backed by RBI and processes India's retail transactions, will also launch a credit card in early 2016. At present, the number of RuPay card issuance has grown to over 160 million.
NPCI has also launched RuPay Platinum Debit Card to further its card payment network.
4. US President Barack Obama entered Guinness Book of World Record
President of the United States (US) Barack Obama entered Guinness Book of World Record for reaching a million followers in a span of mere 5 hours after going live.Barack Obama debuted on Social Media Platform Twitter with @POTUS account.
He beat the previous record, which was set in April 2014 by Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr., after the actor reached a million followers in 23 hours and 22 minutes.
The US President already has the account @BarackObama, which has amassed nearly 60 million followers. However, the new @POTUS account is associated with the presidential office - or as Obama puts it.
5. Anti Terrorism Day observed across India
21 May: Anti Terrorism Day/ Martyrdom of Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi
Anti-Terrorism Day was observed across India on 21 May 2015. The day is annually observed on the death anniversary of seventh Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who was assassinated at an election rally near Chennai by a suicide bomber from the LTTE on 21 May 1991.
The day is observed to make people aware of the ongoing terrorist activities and the precautions to be taken by the commoners to prevent these acts of terrorism. Its motive is to promote unity, peace and harmony across the nation.
On this day, government employees are administered an anti-terror and violence pledge. Apart from this, several discussions, debates, cultural programmes and lecturers are held on the issue of terrorism and violence across the country.
6. Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai won the 2015 Man Booker International Prize
Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai won the prestigious Man Booker International Prize for 2015. His name was announced as the sixth winner of the award at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
With this award, Krasznahorkai born in 1954 received a cash prize of 60000 pound. He joined the league of other awardees, namely Albanian novelist Ismail Kadare (2005), Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe (2007), Canadian author Alice Munro (2009), and American writer Philip Roth (2011) and American writer Lydia Davis (2013).
7. Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the new headquarter of Coal India Ltd at Rajarhat in West Bengal
Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the new headquarter of Coal India Ltd at New Town Rajarhat in West Bengal
The inauguration was held in the presence of Union Minister of state for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal and the Minister of State for Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Babul Supriyo.
The new building came up at a sprawling 27000 Sq. Ft. area and it was built by the National Building Corporation (NBCC), a public sector company of Urban Development Ministry.
Coal India Limited (CIL), a Maharatna company, is the largest coal producer company in the world. It contributes around 81% of the coal production in India.
8. ISRO announced to launch ASTROSAT in October 2015
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced that ASTROSAT will be launched in October 2015 by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C-34 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
Features of ASTROSAT
• ASTROSAT is the first dedicated Indian space observatory mission aimed at studying distant celestial objects
• The mission is capable of performing observations in Ultraviolet (UV), optical, low and high energy X-ray wavebands at the same time.
• The satellite will be launched to a 650 km near equatorial orbit around the Earth.
• ASTROSAT carries four X-ray payloads, one UV telescope and a charge particle monitor.
• Apart from ISRO, four other Indian institutions, viz., Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) and Raman Research Institute (RRI) are involved in the development of payloads among which two of them were developed in collaboration with Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and University of Leiscester (UoL), UK.
The ISRO also announced that the spacecraft is fully assembled and in the coming days it will undergo several environmental tests like Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) , Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC), Thermal Vacuum, Vibration, Acoustic tests.
9. 9th Session of the India-South Africa Joint Ministerial Commission held in Durban
9th Session of the India-South Africa Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) was held in Durban . The session was co-chaired by Minister for External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Foreign Minister of South Africa Maite Nkoana-Mashabane.
Main points discussed during the 9th session of JMC
• To make it more result-oriented, the two ministers agreed to work under the framework of a five year strategic programme of cooperation and decided to establish a new Joint Working Group on Trade & Economic matters on it.
• They also identified priority areas of cooperation and they are defence, deep-mining, science and technology, agriculture & food processing and insurance.
• Both sides also agreed to set up a Sub-Committee on Science & Technology and promote cooperation in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
• Swaraj and Mashabane also discussed regional and multilateral issues including BRICS, IBSA, IORA, counter-terrorism, cyber security, reforms of multilateral institutions, especially the United Nations Security Council.
10. Union finance Ministry constituted Shah Committee to look into the issue of MAT on FIIs
Union finance Ministry constituted Shah Committee to look into the issue of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) on Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs).
The committee will be headed by Justice A P Shah while the other members are Dr. Girish Ahuja, a chartered accountant and former Associate Professor of Commerce, Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi and Dr. Ashok Lahiri, former Chief Economic Adviser and Executive Director, ADB and currently Chairman of High Level Committee to interact with Trade and Industry on tax laws.Further, the committee would examine the matter relating to levy of MAT on FIIs for the period prior to 1 April 2015.
It will also examine all the related legal provisions, judicial/quasi judicial pronouncements and such other relevant aspects as it may consider appropriate. The committee has been requested to give its recommendations on the above issue expeditiously.
The committee shall set its own procedure for regulating its work. The term of the committee will be for one year or such period as may be notified by the Government from time to time.
The committee may interact with various stakeholders as it may deem fit. The committee may also invite officers from Department of Revenue including the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) for consultations/discussions as may be necessary.
Union Finance Ministry had announced the decision to set up the committee on 7 May 2015. The committee was appointed to resolve the contentious issue of MAT between the tax authorities and the foreign investors.
As per the Finance Act, 2015 the 20 percent MAT on Capital Gains made by FIIs is waived off from the financial year 2015-16. However, the issue of imposing MAT for past years (till 2014-15) has become controversial as the FIIs raised objections to 68 notices (in lieu of 602 crores rupees) issued by the International Taxation Wing of the Income Tax Department in lieu of MAT.
11. Maharashtra decided to amend Factories Act, 1948 to allow women to work in night shifts
State Government of Maharashtra decided to make amend Section 66(1)(c) of the Factories Act, 1948, so that women employees can work in night shifts.
Section 66(1)(c) of the Factories Act, 1948 restricted women from working at a factory between 7 PM and 6 AM.
The decision was taken following demands from several labour union leaders and politicians to allow women to work post 7 pm. However, the factory managements will have to provide security to women working in night shifts.
With this decision, Maharashtra joined the league of selected states like Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh that allow women to work in night shifts or are in the process of doing so.
The other proposed changes to the Factories Act, 1948 include
• Workers to be eligible for paid leave after working for 90 days in a year instead of the existing 240 days or more.
• It would not be mandatory for workers to take the management's permission for overtime, the limit for which in three months will be increased to 115 hours from the current 75.
The decision of the state government to change the 67-year-old existing law will bring a much needed help for workers working in more than 14000 factories across the state.
State of Bank of India (SBI) on Thursday entered into a seller financing scheme with e-com major Snapdeal. Under the scheme, SBI will provide loans to small and medium enterprises at easier interest rates. Data regarding the sellers will be provided by Snapdeal."Rates of interest will be determined by the credit worthiness of the seller," Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman, SBI, said after signing the MoU with Snapdeal. The country's biggest lender (SBI) had an MSME loan book of approximately Rs. 170,000 crore as on December 31, 2014.
The seller financing scheme will help MSMEs — traders, sellers and manufacturers — scale up their operations by catering to their working capital requirements, Bhattacharya said. According to Kunal Bahl, CEO, Snapdeal, there are at least 150,000 sellers associated with Snapdeal. E-com major Snapdeal operates in a marketplace model.
2. SBI ties up with PayPal to enable cross-border transactions
State Bank of India (SBI), on Thursday, entered into a strategic partnership with digital payments company, PayPal, to facilitate cross-border trade and payments.
The service will be extended to SBI and PayPal users both in India and abroad and is targeted at small and medium enterprises (SMEs). SBI currently, has over 900,000 SME customers.
According to B Sriram, Managing Director &Group Executive (National Banking), SBI, attempts are also being made to extend the services for domestic transactions.
"Currently the tie-up will be for cross-border remittances and payments. We are looking to explore the domestic payments space too in the coming days," he said after signing an MoU with PayPal.
This will be SBI's first such tie-up for remittances and payments.
According to Sriram, SBI is also looking at exploring opportunities in e-visa, e-governance, and remittances for the Clean Ganga Campaign with this tie-up.
He, however, did not give details of how volumes for such cross-border transactions will be impacted post this tie-up with PayPal.
3. National Payments Corp gets nod to tie up with China UnionPay
Close on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China, India's National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which runs the RuPay payment card network, has received the Reserve Bank of India's approval to tie up with the Chinese government-supported payment card network China UnionPay International.
This will allow Chinese tourists and people working in India to be able to use automated teller machines (ATMs) and point of sale (PoS) terminals in India to withdraw cash in the Indian currency.
This could offer healthy competition to global players such as the US-based MasterCard and Visa, which offer services in India but not in China.
China has its own local card payment system managed by UnionPay International, which is not supported by Visa and Mastercard, which is why Chinese customers cannot use their cards in India as of now.
NPCI Chief Executive AP Hota said the two sides have signed a memorandum of understanding, but were still working out the details of the tie-up. Under the approval, China UnionPay's cards will be accepted at all the ATMs and point of sale terminals in India through NPCI's network, Hota said.
About 2 million Chinese tourists visit India each year. NPCI has a network of 1.1 million PoS terminals and 195,000 ATMs in India, which can be used by customers from China, Hota said on the sidelines of an NPCI event.
“The commercial and technical agreements with both the Japanese and Chinese payment processors are to be finalised, following which we will open services to the people of both these countries by March 2016,” Hota said.
NPCI, which is backed by RBI and processes India's retail transactions, will also launch a credit card in early 2016. At present, the number of RuPay card issuance has grown to over 160 million.
NPCI has also launched RuPay Platinum Debit Card to further its card payment network.
4. US President Barack Obama entered Guinness Book of World Record
President of the United States (US) Barack Obama entered Guinness Book of World Record for reaching a million followers in a span of mere 5 hours after going live.Barack Obama debuted on Social Media Platform Twitter with @POTUS account.
He beat the previous record, which was set in April 2014 by Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr., after the actor reached a million followers in 23 hours and 22 minutes.
The US President already has the account @BarackObama, which has amassed nearly 60 million followers. However, the new @POTUS account is associated with the presidential office - or as Obama puts it.
5. Anti Terrorism Day observed across India
21 May: Anti Terrorism Day/ Martyrdom of Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi
Anti-Terrorism Day was observed across India on 21 May 2015. The day is annually observed on the death anniversary of seventh Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who was assassinated at an election rally near Chennai by a suicide bomber from the LTTE on 21 May 1991.
The day is observed to make people aware of the ongoing terrorist activities and the precautions to be taken by the commoners to prevent these acts of terrorism. Its motive is to promote unity, peace and harmony across the nation.
On this day, government employees are administered an anti-terror and violence pledge. Apart from this, several discussions, debates, cultural programmes and lecturers are held on the issue of terrorism and violence across the country.
6. Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai won the 2015 Man Booker International Prize
Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai won the prestigious Man Booker International Prize for 2015. His name was announced as the sixth winner of the award at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
With this award, Krasznahorkai born in 1954 received a cash prize of 60000 pound. He joined the league of other awardees, namely Albanian novelist Ismail Kadare (2005), Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe (2007), Canadian author Alice Munro (2009), and American writer Philip Roth (2011) and American writer Lydia Davis (2013).
Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the new headquarter of Coal India Ltd at New Town Rajarhat in West Bengal
The inauguration was held in the presence of Union Minister of state for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal and the Minister of State for Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Babul Supriyo.
The new building came up at a sprawling 27000 Sq. Ft. area and it was built by the National Building Corporation (NBCC), a public sector company of Urban Development Ministry.
Coal India Limited (CIL), a Maharatna company, is the largest coal producer company in the world. It contributes around 81% of the coal production in India.
8. ISRO announced to launch ASTROSAT in October 2015
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced that ASTROSAT will be launched in October 2015 by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C-34 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
Features of ASTROSAT
• ASTROSAT is the first dedicated Indian space observatory mission aimed at studying distant celestial objects
• The mission is capable of performing observations in Ultraviolet (UV), optical, low and high energy X-ray wavebands at the same time.
• The satellite will be launched to a 650 km near equatorial orbit around the Earth.
• ASTROSAT carries four X-ray payloads, one UV telescope and a charge particle monitor.
• Apart from ISRO, four other Indian institutions, viz., Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) and Raman Research Institute (RRI) are involved in the development of payloads among which two of them were developed in collaboration with Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and University of Leiscester (UoL), UK.
The ISRO also announced that the spacecraft is fully assembled and in the coming days it will undergo several environmental tests like Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) , Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC), Thermal Vacuum, Vibration, Acoustic tests.
9. 9th Session of the India-South Africa Joint Ministerial Commission held in Durban
9th Session of the India-South Africa Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) was held in Durban . The session was co-chaired by Minister for External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Foreign Minister of South Africa Maite Nkoana-Mashabane.
Main points discussed during the 9th session of JMC
• To make it more result-oriented, the two ministers agreed to work under the framework of a five year strategic programme of cooperation and decided to establish a new Joint Working Group on Trade & Economic matters on it.
• They also identified priority areas of cooperation and they are defence, deep-mining, science and technology, agriculture & food processing and insurance.
• Both sides also agreed to set up a Sub-Committee on Science & Technology and promote cooperation in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
• Swaraj and Mashabane also discussed regional and multilateral issues including BRICS, IBSA, IORA, counter-terrorism, cyber security, reforms of multilateral institutions, especially the United Nations Security Council.
10. Union finance Ministry constituted Shah Committee to look into the issue of MAT on FIIs
Union finance Ministry constituted Shah Committee to look into the issue of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) on Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs).
The committee will be headed by Justice A P Shah while the other members are Dr. Girish Ahuja, a chartered accountant and former Associate Professor of Commerce, Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi and Dr. Ashok Lahiri, former Chief Economic Adviser and Executive Director, ADB and currently Chairman of High Level Committee to interact with Trade and Industry on tax laws.Further, the committee would examine the matter relating to levy of MAT on FIIs for the period prior to 1 April 2015.
It will also examine all the related legal provisions, judicial/quasi judicial pronouncements and such other relevant aspects as it may consider appropriate. The committee has been requested to give its recommendations on the above issue expeditiously.
The committee shall set its own procedure for regulating its work. The term of the committee will be for one year or such period as may be notified by the Government from time to time.
The committee may interact with various stakeholders as it may deem fit. The committee may also invite officers from Department of Revenue including the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) for consultations/discussions as may be necessary.
Union Finance Ministry had announced the decision to set up the committee on 7 May 2015. The committee was appointed to resolve the contentious issue of MAT between the tax authorities and the foreign investors.
As per the Finance Act, 2015 the 20 percent MAT on Capital Gains made by FIIs is waived off from the financial year 2015-16. However, the issue of imposing MAT for past years (till 2014-15) has become controversial as the FIIs raised objections to 68 notices (in lieu of 602 crores rupees) issued by the International Taxation Wing of the Income Tax Department in lieu of MAT.
11. Maharashtra decided to amend Factories Act, 1948 to allow women to work in night shifts
State Government of Maharashtra decided to make amend Section 66(1)(c) of the Factories Act, 1948, so that women employees can work in night shifts.
Section 66(1)(c) of the Factories Act, 1948 restricted women from working at a factory between 7 PM and 6 AM.
The decision was taken following demands from several labour union leaders and politicians to allow women to work post 7 pm. However, the factory managements will have to provide security to women working in night shifts.
With this decision, Maharashtra joined the league of selected states like Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh that allow women to work in night shifts or are in the process of doing so.
The other proposed changes to the Factories Act, 1948 include
• Workers to be eligible for paid leave after working for 90 days in a year instead of the existing 240 days or more.
• It would not be mandatory for workers to take the management's permission for overtime, the limit for which in three months will be increased to 115 hours from the current 75.
The decision of the state government to change the 67-year-old existing law will bring a much needed help for workers working in more than 14000 factories across the state.
12. eBay emerges largest online perfume mall in India
With over 100 leading perfume brands on their platform, eBay India (www.ebay.in) has emerged as the largest online perfume mall in India.
The launch of the online mall with over 1,000 SKUs will allow consumers to shop from an array of premium brands, including Giorgio Armani, Bvlgari, Hugo Boss, Chanel, and Davidoff, at a minimum 30 per cent discount.
The overall size of the perfume industry in India (both organised and unorganised) is currently estimated at Rs. 2,000 crore, which is projected to grow by 50 per cent to Rs. 3,000 crore.
The current online perfume market is at Rs. 148 crore which is projected to grow by about 120 per cent to Rs. 345 crore. As Indian consumers are increasingly turning to online shopping, the online market share of the perfume category, which is currently 7 per cent of the total perfume market, is set to increase to approximately by 11 per cent.
Karnataka contributes to approximately 10 per cent of the total perfume market in India.
13. Highest paid Infoscian is COO Pravin Rao
Infosys Chief Operating Officer UB Pravin Rao is the highest-paid Infoscian during the financial year 2015, ahead of CEO Vishal Sikka.
Rao, earned a total compensation of Rs. 5.82 crore which included a base salary of $109,583, bonus and incentive of $616,509 and annual commission of $244,554, according to a filing with the SEC.
Chief Financial Officer Rajiv Bansal was the second highest-paid executive during the financial year earning Rs. 4.5 crore for the Bengaluru-based IT major which included a base salary of $124,567, bonus and incentives worth $450,980 and commissions to the tune of $172,700, the filing added.
With over 100 leading perfume brands on their platform, eBay India (www.ebay.in) has emerged as the largest online perfume mall in India.
The launch of the online mall with over 1,000 SKUs will allow consumers to shop from an array of premium brands, including Giorgio Armani, Bvlgari, Hugo Boss, Chanel, and Davidoff, at a minimum 30 per cent discount.
The overall size of the perfume industry in India (both organised and unorganised) is currently estimated at Rs. 2,000 crore, which is projected to grow by 50 per cent to Rs. 3,000 crore.
The current online perfume market is at Rs. 148 crore which is projected to grow by about 120 per cent to Rs. 345 crore. As Indian consumers are increasingly turning to online shopping, the online market share of the perfume category, which is currently 7 per cent of the total perfume market, is set to increase to approximately by 11 per cent.
Karnataka contributes to approximately 10 per cent of the total perfume market in India.
13. Highest paid Infoscian is COO Pravin Rao
Infosys Chief Operating Officer UB Pravin Rao is the highest-paid Infoscian during the financial year 2015, ahead of CEO Vishal Sikka.
Rao, earned a total compensation of Rs. 5.82 crore which included a base salary of $109,583, bonus and incentive of $616,509 and annual commission of $244,554, according to a filing with the SEC.
Chief Financial Officer Rajiv Bansal was the second highest-paid executive during the financial year earning Rs. 4.5 crore for the Bengaluru-based IT major which included a base salary of $124,567, bonus and incentives worth $450,980 and commissions to the tune of $172,700, the filing added.
14. Eminent Economist Mrinal Datta Chaudhuri passed away
Eminent economist and academics Mrinal Datta Chaudhuri passed away in Pune, Mahrashtra. He was 81. Chaudhuri who also served as the policy advisor to the previous UPA government was known for providing valuable policy inputs to the Indian planning process and the economy as a whole through his research papers.
He also was known for authoring a research paper on challenges of economic reform in the context of both State and market failures in 1990, just before the collapse of the erstwhile Soviet Union and India’s lurch towards globalization.
Eminent economist and academics Mrinal Datta Chaudhuri passed away in Pune, Mahrashtra. He was 81. Chaudhuri who also served as the policy advisor to the previous UPA government was known for providing valuable policy inputs to the Indian planning process and the economy as a whole through his research papers.
He also was known for authoring a research paper on challenges of economic reform in the context of both State and market failures in 1990, just before the collapse of the erstwhile Soviet Union and India’s lurch towards globalization.
Questn no. 7 ans is IDBI not HDFC..
ReplyDeletethanks. answer is modified
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