Indian Economy - Current Affairs for July, 2015

The growth registered in the final figures of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India during last three years was better than the provisional estimates of FTAs except for the year 2012. The Growth rate on 2012 and 2013 are 4.3% and 5.9% respectively.

This project would be completed in coming five years and the travel time between the state capital and second capital would be brought down from 14 hours to 10 hours. This super-expressway will become a road to development for the backwards regions of northern Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha in the state.

The top five states to attract FDI flows in 2014-15 were Delhi NCR, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Gujarat.

In the first two months of the current fiscal - April to May 2015, the FDI equity flow was 7.4 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 40 percent as compare to 5.3 billion U.S. dollars received during the same period in April-May 2014.

For this project ministry recently floated a tender worth over Rs. 150 crore to buy data analytics software and related infrastructure. It will primarily track the Permanent Account Numbers (PAN) being quoted on financial transactions and tally them with income tax filings.

The e-Tourist Visa scheme launched by the Government of India on the November 27, 2015 has been extended to 77 countries/territories so far. The total number of countries/territories covered under the e-Tourist Visa scheme will go up from 74 to 77, with the inclusion of these countries/territories.

The amendments include compensation to the states for 5 years instead of upto 5 years for any revenue loss due to introduction of GST.

It is Maharashtra's first IIM and is being mentored by IIM Ahmedabad. It will start its first batch with 60 students from a temporary campus in Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology this week.

BSE had launched an enhanced module for pledge reporting wherein the NBFCs shall be able to submit quarterly reporting of pledged data. This is in line with RBI's recent initiative vide its circular dated April 10, 2015. Currently, more than 65 NBFCs are using this platform on BSE. So far, the total value of promoters' pledged holding stands at nearly 2 lakh crore rupees on the exchange. On August 21, 2014, the central bank had directed NBFCs with asset size of 100 crore rupees and above to report online to stock exchanges, information on the shares pledged in their favour, by borrowers for availing loans. In its circular in April this year, the RBI had asked NBFCs to report data on pledged shares on a quarterly basis, among others.

There are thirty one countries including India in the world which generate electricity from nuclear source. India ranked at 12th position in terms of power generation. However, it stood at 6th position in terms of number of reactors in operation country- wise, globally.

Ministry of Railways has decided to grant automatic refund of confirmed or RAC e-tickets on cancellation of trains similar to waitlisted e-tickets. An official release said, there shall not be any requirement for cancellation or filing of TDR for refund of e-tickets in case of cancellation of trains. This has become effective from 13th of this month. However, in case of cancellation of trains, PRS counter ticket shall continue to be refunded across the reservation counter as per the existing provisions.

However, the fuel pumps, which are directly owned by oil companies like Indian Oil, BPCL and HPCL, are open. The petroleum dealers are demanding that tax on diesel should be lowered by 1-2 percent than the rates prevailing in neighbouring states. Dealers have been demanding removal of 5 percent surcharge on VAT and landing cost of crude oil at Panipat refinery from the state government.

While laying the foundation stones of Ambala-Kaithal and Yamunanagr -Barwala four lane highways at Saha in district Ambala, Mr Gadkari announced that road projects costing Rs 25,000 crore would be initiated in the State by December 2015.

The move is aimed at modernising all government-run employment exchanges and providing an online platform to job seekers and employers. According to a Labour Ministry press release stating way forward for the NCS project, the government has planned integration (of portal) with CBSE database for verification of candidate academic performance. Under the NCS project, Labour Ministry is transforming the National Employment Service comprising a network of 978 employment exchanges into NCS by leveraging information technology to improve the delivery of services.

National Floor Level Minimum Wage has been hiked from 137 rupees to 160 rupees per day which will be effective from first of this month.

The Helpline is currently operational in two languages in English and Hindi.

Swiss Challenge Method means a Private Sector Participant submits an unsolicited or suo-motu proposal and draft contract principles for undertaking a project, not already initiated by the Government Agency or the Local Authority. The Government Agency or the Local Authority then invites competitive counter proposals in such manner as may be prescribed by the Government.

The seven states include Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. In this seven states, activities envisaged under the project includes establishment of 48 new Grid sub-stations of different voltage levels with total transformation capacity around 17100 MVA (Mega Volt Ampere) by installing over 7800 ckt-kms (Circuit Kilometers) of transmission lines.

Secretary, Labour and Employment Shankar Aggarwal on 6th July ’15 launched the Website of Employees’ Provident Fund Organization, EPFO, as part of Digital India Infrastructure.

The objective of the project is to restore, improve and enhance resilience of public services, environmental facilities, and livelihoods in targeted Communities of Andhra Pradesh, and increase the capacity of the State to respond promptly and effectively to an eligible crisis or emergency.

The tunnel is being built on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway will be opened for general traffic in July 2016. It will reduce the distance between the two cities by 30 kms. The 9.2 km tunnel is part of 286km long four laning project of the Jammu - Srinagar National Highway.

According to an order, the Labour Ministry had notified the changes to the three schemes for the purpose on 2nd July’15. EPFO had settled 1.29 crore claims in 2014-15, of which more than 90 per cent were disposed off within 20 days.

The cumulative figure regarding claim settlement for the current fiscal i.e; from April to June stood at 33.35 lakh claims, out of which 43% were settled within 3 days.

The rail line is India’s first railway-line built with private sector participation under Non-Government Railway (NGR) Policy 2012 of Indian Railways. The broad-gauge railway line between Gandhidham and Tuna-Tekra Port in Gujarat was inaugurated by flagging off a goods train.

As per the data released by regulator TRAI, at the end of May 2015 the total number of telephone connections stood at 1,002.05 million, of which 975.78 million connections were wireless or mobile.

The increase in FDI is attributed to the launch of Make in India initiatives in September last year. In 2014-15, the country witnessed unprecedented growth of 717 percent, to 40.92 billion dollars investment by Foreign Institutional Investors. The FDI inflow under the approval route saw a growth of 87 per cent during the period with inflow of 2.22 billion dollars and more than 90 percent of FDI through automatic route. These indicators reflect remarkable pace of approval being given by the government and confidence of investors in the resurgent India.

A total of 1,26,214 tourists arrived on e-Tourist Visa during the period. During the month of June this year, a total of 15,557 tourists arrived on e-Tourist Visa. The tourists from USA account for about 42% percent in it. The high growth may be attributed to introduction of e-Tourist Visa for 76 countries as against coverage of earlier Tourist Visa on Arrival scheme for 12 countries. The Government of India had launched Tourist Visa on Arrival enabled by Electronic Travel Authorization, presently known as e-Tourist Visa scheme in November last year for 43 countries. Later, the Government extended this Scheme to the nationals of 33 countries this year.

India will be the world's fastest growing economy for the second consecutive year in 2016 at 7.5 per cent even as it decreased its current year global economy growth forecast to 3.3 per cent. In its World Economic Outlook Update, IMF retained India's growth forecast for current year at 7.5 percent which will be higher than China's 6.8 per cent.

The facility of online payment was launched by Commerce Secretary Rita A. Teaotia. Now with the online payment facility being available from 53 banks as well as Credit and Debit cards, it would be possible to not only apply online for benefits under various schemes of Foreign Trade Policy but also make payment for the required application fee online. DGFT has already operationalised the facility of online filing of various applications by the exporters / importers under the Foreign Trade Policy (2015-20). Early this year, DGFT also operationalised the facility of online submission of applications for issue of online Importer Exporter Code in digital format.

Meanwhile the RBI governor nudged banks to lower their lending rates, and rejected their contention that the cost of funds remains high. Earlier on 7th Apr’15 Chiefs of major banks-SBI, ICICI and HDFC had said that lowering of interest rate will not be possible just as yet. Major Banks including the State Bank of India, HDFC and ICICI Bank have announced cut in their lending rates after RBI governor Dr. Raghuram Rajan expressed strong disappointment over non-transmission of policy rates. India’s biggest lender, the State Bank of India has lowered its base lending rate by 0.15 percentage point to 9.85 per cent. The new rate will be effective from 10th April. The private sector HDFC Bank has cut lending rate by 0.15 per cent to 9.85 percent effective from April 13 while the ICICI Bank announced cutting base lending rate by 0.25 percentage point to 9.75 percent.

MUDRA is abbreviated as Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Ltd. It will be set up through a statutory enactment, and be responsible for developing and refinancing all Micro-finance Institutions which are in the business of lending to micro and small business entities. MUDRA will also partner with state and regional level coordinators to provide finance to Last Mile Financiers of small and micro business enterprises. Around 5.77 crore small business units will be provided access to institutional finance through MUDRA Bank.

The RBI on 31 March 2015 approved the merger of ING Vysya Bank into Kotak Mahindra Bank.

As per the statement made by Officials of the State Bank of India, all the districts have able to open at least one bank account of every household under the scheme.