Indian Economy - Current Affairs for May, 2015

A RBI press release has informed that foreign currency assets, a major part of the overall reserves, declined by 2.285 billion US Dollar to 326.839 billion. In the previous week, the reserves had surged by a whopping 1.745 billion US Dollar to touch a record high of 353.876 billion.

The industry body has outlined ten areas requiring policy attention that can bring huge economic benefits for growth, investment and employment creation. The areas highlighted by CII for more attention include macro-economy, mining, manufacturing, land acquisition, energy, labour reforms, skill development, taxation, financial sector and Companies Act.

India has moved from 4th to 3rd position in production of crude steel globally in last one year. The government would enhance the capacity of Steel Authority of India (SAIL) to 50 million tonnes annually with an investment of 1.5 lakh crore rupees.

Union Minister of State for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping P Radhakrishnan said that in the last fiscal 4,410 KM Highways were completed in the country. The Minister said that at present road works are being done at the rate of 12 KM per day and this will be roads to 30 KM per day soon.

The banks, in this small mountainous state with a meagre population of little over six lakhs, have been successful not only in opening new accounts but also in mobilizing handsome balance in the accounts so opened.

The government has exuded confidence that it will contain the modest target of fiscal deficit at 3.9 percent.

Customers of State Bank of India (SBI) can now use their debit cards on PayPal for buying products from overseas websites. The partnership will also allow SBI's Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) customers to use PayPal's secure payment solutions.

The mid-year update of the UN World Economic Situation and Prospects, released on 21st May’15, said India's economy is projected to grow by 7.6 percent this year and 7.7 percent in 2016, overtaking China. China is projected to grow by 7 percent this year and 6.8 per cent next year. The report termed South Asia's economic outlook as largely favourable.

All households in the state have been successfully covered under the scheme. More than 5.53 lakh households have been covered with 1.55 lakh new bank accounts.

This increased service tax will be inclusive of an education cess.

This was largely due to a fall in the prices of fuel and manufactured items. Inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index, was 5.55 percent in April 2014.

The division bench headed by Chief Justice Sunil Ambwani gave the orders while hearing a PIL which had raised suspicion on the credibility of the societies in terms of the deposits taken from non-members.

The court observed that these societies are carrying out banking activities without any permission from RBI.

The court also considered the ATM installations by these societies as a banking activity. In its order, the bench said that the societies' directors will have to return the entire deposited amount to the depositors as per rules.

The government released factory output data that showed that industrial production growth in March slowed to 2.1 percent, compared to 5 percent a month ago.

The inflation for March 2015 was at 5.11 percent. Data released by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on 12th May’15 mentioned that Inflation in food items like pulses and products was recorded at 12.52 percent highest in the category. Milk and its products registered a price hike of 8.21 percent , Spices at 8.7 percent. Whereas the inflation in vegetables and meat stood at 6.63 percent and 5.50 percent. The ministry also said that the rural inflation stood at 5.37 percent whereas urban centres registered CPI of 4.36 percent.

IISCO plant is situated in Burnpur, West Bengal.

SEBI has said that the existing colour codes would be replaced by pictorial meter named "riskometer" and this meter would appropriately depict the level of risk in any specific scheme. SEBI has increased the risk category from three to five levels namely low, moderately low, moderate, moderately high and high.