Major Highlights- India’s external debt, as at end-March 2011, was placed at US $ 305.9 billion (17.3 per cent of GDP) recording an increase of US $ 44.9 billion or 17.2 per cent over the end-March 2010 level on account of significant increase in commercial borrowings, short-term trade credits, bilateral and multilateral borrowings.
The government has hiked petrol and diesel prices by a marginal Rs 0.27 a litre and Rs 0.15 per litre respectively following increase in the commission paid to petrol pump dealers. The government approved raising dealer’s commission paid on petrol from Rs 1.218 per kilolitre to Rs 1,499 per kl, resulting in a Rs 0.27 per litre increase in retail price with effect from midnight, an official said here.
Asserting that he has no hesitation in subjecting himself to the jurisdiction of Lokpal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday ruled out inclusion of higher judiciary within the ambit of the anti-corruption ombudsman. Bringing higher judiciary under the jurisdiction of the Lokpal would be contrary to the Constitutional scheme of things, he said while voicing confidence that a national consensus would be evolved on the proposeed Lokpal Bill.
Social networking site Facebook will next month introduce a payment system ‘Facebook Credits’ for Indian users who could spend the virtual currency across various games or applications they use on the popular website. A virtual currency, Facebook Credits is already popular among gaming enthusiasts in many other countries, including the US.
The salient features of the All India Railway Time Table Encouraged by the public response over the past few years all the user-friendly features of Trains at a Glance viz. how to read a table, route map, station index, trains between important stations, station code index, Train number index, Train name index, has been retained. Five digit numbering scheme for train services has come into force from 20th December, 2010. This has been necessitated as the numbers in four digit numbering scheme got exhausted as also to enable capture of all types of passenger train services viz. Duronto, Rajdhani, Shatabdi, and other Mail/Express services, sub-urban, holiday specials, etc. on Indian Railways. The five-digit train numbering has been accordingly indicated in Trains at a Glance.
The Bank would like to clarify to the general public that no company / entity by the name, M/s Forex Achievements is registered as a company under the Companies Act, 1956 which is a prerequisite for obtaining CoR from the Bank. The CoR bearing Registration No. 07.00410 dated April 07, 2010 displayed by the entity on its web site is a fabricated one and not issued by RBI to it. Members of public are hereby cautioned not to deposit money with M/s Forex Achievements and such other unincorporated bodies. Persons depositing money with these unincorporated bodies would be doing so at their own risk.
Relatives of jailed former Union minister A Raja including his wife and brother were today questioned by the Income Tax department. Raja’s wife Parameswari and his brother A Ramachandran besides two other relatives were quizzed at the regional I-T office for about three hours.
Nearly 121 central government employees, including one from CBI, are under Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) scanner for their alleged involvement in corrupt practices. Railway ministry topped the list with 23 officials under CVC scanner, 17 are from DoT, 12 from Bureau of Indian Standards, seven from Central Board of Excise and Customs, six each from DDA and MCD among others, a CVC report said.
In a bid to minimise the impact of recent fuel price hike on consumers, the Maharashtra government today reduced Value Added Tax (Vat) on diesel and kerosene by two per cent. Chief minister Mr Prithviraj Chavan told reporters here after the Cabinet meeting that the new rates of Vat on diesel in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai would come down to 24 per cent from the existing 26 per cent. While in rest of the state, the Vat rate will decrease from 23 to 21 per cent.
Terming the $2.6 billion tax liability on the company as ‘inequitable’, UK-based Vodafone today questioned the Indian authorities for not raising the tax claim on the party (Hutchison) which made profit by selling its stake. Vodafone exuded confidence that there was no tax payable on its deal for buying majority stake of Hutchison in Indian telecom firm Hutchison-Essar for over $11 billion in 2007.
