Slow internet connections will continue till Friday, even as restoration work on two cables out of the three that had severed a few days ago is under way. In India, the latency will continue till the end of the week, even for customers who have opted for redundancy bandwidth. For those who did not opt for redundancy bandwidth, the latency would be higher till the restoration.
The Reserve Bank of India has started a review of the non-performing asset or bad loan classification norms to ease the flow of credit to corporate groups. The move follows a reference from the government and is aimed at relaxing the norms temporarily to enable companies to access funds during the economic downturn that is putting pressure on cash flows and repayment capabilities.
The government said on Tuesday it has no proposal to ban futures trading in more commodities. Since the Abhijit Sen Committee could not establish any definite causal relationship between futures trading and rise in prices of commodities, there is no proposal to ban futures trading in more commodities, minister of state for finance P K Bansal said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
The government may introduce provisions in the new direct tax code to prevent misuse of double taxation avoidance agreements India has with other countries. The new code is likely to be unveiled before the year ends. A government official said a discussion paper on the code, a major initiative undertaken under the guidance of the former finance minister and present home minister P Chidambaram, is being fine-tuned.
Concerned at the government’s ‘revenue loss’ due to giving ‘large deductions’ while calculating the income tax payable by banks, tax authorities have decided to scan the accounts of lenders, including foreign banks, in minute detail.
The government on Saturday relaxed the ban on export of cement in the backdrop of waning demand for this crucial construction input from the real estate sector. The ban was imposed on April 11 this year to curb the rapidly-rising inflation.
The use of monetary policy to stabilise growth has always been subject to concerns about effectiveness, often described as ‘pushing on a string.’ The central bank can lower rates and inject liquidity all it wants, but these measures will only have the desired impact if they translate into lower lending rates and larger flows of credit from the banking system.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Reserve Bank of India Governor D Subbarao and Finance Secretary Arun Ramanathan in New Delhi on Saturday to discuss the macroeconomic situation. The meeting comes ahead of a fresh stimulus package aimed at sectors not covered in the earlier measures announced by the central bank and the government.
Concerned by the delay in announcement of the second economic stimulus package, the commerce ministry has asked the committee of secretaries headed by Cabinet secretary KM Chandrashekhar for speedy intervention.
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