Notifications & Circulars
Press Information Bureau
06.12.2017
Banking
Statement by the Ministry of Finance on the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)'s Policy Statement
MANU/PIBU/1433/2017
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) released its fifth Bimonthly Policy Statement today. The MPC recognized that inflation remains firmly under control, retaining its inflation projection for the second half of FY 2018 and assessing that the risks to this projection are evenly balanced. For that reason, it has maintained a neutral policy stance.
The MPC has also retained its annual GVA forecast for FY 2018 of 6.7 per cent recognizing several significant developments and emphasizing the Government's reform efforts such as GST, Bank Recapitalization Package and improving Ease of Doing Business Ranking. The Government has taken note of the MPC statement.
Tags : Bimonthly Policy Statement Release
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Press Information Bureau
06.12.2017
Civil
Fourth Pre-Budget Consultation Meeting for Union Budget 2018-19
MANU/PIBU/1435/2017
The Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Shri Arun Jaitley today held consultations with the representatives from more than twenty Social Sector Stakeholder organizations. The stakeholders represented interests for Dalit Human Rights, Right to Food, Right to Education, Budget and Governance Accountability, Child Protection concerns, senior citizens' needs, water conservation needs, nutrition and health concerns. FM agreed with Stakeholders demand that Administrative Ministries should release Welfare Schemes funds on priority to beneficiaries. Shri Jaitley said his Government is fully committed in ensuring cost effective fund utilization of the Welfare Schemes spanning the various Social Sector Ministries. The Finance Minister also welcomed the suggestions of the representatives desiring greater allocation of funds for Child protection schemes; Nutrition security concerns; more targeted benchmarks to improve quality of Government funded schools; healthcare for the elderly and incentives to ensure better employment conditions for working mothers; streamlining the vocational training to boost employment; aid paperless, presence less and cashless dealings with employers to ensure transparency for employees and address needs of labour in the Informal Sector.
Along with the Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley, the Pre-Budget Consultative Meeting with the representatives of Social Sector Groups was also attended among others by Dr. Hasmukh Adhia, Finance Secretary, Shri Subhash Chandra Garg, Secretary (Economic Affairs), Shri Rakesh Srivastava, Secretary, Women & Child Development(WCD), Dr. Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) and Ms. Kalpana, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment.
The representatives of various Social Sector Union Groups who attended the today's meeting included among others Ms. Bina Pallical, Director, Economic Rights, National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, Sree Harica, Programme Director, Mines Minerals and People, Ms Kavita Srivastava, Convenor, Right to Food Campaign, Asadullah, Programme Director, Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability, Shri Ambarish Rai, Convenor, Right to Education Forum, Bidisha Pilla, CEO, Save the Children, Shri Bipul Chatterjee, CUTS International, Ms. Yamini Aiyar, Research Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, Ms. Rukmini Banerjee, CEO, Pratham, Ms. Mirai Chatterjee, Director of Social Security, Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), Shri Mathew Cherian, CEO, Helpage India, Ms Komal Ganotra from Child Rights and You (CRY), Shri Manish Sabharwal, Chairman, TeamLease Services Ltd., Anil Nair, Deputy Head, Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship ad Democracy, Bin Chacko, Manager, World Vision India, Shri V. R. Raman, Head of Policy, WaterAid, Shri Subhas Singh, Chairman, National Confederation of Dalit Organization (NACDOR), Sehjo Singh, Programme Director, Actionaid and Ms Subhadra Menon from Kailash Satyarthi Childern's Foundation.
Tags : Pre Budget Consultation Meeting
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Reserve Bank of India
06.12.2017
Banking
Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies
MANU/RPRL/0189/2017
Rationalisation of Merchant Discount Rate
1. In recent times, debit card transactions at 'Point of Sales' have shown significant growth. With a view to giving further fillip to acceptance of debit card payments for purchase of goods and services across a wider network of merchants, it has been decided to rationalise the framework for Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) applicable on debit card transactions based on the category of merchants. A differentiated MDR for asset-light acceptance infrastructure and a cap on absolute amount of MDR per transaction will also be prescribed. The revised MDR aims at achieving the twin objectives of increased usage of debit cards and ensuring sustainability of the business for the entities involved. The revised instructions for MDR on debit card transactions will be issued today. Allowing Overseas Branches/Subsidiaries of Indian Banks to Refinance ECBs.
2. Currently Indian corporates are permitted to refinance their existing External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs) at a lower all-in-cost. The overseas branches/subsidiaries of Indian banks are, however, not permitted to extend such refinance. In order to provide a level playing field, it has been decided, in consultation with the Government, to permit the overseas branches/subsidiaries of Indian banks to refinance ECBs of AAA rated corporates as well as Navratna and Maharatna PSUs, by raising fresh ECBs. In this regard, the revised guidelines will be issued within a week.
Report of the Working Group on Hedging of Commodity Price Risk by Residents - Implementation
3. The report of the Working Group on Hedging of Commodity Price Risk by Residents (Chairman: Shri Chandan Sinha) was placed on the Reserve Bank's website for public comments on November 16, 2017. The major recommendations of the Group include the creation of a 'Positive List' of commodities that can be hedged, and enabling inventory hedging, price fix hedging as well as hedging of the currency risk resulting from overseas commodity derivatives. The Reserve Bank shall examine the Group's recommendations and the public feedback. A circular with revised directions will be issued by January 15, 2018.
Tags : Statement Regulatory Policies Discount Rate
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Reserve Bank of India
05.12.2017
Banking
Reserve Bank cautions regarding risk of virtual currencies including Bitcoins
MANU/RPRL/0187/2017
Attention of members of public is drawn to the Press Release issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on December 24, 2013, cautioning users, holders and traders of Virtual Currencies (VCs) including Bitcoins regarding the potential economic, financial, operational, legal, customer protection and security related risks associated in dealing with such VCs. Vide press release dated February 1, 2017, RBI has also clarified that it has not given any licence/authorisation to any entity/company to operate such schemes or deal with Bitcoin or any VC. In the wake of significant spurt in the valuation of many VCs and rapid growth in Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), RBI reiterates the concerns conveyed in the earlier press releases.
Tags : Virtual currencies Risk Caution
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Press Information Bureau
04.12.2017
Civil
Government of India and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany Sign Government to Government Umbrella Agreement and other agreements
MANU/PIBU/1427/2017
The Government to Government Umbrella Agreement between the Government of India and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany concerning Financial Cooperation in 2016 (II) under the Indo-German Development Cooperation was signed here today to formalize an amount up to Euro 200 million for the Financial Cooperation in form of loan for the project 'Climate Friendly Urban Mobility III' and Euro 11 million Accompanying measures in form of grant for four projects.
The Agreement was signed by H.E. Dr. Martin Ney, Ambassador on behalf of the Federal Republic of Germany. Shri S. Selvakumar, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance signed the Agreement on behalf of the Government of India. The Part I of the Agreement had already been signed in May, 2017.
In addition to the above, the following Loan Agreements were signed between Department of Economic Affairs with KfW, Germany under the Indo-German Bilateral Development Cooperation :-
(a) Loan Agreement for the project " Community based sustainable Forest Management - Component I Manipur" was signed with KfW, Germany for a loan of Euro 15 million. The broad objectives of the Project are restoration of degraded forests in upper watersheds, reclamation of abandoned shifting cultivation areas, biodiversity conservation, water resources conservation and livelihood improvement of forest dependent rural tribal people in the project area.
(b) Loan Agreement for the project "Madhya Pradesh Urban Sanitation and Environment Programme" for Euro 50 million Reduced Interest Loan and Euro 2.5 million grant. The broad objective of the Project is to improve facilities for water supply, sanitation and sewerage treatment plant in selected towns of Madhya Pradesh, improve solid and liquid waste management and disposal systems, improvement of surface drainage systems for flood mitigation in selected towns of Madhya Pradesh.
(c) Loan Agreement for the project "Sustainable Urban Infrastructure Development Odisha - Phase II for EUR 55 Million Reduced Interest Loan with EUR 2 Million as Grant. The basic objective of the project is to improve Urban Infrastructure by linking them with Government priority. The broad objective of the Project is to improve the urban infrastructure of Odisha and to provide better quality of life to the people.
(d) Loan Agreement for the project "Green Energy Corridor - Intra-State Transmission System in Maharashtra" for EUR 12 million Reduced Interest loan. The broad objective of this project is to put in place a transmission system for evacuating renewable energy.
Tags : Agreement Financial Cooperation Signing of
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Ministry of Corporate Affairs
04.12.2017
Company
Relaxation of additional fees and extension of last date of filing of Form CRA-4 under the Companies Act, 2013
MANU/DCAF/0107/2017
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has received several representations about extension of the last date for filing of Form CRA-4 without additional fees on account of Companies (Cost Records and Audit) Amendment Rules, 2017 and other reasons. The matter has been examined and it has been decided to extend the last date for filing of Form CRA-4, for the financial years starting on or after 1st April, 2016, without additional fees till 31st December, 2017.
2. This issues with the approval of competent authority.
Tags : Relaxation Additional fees date extension Form filing
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Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
04.12.2017
Media and Communication
TRAI releases Recommendations on 'Network Testing before Commercial Launch of Services'
MANU/TRAI/0110/2017
1. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has today issued its Recommendations on 'Network Testing before Commercial Launch of Services'.
2. The Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) are required to install applicable systems for providing mobile services to the subscribers. A TSP has to ensure that its service meets the Quality of Service (QoS) standards prescribed by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). Therefore, it is important that all applicable systems are tested before commencement of commercial service.
3. DoT, through its letter dated 9th September 2016, communicated that at present, network testing is being carried out by licensees on the basis of erstwhile practices followed by DoT/BSNL; and test SIM Cards are issued by such licensees to check the quality of network before the commercial launch of services. The present licences for various services issued by DoT do not prescribe any time period for network testing before commercial launch of services by the licensees. Therefore, DoT requested the Authority to provide its recommendations on testing of network before commercial launch of services including enrolment of customers for testing purposes before commercial launch, duration of testing period etc.
4. In this regard, a consultation paper was released on 1st May 2017, wherein various issues involved and the possible framework to bring clarity on the matter were discussed and the stakeholders were requested to provide their comments and counter-comments. TRAI received comments from 16 stakeholders and counter-comments from 3 stakeholders. These were posted on TRAI's website. An Open House Discussion was conducted on 18th August 2017. Based on the comments received and internal analysis, TRAI has finalized its recommendations. The key recommendations are:
a) A TSP should be allowed to enrol test subscribers in testing phase to carry out the network testing before commercial launch of its services.
b) The number of test subscribers that can be enrolled by a TSP in an LSA should be limited to 5% of its installed network capacity for that LSA. The service provider will submit the detailed capacity calculations of the network to DoT and TRAI atleast 15 days before commencing enrolment of test subscribers.
c) There should be a limit of 90 days on the test phase involving test subscribers. However, if the TSP fails to conclude network testing due to valid reasons, it may make a representation to the Licensor, seeking additional time for network testing giving detailed justification, which may be decided by the Licensor on case to case basis.
d) If a TSP wants to enrol test subscribers, it should give prior intimation to DoT and TRAI atleast 15 days before commencing enrolment of test subscribers.
e) All licensing provisions related to the security and privacy such as ensuring adequate verification of each and every customer before enrolling him as a subscriber, protection and privacy of communication, maintaining Call Detail Record (CDR)/IP Detail Record (IPDR), Confidentiality of Information, Lawful interception & monitoring etc. must be complied with by the licensee.
f) MNP facility should not be extended to network under testing.
g) If a TSP wants to enrol test subscribers for the testing of its network, it should transparently give the following information to the test subscribers at the time of their enrolment:
(i) During test phase, TSP is not mandated to adhere to specified level of QoS. Therefore, there may be sub-optimal level of network performance.
(ii) The scope of services during the test period.
(iii) MNP facility won't be available till the services are commercially launched.
(iv) There won't be any charge (fixed charge or usage based charge) during the test phase.
(v) Likely date of commercial launch.
5. For any clarification/information, Shri S.T. Abbas, Advisor (Networks, Spectrum and Licensing) may be contacted at Tel. No.+91-11-23210481 or e-mail advmn@trai.gov.in.
Tags : Recommendations Release Network Testing
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