July 15-24 Current Affairs

National affairs
Three year plan structure for GST Regime
Goods and services tax (GST), which is to replace existing VAT, service tax, excise duties and central sales tax among others, will be placed from April 1, 2011. Pranab Mukerjee has unveiled a three-rate structure for GST which would finally converge into a single-rate regime of 16% on all goods and services.
 Under the GST regime, there will ultimately be a flat tax rate of 16% — 8% for central GST and 8% for state GST and the proposed three tier structure for the new indirect tax regime-  20 per cent for goods, 16 per cent for services and 12 per cent for essential items. As per the formula, the Centre and the states will equally share t he revenue.

The Proposed three-rate Structure for GST – How does it look like?

• In the first year, there will be a dual-rate GST. The Central GST is proposed at 6% for essential commodities and a 10% standard rate for other goods. States are expected to impose similar levies. As a result, the combined GST on goods will be between 12% and 20%. The tax on services will be levied at 8% by the Centre and a similar levy by the states. 
• In the second year, only the standard rate will be reduced to 9%. Rest will be the same.
• In the third year, all the rates will be brought to a level of 16% for both Centre and states put together. 

States & Centre Have Agreed Upon 

• Article 246A to be introduced through Constitutional amendment that would give Parliament & state assemblies power to levy GST 
• Constitution to be amended by introducing Article 279A that will provide for creation of a GST council. Headed by FM, council will have state FMs as members
• Article 279B to be introduced through Constitutional amendment making a provision for dispute settlement authority. To consist of a chairperson and 2 members to be appointed by chief Justice 
• GST to be defined under Article 366(12)A

Architecture 

• IT architecture with a common GST portal: All taxpayers will now directly pay tax with the GST portal; existing structures to be used for audit &enforcement issues 
• To create a special purpose vehicle (SPV): SPV will be responsible for running the GST portal. State, Centre & a technology company will be partners in the SPV 
• National Information Unit to be technology partner and IT company NSDL, with VAT experience likely to be selected to rollout and run the GST architecture 

The 13th Finance Commission it its recommendations had asked the Centre to set aside Rs 50,000 crore to compensate the states for the possible revenue loss from GST rollout.


Indian rupee gets a symbol, joins elite currency club
India has finally got a symbol for the Rupee and joined a select club of countries whose currencies have an unique identity. The Union Cabinet approved the design, which includes both the Devnagiri 'Ra' and the Roman capital 'R' and has two parallel lines running at the top. The parallel lines symbolise the equal to sign.
The new symbol, designed by Bombay IIT post-graduate D Udaya Kumar, was approved by the cabinet today — reflecting that the Indian currency, backed by an over-trillion dollar economy, was finally making its presence felt on the international scene.

PMEAC economic outlook report for 2010-11
Prime Minister' Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) pitched for tightening of the monetary and fiscal policies to check rising inflation in its economic outlook report for 2010-11.
It has projected -

• GDP growth at 8.5% for this year, 
• 9% for 2011-12 and 
• Inflation rate is anticipated to be 6.5% by March 2011
• for agricultural production 4.5% growth this fiscal and 4% in 2011-12. 

According to the PMEAC projections, industry that grew 9.3% in 2009-10, is set to grow at 9.7% this fiscal and 10.3% in the next fiscal. Services sector that contributes more than 57% to the gross domestic product is estimated to grow at 8.9% in the current fiscal and 9.8% in the next one as compared to 8.5% that it had achieved in 2009-10.


India, US sign pact to counter terrorism
India and the US on Friday signed a Counter Terrorism Cooperation Initiative (CCI) that includes steps to check financing of terror activities, joint probe in cases of bomb blasts besides cooperation in mega-city policing, transportation including rail security, development of investigative skills, cyber and border security.

CCEA approves Rs 2,873 crore socio-economic plan for Mizoram
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved a comprehensive and integrated socio-economic development project for Mizoram, involving a cost of over Rs 2,873 crore over a period of five years. The programme that will benefit 1.20 lakh families, will be implemented under the new land use policy of the state government. It envisages switching people involved in Jhum cultivation to permanent livelihood activities with ownership of land, access to link roads, irrigation and water harvesting and all this at a remunerative price for produces.

Govt pushes China model for ‘Eastern Green Revolution’
The government has come forward with a proposal to replicate the Chinese Green Revolution model in the eastern states and promote hybrid rice on a mission mode in the region. Taking a leaf from success stories in China, the Ministry has also proposed a task force on promotion of hybrid rice and envisioned pushing for private sector participation. Productivity of rice in India is only 3.3 tons per hectare, nearly half of the productivity in China. Hybrid rice varieties account for nearly 63 percent of the total area under rice in China, whereas India has a lowly figure of 3 percent.

UN Food Regulations May Not Impact Indian Exporters 
India is unlikely to be impacted by the new melamine and afaltoxin limit set by the UN Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex). In an effort to prevent dangerous contamination of food with melamine, a toxic chemical, Codex set new limits for the amount of substance that can be present in baby formula, other foods and animal feed without causing health problems. The maximum melamine allowed in baby formula was set at 1mg/kg and 2.5 mg/kg in other foods and animal feed. According to trade bodies, India need not worry as it does not produce, consume or export melamine.

2,000 poorest blocks under Food Security Act in stage I
THE National Advisory Council decided to go in for a universalisation of grain entitlement across the country in a phased manner. One-fourth of the poorest blocks, which comes to around 2,000, will be brought under the ambit of the Food Security Act in the first stage, much like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
In these 2,000 blocks, grain, either rice or wheat, would be sold to the entire population, including antyodaya, BPL and APL cardholders, at Rs 3 per kg.

Regulator rejects GM groundnut
Agene called glucuronidase A (gusA) could be the next molecule of contention in debates about the safety of genetically modified (GM) food in India. The Genetic Engineering Approval committee (GEAC) did not approve a transgenic groundnut (peanut) designed to tolerate dry weather and salinity that was being developed by the University of Agricultural Science, Dharwad. The GEAC release said that the GM groundnut should not be released for environmental trials as it contained an unnecessary piece of DNA called gusA. GusA is a so called reporter gene used to determine whether a gene of interest has been expressed in the targeted plant genome. Some experts were critical of the approval committee’s decision.

National Dairy Plan to focus on bovine productivity in first phase
The National Dairy Plan (NDP) proposed to be implemented by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) with an outlay of Rs 17,000 crore, aims to nearly double the country's milk production by 2020. As of now, dairying contributes to around 8 per cent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Nearly 90 per cent of milk is produced by 14 major dairying States.
Finance: The multi-State NDP, with financial assistance largely from the World Bank, aims at increasing milk production through higher productivity and enhancing the income of rural milk producers by providing them improved access to the organised milk sector. Once the Centre and the World Bank approve the projects, the NDP will be implemented. The first phase of the NDP, scheduled from April 2011 to March 2017, will involve funds to the tune of Rs 1,600 crore, for which credit is being sought from the International Development Agency (IDA) of the World Bank, in the form of an interest-free soft loan, repayable over 35 years.
Based on the NDP, the Union Government’s Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying has taken up the proposed Bovine Breeding Bill with the States to modernize and regulate artificial insemination on a professional and scientific basis.
Facts: India is the largest milk producer in the world, with an output of 108 million tonnes in 2008-09, that the NDP plans to increase to 180 million tonnes by 2020. As of now, the annual increase in milk production is 2.5 million tonnes, which the NDP proposes to double, in order to achieve the projected targets. The annual growth rate of dairying is 4 per cent in India, double that of the world average of 2 per cent.
The National Dairy Plan is being billed as the ‘Second White Revolution' or the ‘Second Operation Flood' — if the first one lasted 26 years, the new one is likely to last 15 years.
“Operation Flood” was initiated by Dr Kurien in July 1970, with a financial outlay of Rs 1,750 crore while the NDP has ten times more — around Rs 17,000 crore.

India will be 3rd largest FDI recipient in 2010-12
According to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), India would emerge as the third largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) for the three-year period ending 2012. As per the report, India remained in the list of top ten countries in 2009 to have the highest FDIs in the world. In 2009, the country received FDI worth $34.6 billion, while the outward FDI was $14.9 billion.  The world economy is expected to grow by 3 per cent in 2010.

India's first intra-nasal H1N1 vaccine launched

The Serum Institute of India (SII), which launched India's first indigenously developed H1N1 vaccine, 'Nasovac' in Mumbai, has begun work on a common vaccine that will cure both seasonal flu and H1N1 influenza. 

A dose of 0.5ml of the vaccine Nasovac — delivered directly to the nasal cavity — would guard the person against the worrisome H1N1 virus for a period of over a year or even two. 

New Index measure of UNDP shows 55% of India’s population poor

As per the new international Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) of UNDP, About 645 million people or 55% of India’s population is poor as measured by this composite indicator made up of ten indicators.

It is being developed by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) for the United Nations Development Programmes (UNDP) forthcoming 2010 Human Development Report and this index attempts to capture more than just income poverty at the household level. And the main aspect of MPI is that it measures both the incidence of poverty and its intensity. It is composed of ten indicators: years of schooling and child enrolment (education); child mortality and nutrition (health); and electricity, flooring, drinking water, sanitation, cooking fuel and assets (standard of living). Each education and health indicator has a 1/6 weight, each standard of living indicator a 1/18 weight. A person is defined as poor if he or she is deprived on at least 3 of the 10 indicators. By this definition, 55% of India was poor, close to double India’s much criticised official poverty figure of 29%. Almost 20% of Indians are deprived on 6 of the 10 indicators. 

The new data also shows that even in states generally perceived as prosperous such as Haryana, Gujarat and Karnataka, more than 40% of the population is poor by the new composite measure, while Kerala is the only state in which the poor constitute less than 20%. 

Variation between the estimates as per the MPI and as per the Indian Planning Commission’s official figures: Based on the MPI, Bihar has by far the most poor of any state in the country, with 81.4% of its population defined as poor, which is close to 12% more than the next worst state of Uttar Pradesh. As per the Planning Commission’s figures, 41.4% of Bihar and 32.8% of UP is poor. In a possible indication of inadequate access to health and education facilities which do not show up in income poverty, almost 60% of north-east India and close to 50% of Jammu & Kashmir are poor as per the MPI, while the Planning Commission figures are around 16% and 5% respectively. 

India Oman fund to be set up

State Bank of India and the State General Reserve Fund (SGRF) of Oman signed an agreement to set up a joint investment fund with an initial corpus of $100 million for picking up equity in Indian projects.

International affairs

Goldman settles charges with SEC for $550 m

GOLDMAN Sachs Group Inc agreed to pay $550 million to settle civil fraud charges over how it marketed a subprime mortgage product, ending months of negotiations that rattled the bank’s clients and investors. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said the penalty was the largest ever for a financial institution. 

Goldman, which regretted failing to disclose information in marketing materials, agreed to require two internal committees to vet complex deals linked to residential mortgages. It also agreed to run by its legal or compliance department all marketing materials used in connection with mortgage securities offerings. 

ADB raises Asia's GDP forecast

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday upped its growth projections for developing Asian economies to 7.9 per cent in 2010, up from the 7.5 per cent predicted in its Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2010 published in April.

ADB kept its GDP (gross domestic product) growth projections for India and China unchanged at 8.2 per cent and 9.6 per cent, respectively, for the year.

Obama signs historic Bill

President Barack Obama finally made sweeping reform of Wall Street institutions, by signing into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Facebook reaches 500 million users

Facebook was started in February 2004, with a college project for people who had gone to Harvard University. It quickly grew to other universities, and then secondary schools, until finally in September 2006 the site threw open its doors to anyone over 13. Facebook signed up its 500 millionth user. That makes it not only the biggest social network in the world, but also the fastest growing.

AIG to pay $725 mn to settle fraud case

American International Group (AIG) has agreed to pay $725 million to settle a long running securities fraud lawsuit led by three Ohio public pension funds, in one of the largest class action settlements in US history. AIG is nearly 80% owned by the US government. 

IMF, EU suspend fund talks, warn on budget deficit

THE IMF and EU suspended a review of Hungary’s funding programme, set up in 2008 to save the country from financial meltdown, saying it must take tough action to meet targets for cutting its budget deficit. 

Suspension of talks means Hungary will not have access to remaining funds in its $25.1 billion loan package, created by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union (EU) and which it now uses as financial safety net, until the review is concluded. 

Karzai sets 2014 deadline for pullout of foreign forces

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai signalled that he would prefer a complete withdrawal of the foreign forces from the country by 2014, in tune with a gradual takeover of security in the provinces by Afghan forces from next year. He stressed on building on national defence. He proposed that by October 2011, the Afghan National Army should have 1,70,000 troops, and the police force should be boosted with the induction of 1,34,000 officers. He said 36,000 former militants would be integrated into the regular forces.

Germany, China ink deals on trade

German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged China to ease access to its markets, as the world's top two exporting nations signed a series of deals reportedly worth several billion dollars. China overtook Germany last year to become the world's top exporter, with some $1.2 trillion in merchandise exported, according to World Trade Organisation figures. Germany exported $1.12 trillion of goods in 2009.

China - the world’s biggest energy user

China overtook the US as the world’s biggest energy user last year, according to the International Energy Agency. China consumed 2,252 million metric tonnes of oil equivalent in 2009 in the form of crude, coal, natural gas, nuclear power and renewable sources. That exceeded the 2,170 million tonnes used by the US.

 

U.K. rules out burqa ban as “un-British”

Britain has ruled out a French-style ban on wearing burqa saying that it would be “un-British” and contrary to the practices of a “tolerant and mutually respectful society”.

Syria bans niqab at universities

Syria has forbidden the country's students and teachers from wearing the niqab, the full Islamic veil that reveals only a woman's eyes.

Kayani's term extended by three years

The Pakistan government extended the tenure of the Chief of the Army Staff, General Ashraf Pervez Kayani, by three years beginning November 29, 2010.

ECONOMY, BANKING AND FINANCE

Costlier fuel nudges up June inflation to 10.55%

Even as the annual Wholesale Price Index-based inflation rose a lower-than-anticipated 10.55 per cent in June from 10.16 per cent in May, actual estimates could well be much higher.

The consistent upward revisions in the final monthly inflation numbers by the Government since January have been rising provisional inflation figures. 

On Wednesday, the Government raised the April inflation reading to 11.23 per cent from a provisional 9.59 per cent. It has been making progressively steep upward revisions to the readings since January, suggesting it may be a step behind in anticipating inflationary pressures.

On the revision in the data, Dr Pronab Sen, former Chief Statistician of India, said: “When inflation is accelerating, the correction tends to be upward. This is because when data for certain products do not come in when provisional estimates are compiled, the last recorded data (for the preceding month) is used. By the time the final estimates are prepared, updated data collected from the centres is factored in, which pushes it (the final numbers) upwards.”

                                  The provisional data for June shows inflation in primary articles in June rose 16.28 per cent from a year earlier, mostly due to an increase in prices of food articles such as pulses, fruits and milk as well as non-food articles including fibres and minerals. The data showed annual food inflation eased to 14.60 per cent in June from 16.49 per cent in the prior month. The fuel index rose 14.32 per cent, while the June index of manufactured products was 6.6 per cent higher from the year-earlier level. On a sequential basis, the primary articles index rose 0.8 per cent due to higher prices of vegetables, fibres and minerals; the fuel index rose 1.7 per cent month-on-month due to recent price hikes; while the manufactured index rose 0.2 per cent.

Food inflation marginally dips to 12.47%

Food inflation eased marginally to 12.47% for the week ended July 10 as some essential items like vegetables turned cheaper from 12.81 per cent for the week ended July 3. 

Panel rewrites Takeover Code

India’s merger and acquisition (M&A) rules are all set for a makeover, with a panel set up by the market regulator virtually rewriting the Takeover Code. The new rules, experts said, were likely to make M&As expensive, while offering better terms to minority shareholders. 

The Takeover Regulations Advisory Committee under the chairmanship of C Achuthan, in its 139-page report to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), has proposed sweeping changes on critical issues, including the open offer trigger, offer size, indirect acquisitions, exemptions from open offer obligations, calculating the offer price and competing offers.

MEASURE: 

Open offer trigger limit increased from 15% to 25%

Analysts said the proposed rules would raise the financing required for taking over a firm, but would encourage investors taking strategic stakes in companies. It Gives PE entities and institutional investors more room to raise stake without triggering an open offer. Likely to increase foreign flows.

Open offer size increased from 20% to 100%

Acquirers to make open offer for entire equity in case once stake exceeds 25%. And Minority shareholders will be able to exit fully  

Acquirer can't purchase shares in target firm for 26 weeks following completion of open offer 

It Will prevent acquirers from underpricing offers and later buying shares from secondary market 

Acquirer to accept shares in open offer proportionately, if response exceeds maximum permissible promoter shareholding of 75%, but falls short of delisting threshold of 90% 

Could be a dampener, as investors can't be certain of complete acceptance of their shares in open offer 

Proposal for equal tax treatment on gains due to sale of shares through open offer as well as on those sold in open market 

Will encourage more people to tender shares in open offer if tax liability is lower      

Exports rise 30.4% in June; imports jump 23%

Because of good performance of big ticket sectors engineering, oil, iron ore, chemicals, gems and jewellery exports in June posted  30.4 per cent growth over the same month last year to touch $17.75 billion.

Total exports in the first quarter of this fiscal were worth $50.8 billion, up 32.25 per cent over the same period last fiscal.  

Imports in June were $28.3 billion, up 23 per cent, while in Q1 it was $83 billion, a rise of 34 per cent.      

Cabinet okays SBI-State Bank of Indore merger

THE Cabinet cleared the merger of State Bank of Indore with its parent State Bank of India, a move that would help the country’s largest lender scale up operations and cut costs. 

SBI holds 98% stake in State Bank of Indore. The merger proposal was approved by the central board of SBI last year. Following this, the Centre also gave an in-principle approval. 

Acquisition of State Bank of Indore by SBI would allow economies of scale in terms of footprint, manpower and other resources.

State Bank of Indore has a large number of branches outside Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and all of them would be controlled conveniently from SBI’s local head offices in various states, leading to substantial cost savings.

Fact: SBI is facing a situation where most of its branches and those of State Bank of Indore are competing for the same business, in the same market, under the same brand. This has prevented SBI from fully exploiting its brand equity for driving business growth. This will be the second merger of an associate bank with SBI after a similar exercise with State Bank of Saurashtra in August 2008.

RBI forms panel on IFRS implementation 

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has constituted a working group to address the implementation issues and facilitate the formulation of operational guidelines in the context of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) convergence for the country’s banking system. The committee will be chaired by PR Ravi Mohan, chief general manager, Department of Banking Operations & Development (DBOD).

Nabard banks on JLGs for credit push

RURAL and agriculture sector lender Nabard is keen on widening the reach of formal credit in the country. It has set the ball rolling by forming joint liability groups (JLG) of farmers across the country. JLGs are being set up on the lines of self-help groups (SHGs) to facilitate better delivery of credit to farmers through formal sources. 

JLGs, as the name suggests, would distribute credit liability among its members, which may improve the rate of repayment. “Farmers’ joint liability groups would help instil confidence in banks which, in turn, will lead to expansion of formal credit in the farm sector. The self-help groups have demonstrated the success of this model.

The SHGbank linkage programme was rolled out by Nabard in 1992 to promote financial inclusion. Now, the lender is looking to replicate the success of this project in the farm sector by introducing JLG concept. 

Grain Production Estimate for 2009/10 Raised To 218.20 Million Tons 

The Indian government raised the food grain production estimate for the 09/10 Indian crop year (July-June) marginally to 218.20 million tons. The latest estimate has lowered the output of rice, wheat and pulses but revised upward the estimates for coarse cereals (including corn). Nevertheless, 2009/10 food grain production continues to be significantly lower than the 2008/09 record production of 234.47 million tons. Most of the decline has been in rice and coarse cereals due to the drought conditions during the planting of kharif crop in 2009.

India-Singapore trade hits SGD 14.87 b so far in 2010 

India and Singapore trade totaled SGD 14.87 billion in the first six months of this year, up 45% from SGD 10.8 billion in the same period a year ago Singapore’s June imports from India more than doubled to SGD 1.34 billion from SGD 641.3 billion a year ago while exports increased to SGD 1.75 billion from SGD 1.09 billion a year ago for the six months ended June 30, 2010, according to data released by the International Enterprise Singapore. 

Sugar Mills to Consider New Cane Pricing Formula 

Private sugar mills, for the first time, are apparently willing to consider a cane pricing formula that would entail sharing two-thirds of their realizations from not just sugar, but even molasses and surplus bagasse, with farmers. According to sources, the proposal was slated to be discussed at an internal committee meeting of the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA). The private sugar mills also wanted the government to free them from all levy and release mechanism obligations and allow prices of all their products to be market-determined. Once that happens, cane prices can be fixed based on a transparent formula acceptable to growers as well.  And the ultimate objective is decontrol

Rice production less than third estimate at 89.13 mt

 India harvested less rice in the crop year July 2009-June 2010 than earlier forecast by the government, at 89.13 million tonnes against 89.31 million tonnes forecast in the third advance crop output estimates. 

Cotton output pegged at 23.94 mt compared to 25.41 mt in third estimates

Sugarcane output pegged at 277.75 mt compared to 274.66 mt estimated earlier

APPOINTMENTS

S Y Quraishi -  1st Muslim CEC

Dr. S.Y.Quraishi assumed charge as the 17th Chief  Election Commissioner of India. Dr. Quraishi earlier held the position of  Election Commissioner since 30th June 2006. He is   the first Muslim Chief Election Commissioner of India. 

He will assume the office with effect from the 30th July, 2010 as the present Chief Election Commissioner Navin B. Chawla will leave the office on attaining the age of sixty- five years 

SPORTS

Muttiah Muralitharan set a unbeaten record

Muttiah Muralitharan became the first — and almost certainly the last — bowler to take 800 Test wickets. He took his 800th wicket  when he bowled out (leg-before) Harbhajan Singh.

WADA endorses ICC anti-doping rules

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has endorsed the revised ‘whereabouts' rules of the ICC and stated that they were in line with the International Standards for Testing.

Imran Khan added to ICC Hall of Fame

Legendary all rounder Imran Khan became the fourth Pakistani cricketer to be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

National aquatics championship 

Maharashtra was declared overall team champion on the 27th sub-junior National aquatics championship.

Table Tennis

Anandita Chakraborty won both her matches as South Eastern Railway beat Eastern Railway 3-1 in the last league match of the 58th all-India Railways table tennis championship.  

British Open Golf championship 2010

South African Louis Oosthuizen clinched his first Major title on Sunday as he stormed to a seven-shot victory in the British Open.  

(Tennis) Kanepi is Estonia’s first WTA winner 

Kaia Kanepi defeated Italian top seed Flavia Pennetta 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday to win the Palermo claycourt tournament and become the first Estonian to win a WTA title. 

India to host Champions Trophy in 2011

The men's FIH Champions Trophy is scheduled for December 2011 and it will be the third time in hockey history that India will host the FIH flagship event after Chennai in 2005 and Madras in 1996. Olympic and World champion The Netherlands will host the women's FIH Champions Trophy next year, with the tournament being completed by the end of June 2011. 

Indian rowers win second gold

India bagged its second gold in the Asian junior rowing championship when it clinched the honours in the men's coxless fours category in China. The Indian team comprised Prashant Nair, Rakesh Raliya, Gurpreet Singh and Yasin Khan. Incidentally, India finished with two gold and silver out of the four events it competed in the championship. 

MORE CURRENT AFFAIRS

• IOC blocks 250 domestic LPG connections
• India will mount its first scientific expedition to the South Pole to mark the centenary of the first successful expedition to the southern end of the world by the Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen.