3.Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu presents rail budget; No hike in passenger fares.
To Read full story of Rail Budget 2015 Click Here
4.Cabinet nod to BRICS bank for contingency fund, dev projects
The proposal was approved at the Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.
The setting up of the New Development Bank (NDB) and BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) is for mobilising resources for infrastructure projects and providing short-term liquidity support to emerging economies in case of Balance of Payment crisis, said an official statement.
India will hold the Presidency of the USD 100-billion NDB for the first six years. The Bank will be based in Shanghai, China’s financial hub.
"The establishment of the Bank will help India and other signatory countries to raise and avail resources for their infrastructure and sustainable development projects," said the statement released after the Cabinet meeting.
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4.Overdraft under Jan-Dhan is priority sector lending: RBI
overdrafts extended by banks up to Rs 5,000 in PMJDY accounts will be eligible for classification under priority sector advances ('others' category) as also weaker sections, provided the borrowers household annual income does not exceed Rs 60,000 for rural areas and Rs 1,20,000 for non-rural areas," the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a notification on Wednesday.
Under PMJDY, the overdraft facility is permitted to Aadhaar-enabled accounts after "satisfactory operation" of accounts for six months
5.14th Fin Comm makes highest ever increase in tax revenue sharing between Centre, States
The commission recommended increase in the share of states in the centre's tax revenue from the current 32% to 42%-the single largest increase ever recommended. The recommendations have also facilitated more powers to the states as to how the money meant for them will be spent
6.Dept of Post, Mahindras, Videocon join banking race
Department of Post, Tech Mahindra, Videocon Group and stock exchange NSE have joined big corporates like Ambanis and Birlas to seek entry into banking business through newly created niche category of Payments and Small Finance Banks.
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NRI businessman M A Yusuff Ali's Lulu Group and microfinance company Ujjivan Financial Services Private Ltd are also in the fray, as per the list of 113 applicants released by RBI on Wednesday.
As many as 72 applications for Small Finance Banks and 41 applications for Payments Banks were received by the RBI.
The receipt of applications for licensing of small finance banks and payments banks closed on 2nd February.
Coastal Local Area Bank, Equitas Holding, Janalakshmi Financial Services, Repco Micro Finance are among 72 have put in applications for setting up of small finance bank.
7.Aadhaar not mandatory for LPG subsidy; bank a/c to do: Govt
Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday informed Lok Sabha that under the DBTL, the LPG consumers joining this scheme get all domestic LPG cylinders (subsidised as well as non- subsidised cylinder) at market price and subsidy amount as applicable for each domestic subsidised cylinder is transferred to their bank account.
Pradhan said during Question Hour that a one-time advance in addition to the cash subsidy admissible is also provided to each LPG consumer joining the scheme.
This is to fund the first cylinder purchased at market price. Subsidy is separately admissible on every cylinder, including the first cylinder
8.Inflation at 5 year low of (-) 0.39%, raises hope for rate cut
Wholesale inflation turned negative for the second time in three months as fall in petroleum and food prices dragged it to a five-and-a-half year low of (-) 0.39 percent in January, raising hopes of a rate cut by RBI.
9.Industrial prod growth slows to 1.7% in Dec
The growth in factory output, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), in the month under review was, however, higher as compared to December, 2013 when it expanded by 0.1 percent.
The November IIP has been revised upwards to 3.9 percent from 3.8 percent. For the April-December period of 2014-15, IIP is 2.1 percent as against 0.1 percent in same period of the last fiscal
10.India will catch up with China's growth rate in 2016-17: WB
India will catch up with China's growth at 7 percent in the year 2016-17, the World Bank has forecast, saying India's economy has recovered in the wake of the economic reform measures taken by the new Indian govt, falling oil prices and lower interest rates.
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"India will catch up with China's growth in the year 2016 and 2017," World Bank Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President Kaushik Basu told reporters in Washington on Wednesday.
"China's growth will remain high, but will begin to taper very gently, reaching 6.9 per cent in 2017," he said as the World Bank released the 'Global Outlook: Disappointments, Divergences, and Expectations Global Economic Prospects'.
The World Bank in its report forecast a growth rate of 7 percent each in the fiscal year 2016 and 2017 as against Chinas 7 percent and 6.9 percent respectively.
11.Federer stuns Djokovic to win Dubai Open
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The Grand Slam record-holder from Switzerland beat the world number one from Serbia 6-4, 7-5 in a colourful success which took Federer's title haul in Dubai equal to those of Halle and Wimbledon. It also put him 20-17 up against Djokovic.
Federer served superbly, his 12 aces taking his career total past 9,000, something only three other players have done since 1991.
Even more noticable was his risk-taking, the frequency with which he approached the net, and the commitment with which he attacked his ground strokes.
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