ECONOMY AFFAIRS OCTOBER 2009

ECONOMY AFFAIRS OCTOBER 2009

• NTPC-BHEL Power Projects Pvt. Ltd. (NBPPL), a 50:50 joint venture between NTPC and BHEL, would set up its first power equipment manufacturing plant with an outlay of Rs. 6,000 crore at Mannavaram in Andhra Pradesh.
  
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) preferred to keep long-term as well as short-term indicative rates at the current level despite rising inflation and inflationary pressure.
  
  The RBI raised the Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) — the portion of deposits that banks are required to keep in government securities — by 100 basis points to 25 per cent with effect from November 7.
  
• The Union Cabinet decided to include three more schemes in the Prime Minister’s New 15 Point Programme for the welfare of minorities.
  
  The additional schemes are the National Rural Drinking Water Programme, the Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns and the Urban Infrastructure and Governance Scheme.
  

• A Reserve Bank of India committee suggested that the Benchmark Prime Lending Rate (BPLR) system should be replaced with a base rate mechanism to introduce greater transparency in pricing of loans given by banks.
  
• Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee launched the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), a unique PPP (public-private partnership) enterprise which has been mandated to skill 30 per cent of the overall target of 500 million people by the year 2022
  
• Merger talks between emerging markets giants Bharti and MTN have been called off, after the two firms failed to convince the South African government – MTN’s biggest shareholder on the benefits of the deal.
  
• Reliance Communications introduced a new plan whereby customers can make all calls at 50 paisa a minute.
  
• The Center and AP Govt. has made agreement to start Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) between Kakinada and Visakhapatnam.
  
• The Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) projected a GDP (gross domestic product) growth of around 6.5 per cent for the current fiscal. At this level, it would be lower than the 6.7 per cent growth in 2008-09 and this would be mainly owing to a likely decline in farm output.
  
• Industrial growth touched to a 22-month high at 10.4 percent in August this year. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) figures showed that while the manufacturing sector grew by 10.2 per cent during August 2009, the growth in electricity generation was even higher at 10.6 per cent, and the mining sector topped them both with a growth of 12.9 per cent.