FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES UP $430 MILLION AT $280.340 B

India’s foreign exchange reserves rose by $430 million to $280.340 billion during the week ended October 2 from $279.910 billion a week earlier, the Reserve Bank of India said in its weekly statistical supplement.

‘GREEN SHOOTS’ Green shoots is a term used colloquially to indicate signs of economic recovery during an economic downturn. It was first used in this sense by Norman Lamont, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, during the 1991 Recession.

A GLIMMER OF HOPE FOUNDATION The A Glimmer of Hope Foundation was founded by Texas-based philanthropists Philip Berber and Donna Berber to reduce extreme poverty in rural Ethiopia.

INDIA INKS $4.2 B LOAN AGREEMENTS WITH WORLD BANK  India inked three agreements with the World Bank for a total loan of $4.2 billion (about Rs. 20,000 crore) for recapitalising some of the public sector banks (PSBs) and supporting development of infrastructure and power transmission projects. Out of the total credit quantum, while the Centre signed a $2-billion loan agreement for capital infusion in a few of the PSBs during 2009-11, representatives of Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (PowerGrid) and India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd. (IIFCL) signed similar loan pacts with the World Bank for $1 billion and $1.195 billion, respectively.  According to an official statement here, the banking sector support loan from the World Bank’s arm, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), is part of the series of measures to stimulate the economy by assisting state-owned banks in maintaining credit growth to contain the adverse effects of the slowdown on employment and poverty, broaden financial inclusion and help production and trade sectors.  The loan amount is to help bolster the country’s achievements in infrastructure development and lay the foundation for stronger growth by making long-term funding available to such projects being implemented through public-private partnerships (PPPs) in a range of sectors, including roads, power, airports, and ports.  The $1-billion loan to PowerGrid is for its ‘Fifth power system development project’ which is estimated to cost $1.562 billion and will be completed by June 30, 2015. The objective of the project is to strengthen the transmission system (National Grid).  The loan is to be utilised for strengthening transmission systems for Sasan, Mundra and Krishnapatnam ultra mega power projects (UMPPs) and the South-West interconnection. FAKE CURRENCY RECOVERED FROM RBI OFFICE  Counterfeit currency with a face value of around Rs.1 lakh was recovered from the Reserve Bank of India office New Delhi.  A case was registered recently after a senior official of the RBI approached police complaining that 296 fake notes of various denominations were detected last month. 

ADITYA KHAITAN RE-ELECTED ITA CHAIRMAN  Aditya Khaitan, Managing Director, McLeod Russel India, has been re-elected Chairman of the Indian Tea Association. As the ITA Chairman, he will concurrently hold the chairmanship of the Consultative Committee of Plantation Associations (CCPA) which is the apex body of the plantation associations in India.  The ITA’s national association also re-elected Aditya Kumar Jajodia, Managing Director and CEO, Assam Tea, as Vice-Chairman of the association, and Chirinjiv Singh Bedi, Managing Director, Rossell Tea, as Additional Vice-Chairman for 2009-10. KAKODKAR COMMITTEE TO SUGGEST REFORMS IN IITS  A five-member committee, under the chairmanship of Anil Kakodkar, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, has been appointed to suggest reforms to make these elite institutions global brands.  The committee would submit its report within six months. CABINET NOD FOR DIVESTMENT IN TWO POWER UTILITIES  The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, gave its approval to five percentage point stake sale in NTPC and 10 percentage point in SJVNL. "CCEA has given its approval to 10 percentage point disinvestment in SJVNL out of the Government’s share of 75 per cent and five percentage point divestment of Centre’s 89.5 stake in NTPC,"  After the stake dilution, the government’s holding in NTPC would come down to 84.5 per cent from 89.5 per cent. To make it inclusive and participatory, part of the shares would be offered to employees of the state-run firms,"  The installed generation capacity of NTPC stands at over 30,000 MW and the company plans to raise this to 50,000 MW by 2017. The CCEA also approved offloading of 10 percentage points of the Centre’s 75 per cent stake in SJVNL, a75:25 joint venture between the Centre and the Himachal Pradesh Government. After this disinvestment, Centre’s shareholding in the company would come down to 65 per cent and Himachal Pradesh government’s stake would remain same at 25 per cent. The paid-up equity capital of the company at present is Rs. 4,108.81 crore. NEW SERIES OF WPI-BASED INFLATION SOON  Inflation data with 2004-05 as base year will be released on a monthly basis  ‘The monthly data would lead to informed decisions by investors in the capital market and curb needless volatility’  The Central Government decided to shift the base year for Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation from 1993-94 to 2004-05 and release the comprehensive data on a monthly basis. However, the price movement of primary articles, including food items, and fuel will continue to be released every week, as at present.  "The new series of WPI inflation with 2004-05 as base year would be launched soon. The reason is... frequency. The response to change in prices each week is poor, particularly from the manufacturing sector. On a monthly basis, the response is bound to be better, reflecting the true position," 

 With the changes in the base year and periodicity of release coming into force, the government will henceforth issue two sets of inflation numbers — one on a weekly basis for primary articles and fuel items and another comprehensive data on a monthly basis which will include manufactured goods.  The government would release the new series (2004-05) of inflation data, which is based on the recommendations of a working group headed by Planning Commission Member Abhijit Sen, after November 14.  The monthly release of WPI was a widely followed international practice and the change was expected to improve the quality of the WPI assessment.  The monthly data on inflation would lead to informed decisions by investors in the capital market and curb needless volatility.The monthly data would be much more reliable and accurate and market will be reacting to it much more reliably. Needless volatility in asset market would also stop. At present, the rate of inflation based on the movement in WPI is measured on a weekly basis. In the existing series based on 1993-94 prices, the weight of primary articles in the WPI is 22.02 per cent while the share of manufactured products is 63.75 per cent. The balance of slightly over 14 per cent is accounted for by the fuel, power, light and lubricants category in the index. It is suspected that some banks have "unknowingly" submitted the notes to the RBI, the notes have been sent for examination to the Bank Note Press in Madhya Pradesh.