STANDING CONFERENCE OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES (SCOPE)

Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE) is an apex professional organization representing the Central Government Public Enterprises. It has also some State Enterprises, Banks, and other Institutions as its Members. SCOPE’s objective is to promote excellence in organizations where public investment is involved, in order to enable them to be globally competitive


MICROSOFT BANNED FROM SELLING WORD

A U.S. judge has ordered Microsoft to stop selling its Word document creation application in the country in 60 days after finding that the software contains technology that violates a patent held by a third party

Infosys chief mentor N. R. Narayana Murthy is likely to become the non-executive Chairman of the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) being set up to handle the retail payment operations of the Reserve Bank of India.

INDIAN SCHOOL OF MINES (ISM)

Indian School of Mines (ISM) is a fully Resident and co-educational university located in the mineral-rich belt of India in the city of Dhanbad, Jharkhand. It was established in 1926 on the lines of Royal School of Mines,London. Today, it is a multi-disciplinary institute catering to a wide range of engineering and scientific disciplines and is considered among the best engineering institutes in the country.
The Indian School of Mines is the only institute of its kind in India and has traditionally catered extensively to the mining, mining machinery, mineral and petroleum industries. Yet, over the years, other engineering disciplines have made their mark in their respective sectors and are now churning out some of the most talented engineers in India.


ISM is rapidly improving its position among the top engineering colleges of India. It is consistently ranked among the top academic institutions in India. In the latest Outlook ranking of Top Engineering Colleges of India (June 2007), ISM was placed 8th, only next to its IIT-JEE league and BITS Pilani.

CABINET APPROVES EXPANSION OF RAJMAHAL COALFIELDS

The Union Cabinet approved the Rs. 155-crore expansion of Rajmahal Coalfields to take the annual production capacity at its opencast mines to 17 million tonnes, primarily aimed at increasing supplies to the NTPC facilities in Jharkhand.

PERU DROPS SAFEGUARD DUTY ON INDIAN COTTON YARN

The efforts by the Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (Texprocil) and the Indian Embassy in Peru have led to the Peruvian authorities deciding against the imposition of any Safeguard duty on import of Cotton yarn into Peru. According to a statement from Texprocil, shipments of Cotton yarn from India would now continue without any incumbrances.

“Being the largest supplier of cotton yarn to Peru with a share of over 80 per cent in total Peruvian cotton yarn imports, Indian cotton yarn exports would have been severely impacted in case the safeguard duties were imposed.”

Exports of cotton yarn from India reached a level of $94.45 million in 2008, recording a growth of 73.62 per cent. On account of the safeguard investigations, imports of cotton yarn from India during Jan-June 2009 had recorded a sharp decline of 54.25 per cent, going down to a level of $24.79 million.
 
SWISS BANK



Banking in Switzerland is characterised by stability, privacy and protection of clients' assets and information. The country's tradition of bank secrecy, which dates to the Middle Ages, was first codified in a 1934 law. All banks in Switzerland are regulated by Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), which derives its authority from a series of federal statutes.
 
BANKING SERVICES FOR EVERY VILLAGE BY 2011


A high level committee set up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recommended that a sub-committee of the District Consultative Committee (DCC) of banks — under the Lead Bank Scheme — would draw up a road map to provide banking services, in any form, to every village with a population of over 2,000, at least once a week on a regular basis by March 2011.

The high level committee headed by RBI Deputy Governor Usha Thorat was set up by the RBI to improve the effectiveness of the Lead Bank Scheme with a focus on financial inclusion and recent developments in the banking sector.