India's foreign exchange reserves dropped by USD 1.615 billion to USD 315.697 billion in the week to September 12 on account of a hefty fall in non-US currency assets, the Reserve Bank said. In the week to September 5, the reserves had dipped by USD 1.327 billion to USD 317.313 billion. Foreign currency assets (FCAs), a major constituent of overall reserves, declined by USD1.599 billion to USD 288.764 billion for the week under review, the RBI data showed.

FCAs, expressed in . . .

A new steel policy is on the anvil to facilitate the steel industry in increasing production to 300 million tonnes per annum from the present 81.2 MPTA, said the media report. "The new policy is likely to focus on capacity addition and address issues related to raw material security, environmental challenges and land acquisition," Minister of State for Steel and Mines Vishnu Deo Sai said here at an event organised by CII.

The Minister said that the Indian Steel Industr . . .

To attract major investment in Madhya Pradesh during next month’s Global Investors Summit, the state government is making all efforts for participation of not just leading captains of the industry but also ambassadors and high commissioners of 11 countries, reported PTI. Besides leading Indian industries, six nations – Australia, Mexico, Canada, Czech Republic, Republic of South Africa and Quebec – will also be participating in the summit as partner countries.

. . .

Bill Gates, Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, on Friday announced emergency relief of USD 7 lakh for the flood victims of Jammu & Kashmir. The announcement was made by Bill Gates when he called on Jitendra Singh, MoS in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Space & Atomic Energy, today to discuss mutually shared areas of interest.

Singh and Bill Gates talked about shared areas of focus, including the existing m . . .

Amidst fears that the withdrawal of unprecedented stimulus by the US Federal Reserve may lead to volatility in capital flows in emerging markets, India is pitching for the creation of currency swap lines among G20 nations to overcome the adverse impact of monetary tightening in the world’s biggest economy. In recent months, the Fed’s decision to taper stimulus has impacted the currencies of many emerging countries including India as foreign investors cut exposure to risky asset . . .

According to media reports, the Republic of Senegal has received a line of credit (LOC) of USD 62.95 million from the Export Import Bank of India (EXIM Bank). The Exim Bank has extended the line of credit to the West African country for funding a rice self-sufficiency programme. Lines of Credit are generally extended for bolstering a country’s exports.

The Export Import Bank of India said that it reimburses the full contract value to the Indian exporter of the goods, upfro . . .

According to media reports, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to tighten monetary policy even further and raise interest rates in a bid to stem inflation on a sustained basis. The Washington-based lender urged policymakers to take more measures to bring down persistently high inflation and stem a large fiscal shortfall in Asia’s third biggest economy which last quarter grew at the sharpest clip in more than two years.

“Su . . .

The Ministry of Finance on Thursday announced the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has extended the date for payment of second instalment of advance tax for companies and all the tax payers in the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

“Considering the large-scale devastation in J&K due to the natural calamity, the CBDT has extended the date for payment of second instalment of advance tax for companies and first instalment of advance tax for others for FY 2014-15 from 15th Se . . .

Retirement fund body EPFO made it compulsory for firms to provide their employees' bank account numbers with IFSC code of bank branch to facilitate allotment of universal PF account number and payment to its subscribers, said the media report. The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation headquarters has asked its over 120 field offices to seek the core banking account numbers with IFSC code of bank branch for seeding the same with the portable Universal PF Account Number (UAN), the . . .

China committed USD 20 billion investment over the next five years and agreed to provide greater market access to Indian products in farm, pharma and gems and jewellery sectors, with a view to reducing the large trade gap with India, reported PTI. The 'Five-year Trade and Economic Development Plan' was signed by Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her Chinese counterpart Gao Hucheng in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting President Xi Jinping.

T . . .