Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan again surprised the markets and raised the key policy rate by 0.25 % to 8% in a bid to curb inflation, a move that may translate into higher EMIs and push up the cost of borrowing for corporates.
An increase in the policy rate by 25 basis points is needed to set the economy securely on the recommended disinflationary path," Rajan said while unveiling the Third Quarter Review of Monetary Policy.
RBI Current Policy AND Reserve Rates:
Repo Rate -> 8 %
Reverse Repo-> 7 %
CRR -> 4%
SLR -> 23%
MSF-> 9%
Bank Rate -> 9%
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India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India has clarified that the currency notes that were printed before 2005 will continue to be legal tender.
The central bank said that the move to withdraw banknotes printed prior to 2005 is aimed at pulling off these bank notes from the market.
The central bank pointed out that it is a common global practice to withdraw older series notes. The central bank said that the notes printed prior 2005 "have fewer security features compared to banknotes printed after 2005."
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The Reserve Bank said the growth is expected to fall below 5 % in 2013-14 in absence of pick-up in manufacturing sector, but likely to recover to 5.5 % in the next financial year.
The central bank said if the nearly 130 projects worth over Rs 4 lakh crore cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Investments translate into investments, global growth improves and inflation softens, the country’s GDP growth could come in at “the higher reaches” of the forecast range of 5-6 %.
For the 4th quarter, the headline CPI inflation is expected to range between 7.5 and 8.5 % with an upside risk, it added.
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Leading stock exchange BSE has said live trading in new interest rate futures (IRF), in long tenure 10-year government bonds, will begin
The exchange has already received the approval of market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for launching IRFs.
Besides, NSE will begin live trading in the IRF , while MCX-SX said it will also go live this month without giving an exact date.
The product would benefit banks, brokerage houses, insurance companies and primary dealers, among others.
The market regulator had said IRF are being introduced on a pilot basis and the product features would be reviewed based on the experience gained.
An IRF is generally a contract between a buyer and a seller agreeing to the future delivery of any interest-bearing asset such as government bonds.
Earlier last month, the market regulator had permitted the stock exchanges to introduce cash-settled IRFs on 10-year government bonds, which has been a long pending demand of capital market participants.
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Google purchased the British start-up DeepMind Technologies -> an artificial intelligence company was founded by Demis Hassabis, neuroscientist and computer genius together with Shane Legg and Mustafa Suleyman in London.
The Google confirmed the deal in its London office.
This deal represents Google’s biggest ever single acquisition in Europe.
The acquisition of DeepMind would prove to be helpful for Google in further developing its most recent Hummingbird search update.
The Hummingbird search update was created to make Google more human and searches which can now understand context like a human brain.
Artificial intelligence uses computers for tasks normally requiring human intelligence, like speech recognition or language translation.
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The Environmental Performance Index 2014 was released.
As per the Index, India was ranked 155 out of 178 countries with an index score of 31.23 points in its efforts to address environmental challenges.
India was ranked behind neighbouring countries China at 118, Pakistan at 148 and Nepal at 139 respectively.
In the BRICS countries, South Africa was placed at 72 position, followed by Russia (73), Brazil (77) and China (118).
EPI ranks how well countries perform on high-priority environmental issues mainly in the areas of protection of human health from environmental harm and protection of ecosystems.
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Actress Queen Latifah won the 2014 Matrix Award
Queen Latifah, is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, model, comedienne, television producer, record producer, actress, and talk show hostess. She has long been considered one of hip-hop's pioneer feminists.
New York Women in Communications presented the 2014 Matrix Awards to honor seven remarkable women who have changed the world, through their work in the communications industry.
The Matrix Awards is recognized by the communications and entertainment communities as one of the most outstanding and prestigious events of the year.
The Matrix Awards are given by New York Women in Communications to honour females who change the world.
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