Mamata meets Modi: After facing protests by students for meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Raj Bhawan Saturday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Saturday said she was the only leader to meet the Prime Minister, who is on a two-day visit to Kolkata, and asked him to rethink about withdrawing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. “I am the only leader who met Narendra Modi and told him that CAA, NRC and NPR cannot be implemented,” Mamata told the students.
Govt ordinance: The government on Saturday announced promulgation of the ordinance for amendment in the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (MMDR) Act, 1957 and the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 in order to ease auction of coal mines, allow FDI and enhance ease of doing business. The Union Cabinet had recently approved the amendments which intend to open up new areas of growth in the coal and mining sector, an official statement said.
Illegal building razed: Two of the four residential apartments in Maradu, a neighbourhood in Kerala’s Kochi, were demolished in a controlled blast on Saturday. Both buildings were razed as per a Supreme Court order passed last year. Within seconds, the first 19-storey building — H20 Holy Faith apartment — was levelled in seconds in an explosion. A few minutes later, the 16-storey high twin towers of Alfa Serene were pulled down simultaneously. The Jain Coral Cove complex, the biggest of the four, will be demolished on Sunday, January 12 at 11 am, followed by Golden Kayaloram, the smallest, at 2 pm. Section 144 of the CrPC has been imposed on the land, air and water of the area.
BAT: Pakistan’s Border Action Team is suspected to have decapitated a porter, who was among two civilians killed along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district on Friday, and taken away the head, officials said here. This is the first time that any civilian has been beheaded by the BAT, which comprises Pakistani army regulars and terrorists, though similar incidents involving security personnel have taken place in the past, they said.
Tejas: The naval version of indigenously built Tejas aircraft Saturday made its first landing on the deck of the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya. Military officials involved in the “arrested landing” of the aircraft said the successful test has put India among a select group of nations having the capability to design a jet that can land on an aircraft carrier.
PM at Kolkata: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday inaugurated a light and sound show at the Howrah Bridge West Bengal’s Kolkata after addressing a programme at Old Currency Building in the city. The programme was organised by the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) at the Millenium Park, which is situated about 2 km from the bridge.
Human Rihts: The Human Rights Alert Saturday accused the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of CBI probing the alleged fake encounter cases in Manipur of failing to frame charge against any of the armed forces personnel in all of its closure report submitted to the court. The SIT was formed by the CBI on the orders of the Supreme Court July 14, 2017, after HRA and Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families Association Manipur (EEVFAM), had filed a petition to probe into as many as 1,528 cases of extrajudicial killings in Manipur, allegedly involving Army, paramilitary and Manipur police.
Sunil Gavaskar: Cricketer Sunil Gavaskar on Saturday opened up on the nationwide protests led by students’ over Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the recent violence meted out by a masked mob at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Addressing the crowd at the 26th Annual Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial Lecture in New Delhi, the former India batsman expressed confidence that India will overcome the current “turmoil”.
Iran apologies: Iran on Saturday said its military “unintentionally” shot down the Ukrainian jetliner killing all 176 aboard. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani and Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif tweeted about the incident. “Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster. Our profound regrets, apologies and condolences to our people, to the families of all victims, and to other affected nations,” Zarif tweeted.
UK: Extinction Rebellion has defended its activists after police included the group on a list of extremist ideologies in a counter-terrorism report. Guidance drawn up by Counter Terror Police South East listed the environmental protest group alongside organisations such as National Action, and Islamic extremists, according to documents seen by The Guardian. The document says Extinction Rebellion is a threat due to its “anti-establishment philosophy”.
UP bus accident: Around 20 people were feared killed on Friday in a massive fire that broke out following a collision between a private sleeper bus and a truck near Chiloi village under Chhibramau police station area in Uttar Pradesh’s Kannauj, said police. There were around 45 passengers in the bus which was on its way to Jaipur from Farrukhabad at the time of incident.
Religious unity: In a gesture towards demolishing religious barriers, members of the trust managing the Grand Masjid at Old Station Road here decided to open the mosque’s doors to people from other religions during Friday’s Juma namaz. The invitation was well received as many people and dignitaries attended the meeting held inside the mosque after the prayers. The guests included Justice Devan Ramachandran, Justice Alexander Thomas, Swamy Dharma Chaitanya, Swami Guru Jnana Thapasi and Fr Vincent Kundukulam, among others.
Reserve Bank of India Monthly Bulletin for January 2020
The Reserve Bank of India today released the January 2020 issue of its monthly Bulletin. The Bulletin includes two speeches by the Top Management, two Articles, Press Release of Working Papers and Current Statistics.
The Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2018-19 and Financial Stability Report – December 2019 are being issued with the Bulletin as Supplements.
The two Articles are: I. An Assessment of India’s External Debt Sustainability and Vulnerability II. Efficacy of Credit Ratings in Assessing Asset Quality: An Analysis of Large Borrowers.
I. An Assessment of India’s External Debt Sustainability and Vulnerability
The article examines recent developments in India’s external debt profile and external vulnerability indicators.
Highlights
India’s external debt has increased since 2017-18 primarily on account of external commercial borrowings (ECB), non-resident deposits, and short-term trade credit.
As at end-September 2019, India’s external debt was placed at US$ 557.5 billion – recording an increase of US$ 14.3 billion (i.e., 2.6 per cent) over its level at end-March 2019.
Notwithstanding an increase in absolute value terms, India’s external debt has remained at about 20 per cent of GDP since 2017-18.
India’s foreign exchange reserves have provided adequate cover for external financing requirement [i.e., financing requirement for short-term debt on residual maturity basis and current account deficit] and imports. India’s external vulnerability, hence in terms of reserve adequacy indicators, has remained low in recent years.
Empirical analysis suggests that the movements in the US dollar against Indian rupee and major currencies influence the size of India’s external debt while the impact of current account deficit is not found to be statistically significant.
II. Efficacy of Credit Ratings in Assessing Asset Quality: An Analysis of Large Borrowers
Credit rating agencies (CRAs) are important stakeholders in the implementation of the modern-day financial sector regulatory framework. Agency/external credit ratings are prescribed as part of the regulatory framework for assessing the riskiness of assets and estimating the corresponding capital requirements in banks. Mapping the NPA exposure drawn from the Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC) with Prowess, the present article analyses the efficacy of external credit ratings in facilitating a sound and timely assessment of the asset quality of large borrowers. Although preliminary, the findings suggest: (a) ratings do not always reflect the underlying asset quality of borrowers in a timely manner; and (b) the ability of ratings to capture the asset quality varies across CRAs.
Highlights:
About one-fourth of the sampled exposure was in the investment grade one quarter before it slipped into the NPA category;
There was a variation across CRAs in the extent of exposure in the investment grade one quarter before slipping into the NPA category; three out of the six accredited CRAs covered in the study showed a relatively high concentration of such exposure in the investment grade.
Saturday, Jan 11, 2020
New Delhi 16 °C
