
Lack of trust in businesses & government, says Arun Maira
Planning Commission member Arun Maira feels people of India have lost trust in government institution and businesses. Maira's statement on the state of governance in the country comes days after the Congress suffered humiliating defeat in the elections for four states, losing power in Delhi and Rajasthan, largely on issues of poor governance, corruption and lack of transparency. Maira was speaking at an event on governance, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), on Tuesday. According to Maira, there is fear among citizens that closeness of businesses with the government is leading to more corruption and crony capitalism and there is very little transparency left.
(Source: Economic Times)
Parliament fails to function for second day
Proceedings in Parliament were washed out for the second consecutive working day on Tuesday as Opposition members created pandemonium on a host of issues, including the JPC report on 2G, Telangana, price rise, and the death of children in relief camps for Muzaffarnagar (UP) riot victims. The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha could not function normally as they witnessed slogan-shouting by members. Due to the uproar, Lok Sabha was adjourned twice and Rajya Sabha thrice before final adjournment. Both the Houses could not transact any substantial business.Trouble started as soon as both the Houses assembled for the day with members of BJP, Telugu Desam Party, Left and BSP creating ruckus over various issues.
(Source: Economic Times)
Rupee at 4-month high on dollar flows
The rupee ended at a four-month high on Tuesday due to dollar flows, as custodian banks sold dollars on behalf of their clients. The appreciation in the currency was despite dollar demand from oil marketing companies (OMCs). The rupee ended at 61.04 a dollar compared with the previous close of 61.14. The last time the rupee rose to such levels was on August 8, at 60.86 a dollar. It opened at 60.99 a dollar and during intra-day trade, touched a low of 61.29. Since the beginning of this financial year, the currency has weakened 12.45 per cent. This is mainly due to the concessional foreign currency non-resident (bank) [FCNR(B)] swap window the central bank offered banks. The swap facility was made available to the banks for incremental FCNR(B) deposits, mobilised for a minimum period of three years, at a fixed rate of 3.5 per cent for the tenure of the deposit. The window, available till November-end, fetched around $28 billion of inflows.
(Source: Business Standard)
House panel for coordinated system to check corporate frauds
The parliamentary panel on finance wants the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) to set up a coordinated mechanism among investigation agencies, including the SFIO (Serious Fraud Investigation Office), to predict and check growing instances of financial frauds. In its latest report on the functioning of MCA, the committee has also pulled up the ministry for functioning with acute shortage of skilled manpower both in the ministry and its affiliate bodies, including the SFIO despite growing instances of financial frauds and irregularities coming to light. The panel said it was aware that the SFIO and the market research and analysis unit are already working on a fraud prediction model but there should be a coordinated mechanism in this regard, the report said.
(Source: Financial Express)
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