- Current Affairs April 2017
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Current Affairs April 2017 - Economic
News 1 - Finance Ministry released India’s External Debt Statistics end December 2016
Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance released India’s External Debt position at end-December 2016, which is as follows.
India’s external debt stock fell by US$ 29.0 billion (6.0 percent) to US$ 456.1 billion, at end-December 2016 over the level at end-March 2016. The long-term external debt accounted for 81.6 percent of India’s total external debt, while the remaining 18.4 percent was short-term debt.
While the long-term debt at US$ 372.2 billion, declined by US$ 29.4 billion (7.3 percent) at end-December 2016 over the level at end-March 2016, short-term debt increased marginally by 0.5 percent to US$ 83.8 billion.
News 2 - Revenue Department exceeds Revised Tax Collections target for 2016-17
The total tax revenue targets of the revised estimates for 2016-17 for both Direct and Indirect Taxes was Rs. 16.97 lakh crore of which 8.47 lakh crore was for Direct Tax and Rs. 8.5 lakh crore from Indirect Tax.
It may be recalled that the Revised Estimate figures of 2016-17 was Rs. 16.97 lakh crore compared to the Budget Estimates figures of Rs. 16.25 lakh crore in 2016-17.
As against the Revised Estimate, the provisional figure of tax collection is Rs 17.10 lakh crore, which is a growth of around 18% compared to last year.
News 3 - Indian economy expected to grow at 7.2% in 2017-18
According to IMF estimates, Indian economy is expected to grow at 7.2% in 2017-18 and 7.7% in 2018-19. It was announced that second New Development Bank Annual Board of Governors' meeting held in New Delhi. According to Indian government, India requires 646 billion dollars over next few years to finance infrastructure development.
India had possessed loans of USD 2 Billion from the National Development Bank for various purposes. New Development Bank Annual Board of Governors' meeting declared that New Development Bank would emerge as a Development Bank and help in the funding of emerging economies.
News 4 - Ola united with UPI to ease payment options
Ola cab services united with Unified Payment Interface (UPI) to ease digital payment options for its customers. UPI will make payments faster and convenient. Ola money will offer ‘Pay by UPI’ along with cash, debit/credit card and Ola Money wallet option, thus Ola customers to use their unique UPI IDs to pay for all their rides on the Ola platform.
ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd., operating under the trade name Ola, is an Indian online transportation network company.
News 5 - ADB approved $175 million loan to Power Grid Corporation
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) extended a $175 million loan to the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. for a 20-year term at an annual interest rate determined in accordance with ADB’s London interbank offered rate (LIBOR)-based lending facility, to promote construction of high voltage transmission systems and improve national grid system.
Apart from ADB’s loan, Power Grid Corporation has also obtained $50 million co-finance from the Clean Technology Fund. The $50 million CTF loan financing will come with a 40-year term.
News 6 - India's Foreign Exchange surged to 369.95 billion US dollars
India's foreign exchange surged by 2.02 billion US dollars to 369.95 billion US dollars in the week that ended on 31st of March 2017. RBI informed that foreign currency assets, a major part of the overall reserves rose by 2.08 billion US dollars to 346.32 billion US dollars.
Gold reserves, on the other hand moved down by 45 million US dollars to 19.87 billion US dollars. India's special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund also fell 5.1 million US dollars to 1.45 billion US dollars.
News 7 - Flipkart Buys eBay India
India's largest e-commerce player, Flipkart, has acquired EBay's India business. EBay has agreed to make a $500 million cash investment in and sell its eBay.in business to Flipkart in exchange for an equity stake in Flipkart.
EBay.in will continue to operate as a separate entity from Flipkart and the two companies plan to tap in each other's inventory to expand sales. Flipkart raised USD 1.4 Billion from Tencent, eBay and Microsoft at post transaction valuation of USD 11.6 billion.
News 8 - World Bank predicted India’s GDP at 7.2% in 2017-18
World Bank report predicted India’s GDP at 7.2% growth for year 2017-18 and 7.5% for year 2018-19. According to World bank, India’s GDP slowed down to 6.8% in 2016-17 due to demonetization but further implementation of proper reforms and GST, India’s GDP will further accelerate to 7.5% in 2018-19.
According to World Bank Report, the economic growth is projected to increase gradually to 7.7% by 2019-20 due to private investments. The World Bank analysis, however, has warned against “significant risks to India’s favorable growth outlook”.
News 9 - Reliance Industries Toppled TCS to become the most-valued Indian Company
Reliance Industries Ltd. regained its status as India's most valued firm by market capitalisation. RIL toppled TCS to regain the status. Shares of RIL were trading 3.43 percent higher at Rs. 1,416.40 on BSE at 12:36 hrs, giving the company a market capitalisation (m-cap) of Rs. 4,60,291.20 crore – the highest for any listed firm in the country.
TCS had replaced RIL as the most valued firm more than four years ago.
News 10 - India’s Forex reserves increase by $1.25 billion
According to the Reserve Bank of India’s weekly statistical supplement, India’s foreign exchange (Forex) reserves have increased by $1.25 billion to reach $371.13 billion from $369.88 billion as on April 21, 2017. The current reserves are just short of a lifetime high of USD 371.99 Billion reached in the week to September 30, 2016.
The components of India’s Foreign Exchange Reserves include foreign currency assets (FCAs), Gold, Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), RBI’s Reserve position with International Monetary Fund (IMF). FCAs constitute the largest component of the Forex Reserves.