Toll free number ’1037′ for registering telecom complaints coming soon: DoT
A new toll free telecom consumer grievances helpline with a special number ‘1037’ will soon be made available to subscribers across the country to register their telecom related complaints.
At present, a subscriber has to call customer care centre of the service provider to lodge a complaint. Customers can go to nodal officers and finally to the appellate authority in case of unsatisfactory reply. More often than not subscribers fail to get satisfactory resolution of their complaints.
According to the Department of Telecom (DoT), short code ’1037′ has been allocated to the Public Grievances Cell in the Department of Telecom (DoT) headquarters in New Delhi as a telecom consumer grievances helpline. In 2009, the Supreme Court had held that section 7B of the Indian Telegraph Act of 1885 barred a consumer from seeking remedy under the consumer act. The complaint thus remained limited between the subscriber and the telecom company. The new number will bring subscriber grievances into the notice of DoT.
Unique Identity Numbers to hospitals: IRDA
With a view to aid in identifying hospitals and gathering information regarding various charges imposed by them on different medical procedures, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has begun a process to provide unique identity numbers to hospitals.
IRDA is working with national accreditation agencies to uniquely identify hospitals, which will involve providing them identity numbers that will be linked with the pin code of the area and the name of hospitals.
Why IRDA wants to assign unique identity numbers to hospitals?
It has come into the notice of IRDA that different hospitals are imposing different charges on patients with medical cover. Lack of data in the medical insurance segment has led to instances where hospitals have charged irrational amounts from these patients. This is the main reason why IRDA wants to give identity numbers to hospitals. It will enable the regulatory body to see the charges these hospitals are charging from patients for different treatments. The transactional data being collected from health insurers will enable it to compare the charges for a particular disease or a procedure by one hospital versus another.
As per Insurance Information Bureau, which is under the administrative control of the regulator and is collecting and compiling the data for assigning unique identity numbers to hospitals, this step would help streamline prices apart from curbing fraudulent billing.
RBI to launch CPI-indexed IIBs
The Reserve Bank of India will launch CPI-indexed Inflation Indexed Bonds (IIBs) aimed at protecting the savings of retail investors from the impact of inflation by the end of December 2013.
According to RBI Deputy Governor H R Khan the amount of this year’s IIBs would be between Rs 10,000-15,000 crore (wholesale price and consumer price indexed bonds) but exact amount is yet to be decided.
In October, 2013, the RBI said in its policy statement that inflation-indexed securities for retail investors of 10-year tenor would be linked to the new (combined) Consumer Price Index (CPI).
As per the statement, the interest would be compounded half-yearly and paid cumulatively at redemption.
What are Inflation-Indexed Bonds (IIBs)?
Inflation-Indexed Bonds or IIBs are bonds where both the principal and the interest are indexed to inflation. In this way it is different from the Capital Indexed Bonds (CIBs) issued in 1997 which provided inflation protection only to principal and not to interest payment. These are thus designed to cut out the inflation risk of an investment. These bonds will be linked to the inflation index of the country and serve as a better investment option as compared to physical assets like real estate and gold. Higher the inflation, the higher would be the returns.
Note: While the first series of IIBs which was open to all categories of investors was indexed to Wholesale Price Index (WPI), the second series which will be launched by December end this year will exclusively for retail investors and it will be indexed to the new (combined) Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Why this step by RBI to launch Inflation Indexed Bonds (IIBs)?
The step is being taken to de-motivate investments in gold as bulging imports of the yellow metal has been adversely affecting the country’s Current Account Deficit (CAD), which had surged to a historic high of 6.7% in the third quarter of 2012-13. In May 2013, imports of gold and silver soared by 138% on an annual basis to $ 7.5 billion.
How would Inflation Indexed Bonds (IIBs) help?
As per RBI, IIBs would help in:
Boosting domestic savings and reversing the declining savings-to-GDP ratio.
Providing households and other investors a competitive option against gold and real estate. In the wake of rising inflation last year, there was considerable flow of investments from financial savings to safe-haven assets like gold that resulted into higher imports of the metal. This led to current account deficit or CAD widening to 4.9% of GDP at the end of September 2012.
Giving investors choice to use IIBs as good hedging instruments against inflation.
Operation Oliver’ to conserve vulnerable turtles
The Coast Guard in Odisha has launched ‘Operation Oliver’ as part of its annual mission to ensure the safe mid-sea visit of breeding Olive Ridley sea turtles in Gahirmatha marine sanctuary area of the State.
The operation is being conducted in collaboration with the forest department in order to keep watch and vigil on illegal fishing along the turtle concentration zone.
The authorities have also deployed a state-of-the-art CG ship and a dornier aircraft for the exercise for surveillance on trespassing and keep an eye on illegal fishing in Gahirmatha marine sanctuary. The coast guard has organized interactive sessions with fishermen communities to sensitize them on the legal embargo on fishing during Ridleys’ nesting season.
It is worth recalling that the Odisha Government recently imposed a 7-month fishing ban within 20 km from the river mouths of Dhamara, Devi and Rusikulya in Gamjam district to protect nests of endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles. The ban on the 20 km span of the Dhamra-Rushikulya river mouth has been imposed in accordance with Sections 2, 7 and 4 of the Orissa Marine Fishing Regulation Act, 1982. These prohibitory orders are now enforced every year to ensure the safety of turtles.
Olive Ridley Turtles:
Scientific name: Lepidochelys olivacea .
Also known as the Pacific ridley sea turtle.
Found in warm and tropical waters, primarily in the Pacific andIndian Oceans.
Global population of annual nesting females of these turtles reduced to 852,550 by 2008.
Considered vulnerable because of their few remaining nesting sites in the world.
Largest breeding ground for these turtles: The Gahirmatha Beach in Kendrapara district of Odisha (India), now a part of the Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary.
Bhitarkanika Mangroves designated a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance in 2002.
World’s largest known rookery of Olive Ridley sea turtles.
Two other mass nesting beaches on the mouth of rivers Rushikulya and Devi.
Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary
Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary is located in Orissa and is only marine wildlife sanctuary of Orissa. This sanctuary boasts of possessing the world’s largest known rookery of Olive Ridley sea turtle.
Olive Ridley is classified as Vulnerable according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature And Natural Resources (IUCN), and is listed in Appendix I of CITES. These turtles are best known for their behavior of synchronized nesting in mass numbers, termed arribadas.
The winter season is the mating and breeding season of these turtles. So accordingly, the fishing activities inside the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary and 20 kms off the shore are banned for 7 months starting from November 1 to May 31 every year. The ban is enforced under the Orissa Marine Fishing Regulation Act, 1982 and Orissa Marine Fishing Rules, 1983 to protect the endangered Olive Ridley Sea turtles.
RBI extends infrastructure sector lending sub-category to include hotels and convention centres
As per a notification released by the Reserve Bank of India, the definition ofinfrastructure lending has been extended to include hotels with project costing more than Rs. 200 crore anywhere in India and of any star rating as well as convention centres with project worth Rs. 300 crore or more.
What would be the effect of bringing hotels and convention centre into infrastructure lending?
From now on, the new sub-sectors hotels and convention centres would come under ‘Social and Commercial Infrastructure’ category classified under ‘infrastructure’ for the purpose of lending by banks and select All India Term-Lending and Refinancing Institutions.
What are various sectors and sub-sectors under Infrastructure Lending?
List of sub-sectors for ‘Infrastructure Lending’
A credit facility extended by lenders (i.e. banks and select AIFIs) to a borrower for exposure in the following infrastructure sub-sectors will qualify as ‘infrastructure lending’:
S.No:
|
Category
|
Infrastructure sub-sectors
|
1.
| Transport |
|
2.
| Energy |
|
3.
| Water & Sanitation |
|
4.
| Communication |
|
5.
| Social and Commercial Infrastructure |
|
“Selfie”: Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year 2013
The word “selfie” has been recognized by the Oxford Dictionaries as the Word of the Year 2013. As per Oxford Dictionaries’ language research, use of the word, has surged 17,000% since this time last year – when “GIF” was conferred the Word of the Year 2012 honor.
What does the word “selfie” means?
The word “selfie” has been defined as “a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website”
RBI’s special dollar swap facility receives over $25 billion
According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI), over $25 billion has been collected from special concessional swap windows for deposits by non-resident Indians and overseas foreign currency borrowings by banks.
The swap windows for Foreign Currency Non-Resident (Bank) FCNR (B) deposits and overseas borrowings by banks was introduced by the central bank on September 4, 2013 after the rupee plunged about 30% against the dollar between April and August 2013. The facility is open till November 30, 2013. The special facility allows banks to swap fresh FCNR (B) dollar funds, mobilised for a minimum period of 3 years, at a fixed rate of 3.5% per annum.
The RBI also permitted banks to borrow up to 100% of their tier-I capital from overseas, which can be swapped with the central bank at a concessional rate of 100 basis points below the rate existing in the market.
What is Currency Swap?
A currency swap is a foreign-exchange agreement between two institutions to exchange aspects (namely the principal and/or interest payments) of a loan in one currency for equivalent aspects of an equal in net present value loan in another currency.
Currency swaps are over-the-counter derivatives, and are closely related to interest rate swaps. However, unlike interest rate swaps, currency swaps can involve the exchange of the principal.
What are the main uses of Currency Swap?
Currency swaps have two key uses:
To secure cheaper debt (by borrowing at the best available rate regardless of currency and then swapping for debt in desired currency using a back-to-back-loan).
To hedge against (reduce exposure to) exchange rate fluctuations.
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