Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated India's first under-river metro tunnel in Kolkata. The metro tunnel has been built under Kolkata's Hooghly River that will connect Howrah Maidan to Esplanade. The 4.8 km stretch between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade is the second section of the East-West Metro corridor between Howrah Maidan and the IT hub Salt Lake Sector V.
The Reserve Bank of India prohibited JM Financial Products from financing against shares and debentures, including sanctioning and disbursing loans against initial public offerings of shares and subscriptions to debentures. The RBI cited serious governance concerns as the reason for this action. The RBI will institute a special audit and review the restrictions.
Bloomberg announced including Indian government securities called “Fully Accessible Route (FAR) bonds” in the Bloomberg Emerging Market (EM) Local Currency Government Index and related indices. This will be done over 10 months, starting January 31, 2025, instead of September 2024.
This is the second major global index that will be including Indian bonds. JP Morgan had announced index inclusion from June 28, 2024. The FAR introduced by RBI wherein certain specified categories of Central Government securities are opened fully for non-resident investors without any restrictions, apart from being available to domestic investors as well.
In a historic milestone marking entry into the vital second stage of India’s three stage nuclear programme, PM witnessed, commencement of “Core Loading” at India’s first indigenous Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (500 MWe) at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu. Once commissioned, India will only be the second country after Russia to have commercial operating Fast Breeder Reactor.
The PFBR reactor core consists of control sub-assemblies, blanket subassemblies and fuel sub-assemblies. With minimised nuclear waste generated from the reactor and advanced safety features, FBRs will provide a safe, efficient and clean source of energy and contribute to the goal of net zero.
In India’s three stages of the Nuclear power programme, BHAVINI paves the way as a forerunner in the second stage by building a 500 MWe PFBR. It is entrusted with a mandate to construct, commission and operate the Fast Breeder Reactors to provide energy security for the nation in the long run.
The Reserve Bank of India has directed banks and credit card companies like American Express, Diners Club, MasterCard, Rupay, and Visa not to enter into any exclusive agreement to issue credit cards. In a notification the central bank has directed banks to provide an option to their customers to choose from multiple card networks at the time of issual and renewal of cards.
The notification follows a draft circular issued in July last year which asked banks to issue cards from more than one network provider giving an option to customers to choose. All banks and payment networks have to adhere to the new norms whenever they are issuing new cards or renewing existing cards. The new RBI directions are applicable from September this year.
The directions are however not be applicable to credit card issuers with number of active cards at 10 lakh or less.
Also card issuers who issue credit cards on their own authorised card network are excluded from the applicability of the circular.
France has become the first country in the world to explicitly include the right to abortion in its constitution. Parliamentarians voted to revise the country's 1958 constitution to enshrine women's "guaranteed freedom" to abort. Abortion has been legal in France since 1975, but polls show around 85% of the public supported amending the constitution.
REC Limited, a Maharatna Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Ministry of Power and a leading Non-Banking Finance Company, has partnered with the Unit of Science and Educational Development (UNISED) to support the education of around 75,500 children of Siddharthnagar district, Uttar Pradesh. REC has entered into this partnership through its CRS.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), for quicker settlement of funds for merchants, has asked NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd. (NBBL) to implement an interoperable system for Internet Banking which should be introduced during the current calendar year. This measure will further boost the user confidence in Digital Payments.
Interoperability is the basic ability of multiple digital systems, applications and databases to connect and communicate with each other. Payment platforms leverage financial technology to connect and share data among ecosystem partners like banks, payment gateways, payment processors, merchants and consumers.
India’s first listed AI-powered fintech company, Infibeam Avenues, received the final authorisation from RBI to operate as a payment aggregator for its payment gateway brand, CCAvenue. The RBI had in March 2020 introduced the PA framework, which necessitates payment gateways to secure an aggregator licence for acquiring merchants and delivering digital payment solutions.
Carved out of Lower Subansiri, Keyi Panyor became the 26th district of Arunachal Pradesh. The new district, which was being demanded by the people of the Nyishi community for long, will have its headquarters at Ter Gapin-Sam Sarth.
On February 8, the state assembly passed the Arunachal Pradesh (Re-Organization of Districts) (Amendment) Bill, 2024, paving the way for the creation of two new districts — Keyi Panyor and Bichom.
Ministers formally approved the WTO membership terms of Comoros and Timor-Leste at a special ceremony held at the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi on 26 February 2024. Comoros and Timor-Leste will bring the total number of WTO members to 166. In keeping with WTO rules, they will become members of the WTO 30 days following the deposit of instruments of protocol.