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Persevering with its anti-inflationary monetary stance, the RBI announced on July 26 a stronger-than-expected 50 basis point increase in the key policy lending rate, Repo, from 7.5 to 8 per cent with immediate effect. The reverse repo is automatically adjusted to 7 per cent and the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF), which is held at 100 basis points above repo rate, is recalibrated at 9 per cent.

New Delhi: With 11 consecutive interest rate increases in the last 15 months, RBI has emerged as the most aggressive Central Bank which is tasked with containing inflation. At a time, when all available date indicate a clear slowdown in Industrial and economic output, this is a matter of great concern since there could be a tipping point beyond which salvaging a downward spiral of growth could be an arduous task. In this situation, a more than expected increase in repo rate would also hurt sentiments, said Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General of Confederation of Indian Industry.

Global foreign direct investment flows had risen modestly to 1.24 trillion dollars in 2010, but still 37 per cent below the 2007 peak of 1.97 trillion, reflecting slow-paced post-crisis recovery in global industrial output despite some rebound in trade, according to UNCTAD’s World Investment Report (WDR-2011). However, the emerging trends underline the significant shift in international production, and more recently the weight of global consumption, towards emerging and transition economies, which absorbed half of the world FDI flows for the first time.

What began as a limited crisis in one publication of the Rupert Murdoch media group in Britain, the now-closed News of the World, has grown into a tempest which threatens the world’s greatest media empire and could politically singe Prime Minister David Cameron. The 10 arrests made so far—including that of News International CEO Rebekah Brooks, and Les Hinton, who headed Dow Jones, the business information agency which also runs The Wall Street Journal—and the resignation of the London Metropolitan police commissioner, have thrown British society into turmoil.

B.S. Yeddyurappa is God’s gift to the BJP’s opponents. While the party has other controversial chief ministers, such as Narendra Modi, as well as those who face corruption charges, as in Uttarakhand, none of them can match either the scale of the Karnataka chief minister’s malfeasance or his brazen insouciance in the face of allegations.

Will the sharp dip in the US-Pakistan relations impact the situation in Jammu and Kashmir? The question gains importance as it is Kashmir and terrorism which have contributed to the deep slide in their relations. For an answer one has to have a closer look at the factors responsible for their deteriorated ties.

BHOPAL: The monsoon session of the Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha that commenced on July 11 ended on July 22. In between, no sittings were held on three days due to holidays.

The demand for a separate administrative entity for the Darjeeling hills has a long history. The Gorkha community has been looking for official recognition of its political identity ever since Hillman’s Association raised the demand for some form of self-rule for Darjeeling in 1907. The violent agitation for statehood in the 1980s, under the leadership of that the Gorkha National Liberation Front, had culminated in the formation of the semi-autonomous Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council. But starting in 2008, renewed demand for a separate Gorkhaland state by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (JGM), meant the hill council couldn’t continue in its given form and shape.

A fatigue against continuous hikes in interest rates appears to have already set in. Otherwise how could those who could benefit from interest hike have asked for a pause. Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) has asked the Reserve Bank governor, D. Subbarao, to take a pause and not raise interest rates following a review of monetary policy slated for July 26. With progressive interest hikes, credit growth has tapered off, while deposits are growing. Thus, the banks are getting saddled with interest liabilities without matching income.

KOLKATA: Slowly but surely the ground rules of politics have changed in West Bengal over the years.