Weekly news update

Submitted by Ankush Gupta

MFs irked by SEBI to check ‘Smart’ Investing

– The mutual fund industry is taken aback by the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s plan to take a relook at a system that allows investors to take advantage of the cut-off timings for accepting cheques in liquid funds.

– SEBI may change system where investors mostly corporate put money in liquid schemes usually on Friday or Monday before 12pm to get the previous day’s NAV.

Food Inflation falls for third straight week

– Food inflation eased for the third week running to the lowest level in 12 months. Inflation for food items stood at 12.85% for the week ended October 23 declining from 13.75% in the previous week.

– Index for food item declined by 0.2% reflecting an actual decline of prices due to fall in the prices of pulses, fruits and vegetables.

RBI bans 3 MNC banks from trading in gilts for 6 months

– The Reserve Bank of India has pulled up some foreign banks in India amid investigations into circular trading in Government Bonds.

– The Board of Financial Supervision has decided to impose certain restrictions on the market operations of these foreign banks. The Central Bank has decided on a six month trading ban on three foreign banks. Standard Chartered Bank, Society General and Caylon are among these banks.

New CPI index to be based upon State Stats

– The new consumer price indices set to be rolled out from January will be a ground up compilation of inflation with price index for each state adding up to a National Index.

– From January onwards each state will have two consumer price indices one for rural and another for urban areas. These indices will be added in National Rural Retail and Urban indices.

Land Acquisition Act Likely Soon

– The centre will announce the relief and rehabilitation programme for land acquisition. Government is planning to have land acquisition act soon but there are still some areas where land acquisition is inevitable like the roads sector.

– Roads widening will require land besides existing roads. Hence government is in talk to think upon this factor before implementation of the act.

Thanks