Current Affairs: Top Headlines for August 29, 2013

Rupee decline to make cars, consumer durables costly

With rupee continuously loosing against dollar, cars, TVs, washing machines and other consumer durables are likely to cost more with companies set to increase prices to offset impact on their margins. Car-maker General Motors India, Godrej Appliances and Haier indicated that they would increase prices of their products by 2% to 7%.

Rupee tumbles to new low of 68.85

The rupee fell to an all-time low of 68.85 against the dollar and closed at 68.80, recording its biggest single-day loss of 256 paise, as global oil prices soared, aggravating concerns about the Current Account Deficit (CAD) and capital outflows. The rupee is under pressure due to consistent dollar demand from banks and importers, mainly oil refiners, following higher crude oil prices.

NASA uses Chandrayan’s data to detect water on Moon

Scientists from the US space agency NASA have detected magmatic water under the Moon’s surface. They used the data collected by the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument aboard the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, to remotely detect magmatic water, or water that originates from deep within the Moon’s interior, on the lunar surface.

Stage set to launch India’s first defence satellite

India’s first defence satellite GSAT-7 dedicated to Navy for maritime security is now set for the launch. The home-built satellite will be crucial as it will overcome Navy’s previous limitations from line of sight and ionospheric effects and will have coverage over India landmass as well as surrounding seas. It will be significant from security and surveillance points of view.  The satellite will be launched into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) by Ariane-5 VA 215 by European space consortium Arianespacefrom Kourou spaceport in French Guiana.

India engages with US for quick renewal of GSP

India is in talks with the U.S. for speedy renewal of Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) programme, which had expired on July 31 2013, to enable duty-free imports from the country. Though the US has indicated that it was for renewal of GSP programme till September 2015 but India administration is perturbed over the delay which hampers India’s exports to US. Due to pending GSP regime Indian exports are subject to U.S. import duties.

India overtakes Japan to become world’s 3^rd largest Internet user

As per a report by global digital measurement and analytics firm comScore, India has left Japan behind to become the world’s third largest Internet user after China and the United States. The report says that India now has nearly 74 million Internet users which marks a 31% increase over March 2012. With 3/4^th of India’s online population under 35,  the report shows, it is significantly younger than those of other emerging economies.

Government constitutes task force for currency swap arrangement

Feeling the heat of the continued fall in the value of rupee and soaring CAD, the Commerce and Industry Ministry has set up a task force which has representatives from the Ministry, Department of Economic Affairs, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), SBI, industry bodies FICCI, CII and Federation of Indian Exporters Organisation (FIEO) to plan currency swap arrangements with key trading partners of India.

Titan to venture into helmets, perfumes markets

Titan has planned enter into helmet and fragrance market by 2014. It projected a strategy to market superior quality eco-friendly helmets which will be suitable in tropical conditions. Titan which is a joint venture of Tata Group and the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) is India’s renowned watch, jewellery and eyewear maker.

India considers Iran for its oil import to slash import bill, CAD

With rupee declining to record lows impacting the import bill and CAD severely, the Oil Ministry has formulated a plan to save $22 billion in the oil import bill from Iran thus helping slash the Current Account Deficit (CAD). Due to sanctions on Iran, India has not been buying crude petroleum from the country for past few months. The step, if taken, would significantly save Indian foreign as India paysIran in rupees. Looking at the current depreciation of the rupee against the dollar, India is negotiating with Iraq the possibility of trade in local currencies, which would help insulate India’s oil imports from Iraq also.

Complaint against SBI for shaming students to be looked upon by the RBI

India’s largest public sector bank SBI is in bad light as complaint was made against the bank for shaming the students and their parents for defaulting on their education loan. The complaint which alleged that the Bodinayakanur branch of SBI in Theni district in Tamil Nadu displayed photos of students and their parents for defaulting on their educational loans is being looked into by the RBI.

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Month: Current Affairs - August, 2013

Category: India Nation & States Current Affairs