1. Rajnath Singh invites Israel to invest in strategic sectors Make in India
i.) 'Make in India' campaign reverberating in Israel, India has asked the Jewish country to
take advantage of the investment friendly policies of the new government and invest in strategic sectors like defence.
ii.) Home Minister Rajnath made a special reference to the 'Make in India' campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu here last night.
iii.) Netanyahu said that he agreed with the Indian Prime Minister that Israeli industries, including the defence sector, could 'Make in India' and thereby reduce costs of manufacturing products and systems developed by Israel.
iv.) The Israeli Prime Minister said that an Israeli delegation would be happy to visit India to explore manufacturing opportunities in different sectors.
2. New global rating firm ARC to start operations with India grading
i.) Newly launched ARC Ratings today said it will kick off its sovereign operations with assigning ratings to India over the next four to six weeks.
ii.) India's Care Ratings holds 20 per cent stake in the new global credit rating agency, formally launched in January this year. The London-based ARC has five founding partners - ARC Ratings of Portuguese, Care, Global Credit Ratings from Africa, Malaysian Rating Corp and SR Ratings of Brazil.
iii.) We are doing our sovereign analysis on India because it is the biggest market for us and it is going through critical times. We hope to kick off our rating assignment with India over the next four to six weeks," ARC Ratings Managing Director and Chief Executive Alexandra Mousavizadeh told PTI.
iv.) The agency is gathering views in the country and has already met Finance Ministry officials in Delhi and will be meeting Reserve Bank representatives this week. It will also be meeting corporate , academicians and think-tanks.
3. Andhra Pradesh government planning "land bank" to promote industries
i.) Andhra Pradesh Government is mulling over to constitute a "land bank" of two lakh acres
to promote industries, state Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said here today.
ii.) Many countries are interested in establishing industries in our state and we need to show them that land is available in our state, the minister told a press conference at Pithapuram in East Godavari district.
iii.) He said the state government was making sincere efforts for promotion of industries and state Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is visiting Singapore for this purpose.
iv.) The decision of Central government to declare special status for AP would be of help as more industries will come here to set up their shops. A special package has also been proposed for seven coastal districts under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, Ramakrishnudu said.
4. RBI makes SMS alerts for cheques mandatory
i.) Banks will now start sending SMS alerts to both payer and drawer in cheque transactions as soon as the instruments are received for clearing. Expressing concern over the rise in cheque-related fraud cases, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has made SMS alerts mandatory for such transactions.
ii.) RBI has also asked banks to alert a customer with a phone call and obtain confirmation when dealing with suspicious or high-value cheques. Until now, SMS alerts were mandatory only for card transaction
iii.) The rise in the number of cheque-related fraud cases is a matter of serious concern. It is evident that many of such frauds could have been avoided had due diligence been observed at the time of handling and/or processing the cheques and monitoring newly-opened accounts," RBI said in a circular to all banks.
5. Beijing APEC summit could complicate 'Singles Day' deliveries: Alibaba's Jack Ma
i.) Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's Executive Chairman Jack Ma said on Friday the e-commerce giant's deliveries in the annual Nov. 11 'Singles' Day' shopping event could be affected by next week's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing.
ii.) Jack Ma was speaking during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, where Alibaba has its headquarters, ahead of the APEC summit. The Chinese government has imposed restrictions traffic during the summit which could complicate Beijing deliveries.
iii.) Jack Ma said he hoped customer demand on Singles' Day won't surpass 200 million packages. "I bet the number is going to be scary, Jack Ma said.
iv.) Last year's Singles' Day, Alibaba's e-commerce platforms generated more than 150 million packages, or about $5.75 billion in gross merchandise volume, a measure of the total value of the goods shipped.
6. Xi Jinping jumps up in Forbes rankings of power leaders
i.) Emerging as the most powerful Chinese leader after Mao Zedong, President Xi Jinping was ranked as the third most powerful person in the world by Forbes magazine this year jumping up from the last year's ninth position.
ii.) Russian President Vladimir Putin bagged the first slot for his tough policy towards Ukraine followed his US counterpart Barack Obama.
iii.) Xi's third rank this year is a big jump from last year's ninth position though his predecessor Hu Jintao got the first slot in 2010 Forbes list. Chinese analysts believe Xi's ranking on the list reflects the expanding influence of China over the Western world.
7. Japan to offer $ 100 million aid to Ebola-hit Africa
i.) Japan will provide up to $ 100 million in fresh aid to Ebola-hit West Africa, the government said today, after the United States called for further global efforts to combat the deadly virus.
ii.) Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the aid would come on top of $ 40 million assistance announced by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in September.
iii.) "We will go ahead with our assistance in an appropriate manner for the purpose of helping treat Ebola patients and preventing infections from spreading further," Suga told a news conference.
iv.) Suga said Abe was expected to give further details on the latest package during upcoming international gatherings, which kick off with an APEC summit in Beijing next week.
9. Singapore keen to partner India in building 100 Smart-Cities
i.) Singapore today expressed its keen desire to partner with India in the development of
ii.) This was conveyed to Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, who held extensive talks with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and former Prime Minister and Emeritus Minister Goh Chok Tong today, an official statement from the ministry said.
iii.) During the talks, both the sides decided to set up Committees to further examine and concertise the areas of cooperation in building 100 new smart cities in India, developing infrastructure for 500 towns and cities, development of heritage cities and urban housing programme, the statement said.
10. Infosys partnering with CeBIT to handhold Indian tech startups
i.) Infosys, India's secondlargest software services exporter, is taking the road less travelled in Indian services industry .
ii.) The company is partnering with CeBIT, the world's largest technology fair, to mentor and make strategic investments in tech startups. Infosys will be mentoring small tech t firms at the +91 a a startup challenge organised by CeBIT-which will make its debut next week in Bangalore.
iii.) "It is an exciting time to be an entrepreneur in India, and we believe India's budding start-ups are go ding start-ups are going to be a hotbed for innovation," said Pravin Rao, chief operating officer at Infosys. "We are partnering with them (startups) to address our client requirements, and finally , we are looking to make strategic investments where appropriate."
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