Recent Economy Current Affairs Sept 2018

Recent Economy Current Affairs  Sept 2018

As per Association of Mutual Funds of India’s (AMFI) statistics, Maharashtra tops the chart for state with the maximum penetration & Assets Under Management (AUM).

As per the RBI, India's external debt declined 2.8% to USD 514.4 billion at June-end over the previous quarter on account of a decrease in commercial borrowings, short-term debt & non-resident Indian (NRI) deposits.

Economic Affairs Secretary SC Garg announced a reduction in gross borrowing estimate for the current fiscal by 70,000 crore rupees & maintained that the government will contain fiscal deficit target at 3.3%.

Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance & National Informatics Centre (NIC) jointly developed a mobile app called Jan Dhan Darshak as a part of financial inclusion (FI) initiative. This app will act as a guide for the common people in locating a financial service touch point at a given location in the country.

FDI in the telecom sector has jumped nearly five times in the last three years – from USD 1.3 Billion in 2015-16 to USD 6.2 Billion in 2017-18.

Global research agency Fitch has raised India’s growth forecast for the current fiscal to 7.8 per cent from the earlier 7.4 per cent.

Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has approved a new scheme- Atal Bimit Vyakti Kalyan Yojna for Insured Persons covered under the Employees’ State Insurance Act.

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) announced that no withholding tax will apply on interest payments made by an Indian company or a business trust to a non-resident in respect of offshore rupee-denominated bonds issued between September 17, 2018 & March 31, 2019.

Government has announced an array of steps to check the rising Current Account Deficit (CAD), & the fall in rupee. It decided on a number of steps to contain CAD, which widened to 2.4% of the GDP in the first quarter of 2018-19.

India’s overall exports (Merchandise & Services combined) in April-August 2018-19 (as per the RBI Press Release) are estimated to be USD 221.83 Billion,exhibiting a positive growth of 20.70% over the same period last year.

Indian economy grew by 8.2% in the first quarter (April-June) of the current fiscal, the highest in over two years. Manufacturing sector grew by 13.5% which signals very good turnaround in the sector.

Union Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) approved a proposal by the Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC) to increase the wages of artisans by over 36%. With this, the wages will be increased from Rs 5.50 per hank previously to Rs 7.50 per hank.