5th National Voter’s Day to be observed on 25th Jan

In order to encourage more young voters to take part in the political process, Government of India has decided to celebrate January 25 every year as ‘National Voters’ Day’ (Hindi: राष्ट्रीय मतदाता दिवस). It started from January 25th 2011 to mark Commission’s foundation day. The theme for the 5th National Voter’s Day (NVD) is Easy Registration, Easy Correction.

RBI’s aggressive dollar buying propels India’s forex reserves to life-time high

India’s foreign exchange reserves topped $322 billion to hit a record high as of January 16 as the Reserve Bank of India aggressively bought dollars to boost the forex kitty to cushion against possible outflows once the US Federal Reserve starts tightening monetary policy. Reserves rose by $2.7 billion in the week ended January 16 to $322.14 billion, RBI data showed. At this level, reserves were up by $30 billion or roughly 10% year-on-year.

RBI simplifies norms for restructuring of external commercial borrowings

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has simplified norms for restructuring or rescheduling of external commercial borrowings (ECB). The central bank said it has delegated more powers to banks to deal with cases related to changes in draw-down and repayment schedules. “Banks may also allow the cases requiring transfer of the ECB from one company to another on account of re-organisation at the borrower’s level in the form of merger/demerger/ amalgamation/acquisition,” RBI said.

Arundhathi Subramaniam wins inaugural Khushwant Singh Memorial Prize for Poetry

Poet Arundhathi Subramaniam on Saturday won the inaugural Khushwant Singh Memorial Prize for Poetry for her work When God is a Traveller. The winner was announced at a prize ceremony at the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival.