Forex kitty hits a new high of $429.9 bn

The forex kitty continued to surge for the fourth successive week to scale a new all-time high of $429.911 billion, after a heavy increase in the value of gold and currency assets during the week to July 5. The reserves have jumped by $2.23 billion, while in the past reporting week the same had increased by $1.262 billion to reach a new high of $427.67 billion. During the reporting week, foreign currency assets increased by $906.8 million to $400.809 billion, the RBI said. Expressed in dollar terms, foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation / depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the reserves. The value of the gold reserves swelled by $1.345 billion, taking the total to $24.304 billion, according to RBI data.

India, US officials discuss bilateral trade

Senior officials from India and the US held discussions on July 12 on various trade-related issues to strengthen bilateral economic relations. “Both sides discussed the broad contours of bilateral trade and commercial ties and agreed to continue their discussions for achieving mutually beneficial outcomes aimed at further growing the economic relationship and addressing mutual trade concerns,” the commerce ministry said. A team led by Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, Christopher Wilson, met with senior ministry officials in New Delhi. The US delegation is in India to explore the potential for enhanced economic engagement with India under the new government. The Indian side was led by Sanjay Chadha, additional secretary, commerce department.

Kant appointed MD and CFO of World Bank

State Bank Of India managing director Anshula Kant has been appointed as managing director and chief financial officer of the World Bank, its president David Malpass announced on July 12. As MD and CFO, Kant will be responsible for financial and risk management of the World Bank Group, reporting to Malpass. “Anshula brings more than 35 years of expertise in finance, banking and innovative use of technology through her work as CFO of the State Bank of India,” Malpass said. Among other key management duties, her work will include oversight of financial reporting, risk management and working closely with the World Bank CEO on mobilisation of financial resources. As CFO of SBI, Kant managed $38 billion of revenues and total assets of $500 billion.

Cargo from Bhutan to Bangladesh via India

Minister of State for Shipping Mansukh Mandaviya on July 12 flagged off a cargo vessel from Bhutan to Bangladesh using an Indian waterway channel. This is the first time an Indian waterway is being used as a channel for transport of cargo between two other countries. Mandaviya flagged off the inland waterways vessel carrying stones from Bhutan to Bangladesh via the Brahmaputra river (National Waterway 2). The cargo of 1,000 metric tonnes of crushed stone aggregates will sail on the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) vessel MV AAI from Dhubri in Assam to Narayanganj in Bangladesh through the NW 2 and Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route. The stone aggregates were transported by trucks from Phuentsholing in Bhutan which is 160 km from IWAI’s Dhubri jetty in Assam.

Civil Services prelims exam results declared

The UPSC has declared the results of the Civil Services preliminary examination. The results of the exam held on June 2 can be seen on www.upsc.gov.in. “The candidature of these candidates is provisional. In accordance with the exam rules, all these candidates have to apply again in the detailed application Form-I (DAF-I) for the Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2019, which will be available on https://upsconline.nic.in from August 1 to August 16 till 6 pm,” the government said. It said the e-admit card along with the time table of the main exam will be uploaded on the UPSC website for eligible candidates around 3-4 weeks before the commencement of the exam. Changes in the postal or email address or mobile number after submission of DAF-I may be communicated to the UPSC at once.

Inflation inches up; factory output slows

Rising for the sixth month in a row, retail inflation climbed to 3.18 per cent in June though remaining well within the RBI’s comfort zone, leaving scope for a rate cut by the central bank to boost industrial production, which has yet to gain traction. As per figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), factory output growth based on Index of Industrial Production (IIP) slipped to 3.1 per cent in May as against 4.3 per cent in the previous month, mainly on account of subdued performance of mining and manufacturing sectors. The CSO released another set of data revealing that retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) inched up to 3.18 per cent in June, from 3.05 per cent in May, primarily due to firming prices in the food basket.