NRIs may be allowed dividend repatriation
New Delhi: The government is reportedly considering allowing conversion of non-repatriable shares held by NRIs into repatriable shares. The government has taken a liberal view in a recent decision over the proposal made by Cochin International Airport, in respect of India’s first airport project, undertaken with private sector investments and public participation.

The FIPB has allowed the company to issue repatriable shares to NRIs, who already hold non-repatriable shares and also to covert the non-repatriable shares into repatriable ones. The decision to relax the existing norms was made after detailed discussions and similar policy is now likely to be followed in other proposals as well.

Those holding repatriable shares will be allowed to remit their dividends out of the country after payment of tax. With the repatriation facilities, NRIs can also sell their shares, if the norms under which they are issued do not prevent the sale. This policy on conversion of non-repatriable NRI shares into repatriable shares is likely to make the policy more attractive. However, each proposal will be decided on case-to-case basis, depending on merits.
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India ranked 22nd most corrupt nation in the world
Mumbai: India’s ranking on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for the year ‘00 has improved from the 72nd position last year to the 69th. However, it still remains the 22nd most corrupt country in the world, sharing it with the Philippines. China, India’s biggest competitor in the international markets, has been ranked 63rd on the index. Even Colombia has been ranked higher than India, at number 60.

Nigeria has been ranked as the most corrupt country in the world, followed by Yugoslavia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Angola and Indonesia. The least corrupt country is Finland, followed by Denmark, New Zealand, Sweden and Canada. The UK was ranked number 10 on the CPI and the US number 14.

Transparency International’s CPI was first launched in ‘95 and ranks countries in terms of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians. The ‘00 CPI is a composite index, drawing on 16 surveys from eight independent institutions. The survey factors in the perceptions of business people, the general public and country analysts.
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Forex reserve goes up to $41.8 billion
Mumbai: The foreign exchange reserves of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have gone up by $79 million to $41.773 billion following improved foreign institutional inflow during the week ended February 23. This is for the 14th successive week, RBI reserves has going up. The increase comes from rise in the foreign currency assets of the apex bank, which went up by $79 million to $39.021 billion during the week. Gold reserves and the special drawing rights remained unchanged at $2.751 billion and $1 million, respectively.
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Nabard to offer Rs 1000 crore for rural funding
Mumbai: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has planned to sanction Rs 1,000 crore for irrigation projects, rural godowns, market yards, bridges and rural schools by mid-March. With these disbursals, Nabard will exhaust its Rs 4,500-crore rural infrastructure development fund VI (RIDF VI).

Currently, Nabard has sanctioned Rs 603.45 crore from RIDF VI for the creation of rural infrastructure in 13 states. The financial institution will begin sanctioning funds under the Rs 5,000 crore RIDF VII from April. It has yet to identify the area of investment for the RIDF VII.
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Inflation rate drops to 8.5 per cent, despite food prices
New Delhi: The inflation rate fell marginally for the week ended February 17 despite costlier food articles. The point-to-point inflation rate based on the Wholesale Price Index for all commodities (base: ‘93-94 = 100), which hovered over eight per cent for the seventh consecutive week, was 8.57 per cent in the previous week and only 3.32 per cent a year ago. WPI also showed a marginal rise of 0.1 per cent at 158.5 during the period as against 158.4 in the previous week and 146.1 a year ago. Final WPI for the week ended December 23 stood slightly higher at 158.4 as against the provisional level of 157.6 during the period.

Final inflation rate during the third week of December stood considerably higher at 8.57 per cent compared to the provisional 8.02 per cent.
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