Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Some important recent happenings

Moody’s cuts ratings of six European countries


Britain, Austria and France could lose their AAA ratings, as rating agency Moody’s placed the countries on negative watch, while lowering the ratings of six other Euro Zone nations. Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia all had their ratings cut by one notch, with a negative outlook, while that of Spain was cut by two notches to A3, with a negative outlook.



Dollar sales by RBI touch new high in December

The Reserve Bank of India sold $7.8 billion in the spot market in December 2011 to prop up the sliding rupee. Data from the RBI’s February bulletin show that this is the highest amount it has sold in three years.

SBI sets sights on absorbing State Bank of Mysore

After taking over two associated banks- State Bank of Saurashtra in2008 and State Bank of Indore in 2010, SBI has set its sights on assimilating the nearly century old State Bank of Mysore this year.

Air India loses sole right to fly overseas

Air India will effectively cease to be India’s ‘national carrier’, with the Government decision to do away with the state-owned airline’s right to fly abroad. This means private airlines such as Jet, Indigo, Kingfisher and SpiceJet will now face no problem in getting permission to fly abroad.

China’s largest mobile solutions and ad networks company Madhouse has entered the Indian market with the WPP group as strategic partner and investor in the company.



Important rates fixed by RBI



                                                                                    Policy Rates:

  • Bank Rate: 9.50%
  • Repo Rate: 8.50%
  • Reverse Repo Rate: 7.50%
  • Marginal Standing Facility Ratio: 9.50%

Reserve Ratios:

  • Cash Reserve Ratio: 4.75%
  • Statutory Liquidity Ratio: 24.00%

RBI raises Bank Rate as a Technical Adjustment

The Reserve Bank of India has decided to realign bank rate with Marginal Standing Facility(MSF)  rate, which in turn is linked to the policy repo rate under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF). Which means bank rate will be 9.5% from now.

Terms of the day


  • IPO  :INITIAL  PUBLIC OFFER
  • MoU  : MEMORANDA OF UNDERSTANDING
  • WPI : WHOLESALE PRICE INDEX
  • EFSF : EUROPEAN FINANCIAL STABILITY FUND
  • MSF : MARGINAL STANDING FACILITY
  • CRR :  CASH RESERVE RATIO
  •  SLR :  STATUTORY LIQUIDITY RATIO
  • LAF :  LIQUIDITY ADJUSTMENT FACILITY

Worth reading