Weekly news

Submitted by Ankush Gupta

MBA 2A

EPFO to pay 9.5% for FY11 on hidden surplus

• Labour Minister Malli Karjun Kharge declared on higher PF rates at 9.5% for 2010-11.

• Reason for increase in EPFO is it discovered hidden surplus of Rs. 158 cr.

• EPFO= Employee Provident Fund Organisation.

Food Inflation jumps to 15% on supply constraints

• Inflation in food articles in the new series with 2004-05 base was 15.1% for week ended sep 4 as compared to 14.6% in week before.

• There are some supply side constraints due to rains. Areas like Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra have seen huge disruption by rains.

Special Deposit schemes return with high interest

• 14 Banks have reintroduced these special liability products to lure small savers as they are facing poor growth of 14.4%.

• These products come for special term like 390 days, 790, 1000 days 7 carry higher interest rates as compared to interest rates attached on regular deposit.

Loans to pinch more as RBI hikes key rates

• Loans for corporate & individuals set to be costlier.

• RBI increases Repo Rate(lending rate) BY 25 bps to 6% & Reverse Repo Rate (borrowing rate) by 50 bps to 5%.

• This narrowing of difference between these two policy rates is expected to bring stability in call money market.

FII rally may propel Sensex towards 20K

• Indian stocks rose to a fresh 32-week high on Friday.

• Fuelling expectations of the benchmark Sensex topping the 20,000 mark next week on the back of abundant foreign fund inflows.

• Over the last six months, foreign investors have been the

primary drivers of the rally, buying at every given opportunity.

IBM to handle IT for Bharti Airtel's Africa operations

• India’s top mobile phone firm Bharti Airtel hugely outsourcing Africa by awarding a $1.5-billion contract to IBM for managing its IT requirements across 16 countries in the continent.

• The 10-year deal will involve IBM consolidating Airtel’s IT operations in Africa into one integrated system.

SBI not to hike interest rates immediately

• A day after the Reserve Bank raised its short terms lending and borrowing rates, the country's largest lender SBI on Friday said that it is not likely to hike its interest rates before 3-6 months.

• Without specifying for the SBI, Bhatt said base rate, which is the floor for lending rates, may rise by 25 basis points in case economic conditions change

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