28.09.2009

Politics & the Nation

• Quota law won't be binding on private foreign universities
• Foreign universities and education providers setting up campuses in India are unlikely to be required to provide for reservations for Scheduled Castes and Tribes and other backward classes (OBC).
• Even as minister for human resource development Kapil Sibal said that “reservation laws as applicable to Indian institutions” would apply to foreign universities setting up campuses in India. Only government education institutions are required by law to provide for reservation quotas; private unaided institutions are not required to set aside seats for Scheduled castes and tribes and OBCs.

Finance & Economy

• Risk weight for CRE (Commercial Real Estate) segment to go up?
• It is reported that the RBI is considering such a move to pre-emp another bubble in the local property market.
• Risk weight for this segment, which was at 150% (till November last year), was brought down to 100% by the RBI to facilitate credit flow to the sector that was reeling under a demand slump.
• RBI's expected move follows the earlier-than-expected sings of revival that this segment has been displaying of late.
• Currently, interest rates on most of the loans is between 7.5% and 12.5%, depending on the credit rating of the borrowing company. The current move will make loans to this segment costlier by 75-200 basis points.
• BTW remember the concept of risk weight?
• It is related to the capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of the bank. As per the present norms a bank is expected to maintain of CAR of 9%. What this means is that for every Rs. 100 that it lends, it has to have a capital of Rs. 9. This is the level at which the risk weight is stated to be at 1. But for riskier loans, the RBI mandates higher risk weight ratio. For eg., when the risk weight for CRE segment was at 150%, the banks have to maintain a capital of Rs. 13.50.
• Sarfaesi Act to be amended to give bankers precedence?
• It is reported that the government is considering bringing about an amendment to the Sarfaesi Act (Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interests) and also the DRT Act (Debt Recovery Tribunals Act).
• This is because when banks attach properties and are about to sell them, the sales tax authorities can lay first claim to the sale proceeds, because arrears of tax are treated as crown debt and hold precedence over all other dues.
• But bowing to demands from the banks that it is the money lent by them that needs to be given precedence in collection, the government is reportedly considering the amendments to allow such precedence.
• Till March 2009, under the Sarfaesi Act, banks have issued 3.41 lakh notices for an amount of Rs 68,127 crore. Of this the lenders have recovered Rs 19,396 crore involving 2.10 lakh notices and while settling with borrowers in 79,277 cases for a sum of Rs 11,249 crore.
• Want to get a peek into the interconnected world of metals, currencies and inflation?
• Take a look at this article that appeared in today's ET. A couple of titbits worth our attention:
• Taking a step back to look at the big picture, although the stimulus package made headlines at $2 trillion, it’s been widely reported total US debt, including social security, government pensions and Medicare in the first quarter of 2009 was $51 trillion and by May, USA Today reported, it grew to $63 trillion. Whichever figure it is, it is clear the US is overleveraged and in commercial terms “insolvent”; and this figure will continue to grow unless some active measures are taken.
• Currently, worldwide assets, including bonds, stocks and derivatives, are valued at around $500 trillion, approximately 100 times the value of gold. This means, in the worst case scenario, we will have 100:1 correction of today’s paper asset classes, turning into hyperinflation.

International

• The G8 formally gives way to the G20
• The G8 — wealthy nations Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States — has served in various forms as the premier economic forum since 1975 and holds closely-watched annual summits.
• In the recently concluded G20 summit at Pittsburg, it has formally been acknowledged that it is the G20 which will be the guardian of world economic governance henceforth.
• The summit decided to give developing countries greater voting rights at two major financial institutions — the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
• Leaders committed to shift at least 5% of the IMF’s internal voting rights to the developing world and tasked it with a bigger role monitoring economic policy. They also vowed to increasing underrepresented countries’ voting rights by at least 3% at the World Bank.
• Thus the two day summit at Pittsburgh has seen a seismic shift in global economic diplomacy.
• The G20 will meet twice next year – in Canada in June and in November in Korea, and annually thereafter.

Acronym

• FSSBG: a framework for strong, sustainable and balanced growth
• Invented at the recently concluded G20 summit.

Art

• Ever heard of Pushpamala?
• Frankly, we didn't. But here she is in today's ET giving an esoteric interview. We advise you to read the interview; with the hope that many of you will be able to get a first hand feel of what is expertise about in a particular area. As for her area -- she is an expert in performance photography and dialogue disjunctured films.
• Understand a thing? Don't? Don't bother. Just remember her name. May be useful sometime down the line to show off your awareness in the area of art.

Language lessons

• ecriture
• If you read the art interview that we pointed out to you today, you would get across this word. It is a French word. So couldn't get the exact meaning of the word in English. Somehow the phrase "feminine ecriture" made sense in the interview. Looks like it has got something to do with presentation of the female form/character in artistic work - be it film, photography, painting etc.