Economy

New Delhi, PTI Finance Minister P Chidambaram yet again parried questions on his becoming the Prime Minister saying he has no such aspirations and would like to do party work.

"I have no such expectations. I have no such aspiration and I believe that in the few years that remain to me, I want to do (a) few other things, like travel," he said when asked whom he would like to choose his Finance Minister after becoming the Prime Minister after 2014 general elections.

Mumbai, PTI: RBI Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty today said opening of new banks will not be easier this time around unlike in 1993-94 period, when a number of new lenders came up.

"This time opening of (new) banks is not so easy because we have got PSL (priority sector lending) norm which is mandatory and 25 per cent of the branches have to be opened in unbanked sectors," he said at an event here late evening.

"It will not be a cakewalk as it happened in 1993-94," he added.

New Delhi, PTI: Government of India on Monday buried a proposal to pool prices of imported and domestic coal to make the fuel affordable to new power plants, owing to sharp opposition to the scheme.

"Price pooling is out of the window," a source attending the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on the issue said here.

While no formal reason was given for burying the proposal, the source said power projects commissioned before 2009 will continue to get coal at pre-fixed (below market) rates.

New Delhi, PTI: After clearing five "No-Go" areas for oil and gas exploration, the Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) today eased stringent conditions imposed by Defence Ministry on another 25 blocks, freeing USD 4.61 billion investments.

"The CCI at its meeting held today cleared 25 exploration and production blocks for continued exploration of oil and gas, out of 31 blocks where work had been stopped on account of security restrictions imposed by Ministry of Defence," an official statement said here.

New Delhi, PTI: Implementation of National Food Security Bill (NFSB), aimed at providing legal entitlement to food to around 67 per cent population, is likely to cost the exchequer around Rs 1.23 lakh crore, Government said today.

"As per the provision of the Bill, estimated annual requirement of food-grains at 2011 population is 60.74 million tonnes and the corresponding estimated food subsidy at 2013-14 costs is about Rs 1,23,084 crore," Food Minister K V Thomas said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

New Delhi, PTI: India received foreign direct investment (FDI) worth USD 1.79 billion in February, 2013 -- a decline of about 19 per cent due to global economic slowdown.

In February 2012, the country had received FDI worth USD 2.21 billion. In January this year, the country had attracted USD 2.15 billion FDI.

During the April-February period of 2012-13, FDI has declined 38 per cent to USD 20.89 billion, an official in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) told PTI.

Dhaka, PTI: Bangladesh on Saturday signed its biggest ever joint venture agreement with India involving investment of USD 1.6 billion for 1,320 MW coal-fired power plant which is expected to be operational in the next five years.

"This will be the largest investment Bangladesh ever had ... this will be cheapest source of energy (after hydropower) to accelerate the countrys economic growth," Prime Ministers energy affairs adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury said at the signing ceremony at the Biddut Bhaban here.

New Delhi, PTI: Faced with declining exports, the government on Thursday announced a slew of measures including extension of the popular EPCG scheme to all sectors and sops for Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to boost shipments.

The initiatives announced by Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma as part of the annual supplement to the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) are aimed at pushing exports which declined by 1.76 per cent to USD 300.6 billion during 2012-13 and pushed up the trade deficit to USD 190.91 billion.

Mumbai, PTI: Gold prices continued their southward journey, hitting nearly 20-month low at the bullion market here yesterday on steady selling by stockists and investors despite positive global cues.

Silver also reflected the weak sentiment and plunged below the Rs 46,000 per kg mark on speculative selling pressure.

Standard gold of 99.5 per cent purity declined by Rs 220 to end at Rs 25,680 per 10 gm from Tuesday's closing level of of Rs 25,900.

New Delhi, PTI: Falling for the third day in succession, gold prices on Tuesday plunged by Rs 1,160 per ten grams to 21-month low at Rs 26,440 tracking weak global cues that triggered a surge in retail jewellery demand across the country.

Gold prices have lost a whopping Rs 3,160 per 10 grams in the last three trading sessions. The precious metal is cheaper by 25 per cent, or Rs 6,535 per 10 gram, compared to November 27, 2012, level when the rates had touched the all-time high of Rs 32,975.