According to Global rating agency Fitch, India, China and Korea -- three most powerful emerging Asian economies -- are exhibiting delayed effects of tight monetary policies introduced in 2010-11 to tackle inflation.

According to Fitch:

• Slow upgrading in financial position of countries including India and China has come in the way of positive credit rating drive in rising Asia.
• India's WPI inflation was 7.55% and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation for was 10.36% for May 2012
• B/w March 2010 and October 2011 RBI had slashed repo rates 13 times to battle against inflation
• India's GDP plunged to nine-year low of 5.3% for the three months ended March 2012
• The overall growth for 2011-12 stood at 6.5%
• China has a negative outlook on but it is positive for Korea

Positive rating momentum in emerging Asia has come to a standstill amid lethargic improvement in sovereign balance sheets and for a few countries, concerns over high and rising leverage in the private sector
Fitch had downgraded GDP growth projections to 6.5% in 2012-13, reduced from a previous projection of 7.5%. It has already downgraded India's credit outlook to negative and attributed it to corruption and lack of reforms.

Working in the direction of making the process of disinvestment hassle free, capital market regulator SEBI fine-tuned norms governing Offer For Sale (OFS) & Institutional Placement Programme (IPP).

IPP and OFS are the two new share sale tools initiated by the regulator in January, 2012 primarily to assist the corporate enhance their public float.

According to SEBI:

· The mandatory 12-week time gap requirement b/w two consecutive Offer for Sale (OFS) or Institutional Placement Programme (IPP) will be relaxed. However, promoters who have already offloaded their shares through OFS or IPP will have to maintain a gap of 2 weeks b/w two successive OFS or IPP. The decrease in the time gap will facilitate companies to offload shares in more than one tranches depending on market conditions.

· The indicative price should be displayed during the last 60 minutes of the close of bidding session irrespective of the book being built. However, as per the current norms, bids were invited without revealing indicative price during the trading hour. The disclosure of indicative price could also lead to bidding taking place at the last one hour of trade.

· After these changes in the norms, modification or cancellation of bids can be done in the last 60 minutes instead of last 30 minutes of the trade.

· The minimum size of the offer should be Rs 25 crore. However, the size of offer can be less than Rs 25 crore so as to accomplish minimum public shareholding in a single tranche. Such alterations have been made to enable the companies achieve the minimum 25% public holding guideline by June 2013.By June 2013, all listed companies are required to have at least 25% public holding, while in case of state-owned company the limit is 10% to be achieved by August 2013.

· Around12-13 PSU companies which have to meet the public holding guidelines can gain from the alterations in norms.

· Institutional investors will have the choice of applying with 100% upfront margin in cash or with an ad hoc margin of certain lower percentage to be determined by the exchanges.

The government will be able to promptly offload its stake in PSUs and generate funds for reaching the disinvestment target of Rs 30,000 crore for the fiscal 2012-13. ONGC, Wipro, Godrej Properties and DB Corp are some major companies to have conducted share sales through these two new routes

The Centre is planning to carry out the Sixth Economic Census as a Central Sector Plan Scheme in collaboration with all states and Union territories.
Objective:

• It will provide the official count of entrepreneurial units located in geographical boundaries of the country involved in economic activities.
• The database would assist policy makers to evaluate the impact of the economic liberalization process on entrepreneurial activities, especially in the unorganized sector.

• Pakistan freed Indian prisoner Surjeet Singh who has served a life term following his arrest on charges of spying in the 1980s.
• Singh was freed from Kot Lakhpat Jail.
• Indian team present at Wagah will receive over 300 fishermen being repatriated.
• Surjit Singh was arrested by Pakistani police on allegations of spying during the rule of military ruler Zia-ul-Haq. Initially, Singh was awarded the death sentence under the Pakistan Army Act in 1985. Later, in 1989, the death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan.

According to a report by PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers):

· Innovative service delivery models, including mobile banking and ATMs, and the ability to satisfy customers will drive the growth of banking sector in the near future

· The concerns over data security and lack of regulation clarity seeks urgent govt attention in order to encourage innovation in banking technology

· Alternate channels of banking, especially internet banking and ATMs, have achieved deeper penetration

· Mobile banking is burgeoning as a strong delivery channel

· Cost optimization has been the primary factor in green banking. Major Green banking initiatives have all basically dependent on cost savings, including paperless customer communication, electronic payments etc.These have resulted in a lower branch footfall through enhanced acceptance of alternate delivery channels