Current Affair 1:

Living Planet Report 2022

 

I will put images of this report below. Interesting. Just go through images once. And use in your answer writing section too citing examples from report. No need to read anything from report after this.

ZSL (Zoological Society of London)

Current Affair 2:

Reserve Bank of India publishes data on outward remittances under the LRS scheme

 

What is the Liberalized Remittance Scheme (LRS)?

Transferring money to people or organizations in foreign countries was time-consuming and laborious in the past. To streamline outward payments, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), based on Tarapore committee’s recommendations, launched the Liberalized Remittance Scheme (LRS) in 2004. LRS acts as the guidelines for external remittances from India.

Under the LRS, any legal current or capital account transaction, or a combination of both, may be funded by resident individuals up to USD 2,50,000 every fiscal year (April-March). Corporate entities, partnership firms, HUFs, Trusts, etc., are not eligible for the Scheme. The Scheme forbids all other transactions that are otherwise prohibited by FEMA and those that are in the nature of margin calls or remittances for margins to foreign exchanges or foreign counterparties.

The limit for transfers undergoes revisions owing to the prevailing macro and micro-economic conditions. Below is the timeline of the revisions.

Outward remittances from India have been growing consistently.

It was 808 million USD during 2008-09, which rose to 1326 USD during 2014-15. The years 2015-16 and 2016-17 saw a steep rise in the outward flow of remittances, registering almost 250% and 75% increase compared to respective previous years. This could be due to the increase in limits under the LRS. Thereafter, the increase has been moderate, but the outflows for pandemic year 2020-21 fell by almost one-thirds.

Travel and education form a bulk of outward remittances

Outward remittances can be done for a variety of purposes- deposits, investment in equity/debt, purchase of immovable property, gift, travels, donations, education, medical treatments, maintenance of close relatives and others. Foreign travel and education form a substantial chunk of the total outward remittances from India.

Current Affair 3:

Why is RBI panel holding a special meeting?

 

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday (October 27) said that it would hold an additional Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on November 3, 2022. This meeting has been called as the RBI has failed to maintain the consumer price index (CPI) inflation target within the 2-6 per cent band for three consecutive quarters, or nine straight months — January to September 2022.

While making the announcement, the RBI said the meeting is being scheduled under the provisions of Section 45ZN of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act, 1934.

The central bank also referred to Regulation 7 of the RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) and Monetary Policy Process Regulation, 2016.

What does Section 45ZN of the RBI Act say?

This is the first time since the RBI adopted an inflation-targeting monetary policy regime in 2016 that an MPC meeting has been called under the provisions of Section 45ZN of the Act.

This section says that in case the RBI fails to meet the inflation target, it has to present a report to the government explaining the reasons for the failure. In the report, the central bank will have to mention the remedial actions it proposes to take, and an estimated time within which the inflation target will be achieved following the timely implementation of the proposed remedial actions.

And what is the other provision, Regulation 7?

The Regulation 7 of the RBI MPC and Monetary Policy Process Regulations, 2016 states that a separate meeting is required to be scheduled as part of the normal policy process to discuss and draft the report to be sent to the government.

Although the MPC is responsible for maintaining the inflation target, the report will be written by the RBI. However, the MPC will be consulted — and hence, the RBI has scheduled the additional MPC meeting on November 3.

By when does RBI have to send the report?

The report is required to be sent to the government within one month from the date on which the RBI failed to meet the inflation target. In the present case, the September CPI inflation data was released on October 12. So, the RBI has time till November 12 to send the report to the government.

Currently, the MPC meets six times in a financial year, which is every two months. The schedule of the MPC meetings for the entire financial year is announced in advance.

<< Previous Next >>