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Only Indian cos such as  Snapdeal  provide credit to the sellers on their platforms Some of the top etailers operating in India have sought the Reserve Bank of India's permission to lend to small and medium enterprises listed on their platforms. A senior RBI official said some suggestions were made at a town hall organised by the central bank in Delhi for ecommerce companies and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).“There were some suggestions made in this regard, and we have forwarded them to the head office. They are being looked at,“ he said, requesting anonymity . At present, only Indian firms such as Snapdeal provide credit to the sellers on their platforms to meet working capital requirements. The primary issue is that the holding pattern of some of the ecommerce companies is not clear, the official said. “They come under foreign direct investment (FDI) category and are not permitted to extend credit,“ he added. At present, Amazon Inc offers its business loan prog...

An agenda note with differences between data that can and cannot be shared is being prepared The government is devising ways to ramp up online dissemination of data and make more data available to public for free, an effort that is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Digital India initiative. The ministry of statistics and programme implementation is in the process of drafting an agenda note in which it has differentiated between data that can and cannot be shared on its website, officials said. It is planning to make the “sharable data“ available to everyone for free, in contrast to the current practice of charging a nominal fee for accessing data at the unit level, they said. At present, the government charges fees for providing data from the national sample surveys, Annual Survey of Industries and the economic census. This goes against the spirit of the open data policy, officials said. An internal committee of the ministry had earlier suggested continuing with the...

‘BoB case will be pursued to the ultimate conclusion’ Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan ( pictured) on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court ruling on the use of Aadhaar cards in more schemes and said it would help in financial inclusion and provide easy access to loans. “The ruling today will be quite helpful, making us use it in banking services. It will make it easier for financial inclusion,” Rajan told reporters after the central bank’s board meeting here. “Unique Identification ( UID) number will ensure that people will not get multiple loans from different places. We can make sure that it does not happen. This is an example on how we can make more lending possible,” said Rajan, who was in the city for RBI’s 554th board meeting. Speaking about the meeting, Rajan said the board discussed the state of the India’s and global economy. “ We discussed regulations, ombudsmen and Ponzi schemes. A wide variety of topics were discussed.” RBI also announced merger...

Industrial growth, signs of investment pickup & indirect tax kitty hint at rebound India's economy may be about to turn the corner on the back of robust public spending that's beginning to have an impact on the ground coupled with strong urban consumer demand, economists and government officials said. Three months of sound industrial growth driven by manufacturing, signs of a pickup in investment, robust indirect tax collections and indications of a mining sector reboot suggest that the government's attempts to revive the economy through reforms and higher public capital spend are working. Going ahead, the tailwinds of falling interest rates, big foreign inflows and a further strengthening of consumer demand in anticipation of the Seventh Pay Commission's award should propel the economy forward, said the analysts and officials.Helping this along will be the festive season bump along with the government chipping away at issues with steady reforms. “We are on ...