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Reserve Bank of India relaxes norms for FPI investment in bonds FPIs had lobbied with the RBI and finance ministry, as well as the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), that a huge lot of NCD issuance was stuck because of RBI rules The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday relaxed its April notification, which forbade FPIs from investing more than 20 per cent of their portfolios in bonds issued by a single corporate group. While the regulations remained the same as mentioned in April, the central bank said FPIs could carry on with transactions committed till April 27, when the notification came. In the April 27 notification, the central bank had said an FPI, or its entities, could not have more than 50 per cent of investment in a single corporate bond and their portfolios could not take more than a 20 per cent exposure in any single corporate group. On Friday, the RBI said its April provisions could be relaxed if a commitment for investment had been made by April 27

 Centre, state to share GST anti-profit funds Centre and the ‘concerned state’ will equally share the amount deposited by erring businesses in the consumer welfare fund set up as part of the GST anti-profiteering rules, as per a Finance Ministry notification. following the rollout of GST in july last year, the government set up a national anti-profiteering authority to penalise business for failure to pass on tax benefits to consumers. In case the customer is not identifiable, the money has to be deposited in the consumer well are fund. The Business Standard, New Delhi, 16th June 2018

Higher interest rate may cap GDP at 7.5%: Nomura Growth in the current fiscal year will be faster in the first half and will likely face pressure in the second half to end the year at 7.5 per cent, a Japanese brokerage said on Friday. The rate hike by RBI and the oil prices raise concerns over sustainability of what ws termed as a " cyclical, broad-based recovery", Nomura 's chief india economist sona varma said. "We feel growth will be front-ended in fy19. The first quarter can see growth of 7.5-8 percen," she said. The Business Standard, New Delhi, 16th June 2018

India's exports hit 6-month high; trade deficit widens as imports up 14.85% The aftershocks of the Rs 140-billion Nirav Modi scam continued to affect the gems and jewellery sector A rise in receipts of petroleum, engineering and pharmaceutical products boosted May’s export growth figures to a six-month high of 20.18 per cent, up from 5.71 per cent in April. Even then the trade deficit widened to a four-month high of $14.62 billion, compared to the Dollar 13.7 billion deficit in April as imports rose by 14.85 per cent during the month, compared to the 4.60 per cent rise in April. This could pressurise the current account deficit in the first quarter of the current financial year after it stood at 1.9 per cent of GDP in the fourth quarter of 2017-18, compared to 2.1 per cent in the third quarter. However, within exports, major labour-intensive sectors, such as gems and jewellery and ready-made garments, continued to see declines, which might affect jobs. The export growth r