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Jaitley heads new disinvestment
department
New Delhi: The government has set up a full-fledged department of
disinvestment headed by Arun Jaitley, minister for information and broadcasting. The
department will deal with all matters relating to disinvestment. Mr Jaitley will be in
independent charge of the department in addition to his existing department.
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ISPs will be allowed link with foreign satellites
New Delhi: Internet service providers can uplink directly to foreign
satellites on both Ku and C bands to connect their gateways to overseas backbones. This
was announced by communications minister Ram Vilas Paswan. International gateways set up
by private ISPs will thus be able to uplink directly to any satellite of their choice
without going through the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. Use of Ku band for internet traffic
will help reception of signals through easy-to-install small satellite dishes. A committee
of representatives of departments of telecommunications, space, infotech ministry and
wireless planning and coordination will clear the applications in this regard.
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RBI sets up Y2K
centres
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India has set up event management centres to
manage smooth transition to the year 2000 within the central bank and to monitor the
development in banks and other financial institutions. These centres are located at its
central office departments and regional offices. The central bank has also made
arrangements to ensure that adequate cash is available at RBI issue offices and in the
currency chests of all commercial banks.
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IFCI to focus on
short-term loans
Mumbai: Industrial Finance Corporation of India will sanction 50 per cent
of its funds in the form of short -term loans in the next two years. This policy is part
of the financial institution’s asset-liability management strategy. This is expected
to pull down the cost of funds and the risk-profile of its assets.
P.V. Narasimham, chairman and managing director of IFCI,
said the corporation is convinced about the need to build up short-term assets as the
maturity profile of its funding had changed with more funds being raised at the shorter
end. ‘The very nature of development financing means that the risks are higher.
Compared to this, the risk in short-term loans is much lower," he said. He also said
deposits will be a large source of funds for IFCI as it has been allowed to raise fixed
deposits above one year.
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Citibank, NIIT in
student loan tie-up
Mumbai: Citibank India has entered into a tie-up with NIIT to offer a
seven-year Citibank student loan to students who qualify for the newly launched GNIIT
programme. The loan covers 90 per cent of the education package, which has a programme fee
of Rs 1.28 lakh for the entire course. The loan comes at a subsidised interest rate. The
student’s parent or guardian will be co-borrower to the loan and it is repayable in
60 months at equal monthly instalments after the course is completed.
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