Government exceeds WMA limit
Mumbai: The government’s overdraft facility with the Reserve Bank of India has overshot the limit of Rs 7,000 crore by Rs 3,384 crore for the second half of 1999-2000. According to the RBI weekly statistical supplement, the ways and means advance balance rose during the week ended 7 January to Rs 10,384 crore. The government’s plan to mop up Rs 8,000 crore in later weeks is expected to reduce the balance.

The total stock of money in the system is estimated at Rs 10,88,596 crore as on 31 December 1999. This represents a growth of Rs 13,859 crore over the previous fortnight’s level.
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SREI plans equipment bank
Mumbai: SREI International Finance, a Calcutta-based non-banking finance company, mainly catering to equipment finance, has promoted an India Infrastructure Equipment Trust to act as an equipment bank for project contractors. The company, registered in 1999, intends to achieve a capital base of Rs 100 crore and it will associate equipment manufactures, Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation, ICICI and agencies like International Finance Corporation in the venture, according to SREI’s director Sunil Kanoria.

Mr Kanoria revealed that manufacturers like Volvo, Caterpillar,. Telco, Bharat Earth Movers, and Svedala will participate in the equity of the company. The proposal to set up an equipment bank was mooted by the Construction Industry Development Council, promoted by the industry and the Planning Commission. The trust will accept idle equipment as deposits from contractors and rent them out to other contractors.
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Corporation Bank’s gold deposit scheme
Mumbai: The Corporation Bank has set a target to mobilise 25 tonnes of gold in the first year of operations of its gold deposit scheme, launched on 22 January 2000. Gold deposits of a minimum of 250 grammes will be accepted under the scheme. The bank said it secured a deposit of 100 kg of gold on the first day of the scheme.
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Indian programmers held in US
Chicago: Nearly 40 Indian nationals working as computer programmers at a US Air Force base were arrested by US immigration agents after a six month inquiry into a visa scam by the Immigration and Naturalisation Service. The arrested persons were released the next day. The arrested persons said the officials handcuffed each of them, including a pregnant women. They said the arrests occurred in spite of all of them having valid visas and other documents although some of them did not carry these documents with them at the time of the visit of the officials.
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