Economy
Union Government Unveiled new FTP
Union Minister of Commerce & Industry on 2 April unveiled Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2015-2020. The new trade policy will incorporate government ambitious initiatives such as Make in India, Digital India mission, Skill India programme, ease of business in order to boost jobs and take India’s exports to 900 billion dollars by 2020. In the new policy FTP2015-20, two new schemes Merchandise Exports From India Scheme (MEIS) and Services Exports From India Scheme (SEIS) were introduced.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Launched MUDRA Bank
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 8 April launched the Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Ltd. (MUDRA) Bank in New Delhi.The bank will provide credit of up to 10 lakh rupees to small entrepreneurs and act as a regulator for Micro-Finance Institutions (MFIs). The Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana will be the main support system for the bank and will be the part of Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). MUDRA Bank has been started with an initial corpus of Rs. 20,000 crore. Apart from this, Rs. 3,000 crore has been earmarked as credit guarantee corpus.
India Ranks 125th In the World For Fixed Broadband Penetration
According to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) latest report, India ranks 125th in the world for fixed broadband penetration with only 1.2 per 100 inhabitants and the global average is 9.4 per 100 inhabitants.This rating puts India behind Sri Lanka and Bhutan. In the wireless or mobile broadband segment, India is ranked at 113th with a penetration of 3.2 per 100 inhabitants.
India Fourth Largest Supplier of Generic Medicines To US
India has emerged as the fourth largest supplier of generic medicines to the United States. It was announced by Minister of State (MoS) for Chemicals and Fertilizers Hansraj Ahir gave this information in the Rajya Sabha in reply to a question. India’s generic medicines exports have touched over US 4 billion dollars in 2013-14 in spite of stringent regulatory measures imposed by US. Union Government also announced that Indian pharmaceutical companies are already exporting generic medicines to Africa, West Asia and European countries.