Economic meeting of 'G-20' representatives begins in Bangalore
- As part of the 'G-20' conference, a three-day meeting of finance and central bank representatives began in Bangalore yesterday. Its summit will be held in New Delhi on September 9 and 10, 2023. In this, the heads of the member states will participate.
- Before this, 200 consultation meetings will be held across the country. As part of this, the first finance and central bank delegation meeting was held at a private luxury hotel on Nandimalai Road, Devanahalli, Bengaluru.
- On behalf of India, Union Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Sait and RBI Deputy Governor Michael Batra presided and spoke.
- Representatives of many countries and international organizations invited by India from G-20 member countries participated in the meeting. Various financial issues faced at the international level were discussed. Fundraising to address the global challenges of inflation, food, energy security and climate change was also discussed.
- A financing program for urban infrastructure with the help of the German Development Bank was launched with the objective of improving the environment, protecting natural resources and improving the quality of life of urban residents.
- The project has been completed in 2 phases. As a follow-up, the third phase of the Sustainable Urban Infrastructure Financing Program will be implemented with a €500 million (approx. Rs. 4,250 crore) grant from the German Development Bank.
- To that end, a loan agreement of 500 million euros (about Rs. 4,250 crore) was signed between the German Development Bank and the Government of India in New Delhi last month.
- Subsequently, a project agreement was signed between German Development Bank, Tamil Nadu Government and Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services Corporation on 2nd in Chennai.
- Also, a separate agreement was signed between German Development Bank and Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services Corporation. Both the agreements were exchanged in the presence of Chief Minister M. K. Stalin.
- Following a series of problems with Governor Arif Mohammad Khan over administration and appointments in universities, the Communist Party-of-Marxist (CPI-M)-led government introduced the Universities Acts (Amendment) Bill in the Assembly.
- The bill envisages appointing academicians of high repute as chancellors of universities. A committee consisting of the Chief Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Speaker of the Assembly will select the President.
- The Chancellor shall be appointed by the Cabinet for a term of five years, with provision for his or her removal from office by order in writing for gross misconduct or other sufficient cause.
- The government approved the opposition's amendment to appoint one chancellor instead of separate chancellors for all 14 universities.
- Consumer-based retail inflation fell for the 2nd consecutive month in figures released by the Office for National Statistics. It fell below 6 percent to 5.88 percent in November. It had come down to 6.77 percent in October. It was reported to be 4.91 percent in November last year.
- The RBI has raised interest rates since May last year after rising above the RBI's benchmark of 6 percent. It is noteworthy that so far the repo rate has been raised 5 times to 2.25 percent.
- Food inflation eased to 4.67 percent in November. It is noteworthy that it was 7.01 percent in the month of October
