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The Indian Express The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday launched the Mobile Aided Note Identifier (MANI), a mobile application for aiding visually impaired persons to identify the denomination of Indian banknotes. As per the RBI, Indian banknotes contain several features which enable the visually impaired (colour blind, partially sighted and blind people) to identify them, including intaglio printing and tactile mark, variable banknote size, large numerals, variable colour, monochromatic hues and patterns. “Technological progress has opened up new opportunities for making Indian banknotes more accessible for the visually impaired, thereby facilitating their day to day transactions,” RBI said. As announced in the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies of June 6, 2018, the bank has developed a mobile application, MANI, with features like capability of identifying the denominations of Mahatma Gandhi series and Mahatma Gandhi (new) series bankno...

Hindustan Times On Tuesday, the Union finance ministry released the report of the task force on National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP), which is aimed at making an investment of Rs 100 lakh crore in infrastructure projects over the next five years. Along with the details of proposed investment projects, the report also gives estimates of India’s nominal GDP from 2019-20 to 2024-25. These estimates can give us an insight into the government’s expectations about economic growth in the medium term and the revenue situation for the current fiscal year. The summary findings: lower revenue (and tax revenue) in 2019-2020 but better-than-expected medium-term growth. Shortfall in nominal GDP growth in 2019-20 The report puts nominal GDP in 2019-20 at Rs 205.37 lakh crore with an annual growth of 8% over the Rs 190.1. lakh crore in 2018-19. The 2019-20 Budget had assumed the nominal GDP in the current fiscal year to be Rs 211 lakh crore assuming a growth rate of 12% over Rs 188 l...

DAWN Bangladesh's telecom regulator has ordered operators to shut down services along the border with India citing security reasons, authorities said in a statement. Mobile network coverage has been suspended for one kilometre along the entire border with India until further notice “for the sake of the country's security in the current circumstances”, officials said in the statement, which was released on Monday. One official on the condition of anonymity said the decision was taken out of concern that Indian Muslims might seek to enter Bangladesh after India introduced a new citizenship law which has triggered violent protests across India. On Dec 11, India's parliament passed a contentious bill that seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants from some countries.The bill will let the Indian government grant citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants who entered India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh before 2015 — but not if they are M...

Livemint The Reserve Bank on Tuesday asked all urban cooperative banks (UCBs) with deposits of over  ₹ 100 crore to constitute a Board of Management (BoM) comprising experts to oversee their functioning. The decision assumes significance against the backdrop of a scam at Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank leading to hardships to over 9 lakh depositors.  Under the present legal framework, the Board of Directors of a UCB perform both the executive and supervisory roles and has the responsibility to oversee the functioning of UCB as a co-operative society as well as its functions as a bank."Since UCBs are accepting public deposits, it is imperative that a separate mechanism be put in place to protect the interests of depositors," the RBI said. As per the guidelines on BoM: "There shall be a Board of Management (BoM) in every UCB with deposit size of  ₹ 100 crore and above in addition to the Board of Directors".The BoM will be constituted by the Board...