PensionIndia

Provisional results from the 2011 census of India show a diminishing population, the lowest since independence in 1947. From 2001 to 2007, India's population grew 17.6%, compared to a 20% to 25% growth rate in previous periods since the 1951 census. Even so, India is expected to virtually catch up with China in population by 2020, with United Nations forecasts showing a less than 1 million advantage for China. By 2025, the UN forecasts that India will lead China by more than 50 million people.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday issued guidelines to allow banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) to sponsor infrastructure debt funds (IDFs).

The RBI guidelines on IDFs are based on the parameters that the central bank had issued in September.

NBFCs trying to set up IDFs should have been operational for at least five years, should have minimum net owned funds of Rs. 3bn and a capital adequacy ratio of 15%.

Largest truck maker in India by sales Tata Motors jumped 7.59% to Rs. 173.85 and was the top gainer from the Sensex pack. The stock had lost 11.36% in prior three trading sessions. On BSE, 28.30 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against an average daily volume of 26.89 shares in the past two weeks.

Key benchmark indices pared losses as bargain hunting emerged after recent steep slide. The 50-unit S&P CNX Nifty regained psychological 5,000 mark, after falling below that mark earlier in the day. The BSE Sensex was down 116.47 points or 0.7%, up about 120 points from the day's low and off close to 105 points from the day's high. The broad market depicted weakness. The market breadth was quite weak. Weak corporate earning and euro-zone debt worries weighed on sentiment. With Italy's benchmark sovereign yield above the key 7% level, concerns about European defaults rose.

The government today approved amendments to the PFRDA Bill 2011 while agreeing to the proposed 26 per cent foreign investment in the pension sector but refrained from providing assured returns to subscribers in the proposed law.

The government had decided not to mention FDI cap in the legislation itself for retaining the flexibility of changing it through an executive order. The 26 per cent FDI cap is to be mentioned in the regulations to the legislation.

The changes to the PFRDA Bill were approved by the Union Cabinet at its meeting here.

The government is likely to finalise changes in the PFRDA Bill, 2011, today with a view to incorporating suggestions made by a Parliamentary Committee on the pension legislation.

The amendments to the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Bill, which has been pending with Parliament, are scheduled to be taken up for consideration by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday, sources said.

India has made small savings more attractive in an effort to woo
small investors and enlarge the national savings pool, a notification
from the finance ministry on Friday showed.
The government borrows money from this pool of small savings to
finance its deficit, but for the current fiscal year, the finance
ministry had to resort to higher-than-budgeted market borrowings by as
much as Rs 530 billion (USD 10.57 billion) as there were insufficient
funds in the National Small Savings Fund.

Pensioners may soon feel more welcome at public sector bank counters,
as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked public sector lenders to
improvise their pension services. According to an RBI survey on
complaints on pension services, 95 per cent were unhappy with the
services of public sector banks.

The Government may soon allow a foreign individual, foreign pension fund
or a foreign trust to invest directly into Indian equity market. These
investors are called Qualified Foreign Investors (QFIs).

India's combined fiscal deficit — of both the central and state governments — in fiscal 2011-12 could be as high as 8.6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and any further slippage could risk a credit downgrade and loss of business confidence, says a report.

According to global research firm Macquarie, consolidated fiscal deficit of the country including off-budget items like food, oil and fertilizer is likely to be around 8.6 per cent amid slowing revenue growth and "lack of expenditure management by the government".