SEBI GIVEN MORE POWERS

In a major upgrade of powers given to Sebi, the government has allowed it to pass orders like search and seizure, attachment of properties, arrest and detention of defaulters and recover the wrongful gains made in contravention of laws. Now Sebi can also seek information from other regulators within India and abroad with retrospective effect, paving way for collection of details pertaining to cases pending for over 15 years now.

Paris-based think-tankOECD(Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) feels that India is on way to beat Japan to become the world's third largest economy after the US and China, although it lowered the country's economic growth projection for 2013 to 5.3 per cent.

1% TDS ON LAND DEALS ABOVE Rs 50 L

FDI LIMITS HIKED

The government has decided to hike FDI (foreign direct investment) limits in insurance, retail, telecom, defence and in other sectors. Limit in the telecom sector was raised to 100% from the existing 74%. The limit in insurance sector was hiked to 49 per cent from the existing 26 per cent. In multi-brand retail, up to 49 per cent overseas investment would now be allowed through automatic route. The decisions taken today were based on recommendations of Mayaram Committee

TheCentral Board of Direct Taxeshas notified that from June 1 all sales of immovable property (other than agricultural land) above Rs.50 lakh will attract the new provision of tax deducted at source, or TDS, at 1 per cent of the sale amount. The TDS would go up to as high as 20% if the seller does not disclose his permanent account number.

LIMIT FOR FIIs INCREASED TO $30BN

In an effort to increase overseas capital inflows to strengthen the rupee, the government has enhanced the limit for foreign investments in government securities from 25 billion US Dollars at present to 30 billion US Dollars.

IIFCL LAUNCHES INDIAs FIRST IDF

RBI NOTIFIES FDI CONTROL

Amidst debate over control of Jet Airways post UAE's Etihad buying stake, the RBI has notified FDI guidelines defining control of a company. According to RBI the company will be considered as: 1. Controlled by resident Indian citizens if the power to appoint a majority of the directors on its board is held by Indian companies and citizens. 2. Owned by resident Indians if more than 50 percent of the equity is held by the entities in India. 3. It would be a foreign company, if over 50 percent of the equity is held by a non-resident.

IIFCL Mutual Fund has launched Indias first Infrastructure Debt Fund (IDF) for $ one billion. The fund aims to provide easy long term funding for small infrastructure projects.

INDIA POST LAUNCHES LOGISTICS POST

Air India has tied up with India Post for launch of carriage service - Logistics Post. Available from 15 airports, Logistics Post manages the entire distribution side of the logistics infrastructure from collection to distribution, from storage to carriage, from order preparation to order fulfillment at the lowest possible price.

BUYBACK TIME EXTENDED FOR FCCB

RETURN MUST FOR INCOME BELOW 5 LAC

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has advised that those earning up to Rs.5 lakh in salary a year will have to file IT returns this year as the two-year exemption has been lifted due to introduction of online return filing facility.

TheReserve Bank of India has extended the time period for buyback of foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) by companies under the approval route to Dec. 31, 2013 considering global market conditions. The time period for buyback of FCCBs had expired on March 31.

DISINVESTMENT IN MMTC
The 9.33 per cent stake sale in MMTC through offer for sale (OFS) fetched the exchequer Rs 567crore. The government

Export-Import Bank of India (Exim) has extended an additional line of credit of $ 19.50 million to the Vietnam government for financing two projects. The Supreme Court has ruled that ownership of minerals vests with owner of land and not with the Govt as there is no law in the country which declares state as owner.

targets to raise Rs 40,000 crore from PSU stake sale (disinvestment) in 2013-14.

MSP ANNOUNCED FOR KHARIF SEASON

FALL IN PERCENTAGE OF RURAL POOR

JUNE 2013

Government has announced increased minimum support price (MSP) for various kharif crops as under: Crop Paddy Tuar Daal Moong Daal Cotton Sesamum Old price (Rs. per qtl) 1250 3850 4400 3600 4200 New price (per qtl) 1310 4300 4500 3700 4500

Estimates released by theNational Sample Survey Organizationshow that percentage of rural poor has fallen to 24.5% in 2011-12 from 29% estimated for 2009-10. The decline is largely because agriculture sector performed well during fiscal year 2011 and 2012 against a drought situation in 2009.The fall in the urban areas was marginal, from 16% in 2009-10 to 15.5% in 2011-12.

INDIAS SUPER RICH GROW FASTER

According to the World Wealth Report 2013, released by Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management, number of world's High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) in 2012 reached 1.2 crore with collective net worth of USD 46.2 trillion, growing by 10%. India clocked the 2nd highest growth of 22.2%

SEBI COMPLETES 25 YEARS

The capital market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), came into being in 1988 but acquired statutory powers only in 1992 with the passage of the SEBI Act on April 12 of that year. In 1995, it was conferred further

INDIA THIRD LARGEST ECONOMY - OECD

powers through an amendment to the Act. It has had seven chairmen so far excluding the incumbent U. K. Sinha.

BSNLhas decided to discontinue the 160-year-old telegraph service from July 15. India has offered $150 million of credit for projectexportsto set up aSEZatSittweinMyanmar.

Ministry of Finance. The new skill body will coordinate and harmonise the skill development efforts of the government and the private sector to achieve the targets of the 12th Plan and beyond.

RBI TO ISSUE INFLATION BONDS

The Reserve Bank has announced it will launch inflation indexed bonds (IIBs) every month, starting 4th June, to attract household savings of up to Rs 15,000 crore this fiscal so as to discourage investments in gold. The first tranche of the IIBs 2013-14 for Rs 1,000-2,000 crore will be issued on 4th June. The maturity period of these bonds will be 10 years.

MAY 2013
GOVT TO SET UP ETF FOR CPSEs
The Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of a Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) which is expected to speed up disinvestment programme, check volatility in share price movement and encourage retail participation. The government is planning to raise Rs 40,000 crore through disinvestment in the current fiscal and has lined up a host of companies, including Indian Oil, Engineers India, Coal India and Hindustan Aeronautics for divesting minority stake.

IIBs ELIGIBLE FOR SLR

INDIA INCLUSIVE INNOVATION FUND

RBI has clarified that the proposed inflation indexed bond or IIBs will be treated like any other government bond and will also be eligible for maintaining statutory liquidity ratio or SLR by banks. The bonds will earn interest in accordance with the wholesale price index or WPI, with a four month gap.

Govt plans to set up a dedicated Rs 5,000-crore fund to boost scientific innovations that can improve the life of the common man. The fund will be called India Inclusive Innovation Fund and government will initially contribute Rs 100 crore to this fund. The remaining amount to the fund will come from scheduled banks, insurance companies, corporates and high networth individuals as well as bilateral and multilateral institutions. The proposal for this fund came from the National Innovation Council headed by Sam Pitroda.

NO WEALTH TAX ON FARMLANDS

Govt has clarified that wealth tax wont be levied on agricultural land even if it is located in the vicinity of urban centers within municipal limits. It will be imposed only on urban lands, excluding the agricultural lands registered as such in state records and used for agricultural purposes.

FOODGRAIN TARGET SET AT 255.36MT

LOAN @7% TO WOMEN SHGs

Govt has decided to provide bank loans at an interest rate of seven per cent to over 25 lakh women Self Help Groups (SHGs) in order to financially strengthen them. This will be part of the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM), aiming to eradicate poverty in villages by empowering women.

Country's foodgrain production has been revised upwards by over 5 million tonne to 255.36 million tonne in 2012-13 crop year. Despite upward revision in the third estimate released now, foodgrain production will still be lower than the previous year's record 259.32 million tonne. This is because of drought in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Rajasthan on account of poor monsoon last year.

IMG TO TACKLE PONZI SCHEMES

MANDATORY E-FILING OF IT RETURNS

Amid rising instances of people being defrauded by ponzi schemes, the government has set up an inter-ministerial group (IMG) to suggest ways to tackle fraudulent money pooling activities and protect the interest of investors. Representatives from the Finance and Corporate Affairs Ministries, RBI and SEBI will be members of the IMG.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has made e-filing of income tax returns mandatory for individuals, including salaried taxpayers, earning more than Rs 5 lakh taxable income during the financial year ended March 31, 2013. Prior to this notification, e-filing was mandatory for individuals having a taxable income of more than Rs 10 lakh.

Ponzi schemes are activities involving collection of money from a large number of public investors with a promise of huge returns, which are typically paid from the deposits taken from new investors.

SUBSIDIES TO BE CUT DOWN

Govt has decided to cut the subsidies on phosphate and potash-based fertilisers in the fiscal year 2013-14 in an effort to rein in its fiscal deficit. It may be mentioned that subsidy constitutes a major portion of the Non Plan expenditure of the government. Heads of Subsidy 2012-13 Food Subsidy Oil Subsidy Fertilisers Subsidy Rs. in crores* 100,000 71,000 100,000

TCS ON CASH SALE OF GOLD COINS

Govt has decided to include sale of gold coins under the ambit of tax collected at source, at the rate of one per cent. Currently, sale in cash of bullion (excluding coin or any other article weighing 10 grams or less) in excess of Rs 200,000 or jewellery in excess of Rs 500,000 only is subject to tax collected at source.

*These figures are tentative

NATIONAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY

In an effort to give a single point focus to skill development initiative, government cleared a proposal to set up a National Skill Development Agency (NSDA) subsuming other bodies engaged in this initiative. It will be located in the

The government has set an export target of $ 325 billion for 2013-14. Asian Development Bank to finance the construction of the 417-km long Indo-Myanmar Road connecting Moore in Myanmar with Sutarkandi in Karimganj, Assam.

An Inter-ministerial Group, IMG, has approved 10 per cent equity sale in Coal India which is expected to fetch over 17,000 crore rupees to the government.

TATAs START INDIAs FIRST WLA

BANKING & FINANCE

JULY 2013
NO CHANGES IN FIRST POLICY REVIEW
The first quarter review of the monetary policy 2013-14 was released by Reserve Bank of India on July 30, 2013. The RBI has not made any change in the policy rates in the current policy review.

Tata Communications Payment Solutions launched country's first ever network of White Label ATMs called 'Indicash' with the first ATM at Chandrapada in Thane District of Maharashtra. A white label ATM is one which is licensed to

and maintained by a non banking entity.

BANK A/C FOR EVERY DBT BENEFICIARY

RBI HIKES MSF / BANK RATE

On 15th July, the RBI in an unusual manner had raised the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate at 300 basis points above the policy Repo rate under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF). Consequently, the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate now is 10.25 per cent. This step was been taken by RBI to address the volatility in the exchange rate. Since the Bank Rate is aligned with MSF, hence it has also been raised to 10.25% wef July 15, 2013.

Finance Minister has said that the banking system should be the strongest pillar of the direct benefits transfer (scheme). For every beneficiary, there should be a bank account. Public sector banks will open 10,000 branches this year to facilitate this. Along with bank branches, nearly 100,000 other financial outlets would be created this year, including banking kiosks and ATMs to help achieve financial inclusion through technology.

BANKS BUSINESS GROWS BY 13.7%

Deposits and advances of the commercial banks saw a year on year growth of 13.7% each in the quarter ending June 2013 over the corresponding period. Deposits of all commercial banks including regional rural banks, stood at Rs 72872 crore while advances stood at Rs 55856 crore as on June 28, 2013. Investments made by banks, mainly in government securities rose 14.5% to Rs 21956 crore on a y-o-y basis.

ALL WOMEN BANK BY NOV 1

Finance Ministry plans to start Bhartiya Mahila Bank, an all women bank headquartered in Delhi, from November 1. The idea is to empower women in the country and bring banking services at their doorstep. Starting with a capital of Rs. 1,000 crore, it will be a commercial bank which will follow the guidelines stipulated by the Reserve Bank of India.

SBI CARD FOR INWARD REMITTANCES

RBI FINES 22 BANKS

SBI has launched a co-branded pre-paid card with UAE Exchange, called the 'State Bank Xpress Money Card', that provides banking services to inward remittance receivers. The card can be loaded up to Rs 50,000 and a maximum of 30 remittances can be loaded during a calendar year.

The RBI imposed a total fine of Rs.49.5 crore on 22 banks for violating anti-money laundering and know-your-customer rules. Seven banks, including State Bank of India, were fined for Rs. 2 to 3 crore each. The fines imposed by the central bank come after an internal investigation following an expose by online magazine Cobrapost, which used hidden cameras to videotape bank employees advising clients on ways to legitimize unaccounted money.

ONLY DRAWER LIABLE FOR DISHONOUR

The Supreme Court has ruled that in case of issuance of cheque from joint accounts, only the person who signs the cheque can be prosecuted in a cheque bouncing case under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. The other joint account holders cannot be prosecuted unless the cheque has been signed by them also. However, if the

26 APPLY FOR BANK LICENCE

offence is committed by a company, the criminal liability for dishonour of a cheque will extend to the officers of the company.

Tata Sons, IDFC, Reliance Capital, Aditya Birla Group and India Post are among the 26 entities seeking a bank licence which the Reserve Bank of India said will be granted only to a few even if everyone meets the guidelines.

RBI WINDOW FOR MUTUAL FUNDS

The Reserve Bank has decided to provide funds to banks to meet the liquidity requirements of mutual funds that are now facing redemption pressures from investors. RBI will conduct a special three-day repo auction at an interest rate of 10.25 per cent for a notified amount of Rs.25,000 crore for this purpose.

NO MORE PDCs FOR EMIs BANKS TO NAME AND SHAME GTORS

To strengthen their recovery efforts, banks have started naming and shaming the guarantors too, besides the borrowers. Banks have started publishing photographs of guarantors in the public notices (newspaper advertisements) they put out for sale of properties mortgaged with them for the loan. The RBI has authorised banks to go after both borrowers and guarantors of loans. In the eyes of law, both are to be treated on an equal footing.

RBI has advised banks that they should not accept fresh or additional post dated cheques (PDC) or Equated Monthly Instalment (EMI) cheques at locations where Electronic Clearance Service (ECS) is available. The move is aimed at cutting usage of cheques and promoting electronic transfer. It will also save borrowers the efforts of going to branch for collection of cheque books.

RBI CLARIFIES ON CREDIT INFORMATION

RBI has advised that banks and financial institutions need not seek borrowers consent to share credit information with credit information companies. This advice comes as the Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act provides statutory backing for sharing of credit information by credit institutions with credit information companies (CICs).

global practices. Provisioning on the newly restructured account has been raised to 5 per cent from June 1, as against 2 per cent at present.

RBI RAISES REPATRIATION LIMITS

RBI GUIDELINES ON TELEMARKTING

RBI has notified that banks should engage only those telemarketers who are registered in terms of the guidelines issued by TRAI, from time to time, for all their promotional/telemarketing activities. As per the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2010, issued by TRAI, any person involved in sending of commercial communications has to register with TRAI as a telemarketer.

With an aim to arrestrupeeslide by boostingforexinflows,RBIhas raised the limit for online repatriation of export proceeds by over three-fold to $ 10,000 and made it mandatory for units inSpecial Economic Zonesto repatriate full value of exports within 12 months.

BANKS ASKED TO GO TO VILLAGES

To increase banking penetration and financial inclusion drive the Reserve Bank has askedbanksto expand their branches inunbankedruralcentresand draw up their next Financial Inclusion Plan (FIP) for the period 2013-16. At present banks

Public sector banks have been asked to set up ATMs in all branches by March, 2014 to enable customers in rural pockets to do banking round-the-clock. RBI has advised that it will compensate banks 25 per cent of the losses if they report counterfeit bank notes of Rs 100 and above to RBI or police authorities.

are required to open at least 25% of the new branches in a year in unbanked rural areas.

BANKS TO ALLOT UCIC BY MAR, 2014

JUNE 2013

The RBI has extended the deadline for banks to complete the process of allotting a Unique Customer Identification Code (UCIC) to all their customers to March 31, 2014.

REVIEW OF FINANCIAL BENCHMARKS

The Reserve Bank has set up Vijaya Bhaskar committee to review the relevance of existing financial benchmarks and suggest new ones to improve regulation of the sector. It will also look into the international practices and draw suitable lessons from them to implement them in Indian context. Financial benchmarks include repo rate, reverse repo rate, bank rate, and marginal standing facility rate.

LEGAL AUDIT FOR HIGH VALUE LOANS

RBI has asked all banks to conduct periodic legal audit of all loans above 50 million rupees and re-verification of all title deeds, until the loan is fully repaid. The directions came in the wake of rising non-performing loans. INDUSIND BANK OFFERS CHOICE OF A/C NO. IndusInd Bank will now allow itscustomersto choose theirbank accountnumbers. The new proposition 'My Account, My Number' will allow the bank's customers to choose up to 10 of 12 digits of the account number on the basis of their preference.

BANKS NEED Rs 5 TRILLION CAPITAL

Indian banks will require a whopping Rs 5 lakh crore over the next 5 years to meet the global norms on capital requirement under Basel III framework. The Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) of the aggregate banking system, as of December-end 2012, stood at 13.5 per cent. In India, the Reserve Bank

RuPAY GOES ONLINE

introduced the Basel III capital regulations for banks effective April 1 this year. The capital requirements will be phased over a period, up to March 31, 2018.

RuPay, a domestic alternative to MasterCard and Visa, has now been made available for e-commerce use by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

NORMS FOR GOLD LOAN TIGHTENED

RBI PENALIZES TOP BANKS

RBI imposed a fine of Rs 5 crore on Axis Bank, Rs 4.5 crore onHDFC Bank Rs 1 crore onICICI Bankfor violation of KYCnorms and anti-money laundering guidelines after inquiring into charges levelled by a online portal Cobrapost. They did not adhere to the KYC norms for walk in customers for sale of third party products and failed to file cash transaction reports in respect of some cash transactions and sale of gold coins for cash beyond Rs 50,000.

The Reserve Bank has tightened norms for lending against gold by Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) in a bid to curb demand. RRBs have been advised to not to give loan against gold coins/jewelry exceeding 50 grams. Further, they cannot give advances against gold Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and units of gold Mutual Funds.

FIRST WHITE LABEL ATMs

NO COURT CASES FOR CHEQUE BOUNCING

The government is considering to bring an amendment in the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 that will restrict banks from dragging a person to court for offence of cheque bounce. All such cases, after the changes are affected, will have to be decided only through arbitration, conciliation or settlement by Lok Adalats.

Tata Communications Payment Solutions Ltd. (TCPSL), a subsidiary of Tata Communications has rolled out the firstever white label Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) network under the brand Indicash.

MFI LOANS ELIGIBLE FOR PRIORITY SECTOR

PROV. RAISED FOR RESTRUCTURED A/Cs

Worried over rising NPA, the Reserve Bank has tightened rules for restructuringof most types of loans in line with

RBI has advised that bank creditto Micro Finance Institutions(MFIs) for onlending (onward lending) will now be eligible for categorisation as priority sector advance if provided not less than 70 per cent of the total loans given by MFIs are for income generating activity. As per RBI norms,

domestic banks are advised to achieve the target of priority sector lending at 40 per cent.

NEW RBI NORMS FOR PMS

RBI has proposed tough norms for banks involved in wealth and portfolio management services (W/PMS), mandating them to segregate sales and advisory activity, and threatened to bar them from money markets for violation of guidelines.RBI's draft comes after a series of frauds revealed that bankers' were eager to facilitate cash transactions and compromise on Know Your Customer (KYC) norms. The Reserve Bank to issue new fiverupeecoins to

Deutsche Bank India has launched a special account named 'Eve Account' targeted at urban women. It will offer benefits such as discounts on lockers, demat account and investment fees, preferential interest rates on home and personal loans and free international platinum and gold debit cards.

RBIs NO TO CHEQUE RETURN CHARGES

In order to ensure fair practices in banking services, the Reserve Bank has asked banks to levy cheque return charges only in such cases where the customer is at fault. In all other cases, cheques should be re-presented in the immediate next presentation clearing, not later than 24 hours, with due notification to the customers through SMS alert, email etc.

commemorate 150th birth anniversary of Motilal Nehru.

MAY 2013

RBI announced its Monetary and Credit Policy for the year 2013-14 on May 3, 2013. The highlights of the policy are as under: 9 Benchmark Repo rate reduced by 25 basis points (bps) to 7.25%; Reverse Repo and Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rates stand adjusted to 6.25% and 8.25%, respectively. Bank Rate also re-adjusts at 8.25%. 9 Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) maintained at 4.0% of net demand and time liabilities (NDTL) as liquidity conditions are expected to ease in Q1FY14. 9 SLR maintained at 23% of NDTL. 9 Baseline projection of GDP growth for 2013-14 pegged at 5.7% as compared to the Advance Estimate of 5.0% growth in 2012-13 by the Central Statistics Office. 9 Baseline projection for headline inflation related to the wholesale price index (WPI) estimated at 5.5% for FY2014 compared to 7.3% in 2012-13. 9 Indicative projections for growth of M3, deposits, and non-food credit for 2013-14 assessed at 13%, 14% and 15%, respectively.

ANNUAL POLICY STATEMENT 2013-14

RBI SUGGESTS GIRO FOR PAYMENTS

An RBI panel headed by its Executive Director G Padmanabhan, has suggested India Bill Payment System (IBPS), a GIRO-based electronic bill payment system for payment of dues of essential services, insurance premia, utility payments, taxes, university fees, examination fees and school fees.

Giro payment is a credit push transaction initiated by the payer and may involve the presence of three banks (collecting bank, payer bank and the payee bank). Bill paying customers can access any payment channel through banks or non-bank entity under the proposed Giro system.

LBS TO COVER METRO AREAS

Reserve Bank has asked banks to bring all districts in metropolitan areas under the lead bank scheme (LBS) fold.

The LBS, launched way back in 1969, is an integrated mechanism to extend banking services to the doorsteps of consumers, especially the poor.

REPO RATE CUT DOWN TO 7.25

EXPORT REALISATION PERIOD CUT DOWN

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its Annual Policy Statement issued on May 03, 2013, cut the repo rate by 25 basis points, for the third time since January as growth slows and inflation ebbs, but said there is little room to ease monetary policy further. The RBI trimmed the repo rate -- the rate at which the central bank lends short-term money to banks -- to 7.25 percent, its lowest since May 2011. REVISED POLICY RATES Repo rate 7.25% Reverse repo rate 6.25% Marginal standing facility 8.25% Bank rate 8.25%

In a bid to attract more dollars into the country to reduce current account deficit (CAD), the Reserve Bank has cut down the realisation period of sale proceeds for exports, to nine months, from 12 months at present.

State Bank of India has entered into a tie up with Spanish bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, SA (BBVA) to develop business operations in Spain. G. Padmanabhan committee: The RBI had set up a technical committee to suggest ways to help exporters access finance from banks on easier terms. The Reserve Bank of India has decided to put into circulation Rs 5 denomination coins to commemorate Silver Jubilee of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board.

PRIORITY SECTOR LENDING NORMS REVISED

RBI has raised some benchmarks in priority sector lending to enhance the coverage. Rs. in lacs Purpose of Loan Present New Limit Limit Micro and small enterprises 200 500 (MSEs) in the services sector indirect finance to 500 1000 agriculture Loan against pledge of 250 500 agricultural produce

DEFENCE, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

SPECIAL FORCE FOR LAC

JULY 2013

Boosting Army's war fighting capabilities along the Line of Actual Control, the Government has given a go ahead to the creation of Mountain Strike Crops along the China border at a cost of around 65,000 crore rupees.

EVE ACCOUNT FROM DEUTSCHE BANK

INS TRIKAND JOINS INDIAN NAVY

The Indian Navy has taken delivery of the INS Trikand, last of three Krivak class stealth frigates built by Russia at a Baltic shipyard. The first two frigates in the series, INS Teg and INS Tarkash, were commissioned last year. India's Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher System, the Pinaka, has undergone successful firing trials at Chandhan area in Pokhran field firing ranges in Rajasthan.

China began its longest manned space mission with the launch of the Shenzhou-10 rocket, carrying three astronauts onboard. It will dock with the Tiangong-1 -- "Heavenly Palace" -- space laboratory, and will transfer the crew to the lab to carry out medical and space technology experiments.

CHINA DEVELOPS FASTEST COMPUTER

Tianhe-2, a supercomputer developed by Chinas National University of Defense Technology has been ranked as the fastest computer in the world. It achieved processing speeds of 33.86 petaflops (1000 trillion calculations) per second on a benchmarking test.

IRNSS-1A LAUNCHED SUCCESSFULLY

Indias first dedicated navigation satellite, the IRNSS-1A, developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation, was successfully put in orbit on July 1 by the launch vehicle, PSLV-C22, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

FLOATING INTERNET ANTENNAS FROM GOOGLE

The IRNSS-1A is the first of the proposed seven satellites in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. Consisting of a space segment and a ground segment, IRNSS has three satellites in geostationary orbit and four satellites in inclined geosynchronous orbit and is to be completed before 2015.

Google has launched 'Project Loon' to float Internet-beaming antennas into the stratosphere aboard giant, jellyfish-shaped helium balloons, some 12 miles above Earth. In New Zealand, 50 volunteer households are already receiving the Internet signals by this technique.

NEW LANGUAGE DISCOVERED IN AUSTRALIA

MARS ORBITER MISSION FROM ISRO

ISRO is preparing for the upcoming "big-bang" Mars Orbiter Mission in October-November, an ambitious venture that would shed light on the possible existence of life on the planet besides boosting space agency ISRO's brand equity.

INSAT 3 D LAUNCHED

India successfully launched its advanced meteorological spacecraft INSAT-3D by a European rocket from the spaceport of Kourou in French Guiana, enhancing the countrys capability in weather forecasting and disaster warning fields.

Scientists have discovered a new language in northern Australia which contains rare grammatical innovations and a unique combination of elements from other languages. The language, now known as Light Warlpiri, is spoken by approximately 300 people in a remote desert community about 644 kilometres from Katherine, a town located in Australia's Northern Territory. Pilatus, PC-7 Mk-II: Swiss made basic trainer aircraft has been inducted for the first time in the Air Force. The Indian Air Force (IAF) has inducted its first Boeing C-17 Globemaster III heavy duty multipurpose cargo aircraft, supplied by USA. POSEIDON-8-I TO JOIN INDIAN NAVY Long range maritime snooping and anti-submarine warfare aircraft from USA Poseidon-8-i will soon be inducted for the first time in Indian navy. With a maximum speed of 907 kmph and an operating range of over 1,200 nautical miles, the Poseidon-8Is will be able to detect threats and neutralize them if required long before they come anywhere near Indian shores.

MAY 2013

NASA LAUNCHES IRIS TO STUDY SUN

NASA has launched a satellite on a mission to examine a little-studied region of the sun that it hopes will improve space weather prediction. The Iris satellite telescope rode into earth orbit on a Pegasus rocket, which was air-launched over the Pacific Ocean. Iris stands for Interface Region

Imaging Spectrograph.

WORLDS LARGEST TELESCOPE

Australia has started the test run of its very large Square Kilometre Array (SKA) astronomy telescope project to explore the origins of the universe. It will have a discovery potential 10,000 times greater than the most advanced modern instruments and will explore exploding stars, black holes, dark energy and traces of the universes origins some 14 billion years ago. China successfully launched three satellites Chuangxin-3, Shiyan-7 and Shijian-15 into space for scientific experiments on space maintenance technologies.

FIRST SUPERSONIC AIRCRAFTS FOR NAVY

India has commissioned its first-ever squadron of naval supersonic fighters called Black Panther consisting of MiG29K jets, which will eventually operate from the decks of soon to come aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya (Admiral Gorshkov) as well as the indigenous aircraft carrier. SUCCESSFUL TEST FIRE OF BrahMos India successfully test fired the 290-km range BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from the Navy's latest guided missile frigate INS Tarkash, off the coast of Goa.

JUNE 2013
SPACE NAVIGATION CENTER AT BYALALU
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has opened a navigation centre at Byalalu, near Bangalore for monitoring the proposed Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System.

GROVER TO STUDY GREENLAND ICE

CHINA LAUNCHES SHENZHOU-10 ROCKET

A new NASA land rover GROVER has been launched to study that how fast is Greenlands ice sheet melting in response to climate change, and how is it recovering? GROVER, which stands for both Greenland Rover and Goddard Remotely Operated Vehicle for Exploration and Research, is an autonomous, solar-operated robot that carries ground-penetrating radar to examine the layers of Greenlands ice sheet.