Issue: 1139
US–Bangladesh trade pact
dents India’s tariff edge in American market: The US has signed a new trade
pact with Bangladesh, lowering its reciprocal tariffs by 1 per cent to 19 per
cent, which has narrowed India’s promised tariff advantage over the country in
the American market. The deal is set to hit textiles and garments exporters
from India the most as it provides a mechanism for zero-duty access to
Bangladeshi garments, based on a quota, with a condition that it is made with
cotton sourced from the US. “This mechanism will provide that a to-be-specified
volume of textile and apparel exports from Bangladesh can enter the US at this
reduced tariff rate, but this volume shall be determined in relation to the
quantity of exports of textiles, for example, US-produced cotton and MMF
textile inputs from the US,” per the agreement.
(Business Line)
Unemployment rate declined
in urban and rural India during Oct-Dec quarter: Unemployment rate declined across both urban
and rural areas during the October-December quarter of Fiscal Year 2025-26, the
Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released by the Statistics Ministry on
Tuesday said. The data is based on a survey of 5.61 lakh individuals across
urban and rural areas. According to data, the unemployment rate among
persons aged 15 years and above in rural areas fell to 4 per cent in
October-December 2025, from 4.4 per cent in the previous quarter. In the same
age group, the urban unemployment declined to 6.7 per cent from 6.9 per cent.
(Business Line)
Corruption Perception
Index: India ranks 91st among 182 nations; scores 39: India ranked 91st out of 182 countries and territories
on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2025, with a score of 39,
according to the latest report released by Transparency International on
Tuesday. The index measures perceived levels of public sector corruption on a
scale from zero, indicating a highly corrupt environment, to 100, indicating a
very clean one. India’s score rose by one point from 38 in 2024 to
39 in 2025. At the lower end of the index, Afghanistan and
Myanmar each scored 16, while North Korea scored 15.
(Business Standard)
RBI plans to up
individual loan limits for UCBs unsecured advances to ?5 lakh- ?10 lakh range: In
a bid to provide greater flexibility to urban co-operative banks (UCBs) in
their lending operations, the RBI plans to enhance the individual loan limits for
unsecured advances to the ?5 lakh to ?10 lakh range, depending upon the size of
the Bank. Currently, the aforementioned limit ranges from ?25,000 to ?5 lakh,
depending on the Bank’s deposit size and capital to risk-weighted assets ratio.
The limit for individual unsecured advances for Tier-I UCBs (with deposits up
to ?100 crore) and Tier 2 UCBs (with deposits more than ?100 crore and up to
?1000 crore) are proposed to be set at ?5 lakh and ?7.5 lakh, respectively. For
Tier 3 UCBs (with deposits more than ?1000 crore and up to ?10,000 crore) and
Tier 4 UCBs (with deposits more than ?10,000 crore), the loan limit will be the
same at ?10 lakh.
(Business Line)
FDI in banking sector
declined to $115 million: Foreign direct investment
(FDI) equity inflow in the banking sector has declined to $115 million at the
end of FY25, from $898 million in FY23, the Finance Ministry told Rajya Sabha
on Tuesday. In a written reply, Minister of State in the Finance Ministry,
Pankaj Chaudhary said that FDI is considered a major source of non-debt
financial resource for economic development.
(Business Line)
RBI allows bank loans to
NCDC to be counted as priority sector lending: The Reserve Bank of India said
on Tuesday that loans given by banks to the National Cooperative Development
Corporation will be counted as priority sector lending if they are sanctioned
on or after January 19, 2026. These loans will be used by
NCDC to provide funds to cooperative societies. The benefit will apply to banks
other than Regional Rural Banks, Urban Cooperative Banks, Small Finance Banks
and Local Area Banks. According to the RBI, the
loans must be used for activities listed under the Master Direction on Priority
Sector Lending, 2025.
(Economic Times)
Citi India names Ankur Khurana
as commercial banking head: Citigroup has appointed Ankur
Khurana as the new head of its Commercial Bank in India. This move highlights
the US lender's commitment to expanding its commercial banking services across
Asia. Khurana brings extensive experience from her previous leadership roles at
Standard Chartered and Credit Suisse. Her expertise will be crucial in
bolstering Citi's presence and client coverage in the region.
(Economic Times)
Inflows into gold, silver
ETFs pip equity schemes in January: For the first time ever, in January, inflows
into precious metals — gold and silver through exchange-traded funds (ETFs)
exceeded that of all equity schemes, which were beaten down by mark-to-market
losses. Combined inflows into gold and silver ETFs hit a high of ?33,503 crore
in January with gold ETFs garnering ?24,040 crore ( ?11,647 crore) and silver
ETFs ?9,463 crore ( ?3,962 crore) as investors used the fall in precious metal
prices to pump in more money. Inflows into equity schemes were lower at ?24,029
crore in January, declining from ?28,054 crore logged in December.
(Business Line)
India to commit zero tax on
digital services in trade pact: The US has said that India will remove its
digital services taxes and negotiate rules that prohibit the imposition of
customs duties on digital transmissions as part of the trade deal finalised on
Saturday through a joint statement. The
key detail of the digital trade was made public in the Fact Sheet on the deal
released by the White House early Tuesday. The joint statement of February 6
just had a mention of both sides aggressing discriminatory or burdensome
practices and other barriers to digital trade without mentioning taxes. While
India had removed 6% levy on payments made to non-resident companies for online
advertising and 2% tax imposed on overseas e-commerce companies and streaming
platforms in 2025, by putting in a trade agreement with the US it would forgo
freedom to re-introduce it in future for American companies.
(Financial Express)
SC nudges Fssai to consider front-of-pack warning labels on foods: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to seriously evaluate the introduction of front-of-pack warning labels on packaged foods, citing concerns over excessive sugar, saturated fat and sodium content. The Bench comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and K V Viswanathan, while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) that sought mandatory front-facing warnings, said that a prima facie case had been made for such disclosures advancing public-health objectives. The Court noted that resistance from food companies could not outweigh the regulator’s obligation to protect consumer health, and cautioned that continued inaction by FSSAI may invite judicial intervention.
(Business Standard)
Govt tightens rules on
AI-generated content, mandates labels and faster takedowns: The government has tightened
India’s internet rules to bring AI-generated and deepfake content under
stricter compliance, mandating clear labelling, permanent metadata and faster
takedown timelines for online platforms. The Ministry of Electronics and Information
Technology (MeitY) on February 10 notified the Information Technology
(Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2026,
expanding the scope of the law to explicitly cover what it calls “synthetically
generated information”. The notification defines
synthetically generated information as audio, visual or audio-visual content
that is “artificially or algorithmically created, generated, modified or
altered using a computer resource” in a way that makes it appear authentic. However,
the government clarified that routine editing, formatting, technical correction
or the good-faith creation of documents, PDFs, research outputs and educational
material will not be treated as synthetic content.
(Business Today)
SEBI tightens norms for
CRAs to rate instruments under other regulators: The Securities and Exchange Board of India
(SEBI) has tightened obligations for credit rating agencies (CRAs) when they
rate financial instruments that fall under the jurisdiction of other financial
sector regulators. The circular, issued on Tuesday, sets out conditions on
grievance handling, disclosures, net worth, client communication and internal
audits for such activities, in order to “protect the interest of investors in
securities and to promote the development of, and to regulate, the securities
market,” it said. Under the new framework, CRAs
must maintain separate email IDs and web disclosures for SEBI-regulated
activities and those regulated by other authorities. They must also ensure that
their minimum net worth, as prescribed under SEBI’s CRA regulations, is not
affected by undertaking ratings for instruments overseen by other regulators.
(Business Line)
OCCURANCE POLICY
§
An
occurrence policy is a type of insurance that covers claims for injuries or
damages that happen during the policy's active period, even if the claims are
filed years after the policy has expired.
§ Under these types of contracts, the insured party
has the right to request compensation for damages that occurred within the
timespan that the policy was active, even if several years have since passed
and the insurance agreement is no longer in force.
RBI KEY RATES
Repo
Rate: 5.25%
SDF:
5.00%
MSF
/Bank Rate: 5.50%
CRR:
3.00%
SLR:
18.00%
FOREX RATES (RBI REF. RATE)
INR
/ 1 USD : 90.5773
INR
/ 1 GBP : 123.8614
INR
/ 1 EUR : 107.8697
INR
/100 JPY: 58.3100
EQUITY INDEX
Sensex: 84273.92 (+208.17)
NIFTY: 25935.15 (+67.85)
Bnk NIFTY: 60626.40 (-42.45)
International Day of Women and Girls in Science: The 2026
International Day of Women and Girls in Science (11 February) focuses on
"From Vision to Impact: Redefining STEM by Closing the Gender Gap,"
highlighting AI, social science, and STEM to build inclusive futures. It
addresses the underrepresentation of women, who make up only 26% of AI/data
workforces.
Historical events: February 11 marks
significant global milestones, including the 1990 release of Nelson Mandela,
the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and the naming of COVID-19 by the WHO in 2020. In
India, it is observed as Samarpan Diwas to mark the death anniversary of Pandit
Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, along with key events like the 1613 permission for the
East India Company to build a factory in Surat.
****Have a nice Day****
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