Economy News Notes

The ‘concessional window' is off. Relatives of directors of commercial banks won't be able to avail themselves of concessional loans henceforth.
“However, banks may grant loan or advance to or on behalf of spouses of their directors in cases where the spouse has his/her own independent source of income arising out of his/her employment or profession,'' the apex bank said.

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has introduced a Negotiable Warehouse Receipt (NWR) system to help farmers avoid distress sale of their produces.
NWRs would enable small and marginal farmers with Kisan Credit Cards to avail post-harvest loans at concessional interest rates and store their produce in warehouses against warehouse receipts.

Passenger car manufacturers in the country are worried over the government's stand on import duties under the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU).
While it is not clear yet if the agreement will be sealed at the upcoming summit with the EU in New Delhi on February10
The EU is pushing for a big reduction in duty on import of fully-built passenger cars into India.
Also under consideration is the introduction of Tariff Rate Quota or TRQ under which a fixed number of vehicles can be exported to India at duties even lower than that finalised under the proposed FTA.
The domestic car manufacturers are up in arms as they see their interests under threat.
- Toyota, Maruti Suzuki, Honda, Hyundai Motor, Tata Motors and General Motors, otherwise fierce competitors in the Indian market, are aligned on the same side as they fight what they see as a move by European manufacturers, primarily German, to drive in their cars from Europe without setting up a factory in India.
The predominant beneficiaries of the free trade agreement will, therefore, be luxury car manufacturers such as BMW, Mercedes Benz and Volkswagen. Renault and Fiat already have manufacturing units in India while Peugeot recently announced plans to set up one in Gujarat.