LONDON: India was today formally announced as the 69th shareholder of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), paving the way for more joint investment with Indian companies across the bank's regions of operation.

The Indian government had applied for EBRD membership in December 2017.

The EBRD board of governors, which represents all the existing shareholders, voted unanimously in favour of the country's application in March 2018, with the entire membership process completed this week.

"We are very proud and happy to welcome India to our Bank.This day opens a new chapter in our relations, allowing us to build further on already very close ties," said EBRD's Indian-origin president Suma Chakrabarti.

India takes a shareholding in the EBRD but it will not be a recipient of EBRD financing.

In the lead up to the membership, the EBRD held its inaugural business forum in Mumbai last month.

British Prime Minister Theresa May will publish details of her long-awaited Brexit plan today to restart talks with the EU, after facing down a revolt by eurosceptic ministers that could still unseat her.

In a policy paper, the government will outline proposals to allow Britain to maintain close economic and security ties with the European Union even after it leaves the bloc in March.

"It is a vision that respects the result of the referendum (vote to leave), and delivers a principled and practical Brexit," Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab said in the foreword.

New Delhi: State-run telecom firm BSNL on Wednesday unveiled first internet telephony service in the country that will allow users to dial any telephone number in India through its mobile app Wings’. Now BSNL customers will be able to make calls using the company’s mobile app Wings to any phone number in the country. Before this, phone calls on mobile apps was possible within users of a particular app and not on telephone numbers.

“In present competitive environment, increase in market share by BSNL is laudable. I congratulate BSNL management for internet telephony which will enable consumers to make call without SIM,” Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha said, after inaugurating the BSNL service.

India was ranked 57th in the latest Global Innovation Index (GII) rankings released in New York on Tuesday. India was ranked 60th in the year 2017 which shows that it has been constantly climbing up its GII rankings since 2015.

According to reports, India has maintained its top place in the central and South Asia region and has consistently moved up the global ranking from 81st in 2015 to 57th in the year 2018. The country has climbed for the third year in a row, as it was ranked 66th in the year 2016.

On the global front, Switzerland maintained its number one position in the Global Innovation Index rankings. Other countries that fell in the top 10 list were Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, the US, Finland, Denmark, and Germany.

China, scored the rank 17th rank this year, which is an upgrade from the previous 44th rank in 2017.

• A daring rescue mission in the treacherous confines of a flooded Thai cave saved all 12 boys and their soccer coach who were trapped deep within the labyrinth. It ended a grueling, 18-day ordeal that claimed the life of an experienced volunteer diver and riveted people around the world.

  Thailand's Navy SEALs, who were central to the rescue effort, said on their Facebook page that the remaining four boys and their 25-year-old coach were all brought out safely Tuesday. Eight of the boys were rescued by a team of Thai and international divers on Sunday and Monday.

  "We are not sure if this is a miracle, a science, or what. All the thirteen Wild Boars are now out of the cave," the SEALs said, referring to the name of the boys' soccer team. "Everyone is safe."

  The leader of the Thailand cave rescue says a medic and three SEALs who stayed with the boys in their dark refuge are now out of the cave.

  Earlier, cheers erupted at a local government office where dozens of volunteers and journalists were awaiting news of whether the intricate and high-risk rescue mission had succeeded.

  People on the street cheered and clapped when ambulances ferrying the boys arrived at the hospital in Chiang Rai city.

Andhra Pradesh topped a list of states in implementing reforms under the Centre’s ease of doing business initiative for a second straight year, according to the ranks based on Business Reforms Action Plan 2017 released on Tuesday by the World Bank and the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP). Delhi — the more important of the two destinations (the other being Mumbai) in the World Bank’s surveys for ranking India among other countries in ease of doing business — scored a meagre 31.60% in the latest ranking and is placed at 23rd among 34 states and Union territories. Its rank also worsened from 18th in 2016.

This stokes concern because India’s relatively low rank in the World Bank’s ease of doing business index (despite a record jump of 30 notches last year to 100th position for the first time) has been partly due to the multilateral body’s choice of Delhi as its most important survey destination for the country, with a 53% weight in its index. With further slippage in its domestic ranking, the likelihood of India moving up on the World Bank’s radar would appear dented. Of course, the bank will use several other yardsticks like the goods and services tax (GST) for this year’s ease of doing business ranking and the aggregate effect of those on India remains to be seen.

For the first time, stakeholders’ comments on a fifth of reform measures were sought by the World Bank for working out the state ranks, along with the usual practice of evaluating reforms claimed by each state. The ranking is based on 372 reform measures suggested jointly by the states and the DIPP in the year through June 2017, against 340 a year earlier. DIPP secretary Ramesh Abhishek said from next year, ranks will be based mostly on stakeholders’ perception of reforms and states’ claim could carry little weight. This is in sync with a similar practice adopted by the World Bank when it ranks countries on ease of doing business.

India has become the sixth largest economy leaving behind France. According to World Bank statistics for 2017, India’s gross domestic product (GDP) was at $2.59 trillion in 2017 compared with $2.58 trillion France’s economy. While India’s population is 1.34 billion, France population is just 67 million. The number indicates that per capita income in France is almost 20 times higher compared with India.

After twin blow of demonetisation and implementation of GST the country has started recovering from the initial slowdown during few quarters. Centre for Economics and Business Research consultancy also recently said that India will soon leave behind Britain and France with the prospects of becoming the world’s third-biggest economy by 2032.

Indian economy is expected to grow by 7.3 per cent in 2018 and 7.5 per cent in the next two years, as per the World Bank’s Global Economics Prospects report. The World Bank forecasted India as the world’s fastest growing economy “as factors holding back growth in India fade.”

Google-owned video-sharing platform YouTube has announced it will invest $25 million to fight fake news -- especially for the urgent coverage of breaking news -- on its platform for over 1.8 billion monthly active users.

The investment will be part of the Google News Initiative (GNI), first introduced in March by the tech giant, to help the media and to deal with fake news.

"We''re establishing a working group with news organisations and experts from around the world to help us develop new product features, improve the news experience on YouTube and tackle emerging challenges," said Neal Mohan, Chief Product Officer at YouTube, in a blog post late on Monday.

"News organisations including Vox Media, Jovem Pan and India Today are early members of the working group. We''re looking forward to having more join as we convene the group in the coming weeks," added Robert Kyncl, Chief Business Officer.

Smt. T. Latha takes charge as MD and CEO of Dhanlaxmi Bank LimitedSmt. T. Latha has taken charge as MD & CEO of the Bank w.e.f July 2, 2018 in place of G. Sreeram who has retired from the office on July 01, 2018 on completion of his tenure.

Smt T Latha has 35 years of banking experience with Punjab National Bank across a host of roles and responsibilities including Branch Management, Regional Management and National Level Credit Management handling a portfolio of approximately INR 40,000 crores.

As a General Manager in Punjab National Bank, Smt. T.Latha was in charge of credit operations dealing with large corporate credits including consortium accounts of Rs 50 crore and above.

As Deputy General Manager, Smt T.Latha was in charge of Mumbai and Trichy circles of Punjab National Bank.

She has handled Finance, Credit, Strategic Business Development, People Management, NPA Resolution and Audit and has received many awards across her 35 year career with Punjab National Bank.

Smt T.Latha is a MBA holder in finance and post graduate in MA literature. She has also passed the Limited Insolvency Exam and CAIIB.

Less than five months before the Women's World T20, Tushar Arothe has stepped down as the head coach of the Indian women's team, soon after reports of discord within the team had surfaced after their Asia Cup loss. Although he cited "personal reasons" as the primary reason for resigning, Arothe revealed strained relations with some of the Indian players, who he said need to step out of their "comfort zone" for a better future of Indian women's cricket.

Arothe's resignation comes on the heels of India's loss in the final of the Asia Cup last month, to Bangladesh by three wickets. Immediately, reports of alleged discord between Arothe and some of the high-profile players surfaced.

Those speculations gained further weightage after Arothe last week met BCCI officials including Diana Edulji, the former India women's captain, who is part of the the Committee of Administrators (CoA). The BCCI accepted Arothe's resignation, which he tendered on Monday evening.*

Arothe's resignation coincides with the completion of two skills-specific camps he had been overseeing at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru since June 30. Before leaving for his home town Baroda, Arothe emphasised while he "had one of the best support staff to work with", he hoped the players showed "more intent" to take on challenges to "move to the next level."