Cayman Islands’ exit from the FATF grey list last week will bolster global private equity funds looking to invest into non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) based in India.

The region was put on the grey list for increased monitoring by the FATF, or the Financial Action Task Force, a global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, in February 2021.

Several US and European funds prefer setting up holding companies and funds in Cayman Islands for investments into India, according to experts.

Leading digital transformation solutions company UST has won the 2023 Mahatma Awards for sustainable and impactful contributions to corporate social responsibility (CSR) in areas such as education, health, livelihood, environment, and disaster relief. An initiative of Aditya Birla Group, the award was presented on Gandhi Jayanti.

A highlight of the company’s CSR drive is its Adopt-a-School programme which impacts over 32,000 students in India and Mexico, a spokesperson said here. UST supports over 104 schools, promoting accessible, quality education for all. Its initiatives include medical support for those with disabilities and habitat restoration projects in Kerala.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will attend the commemoration of the bicentennial anniversary of the arrival of India-origin Tamils in Sri Lanka, Naam 200 in Colombo today. She will also address the India Sri Lanka Business Summit, focusing on the theme of 'Enhancing Connectivity: Partnering for Prosperity', fostering bilateral economic cooperation and trade. She is also scheduled to hold discussions with the Sri Lankan leadership, reinforcing the strategic importance of the diplomatic relationship between the two countries. The minister will oversee signing of the MoU for Solar Electrification of Religious Places in Sri Lanka under Indian assistance of 82.4 crore rupees. The Finance minister will also inaugurate two new branches of State Bank of India at Jaffna and Trincomalee.

Mrs. Sitharaman reached Colombo yesterday on a three day visit of Sri Lanka. She paid obeisance at the Sri Dalada Maligawa temple at Kandy. Mrs. Sitharaman met the Chief prelate of Malwatte Venerable Thibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Thero and Chief prelate of Asgiriya Venerable Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana. She reiterated the strong connect between the two countries reflected through Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visits to Sri Lanka. Both religious leaders recounted the generous and timely assistance provided by India to Sri Lanka during the economic crisis last year. The minister also paid her respects at the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi at Anuradhapura. The Maha Bodhi was brought to Sri Lanka from India by Emperor Ashoka’s daughter Sanghamitra over two thousand two hundred years ago.

India and Sri Lanka have relaunched the negotiations for the Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ECTA) after a five year hiatus, the government said Wednesday.

The two sides held the 12th round of negotiations on the ETCA in Sri Lanka from October 30-November 1. They had held 11 rounds of bilateral talks from 2016 to 2018. after which the talks were paused.

“During this round, both sides reviewed the progress on implementation and decided to drop nine issues as being resolved,” commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.

Issues such as the quota on apparel and pepper and the procurement of pharmaceuticals were also discussed and both sides decided to continue the discussion and explore new options for resolution of the matter.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with India's Asian Para Games contingent at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi today. The programme is an endeavour by the Prime Minister to congratulate the athletes for their outstanding achievement at the Asian Para Games 2022 and to motivate them for future competitions. India won a total of one hundred eleven medals including 29 gold medals in Asian Para Games 2022.
 
The total medal tally at the Asian Para Games 2022 witnessed a 54 per cent increase over the previous best performance in 2018. The programme will be attended by the athletes, their coaches, officials from the Paralympic Committee of India, Indian Olympic Association and representatives from National Sports Federations.

NITI Aayog organised a workshop on India-AU Collaboration for a Better inclusive World in partnership with the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) at the Taj Palace, New Delhi today. The workshop focused on deliberations to implement the commitments laid out in the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration (NDLD) which was signed recently concluded G20 Conference.

Dr. V K Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog, analysed the various aspects of India-AU cooperation and said that India and the AU have a lot to offer each other in terms of knowledge, skills, and resources. He urged the participants to come up with concrete proposals for cooperation in the three key areas of inclusive growth, sustainable infrastructure, and migration management.

Prof. Ramesh Chand, Member, NITI Aayog, spoke about the importance of agricultural growth and potential mutual learning between the two regions. He said that India and the AU can learn from each other’s experiences in agriculture and agribusiness. He also highlighted the need for cooperation in areas such as agricultural research, technology transfer, and market access.

United Kingdom (US) Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin are scheduled to visit India for the 2 plus 2 Ministerial Dialogue. The dialogue will be held with with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi this month.

The exact dates of his trips to these countries have not been disclosed. In New Delhi, the US delegation will participate in the 2 2 Ministerial Dialogue.

“The delegation will meet with Minister for External Affairs S Jaishankar, Minister of Defense Rajnath Singh, and other senior Indian officials to discuss both bilateral and global concerns and developments in the Indo-Pacific," State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

The Central Information Commission organized a One Day Seminar on Cyber Security yesterday. Sh. Suresh Chandra, Information Commissioner graced the inaugural ceremony as Chief Guest, Mr. Heeralal Samariya, Ms Saroj Punhani and Mr. Uday Mahurkar, Information Commissioners were the Guests of Honour. Ms. Rashmi Chowdhary, Secretary, CIC welcomed all the Guests and participants. Mr. Somnath Banerjee, CISO & Sr. Vice President Global Services delivered the keynote address.

Ms Rashmi Chowdhary, Secretary CIC, in her welcome address emphasized about the importance of Cyber Security and encouraged the participants to actively engage in the discussions and reap the benefits of attending the informative Seminar.

Mr. Somnath Banerjee, CISO & Sr. Vice President Global Services, through his keynote address made the audience aware of the threats and challenges of Cyber Security.He also covered many interesting facts and anecdotes later in his session on the topic ‘Cyber Threats and Countermeasures’. The audience interacted with him and increased their knowledge on the topic.

In Jammu and Kashmir, the construction work of the Ramban Viaduct (flyover) has been completed successfully and the vital infrastructure is now ready for vehicular movement. Akashvani Jammu Correspondent reports that the Viaduct is all set to reduce the travel time from Jammu to Srinagar to a large extent.

Now the vehicular movement on the strategic Jammu-Srinagar national highway shall be from the Viaduct bypassing Ramban town and people of the town shall now have a big sigh of relief as earlier the town used to be badly choked due to heavy vehicular traffic. The Viaduct has a length of 1.08 km with four lanes wherein two lanes are for upward and two for downward journey and it was built at a cost of 328 crore rupees on Udhampur-Ramban section of the National Highway 44. 

The 15th India-Singapore Defence Policy Dialogue was held in New Delhi today. The dialogue was co-chaired by Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane and Permanent Secretary (Defence), Singapore Chan Heng Kee. During the meeting, both sides reviewed the existing defence cooperation between the two countries and agreed to enhance collaboration in Service-to-Service interactions and bilateral exercises. They also articulated steps to take forward cooperation in emerging areas like cyber security.

The Defence Ministry said, both sides identified means to enhance existing areas of collaboration, especially in the field of maritime security and multilateral cooperation. India and Singapore also reaffirmed their commitment to fully implement the Strategic Partnership based on mutual trust and understanding, common interests and shared values of democracy and rule of law. This was the first physical meeting at the level of Defence Secretary between India and Singapore post the COVID-19 pandemic.