Mumbai: IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, on Friday said that it has launched a $1 billion masala bond programme to fund its investment activities in India.

The first tranche of $100 million under the programme, which opened last night on the London Stock Exchange, was sold to a range of investors, including asset managers, banks, and a pension fund in the United States and Europe, the statement said.

Masala bonds are rupee-denominated borrowings issued overseas.

“Our investment activities in India touched a record high last year. In line with our strategy, we have made big strides in the areas of affordable housing, SME finance, distressed assets resolution, renewable energy, logistics, and disruptive technologies. Our pipeline remains strong, and this masala bond programme will help us support our investment activities in the near and medium term,” according to Mengistu Alemayehu, director, South Asia, IFC.

IFC uses masala bonds to raise rupee funds overseas, and brings the proceeds to India for investments.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said a national award in the name of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose will be given every year to police personnel who do "exemplary work" in rescue and relief operations during any kind of disasters.
The announcement came on the 75th anniversary of Bose's declaration of the formation of India's first independent government -- the Azad Hind Government on October 21, 1943.

PM Modi said the award will be announced on January 23, on Netaji's birthday.

BERLIN - Officials overseeing a U.N.-backed fund to help poor countries tackle climate change have approved more than $1 billion in new investments after a four-day meeting in Bahrain.

The Green Climate Fund said Sunday that the meeting approved 19 new projects, including a program to protect freshwater resources in Bahrain.

Environmentalists had argued the Gulf nation should pay for the project itself using money it has made off its vast reserves of oil and gas.

NITI Aayog is organizing the fourth edition of NITI Lecture Series at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on 22.10.2018. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will attend the 4th edition of NITI Lecture series in which the key note address will be delivered by Jensen Huang, President and Co-Founder, NVIDIA Corporation. The theme this year is “AI for ALL: Leveraging Artificial Intelligence for Inclusive Growth”. Union Ministers, policy makers, experts from different walks of life along with NITI Aayog Vice Chairman, Members, CEO and Senior officials will be a part of august gathering on this occasion..

AI & NITI

Artificial intelligence is the use of computers to simulate human intelligence. AI amplifies our cognitive abilities — letting us solve problems where the complexity is too great, the information is incomplete, or the details are too subtle and require expert training.

Union Budget-2018 mandated NITI Aayog to come up with a national programme on employing Artificial Intelligence towards national development. NITI has, since, published a National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence.

National Strategy lays down the vision of India for evolving a robust ecosystem for AI research and adoption. The Strategy is termed #AIForAll as it is focused on leveraging AI for inclusive growth in line with the Government policy of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas.

Aditya Tare struck a fluent half-century as a clinical Mumbai defeated Delhi by four wickets to win their third Vijay Hazare Trophy title at M Chinnaswamy stadium here on Saturday.

Mumbai last won the trophy way back in 2006-07 when they defeated Rajasthan. Opting to bowl after winning the toss, pacers, Shivam Dubey (3/29) and Dhawal Kulkarni (3/30) picked up three wickets apiece as Mumbai bowled out Delhi for a paltry 177 in 45.4 overs.

Later, Tare starred with the bat with an 89-ball 71 that included 13 boundaries and a six and in the company of crisis man Siddesh Lad (48) stitched 105 runs for the fifth wicket to seal the win for Mumbai with 15 overs to spare.

But Tare had his heart in his mouth in 19th over of the innings when he survived a caught behind decision. Repeated TV replays showed the ball had bounced before nestling into Delhi wicket-keeper Unmukt Chand’s gloves. Tare eventually fell prey to Manan Sharma, trapped plumb in front of the wicket in the 31st over but by then he had already taken Mumbai to sniffing distance of a win. Lad’s valiant 48 came off 68 deliveries with four boundaries and two sixes but he fell two short of his half century, caught by Dhruv Shorey off Lalit Yadav with Mumbai scoreboard reading 176 for six.

Lad also survived a run out appeal at the non-strikers end after the umpires could not come to a conclusive proof to suggest that the straight drive off Tare hit the boots of Subodh Bhati and ricocheted onto the stumps.

Fresh off the biggest victory of his career, unified middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez is now in possession of the richest athlete contract in sports history.

The Mexican superstar helped the all-sports streaming service DAZN continue its rapid expansion into the United States following a September launch by agreeing to a monstrous multi-fight deal early Wednesday, which confirmed the initial report from BoxingScene.com.

Alvarez (50-1-2, 34 KOs), the biggest star in American boxing, signed a five-year, 11-fight deal worth a minimum of $365 million with DAZN, per ESPN's Dan Rafael.

"Canelo is the highest-paid athlete in the world," Alvarez's promoter, Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy, told ESPN. "He's extremely happy."

De La Hoya is expected to announce the deal at Wednesday's press conference in New York to promote Alvarez's Dec. 15 return at New York's Madison Square Garden when he moves up in weight to challenge secondary WBA super middleweight titleholder Rocky Fielding in the first bout of his new DAZN deal.

Mumbai: Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Wednesday unfurled India’s highest tricolour on the terrace of the majestic Haj House in Mumbai. The national flag measured 20x30 feet and stood 350 feet above the ground level. The BJP leader has shared a picture of the highest tricolour installed on the terrace of any building in the country with such height at Haj House, Mumbai, on Twitter.

The flag atop a 20-metre high mast on top of the iconic building is near the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in south Mumbai. The tricolour is made of non-fading polyester and manufactured by The Flag Company, which is famous for manufacturing big flags.

NEW DELHI: Union Minister Piyush Goyal will receive the prestigious Carnot Prize from the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania in recognition of his work for rural electrification while he held the power and renewable energy portfolios.

The Carnot Prize is given "for distinguished contributions to energy policy", the Philadelphia-based university said.

"During his tenure (as Power Minister), Goyal directed a fast-track effort to electrify 18,000 villages in remote parts of India, helping bridge the country's vast energy divide," it said.

Mr Goyal, who is now the Minister for Railways and Coal, headed the Power and Renewable Energy Ministries from 2014 to 2017 and oversaw the the big push for rural electrification.

The university cited an International Energy Agency (IEA) report that said that if the pace of electrification continued, India will achieve "one of the largest successes in the history of electrification" by having electricity for all by 2020.

The ambitious electrification goal is driven by the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015.

The award is to be presented in Philadelphia by William W. Burke-White, the university's professor of law.

World Wrestling Championships begin in Budapest, Hungary today. Asian Games gold medalist Bajrang Punia will be India's best bet for a medal as a 30-member team seeks a strong performance at the event. Bajrang had won a bronze at the Championships in 2013.

The 24-year old Haryana grappler, who is the only seeded Indian in the tournament, will compete tomorrow.
Another Asian Games gold medalist Vinesh Phogat is not taking part due to an elbow injury. Her cousin Ritu Phogat will, however, be in action, along with Olympic bronze medalist Sakshi Malik, Sandeep Tomar and Mousam Khatri among others.

Olympian Sushil Kumar had pulled out of the tournament.

The Reserve Bank of India on Friday announced more measures to increase liquidity flows to the non-banking financial companies.

The RBI permitted banks to use government securities equal to their incremental outstanding credit to NBFCs, over and above their outstanding credit to them as on October 19, to be used to meet liquidity coverage ratio requirements.

The move will help provide liquidity to housing finance companies (HFCs) and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) which have come under pressure following series of default by IL&FS group companies.

“... banks will be permitted to also reckon Government securities held by them up to an amount equal to their incremental outstanding credit to NBFCs and HFCs, over and above the amount of credit to NBFCs and HFCs outstanding on their books as on October 19, 2018, as Level 1 HQLA under FALLCR within the mandatory SLR requirement,” RBI said in a notification.