How the process started - Deregulation of interest rates

The process of deregulation of interest rates was resumed in April 1992 when the existing maturity-wise prescriptions were replaced by a single ceiling rate of 13 per cent for all deposits above 46 days.The ceiling rate was brought down to 10 per cent in November 1994, but was raised to 12 per cent in April 1995. Banks were allowed to fix the interest rates on deposits with maturity of over two years in October 1995, which was further relaxed to maturity of over one year in July 1996.

New ways to exploit raw data may bring surge of innovation

Math majors, rejoice. Businesses are going to need tens of thousands of you in the coming years as companies grapple with a growing mountain of data.Data is a vital raw material of the information economy, much as coal and iron ore were in the Industrial Revolution. But the business world is just beginning to learn how to process it all.

Facebook-Google rivalry intensifies with PR fiasco

The intense rivalry between Facebook and Google just got juicier.In a twist seemingly out of a Hollywood thriller, Facebook hired a prominent public relations firm to try to plant stories harshly criticizing Google’s privacy practices in leading news outlets. The efforts backfired when the firm approached a blogger who not only declined the assignment, but also went public with the offer.

Big push to deregulation of savings rate

Freeing savings bank rate is a complex issue in India. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently launched a debate on this issue by presenting a discussion paper prior to its Annual Monetary Policy for 2011-12.While announcing the policy, the RBI has also raised the savings bank rate from 3.5 per cent fixed in 2003 to 4 per cent. The spread between savings deposit and term deposit rates has widened significantly in recent times. This was why the RBI raised the savings bank rate, while a decision on freeing these rates was pending before the central bank for a final decision.

Afghanistan may join SCO

Afghanistan may join the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation as an observer at the group's 10th jubilee summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, next month, said Russia's Foreign Minister.The SCO will also consider the applications of India and Pakistan to join as full members, said Sergei Lavrov.

Medicine borrows lessons, devices from IT

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but it is creativity that brought information technology into medicine.While some advances such as telemedicine, and electronic medical records are now used widely, it is still the gadget-friendly specialists who have slowly brought these devices by the hand into medicine, realising the enormous advantage they have for the patient.

Raman Singh government to skip all panel meetings

The nomination of rights activist Binayak Sen as a member of the Planning Commission's Steering Committee on Health has not gone down well with the Chhattisgarh government, which on Sunday announced that its ministers would “skip” all meetings of the panel in protest of the move.