Swaminathan J, Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India stated that financial literacy is central to supporting the developmental objectives of inclusive growth. By addressing the demand side of financial inclusion, financial literacy enables people to understand the benefits of formal financial products and regulated financial providers as well as to make suitable choices across savings, credit, insurance, pension and remittances. He noted further that Indian economy today is the fastest growing amongst the major economies of the world. However, for this growth to be inclusive, it is imperative that we have a financial system that works for all. This objective stands at the heart of all the efforts being made by the RBI towards financial inclusion.

Enhancing financial literacy in India demands a multi-faceted approach involving collaboration between the government, financial institutions, non-profit organizations, and the private sector. It requires targeted educational programs, awareness campaigns, and innovative solutions that cater to the diverse needs and preferences of different demographic groups. Recognising this, India's National Strategy for Financial Education (NSFE) for the period 2020-2025 has been formulated as a forward-looking framework.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released recommendations on ‘Telecommunication Infrastructure Sharing, Spectrum Sharing, and Spectrum Leasing’. Considering the request of stakeholders to permit inter-band spectrum sharing and leasing of spectrum in the country, the Authority decided to take up the issues related to spectrum sharing and leasing of spectrum along with the issues related to the infrastructure sharing in the stakeholders’ consultation.

The salient features of the recommendations are as follows:

Telecommunication service licensees should be allowed to share the passive infrastructure such as building, tower, electrical equipment including battery and power plant, dark fiber, duct space, Right of Way, etc. owned, established, and operated by them under the respective licenses with all types of telecommunication service licensees.

Telecommunication service licensees should be allowed to share all types of active infrastructure elements owned, established, and operated by them under respective licenses with all types of telecommunication service licensees as per the scope of their services.

In the future projects of Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) under the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 (or Digital Bharat Nidhi under the Telecommunications Act, 2023), DoT should include a provision in the agreement with the Universal Service Provider (USP) that the USP shall not refuse to share the passive infrastructure laid under the project to at least two other telecom service providers on a transparent and non-discriminatory basis.

In the already assigned projects of USOF, DoT should explore the feasibility of issuing instructions to such USPs that the USP shall not refuse to share the passive infrastructure laid under the project with at least two other telecom service providers on a transparent and non-discriminatory basis.

In the interest of consumers, a telecom service provider, which has built mobile network infrastructure in the remote and far-flung areas of the country with full or partial funding from the Government under USOF (or Digital Bharat Nidhi), should be mandated to allow roaming to other TSPs on its network in such remote and far-flung areas initially for a period of three years.

Inter-band access spectrum sharing between access service providers [which may be implemented either by way of pooling of access spectrum held by the participating access providers in different frequency bands through common radio access networks, or by way of allowing the partnering access service providers to use the radio access networks of each other operating in the shared frequency band(s)] in an LSA should be permitted.

The DoT should explore the possibility of implementing authorized shared access (ASA) technique-based spectrum sharing in India, under which, the spectrum assigned to Government agencies or other entities (non-TSPs) in the globally harmonized spectrum bands for IMT services, can be assigned to access service providers as secondary users.

A field trial of ASA technique-based spectrum sharing between the willing access service providers should be conducted under the supervision of DoT.
The leasing of access spectrum should be permitted among access service providers.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has stated in a latest monthly update that an analysis of the long-term trend and cyclical components of India’s services export growth shows a moderately increasing trend in services export growth since 2016. The dominating trend component during the early 2000s boom of the services sector moderated after the global financial crisis of 2008-09. However, it reversed around 2016, benefiting from the improvements in infrastructure (transport, logistics and information technology), technological advancements and services value chains.

An analysis of India’s revealed comparative advantage in services exports indicates that it has an edge in telecom and IT services. The significant growth in India’s software and business services exports in the recent years is a reflection of the expansion of global capability centres (GCCs) in India and the rise in digital delivery of services. Empirical estimates suggest that global demand and movements in India’s real effective exchange rate are significant determinants of India’s services exports in the post-global financial crisis period.

Global growth momentum has been sustained in the first quarter of 2024 and the outlook for global trade is turning positive. Treasury yields and mortgage rates are ticking up in major economies as expectations of interest rate cuts are being pared. In India, conditions are shaping up for an extension of a trend upshift in real GDP growth, backed by strong investment demand and upbeat business and consumer sentiments. CPI inflation has gravitated to 4.9 per cent in March after averaging 5.1 per cent in the preceding two months. In the near term, however, extreme weather events may pose a risk to inflation along with prolonged geo-political tensions that could keep crude oil prices volatile.

Sustained increases in new orders added pressure on the capacity of manufacturing firms and their services counterparts, which in turn underpinned recruitment. Jobs growth was notably stronger among the former. The survey's price measures showed slower rates of inflation for both aggregate input costs and output charges.

Rising from 61.8 in March to 62.2 in April, the headline HSBC Flash India Composite PMI Output Index ? a seasonally adjusted index that measures the month-on-month change in the combined output of India's manufacturing and service sectors ? indicated the fastest rate of increase in aggregate business activity since mid-2010. Survey participants overwhelmingly attributed the expansion to buoyant demand from domestic and external clients.

Growth in India remained broad-based across the manufacturing and service sectors. The former saw the sharper rate of increase, albeit one that was softer than in March. In the service economy, business activity rose to the greatest extent in three months.

The Government of India (GoI) has announced the sale (re-issue) of (i) ?7.10% Government Security 2034? for a notified amount of ₹20,000 crore (nominal) through price based auction using multiple price method and (ii) ?7.46% Government Security 2073? for a notified amount of ₹12,000 crore (nominal) through price based auction using multiple price method. GoI will have the option to retain additional subscription up to ₹ 2,000 crore against each security mentioned above. The auctions will be conducted by the Reserve Bank of India on April 26, 2024 (Friday). Up to 5% of the notified amount of the sale of the securities will be allotted to eligible individuals and institutions as per the Scheme for Non-Competitive Bidding Facility in the Auction of Government Securities.

EPFO’s latest provisional payroll data highlights that EPFO has added 15.48 lakh net members in the month of February, 2024. The data indicates that around 7.78 lakh new members have been enrolled during February, 2024. A noticeable aspect of the data is the dominance of the 18-25 age group, constituting a significant 56.36% of the total new members added in February 2024 indicating the majority of individuals joining the organized workforce are youth, primarily first-time job seekers. The payroll data highlights that approximately 11.78 lakh members exited and subsequently rejoined EPFO. These members switched their jobs and re-joined the establishments covered under the ambit of EPFO and opted to transfer their accumulations instead of applying for final settlement thus, safeguarding long-term financial well-being and extending their social security protection. Gender-wise analysis of payroll data unveils that out of 7.78 lakh new members, around 2.05 lakh are new female members. Also, the net female member addition during the month stood at around 3.08 lakh. The female member addition is indicative of a broader shift towards a more inclusive and diverse workforce.

For the week ended April 12, the foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, decreased by $6.513 billion to $564.653 billion, according to the data released on April 19.

Gold reserves continued their rise and increased by $1.241 billion to $55.798 billion during the week. The special drawing rights (SDRs) were down $93 million to $18.077 billion, the RBI said.

India?s reserve position with the IMF was also down by $35 million to $4.634 billion in the reporting week, the central bank data showed.

The Budget Estimates (BE) for Direct Tax revenue in the Union Budget for FY 2023- 24 were fixed at Rs. 18.23 lakh crore which were revised and the Revised Estimates (RE) were fixed at Rs. 19.45 lakh crore. The provisional Direct Tax collections (net of the refunds) have exceeded the BE by 7.40% and RE by 0.67%.

The Gross collection (provisional) of Direct Taxes (before adjusting for refunds) for the FY 2023-24 stands at Rs. 23.37 lakh crore showing a growth of 18.48% over the gross collection of Rs. 19.72 lakh crore in FY 2022-23.

The Gross Corporate Tax collection (provisional) in FY 2023-24 is at Rs. 11.32 lakh crore and has shown a growth of 13.06% over the gross corporate tax collection of Rs. 10 lakh crore of the preceding year. The Net Corporate Tax collection (provisional) in FY 2023- 24 is at Rs. 9.11 lakh crore and has shown a growth of 10.26% over the net corporate tax collection of Rs. 8.26 lakh crore of the preceding year.

The Gross Personal Income Tax collection (including STT) (provisional) in FY 2023- 24 is at Rs. 12.01 lakh crore and has shown a growth of 24.26% over the Gross Personal Income Tax collection (including STT) of Rs. 9.67 lakh crore of the preceding year. The Net Personal Income Tax collection (including STT) (provisional) in FY 2023-24 is at Rs. 10.44 lakh crore and has shown a growth of 25.23% over the Net Personal Income Tax collection (including STT) of Rs. 8.33 lakh crore of the preceding year.

Refunds of Rs. 3.79 lakh crore have been issued in the FY 2023-24 showing an increase of 22.74% over the refunds of Rs. 3.09 lakh crore issued in FY 2022-23.