• Department of Telecom (DOT) has recommended that the clause should also be included in the proposed cyber security policy
• More than 30 per cent SIM cards are imported at present
• There is a fear the embedded software can turn SIM cards into a mini computer that might lead to abuse and misuse of information  India's critical information infrastructure, DoT proposed that a National Framework for critical Information Infrastructure Protection should be created

To attract foreign funds into the bond market, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has raised the ceiling for foreign institutional investors (FII)'s holdings in government securities and corporate bonds by $5 billion each. The cap on domestic debt now stands at $75 billion.

Association of Mutual Funds of India (AMFI) has decided to waive fees for all registrations for the first time distributors for a period of five months from February 1 to June 30. This initiative is aimed at enlarging the distribution network and attracting new cadre of distributors/IFAs for selling mutual fund projects.

The Government has increased the Customs duty on gold and platinum by two percentage points from 4 per cent to 6 per cent.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that second hand machinery import will not be allowed to be converted into equity shares even under government approval route.

Loss-making wind turbine maker Suzlon Energy said lenders, comprising 19 banks led by State Bank of India, have approved its proposal to recast Rs 9,500 crore of debt. On January 18, the banks have given Suzlon a two-year moratorium on principal and term-debt interest payments. They have also approved a fresh working capital loan of Rs 1,800 crore that will have a six-month interest moratorium, aimed at helping the company speed up execution of its strong order book.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reduced the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) of Scheduled Commercial Banks by 25 basis points from 4.25 per cent to 4.00 per cent.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that listed corporate debt securities of original maturity of more than one year which are rated 'AA' or above by the rating agencies, that are held in the security account of the repo seller, in demat form shall be eligible for undertaking repo.
• Commercial Papers (CPs), Certificates of Deposit (CDs) and Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) of less than one year of original maturity shall also be permitted as eligible security for undertaking repo in corporate debt. Listing requirement indicated above of this paragraph will not be applicable but rating requirement as specified shall apply also for these money market instruments to be eligible as security for undertaking repo in corporate debt.
• A rating based haircut as under (or higher as may be decided by the participants depending on the term of the repo and the re-margining frequency) shall be applicable on the market value of the corporate debt security prevailing on the date of trade of 1st leg.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has issued guidelines for debt segments on all Stock exchanges.

Listing:

• This segment shall list all the securities and debt instruments.

Trading :

• The debt segment shall offer electronic, screen based trading providing for order matching, request for quote, negotiated
• The debt segment shall provide separate platforms for the markets described below
• Retail market - which shall be a market for listing of and trading in publicly- issued debt instruments and where participation by registered trading members can be on their own account or for execution of orders placed their clients.
• Institutional market - which shall be a market for non-publicly-issued debt instruments with a market lot size of minimum Rs 1 crore.

The profession of chartered accountants has enrolled a large number of students in last 7 years and
accordingly the number of young bright students who are qualifying as chartered accountants has also grown significantly. This is being seen as a major challenge for the entire profession. We perceive this as a major opportunity not only for the profession, the young chartered accountants, and young C.A. students but also for the entire nation - our motherland INDIA. The entire world, including India has a great shortage of good accountants, more importantly good professional chartered accountants. India is growing at a fast pace and is likely to regain double digit growth, as we empower our young brigade of chartered accountants in right direction. The professional competence of Indian Chartered Accountants is not only in demand in India but is also having high potential internationally across the world. Most of the developed and developing nations have only few thousands or few hundreds chartered accountants or CPAs. The entire Middle East, South East, Africa, Europe and even American continent could be a very good market for Indian chartered accountants.

The Indian businesses are also looking forward to our profession for diversified areas of professional services as well as employment opportunities in varied fields. How to focus and ensure that we are able to meet the expectations of Indian economy as well as global requirements is what we need to strategize.

Growth Opportunity:

The growth opportunities exist in all the 3 areas to Indian chartered accountants, specially young dynamic, capable professionals:

• Employment opportunities in service sector, industry, business, government and regulators;
• Professional practice in traditional as well as non- traditional areas including creation of new businesses, resource raising, transaction advisory, international taxes, merger and acquisitions, tax, regulatory, legal, infrastructure projects, PPP projects, merchant banking, investment banking in India and overseas.
• Entrepreneurship opportunities in real estate, infrastructure, technology, education, commodity, banking, insurance and so on. We will win with comprehensively concentrating on:
• Skill - Skill development of highest order unmatchable to any other professionals, with target of a comprehensive in depth expert level of practical knowledge and skill.
• Scale - Do not plan small, dream big and work hard to achieve.
• Speed - The most important is to plan, organize, implement and monitor progress to ensure speed better than any one else. in the world by using technology, vibrant professionalism, innovation.