Kerala Government launched E-Payment Facility
Kerala state government on 5 September 2013 launched an E-payment facility which allows people to pay various utility bills and access government department services online.
The payment of Utility bills of Kerala State Electricity Board, Kerala Water Authority, BSNL and university fees could be done through the gateway using credit and debit cards of 66 banks identified for the scheme.
One can avail the service at all Akshaya e-centers of the government which would act as decentralized information hubs and service delivery points. The service could be used by any citizen having access to the internet.
The attempt was to bring all collections to a common platform of E-payment facility. More services would be added to the system from time to time.
A total of 23 revenue services can now be accessed through the E-payment gateway. The services included those from the motor vehicles department and local self-goverments.RBI issued norms for Currency Swap Window
Reserve Bank of India on 8 August 2013 issued norms for currency swap window from Mumbai. The Reserve Bank also cleared that the facility of currency swap would be made available to scheduled commercial banks (excluding regional rural banks) for fresh Foreign Currency Non-Resident Bank (FCNRB) deposits, which would be mobilized for a minimum tenure of three years.
The Reserve Bank also mentioned that the deposits can be made in any permitted currency, but the swaps would be made available only in dollars. The Swap Window would remain functional and under operations on all working days at Mumbai on daily basis but a particular bank can access the facility of currency swap only once in a week. The Swap Window would remain operation from 10 September to 30 November 2013.
Currency Swap:
A foreign exchange agreement between the two institutions for exchange aspects of a loan in one current for equivalent aspects of an equal in net present value loan in another currency is Currency Swap.
Keywords: economy,RBI current affairs