Anti-Satellite Missile
Category: Defence & security
- India successfully conducted an Anti-Satellite (ASAT) missile test, named Mission Shakti.
- India thus became the fourth country in the world to demonstrate the capability to shoot down satellites in orbit. So far, only the United States, Russia and China have this prowess.
- Scientists shot down a live satellite in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at 300 km in space.
- The satellite downed by the ASAT missile was Microsat-R.
- A LEO of 300 km was chosen to “minimise” debris and it also won’t last more than a few months.
- Anti-satellite weapons provide the capability to shoot down enemy satellites in orbit thereby disrupting critical communications and surveillance capabilities.
- ASAT missiles also act as a space deterrent in dissuading adversaries from targeting the country’s satellite network.
Rupee Rate Derivatives
Category: Economy
- The RBI allowed non-resident Indians (NRIs) to participate in rupee interest rate derivatives segment with a view to deepen the rupee interest rate swap (IRS) market.
- The non-residents can undertake rupee interest rate derivative transactions on recognised stock exchanges, electronic trading platforms and over the counter markets (OTCs).
- A non-resident will be allowed to undertake transactions in the rupee interest rate derivatives markets to hedge an exposure to rupee interest rate risk and other specified purposes.
BEPS Project
Category: International
- India and the U.S. signed an inter-government agreement for the automatic exchange of country-by-country (CbC) reports.
- This agreement will reduce the compliance burden for Indian subsidiary companies of U.S. parent companies.
- This is a key step in making India compliant with the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project, of which it is an active participant.
- The Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan was adopted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and G20 countries in 2013.
- It recognised that the way forward to mitigate risk from base erosion and profit shifting was to enhance transparency.
- Against this background, a template was released in 2014, which outlined how MNEs could report the required information for each tax jurisdiction in which they do business. These are called the country-by-country reports.
- Base erosion and profit shifting refers to the activities of multinational corporations to shift their profits from high tax jurisdictions to lower tax jurisdiction, thereby eroding the tax base of the high tax jurisdictions and depriving them of tax revenue.
- In order to combat this, many countries entered into agreements to share tax information with each other to enhance transparency and make such profit shifting that much harder.
MTN
Category: Economy
- NTPC said it has launched a medium term notes (MTN) issue to raise $450 million which is a part of its $6 billion MTN programme.
- The MTNs are also known as bonds in the overseas markets.
- The funds raised through this issue will be used for capital expenditure by the company.
