Banking and Financial News – 02 May 2014

A single platform to pay all your bills (The Mint) - Last week, an RBI-appointed panel recommended setting up a centralized bill payment system that would enable any bill payment centre to accept payments for all kinds of bills. The idea is to bring together expertise of all stakeholders—billing companies, aggregators, banks and non-banks—and build a single payment point. Besides bill payments, these touch points can also allow payments towards insurance premium, taxes, school fees, and more.

RBI is looking to build an entity similar to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which ensures standardized payment solutions.

Govt. cuts import tariff value on gold, silver ((The Mint) - The import tariff value on gold and silver slashed to $422 per 10 grams and $632 per kg respectively, taking weak global cues. Due to government curbs, the country’s total gold and silver imports dropped 40% to $33.46 billion in 2013-14, as against $55.79 billion in the previous year.

Gold is the second largest import item for India after petroleum. The government had taken several measures to curb gold shipments to address the high current account deficit.

European Union bans Indian mangoes (IBN Live) - The "temporary ban" which came into force on Thursday will remain effective until December 2015 after authorities in Brussels found consignments infested with pests they fear could damage European salad crops.

Courtesy : The Mint , IBN Live