Newsmakers: Bharti Airtel's Bangladesh ops, DA hiked by 6% and more

Bharti Airtel, Axiata enter talks to merge Bangladesh operations
Telecom  firm Bharti Airtel and Malaysia-based Axiata Group have begun talks to merge their operations in Bangladesh to create the second-largest operator in that country. The combined entity will make it the second-largest telecom service provider in that country in terms of subscribers.

Cabinet clears gold bond, monetisation schemes
The Cabinet has approved Gold Bond and Gold Monetisation schemes to reduce the metal's demand in physical form and fish out idle gold lying with households and other entities. "It is safer and economically more stable to go under both these schemes," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.

Raghuram Rajan best man to decide on rates: Rahul Bajaj
Striking a note different from that of his peers, industry leader Rahul Bajaj on Wednesday said any decision on rate cuts should be left to RBI Chief Raghuram Rajan and he knows the issue better than the government.

Cabinet raises dearness allowance by 6%
The DA hike will take effect from July 1. As per the agreed formula, the DA rate increase is an average of 12-month consumer price index-industrial workers from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015.

Cabinet clears spectrum trading guidelines
The Cabinet has cleared spectrum trading norms under which telecom operators will be able to sell radiowaves to other service providers, a move that will help address the problem of spectrum shortage. "Cabinet has approved spectrum trading today. Telecom sector has been demanding it for optimum utilisation of spectrum," Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.