Newsmakers: Sell assets of guarantors, govt tells banks; interest rate on PPF cut to 8.1% and more

Cisco to invest $100 million in India's digital push
Cisco Systems will invest over $100 million in India to support the country's ambitious plan to connect thousands of its villages to the internet and create jobs, Executive Chairman John Chambers said on Friday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a series of initiatives under the 'Digital India,' 'Skill India,' and 'Startup India' schemes to connect millions of Indians to the Internet, create more tech jobs and move more services online.

World no longer ridicules India of 'Hindu rate of growth': FM
Pitching for more reforms, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said the world no longer ridicules India of clocking 'Hindu rate of growth' and economic liberalisation has helped it grow at a faster pace. The constituency that favours reforms on Friday, he said, is much more than those who oppose it and the country can grow at a faster rate generating more resources to effectively fund anti-poverty schemes.

Interest rate on PPF cut to 8.1% from 8.7%
In a move that will hit the common man, the government on Friday slashed interest rates payable on small savings including PPF and Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) to align them closer to market rates. As a part of its February 16 decision to revise interest rates on small savings every quarter, the interest rate on Public Provident Fund (PPF) scheme will be cut to 8.1 per cent for the period April 1 to June 30, from 8.7 per cent, at present. Similarly, the interest rate on KVP will be cut to 7.8 per cent from 8.7 per cent, according to a Finance Ministry order.

Siddhivinayak temple to mobilise gold as govt scrambles to cut imports
The 200-year-old Shree Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai has said it will deposit a portion of its gold hoard with a bank by the end of the month for recycling, responding to a government campaign to monetise some of the country's thousands of tonnes of privately owned stocks of gold and cut costly imports. Officials from finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India met on Friday to discuss modifying the much-publicised scheme after managing to attract deposits of only three tonnes of gold in four months out of an estimated pool of 20,000 tonnes stacked away in family lockers and temple vaults.

Sell assets of guarantors if firms don't repay: Govt to banks
In order to effectively deal with Vijay Mallya-type loan default cases, the government on Friday directed public sector banks to immediately invoke personal guarantees of promoter directors and recover loans from them in case the companies fail to repay. Issuing the directive to heads of PSBs, the Finance Ministry regretted that they seldom recover loan from guarantors in case of loan default by companies.