International Economy - Current Affairs for March, 2016

Government on 29th March 2016 permitted 100% FDI in the market place format of e-commerce retailing to attract more foreign investments. Guidelines issued by the department of industrial policy and promotion on FDI in e-commerce have not allowed the same in inventory based model of e-commerce however.
DIPP has also defined market place model, inventory based model and e-commerce.

• Market place model: This model of e-commerce provides IT platform by e-commerce entity on digital and electronic network to facilitate negotiations between buyer and seller
• Inventory based model of e-commerce: A model where e-commerce activity centres around inventory of services and goods owned by e-commerce industries and sold to consumers directly.
• It has further been said that e-commerce firm will not be permitted to sell more than 25% of the sales through the market place from one vendor or their group companies
• Government has also allowed 100 percent FDI in B2B commerce.

Government has announced 8 investment regions along the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor under the National Investment and Manufacturing Zones namely:

• Ahmedabad Dholera Investment Region, Gujarat
• Shendra Bidkin Industrial Parts city close to Aurangabad, Maharashtra
• Manesar Bawal Investment region, Haryana
• Khuskhera Bhiwadi Neemrana Investment region, Rajasthan
• Pithampur-Dhar-Now Investment region, MP
• Dari Noida Ghaziabad Investment Region, UP
• Dighi Port Industrial Area, Maharashtra
• Jodhpur-Pali-Marwar region in Rajasthan

Non-Banking Financial Company - Account Aggregator (NBFC-AA) to provide account aggregation services.RBI will regulate and supervise account aggregation to ensure that promised services translate into conformity with prescribed standards.