Laloo quits, wife sworn in CM

A 14-member Cabinet headed by Mrs. Rabri Devi today assumed office in Bihar after her husband, Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav, quit as Chief Minister shortly after an arrest warrant was issued earlier in the day against him in the multi-crore fodder scam. Mr. Yadav, who earlier moved the Supreme Court to appeal against the rejection of his anticipatory bail application by the Patna High Court, sprang a surprise by getting his wife, who is not a member of either House of the State legislature, elected as leader of Rashtriya Janata Dal legislature party. Mrs. Devi was administered oath of office and secrecy by the Governor, Dr. A.R. Kidwai.

Banks gain more sheen from gilts

Commercial banks seem to have made more money during 1996-97 by funding the Government than from lending to other borrowers. The fact that the effective return from banks’ investment portfolio (consisting mainly of gilts) was more than that from credit also means, to an extent, that the Government had subsidised the commercial banking sector last fiscal. Of course, if one takes into account the provision made for recapitalisation of weaker banks too, the total flow from the exchequer to the banking industry would be far more.

Steel sector passbook scheme may be modified

The passbook scheme recently introduced for the steel sector is likely to be further modified with the Ministry of Steel holding discussions with the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) on fine-tuning the existing scheme. This follow-up comes in the wake of severe displeasure expressed by the domestic steel companies regarding the scheme. The companies had presented their case before the DGFT.