Cabinet re-shuffle

In a major cabinet re-shuffle, current Home Minister P. Chidambaram appointed as Finance Minister while he was replaced by Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde in the Home Ministry. The charge of Power ministry is assigned to Veerappa Moily who currently has Law Ministry in his portfolio. This re-shuffle came after former Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee elected as the President. 

National public debt up 4.9 per cent

Public debt of Centre excluding liabilities, increased by 4.9 per cent to Rs.37,52,576 crore at the end of the first quarter (April-June) this fiscal from Rs.35,78,244 crore in the fourth quarter (January-March) of 2011-12.
Holding of securities by the Reserve Bank of India at end-March 2012 at 14.4 per cent was higher than 13.6 per cent a quarter ago, “mainly reflecting the impact of OMO [open market operation] purchase of securities to support liquidity.”

India bans Iranian ships in Indian waters

In a move which will make problems for the Oil Marketing Companies(OMC) Indian government stopped providing cost, insurance and freight (CIF) approval. Crude oil imports from Iran are possible only if state insurers like General Insurance Corp. (GIC) provide insurance cover for ships carrying Iranian crude. However, government resolution is still pending in the matter for sovereign guarantee for ships.