History of India

Indian Economy: General

A Special Drawing Right (SDR) is the monetary unit of the reserve assets of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The unit was created in 1969 in support of the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates to alleviate the shortage of U.S. dollar and gold reserves in the expansion of international trade. The SDR unit is defined as a weighted sum of contributions of four major currencies, reevaluated and adjusted every five years, and computed daily in terms of equivalent United States dollars. Special Drawing Rights are not a currency, but they represent potential claims on the currencies of the IMF members. SDRs obtain their reserve asset power from the commitments of the IMF member states to hold and honor them for payment of balances. The IMF uses SDRs for its monetary unit of account. SDRs are denoted with the ISO 4217 currency code XDR.

A Global Depository Receipt or Global Depositary Receipt (GDR) is a certificate issued by a depository bank, which purchases shares of foreign companies and deposits it on the account. GDRs represent ownership of an underlying number of shares.
Global Depository Receipts facilitate trade of shares, and are commonly used to invest in companies from developing or emerging markets.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Depositary_Receipt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Drawing_Rights

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Depository_Receipt    

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  To restrict the expansion of bank credit.
  
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  To augment the investment of the banks in Government securities.
  
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  To ensure solvency of banks. A reduction of SLR rates looks eminent to support the credit growth in India.
  

http://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/publications/6_Advance_Rulings/Chapter07.asp    

A bear market is a general decline in the stock market over a period of time. It is a transition from high investor optimism to widespread investor fear and pessimism.

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  Non-bank institutions frequently
  
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  act as suppliers of loans and credit facilities
  
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  supporting investments in property
  
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  trade money market instruments
  
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  fund private education
  
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  provide wealth management such as managing portfolios of stocks and shares
  
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  underwrite stock and shares, TFCs and other obligations
  
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  provide retirement planning
  
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  advise companies in merger and acquisition
  
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  prepare feasibility, market or industry studies for companies
  
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  provide discounting services e.g., discounting of instruments
  

In economics, a depression is a sustained, long-term downturn in economic activity in one or more economies. It is a more severe downturn than a recession, which is seen by economists as part of a normal business cycle.

Economic stagnation or economic immobilism, often called simply stagnation or immobilism, is a prolonged period of slow economic growth (traditionally measured in terms of the GDP growth). Under some definitions, "slow" means significantly slower than potential growth as estimated by experts in macroeconomics. Under other definitions, growth less than 2-3% per year is a sign of stagnation. The term bears negative connotations, but slow economic growth is not always the fault of economic policymakers. For example, potential growth may be slowed down by catastrophic or demographic reasons. Economic stagnation theories originated during the Great Depression and came to be associated with early Keynesian economics and Harvard University economics professor Alvin Hansen.

Agflation, a term coined in the late 2000s, describes generalised inflation led by rises in Agricultural commodity prices. In the United States, agricultural prices are not generally factored into core inflation figures. The term describes a situation in which "external" (i.e. Agricultural) price rises drive up core inflation rates.

In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time. When the price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, annual inflation is also an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a loss of real value in the internal medium of exchange and unit of account in the economy.

In economics, hyperinflation is inflation that is very high or "out of control", a condition in which prices increase rapidly as a currency loses its value. Definitions used by the media vary from a cumulative inflation rate over three years approaching 100% to "inflation exceeding 50% a month." In informal usage the term is often applied to much lower rates. As a rule of thumb, normal inflation is reported per year, but hyperinflation is often reported for much shorter intervals, often per month.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recession
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_slowdown
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depression_(economics)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stagflation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agflation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperinflation    

A geographical indication (GI) is a name or sign used on certain products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (e.g. a town, region, or country). The use of a GI may act as a certification that the product possesses certain qualities, or enjoys a certain reputation, due to its geographical origin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographical_Indication    

i) Primary functions:

" The Act provides that the Commission shall consist of not less than two but not exceeding four members appointed by the Central Government out of them being nominated by the Central Government to be the Chairman thereof. Currently Commission comprises three members among whom Shri B.C. Khatua, IAS, is the Chairman, Shri Rajeev kumar Agarwal, IRS and  Shri D.S.Kolamkar, IES are the Members of the Commission."

The functions of the Forward Markets Commission are as follows:

(a) To advise the Central Government in respect of the recognition or the withdrawal of recognition from any association or in respect of any other matter arising out of the administration of the Forward Contracts (Regulation) Act 1952.

(b) To keep forward markets under observation and to take such action in relation to them, as it may consider necessary, in exercise of the powers assigned to it by or under the Act.

(c) To collect and whenever the Commission thinks it necessary, to publish information regarding the trading conditions in respect of goods to which any of the provisions of the act is made applicable, including information regarding supply, demand and prices, and to submit to the Central Government, periodical reports on the working of forward markets relating to such goods;

(d) To make recommendations generally with a view to improving the organization and working of forward markets;

(e) To undertake the inspection of the accounts and other documents of any recognized association or registered association or any member of such association whenever it considerers it necessary.

Salient features of NIF: