Sinha eats humble pie, says fiscal deficit may hurtle past 5.6%
Finance minister Yashwant Sinha on Thursday admitted that the current year's fiscal-deficit target of 5.6 per cent was under pressure, but said it will not cross 7% under any circumstances.

Centre finalises policy for oil-exploration companies
The New Exploration and Licensing Policy (Nelp), pending for 22 months since it was first announced in parliament in February 1997, becomes effective at last. The last hitch in offering a package of fiscal sops to oil-exploration companies was cleared recently.

RBI may revise asset-classification norms
The Reserve Bank of India is considering changes in the asset classification, income recognition and provisioning norms on the lines of the recommendations of the Basle Committee on Banking Supervision which were made public in October.

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