Forex kitty

Mumbai, April 16: The country’s foreign exchange reserves rose $2.71 billion to $308.2 billion on the back of an increase in foreign currency assets. The reserves had stood at $305.5 billion the week before. Foreign currency assets, the biggest component of the foreign reserves, went up $2.7 billion to $277 billion for the week ended April 8, the Reserve Bank said in its weekly data.

Taxpayers woe

Calcutta, April 16: Taxpayers have demanded enhancement of the scope of the income tax ombudsman to redress assessees’ grievances in at least 15 areas. “I find there are demands from the taxpayer to increase the ambit of areas of jurisdiction offered to us under the current law,” I-T ombudsman (east) Manoj Mishra said.

Poverty count

Washington, April 16: Rapid growth in econ-omies such as India and China has helped millions of people escape the dungeons of poverty and based on current economic projections, the world is on track to reduce the number of extremely poor people by half, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund said in a report.