New price data

New Delhi, Feb. 20: The government will release the nationwide Consumer Price Index (CPI) on a monthly basis from tomorrow for better reflection of retail price movement and to help the Reserve Bank take effective monetary policy steps to deal with inflation. The new CPI, according to experts, will eventually replace the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for policy actions to deal with the price situation.

Telecom policy

New Delhi, Feb. 20: The department of telecom has chalked out a timetable for implementation of the new telecom policy — NTP 2011 — according to which it would be cleared by the end of April this year. The draft cabinet note of the new telecom policy, which is envisaged to bring in transparency and clarity in the sector, is likely to be circulated to ministries concerned by tomorrow, to which the responses are expected by March 6.

Pension move

New Delhi, Feb. 20: Pension fund regulator PFRDA has invited bids from financial institutions to manage funds under the New Pension Scheme (NPS) for the next three years beginning April 1, 2012. The fund managers will be required to manage the pension assets of central government employees, according to the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority.

IPO funds

Mumbai, Feb. 20: The quantum of funds raised by India Inc through initial public offers and rights issues went up by over five-fold to Rs 5,600 crore in December over the previous month.

Markets closed

Mumbai, Feb. 20: The BSE, National Stock Exchange, Forex, money and all commodity markets, including bullion, oils and oilseeds, were closed today for Maha Shivaratri.