Commercial Paper

• Commercial Papers are issued by companies with high-quality debt ratings for raising money to meet their short-term liabilities.
• Corporations, financial institutions, wealthy individuals and money market funds are usually buyers of commercial paper.
• It is usually issued at a discount from face value and reflects prevailing market interest rates.
• Maturities on commercial paper are usually no longer than 9 months.
• Unlike banks, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFC) do not have access to low-cost public deposits and have to heavily rely upon commercial paper and commercial debt markets.
• Banks and Mutual Funds are the main source of funding through commercial papers to NBFCs and housing finance companies.
• While large MFIs have access to bank finance, the mid-sized and smaller ones depend on funds from NBFCs.
• Small and mid-size NBFCs and Micro Finance Institutions (MFI) are going to face the liquidity crunch due to redemption of commercial papers due in November-March.
• Anticipating liquidity crunch, the RBI has announced Rs. 40,000-crore liquidity infusion in November through open market operations.

Dal-Nageen Lake

• J&K administration has appointed an official for conducting a comprehensive bathymetric survey (study of underwater depth of lake or ocean floors) of the Dal-Nageen lake.
• The Nageen lake in Srinagar is a deep blue water offshoot of the Dal lake that is interconnected by a thin causeway.
• The lake is located to the east of the city of Srinagar, at the foothill of the Zabarwan Mountain.
• The Nageen lake is surrounded by a large number of willow and poplar trees. Hence, it has been referred as a “nageena”, which means “the jewel in the ring”.