Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Bank of Japan (BOJ) has signed a bilateral swap arrangement (BSA) on Monday. The BSA was signed by BOJ governor Masaaki Shirakawa and RBI governor Yaga Venugopal Reddy in Basel, Switzerland. It will pave a way for swapping local currencies against the US dollar for up to $3 billion. The agreement will also sort out problem of short-term liquidity and strengthen existing international financial arrangements

The agreement was come into effect on Sunday (June 29). Both Japan and India can now swap Yen and rupee against the US dollar up to $3 billion. They will hold biannual consultations on economic and financial conditions of each country with the BSA in effect.

Rating agency, Crisil Ltd has lowered its estimation for India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the current fiscal to 8.1 percent from 8.5 percent.

Crisil attributed increasing inflation and interest rates, together with a declining global growth viewpoint for the downward revision of GDP.

In a declaration, the agency said that it anticipates overall growth to remain strong regardless of the moderation, which is driven by investment.

As the existing inflationary prospects are way beyond the RBI’s comfort zone of 4-5-5%, a cut in key interest rates has been rejected, the report said.

India’s premier business association, CII at 68th Business Outlook Survey said that the Business Confidence picked up for October – March 2007-08 after a decline during the period April-September 2007-08.

CII’s business confidence index for October-March this fiscal, at 66.3, has witnessed a marginal increase of 2.4 points from April-September 2007. However, the index was down by 5.5 points when compared to the corresponding period last year.

The Commerce and Industry Minister, Kamal Nath has announced that the government is ready to offer a sector-specific package for tax and levy reimbursement to exporters hit by admiration in the rupee value.

Preserving his assurance that India will attain export objective of $160 billion in the existing fiscal (2007-08) even with currency related worries, Nath told that his department is making a Cabinet note for increasing refunds coverage to exporters.

Ambareesh Baliga of Karvy Stock Broking believes that Infosys Technologies can definitely touch Rs 2200-2400 in the coming 6-9 months.

He suggested investors to hold the stock for long term, and when it reaches or crosses this expected level, they can make their profits from this evergreen stock.