FINANACIAL AWARENESS: 2016

Creation of GST Council

The Cabinet approved setting up of the GST Council, which would decide on the
rate of tax under the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime likely to start
from April 1, 2017.
1. Creation of the GST Council as per Article 279A of the
amended constitution 2.Creation of the GST Council
Secretariat, with office at New Delhi
3.Appointment of the Secretary (Revenue) as the Ex-officio Secretary to the GST
Council
4.Inclusion of the Chairperson, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), as a
permanent invitee (non- voting) to all proceedings of the GST Council.
THE GST COUNCIL:
Union Finance Minister Chairperson
Revenue Secretary- Hasmukh Adhia Ex Offcio Secretary
Arun Goyal -- Additional Secretary
The Union Minister of State,in-charge of Revenue of finance Member
The Minister In-charge of finance or taxation or any other Minister
nominated by each State Government Members
Goods and Service Tax (GST) Council hold its first meeting in the national capital.
The Central Government has proposed that small traders, having annual turnover of
up to 20 to 25 lakh rupees, could be exempted from the GST.
The Union Government has proposed a four-slab rate structure for the new indirect
tax regime i.e. Goods & Services Tax (GST) ranging from 0 to 26 per cent. It was
proposed at the meeting of the GST Council headed by Union Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley and included representatives from all states in New Delhi.
What is GST Council? As per Article 279A of the Constitution, GST Council will be a
joint forum of the Centre and the States. It shall consist (i) Union Finance Minister
(Chairperson). (ii) The Union Minister of State (MoS) in-charge of Revenue of finance
(Member) and (ii) The Minister In-charge of taxation or finance or any other Minister
nominated by each State Government (Members).

What are the functions of GST Council? The functions of GST Council are mention
in Article 279A (4) of the Constitution. The Council will make recommendations to
Union and States on important issues related to GST, like (i) Goods and services that
may be subjected or exempted from GST. (ii) Model GST Laws. (iii) Principles that
govern Place of Supply, threshold limits, GST rates. (iv) GST rates will including the

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 floor rates with bands and (v) Special rates for raising additional resources during
natural disasters/ calamities, special provisions for certain States, etc.

The Union Cabinet has given its in-principle approval for strategic sale of over a
dozen public sector undertakings (PSUs). This decision was taken based on the
recommendation of NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayogs
proposal on disinvestment and strategic sale of sick PSUs.

Key Facts : The strategic disinvestment of such public sector units with the transfer of
management control to a private entity will be taken up subsequently on a case-by-
case basis. It will be undertaken after consultations with their respective
administrative ministries without any timeline. The Union Government had set a
target to raise Rs. 20,500 crore in 2017-18 through strategic sales of PSUs and
another Rs. 36,000 crore from sale of minority stakes in PSUs.

There is no specific timeline set for disinvestment and strategic sale of sick PSUs.
Each PSU will be considered on its own merit with the timing of the sale to be
decided accordingly. Union Government will follow settled valuation procedures in a
transparent process for such transactions.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has permitted startups to raise external commercial
borrowings (ECBs) of up to $3 million in a financial year for three year tenure The
new rules issued by RBI aims at boosting innovation and promoting job creation in
the country. It will apply to startups looking to raise foreign borrowings and
restrictions on such funds will be kept minimum.

What is External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs)? Any money borrowed from

foreign sources for financing the commercial activities in India are called ECBs. The
Central Government permits ECBs as a source of finance for Indian Corporates for
expansion of existing capacity as well as for fresh investment. Thus, ECBs are defined
as money borrowed from foreign resources including the following: (i) Commercial
bank loans (ii) Buyers credit and suppliers credit (iii) Securitised instruments such
as Floating Rate Notes and Fixed Rate Bonds etc. (iv) Credit from official export credit
agencies and commercial borrowings from the private sector window of Multilateral
Financial Institutions such as World Bank, ADB, AFIC, CDC, etc.
How ECB is different from FDI? In case of Foreign Direct Investment, the foreign
money is used to finance the Equity Capital. But in case ECBs, foreign money is used to
finance any kind of funding other than Equity.

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 India has been placed at 130th position among the 190 countries in the recently
released World Banks ease of doing business index for the year 2017. The index
was released as part of the World Banks annual report Doing Business 2017: Equal
Opportunity for All. This report had revised Indias rank to 131 from earlier 130th for
the year 2016. Thus, India has improved its place by one spot in the 2017 index and
its place remained unchanged from the previous original ranking of 130 in the year
2016.
India Related Facts: In the ranking, India has made a substantial improvement in
some areas such as electricity connection. But it has sliped in other areas, including
payment of taxes and enforcing contracts. India has embarked on a fast-paced reform
path and has acknowledged a number of substantial improvements. Some the
improvement mentioned are electricity connections to businesses, paying taxes,
electronic system for paying employee state insurance contributions, the Companies
(Amendment) Act, electronic filing of integrated customs declarations, passage of the
commercial courts and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code

The five-nation group of emerging economies BRICS has agreed to set up an

independent BRICS Rating Agency in its efforts to challenge western hegemony in the
world of finance. It was announced during the 8th BRICS summit held in Goa, India.
BRICS comprises five emerging economies Brazil, Russia, India, China and South
Africa.

Russian consortium led energy giant Rosneft Oil Company has agreed to acquire
Indias second biggest private oil firm Essar Oil in an all-cash deal valued at about US
$13 billion. The consortium includes Rosneft Oil Company, Netherlands-based
commodities trader Trafigura and private investment group United Capital Partners.
The business transaction was announced in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the 8th BRICS Summit in Goa.

The Union Finance Ministry has set up a Public Debt Management Cell (PDMC) with
the objective of deepening bond markets in the country. PDMC will streamline
government borrowings and better cash management for deepening bond markets.
Key Facts PDMC is an interim arrangement and will be upgraded to a statutory Public
Debt Management Agency (PDMA). Thus, it will requisite preparatory work for PDMA.

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 It will allow separation of debt management functions from RBI to PDMA in a gradual
and seamless manner, without causing market disruption. The Middle Office of the
Budget Division in the Union Finance Ministry will be subsumed into PDMC with
immediate effect. The Joint Secretary (Budget), Department of Economic Affairs of the
Finance Ministry will be the overall in-charge of the PDMC. PDMC will have only
advisory functions in order to avoid any conflict with the statutory functions of RBI.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has notified entities that have been granted a
payments bank (PB) licence will need to take specific approval for products they
would be offering to customers. In this regard, RBI has issued separate operating
guidelines for payments banks in view to focus on financial inclusion.

Key Facts Employee of Payment Bank should be available for sufficient duration at a
fixed location to attend customers. They must at least have 25% of access points in
un-banked rural areas. The main mandate of Payment Banks is to offer remittance
services. They will be not allowed to lend. Payment Banks can also offer simple
financial products like insurance and mutual funds. The RBI may place suitable
restrictions on the design, functioning, or other features of the product of Payment
Banks. RBI may even discontinue the product launched by Payment banks if it feels
that the product is not suitable for customers. RBI it will have no objection to
payments banks making arrangements with other scheduled commercial bank or
small finance bank. Background RBI had granted in-principle licences to 11 payments
banks in August 2015. While three out of 11 PBs have dropped out, others will have
to start operations within 18 months of receiving in-principle approval.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has given approval ONGC
Videsh Limited (OVL) proposal to buy 11% stake in JSC Vankorneft. OVL will buy this
stake in JSC Vankorneft from Rosneft Oil Company (Rosneft), National Oil Company of
Russia which operates Vankor oil fields. OVL will pay US 930 million dollars for
acquiring 11% stake in Vankorneft. This acquisition is also in line with ONGCs stated
objective of adding high quality international assets to Indias Exploration and
Production (E&P) portfolio for augmenting Indias energy security.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its fourth bi-monthly monetary policy review for
year 2016-17 has cut the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25%.

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 This monetary policy decision was taken by the newly constituted Monetary Policy
Committee (MPC). This was also Urjit Patels maiden monetary policy announcement
as RBI Governor. All the six members of MPC unanimously decided to cut key policy
rate with the aim of achieving a midterm inflation target of 4% within a band of plus
or minus 2%. With this, RBI moved away from tradition of RBI governor having the
final say on monetary policy decisions.

Policy Rates Repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF): Reduced by 0.25
basis points to 6.25 percent. Reverse repo rate under the LAF: It was adjusted to 5.75
per cent. Marginal standing facility (MSF) and Bank Rate: It was adjusted to 6.75 per
cent. Reserve Ratios Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) of scheduled banks: Unchanged at 4.0
per cent of net demand and time liability (NDTL). Statutory Liquidity Ratio
(SLR):20.75 per cent.

The Union Finance Ministry constituted four-member Insolvency and Bankruptcy

Board of India (IBBI) with Financial markets expert MS Sahoo as its Chairman. MS
Sahoo was administered the oath of the office by Union Finance and Corporate Affairs
Minister Arun Jaitley in New Delhi. He will have tenure of five years i.e. till 2021. Prior
to this appointment, he was serving as a member of anti-trust regulator Competition
Commission of India (CCI). Earlier he also had served as member at capital markets
regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). He also had served as
Chairman of the government-appointed committees on depository receipts, domestic
and overseas capital markets, and external commercial borrowing (ECBs).

Other members of IBBI: Ajay Tyagi (Additional Secretary, Union Finance Ministry)
Amardeep Singh Bhatia (Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs), GS
Yadav (Joint Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs) and Unnikrishnan (Legal Advisor
of the Reserve Bank of India).

Anil Ambani led Reliance Group and French aerospace giant Dassault Aviation have
signed deal to set up a joint venture called Dassault Reliance Aerospace. The Dassault
Reliance Aerospace will execute offsets for the recently concluded India-France deal
for 36 Rafale fighter jets. It will be the largest offset contract to be executed by any
defence company in India. The contract value is estimated up to Rs. 30,000 crore

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 The National Mission on Bioeconomy has launched in Shillong, Meghalaya by the
Institute of Bio-resources and Sustainable Development (IBSD). The mission is
unique to south-east Asia and India has become one of the few countries to tap bio-
resources. Key Facts The purpose of the mission is to boost rural economy by utilizing
bio-resources. Besides, it can be optimally utilized can create a large number of jobs
at village level. It also focuses on sustainable utilization of renewable biological
resources for food, bio-energy and bio-based products through knowledge-based
approaches. It has potential to generate new solutions for the planets major
challenges in the field of energy, food, health, water, climate change and deliver social,
economic and environmental benefits. Bioeconomy is a new concept and few
countries like US, Canada, European Union (EU) and Australia have started initiatives
in this field. India is the fast-growing bioeconomy at US 35 billion dollars in 2015,
which can even rise to USD 100 billion in future.

Indias second largest software services major Infosys has launched Skava
Commerce a new standard for modern, mobile-first and modular e-commerce
platform for retailers. The platform has been developed by Skava, a Silicon Valley-
based e-commerce start-up that Infosys had acquired in June 2015 for 120 million
dollars.

India has been ranked 39th among the 138 countries in the 2016-17 Global
Competitiveness Index (GCI). The index was released as part of the World Economic
Forums (WEF) Global Competitiveness Report for 2016-17. Key Facts Top 5
Countries: Switzerland (1st), Singapore (2nd), United States (3rd), Netherlands (4th)
and Germany (5th). BRICS Countries: China (28th), Russia (43rd), South Africa (47th)
and Brazil (81st).

India has been ranked 112th out of 159 countries in the 2016 World Economic
Freedom Index (WEFI). The index was release as part of the 2016 annual report of
the Economic Freedom. The report measures the economic freedom by analyzing the
policies and institutions of all 159 countries and territories and was based on data
from the year 2014. Key Facts The economic freedom index of a country is directly
proportional to the freedom and opportunities available to its citizens. People living
in countries with high levels of economic freedom enjoy greater prosperity, more
political and civil liberties and longer lives. On the contrary, countries with lower
levels of freedom index tend to suppress its citizens freedom and rights.

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 Canadas British Columbia province has become the first foreign government to
issue of masala bonds, a rupee-denominated bond. It had issued Rs 500 crore rupee
denominated overseas bonds (masala bond) on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and
successfully raised $75 million (about Rs 500 crore). British Columbias issued masala
bond was priced to yield 6.62 % to semi-annually with a three-year tenor in the LSE.
By issuing masala bond, it has secured high-quality investor support from across
Europe, Asia and America.

Comment Masala Bonds are rupee-denominated bonds issued to overseas buyers. It

is aimed at boosting investments into Indias infrastructure sector. British Columbia
by issuing the masala bond has well-positioned confidence of investors outlook for
Indias infrastructure sector. Thus, it signifies major participation of the rupee in the
international markets and highlights prosperous and favourable conditions of Indian
economy.

India has been placed at the 35th rank in the World Banks 2016 Logistics
Performance Index (LPI) among 160 countries. The index was recently released by
World Bank in its report titled Connecting to Complete 2016. India has leapfrogged
by 19 spots to 35th rank compared with 54th rank in 2014 LPI. What is Logistics
Performance Index (LPI)? LPI is released by World Bank as part of its report every
two years based on a world-wide survey of stakeholders. It is based on the ground
providing feedback on the logistics friendliness of the countries in which they operate
and those with which they trade.

The index measures countries across six components Customs, infrastructure,

international shipments, logistics quality and competence, tracking and tracing, and
timeliness. It is an interactive benchmarking tool that helps countries to identify
challenges and opportunities in trade logistics and also to improve their performance.

The Union Cabinet has given its approval for simplification and liberalisation of the
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Policy, 2016 in various sectors announced in June,
2016.

The radical amendments to FDI policy are meant to liberalise and simplify the FDI
policy so as to provide ease of doing business in the country. Its main aim is to allow
larger FDI inflows in the country that will contribute to growth of investment,

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 incomes and employment. Changes in FDI Policy regime

Defence Sector: FDI beyond 49% has been permitted through government approval
route, in cases resulting in access to modern technology in the country or for other
reasons. The condition of access of state of the art technology has been removed and
it has been modified to access to modern or for other reasons. FDI limit also has been
made applicable to Manufacturing of Small Arms and Ammunitions covered under
Arms Act, 1959. Food Products manufactured or produced in India: 100% FDI
under government approval route for trading in respect of food products
manufactured in India. Pharmaceutical Sector: 100% FDI under automatic route in
greenfield pharmaceuticals. FDI up to 100% under government approval in
brownfield pharmaceuticals also has been approved and 74% FDI under automatic
route in Brownfield pharmaceuticals. Civil Aviation Sector: 100% FDI under
automatic route in Brownfield Airport Projects. FDI limit raised to 100% in Scheduled
Air Transport Service and regional Air Transport Service. Animal Husbandry: 100%
FDI allowed in Animal Husbandry (including breeding of dogs), Aquaculture,
Pisciculture and Apiculture under Automatic Route without requirement of controlled
conditions. Private Security Agencies: 49% FDI permitted under automatic route
and FDI beyond 49% and up to 74% will be permitted through government approval
route. Establishment of branch office, liaison office or project office: No approval from
Reserve Bank of India or separate security clearance would be required. This
exemption will be application in cases where FIPB has approved it or license and
permission already has be given by the concerned Ministry. Single Brand Retail
Trading: Entities undertaking single brand retail trading have been relaxed from local
sourcing norms up to 3 years. Entities engaged in of single brand retail trading of
products having state-of-art and cutting edge technology have been relaxed from
local sourcing norms up to 5 years.

Comment With these radical changes in FDI Policy, Union government has permitted
100% FDI under government approval route for almost every sector, including
defence. However there is still exception in few sectors mentioned in the small
negative list. FDI continues to be prohibited in atomic energy, lottery, gambling, real
estate and Real Estate Investments Trusts (REIT) and railways operations.
Background Since 2014, Union Government has brought major FDI policy reforms in a
number of sectors, including Insurance, Pension Sector, Defence, Construction
Development and Broadcasting etc. Measures undertaken by the Union Government
have resulted in increased FDI inflows at 55.46 billion dollars in the financial year
2015-16. This was the highest ever FDI inflow in India for a particular financial year.

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 The worlds first self-driving taxi service was launched in Singapore. This launch is
significant as it offer technology demonstration that could revolutionize the future
transport industry. The self-driving taxi service was launched Singapore based
nuTonomy, an autonomous vehicle software startup. With this nuTonomy became
entity in the world first to offer self-driving taxi rides to the public.

India has ranked 66th in the 2016 Global Innovation Index (GII). In this edition,
India has jumped up by 15 spots from 81st position in 2015 GII.

The annual index was released by France-based international business school

INSEAD and World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), a specialized
agency of the United Nations. The index ranks world economies since 2007 according
to their innovation capabilities using more than 80 indicators.

Key Facts : Indias better performance in the 2016 GII readings was due to its
strengths in tertiary education, corporate R&D, software export and market
sophistication. India has starting to excel in ICT and creative goods exports. It is
setting a good example highlighting how its policy is improving the innovation
environment. Among the middle income countries, India (25th) came second after
China (17th) in innovation quality by overtaking Brazil (27th). China has figured at
the 25th position (29th in 2015 GII) is the only middle-income country in the top 25.

The Union Government has decided to set up a committee to look at easing the policy
regime for e-commerce players, including the rules for foreign direct investment
(FDI). The committee will be headed by Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI (National
Institution for Transforming India) Aayog. The other members in the panel will
include officials from Union Commerce Ministry and Industry and Department of
electronics and IT among others. Representatives from four states including
Maharashtra and Karnataka will also be the members of the committee.

The Lok Sabha has unanimously passed the Employees Compensation

(Amendment) Bill, 2016 to reduce litigation in cases of disputes arising over
compensation to workers. The Bill seeks to amend the Employees Compensation Act,

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 1923. This law provides payment of compensation to employees and their
dependents in the case of injury by industrial accidents, including occupational
diseases.

The Union Government has set an inflation target of four per cent for the next five
years i.e. till March 31, 2021.

In this regard, Union Government will soon set-up Monetary Policy Committee
(MPC) to adhere to the target till March 31, 2021.

Backgroud : This target was fixed after the Union Government and Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) had reached an agreement on a monetary policy framework. The
framework had had set the inflation target at four per cent, plus or minus two per
cent. However, there was no legal backing to it. The Union Government in June 2016
also had notified rules for setting up the MPC giving effect to amendments in the RBI
Act. What is Inflation targeting? Inflation targeting is a monetary policy in which a
central bank estimates and makes public a projected or target inflation rate. After
declaration of target, the central bank attempts to steer actual inflation towards the
target through the use of interest rate changes and other monetary tools. The key
advantage of a target is that it allows to recognise the short run trade-offs between
inflation and growth. It also enables Central Bank to pursue the inflation target in the
long run over the course of a business cycle.

The Union Cabinet has given its approval for raising foreign shareholding limit from
current 5% to 15% in Indian Stock Exchanges. The decision brings the investment
limit of foreign entities at par with that of domestic institutions. This enhanced limit is
for a stock exchange, depository, banking company, insurance company and
commodity derivative exchange. Additionally, the Union Cabinet also gave its
approval for foreign portfolio investors to acquire shares through initial allotment,
besides secondary market, in the stock exchanges.

Implications :Enhance global competitiveness of Indian stock exchanges. Enable

Indian stock exchanges to acquire and adopt latest technology and global best
practices. Pave way for better overall growth and development of the Indian capital
market Background The Union Cabinet approval is in pursuance of implementation of
the 2016-17 Budget Announcement made by the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

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 Finance Minister had made this announcement with regard to reforms in FDI Policy in
order to enhance investment limit for foreign entities in Indian stock exchanges from
5% to 15%.

The State Bank of India (SBI) has declared Silchar as its 5th zone in North East to
facilitate banking issues for the customers of the region. The 5th zone will further
help to cater the banking needs of the people of Mizoram, Tripura and Manipur along
with the Barak Valley of North east India. SBI also opened its administrative office at
Silchar, Assam. Other four zones of SBI in North East are Guwahati, Shillong,
Dibrugarh and Jorhat. Earlier, Silchar was under Guwahati zone. However, due to
difficult terrain of the region it was tough on the part of the bank to address the
complaints and issues of the customers in the region. Presently, SBI has 736 branches
across North East together with 3,000 ATMs and 3,000 customer service points for
customer facilitation.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Internal Working Group (IWG) on Rationalisation of
Branch Authorisation Policy has proposed easing bank branch norms. It was chaired
by Lily Vadera.

It has proposed to relax norms that a bank branch has to follow, like a building,
number of employees etc to facilitate financial inclusion. Key Recommendations Bank
branches including those manned by business correspondents providing minimum 4
hours of service for 5 days a week, should be allowed to be treated as a full-service
branch. Any other fixed point unit of the bank not complying with minimum working
period should be considered a part-time banking outlet A part-time banking outlet
can be opened in any centre. It will be counted in for computing requirement of
having 25% branches in rural areas. Redefined the un-banked rural centre (URC) as a
rural (tier V and VI) centre that does not have a core banking solution-enabled
banking outlet. Comment

The acceptance of recommendations will significantly help to reduce costs for a bank
while for opening branches in un-banked rural centres. It will further help to enhance
financial inclusion by taking idea of bank as an outlet that delivers basic banking
services. Banks, even without traditional branches, can use technology to offer
services in areas that so far had no access.

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 The Union Government has notified the constitution of the six members Monetary
Policy Committee (MPC). In this regard, the Union Finance Minister has used powers
designated under the section 45ZB of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act, 1934 to
constitute MPC.

Composition of MPC Urjit Patel: RBI Governor (Chairperson). R Gandhi: Deputy

Governor RBI in charge of Monetary Policy (Member). Michael Patra: Executive
Director of RBI (Member). Chetan Ghate: Professor, Indian Statistical Institute (ISI)
(Member). Professor Pami Dua: Director, Delhi School of Economics (DSE)
(Member). Ravindra H. Dholakia: Professor Indian Institute of Management (IIM),
Ahmedabad (Member).

About Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) The six member MPC has been entrusted
with the task of fixing the benchmark policy rate (repo rate) required to contain
inflation within the specified target level. It will help in determining the Monetary
Policy which in turn adds value and transparency to monetary policy decisions. The
meetings of the MPC will be held at least 4 times a year and it will publish its
decisions after each such meeting. The RBI Act was amended by the Finance Act, 2016
to provide for a statutory and institutionalised framework for MPC.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has announced that Unified
Payments Interface (UPI) application has become operational. The application will
allow customers to make easier real-time payments via digital means using smart
phones.

Key Facts The payment gateway became operational after it received the Reserve
Bank of Indias clearance that allowed banks UPI applications to go live on Google
Play Store. Initially, the UPI will be available only on the Android mobile operating
system. It will be going live with 21 banks in the first phase. About Unified Payments
Interface (UPI) UPI is a flagship product of NPCI that will help India to move towards
a cashless economy. It is a set of standard Application Programming Interface (APIs).
It will provide uniform mobile payment system by leveraging digital trends such as
increasing smart phone adoption and deeper penetration of mobile data. It will allow
customers to send and receive money from their smartphones using virtual payments
address without entering bank account details. It facilitates virtual address as a
single payment identifier for sending and collecting money and works on single click

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 2 factor authentication. It works as a single identifier that will eliminate the need to
exchange sensitive information such as bank account numbers during a financial
transaction. It merges several banking features, seamless fund routing and merchant
payments into one hood. Thus, it will be a single app for accessing different bank
accounts. It also provides an option for scheduling push and pull transactions for
various purposes like sharing bills among peers.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) NPCI is the umbrella organisation for
all retail payments system in India. It is being promoted the Reserve Bank of India. It
was founded in 2008 as a not-for-profit organisation registered under section 25 of
the Companies Act, 2013. It has successfully played pioneering role in the
development of a domestic card payment network called RuPay, reducing the
dependency on international card schemes.

The Guinness World Records has declared Majuli in Assam as the largest river island in
the world. The beautiful river island is situated on the Brahmaputra River. It has
toppled Marajo in Brazil to clinch the record. Mjuli or Majoli is the world biggest
river island in the world in the Brahmaputra River, Assam, India.
A grand spiritual gathering that happens once in 12 years and is referred to as
theKumbhMela of the Himalayas had begun in Ladakhs biggest monastery, Hemis,
to commemorate the millennial birth anniversary of the scholar saint Naropa

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