APEC summit starts

SYDNEY: The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) business summit, the region’s biggest annual event of the business community, was opened on Thursday. It brings together APEC economic leaders and business people under one roof to discuss the most critical economic and business issues facing the region. The event, formerly known as the APEC CEO Summit, has been annually organised along with APEC economic leaders’ meeting since 1996. — AFP

Direct taxes rises

NEW DELHI: With the Indian economy growing at over nine per cent, led mainly by the services and manufacturing sectors, the tax administration has reason to cheer as direct

tax collections were up 42 per cent in the first five months of the current fiscal. India’s net tax collections stood at Rs 610.30 billion (approx $15 billion) for April-August period, up 42 per cent over Rs 429.80 billion in the like period of last fiscal, official data showed Thursday.— HNS

More money in banks

BEIJING: China’s central bank said on Thursday it would order major commercial banks to set aside more money in reserves, the seventh such measure this year that is aimed at cooling the nation’s booming economy. The People’s Bank of China said in a statement the required deposit reserve ratio would rise by 0.50 percentage points on September 25 in an effort to prevent excessively fast credit growth. —AFP