In its circular issued to banks

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Although hers is only a goodwill visit, President Pratibha Patil did not lose the opportunity of reminding the Chinese leadership of the huge trade imbalance between the two sides and pressed it to open up the market and give access to Indian pharmaceutical industry, IT and engineering companies.

Patil, the first Indian Head of State to visit China in a decade, took up the issue of the growing trade imbalance between India and China during her talks here yesterday, which included separate meetings with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.

In 2009, the trade imbalance tilted heavily against India. China enjoyed trade surplus of $16 billion out of the total $44 billion bilateral trade and its exports to India nearly touched $30 billion last year.

During her talks, Patil sought access for Indian pharmaceuticals companies, engineering goods, IT-enabled services and agricultural products to the huge Chinese market, official sources said.

India, which is otherwise competitive in manufacturing and services, finds that 75 per cent f its exports to China comprises commodities and raw materials like iron ore.

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In its circular issued to banks, the Reserve Bank has stated that there has been a spate of fictitious offers of cheap funds in recent times from fraudsters.

These came through letters, e-mails, mobile phones, SMS, etc. Detailing the modalities of the fraudsters, the Reserve Bank stated that communication was being sent on fake letterheads of the Reserve Bank and purportedly signed by its top executives to targetted people.

Many residents have been victims of such teasing offers and have lost huge sums of money in the process.