A total of 11 private enterprises were granted licenses to pilot resale of certain mobile services by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). The move will be a breakthrough for China to further open the largely monopolized telecom sector as it enables firms, like e-commerce giant Jingdong Mall, to partner and compete with the backbone operators through reselling of mobile services. To get the licenses, private firms must sign cooperation agreements with one of China's three backbone telecom operators, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, before filing an application with the MIIT.

Two inland new zones will be established in northwest China's Shaanxi Province and southwest Guizhou Province as the plan was approved by the State Council. The Xi'an-Xianyang New Area, to cover an area of 882 square km, is designed to be a hub that will help open up China's west, and will be an example of urbanization. The Guiyang-Anshun New Area with a planned area of 1,795 square km is set up to be a growth hub in west China and a model of environmental development. As for core industries, the former one will focus on information service, modern logistics and culture. And the new zone in Guizhou emphasized advanced manufacturing, services, leisure and tourism.

A total of 2.5 million enterprises were registered in China in 2013, a yearon- year surge of 27.63 percent, according to a report released by the State Administration of Industry and Commerce. The fast rise indicated increased vitality of the market and was also an outcome of government's efforts to streamline business administration, including removing the minimum capital requirements, replacing the annual inspection of companies with a reporting system, and loosening controls over sites for business operation.

Pensions of Chinese enterprises' retirees have been increased by 10 percent since January 1, 2014 with the decision made at a cabinet's executive meeting in January led by Premier Li Keqiang. More than 74 million people retiring from domestic enterprises will benefit from the move. The meeting also pledged to improve the social assistance system to help vulnerable groups. As the system is revamped, it will offer financial aid that will meet the vulnerable groups' standards of living.

Foreign banks in China are considering expanding into new business areas to cope with the challenges brought by their Chinese competitors, said the Eighth Edition of PwC's Foreign Banks in China survey. Foreign banks are showing interests in offering more services to small and medium-sized enterprises and stateowned enterprises that are restructuring and going global, offering rural banking services, pushing toward inland following the growth of manufacturing, and launching e-banking or other innovative digital and Internet based services.

China's securities regulator requires fund companies to better protect investor interests during online sales of mutual fund products as Internet finance booms in China and misleading advertisements on online fund sales have emerged constantly since the middle of last year. Fund companies must strictly implement the principle of sales appropriateness, or make sure that risks of fund products are within investors' risk tolerance, said Deng Ke, a spokesman for the China Security Regulatory Commission.