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India to grow at 5.5%, exports outlook optimistic: Sharma
India’s gross domestic product (GDP) would grow by 5.5 per cent during the current financial year and that exports would be better despite the global slowdown.
Regardless of the GDP numbers, India’s GDP growth will not be less than 5.5 per cent this year. The country’s economy was facing strong headwinds, but the fundamentals remained strong. (source: Business Standard)
Silver lining: India's GDP and size of economy expand in Q1, FY'14
The currency movements have come in for sharp criticism, but these yielded a pleasant surprise to India's GDP in dollar terms in the first quarter of the current financial year.GDP in dollar terms rose 0.85% in the first quarter of 2013-14 against massive 12.8% contraction in the corresponding period of 2012-13. The GDP had fallen 2.84% in the fourth quarter of 2012-13. India's GDP grew to $245.51 billion from $243.42 billion. (source: Business Standard)
Delhi's per capita income highest in India
Delhi's average per capita income, at more than $ 3400 per year in 2012-13, is the highest in India. The average per capita income in Delhi is nearly three times the estimate for the all India average. During the seven year period from 2005-06 to 2012-13, it grew at the rate of about 7% per annum vis-a-vis around 3% for India. (source: Business Standard)
PM stresses India growth story intact
Cornered by the Opposition to make a statement in the House on the state of economy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh put his best foot forward to lift investor confidence and bring back weekend cheer. Displaying that rare combination of an economist and a politician, the Prime Minister (PM) assured the world — closely watching the rupee movement and the dismal macroeconomic indicators, referring to the situation as a 1991-like crisis — that the India story was intact. (source: Business Standard)
Govt to soon unveil an 'email' policy for officials
To ensure all government employees use only official email while communicating over the internet, the Department of Electronics and Information Technology is working on an ‘email’ policy. This comes in the wake of increasing usage of private email services such as Gmail, Yahoo mail and others by government employees which exposes sensitive information of the country to the risk of leakage, as the servers of most of these service providers are located outside of India. (source: Business Standard)
Planning Commission to frame Bill on dispute resolution in PPP projects
Even as the Centre struggles to boost economic activity, a high-powered review meeting on public private partnership (PPP) projects decided to float a draft Bill on institutional mechanism to speedily resolve disputes. According to officials, the Planning Commission, which convened the meeting, is also separately working on a note on the progress of PPP projects and remedies to solve the problems faced by these. The move to encourage private investment in infrastructure has come in the backdrop of tight fiscal conditions. (source: Business Standard)
India working on formulating guideline on e-commerce
India is mulling formulating a comprehensive guideline to deal with e-commerce, a concept fast catching up in the country. The Consumer Affairs Ministry has already started working on this and has sought suggestions from other ministries that include Finance and IT to carry the plan forward. (source: Business Standard)
Indian economy to grow at 4.5% in Q1: Moody's Analytics
The Indian economy will grow at 4.5% in the first quarter (April-June) of 2013-14. The Gross Domestic Product data is expected to show further deceleration in this quarter, highlighting the challenges faced by new central bank governor Raghuram Rajan. The Indian economy has been steadily decelerating for the past three years and is now growing well below its trend rate. Earlier, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had also said that the first quarter GDP growth would remain more or less flat. (source: Business Standard)
India to grow at an average rate of 8.3% during FY14-FY20: D&B
India's economic growth has slowed significantly over the last two years due to structural and cyclical factors, however, going forward, the economy is expected to grow at an average rate of 8.3% during FY14-FY20. The Indian economy is expected to recover from the current phase of slowdown by FY14 and is expected to gather pace by FY'15. (source: Business Standard)
India to import onions for first time since 2011
India is preparing to import onions for the first time in two years, as a surge in prices threatens to trigger a backlash against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh before next years elections. Prices of the vegetable have almost quadrupled in three months in New Delhi, as the government struggles to tackle the highest inflation among the biggest emerging markets. State-run trading company PEC Ltd this week sought overseas suppliers to deliver as much as 300,000 tonnes of onions, while National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd said the country may buy from China, Iran, Egypt and Pakistan. (source: Business Standard)
India, Iraq to discuss rupee payments for trade: minister
The government will discuss with Iraq the possibility of settling trade payments in the rupee currency. Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is visiting India to finalise a deal to sell India more crude oil. The rupee, which has lost 17% since May, is leading a global selloff in emerging market currencies on fears of higher borrowing costs and tighter supplies of cheap cash from the United States. (source: Business Standard)
New MoU norms to realign PSUs to global biz environment: Secy
The government will come out with new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) norms by this month-end to realign working of public sector units (PSUs) in line with changing global business environment. The proposed guidelines are aimed at providing greater operational flexibility to Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) in achieving their annual targets. (source: Business Standard)
MRPL resumes oil imports from Iran
After a four-month hiatus, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) has resumed crude oil imports from Iran this month. MRPL, which imported 3.9 million tonnes of crude oil from Iran in 2012-13, had not imported any oil from the Persian Gulf nation following insurance issues since April. The company received a ship carrying 75,000 tonnes of crude oil from Iran on August 17 and has booked at least three other similar sized cargoes for delivery this month and the next. (source: Business Standard)
India, China account for 60% of gold buying
In the quarter ended June, India and China together accounted for about 60 per cent to the global demand for gold. During the period, global demand fell 12 per cent. Global demand stood at 856.3 tonnes during the quarter ended June, against 974.6 tonnes in the corresponding period last year. While jewellery demand rose 37 per cent to 575.5 tonnes, demand for gold bars and coins increased a staggering 78 per cent to 507.6 tonnes, against 285.9 tonnes in the year-ago period. The rise in physical demand was partly offset by the offloading of gold exchange-traded funds, which recorded an outflow of 402.2 tonnes, against none in the corresponding period last year. (source: Business Standard)
Iraq rules out special pricing of crude for India
Iraq, the second-largest supplier of oil to India, has ruled out offering any special price to the country because its laws don't allow it to do so.India imports about 20 million tonnes of crude oil from Iraq annually and the government is keen to increase this to meet demand from new refineries. Iraq is the second-largest oil supplier to the country, after Saudi Arabia. (source: Business Standard)
8 airports among new infra projects on anvil: PM
Work will start on two new ports, eight new airports, new industrial corridors and Rail projects in the next few months. PM recounted and reviewed nine years of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) with some satisfaction that the schemes for the poor had worked well and more would be in the offing, thus reinforcing the belief that the UPA will continue with what it believes is its USP new rights to the common man which have led to his social and economic empowerment. (source: Business Standard)
Goa soon to be cleanest tourist destination: Parrikar
Promising to bring about economic development in Goa that will realize the dreams of Goans. Government is working towards earning a name for Goa as the cleanest tourist destination, which will help the state attract high spending tourists.
The government's thrust will be on four areas of employment, garbage management, tourism and development. (Times of India)
IT spending for banks, securities firms to grow 13%
Indian banking and securities companies will spend about $ 6.2 million on IT products and services in 2013, 13 per cent over 2012 revenues of $ 5.5 million. This includes spending by financial institutions on internal IT services (including personnel), IT services, software, data centre technologies, devices and telecom services. IT services will be the largest segment in the overall spending category at $ 1.9 million in 2013. (Source: The Hindu Business Line)
Nodal agency for offshore wind energy to be set up soon: MNRE
A National Offshore Wind Energy Authority (NOWA) under the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) will be constituted that will be the nodal agency for offshore wind projects in the country. NOWA will carry out resource assessment and surveys in the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of the country and simultaneously enter into contract with project developers for development of offshore wind energy project in the territorial water. (the Hindu Business Line)
GDP data show India is in election mode
India's first quarter for FY14 surprised on the downside, as it recorded a growth of 4.35 per cent annualised rate (lowest since Q4 FY09), lower than Bloomberg consensus estimate of 4.7 per cent. While the GDP number got a boost from the expected uptick in the agriculture sector (a growth of 2.72 per cent), manufacturing contracted quite sharply by 1.19 per cent. As I had mentioned earlier, extensive demand destruction has resulted in substantial level of inventory accumulation. (source: Business Standard)
Maharashtra mulls stimulus for industry, incentives for auto sector
To beat slowdown and give a fillip to investment flows, the Maharashtra government plans to offer a stimulus package for the state’s industry. The state government also proposes to revise its mega project policy to provide additional incentives to investors, especially to the badly-hit automobile sector. It also aims to fastrack clearances, including forest, environment and wild life. Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan also announced a slew of approvals for the realty sector during his interaction with the executive committee members of Ficci. (source: Business Standard)
Textile sector creates most jobs: Survey
Amidst sluggish economic conditions, export-oriented sectors have taken the lead in job generation — with a little help from a depreciating rupee. Traditional industries such as textiles and leather have in recent quarters overtaken favourites IT/BPO and automobiles in boosting employment, thanks to a steady growth in exports. Textile companies added 140,000 jobs in this period, of which more than three-fourths — 113,000 — were in export-oriented units. IT/BPO came second adding 119,000 jobs and metals third with 39,000 jobs. (Times of India)
Cabinet panel set to give 28 power projects a big push
The Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) is likely to set the ball rolling for 28 stalled mega power projects, involving investments of $ 1 Million. These projects, slated for discussion at the CCI meeting, are expected to get cleared. Though their real impact on growth might be visible only after a few years, these decisions would boost sentiment and help address the questions being raised about the government’s so-called lackadaisical approach towards big projects. (source: Business Standard)
Employment in textiles sector would rise up to 62 mn by 2022
Employment in the textiles and clothing sector would rise to 60-62 million by 2022 from about 35 million in 2008 as per the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). The overall employment in the textiles sector would increase from 33-35 million in 2008 to about 60-62 million by 2022. This would translate into an incremental human resource requirement of about 25 million people. (source: Business Standard)
Bihar to revise industrial policy
Concerned about the repeated delays in completion of numerous industrial projects, the state government is now planning to alter its industrial policy to encourage their timely completion. Efforts have shown results too. More than thousand investors have shown their interests in investing in Bihar. (source: Business Standard)
Uttarakhand comes up with innovative rooftop solar policy
With power demand growing 10-15 percent annually, and the hydro power sector taking a beating in Uttarakhand, the government has come out with a new policy to harness solar energy using unutilised space on rooftops and wasteland around buildings.
Uttarakhand has good potential of solar power. Solar energy is available for about 300 days in the state, which provides an excellent potential for the installation of rooftop and small solar power plants. (source: Business Standard)
Kudankulam to start generating 1000 MW by October
The Kudankulam nuclear reactor will start generating 1000 MW of power by October end, The first unit will add 1000 MW to the southern grid, helping Tamil Nadu tide over its power crisis to a large extent. The project, dogged by delays since December last following protests by locals over safety concerns, was given the go-ahead by the Supreme Court on May 6. (source: Business Standard)
Till 2015-16, power sector to get more gas
An empowered group of ministers (EGoM) led by Defence Minister A K Antony decided to supply the additional gas that would be available in the next three years to power sector. Starting 2013-14 until 2015-16, all additional gas would be given to the power sector. (source: Business Standard)
India sugar exports get boost from Rupee plunge
Sugar exports from India, the world's second-biggest producer, may jump more than threefold next year as Asia's worst performing currency spurs demand from importers in the Middle East and Asia. Shipments may exceed 1 million tonnes in the year beginning October 1, said Narendra Murkumbi, managing director of Mumbai-based Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd. Exports from the local crop may total 300,000 tonnes this season, according to the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd. (source: Business Standard)