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High food prices would derail reforms: PM
IMF: India’s inflation to moderate at 5.2 pc
Govt mulls tax cuts to rein in prices
Govt monitoring steel prices, says Paswan
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High steel prices ‘turn’ coins to blades
Nabard plans to raise over Rs 15,000 cr
Pilot project for agro-industries soon
Trade policy may unveil sops for exporters
Yahoo! close to deal with AOL
Ambala dist achieves 100% financial inclusion
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High food prices would derail reforms: PM New Delhi, April 10 Singh, known as author of economic reforms in India, also said rising prices would derail reforms and mount pressures on the government to impose restrictive trade practices. In a word of caution, he said high food prices would “diminish the constituency of economic reforms, so necessary for growth.” Addressing Global Agro Industries Forum here, the Prime Minister said, “Efforts to promote reforms and more open economies would be derailed in the face of persistent food shortages and rising food prices... A steep rise in food prices will make inflation control more difficult and can thereby hurt the cause of macro economic stability.” Soaring prices have put the UPA Government on the defensive. After wholesale prices-based inflation rate touched more than three-year high of seven per cent, the government is facing staunch political pressure from many quarters, including the Left, which supports the government from outside. However, Singh said the reaction to high global food prices impacting India could not take the form of return to an era of “blind controls and by depressing agriculture’s terms of trade” as it would hurt farmers’ welfare as well as the long-term growth of the economy. “We in India too are deeply concerned about rising global commodity and food prices. Sharply rising food prices can slow down poverty alleviation, impede economic growth and retard employment generation,” he said. While this will harm global economy in general, developing world will be “seriously hurt”, Singh said, after receiving the Agricola Award by FAO for his contribution to the farm and social sector. He said increasing global shift to bio-fuels in the face of galloping oil prices is making the situation of food shortages more complex. The Prime Minister said the problem of rising demand for food not being met by the supply side is not confined to India alone and the entire world is also facing such a situation. — PTI
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IMF: India’s inflation to moderate at 5.2 pc
Washington, April 10 In its latest World Economic Outlook, the Washington-based organisation says inflationary expectations had picked up around the globe due to sharp increases in food and energy prices, particularly intensifying in emerging economies. But in India the alarming rise in consumer prices in the recent past is expected to moderate to 5.2 per cent in 2008 and 4 per cent in 2009, as against 6.4 per cent in 2007, the organisation predicts. At the same time it has projected that the country’s economic growth will slow down to 7.9 per cent this year, against 9.2 per cent in 2007, but again increase slightly to 8 per cent in the year after. “In India, monetary tightening earlier in the year led to an easing of inflation by 2007-end. However, inflation started to pick up in 2008, owing to rising commodity prices,” the IMF report said. The forecast comes in the backdrop of India’s annual rate of inflation rising to a three-year high of 7 per cent in the week ended March 22 - with low buffer stocks and spiralling prices of essential commodities. Briefing reporters after the release of the report yesterday, Simon Johnson, economic counsellor for the IMF, said emerging economies had become important players in the more integrated global economy today against the backdrop of soaring prices. “Commodity markets have remained buoyant overall and in many cases have touched new highs, reflecting the still strong demand from emerging economies such as India and China, sluggish supply responses, and the increasing attractiveness of commodities as an asset class,” he said. “The resulting inflationary pressures are particularly intense for emerging economies, where food and energy account for a large share of their consumption baskets and where growth has held up reasonably well,” the report said.
— IANS |
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Govt mulls tax cuts to rein in prices
New Delhi, April 10 Sources in the bureaucracy say solutions ranging from tax cuts like customs and excise duty reductions to giving more incentives are being mulled. There is a possibility that some new measures for agriculture sector will be paid attention to in the wake of the fact that there is a shortage of agriculture supplies. Studies are also being carried out on the likely loss of revenue owing to tax cuts and the giveaways that are used as a tool to curb the price spike. One issue that the polity and the bureaucracy concede that the situation is likely to worsen and the UPA government will have to bear the brunt of it in the coming months. Sources say UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi has sought steps to control the situation immediately. Concerns were also raised about the grim food situation in the world and the impediments to imports if done in the given situation. Deliberations were also carried out on the Rupee and measures to be taken in the coming monetary policy so that imports of essentials like petrol, food and fertilisers can be made more cost effective. The subsidy bill for petrol, food and fertiliser is going to hit the government hard in the election year. Giving more bonds to subsidise these three essentials means that the government will pay the companies on a later date by asking the Reserve Bank to pay for the bonds on maturity. This in turn means that more money is being injected in the economy that is already seeing a deluge of money from foreign investments and increased corporate borrowings. Inflation will continue to surge further as there is more money and fewer goods, add to that imports are not the solution to the problem because there are food shortages in the world and there is no extra supplies to meet the needs of the economy as large as ours. |
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Govt monitoring steel prices, says Paswan
New Delhi, April 10 “I have already written to the Prime Minister suggesting certain steps to contain the recent rise in steel prices. If it is found that steel makers have increased prices more than the rise in input costs then necessary steps would be taken to contain the same,” he said. The minister reminded that the proposal to set up a regulator to monitor steel prices was very much on the table and measures would be initiated as and when felt necessary by the government. Paswan had asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to abolish import duty, imposing 10 per cent duty on exports of the alloy and re-classifying steel as an essential commodity. The Committee of Secretaries, which met yesterday, is understood to have considered an array of measures to contain steel prices that were contributing to augmenting the inflationary pressures on the economy. Moreover, Paswan has favoured imposing an ad-valorem export duty on iron ore to make the mineral available to steel makers for their long-term expansion plans. But mines secretary J.P Singh today denied that exports of iron ore could cripple the steel industry and pointed out that the steel makers did not have required technology to utilise iron ore having Fe content below 55 per cent.
— PTI |
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High steel prices ‘turn’ coins to blades
Chandigarh, April 10 Sources informed The Tribune that the new stainless steel coins, which were issued recently from the mints in Noida, Kolkata and Mumbai, were now being converted into blades. With the price of stainless steel zooming in the past couple of months, these coins were now being used as the low cost raw material for these blade manufacturers. This has once again resulted in the shortage of coins in the market. Sources informed that a Re 1 coin of about 2 grams could be used to make at least 20 blades. With prices of stainless steel zooming to Rs 65 to Rs 85 per kg, and the coins being made with pure stainless steel, these served as the best quality raw material. Similarly, the price of nickel has zoomed to almost Rs 500 a kg, and thus there is a ‘growing market’ for melting the cupero-nickle coins and extracting the nickel content. Rajinder Verma, a grocery shop owner in Mullanpur Dakha, a town on the fringes of Ludhiana said, “There is a severe shortage of coins and we are forced to either give toffees or match sticks to our customers as change.” This shortage of coins has also led to a ‘parallel currency” being used by a number of shopkeepers in the region. Sources say that the shopkeepers are now issuing chits, which carries a photo image of coins. On the other hand, RBI claims to have taken a lot of measures to ensure that the coins are in good circulation. |
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Nabard plans to raise over Rs 15,000 cr
Mumbai, April 10 “We would be raising nearly Rs 4,000 crore by issuing Nabard Rural Bonds, while over Rs 11,000 crore would be mopped up by way of issuing Bhavishya Nirman Bonds,” a Nabard official told PTI. The Bhavishya Nirman Bonds will carry an interest rate of 12.18 per cent, the highest in the industry, while the Nabard Rural Bond would carry a rate of 8.25 per cent. Nabard was facing tight funds position after the withdrawal of general line of credit for short-term refinance operations by the RBI. Following this, the government allowed Nabard to launch Nabard Rural bonds with income tax exemption, to meet its capital requirements along with the existing Bhavishya Nirman Bonds. The amount raised would be used for the re-financing purposes of cooperative and commercial banks, the official said. Nabard’s outstanding market borrowings as on March 31 stood at Rs 33,381 crore (excluding the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund Deposits) as against Rs 32,146 crore in the previous year. Finance minister P Chidambaram had announced in the Budget that the government would provide Rs 5,000 crore to Nabard through the creation of short-term agricultural finance fund.
— PTI |
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Pilot project for agro-industries soon
New Delhi, April 10 He said a large number of post harvest technologies had been introduced in the recent past. Agro-processing enterprises based on these technologies would be developed for specific production areas. Underlining the importance of agro-industry in rural economy, Pawar said promotion of agro-industries in rural and production areas could create livelihood opportunities at a fraction of the cost of creating jobs in the organised sectors. The agricultural produce undergoes the required processing without much loss of time and, therefore, minimising the post harvest losses. While a part of the processed products is retained in the production areas, the surplus is suitably transported to urban areas for consumption or further value addition. Expressing concern over impact of climate change on agricultural production, the minister said there was a concern world wide about rising food prices and food security in the coming years. He expressed the hope that scientists would overcome technological barriers to agricultural production even under the new threat of climate change. |
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NTPC net rises by 4 pc
New Delhi, April 10 Company's chairman and manging director T. Sankaralingam said the provisional net sales for FY 2007-08 rose to Rs 37,004.6 crore from Rs 32,595.2 crore a year ago. Market capitalisation of the company rose to Rs 1,62,100 crore, making the company the third largest in the country, as on March 31, Sankaralingam said. NTPC has lined up a capital outlay of Rs 13,588 crore for 2008-09. It reported capex of Rs 8,621 crore during 2007-08. The power producer would double coal imports during the current fiscal to five million tons, while its overall consumption of the fuel during 2008-09 is expected to surge to 140 million tons. NTPC consumed about 124 million tons of coal during 2007-08. It has tied up for loans worth Rs 21,809 crore for capacity expansion plans from various domestic banks and other financial institutions. The cumulative domestic borrowing up to March 31 was Rs 20,739 crore, including Rs 4,000 crore bonds placed with LIC. During 2007-08, NTPC tied up funds from various financial institutions, including Japan Bank of Cooperation and Life Insurance Corp. NTPC has been allotted six coal blocks namely Pakri Barwadih, Chatti Bariatu, Kerandari, Dulanga, Talaipalli and Chatti-Bariatu (South) with a production potential of about 48 million tons per annum.
— PTI |
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Trade policy may unveil sops for exporters
New Delhi, April 10 The commerce ministry will be unveiling the annual review of the FTP in the backdrop of India’s increasing dependence on import of food articles and exporters’ woes arising from a looming US recession and rupee appreciation. The FTP, defining the priority areas for exports and setting the ground rules for imports for the 2008-09, will be the last from the UPA government, which had changed its nomenclature from the Export-Import Policy since 2004. The government has already indicated that it would address the problems of exporters, especially those engaged in the labour-intensive sectors of textile, leather, handicrafts and gems and jewellery.
— PTI |
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Yahoo! close to deal with AOL
New York, April 10 The possible Yahoo!-AOL tie-up is part of Yahoo!’s plan to present its shareholders with an alternative to Microsoft’s unsolicited offer. Under the terms being discussed, Time Warner will merge its AOL unit with Yahoo! and make cash investment in return for about 20 per cent equity in the combined entity. Yahoo! would then use funds to buy back several billion dollars worth of its own stock at a price somewhere in the $30-$40 a share range, The Wall Street Journal said. Yahoo! is also negotiating with Google about a tie-up. — IANS |
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Ambala dist achieves 100% financial inclusion
Chandigarh, April 10 While stating this here today, an official spokesman said banks in the district had achieved the 100 per cent financial inclusion within the stipulated period that was up to March 31. However, if any family remains unlinked with the bank, they were advised to immediately contact the nearest bank branch
and open their no frill account and/or avail credit facility. |
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Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh today said rising food prices would make it difficult for the government to control inflation but ruled out returning to the “era of blind controls”.
Singh, known as author of economic reforms in India, also said rising prices would derail reforms
and mount pressures on the government to impose restrictive trade practices.
(
