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Europe slips into recession
Ex-eco adviser pegs growth at 6 per cent
Stake in Tata Tele
Global crisis to hit India more in 2009: WEF
RNRL wants to quiz govt official
Japan offers $100 b to IMF
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Meltdown: Sports goods industry cuts output by 50%
Citi to slash 10k jobs
‘Decision on steel import duty soon’
Paul Merchants to expand branch network
No Indian Co in world’s top 100
Sops for cement,
steel exports
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Europe slips into recession
London, November 14 The Eurozone — a group of 15 countries which includes Germany and Italy — has slipped into recession for the first time, after the region's economy contracted by 0.2 per cent for the July-September period this year. The European Union today said the area has witnessed a negative growth of 0.2 per cent in the September quarter while it had also contracted 0.2 per cent in the June quarter. Technically, two consecutive quarters of negative growth is accepted as recession. But surprisingly, French economy grew by 0.1 per cent in the third quarter. The estimates from the European Union come just a day prior to the G-20 Summit, convened in Washington to discuss ways to tackle the global financial turmoil. Among the major European nations, Germany and Italy fell prey to recession after two straight quarters of contraction in their respective economies. The two countries saw their economies shrink by 0.5 per cent in the third quarter, whereas in the second quarter, it was 0.4 per cent for both. In the third quarter, major economies, including Germany, Spain, Italy, Estonia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, reported negative growth. Germany, Italy and the UK saw their economies shrink by 0.5 per cent in July-September quarter, while Hungary reported a contraction of 0.1 per cent and Spain's economy shrunk by 0.2 per cent. Further, Estonia's GDP contracted by one per cent. In a statement by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Communities, in Eurozone, the GDP shrank by 0.2 per cent in the September quarter. For the April-June quarter, the area's growth had contracted by 0.2 per cent, it added. Meanwhile, the Netherlands and Portugal witnessed zero growth for the third quarter, with the former seeing a flat growth for two straight quarters. Spain today said the country's economy contracted by 0.2 per cent in the third quarter, reportedly shrinking for the first time in 15 years. "The quarter-on-quarter GDP growth decreased 0.2 per cent, standing at three-tenths less than in the previous quarter," the country's National Statistics Institute said in a statement today. Spain, which is the fourth largest Eurozone economy, had a growth of 0.1 per cent in the second quarter. The Eurozone includes Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia and Finland. On Thursday, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) had predicted a prolonged economic downturn in the coming months. "Projections point to a protracted downturn, with GDP likely to decline by a third of a per cent in 2009, but the uncertainties are large. That goes not least for the depth and duration of the financial crisis, the prime driver of the downturn," OECD said in a report. The grouping of 30 industrialised nations has estimated that the US economy's growth would fall by 0.9 per cent in 2009, while Eurozone is projected to contract by 0.5 per cent and Japan by 0.1 per cent. — PTI
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Ex-eco adviser pegs growth at 6 per cent
New Delhi, November 14 "It would be lucky if we get 6 per cent (growth rate) this year," he said while describing the 7.1 per cent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate projection of the Research and Information System (RIS) for developing countries as "very optimistic". Acharya probably came up with probably the most pessimistic growth projection at a mid-year review of the Indian economy organised by the India International Centre (IIC) here. RIS director-general Nagesh Kumar in his presentation projected an economic growth rate of 7.1 per cent for the current fiscal, even as he pitched for a fiscal stimulus of $50 billion to neutralise the impact of the global slowdown on the Indian economy. The RBI, in its mid-year review of the credit policy, projected an economic growth rate of 7 to 7.5 per cent, while the chairman of the PMEAC, Suresh Tendulkar, recently said the economy could grow by about 7 per cent, lower than the earlier projection of 7.7 per cent. — PTI |
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Stake in Tata Tele
Mumbai, November 14 The open offer price represents a premium of 3.73 per cent over TTML's Wednesday's closing of Rs 17.99. The scrip of TTML had surged as much as 18 per cent on the bourses in early trade. The open offer would be made by DoCoMo along with Tata Sons and is scheduled to begin on January 8 and close on January 27, 2009, TTML said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The offer is for acquiring 38,42,41,919 shares or up to 20 per cent. On Wednesday, Japan's biggest mobile-phone operator NTT DoCoMo Inc acquired a 26 per cent stake for $2.7 billion (Rs 13,070 crore) in Tata Teleservices Ltd. The purchase of shares by DoCoMo is subject to obtaining the required approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) and the Reserve Bank of India, the filing added. — PTI |
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Global crisis to hit India more in 2009: WEF
New Delhi, November 14 The report jointly prepared by World Economic Forum (WEF) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) also said India could see a sharp outflow of capital, and a fall in share and asset prices due to the global financial crisis. The report was released ahead of the annual India Economic Summit starting November 16 in New Delhi, where top government officials are expected to interact with heads of global firms. "India's dependence on capital flows to finance its current account deficit is a macroeconomic risk and the global crisis could generate a sharp increase in capital outflows and a reduction in the availability of finance," it said. The global credit crisis has rattled Indian markets as foreign investors sold shares worth more than $12.5 billion so far this year while the rupee fell by more than 20 per cent. — Reuters |
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Gas Row
Mumbai, November 14 Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) lawyer Ram Jethmalani said he wanted to cross-examine the official from the petroleum ministry. The affidavit was filed today. "The court will decide on November 27 whether to allow cross-examination. It is our right to cross-examine," said advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who is a part of RNRL legal team. Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Anil Ambani's RNRL are in the middle of a legal battle over the gas supply master agreement, whereby RIL is to supply natural gas to RNRL. The Government of India has been made a party to the case, and its stand is that it can regulate the contract between RIL and RNRL. The price of gas is the most contentious issue. RIL's stand is that whatever price the parties agree on must be approved by the government. — PTI |
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Japan offers $100 b to IMF
Tokyo, November 14 Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso will make the proposal at a financial crisis summit of major industrialised and emerging nations in Washington due to begin later in the day, his office said. He will also call on other member countries of the IMF to give more funds to the institution to help emerging nations, which are expected to be a key driver of global economic growth, it said. "Until the increase in capital is realised, we are ready to offer up to $100 billion to the IMF from our foreign currency reserves," which total almost $980 billion, the statement said. — AFP |
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Meltdown: Sports goods industry cuts output by 50%
Chandigarh, November 14 Sports goods industry in Jalandhar has now brought down its production by almost 50 per cent, mainly on account of drying up of export orders from the USA, Europe and South America. Though the units here have so far desisted from laying-off employees, reduced production capacities has created unemployment for the small units that were doing job works for large sports goods manufacturers. The Jalandhar sports industy is the largest exporter of sports goods in the country. Over 300 sports items are manufactured by over 100 large units and 20,000 small units in Jalandhar, which includes inflatable balls, cricket bats, hockey sticks, boxing equipment etc. According to the Sports Goods Export Promotion Council, Jalandhar accounts for 60 per cent of the total sports goods exports from India. “Sports goods worth over Rs 310 crore were exported from Jalandhar in the last fiscal, as against a total export turnover of Rs 510 crore. But this year, we expect a slowdown, especially in the third quarter,” says Tarun Dewan, secretary of Sports Goods Export Promotion Council. Dewan says the units are also suffering on account of drying up of working capital, with banks refusing to extend credit limits till they are provided with a letter of credit. Ashok Katyal, managing director of Sakay Traders, a leading exporter of footballs, says, “There are no new orders for the sports industry here, forcing the units to reduce their production capacities considerably. We were manufacturing 20,000 footballs a day. But with a slowdown in demand in Europe, we have reduced our production to just 4,000 footballs a day. My unit was providing indirect employment to 2,000 persons earlier by outsourcing some job work to them. But now we are using just 500 employees for this work”. In fact, units exporting sports goods to Europe and South America (mainly football manufacturers) are the worst hit, as rupee has appreciated against the Euro. At the same time, payments from their South American clients are made in dollars. “Since the currencies of most of these countries have also depreciated against the dollars, they are now asking manufacturers in Jalandhar to delay shipments, so that payments, too, can be delayed till their currency rises against the dollar,” adds Katyal. Arvind Singh Rana, marketing director of Ransons Sports, says the orders received by the sports units in the city are almost 30 per cent less than last year. “We have no option but to reduce our production. Though there is no retrenchment as of now, but units will be forced to lay off employees in the coming months as part of cost-cutting measures,” he adds. |
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Citi to slash 10k jobs
New York, November 14 Citigroup chief executive Vikram Pandit and his deputies have instructed managers to slash their budgets for employee compensation by at least 25 per cent, the paper said citing the people. "We will continue to carefully manage our head count levels as we re-engineer the company in line with our stated goal and market realities," Citigroup spokeswoman Christina Pretto told the paper. Citigroup announced last month it cut 11,000 jobs in the third quarter, bringing the total number of job cuts in 2008 to 23,000. Citigroup aims to shrink its workforce to about 290,000 employees by next year from 352,000 as of September 30, the WSJ said, citing another person. — Reuters |
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‘Decision on steel import duty soon’
New Delhi, November 14 "The finance ministry has sought pricing details of steel products to take a final call on imposing import duty on all categories of steel," Paswan told reporters on the sidelines of a metal conference here. Endorsing domestic industry's concern that India faces a threat of cheaper steel dumping from countries such as China and Ukraine, the steel ministry has recommended levying of 10 per cent import duty on steel. Asked if the current economic crisis could take a toll on expansion plans of domestic steel companies, Paswan said the proposed brownfield projects are expected to be completed on time, but there could be a little delay in greenfield ones. India has set a target of reaching 124 million tonnes of steel production by 2012 through brownfield expansions and 280 million tonnes by 2020 mostly through greenfield projects. At present, however, domestic steel makers are struggling to sell off their produce due to slump in demand and so have decided to cut productions by over 20 per cent. Other than JSW, Essar and Ispat, which have announced lowering their outputs, state-run SAIL has said its production would be as per the market demand. Even as steel plants are running below their rated capacities, Paswan denied any major cuts by the producers. To a question on whether the steel ministry is seeking blanket ban on exports of iron ore, Paswan favoured phase-wise restriction on overseas shipments of the raw material and also a higher duty on it. "As nearly 5 lakh people are employed in iron ore mining industry, putting a blanket ban on exports would deprive them of their livelihood, which should not happen," Paswan said. — PTI |
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Paul Merchants to expand branch network
Chandigarh, November 14 "Now an individual can send money from India to foreign countries from PML's own 200 branch network," said S. Paul, CMD of the company, while addressing mediapersons here today. He said they are the 11th private player approved by RBI in this space. At present, 10 private companies and 17 cooperative banks are operating in this segment. PML has over 200 offices across India, and plans to add another 100 offices in Punjab, Rajasthan, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and East India. Asked if the global recession had affected inward remittances, Paul said that it had rather seen a 90 per cent jump in inward remittances and 35 per cent rise in its revenue this year because of appreciation of US dollar against rupee. |
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No Indian Co in world’s top 100
New York, November 14 However, there are two companies led by persons of Indian origin — steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal-run ArcelorMittal and Vikram Pandit-led Citigroup — that have been included in the annual global list published by US business magazine Fortune. However, the list has been topped by British telecom major Vodafone, which is present in India through a joint venture with Ruias-led Essar group and had an Indian origin person, Arun Sarin, as its CEO till August this year. Vodafone, which has moved to the top from its fifth position last year, is followed by American diversified conglomerate General Electric, British financial services giant HSBC Holdings, French telecom firm France Telecom (4th) and UK banking major HBOS in the top five. British Petroleum, which topped the list in 2007, has slipped to the ninth position in this year's list. Others in the top 10 include Finnish phone maker Nokia (6th), Electricite de France (7th), Suez (8th) and Royal Dutch Shell (10th). Fortune partnered with AccountAbility, Csrnetwork and Asset4 to rank the companies in the list "by the quality of their commitment to social and environmental goals". Citi has jumped 15 places to 17th rank in the accountability ranking, while ArcelorMittal is now placed at the 73rd position. — PTI |
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Sops for cement, steel exports New Delhi, November 14 Exporters of cement and several steel items will again be entitled for tax refunds through Duty Entitlement Passbook Scheme (DEPB). The two sectors have been included in the Focus Market Scheme of the government, enabling these troubled sectors to boost their exports to the third world, according to a government notification. The crisis-ridden construction and real estate sectors also got some respite, with the government removing curbs on import of high value marble tiles, except those not mined and processed in neighbouring Nepal. Though India's total steel exports are not impressive at around 5 million tons, the industry feels restoration of DEPB benefits will open up avenues for overseas shipments when the market improves. "It is a positive step, which will boost the sentiments of the steel industry," RINL CMD P K Bishnoi said. Export incentives are, however, limited to shipments to Latin America, Africa and eastern Europe.— PTI
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BT to cut 10,000 jobs Lohia launches e-bikes Oil extends gains HCL launches laptop range |
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London, November 14
