The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Exports down over 19 pc in August New Delhi, October 1 India's exports fell by annual 19.4 per cent in August for the 11th straight month, but exporters bleeding under the global recession foresee better times around Christmas. The country's overseas shipments aggregated $14.28 billion in August this fiscal against $17.72 billion a year ago. However, the decline improved by nine percentage points from 28.4 per cent in July as demand for merchandise picked up in the big global markets ahead of Christmas. "From high of over 30 per cent the decline has come below 20 per cent and in the months to come we will see it in single digit," president of the Federation of Indian Exports Organisation (FIEO) A Sakthivel said. He said Christmas sales in the US and Europe are expected to pick up, making western super stores buy more from countries like India. Imports saw a drastic drop of 32.4 per cent in August this year to $22.66 billion, mainly due to a sharp fall in crude oil prices to $70 per barrel from a peak of $147 per barrel last year. As a result, the country's trade gap narrowed to $8.37 billion against $15.78 billion in the same month in 2008, according to official data released today. Exports during the April-August period of the current fiscal dropped 31 per cent to $64.12 billion from $92.95 billion in the same period last year. The trend may turn positive from the third quarter of 2009-10 after remaining negative since October 2008. "I think by December or even November," Crisil principal economist DK Joshi said when asked when the turnaround is possible. While the country's oil import bill declined by 45.5 per cent to $6.28 billion from $11.52 in August 2008, non-oil imports were down by 25.5 per cent to $16.38 billion in August 2009 from $21.99 billion a year ago. Oil imports in the April-August period dipped by 47.4 per cent to $28.27 billion from 53.74 billion in the same period last year. Non-oil imports in the first five months of this financial year declined by 25.9 per cent to $74.02 billion from $99.94 billion . The trade gap during the period was $38.17 billion, down from $60.73 billion in April-August 2008-09. Overseas shipments grew by meagre 3.4 per cent to $168.7 billion in 2008-09. — PTI
	IMF ups global growth forecasts Istanbul, October 1 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised growth forecasts for most economies on Thursday as the global economy pulls out of a steep nosedive, but warned recovery faces stiff headwinds. The IMF projected the global economy would shrink 1.1 per cent this year and rebound to annualised growth of 3.1 per cent in 2010, better than July forecasts of 1.4 contraction in 2009 and 2.5 per cent growth in 2010. "After a deep global recession, economic growth has turned positive, as wide-ranging public intervention has supported demand and lowered uncertainty and systemic risk in financial markets," the fund said in its semiannual World Economic Outlook (WEO) report. The Washington-based institution released the report in Istanbul, ahead of October 6-7 annual meetings in the Turkish city with the World Bank. The US economy, the world's largest, was recovering better than previously estimated, the IMF said, projecting a 2.7 per cent decline this year and 1.5 per cent expansion in 2010, compared with minus 2.6 per cent and 0.8 per cent, respectively. In Europe, the pace of decline was moderating, with the 16-nation eurozone seen returning to growth of 0.3 per cent in 2010, instead of the 0.3 per cent fall projected in the July WEO update. And emerging and developing economies were ahead of the pack on the path to recovery, forecast to clock growth of 5.1 percent in 2010, led by China and India, at 9.0 per cent and 6.4 per cent, respectively. Driving the pick-up in global growth was the robust performance of Asian economies, underpinned by stabilisation or modest recovery elsewhere, the IMF said. — AFP
	India to grow by 5.4% The IMF on Thursday retained its projection for Indian economic growth at 5.4 per cent in 2009, implying a slower growth in the second half of this calendar year. In its twice-yearly World Economic Outlook released in Istanbul, the Fund lowered the projection for the next year by 0.1 per cent to 6.4 per cent. The Indian economy grew by 5.8 per cent in the first quarter and 6.1 per cent in the second quarter of this calendar year. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman have expressed doubts whether the economy will grow at the rate of 6.1 per cent in the third and fourth quarters of 2009 due to a weak monsoon. The RBI has projected the country's economic growth at 6 per cent in fiscal 2009-10, which comprises last three quarters of the current calendar year. — PTI
	Mega power policy amended Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 1 In an effort to boost power production and setting up of new power projects, the government today approved modifications in the existing mega power policy. The amendments have been brought about to help investors take advantage of economies of scale and improve the viability of projects. It will simplify the procedure for grant of mega certificate and encourage capacity addition, besides encourage technology transfer and indigenous manufacturing in the field of super critical power equipments. The policy was introduced in November 1995 for providing impetus to the development of large-scale power projects and derive benefit from economies of scale. Now, the condition of privatisation of distribution by power purchasing states will be replaced by the rule that power purchasing states shall undertake to carry out distribution reforms as laid down by the Power Ministry. The conditions requiring inter-state sale of power for getting mega power status would be removed. The present dispensation of 15 per cent price preference available to domestic bidders in case of cost plus projects of PSUs would continue. However, the price preference will not apply to tariff-based competitively bid projects of PSUs. The government would be setting up a committee under the Planning Commission which would suggest options and modalities to take care of the disadvantages suffered by the domestic industry related to power sector. A basic custom duty of 2.5 per cent would be applicable on brownfield expansion of existing mega projects. All other benefits under the policy available to greenfield projects would also be available to expansion unit even if its total capacity is less than the threshold qualifying capacity.
	Ambani Gas Row Dispose of case expeditiously, SC tells Bombay HC Legal Correspondent New Delhi, October 1 The Supreme Court today refused to interfere with the Bombay High Court order that allowed the Reliance Industries to amend its petition in the gas dispute case, but accepted NTPC’s plea for a direction to the HC to dispose of the matter expeditiously. A Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan passed an order, also allowing NTPC to file its response to the additional issues raised by the RIL in the amended petition. NTPC had challenged the HC order allowing RIL to amend its petition on the gas dispute, contending that this had adversely affected its deal with the RIL. The Bench, which included Justices P Sathasivam and BS Chauhan, however, clarified that the judiciary had become liberal these days in allowing changes in petitions. There was no need for NTPC to have come to the apex court as its plea was “merely technical”, the Bench felt. Further, NTPC was a PSU and was not “seriously prejudiced” in the matter, it pointed out. Solicitor-General (SG) Gopal Subramanium contended that changes in the petition had delayed the proceedings in the case and urged the Bench to issue a directive to the HC to expedite the hearing. The Bench then asked the HC to speed up disposal of the case.
	Car sales zoom in September Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 1 Buoyed by the strong festive season sales in September, carmakers saw an all-time high with the country’s second largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) recording its highest-ever sales of 53,804 units, a jump of 25 per cent, leaving behind the largest car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL), whose sales figures stood reported at over 17 per cent jump. After months of slowdown in the domestic market, HMIL recorded a sale of 53,804 units as against 46,218 units in the corresponding period last year. Domestic sales accounted for 27,803 units as against 22,311 units while overseas sales grew from 23,907 to 26,001 units. While the domestic sales saw a growth of 24.6 per cent, the overseas sales grew at a modest 9 per cent as the export market slowed down with the scrappage incentive coming to an end in most European markets. Scrappage incentive is the sop given by several European countries to people for dumping cars that were more than 10 years old and buying new vehicles. MSIL reported 17.3 per cent jump in sales for September at 83,306 units. In the domestic market, Maruti sold 71,594 units from 64,682 units, an increase of 10.7 per cent. Exports of the company surged by 85.4 per cent to 11,712 units from 6,318 units. General Motors India reported a 48.51 per cent jump in its sales at 7,654 units, the highest ever monthly sales registered by the company in the domestic market. GM India had sold a total of 5,154 units during September last year. The company’s small car Chevrolet Spark registered a more than two-fold jump in its sales at 4,706 units, the highest ever sales since its introduction. SkodaAuto India also clocked a 53 per cent growth in its sales with 1,854 units as against 1,213 units in the year-ago period. Skoda Octavia and Skoda Laura continue to rank among the hottest selling cars in the C+ segment with a combined sales figure of 684 units. Honda Siel Cars India reported 86.66 per cent rise in its sales at 5,794 units as against 3,104 units. The sales comprised 4,281 units of its flagship sedan City, 504 units of hatchback Jazz, 695 units of premium sedan Civic, 313 units of luxury sedan Accord and one unit of its sports utility vehicle CR-V. The industry is optimistic that the festival season will continue to see a much stronger response to its products and services and help drive an increase in its sales.
	Forbes richest have more wealth than 140 countries New York, October 1 The economic crisis may have wiped off $300 billion from the wealth of America's richie-rich club, but the net worth of many members, such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, is still sufficient to buy "almost anything" that includes many countries of the world. "Castles in France. Islands in the Caribbean. Private jets. With a collective $1.27 trillion at their disposal, the members of the Forbes 400 could buy almost anything," business magazine Forbes said about its annual ranking of America's 400 richest persons, whose collective wealth has declined from $1.57 trillion a year ago. "How about a country? A quick glance at the CIA Fact Book (which chronicles economic, demographic and other details of all the countries) suggests the individual fortunes of many Forbes 400 members are as big as some of the world's economies," the magazine further noted. Bill Gates, America's richest man with a net worth of $50 billion, has a personal balance sheet larger than the gross domestic product of 140 countries, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Bolivia and Uruguay. "The Microsoft visionary's nest egg is just short of the GDP of Tanzania and Burma," it added. Although his wealth has fallen by $7 billion in a year, Gates has retained his title as the richest American for 16th year in a row. Gates' friend and legendary investor, Warren Buffett, ranked the second richest with a wealth of $40 billion, lost $10 billion in a year and is the biggest loser on the list. Still, he has a fortune equivalent to the size of North Korea's economy, Forbes said, but noted: "The Oracle of Omaha probably would steer clear of that investment, though." The publication further said one of the Forbes 400 members actually runs "a small chunk of a state in an official capacity: Mayor Michael Bloomberg. While he is busy serving as the chief executive of New York City and grappling with its sluggish economy, his own personal balance sheet - amassed through financial information services and media company Bloomberg LP - equals the value of all the goods and services produced in Zambia in southern Africa ($17.5 billion)." — PTI
	Re stronger by 36 paise Mumbai, October 1 The Indian rupee today closed at almost two-month high of Rs 47.74/75 by gaining 36 paise against the US currency amid sustained capital inflows into the stock markets and exporters selling the dollar. In volatile trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market, the domestic currency closed at 47.74/75 a dollar, a level not seen since August 6. The rupee moved in a range of 47.70 to 47.91 during day after resuming firm at 47.85/86 a dollar against its previous close of 48.10/11 a dollar. Dealers said exporters sold the dollar on the first day of month in the face of increased capital inflows into equity during September. The domestic currency was also supported by absence of dollar demand and stability in local stocks, marketmen added. The dollar weakened against the major global currencies, which supported the rupee, they added. — PTI
	SBI cuts deposit rates by 0.25 pc Mumbai, October 1 The country's largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), has cut its deposit rates by 0.25 per cent across all tenures effective from October 5. With this, deposits having a tenure of 1 year to less than 2 years, will now attract a rate of 6.25 per cent (6.5 per cent), the bank said in a release today. Similarly, deposits having 2-3 years and 3-5 years maturity will now carry rates of 6.75 per cent (7 per cent) and 7 per cent (7.25 per cent), respectively, the bank said. Also, 5-8 years and 8-10 years deposits will now be offered at a rate of 7.25 per cent (7.5 per cent) and 7.5 per cent (7.75), respectively. The revision will be applicable for deposits below Rs 1 crore. — PTI