Mumbai, October 14
Rallying for the second day in a row, the Sensex today scaled a fresh 17-month high of 17,231.11 points with a spate of favourable factors, including robust trade data by China, keeping investors in a festive mood.

Marketmen said rising global stocks, stronger than expected second quarter earnings and buying spree by foreign funds mainly bolstered the sentiment.

They said markets were upbeat also because 10.4 per cent growth in industrial production boosted investors' confidence of economy recovering steadily.

After opening stronger, the 30-share index on the Bombay Stock Exchange rose further by 204.44 points or 1.20 per cent and settled at 17,231.11, a level not seen since May 21, 2008.

The wide-based 50-issue Nifty of the National Stock Exchange ended past 5,100-mark at 5,118.20, a rise of 63.95 points or 1.27 per cent over its last close.

In their last trade on Monday also, Sensex had soared by 384 points on solid IIP data and on expectations of fighting Ambani brother pathching up their differences.

The surprisingly strong trade data announced by China indicated that the global economy is improving, sending most of the Asian indices to their highs in several months.

European markets also displayed a strong trend in their early trade on rise in US stock index futures by more than one per cent on market beating earnings by world's biggest chip maker Intel Corp.

Indices from Asia like Shanghai Composite, Hang Seng, Strait Times, Kospi and Taiwan Weighted ended up by about 1.2 per cent and 2.0 per cent. Only, Nikkei closed in the red.

Metal, capital goods and auto counters were at the forefront with hectic buying, mainly supporting the Sensex rise.

Metal shares evoked a good response on the back of firm trend in London Metal Exchange (LME) and China. Auto stocks attracted good buying support on the ongoing festive season.

The BSE-Metal index flared up by 780.29 points or 5.27 per cent, the BSE-CG by 329.26 points or 2.38 per cent and the BSE-Auto by 149.13 points or 2.28 per cent.

Besides BSE-Tech that ended in the red following fall in telecom counters, all other sectoral indices ended with gains between 0.47 per cent and 5.27 per cent.

The market breadth remained strong as 1,685 stocks ended with gains against 1,075 that finished with losses on the BSE.

The trading volume shot up to Rs 6,895.34 crore from Rs 5,284.64 crore on Monday. Sesa Goa topped the list of highest traded securities with a turnover of Rs 316.25 crore. — PTI

Mumbai, October 14
Gold prices are touching record highs globally ahead of the festival season in India. The yellow metal touched a new high of Rs 16,048 per 10 grams in Mumbai on Wednesday as traders expect buying to peak tomorrow on the occasion of Dhanteras.

"We are coming up with a number of schemes like giving away a silver coin free on purchases of gold jewellery. There are also special schemes for regular customers," says Anandbhai Jain, a jeweller from Mumbai's Opera House area. Jewellers admit that demand has been slack as gold prices continue to rise. "Demand is picking up due to the festival season but it is no where near to earlier years," admits Jain.

Gold jewellers estimate that sales would be lower by as much as 70 per cent this year as compared to the year before due to the high prices.

According to the trade as much as 20-25 tonnes of gold is purchased on the occasion of Dhanteras. "This year we expect business to be really low," says Suresh Hundia of the Bombay Bullion Association. He further adds that scrap sales of gold have come down. Scrap sales are gold jewellery sold by customers.

Banks, which have become major sellers of gold in the form of coins have come up with innovative methods like coins weighing two grams.

Commercial gold retailers are coming up with bigger schemes to boost sales. Reliance Money is offering half-a-gram gold coin free with their 10-gram gold coins.

The Tata group's Titan, which owns Tanishq, is offering a flat 10 per cent discount on purchases of jewellery worth more than Rs 2 lakh. Also on offer are prizes in the form of a contest.

New Delhi, October 14
Despite poor foodgrain production, rising crude oil prices and the uncertain economic environment around the world, India is expected to grow by around 6-8 per cent in the current year.

“Indian economy is likely to grow close to 6.5 per cent in the current financial year,” Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council chairman C Rangarajan said today.

“However, concerns remain on the agriculture growth, which is likely to remain slightly uneven given the failure of monsoon this year,” added Dr Rangarajan.

My own estimate is that economy would grow between 6 and 6.5 per cent and perhaps it would be closer to the upper end of my range, he said while addressing a seminar on the macro economy.

However, the government has swung into action with an aim to check price rise. “We are importing some of the commodities to bridge the demand-supply gap and strengthening mechanism for providing subsidised items to poor,” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.

State governments have been requested to strengthen the public distribution system, Mukherjee said.

The Reserve Bank has forecast the economy to grow by 6 per cent with an upward bias.

Another area of concern remains inflation, which is likely to grow by the end of the year. On inflation, Rangarajan said prices would begin to rise from now onwards to reach to close to 6 per cent mark by the end of this fiscal.

The RBI is unlikely to revise benchmark interest rates when it reviews monetary policy later this month, said Dr Rangarajan.

India’s economy would grow by 6-6.5 per cent "with an upward bias" in the year to March 31, 2010, and inflation is likely to touch 5-6 per cent by the end of the year.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said at an election rally in Haryana that the worst was getting over on the price-rise front and hoped that a good rabi crop should also help check rising prices.

Singh said that the Centre has increased the prices of crop produce of farmers and the government was trying its best to check the price rise through campaign against hoarding and black-marketing.

Ludhiana, October 14
Resentment prevails among the industrialists over the failure of the Excise and Taxation Department to refund the VAT arrears despite orders by the Chief Minister.

The representatives of the industry led by Inderjit Singh Pradhan, president, Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings and chairman, Small Industrial Development Board, Punjab, had met Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal last month to discuss the problems of the industry, including severe power cuts, and non-refund of VAT arrears.

Avtar Singh, general secretary, Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings told The Tribune that VAT refund arrears worth about Rs 700 crore were pending. The Chief Minister had directed the Financial Commissioner (Taxation) to refund the arrears within 15 days after visiting Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar and reviewing the situation. Now, almost a month has passed and no steps have been taken by the department to clear the arrears. The industry is facing severe financial crunch and needs money badly.

Avtar Singh alleged that the Excise and Taxation Department officials were taking four to five months to clear the refund applications. He called upon the Chief Minister to look into the matter personally and direct the officials of the concerned department to make the payment of VAT refund without any further delay.

In a memorandum to the Chief Minister, the chamber has sought special provision in VAT legislation to release the refund to the exporters without filling form C and H.

The chamber has also demanded amnesty scheme for settlement of pending cases of VAT refunds as applicable in the income tax law. The refund should be made through cheques and not by vouchers which are time-consuming. Returns of the amount of Rs 1 crore and above should be allowed to be filed once a quarter instead of monthly basis as at present.

The chamber has suggested that VAT rates should be rationalised and uniform rate of VAT should be applicable in the country to avoid litigation and to promote payment of VAT refunds.

The VAT rate in Punjab is 12.5 per cent whereas in West Bengal it is 8 per cent. Similarly, diesel and petrol are cheaper in neighbouring states like Haryana, but costlier in Punjab due to VAT vagaries. This is causing loss to the industry and the farmers of Punjab.

A Venu Prasad, Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Punjab said VAT refund arrears were to the tune of Rs 200 crore and not Rs 700 crore and the same was under process.

New Delhi, October 14
State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) today said it has won 17 out of the 25 oil and gas blocks it had bid for along with its partners in the just concluded licensing round.

"In the just-concluded New Exploration Licensing Policy round-VIII for which the bids closed on October 12, ONGC has again turned out to be the largest winner as per the provisional results declared," the company said in a statement. — PTI