New Delhi, November 30
Proving all expectations too conservative, the economy clocked a robust 7.9 per cent growth in the second quarter.

The growth is not only higher than a mere 6.1 per cent in Q1, but also more than 7.7 per cent recorded in July-September, 2008, when the economy did not come under the full impact of the then deepening global financial crisis.

Besides the industry, the services sector is on an upswing with community, social and personal services expanding by 12.7 per cent during the reporting quarter and the farm sector logging in a growth of 0.9 per cent against a contraction that was projected due to the weak monsoon.

The significance of the numbers could be gauged from the fact that the government as well as the Plan panel expected slower growth in the second quarter than the first quarter and most economists pegged it in the range of 6.1-6.6 per cent.

The stock markets gave rousing welcome to the data with the benchmark Sensex rising nearly 340 points during the day.

For the first half, the economy grew by 7 per cent against 7.8 per cent a year ago, prompting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to expect over 7 per cent growth this fiscal.

For the current fiscal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expected the economy to grow by 6.5 per cent, the RBI by 6 per cent and the Planning Commission by 6.3 per cent.

"...this performance does suggest that there may well have to be an upward revision in the GDP growth of 6.5 per cent, which has been projected so far," Plan panel Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.

The Reserve Bank deputy governor Subir Gokarn said, "Cearly, this is better news than we could have expected and we will have to review the forecast for the year as a whole."The Prime Ministers' Economic Council chairman C Rangarajan also said the target of 6.5 per cent GDP growth for the current fiscal might have to be revised upwards following the robust second quarter numbers."

With this, the domestic economy continues to be the second fastest growing large economy in the world after China, which recorded 8.9 per cent in the July-September of 2009.

As hopes of revival accentuates after the data, economists expect that the government may now think of withdrawing the fiscal stimulus.

"The government can withdraw stimulus (excise duty cuts) for fast-growing sectors as the Centre's revenue position does not look too good," Crisil principal economist DK Joshi said. Manufacturing, which drew benefits of the stimulus package, expanded by a smart 9.2 per cent against 3.4 per cent in the preceding quarter and 5.1 per cent in the second quarter of the last fiscal.

However, Ahluwalia said, "My views have always been that we should look at the position (stimulus) at close to February." — PTI

"The GDP figures are higher compared to market expectations. If the third quarter figures continue to hold above 7 per cent, then overseas investors may increase their asset allocation in stocks here," Taurus Mutual Fund managing director RK Gupta said.

Analysts feel buoyed by good growth across all vital sectors, domestic markets sustained momentum throughout the day despite weak European cues. The European stocks were down by one per cent in early trade.

"The domestic trigger is strong enough to hold the market steady against weak European cues. Going ahead, investors should watch the movement in the US markets for a direction," Unicon Financial chief executive Gajendra Nagpal said.

The benchmark Sensex today closed up 294.21 points or 1.77 per cent at 16,926.22. During the intra-day trade the index had scaled up to 17,027, a rise of 395 points. — PTI

Chandigarh, November 30
Punjab exporters of building material to Dubai are a worried lot as they fear the real estate crisis in the emirate will hit order inflows and result into blockage of payments.

"We fear the flow of orders for building hardware from Dubai may erode in the future. Moreover, our payments (from our buyers) can also get blocked as crisis in Dubai unfolds, which could weaken the sentiments of the local construction industry in Dubai," Building Hardware Manufacturers Association president Aswani Mehra told PTI today.

The state has a bustling building raw material industry in and around Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar, manufacturing and supplying window and door handles, angles as well as a wide range of fasteners such as nuts and bolts, foundation bolt and ducts for air conditioning.

Industry experts estimate the annual export of fasteners and hardware material to West Asia at over Rs 100 crore.

Already hit by slowing demand due to the financial meltdown, the Dubai debt crisis is likely to further compound the woes of the small industry.

"We are estimating that about 30 per cent of our total export business will dip just because of the Dubai crisis which will deepen the recessionary phase in the local real estate industry of Dubai," said Ludhiana fastener exporter Ravinder.

Madan Goel another Ludhiana-based exporter of ducts to Dubai said, "Definitely, there is going to be an adverse impact on us in terms of orders from Dubai in the wake of the crisis." — PTI

Kolkata, November 30
Tata Indicom today said it would introduce 30 paisa per minute charge for all local calls and 50 paisa per minute for STD calls within a week. Tata Tele Service regional head (east) Sanjiv Sinha said, while launching the new Tata Walky phone models and Internet phones, the company was introducing the new tariff for all new mobile subscribers responding to the trend.

The company said it had not decided on the launch date in the east, but it would do so within a week's time.

"There will be a tariff voucher for migration for existing customers but the price is yet to be determined," Sinha said.

Tata Indicom has also extended pay per call scheme to its landline phone Tata Walky. Pay per call (PPC) offers calls for a duration of up to 10 minutes at Re 1.

A new customer has to buy a PPC pack worth Rs 50, while an existing customer has to recharge with Rs 7 to migrate to the scheme, the company official said.

Tata Indicom has 'renewed' its focus on the landline segment with Tata Walky for higher revenue. — PTI

Mumbai, November 30
The National Stock Exchange made its mutual fund trading platform operational today beginning with UTI Mutual Fund.

Other top fund houses in the country-- Tata Mutual Fund, Birla MF, Prudential ICICI MF, Reliance and Fidelity -- have approached the NSE to make their products available on the new trading platform and are likely to join soon.

The new platform will enable investors to buy and sell MF products through over 1.5 lakh trading terminals of the NSE in the same way equity shares are traded through brokers, NSE managing director & CEO Ravi Narain said.

In the initial phase, the NSE and the NSDL, which are the designated depository for MF trading through the exchange, will waive all charges for trading on the new platform to attract investors.

As of now, the UTI will list around 30 of its equity and debt schemes for trading on this new platform and will look at offering more schemes in the future, UTI MF chairman and managing director U K Sinha said.

"The platform will also facilitate quicker settlement of transactions and provide a single window to demat holders for their investments," Sinha said.

Speaking at the launch of the new platform, SEBI chairman C B Bhave today said trading mutual fund products through the exchange platform would benefit investors in mutual fund schemes. — PTI

New Delhi, November 30
Cairn India has produced and sold one billion barrels of oil from its Mangala oil field in Rajasthan, the nation's most prolific on-land field.

"Cairn achieved the milestone of successfully producing and delivering one million barrel of crude oil in the early hours this morning," sources said. The company, which began output from Mangala on August 29, is currently producing 20,000 barrels per day. Company officials confirmed the development but refused to divulge the details.

The one million barrels of production has resulted in the generation of more than $ 17 million of revenues to the Central and state government in just three months.

The initial volumes of crude oil were sold to Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemical Ltd, a subsidiary of the Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), and Reliance Industries.

The Mangala field, which was discovered in January, 2004, is the largest onshore oil discovery in India in more than two decades. It along with adjoining Bhagyam and Aishwariya fields has recoverable oil reserves of nearly 1 billion barrels.

The sources said crude was currently being supplied to two of the three buyers-- MRPL and RIL. Indian Oil Corp (IOC) is expected to get its supply from 2010.

The oil is sold at 10-15 per cent discount to the average price of Brent crude oil during the six months to September.

The Mangala crude is a 27 degree API good quality sweet crude with very low sulphur content.

The sources said Cairn was producing oil from the four of the 26 wells in the Mangala field.

Crude oil is being transported to Gujarat coast in trucks for onward transport to MRPL and RIL, using heated crude oil tankers.

Oil produced from Mangala field was processed at 30,000 bpd capacity Train-One while construction work on Train Two (50,000 bpd capacity) was moving at brisk pace and expected to be ready by early 2010, they said. The pipeline would eliminate the trucking of oil that was happening now. Peak output from Mangala, Bhagyam and Aishwariya fields is estimated at 175,000 bpd by 2011. — PTI

Touchscreen phones made by Samsung are displayed in Seoul on Monday. Samsung gave an upbeat forecast for 2009 mobile phone sales due to sharp growth in touchscreen models. — Reuters

Reliance-Timberland pact
New Delhi: Reliance Brands, a part of Reliance Retail, today said it had joined hands with US-based Timberland to distribute the latter's footwear and apparel in the country. As part of the arrangement, products from Timberland's portfolio will be available through various premium department stores across the country, besides its own outlets. — PTI

Axis Bank branch
Srinagar: With the opening of a new branch of Axis Bank that was inaugurated by Rajesh Wadhwa, senior vice-president and compliance head here today, the number of its branches in the state has gone up to three with 16 ATMs. Axis Bank has a network of 936 branches, eight extension counters and 3951 ATMs across the country. — TNS

SBI CGM
Chandigarh: S.K. Sehgal has taken over as chief general manager, State Bank of India, Chandigarh Circle. Prior to this, he was chief general manager of the SBI's Kerela Circle and also handled assignment as general manager (Core Banking Solutions) at the bank's Global IT Centre at Navi Mumbai, where he was responsible for development and roll out of CBS. — TNS

Metlife
Chandigarh: Metlife today said the number of life insurance policies had crossed the 10 lakh-mark. "It is indeed a moment of pride for us at MetLife to achieve the 1 million-mark... This achievement gains all the more significance keeping in view the tumultuous 2008 that the financial sector witnessed," said MetLife Managing Director Rajesh Relan. — PTI

Price index
Shimla: Consumer price index (industrial workers) number was increased by two points at 165 in October, according to an official release. — PTI