The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Food inflation slips to 18.22% But no respite for households New Delhi, January 7 After rising to nearly 20 per cent in the previous week, food inflation eased a bit at 18.22 per cent towards the close of 2009 but households continued to feel the pinch as prices of pulses, potatoes and cereals were still ruling high. Food inflation slipped by 1.61 percentage points during the week ended December 26 from 19.83 per cent the previous week as vegetable prices fell marginally on weekly basis though on yearly basis prices continued to soar. However, if food prices relent on a sustained basis, the trend will buttress the government's confidence about prices easing by next month. "I think this fear of negative impact of drought being reduced, there will be a softening in food price inflation in the next month," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia had said earlier this week. Food prices have been rising over the last year due to drought and floods that hit crops in many parts of the country. Potato prices rose by as much as 110 per cent over the last year, followed by pulses whose prices jumped by 42.21 per cent. Vegetables on the whole were costlier by over 30 per cent, but a decline from over 46 per cent rise seen last week. "It's a fall because of decline in vegetables and fruits, but there is no relief from prices of wheat, pulses, rice," Crisil principal economist DK Joshi said. On weekly basis, inflation for primary articles, which include unprocessed food and non-food items rose to 14.39 per cent in the reporting week. The price index for food articles softened by one per cent during the week mainly on account of decline in prices of fruits and vegetables (6 per cent), gram (3 per cent)and tea (one per cent). However, prices of fish-marine and barley rose by 3 per cent each, while moong and masur became dearer by 1 per cent each. Joshi said he expected stability or marginal decline in food prices in the coming days. The RBI is slated to come out with third quarter monetary policy on January 29, amid expectations that the central bank could take monetary tightening measures on the back of rising inflation. "The RBI is likely to raise repo and reverse repo rate by 25 basis points each, and CRR by 25 to 50 basis points as overall inflationary pressure is building up," Joshi said. Among the non-food articles, raw silk rose by 4 per cent while fodder and raw rubber by 2 per cent each. However, the prices of castor seed declined by 3 per cent during the week. The fuel index rose by 0.4 per cent on higher prices of light diesel oil (5 per cent), naphtha (3 per cent) and furnace oil (2 per cent). However, prices of bitumen declined by 1 per cent during the week. — PTI Sugar prices up by Rs 5/kg in a week Retail prices of sugar have shot up by Rs 5 to Rs 44 a kg in Delhi in the last one week and may rise further as wholesale rates are inching up. According to government data, sugar prices as on January six was at Rs 44 a kg, up from Rs 39 on December 31, 2009. Sugar prices have more than doubled from the Rs 21 level in the beginning of last year on concerns of production falling short of demand and firming global rates. Industry is attributing the recent spurt in sugar prices to firm international rates, which has made imports costlier.
	New GST date likely today New Delhi, January 7 The government is likely to miss the April 1 deadline to introduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST), and a decision on a fresh date is expected tomorrow. "Tomorrow we will discuss the new date for introduction and compensation formula to the states with the Finance Minister," Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers chairman Asim Dasgupta said here today. Dasgpupta, who is also the finance minister of West Bengal, said: "Together (the empowered committee and the Finance Minister) we will announce a new date," Dasgupta told reporters after a meeting of the state finance ministers here today who were discussing a revenue neutral rate for the GST. The state finance ministers will meet Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee here tomorrow, Dasgupta added. The government had proposed to introduce GST, which will do away with most of the indirect taxes at the Centre and the states, from April 1, 2010, but this date is set to be missed, as so far no consensus has been arrived at on the modalities of revenue sharing among the Centre and the states as well as on the date of its nationwide roll out. The delay is also caused by statutory and implementational reasons as new tax regime requires some Constitutional amendments and many steps by all the 32 states and Union Territories. The BJP-ruled states which met here yesterday have also opposed the implementation of the new indirect tax regime from April as many contentious issues regarding the interest of the states have not yet been resolved. Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, too, had earlier called for delay in the introduction of the new indirect tax regime. However, industry chambers earlier this week had called for its introduction as soon as possible. While the states have come out with discussion paper on the GST, the exact rates for the new tax are yet to be decided. However, a taskforce constituted by the 13th Finance Commission has suggested a single GST rate of 5 per cent for the Centre and 7 per cent for the states. The GST is expected to replace a slew of indirect taxes such as the excise duty, service tax at the Central level, and VAT at state level, besides surcharges, cesses and other local taxes. — PTI
	Coal India to sell stake Thiruvananthapuram, January 7 The government will divest 10 per cent equity in the state-run Coal India next fiscal, hoping to generate $8-10 billion, going by the valuation of a comparable Chinese company, a top official said on Thursday. "The divestment of government equity up to 10 per cent will take place later this year - that is during fiscal 2010-11 in the capital market through the book-building process," Coal India chairman Partha S Bhattacharyya said here. It will be the first time the government will offload stake in the Kolkata-based firm, named as a navratna, that accounts for 85 per cent of the country's total coal production of 493 million tonnes. "The divestment process will be in compliance with the regulatory body's guidelines. The valuation and proportionate allotments to institutional and private investors would be taken up once the Cabinet clears the proposal," Bhattacharyya said. "As we will be going public for the first time, we are yet to assess the value of the equity though the company's fundamentals have been strong during the past couple of years," he said on the margins of the 97th Indian Science Congress. The firm will also decide the number of shares to be allotted to its 425,000 employees on pro-rata basis. With one of the largest number of employees in India's organised sector, eligibility for share allotment will be worked out proportionately. — IANS
	Auto Expo Germans making their presence felt Girja Shankar Kaura Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 7 Looking to tap the burgeoning Indian auto market, where car sales rose by two-thirds in November 2009, the German automotive industry is strengthening its presence here. Klaus Bräunig, managing director of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), said here the growing importance of the Indian market could be gauged from the fact that exports of goods and services by German suppliers of automotive parts and accessories were has tripled over the last five years. As the Indian commercial vehicles market grew by over 12 per cent in the third quarter of 2009, Germany exported auto goods worth over 200 million Euros over the last five years. German manufacturers of cars and commercial vehicles are also steadily expanding their local presence. Commercial vehicles manufacturer MAN has been involved in a joint venture with the Indian manufacturer Force since 2007, and recently increased its share in the joint venture to 50 per cent. Last February, German luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz opened its new plant at Pune, which is designed to produce the Mercedes-Benz and can also be expanded flexibly to produce other models. Another German car-maker Volkswagen opened its plant in March last with a capacity of 1,50,000 cars. Audi has been producing the Audi A6 since the start of 2008 at its Aurangabad plant, in Maharashtra state, and the Audi A4 is now also in production there. Chaos on Day 1 of public opening Chaos ruled as the 10th Auto Expo was officially opened for the public here today. From traffic jams to black marketing of the entry tickets to stopping of sales of the tickets, all confusion ruled the show where car-makers continued to carry on with the new launches. In the midst of all this Toyota-Kirloskar Motor launched its hybrid car Prius in India priced between Rs 26.55 lakh and Rs 27.86 lakh (ex-showroom New Delhi). Maruti Suzuki said it had priced newly launched five-seater multipurpose car Eeco at Rs 2.59 lakh, further heating up the competition for low-cost vehicles. Maruti will sell the seven-seater version of Eeco at Rs 2.75 lakh, the company said. Ashok Leyland showcased a bus with wireless connectivity - iBUS2 - useful for disaster management, mobile education and medical emergency response targeted at the government and the defence sectors. Crane manufacturer Urastun was stealing the show with its presentation of its small and affordable solutions with the unveiling of two of its fully indigenised cranes. It has launched Vector and pick and carry crane and another small fork lift named Odo.
	Markets log first loss in 2010 Mumbai, January 7 The Sensex snapped its four-day rally today shedding 85 points on heavy selling in IT counters after the rupee rose to a 15-month high and profit booking across sectors especially in the auto counters. The 30-share barometer index moved in a wide range before ending the day at 17,615.72, falling 85.41 points or 0.48 per cent. During the past four days, the market rallied to a 23-month high adding 357.31 points or 2.06 per cent. The IT stocks were battered for the second day today after the rupee rose to a 15-month high against the US dollar which spooked investors. The auto counter got butchered on worries of rising competition as close to half a dozen foreign auto companies are planning to get into the small car space in the country. According to Ashika Stock Brokers research head Paras Bothra, competition is the main reasons for the battering of Maruti stocks which has been losing for the past two weeks. However, Tata Motors was biggest loser with a 3.37 per cent loss. Other sectoral majors like M&M and Hero Honda too were hammered as investors chose to book profits after their historic rise in the recent trading sessions. — PTI
	K'taka rolls out red carpet for Mittal New Delhi, January 7 ArcelorMittal, whose steel projects in Orissa and Jharkhand are in limbo for many years now, today received a red-carpet welcome from Karnataka which cleared a Rs 30,000 crore proposal for an integrated steel plant by the world's largest maker of the alloy. "Mittal has come forward to set up a mega steel plant in Karnataka with an investment of Rs 30,000 crore with a direct employment potential for 10,000 persons," Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa said after his meeting with Mittal here. Yeddyurappa said a high-level committee led by him cleared the six million tonne per annum-project on January 5. "There are a lot of assurances from the Karnataka government and there is a clear commitment from them...This is my first meeting with the Chief Minister. We are very impressed with the kind of support and cooperation we are receiving from them," Mittal told reporters. Mittal, whose ArcelorMittal controls over 10 per cent of global steel production, said that a good progress would be made in the couple of months. "Then, we can decide (on) signing an MoU." ArcelorMittal had signed MoU with Orissa and Jharkhand as early as 2005 for setting up identical 12 MTPA plants in the two states, but the projects are yet to take off due to land acquisition trouble, among others. "Really not satisfied" was how Mittal reacted when asked about the progress of the Rs one lakh crore projects in Jharkhand and Orissa. He said he would take up the issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is also not satisfied with the progress. — PTI ‘India can’t handle mega projects’ LN Mittal believes that India is not equipped to handle big-ticket investments, although the country needs over half a trillion dollars to shore up its infrastructure. Billionaire Lakshmi N Mittal, whose company's projects worth $22 billion have been held up for over four years for want of regulatory clearances and land, told reporters this was so because no one quite saw the rapid growth coming."We blame the whole country for this because we did not experience this kind of growth, we did not experience this kind of interest in investments in India," he said.
	Galleon Hedge Fund Case Rajaratnam profits $36 mn New York, January 7 Federal prosecutors have doubled the amount they believe Sri Lankan billionaire Raj Rajaratnam skimmed off an insider New York trading scheme, charging his profits were a whopping $36 million. The allegation was contained in court papers filed on Tuesday in Manhattan opposing Rajaratnam's bid for reduced bail, Bloomberg financial news service reported. Investigators were worried that the founder of Galleon Group hedge fund could flee along with the ill-gotten money into his homeland, media reports said on Wednesday. Investigators had originally estimated that Rajaratnam had only pocketed about $17 million in the scheme, which involved payments to company insiders for secret information about developments inside publicly-traded companies. The practice violates US rules of transparency governing all publicly-traded corporations. The Sri Lankan authorities are also investigating whether Rajaratnam financed prominent front organisations for Tamil rebels in that country. Rajaratnam, who is also being sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, was arrested in October and charged with earning millions of dollars from stock trades made with inside information from corporate officials and hedge fund executives. In all, six of the 21 persons charged in two overlapping insider-US-trading schemes have pleaded guilty. The schemes have touched IBM, the international leading chip manufacturer AMD, and the internet giant Google, forcing some top managers in those companies to resign. The 52-year-old investment wizard founded one of the world's largest hedge funds, Galleon, with branches in London, Singapore, Mumbai and Menlo Park, California. He is free on $100 million bail. Shortly after his arrest, Rajaratnam had announced plans to liquidate his hedge funds. — DPA
	India 2nd in consumer confidence index New Delhi, January 7 Recovery from the global economic downturn is faster in India compared with other countries in the world as consumers here are more willing to spend, says a survey. According to the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence survey, India ranked second with 117 points in the fourth quarter of 2009, behind Indonesia, which has 119 points. Globally consumer confidence has remained stable at 87 per cent. Apart from India and Indonesia, Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Brazil are twhere recovery is accelerating. The survey revealed that countries have witnessed "renewed willingness to spend by many consumers as they head into 2010." However, while eight of the top 10 most confident markets in the fourth quarter of 2009 were from Asia Pacific, including emerging markets Indonesia and India, consumers in two of Asia's most developed markets, South Korea and Japan, were the least confident. In the last quarter of 2009, Indian consumers have become more conscious of a full economic recovery. Indians are most optimistic about job prospects in 2010, with 83 per cent of the consumers feeling things would improve this year. India is followed by Indonesian at 70 per cent. About 17 per cent Indians think that job prospects in the country would be 'excellent' and 66 per cent think that it would be 'good' in the next 12 months. — PTI