Mumbai, February 25
On the eve of the Budget, corporate India is concerned about the government rolling back stimulus measures in a bid to contain galloping inflation.

Industry associations have warned that such moves before full economic recovery can hobble economic growth.

Assocham and Ficci said much of the recovery in the economy was because of the stimulus measures announced by the government. "The stimulus packages would have to continue for at least another fiscal and the government should adopt a calibrated approach," Assocham president Swati Piramal said. Ficci president Harsh Pati Singhania said incentives for exports should remain place in the near future.

The markets have also become wary that the Finance Minister may begin rolling back stimulus measures aggressively.

According to the survey, fiscal deficit was estimated to be at 6.8 per cent of GDP in 2009-10.

Even those in favour of stimulus measures continuing are worried about inflation. Deven Choksey, CEO of KR Securities, said the non-food inflation seemed to be following food inflation. "The economic survey has correctly voiced the concerns of non-food inflation," Choksey said in a statement.

The stimulus packages would have to continue for at least another fiscal and the government should adopt a calibrated approach," Assocham Meanwhile, the CII said this was not the right time to roll back stimulus incentives.

"There has been definitely improvement in industrial recovery but the recovery is not complete, it will take some time ... and for that the government should continue with the stimulus," CII director general Chandrajeet Banerjee said.

Indian Chamber of Commerce senior vice-president Vishambar Saran said, "Ultimately stimulus has to be withdrawn, but the timing and the pace has to be right. "One thing people say, ours is not a 'V' shaped recovery it is a 'W' shaped recovery. The danger of another recession is there. So stimulus should not be rolled back completely unless the economy stabilises," Saran said.

New Delhi: On the eve of the Budget presentation, economists today said the they expected the government to roll back some stimulus measures, as the economic growth is on rebound with the Economic Survey projecting the GDP to expand by up to 8.75 per cent in FY'11.

"The growth range is narrow, portraying confidence and optimism in economy... I think some of the stimulus measures could be withdrawn," Crisil principal economist D K Joshi said.

According to Axis Bank economist Saugata Bhattacharya, the growth estimate for the next fiscal is feasible if there is improvement in farm output and industrial production continues to do well. However, to contain the rising fiscal deficit, the government can withdraw some of the stimulus measures.

"I expect partial roll back of stimulus measures as the government has to reduce fiscal deficit," he added.

HDFC Bank chief economist Abheek Barua said the growth estimate was likely to be achieved. He further said, some of the measures like raising excise duties and curtailing expenditure could be taken in the Budget. — PTI

New Delhi, February 25
The Economic Survey tabled in Parliament here today has pointed out that just about 13 per cent of the road development projects of the total target were awarded during 2009-10.

"Against the target of awarding projects for a total length of about 9,800 km under various phases of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) during 2009-10, projects have been awarded for a total length of about 1,285 km up to November 2009," the pre-Budget Survey said.

It pointed out that the delays were due to introduction of new methods for approval of PPP (public-private-partnership) projects that affected the bankability of the projects included "lenders' perception of high risk" and "lingering doubts of lenders on interpretation of many provisions of the new MCAs (model concession agreement)".

In addition, the bottlenecks identified for slow progress in road projects included delays in land acquisition and environment clearances.

In 2009-10, against the target of developing about 3,165 km of highways under the NHDP, the achievement up to November, 2009, has been that of about 1,490 km only.

The Survey, depicting the health of the economy, however, indicated optimistic outlook saying recent initiatives like restructuring of projects to reduce cost and measures for expeditious land acquisition are "expected to increase the pace of awards under the NHDP."

New Delhi, February 25
Food inflation fell to 17.58 per cent for the week ended February 13 as prices of pulses and vegetables eased during the week.

The wholesale price-based inflation fell after rising for four consecutive weeks. Inflation was at 17.97 per cent in the previous week.

While prices of pulses fell by 1 per cent over the week, vegetables became cheaper by 5.7 per cent.

Potato prices were up 30.40 per cent year-on-year during the week against an annual rise of 57.67 per cent in the week ending February 6.

Onion prices were up 12.46 per cent against an annual inflation of 29.92 per cent in the previous week.

The inflation for primary articles, which include food and non-food items in raw form, fell to 15.84 per cent during the week from 16.23 per cent a week earlier.

The price index for food articles, on weekly basis, moved down 0.45 per cent on account of lower prices of tea (3 per cent), masur, gram and fruits and vegetables (2 per cent each) and arhar, moong and barley (1 per cent each).

The wholesale price-based overall inflation had risen to 8.56 per cent in January, shooting past the RBI's forecast of 8.50 per cent for this fiscal end. — PTI

New Delhi, February 25
The government today said three private GSM players would be allowed to offer 3G mobile services across the nation, for which spectrum (radio waves) be auctioned, starting April 9. It said four players would get the licence in five states, including Punjab and Bihar.

According to the Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) for 3G spectrum auction in 22 circles, most of the circles including four metros, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, would have three private players.

The five states which would have four operators are Punjab, West Bengal, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

The document said all successful bidders would be allowed to offer 3G services on commercial basis from September 1, this year.

3G technology enables offering high-speed internet and a wide range of multimedia services, including mobile broadband.

The NIA issued by the Department of Telecom said the last date for submission of applications is March 19. The mock auction will take place on April 5 and 6, which will be followed by the real round from April 9, 2010.

The government has kept the reserve price for pan-India 3G spectrum at Rs 3,500 crore for five MHz and Rs 1,750 crore for Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum.

The government hopes to garner a minimum of Rs 25,000 crore from the auction although Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had projected a revenue of up to Rs 35,000 crore from sale of spectrum in the current fiscal. However now the mop up will happen in the next financial year.

The NIA, however, remained silent about the 3G-equivalent services for the CDMA operators.

Chandigarh, February 25
The DLF Home Developers is getting aggressive about its foray in North India. This year, the company will be investing Rs 10,000 crore for launching its residential projects in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

While the company has already launched DLF Valley, a residential project in Panchkula, it will now make its foray in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. The company will launch its integrated township project in Mullanpur Garibdas in Punjab, which will be the biggest project in the region and spread over 2,500 acres at an investment of Rs 5,000 crore, later this year.

By the middle of the year, the company will be all set to launch its holiday home project in Kasauli and another residential project in Shimla.

Talking to The Tribune here today, Rahul Mehta, executive director, DLF Home Developers, said the company was also in the advanced stages of launching another residential project in Saketri, bordering Chandigarh.

“This will be spread over 100 acres and is in the advanced stages of getting clearance from the Haryana government. Our focus in North India will primarily be on residential projects. We see a boom in the residential sector, but the same may not be true in the commercial sector. However, we will be doing the commercial development of property as a support to develop our residential property,” he said.

He said the company had received a massive response to its recently launched project in Panchkula.

“Initially, we had planned to sell just 8 lakh sq ft in the first phase, but with over 1,200 applications, we have already sold about 20 lakh sq ft. The investment in this project will be around Rs 3,000 crore,” he added.

Mehta said the holiday home project in Kasauli would be launched in the next three months.

“The licensing is in the final stages and we are now trying to rope an international hotel chain to manage this property, spread over 70 acres. This would also have some service apartments,” he said. The project in Shimla would have only villas and would be launched later this year, Mehta added.