New Delhi, September 2
Admitting its faux pas within a day, the government has revised the economic growth at market prices to 10.02 per cent for the quarter ending June 2010, from 3.65 per cent stated earlier.

Issuing a corrigendum to its figure issued on Tuesday, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (Mospi) attributed the mistake to wrong calculation of deflators. Deflators, which convert GDP data at current prices to constant prices, are used for factoring in inflation.

Real GDP (excluding inflation) at market prices (what consumers pay) for the April-June quarter now stands at Rs 12,09,888 crore, from the earlier estimated figure of Rs 11,39,867 crore.

Mospi said the Indian economic growth, traditionally estimated as real GDP at factor cost (what producers get) was estimated correctly at 8.8 per cent in the first quarter of the fiscal.

"Inadvertently there has been use of inappropriate deflators in converting quarterly estimate of expenditures of GDP at market prices in Q1 of 2010-11 (at current prices) to quarterly estimates of expenditures of GDP at market prices in Q1 of 2010-11 (at 2004-05 prices)," the ministry said in a statement here.

The wide difference of over 5 per cent between real GDP growth at market prices (3.65 per cent) and factor cost (8.8 per cent) had led to confusion among experts.

Officials said the difference between the growth rate of GDP from two methodologies generally ranges between two and three per cent.

The CSO (Central Statistical Organisation) sometimes corrects the figures as they are based on random surveys, he had said. GDP at market prices estimate the figures from expenditure or demand side, while GDP at factor cost estimates the numbers from production, or supply side. — PTI

Chandigarh, September 2
Global money transfer service provider, Western Union is looking at the hinterland for propelling future growth. With a major shift in remittances coming to the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra, the company is looking at expanding its footprint here.

Talking to TNS here today, Kiran Shetty, regional vice-president, India, Western Union Money Transfer Services, said though the bulk of remittances were still being seen in the states of Punjab, Gujarat, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, there was an exponential growth in foreign remittances being made in UP, Bihar, Maharashtra, Orissa and West Bengal. He was here to open the 60,000th agent location of the company at Mohali today.

“Thus, we are looking at a major expansion in our distribution network in these states. We already have over 7,000 agent locations in Uttar Pradesh, 2,000 in Bihar and over 5,000 in Maharashtra. But now we are looking at having agent locations even in remote villages. Other than these states, we are looking at expanding in all north-eastern states,” he said.

Shetty also said there is a significant shift in the countries from where the remittances are coming to India. “Though the maximum remittances are coming from the USA, UK and Canada, remittances from Israel, Malaysia, Australia and African countries are improving drastically,” he added.

He said the total remittances coming to India in 2009-10 was to the tune of $52 billion. Though 50 per cent of this is coming in the form of NRE deposits and bonds, the remaining is coming through bank drafts, bank transactions, cash-to-cash method and online transfer. “We are significant player in this people-to-peple transaction. Thus, we are now planning to increase our footprint even in the remote corners of the country,” he added.

Asked about the company’s growth through institutional partners vis-a vis retail partners, he said a quarter of the growth was coming through the institutional partners like banks and post offices. “This is mainly because the retail partners have been there for a longer time,” he added. 

New Delhi, September 2
State-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) plans to invest about Rs 15,000 crore in setting up a 9 million tonne-a-year refinery on the west coast. The new refinery, which may be in Raigad district of Maharashtra, is being mulled to make up for space constraint that its Mumbai refinery faces at present.

"We have been shown three pieces of land by Maharashtra government ... We should be able to finalise the location in next few weeks," a company official said.

"We should be able to finalise location and size of the refinery in 3-4 months," he said. "A consultant for doing detailed feasibility report (DFR) will be appointed soon." The unit, called Maharashtra Refinery, would be completed in 48 months from the date of receiving all approvals, he said.

He said the Mumbai refinery may eventually be shutdown once the new refinery is built. "That decision we need to take in 6-7 years." HPCL has a 7.5 million tonne-a-year unit at Vizag in Andhra Pradesh and is also building a 9 million tonne plant at Bathinda in Punjab in joint venture with steel czar Lakshmi Mittal.

The new refinery project comes on the heels of HPCL being forced to put on back-burner a $10 billion refinery-cum-petrochemical project at Vizag after Mittal and French oil major Total SA pulled out. — PTI

New Delhi, September 2
State-owned steel major SAIL today increased the price of its flat products by Rs 1,000 a tonne on account of pick up in demand after the end of monsoon. "There is a Rs 1,000 rollback on discount given on our flat steel products. Long steel prices remain unchanged," a SAIL spokesperson said.

Flat steel products are primarily used by the white goods and auto industry, while the long products are used in the construction industry.

"The trend is positive. Demand is picking up. Domestic prices primarily follow the international trend. Steel firms will take a call on this next month after analysing prices of imported steel from countries like China," SAIL chairman C S Verma had said last week.

Industry experts are also of the opinion that steel prices may go up by around Rs 1,000 a tonne this month. On an average, steel prices are currently hovering in the range of Rs 30,000-35,000 a tonne.

Steel prices have remained flat for about past 2-3 months following the gloomy global scenario, which prevented domestic firms from passing the rising input cost pressure to customers.

The companies expect demand rising from sectors like automobile and construction.— PTI

New York, September 2
Global IT consultancy Capgemini today said it will buy majority stake in Brazilian CPM Braxis for 233 million euros ($299 million) in a bid to boost its presence in the emerging countries.

Under the terms of the transaction, French firm Capgemini which has a significant presence in India, will acquire 55 per cent of the share of CPM Braxis, representing a total amount of 233 million euros, it said in a statement.

Capgemini has a strong presence across seven cities in India, primarily Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune and Delhi. The company's India strength was at 26,000 in June 2010.

Besides, Capgemini has the option on certain dates each year to buy the remaining stake of CPM Braxis and the existing shareholders have an option to sell rest of their stake, it added.

The deal, which is expected to close by October, will be funded through the the company's net cash position.

CMP Braxis has an enterprise value of 437 million euros and it forecasts 450 million euros revenue in the full year.

The Brazilian firm will benefit from Capgemini's assets – notably its global reach, methodologies and network of alliances, to serve its own clients, both in Brazil and around the world.— PTI