New Delhi, February 12
India’s merchandise exports rose 32.5 per cent to $20.6 billion in January on an annual basis, driven by pick up in demand US and Latin America, raising expectations that shipments would touch $220 billion by this fiscal-end.

During April-December, the outbound shipments grew 29.4 per cent to $184.6 billion over the year-ago period. “It is a huge jump. Export performance is good. My guess is by next month, we will cross $200 billion and we should end up at $220-225 billion," Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar said.

According to primary estimates, imports during the month grew 13.1 per cent to $28.6 billion over the same period last year, resulting in trade deficit of $8 billion. Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO) said that the country’s exports are increasing in new markets of Latin America and Africa along with the US and especially within Asia.

”Exports are increasing because of market diversification. Asia itself has emerged as a big export destination,” (FIEO) President Ramu Deora said. Shipments are increasing in new markets such as Latin America and Africa, a trade expert with Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), Rakesh Mohan Joshi said.

In its monetary policy review last month, the RBI had said that global growth prospects have improved in recent weeks. The recovery in major advanced economies which had weakened during the second quarter of 2010, regained strength in the following quarter.

The sectors that performed well during the April-January period of the current financial year include gems and jewellery (9.3 per cent), engineering (70 per cent) and petroleum and oil lubricants (36 per cent), Khullar said.

Exporters are getting huge demands for engineering products from Latin American countries such as Columbia.

Trade deficit during the first 10 months of the fiscal stood at $89 billion. “My guess is that trade gap should end up at $105-110 billion,” Khullar added.

The government had set an export target of $200 billion for 2010-11. In December 2010, the country's shipments grew by 36.4 per cent to $22.5 billion on an annual basis, the highest in 33 months. During April-January 2010-11, imports grew 17.6 per cent to $273.6 billion, he said, adding the import numbers are ‘guesstimates’ and will be revised. Officially, the trade numbers for January would be released by the government on March 1. — PTI

Chandigarh, February 12
State-owned telecom company BSNL is losing customers to other operators. Sources said BSNL has lost over 20,000 customers in the Punjab circle (including Chandigarh) within the first 20 days of the launch of Mobile Number Portability (MNP). However, around 3,000 subscribers have also joined its network during the same period.

“The net loss is only 17,000 subscribers. Things will soon stabilise,” said a senior BSNL official on condition of anonymity. Sources in the department added that in the other circles too, the company was losing customers.

BSNL officials add a strategy is being worked out to meet this challenge. Emphasis will be laid on improving services and better customer care. In Haryana, where MNP was launched on a trial basis on Nov 25, 2010, BSNL has lost over 33,000 connections. Vodafone and Tata DoCoMo have gained at the cost of the state-owned company, with the former adding almost 14,400 customers.

TRAI officials said that till February 5, about 17.11 lakh requests have been made for porting . Of these, around 2.29 lakh requests pertain to Haryana Service area, wherein MNP was implemented earlier. The top gainers from MNP are Vodafone, which is leading in seven of its 17 Licence Service Area (LSAs). Airtel is next with a lead in four LSAs.

Q In one of your columns you have stated that property belongs to a person making payment, irrespective of joint holding etc. Will you be kind enough to send me the authority or any law point in support?

— D R Goyal

A: A property purchased belongs to the person who has made the payment to acquire such property. The joint holder is for convenience. The Department has been taking this logical recourse in all the cases, without an exception. Yes, if there is a gift deed made by such an owner of the property in favour of the joint holder, then and only then the joint holder would be considered as a person owning a share in the property to the extent mentioned in the gift deed.

The Minister of State for Civil Aviation Vayalar Ravi has deferred the phasing out of Indian Airlines code-IC-from aircraft and other sophisticated equipment . The minister has also assured the agitating staff and unions that he will not allow any major change to take place. “I will meet you and union leaders separately to understand your problems within a fortnight,” he told a team of commanders.