New Delhi, March 17
India Inc said today the RBI policy on increasing interest rates repeatedly would affect growth, restrict investments and hurt the industry already reeling under the impact of global events.

Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of the CII, said deposit and lending rates are going up and the chamber is concerned that with the rise in lending rates, companies will find it difficult to fund investment activity in the coming year.

“Without adequate investments taking place, it may be difficult to achieve the desired growth rate of 9% in 2011-12. High interest costs at a time when global interest rates remain low will also make Indian companies globally uncompetitive”, he said.

Assocham president Dilip Modi said the move will hit Indian industry which is already facing fluctuating crude oil prices due to Middle East crisis, threats of disruption in global supply chain because of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, besides uncertain recovery in the European Union and the United States after the economic meltdown.

He said with profit margins under squeeze, capacity expansion plans are being curbed, thereby restricting fresh investments.

FICCI said a series of hikes in repo and reverse repo rates have had a visible impact on the Industrial production numbers, which have decelerated substantially in recent months. There is also a lot of nervousness in the market given the global developments.

“RBI’s action in raising policy rates though expected will adversely affect growth prospects”, said Dr Rajiv Kumar, director general, FICCI. The RBI seems to be suggesting this by pointing to the upside risks for growth in the coming year.

Crisil said contrary to expectations, inflation has continued to remain high. Importantly, core (non-food manufacturing) inflation surged in February 2011, indicating the build-up of demand-side pressures in the economy. Moreover, the upside risks to inflation have intensified in the wake of rising crude oil prices.

Pradeep Jain, chairman, Parsvnath Developers said the impact of the increases shall definitely affect the pockets of the masses as this is the seventh time the The RBI has revised the rates since March 2010. Though, this clearly shows RBI’s concern towards inflation, it will have an impact on demand in the real estate sector.

Raamdeo Agrawal, joint MD, Motilal Oswal Financial Services said, “RBI has acted on expected lines. Problem of inflation is still on top of RBI’s mind, so they have continued tightening monetary policy even at the cost of growth momentum slackening”.

The VIEWPOINT

With the rise in lending rates, companies will find it difficult to fund investment activity in the coming year. Without adequate investments taking place, it may be difficult to achieve the desired growth rate of 9% in 2011-12. — Chandrajit Banerjee, DG, CII The move will hit Indian industry which is already facing fluctuating crude oil prices due to crisis in the Middle East and threats of disruption in global supply chain because of the devastating quake in Japan Dilip Modi, Assocham president

New Delhi, March 17
Declining prices of potato and pulses pulled down food inflation marginally to three-and-half month’s low of 9.42 per cent on March 5 from 9.52 per cent in the previous week, a trend which the experts say is likely to continue in the coming weeks.

“Now the main pressure will be from non-food items like fuel. The moderation in price rise of food items is likely to persist,” said Crisil chief economist D K Joshi.

However, despite the climb down, commodities like fruits, milk and protein-based items, continue being expensive. Further, experts tell that with easing food prices, it is the high fuel prices that concern the government.

Unrest in the Middle East and North Africa region had pushed international crude prices to a 30-month high of $ 120 per barrel some two weeks back. They are at present trading at $ 100 a barrel. “Volatility in global crude oil prices due to the current unrest in North Africa and the Middle East can have serious repercussions for the country. However, food items are now likely to remain at a stable level," said a senior economist from a leading private sector bank.

According to both him and Joshi, the inflation forecast of 8 per cent by March-end is achievable. The latest inflation figure of 9.42 per cent for the week ended March 5, was helped by a 9 per cent climb down in potato prices and 3.05 percent in pulses on annual basis. — PTI

Locking Horns

Monitoring and interception in most countries was carried out by security agencies on their own and the role of mobile operators was limited to providing feedback.  — Dept of Telecom The onus is on mobile operators to prove that all services and facilities on their networks can be tracked on a real-time basis. — Home Ministry

New Delhi, March 17
As the March 31 deadline given to Research In Motion (RIM) - the Canadian manufacturer of the smartphone, BlackBerry - approaches, confusion remains over the government stance on the issue. The Department of Telecom (DoT) has written to the Home Ministry saying that e-mail services running on BlackBerry were among 15 communication services that cannot be tracked and that the only option is to build capabilities of intelligence agencies to monitor and intercept these technologies.

The country's security agencies, on the other hand, were not satisfied with the solution provided by the RIM. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for IT and Communications Sachin Pilot said, "For Blackberry Messenger (BBM) services, a solution has been offered by the RIM but the security agencies are not satisfied with the solution".

“The RIM has not yet given the solution for interception of their BlackBerry Enterprise Services (BES). According to the Canadian maker, they do not have any key for this service because communication offered through this service is dynamically encrypted,” Pilot added.

The minister mentioned the message in the text can be obtained from the Enterprise Email servers, where it is in a readable format.

The government had asked the RIM to handover interception solution for its BlackBerry Internet Services (BIS), BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) and BlackBerry Enterprise Servers (BES) by January 31, 2011, later extending the date for a solution to BES till March 31.

The smartphone manufacturer has claimed to have given the government solution to intercept BIS and BBM before the stipulated timeline but denied to have any solution to intercept BES. Enterprise Email servers are deployed for corporate houses and Home Minister P. Chidambaram is of the view that if the Canadian company could not provide India with the solution it could pack up its bags.

New Delhi, March 17
The Finance Ministry on Thursday approved higher interest rate of 9.5 per cent to over 4.7 crore depositors with the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) for 2010-11.

The EPFO had been paying 8.5 per cent interest on PF deposits since 2005-06. In September last year, it had recommended an increase in interest rate to 9.5 per cent for 2010-11 after discovering Rs 1,731 crore surplus in their books of accounts. "The Finance Ministry has ratified 9.5 per cent rate of return on PF deposits for 2010-11. We have received a notification in this regard,” Central Provident Fund Commissioner Samirendra Chatterjee said.

Chatterjee further added that “our calculations regarding Rs 1,731 crore surplus in the interest suspense account were found correct by the finance ministry and so they approved this higher rate of return”.

The ministry's approval is subject to the condition that any shortfall on account of payment of 9.5 per cent rate of return would be met by making adjustments in the interest rate in 2011-12.

Chatterjee, however, said that there would be no need for making any adjustment in the next fiscal as “EPFO calculations are correct regarding the discovery of a surplus of Rs 1,731 crore in the interest suspense account.”

The Finance Ministry has also asked the EPFO to update its subscriber accounts within the next six months. — PTI

Bangalore, March 17
Software major Infosys today said it has not shut down its office in Japan and assured clients there that it would continue to support them.

“Business will continue. The servicing given to clients will continue because they are very very important,” Infosys COO Shibulal told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

"Our model is always onsite, offshore, so we have few people there, lot of people here, few people will move back,” he said. After a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami last week that caused untold damages to life and property, Japan is now facing the threat of a nuclear catastrophe.

“We have capacity all over India, Japan's works happen in many of our developing centres, it could be Mysore, Bangalore, Chandigarh. People are going back to wherever is the base location of the corresponding programme,” he said.

Replying to a query on employees based in Japan and shutting of the office, he said, "We have an office, we have people, we have not shut it down. We have given option to some of our people to come back and few have come back and some others will come back." To a question on whether it would make similar arrangements for Japanese employees if they wish to move out, he said the company was ready to "work out" solutions if the Japanese employees came up with such requests. — PTI

New Delhi, March 17
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today dubbed the Income Tax order on investment MoUs signed during Vibrant Gujarat Summits as "routine", but admitted it followed complaints by Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, seeking to know source of funds.

Making a statement in the Rajya Sabha, he said in December, Leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha had made a complaint that source of large funds committed for investment in the state during the biennial summits should be investigated by the IT authorities.

“Verifications of allegations made in any complaint is routinely carried out by the Income Tax Department," the Finance Minister said. The BJP had yesterday created a ruckus in the Upper House and described the IT move as an “assault” on the federal character of the country. Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley had said that investment commitments worth Rs 20.53 lakh crore had been made in the last summit held in January. Rather than feeling proud, the Centre has "let loose" its IT Department on the BJP-ruled state, he alleged.

The investment promises were made by industrialists, builders, trading firms and others in the BJP-ruled state, it was mentioned in the complaint, Mukherjee said. — PTI

New Delhi, March 17
The government today relaxed the norms for granting the coveted Maharatna status to Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), a development that will see several state-owned companies vying for the tag that provides greater financial autonomy.

Now, a company qualifying for the Maharatna status should have an average annual turnover of more than Rs 20,000 crore in the last three years, as against Rs 25,000 crore prescribed earlier. Besides, a company with an average annual networth of over Rs 10,000 crore and net profit of over Rs 2,500 crore, during the last three years, will qualify for the status. — PTI

New Delhi, March 17
FMCG player Jyothy Laboratories today said it is eyeing a controlling stake in Henkel India after acquiring 14.9 per cent stake in the company from Tamil Nadu Petro Products Ltd (TNPL).

Henkel India, a joint venture between Henkel AG and Spic Group's Tamil Nadu Petro Products Ltd (TNPL), is headed for a split with the German firm planning to sell off its 51 per cent stake. Jyothy Laboratories is keen on acquiring it.

"We are keen in buying the 50.9 per cent stake of the parent firm and thereby hold a controlling stake in Henkel India," Jyothy Laboratories Deputy Managing Director Ullas Kamath said. Yesterday, Jyothy bought 14.9 per cent in Henkel India. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Diabetes, TB drugs dearer
New Delhi: Prices of 62 drugs, mainly used for treating diabetes and tuberculosis, have been raised while the rates of 14 other medicines have been reduced by drug pricing regulator NPPA. However, prices of 21 drugs have remained unchanged after a fresh review of the pricing of key medicines by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority at its meeting last week. The NPPA, which considered rates for 19 drugs for the first time, reviewed prices of drugs used in treatment of diabetes, allergy, malaria, diarrhoea, asthma and hypertension along with antiseptics. — PTI

Venus gets nod to market cancer medicines
New Delhi: Drug firm Venus Remedies Ltd today said it has received approval from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to market its cancer and antibiotic medicines in all the GCC countries With this approval, the company will be able to market its oncology and carbapenem products in all GCC countries comprising Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain amd Oman. — PTI

Voltas likely to hike AC prices next month
Mumbai: Tata Group's consumer durables firm, Voltas, plans to hike prices of its air-conditioners by another three per cent in April, the second this year, to offset the rise in metal prices it consumes, a top company official said on Thursday.The company had in January last hiked prices of its air- conditioners by 5-7 per cent, thus passing on the burden of increased input costs to customers. — PTI

AI mulls setting up base at Dublin
New Delhi: Months after it withdrew from its first international hub at Frankfurt, an Air India team is likely to visit Ireland soon to study the possibility of creating an operational base at the Dublin airport. “Air India was initially looking at about seven airports to establish its international hub. Later they came down to two and Dublin is one of them,” Irish Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar said. — PTI