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CMIE lowers GDP growth to 7.9%
Top US firms lobbying hard to enter India
UN, economy on agenda for India talks with S Africa, Brazil
Riots break out in Rome as Wall Street protests go global
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Gold likely to stay bullish, say experts
CIL workers threaten strike, power crisis may worsen
Markets may remain volatile in short term
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CMIE lowers GDP growth to 7.9%
New Delhi, October 16 "The decline in forecast is entirely because of scaling down for the industrial sector," CMIE said in its monthly review, adding that expected 7.9% growth would be lower than the 8.5% growth recorded in FY11. The decline would be attributed to a sharp fall in the growth in agriculture-from a rather high 6.6% to 2.9% -- and the fall in the growth in industry from 7.9% to 7.5%, the report said. The Mumbai-based think tank said the industrial sector is expected to slow to 7.5%, lower than earlier forecast of 7.8%. Similarly, the manufacturing sector will grow by 7.5% as against earlier estimate of 8%, and growth forecast for mining sector has been revised from 4.8% to 4.4%. The decline in the growth expectation of manufacturing sector emanates from sharper-than-expected decline in growth in IIP in July and an expectation that the August IIP would also be weak, it said. "We do expect a recovery in the second half of the year. However, the slower than expected growth in the first five months warranted the revision in forecast," the report said. The agency expected a 2.9% increase in the agricultural sector. The rainfall till September was good and the precipitation was 2% above the long period average. Kharif sowing was 3.1% higher than previous season. Of the earlier indicators of the services sector, the movement of freight on the Indian Railways during the first five months was higher by 6.1%, compared to 2.3% in the corresponding period a year ago. Cargo on the major ports was up by 4.5% against 0.6%. "We expect the service sector to grow by 9.4% in FY12. This is the same level of growth as in FY11. While we expect the growth in trade, transport, hotels, storage and communication to accelerate, we expect the financial sector to see a fall in the growth rate," report said.
— PTI |
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Top US firms lobbying hard to enter India
New Delhi, October 16 The issues on which these companies are lobbying with the US government range from facilitating the market access to easing of foreign investment rules in India to help further expansion of their businesses here, show the lobbying disclosure reports filed by them with the US Senate. These large US-based multinationals include the likes of the world's largest retailer Wal-Mart Stores, the coffee shop giant Starbucks and financial services majors Morgan Stanley, New York Life Insurance and Prudential Financial. Besides, technology major Intel, chemicals major Dow Chemical, pharma giant Pfizer, telecom majors AT&T, Alcatel- Lucent, as well as defence and aerospace giants like Boeing, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin are soliciting the support of the US government for furthering their Indian business interests. In addition to these large corporates, there are numerous other smaller size companies seeking support from the US lawmakers to help them enter or expand further in India. Together, these companies are estimated to have spent millions of dollars on their lobbying activities on various issues, including those related to their Indian interests. Lobbying is a legal activity in the US, but the companies and their lobbyists are required to inform the US Senate about such activities through a quarterly disclosure report detailing the issues, the concerned government departments and institutions and the related expenses. A host of Indian companies, including the country's biggest private sector company Reliance Industries, and even the Indian government, have also been lobbying in the US for many years to present their case with the American lawmakers. India has emerged as one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
— PTI |
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UN, economy on agenda for India talks with S Africa, Brazil
New Delhi, October 16 In a statement released Sunday prior to his departure, Singh said the summit is expected to discuss, among other things, coordination among IBSA countries in the UN Security Council, sustainable development, forthcoming meetings of the conference of parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the conference of parties to the Kyoto Protocol being hosted by South Africa later this year, the Rio +20 conference being hosted by Brazil in 2012 and other matters related to strengthening cooperation under IBSA. Singh said he also looked forward to an exchange of views with IBSA partners on the current global economic and financial situation, especially in the context of the forthcoming G-20 summit in France. A IBSA joint declaration is expected to be issued at close of the summit. "The IBSA Dialogue Forum has matured considerably over the years. Above all the idea of three large developing democracies - Brazil, India and South Africa - working together in a highly complex global environment has taken root", Singh stated. He emphasized it was a "happy coincidence" that during 2011 India, Brazil and South Africa are members of the UN Security Council. "We've shown significant cohesiveness and coordination in our approach to issues under discussion in the Security Council", he added. During his stay in Pretoria, Singh will also hold bilateral meetings with South African President Jacob Zuma and Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff to exchange views on global, regional and bilateral issues. |
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Riots break out in Rome as Wall Street protests go global
Rome, October 16 Galvanized by the Occupy Wall Street movement, the protests began in New Zealand, rippled east to Europe and were expected to return to their starting point in New York. Demonstrations touched most European capitals and other cities. They coincided with the Group of 20 meeting in Paris, where finance ministers and central bankers from the major economies were holding crisis talks. While most rallies were small and barely held up traffic, the Rome event drew tens of thousands of people and snaked through the city center for kilometers (miles). Peaceful rallies
In contrast, small and peaceful rallies got the ball rolling across the Asia-Pacific region Saturday. In Auckland, New Zealand's biggest city, 3,000 people chanted and banged drums, denouncing corporate greed. In Sydney, about 2,000 people, including representatives of Aboriginal groups, communists and trade unionists, protested outside the central Reserve Bank of Australia. Hundreds marched in Tokyo, including anti-nuclear protesters. In Manila a few dozen marched on the US embassy. More than 100 people gathered at the Taipei stock exchange, chanting "we are Taiwan's 99 percent," and saying economic growth had only benefited companies while middle-class salaries barely covered soaring housing, education and health care costs. In Paris protests coincided with the G20 finance chiefs' meeting there. ‘The indignant ones’
The Rome protesters, who called themselves "the indignant ones," included unemployed, students and pensioners. In imitation of the occupation of Zuccotti Park near Wall Street in Manhattan, protesters have been camped out across the street from the headquarters of the Bank of Italy for days. The worldwide protests were a response in part to calls by the New York demonstrators for more people to join them. Their example has prompted calls for similar occupations in dozens of U.S. cities from Saturday. In Madrid, seven marches were planned to merge in Cibeles square at 1600 GMT and then head to the central Puerta de Sol. In Germany, where sympathy for southern Europe's debt troubles is not widespread, thousands gathered in Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig and outside the ECB in Frankfurt, called by the Real Democracy Now movement. Demonstrators gathered peacefully in Paradeplatz, the main square in the Swiss financial center of Zurich. In London, several hundred people assembled outside London's St Paul's Cathedral for a protest dubbed "Occupy the London Stock Exchange." Several hundred people protested in Vienna, Sweden and
Helsinki. — Reuters |
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Gold likely to stay bullish, say experts
New Delhi, October 16 Gold prices, which had collapsed in the last week of September, have recovered significantly and are now hovering around Rs 27,000 per ten grams. Going forward, fresh buying by stockists and jewellers to meet the ongoing festival demand is likely to further fuel the uptrend. The precious metal prices had collapsed to a six-and-a-half week's low of Rs 24,992/10g in the last week of Sept 2011, its sharpest weekly drop since March 2009. "There is strong opportunity for retail investors at these levels for those who missed out on the previous rally," Religare Securities CEO Gagan Randev said, adding, "investors can start accumulating gold at these important levels, keeping in mind long-term levels of around Rs 32,500/10 gm”.
— PTI
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CIL workers threaten strike, power crisis may worsen
New Delhi, October 16 "Over 300,000 workers of CIL along with 200,000 contract workers would proceed on a 72-hour strike immediately if the coal ministry fails to address their demands, including a hike in bonus and pay revision," All-India Coal Workers Federation general secretary Jibon Roy told
PTI. State-run CIL accounts for over 80% of the domestic output. "The coal ministry has called a meeting with workers' unions of Coal India on October 17 which will be chaired by Coal Minister Sriprakash
Jaiswal," Coal India CMD NC Jha said. — PTI |
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personal finance
As a child when my first milk tooth fell I was told to keep the tooth under my pillow at night. When I woke up the next morning I was delighted to discover a one rupee coin instead of the tooth under my pillow. When I asked my parents about it, they told me a tooth fairy had switched my tooth for a rupee coin during the night. As a child the story had lots of appeal for me. Of course, as I grew older, I realized there was no "tooth fairy" and that the one rupee coin was placed by my parents. The stories about zero per cent finance schemes doing the rounds of are perhaps of the same genre. So how do these schemes work? Unlike their names most zero per cent finance schemes have other costs that are built in. The biggest cost is that you forfeit the cash discount that you would have got otherwise from the retailer. Also, you will be paying some processing/transaction fees and/or advance equated monthly installments (EMIs). So let us see how the costs stack up in a so called zero per cent finance scheme Example: An LCD colour television costs Rs 48,000 and is available on the zero per cent EMI scheme for six months (that is, there is an EMI of Rs 8,000 per month for 6 months). The consumer needs to pay a processing fee of Rs 1,000. If the customer had bought the same TV set by making a full payment he could have availed of a cash discount of Rs 2,000 that he would not get if he opts for a zero per cent scheme. Payment made in 6 installments of Rs 8,000 each (aggregating Rs 48,000 against the finance of Rs 45,000 received). The effective interest cost works out to 23
per cent per annum. However the popularity of such schemes with consumers, particularly in the festive season, cannot be denied. According to market sources, despite being costlier in some ways, consumers prefer to go for these staggered payment schemes and have been highly successful in pushing sales and expanding the market for the durables. This is primarily because of the fact that purchasing goods by a credit card is very expensive as compared to purchasing through these schemes. Also, the success of these schemes can be attributed to the availability of credit at the point of purchase, minimal paperwork, small ticket size and, hence, not so stringent eligibility criteria. So are there any genuine zero per cent schemes? Yes, there are. Some of them are available on the much maligned credit cards. The credit card that I have allows me to convert specific spends greater than Rs 5,000 into three-month EMIs without any cost or fees. This is the closest that hard nosed bankers come to offering true zero per cent schemes. Some other major credit card issuing banks also have similar schemes. The best way to check if a zero per cent scheme is a true zero per cent scheme is to ask the following questions: Any fees or charges If I pay the full amount do I get a discount that I would not get if I go in for the zero per cent scheme? If the answer to both questions is no, then you have a true zero per cent scheme! So you can zero in on your zero per
cent schemes. The author is CEO of Apnapaisa.com. The views expressed are his own |
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Markets may remain volatile in short term
The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex gained 850.15 points or 5.24 per cent to close at 17,082.69 points, while the National Stock Exchange Nifty gained 244.25 points or 5 per cent to close at 5,132.30 points. The broader indices like the BSE 100, BSE 200 and BSE 500 gained 4.85 per cent, 4.68 per cent and 4.54 per cent, respectively, while the BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap were laggards with gains of only 3.87 per cent and 2.77, respectively. Amongst the sector indices the BSE IT rose 8.03 per cent and the BSE Bankex gained 6.93 per cent. In individual stocks Infosys gained 9.49 per cent at Rs 2,745 while Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) gained Rs 8.18 per cent at Rs 1,134.50 in the IT space. In the banking sector ICICI Bank gained 8.01 per cent at Rs 890 while State Bank of India rose 7.48 per cent to close at Rs 1,883. Reliance Industries, which on Saturday reported a nearly 16 per cent jump in net profit for the second quarter of this fiscal, saw a strong rally gaining 8.24 per cent to close at Rs 867. Foreign institutional investors turned net buyers during the week and bought worth Rs 1,500 crore while domestic institutions sold shares worth Rs 530 crore. Meanwhile, the Indian rupee strengthened to 49.02 to the US dollar. Global markets too have rallied during last week and in that context nothing significant happened which was India specific. Results will continue to kick in during this week and will determine how individual stocks perform. The indications as far as the result season is concerned are not very positive and could spring unpleasant surprises. The key drivers for the market would be how the foreign institutional investors behave in the current scenario. If they put in money as they did last week the markets would go up and the reverse If they pulled out money. With the sharp rally since the trend changed after the Dussehra festival, the BSE Sensex has gained 1,290 points while the NSE Nifty has gained 381 points. There is resistance in the vicinity of the Sensex at around 17,150-17,275 levels and in the Nifty in the region of 5,130-5,190. These are strong and crucial levels and for the mood to remain positive and, for the momentum to continue, these levels have to be crossed and sustained. That's a tough call and only events ahead will decide how the markets will do, but current indications are that the going is likely to be tough from here. The review meeting of the Reserve Bank of India on the October 25 is likely to see rates moving up once again and this would certainly be a dampener for the markets. Coming to the week ahead the BSE Sensex has support at 16,903, then at 16,619, then at 16,504 and finally at 16,230 points. It has resistance at 17,187, then at 17,386, then at 17,471 and finally at 17,645 points. The NSE Nifty has support at 5,078, then at 5,018, then at 4,994, then at 4,962 and finally at 4,861 points. It has resistance at 5,163, then at 5,222, then at 5,248, then at 5,323 and finally at 5,434 points. We are at crucial levels and for the momentum to continue the market needs to break upwards and sustain these levels. Nothing will be lost if it consolidates here and spends some time trying to digest the gains of the previous week. The markets are likely to be volatile, hovering at crucial levels. The author is founder of KRIS, an investment advisory firm. The views expressed are his own |
India's exports may reach $280 bn China now EU's top trade partner No info on illegal gold sale: RBI, FinMin
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The old adage "there's no such thing as a free lunch" aptly describes the zero per cent interest finance schemes, which were widely popular till a few years ago. RBI regulations advising banks to refrain from offering such schemes as well as the general withdrawal of major banks from consumer durables financing has meant that such schemes have not been in vogue for the last 2-3 years.
However, there are several NBFCs (nonbanking financial companies) that continue to finance purchase of consumer durables and also have zero per cent schemes. The main attraction of such schemes is that they influence you to purchase consumer goods that could be more expensive than your wallet size. The lure of zero per cent interest finance is an added attraction that makes you feel "yes - I'm getting something free and thus I'm able to buy a bigger and better product". 
The markets were on a roll last week and IT bellwether Infosys cheered investors after a gap of about eight to nine quarters. The deprecating rupee helped the software major and the positive comments from the company at the time of declaring its September quarter results saw the markets post a great week.
