New Delhi, March 23
Exporters are pressing the government to allow advance payments from Iran in Indian rupees to them under a new mechanism set up to facilitate trade with the sanctions-hit Islamic republic which is its no. 2 oil supplier.

Under the new mechanism, oil refiners will deposit rupees, which are not freely traded on global markets, for about 45 percent of Iranian crude purchases in an account at UCO Bank and the funds can be used to pay for some of India's exports.

"We’re seeking government approval to get advance payments from Iranian importers," M. Rafeeque Ahmed, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organizations, told reporters.

India, which is Tehran's no. 2 oil client after China, has danced around tightening western sanctions which are making financial transactions with Iran increasingly difficult.

It is currently paying for crude imports via Turkey's Halkbank but this looks vulnerable to the fresh sanctions from the United States and the European Union, which are aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions.

The new rupee payment mechanism involves Bank Parsian as Iran's nodal bank, complementing UCO Bank.

Iran's central bank has already deposited with UCO bank about $1 billion which had been used in the Asian Clearing Union (ACU), the longstanding mechanism that ended in 2010 under pressure from the United States.

Indian exporters have received some rupee payments towards about $3 billion in Iranian arrears accumulated since 2010 through the mechanism but for new deals the payments method has not yet taken off.

That's partly because oil refiners will only start payments from April 1 when a withholding tax on such transactions is lifted. In addition, Indian exporters have been reluctant to use the mechanism given volatility in commodity prices and falls in the Iranian rial currency. — Reuters

Washington, D.C., March 23
President Barack Obama is set to name the president of Dartmouth College, Jim Yong Kim, as his candidate to lead the World Bank, a senior White House official said on Friday.

Obama was expected to unveil the surprise choice later Friday, with the White House saying he would make a statement on personnel changes in the Rose Garden at 10:00 am (1400 GMT).

The South Korean-born Kim is a Harvard-trained physician and former director of the department of HIV/AIDS at the World Health Organization, according to his biography on the college website. He became the president of Dartmouth, a prestigious Ivy League college in New Hampshire, in July 2009.

Born in 1959 in Seoul, Kim moved with his family to the United States at the age of five and grew up in Muscatine, Iowa. Kim earned a medical doctorate from Harvard Medical School in 1991 and a PhD in anthropology from Harvard University in 1993.

The United States's selection of Kim to lead the 187-nation development lender makes him an instant favorite to get the bank's top job. Thanks to a tacit agreement, the United States usually appoints an American to head the World Bank and Europe usually names a European to head the International Monetary Fund.

But that pact has triggered outrage from developing and emerging economies seeking greater representation to reflect their rising contributions to the global economy.

The successful candidate in the race will succeed World Bank president Robert Zoellick, who announced in February he was stepping down at the end of his term in June. The nomination deadline closes at 6 pm (2200 GMT) Friday.

Earlier Friday, Nigeria's Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealajoined the race for the top World Bank job, backed by Africa's leading economies in a push for greater influence at global financial bodies dominated by rich nations. Former Colombian finance minister and central bank chief, Jose Antonio Ocampo, announced his candidacy Wednesday. American economist Jeffrey Sachs has garnered support for his self-declared candidacy in small developing countries.

A candidate must be presented by the Bank's 25 executive directors, or by governors through the director representing them on the executive board. The World Bank said that if there are more than three candidates, it will release a short list of three candidates but did not indicate the timing of the publication. — AFP

Chandigarh, March 23
Suzuki will set up a Rs 2,000 crore motorcycle plant, its second in India, at IMT, Rohtak. A formal announcement was made in this regard after a high-level meeting between representatives of Suzuki Motorcycle India and the Haryana government here on Friday.

The government was represented by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Industries Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala and others, while the company was represented by Maruti Suzuki MD S. Nakanishi and Hashimoto of Suzuki Motorcycles. Nakanishi told Hooda production would commence in 2014.

HSIIDC MD Rajeev Arora said the new unit would be spread over 50 acres and the Japanese major would manufacture 2 million units per year, creating 4,000 jobs.

The project’s first phase, to be completed in 2014, will entail a capital investment of Rs 500 crore and have a production capacity of half a million motorcycles a year.

With this, Suzuki will be the fourth major motorbike manufacturer in Haryana, the other three being Hero Motocorp, Honda and Harley Davidson. 

Mumbai, March 23
Boeing threw its weight behind Airbus in a dispute over European Union airline emissions on Thursday, even as it refused to negotiate a settlement in a separate dispute with its arch-rival over aircraft subsidies.

The chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airplanes joined a chorus of criticism of the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme that will charge airlines for emissions, something Brussels believes necessary to help defeat climate change.

"This is not about Boeing and Airbus; it is about what is best for our customers and how we are going to get the whole industry to reduce its environmental footprint," Jim Albaugh told Reuters.

"I don't think the European ETS approach is the right one. We need to have a standstill on this and work with (UN aviation agency) ICAO and get some international rules in place that everyone can sign up to, and ones that will drive us to make the investments we need to improve the efficiency of airplanes."

Albaugh was speaking after the aviation industry, meeting in Geneva, urged governments to use the UN body to negotiate a global deal on the controversial issue of aircraft emissions.

Nations such as China, India and the United States are unhappy that the EU went ahead with a scheme that applies to their airspace, while the EU says it was forced to act after years of international inaction on air travel pollution.

Airbus and other companies last week appealed to European leaders to delay the scheme, which it says has disrupted Chinese government approval of dozens of valuable aircraft orders.

Mumbai, March 23
Borrowing money against gold jewellery will become less attractive after the Reserve Bank of India introduced new norms for gold loan companies earlier this week. Till the new rules came into effect, borrowers who pledge their jewellery for money could get as much as 70% to 80% of the value of the collateral from gold loan companies. The central bank has now capped the loan amount to 60% of the value of the collateral.

"The RBI's norms aim to ensure that sudden volatility in gold prices don’t erode the value of the collateral held by the gold loan companies," says Samrit Parkar, an equity analyst with a Mumbai brokerage.

At present with gold prices soaring, borrowers are repaying their loans on time to retrieve the jewellery pledged with the companies.

But should gold prices reverse and the value of collateral falls below the loan amount, there is a possibility of borrowers defaulting on payments, say analysts.

According to the trade the gold loan business is dominated by two south Indian firms — Muthoot Finance and Mannapuram. Following the announcement Manappuram Finance said Friday it would conform with the RBI norms shortly. At present its loan-to-gold value stand at 66%.

Bankers warn borrowers who borrow money against jewellery may be asked to provide more collateral or make premature payment of their loans should there be a sharp fall in gold prices so that the loan-to-value is maintained at 60 per cent.

Mumbai, March 23
Jewellery sellers lost out on the opportunity to make large sales on the Gudi Padwa festival, considered to be an auspicious day to buy gold, due to a strike called to protest duty raises in last week's budget.

India, the world's biggest buyer of bullion, celebrates Gudi Padwa, or Ugadi as it is known in some states, on Friday, which marks the end of the harvesting season.

"We’re missing sales on this festival day... since it has been declared as a strike everywhere, even customers are not coming in," said Kumar Jain, vice-president of the Mumbai Jewellers' Association.

Gold prices stayed flat, while silver edged higher, tracking a rise in copper. Gold for April delivery on the MCX was steady at Rs 27,910 per 10 grams. Silver for May delivery was up 0.27% higher at Rs 56,456 rupees per kg. — Reuters