New Delhi, August 31
The economy continues to be slow with the GDP growth data for the April-June quarter coming in at 5.5% but analysts point out consumption, the last bastion of the falling growth story is also crumbling now.

The figure, close to the lowest in three years compares badly to the 8% growth in the same period last year but was better than 5.3% in the last quarter. While construction showed an upswing, mining, manufacturing and agriculture showed weak growth.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram underlined the need to take quick decisions to accelerate investments, especially removing all bottlenecks to investments in the manufacturing sector.

Analysts said the consumption story is also slowing down, which is a matter of concern. Ajay Bodke, head, investment strategy & advisory, Prabhudas Lilladher, said both private consumption (lowest in the last 12 quarters) and gross fixed capital formation (among the lowest in the last few quarters) are showing alarming trends. He said the last and largest bastion of growth, i.e., private consumption, was finally crumbling and with no pickup in investments.

Observers say given the numbers and uncomfortable inflation, the RBi is unlikely to cut rates in its September policy. Dinesh Thakkar, chairman & MD of Angel Broking, said interest rate cuts are unlikely since upside risks to inflation continue to persist due to factors like structural supply-side constraints in agriculture, high MSP price increase for kharif crops, deficiency of rainfall in most parts of the country and the impending hike in electricity and diesel prices.

Industry is worried over the slowdown in investments and has urged the government to take quick measures. FICCI president R.V. Kanoria said the need of the hour is to push economic decision making to improve investment sentiment. “I’d like to emphasize many needed economic decisions can be taken on administrative basis without new legislation", he added.

There are also concerns that the situation may become bad and then retrieving it would be tough. CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee said the chamber strongly felt opportunities for revival of economic growth would soon peter off if the economy dives into a downward growth spiral due to steep decline in growth of gross capital formation.

TNS adds from Chandigarh: Abhishek Goenka, CEO of India Forex Advisors, said he expects the growth rate to slow down further to less than 5%. “The monsoon deficit’s impact on the farm sector and increased inflation will further delay any rate cuts. The absence of policy reforms and news on coal deals will make it difficult for the government to boost investments. The overall scenario looks bleak and we still target the rupee to rise to over 57 to a dollar in the medium term,” he said.

Lakhwinder Singh, coordinator, Centre for Development Economics, said the slow growth shows the economy is not responding to the policies formulated by the government. “They have used expansionary monetary policy, which has resulted in high degree of inflation”, he said.

New Delhi, August 31
Worried about the ill effects of radiation emitted from mobile phone towers on health, the government on Friday rolled out a new set of regulations that cellular operators would have to adhere to with immediate effect.

The government also framed new rules for the mobile handsets to ensure minimum radiation emission from them. Existing handsets would be allowed to coexist in the market only till September 1, 2013 after which they would have to be phased out. With these new norms, Indian standards will now be ten times more stringent than 90 per cent of the countries across the globe.

According to the new regulations, the limit for mobile phone tower radiation would be one-tenth of the existing exposure level for all towers in India. All new designs of mobile handsets will have to comply with the specific absorption rate (SAR) values of 1.6 W/kg averaged over one gram of human tissue. Earlier it was 2W/kg over 10 grams of human tissue. Manufacturers of the handsets would have to mention the radiation level on products which will enter markets from Saturday onwards.

Companies making handsets and the telecom operators have a year to ensure all handsets in the market comply with the new norms. This would mean that all handsets will display its exposure limit just like an IMEI number. Service providers will have to give self-certifications on these norms showing that they comply with the prescribed limit.

Addressing reporters here, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said any company found violating these guidelines would have to pay a penalty of Rs 5 lakh per tower. The telecom enforcement resource and monitoring cells would conduct random checks. He added 95 per cent of cellular towers presently installed in the country were complying with government norms. “Only five per cent of the mobile phone towers across the country would have to be replaced,” he said while adding that the towers would not be installed in any densely populated area. The minister said suitable amendments in the Indian Telegraph Rule under Indian Telegraph Act 1985 were being enacted in support of ensuring compliance of new SAR values for handsets.

Sibal said, “We have to be careful as a nation (as regards hazards owing to mobile phone radiation)”. Technology must be embraced but ultimately public health should not be compromised.” The government is also setting up a test laboratory in the telecom engineering centre (TEC) for testing of SAR value of mobile handsets.

According to the norms, a mobile handset booklet will contain safety precautions, including clear safety instructions like use a headset (wired or Bluetooth) to keep the handset away from your head, no not press the phone handset against your head. Radio Frequency (RF) energy is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source — being very close increases energy absorption much more, limit the length of mobile calls, etc. 

New Delhi, August 31
While the principal opposition party, the BJP has been taking the UPA government to task over its handling of the economy and price rise, a report of the standing committee on finance headed by senior BJP leader and former finance minister Yashwant Sinha seems to have endorsed most of the policy moves such as enhancing FDI, reducing subsidies, reviewing retrospective taxation, boosting divestment and increasing foreign inflows.

The report has noted with concern that there is a visible lack of sync between the fiscal and monetary policies being followed by the government and RBI. The report has noted that since monetary policy alone cannot bring down inflation or spur growth, it has asked the government to take fiscal measures.

The report on the “current economic situation & policy options” has been opposed by two of its members from Left parties, Gurudas Dasgupta of CPI and P. Rajeeve of CPI(M), who gave dissent notes.

Dasgupta in his dissent note said the report did not refer to the futility of the economic policies of the government in maintaining the prices of essential commodities including food articles. He added the present economic crisis was the result of the policies of “unguarded liberalization, failure to curb speculation in a situation of scarcity, galloping disparity of income and increasing unprecedented concentration of wealth in the hands of a few is the basic negative feature that has been overlooked by the committee”.

While criticizing the report for “being stereotyped and not searching for alternative options,” Dasgupta said: “In a situation of gloom and doom what’s required is massive investment government investment, even by incurring budget deficits that can turn around the economy”.

In his dissent note, P Rajeeve of CPI (M) said the report had failed to highlight the deep agrarian crisis that is likely to get aggravated by the poor monsoon. He also criticized the report for advocating more concessions to private investors “including fast track clearances and government support of the kind that underline the spectrum and coal scams”.

While opposing the recommendation to reduce diesel and LPG subsidies which would lead to further inflation, Rajeeve called for better tax mobilization to enhance revenues. For this he suggested cutting down on tax evasion, and curtailing huge tax concessions to the corporate sector.

Tokyo, August 31
Days after winning a stunning patent battle in a US Court, American software giant Apple faced a reverse when a Japanese court on Friday rejected its claim that its South Korean business rival Samsung stole its technology.

The Tokyo District Court in a significant ruling that could cause ripples in the Asian market ruled that Samsung Electronics had not infringed Apple's Smartphone and tablet computer, Kyodo reported.

The US maker of iPhone and iPad had demanded the South Korean technology giant pay damages of 100 million yen, claiming that some of Samsung's Galaxy smartphones and tablets infringe Apple's technology patent related to transfers of music and other data among portable devices.

"The defendant's products do not seem like they used the same technology as the plaintiff's products so we turn down the complaints made by [Apple]," Judge Tamotsu Shoji told the court.

Samsung has denied its rival's claims in a string of similar cases filed across the globe, hailed the Tokyo court's ruling. — PTI

New Delhi, August 31
Moving ahead with the latest industrial investment policy, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Friday listed out various factors to boost per capital investment in the state.

He also pitched for FDI in multibrand retail, saying it was in the interest of farmers as well as small-time traders.

"I’m always supporting FDI in retail because it’s in the interest of farmers as well as consumers, small traders and small scale entrepreneurs. I support it," he said.

“The state has good infrastructure and investment-friendly industrial policies. A foreign investment and NRI cell is in place to assist foreign investors,” Hooda said.

The state has witnessed a high economic growth despite the global economic meltdown and its average annual growth stands at 9.4%, much higher than the national average gauged at 8.4% in the past seven years.

“Since 2005 Haryana has attracted investments totaling Rs 61,000 crore with Rs 97,000 crore projects in the pipeline. It has more than 1,000 projects with technical and financial collaboration with several MNCs including Siemens, Suzuki, GE, Honda, Mitsubishi and IBM,” Hooda stated.