New Delhi, September 12
India's industrial production barely grew in July, hurt by weak investment that has become the beleaguered government's primary concern as it scrambles to revive a flagging economy with little help likely from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in the short-term.

The data, released by the Central Statistics Office on Wednesday, showed output at factories, mines and utilities grew an annual 0.1 per cent. Capital goods output, seen as a key indicator of future investment, slumped 5%.

The pace of industrial expansion was slower than a forecast of 0.3% growth in a Reuters poll. In June, the output contracted 1.8%.

With no help from the central bank in sight, the government is asking cash-rich state-run firms to invest in the economy. The finance minister, P. Chidambaram, on Wednesday held meetings with the heads of those firms to identify measures that will help boost their capital spending.

P Chidambaram said the central government is intensively engaged with industry on the constraints that affect industrial production and will continue its efforts to find practical solutions to the problems. He said these IIP estimates reveal that the performance of the economy continues to be disappointing.

The data was more evidence that the problems afflicting Asia's third largest economy are far from over. The GDP has grown 5.5 per cent or less in the last two quarters, a far cry from the 7-8 per cent growth seen in the preceding period.

With growth faltering, Indian firms are pleading with the central bank to lower lending rates, which are among the highest in major economies. But the central bank is loath to lower rates unless inflation comes down and the fiscal deficit is tackled.

Dipen Shah, head of a private client group research, Kotak Securities said, “Apart from the slowdown in the capital goods (investments), the consumer goods have showed moderate growth. This is an alarming sign for an economy because the consumption has been the only driving force for the economic growth over the past few months. 

New Delhi, September 12
The BSE Sensex today scaled the 18,000 mark after a gap of six months as a weak industrial production number drove hopes of an interest rate cut as early as Monday and sentiments were further buoyed by global cues as a German court ruling endorsed the European Union bailout plan.

International factors like the QE3 plan by the Federal Reserve of the US and the European crisis have been weighing on the Indian markets as liquidity has been driving markets higher in the past few days even as domestic economic indicators have continued to be weak.

The markets rose for the sixth straight day and the benchmark, BSE Sensex jumped 147 points to close above 18,000 level for the first time since March 14 this year.

There was buying in interest rate sensitives like metals, autos and capital goods and the main gainers included Apollo Tyres, Tata Motors, Jindal Steel, Coal India, Jet Airways, Pantaloon Retail among others. Aviation stocks were up on hopes that FDI would be allowed soon.

In a note, brokerage, Nirmal Bang Securities said that Indian markets ended up 0.80% today tracking positive global cues. The Germany's Constitutional Court has given the green light for Germany's president to sign the European Stability Mechanism. That takes away the danger of the bailout fund in Europe being blocked, the report said.

The Bank of America Merrill Lynch in a report said that with July industrial growth, at a weak 0.1% today, came in line with muted expectations. "With growth set to slow below the RBI's 6.5% forecast, we expect a 25 basis points CRR cut in Monday's policy to soften lending rates", it said.

Industry body, Ficci said that given the slowdown there is a strong case for RBI to cut down interest rates further at least by another 50 basis points immediately.

HSBC cuts Indian stocks to underweight from neutral

HSBC downgraded Indian stocks to "underweight" from "neutral", citing the government's lack of progress in fiscal or structural reform, little chance of positive surprises from corporate earnings and valuations more expensive than regional peers. The action stands in contrast to upgrades for Indian equities from foreign banks such as UBS, Deutsche Bank and J.P. Morgan earlier this year, although more recently a handful of brokerages have cut their economic growth forecasts. "If no concrete measures are taken (by the government) in the near term it could adversely affect the investment climate," HSBC said in a note on Wednesday. — Reuters

San Francisco, Sept 12
Amidst much anticipation, Apple unveiled the much awaited iPhone 5 at its September 12 event on Wednesday. The new iPhone will be made entirely of glass and aluminum, said Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller. The iPhone 5 will be 18% thinner than its previous model Apple iPhone 4S.

"iPhone 5 is the world's thinnest smartphone," Schiller said. It is also 20% lighter than iPhone 4S. It will come with a larger 4-inch screen. Apple iPhone 5 features a retina display and the screen will have a 1136 x 640 screen resolution, with a 16:9 aspect ratio.

"It is an absolute jewel. The software and engineering that went into this product is the most challenging our team has ever taken on," Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller told a packed launch event in San Francisco.

The event began with Apple's CEO Tim Cook taking centre stage. "We've got some really cool stuff to show you," he said. Cook said that Apple has sold 7 million iPads in the last quarter, which he claimed is more than any PC manufacturer. He also said that Apple customers have already downloaded 7 million copies of Mountain Lion.

Cook announced the opening of an Apple store in the 13th country on Friday.

The iPhone 5 is actually the sixth iPhone model. Apple's debut of its redesigned iPhone will test anew its high-stakes strategy of once-a-year upgrades for a product that accounts for about 70% of the company's profits. Almost one year removed from the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, the newest iPhone faces a growing army of competitors looking to grab a piece of a smartphone market.

iPhone sales also are what investors watch the most closely. Apple's shares fell in July after the company reported disappointing sales of the handset . The shares have since recovered ahead of the new iPhone release, gaining 64% so far this year. — Agencies

New Delhi, September 12
India's largest private sector enterprise Reliance Industries Ltd plans to drill one gas well and convert two sick oil wells into gas wells on the MA oilfield in the predominately gas-rich KG-D6 block as part of its attempts to boost gas production.

The company has so far drilled six wells on the MA oilfield, the only oil discovery among the 19 oil and gas finds the company had made in the eastern offshore KG-DWN-98/3 or KG-D6 block.

Besides producing oil, the field also produces natural gas. But the closure of two out of the six wells due to high water and sand ingress has led to drop in output from over 8 million standard cubic meters per day three years ago to 5.53 mmscmd this month.

To address the problem, RIL and its partner BP Plc of UK submitted a Revised Field Development Plan for the MA oilfield in February this year, sources said.

Sources futher sais, In the plan, it has scaled down the investment required for developing the MA oilfield by $276 million to $1.96 billion. — PTI

New Delhi, September 12
The engineering and construction firm Larsen and Toubro (L&T) on Wednesday said it has won new contracts worth over Rs 1,065 crore across various segments including water supply schemes in Gujarat.

"The L&T Construction has won new orders valued over Rs 1,065 crore across various business segments in September 2012," the company said in a statement.

In the water and effluent treatment business unit, the firm has secured new orders worth Rs 793 crore, it said, adding that two of the major engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts were secured from the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation.

The contracts pertain to water supply schemes for the petroleum, chemicals, petrochemicals investment region (PCPIR) at Dahej and the scope of work includes construction of pump houses along with electro mechanical and instrumentation works, the company said. Besides, the company has also secured a new order for RO-based seawater desalination plant in southern part of the country, it said.

The company's power transmission & distribution IC has secured new orders worth Rs 122 crore from the Power Grid Corporation for supply, erection, testing and commissioning of substation extension packages at Thiruvalam, Kurnool, Hosur, Nellore, Vijayawada, it added.

It has also secured additional orders worth Rs 150 crore from various ongoing projects across business units.

The firm is a USD 12.8 billion technology, engineering, construction, manufacturing and financial services conglomerate, with global operations. — PTI

New Delhi, September 12
Worried over declining growth of manufacturing, the Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma has called a high level meeting of central ministries, state government officials as well as industry representatives on Thursday to chalk out a strategy for reviving the sector.

The meeting will discuss steps to regain momentum in manufacturing and land acquisition, a member secretary of the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) Ajay Shankar said.

"Besides declining industrial production, other major things to be discussed in the meeting include measures for regaining growth momentum in manufacturing, challenges relating to MSMEs and employment intensive sectors like textiles," he said. The meeting will also deliberate on strategies and processes for reaching 12-14 per cent growth rates in manufacturing as envisaged in the national manufacturing policy (NMP), Shankar said. 

Chandigarh, September 12
Haryana has got an investment of about Rs 61,000 crore including, foreign direct investment of Rs 9,629 crore, since 2005 for the industrial development, and an investment of Rs 97,000 crore is in pipeline. This aptly reflects the state government's industry-friendly policy and congenial atmosphere created for growth of the industrial sector.

This information was provided in a review meeting of the Industries and Commerce Department presided over by the Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, here today.

It was apprised during the meeting that Haryana is a leading producer of cranes, excavators, passenger cars, motorcycles and tractors in the country. It is also a leading state in terms of IT export which has touched Rs 23,000 crore-mark. Exports from the state had crossed Rs 48,500 crore in 2010-11. The state had also rich industrial base having 1,359 large and medium units and about 82,000 small scale units. Gurgaon accounts for four per cent of the world IT- BPO manpower.

Making a detailed presentation, the principal secretary industries, Y S Malik said about 22,000 acres of land had been acquired so far for the industrial infrastructure development since 2005 and another about 12, 000 acres was under acquisition.

Emphasising the need for an increase in the number of industrial clusters in the state for facilitating the growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), Hooda directed to develop more industrial clusters in the state. On this, Malik stated three cluster projects had been sanctioned for Karnal, Panipat and Bahadurgarh and two more clusters were expected to be sanctioned in 2012.

The chief secretary, PK Chaudhery, highlighted the need for these clusters to come up with technology upgradation facilities and he advised to enlist UNIDO support for the same.

Hooda directed officials concerned to enhance the scope of Haryana Khadi and Village Industries Boardso as to make it more viable and to impart professional training to the officials of the industries department as part of capacity building initiatives so that they could match the expectations in the current economic environment.

Bangalore, September 12
Leading IT company Wipro Infotech on Wednesday announced a long term strategic partnership with Qatar Airways, which will leverage competencies of both organisations to create greater value and more efficiency for the global airline.

This strategic relationship will bring together Wipro's experience of application development and project management and Qatar Airways' aviation systems' expertise to develop new solutions that create competitive advantage for the Qatar Airways.

In the airline market, technology plays a key role in getting a better market share. The solutions jointly developed within this partnership will enable Qatar Airways and its subsidiaries to pursue their aggressive growth strategies.Commenting on the deal, Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said, "We are delighted to work with an industry leader that Wipro is. Wipro will work with us to build new aviation IT solutions to meet our business needs in a fast-moving environment."