New Delhi, November 14
A steep increase in prices of vegetables and fuel price hikes have led to wholesale price inflation touching 7% in October, the highest in the past eight months.

Inflation has risen sharply in October as measured on the wholesale price index (WPI). It was 6.46% in the previous month. The rise in inflation is hurting household budgets which are already cramped due to the slowdown in the economy, which in turn is leading to lower income hikes and lesser jobs.

The high WPI inflation number comes after the October retail inflation increased to 10.1%, the highest in the past seven months.

The rate of price rise in food articles segment was at 18.19% in October. While inflation in the vegetable segment stood at 78.38% in October, the rate of price rise in onions continued to remain high at 278.21%.

Calling the WPI number as "uncomfortable", Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said the price situation will get corrected soon as it is seasonal.

The stock markets did not react to the bad inflation number and gained for the first time in eight days, advancing 205 points today on indications the US Fed will continue its stimulus programme.

Industry said the rise in inflation is disturbing and the economy seems to have slipped into a vicious cycle of high inflation and low growth. Assocham president Rana Kapoor said while increase in WPI inflation to 7% for October is a disturbing sign, the rise in 'build-up inflation' to 6% in the current financial year so far against 4.66% in the corresponding period last fiscal indicates that there is still pain ahead.

“Manufacturing inflation at 2.50% shows that the industry has been hit not only by slow consumer demand but also by its inability to pass on the rising raw material costs, as reflected in almost 15% increase in prices of primary articles to the customers. We seem to have been slipped in a vicious circle of high inflation and low growth”, he said.

Analysts said food and fuel items are causing the spike in inflation. Crisil Research said the rise in inflation in the recent months has been largely driven by inflation in primary articles and fuel. Inflation in food articles has averaged 13.1% during the first seven months of the fiscal compared to 9.5% during the same period last year. Rapidly rising prices of vegetables have been the prime driver of food inflation.

CII said the all round rise in prices indicates that food inflation is feeding into other segments of the economy and creating an economy-wide impact.

Further, with the rupee weakening once again, imported inflation may be a concern going ahead. Fuel inflation has remained over 10% since July 2013, according to industry body, Ficci.

Dhenkanal (Odisha), Nov 14
The CEO of Bhushan Steel Ltd and two other company executives were today arrested, a day after a worker was killed and 15 others were injured in a fire and explosion at the private steel plant in Dhenkanal district, the police said.

Besides BSL CEO Atulya Kumar Verma, blast furnace in charge Naveen Tyagi and operating head Meghpal Singh were arrested, Superintendent of Police Manoranjan Mohanty said.

They were arrested under Section 287 (negligent conduct with respect to machinery), Section 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), Section 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), Section 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder), Section 34 (acts done by several persons in the commission of offences) of the IPC besides Section 92 of the Factory Act.

On the basis of an inspection report of a four-member team of the Factory and Boiler Directorate, the district administration has sealed the new blast furnace area of the steel plant at Meramunduli.

"The police is guarding the accident site and the area is sealed. If there are other bodies, the police and fire officials will find out," District Collector Roopa Roshan Sahu said.

She said BSL authorities had not taken proper precautions and that they did not take permission from the state government before commissioning the blast furnace.

Three of the 11 injured undergoing treatment in Cuttack have been shifted to a private hospital as their condition turned critical, sources said.

State Labour Minister Bijayshree Routray said the government was taking all possible steps to ensure safety in the steel plant. — PTI 

New Delhi, November 14
Indian business optimism over recent quarters has dampened on the back of a tough economic outlook, yet 70% of Indian businesses are upbeat on economic outlook, a survey says.

According to audit and advisory firm Grant Thornton's International Business Report (IBR) Indian business optimism has averaged net 70% over the past four quarters, well below pre-crisis levels (97% in 2007) and down even on the 2009 figure (83%).

However, it remains well above the BRIC average (33%).

The survey noted the 2013 average investment expectations by companies stood at 43%, above the BRIC average (38%) but below the pre-crisis levels (56%).

Findings of the survey was substantiated by recent growth forecasts issued by the International Monetary Fund, which had warned that global expansion was being hampered by the slowdown in emerging economies like Brazil, China and India.

"Clearly businesses should not write off emerging economies in their search for growth as the fundamentals of these economies are still strong," Grant Thornton Partner India Leadership Team Harish HV said.

However, "BRICs and other frontier markets need to tackle issues such as rising inflation, operating environment for businesses and substandard infrastructure if they are to maintain the rapid growth we've seen in recent years and avoid the so-called 'middle income trap".

However, hiring plans of Indian businesses are bullish.

In the year 2013, net 68% of companies said they expect to add to their workforces, up from 64% in 2012 and well above the BRIC average (31%).

Moreover in India, net 64% of business leaders indicated an intention to raise prices in 2013 and 30% expect to raise worker salaries above the prevailing rate of inflation.

"This suggests a real danger of a 'wage price spiral' taking hold: a vicious cycle where salaries rise to meet price increases forcing businesses to raise prices further to maintain real profits and so on," the report added. — PTI

New Delhi, November 14
Sidharth Birla has become the president-elect of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Ficci) for the year 2014. Welcoming the announcement, Naina Lal Kidwai, president of Ficci, said " I have worked closely with Sid over the past two years and have no doubt that the industry body will benefit enormously from his leadership and continuing engagement at Ficci”.

He will assume the office of the Ficci president at the conclusion of the 86th Annual General Meeting on December 21.

He is a company director and entrepreneur with core business interests in manufacturing. He is chairman of Xpro India Limited — a polymers processing company. He is also the founder of Digjam Ltd. He has interests in financial sector and is a government nominee on the Central Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

New Delhi, November 14
Drug firm Venus Remedies today said it has received marketing authorisation from Italian authorities to sell its generic broad-spectrum antibiotic injectable 'meropenem' in the European country.

The company is planning to launch this product in Italy next year, Venus Remedies said.

"The total meropenem sales in Italy stood at around 50 million euros in 2012 and Venus Remedies is confident of bagging a 10% share in this market," Venus Remedies' CFO Dheeraj Aggarwal said.

Being an important member state of the European Union (EU), Italy has immense potential for meropenem, he added.

"This marketing authorisation offers a huge opportunity to Venus Remedies to expand its export base across the globe," Aggarwal said.

Last year, Venus had generated a business of around 5 million euro from meropenem exports to around 35 countries. "This figure is expected to double by the end of this year...the company is aiming to penetrate the meropenem markets of another 15 countries by the first quarter of 2014," the drug firm said.

Shares of Venus Remedies closed at Rs 200.55 apiece on the BSE, up 5.14% from their previous close. — PTI

New Delhi, November 14
The GSM subscriber base in the country rose marginally in October to reach 68.31 crore, with 43.4 lakh new users added during the month, industry body COAI said today.

The subscriber base was 67.88 crore at the end of September 2013, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said.

While Bharti Airtel added 14.8 lakh new users during the month, Vodafone added 11.5 lakh users and Idea Cellular added 11.4 lakh new subscribers in October. — PTI

New York, November 14
US financial services giant Goldman Sachs has promoted 280 executives, including at least 27 of Indian-origin, to the coveted position of managing director.

The new managing directors will assume their enhanced role at the investment banking firm with effect from January 1, 2014.

Last year, Goldman had promoted 266 people, including at least 16 of Indian origin as managing directors, while three others of Indian origin had been named as partners at the group.

Among the 27 persons of Indian origin being promoted as managing directors this year are Puneet Agarwal, Navtej Bhullar, Arun Dhar, Anil Grover, Sumedh Jaiswal, Gautam Khanna, Rohit Kumar, Piyush Mubayi, Kaushik Murali, Mohan Rajagopal, Anshul Sehgal, Sujay Telang and Kamakshya Trivedi.

The group announces a list of managing directors every year, while the list of partners is generally announced once in two years.

The managing director's position in the group is one rank below that of a partner.

The partners are also known at the group as participating managing directors. — PTI

New York, November 14
Smartphone maker BlackBerry said it has concluded the private placement of debentures worth $1 billion with Prem Watsa-led Fairfax Financial Holdings and other institutional investors.

The investors also have an option to purchase additional $250 million worth of debentures in 30 days.

The struggling Canadian handset maker had earlier this month scrapped a sale plan and said it would instead raise as much as $1.25 billion through convertible debentures, which it intends to use for general corporate purposes.

In a regulatory filing to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the handset maker company said: "It has completed the previously-announced $1 billion private placement of convertible debentures to Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd and other institutional investors." BMO Capital Markets acted as the sole bookrunner and sole placement agent for the private placement of the debentures, the filing, which was filed yesterday, it added.

"As previously announced, the investors have an option to purchase up to an additional $250 million principal amount of additional debentures within 30 days," the company said. — PTI

BRIEFLY

BMW rolls out new version of Z4
New Delhi: German luxury carmaker BMW on Thursday launched an updated version of Z4 model in India at Rs 68.90 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). Z4 is available as completely built-up unit, the German carmaker said, adding that the one with 'design pure traction pacakage' will cost about Rs 1 lakh more. — PTI

Videocon unveils 3G-Calling tablet
Chennai: Videocon Mobile Phones has launched 3G-calling tablet at Rs 8,999. Equipped with 7" display, the Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean) enabled VT85C tablet is powered by a dual-core Cortex A9 processor. It has a heavy duty 3,000 mAh battery, the company said. — PTI

Tata Motors’ sales down 12%
New Delhi: Tata Motors said on Thursday its global sales of vehicles declined by 11.70% to 88,881 units in October, compared to the year-ago period. The company had sold 1,00,660 units in the corresponding period of 2012. However, global sales of all passenger vehicles in October stood at 50,814 units, up 3.1% , from 49,264 in October 2012, the company said. — PTI

Gold rebounds
New Delhi: Gold prices moved up by Rs 220 to Rs 31,720 per 10 gram in the national capital on Thursday on marriage season demand amid a firm global trend. However, silver held steady at Rs 48,000 per kg on lack of buying support from industrial units. — PTI