New Delhi, December 12
In a double whammy for the struggling economy, consumer inflation jumped to a nine-month high at 11.24% on the back of costlier vegetables in November and industrial production contracted after a gap of three months by 1.8% in October.

The twin set of data brought grim news for the economy as inflation has soared while the recovery in the economy remains tentative. Analysts are pointing to a rate hike by the RBI in its monetary policy next week due to the high inflation figure.

A jump in prices of fruits and vegetables such as onions and tomatoes pushed the retail inflation to 11.24% in November.

Industrial production entered the negative territory after three months, contracting by 1.8% in October this year mainly due to poor performance of the manufacturing sector. Vegetable prices rose 61.6% in November from a year earlier, compared with a 45.67% increase in the previous month. Analysts said the inflation number will lead to a rate hike which may further increase the burden on consumers. Aditi Nayar, senior economist, ICRA, said “The sharp uptick in retail inflation has significantly raised the likelihood of a repo rate hike in December 2013, despite the contraction of industrial output in October 2013 and easing growth of merchandise exports in November 2013.”

Industry said the industrial growth numbers have put hopes of a recovery in the economy in doubt. Chandrajit Banerjee, Director-General, CII, said the negative growth in industrial performance is disappointing.

Assocham said the economic picture is quite grim and calls for urgent policy intervention. It said with industrial production declining instead of growing and retail inflation staying above 11%, India’s macro-economic picture looks quite grim at this point of time.

“The manufacturing and mining sector are in a shambles while further disaggregation of IIP data portrays a sorry state of affairs. Industry after industry is showing sizeable de-growth thereby signalling the possibility of job losses”, said DS Rawat, secretary-general, Assocham.

Mumbai, December 12
A consortium of 14 banks led by the State Bank of India has cleared yet another hurdle to take possession of properties belonging to the nearly defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

As per sources, the Karnataka High Court earlier this week dismissed a petition by the airline challenging the move by the banks to take possession of the landmark Kingfisher House near the Mumbai airport. The airline's headquarters were first located here before being moved elsewhere.

The Karnataka High Court had earlier stayed an order by a Mumbai court to take possession of the building under Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act (Sarfaesi Act).

The banks have valued the building located at Andheri near the international airport at Rs 93 crore. According to sources in the real estate trade, the 52,350 sq ft property may be re-developed into a commercial centre. Several prominent builders are in the race for the property, according to sources.

The banks have an exposure of more than Rs 7,000 crore to the troubled airline. So far, lenders have sold off part of the shares pledged as collateral.

New Delhi, December 12
The direct selling industry grew by more than 12% in 2012-13 to achieve revenues of Rs 7,164 crore.

Indian Direct Selling Association (IDSA) in association with PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry released Annual Survey Report 2012-13 on the industry today.

Chavi Hemanth, secretary-general, IDSA, said the industry continues to develop and has shown growth of 12% during 2012-13, expanding from Rs 6,385 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 7,164 crore in 2012-13.

She said the industry will continue to grow at an annual average of more than 20% for the next three years. On account of regulatory hurdles, specifically in Kerala, the southern region’s share in sales revenue has reduced to 30% in 2012-13 from 38% in 2011-12.

According to the survey, the industry is expected to attain a turnover of Rs 34,000 crore by 2019-20. The average turnover of the northern region reached at 27% in 2012-13 from 20% in 2011-12.

The growth of total distributor base reported a 18.9% growth in 2012-13 over 2011-12 with total 60 lakh distributors.

Saurabh Sanyal, executive director, PHD Chamber, said the Direct Selling Industry is a rapidly emerging and boosting self-employment opportunities, encouraging women empowerment and holds immense importance to the overall economic system.

Amarnath Sengupta, chairman, IDSA, said for self-employment opportunities, approximately 60 lakh distributors in India were associated with direct selling companies in India.

He said out of these distributors, women constitute 60% of total sales force.

New Delhi, December 12
The Delhi High Court on Thursday accepted an appeal by Nokia to release its local factory after it was seized by authorities in a tax dispute, removing a hurdle to the sale of the company's mobile phone business to Microsoft.

The plant in the southern city of Chennai is one of Nokia's biggest phone-making factories. Nokia had appealed the seizure and was scrambling to end the dispute ahead of the closure of the 5.4 billion euro ($7.4 billion) Microsoft deal.

The Delhi HC asked the Finnish company to deposit Rs 2,250 crore in an escrow account as a condition for lifting the freeze and transferring the facility to Microsoft.

The tax demand case will continue separately. If Nokia loses, it may have to pay as much as $3.4 billion, which includes penalties for non-payment of tax and interest, according to a tax department lawyer. — Reuters

New Delhi, December 12
Aiming to simplify its operations, world's largest steel maker ArcelorMittal has reorganised its top management structure, vesting more responsibilities with group CFO Aditya Mittal who has also been designated as CEO of Europe operations.

The restructuring, however, leaves India operations untouched with Sudhir Maheshwari’s responsibilities remaining the same as CEO of India and China and Head of M&A, Finance and Risk Management.

"Management of the business will be re-organised... with the following Group Management Board (GMB) responsibilities: Flat Carbon Europe, Long Carbon Europe and distribution solutions will report to Aditya Mittal as CEO of ArcelorMittal Europe. He will remain CFO of ArcelorMittal," it said.

Flat Carbon Americas and Long Carbon Americas will report to Lou Schorsch as CEO of ArcelorMittal Americas. — PTI

New Delhi, December 12
India and the UAE today signed a Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA), which is expected to substantially boost the Gulf nation’s investment in India.

The accord was signed following a meeting between visiting Foreign Minister of UAE, Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan and External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid. The agreement is being considered a landmark pact which would change the future of UAE’s investments coming into India. While UAE and India are each others’ largest trading partners with a total bilateral trade to the tune of about $75 billion, investments have not kept pace.

UAE investments in India have been hovering just over the $3 billion mark.

Sources said the BIPPA with the UAE has been worked out as an exception to the norm of India to freeze all BIPPA agreements until a new template is in place. UAE controls the second largest Sovereign Wealth Fund in the world under the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

With the signing of the India-UAE BIPPA, India now has such agreements with all GCC countries which also opens up possibilities of pursuing India-GCC Free Trade Agreement which has been on the backburner so far.

New Delhi, December 12
The State Bank of India today fixed an issue price of Rs 1,782.74 a share for a preferential stock allotment to the government to raise Rs 2,000 crore.

The executive committee of the Central Board of the bank gave its nod for the issue price for each share with a face value of Rs 10, including a premium of Rs 1,772.74, SBI said. — PTI

New Delhi, December 12
The Oil Ministry has given freedom to firms, including Reliance Industries (RIL) and GAIL, to fix the marketing margin they want to charge on sale of natural gas to consumers other than urea manufacturing units and LPG plants.

The ministry, which has been for the past two years grappling with the issue of marketing margin charged by gas producers and sellers like RIL and GAIL, last month ordered that the margin to be charged over and above the gas sale price be fixed between seller and buyers in sectors other than urea and LPG. — PTI

New Delhi, December 12
Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Jio Infocomm could start its service soon with the Department of Telecom (DoT) reserving numbers for the company.

Reports emerging from the Telecom Ministry said the DoT has issued 2.2 crore numbers to Reliance Jio Infocomm which would help it launch its 4G services earlier than expected.

The news of RJIL being given the numbers comes days after the company signed a pact with Bharti Airtel for the sharing of their infrastructure across the country. RJIL has Unified Licence which allows it to provide mobile phone services as well. It is the only company that has pan-India broadband wireless access spectrum that can be used for 4G services.

Under the agreement, RJIL in future can also have access to 2G and 3G airwaves held by Airtel.

Airtel, on the other hand, can access the former's 4G spectrum in areas where it does not hold these airwaves.

Airtel at present has 4G spectrum in 8 services areas and provides these high-speed services in six cities while RJIL is yet to launch its services.

The deal not only reflects the future of the telecom sector, which could see mergers and acquisitions in the near future with the government having already cleared the new norms, but it also reflects that only a few players would eventually remain as serious contenders and hold the sector.

Looking to launch its services, including voice calls soon, Reliance Jio desperately needs infrastructure to provide services.

Reliance Jio has already tied up with RCom, owned by Anil Ambani.

BRIEFLY

Rupee falls 58 paise to 61.83 against dollar
Mumbai: Weak local stocks and sustained dollar demand from importers led the rupee to its biggest fall in a month on Thursday, closing 58 paise lower at 61.83 against the US currency. Renewed fears of the US Federal Reserve tapering its stimulus programme earlier than expected and a firm dollar overseas also weighed on the rupee, a forex dealer said. — PTI

Will support Nilekani if he fights elections: CII chief
New Delhi: Infosys vice-chairman and CII president S Gopalakrishnan said on Thursday he will support Nandan Nilekani if his former colleague decides to fight elections. Media reports recently spoke of the possibility of Nilekani as a wild card entry to political arena as the Prime Ministerial candidate of Congress in the next general elections. — PTI

Max Life Insurance launches new products
Mumbai: Max Life Insurance has launched two new products — ‘Life Perfect Partner Super’ and ‘Max Life Whole Life Super’. Life Perfect Partner is a simple, affordable yet powerful solution towards a secure and risk-free retirement planning. Whole Life Super plan offers protection till 100 years of age and increasing death benefit throughout the policy term through accumulated bonuses. — PTI

Volkswagen to increase prices from January
New Delhi: German car-maker Volkswagen said on Thursday it will increase its vehicle prices by up to 2.5% in India from January 1 in order to offset impact of high input costs. Volkswagen Passenger Cars MD Arvind Saxena said: "We have been faced with constant rise in input cost over the past several months and have tried our best to absorb it. However, in order to maintain our quality standards that our customer expects from us, we have had to increase the price by a small percentage." — PTI