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Industry hails RBI move, but rate hike fears loom
Govt to set up textile parks at Sirsa, Rohtak
Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar tries his hand on a machine while inaugurating a ATDC vocational centre at Phoolka in Sirsa on Wednesday. A Tribune photograph |
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HDFC questions Punjab’s criteria for ranking banks
Coal block allocated to Jindal Steel cancelled
Nilekani couple donates Rs 50 crore to NCAER Sony launches PS4 at Rs 39,990 in India
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Industry hails RBI move, but rate hike fears loom
New Delhi, December 18 RBI today surprised the markets by leaving key policy rates unchanged, notwithstanding persistent high inflationary pressure After releasing the quarterly monetary policy review in Mumbai today, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said: "Given the weak state of economy, the inadvisability of overly reactive policy action, as well as the long lags with which monetary policy works, there is merit in waiting for more data to reduce uncertainty." Industry body CII said RBI has demonstrated restraint and foresight to strike the right balance between inflation and growth. Assocham today congratulated RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan for not being over-reactive to the noise of headline inflation and his forward reading of the situation that suggests that food and vegetable prices are softening and there was no merit in further punishing growth. Banks have also welcomed the RBI move to keep interest rates at status quo. Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank, said the decision to keep the policy rates unchanged is welcome in view of continued risks to growth and keeping in mind the possibility of softening food inflation and the lagged effect of earlier rate increases. The policy also recognises the improvement in India’s external balances, while acknowledging the risks of tapering by the US Federal Reserve, she said. Real estate developers also hailed RBI’s decision to not raise the key policy rates, saying the bold move by the apex bank would infuse positive sentiments in the property market. Anil Kumar Sharma, president, CREDAI-NCR by keeping the policy rates unchanged, the RBI has surprised both the experts and industry players. The bold move by the RBI has infused positive sentiments in not only real estate sector but also other sectors of economy. Relief for India Inc
The RBI has demonstrated restraint and foresight to strike the right balance between inflation and growth.
— Chandrajit Banerjee, Director-General, CII We are happy that RBI has taken cognisance of the weak state of the industrial economy and hope that the next move will be in the direction of lowering of policy rates. At this juncture, we certainly need to push all buttons to safeguard growth and revive investor sentiment.
— Naina Lal Kidwai, FICCI President There is a strong case for banks to cut lending rates in the wake of ample liquidity in the system. They are sitting on big cash which should be finding ways into productive
investments.
— Rana Kapoor, Assocham President Calibrated policy stance by the RBI is inspiring in the wake of volatile global economic environment and vulnerabilities on the domestic front.
— Suman Jyoti Khaitan, phd chamber president
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Govt to set up textile parks at Sirsa, Rohtak
Sirsa, December 18 The textile park will provide infrastructural facilities for setting up textile units of international standards. Sirsa is one of the biggest producers of cotton in Haryana with almost half of the state’s cotton grown in this parliamentary constituency. Though Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan have almost equal production of cotton, it was 17, 16 and 15 lakh bales, respectively, in 2011-12. Rajasthan has nine textile parks, Punjab has three but Haryana doesn’t have a single textile park at present. Tanwar said the textile park, once set up, would provide employment opportunities for hundreds of youths in Sirsa. The institute has a total intake capacity of 90 men and women — 30 each for apparel manufacturing technology, fashion designing technology and production supervisor. |
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HDFC questions Punjab’s criteria for ranking banks
Chandigarh, December 18 In the latest review of banks, the Punjab Government has ranked Punjab State Cooperative Bank on top, followed by Malwa Grameen Bank. Since this ranking could adversely affect the government business that comes to the bank, HDFC Bank will take up the “arbitrary ranking of banks” with the state government. “We have learnt that based on the criteria that 10% of our lending (under Priority Sector Lending) was not for the weaker sections, we have been excluded from the list of banks recommended for doing government business. This criterion was not there initially,” said Gobind Panday, Head, North India, HDFC Bank. The bank has a government business of over Rs 1,000 crore in Punjab. Talking to mediapersons on the sidelines of a conference to announce the opening of the bank’s 400th branch at Jhanjheri in Punjab, Panday said they will write to the Punjab Government and ask them to form a committee to devise a broad-based system of ranking banks. “The cooperative banks, which have very few branches, should be ranked separately than the commercial banks, which have a far bigger outreach,” he said. The total business of HDFC Bank in Punjab is over Rs 21,000 crore, with deposits of Rs 11,210 crore and advances of Rs 10,534 crore. Of the total advances, 58% (Rs 6,135 crore) is in the priority sector lending. “In the first six months of this fiscal, the growth in deposits is Rs 494 crore and in advances, it is Rs 1,800 crore. The fresh lending in agriculture sector this year is Rs 584 crore,” he said. Panday said the bank now had a focus in the rural areas and they have 204 branches in this segment. “In the past 18 months, the bank has opened 184 branches — all in rural and semi-urban areas. We have opened 60 branches in those villages which have a population of less than 2,000,” he added. |
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Coal block allocated to Jindal Steel cancelled
New Delhi, December 18 Both the actions came as a result of the recommendations made by the Inter Ministerial Group (IMG) on coal, which while directing the Coal Ministry to seek a show-cause notice from Adani Power Ltd for not developing the Lohara West and Lohara Extn (E) coal block, asked the ministry to deallocate the Urtan North coal block to Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) and Monnet Ispat & Energy Ltd. The Urtan North coal block, located in Madhya Pradesh, was allocated to the companies in October 2009 to fire their sponge iron plants. The IMG had issued show-cause notices to the companies in June this year, seeking their explanation for the reason in delay for developing the coal block. The company representatives made a presentation in front of the IMG in October but failed to cut ice. “The recommendation of the IMG has been considered and approved by the government. It has been decided to de-allocate the block,” the ministry said in a letter sent to the two companies. The companies have so far invested Rs 11.6 crore in the block. However, additional investments of Rs 6,283 crore have been made by Monnet and Rs 3,416 crore by JSPL in the end-use projects. |
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While the industry may have heaved a sigh of relief with a pause in interest rate hikes, analysts have warned that the possibility of a hike next month is on the table.
Crisil Research said consumer inflation, even excluding fruits and vegetables, however, continues to remain high at over 8%. “Therefore, the possibility of rate hikes during the remainder of the fiscal cannot be ruled out. The RBI has indicated as much in today’s statement”, it said.
Rohtak. This was announced by Sirsa Member of Parliament Ashok Tanwar while inaugurating an Apparel Training and Design Centre (ATDC), a vocational institute of the ministry, at Phoolka village in
Sirsa.
