B U S I N E S S

India’s growth story is work in progress, still long way to go: PM
New Delhi, April 30
In his last interaction with the Planning Commission, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India's growth story is work in progress and sought to make a case for the plan panel to reinvent itself in tune with new challenges.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia during a plan panel meet in New Delhi on Wednesday. A tribune photograph

India became third largest economy in 2011
Washington, April 30
In a matter of six years, India emerged as the world’s third-largest economy in 2011 from being the 10th largest in 2005, moving ahead of Japan, while the US remained the largest economy closely followed by China, latest figures have revealed.

HC puts Sun Pharma, Ranbaxy deal on hold
Hyderabad, April 30
A court has temporarily halted generic drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd's $3.2 billion takeover of rival Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd until it decides on a petition for a probe into alleged insider trading.

Airtel to cut discounts on call rates
New Delhi, April 30
The country’s largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel today said it would continue to cut back on discounts and freebies on call rates and might look at raising headline tariffs (base call rates) in the coming months in a bid to improve its revenues.

Core sector output grew 2.5% in March
New Delhi, April 30
The core sector growth slowed to 2.5 per cent in March from 7 per cent in the same month a year ago as the output of crude oil, natural gas and fertilisers declined. The eight core industries -— fertiliser, cement, steel, electricity, crude oil, coal, petroleum refinery products and natural gas — have a combined weight of about 38 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

India’s growth story is work in progress, still long way to go: PM
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 30
In his last interaction with the Planning Commission, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India's growth story is work in progress and sought to make a case for the plan panel to reinvent itself in tune with new challenges. The Prime Minister, who is also the chairman of the Planning Commission, recalled his long association with the body since 1980 when he became the member secretary.

In his farewell speech to the Planning Commission, Singh talked about the evolving role of the panel over the years. He said resource support being given to plans had increased many times, but posed a question on the efficiency of its usage. "I sometimes wonder at the massive expansion in resources and the impact that this could have if used efficiently."

Singh said India's development story is a work in progress. "The Planning Commission has played a historic role in this story so far, but there is a lot of distance that is still to be covered," he said.

The PM made a case for reflecting on the role of the panel in the new world given the change in the structure of the economy and the role of the state in the economy.

"With an increasingly open and liberalised economy and with a greater reliance on market mechanisms, we need to reflect on what the role of the Planning Commission needs to be in this new world. What additional roles should the Planning Commission play and what capacities does it build to ensure that it continues to be relevant to the growth process?,” Singh said.

Expressing satisfaction over the working of the commission during the UP’'s 10-year rule, he hoped that the panel would “subject itself to a critical review and would continue to play a leading role in the policy debate in the government and in the development of our nation.”

‘Growth prospects depend on new govt's policies’

Speaking after the meeting, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said growth prospects of the Indian economy would depend on the policies of the new government to be formed next month.

“The economy can move up, depending upon the policies you follow. In the current (financial) year 2014-15, everybody expects that the economy will get better, but that depends on the policies the new government follows,” he said.

Regarding the revision of annual average growth target of 8 per cent for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), he said the decision would be taken by the new Planning Commission which would be constituted after the Lok Sabha elections.

Ahluwalia said the commission had already started the work on mid-term appraisal (MTA) of the 12th Plan so that the newly formed commission could take it forward. The Planning Commission is expected to come out with the MTA by October.

India became third largest economy in 2011
It was at No. 10 in 2005; US and China retained top two spots

Washington, April 30
In a matter of six years, India emerged as the world’s third-largest economy in 2011 from being the 10th largest in 2005, moving ahead of Japan, while the US remained the largest economy closely followed by China, latest figures have revealed.

“The economies of Japan and the UK became smaller relative to the US, while Germany increased slightly and France and Italy remained the same,” according to the data released today by the International Comparison Programme (ICP), hosted by the Development Data Group at the World Bank Group.

“The relative rankings of the three Asian economies — China, India, and Indonesia — to the US doubled, while Brazil, Mexico and Russia increased by one-third or more,” the report said.

The world produced goods and services worth over $90 trillion in 2011 and that almost half of the total output came from low and middle-income countries, it said.

According to the major findings of the ICP, six of the world’s 12 largest economies were in the middle-income category (based on the World Bank’s definition). When combined, the 12 largest economies accounted for two-thirds of the world economy and 59% of the population, it said. The purchasing power parities (PPPs)-based world GDP amounted to $90,647 billion, compared with $70,294 billion measured by exchange rates, it said, adding that the share of middle-income economies in global GDP is 48 per cent when using PPPs and 32% when using exchange rates.

The six largest middle-income economies — China, India, Russia, Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico - account for 32.3 per cent of world GDP, whereas the six largest high-income economies — US, Japan, Germany, France, UK and Italy — account for 32.9%, the report said.

Asia and the Pacific, including China and India, account for 30% of world GDP, Eurostat-OECD 54%, Latin America 5.5% (excluding Mexico, which participates in the OECD and Argentina, which did not participate in the ICP 2011), Africa and Western Asia about 4.5% each.

“China and India make up two-thirds of the Asia and the Pacific economy, excluding Japan and South Korea, which are part of the OECD comparison. Russia accounts for over 70% of the CIS, and Brazil for 56% of Latin America. South Africa, Egypt, and Nigeria account for about half of the African economy," said the report. — PTI

HC puts Sun Pharma, Ranbaxy deal on hold

Hyderabad, April 30
A court has temporarily halted generic drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd's $3.2 billion takeover of rival Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd until it decides on a petition for a probe into alleged insider trading.

Last week, two individuals filed the petition in the Andhra Pradesh High Court, requesting the court ask the market regulator and the two main stock exchanges to halt the deal and order the probe. A copy of the petition was seen by Reuters on Wednesday. The court then ordered an “interim status quo” on the deal and asked all involved companies, the regulator, and the stock exchanges for details, according to an order dated April 25 and seen by Reuters on the court’s website.

Ranbaxy shares jumped 24% and trading volume tripled in three sessions ahead of the companies’ announcement that Sun Pharma would buy the loss-making company from Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo Ltd.

The Indian market regulator said this month it was seeking information from Ranbaxy and Sun Pharma on the transaction and would ask for stock exchange trading data after receiving “multiple complaints”.

Sun Pharma said in a statement the company had not received any communication related to the court order. It also said it had not violated any rules. “The matter related to purchase of shares of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd does not violate insider trading rules,” Sun said, adding it would take “appropriate action” on the petition as advised by its lawyers.

Ranbaxy did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment. A spokesman for SEBI said they had not received the court order and declined to comment further. — Reuters

Airtel to cut discounts on call rates
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 30
The country’s largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel today said it would continue to cut back on discounts and freebies on call rates and might look at raising headline tariffs (base call rates) in the coming months in a bid to improve its revenues.

Bharti Airtel’s managing director & CEO (India & South Asia) Gopal Vittal said, “Our consistent strategy is to cut discounted minutes on almost every opportunity as we continue to focus on raising net realisation. We will deter to touch headline tariff, but at some point there may be some opportunity to raise headline tariffs.”

The move is essentially to manage realisation, which determines profitability, while input cost is rising.

Bharti Airtel has been increasing tariffs for both voice and data in wireless and wireline services under certain schemes by consistently cutting down freebies for the last four quarters.

Industry watchers said with the Indian telecom market headed for consolidation with mergers and acquisition in line and these were the first signs towards cartelisation where operators would go ahead and raise tariffs and other charges.

The telecom market in India is “brutally competitive” and going forward, consolidation is bound to take place, the Bharti Airtel CEO said.

Core sector output grew 2.5% in March

New Delhi, April 30
The core sector growth slowed to 2.5 per cent in March from 7 per cent in the same month a year ago as the output of crude oil, natural gas and fertilisers declined.

The eight core industries — fertiliser, cement, steel, electricity, crude oil, coal, petroleum refinery products and natural gas — have a combined weight of about 38 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

For 2013-14, the core sector growth slowed to 2.6 per cent — the lowest in almost a decade — from 6.5 per cent in 2012-13, according to the data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

In March, crude oil, natural gas and fertiliser output fell 1.6 per cent, 9.3 per cent and 6.1 per cent, respectively. Growth in the production of coal, petroleum refinery products and steel slowed to 0.7 per cent, 2.8 per cent and 5.4 per cent in March as against 1.7 per cent, 24.3 per cent and 11.6 per cent a year earlier, respectively.

The cement output was unchanged in March. Only electricity generation increased to 5.4 per cent from 3.5 per cent in March 2013. In January and February, the eight sectors grew by 1.6 per cent and 4.5 per cent, respectively. — PTI