New Delhi, May 9
India’s exports grew by 5.26 per cent to $25.63 billion in April while imports dipped by 15 per cent.

Imports during the first month of the current financial year, 2014-15, stood at $35.72 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $10 billion, as per the data released today. The trade deficit in April last year was $17.67 billion.

Gold imports last month declined by 74.13% to $1.75 billion from $6.78 billion in the same month last year.

M Rafeeque Ahmed, president, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), said growth in exports for the second month in a row augurs well and now, the aim is for double digit growth (exports) to keep the trade deficit within a manageable limit.

Ahmed says the recently released revised forecast of a 4.7 per cent increase in global trade in 2014 and 5.3 per cent in 2015 indicates a positive sign for Indian exports.

Aditi Nayar, senior economist, ICRA, says, the trade deficit for April 2014 at $10 billion is broadly in line with expectations, with the fall relative to April 2013 ($17.7 billion) led by a combination of lower gold imports and higher exports of engineering goods.

Nayar said as expected, exports resumed a positive growth in April 2014, after the two months of contraction. This partly benefits from the base effect, related to higher shipments in February-March 2013 prior to the expiry of various export incentives in March 2013.

Reacting on the apparel exports data, Virender Uppal, chairman, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), says this is the first month of the fiscal year (2014-15) and apparel exports have recorded a growth of 14.33 per cent in comparison to the last year.

Tata-SIA submitted its application to the DGCA for the grant of licence two weeks ago.

Tata-SIA, a 51:49 joint venture of Tata Sons and SIA, submitted its application for the grant of AOP almost two weeks ago.

Tata-SIA plans to launch flights from September 1

In its application, the airline proposes to start operations by September 1 and plans to operate from Delhi as its hub to Mumbai, Goa, Patna, Chandigarh, Srinagar, Hyderabad and Bengaluru in its first year of operations.

Initially, the carrier plans to operate two flights a day to Mumbai, with one of them going further to Goa. The initial phase would also see two flights a day each to Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad. Besides the major metros, the proposed airline would also connect Srinagar, Patna, Chandigarh and Jammu. Under its aggressive expansion plans, the Tata-SIA Airlines proposes to add destinations such as Chennai, Pune, Lucknow, Varanasi, Jaipur, Kolkata, Amritsar, Bagdogra, Indore and Cochin within the first four years of its operations.

HC refuses to block AirAsia's permit

Earlier, a few of those who had raised objections to the granting of the AOP to AirAsia India, including the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, had later moved the courts where the matter is still pending.

The Delhi High Court today refused to stay the DGCA’s grant of flying licence to AirAsia India, saying there was no urgency as the permit would be subjected to the outcome of the petition challenging the approvals being granted to the AirAsia India deal, which is slated to come up for hearing on July 11. — PTI 

New Delhi, May 9
Drug major Ranbaxy Laboratories today posted a consolidated net loss of Rs 73.6 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2014. It posted net profit of Rs 125.75 crore during the January-March quarter of the previous fiscal, 2012-13.

Ranbaxy's net sales during Q4, 2013-14, grew marginally by 1.03% to Rs 2,436.1 crore, as against Rs 2,411.1 crore in the year-ago period.

During the quarter, the company recorded inventory and other costs write-off and goodwill impairment write-off of Rs 15.9 crore and Rs 43.8 crore, respectively.

Ranbaxy Laboratories CEO and managing director Arun Sawhney said: "Despite multiple challenges, Ranbaxy met its sales guidance and continued to build on its strengths. At the same time, we continued to work closely with regulatory agencies to address their concerns."

On April 7, Sun Pharmaceutical announced that it would fully acquire the troubled Ranbaxy Laboratories in an all-stock transaction with a total equity value of $3.2 billion. Under the agreement, Ranbaxy shareholders will receive 0.8 share of Sun Pharma for each share of Ranbaxy. The combination of Sun Pharma and Ranbaxy will create the fifth-largest specialty generics company in the world and the largest pharmaceutical company in India.

Taipei, May 9
Apple will unveil the next incarnation of its popular iPhone series in August, one month earlier than industry watchers were generally expecting, Taiwanese media reported on Friday citing unidentified supply-chain sources.

A 4.7-inch screen version of the iPhone 6 will reach stores in August, the Economic Daily News reported without specifying which markets would receive the phone first.

A 5.5-inch or 5.6-inch model will be released in September, the newspaper said, as the iPhone 5 series was previously.

People involved in the supply chain had earlier confirmed to Reuters that there will be a 4.7-inch version of the iPhone 6 and a 5.5-inch version.

Together, the Economic Daily News said 80 million iPhone 6 handsets would be produced this year.

Industry watchers have said increasing the iPhone’s screen size from 4 inches would help Apple regain market share from competitors such as Samsung Electronics, who they say have responded to consumer desire for more screen size.

Representatives for Apple could not be reached for comment.

Representatives for Taiwanese iPhone contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry and smartphone camera lens maker Largan Precision, both mentioned in the Economic Daily News report, had no comment. — Reuters

New Delhi, May 9
The Supreme Court today issued notices to the Centre and Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL) of Mukesh Ambani on a PIL pleading for a probe by the CBI or a special investigation team (SIT) into an alleged scam in the allocation of fourth generation (4G) spectrum.

A Bench headed by Justice HL Dattu sought their response to the contentions of the PIL petitioner, the Centre for PIL, that the government had allowed the “back-door” entry of the company into voice telephony without any auction and in violation of the SC verdict in 2012 cancelling the 2G licences given in 2008 at 2001 prices.

Arguing for CPIL, advocate Prashant Bhushan pleaded for quashing the government decision of March 2013 offering voice telephonic services to the company.

The Centre should be directed to levy spectrum usage charges (SUC) for 4G/BWA spectrum at par with other operators providing voice telephony, the petition pleaded.

New Delhi, May 9
The domestic passenger cars sales dipped by 10.15% to 135,433 units in April as compared to 1,50,737 units in the year-ago month due to high fuel and interest costs.

The data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed that the total passenger vehicle sales, which include sales of cars, utility vehicles and vans, in the month under review slipped by 9.5% at 1,88,541 units from an off-take of 2,08,341 units in April 2013.

The motorcycle sales in the first month of fiscal year grew by 8.06% to 9,11,908 units from 8,43,909 units in the year-ago period. The two-wheeler sales in April grew by 11.67% to 13,04,447 units as against 11,68,100 units in the same month last year.

For the last month, the SIAM reported a 24% decline in the sales of commercial vehicles which is a key indicator of economic activity. The sales stood at 43,080 units from 56,683 units in the corresponding month of the last year.

The three-wheeler sales slumped by 2.17% at 33,602 units from 34,348 units sold in the corresponding month of the last year. The total scooter sales in the month under review grew by 26.08% at 3,29,680 units from 261,475 units sold in the same period of the last year. The sales of commercial vehicles were down by 24% to 43,080 units in April, the SIAM said.

Vehicle sales across categories registered an increase of 6.96% to 15,69,670 units from 14,67,472 units in April 2013, it added. The exports for the month went up by 12.9% at 2,72,122 units from 2,40,865 units being shipped out.

BRIEFLY

United Spirits to sell Whyte & Mackay to Emperador
New Delhi: United Spirits will sell UK arm Whyte & Mackay for 430 million pounds (about Rs 4,360 crore) to Philippines-based Emperador in a bid to clear a regulatory hurdle related to Diageo’s acquisition of the company formerly controlled by Vijay Mallya. The United Spirits board had recommended that its indirectly- owned subsidiary United Spirits (Great Britain) Ltd considered the sale of Whyte & Mackay Group to Emperador UK Ltd, the company said. — PTI

Euro-IV petrol, diesel in 50 more cities by March
New Delhi: The government will extend supply of Euro-IV grade petrol and diesel to 50 more cities by March next year in an attempt to cut vehicular pollution in major towns. Presently, Euro-IV or Bharat Stage-IV petrol and diesel are being supplied in 26 cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Lucknow. — PTI

SEBI mulls revision of delisting norms
Mumbai: SEBI said on Friday it will review delisting rules, responding to concerns from market participants that current regulations make the process of buying out minority shareholders difficult and expensive. The proposals unveiled by SEBI include allowing companies to offer a fixed price to buy back shares and restricting the trading of their shares after they announce plans to delist. — Reuters

SpiceJet offers 25% discount on family travel
New Delhi: SpiceJet on Friday announced up to 25% discount on tickets for four or more passengers travelling together on domestic flights. Under the 'Friends and Family' offer, four to nine air travellers can travel together on domestic routes and get a discount of up to 25% on the base fare. However, a limited number of seats was available under the offer on each flight.— PTI

Forex reserves surge $1.94 bn to $311.9 bn
Mumbai: Foreign exchange reserves rose by $1.944 billion to $311.857 billion in the week ended May 2 on higher currency assets. Last week, the total reserves rose by $499.8 million to $309.913 billion. Foreign currency assets (FCAs), a major part of the overall reserves, surged $2.541 billion to $284.571 billion in the period, the RBI said on Friday. The FCAs, expressed in dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation/depreciation of the non-US currencies such as the euro, pound and yen held in its reserves. — PTI