Indian Economy - News & Updates - Archive

[Screaming Skull]

NTPC net rises 5.5% to Rs 7,827 cr ​

New Delhi, April 8 NTPC Ltd on Wednesday announced a 5.56 per cent rise in provisional net profit at Rs 7,827.4 crore for 2008-09, after setting aside over Rs 1,400 crore to be paid to employees as revised wages during the fiscal.

Gross revenue was up 13.76 per cent at Rs 45,522 crore during the fiscal, its Chairman and Managing Director, Mr R.S. Sharma, said here.

The company had to make a provision of Rs 1,402 crore for wages, including an additional Rs 600 crore in the March quarter. “Had it not been for the provision, our annual net profit would have crossed Rs 8,000-crore mark,” NTPC’s Director (Finance), Mr A.K. Singhal, said on the sidelines of a press conference held to announce its 2008-09 provisional financial numbers.

The total employee strength of NTPC as on March 31 was 24,698, which the company plans to raise by 1,000 in 2009-10.
Capital expenditure

The state-owned utility has a planned capital expenditure of Rs 17,700 crore during 2009-10. Mr Sharma outlined borrowings of about Rs 11,330 crore during this fiscal for enhancing its capacity by 3,300 MW. It plans a capacity addition of about 22,430 MW during the current Five-Year Plan period (2007-12).

The company plans to raise loan worth Rs 8,500 crore from a public sector bank for financing the capital expenditure of its projects for the next three years, he said. NTPC also plans to import 12.5 million tonnes of coal for bridging gap between domestic supplies and total requirement of 135 million tonnes during this fiscal.

NTPC contributed 28.6 per cent (206.94 billion units) of the total electricity generated in the country during 2008-09, despite accounting for only 18.79 per cent (27,850 MW) of the total installed capacity of the country. The power major aims to generate 217 billion units of electricity in 2009-10.

Its coal-based power plants recorded a plant load factor of 91.14 per cent against 92.24 per cent during 2007-08. Out of the company’s existing installed capacity of 30,144 MW, 2,292 MW are under various joint ventures. Eighteen projects totalling 17,930 MW, including three hydel projects having a combined capacity of 1,920 MW, are currently under construction, a company release said. This also includes projects under joint ventures.

It is also targeting a solar power capacity of 10 MW at Anta in Rajasthan and 25 MW at Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh. Mr Sharma said the company has also got approval from the Uttarakhand government to explore geo-thermal projects in the State.

Overseas Coal blocks



Mr Sharma said the company is looking at acquiring coal blocks in Indonesia and Mozambique. “We have proposals from four groups in Indonesia and two in Mozambique,” he said. The company plans to import 12.5 million tonnes of coal in 2009-10. It imported 6.5 million tonnes in 2008-09. Its total requirement of coal is expected to touch 225 million tonnes by 2012 which will be met by 195 million tonnes of domestic supplies from Coal India Ltd and 15 million tonnes each from captive production and imports.

 

[Screaming Skull]

Telecom sector may be hit as recession bites ​

New Delhi, April 8 Indian telecom sector, which has so far remained untouched by the slump in the global economy, could see the growth rates slowing down by the end of the year. Thanks to households postponing spending, the growth rate of mobile handsets could fall by as much as 50 per cent and also see a decline in new subscriber additions compared with 10 million new subscribers a month at present.

According to Mr Prashant Singhal, telecom industry leader at Ernst & Young, the handset sales growth in 2009 is expected to be in the region of 13-15 per cent, down from 26 per cent last year.

“Yes, the Indian telecom industry has been impacted to some extent by the current global slowdown. In the current economic environment, many corporates are re-negotiating the rates they pay to telecom operators. Though subscriber numbers are still growing at well over 10 million a month, revenues are not rising commensurately. Also, it will be a challenging market for mid- to high-end handset makers this year. In high-end phones, sales will be defined more by need rather than desire of the user.”

While most operators claim that the telecom growth story is intact for another 3-4 years, they privately admit that the liquidity crunch may have an impact in 2010. “Most of the growth in mobile usage is coming from non-urban areas driven by a large population of employed youngsters. However, if the liquidity crunch continues then these youngsters may not find employment easily, which in turn will impact their expenditure on communications services,” says a Mumbai-based multinational GSM operator.
Cost-cutting measures

Though the industry is not losing sleep yet, they are undertaking cost-cutting measures such as infrastructure sharing and internal restructuring. “Reflecting its proactive approach, Ericsson has had a cost reduction programme in place since 2008 which well exceeded set targets. The present economic condition is helping us drive better focus across the various teams and functions internally. Conscious decisions are being taken to curb costs by increasing the use of Web effectively - through webinars and Web conferences, thus seamlessly connecting across geographies and different time zones. However, we expect the telecom scenario in India to be in growth mode for the next few years,” says Mr P. Balaji, Vice-President (Marketing & Strategy), Ericsson India.
Some rule out any impact

However, some of the players completely rule out any impact on telecom.

“Look at it from the customers’ perspective — slowdown or not, they need a communication device under all circumstances; to share their thoughts, worries, good news or even for a general discussion. So, the demand for telecom services remains strong, and that is evident in the strong growth that the sector continues to enjoy. In fact, telecom usage in innovative ways is actually increasing through the long-drawn recession, as it becomes a cost-effective alternative to business expenses such as travel and lodging, etc,” says a spokesperson for Tata Teleservices.

But Mr Singhal sounds cautious. “This is a time for telecom operators to take a close look at their internal structure. In the last couple of years of sharp growth, large operators have added between 3,000 and 7,000 new employees. This is an opportunity for such operators to look to achieve a greater level of efficiency in their operations.”

Market watchers point out that the onus will be on the new government to launch next generation reforms in the telecom sector to sustain the growth story. “A large number of policy initiatives, which could have helped the industry to overcome the current economic crisis, are awaiting Government approval. There should not be any more regulatory uncertainties,” says a Delhi-based telecom player.

 

[Screaming Skull]

Imports dip faster than exports; down 32% in March 2009​

9 Apr 2009,

NEW DELHI: Indian imports are declining faster than exports. By value, the imports in March 2009 are 30% less than the same month last year,
according to early estimates made by the commerce department
.

This will be the third consecutive month showing fall in imports. Analysts say the sharp dip could be attributed to a decline in the country’s oil bill, slowdown in industrial activity, fall in global prices for commodities and industrial intermediates as well as a drop in exports.

Quick estimates for March 2009, calculated by the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT), show a 32% drop to $16.05 billion, compared to imports worth $23.57 billion in March 2008. Imports fell 16% in January 2009 and 23% the following month.

However, as import grew fast in the first three quarters of 2008-09, the final figure for the fiscal will be $288 billion, which is 14.5% higher than the previous year’s $251 billion.

Exports, which fell continuously in the second half of 2008-09, recorded an even lower growth of 4% at $169 billion.
“While we do not have disaggregated figures at the moment, we can safely assume that like the previous two months, a part of the decline in imports would be due to a sharp fall in the oil bill. However, trends also suggest a substantial fall in the non-oil imports which could be due to a slowdown in industrial activity,” a commerce ministry official handling trade data said, requesting anonymity.

Imports have fallen across sectors ranging from machinery and electronics to cotton and metals in January and February.
“The fall in imports has not been unexpected mainly due to the fact that exports have been falling over the past six months and a substantial proportion of our imports are inputs for exports,” said Nagesh Kumar, director general, Research and Information System (RIS) for developing countries.

Falling prices of commodities worldwide are also contributing to a lower value of imports, he said. “Prices of a number of commodities have come down including steel, which is a major ingredient in machinery and auto products. As a result, the import value of the products would also decline,” he added.

The government will officially come out with revised trade figures for March 2009 either at the end of the month or early next month.

 

[Screaming Skull]

Exports growth at 3.6% in ’08-09, but to improve post-Sept’ ​

New Delhi, April 8 Unfazed by the poor export performance of 3.6 per cent growth in dollar terms for the fiscal 2008-09, the Commerce Ministry contends that the worst is now behind and things will appear better post-September 2009.

Talking to Business Line here, the Commerce Secretary Mr Gopal K. Pillai said that after clocking 35 per cent growth during the first half of last fiscal, exports began skidding since October till March 2009 to bring down the overall export growth to 3.6 per cent in dollar terms.

The breakdown in export juggernaut owed primarily to global meltdown and collapse of the financial system in the developed world, which dried up trade finance to the dismay of exporters, he said, citing that Rs 60-crore worth of Indian carpet exported to the US had not been settled by importers.

He said the way thousands of US companies seek bankruptcy clause, Indian exporters are unsure as to ship merchandise goods lest their export receipts should be doubtful.

Asked about the prospects of the current fiscal, which has barely begun, Mr Pillai said that the WTO itself has forecast that world trade would contract by 9 per cent and “if I can hold on to what I have, it would be good.” He said it all depends upon how fast the US banking system gets stabilised, following the G-20 initiatives and the Obama Government’s own rescue operations.

On segments that showed up a better show in exports, Mr Pillai referred to the relatively positive performance of pharmaceuticals, engineering sector, plastics and agricultural exports, while textiles, gems and jewellery, leather, marine products had all fared below par due to the tepid growth in the US and Japan, the two major markets.

To a query as to how agricultural exports have fared better in the face of ban on export of wheat, non-basmati rice and edible oil, he said the ban on wheat export could be lifted if the domestic price situation improves couple of months down the line.

This would be done by the new Government after reviewing the stocks and evolving global scenario concerning wheat production in Argentina and the US.

On export of edible oil, Mr Pillai said when the country is dependent on 50 per cent of its supply from import and it is allowing such imports at zero duty now, export of edible oil is ruled out now except some coconut and non-edible oil. He said export of basmati rice, fruits and vegetables and some relaxation in the case of non-basmati rice would contribute to higher agricultural export growth.

About the new foreign trade policy (FTP) for 2009-14, Mr Pillai said that it would be unveiled after the new Government takes over and a call on export target would also be taken only at that time. He said the inputs the Commerce Ministry obtained in the run-up to the FTP confirmed that what exporters want is “trust, a lot of autonomy to export and not getting tied down in too many transaction cost.” This would be the cornerstone of the new five-year FTP, he said.

Mr Pillai also disclosed that even as merchandise exports growth was a single digit last fiscal, exports from SEZs have clocked a handsome 37 per cent growth. He said there is no proposal for fresh SEZ with nobody betting his money. However, the existing SEZs have been creating more jobs and contributing to export. He said in the Mahindra World City SEZ, Jaipur which he visited on Monday, Deustche Bank has set up a BPO call centre and Infosys also has a BPO call centre. He said that this ITSEZ is the largest one with 750 ha. Despite surrender of five SEZ approvals by DLF, as many as 42 SEZs await notification, he said.

To a query about the India-Asean Summit in Thailand on April 10-11, he said the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, will represent the Prime Minister. But, the official level delegation is also holding parallel meetings to thrash out lingering issue of scheduling of tariff cuts so that the new government would take a final call about signing the India-Asean FTA.

 

[Screaming Skull]

Exports in March seen at $12-14 b​

New Delhi, April 4 The country’s merchandise exports may have achieved the scale-down target of $170 billion during the just-ended fiscal year 2008-09, a top commerce ministry official indicated here on Saturday.

“I expect that in March 2009 exports would be about $12-14 billion,” Mr G.K. Pillai, Commerce Secretary, told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting organised by the Indo American Chamber of Commerce (IACC).

This estimate was, however, lower than the $16.3 billion exports recorded in March 2008. It would be the sixth straight month of downslide in fiscal 2008-09.

With the merchandise exports during April-February 2009 touching $156.6 billion, the Commerce Secretary’s expectation of $12-14 billion exports for March 2009 implies that the total exports would range between $168 billion and $170 billion during 2008-09.

The official data for March 2009 export performance is due on May 1.

India had earlier pegged the merchandise exports target at $200 billion for 2008-09, but later scaled it down to $170 billion in the wake of the global economic crisis.

The economic recession in the developed markets had led to slump in the demand for merchandise.

The first six months of 2008-09 had seen robust growth of over 30 per cent in exports, which has to a large extent ensured an increase, albeit a modest one of 3-4 per cent, for the entire fiscal year 2008-09.

 

[Screaming Skull]

Rs 325-cr package unveiled for leather, textile export sectors​

New Delhi, Feb. 26 A special package of Rs 325 crore for the employment-intensive leather and textiles export sector, fast settlement of duty credit scrips for duty paid in export production and extension of such scrips for import of even restricted items after payment of duty are the key features of the trade facilitation measures the UPA Government unveiled on Thursday.

The procedural simplifications would help prune high transaction costs to trade and industry.

Announcing the final stimulus to the slowdown-hit export sector, the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, said the special package for the twin sectors would be given for exports to be undertaken from April 1.

The threshold slab for premier trading houses has been reduced to Rs 7,500 crore from the current Rs 10,000 crore. The Director General of Foreign Trade, Mr R.S. Gujral, clarified later that this would help seven to 10 companies by way of relief to boost their exports. He said under the DEPB/duty credit scrip, import of restricted items such as HR coil could be done after payment of duty.

Under the Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme, the obligation for all exporters where the decline of the export of the products was by more than 5 per cent, would be reduced proportionately. This has been done for 2009-10 for exports executed during 2008-09, while the export obligation period against advance authorisations has been extended up to 36 months from the current 24 months.

Electronic message and transfer facilities for advance authorisation and EPCG schemes would be available for shipments from Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) ports from April 1.

For import of precious metals, STCL, Diamond India, MSTC and Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council and Star Trading House (only for gem and jewellery sector) have been added to the list of designated agencies. Import restrictions on worked corals have been abolished. Authorised persons of gems and jewellery units in Export-Oriented Units would be allowed personal carriage of gold in primary form up to 10 kg in a financial year, subject to RBI and customs guidelines.

To boost agricultural and rural exports, a re-credit of 4 per cent special additional duty, in case of payment of duty by incentive scheme scrips such as Vishesh Krishi and Gram Udyog Yojana, Focus Product Scheme and Focus Market Scheme would now be allowed.

The Minister said Bhilwara for textiles and Surat for diamonds have been recognised as towns under export excellence so that all the benefits for such clusters of export activity would accrue to them. For advance licence issued prior to April 1, 2002 the requirements of modvat/cenvat certifications would be dispensed with in case of customs notification prescribed for payment of countervailing duty.

While the procedural formalities for claiming duty drawback refund and refund of terminal excise duty for deemed exports have been further simplified, Mr Kamal Nath said that reimbursement of additional excise duty levied on fuel would also be admissible for EOUs.

 

[Screaming Skull]

Rupee recovers sharply, at 50.27 vs the dollar​

MUMBAI: The rupee recovered sharply, late on Wednesday afternoon, trading at its day's high of 50.27 against the dollar at 3pm. Earlier in the
day it was trading lower on global dollar strength and sharp correction in Asian stocks. On Monday - the last trading session - the local unit had closed at 50.04 per dollar. The main share benchmark BSE Sensex staged a dramatic recovery to trade 1.7% higher at 10772 at 3 pm.

"The local unit is tracking the global recovery of the dollar against major currencies," says L Subramanian, chief dealer forex at ICICI Bank. "With 50.72 as the resistance, the rupee is likely to trade within that level," he said.
The dollar and yen rose on Wednesday as fall in share prices and worries about upcoming earnings results for large US companies prompted investors to make a beeline for the greenback.

The benchmark 10-year bond yield fell below 7%. It was at 6.92% at 3pm on Wednesday- ahead of a scheduled buy back of securities by the RBI. Dealers said the market sentiment had got a boost from the adequate cash supplies in the market and the central bank's Rs 6,000 crore Open Market Operation (OMO) later in the day.

Other data that will be watched by the market will be the underwriting commissions announced by the RBI for the Rs 12,000 crore auction to happen on Friday. Call money was trading at a weighted average of 3.47%, near the reverse repo rate of 3.5% at 2 30 pm, as per CCIL indicating good liquidity. Banks parked close to Rs 43,000 crore in RBI's morning money market operation.

 

[Screaming Skull]

But who will be finance minister?​

If it is true that prime ministerial hope is springing about like a playful kangaroo in at least eight hearts, it seems easy enough to infer that at least 24 hearts more may be harbouring secret and not-so-secret hopes of becoming the finance minister.

Allow me, after the fashion of economists, to enunciate a rule: “For every prime ministerial candidate, there exist at least three finance ministerial choices and eight finance ministerial hopefuls.”

But while there has been a great deal of speculation and analysis about the next prime minister, no one has talked about the job that is really going to matter. So, during one of those interminable and mind-numbingly drab TV shows, I thought I would pose an even more important question: who will be the next finance minister? (The anchor, I am happy to report, was rendered speechless for about five seconds).

It is important to point out that even the worst possible prime minister, being aware of the need for credibility, would initially tend to assign an almost equal probability to all 24 hopefuls until bad sense begins to prevail. This has been known to happen thrice in the last 11 years.

Historically, this ministry has always been allotted with a great deal of care, except when some big business house has batted for a hopeful. Then, of course, all bets are off.

​

Having sounded that warning, let us list the possibilities without further ado. Only 14 names are listed below because I can’t think of all the 24 hearts which are beating anxiously. Readers are therefore invited to write to the editor if they have any suggestions. As stated earlier, at this stage, each name has an equal probability of getting the job. So the following list is not a ranking. It is merely a choice set for the potential prime ministers to select from.

Bimal Jalan: Vast experience in the Finance Ministry and the RBI. Highly respected. Light touch administrator. Understands money and finance as few others do. Saw India through Asian crisis fallout. Wants to live down the 1990-1991 crisis when he was finance secretary. All parties love him.

Yaga Venugopal Reddy: Seasoned Finance Ministry man. Highly successful RBI Governor during 2002-08. Kept Indian financial system stable and out of trouble. Cannot tolerate fools with a smile. Will need Andhra push to become FM.

Montek Singh Ahluwalia: Man for all seasons. Suave. Well connected internationally. Not known to be a great administrator. Indifferent innings at the Planning Commission, especially in infrastructure investment. Not a good judge of sidekicks. Too close to Manmohan Singh and Congress for others to accept him. If Congress comes back, he will be FM (I hope).

Vijay Kelkar: Former petroleum and finance secretary. Currently, Chairman of the 12th Finance Commission. If BJP forms the government, he could be their choice, if they are sensible. (Big if, that).

Arun Shourie: BJP lore is that he almost got the job in 2002, when party (or one element in it) got in the way, as did some corporates.

Clear-thinking man who gets frustrated easily. Indifferent innings as disinvestment minister but not because he did not try. Good reformist credentials. Bad point: writes books.

Arun Jaitley: Former commerce minister and law minister. Brilliant mind. Got the right antecedents, too. This could be a make-or-break time for him. He will not want to become home minister as he does not like waking up early.

N. K. Singh: Doer par excellence. Top-class administrator. Knows how to operate the system. Marvellously well connected, at home and abroad. Could be FM if Nitish Kumar has his way. May not be able to achieve much.

C. Rangarajan: Grand Old Man of economic administration. But a monetarist, which could be a problem during a phase of fiscal dominance. Almost became FM after P. Chidambaram was shifted. Manmohan Singh’s first choice then. But after May?

Satish Chandra Mishra: Mayawati’s Brahmin mascot. If she becomes PM, she may want him as FM. The civil service will be pleased. Acceptable face to all Manuwadis.

Sitaram Yechury: He could become FM if the Left plays a prominent part in the next government. Less harmful to business than his boss. Talks sense more often. Easily tameable by the civil servants.

Amar Singh: If Mulayam Singh has his way in the Yadav-Dalit group of UP-Bihar, he could be a contender. Good at handling money and finance, and an excellent negotiator.

H. D. Kumaraswamy: Former CM of Karnataka, Daddy Deve Gowda may want him as FM if he himself can’t become PM.

Naveen Patnaik: He may need a job soon, and would be acceptable to all parties. Depends on whom he makes a deal with.

Nandan Nilekani: Dark horse. Corporate and middle-class India will be thrilled to have him. High credibility. Capacity for hard work. No baggage. Will do the right thing by the country.

 

[Screaming Skull]

47 Indian cos among Forbes Global 2000 List​

9 Apr 2009

NEW YORK: As many as 47 Indian companies, led by corporate behemoth Reliance Industries and the country's biggest lender, State Bank of India, have made it to the list of world's biggest 2,000 companies by US magazine Forbes.

However, five Indian companies -- scam-hit IT firm Satyam Computer, realty firm Unitech, Suzlon Energy and two Anil Ambani group firms Reliance Power and Reliance Capital -- have been dropped out of the Forbes 'Global 2000 List' this year.

Four Indian companies, Hero Honda Motors, Sun Pharma, Indian Bank and Jindal Steel and Power Ltd are the new entrants to the list.

Mukesh Ambani-promoted RIL, State Bank of India, and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation are among the top 200 companies ranked 121st, 150th and 152nd, respectively, on the list.

All the three top Indian firms have improved their ranks considerably from their last year's positions, wherein RIL had been 193rd, SBI at 219th spot, while ONGC was ranked 198th.

Overall, the list is topped by industrial conglomerate General Electric, followed by Dutch oil and gas major Royal Dutch Shell, Japan's Toyota Motor, ExxonMobil and UK's BP in that order.

The rankings have been compiled on the basis of a composite score of sales, profit, assets and market capitalisation.

However, British banking giant HSBC Holdings has dropped to the sixth place this year from its numero uno position in the last year's list.

The other top Indian firms on the list include Indian Oil (207th), NTPC (317th), ICICI Bank (329th), Tata Steel (463rd) and Bharti Airtel (508th).

The Indian presence is almost evenly divided among the private and state-run companies. While none of the Indian companies has managed to find a place among the top 100 firms this year as well, the elite club includes a firm run by person of Indian origin.

Lakshmi Mittal-headed steel behemoth ArcelorMittal is at 41st position. However, Vikram Pandit-run banking giant Citigroup has dropped to 472nd rank this year.

Further, Indra Nooyi-run beverage major PepsiCo has been ranked 115th, India-origin Francisco D'Souza-headed Cognizant Technology Solutions at 1389th place. Motorola, headed by Sanjay Jha, is at 658th place.

According to Forbes, the Global 2,000 companies have combined revenue of 32 trillion dollars, 1.6 trillion dollars in profit, 125 trillion dollars in assets and 20 trillion dollars in market capitalisation.

 

[Hasnain2009]

Unfortunately I don't have recent figures but here are some stats from 2008.

* In 2008, the average volume of business conducted on the BSE (sensex) was approximately $40 billion each month.

* The number of shares traded each month on the BSE is in the range of 40 - 50 million.

* The total market capitalization for the companies traded on the BSE is in the area of $1.8 trillion. All of the above dollar values are stated in USD.

Total volume as of 2006 was US$ 980 billion

Check out the following links for more info

Following are the other stock exchanges in India

* Bangalore Stock Exchange

* Bhubaneshwar Stock Exchange

* Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)

* Calcutta Stock Exchange

* Cochin Stock Exchange

* Coimbatore Stock Exchange

* Delhi Stock Exchange Association

* Guwahati Stock Exchange

* Hyderabad Stock Exchange (HSE)

* Inter-connected Stock Exchange of India

* Jaipur Stock Exchange

* Ludhiana Stock Exchange Association

* Madhya Pradesh Stock Exchange

* Madras Stock Exchange (MSE)

* Mangalore Stock Exchange

* National Stock Exchange of India (NSE)

* Magadh Stock Exchange of India - In Patna, Bihar

* Over The Counter Stock Exchange of India (OTCEI)

* Pune Stock Exchange

* Uttar Pradesh Stock Association

* Vadodara Stock Exchange

* Meerut Stock Exchange

* United Stock Exchange (starting in June 09)

Out of these the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) is comparable to BSE with a market cap close to US$ 1.6 trillion.
Check out the following links for more info


BSE - Key statistics

Bombay Stock Exchange

General Information - National Stock Exchange (NSE) - India Finance & Investment Guide

Bombay Stock Exchange - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

National Stock Exchange of India - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

List of stock exchanges - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thank u!!
And KSE market cap was only $80bn in 2008, and yesterday we saw trade of 480million+ shares!!

 

[Screaming Skull]

Make calls from US to India at 1 cent per minute!​

April 09, 2009

Telecom service provider Bharti Airtel on Thursday launched a 'never before' calling rate of 1 cent a minute on its online calling card service www.airtelcallhome.com.

This will enable Non-Resident Indians in the US to call friends and family back in India at the most competitive rates in the market, Airtel said.

"With our IndiaOne offer, we are delighted to take the lead in offering the best value for us to India calling. Our tariff at 1 cent per minute is a compelling customer proposition and is in line with Airtel's commitment to make calling to India more affordable." said Syed Safawi, executive director, Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel Ltd.

"Through this offer we are looking at delivering unmatched value to the 3 million strong NRI population in the US, who reach out to their friends and family in India," he said.

Airtel has also launched a host of exciting new features for the US consumers, including auto recharge, free SMS from the web and audio conferencing facilities.

Subscribers will be able to buy the online calling card for just $10 by logging into the Web site www.airtelcallhome.com or through phone by calling toll free 1-877-247-5150 from the United States.

 

[Screaming Skull]

India yet to decide on $11-bn loan to IMF​

April 09, 2009

If India takes part in $500-billion resource raising programme of International Monetary Fund, as decided at the G-20 summit in London last week, it will cost the country up to $11 billion (Rs 55,000 crore).

"If the government decides to participate in the new arrangements to borrow, then based on the quota, that ($11 billion) could be the amount which the country will have to commit in principle to IMF," Economic Affairs Secretary Ashok Chawla said on Thursday.

However, Chawla did not elaborate as to when the decision on the issue would be taken.

Leaders of 20 advanced and developing countries decided to treble the resources of IMF from $250 billion to $750 billion, so that the multilateral institution could help the poor and developing economies, which have been hit by the global credit crisis.

India has already said that it would not require any IMF support in the wake of comfortable foreign exchange reserves of about $250 billion.

However, New Delhi has not so far made any commitment towards contributing to the fresh resources of IMF, as was done by China, European Union and Japan.

On the issue of review of quota and increased representation in the multilateral agency, India still has time to decide on the strategy.

"The review of quotas or the rebalancing of quotas is not immediately on the table in the sense that no decision has yet been taken on that," said Chawla, who was part of the Indian team at G-20 summit.

An official communique issued at the end of the G-20 summit had recognised the importance of reforming international financial institutions to ensure they can assist members effectively and that emerging, developing and poor economies must have greater voice and representation.

"What we are looking for is going to be discussed and finalised over a period of time, which is, according to the communique, up to January 2011," the finance ministry official said.

 

[Screaming Skull]

India launches its biggest auction of oil fields-Expects investment worth $3 billion​

April 09, 2009

India on Thursday launched its biggest-ever auction of oil and gas blocks, expecting $3 billion investment in exploration of 70 areas on offer for bidding.

The 75 per cent import dependent nation also offered for bidding 10 areas for extraction of gas from below coal fields, known as coal bed methane (CBM), at a time when energy firms worldwide are cutting investments because of falling crude prices and economic recession.

"We are offering 24 deep-sea blocks, 28 shallow water blocks and 18 onland blocks for bidding in the eighth edition of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP)," Petroleum Secretary R S Pandey said. Bidding for CBM-IV and NELP-VIII rounds will close on August 10, he said.

Asia's third-largest energy consumer is aiming to cut oil imports and has till now awarded 203 in the previous seven rounds with over $11 billion committed in exploration

spend. Besides, 23 blocks have been awarded in the previous three CBM rounds. Over 6 Trillion cubic feet reserves have already been established in four CBM blocks.

"After seven rounds, the area under exploration has increased more than four times to 48 per cent of Indian sedimentary basin area from 11 per cent before implementation of NELP," he said.

Since its advent in 1999, NELP has given 68 oil and gas discoveries in Cambay onland, North East Coast and Krishna Godavari deep-water areas, leading to an accrual of over 600 million tonnes of reserves.

"Reliance (Industries) beginning production from its Krishna Godavari basin KG-D6 block will bring in more investors," Pandey said. "Besides, the start of crude oil production from Cairn India's Rajasthan fields, which is expected any day now, will augur well for the round."

Asked if economic slowdown would impact NELP-VIII, he said: "In our mind, the most effective antidote for meltdown is generation of economic activity."

The worldwide spending on oil and gas exploration may drop 12 per cent in 2009 to $400 billion, Barclays Capital Research has stated.

"Economic meltdown will not last for ever, may be six months or 12 months. The NELP-VIII bids will be finalised in 6-9 months by which time the world will enter a better phase," Pandey said.

Oil regulator V K Sibal said the KG-D6 field of Reliance in Krishna Godavari basin was just the tip of the iceberg and more surprises lie in store on the east coast. "This is the best time to get exploration assets. It will be available more easily. So, I think medium to aggressive bidding (will be) there."

 

[Screaming Skull]

FDI dips in Feb but annual inflows show growth​

9 Apr 2009,

NEW DELHI: Foreign direct investment to India dipped to $1.49 billion in February from $5.67 billion a year ago amid the global credit crunch,
but inflows in the 11-month period (April-February 2008-09) of the fiscal have already crossed the inflows in the entire preceding fiscal.

Despite over 73 per cent year-on-year drop in inflows in February, the FDI for the 11-month period of fiscal 2008-09 has aggregated to $25.38 billion against $24.57 billion in the previous fiscal, an official said.

Inflows remained robust in the first half of 2008-09 but with the deepening of international financial crisis, it slowed down.

Though the country would not achieve even the truncated FDI target of $30 billion in 2008-09, it has already seen an inflow expansion in the midst of difficult global environment.

India's cumulative FDI inflows from April 2000 to February 2009 stands close to $88 billion.

 

[Screaming Skull]

FIIs buy shares worth Rs 171 crore​

9 Apr 2009

MUMBAI: Foreign institutional investors on Thursday were the net buyer of shares worth Rs 170.92 crore amid a marginal gain of nearly 61.52
points or 0.57 per cent in the benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange.

FIIs were the gross buyer of shares worth Rs 2,076.63 crore whereas they sold stocks worth Rs 1,905.71 crore, resulting in a net purchase of shares worth Rs 170.92 crore, the provisional data available with the BSE shows.

On Wednesday, FIIs were the net buyer of shares worth Rs 484.10 crore, the latest data available with the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India shows.

Similar trend was witnessed among the domestic institutional investors (DIIs). As per the BSE data, DIIs were the net purchaser of stocks worth Rs 308.39 crore.

However, two other market participants -- brokers on the behalf of their clients and non-resident Indians (NRIs) booked profit and were altogether seller of shares worth Rs 77.42 crore.

Proprietors, on the other hand, were optimistic about the market and invested a net Rs 24.90 crore in shares.

BSE's 30-scrip Sensex today closed at 10,803.86 points, up 0.57 per cent or 61.52 point.