Indian Economy - News & Updates - Archive

[slugger]

GM says no job cuts in India: report

US carmaker General Motors said Thursday it would not sack any of its 4,000 Indian employees as part of its restructuring plan submitted to the US government in exchange for a huge loan, a report said.

"We don't have any plan to lay off employees in India," GM India President and Managing Director Karl Slym told reporters in western Maharashtra state, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency said.

Slym's statement came two days after GM said it would cut 10,000 white-collar jobs worldwide in 2009 in a bid to reduce its global salaried workforce to about 63,000.

GM, along with Ford Motors and Chrysler, has been battered by falling auto sales amid a deepening US recession.

The cash-strapped company has received 9.4 billion dollars from the US Treasury to avert collapse, including 5.4 billion dollars on January 21.

Under the bailout agreement with the government, GM must submit a preliminary viability plan to the US Treasury by February 17. The final plan is due March 31.

GM's two manufacturing plants in India are in Halol in western Gujarat state and in Talegaon in Maharashtra.

Related - GM Trimming 10,000 Jobs, Reducing Pay as Much as 10% (Update5)

 

[slugger]

Indian Sugar Prices May Rally, Helping Mills Return to Profit

(Bloomberg) -- Sugar prices in India, the world’s second-biggest producer, may extend gains because of a supply deficit, likely helping Bajaj Hindusthan Ltd. and its rivals return to profit, Fitch Ratings said.

Production in the South Asian nation may drop to between 17 million tons and 18 million tons in the year to Sept. 30 from 26.3 million tons a year earlier, just short of meeting domestic demand, the rating agency said in a report e-mailed today.

“A tight demand and supply situation would result in an uptrend in sugar prices,” analysts Ashwini Picardo and Rakesh Valecha said in the report. Prices gained 43 percent to 20 rupees (41 cents) per kilogram in the first week of January from a year earlier amid forecasts of a lower output, Fitch said.

Raw sugar traded in New York is up 14 percent this year on forecasts for a deficit in India. Global production may be 4.55 million tons less than demand as the South Asian country becomes a net importer, Jonathan Drake, head of Cargill Inc.’s sugar business, forecast this week.

“On the back of rise in sugar prices, the agency expects the profitability of sugar companies to improve from the previous year when most companies posted losses,” Fitch said. Still, the improvement in earnings may be capped by higher sugar cane costs, interest and depreciation.

Shares of Bajaj Hindusthan, the nation’s biggest producer, advanced as much as 1.1 percent to 53 rupees in Mumbai trading, extending last week’s 8 percent gain. Balrampur Chini Mills Ltd., the second-biggest, rose as much as 2.2 percent to 59.7 rupees, while Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd. lost as much as 2.4 percent to 83 rupees. The stock rose 9 percent yesterday.

 

[slugger]

Infosys among best firms for leaders: Survey

Software services firm Infosys Technologies has emerged as the only entity from India to secure a place in the list of top 20 global companies focused on grooming not just professionals but leaders.

The 2008 Best Companies for Leaders survey conducted by management consultancy Hay Group and Chief Executive Magazine has ranked the country's second largest software firm at the 14th place.

According to the survey, these are the companies that are focused on developing leaders who would not only survive and thrive in the current financial crisis but would be well positioned for growth once the economy improves.

The list is topped by 3M Company, followed by Procter & Gamble and General Electric on the second and the third position, respectively.

The other companies on the list include Coca-Cola (fourth), followed by HSBC Holdings, ABB, Southwest Airlines, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, PepsiCo, Nokia, Accenture, FedEx, McDonald's Corporation, Caterpillar, American Express, Cisco Systems, Oracle, Intel Corporation in the same order.

In ideal times, people value authoritative and democratic styles of leadership in comparison to the other styles like coercive, affiliating, pacesetting and coaching.

 

[slugger]

L&T to recruit 10,000 in 3 yrs; to invest 4,500cr in Hazira

Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) would recruit nearly 10,000 people over the next three years for executing its various projects, company sources said today.

The recruitment also assumes significance as the company plans to invest Rs 4,500 crore in Hazira, where it has heavy an engineering manufacturing unit and is likely to absorb around 5,000 people there, sources said.

Apart from this, the new workforce would also be deployed for projects like mono rail, power reactors and turbines, they added.

The $7-billion group expects to generate project export revenue of over Rs 2,000 crore in five years, the sources said.

L&T is also ready to undertake execution of nuclear power projects on turnkey basis, they said, adding that the sites of two (of the four) 700 Mw plants have been selected.

L&T Chairman A M Naik had earlier announced making Vadodara a hub of power, hydrocarbon and engineering activities of the company, a diversified entity whose operations range from ship building to software.

 

[Nihat]

Software major Sapient has laid off 500 employees


New Delhi: Software major Sapient has laid off 500 employees at offices in Bangalore, Noida and Gurgaon.

Sapient PR confirmed to CNN-IBN that employees have been laid off from Sapient's offices in Bangalore, Noida and Gurgaon.

No notice was given to the laid off employees.

Armed guards were deployed around the office on Friday and Saturday and employees were not allowed to enter the premises in Gurgaon.

A few months back the US-based IT company had laid off 160 employees. Sapient employs about 6,000 people in India.

Sources say Sapient India Managing Director Sandeep Dhar had sent an e-mail to employees a few months ago after 160 employees were laid off.

In the e-mail, Dhar had admitted that decision to lay-off employees was taken so that the company could respond better to current and future market opportunities.

Software giant Sapient lays off 500 employees in India

 

[Nihat]

Infosys mentor to be Sri Lanka President's IT advisor


New Delhi: Another feather in Infosys mentor Narayana Murthy's cap. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has appointed Murthy as his international advisor on IT.

Rajapaksa made the appointment after inviting Murthy as the chief guest to the launch of '2009-Year of English and Information Technology in Colombo on Friday.

This is seen as a major initiative of the Sri Lankan government to meet the demands of the 21st century in skills and capacities.

Infosys is a global consulting and IT services company Murthy stepped down as Infosys CEO but continues as its chief mentor.

He has received numerous prestigious awards and honours, including the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award of the Indian government.

Speaking at the event, Rajapaksa said Sri Lanka was "greatly inspired by the dramatic success of India" in the field of IT in recent years


Infosys mentor to be Sri Lanka President's IT advisor

 

[nitesh]

India's 1st rural BPO set to hire 500 more youth-India-The Times of India

India's 1st rural BPO set to hire 500 more youth
16 Feb 2009, 0358 hrs IST, Radha Venkatesan, TNN


HOSUR: He was selling puppies till a year ago in the backward Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu. But when India’s first rural BPO, Fostera, set up shop on a narrow lane at Sanasandiram village in his district, R Muraliraj turned into a confident 'call centre guy.'

"I am a higher secondary graduate but could not speak English at all when I came here," he smiles, putting on his headphones to talk to ICICI customers in Guntur in Andhra Pradesh in fluent English.

It may be the hour of recession and lay-offs, but the government-run BPO is on a hiring spree. Multi-national telecom and banking companies are knocking on the doors of Fostera at Sanasandiram to outsource their help desk, loan collection, credit card processing, form-filling, insurance and editing work.

Over the next three months, Fostera (short for fostering rural technology), floated by the Krishnagiri district administration over a year ago, will hire about 500 young people from Tamil Nadu's hinterlands for monthly salaries ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000. The BPO, which was working just one shift, is switching to three shifts a day to manage the tide of offers, says Fostera CEO MR Ashok Kumar.

Daughters and sons of agricultural and construction labourers, who have barely passed high school, will soon put on headphones and work the helplines for bank and insurance customers in English, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. About 300 young people have already been put through voice and non-voice training. "We look for youth with the right attitude and high energy levels. Communication skills can be instilled, but attitude cannot be taught," he says.

Fostera, which is presently a 25-seater facility, will soon start two more call centres in Uthangarai taluk in Krishnagiri district, each with a capacity of 75. In Uthangarai taluk, which has high unemployment and illiteracy rates, marriage halls are being converted into BPOs, providing jobs for those above 18 who have finished school.

When IT major Microsoft recently undertook a pilot project on online electoral roll registration in Tamil Nadu, it chose to use Fostera's BPO employees. "Though from a rural background, their hunger for learning is amazing. They grasped the data entry applications within 10 to 15 minutes," says Govind Kanshi, architect advisor of Microsoft India.

 

[Omar1984]

India’s Rupee Little Changed Before Government Presents Budget

By Anil Varma

Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- India’s rupee was little changed before the government presents its budget for the first four months of the year starting April 1.

The currency may gain on speculation the government will announce more measures to counter the slump in industrial production and exports. The Reserve Bank of India may cut interest rates further after the budget, according to Suresh Tendulkar, chairman of the prime minister’s Economic Advisory Council. The government unveiled two stimulus packages and the central bank cut its key rate four times since Oct. 20.

“The rupee is in a narrow range as the market awaits the budget,” said Roy Paul, assistant manager of treasury at Federal Bank Ltd. in Mumbai. “Some positive policy announcements are expected.”

The rupee traded at 48.67 per dollar as of 9:43 a.m. in Mumbai, compared with 48.685 on Feb. 13, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The median estimate of 25 strategists and economists surveyed by Bloomberg is for the rupee to weaken to 49 by the end of March.

Offshore contracts indicate traders bet the rupee will trade at 48.82 to the dollar in a month, compared with expectations of 48.83 on Feb. 13. Forwards are agreements in which assets are bought and sold at current prices for future delivery. Non-deliverable contracts are settled in dollars rather than the local currency.

To contact the reporters on this story: Anil Varma in Mumbai at avarma3@bloomberg.net.

Bloomberg.com: India & Pakistan

 

[Nihat]

India’s Growth and Key Economic Indicators

Pranab Mukherjee, in his speech today, highlighted the performance of various economic indicators during the UPA regime. Here are the highlights:

- India’s economy grew at 9 per cent for three straight years. Even today, after the global financial crisis, India continues to grow at 7.1 per cent, making it the second fastest growing economy in the world

- The country’s per capital income grew at 7.4 per annum for four years

- The gross domestic savings rate stood at 37.7 per cent during 2007-08

- The investment as a percentage of GDP rose to 39 per cent in 2007-08

- The tax to GDP ratio stood at 12.5 per cent in 2007-08

- Revenue deficit as percentage of GDP fell to 1.1 per cent under the UPA regime.

- The fiscal deficit stood at 2.7 per cent in 2007-08 as compared to 4.5 per cent in FY04.

- Farm growth stood at 3.7 per cent in the last four years

- Foreign trade was at 35.5 per cent of GDP during 2007-08

- Capital inflows stood at 9 per cent of GDP during 2007-08


India’s Growth and Key Economic Indicators

 

[Nihat]

Link to Pranab Mukherjee's entire Budget or Vote on Account Speech.



Government of India : Union Budget and Economic Survey (http://indiabudget.nic.in)

 

[Omar1984]

Indian Stocks Drop Most in Two Weeks, Led by Reliance, ICICI


By Pooja Thakur

Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Indian stocks fell, with the Sensitive Index dropping the most in two weeks, as the government failed to announce incentives to boost economic growth in its budget presentation today.

Reliance Industries Ltd. dropped 5.2 percent and ICICI Bank Ltd. declined 5.9 percent, leading the largest companies lower. DLF Ltd., India’s largest developer, fell 2.4 percent after the government didn’t propose new measures to revive housing demand.

“The government was expected to provide some sops for boosting the economy, especially in housing,” said Jayesh Shroff, who helps manage $1.9 billion in equities at SBI Asset Management Co. in Mumbai. “The budget didn’t have any such announcements.”

The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index, or Sensex, fell 329.29, or 3.4 percent, to 9,305.45, the biggest decline since Feb. 2. The S&P CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange dropped 3.4 percent to 2,848.50. The BSE 200 Index declined 3.3 percent to 1,095.87. S&P CNX Nifty futures for February delivery fell 4 percent to 2,828.

Reliance, the nation’s most valuable company, fell 5.2 percent, the most since Jan. 21, to 1,320.20 rupees. ICICI, India’s second-biggest lender, declined 5.9 percent to 409 rupees. DLF slid 2.4 percent to 156.65 rupees. Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd. fell 9.4 percent to 98.85 rupees. Unitech Ltd. dropped 5 percent to 30.2 rupees.

The government may spend as much as 800 billion rupees ($16.5 billion) to help build homes for urban poor, which may also help boost a slowing economy, Indian Express reported yesterday, without saying where it obtained the information.

“The real estate industry expected some tax concession for home buyers and the developers,” said Ravi Ramu, head of finance at Indian developer Puravankara Projects Ltd. The interim budget proposal “has been a damp squib.”

Lenders Decline

State Bank of India led lenders lower after the central bank said loans declined in the two weeks ended Jan. 30. State Bank, the nation’s largest, retreated 4.9 percent to 1,136.85 rupees. HDFC Bank Ltd., the No. 3 lender, declined 3.2 percent to 913.95 rupees.

Indian banks’ loans fell by 88.2 billion rupees ($1.8 billion) in the two weeks ended Jan. 30, reducing outstanding advances to 26.4 trillion rupees, according to central bank data. Loans to industry and consumers declined by 46.5 billion rupees during the period, while food credit dropped 41.8 billion rupees, the Reserve Bank of India said in an e-mailed statement after the close of markets on Feb. 13.

Overseas investors bought a net 200 million rupees ($4.1 million) of Indian stocks on Feb. 13, according to the nation’s market regulator.

The following were among the most active shares traded on the Bombay and National stock exchanges. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names:

Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. (RELI IN) dropped 6.4 percent to 533.25 rupees. India’s third-largest utility said its founder group pledged a 16.35 percent stake. AAA Project Ventures Pvt. pledged 37.2 million shares of the 83.5 million shares it holds in the company, Reliance said in a statement today.

Satyam Computer Services Ltd. (SCS IN) added 6.9 percent to 49.55 rupees. The company’s interim board plans to issue fresh shares to potential buyers to boost its cash, the Daily News & Analysis reported Feb. 14, without saying where it got the information. The board at Satyam has almost completed plans for the sale of 680 million shares that may double the company’s equity from 1.35 billion rupees ($28 million), it said.

Separately, India’s stock market regulator said it will amend takeover rules for companies where the government replaces the board as part of a rescue plan.

Suzlon Energy Ltd. (SUEL IN) slid 4.5 percent to 44.75 rupees. The founders of India’s biggest maker of wind-turbine generators pledged 25.9 percent of the company’s shares to raise about 8 billion rupees. The founders pledged 387.2 million shares, the company said in a statement to the National Stock Exchange on Feb. 13.

Temptation Foods Ltd. (TFD IN) dropped by its 20 percent limit to 67.05 rupees, its biggest drop since November 1998. The Indian processor of fruits and vegetables fell to the lowest in almost two years after the market regulator ordered Managing Director Vinit Kumar not to comment on “dealing” in shares of rival Kohinoor Foods Ltd. (KFL IN).

Kohinoor Foods fell by its 20 percent limit to 68.20 rupees, the most since October 1998.

To contact the reporters on this story: Pooja Thakur in Mumbai at pthakur@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 16, 2009 06:42 EST

Bloomberg.com: India & Pakistan

 

[Omar1984]

Global meltdown has hit IT sector hiring in India: Nilekani


16 Feb 2009

BANGALORE: Infosys Technologies vice-chairman Nandan M. Nilekani Monday admitted that the global economic meltdown has affected hiring in India's IT
industry.

"The IT sector is not seeing job buoyancy now compared to earlier years due to global economic slowdown," Nilekani said at a function in the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) in this tech hub.

Delivering a lecture on 'India at the Crossroads: the Choices Before us', Nilekani said the IT industry was facing unprecedented crisis and it was difficult to predict how long the economic downturn would continue.

"The recruitment was well-placed earlier when the growth rate was 30 percent in the IT sector. The crisis in the financial sector has automatically affected Indian IT firms," Nilekani said.

Though software exports grew to a whopping $40 billion in FY 2008 from a mere $50 million in 1991, with a compounded growth rate of 30 percent over the last three-four years, the economic slowdown has reduced the growth to 20 percent.

"The IT industry grew rapidly on the back of high global economy growth. But in the long-run the sector will do well. The need for technology the world over has not reduced and India too is a large consumer of the technology," Nilekani noted.

Referring to the various challenges the country was facing, the IT bellwether's top executive said there was a need to create 270 million jobs by 2035 to reap benefits of the demographic change.

"India has a large number of young people and jobs need to be created by integrating our economy with the global economy. The potential of the youth needs to be harnessed to accelerate the economic growth rate," he asserted.

Recalling the growth witnessed by developed economies such as Britain, Japan and the US before and after the World War II, Nilekani said India was young when the rest of the world was ageing.

Seeking devolution of more powers and funds to urban and rural local bodies, Nilekani lamented that the local bodies had been denied powers due to vested interests of some political leaders at the state and central levels.

"The poor have not benefitted from food, power, farm, water and healthcare subsidies. Measures have to be taken to distribute entitlements directly to the targetted beneficiaries since the subsidies are regressive and not progressive," he added.

Global meltdown has hit IT sector hiring in India: Nilekani- Jobs-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times

 

[Nihat]

Gold glitters, touches Rs 15,000/10 gm

Gold is trading at a seven-month high above USD 950 per ounce. The yellow metal has hit record high above Rs 15,000 per 10 gram in India.

It is trading near record highs in currencies such as euro, pound, Canadian dollar and Swiss frank. In India, gold touched a high of Rs 11,500 per 10 gram on February 17, 2008 vs Rs 15,000 per 10 gram today. There are speculations that it may go up to a high of USD 965 per ounce and then, USD 1,165 per ounce. Gold has gained 30% over the last one-year.

Gold prices are moving up due to a lot of newsflows on the currency front. Yen is at a five-week low compared to the dollar. Pound has also declined and is at a 2-week low, ahead of UK inflation data today. Asian currencies have also declined, Korean won is trading at 2-month lows. There are also speculations that exports and regional economies will contract further.

Political scenario in Japan is further aiding the rise. Finance Minister of Japan has said that he will resign after budget bills are passed in Parliament. Other factors like an unstable global economic scenario, low interest rates, weak equity markets and depreciating rupee are also pushing the prices much higher.

Factors
- Unstable global economic scenario
- Low interest rates
- Weak equity markets
- Central bank buying
- Depreciating Rupee

Gold glitters, touches Rs 15,000/10 gm

 

[Nihat]

Indian entertainment industry worth $11.68 billion


The Indian media and entertainment industry was a $11.68 billion (Rs 584 billion) business in 2008, growing at 15 percent annually since 2006, says the annual joint study of a leading chamber and a consultancy released on Tuesday.

But the growth projection for the industry for 2009-13 has been lowered to 12.5 percent per annum from 18 percent for 2008-12, says the joint study by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and KPMG.

Last year's report, also released during the annual FICCI-Frames exposition on media and entertainment industry, was prepared by the chamber in association with leading accountancy firm and consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers.

"In many ways, the year 2008 was a testing time for the industry," says the study. "With the global economic slowdown affecting advertising spends, sectors like TV, print, radio and outdoor that depend on advertising revenues were affected."

The new study lowered the projections for the advertising industry during the two periods under review from 18 percent to 12.4 percent, adding that this segment had grown 20 percent during 2004-07 and 17.1 percent in 2006-08.

Among other segments, the study says the print media business, estimated to be a Rs 172.6-billion business, will grow at 9 percent between 2009 and 2013, while the television industry, now valued at Rs 240.5 billion, will expand by 14.5 percent.

The study bets high on gaming. Although it estimates this segment to be worth just Rs 6.5 billion, it sees gaming growing at 33.30 percent till 2013, while the Rs 6.2-billion Internet is seen growing at 27.9 percent.

Among the other findings of the study is the estimate on the number of direct-to-home subscribers in India, now estimated at 10 million households, but seen growing to 28 million by 2013.

The FICCI-KPMG study values the world-famous Indian film industry at Rs 109.3 billion and projects its growth at 9.1 percent till 2013, while the radio business is projected to grow at 14.2 percent, even though its present size is much smaller at Rs 8.4 billion.

Despite the gloom last year, the FICCI-KPMG study sees better days ahead and suggests how the various players should go about defining their businesses.

"Behind every adversity lies an opportunity. Media companies are under pressure to change, innovate and re-examine their existing business models. Players need to draw upon new capabilities to survive in this environment," it says.

"In the immediate future, media corporates are likely to focus more operating margins, and assessing opportunities for consolidation, while building on core strengths."

Indian entertainment industry worth $11.68 billion

 

[nitesh]

Why India's Economy Will Keep Growing | Newsweek Enterprise - Global Business | Newsweek.com

Isolated from world trends, India's aspiring middle will help it grow through the credit storm.

Though it may not look it on the ground at times, India is one of the few bright spots in a global economy with decidedly dim prospects in 2009. It is forecast to grow at 5 to 6 percent this year—which is more than it averaged in the 1990s. Yes, its stock market has crashed, unemployment is spiking, swaths of the real-estate market have more than a passing resemblance to Miami Beach and it now turns out that Satyam Computer Services—one of the country's top five IT companies—has been cooking its books. But a one-off incident of fraud in the flagship IT sector won't knock the country off the rails. India boasts an unlikely growth driver all its own: legions of poor whose incomes have risen just enough in recent years to create powerful demands for basic goods and services.

The rise of India's aspiring middle—a group that lives above the poverty line but hasn't yet attained true membership in modern consumer society—is hardly a new story. But what's surprising is the resilience of this cohort, and the extent to which it has counterbalanced the global credit crisis and the slump in the global export economy of which India is a key player. In part, this is a consequence of New Delhi's past failures; policymakers were never able to make India the export powerhouse that China has become over the past three decades, so now they don't rely nearly as heavily on growth driven by demand from foreign markets.

The idea that Indian backwardness is a plus may sound absurd. But it is always easier to grow from a poor base, so the fact that India is not yet a major economy is an advantage in a downturn. Such a large population subsisting at so low an economic base is a powerful economic driver if it can be mobilized—and for India this group is proving resilient to the prevailing headwinds in the global economy. "It's kind of a self-sustaining process," says Subir Gokarn, chief economist at Crisil, the Indian arm of Standard & Poor's. "There's a huge underpenetration of most commodities and services, and you have enough people at the bottom experiencing enough of an increase in income to sustain growth."
Quantcast

So even as middle-class consumption wanes in India—signified by a sharp drop in auto sales, airline travel and fine-restaurant dining since mid-2008—demand for basic goods and services remains strong thanks to aspiring consumers, many still tied to the farms, who spend their rupees on essentials like soap, medicine and the shoes and clothing that they wear to work. As Gokarn puts it: "If you go back to the economic textbooks, they will tell you that the poorer you are, the stronger your propensity to consume."

The contrast with China, Asia's other economic giant, is stark. Domestic demand makes up three quarters of the Indian economy, compared with less than half for China, which is "why, relative to East Asian economies, India is somewhat insulated from the global trade slowdown," says Shankar Acharya, a former chief economic adviser to the government. Another Indian mainstay—agricultural growth—should remain steady this year, and the services sector, which now accounts for about 55 percent of India's GDP, is expected to be "more resilient" than manufacturing, says Acharya. And despite the financial crisis, the nation's IT sector managed to grow some 20 percent in 2008, according to India's National Association of Software and Services Companies, and IT firms have already extended 100,000 job offers for 2009. "China has been highly focused on the export market, while Indian businesses have been highly focused on the domestic market, and their exports have been incidental," says Saumitra Chaudhuri, chief economist at ICRA, an Indian creditratings agency affiliated with Moody's. That makes India, more than China, a master of its own destiny.

The biggest risk to India in 2009 at this point may not be the global economy but domestic politics. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's United Progressive Alliance will see its term expire in May, and India's election rules mean that he can no longer enact any significant policies—a measure adopted to prevent incumbents from stacking the deck with populist sops. That means as much as five months of paralysis, precisely when speedy, creative action is the order of the day. Moreover, though the nemesis of Singh's Congress party—the Bharatiya Janata Party—mostly favors similar policies, a change in government would likely result in some further slowing of infrastructure projects that are already running behind schedule. And elections in India can be tricky. In the last one, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance lost despite rapid economic growth, because poor voters rejected the BJP's campaign claims of an "India Shining."

With the light bulb flickering, Singh's Congress may face an even bigger challenge winning them over. The poor don't care how much faster than other nations India is growing, only whether their lives are better than they were five years ago.