Indian Economy-News & Updates

[Burnz]

Yes..Maharashtra can have a Trillion Dollar economy. But the anti-development brigade can play spoilsport..They did a helluva job in the Nuke power plant..Almost stopped it..

I mean even growing at 8%+ for the next 5 years. Maharashtra can be a Trillion Dollar Economy by 2016!

The Jatiapura Nuclear Power Plant is going to frutition only by 2018-19.

 

[jha]

Assets of corrupt babus may be seized and liquidated

Activists against graft have often pointed out that even the threat of jail hardly serves as a deterrent for a corrupt person, as he can enjoy his ill-gotten gains after he completes his sentence. Now, that could be set to change. Assets amassed through corrupt means by a public servant will be frozen during investigation and liquidated on his being proved guilty, if the proposed Lokpal bill comes through.

The drafting committee on Monday agreed that assets obtained through corrupt means will be confiscated to make good any loss to the exchequer.

 

[Che Guevara]

Bharti to invest $1 billion in Africa this year

Consolidating its operations in Africa, Bharti Airtel will invest $1 billion (about Rs. 4,500 crore) in the continent to expand its network throughout 16 countries.
"We have already invested $11 billion here and have committed nearly $1 billion investment for this year for expansion of our network," Bharti group chief Sunil Mittal said.

Asked whether the company was looking at more acquisitions in the region, he said, "At the moment, we are focussing on our 16 countries and for any future expansion in Africa, we will see as the opportunities come, as there is nothing on the table at the moment."

He, however, said that there were great opportunities in the region and recommended his fellow businessmen from India to explore investment options here.

"In my view, Africa offers a long-term opportunity for Indian businesses in manufacturing, agriculture, services and it is my desire and recommendation that more and more Indian businesses should participate in Africa," Mittal said.

Last year, in the largest ever telecom takeover by an Indian firm, Bharti had acquired Kuwait-based Zain Telecom's African business for $10.7 billion (about Rs. 48,000 crore). The closure of the deal had implied that Bharti has received all the approvals from the governments and regulators of each of these 16 nations.

During 2010-11, Airtel's Africa operations reported a net loss of Rs. 480 crore, while revenues stood at Rs. 13,083.4 crore. "Out of 16 countries many are very profitable, most of them are profitable. As far as Africa is concerned, we have to grow in Nigeria, we have to grow in Ghana, Uganda, Kenya -- these are few countries, where we have to step up," he said.

At the end of the fourth quarter, the company had 44.2 million GSM mobile customers on its network. During the quarter, the company added 2.1 million customers.

The ARPU for the quarter was $7.2 per month. The blended monthly usage per customer, during the quarter was at 115 minutes. With the help of Africa operations, Bharti has become world's fifth largest mobile operator in terms of subscribers. Total user base of Bharti in 19 nations stands at over 185 million.
The company has also launched its brand airtel in all 16 African countries.

 

[Che Guevara]

Africa looks to India for IT success

International private equity fund L Capital Wednesday said it has launched its fourth private equity fund worth $640 million for investments in sectors like consumer brands, lifestyle retail, media and entertainment in China and India.

The fund sponsored by the global luxury brands group LVMH further said the investments would be made in local companies which have innovative brands and concepts which suit the taste and needs of consumers in China, India, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

"Today, while there is an abundance of capital to fund companies, there is a great need for sector specific value added 'smart' capital that can drive growth in India," said Ravi Thakran, managing partner of L Capital Asia.

According to Thakran, the fund would use the extensive resources, management skills and experience of the LVMH group to work with local entrepreneurs and to grow their business within India and across Asia.

The company further said its focus would be on portfolio companies which have high growth potential in the short to medium term, in segments like consumer brands, lifestyle retail, lifestyle food and beverage, beauty and wellness, boutique hospitality, media and entertainment and private education.

The company has already made three investments in China and South East Asia, while it is in advanced stages of discussion with companies in India.


Africa looks to India for IT success - NDTV Profit

 

[StingRoy]

JLR drives Tata Motors’ profit three-fold in FY’11

The consolidated profit after tax of the Tata Motors group for the year shot up to Rs 9,274 crore in 2010-11, an increase of 260.71 per cent from a profit of Rs 2,571 crore in the previous year. Driven by a strong volume growth globally, the company also reported a 33.1 per cent rise in consolidated revenues for the year ended March 2011 at Rs 123,133 crore over Rs 92,519 crore in the last year.

Global wholesale volumes for FY 2010-11, including Jaguar Land Rover, stood at 10,80,994 units, representing a growth of 24.2 per cent against the previous year. Global sales of commercial vehicles were at 512,731 units, while global sales of passenger vehicles stood at 568,263 units.

The automaker’s gross revenue (Indian operations) for the year ended March 2011 was Rs 52,136 crore, posting a growth of 35.9 per cent over Rs 38,364 crore in the last year. PAT for the year stood at Rs 1,812 crore. The company also approved sub-division of its share from Rs 10 per share to 5 shares of Rs 2 each.

 

[Hindustani]

India to introduce new rupee symbol on currency soon​

NEW DELHI: India will soon introduce new rupee symbol and extra security features on its bank notes in a bid to tackle the problem of fake currency, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Monday.

"With a view to check this menace of fake currency, an exercise for introduction of security features in all denominations of bank notes is under way," Mukherjee said after releasing procurement manual of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India here.

Mukherjee said the present bank notes with the new rupee symbol approved by the Unicode Standard Authority for ISO 4217 will be in circulation shortly.

He also said that new coins with the rupee symbol and better designs and shine will be released in July.

Last year, India adopted a unique symbol for its currency, which is a blend of Devanagri 'Ra' and Roman 'R'. The Indian rupee will be only the fifth currency to have a distinct identity, after the US dollar, euro, British pound and Japanese yen.

Mukherjee said the corporation has taken steps to produce indigenous raw material for the production of bank notes.

"This will lead to production of 80-85 percent of bank note paper in the country in the next three years as against import of about 95 percent paper at present," he said.

India to introduce new rupee symbol on currency soon - Economic Times

-----------------------



Good it's about time.


And can we please change the bills around? I mean no disrespect but can we start adding "other" freedom fighters and activists on the bills?

 

[Hindustani]

Tanzania, India find ‘South-South' ties in good health

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh presents a giftto his host, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, in Dar es Salaam on Friday.


Dar es Salaam: Indian officials have spent the past week fighting off Western suggestions that they are in a race for influence in Africa with the Chinese. On Friday, their claim that India and China complement one other was endorsed by President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, who gave a concrete and unscripted example of how the specific skill sets the two Asian powers possess has worked to the advantage of his people

Speaking to reporters at a joint press conference with the Indian Prime Minister on Friday, Mr. Kikwete said that Tanzania lacked the capacity to provide a whole range of treatments at home, including heart surgery and care for cancer and renal diseases. A few years ago, his government sent 29 doctors and nurses to India for specialized cardiac training and now they have returned and are performing open-heart surgeries in the country for the first time. The Chinese have pitched in with an offer to help build a 200-bed hospital. “So the Indians have helped to train our people and Chinese have helped to build the hospital where they will work”, Mr. Kikwete said.

Tanzanians spend nearly $80 million every year on medical treatment abroad, including in India; so, when the Apollo Hospitals group from India announced its intention of setting up a specialty hospital here, the Tanzanian government jumped at the chance. The $150 million project will be a joint venture between Apollo, the Tanzanian health ministry and its National Social Security Fund, with the Tanzanians providing the land and building and the Indian side the equipment and doctors. An MoU was signed by Apollo chairman Prathap C. Reddy in the presence of Dr. Manmohan Singh and Mr. Kikwete.

Apollo's plan is to develop their Dar es Salaam hospital as a hub-and-spoke model with smaller clinics in 14 countries across the eastern African region. Though the details of the project have yet to be worked out – including Apollo's social obligations - President Kikwete said there would also be a training component so that Tanzania's long-term health-care capacity gets augmented.

Speaking later at a function to inaugurate the India-Tanzania Centre of Excellence in Information and Communication Technology at the Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology, Dr. Singh spoke about taking this capacity-building to the stratosphere: “I would specially like to announce our readiness to cooperate with Tanzania in the area of space technology and applications,” he said. Though he probably had satellites in mind, India should consider offering to eventually send the first African into space as part of its own manned mission project. Such an offer would fire the imagination of a continent that India regards as an emerging economic – and strategic - pole of the international system.

When Indira Gandhi came to Dar es Salaam in 1974, she gifted Mwalimu Julius Nyerere a peacock and peahen from India. There are today 14 peacock nests around the State House. The last time Dr. Singh came to Tanzania was in the late 1980s, when he was secretary-general of the South Commission, an independent body set up by the Non Aligned Movement with Nyerere as its chairman. Their exertions were, unfortunately, not as productive as that of Mrs. Gandhi's poultry. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the advent of neoliberalism undermined this unique project of the Global South even before it got off the ground. Tanzania abandoned Ujamaa, its system of socialism, and India embraced liberalization.

Twenty years later, however, even under the new economic paradigm the two countries have embraced, the need for South-South cooperation is being felt more than ever before. The only difference now is that the process is being driven as much by private capital as by the State, though often the two are in close partnership. Apollo officials told The Hindu that once their hospital project's details are settled, they may consider approaching the Indian government for access to a part of the $5 billion line of credit which has been set up for Africa. Tanzania is also keen to promote investment in its agricultural sector. Millions of hectares are available for long-term lease and contracts have been signed with European and Saudi firms. But unlike in Ethiopia, these lands are not always vacant. Which is why the Indian High Commission has not encouraged Indian companies to get into farming here.

The city of peace

Wrapped around a natural harbour that is deep enough to allow massive container ships to gently sail at shouting distance from its colonial-era government quarter, Dar es Salaam is an attractive city that has all the charm of a bustling port without the menace and chaos one normally associates with cities like Mumbai and Karachi across the Indian Ocean. Traffic jams are a major problem – the bureau chief of the East African newspaper said he would rather leave for work at 6 am than put up with a three hour commute. Amazingly, however, road discipline appears to be maintained at all times, even when cars are backed up for miles on undivided roads and the oncoming lanes are empty.

The 1990 report of the South Commission noted that because “the South doesn't know the South … we have been compelled to commit our own errors, unable neither to learn from the experience of the others in similar situations nor to benefit from other's positive experiences.” Mr. Kekwete said he looked to India for technology and investment. Manmohan Singh graciously added that as Tanzania developed, he hoped Tanzanian companies might also come and invest in India. However, one thing Tanzania could offer to teach Indians right away is traffic sense.


------------------------
The Hindu : Front Page : Tanzania, India find ‘South-South' ties in good health

 

[Hindustani]

Indian parts to power Toyota, Honda cars​

Toyota Motor Corporation and Honda Motor Corporation plan to make India a hub for sourcing components of small cars.

Toyota’s Etios, the entry-level sedan, made its global debut in India, while Honda will sell its small car, Brio, from October, making India the model’s second market after Thailand.

Both want to make these models in other developing countries, too, with key components coming from India.

Toyota plans to make Etios in Brazil from next year. It has also started studies for launching the model in Russia and China.

Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), said: “Etios has opened opportunities for vendors in India. When it is introduced in other countries, key components will be sourced from India.”

TKM, which has a large vendor base, exports transmissions for its multi-utility vehicle, Innova, and its sports utility vehicle, Fortuner, to plants in southeast Asia. It has 107 suppliers in India.

Sources in the company said it was setting up an engine plant with a capacity of 100,000 per annum by 2012 for Etios and a transmission plant (capacity of 240,000 per annum) by 2013. A part of production from these plants could be exported to other countries where Etios would be made.

Yoshikori Noritake, chief engineer, product planning, Toyota Motors, had earlier told Business Standard: “While for our other cars, engineers took designs to suppliers and gave them specifications for components, it was the opposite with Etios. We researched with suppliers on the materials available and went back to the drawing board to build cars for the Indian market at aggressive pricing points.”

The vendor base in India has qualified Toyota’s quality norms and, therefore, will be in a position to cater to other countries as well.

Honda, which has a joint venture with the Siel group in India, is already exporting critical engine and body parts for the ‘made-for-India’ Brio to Thailand. Takashi Nagai, president and chief executive officer, Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI), said, “Brio has been developed keeping the Indian market in mind. The production process has started at the mother plant in Thailand to mature the product for introduction here. As many as 56 engine and body components of Brio are exported from the Tapukara (Alwar, Rajasthan) plant in India to Thailand.”

Honda sources specific components from specific countries. Brio components will be exported from India.

------------------------------

Indian parts to power Toyota, Honda cars

 

[prash]

India takes unique path to lower carbon emissions

With four times the population of the United States, an economy growing 8-9% a year and surging energy demand, India's race to become an economic power has propelled it to No. 3 in the list of top carbon polluters.

India's greenhouse gas emissions will keep rising as it tries to lift millions out of poverty and connect nearly half a billion people to electricity grids. But it is also trying to curb emissions growth in a unique way, fearing the impacts of climate change and spiralling energy costs.

The government is betting big on two market-based trading schemes to encourage energy efficiency and green power across the country of 1.2 billion people, sidestepping emissions trading schemes that have poisoned political debate in the United States and Australia.

"The policy roadmap India is adopting to curb emissions is innovative -- something that will make industries look at making efficiency the centre-piece rather than some step that follows an ineffective carrot and stick policy," said Srinivas Krishnaswamy, CEO of green policy consultants Vasudha India.

In the world's first such national market-based mechanism, called Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT), India is starting a mandatory scheme that sets benchmark efficiency levels for 563 big polluting from power plants to steel mills and cement plants, that account for 54% of the country's energy consumption.

The scheme allows businesses using more energy than stipulated to buy tradeable energy saving certificates, or Escerts, from those using less energy, creating a market estimated by the government to be worth about USD 16 billion in 2014 when trading starts.

The number of Escerts depends on the amount of energy saved in a target year.

Learning curve

A three-year rollout phase is set to start in September and will help India curb about 100 million tonnes of carbon emissions, the government estimates.

The rollout is aimed at working out hiccups in the process for companies to measure and report their energy use.

India has already rolled out a renewable energy certificate (REC) trading scheme for wind, solar and biomass power plants. Green power comprises about 8% of energy production in India, while coal generates more than 60%, leading to a hefty coal import bill.

Trading for the REC scheme, which currently occurs once a month, has picked up as more projects participate, underpinning a government plan to ramp up solar power from near zero to 20 gigawatts by 2022, about one eighth of power generation now.

On May 25, a total of 14,002 RECs were traded during the REC trading session on the Indian Energy Exchange valued at USD 4.6 million, compared with 260 units at the previous session in April.

But concerns remain about how both initiatives will evolve because of a lack of data and trained manpower as well as weak penalties for firms that refuse to comply.

"India has an issue of manpower and data. You look at incomes, industrial activities are growing, the share market might boom but hiring manpower, (building up) capacity and institutions is a long-term game," said Girish Sant, energy analyst at non-profit think tank Prayas.

Some analysts also point to technical gaps in the PAT scheme, including how various units of one company would be graded. There were also limitations that allow REC certificates to be traded only once, limiting the early entry of intermediaries or market makers.

"In order to have an effective cap-and-trade or market mechanism that aids desired reduction in energy use, it is necessary to have targets that are neither too easy nor too difficult to achieve," said leading Indian clean energy project developer and advisory Emergent Ventures in a report on PAT.

But industry observers said it still makes sense for India to opt for a national energy efficiency scheme rather than carbon emissions trading.

"Because the target is intensity, so you are basically asking people to reduce their intensity and that matches the overall target," said Sant of Prayas.

The government has pledged to cut carbon intensity -- the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of economic output -- by between 20 and 25% by 2020, from 2005 levels.

Emissions trading would need an absolute emissions cap, something India does not want to do, saying it needs to keep its economy growing and competitive.

Adapting to the national policy and creating a unique market are a function of time and communication, said Vishwajit Dahanukar, managing director of Managing Emissions, a clean energy project developer, advisory and asset manager.

"That's basically it. It's just early days," he told Reuters from Mumbai.

Rival China is also looking at promoting energy efficiency but most of the government's planned efforts focus more on carbon emissions trading to achieve national climate and pollution goals.

In April, a senior Chinese official said the government would launch pilot emissions trading schemes in six provinces before 2013 and set up a nationwide trading platform by 2015, Thomson Reuters Point Carbon reported. The programme would be based on provincial-level energy consumption targets.

The Chinese government is also considering a cap-and-trade scheme for energy savings in its buildings sector, which accounts for 30 to 40% of the country's overall emissions.

According to a government directive, the mechanism would create energy saving credits but the programme was still in the early planning stages, with trading some years away.

"As Chinese industry is much more organised and the political system allows stringent monitoring, it becomes a little easier for them to use emissions trading," said Siddharth Pathak, Greenpeace India's policy officer for climate and energy, told Reuters.

"Also the push back from Indian industry would be much more than China."

 

[prash]

India's forex reserves increase to $308.53 billion

After declining for two consecutive weeks, India's forex reserves increased by $1.04 billion to $308.53 billion on the back of a sizeable jump in the foreign currency assets (FCAs).

The total foreign exchange reserves had fallen by $2.042 billion to $307.49 billion in the previous reporting week.

FCAs, the largest component of the total reserves, increased by $1.06 billion to $277.20 billion for the week ended May 20, the Reserve Bank said in its weekly data released today.

FCAs, expressed in US dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of the non-US currencies such as the euro, pound and yen, held in the reserves, it said.

India's gold reserves were unchanged at $23.79 billion during the reporting week, the apex bank's data said.

However, both the special drawing rights (SDRs) and reserve position in the IMF witnessed a decline during the week, the RBI said.

The SDRs decreased by $11 million to $4.585 billion, while India's reserve position in the IMF was down by $7 million to $2.957 billion, the RBI data showed.

 

[Che Guevara]

India To Offer Duty-Free Access To Products From Africa

India's External Affairs minsiter outlines new measures to boost bi-lateral trade and investment ties with Africa
In an effort to boost trade ties with Africa, India is planning to provide duty-free access to products from the least developed countries of Africa. As a further measure to boost bi-lateral trade with African countries India also hosted its first summit with the African Union in April 2008 to put its traditional ties with the continent on a fast track.
"We expect to to boost our trade ties with African countries through the India-Africa Forum Summit," India's external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee said. Stressing on the "civilizational, time-tested and unique" ties between the two sides, he said: "India is a dialogue partner of the African Union and will closely follow this evolving and step-by-step process. We will support all efforts that will bring sustainable peace, progress and stability in all the countries of Africa." Mukherjee said the cabinet has already approved the draft framework of a preferential trade agreement with the Southern African Customs Union (SACU).
India's trade with African countries has doubled from $5,493 million in 2001-02 to $11,822 million in 2005-06. Bilateral trade has further shot up to $18,538 million during April 2006-January 2007.
Africa is the largest recipient of India's technical and economic cooperation programme with an outlay of over a billion dollars. The Pan African e-network, being funded and built by India has further helped to improve trade among 53 countries of the African continent. During his visit to Ethiopia recently, Mukherje inaugurated pilot projects of the e-network relating to tele-education and tele-medicine. Mukherjee also sought African Union support for India's representation in an expanded UN Security Council.

India-Africa: Duty Free Access for African Goods

 

[lepziboy]

Exports grow by 34.4% in April, imports up 14.1%

New Delhi: India's exports grew by 34.4 percent on an annual basis to USD 23.8 billion in the first month of the 2011-12 fiscal, maintaining the growth momentum of the previous fiscal.

Imports were up 14.1 percent at USD 32.8 billion in April year-on-year, leaving a trade gap of USD 8.9 billion, according to data released by the Commerce Ministry Wednesday.

However, the exports growth was lower in April compared to the robust growth of 54 percent in March.

Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar has said though the growth in April was lower than March, it was not a big concern.

"March is always a peak month, I am not worried," he has said.

In April this year, crude oil imports grew by 7.7 percent to USD 10.1 billion from USD 9.4 billion in the same month last year. Non-oil imports also went up by 17.3 per cent to USD 22.6 billion in the month under the review from USD 19.3 billion in the same period last fiscal.

The country's total merchandise exports aggregated USD 246 billion in the previous fiscal, growing by an impressive 37.55 percent.

Imports in the 2010-11 fiscal stood at USD 350 billion, down by 21.6 percent, and the trade deficit was USD 104 billion.

---------- Post added at 11:57 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:56 AM ----------

Adani arm buys Oz port for Rs 8,900 crores

Ahmedabad: Mundra Port and SEZ, a Adani Group firm, Wednesday announced it has completed the acquisition of Australia's Abbot Point Port Coal Terminal (APPCT) for AUD 1.829 billion (Rs 8,900 crore) in an all-cash deal.

The deal, completed in a record 28 days period, marks one of the largest outbound acquisitions by any Indian company overseas in the last fiscal.

"The acquisition of APPCT has been completed today. We have paid the entire amount of AUD 1.829 billion to the Queensland treasury and have taken over the ownership and operations of the port," MPSEZL chief financial officer B Ravi told reporters here.

"The port has been re-christened Adani Abbot Port Coal Terminal (AAPCT) Pty. Our directors have joined the board of the new company and a team is in place there and has started to operate the port from today," he said.

The Ahmedabad-based Group, after being declared a successful bidder by the State of Queensland, Australia, had signed a sale and purchase agreement in Brisbane for the port on May 3.

The short-term acquisition financing for the project has been done by the State Bank of India (SBI) and Standard Chartered bank, Ravi said.

"The short-term funding will be replaced with an assest-based financing (long-term) for which we have USD 1.5 billion worth assets in the new company (AAPCT Pty).

"We can go in for long-term asset-based debt of up to USD 1.3 billion based on the assets of AAPCT. Secondly, there would be MPSEZL-level debt either through convertible bonds or some other financial instrument which is yet to be decided," he said.

 

[lepziboy]

Growth of six core sectors slows to 5.2% in April

New Delhi: A decline in cement output and lower finished steel production slowed down the growth of the six core infrastructure industries to 5.2 percent in April.

The six core industries -- crude oil, petroleum refinery products, coal, electricity, cement and finished steel -- had expanded by 7.5 percent in the year-ago period.

According to provisional data released today, production of cement declined by 1.1 percent in April this year, as against a growth of 8.8 per cent in the same month of 2010.

Growth of finished steel production slowed down to 4.3 percent during the month under review, compared to 12.9 percent expansion in April last year.

In addition, electricity output grew by just 6.8 percent in April this year, as against 6.9 percent in the same month of 2010.

However, the other three sectors reported better growth during the month.

Crude oil production topped the table with growth of 11 percent in April, compared to 5.1 percent expansion in the corresponding year-ago period.

Petroleum refinery products registered a growth of 6.6 percent in April, as against an increase of 5.3 percent in the same month last year.

Coal output registered a growth of 2.9 percent in April, 2011, a complete turnaround in comparison to the same month last year, when output had contracted by 2.9 percent.

The slowdown comes a month after the six core infrastructure industries grew by 7.4 percent in March, 2011.

During the 2010-11 fiscal, the sectors had expanded by 5.9 percent, as against 5.5 percent in the previous year.

 

[mastaan]

Growth of six core sectors slows to 5.2% in April

New Delhi: A decline in cement output and lower finished steel production slowed down the growth of the six core infrastructure industries to 5.2 percent in April.

The six core industries -- crude oil, petroleum refinery products, coal, electricity, cement and finished steel -- had expanded by 7.5 percent in the year-ago period.

According to provisional data released today, production of cement declined by 1.1 percent in April this year, as against a growth of 8.8 per cent in the same month of 2010.

Growth of finished steel production slowed down to 4.3 percent during the month under review, compared to 12.9 percent expansion in April last year.

In addition, electricity output grew by just 6.8 percent in April this year, as against 6.9 percent in the same month of 2010.

However, the other three sectors reported better growth during the month.

Crude oil production topped the table with growth of 11 percent in April, compared to 5.1 percent expansion in the corresponding year-ago period.

Petroleum refinery products registered a growth of 6.6 percent in April, as against an increase of 5.3 percent in the same month last year.

Coal output registered a growth of 2.9 percent in April, 2011, a complete turnaround in comparison to the same month last year, when output had contracted by 2.9 percent.

The slowdown comes a month after the six core infrastructure industries grew by 7.4 percent in March, 2011.

During the 2010-11 fiscal, the sectors had expanded by 5.9 percent, as against 5.5 percent in the previous year.

Well, interesting statistics... never knew someone reported them here... The upsurge in the GDP (annual FY11 numbers) looks like a sustainable number and an additional .5% points this year might just push 8.5% growth to 8.75% or so .. What remains to be seen is how this tallies with investment plans and govt clearances and obviously how does the inflation reflect on input costs... Just to add some context to the slowdown numbers in some sectors...

Obviously monthly indicators can be highly misleading when looking at macroeconomics and in March one clears a lot of inventory (or recognizes sales, but stores in inventory) and in April the new products just starts to pick up and narmally they are never symmetrical across years... If you notice all the three sectors are Cap-ex intensive sectors Steel, Electricity (while a 6.8% growth is no mean achievement) and cement.. And companies start with their cap-ex slowly and at different paces... and my best guess is that this will pick up as enablers/lead indicators like crude, coal and refinery products (inspite of crazy deregulated prices) are certainly on an upswing... dunno why, but economically this year looks more promising than 2011, with so many new projects, investments and improving economic scenario....

 

[ramu]

Govt committed to achieve 2011-12 fiscal targets: Pranab

NEW DELHI: Buoyed by better-than-expected performance on government finances' front in 2010-11, the Centre on Thursday said it will keep a tab on public expenditure to ensure that Budget targets for this fiscal too are achieved.

"Efforts to get the economy on the path of fiscal prudence are on track... The government is committed to achieve the fiscal targets," an official statement quoting finance minister Pranab Mukherjee at a meeting of Consultative Committee held on Wednesday said.

He further said that to ensure that scarce resources of the country are productively deployed, "it is extremely important to measure outcomes."

In the Budget for 2011-12, the government had set fiscal deficit target at 4.6 per cent of the GDP and the revenue deficit target at around 3 per cent.

Now the government has also started providing, along with the Budget and revised estimate of current year and Budget estimates of the ensuing year, the details of actual expenditure incurred on each scheme "for a better analysis of the budgetary provisions and the trend in expenditure".

Mukherjee said the government has been able to contain the fiscal deficit and revenue deficit well within the revised estimates in 2010-11.

It has been "possible due to higher tax collections as compared to revised estimates, higher receipts from non-tax sources and non-debt capital sources and savings under plan expenditure of government".