Indian Economy-News & Updates

[Abingdonboy]

BBC News - India factory output rises by 6.8%, easing growth fears

 

[Banana]

BBC News - India factory output rises by 6.8%, easing growth fears

Another Piece of BS.

IIP’s funny numbers: Time to dump them lock, stock, barrel

by R Jagannathan Mar 12, 2012

So, the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) has punched in at 6.8 percent in January. 2012. Three cheers for an industrial revival?

Actually, we should give the index three boos for producing nonsensical numbers.

The broad numbers are certainly not off the mark. The big growth engines of January were Manufacturing, which grew by a robust 8.5 percent, and Electricity, which rose 3.2 percent. Mining, which has been a bit under the weather for all of 2011 due to scams and bans, declined by 2.7 percent.

The IIP numbers seem to be in contradiction with ground realities

Overall, the IIP has given us a moderate 4.0 percent growth in the April 2011-January 2012 period.

But look under the covers, and what you find is a can of worms.

Industrial growth is being driven by consumption, with consumer goods zooming by 20.2 percent, especially consumer non-durables by 42.1 percent. Consumer durables – fridges, ACs etc – are actually declining by 6.8 percent.

What’s going on? Are Indian consumers buying up toothpaste, soap, and food like they are going out of fashion?

Seems so.

Exhibit A is “Food products and beverages”, which showed 92.6 percent growth in January. Indians are either eating too much now or they were eating too little in January 2011. How did this happen? Have the rich forgotten about weight-watching, or are the poor eating better? If this is true, we should forget about food security and worry about only those pockets where malnutrition is chronic.

Exhibit B is “Printing, publishing and reproduction of recorded media”, which grew a spectacular 56.1 percent. Are people reading more newspapers and watching more TV for some reason? The data suggest that most publications and channels are bleeding, and advertisers are holding back on spends. Or are people spending more on entertainment and CDs – which is what recorded media could be about? Nobody has told us that people are watching more films or things like that.

Exhibits A and B are also valid for April-January 2011-12, since they reported 28.3 percent and 24.2 percent growth. So this is not some isolated trend restricted to a January blip.

Exhibits C, D and E relate to what is falling in the IIP: “Office, accounting and computing machinery” (-14.1 percent), “Electrical machinery and apparatus” (-30.5 percent), and “Radio, TV and communication equipment and apparatus” (-13.8 percent).

Surely, there is a contradiction between exhibits A and B, and what C, D and E show.

Can India be buying more recording media and consuming more entertainment and news if office and computing machinery are going down, and if radio, TV and computing equipment are crashing?

This is not to suggest a one-to-one correlation between related products every month, but at the very least there is a clear need to look at the data afresh and see if the right things are being collected and collated.

Let’s also look at some of the other numbers – going even deeper into specific products. January has shown a 127.3 percent increase in “Zarda/chewing tobacco”. Either people are taking up more bad habits as the economy dives downhill, or the data gatherers were smoking something when entering the data.

“Marble tiles and slabs” reported 69.4 percent growth during January. Now, we didn’t hear of any real growth in the real estate sector in January in any part of the country. So how did marble tiles and slabs show this spike in growth? Who is buying marble tiles when the money being invested in realty is going down? Or have the data gatherers lost their marbles? (If you are a glutton for numbers, here’s the full monty from the government’s data website).

Newspaper production went up 57.1 percent in January. Oh? People are now eagerly reading newspapers, or are the poor using more newspapers to cover themselves in a cold winter since they can’t afford woolen blankets?

The official release announcing the January IPP also notes a 246 percent rise in petroleum coke, lenses (72 percent, the population is either taking to photography in a big way or more people are developing myopia), and insulated cables/wires of all kinds (up 57.5 percent). Since cables and wires are largely used in homes and offices, one wonders why this is happening in a flat or negative real estate scenario.

There is only one point to be made: the IIP numbers are simply yo-yoing too much and appear too lumpy to be really believable. Somebody needs to take a close look at the whole index, and audit the process through which data is being collected.

Meanwhile, the current IIP is worth taking with bags of salt. However, we don’t advise that, since salt might show a big spike in the next IIP number.

Best to throw out the flawed current IIP with the bathwater.

IIP’s funny numbers: Time to dump them lock, stock, barrel | Firstpost

 

[IndoUS]

................................

 

[Agent_47]

Govt uses special powers to slash cancer drug price by 97%

MUMBAI: In a landmark decision that could set a precedent on how life-saving drugs under patents can be made affordable, the government has allowed a domestic company, Natco Pharma, to manufacture a copycat version of Bayer's patented anti-cancer drug, Nexavar, bringing down its price by 97%.

In the first-ever case of compulsory licencing approval, the Indian Patent Office on Monday cleared the application of Hyderabad's Natco Pharma to sell generic drug Nexavar, used for renal and liver cancer, at Rs 8,880 (around $175) for a 120-capsule pack for a month's therapy. Bayer offers it for over Rs 2.8 lakh (roughly $5,500) per 120 capsule. The order provides hope for patients who cannot afford these drugs.

The approval paves the way for the launch of Natco's drug in the market, a company official told TOI, adding that it will pay a 6% royalty on net sales every quarter to Bayer. The licence will be valid till such time the drug's patent is valid, i.e. 2020. As per the CL (compulsory licence) order, Natco is also committed to donating free supplies of the medicines to 600 patients each year.

Bayer said it was "disappointed" and would "evaluate options to defend intellectual property rights" in the country. In July 2011, Natco had applied for the CL in the Mumbai patent office to make Sorafenib Tosylate for which Bayer has a patent in the country since 2008.

Under Section 84, a compulsory licence to manufacture a drug can be issued after three years of the grant of patent on the product, which is not available at an affordable price. Under the World Trade Organisation TRIPS Agreement, compulsory licences are legally-recognized means to overcome barriers in accessing affordable medicines. This is the first time in the history of the Indian Patents Act, 1970, that the provision under Section 84 has been invoked.

The patent office acted on the basis that not only had Bayer failed to price the drug at a level that made it accessible and affordable, it also was unable to ensure that the medicine was available in sufficient quantities within India. Controller general of patents, P H Kurian, based his decision on Bayer's admission that only 2% of kidney and liver cancer patients were able to access the drug, and its pricing (Rs 2.8 lakh for a month) did not constitute a "reasonably affordable" price.

Since 2005, domestic drug manufacturers have faced formidable barriers in the manufacture of patented drugs, and this has been remedied by the compulsory licensing provision to prevent patent holders from having a monopoly over certain essential medicines.

Interestingly, generic manufacturer Cipla has already launched generic Nexavar (Sorafenib Tosylate) at around Rs 28,000 per 120-capsule pack, and is embroiled in a dispute with Bayer in the Delhi high court.

Economist and intellectual property expert James Love said, "The Bayer price of Rs 34,11,898 per year ($69,000) is more than 41 times the projected average per capita income for India in 2012, shattering any measure of affordability. Bayer tried to justify its high price by making claims of high R&D costs, but refused to provide any details of its actual outlays on the research for Sorafenib, a cancer drug that was partly subsidized by the US Orphan Drug tax credit, and jointly developed with Onyx Pharmaceuticals. Bayer has made billions from Sorafenib, and made little effort to sell the product in India where its price is far beyond the means of all but a few persons."

Dr Tido von Schoen-Angerer, director of independent healthcare organization, MSF, said, "We have been following this case closely because newer drugs to treat HIV are patented in India, and as a result are priced out of reach. But this decision marks a precedent that offers hope. It shows that new drugs under patent can also be produced by generic makers at a fraction of the price, while royalties are paid to the patent holder. This compensates patent holders while at the same time ensuring that competition can bring down prices."

Govt uses special powers to slash cancer drug price by 97% - The Times of India

 

[BoB's]

India showed strong growth amid global slowdown: IMF

WASHINGTON: Even as overall growth in the G20 slowed in the fourth quarter of 2011, growth increased strongly in India and Indonesia, modestly in the United States, but slowed somewhat in China, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The G20 Quarterly Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of +0.7 per cent in the last three months of 2011 compared with +0.9 per cent in the third quarter, according to provisional results from this first time release of the G20 GDP aggregate.

In 2011 as a whole, G20 GDP rose by +2.8 per cent, a marked deceleration compared with the +5.0 per cent growth recorded in 2010.

The G20 GDP aggregate masks diverging patterns among the world's largest economies, IMF said noting in India and Indonesia growth increased strongly from + 0.9 per cent to + 1.8 per cent and from + 1.4 per cent to + 2.1 per cent respectively.

However in terms of annual per centage change and per centage change on the same quarter of the previous year India's growth rate fell from 7 per cent in the third quarter to 6.5 per cent in the fourth quarter.

In the United States, GDP growth increased to +0.7 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared with +0.5 per cent in the third quarter, but slowed in China to +2.0 per cent, compared with +2.3 per cent in the third quarter.

In Japan, economic growth decreased to -0.2 per cent, following the strong rebound (+1.7 per cent) in the third quarter. GDP fell by -0.3 per cent in both the European Union and the euro area in the fourth quarter of 2011, the first fall since the second quarter of 2009.

India showed strong growth amid global slowdown: IMF - The Economic Times

 

[sachin@india]

Economic Survey 2011-12: Highlights

NEW DELHI: The Economic Survey 2011-12 was tabled in the Parliament on Thursday. Highlights of the Economic Survey 2011-12 tabled in parliament by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Thursday:

- GDP growth estimated to be 6.9 percent in 2011-12

- Outlook for growth and stability is promising with real GDP growth expected to pick up to 7.6 percent in 2012-13 and 8.6 percent in 2013-14

- Farm sector growth pegged at 2.5 percent for 2011-12

- Services sector to grow at 9.4 percent

- Services sector share in GDP to go up to 59 percent in the fiscal ending March 31


- Industrial growth pegged at 4-5 percent, expected to improve as economic recovery resumes

- Inflation on WPI was high but showed clear slow down by the year-end. This is likely to spur investment activities leading to positive impact on growth

- WPI food inflation dropped from 20.2 percent in February 2010 to 1.6 percent in January 2012

- Calibrated steps initiated to rein-in inflation on top priority

- India remains among the fastest growing economies of the world

- Fiscal consolidation on track - savings and capital formation expected to rise

- Exports grew by 40.5 percent in the first half of this fiscal and imports grew by 30.4 percent

- Foreign trade performance to remain a key driver of growth

- Forex reserves enhanced - covering nearly the entire external debt stock

- Central spending on social services goes up to 18.5 percent this fiscal from 13.4 percent in 2006-07

 

[sachin@india]

India's per capita income increased to 1527 USD

 

[Abingdonboy]

BBC News - India uses budget speech to sound upbeat economic note


Could've been worse.

 

[russellpeters]

BBC News - India uses budget speech to sound upbeat economic note


Could've been worse.

aptly put......

 

[BoB's]

India's per capita income increased to 1527 USD

Per capita of Luxembourg(1st) is 122,272...we have a long way to go..

Per capita of our neighbours-
Maldives- 6,499
Thailand- 5,281
China- 5,184
Indonesia- 3,461
Sri Lanka- 2,864
Bhutan- 2,299
Pakistan- 1,164
Burma- 804
Bangladesh- 690
Nepal- 644

 

[Abingdonboy]

Per capita of Luxembourg(1st) is 122,272...we have a long way to go..

Per capita of our neighbours-
Maldives- 6,499
Thailand- 5,281
China- 5,184
Indonesia- 3,461
Sri Lanka- 2,864
Bhutan- 2,299
Pakistan- 1,164
Burma- 804
Bangladesh- 690
Nepal- 644

Hey the trajectory is good and I have no doubt India can and will do it.


Like my father always told me- " reach for the moon, even of you fail you'll be amongst the stars" (cheesy and not astronomically correct but still).

 

[cloud_9]

Bharti Airtel may kick start 4G services from Kolkata on March 20

Bharti Airtel, India's largest mobile phone company by revenues and customers may kick start its fourth generation services from Kolkata on March 20, executives familiar with the development told ET.

This would be the second launch of 4G services in India after Augere Wireless, which has been offering high-speed data through dongles (data cards) since last month.


The Bharti Airtel spokesperson declined to comment, but pointed out that its chief executive Sanjay Kapoor had recently said that the telco would launch 4G services by March-end.

Bharti Airtel had paid Rs 3,314.36 crore for getting fourth generation spectrum in four circles - Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab and Kolkata - in a government auction held in 2010.

ET had earlier reported that Bharti had fininalized vendors for its 4G foray, with ZTE being supplying the equipment and managing operations in Kolkata, while Nokai Siemens gor Maharashta, Huawei for the Karntaka region and Sweden's Ericsson for Punjab.

 

[Shaurya]

Telecom Budget: Mobile phone manufacturing to pick up in India

Telecom Lead India: The Union Budget 2012 presented by the finance minister Pranab Mukherjee gives some respite to the mobile industry in India, as it exempts mobile phone parts from basic custom duties.

The exemption of the mobile phone parts from basic custom duties will aid in deeper penetration of mobile phone manufacturers into the untapped portions of the Indian market.

Furthermore, the exemption will help bringing down the manufacturing cost of mobile phones.

In Indian market, domestic vendors such as Micromax, Spice, Karbonn and Lava have been making low-cost cell phones and the move to exempt mobile phone parts from basic custom duties will help these vendors to lower their production cost, which will help them to focus on quality of their offerings.

Additionally, this move will help these domestic vendors to compete with leading manufacturer such as Nokia, Samsung, HTC and Motorola.

These domestic vendors have already launched low-cost smartphones in a bid to drive demand as they attempt to move up the value chain from low-cost feature phones.

For 2011, Micromax is among the top manufacturers of multi-SIM mobile handsets with 8 percent market share. Other domestic manufacturer such as G'five and Maxx are also striving to increase their market share in the Indian mobile market, accoding to Cyber Media Research.

Pradeep Jain, MD of Karbonn Mobiles welcomes Budget

"We as a constituent of the ever-evolving communication sector of the country would like to welcome the forward-looking Union Budget for 2012-13. By taking progressive policy measures the Finance Minister has been able to put forth a proposal which will definitely take the country on a path of progression," said Pradeep Jain, MD of Karbonn Mobiles.

Karbonn Mobiles welcomes the finance minister's move to cut customs duty on memory cards for mobile phones which while complementing the usage of storage cards will definitely help in increasing the usage of extensive mobile phones in the country, Jain added.

Not only multi-SIM mobile handsets, but these domestic vendors are trying to mark their presence in 3G and Smartphone market segment. The government's move to exempt mobile phone parts from basic custom duties will definitely help them to improve quality.

In the overall India mobile handsets market, Nokia is presently holding the leadership position with 31 percent share, followed by Samsung at No.2 with 15 percent and Micromax at No.3 with 5 percent, in terms of sales (unit shipments) during CY 2011.

The government has also cut customs duty on memory cards for mobile phones which while complementing the usage of storage cards will definitely help in increasing the usage of extensive mobile phones in the country.

Responding to Budget recommendations, Ashutosh Prabhudesai, Controller & Director Finance, Fujitsu Consulting India, said: "Finance Minister has demonstrated the in-principle acceptance for moving towards unified GST by standardizing the tax rates across the spectrum of services. The rationalization of tax slabs for non corporate income taxes is also a step towards the implementation of direct taxes code. However the excise duty increases and service tax rate increase would mean higher costs for the industry. The pill could have been sweetened by a reduction in corporate tax rates which did not happen."

Telecom Budget: Mobile phone manufacturing to pick up in India

India economy to pick up speed: finance ministry

NEW DELHI — India's economic growth will pick up speed over the next two years, a report card on Asia's third-largest economy forecast on Thursday, a day before the government presents its budget.
"By any cross-country comparison, India remains among the (economic growth) front-runners," said the survey, a summation of the nation's prospects traditionally presented before the spending plans.
The study, prepared by the finance ministry, projected the economy would grow 7.6 percent in the next fiscal year to March 2013 and 8.6 percent the following year.
The economy should grow 6.9 percent this year -- the slowest pace since the 2008 global financial crisis -- but there are signs "the weakness in economic activity has bottomed out and a gradual upswing is imminent," it said.
Growth has been hurt by aggressive monetary tightening to contain stubborn inflation while a weakening global economy has hit export demand.
The survey said it expected the central bank to lower interest rates in coming months owing to an expected easing of inflation. However, the survey's release came as the Reserve Bank of India left rates on hold, citing worries a rise in global oil prices could again stoke inflation.
The fiscal deficit -- the gap between spending and revenues -- would likely exceed a budget target of 4.6 percent of gross domestic product for this financial year, the survey said.
But it should narrow to 4.1 percent in the next fiscal year and to 3.5 percent in the next 12 months, the survey added.
Narrowing of the deficit is crucial to reduce government borrowing and interest costs, and attract vital investment to fund the improvement of India's dilapidated infrastructure and bolster growth, economists say.

AFP: India economy to pick up speed: finance ministry

 

[CaptainJackSparrow]

Zambia seeks India's help for Green Revolution

Zambia seeks India`s help for Green Revolution

India - Africa trade target raised to $90 billion by 2015 news


domain-b.com : India - Africa trade target raised to $90 billion by 2015

 

[StingRoy]

Business Line : Companies News : India-made Figo to be exported to 50 intl mkts: Ford

Ford India, subsidiary of US carmaker Ford, on Thursday said it aims to accelerate export of India made-Figo to 50 international markets by this year end, from current 34.

Figo continues to be a favourite in export markets. The company has exported 2,389 units this month including to a new market — Lebanon, an official said, on the sidelines of foundation stone-laying ceremony of Ford’s integrated manufacturing facility here.

“We are exporting Figo to Mexico, Caribbean, UAE, and parts of North Africa. The vast majority goes to similar markets like India, as they too need small cars like India does,” President and Managing Director, Ford India, Mr Michael Boneham said.

In addition to South Africa and Nepal, Figo is being shipped to countries like Angola, Bermuda, Ghana, Iraq, Liberia, Malawi, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

“We have already gone to 34 different countries and aim to export to 50 nations by end of this year, many of them being similar countries,” Mr Boneham said.