Indian Economy-News & Updates

[jayron]

Yeah we should learn from Bangladesh, right. Some people settle abroad and start talking as if they are natives, we know how great you guys are actually.

Bsngladeshis are very advanced. They use people instead of cattle to pull stuff.

 

[kkacer]

Economists Slash India’s Growth Forecasts to 5.5%

9/8/2012

CLSA Asia-Pacific Wednesday pared its growth prediction for the current fiscal year to 5.5% from 6.0%. A day earlier, Citigroup said it expects the Indian economy to grow 5.4% in the fiscal year that started April 1 compared to its earlier prediction of 6.4%, while CRISIL cuts its growth forecast to 5.5% from 6.5%

http://www.defence.pk/forums/indian-defence/27787-indian-economy-news-updates-232.html

 

[fallstuff]

Bsngladeshis are very advanced. They use people instead of cattle to pull stuff.

FYI,

Facelift for farming

Machines are taking over farming in Bangladesh -- slowly but surely -- a major shift in centuries-old manual cultivation.

Ploughing with cows and buffaloes and irrigating fields manually will soon be a thing of the past.

About 67 percent of the 76 lakh hectares of arable lands are irrigated by mechanised means. Power tillers and tractors till nearly 70 percent of 13.74 million hectares of total cropland, analysts said.

With progress made in threshing, almost all maize is shelled by machine and in the case of rice, threshing by machine is about 50 percent, agronomists said.

The adoption of the mechanised methods facilitated timely cultivation, resulting in a rise in production.

It has also reduced the cost of tilling, absorbed a portion of farm labour and accelerated growth in workshop and production facilities for farm machinery and repair services.

“Farming is changing with time. A decade ago, almost all farms used animals to plough with. Now, you will hardly find tilling by cattle in our locality,” said Momtaz Hossain, a 55-year-old farmer at Mohadevpur, Naogaon.

Hossain, who has 30 years of experience in farming, linked the drop in tilling by cattle mainly to labour shortages.

“Seven years ago, I had eight tilling cows. But I switched to power tillers because of a dearth of workers. It has become tough nowadays to hire people to look after cows."

“It is possible to till more than three acres of land from dawn to dusk with a power tiller. In case of cattle, only half an acre of land could be tilled until noon,” said Hossain, who owns 10 acres of arable land.

To reduce dependence on animals and labourers, Hossain also bought a thresher in 2000.

Although no official data on farm mechanisation is available, over 400,000 power tillers along with nearly 15,000-20,000 tractors are now in use in agriculture, according to researchers.

“It's a silent revolution that began after the 1988 flood,” said RI Sarker, a professor of the farm power and machinery department, Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU).

Although the journey began as part of a so-called 'Green Revolution', advancements were slow until 1988 because of the standardisation requirements of the government.

Loss of tilling animals in the 1988 flood led the government to relax rules that later encouraged increased imports of farm implements, mainly from China and India. This leads to growth in sales and expansion of farm machinery.

Experts said shortages of tilling cattle as well as farm labourer in peak season were the main factors behind the rise in such mechanisation. Promotional campaigns by public agriculture research institutes and private sector marketers also supported the growth.

“Now about 70 percent of the total crop area is tilled by power tillers and tractors,” said Md Syedul Islam, head of farm machinery and post-harvest technology division, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute.

“One of the main benefits of mechanised tilling is timely cultivation, which farmers cannot ensure by depending on tilling by cattle,” he said. “It is estimated that farmers incur a loss of about 50 kilograms of paddy a hectare every day, if transplantation goes behind the schedule."

Monjurul Alam, a BAU professor, said a labour shortage in peak season caused delayed plantation and harvesting, leading to lower output.

Despite advancements, progress in mechanised transplantation and harvesting still goes slow.

However, remarkable growth has been seen in threshing of major crops, such as rice, maize and wheat.

“Farmers are now using nearly three lakh closed drum and open drum threshers. Some 25,000-30,000 threshers are being made locally every year to meet the increasing demand,” said Alam who conducted a study on value chain in the agri-machinery

sub-sector of Bangladesh in favour of SouthAsia Enterprise Development Facility (SEDF) in 2005.

“Farm machinery is revolving around a section of entrepreneurs who invest in farm machinery to earn money,” he said.

Wais Kabir, executive chairman of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (Barc), said mechanised cultivation has increased without institutional support.

“Mechanisation is on the rise because of individual efforts,” he said. However progress in mechanised plantation, reaping and fertiliser application remains slow, he added.

“Also, availability of quality machinery remains a problem. The government should introduce standardisation requirements so that farmers receive quality farm machinery,” he said.

The Barc executive chairman also suggested mainstreaming the issue of mechanised cultivation in the agenda of Department of Agricultural Extension to create awareness among farmers on the benefits.

sohel@thedailystar.net

Look out for more on the evolution of farming in Bangladesh in two more upcoming reports.

 

[cloud_9]

FYI,

Facelift for farming
Although no official data on farm mechanisation is available, over 400,000 power tillers along with nearly 15,000-20,000 tractors are now in use in agriculture, according to researchers. [/URL]

Ha ha ! 20,000 tractors....I bet my district alone has twice the number of tractors Bangladesh has

India is the largest manufacturer of Tractors in the world and with the second largest tractor population.

Agricultural Trends in India (2001)

It's 198.5 per 100 sq. Km according to the WB Report (2008)

Shoo! Shoo! back to your hi-tech Bangladeshi farms

 

[kkacer]

Economists Slash India’s Growth Forecasts to 5.5%

9/8/2012

CLSA Asia-Pacific Wednesday pared its growth prediction for the current fiscal year to 5.5% from 6.0%. A day earlier, Citigroup said it expects the Indian economy to grow 5.4% in the fiscal year that started April 1 compared to its earlier prediction of 6.4%, while CRISIL cuts its growth forecast to 5.5% from 6.5%

http://www.defence.pk/forums/indian-defence/27787-indian-economy-news-updates-232.html

Surprise industrial slump adds to India's economic woes

August 9, 2012

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Industrial output shrank 1.8 percent, dragged down by a deep dip in manufacturing, the data released on Thursday showed. The number was lower than a forecast of 1 percent growth in a Reuters poll and sharply lower than 9.5 percent growth a year earlier.

India's industrial output fell for the third time in four months in June, India's exports fell 5.45 percent to $25.1 billion in June.

Surprise industrial slump adds to India's economic woes | Reuters

 

[cloud_9]

HPCL aims to buy about 99,000 bpd Iran oil in August

NEW DELHI: State-run refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp plans to lift up to three Suezmax crude cargoes or about 99,300 barrels per day (bpd) oil from Iran this month, its executive director B. K. Namdeo said on Thursday.

India, which has secured a waiver from U.S. sanctions against Iran's disputed nuclear programme after cutting purchases, aims to lift at least 15 percent less of its oil in the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2013.

To skirt European sanctions that have hit insurance and reinsurance of Iranian shipments, India has offered a limited cover of about $100 million for Iranian imports, which local shippers have rejected saying it was inadequate.

The cover offered by state insurers for Iran shipments is a fraction of the $1 billion coverage that a supertanker carrying around 2 million barrels of crude would normally have from reinsurers.

India, Iran's second-biggest crude customer after China, is also giving permission to refiners on a case-by-case basis to import oil using Iranian vessels and insurance.

Adani Power expects to start over 7,200 MW capacity projects

AHMEDABAD: Adani Power hopes to start construction of three projects having total capacity of over 7,200 MW, once various sectoral issues, including coal shortage are sorted out, company's Chairman Gautam Adani said today.

Gautam Adani said the firm was hopeful to begin construction of three projects, once the issues are resolved.

The three projects are 1,320 MW Chhindwara project in Madhya Pradesh, 3,300 MW Bhadreshwar and 2,640 MW Dahej plants, both in Gujarat.

Together, these projects have a total generation capacity of 7,260 MW. All would be coal-fired plants.

Meanwhile, the company expects the 3,300 MW Tiroda project in Maharashtra and 1,320 MW Kawai plant in Rajasthan to be ready by March 2013.

At present, Adani Power has an installed generation capacity of 4,660 MW, including a 40 MW solar plant in Rajasthan

Punj Lloyd wins Rs 330 crore crude oil storage project in Karnataka

NEW DELHI: Infrastructure player Punj Lloyd today said it has bagged a Rs 330 crore order from Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for process facilities & utilities at an upcoming crude oil storage cavern in Mangalore.

"This is the first cavern project for the Group and has been awarded by Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves (ISPR), a wholly owned subsidiary of Oil Industry Development Board, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas," Punj Lloyd said in a statement.

The project, located near Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited, is scheduled to be completed within a period of 29 months.

The Mangalore crude oil storage will comprise two separate but identical underground caverns, each about 900 metres long, having a total capacity of 1.5 million tonnes of crude oil.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas plans to store 5.33 million tonnes of imported crude oil in these crude reserves, based on a 15 day crude oil requirement of all the refineries in the country.

 

[cirr]

India’s Q1 GDP growth may dip below 5%

New Delhi, August 10

India's economic growth could fall below 5 per cent in the the first quarter of current fiscal, impacted by contraction in industrial output and deficient monsoons, global research firm Citi has said.

"The (industrial) production numbers will have a bearing on the 'value-add' industry numbers for Q1FY13 GDP. This coupled with sub-par monsoons and the deceleration seen in some of the service sectors could result in a sub 5 per cent Q1 FY13 GDP," Citi said in its India Macro Flash report.

Data released Thursday said industrial output in the first (April-June) quarter contracted by 0.1%, against a healthy 6.9% growth in the corresponding period last fiscal. For the month of June, IIP declined by 1.8%, against a growth of 9.5% a year ago.

Besides, rain has been 20 per cent lower during June-July, affecting kharif crops, mainly coarse cereals and pulses. Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan are facing drought-like situation.

Last week, the Met department said the monsoons will be below normal by 9-10% of the long period average. Monsoon is the life-line of the agriculture sector as only 40% of the cultivable area is irrigated.

The Reserve Bank in its policy review last month had kept key interest rates unchanged but cut its growth expectations for the fiscal to 6.5% from the earlier 7%, blaming high fiscal deficit, sticky inflation and a possible drought.

"On rates, while we lowered our rate cut call to 50 basis points, given the RBI's stance on inflation, we re-iterate that rate actions are contingent on 'some' government action," Citi said. — Agencies

The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Business

 

[Boson]

^^^ chinese are scared to death about the rise of India. Nothing else explains, their "praying" against monsoons or following every piece of data about India (even at the expense of ignoring data about their own country).

Do you guys follow up so much on USA or Japan or Europe?

 

[MandarK]

^^^ chinese are scared to death about the rise of India. Nothing else explains, their "praying" against monsoons or following every piece of data about India (even at the expense of ignoring data about their own country).

Do you guys follow up so much on USA or Japan or Europe?

Dude he is only posting a news article. No need to reply in that language.

27% of power goes waste, says Power minister M Veerappa Moily - The Economic Times

NEW DELHI: Around 27,000 mw of electricity, which could ensure uninterrupted power supply to Delhi for four days in peak summer, goes waste every day in India as the power sector records AT&C losses at 27.15% of the power generated.

Power minister M Veerappa Moily on Friday said his top priority was to reduce aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses to 12%, which if achieved would make available 15,000 mw for various sectors.

"If private distributors can reduce AT&C losses to 7% in some cases, why cannot the government do it? Within three months, we will put a road map to achieve drastic reduction in AT&C losses which will have multiple beneficial effects on the power scenario of the country," Moily told TOI in an interview.

Assuming charge of the power portfolio immediately after the shock grid failures on consecutive days that plunged most parts of the country into darkness, Moily said, "The priority is to maintain strict grid discipline and bring down the all-India average AT&C losses to 10-12% level."

All-India average AT&C losses were pegged at 27.15% in 2009, in which southern region had an average of 19.49% and the north-eastern region 36.44%. Some states had loss levels as high as 70% and at the same time, some others had the loss average in single digit.

To improve the power generation capacity, Moily said there were several power projects in states which were ready for commissioning but were held up for months due to minor environmental objections or other issues. "In the next few week, I will strive to hold consultations with other ministries to clear these small issues so that the plants ready for commissioning can start generating electricity," the minister said.

On simultaneous failures of northern, eastern and north-eastern grids, Moily said it happened because cash starved, loss making state-owned utilities preferred to overdraw power rather than contracting adequate power, thereby putting the grids at risk.

He said, "Another priority is to introduce stringent penalties for state governments and officers concerned for withdrawal of power beyond contracted quantities. If need be, related provisions in Electricity Act, 2003 could be amended."

Power ministry documents noted that "some of the states have not only been over-drawing power from the grid with impunity, they are also defaulting in payment of the unscheduled interchange charges which presently was to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore at the end of May with the biggest defaulters being Uttar Pradesh (Rs 842 crore), Jammu and Kashmir (Rs 498 crore), Punjab (Rs 81 crore) and Haryana (Rs 58 crore)".

Times View

Reduction of AT&C losses in the power sector, or what were earlier called transmission and distribution losses, is a task that has not received sufficient attention so far. If more than a quarter of all power generated is lost in transit, or more likely stolen, it is the law-abiding, bill-paying consumer who is forced to bear the burden of this loss. It is good that the government is talking about drastically reducing this figure, but what counts is walking the talk. State governments must show political will and police forces must cooperate with power distributing agencies if this talk is to be translated into reality, and it must be.

Markets and economy disconnected: Deutsche Bank - The Economic Times

NEW DELHI: Shares have risen despite inflation, which has been sticky and threatens to rise due to poor monsoons, while industrial production has remained weak and agriculture production outlook has worsened, the analysts pointed out.

"Clearly the markets are trying to look beyond the dataflow, betting on a major improvement in the policy environment," the analysts said.

"While this puts welcome pressure on the authorities to expedite reforms, the risk is that markets will be disappointed as realization sets in that policy constraints accumulated over a long period cannot be resolved with a changing of the guard in a few offices," they added.

Benchmark stock indices BSE Sensex has gained nearly 6% in the last two weeks, after the finance ministry led by P Chidambaram made all the right noises about initiating reforms.

"Finance Minister Chidambaram has made some welcome statements about fiscal consolidation, subsidy reform, infrastructure spending, and clarifying tax laws in recent days. We await follow-up actions while tempering our expectations as the political room to take tough decisions appear limited," the analysts said.

Foreign institutional investors are "fairly bullish" on Indian stocks, given their $11 billion inflows into equities so far this year, but played safe, according to Citigroup.

In a study on FII shareholding in Indian equities, Citigroup said FIIs were trimming their bigger overweights, such as financials and industrials, as well as some of their underweights, such as IT services and energy.

A lot of money has come in, but they are not taking too many chances, analysts said. Citigroup said foreigners' portfolios were positioned for higher markets, tilting towards cyclical stocks, including banks, consumer discretionaries and industrials.

 

[Boson]

Dude he is only posting a news article. No need to reply in that language.

It isn't random news items picked about Indian Economy.
They are carefully handpicked negative sounding articles.

In any case, I don't have a problem if that's the best way they know how to spend their time.

But no harm in drawing a logically derived inference from observed behaviour. That's all.

 

[kkacer]

^^^ chinese are scared to death about the rise of India. Nothing else explains, their "praying" against monsoons or following every piece of data about India (even at the expense of ignoring data about their own country).

Do you guys follow up so much on USA or Japan or Europe?

We are laughing at you Big Mouth India

 

[gslv mk3]

We are laughing at you Big Mouth India

troll alert..........troll alert

 

[MandarK]

Moody's forecast cause of concern, but fundamentals strong: PM - The Times of India


NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the downgrade of India's growth forecast by Moody's was a cause of concern but expressed hoped that India would better last year's 6.5 per cent economic growth.

"It is a cause of concern but one should not draw unwarranted conclusions," Singh told reporters when asked to comment on ratings agency Moody's analysis of the Indian economy.

Moody's research arm had scaled down its forecast for the country's economic growth this fiscal to 5.5 per cent earlier this week. However, Singh expressed hoped that India would better last year's 6.5 per cent of economic growth.

 

[MandarK]

ONGC Q1 net profit increases 48 per cent to Rs 6,077.70 crore - The Economic Times

NEW DELHI: State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) today reported a 48 per cent jump in its June quarter net profit to Rs 6,077.70 crore.

ONGC had posted a net profit of Rs 4,094.90 crore in the April-June period of last financial year, the company said in a filing to the stock exchanges.

Revenue increased from Rs 17,128.89 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2011 to Rs 21,216.24 crore in the Q1 of current fiscal.

ONGC realised only $47 a barrel on the crude it sold during the quarter ended June, marginally lower than the $49 in the corresponding quarter last year, even as costs rose due to a production cess imposed after the Budget 2011-13, media reports noted.

"ONGC is close to announcing a significant discovery near the Mumbai High fields, which may increase output in the region by 25,000 barrels per day," ET reported. "The discovery awaits formal scrutiny and assessment by the directorate general of hydrocarbons (DGH) and the company will make an announcement only after regulatory approval."

The basin is the largest in India and includes Mumbai High, Bassein and Heera and Neelam producing fields. ONGC had made the oil discovery in this basin in 1974

 

[MandarK]

ONGC Q1 net profit increases 48 per cent to Rs 6,077.70 crore - The Economic Times

NEW DELHI: State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) today reported a 48 per cent jump in its June quarter net profit to Rs 6,077.70 crore.

ONGC had posted a net profit of Rs 4,094.90 crore in the April-June period of last financial year, the company said in a filing to the stock exchanges.

Revenue increased from Rs 17,128.89 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2011 to Rs 21,216.24 crore in the Q1 of current fiscal.

ONGC realised only $47 a barrel on the crude it sold during the quarter ended June, marginally lower than the $49 in the corresponding quarter last year, even as costs rose due to a production cess imposed after the Budget 2011-13, media reports noted.

"ONGC is close to announcing a significant discovery near the Mumbai High fields, which may increase output in the region by 25,000 barrels per day," ET reported. "The discovery awaits formal scrutiny and assessment by the directorate general of hydrocarbons (DGH) and the company will make an announcement only after regulatory approval."

The basin is the largest in India and includes Mumbai High, Bassein and Heera and Neelam producing fields. ONGC had made the oil discovery in this basin in 1974