New Delhi: Over the last several months, textile exporters have been hit hard by escalating Indian currency and rising interest rates. Now the exporters could look ahead to some more assistance from the administration to alleviate their losses.

Mr. P. Chidambaram, Indian finance minister contacted textile exporters on Thursday today to evaluate the harm done by the rising rupee.

Functionaries from public sector banks and institutions also attended the meeting.

Exporters have demanded a minimum 2% subvention in rate of interest on export credit.

New Delhi, Mar 4 : Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said that banks in India lost about Rs 1,078 crore due to frauds, including credit card frauds, in 2007.

"While the total number of frauds as reported by banks is increasing, there is a reduction in the total amount involved over the last three years," Chidambaram told the Rajya Sabha.

In reply to a question raised by Shobhana Bhartia and Prof Alka Balram Kshatriya on rising economic offences in banks, he said the number of bank frauds have gone up from 12,374 in 2005 to 22,280 in 2007.

New Delhi, Mar 4: Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said that there is a scope for reducing interest rates and deficits.

He was speaking at an interactive session on the Union Budget at the National Council meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here today.

Chidambaram however, cautioned that interest rates were the most effective tool to contain inflation and there is a need to have growth with reasonable price stability.

The Finance Minister said that the final authority on reducing interest rates was the Reserve Bank of India.

New Delhi, Mar 4 : Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath on Tuesday called for increasing the bilateral trade between India and Romania, considering the untapped opportunities for exploiting the potential for growth.

Indo-Romanian trade, which stagnated over the last decade, is now on the upswing, said Nath after his meeting with Romanian Economy and Finance Minister Varujan Vosganian.

Bilateral trade has grown from 68 million dollars in 2000 to 430 million dollars during 2006-07, said Nath adding that India has a vibrant SME sector and engagement by SMEs on both sides would strengthen the foundations of the trade relationship.

Amritsar, March 6, : Scarcity of water for irrigation in Punjab has lead farmers to switch to adopting new irrigation techniques while cultivating sugarcane.

Although sugarcane consumes more water than wheat and paddy, the farmers of Majah and Doaba belt have taken to sugarcane cultivation.

The Government of Punjab has been arranging awareness and demonstration camps in the villages to make farmers awake of the problems of scarcity of water persuade farmers to adopt drip irrigation techniques in sugarcane cultivation.

New Delhi, Mar 7 : The Union Cabinet today gave its approval to release of half of share of the Central Government amounting 50 lakh rupees towards contribution for the establishment of a Regional Rural Bank in Puducherry that will be sponsored by Indian Bank.

This decision will assist in expanding the network of RRBs in uncovered areas. The Issued Capital of each stand-alone RRB is one crore rupees and accordingly the proposed Issued Capital of the RRB to be established in UT of Puducherry be one crore rupees.

New Delhi, Mar 7 : The Union Cabinet today gave its approval to release of 2615 crore rupees as interest subvention to Public Sector Banks, Regional Rural Banks, Cooperative Banks and NABARD for refinance to regional rural banks (RRB) and Cooperative Banks.

The amount was released at concessional rates to reimburse the amount of interest subvention for the decision that the farmer should receive short terms credit at seven per cent per annum with an upper limit of three lakhs rupees on the principal amount during 2007-08.

The borrowers who avail short term crop loans up to three lakhs rupees will be instantly benefited. (ANI)

New Delhi, Mar 7: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today gave its approval to the continuation of the Scheme for Integrated Textiles Parks (SITP) in the Eleventh Five Year Plan.

It also sanctioned 10 new parks under SITP

The CCEA decided to continue the existing norms for release of Government support.

Development of additional textiles parks will facilitate additional investment, employment generation and increase in textile production.

New Delhi, Mar 7 : The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today gave its approval for implementation of the Central Sector Plan Scheme of “Assistance to States and Union Territories (UT) for Conducting 18th Livestock Census” during the Eleventh Five Year Plan period with an outlay of Rs. 301.34 crore.

The entire funding will be done by the Central Government.

The approval would help in the collection of detailed data on livestock, poultry, agricultural implements and machinery and fishery statistics and infrastructure related to these sectors and their computerization and report publication.

New Delhi, Mar 14: Inflation rose to over nine-month high at 5.11 per cent for the week ended March 1, due to rise in prices of some manufactured items and aviation turbine fuel, dashing all hopes of interest rate cuts by the RBI to boost the sagging industrial production.

The wholesale price index-based inflation rate stood at 5.02 per cent in the previous week and 6.51 per cent in the correspondingly week a year earlier.

This is the second week in a row that the inflation rate crossed the five per cent mark, the target set by the reserve bank for this fiscal.

New Delhi, Mar 14: Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Friday ruled out a separate budget for the agriculture sector.

Pawar made this statement while replying to supplementary questions during the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha.

Pawar said since agriculture has inter-sectoral links with water resources, irrigation, rural development and cooperation, it would not be possible to bring all these sectors under one umbrella.

Mumbai, Mar 17 : Taking a cue from the overseas markets, the 30-share sensitive index (sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Monday opened with a huge negative gap of 433 points at 15,327 and shed 951 points before closing at 14,809.

So far this year the index has come down by 27 per cent.

The Mid-cap and Small-cap indices also registered negative trends as they were down by seven per cent each.

The BSE Bankex came down by nine per cent and the Realty index slumped nearly eight per cent with the Metal index declining by 7.5 per cent.

Kamrup (Assam), March 17: The setting up of a food processing plant in Boko area of the State’s Kamrup District of Assam has changed the lives of the people of the area.

By establishing the food processing plant called 'RITTY' in Boko region almost a year back, Pranab Mohanta has been able to provide employment for youngsters of the district.

New Delhi, Mar 18: The Central Government is considering revising the foreign investment limits in various subsectors of Broadcasting.

Secretary for Information and Broadcasting Asha Swarup said,"We are of the opinion that the composite limits for Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) and Foreign Institutional Investors (FII), both direct and indirect can be kept at 74 per cent in the case of infrastructure and platform services like teleports, Direct To Home (DTH), Hypertext Induced Topic Selection (HITS) and satellite radio. "

New Delhi, Mar 24 (ANI): India and Vietnam today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for bilateral cooperation on security matters which would include international terrorism, illicit drug trafficking and trans-national crime.

The MOU was signed following delegation-level talks between the Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil and the visiting Vietnamese Minister for Public Security, General Le Hong Anh.

Mumbai, Mar 25 : Opening with a positive gap of 324 points at 15, 613, the 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today took gained 938 points before closing at 16,217 points.

BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap also registered positives trends at the exchange.

The BSE Realty index moved up by 9.5 per cent, the Bankex was up by eight per cent and the IT index soared 7.7 per cent.

Out of 2,762 stocks traded, 2,075 advanced, 640 declined and 47 were remained unchanged.

New Delhi, March 26 : Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath today congratulated the Tata Group for successfully acquiring the Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) car brands from Ford.

Kamal Nath said: "My congratulations to the Tatas and entire corporate world, as they have held India`s private sector flag high. The world is looking at India."

He said the most important thing is that the world is recognising India`s credibility, adding that homegrown Indian firms have demonstrated to global business how competent and progressive they have become even in the midst of a slowdown.

New Delhi, Mar 26 : Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora on Wednesday emphasized the need for India and Brazil to further enhance cooperation between both countries, especially in the oil and gas sector.

During a meeting with Brazilian Minister for Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Miguel Jorge, Deora said efforts are afoot in this direction as the two national oil companies of respective countries, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) (India) and Petrobras (Brazil) have entered into an arrangement for exploration and production of hydrocarbons in India and Brazil.

New Delhi, Mar 26: on Wednesday admitted that Reliance Industries decision to close its petrol pumps has put the Government in a fix.

"You don't expect the Government to give subsidy to (private retailers like) Reliance and Essar (oil). But you also cannot expect them to be penalised," he told reporters here.

Reliance said it plans to shut two-thirds of its 1,400 petrol pumps in the country by next month, as it is unable to match the fuel price offered by state-run retailers, who get compensated by the Government for selling fuel below the cost.

London, Mar. 26: A new India, with a rising confidence is clearly visible, and this requires new engagement by the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Gordon Brown told a 14-member Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) delegation that was led by its president Sunil Bharti Mittal.

Asoke Mukerji, Acting High Commissioner of India to the UK was also present at Tuesday’s meeting, which was a follow-up to Brown’s visit to India in January 2008, accompanied by some of Britain’s leading CEOs.

New Delhi, Mar 29 : Concerned over the inflation rate spiralling out of control, the Cabinet Committee on Prices will meet on Monday to assess factors responsible for soaring prices.

Finance Secretary D Subbarao told reporters here on the sidelines of a seminar that 6.68 per cent inflation rate for the week ending March 15 was partly due to high global commodity prices.

Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia said that India has to attain its objective of 9 percent GDP growth within the next five year regardless of economic slowdown.

While addressing the convocation function of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), he said, “We are well set to achieve the target of nine per cent growth rate in the next five years.”

"There is a talk in newspapers about slowdown of our economy. There is a slowdown, but India seems poised to have sustained growth for a long period," he said.

New Delhi, Mar 31: The Union Cabinet Committee on Prices will meet this evening to evaluate factors responsible for soaring prices, especially of some food and metal items to lessen the inflation heat crippling the country’s economy.

The meet assumes significance in the wake of forthcoming polls in at least seven states, mostly in north India.

"The committee will generally take stock of the current price line," a senior Food and Public Distribution Department official said.

Mumbai, Mar 31 : Taking cues from the global markets, the 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Monday opened with a negative gap of 144 points and shed 727 points before closing at 15,644.

Out of 2,699 stocks traded at the exchange, 1,364 advanced, 1,291 declined and 44 remained unchanged.

HDFC plunged nearly nine per cent, ICICI Bank fell down nearly eight per cent, HDFC Bank plunged nearly six per cent and SBI was down nearly five per cent.

TCS dropped nearly seven per cent, Wipro and Infosys plummeted over six per cent each, while Satyam declined 3.5 per cent.

New Delhi, Mar 31 : India's external debt outstanding at the end of December 2007 was 201.4 billion dollars, reflecting a rise of 10.3 billion dollars over the quarter.

As compared to the level of 169.7 billion dollar at end-March 2007, India’s external debt at end-December 2007 increased by 31.8 billion dollars, said a Finance Ministry statement.

According to the statement, the rupee appreciation has led to rise in external debt by six billion dollars during April-December 2007.

New Delhi, Apr 1 : Prasanna Kumar Misra has taken over as Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) with effect from 1st April 2008.

He belongs to the 1971 batch of the Indian Revenue Service.

Prior to his appointment as Chairman, CBDT, Misra was Member (Investigation) in the CBDT since January 2007.

Earlier, he had served in the Income Tax department in various capacities as Chief Commissioner, Delhi and Udaipur; Commissioner Mumbai; Director (Investigation) Hyderabad; Deputy Commissioner / Director Bhubaneswar; Appellate Assistant Commissioner in Andhra Pradesh, etc.

New Delhi, Apr 01: Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today said that he had no idea when the rising inflation rate would come down, and added that he could not predict this as he was not an “astrologer”.

Pawar, who is also the chief of Nationalist Congress Party, said this when reporters asked what the UPA Government at the Centre was doing to check the surging inflation, which touched a 13-month high of 6.68 percent in the middle of March.

He said his government had taken many steps to check rising prices, especially of essential commodities.

Hoogly, Apr 1 : A farmer from Burdwan district in West Bengal has reportedly committed suicide due to huge loss incurred by him despite bumper yield of potato crop.

A bumper yield of potato crop across Bengal, fails to lift farmers from being steeped in poverty, as they are not able to reap benefits from their yield due to excess crop production.

New Delhi, Apr 01 : The Annual Plan for Gujarat for the year 2008-09 was finalised at a meeting, here today, between the Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi.

Plan size for the current year was agreed at Rs. 21000 crore. This includes additional Central assistance of Rs. 130 crore for projects of special importance to the State.

Ahluwalia complimented the State Government for good performance, and said both fiscal and growth performance is impressive.

New Delhi, Apr. 2 : A high powered delegation of Indian political and business leaders, led by Commerce amd Industries Minister Kamal Nath, Tourism Minister Ambika Soni and Sunil Mittal, CII President visit Singapore from April 4 to7 as part of the Incredible! India @60 event, organised jointly by the Government of India and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

New Delhi, April 2: The Indian Patent Office has granted a record number of 15,262 patents during 2007-08 which is more than double the number of patents granted (7539) during the previous year and almost eight times the number of patents granted just three years ago in 2004-05 (1911).

The number of patents granted during 2007-08, the first year of the 11th Five Year Plan (FYP) compares well with the total number of patents granted during the entire 10th Five Year Plan period which was 17,618 only. The patent filings also crossed the 35,000 mark during 2007-08.

Mumbai, Apr 3 (ANI): The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) on Thursday opened with a positive gap of 56 points at 15,806 and finally closed gaining 82 points at 15,832.

BSE MIDCAP was down by 25 points at 6,387.23 and SMALLCAP plunged 71 points at 7,840.29.

The BSE IT index soared over three per cent and the BSE Power index dropped 2.6 per cent.

Out of over 2,600 stocks being traded at exchange, around 1,400 declined.

Satyam and Wipro were up by over five per cent each.

TCS gained over four per cent, while Infosys was up over two per cent.

New Delhi, Apr. 3 :The Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI ) and the Confederation of Indian Industry ( CII), the two apex industry organizations of Myanmar and India, welcomed the agreement to open the crucial Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Facility, as they signed a Memorandum of Understanding in New Delhi today to promote cooperation in specific areas between the private sector between the two countries.

New Delhi, April 3: The index of six core-infrastructure industries having a combined weight of 26.7 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) registered a growth of 8.7 per cent compared to a growth of 7.6 per cent in February last year.

During April-February 2007-08, six core-infrastructure industries registered a growth of 5.6 per cent as against 8.7 per cent during the corresponding period of the previous year.

New Delhi, April 3 : India and Myanmar on Thursday signed a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) in New Delhi.

The agreement was signed between P. K. Misra, Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes, India and Kyi Thein, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Union of Myanmar to India.

The agreement aims at avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income.

The signing of agreement coincides with the visit of Maung Aye, Vice Senior General and Vice Chairman, State Peace and Development Council of Myanmar to India.

New Delhi, Apr 4: A high powered delegation of political and business leaders, led by Union Commerce and Industries Minister Kamal Nath, will begin their four-day tour to Singapore from today as part of the Incredible! India@60 event.

Besides, Union Tourism Minister Ambika Soni and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) President Sunil Mittal will also be present on the occasion.

The event is being organised jointly by the Government of India and the CII.

Singapore, Apr. 4: Panelists attending a session here on "India – the Knowledge Economy giant : Heading in the right direction" have unanimously opined that in India,"there is no dearth of ideas, but the delivery is weak in quantity and quality."

The comments were made in the second half of the business session at the Incredible India@60 campaign here.

The campaign is being jointly organized by the Government of India and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Singapore, Apr. 4: India’s economic engagement with the world is expected to touch 550 billion dollars in 2007-08, announced the country's Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath on Friday while addressing the opening session of the Incredible India@60 campaign here.

Stating that India is keen to learn and pick up the best practices from Singapore, Nath said that the city-state’s institutions, regulatory frameworks and strong services were a role model for India.

New Delhi - India's annual rate of inflation soared to a three-year high of 7 per cent as Indian bourses fell by 3 per cent in a reaction to the development on Friday, officials said.

The inflation rate, based on the wholesale price index, shot up to 7 per cent mark for the week ended March 22, data released by the federal Commerce and Industry Ministry showed. It had last touched 7 per cent in December 2004.

The wholesale price index increased more than the market estimate of 6.62 per cent and the previous week's 6.68 per cent.

The inflation rate has more than doubled from 3.11 per cent on November 3, owing to a rising prices of essential items such as vegetables.

Mumbai, New Delhi- Indian equities made steady gains with the Sensex going up by 2.7 per cent in trade on Monday.

The 30-share benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange opened at 15,390.15 points and notched up a high of 15,851.88 before closing at 15,757.08 points. This represented a gain of 413.96 points or about 2.70 per cent.

Market analysts said the gains were on heavy buying in fundamentally strong shares in an array of sectors such as metals, bank, oil and gas and IT sectors.

New Delhi, Apr 9 : National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is all geared up to implement the Rs 60,000 crore loan waiver scheme for farmers announced by the UPA Government.

NABARD Chairman and Managing Director U C Sarangi said that the preparatory work was being initiated to ensure that the waiving of loans begins well before June end, which is the stipulated date for waiving off loans during the current year.

The NABARD will be involved about loan waiver of farmers from Cooperative Banks and Regional Rural Banks.

New Delhi - India's annual rate of inflation rose further to a 40-month high of 7.41 per cent due to higher food and commodities prices, compelling the government to withdraw benefits on primary steel exports to stem inflation, officials said Friday.

The wholesale price-based inflation, which stood at 7 per cent in the previous week, surged to 7.41 per cent for the week ended March 29, the highest since November 2004, data released by the federal Commerce and Industry Ministry showed.

New Delhi, Apr 11: The data released by the Ministry of Industry for the week ending March 29, shows that the inflation has touched a new high of 7.41 per cent since November 8, 2004.

The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation rate is at the highest in the last three years. Last Friday the inflation was at 7 per cent.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday has said that a steep rise in food prices would make it difficult to control inflation and that could hurt the cause of macro-economic stability.

New Delhi, Apr 11 : The Economic Affairs Cabinet Committee today approved a revised policy for Single Super Phosphate (SSP) Fertilizer for the agricultural year, as per following terms:

New Delhi, Apr 11: Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said today that the central government would take more steps to control inflation.

Releasing India's foreign trade policy document here, Nath said that the supply side inflationary trend in the economy should be addressed by ensuring the regular supply of food items.

He also suggested to State Governments to take measures to counter the problem of hoarding and speculation in trade.

Mumbai, Apr. 11 : The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Friday gained nearly 112 points on buying support across sectors, which was triggered by better than expected industrial growth data.

The 30-share Sensex, which had lost about 95 points yesterday, bounced back today to close higher by 112.54 points at 15,807.64.

The index touched the day`s high of 15,957.24 and a low of 15,673.67 points.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex climbed by 44.80 points at 4,777.80, after touching a high of 4,817.40 and a low of 4,727.25 points during the day.

New Delhi, Apr 15 : Left Party members today staged a street protest against the steep increase in the prices of essential commodities.

They joined hands with the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) in demonstrating their concerns over the price rise outside Parliament House.

Communist Party of India-Marxist CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury said they have planned a week-long nation wide protests from April 16.

New Delhi, Apr. 15 : Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Tuesday said that the Indian Government is seeking a global consensus on spiralling prices of food and oil in many countries, saying the problem would transform into a global contagion if timely action is not taken.

Chidambaram reportedly told the Development Committee of the World Bank and the IMF, that the global community must collectively deliberate on immediate steps to reverse the increases in food prices, which threatens to negate the benefits to the poor nations from aid, trade and debt relief trend.

TheNew Delhi, Apr 16: Inflation control measures and the robust Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth cannot go hand in hand, said Finance Minister P Chidambaram today in the Rajya Sabha.

Chidambaram’s comments came in response to a remark made by senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi.

Congress leader PJ Kurien defended the government on the issue of price rise, stating that the Reserve Bank has revised the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) eight times to control inflation.

New Delhi, Apr 18: In the first week of the current fiscal, inflation has decreased to 7.14 per cent, down by 0.27 per cent from the previous week.

The inflation came down despite increase in the prices of vegetables, pulses, tea, coconut oil and oil cakes.

The prices of fruits, gur, cotton seed oil and other edible oils, however, declined during the week ending April 5.

The prices of steel alloys and aviation turbine fuel also increased during the week.

Guwahati, Apr 17 : Having received a Rs 1,000 crore development grant from the Central Government, the Government of Arunachal Pradesh has announced plans for using it to put world-class infrastructure in place.

"Projects of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's package will begin in six months to one year's time and the state will have world-class infrastructure in five to 10 years, primarily in the road and air communication sectors." Arunachal Pradesh Governor General (Retd) J. J. Singh told reporters here on Thursday.

Singh also said two greenfield airports would be built at Itanagar and in Tawang District respectively.

New Delhi/ Aurangabad, Apr 19: Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath has said the government is considering steps to reduce steel prices to control inflation.

"The steel prices have gone up and that is demonstrated by the balance sheet. We want steel companies to make profit, but we do not want steel companies to be profiteers," Nath said.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had earlier said that India expects demand and inflation to be moderate following a recent monetary tightening by the Reserve Bank of India.

Meanwhile, in Aurangabad, a revenue official said food grains worth millions of rupees was unearthed during a raid.

Kannur (Kerala), Apr 19: The Ninth centre of the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) was opened on Saturday in Kannur.

 has also laid the foundation stone for the NIFT buildings at Kannur.

Vaghela said on the occasion that the textiles industry needs to adopt the best practices and encourage focused research and development.

New Delhi  - A general strike against rising food prices hit daily life in India's eastern state of West Bengal Monday as train services were disrupted, schools and colleges closed and additional police deployed to prevent rioting, reports said.

Activists from the Trinamul Congress party which had called the strike, held demonstrations in the state capital Kolkata. Supporters shouted slogans against the price hike and called for the resignation of the federal United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

Mumbai, Apr 21: Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) on Monday announced that it has earned over Rs 3,912 crore in net profit for the January-March quarter of last fiscal.

The company, the country's largest private sector entity, said its fourth quarter net rose 38 per cent and full year net profit was up by 63 per cent in comparison to its corresponding period figure a year ago.

RIL's Board recommended a dividend of Rs 13 per share of face value of Rs 10, with the payout totalling Rs 1,860 crore, up 130 per cent from the year-ago level.

Ranchi, Apr 22 : Jharkhand will be allocated over 40,000 crore rupees during the 11th Five Year Plan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said here today.

Addressing a public meeting in Bokaro after inaugurating an ambitious expansion project costing 11,000 crore rupees, Singh said, “The Center will provide all possible assistance to Jharkhand for the betterment of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes, backward communities and minorities.”

New Delhi  - India equities posted solid gains Friday with the Sensex rising by 2.4 per cent to breach the 17,000-point level for the first time in nearly two months.

The 30-share benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange settled at 17,125.98 points adding 404.9 points in the day's trade with blue- chip telecom, metal, banking and refinery stocks attracting funds as well as general investors.

According to market analysts, the trading sentiment turned firm after Bharti Airtel, the country's largest mobile phone operator, reported a growth of 37 per cent in the fiscal fourth quarter ending March 31.

New Delhi, Apr 25 : Data released by the Ministry of Industry for the week ending April 12, shows inflation rising again to 7.33 per cent from 7.14 per cent in the previous week, largely due to food items being highly priced.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to further tighten money supply when it announces its annual credit policy on April 29.

The RBI has already increased the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR), the amount of funds that the banks have to keep with the RBI, by 0.5 per cent to check money supply.

The prices of certain essential commodities like vegetables, cereals, pulses and edible oils have come down during the week because of a slew of measures taken by the Government to bring prices under control.

New Delhi, Apr 25 : Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram told the Lok Sabha on Friday that every measure within the power of the government has been taken and would be taken to calm inflation being largely driven by high international commodity and food prices.

“You must be patient. We must take whatever steps have to be taken and I am confident that inflation will moderate over a period of time. Inflation as we said in the debate is largely driven by international prices of commodities and food,” Chidambaram said.

New Delhi, Apr 29 : The procurement of wheat by the government agencies touched 13.49 million tonne mark on Tuesday.

During last year, the procurement as on April 29 was 7.77 million tonne with total procurement being at 11.12 MT, a government release said.

The government agencies have procured 7.26 MT of wheat in Punjab and 4.27 MT in Haryana.

Other States where substantial procurement has taken place include Madhya Pradesh (0.79 MT), Uttar Pradesh (0.59 MT) and Rajasthan (0.45 MT).

New Delhi, Apr 29 : Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday gave assurances that the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy and fiscal measures would help to control inflation.

“The 25 basis points hike in the Cash Reserve Ratio by the RBI, the steps taken in the last three weeks on the food front and the measures announced today together would have an impact on the price situation,” Chidambaram told members of the Lok Sabha after the passage of the Finance Bill.

“Changes in duty charges that was announced today, would have a revenue implication of Rs 1,500 crore, while those announced between the budget and now would have an impact of Rs 4,840 crore,” he added.

New Delhi, May 1: Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) President K V Kamath today expressed concern over rising prices going to levels where controlling it could become difficult for the government.

Seeking to underplay the political controversy over the inflation, Kamath said, "Growth momentum is too strong for the government to control."

“The current "inflationary momentum has caught us by surprise. Initially, we thought it was only external factors and food driven but suddenly it has gathered momentum in the last three-six months," Kamath said.

New Delhi, May 2: The Opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is observing a general strike today to protest against the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government's inability to control rising prices of essential commodities.

The strike call was given on April 22 after an NDA meeting chaired by Leader of the Opposition L K Advani. Leaders of Akali Dal, Biju Janata Dal leader (BJD) and Shiv Sena attended the meeting.

However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Prakash Javadekar on Thursday said that it was going to be the party's programme and its allies would have separate protest plans.

New Delhi - India's inflation rate rose to a three-and-a-half-year high of 7.57 per cent, primarily because of higher prices of food and some manufactured products, officials said Friday.

The increase in wholesale price-based inflation was recorded for the week ending April 19 from the same period a year earlier. It was larger than the 7.33 per cent from the week that ended April 12 and was the highest rate since November 2, 2004, when prices rose 7.76 per cent, government data showed.

Bangalore, May 2 : Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram today assured the nation that the prices would come down and inflation would be brought under control.

After addressing the members of Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry, he said, "You can't announce something on Friday and expect to have its impact on Saturday. You must be patient.”

New Delhi, May 2 : India had received 24.57 billion dollars in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during the last fiscal.

According to report, India has set a 35-billion dollars FDI target for the current fiscal.

The FDI inflows in 2007-08 saw an increase of 56.50 per cent over 15.70 billion dollars in the previous year. India, which saw a GDP growth of 8.7 per cent in 2007-08, aims to more than double its FDI inflows between 2006-07 and end of the current financial year.

New Delhi, May 2 : The government agencies have procured over 15 million tonne wheat yesterday as compared to 8.24 million tonne on the same day last year.

As per data collected by the Department of Food and Public Distribution, agencies have procured 15.42 million tonne wheat on May 1.

Punjab has contributed 8.29 million tonne, Haryana 4.65 million tonne, Madhya Pradesh 950,000 tonne, Uttar Pradesh 820,000 tonne and Rajasthan 550,000 tonne and Gujarat 110,000 tonne.

New Delhi, May 2 : The Thirteenth Finance Commission on Friday met Chairmen and members of previous Finance Commissions at New Delhi.

Dr. Vijay Kelkar, Chairman of the Thirteenth Finance Commission, chaired the meeting. Members of the Commisison B. K. Chaturvedi, Dr. Indira Rajaraman, Prof. Atul Sarma and Dr. Sanjiv Misra were also present.

The Previous Chairmen and members who attended included KC Pant, NKP Salve, G Ramachandran, VB Eswaran, Debi Prosad Pal, BPR Vithal , Mahesh Prasad, Som Pal , Hanumantha Rao, JC Jetly, TN Srivastava, Arun Sinha and Lal Thanhawla.

Hanoi  - Even as severe overfishing depletes Vietnam's fisheries, a senior official said Monday that the government will subsidize fishermen who buy new boats, to alleviate the pain they are feeling due to rising fuel prices.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture Nguyen Viet Thang said the subsidies will apply only to deep-sea fishing boats with engines greater than 90 horsepower, to encourage fishermen to venture past the coastal areas where stocks are said to be most depleted. Thang said each new-90 horsepower boat would receive a government subsidy of
90 million dong, about 5,600 dollars.

New Delhi - India's inflation rate has touched a three-and-a-half-year high of 7.61 per cent due to rising prices of food and some manufactured products, officials said Friday.

The increase in the wholesale price-based inflation was recorded for the week ending April 26 from the same period a year earlier, official data showed.

It was higher than the 7.57 per cent from the week that ended April 19 and the highest rate since November 2, 2004 when the prices rose 7.76 per cent.

New Delhi, May 9 : Wheat procurement has crossed 18 million tonne mark this season. As per information collected by the Department of Food and Public Distribution, Government agencies had procured 18.01 million tonne wheat as on May 8.

This is 92 percent of the total arrivals (19.6 MT). The procurement made so far is nearly double of the procurement made by Government agencies by this time last year
(9.06 MT) and 62 percent more than the total procurement of wheat in 2007-08 (11.13 MT).

New Delhi, May 12 : The National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) has decided to allocate 0.5 percent of its distributable profit annually for its “Research and Development Fund for Sustainable Energy”.

This fund will be used for sponsoring / undertaking research leading to development of green and clean technologies.

The research project may include development of Coal Gasification Technology for commercial use, reducing cost of harnessing solar energy, LED lighting, improvement in efficiency of its power stations etc.

New Delhi, May 14 : Secondary steel makers, Bhushan Steel and National Steel , have announced up to Rs 4,000 per tonne cut on all flat products toeing the line of primary producers even as the government is examining the merit of the steelmakers' request for lower export duty on the metal.

"The secondary steel producers have assured that they will reduce prices of their flat products by Rs 4,000 per tonne and maintain the new price line for the next three months," Steel Ministry Secretary, R S Pandey said after a meeting with the steelmakers.

New Delhi, May 16: The annual inflation rose to 7.83 percent for the week ended May 3 from 7.61 percent for the previous week. The data for the week ended March 8 has been revised to 7.78 percent versus 5.92 percent (provisional).

The food articles index and the manufacturing products index rose by 0.5 percent and 0.3 percent respectively. Fuel and power index was up by 0.8 percent.

Markets have dipped following the release of the inflation figures. For the ninth consecutive week, inflation has hovered above 5.5 per cent, the central bank's target for inflation by the end of the fiscal year ending in March 2009.

Bagdogra (West Bengal), May 17 : Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Saturday accepted that inflation in the country was a matter of concern, and reiterated that his government was taking all possible steps to reduce it.

Interacting with the media here after ending his two-day visit to Bhutan, Dr. Singh said that when the UPA Government had come to power in May 2004, inflation was six percent, and his government had managed to bring it down to between five and five-and-a-half percent.

New Delhi, May 27 : The Central government on Tuesday partially lifted a ban on cement export on expectations of dipping demand in the ensuing monsoon period and falling of prices in the domestic market.

The cement exports will be allowed only from the ports in Gujarat.

"June/July is the monsoon period. Nobody constructs houses in this period," Commerce Secretary Gopal K Pillai said.

He said the government expects a fall in demand for cement in the monsoon season.

New Delhi, May 29: Finance Minister P. Chidambaram will inaugurate the two-day All-India Annual Conference of the Chief Commissioners and Directors General of Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) here today.

The conference will commence with the performance appraisal of the department in key areas such as revenue collection, enforcement, trade facilitation, and the opportunities and challenges before the department followed by a session on the status of automation initiatives in CBEC and the expectations from the field formations in this regard.

Mumbai, May 29 : Country’s’ gold traders face tough time as the sky rocketing prices deter buyers to buy the yellow metal which has already been hit by low-demand.

Experts and analysts observe that people are cautious of high prices and are keeping themselves away from the market.

It is being expected that the demand is likely to remain low for another few months due to lack of any festive or marriage season, which normally pumps demand for the yellow metal.

Jewelers in Mumbai said that they are facing the brunt owing to low demand.

New Delhi - The Indian economy grew 9 per cent in the past fiscal year, helped by an improved performance in the agriculture sector, but at the same time, inflation breached the 8-per-cent mark, officials said Friday.

India's economic growth for the year that ended March 31 was below the previous fiscal year's 9.6 per cent, but beat the government's February estimate of 8.7 per cent.

"The upward revision in the gross domestic product (GDP) rate is mainly on account of the revision made in the estimated production of agriculture crops by the Department of Agriculture," the government said in a statement.

New Delhi, May 31: The External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) policy is regularly reviewed by the Government in consultation with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to keep it in tune with the evolving macroeconomic situation, changing market conditions, sectoral requirements, the external sector and lessons of experience.

Consequent upon such a review, it has been decided to modify some aspects of the ECB policy as indicated below:

Kottayam (Kerala), May 31 : A peak rise in prices of natural rubber in India has forced the industries to source whatever stocks available in the market hit by crop-loss and influenced by booming crude oil prices.

Commenting on these developments, experts have opined that the growers are holding back their stocks hoping the prices may further increase.

Further they have noted that the rise in the prices of Indian rubber is nothing extraordinary considering the crude oil prices experienced around the world.

Kochi, June 2 : Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) today launched five Platform Supply Vessels (PSVs) in Kochi.

The event is significant for CSL, as it is the only shipyard in India which has launched five PSVs simultaneously.

Vice Admiral S. K. Damle, Flag Officer Commanding in Chief, Southern Naval Command, launched the five vessels by flooding the dock with the press of a button.

Mumbai, June 9 : Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) fell 3.3 per cent on Monday led lower by Reliance Industries Limited and Infosys Technologies Limited.

The BSE index fell 3.3 per cent to 15,066.10 at the close.

The BSE benchmark index, Sensex, on Monday came down by 513 points in early trade on selling in heavyweight stocks.

It stood at 15,058.98 points after a 513.20 points fall in the first five minutes of trade in line amid weakening global markets and inflationary conditions at home.

The National Stock Exchange index's Nifty stood at 4,476.65 points after shedding 141.15 points.

New Delhi - India's benchmark Sensex stock index extended its losses Tuesday, dropping 1.17 per cent on heavy selling by funds and investors.

The 30-share Sensitive index, which has lost more than 8 per cent of its value since last week, shed 176.85 points in the day's trading to end at 14,889.25 points, a level not seen in the past 11 weeks.

Aggressive selling was noticed in the metal and realty sectors.

The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange lost 51.5 points to trade at 4449.80, a drop of 1.14 per cent.

Pressure to sell came from a similar weakening trend in global markets and concerns about inflation. (dpa)

Mumbai, June 12 : The deal in which Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd India’s largest pharmaceutical company was sold off to a Japanese-based Daiichi Sankyo Co. has been appreciated by experts.

ChrysCapital Managing Director Sanjiv Kaul, an ex-Ranbaxy executive and a sector analyst said, “Commercially, it is an awesome deal. However, Ranbaxy was the all-conquering Indian hero and should have been the last man standing instead of being the first to capitulate. A huge positive for Ranbaxy but a negative for Indian pharma.”

Bhatinda/Malwa (Punjab), June 13 : Anticipating a higher minimum support price for paddy, farmers in Bhatinda in Punjab are likely to switch over to paddy cultivation in place of cotton this summer season.

The farmers said that they are expecting a rise in the minimum support price of paddy, a decision that Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is likely to take before the sowing season begins.

A similar announcement for wheat in winter led to its all time high production in the country.

Apart from the minimum support price, the farmers feel that paddy, as compared to cotton, requires less maintenance.

New Delhi  - India's inflation rate rose to 8.75 per cent in the week ending May 31, up from the previous week's 8.24 per cent, to touch a seven-year high, according to government data released Friday.

The inflation rate, linked to India's wholesale price index, was likely to rise further once the impact of a fuel price hike announced June 5 by the federal government is felt, analysts said.

Inflation is at its highest level since February 2001 when it stood at 8.77 per cent.

The wholesale price index for manufactured products was up 0.7 per cent while that for food articles was up 0.9 per cent.

Analysts predicted that the inflation rate was likely to touch 10 per cent over the next few weeks.

For the week ended May 31, the Indian inflation figures reached to 8.75%, accelerating to its fastest pace in the last seven years unabated from the last week’s 8.24%, fueled by increasing commodities as well as energy costs, which threatened to eat away company profits.

The rising prices of food and vegetables accounted for a 0.51% increase in inflation, as compared to the last week’s figures.

Foods and vegetables, cereals, milk, spices and a few manufactured products, including mustard oil and groundnut oil grew increasingly dearer this week.

New Delhi, June 18 : The Railway revenue earnings have gone up by 17.96 per cent during the period June 1 to 10, 2008.

The total approximate earnings of Indian Railways on originating basis during the period were Rs. 2040.79 crore compared to Rs. 1730.05 crore during the same period last year.

The total goods earnings have gone up from Rs. 1137.91 crore during June 1 to 10, 2007 to Rs. 1408.26 crore during June 1–10, 2008, showing an increase of 23.76 per cent.

The Reserve Bank of India’s reference rate for the US dollar came down marginally by 0.07% to stand at Rs 42.93, as against the dollar on Jun. 19, 2008, as compared to Rs 42.90 on the previous working day, as the Sensex fell deep into the negative zone because of continued selling action seen in banking and realty stocks to weaken currency sentiments.

The Indian rupee also saw a reduction of 0.54% to Rs 66.82 versus Euro on June 19, 2008, as compared with Rs 66.46 on June 18, 2008.

For the week ended June 7, inflation rate climbed up to 11.05 percent, as against 8.75% during the last week.

The inflation rate is currently at the highest since May 6, 1995, when it was 11.11 percent.

Fueled by rising commodity prices, this will be the 17th straight week that inflation rate has been soaring above 5.5 percent, RBI’s target by the end of the fiscal year in March 2009.

New Delhi - India's inflation rate shot up to a 13-year-high of 11.05 per cent, government data showed Friday, in a development that put further pressure on the government, which has already run into trouble with its left-wing partners over a nuclear agreement with the United States.

The inflation rate, linked to India's wholesale price index, recorded its biggest one-week spike as it jumped to 11.05 per cent in the week ending June 7 from the previous week's 8.75 per cent.

New DeIhi, June 21: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Y V Reddy met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh; a day after the inflation rate was recorded at a 13- year high of 11.05 per cent.

Controlling inflation was on the agenda of the meeting, which lasted for about 15-20 minutes at the Prime Minister’s residence at 7 Race Course Road.

The details of the meeting were not available.

Reddy also met Finance Minister P Chidambaram today.

The Central Government on Friday indicated stronger measures on demand and monetary sides to control inflation.

New Delhi, June 25: The Finance Ministry today expressed hope that the Reserve Bank of India’s decision of increasing the repo rate by 50 basis points and the CRR by 50 basis points in two stages without compromising economic growth, would help to rein in the surging inflation.

It said in a statement that the steps are expected to regulate demands and are necessary in the face of rising inflation due to relentless increase in crude oil prices.

Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said that despite the soaring oil prices, a growth rate of 9% can be maintained.  He added that the task becomes more difficult because the “actions to manage oil prices, pass on oil prices, improve efficiency, reduce dependence on oil and look for other sources of energy become more important.”

Meanwhile, Pakistan planners gave some cues on tackling rising oil prices. The country plans to introduce two initiatives: a card scheme to provide direct subsidy to the poor, and lower fuel price for two-wheelers and small cars.

New Delhi, June 26 : The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today gave its approval for extending grants-in-aid to Indian Pharmaceutical Industry for R and D projects.

The aid would involve Clinical Trials (Phase-I, II and III) to develop new drugs for neglected diseases of tropical region under Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Research Programme of Department of Science and Technology.

Department of Science and Technology has been implementing the Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Research Programme (DRPR) since 1994-95 as a Plan Programme to support pharma industry – institutional collaboratrive R and D projects and infrastructure development.

New Delhi, June 27: The unabated hike in food and oil prices has accelerated this week’s inflation from 11.05 per cent to 11.42 per cent, which is again a 13-year high.

The rise has been mainly on account of higher prices of food items like tea, milk and cereals.

While food articles and textiles were up 0.7 per cent, primary articles rose by 0.2 per cent, and fuel, power and energy were up by 0.1 per cent.

A steep rise of 3.6 per cent was recorded in minerals, while tea was up by 3 per cent. Non-food articles, however, were down by 0.5 per cent.

Global rating agency Standard & Poor (S&P), said on Thursday that Surging inflation, fuelled by energy and commodity prices coupled with interest rate hikes by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), could pull down India’s economic growth to 7.8 per cent from the projected eight per cent this fiscal. The company is expecting inflation to average 8.5-9.0 per cent this year.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday raised its cash reserve ratio and the repo rate by half a percentage points each.
 
Higher interest rates are expected to moderate growth even further.

 Subir Gokarn, chief economist, S&P (Asia-Pacific), said: "We expect the inflation rate to average 8.5 per cent to 9.0 per cent during 2008-09."

The inflation climbed to a new 13-year high of 11.42 per cent mainly due to rise in prices of food and petroleum products, in spite of Government’s woes to control the prices. The food products include milk, cereals and edible oils.

At 11.42 per cent, it has crossed the high of 11.11 per cent witnessed on May 6, 1995, but was still below 16.9 per cent recorded in March that year.

Official data released on Friday revised the provisional wholesale price index-based inflation upward by 66 basis points to 8.23% in the third week of April.

India recorded a deficit of Rs 104 core in its current (January-March) account in the country’s balance of payments during the fourth quarter of a fiscal due to the rise in oil prices. India's current account deficit in 2007-08 rose by 77% to touch $17.4 billion, accounting for 1.5% of GDP in 2007-08. The oil import bill increased by 34.6% to $76.9 billion in 2007-08 due to surge in crude price. However, non-oil imports recorded a growth of 30.6% only.

Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said that India is not the only country to be affected by the inflation. All countries are facing economic problems due inflation. He emphasized that world is in middle of a dramatic change in the world price distribution. Hence Indians should get used to the high energy prices.

Mumbai, July 4: Despite government’s measures to control inflation, which has been increasing for the past few months, it inched a new high this week marking above 11.63 per cent.

The Reserve Bank had raised short-term rate and cash reserve ratio in the previous week to balance the demand and supply sides.

Inflation had already soared to a 13-year high of 11.42 per cent for the week ended June 14. While food articles and textiles during that week were up 0.7 per cent, primary articles rose by 0.2 per cent, and fuel, power and energy were up by 0.1 per cent.

For the week ended June 21, inflation rate climbed up to 11.63 percent, as against 11.42% during the last week.

The inflation rate is presently at the highest since May 6, 1995, when it was 11.11%.

Fueled by increasing food and commodity prices, this will be the 19th straight week that inflation rate has been rising above 5.5%, RBI’s target by the end of the fiscal year in March 2009.

Mumbai, July 9 : Indian Banks Association has made a strong case to the Reserve Bank of India to not to go for yet another round of measures like hike in rates to check the runaway inflation.

Bankers led by IBA Chairman T S Narayanasami met RBI Deputy Governors to impress upon the apex bank that they are facing severe margin pressure coupled with asset- growth slowdown, which have hit them hard.

New Delhi, July 11 : This week’s inflation surged to 11.89 per cent in response to increases in food and commodity prices.

The inflationary trend shows an upward graph, which is expected to touch 11.9 per cent next week.

The Government has already declared that the inflation could inch up to 13 per cent before making a slow descent by September.

Last week’s inflation was recorded as 11.63 per cent.

Experts believe that double-digit inflation is likely to stay until September with the price of crucial commodities like steel is expected to rise further.

It is estimated that steel and steel products (used in industries like auto, housing, white goods and capital goods) contribute almost 21 per cent to inflation.

New Delhi, July 11 : This week’s inflation surged to 11.89 per cent in response to increases in food and commodity prices.

The inflationary trend shows an upward graph, which is expected to touch 11.9 per cent next week.

The Government has already declared that the inflation could inch up to 13 per cent before making a slow descent by September.

Last week’s inflation was recorded as 11.63 per cent.

Experts believe that double-digit inflation is likely to stay until September with the price of crucial commodities like steel is expected to rise further.

It is estimated that steel and steel products (used in industries like auto, housing, white goods and capital goods) contribute almost 21 per cent to inflation.

New Delhi, July 11 : In a bid to sustain the fragile Himalayan ecosystem, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (ONGC) has inked an agreement with Uttaranchal Bamboo and Fiber Development Board (UBFDB) to support tree plantation in Upper Himalayas region, especially those species which can mitigate Climate Change.

During the signing ceremony on Wednesday, a cheque of Rs. 54.41 lakhs was handed over to UBFDB.

Bangalore, July 11 : Infosys Technologies Limited beat expectations with a 21 per cent rise in quarterly profit thanks to a weaker rupee, and raised its full year guidance on hopes for a revival in outsourcing demand.

The number two information technology services company forecast revenue for the year to March 2009 would grow 27.5-29.5 per cent, in rupee terms, up from April''s forecast of 19.2-21.1 per cent.

Infosys, which develops applications, designs supply chains and offers back-office services, said on Friday that net profit rose to 13.02 billion rupees in the first quarter ended June from 10.79 billion rupees reported a year earlier.

New New Delhi, July 15 : Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), a Defence Public Sector Undertaking, the leading Mining and Construction Equipment Manufacturer in India and second largest in Asia, has bagged export supply orders for 93 equipments valued at Rs 158 crores from Pt. Fajar Bumi Sakti of Indonesia.

These equipments consist of Hydraulic Excavators, Rear Dump Trucks and Bull Dozers.

A pilot batch of eight equipments has been deployed at KPC Mines, one of the world''s largest open cast coalmines in Indonesia. Additional supplies of equipment will be deployed at KPC Mines, Tengarong Mines and Tabang Mines of Indonesia.

Ajmer, July 23: The poultry industry at Ajmer in Rajasthan is hit hard by inflation.

Due to the increasing cost of poultry feed, it has become very difficult for the poultry farmers to run their business as they are facing severe losses.

Poultry farmers complain that the feed cost has increased two to three times in the past three to four months while the price of eggs have not increased in that ratio.

According to farmers, production cost per egg in today''s scenario amounts to one and a half rupee while it is sold for less than one rupee in the wholesale market.

New Delhi, July 29 : Noting in its first quarter review that potential inflationary pressure from international food and energy prices are likely to remain so for some time, the Reserve Bank of India today increased the repo rate by 50 basis points and the Cash Reseve Ratio by 25 basis points with effect from August 30.

Home, consumer and other loan rates are expected to go up.

The Finance Mnistry said that the Government expects that the measures taken by the RBI will help in moderating and containing inflation.

Singapore - Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in India emerged as the most optimistic in Asia, a survey of Asia- Pacific business confidence said Wednesday.

HSBC's commercial banking unit in Singapore commissioned the biannual survey, regarded as an indicator of economic health.

Fifty-nine per cent of the SME's queried in India expect rapid growth, up from 58 per cent last year, according to findings published in The Straits Times.

South Korea, with only 6 per cent of SME's forecasting positive growth, was the least optimistic.

New Delhi, July 31 : The Union Cabinet today gave its approval for insertion of the additional term of reference in the term of reference of the Thirteenth Finance Commission.

New Delhi, July 31 : The Union Government has mandated the 13th Finance Commission to map the road for fiscal accounting of liabilities on account of oil, food and fertiliser bonds.

“Cabinet has approved extension of Terms of Reference of 13th Finance Commission having regard to the need to bring liabilities of the central government on account of oil, food and fertiliser bonds into fiscal accounting,” Information and Broadcasting Minister P R Dasmunsi told reporters here.

New Delhi, July 31 : Inflation has marginally risen to 11.98 per cent for the week ended July 19.

It had dipped to 11.89 per cent for the week ended July 12. Inflation had softened somewhat with prices of many essential items either declining or remaining static.

The trend for the past three weeks connotes that the rate of inflation is stabilizing a bit.

The figure for the week ended July 12 was quite in line with the rate of inflation for the week ended July 5, 2008 that stood at 11.91 per cent, marginally higher than the rate of 11.89 per cent reported earlier. (ANI)

Hyderabad, August 1 : To expedite development of its Oil and Gas finds off the coast of Andhra Pradesh, oil major Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) has drawn up a plan to set up an ''Integrated Offshore Supply Base-cum-Processing unit'' near Kona coast in its east Godavari District.

The Integrated Offshore Supply Base is expected to boost ONGC''s Exploration and Production (E&P) efforts on the east coast, which is increasing rapidly.

New Delhi, August 7 : For the first time in 13 years inflation crossed 12 per cent, at 12.1 per cent, for the week ended July 26, on the back of costlier food items.

Rise in prices of certain food articles and manufactured products pushed inflation to a 13-year high of 11.98 per cent for the week ended July 19.

The increase prompted economists to predict another 25 basis points increase in the central bank''s short-term lending rates.

New Delhi, Aug 13: Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (EAC) lowered the GDP growth projection to 7.7 percent during 2008-09 as against an earlier estimate of 8.5 percent.

According to the report, the agriculture sector is predicted to grow by a very low two per cent, worse than the poor 4.5 per cent growth recorded last fiscal.

The services sector will grow 9.6 per cent, predicts the report, compared to 10.8 per cent last fiscal.

New Delhi, Aug 13: Despite fall in the prices of crude oil to below 113 US dollars a barrel this week, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora today ruled out possibility of reducing the prices of fuel.

Deora told reporters here that the softening of crude oil prices was a welcome development, but there was no scope of decrease in domestic fuel prices.

The Minister pointed out that oil marketting companies like Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum continue to lose money on fuel sales and there were still huge under-recoveries on fuel sales.

The government may announce the new pay package on 15 August for armed forces.

Armed forces had expressed dissatisfaction over the Sixth Pay Commission report and sought the revise of pay structure recommended by commission. The country has a total of 12 lakh personnel of the armed forces.

A meeting to discuss about salaries and perks of armed forces is scheduled on Wednesday. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will chair the high-level meeting to take final decision on the salary issue. The meeting will also be attended by Defence Minister A.K. Antony, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Cabinet Secretary K. Chandrashekhar.

New Delhi, Aug 13 : The Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council has lowered the GDP growth projection to 7.7 percent during 2008-09 as against 9 percent in last fiscal.

EAC chairman C Rangarajan said that inflation could shoot up to beyond 13 percent. Agricultural and industrial growth rate projection has also been brought down.

Armed forces, civil servants and paramilitary staff will get to rejoice this Independence Day with the administration ready to approve the Sixth Pay Commission Report that was postponed in the Parliament earlier this year, but not implemented up till now.

A high level conference on Wednesday (August 13) led by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh discussed the pay panel details and the suggestions of the empowered group of Secretaries that went into the anomalies and other matters.

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh held a meeting with defence minister A.K. Antony and finance minister P. Chidambaram on Wednesday, regarding the pay commission recommendations for Central government employees, armed forces employees as well as paramilitary staff.

A senior Union minister stated that Cabinet is ready to sanction the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations today.  

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will declare the award during his Independence Day speech on Friday, August 15.

Around 5.4 million government workers will get their pay increases and the administration will have to distribute an additional Rs 20,000 crore.

New Delhi, Aug 14 : The Union Cabinet today gave its approval for implementation of the scheme “Indian Leather Development Programme” and to incur an expenditure of Rs. 912.67 crore during the Eleventh Five Year Plan period.

The scheme would lead to development of infrastructure for the sector, would address environment concerns specific to the sector, and would facilitate additional investment, employment generation and increase in production. (ANI)

The eyes of the central government employees will be firmly glued on the forthcoming 6th Pay Commission Pay Scale, which is likely to be announced on Friday, Aug 15.

The central government has sanctioned the setting up of the sixth pay commission to revise salary structures plus other perks for its 5.5 million staff across the country.

The sixth pay commission is estimated to cost the government an additional Rs 20,000 crore.

The Indian cabinet yesterday sanctioned an average 21% pay increase for 5m federal employees and military staff, the first revision of government pay scales during the last 12 years.

P. Chidambaram, finance minister, said the civil servants' pay hike that will be backdated to January 1 2006, will cost Indian taxpayers $3.6bn this year, comprising part of the debt from 2006.

Moreover, Indian Railways will have to pay $1.5bn to its staff.

Due to the gross domestic product growth, which has already put an end to the three year of growth that was in the range of 9%, the high prices will not come down soon. The fact was reveled today by the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (EAC).

The EAC’s forecast is lower than RBI’s forecast of 8 percent estimate. It is also in line with several other forecasts that have estimated growth at between 7.5 and 8% in 2008-09.

“I am confident the GDP growth will be close to 8 per cent this year,” as said by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, when he was asked to comment on the present state of EAC forecast.

The wholesale index-based inflation rate is further increased to 12.44 per cent. It was recorded 12.01 per cent in the previous week. The inflation rate was 4.39 per cent in the corresponding period in 2007. The growing rates of food, fruits and fuel prices have contributed in the increased inflation rate.

The prices of fruits increased by 8.9 per cent for the week ended August 2. The prices of maize, moong, urad and other spice went up by 4 per cent and 3 percent respectively. The prices of textile and cement were also increased during this week.

Industry associations stated that the acceptance of proposals of the 6th Pay Commission would help in pulling as well as retaining the best talent in the government’s administrative machinery.

Moreover, it would lessen the degree of weariness in public sector departments and make government more reactive towards the public. At the same time, industry chambers fear that the move would worsen fiscal pressures.

The Union Cabinet on Aug 14 accepted the suggestions of the Sixth Central Pay Commission with some changes hinted by the Secretaries board.

With this, the pay of around 50 lakh government staff will climb up by at least 21%.

Washington, Aug. 16 : India could lose between seven and seventeen percent of its income from farming because of climate change, a new study has claimed.

Using data on weather and the economic success of farming to model the effect of future warming on the predicted income from farming, Robert Mendelsohn of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and Apurva Sanghi of the World Bank said that the focus of their study was on the biological relationship between weather and crop yield instead of the economic connection between weather and farming revenue.

Due to higher inflation and lower IIP numbers, the growth rate for India can slip to 7.7 percent this year. It has been forecasted by the top government officials. The growth rate was 9 percent last year and it was forecasted 8 percent by the economic advisory committee of PM Mannohan Singh earlier.

On the eve of country’s 61st Independence Day, the UPA government under the leadership of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sanctioned a wage hike higher than the recommendations of Sixth Pay Commission for the country’s civil and defence staff.

After the meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister made the announcement that there would be an average increase of 21 per cent in salaries of over 50 lakh government employees with effect from January 1, 2006.

In a recent study, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced that the fresh projects will see the investment coming from Indian Private Firms up to 1.73 trillion rupees ($40 billion) during the year 2008/09. The investments however would be lowed compared to last year by 30%, the year which saw investment of 2.45 trillion rupees.

In the August bulletin of the article titled, “Corporate Investment: Growth in 2007-08 and Prospects for 2008-09,” it was written that due to higher global oil prices, rising interest rates, input and wage costs there are more downside risks to corporate profitability.

Apparently spurred by the prospect of the looming Lok Sabha elections, Ms Mayawati, Chief Minister Uttar Pradesh, announced that Uttar Pradesh had decided to implement the Pay Commission recommendations, “despite a huge financial burden that would have to be born as a result by Uttar Pradesh.”

By this announcement, she presented the Central Government both bouquets and brickbats over implementing the Sixth Pay Commission (SPC).

New Delhi, Aug 22 : The Centre on Friday asked steel producers to cut prices as and when there was further fall of rates in the global markets.

P K Rastogi, Secretary, Ministry of Steel, told reporters that Global steel prices have already softened and if the trend continued, it called for a reduction in the domestic market too.

For the first time in over 17 months, Indian currency weakened past Rs 44 per dollar owing to rumor that importers will raise their dollar purchases in order to settle the import bills.
    
Oil rates surged 52 cents to settle at $115.11 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX).

The refiners comprising Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), India’s biggest oil marketing company took the advantage of the currency’s rally to an almost week’s high on August 22 to purchase dollars at a cheaper rate.

New Delhi - Indian economic growth slipped to 7.9 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, its slowest pace in over three years as rising borrowing costs affected manufacturing and other sectors, news reports said Friday.

India's gross domestic product (GDP) was 7.9 per cent in the three months to June 30, compared to 9.2 per cent over the corresponding quarter of the previous year, data released by the government's Central Statistical Organization showed.

The moderation in GDP growth was in line with expectations of the economists as the federal Reserve Bank of India had hardened interest rates to control double-digit inflation, the PTI news agency reported.

The negotiations of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has completed in the recent meeting of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Singapore. The meeting remained successful as most of the members including India were agree on the final draft of agreement. The deal would be finally signed in December at the India-Asean summit at Bangkok. It is expected to attend by PM Manmohan Singh. It takes six years to complete the talks on FTA.

With the aim to increase the salary of the employees by 20%, the Gujarat government has taken up the decision to set up a babus’ committee on suggestion of the Centre's sixth pay commission award.

Jay Narayan Vyas, spokesperson of the Govt. informed soon after the Cabinet meeting was over, “The secretaries' committee will submit its report to the Cabinet sub-committee, formed early this year on what the sixth pay commission may mean to Gujarat.”

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said that the retardation in the Indian financial system has been on projected lines and a healthy recovery is expected by the coming fiscal year thanks to the measures being taken by the administration.

"The slowdown was not unexpected," Ahluwalia told, referring to the sharp decline in the development of India's gross domestic product (GDP) to 7.9% during in the first quarter of 2008, as against 9.2% in the same period of the last year.

New Delhi, Sep 4 : Continuing its downward journey inflation further moderated to 12.34 per cent on Thursday for the week ending August 23 compared to 12.40 per cent recorded a week earlier.

The country’s annual inflation rate, however, was expected to have inched up in the third week of August to 12.44 per cent, driven by higher prices of some commodities and demand pressures in economy, a poll showed earlier.

Last week the decline in inflation was largely on account of the drop in the global crude prices and marginal drop in prices of essentials such as fruits, vegetables, eggs, meat and fish. (ANI)

The officials of the finance ministry are confused over the tax slab to be levied on the increased salary of center government employees.

Some officials have the view that the entire arrears are to be taxed, while other has a different view point on the matter. They said that the employees should be taxed on their received income.

According to the norms of income tax, arrears can be charged to income-tax under the head salaries if the salaries remain fixed for that period. The Supreme Court has also given the same ruling in case of CIT versus L W Russel 53ITR91.

The confusion arrived after the implementations of recommendations of sixth pay commission. The salary of central employees goes to 21% following these recommendations.

The external debt of India has increased to 30.4 percent in the year ended March 31, 2008. It has touched the $221.21 billion mark in 2007-08. The high growth in the external debt is witnessed due to loans taken by various corporate houses of the country. However, the amount of external loans taken by the Indian government has declined. The external borrowing has declined by 25.6%.

The short term debts have increased to 34.8%. Debts are surged due to increase in oil import. The appreciation of rupee and depreciation of dollar also helped to increase the external debts. ECB’s have touched the mark of $62.02 billion as on March 31, 2008 by showing a growth of 49%.

The Reserve Bank of India maintained that the hike in the salaries of the government employees will put burden on the finance of the union government.

The government has cleared the recommendations of the sixth pay commission recently that cause increase in the salaries of the employees by 21 per cent.

RBI said that the subsidies and farmer loan waiver have also pressurized the state finance. The central bank indicted that it would continue to tighten the monetary policy despite some ease in the inflation rate.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed his concern over the steep increase in the global oil and commodity prices but hoped that these will not hinder the economic growth as the government is doing its best to moderate the rising prices.

While laying the foundation stone for Rs 1,750 crore expansion project of Salem Steel Plant in Tamil Nadu on Friday, the PM commented “In the last few months, because of the steep increase in international prices of petroleum products and primary commodities, -inflation and its control have emerged as a major concerns of policy. We have taken steps to moderate the rise in prices. In so doing, we have also tried to ensure that inflation control measures do not hurt the growth momentum we have built up in the last four years.”

The PM has issued instructions to the Planning Commission and other government departments to set up a system for independent evaluation of its flagship programs. The government is presently investing large sums to enhance education, health and rural employment, and this step will mark a further progress in this process. The PM recently had a meeting with the commission, the finance ministry and the department of statistics, instructing their mutual cooperation concerning these social sectors.

The newly appointed governor of the Reserve bank of India, Duvvuri Subbarao expressed hope for the positive growth in the current fiscal.

He said that the RBI is committed to achieve 8 per cent growth rate in the current fiscal. He expressed concerne about the high inflation rate and said that it would ease in a short time.

The RBI governor advocated policy revision to tame ever increasing prices. He hoped that the apex bank would soon control the price rises through its monetary measures.

On Thursday, the Rajasthan cabinet took the decision to implement the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations from this month, which will definitely prove to be a bonanza for the employees and pensioners of the state government.

It was revealed by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajendra Rathore that over seven lakh government employees and nearly three lakh pensioners would benefit from this decision.

After he had attended the Cabinet meeting the minister said, “The report would be implemented with retrospective effect and would entail an additional burden of Rs 4920 crore annually on the state exchequer.”

Sustaining a downward trend for third consecutive week, India's inflation stood at 12.1 per cent for the week ended August 30. For the previous week, the figure was 12.34 per cent. However, wholesale price index (WPI) released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry indicated 0.3 per cent increase in the price index for primary articles.

Almost all the central government employees are satisfied by the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission. But the superintendents of Central Excise and Customs want more from the government.

They want more hikes in their salaries and better promotion rules. They have decided to stage a protest before Parliament on September 16 to register their resentment.

The excise and custom men said that they are not entitled to better promotion, pay scale, working condition, staff position. The statement in this regard is issued by the all India Association of Central Excise Gazetted Executive Officers.

The finance minister, P. Chidambaram is quite sure regarding the inflation to get moderate, as certain actions had been taken by the government to reduce the existing inflationary movement.

The United Forum of Banking Unions and Indian Bankers Association were in talks on the matter of salary revision of the banking and insurance sector staff.

Around Rs 200 billion had been paid out as education loans during the last four years, benefiting 12,51,691 pupils, added Mr. Chidambaram.

The country has registered GDP at 7.9 percent in the first quarter of the current fiscal. The growth is expected to increase further in the second half. This is disclosed by a monthly review report of Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

The agriculture sector registered a growth of 3 percent, while growth rate of industry and services sectors are recorded at 6.9 percent and 10 percent, respectively. The growth in the mining and construction sectors remained healthy while other sectors performed lower than the corresponding period of the last month. The manufacturing and utilities sectors witnessed very poor growth rate for the current fiscal. It was recorded 10.9 percent last year in the same quarter while it remained 5.6 percent in the current quarter.

The month of December may see the inflation rate falling by 10% which
currently is over 12%. The statement came from Rajya Sabha member and
former head of the Prime Minister’s economic panel C Rangarajan.

He said on the sidelines of a Ficci seminar on financial inclusion in
New Delhi on Monday, “My estimate is that probably by December,
inflation rate may go down to 10%.”

Other than this the man is even hopeful that the continuing trend of
improvement in industrial growth, which commenced form the month of
July will continue for the coming months.

He added, “Inflation last year was moderate towards the end of
December, so base effect will heighten inflation in the current year.”

New Delhi, Sept 17: Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath today welcomed the multi-facility economic zone created by the Zambia Development Agency for Indian companies to set up manufacturing and services industries in Zambia.

During the bilateral meeting with Felix C. Mutati, Minister for Trade, Commerce and Industry, Zambia, here, Nath said that India has lot to offer for infrastructural development in Zambia, particularly in energy, mining, agriculture, commercial building and road transportation sectors.

New Delhi - The collapse of major Wall Street firms is likely to result in a tightening of liquidity, adverse impact on the banking sector and a slowdown for information-technology firms that serve customers in financial sectors, analysts said Wednesday.

The Reserve Bank of India, which had net foreign reserves of 288.8 billion dollars in the week ending September 5, has already taken measures to support the rupee which rose by 60 paisa against the dollar on Wednesday.

The central bank also barred Lehman's India subsidiary from remitting money to its parent company.

The global economic and financial fluctuations can hardly affect Indian economy. There are speculations in some quarters that the slowdown in US economy can hit the growth story of India. Indian economy is dependent on US economy by and large. Some prestigious US institutions, such as Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch are facing economic breakdown.

The government thinks that even though foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have withdraw over $1 billion so far from India, the economy won’t face any serious threats. The financial crisis in the U.S,. which otherwise should had affected the domestic capital markets have not really had any adverse affect. In fact the domestic market is getting motivated by the collapse of the giants, investment banker Lehman Brothers and insurer AIG. 

The government is not expecting any sort of payment crisis..

A source from Finance Ministry informed on Wednesday, “As of now, turbulence in the U.S. financial market may have some impact on capital markets, but payment obligations are being met currently and there won’t be any payment related problem.”

Finance minister, P Chidambaram said that the global financial crisis would hardly impact the growth of Indian economy. The country is well prepared to deal with any adverse situation. 

He also said that the government is committed to implement the economic reforms in India. Speaking at the Field Marshal KM Cariappa Memorial Lecture in New delhi, the Finance Minister said that the global financial sector is facing hard times after the bankruptcy of US investment bank Lehman brothers.

The union cabinet of India took many significant decisions in its recent meeting. It has given its approval, to amend the 1985 enacted, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) Act. 

The act was passed to regularize the exports of scheduled farm and processed food products.

The amendments would ease the process of registration of intellectual property and patent rights of some agricultural products. The government would present it in the next session of the parliament. 

For the week ended September 12, India’s foreign exchange reserves climbed up by $650 million to touch $289.461 billion, as compared to $288.811 billion during the previous week. 

The recent rise in forex reserves was mainly because of changes in the value of foreign currencies.

According to the central bank’s weekly report, foreign currency assets rose by $676 million during the week to touch $280.302 billion as against $279.626 billion in the last week.

Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh asked for all preventive measures to deal with the global financial crisis in US. He said that the Indian domestic banks are almost insulated to the global financial crisis and we don’t need to worry much. He was addressing the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in New Delhi. He asked his ministerial colleagues to stay alert on the global financial situation. 

Finance minister, P Chidambaram explained the global crisis in US in detail. 

Deputy Chairperson of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said that the government is quite hopeful that the inflation rate will come down to the single digits by March next year. He also said that the government is not keen to take excessive harsh measures to rein in the problem as it will have a harmful impact on the economy.

Speaking to media persons, Ahluwalia said, “Inflation is not something which we can bring under control immediately. Fortunately, the tendency of constant increase (inflation) has disappeared.”

In yet another initiative to uphold the Indian Economy, the Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday contended to operationalise the move to attract foreign currency inflows into the country, by issuing guidelines for Foreign Currency Exchangeable Bonds (FCEB), which will come into effect immediately.  

The wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation remained unchanged for this week. It is recorded at 12.14% by the week ended September 13. The inflation rate is 3.5% is more that the inflation rate in the corresponding week of last year. Country is facing high inflation rate since many weeks.

The global food and oil prices increase is remained major parameter of increase in prices in India.

The India government and the Reserve Bank of India have taken many steps to tame the ever growing inflation in the country.

For the week ended on Sep 19, the foreign exchange reserves surged by $2,511 million to touch $291,972 million on account of increase in foreign currency and assets collections on a weekly basis.

According to the data released by the Reserve Bank of India’s Weekly Statistical Supplement, foreign currency assets increased by $2,509 million to $282,811 million for the week under review.

The reserve position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), during the week under review, climbed by $2 million to $465 million, whereas gold reserves were unchanged at $8,692 million.

New Delhi - India's benchmark Sensex stock index recovered from early losses Tuesday after market regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India assured that the US financial crisis will not affect domestic bourses.

The 30-share-sensitive index plunged by 442.20 points soon after opening to a near two-year low of 12,153.33 - a loss of 3.5 per cent -amid heavy selling in stocks of banking, metal, realty and IT sectors.

The Sensex later pared its losses and was trading at 12,612.28, up 0.13 per cent, at 12:15 pm (0645 GMT).

The broader S&P CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange also recovered and was trading at 3,846.10, down 0.10 per cent, around the same time.

The Domestic Currency reported a major decline to a five year low as it came up to 47.10 against the Dollar. The Rupee slumped to psychologically important 47-mark and was last seen crossing 47 mark in July 2006. With Dollar gaining strength in Global scenario the Indian Currency lost its importance. The impact was evident in the equity market.

The loss was attributed to the importers and oil companies who purchased dollars to meet the month-end demand. Rupee opened weaker this time at 46.82/83 and closed at 46.97/99, against the previous close of 46.54/55.  

The Reserve Bank of India said that the current account deficit of the country is increasing due to high cost of oil and petroleum products. The country is dependent on oil import to satisfy its domestic needs.

It imports about 70 per cent of its oil requirements which cause a big burden on the economy of the country. The international crude prices are jumped to $140/ barrel after softening in prices for some times.

Speaking to the media on his way back to the Country, the PM was calm and composed. After successfully pulling off the Nuclear deal with France and positive response from the President of Pakistan on all issues, Mr. Singh said, “We have given this country a purposeful government, a government which by-and-large has the support of all constituents of our coalition”. 

The PM spoke on various issues ranging from the nuclear deal to land acquisition case in Singur to the terrorist blasts and attacks on Christians. 

A trade deficit of $13.94 billion was reported as against $7.19 billion in the same month last year. The soaring prices of Oil in international market and weakening of Rupee against the Dollar has been accounted for as the reasons for the upsurge.  

An increasing trend was noticed both in exports as well as imports as compared to the last year,with export soaring to 26.9 percent in August, while the import bill rose to 51.2 percent. The former grew to $16 billion in August from $12.61 billion while latter to $29.94 billion from $19.8 billion.

New Delhi, Oct 3 : The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today gave its approval for implementation of Scheme “Upgradation of the remaining 1096 Government Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) through Public Private Partnership” for the period 2008-09 to 2011-12 at total cost of Rs. 2800 crore.

Through this scheme 1096 selected ITIs will be upgraded through Public-Private Partnership. Industry Partner will be involved in all aspects of training from development of curriculum to trade testing.

Academic and financial autonomy given to the ITIs will improve their internal and external efficiency. The demand driven and improved quality of training will lead to better employability of ITI graduates. (ANI)

The US senate has, finally, approved the much hyped Indo-US nuclear deal. Many industrial associations and commerce bodies have greeted the government on its success. CII, Ficci and Assocham said that the deal would terminate nuclear isolation of the country and provide energy security to India.

The central Reserve Bank of India (RBI) received a request from an industry lobby on Thursday to reduce cash reserve ratio and repo rate by 1 per cent, so that liquidity can be pumped into the markets. 

Furthermore, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) in its recommendations has appealed to RBI to allow banks to borrow against government securities and make avail dollars directly to oil companies, instead of steering them through the market for the purchase of crude. 

University Grants Commission has recommended to increase the pay of college and university teachers. The government has constituted a committee to review the pay structure of teachers. 

The penal headed by, Prof. GK Chaddha recommended pay hike by 70 to 90 per cent. It has also asked the government to increase the retirement age of universities and college teacher to 65 years.

The increase in pay would attract the best available talent in the teaching line. The best talent is attracted by the private multinational companies by offering them a handsome salary. 

The rupee depreciation witnessed a 5 year fall on Monday. It has lost by 17.6% so far this year. The rupee was very volatile on Monday. 

There was no inflow of dollar in the market as the investors and oil firms were purchasing dollars. The traders have forecasted further depreciation of rupee to touch as low as 49 against the dollar. It was 1.5 percent weaker than last Friday and closed at 47.80/81 per dollar.

The sources in the finance ministry has forecasted the growth rate of 8 percent for the current financial year. The finance minister, P Chidambaram expressed hopes that the country would register growth rate of 9 percent in the financial year 2009-10. He said that the global financial crisis would hardly affect India as India has less exposure in the US market. 

The finance minister, P Chidambaram said that India’s economy maintains a sound health and the investors need not to afraid. He was addressing the media persons after the meeting of union cabinet on Wednesday. The government would provide more liquidity in the market to ease the financial position of country. Finance minister said the Indian banks maintain a strong balance sheet and deposits of people are safe with Indian banks.
 

New Delhi - Indian equities gained 6 per cent and were trading strong Monday as Finance Minister P Chidambaram insisted fundamentals of the Indian economy were strong.

"This is a time of uncertainty. Yet in a time of uncertainty, some facts cannot and ought not to be ignored," Chidambaram told a press conference, where he noted the Indian economy continued to grow at a satisfactory pace.

Mumbai, Oct. 15 : Finance Secretary Arun Ramanathan on Wednesday chaired a meeting of a panel of bankers and experts to explore options to ease liquidity pressure in the system.

The panel, which was appointed by the Central Government last week to make quick assessment of the liquidity requirement, is expected to submit an interim report within a week.

The high-powered group comprises IBA Chairman T S Narayanaswamy, UTI CMD U K Sinha, SIDBI CMD R M Malla, L&T CFO Y M Deosthalee and a representative of RBI. Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) chairman A P Kurien also attended the meeting.

Sources said the panel would list the options available with the government and the central bank to ease the liquidity crunch.

New Delhi, Oct 16 : Inflation fell to 11.44 per cent for the week ending October 4 due to decline in oil prices and manufactured goods.

In the previous week the inflation was 11.80 per cent.

The index for fuel prices declined by 1.1 per cent on account of lower prices of naphtha, aviation turbine fuel and furnace oil.

In manufactured goods category, wholesale prices, declined by 0.5 per cent on account of cheaper imported edible oil, steel, pig iron and lead ingots.

The whole sale price index (WPI) based inflation rate declined to 11.44% for the week ended October 4. It was stood at 11.8% for the previous week. This is good news for the government as it is taking various steps through the reserve bank to tame the inflation rate.

Economists believe that inflation could further decline in the coming months.

New Delhi - The central Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Monday lowered its key short-term lending rate (repo) to commercial banks, a move that will spur consumption and help growth amid the global economic slowdown.

"In order to alleviate the pressure and in particular to maintain financial stability, the RBI has decided to reduce the repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility by 100 basis points to 8 per cent with immediate effect," the bank said in a statement.

With the aim to support the economy in the times of financial crisis, a set of recommendations, including further cut in key interest rates were planned on Sunday by the leading industry body, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). 

A statement issued by the chamber said, "It is necessary to further reduce repo rate by at least 50 basis points and in CRR (cash reserve ratio) by 150 bps to ensure adequate liquidity and reasonable cost of funding."

After Large scale lay offs by Jet Airways, the industry chambers Assocham has predicted upto 25 percent job cuts in the infrastructure, services and aviation sector. After a survey, the Assocham declared that the layoffs shall be in seven key sectors namely steel, cement, IT-enabled services /BPO, financial and brokerage services, construction, real estate and aviation. 

New Delhi, Nov 3: Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is meeting captains of industry and trade in New Delhi on Monday to discuss the impact of global financial crisis and the slow-down in the Indian economy.

Industry leaders Ratan Tata, Anand Mahindra, Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Shashi Ruia, K. P. Singh and Naresh Goyal are expected to attend the meeting today.

New Delhi - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met leaders of Indian industry on Monday and assured them that the government would take all measures to protect the economy in view of the global financial crisis which, he said, was now likely to be more severe and prolonged.

He also urged them to play a positive role and avoid "knee-jerk" reactions like large-scale lay-offs, according to a release from the prime minister's office.

The Union government may relax norms for foreign direct investment to increase fund flow in the monetary system of India. Union Commerce and industry minister, Kamal Nath said that the government is thinking to reduce FDI cap for many sectors such as defense equipment manufacturing and multi-brand retail. 

It would help India to increase investment and reduce deficits amid global financial crisis. The government had already increased FDI limit for insurance sector from 26 per cent to 49 per cent.

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, has constituted a panel under his chairmanship, to review the global financial condition and its impact on the economy of the country. Mr. Singh had assured the corporate world in a recent meeting that government would monitor financial matters on daily basis. 

The other members of committee are Finance Minister, P Chidambaram, Industry and Commerce Minister, Kamal Nath, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and RBI Governor D Subbarao.

The wholesale price index based inflation reverses its trend after declining for five weeks. It rises to 10.72% for the week ended October 25 as compared to 10.68% a week ago.

The annual rate of inflation is measured by the fluctuation in wholesale prices. The recent rise in inflation is due to the increase in prices of some primary articles. Primary articles contribute 22 per cent in the overall inflation. Prices of food and non-food category also increased marginally leading to the  increasing inflation.

Indian core industrial sector registered a growth of 5.1% in September, as compared with 2.3 per cent during August this year. It would help to improve overall industrial index production (IIP) numbers which declined in August. The six core industries contribute 26.7 per cent to IIP and the recovery of growth is a healthy sign for the economy. It is also good news for the government in the election year as it is tense over retrenchment drive by some companies following economic slowdown.

Indian currency gained 3.66% against the US dollar for the week ended Nov 7, 2008, as against the last week’s figure of Rs 49.46.

The Indian rupee surged marginally at the opening of the week, afterward, in the mid week it bounced back from its early losses. While, at the end of the week, it ended on a flat note as compared to its last close on Thursday, Nov 6, 2008.

New Delhi, Nov 13: Decline in the prices of fuel and manufactured goods has led to the fall in the wholesale price index rate to 8.98 per cent for the week ended November 1.

The rate came down by 1.74 percentage points from 10.72 per cent in the previous week.

The rate was 3.35 per cent a year ago. The prices of commodities, which have declined during the week, include fuel items like naphtha, jet fuel, furnace oil and light diesel oil.

The wholesale price index is more closely watched than the consumer price index, which is published monthly, because it covers a higher number of products and is released weekly. (ANI)

New Delhi - India's inflation rate fell sharply to 8.98 per cent for the week ended November 1 from 10.72 per cent the previous week, raising hopes of further rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of India as industry figures indicated a slowing down of the economy.

The annualized inflation rate, which is linked to India's wholesale price index, had peaked in the week ended August 2 touching 12.91 per cent. The rate for the week ended November 3, 2007 was 3.35 per cent.

CII President and ICICI Bank CEO, K V Kamath, demanded more measures to improve liquidity conditions in the monetary system of the country. He said that inflation rate is continuously coming down and financial institutions can expect more injection of credit in next policy review of the Reserve Bank.

New Delhi  - Indian Finance Minister P Chidamabaram on Tuesday asked industry to cut prices and maintain production levels and said he was confident that the economy would bounce back in a year, news reports said.

"We will take steps to stimulate the domestic economy to compensate for the downside caused by the downturn in the world economy," Chidambaram said at the Davos-based World Economic Forum's India Economic Summit in New Delhi.

New Delhi - Indian Finance Minister P Chidamabaram on Tuesday asked industry to cut prices and maintain production levels and said he was confident that the economy would bounce back in a year, news reports said.

"We will take steps to stimulate the domestic economy to compensate for the downside caused by the downturn in the world economy," Chidambaram said at the Davos-based World Economic Forum's India Economic Summit in New Delhi.

The fears of low placement period for management students in the coming months may prove wrong as the summer placements at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, were encouraging. The placement session ended on Saturday. 

A total of 24% of the batch of 268 students confirmed positions in consulting firms cutting across finance, strategy and marketing functions. The single largest consulting sector recruiter was McKinsey and Co, which took five students. 

At the ongoing World Economic Forum-India Economic Summit, Arun Nanda, executive director (infrastructure development sector) of Mahindra and Mahindra, said, "Affordable housing market has a huge demand with consumers just sitting on the fence and waiting to get a clearer picture of the ongoing financial crisis.” 

The Mahindra group has a wholly-owned subsidiary, Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd, operating in the infrastructure development segment. 

The UPA Government, with support of the Union finance ministry, is closely watching the ever changing financial market conditions and is concerned over the tight economic conditions. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, who himself is an eminent economist, reviewed the economic situation with key government functionaries and ministers. PM sought information on measures taken by the government to ease liquidity conditions in the financial system. Earlier, Dr. Singh had formed a penal of senior officials to keep vigil on the changing market conditions.

With the concern to the financial Crisis in the global economy and the quake in Human skills recruitment and utility of Organizations, CII - LM Thapar Centre for Competitiveness for SMEs organized a One Day Workshop on "Executive Programme on Metrics and Balanced Scorecard" at CII (Confederation of Indian Industry), Gurgaon on 15th November. A total of 43 delegates from Top Managerial profiles of various sectors - Service, Manufacturing, IT and Finance reaped benefits out of the highly productive workshop.

Union Finance Minister, P Chidambaram said that government would take all possible steps to help industry in the hour of crisis. It has already taken many fiscal measures with the help of reserve bank to improve liquidity and increase demand for industry.

Parliament has approved Rs 1.05 lakh crore, besides Rs 6.5 lakh crore proposed in the budget in February. The finance minister also asked for price cut to boost demand amid global slowdown. He said that rupee condition would soon improve following steps taken by government.

Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission expressed an urgent need to increase investment in infrastructure, after the global financial crisis choked inflows in mega projects. Mr. Ahluwalia stated that the government would draw up an estimate for additional spending on infrastructure projects within the next 10 days.

New Delhi - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday asserted that India "can and will survive" the global financial crisis and sustain an 8-per-cent economic growth.

"In a globalized world, we cannot pretend that we are not affected by the economic crisis," Singh said while addressing a conference in New Delhi, adding "however, we can and will survive this crisis and emerge stronger."

Exuding confidence that India had "resources and wisdom" to deal with the crisis, Singh said all instruments of public policy - fiscal, monetary, exchange rate and public investment - will be deployed to ensure growth and entrepreneurship and tackle the adverse impact of the slowdown.

BJP’s senior leader and NDA’s Prime Ministerial candidate, L.K. Advani stressed the need to take hard steps for country’s economic growth. He warned that India can face meltdown, causing large scale lay-offs following the impact of the global slowdown. India needs stern actions and willpower to bring the situation to normal level. He was speaking in a meeting with top corporate leaders to discuss impact of global slowdown. 

The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation rate continued to decline in the second consecutive week and now stands at 8.90 per cent. The inflation was 8.98 per cent a week ago. Declining trend brings a respite for the central government, which is facing flak for rising prices. 

It has also paved a way for Reserve Bank to further revise key interest rate to improve liquidity condition in the financial system. Economists believe that it can further slide even below the expectations of the Reserve Bank in the coming days. 

Congress president and UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi extended her support to calibrated liberalization of economy and said that government is committed to galvanize country from the impact of global slowdown. She called for such economic policies which don't affect the vulnerable sections of society and do not compromise with social justice.

The Union Government may announce financial package for the textile exporters of the country. Textile sector is facing low demand due to global slow down and have suffered huge losses. Export declined by 12.32 per cent in October this year and stood at $12.8 billion as compared to $14.6 billion in the corresponding period last year.

Union Commerce Secretary, G. K. Pillai said that textile sector suffered from low demand in international market and the industry is likely to cut five-lakh jobs in the next five months leading to large scale unemployment.

Selling of dollars by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has contributed to decline the Forex reserve of country. Forex reserve is continuously under pressure after the bankruptcy of the US investment bank Lehman Brothers and other major financial institutions of world. It is declined by $5 billion in the week ended November 14 to $246.35 billion.

It is also declined following revaluation of non-dollar assets, sellout by foreign investors and strong demand by importers following failure of leading foreign financial institutions.

The Reserve Bank is unlikely to cut key interest rates at this point of time following drop in bond yield. The yield on 10-year bonds was 7.50% early this week and 8% in October.

Bond prices and yield are moving in opposite direction to each other leaving no room for interest cut by apex bank. The overall situation has changed after the collapse of Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers Holding Inc. in mid-September.

The Union Government is unlikely to reduce prices of petroleum products as of now despite huge fall in the prices of crude oil in the international market. Crude prices were $142.04 a barrel on July 3 while currently they are fluctuating in between $47 -$50 per barrel. The public sector oil marketing companies have requested government to hold prices so that they can cover their previous losses. The Indian crude oil basket has averaged $52.78 a barrel in November as compared to October's average of $69.12.

New Delhi, Nov 23 : Finance Minister P. Chidambaram will inaugurate the three three-day annual Economic Editors’ Conference at the National Media Centre organized the Press Information Bureau.

There will be separate sessions with the Ministers and senior officers of the key economic and infrastructure ministries participating in the conference.

The conference will enable economic editors and journalists, invited from all over the country to interact with them and get a detailed background of the government’s policies and programmes.

The media persons will get a comprehensive view of the overall economic scenario in the country and the latest initiatives and thrust areas of the Government.

The Finance Minister P Chidambaram, speaking at the Economic Editors' Conference stated that despite the global meltdown, India, unlike many other global economies, would continue to grow at seven to eight per cent this fiscal. It was nowhere near a recession.

Kolkata, Nov. 26 (ANI): Kolkata''s jewellers are all smiles despite the global slowdown being suffered by markets across the world. The goldsmiths here didn’t shift to machine-made jewellery but adhered to their handmade process.

This decision, which was once believed as the main reason for their backwardness by several people, is today reaping them rich dividends.

When the US market was booming, jewellers in other parts of India and the world started mass production of low-carat gold jewellery, which was the craze in the United States. But now with the recession in the US there are no takers for that.

The Planning Commission of India is optimistic to achieve 7 per cent growth rate in the current fiscal despite global slowdown. It wants more investment in public sector infrastructure to boost demand at local level. Planning Commission deputy chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia said that the commission would recommend more investment in public sector infrastructure projects as private investors are reluctant to invest due to fears of further slowdown. He was speaking at the Economic Editors' conference held in New Delhi.

The ongoing financial crisis would not impact the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) in India. The country is still optimistic to attract more FDI due to strong fundamentals of Indian economy. The views were expressed by the Commerce and Industry Secretary, Ajay Shankar.

The inflation rate continues to fall in the third consecutive week. It now stands at 8.84 per cent during the week ended November 15 from 8.90 per cent in the previous week. It would bring more respite for the union government who is facing criticism on price rise and internal security issues. However, inflation rate is still high and above the comfortable limits fixed by the reserve bank. It was at 3.35 per cent during the same week of last year.

In the Q-2 of 2008-09, Indian economy grew at 7.60 per cent, as compared to 7.9 per cent in the previous quarter. In the year ago period, the services sector growth was at 9.6 per cent.

A 2.7% growth was recorded in the farm sector during Q2 of 2008-09. Manufacturing growth stood at 5%; as compared to 9.2%on a year-on-year basis.

For the Q2, the construction growth came in at .7 per cent from 11.8 per cent a year ago.

The fiscal deficit of the government has increased to Rs 1,17,070 crore till October 2008. Its revenue is decreasing while spending is continuously increasing, causing heavy burden on the state exchequer. The fiscal deficit amounts to 88% of the targeted deficit estimated in the budget.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would hold the additional charge of finance portfolio after shifting the Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, to the home ministry. The PM is an economist of international repute, who served many national and international financial assignments. Dr. Singh is known as the liberator of the Indian economy, who opened the doors for foreign investors by annulling 'License Raj' system.

Newly appointed Union Home Minister, P. Chidambaram said that no one in the country is more capable than Dr. Manmohan Singh for the finance portfolio. Admitting to some unfinished tasks in the finance ministry, he hoped to complete them under the control of the PM. Dr. Singh is an economist of international repute, having exceptional background as a union finance minister, governor of reserve bank and chairman of planning commission. He would definitely control the Indian economy in the wake of the financial crisis.

The government is likely to announce a financial package by the weekend to help the domestic industry and boost economy. The package may include interest subsidy for housing, leather and textile sector, besides announcement of interest rate cuts and other monetary measures. The matter was discussed by the high power committee, headed by Prime Minister on Tuesday. PM also reviewed the current financial market conditions and discussed measures taken by apex bank to solve the liquidity problem.

For the week ended Nov 22, India’s annual rate of inflation fell further to 8.4% as compared to 8.84% the week before on account of a sharp fall in petroleum fuels prices.

During the corresponding week of the last year (2007), the annual inflation rate was 3.11%.

The official wholesale price index (WPI) for all commodities dropped 0.6% to 233.7 during the week from 235.1 for the previous week.

Andhra Pradesh Assembly has passed Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management bill 2008 through a voice vote on Wednesday. The bill is aimed to minimize the effect of global slowdown by enabling the state to get additional borrowings for higher capital expenditure during this year.

The finance minister of AP said that government is facing shortage of funds to support welfare programs for poor. State has an option to generate revenue through land sale but required revenue can not be generated as property rates are declining following global slowdown.

Indian economy would marginally be impacted by the global slowdown and government would do its best to mitigate the impact. The impact of the global slowdown may increase with time but country has not felt the indirect knock-on effect of the global crisis so far. It is said by the chairman of RBI who was speaking in the sidelines of a seminar on "Mitigating spill-overs and contagion — lessons from the global financial crisis." on Thursday.

A stimulus package for the economy, to be announced tomorrow by the government and Reserve Bank, will not be a one-off assistance, but would be the first in a series of measures to help the sectors hit by the global slowdown.

New Delhi  - The Indian government Sunday announced a fiscal stimulation package aimed at boosting industrial sectors which have been affected by the global economic recession.

The total spending on the programme from December to March-end would be to the tune of 3 trillion rupees (61 billion dollars), a release from the prime minister's office said.

India's financial year runs from April to March.

The package, which is a combination of incentives and tax reductions, targets labour intensive export industries like textiles, leather, gems and jewellery along with realty, textiles, infrastructure and to a lesser extent the automobile industry.

New Delhi, Dec. 7 : To counter the effects of the global financial slowdown and its impact on various sectors of the Indian economy, the Central Government on Sunday announced an Rs. 20, 000 crore stimulus package that includes major across the board tax cuts to boost demand.

A total amount of Rs. 300, 000 crore is to be spent over the remaining four months on a host of areas and stake holders such as exporters, housing, infrastructure and textiles.

A four-percent cut in Value Added Tax has also been announced to help the corporate sector.

In order to stimulate the economy, hit by the global financial crisis, the government has announced major tax cuts across the board to boost demand and allocated additional funds and incentives for exports, housing, textile and infrastructure. A four per cent cut in ad-valorem duty across the board to boost additional spending, enhanced credit for exporters, along with a Rs 10,000 crore mop up for India Infrastructure Finance Company has been announced by the RBI.  

The union government has announced Rs 30,700-crore package to propel economic growth of country. The move is aimed to increase local demand in various economic segments including housing, automobile, export and various labor incentive industries.

The package came just a day after revision of key interest rates by reserve bank. It would help to mitigate the impact of global slowdown on Indian economy.

The recently announced fiscal package by union government would have positive impact on Indian economy. Analysts feel that it would help to increase local demand and increase spending. The fiscal package and Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) interest rate cuts would mitigate the impact of global slowdown on Indian economy in a long run. Market would enjoy the relaxations in terms of duty cut and additional spending in infrastructure sector.
 

New Delhi, Dec 11 : India’s inflation rate continued its southward movement and declined to eight per cent for the week ended on November 29 from 8.4 per cent in the previous week.

This was the slowest rise since mid-April when inflation was at 7.95 percent.

Inflation fell for the fifth consecutive week to a seven-and-a-half-month low of 8 per cent due to cheaper food items.

In fact, the rate of price rise in all certainty is expected to moderate substantially with cascading effect of fuel price cut and four per cent across the board excise duty reduction getting mirrored in the data in subsequent weeks.

During the week ended November 29, the headline inflation, while continuing its southward journey, fell further to 8% from 8.4%.

Earlier it was displayed by a poll that the annual inflation rate was expected to have fallen to its lowest in eight months in late November, following a decline in the prices of manufactured products and lower fuel prices.

As compared with 8.4 per cent a week before, the median forecast of 11 economists was for an 8.0 per cent rise in the wholesale price index in the 12 months to November 29.

The union government may announce a second financial package to boost the economic growth rate amid global slowdown. It was revealed by the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Kamal Nath at the sidelines of a function, organized by the Spanish Institute of Foreign Trade.

New Delhi  - India's industrial output fell for the first time since 1993 as the effects of the global economic slowdown on the country deepened, media reports said Friday.

Industrial production shrank by 0.4 per cent in October, after expanding by 12.2 per cent in the same month last year, the NDTV network reported, citing data from the state-run Central Statistical Organization.

The decline was unexpected as industrial production had grown by 5.45 per cent in September and economists had projected an increase of over 2 per cent. India had last recorded a decline in output in April 1993, the report said.

Union Home Minister, P Chidambaram said that there is no need to worry about the fiscal deficit. The government is more concerned about the stability of the economy and had taken various measures to mitigate the impact of the slowdown on Indian economy.

He said, while addressing members of parliament, "If fiscal deficit crosses 3 per cent of GDP, it is not a cause for concern. We had brought down the fiscal deficit to 2.5 per cent from 4.5 per cent."

Mr. Chidambaram performed two roles in the parliament and gave answers on security as well as finance issues. PM Dr. Manmohan Singh, who is also holding the finance portfolio, has already sought permission of the Lok Saba Speaker to get Chidambaram's help for finance matters.

Government can lift ban on the futures trading in wheat, rice, urad and tur in a couple of days. The ban was imposed in 2007 to control the ever increasing prices. Inflation rate is slightly declining, paving the way for lifting the ban. The Forward Markets Commission (FMC) has sent a detailed report on futures trading to the government and the decision is likely to come very soon.

The foreign exchange reserve of India continues to decline in the month of October. It fell by $1.83 billion for the week ended December 5 and currently stands at $245.86 billion. The dip is caused following measures taken by Reserve Bank of India to stop further depreciation of rupee. Revaluation in foreign currencies and large scale pullout by foreign institutional investors also contributed in the fall of foreign reserve.

New Delhi  - India, once safely cocooned from the world economy, is struggling to maintain its rapid economic growth as a global recession spreads its tentacles.

But its carefully graded integration with the world economy may have cushioned India from the worst of the current global financial volatility, analysts and officials said.

After posting gross domestic product growth of about 3 per cent for decades since independence, India averaged over 9 per cent annual growth for the past three fiscal years.

The macro-economic numbers pertaining to the Indian economy indicates further slowdown of the economy. There may be a steep fall in the growth rate in the coming months. Decline in agriculture and industrial growth rate may further slide the economic growth. The growth rate of 7.6 per cent has registered in the September quarter of this year from the peak level of 9.3 per cent in September 2007. The reserve bank and noted rating agencies has forecasted further decline in the growth rate due to the impact of global slowdown.

In more than 5 weeks, India's rupee rose to the strongest level after the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate to a record low, boosting demand for higher-yielding assets.

As the global stocks rallied, the currency gained for a third day.  

New Delhi - India's inflation rate fell sharply 6.84 per cent for the week ending December 6, down from 8 per cent the week before, government data showed Thursday.

The inflation rate, linked to India's wholesale price index, was at its lowest in nine months primarily because of cuts in petrol and diesel prices announced by the government recently.

Inflation in India has been on the decline since it hit its peak of 12.91 per cent in the week what ended August 2. The rate during the same period last year was 3.84 per cent.

It was revealed by the government data on Thursday that for the week ended December 6, India's annual rate of inflation dropped further to 6.84 per cent from 8per cent the week before. The analysts say that the sharp drop was triggered largely by the drop in petrol and diesel prices. During the corresponding week last year, the rate of inflation was 3.84 per cent. 

Government may take more monetary measures to mitigate the impact of global slow down on Indian economy. Its primary concern is to maintain stability of growth rate and it believes in proactive approach in monetary policy. The chief economic advisor to Finance Ministry, Mr. Arvind Virmani said that aggressive monetary policy is a need of hour to ensure stability of finance system.

Rating agency Crisil has released a report stating that the state governments' key fiscal indicators-revenue deficit and gross fiscal deficit-will start deteriorating from 2009, after a four-year period of an improving trajectory.

Since the global slowdown will continue in 2009-10, Indian economy will need booster package in the next fiscal too, according to the planning commission.

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman, planning commission said, “It is certainly my view that the need for fiscal stimulus will not end this fiscal and will go beyond that. Since global slowdown will continue next year also, fiscal stance that needs to be considered should not be just for this fiscal but also for the next year.”

On Friday, Rupee fell by 31 paise against the dollar to close at 47.26/27 in the midst of cuts in interest rates as inflation has declined to a nine-month low.

The trade, which was fairly active, showed that the domestic currency started at 47.20/22 a dollar and later fluctuated between 47.36 and 46.86 on alternate bouts of dollar buying and selling during the day. Yesterday the rupee had closed at 46.95/96 a dollar.

Indian economy would grow at 7-8% as per mid-year economic review, presented in Lok Saba by the Minister of State for Finance, Mr. Pawan Kumar Bansal. Global factors, such as slowdown and financial crisis would impact the Indian economy to a significant extent despite various measures taken by the apex bank and the government to mitigate its impact. Post August period has adversely hit the Indian equity and the foreign exchange markets besides debt and credit markets.

The annual Wholesale Price Index-based inflation rate declined marginally to 6.61% for the week ended December 13. It stood at 6.84 per cent in the previous week. The decrease in inflation rate brings respite for the apex bank and the Union Government who are endeavoring to stabilize prices in the market.

The recent decline is mainly due to excise duty cut on various manufacturing products and decline in prices of petroleum products. The government had cut the central value-added tax on manufactured items by four percentage points on December 7 as part of an economic stimulus package.

A survey carried out by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry has specified that it is the select service sector segments, which have recorded a 10-20 per cent growth during April to November this year, while the country’s manufacturing sector had to experience a low ride.

The Union Government may announce some fiscal measures in the form of a second economic stimulus package in a few days to propel the growth of economy.  It had earlier announced the first stimulus package on December 7 and taken various measures to mitigate the impact of global slowdown. Reserve bank is also likely to cut interest rates as part of the second proposed stimulus package.

The external debt of the country slides marginally to $222.6 billion in the second quarter ended September 2008.

According to the sources from Finance Ministry, the reporting quarter witnessed lesser commercial borrowings from abroad and non-resident Indian deposits that helped to decline the debt figures.

Country's external debt was registered at $223.81 billion at the end of June. The ratio of foreign exchange reserves to total external debt also stands at comfortable level of 128.6%.

Second Fiscal Stimulus package to help labour intensive sectors may be announced in the evening today. The package may help stock markets as it will address the concerns of various sectors and will boost the sentiment. Experts believe that the second package will offer major help to various labour intensive sectors. In addition, the government may announce some ammendments to earlier package announced last month.

CNBC-TV18 has confirmed the reports from PMO sources that a package may be announced after market hours, around 6 pm. Market experts believe that India will be able to maintain a GDP growth above 7%.

Inflation rate continues to decline and currently stands at a 10-month low of 6.38%. It stood at 6.61 per cent last week and eased marginally following the decline in prices of almost all primary, manufactured and food articles. The inflation rate touched the peak level of 12.92 per cent in the first week of august, leading to tight monetary policy by the Reserve Bank of India to control price rising.

Since The Union Government has announced the second fiscal stimulus package on Friday to sustain the adequate growth rate. It contains measures to provide credit at low interest rates, higher public spending and easing liquidity and export import related concessions to propel the economic growth and mitigate the impact of global slowdown. The Reserve Bank has also announced key interest rate revision as a part of this fiscal package.

Indian corporate sector hailed the recently announced second stimulus package by the Union Government of Friday. The steps taken by the government to ease liquidity and relaxation in credit borrowing norms would help to propel economy. However, India Inc demands more fiscal measures to remove stress on the economy and to sustain its adequate growth rate. Industry demanded speedy implementation of spending on infrastructure projects.

Prominent credit rating agency Moody’s forecasts large scale decline in Indian export within next six months. Indian exports will decrease following decline in demand in markets of developed nations including US and European countries.

Painting a gloomy picture for year 2009, Moody added, "A sharper slowdown in exports is expected in the first half of 2009, putting more downward pressure on the trade balance."

All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) would start nationwide strike from Monday. Transporters have been demanding decline in diesel price by Rs 10 per litre and uniform VAT of 4 per cent on fuel.

They alleged that government failed to save the interest of transporters while announcing special measures for other sectors in the recent stimulus package. Government should immediately pass benefits of reduction in prices of crude in international market to customers. It may be recalled that international crude rates currently stand at $38 from peak level of $147 during August 2008.
 

Indian export sector could be adversely hit in the financial year 2009 following low demand in the international market. Export sector is facing stiff competition from China as there is substantial gap between prices of Indian products and Chinese products. 

A recently released report by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) states that cancellation of orders due to low demand and unavailability of cheap funds is a major challenge ahead of Indian export sector.

It's the second day of transporter's strike across the country after the UPA government declined their demand to reduce fuel prices. A few number of trucks and commercial vehicles moved on the roads across various states. Meanwhile, LPG and Petroleum tankers truckers have also decided to extend support to strike.

Indian exporters may announce large scale retrenchment drive in days to come to pressurize government for more financial relief to exporters. Director-general of the Federation of Indian Export Organizations, Ajay Sahai said, "The global economic demand is going down - that is the prime concern. The order book situation is pretty bad. From January onwards, we will have a lot of closures of units. "

Chennai, Jan 9 : Union Minister of State for Industries Ashwani Kumar has said that India is still a good growth story, as its economic fundamentals are strong.

Addressing the session ''Building Bridges: Trade and Investment'' at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2009 here, Dr Ashwani said: "A GDP growth of 6.5 per cent is expected, even while most countries are suffering economic downturn."

He stressed that the diaspora must bring funds into India. "At the same time, it should engage in skill-building activities in the country," he added.

Inflation rate continues to decline and presently stands at 5.24% for the week ended January 3. It stood at 5.91% last week and relieved marginally on account of the fall in prices of almost all primary, manufactured and food articles.

The annual inflation rate stood at 4.26% during the corresponding week of the previous year.

The median estimate of 11 economists was for a 5.28% increase in WPI during the 12 months to January 3, as against 5.91% in the last week.

In June 2008, inflation raced into double digits after the administration increased fuel prices.

Mumbai, Jan 19 : The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex ended WITH a fair gain of six points. The investors expressed disappointment over slow third-quarter earnings in the blue-chip firms.

The Sensex moved in a restricted range of 9,409.51 and 9.273.47, with a mini gain of 5.98 points.

The 50-share National Stock Exchange index Nifty also gained 17.75 points at 2,846.20. It moved between 2,868.20 and 2,819.90 points during the day.

Major market players encashed on every single rise in the market keeping the barometer limited to a tight range.

Mumbai, Jan 22 : The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark sensex finally showed some good results after two days on Thursday by gaining 34.67 points at 8,813.84.

The National Stock Exchange index Nifty also improved by 7.65 points at 2713.80.

Though the 35 points gain is minimal, the investors felt encouraged by Bharti Airtel's announcement of handsome results for the third quarter which came as a gain of 6.19 percent to Rs. 619.70.

The announcement has also increased expectations from Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), which is expected to announce its results later on Friday.

The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC) again revised Gross Domestic Product (GDP) projections for the current financial year. The EAC said that ongoing financial crisis would impact Indian economy in a long run. However, it ruled out possibility of any financial recession in country due to its strong economic fundamentals.

The Union Government has finally announced hike in minimum support price of Wheat to Rs 1080 per quintal, ahead of harvesting season of rabi crops. The decision, to revise MSP, was taken in the recent meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday, chaired by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, in the absence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The hike of 8 per cent in wheat prices, despite reservation by Planning Commission and Finance Ministry, would effective on crop marketed from April onward.

Foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee, on his first day in the finance ministry, expressed satisfaction over credit policy adopted by RBI and said economic booster released by government is working well and yield more results very soon. He also reviewed the preparation of the vote-on-account, to be present in the forthcoming session of Parliament, with top officials of finance ministry, all the secretaries in the ministry, chairman and members of the Central Board of Direct Taxes and the Central Board of Excise and Customs.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee gave nod to various infrastructure projects worth Rs 34,000 crore on Wednesday. It includes the Chennai Metro project, Krishnapatnam port project in Andhra Pradesh and many more projects to push demand in infrastructure sector in the midst of recessionary waves across the globe.

CCEA approved foreign direct investment (FDI) worth Rs 957 crore in Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd and 45 km long Phase I of the Chennai Metro project with estimated cost of Rs 14,600 crore.

It would be quite good to know that India might continue to maintain growth rate of 7-7.5 per cent next fiscal, the same level it is expected to register in the current fiscal. The news comes when lower growth projection of 8 per cent in 2009 by our neighbor China was termed as a tall order.

Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath confirmed at the World Economic Forum, "We hope to continue at the same level of 7-7.5 next fiscal."

Leading banks are likely to cut interest rates by 50-100 basis points in days to come, a move that can help to generate demand and propel economic growth in the country.

External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, holding Finance portfolio due to bypass surgery of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is meeting top executives of banks on Monday to discuss the matter. He can ask banks to cut lending rates on home, retail and auto loans to revive demand in the economic system. Banks may revise prime lending rates (PLR) or the benchmark interest rate by 50-100 basis points besides some concessions for SMEs and infrastructure firms.

Global slowdown, spreading fast in India, has adversely hit country's export sector in January with reported decline of 22% in merchandise exports. The data provided for January gives indication of grimmer situation ahead with a large number of job losses and stagnation in economy.

The country witnessed overall 1.1 per cent decline in export in December. Experts believe that situation may become worse in coming months for exporters due to non-availability of new contracts in the international market.

Kathmandu, Feb 4 : Nepal Prime Minister Prachnada today separately met visiting Finnish Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Dr Paavo Vayrynen and Managing Director of World Bank (WB), Dr Ngozi Okonio Iweala at his official residence in Baluwatar Wednesday.

According to PM''s press advisor Om Sharma, Prachanda requested Finnish Minister to invest in bigger projects for the economic development of Nepal.

New Delhi, Feb 5: After rising consecutively for two weeks, the inflation figures showed a slip to 5.07 percent.

The inflation rates declined primarily due to falling prices of fruits and vegetables and manufactured goods, encouraging policy rate cuts by the Reserve Bank to boost the industrial sector.

The prices of fruits, vegetables and bajra declined by two percent, while the coffee rates fell by one percent.

Raw rubber, groundnut seed and gingerly seed became cheaper by six percent, three percent and one percent respectively.

Raipur, Feb 9: The Chhattisgarh Government will present its budget for the year 2009-10 in the State Assembly today.

Chief Minister Raman Singh, who holds the finance portfolio, will present the budget.

The budget session will continue till February 20 during which 269 starred questions and 201 unstarred questions will be discussed.

Besides, notices for 12 adjournment motions, 47 call attention motions and three non-government resolutions have been received by the Assembly Secretariat. (ANI)

New Delhi  - India's economy is expected to post its lowest growth in six years and fall to 7.1 per cent for the current fiscal year against 9 per cent the previous year, according to government data released Monday.

The estimate - the first official projection for the financial year ending on March 31 - was on expected lines and similar to the rate forecast by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Economic Advisory Panel.

Indian Consumers will be happy to know that finance ministry, along with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Banks Association (IBA) are presently in talks to bring interest rates further down.

The rate cut are expected to reflect in segments like home, auto and personal loans.

As demand fell due to economic uncertainty and tight credit, there was a fall by 3.2 percent in January in the sales of cars in India, which marked the sixth drop in seven months.  

On Monday, data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) displayed that 110,212 units in the month were sold by car makers, down from 113,894 sold a year earlier.

Mohali, Feb 10: The financial meltdown may have wiped off many job opportunities across the globe, yet some small industrial units in Punjab are not only surviving but are also kicking.

Making an opportunity out of crisis, the small units manufacturing automobile parts and engineering goods grabbed low volume orders placed before them. The bigger units are trimming down their production and focusing on cost cutting. It has shifted the orders towards the small-scale sector in the state.

The Union government, in its recent decision, has announced capital infusion in three public sector banks namely UCO Bank, Central Bank of India and  

Vijaya Bank. The Kolkata based UCO bank would get capital worth Rs 1,200 crore, through UCO's non-convertible preference shares, from center government in two installments, Rs 450 crore immediately and the balance Rs 750 crore in 2009-10.

The Indian economic system will grow by 7% during the existing fiscal even as latest projections by worldwide agencies like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated that the economies of developing countries would shrink by 2%.

This was stated by Union External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee at the 81st annual general meeting of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

Speaking on this, Mr. Pranad said, “I am proud to say that in 2008-09 India will still grow by 7 per cent.”

The ongoing global financial crisis, becoming grimmer day by day, can adversely hit India's foreign direct investment target of USD 35 billion for the FY09. Lowering the earlier estimates, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said on Thursday that India can mange to get FDI worth USD 30 billion foreign investment under uncertain conditions of financial world.

Mr. Nath said that government would not change 49 percent cap for foreign direct investment in single-brand retail.

Hyderabad, Feb 15 : Home Minister P. Chidambaram has said that the next financial year would be tough for the Indian economy, but a turnaround should come in October.

"The first two quarter will indeed be difficult. The turnaround should come some time in October 2009, or little thereafter," he said at a meeting after inaugurating a branch of the Union Bank of India in Hyderabad on Saturday.

New Delhi - Share markets plunged by about 3 per cent as India's United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government presented an interim budget in parliament Monday which doubled budgetary deficits and predicted difficult times ahead.

Acting federal Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, while presenting the budget, said the move was inevitable in view of the slowing of the economy due to the global economic downturn.

New Delhi, Feb 16 : Despite the global financial crisis, which began in 2007 impacting most emerging market economies, 7.1 per cent rate of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the current year makes India the second fastest growing economy in the world.

The fallout of global slowdown on Indian economy were countered with fiscal stimulus packages announced in December 2008 and January 2009 providing tax relief to boost demand and increasing expenditure on public projects.

New Delhi - India has hiked its expenditure for defence by over 19 per cent in view of the security situation arising after the Mumbai terrorist attacks, according to the interim budget presented in parliament Monday.

"The Mumbai attacks have given a new dimension to cross-border terrorism," acting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said while presenting the budget. A security threshold had been crossed with these attacks, he added.

Officiating finance minister Pranab Mukherjee's Interim Budget for 2009-10 has provided for a six-month extension of the interest subsidy scheme, for exporters' loans taken in the labor-intensive sectors.

The announced extension of the 2 percent interest subsidy scheme - for small and medium enterprises as well as long-established export areas, like leather, textiles, marine products, gems and jewellery - will be costing the exchequer nearly Rs 500 crore in 2009-10.

New Delhi, Feb 19 : Inflation figures based on the official Wholesale Price Index (WPI) showed a fall to 3.92 per cent for the week ended February 7 from 4.92 percent a week before.

Inflation rates declined primarily due to falling prices of manufactured items.

The WPI for all commodities declined 0.2 percent to 228 (provisional) from 228.4 (provisional) the week before.

During the week, prices of manufactured items such as sugar, imported edible oil and textile items such as cotton yarn got cheaper.

In a bid to maintain retail electricity prices ahead of the general elections, due in April-May this year, the government has decided to keep naphtha imports free of customs duty beyond March 31.

The government had exempted 5% customs duty on import of naphtha for use by power plants to generate electricity, thus preventing retail electricity prices from rising due to use of costlier fuel.

Barely a week after the vote-on-account, the government has announced measures that are being broadly referred to as the third stimulus package.

During the Budget presentation, acting finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had not announced any financial sops citing "constitutional propriety" of a poll-bound government. But in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Mukherjee spoke of "flexibility" within the "constitutional constraints" and global recession to provide stimulus to the economy.

India's medium-term growth prospects are strong, but fiscal consolidation could be delayed because of the uncertain near-term economic conditions, says Standard & Poor's credit analyst Takahira Ogawa.

"It will be difficult for the government to implement very strong fiscal consolidation measures this year because it would come in the way of an economic recovery," Ogawa told DNA Money on the phone from Singapore on a day the rating agency lowered the outlook on the long-term sovereign credit rating on India from 'stable' to 'negative'.

"Fiscal consolidation in the true sense may only start in the next fiscal year," he said.

The slump in the new car market has had a cascading effect on the used and exchanged cars mart, too. While sales in the used car segment witnessed a drop of 15%, it's the exchange of old cars for new where sales have plummeted 60% over the last six months.

Untouched by the recession and buoyed by Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa's Rs8,200 crore allocation for Bangalore in the interim state budget, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is all set to present a mega budget with an outlay crossing Rs 4,200 crore for the year 2009-10. The budget allocation, which is almost 50 percent higher than the previous year's budget of Rs2,940 crore, would focus on improving road infrastructure and traffic management. It is expected to be presented in a few days. 

Sources in the Palike told DNA that around Rs2,000 crore has been earmarked for road infrastructure, including developing the network of roads in Greater Bangalore areas.

Rohith BR/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication

Credit rating agency Standard & Poor (S&P) maintained the current long-term sovereign rating of India at BBB- and the short-term rating at A-3, indicate there was still leeway for the government to work its way out of the fiscal mess.

"We think there's still a possibility that India can improve its fiscal position and avert a rating downgrade," S&P's credit analyst Takahira Ogawa told DNA. "If we didn't think so, we would have downgraded it right now."

But even as he said that, the Union government was announcing a Rs30,000 crore stimulus package involving a 2 per cent reduction in excise and service tax. This could fetch us a downgrade faster than anticipated.

With the government cutting excise and sales tax, tyre-maker Ceat decided to cut prices with immediate effect, passing on the entire benefit of the 2% excise cut to consumers. 

The Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), JSW Steel and Ispat Industries have also decided to cut prices. "The excise duty cut will result in a reduction in the range of Rs 500-600 per tonne," said SK Roongta, chairman of SAIL. Steel products are priced between Rs30,000 to Rs40,000 per tonne. Prices of bulk cement may fall by Rs5 per 50 kg. 

The employees of central government have yet another reason to cheer as the Union Government has announced to hike the dearness allowance of employees and pensioners by 6 percent from existing 16 per cent to 22 per cent with immediate effect.

The new DA rates would be applicable from January 1, 2009 according to Home Minister P Chidambaram, who was addressing a press conference after the cabinet meeting.

The Cabinet today approved a 6 per cent hike in the dearness allowance (DA) to Central Government employees and pensioners from January 1, 2009.

The decision will benefit millions of government employees in the Railways, Armed Forces, Central Board of School Education and other departments. The decision will benefit 41 lakh government employees and another 38 lakh pensioners.

However, the DA increase to employees will cost the exchequer an additional Rs 6,000 crore.

There was no plan to waive loans of the landless, said the Government on Thursday.

But at the same time, the Govt said that schemes are in place to assist them get out of the grips of loaners.

While answering to a supplementary during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Mr. Pawan Kumar Bansal, Minister of State for Finance, stated that there was no plan to waive loans of the landless.

There are several schemes for them, he said.

Indian Banks Association ordered its associates to offer loans to the landless in order that they can pay off the money-lenders, the Minister said.

Mr. Bansal also said that the administration has been receiving demand for lifting the 5-acre limit for farmers’ debt waiver plan.

New Delhi - A sharp slowdown in the Indian economy was evident Friday when official data showed growth at 5.3 per cent in the October-to-December quarter, the slowest quarterly growth in almost six years.

The figure was a substantial decrease from the 8.9-per-cent expansion recorded in the same period the previous year as the global economic crisis cut demand and exports.

India's economy clocked its slowest quarterly growth in over five years at 5.3 per cent, throwing into doubt the government's growth estimates for the full fiscal year. The economy had, in the same period a year ago, registered a whopping 8.9 per cent growth but experts now feel it may find it difficult to achieve the 7 per cent growth the government had in mind for the full year.

The government, however, put up a brave front by saying the third quarterly growth is not much off the mark. "There is still a quarter to go," Minister of State for Finance PK Bansal said.

Recovery in steel and cement segments and plenty of funds available with states for expenditure today gave the centre the assurance that the country will grow by around 7% during the existing fiscal.

During the first nine months of the recent fiscal, the economic system came up by 6.9%, and the government's advance estimations nailed the growth at 7.1% for this fiscal (2008-09).

When Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, all the king's horses and all the king's men had tried to put back Humpty Dumpty together again.

The same seems to be happening with the Indian economy right now. The prime minister's men are now demanding an interest rate cut from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), to get the economy which is slowing down, up and running again.

India recoded 5.3 per cent growth rate, the lowest over the last five years, during October-December period of current financial year, reflecting grimmer situation ahead under the impact of global slowdown and recession across the world. The economy was growing at 8.9 per cent in the same quarter of 2007-08.

Government and the Reserve Bank have taken many fiscal measures to stimulate demand across various sectors of economy and announced special economic booster package to mitigate the impact of global slowdown on the economy. However, the results of these stimulus packages will take time to reflect results.

Taking a leaf out of rugby rule books, a bunch of techies working out of Bangalore are seeking to put the 'sprint' back into the IT services business by 'scrumming' workable code in the shortest possible time to meet client needs.

With the economic turmoil, customers have often been unable to commit investments, and decided to withdraw IT projects midway. Moreover, many are now demanding that IT vendors do more with less, that too in a shorter timeframe.

That is exactly what agile software development does.

There are eerie similarities between the Great Depression and our current economic crisis, says Liaquat Ahamed, a professional investment manager for 25 years who has worked at the World Bank and now advises several hedge fund groups.

Ahamed should know: he's the author of Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World (The Penguin Press, 2009), an economic history of the Great Depression, narrated with a human perspective.

Priority should be to ensure the global economic crisis does not lead to a social crisis

Evidence is mounting that the ongoing global economic crisis is the severest in over seven decades.

In spite of growth projections of around 5% for India and China, global economic growth is expected to be negative in 2009; and world trade is expected to also decline significantly. Global loss of livelihoods may approach 50 million, with Asia accounting for half the total.

Continuing its downward journey, the wholesale price index based inflation rate touched seven year low of 3.03% for the week ended February 21. The annual inflation rate was at 3.36% a week before while at 5.69% during the same period last year.

Decline in prices of food articles, metals and transportation articles helped to reduce the inflation at seven year low, a big respite to UPA government, which is going to face public opinion in the forthcoming general elections in April-May period.

India is likely to miss its direct tax collection targets for the fiscal under the impact of slowing economic activities and lower profit margins for Indian companies.

Salary cuts and retrenchments during the previous months caused lower revenue in February for the state exchequer. The department of income tax collected Rs 5,920 crore as personal income taxes in February as compared to Rs 8,762 crore during the same month last year.