RBI all set to curb inflation

Concerned over the spiralling food prices, the Reserve Bank has indicated at tightening money supply to contain the rising inflation pressures.

The Reserve Bank is slated to come out with the third quarter review of its monetary policy on January 29 amid intense speculations that it may signal an interest hike to tighten money supply to contain the rising inflation.

The food inflation was nearly 19 per cent last week while the overall wholesale price inflation rose massively to 4.78 per cent in November compared to 1.34 per cent in October.

The deputy governor further said the near-term policy challenges are clearly conditioned by the evolving growth-inflation outcome that supports shifting the balance of policy focus on managing the recovery and on containment of inflation.

Foreign Direct Investment down 11 percent

Foreign direct investment (FDI) into India fell 11 percent on year to $15.3 billion in the first six months of fiscal 2009/10, the trade minister said, as the global financial downturn clipped flows. India had received $17.2 billion in FDI in the corresponding period last year

Food price index up 15.58 percent

India's food price index was up 15.58 per cent in the 12 months to November 14, while the fuel index was down 1.51 per cent.

The worst dry spell in nearly four decades and floods in parts of the country have hurt farm output and pushed up food prices.

On Tuesday, C Rangarajan, Chairman of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Economic Advisory Council, said that food price inflation was the biggest worry for the economy in near term and a strong rise in food prices could prompt monetary action.

India's annual wholesale inflation rose 1.34 per cent in October from a year earlier, compared with 0.5 per cent in September and 11.06 per cent a year ago.

CII's Survey projects growth of 6-7 % for present fiscal year

(posted under - Indian economy news) - Out of 134 respondents participated in the CII Northern Region Business Outlook Survey, more than half said that India's economic growth is likely to be in the range of 6-7 per cent in the current fiscal.

"Global economic instability followed by slackening consumer demand are the two most important concern areas," it said.

The survey also said that the overall outlook for business is better for the current six months (October-March 2009-10) compared to the previous six months.

Over 50 per cent of the respondents expects an increase in investments during the current six months.

On exports, it said that the outward shipment seems to be much better for October-March. "Fifty-one per cent of the respondents expected an increase in volume of exports," it added.

India's exports are on downslide since October 2008 due to the global slump in demand.

Government of India approves FDI's worth over 1150 crore

(posted under - FDI's in india) - The government of india has approved 17 foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals worth Rs 1,158.78 crore.

Among the major proposals which were approved today are the FDI applications of the world's largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal and ductile iron pipe maker Electrosteel Castings, a government statement said.

ArcelorMittal, with an FDI of Rs 503.37 crore, plans to infuse foreign equity into a company engaged in manufacturing cold-rolled semi-finished iron and steel products.

The Kolkata-based Electrosteel Castings plans to issue and allot eligible securities including equity shares and/ or non-convertible debt instruments along with warrants on a private placement basis bringing in FDI worth Rs 600 crore.

Meanwhile, the government deferred a decision on 12 FDI proposals and rejected five on the recommendations of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).

The proposal to infuse 100 per cent foreign equity by Jaipur IPL Cricket Pvt Ltd (the promoters of the Rajasthan Royals which won the 2008 IPL), has been rejected by the government.

The government referred the proposals of Jet Airways to bring in Rs 2,000 crore FDI and the Mauritius-based investment fund Indium IV to bring in Rs 2,500 crore FDI, to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) as the proposals are of value above Rs 600 crore.

Cheers - Indian economy to be worth $ 2 trillion by fiscal year 2014-15

India will be a $2-trillion economy in the next five years as its GDP growth is likely to average at 12 per cent in nominal terms powered by a huge consumption demand, Enam Securities has said.

"India's GDP is likely to grow at (an) average 12 per cent in nominal terms. Hence, India will be a $2-trillion economy by 2014-15," Enam Securities Head-Research, Nandan Chakraborty, and economist Sachchidanand Shukla said in a report titled 'India Strategy' released today.

This growth will be led by the huge consumption demand in sectors like FMCG, power, auto (small car hub), IT and pharma, it added.

The brokerage firm said insurance companies, financial services and equity markets will flourish as the country's annual savings pool grows to $700 billion from $400 billion at present.

"More than half of this ($700 billion) could flow into financial savings. With favourable demographics and average seven per cent real growth, India can sustain more than 30 per cent savings rate akin to the Asian tigers, or China and Japan. This will transform the domestic financial services space," Enam said.

Life insurance penetration in India, which is already a USD one-trillion economy, is estimated to reach a level of 4.4 per cent over the next two years as insurance companies focus on expanding into rural India, the report said.

source - economictimes

How rising interest rates affect currencies and gold

When a company raises its dividend, its stock becomes more attractive to investors. Its share price rises. When a bank raises interest rates on its savings accounts, people deposit more money in the bank. It's the same way in the currency markets. Rising interest rates make a currency more attractive and it rises against other currencies with stable interest rates. Central banks around the world have been cutting rates for two years, and interest rates are as low now as they've ever been.

The governor of Australia's central bank hinted there would be more interest rate rises on the way. This could be the start of a new trend of rising interest rates around the world. If this is the start of a new trend of rising world interest rates, you can expect big new trends in the currency exchange markets, too. That's because interest rates are the single most important driver of exchange rates in the currency markets.

So how do we make money from a new global trend of rising interest rates?

While other central banks are considering raising rates, the Fed has so far refused to join the party. The dollar is the worst-performing major currency in the world this year as a result.

The recent unemployment report showed that somewhere close to 6 million jobs have vanished from the American economy in the last 18 months. The employment situation hasn't been this bad. With the ongoing unemployment, rate hikes in America are unlikely until next year.

First, this gives us a great opportunity to buy the dollar right now, while it's cheap and no one is anticipating rate hikes from the Fed. By the time Bernanke announces his first rate hike next year, the dollar will have already rallied 10% or more.
Second, a trend of rising interest rates on currencies is great for people looking to buy gold at lower prices. Gold has no interest rate. So when interest rates rise on world currencies, they become more attractive – and they rise – relative to gold. This is especially true with the dollar. It's the world's reserve currency and gold is incredibly sensitive to movements in its interest and exchange rates.

As long as unemployment keeps rising, there's no way the Fed raises interest rates and gold prices will stay high. But next year is a different story. The first hint of rate increases by the Fed will send shockwaves into the gold market.

Trade between India & Malaysia to increase

"Currently the bilateral trade between the two countries is USD 10.5 billion. Around 20 per cent of trade was affected due to recession.We are hoping to see the trade grow by early next year,' Mohamed told on the sidelines of a function.

Earlier, participating as the chief guest at the 10th Anniversary celebration of Marrybrown Family Restaurant here, he said the success of Marrybrown would motivate other companies in Malaysia to venture into the Indian market.

There were around 15 Malaysian companies present in the country while 20 Indian companies were present in Malaysia.

Marrybrown Founder and Malaysian operations Managing Director Nancy Liew said the restaurant was present in 13 countries having more than 300 outlets.As part of increasing their presence, new restaurants were recently opened in Dubai, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Syria, Tanzania and Iran.

Marrybrown India Managing Director MGM Anand said 12 more outlets would be added to the existing 30 restaurants in South India.

Indian infrastructure output increases by 4 percent

India's infrastructure sector output grew 4 percent in September from a year earlier, slower than upwardly revised annual growth of 7.8 percent in August, government data showed on Wednesday.

During April-September, the first half of the 2009/10 year, output rose 5 percent compared with 3.4 percent in the same period in 2008/09.

The infrastructure sector accounts for 26.7 percent of India's industrial output.

Timeline for duty free sugar import

India has extended tax-free white sugar imports until December 2010 as the world's biggest consumer of the sweetener faces robust demand and shrinking domestic output.

India's sugar season runs from October to September. The country's sugar output in the year that ended on Sep. 30 fell to 15 million tonnes from 26.4 million, forcing it to import 5 million tonnes and lifting raw sugar futures to the highest in nearly three decades.

Problem of black economy in india

Indian economy has crossed the 1 trillion worth mark and per capita income in india has also crossed the $3000 mark THATS a very good news indeed...but indian economy is actually worth more then the 1.13 trillion worth for sure thanks to the black economy which runs in parallel along with the white economy. that is worth $ 1+ trillion worth, still majority of trading in india is done in grey market which government doesn't come to know about or may be they know it but since many of their money earning sources are part of black economy they try to pretend as they are not aware of it.. what a pity on indian economy.

the growth of black economy in india can be controlled if the currency notes and coins come with an renewal date.. yes i know it may sound a little weird or horrible but it might be very effective, one good effect would be that more black money which currently doesnot circulate in market would come in circulation and the MP's MLA's beaurocrats which are indulged heavily in corrupt practices would be most effective.

The currency note which has met with exppiry date cannot be used until they are renewed by some government authorized agencies which should be independent of government and should be controlled directly by Reserve bank of india (RBI).

The other important plus point about this type of renewal based economy is that the Indian money which is deposited in Swiss banks and is unknown to the indian government would also be required for renewal which would be a major instrument in ending the black economy, we all know that the politicians have huge assets in their swiss bank accounts , renewal based economy would also help in improved circulation of economy in market.

RBI should maintain a database for all such renewal activities and it should further distribute such economy date renewal to state levels and then to district levels with a centralised system, thus we would also come to know about the Indian economy status in individual states. but one thing is sure that indian politicians and major business houses including some of the biggest indian businesses would be against such renewal based economy as their black money based assests would become public when they show them for renewal.

the Idea looked very interesting to me as it would really help in bringing money deposited in swiss banks, in unauthorised bank accounts in india, black money belonging to business houses and belonging to individuals too would be brought in notice of RBI.

I was talking to one of my relative about this type of currency which comes with a renewal date, so thought of posting it on my blog to get to know what the other fellow indians think about it.

So what do you think about such move so that the black economy would end

World Bank approves $4.2 billion loan for India

The World Bank approved more loans equalling to $4.2 billion to India for three projects.

The loan amount will be divided in following manner - $2 billion for state-run banks, with IIFC receiving $1.195 billion to fund infrastructure projects, and PowerGrid Corp getting $1 billion to upgrade India's power transmission system. so we'll get less power cuts this time

Recession finally easing as forex reserves increase :)

Just came across news that indian forex reserves increased for the week which might be indication that foreign investors are betting on india again and thats the reason US $ reached 47.0 levels so thats a sigh of relief for the sectors which are hit by recession. so the forex reserves on october 2nd week aere at 280 billion US$.
The Fossil Fuel free economy

Govt collects 3.69 percent more direct taxes in september

The Indian Finance ministry has collected 3.10 per cent more in direct taxes in September at Rs 64,737 crores compared to the same period last year.

The growth in government's corporate tax collection for the fist half of this fiscal was more pronounced at 5.55 per cent over last year's. In the first six months, Rs 1,00,572 was collected in corporate taxes compared to Rs 95,283 crore last year, the Central Board of Direct taxes in a statement

However, Personal Income Tax collection for the first half at Rs 51,897 crore saw only a marginal rise of 0.38 per cent over last fiscal. The figures include Securities Transaction Tax and residual Fringe Benefit Tax and Banking Cash Transaction Tax.

IMF predicts Indian economy to grow 5.4% in 2009

The International Monetary Fund projected Indian economic growth at 5.4 per cent in 2009, implying a slower growth in the second half of this calendar year.

In its twice-yearly World Economic Outlook released in Istanbul, the Fund lowered the projection for the next year by 0.1 per cent to 6.4 per cent.

The Indian economy grew by 5.8 per cent in the first quarter and 6.1 per cent in the second quarter of this calendar year.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman have expressed doubts whether the economy will grow at the rate of 6.1 per cent in the third and fourth quarters of 2009 due to an weak monsoon.

The economy grew by 7.3 per cent in 2008 and 9.4 per cent in 2007. If the IMF projections prove correct, it would grow at the least rate in recent years due to the global financial crisis and drought.

source PTI

Indian Exports still in red as world economy still under recession

India's merchandise exports fellh in August, with the value of shipments falling 19.4 per cent to $14.29 billion from $17.72 billion in the like month of last year.


Imports during August were valued at $22.66 billion, showing a drop of 32.4 per cent, while the cumulative figure for the five-month period was down 33.4 per cent at $102.3 billion, showed the data released by the commerce ministry.

also read -
Welcome the future of world economy

"Although the downtrend in our exports continued in August, it is worth noting the rate of decline has come down to below 20 per cent compared to 28-33 per cent in each of the preceding four months," said the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

"It would be a formidable challenge even to maintain the level of exports reached last year. This would mean we have to achieve a robust growth of over 32 per cent in the remaining seven months of 2009-10 to touch the $182 billion mark of in 2008-09."

The country's oil import bill also fell 47.4 per cent during the five-month period ended Aug 31 to $28.28 billion, from $53.74 billion in the corresponding period of last fiscal. In August, oil imports fell 45.5 per cent to $6.28 billion from $11.52 billion.
Welcome the future of world economy
Accordingly, the country's trade deficit during April-August was estimated at $38.17 billion, which was lower than the deficit of $60.73 billion during the like period last year.

Future World Economy - The fossil fuel free economy

greetings from himanshu to all the readers of the blog - so here i start -

we all must be thinking that world economic recession has ended...but wait a minute and rethink it again ! fuel prices are hovering at $72 per barrel in market and set to reach the $ 100+ per dollar mark in near future so the future looks dark again :(


The world economy should now start shifting from fossil fuel based economy to fossil fuel free economy which it is slowly starting to do.. but wait When the ongoing global recession will be completly over that is when the production in USA reaches the same level (before the recession) when all the factories start working again in full flow , when the asian countries start exporting goods to US at same rate , when the jobless claims in USA becomes nil and there are more job openings in there.. Have anybody thought what can happen then??

Well the crude oil prices would skyrocket and could well go beyond the $ 200 mark this time and a double dip recession will again haunt the global economy because presently the global economy is fossil fuel based economy and i think that the pace of shifting the global economy from crude oil based economy to crude oil free economy should increase considerably if we want that no recession should prevale any more in future, actually this is a very big task "SHIFTING OF GLOBAL ECONOMY FROM FOSSIL FUEL BASED ECONOMY TO FOSSIL FUEL FREE ECONOMY" presently in the world every thing is governed or in other words is dependent on prices of fossil fuels as everything uses fossil fuels.

and we all know that fossil fuels are limited and the middle east countries would never increase the production from present levels (for decreasing the prices) because if they do this now their own future would be very very dark. i think that was one reason that US attacked Iraq some years back to get hold of the key oil assets present in Iraq (kudos to Bush for such a shrewd thinking..) . the shift should be now gradually to the battery powered energy, nuclear energy, solar enregy(which i think would be biggest energy source in future .. in the same way as fossil fuels are today)

For protecting the double dip recession we should now shift our thinking from conventional sources of energy to renewable sources of energy like the sun, and wind i talked about few lines back. Solar energy would play a very important part in future for providing power to industrial units, cars, houses, transport, communication rather then fossil fuels, and world would become much safer place to live in. becauses there would be no threat of recession anymore once we shift from a fossil fuel based world economy to fossil fuel free economy in future.

probably in coming 20 years there would be gradual shift from the way we fulfill our energy demands today, middle east countries would be dependent on others (in contrast with today).. they would have very few sources of income in future for sure once the fossil fuels are only available in museums in future. so i can see that the world economy has to now shift to fossil fuel free economy as soon as possible .

India's top 10 business houses/groups list

Following is the list of top 10 business houses of india when we see market capitalisation and net yearly turnover, the list is in descending order starting from biggest business house Reliance industries ltd



Rank 1 - Reliance Group led by Mukesh Ambani

net worth : 1,60,992 crores

Rank 2 - Tata Group led by ratan Naval tata

net worth : 1,23,176 crores

Rank 3 - ADAG Group led by Anil D Ambani

net worth : 89, 129 crores

Rank 4 - Bharti Group led by Sunil Bharti Mittal

net worth - 74, 500 crores

Rank 5 - Wipro group led by Azim Premji

net worth : 65,731 crores

Rank 6 - Sterlite Industries

net worth : 61,584 crores

Rank 7 - Delhi Land Finance (DLF Group)

net worth : 56,027 crores

Rank 8 - Om Prakash Jindal Group (JSW)

net worth : 41,487 crores

Rank 9 - ADANI Group

net worth : 27,015 crores

Rank 10 - Aditya Birla Group led by Kumar Mangalam Birla

net worth : 22,129 crores

Get ready to the world of fossil fuel free economies

Seven months ago, President Obama threw $787 billion of your hard-earned cash at a raging economic inferno -- but that's nothing compared to the $10 TRILLION that will go up in flames as the next economic crisis bears down on us.

We're on a collision course with financial disaster. Yet, a handful of the world's most savvy investors -- including Microsoft founder Bill Gates -- are quietly positioning themselves to secure massive profits. You can join them -- if you take advantage of the 3 opportunities revealed just ahead...

Dear Fellow Investor,


According to The Economist, "a fundamental change is coming" -- and sooner than any of us ever imagined.

You probably know all about it. The buzz has been building slowly for years -- and now it's deafening.

It's all over the nightly news and the pages of The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, and Time.

President Obama has made it a top priority for his administration... It took center stage at the Olympics... Now even the mayor of New York and the queen of England are preparing for it.

Yet you may not realize just how soon -- or how much -- it's going to impact our lives.

And I can almost guarantee you that nobody out there has explained the very best way for YOU to lay claim to your fair share of the profits that will come out of this inevitable crisis.

The world's foremost experts say $300 BILLION
will be generated -- in the next 5 years alone

That's why everyone from General Electric to Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan to British Petroleum, The Blackstone Group to Shell Energy -- and even billionaires like Bill Gates -- are racing to get invested.

It's also why I urge you to take the next few minutes to read this report in its entirety...

At the very least, you'll get the full story -- so you can decide for yourself if you'll be front and center when the big money starts rolling in.

Plus you'll get all the details on three immediately actionable investment opportunities that can help you cash in on this coming change -- and build the kind of wealth and financial security we all secretly dream about...

And I'll even show you how you can secure returns far greater than any of the legendary investment houses, companies, or innovators I just mentioned.

Shrewd investors just like you have already used this often-overlooked investment strategy to grow their portfolios by 2,941%, 6,771%, and even 21,201% -- in just the last 10 years alone!

I'll give you all the details in just a moment, but first let's discuss what many experts are calling...

"The Greatest Transfer of Wealth in the History of Mankind"

Right now -- while the rest of our nation struggles with a brutal recession -- a handful of sleepy, wind-swept West Texas towns are absolutely booming.

Not since the first railroad tracks were laid in 1881 have these backwater towns experienced such prosperity...

In places like Sweetwater, Texas, abandoned buildings are being renovated and restored. New shops, hotels, and restaurants are opening left and right. Schools are going up, and highways are being built.

You might be picturing old-money oil tycoons like J.R. Ewing sitting in their mansions, sipping bourbon, and relaxing as their oil rigs pump all day and night...

But here's the real shocker... these towns aren't booming because of oil -- they're booming in spite of it.

You see, they're at the epicenter of a $300 billion movement that holds the key to keeping the U.S. economy from hemorrhaging TENS OF TRILLIONS of dollars over the next few decades.

"The simple truth is that cheap and easy oil is gone.
This is one emergency we can't drill our way out of."
-- Billionaire oilman, T. Boone Pickens

Whether or not you believe that "peak oil" is a geologic reality, the economic reality is that this year alone we will buy $700 billion worth of oil from countries that, as Pickens puts it, "don't like us very much."

That's four times the annual cost of the Iraq war -- and roughly equal to the amount that was picked out of taxpayers' pockets in order to "bail out" Wall Street. Projected out over the next 10 years our tab for foreign oil will come to a staggering $10 TRILLION!

That's a gut-wrenching amount of money to just throw away -- especially when our economy is in such turmoil. And from the looks of it, things are only going to get worse.

In 1970, we imported 24% of our oil. Today it's nearly 70% -- and growing.

And although we represent a mere 4% of the world's population, we use nearly 25% of its oil.

The unfortunate truth is that we are hopelessly addicted to oil. And the readily available supply of that oil is coming into serious question...

The CEO of Total SA, one of the world's largest oil companies, recently confessed that the world can't increase oil output beyond current levels.
The Wall Street Journal reports that output from the world's existing oil fields is dropping about 4.5% per year and by up to 18% per year at some of the biggest oil fields in the North Sea, Alaska, and the Gulf of Mexico.
The New York Times reports that many of the world's top oil exporters may have to begin importing oil within a decade to keep up with rising energy demands inside their borders.
Of course, the Saudis claim they have plenty -- some 260 billion barrels in reserve. Yet they refuse to let outsiders audit their reserves or confirm these claims.

And even if they do have all that oil, you can bet they have only one motive: to get top dollar for it.

In fact, more than 75% of the world's oil supply is in the hands of state-owned oil companies who are worried only about their own bottom lines.

To make matters worse, population booms in places like India and China have caused demand to skyrocket -- putting an even bigger strain on this ever-diminishing supply.

Last year we saw just how quickly the price of oil and gasoline can spike -- and how much havoc this can wreak on our economy and our way of life.

The good news is that there now is a solution that is both feasible and profitable...

"Plans for the end of the fossil-fuel
economy are now being laid."
-- The Economist

20 years ago, wind energy was nothing more than a coffee-shop conversation between tree-huggers and hippies.

But since then, technologies have improved immensely... designs have become exponentially more efficient... and America's energy crisis has reached an urgent breaking point...

Meaning that wind energy has gone from something that we ought to pursue to something we absolutely must pursue.

Luckily for us, wind is now a viable -- and profitable -- way to wean ourselves off foreign oil. But don't take my word for it...

Researchers at Stanford University concluded that wind power can satisfy global energy demand 7 times over -- even if only 20% of available wind can be harvested.

Green Chip Review estimates, "By 2020, wind capacity in the United States will have grown 360%."

And the Department of Energy recently confirmed that up to 20% of America's electricity can come from wind by 2030 -- maybe even sooner.

When you consider that number currently stands at just 1%, you can begin to see why in-the-know investors are so excited right now...

The wind industry is about to explode 20-FOLD in the U.S. alone.

from the motley fool

India's top earning business czars - latest list

Indian businesses are growing globally as they are venturing into new lands and deals, so the CEO's , promoters of such indian companies need extravagant salaries (which are still less when compared to their business strategies) so here is the list of top 10 earners of indian companies :

Rank 1 - Anil D. Ambani (chairman of ADAG group) - with salary of over 30 crore per annum..cheers for Anil Ambani

Rank 2 - Malvinder Mohan Singh of RANBAXY with net yearly compensation of 24 crores

Rank 3 - Sunil Mittal (Chairman of Bharti Group) - with net yearly compensation of 23 crores

Rank 4 - Markhand Bhatt (Torrent Power) got a whopping 200 percent rise in salary at 15 crore per year

Rank 6 - Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan (of Housing development & Infrastructure HDIL)

Rank 7 - Dr Y K Hamied (CMD of CIPLA)

Rank 8 - M K Hamied (joint MD of CIPLA)

Rank 9 - Sajjan Jindal, Vice chairman & MD of JSW Steel was comfortably placed at 9th position

Rank 10 - Sarang Wadhawan (promoter and MD of HDIL)

Recession easing - Govt expecting rise in corporate tax

(posted under Corporate tax updates) - i was just surfing on net about the economic updates and one thing is sure that recession has almost dimnished but earlier the news about a double dip recession were prevelant , but as the exports have increased and inflation has moved upwards again after a four months dip so the government particularly finance ministry has become optimistic and have already predicted that there would be marginal increase in corporate tax for coming quarter as banking and automobile sector has performed exceptionally well.


The finance ministry expects corporate tax receipts at 2.57 trillion rupees in 2009/10. Corporate tax receipts were at 493.39 billion rupees during April-August. "We are expecting a marginal improvement in corporate advance tax payments this quarter. The finance ministry had revised upwards its direct tax receipts target to 4 trillion rupees from 3.7 trillion estimated in the July budget.

Economy of austerity - ministral spending to decrease for fiscal year 2011

(posted under - politics of austerity, finance ministry updates) - The Finance Ministry in the Budget Circular for 2010-11 said, "The estimates (RE 2009-10) must confirm to instructions, which stipulate a 10 per cent and five per cent cut in non-plan, non-salary expenditure and other economy measures."

For the next fiscal, the circular added, "It is necessary to review the existing expenditure budget to priorities the activities and schemes, both on the plan and non-plan side and identify those activities and schemes, which can be eliminated or reduced in size or merged with any other scheme."


As part of its economic drive, the Finance Ministry, earlier in the month, advised ministries and departments to cut by 10 per cent expenditure on travel, seminars, exhibitions and other office expenses. In case of other non- plan expenditure, the they were asked to reduce expenses by five per cent.

The austerity move also includes complete ban on holding conferences in five star hotels.

These measures were announced as the Centre faces increasing burden on its exchequer following economic downturn and drought.

"There was further need for economy and rationalisation of expenditure in view of the current fiscal situation and that arising out of insufficient rains in large parts of the country and consequent pressure on government resources," the Finance Ministry had said earlier this month.

The Budget circular asked all ministries and departments to ensure that all schemes that have been discontinued, do not find mention in revised estimates for 2009-10.

source - economictimes

Cheers - Advance tax collections increases by 20 percent

(posted under - Advance tax collection) - Mumbai accounts for almost 40 per cent of the country's total tax collection.

The growth is likely to come on the back of a higher collection from banking, oil and gas and auto sectors, an Income Tax source said.

"Banks, auto and oil and gas sectors have done well. In fact, some of the banks have exceeded our expectations," the source said.

India's premier bank, State Bank of India has shelled out Rs 1,838-crore as advance tax while the country's second-largest, ICICI Bank, has paid Rs 501-crore as advance tax for Q2, the source said.


Another private bank, Yes Bank, has paid Rs 58-crore rpt Rs 58-crore as against Rs 33-crore it paid as advance tax in Q2 of last fiscal.

Tata Group companies, Tata Steel and TCS also paid a higher advance tax in Q2 at Rs 400-crore and Rs 220-crore respectively, source said.

While Tata Steel paid Rs 230-crore as advance tax in Q2 of FY 09, TCS paid Rs 81-crore.

Indian Industrial output rises by 6.8 percent

(posted under - Industrial output, Economy of india) - Industrial output as measured by the index of industrial production (IIP) clocked an annual growth rate of 6.8% in July, making it the second consecutive month of buoyant industrial growth after a weak show that started last October, data released by the Central Statistical Organisation on Friday showed. The provisional IIP figure of 7.8% for June was revised upwards to 8.2%.

Analysts pointed out that a key reason behind the robust performance by the mining sector is Reliance’s KG basin facilities coming on stream during the first quarter of the current financial year. Within the manufacturing segment, the 8.8% growth in consumer goods, the highest in eight month, suggested that the domestic consumption story remains strong in India.

Inflation rises to -0.12 percent from -0.21 %

(posted under - Inflation updates) India's food prices jumped an annual 14.8 percent by end of August after a dry spell hurted crops, adding to concerns inflation could climb above the comfort zone of policy makers and herald an end to a soft monetary stance.

The widely-watched wholesale price index fell by a steeper-than-expected 0.12 percent in the 12 months to Aug. 29, its 13th successive fall, mainly due to statistical aberration caused by last year's high energy prices. The WPI figure compares with last week's 0.21 percent annual decline and a market forecast for a decline of 0.08 percent.

The food articles index accelerated to a 14.8 percent rise, from a year earlier, from 14.5 percent the previous week, as drought engulfed nearly half India's districts, hurting summer crops and forcing the government to intervene to bolster supplies and crack down on hoarding.

Finance minister says not to exceed borrowing target

India's government will not borrow more from the market than its budget target for 2009/10.

The government plans to borrow 4.51 trillion rupees ($93 billion) in the fiscal year to fund a fiscal deficit forecast at 6.8 percent of gross domestic product.

-economictimes

India to invest upto $10 bn in IMF

India is to invest up to $10 billion in the International Monetary Fund as part of a major thrust to wrest a greater say in the running of international financial institutions, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in recent BRIC countries meetings being held at london.

"India has decided to invest up to $10 bn of its reserves in notes issued by the IMF," Mukherjee said after a meeting of the finance ministers of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) in London.

The Indian pledge is part of a total of $80 billion that the four BRIC countries will invest into the IMF in order to replenish its fund aimed at helping out countries that are struggling in the current financial crisis.

China will account for $50 billion of this amount, and the rest will be borne by India, Russia and Brazil.

In return, the BRIC countries want a greater say in the running of the IMF and other international financial institutions such as the World Bank, including a larger share of quotas and voting, said Brazil's Finance Minister Guido Mantega.

Part of the BRIC meeting was joined by US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in a move that Mukherjee described as "an acknowledgement of the group's emergence as a key voice in global economic and financial issues".

Cheers - no service tax on goods transported through trains

The government has withdrawn a proposal to impose a 10 per cent service tax on goods transported by rail, to check price increases of products such as steel, cement and coal.

The revenue receipts of the state-run Indian railways, which opposed new tax proposal, have been adversely affected since September last year due to economic slowdown and decline in exports.

During April-July period, railways' receipts from transport of commodities rose by 4.77 per cent to 182.75 billion rupees as against Rs 174.42 billion during the corresponding period last year.

Indian Exports decline by 28.4 perc

(posted under - Indian exports news & updates) - Yet another sign of prevailing economic crises is that indian exports fell by a whopping 28.4 percent to just $13.62 billion. Imports also fell sharply, with both oil and non-oil imports registering a decline during the month compared with the year-ago period, according to government data released on Tuesday.

A sharp 37% decline in July imports to $19.62 billion resulted in a steep fall in the trade deficit to $6 billion during the month, compared with $12 billion in July 2008. The commerce department, however, is not taking it as a positive development.

FIEO expects the export sops extended in the FTP announced last week to start showing results by the beginning of next year.

India's GDP for Q1 at 6.1 perc - meets expectations

(posted under - Indian GDP news) - India's economy grew 6.1 per cent in the June quarter from a year earlier, roughly in line with forecasts, as government stimulus measures helped spur demand, although a poor monsoon threatens to crimp growth later in the year even as it drives inflation.

The economy accelerated from its 5.8 per cent rate in the previous quarter, data showed on Monday, propelled by a pick-up in activity in the mining, manufacturing, electricity and services sectors from the previous quarter.

Credit flow for micro & medium industries to double in 5 years says PM

The government is committed to doubling credit flow to micro, small and medium enterprises, which employ 6 crore persons and contribute 45 per cent to India's manufactured goods, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday.

"Credit is the lifeline of any business. The government is committed to double the flow of credit to MSMEs in five years," Singh said after giving away national awards to entrepreneurs in the sector here.

The Prime Minister, who reviewed the performance and difficulties of the sector with the industry representatives on Wednesday, said public sector banks increased lending to MSMEs by 25 per cent in 2008-09.

According to estimates, MSMEs are given credit of about Rs 1,50,000 crore by PSU banks per annum. There are 2.60 crore units in the sector which contribute 40 per cent to exports.

The Prime Minister has issued directions for constitution of a task force to look into the difficulties of MSMEs and recommend steps within next three months.

He said recent global economic slowdown has had an adverse impact on the growth of Indian economy. "Micro, small and medium enterprises have also not remained unaffected," he said, adding the government has been alive to the concerns.

Ministry of Roads transport to invite bids for 1500 kms of roads

The government will invite bids by this year-end for three mega projects worth around Rs 14,500 crore in the road sector, Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath said today.

"We will invite bids for three mega projects by the end of this year, we are looking at mega projects in which each project for building 500 km of road will be worth USD 1 billion," Nath told reporters on the sidelines of the SIAM annual convention here.

"We are going to put in place 11,000 km of roads worth Rs 1 lakh crore in 2009-10 under Work Plan I," Nath said, adding that challenges in capacity building will be addressed and all corrections will be made by September 30.

He said India's automobile industry should aim at producing 250 lakh vehicles by 2015 for which his ministry will build the necessary road network.

Earlier, he had said that 20 km of roads will be built in a day in the next two years amounting to an investment of Rs 2,00,000 crore.

Government extends sops for exporters - changes trade policy

(posted under - Indian Trade policy) - Extension of income tax holiday for export units for one more year and continuance of duty refund scheme till Decemer 2010 and enhanced assistance for the scheme for development of markets are among the measures in the FTP.

The aim of the policy, which would be reviewed after two years, would be to "arrest and reverse declining trend of exports," Sharma said.

Exports have been on a decline for the past 10 months. Exports in FY'09 amounted to USD 168 billion and the country hopes to maintain the same level this fiscal.

Expressing confidence that the country would be able to achieve a 25 per cent growth rate after two years, Sharma said, "By 2014, we expect to double India's exports of goods and services."

The long-term policy objective, he added, will be to double India's share in global trade by 2020. India's share in global merchandise trade went up from 0.83 per cent in 2003 to 1.45 per cent in 2008.

Finance Ministry confident of meeting fiscal deficit of 6.8 percent

In July, the government projected the fiscal deficit for 2009/10 (April-March) to be 6.8 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), a 16-year high, to be funded by a record high market borrowing of 4.51 trillion rupees ($93 billion). However, rain deficit in the June-September monsoon season, is feared to impact crops including rice and sugar and has already sent food prices higher by over 10 percent from the previous year.

"I don't think there is any reason to think that the 6.8 per cent will be crossed," Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of India's Planning Commission, told reporters. Farm Minister Sharad Pawar said food subsidy would top 600 billion rupees this year, about 15 percent higher than what was estimated last month. Economists estimate India's drought relief measures could push up fiscal deficit by $4 billion, or 0.5 percentage points.

Indian Prime minister is having a meeting scheduled for september 1 with economists and planning commision officials to review current economic scenario and after the meeting we might hear some updates about the fiscal deficit

Disinvestment updates - Govt to sell stake Satluj Jal vidyut

(posted under - disinvestment news) - The government may sell 10 percent of its stake through a public offering in power producer Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd. The Himachal Pradesh government holds 25 percent stake in the firm, while the remaining 75 percent is held by the federal government. "

Himachal Pradesh government has given NOC (to the federal government) and we have supplied them a roadmap for disinvestment in seven months," the company official told reporters. The company currently has a capacity to generate 1,500 megwatt of hydro power and it aims to raise the capacity to 4,800 MW by 2017. He said the roadmap was supplied two months back to the Department of Disinvestment.

India has two economies - official and Black economy

According to the Annual Information Return (AIR) filed with the government, high-value transactions amounted to more than Rs 55.7 lakh crore in 2007-08, almost double the Rs 27 lakh crore for the previous year. But about 30% or roughly 1 million of the 3.3 million transactions were without PAN being cited.

The department regards many of the high-value transactions as suspicious. The proportion of cases where PAN is not cited is highest in property sales of a declared value of Rs 30 lakh or more. Barely one in four such sellers has provided PAN.

Similarly, almost two-thirds of those who have cash deposits of Rs 10 lakh or more in savings bank accounts have not provided a PAN to the bank. Over half the credit card transactions of Rs 2 lakh or more have no PAN tagged to them.

Even more shockingly, of the 3,100 transactions of Rs 5 lakh or more in RBI bonds, aggregating to Rs 3.52 lakh crore, about 10% were carried out without mentioning any PAN.

But PAN not being provided is not the only reason the department is suspicious. It is also because in thousands of cases where a PAN has been provided, it is unable to trace the transaction back to the beneficiary.

In some cases this is because the PAN provided has turned out to be fake. In others, there are two or more PANs being used by the same person. In one such case, when the I-T department investigated further it found that the lady holding the two PANs had an income of over Rs 40 crore but had disclosed no income in her return for that year.

Another interesting case is that of a prominent US-based bank. The data provided by the bank on credit cards it had issued showed that just four PANs accounted for thousands of crores of rupees of transactions. On being confronted with this, sources said, the bank explained it away as a case of faulty data entry.

The department's suspicions are further strengthened by the fact that the Rs 3.12 crore collected through income and corporate taxes in 2007-08 does not quite square with such a large volume of high-value transactions.

A thorough investigation and linking of the transactions to the actual beneficiary could make the treasury richer, it feels. However, the scale on which the investigations are needed is simply beyond its capacity given the manpower available, department sources confessed. This has been conveyed to the government.

The AIRs are routinely reported to the I-T department for further investigation. The components include cash deposits of Rs 10 lakh and above in savings bank accounts, purchase and sale of immovable property above Rs 30 lakh, purchase of bonds and debentures, share transactions of Rs 5 lakh and above and credit card expenditure of Rs 2 lakh or more.

All information in the AIRs is supposed to be assessed and analysed in I-T investigations and matched with the I-T return of assessees against the PAN numbers mentioned in these high value transactions.

source - economictimes

Planning commision gives nod for $ 5 billion loan for urban sector

(posted under - Planning commision news) - Planning Commission has given a go-ahead to a proposed $5-bn World Bank loan for India’s urban sector. The Bank is now preparing a detailed concept note indicating what should be the main components of the loan.

Though the Bank had originally proposed to provide $3.8 bn loan for the urban sector, the ministry of urban development requested the Bank to increase the amount to at least $5 bn, or about Rs 25,000 crore.

It has not yet been decided as to which cities will benefit from the Bank’s loan, but it’s believed that many of the 63 Mission cities under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) will get a share of the cake. The government has also decided to add 28 more cities to the list.

With the Plan panel giving its nod, and the finance ministry on board, the loan could be disbursed in 12-18 months, said the official.

Foreign investors bullish FDI increased to $2.58 billion in june

(posted under - FDI updates) - In June 2008, the FDI inflow was $2.39 billion. However, the total foreign investment inflows during April-June contracted by over 30 per cent to $7.02 billion over the same quarter of 2008-09. In the first quarter of the previous fiscal it was $10.07 billion.

India has attracted foreign direct investment worth $2.58 billion in June, an eight per cent increase over the same month last year. The FDI inflow in May was $2.1 billion.

No debt waiver for farmers this time - FM

With fiscal deficit increasing and adding to the government woes is deficit monsoon in almost entire country still Finance minister said that no proposal for farm debt waiver this time around.

"There is no such proposal," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said when asked if the government was considering a fresh debt waiver scheme to give relief to farmers.

The UPA government had last year announced a nearly Rs 71,000 crore farm loan waiver scheme to offer relief to small and marginal farmers and one-time settlement scheme for large ones.

Talking to reporters after holding a review meeting of Regional Rural Banks, he exuded confidence that the economy would clock over six per cent growth despite weak monsoon.

"No doubt, this year we are not expecting to reach nine per cent growth. This year we are projecting six per cent plus growth," he said, adding that the full impact of drought will be known to all as and when it is felt.

Meanwhile, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said the poor monsoon will adversely impact farm production and eat into economic growth.

"The existence of drought by itself can lead to some shaving" off of the growth projections. - said Ahluwalia

Indian exports might be +ve in december - FICCI

In a survey conducted by Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, majority of respondents said exports are expected to be in positive terrain by December this year.

The chamber expects an improvement but only in terms of stemming the falling exports on a year-to-year basis in the months ahead.

"Exports are likely to register a reasonable positive growth but we will have to wait at least till the end of this year," the survey said.

Exports have declined by 26 per cent in June for tenth month in a row due to less demand from the global markets.

Countries like Hong Kong, Germany and France are showing fresh signs of global recovery, with the European economy recording marginal GDP growth of 0.3 per cent and Asian economy expanding 3.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2009.

The survey said, "While orders are not coming in thick and fast, still some foreign clients have started placing some new orders or at least reduced the pace of order cancellation."

Ficci surveyed 316 exporters in different sectors such as automotive, gems and jewellery, textiles, handicrafts, leather and marine IT products during June and July 2009.

However, in May exports declined to USD 11.01 billion, down 29.2 per cent year-on-year.

As such, sequentially there is a growth of about 16.4 per cent.

However, Prasad hastened to caution that it is too early to come to any conclusion about export growth.

"The next two months are deciding months. We have to see whether there will be real recovery in trade sector or only changes due to the base effect for the coming months," he added.

However, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) Director-General Ajay Sahai said the declining trend is likely to continue for some more months.

The exporters' body acknowledged that the government cannot increase demand in the global markets but it should give incentives to exporters so that they do not lose orders.

"The government should take short-term measures first and then come out with long-term policies after the global commerce shows improvement," Sahai said.

The Government is slated to unveil Foreign Trade Policy, which spells out the segments of priority in external trade and also gives incentives and disincentives, depending on the country's needs.

source - economictimes.com

India's arms imports to touch $30 bn by 2012

India's arms imports are expected to touch $30 bn by 2012 even as the domestic defence market is poised to grow to $700 mn in five years, according to an industry lobby report.

The report submitted to the defence ministry by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) said: "India's arms imports alone would rise to $30 bn by 2012."

"The Defence Offset Facilitation Agency (DOFA) and the armed forces in consultation with India Inc should work out a comprehensive strategy to ensure that defence imports happen at extremely competitive rates," Assocham president Sajjan Jindal said.

DOFA, under the Department of Defence Production, is a single window agency to implement the government's defence offset policy.

Assocham has urged the government to allow India Inc to participate in defence deals as the domestic defence market would expand to over $700 million in four-five years.

According to the chamber, if the Indian economy grows at a steady rate of 7 percent, the defence spending would exceed 3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in future.

"This could be used to finance additional capital outlays for modern equipment," the Assocham report said.

Currently defence expenditure accounts for around 2.5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). India has upped its defence expenditure by 34 percent to Rs.141,703 crore ($28 billion) for the fiscal 2009-10.

India is the world's largest importer of defence articles with its armed forces buying over $6 billion worth of military hardware every year.

The paper also called for raising the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in the defence sector to 49 percent from the current 26 percent.

Higher FDI will help procurement of latest technologies as per provisions of the latest defence offset policy, Assocham said.

-source-economictimes.com

Govt steps up efforts to attract Foreign Direct Investors (FDI)

(posted under - FDI updates - Economy updates) - Transport Minister Kamal Nath had said all impediments would be removed to get foreign investment in the roads and highways sector.

He added that the roads sector is expected to attract USD 10 billion of FDI in the next two years.

The government is also making efforts to bring in foreign investment in the textiles sector, the largest employer after agriculture in the country.

Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran had led a business delegation to Japan last month to woo foreign investors in the labour intensive sector.

FDI inflow in January-May period of 2009 was USD 10.58 billion compared to USD 19.56 billion in the same period previous year, a dip of 46 per cent.

The government also proposes to raise the FDI cap in private insurance firms from 26 to 49 per cent and a bill to give effect to the proposal is pending in the Rajya Sabha.

CRISIL Principal economist D K Joshi said by taking the steps government is building pipeline to attract FDI.

Economy Updates - Forex reserves at $271.239 billion down YoY

India's foreign exchange reserves fell for the week ended August 7 to $271.239 billion compared to $271.641 billion in the year-ago period.

India's gold reserves and special drawing rights (SDR), during the week, stood unchanged at $9.671 billion and $1-million respectively, the central bank said.

India's reserve position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) marginally rose to $1.348 billion compared to $1.338 billion in the previous week, RBI said.

Reserves had risen by $3.930 billion for the week ended July 31, compared to $267.711 billion in the previous week.

Foreign currency assets, during the week, fell to $260.219 billion, against $260.631 billion in the previous week, RBI said in its weekly report.

Inflation at 1.74 percent YoY

The wholesale price index (WPI) is forecast to have fallen 1.74 per cent in the 12 months to August 1, steeper than the previous week's decline of 1.58 per cent, a poll showed on Wednesday.

It would be the ninth straight annual fall in the wholesale price based index, but this is widely seen as a statistical effect caused by sharply higher prices a year earlier.

The index has been rising on a weekly basis since March and analysts said it probably climbed in the week ended Aug. 1, mainly due to rising food prices.

The central bank has also said price pressures are building up, suggesting there was little chance for rate cuts. Weak monsoon rains are also expected to put upward pressure on prices.

source - economictimes

Indian Economy to grow at 7.8 percent in 2009-10

India's economy will likely grow at 7.8 per cent in fiscal year 2010/11, higher than a previous forecast of 6.6 per cent due to an improved investment outlook, better external environment and a recovery in consumption demand, Goldman Sachs said in a note on Monday.

But it kept its growth estimate for the current year ending March 2010 at 5.8 per cent citing a poor monsoon and the follow-on negative impact on rural demand in the near-term.

Goldman's fiscal year target for wholesale price index-based inflation as of end-FY10 is 6.5 per cent with an upside risk, and expects the central bank to tighten policy rates by 300 basis points in calendar year 2010.

Govt applies for $3.2 billion loan for capitalising PSU banks

The government has sought a $3.2 billion loan from the World Bank to infuse capital into public sector banks, the Lok Sabha was informed on Friday.

Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena today responded in the affirmative, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha to a query on whether loans from the multilateral lending agency contain a proposed $3.2-billion for recapitalising state-run banks.

"To enable the PSBs to meet credit requirements of the economy while maintaining a healthy and comfortable level of regulatory capital to risk-weighted assets ratio, a proposal has been sent to the World Bank," he said.

However, on whether the government proposes to borrow funds from the World Bank to prop up the banking system, he said, "The assessment of the Indian financial system during 2007-08 done by the Reserve Bank of India shows that the banking sector in India continues to be healthy, sound and resilient."

Meena further said that India is taking loans from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and credit (soft loan) from the International Development Association (IDA).

"The cumulative commitment of the World Bank (IBRD and IDA) loans to India till June 2009 is $73.93 billion (IBRD $37.68 billion and IDA $36.25 billion)," he said.

Foreign Direct investors can invest upto $10 bn for building roads

India is likely to attract foreign direct investment of about USD 10 billion for the roads sector in the next two years.

The Transport Minister Kamal Nath said all imediments would be removed to get the foreign investment in the roads and highways sector.

Govt set to raise $3.2 billion by selling stake in steel companies

In yet another news of selling stake in sick cos the indian government is all set to sell stake in steel companies which might help in raising money, in future we can see more disinvestment news from the government of india, The details are as follows :

The government may raise 150 billion rupees ($3.2 billion) by selling up to 20 percent stake in state-run firms, Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh said on Friday.

The minister said the government was in the process of choosing companies for divestment.

Inflation at -1.58 percent but prices still rise

As per latest official data, annual inflation based on Wholesale Price Index stood at - 1.58% for the week ended July 25, 2009, while it was at 12.53% a year ago. The latest inflation number shows a steeper fall in annual inflation recorded at the end of the previous week at -1.54%.

Government data showed on Thursday that price level for all commodities stayed below zero for the eighth straight week, but prices of

food items continued to surge, signaling political trouble for the Centre and three states preparing for local elections in a few months. Maharashtra is facing assembly polls in October-November, while Haryana that is supposed to go to the polls next year is likely to advance it to this year-end. Jharkhand, now under the President’s rule, is also likely to go to polls later this year.

Finance Minister speaks about Fiscal Consolidation

It's official that government will not induce money into unproductive sectors in a bid to consolidate the fiscal deficit which will touch 6.8% of Gross Domestic Product(GDP) for this financial year finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said today.

India's fiscal deficit is projected to swell to a record 6.8 percent of gross domestic product in the fiscal year 2009/10 (April-March) that has to be funded by a record high borrowing of 4.51 trillion rupees ($95 billion). that's a whopping amount of borrowing.

A report from finance ministery said that - "Government will continue to take necessary measures to moderate inflation, prune unproductive expenditure and closely monitor FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management) targets," so lets see whether these statements turn to reality or it's just an answer to opposition questions in parliament.

Hurray ! We got richer by Rs 4207 per annum per person

Finally IT'S OFFICIAL !! Indian have grown richer by rupees 4207 per annum per person . Thanks to growing economy from the last 3 years or so and still growing although slowed down due to ongoing economic crises through out the world.

Let me tell you about the news of increase in per capita income in some more detail,

An average indian or a normal indian's annual income has increased by INR 4207 per annum, the news were told in parliament today that means the annual per capita income of indian has reached a figure of Rs 37490, that sounds nice but in reality much of the growth in annual income is restricted to bigger cities where as cities of bihar , UP are still underdeveloped and average income is much lower then this figure of rupees 37490 annually.

According to data released by the Central Statistical Organisation, the per capita income of people has increased by over one-third from Rs 26,003 in 2005-06 to Rs 37,490 in 2008-09. The per capita income was Rs 33,283 in 2007-08 so there is a growth in indian economy however the pace of growth has slowed down when compared to previous financial year.

Top 10 most admired companies of world

Here is the list of top 10 companies of the world which are most admired across the globe No indian company features in the prestigeous list-

RANK 1 - APPLE Inc (of USA)

RANK 2 - BERKSHIRE HATHWAY - incorporated by legendary billionaire investor Warren Buffett

RANK 3 - TOYOTA MOTOR

RANK 4 - GOOGLE Inc (Search engine Marketing)

RANK 5 - JOHNSON & JOHNSON ltd

RANK 6 - PROCTER and GAMBLE

RANK 7 - FED EX

RANK 8 - SOUTH WEST AIRLINES

RANK 9 - GENERAL ELECTRIC Ltd

RANK 10 - MICROSOFT Inc

OOPS!! looking for some indian companies.... no one is there...may be in future some indian company would make into it..

Govt invests to bring dead PSU's to life again WILL IT HELP?

Looks like our government is very keen to revive the already dead PSU's like Hindustan Machine Tool, National Instruments Ltd, Cement Corporation of India ltd to name 3 out of the 15 PSU's shortlisted for revival by infusing a whopping 7128 crores of rupees put together. The first impression which cam to my mind after reading this news was that WILL IT REALLY HELP? and the answer i got from my brain was that probably ministers would earn a lot from the granted money and would purchase land and fill their bank accounts...

The PSU's which are already dead was because there was no good leaders to make it a profitable investment the employees of these PSU's were doing their job thinking that it's a government job so they need not work...(typical attitude of a government employee in india).. Companies doesn't work like this at all.. PSU's can only come in profit if it's employees think and work like it is their own company not by thinking that it's a government enterprise so it's a social company rather then a business enterprise.

PSU's like Air India is already begging for funds and what more the third biggest employer BSNL recently showed results and there was a whopping 97 % decline in profits from 2700 crores to meager 102 crore so in next six month BSNL (PSU) will also be running in loss (THAT IS REAL SHAME FOR THE GOVERNMENT AND THE EMPLOYEES OF BSNL) .

There is a similarity in working of the PSU's at time when there was no other such enterprise , i am just going back to pre economic liberalisation era of Economy of India all the PSU's were in profit , the reason for profit however was that people of India did not have any other choice take example of BSNL earlier there was no AIRTEL, Essar, Spice telecom, IDEA cellular etc and BSNL was enjoying it's monopoly in telecom sector employees didn't work at that time too... but customers had no other option so the number of subscribers went on increasing... things changed when Indian Economy was liberalized there were more choices for the people and alltogether competition between PSU's and Private companies increased , but PSU employees didn't change change their way of working and are still sleeping This was the time when Private companies ate up PSU's share and overtook almost all the PSU's in terms of revenue and profitability.

So according to me accompanied with the history of working of PSU's this funding to revive the PSU's will not be beneficial and the scenario and outlook for PSu's would not change at all. THEY ARE ON A STEADY DECLINE and would eventually vanish one day... that's the HARD TRUTH...which we all have to admit until the employees of these PSU's do not change their attitude towards working.

- Himanshu Sharma

Foreign Direct Investment (FD|) drops whopping 47 percent

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in India dipped by about 47 per cent to $2.1 billion in May due to the global recession and the trend is likely to continue for some more months, so it means recession is still at it's best and it looks US stock markets are also behaving in the similar fashion ie still the beast is out there roaming freely across the globe. OR IS IT NOT?

In present situation Indian economy is looking promising as government plans some one crore job oppurtunities in ongoing fiscal THATS GREAT NEWS i'hve heard after a long time from our government but still i wonder how these oppurtunities would be created...

During the same month last year, FDI was $3.9 billion so that's a difference of a good US$ 1.8 billion. However it can be recalled that FDI in 2008-09 was $27.3 billion against $24.5 billion in 2007-08.

India's Forex reserves drop by about $560 million Wk o wk

India's foreign exchange reserves fell to $263.917 billion as on July 10, from $264.477 billion a week earlier. The main reason for decline was mainly because of Changes in foreign currency assets, expressed in dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of other currencies held in its reserves such as the euro, pound sterling and yen

16 FDI proposels given green signal by Government

Government of India cleared total of 16 Foreign Direct Investment Proposals(FDI) totalling to INR 825 crores including on hydro power project in state of sikkim.

The Government, however, revoked all foreign collaboration approvals for ByCell Telecom on concerns over the Switzerland registered company's funding sources.

Among cleared proposals, Teesta Urja will bring in Rs 547.20 crore for developing 1,200-MW hydro power project in Sikkim.

The Government also allowed IL&FS Trust Company to hold two per cent stake in Multi Commodity Exchange of India, that will bring in Rs 108 crore of FDI.

Govt would require to borrow 120 billion rupees per week

The Government official said today that the borrowing in the closing weeks of September could be 110 billion rupees or less.

Earlier, a central bank deputy governor said the government would borrow an additional 1.1 trillion rupees ($22.6 billion), taking the total to 2.99 trillion between April and September, a central bank deputy said on Thursday.

The additional borrowing excludes 120 billion rupees of bond sale scheduled for Friday.

Wholesale price index Weekly Inflation at (-1.21 %) - July 4/09

Weekly whole price index rose from -1.55% to -1.21 % for week ended july 4 as government increased the price of fuel in corresponding week which led to increase in whole sale price index or inflation.

Following the government decision to raise fuel prices effective July 1, prices of naphtha rose 15 per cent, furnace oil 11 per cent, petrol 10 per cent, high-speed diesel 7 per cent and light diesel oil by 4 per cent.

However consumer price index is still alarming high

Finance Minister assures about Economic Reforms pace

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee replied to opposition questions "...there is no question of diluting the process of economic reforms. Reform is a continuing process, whichever government comes they continue to do so," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told Rajya Sabha in reply to debate on the Budget 2009-10.

He said disinvestment is not the only indicator of economic reforms. It is part of the government programmes.

If he has not given the list of public sector companies to be disinvested, some believe heavens have fallen. "I do not subscribe to this view", the minister said.

Top 10 economies of world in trade - friendliness

Indian economy is growing by over 6 percent from last 3-4 years so has our economy become more trade friendly, well if I compare it with era before 1990`s then the answer to this question is `yes`, After the liberalisation of Indian economy in the 90`s thanks to the present Prime Minister for bringing the reforms. Still I think a lot of work needs to be done as our Indian economy is still not the most trade friendly economy of the world, as i saw the list of top 10 economies in their trade friendliness and Indian Economy doesn`t feature in the list.

Following is the list of top 10 economies (country) of the world :

Rank 1 - SINGAPORE

Rank 2 - HONG KONG

Rank 3 - SWITZERLAND

Rank 4 - DENMARK

Rank 5 - SWEDEN

Rank 6 - CANADA

Rank 7 - NORWAY

Rank 8 - FINLAND

Rank 9 - AUSTRIA

Rank 10 - NETHERLANDS

3837 crores lies unclaimed in EPFO and is unusable

Government of India's Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) which has
accumulated to the tune of Rs 3,837 crore, even as EPFO is making efforts to trace those who have not taken their dues.

"As the money, lying in the inoperative accounts belongs to the members or their heirs, and is payable at any time when claims are received. It cannot be utilised for any other purpose," Minister of State for Employment Harish Rawat said in the Lok Sabha. He said that as of March 31, 2008, money to the tune of Rs 3,837 was lying unclaimed in the inoperative accounts of Employees Provident Fund.

In a written reply in the House he said instructions have been issued to all field officers of EPFO to scrutinise the claims of the inoperative account holders and release the amounts only to the rightful claimants.

EPFO on its part is also making efforts to trace out the beneficiaries through advertisements in newspapers and inviting those who have not preferred their claims for more than three years after leaving their job.

Indian Government not to monetise debt

The Government on Tuesday categorically said that it has "no intention" to monetise its debt, which implies that it will not directly borrow from the Reserve Bank of India.

"Government has no intentions of monetising its debt," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told Lok Sabha in his reply to the debate on Union Budget (read budget highlights).

He said during the first half of 2009-10, the Government plans to borrow Rs 2.41 lakh crore from the market and RBI is supporting it through its Open Market Operations (OMO), through which the central bank releases or sucks money from the market against government securities.

"OMO should not be confused with monetisation of debt," Mukherjee said. Monetisation of the Government debt would be when RBI directly subscribes to the Government paper.
(read budget highlights).
As fiscal deficit is projected to be at 6.8 per cent of GDP this fiscal and the Government has pegged its market borrowings at around Rs 4 lakh crore for 2009-10.

Mukherjee also dispelled fears that higher government borrowings would leave little resources for the private sector and would increase cost of borrowings, as also apprehensions that the private sector will be elbowed out due to this.

Govt rules out possibility of banning of meat export

The government on Monday ruled out banning the export of meat and said doing so would not be in the interest of the livestock sector.(read budget highlights).

"Considering the overall development of livestock sector, the government is not in favour of ban on the export of meat," Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

Scindia said representations were received from Maharaja Kumarapal Jeevadaya Trust, Munoth House and Dhahraj Baid Jain College for imposing ban on the export of meat.

"However, export of cow and veal meat from India is banned," he said.

According to official data, in April-January 2009, India exported about Rs 2.86 crore meat and meat products, against Rs 2.65 crore in the corresponding period last year.

The country, on June 5, banned import of live stock and its products for a period of six months in the wake of Swine flu.(read budget highlights).

courtesy - economictimes.com

INR slips to 8 week low

The rupee weakened in afternoon trade towards eight-week lows on Friday tracking the domestic share market which dropped more than 2 percent and on sharp overseas gains in the dollar versus majors.(read budget highlights).

The dollar index, a gauge of the U.S. unit's performance against majors, was up 0.7 percent.

FII'S have bought about $1 billion of stocks so far this month, taking net inflows in 2009 to nearly $6 billion, a key factor in its rise from a record low of 52.2 in March.

In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month contract on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were quoting at 48.9350 and 48.93 respectively, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $1.26 billion.

Agriculture contribution in GDP declines at 16.6 perc

India's agriculture sector has accounted for only 16.6 per cent of its gross domestic product so far this plan period (2007-12) despite record production of farm commodities in the 2007-08 season, according to the latest government estimate.

The share of the farm sector in the GDP is down to 16.6 per cent from a whopping 46.3 per cent during the First Plan period (1951-56), according to the data presented by Minister of State for Agriculture K V Thomas in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

The sector contributed 17.8 per cent to the overall GDP in the last Plan period (2002-07), The declining share of the sector in the GDP can be a major cause of concern for policy makers this year as the forecast of a "below-normal monsoon" during the on-going Kharif has cast a gloom on production.

Moreover, the dependence on farming has not dipped that dramatically. About 65 per cent of the world's second-most populous nation still depends upon farming for livelihood.

Even though the country has witnessed record foodgrain production of 230.78 million tonnes in the 2007-08 season followed by another year of bumper output of the grains at 229.85 million tonnes, the share of the sector in the GDP has not shown any improvement.

courtesy - economictimes

Indian rupee at 2 week low thanks to FII for taking out USD from indian markets

Indian National Rupee or poupularly known as INR touched two week low today at 48.88 / US $ since foreign investor's took out much investment which they made in indian markets over past couple of months due to which SENSEX ans Nifty also closed down today(read full report).

The details about the weak rupee is as follows (ovser past 2 days) :

The partially convertible rupee ended at 48.88/89 per dollar, 0.9 per cent below Tuesday's close of 48.45/46 per dollar. It is down 2 per cent so far this week. It hit a low of 48.9450 in intraday deals.

One-month offshore non-deliverable forwards were quoting at 48.97/49.07 per dollar in late Indian trade.

The dollar was steady while the yen climbed on Wednesday as uncertainty about the global economic outlook reined in investor risk-taking.

According to barclay's indian rupee will trade between 48.5 to 49.5 against a single US dollar.

Govt of India awaits more then half of fiscal deficit from disputes

Believe it or not the government is yet to receive over Rs one trillion in taxes from corporate and other entities and add to it other arrears worth about Rs 47,000 crore, the total outstanding equals more than half of the total revenue deficit this year.

Also read
Budget 2009-10 highlights

At about Rs 150,000 crore, the unrealised tax and non-tax revenue is 53 per cent of the total revenue deficit of over Rs 282,000 crore projected by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his Budget for 2009-10.

The arrears outstanding at the end of reporting year 2007 -08 pertain to a period of up to ten years or more and also include interests from state governments and PSUs.

In totality, the arrears that the government is still awaiting are held up in litigation, or are due for some other reasons. If realised, they could have substantially reduced the Centre's borrowings, pegged at over Rs 4,00,000 crore for the current fiscal.

Bulk of the tax arrears is caught under disputes and amounts to over Rs 64,000 crore, while the amounts not under dispute total at about Rs 40,000 crore also include cases pending for adjudication.

Economic Estimates assumed for Budget 2009-10

For Reading full Finance Budget highlights (click here)

BUDGET ESTIMATES FOR 2009/10:

* Total receipts seen at 10.21 trillion rupees

* Revenue receipts seen at 6.14 trillion rupees

* Capital receipts seen at 4.06 trillion rupees

* Borrowings and other liabilities seen at 4.01 trillion rupees

* Total expenditure seen at 10.21 trillion rupees

* Plan expenditure seen at 3.25 trillion rupees

* Non-plan expenditure seen at 6.96 trillion rupees

* Fiscal deficit seen at 4.01 trillion rupees, or 6.8 percent of GDP

* Revenue deficit seen at 2.83 trillion rupees, or 4.8 percent of GDP

Fiscal deficit reaches alarming high at 6.8 percent of GDP

Indian economy's fiscal deficit is projected to widen to an 18-year high of 6.8 per cent of GDP in the current fiscal as the government continues to provide stimulus to the economy, necessitating higher market borrowings at around Rs 4 lakh crore.

Also read -
Union Budget 2009-10 highlights

With states also allowed to borrow from markets even if their fiscal deficit increases to 4 per cent of their GDP against the current limit of 3.5 per cent, the combined fiscal deficit of India will easily touch the double-digit mark.

However, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee committed to return to fiscal consolidation part at the earliest, even as the 13th Finance Commission is seized of the issue of setting up new targets for fiscal deficit.

"I intend to... return to the FRBM target for fiscal deficit at the earliest and as soon as the negative effects of the global crisis on the Indian economy have been overcome," he said.

Analysts noted that fiscal deficit at 6.8 per cent is within the expectation and they will wait for the Finance Commission report likely in October to comment further.

Also read -
Union Budget 2009-10 highlights

Fiscal deficit is projected to widen against 5.5 per cent expected in the Interim Budget for 2009-10 and 6.2 per cent witnessed in 2008-09 as the Centre's expenditure expanded to an all-time high of over Rs 10 lakh crore and tax income taking a hit due to stimulus packages.

FBT and Commodity transaction tax abolished

Finally Bowing to the long standing demand of India Inc, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has abolished the fringe benefit tax and commodity transaction tax. in union budget 2009 - 10 which he presented today in parliament (see budget highlights)

However, Minimum Allocation Tax (MAT) on book profits has been increased from 10 percent to 15 percent, but with a provision of carrying forward the tax credit on MAT to 10 years from the current seven years.

Union Finance budget 2009-10 highlights

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee presented union finance budget for fiscal year 2009-10 and looks like BSE is not happy with the budget as it nosedived by over 850 pts, This year's budget is rather short of reforms, major highlights of the budget are as follows :

* Govt plans to bring back economy to high growth of 9%

* GDP growth dipped to 6.7% in FY'09

* FM to make pre-budget talks with state FMs annual affair

* Fiscal deficit up from 2.7% to 6.8% of GDP

* Return to fiscal prudence at the earliest

* 'Aam admi' is focus of all programmes and schemes.

* IT exemption limit raised; Rs 15,000 for Sr.citizens .

* Limit raised by Rs 10,000 for tax payers, including women

* 10% surcharge on personal income tax scrapped

* Fringe Benefit Tax abolished

* No change in corporate tax

* Defence gets Rs 1,41,703 cr, up 34%

* Total fiscal stimulus in 2008-09 amounts to Rs 1,86,000 cr

* IIFCL to evolve mechanism for increased funding of infra

* IIFCL to re-finance commercial bank loans up to 60 per cent in critical projects through PPP to tune of Rs 1,00,000 cr

* Allocations for highways being stepped up by 23 per cent

* Funds for housing, amenities for urban poor up Rs 3,973 cr

* Funds for JN Urban Renewal Mission up 87% to Rs 12,887 cr

* Assistance for storm-water drainage project up by Rs 300 cr

* Farm credit target up at Rs 3,25,000 cr from Rs 2,87,000 cr

* Interest rates incentive to farmers to repay loans on time

* Additional Rs 1,000 crore for accelerated irrigation scheme

* Export Credit Guarantee scheme extended till March 2010 * 2% interest subvention (IS) scheme extended till March 2010

* IS scheme to cover 7 job-oriented sectors, including textile, handicrafts and handlooms.

* Commodity Transaction Tax abolished

* New pension system trust exempted from STT; DDT

* Minimum Alternate Tax hiked to 15% from 10%

* Tax holiday on petro sector extended to natural gas

* 100% tax deduction on political donation

* Stimulus for print media for another six months

* Fertiliser subsidy to be nutrient-based, not price

* Expert Grp to form viable pricing for imported petro goods

* Banks and insurance firms to remain in public sector

* Rs 100 cr one-time grant to expand banks in unbanked areas

* Govt committed to provide Rs 100 a day as wages under NREGA

* Allocation of Rs 39,100 cr to be made for NREGA

* NREGA coverage increased to 4.74 crore households in FY'09

* Work National Food Security scheme has begun

* Allocation for Bharat Nirman being raised by 45 per cent

* Rs 2,000 cr rural housing fund under National Housing Bank

* Mission for female literacy with focus on minorities, SC/ST

* 50% of all rural women to be brought into SHG programmes

* Full interest subsidy for students in select institutions

* Five lakh students to benefit

* Modernisation of national exployment exchanges

* Action for social security to unorganised sector workers

* New pension benefits for 12 lakh jawans and JCOs from July

* One lakh dwelling units for paramilitary forces personnel

* Unique Identification Card to citizens in 12-18 months

* Provision of Rs 120 crore for UIC project

* Rs 2,113 crore allocated for IITs and new IITs

* Rs 3472 cr for Commonwealth Games from Rs 2112 cr

* Customs, excise and service tax base rates unchanged

* For Indira Awas Yojana, allocation increased 63%

* IT returns to be made simpler

* 8 missions being launched under Plan on climate change

* Allocation for market development assistance scheme up 148%

* Allocation for Rural Health Mission raised by Rs 257 cr above interim budget

* Rs 500 cr for rehabilitation of Sri Lankan Tamils

* Rs 1,000 cr for infrastructure in cyclone-hit area in WB

* Total expenditure crosses Rs 10 lakh cr for first time

* Share of direct taxes in revenue increased to 56% in FY'09

India's business in gulf shrinks by 20 percent

Indian companies with interest in the Gulf have witnessed their business in the region decline by 20 percent.

Also, direct and indirect subsidies to domestic companies there have made it more difficult for Indian businesses to offset their losses, FICCI said in a statement.

This may be due several Gulf states still lacked transparency in trade promotion policies. Bureaucratic hurdles and red tape were two other areas of concern for Indian businesses.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), despite being hard hit by the slowdown, followed by Oman, is the most-preferred investment destination for Indian businesses, FICCI said.

India can export wheat but in limit - Govt

It may be called as a good news for both govt wheat exporters as well as private firms or may be not, because there will be no subsidy from government this time around, so the wheat exporters might be dissapointed by this as they can't lower the selling price of wheat when compared to US wheat. Indian wheat would cost more than $240 a tonne in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, or $20-$30 more than Black Sea and U.S. wheat.

The government has allowed the export of 900,000 tonnes of wheat by state-run firms and 650,000 tonnes of wheat products by private trade as monsoon rains revived after a dry spell.export of wheat products was viable but the government had to give details of how it would monitor exports.

Analysts said the move had been anticipated by the market as a panel of federal ministers decided early this year to allow exports of two million tonnes of wheat and wheat products.

Forex reserves rises by $932 million

Indian Foreign reserves rose $932 mn during the week ended June 26, partly on account of cross currency revaluation and also some mop up of inflows by the central bank. While the government has vacated their ways and means advances (WMA) with the central bank. So foreign institutional investor's are showing confidence in indian economy amidst economic crises.

According to the latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India in its weekly statistical supplement (WSS), total foreign exchange reserves including gold and special drawing rights (SDR - currency with the International Monetary Fund) rose $932 mn to touch $264.58 bn during the week ended June 26.

Almost the entire growth in reserves was on account of the rise in foreign currency assets, which went up $924 mn, while the reserves with the IMF rose $8 mn.

Railway Budget - 50 world class stations to be brought up

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee today said that about 50 stations are to be developed into world class stations with international level facilities.

Banerjee said that these stations would be developed through innovative financing and in Public Private Partnership mode.

Some of these stations are: CST Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Howrah, Sealdah, Bhubaneswar, New Delhi, Lucknow, Varanasi, Amritsar, Kanpur, Guwahati, Jaipur, Chennai Central, Tiruvananthapuram Central, Secunderabad, Tirupati, Bangalore City, Baiyapanahali (Bangalore), Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Habibganj, Gaya Jn., Agra Cantt., Mathura Jn., Chandigarh, Kolkata, New Jalpaiguri, Majerhat, Mangalore, Porbandar, Anand Vihar, Brijwasan, Ajmer and Puri. Banerjee also announced the construction of Multi-Functional Complexes (MFCs) in station premises for providing rail users facilities like shopping, food stalls and restaurants.

The MFCs will also have book stalls, PCO/STD/ISD/Fax booths, medicine, budget hotels and underground parking.

She said that during this year, 50 such railway stations would be developed in places of pilgrimage, industry and tourist interest.

"The responsibility for development of Multi-functional Complexes would be entrusted to IRCON and Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA)," she added.

The 49 identified stations to be developed as MFCs are: Alipurduar, Allahabad, Anandpur Sahib, Banspani, Bikaner, Bilaspur, Cuttack, Darjeeling, Dehradun, Digha, Durg, Ernakulum, Gandhidham, Ganga Sagar, Ghatsila, Gwalior, Hajur Sahib, Hubli, Hyderabad, Indore, Jabalpur, Jammu Tawi, Jasidih, Jhansi, Jodhpur, Kanyakumari, Kathgodam, Katra, Khajuraho, Madurai, Manmad, Mysore, Nanded, Nasik, Palakkad, Parasnath, Raebareily, Raipur, Rajgir, Rameshwaram, Ranchi, Shirdi, Silchar, Tarapith, Tiruchirapalli, Udaipur, Ujjain, Vadodara and Visakhapatnam.

so we can expect some good railway stations in five years or more from now because generally such development work takes minimum five years.

Railway Budget - List of new trains to be started

Following is list of new trains and their routes with frequency as announced by railway minister Mamta Banerjee -

1. Vishakhapatnam – Secunderabad – Mumbai Superfast (Bi-weekly).

2. Sriganga Nagar – Delhi – Nanded Superfast (Weekly)

3. New Jalpaiguri – Sealdah Superfast (Tri-weekly)

4. Bangalore – Hubli – Solapur Superfast (Tri-weekly)

5. Howrah – Bangalore Superfast (weekly)

6. Pune – Daund-Solapur Superfast (Daily)

7. Ranchi-Howrah (3 days via Ghatshila-Kharagpur and 3 days via Asansol) Intercity (6 days a week)

8. Kamakhya-Puri Express (Weekly)

9. Jabalpur-Ambikapur Express (Tri-weekly)

10. Gandhidham-Howrah Superfast (Weekly)

11. Delhi-Sadulpur Express (Tri-weekly)

12. Ajmer-Bhopal Express (by intergration of 9655/56 Ajmer-Ratlam and 9303/04 Ratlam- Bhopal express trains) (Daily)

13. Bilaspur-Tirunelveli Jn. (Thiruvananthapuram) Superfast (Weekly)

14. Mumbai-Karwar Superfast (Tri-weekly)

15. Durg-Jaipur Express (Weekly)

16. Dibrugarh Town-Chandigarh Express (Weekly)

17. Delhi-Farakka Express (Bi-weekly)

18. Hazrat Nizmmudin-Bangalore Rajdhani Express (Tri-weekly) via Kacheguda

19. New Jalpaiguri-Delhi Express (Bi-weekly) via Barauni

20. Mumbai-Varanasi Superfast (Daily)

21. Mysore-Yesvantpur Express (Daily)

22. Koraput-Rourkela Express (Daily) via Rayagada

23. Agra-Ajmer Intercity Superfast (Daily)

24. Mumbai-Jodhpur-Bikaner Superfast (Bi-weekly)

25. Agra-Lucknow Junction Intercity (Daily)

26. Hapa-Tirunelveli Jn. Superfast (Bi-weekly) via Thiruananthapuram

27. Gwalior-Bhopal Intercity Express (5 days a week) via Guna

28. Kanyakumari-Rameshwaram Express (Tri-weekly) via Madurai

29. Howrah-Haridwar Superfast (5 days a week)

30. Varanasi-Jammu Tawi Superfast (Daily)

31. Gorakhpur-Mumbai Superfast (Daily)

32. New Delh-Guwahati Rajdhani Express (Weekly) via Muzaffarpur

33. Veraval-Mumbai Link

Service (Daily)

34. Ranchi-Patna Jan Shatabadi Express (Daily)

35. Jhansi-Chhindwara Express (Bi-weekly) via Bina-Bhopal

36. Mumbai-Jodhpur Express (Weekly)

37. Jamalpur-Gaya Passenger (Daily)

38. Jhajha-Patna MEMU (Daily)

39. Kanpur-New Delhi Shatabdi Express (6 days a week)

40. Bhopal-Lucknow-Pratapgarh Superfast (Weekly)

41. Lucknow-Rae Bareli-Bangalore Superfast (Weekly)

42. Shimoga-Bangalore Intercity Express (Daily)

43. Mdurai-Chennai Express (Bi-weekly)

44. Guwahati-New Cooch Behar Express Intercity (Daily)

45. Balurghat-New Jalpaiguri Express (Daily) via Kishanganj

46. Alipurduar-New Delhi Jalpaiguri Express Intercity (Daily) via Siliguri

47. Dharmanagar-Agartala Fast Passenger (Daily)

48. Rewari-Phulera Passenger (Daily) via Ringus

49. Shoranur-Nilambur Road Passenger (Daily)

50. Coimbator-Shoranur Passenger (Daily)

51. Mathura-Kasganj Passenger (Daily)

52. Farakka-Katwa-Azimganj-Nawadwip Dham Express (Daily)

53. Bangalore-Kochuveli Superfast (Weekly)

54. Kolkata-Rampurhat Express (Daily)

55. New Jalpaiguri-Digha Express (Weekly)

56. Purulia-Howrah Express (Bi-weekly)

57. Kolkata-Bikaner Express (Weekly) via Nagore

Inflation at -1.3% for week june 13 - june 20

India's wholesale price index fell 1.3 percent in the 12 months to June 20, compared with the previous week's annual decline of 1.14 percent, government data showed on Thursday.

The fall was marginally smaller than a median forecast of a 1.35 percent fall, according to a Reuters poll.

The annual inflation rate was 11.91 percent during the corresponding week of 2008.

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.

Budget session 2009-10 starts

Budget session for fiscal year 2009-2010 started today and Mamta Banerjee (trinamool congress) will present the railway budget after 9 years, and looks like she is all set to present a people friendly budget,

The buzz is that one can expect passenger amenities to figure high on her rail budget platter with mention of affordable, economic 'janta' food being available at key stations across the Indian Railways system.

Ms Banerjee is likely to favour more public private partnerships (PPPs) to boost growth in railway infrastructure. Pending projects will receive special attention. The rail coach factory at Rae Bareli will receive the minister’s attention. More significantly, the ambitious Dedicated Freight Corridor Project will be taken up on a serious note.

There is also a lot of expectation in Kolkata that the city's iconic Howrah station may get a fresh boost as part of Railways' bid to convert it into a world class station. New Delhi and Patna stations too are also on the initial list of 22 stations that will be converted into world class stations by the Railways, a move that was initiated by Lalu Prasad. There is speculation that Sealdah too will be included this year.

Next week finance minister pranab mukherjee would present Union finance budget for fiscal year 2009-10

Govt of India approves India-Korea trade pact

The government today approved signing of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with South Korea paving the way for an eventual duty free trade of goods and services between the two countries.

The approval was granted by the Union Cabinet at its meeting presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said,"India's exclusion and sensitive lists includes agriculture, textile and auto components."

She said while South Korea's offer to break duty barriers include items of India's export interest, New Delhi has taken enough care to protect its sensitive industries and the farm sector.

The CEPA comprises six agreements relating to opening up of trade in goods, services and customs, and trade facilitation.

Signing trade pacts with South Korea and Association of South East Asian Nation (ASEAN) are part of the 100-day agenda of the UPA government in its second term.

The CEPA negotiations had started in March 2006 and was concluded in September 2008.

courtesy economictimes