IT spending in India to grow 9 percent by 2012 at $79.8
New Delhi, Nov 21 (IANS) Despite global economic challenges, enterprises will continue to invest in Information Technology (IT) with IT spending in India projected to grow 9.1 percent at $79.8 billion (Rs.4,154.79 billion) in 2012 against $71.1 billion in 2011, a study said Monday.
"IT spending in India is projected to total $79.8 billion in 2012, a 9.1 percent increase from 2011 spending of $73.1 billion," said research and advisory firm Gartner Inc.
According to the study, India is the ninth-largest economy in the world, and the pace of economic growth in India -- with a mild dip during the worldwide recession in late 2008 and 2009 -- has brought the role of IT into sharp focus within many enterprises.
"India like other emerging markets continues exercising strong momentum despite inflationary pressures and appreciation of local currencies, which are expected in rising economies," it said.
The study also forecasts that the worldwide IT spending will reach nearly $3.7 trillion in 2011. From this amount, emerging economies will account for $1.013 trillion.
"Businesses are increasingly looking to IT to help support the challenges of enhancing customer support, supply chain management, optimizing business processes or helping drive innovation in the business," said Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president at Gartner and global head of Research.
"These demands are being placed on IT in an environment in which the infrastructure (hardware and software) foundation of IT within many enterprises may not be entirely in place. IT is also in transition from being viewed as a back-office support function to a frontline business-focused function," he added.
The telecommunications market is the largest IT segment in India with IT spending forecast to reach $54.7 billion in 2012, followed by the IT services market with spending of $11.1 billion.
The computing hardware market in India is projected to reach $10.7 billion in 2012, and software spending will total $3.2 billion.
The study said that the days when IT was the passive observer of the world are over as global politics and the global economy are being shaped by IT today.
"IT is a primary driver of business growth. For example, this year 350 companies will each invest more than $1 billion in IT," said Sondergaard adding that two-thirds of chief executive officers (CEOs) believe IT will make a greater contribution to their industry in the next 10 years than any prior decades.
"They are doing this because IT impacts their business performance," he added.
Singapore forecasts up to 3 percent growth for 2012
2011/11/21 12:08:21 Singapore, Nov 21 (IANS) The Singapore economy is expected to grow by 1 to 3 percent next year on weak external demand and sluggish global economy, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said Monday.
"Global economic conditions are expected to remain subdued in 2012, with the outlook clouded by increased uncertainty and financial volatility," it said in a report on the performance of the economy.
The forecast for the year 2011 remained unchanged at 5 percent, reported Xinhua.
The ministry revised its reading of third-quarter economic growth to an annualised 1.9 percent on quarter-on-quarter basis, up from the initial estimate of 1.3 percent. The year-on-year growth for the quarter was 6.1 percent, up from 1 percent in the second quarter.
The manufacturing sector expanded by 14.2 percent year on year and the construction sector grew by 0.3 percent. The wholesale and retail trade fell by 0.2 percent, mainly due to weak exports. The financial sector grew by 10.5 percent.
The ministry said it expected the growth in the fourth quarter to weaken alongside deteriorating external macroeconomic conditions, with the weak electronics cluster likely to record low output and have a knock-on effect on precision engineering and wholesale trade.
The biomedical manufacturing cluster is expected to see a pullback in growth following the strong surge in the third quarter. The financial services sector is also expected to moderate.
Separate statistics released by trade promotion agency International Enterprise Singapore showed that the country's non-oil domestic exports in the third quarter shrank by 1.1 percent, following a growth of 1.9 percent in the second quarter.
The non-oil domestic export growth for 2011 was downgraded to 2-3 percent from 6-7 percent, while total trade was downgraded to 8-9 percent from 9-10 percent.
The non-oil domestic export growth forecast for 2012 was expected to be between 3-5 percent, while total trade was expected to grow by 3-5 percent, too.
The impact of weak external demand is beginning to be seen recently, with the non-oil domestic exports falling by 16.2 percent in October, led by a plunge of 51 percent for exports to the US and 31 percent in exports to the European Union.
2011/9/30 0:33:06 The US economy expanded at an annual rate of 1.3 percent in the second quarter, compared with an earlier estimate of 1 percent, the Commerce Department said Thursday.
The department's third and final calculation of GDP growth in April-June was slightly above the 1.2 percent forecast by analysts and coincided with government economists' initial second-quarter numbers.
US growth domestic product grew by only 0.4 percent in the first three months of 2011.
The upward revision in GDP and Thursday's announcement that new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to 391,000 - the lowest level since April - combined to spur modest advances in the financial markets.
The Commerce Department report also indicated that consumer spending rose by 0.7 percent in the second quarter, better than the previous estimate of a 0.4 percent increase.
Consumer spending accounts fuels around 70 percent of US economic activity.
The figure for corporate profits in the second quarter was likewise revised upward, from 0.5 percent to 0.7 percent.
The US unemployment rate remains at 9.1 percent more than two years after the end of the worst slump since the Great Depression. Last month, for the first since February 1945, the US economy created no net new jobs. (IANS)
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa Monday said the state is better positioned now to push the reform process forward and she is confident that the state would log double digit growth over the next five years.
Stating that her government is confident of facing domestic and international challenges to achieve inclusive growth, she said: "We are also better placed now than at any time in the recent past to push the reform process forward."
She was speaking at the National Executive Committee meeting of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here.
According to her, the government will revitalize the manufacturing sector by launching "a package of second generation reforms".
She said the government will come out with a new industrial policy and also sector specific policies for automobiles and auto components, bio-technology and pharma sectors.
"Our re-oriented strategy of development focuses on a strong policy and regulatory leadership by the government, dynamism and competitive efficiency of the private sector and enthusiastic participation of the people through local democratic institutions," she said.
Referring to the Planning Commission's approach paper to the Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-2017) where the growth target was indicated as 9-9.5 percent she said: "My government is therefore aiming to exceed the national average growth rates and make Tamil Nadu grow faster than the rest of India. In fact, we had done this in the past and an encore is not far off."
"In 2005-06, Tamil Nadu under my government clocked an overall growth rate of 13.3 percent and the manufacturing sector had registered a growth rate of 14.6 percent. However, these growth rates dipped in successive years. I am very confident of repeating double digit growth rates in the next five years."
Stressing that industry cannot grow on its own unless there is all round growth in the agricultural sector, Jayalalithaa said her government has chalked out a new strategy for the achieving four percent growth of primary sector.
"We will usher in this second green revolution to improve agricultural production by addressing the productivity gap and through value addition. We have also set for ourselves an ambitious goal of two to three times increase in farmers' per capita income within five years," she said.
Referring to the power situation in the state she said by the end of 2012, the state will have additional capacity of 4,640 MW and the government is planning to undertake measures to add 23,140 MW to the existing installed capacity of 10,237 MW over the next five years. (IANS)
Food inflation in double-digits for second straight week
2011/10/27 7:27:05 New Delhi, Oct 27 (IANS) Prices of pulses, vegetables and milk shot up during the week ended Oct 15, taking India's food inflation to 11.43 percent from 10.6 in the week before, official data showed Thursday.
This is the second consecutive week that food inflation has stayed in double digit levels.
The soaring food inflation comes even as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hiked key interest rates for the 13th straight time Tuesday. The central bank and the government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, however, have maintained that they expected inflation to fall from December.
Overall inflation has remained stubbornly high near double-digit since January 2010. The headline inflation based on the wholesale price index was recorded at 9.72 percent in September, according to latest official data.
"Inflation rate will begin falling in December 2011 and then continue down a steady path to 7 percent by March 2012. It is expected to moderate further in the first half of 2012-13," RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao had said while reading out the second quarter monetary policy review.
Subbarao said for food inflation to ease on a sustainable basis, the government needed to step in and removed infrastructure bottlenecks and accelerate reforms in the agriculture and allied sectors.
In the week under review, the primary articles index, which has a 20.12 percent weight in the wholesale price index, rose by 11.75 percent during the week under review as compared to 11.18 percent in the previous week, according to data made available by the commerce and industry ministry.
The index of fuel and power declined marginally to 14.7 percent.
During the week ended Oct 15, the index for non-food articles again showed a significant decline, growing at a slower rate of 7.67 percent as compared to 8.51 percent in the previous week.
The following are the yearly rise and fall in prices under review of some main commodities that form the sub-index for food articles:
Onions: (-) 18.93 percent
Vegetables: 25 percent
Fruits: 11.96 percent
Potatoes: (-)0.45 percent
Eggs, meat, fish: 12.82 percent
Cereals: 4.62 percent
Rice: 4.26 percent
Wheat: (-) 0.95 percent
Pulses: 9.06 percent
If inflation comes down as projected by March, the central bank said it could focus on offering incentives for growth.
2011/11/2 5:25:12 Mumbai, Nov 2 (IANS) Two- and three-wheeler major Bajaj Auto Wednesday reported an increase of seven percent in its sales for October at 395,274 units compared to 370,816 units in the like period of last year.
The company clocked 20 percent higher exports for the month under review at 131,948 units from 110,387 units in the corresponding month of 2010.
Segment-wise sales were led by the company's commercial vehicles, which grew by eight percent at 44,191 units as compared to 41,040 units in October, 2010.
Motorcycle sales, which were affected by a production loss, still managed to grow at six percent with 351,083 units, up from 329,776 units in the like period of last year.
"Production loss of 25,000 motorcycles at Pantnagar due to the curfew imposed in early October constrained sales," the company said in a statement.
The consolidated sales for the fiscal grew by 15 percent at 2,652,226 units over 2,299,722 units sold in the corresponding period of 2010-11.
The consolidated exports for the fiscal rose by 33 percent at 983,446 units from 741,618 units for the like period of the last fiscal.
2011/11/16 12:27:57 Washington, Nov 16 (IANS) Some 3.2 million Indian Americans, including Asian Indians of mixed race, lived in the United States in 2010 as South Asians led all Asian groups in population growth in the last decade. They led all Asian American households with highest media household income.
At 3,183,063, Indian American made up 18 percent of the Asian American population in 2010, up from 16 percent in 2000, according to a new compilation of 2010 census data.
According to 2007 to 2009 data, Indian Americans led all Asian American groups in the country in median household income at $86,660. The next highest total was $77,596 for Taiwanese households.
Taiwanese and Indians also led in per capita income among Asian American groups, with $38,312 and $36,533, respectively, followed by Malaysians ($33,264) and Sri Lankans ($32,480).
Bangladeshi Americans had the biggest percentage increase over the decade, skyrocketing 157 percent, according to the study, "A Community of Contrasts: Asian Americans in the United States, 2011," by the Asian Pacific American Legal Centre and the Asian American Justice Centre.
The Pakistani population had the second highest population bump with a 100 percent rise. The Sri Lankan and Indian American populations increased 85 percent and 68 percent, respectively.
Among the South Asian groups, Pakistanis had the highest rate of naturalization at 57 percent, while just 50 percent of Bangladeshi Americans, 47 percent of Indian Americans and 43 percent of Sri Lankan Americans were naturalised.
About 200,000 Indian legal permanent residents were eligible to become citizens in 2008.
The leading six Asian countries for immigrant visas issued from 2001-2010 were: Philippines, 350,694; China, 286,008; India, 267,403; Vietnam, 193,049; Bangladesh, 84,643; Pakistan, 69,202.
The report estimated that in 2010 there were about one million undocumented immigrants from Asia in the US About 280,000 were from the Philippines, 200,000 from India, 170,000 from Korea and 130,000 from China. India's total was down from an estimate of over 275,000 in 2005.
From 2005-09, Hindi speakers in the US were estimated at 527,481. Numbers of speakers of other South Asian languages were: Urdu, 326,310; Gujarati, 304,102; Punjabi, 209,835; Bengali, 188,452; Telugu, 171,015; Tamil, 132,573; Malayalam, 116,486; Marathi, 53,436; Kannada, 37,377; Nepali, 37,240; and Sinhalese, 22,336.
Only 22 percent of Indian Americans five years of age and older from 2007-09 were limited English proficient, compared to 46 percent for Bangladeshis and 28 percent for Pakistanis.
Taiwanese and Indian Americans led all Asian groups in higher educational attainment, with 73 percent to 68 percent, respectively, having a bachelor's degree or higher.
The percentage of Indian Americans living in poverty was 8 percent in the 2007-09 time period.
Both Indians and Pakistanis in the US had 9 percent of the seniors ages 64 or above living in poverty. In the Bangladeshi community that figure was 16 percent.
2011/11/16 20:05:44 Mumbai, Nov 16 (IANS) A benchmark index for Indian equities markets Wednesday managed to pare some of its losses amid volatile trade and closed in the red for the fifth straight session.
The European debt crisis and concerns about some of the Euro zone economies like Italy and Greece being able to pay off their massive debts has dampened investor sentiments for some time now. A dull domestic corporate earnings season has not helped either.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened lower at 16,872.3 points, closed at 16,775.87 points, down 106.8 points or 0.63 percent from its previous close at 16,882.67 points.
The Sensex had fallen over 241 points to an intra-day low of 16,641.65 points.
The 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also followed a similar trajectory to close at 5,030.45 points, down 38.05 points or 0.75 percent.
Broader markets also ended in losses, with the BSE 500 index slipping 0.77 percent. The BSE midcap index closed 0.94 percent lower while the BSE smallcap index fell 1.34 percent.
The market breadth at the BSE was negative with 899 stocks advancing and 1,937 scrips declining, while 106 remained unchanged.
According to data available with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), foreign institutional investors were net sellers Wednesday to the tune of $74.59 million.
Gainers on the Sensex included: Jindal Steel, up 3.03 percent at Rs.551.45; SBI, up 2.02 percent at Rs.1,764.90; M&M, down 1.89 percent at Rs.773.45 and ONGC, up 1.74 percent at Rs.263.30.
The losers on the benchmark were: BHEL, down 4.15 percent at Rs.297.65; L&T, down 4.04 percent at Rs.1,236.70; Sun Pharma, down 3.03 percent at Rs.489.75 and Hero MotoCorp, down 2.73 percent at Rs.2,104.60.
Asian markets were ruling in the red, as debt woes of Italy came back into the limelight and concerns grew over the European nation's ability to pay off its massive debts.
The fall came despite a modest rise in the US markets, helped by data which showed retail spending increasing for the fifth straight month.
The Japanese Nikkei closed 0.92 percent down at 8,463.16 points, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 2 percent lower at 18,960.9 points.
The Chinese Shanghai composite index closed 2.48 percent down at 2,466.96 points.
European markets also slipped. Britain's FTSE was ruling 0.85 percent lower at 5,470.44 points, the German DAX was trading 0.8 percent down at 5,885.44 points.
The French CAC 40 was ruling flat at 3,047.55 points.
2011/10/25 1:58:46 The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) continued its duel with high inflation by hiking key interest rates by 25 basis points Tuesday -- the 13th increase since January 2010, setting the stage for auto, housing and commercial loans to become dearer once again.
However, the central bank also revised economic growth projections for the current fiscal downwards to 7.6 percent from the earlier prediction of 8 percent. The RBI, however, maintained the projection of annual inflation and said it would be at 7 percent by March 2012.
The repurchase rate, or the interest the central bank levies on short-term borrowing by commercial banks, has been raised to 8.5 percent from 8.25 percent. Automatically, the reverse repurchase rate, or interest on short-term lending, gets hiked to 7.5 percent from 7.25 percent.
The rate hikes were effected by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Duvvuri Subbarao during the second quarter review of the apex bank's monetary policy for this fiscal, amid high inflation rate that is nudging double-digit levels once again.
"The monetary policy tightening effected so far has helped in containing inflation and anchoring inflation expectations, even as both remain elevated. While the impact of past monetary actions is still unfolding, it is necessary to persist with the anti-inflationary stance," Subbarao said while announcing the measures.
Commercial banks are widely expected to pass on the interest rate burden to customers, which could made consumer and corporate loans dearer, even while raising the interest outgo on existing loans, along with a longer tenure for repayment. (IANS)
2011/11/9 5:00:49 Mumbai, Nov 9 (IANS) The country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) Wednesday reported an increase of 12.4 percent in net profit at Rs.2,810 crore for the quarter ended Sep 30 as against Rs.2,501 crore during the like period of the previous financial year.
Total income stood at Rs.29,394 crore during the quarter under review, up 23.4 percent as against Rs.23,813 crore for the quarter ended Sep 30, 2010, the company said in a regulatory filing.
SBI's net non-performing assets (NPAs) rose marginally to 2.94 percent at the end of second quarter of the fiscal under review from 1.7 percent a year ago.
At the Bombay Stock Exchange, shares of the company were 4.66 percent lower to trade at Rs.1,904.50.
India's food inflation declines further, still in double digits
2011/11/17 12:39:48 New Delhi, Nov 17 (IANS) India's food inflation declined for the second consecutive week at 10.39 percent for the week ended Nov 5, but still continued to be in double digits, official data showed Thursday.
Food inflation had shot up to over double digits as the festive season approached in October, pushing demand higher. For the week under review, prices of vegetables, pulses, eggs and meat were still on the higher side, according to data made available by the commerce and industry ministry.
The spike in food inflation in the four weeks of October, for which data is available, has been attributed to a rise in demand as the month had many important festivals, raising demand.
Overall inflation too has remained stubbornly high, near double digits, since January 2010. Headline inflation based on the wholesale price index was recorded at 9.73 percent in October, according to the latest official data.
In the week under review, the primary articles index, which has a 20.12 percent weight in the wholesale price index, rose by a slower 10.39 percent as compared to 11.43 percent in the previous week.
The index of fuel and power rose to 15.49 percent compared to 14.5 percent in the previous week, while the index for non-food articles declined to 5.33 percent.
To contain inflation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has hiked key interest rates 13 times since early 2010, but the frequent tightening has not had much impact on soaring food prices.
The following are the yearly rise and fall in prices under review of some main commodities that form the sub-index for food articles:
2011/10/17 2:48:46 A benchmark index for Indian equities Monday gave up its modest early gains and fell below the 17,000-mark in noon trade.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE opened at 17,176.05 points and was ruling at 16,973.47 points, down 109.22 points or 0.64 percent from its previous close at 17,082.69 points.
The Sensex had soared over 5 percent in last week.
The 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange was also trading lower, 0.75 percent or 38.35 points down at 5,093.95 points.
Broader markets too saw some selling with the BSE 500 index ruling 0.5 percent lower. The BSE midcap index was ruling flat while the BSE smallcap was up 0.29 percent.
The market breadth at the BSE was mixed with 1,203 stocks on the advance, 1,191 declining and 107 unchanged.
Some of the other top gainers on the Sensex at this time were Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, SBI and ONGC, while among losers were RIL, NTPC, L&T and Bharti Airtel.
Asian markets rose Monday with investors reacting positively to reports of US retail sales -- a key indicator of consumer spending -- registering its strongest growth in 7 months.
Also the G20 allowing the International Monetary Fund to play a greater role in containing the Euro zone debt crisis boosted sentiments.
The Japanese Nikkei Monday closed 1.5 percent hgiher at 8,879.6 points, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was trading 1.26 percent up at 18,734.68 points.
The Chinese Shanghai composite index was ruling flat at 2,430.32 points. (IANS)
Markets continue to trade weak amid negative Asian cues
2011/11/16 12:29:53 Mumbai, Nov 16 (IANS) A benchmark index for Indian equities markets Wednesday continued to trade in the red in the afternoon amid negative cues from other Asian bourses. Capital goods, power and energy stocks were among the major losers at this time.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened lower at 16,872.3 points, was ruling around 12.45 p.m. at 16,712.47 points, down 170.2 points or 1.01 percent from its previous close at 16,882.67 points.
The Sensex had touched a high of 16,872.30 points and fell to a low of 16,644.85 points.
The 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange was also trading in the red, 61.9 points or 1.22 percent lower at 5,006.6 points.
Broader markets were also ruling lower with the BSE 500 index down 1.23 percent. The BSE midcap index was trading 1.52 percent lower while the BSE smallcap index was ruling 1.81 percent down.
The market breadth at the BSE was negative with 559 stocks advancing and 2,039 scrips declining, while 93 remained unchanged.
There were only three gainers on the Sensex: M&M, ONGC, Cipla and SBI. Among the losing scrips on the benchmark were BHEL, L&T, Hero MotoCorp and RIL.
Asian markets stocks were ruling were in the red, as debt woes of Italy came back into the limelight as concerns grew over the European nation's ability to pay off its massive debts.
The fall came despite a modest rise in the US markets, helped by data which showed retail spending increasing for the fifth straight month.
The Japanese Nikkei closed 0.92 percent down at 8,463.16 points, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was ruling 2.83 percent lower at 18,801.75 points.
The Chinese Shanghai composite index closed 2.75 percent down at 2,460.19 points.
World Bank offers India $975 mn loan for freight corridor
2011/10/27 13:49:51 New Delhi, Oct 27 (IANS) The World Bank has offered India a $975 million loan for developing a freight corridor that will help improve the movement of raw materials and finished goods between the northern and eastern parts of the country, an official statement said Thursday.
The loan is for a dedicated rail line for freight called Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor-I developed by Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd.
This is part of India's first dedicated freight corridor initiative - being built on two main routes - the Western and the Eastern Corridors.
These corridors will help India make a quantum leap in increasing the railways' transportation capacity by building high-capacity, higher-speed dedicated freight corridors along the golden quadrilateral - the four rail routes that connect Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata, the finance ministry said in a statement.
Currently, these routes account for just 16 percent of the railway network's length, but carry more than 50 percent of India's total rail freight.
The Department of Economic Affairs and Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd has singed an agreement with the World Bank for the project.
"Dedicated freight corridors will not only meet this growing freight demand, but also decongest the already saturated rail network and promote the shifting of freight transport from road to more efficient rail transport," said Venu Rajamony, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs.
He said freight traffic in India was projected to grow over 7 percent annually and the development of the dedicated corridors would help in the easier movement of goods.
The eastern dedicated freight corridor project will ease congestion choking the railway system and reduce travel-time for passenger trains on the arterial Ludhiana-Delhi-Mughal Sarai railway route.
The World Bank financing for the project will cover a route length of 1,130 km out of a total corridor length of 1,839 km. The project is to be developed in three phases.
"The dedicated freight corridor programme will provide India the opportunity to create one of the world's largest freight operations, adopting proven international technologies and approaches which can progressively be extended to other important freight routes throughout the network," Roberto Zagha, the World Bank's Country Director in India, said in a statement.
2011/10/7 4:55:26 India's food inflation accelerated to 9.41 percent for the week ended Sep 24 as compared to 9.13 percent in the previous week due to sharp rise in the prices of milk, vegetables, fruits and protein-based products, official data showed Friday.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said acceleration in the prices of food and other essential commodities remained a matter of concern and the government was constantly in touch with the Reserve Bank of India to bring down inflation to a comfortable level.
"Inflation is definitely a matter of concern. We shall have to see how to bring it down to a moderate level. I am constantly in touch with the RBI and other experts in this area," Mukherjee told reporters here.
Food inflation has risen sharply during the last three weeks under review. Food inflation was at 8.84 percent for the week ended Sep 10.
Pulses became costlier by 7.54 percent during the week ended Sep 24 as compared to 4.86 percent increase in the previous week. Fruits became costlier by 11.72 percent prices of milk rose by 10.35 percent during the week under review year-on-year, according to data released by the commerce and industry ministry.
The primary articles index, which has a 20.12 percent weight in the wholesale price index, rose by 10.84 percent during the week under review as compared to 11.43 percent in the previous week.
The rise in the index of fuel and power remained unchanged at the previous week's level of 14.69 percent.
The index for non-food articles rose at a much slower rate of 10.77 percent during the week ended Sep 24 as compared to 12.89 percent in the previous week.
Inflation has remained stubbornly high near double-digit since January 2010. The headline inflation based on the wholesale price index was recorded at 9.78 percent in August, according to the latest official data.
The stubbornly high inflation might prompt the RBI to hike policy rates again. The central bank has hiked key policy rates 12th time since January 2010.
The following are the yearly rise and fall in prices under review of some main commodities that form the sub-index for food articles:
2011/11/7 23:56:41 (IANS) Exactly a year before the presidential polls, half of Americans say President Barack Obama does not deserve to be re-elected versus 40 percent who say he does, according to a new poll.
Independents, in particular, have lost faith in the Democratic president, says the Christian Science Monitor/TIPP poll released Monday. But attitudes can change a lot in a year, as history shows, it says.
Moreover, Obama's performance scores as many failing grades as it does soaring marks from the general public, it said.
Thirty-five percent of independents, the critical mass of voters with the power to swing presidential elections, say Obama deserves to be re-elected, while 56 percent believe he does not, according to the poll. Ten percent are not sure or did not say.
Among Americans of all political persuasions, 40 percent of those polled would give Obama four more years, 50 percent would not, 6 percent were not sure, and 4 percent declined to answer.
"The independent support is key. They are a key voting bloc to get him reelected," says Raghavan Mayur, president of TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence, which conducted the poll of 901 Americans. "When your support is weak among independents, it really is concerning."
If history is any guide, however, Obama's current approval ratings will be an unreliable predictor of his fate in the November 2012 contest, the Monitor said.
With the Republican nomination race in full swing and early-state primary elections just two months away, the Republicans' lack of consensus around or enthusiasm for a particular candidate could play in Obama's favour, it said.
"Obama should indeed be worried, but so should the Republicans," H.W. Brands, a professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin, was quoted as saying.
Gallup's historical data indicate that Obama's approval ratings, while grim, are not without precedent for re-election.
In the 10th quarter of his presidency (between April 20 and July 19, 2011), Obama's job approval average, at 46.8 percent, was sub-50 percent, the threshold that pundits and journalists use to gauge a leader's appeal in the run-up to an election.
But Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan also rated below that marker during the same period of their respective first terms. Clinton was at 49.3 percent, and Reagan scored a meagre 44.4 percent. Both, of course, went on to a re-election.
2011/10/5 4:36:17 A benchmark index for Indian equities slipped into red in the afternoon session Wednesday after rising nearly one percent in the morning trade, as weakness in banking stocks continue to weigh on Dalal Street's sentiments.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), opened in the positive at 15,967.72 points, but slipped in the negative terrain in the afternoon session. The Sensex was ruling at 15,841.56 points in the afternoon session, down 0.15 percent or 23.30 points from its previous close at 15,864.86 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 16,044.91 points and low of 15,840.13 points in the intra-day trade.
The 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also slipped in the negative territory in the afternoon after rising nearly one percent in the early trade. The Nifty was ruling 0.15 percent down at 4,765 points.
Broader markets were also in the negative, with the BSE midcap and smallcap indices trading with a loss of nearly a quarter percent.
Among the sectoral indices, the banking index was down over two percent and consumer durables index was down 0.72 percent.
State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, slumped for the second day after the global ratings firm Moody's downgraded its ratings from C- to D+. SBI was down 3.35 percent at Rs.1,726.90. ICICI Bank slumped almost four percent. (IANS)
Food inflation continues to shoot up, at 12.21 percent
2011/11/3 5:32:19 New Delhi, Nov 3 (IANS) There seems to be no respite from rising food prices. Latest official data Thursday for food inflation showed a sharp rise during the week ended Oct 22 at 12.21 percent -- the highest in nine months.
Prices of pulses, vegetables and milk and poultry all rose. The week before had seen food inflation logging at 11.43 percent.
This is the third consecutive week food inflation has stayed in double digits.
The spike in food inflation in the three weeks of October, for which data is available, is also because of a rise in demand as the month had many important festivals which raises demand.
Overall inflation too has remained stubbornly high, near double digits, since January 2010.
The headline inflation based on the wholesale price index was recorded at 9.72 percent in September, according to latest official data.
To contain inflation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has hiked key interest rates 13 times since early 2010, but the frequent tightening has not had much impact on soaring prices.
The central bank, in its last rate hike, said that it may not take such an action further because it expected inflation to fall from December.
In the week under review, the primary articles index, which has a 20.12 percent weight in the wholesale price index, rose by 12.08 percent during the week under review as compared to 11.75 percent in the previous week, according to data made available by the commerce and industry ministry.
The index of fuel and power declined marginally to 14.5 percent.
During the week ended Oct 15, the index for non-food articles again showed a significant decline, growing at a slower rate of 6.43 percent as compared to 7.67 percent in the previous week.
The following are the yearly rise and fall in prices under review of some main commodities that form the sub-index for food articles:
Onions: (-) 20.33 percent
Vegetables: 28.89 percent
Fruits: 11.63 percent
Potatoes: 0.98 percent
Eggs, meat, fish: 13.36 percent
Cereals: 4.13 percent
Rice: 4.21 percent
Wheat: (-) 1.54 percent
Pulses: 11.65 percent
If inflation comes down as projected by March, the central bank said it could focus on offering incentives for growth.
2011/10/13 6:56:59 The government Thursday announced various incentives, including interest subsidy, worth around Rs.1,700 crore to boost the growth of exports in view of the slowing demand in US and European markets.
"It is difficult to put the number, but my guess is the total financial outgo will be around Rs.1,700 crore," Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar said at a press conference here.
He said nearly half the financial outgo would be in the form of interest subvention or subsidy on interest. "Interest rate subvention itself will cost around Rs.800-1,000 crore. Other schemes will cost roughly around Rs.800-900 crore," he said.
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma Thursday announced the annual review to the Foreign Trade Policy 2009-14.
The minister announced several schemes to keep the growth momentum in the foreign trade.
"We have been able to secure interest subvention of two percent on rupee export credit which have been extended up to the end of the current financial year," he said.
The subsidy will be available to exporters with retrospective effect from April 1, 2011 until March 31, 2012. The earlier interest subsidy scheme had lapsed at the end of last fiscal.
To promote market diversification, the minister said the government would provide four percent duty credit to exporters under a new Special Focus Market Scheme.
"We are introducing today a special focus market scheme. It will cover 41 countries - 12 from Latin America, 22 from Africa and seven from CIS countries," Sharma said.
The government has also introduced a new scheme to provide special assistance to engineering, pharmaceutical and chemical sectors for the period of 6 months.
The new Special Bonus Benefit Scheme will cover 50 products, including hand tools, gas compressors, motorcycles and goods vehicles, carbon black, potassium iodide, niacin amide, erythromycin and its derivatives and ciprofloxacine.
Under the scheme duty credit of one percent will be given. The scheme is applicable from Oct 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012.
In view of the slowdown of demand in US and European countries, the government has extended the market linked focus product scheme to these countries as well.
India's exports have risen by 52.1 percent to $160 billion in the first six months of the current fiscal.
The growth in exports has declined in the recent two months mainly because of the slowdown in demands of Indian goods in US and European countries due to economic uncertainties. (IANS)
2011/10/13 7:07:17 China had 535,000 millionaires last year, registering a 12-percent year-on-year increase in its number of millionaires, a Capgemini report said Thursday.
The combined wealth of China's 535,000 high net worth individuals (HNWIs) topped $2.66 trillion, up 13.2 percent from 2009, according to a joint report issued by Capegemini and Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management.
The number of millionaires makes the region the second-largest HNWI market in the Asia-Pacific region and the fourth-largest in the world after the US, Japan and Germany, reported Xinhua citing the report.
China is continuing to see an expansion in its HNWI population and their wealth, fuelled by strong macroeconomic growth and market performance, particularly in equities and real estate, said Pauline Ko, market manager for China at Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management.
The mainland's HNWIs had 42 percent of their investments in equities and 27 percent in real estate last year, the report said.
Wei Zhen, Asia strategist with Merrill Lynch (Asia Pacific) Ltd., said that he expects Chinese millionaires to gradually reduce their wealth allocation in the equity and property markets, as the government will not loosen its grip on the real estate market anytime soon and global equity markets may turn volatile.
Wei projected that China's economy will expand by 9.3 percent this year and nine percent in 2012.
HNWIs are defined as individuals who have investable assets of $1 million or more, excluding primary residences, collections, consumables and consumer durables. (IANS)
2007/12/7 8:57:20 While the astrologers are predicting that the stars are shining brightly for Chiranjeevi, there is no such good news for Balakrihsna. Some astrologers claim that the present time is not favourable for Balakrishna politically. If Balakrishna is serious about making his political entry, then he should wait for some time.
According to these astrologers, Balakrishna’s fortunes take a turn for the better in the 2012. So if he wants to enter politics, then he had better wait till 2012. His chances are said to be bright in public life from the year 2012. So all Balakrishna fans will have to cool their heels for some more time.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) continued its duel with high inflation by hiking key interest rates by 25 basis points Tuesday -- the 13th increase since January 2010, setting the stage for auto, housing and commercial loans to become dearer once again.
A benchmark index for Indian equities Monday gave up its modest early gains and fell below the 17,000-mark in noon trade.
India's food inflation accelerated to 9.41 percent for the week ended Sep 24 as compared to 9.13 percent in the previous week due to sharp rise in the prices of milk, vegetables, fruits and protein-based products, official data showed Friday.
(IANS) Exactly a year before the presidential polls, half of Americans say President Barack Obama does not deserve to be re-elected versus 40 percent who say he does, according to a new poll.
