Atri wrote: It is going to hit ground so hard.. This is not a healthy growth. this is not even a growth, this is swelling, edema.
![Image](http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo298/d2thdr/f5a3cd0594e6153c23e178774b04d6e3_zpscbe365b8.jpg)
Atri wrote: It is going to hit ground so hard.. This is not a healthy growth. this is not even a growth, this is swelling, edema.
Can India live up to its promise this time?
About Peter Kohli
Peter Kohli is the chief executive officer of DMS Funds and an independent wealth manager specializing in estate planning under the name DMS Financial. He was also a financial advisor with PennCorp Financial Services (now Primerica), and holds a Chartered Financial Consultant designation from Bryn Mawr. DMS funds currently offers the DMS Baltic Index, DMS India Midcap Index, the DMS India Bank Index and DMS Poland Large-Cap Index funds.
By Peter Kohli
I get investors' frustration with India, I really do. Just because I'm bullish on the world's third-largest economy for the long term doesn't mean I can't see the ironies of the current situation.
I'll give you an example. I was in Los Angeles giving a talk and I opened the Times of India to read that India is going to launch a Mars probe. I told the group I was addressing that maybe they should build some roads and bridges here on earth first.
This is the same country that just passed legislation providing 67% of the population with food aid in a blatant attempt to buy votes. Who's going to pay for the project was, of course, not addressed. And they're going to Mars?
India has many of the right ingredients for a first-world country. It has a 250-million-strong middle class with money to burn. It has 600 million people under the age of 29, many highly educated and eager to contribute to society. It has multinational companies like Tata IN:500570 -1.28% and Mahindra & Mahindra IN:500520 -0.44% in its borders.
So what's the problem? I would say that sometimes Indians need to get out of their own way. Like the food-aid program. Often, things are done for populist and ideological reasons which cause investors both inside and outside the country to shake their heads in disbelief — and hinder the country's progress.
A perfect example is what happened to Vodafone Group PLC VOD -1.21% . In January 2012, India's Supreme Court ruled the UK-based telecom giant was not liable to pay $2 billion in taxes for its $11.2 billion acquisition of a controlling stake in an Indian cellphone company held by a Hong Kong company. The verdict overturned a ruling by a lower court in Mumbai after a four-year legal fight by Vodaphone and signaled encouragement to foreign investors concerned about India's investment climate when it ruled that Indian authorities don't have jurisdiction to tax the deal because it was structured as a transaction between two foreign entities. Then, in March of 2012, India changed its taxation laws, essentially overturning the Supreme Court judgment and brought under scrutiny similar deals involving multinational companies.
Nevertheless, I think the turnaround for the Republic of India is close at hand. It will come after the May 2014 national elections if the country elects the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Raguram Rajan, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), is given the opportunity to further work his magic.
Rajan is one of the main reasons to be bullish on India right now. In fact, things at the macro level have already started to improve due to his actions guiding the RBI. For instance, during the summer, the rupee slumped to a record low of 68.85 to the dollar; his policies have helped raise it to around 63 today. Also, Rajan (pleasantly) surprised many when he said India's current account deficit (CAD) for the fiscal year was $56 billion, well below estimates of $70 billion. India's large CAD, which stood at $88 billion the previous fiscal year, was one of the main reasons for the rupee's fall. At $56 billion, the CAD is now less than 3% of India's GDP, well below the anticipated 7%, and India is well positioned to weather the eventual tapering of the U.S. Fed's bond-buying program.
In my opinion, the defeat of the BJP in the 2004 general elections contributed to derailing India's progress. We can see this in the country's GDP growth, which slowed to 4.4% this year, a five-year low.
I've been asked if there are any good entry points to India before the elections. The answer is yes and no.
Yes, in that companies like Tata (the steel-auto-tooling conglomerate) and Mahindra & Mahindra (an auto, farm-equipment and IT conglomerate) are strong plays. However, it's interesting to note that a majority of their income comes from non-domestic sources. When companies like this can capitalize on the opportunities within their own borders as well as internationally, that's when Indian equities will really show their promise.
And no, because there are significant risks to my thesis. The BJP party must win the elections in May of 2014. If they do, then I say throw as much money as you can at India.
But same government signed deal with WTO to stop food subsidies in four years!!!!This is the same country that just passed legislation providing 67% of the population with food aid in a blatant attempt to buy votes. Who's going to pay for the project was, of course, not addressed. And they're going to Mars?
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10 years of the dream economic team, has led to this. UPA-II is going to be a wasted mandate. 5 years of utter desolation.India's narrowing current account deficit will not be enough to shield the country from pressures tied to Fed tapering, says Fitch Ratings.
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Fitch rates India at "BBB-minus", the lowest investment grade rating. It revised its outlook for the country to "stable" from "negative" in June.
Rahul Mehta wrote: How many bottles of wine were offered as bribe to Ministers to cut these duties? Or did Ministers refused to take wine, because Gandhiji opposed liquor, and demanded cash only?
Can anyone suggest what can be done to force MPs to cancel this duty cut?
According to SourceForge, 70% of the 35,648 downloads in India since the November 2008 launch took place in 2013. US-based Buttercoin, a free Bitcoin exchange backed by investors such as Google Ventures, says it is in talks with Indian banks to launch an exchange in India to allow for the purchase and sale of Bitcoins—a virtual currency that has caught the world’s fancy. “Most users of Bitcoins in India are people who are employed with the IT (information technology) sector. One of the beneficiaries of the proliferation of Bitcoins is remittances which NRIs (non-resident Indians) send back to their dependents in India,” Sunny Ray, director of business development at Buttercoin, said.
No one owns the open-source peer-to-peer payment network called Bitcoin, but it is gaining in popularity and legitimacy. In fact, Bangalore will host India’s first two-day conference on 14 December to discuss the virtual currency industry and its future potential since Bitcoins are not yet regulated by India’s central bank. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), though, is closely watching the developments, said Alpana Killawala, principal chief general manager, RBI.
Benson Samuel, founder of an exchange rate setter Coinsecure, recalls selling Bitcoins in India at Rs.450 last September. On Wednesday, the Coinsecure Price Setter pegged the average price (of top global exchanges including Mt Gox, Buysellbitco.in, Coinbase and Bitstamp) of buying Bitcoins at Rs.57,360.06 and selling at Rs.57,235.87. “Many people are gradually getting aware and getting on board, and lot of businesses want an official to come on board before they start using Bitcoins… I work with Coinsecure which aims at setting exchange rate after taking feedback from the top three global exchanges and comparing it with few exchanges in India,” said Samuel.“Currently, any one can charge any rate in India as Bitcoin is decentralized. Sellers in India are charging a margin of 20-30% while selling Bitcoin, which is unjustified. We plan to bring about awareness which can reduce this margin amount.”
Mike Jain, a consultant to the Satoshi Foundation—an organization that works to bring awareness on Bitcoin—said: “Bitcoins are generated in two ways—miners solving mathematical problems and miners helping transactions go through. This way usage of Bitcoin cannot lead to inflation and rules out the possibility of hacking. “Argentina, one of the countries badly affected by rising inflation, has been the largest user of Bitcoins.” He pointed out that Bitcoins were introduced as coins for online games, but added that the transactions involving Bitcoins are very safe since it “takes 21 confirmations from various miners before a transaction gets settled and each of the transactions details gets logged into a public ledger.”. Currently, he said: “It costs about $300 to send $100,000 across the border from India. Bitcoins can reduce this amount down to only four cents. Exchange value of Bitcoin is currently determined on basis of supply and demand. Bitcoin users never would want Bitcoins to be regulated.”
How much of their wealth has appreicated after thispanduranghari wrote:Based on Cantillon effect, the intrinsic value of bit coin will fall back to somewhere closer to zero than the current $1000.
Even as India’s demand for exchange of information on Customs cooperation has been accepted under the World Trade Organization (WTO)’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), a number of loopholes remain, and these may provide developed countries escape routes on this front.
According to the final draft of the negotiating texts, seen by Business Standard, there are a few binding commitments in the chapter on TFA, under Article 13, which talks of Customs cooperation. Subsequently, however, these commitments get diluted under the same article, within various provisions such as the provision of information and postponement or refusal of a request.
Article 13 of the TFA stipulates a member country, upon receiving a request, “shall exchange the information” with the importing country “for the purpose of verifying an import or export declaration in identified cases where there are reasonable grounds to doubt the truth or accuracy of the declaration”. For example, if India is importing a particular product from another country, it might seek details of the value shown in the document concerned in case of any doubt and verify the value of its production, as well as the cost of the product in that country.
However, though Article 13 states the country from which details are sought is liable to provide the information, later, under sub-sections of the Article, the draft text states a country will be able to exchange the desired information “to the extent possible”. Under a separate provision on postponement or refusal of a request, it adds, a country may refuse or postpone giving the information if the country’s domestic legal system prevents this. “There are several loopholes within the TFA that will give developed countries various escape routes. This could prove to be detrimental for India and result in dumping,” said a Delhi-based trade expert, on condition of anonymity.
Why is this posted here?Rahul Mehta wrote:India to become womb a rental super-power
India's economic growth rate picked up strongly in the second quarter, according to official figures.he economy expanded at an annual rate of 4.8% in the July-to-September period, up from 4.4% in the previous quarter.The acceleration was faster than analysts had been expecting.Asia's third-largest economy has been weighed down by various factors, such as high inflation, a weak currency and a drop in foreign investment.This is the fourth quarter in a row that India's annual growth rate has been below the 5% mark, and the previous quarter's rate of 4.4% was the lowest for four years.Earlier this year, the Indian prime minister's economic advisory council lowered the growth outlook for the current financial year.It now expects the economy to expand by 5.3% this year, down from its earlier projection of 6.4%.India's economy has been hurt by a range of factors in recent months, including a slowdown in key sectors such as mining and manufacturing.
This has affected India's currency, which dipped nearly 25% against the US dollar between January and September this year.Though the rupee has recovered a little since then, it is still down about 13% against the dollar since the start of this year.That has made imports more expensive and contributed to a high rate of consumer inflation, which was 10.1% October, up from 9.84% in September.High food and fuel prices have contributed to inflation becoming "entrenched", finance minister P Chidambaram said.As a result, the central bank has had to raise the cost of borrowing in a bid to curb inflation.
10s of off-topic posts come and no one show any Takleef. And I post one post, which is very much related and so much Takleef !!Rahul Mehta: India to become womb a rental super-power
Theo_Fidel: Why is this posted here? What critical economic problem is this?
Trade minister Anand Sharma said on Friday he will not compromise on food subsidies for the poor at a WTO meeting next week, but left open the possibility of an interim subsidy deal designed to salvage a trillion-dollar trade pact. India is seen holding the key to the credibility of the World Trade Organization talks and to a global trade deal at the meeting in Bali next week.
India will next year fully implement a welfare programme to give cheap food to 800 million people that it fears will contravene WTO rules that limit farm subsidies to 10% of production. The programme relies on large-scale stockpiling and procurement at minimum prices and is a central plank of the government’s bid to win a third term in office next year. India has demanded that poor countries be exempt from the rule and the issue has threatened to derail the Bali talks after diplomats failed to agree on a compromise last week.Sharma, who will lead India’s delegation to Bali, said the G33, a group of developing countries, supported India’s stand on food subsidies, which he said was non-negotiable.
“As far as what we give to our poor people that is our right, that is insulated in entirety from any multi-lateral negotiations or WTO discussions. That is a sovereign space and for India it is sacrosanct and non-negotiable,” he said. However, he refused to say whether he would accept a proposal led by the United States to waive the 10% rule until 2017. Indian media has reported that India is demanding a guarantee that the waiver will continue after that date if a solution is not found.
“I would like to state it clearly, negotiations are negotiations,” he told reporters. “Final positions will be known when ministers make their country’s statements. What has been said about India’s position is either based on incomplete information or if I may say is speculative.” He said India’s farm subsidies for procurement of foodgrains from farmers were under the 10 percent limit of the current WTO rules, but there was a need for a final settlement on the issue.
On the key issues in the ongoing negotiations, India agreed with three draft proposals on agricultural export subsidies, the reduction in export subsidies and the need to offer LDCs access duty free, quota free markets. He said India has unilaterally decided to raise imports from the LDCs by expanding tariff lines to 96.2% from 85 under which these countries can export to India without any duty or quota restrictions. India has also agreed to draft proposals on trade facilitation measures.
“We believe that facilitating trade brings down transaction costs and is also good for the economy,” he said.
However, there was still disagreement on certain issues under trade facilitation, on which India’s concerns were focused on issues related to bank guarantees for exports and expediting courier services.
I dunno. Just another 'I Feel' post with no data to back it up.Rahul Mehta wrote:womb-renting industry may become the biggest forex-earner for India and a GDP-booster in times to come], and so IMO it is related with economy of India and related this thread .
This argument is without any sense. We are not asking for labour movement to Pakistan or Bangladesh.Theo_Fidel wrote:
We are not going to get free labor movement without allowing free labor movement into India BTW. We don't allow TSP & even BD folks to freely move to India for work, for admittedly excellent reasons. We live in a rough neighborhood. We don't even allow westerners to freely move to India for work. So we just have to depend on western goodwill WRT labor movement.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday unveiled draft norms for entry of banks into insurance broking, which would allow commercial banks to offer policies sold by multiple insurers, besides those of their own insurance subsidiaries.The norms, if they come into force, would permit banks to undertake insurance broking departmentally after seeking the specific prior approval of the banking regulator. The move is aimed at enabling banks “to leverage their branch network for increasing insurance penetration”, RBI said.
Finance minister P. Chidambaram, in his February budget speech announced that banks would be permitted to act as insurance brokers. In August, the insurance regulator allowed banks to act as brokers and sell products of more than one insurer to increase the penetration of the sector across the country. Going by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority norms, there is no capital requirement for insurance broking business, but the business of the insurance broker will have to be carried out in such a manner that not more than 50% of the premium emanates from any one client.
In the draft norms, RBI said the final approvals for banks to undertake broking business will factor in the regulatory and supervisory comfort on various aspects of banks’ functioning, such as corporate governance, risk management and the arrangements proposed for insurance brokerage and so on. However, banks offering insurance broking services shall not enter into any arrangement for corporate agency or insurance referral business to avoid any conflict of interest, the central bank said. Approvals granted for insurance broking will be initially for three years and will be reviewed after that.
Currently, banks like State Bank of India and ICICI Bank Ltd, among others, distribute insurance products of their own subsidiaries under the so-called bancassurance channel. Under the agency model, they cannot sell products of other insurance companies. However, once they decide to become a broker, they can sell products of multiple insurance companies.
Detailing the draft norms, RBI said banks that want to offer insurance broking should have a comprehensive board-approved policy. They should also have a net worth of not less than Rs.500 crore and capital adequacy—a measure of financial strength expressed as the ratio of capital to risk-weighed assets—of not less than 10%. The aspirants should not have non-performing assets equivalent to more than 3% of their loans and should have made profits for the last three consecutive years.
That is not the point either.prahaar wrote:This argument is without any sense. We are not asking for labour movement to Pakistan or Bangladesh.
Chairman of Prime Minister’s economic advisory council C. Rangarajan said on Saturday that India needed a decisive government as the next decade will be crucial for the country. “I would like to say that India needs a decisive government,” Rangarajan said on a question on current state of politics in the country, when some surveys suggest that no party will get a clear majority in 2014 elections. He was interacting with students of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A).
Earlier in his speech, he said, “The coming decade will be crucial for the country as it needs to maintain decent growth rate of 8-9%. Then only India’s GDP will grow and by 2025 it will be middle income generating country. Stability is required.”
On the “growth versus equity” debate, the former RBI governor said, “You cannot compartmentalize growth and equity in the 21st century. If it would have been 17th or 18th century it could have been done as it was an industrial revolution first and later social reforms. They have to go side by side now. But at the same time we cannot sacrifice growth.”
On government interventions in financial sector, Rangarajan said, “More markets does not mean less government, but it means different governments.” He also expressed hope that the goods and services tax will be implemented in the next fiscal year.
This Arthakranti proposal addresses only taxation and tracking corruption aspects, but it is likely to give the control of entire national economy to bankers. He doesn't say whether banks should be government banks only, allow private banks or foreign banks with access to foreign capital. Should the government still continue to print money to create so called moderate inflation, or no more money printing? How about fractional reserve banking? He seems to be completely oblivious to the banking scams in the west while he praises their actions as the best practices. He doesn't seem to understand that capital is cheap in western world today because of massive quantitative easing. Not sure what his real interests are. But he seems to have taken Hindu religious leaders, who don't understand how modern economies and finances work, on his side.Atri wrote:Again, more material on Arthakranti Proposal..
I am hardly posting 1 post a month in this thread. I am not spamming. Most posts here come with no data . Then why show takleef at my posts? And data on womb-rental is not available with Govt because the law says that womb-rental contracts need not be registered and can remain confidential. The contract becomes public only if there is a court case and the court decides to make it public. And all payments are cash. The womb-renting ladies are NOT taken as industrial workers and so they cannot form union and get registered. And since this is medical service, its advertisement is de-facto banned. And so no one has been able to get any data. But pls google, and you will see how many womb rental clinics have come up. And after Amir Khan and SRK used womb-renting, the legitimacy of this service has increased and business is booming. You might want to ask your gynac friends about rise in numbers. They will give you an idea about it.Rahul Mehta : womb-renting industry may become the biggest forex-earner for India[/b] and a GDP-booster in times to come], and so IMO it is related with economy of India and related this thread.
Theo_Fidel: I dunno. Just another 'I Feel' post with no data to back it up. Still don't see how it is economy item. BRF definitely needs a conspiracy thread. All this stuff can be posted there.
From the interview with Kaku:
This seems to be one of those vacuous, politically correct statements without any basis in fact whatsoever. Is there anything from the Dynasty's multiple speeches to suggest a move away from the left loony-ism that has brought India down ? Is there anything to suggest even remotely that they recognize the depth of the doo-doo they have sunk India in ?The Congress has also realised the pitfalls and will learn from its experience.
It's the biggest find in 50 years and the media is completely ignoring it...
It is 6 times larger than the Bakken, 17 times the size of the Marcellus formation, and 80 times larger than the Eagle Ford shale.
All told the recent discovery outside a sleepy Australian town contains more black gold than in all of Iran, Iraq, Canada, or Venezuela.
The current estimates of 233 billion barrels are just 30 billion barrels shy of the estimated reserves in all of Saudi Arabia.
Now, one renowned international energy expert predicts the proven reserves will be much bigger.
"The find may land at 300 or 400 billion barrels, making it one of the greatest unconventional oil discoveries any of us will see in our lifetimes," says Dr. Kent Moors and advisor to six of the top 10 oil producers and active consultant to 20 world governments.
"It represents a bona-fide redrawing of the global energy map as we know it," Moors says, "and the mainstream media is completely ignoring it."
The Death Knell for OPEC
This massive find has been likened to the Bakken and Eagle Ford shale oil projects in the U.S., which have created legitimate boom times in Texas and North Dakota.
Even at the lowest estimate, Coober Pedy is set to make Australia a net oil exporter; at the higher estimate, Australia would become one of the world's biggest oil exporters.
"What we're seeing up there is a very, very big deposit," says South Australia's mining minister, Tom Koutsantonis, "This is a key part to securing Australia's energy security now and into the future."
[/quote]Mumbai: India, the world's second largest producer of fruits and vegetables, throws away fresh produce worth Rs 13,300 crore every year because of the country's lack of adequate cold storage facilities and refrigerated transport, a report said."The value of fruits, vegetables and grains wastage in India, at Rs 44,000 crore annually."Fruits and vegetables account for the largest portion of that wastage. Eighteen percent of India's fruit and vegetable production valued at Rs 13,300 crore is wasted annually," according to data compiled in a new report by Emerson Climate Technologies India, a business of the US-based manufacturing and technology company Emerson.The report says that two of the biggest contributors to food losses are the lack of refrigerated transport as also the lack of high quality cold storage facilities for food manufacturers and food sellers.Without improvements to its cold chain infrastructure, from farm harvest to table, food problems in India, which is the world's second largest producer of fruits and vegetables, will remain vast and are likely to grow, warns the report.
In order to reach that target, the report says an investment of more than Rs 55,000 crore is needed by 2015-2016 just to keep up with growing fruit and vegetable production levels."While progress is being made, this report confirms the cold storage situation is more acute than many realise. Emerson is seeing this in the marketplace and we commissioned this report to keep the spotlight on the issue," said Pradipta Sen, president of Emerson's India, Middle East and Africa region.
The present draft text prepared in Geneva provides developing countries temporary relief of up to four years, during which they cannot be challenged under the agreement on agriculture if they cross the permissible food subsidy ceilings, but it does not provide such a guarantee under the agreement on subsidies and countervailing duties.
Stressing that procurement and public stockholding for food security are invaluable instruments used by developing countries to secure interests of the poor and vulnerable, Sharma urged updating of WTO rules under the agriculture agreement to “rectify inherent flaws” and help developing countries carry out such “legitimate” operations without defaulting on their commitments. “The G-33 proposal on food security aims to address the problems faced by developing countries due to outdated WTO rules which base agriculture subsidy calculation on external reference prices of 1986-88, even as global food prices have increased manifold during this period. It is surely reasonable that we should not be asked to peg farm support calculations on prices which were prevailing thirty years ago,” he added.