Indian Economy: News and Discussion (Jan 1 2010)

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 16 Dec 2010 21:21

Could the private sector savings appear to be low as they get siphoned off into off-shore accounts? How can household savings be so large but not the private sector. Its not like the household sector is parsimoniuos and private sector profligate.

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 16 Dec 2010 23:28

Those are good questions Ramana.

Take a look at this comparison chart it is even more startling.

There is nothing like the India Household savings in the world. It has been a consistent 25% despite the staggering dependency ratio and low female participation rate. Our house hold savings alone exceed that from the combined savings of almost all countries. China comes close maybe but they have been lower before and are going to decline rapidly soon.

But without increasing corporate savings rate and even government savings our growth rate is going to struggle to improve. Pretty much all the growth difference from China is due to this one indicator.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 16 Dec 2010 23:43

Not to be cyncial but if mango peole have access to Swiss banks even that will disappear. The need of the hour is to ensure private sector doesn't siphon of its savings via many loopholes. Need to trust the local economy. However with 2G type scams its difficult.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 16 Dec 2010 23:44

India has a long history of significant private gold ownership; I've read of total gold in India ranging between 20-50,000 tons. Neither the US, China nor any other major economy has it, and in recent decades US and China even outlawed private gold holdings over a certain small amount . If this gold is a significant component of private household savings, then it is not quite productive liquid savings, but a wealth preservation and inflation hedging mechanism. How it can be utilized as productive investment is a topic in itself.

People will hold their savings in the form that best assures its value and appreciation. For most Indians, gold is the choice option. In China, it was required by authority to hold savings deposits in one of the main state-run banks; gold ownership used to be (as I recall) banned. The US too applied fiat measures to prohibit private gold ownership, particularly after the Great Depression and FDRs measures to salvage the dollar . If Indians see consistent gains from other avenues - real estate, equities and debt etc, their holdings of gold will also progressively dwindle over time.

Theo: the chart (figure 3.7) 'Subsidies as % of GDP' on page 50 of Fiscal Developments and Public Finance from the current economic survey released during the last budget, has the blip you're interested in.

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 17 Dec 2010 00:13

As far as gold goes that is the Valuables indicator on the GFCF chart above. Yes it is a sizable total chunk. But annually it is only worth about $25 Billion. Pretty much a rounding error these days!

Also Indians are not fools. Recently we have been more or less net sellers of gold. As the price stays high more and more gold will be sold by India. I have no doubt that all these gold speculators will get crushed by the Indian ability to sell gold.

About a 1/3 of savings goes into fixed deposits and Demand Deposits. $125 Billion and $50 Billion respectively. Another huge chunk sits in Bank savings accounts. About $50 Billion appears to flow into the stock market every year, which is low IMO.

See this chart below.

This one shows the cash break down.

The more I think about it more it seems it will all come down to the corporate sector savings. From that perspective I'm getting more and more pissed off at Mukesh bhai's Antillia. The $1 Billion should have been part of corporate savings invested in our economy. Instead we get another Taj like white Elephant.

Look at the chart. The Philippines has more contribution from its corporate sector. Even Amrika gets more out of wall street.

P.S. Thanx Suraj. I looked at the chart. It looks like a Rs 75,000 crore blip. That about $16 Billion. Very close to the 2% of GDP blip in PSU savings one sees.

Neshant · Post by **Neshant** » 17 Dec 2010 05:47

Theo_Fidel wrote:The $1 Billion should have been part of corporate savings invested in our economy. Instead we get another Taj like white Elephant.

It was invested. The money went to the builders and construction workers.

I still think its an ugly eye sore however.

For a billion dollars, it should look spectacular like the Burg Al-Arab hotel made in the UAE.

Instead the thing looks like a multi-storey slum. The architech should be horse whipped for producing such an ugly design.

jamwal · Post by **jamwal** » 17 Dec 2010 15:38

What ?

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 18 Dec 2010 05:47

Visiting Chennai 6 month ago I was struck by how the most absolute destitute poverty has decline dramatically compared to the low base line I saw during my child hood. Slums once cleared stay cleared. Even the streets are getting cleaner. Sometimes slow change is hard to perceive.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Decli ... rty/726360

Decline and fall of Indian poverty

It was only a few months ago that the entire intelligentsia and its gatekeepers in our vibrant and loud press were talking about how vast tracts of land in India was occupied by the Maoists ( a leading development-oriented NGO, which more than occasionally had to resort to killings to bring the plight of the poor to the attention of the elite). Politicians vied with each other to differentiate the Maoists from other terrorist organisations. Meanwhile, the prestigious and respected National Advisory Council was busy manufacturing data and evidence to support the myth that development had failed to reach the poor. There has been a race to the bottom among these luminaries as to who could come up with a “better” statistic to worsen the picture of poverty alleviation in India.If ever my column title “No Proof Required” is applicable it is to the sorry state of affairs regarding discussion of poverty in India. Anything goes and went — especially after economic reforms were introduced in 1991. The poverty industry got a major boost to its market capitalisation as economists, particularly of the Left variety, vied for space and attention. Reforms could not possibly help the poor — they only made the rich richer and the poor poorer. We have all heard it before, ad nauseam.

Some other evidence is available from the NSS survey from July 2007 to June 2008. It was a “small sample survey” with 50,000 households rather than the regular 120,000 households, but still large enough for calculations of poverty. Results are presented for two poverty lines — the official Planning Commission and the new 20 per cent higher Tendulkar line. The results underline the dramatic improvement in poverty alleviation during the recent high growth period. Regardless of the poverty line used, or the region, poverty has declined at about three times the earlier pace. For the old official poverty line, the head count ratio of poverty declined by 0.9 per cent a year for the 22-year growth period of 1983 to 2004-05; in the subsequent three years, the rate of decline accelerated to 2.6 percentage points (ppt) per annum. For the higher Tendulkar poverty line, the rate of decline accelerated from -1 ppt a year to -3.3 ppt a year.The level of poverty indicated by the 2007-08 survey is 14 and 27 per cent, old and new lines respectively. To put these numbers in perspective, the Millennium Development Goals target of 15 per cent poor was to be reached by India in 2015. This suggests that the target was reached about a decade earlier. It needs to be emphasised that these poverty figures are as the raw figures indicate, that is, no adjustments have been made to the survey data. Indian NSS data are notorious for only capturing half of the per capita consumption that prevails in the country according to national accounts data. If adjustments are made, poverty will be considerably lower than even these low figures.Two conclusions follow. First, it is very likely that by the old definition of the poverty line, poverty in India is in single digits. Equally true that we should proceed towards substantially raising the poverty line, and do so on an objective rather than the convoluted manner of the Tendulkar report. My calculations are that the poverty line in India should be raised to about 30 per cent higher than the old poverty line, that is, the urban poverty line in 2010 should be Rs 1000 per capita per month and the rural poverty line should be Rs 650 per capita per month. This will yield the result that approximately 30 per cent of the population is poor in India. Still a large segment of the population and a reduction to zero that Indian policy should target — but without the chest-beating and the accompanying legislation of morality that the UPA seems to be so fond of.

Ambar · Post by **Ambar** » 18 Dec 2010 07:05

Theoji, about 'Graph 3' : I thought US had a -ve savings rate in 2007, but according to the chart it is almost 15%. Why so?

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 18 Dec 2010 09:02

US had negative household savings. Once you add untaxed retirement accounts that are kept separate it is a small positive. If you look carefully most of the savings is by private corporations in 2007.

Even household savings is positive now I believe.

P.S. No need for 'ji'.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Dec 2010 09:13

yes during recession it was atleast 5% if not more...it was trending upward.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 18 Dec 2010 23:45

Singha wrote:yes during recession it was atleast 5% if not more...it was trending upward.

Bank deposits are up by few Trillions in last 2 years . Some one on CNBC was claiming saving touching 7%.

jamwal · Post by **jamwal** » 19 Dec 2010 22:10

Neshant wrote:
Theo_Fidel wrote:The $1 Billion should have been part of corporate savings invested in our economy. Instead we get another Taj like white Elephant.
It was invested. The money went to the builders and construction workers.

Then's whats wrong with Chinese building empty ghost cities ?

ArmenT · Post by **ArmenT** » 19 Dec 2010 22:57

Neshant wrote:
Theo_Fidel wrote:The $1 Billion should have been part of corporate savings invested in our economy. Instead we get another Taj like white Elephant.
It was invested. The money went to the builders and construction workers.

I still think its an ugly eye sore however.

For a billion dollars, it should look spectacular like the Burg Al-Arab hotel made in the UAE.

Instead the thing looks like a multi-storey slum. The architech should be horse whipped for producing such an ugly design.

Small nitpick here: it didn't cost $1 billion to build the house, Mukesh Ambani reportedly only paid about $100 million to build it. However, with rising property values in Mumbai, it was worth $1 billion before it was completed (and latest reports seem to indicate that it is now worth closer to the $2 billion mark). Regardless, I still think it looks ridiculous. Architects were supposedly told to design it so that no two floors should look alike, so that might have put a constraint on the design. What I want to know is how he got the permits to build such an ugly structure.

However, it is his money and he is free to spend it any way he wants to.

abhischekcc · Post by **abhischekcc** » 20 Dec 2010 12:02

Maybe Mukesh told the architects to model the building on his looks.

amit · Post by **amit** » 20 Dec 2010 12:10

^^^^^

I think we should cut Mukesh bhai some slack. As Armen wrote he actually paid around $100 million or so for the construction. The $1 billion tag (actually in today's prices its close to $2 billion) is due to the property appreciating along with much of Mumbai. I'm sure we've got many Mumbaikar's on BRF who have bought houses in the 40-50 lakh range years ago which are today worth multi-crores. Does that make them profligate consumers of residential properties?

Folks like Larry Ellison (who is worth around $27 billion) own properties in the several hunderds of million dollars. Here's a WiKi comment:

Ellison styled his estimated $70 million Woodside, California, estate after feudal Japanese architecture, complete with a man-made 2.3-acre (9,300 m2) lake and an extensive seismic retrofit (37°24′44.34″N 122°14′51.40″W / 37.4123167°N 122.247611°W / 37.4123167; -122.247611). In 2004 and 2005, Ellison purchased more than 12 properties in Malibu, California, worth more than $180 million. The $65 million Ellison spent on five contiguous lots on Malibu's Carbon Beach was the most costly residential transaction in United States history until Ron Perelman sold his Palm Beach, Florida compound for $70 million later that same year.[31] His entertainment system cost $1 million, and includes a rock concert-sized video projector at one end of a drained swimming pool, using the gaping hole as a giant subwoofer.

The only difference is that property in the US does not appreciate as fast as it does in Mumbai.

abhischekcc · Post by **abhischekcc** » 20 Dec 2010 22:14

And property in India :does not fall as fast as in the US either :mrgreen

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 21 Dec 2010 00:58

Property inflation in India is a function of shortage rather than any real investment. Typically a large chunk of value increase is due to upgrading infrastructure, better security, building codes, etc. Not in India however. Per the report below we are short about 27 million units just in our Urban areas. There is a total stock of about 220 million houses of which about 120 million are 'katcha' or nearly so and will have to be rebuilt. Esp. low cost housing. We need something like $200 Billion every year for the next 20 years just to fix this one problem.

Against this demand we are only building 2.5 million urban units per year as against about 1 million a year in 2001. In five years we will be doing 5 million units a years and should begin to cut into that backlog. 5 million a year would mean about 100 million units by 2030. Enough for about 500-600 million people. The real shortage is for low cost units. In the 400 sqft/5-10 lakh a unit range. Something a dual income family bringing in about Rs10,000 /month can afford.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=w ... dS05o5Ns_A

According to one estimate, the urban housing backlog in India is 27 million units,
and a major part of it is in the low-income category. With congestion and obsolescence
included, this count rises to approximately 71.75 million units. Of the total housing stock
of 211.86 million units (2006 data), 72 percent are in rural areas and 45 percent are
nonpermanent structures.

It is estimated that, at the beginning of 2006, the total housing stock in the country
stood at 211.86 million units (153.03 million units in rural areas and 58.83 million
units in urban areas), against s total 222.93 million households (156.63 million
households in rural areas and 66.30 million households in urban areas). In 2001,
there had been 187.1 million houses and 191.96 million households... ... According to the NSSO, of the total estimated housing stock in
2002, 117.63 million houses were pucca houses, 65.53 million units were semi-pucca
houses, and the remaining 28.70 million units were kutcha houses needing replacement
(table C.2). For housing other than pucca construction, formal financing is
unavailable because of the added risks.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 21 Dec 2010 09:28

Nothing new for BRF or this thread, just a formal Bloomberg article: India cannot find enough skilled labourers for $1 trillion infrastructure plan

Vimla, 26, wipes the dust from her forehead with a faded blue sari and fills a round metal dish with broken stones that she carries, barefoot, across a building site as part of the construction of New Delhi’s Metro.

“My job doesn’t need any training,” said Vimla, who only uses one name. She would have to make about 800 trips to carry the load of India’s most common small dump truck. Pointing to her supervisor, a man in a hard hat, she says: “I do what he says. If I was educated, maybe I could do his job.”

Builders including Larsen & Toubro Ltd., India’s biggest engineering company, say that while India has millions of unskilled workers like Vimla, it doesn’t have enough trained masons, carpenters and machine operators to construct the roads, railways and ports it needs.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said last month that infrastructure is the biggest bottleneck to faster economic growth. His government plans to spend $1 trillion to boost the expansion rate to 10 percent, from 7.4 percent last fiscal year.

“Lack of skilled workers impacts on all three fronts: quality, delivery and costs,” said K.V. Rangaswami, president of construction at Mumbai-based Larsen. “Skills cannot be imparted overnight.” He said the lack of a trained workforce will be a major setback to the economy if the shortage isn’t solved.

The world’s fastest-growing major economy after China will expand 9.7 percent in 2010 and 8.4 percent the following year, the International Monetary Fund said Oct. 6. India is ranked at 91 of 139 nations for its quality of infrastructure, behind Ethiopia and Indonesia, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index.

“Shortage of a skilled labor force is one of the challenges that construction companies will have to deal with as India steps up infrastructure plans,” said Mahesh Patil, who oversees about $3 billion as head of domestic equities at Birla Sun Life Asset Management Co. in Mumbai. “Our outlook is positive for construction companies as we expect execution of projects to improve.”

India’s construction industry is the nation’s biggest employer after agriculture. It had about 31.5 million workers, 83 percent of them unskilled, in 2005, according to a report last year by the New Delhi-based National Skill Development Corp. More than three out of four of those laborers are in transport network and port projects, with the rest in real estate, it said. Construction is expected to employ 83 million people by 2022, the report said.

Vasu · Post by **Vasu** » 21 Dec 2010 11:09

My belief is that the next decade will again belong to science and engineering.

The 90's belonged to the IT industry, I think this decade was all about finance/stocks/MBA etc, and I think next decade will again see a rise in engineering, applied and pure sciences.

There was a news recently that many engineering colleges have applied to end their IT engineering course. Now it could be that those colleges weren't in demand for that course anyway, or it could be that colleges see the demand for core engineering courses picking up.

Ah, found it.

1,000 Engineering colleges request closure of IT course

All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the overseeing body for technical education said about 1,000 engineering institutes have applied applications for closure of IT departments in their respective colleges. Most colleges reasoned that this was a necessity as the demand for IT seats had come down and the placement of IT graduates had become very difficult for the colleges.

Colleges said that if AICTE was not happy with the closure, it could at least give a leeway for the colleges to convert the seats of IT to the remaining other technical departments like Mechanical and civil.

amit · Post by **amit** » 21 Dec 2010 11:16

IMO, what is needed is a major revamp of our Polytechnic institutions and setting up of thousands of institutes of technical education (for jobs like fitters, welders etc). Unfortunately there's no money in these (aka capitation fees) and so it's unlikely the private sector would chip in to set up such institutes. It's the GoI call. Unfortunately ...
The IT industry in some respect has tackled the talent crunch by working with colleges and universities and even doing in house training. The problem with the construction industry is they can't match that. IT has a gross margin in the region of 15-20 per cent while construction is in single digits and so there's not enough money to go around for these projects. An L&T perhaps can do it but one company doing it is not enough.
IMO this will be one of the greatest governance challenge in the coming decade.

Vasu · Post by **Vasu** » 21 Dec 2010 12:04

I agree Amit. There's a huge, huge gap in this part of technical education. The ITI's were supposed to take in thousands of youth and train them to be fitters, welders, carpenters, etc, which in turn could have been a huge talent pool for the SME's. I actually know of a carpenter, an educated person, who had an opportunity to do an engineering degree or join an ITI for professional training in carpentry, and he chose the latter, and I think he's doing quite well for himself and family. Of course this was a while ago.

Even in engineering, more and more youth are backing away from jobs that require them to be on the ground.

Indian infrastructure has all the menial labour and machines, all the financial wizards to come up with the business plan, all the global design and architecture firms to design stuff, but very few leaders on the ground to implement it within time and within budget. Project management is a huge gap in our abilities.

And you're quite right that major construction companies are investing in creating a captive talent pool that has the required skills and abilities. Not just L&T, but quite a few companies are doing it.

Apart from the training, the company also has to prevent that the employee is poached soon after he/she is trained (which is quite prevalent), and for this there is a host of additional benefits the company provides, such as school for kids, home for the family etc.

vera_k · Post by **vera_k** » 21 Dec 2010 12:12

There's a cultural issue in India too as the article points out. Contruction work is somehow viewed as not the kind of work to get into. I suspect this mostly has to do with the kind of wages that the employees get, so there has to be a cultural change to pay these workers wages equal to or greater than that found in government service or IT labour.

vera_k · Post by **vera_k** » 21 Dec 2010 12:47

Vibrant Gujarat invitations are out.

Linky

jamwal · Post by **jamwal** » 21 Dec 2010 12:52

Onion prices sky rocket again

The real reason why onion prices are driving you to tears

The government on Monday was forced to suspend onion exports till January 15 as retail prices of the vegetable skyrocketed to as much as Rs 70-90 a kg in the Capital. It is feared that the rates may soar to Rs 100 per kg in the near future. A supply crunch and a lack of farsightedness on part of the government has forced Delhiites and the rest of the nation to pay through the nose for a bagful of onions.

Prices of the vegetable have been steadily shooting up in the past few weeks. Onion prices — which were already high at Rs 30-40 a kg — have now doubled to `80-90 a kg in retail markets in the Capital in the past four days.

This was mainly because exports were allowed to continue despite a decline in the supply caused by unseasonal rains in the country’s onion-growing regions of Maharashtra, Gujarat and the southern states.

Trade sources said onions were being exported to Dubai, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The Centre is acutely aware of the fact that soaring onion prices had brought down one government in the past when consumers gave vent to their anger at the polling booths. (AoA) So on Monday, it took hasty steps to rein in the rocketing rates. It asked regulating agency Nafed to stop giving fresh clearances to onion exporters.

How is it in other places ?

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 21 Dec 2010 15:33

jamwal wrote:How is it in other places ?

Rs.50/kg in the suburbs of Bengaluru. In the city it may increase by another Rs.5. And that too not the best quality stuff.

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 21 Dec 2010 15:43

60/kg in kolkata.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 21 Dec 2010 16:31

even earlier I could see swings in quality in same shop (SPAR). sometimes nice, unbroken skin and dry, sometimes broken peeling skin, bit damp and ugly looking. on those occasions I would avoid buying or do a very careful selection.

Dileep · Post by **Dileep** » 21 Dec 2010 16:43

Well, TFTA Onions are coming from the land of pure. Jingoes 'jaagrathai!!'

niran · Post by **niran** » 21 Dec 2010 17:31

Rs 35 INR/kg here, best quality Poona ka Pyaj.

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 21 Dec 2010 18:43

Dileep wrote:Well, TFTA Onions are coming from the land of pure. Jingoes 'jaagrathai!!'

You should wait a little. You will get choicest of pyaj at Rs. 85 per kg .It is called Pawar ka Pyaj.

Coming soon CON-Gress ka Pyaj Rs. 100 per Kg.

If you wait long enough you will get manmohani Pyaj and Mafioso Pyaj. Price Don't ask don't tell.

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 21 Dec 2010 19:48

vera_k wrote:There's a cultural issue in India too as the article points out. Contruction work is somehow viewed as not the kind of work to get into. I suspect this mostly has to do with the kind of wages that the employees get, so there has to be a cultural change to pay these workers wages equal to or greater than that found in government service or IT labour.

Well, if there is a shortage of workers, shouldn't the wages automatically go up due to the demand-supply gap?

vera_k · Post by **vera_k** » 21 Dec 2010 22:17

You'd think so, but the article makes no mention of wage inflation. I'd imagine it'd be news if such inflation had set in. In fact, the article mentions that people want to shun skilled trades because wages in other areas are higher.

abhischekcc · Post by **abhischekcc** » 21 Dec 2010 23:24

nachiket wrote:
vera_k wrote:There's a cultural issue in India too as the article points out. Contruction work is somehow viewed as not the kind of work to get into. I suspect this mostly has to do with the kind of wages that the employees get, so there has to be a cultural change to pay these workers wages equal to or greater than that found in government service or IT labour.
Well, if there is a shortage of workers, shouldn't the wages automatically go up due to the demand-supply gap?

That is not quite to the point. You should see how proudly the workers wear their coloured hard hats. It is proof for some of them that they have 'arrived'.

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 21 Dec 2010 23:31

abhischekcc wrote:
nachiket wrote: Well, if there is a shortage of workers, shouldn't the wages automatically go up due to the demand-supply gap?
That is not quite to the point. You should see how proudly the workers wear their coloured hard hats. It is proof for some of them that they have 'arrived'.

I didn't get you. Are you saying that the workers won't even demand more pay because they are already satisfied that they have "arrived"?

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 22 Dec 2010 00:08

Onions

Nagercoil - Rs 25 / Kg
Chennai - Rs 60 /Kg

Onions are very sensitive to rain. And it has been raining a LOT in TN.
The vegetable that has really inflated is Drum stick. Rs 150 / kg !!

Brinjal, Tomatos and Ladies fingers are really cheap right now.
Cabbage and Potato are really really cheap at Rs 15 a KG right now.

Virupaksha · Post by **Virupaksha** » 22 Dec 2010 00:10

Theo_Fidel wrote: Cabbage and Potato are really really cheap at Rs 15 a KG right now.

15 a KG is cheap

, seems like a neanderthal already.

I bought potatoes for 8 a kg in hyd just 2 years ago.

Rahul Mehta · Post by **Rahul Mehta** » 22 Dec 2010 09:51

vera_k wrote:There's a cultural issue in India too as the article points out. Contruction work is somehow viewed as not the kind of work to get into. I suspect this mostly has to do with the kind of wages that the employees get, so there has to be a cultural change to pay these workers wages equal to or greater than that found in government service or IT labour.

nachiket wrote:Well, if there is a shortage of workers, shouldn't the wages automatically go up due to the demand-supply gap?

The wages are high in place where there is plenty of work, but in those places, rents and food costs are also are also very high. So the labors who work there end up with no significant savings. eg In Ahmedabad, some builders are paying as much as Rs 150 /day to carry bricks, 50% more than Rs 100 that was paid 2 years back. But illicit liquor price in Ahmedabad has increased from Rs 30 a liter to Rs 80 a liter, food prices have doubled and slum rents have also doubled in past 2 years. So labor from low paying areas like Tribals areas are less keen to come to Ahmedabad. Nevertheless, they do come, as jobs in tribal areas are next to none.

=====

Newspapers have given 100s of articles on why vegetable prices have increased. Most articles are nonsense. The real reason why prices are increasing is because rupee M3 manufacturing by RBI, SBI, BoB, ICICI and many other banks. Due to rampant rupee M3 manufacturing, prices of everything has increased. Yes, for some sharp increases like onions, the reason is corruption of MMS, Rajmata, Pawar, Pranav Mukherjee etc and non-seasonal rains. But broad reason is rupee M3 manufacturing.

.

Vikas · Post by **Vikas** » 22 Dec 2010 10:57

Onion being sold at Rs.67/kg in my neighborhood Reliance Fresh store. What is wrong with our Govt that we still have to pray to rain gods for prices of basic commodity like onion/tomato.
How much money all these folks in Govt want to make before they can say enuff

Pranav · Post by **Pranav** » 22 Dec 2010 11:35

“I really do not understand the concept of ‘no-go’ areas. If you declare nearly 30 per cent of coal-bearing areas as ‘no-go’, then does it mean that we should lower our growth projections?” Ahluwalia told The Indian Express. “I hope Jairam (Ramesh) understands the implications,” Ahluwalia added.

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news ... ek/727893/