ravi_ku wrote:Is 6 months of cheaper supply of oil worth "XYZ" amount of trouble for India, say shutting out of Iraq oil or restrictions on outsourcing or black listing companies like ONGC, Reliance? What will our counter response be?
The front companies need not be ongc or reliance. And it isn't as one-way as you make it out to be as far as restrictions on outsourcing etc goes. How about we kick out evil companies like Cargill and Monsanto in retaliation ? And we are a big market too that uncle sam would not want to miss out on or mess with. We have oil needs we should get it from wherever it is available on favourable terms regardless of whether the source country is within uncle's control or not.
ravi_ku wrote:In our rush to befriend Iran, should we forget that we get our oil also from Saudi, UAE which are born enemies of Iran? Is there any need RIGHT NOW to pick sides?
Haven't those Wahabbi fundies done enough damage to us already and let every one on our wanted-list escape unscathed to bakistan ? Sorry for OT mods. last on this one.
PrasadZ wrote: The only other usage of INR for Iran is to invest in Indian assets (but GOI has stringent limits on its debt being held by foreigners, so the realistic options are private sector debt or equity).
No. They can always buy commercial products from us with INR.
In the long run, pull out of WTO and run on bilateral trade agreements and bilateral INR based Free Trade Agreements renewable every 5 years. Avoid any trade agreement with Dragon. This will stop the continued slaughter of local manufacturing and trade deficits. All trade with Dragon on centralized approval basis. Trade with the rest of the world.
Last edited by Arya Sumantra on 06 Jan 2011 19:50, edited 1 time in total.
Acharya wrote:
International bankers are the key
RBI needs to seek independence and autonomy for Indian economy and monetary policy
Unless it is held hostage to diktats of the international bankers
Acharya, your response seems most plausible to me. May be Indian economy is not matured enough, i.e. it still needs more monetary flexibility, which India may lose if INR starts getting used as currency for international trade. We can see some evidence of loss of some freedom with regards to monetary policy in the criticism US faced for its recent quantitative easing. RBI's hesitation may have something to do with that.
Uttam wrote:
Acharya, your response seems most plausible to me. May be Indian economy is not matured enough, i.e. it still needs more monetary flexibility, which India may lose if INR starts getting used as currency for international trade. We can see some evidence of loss of some freedom with regards to monetary policy in the criticism US faced for its recent quantitative easing. RBI's hesitation may have something to do with that.
India will need political influence and global influence before it can start controlling its INR trade in the rest of the world. Political, military and economic critical mass is required before the next step
Indian rupee futures were the exchange's biggest success story of 2010 accounting for 480,725 contracts over the year, a growth of 625 per cent from 2009.Sajith Kumar, Chief Executive and Director at JRG International Brokerage, Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), said: "DGCX has shown tremendous performance in 2010 by providing more liquidity than past years and by giving more trust to investors and traders, especially those based in the Middle East and India."This has helped traders and investors to focus on a commodity exchange based in the Middle East for their investment and trades. India's business class particularly enjoyed the rupee trading facility as DGCX is the only exchange permitted to trade legally on rupee outside of India."The launch of new currencies such as the Australian dollar, Swiss franc and Canadian dollar also helped DGCX to perform in 2010. DGCX has an incredible infrastructure as well as experienced brokers to help it scale further heights in 2011."
Nihat wrote:Warning bells ringing on India story in New Year Analysts with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) this week said India was not ready for 9% growth while ratings company Crisil said, “If the progress on infrastructure stumbles, even maintaining 8.4% (its average growth forecast for FY12 to FY16) growth would be difficult.”
Even china with high inflation was never downgraded. This is a false rating to put pressure on Indian ruling class to give concession to the negotiators or to keep a check in the UN SC.
Projecting India's economy to grow by 8.75 per cent in 2010-11 with a moderation to about 8 per cent during the next fiscal, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has highlighted elevated inflation and complications in macroeconomic management as the near-term challenges confronting the authorities and called for further monetary action by the Reserve Bank of India to contain the price spiral.
The report maintained that infrastructure would remain an important growth driver and corporate investment would accelerate, aided by conducive financing conditions and robust demand growth. “India's medium-term growth prospects remain strong. The economy is expected to continue to expand rapidly, supported by high investment and productivity gains.''
“Improving social outcomes and infrastructure are two key pillars of the government's strategy to achieve rapid and inclusive growth,” it said.
The IMF has estimated India's current account deficit (CAD) to touch 3.3 per cent of GDP in 2010-11 and rise to 3.5 per cent next year. While so far, the deficit has been financed mainly by foreign direct investment and equity inflows, the authorities need to keep an eye on the CAD level, it said.
SwamyG wrote:Ravi: It is wise to befriend some countries in the ME. Why not start with the Perisans?
India refiner rushes for Iran oil on supply fears http://www.dailytimes.com.pk
NEW DELHI: India’s top buyer of Iranian crude is seeking as much as 2.6 million barrels from the spot market, in the face of any possible supply disruption due to a payments row between the two countries.
India’s central bank said in December payments to Iran could no longer be settled through a longstanding clearing house system run by central banks, prompting fears India’s $12 billion annual oil imports from Iran could be threatened. Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd rarely buys low sulphur, or sour, crude in the spot market as it imports about 150,000 barrels per day from Iran on a long-term basis. “The tenders are due to the Iran issue. No one knows what will happen,” a source with direct knowledge of MRPL’s trade operations said. “MRPL has to float tenders to hedge itself and arrange for supplies in advance.”
MRPL last bought high sulphur, sweet, crude oil through a tender in July. In the first signs that the payments row with Iran is beginning to impact the global crude market, the refiner this week issued tenders to buy 1.3 million barrels of sour crude in two equal sized parcels for lifting in February and March, and 650,000 barrels of sweet crude for Februay. A fourth tender seeking the supply of 650,000 barrels sweet grades for March lifting was issued on Monday. Traders said it was expected as MRPL had not taken a February Nile Blend cargo from its parent firm Oil and Natural Gas Corp.
“At the time of finalisation of the four tenders it will take a call on whether to issue more tender or not,” the source said. “Also by then clarity is expected to emerge on a payment mechanism.” MRPL’s Managing Director UK Basu declined comment. “I’m sure we’ll see more of these tenders, especially for MRPL,” said Praveen Kumar, who heads consultancy FACTS Global Energy’s South Asia oil and gas team. “They are highly reliant on Iranian crude.”
Iran is India’s second biggest crude oil supplier after Saudi Arabia, accounting for about 13 percent of its crude imports. The Indian decision came within weeks of US President Barack Obama visiting New Delhi. Washington praised the move, saying it would reduce what it sees is a misuse of funds by Iran to support its nuclear activity, which the West suspects has military aims.
On Tuesday, Iran offered a stop-gap plan for oil supplies to India for January, but a lasting solution to the row over how to pay for supplies may take weeks.’ Meeting on iran: India’s Oil Minister Murli Deora on Wednesday said he hoped the payment impasse would be resolved soon. A senior Indian finance ministry source told Reuters that a meeting of stakeholders had been called on Jan. 7 in New Delhi to work out a solution to the payments row. Iran has suggested Indian firms open an account in the Iran-owned Frankfurt-based EIH bank.
The companies have asked the State Bank of India to open an account in EIH to transfer money into the central bank of Iran, which in turn will pay it into a National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) account. A senior SBI official told Reuters that while SBI had no problems routing oil payments through EIH, clarity was needed on issues of international sanctions facing that bank.
The US Treasury Department in September sanctioned EIH for facilitating billions of dollars of transactions with Iranian banks that the United States and European Union have blacklisted for aiding Iran’s nuclear or missile programs. MRPL normally buys seven to eight cargoes in a month from Iran which include Iran Heavy and Iran Mix grades. The first source said MRPL has not yet made freight payment for some of its shipments of Iranian crude. reuters
India could be fastest growing economy by 2050: PwC
That could mean that by 2050, India will overtake all G7 countries, save the US, to become the world's third largest economy, with a projected GDP of $31,313 billion. China, currently the world's third largest economy, will move to the No. 1 spot by 2040, with an estimated GDP of $51,180 billion by 2050. “The renewed dominance of China and India is a return to the historic norm prior to the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and 19th centuries that caused a shift in global economic power from Asia to Western Europe and the US,” said John Hawksworth, chief economist at PwC. “This temporary shift in power is now going into reverse.” India, China and the US will account for a staggering 50 per cent of the world GDP.
I am struggling to understand why RBI will have a problem with payment in INR.......
......So why is RBI so hesitant about payments to Iran in INR?
Most plausible reason is that this rupee outflow will give rise to a legitimate offshore Indian rupee market...operating beyond the nominal control of the RBI. After all you cannot then dictate to the Iranians as to what they can and cannot do with the rupees they get for the crude oil. And under the cover of this legitimate Iranian origin rupee market all kinds of people with black money from India will operate with impunity...operating at times counter to the then monetary policy of the RBI.
This is however part of the normal growth cycle of an expanding economy. And the RBI will sooner rather than later have to take the bull by the horns.
India could be fastest growing economy by 2050: PwC
That could mean that by 2050, India will overtake all G7 countries, save the US, to become the world's third largest economy, with a projected GDP of $31,313 billion. China, currently the world's third largest economy, will move to the No. 1 spot by 2040, with an estimated GDP of $51,180 billion by 2050. “The renewed dominance of China and India is a return to the historic norm prior to the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and 19th centuries that caused a shift in global economic power from Asia to Western Europe and the US,” said John Hawksworth, chief economist at PwC. “This temporary shift in power is now going into reverse.” India, China and the US will account for a staggering 50 per cent of the world GDP.
We live in times where quarterly prognosis of the health of a economy is impossible,let alone foresee something 40 years down the lane! The developed world, middle of the road BRICs and their like, and developing world all have their own set of problems that only seem to get worse each year. So projections for 2050 are meaningless in my opinion.
Ain't unintended consequences wonderful? UPA decided to go slow on reforms the last 6 years or so, but Iran might do more to pull India forward kicking and screaming than the government could. Probably USA will be okay with it too if this forces those financial sector reforms they are hankering after.
Nihat wrote:Warning bells ringing on India story in New Year Analysts with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) this week said India was not ready for 9% growth while ratings company Crisil said, “If the progress on infrastructure stumbles, even maintaining 8.4% (its average growth forecast for FY12 to FY16) growth would be difficult.”
Even china with high inflation was never downgraded. This is a false rating to put pressure on Indian ruling class to give concession to the negotiators or to keep a check in the UN SC.
I would believe nothing of what RBS said. If they are so good are
forecasting can they explain why they could not forecast their own
demise?
^^ LOL! An uncle of mine lost a ton of money with RBC which was supposed to manage his wealth. Instead they managed him into a financial mess!
Gotta love the way rating agencies and banks go on issuing ratings after massively f-ing up the economy with crap ratings. They pretend as if nothing happened.
“The Rangarajan Committee rejected the NAC proposals on the grounds that further raising of procurement levels would ‘lead to a lower availability of foodgrain for the open market, pushing up prices'.”
It is the fate of most advisory committees that the government accepts whatever advice suits its purposes and ignores the rest. The first version of the National Advisory Council (NAC-1) managed to avoid that fate to some extent, due to favourable circumstances. NAC-1 was able to persuade the government to enact the Right to Information Act, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, and the Forest Rights Act, aside from other initiatives. None of these proposals were accepted without change by the government — for instance, the NREGA draft prepared by NAC-1 was severely diluted before being tabled in Parliament (it was “repaired” later on, with some help from the Parliament's Standing Committee on Rural Development and the Left Parties). Nevertheless, NAC-1 was instrumental in ushering constructive legislations and policies that would, in all likelihood, never have seen the light of day through normal government channels. This lent it some credibility, in spite of all the ambiguities attached to this unconventional body.
The second version of the National Advisory Council (NAC-2), however, has been convened in very different circumstances, and does not seem to have the ear of the government. A few weeks ago, NAC-2 drew the government's attention to its fundamental duty to pay minimum wages to NREGA workers. This issue required some resolve and application of mind, because framing a sustainable wage policy for NREGA that respects the Minimum Wages Act is not a simple matter. Instead of tackling this issue, the government stuck to the inadmissible claim that NREGA has been “delinked from minimum wages”, and tried to make up for it by indexing the wages of NREGA workers (with a provision for revising the base wages every five years).
Under the guise of meeting the NAC half-way, the government has made matters worse, by reaffirming its commitment to non-payment of minimum wages to NREGA workers. Even the indexation of wages is little more than damage control. In a fast-growing economy, the least one would expect from a government committed to “inclusive growth” is that it enables the poorest of the poor to maintain their share of the pie. That would mean indexing the wages of NREGA workers not only on the price level, but also on something like the growth rate of per-capita GDP. When per-capita incomes in the economy are growing at more than five per cent per year in real terms, why should those of NREGA workers be kept constant for as long as five years, without any guarantee of upward revision at the end of that tunnel? Yet far from being taken to task for its stinginess, the government managed to get credit for raising the wages of NREGA workers in line with inflation, that too after two years of incessant public pressure. This is like agreeing to stop trampling on the hands of someone who is hanging from the roof of a high-rise building by his fingernails, and getting a prize for it.
The NAC recommendations on the National Food Security Bill (NFSB) are in danger of going the same way if not worse. These recommendations are very mild, coming as they did at the end of a long process of consultation with various Ministries, when the government went out of its way to ensure that the NAC did not hatch any “unreasonable” proposal. But even the residue appears to be too much for the government's tiny stomach. Even before the NAC recommendations were adequately fleshed out, they were referred to an “expert committee” consisting entirely of government officials. This committee, headed by Dr. C. Rangarajan, must be commended for its timely deliberations and sharp report. But the conclusions make one wonder why the government wasted the NAC's time: the Rangarajan committee recommendations are almost exactly the same as the Planning Commission's NFSB proposal, formulated before the NAC started its work. If anything, they are more conservative: the Rangarajan committee suggests selling PDS foodgrain to non-BPL households at the Minimum Support Price (MSP), instead of 75 per cent of MSP as the Planning Commission had suggested.
The committee report
The Rangarajan Committee rejected the NAC proposals on the grounds that further raising of procurement levels would “lead to a lower availability of foodgrain for the open market, pushing up prices”. This argument is incorrect: higher procurement would also mean higher distribution, and the two would, in principle, approximately “cancel out” as far as the effect on market prices are concerned. Coming from a committee that includes at least two world-class economists, this failure of A-level economics is a little embarrassing. Could it be that the committee's judgment was clouded by a fundamental resistance to the idea that the ambit of the Public Distribution System should be expanded?
There is another glitch in the Rangarajan Committee report. The report recommends sweeping PDS reforms, whereby the food subsidy would be transferred directly to the beneficiaries through a Smart Card, usable in “any store”. The committee's faith in this entirely untested system is touching. But suppose it works. Most of the subsidised food would then find its way “through the normal market channels”, as the report happily notes. But in that case, where is the question of a procurement constraint?
For good measure, the Rangarajan Committee focuses exclusively on the PDS component of the NAC proposals, and ignores the non-PDS entitlements such as child nutrition programmes, maternity entitlements and destitute feeding. This jars with the committee's recognition of India's massive “nutritional deficiencies”, and also with its well-taken observation that better nutrition is “a necessary prerequisite for economic development”. A historic opportunity is being missed to do justice to these fundamental concerns.
The RBI officials have sought to clear the air over recent payment rules which some suggest will curb India's trade with Iran, especially in the oil sector, saying that the central bank actually aimed at facilitating it.
The move is aimed at helping importers, who are facing difficulties in settling payments through dollar or euro due to sanctions against Iran for nuclear proliferation, a key RBI official explained.
...
...
While the US has imposed ban on various imports from Iran and importers were finding it difficult to settle the payment in dollars, Europe has allowed oil imports from Iran.
However, European nations insist on a certificate from the importers that payment will be made only for oil imports. But importers are encountering problems because it is not clear as to who has to give the certificates, central banks or the bank which is guaranteeing the payment.
Also, the payments are made on net basis, making it difficult to go through the composition of trade. Under this method, if country A buys goods worth Rs 200 from country B, and country B has bought goods worth Rs 100 from country A, then A has to give only Rs 100 to B.
...
...
"... The RBI was first to identify the problem and battle the problem. RBI was ensuring that oil supplies come from Iran," Subbarao had said at the Second Business Standard Annual Lecture here
...
...
The UK is set to grow by an average of 2.3 per cent a year for the next 40 years, whereas China will grow by an average of 5.9 per cent, and India by 8.1 per cent. And by the half-way point of this century, not only will China be the world’s largest economy, India will be vying with the US for the second slot.
At a seminar last year, a participant asked if the numerous crises in India’s immediate neighborhood would limit the nation’s growth. This was some time after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asserted in May that “India would be unable to realize its full economic potential if it couldn’t reduce tensions with its neighbors, especially Pakistan.”
“Not at the moment, and not for the foreseeable future” I replied, “because the biggest bottlenecks to sustainable economic growth are domestic.”
Only after the most important reforms — creating a national common market, unshackling agriculture, liberalizing labor laws and fixing the education system — run their course might the situation in the neighborhood begin to matter.
In a recent paper demographics and India’s labor force, Tushar Poddar and Pragyan Deb of Goldman Sachs estimate that they see the Indian economy growing at an annual base rate of 8 percent. With the required reforms, the growth rate will increase to 9 percent, they said; with wrong policies, there is a risk that the rate will fall to 6.5 percent. V. Anantha Nageswaran, geoeconomics fellow at the Takshashila Institution, notes that the country’s “high savings rate and better capital efficiency will ensure [high growth rates] with little difficulty.” The neighborhood doesn’t register much in these assessments. Singh himself concedes as much.
On the contrary, the question for India’s immediate neighbors is whether or not they want to benefit from India’s growth. It’s their decision.
First Sri Lanka and now Bangladesh appear to have embarked on trajectories that make the most out of opportunities provided by both India and China. Pakistan — perhaps because its unaccountable elite are buttressed by liberal Western aid — is unconcerned with improving the lot of its own people.
That is its own problem. It is in India’s interests to improve trade with its crisis-ridden neighbor, but it won’t hurt the Indian economy much if that doesn’t happen.
Should Indian foreign policy attempt to resuscitate the Indira Doctrine?
Doing so would be limiting the vision of India’s capabilities and interests to what occurred during Indira Gandhi’s days, would be very challenging, of dubious strategic wisdom and perhaps unnecessary.
Why? Because India is playing on a much bigger field today. Indeed, New Delhi needs a Global Raja-Mandala doctrine.
So, for instance, if China seeks to gain influence in India’s immediate neighborhood, India can, and should do the same in China’s neighborhood. And elsewhere.
At least over a 5-8 year horizon most projections so far (e.g. the BRIC report) have proved to be conservative - the west has slowed much more than they projected, and BRIC, esp China and India, have grown much more than projected. Yes, a 40-year horizon for a projection is quite a long time, but so far things are coming along well from our perspective. There remain major challenges though, in particular:
* Focus on maintaining and increasing savings/GDP and investment/GDP
* Fixed asset creation. We're still way behind the curve despite Delhi Metro, IGI T3 etc.
* The demographic dividend requires continuous expansion of economic activity to create jobs.
* There needs to be a mature debate on the question of eminent domain and land management.
* GoI needs the mindset of working as a growing power, and the unapologetic pursuit of influence and resources accompanying it.
krisna wrote: India’s Biggest Challenge To Growth Isn’t in Pakistan
At a seminar last year, a participant asked if the numerous crises in India’s immediate neighborhood would limit the nation’s growth. This was some time after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asserted in May that “India would be unable to realize its full economic potential if it couldn’t reduce tensions with its neighbors, especially Pakistan.”
In the first place why this notion that Pakistan is a obstacle to India. This is a bogus argument that has been spread deliberately in the last 30 years.
But find out which nations beleive that and most likely they fund Pakistan more than others.
Ambar wrote:
We live in times where quarterly prognosis of the health of a economy is impossible,let alone foresee something 40 years down the lane! The developed world, middle of the road BRICs and their like, and developing world all have their own set of problems that only seem to get worse each year. So projections for 2050 are meaningless in my opinion.
No one can predict with great accuracy what will happen to us tomorrow or the next week, let alone countries and economies. Moreover, such reports come from institutions who sometimes are charged as being biased. But, having said that, such reports offer insight and trends as to what could happen in the future. If Tibet breaks away from China, who knows what will happen
NEW DELHI: If exports maintain an annual growth trend of 25 per cent, Indian exports can cross USD 500 billion by 2014-15 from USD 220 billion expected in the current fiscal, FIEO said today. India's apex exporters body Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President Ramu S Deora said emerging markets in Asia, Latin America, Africa and Middle-East countries would play an important role to achieve this ambitious target. "Out of USD 500 billion exports, major chunk will be contributed by Asia with a share of USD 230 billion with ASEAN alone importing more than USD 100 billion from India. Exports to Africa and Latin America will zoom," Deora told reporters. He said that Central Asian nations like Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries like Russia and Ukraine would also contribute in increasing Indian exports. However, he said that the country's exports to traditional destinations - the US and Europe - would go down to 15 and 10 per cent, respectively. Currently, the US and EU accounts for about 35 per cent of India's exports. "Share of Europe and North America will be down to 15 and 10 per cent, respectively as growth in advance economies will taper off," he added. India's exports grew by 29.5 per cent to USD 164.7 billion during April-December 2010-11. In December 2010, the shipments grew by 36.4 per cent year-on-year. In 2010-11, the outbound shipments are expected to touch USD 220 billion. Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar has said that demand for Indian goods are increasing in emerging markets. "Over USD 500 billion exports by 2014-15 would require a compund annual growth rate of about 25 per cent which is ambitious but definitely achievable," he said. The President asked the government to act immediately on the bottlenecks like infrastructure and reducing transaction cost to achieve the milestone. "Quantum jump in investment would be required in roads, ports, airports, containers, power and telecommunications, cold storage and refrigerated vans and warehouses, so as to augment the installed capacity," Deora said. He added that fluctuation in exchange rate hurts exporters and importers, so the government should consider full convertibility of Indian rupee to curb high volatility.
a visitor who has recently met a panel of high level govt and industry execs at a alumni conf in delhi said what he heard was although the official gdp growth figure was 8-9% , the real figure was estimated at around 14% due to various under reporting to reduce taxes and such.
GE Gets $750 Million Turbine Order for Reliance Plant
October 25, 2010, 1:20 PM EDT
By Rachel Layne and Rakteem Katakey
(Adds Saudi Arabian order in 10th paragraph.)
Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- General Electric Co., whose equipment generates about one-third of the world’s electricity, won India’s biggest single order for gas and steam turbines, to be used in the expansion of a Reliance Power Ltd. plant.
The turbines, which GE valued at more than $750 million including service agreements, will add 2,400 megawatts to the Samalkot plant in Andhra Pradesh state and start operating in 2012. The so-called combined-cycle plant will convert exhaust from a gas-turbine generator to power a steam-turbine generator, allowing extra power production without more fuel.
GE is tapping demand from emerging markets such as India, with more than $11 billion in energy product and service orders in the past two years. The discovery of natural gas in the Krishna-Godavari basin by Reliance Industries Ltd. in 2002 has helped India boost gas output at the fastest pace in the world.
“That is now driving some large, new gas allocations, so we see India as a very, very exciting market for combined-cycle gas-turbine power really for the foreseeable future,” said Paul Browning, the vice president for global thermal products at the GE Power & Water unit.
India has pledged to provide nationwide electricity by 2012, requiring an installed capacity of 200 gigawatts to sustain a growth rate of 8 percent, according to the power ministry’s website.
India’s Electricity Production
GE has more than 250 gas turbines already in India, providing about 12 gigawatts in the country, Browning said. The country had 165 gigawatts as of Sept. 30, according to the Central Electricity Authority. Today’s order includes a 15-year service contract, helping lock in a stream of revenue over time.
GE’s six Frame 9FA gas turbines will be built in Greenville, South Carolina, while the three D-11 steam turbines will be made in Schenectady, New York, GE said.
Reliance Power plans to increase electricity-generation capacity eightfold to 5,000 megawatts in two years and to 25,000 megawatts by 2015, billionaire Chairman Anil Ambani told shareholders Sept. 28. Reliance Power currently produces 600 megawatts, he said in a televised speech at the time.
GE, which is also pursuing nuclear plant contracts in India through its joint venture with Hitachi Ltd., expects growth in gas-fired plants during the next decade in part because nuclear power takes longer to implement and gas provides more flexibility, Browning said.
Earlier this month, GE announced agreements valued at about $700 million to supply natural-gas based turbines and services in Saudi Arabia.
Energy Revenue
GE Energy Infrastructure, of which the power and water division is a part, provided $37 billion of the Fairfield, Connecticut-based parent company’s $157 billion in sales last year. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt is raising research and development spending by 18 percent this year -- including 21 percent in the third quarter -- to help bolster product demand, including for U.S. exports.
GE climbed 6 cents to $16.12 at 12:57 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have risen 6.5 percent this year.
Reliance Power shares gained 0.3 percent to 160.30 rupees in Mumbai trading today compared with a 0.7 percent increase in the benchmark Sensitive Index. The stock has risen about 3 percent this year.
Deora said. He added that fluctuation in exchange rate hurts exporters and importers, so the government should consider full convertibility of Indian rupee to curb high volatility.
Why can't India take the Iranian route instead - trade in Rupees as much as possible?
Full convertibility amounting to putting one's **s in US's hands. US is well known to squeeze them at the wrong time and wrong place.
Full convertibility increases volatility(Euro, AUD, CAD are more volatile than INR) not decreases it. I don't know how the honorable minister got that idea.
Full convertibility is dangerous in the present circumstances given global macroeconomic weaknesses. When India becomes a $10 Trillion economy it can probably consider it.
Sharad Pawar is totally responsible for this price rise
His polices are going to bring India down to her knees being a developing country to the most underdeveloped country.
He should resign being a minister in the central govt and allow others in his own party to work a bit more sensibly without making huge money rahter with some national interest.
The row broke out after Rahul Gandhi, family scion of India's most famous dynasty and a potential future prime minister for Congress, sought to blame the "compulsions" of a coalition government for the failure to control inflation and corruption.
Industrial output growth falls to 18-month low at 2.7%
HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times
Email Author
New Delhi, January 12, 2011
India’s industrial production growth fell to 2.7% year-on-year in November, the slowest in 18 months from over 11.3% growth in the previous month, adding to worries of the government’s macro-economic managers who are grappling for options to sustain growth while keeping prices under check.
“We shall have to look into (the fall in factory output growth) and take corrective measures so that IIP numbers revive in the remaining four months,” finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said.
Sharad Pawar is totally responsible for this price riseHis polices are going to bring India down to her knees being a developing country to the most underdeveloped country.
He should resign being a minister in the central govt and allow others in his own party to work a bit more sensibly without making huge money rahter with some national interest.
Thats total BS saying PAWAR alone is responsible and if he resigns everything will be Hunky Dory. It is the mismanagement in the Central Government and State Governments, over involvement of activists in Key Central Government posts and increase in General corruption, poor implementation of policies, bad policies for election results, Black marketers in Trader lobbies, powerful groups who make black money from trading activities, global oil prices, global demand for food, increase in population which is responsible for this. There is no quick fix solution.
If it was UPA will ask Pawar to resign today but they wont,they will keep the Pawar bogey to keep going, they will wait for Prices to Qrest SUper High levels ask to him to resign, appoint a Congress Minister when market forces will bring prices down and claim credit for reducing prices. What everbody will forget is that in 5 years prices have gone 300% but come down 33% leading to an overall increase of 200%. only the 33% decline will be highlighted.
Having said that with global population increase, an increase in prices of food items is inveitable, but how much of the price rise due to bad policies is the question?
In Indian politics when public anger and demand is there, the politicians tend to be flexible and take public interest into account seriously. In such senses Indian politicians have even changed their political strategies due to public pressure. But having tasted the power of money, Pawar is not a person who is going to easily give up or change some of his exporting policies due to public pressure. He always knows that he can hide behind the Congress trying to get them all blamed for his undoing and also can use a threat of withdrawing the support and so Congress has to keep quiet and make sure their folks donot criticise. Ofcouse Congress is certainly part of this whole saga!
While the blame lies at everybody in that bloody government's door, Sharad Pawar has been the most visible example of dereliction of duties at the highest level of government.
He is only there because he heads the NCPee. He himself said he does not want such a heavy portfolio and wants a lighter portfolio so he can focus on making money as the head of the ICC. 2010 was indeed a shocking year, even by Indian political standards.
But since he is part Da Coalition, he can't be touched (yet?). The difference between his party and another stalwart party, the DMK, is that he himself is the seniormost party leader, as opposed to A Raja and thus possibly untouchable, hence the anguish from the CONgress.
Having said that with global population increase, an increase in prices of food items is inveitable, but how much of the price rise due to bad policies is the question?
Commodity prices are in the hands of few global bankers and elites.
The November Industrial growth data looks pretty odd. On the base of the trend growth in recent months, I would term it an anomaly due to a combination of factors - tight liquidity resulting in low loan growth, high base effect, heavy monsoons dampening core sector output (cement/steel) as well as the big blip in petroleum products outputs due to Reliance Jamnagar refinery being down for maintenance this autumn. Unless there's at least 2-3 months of low growth, there's no reason to be particularly concerned. Early December production data (e.g. car sales) already indicates robust economic activity. On the liquidity condition: Deposit growth jumps 16.4% at December end
Aggressive deposit rate hikes and bulk deposits towards the end of the third quarter helped the banking system push up deposit growth. Latest data released by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) shows that deposits grew by Rs 17,1601.71 crore, taking the annual rate of growth to 16.45 per cent in the fortnight ended December 31, 2010.
This could be indicative of more and more people preferring bank fixed deposits as an investment avenue in response to the recent rate hikes. In the third quarter, interest rates on deposits have gone up by almost 250 basis points due to cash-starved banks competing with each other to attract funds.(Click for table & graph)
But analysts point out this may be due to wholesale deposit growth. “This could be a combination of a rise in both bulk deposits as well as retail deposits,” said Suresh Ganapathy, head of financial research team, Macquarie Securities. Usually, banks resort to taking up short-term bulk deposits towards the quarter end to shore up their balance sheets. “If this is so, there will be huge repayments in the next fortnight,” he added.
India’s gold imports most likely reached a new all-time high in 2010, according to the World Gold Council (WGC).Ajay Mitra, WCG managing director for India and the Middle East, stated in a phone interview with Bloomberg that purchases were about 800 metric tons, versus 557 in 2009.Mitra went on to say that the WGC’s “assessment is demand will continue to be strong” for India.“Price is no longer a factor…It’s been demand driven with investment in mind. While jewelry is a form in which a lot of consumers do buy in India, the core proposition really is security for the future, which is the investment angle for buying into gold.”
NREGS workers are unionising. Their unions will be the largest in the world with about 40% of the Indian population bound to the union. All interested in one thing - higher NREGS wages.
I guess a way to head this off at the pass is to press for a 2nd SRC and the creation of multiple city-states alongwith constitutional reform to allow for state income taxes. In short, starve the central beast to keep it from soaking city dwellers.
