Indian Economy: News and Discussion (Jan 1 2010)

vera_k · Post by **vera_k** » 03 Apr 2010 22:21

Some of the remittances would also end up as deposits in local banks. That would allow interest rates to stay low, thereby supporting growth.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 03 Apr 2010 23:16

The NRI remittance pretty much pays for the big portion of oil import bill, thus help easing the economic burden of GOI. OTOH ,at least 10-15% of this goes to Punjab to be spent on Daru, cars and weddings etc.

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 04 Apr 2010 09:05

Singha wrote:remittances imo are better than FIIs buying indian stock market shares because remittances are generally to family members who either spend it on local goods and services or else put it in PSU/pvt indian banks who lend to business/individuals.

Actually a quick read up on research shows that much of the expenditure actually ends up supporting a lifestyle the local economy can not provide. Imports actually surge as the remittance money ends up buying luxuries and supporting MNC's.

See this link on the El Salvador Experience.

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/el-salv ... r-struggle

This is directly comparable to say the Kerala experience where now even 80% of the food is imported. Including incredibly things like Coconuts & Rice.

vera_k wrote:Some of the remittances would also end up as deposits in local banks. That would allow interest rates to stay low, thereby supporting growth.

Most studies show that apparently less than 10% is saved or invested. I doubt such a small amount will help.

Prem wrote:The NRI remittance pretty much pays for the big portion of oil import bill, thus help easing the economic burden of GOI.

This is possible but few reports back this up. Most say an Remittance Economy actually encourages imports of consumer type items.

In any case the critical point appears to be about 10% for GDP.

El Salvador is 17% of GDP.
Philippines is 11% of GDP.
Sri Lanka is 8% of GDP.

These are official numbers. Unofficial likely to be much higher.

We are at about 4% of GDP, so we are approaching the danger area.

The one blessing is that our economy continues to grow at 8% which weakens the influence of this substantial inflow.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 04 Apr 2010 13:28

well good or bad -- you cant stop people from sending money back to their families. that is a
basic right else why would people go for blue collar jobs outside india in first place?

where does kerala import its rice and coconuts from? afaik tamil nadu is the biggest producer of
coconuts in the world and coastal andhra is probably surplus in rice.

so long as the money remains in country it should be ok. no state can produce everything. its
upto kerala govt to create local jobs - hordes of educated mallus are everywhere from nagaland
to blr due to lack of local jobs.

consumer electronic goods are mostly all made in india as you know...though parts like LCD panels
might still be imported.

geeth · Post by **geeth** » 04 Apr 2010 17:17

The only crib one can have about inward remittance is that a good portion of that coming to Kerala ends up in wasteful expenditure..otherwise IMO it eases the balance of payments heavily. I can't imagine how India would be able to maintain its high level of foreign exchange with its heavy import bill. In addition, it will be a cushion in future also, if and when there is a flight of capital due to market crash..

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 04 Apr 2010 22:37

Theo_Fidel wrote:
Katare wrote:This is twice the FDI we receive...

India top money recipient, remits $55 bn in 2009
This is not necessarily a good thing, is it.

While it stimulates the economy a bit, it is mostly consumptive and ephemeral, probably leave very little tangible benefits.

We still need investment proper.

An actual investment of $55 Billion with our ICOR of 3.5 will result in new economic income of ~ $20 Billion. Or about 1.5% economic growth.

We are not likely to see this with just remittances.

IMO most of the remittences could be related to real-estate EMIs. Assuming 5 Lakh NRIs made RE investments with an average of Rs 1 Lakh EMI then the annual remittences amount to $12B.

We need to check how much of high-end RE loans have been disbursed in the past 4-5 years. My guess is that Hyderabad alone has ~20-50 thousand of such loans by NRIs (there are ~100-200 thousand Andhra NRIs in USA alone)

vera_k · Post by **vera_k** » 05 Apr 2010 06:18

^^^

Seems dubious. Why would anyone borrow at the high interest rates prevalent in India when they have access to the international credit markets?

shyam · Post by **shyam** » 05 Apr 2010 07:02

I know many people who did that and there were many reasons:
- You can't get mortgage loan in US to buy a home in India. It has to be purchased in US.
- You have to take some other loan and interest rate would be very high
- The loan process in India was very simple. Banks like ICICI bank would do everything for you, all you need to do was give your income proof and just sign.
- Above all people didn't bother then. They thought the monthly installment was not that signficant to be considered about small differences in interest rate. All they bothered at that time was how easy was it to purchase the home in India.

putnanja · Post by **putnanja** » 05 Apr 2010 07:05

Inward remittances enhances the quality of life for people recieving the money. That in turns increases consumption and hence the economy. While Kerala might import stuff from out of state, the majority items are still produced within India. There are also Keralites working out of Kerala in other parts of India. So it sort of averages out. As long as the money is spent on goods and services within the country, it is good for India.

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 05 Apr 2010 09:55

Mall vacancy rises to 30% across Indian cities

Wonder if we're seeing our own version of a small CRE (Commercial real estate) bubble burst here in Des.

Malls w/0 parking are the worst hit, IMO. Hopefully, small crises teach us desis these little things in urban planning.

shyam · Post by **shyam** » 05 Apr 2010 11:35

I had noticed this in my small hometown. There is a fully airconditioned mall with hardly any customers. When I considered the amount of additional cost to maintain the mall clean, full a/c, elevators, security and office staff I told my relative who was with me "This can not run for long". Items inside the mall were more expensive than in any store outside. I visited a fancy looking furniture store inside, it was obvious that those furnitures can not be maintained at that levle cleanliness in a non-a/c home. Ordinary people don't need the items sold in that mall, including moi.

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 05 Apr 2010 12:07

shyam wrote:I had noticed this in my small hometown. There is a fully airconditioned mall with hardly any customers. When I considered the amount of additional cost to maintain the mall clean, full a/c, elevators, security and office staff I told my relative who was with me "This can not run for long". Items inside the mall were more expensive than in any store outside. I visited a fancy looking furniture store inside, it was obvious that those furnitures can not be maintained at that levle cleanliness in a non-a/c home. Ordinary people don't need the items sold in that mall, including moi.

Idea behind this in small towns was to tap into the elite of the town with money. It was create a wealthy class in each town which wants to show off. They did lot of market survey to tap into this. But it has failed.
Every small town has one of these malls.

satya · Post by **satya** » 05 Apr 2010 13:25

Malls were never meant to be economically viable in first place , their sole purpose was to keep black money in cycle & allow some productive use in economy via construction & maintenance crew . Forget talks of small towns even in places like Gurgaon anyone who has taken shop in malls on rent are bleeding except those who are outright owners or have food court type venture in Mall rest is all Maya .

Chinmayanand · Post by **Chinmayanand** » 05 Apr 2010 15:20

‘The other Asian giant’: only India can block its own rise

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 05 Apr 2010 22:21

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/mar ... 738023.cms
(Sen-Sex almost 18K)

At 12:41 p.m., the partially convertible rupee was at 44.98/99 per dollar, its strongest since Sept. 10, 2008 and up 0.55 percent on the day. The index of the dollar against six major currencies was down 0.5 percent. "There is all-round selling from everyone today. The flows are too high, so even the month-end demand from oil companies and importers is not doing much," said a dealer with a foreign bank. Oil is India's biggest import and refiners are the largest buyers of dollars in the domestic currency market. Demand for dollars tends to peak at the end of each month when refiners make payments for their imports. A senior dealer at a private bank said a significant break of the 15-month-high of 45.28 hit in January triggered stop-loss selling in the dollar.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 06 Apr 2010 00:25

Bankers prepare for more rate hikes

A further increase in repo and reverse repo rates was expected following RBI’s decision to raise these last month. With liquidity remaining high, banks now expect the central bank to raise CRR too.

The central bank is due to unveil its annual policy statement on April 20. At a pre-policy meeting with bank chiefs today, RBI made it clear that inflation concerns reign on its mind. Besides, it is drawing comfort from the fact that the economy seems back on a firm footing. Bankers told RBI the economy appeared poised to grow by 8.5 per cent in the current financial year.

Steel consumption up to 56MT in FY2010

Steel consumption rose 7.6 per cent to 56.32 million tonne (mt) in 2009-10 as against 52.35 mt in the year-ago period, on account of rising demand from sectors, including automobiles, whitegoods and construction.

However, production rose only 4.2 per cent during the reporting period at 59.57 mt over 57.16 mt tonne in the same period last year, according to the provisional data obtained from the steel ministry.

Imports also surged by 23 per cent to 7.18 mt during the period, thereby further increasing the domestic availability of steel and putting pressure on local prices.

But, exports continued to slide and fell by 28.7 per cent to 3.16 mt during the period on account of slow demand recovery in the primary market of Indian goods--Western markets-- which are still to recover from the economic crisis.

Leading steel producers like Tata Steel and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam reported 10.5 per cent provisional growth to 5.02 mt and 15.7 per cent increase to 2.9 mt, respectively, during April-March over the same period previous fiscal.

Commercial vehicle sales, a growth indicator, remains strong:
Ashok Leyland sales up 97% in March

Hinduja Group flagship company Ashok Leyland today reported 97.43 per cent jump in its commercial vehicle sales at 10,067 units in March. The company had sold 5,099 units in the same month last year, Ashok Leyland said in a statement.

In FY'10, Ashok Leyland sold 63,926 units as against 54,431 units in the previous fiscal, up by 17.44 per cent.

In March, domestic sales stood at 9,299 units as against 4,428 units in the same month last year, an over two-fold rise, it added. Exports increased by 14.46 per cent to 768 units in the month compared to 671 units in the year-ago period.

Abhijeet · Post by **Abhijeet** » 06 Apr 2010 19:20

FDI and FII is fundamentally different from most remittances in that it is a bet on the country - it is invested with an expectation of return in the future. It is an optimistic inflow.

Most remittances are simply living expenses for family members sent from overseas - the fraction used to make investments such as real estate is not significant as far as I know. Remittances are simply a sad reminder that India has a surplus of human labour and too few avenues to use it productively.

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 06 Apr 2010 20:23

Abhijeet wrote:FDI and FII is fundamentally different from most remittances in that it is a bet on the country - it is invested with an expectation of return in the future. It is an optimistic inflow.

Most remittances are simply living expenses for family members sent from overseas - the fraction used to make investments such as real estate is not significant as far as I know. Remittances are simply a sad reminder that India has a surplus of human labour and too few avenues to use it productively.

I was reasoning the large remittance figure of ~$50B.

Assuming India has about a 3-5 million NRI population who does all these remittances, it can be a strength at a later point.

Strong NRI workforce will bring new technologies, processes, and $lakshmi to desh. Like JEM saar mentioned in some other thread, the tide is turning.

Swami RamaYananda khush huaaa

vera_k · Post by **vera_k** » 06 Apr 2010 21:37

I went looking for some data on remittances and found this report. Consider that NRE and FCNR deposits accounted for $35 billion in 2006. This is money that India has been able to borrow at extremely cheap rates of interests, in effect cocking a snook at the rating agencies.

Migration remittances and development

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 06 Apr 2010 21:38

There is some decent number of research and papers available on the internet about inward remittances and their impact on economy. There are couple of them on google books too.

Varoon Shekhar · Post by **Varoon Shekhar** » 06 Apr 2010 22:17

"

Chinmayanand wrote:‘The other Asian giant’: only India can block its own rise

"

Thanks for the link! A really good read. It never ceases to amaze me the contrast between empathetic, lucid, intelligent articles like this one, and the obnoxious junk written about India by Barbara Crossette, Eric Margolis, Owen Bennet Jones and the like.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 07 Apr 2010 00:23

ALROSA-India Deal Bypasses Belgium
Antwerp April Market Report
( India changing

)
http://www.diamonds.net/news/NewsItem.a ... leID=30437
When it comes to business, the Antwerp diamond center is increasingly vigilant. It has been under so much pressure over the past decade — from economic as well as political forces, not to mention other trading centers — that it’s not going to give up any bit of potential business without making sure it can’t be avoided. So, when Antwerpians discovered that a recent agreement between ALROSA and three Indian companies calls for shipping rough directly, bypassing Antwerp, they were, at the same time, upset, fearful and concerned as to its impact and significance for the future.
The essence of the deal is that approximately $490 million of rough diamonds in 3-grainers down will be supplied over the next three years to Rosy Blue, Ratilal Becharlal & Sons and Diamond India Ltd. (DIL), a purchasing consortium of Indian companies. In principle, that amount isn’t significant compared to the quantities ALROSA is accustomed to distributing through Antwerp. Still, in these perilous economic times, Antwerp is alert to any shipments from anyone to anywhere that do not pass through its diamond center.
In fact, these deals should be put in a wider perspective. Recently, for example, India sealed a multibillion-dollar nuclear deal with Russia. In exchange for such a huge purchase, India could be expected to negotiate other deals with the Russian government, diamonds being only one of them.” But Dilip Mehta of Rosy Blue, one of the companies directly involved in the agreements, replied that “The diamond deals are by no means connected to the nuclear agreement between India and Russia. It’s completely natural and in the normal course of business for a company to attempt to go as directly as possible to the supply source for all sorts of goods. And, at this stage, we shouldn’t forget that this rough agreement is the result of several companies making individual approaches to ALROSA.”“Furthermore, it’s only natural that as a result of business trips made by a delegation led by a prime minister a certain number of deals will be signed,” continued Mehta

Chinmayanand · Post by **Chinmayanand** » 07 Apr 2010 14:27

Geithner says govts should expand banking's reach

Geithner, who is in India for economic partnership talks with Indian officials, has pushed an agenda of rebalancing growth in developing economies away from exports towards domestic consumption. {He should have gone to China to deliver this .}

Coupled with greater US savings and more flexible currencies, including China's yuan, he has said this will help reduce global trade and debt imbalances. Getting more people into the banking system will help the poor build assets and lift their ability to spend, helping to fuel more domestic growth.

paramu · Post by **paramu** » 07 Apr 2010 23:18

India should say that to consider his argument, US should first stop printing and exporting dollars and let the world audit the Fed.

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 08 Apr 2010 02:54

SENSEX is likely to touch 50,000 by December 2015
Bombay stock market’s key index, SENSEX (Sensitive Index, which is composed of 30 companies), should be comfortably placed at 15,622 on March 31, 2010, and around 50,130 in December 2015, given all external factors, such as growth of the Indian economy and the conversion rate of Dollar to Indian Rupee, remain stable. Similarly, BSE- 100 should be placed at 8,378 on March 31, 2010, and 30,247 in December 2015. Although the Indian stock markets will continue to be fairly volatile for the next few years, an investor who takes a long-term – a five to six year – view is likely to be rewarded very well, especially after taking dividends into account.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 08 Apr 2010 04:03

India Inc boasts highest ever order flow in 4th quarter

At Rs 92,290 crore, it was also the biggest ever order inflow in any quarter, beating the earlier high of Rs 74,775 crore recorded during the quarter ended September 2009 (and a 108% growth YoY over 4th quarter 2008-09).

Data, culled by Business Standard Research Bureau from announcements made to the stock exchanges, showed that the engineering and construction sector accounted for the highest position (35.5 per cent) of the total inflow. Power followed closely with 34.4 per cent.

The order — from private sector and central and state governments — are for building power plants, roads, and factories and houses, in addition to capital equipment and engineering.

The party is expected to be a long-drawn one, with analysts saying the growth could even improve in the next few quarters. “In the first half of calendar year 2011, we expect to see lot of action in the roads and power sector,” Shailesh Kanani, analyst, Angel Broking said.

Services expand for 11th month

Service, which make up more than half the economy, grew for the 11th straight month, adding to inflation risks.

HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics’ Purchasing Managers’ Index was at 58.1 last month, compared with 60.9 in February, according to an emailed report today.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion. Economists expect Reserve Bank of India Governor D Subbarao to raise benchmark interest rates for the second time in a month in the April 20 monetary policy statement to curb rising prices. The key wholesale price inflation rate climbed to a 16-month high of 9.89 per cent in February.

The revised tax revenue goal, which was much higher than the original estimate, was not reached:
Direct tax collection falls short of revised target

Tax collection figures on Wednesday suggests the government would fall short of its revised direct tax collections target for 2009-10 but will certainly score well above the original Budget estimate of Rs 3,70,000 crore.

While collections up to April 6 stood at Rs 3,69,000 crore, the revenue department is expecting another Rs 10,000 crore by the middle of this month — a shortfall of Rs 8,000 crore from the revised target of Rs 3,87,000 crore.

“There will be a spillover of Rs 3,000 crore. About Rs 7,000 crore will come from TDS (tax deducted at source) receipts. So we will be close to Rs 3,79,000 crore ($84 billion),” said a finance ministry official.

Stellar last fortnight helps credit growth increase past RBI goal

A record growth in loan disbursals in the last reporting fortnight of financial year ended March 31 helped banks sail past the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) estimate of 16 per cent credit growth for the year.

Banks disbursed an additional Rs 1,15,548 crore ($26 billion) in 15 days up to March 26, 2010, almost 25 per cent of the Rs 4,64,849 crore disbursed in the entire financial year.

The unusually high disbursals pushed year-on-year growth in credit to 16.74 per cent at the end of the financial year.

Banks typically step up disbursals in the last weeks of a quarter, even more so towards the end of the year, to meet targets. However, disbursals in the fortnight up to March 26, 2010, are high even by year-end standards, dwarfing the Rs 79,500 crore disbursed in the last fortnight of financial year ended March 31, 2009.

In the fortnight up to March 26, 2010, banks added Rs 83,330 crore in fresh deposits, putting year-on-year growth in deposits at 17.01 per cent.

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 08 Apr 2010 08:30

This has been posted in the Nature conservation thread too...

Building a Green Economy

By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: April 5, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/magaz ... omy-t.html

rohitvats · Post by **rohitvats** » 08 Apr 2010 20:16

Hari Seldon wrote:Mall vacancy rises to 30% across Indian cities

Wonder if we're seeing our own version of a small CRE (Commercial real estate) bubble burst here in Des.

Malls w/0 parking are the worst hit, IMO. Hopefully, small crises teach us desis these little things in urban planning.

The CRE market in India isn't exactly in the real estate bubble category. What has happened, in retail segment, that developers have announced and launched projects without understanding the nitty-gritty of aspects like catchment area, socio-economic and demographic profile of people, demand assessment etc. In addition, what many did not realize that mall is not just couple of brands thrown together under a roof...there is that much more to it in terms of mall-mix planning, tenant selection etc...wrong cues were taken from success of couple of malls in the respective cities. The thing is, retail malls give very good returns per sq.ft of development and hence, hold lot of appeal to the developer. The retailers/brands are to equally blame as these were signing up for space left,right and center. That too at rates which were clearly not sustainable. And this was not only for space in malls but also on high-streets.Come the crash and many of these retailers/brands were forced to shut shop or re-negotiate steep discounts and revenue share agreements. Retailers are that much cautious now in terms of spaces and locations that they choose for stores. They also want the developer to share the risk and good brands will execute only revenue-share agreements - this distributes the risk to the developer as well.

Many mall projects have been deferred or abandoned all together...there is that much more sanity in the market now.

rohitvats · Post by **rohitvats** » 08 Apr 2010 20:22

satya wrote:Malls were never meant to be economically viable in first place , their sole purpose was to keep black money in cycle & allow some productive use in economy via construction & maintenance crew . Forget talks of small towns even in places like Gurgaon anyone who has taken shop in malls on rent are bleeding except those who are outright owners or have food court type venture in Mall rest is all Maya .

While RE per se may be the swamp for channeling the black money, above statement is rank incorrect...if the retailers are bleeding due to high rentals, should not the builder, who secured those rentals, be laughing away to the banks? and are retailers fools to continue to pay the rentals which don't make sense?

Katare · Post by **Katare** » 08 Apr 2010 20:51

Over capacity in India for almost anything can at worst be a short term localized glut. We are blessed, by our misfortune of underdevelopment and gigantic size, with an unlimited demand on almost all fields/sectors for years to come. All we need to do is to ensure that if a sector get to far ahead of rest of the economy we give it a moment of pause and support till demand catches up with it.

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 08 Apr 2010 21:59

India and Dubai emerge as top trading partners
http://www.infodriveindia.com/Export-Im ... -3926.aspx

Geographical proximity, a historical relationship and cultural similarities have made Dubai and India the closest trading partners.

Data released recently by the Dubai Statistics Centre (DSC), which discusses Dubai's foreign trade in 2009 in detail, revealed that India remained the top trading partner of the emirate in three segments – imports, exports and re-exports.

Overall, while imports into Dubai were down last year compared to 2008, exports increased – a healthy trend for an economy that now needs to establish a manufacturing base. While India was the top export and re-export destination from Dubai in 2008, China was the largest exporter to Dubai in 2008.

In 2009, India toppled China as the largest exporter to Dubai.

A senior official at the Indian Consulate in Dubai said that two factors – companies from Dubai investing in India and a continuous rise in the population of Indians in Dubai – have contributed to the strengthening of India-Dubai trade.

Sanjay Verma, the Indian Consul-General in Dubai, termed the figures "encouraging" and "a reason to smile". Verma said India would like to see the growth in trade be increasingly matched by cross investments between the two economies.

"According to Indian figures for the financial year 2008-2009, the UAE was our biggest trade partner, with trade exceeding $48 billion (Dh176.29bn). Some believed that this was a flash in the pan, but this clearly is not the case," he said.

"Despite a marginal decline in 2009, India emerged as the biggest exporter to Dubai at Dh46.1bn.

"India's imports from Dubai grew by over 22 per cent in 2009 to attain a value of Dh21.3bn," said Verma.

Exports from Dubai into India increased almost one-fourth as compared to the levels in 2008.

"The contribution of the top five countries is 67.5 per cent of total exports value for the year 2009. India has the lead with [exports] amounting to Dh21.3bn in 2009 and a growth rate of 22.8 per cent, compared to 2008. India contributed a total of 40.7 per cent to the total exports of 2009," DSC said. Switzerland and Saudi Arabia came next in terms of export value in 2009.

Dubai's direct foreign trade amounted to Dh488.5bn in 2009, with dropped rate of 20.3 per cent, compared to 2008, which amounted to Dh612.7bn.

In 2009, imports contributed 65.2 per cent of total direct foreign trade, while 10.7 per cent were exports and 24.1 per cent were re-exports.

Dubai's imports amounted to Dh318.5bn in 2009, a 27.9 per cent drop compared to 2008. In 2009, India was Dubai's highest import partner as well having overtaken China. India has the lead with value amounted to Dh46.1bn in 2009 and a drop of 3.8 per cent, compared to 2008. Then came China with value amounting to Dh42.3bn in 2009 and a drop of 25.7 per cent compared to 2008, according to the data. They were followed by the US, with value amounting to Dh27.8bn in 2009 and a drop of 19.4 per cent compared to 2008.

Source : www.business24-7.ae

Katare · Post by **Katare** » 09 Apr 2010 23:57

SEZ exports to touch Rs 2 lakh cr in FY10

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 10 Apr 2010 01:34

Re: the SEZ export data, 2 lakh cr is approx $45 billion. Exports from SEZs have grown at nearly 100% growth rate on a year-to-year basis the last 3-4 years.

It is great to see the SEZ policy bear such great results in so short a time. One would recall that just 2-3 years ago the whole matter was embroiled in land acquisition and civil disobedience actions driven by professional protesters. Many wondered why so much political capital was being expended on this one policy measure. The above number is a measure of the return on that investment.

Auto industry estimates 10-14% sales growth in current fiscal

The buoyant automobile industry in India is set to slow down, relatively, and register a growth rate in the low double-digits in 2010-11, primarily due to the high base effect of 2009-10.

Sustainable economic growth and higher disposable income will be the main growth drivers in the ongoing financial year and we expect to register a growth of 10-14 per cent this year vis-à-vis the 26.4 per cent growth of the total industry last year,” said Pawan Goenka, president, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam), while releasing the data today.

Total automobile sales, including passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, two-wheelers and three-wheelers, jumped up by 26.4 per cent at 12.3 million units, as compared to 9.7 million units in 2009-10. This is the highest-ever sales in Indian automobile history, surpassing the 10.1 million units in 2006-07.

“Typically, if we look at the auto industry in India over a 10-year period, we have grown 10-14 per cent,” Goenka said, adding that last year (ended March 31, 2010) was exceptionally high because of a poor performance in 2008-09, when there was no growth.

A series of stimulus steps by the Union government helped to revive domestic consumption for cars in the world’s second-fastest-growing major economy. Annual sales of Maruti Suzuki India jumped by 20.6 per cent last year at 8,70,783 units, while that of Hyundai Motor India went up by 29 per cent at 3,14,981 units. Tata Motors registered growth of 23.4 per cent in 2009-10, at 2,85,846 units.

Cement industry records 10.5% growth in 2009-10

Buoyant demand from the infrastructure space and individual home builders in rural and semi-urban regions of the country has made the cement industry hit double-digit growth in 2009-10, after a gap of three years.

The industry with over 50 players despatched 199.98 million tonne of the building material compared with 181.01 million tonne in the previous year - a rise of 10.48 per cent.

The industry added close to 40 million tonnes in 2009-2010, taking the production capacity to around 260 million tonne from 219 million tonne last year. In the current financial year, the industry is expected to add around 40 million tonnes more capacity to take it to 300 million tonnes.

The year saw consistently robust demand through the year which helped cement makers raise the prices too. Currently, the average national price of a 50 kg bag of cement is in the range of Rs 245-250.

vera_k · Post by **vera_k** » 10 Apr 2010 10:20

^^^

Over half of those 2 lakh cr are from Gujarat for reasons well known. Not sure if the SEZs can be called a success in the rest of the country. I think this can be an argument for greater decentralisation of policy so each state can find the best way forward.

Gujarat falls back in SEZ number game

Gujarat is all set to contribute over Rs 1 lakh crore (its exports crossed Rs 94,000 crore till February) of the total Rs 2 lakh crore exports that the country is expected to touch by end of this financial year.

rohitvats · Post by **rohitvats** » 10 Apr 2010 15:07

^^^A major percentage of SEZ notification was and is in the IT-ITES Segment - primarliy concentrated in the known IT-ITES hubs. With no clarity on the STPI scheme for IT-ITES Sector, it was believed that there will be a mad rush from companies for space in these SEZ and hence, you'd developers and every tom-dick & harry applying for IT-ITES SEZ approval.

Inspite of many developers playing cautious and waiting for confirmed demand before getting into execution, there has been excess capacity build into this office space segments. There is huge vacancy in this segments and will take another 36 months easily for existing stock to be used up...

SEZ notification in other segments happened in states with know standing in the indutrial segment - Tamil Nadi, Maharashtara, Gujarat etc.

Dmurphy · Post by **Dmurphy** » 10 Apr 2010 16:23

X-posted from Global Economy thread:

Guys I'm in trouble. I've been tasked with keeping track of daily USD exchnage rates and Crude Oil prices on an everyday basis. But for some reasons (BRF included) I couldn't keep track of both the prices the whole of last month but need to compile the daily rates before it dawns on my boss. Could someone suggest me a site where I can look up the Oil and USD exchange rates from the past?? Its urgent!

I usually use xe.com and oil-price.net to track the prices but they show only the current prices. Sorry for the OT post.

Patni · Post by **Patni** » 10 Apr 2010 16:45

Dmurphy wrote:X-posted from Global Economy thread:

Could someone suggest me a site where I can look up the Oil and USD exchange rates from the past?? Its urgent!

http://www.x-rates.com/d/INR/USD/data30.html

2010-02-26 Friday, February 26 46.1046 INR
2010-03-01 Monday, March 1 46.1449 INR
2010-03-02 Tuesday, March 2 45.9448 INR
2010-03-03 Wednesday, March 3 45.8251 INR
2010-03-04 Thursday, March 4 45.815 INR
2010-03-05 Friday, March 5 45.5942 INR

rohiths · Post by **rohiths** » 10 Apr 2010 17:54

Dmurphy wrote:X-posted from Global Economy thread:

Guys I'm in trouble. I've been tasked with keeping track of daily USD exchnage rates and Crude Oil prices on an everyday basis. But for some reasons (BRF included) I couldn't keep track of both the prices the whole of last month but need to compile the daily rates before it dawns on my boss. Could someone suggest me a site where I can look up the Oil and USD exchange rates from the past?? Its urgent!

I usually use xe.com and oil-price.net to track the prices but they show only the current prices. Sorry for the OT post.

Can use this for oil prices:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/oilprice.html

vijayk · Post by **vijayk** » 10 Apr 2010 19:33

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?264994

GOVERNMENT: RURAL EMPLOYMENT
A Sieve Of A Scheme?
Large-scale embezzlement comes to light in the implementation of NREGA projects

The UPA’s flagship welfare scheme, under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), is becoming a cash cow for corrupt village panchayat representatives. Using loopholes, many of them have been diverting funds. Documentary evidence gathered from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Rajasthan by the Central Employment Guarantee Council (CEGC)—a statutory body overseeing implementation of NREGA work programmes—and handed over to the Union rural development ministry reveals inflated or fake bills are a routine affair. In many cases, companies stated to have supplied material turn out to be fictitious.

The scale of the scam can be understood if one considers the government outlay for the scheme. For 2010, it is Rs 60,000 crore, of which 60 per cent is to be spent in wages. The rest—40 per cent, or Rs 24,000 crore—is meant for procurement of material, which is where most of the defalcation takes place. The estimated loss to the exchequer in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh is Rs 200 crore each; in Chhattisgarh, Rs 50 crore; and in Rajasthan, Rs 700 crore. Figures are not available for Bihar, but the embezzled funds may well run into several hundred crores here too. Nationwide, the leakages surely add up to a mind-boggling figure.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 10 Apr 2010 22:30

Dmurphy wrote:X-posted from Global Economy thread:

Guys I'm in trouble. I've been tasked with keeping track of daily USD exchnage rates and Crude Oil prices on an everyday basis. But for some reasons (BRF included) I couldn't keep track of both the prices the whole of last month but need to compile the daily rates before it dawns on my boss. Could someone suggest me a site where I can look up the Oil and USD exchange rates from the past?? Its urgent!

I usually use xe.com and oil-price.net to track the prices but they show only the current prices. Sorry for the OT post.

Try OPIS and Seeking Alpha, they might have info or send to you free.