Bharat Rakshak

The Reserve Bank of India sold a net $20.1 billion in the spot foreign exchange market in the month of March to support the rupee against the U.S. dollar, its monthly bulletin showed on Tuesday.

The central bank said its net outstanding forward dollar purchases rose to $65.79 billion at the end of March compared to $49.11 billion as of end February. In February, the RBI had sold a net $771 million in the spot market.

The rupee moved in a band of 75.76 to 76.97 in the month of March.

In March, the rupee hit its first record low for the year, breaking below 76.9050 per dollar which was last touched on April 22, 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The unit has now been hitting multiple record lows over the last two weeks on the back of broad strength in the dollar and severe risk aversion, touching a life low of 77.7975 earlier in the day.

"Given that the RBI has ample FX reserves, we expect the rupee to remain more stable and weaken less than most other EM (emerging market) currencies against the greenback over the next couple of years," Adam Hoyes, assistant economist at Capital Economics, said in a note.

India's foreign exchange reserves (INFXR=ECI) fell to $595.95 billion as of May 6, compared with $597.73 billion a week earlier, latest RBI data last week showed.

Reserves had touched a record high of $642.45 billion in early September 2021.

The central bank in its bulletin also said inflation pressures were increasingly becoming generalised across commodity groups. It said the monetary policy committee's swift response in raising rates showed its resolute commitment to price stability. The MPC raised the key lending rate by 40 basis points at an unscheduled meeting on May 4 and most economists expect more hikes at its next meetings.

"Heightened global risks stemming from weakening growth, elevated inflation, supply disruptions on account of geopolitical spillovers and financial market volatility stemming from synchronised monetary tightening pose near-term challenges," the central bank wrote.

It said the Indian economy's recovery remains resilient, although risks stemming from global developments have thwarted momentum and the increase in international commodity prices is widening the country's trade and current account deficits.

"In order to achieve a higher growth path on a sustainable basis, private investment needs to be encouraged through higher capital expenditure by the government which crowds in private investment," RBI said.

Zet Town India Pvt Ltd, a Zetwerk company, on Tuesday (17 May) unveiled its new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at Noida in Uttar Pradesh.

The plant was inaugurated by the UnionMinister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

The new facility will produce 10 million devices hearables, wearables and IoT devices annually

Spread out over an area of 50,000 sq.ft, the factory comprises 16 manufacturing lines with advanced testers and a world-class innovation lab for product development.

saip wrote:'India's neighbours have cheaper fuel - petrol in Bangladesh costs USD 1.05 a litre, 77 cents a litre in Pakistan and 67 cents a litre in Sri Lanka."
Right. SL has no petrol to sell and Pakistan is begging everyone for money.

India’s flagship digital payments platform — Unified Payments Interface (UPI) — saw its highest ever number of transactions in April 2022 at 5.58 billon, amounting to Rs 9.83 trillion.

In March, UPI breached 5-billion transactions in a month for the first time. In April, volume of transactions was up 3.33 per cent and value of transactions rose 2.36 per cent compared to March.

In March, UPI processed 5.4 billion transactions amounting to Rs 9.6 trillion.

However, year-on-year (YoY), the volume of transactions jumped 111 per cent and value of transactions increased by almost 100 per cent.

In April 2021, UPI had processed 2.64 billion transactions worth Rs 4.93 trillion.

USA overtakes china to become India's top trading partner in 2021-22.

India-USA trade : $119.42 Billion
India-China trade : $115.42 Billion

India has recorded its highest ever exports tally at US$ 44.4 billion in textiles and apparel (T&A) including handicrafts in FY 2021-22.

The textile exports from India saw an increase of 41% and 26% over corresponding figures in FY 2020-21 and FY 2019-20, respectively. Although, India’s textile exports has been constantly increasing since 2016-17, a slight decline was witnessed during 2019-20.

USA was the India's top export destination accounting for 27% share, followed by EU (18%), Bangladesh (12%) and UAE (6%).

In terms of product categories, the export of cotton textiles was US$ 17.2 billion with 39% share registering a growth of 54% and 67% during 2021-22 over FY 2020-21 and FY 2019-20, respectively.

Export of Ready-Made Garments was US$ 16 billion with 36% share showing a growth of 31% and 3% during 2021-22 over FY 2020-21 and FY 2019-20, respectively.

Man-made textiles export was US$ 6.3 billion with 14% share which shows a growth of 51% and 18% during 2021-22 over FY 2020-21 and FY 2019-20, respectively.

Against a contraction of 6.6 per cent in the previous financial year, hindered by the pandemic, the economy is estimated to grow at 8.7 per cent in the financial year of 2022. Growth in the fourth quarter of FY22 was at 4.1 per cent against 5.4 per cent in Q3, 8.4 per cent in Q2, and 20.1 per cent in Q1. The fourth-quarter growth figures have been impacted by the omicron variant and the rising fuel prices driven by the crisis in Ukraine and the consequent inflation denting consumer spending.

Nominal GDP growth was 19.5 per cent in FY22, whereas the Gross Value Added (GVA) stood at 8.1 per cent against 4.8 per cent in FY21. For industries related to trade, hotels, and transport, against a contraction of around 20 per cent in the previous financial year, 11.1 per cent growth was witnessed, thus shaking off the pandemic blues.

In FY22, manufacturing grew by 9.9 per cent but registered a contraction of 0.2 per cent in Q4. The construction sector also showed a growth of over 11 per cent, recovering from the negative pandemic impact in FY21.

vijayk wrote:https://swarajyamag.com/news-brief/indi ... 44-billion
India’s Textiles Exports Highest Ever In FY 2021-22 At US$ 44.4 Billion

India has recorded its highest ever exports tally at US$ 44.4 billion in textiles and apparel (T&A) including handicrafts in FY 2021-22.

The textile exports from India saw an increase of 41% and 26% over corresponding figures in FY 2020-21 and FY 2019-20, respectively. Although, India’s textile exports has been constantly increasing since 2016-17, a slight decline was witnessed during 2019-20.

USA was the India's top export destination accounting for 27% share, followed by EU (18%), Bangladesh (12%) and UAE (6%).

In terms of product categories, the export of cotton textiles was US$ 17.2 billion with 39% share registering a growth of 54% and 67% during 2021-22 over FY 2020-21 and FY 2019-20, respectively.

Export of Ready-Made Garments was US$ 16 billion with 36% share showing a growth of 31% and 3% during 2021-22 over FY 2020-21 and FY 2019-20, respectively.

Man-made textiles export was US$ 6.3 billion with 14% share which shows a growth of 51% and 18% during 2021-22 over FY 2020-21 and FY 2019-20, respectively.

vijayk wrote:

NEW DELHI: The Indian economy expanded at its fastest pace in nearly 22 years in 2021-22, but growth slowed to a four quarter-low in the three months to January-March due to the impact of the curbs imposed against the backdrop of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Data released by the National Statistical Office showed the economy growing by 8.7% in 2021-22 while growth in the January-March quarter slowed to 4.1%. To put the numbers in context, the 8.7% expansion comes against the backdrop of a very low base as the economy contracted by 6.6% in the previous period due to the impact of one of the strictest lockdowns in the world to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Vips wrote:Why so high textile exports to Bangladesh? Are Indian manufactures sending shipment to Bangladesh to re-export duty-free to the US/Europe?

I thought we became $3T economy? How come it is 140+ lakh crore? Shouldn't it be 210 lah crore

In the past eight years, the economy has suffered major adverse shocks, both internal and external. There have also been positive shocks (one can debate whether these should be called windfall gains, actually). The positive shock was a steep fall in oil prices worldwide, by more than 50%, and they stayed low for nearly two years. The internal negative shocks were the big crash of a large non-bank finance company (NBFC) called Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited (ILFS) in September 2018. Two years prior to that was the sudden announcement of the banning of high denomination notes i.e., demonetisation of nearly 86% (by value) of the currency in circulation. And a third internal shock, which was not sudden and somewhat diffused, was the clumsy implementation of the Goods and Services Tax, a major tax reform which made the entire country shift to a completely different tax regime. One of the more recent external shocks has been the Covid pandemic, which has affected usfor more than two years. And now, the war in Ukraine. These are of great magnitude, for they have affected the entire global economy.

Beyond these six shocks, there were several smaller ones, like the severe floods and natural disasters, hurricane-induced evacuation, and so on. There was also another generalised shock, since the Donald Trump presidency in the US, of a receding of globalisation, and fall in the volume of world trade. This negative sentiment can hurt exporting nations like India, which depends on strong exports to aid domestic growth. India also took some “shock” decisions, like walking out of a free trade agreement called RCEP at the last moment in November 2019.

The resilience of the economy is a measure of how well the economy was able to cope with these negative shocks. The short answer is “quite well”. In earlier times, each of these shocks would have caused the economy to flounder. But now, there is sufficient resilience, in the form of diversification of economic activity, safety buffers in terms of stock of food or forex, and well-funded welfare schemes that do not allow the economy to go off the rails. An example of the latter is the free food scheme that has been running for more than two years and has protected a large section of India’s public from food inflation and ensured food security. This has prevented an income and jobs crisis (caused by the pandemic) from becoming a food crisis. The contrast with neighbouring Sri Lanka and Pakistan is quite stark and displays the relative lack of resilience in their respective economies. Resilience is not built overnight but is the effect of cumulative economic policies. On this count ertainly, the Indian economy has come a long way. Though there is no cause for complacency, the dark clouds of war and inflation do have this silver lining.

Adrija wrote:

I thought we became $3T economy? How come it is 140+ lakh crore? Shouldn't it be 210 lah crore

VijayK ji, the above is in constant (2011-12) prices. Current nominal GDP as o3 31 march 2022 for FY 21-22 is estimated at INR 236.44 lakh crores (i.e. ~ USD 3.12 trillion)

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1801835

Trust this is helpful

Less than 20% of the world's population has managed to stockpile more than half of the globe's maize and other grains, leading to steep price increases across the planet and dropping more countries into famine.

So it means 2011-12 as base year is standard for every country? Otherwise comparison is wrong.

India's factory activity expanded at a better-than-expected pace last month as overall demand remained resilient despite persistently high inflation

Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index , compiled by S&P Global, came in at 54.6 in May, slightly lower than April's 54.7 but above the 50-level separating growth from contraction for an eleventh month

Adrija wrote:

So it means 2011-12 as base year is standard for every country? Otherwise comparison is wrong.

Sorry for a long answer, but may I please clarify two very different points:

1. every country has to have a base year to enable growth calculations. The base year is periodically updated not for any numerical reason but to capture structural changes in the economy
2. the base year, other than ensuring that all new changes are captured, has per se no impact on actual GDP numbers, which is always expressed in nominal terms i.e. current values. The above is the perfect example- while in 2011-12 rupees our GDP is INR 140 lakh crore, "actual" GDP is USD 3.12 trn (INR 236.44 lakh crores) as what I had mentioned earlier

Trust this clarifies

Nsmith wrote:^ to be fair, my experience here in UK with the lower end stores (Primark etc.) has been 70% B'desh, 20% China and 10% India. Paki maal usually found in the towels/ napkins section.

The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Services PMI Business Activity Index jumped to 58.9 in May, up from 57.9 in April, amid better underlying demand and strong inflows of new work.

For the tenth straight month, the services sector witnessed an expansion in output. In Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) parlance, a print above 50 means expansion while a score below 50 denotes contraction.

Meanwhile, the S&P Global India Composite PMI Output Index -- which measures combined services and manufacturing output -- rose from 57.6 in April to 58.3 in May, pointing to the fastest rate of expansion since last November.

Despite global headwinds India’s merchandise export surged 15.46 per cent to $37.3 billion in May 2022 as compared to $32.30 billion in May 2021, recording the highest ever overseas shipments so far this year, led by a strong show from exports of petroleum products, electronic goods and readymade garments (RMG) of all textiles.

India’s merchandise export in April-May of FY 2022-23 also saw a y-o-y jump of 22.3 per cent to $77 billion over $63 billion in April-May 2021-22, which is again the highest export for first two months of a year, preliminary data of the Commerce Ministry released on Thursday (2 June) showed.