Author
Shares in wind turbine maker Suzlon Energy Ltd surged nearly 5 per cent, its daily limit, on Monday (21 July) following the government's move to re-introduce the acceleraed depreciation scheme for the wind energy sector.The gains add to Suzlon's 3.6 per cent gain in the previous session. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on late Friday that the government would amend the Finance Bill in this regard.Accelerated depreciation allows companies to claim a bigger deduction during the initial years after the purchase of an asset compared with other depreciation accounting methods, under which the cost is spread evenly over the lifespan of an asset.The accelerated depreciation scheme was disallowed two years ago under the previous Congress-led government.Accelerated depreciation could spur more orders of wind turbines and renewable assets and Suzlon would likely be a key beneficiary as the world's fifth-largest wind turbine maker, some analysts said."Accelerated depreciation will be significantly positive for the wind turbine industry and Suzlon in particular," said G. Chokkalingam, founder of Equinomics, a research and fund advisory firm.Suzlon, whose units include REpower Systems SE, is the only listed wind energy player in India. Its shares were up 4.85 percent at Rs 25.95, outperforming a 0.6 per cent gain in the broader Nifty.(Reuters)
Read More
Efforts to assuage Indian concerns about a landmark global trade pact appear to have failed, sources involved in the discussions said on Monday (21 July), setting off a frantic rush to win its support before a Thursday deadline.India is the most prominent of a group of developing nations angry with rich countries for failing to address their concerns about a deal on trade facilitation struck by WTO member states in Bali, Indonesia, last year.Proponents believe the deal could add $1 trillion to global gross domestic product and 21 million jobs by slashing red tape and streamlining customs, eliminating delays at the border that can often cost more than tariffs themselves.A failure could prove disastrous for the moribund World Trade Organization (WTO) and the system of global free trade deals it underpins.As late as Sunday, hopes were high that publicly addressing Indian concerns during a G20 Trade Ministers meeting in Sydney this past weekend would give it a face-saving path towards reaffirming its assent before the July 31 deadline.India stockpiles food for its poor, citing the need for food security, but doing so puts it at risk of breaking the rules of the WTO which worries that the stockpiling of subsidised food can distort trade.In Bali, WTO members agreed to give India a pass on its stockpiles until 2017, while negotiating a permanent solution.Officials told Reuters that India had not supplied any clear indication of concessions it wanted, so attempts were made at the meeting to reassure it that its concerns, whatever they may be, were being heard."India clearly and forcefully expressed its concern that work proceed on all fronts, including food stockpiling, and received assurances that all G20 members are committed to the full implementation of all Bali agreements on the agreed timetables," US Trade Representative Michael Froman told Reuters on Monday.'Main Concern'A confidential "Summary of Discussion" circulated to G20 participants by Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb obtained by Reuters details what one official said was an example of India winning acknowledgment of its concerns.The document notes that specific Indian concerns about the deal were raised by the members and pledges to work constructively this week to address those issues.In principle, the WTO could pass the agreement on the basis of a qualified majority, but experts say that would be unprecedented and virtually impossible in an organisation that operates on consensus."India is quite influential, so let's hope that they're going to back down in some way," Peter Gallagher, an expert on free trade and the WTO at the University of Adelaide, told Reuters.But despite reassurances it received at the meeting and in public afterwards, Indian officials again said on Sunday they had not been convinced."The way things are moving, there is no way we can agree to the trade facilitation agreement being pushed by the developed nations at WTO within the prescribed deadline. Food security has always been India's main concern and this time we are not going to concede," an Indian official told Business Standard.One official involved in the negotiations, speaking under the condition of anonymity to speak frankly, said the statement was emblematic of "erratic" Indian behaviour over the deal and cast doubt on its trustworthiness as a negotiating partner.The row over subsidies has raised fears that the so-called trade facilitation agreement, the first ever global trade agreement under the WTO, will be derailed.A deal was only reached after New Delhi extracted promises that its concerns related to food subsidies would be addressed and Gallagher said it was unclear why those concerns were resurfacing now when they are unrelated to trade facilitation.(Reuters)
Read More
Britain, Germany and France agreed on Sunday they should be ready to ratchet up sanctions on Russia over the downing of a Malaysian jet carrying 298 passengers when European foreign ministers meet in Brussels on Tuesday. US Secretary of State John Kerry also demanded that Russia "step up" and take responsibility for the actions of allied separatists in Ukraine who are suspected of shooting down a Malaysian passenger plane last week Ukraine on Sunday accused separatist rebels of hiding evidence that a Russian missile was used in the shooting down of the airline that has intensified a showdown between the Kremlin and Western powers.Ministers should be ready to announce a fresh round of sanctions at a meeting of the European Union's Foreign Affairs Council, said a statement from British Prime Minister David Cameron's office, issued after calls with French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel."They ... agreed that the EU must reconsider its approach to Russia and that foreign ministers should be ready to impose further sanctions on Russia when they meet on Tuesday," the statement said.The leaders also agreed to press Russian President Vladimir Putin to ensure investigators had free access to the crash site.Before the jet crashed last week, EU leaders had already agreed to sanction some Russian companies and block new loans to Russia by multilateral lenders, but the measures still were less stringent than U.S. restrictions announced at the same time.'Pariah State'The 28-nation EU has been under pressure from the United States and Ukraine to take a harder line but some EU governments are wary of potential retaliation from Russia, the bloc's biggest energy supplier, if they imposed trade sanctions.Speaking earlier on Sunday, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said that unless Moscow's position radically changed, Britain would be pushing more reluctant European states to agree to new sanctions.He warned that Russia could end up in international isolation."Some of our European allies, have been less enthusiastic, and I hope that the shock of this incident will see them now more engaged, more willing to take the actions which are necessary to bring home to the Russians that when you do this kind of thing it has consequences," Hammond told the BBC.In a separate interview, Hammond said Russia must use its influence over rebels to ensure safe access to the crash site and cooperate with international investigators."Russia risks becoming a pariah state if it does not behave properly," he said on Sky television.He said information so far pointed strongly to the conclusion that the plane had been shot down from territory held by pro-Russian separatists and the missile was almost certainly supplied by Russia."The Russians have influence if not direct control over these people," he said."They have been supplying them, they have been supporting them, they have been providing them with succour. They cannot deny their responsibility for the acts that these people are carrying out.Kerry Asks Russia To Take ResponsibilityUS Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States has seen major supplies moving into Ukraine from Russia in the last month, including a 150-vehicle convoy of armored personnel carriers, tanks and rocket launchers transferred to the separatists several weeks ago."It's pretty clear that this is a system that was transferred from Russia," Kerry said in an interview on CNN.Kerry said the United States intercepted conversations about the transfer to separatists of the Russian SA-11 radar-guided SA11 missile system it blames for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on Thursday.Moscow accuses the Ukrainian military in the shootdown that killed 298 people.Kerry's remarks reflected Washington's growing anger with Russia over the crash.In appearances on a string of Sunday news shows, Kerry called on Moscow to publicly seek responsible action from the pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine, including access to the crash site."The separatist are in control," Kerry said on NBC's "Meet the Press" program. "And it is clear that Russia supports the separatists, supplies the separatist encourages the separatists trains the separatists and Russia needs to step up and make a difference here."Kerry, who spoke to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in a phone call on Saturday, expressed outrage over the chaotic scenes in the aftermath of the crash.He said foreign investigators have been given only limited access to the crash site, 75 minutes on Friday and three hours on Saturday, despite the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin had promised unfettered access."Drunken separatists have been piling bodies into trucks and removing them from the site," Kerry said on NBC. "What's happening is really grotesque and it is contrary to everything president Putin and Russia said they would do."(Agencies)
Read More
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Wednesday (12 March) vowed to take "revenge" for yesterday's Naxal ambush in which 15 security personnel and a civilian were killed in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district, saying the attack could be an attempt to disrupt the Lok Sabha polls. "We will definitely take revenge," he told reporters here. The Home Minister, who is on a day-long visit to Chhattisgarh to review the situation arising out of the killing of 11 CRPF personnel, four Chhattisgarh policemen and one civilian in Sukma district, said the probe into incident will be conducted by the National Investigation Agency. Asked how the "revenge" will be taken, Shinde said like in the past the central and state forces will jointly conduct anti-Naxal operations and hunt down the Maoists involved in the ambush. "We know where they are," he said. The Home Minister said the incident could be an attempt to disrupt the general election beginning April 7, but said authorities would ensure that the polls will be as successful as the assembly elections held in Chhattisgarh late last year. "It could be an attempt to threaten the Lok Sabha polls. We will conduct the election as successfully as we have done during during the assembly polls. We will provide adequate forces," he said. The Home Minister said contrary to reports, there was no prior specific intelligence input about the Naxal attack in Sukma. "There were intelligence inputs ...two-three times... but it was not specific," he said. Shinde said there were reports that the CPI(Maoist) had been weakened and the cadres of the outfit were scared due to presence of security forces and continuous anti-Naxal operations. The Home Minister said he had held a detailed discussion with Chief Minister Raman Singh, Governor Shekhar Dutt and other senior officials and reviewed the situation in Chhattisgarh. "This is the second similar incident. We have already discussed it. We have to follow the previous instructions. Some time mistakes do take place. But we have full confidence that the security forces will do the needful to avoid such incidents and arrest those involved in the attack," he said. Asked about deployment of forces during the general elections, Shinde said the Naxal problem exists in Odisha, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh as well as some other states. "We will also have to deploy forces in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka. We have to provide forces as per the security requirements," he said.(PTI)
Read More
Former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal's nephew Vijay Singla and nine others, arrested in the Rs 10-crore cash-for-post railway bribery case, will face trial with a special court today framing charges of criminal conspiracy and corruption against them.Paving the way for the trial, Special CBI Judge Swarana Kanta Sharma framed the charges against the 10 accused under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC read with provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act and posted the matter for August 25 for commencement of recording of evidence in the case.After the court framed charges against them, the accused said, "We do not plead guilty and claim trial."Congress leader Bansal, who resigned as the Railway Minister in May last year after the case came to light, has been arrayed as a prosecution witness by the CBI in its charge sheet filed last year."You (Singla) during the period between January 2013 to May 3, 2013 had accepted illegal gratification of Rs 89,68,000 from your co-accused Mahesh Kumar, N R Manjunath, Rahul Yadav, Sameer Sandhir, Sushil Daga, C V Venugopal and M V Murali Krishan for yourself or for any other person as a motive or reward for inducing by the exercise of your personal influence on any public servant for appointing your co-accused Mahesh Kumar as Member (electrical) in Railway Board and thereby you committed an offence under section 9 of Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 and within my cognisance," the judge said.The court had earlier ordered framing of charges against all the accused, including the then Member (Staff) of Railway Board Mahesh Kumar.Apart from Kumar and Singla, the court framed charges against Managing Director of Bangalore-based G G Tronics India Pvt Limited N R Manjunath, middlemen Ajay Garg and Sandeep Goyal besides Rahul Yadav, Sameer Sandhir, Sushil Daga, C V Venugopal and M V Murali Krishan.The matter has now been fixed for August 25 for recording of statements of prosecution witnesses, Vinay Mittal, former Chairman of Railway Board and another official of Ministry of Railways. The court observed that the accused had prima facie entered into a criminal conspiracy to get Mahesh Kumar appointed as Member(Electrical) in the Railway Board and for that Singla was to be paid Rs 10 crore illegal gratification.It observed that as per the records placed before it, Rs two crore was to be paid immediately and Kumar had instructed Manjunath to arrange the bribe of Rs two crore through other co-accused."You (Kumar) during between January 2013 to May 3, 2013 while working in various capacities, General Manager, western Railways till forenoon of May 1, 2013 and Member (staff) Railway Board in the Ministry of Railways as public servant at various places i.e. Delhi and Mumbai had demanded illegal gratification of Rs 2 crore and had accepted part of it from your co-accused," the judge said."You Mahesh Kumar ...by abusing your official position obtained pecuniary advantage to the tune of Rs 89,68,000 from accused N R Manjunath, Rahul Yadav, Sameer Sandhir, Sushil Daga, C V Venugopal and M V Murali Krishan which was delivered on your behalf to Vijay Singla and Sandeep Goyal at Chandigarh and thereby you committed an offence under section 13 (2) read with 13(1)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 and within my cognisance," the judge said.The court, while ordering framing of charges, had said that corruption in the country has reached "unimaginable proportions" and the case revealed a "novel way" of payment of bribe to achieve the aim."As I had observed earlier in my order, the culture of 'Sifarish' (recommendation) and right contacts with powerful persons are the only thing which matter today for earning quick money."Needless to say, with each changing day, the modus operandi of such corrupt person is also not only changing but the corrupt are becoming more cautious and secretive taking lessons from the previous instances of cases where corrupt officers have been caught and sent for trial," the judge had said.(PTI)
Read More
America's top diplomat and the head of its defense department will visit India in coming weeks seeking to revitalize a relationship the United States sees as a crucial counterbalance in Asia to an increasingly assertive China.Secretary of State John Kerry will represent the United States in an annual session of strategic dialogue with India scheduled for July 31, and he will be followed to New Delhi by defense secretary Chuck Hagel in early August, US officials said on Wednesday (16 July).They will be the most senior US officials to visit India for talks with the new government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi since his May election. Modi is expected to visit the United States in September.In testimony for a hearing of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Nisha Biswal, the US assistant secretary of state for South Asia, noted that President Barack Obama had said the US-India relationship would be "one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century."She also said Modi had told US Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns in India last week that the world would benefit from closer US-India ties."Across the board ... we have an opportunity here to engage more robustly with in India in how the Asian landscape unfolds," she said. "And we look forward to engaging with the new government in that agenda."Biswal referred to planned joint military exercises involving India, the United States and Japan, a country with a growing strategic rivalry with China in East Asia."We see opportunities for increasing the collaboration across Southeast Asia," she said."We are engaging more frequently in consultations and dialogue with India on ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and look forward to increased and more frequent consultations across the East Asian sphere," Biswal said, adding:"A rising India is in some ways going to be an ameliorating influence on China, in China's own growth and China's own behavior in the region."Amy Searight, the US deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia, said there was "a real strategic convergence" as India looked east in Asia and the United States pursued its "rebalance" to the continent."We both are looking to the challenges in East Asia today, of which a rising China is certainly a major part," she said.Searight said there were growing relationships between India and Japan and India and the ASEAN countries, including Vietnam, a country which has been playing out a bitter territorial rivalry with Beijing in the South China Sea.Referring to India's growing relationships with other Asian countries, Searight added: "We want to capitalize on that ... we want to support that activity." (Reuters)
Read More
The recovery in developed economies is on track although slowing activity in big emerging markets means global growth will be only moderate at best in the near term, the OECD said on Tuesday.Exceptionally bad winter weather in North America and a sales tax hike in Japan are also disrupting the pace of recovery, the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said.Against that backdrop, the OECD urged the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan to keep up their monetary stimulus, if not increase it, while it said the US Federal Reserve was right to begin winding down its bond-buying programme."The gradual recovery in the advanced economies is encouraging, even if temporary factors have pushed down growth rates in the early months of this year, while the slowdown in emerging economies is likely to be a drag on global growth," OECD acting chief economist Rintaro Tamaki said in a statement.Growth for major advanced economies in the first half of 2014 will be slower than in the second half of 2013, but much improved from the sluggish rates of late 2012 and early 2013, the OECD said in an update of its views on the global economy."Given that emerging economies now account for over half the world economy, continued sub-par economic performance for several of the major EMEs (emerging market economies) is likely to mean that global growth remains only moderate in the near term," the OECD said.It estimated growth in the United States would slow to 1.7 percent in the first quarter from the previous three months on an annualised basis, down from 2.4 per cent in the fourth quarter when exceptionally bad weather weighed on activity.Japanese growth would surge 4.8 percent in the first quarter from the previous quarter as consumers brought forward purchases ahead of a sales tax increase on April 1.The OECD gave its updated forecasts as part of an interim health-check for the global economy before its much more detailed Economic Outlook due in May. It did not update its estimates for U.S. and Japanese growth in the second quarter because one-off factors made it too problematic, it said.Turning to Europe, the OECD saw Germany's quarter-on-quarter annualised growth rate reaching 3.7 percent in the first quarter before slowing to 2.5 percent.France, the euro zone's second biggest economy after Germany, was seen growing only 0.7 per cent in the first three months of the year, rising to 1 percent in the second quarter.Outside the euro zone, the British economy was seen growing 3.3 per cent in both the first and second quarters.Turning to emerging market economies, the OECD said some were seeing a marked loss of momentum as capital outflows exposed vulnerabilities in some countries.It noted that Brazil, India, South Africa and Turkey among others have been forced to raise interest rates to keep capital outflows in check.Meanwhile, weak balance sheets in China raised the risk of a sharp slowdown there, the OECD said.(Reuters)
Read More
The rupee is trading lower at 60.19/20 from Wednesday's close of 60.07/08, as dollar demand from banks for oil and defence related payments counters gains in the local share market.The BSE Sensex is up 0.04 per cent on caution ahead of earnings of key blue-chip companies later in the day.Asian currencies trading mixed against the dollar, with most stronger.Traders expect the market to remain range-bound, between 60.00-60.30 for the session.(Reuters)
Read More
Moderating food prices are likely to have slowed inflation in India during February, giving the RBI some relief after it raised interest rates three times since September to dampen price pressures, a Reuters poll showed. Industrial ouput, however, was seen falling 0.6 per cent in January, according to the poll's consensus forecast, due to weak consumer demand and investment. The government will release the data on Wednesday. Output fell by 0.6 per cent in December also, and if the forecast for January is correct, it would mark four months of falls and the longest phase of contraction that Indian factories have suffered in more than five years. Last year's economic growth of 4.79 per cent was India's worst performance in a decade, and opinion polls show voters are likely to abandon the ruling Congress Party at a general election next month. Whereas Indian voters are very sensitive to price rises, the likely slower inflation last month is probably too little, too late for the Congress-led coalition. The poll forecast annual retail price inflation likely eased to 8.35 per cent in February, the slowest in two years, after standing at 8.79 per cent in January. Core retail price inflation in January had remained sticky at around 8 per cent, a level deemed uncomfortably high by Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan. Retail price index data is also due to be released on Wednesday. The poll also forecast the wholesale price index likely eased to 4.99 per cent last month, the lowest since May 2013, and down from 5.05 per cent in January. The WPI data is due to be be released on Friday. "Food inflation took longer to dissipate. Initially it was on the higher side, but now those price affects have actually come off," said Vishnu Varathan, an economist at Mizuho Corporate Bank in Singapore. The reduced inflation will remove some pressure from the Reserve Bank of India for further action on monetary policy. The International Monetary Fund has warned that the RBI might have to resort to more rate hikes if inflation remains stubborn. "For now inflation is going to be quite co-operative," said Varathan. The factory ouptut data likely will make less pleasant reading for a central bank that has struggled to support weakening economic growth, while trying to dampen price pressures. Analysts say both export and domestic demand remain weak, and industrialists have delayed making fresh investment before the election. Capital goods production - a barometer for investment - shrank 3 percent in December and has contracted in seven of the previous nine months. (Reuters)
Read More
The new government has given Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone the green light to develop an 8,481 hectare coastal plot of land in western India, clearing the way for the group to build a huge desalination plant, Adani said on Wednesday (16 July).The clearance process had stalled under India's previous government, which lost power to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May, and Adani has waited several years to get the go-ahead.Adani, part of billionaire Gautam Adani's conglomerate, said in a statement the environment ministry had granted environment and coastal regulation zone clearance for its Mundra Special Economic Zone, a huge industrial hub where it also plans to build an effluent treatment plant.Since investing billions of dollars into an area with large swathes of marshy wasteland, Adani has transformed Mundra into an industrial zone hosting India's largest commercial port and the country's largest privately-owned power plant.The rapid growth of Mundra, a once-remote coastal town on the Gulf of Kutch in Gujarat, has prompted some opponents to say the local government, then headed by Modi, favoured Adani with cheap land. Adani denies he has been granted any undue favours.Adani's rapid ascent to the top tier of Indian business is often associated with the rise of Modi. Shares in listed Adani Enterprises <ADEL.NS> have surged almost 70 percent this year, largely in the run-up to Modi's election victory in May.Adani Ports' stock closed up 6.82 per cent on Wednesday, outpacing a 1.27 percent rise in the benchmark.Long pushed by India as a way to encourage foreign direct investment and grow exports, special economic zones are exempt from certain labour laws, as well import and excise duties.(Reuters)
Read More
