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The rupee was trading at 60.15/16 versus its previous close of 60.1250/1350, tracking weakness in the equity market.The BSE Sensex was down 0.1 per cent as oil and gas stocks slump after the government deferred a decision on Wednesday (25 June) to raise prices of locally produced gas for next three months.Month-end dollar demand from oil firms is also expected to keep an upward pressure on the pair.However, almost all Asian currencies were stronger against the dollar.Asian shares swung higher on Thursday (26 June) as weak US growth seemed to further delay the day when interest rates might rise, pulling down bond yields globally and pushing investors toward riskier assets in a desperate search for returns.The pair is seen holding in a 60.00 to 60.36 range during the session.(Reuters)
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The rupee is trading higher at 60.71/72 versus Thursday's close of 60.76/77.Bunched-up dollar inflows hurting the pair, say traders.Foreign exchange markets were closed on Friday (15 August) and Monday (18 August) for holidays.The Sensex and Nifty hit record highs on Monday and trading up 0.4 per cent as of 9:29 a.m.Dollar's gains versus certain other Asian units and majors to limit a sharp fall in the USD/INR pair.Index of the dollar versus six majors up 0.05 per cent.The rupee is seen in 60.50 to 61.00 range during the session.(Reuters)
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The Centre is likely to go ahead with the appointment of the chairperson and members of Lokpal without Leader of Opposition as member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led selection committee.The rules for Lokpal search committee are being modified and a meeting of selection committee will be held soon to finalise its composition, official sources said.Once the search panel is formed and its recommendations are received by the selection committee, it will proceed with the appointment of chairperson and members of Lokpal, the sources said.According to the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, "No appointment of a chairperson or a member shall be invalid merely by reason of any vacancy in the selection committee."The selection committee, led by Modi, has as its members the Lok Sabha Speaker, Leader of Opposition in the Lower House, the Chief Justice of India or a judge of the apex court nominated by him, and an eminent jurist who could be nominated by the President or any other member.The process of appointment of search committee members is underway, the sources said.Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan is yet to take a decision on the issue of Leader of Opposition in the lower house.Congress with 44 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha has emerged as the second largest party after BJP's 282 but fell short by 11 to stake claim for Leader of Opposition (LoP) for which it requires a strength of 55.As per Direction 121 of the 'Directions of the Speaker', the Speaker should ensure that a Parliamentary party or group should have at least one-tenth of the total number of members of the Lok Sabha for being eligible for getting the LoP post.Simultaneously, the government is likely to proceed with the appointment of next Central Vigilance Commissioner and Vigilance Commissioner in Central Vigilance Commission without the LoP, the sources said.CVC Pradeep Kumar and Vigilance Commissioner J M Garg are due to retire in September this year.Central Vigilance Commissioner and Vigilance Commissioner are to be appointed by the President on the basis of recommendation from a three-member committee consisting Prime Minister as chairperson and Minister of Home Affairs and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha as members, as per the CVC Act, 2003."No appointment of a Central Vigilance Commissioner or a Vigilance Commissioner shall be invalid merely by reason of any vacancy in the committee," the Act says.The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, which had got assent from President Pranab Mukherjee on January 1 this year, provides for the establishment of Lokpal for the Union and Lokayuktas for the states to inquire into corruption charges against public functionaries.The UPA government had in February this year hurriedly formed an eight-member search committee comprising Justice (retd) K T Thomas (as chairperson) and seven other members.The members included Kaki Madhava Rao (former IAS officer), F S Nariman (legal luminary), Prof Meenakshi Gopinath (educationist), M L Kumawat (former Director General of Border Security Force), H K Dua (senior journalist and Rajya Sabha member), S Y Quraishi (former Chief Election Commissioner) and Prof Mrinal Miri (Rajya Sabha member).But both Thomas and Nariman had refused to be part of the search panel.(PTI)
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India has deferred the decision to raise prices of locally produced gas by three months, the oil minister said on Wednesday (25 June). "Comprehensive discussions are required on this issue," said Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Currently, the bulk of domestic gas is sold at $4.2/mBtu, which producers Reliance Industries and state-run ONGC say is not enough to explore new areas of India's reserves.(Reuters)
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What in your view is the way forward on financing of infrastructure?The key issue will be to ensure that projects are structured in a way that risks are assigned to the appropriate stakeholders. Given the past track record of project performance, both equity and debt financiers will be very apprehensive about financing projects where risk has not been adequately parceled out. For example, while the government insists on land acquisition being the responsibility of private players, their inability to acquire land has led to huge delays which, in turn, has impacted repayments. Will different approaches work better for different sectors - roads, airports, power and so on?Absolutely yes. The nature of projects is very different, as is the nature of the concession agreements. The common element is the duration of the loan – however, cash flows by asset type are different – so we will need different models and approaches to roads and power etc. What is a possible solution to the roads and highways problem - where many developers have gone wrong on traffic estimates, overaggressive bidding and have promised high premiums ? Do you think PPP is of limited use in this sector?PPP will work, but we need a new model – of which the key elements are: Separate project construction and operationsAward construction of projects on an annuity basisGovernment operates for 12 to 18 months to establish traffic baseThen award long-term OMT contract to specialized operatorsLimit number of projects (by total value) given to any single companyEnhance PQ criteria – encourage partnerships with international majorsWhat in your mind needs to be done to revive power generation in India?Fixing issues around coal supply and distribution is absolutely crucial. With the current transmission plan, that element will get fixed – and all this together will spur investments in generation What if anything can be done to curb inflation in your view?Different approaches for different sectors. Squeezing capital cash flows will create a larger inflation headache in the longer term How can he adhere to fiscal discipline and lower the deficit ? Is cutting subsidies a desirable solution?Selectively cutting subsidies is a must – and getting closer to real market pricing. Recent decisions on rail were a clear example of what is needed—at the least.
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Howitzer Deal In Quandary After Price HikeIndia has told the US that in view of the price increase, it cannot go ahead with the procurement of 145 ultra-light howitzers for the Army, which plans to deploy such artillery guns in mountainous terrain.During talks with US officials at the time of American Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel's recent visit, it was conveyed by India that it cannot go ahead with the deal due to the price hike asked for by the equipment manufacturer, Defence Ministry sources said here.Till early 2013, the deal for the M777 howitzers was expected to cost India around Rs 3,600 crore but due to the delay in finalising the deal, the American side sought an increase of over Rs 300 crore in August last year.The sources said the US side has conveyed that the production line of the howitzers has been closed down and India will have to pay for its reopening and the costs may escalate further if there are more delays in finalising the deal.Under the procurement process, certain procedures have to be followed and it is difficult to justify a price hike in the middle of negotiations for the contract, they said.Recently, Indian Defence Minister Arun Jaitley had stated that the deal has not progressed due to issues over cost of the deal and offsets requirements."The case for procurement of the ULH guns through the US government has not progressed due to cost issues and because the vendor has not been able to come up with a proposal fully compliant to the offset requirements," he had said. India and the US have been discussing the deal for the last several years to induct the howitzers into the Army, which has not bought a single artillery gun in the last 25 years.The guns were planned to be bought from the US for deployment in high-altitude frontiers along with China and Pakistan and were also expected to be part of the newly raised 17 Mountain Strike Corps of the Army.The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) had in February asked the Army to review the plan for procurement of these guns in view of the increased price of the deal as the equipment manufacturers have hiked the cost of the proposed contract.The offsets proposal offered by the US firm was also not in line with the DAC benchmark, the sources said.The Army has been waiting for induction of a new artillery gun since 1980s after the Bofors gun scandal.The Ordnance Factory Board and Defence Resarch and Development Organisation (DRDO) are also working towards developing indigenous guns for meeting the requirements of the Army.(Reuters)
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What in your view is the way forward on financing of infrastructure?The key issue will be to ensure that projects are structured in a way that risks are assigned to the appropriate stakeholders. Given the past track record of project performance, both equity and debt financiers will be very apprehensive about financing projects where risk has not been adequately parceled out. For example, while the government insists on land acquisition being the responsibility of private players, their inability to acquire land has led to huge delays which, in turn, has impacted repayments. Will different approaches work better for different sectors - roads, airports, power and so on?Absolutely yes. The nature of projects is very different, as is the nature of the concession agreements. The common element is the duration of the loan – however, cash flows by asset type are different – so we will need different models and approaches to roads and power etc. What is a possible solution to the roads and highways problem - where many developers have gone wrong on traffic estimates, overaggressive bidding and have promised high premiums ? Do you think PPP is of limited use in this sector?PPP will work, but we need a new model – of which the key elements are: Separate project construction and operationsAward construction of projects on an annuity basisGovernment operates for 12 to 18 months to establish traffic baseThen award long-term OMT contract to specialized operatorsLimit number of projects (by total value) given to any single companyEnhance PQ criteria – encourage partnerships with international majorsWhat in your mind needs to be done to revive power generation in India?Fixing issues around coal supply and distribution is absolutely crucial. With the current transmission plan, that element will get fixed – and all this together will spur investments in generation What if anything can be done to curb inflation in your view?Different approaches for different sectors. Squeezing capital cash flows will create a larger inflation headache in the longer term How can he adhere to fiscal discipline and lower the deficit ? Is cutting subsidies a desirable solution?Selectively cutting subsidies is a must – and getting closer to real market pricing. Recent decisions on rail were a clear example of what is needed—at the least.
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The rupee weakened by 19 paise to 60.32 against the US dollar in early trade on Wednesday (25 June) at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market on high demand for the American currency from importers.Forex dealers said though increased demand for the US currency from importers put pressure on the rupee but a higher opening in the domestic equity market and the dollar's weakness against other currencies overseas, capped the losses.On Tuesday (24 June), the rupee strengthened by seven paise to close at 60.13 against the US currency on the back of a sharp rise in local equities, following a drop in global crude oil prices.Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex rose 58.90 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 25,427.80 in early trade today. (PTI)
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The Delhi High Court on Wednesday (25 June) refused to give an urgent hearing to two cross petitions, one for implementation of the four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP) and the other against it.The petitions were mentioned before a vacation bench of justices Pratibha Rani and V Kameswar Rao which said, "The matter requires effective hearing which can't be done by a vacation bench. It will be heard by the roster bench in July.""We understand the situation. The admissions will not be affected. There will only be a few days delay. The matter will be heard in July," the bench said, adding that Justice Rao does not wish to hear the matter so it cannot be listed on June 27 as sought by the petitioners.The plea challenging the University Grants Commission's (UGC) notification to scrap FYUP has been filed by Delhi University professor Aditya Narayan Mishra, while the PIL seeking implementation of the commission's decision to restore the earlier three-year undergraduate programme has been filed by advocate R K Kapoor.The PIL by advocate Kapoor has sought a resolution of the "controversy" saying, "Most of the university's colleges are deferring admissions, leading to confusion among lakhs of aspirants just a day before the admission process was to begin."Mishra, an ex-DUTA (Delhi University Teachers' Association) President and an Assistant Professor at Aurobindo College, had yesterday moved the Supreme Court which had refused to intervene in the matter and directed him to approach the high court. Mishra, in his plea before the apex court, had submitted that FYUP is valid and the ordinance brought by the university regarding this is consistent with the UGC guidelines.However, Kapoor has said, "FYUP violates the National Education Policy 1986, which advocates the 10+2+3 system, and therefore, it is necessary that DU must revert to the earlier system."A year after the programme was introduced, DU and UGC are at loggerheads over the course.UGC had issued directions both to DU and all 64 colleges under it to conduct admissions under the three-year undergraduate programme and not under the four-year programme implemented by the varsity last year, the PIL said, adding that UGC has warned DU and its colleges of "consequences" if they fail to implement the commission's direction.Kapoor's petition also states that 44 colleges under DU have voted against FYUP after implementing it last year. (PTI)
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Exports growth slipped to 7.33 per cent in July after witnessing a double-digit expansion in the previous two months, pushing up the trade deficit to one- year high of $12.22 billion.Exports in July stood at $27.72 billion as compared to $25.83 billion in the same month last year. In June and May, growth was 10.22 per cent and 12.4 per cent respectively.The sectors that put up a good show include textiles (13.3 per cent), petroleum products (28 per cent), engineering (23.9 per cent), leather (17.23 per cent), marine products (25 per cent), oil seeds (19.25 per cent), chemicals (16.67 per cent) and pharmaceuticals (10.78 per cent).Imports increased by 4.25 per cent year-on-year to $39.95 billion in July. This is the second consecutive growth in the inbound shipments after remaining in the negative for the past several months.Trade deficit of $12.22 billion is one-year high as as the previous high was $12.49 billion in July 2013.According to exporters' body Fieo, gems and jewellery and electronics continue to be a cause of concern as their negative growth is pulling down overall exports growth. It wants the government to announce some major initiatives in the forthcoming Foreign Trade Policy to boost exports.FIEO expressed hope that exports will cross $350 billion by end of the fiscal.In the April-July period, exports grew by 8.62 per cent to $107.8 billion.Imports, however, dipped by 3.8 per cent to $153.15 billion during the first four months of this financial year.Trade deficit during the period stood at $45.31 billion as against $59.91 billion in the same period last year.Oil imports increased by 12.75 per cent in July to $14.35 billion. Non-oil imports during the month under review were up by 0.03 per cent to $25.6 billion.Country's gold imports dipped by 26.39 per cent to $1.81 billion in July this year from USD 2.46 billion in the same month last year.(Agencies)
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