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The rupee is marginally higher in rangebound trade, at 61.82/83 versus Wednesday's (1 January) close of 61.90/91.Pair trying to break free from recent rangebound trade, some initial buying was there, but offered well.Pair still trading below 100-day moving average.Pair likely to move in a range of 61.70-62.20 with upticks to be sold, says a dealer with a forex broking firm.Shares showing gains, up 0.6 per cent.Foreign funds were buyers of $1.63 mln in stocks on Wednesday, provisional exchange data showed.Asian markets got the new year off to a sluggish start as Chinese economic data disappointed ahead of a raft of reports on global manufacturing due out through the session.(Reuters)
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Asia's manufacturing sector ended 2013 on a strong note, with expansion hitting multi-year highs in export-driven Japan and Taiwan, but signs of moderation in China raises concerns about the outlook for the new year.Both official and private measures of manufacturing activity in China fell in December, reinforcing views the world's second-largest economy lost some steam in the final quarter of 2013.The HSBC/Markit Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for China slipped to a three-month low of 50.5 in December, consistent with a dip in the government's PMI to a four-month low of 51.0. Still, both held above the 50 point level that separates expansion from contraction."The economy is still growing, no doubt, but the growth momentum has weakened," said Yao Wei, economist at Societe Generale in Hong Kong.That could temper some of the optimism about export-dependent countries such as Japan, where the last week the Markit/JMMA Manufacturing PMI rose to a 7-1/2 year high in December.The manufacturing data weighed on Asian shares on 2 January, with the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down 0.6 per cent.The PMI report from the euro zone is due at 0858 GMT, while the report for the United States is due at 1358 GMT.Export UncertaintyMany Asian economies are expecting a pick-up in exports given signs that the US economy, a major market for the region, is on the mend. However, there were mixed signals in the HSBC/Markit PMIs.Taiwanese manufacturers last month posted the sharpest expansion of output since April 2011, and new export orders rose. But in South Korea, new export orders dipped even as overall activity picked up to a seven-month high.In China, both the official and private PMIs showed export orders contracted in December.Data on Wednesday showed South Korea's exports to China, its biggest market, grew 8.4 per cent from a year earlier compared with 13.2 percent for exports to the United States."The stronger increase in manufacturing output suggests that growth will be sustained over the final quarter of the year, keeping the economy on track for a gradual recovery," HSBC economist Ronald Man said about South Korea."But given demand from China has still not shown signs of picking up meaningfully, we believe the overall upswing in economic activity will be limited."Other PMI surveys showed the more consumer-driven economies of India and Indonesia continued to struggle after a difficult 2013, although there were some glimmers of hope.India's factories lost momentum as softness in new domestic orders offset a pick-up in demand from abroad.As a result, the HSBC Manufacturing PMI fell to 50.7 in December from 51.3 in the previous month.In Indonesia, manufacturing activity in December improved to 50.9 from 50.3, underpinned by expansion in output and new orders.(Reuters)
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The rupee ended lower on Wednesday, the first trading session of 2014, with traders focused on key macroeconomic data ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's rate meeting later this month.Volumes were thin as most global markets were shut for new year holidays.Emerging from a year which saw the rupee plumbing to a series of lows, traders are awaiting allocations from foreign investors into local markets, which form a key support for the currency.Foreign investors have been buyers of over $20 billion in stocks in 2013 as local benchmark indexes hit record highs. The debt markets saw outflows of $8 billion, primarily since mid-May, but have turned positive in December.Both wholesale and retail inflation data due by mid-January will be closely watched ahead of the central bank's monetary policy review on January 28.Any rate hike to tamp down inflation will have a negative impact on stocks and will hurt inflows."The rupee is likely to consolidate at the current levels keeping an eye on the data in U.S. and political developments in India," said Vikas Babu Chittiprolu, a senior currency dealer at Andhra Bank."Fresh fund allocations by the FIIs and continued importers demand will keep it range bound," he said.The partially convertible rupee closed at 61.90/91 per dollar compared with 61.80/81 on Tuesday, in a range bound trading session. It ended 2013 down 11 percent, a third successive annual loss.Analysts say elections will be another key theme in 2014, with a stable government likely to usher in the prospect of more reforms and support the rupee.In the offshore non-deliverable forwards, the one-month contract was at 62.21, while the three-month was at 63.07.(Reuters)
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Tata Power on Wednesday (1 January 2014) welcomed Delhi Government's announcement of providing 50 per cent subsidy on power consumption up to 400 units, saying it was a "good move" which will provide relief to majority of the consumers in the city."It is a good move from the point of view of consumers.It will provide them relief. I welcome the decision by the government," Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd (TPDDL) CEO Pravir Sinha told PTI.Delivering on yet another poll promise, the Aam Aadmi government Tuesday announced a 50 per cent subsidy on power consumption upto 400 units in Delhi, which will benefit around 28 lakh of the total 35 lakh consumers in the city.When asked about Government's move to order Comptroller and Auditor General scrutiny of the finances of the three private power distribution companies, Sinha chose not to comment but said TPDDL will comply with the law.He, however, said TPDDL was responding to government's directive of making their stand clear on the CAG scrutiny of the companies."If the law of the land demands that (the CAG audit), we will definitely comply with the directive. We will comply with all the statutory and administrative laws and regulations," Sinha said.TPDDL supplies power to 13 lakh consumers in North and North West parts of Delhi. The other two companies -- BSES Yamuna Power Ltd and BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd -- supply power in rest of the areas in the city except areas under jurisdiction of New Delhi Municipal Corporation.Asked whether Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) will be under pressure not to hike electricity rates even if power purchase cost by distribution companies goes up due to rise in cost of fuel such as coal and gas, Sinha said the regulatory commission is "very independent" and it will take correct decisions.The DERC is likely to begin this month the tariff revision process for the year 2014-15.(PTI)
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Poor performance of natural gas, petroleum refinery products and fertiliser pulled down core sector growth (infrastructure sector growth) to 1.7 per cent in November from 5.8 per cent a year ago.However, the data is better than the previous month, October 2013, when the eight core sectors had contracted by 0.6 per cent. Infrastructure sector output fell 0.6 per cent in October. During the first eight months of the current fiscal year, infrastructure output grew 2.5 per cent from a year ago, the data showed on Tuesday.The industries, which also include coal, crude oil, steel, cement and electricity with a weight of about 38 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), have grown by 2.5 per cent during the April-November of this fiscal compared to 6.7 per cent in the same period of 2012-13.Experts said the sector's slow growth will impact IIP numbers for November."The situation is extremely volatile. It will keep IIP numbers low," CRISIL Principal Economist D K Joshi said.However, he expressed hope that the situation would improve moderately in the coming months.The IIP numbers for November are likely to be announced on January 12.Industrial production entered the negative territory after three months, contracting by 1.8 per cent in October this year mainly due to poor performance of the manufacturing sector.Natural gas output fell 11.3 per cent in November year-on-year. Petroleum refinery production shrank by 5 per cent.Fertiliser output growth slowed down to 0.6 per cent in the month under review,. Steel production also decelerated by 3.9 per cent.Among those which put up a good performance, cement which registered a growth of 4.2 per cent and electricity generation grew at 5.9 per cent.Coal output grew by 2.3 per cent in November as against (-) 2.9 per cent in the same month last year.In the fiscal year ended March, infrastructure output grew 3.2 per cent compared with 5 percent in 2011-12. (Agencies)
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Delivering on yet another poll promise, the Aam Aadmi government on 31 December announced a 50 per cent subsidy on power consumption upto 400 units in Delhi and was well on course to ordering a CAG audit into the finances of three private power distribution companies.The decision to subsidise power tariff, which will involve a cash outgo of Rs 61 crores in the next three months, was announced by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after a meeting of the cabinet.The subsidy, one of the major promises of AAP during the Assembly elections, will benefit 28 lakh consumers.The cut in the electricity tariff came a day after Kejriwal announced supply of 20 kilolitres of water free of cost, another key election promise made by AAP. Integrated StoryQuestioned about the subsidy that will be available only for three months, Kejriwal said further decision on this would be available only after the audit report.He said the cabinet would meet on 1 January 2014 after the three companies submit to the government their views on the proposal for audit of their finances."Only after studying their replies we will take a decision whether to audit or not," he said.To a question whether the government has the right to decide on slashing power tariff when a regulator was there, the Chief Minister shot back the government can provide subsidy.(PTI)
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Painting an optimistic picture on the external front, the Reserve Bank has said the country is ready for the US Federal Reserve's tapering, and has pegged the current account deficit at below 3 per cent for this fiscal in its eighth Financial Stability Report."External sector risks have been considerably reduced and the effect of the tapering on the economy is expected to be limited and short-lived," the report released on 30 December said.Delay in the tapering of the $85 billion-a-month bond buyback programme by the US Fed (tapering will start from January 1) gave the country time to replenish the forex reserves and rein in the high current account gap.In the third week of December, the US Fed announced that it would cut back bond buying by $10 billion a month to $75 billion from January on the back of improvement in the world's biggest economy."The CAD is expected to be less than 3 per cent of the GDP during the current financial year," the RBI said in the half-yearly report. "On balance, the country's external position appears to be manageable and reserves seem adequate."CAD shot up to an all-time high of 4.8 per cent last year on account of a heavy trade deficit and higher gold imports.The high CAD, along with fears of tapering, was one of the reasons for the rupee touching a lifetime low of 68.85 against the dollar on August 28 this year. The rupee improved since then, but is still 14 per cent lower year-to-date.The authorities acted on multiple fronts, curbing gold imports, opening currency swap windows to get fresh dollar flows, and increasing money market rates to reduce speculation.All of these resulted in the CAD coming down to 1.2 per cent of GDP in Q2 and the exchange reserves rallying for six weeks till mid December at over USD 295 billion as of last week.The biggest leveller had been a drastic fall in gold imports and the $34 billion that RBI could gross by way of the two dollar swap windows.On the rupee front, the RBI report also acknowledged the role played by the offshore markets, saying there is an increase in the offshore turnover of emerging market currencies in the last few years.The report, however, stresses that the long-term solution to the external sector problems for the country lies in increasing the productivity and the export competitiveness.It said the inflation differential between the advanced economies and the emerging ones like India is a potential source of volatility in the exchange rates as capital flows could abruptly change directions.However, it took note of the fact that the measures announced since September have contained volatility in the forex market.It is imperative to contain the inflation, the report said.The emerging geopolitical situation and the increased availability of alternative energy sources like shale gas can also have a positive impact on the energy import bill, RBI said.(PTI)
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Emerging as a mascot of an alternative brand of politics, engineer-turned civil servant Arvind Kejriwal has changed the political discourse to steer his AAP to power - a sweet revenge for the activist's fledgling party that was once branded as "mango people in a banana republic".Leading from the front, the 45-year-old leader of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) anchored his campaign in an unconventional way to see it become the second largest party in Delhi Assembly elections with a stunning showing that halted the 15-year rule of Congress.With interests of the common man at the core of AAP's agenda, Kejriwal's triumph over three - time Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to become her successor today was the proverbial icing on the cake to earn him the tag of 'giant killer'.The country's newest star on the political horizon, who tasted success at his very first outing at the hustings, was handed his most memorable nickname in an outburst by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra earlier this year when AAP was dubbed as "mango people in a banana republic".Often called the anti-corruption man, the diminutive and bespectacled IITian and a former tax official has catapulted himself from one of the many proponents of an ombudsman to check graft to the force behind a widely popular people's movement.A renowned activist, who was dismissed as a political greenhorn, cemented his place in politics with an impressive political debut for his one-year-old AAP that challenged the political establishment.Kejriwal has thrown the rule book of Indian politics out of the window with his anti-corruption party that began as a social movement, tapping into the new energies fizzing all over India - students, farmers, civil rights groups, NGOs, social activists, women?s groups and the urban youth.Born on August 16, 1968 in Hisar in Haryana to Gobind Ram Kejriwal and Gita Devi, Arvind sent the entire political spectrum into a tizzy, attacking both BJP and Congress on the issues of corruption, exorbitant rise in power and water tariff, safety of women and had managed to make a dent in the vote banks of both the parties.Belying all claims of being a "non-actor or no factor" in the Delhi Assembly elections by Congress and BJP, Kejriwal, a man of simple tastes, came into prominence from the agitation by 75-year-old activist Anna Hazare in support of Jan Lokpal Bill in 2011.Soft-spoken but a man with strong conviction, the Ramon Magsaysay award winner was part of the Team Anna, along with first woman IPS officer Kiran Bedi, Prashant Bhushan and others.He was the civil society representative member of the committee constituted by the Government to draft the Jan Lokpal bill, following the campaign for introduction of such legislation.After feeling "betrayed" by the government when it rejected their draft, Congress and other leaders challenged them to join politics, win elections and come to Parliament if they wanted to "fight system from within", root out corruption and get the Jan Lokpal Bill passed.Known for taking on challenges, the indefatigable activist decided to take a plunge into politics and formed "Aam Aadmi Party" on November 26 last year, after a formal split of Team Anna.The party name ? Aam Aadmi Party ? reflects the phrase Aam Aadmi or "common man", whose interests Kejriwal proposed to represent and got its poll symbol "broom" in July this year.A bright academic, Kejriwal passed out as a Mechanical Engineering graduate from IIT Kharagpur.He joined Tata Steel in 1989 and after working for three years, he resigned in 1992 to take up the Union Public Service Commission examination which he cleared to become an Indian Revenue Service(IRS) officer.Being in government service, Kejriwal was active in taking up social cause and worked for implementation of Right to Information Act (RTI) at grass root level.His efforts in the enactment of the RTI Act to empower the poorest citizens of India won him the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership in 2006.In February 2006, after resigning as Joint Commissioner in the Income Tax Department he became a full-time activist and started an NGO, Public Cause Research Foundation, with his award money as a corpus fund.A strict vegetarian who prefers home-made food, Kejriwal is married to Sunita, who is also an IRS officer and his batchmate from National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie.The couple have two children, a daughter Harshita and a son Pulkit. He has a younger sister and brother.(PTI)
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An Indian court upheld on Thursday the result of an investigation that cleared Gujarat state chief minister Narendra Modi of complicity in riots in 2002, giving the opposition politician a boost as he runs for prime minister.Modi, a leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has used the report to defend himself in the past, saying he was "given a thoroughly clean chit" and insisting he did all he could to stop the violence.The riots erupted in February 2002 after a train carrying Hindu pilgrims was torched, prompting a wave of reprisal attacks against the state's minority Muslims. At least 1,000 people were killed, most of them Muslims, in some of India's worst religious bloodshed since 1947.A special team appointed by the Supreme Court to investigate the role of Modi and 62 other people in the violence said in a 541-page report in 2012 it could find no evidence to prosecute the chief minister.Most importantly, it cleared Modi of the most damaging allegation: that he had told senior officials to allow Hindu mobs to vent their anger.Zakia Jafri, the widow of a politician belonging to the ruling Congress party who was killed by rioters along with dozens of neighbours, had filed a protest petition against the team's report in April.On Thursday, a court in Gujarat's main city of Ahmedabad rejected Jafri's petition, saying there was no evidence to prosecute Modi."Truth alone triumphs," Modi wrote on his Twitter page.Jafri's lawyers and supporters said they would take the case to a higher court within a month."Modi can feel easy for 20 days but not for more than that," said Mihir Desai, a lawyer for Jafri.Modi, who in the years following the riots turned Gujarat into one of India's fastest growing states, has built a reputation as a business-savvy and investor-friendly administrator. But he has been unable to fully shake off allegations over the riots."I strongly feel for those who haven't got justice in Gujarat," Law Minister Kapil Sibal said soon after the court decision on Thursday.Modi looks to be the front-runner in an election that must be held by May. (Reuters)
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The BW | Businessworld SME Whitebook was launched on 10 December at The Leela Ambience Gurgaon. The event witnessed a lively panel discussion on the subject, 'Growth Despite The Liquidity Squeeze'. This was followed by the unveiling of the book by Dr Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State for Human Development, who was the chief guest for the event.Click here to view slide show(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 13-01-2014)
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