The rupee strengthened to its highest level in more than seven months on Tuesdayb (25 March), tracking broad global losses in the dollar and as foreign investors continued to buy into a record-setting rally in domestic shares this month.The US dollar nursed broad losses early on Tuesday, having come under pressure late in New York as investors bought the euro and drove the Australian dollar to its highest this year.The partially convertible rupee trading at 60.50/51 per dollar at 9:06 a.m., its strongest level since August 12 and higher than its Monday's close of 60.77/78.Overseas investors bought Indian shares worth Rs 1465 crore and Rs 1056 crore worth of index futures on Monday (24 March), when shares hit a record high, provisional exchange data showed.(Reuters)
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M/s. Thiess Minecs India Pvt. Ltd. (TM) was appointed as Mine Developer-cum-Operator (MDO) on global tendering for development and operation of Pakri-Barwadih Captive Coal Block of NTPC on 30 November 2010 for a period of 27 years at an estimated contract value of Rs 23,000 crore. The contract consisted of a development period of 360 days (ended on 25 November, 2011) and balance operation stage. TM failed to make any headway despite the fact that development period of the contract was extended twice ie. initially for 450 days and 360 days later. In toto, an opportunity of 1170 days was given for the development phase. The above failure of TM was brought to the notice of Bruce Munro, MD, Thiess Pty. Ltd., Australia through emails on many occasions and got no response. NTPC, in this regard, issued a show-cause notice to TM on 10 July 2012, stating the defaults and non-fulfillment of contractual obligations by TM without any response. The top management of NTPC called on the Australian Minister for Mining during his visit to India and was appraised about total inaction by M/s Thiess. TM was apprised of the persistent reviews of Ministry of Coal, Ministry of Power, Government of India from time to time but did nothing about it. Meanwhile, for this coal block, the coal ministry imposed a Bank Guarantee of Rs 138.6 crore at poor progress of scarce National Asset which is being contested by NTPC. Other contractors have made good progress for construction of coal handling plant in the same area. Similarly, in North Karanpura area, close to the project site, work is in progress with the cooperation of villagers. Indian Railways has almost completed the rail link. Thus, NTPC had no option but to terminate the contract on 7 May 2014 with a notice period of 45 days. NTPC will like to inform that work at the second mine Chatti Bariatu is progressing at a fast pace and the mining of coal is expected to commence this year.
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The Supreme Court on Monday (24 March) directed the Centre to immediately withdraw the instruction, if any, issued by it for making Aadhaar card mandatory for citizens to avail government services. "If there are any instructions that Aadhaar is mandatory, it should be withdrawn immediately" a bench of justices B S Chauhan and J Chelameswar said while staying the order of the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court directing sharing of data collected for issuing Aadhaar card to citizens with CBI for solving a rape case. The bench said biometric or any other data should not be shared with any authorities unless the accused gives consent in writing. The probe agency had sought the data base, including biometrics of persons from Goa, so that those could be compared with the ones obtained from the crime scene for the purpose of investigating rape of a minor girl in a school premises in Vasco. The apex court had in its September 2013 interim order said Aadhaar card be not (not) made mandatory for people for availing government services and nobody should be deprived of such facilities for want of the card. The bench passed the order on a petition filed by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) challenging the High Court order which asked it to consider sharing biometric data collected from people with CBI in order to help the investigating agency solve a rape case in Vasco. The High Court had in an February 26 interim order directed the Director-General, Central Forensic and Scientific Laboratory (CFSL), New Delhi, to appoint an expert to ascertain if its data base has the technological capability for matching the chance fingerprints electronically obtained. UIDAI had contended the order would set a bad precedent, besides opening floodgates of similar requests by various investigative agencies/ police calling for information, including biometrics of residents, for the purpose of investigation. It said biometric data cannot be shared without the consent of the resident and as per its current data-sharing policy and guidelines. In its plea, UIDAI submitted more than 60 crore residents have enrolled themselves for Aadhaar by providing their demographic and biometric information for civilian application only and sharing the data would endanger the fundamental rights of the citizens. "Building a system that can search using latent fingerprints, quite like criminal database searches, is not within the constitutional and legal mandate and scope of UIDAI and fundamentally against the core reason residents have provided their data voluntarily to UIDAI," the petition said. "The right to privacy is one of the basic human rights of an individual and UIDAI is committed to protect this aspect," it said. UIDAI came into existence on January 28, 2009, for providing 12-digit Aadhaar number to those citizens who registered themselves. Its purpose is envisaged as a means to enhance delivery of welfare benefits and services. The number is stored in a secure database and linked to the basic demographics and biometric information?photograph, 10 fingerprints and iris?of each individual. The apex court is also seized with a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Aadhaar card with those opposing the mega project saying it was not backed by any statute and compromises with national security. Among the petitioners are Justice K Puttaswamy, former high court judge and Major General S G Vombatkere, who retired as Additional Director General, Discipline & Vigilance in Army HQ, also sought to restrain the Centre, the Planning Commission and UIDAI from issuing Aadhaar cards by way of an executive order of January 28, 2009.(Agencies)
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The rupee is trading at 62.33/34 versus its close of 62.3650/3750, tracking some gains in the domestic sharemarket.The BSE Sensex is trading up half a per cent and will be watched for fund flows.Traders also expect dollar inflows towards the Vodafone deal, spectrum auctions among other things.Vodafone Group Plc won the cabinet's approval for its $1.6 billion deal to buy out minority partners in its unit in the country, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said on Thursday (6 February).(Reuters)
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Underlining that Germany is India's most important economic partner in Europe, President Pranab Mukherjee said there are immense opportunities for enhanced investments from the European country in physical infrastructure here. Speaking at the banquet hosted in the honour of visiting German President Joachim Gauck, Mukherjee said Indian companies are increasingly venturing into investments and acquisitions in Germany. "India, in turn, sees immense opportunities for enhanced German investments in its physical infrastructure. India also looks forward to the participation of the small and medium enterprises of Germany in India's growing consumer market," Mukherjee said in in his speech. He said in 2012, bilateral trade between India and Germany was Euro 17.5 billion but there is much more potential to enhance commerce between the two countries. Highlighting strong partnership between the two countries on regional and international issues, Mukherjee said they should continue with efforts for a fundamental reform of the UN Security Council and other multilateral institutions that reflects current realities. Mukherjee said India not only celebrates Germany as its largest trading partner in Europe, but it also attaches great importance to German development assistance, the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a press release. The assistance has helped bring advanced technology into India and enhanced the country's energy efficiency while developing alternative sources of renewable energy, the President said yesterday at the banquet. Describing Germany as a long standing and good friend, Mukherjee said India attaches high priority to India-Germany strategic partnership based on shared values "Germany is the most important economic partner of India in Europe...India sees Mr. Gauck's visit as yet another occasion for Germany and India to reinforce their long standing ties of friendship and co-operation," the statement said. The President said the 'strategic partnership' is a culmination of the two nations' continuous commitment, over the decades, to realise the full potential of the mutually beneficial relationship. He said two countries are bastions of democracy and freedom having a shared respect for the rights of individuals, rule of law and a free media. Mukherjee congratulated the German President for his personal commitment and his contribution to the promotion of democracy and human rights and said he is confident that his visit will be an important milestone in strategic partnership between India and Germany and will set the agenda for joint endeavours in the coming days. The visiting dignitary said India is a key partner in the region and Germany greatly admires the path to modernity pursued by India in the 21st century. "A successful India, which offers its citizens the chance to live their lives in peace and freedom, sends an important message to Asia and indeed to the whole world. Such an India stands for the advantages of an open society, for pluralism and for democracy," he said. In his speech, the German President said it is important that India and Germany closely coordinate on global issues such as security, development, global trade and climate protection.(PTI)
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In yet another move aimed at needling outside ally Congress, the AAP government on Thursday (6 February) directed its Anti-Corruption Bureau to probe a number of Commonwealth Games related projects that were implemented during the reign of Sheila Dikshit.The government has particularly asked ACB to probe the alleged irregularities in street light projects in which the Prime Minister-appointed Shunglu Committee had questioned certain decisions made by Dikshit."We will ensure thorough investigation of all cases of corruption in CWG projects," Law Minister Somnath Bharti told PTI when asked about the government decision.He said ACB has been told to examine all cases of irregularities but maintained that the probe will not target "any particular individual"."The probe is not being carried out to target any individual. We will ensure a free and fair probe," he said.The Shunglu Committee had found procedural violations by then Delhi Lt Governor Tejinder Khanna and Dikshit for alleged inadequacies in executing certain projects related to 2010 Commonwealth Games.Dikshit had trashed the findings of the report and had sent a point-by-point rebuttal to the Centre.After assuming charges, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced that his government will investigate all corruption cases, particularly the CWG scam.In the 70-member Delhi Assembly, eight Congress MLAs are giving outside support to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government which currently has 27 MLAs after expulsion of rebel legislator Vinod Kumar Binny. The government has also been given outside support by a Janata Dal(United) MLA and an Independent.(PTI)
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The rupee rises to 62.41/42 versus its previous close of 62.57/58.Gained in the rupee come after the RBI said late on Wednesday (5 February) that the government had cancelled its previously deferred bond sale of Rs 150 billion.The cancellation showed the government is confident of meeting its fiscal deficit target of 4.8 per cent of GDP for 2013/14, traders said.The rupee could strengthen further in the near-term to around 61.80 to a dollar, trader says, as the government's cash position is set to improve further due to gains from the ongoing mobile spectrum auction.Globally, the dollar struggles against Asian currencies ahead of key event risks, namely the ECB's policy decision due later on Thursday and US jobs data on Friday.(Reuters)
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As emerging markets tumbled this year, the riskiest country groupings on the fringes have been a haven. Small markets, local stories and in some cases pegged currencies backed by strong central bank reserves have shielded frontier markets from the worst of the emerging market rout. Lebanon, Tunisia, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Qatar and Kuwait are among the world's lesser developed markets and are outperforming more mainstream emerging markets in the most recent storm. The benchmark MSCI frontiers index has eked out a 1 per cent rise in total returns this year, but that compares with a 7.4 per cent loss in emerging markets and a 5.4 per cent drop in developed stocks. To be sure, the performance of headline frontier indices mask the differing fortunes of an eclectic group of markets that includes Argentina, which is going through another severe currency crisis. But far from the widespread advice to be hyper selective right now within the emerging markets universe, sticking with the broad frontiers index may have been the most reliable play over the past year. Last year too, emerging stocks, bonds and currencies fell as investors fretted about lower growth in countries such as Brazil and China and the end of the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary stimulus programme, which had depressed U.S. bond yields and driven volatile investor flows to high-yielding assets. But frontier stocks and bonds rose in 2013, boosted in markets such as sub-Saharan Africa by a stronger growth outlook. "We have picked up where we left off last year," said Slim Feriani, CEO of Advance Emerging Capital. "The key difference is currency, you do not have currency moves like we have seen in the Fragile Five." The so-called Fragile Five currencies of the major emerging economies of Brazil, India, Indonesia, South Africa and Turkey have suffered sharp losses over the past 12 months, forcing protective interest rate rises in several cases, on a reversal of the investor inflows of the past few years. Many frontier markets, including the Gulf countries of Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, have currencies pegged to the dollar. Pegs can be a problem if central banks run out of foreign exchange reserves to prop up their currencies. But the energy-producing surplus countries of the Middle East have $30-60 billion in reserves, and can likely ride out the current volatility if push came to shove. These three countries make up more than 50 per cent of the frontiers index, helping to explain its outperformance. Other top-performing frontier markets this year include Bulgaria and Lithuania, which have currencies linked to the still relatively buoyant euro. No CorrelationFrontier markets, so-called because of the relative difficulty of getting in and out of them, have won far less international investment than emerging markets and so have been less prone to the flight of speculative hot money. Emerging markets have attracted index-tracking retail investors through exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and these have been among the first to take fright and leave, investors say. Emerging stocks are a trillion-dollar market, of which $300 billion is in ETFs, compared with less than $20 billion under management in frontier stocks, according to estimates by banks and fund tracker EPFR. This cash has headed for the exits as the Fed started cutting its bond-buying programme, a process famously described as "tapering" last May by then-chairman Ben Bernanke. "A lot of the money coming out of emerging markets is still due to tapering tantrums," said Antoon de Klerk, fund manager at Investec. "That liquidity would not have reached frontier markets to nearly the same extent." Because of this lack of liquidity, there is also a lack of correlation between frontier markets and other markets, and between individual frontier markets. Investors look more closely at local factors instead. The top-performing frontier markets this year are Jordan and Lebanon, which investors ascribe to improving sentiment about neighbouring Syria, following a peace process which started last month. Tunisia has also rallied, boosted by the adoption last week of a new constitution. And just as investors cheer reform-friendly emerging markets such as Mexico, Morocco, which suffered a downgrade from the emerging market to the frontiers index last year, has shown resilience following the government's willingness to tackle energy subsidies. Even where frontier markets have fallen this year, it is not necessarily related to the global situation, analysts say. "The frontier currencies that are not pegged get driven by a lot of internal factors," said Angus Downie, head of economic research at African bank Ecobank. "The global economic situation has had an impact in Africa but it's somewhat muted - Africa is not fully integrated with global economic trade." The Ghanaian cedi, for example, has hit record lows, forcing the central bank to stabilise it. But investors say this is because new energy resources in the country encouraged high levels of government debt, rather than due to global factors. "The fall in the cedi has wholly been of Ghana's making, it is a massively overheated economy," said de Klerk. However, some of last year's frontier darlings are now feeling the heat of the global sell-off. Nigerian stocks, which soared 43 per cent in 2013, have fallen 2.5 per cent in 2014, the naira is trading below its 150-160 per dollar band, and the central bank says hot money remains in the system. Mauritian stocks have fallen after rallying 20 per cent last year, domestic bond yields have risen and the central bank governor said this week that rates should be raised to prevent capital flight. And even if investors like local stories, they may have to sell the bad with the good in the event of an even larger-scale sell-off, in order to meet client redemptions from their funds. "We are seeing continuing outflows of emerging markets, week in, week out, we have seen some panic," said Feriani. "Frontier markets have remained uncorrelated, that won't go on forever - I am a bit cautious."(Reuters)
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Essar has shut down all units at the UK's No. 2 refinery due to a steam supply issue on Tuesday (4 February) and said it did not yet have an estimate for when the plant could resume operations.The problem at the 296,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Stanlow refinery in northwestern England developed just before 2:00 p.m. local time (1400 GMT) on Tuesday, Essar spokesman Jonathan Miller said in a statement."We are now working to restore steam supply and effect a safe re-start," he said.The Stanlow refinery supplies 15 per cent of the UK's fuel needs, shipping it around the country by road and pipelines, Essar's website said. It has broadened its crude slate to increase its use of West and North African and Canadian crude alongside North Sea oil.The plant underwent a substantial turnaround towards the end of last year, refurbishing a gasoline-making catalytic cracker for around $35 million.Essar is an Indian-owned company with a refinery in India and interest in a refinery in Kenya. It also has power and upstream oil and gas operations.(Reuters)
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The rupee was trading at 62.36/37 versus its closed of 62.5250/5350, tracking weakness in the dollar versus majors and other Asian currencies.The index of the dollar against six majors down 0.5 per cent.Traders expect the market to remain range bound ahead of the US jobs data on Friday (31 January) which is the next key trigger point for markets.The pair was seen holding in a 62.00 to 62.80 range until the jobs data. The BSE Sensex was trading up 0.34 per cent lower.(Reuters)
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