The 56 and-a-half hour countdown for the launch of India's first space mission to Mars, slated for November 5, commenced on Sunday, 3 November, at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. "The 56 hours and 30 minutes countdown started as per schedule at 06.08 AM. It is proceeding smoothly," a spokesman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told PTI over phone this morning. ISRO's workhorse launch vehicle PSLV C25, carrying India's first inter-planetary satellite Mars Orbiter Mission, is scheduled to lift off at 2.38 pm on November 5 from the spaceport of Sriharikota, some 100 km from here. The Launch Authorisation Board had on November 1 given its consent for the launch of the MOM after the successful conduct of a launch rehearsal the previous day. The rocket is expected to take over 40 minutes to inject the satellite into Earth's orbit after the take off. The vehicle tracking stations at Port Blair, Bylalu near Bangalore, Brunei and sea-borne terminals on board Shipping Corporation of India's vessels SCI Nalanda and SCI Yamuna positioned at South Pacific Ocean have also been kept on alert, ISRO sources said. Once launched, the satellite is expected to go around the Earth for 20-25 days, before embarking on a nine-month voyage to the red planet on December 1 and reach the orbit of the Mars on September 24, 2014. If India succeeds in the Rs 450-crore MOM mission, it would be the fourth in the world, after the US, Russia and Europe to do so. European Space Agency (ESA) of European consortium, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the US and Roscosmos of Russia are the three agencies which have successfully undertaken missions to the red planet so far. Though there have been 51 missions to the Mars, only 21 of them have been successful.(PTI)
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Asia's factory sectors grew at their fastest pace in months in October led by China, providing some signs of a pick up in global demand as export orders expand.China's official purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose to an 18-month high and South Korea's HSBC index pointed to expansion for the first time in five months. Taiwan's PMI reached its highest level since March 2012, Indonesia's index hit a four-month high and Japan's PMI rose to its strongest level in well over three years.The major Asian economies of China, Japan, South Korea and India reported new export orders expanding simultaneously for the first time since May, which economists attributed partly to brighter prospects in Europe."Overall, the data is positive for global demand," said Radhika Rao, an economist with DBS in Singapore. "There are reasons to be optimistic, but cautiously optimistic," she said.The surveys provide a more upbeat view of world demand following a month in which a political standoff in Washington over the U.S. debt ceiling and the sixth straight cut in IMF global economic forecasts had raised fresh concerns about the health of the global economy.India was the exception among a group of generally upbeat PMI reports in Asia. Although new exports orders picked up sharply, the HSBC PMI for India showed manufacturing activity shrank for a third straight month, a further sign of a slowdown in Asia's third-biggest economy.HSBC's chief economist for India, Leif Eskesen, said inflation suggested the central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), would not have room to provide any support for growth."Input price inflation accelerated further despite the weak growth backdrop, as the effects of the depreciated exchange rate continue to pass through. This suggests that the RBI has to continue its staring contest with inflation," Eskesen said.China's official PMI rose to 51.4 in October from 51.1 in September, topping expectations for a reading of 51.2.A similar report from HSBC/Markit increased to 50.9, a seven-month high. It showed a tick up in the pace of new domestic and export orders, as well as the first increase in employment in seven months.China's reassuring PMI reading limited losses in Asian stocks, which were under pressure after strong U.S. data added to uncertainty over when the U.S. Federal Reserve might begin to ease back on its stimulus.The HSBC/Markit PMI for South Korea showed factory activity expanded for the first time in five months in October and a separate report said the value of exports in the month handily beat expectations to hit a record high of $50.5 billion.Factory activity in major exporter Taiwan, key to many global tech supply chains, was running at its fastest pace since March 2012.Japan reported on Thursday that its factory activity grew at the fastest pace in more than three years as the Markit/JMMA PMI rose to a seasonally adjusted 54.2, adding to hopes that the world's third-largest economy and home to big brand names like Sony and Toyota is pulling out of two decades of stagnation.India's HSBC PMI compiled by Markit was unchanged at 49.6 in October, indicating the sector was contracting.The downbeat data did little to shake stock market sentiment though. The main share index hit a record high fuelled by foreign money flowing into the country.(Reuters)
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Squeezed by government rules meant to curb a surge in gold imports, India's bullion industry is shrinking, with banks and others opting to redeploy personnel for now but possibly facing big job cuts in coming months.Refiners, jewellery manufacturers and retailers say they could start cutting jobs after Diwali, one of India's biggest festivals, in the first week of November as festive demand will have sucked supply dry. Some have already begun to do so.Gold on the local market is now fetching a record premium of $130 an ounce to the global bullion price and that is expected to climb even higher because of coming festivals.Bullion banks, who profited from huge volumes of gold imports until May, have begun shifting people from their gold desks to other teams."There is no gold coming in so how do we carry on? Consolidation is happening at the moment in the industry," said the head of one of India's biggest jewellery chains, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said he had cut "tens of jobs" at his firm.Gold is the second-biggest item on India's import bill after oil and, facing a record trade deficit and a plunging currency this year, the government imposed stringent rules with the aim of curbing demand for the metal.These have slowed imports to a trickle: a mere 7 tonnes arrived in September versus a record high of 162 tonnes in May.One of the new rules stipulates that 20 per cent of imported gold has to be re-exported. Exports currently equate to less than 10 per cent of imports, which means it will be hard to meet the country's estimated demand of 1,000 tonnes this year."It will get difficult for a jeweller to replenish gold after festivals. We are anticipating a transfer of workforce from the jewellery sector to others," said Bachhraj Bamalwa, a director at the All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation.He said around 15 million people worked in jewellery manufacturing plus 1 million in sales, and that a quarter of them could lose their jobs if supply problems continued, an alarmist forecast that might put pressure on the government to rethink the import restrictions.About 300,000 to 400,000 artisans from Zaveri Bazaar, India's biggest bullion market, have already moved back to their villages due to a lack of work, according to Bombay Bullion Association director Kumar Jain.India has a population of 1.2 billion.No U-Turn In SightBanks may be holding back until they see what a new government does after national elections due by May."They won't take a decision on job cuts as of now, but will wait until June next year to take the call after the new government is formed," said a source at a global supplier who is in regular contact with Indian importers.In the meantime, some banks have opted to transfer personnel to other trading desks rather than sack them.An employee with a private bank who was recently asked to move from the bullion desk to currency trading said: "We started the trading desk when demand was good, when there were no restrictions, but now the business has lost its charm. So management has taken steps according to the revenue stream."All five people on the desk have been moved to currencies, this employee said.Two other private banks, which imported a combined 100 tonnes last year, have redeployed a total of 10 people.Bank of Nova Scotia is the biggest gold importing bank in India. Private banks such as HDFC Bank and IndusInd Bank and state-run banks also import.For now, there's no sign of the government backtracking.The Finance Ministry sent a letter to banks reiterating the rules last week, one banking source said, and three ministry officials said there were no plans to relax the restrictions.Overseas banks and trading firms that supply to Indian importers have felt the impact and are shifting business elsewhere."Once a destination like India is being restricted, of course we will divert all our attention to China," said Bernard Sin, senior vice president of Geneva-based gold dealer MKS SA.China is set to overtake India as the world's biggest consumer of gold this year, due in part to the curbs in India. (Reuters)
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Petrol price was cut by Rs 1.15 a litre on Thursday, 31 October, the second reduction in rates in a month, while diesel prices were raised by 50 paise per litre. Jet fuel or ATF prices were cut by a steep 4.5 per cent, the first reduction in rates in six months.The price changes announced by oil companies are excluding local sales tax or VAT and will be effective midnight tonight, oil companies announced.Petrol price in Delhi will be cut by Rs 1.38 to Rs 71.02 per litre, while it will cost Rs 78.04 a litre in Mumbai as against Rs 79.49 currently.The reduction comes on back of a Rs 3.05 per litre (Rs 3.66 after including VAT) cut in rates effected from October 1.Prior to that, petrol prices had since June risen seven times, totalling Rs 10.80 per litre, excluding VAT (Rs 13.06 after including state tax) as the rupee depreciated sharply against the rupee.In a parallel move, diesel price was hiked by 50 paise, excluding VAT, in line with the January decision of the government allowing oil companies freedom to raise prices in small doses every month to wipe out mounting losses.The diesel price in Delhi has been hiked by 56 paise to Rs 53.10 per litre while it would cost Rs 60.08 in Mumbai from tomorrow as compared to Rs 59.46 currently.Today's hike is the 10th since the January 17 and most of the losses on diesel sales should have been wiped out by now to make the fuel market priced. But the fall in rupee, around 25 per cent since April, has worsened the situation and losses mounted to Rs 14.50 per litre.However, the recent firming of rupee against US dollar and monthly increases have trimmed these losses to Rs 9.58. Diesel rates have risen by a cumulative Rs 5.95 this year."Prices of petrol were last revised downwards on October 1 by Rs 3.05 per litre (excluding state taxes) on account of softening of prices in international markets as well as strengthening of the rupee."Since last price change, international prices of petrol have declined marginally from about USD 113 per barrel to about USD 112. The Rupee-USD exchange rate has appreciated from around Rs 63 to a US dollar to around Rs 62. Both these factors have resulted into a reduction in prices of petrol," Indian Oil Corp, the nation's largest fuel retailer, said in a statement.IOC said exercising the January authorisation to increase the diesel prices within a small range every month, retail prices are being revised every month and today rates have been hiked by 50 paise per litre."Even after the current increase, under recovery (revenue loss) on retail diesel shall stand at Rs 9.58 per litre," it said.Besides diesel, oil firms are losing Rs 35.77 per litre on sale of PDS kerosene and Rs 482.50 per 14.2-kg domestic cooking gas (LPG). These are lower than Rs 38.32 and Rs 532.50 loss incurred last month.At current rates, IOC projected a revenue loss of Rs 71,200 crore on sale of diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene for the full 2013-14 fiscal. The industry (IOC plus other state fuel retailers HPCL and BPCL) are projected to incur an under recovery of Rs 135,900 crore."The movement of prices in international oil market and Rupee-USD exchange rate is being closely monitored and developing trends of the market will be reflected in future price changes," the statement added.Alongside, oil firms also cut rates of non-subsidised domestic cooking gas (LPG) that households buy after exhausting their quota of 9 subsidised or cheaper cylinders.Price in Delhi was reduced by Rs 49.50 per 14.2-kg bottle to Rs 954.50.This reduction comes on back of Rs 71.50 per cylinder hike to Rs 1,004 effected from October 1.Non-subsidised LPG in Mumbai will cost Rs 969 from tomorrow as compared to Rs 1,021 currently.Jet Fuel Prices Cut 4.5%Jet fuel or ATF prices were today cut by a steep 4.5 per cent, the first reduction in rates in six months.ATF prices had touched a life time high of Rs 77,089.42 per kilolitre (kl) following five consecutive increases since June as rupee depreciated against the US dollar, making oil imports costlier.However, the rupee's appreciating during last month helped trim imported cost, leading to cut in prices.Aviation Turbine Fuel, or ATF, price at Delhi was cut by Rs 3,482.16 per kl, or 4.5 per cent, to Rs 73,607.26 per kl, according to Indian Oil Corp, the nation's largest fuel retailer.Rupee appreciation against US dollar also led to two rounds of reduction in petrol rates in one month - Rs 3.05 a litre from October 1 and Rs 1.15 announced today.Since June, ATF prices have gone up by a record Rs 14,439.45 or 23 per cent in five instalments.In Mumbai, jet fuel will cost Rs 76,035.89 per kl from tomorrow as against Rs 79,716.05 per kl currently.Rates at different airports vary because of difference in local sales tax or VAT.Jet fuel constitutes over 40 per cent of an airline's operating costs and the price cut will help bring down the fuel cost of the cash-strapped carriers.No immediate comments were available from the airlines on the impact of the price reduction on passenger fares.The three fuel retailers -- IOC, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum -- revise jet fuel prices on the 1st of every month, based on the average international price in the preceding month.(PTI)
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An income tax defaulter cannot be absolved of paying penalty by just making a voluntary disclosure after being caught for hiding the income, the Supreme Court has said."It is trite law that the voluntary disclosure does not release the assessee from the mischief of penal proceedings.The law does not provide that when an assessee makes a voluntary disclosure of his concealed income, he had to be absolved from penalty," a bench of justices K S Radhakrishnan and A K Sikri said.The apex court dismissed the plea of a company challenging the income tax department's penalty proceedings against it for not disclosing the income.The company MAK Data P. Ltd.contended it had "surrendered" the additional sum of Rs.40,74,000 after the assessing officer issued notice to it with a view to avoiding litigation.The department had initiated penalty proceedings for concealment of income and not furnishing true particulars of its income.The company contended "penalty proceedings are not maintainable on the ground that the AO had not recorded his satisfaction to the effect that there has been concealment of income/furnishing of inaccurate particulars of income by the assessee and that the surrender of income was a conditional surrender before any investigation in the matter".The bench, however, was not satisfied and rejected the plea saying voluntary disclosure of concealed income cannot be a ground to absolve it from penalty.(PTI)
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Congress president Sonia Gandhi was ranked 21st among the world's most powerful people by Forbes magazine, making her the third most influential of women leaders included in the list.German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff were the only women who figured ahead of the 66-year-old Gandhi in the list of 72 politicians, heads of state and business leaders. Gandhi was also ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who came in seven slots below her.In a separate list of the world's 100 most powerful women, Forbes ranked Gandhi in the ninth position."As president of the Indian National Congress, Gandhi heads the ruling political party of the world's second largest population," read her brief profile on the Forbes website."Rumours persist of a rift between her and soft-spoken Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, with many expecting Singh to leave office before the 2014 general elections," it said.The profile noted that Rahul, described as the "heir apparent in the nation's most famous political dynasty", had recently "snubbed Singh publicly".Singh's profile noted that the 81-year-old Prime Minister was "credited with shaping India's economic and social welfare reforms". But it also said his "quiet intellectualism renders him a timid public figure".Rahul's recent criticism of Singh over an ordinance to protect convicted lawmakers was "indicative of Singh's diminishing coterie; rumour has it he will soon resign", the profile said. Soon after the criticism, Rahul had acted to mend fences with Singh. The Forbes list was topped by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was followed in second position by US President Barack Obama."This year the votes for the World's Most Powerful went to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He climbs one spot ahead of US President Barack Obama, who held the title in 2012," the magazine said."Putin has solidified his control over Russia while Obama's lame duck period has seemingly set in earlier than usual for a two-term president ? latest example: the government shutdown mess." The most powerful people list is an "annual snapshot of the heads of state, financiers, philanthropists and entrepreneurs who truly rule the world", Forbes said.This year's list features 17 heads of state who run countries with a combined GDP of $48 trillion and 27 CEOs and business leaders who control over $3 trillion in annual revenues.(PTI)
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DLF, India's top real estate developer, posted a 27 per cent fall in its consolidated net profit for the July-September quarter, hit by slowing home sales in Asia's third-largest economy."In the current economic and high interest rate environment, the company expects a slow absorption of product in the market," DLF said in a statement to the exchange.The New Delhi-based developer, founded by billionaire K.P. Singh, said net profit for he fiscal second quarter was Rs 100 crore compared with Rs 138 crore a year earlier. The profit fell short of analyst expectations of Rs 140 crore, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Total revenue was Rs 1,956 crore, down from Rs 2,040 crore posted during the same period last year.On 30 October, Oberoi Realty, India's second-largest developer by market value, posted a 48 per cent fall in net profit for the September quarter - its worst quarterly profit decline in nearly two years - hit by a drop in sales.(Reuters)
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Tightening external funding conditions will likely weigh on growth in emerging Asia, although weaker currencies and robust domestic demand may offset some of the pain, the International Monetary Fund's top official for Asia said."A faster than expected tightening of global funding conditions could substantially affect Asia, with a larger impact on economies with weaker fundamentals and higher exposures," IMF Asia-Pacific Department Director Anoop Singh said in a round-table session in Tokyo on the region's economic outlook.Singh said countries like India and Indonesia, which are reliant on foreign capital inflows and already experiencing elevated inflationary pressures, will likely need to tighten monetary policy further."India would need to take the steps that need to be taken to bring inflation down," Singh said after the Reserve of India's decision on Tuesday to tighten monetary policy."It doesn't only have to count on monetary policy," he said. "It's important that supply measures taken ... the government is trying to act on both fronts."On Japan, he said the government's decision to raise the sales tax to 8 per cent from 5 per cent next April has been a right move and must be followed by the second stage of tax increase in late 2015 that will bring the rate to 10 per cent."As a next step, the government should outline a more specific fiscal plan" on how to achieve its goal of slashing the country's public debt-to-GDP ratio by 2020, he said.In its latest forecasts issued this month, the IMF expects emerging Asian growth of 6.3 per cent this year followed by 6.5 per cent next year, both lower than estimates made in April. (Reuters)
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Buoyed by a border defence pact signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit, China has said it was "inevitable" to have some kind of incidents along the boundary but it was important that both sides worked together to solve them.Problems can occur even if there is fence between two houses but at the same time there was not a single incident of firing along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China, Huang Xilian, Counsellor in the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.Compared to some borders in the world, the Sino-Indian border is peaceful, he told visiting and resident Indian journalists here at a briefing on Singh's "successful" last week visit during which the two countries signed the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA)."Sometimes it is inevitable to have some kind of incidents along the border but what is important is that both sides together worked to solve it," he said replying to a question on whether the pact can avert incidents like in the Depsang valley in Ladakh this year in which Chinese troops pitched their tents inside Indian territory."Hyping up this issue will not help. So long both sides have intention and some mechanism as guarantor, we should be confident," Huang said.Before this agreement the border was peaceful and the BDCA is further guarantor of the peace tranquillity, he said, adding that "we should be more confident after signing this".Asked whether China was disappointed that an agreement on visa liberalisation did not materialise during Singh's visit, Huang said the two countries held talks on this issue for sometime to facilitate exchange of visits."We should always be optimistic about future" as both countries are moving forward, he said.The visa agreement was left out as India strongly opposed China's stapled visa policy. China continues to issue visas on paper to residents of Arunachal Pradesh, which it claims as Southern Tibet.Terming Singh's visit as highly successful, Huang said the rare gesture by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang of taking Singh for walk along the historic Forbidden city, home for generations of Chinese rulers was to symbolically connect the ancient civilisations of India and China together.(PTI)
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India will ask Reliance Industries Ltd to relinquish 80 per cent of its east coast deepwater D6 gas block, including five discoveries, as the energy major has not adhered to timelines for developing the area, the oil secretary said."We are waiting for the oil minister's final order," Vivek Rae told Reuters on Tuesday, referring to the instruction telling Reliance to relinquish the discoveries in the 7,645 square kilometre D6 block.The five discoveries within D6 are D4, D7, D8, D16 and D23. Rae said Reliance failed to submit reports on the commercial viability the five discoveries on time.He said the relinquished area will be auctioned in subsequent licensing rounds. The relinquished area does not contain any producing fields.Total reserves in these five discoveries in the Krishna Godavari basin are estimated to be 805 billion cubic feet, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. The sources declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.No decision has yet been taken on the fate of the remaining three fields in the D6 block -- D29, D30 and D31 -- which are estimated to hold about 350 billion cubic feet of gas reserves, Rae said.He said Reliance had submitted commerciality declarations of the three discoveries on time but had not carried out the necessary tests.A Reliance Industries spokesman declined to comment.Natural gas output from the Krishna Godavari basin's D6 block, in which BP <BP.L> has a 30 percent equity stake, has declined to 14 million cubic metres per day (mmscmd) from 60 mmscmd at the end of 2010.The companies have cited geological complexities for the fall in output, which has been in steady decline since 2010, while the oil regulator believes they failed to drill enough wells.(Reuters)
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