Continuing its slide for the sixth straight day, the rupee on 13 November lost 17 paise to trade at a fresh two-month low of 63.88 in early trade on strong dollar demand from importers amid weak local equities.At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the local currency opened lower at 63.88 a dollar from its previous close of 63.71.Meanwhile, the retail inflation measured in terms of consumer price index (CPI) rose to 10.09 per cent in October, entering double digits after seven months. The industrial production grew by two per cent in September, mainly on account of better performance by power and mining sectors.Forex dealers said besides sustained demand for the US currency from importers and a lower opening in the domestic equity market also put pressure on the rupee but dollar's weakness against euro in the global markets capped the fall.The rupee had depreciated by 47 paise to close at 63.71 against the dollar in the previous session.Meanwhile, the BSE benchmark Sensex fell by 53.97 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 20,227.94 in early trade on Wednesday.(PTI)
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How does an organisation tackle periods of slowdown? That was probably the question on everyone’s mind as they gathered to celebrate the finest in corporate India at the BW Real 500 awards on 26 October at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai. The topic was discussed threadbare by a panel moderated by Pratip Chaudhuri, the just-retired chairman of the country’s largest bank, SBI. Some of the brightest minds from corporate India shared their thoughts on the topic. Sheshagiri Rao, joint MD at JSW Steel, kick-started the discussion saying growth has to come from maintaining profitability. Dr Habil Khorakiwala, chairman of Wockhardt, underlined the need to focus on long-term survival irrespective of the state of the economic cycle. Rashesh Shah, chairman Edelweiss, who spoke next, stressed that companies should pay particular attention to cash flows in the current cycle, where capital is hard to come by. He said it was ‘good to see’ that companies were not giving up on toplines, but the focus should be on profitability and cash flows. Shekhar Bajaj, chairman and MD of Bajaj Electrical brought in an additional aspect of how companies should not make the mistake of going for higher sales at the cost of tighter margins. According to Kaku Nakhate, president and country head at Bank of America, it is important to envisage that a downturn is coming and to increase market share ahead of it. Click here to view slide showThe panel then took questions from the audience. Most questions pertained to the slowdown such as entrepreneurship during periods of dull growth, sectors that lead during such times, and the kind of role that the government should play.Then came the highlight of the evening, with chief guest Praful Patel, minister for heavy industry and public enterprises, delivering his address ahead of the awards presentation. Patel said that India’s biggest push was coming from the rural markets, with aspirations having shot up in a relatively short span of time, putting the onus on the government to do much more. The minister then presented the awards to India's biggest and best companies to cap the evening's proceedings. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 02-12-2013)
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Continuing its slide for the fifth straight day, the Indian rupee on 12 November lost 23 paise to trade at 63.47 on strong dollar demand from importers.At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the local currency opened lower at 63.47 a dollar from its previous close of 63.24.Forex dealers said besides sustained demand for the US currency from importers and capital outflows, dollar's strength against other currencies overseas weighed on the domestic currency.The rupee had depreciated by 77 paise to close at an almost two month low of 63.24 against the dollar in the previous session.Meanwhile, the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex gained by 93.26 points, or 0.45 per cent, to 20,584.22 in early trade on Tuesday.(PTI)
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In a stern warning to 10 lakh service tax defaulters, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday, 11 November, asked them to come clean so as to avoid punishment."We have reached the tipping point where we have to pause, take stock, talk to you, offer a fair and generous transition method and persuade as many of you to come over to paying taxes before the tax is enforced in a strict manner."VCES is just that. The one who has not paid service tax to draw a curtain on the past and move on to a new chapter in his business. That is what VCES is," he said.He was meeting representatives of various trade and industry associations and chambers of commerce and industry to encourage them to take advantage of the service tax amnesty scheme -- Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme (VCES).Chidambaram said that of the total 17 lakh registered service tax payers, only seven lakh of them were paying the levy."This scheme is aimed at 10 lakh people who either are non filer or stop filer. Many of the 10 lakh have not filed at all, or not paid service tax at all. Many have paid from certain period and then stopped paying. I don't know who is cleverer, the guy who never pays or who stops paying," he said.The Finance Minister, who earlier had a similar interaction in Chennai, said he does not believe in harsh penalties, but "sometimes it is necessary to send a stern message".Both the non-filer and stop-filer are treading on dangerous ground, he cautioned."We have enough information today about business companies, firms, partnerships. We have the PAN numbers. We have digitised most of our operations," he said. .Chidambaram also advocated a low and stable tax regime along with a tax payer friendly tax administration.VCES had been introduced with effect from May 10, 2013 as a one-time amnesty scheme for paying service tax dues for the period October 1, 2007 to December 31, 2012 without interest and penalty.Chidambaram would hold similar interactions with the industry in Mumbai on November 14.Earlier in the day, the Finance Minister released two commemorative coins to mark the culmination of 125th anniversary of freedom figher and country's first education minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.Speaking at the occasion Chidambaram said that Maulana Azad was nationalist, patriot and secular.(PTI)
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US job growth slowed sharply in October with the unemployment rate ticking higher to 7.3 per cent as a partial shutdown of the government kept workers at home, undercutting an already lethargic labour market. Non-agricultural payrolls are expected to have risen by only 125,000 jobs last month, according to Reuters, down from an increase of 148,000 in September. Economists estimate the 16-day federal shutdown reduced payrolls by as much as 50,000 jobs, and they expect them to bounce back in coming months. Even so, it would only suggest the labour market remains on its gradual recovery course.Tax SmartTwitter, Facebook and 10 other tech firms have enough stock-option tax breaks to avoid paying billions of dollars in taxes on the next $11.4 billion of US income they collectively earn, Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) recently said. CTJ had analysed US Securities and Exchange Commission 2012 filings for these firms. Twitter (which just debuted on NYSE) has $107 million of unused stock option deductions and Facebook has $2.2 billion — the latter’s next $6.2 billion in US earnings could be tax free, CTJ said. Firms paying their employees in corporate stock options can take a tax deduction for the difference between what the employees pay for the options and what the stocks are worth when the options are exercised later — and this becomes an effective tax avoidance tool.Hammer And TongsImpressionist and modern art achieved strong prices on 6 November as Sotheby’s held one of its biggest auctions ever, in a dramatic turnaround from two nights of disappointing sales at Christie’s earlier. Led by Giacometti’s sculpture “Grande tete de Diego” and Picasso’s oil “Tete de femme”, which fetched $50 million and $39.9 million, respectively, the sale totalled more than $290 million, with 81 per cent of 64 lots finding buyers. It was Sotheby’s best Impressionist and modern art result apart from its May 2012 sale at which one of the versions of Munch’s “The Scream” sold for a record $120 million. The strong sales were likely to calm market jitters that followed Christie’s results, which fell far short of expectations. As the hammer came down on the final lot, applause and whoops broke out in the salesroom. Auctioneer Tobias Meyer responded to the reaction, saying, “So the market is alive, huh?”Not Just BaristasStarbucks is looking for thousands of good men — and women. The coffee chain said it would commit to hiring at least 10,000 veterans and spouses of active military in five years. It also said five new and existing US Starbucks cafés on or near military bases will share a portion of each sale with NGOs that help veterans re-enter the workforce. Many US firms have committed to hiring thousands of military veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. “This demographic represents one of the most underutilised talent pools in our country,” said former US defence secretary Robert Gates, now a Starbucks director.Another Stimulus?The euro zone’s economic recovery lost a little momentum in October, as the purchasing managers’ indices (PMIs) from Markit showed only modest growth in German and French businesses. Data from non-euro zone Britain impressed again, however, and German industrial orders jumped underlining the uneven nature of overall European recovery. Taken as a whole, the PMIs pointed to fragile economic growth that will do little to ease the pressure on the European Central Bank (ECB) to take some action. With surprisingly low inflation last month, speculation in markets and among economists has grown that the ECB is primed to stimulate the economy again.Love’s Libor LostFour European banks recently paid a heavy price in a clean-up of the financial industry, with Rabobank being fined $1 billion and three other lenders preparing for possibly huge legal costs after a string of scandals. Dutch Rabobank said it would pay regulators in the US, UK and the Netherlands €774 million after 30 employees were involved in “inappropriate conduct” linked to interest rate manipulation. CEO Piet Moerland resigned, becoming the second CEO of a bank involved in the rate rigging scandal to quit following Bob Diamond’s departure from British bank Barclays last year. The other banks in the fray are Deutsche Bank, UBS and Lloyds Banking Group.P(l)ay OnSony Corp plans to charge a monthly fee of $9.99 in the US and €6.99 in Europe for playing multiplayer online games on its new PlayStation 4 (PS4) console, the Nikkei business daily reported. Multiplayer games can be played for free on PlayStation 3. Sony plans to charge 500 yen ($5.00) a month for multiplayer games in Japan when the new console debuts in February. The $9.99 monthly option was announced by the company in June this year, according to a spokeswoman for Sony Computer Entertainment America. Sony plans to make PS4 more attractive by including more social networking functions.Inked! Ukraine recently signed a $10-billion shale gas production-sharing agreement with US Chevron, another step in a drive for more energy independence from Russia. The deal to develop its western Olesska field followed a similar shale gas agreement with Royal Dutch Shell in January. “The agreements with Shell and Chevron...will enable us to have full sufficiency in gas by 2020 and, under an optimistic scenario, even enable us to export energy,” said Ukranian President Viktor Yanukovich. The highest end of expectations for Olesska’s potential reserves would match around three years of European Union’s gas demand.Fifth GearHuawei Technologies will invest at least $600 million in 5G research over the next four years, the Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer said in a statement. “While we continue to evolve our existing 4G network capabilities, we plan to invest a minimum of $600 million over the next five years on research and innovation for 5G mobile network technologies to ensure that we are meeting consumers’ demands for increasingly faster and better connections,” Eric Xu, Huawei’s current rotating chief executive, said on the company’s website. This figure does not include investment in 5G products, he said. The company sees 5G networks ready for commercial deployment by 2020, delivering data speeds 100 times faster than 4G networks.Mission StatementSamsung Electronics vowed to double its dividend yield, invest in new technology and boost marketing as it sought to topple Apple in the mobile devices segment and ease investor concerns over its sagging share price. The world’s leading maker of smartphones, memory chips and TVs recently outlined its strategy at a meeting with analysts designed to reassure investors that it is listening to complaints about low returns and poor use of capital. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 02-12-2013)
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Those involved in it went on a fool’s errand, that’s just a fact”— John McCain, former Republican presidential candidate, on his party-led government shutdown“I wish to God that Apple and Google were partners in the future”— Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, in a television interview“Shinde has a life beyond Patna blasts”— Salman Khurshid, defending home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde who attended a music release just after the blasts“Apple’s not a bank... Shareholders haven’t bought the stock to be a bank”— Carl Icahn, billionaire investor, pointing out that Apple is failing to return cash to shareholders Francois Hollande“As a priority? It is a joke”— Bill Gates, founder Microsoft, on connecting the world’s population via the Internet “This effort (is) demanded of businesses that choose to pay such high annual salaries” — Francois Hollande, President of France, to French football club owners, on the 75 per cent tax on salaries exceeding 1 million euros“BlackBerry is hemorrhaging employees, it is hemorrhaging customers. The only thing that’s growing is doubt” — John Stephenson, senior vice-president, First Asset Investment Management, one of BlackBerry’s investors, post BlackBerry’s $1-billion deal with Canadian investor Prem Watsa(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 02-12-2013)
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The Supreme Court on Monday, 11 November, dismissed the plea of Essar Oil Ltd seeking extension of time for paying outstanding sales tax dues to Gujarat as the state government was not agreeable to the submission.A bench of justices A K Patnaik and J S Khehar said, "We could have done something but the state government is not agreeing."The bench also rejected the submission of senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Essar Oil Ltd, that the hearing be adjourned for four weeks.Rohatgi cited a newspaper report to drive home the point that the oil firm has not been given any concession or benefit as accorded to other companies by Rajasthan government."It would be a catastrophe. There are nearly 10,000 employees working in the refinery. This is the only refinery in the country which has not received any incentive or concession," Rohatgi said, adding that he was not seeking any rescheduling of repayment of outstanding sales tax dues.Senior advocate Parag Tripathi, appearing for Gujarat Government, said that he was not agreeable to any extension of time to the oil firm.Essar Oil Ltd had moved the Supreme Court on October 4 seeking more time for paying outstanding sales tax dues to Gujarat government on the ground that it was facing financial constraints due to economic slowdown and was not given tax benefits unlike other refineries. Essar Oil had said the state government may be asked not to take coercive steps, like locking down the Vadinar refinery, as nearly 10,000 people are employed there.It had also sought a direction to the state government to form a three-member committee to make recommendations for extending a viability support package to it for ensuring that it continues to carry on its business as a growing concern.In January 2012, Essar Oil had lost the case on rebate of Rs 6,165 crore sales tax dues.The company paid Rs 1,000 crore then and in September 2012 the apex court directed it to pay the remaining Rs 5,165 crore in eight quarterly instalments with an interest of 10 per cent applicable from January 2012 to Gujarat government.Essar Oil had said that it has paid Rs 2,941 crore of tax dues and Rs 756 crore of interest but is now unable to pay the fourth instalment.The apex court's order was passed after the company sought at least three years time to pay the dues. The Gujarat government had sought the payment of dues within six months.Essar Oil Ltd had approached the apex court against the order of the Gujarat High Court which had refused any relief to it for making the payment in instalments.Essar Oil had availed Gujarat government's 'Capital Investment Incentive to Premier/Prestigious Unit Scheme, 1995-2000' for its Rs 1900-crore Vadinar plant in Jamnagar district as a 100 per cent export-oriented unit for refining of petroleum products with a capacity of nine million tonnes per annum.(PTI)
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India's exports rose by 13.47 per cent to $27.27 billion (Rs 1.727 trillion) in October while imports dipped by 14.5 per cent, helping narrow the trade deficit. Imports stood at $37.8 billion (Rs 2.394 trillion), leaving a trade deficit of $10.56 billion (Rs 6,687 crore) as against $20.2 billion (Rs 1.279 trillion) in October 2012, official data showed. However, the trade gap was much higher compared to the two-and-a-half-year low the previous month, as overseas purchases of gold picked up ahead of the festival season."This is a consistent growth in exports...The US is doing extremely well and Europe is also doing well," Commerce Secretary S R Rao told reporters in New Delhi.Gold and silver imports in October dipped to $1.3 billion (Rs 8,232 crore) from $6.8 billion (Rs 43,060 crore) in the same period last year.The deficit for the month stood at $10.56 billion, compared with $6.7 billion (Rs 42,450 crore) in September, the trade ministry said.Merchandise exports rose 13.47 per cent year-on-year in October to $27.27 billion (Rs 1.728 trilion). Imports fell 14.5 per cent year-on-year to $37.83 billion (Rs 1.919 trillion).In April-October, exports grew by 6.32 per cent to $179.38 billion (Rs 11.379 trillion), while imports during the period contracted by 3.8 per cent to $270.06 billion (Rs 17.11 trillion).Rao expressed confidence that the country would achieve the $325 billion (Rs 20.59 trillion) target for the current fiscal.(Agencies)
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India's trade deficit jumped in October after having fallen to a two-and-a-half-year low the previous month, as overseas purchases of gold picked up ahead of the festival season, provisional government data showed on 11 November.The deficit for the month stood at $10.56 billion, compared with $6.7 billion in September, the trade ministry said.Merchandise exports rose 13.47 per cent year-on-year in October to $27.27 billion. Imports fell 14.5 per cent year-on-year to $37.83 billion.(Reuters)
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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Monday, 11 November, that the government will look "seriously" and "promptly" into the legality of CBI in the wake of some questions being raised about the legitimacy of the investigation agency.Addressing a CBI conference on tackling corruption, he also asked probe agencies to tread cautiously when it was handling cases related to policy decisions.Against the backdrop of the Gauhati High Court verdict declaring the agency as "unconstitutional", Singh said, "Our Government will look into this seriously and promptly. The Government will do all that is necessary to establish the need for the CBI and its legitimacy, and protect its past and future work.""This is a matter that will undoubtedly have to be considered also by the highest court in the land," he said at XXth Conference of CBI and State Anti Corruption Bureaux on Common Strategies to Combat Corruption and Crime.Read Also: CBI's Constitutional CrisisThe Supreme Court on Saturday, 9 November, had stayed the High Court order, saying accused in "sensational cases" have sought halting of the criminal proceedings based on the judgement.Referring to public debate on corruption in the country, the Prime Minister said it is sometimes forgotten that economic growth also implies greater opportunity for corruption."To keep pace with the aspirations of the people...our government has taken several legal and administrative measures in the last nine years," he said.At the same time, he said, it is also important to ensure that the work of nation building goes on at a quick pace.Singh said investigations into cases of policy making and administration should be done with great care. The Prime Minister said investigating agencies must maintain utmost vigilance in preventing corruption and do their best in ensuring transparency, accountability and probity.Singh said the fight against corruption should not only be confined to investigation and prosecution of corruption related offences once they happen."It is important that we look at the issue of corruption in the correct perspective," he said.The Prime Minister said powerful forces of change that are instrumental in creating greater prosperity are also throwing up new areas of crime and corruption."This conference reflects the need that the fight against corruption should be a collective effort of diverse stakeholders," he said.Singh said there is a growing exchange of people, ideas, goods, services, capital and data across the country and across national boundaries.He also said economic reforms of the 1990s followed by periods of fast economic growth have brought about rapid changes in our country.(PTI)
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