Retail prices of onion in the national capital remained high today at Rs 70 a kg due to lower supplies in the wholesale market. Traders said the wholesale prices of the kitchen staple are ruling firm at Rs 45-50 per kg as supplies from producing regions have been lower in the past couple of days. "Supply continues to be below normal, due to which prices are high," Onion Merchant Traders Association President Surendra Budhiraj said. At present, about 40-50 trucks are entering the market as against 60-70 trucks earlier, he added. Street vendors charge anything between Rs 55 and Rs 70 for one kg of onion in Delhi, depending on the locality and quality of the bulb, a key ingredient in most food items. In a bid to ease high onion prices -- a politically sensitive issue -- cooperative major Nafed has been asked to import onions to boost domestic supplies. The vegetable's prices recently touched Rs 80 a kg. Organised retailer Mother Dairy is selling onions at around Rs 50 per kg through its 400 Safal outlets in the NCR. Nafed is offering a price of Rs 40 per kg through its 5 outlets and mobile vans. At Lasalgaon in Nashik district of Maharashtra, a major producing region, prices have risen by Rs 3 per kg to Rs 43 per kg today, and supplies have come down to 3750 qunitals from 4,249 quintals last week, according to National Horticulture Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF) data. "Prices will remain high as farmers and traders are going to keep supplies under stress to maintain high level of onion prices," a senior official of NHRDF said.(PTI)
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The rupee weakened on Monday 26 August, tracking weaker offshore rates, as sustained foreign selling in equities continued to raise concerns about the gaping current account deficit. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram met foreign investors on Saturday, 26 Aug to seek suggestions on attracting dollar inflows, according to local media reports. The reports quoted Secretary for Department of Financial Services Rajeev Takru as saying the government could announce some measures in 8-10 days. India urgently needs to attract capital as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have sold about $4.2 billion in bonds this year. Adding to concerns, overseas funds are also shedding some of their stock positions, having sold about $750 million in equities over the previous six sessions. Still, traders remained sceptical about whether India can attract foreign capital to help narrow a record high current account deficit despite the surge in debt yields, as growth is stuck at a decade low while an expected wind down in U.S. monetary stimulus is expected to hit emerging markets. "FII debt investors in India will come back only if there is currency stability but not because of a little higher interest rate," said Samir Lodha, managing director at QuartArt Market Solutions. The partially convertible rupee fell more than 1 per cent to 64.20/21 per dollar at 11 a.m. (0530 GMT) compared to 63.20/21 on Friday. The unit has moved in a range of 63.65 to 64.26 so far during the day. It fell to a record low of 65.56 last week, and has lost more than 14 per cent so far this year. Monday's fall tracked the one-month offshore non-deliverable forward rate, which was being quoted at 64.92 per dollar, compared to the onshore one-month forward rate of 64.75. Traders also said importer demand for dollars was pressuring the rupee although they expected that to wane through the session, allowing some recovery in the domestic currency. "Oil companies and importers who missed the late down move in the dollar on Friday are buying dollars today (26 Aug). However, we should see selling from current levels," said Vikas Babu Chittiprolu, a senior foreign exchange dealer with state-run Andhra Bank. The outlook for the rupee will likely depend on global developments in the near-term, especially by movements in emerging markets, traders added. The Indonesian rupiah hit a fresh four-year low on Monday on sustained worries about another country with a large current account deficit. (Reuters)
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Emerging market nations can be adversely affected by large swings in investment and, therefore, must develop tools to control credit flows or risk relinquishing any independent monetary policy, a study shows.These findings were presented at the Kansas City Federal Reserve's monetary policy symposium at Jackson Hole, which highlighted the global impact of the unconventional monetary policy of the US and other major central banks.Many countries, including India and Brazil, have recently experienced steep sell-offs in their currencies, linked in part to the prospect that the Fed might soon dial down the pace of its bond-buying monetary stimulus.The Jackson Hole study highlights a shift in conventional economic thinking, which used to champion an open flow of money between countries, regardless of the consequences."Macroprudential policies are necessary to restore monetary policy independence for the non?central countries," wrote Helene Rey, professor at the London Business School. "They can substitute for capital controls, although if they are not sufficient, capital controls must also be considered."That, said the study, is because countries with floating exchange rates, the dominant global practice, would be abdicating their control over interest rates and credit creation from sources outside their control."Independent monetary policies are possible if - and only if - the capital account is managed, directly or indirectly, via macroprudential policies," Rey said. These can take many forms, including efforts to restrain credit growth in particular areas of the economy."Since, for a country, the most dangerous outcome of inappropriately loose global financial conditions is excessive credit growth, a sensible policy option is to monitor directly credit growth and leverage in each market," she said.Terrence Checki, executive vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, charged with commenting on the paper, pushed back against the notion that rich-country central banks should start paying more attention to the international effects of their policies.He said that, in keeping with conventional wisdom at the Fed, monetary policy should be aimed at domestic objectives."It's not clear we can control the financial cycle very well with monetary policy," Checki said.(Reuters)
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The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) will seek response from CBI on the issue of missing files related to multi-crore coal blocks allocation scam being probed by the investigating agency.The Commission will ask the CBI to give details on the issue of missing files related to the coal scam and also on whether or not it was hampering or going to hamper its investigation, official sources said. They said the CVC may also seek details from Ministry of Coal on the matter.The CVC, which exercises superintendence over CBI to oversee corruption cases probe, had in May last year asked the the agency to look into matter of coal blocks allocated to private companies between 2006 and 2009. The CBI is looking into the allocation of coal mines post-1993 to ascertain any wrongdoing during the NDA regime.The CBI has registered three preliminary inquiry and 13 FIRs so far in the case.The move came up after Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal on 17 August had said that some files related to coal block allocations were missing. Following Jaiswal's remarks, BJP has targeted the government and paralysed Parliament over the issue and demanded a statement by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Coal Ministry had then hurriedly formed a committee to look into the matter.Bowing down to the demands of an agitated and dissatisfied opposition, the Coal Minister had on Friday (23 Aug) made a detailed statement in Rajya Sabha over the issue and said that "it would be wrong to classify any file or document as missing at this stage when an inter-ministerial committee is actively engaged in locating these papers".(PTI)
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Anadarko Petroleum Corp said it agreed to sell a 10 per cent stake in a gas field offshore Mozambique to OVL (ONGC Videsh Ltd) for $2.64 billion in cash, as the US oil company looks to focus more on its domestic assets. The deal for Mozambique's offshore Area 1 is expected to close around the end of this year, Anadarko said. ONGC faces diminishing supplies from its aging oil and gas fields in India and has been buying interests in overseas assets. ONGC Videsh, the Indian company's overseas arm, recently paid $2.48 billion for a 10 per cent stake in another Mozambique gas field from Videocon Group. Anadarko also said it will remain the operator of Area 1 with a working interest of 26.5 per cent in the block, which is located in Mozambique's deepwater Rovuma Basin. The Rovuma field has the potential to become one of the world's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) producing hubs by 2018, and is strategically located to supply gas to India at competitive prices. Recent discoveries have turned the Rovuma offshore field into a major draw for global energy producers and boosted Mozambique's natural gas reserves to around 150 trillion cubic feet, or enough to supply the world's No. 1 LNG importer - Japan - for 35 years. Also Read: Interview with ONGC CMD Sudhir Vasudeva (Reuters)
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Blackberry loy- alists can stop mourning the end of QWERTY keyboards. BlackBerry promised another generation of devices, modernised and yet not losing sight of whatever faithful users have loved all these years. And it delivered. The jury is very far out on whether these new devices have come too late and are compelling enough, but here they are regardless. Two ‘Q’ smartphones give consumers a choice of expensive and a-little-less-expensive. The Q10 weighs in at a price of Rs 44,990. And when your head stops spinning, take in the fact that the Q5 cost Rs 24,990. I cannot pretend to understand BlackBerry’s pricing strategy but this much is clear that the company is segmenting its potential buyers into the young and the restless on one hand and the Type A hyper-connected professional on the other. And they believe the price is right. What both segments have in common is their need for a smartphone centred on communication more than anything else. Of course, all phones are about communication, but today your smartphone is your fitness trainer, your toy, your French teacher and a lot more and communication is just one item on the agenda. Not so the BlackBerry phones for which the focus is staying in touch. With the new BlackBerry 10 (now on 10.1) devices, Z10, Q10 and Q5 so far, the BlackBerry Hub is the very heart of the phone, created as it is to be the repository for all mail, messages, social communication, etc. You can send mail from the Hub as easily as you can tweet from it. Both the Q smartphones have full QWERTY keyboards that have shed their smiles to become straight and neat. And although I’ve never been a full-time BlackBerry user, I have to say the keyboards are truly well-made. The Q10’s has metal frets prominent between keys and the Q5’s doesn’t. The keys are small but remarkably well spaced in a style that’s still familiar to BB users. Keys are slightly sloped in the direction in which our finger is expected to travel. They even make the same press-and-let-go sound. For some reason, the Q5’s keyboard feels a little better to use and there are some murmurs about whether the Q5 will actually overshadow its more powerful sibling. Both devices have the distinct BlackBerry look, unlike the all-touch Z10. But I suppose anything with that keyboard will. Old users will notice that some of the keys they used earlier have gone, including the BB key and the call receive and reject buttons. Those functions have now shifted to touch. Speed dialing isn’t easy either and may call for a future fix. But there are lots of quick shortcuts one can use on the keyboard, specially with the browser, giving those who want to use touch as little as possible some relief. The phones are very nice to hold in the hand and have really hit that sweet spot in ergonomics that makes them neither too big nor painfully small. The two Qs are almost the same size, with the Q5 being a little taller. Both also feel quite premium, though that’s always a subjective view. A single swipe-up brings alive the remaining 60 per cent of the phone — the touch screen — and they feel adequate on both devices. They are smooth and fluid for basic tasks, but also for video chat which you can initiate so easily from BBM. I did not test out on games. The cameras on neither phone are out of the ordinary. On the Q10, we have an 8MP and a 2MP. The Q5’s 5MP and 2MP cameras are make-do. The Q10 is in matte finish black and in white, while the Q5 is in black, white, and a very attractive red. Micromax Canvas 4Micromax Canvas 4Micromax’s proposition has so far been to offer better value for money than Samsung does. Micromax reinforced the perception by following the same design language as Samsung. When the Canvas series smartphones debuted, they made large Note-sized phones affordable. With the Canvas 4, the plot has changed somewhat. It’s still Samsung-like, complete with gimmicks, but at around Rs 18,000 it’s no longer shockingly inexpensive. It’s also not a dramatic upgrade over the Canvas HD but the price certainly is. The Canvas 4 seems better built than previous editions. It has a blindlingly bright blue-white 720 x 1280, 5-inch HD IPS display. You have to blow on it to unlock the device and it’s surprisingly sensitive while executing this party trick. You can also shake to unlock. The screen is crisp enough and has pretty good viewing angles. Colours are quite nice too. Micromax has put in lots of updates to apps and features, all running on Android 4.2.1 and doing a pretty smooth job of it too. I no longer have previous Canvases for comparison, but I do feel there’s significant fluidity over them on the Canvas 4. Powering it is a MediaTek 1.2GHz quad core processor with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. There’s a microSD slot and 2 sim slots inside, along with the removable 2,000 mAh battery. The 13MP primary camera has a lot of features and you can now use it to take 360 degree images. The quality is average, but poor in low light. The 5MP rear facing camera is also on the average side, despite the increase in megapixels. The Canvas 4 is still a phone that gives you a lot for its price, but the scenario has changed since the first Canvas launch and there are more options today. It’s worth considering at a lower price.mala.bhargava@gmail.com(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 09-09-2013)
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India's inflation could accelerate in the current fiscal year due to the rupee's sharp depreciation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a report on Thursday 22 August. The Indian rupee touched record low of 65.52/dollar on Thursday and is down 16 per cent so far this year despite efforts by policymakers to prop it up. "The pass-through of the depreciation of the rupee exchange rate by about 11 per cent in the four months of 2013-14 is incomplete and will put upward pressure as it continues to feed through to domestic prices," the RBI said in its annual report for the 2012-13 fiscal year ending last March. Asia's third-largest economy has been pummelled by a selloff in emerging markets, with the rupee the worst performer in Asia this year after the US Federal Reserve indicated it will begin winding down its economic stimulus. Headline wholesale price index inflation climbed to 5.79 per cent in July driven primarily by higher food prices and costlier imports as the rupee's fall continued. Consumer price index inflation was 9.64 per cent in July, fuelled by high food prices. "Risks on the inflation front are still significant," the RBI said. The rupee's weakness could also increase subsidy payouts for fuel and fertiliser in 2013/14, the central bank said. However, the report said normal monsoon rains in India have taken a "major risk off the horizon" but said a close vigil was necessary after food prices showed an upsurge during April to July. "If high food inflation persists into the second half of 2013-14, the risks of generalised inflation could become large," it said. India's current account gap, which widened to a record high of 4.8 per cent of GDP in the fiscal year to March 2013, is likely to ease in the current fiscal year but may continue to be "much above" the sustainable level, the report said. "Global risks coupled with domestic structual impediments have dampened prospects of a recovery in 2013-14, and posed immediate challenges for compressing the current account deficit," it said. The central bank's report added that "utmost attention" is needed to contain risks to financial stability arising from deteriorating asset quality of banks.
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Energy conglomerate Reliance Industries and British oil company BP announced a new gas condensate discovery off the east coast of India in the Cauvery basin. The discovery is situated 62 kilometres from the coast in the Cauvery Basin and is the second gas discovery in the block. Reliance is the operator of the block with a 70 per cent stake and BP has a 30 per cent share. (Reuters)
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A top US Air Force official's remarks that his country is planning to station a military aircraft in Thiruvananthapuram as part of it's policy of encircling China with defence bases has created flutters in India and the government has dismissed any such possibility.General Helbert 'Hawk' Carlisle, the Commander of the US Air Force assets in the Pacific, had told reporters at a breakfast meeting recently that the American Air Force was planning to expand its presence in Asia as part of the 'pivot to Asia' policy. The idea behind it is to ring China with US and allied forces."This is just the start of the Air Force's plan to expand its presence in Asia. In addition to the Australian deployments, the Air Force will be sending jets to Changi East air base in Singapore, Korat air base in Thailand, Trivandrum in India, and possibly bases at Kubi Point and Puerto Princesa in the Philippines and airfields in Indonesia and Malaysia," he was quoted as saying by the Foreign Policy magazine and other media outlets.General Carlisle said "we are not gonna build any more bases in the Pacific to support the US Air Force's increased presence there." The US Air Force has nine major bases in different countries. The new doctrine means the air force will start regularly sending aircraft to countries the US has not had a presence in the Cold War.The General's views have created a sort of unease here.Top Defence Ministry sources said the Ministry is not discussing with the US any plans to base its assets on Indian soil."India is not going to allow any foreign country to establish any military base on it's soil," the sources said."India carefully maintains ties with countries in the world. As a policy, we are not part of any military and do not intend to be part of any in future as well," they said.Reacting critically to the US move, the CPI-M said the remarks of the US Air Force General reveals the Pentagon's plans to draw India into its strategic alliance in Asia.The US has been keen to use our air and naval bases. It is based on the India-US military framework agreement signed in 2006, CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat said in his reaction.He asked the UPA government to publicly state whether it was agreeing to such an arrangement."India cannot become a military ally of the US," he said.(PTI)
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Activity in China's vast manufacturing sector hit a four-month high in August as new orders rebounded, a preliminary private survey showed on Thursday, reinforcing signs of stabilisation in the world's second-largest economy.The Flash HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 50.1 from July's final reading of 47.7, which was the weakest in 11 months.But it barely surpassed the watershed 50 line which demarcates expansion of activities from contraction, indicating that a sharp recovery is unlikely.Risks range from continued weakness in exports to persistent overcapacity in key industries, which could saddle banks with more bad loans. And China's leaders are walking a fine line between tolerating slower growth and pushing through reforms needed to rebalance the economy to a growth model that is more reliant on consumption than investment and easy credit.The government has announced a series of targeted measures to support the slowing economy, including scrapping taxes for small firms, offering more help for ailing exporters and boosting investment in urban infrastructure and railways.But leaders have refrained from massive stimulus like that during the 2008/09 global financial crisis, which left a legacy of inflationary pressures and bloated local government debt.The flash PMI "confirms that the economy has stabilised in the short term and downside risks for H2 have declined," said Zhiwei Zhang, China economist at Nomura in Hong Kong.A sub-index measuring new orders rose to a four-month high of 50.5 in August from 46.6 in July. But the sub-index on new export orders edged lower in a reminder of weak global demand.The employment sub-index of the flash PMI also picked up in August, but still hovered below the 50 watershed line."This is mainly driven by the initial filtering-through of recent fine-tuning measures and companies' restocking activities, despite the continuous external weakness," said Hongbin Qu, chief China economist at HSBC."We expect further filtering-through, which is likely to deliver some upside surprises to China's growth in the coming months."The flash HSBC PMI, compiled by Markit Economics Research, is the earliest available indicator of monthly activity in the Chinese economy, and tends to focus more on small to mid-sized firms in the private sector.The Australian dollar jumped and Asian shares pared early losses after the PMI report but investors remained wary of negative fallout for Asia if the US central bank begins to taper back its massive stimulus programme as early as next month. Copper rose and crude oil prices bounced off early lows.Analysts in a Reuters poll forecast annual GDP growth of 7.4 per cent in the third quarter and the full-year growth of 7.5 per cent, in line with the official target. But Zhang at Nomura said he saw upside risks to his 7.4 per cent GDP forecast for the third quarter as growth may pick up from the 7.5 per cent pace in the second quarter."Nonetheless we believe a strong H2 recovery to above 8 per cent is unlikely, as rising interest rates will pressure investment. We still expect growth to slow to 6.9 per cent in 2014."Fan Jianping, chief economist at the State Information Centre, a top government think-tank, said annual economic growth may hover around 7.5 percent in the third and fourth quarters of 2013."As long as China's growth rate remains above 7 percent, there will be no crisis. Double-digit growth is not in line with China's new reality," he told reporters on Wednesday.Like some of its emerging market neighbours, China saw capital outflows for the second consecutive month in July, suggesting its sluggish economy is still deterring investors. But the pace at which money is leaving the country appears to be slowing and its markets have not been as volatile as in India or Southeast Asia.The final HSBC PMI for August is due to be published on September 2, a day after the release of an official government survey. The official PMI, which focuses on big and state-owned firms, has been generally rosier than the private survey, which targets small and private companies.Upbeat data for July ranging from factory output and exports to retail sales has raised hopes that China's economy may be stabilising after slumping for more than two years.Chinese leaders, while making clear they will accept some economic slowdown as they push through reforms, have expressed confidence of meeting their 7.5 percent growth target this year - which would be China's slowest growth in 23 years.Radical reforms, such as full interest rate liberalisation, appear to off the table for now although they may be tackled in October, when the Communist Party holds a key meeting that will set its economic agenda for the next decade.Until then authorities are expected to reach for low-hanging fruit: uncontroversial reforms that could have only modest impact on growth.One case in point came in July, when the central bank scrapped the floor on bank lending rates, in a long-awaited reform that signalled determination to carry out market-oriented reforms. But the central bank left a ceiling on deposit rates unchanged, avoiding for now what many economists see as the most important step Beijing needs to take to free up interest rates.For sure, Beijing will not rush into full yuan convertibility - a part of its push to make it a global currency - by dismantling capital controls at a time when volatile capital flows in emerging markets are raising concerns about economic stability.Annual economic growth slowed to 7.5 per cent in the April-June period from the 7.7 per cent in the previous three months - the ninth quarter of slowdown in the past 10 quarters. (Reuters)
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