Gold prices recovered by Rs 270 to Rs 31,370 per ten gram on fresh buying by stockists despite a weak global trend.However, silver plunged by Rs 970 to Rs 53,330 per kg on reduced offtake by industrial units and coin makers amid a weak global trend.Traders said fresh buying by stockists to meet the festive season demand mainly led recovery in gold prices.Gold in London, which normally set price trend on the domestic front, fell by 0.8 per cent to 1,375.71 dollar an ounce and silver by 1.9 per cent to 23.26 dollar an ounce.On the domestic front, gold of 99.9 and 99.5 per cent purity recovered by Rs 270 each to Rs 31,370 and Rs 31,170 per ten grams, respectively, after losing Rs 625 yesterday.Sovereign held steady at Rs 25,200 per piece of eight gram in limited deals.On the other hand, silver ready dropped by Rs 970 to Rs 53,330 per kg and weekly-based delivery by Rs 1595 to Rs 53,300 per kg. Silver coins followed suit and plunged by Rs 1,000 to Rs 87,000 for buying and Rs 88,000 for selling of 100 pieces.(PTI)
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The Centre is not keen on taking back the power vested with states to suspend an IAS or IPS officer, officials said today, adding new rules are being worked out to shield bureaucrats from any unjust disciplinary actions.Officials in the Ministry of Personnel said that existing service rules were being reviewed to further provide safeguards to All India Service personnel--Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFoS).The government is not considering to encroach on states' power to act against an All India Services officer working in their jurisdictions, they said.At present, the state government as a cadre controlling authority has powers to transfer or suspend an officer of the elite services.The demand to remove states' power to suspend an IAS, IPS and IFoS officer had come up against the backdrop of controversial suspension of Durga Sakthi Nagpal, a 2010 batch IAS officer, by Uttar Pradesh government.The representatives of IAS, IPS and IFoS associations had also met Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions V Narayanasamy here recently to demand change in service rules.The three associations of the elite services had demanded that the power of suspensions should be vested with the Centre instead of states in case of officers working in their jurisdiction among other changes in the rules.The associations had demanded a mandatory provision for the governments to issue a 'show cause notice' with a minimum period of 15 days to any officer before suspension and for states to compulsorily seek prior concurrence of the central government to suspend the officer giving the facts and the grounds for taking the action.28-year-old Nagpal was suspended on July 27 ostensibly for ordering demolition of a wall of an under-construction mosque without following the due process.The officer, as SDM, had taken action against sand mining mafia active in Gautam Budh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh.(PTI
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The prospects for the world's major developed economies improved further in July according to a monthly leading indicator of growth compiled by the OECD, while emerging markets continued to lose steam.The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said its monthly composite leading indicator (CLI) covering 33 member countries overall pointed to firming growth.The indicator, which is designed to provide early signals of turning points in economic activity, rose to 100.7 in July from 100.6 in June, edging higher above its long-term average of 100 and reaching its best level since April 2011."The CLIs point to improvements in growth in most major OECD countries but stabilising or slowing momentum in large emerging economies," the OECD said in a statement.The trend was in line with an update last week of the OECD's forecasts for the major economies, which flagged an improving outlook led by firm growth in the United States and Japan while Europe was also seen at last joining the recovery.The indicator for the United States rose to 101.1 from 101.0 while Japan's reading was stable at 101.1.The OECD's leading indicator for the euro area rose to 100.5 in July from 100.3, which it said was a sign of growth gaining momentum.In a sign the tide may be changing for recession-hit Italy, its indicator rose to 100.6 from 100.3, compared to regional powerhouse Germany which saw its index rise to 100.4 from 100.2.The indicator for France, Europe's second-biggest economy, rose to 99.6 from 99.5, which the OECD said was a sign of a tentative, positive change in momentum although it remaind below the long-term average of 100.Meanwhile, among the major emerging economies, China saw its indicator ease to 99.4 from 99.5, which the OECD said was a signal that growth was returning to trend.India saw momentum continue to slow with its indicator falling to 97.1 from 97.3 while Brazil's index fell to 98.9 from 99.1. Russia, however, saw its indicator edge up to 99.3 from 99.2.(Reuters)
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Gold edged lower as the euro eased on Monday (9 September) but a possible delay in the US Federal Reserve's decision to taper off its bond-buying programme could boost the metal's safe-haven appeal.Bullion, which has benefited from central bank liquidity, reversed heavy losses last week and gained nearly 2 per cent on weaker-than-expected US nonfarm payrolls.Gold fell 0.2 per cent to $1,388.09 an ounce by 0352 GMT. It slipped to $1,362.55 on Friday (7 September), its weakest since August 22, before rallying after data showed US employers hired fewer workers than expected in August."Even as recently as last week, we heard diverging views on the tapering schedule from Fed governors themselves, making it hard to know what the central bank will ultimately decide to do," said Edward Meir, an analyst at INTL FC Stone."This confusion will likely prevent gold from weakening substantially over the course of this week, but we suspect that the selling should intensify after the Fed meeting is out of the way and assuming we do indeed get a modest amount of tapering."The disappointing US jobs report, which initially weighed on the dollar, raised speculation the Fed may minimise the size of a likely reduction in stimulus many investors expect later this month. The euro dropped 0.1 per ent to $1.3175 on Monday (9 September).The US jobless rate hit a 4-1/2-year low as Americans gave up the search for work, complicating the Fed's decision on whether to scale back its monetary stimulus this month.US gold was up $2.30 an ounce to $1,388.80."We still see that gold should probably test $1,400," said Brian Lan, managing director of GoldSilver Central Pte Ltd in Singapore. "We are still seeing some demand. There are more inquiries from India for both gold and silver."Jewellers in main gold consumer India expect a surge in imports this week after the government clarified overseas buying rules. Most of the jewellers are sustaining on stocks shipped from April to May, which totalled more than 300 tonnes. Gold is one of the biggest items in a record current account deficit that has helped push the rupee to an all-time low. The government has raised the import duty on gold to an all-time high of 10 per cent.(Reuters)
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India will announce many new measures in the next few days and weeks to curb non-essential imports in order to strengthen the rupee and contain inflation, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said on Saturday. The government has already banned duty-free import of flat-screen televisions from August 26, adding to a package of measures designed to prop up the rupee. "I hope that all these measures taken together will have a beneficial impact on inflation," Chidambaram told lawmakers. He added that no decision has been taken to raise fuel prices. Government officials said on Friday, 6 September, that India may announce more measures to curb fuel consumption later this month and raise diesel prices by close to 10 percent soon in a bid to cut the biggest item in its import bill and support the rupee. (Reuters)
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Retirement fund body EPFO is likely to announce an interest rate of 8.5 per cent on provident fund deposits for 2013-14 to its over five crore subscribers, the same as provided for last fiscal. According to sources, the preliminary estimates indicate that the payment of 8.5 per cent rate of interest will leave no deficit for the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) and could rather leave some surplus for the body. "In all likelihood, the interest rate on PF deposits for this fiscal will be fixed at 8.5 per cent," a source said. The source further said if the interest rate is to be increased to 8.75 per cent for the current fiscal, it would result in some deficit, which might not be acceptable to the finance ministry. The body is likely to call a meeting of its apex decision making body, the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) headed by the Labour Minister, on September 23 to approve the interest rate. During the meeting, the trustee would reconstitute the EPFO's advisory body--Finance and Investment Committee (FIC), which recommends the rate of interest to the CBT. After the reconstitution of CBT by EPFO in June, the other sub-committees of EPFO like FIC, were dissolved and were required to be reconstituted. As per the practice, the EPFO would have to place the proposal before FIC after which it is considered by the CBT for taking a final call on the matter. Once approved, the proposal is put before the Finance Ministry for its concurrence. The source said the CBT will meet again after reconstituting FIC sometime before Diwali (which falls on November 3) to approve the rate of interest for this fiscal. EPFO paid 8.5 per cent interest rate to its subscribers in 2012-13, which was higher than 8.25 provided in the 2011-12 fiscal. (PTI)
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India's rupee has likely bottomed out after a 20 per cent plunge to record lows last week, but it is not expected to regain much ground over the coming year, a Reuters poll showed. The poll also showed analysts expect the Chinese yuan will continue to appreciate, albeit slowly, over the same time period as the economy improves. Despite the threat of the US Federal Reserve reducing its stimulus programme this month, the rupee is not seen weakening any further over the next year. Concerns over India's yawning current account deficit and rising bond yields in the United States have prompted foreign investors to dump emerging market assets since May, pummelling the rupee, stocks and bonds. Even Raghuram Rajan's appointment as the new head of the Reserve Bank of India in early August failed to stem the rot. The rupee has slid 7 per cent since then and is the worst performer among its emerging market peers. The rapidly falling rupee has also caused inflation to tick higher since rising crude oil and gold prices, two of India's most imported items, have swollen the country's already bloated import bill. However, the rupee has shown some signs of stabilisation since Wednesday, when Rajan, in his first day in office, stunned markets by announcing a slew of measures to regain market confidence and improve dollar inflows. The steps ranged from better communication with financial markets to improved trade financing and easier norms for Indians abroad to remit dollars. As a result, many large financial institutions raced to revise their calls for the rupee. Median expectations from 17 strategists in the poll conducted this week were for the dollar to fetch Rs 66 at the end of September, roughly around its rate on Friday. It is then seen firming slightly to Rs 65 a dollar by November and Rs 64.5 by August 2014. Those expectations are markedly worse than what analysts predicted in a similar poll last month and is likely a result of the weak sentiment in the rupee after the slide in August. Technical analysis may also suggest there may be a respite for the currency. Some analysts, however, say the worst is not yet over for the rupee, especially if the Fed goes ahead with its plan of reducing its $85 billion a month bond purchases when it meets September 17-18, and depending on how much it tapers. "The reaction in currency markets will probably depend more on how much the Fed decides to taper, and its forward guidance in its statement," said Janu Chan, analyst at St. George Bank in Sydney. "Tapering of around $15 billion or more would likely see the US dollar rise, particularly if there are hints of further tapering in its statement." A few analysts said the rupee could hit 70 or 72 to the dollar between this month and early next year. India's meagre currency reserves, just enough to cover seven months' imports, also means the RBI has limited options in trying to stem the slide by intervening in currency markets and selling dollars. India's is not alone in fighting a free-falling currency. From Turkey, to South Africa, to Brazil, to Indonesia, most emerging nations are reeling under market pressure on their respective currencies. Falls range from 14 per cent for the Brazilian real and 12 per cent for the Indonesian rupiah and South African rand since the beginning of May. Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa announced on Thursday, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in St. Petersburg, a plan to set up a currency reserve pool of $100 billion to fight persistent depreciation in their respective currencies. Analysts in the poll said the RBI could do more, from financial reforms to introduction of dollar-denominated bonds to even tightening monetary policy if the rupee falls further. But with Indian economic growth sliding to 4.4 per cent between April to June, an increase in interest rates would further sour business sentiment in the country. Yuan To Scale New HighsMeanwhile, the poll also showed the Chinese yuan will strengthen a little from current levels to trade at 6.11 in 6 months and 6.09 in twelve months. Those predictions are roughly unchanged from last month's survey. Data due next week is expected to confirm that Beijing has prevented a sharp slowdown in its economy after the government announced reforms and policies to encourage investment. "There are some emerging signs of modest economic recovery which makes us believe that the Chinese authorities will continue to move forward with reform of the dollar/yuan market, said Derek Halpenny, analyst at BTMU in London. "Our forecast profile assumes a band widening will be announced by the Chinese authorities in September." The People's Bank of China has recently set a series of higher midpoints for the yuan, slowly allowing the currency to appreciate to record highs last month.(Reuters)
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Going Out Of Town?There’s quite a deluge of travel-related apps, with new ones turning up every day. PNR Status by Ixigo is a one-stop app for both train and flight details. The free app for Android has a nice interface, but needs you to enter your email id, PNR number, date of travel and where you bought your ticket – a little too much information, I thought. Isn’t a PNR number unique enough to get you what you need? Anyway, once you’ve put in these bits of information you get your page of flight or train details and can call the airline or check-in via the app, which takes you to the airline’s website. You could just use the airline’s app, of course, but if you have a mix of train journeys and flights, you may find PNR Status useful. The nice thing is, you continue to get useful alerts and prompts until you’re on your way. Air Call AnswerPhone companies that make devices without any strong distinguishing features make a big noise about how you can do things like answer a call with the wave of a hand. Well, that’s just the proximity sensor at work, and all it needs is the command to tell it what to do when faced with a certain situation. So if you want this piece of magic on your Android phone, head to the Play Store and download the free Air Call Answer. Enable it. And there you have it! Now, all you need to do is let the proximity sensor on the top of your phone see your hand or finger moving and the call can be answered. Even better, just lift the phone to your ear and the call engages. Obviously, as the sensor gets the same kind of input, it’ll work. There are many similar tweaks you can make to an Android phone yourself ratherthan take the marketing bait thrown at you. Attack Of The Carrot There was a time when you could thwack your alarm clock into silence and go back to sleep. But these days your clock lives in your phone where it gets smarter and smarter until it finally outsmarts you. This is true of the Carrot alarm clock for iOS, which will just about torture you if you don’t wake up. There are specific actions you have to perform to silence the alarm such as swiping on a certain part of the screen. When Carrot sees lack of compliance, it will go into torture mode until it eventually threatens to kill a kitten if you don’t get up. The app has a gesture-based interface but is otherwise simple and doesn’t let you set multiple alarms. It’s strictly a wake-up machine, and an extra snooze will cost you. As time goes on, your tasks will become tougher and Carrot will be ruder. The app costs $0.99.(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 23-09-2013)
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Jones Lang LaSalle India, an international property consultancy released its report 'On The Verge Of Transformation: India Corporate Real Estate Trends 2013'that provides insights into the current state and future direction of corporate real estate (CRE) in India. Of the companies Jones Lang LaSalle surveyed globally, 44 per cent plan to expand in India over the next three years, but the country’s vast cultural diversity is one of the biggest challenges they will face when it comes to driving workplace transformation in the country. “In India, enhancing workplace productivity is a strategic priority, and this calls for more commitment from CRE teams. Workplace transformation projects offer CRE teams a unique opportunity to demonstrate value to the business. However, lack of investment capital, cultural diversity, employee resistance and lack of continued support often stop complex projects from being completed successfully,” says Yash Kapila, MD,Corporate Solutions, Jones Lang LaSalle India. As both Indian and Western companies seek to capitalise on India’s economic growth, there is increasing pressure to contain costs while enhancing workplace productivity. The report shows that 89 per cent of CRE executives in India, compared to 72 per cent globally, are being challenged by their senior leadership to impact and add value to the productivity of their workplace. The report shows that a majority of CRE teams in India do not feel well equipped to address the increasing demands of senior leadership and are at risk of under-performing. However, India’s BPO culture nurtures the readiness to adopt outsourcing models and solutions making outsourcing the delivery of CRE services to external partners an increasingly accepted and cost effective solution for both global companies looking to expand into the country and Indian companies looking at domestic growth.
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The Congress today stepped up attack on Narendra Modi saying "real criminals" are still not in jail and sought action on "new facts" emerging after the sting operation related to Tulsiram Prajapati's killing and former cop D. G. Vanzara's explosive letter slamming the state government.Latching on to a communciation by National Commission for Scheduled Castes to CBI today asking the agency to probe whether the ongoing investigation and judicial process in the Prajapati case had been manipulated, party spokesperson Bhakt Charan Das said had the Modi government been responsive, such killings would not have taken place.AICC Communication Department Chairman Ajay Maken said that since now the NCSC has stepped into the issue and asked the CBI to probe the matter, the Chief Minister should step down till the probe is over.Prajapati was killed in an alleged fake encounter by the Gujarat police in December 2006.A PIL was filed in the Supreme Court against BJP MPs Prakash Javdekar and Bhupendra Singh Yadav alleging that they tried to impede investigation in the case in which former Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah is main accused.The petition filed by a journalist on the basis of a sting operation done by him alleged that attempts were made by the MPs to impede the trial and other judicial proceedings in this regard by "manipulating the complainant with the sole intent to protect Shah".Congress has used the CD to lambast Modi over the killing of a "backward caste person" at a time when there is talk about Modi's projection as a backward caste leader in Lok Sabha polls.Das, however, rejected any caste angle to the issue and downplayed questions as to why Congress is highlighting the backward caste identity of the slain Prajapti 7 years after the encounter and when the Lok Sabha elections are nearing."New facts are emerging in public domain now. Gradually truths are coming out. In that light we have to take step. The letter by Vanzara also shows that uptil now only cover-up has been done and real culprits are still not in jail," he said.Vanzara (59), a Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) rank officer considered close to Modi, had on Tuesday resigned from service accusing the Gujarat government of failing to protect loyal police officers who fought against "Pakistan-inspired terrorism".Das also downplayed questions as to why the Chairman of NCSC P L Puniya, used the AICC forum on Tuesday to announce that he will write to CBI to take action on the CD issue.He first said that Puniya addressed the press briefing at AICC as Congress MP. Pressed further and reminded that Puniya had repeatedly said that he swung into action into the matter, Das said this should be asked to the NCSC Chairman himself.Das said that Vanzara in his letter claimed that police officers took the action only as per the order of the state government and when 32 officers are now in jail in criminal cases it is being asked "why those, who gave the orders are still out? Why they, who commit criminal acts while being in power, are not in jail? His officers are asking this." "Modi should resign. Action should be initiated against him," the Congress spokesperson said after reading portions from the NCSC letter to CBI Director Ranjit Sinha and the notices issued by the Commission to the Chief Secretaries and DGPs of Gujarat and Rajasthan seeking details in the matter immediately, failing which it would summon them.Das said that the slain Prajapati belonged to an OBC caste in Rajasthan.The panel, which got into the issue on the ground that the deceased belonged to OBC category, said it has taken "serious cognizance" of the case in view of the sting operation.(PTI)
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