Meteorological Dept Upgrades Monsoon Forecast – Trust Data ?
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has released its second stage forecasts for the South-West (SW) monsoon season (June-September 2010). IMD has said that the rainfall in the current monsoon season is likely to be normal. Given below is the brief summary:
Forecasts revised up for rainfall to 102% of the Long Period Average (LPA) from 98% of the LPA projected in April. Immediate outlook Read more
India Deregulates Petrol Price – Diesel hiked by Rs 2/litre
The empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on fuel prices has decided to decontrol the prices of petrol while price of diesel has been increased by Rs 2. The prices of cooking fuels kerosene and LPG have been increased by Rs 3 per litre and Rs 35 per 14.2 kg cylinder.
The government may deregulate price of diesel at a later stage but those of cooking fuels will continued to be subsidised.
As per the decision taken by the EGoM, the prices of petrol will from now on be determined by the market forces. This would mean a Read more
Inflation + GDP + Economy Forecast
Here is HSBC’s Forecast for India. Wholesale price inflation probably peaked in March and will more than halve to 4% by year end, in our view. Key drivers of the WPI rate, including international food, metal and energy commodity price inflation, are now turning down, while a better monsoon will help drive food price inflation lower.
Expect GDP growth to average 8.8% in 2010/11, just beating consensus projections, which continue to move up, of 8.3%. Activity
will be supported by an impressive bounce back in agricultural output, as well as the lagged effects of the fiscal and monetary Read more
Edelweiss Cap – Bonus Issue – 1:1
Edelweiss Capital Ltd has informed has informed Free press about the outcome of its board meeting.
Issue of 1 bonus share of the face value of Re. 1/- each (after sub-division) for every 1 equity share of the face value of Re. 1/- each (after sub-division) held in the Company as on the Record Date to be fixed in this behalf; and Sub-division of the equity shares of the face value of Rs. 5/- each into equity shares of the face value of Re. 1/- each;
Indian Government Encourages Tax Haven Money Laundering
At the time when the western world gripped in financial crisis is trying to put an end to tax Havens, the Indian Government in its new Direct Tax Code has encouraged Foreign Investors to route money through Tax Havens and enjoy Tax FREE Returns.
This is a step backwards from earlier draft of the Direct Tax Code. FIIs investing from tax haven were exposed to taxation on capital gains under the Old DTC as the Old DTC was supposed to OVERRIDE the Double Tax Treaties. The Revised DTC retains the tax incentives on capital gains for FIIs from tax havens (like Mauritius, etc). This in effect encourages Read more
Double Digit Inflation – Courtesy Congress Government
May WPI inflation came in at 10.2% yoy, a big uptick from the 9.6% yoy in April. The reading was significantly higher than the consensus expectation of 9.6% yoy. The March inflation reading was also revised up to 11.0% yoy compared to 9.9% yoy earlier. On a sequential basis, headline inflation ticked up 1.5% mom s.a., compared to the 0.8% mom decline in April. Read more
Mumbai FSI increase: Government proposes, Court disposes
An FSI increase of 0.33x in suburban Mumbai was dismissed by the High Court. The negative impact of such an FSI increase on TDR prices would now be reversed.
The two-judge divisional bench of the Bombay High Court ruled in favor of the public interest litigation (PIL) filed, dismissing the increase in the FSI in suburban Mumbai (from 1 to 1.33) passed by the government of Maharashtra in Apr ’08. The reasons stated included the right to amend development plans, procedure followed by the government, no change in the development plan of the Read more
No Objectivity in Lending And Investment Decisions
By Guest Author – Sudip Bhattacharyya
An area where professional leadership and decision making can be questioned is lending to Small and Micro enterprises. SBI, Chairman was quoted in Economic Times on 11th May 2009 saying that as SMEs mostly supply to large units, the risk perception is more there and accordingly higher interest rate is applicable to SMEs. The logic for higher risk perception is not quiet understood and in any case, no authentic expert study supporting such assertion was seen. This is despite professed national policy for inclusive growth and support for MSME. In stead, banks prefer lazy banking. (Indian banks now have investment of nearly Rs.85500 crores in Mutual Fund and Rs.82000 crores in Govt. Bonds.). Read more
Government contemplates a task force for giving boost to animation industry
For giving a boost to the growing animation sector in India, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry is planning setting up a joint task force with members of industry bodies.
This task force will help face the challenges of high set-up and production costs, talent shortage and lack of intellectual property protection which daunts the animation industry. The job of the task force will be to forward a roadmap for clearance to the Finance Ministry after consulting and finalizing it with all the stakeholders of the animation industry. Read more
The domestic demand driven Growth
Domestic demand continues to accelerate as evidenced by a slew of macro and micro indicators from the PMI, credit growth to auto
sales and infrastructure build-out. With demand remaining strong, we think core inflation will likely remain elevated through
FY11, and maintain our above-consensus inflation forecast of 7.5%. This would prompt further action by the Reserve Bank of India to
withdraw accommodation. Read more