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MSCI shifting most of its operations to India

Of 3,100 employees in 26 countries, approx 700 are located in MSCI’s Mumbai office, which serves markets in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia.

MSCI, which runs market indices that global investors follow closely, is gradually shifting most of its operations to India. Having started with a small back office in Mumbai a decade ago, it recently bought about 1.2 lakh square feet of office space in a suburb of India's commercial hub.

"Currently, our office in Mumbai is the largest MSCI office worldwide, bigger than the corporate office. We now have every single function -- finance, sales, research, analytics, data management, technology and human recourses - present here," said BaerBSE -1.84 % Pettit, managing director, MSCI, who was in the city to mark the company's 10 years in the country. The space acquired in Goregoan will accommodate around 1,100 people.
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Read more at:
MSCI shifting most of its operations to India - The Economic Times
 
Dipping crude not to benefit public as govt plans to raise duty to keep prices unchanged | The Indian Express

The government would mop up further benefits of a sliding international price of crude oil by raising the excise duty on both petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 per litre so as to leave the pump prices unchanged.

Ahead of a possible reduction this weekend in prices of both decontrolled products, secretaries of finance and petroleum met on Tuesday to consider raising the excise duty matching the proposed cut so as to leave the consumers unaffected while benefitting the national exchequer which is groaning under a lower realisation of indirect taxes.

Moreover, it would partially make up for the loss in revenue from excise and customs duty because of the wider economic slowdown.

The first discussion on this issue was held last week in the finance ministry and the two secretaries Tuesday agreed to a duty hike before the state-run oil marketing companies revise rates of petrol and diesel on Saturday, said sources.

The Centre levies a specific per litre duty, unaffected by the price movement, of Rs 9.20 per litre of central excise duty is levied on petrol and Rs 3.46 per litre in the case of diesel. Apart from raising government revenue, the move is seen as a fund buffer to plug the deficit in case crude prices harden in the future. Also, a stiff price rise in such a situation would create more flutter were the government to pass on the crude price rise in terms of stiff increase in petrol and diesel prices. Petrol has lost Rs 12 per litre in over a year while diesel has gone down Rs 5 per litre in less than three months. A further cut in pump prices would make future upwards revision definitely unpalatable politically, said sources.

Petrol prices are down to Rs 64.24 a litre in Delhi now from a peak of over Rs 76 in September 2013. Diesel is down from Rs 58.97 per litre to Rs 53.35 in Delhi and its fall gave the government leeway to take the politically tough decision to decontrol its price on October 18. Crude oil prices are forecast to dip further in December considering the futures trade, said sources.

- See more at: Dipping crude not to benefit public as govt plans to raise duty to keep prices unchanged | The Indian Express
 
Microsoft to invest Rs 1,400 crore in India cloud data centres

Seeing a $2 trillion promise in India's cloud market, Microsoft has decided to spend Rs 1,400 crore on setting up three data centres in the country. In a filing with the Registrar of Companies, the US software giant said it has started work on setting up the cloud data centres in Mumbai, Pune and Chennai


Top cloud players have shown keen interest in setting up data centres in India in the past few months. IBM launched a centre in Mumbai this month and plans to add another one soon. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos had indicated in September that the company could set up its centres in India. The situation was quite the opposite about a year ago when all major companies shied away from India, citing infrastructural issues such as unpredictable power supply, patchy Internet connectivity, limited bandwidth ..

Read more at:
Microsoft to invest Rs 1,400 crore in India cloud data centres - The Economic Times
 
Kerala, Goa see 100% Jan Dhan cover - The Times of India

NEW DELHI: Kerala, Goa, union territories of Chandigarh, Puducherry, Lakshadweep and three districts in Gujarat have reported 100% coverage of households by opening at least one account under the Prime Minister's Jan Dhan Yojana.

The number of accounts opened under the scheme as on November 10 shot up to 7.24 crore, of which 4.29 crore were in rural areas and 2.95 crore in urban areas. A government statement said RuPay cards have been issued for nearly 4 crore accounts.

The three districts of Gujarat which have covered all households with at least one account are Porbandar, Mehasana and Gandhi Nagar. Earlier this month, TOI had reported that the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana has so far managed to bring over Rs 5,000 crore into the formal banking system as account holders started depositing cash. A large chunk of this money would have been kept at home in the absence of accounts, with little or no productive use.
 
Exports fall, gold imports surge, trade deficit widens in October: Key takeaways
India's trade deficit widened to $13.35 billion in October as exports contracted 5.04 percent and gold imports surged, the government data showed yesterday. In the year-ago period, the deficit stood at $10.59 billion.

Gold imports jumped 280 percent to $4.17 billion in the month, widening the trade deficit to $13.35 billion as against $10.59 billion in October last year.

Top exporting sectors that registered negative growth in October are engineering (-9.18 percent), pharma (-8.33 percent), gems and jewellery (-2.25 percent) and petroleum products (-0.16 percent).

Overall, imports grew by 3.62 percent to $39.45 billion.

Oil imports in October dipped by 19.2 per cent to $12.36 billion. Non-oil imports, however, grew by 18.9 percent to $27.08 billion.

During April-October period, exports were up 4.72 percent to $189.79 billion, while imports were up 1.86 percent to $273.55 billion. Trade deficit during the period stood at $83.75 billion against $87.31 billion in the same period last fiscal.

Here are the key takeaways from the data:

1) When it comes to gold, Chidu is the way to go: There is no respite from gold imports, which have been rising over the last three months. In October, the imports jumped to 106.3 tonnes, which is the highest monthly imports this fiscal year, from 26 tonnes a year ago. While the demand for the yellow metal may moderate after the festival season, there is no reason to believe that it will fall significantly as lower global prices will retain the attractiveness. Rating agency Crisil estimates that gold imports this financial year are likely to hit 800 tonnes, much higher than 653.5 tonnes last fiscal.

According to a PTI report, this has prompted the government to take a relook at shipment norms for the precious metal. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is in discussions with the government on ways to curb gold imports, the report said quoting RBI Deputy Governor S S Mundra said here. Faced with a scary CAD situation, former finance minister P Chidambaram had also resorted to similar steps. In a desperate bid to contain the surging imports, the UPA government had raised import duty on gold to 10 percent. It also made it mandatory to export 20 percent of all gold imports as jewellery. Then there were criticisms that the steps were just short cuts and are likely to back fire. However, expect more of such import curbs now. In other words, the new government does not yet have a new game plan when it comes to gold. Chidambaram is the way to go.

2) No hope from overseas: After six long months, exports fell into the negative zone. This should sound alarm bells. According to PTI, exporters have attributed the fall in outbound shipments in October to subdued demand in the US and European markets. The pain will only get worse, Japan with falling into a recession. There is nothing much the new government can do here.

3) Recovery? Yes and no: In a trade data, import figures hold special significance. This is because imports of non-oil and non-gold goods are an indication of domestic demand. This figure in October has risen by 5.6% on year, offering hope that there is a small revival in domestic demand. According to Crisil, this is the sixth consecutive month of expansion. But it is too early to rejoice. As Crisil notes, "Sustained growth in core imports in the past few months confirms that a nascent recovery in domestic demand has begun. However, the numbers are still too weak to provide a relief." Even the corporate earnings indicate so.
 
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