Indian Economy-News & Updates

[PeacefulIndian]

^

who cares about forex, u cant really use it its just sitting there.

If you tried to be smart, let me tell you, you failed miserably & have a made a fool of yourself.

 

[Screaming Skull]

Hi members,

I request you not to enter into any personal attacks or make any sarcastic remarks. If a member is ignorant about something, let s educate him rather than ridicule him.

Thanx.

Hi Gucci Juice! A country's forex reserves are very important assets. Without elaborating too much I suggest you read the following articles. They are pretty old so ignore the numbers. Apart from that they present a good analysis as to why forex reserves are important for India and the importance of managing them well.

Thanx.

Why strong forex reserves are vital!​

This crisis must leave Indian policy-makers shaken, not just stirred. Unlike the Asian crisis of ten years ago, the financial impact of this crisis has been severe (we are yet to see the full effects on the trade and real sides). The stock market has lost about half its value, the rupee has depreciated by 25 per cent, reserves have declined by about $60 billion, and the successive waves of liquidity scrambles have been unprecedented.

This financial contagion should not have come as a surprise because, unlike in the 1990s, India has become highly integrated in financial terms. But it has been a surprise, in part because everyone under-estimated the extent of financial integration. Large inflows from the outside into the stock market were visible. The less visible aspect of integration was the foreign funding of Indian financial institutions and firms, especially those that had borrowed abroad to finance their mergers and acquisitions in the last few years.

So, lesson number one is: the greater the financial integration, the greater the susceptibility to financial crises, and the larger their final cost.

Lesson number two is: self-insurance (the accumulation of foreign exchange reserves) helps and absolute self-insurance helps absolutely. Call it the Powell doctrine of financial crises.

It is undeniable that India's foreign exchange reserves have helped in limiting the impact of the crisis. If India had gone into the crisis with $100 or even $150 billion of reserves instead of $300 billion, the rupee would have declined more steeply, more quickly. China with its nearly $2 trillion of reserves suffered very little effect on the currency.

In the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis, India did not consciously embark on self-insurance. Its sizable pre-crisis reserve levels reflected less a deliberate policy choice than favourable circumstances, including the software export boom.

In thinking about and preparing for the next crisis, two questions arise: Should self-insurance become an explicit policy objective and, if so, how much self-insurance should India take out? What does self-insurance imply for other policy choices such as the exchange rate and capital account opening? Consider each question in turn.

A lot, of course, will depend on how events unfold over the next few months. This crisis is far from over. As the financial crisis morphs into a real sector crisis, we will see growth declines, corporate sector difficulties, and further asset price declines. Will residents retain faith in the economy and the rupee? If they do, we will emerge from the crisis with about $200 billion in reserves and a currency no worse than say Rs 50-52 to the dollar. Policy-makers will feel vindicated in their unconscious neglect of the self-insurance objective, and will target some modest build-up of reserves for the future, hopefully calibrated to the level of future capital inflows.

If, on the other hand, the crisis turns ugly in terms of real sector performance, and residents' confidence in the rupee is affected, we will see very different outcomes. When the dust settles on this crisis, the rupee could touch levels of Rs 55-60 to the dollar, and reserves could decline to uncomfortable (double-digit) levels. If that happens, policy-makers will, and should, embrace self-insurance with a vengeance.

What future reserve levels should India target? Clearly, these will have to be related to potential capital outflows during a crisis. The standard Guidotti rule that reserves should be as much as debt falling due within a year no longer provides an adequate basis for determining self-insurance. The recent experience suggests that any funding by Indian firms in foreign capital markets (such as those of Tata) which may not be included in domestic external debt should also be included in thinking of the size of potential outflows.

But one cannot stop there. In the recent crisis, non-resident investments in the equity market were also prone to sudden withdrawal. Withdrawals of portfolio investments have a self-limiting aspect to them: prices adjust to moderate outflows. But even if they are self-limiting, the process can easily play itself out enough to create significant pressures on the currency, especially if there have been sizable cumulative inflows.

One could go even further. If there are no capital controls on residents, crises could also lead to pressure on foreign exchange reserves from residents fleeing rupees directly or indirectly through trade channels. If governments want to cushion against all these sources of outflows, prudential levels of reserves could be very high: a $1 trillion figure for India would not seem excessive.

What does self-insurance imply for policy, especially exchange rate policy and capital account opening? It is preferable to build up reserves by running current account surpluses, which in turn requires a competitive exchange rate. Maintaining a competitive exchange rate requires policy and structural reforms but it is rendered difficult, if not impossible, when there are large inflows of capital. Such inflows may have long-run benefits, but from a self-insurance perspective, they are a double whammy: they increase the vulnerability to crises but also make self-insurance against crises more difficult because competitive exchange rates are less easy to maintain. Self-insurance therefore requires a mercantilist slant to exchange rate policy and caution about capital account opening.

But self-insurance is not without costs even as insurance. This strategy will increase reliance on exports and foreign markets for sustaining growth. Export-to-GDP ratios will increase, but the flip side is that India's exports and growth will become more vulnerable to growth slowdowns in foreign markets. So, what a country gains from self-insurance on the swings (protection against financial contagion) it loses partly on the roundabouts (vulnerability to trade contagion). Policy-makers will have to trade-off these benefits and costs.

Some time in the not-too-distant future, when the storm clouds recede, when the rupee is at, say, Rs 50 to the dollar, Indian exports will be hyper-competitive, and Indian growth prospects restored to pre-crisis levels of 8-9 per cent. At that stage, capital, attracted by the higher returns, will once again come pouring into India. That is almost certain. If India were to welcome all that capital, the rupee will very quickly find itself at Rs 40 or even Rs 35 to the dollar, leading to current account deficits and undermining India's ability to become self-insured consistent with the Powell doctrine. What quantum of solace will that provide?

The author is senior fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics and Center for Global Development, and Senior Research Professor, Johns Hopkins University.

The importance of managing forex reserves: The Indian experience​

No levels of foreign exchange reserves are enough to protect an economy from speculative capital attack. The RBI needs to spend as much time in finding suitable uses for the huge reserves it has accumulated as it does in accumulating them. By Adarsh Ananthakrishna, associate, Capco.

In recent years there has been a lot of attention focused on the management of foreign exchange reserves. There are various reasons for this, such as the emergence of the Euro as an alternate currency to dollar, changes in the exchange rate regimes, the changing perception on adequacy of reserves and their role in managing crisis, and the operational use of reserve targets while calculating financing gaps by the IMF. In addition, there are various other reasons like increase in transparency and accountability at various levels. Moreover, the IMF guidelines have increased focus on foreign exchange reserves management.

Foreign exchange reserves are required to meet a defined set of objectives of a country. The central bank of a country acts as the reserve management entity. As the chief monetary authority of the country, it is the central bank's responsibility to ensure that there is general macroeconomic financial stability. Since the central bank also happens to be the custodian of the foreign exchange reserves, it needs to maintain adequate liquidity, safety, and yield on deployment of reserves.

One of IMF's surveys reveals distinct characteristics in the foreign exchange reserves management of various countries. It suggests that many countries maintain reserves to support monetary policy. The primary objective of these countries is to use the large reserves to cope with short-term fluctuations in exchange markets. Many countries use foreign exchange reserves for stability and integrity of the monetary and financial system as well.

The Indian context

In the Indian context, the RBI Act and the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, set the legal provisions for governing the foreign exchange reserves. RBI acts as the chief monetary authority and the custodian of foreign exchange assets. RBI accumulates foreign currency reserves by purchasing from authorised dealers in the open market operations. Another source of foreign exchange for RBI is deployment of foreign exchange reserves in appropriate instruments of select currencies. The type of instruments in which RBI can invest is stipulated in the RBI Act. The aid received by the government also becomes part of the reserves.

The surge in the forex reserves

The Asian crisis taught us just how countries could suffer due to bad management of foreign exchange reserves. Many countries have responded and in order to reduce their vulnerability to the external shocks have accumulated heavy foreign exchange reserves. Countries want to keep their exports competitive; hence, they prefer to depreciate their currencies against the major currencies. In recent days, there has been a continuous appreciation of rupee vis-à-vis the dollar. To avoid the appreciation of the rupee, RBI has been continuously interfering in the money markets, by buying dollars, which are added to the reserves.

Unlike, in the past, the NRI (non-resident Indian) community is more dispersed now and not just confined to the Gulf region. Due to the software boom, Indians are heading towards new destinations. NRIs are doing well there and sending back their savings to India. In addition, foreign institutional investors are making huge investments in Indian stocks. The emergence of India as an offshore outsourcing hub has also created new opportunities. There are huge dollar earnings for India. Further, India is also proving to be a worthy manufacturing hub for many companies. All these factors played a positive role in building up of huge foreign exchange reserves.

Costs and benefits

The costs and benefits of holding huge reserves are assessed constantly. Holding sufficient reserves protects a country from external shocks. Of course, this kind of insurance is not free. The cost of holding such high reserves is the opportunity cost of not using these resources to help increase domestic productivity. Thus, the marginal productivity of domestic capital is the opportunity cost of holding reserves. Reserves management intends to minimise the opportunity costs against the benefits that are generated from holding the reserves. Putting a stop to accumulation of reserves can result in sharp appreciation of the rupee.

The foreign exchange reserves can be used to acquire new technologies. This would scale up the productivity of the industry. The government can even consider raising the ceiling on the amount that can be used by Indian companies to take over or acquire companies across the world. This would help in the creation and expansion of Indian multinational companies.

The appropriate level

It is difficult to quantify the appropriate level of foreign exchange reserves for a country. Economists have suggested some models or methods by which the reserve adequacy can be assessed. The usual parameters are adequacy of foreign exchange reserves to take care of the future imports and whether reserves are enough to meet sudden withdrawals.

Many economists and analysts feel that the foreign exchange reserves of India are in surplus. Though RBI keeps justifying the accumulation of reserves by saying that this can be used as a shield to protect the economy from capital flight and currency crises, some economists do not buy this theory. Experience has taught us that countries, which are sitting comfortably on large amounts of foreign exchange reserves, faced more severe economic crises. Thus one can say that no levels of foreign exchange reserves are enough to protect an economy from speculative capital attack.

The high reserves can be used to smooth the destabilising movements. This can also be used as a shield to counter the currency fluctuations. Though, it is difficult for RBI to control the foreign exchange reserves accumulations, it can use these reserves for some productive purposes. It can help corporates to aggressively restructure their expensive foreign debt or allow the government to use them for repaying the high cost of debts that are outstanding. Consequently, the RBI needs to spend as much time in finding suitable uses for the huge reserves it has accumulated as it does in accumulating them.

 

[duhastmish]

scream dude that's a very good gesture from you.

like saying - bhains ki ankh bhi foot gayi and lathi bi nahi tooti !!! (j.k)

-------------

SBI looking for Rs 10k cr funds
Sapna Das
Friday, June 05, 2009 (New Delhi)

The State Bank of India (SBI) is looking for funds and when the gigantic bank wants money, its needs are also large.
In an exclusive interview with NDTV, the SBI chief OP Bhatt said that SBI would like to receive Rs 10,000 crore to step up its tier-1 capital and while pressure to maintain capital adequacy is not too much, expanding the tier-1 capital will allow SBI to either tap the stock markets for a further listing or go in for a rights issue without changing the government's shareholding in the bank.
SBI's tier-1 capital is at 9 per cent presently and its total capital adequacy is around 14 per cent.

Bhatt also said that it's not just mid-sized and smaller PSU banks, which need capital, but even the big banks are in queue, as they need money to fuel their growth. He said that on his part SBI is also scouting for an acquisition in the banking space and is looking to consolidate with associate banks.

SBI's demand for funds might sound slightly premature at this stage as the government has already done a huge rights issue in 2007. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to watch how the government deals with this proposal, especially when the priority is to infuse money in the small and mid-size banks.

--------------------------

And market goes up to 15100, today congrats to investers. Although i see a small correction before budget but its bound to go upto - 18000 mark in another 2 months.

 

[Choppers]

Google mentor Motwani dies in house pool
Chidanand Rajghatta | TNN

Washington: A much-loved Stanford University professor from India who mentored and backed such sparkling and now storied Silicon Valley companies as Google and Paypal died in a freak drowning accident at his Bay area home on Friday, sending the tech community into gloom.
Rajeev Motwani, who was born in Jammu, grew up in Delhi, and graduated from IIT Kanpur, was found in the backyard swimming pool of his Palo Alto home he purchased three years ago. There was no official word about the cause of death, but friends and local reports said he did not know how to swim and may have drowned accidentally. Google guru’s demise stuns Silicon Valley
Washington: Stanford University professor and Google mentor Rajeev Motwani accidentally drowned in his Palo Alto home pool on Friday. Paramedics were called, when his body was found and he was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:28 pm, according to the San Mateo County coroner’s office. Motwani, who was only 47 and in the prime of his academic and professional life, leaves behind his wife, Asha Jadeja, and daughters Naitri and Anya.
News of Motwani’s death stunned the close-knit and well-networked Silicon Valley tech community. Messages sped through emails, blogs, Facebook entries, and Twitter feeds, as scores of techies and gearheads who had thrived under his tutelage, mentorship, and affection, opened their hearts.
Among the first to record a tribute was Sergei Brin of Google, who along with his co-founder Larry Page, were Motwani’s students in grad school at Stanford and worked closely with him as they founded Google. In his first blog entry in nine months, Brin recalled Motwani’s “big role in my research, education, and professional development.’’
“In addition to being a brilliant computer scientist, Rajeev was a very kind and amicable person and his door was always open. No matter what was going on with my life or work, I could always stop by his office for an interesting conversation and a friendly smile,’’ Brin wrote, in a condolence that ended with a stirring epitaph: “Today, whenever you use a piece of technology, there is a good chance a little bit of Rajeev Motwani is behind it.’’
Brin recalled that when his interest turned to data mining, Rajeev, who had specialised in the field, helped to coordinate a regular meeting group on the subject. “Later, when Larry and I began to work together on the research that would lead to Google, Rajeev was there to support us and guide us through challenges, both technical and organisational. Eventually, as Google emerged from Stanford, Rajeev remained a friend and advisor as he has with many people and startups since.’’ he wrote.
Motwani moved to the US in the mid-1980s, taking the familiar route from IIT (Kanpur) to University of California (Berkeley), where he earned his doctorate, before moving to Stanford University. As a Stanford professor, he also served as the director of graduate studies for the computer science department and founded the Mining Data at Stanford project (MIDAS), positions from which he mentored many start-ups and was a major catalysts in the Silicon Valley eco-system.
Although he was primarily a theoretician, Silicon Valley gurus credit Motwani with having a profound impact on products and companies. Michael Arrington, a serial entrepreneur and founder of the blog TechCrunch said Brin and Page always gave Motwani significant credit for helping them create what would eventually become Google.
In fact, Arrington recalled, it was a 1998 paper called “What Can You Do With A Web In Your Pocket’’ by Brin, Motwani, Page and Terry Winograd that became the basis for Google. In the paper, the quartet said they intended to “take advantage of the link structure of the web to produce a global ‘importance’ ranking of every web page.’’ They said this ranking, called PageRank, helps search engines and users quickly make sense of the vast heterogeneity of the World Wide Web.
But early search engines that were off the blocks before Google scoffed at the idea. AltaVista, the leading search engine at the time, turned down the chance to buy Google for $1 million, saying spam would make PageRank useless. Yahoo also declined to purchase Google, supposedly because they didn’t want to focus on search, which only sent users away from Yahoo.com. In the end, Google ate them for lunch.


TRAGIC END: Rajeev Motwani

 

[maverick2009]

Seems Man Uted Liverpool Chelsea & Arsenal in their quest for more money £££3 are looking to promote their sport to india massive commercial industry. They see a Market of 1.2 billion people in the second fastest growing economy in the world.

iTS ALL ABOUT THE $$$$$$44
BBC NEWS | Business | Premier League giants target India

 

[Rajkumar]

Cheer up: Survey says India best place for job seekers



New Delhi: India has the most favourable hiring plans for the next three months as per a survey of world businesses whereas China, United States of America and the United Kingdom are worst off as per the Manpower Employment Outlook survey.

The Manpower Employment Outlook survey of 34 countries for the third quarter shows India at No. 1 with an overall Net Employment Outlook of 19 per cent followed by Norway and Poland.

However, this is still the lowest-ever outlook for India since 2005 but it is substantially better than three per cent in China and -2 per cent in United States of America.

Sectorwise public administration and education register the best outlook. Manufacturing, trade and mining may also see improved hiring.

Highlights of Manpower Employment Outlook Survey (MEOS) Q3 2009

*

Of 34 countries surveyed, India ranks no. 1 with overall Net Employment Outlook of +19 per cent. MEOS findings reveal that the most favourable third-quarter hiring plans globally after India are reported by employers in Norway and Poland.

*

This is the lowest ever Outlook for India since 2005, when MEOS was launched in India. However, this Outlook is substantially better than 3 per cent in China, -2 per cent in US and -6 per cent in the UK.

*

Hiring is expected to be positive in only 11 out of the 34 countries and territories surveyed globally with the lowest outlook in Ireland, Romania & Greece.

*

India's net employment outlook fell from 25 per cent in the second quarter to 19 per cent in third. This is much lower than 43 per cent recorded for the Quarter 3 of 2008.

*

Employers in South are the most optimistic with a Net Employment Outlook of +41 per cent, which is an improvement of 17 percentage point over the previous quarter in that region.

*

Employers in the North and the West, report the weakest Outlooks of +13 per cent; in the third quarter compared to 23 per cent and 24 per cent reported is the previous quarter respectively.

*

Comparison with the third quarter of 2008 reveal that employers in all the regions reported decline in Outlook with North and West regions registering a fall of 39 and 30 percentage points respectively.

*

The public administration and education sector registered the best outlook at 33 per cent while finance, insurance and real-estate sector was the least optimistic at 11 per cent.

*

All the sectors reported a negative year-on-year change in outlook except the public administration and education sector which registered an increase of 8 percentage points due to the government's initiatives.

*

However, the employment situation has become better since April when the survey was conducted. Sectors like manufacturing, trade (wholesale and retail) and mining sectors may see improved hiring in as the macroeconomic environment becomes better in India

 

[Rajkumar]

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/google-bets-on-india-growth-to-hire-indians/94499-11.html


Google bets on India growth, to hire Indians

New Delhi: World's leading search engine Google sees India becoming one of the 10 most "impactful markets" in the next three to five years and is planning to hire locally to drive its brand advertising stream of business.

"Our focus in India is growth. India is going to be one of the 10 most impactful market for Google in three to five years...Minimal impact on India in terms of job cuts announced globally," Google India MD Shailesh Rao saidI.

The US-based company did not reveal its India revenue or headcount. It has two R&D centres here. Outside the US, India has one of the highest headcounts, Rao said.

"At the moment India does not drive global revenue," Rao said.

The search engine, which has a monopoly position in India, is also looking at hiring here to strengthen its brand advertising revenue stream which is a new growthdriver.

"Hiring is to continue in India. We need a team for brand advertising. India is one of the largest employers outside the US and it is a strategic location with good technical skills and manpower and is among the highest growth markets for Google," he said.

He, however, added that in India the company is hiring at a reduced level and is need based.

 

[Screaming Skull]

India adds over 8 million GSM mobile users in May​

New Delhi June 11, 2009,

The GSM-based mobile operators in the country added 8.3 million subscribers in May taking the total subscriber base to 306.4 million.

As per the data released by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the total number of GSM subscriptions in India reached 306.4 million in May compared to a subscriber base of 298.1 million in April.

Bharti Airtel maintained its leadership position in the GSM-space with a market share of 32.48 per cent.

Airtel hit the landmark of reaching 100 (99.5) million subscriber mark with the addition of 2.8 million subscribers in May.

By adding 2.5 million new GSM subscribers, Vodafone Essar took its subscriber base to a total of 74 million. In April, Vodafone had added 2.7 million subscribers.

Idea Cellular with 14.84 per cent market share has added 1.3 million subscribers taking its subscriber base to 45.4 million.

Among the public sector players, BSNL's total subscriber base touched 48.1 million subscribers as it added 4.5 lakh users in the month of May.

The subscriber addition in May dropped drastically for BSNL as in April the firm had added 1 million new users.

BSNL has a market share of 15.72 per cent.

MTNL has managed to add 38,036 users taking its subscriber base to 4.2 million.

In April, MTNL had added 45,553 subscribers.

 

[Screaming Skull]

Assocham sees India's GDP at 7.2% this fiscal​

Indian economy may grow at 7.2 this fiscal on the back of improvement in consumer sentiment, policy reforms and projected growth in agriculture and industrial sector, a Assocham survey said.

In a survey of 300 businessmen, about 42 per cent of the respondents said that policy reforms would cast large impact on the GDP growth.

"Indian economy is expected to register a GDP growth rate of 7.2 per cent in 2009-10 on account of improvement in consumer sentiment, rural India and policy reforms," the chamber said.

Majority of the respondents said that the government would be able to bring about significant reforms this year, and about 91 per cent believed that there are good chances of improvement in consumer sentiments in the following months.

About 40 per cent respondents felt that isolation of the rural India from the impact of recession has a huge impact on the GDP growth rate, it said.

"The agriculture sector is expected to record the growth rate of 3.5 per cent as good monsoons, better crop prices and upward revision of the crop forecast has ensured a healthy growth rate for the agriculture sector," it said.

The industry sector which was reeling under pressure due to high interest rates, reduced demand and global recession is expected to record the growth rate close to 4.6 per cent in the fiscal.

With the improvement in consumer sentiment, increased government spending and anticipated reforms, the services sector is estimated to chart 9.7 per cent growth in 2009-10, Assocham said.

About 75 per cent of the respondents believed that government would use further fiscal incentives to stimulate the economy, it said.

However, the factors which continue to inhibit the economic growth rate from pacing up include poor state of the world economy and money market conditions, it added.

 

[Screaming Skull]

Govt raises $3 Billion through sale of bonds​

11 Jun 2009,

MUMBAI: The government raised Rs 15,000 crore through sale of bonds on Thursday, but dealers said the cut-off yields in some of the securities were much higher than what market expected. Government bond prices in the secondary market fell after the yields were declared sending the yield on most traded 2016 security to just over 7%.

RBI sold a planned Rs 15,000 crore worth of bonds maturing in 2014, 2021, 2027 and 2035 at the auction. It sold Rs 8,000 crore of the 6.07% five-year notes at a yield of 6.73%, RBI said in a statement. Traders expected the paper to be sold in the range of 6.62 to 6.65%. Traders have been pointing out that it was just two months back that the security was introduced at a yield of 6.07% - another evidence of how yields have been hardening over the past few weeks.

"RBI sold the shorter 2014 paper at yield much higher than expected. The signal is very confusing," said a senior official at a primary dealership. "But despite the paper rallying after the auction cut off was declared, there is certainly money to be made in the paper tomorrow." He added that the longer papers were sold at more or less expected levels.

But dealers say its the uncertainty in the immediate borrowing programme that is affecting sentiment and this is showing no signs of slowing down.

"Unless the RBI comes out with clarity on how it wants to go about the supply of bonds over the year, yields would keep rising," said Ramkumar K, head of fixed income at Sundaram BNP Paribas AMC. He also reminds that US Treasury yields have been heading northwards, also affecting sentiment.

The rupee weakened on Thursday, on back of losses in Asian stocks and currencies, besides the rising crude. The local unit ended at 47.61 against the dollar, weaker than Wednesday's close of 47.24. This is despite the dollar falling against a basket of currencies, ahead of another US debt auction.

RBI sold $2.49bn more US dollars than it bought in April, the central bank said in its monthly bulletin on Thursday.

 

[Screaming Skull]

Afghanistan invites Indian investment​

11 Jun 2009,

MUMBAI: Terming the business climate as conducive for investors, Afghanistan on Thursday urged the Indian business community to invest there and further enhance the traditional bilateral ties between the two countries.

Afghanistan has vast reserves of iron ore, thorium, gas, coal and other minerals and it was about time Indian business invest in the country, Afghanistan's newly-appointed Consul General in Mumbai, Mardani Ali Qasemi, said.

Countries such as China, Turkey and Iran were already doing business with Afghanistan, Qasemi said, adding, Indian business should invest in Afghanistan to further strengthen the relationship between the two countries.

Earlier, Qasemi called on Maharashtra Governor, S C Jamir at the Raj Bhavan here. Democracy has been restored in Afghanistan and 80 per cent of the country is completely peaceful, he said.

The Afghanistan Consul General also said that more than 3,000 students from his country were presently studying in India, with Pune alone accounting for around 800 students. The Afghan Government encourages students to study in India and even provides them scholarships for this purpose, he said.

 

[Screaming Skull]

Indians third highest online spenders in Asia Pacific: VISA​

11 Jun 2009,

NEW DELHI: Undeterred by the slowdown, Indians continued to spend online in the last quarter of 2008 to emerge as the third highest spenders on the Internet in the Asia Pacific region, a report released on Thursday by electronic payments giant VISA said.

The report said Indian online shoppers increased their purchases by 42 per cent, or by about $1,000 per shopper to $3,450, compared to the $2,420 spent in the previous quarter.

This made them the third highest spenders in the Asia Pacific region in the last fiscal's last quarter, VISA said. Singapore with an online buy of $4,018 per shopper and Hong Kong with $3,791 topped the charts.

The survey was carried out among 9,142 Internet users aged between 18 to 49 years across six countries and territories from the Asia Pacific region.

Among the categories surveyed, all top three online spend areas were travel-related services.

According to the survey, the highest areas of spending in the past 12 months were airline tickets, which accounted for an average $970 per shopper annually. This was followed by online travel agents ($647) and travel accommodation ($527).

Said country manager of Visa South Asia Uttam Nayak: "Consumers are tuned to the convenience of shopping for travel services online."

The trend to shop online looks set to continue with 81 per cent of respondents stating they were likely to shop online again in the next 12 months.

Koreans (96 per cent), Japanese (90 per cent) and Australians (83 per cent) are most likely to make purchases again online, the survey said.

 

[Screaming Skull]

In 3 months, $2 could grow to $400,000 in Indian market​

MUMBAI: In 1999, when he was barely 18 years old and still a student, American Timothy Sykes decided to invest his $12,000 gift money in the stock market. In a little over two years, his investment had grown to $1.65 million. Impressive, no doubt, but it’s still not the stock market investor’s ultimate fantasy.

Now, suppose an Indian investor had been struck by a brilliant flash of visionary foresight at the start of March this year. Starting March 2, which was the first trading day of the month, for the next three months he would know how each stock was going to behave and which one would end up being the best performer every single day. What would our investor have done with just Rs 100? Would he have made Mr Sykes look like a babe in the woods?

On March 2, his Rs 100 would have been on Apollo Tyres, the top gainer of the day. At the close of trading, his investment would have been worth Rs 124 and he would have redeemed it to invest the entire amount in Monnet Ispat on March 3. The steel-maker’s stock would then have turned his Rs 124 into Rs 139.

Thus aided by prophetic vision our investor would have gone on, watching his Rs 100 multiply manifold as he picked the best-performing stock each day for 57 trading sessions. As general elections drew nearer around the second week of April, there was a wave of positive sentiment towards the troubled export, infrastructure and real estate sectors.

Stocks of companies such as Gitanjali Gems, Reliance Infra, Sasken Communication Technologies and Unitech rose smartly on hopes that a new government would come up with plans to infuse new life into these ailing business segments.

On the morning of April 16, when India began voting to elect new representatives to the Lok Sabha, our fortunate investor’s Rs 100 had grown to Rs 36,812. He used the money to buy shares of Gitanjali Gems and exited the stock that evening, pocketing a gain of Rs 6,085.

 

[PeacefulIndian]

Govt raises $3 Billion crore through sale of bonds

Looks to be a typo here..May be we raised $3B?

 

[wtf]

Inflation slips to 0.13%; banks may cut rates Rediff Money


Inflation slipped to 0.13 per cent for the week ended May 30, the lowest ever in over three decade, a development that could hasten the process of rate cuts by the banks.

While the wholesale price index stood at 0.48 per cent in the previous week, the rate of price rise was 9.32 per cent during the corresponding week a year ago.

Even though inflation declined during the week, the prices of essential food items like vegetables, eggs, pulses and spices became more expensive.

This is the 13th week in succession when inflation stood below one per cent. Analysts feel that inflation could slip into negative territory in the days to come.

"We may see inflation in the negative territory which may continue till October with the lowest inflation level at minus 1.5 per cent in July," said HDFC Bank [ Get Quote ] economist Jyotinder Kaur.

In a bid to spur economic growth, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee [ Images ] prodded public sector lenders to provide credit at reasonable rates.

In his address to chief executives of the public sector banks on Wednesday, Mukherjee said, "As a financial intermediary the banks have to stand by to provide credit at reasonable rates."

The finance minister had said cut in key rates by RBI is not getting adequately reflected in the reduction of prime lending rates by banks.

Most of the public sector banks, including State Bank of India [ Get Quote ], Bank of Baroda [ Get Quote ], Union Bank, Bank of Maharashtra [ Get Quote ] and Canara Bank [ Get Quote ] have hinted at cutting rates in couple of weeks.

At the same time easing inflation has raised expectations of policy rate cut by RBI in the first quarterly review in July.

"We expect RBI to cut rates in July by 25 basis points," Kaur said.

However, NCAER senior fellow Rajesh Shukla said as the prices of primary articles are still high, it is not having much effect on the common man.

During the week, prices of eggs went up by 11 per cent, mutton by 3 per cent, fruit and vegetables by 2 per cent.

At the same time prices of ghee were expensive by 4 per cent and khandsari by 2 per cent. However, prices of coffee declined by 4 per cent and bajra by 3 per cent.

Among manufactured products, prices of texturised yarn eased by 2 per cent, decorative laminates by whopping 11 per cent and electrical generators by 6 per cent.

Inflation for the week ended April 4 was revised upwards to 0.83 per cent from 0.18 per cent, as estimated provisionally.