Revised data puts FY12 growth at 6.2%
India’s economic growth slowed more sharply than earlier estimated in 2011-12 after expanding more than 9% in the year before.
Economic growth slowed down to 6.2% in the year ended March from the earlier estimate of 6.5%, according to revised data released by the Central Statistics Office. Growth in 2010-11 was revised upward to 9.3% from the earlier estimate of 8.4%.
Though the government had targeted fiscal deficit at 5.1% of GDP in the budget for 2012-13, finance minister P. Chidambaram later revised it to a “more achievable” target of 5.3%.
Data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) on Thursday showed the government has till December met 78.8% of its fiscal deficit target for the full fiscal year of 2012-13 as compared to 92.3% of the target in the previous fiscal year.
(Sources: Livemint, Zeenews, Hindu Business Line, Business Standard, i4u, India Everyday)
Credit rating downgrade risk has receded for India: S&P
The possibility of India losing its investment grade credit rating has receded somewhat as a result of economic reforms undertaken by the government since last September, an analyst with rating agency Standard & Poor’s told Reuters on Thursday.
The government has launched a raft of reforms in recent months to revive an economy headed for its slowest growth in a decade. It has opened the retail and aviation sectors to more foreign investment, hiked railway passenger fares, cut budget-busting fuel subsidies and slapped higher duties on gold imports that have widened its current account deficit.
India has a BBB- rating from S&P, the lowest investment grade among the BRIC economies. A one notch cut would relegate it to “junk” status.
(Sources: Livemint, Moneycontrol, DNA India, Tribune India, Business World, CNBC)
Maruti Suzuki aims to become India's largest exporter of passenger cars
Maruti Suzuki, India's largest carmaker, is scripting a strategy to become India's largest exporter of passenger cars, by building a base for manufacturing 3-million cars in five years that includes at least 10 new vehicles across segments, including the light commercial segment.
The Japanese carmaker and its Indian subsidiary will pool together its resources to generate new platforms and models for the future. According to two sources, the move to build new capacities will also enable the carmaker to retain market leadership in India at competitive prices for overseas markets.
The company plans to make India a global manufacturing hub for Suzuki. The mega strategy would also check the growing competition from traditional rivals and new global players like Nissan, Volkswagen, Renault and Fiat that have eating into its pie.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, India Everyday, i4u, Zeenews, IBNLive)
DHL plans more investments in India's industrial cities
Global logistics company DHL is planning its next investment in India's major industrial cities as part of its ongoing euro 100 million expansion strategy for the country announced last October.
The cities would include Pune, known for automobile industries, Ludhiana and Nagpur as well as further expansions at DHL's existing operations in Delhi, Kolkata and Ahmedabad, adding the euro 100 million investments covering eight key cities.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, Moneycontrol, Press Trust of India, i4u, India Everyday)
Reforms will revive economy, says ADB
The recent reforms will help steer India's economy back to strong growth, which is yet to show signs of recovery, said Haruhiko Kuroda, president of Asian Development Bank (ADB).
"Unlike China, which has shown clear signs of stabilisation from the second half of last year, there is no clear evidence yet of growth recovery in India," he said.
The ADB has projected that economic growth in fiscal 2012 will slow to 5.4% before picking up to 6.5% in 2013. Kuroda said the recent reforms will help steer the economy back to strong growth.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, Business Today, Financial Express, NDTV)
Core sector growth slows down to 2.6% in December 2012
Contraction in the output of natural gas, coal and fertiliser has slowed down the growth of eight core sectors in December 2012 to 2.6%, which may have a bearing on the overall industrial production.
However, the growth in the month under review has shown a marginal improvement over the previous month, when the sectors registered a growth rate of 1.6%.
The key infrastructure sectors had recorded growth of 4.9 % in December 2011.
The cumulative expansion of these industries in April - December 2012 slowed to 3.3 % from 4.8 % in the same period previous year, according to the official data released today.
The eight industries include crude oil, petroleum refinery products, coal, electricity, cement and finished steel and have a weight of 37.9 % in the overall Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, Zeenews, Daily News & Analysis, the Statesman, NDTV)
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