Thailand to crack down on rerouting of gold to India
Thailand has agreed to retrospectively re-examine rules of origin certificates issued to Indian gold importers after New Delhi said third-country gold was routed through Thailand to take advantage of concessional duty available under India-Thailand free trade agreement. "Thai authorities have agreed to relook at the rules of origin certificates issued in over more than a year," a finance ministry official told.
The objective of exercise is to see if the certificates were issued in line with all the prescribed conditions. India had raised customs duty on gold jewellery in January 2012 and then again in March from a low of 1 % to 10 % in a desperate bid to curb imports of the metal that is largely responsible for the record current account deficit.
Rules of origin certificate is a document that certifies that the particular good being exported has been produced or substantially value added in a particular country. India, the largest consumer of gold, imported $38 billion worth of yellow metal in 2012-13 that contributed significantly to its record high current account deficit. Current account deficit stood at 6.7 % in third quarter of 2012-13 but is expected to be lower at 5 % of GDP in full fiscal.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, Daily India News, News Hour 24, Indian Radios)
New Delhi is now among global retail hotspots
New Delhi now shares with Beijing the top position as the most targeted emerging markets retail destination among Asia-Pacific markets in 2012, a CBRE survey has found.
Around 13 new global retailers entered the national capital last year, similar to Beijing, according to the report titled Retail Hotspots in Asia Pacific.
Mumbai bagged the second spot for the same period with 10 international retailers making a debut in the city.
While Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore - characterised as mature retail markets - top the list of cities for new retailer entries across Asia Pacific, New Delhi saw more entries compared to other South East Asian markets such as Bangkok and Jakarta.
(Sources: Hindustan Times, Asia One, Yahoo News, Rediff News)
Wholesale prices probably eased further in April
India's headline inflation is expected to have eased for a third straight month in April, as core inflation cooled and fuel costs fell, giving the Reserve Bank of India greater room to ease policy, according to a Reuters poll.
However, high food inflation will remain a concern for the RBI as it bids to spur growth and encourage investment - the government's top priority as it gears up for national elections due in early 2014.
Wholesale prices, India's key inflation measure, probably rose an annual 5.50 % in April, the slowest pace since November 2009, decelerating from 5.96 % in March.
Closely watched core inflation, which strips out volatile food and fuel prices, probably slowed to 3.5 % in March, its slowest rate in more than three years, according to economists.
(Sources: Indian Express, NDTV, Business Times, Bharat Press, India Local News)
Car sales fall 10% in April
Car sales in India fell an annual 10% in April, an industry body said on Friday, beginning a new fiscal year on the same sour note that saw annual sales fall last year for the first time in a decade.
Automakers sold 150,789 cars in India last month, according to data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam), as sluggish economic growth and high ownership costs continued to weigh on demand in the once-booming market.
Sales of motorcycles fell 2.1% in April to 843,889 vehicles, Siam said, but truck and bus sales were up 0.8% at 56,678 vehicles.
(Sources: Business Standard, Wall Street Journal, NDTV, Moneycontrol)
March industrial output growth accelerates to 2.5%
India’s industrial production growth accelerated to 2.5% in March from a year earlier, government data showed on Friday.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected output to grow 2% annually. The government revised the output growth for February to 0.5% from 0.6% earlier.
Manufacturing, which constitutes about 76% of industrial production, grew 3.2% from a year earlier, the Central Statistics Office said. Capital goods production, a barometer for investments in the economy, grew an annual 6.9% from a year earlier.
In the April-March period, industrial production expanded an annual 1%.
(Sources: Livemint, Business Standard, Financial Express, Indian Express, Business Times)
Power tariff hike should be last resort: Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia
Hike in electricity charges should be the last resort and states should instead focus on keeping a tab on transmission-related losses, including power theft, Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has said.
Blaming high levels of Aggregate Technical & Commercial (AT&C) losses as a key reason for rise in tariffs, Scindia said there was a need for greater transparency and accountability on the part of distribution companies as well as the state governments to tackle the problem.
AT&C losses, that include losses incurred during electricity transmission and theft, are estimated at about 26.4 % on a national average.
Scindia said AT&C losses have come down significantly in the last 4-5 years from the levels of 32-33 %, but it still remains very high and need to be brought down to about 15 % on a state level.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, the Statesman, NDTV, Infraline, Press Trust of India)
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