Barclays lowers India growth forecast to 6 pc for FY14
Brokerage firm Barclays Capital today lowered India's growth forecast to 6 % for 2013-14, from earlier projection of 6.2 %, citing "recent disappointments" in economic activity.
India's Q3 12-13 GDP grew a mere 4.5 % y/y, fuelled largely from the government's austerity drive to control the fiscal deficit, Barclays said.
Spending curbs by the government have generated further downside to the already weak growth momentum. Moreover, several other indicators (like industrial production, core industrial growth, PMI, vehicles sales, government spending) remained weak, even during the early months of 2013.
According to Barclays GDP growth remained weak in Q4 12-13 (January-March) at around 4.9 %, which points to FY 12-13 real GDP growth of 5 per cent.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, Rediff News, Hindu Business Line, NDTV)
India's steel production up 3.5 pc in April at 6.62 MT
India's steel production grew by 3.5 % - nearly three times the global average growth of 1.2 % - in April to 6.62 million tonnes (MT).
India, world's fourth largest steel producer, had produced 6.39 MT in April, 2012, industry body World Steel Association said in a release today.
The country's steel production grew by 3.8 % in January, while in February it dropped by 0.5 % over the year ago period. It improved again in March by 6.5 % in March. India produced 6.6 MT steel in January, 6.2 MT in February and 6.86 MT in March, 2013.
Meanwhile, global steel production grew by 1.2 % in April to 132.11 MT compared to 130.50 MT a year ago.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, News BCC, i4u, India News, News Hour 24)
UP government needs to do more to attract investments: Assocham
The Akhilesh Yadav led government in Uttar Pradesh has so far not been able to achieve desirable results on the investment front, industry body Assocham said today.
Uttar Pradesh has not been able to become the base of investments whereas the southern states are far ahead in this area, Assocham National Secretary General D S Rawat told reporters here.
"There have been some incidents during the Akhilesh Yadav government which have shaken the confidence of investors and there has not been improvement in the law and order situation," he said.
Investments in the state have improved only in the real estate, Rawat said, adding that as much as 25 % small and medium industrial units have closed down in the state, mainly due to power shortage.
Rawat said that state government would have to adopt policies which would improve investments especially in service and manufacturing sectors.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, India Everyday, Daily India News, News Hour 24)
Coal India's production set to rise most in 5 years
This financial year, growth in Coal India Limited (CIL)'s output is set to rise to a five-year high. The company, ready to hit the market with its mega $ 3.62 billion share sale later this year, would exceed the production target of 482 million tonnes (mt) for this financial year, against production of 452 mt in 2012-13, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said today.
In 2013-14, CIL's growth would be more than 6.7 %. The last time growth exceeded 6 % was in 2009-10.
(Sources: Business Standard, NDTV, Economic Times, Indiatimes, Moneycontrol)
Concluding Delhi visit, Li promises more investments, trade
On India’s trade imbalance with China, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said China “does not enjoy having a trade surplus with India”. It would find ways through which Indian exporters could get greater access to the Chinese market.
Trade between India and China rose from $2.09 billion in 2001-02 to $75.59 billion in 2011-12, but it fell down to $67.83 billion in 2012-13. Simultaneously, India’s trade deficit increased from $1.08 billion in 2001-02 to $40.77 billion in 2012-13, despite 10.27 % contraction in total trade.
In 2012-13, China was India’s fourth-largest trading partner; against third-largest in 2011-2012, as exports fell from $18.08 billion to $13.53 billion, according to Ministry of Commerce & Industry data.
He also highlighted the need to expedite the process of creating the BCIM (Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar) corridor, which, he said, would open new avenues of economic ties and lead to greater integration of South Asia with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
(Sources: Business Standard, Smart Investors, Financial Express, About India, Economic Times)
Industries in NCR forced to cut production due to outages: Survey
The unscheduled power cuts in Delhi and NCR have forced industrial units to curtail their production by 25 %, a study by Assocham has found.
Acute power shortage in Delhi-NCR is expected to severely impact the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector. As a result of the power deficit, industrial production in states of Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad and Faridabad would have to be curtailed to the extent of 40 to 45 %, particularly in manufacturing units that do not have power back-up, Assocham said.
The association had sought feedback from units in states that have substantial industrial presence.
D S Rawat, secretary general of Assocham, said the power crisis will be a disaster for SME sector. The manufacturing sector is the largest provider of blue collar jobs. About six million people are employed in about 3,50,000 SMEs in the Delhi-NCR. With companies unable to put their machinery to optimum use, there could be a massive loss of employment, Rawat said.
(Sources: Economic Times, Times of India, Financial Express, Indian Express, Indiatimes)
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