PM signals GST won’t be rolled out before 2014 polls
The past six months might have seen a series of positive developments around the Goods and Services Tax (GST), but its implementation will happen only after a new government comes to power after the elections in April next year.
“India is a federation and there are difficulties to bring states to agree to surrender tax power, but I am confident we will overcome the hurdle,” Singh told Japanese businessmen at an interaction during his official visit to Tokyo.
“So I cannot say we can deliver tomorrow, but if you ask me by 2014, once elections are out of the way, whichever government is there, (there) will be a general agreement of appropriate type in place to help propel India’s growth story,” Singh said. The term of the current government is scheduled to end in May next year.
(Sources: Business Standard, Livemint)
Power tariffs set to rise as Coal India raises prices by 5%
Coal India (CIL) has increased prices by 4.7% on average, a move that power producers say is likely to lead to an increase in power tariffs by 7 paise per unit to 45 paise.
CIL on Tuesday reduced prices of two premium varieties of coal by 12% while increasing prices of the rest, barring one, by 10%. It had last increased prices in January 2011.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, News Now)
RBI should cut CRR by 0.75-1% cut to boost growth: SBI
Country's largest lender SBI would like a 0.75-1 percentage point cut in cash reserve ratio (CRR) by the Reserve Bank to boost liquidity in the system and spur growth, SBI Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer Diwakar Gupta said on the sidelines of a conference in Singapore, at which India's financial leaders said the country would return to high growth and see increase in capital inflows in the coming months.
While market regulator SEBI Chairman U K Sinha said investments in 2013-14 would exceed USD 24.55 billion, ICICI Bank Chairman K V Kamath said Indian economy would recover in the next six months to one year.
The three top financial leaders expressed their full confidence in the government and economy.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, Business Today, Daily India News, Rediff News)
ICRA pegs FY14 Current Account Deficit at 4.5%, GDP at around 6%
Rating agency ICRA (Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency of India Limited) today said the current account deficit will decline to 4.5 % this fiscal, from around 5 per cent last fiscal, following the likely dip in gold imports as well as lower crude prices.
The agency also forecast economic growth to recover mildly to 5.8 - 6 % in 2013-14 from around 5 % in 2012-13.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, Moneycontrol)
ONGC to set up $ 1.79 billion gas processing plant in Maharashtra
State-run oil company ONGC is setting up an integrated gas processing plant in Maharashtra with an investment of nearly$ 1.79 billion.
According to a senior official of ONGC, the plant will have processing capacity of 10 mmscmd (Million Metric Standard Cubic Meter per Day) and a 30 megawatt captive power plant as part of the project.
ONGC currently has two gas processing plants at Hazira in Gujarat and Uran near Mumbai.
While the Gas Processing Complex Hazira Plant at Surat processes only gas, Uran plant can handle both gas and oil, the official explained adding that it will take nearly one year to get all the necessary permissions.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, the Hindu, Infraline, India Everyday)
Honda opens third 2-wheeler plant in India
Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI), India’s second-largest two-wheeler company, plans to expand its installed annual capacity 15 % to 4.6 million units by March 2014.
On Tuesday, the company inaugurated a plant at the industrial area at Narasapur in Kolar district, 58 km from Bangalore, it’s third plant in the country, after those in Manesar in Haryana and Tapukara in Rajasthan.
The three plants have a combined capacity of four million units a year.
(Sources: Business Standard, Times of India, Indiatimes, Deccan Herald)
Nomura pegs India's FY14 GDP growth at 5.6%
Japanese brokerage firm Nomura today said today India's GDP growth has bottomed out but pegged economic expansion to be at 5.6 % in the current fiscal, lower than the consensus estimate of 6 per cent.
"Growth is bottoming out and is at an inflection point. However, the recovery will be very gradual," Nomura India chief economist Sonal Verma told reporters here, adding that the brokerage estimates the growth rate to pick up to 5.6 % in FY14.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, NDTV, i4u, Zeenews, Daily India News)
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