สรุปข่าวเศรษฐกิจอินเดียประจำวันที่ 10 มิถุนายน 2556

Gold to stay costlier in India

Gold is set to remain costlier in India than abroad due to the government's frequent actions to curb its import, to control the burgeoning current account deficit (CAD). Sustained depreciation in the rupee against the dollar is also set to keep the price up here. Despite a marginal 0.25 per cent decline in London, the price of gold in India shot up 2.3 per cent in the past week for both reasons; import duty was raised by another two percentage points. Those wishing to buy gold jewellery would get lower grammage due to the impact of the higher import duty but their buying sentiment would not be impacted. While the rise in import duty would not affect consumer demand, it is likely to boost gold smuggling. Gold import rose 150 per cent in May.

(Source: The Financial Express)

Consumer sentiment may continue to fuel gold demand: Experts

Government's move to hike import duty on gold may do little to curb its demand and make it an even more sought after commodity in the near-term, pushing up the price of the precious metal, say industry experts. With spiralling gold imports putting huge pressure on the current account deficit, government last week hiked the import duty on the metal to 8 per cent, up by 2 per cent, in a bid to rein in demand. Almost all of India's gold demand is met through imports and this hike will increase the cost of gold for retail customers.

(Source: The Financial Express)

Rupee hits life-time low of 57.54 against US dollar

The rupee today plunged by 48 paise to hit its life-time low of Rs 57.54 in early trade on heavy dollar demand and the US currency strengthening against major rivals overseas. Forex dealers said a firming dollar against euro and other currencies in the global market on the back of better-than-expected US jobs report and strong demand for the American currency from importers mainly weighed on the rupee.

(Source: The Financial Express)

Govt to take more measures to curb CAD: Rajan

Amid the widening current account deficit (CAD), Chief Economic Advisor Raghuram Rajan today reportedly told local television channels that the government will continue to take measures to curb the CAD. Rajan had earlier said that the government is also looking to raise FDI caps in various sectors, including defence. The CAD was at a record high of 6.7 % of gross domestic product in October-December 2012.

(Source: Business Standard)

Reliance Retail to take MNCs like Walmart, Carrefour head on

Reliance Retail has initiated a furious expansion drive with special emphasis on the wholesale cash-and-carry segment to take the battle to multinationals such as Walmart and Carrefour that have to build up their retail presence from scratch. The government last week issued some clarifications on the multi-brand retail FDI policy including foreign retailers' inability to acquire existing retail businesses and to make upfront and fresh investment of at least $50 million in back-end infrastructure, which will keep global supermarket titans from going the whole hog in India at least in the immediate future and restrict them to the cash-and-carry business where they are already present. Cash-and-carry business, too, is expected to grow into a huge opportunity. Industry experts estimate cash-and-carry in India to be a $22-billion (approx Rs 1.2 lakh crore) annual opportunity by 2017 and the market leader in the sphere is expected to corner a business of about $4-5 billion in annual revenue.

(Source: The Economic Times)

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