สรุปข่าวเศรษฐกิจอินเดียประจำวันที่ 17 กรกฎาคม 2556

Govt approved 100% FDI caps in telecom and defence
The government on Tuesday has approved 100% foreign ownership in the telecom sector and in defence on a case-to-case basis by accepting the recommendations of the Mayaram Committee partially. However, multi-brand retail remained unchanged and there appeared to be considerable discretion in defence, where even 100% FDI seemed to have been allowed in theory but only if the investment results in state-of-the-art technology coming into the country. The defence ministry will determine what state of the art is.

Many sectors remained unchanged at 49% but they are no more required to get the approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) meaning that they will now come under the automatic approval route; these sectors consist of petroleum refineries, power, stock, and commodity exchange. The move is seen as the investment-friendly corporations, but the government will need to ensure that the fine print is not intimidating and it also needs to hand out clearances expeditiously, especially those for land and environment, source said.

Besides, there were no decisions taken regarding the civil aviation sector and pharmaceutical sectors.

(Source: the Financial Express, the Economic Times, Business Standard)

Govt to speed up Rs.1 lakh crore Infra Projects
In a move seeking to fast-track infrastructure projects, the government has asked the state-run lenders to indentify the potential bottlenecks in 50-odd newly sanctioned infrastructure projects with a total outlay of Rs.1 lakh crore.

According to the Finance Ministry, this is to ensure that these projects take off smoothly. The ministry is also looking at an effective mechanism with the special cell in the Cabinet Secretariat to push big-ticket investments. There are as much as 98 stalled projects at the regional level with an outlay of Rs.5 lakh crore, for which banks have sanctioned over Rs.1.7 lakh crore. The finance minister said that he had told the banks to cooperate with the special cell in earlier this month. "Whenever the banks have to do something to get the stalled projects off the ground, the banks will do it...the goal is to get 20-30 stalled projects off the mark and reach commencement operation date by the end of the this month," P. Chidambaram said.

(Source: the Economic Times)

Andhra to invest Rs.1,000 crore in tourism
The Andhra Pradesh Tourism Department Corporation (APTDC) would take up projects worth Rs 1,000-crore through the PPP mode in Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, and Guntur.

"We want to focus on Vizag and Hyderabad. We have already called for bidders from across the globe for these projects, "said V Madhusudan, executive director, APTDC. Of these, five are coming up at Visakhapatnam. The projects include an aquarium, theme park, health city and science city at Vizag. He said domestic tourist arrivals into the state had increased by about 5% to 159 million in 2012, while revenues of APTDC rose to Rs 225-crore. "Our target is to increase the tourist inflows by around 10% and set Rs. 300 crore turnover for the corporation," he said.

(Source: Business Standard)

Govt to fund CAD fully
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday said more reforms would be introduced by the government in the coming days and would be able to fully finance the current account deficit (CAD) without dipping into foreign exchange reserves. "Some more decisions are on the anvil. Reform is a work in progress," he said while addressing a gathering of venture capitalists and private equity investors.

Chidambaram said more steps would be taken to address supply-side bottlenecks to moderate inflation. He said inflation would come down to tolerable levels if crude oil prices don't rise further.

Inflation, hovering around 9%, has been brought down to below 5% in the last nine months. After a decline for four months, it inched up to 4.9% in June. The finance minister assured investors that CAD would be financed. "At the end of the year (2012-13), not only did we finance the CAD but also added $3.8 billion to our reserves. This year, the CAD looms large. We are doing our sums and we are confident that with some stern measures that we have taken and we will take, we can contain the CAD to a level below last year's CAD. We will finance it fully and safely without running down reserves," he said.

(Source: Business Standard)

Slow reforms pull GDP to 5.8%: ADB reports
Asian Development Bank (ADB) report stated on Tuesday that slow progress in economic reforms id expected to pull down India's growth to 5.8% in the 2013 calendar year from 6% projected earlier. However, it added that the growth rate will accelerate in 2014 as slower inflation provides some scope for monetary easing that could boost investment and consumption.

Meanwhile, the Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that India will clock over 6% growth in the financial year 2013-14, in the backdrop of government taking host of steps to boost sagging economy. India's growth fell to a decade's low of 5% in fiscal 2012-13.

(Source: the Financial Express)

Economic Section
Royal Thai Embassy