สรุปข่าวเศรษฐกิจอินเดียประจำวันที่ 21 ตุลาคม 2556

India's September gold jewellery exports rise 16.5%

Exports of gold jewellery from India rose 16.5 per cent in value terms to $653.90 million in September, an industry body said on Friday, as supply pressures eased for exporters before the peak Christmas season in the United States. India is trying to reduce its current account deficit and the government has brought in measures to restrict imports of gold, the second-biggest import after oil, which has affected the jewellery sector. The measures included a rule that 20 per cent of all the gold shipped in must be turned around and sold for export as jewellery. However, confusion over how the rule would work virtually stopped imports from the end of July to mid-September. In the six months from April, gold jewellery exports fell to $3.34 billion from $8 billion in the year-earlier period.

(Source: Economic Times)

Gold to be struck across 10 states, says ASI

The Archeological Survey of India, which has zeroed in on as many as 53 sites with potential gold reserves. The sites are spread across Karnataka, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Kerala, according to Data Portal India. Currently, gold mining is carried out at a single location in India — Hutti in Karnataka, as well as its two satellite mines Hira-Buddini and Uti — all belonging to Hutti Gold Mines Ltd. A Lok Sabha document dated August 2012 showed different exploration agencies had already started work on retrieving the gold in Jharkhand, Karnataka and Rajasthan.The outcome of the exploration shows after Karnataka, Jharkhand could be the new treasure trove. In 2009-19, it was inferred the Sindauri East block in Ranchi had gold ore resources of 3.10 million tonnes. And, bigger gold reserves were indicated at the Parasi central block, with estimated reserves of around 11 million tonnes. In 2012-13, the Geological Survey of India had undertaken exploration programmes in Sonabhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, as well as a few other districts in Bihar, Kerala, Odisha, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Uttarakhand. According to the report of a working group on mineral exploration and development for the 12th five-year Plan (2012-17), the total gold reserve base across 13 states in the country stood at 658 tonnes as on April 1, 2011. Of this, 167 tonnes were categorised as economically mineable reserves. At 2.22 tonnes, India’s contribution to the global mining production is insignificant. A major portion of the country’s gold production comes as a by-product from anode slimes, which in turn are produced by smelting the copper concentrates indigenously produced in Jharkhand, as well as the copper concentrates imported by Hindalco. In 2007-08, by-product gold stood at 12.1 tonnes. Together with the primary mine production, the total production of gold in India stood at 9.22 tonnes in 2010-11. While the entry of private players in gold mining is expected to boost production, bureaucratic delays continue to pose hurdles. “The wait to get a licence for gold exploration is too long, between five and ten years. The licence regime in ridiculously slow,” said Sandeep Lakhwara, managing director, Deccan Gold Mines. The company has been awaiting a mining lease for Ganajur in Karnataka. This could be India’s first major private sector gold mining project.India imported about 963 tons of gold during 2010.The projected imports at the growth rate of 11% from 2012-2017 are 9305 tons at an average of 1861 tons per year, according to Report on Working Group on Mineral Exploration and Development.

(Source: Business Standard)

Despite negative list, service tax coverage yet to increase

Introduction of a ‘negative list’ for comprehensive taxation of the services sector was touted as a major tax reform. But, even after a year of its introduction, few new services have been brought in the tax net. Thanks to a manpower shortage, officials of the service tax department have not been able to identify new services that could be taxed. Unlike the earlier regime where only 119 services were taxed, the introduction of a negative list in July 2012 had given the government the power to tax all services, except the 17 on the list. Officials say they continue to levy tax on the same set of services under their ambit before the negative list was implemented, besides a few more tertiary items that became taxable when the exemption list was pruned from 88 to 34 under the new regime.

(Source: Business Standard)

Set up SEZ for fireworks in view of huge export potential: Natchiappan

Minister of state for Commerce and Industry E M Sudarasana Natchiappan has suggested setting up a Special Economic Zone for fireworks in view of the huge potential for exports. He also suggested establishing a fireworks magazine-cum cargo house at V.O.C Port in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu for obtaining licence from the Petroleum and Safety Organisation. (PSO).  Pointing out that crackers now have to be transported to Mumbai, instead of from Tuticorin, which could accommodate only smaller vessels, Natchiappan said goods exported to Europe had to be transshipped to bigger vessels at Colombo or Singapore. But these vessels were not given No Objection Certificates at these ports. S Natarajan,Deputy chairman of VOC port said it was open to export of fireworks. But manufacturers and exporters should negotiate with representatives of shipping lines and secure permission to allow transportation of the crackers, he said.

(Source: Economic Times)

Economic Section

Royal Thai Embassy