สรุปข่าวเศรษฐกิจอินเดียประจำวันที่ 3 มีนาคม 2557

Mukesh tops list of India’s 70 billionaires

India is home to the fifth largest group of billionaires in the world and Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, is the country's richest man with a personal fortune of $18 billion, says a report. According China-based research firm Hurun's 2014 global rich list, Mukesh Ambani was ranked 41st in the list that was topped by Bill Gates, whose personal net worth stood at $68 billion. Other Indians on the list include Lakshmi N Mittal (49th) with a personal net worth of $17 billion. Dilip Sanghvi of Sun Pharma and Wipro's Azim Premji both ranked 77th with a personal wealth of $13.5 billion each. Tata Sons' Pallonji Mistry ranked 93rd with $12 billion. S P Hinduja & family was ranked 93rd on the list, with a net worth of $12 billion. In the global rich list, Gates was followed by Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett (2nd) with a personal wealth of $64 billion and Amancio Ortega of Inditex was ranked 3rd with $62 billion fortune. The report said that during the past year the Indian rupee weakened 12 per cent against the US Dollar, making it harder for Indians to make the cut-off. Despite the currency fluctuations, India has improved its position over last year. In the 2014 Hurun global rich list, the country is ranked fifth with 70 billionaires, 17 more than 2013. Interestingly, India has higher number of these super rich individuals than Germany, Switzerland, France and Japan. The combined wealth of the Indians billionaires comes to a staggering $390 billion.

(Source: Times of India & Business Standard)

FM can easily meet 4.6% deficit target: Economists

Higher revenue inflows towards the end of 2013-14 will help the government meet the revised fiscal deficit target of 4.6 percent despite its having overshot the full-year borrowing target two months before the end of the fiscal, say economists. Fiscal deficit crossed the full-year target at the end of January by 1.6 percent and stood at Rs 5.32 lakh crore or 101.6 percent of the estimate of Rs 5.24 lakh crore, which is 4.6 percent of GDP. Finance Minister P Chidambaram's Interim Budget revised down the fiscal deficit target at 4.6 percent below the redline of 4.8 percent or Rs 5.42 lakh crore for the fiscal. Economists believe that inflows from advance tax, 2G spectrum auction fees, dividend and proceeds from disinvestment would help. "Revenue inflows coming from the spectrum auctions, divestment, dividends and advance tax payment will help in meeting the 4.6-percent deficit target ," said Axis Bank chief economist Saugata Bhattacharya.

(Source: Money Control)

China emerges as India's top trading partner: study

India's eastern neighbour China has emerged as its biggest trading partner in the current fiscal replacing the UAE and pushing it to the third spot, according to a study conducted by PHD Chamber of Commerce.  India-China trade has reached  $49.5 billion with 8.7% share in India's total trade, while the US comes second at $46 billion with 8.1% share and the UAE third at $45.4 billion with 8% share during the first nine months of the current fiscal, the study revealed. The UAE was India's biggest trading partner in the 2012-13 fiscal. India's trade (exports and imports) with China was only of $7 billion in 2004 which rose to $38 billion in 2008 and to $65 billion in 2013. "India's direction of foreign trade has exhibited a structural shift during the last decade. Trade volume and trade share of emerging and developing economies has increased while the share of conventional trading partners has showed a declining trend," PHD Chamber President Sharad Jaipuria said. However, with the revival of demand in advanced economies, the US has re-emerged as India's top exports destination. India's exports to the US during April-Dec 2013 stood at $29.3 billion followed by the UAE at $22.3 billion and China at $10.8 billion. One significant development in India's import scenario is the emergence of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq and Switzerland amongst the country's top ten import sources.

(Source: Hindustan Times)

Maharashtra invites bids for Versova-Bandra Sea Link project

Ahead of the announcement of the code of conduct for the ensuing Lok Sabha polls, the state-run Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has invited request for qualification (RFQ) for the Rs 5,975 crore Versova-BandraSea Link (VBSL) project. The 9.9 km project would be developed through public private partnership on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis. The VBSL project would be built 900 metres into the sea. It would be a northward extension of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link and would be the last leg of the link which starts from Nariman Point in south Mumbai.

(Source: Business Standard)

Indians lose crores in bitcoins as Japan exchange goes kaput

In  a rude jolt to growing virtual currency frenzy in India, bitcoins worth crores of rupees held by some Indians have vanished with collapse of Japan-based Mt Gox, which was the world's largest bitcoin exchange so far. Having filed for bankruptcy, Mt Gox has admitted to have lost 7.5 lakh bitcoins of its customers and one lakh of its own, which together are estimated to be worth about USD 0.5 billion (over Rs 3,000 crore). The exchange was predominantly used by foreigners, including those operating on behalf of clients from India, while some Indians were directly trading there. In its bankruptcy filing, Mt Gox has listed 1.27 lakh creditors, bulk of which are foreigners and just about 1,000 from Japan. The debacle can also intensify calls for stricter regulatory checks on bitcoins and other virtual currencies in India and other countries. Most of the affected Indians refused to identify themselves, fearing probing questions from tax and other authorities in India as they had mostly used untaxed money for purchase of those bitcoins and were looking for easy returns in this so-far unregulated market. However, many bitcoin operators and traders confirmed that majority of bitcoins held by Indians were being traded on Mt Gox and the value of those lost there could be at least Rs 10-20 crore. There are over 35,000 bitcoins (worth over Rs 100 crore) held by Indians across the country, while many NRIs are also dealing in this popular virtual currency, which currently trades at USD 550 apiece but isn't backed by any financial authority or real asset.

(Source: Financial Express)

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