Daily Economic News - 6 May 2014

Chinese policy causes a 25% fall in India's April cotton exports
The recently announced Chinese cotton policy has made cotton yarn exports to the Dragon country unattractive thus denting Indian yarn exports by 25% in the month of April. China accounts for nearly 50% of the yarn exports from India. According to the new policy which has come effective from April 1, the government has lowered cotton auction bids to 17,250 Yuan per tonne, down 4.2% from its floor price of 18,000 Yuan per tonne.

(Source: The Economic Times)

India's biotech sector likely to touch $7 bn by FY15: Study
The country's biotechnology sector is divided into five segments based on the products and services offered – bio pharmaceuticals, bio services, bio agriculture, bio industry and bio informatics. The country is now globally recognized as an ideal location for manufacturing biotech products and for conducting high-level research programmes in the field. The biotechnology sector in India, comprising of about 400 companies, has grown three-fold in last five years to reach USD 4 billion mark in FY13, the study pointed out.
Bio-pharma is the largest sector contributing about 62 per cent of the total revenue followed by bio services (18 per cent), bio agri (15), bio industry (4), while bio informatics is still at a nascent stage contributing just about one per cent of the total revenue

(Source: The Financial Express)

Rangarajan says CAD to be around 2% of GDP
India’s Current Account Deficit (CAD) is likely to be around 2 per cent of GDP in the coming few years due to slackening of gold imports, among other factors.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram recently said the CAD was brought down significantly to $ 32 billion in 2013-14 as against $ 88 billion during 2012-13 and fiscal deficit contained within the target in the last fiscal. The CAD in 2012-13 was 4.7 per cent of GDP and in 2013-14 it will be only 1.7 per cent, the Finance Minister had said.
Gold and silver imports contracted by 40 per cent to $33.46 billion in 2013-14, or just seven per cent of the total import bill, against 11 per cent in the earlier fiscal, after the government put in place steps to check runaway gold imports.

(Source: The Hindu)

Thaiindianet. Team

6 May 2014