Govt mulls changes in norms for FDI in single-brand retail
Government is planning to relax the norm stipulating that the foreign investor should be the owner of the brand. Mulling over whether to ease the clause that states products should be sold under the same brand internationally.
Decision comes after several retailers urged the government to look at policy again. Aim is to make the FDI policy on single-brand retail trade more investor-friendly.
Since January, when the policy was notified, government has received only three applications - IKEA, Pavers and SKECHERS.
(Sources: Business Standard, Economic Times, Hindu Business Line, Indiatimes)
Jagadish Shettar new Karnataka chief minister
Bowing to the continuous pressure from former Karnataka chief minister (CM) B S Yeddy-urappa, the central leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced present chief minister Sadananda Gowda had given his resignation to party president Nitin Gadkari and would be replaced by Jagadish Shettar, state cabinet minister.
(Sources: Business Standard, Economic Times, Financial Express, the Hindu, Times of India)
Core sector loan growth at 4-year low
Growth in bank lending to power, telecom, agriculture and textile sectors has dropped to its lowest in four years, indicating a lower pace of investments and an overall economic slowdown.
The Indian economy grew at 5.6% in 2011-12, lower than the 5.8% growth in 2008-09. In the March quarter, growth slowed to a nine-year low of 5.3%.
Economists warned that slowing private investments and bank credit to productive sectors send strong signals to policymakers to take urgent steps to revive investors’ sentiments.
(Sources: Livemint, Zeenews, i4u, Moneycontrol)
Rising gold prices hit gemstone sales
The gemstone industry feels the heat of rising gold prices as sales drop by 15-20% due to customer resistance. Gemstone traders are worried as expensive imports are finding no takers. Gemstones are imported to India in rough forms which are polished here and are either exported or sold in the domestic market.
Latest figures show that India imported rough coloured gemstones worth $ 24.39 million in May 2012 as compared to $10.36 million in the corresponding month of the previous fiscal. However, import of rough diamonds declined marginally to $ 1.11 billion in May 2012 as compared to $ 1.14 billion in May 2011.
(Sources: Economic Times, Worldnews, Hindu Business Line, Indiatimes)
Business ties to take centre stage at ASEAN meet
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna will represent India at the 10th anniversary of the India-ASEAN meeting as well as the 19th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in the coming week in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. But it is the deliberate effort of the major powers, China and the US, to pull back from their rising rhetoric of mutual confrontation in the region that is at the centre of interest in Southeast Asia these days.
(Sources: Business Standard, BBC, CBN, i4u)
Time terms Man Mohan ‘underachiever’
Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh, who has long been lauded for his pivotal role in liberalising the Indian economy, has been termed an “underachiever” by a top U.S. magazine, which says he appears “unwilling to stick his neck out” on reforms that will put the country back on the growth path.
(Sources: Hindu Business Line, Zeenews, the Hindu, TIME)
Economic Section
Royal Thai Embassy