สรุปข่าวเศรษฐกิจอินเดียประจำวันที่ 25 เมษายน 2556
India continues to struggle with low growth and high inflation: S&P
The ratings agency Standard & Poor's has a negative outlook India's barely investment grade BBB- rating, which implies that the country faces a risk of downgrade.
It has forecast that India's gross domestic product (GDP) would be 6% this year. The economic advisory council to the prime minister on Tuesday said the economy had bottomed out and pegged the growth in the current fiscal to 6.4%.
The S&P's comments were part of a larger analysis of emerging Asia, included in a report "Emerging Asia Will Grow But Won't Be Firing On All Cylinders," released on Wednesday.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, India Everyday, News Hour 24, NDTV)
7% growth not contingent on new reforms: Montek Singh Ahluwalia
Government will need to take decisive action to remove and unclog some of the bottlenecks to help the economy recover to 7% growth as new reforms alone will not be sufficient, planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.
Speaking at The Economist conference on Wednesday, Montek said 90% of all the government's energy in next 12 months should be spent on this problem.
Montek pitched for an internal system by government for settling disputes with private sector players to improve business climate in the country, suggesting an agency or an arbitrator for resolving disputes.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, Moneycontrol, India Everyday, News BCC)
India has potential to grow at 8%: C Rangarajan
Prime Minister's Economic Advisory panel Chairman C Rangarajan today said India has potential to grow at 8 % without fuelling inflation.
"If you are going to have an investment rate in the range of 32-35 %, I would still say 8 % growth rate is potential rate of growth in economy and it is possible to grow at that rate even without provoking high level of inflation," he said at India Summit organised by UK-based magazine The Economist.
As per the latest estimates for 2012-13, investment rate is close to 35 %, he said.
Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for the month ended March moderated to 3-year low of 5.96 % against Reserve Bank's projection of 6.8 %.
Rangarajan said economy can pick up in the current fiscal from 5 % to 6.4 %.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, Zeenews, Press Trust of India, India Everyday)
India’s share in global casting production doubles to 10%
India's share in the world casting industry has doubled in last decade on the back of strong growth in production capacity compared to world average. From less than 5% in calendar year 2002, India's share has gone up to more than 10% in 2012 according to the data from World Casting Census (WCC). India's casting production was 3.27 million tonnes in 2002, which is expected to be in excess of 10 million tonnes in 2012.
India's production capacities grew by a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12% in last decade as against world average of around 3.6 %.
Auto, Construction, Mining & earth-moving equipment industries, Railways, Steel plants and farm equipment industries are major user industries for casting in India. Indian casting industry is projected to grow to $19.2 billion by 2016.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, Congoo)
Government should give easier access to funds for solar sector: FICCI
To give a boost to domestic solar energy projects, a separate window under the National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF) should be created to provide easy access to finance for such clean energy technology, industry body Ficci has said.
"A FICCI White Paper on reducing the cost of finance for solar energy projects through the National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF) has suggested creation of a separate window under the Fund to enable easier access to funds," a statement said.
The White Paper was released this week and submitted to the government for consideration.
The National Clean Energy Fund, which was announced in the budget 2011-12, is a step for funding research and innovative projects in clean energy technology.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, Infraline, India Power Sector)
RBI’s redrawing of FDI, FII lines gets mixed reaction
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will soon come out with a discussion paper on redefining foreign institutional investor (FII) and foreign direct investment (FDI). Indian investors, especially those in private equity, are in two minds over the segregation with some supporting it and others asking for further clarifications.
Finance minister P Chidambaram had stated in this year’s Budget that “where an investor has a stake of 10% or less in a company, it will be treated as FII and where an investor has a stake of more than 10%, and it will be treated as FDI”. He had also said that a committee will be constituted to examine the application of the principle and to work out the details. India receives the maximum amount of FDI from Mauritius, followed by Japan, Singapore, the Netherlands and the UK.
(Sources: Financial Express, India Infoline, Hindu Business Line)
JSPL eyes third-largest steel maker spot by 2015
Jindal Steel & Power Limited (JSPL) plans to become India's third-largest steel producer by 2015. By 2020, revenues from its steel business are expected to rise about five times to $ 18 billion.
Currently, JSPL is India's sixth-largest steel maker.
V R Sharma, deputy managing director and chief executive (steel business), told that by 2015, the company would increase steel capacity to 14 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). In the same period, pellet (direct reduced iron) capacity would rise to 14.5 mtpa, he added.
The company would invest $ 5.53 billion steel plant in Angul, Odisha, with a capacity of six mtpa.
(Sources: Business Standard, Smart Investors, Economic Times, Indiatimes, Reuters India)
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