สรุปข่าวเศรษฐกิจอินเดียประจำวันที่ 22 มีนาคม 2555
Pakistan notifies negative list for trade with India
The Pakistan government on Wednesday issued a notification for switching over to a negative list regime for trade with India, under which the import of only 1,209 Indian products will be barred.
According to the notification, a total of 1,209 items have been included in the negative list and will not be importable from India.
Of the importable items from India, 137 products can be brought in from India through the Wagah land border crossing.
Major items included in the list of items importable through Wagah are livestock, vegetables and newsprint in rolls or sheets.
Manufacturers can import raw materials, except basic materials that are locally manufactured and packing material needed for pharmaceutical products once they are approved by the Director General of Health, officials said.
The import of vaccines will be allowed only from Indian plants that have been approved by the World Health Organisation.
Till now, Pakistan traded with India under a positive list regime that allowed the import of less than 2,000 items.
(Source: Economic Times, Indiatimes, Hindustan Times)
Satyam, Tech Mahindra merger to create $2.4 bn IT giant
The diversified Mahindra Group today announced the long-awaited merger of Mahindra Satyam with its another technology arm Tech Mahindra in an all-share deal that would create the country's fifth largest software firm with an estimated annual revenue of about $ 2.4 billion.
The merger, to become effective retrospectively from April 2011, would create a single IT entity with an estimated market value of over $ 3.5 billion, revenue of about $ 2.4 billion and a combined workforce of over 75,000 employees.
The shareholders of both the companies welcomed the merger, pushing share prices of Mahindra Satyam as well as Tech Mahindra higher by 4.6 % and 5.5 %, respectively.
(Source: Economic Times, Financial Express, Tribune India, Moneycontrol)
Nissan Motor may roll out heritage brand Datsun in India
Nissan Motor plans to launch its heritage brand Datsun into India to make deeper inroads in the fast growing small car market and take on market leaders - Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai in the mass market category.
The company would be launching two cars designed, developed and manufactured in India for the Indian market which will be priced below 4 lakh in 2014, thereby giving the company presence in more than 50% of Indian car market. The first car will hit the market in the first half of 2014.
Nissan India is aiming to have a reach which will be spread across the country with at least 400 touch points by 2016.
And the company sees almost 35-50% of volumes coming from the entry-level car brand Datsun from the fast growing markets of India, Indonesia and Russia.
The cars are likely to be powered by compact petrol engines and the company is also exploring the possibility of diesel, hybrid and electric power train under the Datsun brand for future.
(Source: Economic Times, Financial Express, Business Standard)
Gold loan boom: RBI applies brakes
The Reserve Bank of India today directed Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) in the business to restrict the loan size to 60 % of the value (called Loan-to-Value) of gold jewellery otherwise earlier, due to no restrictions companies used to extend loan up to 90 – 95 % of the value of the jewellery. This means if the value of the jewellery is Rs 10 lakh, NBFCs can extend only Rs 6 lakh as loan. The RBI also barred them from granting advances against bullion/primary gold and gold coins.
In a notification issued to all NBFCs today, the RBI noted that such move is a must after realizing the nature of their business model which is prone to concentrated risk and is responsible for adverse movement of gold prices.
An ICRA report said the organised gold loans market in India was estimated at between Rs 35,000 crore and Rs 40,000 crore by 2010-end with an annual compounded growth of approximately 40 % during fiscal 2002 to fiscal 2010. If prices crash by the same margin or even more in 2012, the impact on such NBFCs and the financial sector can be severe as these NBFCs themselves are big borrowers.
Some see this as a move to discourage investment in gold, which is turning to be a drain on foreign exchange resources. RBI's measure comes a week after Finance Ministry doubled import duty on gold.
(Source: Financial Express, Indian Express, Times of India)
Reports of coal scam rock Parliament; both Houses adjourned
Taking note of the draft report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on allotment of coal blocks without auction, the BJP on Thursday demanded a CBI probe into the allotment of coal blocks and monitoring of the probe by a court.
The leaked draft from the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) office criticizes the allocation of 155 coalfields to about 100 private and some state-run firms, including a subsidiary of the world's largest steel maker ArcelorMittal, between 2004 and 2009 instead of auctioning them off to the highest bidder.
India is the world's third-largest coal producer in the world after China and the United States.
A similar investigation over the allocation of telecoms licenses led to huge protests that rocked Singh's government last year and landed a minister and several company executives in jail. In the telecoms scandal, officials are accused of taking bribes to favour certain companies.
The Indian subsidiary of ArcelorMittal (ISPA.AS), and steel makers Tata and Jindal Steel and Power, are among the companies named in the report.
(Source: the Hindu, Reuters India, Times of India, NDTV)
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