สรุปข่าวเศรษฐกิจอินเดียประจำวันที่ 22 พฤษภาคม 2555
Stiff competition leads Bajaj Auto to boost capacity by 25%
In a bid to keep pace with competitors such as Hero MotoCorp and Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI), the country’s second-largest two-wheeler manufacturer, Bajaj Auto Ltd (BAL), is ramping up capacity by a fourth across its three plants, to 6.3 million units.
While Hero MotoCorp is considering setting up a fourth plant to take its annual capacity over seven million units, HMSI is in the process of establishing a third facility in Karnataka, which would take its production capacity to four million units by 2013.
(Source: Economic Times, Business Standard, i4u, Indiatimes)
More woes for economy as rupee plunges to record low of 55 against dollar
Spelling fresh trouble for the Indian economy, rupee on Monday touched a new low of 55 to a dollar, losing 61 paise in a single day but RBI stayed away from shoring up the domestic currency.
Erosion in rupee value has meant increasing cost of imports, including crude oil. Exporters, however, stand to gain as a falling rupee is likely to increase their profitability. For IT companies too, usually a depreciating rupee helps as they earn revenues in dollars.
(Source: Economic Times, Business Standard, Hindu Business Line, Moneycontrol)
M&M to step up efforts to capture two-wheeler market, to infuse $ 91 million
Preparing for the long haul, India's largest utility vehicle major Mahindra and Mahindra is taking a fresh guard by rejigging its entire two-wheeler business. The move gathers momentum as the company bid to capture a slice of one of the world's fastest growing two-wheeler markets.
M&M is infusing over $ 91 million of fresh funds into the two-wheeler business, which will go into setting up of a strong domestic R&D centre led by PS Ashok, the key man behind the LML two-wheeler business.
Under PS Ashok, the company has already set up a strong team of 160 engineers, which it claims is the third-largest R&D setup in the country in the domestic two-wheeler industry.
(Source: Economic Times, Worldnews, Indiatimes)
Daimler to raise Chennai unit capacity to 36k units in 2014
Merc-maker's Indian subsidiary, the Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV), will kick-start the next phase of capacity expansion of 36,000 units in its Chennai plant in 2014.
Despite a meager 3% growth of the Indian commercial vehicle market last fiscal, DICV is banking on infrastructure, consumer durables and automobiles sector to push sales of its 9 to 49 tonnes trucks.
(Source: Economic Times, Worldnews, Indiatimes)
Morgan Stanley cuts India's growth forecast to 6.3% versus 6.9% earlier
Morgan Stanley on Monday cut India's growth forecast for the current financial year to 6.3 % as opposed to an earlier 6.9 %. It also cut the 2013 forecast to 6.8 % from an earlier 7.5 %.
A 'bad' growth mix, that is a combination of high national deficit and an expansionary policy of supporting consumption while private investment slows - has reached its limits, Morgan Stanley has said. The rupee has depreciated by 11 % against dollar since March. At the same time, inflation in April rose to 7.23 % against 6.89 % a month ago.
(Source: Indian Express, Financial Express, Economic Times, Zee News)
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