สรุปข่าวเศรษฐกิจอินเดียประจำวันที่ 18 ธันวาคม 2555
Indo-Asean trade could touch $100 billion by 2015
The two way trade between India and the ten member ASEAN block could touch USD 100 billion by 2015 on the back of increasing economic engagement between the regions.
Currently, the trade between India and Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) stood at USD 80 billion.
India and ASEAN, which have already implemented free trade agreement in goods, are expected to conclude the negotiations for the free trade pact in services and investment this week.
Trade ministers of all the ten ASEAN nations were present during the occasion.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, Livemint, Press Trust of India, Hindu Business Line)
ASEAN-India car rally reaches final destination in Guwahati
The Association of South East Asian Nations ( Asean)-India car rally, which was organized to commemorate the 20 years of Asean-India relationship, and flagged off from Yogyakarta in Indonesia on Nov 26, was today flagged down in Guwahati by Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi.
The car rally, which consisted of 31 sports utility vehicles and 124 participants from 9 nations, travelled a distance of around 8,000 km before reaching Guwahati. A three-hour long cultural extravaganza welcomed the rally participants in Guwahati today.
When the first Indo-Asean car rally was flagged off from Guwahati in 2005, which culminated in Indonesia, India’s trade volume with Asean countries was only $21 billion. The trade volume has since increased to $52 billion in 2010-2011, said Tarun Gogoi, Assam’s chief minister.
(Sources: Business Standard, the Hindu, Hindustan Times, i4u, Zeenews, IBNLive )
Engagement between India and ASEAN has intensified: Adi Godrej
Adi Godrej, Chairman of the Godrej Group and president of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)said the signing of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement has paved the way for creation of one of the world's largest free trade areas market of almost 1.8 billion people with a combined GDP of US$2.8 trillion.
Godrej who was in Guwahati to participate in the flag down ceremony of ASEAN-India car rally 2012 on Monday said though the engagement between India and ASEAN has intensified, the volume of trade and investment flows remains relatively low compared to other trading partners of ASEAN.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, Moneycontrol, Times of India, Zeenews, NDTV, i4u)
Manufacturing industry needs support from government, private sector: CII
Industry chamber CII today said there is a lot of potential in the manufacturing industry but it needs the support of both the government and private sector to tap that.
The industry body said the country can utilise global events such as China's declining manufacturing competitiveness which is visible in its declining exports and depreciating currency to its advantage.
India is lagging behind in R&D and innovation with less than 1 percent of GDP invested in R&D and only 190 R&D professionals per million population, against 1,100 in China and over 5,000 in Germany.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, Moneycontrol, i4u, Zeenews, NDTV, IBNLive)
Investors happy with policies, ready to invest in state: Mamata Banerjee
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said industrialists are "very happy" with her policies and are ready to invest in the state.
"Earlier there was a perception that nothing is there but today we clarified our position and now they are very happy and they have said that they will invest in West Bengal," she said after meeting the captains of industry here.
Over 40 industrialists from both private and public sectors, including SAIL, Hero MotoCorp, Coca-Cola etc., attended the meeting.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, Moneycontrol, i4u, Zeenews, NDTV, IBNLive)
RBI must effect steep cut in interest rate, or CRR: Assocham
India has compromised on economic growth in the past two years on account of tight monetary policy but now RBI must effect a steep cut in CRR or in the key policy rate, industry body Assocham said today.
The Reserve Bank will present the mid-quarter Monetary Policy Review tomorrow.
Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) is the portion of deposits banks have to keep with RBI in cash. Repo is the rate at which RBI lends money to banks and is at 8 per cent.
As the inflation is at its 10-month low of 7.24 %, it is time the RBI took measures to ensure that the interest rates are reduced irrespective of tools it may choose to use, Assocham said.
The industry body said RBI should weigh on its mind that Wholesale Price Index based inflation is showing signs of deceleration and is also set to come down further.
The WPI inflation for November stood at 7.24 %, down from 7.45 % a month ago, as well as below most of the analysts' expectations.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, Financial Express, IBNLive, Moneycontrol, NDTV)
FY13 GDP growth pegged at decade-low of 5.7-5.9%
A day before the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s mid-quarter review of its monetary policy, the finance ministry today expressed its expectation of a “supportive” policy to help the economy grow at 5.7-5.9 % in 2012-13.
Though this growth estimate is significantly lower than the 7.6 % originally pegged in the Economic Survey, it would require the economy to expand by 5.9-6.3 % in the second half of the financial year, against 5.4 % seen in the first.
Even as RBI is expected to keep the repo rate unchanged at eight per cent in view of the inflationary pressure, the mid-year economic analysis, tabled in Parliament today, has pegged the Wholesale Price Index-based inflation rate to ease to 6.8-7 % by March, as against RBI’s projection of 7.5 %.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, Business Standard, Reuters India, Zeenews, NDTV, i4u)
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