สรุปข่าวเศรษฐกิจอินเดียประจำวันที่ 16 เมษายน 2556
Rate cut hopes rise as inflation falls to lowest in over three years
India's headline inflation slowed to the lowest rate in more than three years in March, hardening expectations the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will cut interest rates next month to help the economy recover from its slowest growth in a decade.
The encouraging price data was released as Finance Minister P. Chidambaram began a series of road shows in North America aimed a drawing billion of dollars of investment to Asia's ailing, third-largest economy.
Suffering from low growth and an investment drought, India needs foreign inflows to help fund a worryingly high current account deficit, while the RBI wants lower inflation to feel more comfortable about reducing interest rates that are among the highest of all the major economies.
Wholesale prices, India's key inflation measure, cooled to 5.96 % in March after an annual uptick to 6.84 % in February, the trade and industry ministry said. It was the lowest pace since November 2009 and less than forecast by a Reuters' poll of economists.
(Sources: Reuters India, the Hindu, Deccan Herald, Daily Pioneer, India Everyday)
India Inc urges RBI to cut interest rate by 100 basis points
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) pressed for a 100 basis point cut in interest rate by the RBI saying that it will push economic growth in the country.
Due to concerns over high inflation, the RBI had been keeping a tight leash on its monetary policy. Indicating towards a leaner regime, RBI cut key rates after a gap of nine months in January this year.
CII also demanded a need for independent regulatory authorities in sectors of scarce resources like coal, real estate and health.
CII president and Infosys co-founder, Kris S Gopalakrishnan said that to revive the economy and take the rate of growth in GDP back to 8-9 % in the next two years it is essential to kick start investment.
(Sources: Indian Express, Financial Express, Livemint, Deccan Herald, Hindu Business Line)
India among nations with cheapest petro products
According to a recent policy research paper by the World Bank for key petroleum products, India is among those countries in the world where the prices of petroleum products are at the lower end.
The study, ‘Petroleum Product Pricing and Complementary Policies — Experience of 65 Developing Countries Since 2009’, found that the lowest prices were found in Venezuela and Egypt, closely followed by Iran and Iraq for gasoline and diesel, Indonesia and India for kerosene, and Iraq and Bolivia for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).
Notifying the different prices by end use in LPG, the report said the differences in unit prices have been as large as 280 % favouring LPG sold in small cylinders in India, 220 % in Tunisia, 175 % in Indonesia, and 170 % in Thailand.
(Sources: Business Standard, Rediff News, Times of India, Smart Investors, Iraq Updates)
Services exports up 9% at $ 12.28 billion in February
Services exports rose by 9.5 % to $ 12.28 billion, according to the Reserve Bank (RBI) data released today.
In February 2012, the services exports by Indian companies stood at $ 11.22 billion. However, the exports in February were down from a month ago at $ 13.89 billion in January 2013.
Import of services (payments) in February 2013 stood at $ 6.35 billion versus $ 6.75 billion a year earlier. In January 2013, the services import stood at $ 7.52 billion.
The services sector contributes more than 50 % to the country's gross domestic product.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, Zeenews, EXIM News, News Hour 24)
Crisil lowers current fiscal growth forecast to six per cent
Ratings agency Crisil today cut its FY14 growth forecast for India to 6 % from the earlier 6.4 % citing a variety of reasons, including the high lending rates, weaker pick-up in consumption and issues around mining and project clearances.
In the Budget, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had said the government was targeting a growth of 6.1-6.7 % for the current fiscal.
Economic growth in FY13 is expected to come down to a decade low of 5%, according to estimates.
International rating agencies like Standard & Poor's (Crisil's parent company) and Fitch had last year threatened to downgrade the country's rating to junk on lower growth, troubles on the policy front and the high fiscal deficit and current account deficit. The CAD had hit a historic high of 6.7 % in the third quarter of last fiscal.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, Indian Express, Zeenews, India Everyday)
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