Even as the outbound tourism sector is feeling slowdown jitters, cruise tourism is becoming popular with Indians. Bookings for April went by 20 per cent.
Most developers charge 18 per cent annual penalty from defaulting customers. Over the past year, many people who had booked a home on installments have lost jobs or taken salary cuts. The past 6-9 months have seen many of them defaulting on payments. "The move to waive penalty on late payment is a smart move. This will provide customers the much-needed cushion at a time when a lot of them may want to back out due to their financial condition," said a real-estate consultant.
India's exports have declined for the seventh consecutive month in April.
India Inc's initiative to adopt Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) across the country is facing problems because of low level of cooperation on the field as well as red-tapism, industry lobby groups have claimed.
Ficci: Rationalise tax structure; CII: Space for fiscal incentives is limited.
National Sample Survey Organisation, a division within the ministry of statistics, has been roped in to collect price data for the new series and a dry run is on the anvil in the next couple of months. The new series will have 2004-05 as the base year, as against 1993-94 in the present mode and will reflect a consumption basket that is relevant in today's scenario, thereby making inflation data more reliable. The new series will have 2004-05 as the base year.
The new foreign direct investment guidelines may be revised with respect to the banking sector to avoid an adverse fallout for Indian banks with majority foreign equity.
After a dismal 2008, the travel and hospitality industry is set to receive yet another setback, this time due to the outbreak of swine flu, which may curb inbound and outbound tourist movement. The flu spreads among humans through contact with infected pigs.
Even as India reacted strongly against the proposed changes in the US visa regime, trade experts said the country could do little in multilateral forums like the World Trade Organization to appeal against implementation of such measures.
The country's economy is expected to grow by around 6 per cent in the current fiscal, even in the worst-case scenario of global recession prevailing till March 2010, according to Arvind Virmani, chief economic adviser in the Ministry of Finance.
DLF, the country's largest property developer, might offer another three rent-free months to retailers at its malls in South Delhi, who have begun an agitation against the company.
"The customers had entered into a three-year contract with us. If we have to sell the apartments at a discounted rate, the customers who are backing out should make up for it," an official said. "If DFL tries to re-sell its apartments in the open market, it will have to reduce prices by a further 10-15 per cent. The new buyers know the expected supply is more than demand," said Rupesh Sankhe, equity analyst, Centrum Broking.
DLF, the country's largest property developer, may retrade its apartments at New Town Heights, Gurgaon, and Garden City, Chennai, at a discount. This is to refund buyers who want to exit the projects, according to a senior company official.
Demand for special economic zones (SEZs) appears to be reviving even as realty developers are shying away from developing these tax-free enclaves due to liquidity crunch, according to experts who are tracking SEZs.
Overall exports in 2008-09 grow at slowest pace in 7 yrs.
India has bilateral tax agreements with more than 70 nations.
Indian Hotels, which owns the luxury Taj brand of hotels, may see its profit decline 47 per cent to Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) from Rs 377 crore (Rs 3.77 billion) last year for the fiscal ending March. EIH, a part of the Oberoi Group, is likely to see a profit figure of Rs 154 crore (Rs 1.54 billion) from Rs 223.6 crore (Rs 2.23 billion) , a fall of 31 per cent, a survey of analysts has said.
The government has decided to provide Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) liquidity support to Emmar-MGF, the developer of the Commonwealth Games village project, as against the developer's demand for Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion).
India can either impose anti-dumping duties or safeguard duties to tackle import surges.
In fact, only two out of India's top five export destinations witnessed an increase in exports during the period. Total exports from the country had expanded 17.5 per cent during the period and stood at $118.25 billion.
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