The industry department had planned to get 10,000 price quotations from producers in order to have a new-look WPI, which incorporates a better snapshot of the economy. Out of this, 8,000 products are manufactured items. However, it now emerges that the DIPP may get price quotations from only 6,400 industrial units and factories.
It has been nearly four months since Sidharth Punshi, 34, former executive director at Goldman Sachs, joined Jefferies International, a global investment bank and institutional securities firm, as the managing director and country head for India. In a recent interview, Punshi told Business Standard that despite the tight liquidity scenario and a challenging global situation, Indian companies continue to chase merger and acquisition deals abroad.
The commerce and industry ministry is in talks with state governments to prepare guidelines for setting up local governance bodies inside these tax-free industrial enclaves. Sources said these bodies may either be modelled on the lines of townships developed by state industrial development authorities like the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (Noida) in Uttar Pradesh, or follow a Jamshedpur-like model, where a corporate house takes care of civic infrastructure.
The CEPAs with South Korea and Japan are likely to be concluded in September and October, respectively. While the pact with South Korea is likely to have only a moderate impact on the economic relationship between the two countries, the one with Japan will immensely help the Indian industry in gaining market access in the world's second largest economy. Currently, bilateral trade between India and Japan, which is currently close to $4 billion.
Promoters of Rajasthan Royals look to spin off team's success for better valuations.
The notification with regard to the Sixth Pay Commission award is ready and is currently being approved by statutory authorities. Sources said the dearness allowance effective this July is also likely to be announced the same day.
A separate law for faster enforcement of high-value business contracts is on the anvil. The aim is to boost the business and investment climate in India, a country that many perceive is bedevilled by difficulties in doing business.
Indian exporters are not opening the bubbly yet despite a rapid depreciation of the rupee, which fell to a 17-month low of Rs 44.17 against the US dollar on Tuesday before rising to close at Rs 43.85.
India's trade envoys to the World Trade Organization are comfortable with the proposed norms on concentration of tariff cuts, but are firm that the sectoral proposals at the Doha Round will have an adverse impact on the country's economy.
Even as World Trade Organization director general Pascal Lamy has claimed that a successful Doha Round will lead to rich nations undertaking steeper tariff cuts than developing and poor nations, an analysis of the proposals shows the opposite may be true.
In another instance of Indian tax authorities adopting a hard-nosed stance to prevent abuse of tax avoidance treaties, the revenue department recently opposed a proposal of a Cyprus-based company to increase its stake in an Indian telecom services company from 40 per cent to nearly 74 per cent.
The wholesale price index based inflation rose to 12.44 per cent for the week ended August 2. Wheat has a weight of 1.38 per cent in the index. The department of economic affairs and the department of food and public distribution are in favour of selling 4 million tonnes wheat.
Pensioners to get 40% raise, more gains for octogenarians. The Union Cabinet has accepted this proposal, along with other recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission on pension benefits for the estimated 3.84 million central government pensioners at a meeting here on Thursday.
The 3G mobile licence bonanza is expected to generate over Rs 40,000 crore for the central exchequer this year, as a result of which the fiscal deficit may stand at 1.75 per cent of GDP in 2008-09, lower than the 2.5 per cent projected in the Budget. "The important thing, from a public finance perspective, is to remember that this is a one-time inflow and we should treat it as such," said Finance Secretary Subbarao.
The government allows the oil companies to sell only a quarter of the total quantum of bonds they hold at any time during a quarter, so as to ensure that the market is not flooded with oil bonds. It has not yet decided on how the subsidy burden will be shared across stakeholders, how much of the subsidy from the government account will be given in cash and how much in the form of bonds, says an official.
With state-owned oil marketing companies strapped for cash on account of selling products at subsidised rates, the Oil Ministry last week approached the Finance Ministry seeking oil bonds in advance for the second and third quarters of the current fiscal 2008-09.
The government may defer the implementation of the sixth Pay Commission award by a year or even two to reduce the fiscal burden of the recommendations that proposed a 28 per cent across-the-board salary increase for an estimated 4.5 million central government employees. The report of the commission headed by Justice BN Srikrishna was submitted to the government on March 24 this year, nearly a fortnight before its 18-month tenure was to end.
A committee of secretaries is considering a Rs 4,000-crore (Rs 40 billion) market intervention fund to provide states interest-free loans to augment foodgrain and edible oil availability, among other items. The money will enable states to intervene in the market by buying and distributing essential items to economically weaker families that are eligible for government assistance.
The finance ministry wants the central bank to permit corporate houses to use FCEBs for import of capital goods. The ministry said RBI's proposal to limit the use of the instrument only for financing overseas acquisitions by Indian companies is "too restrictive."
However, portability services, which were earlier expected to be launched by the end of the year in the four metros -- Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai -- as well as Tamil Nadu, have now been delayed till February or March 2009 (the DoT has said that it will start operations six months after the licence is granted).
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