Leading indicators suggest economic activity has been disrupted after demonetisation.
Analysts say RBI will cut rates because the liquidity crunch that began this time last year is still hurting the economy and also with an eye on the August industrial production numbers, which showed a contraction by 1.1 per cent -- the steepest in seven long years.
The rate of price rise in the vegetable segment almost doubled to 7.47 per cent as against 3.92 per cent in September.
The Sensex fell by 24.20 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 19,460.57, its lowest close since December 31, 2012.
Sundararaman Ramamurthy has been an interesting choice for the publicly-listed BSE, which has seen its chief move to bigger rival -- the National Stock Exchange (NSE) -- in July. Having spent nearly two decades at the country's largest bourse, Ramamurthy is among the early architects of NSE and understands all the cogs of the exchange wheel like only a few others in the country. Just like NSE's core team, which includes its founder RH Patil, the 59-year-old Ramamurthy has worked at the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) before moving to NSE in 1995.
The eight core industries -- fertilisers, cement, steel, electricity, crude oil, coal, petroleum refinery products and natural gas -- have a combined weight of about 38 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production.
HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh on Friday exuded confidence that the synergies between HDFC Bank and the group companies will deepen with the bank taking on the mantle of ownership of the group following the reverse merger likely to be effective from Saturday. As chairman of HDFC Ltd, Parekh in the last message to the shareholders said home loans will now be complemented with HDFC Bank's core strengths -- its sales engine, execution capabilities at scale and deep insights on consumer behaviour. The reverse merger of parent HDFC Ltd with HDFC Bank is expected to be effective from July 1.
IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel, HUL, M&M, Tata Steel, PowerGrid and Tech Mahindra too ended with gains on the BSE.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a revision in the formula for pricing of natural gas and imposed cap or ceiling price to help cut CNG and piped cooking gas prices by up to 10 per cent. Natural gas produced from legacy or old fields, known as APM gas, will now be indexed to the price of imported crude oil instead of benchmarking it to gas prices in four surplus nations such as the US, Canada and Russia, Union I&B Miniser Anurag Thakur told reporters after a meeting of the Cabinet. APM gas will be priced at 10 per cent of the price of basket of crude oil that India imports (Indian basket of crude oil).
While the manufacturing sector grew by 13.3 per cent during the month, the performance of the mining and electricity sectors remained poor at 3.7 per cent and 4.2 per cent respectively, said the Index of Industrial Production released by the government on Wednesday.
There are some companies in the sector that have seen a decline in revenues but their performance is not sufficient to cause such a decline in industrial production data.
The government has authorised economic think-tank Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) to collect data to be used for compilation of the new series of Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Adani-Total Gas Ltd and Shell were among the 29 companies that bid and bought natural gas to be produced from the deepest field in the KG-D6 block of Reliance Industries Ltd and bp, sources said. IOC walked away with almost half of the 6 million standard cubic meters per day of gas sold in an e-auction on Wednesday while state-owned gas utility GAIL bought 0.7 mmscmd, Adani-Total Gas Ltd 0.4 mmscmd, Shell 0.5 mmscmd, GSPC 0.25 mmscmd and IGS another 0.5 mmscmd, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. Reliance-bp on Wednesday held an e-auction for sale of gas from the MJ field in their eastern offshore KG-D6 block after incorporating the government's new marketing rules to give CNG-selling city gas companies first priority over supplies.
The growth momentum in India's manufacturing sector was maintained in February, with new orders and output increasing at similar rates to January, according to a monthly survey. The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) was at 55.3 in February, little-changed from 55.4 in January. The February PMI data pointed to an improvement in overall operating conditions for the 20th straight month. In PMI parlance, a print above 50 means expansion while a score below 50 indicates contraction.
In what could somewhat blunt the criticism over reliability of data, particularly Index of Industrial Production, the Union government has come out with rules prescribing Rs 1,000 fine for individual and Rs 5,000 for company if they neglect furnishing information to government agencies for statistical purposes or refuse to do so.
Having exposure to international funds and gold is a must for those who have foreign currency-denominated goals.
Expressing serious concern over contraction in industrial output in November, India Inc called for immediate policy interventions, including a rate cut by RBI, to prevent job losses and boost demand.
India may end the financial year with a seven per cent GDP growth rate, as the economic deceleration is expected to continue in the third quarter, said Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.
Benchmark indices settled lower on Friday, with the Sensex declining 111 points on the back of a sharp fall in index heavyweight Reliance Industries. The BSE benchmark went lower by 111.01 points or 0.21 per cent to settle at 52,907.93. During the day, it tanked 924.69 points or 1.74 per cent to 52,094.25. The NSE Nifty dipped 28.20 points or 0.18 per cent to close at 15,752.05.
The reopening of China has led to an ongoing readjustment of the global metals and commodities markets. China has a massive production capacity surplus to its own domestic demand. At the same time, it also has high domestic demand. China is also becoming carbon sensitive.
There is a significant amount of dispersion in the growth rates across different industries.
The index of industrial production, which was negative in March, was positive in April - but just barely.
Brokers said the market had its biggest weekly loss this year as Index of Industrial Production falling in March dampened investor sentiment amid worries over weakness in the economy.
International Monetary Fund Chief Economist Gita Gopinath tells Indivjal Dhasmana high-frequency indicators for the third quarter of 2021 indicate momentum in economic recovery in India.
Among the different products, Air conditioners and LCD's are expected to have a higher growth rate for next few years in the industry.
Growth of capital goods at 9.6 per cent is inspiring as the investment cycle is expected to rebound in the coming months.
The NSE 50-share index finally concluded at 10,417.15, up 14.90 points
.jpg)
India's economy grew 4.7 per cent in 2013-14, following an expansion of 4.5 per cent in 2012-13. In the fourth quarter of 2013-14, growth remained subdued at 4.6 per cent, mainly due to a decline in manufacturing and mining output.
Developers grappling with labour shortage and getting construction material to sites could be among a list of problems.
The overall market breadth was extremely positive as 1,868 stocks advanced while 951 declined.
The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for July 2007, released on September 12, showed the manufacturing sector decelerated to a growth rate of 7.2 per cent over July 2006, after many months of double-digit growth.
Starting with the third quarter of financial year 2020-21 (Q3FY21), we have seen "unlock" trades at various times. Whenever lockdowns have been eased, traders have taken long positions in consumer-facing businesses. Let's look at the logic. Since March 2020, sectors like retail, personal vehicles, hospitality, aviation, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), multiplexes, etc., have been under severe pressure. As a result, there's been a low base effect. Every company in these spaces has suffered top line contraction. Many suffered losses, especially in the first half of FY21.
The manufacturing sector, which accounts for over 75 per cent of the index, declined by 2.4 per cent against a growth of 4.1 per cent in December 2014.
CEOs have complained that high interest rates have blocked their investment decisions. At the same time, customers are also deferring their purchases for new consumer durables, cars, and homes.
Top gainers in the Sensex pack included Vedanta, ICICI Bank, ONGC, Kotak Bank, Axis Bank, SBI, M&M, Infosys, PowerGrid, HCL Tech, NTPC, Bajaj Finance and Reliance Industries, rising up to 2.72 per cent.
The wholesale price-based inflation bucked the 4-month rising trend in December 2021, and eased to 13.56 per cent, mainly on account of softening in fuel, power and manufacturing items even though food prices hardened. WPI inflation has remained in double digits for the ninth consecutive month beginning April. Inflation in November was 14.23 per cent, while in December 2020 it was 1.95 per cent.
A big change in the new IIP data, taking 2004-05 as the base year against 1993-94 in the old series, is its classification of items and the weights assigned to these.
The challenge for the RBI in 2024 is likely to be less about containing elevated inflation and more about curbing excessive financial market exuberance and a 'problem of plenty', notes Sajjid Chinoy, Chief India Economist JP Morgan.
Some recent forecasts suggest further weakness in the US economy.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances