PV registrations in this year's festive period stood at 287,717 units as against 333,456 units in the corresponding period last year, down 14 per cent. Two-wheeler registrations also fell by 13 per cent to 15,83,276 units as against 18,11,703 units in the year-ago period.
RBI retained the GDP growth for the financial year 2018-19 at 7.4 per cent.
Food and fuel are two perennial areas of concern.
US interest rate normalisation policy is likely to keep global FX markets volatile.
The company, owned by the UB Group, had been relying on internal group reserves and debt to manage its operations over the past two years and this infusion is expected to fuel its sustained growth.
The WPI number follows retail inflation (CPI) data, which had slipped to a record low of 3.78 per cent in July.
However, prices of certain other food items like vegetables and most manufactured products rose. Fuels like naphtha also became dearer.
The finance ministry on Tuesday cited "green shoots" of recovery in agriculture, manufacturing and services sectors, and said the prompt policy measures taken by the government and RBI have helped reinvigorate the economy with minimal damage. Stating that the agricultural sector remains the foundation of the Indian economy, the ministry said that a normal monsoon, as has been forecast, should support the rebooting of economy.
Inflation rose to 5.91 per cent during the week ended April 23 as vegetables, fruits, edible oil, industrial fuel and manufactured products became costlier.
'Growth would have to be 7% in the October-March period, if the year as a whole is to clock 6%.' 'Who would bet on that when, in the world of real numbers, both exports and imports have continued to fall, car sales have continued to slump, and the industrial production index shows yet again a drop in output?', asks T N Ninan.
The rupee has depreciated 2.35 per cent in the past three months and one per cent in the past month, despite strong capital flows and falling oil prices.
Hardening prices of manufactured items during the month may refrain the Reserve Bank of India from cutting rates in its policy review on February 8.
RIL has more than half a dozen undeveloped discoveries.
Inflation stood at 5.48 per cent in the previous week and 4.56 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index cooled to a 5-year low of 1.77 per cent in October driven by softening prices of fuel and food items.
In the second and final part of this interview, energy and coal industry expert Sunjoy Joshi tells Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com that we need to take a comprehensive view of the entire energy sector and how piecemeal reform won't take us very far.
During the month, inflation in vegetables shot up to 35.99 per cent, as against 26.10 per cent in October. Likewise, the prices of cereals and eggs grew at a faster pace of 3.71 per cent.
The problem, say experts, is not so much the use of plastic as the lack of effort to recycle and reuse it.
As fuel prices continue its northward march with petrol and diesel being sold at Rs 80.73 and Rs 72.83 per litre in the national capital, at least 21 opposition parties, led by the Congress have staged a Bharat Bandh protesting the rise in fuel prices and depreciation of the rupee.
Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily has suggested pricking the ballooning oil bill with everything from a street theatre campaign encouraging lower fuel use, to shutting fuel stations, to increasing imports from Iran.
In December 2014, it was (-)0.50 per cent.
Economic affairs secretary S C Garg said that all macroeconomic parameters are performing well.
The fall in inflation during the week ended March 31 might ease pressure on RBI to tighten monetary policy. But price data to be released next week would play a crucial role in RBI's annual monetary policy review slated for April 24.
Prices are likely to rise further as demand grows in coming months due to festivals
This is the second straight month of decline in wholesale price based inflation.
October infrastructure output, which contributes nearly 38 per cent to the industrial output index, was up 3.2 per cent annually.
For July-September, it pegged CPI-based retail inflation at 4.2 per cent which it saw firming up to 4.8 per cent in the second half of the current fiscal.
The survey noted that advertising campaigns supported the increase in new work growth in the sector amid competitive pressures.
The US Fed's rate cycle is set to turn later this year, but India is in a much better position than it was in 2013.
CRR to remain unchanged at 4.00 pc this fiscal
.jpg)
Gold slumped by Rs 260 at the domestic bullion market on Thursday due to a fresh wave of profit taking by investors and traders amid reduced stockist demand.
Reliance Industries Ltd and its Canadian partner Niko Resources will invest over $2 billion in bringing to production their gigantic gas field in the Bay of Bengal and laying pipelines to transport the fuel.
Vegetable prices which had witnessed a 21.16 per cent contraction in June, shot up by 21.95 per cent in July.
Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Rakesh Mohan said on Friday that he expected inflation to be stable and saw no pressures apart from oil prices. \n\n\n\n
Inflation in India continues to be within tolerable limits, despite the drought and higher fuel prices, but a major risk to current benign outlook may come from future movements in international oil prices.
Inflation fell below the 6 per cent mark, after almost seven months, to 5.78 per cent during the week ended January 1, mainly due to a fall in prices of fuels, vegetables and fruits, edible oils and other food items.
'It is not clear how the NDA government -- including Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, backed by senior IAF officials -- claimed that the 36 Rafale contract with Dassault in 2016 cost the IAF 20% less than Dassault's 126 Rafale offer,' notes Ajai Shukla in the first of a three-part series.
