Going by the real effective exchange rate, the rupee is overvalued
The government may soon give the green light to bilateral trade between Russia and India in their national currencies to avoid any trade disruptions, multiple people aware of the matter said. While the Department of Commerce has recommended the proposal, an announcement is likely to be made by the finance ministry after further deliberations between the Department of Economic Affairs and Department of Financial Services. "The finance ministry will take a call on how to peg the two currencies," a senior government official told Business Standard. In the past, the two nations have had rupee-rouble trade, and when such an arrangement is implemented again, it will bypass the sanctions imposed on Russia by the West.
Global crude oil prices slipped below $45 a barrel in early Asian trade on Monday after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries cartel decided not to cut production.
Equity benchmarks shrugged off lacklustre global cues to clock smart gains on Tuesday, buoyed by strong buying interest in index heavyweights Reliance Industries and HDFC twins. However, a depreciating rupee and unabated foreign fund outflows capped the gains, traders said. The 30-share BSE Sensex rallied 562.75 points or 0.94 per cent to settle at 60,655.72.
The year is not yet over and a few more duty hikes are not ruled out.
The government informed the Rajya Sabha on Monday that the war in Iraq had not significantly affected exports from India, though Gulf countries accounted for 11 per cent of the country's total exports.
India's trade deficit shrank to a 10-month low in December as global oil prices tumbled and demand for gold fell, auguring well for Indian current account balance and the rupee.
Global buyers are putting pressure on exporters to offer discounts between 10 per cent and 15 per cent.
Government on Monday said the Iraq war is not likely to have any significant impact on India's exports and imports this fiscal.
'Anyone who says Saddam is the best thing to happen to Iraq is not speaking the truth. It is the fear of Saddam that forces people to silently agree with whatever he has been doing all these years,' says UN Observer P J Sebastin.
His business successes which started with the international distribution rights for the Bollywood blockbuster movie 'Sangam' in 1964 made him one of the richest in Britain but it was the Bofors scam that made Srichand Parmanand Hinduja famous, or rather infamous, back home. SP Hinduja, as he was known, died in London on Wednesday after a prolonged illness. He was 87, a family spokesperson said. Born in a business family in Karachi, British India, he and his two younger brothers were accused of receiving payments totalling Rs 64 crore in illegal commissions to help Swedish gunmaker AB Bofors secure an Indian government contract.
The government has to take a call on reducing or retaining the excise rate.
Government considering proposal to allow conversion of used cooking oil into biodiesel, say Shine Jacob and Shreya Jai.
Benchmark interest rate hiked by 50 basis points to 3-year high at 5.90 per cent. Economic growth projection for FY23 cut to 7% from 7.2% estimated in August. GDP expected to grow at 6.3% in September quarter, 4.6% each in December and March quarters.
Russia is among the top buyers of Indian tea, accounting for about 18 per cent of the industry's total exports.
The recovery in the emerging markets can be attributed to the fiscal measures taken by their respective governments, which would help them to post positive growth next year, the report said. Amid this global recession, the longest and deepest since the Second World War, the world economy is expected to contract 1.3 per cent and advanced economies would see a contraction of as much as 3.8 per cent.
'It was a machinery of death. A large number of Hindus were first converted and then persecuted from 1560 all the way to 1812!' says novelist Richard Zimler.
Finding a subsitute for the dollar as well as China being able to grow without the US market will both take time.
India's exports are estimated to have remained at around $312 billion in 2013, while the final figures for 2014 could be around this figure only.
India's macroeconomic situation has benefited from oil prices' decline.
An $1 per barrel change in crude price impacts the net import bill by Rs 3,513 crore.
'India's manufacturing will take 10-15 years to catch up with China.'
Rising production from OPEC as well as the US also weighing on prices
Modi made a strong case for a partnership between the producers and consumers in the oil market as it exists in other markets.
India's imports from Iran rose to 250,200 barrels per day
Crude oil has fallen about 40 per cent since mid June and the price on Monday touched its lowest level since mid 2009 before US oil prices posted their biggest one-day gain in two years overnight.
Both crude benchmarks are now down around 20 per cent since their last peak in June
India consistently ranked among the top three countries whose products were rejected for import by the regulator.
India's exports surpassed the annual target of $75 billion to clock $79.59 billion in 2004-05, reporting a growth of 24.41 per cent over the previous fiscal.
India expects to remain unscathed this time, mainly because it is in a sweet spot as the world's third largest oil consumer, after the US and China, says Subhomoy Bhattacharjee.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given its approval to two Russian banks for opening special vostro account for rupee trade. Sberbank, JSC VTB - the largest and second largest bank of Russia - are the first foreign lenders to receive this approval after the central bank announced the norms on INR trade in July. Both lenders have branch presence in India. Earlier this month, state-run UCO Bank received the RBI's approval to open a special Vostro account with Gazprombank of Russia. While the Kolkata-based lender is in the process of opening the account, the bank has received requests from various foreign lenders for opening such an account.
Surging global crude oil prices failed to shore up customs revenue substantially as India Inc resorted to advance licence scheme, which allows duty-free imports for value-added exports.
The Finance Ministry expects GDP growth to be 8-8.5 per cent in 2015-16.
OPEC hopes lower fuel prices will stimulate more demand in the long run
Russian traders have started asking for payments in ruble for their exports to India in a move that could derail trade between the two countries which gathered pace after the war in Europe. This is because Indian importers are unable to pay in ruble. The India-Russia trade gathered pace after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February this year. In the April-June quarter, India's imports from Russia were valued at $9.27 billion, up 369 per cent year on year.
The textiles sector was most affected witnessing a massive drop in contractual employment as outward shipments shrank
With Iran reaching an agreement on its nuclear programme, India is expected to be one of the major gainers.
Food inflation had soared to a year's high of 18.32 per cent for the week ending December 25 before declining to 16.91 per cent in the subsequent week.
Clearly, Foxconn Chairman Young Liu and his team are looking to raise their game in India.
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