2014 Lok Sabha elections results
01:25 PMPrime Minister Manmohan Singh calls Narendra Modi and congratulates him on his party's victory in the Lok Sabha elections. Manmohan Singh will resign tomorrow
01:24 PMBJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi leading by over 78,000 votes against Congress candidate Sriprakash Jaiswal in Kanpur
Indian rupee down 37 paise at 62.94 vs US dollar
Economy to grow better in second half of FY14: C Rangarajan
Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman C Rangarajan has expressed confidence that India will see "distinctly better" economic growth in the second half of the current financial year.
The economy grew by 4.4 per cent in the first (April-June) quarter of current financial year. In 2012-13, the GDP growth fell to a decade low of 5 per cent.
"The impact of the good monsoon will be only seen in the second half. Apart from increasing agricultural production, this will also increase the rural demand," Rangarajan said at a CII seminar on Financial Inclusion for Reviving Growth.
Besides, there has been improvement in the manufacturing sector and in the second half of the current fiscal the growth of this sector could be about 3 per cent, he added.
"Therefore, for the year (2013-14) as a whole, it will be about 1.5 per cent which will be consistent with an aggregate growth rate of the economy of a little over 5 per cent," Rangarajan added.
He also maintained PMEAC's growth projection of about 5.3 per cent which can be achieved with the present trend in the manufacturing.
PMEAC had initially projected growth target of 6.4 per cent for 2013-14 which was lowered to 5.3 per cent in September.
In reply to a question as to whether India is ready to cope with the financial stress that might arise due to the US fiscal tapering, Rangarajan said: "I think we must get ready for it because we don't know when it will happen. The good news is that the current account deficit is coming down. In fact the CAD should be much lower than what one had expected. If the CAD come down below 3 per cent of the GDP, the capital flows should be adequate to control the CAD."
Finance Minister P Chidambaram had in October said India will be able to contain CAD below $60 billion in 2013-14 as against an earlier estimate of $70 billion.
RBI mulling merits of FII limits in govt bonds
New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India is examining the pros and cons of relaxing limits for foreign institutional investors (FII) in government bonds, a senior finance ministry official said on Wednesday.
The comment by Arvind Mayaram, the economic affairs secretary at the finance ministry, came in response to a question from reporters about whether India was considering lifting FII limits in order to qualify for inclusion into benchmark global bond indices.
India will also consider allowing local companies to issue rupee-denominated bonds abroad, marking a new step in the internationalisation of the rupee. International Finance Corp, the private sector arm of the World Bank, last month launched a $1 billion rupee-linked bond.
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan had earlier said that Indian official are speaking to the index compilers about potential inclusion of domestic debt.
India's exports to grow by 7.2% in 2014: Morgan Stanley
Singapore: India's exports are expected to grow by 7.2 percent in 2014 fiscal on the back of improvement in growth of developed markets, says a report by Morgan Stanley Research.
"We expect export growth of 7.2 percent in fiscal year 2014 versus minus one percent in fiscal 2013," it said in a report on Asia Pacific Economics.
Morgan Stanley Research expects a gradual sequential recovery in India's exports on the back of improvement in developed markets growth from the third quarter of this year, narrowing the trade gap.
The investment bank's research report expected gold imports to decline due to quantitative controls put in place by the government as well as increase in real rates as inflation expectations moderate.
"We estimate that quantitative control along with increase in real rates will help to reduce gold import demand in this fiscal to around USD 42 billion in fiscal 2014."
Non-oil and non-gold imports would remain very weak as tight monetary and fiscal policy would keep domestic demand weak. However, acceleration in exports can lead to some increase due to import content in exports, it pointed out.
It also noted Reserve Bank of India’s efforts on portfolio equity and debt flows. The recent steps taken by RBI to augment capital flows by providing a swap window facility to allow banks to swap non-resident deposits and overseas borrowing at a lower cost have mitigated the funding pressure to some extent in the near term.
Indeed, we expect these measures to help increase capital flows by about USD 15 billion in fiscal 2014 and thus we estimate only a marginal balance of payment deficit in our base case," said Morgan Stanley Research.
However, the key variable that would influence overall capital flows would be portfolio flows into debt and equity, it said.
But a prolonged growth slowdown could potentially lead to a continued balance of payments stress, implying that RBI would face the impossible trinity of managing the exchange rate and controlling the interest rates when capital flows would be volatile, the report said.
The report also highlighted that India would be impacted by the rise in the US rates and the US dollar.
"India will be significantly exposed to the trend of a rising US dollar and real rates through the current account imbalance, moderate dependence on foreign debt funding and upward pressure in its real rates," it said.
It said the economic growth would remain weaker for longer period. The three key risks arising from longer- duration slowdown would be the sharp rise in non-performing assets in banking system, challenges in managing fiscal deficit and the external funding risks would remain high.
Khan Market is India's costliest retail market
New Delhi: National capital's tony Khan Market is the most expensive retail market in the country even though its ranking worldwide has dropped two places to 28.
Monthly rentals at Khan Market stood at Rs 1,250 per sq ft as of June, 2013, up by just 2 per cent from the year-ago period, according to global property consultant Cushman and Wakefield's (C&W) report 'Main Streets Across the World 2013.
When it comes to rental appreciation, Panjagutta in Hyderabad with 29 per cent growth is placed 8th in the list of global rental movement ranking of 2013.
South Extension in New Delhi is at 17th position with an annual rental growth of 20 per cent. Kutuzovsky Prospekt in Moscow recorded the highest rental growth of 42 per cent.
"In the global ranking of most expensive retail locations, Khan Market in New Delhi emerged as the 28th most expensive in the world, retaining its position as most expensive retail location in India," C&W said.
"India (Khan Market) however, dropped in the global ranking from 26th to 28th position due to the weakening of the Indian rupee against US dollar and largely stable rentals with limited increment in rental values in established retailing sectors," it added.
Hong Kong's Causeway Bay has emerged as the world's most expensive retail location, followed by New York's 5th Avenue, as per the report that ranks the most expensive locations in the top 334 shopping destinations across 64 countries.
Avenue des Champs Elysees in Paris is ranked third, while New Bond Street in London, Ginza in Tokyo are at 4th and 5th places respectively.
Khan Market witnessed high demand from retailers but due to limited availability and transactions, rental values have only seen a marginal increase, it said.
Commenting on the report, C&W Executive Managing Director South Asia Sanjay Dutt said: "While retail rentals globally registered a slower growth of 3.2 per cent as compared to previous year on account of slowdown in economic uncertainties in the leading markets, the Asian markets saw a better average of rental increase at 4.5 per cent in the same period."
The economic risk remains for 2014, but conditions are expected to steadily improve across most markets, he said.
"The retailers' push towards the best and most sought after locations will continue. However, limited supply and higher rental costs will create obstacles for some brands, leading a number of retailers to look at alternative locations in close proximity to the main thoroughfares," he added.
On Indian retail locations, Mumbai's Linking Road (Rs 750/sq ft/month) emerged as the second most expensive retail location in the country despite a correction of 11.8 per cent in rental over last year. Connaught Place and South Extension are third and fourth positions with a rental of Rs 725 per sq ft in a month.
Bangalore's Brigade road and Mumbai's Linking Road stood at 6th and 11th positions respectively in the list of world's top 15 markets to saw the sharpest retail rental decline.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)