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Seemandhra mantris vow to scuttle Telangana state


HYDERABAD: Buoyed by the successful meeting of APNGOs in the heart of the city, Seemandhra ministers said they have prepared a strategy to stall bifurcation of the state by voting against the Tresolution in the Assembly and organizing massive protests in Hyderabad and across the districts.

To provide impetus to their "Save Andhra Pradesh" movement, the leaders said they will spearhead a million march in Hyderabad and get 100,000 lawyers to Hyderabad separately in a series of protest meetings and rallies, some of which are also planned across the state.

"Never in the history has a bill, which was defeated in the Assembly, been taken up by Parliament. Defeat of the T-resolution is a sure way to stall the division of the state," minor irrigation minister T G Venkatesh, said.

Ministers, C Ramachandraiah , Anam Ramnarayan Reddy, Vatti Vasanth Kumar, Kasu Krishna Reddy and Erasu Pratap Reddy met at Venkatesh's residence and announced they would ensure the defeat of the T-resolution in the Assembly, when it comes up for debate and voting. Venkatesh said all the ministers would resign immediately after the defeat of the T-resolution in the House.

"We have defied the party leadership on the issue of division of the state. We are confident to convince our leadership of the need to keep the state united. MLAs, MPs and party workers are opposed to the division of the state," Venkatesh said after the meeting.

The smooth conduct of APNGOs meeting at LB stadium have given a ray of hope to Seemandhra protesters , who now say will further intensify their effort to stall the bifurcation process.

Soon they plan to hold a million march, mobilizing the people of 13 districts from Rayalaseema and Andhra region in Hyderabad, followed by a meeting of traders in the capital. Former advocate-general CV Mohan Reddy said over 100,000 lawyers from Rayalaseema and Andhra regions would also converge in Hyderabad on September 28, demanding stalling of the bifurcation process.

Infrastructure minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao announced in Visakhapatnam that a massive public meeting will be organized at the Vizag beach on September 17, when the Seemandhra movement against Telangana formation enters the 50th day.

Lauding the decision of YSR Congress to support the united Andhra Pradesh, all the six ministers urged TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu also to take back his letter of support to Telangana.

Shinde adding to the confusion: Lagadapati

"We will see that there is no division of the state at any cost," Ganta told the media, after a meeting with Samaikyandhra leaders in Vizag. He said a meeting; "Vizag Samaikya Garjhana" was planned for September 17 to demonstrate the will of the people of the region.

After the APNGOs, the Seemandhra Advocates JAC (SAJAC) is preparing for the massive public meeting in Hyderabad. The decision was taken at the SAJAC's meeting held at Sundaraiah Vignana Kendram here on Sunday.

Talking to reporters, SAJAC chairman Mohan Reddy said the JAC has also decided to convene a meeting of bar council members from Seemandhra region on September 14 at Anantapur, which will finalize the lawyers' future course of action.

Meanwhile, Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal slammed Saturday's statement by Union home minster Sushil Kumar Shinde on the bifurcation issue. He said by reiterating preparation of Cabinet note and going ahead with the Telangana process, Shinde was adding more confusion to the issue."The home minister is not revealing how the Union government wants to go about in the face of fierce opposition from the people of Andhra Pradesh," he added.

Survey shows India Inc firmly in Modi camp

 
Subhadip Sircar and Suvashree Dey Choudhury in Mumbai

Nearly three-quarters of Indian business leaders believe the government has mismanaged the economy and want opposition leader Narendra Modi to lead the country after an election due by May next year, according to an opinion poll published on Friday.
With India's 80-year-old Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expected to step aside, only 7 per cent of 100 chief executive officers surveyed for the Economic Times/Nielsen poll backed the ruling Congress party's Rahul Gandhi for the premiership.
Rahul represents the fourth generation of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that has led Congress, and India, for much of the time since independence from Britain in 1947. His late father, grandmother and great-grandfather were all prime ministers.
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Image: Gujarat's chief minister Narendra Modi (L) and Anil Ambani, chairman of Reliance Group, embrace as Ratan Tata, chairman Emeritus of Tata group, looks on during the inauguration ceremony of the Vibrant Gujarat global investor summit at Gandhinagar in the western Indian state of Gujarat.

Stagflation: Biggest challenge for Raghuram Rajan


Andy Mukherjee

Rajan's call to diaspora can't stem rupee rout, says Andy Mukherjee.
Raghuram Rajan's first move as India's monetary czar has been to solemnise a marriage between a needy country and its greedy diaspora. That's the easy part.

Tackling the gruelling Indian stagflation will be the real test for the former International Monetary Fund chief economist.
Rajan, who presciently warned developed nations about a risky buildup of leverage in 2005, began his career as a central banker in Mumbai on September 4 by reaching out for the low-hanging fruit: the monetary authority, he said, will charge local lenders a fixed 3.5 per cent annual fee to convert new long-term dollar deposits from expat Indians into rupees.

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Image: Raghuram Rajan (L), newly appointed governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), hugs the outgoing governor Duvvuri Subbarao during the taking over ceremony at the bank's headquarters in Mumbai.

India has 55.48 cr mobile owners, 14.32 cr Internet users

New Delhi: There are 55.48 crore actual mobile users in the country and 14.32 crore internet users, according to a study by research firm Juxt.

"India has 55.48 crore mobile users as per our India Mobile Landscape (IML) 2013 study. More than 29.8 crore, about 54 percent, of these device owners are in rural areas as compared to 25.6 crore in cities and towns," Juxt co-founder Mrutyunjay told PTI.

There are total 77.39 crore functional SIMs with validity but only 64.34 SIMs are being used by 55.48 crore mobile devices owners, the study report said.

IML study finds that there are 14.32 crore internet users in the country.

"The number of unique Internet users in India, who access Internet from their desktop or laptop, smart TV or mobile data connections together stand at around 94.7 million. But when one adds the number of users who also access Internet through operators portals such as Airtel Live and Reliance R World, the number goes up to 143.2 million," Mrutyunjay said.

The study found 2.38 crore individuals access Internet from their mobile phones using a data connection such as GPRS or 3G. Out of this, 93 lakh access Internet only through mobile phones and around 77 percent of these users are in rural areas.

Talking about size of survey, he said that the field survey was conducted between May and mid-July 2013 covering 109 urban centres and 196 villages in all the 28 states and 3 union territories in India.

"It (survey) covered 80 of the 88 regions as classified by the National Sample Survey Organisation under the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation. The study sample represents 94.8 percent of the Indian population and 96.1 percent of the total Indian households," he said.

Meanwhile, as per the data revealed by sectoral regulator Trai, there are total 87.33 crore mobile subscribers in the country. Of this, 73.14 crore customers were found to be active on a particular date in June.

The cumulative revenue of telecom service providers was Rs 54,284 crore in the January-March quarter as per TRAI data.

China's trade strengthens as exports rise 7.2 %

Beijing: Global trading giant China's exports rose 7.2 percent in August year on year to USD 190.73 billion, fired mainly by Christmas and New Year orders to EU and US whose economies are showing signs of recovery.

The exports growth rate was 2.1 percentage points higher than July, figures released by China's General Administration of Customs said today.

Imports also saw a spurt in August, gaining 7 percent to USD 162.12 billion. Total foreign trade grew 7.1 percent in August over the same month of 2012 to USD 352.85 billion, the statement added.

Similarly, trade surplus widened by 8.3 percent year on year to USD 28.61 billion as export gains outpaced import gains, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

In August, trade with the European Union, China's largest trading partner, rose by 3.2 percent, while that with the United States, China's second-largest trade partner, witnessed upward swing by 9.2 percent.

Analysts attribute the exports increase to heavy orders for the Christmas and New Year festive season in the western countries, which normally takes place in August and closes September.

China has emerged as the main global exporter of commodities for the annual festive season for over a decade.

The increase to EU and US markets were considered significant as China's economic slowed down to 7.5 percent mainly after the slump in their economies, which had a big negative impact on China's exports, the main stay of the country's economy.

Also China's trade with ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) members increased 13.2 percent in August. But trade with Japan shrank 5.7 percent during the period as the two countries continue to squabble over the disputed islands in the East China Sea, which is having its toll on bilateral trade.

Exports of electronics and machinery products also grew by 6.8 percent to reach USD 106.54 billion in August, accounting for 55.9 percent of the total exports.

The recovery of exports comes at a time when China planned to deepen its economic reforms to halt the slowdown of its economy, which shrank to 7.5 percent in the second quarter with chances of missing this year's target of 7.5 percent growth.

Rupee fall has forex reserves plunging $16.5 bn since April

Mumbai: RBI's fight to prop the tottering rupee has contributed substantially to forex reserves dipping by a hefty USD 16.554 billion or 6 percent to a low of USD 275.49 billion since the beginning of this fiscal.

According to marketmen, a large part of this has been used to save the bleeding rupee, which went on a downward spiral after May 22 when Ben Bernanke of the US Fed had hinted at turning his easy money policy much earlier than previously hinted.

According to the latest Reserve Bank data, forex reserves plunged to USD 275.491 billion to the week ending August 30, which is a near 6 percent fall from USD 292.646 billion as of March 29.

The rupee opened the fiscal at 54.25 to the US dollar but fell to a life-time low of 68.86 on August 28, losing nearly a third of its value. However, since the new RBI Governor Raghuram Govind Rajan took over the affairs of the Mint Street on September 4, the rupee has been on a winning streak, and closed the last trade on Friday at 65.24 to the dollar.

On a weekly basis, the reserves dropped by USD 2.2 billion as of August 30, marking a three-year low, the RBI data showed.

Overall, the foreign currency assets have fallen more to the tune of USD 3.08 billion to USD 247.40 billion in the week ended August 30.

The Reserve Bank was net seller of the dollar twice this year in May and June, according to its monthly data.

In June this year, RBI sold USD 2.252 billion net of the US currency, while in May it sold USD 107 million dollars.

Looking at the steep fall in the overall numbers, marketmen said, it could be surmised that the central bank has intervened in a much more heavier and frequent manner in the forex market in July and August, as these two months saw the rupee plunging to new lows.

According to forex dealers, RBI not only intervened in May and June, but was present in the market all through July and August when rupee was touching new lows.

The rupee has been in free-fall territory since May 22 when the US Federal Reserve said it would slow and finally taper of its monthly USD 85 billion buyback of government debt or withdraw its easy money policy called quantitative easing.

The announcement led to a massive selling by the overseas investors in the country's debt and equity markets, to the tune of nearly USD 15 billion, mostly from the debt market.

To save the rupee, the central bank had announced various liquidity tightening measures starting July 15, including steeply hiking call money rates and partly bringing back capital control.

India Inc to policymakers: Shape up, or we'll ship out

Mumbai: After the rapid slide in the rupee this year, the message from the country's corporate titans to the government is clear: shape up and fix the problems or more companies will expand their business abroad and deprive the economy of investment.

Many, such as entrepreneur Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, are already doing just that.

Ranked by Forbes as one of the world's most powerful women, she is investing about $200 million in a manufacturing plant in Malaysia for her biotechnology firm Biocon Ltd to offset unreliable power and water supplies back home. It already makes more than half its sales overseas.

"If India had better infrastructure and more availability of power I may not have gone abroad," said Shaw, who followed in her father's footsteps with a master's degree in brewing in Australia before setting up Biocon in her garage in Bangalore 35 years ago.

"We don't have enough power, we don't have enough water. So some of these projects where we need water and power, I will do it in Malaysia because that's where it is abundant," Shaw, who is ranked 92 in India's rich list with a net worth of $625 million, told Reuters in an interview.

She is one of many top entrepreneurs voicing frustration that policymakers failed to keep economic reforms rolling over the past decade, which they contend would have prevented India from stumbling into its deepest economic crisis since 1991, when it was forced to pledge the country's gold reserves in exchange for international loans.

Economic growth has almost halved in pace to less than 5 percent in the past six years, a flood of cash leaving the country has led to a record current account deficit and combined with a rout of emerging markets, has sent the rupee into a tail spin. At its record low of 68.85 per dollar in late August, it was down around 20 percent from the end of 2012, the worst performer among Asia's currencies. It has since risen slightly to 65.24.

The lack of reform and infrastructure, painfully slow decision making and red tape are common complaints of corporate India, but this time they could come at a cost as the rupee crisis shows businesses how vulnerable they are.

The political cost could hit the Congress-led ruling coalition at national elections that must be called by May. An opinion poll on Friday showed nearly three-quarters of Indian business leaders want opposition figure Narendra Modi to run the country after the election.

Modi is in the political ascendancy after turning the western state of Gujarat into the country's economic star with double-digit growth and investor friendly policies.

The economic cost is underlined by Indian Inc.'s overseas direct investment. Including bank guarantees issued to overseas units, it stood at more than $21 billion in the first seven months of this year, up 38 percent from the same period of 2012.

That is set to increase as Indian companies see the advantages of diversifying globally.

In a bid to reduce its dependence on a slowing Indian auto market and get a foothold in China and the United States, Apollo Tyres agreed in June to pay $2.5 billion for U.S.-based Cooper Tire & Rubber Co , which was nearly three times its own market value at that time.

Yusuf Hamied, the billionaire chief of drugmaker Cipla Ltd, which in July completed the acquisition of South Africa's Cipla Medpro for about $460 million, is expanding his company's base in Algeria and Morocco as part of a North Africa thrust.

Aditya Birla Group, the $40 billion diversified conglomerate that gets more than half its sales from overseas operations, plans to invest $1 billion setting up a chemical plant in the United States, local media reported last month.

A spokeswoman for the group, whose business interests range from mining and metals to financial services and telecoms, was unavailable to comment.

"MORE AND MORE DIFFICULT"

The Reserve Bank of India last month reduced companies' overseas investment limit to 100 percent of their net worth from 400 percent, part of a drive to curb dollar outflows and prop up the rupee.
While these steps could put a brake on overseas investments in the short term, they might not halt the outbound march in the longer term.

"The government has to give us infrastructure - not for a day, not for six months - there has to be long-term infrastructure, policies that are sustainable so that we can then also plan accordingly," said Cipla's Hamied.

"In healthcare there are five ministries involved - chemicals and fertilisers, finance ministry, law ministry, health ministry, commerce ministry - there is no nodal body. Who do you go to for infrastructure or for advice or anything?"

Hamied is particularly concerned about the impact on the domestic pharmaceutical business of a new pricing policy that has increased the number of drugs deemed essential that are subject to price caps.

Many industrialists complain that delays in approving projects due to differences among various government departments and red tape make it tougher for India Inc to set up manufacturing operations in the country than overseas.

"It is becoming more and more difficult, in any sector. Look at the real estate sector, the amount of commissions, the amount of bureaucracy that is there is too much," said billionaire Ajay Piramal, chairman of the healthcare-to-real estate conglomerate Piramal Group. "We need to have clear rules of business ... unfortunately that's not happening."

With the prospect of a populist spending splurge ahead of the national elections, industrialists like billionaire Rahul Bajaj, chairman of motorcycles and three-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto are not betting on any changes soon.

"I believe the government will keep taking short-term measures, which will have limited effect," Bajaj said. "The way things are going, the earlier the elections the better."