Indian Economy: News and Discussion

[ezsasa]

Narendra Modi speeds up capital spending in April to push growth

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi ramped up spending on roads, railways and rural infrastructure in April to boost economic growth, after $19 billion in cuts brought public investment shuddering to a halt at the end of the last fiscal year.

Modi, who completed one year in power this week, has vowed to raise public spending on infrastructure by $11 billion in the current fiscal year. At the same time, he is targeting a fiscal deficit of 3.9 per cent of gross domestic product,a shade lower than 4 per cent achieved in the year that ended in March.

The government increased capital spending to 351.6 billion rupees (USD) in April, the first month of fiscal 2015/16. That is up more than 50 per cent from a year ago, data released by the government on Friday showed.

In the first month of the current fiscal year, the government allocated 32.89 billion rupees for railways, 58.3 billion rupees for roads and 175 billion rupees for rural projects.

Data released earlier on Friday showed the Indian economy grew 7.5 per cent in the quarter ended in March, faster than China. But a contraction in agriculture and a downward revision for the previous quarter indicated weaknesses.

With banks weighed down by bad loans, company profits squeezed, rural demand weak and exports depressed, the government recognises it will have to take the lead to meet its jobs and growth goals.

"Front-loading of spending on infrastructure is a welcome step, though it remains to be seen what happens in the whole year," said NR Bhanumurthy, an economist at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), a Delhi-based think tank.


Fiscal deficit figures for the first month of the new fiscal year indicated that Modi's government plans to support domestic demand. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley plans to boost public investment in infrastructure and devolve more spending powers from the centre to India's 29 states.

He has abandoned costly diesel subsidies, helped by lower global crude prices, and promised to reduce corporate tax rates to 25 per cent in the next four years, besides cutting rates for individual tax payers.

Officials at the finance ministry, however, warned capital spending might be cut in later months if revenue collection does not pick up.

It is also not clear whether the government will reach its target of nearly 700 billion rupees from sales of stakes in state-run companies this fiscal year, a senior finance ministry official said before the release of the data.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...april-to-push-growth/articleshow/47473848.cms

 

[Victor3]

Look a law that could make people registrate themselfs somewhere and pay taxes. We know that everybody can be verified about his fortune. How about to verify each person if have paid taxes? A department or something could verify at home each person. Include the cartoon homes.

 

[Victor3]

I wanna ask something: companyes dont want to pay higher wages. Ok but what about reduce prices? This would help buyers would help producers and so on

 

[Victor3]

A solution for high schools and primary schools would be to tie them whit companyes. Like this: company pays salary to
teachers, teachers teach students, students are signing precontracts whit companyes, teachers are able to fine parents for childs marks, parents take care of childrens , if students arent well prepared company dont pay teachers. Precontracts are able to be sign from age of 17. Or if not possible whit precontracts then whit the right for companyes to promote jobs in schools and expose products. But precontracts should work cause all companyes have the chance to recruit. Also companyes would be allowed to pay only maximum of lowest money given by a company. In this the big companyes would not create to way to obligate the childs trought teachers that give low marks to pick bigs companyes only.

 

[ezsasa]

NSDC begins implementation of Rs 1,500-crore Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna

VADODARA: The National Skill Development Corporation has begun implementing Rs 1,500-crore Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna (PMKVY) to provide skills training to 24 lakh people, including youth.

National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) Managing Director and CEO Dilip Chenoy told this to PTI yesterday on the sidelines of ITM Technovision 2015, an international conference on skill development, cyber security & clean & smart village, organised by ITM group of Institutes her ..

According to him, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 20 gave its approval for the PMKVY with an outlay of Rs 1,500 crore, and the implementation of which began two days ago.

"This is the flagship scheme for skill training of youth to be implemented by the new Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship through the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).

The scheme will cover 24 lakh persons. Skill training would be done based on the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) and industry-led standards.

Under the scheme, a monetary reward is given to trainees on assessment and certification by third party assessment bodies. The average monetary reward would be around Rs 8,000 per trainee.

Out of the total outlay, Rs 1,120 crore is to be spent on skill training of 14 lakh youths, and special emphasis has been given to recognition of prior learning for which an amount of Rs 220 crore has been provided, he said.

For awareness building and mobilisation efforts Rs 67 crore has been provided. Mobilisation would be done through skill melas organised at the local level with participation of the state governments, municipal bodies, Panchayati Raj Institutions and community based organisations.

Chenoy said the focus under the scheme is on mentorship support and placement facilitation for which an outlay of Rs 67 crore has been provided.

An allocation of Rs 150 crores has been done for training of youth from the Northeast region.

"Highlights of skill training is that it would be done on the basis of demand, assessed on the basis of recent skill gap studies conducted by the NSDC for the period 2013-17. For assessment of demand of central ministries/departments/state governments, industry and businesses would be consulted.

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...ofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

 

[ezsasa]

I am not sure how many realise the impact of this, once this is functional this decision would free up much capital locked in bad loans in failed companies by banks.

RBI allows banks to take control if debt restructuring fails

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday allowed banks to take control of a company if debt restructuring fails, find professional management to run the company, and divest their stake as soon as possible and recover the dues.
This “strategic debt restructuring” (SDR) exercise of converting loan dues to equity shares, RBI said, will ensure more skin in the game for promoters and will help banks revive their bad assets situation.
It may also help banks cut their load of high provisioning on stressed loans as once banks manage to divest their stake, the loan can be treated as ‘standard’, attracting normal provisions.
Capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had already allowed such conversion of loan into equity shares on 22 March. With RBI now formalizing the proposal, banks will get more teeth in recovering their due.
While the norms are for new loan recasts, where it is mandatory to agree whether such SDR will be done or not, old restructuring exercises where such clauses have already been inserted can be enforced under the new norm.

At the time of fresh restructuring, banks will insert a clause specifying whether the entire loan, or a part of it, can be converted into equity in favour of the lenders, if the borrower fails to achieve certain milestones.
Such milestones too should be specified in the restructuring package during the formation of a joint lenders’ forum (JLF), RBI said in a notification on its website.
In a JLF, lenders of a stressed account meet in order to decide on how to revive the loan. If all else fails, the account is often referred to the corporate debt restructuring cell. Often, any real restructuring happen at the JLF level itself.
If the borrower fails to meet the milestones specified at the time of restructuring, “the JLF must immediately review the account and examine whether the account will be viable by effecting a change in ownership,” RBI said, adding JLF may then decide on whether to invoke SDR, which is converting the whole or part of the loan and interest outstanding into equity shares in the borrower company, so as to acquire majority shareholding in the company.
At least 75% of creditors by value and 60% of creditors by number have to agree to such strategic management change and such a decision has to be taken by the lenders within 30 days of the review of the account.
“Post the conversion, all lenders under the JLF must collectively hold 51% or more of the equity shares issued by the company,” RBI said, adding the invocation of SDR will not be treated as restructuring for the purpose of asset classification and provisioning norms.
Banks will have to closely monitor the performance of the company and should appoint professional management to run the company. At the same time, the banks themselves should try and sell their stake “as soon as possible,” the RBI circular said.

Link:http://www.livemint.com/Politics/jG...take-control-if-debt-restructuring-fails.html

 

[Victor3]

Nice. Now banks will loose less money. That means stability and a well established interest. Stable the banks >money to people>people make bussines> number of employes increase>better life>consumption increase>better for firms>new money from banks and so on.

 

[NSG_Blackcats]

India Attracts Enough FDI to Join Global Top Ten

Asia’s third-largest economy received $34 billion as FDI in 2014, according to report released Wednesday by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. That’s a 22% jump from the previous year, meaning India was the country that attracted the ninth largest amount of international investment last year. The year before the South Asian nation’s ranking was 15th.

Of course, India still has a lot of catching up to do with its regional competitor China. While FDI into China grew a much slower at 4% last year, it received close to four times the FDI India got.

China attracted $129 billion in 2014, helping it dislodge the U.S. as the highest FDI attracting nation.

 

[ezsasa]

Service that we are offering is for all telcos, not only Bharti: Sunil Bharti Mittal
Interview with Interview with Chairman, Bharti Enterprises

Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman, Bharti Enterprises talks about his group’s involvement along with other global majors for offering affordable internet across the world through a satellite internet firm OneWeb. Edited excerpts:

What are the key ingredients of the OneWeb system you are putting in place?

In the first phase, we will have 648 satellites, which will cover the entire globe. We will be manufacturing 900 satellites if more shadow areas need to be covered. These are micro satellites, very light and can be launched in a cost-effective way. You can launch 36 satellites in one rocket, which reduces overall cost of launch.

Will Indian companies have some share in the launch?

Arianespace and Virgin Galactic will be launching the satellites. However, I will be engaging with Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) so that they could also be part of it and do launches.

Has the spectrum needed for the venture been allocated?

The spectrum has been already allotted by International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the orbit slots have been put in place. Qualcomm and Hughes are making chipsets and Airbus will build satellites.

What is the total cost in the first phase and what is the equity you will have in the venture?

In the first phase, $500 million will be put in the venture. Four founding partners — Qualcomm, Airbus, Virgin and Bharti — will have more or less equal equity. While others like Coca-Cola etc, will have a smaller stake. Bharti Airtel will have the right to distribution in India, Africa, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

For users, will it be an expensive or a cost-effective way to get broadband and get connected, given that your focus is on rural India?

It is a very cost-effective solution. For instance, all that is needed is to put up a terminal which will cost $250 and is powered by solar energy. You can run it instantly and get connected without any requirement of towers. Connecting rural India to the worldwide web, it is ideal for village panchayats, which can buy and put this terminal on the top of a water tank and people around get connected to 3G/LTE instantly depending upon what they want. Similarly, government schools could be used as a hub to put these terminals and connect rural and remote areas easily. The beauty of this system is that unlike Iridium where you had to buy expensive satellite phones, in this system, you can get connected with your existing mobile phone, without the need to change anything.

Does this technology have use in Indian cities where there is a serious problem of connectivity because of the onerous task of setting up towers?

We can also use this satellite system in cities where there are challenges of putting in additional towers and there are plenty of shadow areas where connectivity is patchy.

Will this service be available only to Bharti customers or to all telecom players in India?

The service we are offering is for all telcos and not just Bharti as the company will be a wholesaler for bandwidth. We will also create a base station in India to operate.

http://www.business-standard.com/ar...harti-sunil-bharti-mittal-115062500751_1.html

 

[abhi_the _gr8_maratha]

http://m.thehindu.com/business/Economy/india-ranked-best-for-investment/article7359257.ece

 

[Zebra]

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...al-says-cyrus-mistry/articleshow/47886507.cms

TCS to hire 60,000 employees this fiscal, says Cyrus Mistry

By PTI | 30 Jun, 2015,

MUMBAI: Country's largest IT services firm TCSB today said it will hire 60,000 people this fiscal and impart training to its existing one lakh employees in various digital technologies.......

 

[Screambowl]

India is now over 2 trillion dollar economy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...my-World-Bank-report/articleshow/47922294.cms

 

[aliyah]

financial yr 2015-16 govt of india will be posting a record revenue growth watch it

 

[NSG_Blackcats]

April-June indirect tax revenue up 37.4%

 

[cobra commando]

FDI up 48% since 'Make in India' campaign launch

New Delhi: In a sign that reflects investors confidence in the Centre's 'Make in India' initiative, the foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country has witnessed a 48 per cent jump in the seven- month period till April 2015, the Commerce and Industry Ministry said on Tuesday. The initiative was launched on September 25, 2014 with an aim to make India a manufacturing hub of the world. The Ministry also said that in 2014-15, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) investment grew by "717 per cent" to $40.92 billion. Further, FDI inflows under the approval route grew 87 per cent to $2.22 billion during the previous fiscal. "These indicators showcase remarkable pace of approval being accorded by the government and confidence of investors in the resurgent India," the Ministry said in a statement. The increased inflows of FDI in India especially in a climate of contracting worldwide investments indicate the faith that overseas investors have imposed in the country's economy and the reforms initiated by the government towards ease of doing business, it added.
The 'Make in India' initiatives and its outreach to all investors have made a positive investment climate for India, it said. It also said that India stands committed to have a FDI policy and regime which is investor friendly and also promotes investment leading to increased manufacturing, job creation and overall economic growth of the country.

FDI up 48% since 'Make in India' campaign launch

 

[Simple_Guy]

IDFC gets bank licence from RBI

Infrastructure financier IDFC, which received a universal banking licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last year, will start banking operations from October 1.

Vinod Rai, former Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), will be the non-executive chairman of IDFC. Lall, the current IDFC chairman, will step down, as he will be the chief executive of the banking entity. Under Rai, CAG unearthed the 2G spectrum allocation and coal scams, which rocked the previous United Progressive Alliance government and was eventually voted out of power in 2014.

IDFC has three finance subsidiaries — IDFC AMC, IDFC Alternatives, and IDFC Securities. To conform to RBIguidelines, it has to create a non-operative financial holding company (NOFHC) under IDFC and the three finance subsidiaries will have to be under the NOFHC, a 100 per cent subsidiary of IDFC. IDFC will be the holding company, which will have two subsidiaries — NOFHC and IDFC Foundation.

While IDFC is already listed, IDFC Bank, where all IDFC assets will be transferred, will be listed from the day it starts its operations. An IDFC shareholder will get one share of IDFC Bank for every share of IDFC he holds. IDFC will have 51 per cent stake in the bank and the rest will be held by existing shareholders.

 

[ezsasa]

Only the other day we were discussing that consumer electronics should be manufactured in india.

Sony to start manufacturing Bravia TVs in Tamil Nadu

To perfect its television business operations in India, Sony has started manufacturing BRAVIA TVs in India on OEM partnership with Competition Team Technology (India) Pvt. Ltd. at Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. To begin with, Sony will start manufacturing two models, both Android TVs. The first shipment will start from 4 August 2015.

Kenichiro Hibi, Managing Director, Sony India said, “India has been an important strategic market for Sony and this development underlines our continued commitment to this market as well as our alignment with the Government of India’s ‘Make in India’ program"

“We see huge potential in the TV business as conversion from CRT TV to LCD TV by Indian customers is expected to accelerate over the next few years. There is also very high demand for technologically advanced products such as 4K and our newly launched Android TVs. Keeping in mind this buoyant demand from customers in this market, it is likely that a big chunk of TVs sold in India may originate from this unit in the future,” he added.

BRAVIA is the highest selling category and contributes more than 40% to the overall sales of Sony India and in FY14 clocked sales of Rs. 10,600 crore.

http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report-sony-starts-manufacturing-bravia-tvs-in-india-2111042

 

[NSG_Blackcats]

Most macro factors in place to support India story; top 12 high conviction ideas

India's macro-economic indicators have improved remarkably, placing the economy and the stock markets in a much better state in the emerging markets pack to withstand external shocks.

Over the last 12 months, the rupee is down around 5% versus the US dollar. On the other hand, the Turkish Lira is down over 20% and the Brazilian Real is down over 30% versus the US dollar. So, India seems to be in a pretty good position to withstand macroeconomic and external shocks, Moody's Investor's Rahul Ghosh said.

"In India's case, there are a number of factors that have led to an improvement in the macroeconomic story. Firstly, inflation has fallen over the last two years from double-digits to mid-single digits. Forex reserves are up at all-time highs at $350 billion. The current account deficit has now significantly reduced," says Rahul Ghosh, Vice-president & Senior Analyst, Moody's Investor.

 

[Compersion]

Is performance of the Indian economy important for us to get on UNSC ...

I feel that the more important conditions are:

- large and powerful;
- committed to democracy and human rights;
- responsible in how it develops and uses military power;
- a positive force for arms control and nonproliferation; and
- willing to contribute militarily to deter or stop violent conflict and save lives.

Japan's Not Ready for Permanent UNSC Seat | Brookings Institution

 

[NSG_Blackcats]

Indirect taxes collections register strong growth in July

Indirect taxes collections posted strong growth fourth month running in July, adding to evidence that the economic recovery may be picking up pace.

Indirect taxes that includes excise duty levied at factory gate, customs duty and service tax grew by 39.1% in July and 37% in April-July, according to official data released by the finance ministry on Tuesday.

Indirect tax collections in July are pegged at Rs 56,739 crore while April-July collections stood at Rs 2.1 lakh crore. India's industrial production expanded by 2.7% in May but analysts expect better June numbers, which will be released on Wednesday.

During April-July, the excise collections jumped by 75.4% to Rs 83,454 crore. Revenues from service tax rose by 20.1 % to Rs 60,925 crore and that from customs duty by 21% to Rs 66,076 crore.