Rupee breaches 52-level; up 28 paise against dollar

Rupee breaches 52-level in early trade

Mumbai: The rupee on Thursday rose above the Rs 52 level by gaining 28 paise to fresh five-and-half month high of 51.88 against the American currency in early trade on persistent dollar selling by exporters amid hopes of further reforms measures.
   
Dealers said sustained capital inflows and a higher opening in the equity market also supported the rupee.
   
Meanwhile, the BSE benchmark Sensex surpassed 19,000 points level by rising 200.48 points, or 1.06 percent, to 19,070.17.
   
On Wednesday, the rupee had gained 24 paise to close at nearly 5-1/2-month high of 52.16 on sustained dollar selling by exporters and hefty capital inflows in local stock market.

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Rupee rises to fresh 5-month high of 52.28 against dollar

Re rises to fresh 5-month high of 52.28

Mumbai: The rupee rose by 12 paise to fresh over five-month high of 52.28 against the American currency in early trade on Wednesday at the Interbank Foreign Exchange on continued dollar selling by exporters and some banks.
   
Besides, a higher opening in the equity market also supported the rupee, forex dealers said.
   
They, however, added that dollar's gains against other currencies overseas capped the local unit's gains.
   
Meanwhile, the BSE benchmark index Sensex rose by 51.16 points, or 0.27 percent, to 18,875.07.
   
The rupee had edged up by 45 paise to close at an over five-month high of 52.40 against the dollar in the previous session on Monday on sustained capital inflows. The forex market remained closed on Tuesday on account 'Gandhi Jayanti'.

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HDFC Bank to speed up financial inclusion in Odisha

HDFC Bank to advance network in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Promising to speed up the process of financial inclusion, mainly in rural areas of Odisha, HDFC Bank on Saturday announced its plan to increase the number of branches from 61 to 102 in the state by the year end.

"Now the bank has 61 branches in 25 districts of Odisha. The bank is going to open 11 more branches by October and would add 30 new branches by December, 2012," Managing Director of HDFC Bank, Aditya Puri told reporters here.

With the opening of the 102 branches the leading private sector bank would have branches in all the 30 districts of the state, he said.

HDFC Bank has 60 percent of its branches in rural and semi-urban areas, Puri said with the opening of more branches in rural belts, more than 75 percent of the branches of the bank would be located in villages and semi-urban pockets.

In addition to deposit mobilisation, the bank is lending to all sections of people in Odisha and the focus was now on micro-financing and loans for the farm sector like crop loans.

Apart from two wheeler loans, car loans, commercial vehicle loans and gold loans, the thrust is also on loan for tractors and agriculture implements, Puri said adding the bank is going to further enhance priority sector lending in
agri-based funding.

Khurda and Bolangir districts have been selected for a novel sustainable livelihood programme which would cover around 15,000 beneficiaries by March 2013. Of the beneficiaries, 90 percent would be women, he said.

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FDI decision helped Rupee bounce back: RBI Deputy Governor

India's decision to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail has improved the market sentiment and helped the rupee to rebound, RBI Deputy Governor Anand Sinha said today.

"On the positive side, it (FDI in retail) improved sentiment as was shown in the market. Rupee has rebounded to a considerable extent. There is certainly promise," he told PTI.

Sinha said the success of FDI in retail depends on how much India gets in the end.

The domestic currency rose to five-month high of 52.49 intra-day on Friday last against the US dollar on signs of strong fund inflows. The rupee has been steadily gaining after the government earlier this month announced reform measures like allowing 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail.


Earlier in June, the rupee had plummeted to its lifetime low 57.15 to a dollar.

Besides, BSE benchmark Sensex is also at 14-month high of 18,762.74 points, aided by consistent FII inflows since the reforms measures were announced by the UPA government.

The government had earlier this month allowed 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail, 49 per cent investment by foreign airlines in aviation sector.

The slew of reforms also included raising FDI cap in broadcasting from 49 per cent to 74 per cent and allowing foreign investment in power exchanges, besides a hike in diesel prices.

Sinha is in Beijing to take part in the Regional Policy Forum on Financial Stability and Macro-prudential Supervision, where he spoke on Mitigating Procyclicality in Banking and Bank Regulation.

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Samsung kicks off Galaxy Note II India launch today

Phablet to be launched in India today

New Delhi: Korean electronics giant Samsung is likely to launch Galaxy Note II phablet in India on Thursday, said media reports.

Touted to be bigger and better than its predecessor, Galaxy Note II was earlier showcased at the IFA 2012 in Berlin in August and was rolled out in Samsung’s home-country South Korea on Wednesday.

TECH SPECS:

Samsung Galaxy Note II boasts a 5.5-inch HD SuperAMOLED display, is said to be slightly bigger than the original Galaxy Note, which had a 5.3-inch touchscreen.

The device runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) — the latest version of Google's mobile operating system, layered with the company's TouchWiz UI.

Phablet has a quad-core 1.6GHz Cortex A-9 processor with 2GB of RAM and will come in 16, 32 and 64GB variants, with support for microSD card having capacity of up to 64GB.
The Galaxy Note II also has a 8 megapixel camera, autofocus, LED flash.

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India ranked 111th in eco freedom list

New Delhi : India ranks very low at 111th position in terms of economic freedom, behind countries like China, Nepal and Bangladesh, a global study has claimed in a worldwide index of 144 nations.

The annual ranking, titled 'Economic Freedom of the World: 2012', is topped by Hong Kong, followed by Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland (8.24) and Australia in the top-five.
The index has been prepared by Canada-based public policy think-tank, Fraser Institute, in cooperation with independent institutes in 90 nations and territories, and claims to measure the degree to which the policies and institutions of countries support economic freedom.

India's ranking has fallen from 103rd last year, while Hong Kong has retained its top slot, the report said.

Canada is ranked sixth on the list, while others in the top-ten include Bahrain, Mauritius, Finland and Chile. The countries with lowest level of economic freedom are – Myanmar, Zimbabwe, Republic of Congo and Angola.


India shares its 111th position with two other countries, Iran and Pakistan, while those ranked lower include Guyana, Syria and Nigeria.

India has scored an overall rating of 6.26 in the economic freedom index as against an average global scrore of 6.83.

In the economic freedom index, China is at 107th position with a score of 6.35, Bangladesh at 109th with a score of 6.34 and Nepal is at 110th position (6.33).

The report said that Hong Kong offers the highest level of economic freedom worldwide, with a score of 8.90 out of 10, followed by Singapore (8.69), New Zealand (8.36), Switzerland (8.24), Australia and Canada (each 7.97), Bahrain (7.94), Mauritius (7.90), Finland (7.88) and Chile (7.84).

"Governments around the world embraced heavy-handed regulation and extensive spending in response to the US and European debt crises, reducing economic freedom in the short term and prosperity over the long term," the report noted.

"But the slight increase in this year's worldwide economic freedom score is encouraging. Impressively, all five continents are represented in the global top 10," it added.

The report noted that on an average, the poorest 10 per cent of people in the freest nations are nearly twice as rich as the average population of the least free countries.

Interestingly, the US, which is considered a champion of economic freedom among large industrial nations, continues its protracted decline in the global rankings. This year, the US plunged to its lowest-ever ranking of 18th, after being ranked at as high as second position in 2002.

The decline is attributed to higher spending and borrowing on the part of the US government.

The rankings and scores of other major economies include -Japan (20th), Germany (31st), Korea (37th), France (47th), Italy (83rd), Mexico (91st), Russia (95th) and Brazil (105th).

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Planning Commission pulls up CIL for sitting on idle cash-pile

CIL pulled for sitting on idle cash-pile

New Delhi: Pulling up Coal India for sitting on a huge idle cash-pile, the Planning Commission has asked the state-run firm to step up investment in domestic coalfields and acquisition abroad.
   
"In spite of large financial resources, the pace of the investment by CIL has been extremely poor, resulting in slow growth of domestic coalfields or even acquisition abroad," said the 12th Five Year (2012-17) Plan document.
   
"This is a serious shortcoming and must be remedied in the 12th Plan," it added.
   
The document said CIL had Rs 54,980 crore reserves as on September, 2011 which was likely to go up further during 2012-13.
   
Considering an annual average growth rate of 8.9 percent during the five-year period, the Plan Panel has pegged India's annual coal demand to go up to 980 million tonnes (MT) by the terminal year of 12th Plan against the production of 795 MT,
   
"The incremental production envisaged in the optimistic scenario of the 12th Plan works out to 255 MT," it said, expecting a major contribution to come from CIL.
   
CIL has set a target of producing 464 MT coal in current fiscal which is likely to go up to 615 MT by 2016-17.
   
Meanwhile, the Planning Commission has suggested spinning off CIL's subsidiaries into separate entities so that each one of them can pursue its own goals.
   
"The industry would be better served if the subsidiaries were spun off as separate public sector companies, encouraged to develop their own strategies of coal development including joint venture activities and acquisition of assets abroad," it said.
   
World's largest coal miner CIL has nine subsidiaries that include Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL), Central Coalfields Ltd (CCL), Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL) and Central Mine, Planning and Design Institute Ltd (CMPDIL). CIL has 100 percent stake in all of them.
      
The document also recommends setting up of a high-level committee with the task of examining the option of splitting the CIL subsidiaries and asking it to submit a report within six months.

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Diesel price hiked by Rs 5/ litre

 The government on Thursday decided to hike diesel prices by Rs. 5 per litre effective Thursday midnight, but left petrol, kerosene and LPG rates untouched.

The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on Thursday evening decided to raise diesel prices by Rs. 5 per litre, excluding VAT.


It also decided to restrict supply of subsidised cooking gas to six cylinders per household per year.

Diesel in Delhi costs Rs. 41.32 a litre and after this hike it will cost Rs. 46.95, after considering 12.5 per cent VAT on the hike.

Petrol needed a hike of Rs. 6 per litre but the government offset that by reducing excise duty by Rs. 5.50 per litre from existing rate of Rs. 14.78 per litre.

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Grand Science Slam to open German House For Research and Innovation in New Delhi

GRAND SCIENCE SLAM TO OPEN GERMAN HOUSE FOR RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN NEW DELHI

Winners will be awarded a fully paid learning opportunity to work in an eminent researcher’s group in Germany

The German Government has embarked to set up a German House for Research and Innovation in New Delhi (DWIH New Delhi). The DWIH will serve as a ‘one-stop shop’ for interested students, researchers and potential partner institutions, and disseminate information about higher education in Germany, research landscape and funding sources. New Delhi is one of the five focal points for enhanced German academic and research cooperation, along with Sao Paolo (Brazil), Moscow (Russia), New York (USA) and Tokyo (Japan).

Marking the inauguration of the DWIH in India, the German Embassy New Delhi and the German Research Foundation (DFG) will be organizing a Grand Science Slam on Saturday, 27th October 2012 at one of the highlights of the “German Year in India 2011/2012”, the Indo-German Urban Mela in New Delhi: A great platform for researchers, the Grand Science Slam will include topics from all fields of science including humanities and social sciences. Young scientists and science enthusiasts can showcase their best and most interesting scientific projects to eminent researchers and the general public. Slammers can choose from medicine/physiology, “green” life sciences, physics/mathematics, geo sciences, chemistry and process engineering/engineering, informatics and social sciences.

                       

On that occasion, the German Ambassador to India, Michael Steiner, states: “Indo-German cooperation in science and technology is a defining pillar of our bilateral relationship. India and Germany maintain a highly dynamic academic exchange and a vast array of bilateral research projects to jointly develop the technologies of the future. The new German House for Research and Innovation will be a scientific hub for young talents and a landmark for innovation which benefits India as well as Germany.”

Elaborating on the concept of the Grand Science Slam, Dr. Torsten Fischer, Director, German Research Foundation (DFG), the official coordinator of DWIH New Delhi, says, “The Grand Science Slam is a great opportunity for Indian researchers to showcase their knowledge of science in the presence of a distinguished gathering of very senior researchers. The shortlisted participants from each of the six streams will be required to publicly display complex scientific concepts in a very simple form in a Science Slam. Each participant gets only ten minutes to prove his or her knowledge of science using any format of choice, ranging from a conventional talk to a stage play or even a musical performance, using any source or object to make their presentation more interesting. The winner will be decided by award-winning jury members collectively with the audience, so the presentation must be easy to comprehend.”

The ten minute research presentation by young participating scientists will be followed by a 5 minutes question and answer session with the jury and audience. Two of the brilliant finalists will be chosen as winners of the Grand Science Slam, among which one of the awards will be decided by the Jury and the other by the general public sitting in audience. Each of the winners will be awarded a fully paid learning opportunity to work in the research group of an eminent researcher in Germany. All participating finalists will receive a citation and a gift hamper. The event will be attended by Heads of DWIH member organisations, and will feature ‘Leibniz Lectures’ by two German speakers and scientific talks by two Indian scientists.

The deadline for submission of applications is Sunday, 9th September 2012. Application form and submission details are available for download here.

For more details, please contact:

Ruchika Christ

Public Relations

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft  (DFG)

German Research Foundation

Tel. +91.49224905, Ruchika.Christ@dfg.de

Dr. Niklas Wagner

Press and Comumication Department

German Embassy New Delhi

Tel: +91.1144199247, niklas.wagner@diplo.de

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GVK’s $10 bn coal project gets Australian govt approval

The Australian government has given a green signal to GVK Group’s $10 billion Alpha Coal project in Queensland.

Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke has given an approval to construct and operate the Alpha Coal Mine and a railway line between the mine and the port at Abbot Point, near Bowen, GVK said in a statement.

Last year, GVK had acquired 79 per cent stake in the Alpha Coal and Alpha West projects and a 100 per cent stake in the Kevin’s Corner project in Queensland from Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd.


Earlier, the Federal Government of Australia had raised objections to the environmental clearance given by the Queensland government to the project.

GVK Vice-Chairman G V Sanjay Reddy said this is an important milestone for the projects which will provide significant benefits to the Alpha and Bowen regions.

The projects are expected to provide 2,000 on-going jobs in operations directly, employ around 4,000 during construction and return to the government $1.5 billion annually in royalties and taxes at peak production, he said.

These projects hold total resources of 8 billion tonnes and a peak capacity of 80 million tonnes per annum.

When combined, these projects will create one of the largest coal mining operations in the world, the company said in the statement.

The Alpha Coal project has a mine life of over 30 years and a capacity of 32 mtpa which makes it suitable for high production open cut mining.

GVK has also acquired a 100 per cent stake in the 500 km rail line and a 60 million tonne per annum (mtpa) port as part of the “pit-to-port” logistics solution.

“This positive decision also paves the way to ensure more than 1.4 billion people (largely in Asia) that face major shortage of electricity, are provided with an additional source of coal to enhance supply of electricity to the region, thus improving quality of life of the people and overall economic development,” Mr Reddy said.

The Queensland government has also selected GVK’s Rail Corridor as the north-south corridor for connecting the Galilee Basin to the Port of Abbot Point in Australia.

GVK’s coal mining project with its superior quality low ash, low sulphur and low gas thermal coal, will be reliably exported mainly to Asian destinations.

Construction is expected to start next year with first coal being produced in 2015-16, the release added.

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Oil companies cut petrol prices by Rs 2.46 per litre from midnight

NEW DELHI: In a relief to inflation-battered common man, petrol price was today cut by Rs 2.46 per litre, the second reduction this month. Petrol price in Delhi will cost Rs 67.78 per litre with effect from midnight as compared to Rs 70.24 a litre rate now, state-owned oil companies announced today.

The reduction in rates follows a Rs 2.02 a litre cut in prices from June 3. The two price cuts have wiped out more than half of the massive Rs 7.54 per litre increase in rates, the biggest in the history, effected last month. Even after today's reduction, there exists a scope for cutting rates by a further Re 1 per litre as current revision was done at average international oil rate in the first fortnight of June.

Global oil prices have fallen by 8 per cent since then. In Mumbai, petrol price has been cut by Rs 3.10 to Rs 73.35 per litre, while it will cost Rs 72.74 a litre in Kolkata from tomorrow compared to Rs 75.81 per litre currently. Chennai saw a Rs 3.07 per litre cut in price to Rs 72.74 a litre.

State-owned oil firms abandoned the practice of revising rates of petrol on 1st and 16th of every month and from now on will now do so on a random date so as to deter petrol pump dealers building positions. Petrol pumps at some places run dry as owners stop taking supplies from companies if a reduction in price is anticipated. Similarly, if an increase in rate is expected, pump dealers start hoarding supplies.

Indian Oil Corp, the nation's largest fuel retailer, said the three oil firms are projected to lose a record Rs 151,000 crore in revenue on sale of diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene, whose rates have not been revised in past one year.

Sources said current revision in petrol price was done keeping in mind an average of USD 106.93 per barrel international rate for gasoline, against which domestic petrol prices are benchmarked. Gasoline rates have since fallen to about $97-98 a barrel.

But value of rupee against the US dollar has been a big dampener. Rupee has devalued to Rs 57 to a US dollar from Rs 54.96 to a US dollar (average of first fortnight of June), making imports costlier. "We can sustain these prices for a sometime (without changing retail selling price). Unless there is a further drop in oil prices and rupee strengthens, a revision in petrol rates looks extremely unlikely in coming days," a source said. IOC said the company had lost Rs 1,053 crore during current fiscal on not being able to raise petrol rates in line with the cost in the first two months of current fiscal.

For industry (IOC plus Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum) the loss comes to Rs 2,323 crore on a commodity whose pricing was freed by the government in June 2010. "In addition, oil marketing companies are suffering high level of revenue losses on the three sensitive petroleum products, namely diesel, kerosene and cooking gas (LPG)," IOC said in a statement here.

Since the last revision in prices in June 2011, revenue loss on diesel has gone up from Rs 6.13 per litre to Rs 10.20 per litre, for kerosene (PDS) from Rs 24.16 per litre to Rs 30.53 per litre and for LPG from Rs 331.13 per cylinder to Rs 396.00 per cylinder. "At these rates, it is estimated that under-recovery (or revenue loss) on sale of sensitive products during 2012-13 shall be around Rs 83,000 crore (for IOC) and Rs 1,51,000 crore for the industry," it added.

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India to become 8th largest shareholder in IMF

NEW DELHI: India is set to become the eighth largest shareholder in the IMF (International Monetary Fund) after quota reforms which are likely to be finalised at the multilateral agency’s Annual Meeting at Tokyo in October.

Once the quota reforms are carried out, India’s share at IMF is set to rise to 2.75 per cent from 2.44 per cent, making it the eighth largest shareholder in the multilateral agency from its present 11th position.

“The quota reforms at the IMF are likely in October at the Annual Meetings of IMF and World bank in Tokyo,” a Finance Ministry official told.


Last week Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced that India would contribute USD 10 billion to the IMF’s USD 430 billion bailout fund for the euro-zone.

India’s contribution was part of a pledge by the G20 nations made in April to supply the IMF with extra firepower.

The implementation of the quota reforms has been delayed as countries such as the US have not yet ratified the proposal.

The issue of quota reforms came up for discussion at the recent G20 summit at Los Cabos and the world leaders had underlined the need for expeditious completion of the quota reforms to give more say to emerging economies.

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