News you may have missed over the past fortnight
News you may have missed over the past fortnight: gold demand in India rises by 9 per cent, 2G spectrum auction fails to generate big money, RIL facing challenges in getting project approvals and more.
Demand for gold in India rose by 9 per cent to 223.1 tonnes in the quarter ended September
News you may have missed over the past fortnight:
GOING FOR GOLD:
CORPORATE
ECONOMY
MARKETS
COMING UP
GOING FOR GOLD:
- With the wedding season approaching, demand for gold in India rose by 9 per cent to 223.1 tonnes in the quarter ended September, reversing the trend of the previous three quarters. In contrast, global demand slipped 11 per cent during the September quarter from record levels in the same period last year, mainly due to a decline in Chinese consumption
CORPORATE
- The 2G spectrum auction attracted bids worth Rs 9,407.64 crore, one-third of the minimum Rs 28,000 crore the government was expecting. The auction was a far cry from the bidding for 3G spectrum in 2010, which raked in Rs 67,719 crore. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said the auction was not complete and the government would make "substantial gains" once it was finished. A fresh auction for circles that went without bidding is slated to take place by March 31.
P Chidambaram (Caricatures by Santosh) - Reliance Industries faced challenges getting approvals from the Oil Ministry when Jaipal Reddy was the minister, because of the declining gas output from its KG-D6 block. Now, the company has reported a further fall in natural gas output from its eastern offshore fields to 25.1 million metric standard cubic metres a day, from about 26 mmscmd. It says high water and sand ingress have shut one-third of the wells.
- The festive season has brought some cheer for automakers. Sales of automobiles grew nearly 15 per cent in October 2012 from a year ago, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.
- The Indian IT industry will meet the lower end of its 11 to 14 per cent growth guidance and at least achieve double-digit growth in 2012/13, IT industry lobby Nasscom has said in its mid-year review. The industry's export revenue may reach $75 to 77 billion in 2012/13, riding on remote infrastructure management, business process outsourcing and testing. Research and advisory company Gartner expects spending in the Asia-Pacific to reach $743 billion in 2013, rising 7.9 per cent over 2012.
- The majority of experts from the fields of business, government and civil society are still pessimistic about the state of the world's economy. According to the World Economic Forum's Global Confident Index poll, 56 per cent of respondents expressed lack of confidence in the global economy in the fourth quarter.
- British oil giant BP will pay $4.5 billion in penalties and plead guilty to felony misconduct in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, which caused the worst US offshore oil spill ever. The settlement includes a $1.25 billion criminal fine, the largest such levy in US history. Two BP supervisors were also indicted on 23 criminal counts, including manslaughter.
- Apple Inc. and HTC Corp. have reached a patent settlement and 10-year licensing agreement that ends one of the first major battles in the smartphone patent war. Apple sued HTC in 2010, accusing it of infringing on the iPhone maker's patented technology. It was Apple's first major legal salvo against a manufacturer that used Google's Android operating system
ECONOMY
- Dampening the festive spirit, industrial output declined 0.4 per cent in September, from 2.3 per cent growth in August, as manufacturing activity slowed. The negative growth in capital goods reflects an investment downturn. Merchandise exports declined for the sixth month in a row at 1.63 per cent in October to $23.2 billion. Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said the impact of recent reforms initiatives will manifest in the Index of Industrial Production data for the second half of the fiscal. Analysts expect the Reserve Bank of India to review its policy rates earlier than the fourth quarter credit policy.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia - Inflation declined marginally to 7.45 per cent in October even though prices of food items such as rice, wheat, pulses and potato rose, giving virtually no respite to the common man. Inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index, was 7.81 per cent in September. In October last year, it stood at a high of 9.87 per cent. Indian Oil Corporation has cut its petrol price by about Rs 1 a litre, but that is hardly any consolation for the common man.
- $215: Projected price of a barrel of imported crude oil in 2035, when India, China and West Asian nations are expected to account for 60 per cent of the world's energy demand, according to the International Energy Agency's World Energy Outlook. By 2025, India will also be the world's second-largest consumer of coal after China.
- 2.77 million: Number of cars being recalled globally by Toyota due to water pump or steering glitches. Last month, Japan's biggest auto maker recalled 7.43 million vehicles over a possible fire risk tied to a fault in electric windows.
MARKETS
- DLF, the country's largest realty company, has reduced its net debt by Rs 2,000 crore during the ongoing quarter, after selling prime land in Mumbai to Lodha Developers. The company's current net debt stands at Rs 21,220 crore as against Rs 23,220 crore on September 30, according to an analyst presentation by the company.
- Australian bank Westpac has opened its first branch in India to serve Indian customers with trade and investment links in Australia and Asia. India is Australia's fifth-largest trading partner and fourth-largest export market. Bilateral trade is expected to double to A$40 billion by 2015.
COMING UP
- The government will review investment of surplus funds by cashrich central public sector enterprises in January. Companies that fail to invest their cash reserves may have to declare special dividends.
- State Bank of India is likely to reduce lending rates in a couple of weeks to boost credit growth. SBI's minimum lending rate is at 9.75 per cent. SBI Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri said he would not be surprised if the home loan segment picked up by over 30 per cent in the coming financial year. The Reserve Bank recently cut the cash reserve ratio by 25 basis points, hoping to inject Rs 17,500 crore into the system.
