Australia Is Interested On Doing Business - Sep 30, 2008

Australia is interested on doing business with India and on making its presence felt, especially in tier II cities such as Visakhapatnam. At a seminar on ''Doing business with Australia'' here on Sept 29, conducted by CII''s local chapter, Australia assured local businessmen and industrialists that the consulate will give them help to promote Indo-Australian trade. The bilateral trade has increased to $11 billion and Australian investments in India to $4 billion.

Call Rates Ended Considerably Higher - Sep 30, 2008

The inter-bank call rates ended considerably higher at 15.75-16 per cent, as against the previous close of 11-11.50 per cent. The severe liquidity crunch could also be estimated by the fact that the Reserve Bank of India injected more than Rs 90, 000 crore into the system via the repo auction. In the two-day repo auction under the first liquidity adjustment facility (LAF), the RBI got and accepted 36 bids worth Rs 53,940 crore. There were no reverse repo bids. In the CBLO market, there were 300 trades totaling to Rs 12,183.35 crore in the rate range of 9.35-16 per cent.

Bond Prices Opened Lower After The Reserve - Sep 30, 2008

Bond prices ended lower by about 50 paise from Sept 26 close on fears of tightness in liquidity, though they recovered from the day''s low. Banks have been borrowing close to around Rs 1 lakh crore from banks for the last few days. Today they borrowed more than Rs 90,000 crore via the repo auction. Total traded volumes on the order matching system were Rs 3,560 crore (Rs 5,900 crore).

Bond prices opened lower after the Reserve Bank of India declared the auction calendar for the second half of the fiscal on Sept 26. The 8.24 per cent-10 year-2018 paper opened at Rs 97.05 and touched an intra-day low of Rs 96.86. It closed at Rs 97.56, against the previous close of Rs 97.87. The 7.94 per cent -13 year-2021 paper, which was the second most actively traded paper, opened at Rs 91 and declined to a low of Rs 90.85. It closed at Rs 91.08

Economic Commission Including Business - Sep 29, 2008

A mixed joint economic commission including business people and authorities from India and Switzerland are to meet in Delhi and Bangalore from October 20-22 to debate on what could be done to develop the business climate between the two countries. Efforts are on to provide more significance to the joint economic commission mechanism and there would be more activity comprising meetings on a regular basis, at least once a year. Indian companies were told about the possibilities in Switzerland if they want to set up their subsidiaries, branch offices or even their headquarters. Switzerland offers wide range of advantages for companies from India to establish their own business in Europe. Switzerland has till date cumulative investments in India of over 2 billion swiss francs.

India-Korea Economic Agreement To Restore - Sep 29, 2008

The stitching up of the finer details by India and South Korea on Sept 25 in Seoul for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) to be unveiled by the first half of next year covering trade, goods and investment will assist balance the historic ties both the countries held in the past. The Indian official level delegation, the Commerce Secretary, Mr Gopal K Pillai, said that the Korean Deputy Minister, Mr My Hye-min Lee, said that this is the second most important accomplishment in India-Korea relations.

India''s exports to South Kora have been cranking up at 40 per cent a year, while their exports to India were at 30 per cent, leaving the excess balance of trade in India''s favour. Stating that the highest official level meeting is over between the two countries, he said that some clearing up of the formal text is left so that the final text of the pact will be made public by Oct 31 by both the sides.

FMC Calls For Strengthening Regulations - Sep 29, 2008

The financial meltdown in the US economy is unlikely to affect the Indian commodity sector but there is a need to strengthen the regulatory mechanism in the country, a top government official said. The financial meltdown in the US is a great lesson for us. It may not affect the commodity sector in India but we need to strengthen our regulatory mechanism, Forward Markets Commission Chairman B C Khatua said, while addressing the Global India conference here. Asian countries and India have successfully bounced back from the 1997-98 meltdown. US meltdown was a case of greed for money.

Allowing markets to go unregulated is a dangerous thing. The US housing and financial sectors have been pretty ambitious and greedy in the race to retain the number one position, Khatua said. In India, it is unimaginable for a strong company to go bankrupt in a year''s time, as here the growth came from strong fundamentals. The recent crude price hike was due to rampant speculative activities.

Marginally Higher On Improved Liquidity - Sep 26, 2008

Bond prices ended marginally higher on improved liquidity and easing of oil price. There was not much demand for funds as most participants had covered their positions ahead of reporting Friday, the source said. Crude oil prices fell by $1-2 in the global market, which also helped bond prices. Total traded volumes on the order matching continued to be lower at Rs 3,455 crore (Rs 4,220 crore), due to the strike by public sector banks. The 8.24 per cent-10 year-2018 paper opened at Rs 97.75 (8.59 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs 97.87 (8.61 per cent YTM) against the previous close of Rs 97.5 (8.62 per cent YTM). The 7.95 per cent -24 year -2032 paper opened at Rs 88.3 (9.17 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs 88.55 (9.13 per cent YTM).

Repo Auction Under The First Liquidity - Sep 26, 2008

Call rates closed a tad at 10-10.25 per cent, the same as on Sept 24.The RBI received and accepted 25 bids worth Rs 38,545 crore in the one-day repo auction under the first liquidity adjustment facility (LAF). There were no reverse repo bids. In the one-day repo auction under the second LAF, the RBI received and accepted 21 bids for Rs 10,660 crore. There were no reverse repo auctions. In the CBLO market, there were 380 trades amounting to Rs 21,844.70 crore in the rate range of 8.85-9.05 per cent.

Inflation Remains Unchanged At 12.14% - Sep 26, 2008

Inflation remained unchanged at 12.14 per cent for the week ended September 13 even as the Finance Ministry said prices of essential items like cereals, pulses, sugar and edible oils declined on weekly basis. High inflation of 12.14 per cent, which is the same as the previous week''s figure, has prompted analysts to say that price rise will remain at double digits by the end of this calendar year due to base effect.

Inflation figure remained intact despite a low base of 3.51 per cent in the year-ago period. The Finance Ministry said in a statement here that inflation of 30 essential items declined to 7.58 per cent during the week under review compared to 7.72 per cent in the previous week.While prices of food items like salt, sea fish, tea, fruits, condiments and spices rose, rates of imported edible oil declined, giving some relief to the government which was unable to control its prices because of rise in global rates. Among manufactured goods, items like tobacco, rubber, chemicals, mineral and machinery turned dearer