Foreign Exchange Reserves slipped below $300-billion

According to data released by the Reserve Bank on 6 January 2012, foreign exchange reserves fell by over $4.18 billion to $296.69 billion, slipping below the long-held $300- billion mark in te week ended 30 December 2011. The drop in the reserves was attributed to the fall in the core foreign currency assets  (FCAs) and gold reserves. The overall reserves slipped by $1.23 billion to $300.86 billion in the previous reporting week. FCAs, a major component of the forex kitty, fell by $2.72 billion to $262.93 billion for the week ended 30 December. Gold reserves were down by $1.42 billion to $26.62 billion. Faced with massive volatility in the rupee the value of which eroded by 20 per cent since August 2011, the apex bank resorted sellingdollar reserves to limit or arrest the depreciation. The reserves declined by $24 billion since early September 2011. The foreign exchange kitty stood at $321 billion on 2 September 2011. The dip was primarily due to revaluation in foreign currency assets and a fall in the value of gold reserves. Two strong reasons was identified for the fall in the reserves:

• The first one is the continuous intervention by the regulator to curb extreme volatility in the rupee.

• The second reason is the dollar has been appreciating against all currencies.

Special drawing rights (SDRs) and the reserve position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also fell. While SDRs came down by $19 million to $4.4 billion, the reserve position in the IMF was down by $12 million to $2.7 billion. Some experts opined that the dip in foreign exchange reserve also resulted from the payout on account of government expenditure might be accentuating the fall. While during September- December 2011, fall in the foreign exchange reserves was around $24 billion, the reserves fell by $34 billion in the comparable period of 2008.

ADB Loan to Finance Road Projects in Naxal-hit Areas

The Union government in January 2012 cleared an external loan to finance part of the programme launched by the Ministry of Rural Development in left wing extremism-  affected villages. The clearance is for a loan of $500 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to speed up construction of rural roads. Union Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) issued directions for negotiating and early signing of the loan, which his Ministry to gather  resources to give thrust to the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). The ADB, which has already extended a loan of $800 million was petitioned with a fresh proposal for rural connectivity investment programme to construct or upgrade 7000 km of roads connecting eligible habitations in Maoistaffected  States of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, besides Assam where too the PMGSY has progressed with little to cheer. The demand for the loan was made in the backdrop of the MoRD's multiwinged programmes in the left wing extremism-affected areas, under which Central forces assist execution of welfare and development schemes to wean the local people from the path of naxalism. The MoRD has been providing incentives and assistance to the local people, particularly tribals, to reduce poverty and ensure economic growth of the region. Rural connectivity is considered pivotal to the success of this stratagem. As per the programme proposed by the MoRD, the Union government will supplement with a contribution of $127.6 million, in addition to the $5000 million to finance the project that includes setting up of training and research centres pertaining to rural roads.

IRDA introduced Uniform Asset-liability Management Norms

Insurance regulator IRDA on 4 January 2012 introduced uniform assetliability management norms for market players to ensure their solvency.  Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) announced a broadly-defined uniform framework for reporting asset liability management  activities adopted by life and non-life insurance companies. The regulator also asked firms to undertake stress tests to ascertain their ability to meet financial obligations in the event of a crisis. IRDA has issued these guidelines to bring about uniformity in the ALM norms being followed by both life and non-life insurance companies. IRDA guidelines: The IRDA guidelines require the ALM (asset liability management) policy to be approved by the board of the insurer. Such board-approved policy is to be submitted to the IRDA within 90 days. While approving the ALM policy, the board is to take into account the asset-liability relationships, the insurer's overall risk tolerance, risk and return needs, solvency positions and liquidity requirements. The guidelines also make it mandatory for the board to frequently review the ALM policy of the insurer. Any change in the policy  must be reported to the regulator. Under the uniform framework, insurers have to put in place an effective mechanism to monitor and manage their asset-liability positions. The objective is to ensure that their investment  activities and assets positions are in sync with their liabilities, risk profiles and solvency positions. The guidelines, which would come into effect from 1 April 2012, make it mandatory for insurance companies to prepare an ALM policy as well as get it approved by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) by end of March 2012.

Benefits of ALM Policy

The Asset-Liability Management (ALM) norms are critical for the sound management of the finances  of the insurers that invest to meet their future cash flow needs and capital requirements. The ALM policy will enable the insurers to understand the risks they are exposed to and develop ALM policies to manage them effectively. The ALM can be used to measure the interest rate risk faced by insurers.

No Floating Interest Rates on Small Savings Schemes

The Finace Ministry on 4 January 2012 clarified that the rates applicable on small savings instruments schemes would be announced on April 1 each year and the rate would remain valid till the maturity of the scheme. The Ministry stated that barring the Public Provident Fund (PPF), the rates of interest on all small savings schemes will remain fixed throughout the tenure of investment. To clear the confusion over the returns on investment in small savings schemes, the Finance Ministry pointed out that the rate prevailing at the time of investments will remain fixed and unchanged till the maturity of the investment. Any revisions in interest rates in the subsequent years would only be applicable to the investments made in the relevant period.However, the rate of interest for the 15-year PPF scheme would not remain fixed for the entire period as the interest accruals in the PPF account each year would vary, depending on the interest rate announced for that particular year. For PPF, the interest rate fixed every year will be applicable to all PPF accounts. The government had hiked the interest rates on small savings deposits schemes of various maturities with effect from 1 December 2011 to chanel the outflow of funds from small savings schemes administered by the National Small Savings Fund (NSSF) in view of the investor preference for bank term deposits. The clarification from the Finance Ministry came in the face of fears that the revision of interest rates on small savings schemes from 1 December 2011, are floating rates and that the rates will undergo change in sync with fluctuations in yields on government securities. It had  also hiked the interest rates on PPF deposits from 8 per cent to 8.6 per cent while raising the ceiling on annual contributions to the fund to Rs.1 lakh from Rs.70000. Interest rates on Post Office Savings Accounts rose to 4 per cent from 3.5 per cent. Similarly, interest rates on deposits of various maturities of one year, two years and five years too were raised from December assist companies to comply with the listing norms in a non-disruptive manner. There shall be at least 10 allottees in every IPP issuance. No single investor shall receive allotment for more than 25% of the offer size.

Bill to Amend Forward Contracts Regulation Act 1952

The Parliamentary Standing Committee submitted its report on a bill to amend the Forward Contracts Regulation Act 1952. Parliamentary Standing Committee on consumer affairs, food and public distribution, chaired by Congress MP Vilas Baburao Muttemwar, submitted its report on the FCRA (Amendment) Bill 2010 to Parliament on 22 December 2011. The current department-related standing committee (DRSC), set up in 2009, was asked by the Lok Sabha speaker in December 2010 to prepare a report on the bill and submit  it to the Lok Sabha Secretariat. The committee in its report recommended a doubling of the maximum penalty for trading rule violations to Rs 50 lakh. The standing committee report suggested raising the upper limit on penalties for offences like insider trading to Rs 50 lakh from Rs 25 lakh stipulated in the Forward Contracts Regulation Act (FCRA) Amendment Bill 2010. Insider trading involves using unpublished price sensitive information for personal gain.

Report

The report recommended that options be introduced for the benefit of stakeholders. The inclusion of the  clause was one of the reasons why the bill in its earlier avatar during the UPA I regime faced resistance. Those who had opposed the bill then especially the Left parties argued that options would increase speculation in commodities. The report suggested that options will actually make it easier for farmers and smaller users to participate in the derivatives market as trading lot sizes will be lower than in futures contracts, where the minimum traded quantity for most farm products is 10 tonne. investing in an option also tends to minimise losses as only the premium to buy (call option) or sell (put option) is forgone in the event of prices moving adversely. a futures position taken by a trader is on the other hand marked to market daily. Marking to market involves daily settlement of the difference between the prior agreed price and the daily futures price. It can thus lead to huge losses alongside supernormal profits.

Implementation of Levy on Railway Freight Service deferred

The implementation of levy on railway freight service was put off once again in the backdrop of high inflation. The levy is now likely to come into force from 1 April instead of 1 January as announced earlier. The levy on transport of goods by rail was deferred for the sixth time. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the 2010-11 Union Budget had brought transport of goods by railway under the service tax net from 1 April 2010. However, the proposal was vehemently opposed by Railway Ministry fearing adverse impact on goods movement, forcing the government to defer it repeatedly. Railway Ministry is of the opinion that any levy on freight service would adversely impact the industry. Movement of coal and cement among others goods would become costlier with the imposition of service tax.

RIL’s $1.529 billion Investment Plan approved

The Union government on 3 January 2012 approved Reliance Industries' (RIL) $1.529 billion investment plan for developing four satellite fields in the flagging KG-D6 block. RIL’s investment plan will boost falling output in the Krishna-Godavari Basin KG-D6 block. The investment proposal was signed by the three partners in the block- RIL, UK's BP Plc and Niko Resources of Canada and the representative of DGH. The KGD6 block oversight committee, which includes officials from the Oil Ministry and its technical arm, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), met for the third time in three months on 3 January to finally approve the proposal. The MC approval, which is the final approval an operator needs before beginning work, put a cap on the cost of developing the four fields that surround the currently producing Dhirubhai-1 and 3 (D-1 & D-3) fields in the KGD6 block. The cost cannot vary by more than 15%. The MC had at its two previous meetings in November and December 2011 refused  to approve the field development plan (FDP) for the Dhirubhai-2, 6, 19 and 22 (D-2, D-6, D-19 and D-22) fields after the government representative raised certain objections. RIL agreed to cap spending on the four fields at $1.529 billion, plus or minus 15%. The four fields can produce 10 million cubic metres of gas per day by 2016, which will help shore up output from the block, which has seen a 35% decline in production in the past 15 months.

Export Duty on Iron Ore Exports raised

The Union government raised the ad valorem duty (export duty) on iron ore exports to 30 per cent from 20 per cent. The decision is expected to step up finances of cash-strapped government by around Rs 8500-9000 crore. The Federation of Indian Mineral Industries, the apex body of miners however complained that Indian ore would no longer be competitive internationally. The increase in export tax could lower the profit margin of Sesa Goa Ltd., India's largest iron-ore exporter by volume. Shipments from the South Asian country decreased 28% between April and November to 40 million tons, according to the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries.  Volumes were hit by a mining ban in the southern state of Karnataka, a  freeze on sale of old stocks in western Goa state and transport bottlenecks in the eastern state of Orissa. India exported 97.64 million tons iron ore in 2012. The Supreme Court had in early 2011 banned mining in the major iron-ore producing districts of Karnataka to prevent illegal mining and environmental damage. In Goa, moves to reduce environmental impact and illegal mining affected production. The two states account for around 70% of India's iron-ore exports.

RBI allowed NRIs to hedge their Currency Risk in respect of ECB

The Reserve Bank of India on 29 December 2011 allowed non-residents to hedge their currency risk in respect of external commercial borrowings (ECB) denominated in rupees, with AD Category-I (authorised dealer) banks in India. The apex bank mentioned that the amount and tenor of the hedge cannot not exceed that of the underlying transaction. Besides, it should be in consonance with the extant regulations regarding tenor of payment or realisation of the proceeds. The NGOs (non-Government organisations) engaged in microfinance activities were permitted to avail themselves of ECBs designated in Indian rupee under the automatic route from overseas organisations and individuals as per the ECB guidelines. According to the RBI, once cancelled the contracts cannot be rebooked. The contracts may, however, be rolled over on or before maturity. On cancellation of the contracts, gains may be passed on to the customer.

Financial Package of Rs 257 crore Recommended for NEPA

The Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE) recommended a financial package of Rs 257 crore to revive the sick newsprint unit NEPA. The initiative was taken after the government shelved its plan to divest majority stake in  the company and revive it through a  joint venture with the private sector. The government holds 97.75% in NEPA. BRPSE also favoured the waiving off NEPA's interest and statutory dues worth Rs 304 crore. The Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises suggestion was made to NEPA's administrative ministry, the Department of Heavy Industry. BRPSE suggested the department to infuse Rs 175 crore in the form of fresh equity to meet part-finance of total expenditure of Rs 318 crore for Revival and Mill Development Plan (RMDP). It also recommended sanction of non-plan loan of Rs 22.48 crore towards cash loss from production for the first year of production. The Madhya Pradesh-based company suffered a loss of Rs 70.40 crore in 2010-11.

Union Government Quadrupled Limits on Loans

The Union government quadrupled (four times) the limits on loans that a bank’s internal committee can approve. The giovernment’s move is expected to quicken credit clearance at 26 state-run banks, including the Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank. The government directed banks to set up a credit approval committee — comprising chairman, executive directors and three chief general managers who is to handle credit, finance and risk management functions. The group can approve credit proposals up to Rs 400 crore. Currently, any loan above Rs 100 crore has to be vetted by the management committee of the board, which meet once a month, or 20 days. Under the old regime, a management committee of the board, which included a Reserve Bank of India nominee and two independent directors  appointed by rotation, the bank’s chairman and managing director and executive directors, took these decisions. The prescribed  limit is applicable on Category A banks with a business of Rs 3 lakh crore, while smaller public sector banks can use the same structure to approve loans up to Rs 250 crore. If a loan under consideration is higher than these limits, it would be take to the management board.

RBI Ordered Banks to Keep More Capital For Investments in Financial Entities

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) ordered banks to set aside more capital for their investments in financial entities such as insurance with an objective to strengthens the ring fence around banks. However the move can strain capital resources which are increasingly getting scarce. The RBI proposed the raise in risk weight to prevent banks from getting affected because of their holdings in other finance entities. The banks are to set aside 25% more capital following the central bank raise of the risk weight for buying or holding of equity in financial entities. Banks’ investments in paid-up equity of financial entities, even if they are exempted from the capital market exposure norms, will thus be assigned a 125 percent risk weight. The proposal is expected to lead banks, which at present set aside Rs 9 for every Rs 100 of investment in financial entities, to keep aside about Rs 11. RBI opined that consolidation in the banking sector would pave the way for stronger financial institutions with the capacity to meet corporate and infrastructure funding needs, and to rescue distressed lenders. However, it prescribed a non-operative bank holding company structure to avoid creation of complex institutions.

Uniform Licence Fee of 8 % of AGR recommended

Telecom Commission, the decisionmaking body of the Department of Telecommunications recommended a uniform licence fee of 8 per cent of adjusted gross revenues (AGR). Uniform license fee of 8 % was recommended as against the prevalent rate of 6-8 per cent depending upon the type of service and circle a firm is operating. The Commission’s move will put more financial pressure on telecom operators. The Telecom Commission is also likely to impose one-time charges on extra 2G spectrum that operators have been holding beyond the contractual limit of 6.2 MHz. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) also recommended a charge of 8 per cent of AGR for deciding the license fee. TRAI recommended that each MHz of additional spectrum (beyond 6.2 MHz of contractual radio waves) held by operators should have one-time cost of Rs.4571.87 crore (pan-India). The Telecom Commission futher specified that in future additional spectrum would be allotted through the auction route. The Telecom Commission had accepted the TRAI recommendation on merger and acquisition (M&A), which according to the Commission would help consolidation of the mobile sector that currently has around a dozen players, the highest in the world. The Commission accepted the TRAI's recommendations on spectrum sharing as well. The spectrum sharing would be permitted between any two licensees holding spectrum, subject to the condition that the total bandwidth would not cross the permissible limit under mergers. The permission would be for five years, subject to renewal for one more term of five years. As per the new regulation, pre-2008 operators will need to pay one-time additional spectrum charge. The operators are currently paying about 6-10%, depending on the circles they operate in. The new figure of 8% is much more than what the TRAI had earlier suggested at 6%.

Cheques to be issued conforming to Cheque Truncation System 2010 Standard

The Reserve Bank on 27 December 2011 directed all banks to issue cheques conforming to Cheque Truncation System (CTS) 2010 standard with uniform features from 1 April 2012 onwards. All banks providing cheque facility to their customers were advised to issue only CTS-2010 standard cheques not later than 1 April 2012 on priority basis in northern and southern region. The twonorthern and southern region will be part of the northern and southern CTS grids respectively. CTS-2010 standard cheques are to be issued by banks across the country by 30 September 2012 through a time bound action plan. The Indian Banks Association ( IBA) and National Payment Corporation of India ( NPCI) were vested with the responsibility of coordinating and implementing the uniform cheque standard across the country by all participating banks.

Need for the CTS

The introduction of new cheque standards 'CTS 2010' was needed on account of several developments in the cheque clearing: growing use of multi-city and payable-at-par cheques at any branch of a bank, increasing popularity of Speed Clearing for local processing of outstation cheques and implementation of grid based Cheque Truncation System (CTS) for image-based cheque processing etc.

Advantage of the CTS

The new cheque standard CTS 2010 with set of minimum security features will ensure uniformity across all cheque forms issued by banks in the country as well as help presenting banks while scrutinising and recognising cheques of drawee banks in an image-based processing scenario, RBI said in a notification. The homogeneity in security features is also expected to act as a deterrent against cheque frauds. Also, the standardisation of field placements on cheque forms would enable straight-through-processing both under CTS and MICR clearing.

RBI tightened the Capital Adequacy Norms for all NBFCs

The Reserve Bank on 26 December 2011 tightened the prudential norms for the non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) under which the NBFCs will have to account for risks towards off-balance sheet items while computing capital adequacy requirement. The NBFCs can thus participate in the credit default swap market only as users. As users, the NBFCs would be permitted only to hedge their credit risk on corporate bonds they hold. However, they are not permitted to sell protection. They are therefore not permitted to enter into short positions in the credit default contracts. NBFCs are however permitted to exit their bought CDS positions by unwinding them with the original counter-party or by assigning them in favour of buyer of the underlying bond. RBI also tightened the capital adequacy norms for all NBFCs. The rule tightening exercise comes in the wake of their stepped-up exposure to off- balance sheet items. The RBI revised capital adequacy norms for non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) with an objective to improve their capacity and help manage off-balance sheet exposure. The regulatory framework was expanded to have greater granularity in the risk weights and credit conversion factors  for different types of off-balance sheet items. In the normal course of their business, NBFCs are exposed to credit and market risks due to asset-liability transformation as the Indian markets are now more integrated with global ones.

Tea Imports Declined

According to the Tea Board data released in December 2011, tea imports declined by 14 per cent to 9.91 million kg in the April-October period of 2011. Imports of the brew fell by 15% to 14.15 million kg from 16.57 million kg in January-October 2010. The country had imported 11.55 million kg of tea in same period in 2010. India, the world's largest consumer of tea imports tea leaves solely for re-export to other countries. The dip in imports therefore signals lower re-exports. The inbound shipments of tea from most countries, except Argentina, Iran and the UK, registered a decline in the first seven months of the 2011-12 financial year. India imports tea largely from Kenya, Malawi, Nepal, Argentina, Iran, Sri Lanka, China and Indonesia, among other countries. India is the second-biggest producer of tea in the world and accounts for about 28% of global output and 14% of trade. There are around 1600 tea estates in India and the industry employs more than two million people.

IT Sector created most Jobs in the last 5 Years

The information technology (IT) sector led by the top three listed companies, TCS, Infosys and Wipro, created the most jobs in the five years ending 2011 compared with other sectors. Increased employment in the sector was boosted by an over two-fold jump in aggregate revenue. The data is based on the hiring trend of a sample of 600 listed companies that reported annual financials along with headcount information since 2006. The findings provide a reflection of the changing trend in India’s GDP composition. There was a marked shift from the agrarian phase to the services phase. The data revealed that the proportion of services sector jobs in the total headcount of the sample rose to 46.5% in 2011 from 41.8% in 2006. The sample companies also expanded the aggregate headcount by 48% to 43.8 lakh employees between 2006 and 2011. IT Sector The analysis by Economic Times (ET) Intelligence Group of the trend in job creation by the organised sector reflected the rising clout of services companies. Of the 14.3 lakh jobs created between Financial 2006 and 2011, over 8 lakh (56%) were added by companies in the services sectors, which includes banking and finance, healthcare, hospitality, technology, telecom, trading and retail. These companies created four out of seven jobs in the country over the past five years thereby outpacing the manufacturing sector. IT sector players led the service sector, adding as many as 4.5 lakh employees. TCS, Infosys and Wipro together added 2.4 lakh people, or more than half the total additions for the sector.

First Pan-India Satellite Survey

The first pan-India satellite survey jointly commissioned by Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) and the National Federation of Co-operative Sugar Factories Ltd (NFCSF) pegged the cane area for  2011-12 crop year starting October at 51.82 lakh hectares (lh). For the first time the survey was carried out Statewise and district-wise for the area under sugarcane, through satellite mapping on such a large-scale. Satellite images of the cane area procured from the National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad, were analysed using the Geographical Information Systems software by South India-based firm. A satellite mapping of sugarcane acreage carried out for the first time across India showed an increase of 3% over the government estimate. The data showed acreage to be the same in Uttar Pradesh and higher by 3% in Maharashtra as compared to the figures projected by the ministry of agriculture for the two states. According to the satellite data, acreage for 2011-12 has been estimated at 51.82 lakh hectare. The figure is higher than the estimates made manually by the sugar industry at 50.79 lakh hectare, by the ministry of agriculture at 50.93 lakh hectare and the ministry of food and public distribution at 50.25 lakh hectare. India joined the ranks of major sugar producers such as Brazil and Thailand in leveraging remote sensing technology to estimate the cane area.

Illegal Mutual Roaming Agreements to be Scrap

India's telecom ministry on 22 December 2011 informed mobile phone operators that they must scrap illegal mutual roaming agreements that allow them to provide seamless nationwide 3G services. As per the ministry, the pacts that let the operators offer 3G services outside their licensed zones are in violation of terms and conditions of their licences. The government complained that telecom operators wereusing the 3G roaming deals to offer services in areas where they have not paid for the spectrum. Leading mobile operators such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular had struck deals with each other to offer ultra-fast 3G services in areas where they did not acquire spectrum in a costly bandwidth auction in 2010. The firms entered into the deals because none could afford nationwide 3G spectrum in the high-priced sale. Bharti has 3G bandwidth in 13 of India's 22 telecom zones while Idea has access in 11 areas and Vodafone's India unit in nine. The announcement by the ministry dealt a a blow to the companies, which had hoped to recover their 3G auction payments by providing high-premium 3G data services across the country in India's fiercely competitive telecom market. Earlier operators had noted that in case they could not offer nationwide roaming, the government should refund the sums paid for 3G spectrum or restage the auction as it would alter the basis on which 3G bids were made. Third- generation services, or 3G, allow mobile phone users to surf the Internet, video conference and download music, video and other content at a much faster pace than the current second-generation service offered in India. The government had reaped $15 billion from auctioning the 3G licences in 2010. Bharti and Idea paid 123 billion rupees ($2.3 billion) for licences while Vodafone paid 116 billion rupees. Indian telecom companies which currently generate only small revenues from data services expect the market to grow exponentially as less than 10 percent of the 1.2 billion population has access to Internet at the moment. India has some 881.4 million mobile and 33.2 million fixed-line subscribers with total teledensity at 76, up from 2.5 in 2000.

Moody's upgraded Credit Rating of Indian Government's Bonds

Credit rating agency Moody's on 21 December 2011 upgraded the credit rating of the Indian government's bonds from the speculative to investment grade. According to a release issued by the Finance Ministry, Moody's unified India's local and foreign currency bond ratings at Baa3. The ratings agency initially had separate rating for investors who choose to buy bonds in foreign currency and separate rating for those who have a rupee exposure. the ratings agency had a Baa3 foreign currency rating and a Ba1 local currency rating till September 2011. Moody's Investor Service upgraded its local currency rating for Indian government bonds to Baa3 which is investment grade as compared to the earlier Ba1 which is junk or speculative grade. India's Baa3 rating incorporates credit strengths such as a large, diversified economy, robust medium term growth prospects and a strong domestic savings pool that facilitates the financing and refinancing of the government's relatively high debt burden. India's foreign currency bond ceiling is unchanged at Baa2, and the foreign currency bank deposit ceiling is Baa3. The local currency bond and bank deposit ceilings are unified at A1. In addition, the government's local currency short-term rating has been changed to P-3 from NP, indicating the government's ability to repay short-term debts. Moody's expected India's growth downturn to persist for the next two quarters, but the GDP growth would be above average with respect to the similarly rated peers. Giving the rationale for the upgrade, Moody's mentioned that diverse sources of Indian growth have enhanced its resilience to global shocks. The present slowdown could reverse some time in 2012-13, as inflation cools from the current 9 per cent levels. Moody’s upgrade is expected to attract Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) to the Indian bond market and boost the gloomy economic outlook. The last time Moody's upgraded any Indian long-term sovereign debt instrument from the speculative to investment grade was in 2004.

India exited from $1 trillion Group

Fears of continuing economic slowdown, lack of decision making at the centre, rising fiscal deficit combined with not-so-impressive revenue collections  upset Dalal Street investors on 20 December 2011 leading to a 204 points loss in sensex to end at 15175. The loss of 204 points represented a 28-month low for the index and its fifth consecutive session of losses, during which it has lost 827 points, or 5.2%. The day’s slide was triggered by FII selling which recorded a net outflow of Rs 526 crore, taking the month’s total net outflow to about Rs 1300 crore. The Indian rupee which had weakened further to go below 53 to a US dollar level again, closed at level of Rs 52.89 on 19 December 2011. The combined effect of the market’s slide and the depreciation of the rupee forced India to exit from the select group of countries with a $1 trillion market capitalization. With BSE’s market cap currently at Rs 52.53 lakh crore, India’s market cap in dollar terms works out to $993 billion. On 28 May 2007, when the rupee was showing unusual strength against the dollar and hovered around the 40 mark that India had first entered the $1-trillion market cap league. However, lately the twin effect of rupee’s weakness and the slide of the market combined to drag it below the trillion dollar mark. According to Bloomberg data, India’s market cap so far in 2011 went down by 38%, making it the worst performing market among the 12 countries that were in the trillion dollar club.

India's Energy Security Under Pressure

As per a joint study by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry ( FICCI) and consultancy firm Ernst and Young, India's energy security is under severe pressure due to reasons like increasing dependence on imported oil, regulatory uncertainty and natural gas pricing policies. The report mentioned that a small pool of skilled manpower and poor upstream infrastructure are also exerting pressure.

Report

According to the report, there exists a dire need to address the supply issue through a slew of policy reforms, as well as to launch a massive awareness campaign on the demand side management, and the pricing of products to incentivise investments for raising domestic production. As per the Integrated Energy Policy of the Government, India's requirement of primary commercial energy is projected to increase from 551 million tonne of oil equivalent in 2011-12 to 1823 mt of oil equivalent in 2031-32. The increase in oil price by $10 a barrel is likely to slow the GDP growth by 0.2 per cent and may inflate the current account deficit by 0.4 per cent. Also, the recent depreciation of the rupee raised the crude oil imports costs, impacting trade deficit and domestic inflation. Consequently the import of crude oil and oil products rose from $50.3 billion in 2005-06 to $115.9 billion in 2010- 11. In the current financial year (till October 2011), oil imports touched $75 billion. The country meets 73 percent of its fuel needs through oil imports.

Suggestions Made

The study sugggested the need to introduce reform and favourable policies for the private sector to secure foreign oil and gas assets. India,  though has surplus oil refining capacity, it still needs major  investments to upgrade the existing production infrastructure. It also stressed on the need to shore up the energy security initiatives in an environment of unstable geopolitical situation in the Middle East and North Africa, from where India gets 60 percent of its oil imports. DGH approved Cairn India’s Proposal The directorate general of hydrocarbons (DGH), the technical arm of the oil ministry approved Cairn India’s proposal to commence production from Bhagyam, the second-largest oil field in the Rajasthan block. The company, which currently operates the block with a 70% stake, waited for a year to obtain approvals to start production.The DGH gave its approvals to commence production from Bhagyam, along with both the management committee and the operations committee. The management committee comprises Cairn India, ONGC and representatives of the DGH and the petroleum minister  while the OC is composed of only JV partners Cairn India and ONGC. The representatives of the oil ministry also gave their in-principle nod to commence production. Currently, Mangala, the biggest of the 18 discoveries in the Rajasthan block, is producing 125000 bpd. Bhagyam is targeted to produce a peak output of 40000 bpd by the end of 2011, which would help Cairn achieve the approved peak output of up to 175000 bpd. The approvals were stuck for more than a year as previously, the ministry wanted all prior entitlement issues related to the Vedanta deal to be resolved before giving Cairn a go-ahead to start production from the oil field.

Indian Mobile Phone Market grew 12%

According to the International Data Corporation's (IDC) Quarter 3 2011 Mobile Phone Tracker release, the  Indian mobile phone market grew 12% in units shipped in the July-September quarter of 2011 to clock 47.07 million units. Year-on-year too, there was a shipment growth of 13.8%. The shipments were propelled by the dual-SIM handsets, which grew by 25.2 per cent over the previous quarter (April-June). The mobile phone shipments witnessed a spurt, as vendors built channel inventories ahead of a long festival season. Dual-SIM handset shipments were notable with a sequential growth of 25.2% over the previous quarter(april-June quarter). However there was a sharp decline in the mobile service subscription adds during July-Sept 2011. According to the release, the overall, smartphones shipment for the India market showed an impressive growth of 21.4% over the previous quarter and 51.5% year-on-year. This helped the segment grow its contribution to the mobile phone shipment to 6.5% in third quarter from 5.6% in the second quarter. From an operating system (OS) perspective, Android overtook Symbian to emerge as the top platform in India for the first time, with a share of 42.4% of the smartphone market. The platform (Android) saw a growth of 90% over the previous quarter. The Apple iOS consolidated further, with a 3.09% share of the smartphone market, compared to a share of 2.6% in second quarter (April-June) of 2011.

Repo Rate Unchanged at 8.5 %

The Reserve Bank of India on 16 December 2011 left its policy rate unchanged at a three-year high of 8.5 per cent. RBI paused the hike after 13 consecutive rate hikes since March 2010. The Reserve Bank of India kept its policy repo rate unchanged at 8.5 percent at its midquarter review two days after data showed November wholesale price index inflation at 9.11 percent, far lower than the 9.73 percent clocked in October. The RBI also left the cash reserve ratio unchanged at 6 percent, despite market specualtion that it might cut the ratio in order to boost market liquidity. The central bank noted that while inflation remained should be acquired, which was permitted by the Finance Mini

RBI announced Nondirect Intervention Measures

The Reserve Bank of India announced non-direct intervention measures in the wake of steady weakening of the rupee against the dollar. The non-direct intervention measures are aimed at curbing speculative positions in the foreign exchange market. Re-booking cancelled forward contracts, whatever the type and tenor of the underlying exposure, by resident and foreign institutional investors has been disallowed. Forward contracts booked to hedge current account transactions regardless of the tenor were allowed to be cancelled and rebooked. Such facility was also available to hedge capital account transactions that were falling due within one year. The apex bank through the new measures made it clear that forward contracts once cancelled cannot be rebooked. The central bank also modified the currency risk hedging norms for importers and exporters. Importers were earlier allowed to hedge currency risk on the basis of a declaration of an exposure based  on past performance up to the average of the previous three financial years' actual import/export turnover or the previous year's import/export turnover, whichever is higher. Also, contracts booked in excess of 75 per cent of the eligible limit were to be on a deliverable basis and could not be cancelled. The apex bank revised these norms. As a result of the revision the earlier 75 per cent facility stands reduced to 25 per cent of the limit as compounded by above for importers who avail themselves of the past performance facility. If importers have already used up in excess of the revised or reduced facility, they will not be allowed further bookings. the RBI also specified that this facility will be available on fully deliverable basis only. The RBI reduced the net overnight open position limit (NOOPL) of authorised dealers across the board with an objective to prevent speculations in the foreign exchange market. It asserted that the intra-day open position/ daylight limit of authorised dealers should not exceed the RBI-approved NOOPL. The apex bank indicated that these arrangements would be reviewed periodically in line with the evolving market conditions.

49% FDI in Insurance Sector rejected

A parliamentary committee on 13 December 2011 rejected almost all the key changes proposed in the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill 2008, including the key reform to allow 49% foreign direct investment in the sector. The the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in December 2008 to bring about improvement and revision of laws pertaining to the insurance sector in the changed scenario of private sector participation and was subsequently referred to the standing committee. The panel headed by BJP leader and former Finance Minister (during NDA regime) Yashwant Sinha maintained that the move to hike the FDI cap in the insurance sector might not have  the desired effect and could expose the economy to global vulnerability. The standing panel pointed out in its report that the proposal to increase the FDI cap to 49 per cent in insurance companies appeared to have been decided upon without any sound and objective analysis of the status of the insurance sector following liberalisation. Increased role of foreign capital it was feared would lead to the possibility of exposing the economy to the vulnerabilities of the global market, flight of capital outside the country and also endanger the interest of the policy holders. The government's move was also opposed by both insurance regulator IRDA and GIPSA on grounds that that foreign insurers would be at an advantage over their domestic counterparts in the matter of regulations.

Health insurance Business

The panel also rejected the proposal to halve the minimum paid up capital required to start exclusive health insurance business to Rs 50 crore. The committee mentioned that the amount may be inadequate as an insurance company needs to be fully equipped with modern infrastructure and other facilities. Another proposal to empower the insurance companies to appoint agents and do away with the system of licensing of agents by the regulator, IRDA, was rejected. The panel maintained the measure is inappropriate and fraught with the danger of leading to ineffective regulation of the profession, particularly in instances of unscrupulous act on the part of the agents as also insurance companies. Profitability of Textile Companies to Improve. CRISIL Research released its report on profitability of textile companies on 14 December 2011. According to the research firm, profitability of cotton yarn and man-made fibre (MMF) players are expected to improve over the next few quarters on account of decline in input costs  and moderate demand growth. During the first quarter of 2011-12, the textiles companies witnessed severe profitability pressures which led to significant erosion in their market capitalisation. cotton yarn and MMF players have registered a negative return of 48% and 37%, respectively in the past one year. CRISIL Research  opined that the current valuation of players discounts the current negative sentiments around the sector and offers good scope for upside. Also, stocks of ready-made garment (RMG) companies are fairly priced in spite of being at historical highs, as they offer relatively high and stable returns among the textile companies during the present uncertain times. The stocks of branded RMG companies have out-performed the S&P CNX NIFTY significantly and posted 25% return on a one-year basis.  The slow-down in demand in both domestic and export markets and the anticipation of a spurt in global cotton production resulted in sharp correction in cotton and yarn prices in the first half of 2011-12. This resulted in cotton yarn players reporting  losses in the same period as they were carrying high cost cotton inventory from the last season. However, the sharp drop in cotton yarn prices also enhanced its price competitiveness vis-a-vis polyester (a substitute for cotton) thereby limiting the flexibility of MMF players to pass on the  hike in the costs of their inputs, which are derivatives of crude oil. CRISIL Research covered seven textile stocks– Nahar Spinning Mills and Maharaja Shree Umaid Mills in the  cotton yarn segment, JBF Industries, Sangam (India) , Alok Industries and Shri Lakshmi Cotsyn in the MMF segment, Kewal Kiran in the RMG space. Of these, most companies have a valuation grade of 5/5, indicating that these stocks have a strong upside (more than 25%).

CCEA approved National Electricity Fund

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs( CCEA) on 13 December 2011 approvednational electricity fund to provide subsidy of 8466 crore rupees for projects of electricity distribution sector for a period of 14 years. The fund will be operational within a period of six months to one year. The fund is being set up to provide interest subsidy on loans to be disbursed to the distribution companies both in the private and the public sector. The objective is to improve the distribution network for areas not covered by Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojna (RGGVY) and Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (R-APDRP) project areas.

Mobile Subscriber Base in India increased to 881.4 million

According to the data released by the regulator TRAI on 8 December 2011, mobile subscriber base in India increased to 881.4 million by October 2011 from 873.61 million in September 2011 registering a growth of 0.89%. The overall teledensity (telephones per 100 people) in India reached 76.03%. Telecom operators added 7.79 million mobile subscribers in October 2011, taking the total number of telephone users in the country to 914.59 million. The number of active mobile subscribers,  according to the visitor location register (VLR) data, during the month of was 626.18 million. VLR numbers provide details on active customers at any given point of time, excluding switched-off and out-of-the-coverage area customers.

Performance by the Telecom Operators

The growth in the wireless category was led by Uninor, which added 2.66 million new users, taking its subscriber base to 32.31 million by the end of October 2011. Tata Teleservices on the other hand lost 0.93 million and its subscriber base stood at 87.83 million. The country’s largest private operator Bharti Airtel added 0.94 million subscribers, taking its user base to 173.73 million. Vodafone added 0.92 million new customers to take its user base to 145.91 million. Idea Cellular and Aircel added 1.63 million and 0.48 million users, respectively, during the period. Idea's subscriber base stood at 101.81 million at the end of October 2011, while that of Aircel stood at 60.28 million. RCom (Reliance Communications) added 1.03 million new subscribers to take its user base to 148.11 million, while SSTL added 0.74 million new users to take its total userbase to 14.01 million.State-run telcos BSNL and MTNL added 0.40 million and 31788 new users in October. The subscriber base of BSNL stood at 96.19 million and 5.61 million, respectively

Mobile Number Portability (MNP)

As per TRAI’s report, about 25.38  lakh subscribers submitted request for MNP in October 2011. Since the introduction of MNP in November 2010, about 231.66 lakh subscribers across India had submitted requests, till October, for changing their service providers while retaining their mobile numbers. In MNP Zone-I (Northern and Western India), maximum number of requests were received in Gujarat (22.39 lakh), followed by Maharashtra (19.10 lakh). In MNP Zone-II (Southern and Eastern India), maximum number of requests have been received in Andhra Pradesh (19.46 lakh) followed by Karnataka Service area (19.18 lakh). Broadband Wireline category subscriber base declined to 33.19 million in October from 33.31 million in September. Broadband subscription reached 12.98 million in the reported month from 12.84 million in September 2011.

Coal Ministry decided to Auction 54 Blocks on

The coal ministry decided to auction 54 blocks on upfront payment basis. The ministry however might not offer mines to power companies. The ministry is currently considering a proposal to earmark blocks to states that can call competitive bids for power supply. The coal ministry also decided that blocks will not be given free to government companies. Though competitive bidding route would not be applicable to centre and state government projects, PSUs will have to pay reserve price for coal blocks. Preference would be given to companies setting up end use projects in the state that hosts the coal block and agree to match the highest bid. The blocks lie in the coal belts of seven states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. Blocks with over 18,000 million tonnes of reserves is set to go under hammer in the first round of competitive bidding. The government has not awarded single coal or lignite block for captive use to private companies since October 2008. The coal ministry decided to initiate auction by putting the list of blocks on its website. Information on estimated reserves, exploration status and environmental clearances would also be provided. The ministry’s objective is to avoid double bidding for power companies that after January  2011 have to participate in tariffbased bidding to bag power supply contracts from states.

ICICI’s & IDBI’s Launch of CDS

India’s largest private lender by assets, ICICI Bank and IDBI Bank, the seventh largest public sector bank in India together launched India’s first credit default swap (CDS) on 7 December 2011. CDS was launched seven days after the product was cleared by the Reserve Bank of India on 30 November 2011. Public sector undertaking Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) bought the CDS cover for its Rs 5 crore loan from ICICI Bank. The launch of the CDS was a landmark transaction for the domestic corporate debt market and  marked the formal introduction of local currency CDS market in India. IDBI Bank became the country’s first PSU bank to underwrite a CDS transaction in the domestic market for managing credit risks associated with Indian corporate bonds. This is the first transaction of its kind entered by any public sector bank with another bank in India on selling protection in the domestic  market on corporate bonds. The central bank, RBI had issued prudential guidelines on CDS transactions on corporate bonds on 30 November 2011. The guidelines refered to CDS transactions underwritten by Indian operations of foreign banks, Indian banks and overseas branches/subsidiaries/ joint ventures of Indian banks.

Benefits

The launch of the CDS market in India will encourage foreign institutional investors to invest in domestic corporate bonds. The investment in domestic corporate bonds will provide much-needed funding for projects, including infrastructure sector projects. Credit default swaps also will investors to transfer and manage credit risk in an effective manner through redistribution of risk. Such products are expected to increase investors’ interest in corporate bonds and is likely to prove beneficial to the development of the corporate bond market in India.

What is CDS?

A CDS is similar to a traditional insurance policy where it obliges seller of the CDS to compensate the buyer in the event of a loan default. The agreement is that in the event of a default, buyer of the CDS receives the money which is equivalent to the face value of the loan and seller of the CDS receives the defaulted loan and with it the right to recover it at some later time.

ISDC for the Textile and Apparel Sector

With the inauguration of the first state-of-the-art ATDC-SMART (Skill for Manufacturing Apparels through Research and Training) in Egmore, Chennai, the Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDC) for the textile and apparel sector was launched by the Ministry of Textiles. The Ministry launched the project in association with the Apparel Training & Design Centre (ATDC), which was selected as a nodal agency for the project. The project aims to impart training to a workforce of about 256000 in the next two years. The ATDC-SMART project worth Rs 23 billion focuses on the core workforce requirements of the garment industry located across India. The importance of the Scheme can be judged from the fact that the apparel industry is the second largest employment provider in the country after agriculture. Rural youth and women stand to benefit the most from the ISDC. The rural youth would be able to find gainful employment in areas near their domicile with the help of the imparted training. India’s domestic textile market is expected to grow to US$ 60 billion and exports to US$  50 billion by 2015. By 2015 the sector is expected to create an additional 12 million jobs, nearly 40 per cent of which will be in the core production activities. The handicrafts industry employs 12 million people in India currently.

GPON Technology transFerred to Telecom Equipment Makers

The Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) on 5 December 2011 transferred indigenously-developed Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) technology to seven telecom equipment manufacturers, including private players. The GPON technology was transferred to the telecom equipment manufacturers to give the much-needed push to broadband penetration in India. The government transferred this technology to seven manufacturers in public and private sectors — ITI, Bharat Electronics, VMC Systems, United Telecoms, Sai InfoSystem (India), SM Creative Electronics. Transfer of technology was also signed with Tejas Netw

What is GPON Technology ?

The GPON technology is a pivotal component required for broadband connectivity over optical fibre. C-DOT indigenously designed and developed GPON technology, which can be used to provide triple play (voice, video and data) through fibre- based networks. The present GPON standards specify 2.5 Gbps (Gigabit per second) downstream and 1.25 Gbps upstream data capability to customer premise. Apart from urban areas, the large data carrying capability is important for Indian villages too where prevailing low literacy levels will require better dissemination of information with greater graphic and audio content. Besides, voice telephony, high speed Internet access and IPTV, the C-DOT GPON has provision to carry cable TV signal too.The GPON technology was tested, validated, fieldevaluated and made operational in BSNL's network in Ajmer (Rajasthan). The technology will help fulfil requirements of major national programmes like the National Optical Fibre Network and the State Wide Area Network.