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India’s auto downturn: spare a thought for the car dealers
Please buy it
It’s been well reported that India’s car industry is in trouble. Every month we hear the woes of the car producers – Tata Motors sales down 17.5 per cent year-on-year in May, Maruti down 14.4 per cent.
That’s the producers – what about the dealers? Continue reading »
Falling rupee: a headache for overseas Indian depositors
When Indian policy makers held rates steady last week, their main concern was over the current account deficit and the weakening rupee.
But there is another group of people who will be watching those two numbers closely – who just happen to be the same folk that have been quietly helping reduce the current account deficit for a while now: non-resident Indians (NRIs) with deposits in Indian banks. Continue reading »
India telecoms: price cuts on roaming
India’s 3m square kilometres are divided, in telecoms, into 22 circles – creating a mammoth jigsaw for consumers, operators and regulators.
Last year, the industry regulator, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), embarked on the grandly-named “One Nation” policy which plans to abolish roaming charges. And this week it took its first step in that direction. Continue reading »
Jet shares wobble on deal delay
Shares in Jet Airways dipped more than 12 per cent on Monday morning on Friday’s decision by India’s Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to defer approving Etihad Airways’ plan to buy a stake in the Indian airline.
They recovered later in the day to close up 1.3 per cent to Rs476.5 afte investors realised the delay was just that – a temporary glitch – and wouldn’t stop the deal going ahead. No problem, then? Continue reading »
India holds rates to help protect rupee
The Reserve Bank of India on Monday kept its key benchmark lending rate unchanged at 7.25 per cent. While it might have wanted to continue with recent cuts to boost a flagging economy, the plunge in the rupee left the central bank with little choice. Continue reading »
Infosys hikes salaries to boost morale
Narayana Murthy, the co-founder of Infosys who returned to the helm of the company just weeks ago, has arrived like Santa Claus -bearing gifts.
The Indian IT bellwether has announced pay hikes for employees as it looks to boost morale at the company and keep up with peers in the industry.
India: a new plan to boost FDI
With the rupee under the cosh, a faltering economy and slowing equity markets, India could do with propping up foreign direct investment.
Step forward the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the market regulator. In an attempt to increase foreign portfolio investment into the country, a committee at Sebi has recommended several measures to make it easier for investors to send money into the country. Continue reading »
Guest post: India’s 2014 election will balance corporate and rural interests
By Russell Holden and Randeep Grewal of Taylor Wessing LLP
It has been dubbed the world’s greatest election – a poll staggered over a month involving approximately 780m voters and 250,000 security personnel. In a year’s time, India will have voted for its 16th democratically elected government since independence from Britain. As expected, the main political parties are already jockeying for position among the considerable bank of rural class voters. However, this election campaign is showing early signs of the increased importance of the middle classes in Indian politics. Both the ruling Congress party and its main opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP, appear to recognise that the impact of appealing to professionals and entrepreneurs through talk of improving corporate governance and pro-growth policies may be as great as the traditional focus on rural India. Continue reading »
India: falling rupee and low growth – rates dilemma for RBI
With sluggish growth, industrial production down, car sales slowing and manufacturing confidence fading, what can the Reserve Bank of India come up with?
The RBI has a decision to make next week – can it cut rates? It will be keen to jumpstart the economy. But the sharp depreciation of the rupee this week could force the central bank to hold off its plans. Continue reading »
India coal ministry takes aim at companies over inaction
India’s Ministry of Coal is lighting a fire under companies that are sitting on idle coal blocks as the growth of the Indian economy is choked by power shortages.
The resources were allocated on the condition that coal production begin within between 36 and 54 months, depending on the mine in question. But after repeated delays, the ministry has called time, and is threatening to take back allocated blocks. Continue reading »
India car sales: what can stop the drop?
Please buy it
Not again. Car sales fell for the seventh consecutive month in India this May, adding to the longest ever period of decline in the industry and sparking concerns that the market may shrink two years in a row.
Data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) show that car sales fell 12.3 per cent year-on-year in May with a total 143,216 vehicles sold altogether, down from 163,222 units in May 2012. Continue reading »
Guest post: the Brics Development Bank is more than welcome
By Marcos Troyjo of Columbia University
The creation of the Brics Development Bank, announced during the Brics Summit in South Africa in March, is a key move towards giving some backbone to the Brics as a group. The five nations will again work on setting up the Bank as they hold a parallel meeting to the G-20 gathering in St Petersburg in September.
The BDB is not being designed to compete with traditional institutions such as the World Bank and other multilateral agencies. Quite the contrary, its motivation is to perform a complementary role to existing Washington-based institutions. It should be welcomed by the entire international community – and particularly by the Brics themselves. It will allow them to show that their constructive capacity is for real. Continue reading »
Indian companies v international peers: ‘less chance of success’
An Indian company that is a sector leader has only a 15 per cent chance of remaining in that position five years later. A new report by Ambit Capital, the Mumbai based brokerage, says that the companies listed on India’s benchmark Nifty index churn by 50 per cent every decade, compared with 25 per cent in developed markets.
That’s bad news for Indian companies – and bad news for India. So, why is that Indian companies tend to slide so easily from market leader to also-ran? Continue reading »
India: rupee at all-time low
The rupee dipped to an all-time low of 57.9 the dollar on Monday, depreciating by over 1.5 per cent amid renewed concern about the end of quantitative easing in the US. Continue reading »
Indian retail FDI: more rules
Still safe from Walmart
Last year, the Indian government loudly opened up the multi-brand retailing industry, allowing foreign investors to hold up to 51 per cent in companies.
But the euphoria was short-lived. Very soon, it emerged that states would approve the reforms individually and the policy would have to go before India’s very stroppy parliament.
Now, the government has begun clarifying the rules – and, for foreign investors, things look every more difficult. Continue reading »
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