Budget 2016 Title Sponsors Co-Sponsors Associate Sponsors Partners Home » Money Last Modified: Wed, Feb 17 2016. 03 49 Pm Ist Rupee Off Day’S Low, Trades Weaker Against Us Dollar At 68.52

Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Wednesday came off the day’s lows against the US dollar amid expectations of a steady outflow of dollars from local equity and debt markets.

At 2.46pm, the home currency was trading at 68.52, down 0.2% from its previous close of 68.38. The local currency opened at 68.52 a dollar and touched a low of 68.67—a level last seen on 4 September 2013.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have been sellers for the 10th consecutive session and fifth consecutive session, respectively in equity and debt markets. The Sensex index rose 0.92%, or 221.19 points, to 23,413.16. So far this year, the Sensex has fallen 11.5%.

“It all now depends on what the Reserve Bank of India does in the market. If the current momentum continues, it is quite possible that rupee will hit its all-time low. We see a range of 68.50-68.80 for the session, Ashutosh Raina, head of forex trading HDFC Bank.

The Indian currency is just 0.4% away from its all-time low of 68.85 a dollar hit in August 2013. Since January, the rupee has lost 3.55% on the back of $2.32 billion outflow from the local equity markets.

Weak Asian currencies continued to weigh on the rupee. Malaysian ringgit was down 1.54%, South Korean won 0.85%, Indonesian rupiah 0.7%, Taiwan dollar 0.66%, Philippines peso 0.31%, China offshore spot 0.14%, China renminbi 0.14%, Singapore dollar 0.07%. However, Japanese yen was up 0.32%, Thai baht 0.08%.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 96.666, down 0.21% from its previous close of 96.868.

Meanwhile, the yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond was trading at 7.797% against Tuesday’s close of 7.783%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

 

Source:.livemint.com

Cotton Output Shortage To Affect Textile Exports Of Pakistan

Pakistan cotton crop for the year 2015/16 due to its sharp reduction in output, textile manufacturers are anticipate serious affects on export activities for which they demand for an immediate tax holiday on import of cotton, that might off-set decline in the textile exports.

All Pakistan Textile Manufacturers Association (Aptma) has sent a letter to the finance minister, informing that the cotton crop for the year 2015/16 had miserably failed to meet the industry requirement. There is a shortage of approximately, four million cotton bales compared to the last year and the industry will have no option but to import cotton, it added.

The finance minister has been informed that five percent sales tax and three percent customs duty was levied on the import of cotton. In order to make the basic textile industry competitive for the entire textile value chain, the levy on import of cotton should be withdrawn, Aptma said in its letter.

The communication also said the sales tax up to six percent had also been imposed on import of polyester staple fibre (PSF) and Viscose Staple Fibre (VSF).

A textile manufacturer said that the local industry consumed about 15.5 – 16 million bales annually. Previously, the imports stood around 2.5-3 million bales annually. However, the shortage this year has been projected at 10.8 million bales, which means the industry will need around 5-6 million bales to meet the manufacturing demand.

The manufacturer said that fall in production and high rates of duty and taxes had already started affecting textile exports.

Textile exports have already posted 9 percent decline to $6.27 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year as compared with $6.88 billion in the corresponding half of the last fiscal.

On the other hand, cotton import grew sharply due to output shortage. The import of raw cotton posted 175 percent growth to $311 million in July-December 2015 as compared with $113 million in the same months of last year.

The Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) estimates the current year’s output at a 12-year low, as production was recorded at 10.05 million bales back in 2003-2004.

The United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) has projected 10.24 million bales this year output in Pakistan even lower than local estimates.
The USDA projected world-wide decline in cotton production for this year. According to the USDA global data, cotton production may face 13 percent decline this year.

Source:.yarnsandfibers.com

Maharashtra Goes All Out To Prevent Hitches In Mango Exports This Season

Having learnt some bitter lessons from the ban on Indian mango by the European Union (EU) in the past, both government authorities and mango growers from Maharashtra do not wish to repeat their mistakes in the coming season.

This time, officials from the Maharashtra agriculture department, Maharashtra State Agriculture Marketing Board (MSAMB) and Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) have decided to coordinate to ensure that there are not traceability issues and there are no hurdles in exports. Around 70,000 tonne of mango are expected to be exported this season and some 10,000 tonne are slated to be exported to the EU, top officials said. Last year, India exported some 50,000 tonne, very little of this to Europe.The EU had imposed a temporary ban on Alphonso mangoes and four vegetables from India, stating that it had found fruit fly infestation in the fruit and the ban on the mango was later lifted last year towards the end of the season

“These targets will be possible when mango growers from Maharashtra and the rest of the country follow the ‘Mangonet’ protocol. When the Indian mango is banned by some nations, it is not the mango from Maharashtra but mangoes from other states as well and therefore, all the mango growing states need to follow the protocol. MSAMB will be writing to APEDA to ensure that this is followed strictly across the country so that export is not affected,” Milind Akare, MD, MSAMB said after the meet in Pune.

Government agencies had worked to put in place MangoNet — an online traceability system that registers mango growers and exporters and enable importers and supermarkets in the EU to check complete details of their shipments — on the lines of the successful ‘Grapenet’. Maharashtra is the largest mango exporter in the country and accounts for 90% of the total export of the country. A meet has been planned on February 29 at Ratnagiri by the three government agencies to sensitize mango growers in the Konkan region.

According to Akare, although there are some 25,000 mango growers in the state, only 2000 of these are registered on MangoNet. This is because most farmers find it difficult to meet the protocol developed in MangoNet, which includes timely spraying cycles and application of pesticides among other things.

Moreover, APEDA has made it mandatory for exporters to pick mangoes for export only from growers registered on MangoNet. MSAMB has therefore established 22 teams to monitor farmers.

 

source :.financialexpress.com
 

Jsw Steel's Plan To Build A Mega Steel Project In Jharkhand Remains Uncertain

MUMBAI: JSW Steel's plan to build a 10 million tonne steel plant in Jharkhand remains uncertain as excess domestic capacity combined with unabated influx of cheap imports from China, Japan and South Korea in the last one year prove to be real dampeners on the future of mega steel projects in the making.

Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Steel's Rs 35000 crore Jharkhand project was stuck on the drawing board since 2005 due to lack of direct supply of raw material iron ore mines and land acquisitions issues. But high imports from China have added another problem to the list.

"Jharkhand is a long-term plan for JSW Steel. We are waiting for the right time. Presently there is overcapacity in the steel industry and China is dumping steel into India," said Jayant Acharya, Director for Commercial & Marketing at JSW Steel, on the sidelines of Jharkhand seminar at 'Make in India' week on Wednesday.

He added the company was also awaiting clarity on the iron ore linkages in the state.

JSW SteelBSE 1.10 % reported a consolidated net loss of Rs. 923.34 crore for the quarter ended December against a profit of Rs. 328.94 crore in the same quarter last year, hurt by impairment charges and higher competition from Chinese imports.

Indian government's plan to convert India into a manufacturing destination is led by the belief that more factories in India will lead to job creation and reduction in expensive imports.

While the government is trying to make in easy to do business in India global commodity meltdown and insufficient demand to absorb the supply of steel is becoming a stumbling block. Indian government recently imposed a minimum import price on steel, giving some breathing space to steelmakers caught in losses.

JSW Steel is the process of increasing capacity at its existing plants in India. But mega investments like Jharkhand may have wait until the company is sure about demand and link to iron ore mines.

Earlier JSW Steel, which has no captive iron ore mines, suffered in Karnataka as allegations of illegal mining shut access to most commercial mines in the region. It led to increase in production costs.

 

Source :economictimes.indiatimes.com

Indian Car Makers Exports

Passenger-car shipments from India fell 18.85 per cent to 33,909 components in January thanks to challenges in leading export markets like Algeria, Europe and neighboring countries.

Indian car-makers had shipped 41,787 the same month of the previous year.

In 2014/2015, Indian companies released passenger vehicles (PVs) worth $293 million to Algeria. Furthermore, PVs worth $158 million were exported to Sri Lanka. $335 million was accounted for by United-Kingdom.

According to Deputy Director General of SIAM, Sugato Sen : “We are facing issues in Algeria as they have brought in some changes in technical regulations. We have visited the country to sort out the issues. It is bothering us”.

 

Source :indiatransportportal.com

India To Save Rs 30,000 Crore In Fy16 By Cutting Down Coal Imports

MUMBAI: India will save Rs 30,000 crore in 2015-16 by cutting down on coal imports as domestic production has picked up, coal secretary Anil Swarup said. The government is aiming to completely eliminate the import of the kind of coal that is available domestically, he added.

Coal India, the state-run company that is the largest coal producer in the country, plans to double its production to 1 billion tonne by 2020. In the current year through March, it would have scaled up production to 550 million tonne which is likely to increase to 600 million tonne next year.

"Imports have already started coming down. This year, imports are already down by 16% resulting in savings of Rs 22,000 crore so far. We would probably save Rs 30,000 crore by the end of this year," Swarup told ET on the sidelines of the Edelweisss India Conference.

Typically, Indian coal is almost 40% cheaper than imported coal. So far, India has been importing coal as Coal India was unable to match growing demand.

"We will eliminate import of such quality of coal which is available in India in two years," he said. Power plants in the coastal areas are designed to run on high-grade coal, which has higher calorific value and low ash content as compared with the local coal and, to that extent, the country would continue to import this grade of coal. Of the total 212 million tonne of coal imported last year, around 30-40 million tonne were of the quality that is not available locally. "We have so far focused on increasing quantity and its showing results.

Now, the focus is on improving quality of coal. We want to ensure only crushed coal moves out of mines and from January 1st, it has already started happening. This ensures that power plants don't receive coal with high amount of stones as they did in the past," Swarup said.

The ministry has also set up a mechanism for third-party coal sampling to avoid slippages and has pushed for setting up 15 coal washeries to ensure quality.

Swarup said of the 29 mines that were in production were de-allocated and then bid out, 10 have started production again. "These 10 mines are producing 8 million tonne so far. Other mines had issues and some are in court. But we are hopeful that over two-three months, other mines will also start (production)."

Swarup said the power ministry's Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojana initiative will benefit power distributors, increase power demand and subsequently boost coal production.

 

Source :economictimes.indiatimes.com