Rupee Trades Weaker Against Us Dollar At 67.38

Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Tuesday weakened against the US dollar, tracking losses in the local equity and Asian currencies market.

At 4.10pm, the home currency was trading at 67.38, down 0.42% from its previous close of 67.10. The rupee opened at 67.21 and touched a high and a low of 67.21 and 67.42 respectively.

India’s benchmark Sensex index gained 0.050% or 12.75 points to 24,659.23.

Meanwhile, India’s 10-year bond yield was at 7.629%, as compared with its Friday’s close of 7.633%.

Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has lost 1.81%, while foreign institutional investors have sold $2.01 billion from local equity and $1.12 million in debt markets.

Most of the Asian currencies were trading lower. Indonesian rupiah fell 0.57%, South Korean won 0.437%, Singapore dollar 0.469%, Malaysian ringgit 0.508%, Taiwan dollar 0.082%. However, Japanese yen was up 0.523%, China renminbi 0.166%, Philippines peso 0.32%.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 97.056, down 0.02% from its previous close of 97.071.

China’s overseas shipment tumbled 25.4% in US dollar terms from a year ago, while imports extended a streak of declines to 16 months, slumping 13.8%, leaving a trade surplus of $32.6 billion.

Traders are cautious ahead of the European Central Bank (ECB) meets on Thursday and there is expectation of further action from the ECB especially since the inflation data was weaker than expectation.

 

Source :.livemint.com

Steel Imports Have Come Down By 1/4Th Against Fy15: Steel Ministry

NEW DELHI: Steel Ministry has brought down the import of steel, an issue that has eroded profitability of the domestic producers, by almost one-fourth in the first eleven months of this fiscal.

"Through various measures like import and safeguard duty, minimum import price and quality control order, the ministry has curtailed steel imports by almost one-fourth in April-February period this fiscal," Steel and Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told PTI.

During last fiscal, imports of the metal had risen by about 71 per cent, he added.

The minister said the checks were needed to protect the domestic industry as the global downturn led to countries including China dumping cheap steel in India, which has impacted the sales and profits of the companies.

According to data by Joint Plant Committee of the Steel Ministry, imports grew 71 per cent to 9.321 million tonnes (MT) in 2014-15 compared to the previous fiscal, with India remaining a net importer in the previous fiscal.

Import of steel during the eleven months of the current fiscal grew 20.5 per cent to 10.215 MT, while inbound shipment in February 2016 decreased 0.1 per cent to 0.91 MT compared to previous month and was down 7.3 per cent against February 2015. This has been four consecutive months of decline in steel imports.

However, India remained a net importer of total finished steel in the current fiscal so far.

Tomar said to protect the domestic producers, government has imposed a minimum import price in 174 steel products last month.

In July and August last year, the peak customs duty was raised on steel to 15 per cent, while anti-dumping duty was imposed on certain grades of steel products during June and December 2015, he added.

Besides, a provisional safeguard duty of 20 per cent was levied on hot rolled steel coils for a period of six months, Tomar said.

Speaking to reporters later, Tomar said India has become the world's third largest steel producer last year leaving behind the US.

"Since May 2014, steel companies, including state-run SAIL and RINL, have added 16 MT of capacity with an investment of around Rs 1 lakh crore," he said.

India's steel production rose 7.9 per cent to 88.12 MT in 2014-15 fiscal compared with the previous fiscal.

On the ongoing first phase of mine auctions, Tomar said out of the 43 blocks offered, six have been auctioned.

"The states will earn a total revenue of Rs 14,855 crore from these six blocks. In the second phase the 12-mineral bearing states will offer about 42 mineral blocks for auction, which will take place in the next fiscal," he added.

 

Source :economictimes.indiatimes.com

February Coal Imports Inch Up For First Time In 8 Months, Official Says

NEW DELHI: India's coal imports inched up 1.7 per cent in February, the first rise in eight months, coal secretary Anil Swarup told Reuters on Monday, but suggested it may have been a temporary increase based on deals signed earlier.


Imports rose to 16.79 million tonnes from 16.51 million a year ago, ending a downward trend that began in July and lasted until January.


"This is just a marginal increase ...," Swarup said. "It could be on account of a booking made earlier by an importer."
Top Comment
okdeepak baindur


State behemoth Coal India has been boosting output at a record pace though consumption has grown slower than expected, forcing the company to scale down activity in some mines.


India does not have enough good quality resources of steelmaking coal and that grade is imported from countries such as Australia and South Africa.

 

Source :timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Indian Railways Plans To Import Crude Oil To Improve Finances

The rail ministry has embarked on a drive to reform the financially struggling 160-year-old national transporter through a range of initiatives.

The plan, described by the Railway Board's Financial Commissioner S Mookerjee as a "dream", would be implemented over five years. It includes cost optimisation by importing crude oil and procuring refining capacity from oil marketing companies on lease, which would reduce diesel inventories by a third to a mere five days. The railways would raise additional revenue by focusing on export of rolling stock, expanding the freight basket and monetising its vast data bank.

"We are working on a policy that would allow 10 per cent of our rolling stock production capacity to go into producing and exporting rolling stock rather than having it in-house so that our production facilities also stand up on their own feet. We have a target of Rs 4,000 crore of exports by 2020, through exports of machinery and plant," Mookerjee said.

Stressing on cost optimisation, he said reduction in expenditure by cutting down diesel inventories had given the railways relief of around Rs 2,000 crore. "We are also exploring a policy to procure crude oil and then take refining capacity on lease. This is a new thing we are trying to do from next year. This will be in addition to the savings from continued direct purchase of electricity," he said.

Indian Railways consumes around 2.8 billion litres of diesel annually, costing Rs 18,000 crore (around 18 per cent of the net ordinary working expenses).

In addition, the transporter spends around Rs 12,300 crore annually to purchase 17.5 billion units of electricity. About 30 per cent of the fuel bill goes into paying state taxes.

Other initiatives on cards are setting up a dedicated planning and investment organisation for strategic appraisal of projects; redesigning the Railway Board by reclassifying Board Members as Member-Mechanical or Member-Engineering with a new classification on "functional lines" including Member-Freight and Member-Passenger; and creating new directorates for speed and information technology services.

To shore up revenues, the ministry would focus on monetising its data and Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and also revamp focus on advertising revenue. Further, the ministry might soon announce a revised freight tariff structure to claw back the Railways' lost modal share in freight.

Mookerjee said the Railways' total cost savings of about Rs 8,700 crore for 2015-16 announced in this year's Budget was likely to go up to Rs 10,000 crore by the end of March 2016. The rail ministry also wants to tackle the Pay Commission impact of Rs 12,000 crore on account of salaries and another Rs 8,000 crore on pension payments by tapping into the debt service fund, which has a balance of Rs 4,000 crore, apart from the Rs 3,000 crore parked in the pension fund.

 

Source :business-standard.com

India's Oilmeals Exports Down 74% In February: Solvent Extractors Association

NEW DELHI: Oilmeals exports fell by 74 per cent to 53,866 tonnes last month due to a sharp fall in soyabean and rapeseed meal shipments, industry body SEA said today.

The country had shipped 2,08,436 tonnes of oilmeals, used as animal feed, in the same period last year.

The overall export of oilmeals during the April-February period of this fiscal fell 52 per cent to 10.92 lakh tonnes, against 22.56 lakh tonnes in the previous year, Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) said in a statement.

"The export of soyabean meal is at a historical low... Soyabean crushing is very much reduced due to continuous disparity and high price of domestic market affecting overall domestic availability of both oils and meals. The capacity utilisation is at the lowest," Mumbai-based SEA said.

The industry is passing through a very "tough and rough time" and many plants have been closed down or operating at very low capacity due to disparity in crushing and export, it said.

Currently, Indian soyabean meal is quoted at USD 480 per tonne on Freight on Board (FOB) against Argentina origin soyabean meal at USD 321 per tonne. "Indian soyabean meal is totally outpriced by about USD 160 per tonne in international market," the industry body said.

As per the SEA data, soyabean exports declined to 1,127 tonnes in February this year, from 64,514 tonnes in the year-ago period.

Similarly, rapeseed meal exports dropped to 9,803 tonnes from 62,545 tonnes, while that of ricebran extraction declined to 2,000 tonnes from 29,820 tonnes in the said period.

Export of castorseed meal also declined to 40,440 tonnes in February this year from 51,494 tonnes in the year-ago period, the data showed.

India exports oilmeals to countries including South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, Oman and Myanmar.

 

Source :economictimes.indiatimes.com