Rupee Trades Higher At 66.60 Against Us Dollar

Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Monday erased all early losses to trade marginally higher against the US dollar in noon trade after some banks sold dollars on behalf of exporters.

At 2pm, the home currency was trading at 66.60, up 0.05% from its previous close of 66.64. The rupee opened at 66.86 and touched a high and a low of 66.58 and 66.87 respectively.

There will be no bank transactions on 1 April due to the annual closure of accounts.

India’s benchmark Sensex index fell 1.03% or 259.78 points to 25,077.78 points. Since 1 March to 22 March, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought $2.58 billion equities in the local markets due to which stock markets gained 9% or over 2,050 points. However, markets are still down 4% so far this year.

Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has lost 0.65%, while FIIs have sold $288.20 million from local equity and $889.60 million in debt markets.

Most Asian currencies were trading mixed. Malaysian ringgit was up 0.56%, South Korean won 0.28%, Singapore dollar 0.15%, Taiwan dollar and China Offshore spot were up 0.1% each. However, Indonesian rupiah was down 0.4%, Japanese yen 0.36% and Thai baht 0.21%.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 96.237, down 0.04% from its previous close of 96.273.

Meanwhile, India’s 10-year bond yield was at 7.508%, as compared with its Wednesday’s close of 7.51%.

 

Source :.livemint.com

Denim May Outperform Overall Apparel Growth

 Even while apparel exports and domestic markets are expected to see subdued growth, the denim segment is likely to grow at a faster rate.

According to industry experts, the denim industry is growing at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13-15% in a year when overall apparel growth rate is being pegged at a lackadaisical 3-5% this fiscal, down from 12-15% for the past couple of years.

Denim makes up 35% of total textile exports from India and is expected to rise to 45% of total exports by 2020; production is also expected to increase to 1.5 billion metres by 2020.

Meanwhile, the Indian denim industry is gradually looking to increase its share of exports, which currently lags behind at 35% compared to a domestic market of 65% of total production.

"Denim is witnessing one of the fastest growth rates as an apparel fabric segment, up by 500 million metres from 700 million metres in 2010 to 1.2 billion in 2015. Yet, there is a gap of another 300 million metres in India if the denim industry needs to tap its full export potential," says P R Roy, chairman of Diagonal Consulting (India).
Read more from our special coverage on "DENIM JEANS"

As an apparel segment, denim's growth has been more in the domestic market than in the exports. While India has been one of the major global suppliers of denim fabrics, the domestic market still falls behind other competing nations in terms of denim apparel such as jeans.

Also, while most of the global brands outsource denim apparel work to Indian players, much of it is meant for the domestic market and not for exports.

"While the total denim capacity in the country is about 1.2 billion metres per annum, the utilisation is at around 900 million metres per annum, of which 250 million metres would be exports. However, denim apparel exports would roughly form around 50-60 million," says Prashant Agarwal, joint managing director of Wazir Advisors, a retail and management consulting firm.

Globally, the denim jeans market is projected to grow at 8%, up from $55 billion in 2015 to $59 billion in 2021. While the projected growth rate in Asia including India is around 12%, that for Latin America, North America and Europe is expected to be around 15%, 10% and 4%, respectively in next six years.

 

Source :business-standard.com

 

Allowing Used-Iphone Imports Will Hurt Make In India’

NEW DELHI: Apple's bid to import certified second-hand iPhones into India is facing stiff opposition from local manufacturers, who say any go ahead by the government will defeat the purpose of 'Make in India' and may open doors to dumping of all kinds of electronics, including scrap.

Experts add that if the government indeed gives a go ahead, it may not be able to restrict imports to just second hand, or pre-owned, refurbished Apple iPhones, but would need to expand it to phones from other brands and second hand laptops and desktop computers, among other products, as well for reasons of parity.


Apple clarifies iPhone SE's price in India will be Rs 39,000, not Rs 30,000; launching on April 8


"When the government is creating Make in India to reduce imports, and a lot of mobile manufacturers are coming to the country, how can we have imports of refurbished phones by any brand, not just Apple," questioned Ravinder Zutshi, chairman of Mobile and Communications Council. The council falls under the Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA), which represents electronic manufacturers in India.

"We fully oppose such a move," he added.

The Narendra Modi-led government, which has taken decisive steps to spur local manufacturing since it assumed office in May 2014, by raising the cost of importing handsets and peripherals, faces a tightrope walk given its vocal claims to support plans by Apple - a huge global brand - to deepen presence in India. But it also can't be seen undermining its own ambitious 'Make in India' initiative.

Executives at two top Indian handset makers, who are investing to expand their production, also opposed allowing sale of imported certified second hand phones, saying it would defeat the purpose of steps taken to boost local manufacturing. They didn't want to be named.

The Indian Cellular Association, which represents mobile phone makers in the country, backed exports of refurbished phones from the country, irrespective of the brand, but was silent on import and local sale of such phones.

"Repair and refurbishing chain can create a great employment opportunity here," said Pankaj Mohindroo, president at ICA.

Cupertino-based Apple has sought permission from the government to import second hand iPhones for sale in India, a country where its sales are doubling on-year and where it plans to bring its iconic retail stores too. The ministry of environment and forests is yet to take a decision on Apple's request, having turned it down once before last year.

Industry experts point out to that a major concern would be import of scrap under the garb of refurbished, which may have ecological implications. This means the government would need to clearly define refurbished. Currently, it refers to reselling returned phones due to technical faults or incorrect delivery.

"India has strong anti-dumping laws, so they (government) would be careful not to let a Pandora's Box open up...It won't be an easy decision to make because it goes against Make in India," said Hitendra Chaturvedi, founder of GreenDust, a refurbished goods retailer.

India typically is a prolific levier of anti-dumping duty, imposed on imports priced lower than the local market price, which hits the local manufacturers.

 

Source :timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Can India Sustain Diesel Exports To Bangladesh?

Initiating energy trade with neighbours is a welcome step. But has India done enough home-work to ensure that the recent supply diesel to Bangladesh is sustainable?

On March 17, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan flagged off a train load of 2,200 tonnes of Euro-III diesel from the West Bengal border town of Siliguri.

The oil was pumped from the 3 million tonne per annum (mtpa) Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL), located 650 km north-east, in Assam, by pipeline to Siliguri.

The train first went 260 km south to Malda before covering another 250 km to reach Parbatipur in Dinajpur district of north Bangladesh, where a senior Bangladeshi Minister received the “goodwill rake” a day later, with much fanfare.

The enthusiasm on the Bangladesh side is understandable. The country currently imports petroleum products through the Chittagong seaport in the south.

In the absence of pipeline infrastructure in Bangladesh, the diesel is transported by a combination of river and road transport to the consumption centres in the north at $10 a barrel above the FOB (free on board) price.

NRL matched the landed cost of fuel in the north and saved Bangladesh the hassle of transporting it from the south.

Last year, India and Bangladesh signed a preliminary agreement for a long-term deal. The deal rests on two factors — the proposed expansion of NRL from 3 mtpa to 9 mtpa and the construction of a 135-km ‘friendship pipeline’ of 1 mtpa capacity from Siliguri to Parbatipur by NRL and Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC).

Ideally, this should help NRL achieve economy of scale and reduce the landed cost of fuel in Bangladesh, making it a win-win deal.

A press release from the Centre didn’t give any projections on future rail consignments but hinted that the exercise may be repeated in the intermittent period.

“Once the NRL refinery expansion is complete, India will be in a position to export petroleum products on a regular and long-term basis. Prior to… (that) rail is an effective mode of transport with minimum loss and pollution,” the release said.
Right candidate

With 160 mt annual consumption against a refining capacity of nearly 220 mt, India is an exporter of refined products, and it makes economic sense to tap the markets next door. But is NRL the right candidate for it? The refinery is now running at less than 80 per cent capacity owing to dwindling crude production in Assam.

With no upside visible in crude production in the North-East, the capacity expansion project should bank on pumping imported crude all the way from Paradip port in Odisha, some 1,600 km from Numaligarh by road.

It means a good part of the proposed ?21,000-crore NRL expansion project will be spent in laying pipelines that will first take crude 1,600 km north and bring products 650 km south, either for another 135-km pipeline travel or over 500-km rail to Bangladesh.
The IOC alternative

There is an alternative. IndianOil’s 15 mtpa Paradip refinery will start producing at full scale in two months.

It will create redundancy at the company’s (also port-based) Haldia refinery in Bengal. The excess capacity can be used for rail or river based supplies to Bangladesh. Considering IOC’s extensive product pipeline network, probably it wouldn’t be difficult to engage it in pipeline transfer too. Whatever the possibilities, the decision-making should essentially be a business decision. But available information suggests it is far from a business decision.

And that created the next set of the problems.

The NRL expansion proposal is unusually costly and the Centre is yet to approve it. To make it viable, it has to grant huge capital subsidies (nearly half the project cost), most of which will be spent in laying those pipelines.

That’s not all. North-East refineries enjoy 50 per cent excise benefit on domestic sales. It means NRL will lose profit opportunity on every consignment of diesel exported to Bangladesh.

Of course, a subsidy deal can make it profitable. But who will gain from that? Is a modern day refinery — that can be run by 100-odd people — connected by underground pipelines an employment generating exercise?

Or, can the subsidy amount be better spent in revamping the dilapidated highway infrastructure in Assam?

 

Source :.thehindubusinessline.com

Baleno Is Maruti's Most Exported Model From India

Baleno hatchback.It’s just been two months since export operations of the Maruti Baleno commenced and the premium hatchback has already become the company’s most exported model. In February, 3,400 units of the Baleno left the country thereby outdoing its stablemates, the Alto (1,645 units) and Swift (1,425 units).

In January, first lot of 1,760 units of the RHD variant of the hatchback went to Japan. The following month, the company added 6 new LHD markets from Europe – Italy, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Slovenia and Poland. Considering that India is the sole manufacturing base for the Baleno, more and more markets would be added to the export list. The Baleno aims to become the most exported car from India in due course with over 100 destination markets.

Suzuki Baleno SHVS 2016 Geneva Motor Show

For some markets, the export-spec variant is powered by a 1.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine.
The export-spec Maruti Baleno is powered by the 1.2-litre Dualjet petrol engine (an advanced version of the K-Series motor) with SHVS and the new 1.0-litre BoosterJet turbocharged petrol motors. The 1.3-litre diesel motor is limited to the domestic market as of now.

Suzuki Baleno SHVS 2016 Geneva Motor Show
The export-spec hatchback receives SHVS (Smart Hybrid Vehice by Suzuk) mild hybrid technology.
The Maruti Baleno sits above the Swift to compete with the likes of VW Polo, Hyundai i20 (called as Elite i20 in India), Skoda Fabia, etc., in Europe. In India, the premium hatchback crossed 100,000 bookings.

 

Source :.thehansindia.com