Rupee Trades Flat At 66.67 Against Us Dollar

Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Wednesday erased most of the losses and was trading little changed against the US dollar, ahead of the key inflation and index of industrial production (IIP) data on Thursday.

At 2pm, the home currency was trading at 66.67, up 0.01% from its previous close of 66.68. The rupee opened at 66.83 a dollar and touched a low of 66.84, a level last seen on 26 April.

The government will issue Consumer Price Index (CPI) and IIP data on 12 May after 5.30pm. According to Bloomberg estimates, CPI will be at 5.05% for April against 4.83% in March. The IIP will be at 2.5% in March as compared to 2% in February.

In morning trade, the rupee fell as much as 0.24% on India-Mauritius tax issue.

India will shut the door on investors using Mauritius and Singapore to avoid paying taxes in India, starting in the next financial year, in order to curb tax evasion, in a move that could also impact capital inflows. India will get the right to tax capital gains on investments channelled through Mauritius under an amended tax treaty it signed with the island republic on 10 May in Port Louis, Mint reported.

The amendment to the 1983 India-Mauritius treaty, which will come into force on 1 April 2017, will also apply to the India-Singapore treaty, shutting two lucrative investment routes preferred by foreign investors. The India-Singapore treaty links the capital gains tax regime to that provided in the India-Mauritius treaty, the report added.

The changes will have an impact on foreign investors who route their investments from these two countries to avoid paying capital gains tax in India.

“This government is serious about tax reforms and clarity to address the ease of doing business. Yes it would push tax costs for investors but there is certainty and clarity. India in the medium to long term will contribute to attract acting investments, and a stable environment will augur well for the India rupee which would make the tax cost look insignificant,” said Mukesh Butani, managing partner of BMR legal.

India’s benchmark Sensex index fell 0.79% or 204.04 points to 25,568.49. So far this year, Sensex is down 2.1%.

India’s 10-year bond yield was trading at 7.427%, as compared with its Tuesday’s close of 7.427%.

So far this year, the rupee has weakened 0.83%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $1.76 billion from the local equity market and sold $42.90 million in debt markets.

Asian currencies were trading mixed. Japanese yen was up 0.55%, South Korean won 0.46%, Philippines peso 0.42%, Malaysian ringgit 0.16% and China renminbi 0.14%. However, Indonesian rupiah was down 0.18%, Thai baht 0.13%, Singapore dollar 0.1% and Taiwan dollar 0.05%.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 94.09, down 0.22% from its previous close of 94.29.

 

Source:livemint.com

Agriculture Exports Fell 10% In 2015-16

India’s agricultural and processed food exports fell by close to 20% in the last fiscal compared with FY15. This is mainly because of decline in shipments of major exportable items such as rice, buffalo meat and guargum in 2015-16. However, for a second year in a row, exports of buffalo meat exceeded that of Basmati rice.

According to data from the Agricultural and Processed Food Products and Export Development Authority (Apeda), the value of agri-product exports fell to R1.05 lakh crore in FY16 against R1.31 lakh crore reported in FY15. “The fall in shipments is mainly because of lower global commodity prices and sluggish demand abroad,” an official said.

Exports of buffalo meat, while declining 8% in value terms to R26,682 crore in the last fiscal, still remained the largest item in the Apeda export basket. Buffalo meat exports surpassed the value of Basmati rice exports for the first time in FY15.

Shipments of the aromatic grain fell 17% by value to R22,714 crore in FY 16 mainly because of lower exports to Iran and a fall in prices. In the case of exports of non-Basmati rice, the decline was a steep 26% in terms of value.

Sources said that the average realisation from Basmati exports has fallen from $1,295 per tonne in FY14 to around $850 a tonne in FY16 while for non-Basmati rice, the fall was to $350 per tonne in the last fiscal from around $450 per tonne two years earlier.

“Countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, besides African countries such as Nigeria and Kenya, have cut down on rice import mainly because of sluggish economic growth there,” a rice exporter told FE.

Exports of guargum, mostly used by US-based oil exploration company, declined by more than 61% to Rs 3,613 crore in 2015-16 compared with Rs 9,478 crore in the previous year.

However, shipments of fresh fruit and vegetables saw a 10% rise in FY16 to Rs 8,681 crore.

Apeda monitors shipment of 22 commodities such as rice, wheat, buffalo meat, fruit and vegetables, pulses and other meat products. The authority has identified 20-odd clusters located for sustaining growth in the country’s food products’ exports. These clusters include Basmati rice (Haryana and Punjab), buffalo meat (western Uttar Pradesh), grape and wine (Nashik region, Maharashtra), pomegranate (Satara and Pune regions of Maharashtra), dehydrated onions and garlic (Gujarat), poultry or egg (Namakkal) and mango pulp (Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra).

 

Source:financialexpress.com

India Doubles Its Grape Exports To Europe

PUNE: Exports of grapes from India touched an all-time high in 2015-16, with exports to Europe more than doubling compared to that in the previous financial year, even as India became an importer of many other commodities such as maize, wheat and soyabean.

Using tanker water, farmers from Maharashtra, which accounts for nearly 98% of grapes shipped during the fiscal, exported grapes at a price cheaper than that charged by Chile. By May 10, with the last few shipments of grapes still in transit, India had exported 84,482 tonnes of grapes to Europe compared to 41,783 tonnes exported a year ago, a growth of 102%.

"We expect the total exports to be over 2 lakh tonnes. The earlier high was 1.92 lakh tonnes," said Jagannath Khapre, president of All India Grape Exporters Association. Apart from Europe and West Asia, Bangladesh, the Far East, Russia and China are the other export destinations for Indian grapes. Compared to 10-12 euros per box of Chilean grapes, Indian grapes were sold at 8-10 euros per box.

"Because of good quality and cheaper price, India was able to establish itself in the European market as a reliable supplier of grapes," said Ashok Motiani, managing director of Freshtrop Fruits.

 

Source :economictimes.indiatimes.com

Ford Ecosport Is The Most Exported Car In India

After dominating the sub-compact SUV space, the EcoSport has added yet another feather in Ford’s hat. The SUV from the automaker’s line-up has emerged as the most exported car of India.

The EcoSport has climbed to the top spot after ranking fourth in last year’s export list. While Ford India exported 55,178 units in 2015, this time the number increased to 83,325 – a rise of approximately 51 per cent. Last year’s top performer, the Nissan Micra, has been able to more or less continue its performance by exporting 76,120 units in 2016 compared to 75,456 in 2

Source :.business-standard.com

Smuggling To Avoid Taxes Will Push Indian Gold Imports Towards Record Level: Anz

India's gold imports could hit a record high this year amid widespread smuggling to sidestep government levies on overseas shipments, Australia and New Zealand Bank, Asia's biggest shipper of physical gold, said on Wednesday.

The forecast by the bank's head of precious metals, John Levin, runs counter to tallies that show gold imports in decline in the world's second-biggest gold market after China.

Levin said he expects 15 percent of India's gold this year to be "smuggled in" or arrive via "other unofficial channels" to beat a 10 percent levy imposed by the government.

Levin also said more semi-refined gold, known as gold dore, was being imported from overseas mining companies because of a lower government levy.

The import duty on gold dore is 8.5 percent.

"You could see a record amount of gold going into India this year," Levin said, "A lot through unofficial channels and a lot of it going in as semi-refined gold."

However, industry officials say unofficial imports are also coming down as Indian market prices trade at a discount to the U.S. dollar spot price.

As recently as a few weeks ago, Indian importers were offering discounts as high as $40 per ounce, or nearly 3 percent of the value to attract buyers.

This has been discouraging smugglers as their margins have been squeezed, Daman Prakash Rathod, a director at MNC Bullion, a wholesaler in the southern Indian city of Chennai, said on Wednesday.

Officially, India's gold imports in the 2015/16 fiscal year that ended on March 31 dropped 16 percent from a year ago to 926 tonnes.

ANZ last year handled about 15 percent of the world's gold shipments, according to Levin.

 

Source :economictimes.indiatimes.com