Rupee Closes Weaker Against Us Dollar At 67.17

Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Monday weakened against the US dollar, tracking losses in the Asian currencies markets. Traders are also cautious ahead of an event-heavy week.

The home currency closed at 67.17, down 0.2% from its previous close of 67.04. The rupee opened at 67.23 per US dollar and touched a low of 67.37.

Most Asian currencies closed lower. South Korean won was down 1.05%, Malaysian ringgit 0.94%, Japanese yen 0.71%, Indonesian rupiah 0.39%, Taiwan dollar 0.34%, China renminbi 0.24%, China offshore 0.22%, Philippines peso 0.15%, Thai baht fell 0.1%, Singapore dollar 0.1%.

The government will issue the gross domestic product (GDP) and fiscal deficit data on 31 May after 5.30pm. Gross value added (GVA) would have grown by 7.2% in the March quarter compared with 7.1% in the December quarter, while GDP growth will be at 7.5% from 7.3% a quarter ago, a Bloomberg poll showed.

India’s benchmark Sensex index rose 0.27%, or 72 points, to 26,725. In the last five days, the Sensex has gained 5.61% or 1,420 points. So far this year, the Sensex has gained 2.33%.

On Wednesday, India, the US and China will announce manufacturing Purchasing Mangers Index, while on Thursday, the US will announce jobs data and crude oil inventories along with factory orders data.

Traders will be also cautious on a possible June rate hike in the US. The US Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) meet scheduled for 14-15 June will decide whether or not to increase key lending rates.

So far this year, the rupee has weakened 1.55%, while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have bought $2.03 billion from the local equity market and sold $1.16 billion in debt markets.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 95.678, up 0.16% from its previous close of 95.521.

Meanwhile, India’s 10-year bond yield closed at 7.461%, as compared with its Friday’s close of 7.471%.

 

Source:livemint.com

Cil Coal Price Tweak To Impact Power Tariff: Sources

KOLKATA: The largest miner Coal India's price rise will increase power tariff as impact on regulated sector coal is 8 per cent.

While the overall price hike would be about 6.2 per cent, the effect on regulated (power) sector would be about 8 per cent, sources told PTI.

Coal India  has revised low grade coal price up to 19 per cent. Revision of coal price will fetch it additional revenue of about Rs 3,900 crore.

But, the soft global coal forced Coal India to stay competitive with imported coal and has reduced price between two and 29 per cent.

Sources said, "existing price of G1 to G-5 has been reduced from 2 per cent to 29 per cent to make it competitive with international coal".

 

Source:economictimes.indiatimes.com

Dri Unearths Scam In Import Of Chatons, Beads

Ahmedabad: The investigations by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) into the last week's seizure of chaton and glass beads has revealed that crores of customs duty is being evaded by importers in various parts of country by undermining the value of imported goods and at the same time, huge amount of money is being sent through hawala to China.

Last week, the Jamnagar unit of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had seized 19 tonnes of chaton and glass beads worth Rs 1.9 crore from two premises in Rajkot belonging to Dhirubhai.

   The duty evasion was about Rs 60 lakh as chaton and glass beads attract around 28% duty.

Upon questioning, Dhirubhai told DRI that he had purchased these glass chatons from China and given a contract to an agent in Mumbai to smuggle them through Nhava Sheva port in Mumbai. The chatons were imported by concealing in normal goods containers for onward delivery to him in Rajkot when it was detected.


Further investigation revealed that in the last one year, Dhirubhai had illegally imported over Rs 20 crore worth of chaton and glass beads thereby evading duty of more than Rs 6 crore.


Explaining the modus operandi, a DRI official said, "In case of the Rajkot seizure, in the bill of entries chatons were mentioned as Rs 160 per kg whereas the actual cost was Rs 600 per kg. The difference amount was paid by Dhirubhai to men of Chinese suppliers in cash. This cash was then sent to China through hawala."

 

Source:timesofindia.indiatimes.com

India Among Top 10 Steel Importers In 2015: Wsa

NEW DELHI: India, the world's third largest steel producer, was among the top 10 importers of the alloy last year, according to the latest data by the global industry body World Steel Association (WSA).

India imported 13.3 million tonnes (MT) of the metal in 2015 and was just a notch up from China, which imported 13.2 MT of steel during the same period.

According to the WSA data, European Union as a bloc imported 37.7 MT of steel last year, which was followed by the US (36.5 MT), Germany (24.8 MT), South Korea (21.7 MT), Italy (19.9 MT), Turkey (18.6 MT), Vietnam (16.3 MT), Thailand (14.6 MT), France (13.7 MT) and India (13.3 MT).

According to Indian government data, steel imports rose by 25.6 per cent to 11.71 MT during the 2015-16 financial year against 9.32 MT in the year-ago period. India was a net importer of the metal in the last fiscal.

WSA data also showed that India exported 7.6 MT of steel in 2015, which was just a fraction of what its neighbour China exported during the same period at 111.6 MT.

Admitting that Indian steel sector is going through stress for some time due to rising imports, steel minister Narendra Singh Tomar had earlier this month assured the Rajya Sabha that government will take all steps to promote and safeguard the industry.

"It has come to the notice of the government that imports from China, Japan and Korea have increased, which is creating trouble for domestic industry and also causing losses to it."

"Government has made efforts to check this by steps like imposing anti-dumping duty, safeguard duty on imported steel products and policy announcement on minimum import price (MIP). After these steps, the pressure on the steel industry is gradually coming down," he had told the Upper House.

 

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

India To Finalize Rice Export Deal With Indonesia Soon: Trade Secretary

NEW DELHI: India, the world's biggest rice exporter, will soon finalize a non-basmati rice exports contract with Indonesia in a rare government-to-government deal,

Trade Secretary Rita Teaotia said on Monday, as rice prices started firming up following drought in key producing countries.

India could ask the state-run Food Corporation of India to sell around 1 million tonnes rice from its stockpile to Indonesia, the world's leading rice importer , industry officials said.

Rice prices in Asia are hovering around their highest levels in two years.

 

Source:economictimes.indiatimes.com