Indian Auto Component Makers Facing Heat From Cheaper Imports

Business standard reported that the rising share of imports from South Asian countries, especially China, in the auto-component after market has started to worry local component manufacturers.

Industry insiders said that in certain segments like small bearings, the Chinese components have managed to garner a market share of about 40%, while the overall share in the component aftermarket is around 20%.

A recent Crisil report highlights that the imports are mainly coming from China, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan.

It said that "Asian auto-component makers have increased their share of Indian spoils, while those from Europe have clocked a decline, imports from Asian countries, especially China, have been rising for the simple reason they make it cheaper. The extent of cost competitiveness ranges from 20% for low-value parts (plastic components, springs and fasteners) to about 50% for critical ones such as pistons and other engine components."

As per Crisil, the reasons behind China's success in exporting parts to India are, greater scale, lower capex costs and better availability of raw materials. "Scale is substantially greater. In the case of certain components, the capacity of some Chinese players is more than 10 times the average of Indian manufacturers. Capex costs are lower because of local availability of tools/dies/equipment and relatively lower levels of automation. Industry sources said that Chinese companies set up facilities to make some engine components at less than a third of what it costs in India. While Indian auto-component makers import several grades of steel and aluminium,for Chinese companies, their local availability improves cost efficiencies."

Some of the Rajkot-based component makers pointed out that Chinese components are indeed capturing a sizeable chunk of the local replacement parts market.

Mr Vinnie Mehta executive director of Automotive Component Manufacturers Association said that while imports from countries like Germany, Japan and Korea happen as several of the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) who have parent companies in these countries do import components from these nations. Mr Mehta said that "However, there is no Chinese OEM present in the Indian market. Even then, the imports from the country is on the rise, and currently constitutes nearly 20% of our net component imports. It indeed is a cause of concern.”

Mr Mehta said that with wage rates in China going up and its economy slowing down, Indian component makers should seize the opportunity and enter the Chinese market. He said that "There would be significant entry barriers. However, several of the Chinese OEMs have joint ventures with global companies that have a presence in India. Indian component makers can explore their relationships with these companies to make an entry into the Chinese market. However, as there is a huge mandate by the Chinese government to focus on localisation, Indian companies might have to set up base in China to capture the market."

Source:- steelguru.com

India's Vegetable Oil Imports Decline 6% In March

The country's vegetable oil imports fell by 6% to 8.35 lakh tonnes in March due to a continuous fall in shipments of palm oil, industry body SEA said today.

Vegetable oil imports stood at 8.89 lakh tonnes in the same month of the previous year, it said in a statement.

India meets about 60% of its annual vegetable oil demand of 17-18 million tonnes via imports. Palm oils make up 80% of the country's total vegetable oil imports.

"Indian refiners prefer to import crude soft oils over crude palm oil (CPO), which reflected in pattern of import in last few months," Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) said.

Palm oil imports have fallen by 23% to 5.45 lakh tonnes in March this year from 7.08 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period.

Among palm oils, crude palm oil (CPO) shipments declined by 24% to 4.24 lakh tonnes from 5.58 lakh tonnes.

Interestingly, import of refined crude variant (RBD palmolein) which remained higher in last few months owing to lower prices as compared to CPO, fell marginally to 1.12 lakh tonnes in March this year, from 1.37 lakh tonnes in the same month last year.

According to SEA, import of non-edible oils fell sharply to 2,499 tonnes in March this year, as compared to 38,509 tonnes in the year-ago period.

As on April 1, edible oils stock at various ports is estimated at 6.30 lakh tonnes, of which CPO was 4.9 lakh tonnes. About 7.1 lakh tonnes of edible oil is in the pipeline.

Total stock of vegetable oils both at ports and in the pipelines has reduced to 12 lakh tonnes from 12.45 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period.

During the November-March period of 2013-14 marketing year, total palm oil imports have fallen to 22.73 lakh tonnes, as against 31.20 lakh tonnes in the same period of previous year, the SEA data showed.

Source:- business-standard.com

Rupee Falls In Intraday Trade On Wpi Data

The Indian rupee fell in intraday trade on Tuesday after data showed wholesale price-based inflation accelerated to a three-month high.

At 1.17pm, the Indian rupee was trading at 60.32, down 0.22% from its previous close. The local currency had opened at 60.30, against its Friday’s close of 60.18. Before the inflation data, rupee had strengthened to 60.23 a dollar.

Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation rose to 5.7% in March. The median estimate in a Bloomberg poll of 42 analysts was for the WPI index to come in at 5.3%.

India’s benchmark index, the Sensex, was trading at 22,453.13 points on BSE, down 0.86%.

Most of the Asian currencies were trading lower with South Korea down 0.18%, Thai Baht down 0.1%, Philippines Peso down 0.09%.

Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has gained 2.45%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $4.83 billion in local equity markets.

The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond was trading at 9.002%, compared with its Friday’s close of 8.945%.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major global currencies, was trading at 79.824, up 0.12% from the previous close of 79.729.

Another inflation gauge, the consumer price based Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation data will be released at 5.30pm on Tuesday. A Bloomberg poll expects the CPI to be at 8.25% for March as against 8.1% in February.

Source:- livemint.com

Sec. 80G approval denied to a society working for upliftment of Sikh community explicitly

IT: Approval under section 80G could not be given to a society which was working only for upliftment of a particular community and barred an outsider from becoming its member

Public prosecutors or panel lawyers cannot represent accused for offence punishable under Service-ta

Service Tax : In case of an offence punishable under service tax law, only criminal courts are competent to try such offence and Public Prosecutor, Additional/Assistant Public Prosecutors and Panel Lawyers cannot represent accused

Excess warehousing charges invoiced to customer not taxable if it was disputed and pending before ci

IT: Enhanced warehousing charges raised by assessee could not be added to income of assessee where such increase had been resisted by filing civil suit

Co. stepping into shoes of another co. can take legal recourse against an unlawful possession of acq

CL : Complainant company having been stepped into shoes of other company by virtue of scheme of arrangement sanctioned by respective Courts, was well within its right to file complaint alleging wrongful withholding of property of said other company

Advance received for allotment of commercial space in an unapproved project held as deemed dividend

IT: Where assessee claimed a certain sum from companies as advance against allotment of some commercial space in a project but no approved plan of said project was produced, conduct of assessee clearly established concealment of facts and filing of inaccurate particulars and penalty was leviable upon assessee

Exemption would be available to a trust even in respect of anonymous donations used for charitable p

IT : Any voluntary contribution received by a Charitable or religious trust shall be deemed to be income derived from property held under Trust to extent said contributions are used for charitable purposes even though assessee fails to disclose names and addresses of donors

HC stayed recovery proceedings as assessee filed writ during pendency of appeal before appellate aut

CST & VAT: Where assessee against assessment order filed appeal before appellate authority belatedly along with application for condonation of delay and stay petition and in meanwhile also filed writ petition, during pendency of appeal recovery of tax due deserved to be stayed subject to remitting 50 per cent of amount demanded

Addition on basis of loose sheets found during search upheld as assessee failed to contradict same

IT: Where assessee has not adduced any rebuttal evidence to show that entries made in diary/loose sheets recovered during search are not income in hands of assessee, addition is to be upheld

Transfer order to ensure coordinated investigation was valid if opportunity wasn't denied to assesse

IT : Where case was transferred for centralized and coordinated investigation and there was no denial of reasonable opportunity to assessee, transfer order could not be set aside

An order requiring payment of deferred VAT after expiry of deferment period won't be deemed as 'revi

CST & VAT : Where period of deferment has expired and assessee is liable to pay necessary deferred amount of tax in instalments, an order directing said payment/recovery cannot be regarded as 'revisional order' so as to require prior notice

Additional depreciation allowable on machinery installed for purpose of manufacturing milk powder

IT : Where a distinct commodity, i.e., milk powder, was emerging from entire complex process and it could not be restored to original product (Milk), plant and machinery installed by assessee for purpose of manufacturing milk powder had to be allowed benefit of additional depreciation

Application for settlement rejected as assessment proceedings before AO had expired with efflux of t

IT: Application for settlement was rightly rejected, where on date of filing application before Settlement Commission there were no assessment proceedings pending with Assessing Officer as same had expired by efflux of time

Input tax credit is available for goods destroyed in floods but only to extent of deficit in insuran

CST & VAT : Goods destroyed by flood are eligible for input tax credit; however, if such dealer is compensated by Insurance Company with respect to loss sustained, to that extent assessee shall not be entitled to input tax credit

No violation of FERA norms if appellant co. remitted salary to its employees deputed in India throug

CL: Where parent corporation seconded its employee to its branch office-appellant in India, it could not be concluded that expatriate employees of parent corporation were 'borrowed employees' of appellants and, therefore, question of appellants 'acquiring' or 'otherwise transferring' any foreign exchange as a result of parent corporation remitting funds to appellants for disbursal of salaries of employees seconded to them did not arise

Co. with odd events of restructuring to be excluded from comparable list as it impacts its profitabi

IT/ILT : Extraordinary events like merger and demerger have an effect on profitability of company in financial year in which such event takes place, and a company which is undergoing said events cannot be considered as comparable

Ministry hikes pay scale of chairpersons and members of IRDA with retro effect from January 1, 2011

INSURANCE/INDIAN ACTS & RULES : IRDA (Salary and Allowance Payable to and Other Terms and Conditions of Service of Chairperson and Other Members) Amendment Rules, 2014 - Amendment in Rule 3

Wheat Prices Jump As Ukraine-Russia Tensions Mount

Wheat prices soared 4% as fresh tensions in Ukraine compounded concerns over dryness holding back the US winter crop.Monday had been awaited with some anticipation by investors as it will bring, after the close of Chicago trading, the release of the first US Department of Agriculture assessment on progress of US corn planting, which has been slowed by cold and wet weather in the Midwest, particularly in eastern parts.



But the data event was overshadowed in early deals by the revival of concerns over the Ukraine crisis, after a deadline set by Kiev for pro-Russian activists to leave government buildings they are occupying in eastern Ukraine expired at 07:00 UK time (01:00 Chicago time).



Kiev has threatened military action if the protestors failed to leave. However, Russia, which has a mass of troops in the east Ukraine border, has urged Kiev not to use force.



With the assistant UN secretary general warning that Ukraine "teeters on the brink", the impact on grain markets, and in particular wheat, was predictable.



The Black Sea region is a huge source of wheat exports, with Ukraine the third-ranked corn exporter too, and there are concerns that the turmoil could affect production this year, as farmers are starved of credit, besides the threat of logistical hiccups and export curbs.



'Financial market risk aversion'



At Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Luke Mathews said: "This comes after Ukrainian security forces battled pro-Russian gunmen in the eastern Ukrainian town of Slovyansk over recent days.



"An escalation of the violence, and/or the implementation of more severe sanctions on Russia, has the potential to trigger a bout of financial market risk aversion.



Agritel, the Paris-based consultancy with a Ukraine office, said: "This week, markets should be focused on Ukraine.



"Tensions remain strong, which creates new worries about shipping concerns and 2014 crop production."



'Declining crop ratings'



At Phillip Futures, Vanessa Tan said: "Renewed tensions between Russia and Ukraine sparked off another round of concerns regarding wheat output in Ukraine.



"Furthermore, forecasts were released, reflecting possible further cold weather conditions in the US Plains", where drought has hurt the health of winter wheat seedlings.



"This would further worsen the conditions of the winter wheat crop which has already been experiencing declining crop ratings."



'Spotty damage'



The USDA will release its latest winter wheat condition rating later today, with the corn planting progress figure.



But weather has not been too favourable. While there was rain over the weekend in some southern Plains areas that need it, "amounts were 0.10-0.50 inches", said weather service MDA, hardly a soaking.



It was cold too, with "snow amounts in western Nebraska, and Colorado 1-4 inches".



And there is more to come.



MDA noted that "cold temperatures tomorrow and Tuesday morning may result in some spotty damage to late-jointing or early-heading wheat in southwest Kansas, western Oklahoma and west Texas".



And as for precipitation prospects, the six-to-10 day outlook "is drier versus Friday's outlook", the US-based weather service said.



Prices soar



As an extra prop for prices, Taiwan purchased 92,550 tonnes of US wheat, in another sign of demand in the market after Egypt's 230,000-tonne order on Friday.



Indeed, Egypt's purchase is looking well-timed but, in being purchased solely from the Black Sea region, including Ukraine for the first time in three months, not entirely risk free.



Wheat for May stood up 3.6% at $6.77 a bushel in Chicago as of 09:45 UK time (03:45 Chicago time), having touched $6.89 ½ a bushel earlier.



Kansas City hard red winter wheat for May was up 2.7% at $7.39 ¼ a bushel.



'Planting progress is key'



Corn gained too, although less so, standing 1.0% higher at $5.03 ¼ a bushel for May, with attention more focused on the USDA planting progress data due later.



"Weather and corn planting progress is key," US Commodities said, quoting expectations that the data will show 4% of corn has been planted, compared with about 5% typically by now, although another survey quotes a figure of just under 3%, compared with an average of 7%.



Whatever, the outlook was hardly mega positive for farmers, with MDA noting that "scattered showers and cool temperatures will stall fieldwork this week" in the Midwest.



"Rain and snow showers, mostly rain, will favour southern and eastern crop areas this week," of up to 1.25 inches of rain and 3 inches of snow, MDA said.



In the Corn Belt, it is in the western areas, not the eastern ones, which actually need rain.



New crop December corn added 0.8% to $5.03 a bushel.



Soybeans vs corn



That was enough to make ground over new crop November soybeans, which added just 0.3% to $12.16 ¼ a bushel.



That reduced the soybean: corn ratio, viewed as a key indicator of which crop farmers will lean to in spring sowings programmes, to below 2.42:1, if a figure still in the oilseed's favour.



(The neutral ratio is generally reckoned at about 2.0-2.25:1, depending on who you speak to.)



Benson Quinn Commodities noted, on the demand side that while "the western [US] processor is said to have extended ownership this week on uptick in producer selling with Wednesday's contract rally highs, the eastern processor remains a firm bidder on tight pipelines".



Of course, the market remains overshadowed by the concerns over Chinese defaults on import orders.



But at least palm oil, another oilseed of which China is also a big buyer, eased some concerns in rising 1.2% to 2,647 ringgit a tonne in Kuala Lumpur, helped by improved Malaysian exports for the first 10 days of the month.



Brazil rains



Among soft commodities, arabica coffee suffered a little more profit-taking, shedding 0.6% to 200.10 cents a pound in New York for May delivery and by the same to 202.30 cents a pound for July, encouraged by the prospect of rains for Brazil's main coffee-producing state, Minas Gerais, where drought has badly hurt trees.



This week a band of rain will bring precipitation of 1-2.5 inches to areas including the southern third of Minas Gerais, WxRisk.com said.



It will then move this weekend into northern Minas Gerais, although "the data clearly shows these rains weakening significantly", the weather service said.



'Catastrophically tight'



New York cotton gained 0.8% for July to 91.19 cents a pound despite the threat to world economic prospects from the Ukraine crisis, besides soft recent economic data from China, the top producer, importer and consumer of the fibre.



"Cotton markets remain susceptible to any further bearish economic news emanating from China or the eurozone, or any risk aversion caused by Black Sea tensions," CBA's Luke Mathews said, adding that "record Indian cotton production and strong exports will maintain pressure on global values.



"Nonetheless, US cotton futures should continue to draw some support from the catastrophically tight US cotton balance sheet."



The USDA last week cut its estimate for domestic year-end stocks to a 23-year low of 2.5m bales.

Source:- agrimoney.com

The Future Of Electric Cars In India

Since the last few years, the use of Electric vehicles as a successful transport option is catching up very fast with our times, and we hear from the automobile industry that we are almost there. The battery is now thoroughly tested and completely reliable. Governments are now seeing the huge benefits of moving away from oil. The automobile industry is realizing that the future of vehicles lies in the electronic vehicles and it’s time for the combustion engine to take a backseat. People want to buy vehicles that do not burn a hole in their pocket, for which the Government must introduce incentives that encourage people to buy electric vehicles.

The dependence on the fuel powered internal combustion engine, that run on diesel and petrol has raised serious environmental concerns. Developing countries need to import their oil from other nations which exposes consumers to volatile fuel prices. India has been seriously thinking about the ‘going electric” option. In January, this year the ministry of heavy industries unveiled the Draft Action Plan for Electric Mobility 2020 that aims to have almost 7 million electric vehicles on the road by 2020. To meet this vision the Government will have to proactively participate in the development of the EV ecosystem.

The internal combustion has been around for more than hundred years now and incumbent automobile producers face a gargantuan challenge of adapting to this all new engineering transition. It offers automobile manufacturers a great opportunity to develop power train technologies and usher in a brand new era in the industry.

There are 3 types of vehicles powered by electricity: electric vehicles (EV), the hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), and plug-in-electric vehicles (PHEV). According to a US department of energy estimate, all these 3 vehicles are capable of thwarting foreign petroleum usage and cost less to refuel per mile than combustion engine vehicles.

Electric Vehicles are propelled by a battery powered motor. The battery is charged by plugging the vehicle into the electric grid. This can be done either at home or a public charging station. HEV’s are powered by an internal combustion engine and also carry electric power in the battery. The battery is charged through regenerative braking and the combustion engine. The battery absorbs energy that is lost during braking and uses the electric motor as its generator. PHEV’s (Plug in electric vehicles) are powered by conventional fuels; diesel or petrol as well as the electric power stored in the battery. The battery is charged by plugging into an electricity source. The battery can also be charged by the internal combustion engine or regenerative braking. Since PHEV’s run both on fuel and electricity, they may be preferable for driving long distances, in case a charging station may be hard to find.

PHEVs and EVs have a downside story too. They are expensive to manufacture as their technology is new and they possess two engines, of which only one is used to power the wheels. Globally, light duty HEV, PHEV, and EV models are becoming available a number of automobile makers, with newer models expected to be release in the near future. One EV car is the Nissan Leaf, which needs to be recharged to keep it. Chevrolet is soon launching Volt, which is a PHEV. This car will cost close to $33,000 in the US, which is around $8,200 more than the Nissan Leaf. The Volt is much costlier, but gives a 340 miles range compared to the Nissan Leaf.

According to a recent study, an average Indian household drives around 19300 km per year. That’s about 1,600 km per month. This converts to about 402 km per week and close to 64 km per day. Once this distance is covered, the Volt’s battery level drops under 30 per cent, then the internal combustion engine (ICE) pushes it’s power on board to the car. That adds approximately another 480 kms to the car’s range, in case one wants to use the Volt for more than just commuting to work and back. Industry experts say that in future, the internal combustion engines onboard PHEVs may become more efficient, smaller in size and use other alternative eco safe fuel.

The advantages of EV’s seem to outweigh its disadvantages. The advantages are energy efficiency, environment friendliness, performance benefits (quiet, smooth operation and stronger acceleration), reduction of energy dependence as electricity is a domestic energy source.

Some of disadvantages EVs face is its driving range. (EVs can only go about 150–250 kms before recharging—gasoline vehicles can go over 400 kms before refuelling.), longer recharge time, battery cost and the heavy weight of the battery.

Currently research is on to improve battery technologies and increase driving range and decrease recharging time, weight, and cost. These will be the deciding factors of the future of electric vehicles on our roads.

Experts say that future of transportation in India has to be in electric mobility, the sales of electric cars in the US and countries of the European Union are steadily increasing. There is a lot of talk about the possibility of producing bio-fuels but such fuels can never replace diesel and petrol, though it is said that bio-fuels produce less carbon, they release a good amount of nitrous oxide that is more harmful than carbon, not to mention the large area of land required to produce bio-fuels, which makes it a completely unviable option.

Though advocates of bio-fuel talk about making use of wastelands, they tend to forget that only 35 percent of the 60 million hectares of wastelands is cultivable, and even this land does not produce enough yield that may make it a good option for investment; but at the same time India has great potential to produce electricity.

The future of electric vehicles in India does not look very bright at the moment. Though the Government has set up the NEMMP (National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020), there needs to be much more awareness about EV’s. Mahendra Reva, a modestly priced electric car has not been able to catch the fancy of consumers. The introduction of Government incentives may change the picture slightly. Consumers need to learn about the various benefits of owning an electric vehicle.

A few years back, at the launch of Mahindra’s Rewa the company showcased certain technologies that could make our lives more energy efficient. One such technology is Quick2Charge, a petrol pump format for charging an electric vehicle (EV). If large oil corporations would adopt this, it would allow an EV-owner to charge his or her car for 15-minutes to go at least 25 km. This makes for a lot of waiting time but at the same time one can save up to Rs. 60,000/- in fuel costs. This certainly makes the wait at the charging station worthwhile.

The Government also needs to work on developing a national strategy to facilitate more charging stations. With fuel prices soaring to an all time high, it is high time that we embrace a technology that is affordable, creates no pollution and safeguards the environment for our future generations.

Source:- theindianrepublic.com

Uganda, With Uranium, Oil And Gas, Seeks India's Help

Uganda, sitting on a "pile of uranium", is seeking India's knowhow to develop its reserves and open up new vistas of energy cooperation between historically linked countries, a visiting Ugandan minister has said.

Ephraim Kwamuntu, Ugandan minister of water and environment, said his country was keen on mutually beneficial cooperation with India to develop energy resources.

"Uganda is sitting on a pile of uranium, for instance, and Indian knowhow would be very useful in accessing this," Kwamuntu said in an interview. "We have uranium, oil and gas. Here, India with its knowhow and expertise can help," he added.

Explaining that Uganda had to increase manifold its energy generation capacity to achieve the status of a middle-income country, Kwamuntu said India had a lot to offer in this regard.

"The sun is directly overhead in equatorial Africa, yet in Uganda only 14 percent of the population has access to electricity. The remaining 86 percent go to bed with sunset. What would you expect about this population," the minister asked rhetorically.

Uganda has been in talks with India about accessing its uranium reserves and for India training its engineers in this area. Uganda's planning minister had earlier led a business delegation to India that held talks with the Confederation of Indian Industry on developing Uganda's uranium sector, among others.

With nuclear energy becoming an important source in India's potential energy mix, and with its own comparatively modest reserves, India has been discussing uranium purchase from various African countries.

On the other hand, with Africa emerging as an important supplier of uranium, many countries of the continent have shown interest in doing business with India. These include South Africa, the only African member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and Namibia, which produced 4,000 tonnes of uranium in 2012. India has signed a uranium agreement with Namibia as well as a protocol in 2011 for supplying the mineral.

Other uranium-rich African countries keen to cooperate with India include Tanzania, Malawi, Mali and Niger.

Kwamuntu explained that there was both the experience and the technology aspects to cooperation with India, whose technology "is more applicable to our situation than the advanced technology of the Americans".

"We have a lot to learn from India, which is now almost a superpower. But we know where it has come from. It has come from where we are. So we can learn from your experiences about how you transformed a country that was also once food insecure," the minister told reporters.

The use of English and similar legal systems were some of the other commonalities which facilitated cooperation, he pointed out.

"A number of our students come down here to study. Many Ugandans who have gone onto leadereship roles have trained in India. Prime ministers, ministers, permanent secretaries - the whole lot have been students who studied here (India)," Kwamuntu said.

Pointing out that Uganda's relations with India go beyond mere trade to historical and cultural links, building on which Ugandan Indian have established themselves in every sector of the economy.

"In the history of Uganda, industrial development started when the British (colonists) imported a lot of Indians to come construct a railway line from Mombasa port on the Indian Ocean, inland. When the railways completed, the Indians never went back and went on to become the pillars of industry in our country," Kwamuntu said.

"Madhvanis are an Indian company huge in manufacturing and sugar. There are a whole range of Patels with a number of investments. There are also a lot of Ismailis (followers of the Aga Khan)," the minister said of Indian-origin people who play a major role in Uganda's economy.

Source:- smetimes.in

Gold Stocks Regain Their Shine

Gold stocks are back in vogue, with miners of the precious metal rising 25 per cent more than the ASX’s biggest companies this year.

But doubts linger about how much further the rally can go.Gold prices hit a three-week high, rising 0.6 per cent to $US1328.30 an ounce, on Monday amid increased fears about tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

So far gold prices have bounced about 10 per cent this year compared with the S&P/ASX 200 Index rising 1.4 per cent.

ANZ head of commodity research Mark Pervan attributed much of the gains to a steep sell off among gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which sold about 30 per cent of their holdings late last year as US bond yields hit 2 1/2 year highs.

''So gold prices come off about 25 per cent last year,'' Mr Pervan said. ''But that's completely unwound now. We have seen a fair bit of momentum taken out of the US bond markets.''

Bond markets rallied amid increased speculation US would soon raise interest rates as the Federal Reserve hit full throttle on tapering it's asset buying program. But all has not gone to plan this year, with a wave of poor US economic data and the Fed suggesting it might not be as eager to trim its stimulus.

However, while the gold price has bounced thanks to ''opportunistic buying'' from India and China, Mr Pervan said ETF holdings ''haven't really taken off''.

Instead, he said the has been a swing back into equities, after ETFs knocked the momentum out of the gold equity markets for much of the past decade.

''With the volatility around ETF value ... or holdings last year probably has caused investors to re-weight a little bit more into equities.''

UBS commodity analyst Daniel Morgan agreed, and said the rise in ETFs over the past decade had diminished investor appetite for gold equities.

''Since that time I think there has been a spotlight on the other risks of owning a gold equity. You have got the production risk, the geological risk, you might have the sovereign risk depending on where your deposit is. All sorts of other risks other than the gold price. And the gold equity premium that people used to talk about a couple of years ago seems to have been eroded,'' Mr Morgan said.

But the pair differed on how much more gold could bounce. Mr Morgan said UBS's target was an average price of $US1300 an ounce this year, falling to $1200 in 2015.

However, Mr Pervan said ANZ was ''reasonably optimistic'' that gold could add another $US100 an ounce to finish the year about $1450.

But he said that forecast hinged on the strength of the US recovery.

''The market is pretty fickle when it comes to US interest rate outlook. It only needs one or two months of good US data and everyone is talking that interest rates are on the way up again.''

But he expected concerns about's China's economy to ease in the second half of the year, which would support commodity prices.

Mr Pervan said while Chinese authorities have been cautious in stimulating their economy, he expected some kind of program.

''The Chinese story is a little bit glass half empty. The market is concerned about the way they are tackling shadow banking and growth targets.

''But China has still got a massive amount of activity to do. This is probably just a road block at the moment that they are dealing with, and then they will get back on to the train and away it goes again.

''I'd be careful not to do discount the China story, that's for sure.''

Newcrest, Australia's biggest gold producer, was trading 0.3 per cent higher to $10.78 on Monday afternoon. Meanwhile Medusa had firmed 0.8 per cent to $1.95 and Resolute had gained 1.6 per cent to 62¢.

Source:- smh.com.au

Contributions made towards benevolent fund created for benefit of employees allowable as deduction

IT: Contribution made by assessee/employer towards benevolent fund created in favour of employee is entitled to deduction under section 40A(9)

Assessee was liable to VAT on sale of goods instead of job worker manufacturing goods under assessee

Sales Tax: Where assessee was holder of brand name 'Cryptm' and it had permitted a manufacturer viz. 'B' to use its brand name and further 'B' manufactured confectioneries in above brand name and supplied same to assessee, who effected sale of confectioneries, assessee was liable to pay tax under section 5(2) of Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 on sale of confectioneries

India Readies Iron Ore Re-Entry

Iron ore exports from India are likely to exceed 25 million tonnes in 2014-15, a growth of over 60% compared to last year. In 2013-14, iron ore exports clocked 15.13 million tonnes, a decline of 19% over the previous year.

The growth in exports this year would mainly come from Goa, where the Supreme Court has allowed auction of around 15 million tonnes.

The Apex Court is also expected to pave way for resumption of mining in the current year. The Court is set to pass an order on the recommendation of CEC for a cap of 20 million tonnes production per annum on April 15.

In 2014-15, the projected growth in exports is mainly due to the movement starting from Goa. If the total 15 million tonnes of iron ore is sold and evacuated from Goa, then India’s exports could go up by at least 15 million tonnes by the end of the current fiscal to take the tally to 30 million tonnes.

“On the contrary the delay in the auctions and the upcoming monsoon season is likely to delay the exports from Goa. Also, the restricted movement of iron ore from Odisha to Vizagwould be another hurdle in increasing the exports this year,” said Prakash Duvvuri, head of research, OreTeam Research.

However, exports of low-grade iron ore from Goa might be affected if the Chinese government strictly enforces its recent environment legislation that prevents usage of low grade iron ore in steel making. According to experts, the high silica and alumina content in iron ore requires steel mills to use excess coal and energy for conversion into steel. So, the steel mills might avoid importing low-grade ore with Fe content below 46-48%.

“The new pollution control regulation from China will not be applicable to ore from Goa because traditionally Goan ore is above 48% Fe. Export of ore from other countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Iran to China might be affected because these countries export very low-grade iron ore,” Duvvuri said.

Glen Kalavampara, secretary, Goa Mineral Ore Exporters Association said Goan exporters have been by and large exporting 50% and above grade ore. So, the Chinese regulations will not affect their chances. “We have exported below 46% in the past but not much. The exporters have entered into long-term supply contracts with Chinese mills and they may not be impacted much,” he said.

Source;- macrobusiness.com.au

Stamp Duty Collection Up But Fails To Meet Target

The state revenue department again failed to meet the target of Rs 5000 crore set for collection of stamp duty and registration of properties fee in the year 2013-14. Ironically, stamp duty collection actually went up in this period by Rs.324 crore but it fell short of the target by Rs 267 crore.

In 2013-14, the revenue department could collect Rs 4733.75 crore in contrast to its earnings from stamp duty in 2012-13 when it had collected just Rs 4409 crore. In both years, the target for stamp duty collection was Rs 5,000 crore.

In fact, 2013-14 is the third consecutive year in which the state government has not increased (from Rs 5000 crore) the target for stamp duty & registration fee collection while the targets for Value Added Tax (VAT) and other taxes have been increased substantially. The government has also decided not to increase the stamp duty & registration fee target in the financial year 2014-15 also.

In 2013-14, the state government earned the maximum - Rs 1190.74 crore - from stamp duty in Ahmedabad district, though the collections in the district declined substantially in comparison to Rs 1390 crore collected previous fiscal. The second highest stamp duty & registration fee collection in 2013-14 was from Surat (Rs.659.48 crore) while Vadodara was third (Rs 280.57 crore). Rajkot district was fourth with Rs 258.62 crore collection and Bhuj was fifth with Rs.91.26 crore collection. Collections in Surat, Rajkot and Vadodara in 2013-14 have risen slightly compared to the previous fiscal. The lowest collection was registered in Dangs district which could collect only Rs 0.17 crore.

According to official figures for stamp duty and property registration fee collected, the size of the state's real estate industry has touched the Rs 80,220 crore against Rs 76,271 crore in 2012-13. This does not reflect under-valued property transactions undertaken for evasion of stamp duty and other taxes.

Source:- timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Unpaid taxes of Private Co. could not be recovered from its director if he wasn't grossly negligent

IT: Where assessee was a director of a private company and Assessing Officer to recover unpaid tax dues of company proceeded against assessee and passed an order under section 179(1) upon him, since it was established from materials on record that there was no gross neglect, misfeasance or breach of duty on part of assessee in relation to affairs of company, impugned order passed under section 179(1) was liable to be quashed

No work contract if sizeable construction was done by builder from his own funds and meager sum was

CST & VAT : Where assessee-builder had done substantial construction from his own funds on his own land and amount deposited by prospective buyers as earnest money was not substantial, such construction could not be regarded as 'work contract'

Petrol Price Cut Likely This Week As Rupee Appreciates Against Dollar

State-run oil marketing companies are likely to cut petrol prices by less than Re 1 a litre this week as appreciation in the value of rupee against the dollar has made imports cheaper. This will follow a 75 paise reduction in petrol rates on April 1.

A senior executive at an oil marketing company said Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) can revise petrol rates as early as Tuesday.

"Average rupee appreciation is about 80 paise from the last price revision. International oil prices have also marginally softened. We are waiting for latest data, which are expected on Tuesday after that we will take a call," the executive said on condition of anonymity.

Executives at the three state-owned oil marketing companies said the quantum of price cut could be estimated around 60-75 paise based on available data of international oil prices and the rupee-dollar exchange rate.

According to oil ministry's data-keeper, Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC), crude oil prices have softened about 46 paise and the rupee appreciated by 83 paise against the dollar compared with the last pricing cycle a fortnight ago.

"So far, we have data available up to April 10. But these averages could change in either direction after data for couple of more days are factored in," one PPAC official said.

The government has allowed IOC, BPCL and HPCL to align petrol prices with market rates, but they take tacit approval of the oil ministry before revising fuel prices.

The government still controls pump prices of diesel, a politically sensitive fuel, where companies are still losing revenue of about Rs 5.93 a litre. The oil ministry has recently suspended a Cabinet decision to raise diesel prices by 50 paise every month until its pump prices are aligned with international rates.

"We have approached the Election Commission to hold the monthly hike in diesel prices because the revenue loss on the fuel is below Rs 6 a litre. We are waiting for its reply," an oil ministry official said.

In its March 31 statement, IOC had said that it was not raising diesel rates as "the under-recovery on retail diesel is currently Rs 5.93 per litre, which is below Rs 6 per litre, the interim subsidy cap recommended by the expert group of Kirit Parikh. Hence, the issue of monthly price increase is under consideration of the government and the matter has been referred to the Election Commission. A decision regarding revision of diesel retail price shall, therefore, be taken on receipt of further advice by the government in this context."

Source:- economictimes.indiatimes.com

ITAT rightly reduced sec. 80-IA relief as assessee failed to allocate certain expenditure, says HC

IT: Tribunal was right in reducing claimed deduction under section 80-IA, when assessee did not consider allocation of certain expenditure while computing deduction under section 80-IA

Tribunal turns-down request for waiver of pre-deposit as losses of appellant were insignificant to c

FERA : Where appellants had filed an application for exemption /waiver of pre-deposit of amount of penalty on ground that he had suffered losses due to confiscation of property, dispensation with pre-deposit of penalty was to be granted to such an extent so that no undue hardship caused on them

No disallowance for TDS default in payment made for V-SAT charges by stock broker to stock exchange

IT: Where there was no requirement for deducting TDS on payment of V-SAT charges paid to stock exchange, no disallowance under section 40(a)(ia) could be made

Revisionary application can be filed under sce. 264 even against sec. 143(1) intimation

IT : Where Assessing Officer processed under section 143(1) return of income filed by assessee and issued intimation accepting returned income and subsequently assessee having noticed two mistakes in above return filed a revision petition under section 264 before Commissioner seeking revision of order/intimation of Assessing Officer in relation to two mistakes, revision petition was maintainable before Commissioner

HC denies sec. 80-I relief as no positive income left after deduction of unabsorbed depreciation and

IT: Where after allowing depreciation, unabsorbed loss and unabsorbed depreciation, there was no positive income, assessee was not entitled to any deduction under sections 80HH & 80-I

Fees for excise license is to be paid as per the rate prevalent on date of consideration of applicat

Excise & Customs : Consideration of application for licence should be only with reference to rules/law (including fees payable) prevailing or in force on date of consideration of application by excise authorities and not as on date of application

Payment to sister concern couldn't be disallowed on whims of AO that it was unreasonable and excessi

IT: Where there was no material before Assessing Officer such as comparable rates etc. to come to conclusion that excessive payment was made to sister concern which warranted disallowance/ad hoc disallowance; deduction was to be allowed

Transfer would arise in year of registration of sale deed of property, capital gain taxable in that

IT: Transfer would arise in year of registration of sale deed of property, capital gain taxable in that year only

Exp. on construction of temporary structure on leasehold land to meet business needs was revenue exp

IT : Where assessee to run its milk parlour put up structure on a leased land and in next year because of non renewal of agreement said structure was demolished, expenditure incurred on construction of structure was allowable as revenue expenditure

Fuel used for power generation to manufacture a product qualifies as raw material for concessional t

CST & VAT: Where diesel/oil, etc. are used for generation of power, which, in turn, is required/used for manufacture of final product, such diesel/oil is 'raw material' and, therefore, eligible for concessional rate of tax

New-Age Eateries Force You To Pay Tips, Tax You For It

Tipping in restaurants, a preserve of customers and traditionally linked to service satisfaction, is being mandatorily charged in new-age restaurants in Kolkata. The move has not only evoked sharp reaction from the rest of the industry, but has also attracted the scrutiny of tax experts as restaurants are interpreting tax laws differently, leading to billing discrepancies.

Pizza Hut, Spaghetti Kitchen, Cafe Mezzuna and Chili's are among a handful of restaurants that have begun levying 10% service charge on the food bill. Chili's Kolkata master franchisee Rishi Bajoria defends it, saying mandatory tipping is prevalent all over the world. "We see it beneficial in the long run. It will standardize the tip amount and drive staff to work hard and maximize billing so that service charge increases," he argued.

Established restaurateurs rubbish the concept. Suresh Kumar Khullar, proprietor of five-decade-old popular joint Amber on Waterloo Street, vetoed mandatory tip. "Tipping should remain the discretion of customers. Why should a patron be forced to pay a 10% tip if he or she is dissatisfied with the service? Those that are levying the charge actually deduct a portion for upkeep of crockery and cutlery," said Khullar.

Chinese restaurant Red Hot Chilli Pepper attempted to introduce the concept some years ago but discontinued it after VAT rate was hiked and Service Tax was introduced in July 2010. "With mandatory tax hiking the bill by nearly 20%, we felt it was unfair to further burden the customer. If they are happy, they always leave behind a generous tip," said Red Hot Chilli Pepper Hospitality Services director Asim Mewar.

Trader Sumit Ghosh, a regular diner at Park Street, didn't mind leaving a 10% tip till he discovered that Pizza Hut was levying service charge in the bill. "I never scrutinize a bill closely but did because this one appeared to be more than anticipated. When I asked the manager about the service charge, he pointed to the menu where it was mentioned in nearly illegible fine print," he said.

But he found difficult to reconcile with VAT and Service Tax being levied on tips euphemistically named service charge. Not only was he charged 10% or Rs 200 on a food bill of Rs 2,000, he paid both VAT of 14.5% and service tax of 4.944% on this amount. He was even more flummoxed when a week later, he discovered that the taxation at Chili's was different. "By making tipping mandatory and levying taxes on it, a customer is being fleeced by the restaurant and the government," said Ghosh.

Saroj Kumar Sahoo of Devyani International, the master franchisee of Pizza Hut in India, insists its computation is correct. But Bajoria, whose restaurant has opened only a couple of months ago, says his lawyers have studied the Service Tax Rules 2(c) closely before finalizing on billing system at Chili's. The same computation is done at Barbeque Nation.

Service Tax expert Pulok Saha, too, terming the computation of VAT on service charge incorrect. "Kerala high court had ruled against levy of Service Tax in restaurants according to a Supreme Court ruling in which it stated that VAT and Service Tax were mutually exclusive. Thereafter, Central Excise department artificially created a value of service in the restaurant by taking into account the ambience and levied Service Tax. But quick service restaurants are also charge Service Tax on takeaway food. That is illegal as there is a specific exclusion for food that is purchased but not consumed in a restaurant," he said.

Unions have been demanding that service charge be introduced but most of the well-known restaurants that have been around for decades have been resisting it. Standalone restaurants in the city are quite clear on the issue and feel it will be flirting with disaster. "Salaried staff will have no incentive to be more polite, efficient and productive as tip is ensured. The discretion of tipping should remain with customers," said Nitin Kothari, proprietor of popular Park Street fine dining destinations Mocambo and Peter Cat.

Source:- timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Sum received by retiring partner towards his share capital wasn’t liable to capital gain tax

IT : Amount received by a partner on dissolution of firm or on his retirement is an amount paid towards his share capital; no element of transfer of interest in partnership asset by retiring partner to continuing partner can be said to be involved

Exp. on construction of temporary structure on leasehold land to meet business needs was revenue rec

IT : Where assessee to run its milk parlour put up structure on a leased land and in next year because of non renewal of agreement said structure was demolished, expenditure incurred on construction of structure was allowable as revenue expenditure

Soyameal Exports Dips 8% To Rs 7,000 Cr In Oct-Mar 2013-14

Soyameal exports fell by 8% to nearly Rs 7,000 crore in the first half of the current oil marketing year that started October last year due to lower shipments, according to trade data.

It stood at Rs 6,987 crore during October 2013-March 2014, against Rs 7,602 crore in the year-ago period.

Oil year runs from October-September.

In volume terms, exports fell by 24% to 19.65 lakh tonnes in the first six months of 2013-14 oil marketing year from 25.97 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period of previous year, according to Soyameal Processors Association of India.

At 5.87 lakh tonnes, Iran was the major importer of Indian soyameal in the first half of oil year.

India exported 1.25 lakh tonnes of soyameal to Belgium, 2.23 lakh tonnes to France, 1.13 lakh tonnes to Indonesia, 2.22 lakh tonnes to Japan, 1.6 lakh tonnes to Korea, 1.46 lakh tonnes to Thailand and 1.02 lakh tonnes to Vietnam.

During 2012-13 oil marketing year, India exported 3.4 million tonnes of soyameal, valued at Rs 10,591 crore.

India's soyameal exports, which constitute the bulk of oil meal exports, decreased by 27.50% to 2.32 lakh tonnes in March 2014 from 3.20 lakh tonnes a year earlier.

Soyameal exports fell by 10% in October-December quarter at 11.84 lakh tonnes.

However, shipments dropped sharply by nearly 50% to 7.8 lakh tonnes during January-March quarter, against 15.17 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period due to lower availability of soyabean, which led to lower crushing.Madhya Pradesh is the largest producing state of soyabean, which is grown in Kharif season.

Source:- business-standard.com

China Making Inroads Into Export Markets By Exporting Onions Similar To Indian One

To make inroads in the traditional export markets of India, where consumers give first preference to Indian onion, China has started promoting a variety, which is similar to Indian onions. Confident that the consumers in these countries will stick with Indian onions unless they become too expensive, Indian exporters hardly feel threatened by this move by China.

India is the second largest producer of onions in the world following China. However, it is the top onion exporter, occasionally losing its top position to the Netherlands, which usually ranks second in export of the bulb.

According to Agricultural Produce Export Development Authority ( APEDA), India has exported 16.66 lakh tonne onion worth Rs 1,966.67 crore during the year 2012-13. Malaysia, Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Singapore and Kuwait are the traditional markets for the red and pungent Indian onions.

During last three to four years, China, has started promoting one of its variety, which is similar to Indian onion in colour, in India's traditional export markets.

RP Gupta, director of the National Horticulture Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF) confirmed, "China grows a crop similar to our red variety. However, their taste and shape are different as the weather and soil conditions are not the same."

Indian exporters are least worried about this move by China. Firstly, they are confident that onion from no other country can beat Indian onion in taste and other quality parameters. Trade sources say that the order of preference of the traditional markets in the descending order is India, Pakistan, Iran, Egypt and China.

Unless the difference between Indian onion and that from other exporting countries is more than $100/tonne, the traditional markets prefer to buy Indian onion due to its taste and appearance. "China can enter into our traditional export markets only if the Indian onion becomes too expensive during June to September in the domestic market, making exports difficult," said Ajit Shah, president, Onion Exporters Association.

Secondly, the peak season for export of Indian onions is from January to March, when hardly any country, barring Egypt, which offers a small quantity, is present in the market.

Harvesting of Indian onion gets over in June, while the Chinese onion comes from June onward. Thus, China cannot compete with Indian onion during its peak export season.

Source:- economictimes.indiatimes.com

..Exploration Of Scarce Minerals Top Priority Of Geological Survey Of India's Mission Ii

India imports a number of minerals like phosphates, tungsten, potash, gold and platinum every year. Keeping the ever increasing demand in mind, the national mission II on natural resource management (NRM) of Geological Survey of India (GSI) will now take up exploration of these minerals on domestic front as one of the priority area besides looking for rare earth elements (REE).

Though the new deputy director general of NRM, Anjan Chatterjee who took charge on April 1 at the mission headquarters in Nagpur, has his priorities listed, he wants to continue with the conventional work of identifying the indicated, probable and proved deposits of different minerals.

Speaking to TOI, he said exploration of minerals with poor resource-cum-reserve base will the biggest priority of the mission. "Minerals like phosphate and potash used in fertilizers are always in short supply in imports. India is world's second biggest consumer and importer of potash. During good monsoons, the prices of these minerals shoot up and government has to subsidize it for farmers. So we really need to look for may be small but economically viable deposits," he said. Rajasthan has some known deposits but they are of very poor quality and need enrichment. This may require help from the Indian Bureau of Mines. Gold is another mineral which should be explored in newer areas.

Tungsten is one RRE mineral which has suddenly come in very high demand range due to use in electronic devices. But India has no known reserves of this mineral so far. So priority would also be given to explore the possibilities of its existence. It is also considered to be a strategic mineral as it is used in armour plating and bullet proofing of VVIP cars. It is also called as 'industrial diamond' as it is used to cut during drilling. Rajasthan had two tungsten mines but had to be abandoned as they became non viable. So besides importing, India needs to think of recycling it. "We should not only explore for minerals as raw materials but also manufacture their products and sell them outside the country as the developed world does rather than just exporting the raw material," said Chatterjee.

Similarly, Coal is being imported at a large scale. But looking at the ever increasing demand in the industry, coal should be explored once again with a different action plan which will minimize imports. Need-based minerals like cobalt and nickel should also be explored in ocean beds instead of conventional land deposits.

EXPLORATION PRIORITIES

MINERAL SECTOR

a) Delineate new target regions and take up exploration

b) Re-orient organisational methodology to undertake collaborative ventures with state or private agencies

c) Minimize imports and augment local deposits

d) Besides meeting targets, exceed drilling for explorations

e) Flexible working to allow explorations of need based minerals like cobalt and nickel

ENERGY SECTOR

a) Augment resource base of coal and lignite through regional exploration

b) Identify potential Coal Bed Methane (CBM) blocks for exploration and exploitation

d) Explore potential geological formations for geothermal energy resources

e) Conduct research on potential of gas hydrates

Source:- timesofindia.indiatimes.com

India: Ig International Set For Record Chilean Apple Imports

India’s IG International is on track to having 45,000 metric tons (MT) of cold storage capacity by the end of 2014, in a bid to adjust to consumption trends and bring new products to untapped regions. After stretching its share of Chilean cherry imports, director Tarun Arora says apples imports from the South American country will break new records in wake of the supply challenges from other sources. Arora is also excited about the upcoming launch of Zespri SunGold kiwifruit, followin a Northern Hemisphere season where Iranian oversupply put the squeeze on Italian and French competitors.

Arora says the apple import deal looked very bright in the first five weeks of 2014 with good supply from sources such as Washington and China, but today the situation is quite different in the transition between seasons.

“Slowly things started changing, especially for varieties that are liked by the Indian market, which are Gala and Red Delicious,”

“Washington"> had much larger size and four million less cartons moving into week 10 and to week 15, so there was a shortage of apples there…the market started moving up and it went higher and higher, probably by US$5-6.

“Then New Zealand the apples have had a good time in European markets so there has been very short supply of New Zealand apples in the Indian market.”

As a result he says everyone’s focus has turned to Chilean apples, with Arora estimating that 900,000 boxes are on their way.

“It looks to be one of the strongest seasons. It will break all records from Chile this year.

“The market until now has been very strong in India, so once the arrivals from week 9 shipping start arriving in another two weeks’ time, we’ll probably get to know more. As for now the market appears to be good.

Bangalore will serve as a key controlled atmosphere cold storage point for IG International’s pomegranates, and has also shown good opportunities for imports of Chilean cherries. Photo: soul_flow via Flickr Creative Commons

“It also makes me scared because so much volume is coming in just those specific weeks, but it should subsidize as there’s not going to be other alternatives available during that time; in a very small way Washington apples will come in, and it will not have a big competition in the sizing from Chile.”

He adds that Indian domestic apple growers have also done well this year. While most local supply is finished around the first week of April, only a small percentage remains; a large part of this is due to the country’s level of cold storage and controlled atmosphere (CA) capacity.

“CA storage is only 50,000 [MT] which is not even 5% or 6% of the entire crop, so between 92-94% is either in the cold storage which cannot last more than two or three months [after season kick-off in August], or sold in the running market.

“It still takes time before the capacity starts building and people start holding more Indian product, so more or less even with the CA capacity, people start pushing that product January onwards and want to get over with it in the month of April.

“I think Indian supply is more or less over, with maybe 1% of the total Indian crop in CA right now, and it will not have a very big impact on the imported arrivals.”

Cherries and kiwifruit

Another recent highlight for Arora is an increased market share in Chilean cherry imports, with the company now holding 60% of the market for cherries from that origin.

“Overall, the quality in the beginning was really good – we did some trials on CA as well, of which half went well and half was fine,” he says.

“The cherry market is growing on the broader side. Last year we did almost half of it so this year we’ve doubled our volume. Each year we’re seeing a growing cherry market.

“There are newer markets that are starting to accept the expensive product – we got a good opportunity with good availability to open up new markets, so we have now started moving cherries in markets like Kolkata and Bangalore.”

However, Arora sees some limits to growth for cherry imports for logistical reasons.

“The only disadvantage why we’re not able to move so much product is that the cherries coming in by air, so there is the air component which is included, unlike in China where you can send product by sea.

“Transit times have become better, and I don’t foresee a huge growth, but I’d foresee good organic growth in terms of the air cargo coming into India from Chile.”

One key Chilean product that IG International does not market is kiwifruit, with its focus on Zespri product from New Zealand during the Southern Hemisphere season.

“This year is our first year for launching the new variety of gold, Zespri SunGold, and we’re really excited about it; I think it will certainly do very well, much better than the previous gold,” the director says.

He mentions that most kiwifruit import focus in India has been on the green Hayward variety. While the company moved into Zespri’s gold Hort16A kiwifruit a few years ago, this coincided with the outbreak of vine disease Psa, to which this variety is more susceptible than the green Hayward or the newer Zespri SunGold (G3).

“It was only two years ago that we started doing marketing in a reasonably big way, and at that time India was already a market with strategy in Hayward, by both importers and Zespri.

“Then Psa happened and gold just got eliminated; we could not get any supply. I’m excited that it will do very well in India, and it’s a very good marketing strategy by Zespri I must say. Long term how it shapes up will depend on how we’re able to market it this year, so we are confident with our new wholesale outlets and cold storages.

“We just opened up in Jalandhar a month back, which is a huge huge market for kiwifruit. It’s up north, another 300km (186mi) from Delhi.”

The New Zealand deal will come on the back of what has been a fairly impactful shift in the Indian kiwifruit market, with the Iranian industry gaining a stronger foothold at the expense of European shippers.

“One of the origins that have really hit India hard is Iranian kiwifruit. There is a huge supply of Iranian kiwifruit which is coming into India now, which has really impacted the Italians and the French.

“We are exclusive distributors of Oscar kiwifruit, which is a label of Prim’land from France – we generally ship a good volume from them, but this year we were short on their volume because we had to divert to Iranian kiwifruit, because on price the Italian and French kiwifruit could not really compete.

“Those who get Italian and French either have to get it in lesser volume to make money on it, or if they bring it in a bigger volume they have to lower the price, and they always end up making losses.”

He says the market change is due increased plantings in Iran, and perception of fruit from this origin.

“If you go back two years ago Indian importers were not too willing to bring in produce from Iran but that has changed.

“There are now more importers who are dealing in a big way from Iran; there are a couple of Iranian companies themselves who have opened up in India who are pushing a lot more Iranian kiwifruit and their focus is totally different.

“They still have some problems though. They really don’t have the product of the quality of Chile and New Zealand, so they’re no threat to those origins.”

Cold storage expansion

When asked about a cold storage investment plan revealed to http://ift.tt/1cJ3mP1 during last year’s Fruit Logistica in Berlin, Arora says a lot of progress has already been made.

“More or less by the end of this year we expect 45,000 metric tons (MT) to already be completed. The Chennai cold storage is already completed and we’ve inaugurated that. Amarawati is already active, although it’s not CA, it’s a normal cold storage.

“In Bangalore we’ve already starting directing the cold storage facility. That should be ready in a couple months’ time, so I think in June it will be ready.

“We’ll probably inaugurate Jaipur next month, and Delhi is almost complete so overall, so we now have 13 cold storages.”

He says the company will only have three CA cold storages for fruit, with one in Bangalore with a strong focus on pomegranates and two in Himachal Pradesh for apples.

“And there’s one one we’re putting in Jaipur but that’s for a different reason altogether because we want to hold garlic or other products,” Arora adds.

Export performance

On the export front, Arora points to a positive inauguration of IG’s joint venture with Sanvi International, despite the drawbacks of weather issues cutting the season short.

“We just opened our JV with Sanvi International which has done tremendously well. We have successfully managed to ship out very good volumes this year, so we’ve already reached half a million cartons of export this year on grapes,” he says.

“We expect to almost triple it next year, so next year we’re expecting anywhere between 1.5-2 million cartons of export of grapes under Sanvi.

“Due to unseasonal rains our season’s cut short. Generally we close around April 21-25, but we’ve already closed now two weeks early because of hailstorms which happened in Nashik 1.5 months ago, and there were excessive rains which really damaged the crop.”

He says if this event had not occurred it would have translated in 100,000 more grape cartons over the two weeks.

“But anyhow, until now it has been a very good season, most arrivals have made it well, the customers are happy about the good arrivals.

“In fresh produce there are always some complaints but we are pretty satisfied about what we have delivered and how the market has accepted our product.”

In other products, Arora mentions IG has had a very good potato season with strong sales in Russia.

“We’ve shipped quite a big volume to Russia on potatoes. The pricing was good, it was a superb year on potatoes.

“Everything fell into place. Egypt and Pakistan were a little high on price, and it gave us the right opportunity to go right into Russia and we shipped in a big way there this year, to St Petersburg and a few to Novosibirsk.”

He adds that the quality of potatoes has also been very good, with a move into relatively new varieties, of which he highlights the Agra 3797 range.

“We’ve stopped Russia for now and we continue into the Middle East, we shipping into Dubai, Damascus and into Kuwait, so we’re shipping into different Middle Eastern countries,” Arora says.

The executive adds that for its third key export product, pomegranates, the going has been a bit “tricky”.

“The volumes have been going down and there are quality issues as well…a single single container is very expensive, so we try to do mixed loads to Dubai, putting in pomegranates with other things.

“Some weeks we can get maybe two or three out, but sometimes it’s difficult to get one out because of the difficulty in availability for good quality product.”

Sfource:- freshfruitportal.com

India Becomes Net Steel Exporter After 6 Years

India became net steel exporter in 2013-14 after a gap of six years and is likely to maintain the momentum in 2014-15 as producers are looking to dock more overseas shipment to tide over subdued domestic consumption.

Total steel exports by India during the last fiscal stood at 5.59 million tonnes (MT), as against imports of 5.44 MT, joint plant committee (JPC), a unit of the steel ministry, said in a report.

India, now the world’s fourth largest steel maker, had been a net steel importer since 2007-08 and the trend continued till 2012-13 with 7.9 MT of imports and 5.2 MT of exports. Before 2007-08, India’s exports were more than its imports.About 4.1% higher exports and 31.3% decline in imports helped India become net exporter of steel.

While higher exports were driven by volatility of rupee and mismatched demand-supply situation in the country; imports were lower mainly due to slowdown in the domestic economy, JPC said.

India’s steel consumption grew by just 0.6% in 2013-14, its lowest in four years, to 73.93 MT, impacted by a slower expansion of the domestic economy and lower imports.

“The low growth rate in domestic steel consumption indicated that base level demand conditions continued to be weak during 2013-14,” JPC said. Construction sector accounts for around 60% of the country’s total steel demand while the automobile industry consumes 15%.

Both sectors were hit by a slowdown in the economy which according to Central Statistics Office (CSO) estimates grew by 4.9% in 2013-14, against the growth rate of 4.5% in 2012-13.

Sensing poor demand in store, almost all domestic steel producers, both public and private, tried to export vigorously and showed good growth in overseas shipments last fiscal.

Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) had clocked a 30% growth in exports in 2013-14 and aims to more than double the shipments to 1 MT in 2014-15.Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd. (RINL), which exported 1 lakh tonne steel last fiscal, aims to treble that in the current fiscal.

Source:- livemint.com

Will The Rupee Rise In May?

Last May, after the US Federal Reserve first announced a likely roadmap for Quantitative Easing (QE) taper, Morgan Stanley labelled India as a “fragile five” club member with other emerging economies such as Turkey, South Africa, Brazil and Indonesia.In 2014, the Indian Rupee is outperforming Turkey, South Africa, Brazil and Indonesia. pic/thinkstock

Emerging markets were bound to be hit with the withdrawal of cheap liquidity from the system. A rush of money back to the developed markets, coupled with domestic fundamental challenges such as dwindling foreign exchange reserves and high inflation, pushed the rupee to an all time low of 68.8 against the dollar in the next couple of months.

Historically, March has always been a good month for the rupee and together with the overall market optimism of a Narendra Modi-led stable coalition government at the centre, the rupee is displaying a close correlation with the Nifty once again. To be fair, credit must also be given to the UPA government as India’s macro outlook has improved considerably over the last year as a result of the fiscal-tightening measures. Well before the equity rally gathered steam, the rupee outperformed the MSCI emerging market currency basket in January during the EM currency turmoil.

With the Indian rupee close to the key psychological 60 level against the dollar, one would expect the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to be rebuilding reserves. According to the Bank of America, the central bank has bought $5 billion (including maturity of FX swaps with oil companies) since mid-March. India's import cover, at seven-and-a-half to eight months, is well below the 10 months needed for INR stability which would justify further accumulation of reserves. Indian equities have room for much further upside from current levels. But the same cannot be said about the rupee. In 2009, the INR did jump three per cent on the 2009 poll result. (Equities gained 18 per cent in two days post the result.) However, here are two key differences. In 2009, the INR had lagged recovery in EM currencies after the Lehman collapse as the FX market feared the event risk of the May 2009 elections. In contrast, in 2014, the INR is outperforming the Fragile Five peers. Further, in 2009, the RBI allowed the INR to appreciate as import cover was high. In contrast, again, inadequate import cover will now force the RBI to buy FX if the emergence of a stable government attracts capital inflows according to a Bank of America report.

More importantly, even on the back of the US Fed taper, the dollar index is still trading below close to the 80.5 level. Going forward, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan are widely anticipated to add monetary stimulus as has been written in this column in previous weeks. The yen and the euro are poised to weaken against the dollar. We can see the euro at 1.3 and the USD/JPY pair at 110 by year end. The dollar index can rally to levels close to 85-87. It is hard to see the rupee appreciating beyond 57-58 levels over the next year. RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has cited a finance ministry report to suggest that at any level below 57-58 to a dollar, he would consider the rupee to be overvalued. A “market friendly” result on May 16 can take the rupee to 57 against the dollar. But one would have to be very brave to bet on further appreciation.

Source:- mid-day.com

SAT upheld penalty as appellant was found guilty of doing wash trading/self-trading of scrips

CL: Wash trades/self trades of scrip are violative of SEBI (PFUTP) Regulations

ITAT remanded matter to determine whether loan was advanced by assessee to AE at LIBOR plus rates

IT/ILT : Where assessee advanced certain amount of loan to its AEs, following order passed by Co-ordinate Bench of Tribunal in ITA No. 1866/Hyd./2012 dated 29-11-2003, matter was to be remanded back to Assessing Officer to examine whether rate of interest received was at LIBOR + percentage points and, in case some of loans were reflecting rate at ordinary percentage points, conversion to LIBOR plus was required

I-T and MCA Officials to work in unison to avoid restructuring schemes intending to deceive revenue:

IT : Section 79 of The Income-Tax Act, 1961 - Losses - Carry Forward and Set Off of in Case of Certain Companies - Department's Objections to Merger/Amalgamation/Demerger/Reconstruction Scheme of Companies not Entertained by High Courts - Remedial Measures to be Taken by Department Therefor

Profit from share dealings aren't business income of Insurance-co. if it treated it as investment si

IT: Where assessee-company was formed with object of carrying on business of insurance brokering services and for that purpose it was in process of securing approval from IRDA and during pendency of securing approval it had invested its surplus funds into shares and from very beginning it had treated shares as investments and during previous year it made purchases and sales of shares very frequently, share transactions made by assessee were not trading activities but investments only

Unexplained retraction of statement after considerable period is an afterthought reasoning and inval

Excise & Customs : Where statement was made on 30-11-2004/1-12-2004 and said statement was not retracted even after assessee had been released on bail on 4-12-2014 until 17-12-2005 and period after release was unexplained, such retraction was invalid being an after-thought

Cash payment for purchase of agriculture produce through common agents covered by Rule 6DD; disallow

IT: Where purchases were made from agriculturists as also through common agents, case was correctly held to be falling under exception provided under clauses (e) and (k) of rule 6DD

Sunglasses not classifiable as 'spectacles'; liable to VAT at higher rate

CST & VAT : Applying common parlance test as well as fundamental/basic meaning, term 'spectacles' relates to and means corrective spectacles only and does not include sunglasses

Addition couldn't be made for variation in figures reported in original audited and re-audited accou

IT: Where assets, along with their nature and source, stood disclosed by assessee per its revised balance-sheet, no addition could be validly made

HC directs winding-up of co. as it failed to pay genuine claims and made fake claims to resist windi

CL: Where respondent disputed payments due to petitioner and alluded that goods supplied by petitioner had certain defects which required to be addressed, in view of fact that complaints adverted to by respondent were made much after when payments of invoices had become due and payable and further that respondent had elicited no response on notice received under section 434(1)(a), defence raised by respondent was spurious and created for purposes of resisting winding up petition

Premium paid by bank for acquisition of G-Secs to maintain its SLR to be amortized over period of ma

IT : In terms of Circular No. 17, dated 26-11-2008, where a co-operative bank purchases certain Government securities in order to maintain statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) at a price higher than their face value, premium so paid has to be amortised for remaining period of maturity

Chlorine tonners are gas cylinders; qualifies for depreciation at 60%

IT: Chlorine toners used for storage and transportation of chlorine gas generated in caustic soda plant are 'gas cylinders' qualifies for depreciation at rate of 60 per cent

HC slams AO for denying sec. 11 relief to trust for corpus fund received with specific direction

IT: Assessee-trust would be entitled to benefit under section 11 in respect of voluntary contribution received from public with a specific direction to use same for building purpose

No VAT on hiring of machinery to contractors engaged in project as it couldn't be deemed sale

CST & VAT: Where project owner had hired out sophisticated machinery to its contractors engaged in construction/execution of said project, such hiring did not amount to 'transfer of right to use', as effective control and enjoyment remained with assessee; therefore, same cannot be charged to VAT, it is liable to service tax only

Sec. 10B relief not deniable if assessee inadvertently mentions sec. 80-IB while e-filing of return

IT : Assessee having fulfilled all conditions laid down under section 10B, merely because section 80-IB was wrongly mentioned in e-return as against section 10B, claim could not be disallowed

No prescribed format to defer application of trust's income to later years if less than 85% of incom

IT: Where assessee-trust, failing to use 85 per cent of income from property, wrote letter conveying department for option available under clause (2) of Explanation to section 11(1) to allow it to spend surplus amount to next year, no disallowance was to be made merely on ground that declaration was not made in a prescribed manner

Rejection of Form F is an order under sec. 6A of CST Act; appeal against such an order would lie wit

CST & VAT : An order rejecting Form F furnished by assessee is to be regarded as one passed under section 6A of Central Sales Tax Act and, therefore, in terms of section 18A ibid, appeal thereagainst would lie directly to Appellate Tribunal

Interest on non-operational sticky loans to be recognized by bank on receipt basis and not on accrua

IT: Interest on non-operational sticky loans shown in suspense account is not taxable on accrual basis, rather such an interest would be accounted for as and when it is realized

HC allows depreciation on assets as assessee was found to be owner of assets leased out on hire basi

IT : Where assessee claimed depreciation in respect of two trucks stating that trucks had been purchased by him and they had been given on hire to two transport companies and Tribunal on basis of material on record held that assessee was owner of trucks and he had let out same on hire and he did receive hire charges and accordingly accepted assessee's claim for depreciation, in peculiar facts of case Tribunal was justified in allowing depreciation

HC nods to invocation of extended period as false declarations were filed by assessee to claim exemp

Excise & Customs : Where an assessee has found false declarations to claim exemption and basic documents evidencing entries are not filed with excise returns, department can invoke extended period of limitation.

HC rejected winding-up plea and directed parties to approach civil court to adjudicate pecuniary dis

CL: Where there were vehement and serious disputes between parties as regards claim of petitioner for payment of commission in respect of a property, petitioner was directed to approach civil Court for adjudication of matter

Sum paid to foreign co. for transmitting bulk SMS wasn't a 'fee for technical service'; no withholdi

IT/ILT : Where assessee-company made carrier payments to a non-resident company in order to transmit bulk SMS data, since nature of services rendered by foreign company required no technical knowledge, payments in question could not be regarded as 'fee for technical services' and, thus, assessee was not required to deduct tax at source while making said payments

RBI further extends existing all-in-cost ceiling of ECBs by 3 months

FEMA/ILT : External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) Policy – Review of all-in-cost ceiling

Reassessment on basis of docs duly explained by assessee during original assessment would be erroneo

IT : Where Assessing Officer passed assessment order under section 143(3) after considering assessee's explanation in respect of documents seized in course of search proceedings, initiation of reassessment proceedings on basis of same material already available on record could not be upheld

Service of transporting employees of corporate on hire basis was liable to ST under Tour Operator Se

Service Tax: Service of transporting employees of corporates under an agreement with corporates on charter/hire basis amounts to 'tour operator services' liable to service tax and not eligible for exemption in respect of contract carriage.

Existing all-in-cost ceiling related to trade credit for imports further extended by 3 months

FEMA/ILT : Trade credits for imports into India - Review of all-in-cost ceiling

RBI calls for robust FEMA compliant policies for purchase/sale of properties by banks at their overs

BANKING : Policy for sale and purchase of property and acquiring/letting out property on lease/rental basis by banks at their overseas centres

RBI allows e-transfer of inward foreign remittances into beneficiaries account under Rupee Drawing A

FEMA/ILT : Rupee Drawing Arrangement - 'Direct to Account' Facility

No Sec. 68 additions as advance money is taxable in year of actual distribution of film and not in y

IT : Where assessee, engaged in business of production and distribution of films, received certain amount as advance for distribution of film which was shown as liability in balance sheet, in view of fact that said amount was offered as taxable income in subsequent year when film was actually distributed, Assessing Officer was not justified in bringing same to tax during relevant year by invoking provisions of section 68

No penalty under FEMA without service of show cause notice; HC sets aside penalty order of Special D

FEMA: Where petitioners were not served with show cause notice even though respondents were aware of their new address, impugned order imposing penalty upon petitioners was passed in violation of principles of natural justice

HC upholds authenticity of purchases as assessee was keeping stock registers in which purchases were

IT: Where Tribunal noted that GP rate and net profit rate of year under consideration were better than previous year, stock register was properly maintained and purchases in question were reflected in such stock register, purchases so made could not be held to be bogus

Aid and counseling to earthquake victims is 'relief and rehabilitation'; goods used therein are exci

Excise & Customs : Activity of free legal aid and counselling to various victims of earthquake and making them aware of various packages made available by Government and guiding them aptly so also advising them suitably on legal issues amounts to 'relief and rehabilitation' for purpose of Central Excise Exemption

Assessee-co. could claim depreciation on construction of highways on BOT basis even if it was legall

IT: Road constructed by assessee on BOT basis is eligible for depreciation even though he is not legal owner of the road

Prior to 1-4-2005, no need to obtain completion certificate of housing project to avail of sec. 80-I

IT : Where assessee, a real estate developer, launched a project in Vrindavan and obtained approval of project from Development Authority on 16-3-2005 and for assessment year 2007-08 it claimed deduction under section 80-IB, provisions of sub-section (10) of section 80-IB existing prior to its substitution by Finance (No. 2) Act, 2004, with effect from 1-4-2005 were applicable to instant case and in view of said provisions, assessee was not required to produce completion certificate to avail ded

Rule 8D didn't have retro effect, it would apply prospectively only from Assessment Year 2008-09: HC

IT : Rule 8D is prospective in nature and would apply from assessment year 2008-09

HC permits transfer of unutilized Cenvat credit from one division to another division of same assess

Cenvat Credit: Where assessee is granted single registration in place of two separate registrations of two divisions in same premises, credit pertaining to one division can be transferred to Cenvat credit register of another division, as Cenvat credit can be used for payment of duty on any product

Reassessment can't be made merely on basis of reason recorded by non-jurisdictional AO

IT: Where Assessing Officer, Agra initiated reassessment proceedings against assessee and subsequently he transferred case to Assessing Officer, Mathura, who was having jurisdiction over assessee, and thereupon Assessing Officer, Mathura without recording fresh reasons and on basis of reasons recorded by Assessing Officer, Agra issued on assessee a fresh notice under section 148, Assessing Officer, Mathura had not validity assumed jurisdiction to initiate reassessment proceedings against assesse

Depreciation on lease asset disallowed as parties to contract failed to prove existence of asset

IT : Where assessee claimed depreciation on leased out M.S. Rolls, in view of fact that lease transactions in question were merely financial transactions as both assessee as well as lessee failed to prove even existence of M.S. Rolls, Assessing Officer was justified in rejecting assessee's claim

SC : Protest by Trade unions against telecast of ‘Mahabharata’ in Bangla language wasn’t anti-compe

CL : Section 3 of the Competition Act applies to competitors' actions, not to workers' actions

Tribunal to allow early hearing irrespective of sum involved in appeal if issue was covered by judgm

Excise & Customs : Where issue is undisputedly covered by judgment of jurisdictional High Court, Tribunal must allow application for Out-of-turn/Early Hearing irrespective of fact that amount involved therein is less than Rs. 1 crore

RBI sets up new category of NBFC, viz., ‘Non-Operative Financial Holding Co.’ to regulate credit sys

NBFCs : Registration of Non-Operative Financial Holding Companies (NOFHCS)

Losses from share transaction due to bonus stripping can be carried forward as sec. 94(8) applies to

IT : Where assessee purchased certain shares immediately prior to allotment of bonus shares and after allotment of those shares original shares whose value had reduced to almost 50 per cent were sold, said transaction being in nature of 'bonus stripping' was covered under section 94(8) and, since said section covered only 'units' and not 'securities', assessee's claim for set off of said loss could not be disallowed

SEBI restores margins for USD-INR contracts in currency derivatives to pre July 8, 2013 rates

SEBI : Margins for USD-INR Contracts

Sec. 54F relief couldn't be withdrawn if residential property was subsequently put to use for commer

IT : Subsequent change in usage of property does not disentitle assessee to relief under section 54F, if what was acquired was originally a residential property

Excise Collection Up 2%, Service Tax 14% In West Bengal For Fy 14

Central excise collection increased by nearly 2 per cent and service tax by 14-16 per cent during the FY 2013-14 for the Kolkata circle, but is short of the revised target.

"The final numbers are not yet released but approximately our excise collection has grown by 2 per cent and service tax by 14-16 per cent (during FY 2013-14) for our circle comprising West Bengal, Andamans and Sikkim," Chief Commissioner of Central Excise and Service tax, (Kolkata) Kameswari Subramanian told PTI here.

Collection from Andamans and Sikkim is negligible in the total collection for the circle.

"Though, we have missed the revised targets in both excise and service tax by 7 per cent and 8.6 per cent for 2013-14, our total collection has gone up over 2012-13," she said on the sidelines of an interactive session with members of the Bengal Chamber.

In 2012-13, the total collection for central excise in the circle was at Rs 8365.80 crore, and in case of service tax it was Rs 5441.29 crore, commissioner service tax C M Chandolia said.

Source:- economictimes.indiatimes.com

Daimler India Aims At Operational Break-Even By 2015

Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV), on Thursday, indicated that it would aim to achieve operational break-even by the end of 2015 as well as target to more than triple its current volumes in a shorter period.

The truck and bus manufacturing arm of German auto major Daimler AG has worked out a three-pronged strategy to report operational break even. Firstly, it plans to be more cost-competitive by increasing localisation levels in its trucks further to about 95 per cent from 85 per cent now. Secondly, the company would aggressively work on boosting volumes and market share despite tough market conditions and thirdly, stronger export thrust would be given as long as the currency fluctuates favourably.

“We have ambitious 3-year plan to achieve operating break even for DICV. We hope to reach this level by the last quarter of 2015,” Marc Llistosella, Managing Director & CEO of DICV said here.

With the highest ever monthly sales of about 1,000 trucks in March this year, DICV’s cumulative sales of BharatBenz trucks, sale of which began in September 2012, crossed 10,000 units. DICV sold 2,203 units in January-March 2014 period as against 1,316 units in a year-ago period and claimed to have garnered a market share of 5.3 per cent in the addressable medium and heavy duty truck market (above 9-tonne category).

Mr.Llistosella hinted that company had drawn up plans to reach 30,000 sales mark in a shorter period. Its current annual capacity is 36,000 units on two-shift basis. In 2013, DICV produced 6900 trucks out of its Oragadam facility near Chennai and sold 94 per cent of production in the domestic market while the rest were exported.

Source:- thehindu.com

Bangladesh's Negative Policy Compels: Pakistanis To Shift Textile Units Back To Country

Pakistanis are shifting their textile units back to the country in the wake of Bangladeshi government's 'negative' and `biased' policies that triggered insecurity among the investors, industry sources said on Wednesday. The political turmoil that culminated in hatred against Pakistan largely caused worrisome to the investors who had relocated their units from Karachi or other cities of the country to Dhaka, they said.

"Bangladeshi government also blamed Pakistan for overplaying the collapse of a textile factory building in Dhaka at global markets," said Chief Co-ordinator Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (Prgmea), Ijaz A. Khokhar. He said the Pakistani investors found the Bangladeshi government's policies 'hostile' and its bureaucracy difficult to deal with since the political tension gripped the nation after trials and punishment of Jamaat-i-Islami leaders for 1971 war charges.

"The entire atmosphere changed there against the Pakistani investors and Bangladeshi government singled out Pakistan for all faults including the factory collapse despite its friend -India had aggressively propagated on the tragedy along with EU," he said.

It is now an established fact that the new investors have scarped their plans to set up units in Bangladesh after its government stepped up a drive against Pakistan, he said, adding that "a number of investors relocated their units back home". He said a majority of units that Pakistan investors had set up were from home textile sector, who were in a search for duty-free access that Dhaka provided for its being Least Developed Country (LDC) in the EU. "Now GSP-Plus provides the same facility for local exporters, upstaging the Bangladeshi factor that attracted many to return after political turmoil in Bangladesh," he said.

However, he lamented the energy crisis had played a bad role that scaled back textile production phenomenally in Pakistan though the country has attained a GSP-Plus status to EU, Khokhar said. Chief Co-ordinator, Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PHMA), Javed Bilwani said the investors have been panicked owing to Bangladeshi government's policies. He said several had fled with their capitals back home.

"The remaining investors are worried and feeling insecure in Bangladesh and will sooner rather than latter will escape to Pakistan because the sudden political shocks they received from Bangladeshi government have left them altogether panicked," he said. However he said the investors will have no significant business in Pakistan since the country is passing through acute short of energy and fluctuating tariffs of utilities, besides poor law and order.

"How can the GSP-plus status help the nation if the country is already having big tax rate, no rebate, no energy, rupee value fall and rise, delays in refunds and other such issues that hinder the production and export of textile," he queried.

Source:- brecorder.com

Cotton Prices Fall As Trading Slows

Cotton prices moved lower on Thursday amid slow trading and depressed cotton yarn demand in the domestic market.Floor brokers said that the rupee gaining strength in the inter-bank trading dampened sentiment as exports will become costlier. The textile sector is already faced with a number of issues including availability of cheap Indian cotton yarn.

However, brokers said that it is encouraging that the recent strength gained by the Indian rupee and weaker Chinese currency have somewhat checked yarn exports from India to China.

Nevertheless, slow off-take of cotton yarn in the domestic market continues to adversely affect cotton trade as spinners are reluctant to enter into fresh deals. Barring some interest shown by exporters in low quality lint, the market lacked trading interest, they added.

The world cotton markets also remained easy where Chinese cotton stocks have come down considerably.

The New York cotton gave mixed trend where far-off contracts ended with fresh gains and near-future contracts closed easy. The KCA cut its spot rates by Rs50 to Rs6,500 per maund.

Following deals were reported to have changed hands on the ready counter: 1,100 bales, Sui, at Rs5,400; 558 bales, Ghotki, at Rs6,200; 400 bales, Karampur, at Rs6,550; 1,400 bales, Khanpur, at Rs6,600; and 1,000 bales, Rahimyar Khan, at Rs6,500.

Source:- dawn.com

At 4.5 Bn Dollar, Seafood Exports Surpass Target This Fiscal

Seafood export target, set by the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) of India, has surpassed the target and achieved an export value of $4.5 billion, against the target of $4.3 billion for the fiscal 2013-14.

Serious fall in the production and export of shrimp from Southeast Asian countries, lowering of countervailing duty on Indian shrimp exports in the US and the depreciation of Indian currency are the major factors of the improved performance. MPEDA now targets an earning of $10 billion by 2020 from marine products exports.

As per the provisional estimate of MPEDA, India’s seafood export has crossed one million tonne mark for the first time in this financial year, earning over $4.5 billion, which is a record so far. “During 2011-12 and 2012-13, earnings were $3.5 billion. It was increased by $1 billion in revenue in 12 months. Export revenue grew 30 per cent in dollar terms. In rupee terms, the estimates indicated an earning of `20,000 crore. In 2012-13, India exported 928,215 tonnes valued at `18,856 crore. In 2011-12, the country had exported 862,021 tonnes valued at `16,597 crore,” the MPEDA estimate said. Rise in local demand in Korea warmed up global prices.

However, the US was the largest market for Indian shrimps, as the country imported 51.24 per cent of the total Indian shrimp exports. This was followed by South East Asian countries (16 per cent), EU (15.82 per cent) and Japan (4.94 per cent). Shortage of shrimp due to spread of Early Mortality Syndrome also caused rise in prices.

Increase in the production of Vannamei shrimp, rise in the productivity of Black Tiger variety and increase in export of chilled items also helped achieve higher exports, MPEDA said. In order to achieve the 2020 target, MPEDA rely on increased production of Vannamei shrimp, quality control measures and increase in infrastructure facilities for production of Value added items.

Source:- newindianexpress.com