INDIA BUDGET 2013 :PC NETS BIG FISH

Not so long ago, India appeared to be cruising towards superpowerdom. Then bad weather struck, at home and abroad. With elections looming on the horizon, Chidambaram faces a twin challenge: Keep Congress hopes afloat while steering the economy out of choppy waters. He's soaked the rich, made a splash for women, and sought to shore up investments

Shankar Raghuraman | TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

    Budgets presented in the run-up to elections, whether in the preor post-reforms era, have tended to showcase how much the government is doing for the common man. What's changed post-reforms is that the 'pro-poor rhetoric' has not been accompanied by a 'soak-the-rich' posture. Finance minister P Chidambaram on Thursday bucked that trend. 
    While announcing a tax rebate of up to Rs 2,000 for those with incomes of not more than Rs 5 lakh, the FM imposed a 10% surcharge on income tax for crorepatis, who officially number a mere 42,800, and for domestic and foreign firms with taxable income above Rs 10 crore, which would leave out only small enterprises. 
    In a similar vein, he has hiked customs duty on all mobile phone handsets costing more than Rs 2,000. And has increased excise duty on SUVs—which the fine print of the Budget suggests have been defined in a manner that includes several sedans too. The duty on imported high-end automobiles and yachts has been upped too. Those buying homes and flats with a carpet area of 2,000 square feet or more, or a value of Rs 1 crore or more, will now effectively pay service tax on 30% of the value of the property, while cheaper ones will continue to pay 25% of the value. As Chidambaram himself put it in his speech, "When I need to raise resources, who can I go to except those who are relatively well placed in society?" 
    The 'pro-poor, anti-rich' stance apart, the FM was at pains to show how much the government cares for women and their empowerment. Among the many proposals directed at women was a Nirbhaya Fund for their security and empowerment, and India's first women's bank. 
    For the taxpayer, there will be an additional Rs 1 lakh available for deductions on home loan interest payments, though again only for relatively modestly-priced homes and first-time owners. There were promises too of inflation-linked savings instruments, though the details are to be worked out by the RBI. 
    For corporates, there is an incentive to invest, with 15% of spending of over Rs 100 crore on new plant and machinery in the next two years qualifying for a deduction. For the markets, there was some relief in the form of lower rates of tax on securities transactions and easier procedures for foreign portfolio investors. Against this was a fresh levy, equivalent to the tax on securities transactions, on non-agricultural commodity futures. 
AUR FOR AURAT 
One of the recurring themes of this Budget was women. TOI has long campaigned for a better economic deal for women; this is a good beginning. The FM also announced the setting up of a 1,000cr "Nirbhaya Fund" for the "dignity and safety of women". In the days following the brutal rape of a 23-year-old girl (who later died) in Delhi, TOI named her Nirbhaya (Fearless One). Other women-centric measures include: 
    First women's bank to be set up in public sector with capital of 1,000cr. Will lend to businesses that are run by women, employ women, and support women's SHGs, livelihoods 
    200cr to end "gender discrimination"; to help "vulnerable groups" like single women & widows ARE YOU SINKING OR SWIMMING? TOI HELPS YOU NAVIGATE 
    The biggest gainers from the new income tax proposals are those whose income is between Rs 2.2 lakh and Rs 5 lakh per annum. Everyone in this category saves exactly Rs 2,060 in their tax bill (including the 3% education cess). The only exception are those aged above 80, who are already tax-exempt till Rs 5 lakh and those aged between 60 and 80 who are exempt till Rs 2.5 lakh.Those with incomes between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 2.2 lakh will not have to pay any tax for next year, but how much they save depends on what their income is. A person with an income of just above Rs 2 lakh, for instance, will save almost nothing, while someone who earns Rs 2.1 lakh saves only Rs 1,030. Between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 1 crore, you neither gain nor lose in tax liability. Beyond Rs 1 crore, the extra tax bill mounts rapidly. At Rs 1.5 crore, the additional burden is Rs 4,45,990, at Rs 2 crore it is Rs 6,00,490 and at Rs 5 crore it becomes Rs 15,27,490. 
This is because the 10% surcharge applies to your entire tax bill and not just the portion over Rs 1 crore. 
    While you gain nothing from the Rs 2,000 tax rebate if your income is above Rs 5 lakh, you can still avail of the enhanced benefit on home loan interest payments. So far, interest payments up to Rs 1.5 lakh were deductible from your taxable income. The FM has now said that another Rs 1 lakh of interest payments will be allowed as a tax deduction provided your home loan does not exceed Rs 25 lakh, the value of the property is not more than Rs 40 lakh and it is your first home. If you meet these criteria, you can now 
save Rs 10,300 or Rs 20,600 or Rs 30,900 from your tax bill depending on whether you are in the 10%, 20% or 30% tax bracket. 
    While the formal IT exemption limit remains at Rs 2 lakh, you can avoid tax even with much higher incomes under certain circumstances. If you can use the exemptions for PF contributions, insurance premia etc up to Rs 1 lakh under Sec 80C, the home loan interest deduction under Sec 24 up to Rs 2.5 lakh, the exemption on savings bank account interest up to Rs 10,000 and the Mediclaim premia exemption up to Rs 20,000, you could theoretically have an income of Rs 6 lakh and be tax-free. Of course, whether all 
this is practically possible at such income levels is debatable. 
    As a consumer, your next mobile handset will become costlier as customs duty has been raised from 1% to 6% for all handsets costing more than Rs 2,000. If you are a smoker, the FM's decided you must pay more for your sin. So the excise duty on cigarettes has been hiked by about 18%. Similar hikes will apply to cigars, cheroots and cigarillos. 
SUV prices set to soar, even some sedans will cost more 
    With customs duty up from 75% to 100%, importing a Lamborghini could set you back by Rs 60 lakh, and a Land Cruiser by Rs 15 lakh. Excise duty on SUVs is also up, so even M&M's Scorpio and Toyota's Innova will cost Rs 15,000 to Rs 55,000 more. Worse, the definition of SUVs also covers Honda Civic, Toyota Altis and Maruti SX4, whose prices are set to rise by Rs 16,500 to Rs 40,000 | P 7 Tax changes to yield an extra 13k crore in direct taxes A nother change was to stipulate that where a foreign investor's equity holdings in a firm are over 10%, it would be treated as FDI, while below that threshold it would be FII investment. 
    The net effect of the tax changes is estimated to yield an extra Rs 13,300 crore in direct taxes and Rs 4,700 crore in indirect taxes. The total additional resource mobilisation of Rs 18,000 crore pales in comparison to the Rs 41,440 crore Pranab Mukherjee had proposed to raise last year. Despite the relatively modest tax mopup, the FM has managed to present a budget that apparently hikes outlays on key areas like education, health and the social sector by significant amounts—and yet contains the fiscal deficit at 4.8% of GDP. 
    There is a bit of smoke and mirrors in that image, though. Chidambaram constantly referred to how big the jumps in outlays were relative to the revised estimates for 2012-13, but chose not to dwell on the fact that when compared with the budget estimates for the same year, the increases were most often modest. 
    He is also clearly banking on being able to cut subsidies by a significant amount–next year's estimates for combined food, fertiliser and petro product subsidies is almost Rs 27,000 crore less than the revised estimates for 2012-13. Is that a sign that the government really means it when it says that fuel prices will be periodically revised? We'll have to wait and see. To be fair to the FM, he is, like Pi in Ang Lee's multi Oscar-winning film, faced with the onerous task of surviving a destructive storm and taking both the economy and his party-–not necessarily in that order—to shore. A little bit of fantasizing and optimism in such a situation is perhaps anecessary condition for survival. We can only hope it will be sufficient too.

‘If you do India well, you can cover entire world’ P&G CEO Says Country Offers Diversity Along Entire Pyramid

Mumbai: The $84-billion consumer products giant Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) has chalked out an over $1-billion investment plan for India, which will play out over the next five years, as part of a strategy to look at developing markets more closely. 

    The move, which 
would be music to the 
ears of the government, 
comes at a time when many companies have complained of problems in doing business in India either due to policy paralysis, delay in clearances or an overzealous tax machinery. 
    The Cincinnati-based company, which makes products such as Gillette, Tide detergents, Pantene shampoos, Bounty paper towel and Downy fabric softener, is keen on accelerating its presence in India where it currently has 14 categories. The objective is to bring in newer categories into India and greenfield plants which, along with innovation, can enhance India's share of the developing market pie. 
    In an exclusive interview with TOI, P&G's global president & CEO and chairman of the board, Robert 'Bob' McDonald said, "We have introduced seven new categories over the last few years. That was on top of seven we already had. But we have more categories to introduce since we have 37 categories globally. We expect to roll them out soon. Keep watching." 
    The confidence in the market stems from the fact that the Indian business has been growing at over 20% every year for over a decade now. "We entered the Indian market in 1989. The fact that over 700 million Indians use one of our products is terrific. We got to six million stores but we have more to do and we are working on it," he said. Part of the investments would go into expanding manufacturing facilities in Hyderabad and Mandideep. 
    McDonald, who is in Mumbai as part of an emerging market tour, will be visiting consumer homes in parts of the city on Thursday to "get some key insights". 
    For a global CEO who only recently got over a critical challenge from a section of investors questioning his leadership after P&G lowered guidance a few times last year, McDonald appeared composed and exuded a demeanour fit for an exmilitary man as he spoke about the road ahead. 
    "P&G people don't give others a chance to put pressure on them. They put pressure on themselves. We hate to lose," he said. 
    It's been a tough time for the company and although he does not liken the challenge he faced last year as a leader to perhaps a war-time general, the analogy would certainly hold true from an outsider's perspective. 
    That's because ever since the slowdown, the company has been in 'a constant state of war', in a manner of speaking, with its rivals and discounted products in the marketplace as well as in its efforts to push topline and garner shares. 
    P&G is represented by three legal entities in India — Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care and Gillette India are listed companies, while P&G Home Products is a wholly-owned subsidiary. The combined turnover of the India business is over $1 billion, with brands such as Pantene, Ariel, Whisper, Vicks, Olay and Tide. 
    India currently contributes under 5% of the developing market pie for P&G, and under 1% to the global turnover. McDonald said the emerging market pie, which currently contributes 38% of its global revenues, would expand to half of its sales by 2025. "That gives us scale in these markets," said McDonald. 
    Since India features among the top 10 emerging markets in P&G's 40:20:10 global plan, the country is expected to see a slew of new category launches from P&G. It's billion-dollar brand Crest could be an option to add to the current marketing skirmish in an under-penetrated market like India. 
    Another strategy that P&G is going to play out quite seriously is straddling the pyramid in every category so as to cater to the top and bottom-end of the pyramid. 
    This is quite similar to the strategy Unilever follows in India. 
    On P&G's emphasis on India, McDonald said: "If you do India well, you can pretty much cover the entire world because you have so much diversity from top of the economic pyramid to the bottom. I want to have a vertical portfolio of product to meet the needs of every category." 
    When asked if this was a way to beat the premium tag attached to P&G, McDonald, he described it as work in progress. 
THUMBS UP FOR INDIA ON INDIA PLANS | We have introduced 7 new categories over the last few years on top of 7 we already had. But we have more categories since we have 37 globally. I want to have a vertical portfolio of product to meet the needs of every category… Keep watching 
ON INDIA SALES | We entered the Indian market in 1989. The fact that over 700m Indians use one of our products is terrific. We got to 6 million stores but we have more to do and we are working on it 
ON ROAD AHEAD | P&G people don't give others a chance to put pressure on them. They put pressure on themselves. We hate to lose

Robert McDonald | CEO & CHAIRMAN, PROCTER & GAMBLE

Budget 2013-14: An opportunity to restore India's growth: Rana Kapoor

The Union Budget FY14 is definitely an opportunity that could change gears for the Indian economy and bring India back on its path of achieving its potential growth.

By Rana Kapoor
MD & CEO, Yes Bank 

Like any other year, expectations are running high from the upcoming annual Budget for the financial year 2013-14 to be announced on the last day of this month. Undoubtedly, the Finance Minister has a challenging task at hand, as he delivers the last full budget of his government's term, at a time when macroeconomic economic conditions have successively deteriorated in the year gone by.

Growth in the economy is expected to have slowed to decade low in FY13, accompanied by persistent and elevated level of inflation, and deterioration in external finances. To me, the Union Budget this year should possess multiple agenda.

One, on the growth front, it should serve as a trigger to kick-start the investment cycle in the economy. While this has indeed been the government's focus in the last few months as it announced a flurry of economic reforms, the Budget allows the government to move a step ahead.

It offers an opportunity to the government to signal a stable tax environment especially with respect to foreign investment. This would help to alleviate investor fears and thereby enable the economy to benefit from the global liquidity rush.

Second, the government needs to send a strong message for facilitation of investment intentions by expressing readiness to implement certain key pending reforms such as the Land Acquisition Bill and Mines & Minerals Bill and in the financial sector, Pension & Insurance Bills among others. It must also allow the newly appointed Cabinet Committee on Investments to take on a greater role to expedite the pending regulatory clearances.

Third, the pace of domestic savings has shrunk from a high of 36.8% in FY08 to 30.8% in FY12 and is likely to decline even further. This has been led by a decline in savings of household sector, financial savings in particular.

As such, the budget should aim to induce financial savings, by reducing the lock-in period of bank deposit eligible for tax rebate (from five to three years), increasing threshold of mandatory TDS on interest income, broadening the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Saving Scheme among others. This will help not only to reduce the savings investment gap, but also benefit the banking sector to generate more medium term deposits and reduce its asset-liability mismatches.

Last and perhaps the most critical, the government needs to reinforce its commitment towards fiscal consolidation, by announcing a lower yet a credible fiscal deficit target for FY14. To be able to prune its fiscal deficit target, the Finance Minister can either increase revenues or reduce expenditure.

Clearly, while options to increase revenues remain limited in a slowing economy, the focus will, and should be on expenditure management. Pruning of populist subsidies and reorientation of spending towards productive capital expenditure will provide the much needed fillip to crowd-in private investments. The budget should make some big ticket announcements such as outlining the GST and DTC framework, and a time bound implementation of these.

The Union Budget FY14 is definitely an opportunity that could change gears for the Indian economy and bring India back on its path of achieving its potential growth.

RIL co, Atos in race to man PSB ‘swipe’ 28 Banks Invite Partners To Operate 20L Point Of Sales Terminals Across India

Mumbai: A group firm of Reliance Industries and French IT services major Atos are among the shortlisted service providers to public sector banks wanting to deploy at least two million point of sales (POS) terminals-—debit and credit card swipe machines with merchants—boosting electronic payment in smaller towns within 24 months. India has more than 314 million debit cards but less than 10% of them are used for transactions at shops, and that too mostly in top ten metros.      IDBI is managing a reverse auction process to identity service providers who would manage the swipe machines, after the government pushed the banks to hasten electronic payment in a consumption driven economy, riding heavily on the Middle India story. About 28 public sector banks would outsource their swipe machines to four service providers, dividing the market into four circles with each deploying up to seven lakh POS terminals in two years.      India's leading automated teller machine (ATM) managers Financial Software & Systems (FSS), Prizm Payments and AGS Infotech are vying with Reliance Payment Services and Atos India to manage these swipe machines, said people familiar with the matter. However, some of the biggest global deployers of swipe machines like First Data, which manages the merchant terminals for ICICI Bank, have not bid for the public sector bank business. RIL unit's bid is interesting since it fits well with its chairman Mukesh Ambani's big 4G rollout and retailing plans.      RIL declined to comment on the story, while Atos India CEO Milind Kamat said he would not comment, citing non-disclosure agreements. Atos has set up a local transaction and payment subsidiary, through an acquisition of Venture Infotek 18 months ago, which is already working it private and PSU banks. Private banks like HDFC, Citibank, Axis, ICICI and HSBC together have about 7 lakh, while the PSU banks have 88,000 merchant terminals in the country. Their network is skewed towards the top metros, notwithstanding a footprint covering 300 cities and towns. The big PSU bank push over the next 2-3 years could see the electronic payment infrastructure reaching even rural-urban centres with just 5,000 people, said a source cited earlier.      "If customers pay by debit card the money continues to remain with the banking system increasing its lending resources. There is evidence that increased penetration of credit cards provides a boost to consumption demand," said Uttam Nayak, country manager, Visa.      A recent Moody's report said that global real GDP was only 1.8% per annum (2008-2012); without increased card usage, that growth would have been 1.6%. Banks are hoping to replicate the model it adopted in faster ATM rollout in recent years. India's ATM network crossed one lakh last year with public sector banks deploying 60,000 through service providers. The investments are made by service providers who receive rent for each transaction. By centralizing the deployment and promising volumes, banks were able to hammer down transaction costs by almost half.      Acquiring bank, merchant and service provider would jointly decide on the type of POS terminals. Some of them in areas where customers cannot use PIN/OTP might come out with biometric scanner. Banks are likely to offer a six month rent free merchant acquisition strategy to quicken the deployment process. The service providers are planning to expand the terminals to offer value added services like airline ticketing booking and bill payments.      Manufactures of the card swipe machines said they would push down the POS costs to back government's plans to build the electronic payment network. "This is a bold move and there's scope for lower prices despite terminals costing lesser than in many global markets already," said Pran Mehra, country head, Verizon, which provides banks with swipe machines. The merchant terminals cost between Rs 4,000 and Rs 7,000 each on an average.

BUDGET Countdown Can you educate your child on 100 a month?

Tax Exemptions Out Of Touch With Reality

    Deepak Joshi, a public sector bank employee, spends over Rs 900 on his first class train commute from his Kalyan home to his workplace near CST. Add the cost of rickshaw to and from the railway station, and his bill goes up by Rs 2,000 a month. If he drove to work, he would spend at least Rs 4,000-5,000 a month. Yet, the tax department believes he can make do with just Rs 800. Never mind that travel costs have increased significantly since 1998, when the limit was fixed. 
    Of course, most companies offer conveyance reimbursement. But when it comes to genuine medical expenses, government officials, who enjoy unlimited medical cover, seem oblivious to the rapidly rising healthcare and medicine costs. As a result, the exemption limit for reimbursement of medical expenses—which was last increased from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 in 1998—has stayed at that level for 15 years now. Any middle-class person in the private sector could tell you that this reimbursement level is grossly inadequate. 
    There are several such examples of the income tax department failing to increase the tax-free reimbursement limit despite costs going up significantly. For instance, the exemption limit for education allowance paid by an employer was fixed at Rs 100 per child per month for up to two children in 2000 and it has remained unchanged. 
JUST NOT ENOUGH 
Some tax-exempt limits on heads like conveyance, medical reimbursements last fixed in 1998 
Have not been changed since then even though costs have risen significantly 
Limit for education allowance paid by employer fixed at 100/child per month for up to 2 children in 2000 'Pvt sector workers bear the brunt' 
    The meagre exemption limit for education allowance shows up the unrealistic benchmarks of the government. "Even in 2000, there was hardly a single public school in a large city that had a monthly fee of Rs 100. Today, it's unimaginable," said a tax consultant who did not wish to be identified. 
    Even the medical insurance exemption limit is proving to be inadequate, especially when there is talk of annual premiums going up by 20-25%. A family of four—where the husband and wife are below 35 and the children are under 10 years—spends more than that amount for a Mediclaim policy from one of the four public sector insurance companies. In case of the private insurers, the premium is expected to be higher. 
    Tax experts are even questioning the Rs 1 lakh investment benefit available under section 80C as provident fund, principal payment for home loans, life insurance premium, investment in public provident fund and tuition fees are all included under this head. 
    There are changes that may adversely affect you too. For instance, when it comes to vehicles provided by a company, the government has fixed the taxable amount at Rs 2,400 a month if the engine capacity is 1,600cc or more. Another Rs 900 is provided for driver. With companies doling out Mercedes and Audis, tax experts believe that even the two amounts need to be revisited since they were also fixed a few years ago. 
    A part of the reason for keeping the reimbursements low is the government's own doing. After all, government officials who are entitled to official cars pay a mere Rs 700 a month for using them—a level that was fixed several years ago; since then the cost of petrol alone has shot up manifold. 
    Similarly, when it comes to medical reimbursements, the government gives limitless allowance to its employees who live in towns that are not covered by the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) or have no health facilities. But a private sector employee would still be covered by the Rs 15,000 cap. Whatever be the reason, the limits seem outdated given that they were fixed several years ago. 
    "Certain tax exempt limits like conveyance exemptions, medical reimbursements, etc, have been fixed almost 10 to 15 years back. Since then, in view of increasing fuel and medical costs, there is a need to consider increasing the exemption thresholds upwards. Similarly, in view of the crowded tax deduction limit of Rs 1 lakh (under section 80C), where almost all savings and long term investments are covered, there is a need to revise the deduction limit to at least Rs 300,000 per annum to avail of some meaningful relief. Alternatively there may be separate tax deduction limits carved out for important expenditure such as housing loan payment, education expenses, life insurance, etc," said Parizad Sirwalla, partner at consulting firm KPMG. 
    But the changes may not happen immediately. "Although the rules require changes, given that the Direct Taxes Code is on the anvil, the government will probably take stock of the situation when the new law is finalized," said Kuldip Kumar, executive director at consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Growth seen slumping to 10-year low of 5%

New Delhi: India's economy is estimated to grow by 5% in 2012-13, its slowest pace in a decade, dragged down by dismal performance in the farm, manufacturing and services sectors, piling fresh pressure on the government to devise urgent growth-boosting policies to reverse the trend.      Data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Thursday showed the economy is estimated to grow by 5% in 2012-13, sharply below the 6.2% posted in the previous year and below the estimates of the finance ministry and the RBI which ranged from 5.5 to 5.9%. This will be the slowest pace of growth since 2002 -03 when the economy grew by 4%.      The provisional estimates showed the farm sector is likely to grow 1.8% in 2012-13 compared to a 3.6% expansion the previous year, while manufacturing is seen expanding 1.9% compared to 2.7% growth in the yearago period. The services sector, which accounts for about 60% of the GDP, is likely to grow 6.6% compared to the 8.2% growth in the previous year. Experts seek reforms to spur growth Fast-Track Measures To Revive Investment & Boost Sentiment, Urges India Inc  New Delhi: The Indian economy is expected to grow by 5% in 2012-13, with the services sector, which has been hit by the global economic slowdown since 2000-01, likely to grow 6.6%.      The CSO's advance estimates are based on anticipated level of agricultural and industrial production, analysis of budget estimates of government spending and performance of key sectors like railways, transport other than railways, communication, banking and insurance available so far, the CSO said.      Policymakers were disappointed by the data but said the government was watching the situation and taking steps to revive growth. The finance ministry said it hoped the economy would end the year on a better note and the government would continue to take steps to revive growth.      "As per practice, this projection is based on extrapolation of numbers till November 2012. Since then, leading indicators have turned up, suggesting some hope that we will end the year on a better note," the government said in a statement, adding that sectors such as trade and transport, which are related to industry, would also tend to get revised upwards if growth outcomes are better.      "It may be recalled that the RBI, in its outlook released on January 28, 2013, had projected a growth rate of 5.5%. The CSO's growth estimate, no doubt, is below what we at the finance ministry had expected it to be. We are keeping a watch on the situation. We have taken and will continue to take appropriate measures to revive growth," the government said.      But economists said they would revise downwards their growth estimates and called for sustained reforms to boost growth. "Taking into account the 5% GDP estimate for FY13 (2012-13) and revisions to past data, we are revising our FY14 (2013-14) GDP estimate down to 5.7% from 6.2%," Rohini Malkani, economist at Citigroup India, said in a note.      "While the government has taken several measures since September 12 and growth is likely to have bottomed out in Q3 of FY13 (Oct-Dec), continued action from all policymakers is needed to reverse the decline across all the macro variables," Malkani added.      The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday projected growth at 5.4% in 2012-13 but said it should pick up to 6% in 2013-14. It said in a report that continued implementation of measures to facilitate investment and slightly stronger global growth should deliver a modest rebound in the near term and raise medium-term growth to the upper range of potential estimates.      India Inc stepped up calls to fast-track measures to revive investment and boost sentiment. "Though this was anticipated, the number is astonishingly low. Several overriding risks continue to remain dominant and it is important that we firm up steps to give a thrust to the flagging growth," said Naina Lal Kidwai, president of Ficci. "The need to revive investment sentiment has become indispensable," she added.      Ratings agency Crisil said an improvement in consumption demand over the next fiscal would help in lowering inventory build-up and increasing capacity utilization, but private investments need to be pumped up to raise and sustain growth beyond 2013-14. "Revival of private consumption in 2013-14 will be aided by higher agricultural growth (assuming normal monsoon), pre-election government spending and lower interest rates," it said. Times View: India needs to grow at 8% or more Agrowth rate of 5% at a time when several major economies of the world are struggling to grow at all may not seem like a complete disaster, but it actually is. Unlike the developed economies, India still has a substantial chunk of its population below the poverty line and many more living barely above that level. It desperately needs, therefore, to grow at 8% or more on a consistent basis if those numbers are to be rapidly brought down. Government policy may be only one of several factors determining the economy's growth rate, but importantly it is one that can be controlled. That is why it is imperative that the government quickly gets its act together and ushers in the kind of reforms that will revive confidence in the economy.

Tokyo most expensive city, Mumbai & Delhi among the cheapest: Survey

London: For an average middle class Indian, the cost of living can be daunting in two of India's most cosmopolitan cities — Mumbai and Delhi. 

    But in a shocker, these two of India's most expensive cities have ended up right at the bottom of the heap, in a list of world's cheapest cities. 
    Mumbai and Karachi are the joint cheapest locations in the world according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's "Worldwide cost of living index 2013" with New Delhi just one spot higher. 
    Tokyo took the title as the world's most expensive city ousting Zurich which is now the world's 7th most expensive city. Japan's Tokyo and Osaka were the world's top two expensive cities followed by Sydney, Oslo, Melbourne, Singapore, Zurich, Paris, Caracus (Venezuela) and Geneva. 
    A comparative survey showed that buying a one kg loaf of bread in Tokyo is nine times more expensive in than in Mumbai and 8 times more than in Delhi. Buying a pack of 20 cigarettes cost three times more in Tokyo than in Mumbai and over two times more than in Delhi. Ironically, buying a bottle of table wine is more expensive in Mumbai $23.82 as against $15.95 in Tokyo. 
    The Worldwide cost of living survey, which is based on costs of more than 160 items ranging from food and clothing to domestic help, transport, home rents, private schools and recreational costs said while Asia is home to over half of the world's 20 most expensive cities, the region is also home to six of the 10 cheapest cities. Five of the bottom 10 (and six of the bottom 11) cities hail from the Indian subcontinent defined as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. 
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