Growth slows to 4-yr low of 4.4% in April-June quarter Manufacturing, Mining Sectors Turn Negative

New Delhi: The country's economy grew at its slowest pace in four years in the April-June quarter, dragged down by contraction in the manufacturing and mining sectors. The dismal data will pile more pressure on an embattled government to unveil fresh steps to reverse the slowdown. 

    Data released by the Central Statistics Office on Friday showed the economy grew 4.4% in April-June, slower than the 5.4% in the year-ago period and 4.8% in the January-March quarter. 
    The 4.4% expansion was the slowest since the 3.5% posted in January-March 2009, and the weakest pace of growth since the global financial crisis. 
    The Indian economy, Asia's third largest, has lost steam as policy delays, political uncertainty, high interest rates, global slowdown and stubborn inflation hurt expansion. WORST SINCE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS 
WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU 
Slowdown in creation of jobs, lower salary hikes expected Business may be hit as growth stalls and interest rates rise; margins to come under pressureWeak demand may prompt companies to offer discounts REMEMBER WHAT THEY SAID? 
MANMOHAN SINGH | PM Jan 9, 2012 | The economy is expected to grow about 7% this financial year 
May 22, 2013 | The economic situation is turning around... 
Aug 15, 2013 | This phase of slow growth will not last long... P CHIDAMBARAM | FM Nov 5, 2012 | I'm looking forward to this year ending with 5.5- 6% growth.. next year getting back to 7%... 
Feb 8, 2013 | There are indications of green shoots... we can recapture the magic of 2004-08 (8.5% growth) 
WHEN CSO HAD THE LAST LAUGH 
Earlier in the year, the finance ministry had scoffed at CSO estimates, saying, "It is likely that the final estimate will be closer to the govt's estimate of a growth rate of 5.5% or slightly more. The CSO responded, "Perceptions can be different, they will get reconciled... in May when we have the complete IIP data for the year". 
According to data released on May 31, 2013, the economy grew at 5% in 2012-13, matching the CSO's earlier estimates Ease norms, reform fast: India IncGDP Growth May Hover Around 5% In FY14 In Absence Of Strong Measures 
New Delhi: The government has been under attack from opposition parties, industry and economists who have repeatedly called for urgent reform measures to boost growth and sentiment. The sharp slide of the rupee against the dollar and some controversial steps to stem its fall have added to the gloom in recent days. 
    But Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday vowed to reverse the trend and expected growth to rebound on the back of a good monsoon, revival in global growth and stability of the rupee. "I believe this year, growth rate will be about 5.5%," Singh told lawmakers in the Rajya Sabha while replying to a debate on the state of the economy. 
    Friday's data showed that the vital manufacturing sector, which has been under stress for several months now, contracted 1.2% in the April-June quarter compared to a fall of 1% in the year-earlier period. The mining sector, which has been hit by policy and environmental delays, fell 2.8% compared to an expansion of 0.4% in the same quarter a year ago. 
    The services sector, which accounts for nearly 60% of the economy, slowed to 6.6% in the quarter compared with a 7.7% expansion in the year-earlier period. The farm sector remained robust, growing 2.7% in the June quarter compared with a 2.9% expansion in April-June 2012. 
    Economists said they expect growth to be around 5% in 2013-14. Several economists have already pared down their growth estimates against the backdrop of the sharp slowdown and volatility in the financial markets. 
    "Unlike the sharp recovery from the Lehman crisis (Vshaped) in 2009, this time the growth is following a L-shaped trajectory and is likely to oscillate around the 5% trough in 2013-14," said D K Joshi, chief economist at Crisil. 
    "Government spending was a significant driver of growth as private consumption growth weakened further to 1.6% and investments fell by1.2% compared to a year ago amidst lack of policy reforms, procedural delays and persistent supply-side bottlenecks," Joshi said. 
    Indian Inc called for immediate steps to stem the slowdown, slash regulatory hurdles to growth and stepping up reform measures. 
    "The economy continues to tread in difficult waters as many challenges remain on the fore. The precariousness displayed by the rupee has raised concerns afresh on the external front, industrial growth continues to face deceleration, and the investment cycle is yet to kick off," said Naina Lal Kidwai, president of FICCI. "Understandably there is no perfect recipe to steer out of the current state of affairs but what we need is swift action given the volatile situation," she added. 
    The pick-up in exports and the impact of a good monsoon are expected to help in a rebound in the months ahead but analysts say deep reforms are need to boost growth and revive sentiment which has taken a knock due to policy delays and approval of some industry-unfriendly measures such as the passage of land acquisition bill and food security bills. 
    Hopes of an easing in interest rates have also been dashed by the sharp volatility in the rupee and the steps taken by RBI to arrest the slide. Stubborn retail inflation, which is hovering near double-digit, has also acted as an obstacle to easing tight monetary policy. 
'BRICS to jointly tackle forex volatility' I ndia is liaising with other emerging-economy countries on a plan to co-ordinate intervention in offshore currency markets blamed for worsening a currency rout over the past three months, a senior Indian finance ministry official said on Friday. 
    The idea of major emerging economies taking action together to offset the impact of a stronger US dollar as the Federal Reserve reins in its stimulus had also been floated in June by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in a phone call to her Chinese counterpart. 
    "It is now time to stop," Dipak Dasgupta, the Indian finance ministry's principal economic adviser, said, referring to speculative behaviour in offshore markets he said was damaging the stability of the world economy. "It is going to happen in a matter of days rather than weeks," he said. "Brazil and India can start the move." REUTERS 
Bloc may reach deal on $100bn fund 
Beijing: BRICS countries may reach consensus at next month's G20 summit at St Petersburg on creating a $100 billion currency reserve fund to help ease short-term liquidity pressure and safeguard financial stability of major emerging economies, a senior Chinese central bank official said. Yi Gang, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, said leaders of the group has agreed on the ratio of contributions, operation mechanisms, governance structure and loan-to-value ratio of a Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA). AGENCIES

Re’s lost over 20% this year Re Plunges 188 Paise To 66.19/$,

The Sharpest-Ever Fall In Absolute & Percentage Terms. Rattled By 1.3 Lakh Cr Food Bill, Stock Market Loses 2 Lakh Cr In A Day. And Gold Hits All-Time High 

Fear Of US Strike On Syria Roils Emerging Mkts

Mumbai:The rupee on Tuesday hit a record low of 66.30 before closing at 66.19, down 188 paise from Monday's close of 64.31, over concerns that the food security bill would throw government finances into disarray and fears of a US strike against Syria. 
    The rupee is emerging as a front-runner in a race to the bottom among emerging market currencies. In both absolute and percentage terms, Tuesday's drop is the highest ever. The rupee has fallen by around 20% 
since the beginning of the year. The only currency that has done worse is the South African rand which has fallen nearly 23%. Turkey's lira has dropped 14% while Brazil's real has fallen over 17%. The Chinese yuan has been the outlier, having gained nearly 2% in 2013. 
    Given the uncertainty over the rupee, gold, seen as a safe haven investment, soared to a new high of Rs 32,585/10 grams. Silver also rose, to a sixmonth high to retrace the Rs 56,000-per kg level. India faces risk of ratings downgrade, warn bankers 
Mumbai: The concerns over the food security bill and a possible US strike on Syria that caused the rupee to fall also dragged the sensex down 590 points to 17,968 on Tuesday. Bankers said with the government living beyond its means, India faced the risk of a downgrade by rating agencies. This would accelerate the outflow of foreign capital. 
    The general slowdown in the economy is also impacting the real estate market. Data released by National Housing Bank showed that property prices in 22 of the 26 cities covered, including Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai, have recorded a decline in prices during the quarter ended June as compared to the preceding quarter. 
    However, finance minister P Chidambaram said that the government would not exceed the fiscal deficit target projected for the year. He also said that the cabinet had approved infrastructure projects amounting to Rs 1,83,000 crore—including power projects. 
    "While the rising dollar is hurting all emerging markets, a lot of our pain is self-inflicted," said Ashish Vaidya, head of fixed income commodities and currency trading at UBS India. "The current crisis clearly threatens corporate balance sheets which usually have a reasonable line of overseas funding, which is going to take a hit," said Vaidya. He added that while depreciation leads to imported inflation, the food security bill will add to demand-led inflation as it will increase disposable income of the beneficiaries. 
    "The food security bill is expected to add to the fiscal burden. We believe crude oil has emerged as a key risk in the nearterm, which is not a good sign for the INR. Thus, the macroeconomic outlook has weakened and risks have clearly strengthened," said Sanjeev Zarbade, vice president, Kotak Securities. 
    "We estimate that the total cost of NFSB in its first full year could be Rs 1,17,000 crore, which amounts to an additional Rs 27,000 crore (0.25% of GDP) over the budgeted amount for FY14," said A Prasanna of ICICI Securities PD.

Re hits record low of 64.54

Mumbai: The rupee closed below the 64-level for the first time on Wednesday with the currency ending the day at 64.04, 81 paise below its previous close of Rs 63.23 against the dollar. The British pound also created a new record closing above the 100 mark at 100.42 as against 99.03 on Tuesday. 

    With most bankers feeling that the 65-level may be taken anytime now, economists are now talking about the rupee touching 70. On Wednesday, Deutsche Bank said that the rupee could fall to 70 in around a month's time. On Tuesday, UBS had forecast the 70 level for the rupee this year. 
    The rupee fell to an intraday low of Rs 64.54 as the dollar strengthened ahead of the release of minutes of the US Federal Reserves July meeting. If the meeting reveals that a US recovery is seen to be underway by Fed committee members the rupee may fall further on expectation that the Fed may start to withdraw its monetary stimulus. 
    Dealers said that markets were confused over RBI measures to bring downlong-term rates through buyback of bonds even as it sought to keep rates high at the shorter end. 
    "The RBI took steps on Tuesday to contain longterm yields and ensure that credit flows were not unduly disrupted by the recent currency stabilization measures. Juggling currency and growth concerns at the same time is not easy and if not done carefully it risks sending mixed messages about policy intentions. That would neither help the currency or growth," said Leif Lybecker Esksen, chief economist for India & ASEAN, HSBC Global Research. 
    The day started on a positive note for the equity markets as bonds staged the best recovery in four years with yields falling by 50 basis points. However, the fall in the rupee spread panic in equity markets with indices closing lower.

Economy stares at crisis as rupee suffers worst single-day fall of 142p At 63.13 To $, Worsens Fears About Growth And Inflation

Mumbai: Policymakers may still be in denial but the Indian economy is clearly staring at a crisis, with the rupee on Monday recording its sharpest drop ever in absolute terms to close at 63.13—1.42 paise down from its previous close against the dollar. 

    Economists are now forecasting an exchange rate of 65 in the short-term. The rush of capital out of India, which has triggered the fall, has raised the prospects of inflation, growth falling below 5% and higher interest rates. 
    The rupee fell nearly 2.25% in a day, making all imports that much more expensive. Stock prices too crashed on Monday. The sensex fell 291 points to 18,308. 
    The rupee's fall was the sharpest among all currencies as rising interest rates in the US pushed up the greenback against all emerging currencies. As a result, investment funds from the West are pulling money out of emerging markets and back into US treasuries. Besides the rupee, the Indonesian rupiah touched a four-year low, while the South African rand fell below 1%. 
    The RBI's fire-fighting measure of keeping rupee funds in short supply to rein in the dollar have not helped much but have caused immense collateral damage. 
    The yield on 10-year government bonds has risen past 9%. This has compelled banks to raise interest rates on deposits and loans. Consumers buy less and businesses pull back on investments as rates rise, dragging down growth. 
10-YR GILT YIELD AT 5-YR HIGH 
Yield on 10-year government security is taken as the best risk-free return possible. Banks and other lenders take this yield as the benchmark rate for fixing lending rates. Any major change in this rate impacts all rates, including housing, auto, consumer. It also pushes up FD rates. 
    Since May 24, the benchmark yield has risen by 2.11 percentage points to Monday's close of 9.22%. This is the highest 10-year yield in almost five years 
SENSEX DIVES 291 POINTS 
    Sensex lost another 291 points on Monday, taking the total loss in last two sessions to 1,060 points 
    Investors were left 3.2 lakh crore poorer with BSE's market cap now at 59.3 lakh crore 
    FIIs were net sellers of 680cr on Monday, adding to their 520cr net selling on Friday

Diageo to pay CEO Menezes 105cr

London: The world's largest spirits maker Diageo Plc has proposed an annual pay package of up to 10.9-million British pounds (about Rs 105 crore) for its newly appointed Indian-origin CEO Ivan Menezes.      Menezes, who has been with UK-headquartered Diageo for about 13 years, was paid total remuneration of 7.8-million pounds (Rs 75 crore) in the last financial year ended June 30, 2013 when he served as chief operating officer.      After his promotion as CEO with effect from July 1, he has been given an 8.6% hike in base salary to one-million pounds (about Rs 9.6 crore) and would be entitled to further benefits totalling up to 9.9-million pounds (Rs 95 crore) a year, Diageo said in its latest annual regulatory filing.      Diageo, which owns brands like Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, Baileys and Guinness, recently acquired a significant stake in India's leading liquor firm UnitedSpirits from Vijay Mallya-led UB Group in a deal worth over $2 billion.      53-year-old Menezes, who studied at premier Indian educational institutions like St Stephen's College and IIM-Ahmedabad besides Kellogg School of Management in the US, is said to have been instrumental in the United Spirits deal.      While Diageo said that "Menezes's salary has been positioned below median to reflect the fact that he is new to the chief executive role", his total package is much higher than the average salary earned by CEOs in India and abroad.      As per a latest managerial remuneration report by the Institutional Investors Advisory Services (IIAS) last month, the average CEO salary for India's biggest 500 companies in the last fiscal stood at Rs 3.6 crore while the figure for the biggest 500 companies in the US was Rs 28 crore.      As Diageo CEO, Menezes would get a base salary of one million pound, and would be eligible for awards under the company's annual incentive plan (AIP), performance share plan (PSP), senior executive share option plan (SESOP) and pension payments.      Under the AIP, he can get up to 100% of salary for "ontarget performance" and a maximum of 200% of salary payable for outstanding performance — which could take this component to up to 2 million British pounds. AGENCIES  FAT PAY CHEQUE  Ivan Menezes's base salary will be £1m (about 9.6cr) and he will be entitled to benefits totalling up to £9.9m( 95cr)  The average CEO salary for India's biggest 500 companies in FY13 stood at 3.6cr The corresponding figure for the biggest 500 companies in the US was 28cr

To cut queues, CR will outsource ticket sale to pvt operators, instal more ATVMs

Mumbai: Buying a Central Railway suburban train ticket may soon get easier with authorities deciding to shift around 50% of the load from booking windows to smart card-operated automatic ticket vending machines (ATVMs) and outsourced vendors under the Jansadharan Ticket Booking Sevaks (JTBS) scheme.      CR sells nearly 9.5 lakh tickets a day, of which 55% are through the unreserved ticketing system booking windows. "The sale of tickets from booking windows has fallen from 65% last year to 55% this year. This drop shows that more commuters are using ATVMs and JTBS," said said Narendra Patil, senior divisional commercial manager, CR. "We aim to increase the share of ticket sale by JTBS and ATVMs to 50% by the year-end."      A n earlier survey by the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation had revealed that commuters' major grouse was queues at booking windows—on CR, nearly 66% of commuters were unhappy with the ticketing system. But the situation has improved owing to the infrastructure upgrade, said officials. "In the last two months, 130 new ATVMs have been installed at stations, taking the total number of ATVMs on the Mumbai division to 385," said Patil . More ATVMs are in the pipeline as the railway board had set a March 2013-deadline to phase out coupon validating machines (CVMs).      The sale of CVM booklets has also dropped in the last two years as people don't prefer to stand in queues to buy them. Earlier, the CR had allowed outof-turn sale of these coupons.      A total of 164 JTBS operate on CR—a 50% rise since September 2012. Under JTBS, the railways permits shops to sell tickets and renew passes for a commission of Re 1 per person.

MOOCs click with Indians The three big names in online learning say there has been a huge spurt in enrolment from India

Sankalp Garud, 17, has taken a course in mathematical thinking at Stanford, calculus at UPenn, social psychology at Wesleyan and mechanics at MIT. All while staying put in Ghatkopar.      In Delhi, media manager Tituraj Kashyap is learning about the history of photojournalism from the star professors at University of London and is topping it with a songwriting course from the Boston-based Berklee College of Music. Techie Anand Sathe's academic basket includes eight courses ranging from machine learning to the theory of irrational behavior (the latter — taught by Dan Ariely from Duke University — is one of the most popular MOOCs).      They are a rapidly growing number of Indians opting for MOOCs — massive open online courses that have made global classrooms a reality. For Indians, who have a thirst for premium, western education, MOOCs make perfect sense. If you can't make it to the Ivies, why not bring Ivy-level learning to you, and that too for free.      The three top US-based MOOCs — Coursera, Udacity and EdX — now have a huge percentage of Indian students. The biggest of these Coursera — it has 4.3 million students from across the world — says it is 'astounded and humbled' by the interest shown by Indians.      "Our students in India represent the largest percentage of Coursera students outside of the US, roughly 10%. In the past 6 months, Coursera has seen a 139% increase in India student enrollment,"  says Stanford professor Daphne Koller who, along with her other computer science colleague Andrew Y NG, set up Coursera. EdX, a non-profit created by Harvard and MIT, has pegged its Indian participation at 13% and Udacity says that India is one of its "top geographic drivers of traffic". Hardly surprising then that IIT Bombay is set to join the group of institutions that are partnering with EdX.      MOOCs are seemingly easy to do — you sign up for a course which could stretch over 12 to 15 weeks and dedicate a certain number of hours of study time per week entirely at your convenience. The 'workload' could be lectures, reading assignments, quizzes, tests, demo videos and so on. At Coursera you could if you wish ask for a certificate (called Signature Track) or even a web-supervised exam — these are charged and make for an important part of Coursera's revenues.      A lot of students juggle multiple courses. These serial MOOCers often start with a course, take introductory classes and then drop out or move on to other subjects. This flexibility is also MOOC's biggest disadvantage. The fact that the course isfree, designed for ease and does not have to end in a degree means that you need supreme levels of self discipline to complete a course. "The focus on self-learning means you have to devote enough time to not only watch lectures/read papers but also do background reading as needed," says Sathe. Quite a few MOOC addicts agree that the quality of MOOCs can fluctuate wildly from excellent to mediocre.      Big MOOCs like Coursera have an eclectic mix of courses — ranging from programming to Beethoven's piano music — that could appeal to techies, students, or hobbyists. Udacity, on the other hand, sticks to more serious, career-centric stuff.      "We have chosen to focus on computer science, programming, mathematics, engineering, design, sciences, and entrepreneurship as we have strong relationships with industry in these fields and our goal is not to just advance our students' education, but also their career opportunities," says Clarissa Shen, VP of strategic business and marketing at Udacity.      For a lot of driven Indian youngsters like Garud, MOOCs are a big part of resume building (he has taken both a Signature Track and a supervised exam for around $150) and, of course, a means to supplement school learning. He has managed to crack calculus at levels way beyond his classmates thanks to MOOC. "Maths lessons in school tend to be so boring," says Garud who is doing his bit for the MOOC wave by creating free, fun math videos for school children in his locality.      Dispassionate observers point out that MOOCs work best for broad-based subjects. "If breadth is what you desire, these courses work fine. Depth is not something you are going to get given the lack of interactivity and the compressed format. So 'Introduction to Mayan mathematics' might work well but 'An in-depth look at the role of sodium in the human' would likely fail," says Sathe.      It is unlikely MOOCs will ever even partially replace classroom education. As Koller says, they can at best bolster the existing systems. "In India, where meeting capacity over the next few years means building and staffing new 1,500 universities, we see Coursera playing a new role in increasing institutional capacity by augmenting in-class teaching with online content," she says.  BLACKBOARD TO KEYBOARD      Traditional online courses charge tuition, carry credit and limit enrollment to ensure interaction with instructors. MOOCs, on the other hand, are usually free, credit-less and, well, massive      Course design — how material is presented and the interactivity — counts for a lot in MOOCs. As do fellow students. Classmates may lean on one another in study groups organized in their towns, or over online forums      The medium is still the lecture. Khan Academy's snappy instructional videos have shown the way so MOOC makers understand the benefit of brevity: eight to 12 minutes is typical. Feedback is electronic. There may be homework and a final exam      Cheating is a reality. Professors often complain of groups submitting identical homework      Assignments that can't be scored by an automated grader are pushing MOOC providers to get creative, especially in courses that involve writing and analysis. Coursera uses peer grading

Royal Palms INTRODUCES A NEW BUSINESS PLAN

Under this innovative scheme, the simple equation works out to: land + FSI + sanctioned plans = priced to sell

    Royal Palms once again introduces its yearly aggressive price selling. The deal the company brings to the market is not only attractive but also innovative. The company is all ears to consumers' needs and doesn't believe in following the market trend of high price, low sales. 
    With a concern for the company's growth and consumers, the scheme underlines the group's motto: 'We are content with reasonable profits and happy people'. 
    After the innovation of the 80:20 scheme, which is now the widely accepted norm of the market, 
Royal Palms has come up with yet another lucrative scheme of 0% down payment, 0% interest, possession now, payment in the next 24-months interestfree installments. 
    Also, the new business plan of Royal Palms (selling FSI+land+ infrastructure+all sanctions for residential, commercial (IT) and serviced apartments) is targeted at mid-sized builders and actual users who could benefit by 40% in reduced costs. 
    Generally, developers face hurdles in land acquisition, title clearance and builder's permits, which result in project delays and cost escalations. In this scenario, Royal Palms' strategy to sell land along with sanctioned plans FSI as ready-to-go projects would infuse enthusiasm back into the realty sector, especially for the midrange builders and actual users as projects could start within a few weeks. It's an ideal option for residential, commercial (IT), hotels, service apartments, among others. 
    Moreover, the location of the project commands its own cost and price. Royal Palms Estates is a sought-after destination in view of the greenery it offers and the close connectivity with Powai and Western Express Highway. The township has developed into a bustling mini-city, recreation club, a lake, a shopping mall, restaurants, 5-star hotels, offices and IT parks. All this is in addition to residential properties that also include studio apartments, villas, bungalow plots and row-houses. Having delivered close to 2,500 residential flats and 1,800 offices in its sprawling 240 acres complex, Royal Palms is set to achieve a critical mass of 3,000 residential flats and 2,600 offices by the end of 2013. 
    The 40-year-old track-record of Royal Palms Group highlights all the business plans, which are based on the old-school method of reasonable profit, long-term view and happy buyers. Royal Palms always delivers on their promises in terms of deals that are ready for possession, sanctioned plans, and clear land title. The offer remains rock solid and it can't get more lucrative than this. 
    So, grab this golden opportunity with both hands and enjoy your bargain purchases!

Govt set to hike import duties, clear PSU $ bonds Bids To Bolster , Raise Inflows, Rein In Deficit

New Delhi: In an attempt to shore up the sliding rupee, the government on Monday unveiled a multi-pronged strategy to increase inflow of dollars and check outflows. The measures include a planned increase in import duty on several red-hot imports like gold and silver, allowing three public sector financial institutions to raise dollar funds through bonds, making NRI deposits more attractive and easing foreign loan norms. Taken together, these steps are expected to bridge the forex gap by $18 billion.      Through the measures announced on Monday, finance minister P Chidambaram is hoping to pare imports by $7 billion, while increasing dollar inflows by around $11 billion. This, he said, would help contain the current account deficit (CAD) at $70 billion or 3.7% of the gross domestic product, lower than last year's 4.8%. CAD has been blamed as the key factor behind the sharp volatility of the rupee against the US dollar.      CAD has widened as exports have remained sluggish, while gold and silver imports have spurted. India needs more dollar flows, through foreign investment, to fill the gap. BRIDGING FOREX GAP BY $18bn  Govt hopes to prune annual import bill by $7bn  MOVE | Compression in import of gold & silver via duty hikes IMPACT | Hopes to tame demand, save $4bn outflow  M | Compression in oil demand I | Govt looks to cut import bill by $1.5bn  M | Higher import duty on nonessential imports I | Lower demand expected to pare import bill by another $4bn  Announces measures expected to increase inflows by $11bn  M | PFC, IIFCL, IRFC to raise dollars in bonds with implicit govt guarantee I |Expected to mop up $4bn  M | Easing foreign loan norms I | MNC subsidiaries can tap dollar resources from parent  M | PSUs to tap dollar window I | $4bn can be raised in over- seas loans, trade finance. Will cut reliance on local currency market, reduce rupee volatility  Industrial output declined by 2.2% in June Exports rose 11.64% to $25.83bn in July; imports down 6.2% CPI inflation eased  to 9.64% in July from 9.87% in June Govt's renewed efforts fail to lift rupee      The slew of measures indicates the government's urgency to avert a possible crisis on the balance of payments front if the situation is left unchecked. "While we have a problem, there is no room for panic…I expect the volatility to decrease and also expect the rupee to stabilize (following the measures)," Chidambaram told a press conference. Although he did not elaborate on the products where customs duty is proposed to be increased, sources said some electronic goods top the list with measures expected to cut import of certain varieties of coal, crude palm oil and copper also on the anvil.      The urgency can be gauged from the government resorting to a quasi-sovereign bond issue by the Power Finance Corporation, Indian Railway Finance Corporation and India Infrastructure Finance Co Ltd. Such a bond issue was last used in 2001 when State Bank of India raised over $5 billion through the Indian Millennium Deposits in the aftermath of the dotcom bust and the 9/11 attacks. This time, SBI declined to be used as the vehicle to raise dollar debt.      The renewed effort from the government failed to lift the rupee. Despite the measures being announced first in Parliament in the afternoon, the rupee slid to 61.30 a dollar, a little short of last week's lifetime low of 61.80.      "These measures were in the pipeline. Despite that, the rupee seems to be under pressure. The rupee has been affected by growth worries on the domestic front and the quantitative easing tapering on the external front," said Moses Harding, executive director at Lakshmi Vilas Bank.      Most bankers and economists were unusually shy of commenting on the measures after RBI announced a clampdown recently.      "Till the structural issues are resolved the currency will behave in a similar pattern. That can be changed if we have more regular flow of FDI, which is the preferred form of foreign capital," said Devendra Kumar Pant, chief economist, India Ratings.

Delinked from WR corridor, Harbour fast line starts to roll CST-Panvel Project On Govt Table Next Wk

The CST-Panvel high-speed corridor project began rolling with authorities delinking it from the Western Railway elevated corridor and deciding to press ahead with the pre-bidding process.      The Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation plans to submit the draft state support agreement (SSA) to the railway board and the state government next week.      The signing of an SSA is an important milestone in the pre-bidding stage of a public-private partnership project. It binds the state government to complete important work like land acquisition or shifting of utilities in a time-bound manner.      "We will send the draft SSA by next week," said MRVC chairman and managing director Rakesh Saksena. "As soon as we receive in-principle approval for the SSA, the process to prepare the bid documents will be taken up," added another official.      So far, the Harbour line fast corridor had been dormant as its fate was linked to progress on the 60-km Churchgate-Virar elevated rail corridor. "This stand does not make sense as the WR's elevated corridor is getting delayed due lack of convergence on SSA, land acquisition and even FSI. There is no harm if the pre-bidding process for both projects is carried out simultaneously," an MRVC official said.      Railways officials concede there are fewer hurdles in executing the Harbour line corridor compared to the WR corridor. "Private land does not have to be acquired at all for the entire 49-km corridor. Unlike WR, where some portion of the corridor has to go underground, the Harbour project will be elevated up to Kurla and go at ground level from Mankhurd onwards," said a senior MRVC official. The only major problem, he added, will be removal of the slums, mostly along the Mankhurd-Govandi stretch. The government land needed mostly belongs to the Mumbai Port Trust.      Bidders, officials believe, will be keen on the project because of its fare earning potential. "The Harbour line is saturated as it operates only on a slow corridor. The growth of Navi Mumbai and the proposed international airport and special economic zones will bring in commuters," said an official. "We expect a 30% shift from the suburban line and 20% shift from road traffic once the corridor starts."      MRVC has sought a floor space index of 4, which will help the bidder recover 22% of the project cost. "The Central government will provide viability gap funding to the tune of 20% of the project cost."

India leads world in real estate price rise: Study In Last 2 Yrs, Tops List Of Cities In 43 Countries

India has witnessed the sharpest appreciation in real estate prices in the last couple of years, according to data from the Global Property Guide, an organization which collates real estate data from across the world.      Property prices in Delhi witnessed the steepest appreciation of roughly 60%, when compared to cities from 43 other countries. While the study has information only for Delhi in India, official data suggests that Jaipur has seen an even faster rise in property prices of 67% over this period.      RESIDEX, the National Housing Bank's property price index which is also the source of Global Property Guide's Indian data, shows that except Hyderabad and Kochi, the property market has appreciated across the country since 2007. Prices have doubled in Faridabad, Pune, Bhopal and Mumbai and trebled in Chennai.      Pankaj Kapoor of real estate research firm Liases Foras, said, "The weighted average price in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region was Rs 5,600 a sq ft in 2009. This shot up to Rs 11,700 psf in 2013. In Mumbai, it was Rs 15,000 a sq ft in 2010, while in 2013 it is around Rs 18,000-19,000 psf." US realty rates up as economy recovers T he Global Property Guide study shows that Delhi's 60% rise in real estate prices over the past two years is nearly 20 percentage points higher than Brazil's Sao Paulo, which is the second fastest rising international property market. From the first quarter of 2011 to Q1-2013, Sao Paulo, the largest city in the Americas in terms of population, witnessed a 43% increase in real estate prices.      Hong Kong, the third fastest rising market for the same period, saw its property prices going up by 33%. Dubai also appears to be in a recovery phase after the bust of its early 2000s property bubble. The city witnessed a 29% increase in its real estate prices in the last year. The West Asian city had witnessed a marginal decline in prices between Q1-2011 and Q1-2012.      In the past two years only 12 of the 43 countries saw double-digit growth in property prices. Most of these are emerging economies, not surprising given the fact that Europe has been battling the century's worst recession. Other countries where property prices went up by more than 10% are Turkey, Estonia, Philippines, Norway, Iceland, Indonesia, South Africa and New Zealand.      The data indicates that property prices in America, the world's largest real estate market, are increasing as its economy recovers. The US real estate market saw prices appreciating by 9% between Q1-2012 and Q1-2013 after declining over the previous year. Similarly, Beijing's property prices too registered 8% growth during Q1-2012 to Q1-2013 after dropping in the previous year.      Other large economies which have witnessed a positive growth in property prices are Germany and Japan, where real estate prices increased by 8% and 3% respectively. However, in Germany property prices fell by almost 2% over the last year after increasing by 9.8% between Q-1 2011 and Q1-2012. The property market remains sluggish in other large economies.