17 years on, CBI court convicts Lalu and 44 others in Bihar fodder scam

RJD Chief Could Face A Stiff Jail Term   Ranchi: A CBI court on Monday convicted former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad in a fodder scam-related case. The judgment, which has far-reaching political consequences, clears the way for the RJD chief's disqualification from the Lok Sabha and will debar him from contesting elections for possibly as long as 13 years.      In all, 45 people were convicted including another former Bihar CM and former Union minister Jagannath Mishra and several former bureaucrats of Bihar. The verdict is a rare instance of two CMs, that too belonging to rival political parties, convicted in one case: something which underlined the pervasive nature of the scam in which politicians of different stripes connived with bureaucrats to siphon off huge  funds meant for expenses, including provision of fodder, on livestock.      The conviction, which comes at a time when Lalu is struggling to regain his onceformidable influence in Bihar politics, is the second of an important politician after July 10 when the Supreme Court stripped convicted lawmakers of the immunity they enjoyed from disqualification. Earlier, a CBI court had convicted former Union minister Rashid Masood for allegedly trying to influence admissions to medical colleges. Masood's sentence has not been announced.      Although the court said it would announce the quantum of sentence on October 3, it granted bail to all eight persons who were convicted for up to three years in the case of fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37 crore from Chaibasa treasury: a certain indication that the Rashtriya Janata Dal strongman is in for a bigger sentence. The Representation of People Act, as it stands after the July order of SC, prescribes instant disqualification of politicians who have been convicted for offences punishable with terms of two years or more.      This threatens to be a career-debilitating move for the 66-year-old former CM if he does not win an acquittal from a higher court swiftly enough: a dodgy prospect given the pace of judicial administration. After he has served his term, estimated to be between 5-7 years, Lalu will have to sit out for another six years under the law before he can contest an election.      Considering that the RJD is no longer the force it was and Lalu's appeal has waned since the heady 1990s, the political exile could cause serious trouble for the once-formidable chieftain of Bihar. The sentence can, in the immediate run, energize the party's base, particularly among Yadavs who see the case as an upper caste frame-up.  COULD BE OUT OF POLITICS FOR 13 YRS      RJD chief Lalu Prasad first Lok Sabha MP to be convicted  after Supreme Court's July 2013 order disqualifying MPs, MLAs convicted by any court for crimes with punishment of two years or more      Lalu plus 44 accused, including former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra, six politicians and four IAS officers, convicted for fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from Chaibasa treasury      The fodder scam, also called treasury scam, broke in 1996. Nexus of politicos, senior state officers and suppliers siphoned off govt money against inflated and fictitious bills for medicines, fodder for cattle and animal husbandry equipment      Lalu will lose LS seat, become ineligible for contesting elections for at least six years after completion of sentence. If he gets maximum term of 7 yrs, Lalu could end up out of electoral politics for 13 years  WHAT IT MEANS FOR LALU, HIS PARTY, HIS FAMILY      Massive fall in the fortunes of the man who dominated Bihar for a decade and a half. His political career is eclipsed if not terminated. RJD's core Yadav support may rally around in immediate future. But as it is not clear who in his family will take charge, RJD faces a rough passage  FALLOUT IN BIHAR AND DELHI      Congress may intensify efforts to align with JD(U). In Delhi, Congress will be happy with JD(U)'s 20 MPs to RJD's 4. Should help Nitish Kumar pull in more non-Yadav backward and Muslim votes. BJP will hope to gain a share of backward votes. If Congress-JD(U) move closer, Bihar politics can become more bi-polar  RAHUL EFFECT      Rahul Gandhi's attack on the ordinance was intended to retrieve ground for Congress, but Lalu has become its first victim in terms of losing his Lok Sabha seatRJD chief in jail, party faces leadership vacuum  Ranchi: The conviction of Lalu Prasad in the fodder scam could result in the adverse effect of a leadership vacuum in the RJD in the long run, and a strong possibility of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar poaching the support of Muslims. The risk is higher because the succession line is not clear.      There was a moment of stunned silence both inside the special CBI court No. 4 which was packed to capacity with lawyers and Lalu loyalists as well as outside as the news of conviction wafted out around 11.15am. Lalu cited the looming Durga Puja vacation as he pleaded with the judge that he pronounce the sentence on Monday itself so that he could appeal in the high court as well as move for bail. The court, however, expressed its inability to do so since the judgment would go up to 500 pages divided into several parts. "Aap to bhagwan hain,'' Lalu then told the judge, urging him to at least consider doing so.      The order was widely anticipated and had led the former Bihar CM to approach the SC to seek transfer of the case from the court of CBI judge Pravas Kumar Singh by alleging bias, as well as to successfully lobby the UPA government to bring the ordinance designed to save convicted politicians from being unseated. The ordinance was shot down by Rahul Gandhi who called it "nonsense" and rebuked the government for being influenced by political considerations: a code for UPA managers' anxiety to protect Lalu who has been a steadfast Congress ally even before UPA was formed.      The case, RC-20A/96, is part of a bunch of cases CBI took up at the instance of the judiciary which accepted the argument that the state government, then led by Lalu himself, could not be expected get to the bottom of the scam. The investigation was conducted by a team led by U N Biswas, now a minister in the TMC government in West Bengal, which included current CBI chief Ranjit Sinha.      The investigation climaxed in 1997 when the then CBI chief Joginder Singh ordered the registration of a case against the then Bihar CM. It forced Lalu to resign and appoint his wife Rabi Devi, then a homemaker, as his successor. Lalu's arrest shortly afterwards was accompanied by tension as Biswas approached the area commander of the army to deploy troops to deal with any trouble: again acontentious move which was rejected by the local commander.      For the full report, log on to www.timesofindia.com Lalu Prasad arrives at the special CBI court in Ranchi The conviction was widely anticipated and had led the former Bihar CM to approach the SC to seek transfer of the case

Indian Markets On Fire As FIIs Pump In 3,544Cr In A Day Sensex close to 3-year high, 2nd-highest gain ever for

Global Cheer As US Stimulus To Continue

Mumbai: In the most dramatic U-turn in the history of India's currency and stock markets, the rupee and the sensex extended their scorching-hot streak on Thursday. The rupee made its second-highest gain ever of 161 paise against the dollar while the sensex recorded its second-sharpest rise of 684 points in four years to close 
at a 34-month high of 20,647 after the US Federal Reserve dropped plans to cut back its fiscal stimulus—a plan which had sent emerging markets into a free fall since May. 
    A day after the US Fed surprised markets by deciding to continue with its $85 billion-amonth bond buyback, a wave of optimism swept global markets from Indonesia to Turkey and South Africa to Brazil with stocks and currencies gaining across the board. The Indian rupee, which was the second best performer after the Indonesian Rupiah on Friday, appreciated to 61.78 from its previous close of 63.39.Foreign institutional investors scrambled to buy stocks, pumping in Rs 3,544 crore in a single day, one of the highest ever, fuelling a 2.43% increase in the sensex. 
    Ben Bernanke, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, chose to continue with the stimulus fearing that higher interest rates in the US could trip growth. The decision has ensured that there won't be any disruption through withdrawal of stimulus at least until December. 
    "If there are measures to increase liquidity, they would not be positive for the exchange rate. However,since the overall sentiment has turned positive, I do not expect any major impact," said Ashutosh Raina, head of forex trading at HDFC Bank. 
Home, auto loans get costlier as SBI springs surprise, hikes rates T he State Bank of India on Thursday hiked its benchmark rates and revised the pricing of retail loans, making home and auto loans costlier. It has also raised its deposit rates to increase the pace of fund mobilization. A Rs 30 lakh home loan from SBI will now cost 10.1%, while loans for a higher amount will attract 10.3% interest rate. In case of auto loans, the interest for existing borrowers will go up from 10.45% to 10.55%, while new customers will pay 10.75%. It is perhaps the first time that existing borrowers will pay a lower rate than new customers. The bank's decision, coming a day ahead of the RBI's mid-term policy review, has surprised other lenders. P 21 Banks, auto drive sensex rally 
    He added that there was scope for further appreciation of the rupee. 
    "There is a strong support level at 60.50 and we could see the rupee moving into that range," he added. 
    The rally in the sensex was driven by banks, auto and real estate companies. These stocks are described as interest rate-sensitive as their earnings are directly affected by a rise in interest rates. One of the main strategies used by the Reserve Bank of India to prevent the rupee from depreciating is to raise interest rates. The rupee rally gives RBI governor Raghuram Rajan some wiggle room in framing his first monetary policy review on Friday—particularly on two fronts, inflation and growth. 
    The rupee has recovered at a much faster pace than it has fallen. The local currency has gained by nearly 8% in the last 11 trading sessions. The highest gain recorded by the rupee was on August 29—a day after the RBI announced a special window to lend dollars to oil companies. The rupee had gained by Rs 2.23 paise then as oil companies, which account for 40% of dollar demand, were no longer required to buy dollars only from the market. 
    The RBI's move to lend dollars was seen as a bit of a gamble. It was under the assumption that the rupee would firm up in future and oil companies could then buy dollars cheap and return them to the RBI. With the sharp appreciation in recent days the gamble appears to have paid off. But some fear that this sudden largesse might breed complacency as reforms to correct the economy's fundamentals are yet to take off. For Indian traders this would mean that the problem of dealing with a volatile exchange rate has merely been postponed; exporters are not rushing in to sell their dollars as they know that there could be a fresh round of uncertainty in three months.

Mumbai has largest number of green buildings coming up

Pune Fourth On List After Delhi & B'lore

    Mumbai has the country's maximum number of environmentfriendly buildings under construction, a survey has shown. The city has 60% more green building projects compared to Delhi and Bangalore, which are second and third on a list released by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC). The list has six cities, including Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai.

    Mumbai has 319 registered projects that fall in the green building category and are spread over 229 million square feet, according to the IGBC. Delhi is second on the list with 199 projects, followed by Bangalore with 198 and Pune with 197. 
    The IGBC report says India with more than 2,111 registered green building projects covering 1.54 billion square feet is among the top five countries on the world green map. 
    A green building is one that uses less water, improves energy efficiency, conserves natural resources, generates less waste and provides healthier spaces for occupants as compared to a conventional building. "These are judged on the basis of material used, sites chosen, ventilation and use of lights, among other things," said a member of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII). 
    Constructing green buildings is costlier. "Earlier, it was 15-18% more expensive than a regular building. Now, the cost has come down to 3-5%," said M Anand, principal councillor, CII. "A green building ought to use minimum quantity of glass. We insist on only 7-8% of glass use. Also, builders are asked to go for high-performance glass that won't reflect much heat."

Good News Comes In Economy Pack, More May Be On Way Rupee in 63 zone, 727-point sensex rise sharpest in 4 years Positive Signs At Home & Abroad Cheer Markets

Mumbai: The rupee gained 142 paise to appreciate to 63.84 and the sensex jumped 727 points (the highest one-day rise since the 2,111-points rise on May 18, 2009) to close three points short of the 20,000-mark as a series of positive news sharply improved sentiment in the markets. The forex and equity markets opened stronger on the back of the Reserve Bank of India's weekend measures and gained steadily on news of improved balance of trade. On the global front, Syria appeared to have averted a potential US strike by agreeing to hand over control of its chemical weapons and China reported a better-than-expected 10.4% jump in industrial output. 

    "Today's appreciation of the rupee was largely sentiment driven. Some of the fundamental issues are still there. But the rupee should open strong tomorrow as some of the late global news has also been positive," said Ashutosh Raina, head, forex trading, HDFC Bank. He added that even at present levels the rupee continued to be undervalued. "Technically, 63.30 is a strong support level for the rupee. We have to see if it breaches this level on Wednesday." 
    The rupee has gained in the last four consecutive trading sessions, which coincide with the start of new RBI governor Raghuram Rajan's tenure. Rajan has announced a host of measures, which include subsidizing the cost of hedging dollar deposits for banks and giving foreigners more freedom to buy shares. Oil prices fall nearly 2% on Syria's offer 
Mumbai: News that Syria had accepted Russia's proposal to give up control of its chemical weapons, averting a US strike, led to a fall in oil prices on Tuesday. Brent crude on ICE Futures Europe was off $2.14, or 1.9%, to $111.07 a barrel. Oil prices have been a big drag on the Indian economy as it is one item where imports do not decline as prices rise. 
    India's exports rose to a twoyear high of 13% in August on account of the improved global situation, enabling trade deficit to fall to a four-month low of $10.9 billion from $14 billion in August 2012. "A significant decline in gold imports and weak capital and consumption goods' imports, due to subdued domestic demand, will help lower growth in non-oil imports during this year. Lower merchandise trade deficit, along with a healthy growth in IT/ITes exports, could help in bringing India's current account deficit in 2013-14 to even below our current forecast of 4.2% of GDP," said Crisil in a statement. 
    On Tuesday, after Monday's holiday on account of Ganesh Chathurthi, the sensex opened below 19,450 and gained steadily to close at 19,997—up 727 points or 3.77% from its previous close on Friday.

TERRIFIC TUESDAY TRIGGERS TURNAROUND TALK 
Sensex rises 727 pts — the sharpest single-day increase since May 2009 — as US offer to defer attack on Syria and Chinese economic data lift sentiment 
The rupee closed at 63.84, up 5 since hitting a historic low of 68.85/$ on Aug 28 
Exports grew nearly 13% in Aug, helped trim trade deficit to $10.9bn compared to $20bn a few months ago. Lower trade deficit augurs well for current account deficit and rupee 
Car sales rose over 15% in Aug, reversing a 9-mth falling trend 
Hiring survey showed Indian employers positive about hiring in next quarter 
There were gains for govt bondholders too as prices rose 
In Delhi, gold prices gained by 270 to 31,370/10gm. In global markets, price dropped 
WHAT TO WATCH OUT FOR US Fed Reserve's Sep 18 statement is being keenly tracked to see if it will begin withdrawing the stimulus Situation in Syria will have impact on global markets, commodity prices. A resolution would boost markets Oil prices have risen. A spike will affect fiscal maths Industrial production and inflation data due to be released in next few days. Will be keenly watched Outcome of the elections in Germany will be critical for EU

Rahul ideal for PM’s post after 2014 polls: Manmohan ‘I’ll Be Very Happy To Work Under Him’

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday strongly backed Rahul Gandhi to be the Congress's choice for PM after the 2014 election, pushing the party towards a presidential-style showdown with the BJP's likely PM nominee Narendra Modi. 

    The PM's remarks to the media while returning from the G-20 summit in Russia are bound to sharpen the debate in the Congress over Rahul's formal projection at a time when the BJP is close to declaring the Gujarat CM as its PM hopeful. 
    BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi lost no time in daring the Congress to name Rahul as its PM candidate with the saffron party seeming keen to probe the Congress's perceived reluctance to the Rahul vs Modi match. Singh's statement marks a shift from his "we will cross the bridge when we reach there" response when asked about a third term in March. 'But PM has not hung up his boots' 
New Delhi: Asked about a third term in April, PM Manmohan Singh had maintained suspense, saying, "I am not ruling it in, I am not ruling it out". But on Saturday, he seemed more categorical, saying, "I have always said Rahul Gandhi will be an ideal choice for the prime minister's position after the 2014 election." He added, "I would be very happy to work for the Congress party under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi." 
    The PM's statement seemed to prod the Congress towards a decision on Rahul, deviating from the leadership's script to maintain tactical ambiguity over the leadership issue in order to dodge a Modi versus Rahul matchup. Not surprisingly, sources insisted that Singh has not made himself unavailable for the top job either. "The PM expressed a view on Rahul, but has not hung up his boots," a source said, reflecting the leadership's reluctance to show its hand yet. 
    Singh's presence at the helm helps duck questions about the reluctance to pitchfork Rahul in the arena. Justifying the silence over leadership, Congress sources cited past chiefs to say that no one was projected in 2004 and that Singh, despite being the incumbent, was projected in 2009 only at the time of the release of the manifesto. As part of the party's posture of ambivalence, AICC media head Ajay Maken had rebutted general secretary Digvijay Singh when he ruled out Rahul's projection as PM as a matter of policy—something which was read as the party keeping open the possibility of naming Rahul for the post at a later date. 
    However, there is unanimity that the PM's latest statement, if in response to a question, is a shift from earlier proforma acknowledgement of Rahul. Singh's stated willingness to work under Rahul is seen to point towards an impending transition.

I have always maintained that Rahul Gandhi would be an ideal choice for the PM post after 2014 elections. I will be very happy to work in the Cong under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi 
MANMOHAN SINGH | PM

PM talks of happily working under Rahul Gandhi's leadership next year! Wasn't he doing the same all these years? Misleading the nation again? 
    — NARENDRA MODI | GUJ CM If he (PM) says something clearly we will...walk on the way shown by him. We also know the desire of party workers and leaders 
    — SALMAN KHURSHID | 
    EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER

Indian Slump Story Receives a Strong 1k-Point Rebuttal RBI governor Raghuram Rajan’s bold moves prop up rupee and markets

SOME RELIEF

 Indian stocks rose again on Friday, capping a week in which the economic mood of the nation got a dramatic lift, thanks in large part to the overwhelmingly positive vibe that accompanied the accession of Raghuram Rajan as governor of the country's central bank on Wednesday. 

The benchmark BSE Sensex surged more than 1,000 points in the last three trading sessions while the rupee staged a strong recovery to 65.24 a dollar from a record low of 68.85. 
The measures announced by the Reserve Bank of India to support the ailing currency on Wednesday have boosted the confidence of investors unnerved by the country's worst economic performance in a decade, the slump in the currency and a ballooning current account deficit. Underpinning this upturn in sentiment is the optimism exuded by 100 top Indian chief executives polled before Rajan took over. According to the ET CEO Confidence Survey released Thursday, 42% CEOs expect economic growth to exceed 5% this year and the next. Growth hit a 5% decade low in the year ended March. The week's stock market rally has been led by index heavyweights such as ICICI Bank, BHEL and ONGC. 
The 30-share Sensex rose 1.53% on Friday to end at 19,270 points, its biggest weekly surge in four months, led by financial companies and capital goods makers. The 50-share NSE Nifty rose 1.56% to close at 5,680, above its key technical level of 5,600. 
The advance-decline ratio favoured the bulls. On BSE, 1,311 stocks advanced against 996 that declined while 146 remained unchanged. 
"The intentions and initiatives of the new RBI governor helped change sentiments in equity and currency markets. Banking stocks and other rate-sensitive stocks were the major gainers," said Dipen Shah, head, private client group research, at Kotak Securities. "However, defensive sectors like IT and FMCG under-performed." 
Private banks gained for the second day after seeing their biggest single-day gains in over four years on Thursday. The country's biggest non-state lender ICICI Bank jumped 7.37% to . 959, extending Thursday's gain of 9.2%. 
"The prices of high-beta wholesalefunded banks like YES Bank, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank were significantly undervalued two days back," said Rajiv Mehta, research analyst at IIFL. "Assuming a very moderate growth, they are looking very attractive in terms of valuations, as these banks are trading near one time or one-and-a-half times book." Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) returned to join the party — they bought shares worth $166 million, or . 1,100 crore, in the cash market and about . 1,200 crore of index futures on Thursday, exchange data showed. FIIs sold equities worth $902 million, or . 5,922 crore, in August, and $47.4 million, or . 324 crore, in September. 
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee strengthened against the dollar after Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid said the oil minister will announce plans for lowering fuel consumption on September 16. 
The partially convertible rupee ended at 65.24, 1.17% stronger than its close of 66.32 on Thursday. 
Analysts see the rupee as being the key to the prospects for market revival. "The market will bottom out once the currency stabilises at a certain level. When the rupee stabilises, it will appreciate strongly and that will bring a lot of positive sentiments," Neelkanth Mishra, India equity strategist at Credit Suisse, told ET NOW. "If the currency starts to appreciate, the sense of goodwill about the country will suddenly improve dramatically. A lot of people will jump in to buy some attractive stocks, which are now waiting on the fringes for the currency to stabilise." 
Key stock movements on Friday included BHEL, the nation's top producer of power equipment, rising 3.17% to . 141. Analysts believe a weak rupee will help shield the company from cheap Chinese imports. 
Oil marketing companies rose on reports that a decision on raising diesel prices by . 3-5 per litre, kerosene by Rs 2 and LPG by up to . 50 per cylinder will be taken after UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi returns from the US. 
Indian Oil Corp rose 4.13% to . 231 while ONGC rose 7.17% to . 289. 
India's biggest telecom company, Bharti Airtel, rose 5.47% to . 313 after Nomura upgraded the stock to 'buy' from 'neutral', citing its optimistic outlook on operational trends and forex impact. 
Reliance Communications rose 2.61% to . 139 after the company said it had appointed a new CEO for its India enterprise business, where revenue and profit are seen growing 30% annually over the next five years.

India, Japan in $50bn currency swap

The rupee surged 87 paise on Friday after Japan extended support to India's fight against currency volatility by agreeing to more than treble the scope of the bilateral swap arrangement to $50 billion. 

    The facility between the Reserve Bank of India and the Bank of Japan enables both countries to swap Japanese yen or the Indian rupee for US dollars in an unforeseen situation. It is essentially an arrangement to tide over short-term foreign exchange crunch. The deal was first signed in 2008 and was limited to $3 billion, but the size was increased to $15 billion when the arrangement was renewed in 2011. 
    The rupee opened at 66 up from its previous close of 66.12 against the dollar and gained during the day to close at 65.25 against the dollar. "The swap arrangement with Japan was a positive factor for the rupee. This supplements RBI's earlier measures 
whereby it has agreed to swap dollars raised by banks through long-term non-resident deposits and borrowings at 350 basis points," said Ashish Vaidya, head of fixed income, currencies and commodities, at UBS India. He added that these measures under which RBI borrows dollars will complement its swap facility with oil companies where it lends dollars. 
    "The two governments expect that this will contribute to the stability of global financial markets, including emerging economies," India and Japan said in a joint statement after a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Japanese deputy PM Taro Aso on the sidelines of the G-20 summit. 
    Forex dealers said that the tide appears to have turned for the rupee and this could result in unwinding of long dollar positions. But uncertainty continues to hang over the market in respect of the situation in Syria and the outcome of the meeting of the US Federal Reserve on September 17. "A reduction in the Fed's bond buyback has already been factored in. The question now is how much?" said a dealer.

Take Heart, India. CEOs Say Economy is on the Mend CEO CONFIDENCE SURVEY: 42% forecast a minor uptick in GDP growth to over 5% this year and next, while 66% see rupee recovering to below 66

Indian chief executives, who have been struggling to cope with an unrelenting slowdown over the past two years and battered by a rupee in free fall, are showing the first, faint signs of optimism.  In an 'ET CEO Confidence Survey' of the country's 100 top business leaders, 42% were brave enough to predict a minor uptick in the GDP growth rate — from 4.4% recorded in the first quarter of FY13 to over 5% this year and the next. Growth slumped to a decade-low 5% in the year ended March.  Any recovery, however minor, seemed improbable even last fortnight, when HSBC, JPMorgan, Nomura and Goldman Sachs, among others, slashed India's growth forecast to the 4-4.2% range. "I do not think it (the economic situation) is going to get worse than this," says Ajay Piramal, chairman of the Piramal group. He's optimistic that GDP growth could climb back to over 6% if the economy is managed well.  Only 9% of CEOs polled fear the GDP growth rate will slip any further to below 4% while 46% said it would remain in the 4-5% range.  Almost two-thirds of CEOs interviewed also believe the rupee will recover, and strengthen past 66 to the dollar one year from now. Twentynine per cent even went to the extent of saying the currency will be stronger than 62 to the dollar. This is a fairly bold consensus, given that the rupee depreciated sharply — from 61.25 to the dollar all the way down to 69 — during the fortnight in which a bulk of the interviews for this survey was conducted.  The optimism on GDP and currency fronts, coupled with the investment plans and profit expectations from their respective businesses that the CEOs shared in the survey, suggests that large swathes of India Inc now believe that the worst is probably over.  But is this optimism warranted? "Frankly, I think the question should be what drove this exaggerated pessimism over the last three months in the first place," answers Janmejaya Sinha, chairman, Asia-Pacific, Boston Consulting Group (BCG).  Raghuram Rajan's swashbuckling start as RBI governor on Wednesday has edged out some of the "exaggerated pessimism" that BCG's Sinha is referring to. The bulk of the survey, though, was completed before Rajan took over on Wednesday. On Thursday, the BSE Sensex soared more than 400 points and the rupee shot up 1.6% in an obvious turnaround of sentiment. "The worst is over for the rupee," Piramal says.  CEOs also seem to be taking a measured view of currency and stock market volatility. Spirit of Enterprise is Still Alive  At a time the rupee has been extraordinarily weak, business heads haven't been swayed by it. Continuing infrastructure bottlenecks, policy ambiguity and lack of reforms, they said, were bigger challenges than a weak currency.  "Yes, there is volatility, but fundamentally I think India is in a much stronger place today," says Sonjoy Chatterjee, chairman, Goldman Sachs India. "When I think about India over the past two decades, I remember us being a far weaker country trying to deal with volatility in the 1990s, the Asian crisis of 1997, and then the difficulties of the early 2000s," he said.  Says Rajiv Bajaj, managing director of Bajaj Auto: "The government must acknowledge the downturn as a symptom of a chronic disease and heal through long-term measures such as improvement in infrastructure, labour laws, power, etc."  The survey also provides at least some evidence that India Inc hasn't allowed the slowdown to kill the spirit of enterprise. Only 22% CEOs admit they have withdrawn to a defensive, cost-cutting frame of mind. The rest, 78%, are still looking to either invest or innovate their way through the slowdown.  "The smarter companies will live by 'less is more' and 'deep before wide' by focusing their strategy to create a few strong brands that can dominate," says Bajaj.  Companies with superior strategies will create new segments through new products and technologies, thus emerging stronger, according to him. "The weak will perish," he adds.  There are also some clues that business efficiency has improved across the board. Despite the many pressures on costs due to raw material, fuel and capital, 51% companies are confident of at least 10% growth in net profit over the next 2-3 years.  The survey was conducted between August 1 and September 4 by Nielsen on behalf of The Economic Times.

Slowdown hits construction business in state Fall Sharpest Among Key Industries

Mumbai: The construction industry in Maharashtra has been hit by the economic slowdown with fewer developers queuing up for permission across major cities, including Mumbai and Pune. Only Solapur has recorded a growth.      Stamp duty registration and other duties show collections have dropped by 12% in the last quarter, compared to the same period last year. Between April and June, the government collected Rs 7,171 crore against Rs 8,152 crore during the same period last year.      The decline in the construction sector is the sharpest among other key sectors like automobile (-1.74%), electrical goods (-4.72%), engineering (-1.43%), metals (-2.45%) and garments and textiles (-2.97%), which, too, have reported negative growth for the quarter ending June.      The quarterly figures were put up for review before chief minister Prithviraj Chavan last week by the state industry and finance departments.      The latest figures show that the downturn is bleeding the construction industry. In Mumbai, only 429 projects are likely to come up in the current year with a total construction area of 19.32 lakh sq metres, while the corresponding figure last yearwas 444 projects covering 17.44 lakh sqm. In 2010-11, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had approved 1,065 proposals measuring 69.68 lakh sqm.  Doppler radar stalls half-built  tower in Mazgaon      An under-construction residential tower at Mazgaon (above) may be the first casualty of the Doppler weather radar at Colaba. Work on the half-built skyscraper (13 of the 26 storeys planned have been built) ground to a halt after the Indian Meteorological Department restricted its height to 75.45 metres. TOI, on August 27, had reported that builders in the island city have been hit hard by the BMC insistence on a NOC from the weather department if their towers are over 70m high and fall within a 10-km radius of the Doppler radar. P 4 Chavan may approach Centre for assistance      In Pune, another fast-growing city, the proposals this year are 4,073 as opposed to 4,623 last year. The construction area covered by projects this year is estimated at 66.13 lakh sqm against 74.02 lakh sqm last year.      In Solapur, proposals increased from 2,482 in 2011-12 to 2,942 this year, aggregating construction work of 4.68 lakh sqm being currently carried out in the city. This, officials said, was owing to speedy completion of several infrastructure and roads projects in the region. Only 66 projects were approved in Mira-Bhayander this year, against 137 last year, and 402 in Malegaon and 972 in Nanded this year, as against 462 and 1,127 the previous year respectively.      The state industry and finance departments are seeking a stimulus for affected sectors as early as possible. Chavan has not ruled out approaching the Centre for help if push comes to shove in the next quarter. "I am really concerned about the bearing of the economic crisis on the state in general, especially key industrial sectors. We won't hesitate to approach the Centre for help," he said. STORY CUT SHORT