India fastest growing economyProjection based on new methodology
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) said on Monday that India is set to grow 7.4 per cent and cross the $2.1-trillion mark this year against 6.9 per cent in 2013-14.
India grew 7.5 per cent in the October-December quarter, according to the estimates released, overtaking China’s 7.3 per cent growth in the same quarter, to become the fastest growing major economy in the world.
The smart economic pick-up is largely on the back of robust manufacturing sector performance and a surge in public expenditure.
Capital formation, an indicator for the investment growth in the economy, dropped to 29.8 per cent during April-December 2014 from 30.7 per cent in April-December 2013.
The overall economic situation in the country is looking better and the basic parameters of the Indian economy are moving in the right direction, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said ahead of the release of the advanced estimates by CSO. “India’s growth rate would be better than last year as per the old system,” he said addressing a parliamentary consultative committee.
Releasing the advance estimates based on a new way of calculating gross domestic product (GDP), CSO Additional Director-General Ashish Kumar told reporters that the methodology was consistent with global norms.
“The government can immediately use these numbers for policy-making,” he said, replying to a question on a reported statement of Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian about his reluctance to use the revised estimates for policy purposes. Mr. Kumar also said that though the estimates put India’s growth ahead of China, the fact was India’s economy was many times smaller in size than China’s and, therefore, the two could not be compared.
The manufacturing sector grew 10.1 per cent in the October-December quarter, against 8.7 per cent in the previous quarter. Public services grew 20 per cent against 6 per cent.
The estimates show a sharp unexpected dip in construction growth to 1.7 per cent in the three months from October to December in 2014 from 7.3 per cent in the July-September quarter. Agriculture output contracted minus 0.4 per cent during the October quarter on the back of the unfavourable kharif harvest.
With the advance estimate for the nominal GDP for 2014-15 of Rs. 126 trillion being somewhat lower than the level assumed in the Union budget Mr. Jaitley presented in July, the Finance Minister’s stated challenge of restricting the fiscal deficit to 4.1 per cent of GDP has become more stringent, said Aditi Nayar, Senior Economist, ICRA.
The advance estimates are on a new base year of 2011-12 against 2004-05 used earlier.
The coverage is also greater with manufacturing now including previously under-represented sectors supplemented with data from the government’s corporate database.
India grew 7.5 per cent in the October-December quarter, according to the estimates released, overtaking China’s 7.3 per cent growth in the same quarter, to become the fastest growing major economy in the world.
The smart economic pick-up is largely on the back of robust manufacturing sector performance and a surge in public expenditure.
Capital formation, an indicator for the investment growth in the economy, dropped to 29.8 per cent during April-December 2014 from 30.7 per cent in April-December 2013.
The overall economic situation in the country is looking better and the basic parameters of the Indian economy are moving in the right direction, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said ahead of the release of the advanced estimates by CSO. “India’s growth rate would be better than last year as per the old system,” he said addressing a parliamentary consultative committee.
Releasing the advance estimates based on a new way of calculating gross domestic product (GDP), CSO Additional Director-General Ashish Kumar told reporters that the methodology was consistent with global norms.
“The government can immediately use these numbers for policy-making,” he said, replying to a question on a reported statement of Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian about his reluctance to use the revised estimates for policy purposes. Mr. Kumar also said that though the estimates put India’s growth ahead of China, the fact was India’s economy was many times smaller in size than China’s and, therefore, the two could not be compared.
The manufacturing sector grew 10.1 per cent in the October-December quarter, against 8.7 per cent in the previous quarter. Public services grew 20 per cent against 6 per cent.
The estimates show a sharp unexpected dip in construction growth to 1.7 per cent in the three months from October to December in 2014 from 7.3 per cent in the July-September quarter. Agriculture output contracted minus 0.4 per cent during the October quarter on the back of the unfavourable kharif harvest.
With the advance estimate for the nominal GDP for 2014-15 of Rs. 126 trillion being somewhat lower than the level assumed in the Union budget Mr. Jaitley presented in July, the Finance Minister’s stated challenge of restricting the fiscal deficit to 4.1 per cent of GDP has become more stringent, said Aditi Nayar, Senior Economist, ICRA.
The advance estimates are on a new base year of 2011-12 against 2004-05 used earlier.
The coverage is also greater with manufacturing now including previously under-represented sectors supplemented with data from the government’s corporate database.
Speaking from Los Angeles, California after receiving the award on Sunday evening, Ricky Kej said, “Getting the award is an unattainable dream. I still can’t believe it”.
He said he believed he got the award for music that was “from the heart”. While music composers must create music for money, it is important for composers to create music where he can express himself.
Kej collaborated with South African musician Wouter Kellerman for the album, which symbolises peace and harmony.
In Bengaluru, Ramesh Aravind, film director, said, “I am delighted. It shows how frail borders are when it comes to talent and arts”.
He said he worked with Ricky Kej, with whom he got along instantly, in three Kannada films. The first film was “Accident”, which went on to win the annual award for sound effects.
Ramesh admired him for his professionalism and described as “terrific” his commitment to his craft and recalled how Ricky Kej worked for “Accident” continuously through light and and night for 21 days.
That was followed by two more films — “Venkata in Sankata” and “Crazy Kutumba”.
Kej also worked in the world of advertisement providing voices in one-minute ads.
Ramesh said, “He is also a sparkling conversationalist and great company to have at the dinner table. I wish him and his wife Varsha all the best. This is a fantastic achievement”
‘I-T dept. will check source of money in accounts’Jaitley says the question is not just about names but evidence
Hours after The Indian Express , in collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, released the names of 1,195 Indians with accounts in HSBC’s Swiss banking arm, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday that the Income Tax Department would investigate to find out whether any of the accounts had black money.
“Some new names have been revealed, whose veracity will be checked by the authorities. The question is not about names but evidence that we need,” the Minister said. However, Mr. Jaitley said many of the names had already been known to the government.
The total balance in these accounts is reported to be Rs. 25,420 crore, nearly five times the amount already under investigation. In 2011, French authorities gave the Indian government a list of 628 Indians who held accounts in HSBC’s Swiss banking arm in Geneva. Of these, 428 were found to be actionable cases. A release from the Finance Ministry said on Monday that as of December 31, 2014, assessments had been completed in respect of 128 cases, and 60 prosecutions had been launched for wilful attempt to evade taxes. “Necessary investigation, as per law, will be taken up in all the new cases expeditiously,” the release said.
The HSBC list is part of a global collaboration which saw 140 journalists go through the list of Swiss bank account holders obtained by Le Monde , a Paris-based newspaper. The list included the names of several corporate heads, politicians and NRIs.
Not all these accounts can be said to hold black money however, as The Indian Express clarified, and some of the names may be legitimate account holders. It said the report was published “at a time when undeclared wealth is an important part of political discourse, involving the government, the Supreme Court and the central bank.”
Reacting to the news earlier in the day, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal demanded that the BJP government act against HSBC officials. In a number of tweets, Mr. Kejriwal said: “Why doesn’t BJP government act against HSBC officials? They will spill the beans. U.S. did precisely that.”
Mr. Kejriwal also raised the question of inaction on the part of the Congress earlier, and of the BJP now, in probing such accounts because “some of these people claim to have both the BJP and the Congress in their pockets.”
Meanwhile, a Congress spokesperson said the matter should be investigated and action taken against whoever was found to have stashed away black money abroad.
The Communist Party of India also urged the government to take strict action.
“Many accountholders are very closely associated with the former UPA and present NDA governments. It is also important to recall here that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised during the general election to unearth the black money and transfer from the confiscated amount Rs. 15 lakh to each family,” it said.
Top 10 namesThe following is the list of top 10 Indians and the amount they hold in Swiss banks, according to the report published by The Indian Express .
1. Uttamchandani Gopaldas Wadhumal/Family $54,573,535
2. Mehta Rihan Harshad/ Family $53,631,788
3. Tharani Mahesh Thikamdas $40,615,288
4. Gupta Shravan $32,398,796
5. Kothari Bhadrashyam Harshad/ Family $31,555,874
6. Shaunak Jitendra Parikh/Family $30,137,608
7. Tandon Sandeep $26,838,488
8. Ambani Mukesh Dhirubhai $26,654,991
9. Ambani Anil $26,654,991
10. Krishna Bhagwan Ramchand $23,853,117
Public entitled to know about Swiss bank operationsScores of its Swiss clients are already under criminal investigation
Swiss banks often get mentioned in crime thrillers. They are depicted as shady havens for James Bond types, super-villains and African dictators. Outside the pages of fiction, however, it has been virtually impossible until now to get at the reality.
Rigid laws protecting bank secrecy have attracted billions from all over the world. Canny Swiss bankers charged high prices in return for their silence.
HSBC, headquartered in Britain and led at the time by Sir John Bond, decided to get in on this lucrative act in 1999. It bought up an existing Swiss bank which chased fresh customers.
But details of the Swiss operation’s 30,000 accounts were hacked in 2007 by its IT expert, Herve Falciani, who fled with them to France. The files have since been reconstructed and their contents confidentially distributed around the world by French tax authorities.
As one of German dramatist Bertolt Brecht’s characters famously said in The Threepenny Opera : “What is robbing a bank compared to founding one?” The leaked files, as the bank now concedes, reveal considerable wrongdoing. Not all HSBC’s Swiss private bank customers are public figures and many are not dishonest. Some want secrecy for family reasons. However, others emerge, according to the files, as would-be — though legal — tax avoiders of one kind or another. So, the public should be entitled to know what has been going on in Switzerland. But the full range of behaviour also deserves to be made clear. Some rich clients merely try to use artificial loopholes — for example, offshore trusts or historic quirks such as Britain’s notorious “non-dom” tax breaks. To critics, they may have sometimes exploited or even stretched the law, but they have not broken it.
Other clients of the Swiss operation, however, may have been downright tax cheats, holding secret accounts, while some carried cash out of their bank’s Geneva doors in bundles of non-Swiss currency that could not be spent locally.
Following the HSBC leak, scores of its Swiss clients are already under criminal investigation, in Britain and globally. Many others have paid civil penalties. Other clients of HSBC now turn out to be unsavoury characters, attracted by the secrecy on offer. Evidence exists that some may have been smuggling drugs, handling bribes, committing fraud, helping to finance terrorists, or looting their own countries. Others have done nothing unlawful but have kept untaxed money in Switzerland while making political donations in Britain or the United States. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2015
Plan to end Naxal-belt isolationThe consensus at a high level meeting on Naxalism, chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh here on Monday, evolved around better coordination and multi-pronged connectivity to affected areas through a web of mobile, rail and road networks.
A comprehensive plan was laid out for building new roads and bridges, upgrade schools and erect over 2000 telecom towers in the Naxal-hit areas.
The meeting chaired by the Home Minister reviewed the developmental projects in Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Odisha and Maharashtra — Naxalism-affected areas in and around the Bastar region.
Mr. Singh said Bastar requires special attention for early completion of development projects and a coordinated action for tackling left-wing extremism. He assured the States of necessary Central assistance, a Ministry of Home Affairs official said.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and his Maharashtra counterpart Devendra Fadnavis attended the meeting while Telangana and Odisha were represented by their Chief Secretaries and DGPs.
Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Smriti Irani, Suresh Prabhu, Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore represented the Centre along with Mr. Singh and top officials of the respective Ministries and central police organisations.
Mr. Raman Singh stressed the need for installing higher capacity TV and radio stations including FM radio stations for better connectivity in the Bastar region. Mr. Fadnavis raised the issue of pending road works of about 150 km and the work of Indirawati bridge awarded in January last year. He also stressed the need for early completion of laying a railway track in the Naxal-hit areas.
The Chief Secretaries and Directors General of Police Odisha and Telangana pitched for necessary Central assistance for early clearances and completions of developmental projects pending in their States.
MHA officials said 500 mobile phone towers would be completed by March 31 while 1,700 more towers would be constructed by August.
“Over 280 schools in my State were damaged badly. They were replaced with portable structures for teaching up to Class VIII. Those will be upgraded till Class X now,” said Mr. Raman Singh. He had requested the Centre to provide 10 extra battalions (1,000 personnel in each battalion) of paramilitary forces for Bastar.
“Four battalions have been given. I hope the remaining six would be given soon,” he told journalists. He also demanded that environment clearance should be increased from 5 hectare to 40 hectare for carrying out development projects in the Naxal-hit regions.
The Home Minister instructed senior railway officials to ensure commencement of construction work of railway track from Rowghat to Jagdalpur and expedite laying of tracks from Dillirajhara to Rowghat, sources said.
Bastar needs special attention for early completion of works: Rajnath Singh
The judgment by a Bench of Justices T.S. Thakur and A.K. Goel was on a petition filed by Khursheed Ahmad Khan against the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to remove him from service as Irrigation Supervisor for contracting a second marriage when his first marriage was still in existence.
His ouster was based on Rule 29 (1) of the Uttar Pradesh Government Servant Conduct Rules, 1956.
Mr. Khan challenged the constitutionality of the provision in the 1956 Rules, arguing that it violated his right to freely practice his religion.
But the Bench dismissed his contention. Justice Goel, who wrote the verdict, quoted the apex court’s 2003 judgment in Javed versus State of Haryana that “a practice did not acquire sanction of religion simply because it was permitted.”
“What was protected under Article 25 was the religious faith and not a practice which may run counter to public order, health or morality. Polygamy was not integral part of religion and monogamy was a reform within the power of the State under Article 25,” Justice Goel wrote.
The court further noted that no material was shown on record to prove that Mr. Khan had divorced his first wife, and moreover, his service record still showed his first wife’s name.
“Sharp distinction must be drawn between religious faith and belief and religious practices. What the State protects is religious faith and belief. If religious practices run counter to public order, morality or health or a policy of social welfare upon which the State has embarked, then the religious practices must give way before the good of the people of the State as a whole,” the judgment reproduced the 1952 judicial precedent in the Narasu Appa Mali case.
‘Sharp distinction must be drawn between religious faith and practice’
No decision on arming Kiev: ObamaHolds meeting with Merkel; EU postpones further sanctions against Russia
President Barack Obama said on Monday no decision had been made on whether to send weapons to Ukraine to help Kiev battle pro-Russian separatists, as he warned the West would not allow Russia to redraw Europe’s borders by force.
Mr. Obama, who has faced increasing calls from domestic critics to supply the outmatched Ukrainian army with more weapons to shore up its faltering defences, said he was still mulling his options.
“The possibility of lethal defence is one of those options that’s being examined. But I have not made a decision about that yet,” Mr. Obama told a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Ms. Merkel and many European nations believe weapons would not overturn the military mismatch between Ukraine and pro-Russian forces allegedly backed by Moscow, and would simply escalate a conflict that has left 5,400 people dead in less than a year.
Ms. Merkel has sought to negotiate a peace deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin after joining crisis talks in Moscow last week with French President Francois Hollande.
A summit of leaders of Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia is tentatively planned for later this week, after Ms. Merkel leaves Washington.
Mr. Obama meanwhile warned that the West could not allow Russia to rewrite Europe’s borders “at the barrel of a gun.”
Ms. Merkel meanwhile said that abandoning the principle of territorial integrity at the heart of the Ukraine crisis posed a threat to the “peaceful order of Europe.”
Earlier, Europe postponed sanctions against Moscow.Ahead of the possible summit in Minsk, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the EU would hold off implementing new sanctions to improve the chances of halting fighting that has killed some 5,400 people. “The latest peace initiative shows that things have begun to move,” Mr. Fabius said in Brussels.
While the EU had looked set to extend its individual sanctions, there is no agreement to toughen broader economic sanctions and Spain warned an export ban in place now had already cost Europe some €21 billion ($23.8 billion).— AFP
Stamp out religion from civil laws, observes SCHighlighting the need to “stamp out” religion from civil laws, the Supreme Court on Monday expressed anxiety over the challenges faced by secularism in the country.
The petition, seeking a declaration that the Canon Law is the personal law of Indian Christians, also questioned the jurisdiction of criminal courts to prosecute Roman Catholics under Section 494 of the Indian Penal Code for bigamy without considering the Canon Law.
Petitioner Clarence Pais urged the Supreme Court Bench to consider this important question of law and religious freedom, claiming it impacted over one crore Indian Christians on marriage and its dissolution.
During the hearing, the court referred to honour killing as an example of the dangers that may ensue if religious or self-styled socio-political institutions were given legal backing.
The apex court granted four weeks’ time to the Centre to file its response to the PIL.
OECD asks India to ease regulatory burden for economic growthBank portfolio controls should be eased, says the global body
India needs to ease administrative and regulatory ‘burden’ on companies and to encourage infrastructure development to promote economic growth, global body Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said on Monday.
While acknowledging that barriers to FDI have been reduced by India in various sectors, the Paris-based think tank said that more needed to be done for efficient allocation of capital.
“Easing administrative and regulatory burden on companies and encouraging infrastructure development would promote economic activity,” the OECD said in a report.
To spur creation of formal jobs, labour market duality should be reduced while labour laws need to be simplified.
Besides, the “rather stringent employment protection legislation should be reconsidered,” the report titled ‘Going for Growth’ said.
According to the OECD, the FDI barriers have been reduced in particular in telecom, civil aviation, railways, defence, construction and multi-brand retail.
“Financial reforms are gradually implemented and the Reserve Bank of India has taken steps to increase competition in the banking sector as well as its efficiency but more is needed to achieve a more efficient allocation of capital,” it noted.
Further, the report said that reforms to promote the development of a dynamic and efficient financial sector are needed to support investment and inclusive growth.
“The Reserve Bank of India approved the issuance of new banking licenses in 2014 and now allows banks to open branches without prior permission.
“Foreign banks can open subsidiaries and branches across the country, subject to domestic regulation,” it added.
Suggesting a way forward, the OECD said that bank portfolio restrictions should be eased, including gradual reduction in the share of government bonds held by banks, and have a plan to phase out priority lending.
“Allow greater participation by foreign investors in the financial service sector and further promote the entry of new private banks,” the report noted.
OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria said an ambitious reform agenda can help boost jobs, productivity and support demand.
“We understand the difficulties many governments face in pushing for reforms, in a context of weak demand, limited budgetary leeway and high unemployment.
“But we still see structural reforms — combined with effective fiscal and monetary policy — as part of an essential trilogy to boost growth,” he said. — PTI
No comments:
Post a Comment