Business Times - 01 Feb 2008
India grows 9.6% in FY07 at fastest pace since '89
(NEW DELHI) India's economy expanded 9.6 per cent last fiscal year, the fastest pace since 1989, as rising incomes spurred demand for cars, mobile phones and motorbikes.
The growth rate for the year that ended March 31, 2007, was revised up from 9.4 per cent estimated earlier, the government said in a statement in New Delhi yesterday. The government also raised growth in the year ended March 31, 2006, to 9.4 per cent.
Faster growth may enable Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to cut the budget deficit and spend more on plans aimed at reducing poverty in a nation where the World Bank estimates more than half of the 1.1 billion people live on less than US$2 a day.
Asia's third-largest economy has expanded at more than 9 per cent since April 2005, as Ford Motor Co, Tata Steel Ltd and other companies increase output at the quickest pace in a decade to meet soaring demand from a growing Indian middle class.
'It is a matter of considerable satisfaction that despite global turbulence and heightened uncertainties, our economy has been growing at the rate of 9.4 and 9.6 per cent,' Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said in New Delhi yesterday. He expects the economy to expand about 9 per cent in the current fiscal year despite 'global uncertainties'.
Incomes in India are rising as companies like Intel Corp, the world's biggest semiconductor maker, and Accenture Ltd, the second-largest consulting firm, hire more people to benefit from technically skilled workers and lower wage bills.
Indians got the second-highest salary increase in the Asia- Pacific region last year. Wages rose an average 14.8 per cent in 2007 from 14.4 per cent in the previous year, according to human resources consulting firm Hewitt Associates Inc. -- Bloomberg
Showing posts with label India update. Show all posts
Showing posts with label India update. Show all posts
Friday, February 1, 2008
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
BT: India sees 10% growth by 2012, sub-prime a risk
Business Times - 19 Dec 2007
India sees 10% growth by 2012, sub-prime a risk
NEW DELHI - India's economy could be growing by 10 per cent a year by 2012 with the right set of policies, but the US sub-prime crisis might trim exports and capital flows, the prime minister said on Wednesday.
Annual growth dipped to 8.9 per cent in the September quarter, falling below 9 per cent for the first time in three quarters, as industrial output slowed due to monetary tightening designed to trim inflation.
Top officials are confident they can maintain growth momentum despite a surge in the value of the rupee against the dollar this year, which is hurting exporters, and high interest rates.
'It is possible that with the correct set of policies ...
we will not only be able to maintain this momentum of high growth into the near future but may be able to raise it to 10 per cent,' Manmohan Singh told top policy makers.
India, the world's fastest-growing major economy after China, grew 9.4 per cent in the last fiscal year, its strongest in 18 years. Its surging expansion has attracted global investors, fuelling a stock market boom and pushing firms to expand capacity.
'This high growth rate has become possible because of the historically high savings and investment rates which we are witnessing,' Mr Singh said at a meeting of the National Development Council set to approve a policies for the 5 years to 2012.
'Our savings rate after stagnating for almost two decades has touched 34 percent of GDP and the investment rate has crossed 35 per cent. These high rates ... are likely to go up in future because of our young population profile.' Trade Minister Kamal Nath said on Tuesday expansion in the 2007/08 fiscal year to March 31 would be in excess of 9 per cent, and analysts say the central bank's forecast of 8.5 per cent should be met in Asia's third-largest economy.
Mr Singh said global credit worries would not completely skirt India's economy, despite it being largely driven by domestic demand.
'There are somes clouds on global financial markets following the subprime lending crisis. There are worries that the growth of the US and other leading economies may slow down and some may even go into a recession,' he said. 'This may impact both our exports as well as capital flows.'
Such concerns mean India must redouble efforts to maintain domestic drivers of growth, the prime minister said.
The government is discussing ways to minimise the impact of the rupee's appreciation on exporters, who have seen their margins squeezed by a 12 per cent rise in the currency this year.
The Reserve Bank of India, keen to cool price pressures and stop the economy from overheating, raised interest rates five times between mid-2006 and March this year, but has since held them steady. Many economists now expect the next move to be down. -- REUTERS
India sees 10% growth by 2012, sub-prime a risk
NEW DELHI - India's economy could be growing by 10 per cent a year by 2012 with the right set of policies, but the US sub-prime crisis might trim exports and capital flows, the prime minister said on Wednesday.
Annual growth dipped to 8.9 per cent in the September quarter, falling below 9 per cent for the first time in three quarters, as industrial output slowed due to monetary tightening designed to trim inflation.
Top officials are confident they can maintain growth momentum despite a surge in the value of the rupee against the dollar this year, which is hurting exporters, and high interest rates.
'It is possible that with the correct set of policies ...
we will not only be able to maintain this momentum of high growth into the near future but may be able to raise it to 10 per cent,' Manmohan Singh told top policy makers.
India, the world's fastest-growing major economy after China, grew 9.4 per cent in the last fiscal year, its strongest in 18 years. Its surging expansion has attracted global investors, fuelling a stock market boom and pushing firms to expand capacity.
'This high growth rate has become possible because of the historically high savings and investment rates which we are witnessing,' Mr Singh said at a meeting of the National Development Council set to approve a policies for the 5 years to 2012.
'Our savings rate after stagnating for almost two decades has touched 34 percent of GDP and the investment rate has crossed 35 per cent. These high rates ... are likely to go up in future because of our young population profile.' Trade Minister Kamal Nath said on Tuesday expansion in the 2007/08 fiscal year to March 31 would be in excess of 9 per cent, and analysts say the central bank's forecast of 8.5 per cent should be met in Asia's third-largest economy.
Mr Singh said global credit worries would not completely skirt India's economy, despite it being largely driven by domestic demand.
'There are somes clouds on global financial markets following the subprime lending crisis. There are worries that the growth of the US and other leading economies may slow down and some may even go into a recession,' he said. 'This may impact both our exports as well as capital flows.'
Such concerns mean India must redouble efforts to maintain domestic drivers of growth, the prime minister said.
The government is discussing ways to minimise the impact of the rupee's appreciation on exporters, who have seen their margins squeezed by a 12 per cent rise in the currency this year.
The Reserve Bank of India, keen to cool price pressures and stop the economy from overheating, raised interest rates five times between mid-2006 and March this year, but has since held them steady. Many economists now expect the next move to be down. -- REUTERS
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
AFP: Higher Indian growth depends on improving infrastructure: official
Wednesday December 5, 2:49 AM
Higher Indian growth depends on improving infrastructure: official
Billions of dollars must be spent to improve India's creaking infrastructure to achieve the economic growth needed to lift millions out of poverty, a top government policy advisor said Tuesday.
India's dilapidated ports, roads, power supplies and other infrastructure are a "critical constraint" to stronger growth, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the government's key Planning Commission, told the India Economic Summit.
"Investment in infrastructure in 2006-07 was five percent of gross domestic product and was inadequate. We need to increase it to about nine percent" by the financial year 2011-12 to around five billion dollars, said Ahluwalia.
India's goal of attaining 10 percent growth by the 2011-2012 financial year would be unachievable unless infrastructure spending moves into much higher gear, said Ahluwalia.
India has logged 8.6 percent average annual growth in the last four years and economists say expansion must shift to double digits to make a significant dent in deep poverty afflicting millions.
The Indian government will pick up the tab for 70 percent of the infrastructure spending but the rest -- around 150 billion dollars -- must come from private sources, Ahluwalia told the summit, part of a series of regional meetings ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in early 2008.
The meeting of financial players from around the world eager to learn about India's rapidly expanding economy has heard a litany of complaints from business leaders about the disastrous state of India's infrastructure.
The Indian government has introduced new policies to attract private sector investment and "now the scale of activity needs to increase" to compensate for India's "infrastructure deficit," Ahluwalia said.
India's high growth has pushed its shabby infrastructure to its limits. Power cuts last hours, congested ports delay loading and unloading and the nation's roads are notoriously potholed.
"Which state electricity board can guarantee continuous uninterrupted power?" asked Deepak Puri, chairman of compact disc giant Moses Baer India.
Many companies run their own captive power plants to overcome energy shortages and ensure continuous production.
Rajat Nag, managing director of the Asian Development Bank, called infrastructure India's most urgent problem.
India needs to spend as much as 1.6 billion dollars over the next decade or 10.5 to 12.5 percent of its GDP on infrastructure to keep growth on track, Nag said.
Rajiv Lall, managing director of the Infrastructure Development Finance Co., a private sector financier of Indian public works, said poor governance leading to slow decision-making was a major hurdle in drawing infrastructure investment.
He added there was also a shortage of the skills required for building civil engineering and other projects.
However, Ahluwalia said investors were showing interest in putting money into the power sector as India's states plan to introduce reforms to tackle widespread transmission and distribution losses.
Higher Indian growth depends on improving infrastructure: official
Billions of dollars must be spent to improve India's creaking infrastructure to achieve the economic growth needed to lift millions out of poverty, a top government policy advisor said Tuesday.
India's dilapidated ports, roads, power supplies and other infrastructure are a "critical constraint" to stronger growth, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the government's key Planning Commission, told the India Economic Summit.
"Investment in infrastructure in 2006-07 was five percent of gross domestic product and was inadequate. We need to increase it to about nine percent" by the financial year 2011-12 to around five billion dollars, said Ahluwalia.
India's goal of attaining 10 percent growth by the 2011-2012 financial year would be unachievable unless infrastructure spending moves into much higher gear, said Ahluwalia.
India has logged 8.6 percent average annual growth in the last four years and economists say expansion must shift to double digits to make a significant dent in deep poverty afflicting millions.
The Indian government will pick up the tab for 70 percent of the infrastructure spending but the rest -- around 150 billion dollars -- must come from private sources, Ahluwalia told the summit, part of a series of regional meetings ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in early 2008.
The meeting of financial players from around the world eager to learn about India's rapidly expanding economy has heard a litany of complaints from business leaders about the disastrous state of India's infrastructure.
The Indian government has introduced new policies to attract private sector investment and "now the scale of activity needs to increase" to compensate for India's "infrastructure deficit," Ahluwalia said.
India's high growth has pushed its shabby infrastructure to its limits. Power cuts last hours, congested ports delay loading and unloading and the nation's roads are notoriously potholed.
"Which state electricity board can guarantee continuous uninterrupted power?" asked Deepak Puri, chairman of compact disc giant Moses Baer India.
Many companies run their own captive power plants to overcome energy shortages and ensure continuous production.
Rajat Nag, managing director of the Asian Development Bank, called infrastructure India's most urgent problem.
India needs to spend as much as 1.6 billion dollars over the next decade or 10.5 to 12.5 percent of its GDP on infrastructure to keep growth on track, Nag said.
Rajiv Lall, managing director of the Infrastructure Development Finance Co., a private sector financier of Indian public works, said poor governance leading to slow decision-making was a major hurdle in drawing infrastructure investment.
He added there was also a shortage of the skills required for building civil engineering and other projects.
However, Ahluwalia said investors were showing interest in putting money into the power sector as India's states plan to introduce reforms to tackle widespread transmission and distribution losses.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
