27th October - The Financial Express

Rohit Mathur
Rovin Shrivastava

Multi-Brand retail FDI could start off with 51%

The prime minister office (PMO) has given the indication that they now agree to allow Foriegn Direct Invesment(FDI) up to 51% in multibrand retailing.
Previously the move was opposed by peoples and they raised concerns about the future of the kirana owners
The planning commission,Department of consumer affairs,commerce and industry ministry and agricultural ministry seems to be supporting the move.
And it will be further strengthened during the visit of US president Barack Obama in November.
Government has added some conditions to make sure that the benifits of small retailers and kirana shop owners are not demolished.
Initially only those retailers will be allowed to enter the indian markets who first invest in supply chain and other related backend infrastructure.
The firms must create jobs in india in rural areas.
The consumer affairs ministry has proposed that FDI should be allowed up to 49% and of that 75% should be spent on logistics,infrastructure and technology upgrade.


SEBI to tighten disclosure norms for business between related companies.
SEBI chief CB Bhave said that the disclosure norms for transactions between related companies could be tighten.
Because there is a possibility of avoiding or reducing tax liabilties by the by doctoring the value of the transaction between related parties and enterprises.
The norms would enable the revenue authorities to collect direct and indirect taxes.


Bharti Wal-Mart to rope in 35000 farmers by 2015
Currently Bharti Wal-Mart in a 50:50 cash and carry joint venture,is working with 550 farmers in India.
But to scale up sourcing of agricultural product from India it has announced that by 2015 it will engage 35000 farmers with it.
It will be training farmers on how to utilise the resources.
, it is also planning to open the skill centres across india to train 40000 students in next five years on the skill upgradation.


'Difficult to tame inflationat ideal 4-5% level'
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said that it is difficult to pull the inflation down to 4-5 level.
He said that annual inflation is likely to be around 6%.
RBI ,as part of its monetary review, has increased the CRR(cash reserve ratio) to tighten the liquidity.
Finance ministry urged the central bank to esure that monetary tightening should not choke growth.
Finance minister attributed inflation with rising food prices and said that it has come down to single digit in terms of consumer price indices.
Earlier the WPI based inflation stood at 8.62% in September while food price inflation was at 15.53%

Pranab pegs growth at 8.25%-8.75%;fiscal deficit target on track
Finance Minister Pranab mukherjee said that because of the rising consumption and demand the economy is expected to grow at 8.25%-8.75%.
He also said that it will be soon around 9% level.
He said that gross tax revenue has grown by 27.3% which is the fundamentals of he economy.
CBEC chairman V Sridhar said the goverment expects toexceed the budget target for customs and excise collections in this fiscal.
Total indirect collection would be Rs. 3.3 lacs crore as against the budgeted Rs. 3.15 lacs crore.
Government aims to reduce the fiscal deficit to 4.8% in 2011-2012 and further down to 4.1 % in 2012-2013.
The growth trajectory is 8.8% in the first quarter of the current fiscal year.
The exports,manufacturing sectors and corporate earnings are picking up.


UK GDP rises 0.8% in Q3, beats forecast

Economy of Britain grew 0.8% in the third quarter which is twice as economist forecast. GDP had seen arise 1.2% in previous quarter. Economist forecast a 0.4% gain.source Bloombergnews survey.
As the economy grew Peter Dixion, an economist at commerzbank AG in London said that, The UK will grow, but the question is will it grow sufficientlynto generate jobs?
According to statistics office the GDP result is the second fastest growth reading since Q1,2007.
Finance minister George Osborne said it's an “incredible opportunity for new start-ups to flourish, for innovation to drive growth and creat jobs.