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Govt to stick to fiscal road map: jaitley A day after dithering on the fiscal glide path, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, upbeat on the Moody´s upgrade, said the government would maintain fiscal discipline and adhere to the road map suggested by a government constituted panel.“We intend to maintain the fiscal glide path. We believe that the upgrade is a be lated recognition of all the positive steps that have been taken in the past few years that contributed to the strengthening of the Indian economy,” Jaitley told a press conference after Moody´s upgraded India´s ratings, giving credit to the Narendra Modi government´s reform initiatives. He added that the government´s track record had been one of the better records in India´s history as far as fiscal discipline was concerned.“And we intend to move on that track,” said Jaitley. However, at a Morgan Stanley event in Singapore on Thursday, he had said, “No pause, but challenges arising from structural reforms (which) could chan

Moody's Raises Rating First Time 14 Years Moody´s Investors Service on Friday upgraded India´s sovereign bond rating byanotch for the first time in 14 years, showing confidence in the Narendra Modi government´s reform initiatives such as demonetisation, the goods and services tax (GST) and its efforts to resolve the bad debt asset crisis of banks.Moody´s raised the rating from the lowest investment grade of Baa3 to Baa2, and changed the outlook from positive to stable. “It is a be lated recognition of the positive steps taken in the past few years.Many who had doubts about India´s reform process would now seriously introspect on their position,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in response.Analysts said the upgrade would lead to higher capital inflows, strengthening the rupee, and ease India Inc´s access to overseas capital at lower rates. The markets cheered the move.The Sensex rose 235.98 points to close at 33,342.80, even after paring initial gains.The Nifty crossed th

Rupee may still depreciate The ratings upgrade by Moody’s will bring a new class of investors in the country, so far restricted by their investment mandate of not investing in countries below a threshold.That should strengthen the rupee naturally, but it may not be desirable for the central bank. To maintain the country’s competitiveness, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) might still want to see the rupee a little weak vis-á-vis its export competitors, revealed a Business Standard poll of 10 senior treasury heads and economists.That usually means the central bank will have to intervene in the market to keep the rupee weaker than its actual strength. Foreign exchange reserves, which recently crossed Rs 400 billion but have come off since then a bit, should get a strong boost as a result of the intervention, they said.However, in the short term, the rupee will maintain a strong bias. Ultimately the rupee’s fate is still tied to what happens to the dollar globally. The dollar index,

Sebi to investigate possible leak of company earnings Sebi chief Ajay Tyagi says the market regulator will investigate possible leaks of company earnings in social media chatrooms India’s market regulator will investigate possible leaks of company earnings in social media chat rooms, its chief Ajay Tyagi said on Friday, following a Reuters report this week that revealed prescient messages being posted in private groups.The Reuters investigation documented at least 12 cases of prescient messages about major Indian companies being posted in WhatsApp groups limited to traders. “We will certainly investigate the issue. It is a work in progress,” Tyagi, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), told Reuters, when asked what action the regulator was considering.India beefed up insider trading rules in early 2015, expanding what constitutes “unpublished price-sensitive information” to include “any information” that is not “generally available” and that could have

RBI wants leading rates to be linked with external benchmark rates Those who avail of home loans and personal loans could soon be on par with the big corporates when it comes to how banks calculate interest charges on borrowers. Interest rates on loans across the board would soon be benchmarked to external market rates as the banking regulator aims to put an end to opacity of loan pricing by banks. A Reserve Bank of India committee headed by Dr Janak Raj has suggested that interest rate on loans be pegged to anyone of the three benchmark rates such as T-bill, certificate of deposit rate or the RBI's repo rate rather than leaving it to the discretion of each bank. It also suggested a ban on banks charging a conversion fee whenever the bank resets the rate of interest. "Arbitrariness in calculating the base rate and MCLR and spreads charged over them has undermined the integrity of the interest rate setting process,'' RBI said in a statement.such as T-bill, certi

Chinese firms raise interest in Indian durables Chinese appliances maker Haier on Thursday inaugurateda Rs 600crore industrial park in Pune, becoming the second Chinese company after the Guangdongbased Midea Group to increase its India bet in the sector. In June, Midea, which hasajoint venture with air conditioning major Carrier in India since 2012, had announced an investment of Rs 800 crore for the domestic market. This included setting upamanufacturing plant in Pune, which would come up by the end of 2018, to produce refrigerators, washing machines, andwaterheaters. WhileHaieralreadyhadaplant in Pune producing mainly refrigerators, the latest investment would allow the firm to increase capacity from 0.8 million units to 3.8 million units, covering not only refrigerators but also washing machines, air conditioners, water heaters, and LED TVs, said Eric Braganza, president, Haier India. The current round of investment also supported the firm´s growth plans, he said. The

Tepid GST receipts may not impact fiscal math All states barring Delhi reported revenue losses in October on account of the goods and services tax (GST), requiring Rs 7,500-crore compensation from the Centre during the month. This may not affect the Centre’s fiscal deficit as it will be taken care of by Rs 8,000 crore collected as compensation cess in October. The tax revenue was collected in the month of October and not for October, for which the last date for paying tax is November 20. The Centre’s revenue collection target may come under slight strain after the GST Council last Friday decided to lower rates on over 200 items. Besides, revenue collected from the Integrated GST (IGST) may be used as credit for paying tax later. “It is early to predict the impact on the fiscal deficit. Looking at the trend so far, the compensation cess collected is more than the revenue loss of states. Once the GST stabilises, states’ collections will improve," an official said. Consum