Inflation touches 4.65%
New Delhi: Inflation dipped to this fiscal’s lowest ever figure of 4.65 per cent for the week ended 12 July with yet another 0.5-per cent fall. This was mainly due to cheaper vegetables, fruits, edible oils, wheat and eggs, but the fuel prices remained unchanged. The wholesale price index (WPI) inflation ticked below a 5-per cent mark for the second time so far in 2003-04 from the previous week’s level of 5.15 per cent and it was a mere 2.79 per cent in the year-ago period. But the inflation for the latest reported week is markedly higher than the 3.34 per cent recorded in first week of January 2003, showing the extent of rise in cost of living within seven months.

Cheaper manufactured products, which has highest weight, led to a 0.2-per cent fall in the WPI to 173.3 points and the index was 165.6 in the previous year period. The government made a final revision in WPI to 173.4 points for the week ended 17 May as compared to provisional figure of 172.3, while the point-to-point inflation found an upward move to 6.58 per cent against the provisional mark of 5.9 per cent. Led by a sharp one per cent fall in the prices of food items, the index of mass consumption primary articles’ group declined by 0.6 per cent to 181 points even as non-food and minerals became costlier. The index was 172.3 points in the previous year period.
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CII foresees 6.8% growth
New Delhi: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) says the growth in the economy will be 6.8 per cent this year. CII expects the agricultural output to rise between 4 and 5.5 per cent if the rainfall continues to be as good as it has been so far. And industry and services are being seen to grow 6.5 per cent and 7.5 per cent, respectively.

CII chief economist Omkar Goswami says: “The index of industrial production (IIP) grew by 5.7 per cent and manufacturing by 6 per cent in May 2003, but there is nothing to worry about the slight dip in April and May this year. The upswing that began around the middle of last year is poised to continue. The economy has begun to see an upswing, with the growth of industrial sector in GDP by 6 per cent compared to 3.3 per cent in the previous year."
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Railway ministry rejects finance ministry suggestion
New Delhi: The railway ministry has rejected the finance ministry’s suggestion to the Railway Convention Committee (RCC) to set up a Railway Tariff Regulatory Authority (RTRA). In its submission to the RCC, the finance ministry said that it wanted the Railways to constitute an RTRA with the mandate to fix tariff on a rational basis with automatic adjustment based on cost inputs, including fuel and electricity tariff and staff costs.

The Railways maintained that under the Railway Act 1989 full powers had been conferred on the Railway Board to fix the tariff rates. “Setting up of any autonomous regulatory authority is neither necessary nor possible under the existing statutory provisions,” it said. The finance ministry also emphasised the need to pay dividend regularly. It had allowed the Railways to defer dividend of Rs 2,823 crore during 2000-1 and 2001-2.
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India to export 10m kg tea to Pakistan
New Delhi: India will be exporting 10 million kilogram tea to Pakistan this year compared to about 3.5 million kg last year. Several agreements have been signed between Indian and Pakistani traders to sell tea after meetings between the two sides. A delegation of Indian tea-growers and exporters visited Pakistan in June. Indian Tea Association chairman Bharat Bajoria says Indian exporters are willing to offer competitive prices to Pakistan traders. There have been media reports in Pakistan quoting traders as ruling out the possibility of importing tea from India in the near future.
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