Indian external debt increases to US$122bn
New Delhi: India's external debt has risen to US$122.1bn in the first half of this fiscal due to a rise in external commercial borrowings of India Inc and also a rise in trade credit for oil and non-oil imports.

The report said, "The external debt management policy of the government continued to focus on raising loans from least expensive sources with longer maturities, monitoring of short-term debt, keeping commercial debt under manageable limits, encouraging non-debt creating capital flows and accelerating growth of exports."

Long-term debt increased by US$1.2bn to US$116bn due to spurt in ECBs. India Inc. raised about US$1.35bn in ECBs during the second quarter taking the total commercial borrowing from overseas markets to US$28.53bn.

Long-term NRI deposits increased by US$72mn during the second quarter, and till September, stood at US$32.8bn. Short-term debt surged by 14.1 per cent to US$8.3bn mainly due to rise in trade credits as India's oil and non-oil import increased significantly.
Back to News Review index page  

Govt. to make huge investments in NMDP
New Delhi: The Government has finally launched the National Maritime Development Programme (NMDP), which aims at focused and accelerated investment in specific infrastructure, tonnage acquisition and institutionalised capacity building for various ongoing projects.

As per the NMDP, the Government has fixed an ambitious target of US$150bn for exports by 2008-09 to double India's share in the world exports from 0.8 per cent to 1.5 per cent. The NMDP seeks an investment of Rs1,00,399 crore.

Shipping Minister, T R Baalu, said after releasing the NMDP document, "The Indian maritime sector, which provides for transportation of export cargo with ports providing the platform for about 95 per cent of global Indian merchandise trade by volume and 70 per cent by value, therefore, needs to expand its capacity and modernise its infrastructure," he said.

As per estimates, by 2011-12, India's ports should be capable of handling 800 million tonnes of cargo, and to handle the same, the ports should augment their aggregate capacity to 820 million tonnes per annum by 2011-12.

In phase-I for the port sector, a total of 180 projects involving an amount of Rs31,971 crore will be taken up. Of this, the planned budgetary support will be Rs1,350 crore while major ports from their internal resources would raise Rs8,991 crore.

He said that the expected private investment would be to the tune of Rs19,112 crore and the balance would be met by the NHAI.
Back to News Review index page  

Inflation up to 4.62 pc
New Delhi: Inflation rose to 4.62 per cent for the week ended December 17, up from 4.5 per cent in the previous week due to increase in prices of naphtha, furnace oil, bitumen, cotton seed, fodder, soyabean, coconut oil, gur and pork. It was however lower than 6.44 per cent in the same period a year ago.

The Wholesale Price Index fell to 197.1 points due to fall in prices of fruits & vegetables, condiments & spices, urad, tobacco groundnut seed, mustard seed, some edible oils, iron steel, complete engines and colour TV sets against was 188.4 points a year ago.

In the period under review, even as world oil prices tumbled to $58.06 a barrel on forecasts of warmer weather in the United States, domestic petrol and diesel prices were stable as the government preferred wait and watch policy due to volatility in the international crude oil prices.
Back to News Review index page  

New York city bans three Indian herbal products
New York: New York City has put a ban on the sale of three Indian herbal products saying that they contain dangerous levels of lead or mercury.

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene says it found that "Jambrulin made by Unjha Ayurvedic Pharmacy contains 24,300 PPM of lead, Lakshmivilash Ras (Nardiya) made by Baidyanath contains 14,100 ppm of mercury and Maha Sun Darshan made by Arya Aushadhi Pharmaceutical Works contains 2,190 ppm of mercury."

Jambrulin is used for diabetes and sugar control, Lakshmivilash Ras (Nardiya) for chronic fever, cold, and cough and Maha Sudarshan for flu and body ache. The department said it began its investigation during last summer. Tests found that the three products contained high amounts of lead or mercury though they were not listed amongst the ingredients. Under the city law, sale of products deemed to contain poisonous substances or substances deemed to be detrimental to the human health are prohibited.

The Food and Nutrition Board of Institute of Medicine of the National Academies recommends that foods contain no more than 2 ppm (parts per million) of lead and no more than one PPM of mercury.
Back to News Review index page  

Rural debt burden up 4 per cent since 1991: Survey
New Delhi: Rural India has become more indebted since liberalization was started while urban households have been able to reduce their debt liabilities according to the findings of the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO).

According to the NSSO figures released on Thursday, the incidence of indebtedness in rural households has increased by 4 per cent to 27 per cent during January-December 2003 as compared to 23 per cent in 1991. In the case of urban households, however, the percentage has come down from 19 per cent in 1991 to 18 per cent in the first six months of 2003, according to an official release.

Now rural households account for around Rs1,12,000 crore, which is around 63 per cent of the aggregate outstanding debt of Rs1,77,000 crore till June 2002. There is widespread indebtedness in the rural areas of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Rajashtan and Karnataka where the average indebtedness was more than 30 per cent.

It also found that the share of debt for non-business purpose was as high as 76 per cent and 85 per cent, respectively for rural and urban households having assets valued at less than Rs15,000.
Back to News Review index page