GDP grows to record 8.9 pc in Q1
New Delhi: The country's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 8.9 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal, compared with 8.5 per cent recorded in the same period last year mainly on the back of strong manufacturing sector growth.

The manufacturing sector showed buoyant growth, reporting a 11.3 per cent upsurge in Q1 2006-07 as against 10.7 per cent and 6.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2005-06 and 2004-05, respectively. While agriculture grew by 3.4 per cent (the same as in the previous year), the services sector grew by 10.6 per cent (10.1 per cent).

The only two sectors that recorded drop in growth rates were `construction' and `electricity, gas and water supply'. While the GDP of construction sector grew 9.5 per cent (12.4 per cent ), the electricity sector grew by 5.4 per cent (7.4 per cent).

This is the highest first quarter growth recorded since 2000-01, the Union Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, said. The next best first quarter growth performance was the 8.5 per cent rate of last year (2005-06).
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Govt to raise telecom FDI to 74 pc
New Delhi: The Government has said it will not retreat on its decision to increase the FDI cap in telecom from 49 per cent to 74 per cent and has extended the time frame to comply with the provisions of the Press Note 5 by another three months. At a meeting of the Union Cabinet, the an inter-ministerial group headed by the Defence Minister, Pranab Mukherjee would be set up to resolve all difficulties expressed by the industry and various Ministries in implementing the provisions of the Press Note 5.
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Current account deficit zooms
Mumbai: The current account deficit has almost doubled to $6.099 billion in the quarter ended June 30, 2006, against $3.556 billion in the corresponding quarter of last year. This was made up by a surplus in the capital account, which moved up to $12.477 billion against $4.803 billion over the corresponding period. Trade deficit for the corresponding quarter also increased to $18.484 billion against $13.604 billion. The growth in imports outstripped the pace of export growth, said the RBI's release on India's Balance of Payments during the first quarter (April-June 2006) of 20006-07.
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AC rail travel to be cheaper in 'Garib Raths'
Kapurthala: The first Garib Rath, the name given to low-cost air-conditioned (AC) trains set to be introduced by the Railways, would ply between Amritsar and Saharsa in Bihar.

While Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad, was originally scheduled to flag off the train from Amritsar, now it has been decided that the a train, without passengers, would first move to Saharsa and the Minister would flag off the train from his home State.

Railway officials said the project is an extension of the AC-III tier project for the Railways. Just as AC-III tier brought about a wide demand for AC train travel as compared to AC II tier, the Garib Rath model is expected to further bring down the fare by at least 25 per cent against AC-III tier travel. The Railways witnesses 100 per cent occupancy for AC III tier coaches, which is significantly higher than that enjoyed for AC II tier and AC I coaches.

The Garib Rath would have 18 coaches - 12 with sleeping accommodation, four with sitting accommodation, and two with special facilities for passengers on wheelchairs, guards, generators and the railway cabin crew. Sleeper coaches would have 75 berths (against 64 berths in AC III tier coaches), whereas there would be 102 seats in chair car coaches (as against 73 chairs in other chair car coaches).
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Generic drugs to become cheaper
New Delhi: Almost 1,000 brands of 'generic-generic' and 'branded generic' drugs, including Omeprazole and Ciprofloxacin, will fall by upto 92 pc as the pharma industry has agreed to a government proposal on capping trade margins. Industrial bodies have submitted a list of around 1,000 brands of generic-generic and branded generic drugs, whose sale would be subjected to a cap in trade margins.

The companies have agreed that the retail margins for these drugs would be kept at 35 pc while the wholesale margins would be 15 pc.

The committee, however, has not been able to finalise on the mechanism of controlling prices of drugs under the natiolanl list of essential medicines, which was to be put in the draft pharma policy.
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