Montek, Rangarajan say economy overheating
New Delhi: C Rangarajan, chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia say they see signs of the economy overheating.

Ahluwalia said, "There are signs of overheating in the economy and the 9 per cent economic growth is putting pressure on inflation." He also said that the upswing in the economy was unlikely to continue in the long run.

Rangarajan, the former governor of the Reserve Bank, said at a book release function here that overheating was cyclical in nature, but it must be ensured that overheating must not become structural. He said overheating would become structured if certain sectors of economy like infrastructure do not develop as fast as the economy.

Rangarajan further said that the current price rise was unacceptable and the monetary demand side and supply side problems must be addressed.

Ahluwalia said inflation had been brought under control as the government has taken several fiscal and monetary measures.
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Iran pipeline not to affect Indo-US ties: US
New Delhi: The proposed pipeline deal between Iran Pakistan and India pipeline that will bring natural gas from Iran to India will not affect ties between New Delhi and Washington, said US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman at a FICCI meeting.

Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, said the US official did not raise any objections to the seven billion dollar pipeline or the LNG deal that New Delhi is negotiating with Tehran. He said US has also not objected to India's LNG deal with Iran. He added that the US has offered to help India in building a strategic oil reserve.

Earlier, Bodman told reporters that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons and the US strongly opposed this.
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China threatens to boycott Indian iron ore
Beijing: China has threatened to boycott Indian iron ore as a protest against the recent decision of FM P Chidambaram to raise the duty on iron ore exports.

The Chinese steel industry said it would obtain iron ore from other sources like Australia and Brazil to meet the shortfall that would be caused by the boycott move.

The trade on this commodity has already come to a halt with local buyers asking several China-bound ships to return to India. The duty hike of made Indian iron ore more expensive as compared to the commodity shipped from Australia and Brazil, the industry said.

The Chinese threat, if it is comes through, would mean a crash in total Indian iron ore exports to China. China is the biggest destination for Indian iron ore, while India is the third largest supplier for the Chinese steel industry.

Sources said finance minister Chidambaram's move was aimed to meet the rising demand for iron ore within the country as well as discourage the use of Indian iron ore to feed the runaway growth being seen in the Chinese steel industry, which directly competes with Indian steel.

Sources in the Indian industry said the threat was exaggerated as iron ore is in short supply worldover and it is impossible to replace Indian exports in a short period.
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Domestic PC market to grow at double the global rate: Gartner
New Delhi: The Indian PC market is expected to grow at double the rate of the world PC market, this year, according to research firm Gartner. The firm said worldwide PC shipments are forecast to grow to 255.7 million units in 2007, a 10.5 pc increase from 2006. On the other hand, Indian PC shipments are set to grow by 20 pc this year.

Microsoft's Vista will, however, have little impact on PC Shipments, said Gartner.

Worldwide PC revenue is projected to reach $213.7 billion, a 4.6 pc increase, according to the latest forecast by Gartner.

However, the Indian PC market is still small at just five million PC sales last year.
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