Experts say growth story may lose shine
New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India's decision to raise the cash-reserve ratio by 50 basis points and repo rate by 25 basis points late last week would control inflation in the days to come but will affect economic growth according to leading economists.

It is worth noting that a day after the rate hike by the RBI, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had told Indian Institute of Management graduates that the country's economy was growing at a rate below its potential.

Led by an unprecedented boom in domestic consumption, the country achieved an average GDP growth of 8.6 per cent over the past three years. For 2006-07, growth is forecast at 9.2 per cent, the fastest in 18 years.

With the growth the wholesale price index has also been rising sharply and inflation which was averaging 5.4 per cent in 2006-0 has been hovering at the 6.5 per cent level since January this year.

The government as well as the RBI has taken a series of steps in the last few months to contain inflation which is seen worldwide as a tax on the poor.

Crisil Prinicipal Economist DK Joshi said if the latest steps taken by the RBI to suck out some liquidity from the market failed to bring inflation below 6 per cent, the central bank could hike interest rates further.
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New Delhi comes out tops in quality of life
New Delhi: New Delhi has come out on top in offering the highest standard of living in the country according to the Worldwide Quality of Living Survey. Out of 215 cities surveyed by Mercer Human Resource Consulting around the world, the Indian capital bettered its ranking and is ranked at number 148 up by two places last year.

Other cities featured in the survey are Chennai (177) and Mumbai (209).

Analysis of the cities was based on an evaluation of 39 criteria including political, social, economic and environmental factors. Other factors taken into consideration include personal safety and health, education, transport and other public services.

Slagin Parakatil, senior researcher, Mercer said in a press release issued through Asianet that Indian cities scored relatively poorly for health and sanitation. Most Indian cities are densely populated with poor waste removal and sewage systems. These issues, combined with increasing air pollution, contribute to their relatively low ratings.

However, he added that overall Indian cities improved their quality of living. Yet, India still requires major investments in the areas of health, sanitation including waste removal, sewage, water potability among others.

Zurich (108.1 rating) ranks first closely followed by Geneva (108 rating). Cities in Europe, Australia and New Zealand continue to dominate the top end of the rankings in the overall quality of living while Iraqi capital of Baghdad scored the lowest (14.5) with Congo (29.5) figuring penultimate on the list.

In the Asia Pacific region, Auckland and Wellington in New Zealand rank in joint 18th place. Singapore stood at 50th place while Hong Kong was at 117.
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