Federation of Indian Coir Exporters' Associations

 

Fiscal Deficit:  tough to meet target

Though the Finance Ministry revised the fiscal deficit target to 5.3% of the GDP for the current financial year from 5.1% of the GDP estimated in the Budget, it will not get much leeway in the remaining seven months to meet even the new target. There is no surprise, that some economists pegged fiscal deficit at 5.8 per cent of GDP for 2012-13, roughly same as the last year. This is so because the actual fiscal deficit till August constituted about 62.68% of even the revised projections for the entire 2012-13. Fiscal deficit in the first five months of the year accounted for 65.7% of the budget estimate.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/not-much-room-for-govt-to-meet-revised-fiscal-deficit-target/193639/on

 

World taking cue from our systems:  Sebi

Promising hawk-eye vigil on those trying to make unlawful gains through manipulations, market watchdog Sebi has said it has developed a surveillance system that even foreign regulators are looking to emulate. “From the system that was there earlier and the system and processes we have got right now, there is a world of a difference... In fact, my impression is that many of the countries do not have such kind of systems in place," Sebi chairman U K Sinha said.

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/world-taking-cue-from-our-systems-sebi/1026874/

 

International

 

Emerging countries look to each other to enhance trade

With most of the developed world facing a deep financial crisis, a new economic paradigm has emerged for the developing countries to survive in the burgeoning international trade. Countries like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Bangladesh and Maldives have considerably increased dependence on other emerging economies in Asia, West Asia and Africa in the last 10 years from 2001-11 vis-à-vis 1991-2000.India, for instance, has brought down its dependence on advanced economies from 67.3% on average for exports and 57% for imports during 1991-2000 to just under half for exports and 41.3% for imports on average during 2001-11. The shift implied that the share of emerging and developing countries in India’s exports grew from 30.7% to 47.9% while that of imports rose from 38.4% to 52.2% over the same period. Traditionally, South and South West Asian countries have been highly dependent on the advanced economies of Europe and North America for their trade. http://www.financialexpress.com/news/emerging-countries-look-to-each-other-to-enhance-trade/1026807/0

 

G-20 Flags United States fiscal cliff, Europe’s debt woes

Finance chiefs of the world's 20 leading economies are ringing alarm bells over the US fiscal cliff and Europe's debt woes at a meeting in Mexico this weekend as they look to push back deficit reduction targets to help boost growth. Unless a fractious US Congress can reach a deal, about $600 billion in government spending cuts and higher taxes are set to kick in on January 1, threatening to push the American economy back into recession and hit world growth.

http://business-standard.com/india/news/g20-flags-us-fiscal-cliff-eu-debt-woes/491704/

 

Miscellaneous

 

Loan growth stonewalled by surge in House Prices

Growth in home loans has slumped to a five-month low despite banks showering potential buyers with attractive schemes and lower rates due to soaring real estate prices. Buyers are holding back since an over-24% increase in prices in the past one year is putting homes beyond their reach despite banks lowering interest rates by 100-150 basis points in the past four months. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/personal-finance/loan-centre/home-loans/home-loans-news/loan-growth-stonewalled-by-surge-in-house-prices-crashes-to-5-month-low-as-buyers-fail-to-turn-up-as-unit-rates-rise-24/articleshow/17092588.cms

 

India lags in higher education enrolment:  Report

Even an 11 per cent increase in student enrolment in higher education courses and a nine per cent growth in the number of institutions in the past decade have not helped improve India’s higher education scenario, says a report prepared by the Planning Commission, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and professional services firm Ernst & Young. The higher education sector is still plagued by various problems such as a low gross enrolment ratio (GER), inequitable access to higher education and the lack of quality research, notes the report titled ‘Indian Higher Education: The Twelfth Plan and Beyond’. To address these challenges, the government has proposed several initiatives in the 12th Plan in the areas of expansion, equity, excellence, governance, funding and implementation, and monitoring.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/india-lags-in-higher-education-enrolment-says-report/491717/