Another dolphin washes ashore

The oil-covered body of a 7-ft dolphin is washed up at Walkeshwar on Thursday afternoon. This is the third such incident in the past 15-20 days in and around Mumbai. Besides, three dead whales and around 40 turtles were found off the coast in Raigad area.

Bangaru Bombs Bofors

The BJP’s anti-corruption campaign against the Congress-led UPA government received a blow when Bangaru Laxman was convicted by a local court for accepting Rs. 1 lakh as bribe when he was BJP president. Two journalists of a web portal had posed as arms dealers, 11 years ago, in a sting operation that trapped Laxman and rocked the Vajpayee-led NDA government. The development came just a day after BJP and its alliance partners stalled proceedings in the two Houses of Parliament demanding a judicial probe into the Bofors gun scandal cover-up. The former BJP president’s conviction knocks the bottom off the party’s anti-corruption plank. 
Immediately after the court of special CBI judge Kanwaljeet Arora pronounced its verdict, the 72-year-old BJP leader was sent to Tihar jail. Laxman, who was caught on camera accepting money in his chamber in the party headquarters in early 2001, had to step down as BJP president soon after the portal put out the sting at a news conference. Congress, which has been at the receiving end of BJP’s corruption charges, was quick to pounce on the court verdict to pillory its principal political adversary.
A red-faced BJP sought to distance itself from its former president's conviction, describing it as an issue involving his personal conduct, although Laxman is a member of the party's national executive. The court, while rejecting Laxman’s plea for bail, said it would look into the aspect only after the sentence was announced. The former BJP president appeared stunned in the witness box as the judge pronounced his verdict. He did not to talk to any one and sat in the witness box for a long time. His daughter was also present in the court. 

March Core growth slips

India’s key infrastructure industries grew at a sluggish pace in March, weighed down by a contraction in output of natural gas and crude oil, suggesting that broader industrial growth may remain muted. Output at eight core industries-—coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizer, steel, cement and electricity—grew at an annual rate of 2% in March against a 6.9% rise in the previous month. These industries have a 38% weight in the index of industrial production or IIP. IIP had risen 4.1% in February. The reading for March will be released on May 11. 
The core sector registered a cumulative growth of 4.3% in 2011-12, compared with 6.6% in the previous fiscal. Growth in all the eight industries decelerated from the previous month with natural gas and crude oil recording contraction. Crude oil production slipped into the negative zone at -2.9% from 0.3% in February. It had grown at an impressive 12.1% in March 2011. 
Output of natural gas saw the sharpest decline at -10.1% during the month. The sector has been in contraction for over a year because of stagnation in production at the KG-D6 basin. The only bright spot in the numbers was the relatively robust performance of coal. The sector grew 6.8% in March, compared to a contraction of 1.1% in the same month last year. 
This is being seen as a big positive as about 55% of India’s power generation capacity is based on thermal coal. 

Rupee at a 4-month low

The rupee recovered from a fourmonth low on speculation the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sold US dollars as importers rushed to buy the greenback amid record trade deficit. But the central bank’s ability to defend the rupee’s value in coming months is being questioned due to receding portfolio flows and upcoming corporate loan repayments. Traders and analysts see the rupee touching a record low this year as India remains the only country among the so-called BRIC club with a current account deficit and dependent on portfolio flows to feed its demand. The currency ended at 52.96 to the US dollar after touching a four-month low of 53.02. State-owned refiners rushed to buy dollars for crude import, fearing that the currency could slide further amid exports turning negative for the first time since the credit crisis. India’s vulnerability is exposed as it remains probably the lone country in the region where the currency is depreciating while others attract inflows due to cheap liquidity sloshing around the global financial system as the US Fed and European Central Bank keep interest rates at record low. The Indian currency was the best performer in Asia this calendar due to trading curbs by the central bank and a record foreign inflows in the January-March quarter. But investor excitement is waning amid new retroactive tax proposals and inaction on the economic policy front. In the month of April alone, foreign institutional investors sold net assets worth Rs. 1,657 crore, after they invested Rs. 39,375 crore since January. The currency touched a life’s low of 54.30 per dollar on December 15. 
India’s trade deficit touched an all-time high of $185 billion as export growth remained muted while imports soared 32% to $489 billion. India’s trade deficit has been hit by the economic slowdown in the Asian economies, as India’s has become increasingly dependent on them for its exports. Almost 53% of export demand for Indian merchandise comes from Asia, 20% of which is from the Middle East and only 20% from Europe. 

New airport @ Sriperumbudur

The TN government included the Sriperumbudur airport in its Vision 2020 document and set aside Rs 25,000 crore for developing airports in the state. A large share of the money will be for land acquisition. Agrawal said the second airport in Chennai would be a necessity. “We understand that the government is keen on the project and will find all possible solutions to clear the hurdles that once delayed the project,” he said. The AAI has started planning the pattern in which traffic should be shared between the two airports. 
 Sources, however, said it was too early to decide whether the new airport would be used exclusively for international flights or domestic flights. The entire land needed has been marked for acquisition but the airport “will evolve depending on the demand for capacity addition. We plan to build a runway and a terminal building and add more runways and buildings based on the traffic. At the end of the final phase, it will have four runways,” said an official.  The new airport, as per current plans, is likely to be used to handle cargo flights and spillover traffic from the international airport. At Chennai airport, export cargo is growing at more than 25% per year and import cargo by 7-8% a year — faster than at airports in other metros. 
 “After the new terminal opens, Chennai airport will be able to handle four million passengers a year and will handle eight million passengers a year after the existing one is renovated and merged with the new one. But there will be a capacity crunch if renovation is delayed. The new terminal was delayed by nearly a year,” said a foreign airline official. 
    

HSBC PMI April

The manufacturing sector gathered some strength in April on the back of an increase in new business and export orders, but price pressures and power shortage continued to hurt. The HSBC Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) — an index designed to measure the health of the manufacturing sector — posted 54.9 in April, littlechanged from 54.7 in March and signalling a solid improvement in operating conditions. The 50-point mark separates expansion from contraction. The data is based on replies from purchasing executives in over 500 manufacturing companies. “Activity in the manufacturing sector expanded at a slightly faster pace in April. While output growth moderated, partly on the back of power outages, new orders continued to pour in, including for exports,” said Leif Eskesen, chief economist for India and Asean at HSBC.

Exports dip

Exports contracted for the first time since 2009 due to poor demand from Europe and raised concerns of an industrial slowdown on the back of an only 2% rise in output in the eight core sectors. Latest data released by the commerce department estimated that exports fell 5.8% to $28.7 billion, although the annual target of $300 billion was exceeded. With oil prices pushing up the import bill by 32% to $488.6 billion in 2011-12, the trade deficit widened to nearly $185 billion from $118.6 billion in the previous year. While policymakers and economists have been worrying about the implications on current account deficit, the industry is more worried about dealing with a prolonged period of industrial slowdown. 
All core sectors, barring coal, showed little or no growth. Given that the eight industry segments — cement, coal, steel, electricity, fertilizer, oil, gas and refined petroleum products — have a near 40% weight, economists are predicting that industrial production will grow around 2% in March, although it has a tendency to surprise given the data volatility. The commerce ministry is predicting a tough year ahead for exports, especially with the US economy slowing down. Further, the poor increments are expected to affect consumer sentiment and may impact domestic demand. “