Back with a bang !

The Indian economy is growing much faster than even the most optimistic had dared hope with official data released on Monday pegging growth in the second quarter (July-September) at 7.9% year-on-year. Not only is this much higher than the 6.5% estimated officially earlier, it bodes well for the future since it comes over the strong showing in the quarter last year that immediately preceded the slowdown. Understandably cheered up by the highest quarterly growth registered in the last 18 months, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said it was a result of the Centre’s stimulus packages and hoped that this would provide the ground to post at least 7% growth for the full year 2009-10. “Taken together, the two quarters, I do hope it will be possible for us to achieve 7% plus, but still it is too early to predict. I will wait for the third quarter figures,’’ Mukherjee said. The bad news may be that the better-than-expected growth figures will mount pressure on the RBI to tighten its purse-strings and the government to roll back some of the sops such as duty concessions. For consumers, that could mean higher interest rates and more expensive housing, cars, consumer durables and, probably, even fuel. The remarkable September growth has been made possible because the farming sector beat monsoon worries. Figures for agricultural output showed an increase of 0.9% against expectations of a decline due to a poor monsoon.

Somewhere in Mumbai....

The Navy flexes its muscles rehearsing for Navy Day at the Gateway of India.

Somewhere in Lucknow....

Why does a signboard merely informing commuters about a closed road has to bear the photograph of chief minister Mayawati?

Handsets without unique IDs go dead

After the government banned the use of handsets without unique identity numbers for security reasons, around 17 to 25 million mobile subscribers owning such phones had services discontinued by operators . The International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number is a 15-digit code that appears on the operators’ network whenever a call is made and enables security agencies to trace calls made from or received on such handsets. According to sources, the industry has been lobbying hard for the extension of this ban, which was first announced on 23 November last year. India has the fastest growing mobile market with close to 500 million mobile subscribers. Leading operators Airtel, Vodafone and others confirmed that they have started disconnecting services to phones without unique identity numbers. “We are not disconnecting the SIM cards but disconnecting the phones which are operating without the IMEI number. This means the subscriber can use the same SIM in a legitimate phone”, an Airtel spokesperson said.

Car sales zoom in November

Car sales are on fire. Riding on a low base and softer interest rate regime, companies reported a double-digit jump in volumes in November. Maruti Suzuki said its November sales grew 60% at 76,359 units against 47,704 units in the same month last year. The company’s portfolio of small cars— Alto, Wagon-R, Estilo, Ritz, Swift and A-Star—saw sales going up 60% to 56,005 units (34,976).The global economic recession had hit Indian auto industry around this time last year. While car sales had crashed by 19% in November 2008, sales of motorcycles fell around 20%.Hyundai also had a good growth as its domestic sales shot up by 93% at 28,162 units against 14,605 units in November last year. Exports fell around 5% at 27,103 units as compared to 28,414 units last November. Tata/Fiat joint venture witnessed 55% rise in sales at 22,671 units against 14,612 units in the same month last year. Tata’s sales in the month stood at 20,706 units (14,327) while Fiat’s numbers were 1,965 units (285). General Motors said November sales were up 65% at 7,118 units against 4,307 units in November last year. The company said its new sedan Cruze sold 518 units, while the entry-level Spark provided the bulk at 4,202 units. For luxury carmaker Honda, the numbers were near flat as sales grew 2% at 5,125 units against 5,025 units in the same month last year. Utility vehicle maker Mahindra’s sales were up 102% at 15,193 units against 7,523 units. The company got higher numbers from the addition of Xylo to its portfolio. On the two-wheeler side, Hero Honda’s sales rose 32% to 3.81 lakh units against 2.89 lakh units in the same month last year.

Cell numbers may get 11th digit soon

DoT intends to implement the migration of the existing 10-digit numbering plan to an 11-digit plan, effective January 1, 2010. DoT essentially wants service providers to prefix the digit 9 to the existing numbers. When contacted, mobile operators denied having received any such directive. However, it is learnt that the direction is to be sent out to all operators, industry associations COAI and AUSPI and TRAI. The move will substantially enhance the numbering capacity, which is important considering that India is the fastest growing mobile market with close to 500 million subscribers, set to touch the 1 billion mark by 2014.

A’bad BRTS gets best MRT award

Ahmedabad’s Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) is the best ‘Mass Rapid Transit’ (MRT) project in the country. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will give an award at Vigyan Bhavan to Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited (AJL) for running the best MRT. On November 24, former secretary of the Union urban transport department Anil Baijlal, who is the chairman of the award committee, was in the city inspecting the 12.5-km inaugural BRTS stretch. Baijlal was the one who sanctioned Ahmedabad and Pune BRTS projects during his tenure in 2005. “It’s a proud moment for Amdavadis. The credit goes to the commuters and the AJL team who made this project successful. We wanted that Ahmedabad BRTS becomes a model for the country and it has come true,” says municipal commissioner IP Gautam. Chief planner of BRTS Sivanand Swamy says, “There are 25 buses on the BRTS stretch right now. The concept of Ahmedabad BRTS is influenced by the successful Transmilenio system built in Bogota and Curitiba cities. However, our BRTS is designed to suit Ahmedabad’s specific conditions. The system gives top priority to buses, pedestrians and non-motorised transport.”
Surat city will receive an award for the ‘best performing city’ in the country under the JNNURM. Surat bagged three awards which also included ‘best improvement in financial management’ and ‘pro-poor reforms’.