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India :: Economic Snapshot
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 India's economy in the April-June quarter grew a faster-than-expected
9.3 per cent from a year earlier. The GDP growth was driven by manufacturing, construction
and services sector and even agriculture sector, a key area of concern for the Government,
rose by nearly four per cent.
 Quarterly GDP at factor cost at constant (1999-2000) prices for
Q1 of 2007-08 is estimated at Rs 7,23,132 crore, as against Rs. 6,61,335 crore in
Q1 of 2006-07, showing a growth rate of 9.3 per cent over the corresponding quarter
of previous year.
 The economic activities which registered significant growth
in Q1 of 2007-08 over Q1 of 2006-07 are, ‘manufacturing’ at 11.9 per cent, ‘electricity,
gas & water supply’ at 8.3 per cent, ‘construction’ at 10.7 percent, ‘trade,
hotels, transport and communication’ at 12.0 per cent, ‘financing, insurance, real
estate and business services’ at 11.0 per cent, and ‘community, social and personal
services’ at 7.6 per cent. The growth rates in ‘agriculture, forestry & fishing’
and ‘mining & quarrying’ are estimated at 3.8 per cent, and 3.2 per cent, respectively
during this period.
 According to a report by Goldman Sachs productivity growth
will help India sustain over 8 per cent growth until 2020 and become the second
largest economy in the world, ahead of US, by 2050. The report said that India's
growth acceleration since 2003 represented a structural increase rather than simply
a cyclical upturn.
 The World Bank has ranked India as one of the top reformers worldwide
in its recent report. According to a report " Doing Business in South Asia 2007",
released by the World Bank and its private sector arm, IFC, doing business in India
became easier during 2005-06. The report compares business regulations in South
Asia with175 economies around the world. India, the region's top reformer, implemented
reforms to simplify business registration, cross-border trade, and payment of taxes,
as well as to ease access to credit and strengthen investor protection.
 The per capita income at current prices during 2006-07 is estimated
to attain a level of Rs.29,382 as compared to the Quick Estimates for the year 2005-06
of Rs.25,716, showing a rise of 14.3 per cent.
 According to Dun and Bradstreet (D&B), the outlook for Indian
economy is buoyant. "Though business confidence is difficult to predict over the
long term, we remain confident over the long-term growth prospects of the Indian
economy. During the next quarter, business confidence could be determined by movements
in inflation and the monetary policy stance of the RBI (Reserve Bank of India),"
said Kaushal Sampath, CEO, D&B India Private Limited.
 The upbeat Indian industry has many more domestic firms making
it to Standard & Poors'(S&P) list for this year of corporate challengers
to leading global blue-chip companies. Rating agency S&P has included eight
Indian companies in its annual 'Global Challengers List' of 300 firms. The list
identifies mid-size publicly traded firms that exhibit the strongest growth characteristics.
The 2007 list includes companies from 37 countries. It includes corporates such
as the cement maker ACC, Hotel Leela Venture, Jain Irrigation, Lakshmi Machine Works,
Marico, Siemens India, besides Tata Group's Titan Industries and Indian Hotels.
 A study by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) says that if India's
high economic growth rate holds steady, Indian incomes will almost triple over the
next two decades and India will climb from its position as the 12th-largest consumer
market today to become the world's fifth-largest consumer market by 2025. The report,
titled `The Bird of Gold: The Rise of India's Consumer Market,' by the MGI, McKinsey's
economics research arm, says that more than 291 million people will move from poverty
to a more sustainable life, and India's middle class will swell by over ten times
from ts current size of 50 million to 583 million people by 2025. By this time,
over 23 million Indians, will number among the country's wealthiest citizens, says
the report. MGI forecasts that aggregate consumption in India will grow in real
terms from Rs 17 trillion today to Rs 34 trillion by 2015 and Rs 70 trillion by
2025 - a fourfold increase. This soaring consumption will vault India into the premier
league among the world's consumer markets.
 the FDI equity inflows have been US $ 15.7 billion as compared
to US $ 5.5 billion received during 2005-06. This is a growth of 185% as compared
to the previous year. This is also the first time that FDI equity inflows into India
have crossed the US $ 10 billion mark. If reinvested earnings and other capital
inflows are also included, the total inflows in 2006-07 add up to US$ 19.5 billion
compared to US$ 7.7 billion during the same period last year showing a growth of
153%. During the first quarter of the Financial Year 2007-08, the FDI inflows have
been US$ 4.9 billion as against US$ 1.7 billion received during the corresponding
quarter of 2006-07, registering a growth of more than 185%. The first six months
of the current calendar year (January-June 2007) have witnessed FDI inflows of US$
11.4 billion as against US$ 3.6 billion received during the same period in 2006.This
indicates a growth of 218%.
 Overall industrial growth was 11.7 per cent during April-May,
2006-07 as compared with10.8 per cent in April-May, 2005-06.
 Exports grew by 18.11 per cent in dollar terms during April-June,
2007. Imports
increased by 34.30 per cent in April-June, 2007.
 Forex reserves (excluding Gold and SDRs) stood at $219.75
billion at the end of July,
2007.
 Rupee appreciated against US Dollar, stable against Japanese Yen
and depreciated against Pound Sterling and Euro in July, 2007.
 The annual inflation rate in terms of WPI (Base 1993-94=100) was
4.45 per cent for the week ended July 28, 2007 as compared with 4.72 per cent a
year ago.
 Tax revenue (net to Centre) during April-June, 2006-07 was higher
by 29.3 per cent
compared with corresponding period 2005-06.
 In terms of value, Fiscal deficit during April-June, 2006-07 was
increased by 44.6 per
cent over corresponding period last year.
 In terms of value, Revenue deficit during April-June, 2006-07
was lower by 2.9 per cent
 As per the Quick Estimates of Industrial Production released by the Central Statistical
Organization (CSO), industrial production in India registered a healthy growth of
13.6% in April 2007 as compared to 9.9% in April 2006. Industrial growth during
2006-07 went up by 11.5% as compared to 8.2% registered in the previous year. This
is the highest growth of the industrial sector since 1995-96. The Manufacturing
sector, which has about 80% weightage in the Index of Industrial Production, has
registered a record growth of 15.1% in April 2007 as compared to 11.0% in April
2006. Earlier, a record growth of 12.5% was achieved during 2006-07 in the Manufacturing
Sector, which augurs well for the 11th Plan, wherein a growth of 12% for the Manufacturing
Sector has been envisaged. The Mining and Quarrying sector has shown a growth of
3.4%, whereas the Electricity sector has registered a growth of 8.7% during April
2007. The industries that have performed well in April 2007 include Wood and Wood
Products; Furniture & Fixtures registering growth rates of 92.2%, 'Food Products'
(55.0%), Machinery and Equipment (19.2%) 'Basic Metal and Alloy Industries' (18.0%),
Jute and Other Vegetable Fibre Textiles (17.7%), Leather and Leather & Fur Products
(14.7%) and Rubber, Plastic, Petroleum and Coal Products (14.1%). Among the use-base
economic sub-groups, both Consumer Goods and Capital Goods have posted impressive
rates of 17.7% during April 2007. Basic Goods, Intermediate Goods have recorded
growth of 8.9% and 12.6% during April 2007.
 According to the Union Minister of State for Textiles
E V K S Elangovan, the Indian textile industry, which has accelerated to an annual
growth of 9-10 per cent, is expected to grow at a rate of 16 per cent in value terms
and reach a level of USD 115 billion by 2012. He said that the global trade of textile
and clothing products was set to double from USD 353 billion in 2002 to USD 655
billion by 2010, growing at the rate of eight per cent. The Indian textile exports
have increased from USD 12.45 billion in 2002-03 to USD 17.85 billion in 2005-06
and are estimated at USD 19.24 billion dollars in 2006-07. He further added that
the exports are projected to grow at a rate of 22 per cent between 2007 and 2012
and are targeted to reach USD 55 billion by 2012.Total investment in the textile
industry between 2004-07 was around Rs.64, 478 crore in India, he said adding it
was expected to reach Rs.1, 50,600 crore by 2012.
 Coal production from captive mines allotted to the private
sector is set to increase five-fold over the next five years and will touch the
100-million-tonne mark by 2011-12. This increase will be on the back of increasing
allocation of blocks to private sector companies. According to Mr HC Gupta, Secretary,
Ministry of coal, the government will increase the number of captive blocks allotted
every year for the private sector. As of now, 60 captive blocks, having total reserves
of about 7.7 billion tonnes, have been allocated to the private sector - 11 have
been allotted to power companies, 46 to iron and steel companies and three to cement
companies and others.
 According to Ernst & Young's latest report on the
rise of telecom in Asia, high valuations will not deter investments in the sector.
The country's telecom sector will see investments up to $25 billion over the next
five years, projects Ernst & Young.
 According to Confederation of Indian Industry, the Indian food
sector is estimated to be worth over $200 billion and is expected to grow to $310
billion by 2015.
 Indian cellular operators have lined up investments of about $20
billion over the next two years to bring over 80 per cent of the population under
mobile coverage. The planned investment for the next couple of years is 50 per cent
higher than what has been invested in the last 12 years. According to analysts at
Macquarie Research, Sniffing huge potential in the mobile penetration and coverage
area of networks, service providers are planning capital expenditure to the tune
of $10 billion each in fiscal 2008 and 2009.Given such huge capex plans, the population
coverage of mobile services would exceed 80 per cent in the next two years, while
providing a much-needed thrust to wireless penetration, the analysts wrote in a
research note to its institutional clients. The combined revenue of all operators
from their mobile businesses would more than double to 33.1 billion dollars by 2010,
from about $12.8 billion in 2006. Total revenue of all telecom operators is also
set to nearly double to $43.6 billion in four years, from $22.5 billion last year.
The revenue share of mobile business would rise to 76 per cent in the same period,
from 57 per cent currently.
 Government has set an export target of seven billion dollars for
leather and leather products during the current financial year. According to Mr
Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Commerce, export revenue during the last financial
year was three billion dollars. He further added that leather goods exporters should
shift its focus away from Europe to the US market, as its size was much bigger.
At present, two-thirds of India's leather and leather goods exports were directed
to European markets.
 According to a study by FICCI-PricewaterhouseCoopers, the growth
story of India's entertainment and media (E&M) industry is unfolding spectacularly
as it is set to touch the Rs 1 trillion-mark in just four years time. The study
showed that the industry which is growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR)
of 18 per cent and which currently hovers around Rs 437 billion is expected to outgrow
the country's economy. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers Managing Partner Deepak
Kapoor and Executive Director Timmy S Kandhari, this growth is partly due to the
several positive measures taken by the government. The report further added that
this growth has also been boosted by technological advancements, entry of large
corporate players into all segments of the industry.
 Raymond Ltd, the textile and apparel major owning brands like
Color Plus, Park Avenue, Parx, Manzoni, Be, and Zapp children wear, is aiming to
increase its retail top line to Rs 1100 crore by 2010 from Rs 700 crore at present.
According to Aniruddha Deshmukh, Raymond's president for retail and FMCG, the company's
retail expansion strategy will lead to growth. He further added that the plan is
to increase the number of retail stores to 950 by 2010 from 430 at present across
the globe. Of the 430 retail stores, comprising The Raymond Shop and exclusive brand
outlets, across 170 cities on 10-lakh sqft, 355 are The Raymond Shop, of which 328
are in India and 27 abroad.
 American giant Coca Cola has said that it will invest 250 million
dollars in India in next three years and said its bottling operations would turn
profitable in 2008. According to Irial Finan, Head of Coke's Bottling Operations
world wide, In bottling operations, the business will move into profitability next
year. In one of the months in 2007, the company broke even but on the full year
basis we are expecting to be in profits in 2008.
 U.S. technology giant IBM has said that it will invest $six billion
dollars in India by 2009. Frank Kern, the IBM President of Asia Pacific, told Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh that the company has invested $2 billion (in the last three
years) and will spend $6 billion by 2009.
 Mumbai-based Wockhardt Hospitals plans to set up 30 hospitals
in the country in five years. According to management sources, the hospitals would
cover almost every city of the country. Sources informed that the company is in
the process of preparing the blueprint for the project. It will run into several
hundred crore rupees. The expansion will be a mix of greenfield projects and management
partnerships. Wockhardt is one of the major corporate hospitals groups in the country
with over 1500 beds in 10 hospitals in Mumbai, Bangalore, Calcutta, Gujarat and
Nagpur.
Consumer Market
 Consumer markets are undergoing a metamorphosis at an unprecedented
rate. The change being witnessed can be attributed to several factors including
increasing purchasing power of the masses, shifts in the buying behaviour, demography
dynamics, growing urbanisation, opening up of the retail segment to private and
foreign players and changing trends/lifestyle.
 The production index of consumer durable posted a growth of nine
per cent in 2006-07 as against 15.3 per cent a year ago.
 According to a survey by The Nielson Company, Consumers in India
are the most upbeat in the world.
 According to the projections by Ernst & Young, the country's
telecom sector will see investments up to $25 billion over the next five years.
 The total number of telephone subscribers reached 212.02 million
at the end of April 2007 as compared to 206.83 million in March 2007. The overall
tele-density has increased to 18.74 in April 2007 as compared to 18.31 in March
2007. In the wireless segment, 5.15 million subscribers have been added in April
2007 while 3.53 million subscribers were added in March 2007. The total wireless
subscriber (GSM, CDMA & WLL (F)) base is 171.20 million now.
 India, the world's fastest growing wireless market, is set to
outpace US to emerge as the second-largest hub for global mobile handset leader
Nokia. According to D Shivakumar, Nokia India Managing Director and Vice President,
"India is at present Nokia's third largest market and has the potential to become
the second largest market after China due to the phenomenal growth in the industry
as a whole".
 More and more companies are investing and expanding their operation
in India in the telecom sector owing to the booming consumer base. Spice Communications
Ltd is one such example. The company is looking at expanding its network in Punjab
and Karnataka where it is the second and the fifth largest cellular services provider.
The wholly-owned subsidiary of Telekom Malaysia (TM) is looking to increase its
coverage from 70-80 per cent in Karnataka and to over 90 per cent in Punjab. At
present, the company has a coverage capacity of 23 per cent in Karnataka and 50
per cent in Punjab. Spice Communications is also setting up an unspecified number
of cell sites for this.
 Samsung Electronics Co Ltd plans to expand its mobile phone production
capacity in India, the world's fastest-growing cellular market, by as much as six
times by 2008.
 India's automotive sector is also thriving. The cumulative growth
of the Passenger vehicles segment during April-May 2007 was 11.61 percent. Passenger
cars grew by 10.84 percent, Utility vehicles by 12.20 percent and Multi Purpose
Vehicles by 21.93 percent in April-May 2007 compared to the same period last year.
In April-May 2007, the commercial vehicles segment grew by 3.61 percent over the
same period in 2006. Light commercial vehicles recorded a growth of 18.80 percent;
however, medium & heavy commercial vehicles witnessed a fall by 6.14 percent.
Three wheelers sales fell by 5.32 percent with sales of both goods carriers decreasing
by -8.99 percent and passenger carriers by 2.77 percent during the period. Two wheeler
market also registered a negative growth of 8.02 percent during April-May 2007 over
April-May 2006. Though scooters, mopeds and electric two wheelers grew by 17.78
percent, 25.53 percent and 101.54 percent respectively, motorcycles, which are the
main segment in this category, registered a decline of 13.20 percent.
 As consumer tastes veer towards western-style luxury goods and
retail concepts, three nations - India, China and Russia - have emerged as the most
attractive markets for retail investment. Furthermore, retailers are now marching
into smaller cities after testing the larger ones, as per global consulting firm
AT Kearney's annual Global Retail Development Index (GRDI), a study of retail investment
attractiveness among 30 emerging markets.
Agriculture
 Wheat procurement as on April 30, 2007 in the current marketing
year (i.e. 2006-07) declined by 10.6 per cent at 7.86 million tonnes as compared
with 8.79 million tonnes in the corresponding period of 2005-06. Procurement of
rice during the marketing year 2006-07 (as on April 30, 2007) at 21.34 million tonnes
was declined by 7.9 per cent than the level of 23.03 million tonnes during the corresponding
period of 2005-06.
 Stocks of food-grains as on April 1, 2007 was 17.73 million tonnes,
which was higher by 13.1 per cent than the level of 17.68 million tonnes as on April
1, 2006.
 The government is planning to build up foodgrain stocks abroad
to bolster food security. The idea is to use the country's bulging foreign exchange
reserves to add to the buffer stock of grain currently held within the country.
The Union cabinet secretary has directed the department of food & public distribution
"to work out a mechanism for developing food-grains reserve of 2-3 million tonnes
abroad by leveraging our foreign reserves".
 India will be the world's largest spices processing hub by 2017,
according to V J Kurien, chairman, Spices Board. According to him, the board has
been making all efforts to achieve the goal within 10 years. A vision document for
the purpose is being prepared by a team of experts in the Spices Board and will
be finalised in 3-4 months. Currently, the country is handling 44 per cent of world's
total spices business quantity wise, and 35 per cent in value terms. More than 70
per cent of the world's business in value-added spices products is also handled
by India. Kurien said the emergence of Vietnam as a processing centre would not
be a serious threat to India as the country's major firms were more quality conscious.
According to the estimates of the board, India had exported value-added spices-based
products worth Rs 2,100 crore in 2006-07.
 Exports of coir products touched an all-time high of 165,097 tonnes
valued at Rs 595.22 crore for 2006-07, according to the provisional estimates of
the Coir Board. The exports rose 21.37 per cent in quantity over 136,027 tonnes
exported in 2005-06 and increased by 17.07 per cent in value terms compared with
Rs 508.45 crore clocked in 2005-06. The Coir Board had projected an export target
of Rs 572 crore for FY07. Of the 11 products, coir mats registered the highest exports
of 72,147 tonnes worth Rs 454.65 crore. The coir mats exports in FY07 showed an
overall growth of 13 per cent in quantity terms and 16 per cent in value terms over
the numbers in FY06. In March 2007 alone, the country exported 7,253 tonnes of coir
mats worth Rs 43.52 crore. Coir piths exports of 65,006 tonnes valued at Rs 51.85
crore recorded a 22 per cent growth in quantity and 34 per cent rise in value compared
with the exports in FY06.
Capital Market
 In May 2007, Indian companies raised Rs.
6,988 crore from the primary capital market. Of this amount, contribution of equity
shares was Rs. 2,699 crore, debt amounted for Rs.3,093 crore and Rs. 1226 crore
was through GDR.
 In the first two months of 2007-08, resources raised by Indian
corporate amounted to Rs. 10,406 crore, which is less than half of Rs. 26,192 crore
mobilized in the same period of 2006.
 In the current year, Indian companies were more active in the
domestic market than in the overseas market. Of the total resources raised April-
May 2007, Rs. 9,007 crore (87 per cent) was from the domestic market as against
70 per cent in the same months of 2006. Overseas contribution was 13 per cent, significantly
lower than the 30 per cent a year ago.
 Upward movement in the stock market continued in May 2007, which
had begun in March 2007. During the month, BSE Sensex and Nifty was up by 4.8 per
cent and 5.1 per cent respectively. Performance based on broader index, COSPI, was
up by six per cent, on top of 7.6 per cent rise recorded in the preceding month.
This suggests that performance of lower market cap companies was better than large
market cap companies.
 During April and May 2007, FIIs and mutual funds purchased equities
aggressively from the secondary market. In April 2007, net equity purchases by FIIs
amounted to Rs. 5,534 crore while mutual funds net purchases stood at Rs. 4,475
crore and Rs. 1889 crore respectively.
Banking
 Money supply continues to grow at a robust pace of over 20 per
cent. Broad money supply as measured by M3 stood at Rs. 33.3 lakh crore as on 11th
May 2007. Amongst the components of Money supply, time deposits with banks are growing
at an accelerated pace since October 2006. On 11 May 2007, time deposits stood at
Rs. 24 lakh crore. One of the main reasons for the fast growth in time deposits
is the high rate of interest of 9-9.5 per cent offered on them, particularly for
the fixed deposits for the periods of around two years.
 There has been a constant deceleration in the growth rate of net
non-monetary liabilities of the reserve Bank of India during the past 11 months.
From a high of 91.5 per cent at end-July 2006, it came down to over 40 per cent
in the new calendar year and further down to 21 per cent in the first half of May
2007.
 Commercial banks' credit to the commercial sector also witnessed
a continuous deceleration. From a peak of 28.4 per cent at end July 2006,its growth
rate gradually and persistently dropped to 25 per cent till mid-May. The hardening
of the lending rates particularly since the beginning of the new calendar year is
resulting in this slowdown in credit growth.
 Net bank credit to government picked up in the current financial
year. After growing at 3-5 per cent till end-March 2007, it rose to around eight
per cent.
 Yes Bank has launched a $100 million food and agribusiness India
fund. The private equity fund plans to invest the entire amount in the next 1-2
years, with an investment between $5 million and $7.5 million per company. It is
targeting average annualized returns between 20 per cent and 25 per cent. The bank
is in talks with 10 investors, including insurance companies, bilateral institutions
and commercial banks who have expressed an interest in contributing to the corpus.
The fund will invest in companies operating in fruits and vegetables such as grain-based
products, milk and milk-based products, poultry, spirits and beer, tea and coffee,
confectionery, farm seeds, food services, food retail, food logistics and agri-infrastructure,
including agri-market and cold storages sectors.
 The booming consumer finance space and the growing opportunities
in corporate finance is forcing foreign banks to set shop in India. The Australian
banks have a particular interest in India on the back of the growing trade relations
between the two countries and corporate flows. After Macquire, the newest entrant
is the Australian-based Westpac Institutional Bank. Westpac has opened a representative
office in Mumbai after getting a license within three months. The bank has an alliance
with Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), India. The SCB-Westpac alliance had helped the
Tatas and Wipro to set up offices in Australia, providing them account management
and cash management services. SCB had enabled Rio Tinto, the largest precious metals
miners in the world to set shop in India.
 The UK-based bank, Barclays PLC, launched its Indian retail operations
in May 2007. The various products the bank will offer in the initial period include
card services, personal loans, business loans and premier investment services. The
personal loans offered by the bank would be offered for a maximum tenure of seven
years as against the market average of five years.
 Tighter liquidity conditions are forcing banks to shift the focus
from secured home loans to unsecured loans such as credit cards and other personal
loans, which generate far higher returns than mortgages. Industry estimates show
that acquisition of new customers for home loans has fallen by almost 25-30% since
January. But bankers expect unsecured personal loans to continue to show strong
growth this year. The slowdown in home loan customer acquisition is attributed to
banks no longer pushing home loans aggressively. This comes on the back of a sharp
rise in interest rates as well as property prices, which are discouraging individuals
from investing in real estate. "There are two reasons. First, there should be enough
liquidity available to banks at an affordable price. Currently, there is a strain
on liquidity in the banking system. So banks prefer to park funds on unsecured loan
portfolios such as personal loans, earning higher margins," says Murali Natrajan,
Standard Chartered Bank's head, consumer banking, India and Nepal.
 Canara Bank has launched a new retail loan scheme called "Canara
Guide" to finance Tax Return Preparers (TRPs) selected by the Union Finance Ministry.
It is a novel scheme introduced to provide self-employment opportunities to unemployed
or partially employed graduates all over the country.
Infrastructure
 The Index of Six core-infrastructure industries having a combined
weight of 26.7 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) with base 1993-94
stood at 234.1 (provisional) in May 2007 and registered a growth of 8.7% (provisional)
compared to a growth of 7.2 % in May 2006. During April-May 2007-08, six core-infrastructure
industries registered a growth of 8.1%(provisional) as against 7.2% during the corresponding
period of the previous year.
 Crude petroleum production (weight of 4.17% in the IIP) registered
a negative growth of 1.6% (provisional) in May 2007 compared to a growth rate of
1.2% in May 2006. The Crude petroleum production registered a growth of (-)0.1%
(provisional) during April-May 2007-08 compared to (-) 0.3% during the same period
of 2006-07.
 Petroleum refinery production (weight of 2.00% in the IIP) registered
a growth of 14.9% (provisional) in May 2007 compared t growth of 12.1% in May 2006.
The Petroleum refinery production registered a growth of 15.0% (provisional) during
April-May 2007-08 compared to 12.6% during the same period of 2006-07.
 Coal production (weight of 3.22% in the IIP) registered a growth
of 0.9% (provisional) in May 2007 compared to a growth rate 8.3% in May 2006. Coal
production grew by 0.7% (provisional) during April-May 2007-08 compared to an increase
of 5.9% during the same period of 2006-07.
 Electricity generation (weight of 10.17% in the IIP) registered
a growth of 9.3% (provisional) in May 2007 compared to a growth rate 5.1% in May
2006. Electricity generation grew by 9.0% (provisional) during April-May 2007-08
compared to 5.5% during the same period of 2006-07.
 Cement production (weight of 1.99% in the IIP) registered a growth
of 9.4% (provisional) in May 2007 compared to 6.8% in May 2006. Cement Production
grew by 7.4% (provisional) during April-May 2007-08 compared to an increase of 9.4%
during the same period of 2006-07.
 Finished (carbon) Steel production (weight of 5.13% in the
IIP) registered a growth of 11.8% (provisional) in May 2007 compared to 10.7% (estimated)
in May 2006. Finished (carbon) Steel production grew by 10.1 (provisional) during
April-May 2007-08 compared to an increase of 10.4% during the same period of 2006-07.
Special Economic Zones
 The inter-ministerial Board
of Approval for Special Economic Zones (SEZs)
has formally cleared 26 proposals and gave
in-principle clearance to another six. Among the
major zones to receive formal approval, which is
the last stage before an SEZ is notified, is
Reliance Industries's 440-hectare multi-service
zone at Gurgaon, Haryana. With this, RIL has
received formal clearance for two of the five
SEZs it proposes to set up. The 2,850-hectare
Rewas Ports Ltd zone, in which companies owned
by RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani and close
associate Anil Jain have a 51 per cent stake,
was given in-principle approval, the second-last
stage in the approval process.
 Government has approved
setting up of five sector specific special
economic zones (SEZ) for automobiles and
automobile component manufacturing, envisaging
an investment of Rs 3,593.95 crore. Minister of
State for Commerce and Industry Jairam Ramesh
has said that the government has given formal
approvals for two auto SEZs, one each in
Jharkhand and Maharashtra, while it has granted
in principle approvals for setting up another
three SEZs in Haryana, Maharashtra and West
Bengal. He further added that the formally
approved SEZ projects include one by two-wheeler
major Bajaj Auto Ltd in Aurangabad, Maharashtra,
entailing an investment of Rs 200 crore while
the other approved auto SEZ would be set up
Adityapur Industrial Area Development Authority
in Adityapur, Jharkhand, at an investment of Rs
30.58 crore.
 Exports from Special
Economic Zones (SEZs) grew 52.31 per cent in
2006-07 to Rs 34,787 crore from Rs 22,840 crore
in the previous year. The growth rate was more
than double the 24.71 per cent increase recorded
in the previous year. According to Mr L.B.
Singhal, Director-General of the Export
Promotion Council for EoUs and SEZ units,
incremental exports from existing SEZs and
contribution from new SEZs accounted for this
increase. He added that exports from SEZs are
likely to touch Rs 67,300 crore in 2007-08. He
further added that they expect almost 100 per
cent increase in exports for the current year.
Meanwhile, the total investments that would be
made in the 234 SEZs for which formal approval
has already been given has been estimated at Rs
3,00,000 crore.
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