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RBI hikes rate to tame inflation; loans to get costlier

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently hiked a key policy interest rate by 0.25 percent in less than two months to contain inflation, but eased some rupee support measures. The move would make home, auto and other loans costlier.

In its second quarter review of the monetary policy for 2013-14, the RBI hiked repo rate by 25 basis points or 0.25 percent to 7.75 percent. Repurchase or repo rate is the rate of interest that banks pay when they borrow money from the central bank to meet their short-term funds requirement.

This is the second increase in the policy rate in less than two months. The central bank hiked the repo rate by 0.25 percent in its previous review announced Sep 20.

Rate sensitive stocks rallied following the RBI’s rate decision, leading to 359 points jump in the benchmark Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange. Snapping five sessions of losses, Sensex ended the day on Oct 29 at 20,929.01 points, just 75 points away from its record closing high of 21,004 points hit in 2008.

Taking a cue from the stability in the currency markets, the RBI rolled back some of the measures put in place to support the rupee. The Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate is reduced by 0.25 percent to 8.75 percent. The move will ease liquidity in the banking system. MSF is a window for banks to borrow from the RBI.

“With the reduction of the MSF rate and the increase in the repo rate in this review, the process of re-aligning the interest rate corridor to normal monetary policy operations is now complete,” RBI Governor Raghuram G. Rajan said in the policy statement.

The RBI generally maintained a 100 basis points gap between repo and MSF rate. But this gap was altered recently to support the battered rupee. With the changes now the gap is back to the usual 100 basis points.

Rajan said the policy stance and measures in the review were intended to curb mounting inflationary pressures and manage inflation expectations in a situation of weak growth.

Annual wholesale price index-based inflation jumped to a seven-month-high of 6.46 percent in September, while consumer price index-based inflation was recorded at 9.84 percent, largely due to higher food and fuel prices.

Rajan, who took charge as the RBI governor Sep 4, said both wholesale and consumer price inflation are likely to remain elevated in the months ahead, warranting an appropriate policy response.

“The Reserve Bank will closely monitor inflation risk while being mindful of the evolving growth dynamics,” he said.

Rajan’s statement gives indication that the RBI would hike rates again if inflation remained high.

“The message from RBI is clear, as long as inflation is around, asking for a rate cut would remain a wish list,” said Rana Kapoor, president of industry body Assocham.

Kapoor, who is also managing director of Yes Bank, said: “All efforts must be made through coordinated efforts by the centre, states and the RBI to fight price rise so that the economy can be brought back to the growth trajectory”.

The RBI has cut economic growth forecast for the current financial year to 5 percent from its earlier projection of 5.5 percent.

“While industrial activity has weakened, strengthening export growth, signs of revival in some services along with the expected pick-up in agriculture could increase the real GDP growth from 4.4 percent in the first quarter to a central estimate of 5 percent for the year as a whole,” Rajan said.

Reacting to the RBI move, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said the hike in repo rate has come as a disappointment to industry especially as the investment climate continues to be weak and growth outlook remains muted.

“The RBI could have refrained from effecting a hike in repo rate as industry is already reeling under pressures of high cost of capital and low availability in a tight liquidity situation,” CII said.

When a braveheart pounced on a Patna terror suspect

A security official caught hold of a man scurrying away from a Patna railway station toilet where a blast took place on October 27. And the terror suspect who tried to bluff his way out has turned out to be a big catch.

Mohammad Imtiaz Ansari, the main accused in the serial blasts in Patna, was caught by a Government Railway Police (GRP) official when he suspected something was amiss with the youth trying to flee after coming out of toilet following a bomb explosion.

Senior officials have declined to name the brave GRP official for security reasons as also because it would endanger him.

“Imtiaz was forced to flee after a bomb exploded when another terror suspect Ainul alias Tarique was trying to fit or fix a timer in a bomb at a Patna junction toilet,” a senior GRP official at Patna junction said.

ADG (Special Branch) Rajesh Chandra said Imtiaz tried to act smart when the GRP official first pounced upon him and nabbed him. “He said he was a tailor (darzi) and he had to go to Kalyanpur in Motihari. But there is no place called Kalyanpur in Motihari. In fact, Kalyanpur is in Samastipur district,” Chandra said.

Police recovered a piece of paper from Imtiaz’s pocket, which had seven phone numbers and they recovered his mobile phone too.

Additional Director General (Rail) P.N. Rai described it as a big catch.

Imtiaz confessed that he along with six people was divided into three groups with specific assignments to carry out the blasts. He admitted that all the bombs were planted Sunday morning Oct 27 after 9 a.m.

“Imtiaz told police that he along with another terror suspect was given the task of planting bombs at the Patna junction toilet and other adjoining places, and two other groups were asked by Tahseen Akhtar to plant bombs on two sides of Gandhi Maidan, where Modi was to address the rally,” he said.

Tahseen is an activist-leader of the banned outfit Indian Mujahideen, and is the brain behind several blasts now.

Six of the seven blasts took place in and around Gandhi Maidan before Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was to address a rally. Six people were killed and 83 were injured in these serial blasts.

Imtiaz told sleuths that all of them left Ranchi by a bus on the night of October 26 and reached Mithapur bus stand, nearly 300 metres from Patna junction around 6am on Sunday morning.

Chandra said the terrorists formed three groups that left for different destinations, including Patna railway junction, with six bombs each, made of 8-9-inch pipes with explosives filled inside.

Bihar Police have decided to reward the GRP official who caught Mohammad Imtiaz Ansari.

Additional Director General (Rail) P.N. Rai said the GRP official will be rewarded for his courageous action.

Bihar Police chief Abhyanand has recommended Rs.25,000 prize for the brave GRP official, Rai said. He, however, refused to name the GRP official on security grounds.

He said Imtiaz was a big catch as that will help to crack the case of serial blasts in Patna.

“Terrorist Kasab was caught during Mumbai terror attack. More or less similarly, Imtiaz was caught by a GRP official,” Rai said.

Officials at police headquarters here said that state government is likely to announce a bigger prize for the GRP official.

The first of the low-intensity blasts ripped through a toilet at around 10am at the newly-built Platform 10 of the Patna railway station in the heart of the city.

After an hour, by which time Modi had reached Patna but not the rally ground, six explosions took place, four inside the Gandhi Maidan, and two around it.

The Patna railway station is located two-three km from the sprawling Gandhi Maidan.

India makes a stab at global arms selling

Many would rub their eyes as India, the world’s largest arms importer, for the first time showcases an array of its weapons and equipment for export at an international exhibition in South Korea soon, signalling its intention to be a player in the global defence bazaar.

At the Aerospace and Defence Exhibition (ADEX-2013) in the South Korean capital Seoul, the indigenous defence systems will draw the world’s attention to the country’s emerging capabilities, its strength and expertise in design, development and production.

On display at the six-day event which began Oct 29 will be state-of-the art weapon systems, platforms, sensors, communication systems and equipment designed and developed by the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) along with its production partners like Tata Power and state-run Bharat Electronics.

Among these would be the Akash surface-to-air missile (SAM), Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Pragati surfaceto-surface missile (SSM), an airborne early warning system (AEWS), expandable highspeed aerial target Abhayas, and other hightechnology systems like sonar, battlefield radars, and identification-friend-or-foe (IFF) systems.

“A large number of products developed by DRDO and produced by Indian industry, including those being displayed at ADEX-2013, have immense export potential,” says the DRDO.

Because of its pacifist strategic culture, India has refrained from exporting arms for several decades after independence. Its defence exports are less than two per cent of the total production of weapons and equipment.

These are mainly indigenously produced surplus small arms and light weapons supplied to some of the neighbours as a goodwill gesture.

But with the new Defence Production

Policy facilitating joint ventures with foreign direct investment (FDI), it is expected to result in increased arms exports.

Indian industries are emerging as suppliers to foreign original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), which would help build capabilities and enhance exports.

The change in thinking and policy is significant as the South Asian nation is the world’s biggest importer of weapons. According to a March report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India accounted for 12 percent of global arms imports during 2008-12.

DRDO chief Avinash Chander says ADEX-2013 will provide India an opportunity for building technology partnerships for research and development and export.

Over the years India has built a large defence industrial base, comprising eight defence public sector undertakings, 39 ordnance factories, a network of hightechnology research establishments under the DRDO and a number of private companies working on specific areas.

“No country can progress by importing defence material and equipment,” says Chander.

According to him, DRDO has identified areas such as ammunition for tanks and artillery guns where indigenisation would be carried out in a big way.

“We have attained total indigenisation in sonars and radars,” he said at an international symposium on ocean electronics in Kochi recently, adding that DRDO-made, ship-borne sonars would be exported to Myanmar.

In August, DRDO sold the technology to manufacture an Explosive Detection Kit in the US to an American company.

Also, of late, Indian defence services have moved to induct DRDO products into their systems. This, in turn, has sparked interest from “friendly nations” from Southeast Asia and Africa.

Africa in a few years is said to become a defence market almost at the same level with Southeast Asia and Latin America. Oxford Analytica, a global analysis firm, says Africa has reached “an expansionary period for most of its leading armies” due to “elevated security threat perceptions”.

Defence experts say India has to export weapons to sustain its nascent arms industry as the orders placed by the country’s military are small. Overseas orders are necessary to bring down the production costs.

At another level, India’s presence in ADEX-2013 signifies the growing defence cooperation and strategic partnership between the two countries.

India-South Korean defence ties began in 2005, when the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on defence logistics and supplies. Defence Minister A.K. Antony visited South Korea in 2010 and two MoUs on defence-related exchanges of experience, information and futuristic joint defence technology development were signed.

The same year, the two countries declared a strategic partnership.

Apart from being one of the largest FDI contributors, South Korea has become a big-ticket supplier of weapons to India. It has a wide base of companies like Hyundai, Samsung, Daewoo and Korean Aerospace, and its capabilities in missile development and naval combat system are well acknowledged in the global arms market.

At their third Foreign Policy and Security Dialogue (FPSD) last month, India and South Korea discussed collaboration in defence production and the potential for space and nuclear cooperation.

Both also agreed to step up cooperation in the spheres of maritime and cyber security.

Defence cooperation would figure in the bilateral Joint Commission Meeting November 9 in New Delhi, ahead of the visit to India of President Park Geunhy, who would be the chief guest at the Republic Day on January 26.

The defence ministry has approved the long-pending $1.5 billion procurement of eight mine countermeasure vessels (MCMVs) from Kangnam Corp of South Korea, according to consultancy IHS Jane’s.

Kangnam’s Pusan shipyard will construct two MCMVs while Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) will build the remaining six under a technology transfer.

During ADEX-2013, the defence ministry has planned an Indo-Korean defence meet and an industries meet.

The two countries are celebrating this year the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

Chronic stress factor in diabetes’ development

Chronic psychological stress is a significant factor in the development of diabetes in Indians, a study has found. The results of the present study indicate that newlydetected diabetics display higher chronic environmental stress levels and poor stress coping capacity that could lead to insulin resistance and glucose intolerance, study author S. V. Madhu of the University College of Medical Sciences said at a press conference in New Delhi recently.

Noting diabetes constitutes a major health and economic burden in the country, he said studies in several populations show that type 2 diabetes can be best prevented by lifestyle interventions rather than drugs.

Almost 85 percent of patients with type 2 diabetes are overweight, he said, adding that despite obesity being a major driver for diabetes, 90 percent of overweight people are not aware they are overweight.

“We all know that we are sitting on a diabetes time bomb. But within this there are several issues that are not much talked about, for example, the fact that lakhs of women acquire diabetes during pregnancy, that urbanisation is a factor in the growing incidence of diabetes and that there are a series of myths still associated with diabetes in India,” said Madhu, organising chairman of Research Society for the Study of Diabetes in India (RSSDI).

With more than 63 million diabetes patients, India is second only to China in the number of people living with the ailment. With a racial predisposition to diabetes and rapidly changing lifestyles, India is certainly on course to become the diabetes capital of the world.

$250,000 US grant for women’s safety in Delhi

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) recently announced a $250,000 grant for the “Delhi Safe City - Free of Violence against Women and Girls”, to be implemented in partnership with Indian civil society organisations. The grant will be channelised through to UN Women as part of the Global Safe Cities Initiative, a statement released in New Delhi said.

U.S. Ambassador to India Nancy J. Powell said, “The United States recognises genderbased violence as a debilitating factor impeding a woman’s active participation in any economy in the world and her ability to access resources and services. We are pleased to partner with UN Women to help promote safe cities and reduce genderbased violence, which plagues every country in the world,” she added.

Russian delegation to promote Ayurveda, visiting Kerala

A Russian delegation, led by the deputy health minister, is arriving in the state capital of Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala to have a first-hand experience of Ayurveda so that it can be promoted in their country.

The six-member delegation, led by Minister Igor Kagramanyan and Sergei Kalashnikov, chairman of the Russian parliamentary committee on health, will arrive on November 2 for a week.

They are visiting under the aegis of NGO Ayurveda Russia-India Association to have talks with Kerala health and tourism ministers and officials.

The NGO’s representative M.R. Narayanan told IANS that the delegation would have an exposure to Ayurveda at his Poovar Island resort near Kovalam in Thiruvananthapuram. They would undergo a week-long Ayurveda rejuvenation programme at the resort.

“The department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy, of the central Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is coordinating the visit. They will be taking care of the promotion of Ayurveda at the government level between the two countries,” said Narayanan.

He also said that the biggest beneficiary of meeting between representatives from the two countries would be the numerous resorts that offer Ayurveda packages in the state for Russian tourists.

“Once this gets the approval, insurance companies in Russia would reimburse Ayurveda packages for them,” said Narayanan.

The visiting delegation is also expected to discuss about having short courses on Ayurveda at Russian universities. IANS