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India
Food inflation eases to 9.53%
New Delhi, August 5, 2010 :INew Delhi, August 05, 2010 :
India's annual food inflation came down to 9.53 percent for the
second straight week ending July 24 from 9.67 percent a week
earlier, official data released Thursday showed.
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Rising prices..
Govt frees up petrol prices, hikes other fuels
Dehli, June 25, 2010: The government on Friday freed up state-subsidised petrol prices and
hiked other fuels as high global oil prices and pressure to trim the
budget deficit outweighed concerns about the political impact of the measures.
A panel of ministers increased prices of state-subsidised diesel, kerosene and cooking gas prices, which could help reduce the fiscal
deficit from the projected 5.5 percent of 2010/11 GDP and free up revenues for other programmes.
The panel said petrol prices would be market driven, rising 3.50 rupees
per litre, while kerosene prices would rise by 3 rupees a litre. While
petrol is mainly used by the middle class for cars, kerosene is used by
the poor for power. Diesel prices will rise 2 rupees per litre and will be freed up in the
future. Cooking gas prices were raised by 35 rupees a cylinder. "It was decided that the price of petrol will be market determined both
at the refinery gate and at the retail level," Oil Secretary S. Sundareshan told reporters.Raising fuel prices would stoke inflationary pressures.
Govt to raise fuel prices in major cities from April 1. 2010
NEW DELHI, March 31, 2010 (Reuters) : Government will raise the prices of petrol
by 1.1 percent from Thursday in major cities that will migrate to Euro
IV-compliant fuel, a government official said, to help oil firms recover
investment made for plant upgrade. "The hike will be effective from midnight tonight," said Sudhir
Bhargava, additional secretary in the federal oil ministry, adding petrol prices would be
raised by 0.50 rupees (about 1 U.S. cent) a litre.
Diesel price in leading cities including Mumbai would be hiked by 0.26 rupees a
litre, while in Delhi it will rise by more than 2 rupees because of taxes.
"Delhi government has raised VAT (value added tax) on diesel, which will be
implemented from tomorrow. Due to this, diesel prices will go up by 2.35-2.37
rupees a litre in Delhi," Bhargava said, in addition to the rise across major cities.
While 13 big cities will migrate to Euro IV-compliant fuel from Thursday, the
rest of the country will switch over to Euro III-compliant fuel by October.
Bhargava said the increase in fuel prices is aimed at helping the oil firms,
which sell fuel at government-fixed low rates, to recover the investment of
about 320 billion rupees made on plant upgrades to produce cleaner fuels.In Delhi, petrol will cost 47.93 rupees and diesel will be priced at 38.10
rupees a litre, he said.
RBI hikes repo,
reverse repo rates & CRR by 25 bps
MUMBAI, April 20, 2010 (PTI): Aiming to tackle near
double-digit inflation, the Reserve Bank today hiked key lending and
borrowing rates, as also the mandatory cashTop gainers, losers &
recos reserves banks park with it, by 0.25 per cent. But lenders
said the move would not lead to any immediate increase in commercial
and personal loan rates. The RBI increased repo and reverse
repo, the rates at which it lends to and borrows short-term money
from banks, by 25 basis points. It also hiked CRR, the portion of
money that commercial banks deposit with the central bank, by an
identical percentage -- a move that would suck out Rs 12,500 crore
from the system. The increase would come into effect on April 24.
Commenting on RBI's annual monetary policy for 2010-11, Finance
Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, these measures "should have a
gentle impact on tightening money in the economy and should dampen further inflationary pressure."
While the RBI sees inflation easing to 5.5 per cent by the
end of the current fiscal from 9.9 per cent in March, Mukherjee
asserted that it would be lower than RBI's estimate. Top executives
of banks, including Oriental Bank of India and IDBI Bank, said that
the RBI move would not translate into any immediate hike in interest
rates. Industry chamber FICCI secretary general Amit Mitra said the
RBI move would put pressure on interest rates, but lending rates would not go up immediately.
Hike in repo and reverse repo, the rates at which RBI lends and
borrows from banks, to 5.25 and 3.75 per cent respectively, will
raise the cost of fund for the lenders and would temper the demand
for loans and, in turn, consumer spending.
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