NEW DELHI, June 17: A record production of wheat has helped procurement of the essential staple rise by 34 per cent to a record 36.55 million tonnes (mt) this year so far.
The government had purchased 27.22 mt of wheat in the 2011-12 wheat marketing season (April-March).
Total wheat purchase in this marketing season has already surpassed the government’s target of 31.8 mt.
As per the latest government data, wheat procurement as on June 15, 2012, stood at 36.55 mt, while the arrival stood at 38.79 mt.
Punjab and Haryana had procured nearly 12.82 mt and 8.66 mt of wheat, respectively, in the current season.
Wheat purchase in Madhya Pradesh stood at 8.49 mt this year while in Uttar Pradesh it was at 4.03 mt this year.
Wheat production of India, the world’s second-largest producer, is estimated at a record 90.23 mt in the 2011-12 crop year (July-June). The minimum support price of wheat stands at Rs 1,285 per quintal. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 17: The government has initiated the process of 10 per cent stake sale in National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO) which may fetch the exchequer an estimated Rs 12,000 crore.
“Disinvestment Department has moved a cabinet note for 10 per cent stake sale in NALCO. It will come up before the CCEA soon,” a top official told.
The official further said the company is also considering to come out with a fresh issue of shares.
The Department of Disinvestment, which comes under the Ministry of Finance, had earlier made a reference to the Ministry of Mines to consider disinvestment of 10 per cent equity. The government currently holds 87.15 per cent stake in NALCO.
As per the current market price of Rs 58 a share, a 10 per cent stake divestment could help government rake in over Rs 12,000 crore from the Bhubaneswar-based aluminium major.
The state-owned company reported a 20 per cent drop in net
profit to Rs Rs 849.50 crore for the fiscal ended March 2012, as against the year-ago period, on account of lower realisation from sale of aluminium.
According to the disinvestment plans, the Union Government
aims to mop up Rs 30,000 crore in the current fiscal by selling some of its equity in PSUs such as RINL, SAIL, BHEL, Oil India, Hindustan Aeronautics and Hindustan Copper.
As part of the government disinvestment plan, the government was planning to sell stake in RINL through an initial public offer (IPO). The RINL issue, was slated to hit the domestic market on July 3 and kick-start the ambitious disinvestment process of the government for the current fiscal.
However, on account of volatile market conditions, the government had to delay the Rs 2,500-crore IPO of RINL by at least three weeks.
Last fiscal, due to volatile market conditions, the government had to postpone the sell off process and could raise only Rs 14,000 crore against a target of Rs 40,000 crore. (PTI)

MUMBAI, June 17: RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao is expected to go slow on his over two-year-old anti-inflationary posture and unveil a softer interest rate regime on Monday as more dark clouds gather over the economy, although inflation still remains above the Reserve Bank’s comfort zone.
Following the shocking latest GDP numbers, which showed that economic expansion had hit a nine-year low at 6.5 per cent in FY’12, there have been incessant calls from the government as well as economists to give growth concerns a priority, rather than the inflation.
Last Saturday, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had expressed confidence that Reserve Bank will “adjust the monetary policy…I am confident the RBI will adjust the monetary policy, as we are adjusting fiscal policy (to prop up the economy),” Mukherjee said at an industry event here.
The RBI Governor will unveil the mid-quarter review of monetary policy on Monday, wherein, it is expected, he will bring down the key short-term lending rate or repo rate by at least 0.25 percentage point to 7.75 per cent, and may even lower the cash reserves ratio by up to 1 percentage point.
So far this year the Governor has reduced CRR by a hefty 125 bps and the repo rate by a more than expected 50 bps as the core inflation began to ease and growth began to dodder.
This was a radical departure from his 20-month rate-hike cycle beginning March 2010 wherein he had ratcheted up lending rates by a whopping 350 bps.
But headline inflation is not giving the Governor any comfort at present, as it rose to 7.55 per cent in May. Yet, the IIP numbers released last week strengthened the call for rate cuts as the April factory output data was barely in the green zone at a paltry 0.1 per cent.
The steep contraction in exports, which in May fell by over 3 per cent and the steep plunge of the rupee also make a case for easing of rates.
Chief Economic Adviser Kaushik Basu and Planning Commission head Montek Singh Ahluwalia have called for pro- growth and out-of-the-box measures from the RBI. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 17: Industry today asked RBI to go in for a bold move and cut interest rates at least by 50 basis points (bps), besides releasing more funds in the banking system to arrest slowdown in economic growth.
While Assocham President Rajkumar Dhoot demanded 50-100 bps reduction in the short-term lending rates and a cut in cash reserve ratio (CRR) by equal ratio, CII wanted the central bank to focus on growth.
Terming the current economic scenario as critical, Dhoot said, “One delayed step or any indecisive move is bound to wreck the industrial and service sectors.”
Several of the interest-sensitive segments like banking, automobiles and housing are in the grip of slowdown. Thus, RBI must use this opportunity for bold announcements, he said in a statement.
CII said there is enough room for the RBI to cut interest rates as warranted by the slowdown in industrial growth.
“After the release of the inflation data for May, the industry feels that there is enough room for the RBI to cut interest rates,” CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said.
Headline inflation moved up to 7.55 per cent in May compared to 7.23 in April.
RBI is scheduled to announce its first mid-quarter review of monetary policy tomorrow.
In its annual credit policy for 2012-13 on April 17, it had slashed short-term lending rate or repo rate by 0.50 per cent to 8 per cent to prop up the economy.
The industry has been clamouring for relief from the government on the plea that demand slowdown, rising input costs and high interest rates have affected their business.
Talking about India’s exports, Dhoot said, exports declined by 4.16 per cent to USD 25.68 billion in May due to unabated slump in global demand and slowdown in domestic industrial growth.
The country’s industrial production growth rate slowed down sharply to 0.1 per cent in April compared to 5.3 per cent in the same period last year mainly on account of contraction in capital goods and dip in manufacturing output.
CII said India has entered a “vicious cycle” in which low growth is affecting investor confidence which in turn is leading to capital outflows and depreciating currency.
“This is adding to inflationary pressure. Thus, the RBI should not hesitate to cut interest rates,” it said. (PTI)

MUMBAI, June 17: Although foodgrain production is expected to grow in 2012-13, the cotton and sugarcane output is projected to fall, economic think tank CMIE has said.
“In 2012-13, production of foodgrains is projected to grow by 0.6 percent to 247.6 million tonnes. Higher output of rice and wheat, alongwith a recovery in production of coarse cereals and pulses, is expected to boost overall production,” Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said in its monthly report here.
The acreage of cotton and sugarcane is expected to decline and limit production of non-food crops to levels lower than last year.
According to the tentative sowing report, acreage of sugarcane has scaled up by over two percent to 48.6 lakh hectares as of May 8. Though sugarcane cultivation higher, it expects it to slow down in the subsequent period, CMIE said.
CMIE expects sugarcane production to fall by 0.9 per cent to 342.5 million tonnes in FY’13, mainly due to a fall in the acreage.
In FY 12, a sharp increase in cotton acreage had resulted in record production of 35 million bales. However, this excess production was not matched with similar demand during the corresponding marketing season. As a result, cotton prices plunged, causing losses.
CMIE expects these losses to motivate cotton growers to turn to alternative crops in the current season. Cotton production is projected to decline by 7.8 per cent to 32.2 million bales in FY 13.
Major oilseeds production is projected to recover by three per cent in FY 13, after being hit in the preceding year. Kharif sowings have started, but on a sluggish note for sesame and sunflower seeds.
The groundnut production is projected to recover in FY 13, following a steep decline in the preceding year. Groundnut cultivators turned to alternative crops in anticipation of higher returns in FY 12. Consequently, production fell by an estimated 17 percent to 6.9 million tonnes. However, a demand-supply mismatch has led to a steep increase of over 20 per cent in groundnut prices during January-May 2012.
“We expect these conditions to motivate cultivators to increase sowing of groundnuts. Groundnut production is projected to scale up by over 16 per cent to eight million tonnes in FY 13,” CMIE report said.
Though major crop production is projected to fall by 0.6 per cent, the overall agriculture sector is expected to grow by 2.4 per cent in FY’13. An anticipated growth in output of livestock, forestry and fisheries, alongwith a modest four per cent rise in production of minor crops is expected to lift growth of the agriculture sector, it said. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 17: Industry body Ficci has requested the Textiles Ministry to ensure that the draft Cotton Trade Bill, which seeks to provide accurate data collection on natural fibre production, does not lead to over regulation of cotton trade.
“The Textiles Ministry should ensure that the draft Bill does not lead to over regulation of cotton trade and at the same time results in an independent system of data collection for the natural fibre,” Ficci said.
Ficci said the current form of Bill put focus on regulation of the industry rather than developing an independent system of data collection.
“There is a need for making amendments in these clauses of the Bill to ensure that industry can easily implement and follow it,” it said.
It said the Bill also aims at monitoring cotton demand and supply in the country and ensuring that minimum standards for packaging are followed in cotton ginning and pressing.
The objective of the Bill should be to build a robust and an independent market intelligence system for statistics on cotton production and consumption as they are important for the growth of the textiles industry, the chamber said.
At present, there is no statutory framework for collecting
the statistical data on cotton from ginning and pressing factories as well as cotton yarn output from the textiles mills.
Ficci further said the Bill places heavy burden of compliance on stakeholders.
“Every ginning factory has to maintain registers as prescribed by the Textiles Commissioner. Also, monthly returns have to be submitted by cotton ginning factories and textiles mills which will further add to the compliance burden on the industry,” it said.
Besides, the Bill mandates that every owner or occupier of a cotton processing factory would produce the ginning register for inspection whenever required to do so. Also, the penalties proposed in the Bill are too harsh leading to two years of imprisonment in case of non-compliance.
“It should be based on self-certification system rather than on inspection as proposed in the Bill,” Ficci said. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 17: Seeking to differentiate itself from fly-by-night multi-level fraudulent marketing schemes, Indian Direct Selling Association (IDSA) has asked the government for a regulatory framework for the sector.
The association, which has 18 companies as members, also said views of the organised players in the direct selling segment must also be considered while framing guidelines and appointing a nodal regulatory body.
“We want specific guidelines to regulate direct selling sector in India. Regulation is needed to differentiate between legitimate direct selling firms…And identify fly-by-night and ponzi scheme operators, which damage the industry,” IDSA Chairman S Subramanian told.
In the recent past numerous fraudulent multi-level- marketing companies and schemes such as Speak Asia, Goldsukh Trade India and Tycoon Empire International have come into public light in India. There have been calls from various quarters to frame regulations to put an end to these frauds.
Stating that the views of the players in the sector should
be considered while framing guidelines, he said: “We want to be heard, want to be a part of process, negotiations to form regulations for the sector.”
He said having a regulatory framework in place will protect consumers’ interest in India and help them differentiate between the genuine direct selling companies from the fraudulent ones.
Already, IDSA has made representations to several government departments and ministries, he added.
“We are talking to the DIPP, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Corporate Affairs and trying also to reach the Ministry of Finance,” Subramanian said.
Direct selling is the marketing and selling of products directly to consumers away from a fixed retail location.
The business in India is expected to reach a size of Rs 10,843 crore by 2014-15 on the back of increased consumer spending, according to a report by IDSA and PHD Chamber.
In 2010-11, the total sales of organised direct selling companies in India, including Amway, Tupperware and Oriflame were estimated at Rs 5,229 crore.
Though the growth of the sector varies across its different segments like organised and unorganised sections, it is slated to grow at an average of more than 20 per cent in the next four years.
“Further more, if the same momentum can be maintained in the longer term, then the market size is expected to reach around Rs 21,690 crore by 2019-20,” the report said.
IDSA’s member list includes 18 global and Indian companies like Amway, Avon, HUL, Jafra Ruchi Cosmetics, Oriflame and Tupperware. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 17: India suffered peak power shortage of close to 13,000 million units in April and May, as the thermal power plants struggled to maintain fuel stocks at a reasonable level.
The country’s peak power deficit—shortfall in generation capacity during the time when the electricity consumption is the maximum – was over 12,600 million units (MUs) in April and May, according to Central Electricity Authority (CEA) data.
The total requirement of electricity in the two months (April-May) was 1.62 lakh MUs, whereas the supply was 1.5 lakh MUs, a deficit of 7.8 per cent, the data said.
Megawatt (MW) is used to refer to generation capacity while Million Unit (MU) indicates the amount of power produced. For instances, a 500 MW capacity plant running for 24 hours can produce 12 MUs of energy.
During the months of April and May, as many as 28 power stations on an average faced acute fuel shortage of less then seven days of coal stock, the official data said.
Southern and North-eastern regions were the worst affected
with over 13 per cent and 11 per cent peak power deficit, respectively.
The total electricity requirement in the Southern region during April-May period was over 46,000 MUs, while the availability was only close to 40,000 MUs.
In the north-eastern region power requirement during the period was 1,744 MUs and the supply was 1,553 MUs.
In May alone, the peak power deficit in the country was 7.5 per cent. The total power demand during the month was 84,162 MUs and availability was 77,888 MUs, a shortfall of 6,274 MUs, the CEA data revealed.
Northern region, along with southern and north-eastern regions, was the worst affected during May. The three regions witnessed a deficit of 9.4 per cent, 10.8 per cent and 11.1 per cent, respectively.
The only silver lining in the northern region was the Union Territory of Chandigarh, where the total power requirement of 158 MUs was met.
According to reports, there were may instances of power shortage in the national capital during May, however, the data showed only 0.4 per cent peak power deficit in Delhi.
The Power Ministry expects to generate around 9,20,000 MUs of electricity this fiscal. Out of the total, 7,60,000 MUs would be from coal-based plants. The government might also import 5,000 MUs of electricity from Bhutan. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 17: The market regulators have come across more than 200 cases of suspected abnormality in the share price movements and trading volumes so far this year—a figure mostly seen during a full year in the past.
The stock exchanges, which work as front-line regulators, have issued more than 150 notices to various companies due to unusual movements in share prices or volumes so far in 2012.
Besides, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has found out about 60 other cases of suspected irregularities in share prices and trading volumes through its surveillance mechanism during this period, sources said.
Ever since the bourses began seeking clarifications on the basis of unusual price or volume changes, they have been issuing about 100 such notices a year. However, such notices (about 90 by the BSE and over 60 by the NSE) have already exceeded 150-level in little over six months in 2012.
These also include notices seeking clarifications for media reports that might have bearing on the stock movements.
Sources said the regulators are also concerned over a growing trend of the companies mostly expressing ignorance in their clarifications to such notices.
“In reply to such notices, the companies mostly assert that they are not aware of the issue reported in the media or the events having led to sharp movements in their stock prices or volumes,” a senior regulatory official said.
“However, the concerned media reports turn out to be true in many cases within days, while in some cases, the companies have also announced some material stock-moving developments soon after replying in negative to the notices,” he said.
The possible measures to tackle such scenarios are being worked out, the official noted.
Earlier this month, Sebi asked the bourses to issue “caution letters” to market participants for any unusual stock movements and asked them to take adequate measures to stop any abnormal trading activities after issuance of such letters.
If remedial measures are not taken by the brokers after receipt of such ‘caution letters’, the exchanges would inform the Sebi for further action against non-compliant entities.
The companies where unusual price or volume changes have been suspected by the bourses and which have been sent notices in this regard so far in 2012 also include public sector entities like MMTC, MOIL and Hindustan Copper.
Clarifications have also been sought from Vijay Mallya-led UB group entities like Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers, United Breweries Ltd and United Spirits Ltd, as also firms like Piramal Life Sciences, Bajaj Finserv, Apollo Hospitals, HFCL, GVK Power, Suzlon and Parsvnath.
Various media reports have also led clarifications being sought from companies like Reliance Industries, Sesa Goa, Sterlite, HCL Info, Pantaloon Retail, MTNL and JSW Steel. (PTI)