NCDEX seeks govt intervention to maintain quality of pepper

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Mumbai, Sept 3:  

Leading national commodity exchange NCDEX today sought government intervention in allowing market participants to improve the quality of pepper stocks for compliance with food safety laws.

“Since the traces of mineral oil appear to reflect long standing industry practice, the Exchange will seek government intervention in the interests of industry and recommend that holders of the stock and the market participants should be given an opportunity to remove mineral oil coating and improve quality,” NCDEX said in a statement.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had seized stocks of pepper lying in six warehouses accredited by NCDEX in December, 2012, in response to a complaint from one of the buyers that the pepper contained mineral oil, which is not permitted under the FSSAI Act.

Since then, the FSSAI has been testing the goods with help from the Spices Board and the Exchange.

The FSSAI has now issued an order for destruction of 93 lots found with mineral oil traces.

Taking cognisance of the order, the respective owners have accordingly been informed to take up the matter with the FSSAI and take appropriate action, it said.

Specific lots that have been found to meet the FSSAI standards are to be released to the respective owners as per the order.

The Exchange, it said, has always ensured delivery of commodities in accordance with its contract specifications.

The NCDEX does not have any liability regarding these stocks, it said.

The Exchange is also not liable for non-compliance by any member and market participant with all applicable laws on the underlying commodity.

In fact, most of the stocks in the godowns sealed by the FSSAI authorities were bought by the holders in off-market transactions outside the Exchange platform.

It further said, NCDEX only provides a trading platform for trading in forward contracts. It does not own, deposit or deal with the goods in the warehouses.

Industry players have informed the Exchange that farmers or traders engaged in cultivation, production and trading of pepper adopt various methods to preserve the spice, including by addition of small quantity of mineral oil as a fungicide, it said.

Traders routinely use a process of steaming to later remove the mineral oil coating, it added.

Russia detects missile launches in Mediterranean Sea

Moscow, Sept 3:  

Russia today announced that its missile early warning system had detected the launch of two missiles from the central part of the Mediterranean Sea fired towards the Sea’s eastern coastline.

The launches took place at 10:16 am Moscow time (0616 GMT) and were detected by the early warning system in Armavir in southern Russia, the Defence Ministry said in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies.

It said Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had already reported to President Vladimir Putin about the event, which comes amid growing expectations of Western military action in Syria.

Goldman Sachs cuts India GDP forecast to 4%; sees rupee at 72/USD

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New Delhi, Sept 3:  

Goldman Sachs has lowered India’s growth forecast for the current financial year to 4 per cent from 6 per cent earlier and is expecting the rupee to touch 72 against the US dollar in the next 6 months.

According to the global brokerage firm, India and most of the Southeast Asian countries are likely to see “difficult external funding conditions” as markets are anticipating US Fed tapering and eventual exit from unconventional monetary policies.

“For India, we have cut our FY’14 GDP growth forecast to 4.0 per cent, from 6.0 per cent earlier, and our FY’15 forecast to 5.4 per cent, from 6.8 per cent previously,” Goldman Sachs said in a research note.

In the near term, Goldman Sachs sees risks as the economy is likely to need an adjustment in the current account and fiscal balances, and says it “may require below-potential growth for several more quarters to reduce inflation, before we can see an economic recovery“.

The report further added that not only has data come in worse-than-expected in Q2 2013, the external funding pressure since early May was the major driving factor behind the GDP downgrade.

According to official figures, the country’s economic growth in the April-June quarter slid to 4.4 per cent, the lowest in the past several years, pulled down by drop in mining and manufacturing output.

Goldman Sachs has lowered its growth forecasts for India followed by Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, it said.

Meanwhile, the global broking major has also lowered its rupee forecast, and sees further real depreciation over 3 to 6 months given the challenging external funding environment and the slowdown in GDP growth.

“We change our 3, 6, and 12-month USD/INR forecasts to 70, 72, and 70 (from 60 flat) respectively,” the report said.

The rupee had touched an all-time intra-day low of 68.85 to a dollar on August 28 and is currently hovering around the 67/USD mark in highly volatile trade.

“We see further real depreciation over 3 and 6 months given the challenging external funding environment and the slowdown in GDP growth. Over 12 months, we expect some stabilisation, with the removal of election uncertainty in March-April likely to help sentiment, and adjustment in the current account in progress,” Goldman Sachs said.

Notwithstanding the fact that the global brokerage has downgraded its India forecast significantly, it remains optimistic about its long-term potential.

“We continue to believe that a rising middle class, favourable demographics, need for investments, especially on infrastructure, and productivity catch-up across a broad swathe of sectors can drive growth over the medium term,” it said.

Hyundai launches Grand i10 at Rs 4.29 lakh

New Delhi, Sept 3:  

Korean auto major Hyundai Motor India Ltd today launched its Grand i10 hatchback, positioned between its earlier offerings i10 and i20, at a starting price of Rs 4.29 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi, introductory price).

Targeted at buyers between the ages of 25 and 35, the Grand i10 comes in two engine variants —1.1 litre diesel and 1.2 litre petrol.

The diesel variant has been launched at a starting price of Rs 5.23 lakh.

Grand i10 review

The hatchback sports a trendy look and comes with a host of features such as smart key with push button start and stop for keyless entry/exit and ignition on/off, audio experience with integrated 2-DIN music system with first-in-segment 1GB internal memory to store and play your choice of music.

The latest offering benefits from Hyundai’s fluidic design theme and its Indian version is 100 mm longer than the European version to offer bigger seating space.

Safety features include dual airbags, anti-lock braking system, central locking, engine immobiliser and rear parking sensor.

The Hyundai Grand i10 is available in eight colour options including Wine Red, Stardust, Golden Orange, Phantom Black, Silky Beige, Twilight Blue, Pure White, and Sleek Silver. Its diesel and petrol hatchback variants include Era, Magna, Sportz, Asta.

With this launch, Hyundai hopes to shake Maruti Suzuki, sitting pretty at the top.

PETROL Prices (ex-showroom Delhi)

Era: Rs 4,29,900

Magna: Rs 4,49,400

Sportz: Rs 4,88,800

Asta(O): Rs 5,47,800

DIESEL Prices (ex-showroom Delhi)

Era: Rs 5,23,700

Magna: Rs 5,43,200

Sportz: Rs 5,82,600

Asta: Rs 6,41,600

Rupee slumps to 67.95 on persistent capital outflows, heavy dollar demand

Mumbai, Sept 4:  

The rupee further slipped 193 paise to 67.95 against the dollar on persistent capital outflows and heavy dollar demand from banks and oil importers at 4.26 p.m. local time.

The domestic unit opened 28 paise weaker to 66.30 per dollar against the previous close of 66.02 due to renewed dollar demand from importers and appreciation of the American dollar overseas.

Meanwhile, the 30-share BSE index Sensex ended down 651.47 points (3.45 per cent) at 18,234.66.

According to forex dealers, besides dollar’s gains against the yen and euro on improved economic data, increased demand from importers for the American currency also put pressure on the rupee.

Brinda Jagirdar, Economist, said: "While the sharp fall in rupee and its aftermath has caused a lot of mayhem on the markets, particularly pressure on corporates and banks, its impact on exports could be positive. However, the recent PMI data coming in at below 50 (at 48.5) has highlighted the contraction in the manufacturing sector. Thus, at a time when external demand appears to be rising on the back of economic recovery - Germany's PMI is the highest since July 2011 - India's PMI is at a four-year low, so the economy is unable to ramp up its manufactured exports and benefit from a weak rupee.''

The rupee sentiment was hit on lower GDP growth data announced last week.

India’s GDP (gross domestic product) growth decelerated to 4.4 per cent — the slowest pace of expansion since the 2008 meltdown — in the first quarter (April-June) of the current fiscal.

Special dollar window

Further, the Reserve Bank of India had announced a special dollar window for oil retailers, which helped ease the offshore non-deliverable forward (NDF) contracts.

“The RBI measures limited the volumes in the currency market by more than half. Hence, the volatility reduced to some extent. Also, the RBI did not intervened for the first time in many days,” said a dealer with a nationalised bank.

The rupee saw sharp movements last week. It had hit a historic low of 68.80 against the US dollar on August 28. It had dropped 3.7 per cent during last week alone.

Rupee depreciation

The Ministry of Finance had said that the rupee depreciation is not reflective of any weakness in the economy. Also the rupee is heavily under-valued at the moment and it is being addressed.

Though a strong dollar and dollar demand from importers limited the rupee gains, investors are hoping for positive measures after the new RBI Governor assumes charge on September 5.

Call rates, G-Secs

The inter-bank call money rate, the rate at which banks borrow money from each other to meet their short-term fund requirements, was trading lower at 10.15 per cent from its previous close of 10.25 per cent.

The 7.16 per cent government security, which matures in 2023, was trading a tad higher at Rs 91.79 from the previous close of Rs 91.47 .Yields softened to 8.41 per cent from 8.47 per cent.