Rupee, stocks rally as new RBI chief Rajan fuels confidence

September 5, 2013

RBI_chief_copyMumbai, Sep 5: The rupee rallied and shares surged on Thursday after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) chief unveiled a slew of measures to support the ailing currency and open markets, providing a shot of confidence for investors unnerved by the country's worst economic crisis in two decades.

The rupee rose as much as 2.3 per cent to 65.53 per dollar, well off the record low 68.85 hit on August 28.

The Nifty rose as much as 3.3 per cent, propelled by lenders such as HDFC Bank, which surged after the new measures included increasing overseas borrowing limits for banks.

However, amid the euphoria over RBI governor Raghuram Rajan's strong Wednesday debut, economists warned he cannot by himself solve the challenges in an economy facing a sharp growth slowdown and a record high current account deficit, which have fueled a 16 per cent slide in the rupee so far this year.

The government has failed to push through politically tough reforms needed to fix the economy, and elections due by next May instead raise the prospect of expensive populist spending that could threaten the country's sovereign credit rating, which is one notch above junk status.

"To a certain extent, the recent rupee tumble and instability in the financial markets, has been a crisis of confidence. To that end, the path of action provided by the new governor and the stress on keeping communications predictable and consistent will be a welcome move," Radhika Rao, an economist at DBS in Singapore, said in an email to clients.

"Still, the external drivers of the rupee weakness will continue to dictate the momentum, along with the urgent need to address domestic structural pitfalls - fiscal and current account deficits, along with reviving investment activity."

At least for Thursday, Indian markets reflected the optimism placed on Rajan, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund who unexpectedly unveiled a flurry of proposals in his first day at the helm of the central bank.

In terms of action to prop up the rupee, the measures included providing exporters and importers more flexibility in hedging their forward currency contracts, as trading firms had long complained about regulations that left them unable to quickly cope with rapid currency movements.

"The statement is impressive and a must-read, in our view," Deutsche Bank said in a note.

"India's myriad cyclical and structural impediments will continue to hold back the economy for the time being, and risks of a deeper crisis are non-trivial, but (Wednesday's) statement shows a fresh and cohesive vision of monetary and financial sector policy from a newly appointed central bank governor can shine a much-needed light on India's promise and potential."

India's defence of the rupee has so far relied on controversial steps taken by the RBI, which have included draining cash from the market, raising short-term interest rates and imposing capital controls on resident Indians.

Investors have expressed little faith that the government can push through substantial reforms, such as a hike in subsidised fuel prices, that could help revive confidence in the economy.

Asia's third-largest economy is suffering from a dearth of investment and sharp slowdowns in the manufacturing and services sectors.

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Rupee, stocks rally as new RBI chief Rajan fuels confidence

Mumbai, Sep 5: The rupee rallied and shares surged on Thursday after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) chief unveiled a slew of measures to support the ailing currency and open markets, providing a shot of confidence for investors unnerved by the country's worst economic crisis in two decades.

The rupee rose as much as 2.3 per cent to 65.53 per dollar, well off the record low 68.85 hit on August 28.

The Nifty rose as much as 3.3 per cent, propelled by lenders such as HDFC Bank, which surged after the new measures included increasing overseas borrowing limits for banks.
However, amid the euphoria over RBI governor Raghuram Rajan's strong Wednesday debut, economists warned he cannot by himself solve the challenges in an economy facing a sharp growth slowdown and a record high current account deficit, which have fueled a 16 per cent slide in the rupee so far this year.

The government has failed to push through politically tough reforms needed to fix the economy, and elections due by next May instead raise the prospect of expensive populist spending that could threaten the country's sovereign credit rating, which is one notch above junk status.

"To a certain extent, the recent rupee tumble and instability in the financial markets, has been a crisis of confidence. To that end, the path of action provided by the new governor and the stress on keeping communications predictable and consistent will be a welcome move," Radhika Rao, an economist at DBS in Singapore, said in an email to clients.

"Still, the external drivers of the rupee weakness will continue to dictate the momentum, along with the urgent need to address domestic structural pitfalls - fiscal and current account deficits, along with reviving investment activity."

At least for Thursday, Indian markets reflected the optimism placed on Rajan, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund who unexpectedly unveiled a flurry of proposals in his first day at the helm of the central bank.

In terms of action to prop up the rupee, the measures included providing exporters and importers more flexibility in hedging their forward currency contracts, as trading firms had long complained about regulations that left them unable to quickly cope with rapid currency movements.

"The statement is impressive and a must-read, in our view," Deutsche Bank said in a note.

"India's myriad cyclical and structural impediments will continue to hold back the economy for the time being, and risks of a deeper crisis are non-trivial, but (Wednesday's) statement shows a fresh and cohesive vision of monetary and financial sector policy from a newly appointed central bank governor can shine a much-needed light on India's promise and potential."

India's defence of the rupee has so far relied on controversial steps taken by the RBI, which have included draining cash from the market, raising short-term interest rates and imposing capital controls on resident Indians.
Investors have expressed little faith that the government can push through substantial reforms, such as a hike in subsidised fuel prices, that could help revive confidence in the economy.

Asia's third-largest economy is suffering from a dearth of investment and sharp slowdowns in the manufacturing and services sectors.

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Agencies
August 3,2020

Rajouri, Aug 3: Ashfaq Mehmood Choudhary, a 17-year-old boy from Chattyear of Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, has developed a file-sharing app 'Dodo Drop' which would enable users to share audios, videos, images, and texts between two devices without Internet access.

While speaking to media persons, Ashfaq Mehmood said that the 'Dodo Drop' application is an alternative to the Chinese 'SHAREit' app. "The Indian government has banned several Chinese apps due to data breaching, and among those apps was SHAREit which was used for sharing files.

Users faced a lot of problems due to the ban, and so I decided to make this file-sharing app. With 'Dodo Drop', users can share audios, videos, images, and even texts," he said.

Ashfaq said that it took him four weeks to develop the application, and it was launched on August 1 this year. The 'Dodo Drop' application has a transfer rate of up to 480 mbps, which is faster than the SHAREit app and is "quite easy" to use.

"Users can transfer data comprising photos, videos, audios, apps, texts, etc. between two devices with no Internet access. The transfers are fully encrypted and secure," he added.

"Our Prime Minister has always asserted the need for decreasing the dependency on foreign products and apps and to focus on the development of India-based apps. I tried to be part of the initiative of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' by developing an India-based file-sharing app. I want to develop global-standard apps for India," he added.

"We support and cooperate with him. He generates his own income by working on some projects and utilises it. We will continue to support him," said Parvez Ahmed Choudhary, Ashfaq's father.

In July, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) banned 47 apps, which were variants and cloned copies of the 59 apps banned earlier in June. These banned clones included SHAREit Lite, Tiktok Lite, Helo Lite, BIGO LIVE Lite, and VFY Lite.

The 59 apps had been banned by the Centre in June in view of the information available that they were engaged in activities which were "prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity and defence" of the country.

Almost all the apps banned had some preferential Chinese interest and the majority had parent Chinese companies.

The ban came amid border tensions with China in the Eastern Ladakh region.

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News Network
March 20,2020

New Delhi, Mar 20: Bodies of the four Nirbhaya convicts who were hanged on Friday morning at Tihar Jail have been sent to hospital for a post-mortem, following which it will be handed over to the families, according to an official.

After the hanging at 5:30 am today, the bodies were taken from Tihar Jail to Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Hospital for post mortem at around 8:20 am.

Tihar jail Director-General Sandeep Goel said that the bodies will be handed over to the families after the post mortem.

The families, however, will have to give a written undertaking that they will not make a public demonstration of the cremation or burial of the executed person.

The superintendent will also consult the District Magistrate and the Deputy Commissioner of Police for arrangements for the disposal of the body.

The post mortem comes in line with the Supreme Court's order in Shatrughan Chauhan's case in January 2014, which had mandated the same observing that there is a dearth of experienced hangman in the country.

"By making the performance of post mortem obligatory, the cause of the death of the convict can be found out, which will reveal whether the person died as a result of the dislocation of the cervical vertebrate or by strangulation which results on account of too long a drop," the apex court had said in its order.

"Our constitution permits the execution of death sentence only through the procedure established by law and this procedure must be just, fair and reasonable," the order added.

All four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case -- Akshay Singh Thakur, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, and Mukesh Singh -- were hanged till death at 5:30 am this morning.

The case pertains to the brutal gang-rape and killing of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012, by six people including a juvenile in the national capital. The woman had died at a Singapore hospital a few days later.

One of the adults accused had allegedly committed suicide in the prison during the trial, while the juvenile was released from a correction home after a period of three years.

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News Network
May 19,2020

New Delhi, May 19: Spitting at workplace will be punishable with fine, the Personnel Ministry has said, citing the national directives for COVID-19 management.

In an order issued to all central government departments, it has asked their heads to ensure strict compliance of this and other directives in this regard.

This order is likely to bring about changes in and around government and private work places, where one can easily spot stains of 'pan' and 'gutka' spitted at some of the corners of walls or areas not frequented by many employees/public.

"Spitting in public and work places shall be punishable with fine, as may be prescribed in accordance with its laws, rules and regulations by the state/union territory local authority," said the national directives issued by the Home Ministry and shared by the Personnel Ministry with all central government departments.

It said wearing 'face cover' is compulsory in all public and work places.

In additional directives for the work places, the ministry said as far as possible, the practice from work from home should be followed.

"Staggering of work/business hours shall be followed in offices, work places, shops, markets and industrial and commercial establishments. Provision for thermal scanning, hand wash and sanitiser will be made at all entry and exit points and common areas," the directives said.

Frequent sanitization of the entire workplace, common facilities and all points which come into human contact e.g. door handles etc., shall be ensured, including between shifts, it said.

"All persons in charge of work places shall ensure social distancing through adequate distance between workers, adequate gaps between shifts, staggering the lunch breaks of staff, etc," the directive said.

The Centre on Monday asked 50 per cent of its junior employees, below the level of deputy secretary, to join work in office.

Till now, only 33 per cent of such employees were asked to attend office due to the novel coronavirus lockdown.

Central government employees were asked to work from home due to the lockdown that came into force from March 25.

All officers of the level of deputy secretary and above have already been asked to attend office on all working days.

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