Montek: India poised to achieve eight per cent growth
London: Delivering the 27th Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Lecture on 'India in a Globalising World,' at the Chatham House, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said that India is poised to achieve an annual growth of around eight per cent in the near future.

"India is getting better day by day. There is huge amount of optimism about India. I have no doubt that the country is well positioned to accelerate from its present 6.5 per cent growth to around 8 per cent in the near future," he said.

"India's growth record during the period of globalisation has been much better than it was in the 1960s and 1970s, when economic growth slowed down to 3.5 per cent per year. Growth accelerated to around 5.7 per cent per year in the 1980s and 1990s and the economy is currently growing at about 6.5 per cent," he said.

"The present government has targeted a growth rate of between 7 and 8 per cent for the near future. Since population growth has slowed down from 2 per cent prior to 1990 to around 1.6 per cent at present, the acceleration in the growth of per capita incomes is obviously much better," Ahluwalia said.

The Planning Commission Deputy Chairman said India could emerge within ten years as an economy well on the way to achieving middle income status with a much broader middle class directly linked to the benefit of growth than is the case today.

"In Nehru's memorable phrase, we will have brought about India's second tryst with destiny," he said.
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Inflation rises to 5.48 per cent
New Delhi: The annual wholesale price index-based inflation rose to 5.48 per cent for the week ended April 9, as against the previous week's level of 5.26 per cent.

The 0.22 per cent increase in the year-on-year inflation rate during the latest reported week was largely on account of costlier vegetables, fruits, cooking gas and edible oils, according to data released here by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The WPI rose by 0.3 per cent to 190.7 points during the period, with the indices of primary articles and fuels going up. The index stood at 180.8 points during the corresponding period a year ago.

On a disaggregated basis, the index of Primary Articles' group rose by 0.3 per cent to 187 points due to costlier food and non-food articles.

The Fuel, Power, Light and Lubricants' group index rose by about one per cent to 292.5 points due to an eight per cent hike in the price of lignite and six per cent in cooking gas (LPG).

The index of Manufactured Products' group stood unchanged at the previous week's level of 169.2 points despite cheaper food products, textiles and machinery.

Among the Primary Articles' Group, the Food Articles' group index was up by 0.2 per cent to 187.7 points owing to higher prices of vegetables (four per cent), urad and pork (two per cent each) and fruits, gram and moong (one per cent each). Prices, however, declined in the case of poultry chicken (seven per cent), bajra and masur (two per cent each) and wheat and jowar (one per cent each).

The Government has revised upwards inflation to 5.12 per cent during the week ended February 12 as compared to provisional estimate of 5.01 per cent, while WPI stood corrected at 189 points during the second week of February against provisional level of 188.8 points.
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Parliamentary panel pulls up GAIL on DUPL tender
New Delhi: GAIL (India) Ltd has been pulled up by a Parliamentary panel for non-compliance with a Presidential Directive cancelling the tender for Dahej-Uran Pipeline Project (DUPL) and issuing fresh tenders.

The Standing Committee on Petroleum & Natural Gas on demands for grants (2005-06) of the Ministry of Petroleum on Wednesday directed the Ministry for Petroleum and Natural Gas to appoint a high-level fact-finding team to look into the matter and submit its report to the committee within a fortnight.

The committee noted that the project, scheduled for commissioning in February 2005, has been delayed due to technical problems. The problem was in the stipulation of longitudinally submerged arc welded (LSAW) pipes by GAIL in its tenders for gas transmission pipelines, which are more expensive than helically submerged arc welded (HSAW) pipes, though both are equally good for gas transportation.

Considering the technical nature of the issue involved, the Government had referred the matter to the Centre for High Technology (CHT). The CHT said that both pipes are used for gas transportation internationally and that both should therefore be included in the tender document. Subsequently, the Ministry in consultation with the Department of Public Enterprises issued a presidential directive to GAIL to cancel its tender for DUPL and issue fresh tenders.

The committee observed that it was surprised to note that GAIL had not suo motu cancelled the tender for the pipeline, which had specified only LSAW pipes, even after the findings of CHT came to its notice.

It also asked the Ministry to apprise it of the number of tenders invited/finalised by GAIL, specifying only LSAW pipes after the findings of CHT came to the knowledge of the Government and the financial loss caused as a result of GAIL's decision.

The company was directed to expedite its decision in the matter and issue fresh tenders facilitating wider participation of bidders thereby securing the most competitive prices for the pipeline project.
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