India and Japan for mutual support on UNSC bid
New Delhi: India and Japan have agreed to help each other's bid at the United Nations Security Council. The decision has come after Prime Minister Manomhan Singh met his Japanese counterpart Junichiro Koizumi in New Delhi on Friday. Japan and India are bidding for a place on the Security Council.

The two countries will also work together on non-proliferation. India and Japan have also announced a new strategic and trade partnership in a joint statement. India and Japan have agreed to cooperate on an eight-point agenda, which includes:

• A security dialogue between National Security Advisors on issues like protecting the high seas to east Asia
  
• Enhancing Japanese trade and investment, as trade is presently stagnant at $4 billion
  
• Cooperation in science and technology and clean energy
  
• People-to-people contact like introducing the Japanese language in Indian schools

Japanese officials have said that Koizumi's agreements with New Delhi are a sign that Tokyo "wants to pluck India out of South Asia".

The Japanese Prime Minister's next stop is Pakistan.

And whether the 21st century will indeed be the century of Asia, will depend entirely on the success of these interactions.
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Koizumi: Japanese firms ready to expand in India
New Delhi: Calling for co-operation between India and Japan at the bilateral, regional and global levels, the Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, negated the view that trade ties between the two countries was stagnant and said that many Japanese firms were willing to invest in India and expand their businesses.

"There seems to be a perception that trade and investment are stagnating. In fact, they are growing," said Koizumi, addressing the captains of the Indian industry at a meeting organised by the three chambers - Assocham, CII and FICCI.

Trade between India and Japan rose 16 per cent in 2004, and the number of Japanese companies investing in India has risen to over 300 from about 220 in 2000.

Seventy per cent of Japanese companies in India enjoy black ink in their balance sheets and 90 per cent of these are considering expanding their business, he said.

Earlier, the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Kamal Nath, said, "It (India-Japan trade) has been stagnating at $4 billion a year for the past eight years. The trade relations between India and other Asian countries in the region such as China and Korea have shown remarkable growth."

He, however, pointed out that bilateral trade between the nations could reach $10 billion within three years. "We now have a plan of building a quadrilateral railway line, connecting the four corners of the country, exclusively devoted to the movement of goods and trade. This will require a minimum investment of $5 billion, and it offers an excellent opportunity for investors," Kamal Nath said.

Koizumi lauded India's 'Look East' policy and said the future belonged to Asia. He assured Japan's support to India for widening and deepening engagement in East Asian regional arrangements.
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Trade deficit at all-time high of $26.6 bn
New Delhi: The country's exports during 2004-05 have touched a record $79.59 billion even as the trade deficit also set a record level of $26.6 billion following an unprecedented import worth $106 billion.

According to provisional figures released by the Commerce Ministry, merchandise exports during the year at $79,593.59 million ($79.59 billion) registered a growth of 24.41 per cent over the level of $63,978.78 million ($63.9 billion) in 2003-04. The export growth in 2003-04 over the previous year was 21.31 per cent.

The export growth rate target of 16 per cent originally set for 2004-05 (corresponding to a value of $73.4 billion) has been surpassed by 50 per cent.

Meanwhile, an internal study of the trends in exports during the first 11 months of 2004-05 shows that high-growth items include iron ore at 158 per cent, petroleum, crude and products at 91 per cent, plastic and linoleum products at 87 per cent, primary and semi- finished steel at 53 per cent, and transport equipment at 50 per cent.

The major trading partners were Singapore, which recorded the highest growth at 78 per cent, followed by China (58 per cent) and the UAE (38 per cent).

Imports during the year were valued at $1,06,121.18 million ($106 billion), representing an increase of 35.62 per cent over $78,250.86 million in 2003-04. Oil imports were valued at $29,084.44 million, 41.19 per cent higher than $20,599.19 million in the corresponding previous period. Non-oil imports are estimated at $77,036.30 million, 33.62 per cent higher than $57651.67 million clocked earlier.

The high export growth and a higher import growth meant a record trade deficit for the country, which for the first time amounted to a massive $26,527.59 million, higher than $14,272.08 million in 2003-04.
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Inflation touches 5.64 per cent
New Delhi: Inflation continued to remain at a four months high of 5.64 per cent during the week ended April 16, even as Finance and Petroleum Ministries are yet to find out ways to effect an imminent price hike in petro products.

The point-to-point Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation rose by 0.16 per cent from 5.48 per cent in the previous week mainly owing to costlier food and manufactured products, even as minerals became cheaper. It was 4.68 per cent a year-ago period.

The WPI was up by 0.3 per cent to 191.2 points due to an all round increase in the indices of all the major commodity groups -- primary, fuels and manufactured products despite international oil prices started sliding. It was 181 points in the previous year period.

The Government revised upwards inflation to 4.89 per cent during the week ended February 19, as compared to provisional estimate of 4.83 per cent, while WPI stood corrected at 188.9 points during the second week of February against provisional level of 188.8 points.
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Govt. approves 9.5 per cent interest rate for EPF subscribers
New Delhi: The Finance Ministry has ratified the 9.5 per cent interest rate which it had announced earlier, and accordingly up to four crore subscribers of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) will now get a 9.5 per cent interest on their savings for 2002-03 and 2003-2004.

Ahead of the assembly elections in Bihar, Jharkhand and Haryana, the government had announced that it would offer 9.5 per cent interest in 2004-05 as well. However, the rate for this financial year has not been decided yet.

There is an estimated Rs927 crore gap between what the EPF board earns from its investments and the higher 9.5 per cent rate to be paid to subscribers.
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New system for customs and excise reporting from May 1
New Delhi: From May 1, customs and central excise field formations would have to conform to a new system of reporting to the Finance Ministry.

The new system seeks to ensure greater efficiency, substantial savings in resources of the Revenue Department, and availability of reliable data in a timely manner.

The Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, has accepted the recommendations of the working group that was set up to review the current system of management information system (MIS) reports and returns prepared by the field formations of Customs, Central excise and service tax.

"The working group has recommended a drastic reduction in the total number of reports from 133 (for Customs, Central excise and service tax taken together) to seven periodic reports. We have accepted this recommendation. This is a major step," Chidambaram told newspersons.

It was felt that the number of reports and returns had grown to unmanageable proportions over the years owing to the introduction of several ad hoc reports from time to time.

Apart from straining the administrative resources of the Department, it implied numerous and unnecessary interaction with the assessee from whom the requisite information was often required to be collected.

Meanwhile, a statement issued by the Finance Ministry said that the format of the reports has also been revised so as to make them amenable to electronic filing and processing.
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Indians top 'intending car buyers' list across Asia
Chennai: An online survey by AC Nielsen says that compared with their American and European counterparts, Asians were the "most aspirational" when it came to car ownership in the next 12 months. The survey also shows that Indians top the list of intending car buyers across Asia.

AC Nielsen polled over 14,000 Internet users in 28 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe and the US. Forty-four per cent of the Indians polled, an equal percentage of Malaysians, and 38 per cent of Indonesians expressed an intention to buy a car in the next 12 months.

Price, the survey indicated, was the most important factor for a purchase. "Price was the most frequently cited driver of choice, and therefore was a universal consideration for new car purchases. Other considerations like fuel consumption, performance and safety were a distant second and third, and varied across the three regions," said the marketing information provider.

World over, Toyota was number one, in terms of consideration for future purchase. But in India, the clear choice was Hyundai, and 24 per cent of those surveyed indicated that "future purchase is most likely to be from the company's portfolio."

Car ownership was lowest among Asian countries and they occupied the last nine ranks for the same. India, however, lead the pack of Asian countries, with 60 per cent of the Internet users polled also owning a car. The figure for China was 31 per cent.
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