Iran to pump gas to India, Pak from 2011
New Delhi: Iran plans to begin pumping gas to Pakistan and India from the South Pars field via the $7 billion trans-national Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline by 2011 said Iran's oil ministry special representative Ghanimi Fard after meeting Petroleum Minister Murli Deora.

Fard has invited Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to Tehran by end-July to sign the pact.

Iran would initially supply 60 million standard cubic meters per day (mscmd) of gas, which will be shared equally between India and Pakistan.

He added that the understanding was that each country would lay the 2,100 km pipeline in its own territory. Iran would lay a 1,100-km pipeline from the Persian Gulf to the Iran-Pakistan border while Pakistan would lay a 1,035 km of the pipeline from its border with Iran to the Indian border. India would then pipe the gas to consumption centres within the country.
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Iran wants to sell LNG to Indian private sector
Iran has proposed selling liquefied natural gas to the Indian private sector. This is as the government is reluctant to pay a higher price for the gas contracted in 2005.

The IOC-Gail-BPCL combine in June 2005 signed a $22 billion deal to import 5 million ton of LNG from Iran beginning 2010. However, the new government in Tehran has refused to honour the deal unless a higher price is paid, and has begun dialogue with private sector firm to sell that gas.

Iran has sent feelers to the government seeking transfer of the volumes committed in 2005 to private firms.

However the government wants Tehran to fulfil the 2005 commitment first and only then could it sell additional LNG to private firms like Essar and the Anil Dhirubai Ambani Group (ADAG).
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US terminates duty-free tariffs for Indian gold jewellery
New Delhi: The US government has terminated the 'generalised system of preference' (GSP) - duty-free tariff regime for India's exports of gold jewellery and brass lamps.
The GSP regime allows the US Government to extend preferential tariff arrangements for select countries, according to reports from Washington.

Consequently, these exports would attract import tariff applicable for exports from other countries engaged in the same trade.

Duty-free imports into the US under the GSP accounted for $32.6 billion worth of goods from developing countries in 2006, according to the reports.

India shipped gold jewellery worth $1.6 billion and $20 million worth of brass lamps under the GSP programme in the first 10 months of 2006. Along with India, Brazil and some other developing countries have also been targeted under a programme revamped late last year by the US Congress.

Indian jewellery exports will now attract 6.5 per cent duty in the US.

Out of the total jewellery purchased by US from various countries, Indian jewellery accounts for 33.2 per cent, according to GJEPC News, published on the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (Council) Web site.

Vasant Mehta, vice-chairman of the council said the effect of this could be that Indian jewellery may lose some business to China.
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Inflation declines further to 4.03 per cent
New Delhi: The annual wholesale price index-based inflation rate rose 4.03 per cent during the week ended June 16, lower than the previous week's annual rise of 4.28 per cent. The dip in the inflation rate during the latest week, its lowest levels in 14 months, came about after a fall across all the three major indices - primary articles, manufactured products and fuels, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry here on Friday.

During the latest reported week, the WPI declined by 0.05 per cent to 211.7 points during the week from 211.8 points a week ago. Inflation was recorded at 5.50 per cent during the corresponding week of the previous year.

The current inflation level is much below the target projected by the RBI for the fiscal. The RBI has a target to contain inflation at close to five per cent during 2007-08 and bring it down to 4.0-4.5 per cent over the medium-term. Inflation had hit a two-year high of 6.69 per cent in January this year.

Iinflation in food items category in the Primary Articles' group declined to a 41-week low of 6.75 per cent from 7.58 per cent in the week ended June 9. The fall was seen across all primary articles, except condiments and spices, oilseeds and minerals.

Inflation in manufactured products declined by 12 basis points to 5.13 per cent because of a fall recorded in case of manufactured food products, textiles, rubber and plastic products and non-metallic minerals.

Inflation in the fuel group dropped further to a negative 1.35 per cent, from a negative 1.23 per cent in the week ended June 9. The current inflation in the fuel group is lowest in more than the last eight years, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy.
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