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Economic crisis: UK seeks India`s help

New York, Sept 27: In a bid to rope in countries like India to join hands in tackling the financial meltdown in the US, British Premier Gordon Brown has said it cannot be left to the elite G-8 club alone to come out with strategies and wanted the involvement of G-20, which includes developing nations, as well.

With ways to prevent recurrence of the financial crisis high on the agenda of the world leaders assembled for the UN General Assembly here, the suggestion of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, an economist-turned politician, for a new international initiative to bring structural reform in the global financial system got instant support of Brown.

During their meeting on the margins of the UN General Assembly, Brown agreed with Singh that the existing global financial architecture was not robust enough to deal with the international turbulence in financial markets.

Highlighting the need for broader strategies, Brown said the G-20 will be well-suited to deal with the problem.

Singh said restoration of financial confidence is the need of the hour for the healthy growth of the economy. He said he will be to happy to work with Britain and other countries to give his expertise and work on ways to overcome the financial crisis.

The Indian Prime Minister, a former World Bank economist, suddenly finds himself in a situation where world leaders are looking forward to him to evolve ways to deal with the financial turmoil.

US President George W Bush, who is in the midst of firefighting operations to deal with the crisis, has already set the ball rolling when he told Singh that the one person he wanted to spend time with was the Prime Minister for his calming and serene effect.

Addressing the UNGA session, Singh himself said there is a need for a new international initiative to bring structural reform in the world's financial system with more effective regulation and stronger systems of multilateral consultations and surveillance.

The explosion of financial innovation unaccompanied by credible systemic regulation has made the financial system vulnerable. "The resulting crisis of confidence threatens global prosperity in the increasingly interdependent world in which we live," Singh said.

Brown and Singh felt it was high time there was a single monitoring mechanism for a surveillance of the world's financial system. Singh felt the system must be designed in as inclusive a manner as possible.

The two leaders felt that the financial meltdown earlier used to affect the periphery only but now it has hit the centre too. The financial fragility is leading to weakness of financial institutions and weakness in confidence.

The two leaders also felt that there should be better coordination for coordinated actions to increase the confidence level in the financial system.

Singh was of the view that the capital has become more global and the financial system has become seamless.

There is no international regulation, the Prime Minister said.

The issue of a financial crisis itself has come out on most occasions during Singh's bilateral meetings due to the Prime Minister's background as he is such a renowned economist with a lot of experience.

"Of course, he said what he thought," said Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon.
 
Exports up by 26.9% in August

New Delhi, Oct 01: India's exports increased by 26.9 per cent in August, while the import bill soared by 51.2 per cent leaving a trade deficit of 13.94 billion dollar for the month.

Exports grew to 16 billion dollar in August from 12.61 billion dollar, while imports rose to 29.94 billion dollar from 19.8 billion dollar in the same period last year.

The trade deficit widened to 13.94 billion dollar in August from 7.19 billion dollar a year-ago, according to official figures released here today.

India's crude oil import bill shot up by 76.7 per cent to 10.96 billion dollar from 6.2 billion dollar in August 2007.

For the April-August 2008 period, exports showed a growth of 35.1 per cent to 81.22 billion dollar. Imports rose by 37.7 per cent to 130.36 billion dollar in the first five months of the fiscal.

Consequently, the deficit in this period stood at 49.13 billion dollar.
 
RBI says state banks in robust condition

Pune, Oct 06: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Monday that the country's state-run banks were robust enough to deal with the global credit crisis and private sector banks also had adequate risk management systems.

Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor V Leeladhar said the RBI had been improving the risk management techniques of Indian banks over the past decade, and they could now easily face the challenges posed by the current difficult environment.

"Based on whatever information which is available to us, the banks, the public sector banks, I think are in a robust condition to deal with the financial crisis," he told reporters.

"The risk management systems of private sector banks are comparatively OK," he said.

Leeladhar indicated that private sector banks with overseas exposure could be affected to some extent.

"And of course when you have a presence overseas you run the risk of getting some exposure. But otherwise there would be no business done by the overseas branches of our banks," he said.

On ICICI Bank, Leeladhar said "Nothing has changed since our last statement."

Last week, the central bank said India's second-largest bank was well capitalised, following media reports that customers were withdrawing cash from ICICI because of rumours regarding its financial strength.

The global credit crunch has caused a spate of bank collapses, mergers and nationalisations in the United States and Europe in recent weeks on concerns about exposure of financial entities to toxic debt, rising bad loans and slowing growth.
 
Sourav Ganguly decides to call it a day

Bangalore, Oct 07: Sourav Ganguly, the most successful player to captain the Indian cricket team, announced he would be retiring after the Test series against Australia. The announcement puts to a close a magnificent career spanning 16 years, filled with milestones that place him among the greats of international cricket.

“I have informed my team-mates that this series would be my last,” an emotional Sourav Ganguly told reporters at a special press conference.

“Thank you all for your support. Hopefully I’ll go on a winning note,” he added.

On being asked about pressure before the series, he said, “Every series has pressures attached to it, you have to play well every time. No one can start as favourites in this series, both have the skills to win.”

He said that when he was a youngster, there were greats of the game like Azharuddin, Ravi Shastri and Kapil Dev and youngsters had to earn their place in the squad. The same is true today. He commended the younger players for doing a great job.

Ganguly, 36, has had a stupendous cricketing career, having scored 6888 runs in 109 Tests including 15 magnificent tons. Besides, he also scored 11363 runs in 311 ODIs with 22 centuries at an outstanding average of 41.02. The southpaw also captained India in 147 ODIs.

Having captained the country in most number of Tests (49), he led India to the most number of victories (21) by any Indian captain with a win percentage of over 40.

Since smashing a hundred on debut at Lord’s, Ganguly has had a phenomenal Test average that has never dipped below the 40 mark.

Head of India’s selection panel Kris Srikkanth said that he felt the former captain made the right decision in the present circumstances.

Talking to a cricket website, Srikkanth said, “I think Sourav Ganguly has been an excellent player. He has brought so many laurels as captain and player.”

"He had a good chat with me and Narendra Hirwani. He wants a peaceful series without any troubles on his mind. I hope he goes out with a couple of hundreds. Ganguly was one of the best captains the world has ever produced and I think he deserves it," Srikkanth added.

Ganguly’s cricketing future had been undecided after the Indian selectors dropped him from the Irani Trophy squad and hinted at his possible exclusion from the Australia series.

Ganguly, however, was picked in the 15 member squad at a selection committee meeting held last week in Mumbai.

Ganguly’s achievements also include being one of only three players to complete the treble of 10000 runs, 100 wickets and 100 catches in one-day internationals.

Ganguly had been in tremendous form with the bat since his comeback in 2006 scoring over one thousand five hundred runs at a staggering average of 50.67. The speculation on his future began after a dismal series in Sri Lanka.
 
12 Wall Street executives took home over $1 bn in 5 yrs

New York, Oct 07: In the midst of a financial turmoil, raising questions over fat executive pay packets, a media report on Tuesday listed out 12 top bankers of Wall Street who collectively took home over one billion dollars in the past five years including Lehman Brothers' chief Richard Fuld.

The total take-home pay of the 12 bankers, current and former chiefs of some of the biggest names in the US financial space, stands at USD 1,053.15 million during 2003-07, as per data compiled by the New York Times.

The report listed out Citigroup's India-born chief executive Vikram Pandit, JP Morgan Chase's James L Dimon and Goldman Sachs' Lloyd C Blankfein, among others.

Fuld, who is also the chairman of Lehman Brothers', took home USD 256.41 million.

"As recently as June 2008, Fuld said he was confident that Lehman was sound even as the bank posted a second-quarter loss of USD 2.8 billion. But on September 15, Lehman filed for bankruptcy and began sliding towards an eventual liquidation," the report said.

According to the report prepared with data provided by executive compensation research firm Equilar, Bank of America chairman and chief executive Kenneth D Lewis took home USD 133.36 million, while Dimon pocketed USD 108.72 million.

However, Pandit's salary is calculated only for a month, since he joined the banking behemoth only in December 2007. He received a compensation of USD 250,000 in that month.

Blankfein, chief executive and chairman at Goldman Sachs pocketed USD 102.74 millon.

Interestingly, at the investment banking giant, Blankfein replaced Henry Paulson Jr, the current US Treasury Secretary.

Meanwhile, former chief executive and chairman of Morgan Stanley Philip J Purcell had a take-home pay of USD 95.18 million. He resigned from the post in June 2005.

The current chairman and chief executive of Morgan Stanley John J Mack had a total compensation of USD 41.15 million. JP Morgan Chase's former chairman William B Harrison Jr had a compensation of USD 71.2 million.

According to New York Times, Merrill Lynch's former chief executive and chairman E Stanley O'Neal pocketed USD 80.96 million during 2003-07, while the present chief executive and chairman John A Thain pocketed USD 15.06 million.

Charles O Prince, the former chief executive and chairman of Citigroup, had a compensation of USD 65.45 million. He became the chief executive in October 2003 and resigned as CEO and chairman in November 2007.

Former chief executive and chairman of Bear Stearns, which was taken over by JP Morgan a few months back, received a total compensation of USD 82.53 million.
 
India can stand global financial storm`

New Delhi, Oct 07: India's economy will grow 8 percent this fiscal year and rebound to 9 percent next, the Finance Minister has said, despite the rout in global markets which has triggered recession fears in industrialised nations.

"There is a storm blowing across the world. India will be affected to some extent, although indirectly, but Indian business and industry have placed India in a situation where we can weather the storm," Palaniappan Chidambaram said.

The remarks made at an award ceremony for top businessmen late on Monday were released by the Finance Ministry on Tuesday.

Indian stocks have taken a battering in recent weeks and the rupee on Tuesday weakened beyond 48 to the dollar to its lowest since December 2002 as investors cut their exposure to riskier assets amid the financial turmoil.

Chidambaram cited robust revenues, exports and investment planned by Indian corporates as major positive factors which would help India through the global crisis.

"Huge capacities are being added in power, steel, commercial vehicles, passenger cars and two wheelers," he said. "What is there to fear? There is nothing to fear but fear itself."

Economists have said Asia's third-largest economy, which expanded at a rapid clip of 9 percent or more in the previous three years, would likely grow about 7.5 percent this fiscal.

Growth in the June quarter eased to an annual 7.9 percent, the slowest pace in 3- years, losing momentum as services slowed sharply and higher oil prices and interest rates weighed.

A survey by a leading industry lobby group on Monday showed rising raw material costs, wages and interest rates hurting corporate profits and growth over the next six months.

The survey of 348 firms by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry showed half were reconsidering or deferring investments and expected growth to remain the same or worsen over the next two quarters.

The USD 700 billion US rescue fund, ad hoc measures by European governments and massive injections of funds by central banks around the world have not been able to stop confidence in the financial system from evaporating or growing fears the global economy is on the path to recession.

"We will remain vigilant. Our regulators have shown great agility. Going forward, we can still end this year with a growth rate of 8.0 percent. I am confident that in 2009/10, the growth rate will bounce back to 9 percent," Chidambaram said.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday cut the cash reserve ratio (CRR) for banks to alleviate a cash squeeze caused by the global financial crisis, while the capital-markets regulator removed curbs on indirect investment notes to help encourage inflows.

RBI has warned of global and local risks to growth in the short term, although long-term prospects were robust. Annual wholesale price inflation has eased to just below 12 percent but price pressures remain.
 
Employers cut 533K jobs in Nov., most in 34 years
Skittish employers slashed 533,000 jobs in November, the most in 34 years, catapulting the unemployment rate to 6.7 percent, dramatic proof the country is careening deeper into recession.

The new figures, released by the Labor Department Friday, showed the crucial employment market deteriorating at an alarmingly rapid clip, and handed Americans some more grim news right before the holidays.

As companies throttled back hiring, the unemployment rate bolted from 6.5 percent in October to 6.7 percent last month, a 15-year high.

"These numbers are shocking," said economist Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economics Advisors. "Companies are sharply reacting to the economy's problems and slashing costs. They are not trying to ride it out."
 

rakeshmalik

Well-Known Member
S&P downgrades US credit rating from AAA
The credit rating agency on Friday lowered the nation's AAA rating for the first time since granting it in 1917. The move came less than a week after a gridlocked Congress finally agreed to spending cuts that would reduce the debt by more than $2 trillion -- a tumultuous process that contributed to convulsions in financial markets. The promised cuts were not enough to satisfy S&P
 

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