RBI Action Could Harden Interest Sates,SBI

Chairman of the country’s largest bank, OP Bhatt said that the interest rates are likely to rise as the Reserve Bank of India moves to tighten its monetary policy.

SBI chief also hinted that loan defaults mainly from the SME segment may rise in the coming quarters.

He said, “Inflation is rising and there are fears that regulatory action may lead to hardening of interest rates,” in a conference organised by Indian Banks’ Association and SBI. The summit recognized the fact that 650,000 villages in India are yet to be provided with the banking facilities.

Bhatt suggested the outsourcing model for reaching the rural areas. Stressing the point that banks need to improve their risk management mechanisms, he added that the demand from large firms are to be given due attention and the world class companies should be provided with services that match their standards.

Cash Reserve Ratio is expected to rise as RBI is to hold its annual policy review later this month. The ratio is the proportion of amount all banks has to park with the RBI on a mandatory basis. He also expects a rise in non-performing assets in the next two quarters.

India Will Not Accept Legally Binding Emission Cuts,Saran

New Delhi, Dec. 3 : India will follow the policy of voluntary emission cuts and will not accept any legally binding emission cuts, the Prime Minister”s Special Envoy for Climate Change, Shyam Saran said here on Wednesday just days before the Copenhagen summit.

The international community has been building pressure on India after US President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao announced commitments to reduce emissions.

Saran said that India being a developing economy was not bound by any “legally binding emission cuts”.

“Legally binding emission reduction targets are only the obligation of the developed countries. With regard to developing countries, they are expected to take mitigation action but these mitigation actions must be supported by financial resources as well as technology and these can be of course subject to verification,” Saran told reporters on the sidelines of a function in New Delhi.

“As far as our own voluntary action are concerned, those voluntary actions which will have a very major impact in terms of not only our nationally meeting the challenge of climate change but also will be a contribution to the global effort, what we are prepared to do is reflect them, say in the form of our national communications to the UN framework and convention on climate change and this stand of India has been very widely appreciated,” he added.

India thinks it may be possible to cut its carbon intensity by 24 percent by 2020 compared with 2005 levels, according to provisional government estimates obtained by Reuters Wednesday.

Carbon intensity is the amount of carbon dioxide emitted for each unit of gross domestic product.

By 2030, India estimates it could achieve a reduction in its carbon intensity by 37 percent from 2005 levels. The figures were arrived at after an analysis by various government departments.

A senior government official who declined to be named said India”s final targets, likely to be presented at next week”s global climate change talks in Copenhagen, could reflect a broad range rather than a specific figure.

India”s carbon intensity cut figures are based on a projection that the country would achieve 20 percent energy efficiency by 2020 from 2007 levels.

India ranks as the world”s fourth highest carbon emitter, with 1.8 tonnes of emissions per thousand dollars of GDP compared to China”s emission of 2.85 tonnes.

India is under pressure to announce details of how it will control its growing carbon emissions, and issuing targets will likely strengthen New Delhi”s hands at the Copenhagen negotiations.

China and the United States, the top and second largest emitters in the world, have unveiled plans to curb greenhouse gas emissions, leaving India the only major polluter still to issue any targets.

China”s position comes after the United States said it would commit to cut its greenhouse gas emissions roughly 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, a drop of about 3 percent below the 1990 benchmark year used in U. N. treaties. (ANI)

Delhi Hosts Kazakhstan-India Travel And Tourism Fair

New Delhi, Nov. 21: India and Kazakhstan have both been affected by the global recession, but this has not prevented them from striving to keep bilateral business ties alive since January of this year, when the meltdown was at its devastating peak.

The business end of this strategic relationship has covered cooperation in several areas, including energy, civil nuclear activity, science and technology, space, pharmaceuticals and information technology. Travel and tourism has also emerged as a potential area for cooperation, and in this context, the Indian capital, New Delhi, played host to the four-day IVth Kazakhstan-India Travel and Tourism Fair, which concludes today.

Addressing honchos of the Indian travel and tourism trade at the Le Meridian Hotel here on Friday evening, Kairat Akhmetalim, Charge D’ Affaire of the Embassy of Kazakhstan in India said it was a good tradition to regularly hold tourism and travel gatherings. He said this event reflected the high level of cooperation that has existed between his country and India in these two sectors since 2006.

“Both Kazakhstan and India are witness to outward and inward tourist flows. Today’s event provides another opportunity to promote Kazakhstan as a tourism-friendly destination. The Government of Kazakhstan has identified the tourism sector for priority promotion,” Akhmetalim said.

He also gave an overview of developments taking place in Kazakhstan, both in the Eurasian and global context.

J. P. Shaw, Deputy Director-General in the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, said there were a lot of similarities between the two countries vis-à-vis tourism products and potential. The Indian Government, he said, was using its existing infrastructure to develop and promote tourism products through its 14 offices abroad and 18 in India.

With “Incredible India” as the Ministry of Tourism’s signature theme, Mr. Shaw said that despite the recession, the GOI is quite optimistic about achieving its goals in the tourism sector, both domestically and externally.

He also acknowledged the drop in tourist arrivals in 2009 (-7 percent), the drop in foreign exchange earnings (FEE) from 507 billion rupees in 2008 to 424 billion rupees in 2009.

However, he said, the impact of tourism on the Indian economy can never be underestimated, as it provides nine percent of employment; 49.8 million direct and indirect jobs and contributes six percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Insofar as the action taken to counter the global meltdown, Mr. Shaw said the GOI has initiated a liberalization of market development assistance schemes, launched aggressive marketing campaigns and road shows in key source markets, organized familiarization tours and declared 2009 as the Visit India Year. As a result, he said FEE’s were presently at 18percent.

Shaw also said emphasis was also being placed on promoting rural tourism through 150 designated sites, and made a mention of the initiatives that are being taken to make the Commonwealth Games in Delhi as the signature tourism event of 2010.

Shakira Adibekova, Deputy Director of the Kazakhstan Tourist Association (KTA), spoke about the high level of cooperation between Kazakhstan and India in the tourism sector, and how over the last decade, the KTA has been actively promoting the hotel and tourism industry. She also gave a round-up of Kazakhstan’s tourism potential. A particular focus of her presentation was the fact that Indian inbound tourist arrivals to Kazakhstan has dropped by almost half since 2007, while outward tourist flows from Kazakhstan to India were on the rise. She said that in 2009, Indian tourist arrivals were a little over 700, while more than 1200 Kazakh tourists had visited India in the January-October 2009 period.

Richard Ledger, Director (Sales) Air Astana and Virender Teotia, General Sales Agent for Air Astana in India also spoke on the occasion and revealed their intention to build brand awareness of the airline in India with a focus on leisure tourism.

The evening ended with a video presentation on the many aspects of Kazakhstan, reflecting its image as a tourism friendly destination. (ANI)

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