>>>> ECONOMY

a.. The Indian economy continues to be on a robust growth trajectory. The overall growth of GDP during the first quarter (April-June) of 2006-07 was 8.9 percent as compared to 8.5 per cent during Q1 in 2005-2006. At disaggregated level the growth was 3.4 per cent in Agriculture, 9.7 percent in Industry and 10.6 per cent in Services.

b.. In the mid term review of its Annual Policy for 2006-07, Reserve Bank of India has forecasted that the GDP growth to be around 8.0 percent for the financial year 2006-07.

c.. The Planning Commission's Approach Paper for the 11th Five-Year Plan has set a growth target of 10 per cent in the final year of the plan (2011-12).

d.. Corporate India is back on track. The ET-NCAER Business Confidence Survey (BCI) shot up by nearly 11 points to 152.5 after recording a decline in the July ended quarter. The BCI has moved up by 7.6 percent in the second quarter of this financial year. Hence, India Inc. has emerged much stronger and confident in this quarter. All four components of the BCI, namely, overall economic condition, financial position, investment climate and capacity utilization witnessed an increase in the September ended quarter. The financial results of the first 100 companies that announced their quarterly figures also indicate an upward trend. In fact, the confidence is so high that mergers and acquisitions have also reached new peaks, with several big-ticket mergers taking place in recent months.

e.. Considering the case of industry, overall industrial growth was 10.6 per cent during April-August, 2006 as compared with 8.7 per cent in April-August, 2005.

f.. India's foreign exchange reserves were US$ 166.2 billion as on October 20, 2006, showing an increase of US$ 14.5 billion over end-March 2006 level. The increase in reserves was mainly due to increase in foreign currency assets from US$ 145.1 billion at end March 2006 to US$ 159.3 billion as on October 20,2006.

g.. Forex reserves (excluding Gold and SDRs) stood at $158.34 billion at the end of September 2006.

h.. Rupee appreciated against Japanese Yen, US Dollar, Pound Sterling and Euro in September 2006.

i.. The inflation rate is southward-bound, making the macro picture look even better. The annual inflation rate in terms of WPI (Base 1993-94=100) was 5.16 per cent for the week ended September 30, 2006 as compared with 4.61 per cent a year ago.

j.. Unveiling the mid term review of its annual policy for 2006-07, the RBI reiterated that inflation would be contained at 5.5 percent for fiscal 2006-07

k.. India has improved its position by two places in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) rankings for 2006-07 coming in 43rd, well ahead of Brazil (66), China (54) and Russia (62). The report measures the steps taken by the economies to encourage companies to set up shops also lauded efficiency gains made by India in labour and financial markets.

l.. FII registrations in the country have gone up significantly over the years. The number of registered FIIs have gone up from 823 in December 2005 to 972 in October 2006.

m.. Net investments by FIIs in Indian equities in September amounted to US$ 1.388 billion (Rs. 6,232 crore), the highest in any month since the beginning of this fiscal.

n.. India's external debt stock as at end-March 2006 rose to US$125.2 billion from US$123.2 billion at end-March 2005. The increase in 2005-06 was around US$2 billion as compared to an increase of US$11.6 billion in 2004-05. The lower level of accumulation of external debt in 2005-06 was essentially due to redemption of India Millennium Deposits (IMDs) of US$ 5.5 billion in December 2005. Component-wise, the increase in debt stock during 2005-06 was mainly due to escalation in NRI deposits and surge in short-term credits, which were partially offset by contraction in commercial borrowings and bilateral loans.

o.. Quarterly GDP at factor cost at constant (1999-2000) prices for Q1 of 2006-07 is estimated at US$ 146.132 billion (Rs 6,56,064 crore), as against US$ 134.211 billion (Rs. 6,02,476 crore) in Q1of 2005-06, showing a growth rate of 8.9 percent over the corresponding quarter of previous year.

p.. GDP at factor cost at current prices in Q1 of 2006-07 is estimated at US$ 186.034 billion (Rs. 8,35,109 crore) as against US$ 163.602 billion (Rs. 7,34,510 crore) in Q1 of 2005-06, showing an increase of 13.7 percent.