03.02.2010

Politics & the Nation

• Much ado about tea logo
  
• The young and dashing Minister (of State for Commerce) that he is, Mr. Jyotiraditya Scindia appears to be wanting to give an equally dashing update to the long used and staid tea logo used by our Tea Board.
• Mr Scindia called for a replacement for the tea plucker logo introduced back in 1976 to represent and certify tea made in the country.
• What are the issues involved?
• The minister indicated that there is a need to make it a more contemporary one. Mr Scindia plans to create an umbrella brand for Indian tea, which is more vibrant, youthful, exciting and visually connects the rich heritage of Indian tea. A lady carrying a burden on her back has some negative connotations, which need to be changed, according to this line of thinking.
• However there another school which says that logo is not of much importance in export markets. People of this school feel that the Tea Board should instead go for extensive campaign in target market to promote Indian tea.
• Also, there is the problem of getting the new logo registered in all the export markets to check misuse. The current logo, introduced as a marketing symbol, is protected under copyright as well as certification trade mark.
• India, the largest producer of tea, has been brewing the drink since the time of Valmiki and is mentioned in Ramayana. India exported 169.3 million kg of tea and had earned a foreign exchange of Rs 2311.13 crore in the first 11 months of 2009.
• Foreign workers and work permits
  
• So far, we have been reading about work permits being restricted for foreigners in US or other developed countries. But now it appears it is time for India to play the game. Vis-a-vis the Chinese mostly. But nationals from other countries will not be far away from being caught in the trap.
• Take a look at this news story. Worth a read. It will get us started on the kind of issues, pros and cons of such restrictions.

Finance & Economy

• SEBI pulls the plug on liquid plus (aka ultra short-term) schemes
  
• SEBI directed that investors in these schemes should value their investments on MTM basis. Let's get a quick lesson on the issue:
• What are liquid plus schemes?
• Liquid plus schemes are schemes that invest in money market and debt securities of over three months. Such schemes comprise almost 40% of the mutual fund industry's assets under management of Rs 7.59 lakh crore.
• Why are they popular?
• The schemes have managed to fetch 5-5.5% annually while liquid schemes and banks' short-term fixed deposits have fetched 4-4.25%. Also, such schemes only carry a dividend distribution tax of 14% for individuals and 22% for corporates, whereas interest income on fixed deposits is taxed at 33%.
• What did SEBI do now?
• The capital market regulator has directed mutual funds to value money market and debt securities with maturity over 91 days — the instruments that constitute this scheme — on mark-to-market basis. In other words, fund houses will have to factor in any drop in securities’ prices on a daily basis to calculate a scheme’s NAV or net asset value (which reflects the price of a mutual fund unit).
• What's the impact of Sebi's move?
• Sebi's step will bring NAVs of these schemes closer to the market prices. It would result in higher volatility in returns from such schemes and could dramatically reduce its attraction among investors.
• A look at how corporates access non-banking channels to meet their short term credit needs.
  
• RBI's monetary policy review reveals that there was an alarming shrinking of bank credit over the past 12 months. This is surprising because every other economic indicator seems to be growing: GDP, industrial production, exports. Total credit flow from scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) over the past 12 months (as on January 16, 2010) amounted to Rs 3,66,832 crore, showing a growth of 13.9%. In the preceding 12-month period ended January 15, 2009, total credit of Rs 4,76,514 crore flowed from banks, showing a growth of 22% over the comparable period.
• What does this suggest? It suggests that corporates have been able to tap the non-banking channels for their credit needs -- especially of the shorter variety. How?
• The non-banking sources include: commercial paper and other forms of corporate debt issued to mutual funds, non-banking finance companies and insurance companies (particularly Life Insurance Corporation), private equity placements to qualified institutional buyers, foreign direct investment, some equity issued in overseas markets in the form of American depositary receipts and global depositary receipts and some selective external commercial borrowing.
• Here’s a look at the numbers put out by RBI: private placements raked in Rs 81,617 crore till September, CPs issued to non-banks got corporates Rs 47,744 crore till end-December, FDI till November brought in Rs 1,20,837 crore. Interestingly, LIC’s net investment in corporate debt, infrastructure and social sector amounted to Rs 35,326 crore till end-December.
• Got a macro picture of how the wheels of the economy keep moving?
• Change in base year to spruce up fiscal deficit figures?
  
• Thanks to the revision in the base year to 2004-05 for national accounts from 1999-2000, the fiscal deficit for the current year is likely to drop to 6.5%, other things being equal.
• With the revision in the base year, the GDP at market prices for 2008-09 is estimated at 55,74,449 crore as against Rs 53,21,753 crore estimated in the earlier series and used in the fiscal deficit calculations in budget for 2009-10.
• The government had assumed a 10.05% growth rate in GDP (at market rates). If the same rate of growth is assumed for the current fiscal, then the absolute GDP at market prices will be 61,59,766 crore in the new series, against Rs 58,56,569 crore assumed in the budget.
• Assuming that the fiscal deficit remains at Rs 4,00,996 crore, on a higher GDP the deficit as a percentage will drop to 6.5%, against 6.8% provided in the budget, giving the FM a straight statistical advantage of 0.3 percentage points.
• To put it simply, with this upward revision in the country’s income under the new series has brought down the fiscal deficit relative to the GDP.
• What's the debate surrounding the GBS?
  
• Take a look at this graphic. It gives you a lowdown on the issue.
• On floating rate interests
  
• Here is a good primer on them. Worth a look.
• Want to understand the difference between various types of SB accounts?
  
• Take a look at this graphic. It's right on dot in making us understand the difference.

Society

• Be careful with your status messages and tweets
  
• If you are a tweeter (i.e., a person using Twitter) or a person using some other microblogging sites like Facebook, then you must read this news story. It will be an eye-opener. Don't ever think that it happens in some far away land in some white country. It can happen right here in India to you or anyone of us.

Language Lessons

• peccadillo: Noun
• A petty misdeed.
• eg: It took a razor-sharp swipe by Bill Gates to turn the spotlight once again on Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, perennially in the news anyway for his peccadillos and, more recently, corruption charges.
• tomentum: Noun
• Filamentous hairlike growth on a plant; A network of tiny blood vessels between the cerebral surface of the pia mater and the cerebral cortex
• coiffure: Noun
• The arrangement of the hair (especially a woman's hair);
• Verb: Arrange attractively
• wicker: Noun
• Slender flexible branches or twigs (especially of willow or some canes); used for wickerwork; Work made of interlaced slender branches (especially willow branches)
• eg: The lady in black & white with a wicker-basket of three tea leaves strapped to her head may soon fade into history as the government eyes a more contemporary image for Indian tea abroad.