Sachin Lier and bad Sport

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) finally announced the Credit Policy. All key rates including the CRR, repo rate and reverse repo rate were kept unchanged. The GDP growth forecast was lowered to 7.5%. The RBI admitted that moderating growth remains a concern. the Central Bank expects resumption of export growth during the next quarter. It also hopes that net capital flow will meet the external financial requirements. The RBI has decided to enhance liquidity if pressure on the market persists. Here are the key features of RBI’s Credit Policy: All key rates including CRR, repo rate and reverse repo rate unchanged SLR norms unchanged GDP Growth Forecast lowered to 7.5% Inflation target was unchanged at 7% Credit Growth target lowered to 20% from 29%

In a shocking development, former Australian cricketer Adam Gilchrist, who can’t even be compared with the great Sachin Tendulkar, accused him of lying during the Sydney Test to save his team mate Harbhajan Singh. In his latest autobiography, “True Colors of My Life”, Adam Gilchrist has called Sachin Tendulkar “dishonest”, “liar” and “bad sport”. It could be a publicity stunt by Gilchrist to gain publicity for his book

The Indian Rupee continued to slide further, as it opened at an all-time-low of 50.15 against the US Dollar. Yesterday, it was closed at 49.81 against the USD. For the first time in history, the Rupee breached the psychological barrier of 50.00, causing panic in the market. As the trading progresses today, Rupee is feared to dip further.

Angry students protesting against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and its chief Raj Thackeray, set Motihari Railway Station on fire. Ironically, the mob fury was so high that GRP (Government Railway Police), RPF (Railway Protection Force) and police personnel fled from the spot, leaving the Railways Station at the mercy of rampaging students. Later, CRPF intervened and fired several rounds in the air to disperse the mob. The CRPF personnel had to resort to lathicharge and lobbed teargas shells to control the mob violence. Railway properties have been attacked elsewhere in Bihar for the third consecutive day. According to Railways, properties worth Rs. 5 – 7 crore have been destroyed by angry students. Several Bihar-bound trains including Rajdhani, Sampark Kranti and others have been cancelled, causing high inconvenience to the passengers. The passengers are not even able to get correct information regarding the cancellation, departure or reschedule of trains.

Even as the global economy has reached a bottom low, the Asia-Europe meeting will begin in Beijing to discuss important issues including the economic cooperation. India makes its debut at the ASEM with Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh (an Economist himself) representing India. Dr. Manmohan Singh is expected to provide vital suggestion on how to handle the global economic crisis. The ASEM has 45 countries with China taking the centre stage. The ASEM group includes 27 EU countries, the European Commission, ASEAN (10 countries), India, Pakistan, Mongolia and ASEAN Secretariat.

A sport-loving country of over 1.3 billion people and great cricketers across the world are outraged over the latest remarks made by former Australian wicket keeper Adam Gilchrist. Adam Gilchrist, who was considered as a “saint” in modern day cricket, called legendary Sachin Tendulkar as “dishonest” and “bad sport” in his latest autobiography, “True Colours My Life” which will be released next week. In his book, “True Colours of My Life”, Adam Gilchrist showed his true colours by raking up the racism row between Harbhajan and Symnonds during the Sydney Test. He accused Sachin Tendulkar of lying and being dishonest. According to Adam Gilchrist, Harbhajan Singh had made a racial remark against Andrew Symonds, but was let off with mild punishment only because of Sachin Tendulkar’s “false testimony”. Adam Gilchrist, who retired from test cricket recently, not only questioned Sachin Tendulkar’s honesty, but also criticised Harbhajan, Indian team, Indian Board (BCCI) and Australian Board (Cricket Australia) over this issue. Gilchrist’s latest tirade against Sachin Tendulkar has upset millions of cricket fans across the globe. Since Gilchrist is the skipper of Hyderabad Deccan Chargers in the IPL, it would be interesting to see, what price he will have to pay for his “irresponsible” and “condemnable” outburst against a legend, who has nothing to prove in cricket.

 

India created more jobs in US than US did here

‘India created more jobs in US than US did here’ Taking on critics of outsourcing to India and the alleged loss of American jobs in the process, India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath asserted that Indian investments in the United States in the last two years had created more jobs in the US that American investment in India has. In an interactive session with PBS television’s talk show host Charlie Rose at the 33rd anniversary summit of the US-India Business Council, Nath said, “Indian investment in the United States in the last two years is more than the US investment in India in the last two years, and India has created more jobs in the US than the US has created in India.” “Now, the Democrats must hear this,” he said, to which Rose quipped and asked if it were a campaign statement. Nath said that “trade and investment is now a two-way street,” and pointed out that American exports to India “went up by over 70 per cent last year. That’s not a small thing.” “Why are they going up? Because India is a healthy economy and that’s what I keep saying not only to the US, but to all developed countries,” he said. “That you must ensure that there are healthy economies in developing countries and it’s a great market for developed countries.” Nath said that the US needs to understand this “because healthy economies in developing countries mean greater markets. It’s no use being a country of one billion people if you have no ability to buy anything.” Asked if India’s remarkable growth rate would continue, Nath said there was no doubt about it and added, “We projected that we would be getting close to 10 per cent growth, but global economic outlook being what it is, we revised it downward to 8.5 per cent. Now, that itself is good.” Nath said this confidence and optimism were borne out of a notion that because of the “strong fundamentals,” the Indian economy has “built up a momentum of its own and we are confident this momentum will continue whatever be the global economic outlook.” However, he acknowledged that the 3 F’s — fuel, food and finance — were certainly cause for concern not just for India but for the whole world, and recalled that “they weren’t there when I came to the USIBC last year.” Nath also said the sub-prime loan crisis that has devastated the US housing market and led to unprecedented foreclosures in the country and plunged the country into what many economists say is indeed a recession with worldwide implications, would not impact on India. “We are quite decoupled from it,” he said. “There has been no exposure by the Indian financial system to the sub-prime crisis, but of course if there is slowdown in the US, it does affect us.” But Nath said that “more important is the sentiment and that’s what we need to guard against — this sentiment of gloom. The sentiment of gloom is worse than the gloom itself, and that’s what drives markets — this sentiment and this frenzy that goes around. (But) It’s not there in India.” He argued that the impact of this crisis is minimal “because our growth is not export-market driven — it’s domestic market driven. So, that keeps us in a little bit of a less vulnerable position,” unlike other Asian countries whose economies are largely export-driven. Nath also took exception to the allegations that India was responsible with its export ban for the worldwide shortage of rice, saying that “we banned the exports of only the cheap quality rice. If you want to buy rice from India, buy the good quality one. Why do you want to buy the cheap quality one.” He said, “Keep the cheap quality one for our 300 million people who earn less than $1 a day.” Nath also said the criticism that India was attempting to kill the Doha Round of global trade negotiations was “unfair and inaccurate.” He said that “India needs as much as the US, a rule-based multilateral trading system. So, for us, the Doha Round is as important as it is for the US.” But Nath asserted that “this round really needs to respect sensitivities. The United States has sensitivities on subsidies. Some countries have sensitivities on bananas. There is huge issue on coconuts. There are whole issues on tropical fruits. There are whole issues on subsistence. This round will close with each other respecting sensitivities. We need to harmonize these sensitivities.” “We are not going to get everything,” he acknowledged. “No country is going to get everything, but no country is going to give away everything.” Nath said, “I don’t criticize the US, I enlighten them. But we have moved forward since we were two years ago, where we were two months ago, and we continue to move forward.” The final question by Rose to the articulate and humorous Nath was that it used to be said that “every Senator in Washington used to look in the mirror in the morning and see a future president. When you look in the mirror in the morning do you see a future prime minister?” The 600 plus audience cracked up and engaged in sustained applause, when Nath replied: “Well, I see myself. And, there’s nothing better than seeing yourself.”