The government must be heaving a sigh of relief. After months and months of persistently high inflation, it believes that inflation is set to come down. This has largely been due to a drop in food prices and especially that of onions which has crashed drastically. Thus, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) declined marginally to 8.23% in January from 8.43% in the previous month. Whether inflation finally comes down within the comfort limits of the RBI for the fiscal remains to be seen.
The industrial production too has slowed down in the last two months after growing at a healthy pace in the previous months. However, it seems early days yet to brand it as a slowdown and one will have to see in the coming months whether industrial production does manage to inch up.
Even if inflation does come down by the end of the fiscal, the government will have to seriously consider some long term reforms especially in the agriculture sector. A large part of the rise in inflation has mostly been due to the surge in food prices. That in itself was a product of poor monsoons in 2009 and wastage of foodgrain due to inadequate storage facilities. It is obvious that more efforts will have to be made to ramp up the agricultural infrastructure if surges in food prices gave to be avoided in the future.
If India's GDP has to grow at a strong pace in the future, it has to be matched by an equally healthy growth in agriculture and manufacturing. The last time the Indian government made some drastic changes to the Indian economy was in the early 1990s when precarious state of affairs on the foreign exchange reserves front compelled it to open up the Indian economy. Since then, reforms have grown at a snail's pace. Indeed, it would be in India's best interests if reforms are undertaken in a staggered manner rather than drastically at the time of crises. It is really up to the Indian government to pull up its socks and get down to some serious business.
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MRPL share price has hit a 52-week high. It is presently trading at Rs 45. BSE 500 Index is up by 1.7% at 19,713. Within the BSE 500, MRPL (up 8.3%) and RCF (up 20.0%) are among the top gainers, while top losers are HIMADRI SPECIALITY CHEMICAL and BHARTI AIRTEL.
KEC INTERNATIONAL share price is trading up by 5% and its current market price is Rs 454. The BSE CAPITAL GOODS is up by 1.6%. The top gainers in the BSE CAPITAL GOODS Index are KEC INTERNATIONAL (up 5.2%) and BHARAT ELECTRONICS (up 6.5%). The top losers are SCHAEFFLER INDIA (down 0.2%) and HINDUSTAN AERO. (down 0.3%).
GUJARAT ALKALIES share price is trading up by 10% and its current market price is Rs 346. The BSE 500 is up by 1.6%. The top gainers in the BSE 500 Index are GUJARAT ALKALIES (up 10.2%) and DEEPAK NITRITE (up 14.5%). The top losers are COLGATE and HDFC AMC .
DEEPAK NITRITE share price is trading up by 13% and its current market price is Rs 1,553. The BSE 500 is up by 1.4%. The top gainers in the BSE 500 Index are DEEPAK NITRITE (up 12.8%) and JUST DIAL (up 14.2%). The top losers are BAJAJ HOLDINGS & INVESTMENT and CADILA HEALTHCARE .
HIMADRI SPECIALITY CHEMICAL share price is trading down by 11% and its current market price is Rs 55. The BSE 500 is up by 1.4%. The top gainers in the BSE 500 Index are RCF (up 20.0%) and MMTC (up 20.0%). The top losers is HIMADRI SPECIALITY CHEMICAL (down 11.3%).
BSE Sensex is trading up by 378 points, while the NSE Nifty is trading up by 165 points.
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