Hiked Interest Rates May Pull Back Indian Growth This Year: IMF

"Indian growth story may go low this year because of the hike in interest rates proposed by the Reserve Bank of India. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), India had touched 8.7-growth rate last year, but the growth rate would possibly go down to 8.1 percent in 2007.

However, the IMF has also accepted said that Indian growth would remain rapid as the manufacturing and services sectors are showing strong momentum. But, there is a urgent need to restrict the strong inflationary pressures to retain the good growth rate in the country.

The current policy of higher interest rates will have its impact on consumer demand and the housing market this year and in next year too. It would possibly result in 7.5 percent growth rate in 2008."

Eventhough the rise in interest rates and the media stories about them have dampened the upbeat spirit of Indian Consumers, Industrial Growth is continuing. People who are bullish about the long terms prospects of India and the India Rising story might stand to benefit this current phase of bearish mood of the consumers.

Tata 1 Lak Rupees car triggering a global car war

When Tata announced the plan for 1 Lak Rupees car, everyone was wondering how it would be possible. Even before the launch of this car, it has however have triggered seismatic changes on a global scale. BusinessWeek is reporting on the Race to build Really Cheap cars for the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) Countries where the demand for such cars are estimated to be in hundreds of Millions. BusinessWeek is predicting the change to be as big as the introduction of Henry Ford's T Model.


Chennai is supposed to a global manufacturing hub for these cars and could be well on course for being the next Detroit. But if Indian Driving as bad as the previous video, how would low cost cars going to impact the traffic conditions? Road Taxes might be raised high enough to make cars unaffordable to the very market segment these car manufacturers are targeting.

Also, it is going to highly impact the global climate which is already worsening.

India rising vs.India driving

Forget India rising stories which one keeps hearing again and again. It is going to take a himalayan effort to transform India into a country which upto its potential.

A seemingly clip can sometime tell the truth succinctly than a 1000 words

Nail House - A Great Story from China

Chinese People are believed to very submissive people. Rarely comes a story of defiance. Here is an interesting story about a guy who refused to vacate his house even when his immediate neighbourhood was dug up for basement of a big complex.

Eventhough his house was finally demolished, Chinese authorities are now enacting a new law giving more rights to private property.

India's Hidden Civil War- Naxal Terror Watch

According to our Indian PM, Dr. ManMohan Singh,"Naxals are the single biggest internal security challenge ever faced by our country".

Here is a blog that is focused on tracking the Naxal related stories : Naxal Terror Watch

Retail Revolution - Arguments and Counter-Arguments

That India is now under going a retail revolution is a known fact. Whenever Reliance Retail, Airtel/Walmart and other smaller retail outfits face opposition to their rollout, they rubbish their opposition claiming the success of Walmart and other retailers. Opposing them means being "UNINDIAN" similar to how Open Source is "UNAMERICAN".

Take a look at this article : Walmart Gives Up: No Stores For New York City

Retail Poster Boy Walmart itself is stopped from entering New York and other major cities by the Unions in New York. If Walmart could be stopped in US, can they stopped similarly in India?

In Chennai, already small vendors/retails have started protesting the entry of Reliance into the retail business. It would be quickly spreading to other cities as well. Can these minnows stop the retail juggernaut like what the Nandigram folks did to land acquisition?

However, at this moment, I think odds are in favour of Retail Giants as the consumer public are all crazy over the supermalls.

Bill that stops government to acquire land for private companies

As a consequence of Nandigram, A Bill is currently tabled in the Indian Parliment to stop state governments acquiring land for private companies.

Private Organizations might have to cough up more money to acquire land for their projects in India. As the Indian Real Estate prices are on the rise, Companies might find that their projects might not be viable anymore because it would be a nightmare for anyone to acquire large pieces of land stretching 1000s of acres.

This Bill would surely affect the overall economic growth of India in an indirect way.