News
 India may sell government stake in Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC.BO) and Indian Oil Corp (IOC.BO)
India may sell government stake in Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC.BO) and Indian Oil Corp (IOC.BO), Oil Secretary S. Sundareshan told CNBC-TV 18 television channel on Thursday.
"These are interesting ideas in the case of ONGC and Indian Oil and we are looking into this," he said to a question on the scope of stake sale in state-run oil firms.
"The scope of this (stake sale) does not exist in the case of Hindustan Petroleum CorpHPCL, Bharat Petroleum Corp and GAIL (India), where the holding of the government is 51 percent to 57 percent."
India plans to sell government stake in 60 firms in next few years and aims to raise 400 billion rupees in the current fiscal ending March 2011 to fund its social welfare schemes and infrastructure programmes.
The government currently holds 74.14 percent stake in in ONGC and about 79 percent in IOC.
 Indian rupee gets a symbol
On July 15, Indian authorities approved graphic symbol for the Indian rupee — a blend of the Devanagri 'Ra' and Roman 'R'.
The new symbol, designed by Bombay IIT post-graduate D Udaya Kumar. Kumar's entry was chosen from 3,000 designs competing for the currency symbol. He will get an award of Rs 2.5 lakh.
The symbol will be adopted in a span of six months in the country, and within 18 to 24 months globally.
At the moment only US dollar, euro, British pound and Japanese yen have their distinct identity. For the Russian Rouble the symbol was being designed in 2007 but until now the Russian Rouble does not have its symbol.
 SPIEF 2010: RUSSIA - INDIA BUSINESS DIALOGUE
Organized with direct involvement of the Business Council for Cooperation with India the session became the first event devoted to trade and economic cooperation of Russia and India in the history of SPIEF.
Mr. Sergey Cheremin, Chairman of the Board of the Business Council for Cooperation with India and Mr. Hari Bhartia, President of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) were moderators of the round table session.
Representative delegations of business captains of both countries gathered for the round table “Russia – India Business Dialogue”. Opening the session Mr. Sergey Cheremin emphasized the strategic character of Russian - Indian relations in different spheres and stressed the necessity to pinpoint and to eliminate existing barriers for more fruitful interaction. The Business Council in the course of its activity will make contribution by filling up informational vacuum and will promote further the decision to simplify visa regime for business communities. It was also mentioned that Russia recently passed a law giving a number of preferences to highly qualified foreign specialists operating in the country.
Members of the business community and officials agreed that rapid economic growth in both countries offers good prospects for cooperation. Despite post-crisis problems, India’s economy grew 7.4 per cent last year and is expected rise 8.5 per cent in 2010.
Among the recent examples of successful Russian-Indian cooperation were mentioned telecommunications, where Russia’s JSFC SISTEMA and India’s Shyam Telelink have created a new player on India’s highly competitive market. Other projects discussed and planned for implementation are joint development of the GLONASS global navigation system, an increase in ALROSA’s diamond exports to India, the production of hi-tech petrochemical products by Russia’s Sibur, projects of Bashneft. Hopes are also pinned on joint projects in innovation, which are expected to provide a new impetus for development. This is confirmed by the fruitful cooperation between the Skolkovo Moscow School of Management and the Indian School of Business. Nanotechnologies, small machine building and pharmaceuticals are also seen as promising areas of cooperation.
At the end of the meeting, participants agreed that the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is an important platform for holding an open dialogue between the business communities of Russia and India. The discussion of cooperation issues will be continued at the Fourth Russian-Indian Trade and Investment Forum, scheduled for autumn 2010 in New Delhi.
 Medvedev signs 150 bil US dollars bailout package to stabilise mkts
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday signed a bailout package worth $150 billion to keep the former Communist nation's new capitalist financial sector running and enabling indebted companies to service their foreign loans. "I signed a package of laws that had been prepared sufficiently quickly following my instruction, the government's instruction, and were adopted by the State Duma (parliament)," Medvedev said in a televised statement. Earlier today the upper house - Federation Council passed the bailout package, which will enable the Central Bank and the national investment and development bank Vnesheconombank to infuse funds into the financial system to ease credit crunch. "The government had to do everything possible to prevent harsh consequences of the crisis on the Russian financial markets," Medvedev stressed during a meeting with Kremlin economic aide Arkady Dvorkevich Medvedev. The Russian President also noted that the government was starting to implement these measures in coordination with the president's administration. Russia has unveiled several measures that are estimated at $150 billion to stabilise its financial markets, banks and stock markets. In a separate statement Prime Minister Vladimir Putin declared that Vnesheconombank from tomorrow will give foreign currency loans to the Russian companies involved in 'real sector' (manufacturing) to service their debt to foreign entities.
 Russia launches 86 billion US dollars bailout plan
Russia has become the latest country to respond to the global economic crisis with a bailout package aimed at defrosting its frozen credit markets. The Russian Parliament approved a bill today that will allow the Central Bank of Russia to place 1.3 trillion rubles ($50 billion) with the state-owned Vnesheconombank in Moscow, which in turn will be authorized to lend the funds to private companies and banks, according to published reports. The bill also provides 944 billion rubles ($36 billion) to Russian banks for subordinated loans. In response to struggles in the global markets yesterday, the Federal Financial Markets Service in Moscow today ordered the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange and the Russian Trading System to suspend trading.
 Russia to deliver Admiral Gorshkov to India after 2011
Russia will deliver the modernized Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier to India after 2011, Russia's state-run arms exporter said on Friday. "We are planning to deliver the aircraft carrier to India after 2011, but an addendum to the original contract must be signed," Mikhail Zavaliy, a Rosoboronexport official told reporters at an air show in the Krasnodar Region. The original $750-million contract to deliver the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier to India, which Rosoboronexport signed with the Indian Navy in 2004, projected the work would be completed in 2008. However, Russia later claimed it underestimated the scale and the cost of the modernization and demanded an additional $1.2 billion, which New Delhi said was "exorbitant." After long-running delays and disputes, Russia and India agreed in February to raise refit costs for the aircraft carrier, docked at the Sevmash shipyard in northern Russia for the past 12 years, by at least $800 million. The current contract covers a complete overhaul of the ship and equipping it with modern weaponry, including MiG-29K Fulcrum aircraft and Ka-27 Helix-A and Ka-31 Helix-B anti-submarine helicopters. The carrier, renamed the Vikramaditya, is to replace India's INS Viraat carrier, which, although currently operational, is now 50 years old. The Sevmash shipyard said on June 3 it planned to sail the aircraft carrier out into the Barents Sea for trials in 2011. In early 2012, the ship is expected to be finally refitted and trials will continue into the summer of that year. At the end of 2012, the aircraft carrier is expected to be fully prepared for its handover to the Indian navy, the company said. After it has been refitted, the Gorshkov is expected to be seaworthy for 30 years.
 Bank of Russia predicts zero inflation
The Bank of Russia expects a zero inflation rate in September, the bank's First Deputy Chairman Alexei Ulyukayev said during an international banking forum in Sochi today. He reiterated that Russia\'s inflation stood at 0.3 percent in August and 9.7 percent in the first eight months of 2008. Inflation was higher in late August this year, while it was negative in August 2007, Ulyukayev added. He also noted that the increase in this August's inflation could be primarily attributed to higher prices for meat and dairy products.
 Russia enjoys high GDP growth rate
Russia's GDP growth amounted to 8.5 percent in the first quarter of 2008 compared to the same period a year earlier, and was severalfold greater than in developed countries, Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) reported today. During the same period, GDP rose 2.6 percent in Germany, 2.5 percent in the US, and 2.3 percent in the UK. At the same time, Russia's consumption expenditures are nearly two times higher than GDP growth rate. In particular, Russia's household consumption expenditures surged 14.1 percent in G1 2008, while in some developed countries the figure was lower than GDP growth rate.
 Russia central bank plans tighter criteria for banks
Russia's central bank is planning to gradually phase in a 5 million euro minimum capital requirement for existing commercial banks, first deputy chairman Gennady Melikyan said on Thursday. The central bank estimates that currently almost 400 banks of Russia's 1,125 banks have under 5 million euros in capital, a level which already serves as the minimum requirement for newly-formed institutions. "We have a plan of increasing banks' capital holdings, step by step ... The equivalent of 5 million euros ($7.4 million) is what we are (eventually) aiming for," Melikyan said, adding that the capital requirement would gradually be raised to that level. "The aim of the central bank is to remove from the market those who are potentially a closed (empty) tin, which is waiting for its hour. When the time comes it is sold, and dirty dealings begin," Melikyan told journalists. He said banks that were not able to increase their capital to the required level would either leave the market place or transform into non-bank credit organisations.
Russian banks -- which were hard hit in the financial crisis around 10 years ago -- remain a concern despite rising profits and a largely successful campaign to weed out risky banks. Many banks who had been active players in the short-term government securities market went bust when Russia defaulted on its sovereign debt in 1998, taking with them billions in private savings and bringing the economy to a standstill.
It took years to restore the population's trust in the banking system. Russia narrowly escaped a major banking crisis in 2004 after statements from officials saying several banks were in trouble provoked runs on a number of institutions.
 Investment to grow severalfold in Russia
Investment in Russia is expected to grow 2.4-4 times in 2020 compared to 2007, according to the Economy Ministry's draft outline of Russia's long-term social and economic development until 2020. According to an innovative scenario, investment in the high-tech and knowledge industries is projected to account for 16.5 percent of total investments in 2020, whereas the figure is to reach 13.3 percent under a status quo scenario. The high-tech and knowledge sector's share in Russia's GDP is expected to amount to 17.2 percent and 13.3 percent in 2020 according to the innovative and the status quo scenario, respectively.
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