01 July 2009;dailypioneer.com:New Delhi:Days before the general budget, the government on Wednesday increased petrol and diesel prices by Rs four and Rs two a litre respectively effective midnight tonight, but spared kerosene and domestic cooking gas from a hike. "The hike was necessitated because of rising international crude oil prices which have doubled to USD 70 a barrel since December," Petroleum Minister Murli Deora told reporters here. The issue was not taken to the Cabinet, as is done generally, but Deora consulted party leadership and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to decide on the hike. The decision would help garner Rs 13,000 crore this fiscal, although the oil companies were projecting a loss of Rs 39,000 crore before the hike. The decision comes ahead of the July 6 budget day. Parliament's budget session is to begin tomorrow and clearly the government wanted to take a decision before that.
01 July 2009;economictimes.indiatimes.com:Chanchal Pal Chauhan:NEW DELHI: Declining interest rates and easy availability of credit have increased the number of cars sold through loans by 15% in the past six Things to remember while purchasing a vehicle months. Around 70% of new cars sold now are financed through loans compared with 55% a year ago when loans became unattractive due to high interest rates and a credit crunch. The major push has come from PSU banks such as State Bank of India, the country’s largest bank, which has emerged as the second-largest disburser in the car finance business after HDFC Bank. PSU banks are offering car loans at 10% while private banks like HDFC, ICICI and Kotak Mahindra are offering them at 11.5-13%. Hyundai Motor India senior vice-president (sales & marketing) Arvind Saxena said, “It’s a big positive development. Easier finance will expand the car market and generate fresh demand. We are expecting healthy increase in car sales in the next few months.” In 2007, when the interest rate were in single digits, over 80% cars sold were financed and led to rapid rowth in car sales. Bankers say customers are milking the rapid fall in interest rates over the past six months and making fewer cash down purchases. “Though India was not impacted by the global economic downturn, the general improvement in sentiment has boosted the retail finance market. The low interest rate has prompted customers to go for loans instead of cash deals,” said HDFC Bank executive vice-president for auto loans, Ashok Khanna. According to five bankers and financiers ET spoke with, the percentage of cars sold on loans is likely to go back to the peak 80% after the Budget. “We have eased lending norms and almost doubled the dispersal funds for auto. There has been a huge rush of customers opting for the 10% fixed rate on auto loan,’’ a senior executive of SBI Bank said, requesting anonymity. This change comes almost a year after the government eased lending norms and pumped liquidity in the market to stimulate demand. Car sales grew 3.29% to 2.16 lakh units in April-May period over last year and the growth is likely to increase with several banks likely to drop interest rates in the near future.
30 June 2009;business-standard.com:New Delhi: For the fourth time in two months, state-run oil firms today hiked jet fuel or aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price by more than 6 per cent on firming international oil prices. Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum raised ATF price by Rs 2,306 to Rs 38,558 per kilolitre in Delhi effective midnight tonight, an IOC official said. The hike comes on back of over 12 per cent hike on June 15. ATF price on that day were raised by Rs 3,949 to Rs 36,252 per kilolitre in Delhi. International crude oil prices have firmed to a seven-month high of $72 per barrel on hopes of demand revival in US. The three state-run retailers had from June 1 raised jet fuel rate by an average of Rs 108 per kl, which came on the back of a 1.8 per cent hike in rates on May 16. In Mumbai, home to the nation's busiest airport, the rate will go up from Rs 37,367 per kl to Rs 39,789 per kl. The rise in ATF price, which constitutes 40 per cent of airlines' operating cost, may further put pressure on cash-strapped domestic carriers. No comments from any of the leading airlines were immediately available on the latest price hike. Jet fuel in Kolkata will be dearer at Rs 46,711 per kl from Rs 44,289 per kl, while in Chennai the price has been raised by Rs 2,500 per kl to Rs 42,524 per kl. ATF prices had peaked to Rs 71,028.26 per kl (in Delhi) in August last year on international crude prices touching a historic high of $147 a barrel. But subsequently the rates had come down, slashed every month till October and twice a month from November. The three firms, which revise jet fuel rate every fortnight based on trends in international markets, had on April 16 increased ATF rate by about 6.7 per cent. This was followed by a marginal reduction in rates by one per cent on May 1.
Oil spikes to 8-month high on brief Brent bid frenzy
30 June 2009;economictimes.indiatimes.com:PERTH: Oil prices jumped more than 2 percent to an eight-month high above $73 a barrel on Tuesday, as a sudden spike in Brent buying pinned on fund positioning ushered out the market's best quarterly gain since 1990. While the rally drew support from fresh attacks on oil facilities in Nigeria as well as improving risk sentiment aided by rising equity markets, traders said those factors were secondary to the sudden big Brent bid orders that triggered the frenzy, overwhelming liquidity during the thin Asian day. Trading volume in both Brent and U.S. crude oil futures surged to more than 10 times the norm for the Asian time zone as prices leapt more than $1.50 in under half an hour around 0200 GMT, the sort of move typically only seen in the event of hurricanes or other major disruptions. "It feels like short-covering because of stop orders left overnight," said a trader with a global investment bank. Both prices and volumes cooled slightly by midday, with U.S. crude for August delivery up $1.29 at $72.78 a barrel by 0405 GMT, off its earlier eight-month high of $73.38. August trade was 12,400 lots versus a few thousand lots normally. The main focus was on London ICE Brent crude, with volume in the front-month August contract surging to more than 17,000 lots versus the less than 1,000 lots normally, and prices spiking to a peak of $73.50 a barrel. Traders said bids for 500 or 600 lot clips spooked a market accustomed to 10-20 lot bids. By 0407 GMT, Brent was up $1.66 to $72.65 a barrel. Trading activity in U.S. gasoline and heating oil, which expire at the end of the day, was minimal. Most traders were quick to point the finger at one or several big funds, either closing out loss-making positions, dressing up returns by boosting prices at the end of the quarter or perhaps taking a position in anticipation of a Q3 influx of new funds. "This could be end of quarter movement, and traders are trying to push prices higher and then selling before closing their books," said Mark Pervan, senior commodities analyst at ANZ Bank. "I haven't seen any new catalyst on the news front." Others were more blunt about the unexplained surge in volume, which seemed to be counter-productive given the fact that any sizeable bid would drive up prices due to thin Asian liquidity. "The only reason to do that size at that time of day is to try to move the market or because you are an idiot," said one. Some analysts pointed to Nigeria, where the main militant group said on Monday its fighters had attacked an oil facility belonging to Royal Dutch Shell days after President Umaru Yar'Adua proposed an amnesty. Driven by hopes of a global economic recovery, oil prices are on track to post a near 50 percent jump in the second quarter, the highest quarterly percentage gain since 1990. Oil has rallied on hopes for an improving economic outlook and a growing appetite for risk among investors, a factor given further impetus by Asian and U.S. stock market gains. The International Energy Agency on Monday gave a mixed view of the medium-term outlook for the market, saying there was a chance of an extended economic contraction and the threat of a supply crunch had only receded, not gone away.
30 June 2009;business-standard.com:New Delhi: Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, at the inauguration of Indian Oil Corporation's Golden Jubilee celebration, said LPG booking can soon be done through SMS. "Recently, we have formulated Vision 2015 in the area of marketing. The LPG coverage is available to about 50 per cent of our population currently. Under the Vision, it is to be extended to 75 per cent by 2015," he said. For this, the existing scheme of LPG distributorship will be supplemented by a new Scheme of LPG Gramin Vitrak. "Innovative approaches such as accepting bookings for LPG through SMS and providing 100 per cent LPG coverage in cities with more than 5 lakh population will be undertaken," he said. "Also, a road map for expanding CNG supplies to 200 cities is being devised," he said. Speaking on volatility in international oil prices, he said the price of crude oil had gone up to $147 per barrel in the month of July 2008 and was down to $35 towards the end of the year. Alongwith the volatility, was the challenge of economic downturn facing the whole world. "We, however, faced effectively the challenge of the global situation," Deora said.
30 June 2009;dailypioneer.com:New Delhi: Passenger vehicle sales are expected to nearly double by 2014 from the current 18.9 lakh units, mainly driven by anticipated economic growth fuelling the aspirational lifestyles of consumers. According to global consultant Ernst & Young (E&Y), the total sales of passenger vehicles are expected to touch 37.5 lakh units within next five years witnessing an annual growth of 12 per cent. While domestic market is expected to contribute 27.5 lakh units to the total tally, the remaining would come from exports, an E&Y report said. “Economic growth, the main drivers for the growth in domestic market, supported by Government in the form of reduced excise duties, concessions on cleaner fuels and the ongoing improvement in highways,” it added.
