General Affairs
India's Role in Resolving Kashmir Issue Will Continue: Omar Abdullah
Vyapam Scam: Supreme Court Issues Notice to Centre, Madhya Pradesh Governor
36 Fishermen Taken Into Custody for Unlawful Fishing Activity in Odisha
Web-Based Tool Could Keep Suicidal Thoughts Away
NASA Develops Shiny New Coat for Orion Spacecraft
Sensex cuts gains to end below 26,000; Nifty holds 7,850
Pay panel recommendations on salary hike pose risk to fiscal consolidation: Fitch
Japanese retail investors return to India seeking emerging market yield
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan says drop in public, private investments top concern
Oil traders prepare for next big price drop in March 2016
India's Role in Resolving Kashmir Issue Will Continue: Omar Abdullah
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SRINAGAR: With the US distancing itself on Kashmir issue, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said the absence of a third party does not absolve India of its responsibility to find a solution to the problem.
"The absence of 3rd party intervention doesn't absolve India of its responsibility to find a solution...," Mr Abdullah wrote on social networking site Twitter, referring to US State Department Spokesperson John Kirby's statement on the issue today.
Earlier, Mr Kirby had said that the US has no role to play in Kashmir issue and it is for India and Pakistan to address the problem through dialogue, a day after Pakistan Army Chief General Raheel Sharif raised the matter with US Secretary of State John Kerry.
The former chief minister also hit out at Pakistan, saying the country was hoping for the US to change its stand by asking it often to intervene in the matter.
"For some reason Pakistan thinks that if it asks often enough, the answer from the US will somehow change!!!" he said.
SRINAGAR: With the US distancing itself on Kashmir issue, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said the absence of a third party does not absolve India of its responsibility to find a solution to the problem."The absence of 3rd party intervention doesn't absolve India of its responsibility to find a solution...," Mr Abdullah wrote on social networking site Twitter, referring to US State Department Spokesperson John Kirby's statement on the issue today.
The former chief minister also hit out at Pakistan, saying the country was hoping for the US to change its stand by asking it often to intervene in the matter.
"For some reason Pakistan thinks that if it asks often enough, the answer from the US will somehow change!!!" he said.
Vyapam Scam: Supreme Court Issues Notice to Centre, Madhya Pradesh Governor
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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today sought response from the Centre and Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav on a plea seeking his removal on the ground of his alleged involvement in the Vyapam scam, currently being probed by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The plea also seeks a direction from the Court to Ministry of Home Affairs for formulation of guidelines on removal of Governors if they are found to be involved in corrupt practices while being in office.
A bench comprising Chief Justice HL Dattu and Justices Shiva Kirti Singh and Amitava Roy, allowed the submission of senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioner, that the notice be issued.
The petition has been filed by activist Sanjay Shukla.
Earlier, the Court had agreed to hear another plea seeking removal of Mr Yadav from the post of Governor for his alleged involvement in the scam. In the petition, filed by a group of lawyers, they had sought removal of Mr Yadav and recording of his statement in the case.
The multi-crore rupee professional examination scam in Madhya Pradesh involves several high-profile professionals, politicians and bureaucrats as accused.
Till September, the CBI had registered 83 First Information Reports or FIRs and launched 12 preliminary inquiries into the Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal (Vyapam), or the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) scam.
Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB), popularly known as Vyapam, holds examinations for various posts such as teachers, medical officers, constables and forest guards.
The scam that involves several admission-cum-recruitment irregularities and also has 40 deaths linked to it.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today sought response from the Centre and Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav on a plea seeking his removal on the ground of his alleged involvement in the Vyapam scam, currently being probed by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).The plea also seeks a direction from the Court to Ministry of Home Affairs for formulation of guidelines on removal of Governors if they are found to be involved in corrupt practices while being in office.
The petition has been filed by activist Sanjay Shukla.
Earlier, the Court had agreed to hear another plea seeking removal of Mr Yadav from the post of Governor for his alleged involvement in the scam. In the petition, filed by a group of lawyers, they had sought removal of Mr Yadav and recording of his statement in the case.
The multi-crore rupee professional examination scam in Madhya Pradesh involves several high-profile professionals, politicians and bureaucrats as accused.
Till September, the CBI had registered 83 First Information Reports or FIRs and launched 12 preliminary inquiries into the Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal (Vyapam), or the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) scam.
Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB), popularly known as Vyapam, holds examinations for various posts such as teachers, medical officers, constables and forest guards.
The scam that involves several admission-cum-recruitment irregularities and also has 40 deaths linked to it.
36 Fishermen Taken Into Custody for Unlawful Fishing Activity in Odisha
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KENDRAPARA, ODISHA: Stepping up its protection drive ahead of mass nesting of Olive Ridley turtles, forest personnel have taken into custody 36 fishermen in separate mid-sea interceptions along Gahirmatha marine sanctuary in Odisha in the past four days, officials said.
The trawls used by the intruders for fishing along the prohibited breeding zones of the endangered marine animals were seized by the patrolling unit engaged by Forest Department for conservation of the turtles, forest officials said.
The arrested fishermen are residents of Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara district, they said.
The fishing vessels had trespassed into prohibited sanctuary corridors contravening the provisions of Wildlife Protection Act, Orissa Marine Fishing Regulation Act and mandatory rules of marine sanctuary.
They were sent to jail custody yesterday under sections 27 and 29 of the provisions of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and Orissa Marine Fishing Regulation Act, 1982, officials added.
Sea patrolling has been stepped up within Gahirmatha marine sanctuary in view of the annual mass nesting season of the endangered turtles and the state government has clamped a fishing ban along the 20 km stretch from November 1, forest officials said.
The imposition of prohibition was in accordance with sections 2,3,4 of Orissa Maine Fishing Regulation Act (OMFRA).
Rise in mortality rate of mating turtles along the coastal water surface led to the clamping of the prohibition as the gill nets used by the trawls prove to be the cause of death for breeding turtles.
The mute species, accorded as Schedule 1 animal under Wildlife Protection Act for its highly threatened status, get entangled in the nets for and die of asphyxiation. The turtles also perish in large number after getting hit by the fast moving propeller of the fishing trawlers, forest officials added.
KENDRAPARA, ODISHA: Stepping up its protection drive ahead of mass nesting of Olive Ridley turtles, forest personnel have taken into custody 36 fishermen in separate mid-sea interceptions along Gahirmatha marine sanctuary in Odisha in the past four days, officials said.The trawls used by the intruders for fishing along the prohibited breeding zones of the endangered marine animals were seized by the patrolling unit engaged by Forest Department for conservation of the turtles, forest officials said.
The fishing vessels had trespassed into prohibited sanctuary corridors contravening the provisions of Wildlife Protection Act, Orissa Marine Fishing Regulation Act and mandatory rules of marine sanctuary.
They were sent to jail custody yesterday under sections 27 and 29 of the provisions of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and Orissa Marine Fishing Regulation Act, 1982, officials added.
Sea patrolling has been stepped up within Gahirmatha marine sanctuary in view of the annual mass nesting season of the endangered turtles and the state government has clamped a fishing ban along the 20 km stretch from November 1, forest officials said.
The imposition of prohibition was in accordance with sections 2,3,4 of Orissa Maine Fishing Regulation Act (OMFRA).
Rise in mortality rate of mating turtles along the coastal water surface led to the clamping of the prohibition as the gill nets used by the trawls prove to be the cause of death for breeding turtles.
The mute species, accorded as Schedule 1 animal under Wildlife Protection Act for its highly threatened status, get entangled in the nets for and die of asphyxiation. The turtles also perish in large number after getting hit by the fast moving propeller of the fishing trawlers, forest officials added.
Web-Based Tool Could Keep Suicidal Thoughts Away
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WASHINGTON: A new web-based tool to support mental health may reduce the rate of suicidal thoughts in people working in high-stress, high-pressure jobs, researchers including one of Indian-origin have found.
For young doctors, the first year after medical school, called internship, means round-the-clock hours, low rank, constant demands from patients and superiors, learning complex new skills and constant fear of making a mistake that could harm a patient.
The result is a year of stress, sleeplessness and self-doubt that drives up thoughts of suicide to nearly four times the normal rate, researchers said.
The free web-based cognitive behavioural therapy or wCBT tool, called MoodGYM, offers a digital, streamlined form of the "talk therapy" that mental health professionals provide in office visits.
The study by researchers at the University of Michigan (UM) and the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in US suggests that such a tool could help others in high-stress, high-pressure positions.
Teaching hospitals and medical schools could use the new results to guide mental health programmes for interns, residents and medical students.
"This is a relatively risk-free intervention to help interns recognise and treat depression," said senior author Srijan Sen, a UM Medical School faculty member.
"This is the first study to show that wCBT can reduce suicidal ideation, or suicidal thoughts, in training doctors," Sen said.
Medical interns make an ideal population to study wCBT's effects, said Sen, because all of them experience a predictable sharp rise in stress and pressure with the start of their residency.
First author of the study, Connie Guille, of MUSC, said that this type of intervention is well-suited to this population because "the majority of interns won't seek traditional mental health treatment, mainly because they lack the time, don't have convenient access to care or have concerns about confidentiality."
Sen and Guille tested the app on 199 interns. Half of them were randomly assigned to use the wCBT. The other half got general information on depression and suicide, and contact information for mental health professionals.
In all, one in five of this latter group thought about suicide sometime in their internship year - compared with one in eight of those who used the MoodGym.
Most of those assigned to use the MoodGym site stuck with it, using it all year.
Other studies have shown that wCBT can help people treat existing depression, but never in a randomised controlled way to prevent mood problems in a group whose stress level changes almost overnight and remains high for an entire year.
"Doing this in physicians means we now have a model that shows that this form of wCBT can be remarkably effective as a preventive tool," said Sen.
The study was published in the JAMA Psychiatry journal.
WASHINGTON: A new web-based tool to support mental health may reduce the rate of suicidal thoughts in people working in high-stress, high-pressure jobs, researchers including one of Indian-origin have found.For young doctors, the first year after medical school, called internship, means round-the-clock hours, low rank, constant demands from patients and superiors, learning complex new skills and constant fear of making a mistake that could harm a patient.
The result is a year of stress, sleeplessness and self-doubt that drives up thoughts of suicide to nearly four times the normal rate, researchers said.
The study by researchers at the University of Michigan (UM) and the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in US suggests that such a tool could help others in high-stress, high-pressure positions.
Teaching hospitals and medical schools could use the new results to guide mental health programmes for interns, residents and medical students.
"This is a relatively risk-free intervention to help interns recognise and treat depression," said senior author Srijan Sen, a UM Medical School faculty member.
"This is the first study to show that wCBT can reduce suicidal ideation, or suicidal thoughts, in training doctors," Sen said.
Medical interns make an ideal population to study wCBT's effects, said Sen, because all of them experience a predictable sharp rise in stress and pressure with the start of their residency.
First author of the study, Connie Guille, of MUSC, said that this type of intervention is well-suited to this population because "the majority of interns won't seek traditional mental health treatment, mainly because they lack the time, don't have convenient access to care or have concerns about confidentiality."
Sen and Guille tested the app on 199 interns. Half of them were randomly assigned to use the wCBT. The other half got general information on depression and suicide, and contact information for mental health professionals.
In all, one in five of this latter group thought about suicide sometime in their internship year - compared with one in eight of those who used the MoodGym.
Most of those assigned to use the MoodGym site stuck with it, using it all year.
Other studies have shown that wCBT can help people treat existing depression, but never in a randomised controlled way to prevent mood problems in a group whose stress level changes almost overnight and remains high for an entire year.
"Doing this in physicians means we now have a model that shows that this form of wCBT can be remarkably effective as a preventive tool," said Sen.
The study was published in the JAMA Psychiatry journal.
NASA Develops Shiny New Coat for Orion Spacecraft
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WASHINGTON: NASA has developed a silver, metallic-based thermal control coating for its Orion spacecraft that will protect the vehicle from extreme heat both in orbit and during its fiery return to Earth.
Orion's thermal protection system is one of the most critical parts of the spacecraft intended to facilitate human exploration of asteroids and of Mars.
It consists of the spacecraft's main heat shield that faces into the atmosphere on reentry to slow the spaceship down and also the grid of tiles known as the back shell.
During Orion's next mission atop the agency's Space Launch System rocket, called Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), the spacecraft will be in space for more than three weeks and return to Earth under even faster and hotter conditions than during its last flight.
"As we move towards building the system for EM-1, we've been able to take advantage of what we learned from building and flying Orion to refine our processes going forward," said John Kowal, NASA's thermal protection system lead for Orion.
During EM-1, Orion will endure a more intense re-entry environment. While the spacecraft encountered speeds of 30,000 feet per second during Exploration Flight Test-1 and temperatures of approximately 2,204 degrees Celsius, it will experience a faster return from lunar velocity of about 36,000 feet per second.
The speed difference may seem subtle, but the heating the vehicle sees increases exponentially as the speed increases.
Engineering teams are preparing Orion's heat shield to perform re-entry during any of missions planned near the Moon or in high lunar orbit in the coming years.
For these future Orion missions, a silver, metallic-based thermal control coating will be bonded to the crew module's thermal protection system back shell tiles.
The coating, similar to what is used on the main heat shield, will reduce heat loss during phases when Orion is pointed to space and therefore experiencing cold temperatures, as well as limit the high temperatures the crew module will be subjected to when the spacecraft faces the Sun.
The coating will help Orion's back shell maintain a temperature range from approximately minus 101 to 287 degrees Celsius prior to entry and also will protect against electrical surface charges in space and during re-entry.
Engineers have also refined the design in ways that improve the manufacturing process and reduce the mass of the spacecraft for the upcoming exploration missions.
Instead of a monolithic outer layer, the heat shield will be made of about 180 blocks that can be made simultaneously with the other heat shield components to streamline the labour-and-time-intensive manufacturing process.
In addition, engineers have found ways to reduce the mass of the heat shield's underlying structure, which is composed of a titanium skeleton and carbon fiber skin.
Teams have optimised the thickness of the skeleton and the skin based on the pressures that different areas will experience during flight and reentry, adding more fidelity to the overall structure while allowing it to be lighter.
WASHINGTON: NASA has developed a silver, metallic-based thermal control coating for its Orion spacecraft that will protect the vehicle from extreme heat both in orbit and during its fiery return to Earth.Orion's thermal protection system is one of the most critical parts of the spacecraft intended to facilitate human exploration of asteroids and of Mars.
It consists of the spacecraft's main heat shield that faces into the atmosphere on reentry to slow the spaceship down and also the grid of tiles known as the back shell.
During Orion's next mission atop the agency's Space Launch System rocket, called Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), the spacecraft will be in space for more than three weeks and return to Earth under even faster and hotter conditions than during its last flight.
During EM-1, Orion will endure a more intense re-entry environment. While the spacecraft encountered speeds of 30,000 feet per second during Exploration Flight Test-1 and temperatures of approximately 2,204 degrees Celsius, it will experience a faster return from lunar velocity of about 36,000 feet per second.
The speed difference may seem subtle, but the heating the vehicle sees increases exponentially as the speed increases.
Engineering teams are preparing Orion's heat shield to perform re-entry during any of missions planned near the Moon or in high lunar orbit in the coming years.
For these future Orion missions, a silver, metallic-based thermal control coating will be bonded to the crew module's thermal protection system back shell tiles.
The coating, similar to what is used on the main heat shield, will reduce heat loss during phases when Orion is pointed to space and therefore experiencing cold temperatures, as well as limit the high temperatures the crew module will be subjected to when the spacecraft faces the Sun.
The coating will help Orion's back shell maintain a temperature range from approximately minus 101 to 287 degrees Celsius prior to entry and also will protect against electrical surface charges in space and during re-entry.
Engineers have also refined the design in ways that improve the manufacturing process and reduce the mass of the spacecraft for the upcoming exploration missions.
Instead of a monolithic outer layer, the heat shield will be made of about 180 blocks that can be made simultaneously with the other heat shield components to streamline the labour-and-time-intensive manufacturing process.
In addition, engineers have found ways to reduce the mass of the heat shield's underlying structure, which is composed of a titanium skeleton and carbon fiber skin.
Teams have optimised the thickness of the skeleton and the skin based on the pressures that different areas will experience during flight and reentry, adding more fidelity to the overall structure while allowing it to be lighter.
Business Affairs
Sensex cuts gains to end below 26,000; Nifty holds 7,850
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The domestic markets cut most of its intraday gains to end marginally higher on Friday after global rating agency Standard & Poor's said chances of rating upgrade for India is low for over 12-18 months.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended the day at 25,868.49, up 26.57 points. The index had reclaimed its key psychological level of 26,000 in the afternoon trade.
The broader CNX Nifty settled at 7,856.55, up 13.80 points. The 50-share index had topped its crucial 7,900-mark earlier in the day.
Market breadth remained positive with 19 of the 30 Sensex components ending the day in green.
Analysts warned the rally could be short-lived, with volatility expected next week ahead of the derivatives contracts expiry on November 26.
"Volatility has become the hallmark of this market. We haven't seen real strength in the market even though such rallies do come, it's mostly an opportunity to sell into the rallies," told Jayant Manglik, president of retail distribution at Religare Securities to Reuters.
Gas stocks caught attention with BSE oil & gas index being the best sectoral gainer, which added 2.05 per cent in trade today. Shares of GAIL, Petronet LNG, Gujarat Gas, Indraprastha Gas and Gujarat State Petronet rallied up to 17 per cent following news reports Ras Gas Company (RasGas) is ready to modify sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with Petronet.
Meanwhile, Fitch Ratings said a proposed 23.6 per cent hike in salaries and pensions for about 10 million current and former government employees in India could hurt the country's finances and underscore the weakness in its sovereign credit profile.
Among Asian markets, China's Shanghai Composite ended with an uptick of 0.37 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 1.13 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei settled 0.10 per cent higher.
Overnight, US markets ended flat as traders took a breather on the heels of the volatility seen over the past few sessions. The Dow Jones industrial average closed 0.02 per cent weaker, while the S&P 500 lost 0.11 per cent. The Nasdaq Composite edged 0.03 per cent lower.
The domestic markets cut most of its intraday gains to end marginally higher on Friday after global rating agency Standard & Poor's said chances of rating upgrade for India is low for over 12-18 months.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended the day at 25,868.49, up 26.57 points. The index had reclaimed its key psychological level of 26,000 in the afternoon trade.
The broader CNX Nifty settled at 7,856.55, up 13.80 points. The 50-share index had topped its crucial 7,900-mark earlier in the day.
Market breadth remained positive with 19 of the 30 Sensex components ending the day in green.
Analysts warned the rally could be short-lived, with volatility expected next week ahead of the derivatives contracts expiry on November 26.
"Volatility has become the hallmark of this market. We haven't seen real strength in the market even though such rallies do come, it's mostly an opportunity to sell into the rallies," told Jayant Manglik, president of retail distribution at Religare Securities to Reuters.
Gas stocks caught attention with BSE oil & gas index being the best sectoral gainer, which added 2.05 per cent in trade today. Shares of GAIL, Petronet LNG, Gujarat Gas, Indraprastha Gas and Gujarat State Petronet rallied up to 17 per cent following news reports Ras Gas Company (RasGas) is ready to modify sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with Petronet.
Meanwhile, Fitch Ratings said a proposed 23.6 per cent hike in salaries and pensions for about 10 million current and former government employees in India could hurt the country's finances and underscore the weakness in its sovereign credit profile.
Among Asian markets, China's Shanghai Composite ended with an uptick of 0.37 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 1.13 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei settled 0.10 per cent higher.
Overnight, US markets ended flat as traders took a breather on the heels of the volatility seen over the past few sessions. The Dow Jones industrial average closed 0.02 per cent weaker, while the S&P 500 lost 0.11 per cent. The Nasdaq Composite edged 0.03 per cent lower.
Pay panel recommendations on salary hike pose risk to fiscal consolidation: Fitch
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Fitch Ratings said on Friday a proposed 23.6 per cent hike in salaries and pensions for about 10 million current and former government employees could hurt the country's finances and underscore the weakness in its sovereign credit profile.
The pay hike proposed on Thursday by the government panel is smaller than past increases as the nation faces pressure to curb its fiscal deficit. It would add at least $15.43 billion to federal spending in 2016 - the first year of implementation - if accepted.
Fitch said the pay hike could challenge the government's goal of achieving a fiscal deficit of 3.5 per cent in the year ending in March 2017, unless India can cut spending or raise revenues.
"The planned wage increase is sufficient to add substantive challenges to achieving the planned medium-term consolidation targets," Fitch said in a statement.
"Delaying an improvement in India's fiscal position would underscore a longstanding weakness for the sovereign credit profile," it added.
Fitch rates India "BBB-minus" with a "stable" outlook.
The credit agency said the government debt burden of nearly 65 per cent of gross domestic product was the highest among its "BBB-minus" rated countries, which have a median of 43 per cent of GDP .
Fitch Ratings said on Friday a proposed 23.6 per cent hike in salaries and pensions for about 10 million current and former government employees could hurt the country's finances and underscore the weakness in its sovereign credit profile.
The pay hike proposed on Thursday by the government panel is smaller than past increases as the nation faces pressure to curb its fiscal deficit. It would add at least $15.43 billion to federal spending in 2016 - the first year of implementation - if accepted.
Fitch said the pay hike could challenge the government's goal of achieving a fiscal deficit of 3.5 per cent in the year ending in March 2017, unless India can cut spending or raise revenues.
"The planned wage increase is sufficient to add substantive challenges to achieving the planned medium-term consolidation targets," Fitch said in a statement.
"Delaying an improvement in India's fiscal position would underscore a longstanding weakness for the sovereign credit profile," it added.
Fitch rates India "BBB-minus" with a "stable" outlook.
The credit agency said the government debt burden of nearly 65 per cent of gross domestic product was the highest among its "BBB-minus" rated countries, which have a median of 43 per cent of GDP .
Japanese retail investors return to India seeking emerging market yield
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Just two years after India's policymakers stared down a major capital flight threat, the country has become a hot emerging market investment destination for one of the world's most robust sources of capital - Japanese households.
Japanese retail investors chasing higher yields and resilient assets will provide the country's corporates another source of capital at a time of when capital inflows are peaking ahead of a widely-expected US interest rate rise.
Fund managers say the increased interest from Japanese investors is also a vote of confidence in the fiscal and market reforms of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, voted into office in May 2014.
Just the year before that, worries about India's record current account deficit sent the rupee to a record low.
The reforms that have opened up India's markets to foreigners were game changers for the so-called "Mrs. Watanabe" - Japanese retail investors driven by their country's policy of zero interest rates to seek yield offshore.
Japanese retail investment into India through investment trusts in October was 462 billion yen ($3.76 billion), its highest level in 7 1/2 years and more than doubling the amount invested at the time Modi came to power. That's in stark contrast to markets such as Brazil that have experienced heavy outflows from Japanese investors.
"People realised something big had happened and money flew into equity funds and so on," Ai Fujiwara, senior fund manager at Eastspring Investments in Tokyo, said of Modi's election.
"And now as India is starting to look better compared to other emerging countries, there's a renewed focus on it."
Japanese retail investors have pumped $1.8 billion into funds investing in Indian bonds in the first nine months of the year, compared with $489.6 million a year earlier, and now hold a total $2.3 billion of bonds, data from Thomson Reuters Lipper shows.
Japanese investors have historically favoured destinations such as Brazil and Turkey for growth. But with India now bringing inflation under control and posting among the fastest emerging markets economic growth rates, fund flow direction has shifted toward the subcontinent.
"During the recent market selloff, Indian markets were doing relatively well even as other Asian countries were badly hit. So for sales staff, it is easier to sell India," said Tomoaki Maebashi, the head of investment trust marketing and promotion at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management.
In the third quarter, Japanese bond funds that invest in Brazil, Indonesia and Turkey saw a combined net outflow of $296 million, while those investing in Indian bonds saw $290 million in inflows.
Brazil, by far the most popular investment for Japanese retail investors, has been especially hit by the exits: investment trusts' holding of Brazilian bonds have almost halved in the past year to 427 billion yen ($3.52 billion).
ONCE BITTEN...
The last time Japanese investors piled into India, it ended badly. After investing 612 billion yen ($4.97 billion) by the end of 2007, many suffered heavy losses after Indian shares dropped about 73 per cent in yen terms as the world plunged into financial crisis.
But this time, fund managers believe it will be different.
Holdings by Japanese investments trusts in Indian equities hit a five-year high of 315 billion yen ($2.56 billion) with many investors seeing India's resilient growth profile as offering an appropriate combination of returns and safety.
India is seen as better placed to withstand any global market volatility from US rate hikes thanks to hefty foreign exchange reserves of $351 billion from $296 billion at the end of 2013.
Japanese bond funds investing in India have gained on an average 12.6 per cent in yen terms in the last one year, while those that invest in Brazil have lost an average 27.6 per cent and Turkey an average of 15.8 per cent, according to Lipper.
Meanwhile, India is expected to especially benefit from falling crude prices, given the country imports around two-thirds of its energy requirements.
"I own Indian shares because they should benefit from the fall in oil prices," said a 51-year-old office worker who owned Indian shares through exchange traded funds.
Foreign investors have sold a net $993.4 million in debt and equities this month but remain heavy buyers for the year, with net purchases of $13.8 billion so far this year and $42 billion last year.
Japanese fund houses are also searching for opportunities in India's asset management sector, with Nippon Life paying $184 million to raise its ownership stake in Reliance Capital Asset Management to 49 per cent from 35 per cent.
"Japanese retail money is stickier, which always helps. We have expanded our sales and distribution tie-ups in the country to tap on the demand," said the chief executive of an Indian asset management company.
Just two years after India's policymakers stared down a major capital flight threat, the country has become a hot emerging market investment destination for one of the world's most robust sources of capital - Japanese households.
Japanese retail investors chasing higher yields and resilient assets will provide the country's corporates another source of capital at a time of when capital inflows are peaking ahead of a widely-expected US interest rate rise.
Fund managers say the increased interest from Japanese investors is also a vote of confidence in the fiscal and market reforms of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, voted into office in May 2014.
Just the year before that, worries about India's record current account deficit sent the rupee to a record low.
The reforms that have opened up India's markets to foreigners were game changers for the so-called "Mrs. Watanabe" - Japanese retail investors driven by their country's policy of zero interest rates to seek yield offshore.
Japanese retail investment into India through investment trusts in October was 462 billion yen ($3.76 billion), its highest level in 7 1/2 years and more than doubling the amount invested at the time Modi came to power. That's in stark contrast to markets such as Brazil that have experienced heavy outflows from Japanese investors.
"People realised something big had happened and money flew into equity funds and so on," Ai Fujiwara, senior fund manager at Eastspring Investments in Tokyo, said of Modi's election.
"And now as India is starting to look better compared to other emerging countries, there's a renewed focus on it."
Japanese retail investors have pumped $1.8 billion into funds investing in Indian bonds in the first nine months of the year, compared with $489.6 million a year earlier, and now hold a total $2.3 billion of bonds, data from Thomson Reuters Lipper shows.
Japanese investors have historically favoured destinations such as Brazil and Turkey for growth. But with India now bringing inflation under control and posting among the fastest emerging markets economic growth rates, fund flow direction has shifted toward the subcontinent.
"During the recent market selloff, Indian markets were doing relatively well even as other Asian countries were badly hit. So for sales staff, it is easier to sell India," said Tomoaki Maebashi, the head of investment trust marketing and promotion at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management.
In the third quarter, Japanese bond funds that invest in Brazil, Indonesia and Turkey saw a combined net outflow of $296 million, while those investing in Indian bonds saw $290 million in inflows.
Brazil, by far the most popular investment for Japanese retail investors, has been especially hit by the exits: investment trusts' holding of Brazilian bonds have almost halved in the past year to 427 billion yen ($3.52 billion).
ONCE BITTEN...
The last time Japanese investors piled into India, it ended badly. After investing 612 billion yen ($4.97 billion) by the end of 2007, many suffered heavy losses after Indian shares dropped about 73 per cent in yen terms as the world plunged into financial crisis.
But this time, fund managers believe it will be different.
Holdings by Japanese investments trusts in Indian equities hit a five-year high of 315 billion yen ($2.56 billion) with many investors seeing India's resilient growth profile as offering an appropriate combination of returns and safety.
India is seen as better placed to withstand any global market volatility from US rate hikes thanks to hefty foreign exchange reserves of $351 billion from $296 billion at the end of 2013.
Japanese bond funds investing in India have gained on an average 12.6 per cent in yen terms in the last one year, while those that invest in Brazil have lost an average 27.6 per cent and Turkey an average of 15.8 per cent, according to Lipper.
Meanwhile, India is expected to especially benefit from falling crude prices, given the country imports around two-thirds of its energy requirements.
"I own Indian shares because they should benefit from the fall in oil prices," said a 51-year-old office worker who owned Indian shares through exchange traded funds.
Foreign investors have sold a net $993.4 million in debt and equities this month but remain heavy buyers for the year, with net purchases of $13.8 billion so far this year and $42 billion last year.
Japanese fund houses are also searching for opportunities in India's asset management sector, with Nippon Life paying $184 million to raise its ownership stake in Reliance Capital Asset Management to 49 per cent from 35 per cent.
"Japanese retail money is stickier, which always helps. We have expanded our sales and distribution tie-ups in the country to tap on the demand," said the chief executive of an Indian asset management company.
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan says drop in public, private investments top concern
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RBI chief Raghuram Rajan said Asia's third-largest economy is being hampered by a drop in public and private investments, but held out hope that strong foreign capital flows will help rectify this weakness.
Weak capital investment has been a hurdle in India's quest to realise its growth potential and with factories running 30 per cent below capacity, private companies are in no rush to invest in new projects.
"On the growth front, the central concern is with investments," said Rajan, who was speaking at a business event in Hong Kong on Friday. "Private investment has fallen back quite a bit and so has public investment," he said.
The RBI has cut its growth forecast for the current fiscal year to 7.4 per cent from 7.6 per cent previously, well below the government's target of 8 to 8.5 per cent, but still faster than China.
Despite the slowdown in growth and investments, Rajan said strong foreign direct investment and some traction in infrastructure development may encourage private investments.
During the period from January to June, foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into India rose to $19.4 billion, up 30 per cent from a year earlier, a sign of what the government called investors' growing confidence in the country.
Earlier this month, India eased foreign direct investment norms in 15 major sectors, including mining, defence, civil aviation and broadcasting.
"We are seeing a lot of traction in FDI, in both announcements and actual investments on the ground," Rajan said.
"Once we start seeing a little stronger demand, we will start seeing more projects being pulled out of the drawer," he said.
The central bank cut the benchmark policy rate by a half percentage point to 6.75 per cent in September, after months of pleading by government leaders and industrial groups for more stimulus to stoke growth.
He declined to comment on the appropriate level of the rupee, but said policy makers should guard against a debt build-up in the global economy in another swipe at quantitative easing policies pursued by global central banks.
Rajan has been an ardent critic of the ultra-easing policies of the Fed and other central banks, warning that cheap money was creating dangerous leverage in the global financial system and posed problems for emerging markets.
However, he said the global economy isn't likely to remain in a long period of sub-par growth.
"I would doubt this (low-growth) is a twenty-year phenomenon and I think we should be coming out of it," Rajan said.
"That is why we should be careful of creating an environment that leads to a significant creation of debt," he said.
RBI chief Raghuram Rajan said Asia's third-largest economy is being hampered by a drop in public and private investments, but held out hope that strong foreign capital flows will help rectify this weakness.
Weak capital investment has been a hurdle in India's quest to realise its growth potential and with factories running 30 per cent below capacity, private companies are in no rush to invest in new projects.
"On the growth front, the central concern is with investments," said Rajan, who was speaking at a business event in Hong Kong on Friday. "Private investment has fallen back quite a bit and so has public investment," he said.
The RBI has cut its growth forecast for the current fiscal year to 7.4 per cent from 7.6 per cent previously, well below the government's target of 8 to 8.5 per cent, but still faster than China.
Despite the slowdown in growth and investments, Rajan said strong foreign direct investment and some traction in infrastructure development may encourage private investments.
During the period from January to June, foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into India rose to $19.4 billion, up 30 per cent from a year earlier, a sign of what the government called investors' growing confidence in the country.
Earlier this month, India eased foreign direct investment norms in 15 major sectors, including mining, defence, civil aviation and broadcasting.
"We are seeing a lot of traction in FDI, in both announcements and actual investments on the ground," Rajan said.
"Once we start seeing a little stronger demand, we will start seeing more projects being pulled out of the drawer," he said.
The central bank cut the benchmark policy rate by a half percentage point to 6.75 per cent in September, after months of pleading by government leaders and industrial groups for more stimulus to stoke growth.
He declined to comment on the appropriate level of the rupee, but said policy makers should guard against a debt build-up in the global economy in another swipe at quantitative easing policies pursued by global central banks.
Rajan has been an ardent critic of the ultra-easing policies of the Fed and other central banks, warning that cheap money was creating dangerous leverage in the global financial system and posed problems for emerging markets.
However, he said the global economy isn't likely to remain in a long period of sub-par growth.
"I would doubt this (low-growth) is a twenty-year phenomenon and I think we should be coming out of it," Rajan said.
"That is why we should be careful of creating an environment that leads to a significant creation of debt," he said.
Oil traders prepare for next big price drop in March 2016
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Oil traders are preparing for another downward turn in prices by March 2016, market data suggests, as what is expected to be an unusually warm winter dents demand just as Iran's resurgent crude exports hit global markets after sanctions are ended.
Crude futures have already lost around 60 per cent of their value since mid-2014 as supply exceeds demand by roughly 0.7 million to 2.5 million barrels per day to create a glut that analysts say will last well into 2016.
Goldman Sachs said on Thursday that there was a substantial risk of a "sharp leg lower" in oil prices.
"Mild winter weather over the coming months could see weak heating demand in the US and Europe," it said. This "would likely be the trigger for adjustments through the physical market, pushing oil prices down to cash costs, which we estimate are likely around $20 per barrel," the bank added.
A recent steep rise in March put option positions tied to a $35-per-barrel strike price in Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude suggests traders agree with the bank and expect the major benchmarks to slump in coming months.
For WTI, put positions at the $30 strike price have more than doubled since Nov. 10, but have stayed flat at a more modest level for Brent.
This is in accord with a broadly held view that while oil prices in general will remain under pressure over the medium term, WTI prices may fall faster and further than Brent.
Goldman and other analysts say persistently high US shale oil output that producers aren't allowed to export could overwhelm the country's storage tanks, which are already filled with near-record inventories.
Compounding the production glut is an expectation of a mild winter as a result of an El Nino weather pattern, which is expected to limit heating oil demand.
The market may also have to accommodate a rapid rise in Iranian oil exports if sanctions are lifted, which many analysts say could happen in the first half of 2016.
One option to deal with the glut would be to use crude oil tankers for storage. But this requires a price curve in which oil is sufficiently more expensive in the future than for immediate delivery - a market structure known as contango - so that holding costs can be covered.
High tanker rates and a relatively flat price curve make floating storage unattractive for now, however, so analysts say spot prices would have to drop further to make storing crude on ships a viable market strategy.
Oil traders are preparing for another downward turn in prices by March 2016, market data suggests, as what is expected to be an unusually warm winter dents demand just as Iran's resurgent crude exports hit global markets after sanctions are ended.
Crude futures have already lost around 60 per cent of their value since mid-2014 as supply exceeds demand by roughly 0.7 million to 2.5 million barrels per day to create a glut that analysts say will last well into 2016.
Goldman Sachs said on Thursday that there was a substantial risk of a "sharp leg lower" in oil prices.
"Mild winter weather over the coming months could see weak heating demand in the US and Europe," it said. This "would likely be the trigger for adjustments through the physical market, pushing oil prices down to cash costs, which we estimate are likely around $20 per barrel," the bank added.
A recent steep rise in March put option positions tied to a $35-per-barrel strike price in Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude suggests traders agree with the bank and expect the major benchmarks to slump in coming months.
For WTI, put positions at the $30 strike price have more than doubled since Nov. 10, but have stayed flat at a more modest level for Brent.
This is in accord with a broadly held view that while oil prices in general will remain under pressure over the medium term, WTI prices may fall faster and further than Brent.
Goldman and other analysts say persistently high US shale oil output that producers aren't allowed to export could overwhelm the country's storage tanks, which are already filled with near-record inventories.
Compounding the production glut is an expectation of a mild winter as a result of an El Nino weather pattern, which is expected to limit heating oil demand.
The market may also have to accommodate a rapid rise in Iranian oil exports if sanctions are lifted, which many analysts say could happen in the first half of 2016.
One option to deal with the glut would be to use crude oil tankers for storage. But this requires a price curve in which oil is sufficiently more expensive in the future than for immediate delivery - a market structure known as contango - so that holding costs can be covered.
High tanker rates and a relatively flat price curve make floating storage unattractive for now, however, so analysts say spot prices would have to drop further to make storing crude on ships a viable market strategy.
General Awareness
2015 – G20 Antalya summit
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The 2015 G-20 Antalya summit held on 15-16 November 2015 was the 10th annual meeting of the G-20 heads of government.
Venue – Antalya, Turkey
- Turkey took the presidency of the G-20 from Australia on 1 December 2014 and now China will preside over the organization in 2016 at Hangzhou.
- French President Francois Hollande did not attend the event due to the November 2015 Paris attacks and sent Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius as his representative.
Three pillars of the 2015 agenda were:
(i) Strengthening the Global Recovery and Lifting the Potential
(ii) Enhancing Resilience
(iii) Buttressing Sustainability
Key discussions
Modi was lead speaker at its inaugural session on Climate Change and Development. Summit was concluded with practical outcomes on priority areas such as development, climate change, financing for climate change, trade, growth and employment.
- The annual Group of 20 summit focuses on economic issues and crucial discussions over Paris attacks by formulating plans to defeat ISIS and continue to accommodate the refugees flooding out of Syria.
- 10-point proposal on tackling global terrorism with stress on delinking terror and religion while isolating sponsors and supporters of terrorism.
- Escalating international movement of “foreign terrorist fighters”
About G20
The Group of Twenty aka G20 is an international forum created in 1999 aimed to bring together systemically important industrialized and developing economies to discussissues, which limits to economic matters.
- 19 Countries + 1 EU = 20’s group
- IMF and World Bank also participate.
Countries are represented by finance ministers and central bank governors and EU is represented by the European Central Bank and a rotating council presidency.
- India will hold G20 Chair in 2018 at New Delhi.
- The 2015 G-20 Antalya summit held on 15-16 November 2015 was the 10th annual meeting of the G-20 heads of government.Venue – Antalya, Turkey
- Turkey took the presidency of the G-20 from Australia on 1 December 2014 and now China will preside over the organization in 2016 at Hangzhou.
- French President Francois Hollande did not attend the event due to the November 2015 Paris attacks and sent Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius as his representative.
Three pillars of the 2015 agenda were:
(i) Strengthening the Global Recovery and Lifting the Potential
(ii) Enhancing Resilience
(iii) Buttressing SustainabilityKey discussions
Modi was lead speaker at its inaugural session on Climate Change and Development. Summit was concluded with practical outcomes on priority areas such as development, climate change, financing for climate change, trade, growth and employment.- The annual Group of 20 summit focuses on economic issues and crucial discussions over Paris attacks by formulating plans to defeat ISIS and continue to accommodate the refugees flooding out of Syria.
- 10-point proposal on tackling global terrorism with stress on delinking terror and religion while isolating sponsors and supporters of terrorism.
- Escalating international movement of “foreign terrorist fighters”
About G20
The Group of Twenty aka G20 is an international forum created in 1999 aimed to bring together systemically important industrialized and developing economies to discussissues, which limits to economic matters.- 19 Countries + 1 EU = 20’s group
- IMF and World Bank also participate.
Countries are represented by finance ministers and central bank governors and EU is represented by the European Central Bank and a rotating council presidency.- India will hold G20 Chair in 2018 at New Delhi.
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