NEW DELHI, May 14 (Reuters) – India’s headline inflation
fell below 5 percent in April, dropping within the central
bank’s comfort zone for the first time in more than three years
and fuelling market hopes for more monetary easing to revive
flagging economic growth.

The wholesale price index rose 4.89 percent from a year
earlier and was the lowest inflation rate since November 2009
and well below the 5.50 percent forecast by analysts in a
Reuters poll. It was more than a full percentage point lower
than the 5.96 percent rise in March.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s headline inflation fell below 5 percent in April, putting it back in the Reserve Bank’s comfort zone for the first time in more than three years and fuelling market hopes for more monetary easing to revive the economy’s pedestrian growth rate.

April’s reading of 4.89 percent was the lowest since November 2009 and well below the 5.50 percent estimated by analysts in a Reuters poll. The wholesale price index, India’s main inflation measure, rose an annual 5.96 percent in March.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – A 138 percent jump in gold imports in April heightened worries about India’s current account deficit, offsetting any comfort policymakers took from slowing inflation and limiting space for monetary easing to help revive a moribund economy.

India’s April trade deficit leapt more than 72 percent from March to $17.8 billion, the government said, after retail customers in the world’s largest gold importer went on a spree to take advantage of a correction in global gold prices.

NEW DELHI, May 13 (Reuters) – A 138 percent jump in gold
imports in April heightened worries about India’s current
account deficit, offsetting any comfort policymakers took from
slowing inflation and limiting space for monetary easing to help
revive a moribund economy.

India’s April trade deficit leapt more than 72
percent from March to $17.8 billion, the government said, after
retail customers in the world’s largest gold importer went on a
spree to take advantage of a correction in global gold prices.

GREATER NOIDA, India (Reuters) – There are few signs of asset bubbles forming in Asia due to Japan’s massive monetary easing, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda and his counterpart in hot-money target the Philippines said on Thursday.

Under Kuroda, the BOJ stunned financial markets last month by pledging to inject about $1.4 trillion into the economy to end nearly two decades of stagnation and hit a 2 percent inflation target in roughly two years.

GREATER NOIDA, India, May 2 (Reuters) – The Japanese central
bank will monitor whether its monetary easing could have an
unintended spillover effect on emerging economies, Bank of Japan
Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Thursday.

However, he said he saw no sign of asset bubbles emerging.

Under Kuroda, the BOJ stunned financial markets last month
by pledging to inject about $1.4 trillion into the economy to
end nearly two decades of stagnation and hit a 2 percent
inflation target in roughly two years.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India cut tax rates for foreign investors on interest income from investments in government and corporate debt, hoping to attract more funding to bridge its current account deficit and polish its reformist credentials.

The change in withholding tax, which a senior finance ministry official said would fall to 5 percent from 20 percent, delivered on a promise to foreign investors by Finance Minister P Chidambaram during a recent visit to North America.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – A parliament deadlocked yet again over corruption scandals threatens Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s ambitious reform agenda, dealing a harsh dose of political reality on the heels of his North American roadshow to sell the India story.

Two long-stalled reforms – one to lift the foreign ownership cap in insurers to 49 percent from 26 percent and another that would simplify land acquisition for factories – were due to be introduced in the legislature during the past week ended up being side-tracked by the political ruckus.

NEW DELHI, April 29 (Reuters) – An Indian Parliament
deadlocked yet again over corruption scandals threatens Finance
Minister P. Chidambaram’s ambitious reform agenda, dealing a
harsh dose of political reality on the heels of his North
American roadshow to sell the India story.

Two long-stalled reforms – one to lift the foreign ownership
cap in insurers to 49 percent from 26 percent and another that
would simplify land acquisition for factories – were due to be
introduced in the legislature during the past week ended up
being side-tracked by the political ruckus.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The government pitched for a rating upgrade on Thursday at a meeting with ratings agency Standard & Poor’s, a top finance ministry official said, citing steps taken by it to control a high fiscal deficit and revive investments.

S&P and its rival Fitch had cut their outlook on India to negative last year, warning the country of a possible rating downgrade to “junk” on worsening public finances, a slowing economy and persistent political gridlock in New Delhi.