Sept 12 (Reuters) – India’s industrial production barely
grew in July, with the anaemic pace of expansion suggesting
broader economic activity remains weak and offering little
relief to embattled Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s as state
elections loom.

The data, released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on
Wednesday, showed output at factories, mines and utilities grew
an annual 0.1 percent, helped by a recovery in consumer
non-durables. That was slightly lower than a forecast of 0.3
percent growth in a Reuters poll, but an improvement nonetheless
on an annual contraction of 1.8 percent logged in June.

NEW DELHI, Sept 11 (Reuters) – India has approved eight
foreign investments in drugmakers worth $333 million in total,
signalling the finance ministry may be winning a battle to open
up the country’s fast-growing markets and giving a boost to
global drugmakers hungry for growth.

As a condition of its approval, however, the government said
the foreign companies including U.S.-based Pfizer and
Germany’s B-Braun would have to continue producing cheap drugs
and maintain spending in ongoing research and development
projects run by their Indian partners for five years.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – P. Chidambaram has a simple message for investors disillusioned by India’s policy drift: it is no longer ‘business as usual’ in the corridors of North Block, the sandstone colonial building that houses the finance ministry in New Delhi.

For months, critics have accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government of being asleep at the wheel. Frustrated investors accuse it of both over-confidence and complacency in the face of an economic slowdown that has shattered the country’s reputation as ‘Incredible India’.

NEW DELHI, Sept 10 (Reuters) – P. Chidambaram has a simple
message for investors disillusioned by India’s policy drift: it
is no longer ‘business as usual’ in the corridors of North
Block, the sandstone colonial building that houses the finance
ministry in New Delhi.

For months, critics have accused Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh’s government of being asleep at the wheel. Frustrated
investors accuse it of both over-confidence and complacency in
the face of an economic slowdown that has shattered the
country’s reputation as ‘Incredible India’.

NEW DELHI, Aug 14 (Reuters) – India’s wholesale inflation
unexpectedly fell in July to a near three-year low but
economists doubt the drop will be enough to persuade the central
bank to cut interest rates at its September meeting to try to
revive the struggling economy.

Inflation dropped to 6.87 percent in July from 7.25 percent
in June as domestic gasoline and vegetable prices fell in July.
But global oil prices have been rising since then and drought in
some parts of India is threatening fresh inflationary pressures.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s wholesale inflation unexpectedly fell in July to 6.87 percent, its lowest level since January 2010, although economists were not convinced it would be enough to persuade the RBI to cut rates at its September meeting to help revive the economy.

While fuel and food inflation cooled, a pick up in manufacturing price pressures pushed core inflation up to around 5.44 percent from 4.9 percent in June, economists estimated.

NEW DELHI, Aug 14 (Reuters) – India’s wholesale inflation
unexpectedly fell in July to 6.87 percent, its lowest level
January 2010, although economists were not convinced it would be
enough to persuade the central bank to cut rates at its
September meeting to help revive the economy.

While fuel and food inflation cooled, a pick up in
manufacturing price pressures pushed core inflation up to around
5.44 percent from 4.9 percent in June, economists estimated.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will hold off on widely anticipated fuel subsidy and retail reforms because of renewed opposition from party colleagues and coalition allies, leaving budget targets in tatters and rattling investors.

Members of Singh’s Congress Party and senior government officials told Reuters that no movement was expected until at least the second week of September, despite market expectations of an announcement this week or the next.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will hold off on widely anticipated fuel subsidy and retail reforms because of renewed opposition from party colleagues and coalition allies, leaving budget targets in tatters and rattling investors.

Members of Singh’s Congress Party and senior government officials told Reuters that no movement was expected until at least the second week of September, despite market expectations of an announcement this week or the next.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s industrial output picked up more than expected in May, bolstering the case for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to keep interest rates high at its next policy meeting as a slow start to the monsoon puts pressure on inflation, especially food prices.

Industrial production rose 2.4 percent in May from a year earlier, driven by manufacturing growth, data released on Thursday showed. The number, which was ahead of a Reuters poll forecast for an 1.8 percent increase, was the largest growth in output since February.