NEW DELHI, April 25 (Reuters) – The Indian 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.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s worst economic slowdown in a decade has bottomed out and growth is expected to pick up to 6.4 percent in the current fiscal year, a top economic adviser to the country’s prime minister said on Tuesday.

Adviser C. Rangarajan was releasing a report from the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, which he heads, on the state of the economy in 2012/13.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s worst economic slowdown in a decade has bottomed out and growth is expected to pick up to 6.4 percent in the current fiscal year, a top economic adviser to the country’s prime minister said on Tuesday.

Adviser C. Rangarajan was releasing a report from the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, which he heads, on the state of the economy in 2012/13.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s headline inflation probably declined to 6.4 percent in March, the slowest rate in more than three years, but high food inflation remains a challenge for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as it ponders further rate cuts to revive Asia’s third largest economy.

Reviving investment and economic growth remain the top priority of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government, which is gearing up for national elections due in early 2014.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s headline inflation probably declined to 6.4 percent in March, the slowest rate in more than three years, but high food inflation remains a challenge for the central bank as it ponders further rate cuts to revive Asia’s third largest economy.

Reviving investment and economic growth remain the top priority of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government, which is gearing up for national elections due in early 2014.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Finance Minister P. Chidambaram will seek to drum up foreign investment from the United States and Canada this week to fund a record high current account deficit, even as policymakers debate the risks of over-reliance on foreign investors to finance the gap.

As Chidambaram kicks off a week-long North America trip, his officials are working on a series of steps to attract at least $20 billion in new investment to fund the deficit without depleting India’s $300 billion in foreign exchange reserves.

NEW DELHI, April 14 (Reuters) – India’s finance minister
will seek to drum up foreign investment from the United States
and Canada this week to fund a record high current account
deficit, even as policymakers debate the risks of over-reliance
on foreign investors to finance the gap.

As P. Chidambaram kicks off a week-long North America trip,
his officials are working on a series of steps to attract at
least $20 billion in new investment to fund the deficit without
depleting India’s $300 billion in foreign exchange reserves.

SEOUL/NEW DELHI, April 5 (Reuters) – Asian policymakers
braced for a flood of capital unleashed by the Bank of Japan’s
huge monetary stimulus, but some conceded on Friday the impact
on global money flows and currencies might prove to be a
necessary side-effect to get the region’s No.2 economy growing.

New BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Thursday promised to
inject about $1.4 trillion into the Japanese economy in less
than two years and committed the bank to open-ended asset
buying, a dose of shock therapy officials hope will end two
decades of stagnation.

NEW DELHI, April 3 (Reuters) – India plans to set up a fund
of up to 20 billion rupees ($368.4 million) to back local
insurers in offering cover to refiners who process Iranian
crude, three government sources said, as sanctions discourage
global reinsurers from taking on the risk.

The money will come from the premiums normally paid by
insurers for reinsurance cover, said the sources, who requested
anonymity.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – A committee including government appointees should set monetary policy, a finance ministry panel recommended on Thursday, in a sign that the government aims to increase its say over policy while lessening the influence of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor.

The finance ministry published on its website a draft financial sector law including recommendations to set up a monetary policy committee empowered to make binding decisions.