New Delhi, May 17 : Global ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) Friday said its outlook on India remained negative and there was a one-in-three likelihood of a downgrade within the next 12 months.

The agency affirmed its 'BBB-' long-term and 'A-3' short-term unsolicited sovereign credit ratings on India. “The outlook on the long-term rating remains negative,” S&P said in a report released in Singapore.

The Planning Commission of India has allocated a sum of whooping Rs. 49,000 crore to the state of Maharashtra for its annual plan and the state will receive an additional Rs. 31,500 crore as public sector enterprises
(PSE) plan.

The government on Thursday raised the creamy layer annual income limit from Rs 4.5 lakh to Rs 6 lakh for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) category, a move that is being seen as a political decision to sway a large section of the society ahead of the next year's general elections.

The raising of the limit means that people under the OBC category and a monthly income of up to Rs 50,000 will be able to take advantage of various reservation benefits provided by the central government in education and services.

Singapore, May 17 : Singapore's non-oil domestic exports, a key gauge of the trade hub's export performance, fell by 1 percent year-on-year in April, trade promotion agency International Enterprise Singapore said Friday.

It followed a year-on-year contraction of 4.8 percent in the previous month, exceeding market expectations, reported Xinhua.

The agency said the contraction was largely due to a drop in electronic exports, which contracted by 9 percent in April, however, it represents an improvement from the previous month's 17.9 percent decline.

Indian economy will likely grow in the range of 5.5-6.5 per cent in the current financial year, as against of average growth of 3.9 per cent last year, global rating agency Moody's Investors Service predicted.

Moody's said that Indian economy would see an increase in growth in 2013 even though the finance ministry's steps for new investments remained relatively small in scope.

The global rating agency cited relatively high inflation and cautious private sector, and pointed out that Indian economy was struggling to see a boost in investment.

According to the latest data released, the total prices of US imports fell 0.5 per cent in April mainly due to falling prices of crude oil in the global markets.

The data released by the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the total import prices had fallen 0.2 per cent during the month of March, 2013. Experts said that the country recorded a fall in fuel and nonfuel imports into the country. The total fuel prices have fallen 1.7 per cent during the month of April after falling 0.6 per cent in March.

Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman C Rangarajan has said that the expects the price of fold to fall in the Indian market as the falling inflation would make investment in financial instruments more attractive than investments in the shiny metal.

He also said that the steps taken by the authorities to curb the gold demand would help in reducing the current account deficit by 0.4-0.5 per cent of GDP during the current financial year. According to the latest data released, the overall inflation has fallen to the level of

Mumbai, May 15 : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will issue inflation-linked bonds of Rs. 12,000 crore to Rs. 15,000 crore in the current financial year to protect the savings of the poor and middle classes from the general price rise and help curb gold imports.

The central bank said Wednesday it will begin the sale of the inflation-indexed bonds from June 4. In the first tranche, the RBI will issue bonds of Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 2,000 crore. The bonds are a new type of debt that Finance Minister P Chidambaram had announced in the budget in February.

In a bid to provide companies with easier access to cheaper funds for key infrastructure sectors, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday relaxed external commercial borrowing (ECB) norms.

The central bank said it extended the ECB relaxation for the housing sector from one year to two more years and for the aviation sector by a few more months.

Global rating agency Standard & Poor's Ratings Services (S&P) on Tuesday slashed growth estimates for a total of eight Asian countries including India for the current financial year.

For the Indian economy, the rating agency slashed growth estimate to 6 per cent, from its own previous estimate of 6.5 per cent.

The agency cited a blend of weaker global risk appetite and a poor monsoon for the loss of growth momentum in the world's second most populous country.

The Indian rupee slipped eight paise to 54.81 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday because of higher demand for the US currency from oil importers and banks.

Increased strength of the US dollar against other major currencies in the global market also intensified pressure on the Indian currency.

In early trade today, the euro was hovering above 1.30 to the US dollar; while the US currency was above the 101 mark to the Japan's yen.

According to the latest figures released, the prices of gold fell more than 1 per cent on Monday due to a stronger dollar against major currencies.

The US dollar rose against major global currencies due to a revived investor confidence in the US economy. The world's largest economy has been showing signs of strong recovery with improvements in the jobs markets and a stable housing market in the US. The price of US gold fell $6.80 to $1,429.80 an ounce.

The Indian national currency has fallen 15 paise to trade at 54.95 against the dollar, which is its lowest level in a month.

The rupee showed signs of weakness and touched just below the 55 mark this morning at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market as US dollar showed strengthen against other major currencies. Dealers have also said that the fall in rupee came after selling in commodities that was backed by a strong dollar.

Mumbai, May 11 : India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves decreased by $2.06 billion to $294.30 billion for the week ended May 3, according to data released by the central bank.

The reserves had risen by $1.60 billion to $296.37 billion for the week ended April 26.

The foreign currency assets (FCA) - the biggest component of the forex reserves - fell by $299.7 million at $263.72 billion, according to the weekly statistical supplement released by the Reserve Bank of India.

The FCA had risen by $1.61 billion at $264.02 billion in the previous week.

J Jayalalithaa, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu has urged the union government to withdraw the latest hike in the prices of diesel in the country.

She claimed that the hike in diesel price is unfair as the prices of crude oil in the international market have actually fallen in recent days. She pointed out that since the central government decontrolled the prices of fuel allowing oil firms to set prices based on international prices, the diesel prices have been increased thrice by 45 paise and for the fourth time on Friday by 90 paisa.

According to the latest data released, the total imports into Germany grew faster than exports from the country during the month of March.

Latest data from the country's statistics office Destatis showed that the total exports rose 0.5 per cent in March while imports increased 0.8 per cent during the month. The largest economy in the

Eurozone and the wider European Union had recorded a fall of 1.2 per cent in exports and a rise of 3.9 per cent in imports in the month of February.

The Japanese Yen has fallen to its lowest level against the US dollar in the international currency markets on Friday following strong steps by the Japanese authorities to boost the economic growth in the world's third largest economy.

Strong jobs data in the US addressed concerns that the US economy might be slipping back to recession. The Japanese currency fell to 101.20 against the US dollar at a time when the finance ministers and central banker chiefs of G7 countries gathered for a two-day meeting near London. Many expect the currency fluctuation to be a part of the agenda at the gathering.

Rio de Janeiro, May 10 : Brazil said that it sold $750 million worth of dollar-denominated government bonds due January 2023 in European and US markets.

This was Brazil's first issuance of dollar-denominated government bonds since September 2012, when the country made the last offers in international markets, reported Xinhua.

Barclays and Citigroup managed the transaction, the Brazilian Treasury Secretariat said.

It said that the offer could be extended to Asian markets, with an amount of up to $75 million, under the same conditions.

London, May 9 : House prices in Britain rose by 1.1 percent in April following two consecutive increases in the previous two months, according to the Halifax House Price Index report.

The average house price in April stood at 166,094 pounds (about $257,200), the highest since 2010, reported Xinhua.

Prices in the three months from February to April were 1.3 percent higher than in the previous three months, the fifth successive increase in this measure.

Beijing, May 9 : China's producer price index (PPI), which measures wholesale inflation, fell 2.6 percent year on year in April, the National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday.

The drop, which was lower than the 2.2 percent market estimation, recorded the lowest figure since last November, suggesting continued weak market demand, reported Xinhua.

Output prices of production materials fell 3.5 percent year on year in April, contributing about 2.68 percentage points of the PPI drop in the month, while those of consumer goods gained 0.3 percent during the period. (IANS)