Kolkata, Nov. 26 (ANI): Kolkata''s jewellers are all smiles despite the global slowdown being suffered by markets across the world. The goldsmiths here didn’t shift to machine-made jewellery but adhered to their handmade process.

This decision, which was once believed as the main reason for their backwardness by several people, is today reaping them rich dividends.

When the US market was booming, jewellers in other parts of India and the world started mass production of low-carat gold jewellery, which was the craze in the United States. But now with the recession in the US there are no takers for that.

The Finance Minister P Chidambaram, speaking at the Economic Editors' Conference stated that despite the global meltdown, India, unlike many other global economies, would continue to grow at seven to eight per cent this fiscal. It was nowhere near a recession.

New Delhi, Nov 23 : Finance Minister P. Chidambaram will inaugurate the three three-day annual Economic Editors’ Conference at the National Media Centre organized the Press Information Bureau.

There will be separate sessions with the Ministers and senior officers of the key economic and infrastructure ministries participating in the conference.

The conference will enable economic editors and journalists, invited from all over the country to interact with them and get a detailed background of the government’s policies and programmes.

The media persons will get a comprehensive view of the overall economic scenario in the country and the latest initiatives and thrust areas of the Government.

The Union Government is unlikely to reduce prices of petroleum products as of now despite huge fall in the prices of crude oil in the international market. Crude prices were $142.04 a barrel on July 3 while currently they are fluctuating in between $47 -$50 per barrel. The public sector oil marketing companies have requested government to hold prices so that they can cover their previous losses. The Indian crude oil basket has averaged $52.78 a barrel in November as compared to October's average of $69.12.

The Reserve Bank is unlikely to cut key interest rates at this point of time following drop in bond yield. The yield on 10-year bonds was 7.50% early this week and 8% in October.

Bond prices and yield are moving in opposite direction to each other leaving no room for interest cut by apex bank. The overall situation has changed after the collapse of Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers Holding Inc. in mid-September.

Selling of dollars by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has contributed to decline the Forex reserve of country. Forex reserve is continuously under pressure after the bankruptcy of the US investment bank Lehman Brothers and other major financial institutions of world. It is declined by $5 billion in the week ended November 14 to $246.35 billion.

It is also declined following revaluation of non-dollar assets, sellout by foreign investors and strong demand by importers following failure of leading foreign financial institutions.