India's Budget 2015 at a Glance

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$137bn boost for India Railway System

NEW DELHI—India plans to spend 8.5 trillion rupees ($137 billion) over the next five years to expand and modernize its vast railway network.

While the South Asian nation unveiled a long list of upgrades for its state-run railways network on Thursday, it said it wouldn’t be increasing train fares.

“We are directing our efforts to make travel on Indian railways a happy experience,” Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu said while presenting the national railway budget for the year starting April 1.

The railways will increase spending by 52% to one trillion rupees next fiscal year. The additional spending will be funded through a mix of cost savings and higher revenues at the railways, financial support from the government, and borrowing.

Mr. Prabhu said the railways would raise 177 billion rupees through internal resources, 348 billion rupees through borrowing, and 400 billion rupees from the government.

While the government kept passenger fares unchanged, it raised freight rates by up to 10% to boost revenue. The government said revenue from both passenger and freight traffic will rise 15% to 1.84 trillion rupees next fiscal year.

Overhauling India’s railways has proved to be a tough task in the past. Previous governments have been wary of raising passenger fares to generate the resources for fear of displeasing the millions of voters who rely on the relatively cheap mode of transportation. Some 23 million Indians take trains each day. Freight rates have been kept high to subsidize the passenger services.

Markets showed little reaction to the new railway budget, with the S&P BSE Sensex edging down 0.9% on Thursday. Stocks of companies manufacturing rail coaches and other railway related stocks fell between 3% and 5%, as investors feared the higher freight rates could hurt traffic.

Still, the government is trying to send a signal that it is serious about improving the country’s infrastructure. The “rail budget lays out a clear road map to make the railways the key driver of India’s economic growth and [play] a key role in India’s progress,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in post to his verified Twitter account.- The Wall Street Journal

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Price Of RON95 Petrol in Malaysia To Go Up!!

Kuala Lumpur- As the price of crude oil has risen to US$60 (RM216.50) from the previous price of US$48 last month, the price of petrol in Malaysia will likely reflect the higher price in the coming month. 

The current price for RON95 petrol stands at RM1.70 a litre, RON97 petrol at RM2.00 a litre and diesel sharing the samce price as RON95.

With the new hike in prices, it is estimated that the price of RON95 will likely climb higher, as the price is now derived from a managed float system that is reviewed on a monthly basis. 

This comes as the government slashed fuel subsidies two months ago, which peaked at RM20 billion ringgit per annum when the price of crude oil was high.

However, with the US producing oil at a higher rate, demand has slowed and with OPEC, the cartel of major global oil producers, having decided not to cut out the supply of crude oil produced daily, prices have dropped sharply since June last year. 

Despite the increase in price, a report by the BBC estimated that the price will recover slowly to around US$70 by 2019 market experts forecasting a price range of US$40 - US$80 in the next few years.  

- Malaysian Digest 

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India Eastern City, Kolkata the fastest growing market after US for Uber

KOLKATA: Kolkata has become the fastest growing market for taxi-hailing service Uber, after the US, a top official of the company said today. 

"Kolkata is the fastest market for us globally after America. The volume of business growth is unprecedented for us. It is the most important market for us," Neeraj Singhal, Head of Expansion (India) at Uber, told reporters here. 

He said their business in terms of the number of trips has been growing at a phenomenal rate ever since the service was launched here in last September. 

"This means the Kolkata market is growing faster than even London," he said, adding, while the India market for Uber has been growing by over 40 per cent, the Kolkata market has been doing better than the national average. 

Mumbai comes second out of the 11 cities in the country in which the company is operating. 

Founded in 2009, the San Francisco-based taxi aggregator operates in over 200 cities across the globe. 

When asked, Singhal said the limited transportation infrastructure in Kolkata has been a boon for them. 

"The existing transportation infrastructure in the city is not satisfactory and has provided us with a big opportunity in the market," he said. 

The official, however, refused to share any figure on the number of cabs they have tied up with in the city. 

Providing an app-based taxi service, Uber doesn't own any cars nor employs drivers. 

"We are not radio taxi. We only provide a free market for entrepreneurs using a technology platform," Singhal said. 

According to him, the average waiting time to get a cab is six minutes in Kolkata. 

The company is also looking at expanding its services in nearby areas of Kolkata and other cities of West Bengal. 

"We are also providing tens of thousands of jobs to entrepreneurs in Kolkata through our model," Singhal said.- The Economy Times

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Nein! Greece Loan Request Rejected By Germany

Germany has rejected Greece's plan for a crucial loan extension, calling it "no substantial proposal for a solution".

The office of the German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble issued the terse response, just hours after Greece formally lodged its bid for a six-month deal to effectively replace its bailout, due to expire at the end of the month.

German finance ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger added that it amounted to a request "for bridge financing without fulfilling the demands of the (bailout) programme".

The country's new anti-austerity government is seeking a compromise to break the deadlock with European creditors, especially Germany, as it runs the risk of running out of cash and defaulting on its debts without agreement.

It has ruled out the prospect of any deal under the terms of its previous rescue because of its mandate from the Greek people who swept the anti-austerity Syriza party to power last month.

The details of the Greek request were not made public but the Reuters news agency said it had seen a document which suggested Greece had watered down its previous demands.

The letter, purportedly written by Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, pledged  to honour all Greek debts and not take unilateral action that would undermine agreed fiscal targets.

The government of Alexis Tsipras blames the conditions attached to its bailout of hampering the country's recovery and leading to a deterioration of living standards.

Unemployment remains at more than 25%.

On Monday, the government rejected a plan to extend its current €240bn (£178bn) bailout deal, describing it as absurd.

Eurozone finance ministers had given Greece until Friday to request an extension of its current austerity and reform programme.

Germany has been particularly vocal in insisting the country sticks to the terms of its commitments.

The formal Greek request was made in a letter to Jeroen Dijsselbloem, head of the eurogroup of finance ministers.

The document was submitted after the European Central Bank (ECB) agreed to increase its emergency funding to Greek banks amid a capital flight from the country.

Depositors are fearful the lack of a deal will force Greece from the single currency and back to the drachma, representing a significant devaluation.

A source told the AFP news agency the ceiling for emergency liquidity assistance - or ELA - to the banks was raised by the ECB from €65bn to €68.3bn (£50.3bn).

According to the source, the Greek central bank had requested an extension of roughly €10bn.

Minutes of the last ECB governing council meeting, released on Thursday, also confirmed that a Greek exit from its bailout commitments would prevent the ECB buying the country's bonds under its €1.1tn quantitative easing scheme.

The eurozone economic stimulus, due to begin next month, was not backed by each member of the council - widely believed to be its two German members.

The minutes said: "In the view of some members there appeared to be no urgent need for monetary policy action."-SkyNews. February 19,2015

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Farm price index rises slightly in Thailand

The Office of Agricultural Economics of Thailand (OAE) said  the farm price index increased slightly in January from the figure in December last year.

It said the government’s support to rubber price and a higher price of palm oil contributed to a 0.1% increase in the  price index.

But it said prices of cassava and pork have declined due to oversupply in the markets.

It said  farm index is expected to remain the same throughout the month of February.

However it said if compared with January last year, the farm price index dropped  11.12% as most products, except for cassava and palm oil, were cheaper.

Global demand and drought pushed up the prices of both items in January last year, it added.

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