Your daily round-up of the best of Wall Street Journal’s India coverage:
India’s Exports Fall 1.8% Last Fiscal Year: India’s merchandise exports in the last fiscal year fell 1.8% to $300.60 billion, 16.5% short of the government’s $360 billion target, as demand weakened consequent to economic problems in Western markets.
‘Integrity’ Pledge to be Imposed in India Share Sales: Investment bankers in India, already struggling with weak share-sale activity and low fees, now face an “integrity” issue.
India Gold Demand Surges on Bargain Buying: Gold demand in India has surged to double the average in the past two days, with consumers keen on bargain buying after a collapse in the metal’s price, Bombay Bullion Association President Mohit Khamboj said Thursday.
Indian IT Firms Hit by Draft U.S. Immigration Law: A draft U.S. immigration law aims to limit the number of workers that Indian outsourcing firms can send to the U.S., a move which is likely to drastically push up their operating costs.
Court Eases Mining Ban in Karnataka: India’s Supreme Court Thursday allowed around 100 iron ore mines in the southern state of Karnataka to restart subject to stringent conditions, easing a ban that has hampered output in the world’s third-largest producer of the raw material, a lawyer and industry executive said.
Opinion: India’s Commodity Folly: In February, against all basic economic sense, Indian Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram announced a new tax on commodities futures trading as part of his 2013-14 national budget. Should it pass, the tax would apply to all non-agricultural items, including copper and natural gas.
Source: blogs.wsj.com