WE THE STATE 30th ISSUE

8
BHOPAL April 22 to April 28, 2013
Bihar among most spenders on VIP security
NEW DELHI/PATNA
Despite Chief Minister Nitish
Kumar persistently
pressing for a special assistance
package from the Centre for
Bihar to give boost to state’s miserable
economy, still the “backward
state” spends a whopping sum of
Commerce
Bhopal jewellers fear shortage of gold
BHOPAL
If you are thinking of buying gold, you
might as well hurry. While the retail gold
market in city has been riding high - having
recorded almost 50% hike in sales during
the past few days due to the dip in the prices
of the yellow metal -- a crisis might be looming
in the coming days.
The bullion and coin wholesalers have almost
stopped the supply due to the price
slump, and the impact of the restricted flow of
the metal to retail market might start showing
soon in form of shortage of raw material.
Thus, jewellery and other retail gold items
might get hard to come by in the near future
even as the marriage season has commenced.
Bhopal's New Market Sarafa Association
vice-president Manoj Agrawal said that the
market for gold is uncertain and the prices
might go down further. The combined effect of
sharp rise in sales by about 50% and the decision
of the bullion traders to hold back their
stock in hope of a surge in prices, could create
a serious shortage of gold in the coming days,
he said.
Amrapali Jewelers manager Subodh Soni
said, "We suffered huge losses due to sudden
decrease in gold rate, but increase in selling
of gold by up to 50%-70% has compensated
our losses. The market is on boom due to
Pushya Nakshatra (on Thursday) and the
wedding season." Gold sold at Rs 26,400 per 10
grams and silver at Rs 45,000 per kg on Thursday.
Small jewellery shop owners have already
started feeling the impact of short-supply.
Tirupati Jewelers owner Chintu Agrawal
said, "I think in the coming days there will be
a major problem for both buyers and retailers."
He, however, added that during the last
three days, the sale of gold doubled and
Pushya Nakshtra made a big difference.
Wholesale supplier Jai Mohan Agrawal,
however, disagreed that hoarding of bullion
was a trend. "Some suppliers might have possibly
blocked the bullions, but it doesn't apply
on all the wholesalers. I have not stopped supply
of coins to the retailers. And I am happy
with the decline in the price of gold, because
it has got the market going again."
Demand for engineering talent
declining in IT industry: Report
Demand for engineering graduates in
the IT industry is reducing due to
slowdown in revenue growth, change
in business mix and preference for science
graduates to lower costs, says a new report.
"We attribute slowdown in absorption of
engineering talent to slowdown in revenue
growth rates of Indian IT, change in nature
of demand (BPO and infrastructure management
services) and effort by companies to
lower cost of delivery by recruiting science
graduates for delivery of services," a Kotak
Institutional Equities report said.
The report said business mix of Indian IT is
changing with incremental growth accruing
from analytics, consulting, BPO etc., which
requires employees with different skill profiles.
"Protectionism and expansion of delivery
network to other low-cost locations such as
Mexico, China and Eastern Europe are leading
to accelerated hiring by companies outside
India," it said.
The report said TCS recruited over 5,000
non-Indians in the past four quarters while
Infosys has significantly stepped up hiring in
local geographies.
"In addition, many new deals involve re-
Rs. 141.95 crore annually to provide
security cover to its 3591 VIPs,
much higher than other richer
states.
Considering Bihar’s per capita income
of just over $430, the colossal
expenditure on VIP security raises
questions over government’s fiscal
management.
badging of client employees. This reduces demand
for Indian engineering talent," it
added.
The report said supply of engineers has
also increased aggressively over the past few
years.
"India now trains more engineers annually
(1.5 mn) than China (1.1 mn) and the US (0.1
mn) combined. This may lead to meaningful
underemployment or stagnating wages," the
report said.
Excess supply will give companies flexibility
to recruit in line with requirements, it
added.
WE THE STATE
Rajasthan doubles
alcohol revenue
in five years
Jaipur: Despite tall claims to curb alcohol
consumption in the state, the revenue
of excise department has almost
doubled ever since the Congress government
came to power in 2008.
In 2007-08 the revenue of the excise
was Rs. 1,805.12
crore which rose to
almost 100 percent
in 2011-12 to Rs.
3,287 crore. Till Decem-ber
2012 the
department has already
earned Rs.
2,803.72 crore
which is likely to
break all previous
records by the end
of financial year in
March 2013. Of total revenue received
in 2011-12, Indian Made Foreign Liquor
(IMFL) is the highest contributes with
Rs. 1,298.63 cr. followed by country
liquor Rs. 913.64 cr., beer Rs. 666.01
crore and others Rs. 408.72 cr.
Meanwhile, with an eye on assembly
elections this year, the state government
is planning to impose a ban on
liquor across the state and has formed
a five-member committee to submit its
report within six months to the government.
NRI deposits in
Kerala stands at
Rs. 62,708 crore
Thiruvananthapuram: The bank deposits
by Non-Resident Indians (NRI) in
Kerala stood at Rs. 62,708 crore till December
2012, bankers said on March 26.
There are now around three million
Keralites who work in foreign countries,
close to 90 percent of them in the
Middle East countries.
Maximum deposits were done in the
State Bank group, which attracted 40.58
percent or Rs. 25,445 crore of the total
deposits. The private sector banks aggregated
a total NRI deposit of Rs.
23.395 crore.
The semi-urban areas of Kerala accounted
for 62.85 percent of the deposits
followed by 31.34 percent in the
urban areas with the rural diaspora accounting
for a mere 5.81 percent of
share in the deposits.
Within the State Bank group, Kerala’s
own State Bank of Travancore led with
Rs.17,258 crore of NRI deposits.