IIP
India’s industrial output rose 10.3 per cent in October from a year earlier, matching market forecasts, and helped by stimulus measures and robust domestic demand. Manufacturing production rose by 11.1 per cent in October, after declining by 0.6 per cent a year earlier.

Inflation
Inflation rose to 4.78 per cent in November, driven by rising prices of essential food items like pulses, fruits and vegetables. The monthly inflation data showed that inflation rose from 1.34 per cent in October. Inflation was 8.48 percent in November in the previous fiscal.

GDP
India’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 7.9 per cent during July-September 2009, up from 6.1 per cent in the previous quarter, according to data released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO). The cumulative expansion for the first half of the current fiscal stands at 7 per cent with the economy registering a 6.1 per cent growth in the first quarter of 2009-10. The surge in GDP numbers was led by a 9.2 per cent growth in the manufacturing sector, with the mining and construction activities expanding by 9.5 per cent and 6.5 per cent, respectively. The size of the domestic economy stood at USD 385.75 billion in the first half of 2009-10.

FDI
India has received as many as 238 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) proposals so far this year. Of these, the government has approved 190. Around 13 have been rejected and 6 withdrawn or closed. The sectors that cornered the major portion of the FDI inflow are services, telecom; real estate; construction; automobile; power; metallurgical industries; petroleum and natural gas and chemicals, among others. Mauritius was the main source, followed by Singapore, the US, the UK, the Netherlands and Japan.

Remittances from Indian workers
Remittances in the form of private transfers by NRIs has increased in the last fiscal, crossing USD 46 billion, from USD 43.5 billion in the previous year. According to estimates, more than one-third of the remittances that the country receives come from the Gulf region.

SEZs exports

The Special Economic Zones (SEZs) operational in the country, currently numbered at 101, posted exports worth USD 19.27 billion in the first six months of 2009. Approval in principle has been accorded for 570 SSEZs and 101 are operational. Physical exports constitute 89 per cent of their turnover.

Business confidence surpasses pre-crisis level
Business confidence in India has surpassed the level that prevailed before the financial crisis that seized economic growth prospects, according to the latest National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), MasterCard Worldwide Index of Business Confidence. The Business Confidence Index (BCI) reported a sharp rise of 21 per cent, with a rating of 143.7 points in October 2009, compared to 118.6 points in July 2009. The ratings for larger firms increased by a larger proportion when compared to the smallest size category, suggesting a return to an increasingly stable outlook for business conditions after the fairly uncertain conditions of the second half of 2008-09.

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