& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Indian economic growth to slow this fiscal year, say analysts
BOMBAY. Feb 15: Indian S<9norpic growth will alow in thr1, fiscal year ending in March dye to a liquidity Crunch. high interest rates, infrastructure bottlenecks and the depreciation of the rupee, analysts said, reports
Economist Anindya Chatterjee of the foreign stock brokerage James Capel said he expected economic growth of 5.7 per cent in financial 1995-96. lower than the official target of 6.0 per cent and the 6:2 per cent of the previous fiscal year.
“The funds crunch and rising interest rates will hit corporate bottomlines and slow down investments." he said.
India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, had estimated that bank deposits would grow by 650 billion rupees (20.31 billion dollars) in 1995-96, but the figure was only 154 billion rupees (4.8 billion dollars) as of October.
Deepak Parekh, chief of the Housing Development Fi-
nance Corp, said the (liquidity) crunch is very visible.
"Even corporates with high credit ratings are delaying payments and defaulting in the inter-corpprate debt market." he said.
"The crisis la also very evident in the industrial sector where repayment of loans to financial institutions is being delayed." Parekh added.
Chatterjee said the economy was also hobbled by severe bottlenecks in infrastructure.
"India's seaports are operating at more than 114 per cent capacity, as against the global average of between 60 and 65 per cent.
"About 98 per cent of India's exports are from the seaports, which have no room for expansion now," he said. "The average waiting period (for off loading) Is about five days now. as against about Seven hours in most countries."
The road and railway network is also in ABD shape.
Only half the total roads of two million kilometres (1.24 million miles) is tarred, which means the roads are practically unmotorable for large stretches
Federal and state express ways make up eight per cent of the total network and are choked with trucks.
Freight movement on the state-owned railway network has been hit due to a shortage of wagons and slow expansion. even though rail transport is cheaper than road.
Power outages are crippling factories around the country.
Finance Minister Manmohan Singh said the power generation target of an additional 30,000 megawatts in the five years to 1997 would be missed by 10.000 mega watts.
Analyst Navlnder Sahni of the foreign stockbrokerage Marlin Partners UK said New Delhi's tight money policy aimed at keeping inflation low In an election year was
another factor causing the slowdown.
"Because of statistical reporting delays, production figures are old. but the gut feeling is that a slow down is definitely around,” he said.
Analyst Devesh Kumar of the foreign securities house W 1 Carr (Far East) said the mining, power generation, capital goods and petroleum products sectors were feeling the impact.
The bottlenecks have started showing up and there is a general nervousness about the investment climate." he said. "Domestic capital is waiting for policy shifts when the elections are over.’
The Indian rupee has fallen more than 20 per cent against the dollar in the past five months, hitting a record low of 38.50 to the greenback last Week and making imports costlier.
India's foreign currency reserves have dropped from 20 billion dollars last March to 16 billion dollars early thia month.