Indian exports continue to worry; down for 6th straight month

 

India's exports in the month of May 2015 stood at $22.34 billion, lower by nearly a fifth as against the same month last year.  This is also the sixth consecutive month of fall in India's exports to the world.  Imports, too, fell but at a lower pace of 16.52%.(a drop from $ 39.23 B to  32.75B for the corresponding period)

Fall in crude oil prices helped to post the lower import bill as India's oil imports for the month of May 2015 fell by nearly 41% and were valued at $8.53 billion as against $14.46 billion in May 2014. 

This indicates, India’s overseas sales are falling more steeply than many other Asian countries, dragged down both by oil prices and weak demand in developed economies other than the US, its biggest export market.  The 20% drop in May marked the longest monthly losing streak since 2009 i,e 6^th straight month.

Across Asia, the picture for exports is mixed.  Steep falls in the value of shipments from countries such as Indonesia, Australia and South Korea has been blamed on slumping commodities prices. Sluggish economies in Europe and Japan have hurt Chinese exports, which have also been hit hard by the strong yuan. 

China, too has reported a third consecutive month of exports decline. South Korea’s  May exports were down 11%, biggest slump in six years.

Weakness of exports is certainly not a pan-Asian story. Among the bright spots, Japanese exports are starting to pick up, beating expectations with an 8% increase in April. Exports from Southeast Asia to the US are also improving.

Indian exports and imports have been on the decline since the beginning of this calendar year but it is the fall in crude oil imports that is helping immensely to keep the trade deficit numbers under control. While lower oil prices benefit India because crude accounts for about 37% of imports, they also damp revenues as petroleum products account for a fifth of exports.

Highest Rated CEOs of 2015 as per Glassdoor

Glassdoor has announced the winners of its annual Employee's Choice Awards for the Highest Rated CEOs in 2015. 

This year, there are five categories spanning North America and Europe.

The list below recognizes the 50 Highest Rated CEOs at large companies (1,000 or more employees) determined by the people who work for them in the U.S. i,e their employees.

Notable names  Like Larry Page,  Mark  Zuckerberg, Dr. Vishal Sikka are  featured in the list.

Why Complicate Life?????? some good thoughts!!!!!!

India overtakes China in GDP growth rate

India’s GDP  grew at 7.5%  during the January-March period, faster than China’s 7% in the same period.

This dramatic change in India's growth numbers came after its statisticians changed the way they measure  Asia's third-largest economy.  India now measures GDP by market prices instead of factor cost, to take into account gross value addition in goods and services as well as indirect taxes. The base year has been shifted to 2011-12 from 2004-05.

Previously, India had celebrated that its growth was faster than its larger neighbour i,e China  in the December quarter, but on Friday the Central Statistics Office sharply revised the number down to 6.6 per cent from 7.5 per cent, further distorting the picture.

Full-year growth for the fiscal year ending in March came in at 7.3 % data on Friday showed, up from 6.9 %  2013/14 and a tad lower than an official estimate of 7.4 %.

Now, "Horn OK Please" is not OK.

“Horn OK please”    Readers outside  of the Indian subcontinent must be wondering, what does this  mean?????   Well,  It’s a  phrase commonly painted on  the rear side of  commercial vehicles like  trucks, buses or local taxis,   mostly in India.   The purpose of the phrase is to alert a driver of a vehicle approaching from behind to sound their horn in case they wish to overtake.

A country where road safety  still  seems to be a  rocket science and not  a common sense or  common practice, honking surely  alerted some reckless  drivers who are forced to  drive in poor road & vehicle conditions. 

But it gave licence to motorists to honk unnecessarily and   became   a big nuisance   in our lives.

Indian’s obsession on this noise creating piece of equipment  is  so high that in the past CEO’s/ Head’s of  big  Automakers openly declared  they spent fair amount of money and time to  bring  such  new systems  (  probably Loudest is the Best)   to be fitted in their vehicle  and those   were/are part of their innovation projects.

Sounds unbelievable !!!  Spend some  time in  one of  the Indian roads,  the varying degree  &  type of Noise/Melody  one will hear  owing to  honking even  a music composer will start doubting on his/her own ability.

Now, one of the states in India, Maharashtra (Mumbai is part of  the state) issued a circular banning the use of the phrase " Horn Ok Please" on the rear side of commercial vehicles across Maharashtra to prevent/discourage  honking. Hope  other  states  will follow  soon.

The Motorists  and the automaker,  hope  soon realise “Horn Ok Please” is not at all OK.

Swiss claimed the Gold in World happiness ranks

Switzerland is the happiest place for people to live, followed by Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Canada, according to a United Nations index 2015.

  

Togo, Burundi, Syria Benin, and Rwanda  were least happy.

The annual report looks at 158 countries across the world and bases its rankings on data from the Gallup World Poll which takes into account a range of metrics that includes  not just individual satisfaction and wealth, but also broad contentment  like real  per capita GDP, healthy life expectancy,  freedom to make life choices,  perceptions of corruption.

‘Increasingly happiness is considered a proper measure of social progress and goal of public policy. A rapidly increasing number of national and local governments are using happiness data and research in their search for policies that could enable people to live better lives,’ the report says.

All things considered, it doesn't look too good for India. Already rated an unhappy place in 2014 with a ranking of 111, the country dropped six places to 117 out of 158 countries ranked in the 2015 list, which took into account data from 2012-2014. 

Pro-social behavior including honesty, benevolence, cooperation, and trustworthiness, entails individuals making decisions for the common good that may conflict with short-run egoistic incentives, the report explains.

Countries that are at the top of the rankings show evidence of high social capital, while those at the bottom show the opposite: generalized distrust, pervasive corruption, and lawless behavior

No prizes for guessing where & why  India lies!!!!!!!!!!!..