India's inflation eases to three-year low, but remains stubbornly high



India's stubbornly high inflation eased to a three-year low of 6.6 per cent in January, a glimmer of good economic news that adds to expectations the central bank will further reduce interest rates to boost slowing growth.

Wholesale price inflation released Thursday was down from 7.2 per cent year-on-year in December.

India's economy is expanding at its slowest pace in a decade, with gross domestic product predicted to grow as little 5 per cent in the fiscal year ending in March. That's down from 9 per cent in early 2011, and it is paired with rising budget and current account deficits.

Worrisomely high inflation has been the main reason that the Reserve Bank of India has hesitated to cut interest rates to stimulate investment and spending.

The easing of inflation pressure - the index has now inched down for four months - gives the central bank more scope to lower borrowing costs but many analysts say the cuts won't be large as inflation is still higher than the RBI would like. The bank has pledged to bring wholesale inflation down to below 4.5 per cent.

Manufactured goods led the drop in overall inflation, with price rises slowing to 4.8 per cent in January over a year earlier. Fuel and power costs were up by 7.1 per cent, but that was down from 9.4 per cent in December. Food prices, which are more volatile, recorded some sharp increases. Pulses were up 16.9 per cent and potatoes surged 79.1 per cent.

* AP

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Director: Todd Phillips 

Rating: 2/5

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Date Started: September 2018

Founders: Walid and Karim Dib

Based: Abu Dhabi

Employees: Nine

Amount raised: $1.2 million

Funders: Oman Technology Fund, AB Accelerator, 500 Startups, private backers

 

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The struggle is on for active managers

David Einhorn closed out 2018 with his biggest annual loss ever for the 22-year-old Greenlight Capital.

The firm’s main hedge fund fell 9 per cent in December, extending this year’s decline to 34 percent, according to an investor update viewed by Bloomberg.

Greenlight posted some of the industry’s best returns in its early years, but has stumbled since losing more than 20 per cent in 2015.

Other value-investing managers have also struggled, as a decade of historically low interest rates and the rise of passive investing and quant trading pushed growth stocks past their inexpensive brethren. Three Bays Capital and SPO Partners & Co., which sought to make wagers on undervalued stocks, closed in 2018. Mr Einhorn has repeatedly expressed his frustration with the poor performance this year, while remaining steadfast in his commitment to value investing.

Greenlight, which posted gains only in May and October, underperformed both the broader market and its peers in 2018. The S&P 500 Index dropped 4.4 per cent, including dividends, while the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, an early indicator of industry performance, fell 7 per cent through December. 28.

At the start of the year, Greenlight managed $6.3 billion in assets, according to a regulatory filing. By May, the firm was down to $5.5bn. 

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Date started: January, 2014

Founders: Mike Dawson, Varuna Singh, and Benita Rowe

Based: Dubai

Sector: Education technology

Size: Five employees

Investment: $100,000 from the ExpoLive Innovation Grant programme in 2018 and an initial $30,000 pre-seed investment from the Turn8 Accelerator in 2014. Most of the projects are government funded.

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Company name: Farmin

Date started: March 2019

Founder: Dr Ali Al Hammadi 

Based: Abu Dhabi

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Initial investment: None to date

Partners/Incubators: UAE Space Agency/Krypto Labs