GOLD HITS NEW HIGH OF $1040 AN OUNCE, AFTER MONDAY'S REPORT THAT 4 NATIONS WON'T USE U.S. DOLLARS TO BUY OIL. OTHER METALS UP.

LONDON, Oct 06, 2009 - Gold prices hit a high of above $1,040 a troy ounce on Tuesday, propelled by investors seeking an alternative to the US dollar and a haven for their savings, traders and hedge fund managers said.

The dollar suffered after Australia’s central bank unexpectedly raised interest rates, prompting investors to dump the dollar in favor of higher yielding currencies.

Gold also rose when denominated in other currencies, including the euro and sterling, suggesting that other factors were at play on top of the dollar weakness.

Lower-than-expected gold sales from European central banks also supported the market. The World Gold Council, an industry-backed body, said European central banks sold 155 tonnes in the 2008-09 year, far below a limit of 500 tonnes.

Traders said gold buying was widespread and not confined to the traditional players in the precious metals market. “We are witnessing strong volumes,” a senior trader in London said. Sellers were extremely reluctant, he added.

Nick Moore, head of commodity strategy at Royal Bank of Scotland in London, added that gold had proved itself not to be the barbaric relic that John Maynard Keynes described “but has come of age during this crisis as a serious component to an investment portfolio”.

Since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, bullion prices have surged 42 per cent.

In London, spot bullion hit an intraday high of $1,043.45 an ounce, up 2.6 per cent from New York’s last quote on Monday of $1,016.75 an ounce.

The surge boosted miners’ shares. The S&P/TSX global gold index, which tracks mid-to-large size gold miners in several markets, rose 5 per cent by midday trading.

Gold’s advance lifted other precious metals, with silver up 4.3 per cent to $17.3 an ounce ounce, platinum adding 1.7 per cent to $1,315 a troy ounce and palladium hitting the $306.5 a troy ounce mark, up 2.7 per cent.
 

SEAN O'GRADY COMMENTARY: CHINA WILL OVERTAKE AMERICA. THE ONLY QUESTION IS WHEN?

Sean O'Grady: China will overtake America, the only question is when

Few things would be more powerfully symbolic of the shift in the balance of global economic power than to have oil traded in the Chinese renminbi rather than the American dollar.

True, no one is going to price a barrel of West Texas Intermediate Crude in renminbi tomorrow. But you can see how that could change. Oil is traded in dollars for economic reasons – not sentimental ones.

The oil business pretty much started in the US (vividly portrayed in the film There Will be Blood), the giant oil companies are still mostly American, and the US has long been the world's largest consumer, importer and one of the largest producers of oil.

The presidency of George W Bush offered ample evidence of the intimate connections between politics and oil. And the dollar is easily the most traded currency in the world. As such, it makes sense to trade oil in dollars.

Yet the financial tectonic plates are shifting – fast. Yesterday the president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, articulated what must be weighing on the minds of many Western policy-makers. A legacy of the current crisis "may be a recognition of changed economic power relations". In other words, the recession has accelerated the rise of China.

The brutal truth is that for most of the next decade China's economy will grow by more than 10 per cent a year; America's by less than 2 per cent.

China will soon be the world's largest economy, and largest creditor nation, a position enjoyed by a pre-eminent America in the 1950s. China will also be the largest consumer of oil, which will help push trading in it and other commodities towards a "basket" of currencies.

Now America is the world's greatest debtor, she can no longer sustain her role as protector of the world's only reserve currency in the long term. The humbling of Wall Street was proof that the American system was not invincible.

Suddenly, a G20 embracing China, India and the other emerging powers is the only forum that matters. China has helped bail out our banks. Spats with the Americans and Europeans are set to grow more bitter. Yesterday the head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, resumed their attack on the value of the yuan.

Next will come an increasing US resentment at the vast debts built up with China, and, in turn, Chinese nervousness about their long-term worth.

And that is the paradox. China holds approaching $3 trillion in dollar assets, so she cannot afford to see the dollar collapse. Longer term, China does want to become less reliant on the dollar as a place to keep its savings.

America needs China to buy her Treasury bills; and China needs America to buy her exports. They are like two drunken giants leaning on each other. Yet a sobering reckoning of some sorts seems inevitable; and it is difficult to see how both can be winners.

THE U.S. DOLLAR'S IMPENDING LOSS OF DOMINANCE IN WORLD TRADE SPELLS THE RISE OF A NEW ERA

The end of the dollar spells the rise of a new order

LONDON, Oct 06, 2009 - Last autumn's global financial crisis set off an economic earthquake. And we are still feeling the tremors. The latest sign of the ground shifting beneath our feet is our report today of plans by Gulf states, China, Russia, France and Japan to end their practice of conducting oil deals in US dollars, switching instead to a diverse basket of currencies.

It is not hard to see the motivation for oil exporters to move away from the dollar. The value of the US currency has fallen sharply since last year's meltdown. And fears are growing, in the light of a spiralling US government deficit, that a further depreciation is likely. They do not want to sell their wares in return for a currency with an uncertain future.
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It is also easy to see why China would like a world trading system that is underpinned by other currencies as well as the dollar. For the past decade Beijing has been recycling the proceeds of its giant national trade surplus into purchases of US government bonds and other dollar-denominated assets. China too stands to make a significant loss if the value of the dollar falls.

For China, however, the timing is much more sensitive. Beijing needs to reduce its dollar holdings, but if it does so too quickly it will bring about the very devaluation it fears. This explains why Chinese officials appear to want this transition to take place gradually over the next decade.

But the significance of this development goes much further. Since the end of the Second World War the dollar has been the bedrock of world trade. The pre-eminence of the American currency flowed naturally from the economic dominance of the US. Virtually everyone traded with America so it made sense to use their currency.

But the US is not the dominant power that it once was. The financial crisis has left it hobbled with significant government and household debts and sharply reduced prospects for growth.

Developing nations such as China, Brazil and India, on the other hand, have weathered the economic storm significantly better. So while this latest proposal is born of financial calculation, it is also a reflection of a new economic world order.

We should not be sentimental for the dollar. It makes economic sense for world trade to be conducted in a variety of currencies. Relying on one only has the advantage of clarity, but it also creates instability if the economy that underpins it faces uncertain prospects.

Yet we need to understand that exchange rate volatility is a symptom, rather than a cause, of what truly ails the world economy. The biggest driver of global economic instability in recent years has been the determination of China to boost its export sector at all costs.

Beijing's persistently large trade surpluses and manipulation to prevent its own currency from appreciating have effectively forced Western nations into running persistently large trade deficits. It was this pressure that blew up various asset bubbles that burst with such disastrous effect last year.

A gradual move away from the dollar makes sense. But without a commitment from world governments – both in the rich and developing world – to reduce these destabilising global trade imbalances we will enter an uncertain new era; and one that could yet make us pine for the days of the dominant greenback.
 

AIR NEW ZEALAND CEO BLASTS IMPOSITION OF LEVIES ON AIRLINES TO CUT EMISSIONS AS "MONEY-GRABBING"

Auckland, Oct 07, 2009 (4:00 a.m.) - Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe has lashed out at dithering over cutting emissions, described climate talks as a "bureaucratic circus" and blasted the imposition of some levies on airlines in Europe as money grabbing.

Speaking in Hong Kong last night, Fyfe said hand-wringing over emission reduction targets was interminable and a distraction from taking action and that was "simply a travesty".

He said he was happy to see carbon charges but they should be applied equitably around the world, across all industries and aimed at encouraging investment in new green technology rather than penalizing all activity.

But he was not happy about the procrastination at conferences, turgid presentations and backroom deals that were determining unwieldy global agreements.

"To my mind, the UN climate change discussions amplify all that is wrong with global politics," Fyfe said.

"From our small country alone, hundreds of long-haul hour sectors will have been flown this calendar year by Government officials to take part in UN climate-related talks.

Frankly, I would rather forgo the revenue we get from this bureaucratic circus," he said at a Greener Skies conference on aviation and the environment. "I look forward to the day when we all stop protecting our respective butts in the endless policy debates and start focusing, globally, on concerted action."

In New Zealand politicians had been arguing for three years about an emissions trading scheme and nobody had yet paid for any of the cost of their carbon emissions.

As in other countries businesses were urged to spend millions of dollars on consultants to minimize their liability and the proportion of the population paying to meet international obligations was getting smaller.

Time and money was being wasted on "unproductive hot air", Fyfe said.

"This is a travesty given this focus and resource could be channeled into capital investment, operational improvements, and research and development into clean technology."

He took a swipe at the United Nations agency, the International Civil Aviation Organisation, saying he was appalled at its "paralysis" on environmental issues.

"In the aviation industry we have no excuse for inaction - emission reductions make sense irrespective of the science of climate change and irrespective of the cost of carbon."

Airlines within New Zealand will pay for emissions indirectly through the increased price of aviation fuel but international flights will be hit by other countries' schemes.

The airline industry is seen as a relatively a high-profile and easy target for emissions schemes although globally it contributes just 2 per cent to 3 per cent of CO2.

The EU's own emissions scheme will impose costs on all airlines flying into and within the bloc which could rise to the equivalent of $80 a passenger for long-haul flights between New Zealand and Europe.

Fyfe said it was a "no-brainer" for Air New Zealand to cut emissions itself. With a fuel bill last year of $1.7 billion there was an enormous financial incentive to reduce that and therefore emissions.

He said he deplored the European Union's "money-grabbing" imposition of its emissions scheme on airlines, but he praised it for taking action.

However, Britain's air passenger duty was just a blunt money grab with no consideration given to how efficient flights were.

THE BREAKING DOLLAR : GULF ARABS, WITH CHINA, RUSSIA, JAPAN, FRANCE, INDIA PLAN TO TO STOP USING U.S. DOLLARS IN OIL TRADE !

LONDON, October 06, 2009 (Tuesday) In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar.

Secret meetings have already been held by finance ministers and central bank governors in Russia, China, Japan and Brazil to work on the scheme, which will mean that oil will no longer be priced in dollars.

The plans, confirmed to The Independent by both Gulf Arab and Chinese banking sources in Hong Kong, may help to explain the sudden rise in gold prices, but it also augurs an extraordinary transition from dollar markets within nine years.

The Americans, who are aware the meetings have taken place – although they have not discovered the details – are sure to fight this international cabal which will include hitherto loyal allies Japan and the Gulf Arabs.

Against the background to these currency meetings, Sun Bigan, China's former special envoy to the Middle East, has warned there is a risk of deepening divisions between China and the US over influence and oil in the Middle East. "Bilateral quarrels and clashes are unavoidable," he told the Asia and Africa Review. "We cannot lower vigilance against hostility in the Middle East over energy interests and security."

This sounds like a dangerous prediction of a future economic war between the US and China over Middle East oil – yet again turning the region's conflicts into a battle for great power supremacy. China uses more oil incrementally than the US because its growth is less energy efficient.

The transitional currency in the move away from dollars, according to Chinese banking sources, may well be gold. An indication of the huge amounts involved can be gained from the wealth of Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar who together hold an estimated $2.1 trillion in dollar reserves.

The decline of American economic power linked to the current global recession was implicitly acknowledged by the World Bank president Robert Zoellick. "One of the legacies of this crisis may be a recognition of changed economic power relations," he said in Istanbul ahead of meetings this week of the IMF and World Bank.

But it is China's extraordinary new financial power – along with past anger among oil-producing and oil-consuming nations at America's power to interfere in the international financial system – which has prompted the latest discussions involving the Gulf states.

Brazil has shown interest in collaborating in non-dollar oil payments, along with India. Indeed, China appears to be the most enthusiastic of all the financial powers involved, not least because of its enormous trade with the Middle East.

China imports 60 per cent of its oil, much of it from the Middle East and Russia. The Chinese have oil production concessions in Iraq – blocked by the US until this year – and since 2008 have held an $8bn agreement with Iran to develop refining capacity and gas resources.

China has oil deals in Sudan (where it has substituted for US interests) and has been negotiating for oil concessions with Libya, where all such contracts are joint ventures.

Furthermore, Chinese exports to the region now account for no fewer than 10 per cent of the imports of every country in the Middle East, including a huge range of products from cars to weapon systems, food, clothes, even dolls.

In a clear sign of China's growing financial muscle, the president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, yesterday pleaded with Beijing to let the yuan appreciate against a sliding dollar and, by extension, loosen China's reliance on US monetary policy, to help rebalance the world economy and ease upward pressure on the euro.

Ever since the Bretton Woods agreements – the accords after the Second World War which bequeathed the architecture for the modern international financial system – America's trading partners have been left to cope with the impact of Washington's control and, in more recent years, the hegemony of the dollar as the dominant global reserve currency.

The Chinese believe, for example, that the Americans persuaded Britain to stay out of the euro in order to prevent an earlier move away from the dollar. But Chinese banking sources say their discussions have gone too far to be blocked now.

"The Russians will eventually bring in the rouble to the basket of currencies," a prominent Hong Kong broker told The Independent. "The Brits are stuck in the middle and will come into the euro. They have no choice because they won't be able to use the US dollar."

Chinese financial sources believe President Barack Obama is too busy trying to fix the US economy to concentrate on the extraordinary implications of the transition from the dollar in nine years' time. The current deadline for the currency transition is 2018.

The US discussed the trend briefly at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh; the Chinese Central Bank governor and other officials have been worrying aloud about the dollar for years. Their problem is that much of their national wealth is tied up in dollar assets.

"These plans will change the face of international financial transactions," one Chinese banker said. "America and Britain must be very worried. You will know how worried by the thunder of denials this news will generate."

Iran announced late last month that its foreign currency reserves would henceforth be held in euros rather than dollars. Bankers remember, of course, what happened to the last Middle East oil producer to sell its oil in euros rather than dollars. A few months after Saddam Hussein trumpeted his decision, the Americans and British invaded Iraq.

 

THE GREENBACK EFFECT - WITH DEBT CLOSE TO ITS 2008 GDP, U.S. IN DANGER OF BECOMING A "BANANA REPUBLIC," WARREN BUFFETT WARNS

BIZ INDIA Editor's note: October 05, 2009 -- We would like to share this excellent Op-Ed piece in The New York Times, written Warren E. Buffett, the world's most successful investor and we believe, one of the wisest people on earth in the financial arena. The Gross Domestic Product of the U.S. was round $14.2 trillion in 2008. However the US government debt is reaching $12 trillion whereas the GDP for 2009 is expected to be under $14 trillion according to economists. You can view the numbers here:

www.usdebtclock.org

August 19, 2009
Op-Ed Contributor
The Greenback Effect
By WARREN E. BUFFETT
Omaha

IN nature, every action has consequences, a phenomenon called the butterfly effect. These consequences, moreover, are not necessarily proportional. For example, doubling the carbon dioxide we belch into the atmosphere may far more than double the subsequent problems for society. Realizing this, the world properly worries about greenhouse emissions.

The butterfly effect reaches into the financial world as well. Here, the United States is spewing a potentially damaging substance into our economy — greenback emissions.

To be sure, we’ve been doing this for a reason I resoundingly applaud. Last fall, our financial system stood on the brink of a collapse that threatened a depression. The crisis required our government to display wisdom, courage and decisiveness. Fortunately, the Federal Reserve and key economic officials in both the Bush and Obama administrations responded more than ably to the need.

They made mistakes, of course. How could it have been otherwise when supposedly indestructible pillars of our economic structure were tumbling all around them? A meltdown, though, was avoided, with a gusher of federal money playing an essential role in the rescue.

The United States economy is now out of the emergency room and appears to be on a slow path to recovery. But enormous dosages of monetary medicine continue to be administered and, before long, we will need to deal with their side effects. For now, most of those effects are invisible and could indeed remain latent for a long time. Still, their threat may be as ominous as that posed by the financial crisis itself.

To understand this threat, we need to look at where we stand historically. If we leave aside the war-impacted years of 1942 to 1946, the largest annual deficit the United States has incurred since 1920 was 6 percent of gross domestic product. This fiscal year, though, the deficit will rise to about 13 percent of G.D.P., more than twice the non-wartime record. In dollars, that equates to a staggering $1.8 trillion. Fiscally, we are in uncharted territory.

Because of this gigantic deficit, our country’s “net debt” (that is, the amount held publicly) is mushrooming. During this fiscal year, it will increase more than one percentage point per month, climbing to about 56 percent of G.D.P. from 41 percent. Admittedly, other countries, like Japan and Italy, have far higher ratios and no one can know the precise level of net debt to G.D.P. at which the United States will lose its reputation for financial integrity. But a few more years like this one and we will find out.

An increase in federal debt can be financed in three ways: borrowing from foreigners, borrowing from our own citizens or, through a roundabout process, printing money. Let’s look at the prospects for each individually — and in combination.

The current account deficit — dollars that we force-feed to the rest of the world and that must then be invested — will be $400 billion or so this year. Assume, in a relatively benign scenario, that all of this is directed by the recipients — China leads the list — to purchases of United States debt. Never mind that this all-Treasuries allocation is no sure thing: some countries may decide that purchasing American stocks, real estate or entire companies makes more sense than soaking up dollar-denominated bonds. Rumblings to that effect have recently increased.

Then take the second element of the scenario — borrowing from our own citizens. Assume that Americans save $500 billion, far above what they’ve saved recently but perhaps consistent with the changing national mood. Finally, assume that these citizens opt to put all their savings into United States Treasuries (partly through intermediaries like banks).

Even with these heroic assumptions, the Treasury will be obliged to find another $900 billion to finance the remainder of the $1.8 trillion of debt it is issuing. Washington’s printing presses will need to work overtime.

Slowing them down will require extraordinary political will. With government expenditures now running 185 percent of receipts, truly major changes in both taxes and outlays will be required. A revived economy can’t come close to bridging that sort of gap.

Legislators will correctly perceive that either raising taxes or cutting expenditures will threaten their re-election. To avoid this fate, they can opt for high rates of inflation, which never require a recorded vote and cannot be attributed to a specific action that any elected official takes. In fact, John Maynard Keynes long ago laid out a road map for political survival amid an economic disaster of just this sort: “By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens.... The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose.”

I want to emphasize that there is nothing evil or destructive in an increase in debt that is proportional to an increase in income or assets. As the resources of individuals, corporations and countries grow, each can handle more debt. The United States remains by far the most prosperous country on earth, and its debt-carrying capacity will grow in the future just as it has in the past.

But it was a wise man who said, “All I want to know is where I’m going to die so I’ll never go there.” We don’t want our country to evolve into the banana-republic economy described by Keynes.

Our immediate problem is to get our country back on its feet and flourishing — “whatever it takes” still makes sense. Once recovery is gained, however, Congress must end the rise in the debt-to-G.D.P. ratio and keep our growth in obligations in line with our growth in resources.

Unchecked carbon emissions will likely cause icebergs to melt. Unchecked greenback emissions will certainly cause the purchasing power of currency to melt. The dollar’s destiny lies with Congress.
 

"GANDHI'S IDEALS TRANSFORMED AMERICAN SOCIETY THROUGH OUR CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT," SAYS PRES. OBAMA

WASHINGTON D.C., October 02, 2009 - As the world celebrates International Day of non-violence, US President Barack Obama today said America has its "roots in the India of Mahatma Gandhi".

"His teachings and ideals, shared with Martin Luther King Jr. On his 1959 pilgrimage to India, transformed American society through our civil rights movement," Obama said on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Americans owe enormous gratitude to Gandhi, he said.

"The America of today has its roots in the India of Mahatma Gandhi and the nonviolent social action movement for Indian independence which he led," Obama said in a statement.

On behalf of the American people, Obama said he wants to express appreciation for the life and lessons of Mahatma Gandhi on the anniversary of his birth.

"This is an important moment to reflect on his message of non-violence, which continues to inspire people and political movements across the globe," he said.

"We join the people of India in celebrating this great soul who lived a life dedicated to the cause of advancing justice, showing tolerance to all, and creating change through non-violent resistance," Obama said.

As the world remembers the Mahatma on his birthday, Obama said: "We must renew our commitment to live his ideals and to celebrate the dignity of all human beings.

Last month Obama had said that if given a chance he would love to have dinner with Mahatma Gandhi.

Obama expressed his desire in response to a question from a student Lilly during his discussion with 9th graders at Wakefield High School in Arlington Virginia where he, accompanied with the Education Secretary, gave a national speech welcoming students back to school.

Obama called for students to take responsibility and to learn from their failures so that they succeed in the end. "Hi. I'm Lilly. And if you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be," Obama was asked by one of the students.

"Dinner with anyone dead or alive? Well, you know, dead or alive, that's a pretty big list," Obama responded amid laughter. The next moment he was serious. "You know, I think that it might be Gandhi, who is a real hero of mine," Obama said. "Now, it would probably be a really small meal because he didn't eat a lot," he said amid laughter. But Mahatma Gandhi is someone who has inspired people across the world for the past several generations, he said.

McDONALDS TO OPEN 120 MORE RESTAURANTS ACROSS INDIA, INVESTING AROUND $100 MILLION

MUMBAI, Oct 02, 2009 - US-based McDonalds will set up 40 outlets ever year through its two equal joint ventures in the country — Connaught Plaza Restaurant and Hardcastle Restaurants.

Mc Donalds restaurants in India do not serve beef burgers. Instead they serve vegetarian, chicken,goat and lamb patties between buns.

"McDonalds in India currently runs a total of 170 quick service restaurants (QSR). Between the two franchisees, we will be spending around Rs 400-500 crore (about $80 million to $100 million) over the next three years to open 120 outlets," Hardcastle Restaurants Managing Director Amit Jatia said here.

While Delhi-based Connaught Plaza Restaurant operates 90-odd restaurants in the north and east of India, Mumbai-based Hardcastle Restaurants runs 78 outlets in the south and west.

The investment would be funded equally through debt and equity, Jatia said.

McDonalds serves 180-200 million people every year across India, which boils down to 5 lakh customers per day, he said.

"The food industry in India is very small. Informal eating out is a very small market, which shrank a bit in 2008 because of the recession, but there is enough room to grow," Jatia said.

McDonalds, too, had to bear the brunt of curtailed spending by consumers between September 2008 to March 2009.

"September (2009) same-store sales growth were closer to 20 per cent compared to single-digit growth last year," Jatia said.

The quick-service restaurant, which still has not broken-even in India, expects to start making profits in the next couple of years.

"We have always said we never make money. McDonalds took 14-years to break-even in Australia. In the UK, it took 12-years. We have been in India since 1996 and should break-even in a couple of years," Jatia said.

McDonalds India has introduced the 'Extra Value Meal', which offers patrons meals at a price that is 25 per cent less than used to be.

"At a time when food prices are going through the roof, the 'Extra Value Meals' are priced much lower. We manage to do this by working directly with the farmers. We have anticipated increased volumes of produce because we are pushing yield," Jatia said.

McDonalds sources 99 per cent of its products from within the country and has a strong backward integration right up to the farm level and a dedicated supply-chain.

The food retailer will also launch, across all restaurants, its "Breakfast Meals" between 0700 hours and 1100 hours, which is presently available only at a few select outlets in the city.

INDIA ADDED A WHOPPING 35 MILLION MOBILE PHONE USERS IN APRIL-JUNE QUARTER. WIRELESS TOTAL NOW 427 MILLION, 92% OF ALL PHONES!

MUMBAI, Oct 02, 2009 - India added a whopping 35.5 million wireless telephone users during the quarter ended on June 30 this year, taking the wireless subscriber base to 427.2 million.

The wireless user base grew by 9.06 per cent during the April-June quarter of this year to 427.2million from 391.7 million in the preceding quarter, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said in a statement.

The total telecom subscriber base (wireline and wireless) touched 464.8 million for the quarter ended June this year from 429.7 million in the quarter ended March, registering an increase of 8.17 per cent.

The tele-density (number of telephones per 100 people) for the quarter ended June reached 39.86 compared to 36.98 in the previous one, TRAI said.

However, the all-India blended Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) per month for the GSM segment (full mobility) decreased by 10 per cent to Rs 185 in June from Rs 205 in March, while the ARPU for the CDMA segment during the same period dipped 7.2 per cent to Rs 92 from Rs 99.

The subscriber base of wireline service has declined to 37.5 million at the end of June, taking the wireline tele-density to 3.22.

 

LABOR DEPT. REPORTS ANOTHER 263,000+ PEOPLE LOST JOBS IN SEPTEMBER, BRINGING TOTAL TO 15.1 MILLION UNEMPLOYED.

BIZ INDIA Editor's Note: The number of jobs lost in September - 263,000 - as reported by U.S. Labor Department below, is very close to the number of jobs lost - 258,00 - as counted by the payroll processing firm Automatic Data Processing, which we reported two days ago. Below is the report from the U.S. government's Bureau of Labor Statistics, an agency of the U.S. department of Labor.
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WASHINGTON D.C., Oct 02, 2009 - Nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline in September (-263,000), and the unemployment rate (9.8 percent) continued to trend up, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The largest job losses were in construction, manufacturing, retail trade, and government.

Household Survey Data
Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 7.6 million to 15.1 million, and the unemployment rate has doubled to 9.8 percent.

Unemployment rates for the major worker groups--adult men (10.3 percent), adult women (7.8 percent), teenagers (25.9 percent), whites (9.0 percent),blacks (15.4 percent), and Hispanics (12.7 percent)--showed little change in September. The unemployment rate for Asians was 7.4 percent, not season-ally adjusted. The rates for all major worker groups are much higher than at the start of the recession. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

Among the unemployed, the number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs rose by 603,000 to 10.4 million in September. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) rose by 450,000 to 5.4 million. In September, 35.6 percent of unemployed persons were job-
less for 27 weeks or more. (See tables A-8 and A-9.)

The civilian labor force participation rate declined by 0.3 percentage point in September to 65.2 percent. The employment-population ratio, at 58.8 percent, also declined over the month and has decreased by 3.9 percentage points since the recession began in December 2007. (See table A-1.)

In September, the number of persons working part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was little changed at 9.2 million. The number of such workers rose sharply throughout most of the fall and winter but has been little changed since March. (See table A-5.)

About 2.2 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in September, an increase of 615,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12
months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-13.)

Among the marginally attached, there were 706,000 discouraged workers in September, up by 239,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The other 1.5 million
persons marginally attached to the labor force in September had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.

Establishment Survey Data
Total nonfarm payroll employment declined by 263,000 in September. From May through September, job losses averaged 307,000 per month, compared with losses averaging 645,000 per month from November 2008 to April. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, payroll employment has fallen by 7.2 million.

In September, construction employment declined by 64,000. Monthly job losses averaged 66,000 from May through September, compared with an average of 117,000 per month from November to April. September job cuts were concentrated in the industry's nonresidential components (-39,000) and in heavy construction (-12,000). Since December 2007, employment in construction has fallen by 1.5 million.

Employment in manufacturing fell by 51,000 in September. Over the past 3 months, job losses have averaged 53,000 per month, compared with an average monthly loss of 161,000 from October to June. Employment in manufacturing has contracted by 2.1 million since the onset of the recession.

In the service-providing sector, the number of jobs in retail trade fell by 39,000 in September. From April through September, retail employment has fallen by an average of 29,000 per month, compared with an average monthly loss of 68,000 for the prior 6-month period.

Government employment was down by 53,000 in September, with the largest decline occurring in the non-education component of local government (-24,000).

Employment in health care continued to increase in September (19,000), with the largest gain occurring in ambulatory health care services (15,000). Health care has added 559,000 jobs since the beginning of the recession, although the average monthly job gain thus far in 2009 (22,000) is down from the average monthly gain during 2008 (30,000).

Employment in transportation and warehousing continued to trend down in September. The number of jobs in financial activities, professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and information showed little or no change over the month.