Dubai Woes to Hit India Hard? "No" Says India's Think Tank :)

 

Dubai Woes to Hit India Hard? "No" Says India's Think Tank

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Indian policy-makers are not really worried over the potential adverse impact on the country’s economy because of the multi-billion-dollar debt default risk faced by Dubai World, ranked among the largest conglomerates in the region.

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Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said “India is a very large economy. It is a resilient economy”. “I don’t think some development in real estate in Dubai will have an impact on the Indian economy” he added.

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He also said “As far as India is concerned, the housing, real estate sector and construction industry are all doing well.

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This is confirmed by the increasing demand for construction materials, cement and steel,”

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Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla also saw little impact of the Dubai World’s woes on the country’s economy.

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Though he was a trifle more circumspect and preferred to watch the situation before hazarding a guess.

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“We will have to study what the issue is, what is the problem, what will be the possible implication if any for the Indian economy, the people and corporates,” Chawla told.

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Asked if the crisis will impact money flows into India,since the Gulf region accounts for over half the total inward remittances worth over $25 billion annually from expatriate Indians, Chawla said: “It’s unlikely.”

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The state-run Dubai World stunned the global financial world Thursday when it announced it would need to restructure its debt, estimated at $59 billion, to preempt default and asked creditors for a six-month deferment. . The conglomerate, which has a host of companies under its fold, has interests in a wide range of businesses such as realty, infrastructure, logistics and economic zones.

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And that is not just in the region but across a clutch of countries including India.

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Indian equities reacted adversely to the development, with the benchmark sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) down as much as 634.16 points, or 3.76 percent, midway into the trading session Friday.

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It later recovered and closed with a loss of some 220 points, or 1.3 percent over the previous close. .

“Indian markets have rallied more than 100 percent from the lows a year ago,mostly backed by news of recovery and not necessarily on fundamentals,” said Jagannadham Thunuguntla of brokerage firm SMC Capital.

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“This is why such news will have a negative impact on our markets and we will be dragged down,” Thunuguntla, who heads the equities division of SMC Capital told. . Even some Gulf-based companies, like Emmar, which have business interests in India, said there will be virtually no impact on their ongoing projects in India.

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The response was similar from India’s leading engineering and construction major Larsen and Toubro Ltd, which said its exposure in Dubai was around $20-$25 million.

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[Via http://smcinvestment.wordpress.com]