Japan's Premier Meeting India's Singh in New Delhi

Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will meet his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh today in New Delhi to discuss cooperation between the two countries on energy, infrastructure and security issues

By Pratik Parija

(Bloomberg) — Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will meet his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh today in New Delhi to discuss cooperation between the two countries on energy, infrastructure and security issues.

The talks between the two leaders seek to "expand, enhance and strengthen the India-Japan strategic and global partnership," India's foreign ministry said in a statement on its Web site on Dec. 25. Hatoyama will meet with Indian business executives in Mumbai before his talks with Singh.

Hatoyama will also meet Rajendra K. Pachauri, head of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and Sonia Gandhi, chief of the Congress party that heads the ruling coalition government.

The Reserve Bank of India on Dec. 31 will report the nation's current-account balance for the quarter to Sept. 30 and the trade data for November. The commerce ministry on the same day will report food inflation data for the seven days ended Dec. 19 after the index held near an 11-year high.

The gauge of food article prices compiled by the commerce ministry increased 18.65 percent in the week ended Dec. 12 from a year earlier, following a 19.95 percent gain the previous week.

Faster price gains and accelerating economic growth may spur the central bank to start reversing a record reduction in benchmark interest rates made between October 2008 and April.

Reserve Bank Governor Duvvuri Subbarao said Dec. 7 that action may be needed to stabilize inflation expectations if food-price increases persist for "a long time."

Balanced Approach

Tightening monetary policy may not help control inflation, the Economic Times reported on Dec. 25, citing an interview with India's Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Mukherjee called for a balanced approach to fight inflation as it has been substantially caused by supply side problems, the newspaper reported today.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index, or Sensex (SENSEX-IND), rose to a 19-month high last week after Mukherjee said economic growth may accelerate at a faster pace and commerce ministry data showed foreign direct investment into the nation jumped 61 percent in November.

The stocks gauge gained 3.8 percent last week. NTPC Ltd. (NATP:IN), the biggest power producer, and Hindalco Industries Ltd. (HNDL:IN), the nation's biggest aluminum producer, were among the biggest gainers last week on the Sensex.

Ten-year government bonds posted a weekly gain on speculation the central bank won't raise interest rates before its policy review on Jan. 29. The yield on the most-frequently traded 6.35 percent note due January 2020 declined four basis points last week to 7.56 percent in Mumbai, according to the central bank's trading system.

The rupee rose 0.2 percent last week to 46.655 per dollar, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It has advanced 4.5 percent this year, the third-best performance among Asian currencies excluding the yen.

The nation's stocks, bonds and currency markets are closed today for a public holiday.

Event Date:

Japanese Premier visit Dec. 27-29

India food inflation data Dec. 31

RBI current-account, trade data Dec. 31

To contact the reporter on this story: Pratik Parija in New Delhi at pparija@bloomberg.net.

Business Exchange

Track and share business topics across the Web.