Prime Ministers: A. B. Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh

The Age Of Stars

The gold airlift, liberalisation, and a floating rupee.

Vol. CXXXThe edition of 2004 · The Open Economy8 records

Prime Ministers: A. B. Vajpayee · Manmohan Singh
President: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
Finance Ministers: Jaswant Singh · P. Chidambaram
RBI Governor: Y. V. Reddy

Rupee per dollar

₹45.26

−2.9% on 2003

Inflation

3.77%

−0.04 pts on 2003

GDP growth

7.92%

+0.06 pts on 2003

Reserves

$131,631m

+26.9% on 2003

External debt

$123,644m

+4% on 2003

Brent crude

$38.78

+33.7% on 2003

Equities · 17 May 2004

Post-election crash (UPA victory, Left support)

Sensex −11.1% close (−15.5% intraday); trading halted twice

Recorded because it is a political-tenure shock directly joinable to POLITY

ReportedOfficial record. Source: BSE; SEBI circuit-breaker records

Markets & Money

2 items

Indian equities; rupee · 17 May 2004

General-election result: surprise Congress/UPA victory; Sensex's then-largest single-day fall

Range-bound trading was halted repeatedly that day. Point fall not verified in this session

UnconfirmedOfficial record. Source: Not sourced in this session

coastal fisheries, ports, shipping · 26 December 2004

Indian Ocean tsunami

?, no official loss figure verified in this session

Andaman & Nicobar, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala affected

UnconfirmedOfficial record. Source: Not sourced in this session

Trade & Tariffs

2 items

FTA / PTA

India–Mercosur Preferential Trade Agreement (2004) and India–Thailand Early Harvest Scheme (2004)

Dates not verified in this session

UnconfirmedOfficial record. Source: Ministry of Commerce & Industry, not opened in this session

City of London / livery market

No primary document opened in this session directly evidences London (Lloyd's / Institute of London…

No primary document opened in this session directly evidences London (Lloyd's / Institute of London Underwriters) livery-market influence on Indian trade or SEZ terms for 1997–2007. Flagged as not found by me, which is distinct from "not published", the FTA services and reinsurance schedules would be the place to look

UnconfirmedOfficial record.

War & Unrest

1 item

Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Andaman & Nicobar, Sri Lanka, Maldives

Indian Ocean tsunami, 2004-12-26

Fisheries, ports and shipping losses; relief and rehabilitation expenditure; coastal fishing fleets destroyed. No official loss figure verified in this session

UnconfirmedOfficial record. Source: Not sourced in this session; see Gaps

Courts & Scandal

1 item

coal / natural resources

Coal block allocation ("Coalgate") (CAG final report tabled 2012-08-17)

The CAG named 25 companies as beneficiaries. The Supreme Court declared all allocations since 1993 illegal and cancelled 214 of 218 blocks on 2014-09-24/25, with a levy of INR 295 per tonne already mined. PM Manmohan Singh held the coal portfolio in 2006–09. Several convictions followed later (e.g. former Coal Secretary H.C. Gupta, 2018; not re-verified).

ReportedPress. Source: Down To Earth "Private firms made windfall gain of Rs 1.86 lakh crore" (2012-08); Business Standard 2014-09-25; PRS India blog

Shipping & Insurance

1 item

all (hull)

Northern Gulf / waters around Iraq

0.25 % of hull value

ReportedPress. Source: [M10] AFP 2004-04-28, via Strauss Center

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