Bandh: Industry pegs losses at Rs 13,000 cr

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Prime VIP
New Delhi, July 5

Bharat Bandh today partially disrupted economic activities with commodity markets and the transport sector taking a hit in many parts of the country, and the industry pegged losses at up to Rs 13,000 crore.

While Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, and several industrialised states including Maharashtra, Gujarat, were affected, the impact was partial in many other states like Tamil Nadu and in the national capital Delhi.

The 12-hour strike was called by the Opposition parties to protest the fuel price hike and rising inflation.

"The bandh is estimated to have cost the nation close to Rs 13,000 crore in terms of GDP loss," industry chamber Ficci said. Another industry body Assocham put the losses at Rs 10,000 crore, while CII pegged it at Rs 3,000 crore.

Wholesale commodity markets remained shut in most of the cities, while several flights from key airports like Mumbai were cancelled. According to the All-India Motor Transport Congress, 6 lakh vehicles were off the road.

Though the screen-based stock market remained open, the trading volume at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was down 52 per cent to Rs 2,857 crore against a daily average of nearly Rs 6,000 crore.

According to reports by industry chambers like Ficci and Assocham, thin attendance was witnessed in commercial establishments in several states, while the economic activity came to a complete halt in states like West Bengal, Gujarat and Kerala.

Ficci said most of the industrial activities remained shut in Bangalore and majority of MNCs and IT firms preferred to give a holiday to their employees. In Mumbai, transport services were "completely affected" and traders were mostly off the market.

The PHD Chamber catering mainly to the northern states, said the impact was felt in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and UP.

Banking services were completely paralysed in Left-governed West Bengal and Kerala while some disruptions were noticed in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Mumbai.

The industry leaders, including Rahul Bajaj and Adi Godrej, have opposed the bandh and termed the protest as "odd and absurd". — PTI

Stock market biz tumbles 42 pc

Mumbai: Business at stock markets was hit hard by a nationwide bandh called by Opposition parties, as turnover at the bourses fell by over 42 per cent, or nearly Rs 35,000 crore, from the daily average. The cumulative turnover at the country's top two stock exchanges NSE and BSE in equity and derivatives segments fell down to near Rs 50,000 crore, down from the daily average of close to Rs 85,000 crore in the current month. The equity trading volumes of BSE was the worst hit with turnover falling by over 52 per cent to Rs 2,857 crore.
 

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Prime VIP
Bandh Blues: IT firms log off

Bangalore, July 5

Hundreds of IT firms, including Indian bellwethers TCS, Infosys Technologies, Wipro and Mindtree, remained closed here today due to the nationwide shutdown against the hike in fuel prices.

“As a precaution, we have given off on Monday to our employees working in the Bangalore campus. They will compensate by working on Saturday (July 10),” Mindtree senior vice-president Kalyan Banerjee told TNS.

Infosys has made arrangements for employees working on important projects and BPO services to work in the night when the dawn-to-dusk shutdown will be over.

“We have made arrangements for those employees for overnight stay,” an Infosys official said.

Infosys has its largest software development centre in the Electronics City here where about 16,000 employees work.

Similarly, Wipro, which has two software development centres in the city declared a holiday, directing its employees to report for duty on July 10 in lieu of today.

“We declared holiday for our employees on July 5 in view of the nationwide shutdown. They have been asked to work on July 10 though it’s a weekend,” a Wipro official said.

Due to uncertainty of public transport by the state-run Bangalore Metropolitan Corporation, hundreds of small and medium enterprises in the IT and biotech sectors have extended the weekend holiday to their employees up to Monday.

As a precautionary measure, multinational firms like HP, CITRIX and others also observed holiday today and asked their employees to compensate by working on Saturday.

The nationwide shutdown has been called by the leading opposition parties, including the BJP, which is the ruling party in this southern state.

The BJP had earlier sought cooperation from educational institutions, transporters, government agencies and private firms for making the bandh a success.
 
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