Ben Bernanke’s taper and India’s economy: Wait for recovery gets longer

My latest column of the 24 Jun in the Economic Times

The last few weeks were eventful in all the wrong ways for India. Floods in the north led many to suffer. Financial markets suffered too — though from fears of withdrawal of financial "floods" — now christened "tapering".

Over $3.5 billion was withdrawn from the debt markets in India this month on the back of statements from the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) indicating that the US Fed may start reducing its bond-buying programme later in the year. The Indian debt market had to be shut as yields increased beyond the trading bands. NTPC pulled out its bond issue over pricing issues. The rupee collapsed to nearly 60 to a dollar.

Is Fed shutting off the tap?
Ben Bernanke was at great pains to explain that the bond-buying programme was not being shut down. Liquidity infusion (printing money) would continue — only slower. That too was contingent on reduced unemployment (targeted at 7%) and higher inflation. While the Fed has sounded off the market based on its forecast of recovery, it has also indicated that its policies remain dependent on the data as time passes. It is likely that the timetable for the "taper" may well be extended.

Rupee unlikely to recover except in short term:Our economic mandarins have suggested that the rupee fall has less to do with India and more to do with emerging markets as a whole. That is, indeed, partially true. Other emerging markets too have suffered a withdrawal of funds, and have had their currencies weaken. 

However, India is in a worse position than other Bric countries. Foreign exchange reserves are barely sufficient to cover seven months of imports — the lowest it has been in the last 15 years. As a comparison, the other Bric members have 19-21 months of import cover. The latest trade deficit figures reveal a weakness in exports. A decade of mismanagement with unfettered inflation, uncontrolled and wasteful government expenditure, falling savings rate and inflated asset prices have made India a high cost economy.


Fundamentally, the rupee is headed towards 70 to a dollar. However, this is unlikely in the near term. A sharp fall in gold prices globally will reduce the pressure on the rupee even if the demand for gold remains unchanged. Unilever's purchase of HUL's equity will bring in around $4.5 billion in the next few days. Combined, in the immediate term, this should shore up the rupee somewhat.

Need a driver at the seat
Last week, the Cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA) took certain decisions — some were aimed at improving coal availability to power projects. Coal will now be imported —and the higher cost will be passed to consumers. In itself, the decision is better than no decision at all. At least, the power situation in the country can improve.

However, the irony is that India needs to import coal, when known reserves are enough to serve the needs of industry for several decades. Coal India's mines are about 10% as efficient as mines of similar characteristics in say, Australia. What is really needed is management of public resources in a manner that maximises public benefit, not rent-seeking. But that requires leadership — and that is another story. Equities may partially recover for now, but the storm is not over:Over the next couple of months, the early onset of monsoons, coupled with sale of grain from the government granaries, may lead to lower food inflation. The pressure on the rupee will ease, as gold imports slow, and the fear of immediate taper reduces.

Commodity prices are likely to remain subdued. In India, this should lead to selective recovery. Export sectors should gain from the foreign exchange windfall, though with a lag. Domestic commodity producers will benefit from the additional protection, while power generators may start up production — making some of the investments productive. Lenders to power generation companies may see some benefits.

However, these gains are unlikely to be long-lasting. In an earlier column in this paper, I had mentioned the dichotomy between the macro (liquidity driven, hence up) and the micro view (slowing earnings-high valuations, down). With the markets dancing to the tune of "taper", the macro upside has become limited. The dominant theme will, therefore, be micro.

Inflation at the consumer level will start hotting up in the third quarter of the fiscal year as increases in power and fuel cost work their way through the system. Government deficit will rise as revenues lag projections due to a slow economy. Political parties will spend on voters to try and buy their loyalties. Welfare spend will likely rise too. The cash economy is likely to again fuel inflation in the second half of the year.

If the taper is on schedule, the external sector will remain pressured, with consequent negative effects on the Indian stock markets. The wait for a sustained period of economic growth just got longer.

Gold – a tale of two priorities

My submission for the May edition of Wealth Insight

What a fall!

Over two day - 12^th and 15^th April 2013 - gold prices dropped an astonishing 18%. Volumes on the derivative exchanges were twice that on a “normal” day. The effect of the short-selling (selling without owning the gold – in the expectation of buying it back at a lower price) was to force traders having “long futures” (buy positions using leverage) positions to sell. Their stop loss orders would be triggered.

Was this just a trade based on technical analysis of price movements, or was there some “co-ordinated” trading. For this, we have to see what happened in the physical market (physical or cash market is where the underlying gold is traded). Despite the fall in “futures” prices, physical gold and silver prices are relatively firm. The price of “American eagles bullion coins” was at one point 26% higher than what “futures” prices indicated. Despite the price fall, in the days following the crash, the US Fed had to deliver over 2 tonnes of gold in the physical market as demand from US investors for the metal rocketed. In Asia, anecdotal evidence suggests that gold markets witnessed “sell-out” crowds at jewellers. Further, physical gold prices remained stubbornly higher than the “futures” market. The price fall seems largely restricted to the derivatives market.

Is there a shortage of metal building up?

Germany has nearly 3600 MT of gold reserves – highest among countries, next only to the USA. 1536MT of this reserve is in the custody of the US Fed Reserve of New York. Germany also has 374 tons stored with the French Central Bank and some at the Bank of England.

Germany recently requested the US Fed to return 300 MT of their gold. It also requested the French Central Bank to return its holding. The USA has informed Germany that return of the 300MT demanded will be executed over a period of 7 years. Incidentally, 300 MT of gold can be “couriered” in less than 10 airplane trips. The US Fed apparently owns 6700MT of gold – so why does returning 300 MT pose a problem?

Central banks like all other banks often hypothecate client deposits as collateral against other lending. Could it be that the US Fed has rehypothecated gold so much and among so many counterparties, that it is unable to demarcate the gold that belongs to Germany?

In the first week of April, ABN Amro bank changed its precious metal custodian rules and indicated to clients that they will no longer allow physical delivery. Accounts will now be “cash settled”. In other words, you cannot now get your metal – just the difference in price between your purchase and sale price. At the commodity exchange – Comex,  gold vaults have witnessed a withdrawal of 2 million ounces of physical gold – the largest in one quarter over the past decade. Physical gold seems to be in short supply.

  

 The gold conspiracy theory

Gold bulls have presented data indicating volatility in gold prices as a result of central bank action. Since gold is often viewed as an alternate currency, and confidence in “fiat currency” is being undermined by repeated money printing, a rise in gold price signals a lack of confidence in printed money. This can have disastrous consequences for financial markets if the trend catches on. Increased volatility in gold prices will erode its acceptability as an alternate to fiat money. A sharp fall will shake the confidence of investors.

Central bank action is difficult to prove or disprove as it is shrouded in secrecy, allowing speculation to gain traction. The circumstantial evidence forwarded starts with the question - who else could sell 400 tonnes of gold futures in a few hours – except central banks? Falling prices are not good for a seller unless the idea is to create market panic. This costs money, and only a money printing bank can afford this.

Central banks too have to operate through “agents” – the banks. The gold market action started just a day after a meeting called by the US Administration where the top 14 banks were present – to help coordinate bank trading action say the conspiracy theorists.

Another view point is that orchestrated sales were necessary since physical stock of gold and silver were insufficient to make good contracts that banks had signed to deliver gold to clients – and they needed to stop the requests. Without the coordination among all banks, a price crash of this magnitude would have been difficult since traders would have entered the market on both sides. By forcing out the buyers, the demand for physical delivery has been reduced significantly – allowing banks to prevent what could have been a catastrophic default – and would have lead to further erosion of credibility of paper currency.

The impact on India

India remains the largest “consumer” of gold. Economists have celebrated fall in gold prices arguing that this will lower current account deficit and reduce pressure on the currency. While this may be true, there is another point of view worth considering.

Unlike other consumption goods, gold is really in the nature of an investment. It can be seen as an attempt by Indian savers to invest overseas. A fall in its value reduces the “wealth effect” for investors. This is similar to the case of a foreign investor investing in India. When the Indian currency depreciates, the stock market is cheaper for the new investor, but an investor who is already invested sees a loss. Very conservative estimates of gold holdings of Indian investors would value it at $500bn. This is almost 25% of India’s GDP. A fall in the value of these savings will have a direct impact on the wealth effect. This could have a serious and negative impact on domestic consumption. At a time when growth of GDP is already weak, a further drop in consumption can hardly be treated as “good”.

Another point to note would be the effect on gold loans and their lenders. The gold loan industry had witnessed remarkable growth over the past 5 years. It is likely that a sharp fall in gold prices if sustained, will lead to significant NPA’s with attendant risks.

The pressure on the rupee will likely ease as oil prices weaken in the face of continued global economic weakness. All countries are now engaging in competitive devaluation of currency to enhance their exports. In such a scenario, the rupee may not face significant downward pressure – irrespective of gold prices. In trying to “cure” Indian investors’ desire for gold, India’s western educated economists would do well to understand the viewpoint of India’s unwashed masses. Often the unlettered are wiser.

Latest market obsession - reforms post Presidential elections

Post the announcement that Pranab Mukherjee was standing down as the finance minister, the equity markets again started factoring in "reform initiatives" by the PM. That this would imply the PM's inability to push his senior colleagues to accept  his recommendations vis a vis their ministries, does not seem to bother the markets. In this context, Swaminathan Anklesaria's column

Don’t expect major reforms from Manmohan as FM

is worth a read.

For those interested in the context of the "reforms" initiated by Dr. Singh in 1991, the video below is a must-watch. Though it features the finance minister of the "other" side, it does give a ring side view of what the situation was in those days. When will the market participants learn? Being bullish is great, but ignoring history ensures that errors are repeated

When right meets left

Paul Krugman's recent article on emerging market inflation continues to blame the regulators of these emerging countries for not penalizing their population by slowing GDP growth. Krugman writes:

So what the world economy “wants” to do is have large capital flows from North to South, and, correspondingly, large current account deficits in the emerging world — which would, of course, help the advanced economies recover.

But ... the transmission mechanism by which capital flows get translated into trade balances has to involve a rise in the relative prices of goods and services produced in the emerging nations. The natural and easy way to get that would be via currency appreciation; but governments don’t want to see that happen. So the invisible hand is in effect getting the same result — gradually — by pushing up nominal prices in these countries.

In other words, emerging economies should allow higher imports and lower exports (the consequence of a rising exchange rate) thereby reducing their own GDP growth - since this policy would "help advanced economies recover". I wonder if the prescription would be the same if the economist were to be based in Asia rather than Princeton.

The idea that the US needs to cut back its own consumption, and pay down its debts - is not on the table. It is not "keynesian" after all. That this ruinous policy is leading to inflation is completely negated - "core inflation" remains sub 1% according to official estimates. Notwithstanding that "core inflation" eliminates all prices that have a propensity to go up. Shadowstats.com estimates CPI at close to 10%!

This propensity to blame others for protecting themselves against the economic mismanagement unleashed by the USA exists not only in academia, but also in the seeming loony fringe of USA society. I came across this apparent "right wing" website - that seems to see everything that the world does with the "if you are not with us, you are against us" prism that has now become the touchstone of US policy. So the recent "BRIC" meet that concluded with a statement of the need to find an alternate to the US dollar is a conspiracy of Russia and China to undermine the US economy. The same aticle points to another paper: Economic Warfare - risks and responses whose central thesis seems to be that it is Al-queda that is indirectly responsible for the collapse of the US financial system, and high oil prices (thrown in for good measure). Talk of conspiracy theorists!

Indian gold reserves

Indian Central Bank gold reserves stood at 350 tonnes at the end of 2008. With the recent purchase from IMF, it would now be in the region of 550 tonnes - taking it to 9th place after Japan. However, India has been and remains the largest importer of gold - with annual imports ranging from 300 tonnes to 600 odd tonnes for private consumption. Barring the time from 1962-1992 when gold imports were barred, India has constantly imported from 1933 to now. Estimates of private holding range from 16000 tonnes to 40,000 tonnes.

In this regard, this, is a very interesting blog post on gold and its history with regard to India. Though long, the post is worth reading to the end.

Gold vs some currencies

The movement of gold vs the Chinese currency and the Indian currency is interesting. China has pegged its currency to the dollar over the past few months, and India too seems to be doing the same. The world continues to want to subsidies US excesses. Why should the US consumer ever change? Incidentally gold has been a great investment since 2007 for Indian investors - our not-so-hip country cousins who continue to buy gold at all opportunities will be feeling fairly smart after all.