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123 Waqf Board properties takeover: Central government notice for inspection of New Delhi Jama Masjid near parliament

OpIndia Staff
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123 Waqf Board properties takeover: Central government notice for inspection of New Delhi Jama Masjid near parliament

The Land and Office of the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs issued a notice to the Jama Masjid in the national capital opposite the Parliament. The notice states that the Masjid would be inspected on Monday, in accordance with a Delhi High Court order.

Reportedly, a notice was affixed to the New Delhi Jama Masjid’s wall on Friday evening directing the “occupant of the property to maintain preparedness and submit documents/maps to substantiate their claims during the inspection.

On the basis of the recommendation of a two-member committee on denotified Waqf properties, the Ministry decided to assume control of 123 properties owned by the Delhi Waqf Board, including mosques, dargahs, and graveyards. Amanatullah Khan, the board’s chairman, had received a letter from the Ministry notifying him about the decision.

Meanwhile, the Imam of Jama Masjid Muhibullah Nadwi has claimed that there is no threat to the mosque adding that there are valid documents. Nadwi also invited the media to be present during the inspection of the mosque.

It is pertinent to recall that in May this year, the Delhi High Court refused to put a stay on the inspection of 123 Delhi Waqf Board properties by the Central government. The decision came after a petition was filed to stop the inspection challenging the central government’s decision to absolve the Waqf Board from matters pertaining to the concerned 123 properties.

On February 17, 2023, the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs posted notices outside 123 properties in Delhi, stating that they are no longer considered properties of the Delhi Waqf Board.

As reported earlier, the said properties include mosques, dargahs, and a cemetery. Prior to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, these properties were given to the Delhi Waqf Board by the Congress-led UPA government. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad raised concerns about the prominent locations of these properties and approached the court.

A one-member committee and a two-member committee comprising a retired SDM and a former Delhi High Court judge were formed to hear from the affected parties. The committee had recommended a physical inspection of the said 123 properties.

Taking time off from BRICS Summit, PM Modi to watch live telecast of Chandrayaan-3 landing from South Africa

OpIndia Staff
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Taking time off from BRICS Summit, PM Modi to watch live telecast of Chandrayaan-3 landing from South Africa

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in South Africa to attend the 15th BRICS Summit, will virtually witness the historic landing attempt on the lunar surface as part of the country’s third lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3.

According to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Chandrayaan-3 is all set to create history by landing on the uncharted south pole of the moon. The attempted soft-landing has been scheduled at 18:04 hrs IST.

Wishes have been pouring in from across the world ahead of the attempted moon landing on Wednesday.

Indian students and research scholars in Uxbridge, London organised a special prayer at the Adya Shakti Mataji Temple for the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon. Meanwhile, the members of the Indian diaspora performed a havan at a temple in Virginia, US for the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon.

While anticipation around the ISRO’s attempted moon landing is building up across the world, prayers are being held across the country ahead of the historic moment.

A Ganga Aarti was performed at Parmarth Niketan Ghat in Rishikesh ahead of the crowning moment of India’s third lunar mission. A group of people in Bhubaneswar, Varanasi and Prayagraj performed ‘havan’ and offered prayers for the successful landing of the Chandrayaan-3 lander. 

A group of children from Vadodara also offered prayers for the safe landing of Chandrayaan-3. 

In Lucknow, people offered namaz at the Islamic Center of India for the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3.

The live telecast of the landing operations will begin at 5:20 PM IST on Wednesday. Live actions of landing will be available on the ISRO website, its YouTube channel, Facebook, and public broadcaster DD National TV from 5:27 PM IST on Aug 23, 2023.

India will be the fourth country in the world to achieve this feat after the United States, Russia, and China, but India will be the only country in the world to land on the lunar south pole.

Chandrayaan-3’s Lander Module (LM) – lander Vikram and rover Pragyan – is scheduled to make a touchdown near the lunar south pole.

(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)

Indian Economy to grow at 8.3% in the first quarter and 6.7% in FY24: What the SBI research says

OpIndia Staff
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Indian Economy to grow at 8.3% in the first quarter and 6.7% in FY24: What the SBI research says

The Indian economy is expected to have grown at 8.3% during the first quarter of the current Financial Year 2024 (Q1 of FY24), i.e. between April-June, as per the latest report by SBI’s Economic Research Department (SBI Ecowrap). 

SBI’s Chief Economic Advisor, Soumya Kanti Ghosh has authored this report. In a report on the 22nd of August, Ghosh said, “At SBI, we have developed an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model with 30 high-frequency indicators. On the basis of the ANN model, we forecast that the quarterly GDP growth for the Q1FY24 (April-June 2023) would be at 8.3 percent.” 

Various forecasts regarding the growth story of the Indian Economy

The latest SBI report has predicted a higher GDP growth rate as compared to other predictions made by national and International Economic agencies. For example, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) pegged India’s GDP growth at 6.1% in 2023. Whereas the RBI in its latest forecast, predicted that the nation’s GDP may have risen by 8% in Q1 FY24 and for the full year, it predicted a growth rate of 6.5%.  

However, in the SBI report, Ghosh asserted that the GDP growth for FY24 will exceed the 6.5 percent forecast given by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He predicted that the growth in FY2023-24 as a whole would stand at 6.7 percent.

Double-digit growth in Capital expenditure

SBI’s Chief Economic Advisor, Ghosh added that the first quarter of 2023-24 saw a huge increase in capital expenditure both by the centre and the states. 

In Q1 (April-June period), the Centre’s capex stood at Rs 2.78 lakh crore. This is a 63 percent year-on-year increase in June. Similarly, states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Madhya Pradesh have registered capex growth of up to 41 percent.

The SBI report highlighted that in Q1 of FY24, EBITDA, and PAT (profit after tax) grew by more than 30 percent, as compared to the Q1 of FY23. According to the report, the sectors that performed well were banks, auto, IT, Pharma, FMCG, refineries, etc. 

The report asserted, “In Q1 FY24, manufacturing is sustained as reflected in IIP, automobile sales, and PMI data. Further, agriculture sales have been strong along with a high power supply. On the service side, passenger traffic picked up in Q4 FY23 has sustained, Air cargo traffic increased.”  

Further, the SBI Ecowrap report noted that the banking sector has shown strong performance and credit growth has continued to grow in double digits. It has become broad-based across sectors.

According to Ghosh, the corporate margin is reflecting clear signs of improvement since Q4 FY23. 

He said, “Further, it is pertinent to mention that corporate margin, which was under pressure for the last few quarters, has shown signs of improvement since Q4FY23 (January-March 2023). EBIDTA margin, on an aggregate basis of more than 3,000 companies, improved by 274 basis points to 15.81 percent in Q1FY24 as compared to 13.07 percent in Q4FY23 and 12.60 percent in Q1FY23 (April-June 2022), contributed by low input prices.” 

This latest SBI report has come days ahead of official data which will be reported by the government on the 31st of August at around 5:30 PM.

Gujarat: Court sentences pastor Gulaban Parikhan Masih to three years in jail for forceful conversion of a minor

OpIndia Staff
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Gujarat: Court sentences pastor Gulaban Parikhan Masih to three years in jail for forceful conversion of a minor

In a major development on forced conversion, a Gujarat court sentenced a Christian pastor to 3 years imprisonment in a case related to forceful conversion. It is alleged that the pastor forced the 17-year-old minor girl and her family to convert to Christianity by blackmailing her to make her obscene photos viral. 

Apparently, this is the first time in Gujarat that a pastor has been sentenced for forceful conversion. Apart from 3 years imprisonment, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on the pastor. 

As per media reports, the minor victim lives in the Amraiwadi area of Ahmedabad and is studying in class 11th. A woman living in her neighbourhood introduced the victim to the pastor. After developing an acquaintance, the minor went to church once along with the pastor. 

Subsequently, the accused pastor Gulaban Parikhan Masih started brainwashing her. He used to tell the minor that there is no religion other than Christianity. He also started pressurising the minor to convert to Christianity. But this didn’t go well with the minor victim and she discontinued going to church.

Obscene photos were taken to blackmail her

Even after the victim stopped visiting the church, the accused pastor did not stop pursuing his evil intentions of forced conversion. He used to do video calls with the minor over her father’s phone. It was alleged that over the video call, the pastor used to blackmail the minor and ask her to take off her clothes and take obscene photos of herself. He was also forcing her to read the Bible.

It is alleged that the accused pastor Gulaban Masih used to send messages like ‘I love you’ to the minor victim. But when the minor refused to convert, he started threatening her. He used to blackmail her claiming to make her obscene photos viral. 

The accused pastor also forced the family of the minor to convert by showing these indecent photos.

It was further alleged that pastor Masih sent 2 of his men to the victim’s house when she discontinued going to church. When his men saw the temple in the victim’s house, they said ‘There is Satan in it’. Subsequently, they took the temple out of the house along with the idol of God and broke it.

In its judgement, the court noted that in this case, the pastor has threatened to convert the minor girl by force. The court added that this criminal-minded pastor who misled society should be punished as an example.

Afterwards, the Ahmedabad Sessions Court sentenced the pastor Gulaban Masih to 3 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of 10 thousand rupees.

Mamata Banerjee sends Muslim leader to Nuh out of concern for Muslims ‘spending sleepless nights’ after Hindu religious procession came under attack

OpIndia Staff
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Mamata Banerjee sends Muslim leader to Nuh out of concern for Muslims ‘spending sleepless nights’ after Hindu religious procession came under attack

Following the occurrence of deplorable anti-Hindu Nuh violence on 31st July, TMC Supremo Mamata Banerjee has been trying to shift the focus away from the dilapidated Law and Order situation in West Bengal. As part of a larger scheme of things, she recently sent her party’s new Rajya Sabha member Samirul Islam to Haryana’s Nuh district. 

It was presented as an attempt to assuage the plight of local people especially the Muslim community who have been spending “sleepless nights” following the unbridled violence in Haryana’s Nuh. 

TMC’s new Rajya Sabha pick Samirul Islam also chairs the West Bengal Migrant Workers’ Welfare Board. Regarding his visit, he claimed that he met with at least 100 people, including Muslim clerics, and migrant workers from various states. He also added that he visited multiple places in Nuh. 

Islam asserted that he came to Nuh at the dictate of Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee who according to him is concerned about the plight of the local Muslim community living in distress and spending sleepless nights.  

He said, “I came to Nuh following an instruction from our chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who is really concerned about the plight of the migrant labourers, especially Muslims, who are spending sleepless nights. The migrant community is still in a panic. Through me, they sent a request to the chief minister urging her to stand by them.”

Following his Nuh visit, he was directed to submit a detailed report to Mamata Banerjee shortly after his return from Delhi where he took the oath of Rajya Sabha on the 21st of August. 

As per a report in Telegraph, a Trinamool representative argued that sending Samirul to Nuh was part of a larger strategy of Mamata Banerjee to send out a comforting message to the minority communities, who predominantly are considered as their vote bank. 

The underlying message of these visits to riot-hit areas and presenting a superficial villain is to absolve, trivialise, and deflect the criminality of the incident so as to keep the flock of their voter base intact. 

There are well-documented instances that highlight that prior to the so-called sporadic/reactionary occurrence of Nuh violence, several Islamist social media handles had hatched riot-like conspiracy weeks in advance of the said violent incident. 

However, to suit a vote bank-friendly narrative, a completely sanitised version of the pandemonium is being peddled and the said visits to assuage the local Muslim community fall in that bracket and are seemingly aimed to alter the victim-perpetrator ground reality.

Nuh Shobhayatra attack

On 31st July, a mob of hundreds of Muslim rioters attacked Hindu devotees participating in the Brijmandal Jalabhishek Yatra in Nuh, Mewat of Haryana. At least six people were killed as a result of the riots.

During the investigation into the riots, OpIndia accessed over 25 FIRs and complaints that provided a clearer picture of what happened during the violence. Based on information available via FIRs, complaints and witnesses, the attack appeared pre-planned. OpIndia came across several videos posted two days before the Jalabhishek Yatra instigating Muslims against Hindus.

Muslims have claimed the riots happened because of Bajrang Dal activist and Gau Rakshak Monu Manesar. Old videos of Manesar were circulated to instigate Muslims saying he was going to Nuh that day. The video that was mostly circulated was from October 2022. Detailed reports can be checked here.

Furthermore, a cyber crime police station was attacked in Nuh. Police officials were injured. Home guards were killed. The rioters first shot one of the Bajrang Dal activists Abhishek, then his throat was slit and his head was crushed leading to his death.

Click here to read how it is gradually getting clear that the Nuh violence could have been another manufactured Islamist riot that initiated and was fueled through social media prior to the actual event.  

Rajkot: Arif, Raheel, Shakeel, and Armaan kill Vijay for stopping them from lighting marijuana with a temple lamp, arrested

OpIndia Staff
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Rajkot: Arif, Raheel, Shakeel, and Armaan kill Vijay for stopping them from lighting marijuana with a temple lamp, arrested

In the past week, Gujarat’s Rajkot was convulsed by a total of three homicide cases. Particularly alarming is the unfolding information regarding the killing of a Hindu shopkeeper on August 16th. According to emerging reports, it is alleged that the perpetrators attempted to use a temple lamp to ignite marijuana within the shop belonging to Vijay Babaria, the shopkeeper. Tragically, this act resulted in a dispute that ultimately led to his untimely death.

As per Desh Gujarat’s account, during the encounter involving Arif Solanki, Armaan Salim Bloch, Rahil Sharif Sandh, and Shakeel Imtiaz Parmar, they allegedly tried to use the lamp within Rela Mandir, located in the vicinity, to lit their marijuana-laden cigarettes. Vijay Babariya, however, opposed this action. Tragically, the confrontation over this incident is believed to have played a role in the accused’s decision to murder Vijay on the following day.

The OpIndia group reached out to the Thorala police station in an attempt to gather additional details about the incident. However, the officials declined to provide further information, citing the sensitivity of the case and the ongoing nature of the investigation.

In the preceding week, an instance of murder surfaced in Rajkot. In this incident, a young Hindu individual engaged in selling leaves was tragically murdered by four individuals after he declined their request to smoke marijuana in the vicinity of his shop. The identified perpetrators, in this case, are Ayan Arif Solanki, Armaan Salim Bloch, Raheel Sharif Sandh, and Shakeel Imtiaz Parmar. All four individuals have since been apprehended and taken into custody.

The departed soul feverishly implored the accused to abstain from indulging in the inhalation of marijuana in close proximity to his establishment, as well as asked them to refrain from loitering around. Simultaneously, he voiced his profound disapproval of the notion that the sacred flame adorning the temple lamp within his shop should be employed to ignite a cigarette brimming with the forbidden substance. These admonitions, delivered with a heavy heart, seemed to kindle an unexpected fervour within the accused.

Their emotions stirred, and the implicated individuals departed that day, leaving behind a cloud of veiled threats that hung in the air like unspoken riddles. Yet, the sun’s relentless passage brought another dawn, accompanied by a sinister twist. On this fateful morrow, the accused returned not with mere words, but with a glinting knife clutched tightly in their grasp. The blade, an instrument of cold malice, became their retort—a retort etched in steel—a chilling response that shattered the tranquillity of the unassuming establishment.

The late young individual was recognized as Vijaybhai Babaria, aged 30. He resided on Dudhsagar Road and managed a paper mill in close proximity to his residence. During the evening of August 15, 2023 (which happened to be a Tuesday), while he was seated on the veranda, a group of four individuals arrived. These individuals were found to be in possession of marijuana.

The perpetrators attempted to ignite marijuana using the temple lamp situated in the Galla area. When Vijay declined their offer to consume the marijuana, their frustration escalated. They departed after issuing a threat, stating, “I’ll deal with you tomorrow.” Following this incident, Vijay Babaria returned home. Tragically, the following day (Wednesday, August 16) at approximately 11 am, a group of four men arrived and assaulted Vijay with a knife, resulting in the tragic demise of the shopkeeper.

Presently, law enforcement has apprehended all the suspects, and the investigation into the case is ongoing. The incident has also sparked significant outrage among local Hindu organizations.

Bangladeshi national Sonia Akhtar lands up in India to meet ‘husband’ Saurabh Tiwari, claims he embraced Islam, married her in Dhaka and fled

OpIndia Staff
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Bangladeshi national Sonia Akhtar lands up in India to meet ‘husband’ Saurabh Tiwari, claims he embraced Islam, married her in Dhaka and fled

In a repeat of the Seema Haider saga, a Bangladeshi woman named Sonia Akhtar has reached Noida with her one-year-old infant alleging a Noida resident, Saurabh Kant Tiwari, performed ‘Nikah’ with her in 2021 after embracing Islam in Dhaka, Bangladesh and later deserted her.

The woman reportedly approached the Noida police on Monday (August 21), seeking help from the authorities to reunite with her ‘husband’.

In a video that has surfaced, the Bangladeshi woman can be heard telling the media, “He is not agreeing now, he is not taking me with him to his home. I am a Bangladeshi. We got married almost three years ago. I only want to stay with my husband along with our child.”

The Bangladeshi woman, in her complaint, alleged that she met Saurabh Kant Tiwari during his stay in Bangladesh from 4 January 2017 to 24 December 2021. He used to work in Culti Max Energy Pvt Ltd in Dhaka.

She claimed that she got married to Saurabh Kant Tiwari, who lives in the Surajpur area in Noida, as per Islamic rituals in Dhaka on April 24, 2021, after the latter converted to Islam. Later, when a baby boy was born to them, Tiwari deserted her and came back to India, she said, adding that she later came to know that he was already married to an Indian woman and had two children with her.

Speaking about the case, Additional DCP (Central Noida) Rajiv Dixit said that prima facie it appears that Akhtar and Tiwari got married in Bangladesh. The investigation has been handed over to ACP (Women and Child Safety) and all details of the case are seen. Further action will be taken accordingly, he said.

The police officer added the woman has provided the visa and passport details of herself and her child along with her Bangladeshi citizenship card.

The incident has come to the fore a month-and-a-half after the Noida Police arrested Pakistani national Seema Haider who had illegally entered India through Nepal to live with her lover Sachin Meena who stays in Greater Noida.

The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) recovered five Pakistan-authorised passports, an unused passport, an identity card, four mobile phones, and two video cassettes from Pakistani woman Seema Haider. The unused passport has incomplete details of name and address.

West Bengal: Police arrest one Mohammed Abbas for brutal murder of minor girl in Siliguri, accused remanded to police custody

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal: Police arrest one Mohammed Abbas for brutal murder of minor girl in Siliguri, accused remanded to police custody

On Monday (August 11), the police arrested a 22 year-old-man named Mohammed Abbas in connection to the gruesome murder of a minor girl. The incident took place in Matigara in the Siliguri subdivision of West Bengal.

As per reports, the victim (name withheld) was attacked by Abbas while she was returning home from school. The accused took the underage girl inside an abandoned house at Rabindrapally and allegedly attempted to rape her.

When she resisted, he smashed her face with a brick. The locals heard her screams and found the victim, lying in a pool of blood, wearing the school uniform. She breathed her last soon after. The victim was a student of Class 11 at a Nepali medium school.

“This afternoon, when a girl was passing through the area, she heard someone screaming and informed her family. Her family members along with her neighbours rushed to the spot to investigate when they saw the body of the girl,” a local resident named Raju Bose said.

On receiving information about the matter, ACP Rajen Chhetri, DCP Abhishek Gupta and other police officials reached the spot. The body of the victim was sent to the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital for autopsy. In the meantime, the cops began analysing CCTV footage and talking to the local residents.

They were able to ascertain the identity of the accused. The Matigara police and the Special Operations Group (SOG) launched a manhunt and arrested Mohammed Abbas from his hideout in the Lenin Colony of Siliguri.

He has reportedly confessed to committing the heinous crime. The cops are now investigation the sexual assault angle. On Tuesday (August 22), Abbas was produced before a local court and remanded to 10 days in police custody.

Members of local, voluntary organisations protested against the gruesome killing of the minor girl outside the court premises. They also pelted stones at the police.

Nagpanchami procession attacked in Bagaha when it reached a mosque, reports media; Bihar police say situation peaceful, no mosque attacked as claimed

OpIndia Staff
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Nagpanchami procession attacked in Bagaha when it reached a mosque, reports media; Bihar police say situation peaceful, no mosque attacked as claimed

On Monday, August 21, on the occasion of Nagpanchami, Hindu religious processions taken out by the Mahaviri Akhada came under vicious attacks in Bihar’s Bagaha, Motihari and other districts. As per reports, severe stone pelting, vandalism, and clashes have been reported in these areas. Videos of the incident showed mobs, standing on rooftops and in the middle of the road, pelting stones at the procession. 

At least a dozen people, including three policemen and a journalist, were injured alone in the clash that occurred in Bihar’s Bagaha district.

Now, according to the latest information that has emerged, the religious procession in the Bagaha district had come under brutal attack, when it reached a mosque in the Ratanmela area.

According to a Bhaskar report, (an archive version of the report can be viewed here) the procession was heading along its scheduled path. Muslims in the neighbourhood of Ratanmela began to outrage as the procession passed by a mosque. They said that the Mahaviri flag cannot pass through the area. This enraged the Hindus and an altercation broke out between the two sides. Soon thereafter, stones started raining at the procession from the roofs and across the road.

Meanwhile, the Bagaha police took to X, formally Twitter to issue a statement on the incident on August 21. It confirmed that the situation in the area has returned to normalcy. They added that neither any mosque nor any member belonging to the particular community had been attacked in this clash. “Bagaha police appeals to all of you not to pay attention to all the rumours,” the post read.

To delve further into the details of the incident, OpIndia spoke to a Bajrang Dal activist from Bagaha in Bihar. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he also confirmed that the procession being taken out by the Hindu outfit was attacked when it was passing the mosque in the Ratanmela area in the Bagaha district.

Stone pelting in Bihar on Hindus during religious procession from OpIndia Videos on Vimeo.

Sharing a video of the incident, the Bajrang Dal activist said that though the procession was taken out with prior police approval the frenzied mob brutally attacked the Hindus participating in the procession.

Other videos of the incident that emerged on social media showed mobs standing on rooftops and pelting stones at the procession. Even police personnel can be seen running here and there to save themselves from the onslaught of stones from adjacent rooftops.

A Zee News report has stated that despite adequate police presence, the stone pelting attack was so severe that even police personnel scattered to save their own lives. Incidents of vandalism and arson have been reported too.

In the Motihari district, similar incidents of clashes were reported from 3 different places. In Mehsi, Kalyanpur and Darpa, religious processions by Hindus were attacked by stone pelters. As per a report by Jagran, when policemen tried to control the situation by lathi charge, they were attacked too. Several policemen have been injured.

In Darpa, a procession in Pipra was attacked by some elements in Pachiyari Tola. Bricks and stones were hurled between two groups. Darpa SHO Dharmendra Yadav was reportedly injured in the incident.

China’s stocks hit nine-month lows amid the weakening Chinese yuan and a floundering economy

ANI
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China’s stocks hit nine-month lows amid the weakening Chinese yuan and a floundering economy

As China’s currency continues to weaken, Chinese stocks hit nine-month lows and the yuan fell on Monday as the authorities’ efforts to revive demand failed to inspire investors, reported Channel News Asia. 

These investors are now showing less confidence in Beijing’s ability to restore momentum in the economy. 

Moreover, a smaller-than-expected-cut in a key lending benchmark disappointed markets. It, however, emphasized the constraints Beijing faces in reviving the demand through monetary easing amid broader worries about collapsing currency and capital flight.

China, the world’s second-largest economy is currently dealing with an unprecedented debt crisis in its massive property sector. It has also soured investor sentiment in the country as growth stalls, Channel News Asia reported. 

Since late November last year, China’s blue-chip index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index both fell to the lowest level, disappointed by the measures announced on Friday by China’s securities regulators which aimed at strengthening investor confidence. 

Charu Chanana, market strategist at Saxo in Singapore said, “China’s corporates and households are in a deleveraging mode, and rate cuts will not be enough to change that. Authorities are likely starting to realise that.”

“Rate cuts only put more pressure on banks, and broader measures to address capital adequacy and solvency issues will be needed to revive sentiment and activity levels,” she added. 

The onshore yuan eased roughly 0.3 per cent to about 7.30 per dollar, reported Channel News Asia. 

The currency fell even after Beijing vowed to stabilise the currency and much stronger than expected central bank guidance, as investors struggled to shake broader worries about weak exports, sluggish consumption and property market vows. 

However, China lowered its one-year benchmark lending rate on Monday. But, it shook the markets by not changing the five-year rate on which mortgage rates are based. 

According to Channel News Asia, analysts say Monday’s modest rate cut shows authorities are concerned about the risks of a major yuan selloff and capital flight, with any easing likely to widen the yawning gap between interest rates in China and its major trading partners. 

Such concerns could limit the scope policymakers have to loosen monetary settings which would only contribute to investors’ disappointments about Beijing’s response to the current economic slowdown. 

Masayuki Kichikawa, chief macro strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management said, “Probably China limited the size and scope of rate cuts because they are concerned about downward pressure on the yuan. Chinese authorities care about currency market stability.”

Furthermore, Goldman Sachs on Monday cut its forecast on Chinese stocks and expected a lower trading range until more forceful responses to the housing market woes. 

The Chief Economist at GROW Investment Group, Hong Hao said that China needs policy goals that include specific numbers such as the size of infrastructure stimulus, or how many flats will be redeveloped under the urban village revamp programme, reported Channel News Asia. 

“To boost confidence, what we need now is a ‘flood-irrigation’ approach rather than targeted, piecemeal policies,” he added.

(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)

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