India, Spain Indication Operate Agreement - April 23, 2009

In order to boost the bilateral ties, India and Spain signed a trade agreement on April 22, which is expected to give more scope in six crucial sector. The sectors are infrastructure development as well as renewable energy, agriculture, research and development, tourism, and cooperation in Latin America, where Spain has a sphere of influence. However, the focus is on technological exchange as well as tapping each other''s areas of expertise.

The agreement was done in the presence of President Pratibha Patil and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, and the respective government and trade representatives. In that business meeting, Ms. Patil noted that the bilateral trade was growing and crossing $ 4.5 billion mark. She also said that the Spanish enterprises are known for executing large-scale infrastructure projects and invited them to make use of the opportunities India presents, in particular through small and medium enterprises.

On the other hand, Ashwani Kumaar, Minister of State for Industrial Policy and Promotion, while addressing Indian mediapersons, described the presidential visit as highly successful. However, three framework agreements were signed in the fields of renewable energy as well as agriculture and tourism.

India Ranked 75th In The World''s Best Nations For Business - March 20, 2009

India ranked 75th in the world''s best nations for business after skidding 11 positions. The data is accumulated by US publication Forbes. India slipped from its position as lost position in many areas like technology, corporate tax rate, freedom and calming corruption. Forbes'' annual list ranks 127 nations on the basis of business environment in a country for entrepreneurs, investors and workers.

Further, Denmark topped list for the second successive year. However, India turns out to be unable to hold its 64th position in the list. The US gained two positions to be ranked 2nd on the list. Apart from this, Canada and Singapore have moved up 4 spots each to 3rd and 4th respectively.

India, Canada Sign MoU - Jan 14, 2009

India and Canada have signed a memorandum of understanding here to extend the co-operation in agriculture that includes the sharing of knowledge on technology as well as the marketing of farm products and animal development.

The MoU was signed by Sharad Pawar, Food and Agriculture Minister and Canada''a Minister of Agriculture Gerry Ritz.

“The cooperation envisaged in the MoU is expected to lead to increase in bilateral trade by creating new marketing opportunities benefitting farmers of both the countries,” an official statement said. It also added that the MoU provides for the representation of all stakeholders, including the private sector.

IPO Activity In The Asia Pacific Region - Aug 11 , 2008

The IPO activity in the Asia Pacific region has nearly halved in the first half of this year, with two of the fastest growing economies - India and China - reporting a drop of nearly 18 billion dollar in mobilisation of such deals.The total capital gathered by India Inc through IPO in the first half of 2008 stood at $4.07 billion as compared to $7.68 billion in the same period in 2007, global accounting and consulting firm Grant Thornton said.

Meanwhile, data by another deal tracking firm Dealogic said IPOs by Chinese issuers have raised $15.5 billion through 103 deals so far this year, nearly half of the amount raised in the corresponding period a year-ago ($29.5 billion)."This mirrors the wider Asia Pacific trend where issuance decreased 47 per cent to $28.2 billion by way of 330 deals," Dealogic added.

The slowdown of the IPO activity should be seen in the light of the fact that equity market across the world corrected sharply. While the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index plunged 47.82 per cent, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark index Sensex lost as much as 29.23 per cent in the first half of this year.

Around 66 per cent of Chinese issuers have opted to list domestically via the Chinese A share market in 2008 so far this year as compared to 46 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year.Interestingly Grant Thornton''s latest report also highlights the fact that the number of IPOs by corporate India during the half year ended June 2008 has also witnessed a decline, falling to 29 IPOs from 59 issues made during the first half of 2007.The top five IPOs of 2008, accounted for around 85 per cent of the total capital raised during the period between January to June this year.

The top five IPOs of this year include Reliance Power, which raised 2,565 million dollar, Rural Electrification Corporation that mopped up 409.82 million dollar, IPB Infrastructure developers raised 236.14 million dollar, Future Capital grossed 122.84 million dollar, while OnMobile Global raked in 119.91 million dollar.

Around 77 per cent of the total capital raised in India in the first six months of this year was from the power and energy sector, followed by real estate and nfrastructure management which accounted for 9 per cent of the total amount raised. While, in case of China, the initial public offering of China Railway Construction Corp was the largest IPO this year and the sixth largest on record. It priced its 5.7 billion dollar IPO in March via CITIC Group, Citi and Macquarie Group.

Indian Firms Still Minnows In Global League - July 10 , 2008

India Inc''s presence has grown in the Global Fortune 500 club with the debut of Tata Steel but its top seven entities collectively too are no match to global leader Wal-Mart, which is entering the country in partnership with Sunil Mittal''s Bharti group. The combined size of the seven Indian members in the league of Global Fortune 500 is less than 60 per cent of the turnover of the numero-uno Wal-Mart. As per the latest global rankings released on July 9 by the US business magazine Fortune, which is based on the companies'' annual revenue, there are now seven Indian companies in this league, up from six last year.

Together these seven companies - Indian Oil Corp, Reliance Industries, BPCL, HPCL, Tata Steel , ONGC and SBI - have a turnover of $221.07 billion. In comparison, Wal-Mart has retained its top position in the list with an annual turnover $378.8 billion. Excluding IOC, ranked at top among Indian companies, the six other Indian companies have a turnover of less than one-tenth of that of Wal-Mart. Including Wal-Mart, as many as five companies globally have a higher revenue than the combined turnover of seven Indian firms. These firms include ExxonMobil, ranked second after Wal-Mart with a revenue of $372.8 billion, Royal Dutch Shell (3rd with $355.7 billion), BP (4th with $291.4 billion) and Toyota Motors (5th with $230.20 billion).

India Plans Campaign Intellectual Property

KOLKATA: In its drive to catch up with China in the field of patents and trademarks, India will shortly launch a national awareness, sensitisation and consultancy programme by roping in universities, laboratories, state-level chambers of commerce and industry, patent attorneys and the scientific community.

Sources in the commerce ministry told ET: "The cost of this awareness campaign has been pegged at Rs 20 crore. This will establish a correlation between intellectual property, innovation, productivity and competitiveness. The campaign is aimed at promoting intellectual property and boost the proprietory rights culture in the country."

According to the figures of World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), of the total 1.56-lakh applications for international patents it received, China came seventh with 5,456 applications. US topped the list with 52,280 applications, followed by Japan with 27,731. Compared to this, India’s applications were a paltry 686.

In 2006, when China filed 3,951 applications, India filed just 831. The Indian Patent Office granted a record 15,262 patents during 2007-08, the government said, more than double the 7,539 granted the previous year (2006-07) and nearly eight times more than the 1,911 patents granted three years ago, in 2004-05.

Historically, the total number of patent filings by residents of India is just three per million population, against a world average of 250. According to the patent office figures, the number of patents granted in 2007-08, the first year of India’s 11th Five Year Plan, compares well with the total number awarded during the entire period of the 10th Five Year Plan, which was just 17,618.

"The application for international petnts should go up substantially to cope up with other countries of the world. We have taken some initiative, but more needs to be done," said the commerce ministry sources.

Incidentally, the government has spent more than Rs 140 crore in the first phase of the modernisation effort, which included setting up integrated intellectual-property offices in four major cities and launching electronic filing of applications. Another Rs 400 crore is to be spent to establish a Trade Marks Registry and Intellectual Property Archives and allied activities.

The government has also begun work on a National Institute of Intellectual Property Management to handle training, education, research and think-tank functions in intellectual-property rights.

India Inc Not In Favor Of 25% Minimum Public Shareholding Norm

New Delhi: Corporate India has expressed it opposition for a uniform 25 per cent minimum public shareholding for all listed companies as proposed by a recent finance ministry discussion paper. Some large companies said the measure would broaden and deepen the equity cult in the country, but feel that a blanket 25 per cent minimum public shareholding norm should not be applied indiscriminately to all companies.

The ministry had floated the paper on February 1 and asked for public comments by the month-end. The minimum public shareholding limit now is 10 per cent. The finance ministry and The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) will hold discussions with company representatives on March 29 to evolve a consensus on the proposal.

India, Japan Trade To Touch $15 Bn By 2010

New Delhi: Trade between India and Japan is poised to double by 2010 from the current $7.5 billion, according to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

This could be achieved if both the countries look at raising the number of items that India exports to Japan under the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which is currently under negotiation, CII said in its study. India mainly exports gems and jewellery, marine products, minerals and textile products to Japan. Exports could be increased substantially as Japan has very low import duties on most goods.India imports machinery, transport equipment, electronic goods, chemicals and metal products from Japan.

India To Have 1mn New Jobs In 2008: Survey

The hospitality, health and education sectors are likely to replace the IT/ITeS sector as leading job creators in the country, which will have over 10 lakh new work opportunities in 2008. India will add 10,25,800 jobs, a tad lower than 10,30,000 jobs in 2007, predicted the Ma Foi Employment Survey 2008 released here. The traditional job creating horses like IT and IteS sectors have been replaced by hospitality, health and education sector, Ma Foi Management Consultants Managing Director K Pandia Rajan said while releasing the survey. Ma Foi is the largest human resource service provider and staffing company in India. It has been conducting the employment survey since 2004. The 2008 survey was carried among 2006 companies from 22 sectors of the economy and is claimed to be the largest study on the organised sector. The hospitality sector is shown to generate the maximum number of employment in 2008 with over 4.26 lakh jobs.

An estimated USD 11.41 billion is expected to be seen in the hospitality sector in the next two years. India is likely to have around 40 international hotel brands by 2011,the survey highlighted. The health sector is expected to create over 2.95 lakh jobs led by a strong presence of private players and rising opportunities in medical tourism and telemedicine. The education sector, including training and consultancy, is expected to add 1.66 lakh employees. The survey found that manufacturing sectors of food products and beverages, furniture, mineral and metal products and mining will witness a constraint in hiring this year. Education tops the list of sectors generating the highest number of jobs in 2008 at 10,429,312, followed by hospitality at 6,595,879 and health at 3,616,525 jobs, the survey said.

India Trade Exhibition Centre To Setup In Sharjah

Kochi: The first Indian Trade and Exhibition Centre to come up in Sharjah. Establishing such a centre will help encourage trade between India and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, West Asia and the African region countries, Mr K.V. Shamsudheen, Vice-Chairman of the Indian Business and Professional Council (IBPC), Sharjah, said. A MoU was inked in this regard by Mr Sudesh Agarwal, Chairman of IBPC, and Mr Ahammed Mohammed al Midfa on behalf of the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in the presence of Indian Consul General, Mr Venu Rajamony, in Sharjah. The centre is hoped to play a very vital role in the Indo-UAE trade and investment relations. The centre will hold regular exhibitions of Indian products and services, organise meetings and conferences for the Indian business and professional community, lease office and exhibition space to Government of India enterprises and Indian corporations, as well as provide all information about Indian business and services.

India Likely To Lower Import Duties In Budget

India''s upcoming budget for 2008-09 may see some tweaking in the import duty structure, a top official of the Commerce and Industry Ministry said on Feb 16 in New Delhi. Import duties need to be cut in certain areas such as raw material and inverted duties. Inverted duties have to be addressed at this time as lot of trade agreements are coming, the official said. The inverted duty structure has to be dealt with now and we are looking at addressing it seriously. The Indian industry has also been pressing for a considerable reduction in the import duties for a long time now. The import duty reduction as a result of various bilateral agreements has adversely affected sectors such as textiles.

Other sectors like chemicals, electronics, auto components, tyres and electrical equipment have also been affected due to various bilateral trade agreements signed by India. The inverted duty structure impacts the domestic industry adversely as it has to pay a higher price for the raw material in terms of duty, the finished product on the other hand lands at lower duty and costs less. The government had in 2006 set up a committee under Anwar-ul Hoda to examine the inverted duty structure.

India Should Be Ready For Liquidity Crunch, Says RBI

At a time when Indian markets are feeling the tremors of the overseas financial turbulence, the International Monetary Fund or IMF says that the global slowdown is now serious and its in this backdrop that the RBI governor feels that India needs to be prepared for a withdrawal of liquidity.

But it is the same emerging markets which have helped the world look like a better place at a time when developed markets have plunged into a crisis. So, while IMF may hold little relevance to how the Indian economy behaves now, the questions are clearly now targeted at institutions of developed markets. For the RBI Governor YV Reddy who has grappled with the massive inflows of capital, It is now turn to get into reverse gear as the world faces a slowdown.

India Studying Fresh WTO Proposals

India is studying the fine print of the fresh WTO proposals on reduction in farm subsidies and industrial tariffs, the two most controversial issues that have been stalling a consensus in the Doha Round of negotiations. Its trade negotiators are still studying the exhaustive draft and are likely to comment on Monday.

Released in Geneva on Friday, the revised draft on agriculture has proposed that the U.S. cut farm subsidy by $13 billion to $16.4 billion and most of the developing countries are busy scrutinising the details in the document to infer whether the fresh proposals actually boil down to any meaningful reductions by the developed countries such as the U.S. Earlier this week, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath had stated that the Doha talks were at a delicate stage and could move away from convergence in case the concerns of the developing countries on livelihood and marginal farmers were not addressed. On the other hand, U.S. officials have stressed that they would like to see the market access issue equally addressed along with the cut in farm subsidies at the core of any global trade deal.

India Can Aim To Grow By Over 9%: FM

Amid growing concerns of a possible impact of US slowdown on Indian economy, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said that through fiscal prudence, high domestic savings and investment, the country could aim to grow at over 9 per cent. We have to do continue fiscal prudence and ensure that people save and invest and there is enabling environment for investors, both domestic and foreign, Chidambaram said. He also said that the country would have to ensure that these investments are made widely, managed wisely, so that they give a return. If these principles are observed, I do not think it is difficult in India to sustain a growth of no less than 8 per cent, pushing 9 per cent, and aiming to go beyond.

India Hopes To Add $100 Bn To Forex Reserve In FY''08

New Delhi: At a time when managing capital flows is becoming a challenge for the authorities, the government on Jan 30 said it hopes to put in $100 billion to the forex reserves in the current financial year. Overall, India''s forex reserves stands at $284.8 billion for the week ended January 19.

India, France Give New Impetus To Strategic Ties

Giving a new impetus to strategic ties, India and France have finalised negotiations for a bilateral agreement on cooperation in civil nuclear energy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced on Jan 25. The two sides also decided to bolster their defence cooperation and take it beyond a buyer-seller relationship, Singh said at a joint press conference with French President Nicholas Sarkozy. During the talks, Sarkozy, who arrived here on Jan 25 on a two-day visit, reaffirmed France''s support to India''s bid for a permanent seat in the expanded UN Security Council.

India To Respond To US Rate Cut: FM

Anticipating an indirect impact of the US financial crisis on its economy, India on Jan 24 said it will respond appropriately to a hefty cut in the US interest rates. We will respond (to the rate cut in US) through appropriate fiscal and monetary measures, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said in Davos. The RBI is due to review its monetary policy stance on January 29. The US rate cut was part of efforts to stimulate consumption to keep the world''s largest economy from slipping into a recession - fears of which had led to a meltdown in the global equity markets. We are concerned that it (US Fed rate cut) would lead to high flow of capital to India. But government is not in favour of putting curbs on capital. He said despite fears of global recession, the Indian economy is set to grow in the range of 8.5 per cent to nine per cent. However, high interest rates may have an impact on the growth trajectory.

India Can Help Weather US Recession: Nath

The world may fret over a possible US recession but the strong economies of India and China can act as two engines of growth to counter its global effects, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said in Davos on Jan 23. Nath, who is in a power-packed Indian delegation of 80 at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, also coupled his comments with guarded optimism over the stalled Doha Round of trade talks. I am optimistic this Davos will create a greater momentum towards conclusion, Nath said, referring to process to restart talks at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that have made little headway due to charges of protectionism by rich and developing nations. I am also realistic that there is an election in the US. I am realistic that Europe is in a new phase of protectionism, he said, even as he sought to spell out the importance of India and China to the world economy today.

Focus On India, China At WEF

Amidst fears of a slowdown in US looming large in the backdrop, the 38th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum opened in Davos on Wednesday, with the world leaders saying that emerging economies India and China would play a key role in dealing with the global financial crisis.The former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former US diplomat Henry Kissinger expressed confidence that emerging economies like India and China would play a crucial role to deal with the crisis.The financial markets across the globe is faced with an uneasy situation following the sub-prime crisis in the US. It is important that we have good relations with India and China as centre of the political and economic gravity shifts, Tony Blair, who is a Member of the Foundation Board of the WEF said in his opening remarks while referring to the impact of possible US recession.

India To Strengthen Ties With Arab States

New Delhi: To encourage cooperation with Arab states, India is likely to finalise a memorandum of understanding with the League of Arab States, said Mr N. Ravi, Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, while releasing FICCI-IAEF (Indo-Arab Economic Forum) publication. FICCI is also organising an India-Arab Investment Projects Conclave'' in April to focus on sectors like infrastructure, real estate & SEZs; engineering & construction; manufacturing; banking, venture capital & insurance; healthcare; education; IT & ITES; tourism & lifestyle amongst others. Dr Amit Mitra, Secretary General, FICCI, asked cooperation of the Ambassadors of Arab countries to mobilise participation for the India-Arab Investment Projects Conclave and asked them to bring projects which could be offered to Indian public and private sector companies.