India Newsletter 01.2013

India Newsletter | 1

INDIA NEWSLETTERPublished by the Embassy of India, Vienna

Year 3 | Issue 25 | January 2013

Featured IndustryAGRICULTURE

2 | India Newsletter

News

QUICK FACTSSnapshot of last month’s Highlights

The mobile applications market in India is expected to touch Rs

1,804 crore (US$ 328.92 million) in 2012.

Electronic transactions in India stood at US$ 328.29 billion dur-

ing April-October 2012.

Consumer sales transactions on mobile devices in India are ex-

pected to grow by 20 per cent, as a proportion of overall interactions, during 2012 to 2015.

India added 88 million inter-

net users over the last half a decade (2008-2012), the second largest such addition during this period across the globe.Television is the largest form of

media consumption—almost 100 per cent—for children in India.

Domestic travel bookings during the second half of FY 2012-13 is

expected to register a growth of 30 per cent as compared to correspond-ing period last year.

India is expected to be the second

fastest growing domestic air trav-el market during 2012-16.The gross direct tax collections

in India during April-November 2012 stood at Rs 325,696 crore (US$ 60.03 billion), up by 7.14 per cent.

Indian pharma-ceutical exports

has registered a growth of 23.34 per cent in dollar terms during FY 2011-12.

Foreign institutional investors’ (FII) investments through P-Notes in

India rose to a 8 month high in Octo-ber 2012 at US$ 32.10 billion.

The total foreign i n s t i t u t i o n a l

investors (FIIs) in-flows in India has touched US$ 22 bil-lion so far in 2012.The powder concentrate market

in India is estimated at over Rs 600 crore (US$ 109.54 million).

Online hiring activity in India has registered a 10 per cent

increase during November 2012 as compared to the year ago period.

Industrial pro-duction in India

is expected to grow by 4.1 per cent during November 2012-March 2013.The Government of India has

transferred over US$ 65,099 in 1,980 transactions to the accounts of Aadhar beneficiaries.

Private equity (PE) firms in India have invested US$ 8.85 billion in

over 406 deals during 2012.

External commercial borrowings (ECB) and foreign currency con-

vertible bond (FCCB) worth US$ 1.3

billion were approved by the Reserve

Bank of India (RBI) during November

2012.

Indian seafood exports to the US has recorded a growth of 11.42 per

cent in volume and 9.33 per cent in

rupee terms.

The premium income of non-life insurers in India has increased by

25 per cent in 2011-12.

The foreign ex-change (forex)

reserves of India has registered an increase of US$ 1.637 billion to US$ 296.631 billion for the week ended De-cember 14, 2012.The print media industry in India is

expected to grow at a compound

annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17 per

cent during FY 2013-15.

The BPO sector in India has at-

tracted private eq-uity (PE) invest-ments worth US$ 2.2 billion in 2012.


EXPRESSION OF INTERESTVisa Outsourcing Service for the Embassy of India

INVITATION FOR BIDSDetailed Request for Proposal (RFP) under http://www.indianembassy.at/

The Embassy of India, Vienna, Austria (also concurrently accredited to Montenegro) intends to PRE-QUALIFY AGENCIES TO ASSIST ITS CONSULAR WING IN THE PROCESSING OF APPLICATIONS FROM FOREIGN NATIONALS FOR THE ISSUANCE OF VISAS. The agencies so identified would have, on behalf of the Embassy of India, responsibility for the following broad activities:

Distribution, collection and scrutiny of visa applications as prescribed, along with passports, supporting documents and fees from the applicants;

Depositing the visa applications, pass-ports in original as well as in electronic format and other related documents at the Consular Wing of the Embassy by the quickest and safest means; and fees at the bank designated by the Mission.

Digitisation of Visa application form along with enclosures, capturing of biographic data and photograph and transfer the data electronically to enable the Embassy to upload the same into the IVFRT plat-form as per requirement under proce-dures. This data duly indexed should also be provided in CD or any other storage format to Mission for efficient search and retrieval operations. Capture fingerprint biometric and facial biometric data, as and when introduced and pass on such data electronically to enable the Embassy to upload the same into the IVFRT plat-form.

Collection of passports from the Consu-lar Wing after the service there has been rendered;

Dispatching / handing-over document/s to applicants by secure and fast means;

Maintenance of an information desk/ser-vice to answer enquiries over telephone,

distribute printed guidelines and handle queries by e-mail, post or fax, as the case may be; and

Scheduling of personal interviews of the applicants at the Consular Wing of the Mission, where required.

To carry out these activities on behalf of the Mission, the agencies would be ex-pected to establish collection centre/s at a prominent locality of Vienna. The Mis-sion may need to increase the number of centres in Vienna and other cities of Aus-tria, if deemed necessary. The agencies would be expected to provide courteous and efficient service at all times. The Mis-sion/Post reserves the right to monitor the quality of service provided and im-pose necessary corrective measures on the agencies in terms of their contrac-tual obligations. The short-listed agencies will have to furnish a bank guarantee, the amount of which will be specified in the Request for Proposal(RFP).

Agencies with sound financial and busi-ness credentials, having at least one year experience in providing similar services and dealing with at least hundred visas/passports/consular services per day on a one year average, are invited to send their profiles and expression of inter-est, along with a detailed offer for pre-qualification. All offers/bids should be accompanied by a refundable deposit of US$3,000/-* by cheque drawn in favour of the Embassy of India, Vienna, Austria. The cheque should be put in a separate envelope marked ‘refundable deposit’ and not with envelopes for ‘ Technical Bid’ or ‘Financial Bid’ This deposit would be refunded within five working days of the Mission and Bank of opening of pre-qualification bids.

Only Indian/Indian origin companies with

or without a local partner either of In-dian/Foreign origin are eligible to apply. Definitions and Explanations may be seen in the Request for Proposal(RFP).

The agencies are required to submit technical and financial bids in two sepa-rate envelopes. In the first stage, only the technical bids will be opened and exam-ined and only the bidders fulfilling the technical requirements, will be selected for opening the financial bids. Any remain-ing bids will not be processed further. Fi-nancial bids of companies qualifying on technical evaluation, will be opened in the next stage and the Contract Price shall be the criterion for selecting the success-ful Service Provider. If the contract price is same for more than one company, the company graded higher will become eli-gible. The Technical Bids will be evaluated by the Mission and graded according to the quality of services offered by the bid-ding Companies. This information would be given to the Companies which quali-fied for the Financial Bids before open-ing of the Financial Bids. Bidding agencies should give specific and clear response to the RFP in the same format and order without omitting any point mentioned therein.

The offers/bids may be sent in sealed covers (superscribed ‘Visa Outsourc-ing’) containing two separate sealed cov-ers (superscribed “Technical Bid” and “Financial Bid”) addressed to the Head of Chancery, Embassy of India, Karntner Ring 2, A-1015 Vienna, so as to reach the Mission latest by 1500 hours on Febru-ary 06, 2013. All the Technical Bids shall be opened simultaneously at 1600 hours on the same day. The Mission’s decision on the pre-qualification of the agencies shall be final.

The Embassy of India, Vienna, Austria (also concurrently accredited to Montenegro) intends to select an agency to assist in receiving and processing visa applications from foreign nationals. The Invitation for Bids and the Request for Proposal can be seen at the Embassy website (www.indianembassy.at). Agencies which meet the requirements specified in the Invitation for Bids and Request for Proposal are invited to submit Technical and Financial Bids. The proposal, along with the prescribed refundable deposit, should be sent in sealed covers (superscribed ‘Visa Outsourcing’) containing two separate sealed covers (superscribed “Technical Bid” and “Financial Bid”) addressed to the Head of Chancery, Embassy of India, Karntner Ring 2, A-1015 Vienna, latest by 1500 hours on February 06, 2013.

Announcement


INDIA IS ThE wORlD’S 19Th BIggEST EXPORTER IN mERChANDISEWTO Report

INDIA SET TO BE FASTEST gROwINg TRADINg NATIONHSBC Report

India is the world’s 19th biggest ex-porter in merchandise trade surpass-ing countries like Australia, Brazil,

Switzerland and Sweden, according to the recent classification done by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Sec-retariat for 2011.

A report released by WTO Secretariat

said India exported of USD 297 billion in merchandise trade.

The figures were released on the sidelines of the announcement of the 27th Inter-national Autumn Trade Fair (IATF2012).

This time, the fair hosted the official na-tional pavilions of six countries, including 225 exhibitors from China, 30 from India,

35 from Hong Kong, 15 from Korea, 20 from Taiwan and 10 from Pakistan.

Other countries participating at IATF 2012 at individual levels include UAE, Netherlands, Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia and Iran.

US tops the list of importers with USD 2,265 billion of imports in 2011.

Rising bilateral trade with China, growing consumer wealth and high confidence level among its

traders will push India to the top league of trading nations beginning 2013 and it is set to retain the fastest growth rate till 2020, says HSBC.

“The growing Indo-China bilateral trade is set to increase significantly and the country will be the fastest expanding market for Chinese products, with im-port growth averaging 20 per cent an-nually during 2013-15 and 17% during 2016-20, while exports clipping at 23 per cent during 2013-15 and 19% during 2016-20,” says the HSBC trade forecast released today.

India tops the tables for all 23 markets surveyed as either their fastest import or export growth partner out to 2020, it said.

The country also tops the HSBC trade confidence index apart from having the most promising global outlook with 61 per cent of traders expecting to see growth.

“With a score of 135, India is the most confident country. Optimism has im-proved in the past six months with 71% of importers and exporters surveyed ex-pecting trade volume to increase and an-other 24 per cent anticipating business to remain at current levels,” said the report that covered 5,800 exporters, importers and traders over the past six months in 23 markets.

This upside to trade will be backed by the growing consumer wealth that will push the country to be the fastest grow-ing trade market - import or export or both - among the 23 largest trading mar-kets, according to the forecast.

The optimism comes from a dual speed trade rebound as South-South corridors become more established, driving growth to 2015 before being rejoined by the developed world in the later part of the decade, notes the report.

As per the report, India and China will be joined by emerging trading nations like Vietnam, Indonesia, Egypt, Turkey, Mexico and Poland to record significant trade growth in the next three years.

South-South trade continues to show up as a trend. Brazil’s fastest growing trade partners are India, Vietnam and China and Mexico’s imports from India and China will grow 13.9% and 13.4% respec-tively between 2016 and 2020, the HSBC report said.

Indonesian exports, led by commodities, to Asia (ex- Japan) are expected to grow at around 10% annually during 2021-30,

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INDIA PhARmA INDUSTRy mAy BE AmONg TOP-10 By 2020CII-PwC Report

Stating that the Indian pharmaceuti-cal industry is on a “good growth path’, a CII-PwC report said it is

likely to be among the top-10 global mar-kets in value terms by 2020.

However, it also warned that the industry “will have to watch out for the regula-tory interventions,” according to the re-port titled “India Pharma Inc: Gearing up for the next level of growth”.

High burden of disease, good economic growth leading to higher disposable in-comes, improvements in healthcare in-frastructure and improved healthcare financing are driving growth in the do-mestic market.

The Indian Pharma Industry has been

growing at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 15% over the last five years and has significant growth opportunities. However, for the industry to sustain it till 2020, Companies will have to rethink their business strategy. They will have to adopt new business models and think of innovative ideas to service their evolving customers faster and better.

Sujay Shetty, leader, Pharma Life Sciences, PwC India, said the Industry has seen many regulatory interventions over the last one year, which will require careful consideration by Pharma Companies as they plan their future strategies.

Pharma Companies will continue to

grow both organically and inorganically through alliances and partnerships and focus on improving operational efficiency and productivity. Developments in the health insurance, medical technology and mobile telephony can help in the indus-try’s growth by removing financial and physical barriers to healthcare access in India, he added.

Rajiv Modi, Chairman CII Pharma Sum-mit and Vice-Chairman, CII Gujarat State Council, said the report highlights the dif-ferent levers that have fuelled the growth of the Indian Market, emerging new busi-ness models, as well as the key success factors that need to be kept in mind to achieve sustainable long-term growth.


with shipments to India and China lead-ing the growth during 2013-15.

Singapore’s exports to Asia (ex-Japan) are forecast to rise by 7% on average during 2021-30, again led by China, India and Vietnam.

Bangladesh is forecast to develop its role linking the new emerging Asia, driven by trade growth with India throughout the period. Its trade is expected to jump 19% during 2013-15 and 14% during 2016-20, the report said.

Another major trading power will be Malaysia, which is set to see 9 per cent spike in its exports to Latin America dur-ing 2016-20, with its exports to Brazil alone growing at 14% annually during this period.

Vietnamese exports are expected to clip at double-digits annually throughout the forecast period of 2012-30.

The report said China will overtake the US as Vietnam’s largest export partner by 2030, followed by Japan and Korea.

Australia’s dependence on Asian markets for commodities shipments will continue during this period, recording an annual growth of (ex-Japan) 6% during 2013-15.

Hong Kong’s exports are forecast to more than double from 4.8% in 2012 to 11.4% annually through 2013-15. Al-though China will remain Hong Kong’s most important trading partner, other developing East Asian nations will be-come increasingly important, with ex-ports to Vietnam growing 8% in the dec-ade to 2030.

INDIA IS wORlD’S BIggEST RICE EXPORTER IN 2012Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Report

EIghT INDIANS AmONg TOP 100 CEOSHarvard Business Review (HBR)Report

India has emerged as the world’s big-gest exporter of rice piping traditional leader Thailand by exporting almost

nine million tonnes of rice in 2012, a lat-est report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said.

However, going forward in 2013, the trend might be difficult to sustain as Thai-land is once again pushing to expand its exports by lowering rates in the interna-tional markets.

India allowed its private traders to ex-port rice in 2011 lifting a more than two year-long ban on exports. The move ena-bled private traders to push Indian rice in traditional as well as new markets at a price which was much lower than the prevailing rates, thereby leading to a surge in exports.

FAO also said India would have record exportable cereal surplus of almost 15.7 million tonnes in 2012-13, which will in-clude 7.7 million tonnes of rice, about five million tonnes of wheat and three million tonnes of corn.

In the 2011-12 crop marketing season that ended in July, India had an all-time high wheat production of 94 million tonnes, rice output of 104 million tonnes and corn (maize) production of almost 16.22 million tonnes.

However, much of this has not been ex-ported as the government has purchased almost all the rice and wheat, leaving little surplus for private exporters to sell. Late-ly, government has also started liquidating its inventories to create more space for the new harvest. It has approved export

of two million tonnes of wheat and an-other 2.5 million tonnes is in the pipeline.

FAO said that planting of wheat and rice for the rabi season spring harvest is al-most completed. Rainfall has been defi-cient to scanty in the producing states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana in the north west, Bihar and West Bengal in the north east and Karnataka in the south, the agency wrote.

Most of the wheat and paddy rice is ir-rigated this season, and abundant rains in the second part of the monsoon season helped replenish water reserves for irri-gation and boost soil moisture, according to the report.

In yet another sign of rising Indian dominance in the global business are-na, eight corporate bigwigs from the

country have made it to the list of the world’s best chief executive officers.

The list that HBR has come out with is led by former Apple chief Steve Jobs, who passed away last year. The sole Indian rep-resentation in the top 10 is ITC Chair-man Y C Deveshwar at seventh.

The 65-year-old joined the Kolkata-based cigarette-to-hotels major ITC in 1968 and became its chief executive and chair-man in 1996.

Deveshwar pipped other Indian corpo-rate honchos, including ONGC former chairman and managing director Subir Raha (ranked 13), RIL chairman and CEO

Mukesh Ambani (28), Larsen & Toubro’s A M Naik (32), former Bharat Heavy Elec-tricals CMD A K Puri (38), Bharti Airtel’s Sunil Bharti Mittal (65), Jindal Steel & Power’s Naveen Jindal (87) and former SAIL chief V S Jain (89) — among other global business leaders.

HBR has rated the CEOs based on the long-term performance of the compa-nies and the contributions that the CEOs have made to them.The criteria included how much total shareholder returns had changed during their tenure and the overall increase in market capitalisation.

Those who are in the top 5 also include Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com (2), Yun Jong-Yong of Samsung Electronics (3), Roger Agnelli of Vale (4) and John C Martin of Gilead Sciences (5).

During Deveshwar’s tenure, ITC’s mar-ket value increased by $45 billion, which made him the Indian representative in the top-10 league. In 2011, he was conferred the Padma Bhushan by the government of India, honouring his contributions to the nation.

While HBR’s top 100 list in 2010 had candidates from the S&P Global 1200 and BRIC 40 lists, this year it worked with three other emerging-market indexes as well. The pool of CEOs studied increased by roughly one-third, from 1,999 in 2010 to 3,143 this year.

HBR stated this year’s list looked at crite-ria like making the group truly global and financial performance during their tenure and also in terms of corporate social per-formance for the selection process.

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BANKINg BIll PAVES wAy FOR NEw BANKSForeign Investments

The government cleared the decks for the Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) to initiate the process to is-

sue new banking licences and widened the window for infusion of capital into the banking sector.

The Lok Sabha cleared the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2011, after Finance Minister P Chidambaram agreed to drop the contentious proposal on allowing banks to do futures trading. He also clari-fied status quo would be maintained on the jurisdictions of RBI and the Competi-tion Commission of India ( CCI) in the banking sector.

“Since it is important that the Bill is passed, I am dropping the controversial

clauses.” While the central bank would regulate the banking sector, the competi-tion watchdog would look at anti-com-petitive practices, Chidambaram said.

Most provisions in the Bill are to strength-en RBI. In Parliamentary democracy, give and take was required and rest of the Bill was important as RBI was awaiting more powers, the finance minister added.

Changes to the Bill would pave the way for RBI to issue new bank licences. The central bank had been insisting the ena-bling legislation be put in place before applications were invited for new bank licences.

As the Bill has provisions to increase in-vestors’ voting rights in private banks to 26 per cent from the current 10 per cent, it is expected to bring in more foreign investment in the banking sector. In case of public sector banks, voting rights have been enhanced from one per cent to 10 per cent.

The Bill was passed by voice vote after the amendments proposed by the Left parties were rejected by the House. The Bill would now be taken up in the Rajya Sabha.

The insurance Bill, which seeks to raise

the cap on foreign direct investment in insurance firms to 49 per cent from the present 26 per cent, would not be taken up for consideration in the ongoing ses-sion of Parliament, Chidambaram told re-porters after the passage of the Banking Bill.

Earlier, during the discussion on the Bank-ing Bill, he highlighted the need for con-solidation in the banking sector so that India could have two- three large public sector banks that could compete globally.

He also said about 6,000 new bank branches would be opened and that banks planned to recruit around 84,000 people this year. He reiterated the gov-ernment was committed to infusing Rs 15,000 crore into public sector banks in the current financial year and more next year. Capital might be infused now through rights issues and bonus shares.

Earlier, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha, who heads the standing committee on finance, had opposed the two contentious clauses in the Banking Bill, saying those were not considered by his panel. He had said the provisions would allow banks to put their money in speculative trading.

ASEAN FTA: A RIChER PARTNERShIPIndia-ASEAN services and investment agreement

Two decades after India famously announced its Look East policy, it has actively expanded its trade and

investment ties with many countries in the east and southeast Asian region. One of the primary policies used to further this growing economic relationship has been via the signing and implementation of bilateral trade agreements. While India signed a free-trade agreement (FTA) in goods with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in August 2009, the two sides have belatedly concluded an FTA in services and investments. Once implemented, India can claim to finally have a fairly comprehensive economic partnership with the ASEAN.

The India-ASEAN services and invest-ment agreement is expected to provide a fillip to the growing bilateral trade, which currently stands at around $80 billion,

up from $40 billion in 2009, prior to the goods FTA being signed, and is expected to touch $100 billion in 2015. The ASE-AN is India’s fourth-largest trading part-ner after the EU, the US and China.

The FTA in services and investment as-sumes significance as intra-regional trade offers better potential, especially at a time when global merchandise trade is slowing. It is well known that the dyna-mism of services sector has contributed significantly to India’s growth story. Also, in recent years, India has not only at-tracted foreign direct investment, but has also emerged as a significant investor of outward FDI. Given the importance of both services and investment to India’s liberalisation strategy, the completion of this FTA is timely and relevant.

India’s key interests in services trade has always been in Mode 4, pertaining to the

movement of Indian professionals, and the recently concluded FTA is expected to enhance the flow of skilled profes-sionals from India into the region, which aligns with India’s economic interests. The ASEAN market also offers signifi-cant investment opportunities for India, particularly in areas like information and communications technology, automo-biles, engineering and pharmaceuticals. It is, of course, not a one-way street, as ASEAN countries have strengths in con-struction services, engineering services, shipping and transportation services and the like. With regard to investment flows into the Indian market, prime sectors for the ASEAN include energy, transport and logistics.

Given the heterogeneity of ASEAN coun-tries, the agreement is not “clean”, in that it follows a 8+1+1 pattern that implies

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there will be three separate arrange-ments, one pertaining to eight ASEAN members and two concerning Indonesia and the Philippines respectively. The spe-cific terms for these two countries are due to the fact that services represent a vital share of their economic growth, and there are concerns that they might lose more than they gain in competing with India’s strong services sector. While both Indonesia and the Philippines are worried about competition from India in IT ser-vices, it appears to be a bigger concern for the Philippines, with more than half of its workforce engaged in outsourcing.

Given the individual concerns in ASEAN, India has also been negotiating bilateral trade agreements with individual mem-bers. It already has bilateral FTAs with Singapore and Malaysia and is in the pro-cess of negotiations with Indonesia and Thailand. Notably, the Comprehensive

Economic and Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with Singapore (operational since 2005) has played a pivotal role in fostering economic relations between the two countries, and has resulted in Singapore becoming India’s largest trade and investment partner in the ASEAN block, with the country also emerging as a key offshore logistics and financial hub for many Indian corporations. While the CECA with Singapore primarily covers provisions for liberalisation in trade in goods and services, the CECA with Ma-laysia (signed in 2011) is relatively more limited in scope.

India also has Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements (CEPAs) with other east Asian economies such as Japan and Korea. The CEPAs with Korea and Ja-pan, in comparison to India’s other FTAs in the region, go beyond the traditional provisions of tariff liberalisation, services,

investment and trade facilitation to cover issues of government procurement and competition policy, which are fundamen-tal to furthering holistic economic en-gagement through FTAs.

At a time when the APEC countries (of which India is not a member) are discussing the possibility of creating a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) involving the US and countries in Asia and Latin America, India’s FTA with the ASEAN is welcome, given that some studies have suggested that it is on the whole trade-creating rather than diverting. However, this and future such FTAs cannot be seen as substitutes for much-needed domestic reform, as well as other facilitation meas-ures, to create a better overall trading environment if India is to come close to emulating the trading success of its East Asian counterparts.

3 INDUSTRIAl ClUSTERS APPROVED IN hARyANAIndustrial Development

INDIA FOCUSES ON NON-TRADITIONAl EUROPEAN mARKETSIndia-Europe Exports

The Haryana government will focus on cluster development as one of the strat-egies for industrial development in the state, and proposes to set up common fa-cility centres in partnership with industry.

These centres will address the common needs of micro, small and medium enter-prises ( MSMEs) in the areas of research and development, technology upgrada-tion support, standardisation of products, quality testing and marking facilities, and

marketing and branding initiatives.

According to a spokesman of the Hary-ana industries and commerce depart-ment, detailed project reports for four clusters have been prepared, and the Un-ion MSME ministry has given its approval for three clusters — a footwear cluster in Bahadurgarh; a print and pack cluster in Karnal; and a home furnishings cluster in Panipat.

Diagnostic study reports for eight other clusters have also been prepared, and work on the preparation of detailed pro-ject reports on four of these clusters is underway.

Detailed project reports for three clus-ters under the Industrial Infrastructure Upgradation Scheme of the Union gov-ernment’s department of industrial policy and promotion have also been prepared.

India if focussing on diversifying its exports to non-traditional European countries, said Minister of State for

Commerce & Industry D. Purandeswari in Rajya Sabha.

“In Europe, apart from Western Eu-rope (our traditional market), India is focusing on exploring trade in Central & East European (CEE) countries,” said Purandeswari in written reply to a ques-tion in the upper house of the Parliament.

In a bid to boost bilateral trade with the EU countries, she added, interactions with the European Union and the indi-vidual countries (including Portugal) are held at various levels, on a regular basis, by way of Joint Commission Meetings, she added.

“These Joint Commissions are held at regular intervals with 28 European coun-tries and facilitate economic co-opera-tion and trade between the two sides,”

the minister said.

Besides, she added, a number of business to business interactions are organized regularly between Chambers of Com-merce and Industry. Participation in ma-jor trade fairs is also encouraged and supported by the Government.

Replying to question in Rajya Sabha, she informed that at the request of Depart-ment of Commerce, Government has extended interest subvention scheme in certain specified sectors up to March 31, 2013.

Commenting on other steps taken for the export sector, she mentioned about measures / incentives announced on June 5 this year as part of the Annual Supple-ment to Foreign Trade Policy.

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NUmBER OF INDIANS VISITINg VIENNA hAS DOUBlEDAs published in the Indian Newspaper, The Economic Times

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KERAlA IS mOST gOOglED INDIAN DESTINATIONIndia Tourism

Kerala has managed to edge out the Taj Mahal to become the num-ber one travel destination in the

Google’s search trends for India last year.

Hill destination of Munnar in the State is also on the list of Top 10 Indian destina-tions on Google’s Zeitgeist site displaying search trends from around the world in 2012.

Kerala at number one and the Taj Mahal at number two are followed by the Wa-gah Border, Vaishno Devi and Amarnath. Kashmir came at number six on the list of top ten travel destinations.

According to search trends in the travel category released by Google for this year, Munnar was number nine, followed by the Gateway of India.

‘GREAT NEWS’

State Tourism Minister A.P. Anil Kumar described the two listings, including the number one spot, as a ‘great encourage-ment’ for the State.

“Kerala Tourism is a leader in online pro-motional activities of the State as a tour-ist destination. We are one of the first Government establishments to make use of the Internet to reach out to the world,” he said.

Google’s Zietgeist covers all search cate-gories and answers the question of what the world searched for in a particular year.

The trending for the year means search queries with the highest amount of traffic over a sustained period compared with the previous year.

Most searched are the search queries with the largest volume of searches. Zeit-giest also contains highest searched sub-jects and topics.

Kerala Tourism is a leader in coming up with innovative ideas, said Suman Billa, Tourism Secretary. “We have engaged not just the Internet, but social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter

also for promoting individual destinations

in the State,” he added.

USER-FRIENDLY

Rani George, Director, Kerala Tour-

ism, said that the user-friendly Web site

of Kerala Tourism appeals to potential

visitors as it provides all information re-

quired about destinations and facilities.

Kerala Tourism Web site (www.kerala-

tourism.org) is one of the most popular

tourism Web sites in the country. The

site attracts over 2.5 lakh visitors every

month. Kerala Tourism gets around six

million views every year on YouTube.

Kerala Tourism had won the Conde Nast

Travel Award in the ‘Excellence in Taking

Brand India Global’ category earlier this

month.

More and more Indian tourists are heading for Vienna, the Austrian capital which is also known to

be the city with the world’s best quality of living. According to the Vienna Tourist Board, the number of Indians visiting Vi-enna has doubled over the last six years — with an estimated 25,000 Indian tour-ists dropping by.

The board expects that in 2012, night stays in local hotels by Indian tourists will exceed the 2011 record of over 55,000 room nights.

Not surprising since Vienna, according to HR advisory firm Mercer’s Quality of Liv-ing index, has been ranked the city with the best quality of living. And has retained the title for four years on the trot. This sort of reputation is bound to attract tourists from everywhere, not just India.

“By blending its unique imperial architec-tural heritage with a distinguished legacy of great artists and musicians like Mozart and Beethoven, Vienna offers one of Eu-rope’s most dynamic urban spaces,” says Verena Hable, a Vienna Tourism Board of-ficial, during a recent visit to Delhi.

“With Vienna emerging as a favoured destination by Indian tourists, we look to welcoming a significantly larger inflow of tourists in the coming years.”

India has several points of connect with the Austrian capital. India-born conduc-tor Zubin Mehta, who has lived in Vienna for many years and still conducts the Vi-

enna Philharmonic Orchestra, often has fellow countrymen include his perfor-mance in their itinerary.

Vienna also allows Indian tourists to do a triangular tour of the major cities of the former Hapsburg empire, by including Budapest and Prague during their visit.


INTERNET’S ShARE IN gDP COUlD TOUCh $100 BN By 2015McKinsey and Co. Research

lUXURy CAR mARKET SET TO gROw, SAyS Bmw INDIA hEADIndian Luxury Industry

With the number of internet connections and the usage of computing devices on the

rise, India’s internet industry can contrib-ute up to $100 billion (about Rs 5.5 lakh crore) to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and generate about 22 million jobs by 2015, according to a study.

India will be second only to China in terms of citizens using internet by 2015, as more than 330 million Indians should be connected online by then, said the report, Online and Upcoming: The in-ternet’s Impact on India, released by consulting firm McKinsey and Co. India has around 120 million internet users at present.

Internet contributed to 1.6 per cent of Indian GDP, or about $30 billion (in real purchasing power parity terms), in 2011.

At present, Internet-linked consumption and expenditure contribute to an esti-mated $1.7 billion or almost three per cent of the global economy.

“The GDP impact of the internet could treble, as the user base and engagement levels grow, and the as yet untapped SMEs (small and medium enterprises) and indi-vidual consumer segments benefit from inclusion,” Chandra Gnanasambandam, partner at McKinsey and co-author of the report, said.

“India will add more Internet users than any country in the world over the next three years, as average penetration rises from 10 per cent today to 28 per cent — still far lower than the projected global average of 43 per cent,” the report said.

India will also have a unique feature—three out of four new users from the

country will be mobile-only users. Mo-bile-based internet users will form 55 per cent of the total user base in 2015 in India, compared to just 15 per cent in other aspiring countries, it said.

Besides, it is likely to create more jobs. With increased Internet penetration, 22 million jobs would be created by 2015.

However, the report warned that for in-ternet’s share in GDP to increase, India must follow an inclusive path of Internet expansion. The government must extend rural infrastructure investments in the hinterlands, reduce the cost of access to increase Internet usage, increase digital literacy and create favourable business environment for internet-based enter-prises.

Foreign tourist arrivals in India till November in 2012 grew by 6 per cent according to Ministry of Tour-

ism estimates.

The Ministry said despite negative signals from the global economy, the number of foreign tourist arrivals in the country in

2012 (up to November) showed an in-crease of about six per cent over the same period of 2011.

“During the period January-November 2012, 58.99 lakh tourists visited India against 55.72 lakh in 2011,” the Ministry said.

Foreign exchange earnings from tourism

stood at Rs 83,938 crore with a growth

of 22.1 per cent over the same period in

2011. The foreign exchange earnings dur-

ing 2011 were about Rs 68,721 crore.

The country’s luxury car market is set for growth over the medium and long term but will see moder-

ate growth next year, according to Philipp von Sahr, President, BMW Group India. He said the market is about 30,000 cars a year and is rising steadily. It has registered good volumes in the past. This year has been relatively subdued.

“We expect to introduce at least three new models from the BMW stable next year including one in the 7 series,” he said.

The German automotive major today introduced its iconic Mini in Hyderabad, starting from Rs 25.5 lakh going up to Rs 35.9 lakh ex-showroom, and expects to repeat the success it has had across 100 markets.

After the launch of Mini in Hyderabad, the BMW President said: “The BMW pol-icy of production follows the market. The Mini market is huge and it may open up opportunity for production here.”

NOT ABOUT VOLUMES

“For the BMW group, the focus is not on volumes but on ensuring sustainable growth. We are not chasing month-on-month numbers and do not want to compete based on volumes. The accent is on providing an enjoyable ownership experience for BMW car-buyers.”

BRAND ExPERIENCE

The Mini is now being offered in Mini Cooper and Cooper S, Convertible and Countryman models.

The small car from the BMW Group has

shown the world over the past 10 years that there is space for a small, yet luxury, car. “We now want to repeat this feat in India,” von Sahr said.

The company has three dealerships for the Mini, in Delhi, Mumbai and now Hy-derabad. It plans to have eight dealerships by 2014.

The Mini Lounge at KUN Exclusive, Hy-derabad, seeks to bring to its buyers an experience similar to what the brand of-fers BMW-lovers across the world.

Philipp von Sahr said: “We expect to ac-celerate the Mini’s momentum in India, presenting it as a unique brand associ-ated with tradition and irresistible charm. With the Mini it is possible to build upon its heritage and yet have a youthful and contemporary image.”

FOREIgN TOURIST ARRIVAlS gREw 6% y-O-yIndia Tourism

Articles


gOVERNmENT TO DEVElOP 54 CITIES AS SOlAR CITIESRenewable Energy

The Minister of New and Renew-able Energy, Dr. Farooq Abdullah informed Rajya Sabha that in-Prin-

ciple, approval has been given to 54 cities for developing as Solar Cities.

The draft Master Plans have been pre-pared for 28 cities, out of which 8 Master Plans have been approved by his Ministry for implementation. So far, an amount of Rs.19.23 crore has been sanctioned for preparation of Master Plans, Solar City

Cells and Promotional Activities for 41 cities, out of which Rs. 4.22 crore has been released. Further, an amount of Rs.11.98 crore has been sanctioned for execution of renewable energy projects in 5 cit-ies, out of which Rs.3.87 crore has been released. The minister further informed that the criteria set by the Ministry for the identification of cities include a city population between 50,000 to 50 lakh (with relaxation given to special category States including North-East States), ini-

tiatives and regulatory measures already taken along with a high level of commit-ment in promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy.So far, the Master Plans for 8 cities namely Agra, Moradabad from Uttar Pradesh, Thane &Kalyan-Dombivli from Maharashtra, Indore from Madhya Pradesh, Kohima from Nagaland, Aizawl from Mizoramand Chandigarh have been finalized and the development of projects is in progress.

The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power Shri Jyotiradi-tya Scindia informed Lok Sabha

that as per extant policy, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) up to 100% is permit-ted in the power sector, under the auto-matic route, for:

• Generation and transmission of electric energy produced in hydro electric, coal/lignite based thermal, oil based thermal and gas based thermal power plants;

• Non-Conventional Energy Genera-tion and Distribution;

• Distribution of electric energy to households, industrial, commercial and other users; and

• Power Trading.

Accordingly, any foreign power company can enter power sector through FDI route. Further, several global power plant equipment manufacturing companies from Japan, Europe and USA have formed Joint Ventures with Indian Companies for establishing manufacturing base in India for the manufacture of supercritical boil-ers/turbine generators and technology transfer. The companies are Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Japan with L&T at Gujarat; Hitachi, Japan with BGR at Tamil Nadu; Toshiba, Japan with JSW at Tamil Nadu; Alstom, France with Bharat Forge at Gujarat; Ansaldo Caldie, Italy with Gammon at Tamil Nadu; Babcock &

Wilcox, USA with Thermax at Maharash-tra; Hitachi Power Europe GmbH (Ger-many) with BGR at Tamil Nadu. Doosan, Korea (100% FDI) has come to establish its manufacturing facilities on their own strength in Tamil Nadu.

Besides, CLP India Pvt. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of CLP Holdings has set up a 1320 MW thermal power project at Haryana. In addition, M/s. AES (Chhattis-garh Energy Pvt. Ltd.) proposes to setup 2x660 MW Thermal Power Project in Chhattisgarh and Odisha Power Genera-tion Corporation Ltd. (A Joint Venture of Govt. of Odisha & AES Corp. USA) also proposes to setup a new Thermal Power Project (2x 660 MW) in Odisha.

100% FDI PERmITTED IN POwER SECTORForeign Direct Investment Policy


Interview

‘Have faith in India’ is the pitch GE India President & Chief Executive John L Flannery plans to make at the Global Leadership Meeting of top 500 GE executives at Boca, Florida, in the first week of January. He tells Sudipto Dey that 2012 has been the most difficult year since his appointment as India head in 2009. He also explains why his faith in the country still remain intact. Edited ex-cerpts:

Q: The period since you took charge of India operations coincides with your company’s re-structuring and localisation of India operations. How different is GE India in 2012 from 2009?

A: Very different, though we changed the structure more than the strategy. We al-ways wanted to be a big infra player in India – in sectors such as energy, health-care, education, locomotives, etc. In 2009, we had a big technology presence in Ban-galore in the form of a global research platform. We were in the process of winding down our Genpact legacy. The commercial part was essentially the sales arm of global businesses. We were im-porting products from the US and there were sales teams on the ground here. We were more of a back-office capability in BPO, technology and sales offices. But we were not growing; in fact, shrinking a little. Then, we changed the structure to P&L, and the management wanted to ex-periment and see if a management team on ground would find more traction.

Q: Given GE’s pedigree, why do you think that happened?

A: It was a focus issue. India at that time would have been 1-2 per cent of global P&L (of each vertical). The shares of the US, Europe and China were much big-ger. When we put in place a (country-specific) P&L structure, India suddenly became a very important geography. We have done better in three years after the change than three years before it. The av-erage orders are 50 per cent higher. As part of organisation change, the single largest thing we want to do is localising the company. In all our businesses, we are out to build local capability in four basic aspects – product line, manufacturing and supply chain, the service team and the fi-nancing and investment capability.

Q: How do you look at 2013 from a top-line and bottom-line perspective?

A: We have good visibility of next year’s revenues. Our business model is: Order this year, revenue the next. We expect strong double-digit growth at the top line and even stronger at bottom line. Our profitability growth should be at double the revenue growth rate.

Q: How close are you to the targets set when you took charge in India?

Financially, we are very close, except per-haps the gas turbine business in 2012. The rest have grown sharply in last three years — some better than expected. We are financially in good shape. The capa-bility of the company locally is ahead of expectation. In India, 2012 has been the most challenging but also the most satis-fying year for me. It has been challenging on the government front, very challeng-ing for gas turbine industry, the rupee de-preciated a lot that affected our imports.

Q: How successful has been the localisa-tion drive in India?

A: With the change from a sales outpost to a fully-fledged business, now focus and intensity matters a lot. You start to seep in every aspect of the business, starting with the customer, whom you used to meet only twice a year, but see almost every day now. Understanding the cus-tomer, feeling what they are feeling, see-ing what competitors are doing, you end up having a richer sense of the market-place.

For instance, if you look at the health care business, we are designing lot of products specifically for India. This includes their price points, user interface, ability to op-erate in an environment of Tier-II and -III hospitals with irregular power supply. In the health care and energy business, we have made a lot of progress in localising the products. The wind turbine business

was essentially non-existent three years ago. Now, we have a manufacturing eco-system, 85 per cent of which is totally localised. That business has generated hundreds of million dollars of orders non-existent three years ago.

We have announced a multi-model One GE facility at Pune, set to get operational by 2013-end, with an investment of $200 million over several years. While we use the facility for India business, we would also use it to export products and com-ponents. We are looking at wind energy related products, valves, control systems, and some aircraft engine component part that we would export for global assem-bly. We would like to make locomotive engines there. Over five years, the facility should support 2,000 people.

Q: How would the manufacturing facility impact sourcing for India and the global businesses?

A: The fully-loaded cost of this factory in terms of per hour of operations would be competitive with any factory we have anywhere in the world, for instance, China or Vietnam. So, the Indian manu-facturing story is far more robust than what many believe. The manufacturing supply chain around the Pune facility is sourcing products like blades not only for India business but also helping them qualify as global suppliers. Interestingly, we have reduced the number of suppliers from 450 to 300, but tripled the amount of purchasing. We are raising the bar in terms of expectations from them and the financial stability and quality systems they need to have. So, it is a big investment of our time and money in building the sup-ply chain.

Q: What has been the impact of the lo-

hAVE FAITh IN INDIAInterview with John L Flannery, President & CEO, GE India

We are designing a lot of products specifically for India (...) In the health care and energy business, we have made a lot of progress in localising the products.

“


Interview

calisation drive on head count in India?

A: Over the last three years, we have doubled our sales team (around 2,000 now). So, we have more tier-II and -III dis-tribution across all businesses, and more service and support people. Three years ago, 40 per cent of people servicing the energy business were from India, the rest flew in from the US and Europe. Now around 80-85 per cent is local. The com-mercial side of business has seen massive increase in headcount in the last three years.

Q: You have started taking an equity posi-tion in many customer businesses?

A: Investment is the fourth pillar of our localisation drive. So, we have invested in many of our customers in the health care

business by lending or leasing money for equipment purchases, or investing in some customers to help them grow busi-ness. There is an explosion of companies getting into cardiac, oncology, dental and ophthalmology services. Most of these service providers are small and medium sized companies, and need equity help to expand and buy equipment. We have done half-a-dozen equity deals in the last couple of years. A typical deal size would be anywhere between $10 and 50 million, and in the aggregate we spent around $150-200 million. Now, we have a lot more focus on the customer with a local mindset.

Q: How has contribution of the various verticals to the top line changed between 2009 and now?

A: We don’t give out actual numbers, but as I said earlier, the order level is 50 per cent higher than the pre-2009 level. Most notable part about that is our largest business was selling gas turbine for 2010 and 2011 till the last 18 months when the industry hit a wall due to the lack of nat-ural gas in the country. So, in a pie chart for top line contribution in 2012 versus 2009, the share of health care and avia-tion would be up, energy slightly up (with renewable side of the business doing bet-ter than gas turbine business), oil & gas is small but growing, while the financial services side is down. We see some good opportunity in oil and gas going forward, as GE has made some acquisitions in that space globally.

ThE EmBASSy’S BUSINESS CENTRE IS OPENEDDAIly (NEw!!) FROm 11Am TO 1Pm

without appointment. For scheduling an appointment outside the opening hours,please contact the commercial wing under the contacts given below.

Marketing Officer: [email protected] or 01 505 8666 30Marketing Assistant: [email protected] or 01 505 8666 31


TRADEmARKS AND PATENT APPlICATIONS IN INDIAForeign investment into India - By Dezan Shira & Associates

One of the first issues that need to be taken care of when in-vesting in India is registration of

your trademark. Omission to do so can prove highly problematic later, yet it is a relatively low-cost and simple procedure.

India is not yet a signatory to the Madrid Agreement which standardizes interna-tional trademark and patent processes and claims between the member coun-tries. However, the country has indi-cated that it intends to join the Madrid System for the international registration of trademarks. The Union Cabinet gave its approval for India’s accession to the Madrid Protocol last year. The next steps will be to amend its Trademarks Act of 1999 and to introduce a bill in Parliament to start the necessary procedure for ac-cession. The Madrid Protocol simplifies the registration of trademarks interna-tionally, within its member countries. It allows people or companies who are na-tionals of, are domiciled in the territory of, or have a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment in the ter-ritory of a member country, to effective-ly extend their trademark registration within that country to other countries which are members of the protocol.

As India is not yet part of this protocol, it therefore becomes more pressing a need to register your mark in India to cover it through the Indian protocol. The process, which involves several filing procedures, takes about 12 months from commence-ment to issuance of the certificate, and must be carried out by licensed Indian trademark lawyers.

The Trademarks Act of 1999 provides protection to the owner of a trademark and imposes criminal liabilities for the infringement of the trademark owner’s rights. To enjoy protection, the owner of a trademark must apply for registra-tion with the Trademark Registrar of the Registry of Trademarks, India. The Trademarks Act is also applicable to the protection of service marks, certificate marks and collective marks. The Trade-mark Registry Office performs the statu-tory duties in connection with the regis-tration of trademarks and other activities related thereto.

Trademark Registry Offices are located in Ahmadabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi.

In India, a trademark is defined as a “mark” used or proposed to be used for or in connection with goods or services to distinguish such goods or services from other goods or services. A mark can be any brand, heading, label, ticket, name, sign letter, text, word, numeral, slo-gan, base line, shape, color or any combi-nation of any of these.

To register the mark as a trademark, the mark must meet the following require-ments:

• It must be distinctive;

• It must not be identical or similar to a mark already registered or any pending prior application for regis-tration;

• It must not be prohibited by law;

• It must be owned by the applicant.

TRADEmARK REgISTRATION

PROCEDURE

• TRADEMARK SEARCH

It is advisable to conduct a trademark

search for the relevant classes before

filing the application to register a trade-

mark in order to make sure that there is

no identical or similar trademark already

registered or for which an application for

registration has been submitted. Gov-

ernment fees for this are Rs.500 (about

US$15).

• FILING APPLICATION

The application to register the trademark

is filed with the Registrar of Trademarks.

• PUBLICATION IN THE TRADE-

MARK GAZETTE

If, after a preliminary examination, the

Trademark Registrar considers the mark

to be distinctive, it orders the publication

of the mark in the Trademark Gazette. If

no opposition to the mark is filed within

90 days from the date of publication, or

120 days if request for extension of time

is given by an opponent and opposition is

refused, mark proceeds for grant of reg-

istration certificate.

• TRADEMARK REGISTRATION

The trademark is registered and the

trademark registration certificate is is-

sued by the Registrar of Trademarks.

If there is no objection or opposition

raised, the process of registration of

trademark usually takes 12 to 18 months.

Doing Business in India

This article was extracted from Dezan Shira & Associates’s new guide, titled “An Introduction to Doing Business in India.” In this guide, they introduce the basics of setting up and running a company in India and some of the key issues investors should pay attention to. For further corporate assistance, consider contating Dezan Shira & Associates, a specialist in foreign direct investment practice, providing corporate es-tablishment, business advisory, tax advisory and compliance, accounting, payroll, due diligence and financial review services to multinationals investing in emerging Asia. For further details or to contact the firm, please email india@ dezshira.com, or visit www.dezshira.com


Agriculture is the dominant sector of the Indian economy, growing at an average rate of 2.8 per cent.

The sector provides the principal means of livelihood for over 58.4 per cent of In-dia’s population and contributes approxi-mately one-fifth of total gross domestic product (GDP).

India is blessed with favorable climatic conditions for the production of a wide variety of crops. The country boasts of having the largest share of cultivated land, amounting to nearly 52 per cent of its to-tal area. “India is the second-largest pro-ducer of food in the world and holds the potential of being the biggest on global food and agriculture canvas,” according to a Corporate Catalyst India (CCI) sur-vey. The Gross Capital Formation (GCF) in the agriculture and allied sectors in the country rose by 87 per cent to Rs 1,42,254 crore (US$ 25.80 billion) in the 2010-11 fiscal as compared to Rs 76,096 crore (US$ 13.80 billion) in 2004-05, as per annual report of the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation for the year 2011-12.

Further, the green revolution trans-formed India from a food deficient stage to a surplus food market. In a span of three decades, India has become a net exporter of food grains.The transfor-mations in the sector are due to factors such as new and improved technologies, easy credit facilities, interest of the or-ganised sector, rapid growth of contract farming, and investor friendly Govern-ment policies.

MARKET DYNAMICS

• Agriculture accounts for about 10 per cent of the total export earnings

and provides raw material to a large number of industries. “Exports of ag-ricultural products are expected to cross US$ 22 billion mark by 2014 and account for 5 per cent of the world’s agriculture exports,” accord-ing to the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA)

• Spices exports from India rose nine per cent in volume in 2011-12, at 5, 75,720 tonnes, as against 5, 25,750 tonnes in the previous fiscal. Total export earnings were increased by 43 per cent (in dollar terms) at Rs 9,783 crore (US$ 1.77 billion) com-pared to Rs 6,841 crore (US$ 1.24 billion) in 2010-11, according to the Spice Board

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a loan of US$ 67 million to Bihar for expanding agriculture value chain and to facilitate linkages for small farmers with food proces-sors, agri-business entrepreneurs and service providers in Mazaffarpur, Patna and Nalanda districts

MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS AND IN-VESTMENTS

• The total planned expenditure for the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation has increased by 18 per cent from Rs 17,123 crore (US$ 3.11 billion) in 2011-12 to Rs 20,208 crore (US$ 3.67 billion) in 2012-13. The outlay for Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) is being increased from Rs 7,860 crore (US$ 1.43 bil-lion) in 2011-12 to Rs 9,217 crore (US$ 1.67 billion) in 2012-13. Fur-ther, the amount of Rs 1,000 crore

(US$ 181.28 million) has been allo-cated for “Bringing Green Revolu-tion to Eastern India (BGREI)” initia-tive, compared to Rs 400 crore (US$ 72.51 million) in 2011-12

• The Chennai-based Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) keeping its thrust on ag-ricultural lending under priority sec-tor area has proposed to open 15 special agricultural credit branches in Karnataka and Maharashtra. The bank intends to lend about Rs 500 crores (US$ 90.69 million) through these branches

• The Tea Trade Association of Cochin has decided to set up a state-of-the-art Tea Trade centre at an estimated cost of Rs 100 crore (US$ 18.13 million). The centre will aim at con-solidation of various activities con-nected with tea trade under one roof with key focus on centralising the warehousing operations

• The Spices Board, in partnership with Confederation of Indian Indus-try (CII) and U.S. Food and Drug Ad-ministration (USFDA), has decided to set up a collaborative training centre for food safety and supply chain management to facilitate ca-pacity building and developing prod-uct specific testing procedures for spices and botanical ingredients

GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES

• The agriculture industry in India has been growing steadily with strong impetus from the Government through various initiatives. The Gov-ernment of India has allowed 100 per cent FDI in the agriculture ser-vices under automatic route cover-

Industry

AgRICUlTURE INDUSTRyIndian Industry Sector Close-Up


ing horticulture, floriculture, devel-opment of seeds, animal husbandry, pisciculture, aquaculture, cultivation of vegetables, mushroom and servic-es related to agro and allied sectors.

Some of the major initiatives taken by the Government are:

• The Government has taken various policy measures to increase availabil-ity of institutional credit to farmers.The annual agriculture target for the financial year 2012-13 is fixed at Rs 5,75,000 crore (US$ 104.29 billion) against the target of Rs 4,75,000 crore (US$ 86.13 billion) in 2011-12

• The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Ag-riculture, Department of Agricul-tural Research and Education for establishing the Indian Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology at Ranchi (Jharkhand) at a cost of Rs 287.50 crore (US$ 52.13 million) during the Twelfth Five Year Plan

• Indian Council of Agriculture Re-search is in the process of establish-ing a National Hybrid Rice Consor-tium to bring all stakeholders onto a common platform to share research knowledge and put it to use in order to build the hybrid rice ecosystem

• Spice Board of India plans to pro-mote exports of spices by establish-ing 25-30 spice parks in different parts of the country. This will help in achieving export of spices worth Rs 30,000 crore (US$ 5.44 billion) by 2020, as per Dr G K Vidyashankar, Deputy Director (Marketing), Spice Board

• Further, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased the bank loans to agriculture sector by 21.3 per cent in September 2012 as compared to 7 per cent in September 2011

ROAD AHEAD

The Indian agriculture sector is now moving towards another green revolu-tion. The transformations in the sector are being induced by factors like new-found interest of the organised sector, new and improved technologies, mecha-nised farming, rapid growth of contract farming, easy credit facilities, etc.

In the Twelfth Five Year Plan, the Govern-ment will focus on “mechanization of ag-riculture” to match the growing need for higher production of food grain and to tackle labour shortages in the farm sec-tor. The Government is committed to at least double the spending on research

and development (R&D) in the farm sec-tor by the end of the Twelfth Five Year Plan from the existing level of about one per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Further, the National Bank for Agricul-ture and Rural Development (NABARD) will provide a credit flow of Rs 400 crore (US$ 72.51 million) to Punjab’s dairy sec-tor during the next three years to boost milk production and promote dairy farm-ing.

Trade Shows & Events


INDIA SEmICONDUCTORASSOCIATIONVISION SUmmITProduct Innovation, global Collaboration and Policy Agreement.



INDIA’S LARGEST INTERNATIONAL ENGINEERING SOURCING SHOW

Indian Engineering Sourcing Show (IESS) is India’s largest display of Engineering Products and Services and focuses on build-ing global partnerships for India. IESS is recognized as the only sourcing event in India – a showcase of the latest technology, and a preferred meeting place for buyers and sellers from all over the world. International companies keen to enter Indian markets find IESS as an ideal event for product launches, India distributor / partner search etc.


INTERESTED IN VISITINg A TRADE ShOw IN INDIA?In case your company is interested in visiting a tradeshow/B2B event in India, be it one listed here or

another one that came to your attention, get in contact with us via [email protected] to get more information about possible assistance/subsidies.


Overseas Indians

Expanding thE Economic EngagEmEntof thE indian diaspora with india

FOR DETAIlS CONTACT:MS. SUJATA SUDARSHAN, CEO, OIFC, AND DIRECTOR – CII

249-F, SECTOR 18, UDYOG VIHAR, PHASE IV, GURGAON —122015, HARYANA, INDIATEL: +91-124-4014055/6 | FAx: +91-124-4309446 WEBSITE: WWW.OIFC.IN

OVERSEAS INDIAN FACIlITATION CENTRE ONlINE-SURVEyThe Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre (OIFC), the Diaspora economic engagement arm of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) is conducting a study on Indian Dias-

pora in Africa, Europe and Southeast Asia to understand the expectations and concerns of overseas Indians in their engagement with India. The first phase of this survey was con-ducted in 2011-12 with target respondents located in Singapore, the UAE and the USA.we invite the Indian Diaspora in Austria to participate in this online Survey

under http://www.indianembassy.at/?p=3746


Tripura is a tiny state in the North-East of the country. It has exten-sive international border with

Bangladesh and, in fact, 85% of its perim-eter is international border with rest be-ing common boundary with Assam and Mizoram to the east. There is a common belief that the name of the state has origi-nated from the presiding deity ‘TRIPURA SUNDARI’. Another theory is that the name of the state was originally ‘TUIPRA’ – meaning a land adjoining water. Once upon a time Tripura extended upto the Bay of Bengal when its ruler held from Garo Hill to Arakan.

Tripura, quite off the beaten track, is a storehouse of tribal crafts and culture as well as music and dancing. In the centre of this patch of intense greenery is the capital, Agartala, where gracious build-ings were once the palaces of Tripura’s royal family. The former princely state of Tripura was ruled by Maharajas of Man-ikya dynasty.

Tripura has rich cultural heritage of 19 different tribal communities, Bengali and Manipuri communities. Each community has its own dance forms which are fa-mous in the country. The main folk danc-es are Hozagiri dance of Reang commu-nity, Garia , Jhum, Maimita, Masak Sumani and Lebang boomani dances of Tripuri community, Bizu dance of Chakma com-munity, Cheraw and Welcome dances of Lusai community, Hai-Hak dance of Mal-sum community, Wangala dance of Garo Community, Sangraiaka, Chimithang, Padisha and Abhangma dances of Mog community, Garia dances of Kalai and Jamatia communities, Gajan, Dhamail, Sari and Rabindra dances of Bengali commu-nity and Basanta Rash and Pung chalam dances of Manipuri community. Each community has its own traditional musi-cal instruments. The important musical instruments are’ Khamb( Drum)’, Bam-boo flute, ‘Lebang,’, ‘Sarinda’, ‘Do- Tara’, and ‘Khengrong’, etc.

FOR mORE INFORmATION ON INDIA TOURISm:

India Tourism FrankfurtBaseler Str. 48 / D-60329 Frankfurt

Tel: +49 (69) 242949-0Fax: +49 (69) [email protected]

Tourism

TRIPURAIndian State Profile


INCREDIBlE INDIA! PAVIllION AT ThE ThE FERIEN mESSE wIENFind out more under http://www.ferien-messe.at/

OThER EVENTSMore Information below

INDIAN mOVIE EVENINg: Ein unschlagbares Team (Chak De! India)Friday, January 18th, 18:00 | Indian Embassy Business Centre (1st Floor, Kärntner Ring 2, 1010 Vienna)

Genre: Drama / Family / Sport

Directed by: Shimit Amin

Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Vidya Malvade and Tanya Abrol

Released: 2007

Duration: 152 Minutes

Language: Hindi

Subtitles: gERmANSynopsis: Kabir Khan lives a middle-class lifestyle along with his widowed mom in Delhi, India, and is the Captain of the Indian men’s hockey team. He fails to score at the last tournament resulting in Pakistan winning the World Cup amidst allegations that he was more inclined to-ward his opponents due to his religion. Kabir and his mom move away and vir-tually disappear for seven years. There-after Kabir surfaces to be a Coach for the women’s hockey team, consisting of

16 players from all over India, some of who do not communicate well. Kabir’s disciplinarian style ends up offending the players, lead by the militant Bindia Naik, who decide not to participate unless he resigns amidst allegations that he is having an affair with soon to-be married Vidya Sharma, who he appoints as the new Captain. Things change after a brawl with eve-teasers at the local McDonald’s, the girls accept Kabir, however, the Chair of the Indian Women Hockey Associa-tion, Tripathi, decides to pull out of the World Cup but decides to give them a shot after Kabir challenges the men’s team. The women lose by a goal but their performance compels the Association to revise their decision and dispatch them to Melbourne, Australia. In the very first match against six-time winning team of Australia, the Indian team lose 7-0 to, but manage to struggle back to the semi-fi-nals after defeating Great Britain, Argen-tina, and Korea. On the eve of the final match Kabir will meet secretly with two rival players, Preety Sabharwal (who is engaged to be married to Cricket Team Captain, Abhimanyu Singh), and Komal Chautala, and during this meeting he will tell them that two of his hockey players will be playing for the Australians. Watch what impact this has on both Preety and Komal.

TAlK-SERIES ‘ZU gAST BEIElISABETh Al-hImRANI’Univ.-Prof. Doz.Dr Elke Mader, Institut für Kultur und Sozialanthropologie, Wien

When: January 17th, 19:00Natya Mandir - Börseplatz 3/1D, 1010 Viennawww.austro-indian.at

Due to limited capacity, seats will be given on a first come, first served basis. Therefore, you are highly encouraged to reserve your seats online at www.indi-anembassy.at or via phone at +43 1 505 866633 (Ms. Lily John).

India in Austria

Documents

India Newsletter 01.2013