Trade Connect August, 2015 NCTI

Trade Connect August, 2015 NCTI


NCTI’s Services

Trade Data Analysis: Focus Market: Focus

Product – Export potential studies

Support to Department of Commerce in

drawing/ evaluating wish list/ offer list under

various PTAs/ FTAs

Creation of Databases

Creation of Website content and Maintenance

Website Content Management

Facilitating Market and Commodity Surveys

Setting up of trade information centers

Trade fair/ exhibition

support

Establishing linkages with

commercial wings of Indian

Missions Abroad

Organising training in the

field of trade and commerce

Informatics

Keeping track of the market

conditions within the country

and abroad

Organising Seminars and

Conferences


Table of Contents

I. Make in India Initiative

1. Foxconn to Make in India with $20-bn investment

2. India to be parallel mfg hub to China

3. Merc to assemble CLA at Pune, first outside Europe

4. Carl’s Jr Indian Franchisee plans to raise Rs125 crore

5. Huawei becomes 1st Chinese telecom co to get security nod to make

in India

6. Russia Wants to Make India Global Hub for Submarine Upgrade,

Repairs

7. Defence, Space, Atomic Energy to Chip In for Made–in-India Drive

8. Hyundai plans to invest Rs.4.5k cr for new plant

9. Driven by the Make in India Pitch, Japan’s Igarashi to Re- enter

India

10. Karbonn-Water World JV to Open Handset Assembly Plant in India

11. FDI in Equity Soars 48% after Make in India Launch

12. Adidas applies to open own stores in India

13. TRADE GROWING AT 12% A YEAR: Govt Keen to Bring Shipping

Containers Under Make in India

II. Indian Companies Make a Mark

1. 8-10% growth within reach : Jaitley

2. MUMBAI SEA LINK PROJECT

3. Airtel World’s Third Largest Telecom Co

4. INFY TO INVEST $10 MN IN IRISH START-UP FIRMS


5. V-Mart Plans Foray into online Retail

6. India and Kyrgyzstan to boost defence cooperation

7. Deal of the week: Saavn Gets $100 million

8. Soft Machines to Invest $100 m in India R&D Unit

9. ADB retains India’s growth outlook

10. 10 Indian cos in Forbes Asia Fabulous 50 list

11. 7 Indian cos among world’s 500 largest firms: Fortune

12. India only bright spot in global steel industry this year

13. Amul trademark to get global shield

14. Cheaper dairy items from Oz soon

15. Angels Put Rs.1.9 cr in Boxmyspace

16. Alibaba to Put $1b in the Cloud

III. Policy

1. India drafting drug quality norms to match US FDA standards

2. Govt mulls 100% FDI in insurance broking

3. Govt, RCI to fast-track foreign inflows into AIFs

4. CCI Revises combinations Rules for Easier M&A Nods

5. Govt may use duty hike to nude factory output

6. Mahila bank may merge with SBI

7. New board to review public sector banks; recommend mergers

8. PMO Takes Charge to Revive Investment Cycle

9. Govt to soon announce interest subvention scheme for exporters

10. Govt plans composite foreign investment cap

IV. Tourism

1. Home Ministry Wants All Visas to Go Online

2. Globetrotting Modi, e-visas boost tourism


V. BRIC nations

1. BRICS set to widen canvas, plans to create parliamentary assembly

2. BRICS nations ink agreement to create $100bn forex pool

3. BRICS, AIIB Banks to Break IMF, WB Monopoly: China Think Tank

4. BRICS Countries May Ink Economic Pact in Five Years

VI. Economic Review

1. Coming Decade Crucial for India: Rangarajan

2. Economy in recovery phase, needs deeper reforms: Rajan

3. IIP growth slows to 2.7% in May

VII. Home Grown Company Makes it Big

1. Paytm unveils P2P fund transfers

2. PayPal Acquires Xoom for $890 m

3. Paytm’s CEO Sharma Invests in GOQii Tech


Welcome Note .

Dear Readers,

On behalf of the National Centre for Trade Information (NCTI), management and staff, I would

like to take this opportunity to extend a very warm welcome to Shri Ajay Kumar Bhalla in his

new role of heading ITPO as CMD. He is also Additional Secretary,

Department of Commerce.

Shri Bhalla has a very vast experience in various government departments

including health and family welfare, external affairs, ministry of steel and

mines, Department of shipping and Ministry of Coal.

Ajay Kumar Bhalla

I am sure that our skills and his experience will lead NCTI and its team to newer heights.

With Warm regards

Jayanta Das Executive Director, NCTI


From ED’s Desk

Jayanta Das

Dear Readers,

National Centre for Trade information (NCTI), is a non-profit joint venture of India Trade

Promotion Organization (ITPO) and National Informatics Centre (NIC) under the aegis of

Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Govt. of India.

I am very happy to highlight that besides providing trade data analysis for identifying potential

products and markets at the specific tariff line level, NCTI provides a wide range of services such

as live trade enquiries, focus market/focus product market studies, creation of websites, market

surveys, database creation, exhibition support and setting up of information centres,

development of mobile apps and other IT enabled services, etc. for the benefit of trading

community.

While re-launching their quarterly journal, trade Connect in electronic format; I wish all the best

to NCTI in their future endeavours.

With warm regards

Jayanta Das Executive Director, NCTI


GM, NCTI

Varun Khanna .

The way we do small things determines the way that we do everything. If we execute our minor task well,

we will also excel at our larger efforts. Mastery then becomes our way of being.

In the present era of intense global competition, knowledge plays a vital role in decision making. In order

to enhance the capability of the trading community in the world markets, reliable, updated and timely

information is required regularly. This calls for a systematic process of collection, collation, analysis and

efficient dissemination of trade information.

National Centre for Trade Information (NCTI), a joint venture of India Trade Promotion Organization

(ITPO) and National Informatics Centre (NIC) under the aegis of Ministry of Commerce and Industry

was set up with the purpose of creating an institutional mechanism for collection, dissemination of trade

data and improving information services to the trading community. Besides using technology for

collection, collation and dissemination of trade information, the main objective of NCTI relates to the

assimilation of databases, conducting market surveys, sector specific and market specific studies,

establishing linkages in India and abroad, organizing seminars and workshops and training programs in

the areas of trade, commerce & informatics and advise the Government in strategic trade promotion. In

short, NCTI is envisaged to perform the role of one-stop-shop for trade information.

It is my privilege to jointly relaunch first E-journal “Trade Connect“ by NCTI. We are making consistent

efforts to provide support to Indian exporters to extent possible. This e-journal will be circulated to Indian

mission abroad, our members and would be hosted on our website.

Moving on with the spirit, I wish good luck to NCTI’s members and our associates for moving confidently

towards doubling India Exports of goods & services to US$ 900 Billion by 2020.

Varun Khanna General Manager, NCTI


Foxconn Technology, the maker of iPhone and iPad among others, is likely to invest about $ Billion (Rs 1.3 lakh crore) in India, sources said on Wednesday. There are also speculations that the Taiwanese electronic component manufacturer will make iPhone in India, a move that will lower the product’s price in the country, and help take on Samsung and local players such as Micromax.

Faxconn also makes components for companies, among them Sony, Xiaomi and Acer.

The move, in the line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s signature Make in India campaign, is also likely to help India take on China, especially in the area of manufacturing of technological products, and comes at a time when the neighbour is grappling with a slowdown.

Foxconn founder and Chairman Terry Gou is expected to meet communications minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday. Immediately after landing in India on Wednesday, Gou met executives of Indian start-ups to evaluate options of possible investments, according to sources.

A 40-member delegation from Foxconn will also visit various ministries and states’ government officials to speed up and coordinate the setting up various projects, and to sign agreements.

On Thursday, three teams from Foxconn are likely to visit Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Telengana to finalise land buy for the technology park. A core team has already met Ajay Kumar, joint secretary, department of IT. “A team from Foxconn has met the department of IT officials, including me. It is too premature to discuss what to do in India, they had some queries about Digital India,” said Kumar.

According to company sources, the investment was set to be announced during the Digital India week launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 1, but was put off since Gou could not attend the event.

The company plans to primarily invest in setting up a technology park (estimated to cost about $5billion), according to sources. The other investments include that in Indian and foreign mobile phone companies for manufacturing mobile display screens, in an Indian TV makes for making thin film transistor (TFT) for high-definition TVs. It is also in talks with Adani Group and Snapdeal and Flipkart for hawking products manufactured in India along with its partners.

It will be Foxconn’s second innings in India, which trades under the name of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd after its venture with Nokia earlier.

Source: 9th July, 2015; Hindustan Times

India will emerge as a parallel production hub to China for global markets in electronics manufacturing as the government shifts attention to boost the making of

sophisticated, high –technology products in the country, says telecom and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. “There is a surge towards India as a manufacturing


destination, and this will only grow,” Prasad tells TOI in an interview.

Excerpts:

China has emerged as a major manufacturing location for electronics and is seen as a factory for the world. Do you think that India has the capacity to match up to our neighbour?

I want the production of electronics to be at the center-stage of India’s manufacturing ecosystem. We want India to be a global manufacturing hub for electronics, running parallel to china. We are confident of achieving this task, and it should happen very soon.

Have the incentives offered by the government yielded any results?

We are seeing a rush as far as new investments are concerned. Companies are attracted by India’s huge domestic consuming market as well as a pro-active government, which believes in transparent decision-making. We have received 72 proposals to the tune of Rs 23000 crore , of which 42 proposals worth Rs 12000 crore have already been cleared. Companies that are investing include Korea’s Samsung, Germany’s Bosch, Japan’s Nidec and Panasonic. These are in segments such as electronic components, telecom network equipment, LED, consumer electronics, automotive, solar panels and strategic electronics. We have even brought in medical electronics within the ambit of this sector as 100% FDI is allowed here.

Source: 3rd July, 2015; Times of India

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clarion call for manufacturers to ‘Make in India’ is set to get another boost later this year, when German luxury car maker Mercedes Benz will begin assembling its entry-level sedan CLA class at its factory in Pune in India.

Outside of Europe (Kecskemet in Hungary), India will be the first market where the car would be assembles globally, ahead of much bigger markets, including china, Japan, Brazil, Russia or South Korea. It will also bring down the price of the car by Rs2-2.5 lakh.

Last month, Mercedes began local assembly of its entry-level crossover GLA, again

outside of Europe for the first time, and expanded its capacity in Pune to 20000 units per annum. Prices of the crossover, which was launched last October, were reduced by Rs2lakh.

“We have nine volume models for the Indian market, of which six are produced in India, We will be adding the CLA to our local product portfolio this year, making it the seventh model to be produced in the country,” said Eberhard Kern, MD and CEO, Mercedes Benz India. “We have witnessed an increasing demand for the GLA SUV, which prompted us to prepone its local production in India.”



New Delhi: CybizCorp, exclusive India

franchise partner of Californian burger chain

Carl’s Jr, Plans to raise about $20 million, or

about Rs125 crore, in tranches as it looks to

scale up in the high –potential eating-out

market in the country.

This will be over and above $2 million, or

about Rs12.5 crore, that Cybizcorp has

already raised from private equity investors

such as Delhi-based Now Foods, which also

has equity in franchisees of Boombox Café

and Café OTB, and Elara Capital.

The country’s first Carl’s Jr store- which will

sell burgers priced higher than McDonald’s –

will come up in New Delhi in the next four-

five weeks. “We will occupy the space

between a Wendy’s and a Johnny Rockets

and will Keep a natural demographic

distance between stores,” Cybizcorp

chairman and founder Sam Chopra said.

Unlike McDonald’s and KFC, which operate

hundreds of stores selling value meals, Carl’s

Jr is positioning itself between a fine dine and

quick service restaurant and will set up

three-five stores this calendar year. It has set

a target of scaling up to 100 stores over a

period of five-seven years.

Cybizcorp is a consulting, incubation and

franchising firm with interests across real

estate and food & beverage, and has

exclusive franchisee tie-ups with restobars

like fork you, Café OTB, Bombox Café,

Warehouse Café and Flying Saucer Café.

Carls Jr is being set up by Cybiz Brightstar

Restaurants, a subsidiary of Cybizcorp.

Sahil Baweja, co-founder of NOW Capital

and managing partner and director on the

board of Cybiz Brightstar Restaurants, said:

“We look for investments in companies at an

early stage level and those who have the

potential to scale up rapidly.”

California-Based CKE Restaurants Holdings

owns and licenses Carl’s Jr and Hardee’s

quick-service restaurants with close to 4,000

stores globally.

Source: 6th July, 2015; Economic Times

New Delhi: Opening up the telecom sector to

Chinese investment, the home ministry has

given security clearance to a long –pending

proposal of Chinese firm Huawei

Telecommunications to set up an

electronics/ telecom hardware

manufacturing unit in Sriperumbudur,

Tamil Nadu.

The Rs.25 crore FDI proposal, awaiting MHA

clearance since December 13, 2013, was given

the go-ahead with certain conditions. The

ministry asked the department of industrial

policy and promotion (DIPP) and

department of telecom to consider reserving

critical positions, such as officer in charge of

technical operations and chief security officer

for Indians as a security Measure.

The security go-ahead for Huawei’s

proposed unit for electronics/telecom

hardware and support services, including


trading and logistics activities, in

Sriperumbudur marks a major policy shift

with regard to Chinese investment in

telecom.

“Allowing Chinese firms to make telecom

hardware in India will boost FDI inflows

from the country. This will lead to stronger

economic ties with China which eventually

may extend to cooperation in even security

matters,” said an MHA official.

Source: 15th July, 2015; Times of India

In talks to select Indian JV partner, contracts

worth several thousand crore in offing

ST Petersburg: Russia says that it wants to

make India a global hub for the upgrade,

maintenance and repair of conventional

submarines and its leading shipyard is in final

talks to select an Indian joint venture partner

for a mega project to set up facilities here.

With contracts worth several thousand crores

in the offing for the upgrade of Russian origin

diesel electric submarines-several from the

Indian Navy itself –the joint venture has the

potential of making the selected Indian

shipyard a serious player in the international

market.

Officials from the state-run Zvyozdochka

shipyard told ET that a memorandum of

understanding could be signed within a month

as it is in final talks with an Indian partner for

the project. Russian engineers have already

visited the Indian yard and advised it on

changes to be made as well as investment

needed to execute the project.

Explaining the project, Shustikov says that the

Russian side is looking at a joint venture model

with partners in India who can execute work

orders from the region. India alone is looking

at the imminent second life extension of at least

four Kilo class submarines. This would give the

fleet almost 15 more years of service life.

“Our estimate is that we will be loaded with

work for at least 15-20 years,” Shustikov says.

Other nations that operate Kilos in the region

include Iran with three submarines of the same

class and Nigeria with six. In addition, Russia

has recently sold six upgraded Kilo class

submarines to Vietnam that will require

overhauling and repairs in the coming years

and is pursuing several other orders in the

region.

“India could become a second center in the

word for Kilo class upgrade. For certain

Nations it is easier to send the submarine for

repair to India than to any other place. It is also

GREEN SIGNALS

Security agencies had been stonewalling FDI proposals from Chinese telecom firms, citing

espionage risks and alleged PLA links in their ownership

MHA recently remodelled norms to ease country-specific barriers

New norms welcome investment from countries of concern, particularly China, while proposing

a mandatory national security clause in the contract as well as post-investment monitoring


a good chance for India to master the repair

and upgrade of this class of vessel,” Andrey

Baranov, deputy CEO Rubin design bureau

that has designed the Kilo class, told ET.

This reporter was in ST Petersburg on the

invitation of United Shipbuilding Corporation.

Source: 9th July, 2015; Economics Times

Govt may make it mandatory for strategic

sector to source chips from local

manufactures

New Delhi: India is considering a proposal to

make it mandatory for the strategic sectors of

Defence , Space and Atomic Energy to use

‘made in India’ chips in an initiative that will

meet not only national security needs but also

kick start the domestic semi-conductor

manufacturing business that has been

struggling to take off.

Sources said that preliminarily talks on the

matter have already taken place and a

meeting that included top government

representatives from the strategic

departments of space, atomic energy,

information technology and defence research

took place at the Niti Aayog recently.

At the heart of the issue is the setting up of

two semi-conductor fabrication facilities in

India that were cleared by the UPA

government in 2013 but have still not taken

off given a lock of direction and government

support for the very high investment units.

Officials say that the government is aware

that ‘Made in India’ chips and electronics are

necessary in national interest, given the

dependence currently India has on imported

products that can be rigged and bugged.

Officials have also identified cyber security at

a key area where India made chips can be

encouraged, given that it falls within the

purview of the government. By most

estimates, the strategic electronics industry in

India is worth over Rs.12000 crore annually

and growing.

Source: 14th July, 2015; Economics Times

New Delhi: Nearly two decades after setting

foot in India, Korean car major Hyundai has

decided to pump in fresh investment of over

Rs.4500 crore for a new factory to boost its

production capacity to over a million vehicles.

Hyundai has been facing a capacity crunch at

its existing facility near Chennai, but is now

“close” to finalizing a new premises which

will house the new factory. States lobbying

with the Korean company include Gujarat,

Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh.

“We are closely watching … India is a future

market for the brand and we will expand

here,”company MD and CEOBS Seo told TOI.

“To Begin with , we may start with a capacity

of 3-4 lakh units annually, but this will be

scalable.”

Rs.12,000 cr size of strategic electronics

industry in India


Hyundai will become the second car

company in India to have over one million

production capacity after Maruti Suzuki.

Indian operations contributed 14.5% to

Hyundai’s global sales last year and Seo said

this is set to grow as the company launches

new models and expands its retail presence.


Keiichi lgarashi to buy Blackstone stake in IMIL jointly with Tata Cap’s PE arm and MAPE

Advisory

Mumbai: In August-September last year,

Prime minister Narendra Modi concluded an

important visit to Japan. He met Japanese

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, top officials of

the Japanese businessmen were interested

and impressed though few concrete

commitments were made.

About 90% of employees at IMIL’s Chennai

factories are women and the firm is a big

exporter. Igarashi said the Modi-Abe

friendship was an important factor and that

he did not need any other reasons.

In a few days from now, Igarashi will

announce the purchase of Blackstone’s stake

in IMIL. The private equity arm of Tata

Capital will invest about $33 million to

become a partner . Investment banking firm

MAPE advisory Group will invest $9.4

million for a small stake.

IMIL shares ended 0.61% up at Rs.659.25

valuing the firm at about Rs.2000 crore.

IMIL makes DC motors and motor sub

assemblies for global auto industry,

according to a presentation seen by ET. It

claims a 35% global market share in

electronic throttle control motors used

widely in the auto industry. Its revenue grew

10.3% to Rs.675.8 crore in the financial year

2014-2015 and operating margin expanded to

18.4% from 17.6% in the previous year. Profit

margin rose to 9.4% from 8.2% in March 14.


New Delhi: Sudhir Hasija and Pardeep jain,

promoters of Karbonn Mobiles, have formed

a joint venture with Water world Technology

Co Ltd, among China’s leading contract

manufacturers, to set up a handset assembly

plant in Greater Noida with an initial

investment of Rs.50 crore.

The joint venture- Million Club

Manufacturing (MCM) –will make feature

phones and smarthones and comes weeks

after Foxconn Technology Group’s contract

manufacturing unit started in India.

Foxconn’s unit located in Sri City area of

Andhra Pradesh started making phones for

China’s Xiaomi and US brand Infocus earlier

this month.

As a 50% partner in the venture, Water World

Technology will manage the unit. Hasija and


Jain individually own 25% each. Jain is the

managing director of jain Group, the equal

partner backing Karbonn Mobiles.

The brownfield plant, inaugurated on

Wednesday, will initially make 1.5 million

feature phones and smartphones a month for

Karbonn. The capacity will be scaled up to 3

million units a month with an additional

investment of Rs.100 crore within the next

three months.

Phones produced at the unit may also be

exported, Hasija said.

The Unit is spread across 150000 sq feet and

employs close to 2000 technicians. MCM’s

assembly unit adds to the growing list of

contract manufacturing plants that have come

up in the country within the span of a quarter,

enthused by the government’s ‘Make in India’

initiative and duty differential, which have

made assembling and making phones in India

cheaper than importing them.


WORDS OF HOPE FDI inflows under the

approval route grew 87% to $2.22 billion last

fiscal

New Delhi: Foreign direct investment (FDI)

into equity jumped 48% after the launch of

the ‘Make in India’ programme, the

commerce and industry ministry said on

Tuesday.

The ‘Make in India’ initiative, which seeks to

make the country a global manufacturing

hub, was launched on September 25 last year.

Between October 2014 and April 2015, equity

FDI rose 48% according to the ministry. Total

FDI includes fresh equity inflows and

reinvested earnings of foreign investors.

The ministry also said that in 2014-2015,

investment by foreign institutional investors

(FIIs) rose 7175 TO $40.92 billion. “These

indicators showcases remarkable pace of

approval being accorded by the government

and confidence of investors in the resurgent

India,” the ministry said.

FDI inflows under the approval route grew

87% to $2.22 billion in the last fiscal.

“The increased inflows of FDI in India,

especially in a climate of contracting

worldwide investments, indicate the faith

that overseas investors have imposed in the

country’s economy and the reforms initiated

by the government towards ease of doing

business,” the ministry added.

The ‘Make in India’ initiative and its outreach

to all investors have made a positive

investment climate for India, it said.


NEW DELHI: Sportswear and equipment

major Adidas is planning to set up a fully-

owned unit in the country, nearly three

years after India allowed 100% FDI in

single- brand retail.


The Germany head- quartered maker of

sports goods, shoes, apparels and

accessories, has filed an application with

the Department of Industrial Policy and

Promotion (DIPP) on July 13, the

department’s website showed.

Adidas, which competes with the likes of

Nike and Puma, already has stores in India

through franchisees. If the company’s

application in approved, it can open its

fully- owned flagship stores in the country,

giving it more control over its business.

The company, which clocked global sales

of 14 billion euros in 2014, confirmed that it

was planning to enter India through a

100% wholly- owned unit. The company,

which bought Reebok for $3.8 billion in a

global deal in 2005, however, plans to set

up its wholly-owned stores in

India only for the Adidas brand. With

estimated revenues of more than Rs. 700

crore, Adidas is currently the leader in

India’s Rs. 5000-crore sportswear market,

followed by Puma and Nike.


New Delhi: India wants to manufacture

shipping containers instead of rely on imports as

part of a plan aimed at promoting the ‘Make in

India’ campaign. Officials said the government

will soon appoint a consultant to conduct a study

into the capacity available within the country to

take up container manufacturing. It will also

approach foreign companies if technological

expertise is required in building specialized

containers.

Shipping lines in India order containers of twenty

feet equivalent unit (TEUs) from China, Korea

and various European countries. Many also buy

second hand containers from the market. Since

there are only a handful of container shipping

lines in the country, a container manufacturing

facility has to be able to cater to international

market to sustain itself.

Container trade in India is growing at over 12% a

year. The country’s largest container facility at

the Jawaharlal Nehru Port has a capacity of 4

million TEUs. JNPT handles 56% of the total

containers, followed by the Chennai port which

handles 25% of such cargo.

In 2015-15, container traffic in India’s 12 major

ports grew 6.8% over that in the previous year.

“There are many companies in the public sector

which have idle capacity and can get into these

new areas of manufacturing for their own and

country’s benefit,” said a senior government

official.

Moving trade to containers is considered to have

various advantages such as safety of cargo

against damage and theft. It provides better

space utilisation of the ship, leading to lowering

of cost. It also gives way to carrying out multi-

modal transportation since a containers can be

moved as easily from ship to truck or rail.


IN SEPT 2012, INDIA

ALLOWED 100% FDI IN SINGLE-BRAND RETAIL.

FIRMS SUCH AS IKEA, HENNES AND OTHERS

HAVE APPLIED TO ENTER INDIA

Mumbai : Finance minister Arun Jaitley has said that a growth rate of 8% was possible and a future target of 8-10% “eminently achievable”. The minister also said that monsoon was expected to be better than last year and government investment was set to pick up with the twin deficits (fiscal and current account) and inflation under control.

The finance minister indicated that India would be a Key driver of global growth in coming years. “There are countries that have driven global growth. The US has driven it , China for more than 30 years had 9% average growth. Today, they believe the new chinese normal is 7% By comparison, India’s projected growth rate of 8% gives us reason to smile,” said Jaitley, speaking at nabard’s Seminar on Mitigating Agrarian Distress’ in Mumbai on Sunday.

Stating that there was no trade-off between growth and distribution of resources for the underprivileged, Jaitley said, “I have not the least doubt that the economy will move up and resources will be available. We are clear that a large part of additional investment

will have to go into agriculture and to mitigating this rural distress and indebtedness of the farmer.”

According to Jaitley, another silver lining in the economy was the surge in indirect tax collections. “Even without taking into account the additional revenue measures, indirect tax collections were up 14.5% to last year. If you take the additional revenue measures, they were up 37% .The silver lining in that was the revenue situation may be more comfortable with all these measures compared to last year. With some more significant changes like GST in the pipeline, with increased

infrastructure spending and emphasis on smart cites… all these initiatives will help India initiatives will help India get on top of Its growth target of 8% for this year and get on to the 8-10% target which is eminently achievable.”

The finance minister further said India is better placed than most other economies. On the surface, with various parameters and how the global economy is doing, when we compare ourselves, we may have some opportunity to cheer, because even in challenging times, we are being looked upon as a brighter spot.”


REASON TO SMILE

Today, they believe the new Chinese

normal is 7%. By comparison, India’s

projected growth rate of 8% gives us

reason to smile.

We had a lesson from Greece to

learn… countries must learn to spend

within their means. If they did not,

you have a crisis confronting you.

Indirect tax collections were up 14.5%

to last year. If you take the additional

revenue measures, they were up 37%.

Arun Jaitley / Finance Minister

Mumbai: A cash strapped Maharashtra

government which was struggling to

seek investment to execute the 11000

crore 22 Km Mumbai Trans-harbour Sea

Link from Mumbai to Navi Mumbai has

suddenly received a shot in the arm as it

has now four countries vying to finance

and build the project. While Maharashtra

had initially approached Japan

International Co-operation Agency

(JICA), the chinese government also

evinced interest in financing the project

when Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis

visited China in May. State government

officials have now told ET that besides

Japan and China, UK and Germany are

also in touch with the Fadnavis

government expressing their willingness

to finance the project.

However, all the countries have put forth

certain conditions. The UK for instance

has put forth a condition that 20% of the

project work should be given to firms in

the UK, 30% could go to Indian firms and

the rest 50% could be given to other firms

abroad.

Germany on the other hand wants 50% of

the project work to go to firms in its

country, 30% to Indian firms and the rest

to other firms abroad. Interestingly

China has not forth any condition.

However, a top state government official

said the Chinese are expecting that the

entire project work involving the sub

contacts should be given to firms from

China alone.

UPS Madan, Mumbai Metropolitan

Region Development Authority

(MMRDA) Commissioner who is

executing the project confirmed that four

countries have shown interest in the

project but said that no decision has been

taken on who would be given the project.


Mittal sees mobile internet to bring next phase of growth

Kotkata: Bharti Airtel has become the world’s third largest mobile carrier by subscribers, behind China Mobile and UK’s Vodafone Group, Latest data from

Japan, China, Germany and UK have

expressed their interest to finance the project

research firm Ovum’s World Cellular Information Service (WCIS) showed.

Bharti Airtel, with more than 303 million mobile subscribers across 20 countries in south Asia and Africa, has “moved up one position in the global rankings”, WCIS said. It now leads China Unicom and Mexican carrier America Movil, which are at fourth and fifth spots, respectively.

The company had a modest start in 1995 as a single –circle operator in New Delhi. Two decades since, it is the No.1 in India, the world’s second largest mobile telecom market, and offers services across the second -,third – and fourth-generation platforms. Its mobile networks carried more than 1.23 trillion minutes of calls and over 333 petabytes of data in the fiscal year ended on March 31, 2015 .

Bharti Airtel pioneered a low –cost business model based on outsourcing,

which allowed it to expand services rapidly.

He said the next phase of the company’s growth would be led by mobile internet.

The company, however; faces threat in India from Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecom arm of Reliance Industries.

Africa, where Bharti Airtel entered in 2010, is a drag on the company as its operations in the continent continue to bleed. In the quarter through March 2015,net losses there widened to $183 million (1,155.7 crore) from $105 million a year earlier, stung mainly by forex losses. Revenue dropped nearly 13%

Source: 1st July, 2015; Economic Times

NEW DELHI: Software major Infosys will invest $10 million (about Rs 63 crore) in Ireland-based start-ups which are developing disruptive technologies.

The Bangalore-based IT services firm has been selected as a strategic partner by Allied Irish Banks (AIB), a financial services group that operates predominantly in Ireland and the UK, to set up a 200-seater unit in Dublin.

A disruptive innovation is one that helps create a new market and value network, and eventually disrupts the earlier one, displacing the old technology.

Infosys intends to set aside $10 million from its global innovation fund for Ireland-based startups… Infosys is Keen to assist start-ups that are developing and enabling these (disruptive) technologies,” the company said.

Earlier this year, Infosys announced the $500-million innovation fund, earmarked for investments in the growth of disruptive new technologies. Infosys will provide application development and management services to AIB.


A Landmark in Airtel’s journey, which

underlined the strength of its business model

and brand

New Delhi: V-Mart is gearing up to join

the fast growing e-commerce sector by

next year with a mobile app-based

platform to sell products. It has 108

stores and plans to use its existing outlets

as delivery hubs for online customers in

the initial stage.

“We will have an offline and online

combined strategy, where offline would

feed the online demand. We need at least

a year to start online retail and it will be

around next Diwali,” V-Mart Retail

chairman and MD Lalit Agarwal told

PTI. “Initially we are planning to use our

existing stores as the delivery hubs. We

are in the process of finalising the

details,”” he said.

The company would roll out in a phased

manner in selected cities and later extend

to other places. It would start the pilot

project by june2016. V-Mart will first

develop an app for android, followed by

Apple’s iOS, Agarwal said, adding “we

will offer our entire stock online. To start

with, we would only offer the products-

apparels and non-apparels, which we are

selling offline.”

Source: 3rd July, 2015; Economic Times

BISHKEK (KYRGYZSTAN): Seeking a

peaceful and secure neighbourhood

amid the thread of terrorism and

extremism, India and Kyrgyzstan signed

four agreements, including one on

bolstering defence cooperation and

holding annual joint military exercises.

The two countries signed four key

agreements, including on cooperation in

defence and culture fields. Two MoUs

were also signed for cooperation

between the Election Commissions of the

two countries and on cooperation in the

sphere of standards, a move that will

help economic relations.

Prime minister Modi underlined that his

visit to the countries in the region

“demonstrates the importance that we

attach to a new level of relationship with

Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is a Key part of

that vision”.

Noting that the bilateral defence ties are

strong, he said a joint exercise ‘Khanjar

2015’ has just been completed. “ We have

decided to hold joint military exercises

on an annual basis,” he said.

Modi underlined that the new agreement

on defence cooperation would provide a

“framework to broaden bilateral

engagement” which would also include

defence technology.

The Prime Minister said India sees an

important place for Central Asia in its

future. “We can reinforce each other’s

economic progress. Sustainable

development is important for both. We

can contribute to cooperation and

integration across the different regions of

Asia,” he said.


Music-streaming company Saavn has

raised $100 million (Rs.635 crore) in

funding led by Tiger Global

Management as it prepares to launch a

video service that could offer it a buffer

in the music market that’s drawing

global giants like Apple. Money was

raised at a valuation of $300-400 million.


New Delhi: US-based semiconductor

company Soft Machines plans to invest

$100 million (about Rs.640 crore) in India

this year to establish a new research and

development unit and fund various

other startups. The company is on the

verge of closing a deal to raise $150-300

million (Rs.960 -1,920 crore), said

Mahesh Lingareddy, co-founder and

chief executive of Soft machines. It is in

talks with about 10 startups to bring

them on board, he said.

“We want to develop products such as

routers, switches, storage and security

appliances in India through our

upcoming R&D unit,” said Lingareddy.

The company will also look at offering

content services through consumer

applications. Soft Machines is combining

Lingareddy’s expertise and crowd

innovation to offer various smart devices

and services for home and enterprise

customers.

The company is currently operating its

aggregated platform in stealth mode

under the name ‘the tiger rising’, with

more than 50 employees. Soft Machines

plans to double its team to 500 people

globally over the next 18-24 months to

support its commercialization roadmap.

As part of this strategy, it is expected to

expand its team in India to 250 people

from about 100 at present.


NEW DELHI: The Asian Development

Bank (ADB) in its latest review on

Thursday maintained that India was

likely to register a growth rate of 7.8% in

2015 backed by improved performance

in both industry and services while

structural bottlenecks are expected to be

addressed.

However, it said that delay n reforms

particularly those relating to land

acquisition and goods and services could

dent growth rate. ADB lowered China’s

growth estimates to 7% this year as

compared to its earlier projection of 7.2%.

It also lowered its growth projection for

2016 to 6.8% from 7% projected in March.


NEW YORK: Ten Indian companies,

including Aurobindo Pharma, HCL

Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services,

and HDFC Bank, have made it to the

Forbes Asia Fabulous 50 list. India has

the second- highest number of firms on

the list for the fifth year in a row, after

China.

7 Indian cos among world’s 500 largest

firms: Fortune

NEW YORK: Seven Indian companies,

including Indian oil (ranked119),

Reliance Industries(ranked 158) and Tata

Motors (ranked 254), are among the

world’s 500 largest companies, according

to a list compiled by Fortune, which has

been topped by retail giant Walmart.


NEW DELHI: India was the only bright

spot in a depressing global steel market

in the first half of this year, the only one

to grow among the top five. India also

logged the fastest growth among the

world’s top 10 steel markets.

Crude steel production in the country

grew 4.2% to 45 million tonnes, even as

global production fell 2% to 813 million

tonnes. India’s growth helped

consolidate its position as the third-

largest steel- producing country in the

world after Chine and Japan. It over took

the US at the beginning of the year.

“For six consecutive months, we have

been able to maintain our status of being

the third- largest producer of the world,”

steel and mines minister Narendra Singh

Tomar told HT. “In the first six months

of 2015, we were the only country among

the top five steel producers in the world,

which registered positive growth. We

will attempt to take India to the position

of the second- largest producer in the

world.”

Domestic steel companies have been

investing I expanding capacities at their

existing factories. Some of them,

including Tata Steel in Jamshedpur and

market leader Steel Authority of India

Ltd in Burnpur, Bhilai and Rourkela,

have come onstream in the last few

months, leading to a rise in production.

The partial lifting of curbs on mining in

Karnataka, a major iron ore producing

state, has also led to a higher capacity

untilisation.

“Imports rose 55% year- on- year to 1.7

million tonnes in April- May, while

exports fell 35% to 0.7 million tonnes,

signalling that revenue- generation

remains feeble for domestic producers,

“Kotak Institutional Equities said in a

report.


NEW DELHI: Amul is joining the league

of global brands such as Coca- Cola,

Kodak, Wimbledon and Viagra to get a

“well- known” trademark, ensuring

unparalleled protection not just in India

but across the world. The step taken by

the government will ensure that the

brand name is not used anywhere or for

any product.

“It will have an impact on cross- border

reputation and it will ensure that no one

will be able to get registration for Amul

in other categories too,” said R S Sodhi,

managing director of Gujarat

Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation,

which owns the Amul brand.

The India list includes Bata, Bajaj, Bisleri,

Nirma and Infosys, among the home-

grown brands, while global players such

as Cartier; Dunhill, Play boy, Mars and

Yahoo have received well- known

trademarks.

Indian as well as international laws

provide for well- known brands as a

special category, while some even make

a distinction with famous brands. “The

well- known trademarks enjoy

tremendous protection. They are

essentially not distinguishable and have

been given protection because they have

become really well- known. The

protection is WELL- KNOWN available

even if something is not sold in India. So

a similar treatment will be available for

Amul or other 62 on the list,” said an

officer.


New Delhi: High-end dairy products such as yoghurt, cheese, ice-creams, wines and lamb chops from Australia may soon be available at cheaper rates for consumers here as the two countries inch closer to finalizing the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA). Negotiators from India and Australia met for the 8th round of the CECA talks in the capital and indications are that dairy products, where India had reservations earlier, are likely to be part of the final list.

For example, duty on lamb meat from Australia may be reduced to make it available for Rs800-1000 per Kg in the Indian market, Similarly, Ice-creams in the Rs600 a litre category could be allowed. Domestic ice-creams players

such as Mother Dairy and Amul operate at Rs150-Rs350 a litre segment. Discussions are on for reducing duties for all these products but no final decision has been taken.

Skimmed milk powder, wheat and other farm products are off the list due to sensitivities on both sides, even if there is a shortage of skimmed milk powder in India. Sources said duties on Australian wines could also be cut.

With Chinese market slowing down, there is an urgent push from Australia to engage with India. Australia is the fourth largest exporter of dairy products in the world and accounts for 7% of world trade, according to industry data.


Bengaluru: Physical storage solutions

provider Boxmyspace has raised Rs1.92

crore in a seed-round of funding from

angel investors such as farooq

Oomerbhoy, cofounder of Orios Venture

Partners, Singapore Angel Networks and

Ritesh Veera.

Operating out of Mumbai, the seven-

month-old startup will use the funds

primarily to extend operations into

Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Delhi and to

beef up its marketing efforts.

“We have already extended our

operations to Pune, Nasik and Nagpur

because of the proximity. We are

planning to move to Bangalore and NCR

as soon as possible,” said Pratyush Jalan,

founder, Boxmyspace, which operates on

a “service at the doorstep” concept.

Customers who want to store unwanted

goods can do so by clicking on the app.

The company then delivers custom-built

water and pest proof storage boxes.


Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba is

upping its investment in cloud

computing , with a new, $1-billion cash

infusion, making it more of a competitor

to Amazon, Google and Microsoft than

ever before. The funding will be used to

expand Aliyun’s international presence,

extend its alliance –based ecosystem, and

to build new products that it can offer at

lower costs, the company said,

This is the second of recent signs that

Alibaba’s getting serious about its cloud

business. Last month, aliyun signed a

series of new partnerships with the likers

of Intel and data centre company Equinix

to localise its cloud offerings without

having of build its own new data centers.

Right now, cloud computing only

constitutes a small chunk of Alibaba’s

$2.8 billion in revenue last quarter, but

this new investment proves Aliyun

doesn’t plan to slow down. Amazon

leads cloud computing in the US, on

track to book more than $7 billion this

year from its AWS business – that’s more

than its four closest competitors

combined. –Business insider


NEW DELHI : After facing harsh criticism over drug manufacturing quality in the recent past, government is now set to draft a new set of guidelines to regulate drug quality in India.

Health ministry and Central Drug standards Control Organisation (CDSCO), jointly, plan to study the guidelines of global health regulators.

While the new set of regulation guidelines will be referred from top global health regulators such as, the government plans to study regulations of lesser developed countries and BRICS countries as well.

“Government is worried over the promises made to the US Food and Drug Administration off late. However, due to the certain quality lapses by Indian drug

makers, US FDA still continues to take harsh action against India drug – production plants,” said a senior bureaucrat from ministry of health and family welfare.

Government is taking several other measures to save brand image of pharmaceuticals industry which majorly includes overhauling of CDSCO ,the regulatory body for drug quality standards in India.

“We have floated a cabinet note on revamping CDSCO where it would be upgraded into a world-class health regulator .CDSCO will also be renamed as Central Drug Administration,” said an official. The Cabinet may take up the proposal in this month.”


Mumbai : The government is considering exempting insurance intermediaries, including brokers, from the foreign direct investment limit. Although caps on insurance intermediaries were not original envisaged, the insurance regulator had at some point decided to apply the limits applicable to insurance firms to other companies across the sector.

The rethink comes at a time when the government has allowed reinsurance firms to set up 100% -owned units in the form of domestic branches. Several of the international brokers are keen to follow their clients in India but are not interested in a minority – stake company.

The complication that the FDI limit is creating on regulation is that foreign

banks allowed to distribute insurance as brokers or corporate agents end up breaching the caps.

The other reason for considering 100% FDI for broking firms is that insurance broking is not a capital –intensive business and most of the work is advisory in nature. Even if the premium is sourced by a multinational broking firm, the policy is issued by a domestic insurance company and there is no loss of foreign exchange.

At present, most of the top international broking firms are present in India. These include Aon, Marsh, Howden and JLT. Willis, which had exited from a joint venture earlier, is re-entering the market through an equity stake in Almondz.


NEW DELHI: To attract greater foreign capital inflows through alternative investment funds (AIFs) , the government and Reserve Bank are considering changes to the foreign

exchange regulations to make such investments a seamless affairs.


New Delhi: In a bid to make the process of approvals of mergers and acquisitions speedier and simpler, the competition commission of India (CCI) has revised its combinations regulations. Stakeholders, for long, were demanding the revision of

tedious compliance requirements of the competition regulator.

As per the new guidelines, a summary of every combination (merger and acquisition) under review will be

published on the website of CCI. The step will ensure greater transparency.

In recent months CCI has seen a spurt in number of merger notices being filed. Last year, the regulator was getting three notices per month on an average. This year the number has gone up to ten notices per month.

“A Key change brought in the amendments is in relation to the definition of the term other document. To bring in more certainty, scope of the

term other document has now been limited to a communication conveying the intention to make an acquisition to a statutory authority,” said a statement from CCI.

The number of copies of notice to be filed with the Commission has also been reduced.

CCI has also simplified forms required to be filed for notifying combination.


MUZZLING IMPORTS Finance, commerce ministries also mull exiting ailing businesses to make PSUs competitive

NEW DELHI: In a bid to boost manufacturing output, the government is considering a host of indirect fiscal measures which might pull the industry from its existing slowdown.

According to official sources, talks are on between the finance ministry, the commerce ministry and other stakeholders to come out with ways and means in which the domestic industry can pick up pace in manufacturing and compete against cheaper imports.

Top on the list of these sectors is iron and steel followed by mining and then power and natural gas. Currently, these sectors are facing a tough time in terms of production levels. Indirect fiscal

measures would mean that government may revise duties and taxes for these sectors.

Source said that a three pronged strategy which includes spurring the manufacturing sector, contributing make in India campaign and pull out specific industries from slowing businesses is being considered.

Cheap steel imports have risen 72% in 2014-15 to 9.3 million tonnes.

Already, the reserve Bank of India in its recent financial stability report said, “As on date, five out of the top 10 private sector steel-producing companies are under severe stress on account of delayed implementation of their projects due to land acquisition and environmental clearances among other factors.”


Mumbai: Former finance minister P

Chidambaram’s brain child the

Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB), launched

only 20 months ago, may be merged with

the state bank of India. According to

sources, the merger proposal is being

discussed within the government

considering that the newly started bank

will find it a challenge to build a

distribution reach.

The bank was started with a capital of Rs

1,000 crore which was provided under

the budget. The bank has opened 62

branches, mobilized deposits of around

Rs 800 crore and has loan of around Rs

400 crore and has loans of around Rs 400

crore. Following the announcement in

the 2013 budget, the bank was launched

in record time in November 2013. But

despite the speed of the rollout, the

bank’s coverage has been very meager

and large lenders have been able to open

more women’s account during the same

period.

SBI, which is the country’s largest lender;

had in past merged its two of its associate

banks – state bank of Saurashtra and

state Bank of Indore. SBI merged state

bank of Saurashtra with itself in 2008.

Two years later in 2010, state bank of

Indore was merged with the parent.

Among the public sector banks, BMB is

the only unlisted entity.

Source: 1st July, 2015; Times of India

NEW DELHI: The proposal to

consolidate state-owned banks is back on

the drawing board. This will be

undertaken by the public sector bank

board, which will be set up in the next

few months.

With the government showing

reluctance in providing financial support

to state-owned banks that have failed to

show significant growth in their

businesses, many “weaker” banks may

be forced to look at mergers.

The setting up of the board was

proposed by finance minister Arun

Jaitley in this year’s Union Budget. The

board, once set up, would act as an

independent consultant and identify the

banks with the right synergies that could

be merged.

Andhra Bank, Bank of Maharashtra and

United Bank of India (UBI), all of which

have comparatively less assets, may be

among the banks that may be forced to

look at a merger.

UBI has a market capitalisation of Rs

1,815.7 crore and a gross non-performing

asset –loans that do not yield returns –

ratio of 9.49%. Bank of Maharashtra,

which has a market capitalisation of

Rs3,997.6 crore has a gross NPA ratio of

6.33% and Andhra Bank, with a market

capitalisation of Rs4,217 crore has a gross

NPA ratio of 5.31%

Gross NPAs of all public sector banks

stood at 5.17% as of March 2015.


Principal Secretary at the PMO met

bankers, project promoters, top

ministry officials & Chief Secretaries of

states to resolve hurdles delaying

investments across sectors

New Delhi /Mumbai: The Prime

Minister’s Office (PMO) has taken charge

of reviving the investment cycle and

unravelling banks; chronic non-

performing assets on account of

investment plans worth lakhs of crores of

rupees that have got entangled in red

tape over the past few years.

Over the past three days, Principal

Secretary in the PMO Nripendra Misra

has held hectic, virtually daylong parleys

with bankers, project promoters, top

Ministry officials and chief secretaries of

states to arrive at a swift resolution of the

hurdles delaying big-ticket investments

across sectors.

Struck projects of companies like Tata

Power, Avantha, Lanco, GMR and Essar

Power, among others were discussed.

“Decision on as many as 22 projects were

taken on Wednesday,” a person aware of

the development told ET.

The PMO is mining through the 410-odd

stalled investment projects worth Rs.19.5

lakh crore that have sought and await an

intervention from the project monitoring

group in the cabinet secretariat. The

group was set up by the UPA

government in July 2013 to help

negotiate hurdles holding up large

investments. Officials from this group

were present at these meetings.

While state chief secretaries and line

ministries like power, railways and

finance have been asked to expedite

clearance and other issues in their

domains that have been scuttling specific

projects, in a few cases, promoters have

also been asked to bring more funds onto

the table to make the project viable rather

than expect banks and financiers to take

haircuts alone.


PMO is going through 410 stalled investment

projects worth Rs.19.5 lakh crore that await an

intervention from the project monitoring group

in the cabinet secretariat

NEW DELHI: Concerned over a

continuous decline in exports, the

government on Friday said it will soon

announce an interest subsidy scheme for

exporters.

Under the interest subvention scheme,

exporters get loans at affordable rates.

The 3% scheme ended on March 31 last

year.

The ministry is discussing the matter

with industry groups to find ways to

boost export and explore new markets,

she added.

On existing markets, Sitharaman said the

ministry is “certainly going ahead” with

the proposed free trade agreement with

the European Union, irrespective of the

Greek debt crisis.

Both sides are expected to meet next

month to begin talks.

On reports that the government has

asked chief economic adviser Arvind

Subramanian to look into the country’s

free trade agreements, she said: “Finance

ministry would do it for their reasons

because investments and investment

protection agreements will have to be

given a final shape by the ministry

itself.”


NEW DELHI: The government will

settle for composite foreign investment

limits – including foreign direct i

investment, foreign institutional

investment, non-resident investment

and venture capital – in a move that will

have a bearing on several sectors ranging

from e-commerce and single- brand

retail to insurance, commodity

exchanges and asset reconstruction.

The issue, which has been pending for

several months, is expected to be finally

decided by the Union Cabinet with the

department of industrial policy and

promotion (DIPP), which is piloting the

proposal, recommending grandfathering

of earlier holding structures to comfort

existing investors.

E-COMMERCE TAX UNDER GST

E-commerce will be taxed according to the rules of

the “place of supply” under GST, said VS Krishnan,

member-GST, Central Board of Excise and

Customs. “The rules will be drafted keeping them

in mind,” he said at an interactive session on GST

at Ficci.

ON THE AGENDA

Amendment to the Arbitration &

Conciliation Act to end delays and

eliminate high costs, improve ease in

doing business

Recapitalization of regional rural

banks

Clearance for setting up of e-courts

At present, in several sectors, there are

sub- limits within the overall foreign

investment ceiling. But, following the

government go-ahead, any one set of

investors can raise their stake up to the

sectoral cap. The move is seen to be

especially beneficial to foreign

institutional investors in some of the

sectors as they can increase their stake up

to the sectoral limit.

“The whole idea is to provide flexibility

to investors,” said an official. Sources

said the move would help in removing

ambiguity in application of sectoral caps,

conditions and approval requirements I

different sectors.

The ministry has proposed a composite

foreign investment cap in sectors

including agriculture, tea, mining,

broadcasting, media, airports, retail, e-

commerce, asset reconstruction

companies, banking, commodity

exchanges and insurance.

Over the past 14 months, the government

has initiated several steps to improve the

rules related to foreign investment,

including allowing overseas flows into

hitherto closed sectors such as rail-ways

while increasing the limits for defence

and insurance, two areas of special

interest to investors. Rules have also

been eased for sectors such as

construction and efforts are underway to

clearly stipulate the rules for Indian

manufacturers to enter into the e-

commerce arena.


New Delhi: The home ministry plans to replicate the online E-Tourist Visa (ETV) model to over 30 kinds of visas offered by India, a proposal which could eliminate human interaction with visa-seekers unless a person with a particular profile requires an interview.

The power of granting visas is delegated to Indian missions abroad, which have outsourced it to private operators like VF Worldwide Holdings, Cox & kings Global Services and VFS Global. However, the new ETV regime is handled by the government alone in a

fully online process which requires a visa-seeker to apply online, upload documents, pay through an internet gateway and also receive the visa within 72 hours online.

“We aim to issue 10 lakh ETVs annually after March 2016 when 150 countries will be covered. The point being debated is that when ETV can be totally online, why not the 30-odd other visa services?

The Prime minister has also given a call for Digital India and this could be the best example,” a senior government official told ET.


Mumbai: Narendra Modi has given Indian tourism a booster shot. The PM’s record number of international jaunts and ease with selfies, besides other proactive measures, have given a fillip to the tourism industry.

Modi’s foreign trips – some of them the first ever for an Indian leader –have generated or renewed Indian travellers’ interest in the locations he visits. Besides, the PM’s push to improve tourist destinations within the country and rolling out e-visas to visitors from more nations has helped boost in –bound arrivals as well.

With Indians emerging as big globetrotters and spenders on overseas travel, industry pundits estimate that the number of Indians travelling abroad will touch 50 million by 2020 and their spending will cross $28 billion by then, up from 15 million and $15 billion in 2013.

Modi has also sought upgrade of heritage and pilgrimage sites across India, and has initiated a campaign involving citizens’ selfies at various picturesque locations within the country and extended e-visa facilities to more nations, increasing the footfalls to and within the country. His government’s Bharat Parva festival, to be held in various cities , aims to revive the cultural milieu and give a leg-up to domestic tourism.

Numbers tell the tale. Foreign tourist arrivals to India grew more than 9% in May 2015 over the same period last year when Modi came to power. As many as 15,659 tourists arrived on e-visas in May 2015 compared to 1,833 in May 2014.

Forex earnings from tourism grew 15% in May 2015 as compared to 0.2% growth in May 2014, according to data from the ministry of tourism.

After a year in office, thought other industries and investors may have lowered their expectations from the government, with the sensex too correcting by over 10% after rising to a record high of 30000 , the Indian tourism sector seems to be steering steadily ahead with Modi at the helm.

MORE FLOCK IN

5.11 lakh foreign tourists arrived in India in My 2015 compared to 4.68 lakh in May 2014,a growth of

9.2%

33.32 lakh foreign tourists arrived in India in January-May 2015 compared to 32.15 lakh in January-

May 2014, a growth of 3.6%

1.10 lakh foreign tourists arrived on e-visa in January-May 2015 compared to 9841 in January-May

2014 , a growth of 1024%

15,659 foreign tourists arrived on e-visa in May 2015 compared to 1833 in May 2014 a growth of

754%


NEW HORIZONS : Assembly will help

in rapidly implementing decisions, final

decision can be taken in India next year

At the first parliamentary forum for BRICS held in Moscow on June 8, the participants agreed to start exploring the possibility of creating a parliamentary (or inter-parliamentary) assembly. The final decision on the creation of such a body might be made a soon as next year at the forum in India. The chief purpose of such a mechanism, according to First Deputy Chairman of the Federal Council Committee on International Affairs Vladimir Dzhabarov, is to harmonise the legislation of member countries. Moreover, it is an additional platform for discussion where parliaments will be able to prepare recommendations for leaders.

“Parliaments will be able to raise and discuss any questions. The results will be

brought to the consideration of the countries leaderships,” said Vasily Likhachev, member of the State Duma committee for CIS Affairs. According to Likhachev, the BRICS parliamentary assembly can accomplish two fundamental tasks. The first is developing laws that are either the same or closely resemble each other, their standardisation, and with time, the elaboration of common laws. The second is bringing the parliamentary community together to resolve the most important issues such as nuclear non –proliferation, reforming international institutions, reforming the IMF, and defending international law.

“It will be possible to develop various inter-parliamentary international initiatives,” added Likhachev. Citing an example, he said that Russia and China are promoting initiatives in the UN for the demilitarisation of outer space and

TOP SOURCE COUNTRIES THAT AVAILED E-VISA:

Foreign exchange earnings were $1.39bn in May 2015 compared to $1.2bn in May 2014, a growth of

15%

Foreign exchange earnings were $8.2bn in January-May 2015 compared to $7.8bn, a growth of 4%

for introducing a code of conduct to the information sphere. Inter –parliamentary dialogue will help to simplify the implementation of decisions taken in national legislation.

“Parliamentary accompaniment is essential to the rapid implementation of the decisions of the countries’ leaderships,” said Deputy Chairman of

the State Duma Sergei Zheleznyak. First of all , we are speaking of the launch of the New Development Bank and the Currency Reserve Pool.

An analysis of the BRICS countries ‘legislation will now be conducted. Approaches to cybersecurity will be studies attentively, ”said Zheleznyak.


Moscow: The five-nation BRICS group on Tuesday signed an agreement to create a $100 billion pool of forex reserves to help each other “in case of any problems with dollar liquidity”, with India chipping in $18 billion.

Brazil and Russia will contribute same as India. China would put in the maximum of $41 billion, while South Africa would chip in $5 billion. “The central banks of

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have signed operational agreement on July 7, 2015 in Moscow. The fund will be an “insurance instrument” that member nations could draw if they experience problems with their balance of payments. The pool will go into force on July 30. AGENCIES


Beijing: The formation of the New

Development Bank (NDB) by the BRICS

nations along with the formation of the

Asian Infrastructure investment Bank

(AIIB) will break the monopoly of the

IMF and World Bank and make their

functioning more democratic, a state-run

Chinese think tank has said.

“All the BRICS, (Brazil, Russia, India,

China and South Africa ) economies have

become founding members of the AIIB ,

while China, India and Russia turned out

to be the three largest shareholders of the

bank,” an article titled “BRICS

cooperation helps to build new

international framework” published in

the Global Times daily said.

“The establishment of the BRICS New

Development Bank, an emergency

reserve fund, and the AIIB will break the

monopoly position of the International

Money fund (IMF) and the World Bank

(WB),” said the article written by Liu

Zengyi, research fellow of Shanghai

Institutes for International Studies.-PTI


Moscow: BRICS countries may sign an

agreement on greater economic

integration in the next five years,

Russia’s First Deputy Economic

Development Minister Alexei Likhachev

said on Monday.

“Of course, it is now premature to talk

about the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India,

China South Africa) economic

agreement. But if the approach and the

crystallisation of our association as an

international group will take place at the

same pace as now, the economic

agreement within a few years will be

quite timely and inevitable. I think it can

happen within five years, “Likhachev

said in an interview with TASS news

agency.

However, Likhachev expressed

confidence that “ the day when the

BRICS countries will speak about the

economic agreement is not far away”.

According to him, the agreement will

undergo several stages.

“At first it will be a declarative document

that will inspire our countries to

cooperate more actively. Then it could be

non- preferential agreements, which

optimise regulatory system, simplify

customs and investment procedures,

create the so- called “green corridors” for

goods. The third phase is a preferential

regime—concessions that we will make

in terms of commodity trade,” Likhachev

said.


Bengaluru: India needs to overcome the low growth phase as quickly as possible as it is answer to many of the country’s socio-economic problems, former RBI Governor C Rangarajan said on Monday. “In many ways the coming decade will be crucial for India,” he said.

If India grows at 8 to 9% per annum, it is estimated that per capita GDP will increase from the current level of $1600 to $ 8000-10,000 by 2025, said

Rangarajan, also former chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council. “Then India will transit from being a low income to a middle income country. We need to overcome the low growth phase as quickly as possible, as growth is the answer to many of our socio-economic problems,” he said while delivering the annual Khusro Memorial Lecture. – PTI


Chennai: RBI governor Rahuram Rajan on Thursday said that the Indian economy was in a recovery phase. “There are signs of pick-up in capital investments,” he said. But he added that sustainable growth would require greater reforms and putting stalled projects back on track. The governor was in the city for an RBI board meet.

On Greece, Rajan said: “The direct exposure is very limited for India. But there is some indirect exposure like how the Euro would react to the Greece situation.” “Our growth prospects are good and the buffers that we have are reasonable, including foreign exchange,” Rajan said. He said exports remained an area of relative concern but they have been weak across all Asian economies, barring China.

Mumbai: Customers will be able to view their bank accounts, mutual funds and shares and insurance investments on a single screen in the near future. The aggregation of all financial sector account will have the added advantage of customers not having to duplicate the “Know your customer” process. The RBI on Thursday said that it is amending norms to register a new kind of non-

banking finance company whose objective would be to act as an aggregator across various financial institutions. The proposal was discussed in a meeting of a sub-committee of the financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) chaired by Rajan in New Delhi on August 2014.

Source: 3rd July, 2015; Times of India

New Delhi: Industrial output growth slowed in May on the back of sluggish manufacturing sector expansion, triggering demand for a cut in interest rates to support growth.

Data released by the government on Friday showed the index of industrial

production (IIP) rose 2.7% in May compared to a downwardly revised 3.4% growth in April and 5.6% expansion in the year-ago period. In April, provisional data had shown the sector had grown 4.1%, fuelling talk of a sharp turnaround.


Mumbai: Seeing the huge potential of cashless transactions through e-wallet, mobile payments and commerce venture Paytm is the latest company to jump on the person-to-person (P2P) money transfer bandwagon.

After online shopping, this space has seen good traction with mobile payment firms like M-Pesa and Oxigen, and certain banks joining the fray, to offer ease and convenience of the cashless mode and promote cashless and paperless transactions while making merchant payments. While banks have deployed point-of-sales (PoS) terminals at various merchant outlets and lanched mobile payment apps, others like Vodafone M-Pesa launched a mobile app recently to carry out transactions like cash deposits, money transfers, and make mobile and utility bill payments.

“We did a quiet launch for select users in April, and are now rolling it out to all

Paytm users. We saw good traction in this space with a million transactions in a day,” Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma told TOI, adding that it is now sprucing up security for money transfer transactions. This would benefittier-2 and -3 markets, where consumers are not very digitally savvy.

To enhance security, an SMS-based password will be sent to the user transferring money from the mobile wallet. The ease of use and convenience will be more for a Paytm user; Sharma claimed, and the scale being bigger. Paytm now has a user base of over 80 million. He added the money transfer facility will also be available on Apple Watch, and Android Wear.

“Our focus is beyond remittances… on day-to day needs of consumers where cash is spent or a transaction takes place,” he added.


San Francisco: Online payments titan PayPal said on Wednesday it is buying international money-sending service Xoom in a deal valued at $890 million. PayPal, a subsidiary of eBay, will pay $25 per share of Xoom in what amounts to a premium of 32% over the stock’s average price over the past three months.

PayPal touted Xoom as a leading service for letting people in the United States pay bills or send money to family members or friends in other countries using mobile phones, tablets or computers.

“Expanding into international money transfer and remittances aligns with our strategic vision to democratise the movement and management of money,” PayPal president Dan Schulman said.

Acquiring Xoom will let PayPal broaden its array of services and expand in important markets, Particularly China, Brazil, India, Mexico and the Philippines, according to Schulman.

Xoom has a presence in 37 countries. “Becoming part of PayPal represents an exciting new chapter for Xoom ,which will help accelerate our time-to-market in unserved geographies and expand the ways we can innovate for customers,” said Xoom chief executive John Kunze.

The acquisition was expected to close in the final quarter of this year.


New Delhi: Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma has invested an undisclosed amount in fitness –tracker startup GOQii Technologies, ahead of the first institutional funding it expects to raise this year.

GOQii, founded by angel investor and former Indiagames CEO Vishal Gondal, said the latest funding takes the total amount invested in the Mumbai-based company to about $2.8 million (Rs17.7 crore). Incorporated in 2013,GOQii Technologies is a wholly owned subsidiary of US-based GOQii. “Wearables is a piping hot sector both globally and in India,” said Sharma, who Invested in his personal capacity.

“The startup with its combination of technology, experts and coaches on a single platform is uniquely positioned to lead in it.” Sharma is one of more than 20 angel investors who have put money into the fitness application startup.

GOQii’s application also integrates with 35 major fitness bands including Jawbone, Fitbit, Garmin, Moov, Misfit and Sony. Users have to decide on a goal and chose a coach to guide them on the application.


In the Bag

It amounts to a premium of 32% over the stock’s average

Price over the past 3 months

Xoom will let Paypal broaden its array of services

And expand in important markets

$25 Money PayPal will

pay per share of Xoom

37 Countries Xoom is

preset in

WHAT’S HOT

Wearables is a piping hot sector both globally and in India

VIJAY SHEKHAR SHARMA, Founder and CEO, Paytm

Major Products being Exported from India

Documents

Trade Connect August, 2015 NCTI