Other Briefings
A university dedicated to NRI’s
April. 11 – India may very soon be exporting much more than software. As the knowledge industry grows in India, Indians and Non-resident Indians (NRI’s) alike want their children to be global citizens but with strong Indian roots. Realizing this latent demand, India will have its first university dedicated to NRI’s in the next three months, The Economic Times reported. The proposed university plans to draw on the expertise of the NRI doctors, engineers, and many qualified professionals.
In many countries of Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, which have large Indian populations, NRI children find it difficult to gain admission, as these countries often prefer sons of their soil.
Terrorism to Tourism
April. 9 – Kashmir once called Paradise on Earth, is back to promoting itself as a tourist destination after a 20 year hiatus, when tourists flocked to it for its intricately latticed houseboats, lofty Himalayan mountains, green pastures, and fresh clean air.
The Northern Indian state is trying to attract wealthy tourists to play golf in its rolling hills in a bid to earn some revenue and change its image as a terrorist hideout. Certainly, the price is right — just US$20 for a round on the 18-hole course, US$10 for a golf cart rental and US$3 for a caddy
Excerpts from The New York Times say that the state is spending US$6.2 million to build a golf course in the winter capital, Jammu, to be completed later in the year, the fifth course in the region, and an international airport is scheduled to open in the summer.
Wal-Mart tip toes into India
April. 8 – Launched amongst mass protests to protect India's mom & pop retail stores, Wal-Mart has shipped its first consignment of Procter & Gamble’s personal-care products to Bharti-Wal Mart, a joint venture for the cash-and-carry and logistics initiatives, the Economic Times reported on Tuesday.
In a desperate bid to enter the US$350 billion retail market in India, the US$340 billion retail giant entered into a 50:50 joint venture with the Bharti group’s retail arm in 2006. While the joint venture will focus on B2B business, the Bharti group plans to launch small-format retail stores shortly. The officials said P&G India is helping Wal-Mart understand the nuances of doing business in India.
India to invest US$300 bn in oil
April. 7 – Foreseeing an energy crisis in the near future, India is expected to spend US$300 billion on oil exploration and production over the next five to seven years M.S. Srinivasan, the Oil Ministry's top official told Bloomberg on Sunday.
The exploration and production business will become a US$5.2 trillion industry in the next five to seven years, Srinivasan told reporters in Mumbai. India, Asia's third-biggest oil consumer, is competing with countries such as Nigeria to attract exploration by global producers as domestic output falls.
The South Asian nation, the world's fastest-growing major economy after China, depends on imports for 70 percent of its oil needs.
Shopping in international markets
April. 3 – After Ratan Tata’s ambitious buy-out of Ford’s Jaguar and Land Rover for US$2.3 billion last week, its time for another ambitious Indian entrepreneur to take center stage. Venugopal Dhoot, Videocon’s 54 year old Chairman who bought French owned Thomson’s picture tube business for US$291 million has emerged as the front runner in bidding for ailing Motorola’s handset unit.
Videocon, an Indian homegrown brand, manufactures appliances and electronics and also has interests in real estate, oil, and power. While they haven’t revealed how much they bid, the company did confirm to Indian media that they had contacted Motorola for the buy-out. "We learnt from a reliable source that they will be selling it and when they do we are sending an expression of interest," Venugopal Dhoot told Reuters. "Motorola's handset business dovetails well with my telecom plans," he says.
Reading into India’s economic future
April. 2 – Recently The Asian Development Bank (ADB), a major lender in Asia looked into the crystal ball, in a bid to predict India's economic future. What it found was that although growth might momentarily fall this year, and inflation is at a 13 month high of 6.68 percent, India's strong economic backbone would prevent the country from crippling over.
A report by Forbes noted that if India is able to keep food price inflation moderate, lower interest rates to sustain high levels of investment and contain the fiscal deficit, chances are we could be looking at an 8 percent growth in GPD, even in the face of a global recession. Asian markets are expected to expand by 7.6 percent in 2008 and 7.8 percent in 2009 while China is expected to grow by a solid 10 percent in 2008.
A report by the ADB says India's growth is expected to slow down to 8 percent in 2008-09, only to pick up momentum again at 8.5 percent in 2009. Previously, GDP stood at 8.7 percent in 2007-08 and 9.6 percent percent in 2006-07.
Revving up India’s auto Industry
Apr. 1 – Two of India's heavy weight auto makers seperately announced on Monday that they would be pumping in Rs 75 billion (US$1.9 billion) into India's already booming auto sector.
While Ratan Tata controlled Tata Motors pledged to invest Rs 60 billion (US$1.5 billion) into ramping up their existing manufactuing unit and building a vehicle testing facility over 4-5 years at Chakan, near Mumbai, Mahindra & Mahindra promised the Maharashtra government they would invest Rs 15 billion (US$375 million) in addition to to the Rs 25 billion (US$625 million) that they have already earmarked to make commercial vehicles at a greenfield site at Chakan. The total sum of Rs. 40 billion (US$1 billion) will be utilized towards the development and production of all vehicles slated to be rolled out from the proposed Greenfield.
The investment by Tata Motors is the single largest investment by the automobile sector in the state.
Reincarnating India’s green revolution
Mar. 31 – India's population might be rising, but food grain production is back to its pre green revoultionn level. The disparity in demand and supply is fueling a stark price rise driving a national and global food crisis.
“Yes, we have a problem,’’ admits Abhijit Sen, economist and Planning Commission member, “and it can be starkly put in the following way: roughly around 2004-05, our per capita foodgrain production was back to the 1970s level,” reported the Times of India on Monday.
The figures tell a stark story. In 1979, at the height of the Green Revolution euphoria, per capita availability of cereals and pulses had gone up to 476.5 grams per day. The corresponding figure in 2006 was 444.5 grams per day, according to provisional government statistics. In 2005, it was still lower at 422 grams. In the case of pulses, per capita net availability today is almost half of what it was five decades ago — 32.5 grams per day in 2006 compared with 60.7 grams per day in 1951.
