May 20 – As the third most populous city in India, Bangalore faces many congestion problems. City officials have worked hard to rectify the situation, investing heavily in the city’s infrastructure, including road and public transportation projects, and the construction of a modern international airport.

Road

Vast improvements to roadways have been achieved in the last few years, as the National Highways Development Project and Bangalore Development Authority have made significant headway on their ambitious projects.

The Hebbal flyover, a 6-lane, 6-loop highway, eases traffic to Bengaluru International Airport, and relieves congestion on the National Highway No. 7. Another road of note is the 62 kilometer outer ring road that connects all major roads and highways in and around Bangalore, and replaces the decade old ring road. Moving further from the core, the 65 kilometer peripheral ring road is under development and will link state and national highways as well as further reduce traffic congestion in the region. Continue Reading

May 17 – In India, nine renowned investment entities have joined forces in order to launch the Indian Impact Investor Council (IIC), which is to act as a self-regulatory body for the practice of “impact investment” in India.

Impact investment is the practice of investing in areas and industries with the direct intent of generating a social return along with a financial return, or “impacting” the target investment location in a positive fashion. The topic of impact investment is set to be one of the key themes at this year’s G8 Summit, and is also a growing trend in funds all around the world.

In India’s case, the initiative for a self-regulatory body to deal with impact investing has roots in its previous experience with microfinance, an equally revolutionary form of social investment that began with Bangladeshi businessman and Nobel Laureate Mohammed Yunus. Microfinance, although a highly lauded industry, is widely believed to have resulted in reckless lending in some cases, and investors are determined not to let this happen to impact investing. Continue Reading

May 16 – You can easily observe India’s cultural diversity in Bangalore – the city is a melting pot of races and cultures. Located in the heart of southern India, Bangalore has a population of 8.4 million people, making it the third most populous city in India.

Bangalore is also known as the “Silicon Valley” of India thanks to the large number of software companies and the concentrated number of information technology (IT) professionals located within its territory. The state of Karnataka, of which Bangalore is the state capital, accounts for more than a third of India’s total software exports, most of which come from Bangalore-based firms. Bangalore’s booming high-tech sectors are supported by a well-educated and technically trained populace, particularly in the fields of engineering, management and various areas of science.

Bangalore, which ranked in the top 10 on India’s Liveability Index in 2012, is also called “The Garden City,” a moniker earned due to the large number of parks in the city, the city’s large horticulture industry and pleasant climate. Continue Reading

May 14 – Looking to further break into the Indian market, Hilton Hotels has committed to expand its mid-market and luxury brands in the country.

Hilton, which already has established various hotels in India, recently acquired an additional number of properties on which it looks to open up and develop hotels for its luxury brand, Conrad, and its mid-market brands Doubletree and Hilton Garden Inn. Hilton is also looking to introduce its world-renowned Waldorf Astoria brand to India in the near future.

“We are on equal footing with our competitors both from the perspective of the number of hotels trading and the number of hotels that are actually going to come up in the next one or two years. By the end of this year, we expect 17 hotels to be trading, and we have the second largest pipeline of hotels in the Asia Pacific region with 21 hotels in various stages of construction,” said Guy Hutchinson, Hilton Worldwide’s Vice-President of India Operations. Continue Reading

By Gunjan Sinha, Dezan Shira & Associates, Delhi Office

May 13 – India was one of the first countries in Asia to recognize the effectiveness of the export processing zone model in promoting exports, establishing Asia’s first processing zone in Kandla in 1965. More recently, the Indian government moved to increase India’s attractiveness as a foreign direct investment destination by announcing its Special Economic Zones (SEZs) Policy in April 2000, and then followed that up with the SEZ Act 2005 and SEZ Rules, which jointly came into effect on February 10, 2006. The new rules further simplified and streamlined the utilization of SEZs, paving the way for the popularity these zones now enjoy. Today, the SEZ is the predominant development zone type throughout India, and its goals include:

• Generating additional economic activity;
• Promoting exports of goods and services;
• Promoting investment from domestic and foreign sources;
• Creating employment opportunities; and
• Developing infrastructure facilities. Continue Reading

May 10 – The new issue of Asia Briefing Magazine, titled An Introduction to Development Zones Across Asia, is out now and will be temporarily available as a complimentary PDF download on the Asia Briefing Bookstore throughout the months of May and June.

The use of development zones in their different guises has been an effective model essentially brought to prominence by China over the past 25 years to help both foreign investors and domestic companies meet in a relationship that provides tax advantages to both. Development zones typically permit the foreign investor to bring component parts into a country for assembly without having to pay import duties. Investors may then add in locally-sourced components, assemble the final product, and warehouse it all duty free before then having the option of exporting the finished product (collecting some VAT rebates on the locally sourced portion) or entering the domestic market with a product assembled at local labor costs. Continue Reading

May 9 – Last week, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) became India’s first stock exchange to launch an Islamic-focused Index, calling it the S&P BSE 500 Shariah Index. The Shariah Index will be the first index launched since S&P Dow Jones and BSE announced their strategic partnership in February, joining a long list of well-known indices around the globe.

Its main differentiating feature will be its compliance with Islamic canonical law in choosing investments. This will allow for further inclusion of India’s estimated 170+ million Muslims in India’s markets, providing them with certainty in not violating religious law with their investments.

The index will specifically exclude firms dealing with pork or tobacco products, newspapers and other media firms, any businesses dealing in alcohol or pornography, and other firms dealing in products incompatible with Islamic standards. Most notably, since Islamic law forbids gambling, derivatives, futures, and other similar financial products will not be eligible for this index. Continue Reading

Entering India is now easier than it is in China

May 8 – The Indian government has recently enacted a slew of measures that will seek to further liberalize the visa regime in the country and to boost the number of arriving foreign tourists and businessmen.

The government has approved the introduction of the Visa on Arrival (VoA) facility for individuals in five additional airports. In conjunction with airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, VoAs will now also be accepted at airports in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kochi, Trivandrum and Goa.

Furthermore, the government has also extended the VoA option to include groups of four or more tourists. This group VoA facility has been granted to all countries except Afghanistan, China, Iran, Iraq, Sudan and Pakistan and foreigners of Pakistani origin. Continue Reading