Monthly Archives: February 2011

Indian Exports Rise 10% Over Government Target

Feb. 24 – India’s exports in the current fiscal year to March 2011 have reached US$225 billion, Trade Minister Anand Sharma said yesterday. India’s exports in January provisionally rose an annual 32.5 percent to US$20.6 billion, the trade secretary said this month, adding he saw exports for the year to March at more than US$220 billion, some 10 percent more than the government’s US$200 billion target.

The results come in as exports from China begin to slow, driven by a number of factors including higher operating costs. Foreign investment into India, especially in labor intensive industries and in domestic retail, have been booming as the country gears towards its own era of success – built on low wages and a huge domestic market. Continue reading →

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India to Withdraw Fiscal Stimulus

Feb. 23 – Seeing a recovering gross domestic product growth rate of 8.9 percent in the third quarter (September to December) of fiscal 2010, and a surging inflation rate of 12.1 percent last year, India is considering rolling back the fiscal stimulus in order to reduce the government’s financial deficit and curb inflation.

While answering a Parliament question on February 22, Namo Narain Meena, minister of State for Finance, said that both the withdrawal of fiscal stimulus and the Reserve Bank of India’s measures to control excess liquidity will be helpful to the Indian government who is trying to restrict inflation. Continue reading →

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Rolls Royce to Double India Dealerships

Feb. 22 – Luxury car-maker Rolls Royce has stated they will be expanding their network in India to take advantages of the new sales opportunities in the country. India is the manufacturer’s second-fastest growing market in Asia.

“India is one of the major markets for us in Asia, the second-fastest growing after China,” Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Chief Executive Officer Torsten Muller Otvos told reporters in Delhi. “We want to be present where our customers are, so we are looking at enhancing our distribution.” Continue reading →

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Indian IT Companies Don’t Agree on Outsourcing Demand in 2011

Feb. 21 – Indian information technology (IT) firms have split expectations on the outlook of IT outsourcing demand in 2011, with the top three IT companies believing their revenue will keep going up and others thinking the opposite, a recent report on the Wall Street Journal said.

After a prosperous 2010, the big three Indian IT companies – Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro Technologies and Infosys – remain optimistic regarding their expected performance in the new year. N. Chandrasekaran, chief executive of TCS, India’s largest software exporter by revenue, said that he expects a greater demand for IT outsourcing services in 2011. Continue reading →

Posted in FDI and Foreign Trade, IT & Telecom | 1 Comment

India and Japan Sign Free Trade Pact

Feb. 16 – India and Japan signed a free trade pact in Tokyo today which will see the two major Asian economies do away with tariffs on 94 percent of goods over the next decade.

Representing their respective countries, India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma and Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara were present in Tokyo today to finalize and sign the deal.

“It is wonderful for Japan to have been able to sign the bilateral agreement on a comprehensive economic partnership,” Maehara said at the signing ceremony, while Sharma referred to the pact as a “historic agreement.” Continue reading →

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FDI in India’s Tourism Industry

By Ankit Shrivastava, Dezan Shira & Associates

Introduction

Feb. 14 – The Indian tourism industry is interwoven with the country’s monetary development. As GDP continues to mature, it increases deals in fundamental infrastructure like transportation systems, which is necessary to support the tourism industry. The hotel industry is directly connected to the tourism industry in India. Over the last decade, India has transformed into one of the most popular tourism destinations in the world, largely as a result of the government’s “Incredible India” campaign which showed India in a new light to overseas tourists. In 2005, the appearance of global tourists improved by 16 percent, leading the resurgence of Indian tourism. Continue reading →

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The Impact of FDI on India’s Manufacturing Sector

By Ankit Shrivastava, Dezan Shira & Associates, Delhi

Feb. 11 – Foreign direct investment (FDI) has risen considerably in post-reform India. The work and category of FDI has changed significantly since India has opened up to world markets. This has fueled high prospect that FDI may serve up as a channel to advanced economic growth. However, it turns out that the development effects of FDI differ extensively across sectors. FDI stocks and production are equally reinforcing the domestic manufacturing sector.

India is ranked second in the world in terms of manufacturing capability, according to the “2010 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index’” by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and the US Council on Competitiveness. India’s workforce of scientists, researchers, and engineers, together with its English-speaking workforce and democratic regime, the report says, make it an attractive destination for manufacturers. In 2010, the indicator of the overall condition of the manufacturing sector has moved up to 126.5 for the appraisal quarter, its highest reading since the April-June 2007 quarter. In the last quarter of the year, the manufacturing industry showed positive results despite less than impressive performance in other sectors. Continue reading →

Posted in FDI and Foreign Trade, Featured | 11 Comments

Foreign Investment in India’s Rising BPO Sector

Op-Ed Commentary: Ankit Shrivastava, Dezan Shira & Associates

Feb. 11 – India developed as a target destination for outsourcing in the information technology (IT) services in the 1990′s, but India’s information technology-enabled services (ITES) and business process outsourcing (BPO) industry has grown rapidly in comparison to IT in the last decade.

The Indian BPO division has been increasing at more than 35 percent over the past three years, particularly in the hotspots of Gurgaon (Delhi/NCR region), Bangalore and Chennai. According to the Nasscom McKinsey Perspective 2020 study, the potential market for the ITES/BPO industry is US$630 billion. This sector presents an excellent opportunity for multinational companies to accelerate their growth. Continue reading →

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