Aug. 10 – Multi-brand retailing, perhaps the most vital issue of the new century in terms of FDI in India, has gone ahead by one more step. The top notch secretaries of the Indian government have forwarded 10 recommendations to the Commerce and Industry Ministry.
According to government officials, the ministry is evaluating it and would soon take the proposal before the Cabinet. Continue reading
Aug. 9 – In India, land is the subject matter of state governments and, as such, land for special economic zones (SEZs) is obtained according to the policy and practices of the respective state governments. According to the records available for 381 SEZs, 82.3 percent of land is waste/barren/dry/industrial, 15 percent of land is single crop and 2.7 percent of land is double crop.
The main objectives of the SEZ Scheme are:
Exports
Aug. 5 – India’s exports through June 2011 were valued at US$29.21 billion, which was 46.45 percent superior to the level of US$19.94 billion seen in June 2010. On an expanded timeframe, the growing value of exports for the period April-June 2011-12 was US$79.00 billion against US$54.22 billion over the same period a year earlier – good for a 45.71 percent increase.
Imports
India’s imports for the duration of June 2011 came to US$36.87 billion, showing a growth of 42.46 percent over the level of imports valued at US$25.88 billion in June 2010. An increasing value of imports for the interval of April-June 2011-12 was US$110.61 billion as against US$81.20 billion over the same period in 2010 – good for a 36.22 percent increase. Continue reading
Aug. 5 – India’s Economic advisory council has released its outlook for the year 2011-12. Some vital points are given below:
Aug. 4 – Recent market results show a significant pickup in private equity investment and inbound M&A deals in India. Following the previous year’s global slowdown, figures posted for the latest fiscal year are showing positive growth, highlighted by particularly strong private equity investment, worth US$4.2 billion to date. However, rising interest rates have tempered expected returns by Indian companies who now need to settle for less for their growth capital.
Furthermore, the value of inbound M&A deals in India has more than doubled so far this year when compared to the same period last year, reaching US$26 billion. As such, India now only trails China in attracting inbound M&A deals among emerging markets. Acquirers from the United Kingdom are leading the trend with investments of US$15.6 billion, followed by those from the United States, Germany and Japan. It is worth noting that this represents a change from the previous year in which the United States was the majority source of M&A deals in India. Continue reading
Aug. 3 – An estimated 150,000 post offices across India will soon go through a fundamental modification, transferring them into full-fledged banks on the anvil. The initiative has been taken up by Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, who wants to reach out to the masses in the country’s rural areas with modern banking facilities through the post offices.
A lack of contemporary banking facilities in rural areas and a growing dependence of villagers on informal establishments for their credit requirements has provoked the government to work on financial inclusion by way of establishing “postal banks.” Continue reading
Aug. 2 – President Pratibha Patil on Friday asked Indian industry houses to exploit the vast opportunities in the mining sector in Mongolia, saying that the gold, copper and uranium reserves here hold much in store for them.
“The mining boom that Mongolia is presently experiencing is predicted to make Mongolia’s economy the fastest growing in the world by 2013. The World Bank’s annual GDP growth rate projection for Mongolia in 2013 is 22.9 per cent,” Patil said, according to the Press Trust of India. Continue reading
