Other Briefings
Singh Obama to meet at G20 Summit
Mar. 30 – American President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet for the first time at the sidelines of the G20 summit in London on Thursday. The meeting will be the first for Obama and possibly the last for Singh whose political party is up for elections this May.
FII’s May Have Their Money Locked In
Mar. 27 – The finance ministry is mulling over locking in investments of FII’s for a certain time period in select industries such as aviation, telecom and banking. While the Indian government has been relaxing FDI and FII norms to attract investments into India, it is also trying to curb foreign fund volatility.
Australia and Japan Up Investments in India
Mar. 24 – Australia and Japan are both stepping up their investments in India. Viewed as a nation that will weather the economic storm and continue to grow at an average 6.5 percent to emerge as the third largest economy by 2025, India has become an FDI magnet in the region.
India Nears Deflation
Mar. 20 – Within a span of just seven months India has moved from a 16 year high inflation rate of 12.91 percent to a 32 year low inflation rate of 0.44 percent. The situation however represents a cruel paradox for consumers as food prices continue to rise during the deflation – food prices rose roughly nine percent year on year.
MNC’s Increasingly Looking to India as an R&D Center
Mar. 19 – Besides the traditional research and development powerhouses of the United States, Germany and Japan, India too is proving to be the destination of choice for global technology, pharmaceutical and engineering companies. Large multinational corporations like GM, IBM, Cisco, Motorola, Huawei and GE have already set up large R&D centers in India and many small and medium companies are actively considering establishing R&D facilities in India.
India Buys Naval Aircraft from US in US$2.1 Billion Boeing Deal
Mar. 18 – India has just announced the purchase of eight Boeing P-81 maritime patrol aircrafts, worth US$2.1 billion. The deal, just approved by the Obama administration, is the largest U.S.
India-EU Inching Towards FTA
Mar. 17 – India and the European Union are working towards increasing bilateral ties in a hope to sign the India-EU economic agreement soon. The FTA will cover trade in goods and services, IPRs, cross-border investments, competition policy and government procurement.
List of Protected Indian Industries
Mar. 16 – Setting up and maintaining a wholly owned foreign subsidiary has become the investment vehicle of choice in India. Simpler rules and regulations are encouraging foreign firms establish a firm presence in India. According to government data, foreign direct investment inflows during the April-November period stood up 90 percent at Rs 85,700 crore (US$16.6 billion) compared with Rs 45,000 crore (US$8.7 billion) in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. Mauritius, Singapore and Japan contributed 55 percent of the inflow.
If a company falls under the encouraged or permitted categories while establishing a business in India, it is covered under the automatic route ie it doesn’t need to seek approvals from regulatory bodies such as Reserve Bank of India (India’s apex bank) and/or the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).
