Other Briefings
India After Musharraf
Aug. 19 – President Parvez Musharraf's departure from the Pakistani Politibureau leaves an unpleasant power vacuum between India and Pakistan – arch rivals and nuclear powers. Indian Foreign policy experts believe that Musharraf's resignation effectively eliminates India's one point man on the kashmir issue – the main bone of contention between the two countries.
New Delhi's fear is that a weak civilian government in Islamabad will be unable to exert the same muscle that Musharraf did over Pakistan's army and the powerful military spy agency, the ISI, which India suspects has a hand in most attacks in Kashmir.
India’s Auto Industry to be a Global leader by 2012
Aug. 18 – India's automobile sector is the tenth largest in the world with an annual car production of approximately 2 million of the world's 73 million. India is the largest motorcycle manufacturer and the fifth largest commercial vehicle manufacturer, Industry experts only expect these statistics to increase. A report by the Asia Economic Institute expects India's automobile sector to become one of the global leaders by 2012.
Clashes in North India Affect Trade
Aug. 14 – On the eve of the sovereign, secular, republic of India's 61st Independance day, fresh violence has broken out across the Kashmir valley.
A simmering land dispute has polarised Indian Kashmir, split between the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley and the Hindu-dominated region around Jammu city, severely curbing trade between the two areas. The unrest was triggered by a Kashmir government decision in June to donate local land to a Hindu pilgrimage trust. The violence has also fanned fears that communal tensions could spread beyond Kashmir.
ASEAN-India to Sign Free Trade Pact
Aug. 11 – India's trade with Southeast Asian nations is expected to boom once India signs a free trade pact with ASEAN at the end of this year. The Southeast Asian trade body, consists of 10 member countries – Brunei, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines and Singapore.
The deal covering billions of dollars of trade in goods, but not services, is expected to be signed during the ASEAN-India Summit in December, officials told AFP, and will come into effect by the middle of next year.
Total trade between ASEAN and India amounted to US$28.7 billion in 2006, putting India eighth on the list of the bloc's trading partners behind countries like Australia and South Korea, according to ASEAN figures.
Strengthening bilateral ties with China
Aug. 8 – India’s ruling Congress and the Communist Party of China (CPC) signed a pact on Thursday to put in place a mechanism that would help regular high-level exchanges between them. Signed by Chinese vice-president and standing committee member of the CPC’s politburo, Xi Jinping, and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, the memorandum of understanding also provides the two parties the opportunity to consult each other on important bilateral, regional and international developments.
Indian Companies Make Inroads into Vietnam
Aug. 5 – Indian businesses such as the Tata and Essar groups have expressed interest in investing in Vietnam for the market’s “political stability, high economic growth, healthy investment climate and numerous stimuli,” said Vietnamese General Consul Nguyen Viet Hung in Mumbai.
As further evidence of this interest in Asia's newest emerging tiger, India's Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL), a state-owned company, said it won a two billion-rupee (US$47 million) contract from Vietnam's Nam Chien hydropower company. BHEL said this is its first order from the Vietnamese power sector.The project is located in Muong La, 350 kilometers north of Hanoi, and is slated to be completed by the end of 2010.
India Inc cheers India’s Stand at the WTO
July 31 – Indian industry captains strongly support the stand taken by India's Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath to stand up against the developed world, to protect the livelihood of its farmers. Over the last nine days, Nath, stood up for millions of Indian farmers at the WTO in Geneva and refused to compromise over measures to protect farmers in developing countries from greater liberalization of trade.
RBI Policy Seeks to Reign in Inflation
July 30 – India's central bank acted to clamp down on the country's soaring inflation yesterday by aggressively tightening key interest rates and bringing in curbs on lending.
It also lowered the projection for India's economic growth from 8.5 percent to around 8 percent.
The Reserve Bank of India increased its benchmark interest rate – the rate at which it makes short-term loans to commercial banks – half a point to 9 percent. This was a quarter more than analysts had expected and puts rates at a seven-year high.
At the same time it increased the so-called cash reserve ratio, or the share of deposits that banks must keep on hand, by 25 basis points, to 9 percent. Experts told The Independant that both steps can help lower inflation.
