Other Briefings
FDI rises to US$25 billion in 2007-08
June 17 – Foreign direct investment into India has surged to over US$25 billion in 2007-08 and the country's Foreign Exchange Reserve crossed US$341 billion as of on Tuesday, Ashwani Kumar, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry the Hindustan Times reported.
To support his argument of the sustainability of GDP growth of over 8 per cent in the long run, he observed that India had the advantage of a huge young workforce (24 percent of the population are below the age of 28 years, 54 percent of the population are in the working group) and a very high savings and investment rate (over 35 percent of GDP).
Obama or McCain – Who Will Be Better For India?
June 12 – With the Barack Obama winning the democratic seat, and John McCain being his only rival, its time India decided which candidate its going to root for. The next five years are crucial to India-US relations as the world gets smaller and the economies more inter dependant. The Sunday Times of India ran an interesting piece on which potential U.S. president would be best for India. Exercpts –
While Conventional wisdom in Indian circles is that a McCain win will result in a broad continuation of Bush administration policies, including a possible revival of the US-India nuclear deal in the event of a favourable political alignment and atmosphere after the general elections. Beyond that, US-India ties, at least from Washington's perspective, would continue to be largely security driven, subject to conservative impulses arising from fears of an extremist Islamist agenda to India's west and an expanding Chinese influence everywhere. Obama on the other hand promises to be different, he will bring in fresh informed change to the region.
Investment gets hotter in India
June 6 – Following China, Central Europe and Western Europe, India has been ranked the fourth most attractive investment destination in a survey of 834 respondents across the world. The survey conducted by Ernst and Young found the South Asian country being preferred in terms of prospects of alternative business locations, according to the Economic Times.
While China received 47 per cent votes, Central Europe and Western Europe got 42 per cent and 33 per cent votes respectively. With 30 per cent votes, India emerged ahead of the US and Russia, which received 21 per cent votes each.
Exports Rise 32 percent to US$14 billion in April
June 3 – India's export growth accelerated in April as companies shipped more gems, jewelry, oil and other manufactured products to overseas markets, reported Bloomberg.
Shipments jumped 31.5 percent to US$14.4 billion from a year earlier, faster than March's 26.6 percent gain, the government said in a statement in New Delhi today. Imports in April rose 36.6 percent to US$24.3 billion, widening the trade deficit to an all-time high of US$9.87 billion.
ArcelorMittal Plan US$20Billion India Foray
June 2 – Global steel giant ArcelorMittal will spend at least $20 billion setting up two new integrated steel plants in India from 2009 onwards, company executives told CNN.
The two projects, based in the eastern states of Orissa and Jharkhand, will be the largest foreign direct investments yet seen in India and will add 24 million tonnes of annual steel production capacity.
Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal is the world's biggest steel maker, with annual capacity of 120 million tonnes, but has no presence yet in the fast-growing Indian market.
Consumer Good Prices rise in India
May 27 – India's consumer goods companies are hiking prices across categories as they battle rising costs of commodities such as steel, copper and oil, which are inputs for their products, company officials told Reuters.
Videocon Industries, Mirc Electronics, which owns the Onida brand, Whirlpool of India and Samsung India are among home appliance makers who have either raised prices or plan to do it in coming weeks.
EU Investment in India Highest Amongst BRIC Countries
May 20 – The flow of European cash into Indian firms surged more than fourfold last year, jumping to 10.9 billion euros (US$17.0 billion) last year, up from US$2.5 billion in 2006, Eurostat told AFP. Among the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries, India emerged as the largest source of foreign direct investment for the European Union in 2007, thanks to high value takeover deals like Tata-Corus.
Meanwhile, the flow of EU foreign direct investment (FDI) into China — excluding Hong Kong — slumped last year to 1.8 billion euros from 6.0 billion euros in 2006 despite intense media interest in the country as an emerging Asian economic power.
HSBC Buys 73 percent of IL&FS Investsmart
May 19 – British banking company HSBC Holdings has expressed interest to buy 73.2 percent of IL&FS Investsmart, an Indian brokerage firm, for 10.03 billion rupees (US$235 million).
HSBC will acquire 43.85% from a Mauritius-based unit of E*Trade Financial Corp and the rest from the Indian brokerage's founder, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services, for Rs 200 a share, HSBC said in a statement e-mailed from Hong Kong. "India presents a huge scope for its large savings to be invested in equities, debt and commodities," said Dipak Acharya, who helps manage the equivalent of $22 million as a fund manager at BOB Asset Management Co in Mumbai, reported the Times of India.
