Other Briefings
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.
Foreign Investors Concerned About India’s Rising Violence
July 28 – Bombs rocked two Indian cities in the last two days, killing more than 50 and injuring several hundred. While the culprits have still not been identified, authorities claim the unprofessionally made bombs were meant to create animosity and unstability in the subcontinent.
India's ruling coalition recently won a trust vote after a large minority led by the Communist Party of India pulled out of the government. The same government is up for elections again next year, when their five-year term ends. Bombs, just before elections, as a means of creating unstability are unfortunately becoming more common in India, as terrorist fractions plan to divide the country on communal grounds.
Finally the World Listens To India…
July 25 – As India's trade and bargaining power rises globally, Indian politicians are learning how to stand up for the 1.2 billion Indians that are just begining to see the effects of globalization.
Recently at the Doha Round of free trade talks in Geneva, Kamal Nath, India's Commerce minister, is believed to have disagreed with the U.S and E.U on all accounts of trade subsidies in favour of the rich develped nations – The Wall Street Journal said of this:
The result on Wednesday was a 12-hour session that EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson called "some of the most difficult and confrontational negotiations" of his four-year term. The reason, according to European, U.S. and Brazilian officials: Mr. Nath. "He just sat there and said 'No' for 12 straight hours," a trade official said. Kamal Nath was part of the seven negotiaters chosen from 30 WTO delegates, the other negotiaters were – the U.S., the European Union, China, Brazil, Australia and Japan.
The Man of the Moment: Manmohan
July 23 – Seventeen years after Manmohan Singh "libralized" India's economy leading the nation to attain Asian superpower status, he's once again proven that as a visionary he knows whats needed for India's development and that he's got the nation's support.
After two gruelling days in Parliment house, where leaders of the ruling coalition UPA party fought tooth and nail with their opposition, Manmohan Singh's UPA party won the trust vote by 19 votes. The ruling coalition secured 275 votes as against 256 by the Opposition. As many as 10 members were absent or abstained from voting. The emergency need for a trust vote was called for when the left parties, a large minority in the ruling coalition decided to withdraw from the government as Manmohan Singh agreed to sigh the nuclear deal with America.
