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[Bushroda]

Strengthen India-Japan ties
By GEETHANJALI NATARAJ
Special to The Japan Times

Japan and India are two of the largest democracies in Asia, sharing a commitment to the rule of law and respect for human rights. Japan and India have continued to develop friendly relations founded on a long history of exchanges.

With a view to further enhance their friendly cooperative relations, both countries agreed to the Japan-India Global Partnership in August 2000 on the occasion of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's visit to India. Furthermore, the two countries issued a joint statement called the "Japan-India Partnership in a New Asian Era" on the occasion of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to India in 2005.

It is expected that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will carry forward the agenda that his predecessors have laid. Nevertheless, the current state of economic relations between the two countries shows their potential has not been fully harnessed when compared to the role they are expected to play.

The total amount of trade between Japan and India has been rising since 2002, reaching approximately $ 5 billion in 2004. Bilateral trade figures have continued to remain positive and Japan is among India's top five trading partners. Total trade between India and Japan was close to $ 6 billion in 2005-06.

India's service exports of software to Japan have grown dramatically in recent years, marking a 65 percent increase in 2005 alone. At the same time, there have been no change in traditional major exports of commodities such as gems, marine products and iron ore. Manufactured goods such as automobile components still constitute a large proportion of India's imports from Japan.

In this backdrop, the challenge is to diversify the trade structure. A robust economy always generates robust interest. India has now become a point of discussion in all forums across the world. Going by the number of Japanese delegation visits to India in the recent past, India now figures as a significant spot on the Japanese investment radar. Little wonder then that Japan has now been identified as the third-largest foreign direct investment (FDI) contributor to India from 1991 to July 2006. Japan's cumulative FDI inflow in to India for this period has been $ 2.153 billion, which accounts for approximately 6 percent of total FDI inflows for the period.

As engagement between the two countries increases, the year 2007 has been declared the Indo-Japan friendship Year. The year has begun on a promising note with Japanese companies investing around $ 299.8 million in India over the past two months. Japanese FDI into India during 2005-07 has been to the tune of $ 1.8 billion. Not only Japanese FDI, equity investment from Japan into India is also on the rise, touching almost $ 4.9 billion. Thus there are high expectations for the future.

As the birthplace of Buddhism, India is home to Buddhist ruins with which Japanese people are familiar, as well as many famous world heritage sites. For this reason, India's tourism development is a sector in which the potential for Japan-India cooperation is high. Japan, through official development assistance, is providing cooperation in the conservation of ruins and the development of tourism at various sites. It is expected that this assistance will serve to promote tourism cooperation between Japan and India and lead to the revival of the tourism industry in both countries.

Signs of closer Japan-India economic relations are everywhere. This is for the simple reason that, in the new Asian era, Japan and India need each other. This brings to the fore the role of China, a major economic player in the region. India favors a triangular relationship with China and Japan, but apparently it is hard to convince China of this viewpoint.

India understands that China-Japan relations are far more crucial to Japan than Japan-India relations. This is obvious as China has replaced the United States as Japan's largest trading partner. This has been corroborated by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to China after first coming to power — before his visit to the U.S. Japanese experts justify this on the grounds of China's geographical proximity to Japan and the fact that Abe's visit to China was more symbolic amid growing public sentiments to make an effort to normalize relations between the two countries.

India's interest in Japan is also attributable to its "look East policy," which includes Australia. China may construe this as an indirect U.S. nudge to Japan to strengthen ties with India. Undoubtedly, India aspires to a deeper partnership between the U.S., Japan, India and Australia, but this in no way undermines relations with other countries in the region.

In the changing international environment, China, Japan and India cannot afford to mistrust each other. It is imperative that we coexist peacefully and engage in strong economic ties to increase the prosperity of the region as a whole and project a united force to the Western powers, and simultaneously strengthen bilateral ties with each other.

To deepen economic relations between Japan and India, it is important to bolster comprehensive cooperative relations in a wide range of sectors besides trade and investment, such as information technology, science and engineering technology, energy, environmental protection, and people-to-people exchanges.

It cannot be overemphasized that stronger Indo-Japan ties could serve to counterbalance China's growing power in the region; hence, a big "konnichi-wa" to India-Japan economic cooperation.

Geethanjali Nataraj is visiting researcher at Asian Development Bank Institute, Tokyo.

 

[Bushroda]

Gulf Finance seeks to raise $395 mn for India project
The Energy City cluster concept provides a complete business infrastructure to both local and foreign oil and gas producers

Dubai: Bahrain-based Gulf Finance House (GFH), the promoter of the Energy City project in India, has started wooing investors for the project with the launch of its $395 million (Rs1,394 crore) private placement to raise the equity required to fund the development. The investment is expected to yield a total return of at least 75% over three years. The equity issue is being underwritten by Kuwait Investment Co (KIC).

Energy City India is the second Energy City in a series of energy-focused business clusters planned across West Asia and Asia. Energy City India will occupy a prime site of 600 acres at New Mumbai in Maharashtra.

The project will be located within a few kilometres from New Mumbai’s upcoming international airport, which upon completion will be both the largest and busiest in Asia. The project site is also located along the Mumbai-Pune expressway, being developed by the government as a key business corridor.

The Energy City cluster concept provides a complete business infrastructure to both local and foreign oil and gas producers, as well as downstream refiners and producers, and businesses involved in shipping, energy trading and support services.

Esam Janahi, chief executive officer and board member of GFH, said in a statement that the Energy City India private placement offers regional investors with an opportunity to participate in the tremendous prospects being offered by the Indian economy, which is growing at a rate of over 9.2% per annum.

The private placement initiative, which is currently under way, is only open to institutional investors, and has a minimum subscription level of $250,000, with subsequent investments in multiples of $50,000.

 

[Bushroda]

China, India ahead of S'pore in race for pharmaceutical investments: PwC
By Christie Loh, TODAY | Posted: 21 May 2007 1051 hrs

SINGAPORE: Even as the Government injects large doses of resources to grow the life sciences industry, Singapore is apparently not the top choice for the majority of drug firms looking for places to pump their money into.

According to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), “China and India head the list of target countries for expansion, with Singapore and South Korea next in the sights of multinational corporations (MNCs)”.

This assertion, not backed up by statistics, is based on interviews with 185 executives from MNCs and Asia-started pharmaceutical companies between January and March.

The telephone interviews found that “a-third of MNCs already in the region have plans to immediately expand within the next year, either through their own ‘greenfield’ sites or acquisitions”, PwC said in its report released yesterday.

Asia’s domestic drug companies are also looking beyond the walls at home, with 65 per cent of them saying it is important to increase global market share. “The race is very much on between countries to lure international pharmaceutical players to set up base in their respective territories by offering grants, incentives and infrastructure support,” said PwC.

For the region’s two emerging giants, price has been the key proposition. “China and India have emerged as major suppliers of several bulk drugs, producing these at lower prices compared to the formulation producers worldwide,” the report said.

India houses 85 United States-government approved plants for active product ingredients and formulation — the biggest such number outside America.

In China, major pharmaceutical MNCs are drawn to the nation’s “highly skilled, low-cost workforce and the enormous potential Chinese market”.

Said PwC: “By the middle of the century, drug sales in China are forecast to outstrip those in every other region.”

Singapore is not without its pluses. “Its growth as a base for pharmaceutical activities is boosted by the country’s intellectual property right protection record and pro-active Government policy, which aims to develop the biomedical science cluster as one of the key pillars of the economy,” PwC Singapore’s pharmaceutical and healthcare leader Abhijit Ghosh said.

These qualities could stand Singapore in good stead as the world’s drug industry evolves. “So far much of the focus has been on outsourcing drug manufacturing but increasingly, companies are turning their attention to R&D(research and development) and clinical trials,” said PwC. - TODAY/fa

 

[Neo]

Viacom, India’s TV-18 to set up entertainment firm

MUMBAI: Global media conglomerate Viacom and India’s media TV-18 group announced on Tuesday plans to set up an entertainment company that will be involved in television, film and digital media. The announcement of the 50-50 joint venture, to be known as Viacom-18, comes amid a boom in India’s television entertainment sector with dozens of new channels expected to launch by the end of 2007. “India is one of Viacom’s priority markets for expansion,” Viacom chief executive Philippe Dauman told reporters. US-based Viacom owns Hollywood studios Paramount and DreamWorks and the Nickleodeon channel.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=57149

 

[Neo]

India must deepen reforms to sustain growth: WTO

GENEVA: India must carry out further reforms in agriculture, and open up the country’s maritime transport and energy sector to competition if it is to sustain its “impressive” economic growth, the World Trade Organisation said on Wednesday.

Continued structural reform would also help create productive employment for new entrants to the labour force, helping India reap a “demographic dividend,” with one third of its population currently aged below 18, a WTO report said.

The WTO said in its Trade Policy Review on the South Asian country that India’s economy is expected to grow over nine percent in 2006/07, building on “impressive” growth averaging over seven percent between 2001/02 and the present day.

Growth has largely been driven by unilateral trade and structural reforms, with the services sector playing a prominent role. Manufacturing has also performed well, despite some infrastructure constraints.

By contrast, “agriculture growth continues to be slow and erratic.causing considerable distress, especially among small and marginal farmers,” the WTO warned.

The agriculture sector employs around 60 per cent of the working population but is be-devilled by low productivity, at only around one sixth of its level in the rest of the economy, according to the review.

Meanwhile, public investment in agricultural infrastructure and research has been inadequate due to excessive spending on direct and indirect subsidies to farmers, the WTO noted.

Infrastructure remains a “major bottleneck” across all of India’s economy, the trade policy review said. Whilst competition has been increased in telecoms and some transport sectors, maritime transport and port services continue to suffer from inefficencies.

This constitutes “a major impediment to trade,” the WTO said. The energy sector also needs reform, as there are frequent shortages of supply, and little progress seems to have been made in tackling the losses of state electricity boards, it said.

India’s tax-to-GDP ratio is relatively low and “seemingly insufficient to meet its developmental needs,” the review noted.

This is compounded by a “disappointing” level of foreign direct investment (FDI) at around just one percent of GDP, with high real rates of interest acting as a deterrent.

The government has set up special economic zones (SEZs) to boost exports, especially in the electronics sector, but the WTO was doubtful as to their effectiveness in boosting both employment and investment.

“As many of the industries attracted appear to be capital intensive, it is not clear that this is the most effective way to create employment opportunities, especially for the less-skilled labour force,” it said.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=57315

 

[Neo]

Thursday, May 24, 2007

India’s Bharti says mobile user base tops 40m

MUMBAI: India’s top mobile services firm, Bharti Airtel Ltd., said on Wednesday its cellular user base crossed 40 million, making it the 10th company in the world to achieve the milestone in a single country.

India is the world’s fastest-growing mobile market, adding more than six million new users every month lured by call rates as low as US 1 cent a minute. The country had 166.05 million wireless subscribers at the end of March. Analysts and industry experts expect the mobile user base to triple in the next five years as only 15 percent of India’s 1.1 billion population own a mobile phone, compared with 36 percent in China.

Bharti, managed by billionaire Sunil Mittal, had 38.9 million mobile subscribers at the end of April, according to data provided by Cellular Operators’ Association of India, an industry body representing GSM carriers. One of the earliest entrants to the sector after it was opened for private players, Bharti took 11 years to reach 20 million subscribers in 2006 but just another 13 months to double the figure, the company said. reuters

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\05\24\story_24-5-2007_pg5_15

 

[Neo]

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Kobe Steel to start low-cost production in India

TOKYO: Japan’s Kobe Steel Ltd. plans to launch Indian production of steel by 2009 using its technology to keep raw material costs down to a third of current levels, a report said Wednesday.

Kobe Steel is in talks with India’s Chowgule Group to build a steel mill in the southwestern state of Goa, the Nikkei business daily reported, without identifying sources.

The mill will be able to produce 500,000 tons a year with the Japanese firm’s investment coming to 20 billion yen (165 million dollars), it said.

The two companies are expected to reach a final agreement over the next few months and begin construction by year-end, it said.

In addition to India, Kobe Steel is in talks with a US electric furnace steel maker to begin construction of a mill in the state of Minnesota by the end of this year, while considering production also in Australia, it said.

As the steel industry restructures worldwide, Japanese steel makers are also racing to go global.

Nippon Steel, the world’s second largest steel maker after the recently formed Arcelor-Mittal behemoth, is in talks with Tata Steel, one of India’s top conglomerates, to produce steel sheet for Japanese automakers operating in India as early as 2010, reports said earlier.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\05\24\story_24-5-2007_pg5_25

 

[Neo]

Thursday, May 24, 2007

India to raise roads spending, says PM

NEW DELHI: India on Wednesday pledged to dramatically step up its spending on roads in rural areas, where the government wants to boost sluggish farm growth and raise hundreds of millions of people from abject poverty.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a conference that 480 billion rupees ($11.8 billion) would now be spent on a four-year project ending in 2009 to connect 66,000 villages. “Rural road connectivity is a critical component of our overall strategy for rural development. It promotes access to economic and social services and facilitates the growth processes on our rural economy,” Singh said.

The prime minister told government officials that corruption was holding back development. “A major reason for poor quality roads is corruption and the lack of quality assurance. Corruption in road construction projects has spread like cancer to every corner of our vast country,” he said. In the fiscal year that ended in March the finance ministry pledged to spend 52 billion rupees on the rural road network.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\05\24\story_24-5-2007_pg4_17

 

[Neo]

Thursday, May 24, 2007

US, Indian experts make little progress on N-deal

WASHINGTON: US and Indian technical experts made little progress when they met in London this week in another attempt to work through persistent serious differences over a nuclear cooperation agreement, a US official said on Tuesday.

The official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters he had not received a full report on the talks but “there was not a lot of progress” when negotiators met on Monday. The much-heralded agreement would give India access to US nuclear fuel and reactors for the first time in 30 years, even though New Delhi tested nuclear weapons and never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

On May 1, the two countries claimed extensive progress during two days of talks in Washington aimed at salvaging their landmark deal, and Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, the chief US negotiator, said he would “visit India in the second half of May to reach closure.” But last week Burns postponed his trip, and the decision was made to send technical experts to London to continue working on the issues. The deal is the touchstone of new US-India relationship that Washington envisions as a pillar of 21st century international security, but its history has been rocky. Obstacles have included a US Congress mandate that Washington halt nuclear cooperation if India tests a nuclear weapon as it did in 1998.

Other disputed points have been US refusal to give India prior approval to allow reprocessing of spent fuel with US components and to assure permanent fuel supplies.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\05\24\story_24-5-2007_pg4_16

 

[Bushroda]

India can achieve 10 pc GDP in 4 yrs: Montek
PTI[ THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2007 09:43:28 PM]

NEW DELHI: India can achieve 10 per cent GDP growth in the next four years, but to achieve the same it will have to propel growth of the agriculture sector to at least 4 per cent, the Planning Commission said on Thursday.

"If we have a list of things to do, then we should be able to achieve a growth of 10 per cent, if not in the next two years then within the next four years," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said at the CII National Conference on inclusive growth.

He said half-a-dozen developing nations have transformed into highly growing economies and the Commission believed that India was close to achieving 10 per cent growth.

Arguing that key issue to be addressed in promoting the growth of the economy was to infuse fresh lease of life in the farm sector. In terms of inclusiveness the country should achieve 4 per cent growth in agriculture to propel the overall growth.

Another issue was to ensure much better growth in the manufacturing sector, which had the potential to generate employment, Ahluwalia said and pointed out that growth in the organised sector was crucial to facilitate growth of the economy.

The Deputy Chairman also cited that the infrastructure growth was also imperative to enable the small scale enterprises to flourish in the country to generate employment in the rural areas.

"Inclusiveness doesn't only mean that poverty was going down, it should be inclusive and we will have to ensure employment in the rural areas also," he opined.

There was much need to address the problems in the sector, failing which the desired environment cannot be created to promote inclusiveness, Ahluwalia pointed out.

 

[Bushroda]

India's prime minister challenges business leaders to improve the lives of poor
By Sam Dolnick
ASSOCIATED PRESS

5:20 a.m. May 24, 2007

NEW DELHI – Prime Minister Manmohan Singh challenged business leaders Thursday to ensure the poor benefit from India's economic boom, and to shun the West's “wasteful lifestyles” of greed and conspicuous consumption.

“Such vulgarity insults the poverty of the less privileged,” Singh said at the annual conference of the Confederation of Indian Industry, a leading business group.

He promised to continue fostering a business-friendly environment, but said businesses that have benefited from the boom must do more to improve conditions for ordinary people. Nearly 40 percent of the 1.1 billion people in India live on less than $1 a day.
“We cannot afford the wasteful lifestyles of the Western world,” Singh said. “It is socially wasteful and it plants seeds of resentment in the minds of the have-nots.”

Economic growth has surged since India changed from a closed, heavily regulated socialist economy. Its gross domestic product – the total value of goods and services products in the country – has grown by more than 8 percent annually in the past four years, fueled by an outsourcing and technology boom.

A new class of incredibly wealthy Indians can now afford luxurious foreign vacations, high-end fashions and imported cars, and spend huge amounts on weddings.

Singh – who as India's finance minister in the early 1990s was widely credited with setting off its economic transformation – decried “ostentatious expenditures,” and said rising unchecked inequality could lead to social, environmental and economic problems if left unchecked.

He urged executives to resist giving themselves and their colleagues large salaries, and accused “cartels of groups of companies” of conspiring to keep commodity prices high.

“Even profit maximization should be within the bounds of decency,” he said.

“This is not an imported Western management notion,” he said. “It is part of our cultural heritage,” referring to Mohandas Gandhi's belief that the wealthy are obliged to provide for the poor.

 

[Bushroda]

OECD retains 9 percent growth forecast for India
From correspondents in Paris, France, 08:02 PM IST

India and China would continue to witness 'buoyant economic activity', the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said Thursday, while predicting soft landing in the US and strong recovery in Europe.

'Recent rapid economic growth is expected to continue and be close to 9 percent, despite a poor performance from the agricultural sector,' the organisation said of India in its latest Economic Outlook, which is released twice each year.

The organisation, which has the membership of 30 rich nations, said investments in India have been particularly buoyant during this expansion, contributing to a substantial increase in the economy's potential growth rate.

'Monetary and fiscal policies have both become tighter which will lead to slower growth in the non-agricultural sector,' the report warned, but added that normal harvest should limit the extent of the slowdown in the whole economy.

The report said inflation, which is the main cause for worry for the government, would remain stable at 5 percent, current account would reach 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and the combined fiscal deficit of the centre and states should be around 6 percent of GDP by 2008, which is in line with targets.

'With a wide-ranging programme of structural reform, it would be possible to increase potential growth above its current pace of 8-8.5 percent,' it said, adding further fiscal consolidation was needed to ensure higher savings.

Twice a year, the OECD Economic Outlook analyses the major trends and examines the economic policies required to foster high and sustainable growth in member countries and some selected non-members such as China and India.

 

[Bushroda]

World is focussing on India's future: GE chief
"India has become the cynosure of global economy and the world is increasingly focussing on its future, says Scott Bayman, president and chief executive of GE India, a wholly owned subsidiary of the US-based conglomerate General Electric."

India has become the cynosure of global economy and the world is increasingly focussing on its future, says Scott Bayman, president and chief executive of GE India, a wholly owned subsidiary of the US-based conglomerate General Electric.

'It is India's time and India's future is coming into focus,' Bayman said at a conference, 'Inclusive Growth: Challenges for Corporate India', organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in the capital Thursday.

He said India has advantage over China in terms of efficient use of capital, presence of a well-regulated financial system and a well-entrenched private sector and the presence of world-class executives.

He added that sectors such as telecom and civil aviation have significantly contributed to India's growth story.

The telecom revolution in India has been one of the most important aspects of India's economic growth, leading to the addition of 18 million fixed-line subscribers and 17 million mobile connections during 2000-2005.

Quoting a Grant Thorton study, Bayman said Indian industry has been witness to 72 international takeovers amounting to $24 billion.

He also noted that an effective public-private partnership approach would enable the revamp of the Indian airports that will further accelerate the growth of its civil aviation industry.

 

[Bushroda]

INDIA: A NEW PLAYER IN CENTRAL ASIA?
By John C.k. Daly
Thursday, May 24, 2007


As Washington's relations with Kyrgyzstan go from bad to worse, especially since the December 6, 2006, shooting of Kyrgyz national Alexander Ivanov at the U.S. air base at Manas, a new player is emerging in Central Asia’s “Great Game” -- India (Radio Azattyk, May 24).

While the United States has faced criticism from its hosts in Kyrgyzstan and closed its base in Uzbekistan, India could be an attractive partner for Central Asian states. One advantage that the Indian military has over its U.S. counterparts is the fact that about 70% of its equipment is of Soviet or Russian origin, which allows it commonality with what the five Central Asian “stans” deploy.

India has recently refurbished the airbase at Ayni (also known as Farkhor), six miles northeast of Dushanbe, Tajikistan’s capital. The new airbase will be operated under a trilateral joint agreement with Russia and Tajikistan. The airbase, which had been shuttered since 1985, was instrumental in the Soviet campaign in Afghanistan. The base is a first for India -- its first foreign base and its first in Central Asia. The facility will doubtless be closely monitored by both Pakistan and China.

India initially plans only to base a squadron of MiG-17 V1 helicopters at Ayni. Unlike Russia, which currently bases fighters there, for the moment New Delhi has no intention of basing fixed-wing aircraft there.

Indian improvements to the base cost more than $10 million and include building hangars as well as repairing and extending the runway.

Negotiations for Indian use of the base were finalized in April 2002 when Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes signed a bilateral agreement during a visit to Dushanbe. He initially brought up the possibility of basing two squadrons of frontline MiG-29s aircraft at Ayni, but in subsequent discussions the Indian force was downgraded to a single helicopter squadron.

The deal triggered high-level diplomatic protests by Islamabad, which maintained that the agreement was part of New Delhi’s attempt to “encircle” Pakistan.

India's interest in acquiring the base was heightened by Pakistan's decision to close its airspace to India in 2001-2002, a period of crisis. In the 1990s, during the Afghan civil war, both Tajikistan and India opposed the Pakistan-backed Taliban regime, throwing their diplomatic weight behind the Northern Alliance. Besides diplomatic support India also quietly helped to maintain the Northern Alliance’s miniscule fleet of helicopters.

The Indian presence has significant strategic implications, as Pakistan is only about 20 miles away. Afghanistan's Wakkan Corridor separates Tajikistan from Pakistan’s volatile Northwest Frontier Province.

India's gradual integration into Central Asian military structures began in 2006, when New Delhi, along with Mongolia and Pakistan, acquired observer status in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The SCO currently comprises China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. SCO Secretary-General Bolat Nurgaliev recently said, “Against the backdrop of what has been happening in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Middle East, the stable development of SCO member states and India, their multilateral cooperation can become an important factor in the process of building a just and equal world order” (Udayavani, May 23). Ironically, two years ago, following Uzbekistan’s bloody suppression of the Andijan uprising, the SCO issued a statement calling on the U.S.-led anti-terrorist coalition to set a deadline for ending its use of Central Asian bases and air space in member states. Such permission had been granted in the aftermath of 9/11.

The deployment is yet another sign of the strength of Russian-Indian relations. India remains Russia's largest export market for armaments, receiving approximately 40% of its arms imports from Moscow. The new Indian presence in Tajikistan is dwarfed by the Russian armed forces currently stationed there, which total nearly 11,000 troops.

India's Central Asian ambitions are not confined to Tajikistan; in Afghanistan many large reconstruction contracts are being awarded to Indian companies, including a major roadway to Iran’s Chahbahar port, a development that runs counter to Pakistani interests. Another major Indian transport project in Afghanistan is the construction of the 135-mile Zaranj-Delaram road in southwestern Afghanistan, which will allow New Delhi to gain better access to the energy wealth of Central Asia (Times of India, April 25).

It is unclear how other regional players, particularly Pakistan and China, will view the new Indian military initiative. India's airbase will both allow it to assist stability efforts in Afghanistan as well as provide a potential base for combating Islamic fundamentalism, both goals shared by Washington.

At this point, India's entrance into Central Asia is more symbolic than significant; however, given the rising strength economy, Delhi's interest in Central Asia can only deepen with time.

 

[Neo]

Friday, May 25, 2007

India to raise 1m ‘skilled’ workers

By Iftikhar Gilani

NEW DELHI: Indian Cabinet on Thursday cleared a Rs 550-crore centrally-sponsored “skill development initiative” scheme to raise the workforce of one-million “certified” skilled workers in five years to meet the demand from the economic boom.

About 200 modules for employable skills as per industry and labour market demands would be identified and course curriculum developed and those undergoing these courses would be certified under the scheme. The minimum age limit to take part in the scheme is 15 years while there is no upper age ceiling. Anyone who has passed fifth standard can join the courses. The essence of the scheme is in the certification that will be nationally recognised by both the government agencies and industry and trade organisations, officials said, pointing out that those undergoing courses will be certified by independent assessing agencies that are not involved in training to ensure impartiality.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\05\25\story_25-5-2007_pg4_19