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India: Borrowing from China's Playbook

Despite vastly different styles of government, Delhi is looking to Beijing for ideas on keeping up and balancing the wealth

A four-hour road trip from Delhi to Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal, offers a crash course in economic disparity. It's not that India's capital is a beacon of conspicuous wealth, it's just that the rural population has clearly been sidelined from the country's economic growth.

India's recent expansion has been impressive. Since 2002, GDP has risen 7.5% per year or more. In 2005 and 2006, it hit 9% and 9.2% respectively. At the beginning of this year, economists spoke of India and China's growth being neck-and-neck, while investment bank Credit Suisse went as far as to do say India would overtake China for the first time, posting 10% and 9.9% growth respectively.

Four months later, this scenario looks unlikely, as China continues to power ahead. But India seems more than capable of staying in the race. It is pursuing the infrastructure development and foreign investment that have formed the bedrock of Beijing's economic plan while at the same time expanding into areas that have underperformed in the past, particularly agriculture.

"The growth momentum has picked up substantially," said Dr Amitendu Palit of the India Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), a policy think tank.

"In the last four years growth has been more than 8% and, in the last two years, over 9%. Three years ago we had not expected we would grow at 9%. What would be the rate of growth five years from now? It might even be 12%."

Stuck in a rut

Since India launched economic reforms in 1991, growth has been disproportionately urban and this has created myriad stumbling blocks. Many of these are encountered—quite literally—on the road to Agra, where potholes are ubiquitous, crashes common and traffic routinely brought to a standstill. Crossing the border between Haryana and Uttar Pradesh states, dozens of trucks sit idle waiting for permission to move.

Throughout the country, crowds, delays and ramshackle infrastructure are the norm. In many places outside of a handful of cities, reliable power is little more than an elusive dream.

This poor infrastructure, said Palit, is a bottleneck that could slow down growth and has created demand-led inflationary pressures, particularly in food, as there is no consistency to product delivery.

Meanwhile, below the tip of the population iceberg occupied by India's famed army of accountants and computer programmers, a third of people can't read or write. For many of the country's lower class—and lower cast—young, school is a luxury they can ill afford.

"In 1997, the dream was to tell the world that we are ready to join the world," India's finance minister, Shri Chidambaram, told reporters after releasing the yearly budget on February 28. "In 2007, the dream is to tell the people of India that they are part of the growth process.

"There is no dearth of funds. There is no dearth of schemes. The only thing now is to achieve the expected outcomes."

The annual budget is the most significant economic statement the government makes every year. It is the culmination of a high-intensity process that includes television shows, newspaper supplements, countless interviews, photo ops, speeches and press conferences. Industry groups lobby to get concessions and preferential treatment, associations push their agendas and critics tear the document apart looking for flaws.

India's budget process is very public and very loud—it is able to bring down governments.

The economic policies Chidambaram put forward this year offered little new in terms of perks or protections for industry. Instead, he focused on two main themes that reach out to the core of India's population that has been left behind: agriculture and education.

The following day, Chidambaram challenged business leaders to stand on their own with decreasing government protection. Promising a reduction in import tariffs, a move that will further open the domestic economy to foreign competition, he said industry is now strong enough to flourish in the global market.

"I don't fully agree with that," said T. S. Vishwanath, head of international trade policy with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), who had been hoping his members would receive more government backing.

This view was echoed by CII president R. Seshasayee as he noted that "with the economy moving at a good clip, we would have expected more of a boost".

Other comments from India's business elite were quick and cutting. Lobbyists denounced a new tax on cement, saying that it would lead to the industry's collapse. Representatives from the auto and manufacturing industries complained that little had been done to help them.

Chidambaram has the numbers on his side, though. Last year, manufacturing was India's main growth driver as the sector expanded by 11.3%. Services also performed well, rising by 11.2%. Agriculture, on the other hand, grew 2.3%—well below its 4% target.

This weakness in the agricultural sector, exacerbated by low infrastructure investment, was what made economists revise their January growth predictions.

India spends a mere 4-5% of GDP on infrastructure. Increasing this to 8% could send economic growth into 12% territory, according to ICRIER's Palit.

"Without infrastructure it will be very difficult to support industrial development," he said.

Emerging elite

The lack of infrastructure has not stopped the rise of an urban middle class in India, most of whom are getting rich on the back of a small segment of ballooning manufacturing and service industries.

According to a JPMorgan study, 68% of India's urban households live on less than US$3,000 per year and this number could fall to 42% by 2015. Meanwhile, the segment earning US$3,000-5,000 will grow from 20% to 30% and the US$5,000-10,000 bracket will expand from 9% to 21%.

This is the consumer base targeted by foreign companies keen to take advantage of Chidambaram's lower import tariffs.

The challenge in building up a business focused on this expanding group of potential customers is creating India-centric products coupled with marketing strategies targeted at a very diverse population splintered along ethnic and regional lines. This is something Indian industry learned to do a long time ago but foreign multinationals are figuring it out as they go.

Haier, the uniquely successful Chinese household appliance maker, has tried to live by this philosophy. Since it first entered the market in 2004, the company has grown many times over. Sales multiplied up to eight times in 2005 and jumped 25% in 2006, all fueled by some idiosyncratic buying patterns.

"When a person has money the first think he buys is a television," explained Pranay Dhabhai, COO of Haier Appliances (India). The second thing he buys is a moped or a scooter—he wants to graduate from the bicycle. Then it is housing, then a refrigerator. Washing machines and dishwashers come way, way down."

Haier's Delhi offices occupy three floors of a stand-alone building in a business park on the city outskirts. The company has, to date, not manufactured directly in India but subcontracted to local firms, although an as-yet unannounced refrigerator production base is planned.

Its fastest-growing category is air conditioners, with sales growing at 25% per year; other products grow at 7-8%.

Aiming Haier

India is a relatively small market for Haier compared to China, the US or Europe, but the company sees massive potential. For Dhabhai, the country today is very much where China was circa 1995.

"We look at India as one of our key markets," he said.

This appetite for consumer durables is likely to be driven higher by easier access to financing. More credit facilities make it easier for low income families to buy more expensive products by spending a few hundred rupees a month instead of several thousand in one shot.

At the same time, it makes more sense to buy a refrigerator when there is a constant and reliable electricity supply, so slowly improving infrastructure will also help drive Haier's sales.

There are enormous challenges, though. While the feeling is generally one of barely guarded optimism, India's economic imbalances must be addressed.

Much as China has employed an incentive-led approach to drive investment into its western regions, the agriculture provisions in India's latest budget signal the start of large-scale efforts to spread the growth out into the countryside.

The China solution

This is just one way in which Delhi is looking to emulate China's growth, albeit with Indian characteristics, given the differences that arise from very different social and political systems.

"China was led by investment, India was led by consumption. But I think in India, slowly, slowly, investment is increasing. And in China too, consumption is increasing," said Basanta Pradhan, a professor of economics at the Institute for Economic Growth in Delhi.

When it comes to implementing change, the differences between the two are driven largely by political realities.

Chinese leaders face internal pressures as they balance the often conflicting agendas of local, provincial and central government, but they wield great influence and their decisions are rarely held answerable to public scrutiny and never to the electoral process.

Decisions in India, meanwhile, have to be made through compromise. Politicians are open to criticism from a vocal press and subject to the whims of an unpredictable electorate at the polls.

There are constant power struggles, not only between the states and the federal government but also between the myriad political parties.

The budget process highlighted these difficulties as Chidambaram went out on a limb to spread the wealth but lost political capital with industry lobbyists and the politicians who champion their cause.

The finance minister may find himself under further pressure as he pushes forward with further reforms, namely to create more urban centers where now there are none, boost agriculture, create more manufacturing bases and allow more foreign investment.

In short, they must do all the things China started doing in 1979.

"We are a large country by population so it's very important that the kind of growth you have creates new employment opportunities," said Palit.

"You have to think about mass production and manufacturing—something similar to what China has done."

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/apr2007/gb20070405_017517.htm
 
Yes ,in fact does pakistan and china should put their economics first ,in that

case country can have enough money to update their army instantly.
 
Now china economic scale it's half of Japan and one of fifth of

American's ,maybe china has became a leaders of world economic of top 5 ,I

don't konw the place of Indian in world economic competion .
 
Hotel chains firm up investment plans

MUMBAI: Starwood Hotels & Resorts, one of the world's leading hotel and leisure companies, for the first time is loosening its purse strings to invest in India. This signifies a major shift in the hotel chains' strategy.

For the last 36 years, it has operated in the country by franchising its brands, Sheraton and Le-Meridien, for a fee.

Unlike sectors like retail and real estate, where foreign direct investment is restricted, in hotels 100% FDI has been allowed since 2001.

Despite this, the business has barely attracted $500 million in investments. Certainly, not much home to write about.

For the first time though, things seem to be changing. Says Thomas J Monahan, senior V-P at Starwood Hotels, "We are looking to invest in properties and talking to owners of our existing properties. We may also partner with others to bring our other brands into the country. It is unlikely we will own 100% in any single property, 20-25% is more like it."

Starwood has nine properties under the Sheraton brand name and eight under Le Meridien operating in the country. It will soon unveil its mid-market brand Aloft.

Monahan, however, refused to divulge the sum allocated for the investment purpose. Starwood is not the only one intending to pump in money. There are others too.

Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), the world's largest hotel group by number of rooms, is not averse to investing in building rooms.

Says Markus Mueller, area director, IHG, "We are primarily a hotel management company and do not actively invest in assets. However, there are exceptions and we do support key flagship properties."

IHG, which has Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Candlewood Suites as brands under its umbrella, picked up a stake in the 59-room Intercontinental Hotel, situated at Marine Drive in Mumbai after being in the country for close to four decades and lending its brand names to 14 hotels.

Explaining the shift, an executive from hotel consultancy firm Mahajan & Aibara said, "Foreign hotel chains are willing to put in money so that the property owner/developer doesn't become a part of another hotel chain. This is because with India emerging as a key destination for almost all the hotel chains, they do not want to miss out on good opportunities in terms of location and positioning."

According to Rajeev Talwar, group executive director of DLF, which has a JV with Hilton Hotels: "When a foreign hotel chain invests, they are more committed to deliver results."

DLF Hilton's first hotel is expected to open doors in December. Hilton holds a 24% stake and has made an investment of $143 million in the JV company. The JV plans to develop and own 75 hotels and serviced apartments over the next seven years.

"Given demand and supply mismatch of rooms, tariffs and margins are high. That explains interest shown by hotel chains to invest,"said Ambar Maheshwari of DTZ, a global property advisory firm.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...m_up_investment_plans/articleshow/1867964.cms
 
Ministry sends Mumbai Airport plan to Cabinet

NEW DELHI: Miffed at the lack of progress on clearing slums around the Chhatrapti Shivaji International Airport which is adding to the delay in expansion plans for the place, the aviation ministry has sent the plan for the Navi Mumbai airport to the Cabinet.

Since the International Civil Aviation Organisation has already approved the plan, the Cabinet's nod — expected this month — would pave the way for the much required second airport for Mumbai.

Top aviation ministry officials expressed 'severe' displeasure at the Maharashtra government's failure to act fast on this front.

While aviation minister Praful Patel is from the NCP, that shares power with the Congress in the state government, he is also learnt to be very unhappy with the pace of work.

"The private developer, GVK, has said it's difficult to build another runway at CST Airport in the available space that's a must to meet growing traffic. By not clearing encroachments, we are also not helping the cause. Mumbai airport is stuck from both sides. The state government promises action but is not supportive enough,"said the source.

GVK would have the first right of refusal for building the Navi Mumbai airport. "If their bid is within 10 % range of the highest bidder, then as per agreement they would get a chance to match that figure. But if they refuse to do so or the highest bidder is ahead of their bid amount, then the latter would build the new airport. AAI is not going to bid for it and it will go the private way,"said the top source.

Meanwhile, there's some development on other airports also. The Tamil Nadu government has offered 700 to 800 acres of additional land near the Chennai airport so that a second runway could come up there.

The aviation ministry is trying to get the nod to get Port Blair declared an international airport. And work on the Kolkata airport is going to begin in next three months, said the senior official.
 
IOC eyes petrochem exports to Pakistan

NEW DELHI: Flagship refiner IndianOil is in sight of opening a passage to Pakistan with its petrochemicals and base oils used for making lubricants but chances of Indian motor fuels flowing into that country still remain distant, oil ministry sources said.

At his meeting with oil minister Murli Deora on the sidelines of the 14th Saarc summit, Pakistan prime minister Shaukat Aziz sought a detailed note on IndianOil's proposal to supply petrochem, particularly PTA (an ingredient for making plastics), and lubricant-making oils from the company's Panipat refinery.

Since Pakistan freely allows import of these items, Aziz is reported to have said he saw "no problem"in sourcing them from India.

IndianOil chairman Sarthak Behuria impressed upon the Aziz Pakistan's advantage in sourcing these items from Panipat.

Pakistan now imports PTA at the Karachi port and has to haul it across great distances to upcountry consumption centres.

Importing from Panipat will save on freight as the refinery is close to Pakistan's consumption centres, particularly Lahore, and is well connected by road and rail.

IndianOil had last year exported a shipment of base oils to Pakistan from its Haldia refinery. "As a business strategy, our aim is to export lubes base and PTA — once the cracker unit gets going — from Panipat. IndianOil can supply these through rail or road transport which will be more economical for Pakistan than importing at the Karachi port,"said B M Bansal, the man incharge of seeking new business for IndianOil.

Some infrastructure for transferring the items from containers to storage tanks etc have to be created on the Pakistan side. IndianOil is seeking Islamabad's help in getting that, the ministry sources said.
 
'Services exports may touch $311b by 2012'

NEW DELHI: Driven by growth in sectors like software, business and management consultancy, exports of services in India may surpass exports of goods by 2012, says a survey released by Ficci.

"With the current rate of growth expected to continue in the nedium-term, India's exports of services will be close to $311 billion by 2012 overtaking the expected level of merchandise exports of $305 billion in that year," says Habil Khorakiwala, president, Ficci.

On calendar year basis, India currently exports more than $56 billion of services as compared to the merchandise exports of over $100 billion.

However, services exports are growing at 28% annually for the last five-six years and goods exports have increased by 22% for the same period.

The chamber analysis shows that if the current trend continues, the share of services in country's total exports would rise to about 50.4% by 2012 from the present level of 37.1%.

In first three quarters of the just concluded fiscal year exports of software services, business services, travel and transportation services have witnessed strong growth from 20-98%.

In terms of share in worldwide services exports, India is going to almost triple its share from the current 2.3% to 6% by 2012 and it will cross China's exports of services, which is currently $74 billion by 2009.

Only 10% of global IT/ITeS market has been so far realised by India and remaining $300 billion should be tapped.

India needs to press for more liberal market access within the multilateral, bilateral and regional trade agreements with Asean, Japan, Korea and EU, it said.
 
Webby, can i please request that the size of the text option be added to the quick reply menu? It makes things far easier when posting.
 
India to overtake United States by 2050: Report

MUMBAI: Productivity growth will help India sustain over 8% growth until 2020 and become the second largest economy in the world, ahead of the US, by 2050, Goldman Sachs has said, scaling up estimates of the country's prospects in its October 2003 research paper widely known as the BRICs report.

The original report had projected that India's GDP would outstrip Japan's by 2032 and that in 30 years, it would be the world's third largest economy after China and the US. The new report goes one step further by moving India up from No. 3 and No. 2 in the global sweepstakes of tomorrow.

Goldman Sachs' research arm said in a global research paper released on Monday that India's growth acceleration since 2003 represented a structural increase rather than simply a cyclical upturn. It said productivity growth drove nearly half of overall growth and expected it to continue for some years.

"We project India's potential or sustainable growth rate at about 8% until 2020. The implication is that India's contribution to world growth will be even greater (and faster) than implied in our previous BRICs research," Goldman Sachs Global Research said.

The vote of increased confidence from the world's largest investment bank, whose previous chairman Henry Paulson is now treasury secretary in the Bush administration, comes when India is easing into its new seat in the global political arena as a nuclear power and consolidating its economic might as the world's services backbone.

The paper said a turnaround in manufacturing productivity was central to the ratcheting up of productivity growth. The private sector was the principal driver of this turnaround, as it improved efficiency in the face of increased competition due to the cumulative effects of a decade of reforms.

"The underlying reasons are: increased openness to trade, investment in information and communication technology, and greater financial deepening. These factors still have some distance to run," it said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1411052.cms
 
India, China can script HP's success'

BRISBANE: India, which is yet to make a mark among countries considered 'matured markets', was the focus of all discussions at the Hewlett-Packard Software Universe meet at Brisbane where top honchos of the company got together to formulate future strategies to retain its numero uno position in the world.

For the first time after HP acquired software giant Mercury, top executives of the two companies came together with their associates and partners in a week-long networking event that unfolded the IT giant's software portfolio, promising to change the way business is done.

Speaking on the combined software strength of HP and Mercury, Thomas E Hogan — the senior vice-president responsible for all software functions of the group with a focus on linking business and IT — said India and China were the two countries that could script the company's future success in this segment.

Spread across 90 sessions, the conference and training programme gave insights into successful strategies for improving business through IT governance combined with the Mercury's application delivery system.

"Today, success depends on how well you manage time, cost and risk to business outcomes," said HP Software India head T Srinivasan.

"The IT solutions provided by HP Software enable executives to take the right decisions, cut the right costs, manage the right changes to give the best business outcomes," he added.

Srinivasan plays a major role in realising software goals of the company as head of its India operation, given the fact that Mercury has made deep inroads in the Indian market in the last couple of years with its business technology optimisation enterprise being widely used by a cross-section of industries.

Leading stock exchanges of India like BSE, NSE and NCDEX use Mercury tools for testing purposes. Recently, a leading automobile company employed Mercury tools to bring down its test cycle time and effort by more than 50%. The company is looking to move to a two-four week release cycle from a three-month release cycle earlier, an HP partner working on the project said.

Several banks and insurance companies in India are already users of Mercury tools and provide HP Software a ready market to consolidate on its strength. The company boasts of reducing hardware utilisation by 20%-30% by using its software testing tools.

The story is gaining momentum in other hot sectors like telecom with one of the leading telecom providers making significant investments in Mercury Tools to help them scale to four times their current business volumes.
(The correspondent was in Brisbane at the invitation of HP Software)
 
India can achieve 9pc growth, says Montek
(IANS)

8 April 2007

HYDERABAD — Echoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a top Indian economist reiterated here yesterday that the country could achieve sustained nine per cent economic growth, even as he cautioned that the benefits of this should be inclusive and filter down to all sections of the population.

Delivering the convocation address at the Indian School of Business (ISB) here, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said that the "biggest challenge" before economists would be their ability to cope with the change that high economic growth would bring about.

IBS, which is associated with the Kellogg School of Management, the Wharton School, and the London Business School, is a research oriented independent management institution that grooms future leaders for India and the world. A little over 400 students, a majority of them with five to six years of managerial experience, received their post-graduate diplomas at the convocation.

Noting that when the reforms process began in the early 1990s many doubted whether this would translate into economic growth, Ahluwalia said this issue had now been addressed but a different kind of "criticism" had arisen.

"We know the recipe. But will it be inclusive enough and reach every part of the country in equal measure? Thus, our focus is on faster and more inclusive growth," Ahluwalia said while referring to a subject that is dear to the prime minister's heart.

The inclusiveness apart, it had also to be ensured that economic growth impacted on the agriculture sector to ensure that it grew at four per cent against the present two per cent.

"We have to think of measures to improve productivity and income per head in the rural sector," Ahluwalia said, even as he added that "too many" people in India were engaged in agriculture and that this was the major cause of the rural-urban income divide.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/Display...l/business_April159.xml&section=business&col=
 
India eyes oil, gas in Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan

NEW DELHI: Indian state-run firms will scout for oil and gas assets in Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan during a week-long visit by junior commerce minister Jairam Ramesh from Tuesday, the government said.

ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas investment arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corp, has identified some prospects in Azerbaijan, it said in a statement on Monday. Gas transportation firm GAIL (India) Ltd has identified four natural gas exploration and production blocks in Uzbekistan, it said. Uzbekistan is one of the top natural gas producing countries in the world.

ONGC Videsh, whose Managing Director R S Butola is accompanying the minister, is also interested in investing gas fields in Uzbekistan, the government said. Azerbaijan has re-emerged as a major oil supplier with the commissioning of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, the world’s second longest oil pipeline connecting rich Caspian Sea oil reserves with the Mediterranean Sea.

In Tashkent, the commerce minister along with senior GAIL officials will hold talks with the Uzbek government on petrochemicals, liquefied petroleum gas and city gas distribution projects identified by GAIL. Other companies that will accompany the minister are State Trading Corp, National Mineral Development Corp and MMTC Ltd.

“STC is also exploring a $10 million investment in Uzbekistan for cotton-seed processing,” the government said in the statement. RITES, a unit of state-owned Indian Railways, has made proposals for modernising and expanding Uzbekistan’s railway network, it added.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=50437
 
April 10, 2007
USTR identifies trade barriers in Indian market

By Sabihuddin Ghausi

KARACHI, April 9: Even a highly competitive and organised industry in the US, the world’s biggest economy, has complained of facing insurmountable barriers in the Indian market giving a convenient excuse to Pakistan, which, in an official report, wonders the plight of the “much smaller economies of South Asia.”

“India’s tariff remains high, especially in the agricultural sector,” observes an annual report for the year 2006 of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) entitled “Significant Trade Barriers”.

The report reveals “The US producers encounter tariff and non-tariff barriers that impede their exports, despite the government of India’s economic reform programme in 1991.” It goes on to complain about the US textile industries’ concerns on “non transparent” application of tariff and taxes.

The US exporters consider reduction on relatively much higher tariffs on agricultural products, processed foods, beverages and nutritional supplements “negligible”. The US exporters blame Indian authorities of practising a non-transparent taxation and tariff system as information on taxes and tariffs are given in different documents and there is no single document for this purpose.

An official document of Pakistan’s commerce ministry has extensively quoted these observations of the USTR report to argue that there were innumerable tariff and non-tariff barriers, which obstruct flow of Pakistani goods import in Indian market and discourage Pakistani exporters.

No wonder then, India remains the single biggest beneficiary in trade with Pakistan and five other Saarc partners all along in last more than 20 years that now inhibits further expansion of trade.

In the year 2005-06 India posted gains of more than $500 million in trade with Pakistan and there are strong prospects that this trade balance in Indian favour will expand further in the current fiscal year.

Many businessmen in Dhaka and Karachi mention perpetual trade balance in India’s favour as the single biggest effective factor that is impeding growth of business in South Asia.

On Monday Pakistan cement industry reported encountering a problem at the Indian port when the first consignment reached there from Karachi. Details are not available but the manufacturers and exporters have despatched a team of senior executives to India to sort out the issue.

Local business sources say that according to Indian trade practices prospective exporters of certain selected products that include cement, gelatine, condensed milk, electrical appliances, mineral water, steel products, leather products, X-Ray equipments, dry cell batteries, thermometers, helmets and gas cylinders are required to obtain licences from the Bureau of Indian Standard.

In this process the exporters have to incur application charges and also have to pay for the inspection visits from India. Furthermore, licences are required to be renewed every year.

“This adds to the business cost, and hurts competitiveness in Indian market,” observed a local exporter to Indian market. In many cases, the Indian banks do not accept letters of credit issued by Pakistani banks in favour of general exporters,” he complained and hence in most of the cases payments between Pakistani exporters and Indian importers are settled through Asian Clearing Union, which adds to the transaction cost. The Pakistan government perceives this as a non-tariff barrier and has mentioned it as such in its official report.

But what hurts the Pakistani business most is the Indian trade practices and rules on textile imports. The Indian trade bodies have recognised the advantage enjoyed by Pakistan in certain textile products. Indian officials have effectively converted these advantages into disadvantages for the Pakistani exporters by setting in place certain rules and practices.

For example textile consignments to India are tested for AZO dyes in local laboratories despite the fact that Pakistan has banned AZO dyes and there is no question at all of using these dyes by the local exporters. These tests in Indian laboratories take a minimum of seven days to three months and the cost incurred is almost 10 per cent of the consignment value.

Besides this, there are very many and multifarious rules and regulations that are applied on different consignments differently and put the exporters to difficulties and add to their cost of doing business with India.

Yet another complaint of Pakistan exporters is the different set of rules and practices by the Indian states for flow and consumption of imported goods that in many ways obstruct the exports from Pakistan.

The measures adopted by many Indian states to restrict use, consumption and sale of many agricultural goods and industrial products also discourage importers to seek supplies from Pakistan.

Similarly, the lengthy and cumbersome laboratory testing for a wide range of food products are also found to be discouraging Indian importers to place orders in Pakistan. There are restrictive measures on import of woollen textiles, pharmaceutical products, automotive vehicles, motorcycles, rough marble blocks, jute bags and a variety of consumer items, which exporters in Pakistan feel they have the capacity and potential but are unable to do because of the non-tariff barriers in India.

In the year 2005-06 Pakistan’s exports to India totalled $29,331 million. The single biggest exportable item to India was a petroleum refinery product worth $96 million. Total exports amounted to hardly $43 million while fruits and vegetables fetched $27 million.

Indian response to Pakistan’s objections on its non-tariff barriers is that these are not Pakistan specific and apply on global imports. Pakistan trades with India on a positive list of about 2,000 items, while India is insisting on a negative list so that it gets opportunity to export to Pakistan in wide area.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/04/10/ebr4.htm
 
Indian Realty Fund to invest $100m

MUMBAI: India’s IL&FS Realty Fund said on Tuesday it would invest $100 million in a start-up property developer QVC Realty Ltd that would build hotels, homes and townships.

IL&FS Realty, the real estate fund of private equity firm IL&FS Investment Managers Ltd, will own 100 per cent of QVC. As the projects come up, founders of QVC will get equity stakes for an undisclosed amount, a top official said.

“We have committed $100 million and the management will take a stake on delivery,” Shahzaad Dalal, vice chairman & managing director of IL&FS Investment Managers, told reporters.

QVC will develop 100 acre township in Gurgaon, near New Delhi, and is tying up 100 acres in the technology hub of Bangalore for a similar project, Prakash Gurbaxani who founded the firm in January said.

The combined market value of the two projects could be Rs30 billion ($699 million), said Gurbaxani, a former executive at the Indian joint venture of Tishman Speyer and ICICI Venture.

The News.
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=50496
 
Well...agriculture is one area where India shouldnt open up. This is the MAIN issue thats stopping the WTO! The developing countries would not back down. India, China, Brazil, South Africa are VERY VERY firm in this issue.
 
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