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Embassy of India, Riyadh |
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Issue 13 ♦ November 2005 |
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India Biz News |
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- A snapshot of India’s economic scene |
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FDI cap for telecom sector jumps to 74 per cent توافق الهند على زيادة سقف الاستثمار الأجنبي المباشرِ لقطاعِ الاتصالاتِ الى حدود 74 بالمائة. India has approved a rise in the foreign investment limit in telecoms services firms to 74 per cent from 49 per cent. Foreign equity in state-run banks' holding stakes in telecoms firms will not be included in the 74 per cent cap. The foreign portfolio investments will be allowed in existing news channels within an existing 26 per cent cap on foreign investment holdings for that sector. India, Inc.'s US$ 2 billion club all set to grow إنّ نادي الشركاتِ الهنديةِ ذات صافي المبيعات السنوية قدرها أكثر من 2 بليون دولار أمريكي يتجه نحو النَمُو. The super league of Indian companies, with annual net sales of US$ 2 billion plus, is set to grow with ITC, Bharti Tele-Ventures, TCS, Wipro, Infosys, and HCL Infosystems poised to join the club in the current financial year. All these companies have clocked revenues of around $1bn in the first half of financial year 2006 and are on their way to crossing the annual $2 billion-mark for the first time. And that’s not all. With half-yearly net sales of over $900 million, Hero Honda, IPCL, Punjab National Bank and Canara Bank, too, stand a good chance of joining the club. If all these nine companies do make it to the list, the membership of the $2 billion elite club will swell by more than 30% to 35 companies. With the exception of IPCL, Punjab National Bank and Canara Bank, all the other companies in ET’s shortlist for joining the $2bn group are either consumer goods or services companies. This represents a new trend as traditionally, most of the mega-turnover companies have either been oil companies such as IOC and ONGC, banks such as SBI and ICICI Bank, or industrial commodity companies such as Hindalco and Tata Steel. This will also be the first time that software firms cross the annual $2bn revenue figure. The entry of the IT brigade — Infosys, TCS, Wipro and HCL — in the elite league will represent another major milestone in the emergence of the sector as a key driver of India Inc’s growth. India`s software industry looking beyond 2008 تنظر صناعة برمجياتِ الهند ما وراء عام 2008. India's booming IT industry is already looking beyond 2008. Industry body Nasscom is currently preparing a position paper outlining the strategy for developing the country’s software industry so that it can secure a higher percentage of the global IT pie as well as increase the industry’s share in the country’s GDP. The paper, outlining Nasscom’s vision, would be released before February, S Ramadorai, Nasscom chairman said. It would dwell on a set of initiatives needed to scale up the export potential of IT industry and also expand the domestic market, particularly in the fields of education,training, talent-building, market-access and infrastructure,among others. India gets US$ 21.7 billion from NRIs in 2005 َتحصل الهند على 21.7 بليون دولار أمريكي من الهنود غير المقيمين خلال العام 2005م. Developing countries, including India, are benefiting enormously from the migration of their workforce and the resulting foreign exchange remittances. In fact, India is among the biggest beneficiary of this trend, World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects (GEP) for 2006, the central theme of which is migration and remittances, has reported. Officially recorded remittances worldwide exceeded $232 billion in 2005, with India receiving almost 10% of the amount ($21.7 billion). Philips sees India as engine of growth ترى شركة فيليبس الهند كمحرّك النمو. Consumer Electronics major, Royal Philips Electronics sees India as an engine of growth for the company, the CEO of the company, Mr Gerard Kleisterlee, said. "India has the potential to become a test bed for developing solutions that address the needs of the people at the base of the global economic pyramid," said Mr Kleisterlee, who reviewed initiatives in the areas of healthcare, technology and lifestyle. He said that India was a small but growing part of its Asian revenues; the latter would account for a third of the company's total revenues by 2008. India: A Future Global Engine of Growth الهند: محرّك عالمي مستقبلي للنمو. India’s economy is on the fulcrum of an exponential growth period. With positive indicators such as a stable 8 percent annual growth, rising foreign exchange reserves of more than US$ 150 billion, a booming capital market with the popular “Sensex” index topping the magical 8000 mark, flowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in excess of US$ 10 billion, and a remarkable 25 percent surge in exports, it is easy to grasp why India is a leading destination for foreign investment. In a nutshell, India appears to offer a global economic opportunity.
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Return on assets is higher in India إن الأرباح على الممتلكات أعلى في الهند. China is a more attractive destination for foreign investors, but return on assets in India has been much higher, Germany-based Deutsche Bank said in a commentary on the world’s two largest emerging economies, which are changing the way global businesses are conducted. “Although India started economic reforms only a decade later than China, it is far more advanced in its institutional infrastructure and corporate governance. This is reflected in contrasting outcomes. Foreign direct investment is considerably lower than in China, but returns on investment are better on average,” according to an analysis titled “China & India - A visual essay” by Deutche Bank. India has better corporate governance standards and its companies are more commercially-driven. Hence, despite China’s superior economic growth and macro-economic stability, India’s rate of return on assets has been much higher and the stock market performance much better. Even the amount of non-performing loans in the banking sector is much lower compared to China. Amul world’s biggest vegetarian cheese brand "أمول" – منتجة الألبان الهندية العليا أصبحت الآن الصنف الأكبر للجبنِ النباتيِ في العالم. India’s top dairy co-operative Amul is now the biggest brand for vegetarian cheese as the Global Indian even now prefers desi (pure Indian) taste over the premium Bries and Camemberts of the West. With demand pouring in from London to Ludhiana, exports will hit a record 600 tonne this year as Amul shreds competition with a growth of more than 20 per cent. Amul is exporting cheese to the Middle East, USA, Singapore, Hong Kong, and neighbouring countries like Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Amul exports butter oil to a lot of neighbouring countries, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Middle East and the US. The new market this year is Mauritius, where Amul’s skimmed milk powder is expected to hold the retail price line down. 'India considered a stable country for investing' تعتبر الهند بلدا مستقرا للاستثمار India is considered a stable country for investing in by corporates overseas. This is evident from the fact that not a single corporate has approached the World Bank Group’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (Miga) for non-commercial risk cover for making FDIs in the country. This was revealed by Miga’s global head of agri-business, manufactiring and services, Nabil Fawaz. Speaking at a round table meet on overseas investment opportunities with Miga organised by Export Import (Exim) Bank of India, Mr Fawaz, said that if a company approaches Miga for insurance cover for investments in India, the rate for risk premiums would range between 110-130 basis points. This is significantly lower than what Miga would charge for investments in countries, like Nigeria and Iran, etc, where the rate was as much as 200 basis points. Meanwhile, Mr Fawaz revealed that Miga was evaluating proposals from three Indian companies for risk cover that are investing in South East Asia and Africa. The total investment is around $200-400 million. The companies are exploring investments in manufacturing power and mining industries, he said. Meanwhile, six Indian companies from pharma and engineering field are ready to acquire and pump in foreign direct investments (FDI) in UK and Europe markets, in collaboration with Export Import Bank of India (Exim Bank).“The six projects, involving Indian companies were in final stages of negotiations and the nitty grities were being worked out. It would be premature to talk about the figures and exact investment at this junction,” said S Sridhar, executive director, Exim Bank. India will be among top three in five years الهند ستكون من ضمن الاسواق الثلآث الكبرى خلال السَنَوات الخمس القادمة. Tony Wright, the newly appointed CEO of Lowe Worldwide, which one of the top five creative ad agencies in the world with offices in 81 countries stated that India was one of their biggest markets in the whole world. The Indian office is within the top five global agencies with Mumbai slotted at the fifth position. Looking at the current growth rate of Lowe in India, within five years it will be in the top three after London and New York.
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Some Important Websites:
Ministry of External Affairs : http://meaindia.nic.in/
Ministry of Finance: http://finmin.nic.in
Ministry of Commerce and Industry:http://commin.nic.in
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) : www.ciionline.org
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) : www.ficci.com
India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) : www.indiatradepromotion.org
Trade-India.com : www.trade-india.com / Indian Exporters : www.indianexporters.com
Exporters India : www.indiamarkets.com / India Mart : www.indiamart.com