india newsletter 02.2013

India Newsletter | 1

INDIA NEWSLETTERPublished by the Embassy of India, Vienna

Year 3 | Issue 26 | February 2013

Featured Industryreal estate

2 | India Newsletter

News

QUICK FACTSSnapshot of last month’s Highlights

The Forex reserves of India in-creased by US$ 39.6 million to

touch US$ 296.57 billion for the week ended December 28, 2012.

Cargo traffic at major ports

in India stood at 44.2 million tonnes (MT) in November 2012.Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs)

in India from tourism registered an increase of 21.8 per cent to touch US$ 17.21 billion in 2012.

India’s pharma-ceutical industry

is expected to grow at 19 per cent in 2013.The Government of India has ap-

proved 14 foreign direct invest-ment (FDI) proposals worth Rs 1,310.60 crore (US$ 239.73 million).

The electronic system design

and manufacturing (ESDM) sector of India is expected to touch US$ 94.2 bil-lion by 2015 from US$ 64.6 billion in 2011.Southern India attracted private

equity (PE) investments worth US$ 2.46 billion (162 deals) in 2012.

Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has dou-bled its tax income to Rs 5,500

crore (US$ 1 billion) in this fiscal from Rs 2,600 crore (US$ 476.58 mil-lion) in 2009-10.

Visa on Arrival (VoA) scheme

of India registered an increase of 26 per cent to touch 16,084 in 2012.

India’s agriculture and processed

foods’ export is ex-pected to cross Rs 1 trillion (US$ 18.54 billion) in 2012-13.The total value of M&A deals in

India have registered a growth of 12 per cent to US$ 43.4 billion in 2012.

The Indian infor-mation tech-

nology (IT) sector generates around 60 per cent of its export revenues from the US.

India ranks fourth in steel produc-

tion globally with an output of 76.7 million tonnes

(MT) in 2012.Telecommunication companies in

India are expected to add 48.9 million new subscribers in FY 2013-14.

Cotton yarn ex-ports from In-

dia are expected to touch 1,000 million kg in 2012-13.The Indian pharmaceutical market

is expected to grow at a CAGR of 14-17 per cent during 2012-16.

With around 8 million Indi-

ans shopping on-line in 2012, the online shopping in-dustry in India reg-istered a growth of 128 per cent in 2011-12.The passenger traffic between In-

dia and Dubai stood at 7.34 mil-lion passengers in 2012, registering a year-on-year (y-o-y) growth of 7.4 per cent.

India’s luxury car sales is expected

to cross 300,000 units a year by 2020.India’s finished steel consumption

grew to 54.8 million tonnes (MT) during April-December 2012.


REPUBLIC DAY EVENTSSome impressions of the events in snapshots

On January 24th, H.E. Ambassador R. Swaminathan welcomed distinguished guests at the India House to commemorate the 63rd Anniversary of the Republic Day of India.

Galleries


Galleries

REPUBLIC DAY EVENTSSome impressions of the events in snapshots

On January 26th, H.E. Ambassador R. Swaminathan welcomed the Indian Community and Friends of India at the India House to commemorate the 63rd Anniversary of the Republic Day of India. On the occasion, Ambassador spoke about the activities carried out by the Embassy and read out the Hon. President of India’s address to the nation on the eve of the Republic Day. The event was followed by the Prize Distribution Ceremony of the Painting Competition for Children in age groups 6 to 14 years, which Embassy had organized in the National Communal Harmony Week, November 2012. After the prize distributions, various books in Hindi were distributed to the Indian Community and Children present.


Articles

The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), has zeroed in on Ladakh as the probable destination for the

world’s largest solar telescope. Work is likely to begin by the end of this year.

The 2-metre class state-of-the-art Na-tional Large Solar Telescope built by IIA at an expected cost of Rs 150 crore is planned for completion in 2017.

According to SS Hasan, former director, IIA, the organisation had initially zeroed-in on three sites – Hanle and Merak near Ladakh’s Pangong Lake or Devasthal near Nainital in Uttarakhand.

The proposed telescope, which will be used to observe the Sun during the day needs long hours of sunshine and clear visibility conditions.

“It took us over four years to finalise the site. We hope to complete the project by 2017,” Hasan told reporters on the side-lines of the plenary session of the 100th Indian Science Congress.

The device will help Indian scientists car-ry out “cutting edge research” aimed at studying the Sun’s atmosphere.

Hasan said further, the back-end instru-

ment will be constructed in India while night-time instruments will come from Germany. Apart from the IIA, which is the nodal agency, the other institutes in-volved in the project include Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Aryabhat-ta Research Institute of Observational Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and Inter-University Centre.

Currently, the world’s largest solar tel-escope is the McMath-Pierce Solar Tel-escope having a diameter of 1.6 metres. It is located in Kitt Peak National Obser-vatory at Arizona in the US.

Union Science and Technology Minister S. Jaipal Reddy said that the Centre’s allocation for the

Science and Technology and Earth Sci-ences Ministry has been doubled for the 12th Plan period.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony of ‘Children Science Congress’ as part of the 100th Indian Science Congress, Reddy said, “In the 12th Five-Year Plan, the combined planned allocation for sci-ence and technology and earth sciences

has been nearly doubled from Rs 33,000 crore in the previous Plan period.”

New policy

Commenting on the newly announced Science, Technology and Innovation Pol-icy, the Minister said there is a need for integrating science, research and innova-tion to develop valuable technologies.

Doctoral fellowship

“We have also initiated a PM Doctoral Research Fellowship in partnership with

industry. Already 30 (such) fellowships have been awarded to doctoral stu-dents,” Reddy added.

“The country today has over 700 R&D, technical and development centres of the top global companies, employing over 1.5 lakh scientists and engineers.

“This confidence of global majors in our youth has given fillip to some of India’s best and talented young technocrats to become first generation technopre-neurs,” Reddy said.

India has launched its first Govern-ment-to-business portal to provide a round-the-clock, secure, one-stop-

shop for all investment and business re-lated information.

“This mission mode project will mark a paradigm shift in the Government’s ap-proach to providing G2B services for In-dia’s investor and business communities,” Commerce & Industry Minister Anand Sharma said while launching the eBiz portal at the CII Partnership Summit in Agra. The portal has been developed by Infosys in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.

India ranks a poor 132nd among 185 countries in the International Finance Corporation’s Ease of Doing Business index. Smaller countries, including Bang-ladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal have ranked higher in the index.

To improve the business environment, an online single window was conceptualised in the form of the eBiz mission mode project under the National eGovernance Plan so as to enable businesses and inves-tors to save time and costs.

“The project aims to create a business and investor-friendly ecosystem in India by making all business and investment related regulatory services across Cen-tral, State and local Governments avail-able on a single portal, thereby obviating the need for an investor or a business to visit multiple offices or a plethora of Web sites.”

The Minister said the core value of the transformational project lies in a shift in the Government’s service delivery ap-proach from being department-centric to customer-centric. eBiz will create a 24x7 facility for information and servic-es and will also offer joined-up services

where a single application submitted by

a customer for a number of permissions,

clearances, approvals and registrations

will be routed automatically across mul-

tiple governmental agencies in a logical

manner.

An inbuilt payment gateway will also

add value by allowing all payments to be

collected at one point and then appor-

tioned, split and routed to the respective

heads of account of Central/ State/ Para-

statal agencies along with generation of

challans and MIS reports.

“This payment gateway is the first of its

kind designed in India and can become a

universal payment gateway for all eGov-

ernance applications,” Sharma added.

WoRLD’S LARgEST SoLAR TELESCoPE PLANNED AT LADAKhFrom the Indian Institute of Astrophysics

12Th PLAN DoUBLES ALLoCATIoN To SCIENCE & TEChNoLogYScience and Technology

INDIA LAUNChES 24/7 g2B BUSINESS PoRTAL eGovernance


Articles

As the global centre of economic growth moves to Asia, India has captured the attention of devel-

oped economies looking for new invest-ment and trade opportunities, says a new report.

Noting that recent growth in India has also emanated from a number of under-examined sectors other than information technology (IT) sector, it says, the Indian economy will need to continue to diver-sify in order to propel its development.

And the US will need to pay close atten-tion to all aspects of these changes in or-der to sustain strong bilateral economic ties, says the report by Wadhwani Chair in US-India Policy Studies at the Cen-tre for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS).

Authored by CSIS fellow Persis Kham-batta Karl Inderfurth, Wadhwani Chair and former assistant secretary of state for South Asia, the report lists some key recommendations from its year-

long Emerging Indian Economy Signature Speaker Series.

There is arguably no sector more criti-cal to India’s future growth than energy, says the report, with a chronic energy shortage, inadequate infrastructure, and an insatiable demand coupled with envi-ronmental concerns.

Vikram Mehta of the Shell Group of Companies (India) stressed that India must find a way to handle a surge in en-ergy demand, highlighting that technol-ogy is underutilised, the environment is threatened, and New Delhi has an inad-equate policy framework through which to address these issues.

Rajiv Lall of the Infrastructure Develop-ment Finance Company used the term “infrastruggles” to describe the obstacles facing the private sector for the delivery of infrastructure-related services.

John Flannery of GE India suggested that governments should view infrastructure

as a top national priority after national security. Innovative, efficient infrastruc-ture enables many other vital sectors to flourish.

Indian health care industry’s biggest chal-lenges include ramping up capacity to serve hundreds of millions of citizens and a growing incidence of non-communica-ble diseases, according to Prathap Reddy of the Apollo Hospitals Group.

India’s National Manufacturing Policy plans to increase the sector’s share of GDP from 16 percent to 25 percent, in-cluding creating 100 million new jobs.

Explaining how India can accomplish this, Arvind Goel of Tata AutoComp Systems referred to a number of policy instru-ments, including the recent creation of National Investment and Manufacturing Zones, zones in which state and central governments modify regulations on diffi-cult issues in order to encourage greater manufacturing growth.

With India being projected as the emerging third largest automobile market in the

world, after China and the US, Ford In-dia is looking at the country as a major export hub in this sector, Joginder Singh, the new President and Managing Direc-tor said.

The global automaker, which sold 5.3 mil-lion vehicles in 2010, expects to increase the number to eight million by 2015.

The Asia-Pacific region is expected to ac-count for 70 per cent of this market.

“By 2020, one out of every six cars sold in the region would be a Ford,” he said on the eve of Vibrant Gujarat 2013, which begins in Gandhinagar.

By mid-decade, Singh said Ford India will have seven new factories working in China, Thailand and at Sanand, near Ahmedabad, where it is currently invest-ing $1 billion (Rs 5,300 crore) at the car and engine manufacturing facilities.

The company has already invested $140 million to expand capacities at its existing Chennai-based plant. Its total investment

in India so far was $2 billion.

New Products

In the next few years, Ford India will launch eight new products and double the number of dealers to 250 and cus-tomer touch-points to 500, mainly in Tier-II and III towns and cities in north-ern and western India, which account for 60 per cent of its sales, he said.

While Ford India has created 10,000 jobs in Chennai, it will create 5,000 at the up-coming Sanand plant by 2014, when it is commissioned next year.

The company’s manufacturing capacity at these two plants will increase from the existing three million units to five million by mid-decade and nine million by 2020.

Ford India plans to manufacture 4.40 lakh vehicles at these two plants, and export 20-25 per cent of these.

It will also increase engine-making capaci-ties to 6.10 lakh, 40 per cent of which would be exported.

“We would initiate talks with the author-ities soon to export our products from Mundra port,” Singh said.

DEVELoPED WoRLD LooKS AT INDIA FoR INVESTmENT & TRADEUS Report

FoRD SEES INDIA AS mAjoR ExPoRT hUBMultinationals in India


Articles

The Indian economy would grow at a higher rate of 6.7% in 2013-14 compared to the estimated

growth of 5.5% for the current financial year (2012-13) due to a revival in con-sumption, ratings agency Crisil has said.

“A pick-up in agriculture, predicated on a normal monsoon, lower interest rates and higher government spending will support private consumption demand,” Crisil said. “The improved agricultural output, along with a stronger rupee and lower crude oil prices will also help in reducing Wholesale Price Inflation (WPI) to around 7% from 7.7% projected for 2012-13,” it said.

“India’s GDP growth in 2013-14 will be supported by the revival of private sec-tor consumption growth aided by higher growth in agriculture, high government spending and lower interest rates,” said Roopa Kudva, Managing Director and CEO, Crisil.

A normal monsoon will boost agricultur-al GDP growth to an above-trend rate of 3.5% in 2013-14, albeit on a lower base of 2012-13. “With the easing of inflation, RBI is expected to cut interest rates by 75-100 basis points (0.75%-1%) starting January 2013, thereby lowering retail lending rates and boosting demand in interest (rate) sensitive segments,” Crisil said.

The likely increase in government spend-ing in the form of higher expenditure on social sector schemes and rural de-velopment will be driven by the upcom-ing general elections in 2014. Increased welfare expenditure by the government, lower interest rates, moderation in infla-tion and high farm incomes (assuming a normal monsoon) will boost household spending and thereby, benefit sectors such as consumer durables, hotels and restaurants and financial services, Crisil said.

Further, improved external demand, as

a result of marginal recovery of global growth, could raise India’s exports, espe-cially in the IT/ITes sector. “We, therefore, expect the services sector to remain healthy at 8% in the next fiscal,” Crisil said.

“An improvement in private consump-tion will create demand for goods and services, which in turn will raise indus-trial growth to 5.4%. Although this is an improvement over the current fiscal, in-dustrial growth will still lag its last ten-year average of 7.9%,” said Dharmakirti Joshi, chief economist, Crisil.

Despite higher consumption growth, average WPI inflation is projected to be lower at 7% in 2013-14, as against 7.7% forecast for 2012-13 on back of normal monsoon, a stronger rupee, and lower crude oil prices. However, the likely up-ward revision of fuel prices and persis-tent excess demand for food articles are likely to limit the further decline in WPI inflation.

India is likely to be the world’s third largest economy by 2050 on a pur-chasing power parity (PPP) basis, ac-

cording to a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) report issued this month.

The report says it is likely the world economy’s size will quadruple by 2050 and China will be the largest economy in terms of PPP by 2017, and in terms of market exchange rates by 2027.

According to the report, ‘World in 2050 The BRICs and Beyond: Prospects, Chal

lenges and Opportunities’, by 2020, Rus-

sia is likely to be the largest European

economy in terms of PPP. The world’s

economies are likely to grow at a rate

of slightly over three per cent a year. The

emerging economies are likely to grow

at four per cent a year and the advanced

economies at two per cent a year.

The seven major emerging econo-

mies (E7) —China, India, Brazil,

Russia,Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey —

are likely to be a little over 50 per cent

larger than the G7 countries in GDP at

market exchange rate terms by 2050 and

around 75 per cent larger in PPP terms.

It is estimated the E7 countries might

overtake the G7 in 2017, with the gap

widening after that. Every country stud-

ied, except India, is likely to see its share

of working population declining by 2050.

Shri. Anand Sharma, Minister of Commerce and Industry stated that Indian economy is growing and de-

spite the economic crisis that engulfed the world. He was addressing a plenary session at 11th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Kochi. He said that the country’s GDP will grow in the coming years, generating new job opportunities. The FDI policy is made more rational and friendly. The na-tional investment rate is around 33-34%,

and by the end of 12th Plan the aim is to increase it to 36, he added.

Addressing the plenary, Shri.Kamal Nath, Minister of Urban Development and Par-liamentary Affairs said that the India is facing challenges in infrastructure devel-opment, especially in urban sector. Today, around 430 million people are residing in cities and in the next decade, the number will increase to 600 million. Similarly, at present, there are 53 cities in India, and

it will rise to 72 in the next decade, each having a population of one million.

Shri. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, said that encouraging long term FDI flows would be more fruitful. Shri. P K Kunhali-kutty, Minister of Industries and Informa-tion Technology of Kerala, Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai, President, FICCI also spoke on the occasion.

INDIA To gRoW AT 6.7% IN 2013-14Crisil Report

ChINA, INDIA CoULD BE LARgEST ECoNomIES BY 2050PwC Report

INDIAN ECoNomY IS gRoWINg SAYS ANAND ShARmABy Commerce and Industry Minister, Anand Sharma


Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that, while the country’s huge in-vestible resources and large market

gave it confidence, strength and stability, India saw international economic and technological partnerships as an integral part of its growth strategy.

“This is an important objective of our political and economic engagement in our region and across the world,” he said in his inaugural address to the 11th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) in Kochi.

The PBD is a high-profile annual conven-tion of non-resident Indians (NRIs) and persons of Indian origin (PBD), and this year’s event is being attended by about 2000 delegates from around the world.

Mauritius President Rajkeshwar Purry-ag was the chief guest at the three-day convention. President Pranab Mukherjee delivered the valedictory address and also conferred the prestigious Pravasti Bharatiya Samman Awards on NRIs and PIOs, including Mr Purryag.

Kerala is the partner state of this year’s convention, which is being held in the State for the first time.

Dr Singh said India had just embarked on its 12th Five Year Plan with the ambition to sustain an annual growth rate of 8 per cent.

“For this, we will require enormous re-sources, reforms in policies and institu-tions, new models of public private part-

nership and community participation and innovation-driven science and technol-ogy. Even as we continue our focus on rural areas, and we must continue to do so, we will need to pay greater attention to our expanding cities and towns. New approaches will be needed to address challenges in areas like infrastructure, education, energy, water and agriculture,” he said.

He said that the Government was aware that, despite impressive economic per-formance and change on an enormous scale in the past two decades, India faced persisting challenges of poverty, equity, sustainability and opportunity.

“Vulnerable sections of society, including our women, face enduring prejudices and continuing problems in a rapidly changing India,” he said.

“However, across India, there are also countless inspirational stories of innova-tion, enterprise and leadership by citizens and communities that are transforming lives and generating hope for millions of our citizens. There is now a surge of expectation from an increasingly empow-ered and articulate public, for more re-sponsive, transparent, participative, clean and efficient governance. Government also is determined to turn any setback into an opportunity to improve legal and regulatory frameworks. I have no doubt that the energy and the passions of our citizens, particularly our youth, will be a

force of positive change in our country,” he said.

Dr Singh said he believed that the over-seas Indian community should be a vital partner and participant in India’s social and economic development.

“Whether you wish to invest or share your knowledge, technology and skills, whether your enterprise takes you to the cities or your compassion brings you to a remote village, I assure you of our continuing effort to support your en-deavours,” he said.

Dr Singh said Mr Purryag’s record of public service over four decades and his many achievements were a source of great pride for PIOs across the world.

“Your presence in Kerala today, reminds us of the deep civilizational, linguistic, cul-tural and religious ties between India and Mauritius. The shores of our two coun-tries are washed by a common ocean and both our countries have a shared inter-est in peace and prosperity in the Indian Ocean Region,” he said.

He also said that there could not have been too many better alternatives to Kerala for hosting this year’s PBD.

“Kerala is blessed by the generosity of nature, the hospitality of its people and the richness of its culture. This gives it a well-deserved right to claim that Kerala is ‘God’s own country’. The shores of Kerala have been part of the global cur-rents of commerce, culture and religion since ancient times. This state was one of the first to come into contact with Juda-ism, Christianity and Islam. It had a strong tradition of maritime trade, extending from the Gulf and Europe in the West to China in the East. Today, residents of this vibrant state of the Union, lead the coun-try not only in terms of their global pres-ence, but also in their achievements on various social indicators. I am therefore delighted that Kerala is hosting this year’s event. For this, I thank the Chief Minister of Kerala, my friend, Oomen Chandy,” he said.

Dr Singh said overseas Indians have served as a bridge of friendship and co-operation between India and their adopt-ed homes abroad.

INTERNATIoNAL ECoNomIC, TECh PARTNERShIPS INTEgRAL PART oF INDIA’S gRoWTh STRATEgYBy PM Manmohan Singh

Articles


“Regardless of whether they are suc-cessful professionals, traders and entre-preneurs, or second generation Indians, comfortably reconciling their two identi-ties, or workers toiling hard to build a fu-ture for their families, they are at all times a most effective window for the world to India’s heritage and its progress,” he said.

He said the Government would do all that was possible to deepen their con-nection with India and advance their in-terests.

“While honouring their achievements, we will also seek to facilitate their travel, business and education and make it eas-ier for them to be a part of life in India, enjoy due rights and participate in India’s economic development.

“As the Indian expatriate community de-velops a more global presence, they also become more vulnerable to economic crises, conflicts, civil unrest or just sense-less hate crimes. At a time of turbulence in many parts of the world, the safety and security of overseas Indian communities are uppermost in our minds. We derive comfort from the assurances that we have received from governments in the countries of your residence that they will do everything for your safety and secu-rity. We recognize that the primary re-sponsibility rests with the host countries, but when needed, as was the case last year in Libya, our government will pro-

vide prompt and necessary assistance,” he said.

The Prime Minister said that, apart from physical safety, the Government was also concerned with the social and emotional well-being of overseas Indians.

“We have therefore launched an insur-ance scheme for workers, established welfare funds in our embassies for dis-tressed Indians, and created mechanisms to help vulnerable women abroad.

“This protection and promotion of the rights and interests of Indian businesses, professionals and workers abroad is also a key task for our Missions in various countries. Our Comprehensive Econom-ic Partnership Agreements and Social Security Agreements with a number of countries play an important role in this regard,” he said.

Dr Singh acknowledged there had been concerns recently about the direction and content of India’s growth story and about larger social and governance issues.

“It is important to bear in mind that in the last four years, the world economy has had to deal with two major finan-cial crises, both emanating from the de-veloped world. The Indian economy has not been immune to the consequences of these crises. From an impressive aver-age annual GDP growth rate of over 8% between 2004 and 2010, our growth de-

clined to 6.5% in 2011-2012 and may fall below 6% in the current year.

“But, despite domestic constraints and challenges, we are confident that our strong economic fundamentals, backed by sound policies, will enable us to return to a higher growth path. This is an impera-tive for us because we need rapid growth and a healthy economy to meet the aspi-rations of an increasingly young India and make our economic development more inclusive and more sustainable. With this in view, we have recently taken a number of steps to boost domestic and foreign investment, accelerate project implemen-tation and reform capital markets and the tax system,” he said.

According to him, among the most posi-tive stories out of India in recent years are the acceleration in the rate of pov-erty reduction, stronger growth in the poorest states and improved productiv-ity and increased real wages in our ag-riculture sector. “This is significant, given that 65% of our population still relies on agriculture,” he said.

“On January 1 this year, we took a small first step to deliver benefits through di-rect transfer to beneficiaries, using the digital Aadhaar platform. This is an exam-ple of our efforts to make growth more inclusive and government programmes more efficient and less vulnerable to leakages of various sorts,” he added.

India has emerged as one of the most optimistic economies in the world where more than two-thirds of em-

ployers are planning to add full-time and permanent workforce in 2013.

According to CareerBuilder’s first an-nual job forecast for the 10 largest world economies, as many as 67 per cent of In-dian employers plan to increase full-time permanent workers this year, 13 per cent plan to decrease and 17 per cent are ex-pecting to make no change in the number of staff.

Emerging economies are the most ag-gressive in terms of hiring plans despite a slowing in economic expansion. As many as 71 per cent of employers in Brazil in-tend to hire this year followed by India at 67 per cent, China (52 per cent), Russia (48 per cent), the US (26 per cent), Ger-many (29 per cent), the UK (30 per cent),

Japan (22 per cent), France (24 per cent) and Italy (19 per cent), the survey con-ducted by Harris Interactive said. Brazil houses the largest percentage of employ-ers adding headcount (71 per cent), partly influenced by plans to host the upcoming World Cup and Summer Olympics and a better performing manufacturing sector.

Notwithstanding the fact that China and India’s GDP have grown at a rate that far outstrips the rest of the world’s major economies, more than half of employ-ers in China and two-thirds in India plan to hire in 2013, the survey that covered over 6,000 hiring managers during No-vember said.

“Hiring activity in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) is pro-jected to be significantly higher than other markets while recruitment in Eu-rope remains sluggish as leaders struggle

to resolve a debt crisis that has global implications,” CareerBuilder CEO Matt Ferguson said.

Meanwhile, one-third of Italian employ-ers (33 per cent) expect to downsize staffs, the highest of the top 10 econo-mies, while recruiting activity in France is expected to be flat.

In the US, concerns over the fiscal cliff during the time of the survey may have resulted in more conservative predic-tions, but hiring activity has been on a gradual upward trajectory. Around 26 per cent will add new jobs this year.

Across major markets, employers are most likely to hire for positions that are closely tied to revenue and innovation. In case of India, the top areas organisations will be hiring for included information technology, marketing and customer ser-vice, the survey said.

INDIA moST oPTImISTIC ECoNomY IN WoRLDCareerBuilder’s Forecast Report

Articles


The long-negotiated free trade pact with the European Union is “on the verge of completion”, com-

merce minister Anand Sharma said.

Addressing delegates at a meeting organ-ised by lobby group Confederation of In-dian Industry in Agra, Sharma noted that the global economic recovery remained fragile though there was some hope for “cautious optimism.” Against this back-drop, partnerships among nations is the key to ensure that growth picks up, he said.

“Regional economic integration is be-coming the defining trend of our times,” Sharma said, adding later, “India has re-mained conscious of this process of eco-nomic integration and even in the peak of the economic crisis, we stepped out and engaged with the rest of the world and in the last three years, we have signed com-prehensive economic partnership agree-ments with ASEAN, Malaysia and Japan and are negotiating similar agreements

with Thailand, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and European Union.”

“The India-EU FTA is on the verge of completion,” Sharma later said.

Talks for concluding the ambitious pact started in 2007 but have stalled over contentious issues such as tariffs and government procurement. Indian auto-mobile and wine associations are op-posed to significant concessions to Eu-ropean multinational firms, fearing loss of market share.

While the EU is keen to have greater market access in India, including a large number of agricultural products, India is keen on fewer restrictions on the tem-porary movement of Indians working in Europe. There are differences over intel-lectual property rights as well. India is also pressing for concessions on its main area of interest—services.

The EU as an economic bloc is India’s largest trade partner. In 2010, it import-ed goods worth 33.2 billion euros from

India and exported goods worth 34.7 billion euros. Services exports to India stood at 9.8 billion euros and imports at 8.1 billion, according to EU figures.

Sharma’s comments come a day ahead of foreign minister Salman Khurshid be-ginning a four-day visit to Germany and Brussels, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

During his visit to Germany, Khurshid is expected to hold talks with his German counterpart, Guido Westerwelle, and in Brussels is expected to meet Belgian deputy prime minister and foreign min-ister Didier Reynders. Both sides are ex-pected to discuss ways to bring to frui-tion the India-EU FTA, a person familiar with the developments said, requesting anonymity.

India has cleared an umbrella legislation to allow foreign direct investment in sin-gle brand retail and last week cleared the proposal put forth by Swedish retail giant Ikea to open its stores in India.

India and the European Union have signed a Rs 80-crore (about €12-mil-lion) agreement to recycle industrial

and domestic waste water to provide water for irrigation purposes.

Besides, the two sides would work on other products that come out of waste water and also on the efficient use of water under the Water4Crops-India pro-ject.

The International Crops Research Insti-

tute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) will lead one of the two consortia with 34 member companies, universities and research organisations.

The Union Department of Bio Technol-ogy and six EU countries contributed Rs 40 crore each for the four-year project.

The Indian consortia include The Energy Research Institute (TERI), National Envi-ronmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Euro India Research Centre, MS

Swaminathan Research Foundation, SAB-Miller and Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd.

“The consortium will be working on three types of industrial waste water mainly from the Charminar Breweries of SABMiller in India in Andhra Pradesh; Onion and Fruit Processing Plant at JISL, Jalgaon in Maharashtra; and the sugar fac-tory from Ugar Sugar in Karnataka,” Su-has P. Wani of ICRISAT, who is leading the Indian consortium.

Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Minister for New & Renewable Energy met Spanish delegation led by Ms.

Carmen Vela Olmo, Minister of State for Research, Development and Innovation. Both the leaders agreed to enhance re-search, cooperation and technologies in the field of Renewable Energy. Besides, research projects in the area of forecast-ing of wind power and fabrication of cost effective solar cells will be considered

for financing by the Indian and Spanish governments. The Spanish Minister, Ms. Carmen Vela Olmo is currently on a 3 day visit to India. During the meeting, the two ministers agreed to initiate a second call for research proposals so as to en-courage joint research and development activities between research institutions as well as industry groups of both the countries. The joint Indo-Spanish pro-gramme for Technological cooperation

in Renewable Energy was developed as a consequence of the visit of the Minister of New & Renewable Energy, to Spain last year. Following the signing of the agree-ment in May, 2012, a joint call for pro-ject proposals was published. Proposals on various aspects on Renewable Energy involving industry and R & D institutions in both the countries and covering all as-pects of Renewable Energy.

India is the fifth largest country in the

FREE TRADE PACT WITh EU oN VERgE oF ComPLETIoNIndia-EU Matters

INDIA, EU SIgN PACT To RECYCLE WASTE WATERIndia-EU Matters

INDIA AND SPAIN To CooPERATE IN RENEWABLE ENERgYRenewable Energy

Articles


Starrag Group, headquartered in Switzerland, has set up a machining plant in Bangalore through its sub-

sidiary Starrag India.

The new plant, located at KIADB Aero-space Park in Devanahalli in the city, was inaugurated by its Chairman, Walter Fust and is expected to focus on building WMW machining centres in India.

The company also launched a new range of high performance WMW IWK Hori-zontal Machining Centers (HMC) at the ongoing international machine tool show Imtex 2013 in Bangalore.

According to A. N. Chandramouli, Man-aging Director, Starrag India, “The green-field facility has been built with an invest-ment of 12 million swiss francs or Rs 60 crore.”

It was approved by Karnataka Udyog Mi-tra during the Global Investor Meet.

The factory is expected to rollout four popular models of WMW Horizontal Machining Centres from July this year to to December 2014. A cost reduction programme through a local supply chain is in an advanced stage of implementation and there will be a national road show of

the localised product by July, said Chan-dramouli.

The two phased manufacturing pro-gramme (60-120 units a year) will mainly be absorbed by the Indian market which is now on its economic revival after a slowdown last year.

About 300 highly skilled technicians will be employed over time here. In the new factory, an apprentice training cen-tre has been commissioned using Swiss Vocational Education and Training (VET) programmes already tailored in collabo-ration with SWISS-MEM.

Texas Instruments (TI) has launched a Centre of Excellence at Ne-taji Subash Institute of Technology

(NSIT), Delhi. This is the first centre for embedded product development that TI is setting up in any educational institution in India.

It will promote design of embedded

products based on TI’s semiconductors. It will also promote design of educational solutions for teaching subjects on em-bedded systems.

The centre will conduct educational ac-tivities such as seminars and train-the-trainer workshops that will be open to teachers from other engineering colleges

as well.

Dr. C P Ravikumar, Technical Director - University Relations, Texas Instruments India, said, “The centre will design prod-ucts that are relevant to the Indian elec-tronics industry and nurture talent in the area of embedded product design.”

Israel-based Teva Pharmaceuticals, an $18 billion generic drug maker will set up world’s largest OTC medi-

cine facility in Gujarat in collaboration with Procter & Gamble. The company had ground-breaking ceremony for its multi-product facility at Sanand, near Ahmedabad.

Teva Global Operations, Executive Vice President, Strategy and Operation, Eran Katz, said “The multipurpose plant in In-dia will support the growing demand for our non-prescription health care prod-ucts across Asia. The Sanand facility will be a critical component of PGT Health-care, Teva’s international partnership and joint venture with Procter & Gamble.”

Teva Pharm India Pvt. Ltd expects com-pletion of construction of the plant in two years.

The facility would be focused on Over-the-counter (OTC) product manufactur-ing and will initially cater domestic and Asia Pacific markets, according to the company. This will include liquid, oral sol-id dosage and inhaler production includ-ing P&G’s current Vicks range of cough & cold medicines and throat drops in India, along with potentially other over-the-counter products for India and other markets.

The new plant will complement the ex-isting network of Vicks contract manufac-turers in India as the company plans to continue working with their current con-tract manufacturers even after this plant

is operational, said the company.

The modular design of the plant will en-able Teva to further expand the plant as demand for consumer health care prod-ucts continues to grow across the region and the globle.

In November 2011, P&G and Teva Pharma entered into a joint venture in consumer healthcare by setting up PGT Healthcare headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. This business model brings together each company’s complementary capabilities and existing OTC portfolios. While Teva Pharma is world’s largest generic drug maker, P&G is one of the largest players in FMCG globally.

world in terms of wind power installed capacity. In addition, India’s National Solar Mission aims to facilitate the installation of 20000 MW of grid connected power capacity by 2020. Spain is the 4th larg-

est producer of wind generated power and is top-ranked worldwide in terms of photovoltaic solar power capacity. The Solar Platform of Almeria (PSA), run un-der the Spanish Ministry of Economy and

Competitiveness is considered one of the largest and best R&D facilitates for Concentrating Solar Power Technologies.

SWISS gRoUP STARRAg SETS UP PLANT IN BANgALoREInvestments in India

TExAS INSTRUmENTS CENTRE IN DELhIInvestments in India

WoRLD’S LARgEST oTC PLANT IN gUjARATInvestments in India

Articles


Articles

India stands to gain more if it takes its South Asian neighbours along in its plans to integrate with Southeast Asia

through processes such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), said an official of the Asian De-velopment Bank Institute or ADBI.

Noting that Asian regionalism is taking shape now than in the decades before, Ganeshan Wignaraja, director research at the Asian Development Bank Institute, said the process would be different from the European integration process of the 1990s that resulted in greater centraliza-tion of decision making and implementa-tion of laws.

“It (Asian integration that includes free trade agreements or FTAs and the re-gional comprehensive economic part-nership or RCEP) will be a much lighter process...it will be more market led with national governments playing an impor-tant role in regional agendas,” Wignaraja said, adding that many Asian projects would be set and led by national gov-

ernments in the region rather than a big overarching pan-Asian architecture like in the European Union.

India’s participation in the Asian inte-gration process “will bring big gains to both parties” but “if India takes the rest of South Asia with it everybody gains more...the neighbours are very impor-tant in this regard,” said Wignaraja.

India, the largest country in South Asia and Asia’s third-largest economy, intro-duced its Look East policy in the early 1990s seeking to forge closer links with the high-growth Southeast Asian econo-mies. Last year, India said it was joining talks for the creation of the RCEP that aims to open more opportunities for increased trade in goods and services, eliminate trade barriers, and gradually lib-eralize services and provide for greater foreign direct investment in ASEAN and its external trading partners.

The GDP of the ASEAN and non-ASEAN countries hoping to join the RCEP is an estimated $17 trillion.

India’s hostile ties with Pakistan has held up the integration of the South Asian re-gion.

Many other countries in the region have expressed apprehension about India’s big geographical and economic size and has sought more concessions from the larg-est country in the region.

According to Wignaraja, Asian countries that are classed as developing countries, will prefer an arrangement like the RCEP than the US-led Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) that aims to establish a regional FTA which will further liberalize trade in the Asia Pacific.

In 2011, the total GDP of TPP countries was an estimated $20 trillion, according to the Australian foreign ministry web-site.

The countries supporting the TPP include New Zealand, Chile, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore, the US, Canada, Australia, Peru, Vietnam, Mexico and Malaysia.

Lamborghini, the maker of super sports luxury cars from the Volk-swagen Group, has launched its

Aventador Roadster model in India at Rs 4.77 crore. The car has been selling well the world over, and the company hopes it do well in India too. Andrea Baldi, head of operations, South East Asia and Pacific at Automobili Lamborghini Asia-Pacific, talks about the future of super cars in In-dia and how taxing the rich would affect super luxury cars’ demand, in an inter-view. Edited excerpts:

You sold about 17 cars in 2012, register-ing a 20% growth. What is the potential for growth ahead?

We are not running after numbers. We are focusing on getting the right prod-ucts and creating the right network with proper penetration. I expect the market to grow steadily and consistently. The In-dian market for Lamborghini is growing.

We grew 21% and hope to grow faster in 2013. We expect the market, which is 100 units-strong currently, to grow five-fold to 500 units. We hope to grow with the market.

Can India mirror the growth in China, which is 15 times bigger than India?

Indians traditionally like to keep a low profile as against the Chinese, who are more flamboyant and like to show off. Having said that, we expect the evolu-tion to take place in India and we will evolve with the market. Infrastructure is the biggest challenge. With improvement in roads, the potential will grow. India is a country of 1.3 billion people and the number of high net worth individuals in India is growing. Of course, it is an impor-tant strategic market for Lamborghini.

We have seen customers moving up to premium brands like Mercedes Benz,

BMW and Audi. The next step is Porsche and then super sports luxury cars like Lamborghini and Ferrari. So, one has to be patient and accept humbly that this market is not like the other markets. It represents one-sixth of the world popu-lation. So, you must be humble and you have to learn and understand the market. That is why we are investing. We want to be close to our customers. We are al-ready in Mumbai and Delhi; we are plan-ning to set up a showroom in Chennai or Bangalore this year.

What role would India play in your global scheme of things?

India will be in the top 20 countries for Lamborghini in the next five years, from the top 50 currently. From 1% of our to-tal sales it could grow to at least 3-4 % in the next five years.

INDIA STANDS To gAIN IN ThE ASIAN INTEgRATIoN PRoCESSRegional Comprehensive Economic Partnership

INDIANS BUY PREmIUm CARS NoW: ThEY ARE SLoWLY moVINg UP To LAmBoRghINISLuxury Market


Interview

The worst of India’s economic slowdown and corporate earnings downgrades could be over, said Jan Dehn, co-head of research at UK-based Ashmore Investment Manage-ment, which manages assets worth $65 billion in emerging markets. In an interview with Nishanth Vasudevan, he said the Re-serve Bank of India ( RBI) had been right in resisting pressures to cut rates. Edited ex-cerpts:

Q: What is your outlook for India? have the recent policy moves by the government altered your views?

A: The recent approval by the lower and up-per houses of the Indian Parliament to open the country to multi-brand retail was impor-tant and positive for the outlook for three reasons. First, it showed the government has political room to pursue reforms. Second, it helps business confidence, which should stimulate capex and supply-side-led growth. Third, the government might now be encour-aged to move on to further reforms, such as the introduction of foreign direct investment ( FDI) in pension and insurance, setting up the National Investment Board, and even tackling the introduction of the goods and services tax ( GST).

Many feel India’s stock valuations are stretched after the recent rally, considering economic conditions have hardly improved from what they were earlier this year.

The government’s renewed focus on reforms supports a broader view that emerging mar-kets tend to get serious about reform once growth begins to wane. This has much to do with the importance of growth and stability to emerging market voters, in our view. We believe the worst of India’s economic slow-down and corporate earnings downgrade cycle are now behind us. This makes India a very attractive market on a valuation basis, given that we are seeing positive momentum in earnings growth and very attractive price levels. Currently, we see opportunities in fi-nancials and industrials. We maintain over-weight positions in consumer discretionary and information technology, as these areas should continue to expand on the domestic consumer growth story within India, as well as an increasing share of the supply side to the global growth story (technology).

Q: Is the rally in emerging markets overdone?

A: Emerging market stocks remain some

15 per cent below their 2011 peaks, while US stocks, such as the S&P500, are more than four per cent higher than in 2011. The recent rally in emerging market stocks has therefore, been relatively modest so far and the outlook remains very strong. Emerging market stocks have lagged due to lingering uncertainty about growth because of the slowdown in Europe, tail risk fears also in Europe, and fiscal and election-related risks in the US. But the underlying business cycle in emerging markets shows signs of picking up and we expect further gains, once the uncertainty surrounding the fiscal cliff fades in early 2013.

Q: Are concerns over the US fiscal cliff real or exaggerated?

A: A failure of the US Congress and the Oba-ma administration to resolve the fiscal cliff issue would likely plunge the US into a sharp recession in 2013. So, the concerns are en-tirely justified and constitute a genuine risk to the US. The issue is also likely to impact global market sentiment, including markets well beyond the narrow confines of the US. However, any collateral damage imparted on emerging market asset prices should, howev-er, prove a good buying opportunity. Previous panics emanating from the US and other HIDCs (heavily indebted developed coun-tries) have similarly been excellent buying opportunities for emerging market assets. After all, this is a very US-specific problem.

Q: RBI has resisted pressure from the government and industry bod-ies against cutting rates. Do you think the central bank has adopted the right step?

A: RBI has been pursuing the right strategy in resisting rate cuts. The combination of policy paralysis and heavy government spending had pushed inflation higher and eroded do-mestic business confidence. Rate cuts would only have contributed to further inflation

without dealing with the fiscal or confidence issues. By resisting pressure to cut rates, RBI was sending a signal that the government, not the central bank, would have to act. This has now happened, vindicating RBI’s position.

Q: Turning to Europe, is the worst over? Is there scope for shocks?

A: Having neglected reforms for many years, Europe has now been forced to undertake tough austerity in the middle of a downturn. This will ensure growth remains very weak in 2013.

This means we are likely to continue to see frequent market panics arising from the re-sulting economic and political vulnerabilities, both in so-called core and periphery Euro-pean economies. Having said that, Europe is a great deal more committed to defending the euro than what markets believe. A break-up of the Euro zone is not likely to happen, in our view. Austerity and reform will slowly achieve their objectives but the key reform in the Euro zone is going to be recapitalisation of banks.

Q: What is your outlook for China? Some analysts forecast a hard land-ing for China. Is 7.4 per cent real gDP growth a hard landing?

A: The Chinese hard landing thesis is one of the poorest predictions on record. China’s economy is now picking up, supported not only by a pick-up in global manufacturing, but also by a renewed sense of direction fol-lowing the recent transition of power in Chi-na. Having said that, we do not expect a re-turn to double digit growth in the near future albeit for very good reasons. China has em-barked on a major structural transformation of its economy from export to consumption-led growth. This is visionary. China is adjusting in anticipation of the coming unwinding of global imbalances, which will almost certain-ly involve a major appreciation of emerging market currencies versus the US dollar.

INDIA: AN ATTRACTIVE mARKET oN A VALUATIoN BASISInterview with Jan Dehn, co-head of research at UK-based Ashmore Investment Management

We believe the worst of India’s eco-

nomic slowdown and corporate earn-

ings downgrade cycle are now behind

us. This makes India a very attractive

market on a valuation basis.“


The Indian economy has witnessed ro-bust growth in the last few years and is expected to be one of the fastest grow-ing economies in the coming years. De-mand for commercial property is being driven by India’s economic growth. Real estate in India contributes about 5 per cent to India’s gross domestic product (GDP). The total revenue generated from the real estate sector in 2010-11 stood at US$ 66.8 billion.

Demand is expected to grow at a com-pound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19 per cent between 2010 and 2014, with tier I metropolitan cities projected to account for about 40 per cent of this. Growing infrastructure requirements from sectors such as education, health-care and tourism are also providing op-portunities in the real estate sector.

Urban population has been increasing and is expected to cross 590 million by 2030.Urbanisation and increasing house-hold income are some of the major fac-tors that influence demand for residen-tial real estate and growth in the retail sector.

mARKET SIzE

The Indian real estate market size is ex-pected to touch US$ 180 billion by 2020.

Demand for residential, commercial and retail real estate is rising throughout In-dia, accompanied by increased demand for hotel accommodation and improved infrastructure. Growth prospects and price stability of smaller cities are at-tracting large real estate developers in such cities in the recent past, according to a report titled ‘Real(i)ty Next: Beyond the Top 10 Cities of India’, released by Crisil. The report estimates that the sale

of new residential apartments in 10 such smaller cities are at around US$ 4 billion in 2012.

INVESTmENTS

Non-resident Indians (NRIs) are looking forward for investment in Indian real es-tate with the dollar appreciating in value compared to the rupee in the recent times. Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in real estate in 2011-12 (April-January) stood at Rs 2,750 crore (US$ 499.59 million). In fact, FDI in the sector is expected to increase to US$ 25 billion in the next 10 years, as per a latest indus-try body report.

Construction development sector (in-cluding townships, housing, built-up infra-structure) has attracted a cumulative FDI worth US$ 21.1 billion from April 2000 to June 2012. FDI flows into the sector for the period April-June 2012-13 stood at US$ 348 million, according to the De-partment of Industrial Policy and Promo-tion (DIPP).

India needs to invest US$ 1.2 trillion over next 20 years to modernise urban infra-structure and keep pace with the growing urbanisation, as per a report released by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI)-India’s urban awakening.

Indian real estate emerged as the popu-lar sector for private equity (PE) funds, investing around US$ 1,700 million in this sector during 2011. PE in real estate projects will fetch considerable returns by next year (2013), according to Vikram Hosangady, Partner, KPMG

Some of the major investments in the In-dian real estate sector are:

• Realty firm Avalon Group to invest

Rs 200 crore (US$ 36.32 million) to develop a group housing project at Bhiwadi in Rajasthan. The company would develop 800 housing units in the 12-acre project ‘Avalon Regal Court’

• Canada-based NRI billionaire Bob Dhillon is considering investing up to US$ 100 million (about Rs 540 crore) in the Indian real estate mar-ket and is planning to approach the Haryana Government for developing a township near Chandigarh

• Sahara India has set up a construc-tion joint venture with 110-year-old American real estate company Turner Construction Co, a subsidi-ary of German construction group Hochtief, and the Acropolis Capital Group, a special situation investment and development firm. The JV Com-pany will build integrated townships called Sahara City Homes and other Sahara India projects in India worth US$ 25 billion over the next 20 years

• Berggruen Hotels, a mid-market business hotel chain funded by US-based Berggruen Holdings, plans to double its room inventory and invest at least Rs 450 crore (US$ 81.72 million) in new projects across the country. The company operates un-der the brand Keys Hotels and aims to add 2,300 rooms over the next 18-24 months

• Kotak Realty Fund, the real estate private equity fund of Kotak Mahin-dra Group, has entered into a joint venture with Chennai-based Akshaya Homes for construction of residen-tial units on a 20-acre plot of Chen-nai’s Old Mahabalipuram road

Industry

REAL ESTATE INDUSTRYIndian Industry Sector Close-Up


goVERNmENT INITIATIVES

The Government of India has allowed FDI up to 100 per cent under the auto-matic route in townships, housing, built-up infrastructure and construction devel-opment projects to increase investment, generate economic activity, create new employment opportunities and add to the available housing stock and built-up infrastructure.

The Union Budget 2012-13 gives major thrust on accelerating the pace of invest-ment in infrastructure, as this is critical for sustaining and accelerating an overall growth. Efforts to attract private invest-ment into infrastructure through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) route have met with considerable success at both Central Government and State Government levels.

In the Union Budget 2012-13, Rs 10,000 crore (US$ 1.82 billion) is allocated for the development of National Highways. In the next five years, the total invest-ments in the real estate will be US$ 1 trillion.

Government of Gujarat plans to build a 600-hectare township near the proposed Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.’s (MSIL) manufac-turing factory in Hansalpur near Mehsana. The cost of development is estimated to be about Rs 80 lakh (US$ 145301) to Rs 1 crore (US$ 181672) per hectare.

RoAD AhEAD

Real estate plays an important role in the Indian economy. This sector happens to be the second largest employer after ag-riculture and is expected to grow at the rate of 30 per cent over the next decade.

The real estate sector in India is ready to take a big leap in the coming years. Since 2010, the residential sector has been on a strong growth trajectory and with in-creasing urbanisation the momentum is expected to continue. Strong demo-graphic mix and increasing salary levels will be the key triggers for growth of the residential market in 2012.

Emergence of nuclear families and grow-ing urbanisation has given rise to several townships that are developed to take care of the elderly. With a number of sen-ior citizen housing projects been planned, the segment is expected to grow signifi-cantly in the future.

Increase in the number of tourists has re-sulted in demand for service apartments. This demand is likely to be on uptrend and presents opportunities for the unor-ganised sector. The number of hotel beds in the country is expected to increase to 461,000 by 2015 from the current capac-ity of 235,000.

INDUSTRY ASSoCIATIoNS

The Confed-eration of Real Estate Devel-opers’ Associa-tions of India

(CREDAI)

National Secretariat, 703, Ansal Bhawan,

16, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi – 110 001

Tel: (011) 43126262/43126200

Fax: 91 11 43126211

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.credai.org

Builders’ Asso-ciation of India (BAI)

G-1/G-20, Com-merce Centre, J. Dadajee Road,

Tardeo, Mumbai – 400034

Tel: 91 22 23514134, 23514802, 23520507

Fax : 91 22 23521328

E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

Website: www.baionline.in

Trade Shows & Events

Real estate being dRiven by policies and gRowing economy


INDIA’S LARGEST INTERNATIONAL ENGINEERING SOURCING SHOW

Indian Engineering Sourcing Show (IESS) is India’s largest display of Engineering Products and Services and focuses on build-ing global partnerships for India. IESS is recognized as the only sourcing event in India – a showcase of the latest technology, and a preferred meeting place for buyers and sellers from all over the world. International companies keen to enter Indian markets find IESS as an ideal event for product launches, India distributor / partner search etc.

Trade Shows & Events


Announcements

INTERESTED IN VISITINg A TRADE ShoW IN INDIA?In case your company is interested in visiting a tradeshow/B2B event in India, be it one listed here or

another one that came to your attention, get in contact with us via [email protected] to get more information about possible assistance/subsidies.


Overseas Indians

A Social Security Agreement was signed between India and Aus-tria on 4th February 2013. From

the Indian side it was signed by Hon’ble Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs H.E. Vayalar Ravi and on the Austrian side by the Minister for Labour, Social Security and Consumer Protection Rudolf Hund-storfer.

The Social Security Agreement between India and Austria will enhance coopera-tion on social security between the two countries. The Social Security Agreement will provide for the following benefits to Indian nationals working in Austria:

a) For short term contract up to 5 years, no social security contribution would need to be paid under the Austrian law by the detached workers provided they

continue to make social security payment in India.

b) The above benefits shall be available even when the Indian company sends its employees to Austria from a third coun-try.

c) Indian workers shall be entitled to bring back the social security benefit if they relocate to India after the comple-tion of their service in Austria.

d) The self-employed Indians in Austria would also be entitled to bring back so-cial security benefit on their relocation to India.

e) The period of contribution in one con-tracting state will be added to the period of contribution in the second contract-ing state for determining the eligibility for

social security benefits.

There are about 17000 Indians in Aus-

tria most of whom are working as pro-

fessionals and self-employed. However,

there is potential for Indian workers to

take employment in Austria. As such, a

bilateral Social Security Agreement with

Austria is a significant requirement from

the futuristic point of view to take advan-

tage of the emerging employment oppor-

tunities and to strengthen the trade and

investment between the two countries.

This bilateral Social Security Agreement

is expected to enhance trade and invest-

ment between the two countries.

SoCIAL SECURITY AgREEmENT BETWEEN INDIA AND AUSTRIAIndian Industry Sector Close-Up

Reception hosted by H.E. Ambassador R. Swaminathan in honour of H.E. Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Mr. Vayalar Ravi at the India House, which was attended by a large number of guests from the Indian community in Austria.


Meghalaya is one of the country’s newest states with its capital at Shillong. Shillong the capital of

Meghalaya is a very attractive hill station.

Its sparkling lakes and dazzling waterfalls

spring from lush green mountains and

pine tree forest. The climate is pleasant

throughout the year. When you explore

its enchanting places, you will realize that

your search for eternity and serenity has

reached its terminus.

Shillong has a host of attractions- 18-hole

golf course known as Glen Eagle of the

East, Don Bosco Museum, a seven-floor

Museum offers 14 aesthetically pleasing

and informative galleries about North

East, Cherrapunjee, a very scenic 120 km

drive from Shillong famous as the wet-

test place on earth. For those who enjoy

caving, Meghalaya is just the place, for it

has about 788 caves, many of them un-

mapped and unexplored. Numerous wa-

terfalls with mesmerizing surroundings

worth visiting.

Meghalaya’s main ethnic communities,

each having its own distinctive customs

and cultural traditions are the Khasis (of

Mon-Khmer ancestry), the Garos (of Ti-

beto-Burman origin) and the Jaintias said

to be from South East Asia. The common

trait binding all three communities is its

matrilineal system in which the family

linage is taken from the mother’s side.

The people of Meghalaya are known to

be hospitable, cheerful and friendly.Tra-

ditionally, the Khasis believe that their

religion is God given and is based on the

belief of one supreme God, the creator

‘U Blei Nongthaw’ A Khasi is a deeply re-

ligious person, who has an intense love of

life. He believes that life is God’s greatest

gift and he has to account for it again in

the hereafter.

FoR moRE INFoRmATIoN oN INDIA ToURISm:

India Tourism FrankfurtBaseler Str. 48 / D-60329 Frankfurt

Tel: +49 (69) 242949-0Fax: +49 (69) [email protected]

Tourism

mEghALAYAIndian State Profile


INDIAN moVIE EVENINg: jab we met (Als ich Dich traf)Friday, February 22nd, 18:00 | Indian Embassy Business Centre (1st Floor, Kärntner Ring 2, 1010 Vienna)

Genre: Comedy / Romance

Directed by: Imtiaz Ali

Starring: Shahid Kapoor Kareena Kapoor and Tarun Arora

Released: 2007

Duration: 138 Minutes

Language: Hindi

Subtitles: gERmANSynopsis: Depressed after the passing of his father, Dharamraj; as well as his gor-

geous girlfriend ditching him, Mumbai-based businessman Aditya Kashyap takes a BEST bus, goes to Chatrapati Shivaji Train Terminus, and boards a train. This is where he meets Geet Kaur Dhillon, who is returning home to Bhatinda, and who pays for his ticket. At Bar Nagar, he de-cides to leave, but she follows him, miss-ing her train. They manage to get a ride to Ratlam, miss the train again, but even-tually make it to Bhatinda. Once there, he gets to meet her family; her pretty sis-ter, Roop; as well as her to-be betrothed, Manjeet Singh Mann. Before the engage-ment could be finalized, she manages to convince her family that she wants to marry Aditya, and they welcome him with open arms. Before he could take stock of these new developments, she elopes with him - not to get married - but to re-locate to Manali - where her true love, Anshuman, is waiting, and who she hopes to get married to.

Due to limited capacity, seats will be given on a first come, first served basis. Therefore, you are highly encouraged to reserve your seats online at www.indi-anembassy.at or via phone at +43 1 505 866633 (Ms. Lily John).

India in Austria

LIBRARYThE EmBASSY’S LIBRARY IS oPENED

moNDAYS AND WEDNESDAYS FRom 11Am To 1Pmwithout appointment. For scheduling an appointment outside the opening hours,

please contact the information assistant under [email protected] or 01 505 8666 33

BUSINESS CENTREThE EmBASSY’S BUSINESS CENTRE IS oPENED

DAILY (NEW!!) FRom 11Am To 1Pmwithout appointment. For scheduling an appointment outside the opening hours,

please contact the commercial wing under the contacts given below.Marketing Officer: [email protected] or 01 505 8666 30

Marketing Assistant: [email protected] or 01 505 8666 31

india newsletter 02.2013

Documents

embassy of india

india house

southern india

friends of india

india newsletterpublished

india reg

government of india

republic day of india