SEZ rows may get special umpires
Civil courts may be barred from taking up cases related to compensation disputes arising out of land acquisition for special economic zones (SEZs) and other industrial and public purposes. According to the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill 2007 drafted by the rural development ministry, a Land Acquisition Compensation Disputes Settlement Authority (LACDSA) will be created in place of courts in each state to look into such disputes. For inter-state projects, a similar inter-state authority has been proposed.
The draft Bill also seeks to bar state governments from acquiring land for private players by proposing that part VII of the existing Act dealing with acquisition for companies should be omitted. The proposal holds significance as the empowered group of ministers (eGoM) on SEZs had recently barred the state governments from acquiring land for private developers only for SEZ projects. It may be noted that there were protests not only against land acquisition by the West Bengal government for the Nandigram SEZ but also against the Tata’s Singur project, which was a non-SEZ.
The feasibility of the proposals will be examined in details by the group of ministers on the relief and rehabilitation (R&R) policy to be constituted soon. The PMO wants to seek the opinion of the GoM on the entire revised policy drafted by the rural development ministry. The R&R policy, when approved by the government, will lay down all parameters guiding land transactions including benchmark prices and compensation to oustees.
Laying down that land could be acquired by the government only for public purposes, the amendment Bill defines public purpose narrowly to include strategic purposes related to defence and any other work vital to the state and public infrastructure such as electricity, communication, mining, water supply and public facilities. For private project related acquisitions, the onus would be on the companies to acquire land directly.
However, an official source said that the new Act would allow some flexibility to the state to acquire land for projects where about 90% of land has already been purchased by the private developer. The draft policy has also proposed that rehabilitation grant should be given to displaced persons only in lieu of land or job. The proposed formula calls for the acquirer to pay an average of the ‘higher prices’ paid in 50% of the land sold in the area in the previous three years. The average pricing will be determined from land previously acquired for industrial use.
Saturday, May 05, 2007 Source: Economic Times
Nano Mission gets Cabinet nod
In a bid to promote focussed research in nano sciences, government on Thursday approved the launch of Nano Mission with an allocation of Rs 1,000 crore.
The Union Cabinet decided that the Department of Science and Technology will be the nodal agency for implementing the Nano Mission. The Mission on Nano Science and Technology will strive for development of products and processes for national development, especially in areas of national relevance including safe drinking water, materials development, sensors development and drug delivery, Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Dasmunsi told reporters here.
Capacity building in this upcoming area of research will be of utmost importance for the Nano Mission so that the country can emerge as a global knowledge-hub in this field. Research on fundamental aspects of nano science and training of large number of manpower will receive prime attention, Dasmunsi said. The Mission will forge linkages between educational and research institutions and industry and promote public-private partnerships.
The Rs 1000-crore allocation for the mission is for a period of five years. The Nano Mission has been structured in a fashion so as to achieve synergy between the national research efforts of various agencies in nano science and technology and launch new programmes in a concerted fashion. International collaborative research efforts will also be made wherever required, Dasmunsi said.
Thursday, May 3, 2007 Source: PTI via Economic Times
Brand appeal: Mid-sized jewellery cos creating own identities
If big is beautiful, small is sexy too. Think branded jewellery and what comes to mind is a Sangini, Nakshatra, Tanishq and Orra. But some of the mid-sized diamantaires are forward integrating and launching their own brands in the jewellery segment.
They may not threaten the big brands yet. In a short span, Oreanas, Diam Jewels and Rakish Jewels have created their own space in the branded jewellery market. GJEPC officials say the branded jewellery segment is growing at around 40% year-on-year.
“With so much competition, pressures on margins and challenges from new quarters, value addition is the key to survival and growth. An increasing number of small and medium-sized diamantaires are forward-integrating into jewellery, and some are taking it even a step further by launching their own brands,” says Chandrakant Sanghvi, IDI chairman and convenor of Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council’s Gujarat region. Sanghvi’s company also owns the Sangini brand.
Experts say with the re-organisation of the retail markets in India and increasing consumer sophistication, jewellery retailers will be competing with luxury goods for greater footfalls and consumers’ share of the wallet. “Consequently, skills to brand and market jewellery will be of utmost importance to these retailers,” says a GJEPC-KPMG report.
Estimates suggest global jewellery sales will grow at 4.6% year-on-year to touch $185 billion in 2010 and $230 billion in 2015. “Branded jewellery will play a key role as far as India is concerned,” says Sanghvi.
While the bigger brands are sitting pretty, a number of smaller ones have come up in a span of past three years. Industry sources say in Surat alone, the diamond capital of the country, put together, the annual turnover of these local brands is be around Rs 40 crore. While these are doing well, players such as Shaswat Jewels are planning to launch their own labels.
Most diamond traders have launched their brands in the span of last three years and have impacted the local market through their showrooms and networking with local jewellers through a team of marketing professionals and MBAs. Diam Jewels was launched by Sanghvi & Sons, a non-DTC sightholder, in 2003. Today, the group owns a lavish showroom in the posh Ghod Dod road area and supplies its branded jewellery to local jewellers.
“We don’t compete with big brands because most of our business comes from direct selling and supply to the local jewellers,” says Rohit Kankaria of Diam Jewels. The firm has hired a team of professional, mostly management graduates to market their brands.
Likewise, Oreanas and Rakish too have hired professionals to effectively market their brands. Kankaria says their ad spent is less as compared to big brands that spend crores on top Bollywood actresses and models to advertise their products.
“Though local brands may not be much popular among the masses, but they are selling through our retail networks,” says Rajesh Vaghasia of Rakish Jewels. According to Vaghasia, family jewellers have had a head-start in the market, and they are using it well. Their biggest USPs are trust and flexibility. Neighbourhood jewellers have a long-standing relationship with customers and hence are not averse to accepting payments in instalments.
“We have received good response from the local market through our launch of bridal jewellery this year. We do not have any plans to foray in the national market at this juncture,” says Seema Barmecha of Oreanas, which is manufactured by Barmecha Impex. She believes that branding doesn’t make much difference but it is the trust between the customer and the jeweller which counts a lot.
Monday, April 30, 2007 Source: Economic Times
Docs with MBA degree are hot property
If you are a regular ER watcher, you’ll be familiar with the skirmishes that those dishy docs get into with hospital administrators and number crunchers. Indian hospitals have found a way around the great divide triggering a trend in the process — opt for medical MBAs.
As corporate hospitals go on a massive expansion drive, experienced doctors with management degrees are now hot property. According to head hunters, doctors with management degrees can earn a hefty premium with the differential being as high as 20-40% compared to a doctor without any management skills.
Artemis Health Institute COO Somnath Chakravorty says, “With the entry of corporates in the healthcare sector, the investments in hospitals are very high. Hospitals need to be run efficiently both operationally and financially. Since the core of the business is medicine, professionals who fulfil both requirements are a golden combination.”
In a bid to make up for the talent crunch hospitals are looking for several options. Says Vipul Prakash, partner and MD of Elixir, “The talent pool of doctors with MBAs is small and hospitals are sponsoring doctors to get an MBA degree.”
Max Hospitals chief physician (HR) Shabnam Singh said, “If a doctor with substantial years of hands-on experience has a management degree, then he is like a rare gem. Additionally, if the professional is within 35-45 years and he/she will usually get a premium of about 20% over his counterparts without a management degree.”
However, fresh MBBSs or MDs with a management degree may not be the ideal choice as healthcare is a critical service industry that demands experience, she added. This has led to doctors increasingly opting for pure management courses or hospitality management courses. Most of these doctors do their management courses from institutes like IIM-Ahmedabad (short-term course), AIIMS, FMC and Pune.
Hospital sources however add that this is also because of the limited number of seats in the post-graduate courses. “One needs the skills of a seasoned doctor as well as an experienced management executive. Many times just having a doctor to manage a hospital can back-fire completely,” Transearch International India managing partner Uday Chawla says.
Thursday, May 03, 2007 Source: Economic Times
Job-investment ratio highest in hospitality sector
According to a study conducted by a committee constituted by the Karnataka Minister of Industries, the hospitality sector provides the highest employment-investment ratio — every additional investment of Rs 10 lakh has the potential to generate 47 jobs and every direct job leads to creation of 11 indirect jobs.
Mr P.K. Mohankumar, Area Director - Bangalore, and General Manager, The Taj West End, confirms this when he says that the hospitality sector is an employment multiplier. "For every room constructed, 16 persons are directly/indirectly employed."
He says that the industry in Karnataka recruits 50,000-75,000 employees — skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled — every year. According to the study, the hotel sector is registering an annual growth rate of 5 per cent. It adds that the sector in the State is on an upswing, going by the occupancy that is currently 85-90 per cent in the star category and 55-60 per cent in the budgetary class hotels.
Bottlenecks
One of the greatest challenges plaguing the industry, the study says, is the availability of quality workforce in different skill levels in the State for the emerging demand due to growth in business in industries and tourism. Retention of the workforce through training and development in the hotel industry is another problem, and attrition levels are high; one of the reasons being unattractive levels of minimum wages.
The study also identifies the consolidation of the existing food craft centres and establishing additional training centres in tier 1, tier 2 and tier 3 towns apart from moffusil centres as yet another challenge. Such a set-up will open the floodgates to fill in the high number of skilled/semiskilled workforce requirements, the study adds.
The Committee has recommended the following proposals to the Government: free education, scholarships, and dormitory facilities for candidates opting to join the Food Craft Centre; the State Government should be willing to make special efforts to allocate land to attract investment of small/large-scale hotels relaxing the municipal and zone restrictions; facilitate identification of hotel sites and their allocation to deserving entrepreneurs with facilities for speedy single-window clearances through various governmental bodies; process for approvals (multiple permissions and approvals) towards expansion plans of existing hotels to be simplified; consider basing the luxury tax on the actual room rent charged rather than on rack rates; modernise and update the curricula of hotel management/catering technology institutes; initiate large-scale master trainers and expose existing trainer to the changes in the hospitality industry through refresher courses.
Thursday, May 3, 2007 Source: Hindu Business Line
Jones Lang unfurls big India play
Even as ‘overheating concerns’ dog India’s realty market, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), the world’s largest real estate services giant, is bringing in two of its group entities — Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels and LaSalle Investment Management — diving deeper into the red hot market, sources said.
JLL Hotels is expected to move into the country within a year as an independent entity. As a leading global hotel investment services firm, it will offer dedicated service on the capital raising, investments sales, M&As, asset management and valuation front to the domestic hospitality sector.
Sources said LaSalle Investment Management, a real estate fund managing assets worth over $44 billion worldwide, is expected to begin investing in India from one of its pan-Asian growth funds that normally look for returns north of 30%.
Notwithstanding concerns about transparency in real estate transactions, JLL is expected to stay bullish on markets like India in the Asian context. It must be mentioned that JLL’s Asia Pacific revenue in the January-March quarter rose 49% with India, Japan, China and Korea being the significant contributors.
The two new entities are entering India at a time when JLL Property Consultants India has seen a leap its operations with over 1,800 employees now, compared with 250 three years ago. The company has been expanding the services bandwidth, and Retail Plus, a service for the just developing organised retail sector, is the newest addition. JLL Hotels is entering India at a time when the hospitality sector is in the midst of an unprecedented expansion with estimates suggesting around 54,000 rooms under development currently. It is learnt that the domestic market by 2013-14 could absorb upwards of 1.5 lakh rooms, which would call for significant fund flows.
JLL Hotels rendered advice on 186 hotel transactions worldwide carrying a value of $9 billion in 2006. This entity with a 250-member worldwide team is considered to be one of the most profitable businesses under the JLL umbrella. JLL Property Consultants (India) country head Vincent Lottefier said the hotel entity was likely to set up shop within a year. However, there was no confirmation on the entry of LIM, which informed sources said could happen in the next 18 months. Incidentally, LaSalle Asia Opportunity Fund II had real estate assets worth $3 billion under management in Asia by end of 2005, and it had marked an additional $2.5 billion for Asian real estate investments.
Saturday, May 05, 2007 Source: Economic Times
Land Ceiling Act repeal may attract cos into Mumbai realty
The Maharashtra Government's decision to repeal the Urban Land Ceiling Act may usher in more companies into the Mumbai realty sector.
The scrapping of the Act is expected to throw up large tracts of land, which otherwise were locked up by the law. Conservative estimates reveals that about 25,000 acres would be available for development in metropolis alongside Thane and Navi Mumbai.
Realtors, however, feel that the impact would be felt more outside the State capital like Pune where land prices have shot up by over 300 per cent in the last one year.
Sobering Effect
Mr Mohan Deshmukh, President, Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry, feels that it could facilitate development more in tier-II cities than in Mumbai where land is scarce.
He also sees it as an opportunity for large corporates to step into the construction sector and to some extent bring about a tapering of prices, primarily due to more housing stocks being rolled out.
While up market locales such as Malabar, Bandra, Khar and Santacruz up to Lokhandwala have little vacant land, it can trigger development in far-flung areas in the suburbs and Thane. "Most of the available land in the city is with encumbrance and litigation. It could have a sobering effect in tier-II cities such as Pune, where the price of an acre in the periphery has spiralled from about Rs 10 lakh to Rs 40 lakh over the last one year," he said.
Realty Prices
Mr Shamsu Lalani, Director, Lalani Group, a Mumbai-based construction company which has several projects lined up in Thane and Pune, said the Government move may not impact realty prices to a very great extent, but would definitely improve land availability and consequently housing. He also feels that it would open the doors for more corporate entrants and township projects could get a fillip.
The ULC Act came into force in 1976 during the Emergency with a primarily focus on preventing land hoarding and to facilitate implementation of social and welfare projects. While the Union Government scrapped it in 1999, States were required to follow suit and repeal the law as land came under their purview.
Thursday, May3, 2007 Source: Hindu Business Line
Housing loan growth may slow 15%
Growth in housing loan is set to decelerate to 15-20% in 2007-08, against about 35% witnessed in 2006-07. While interest rates on housing loans have gone northward, property prices are yet to see moderation, analysts said. The demand would primarily come from tier-II and III cities as they are not only expanding rapidly but most purchases of residential properties are made by first-time buyers.
However, in metros, the growth would slow down significantly as large number of people go in for pure investment purposes. S Sridhar, chairman, National Housing Bank, told FE that there is an acute shortage of housing in the country and therefore it is unlikely that demand for home loans would fall significantly.”It may come down from what we have seen but genuine buyers would still continue to be interested in buying properties,” he said, adding that speculative buying would decline.
“First time buyers would be interested in buying properties despite rising interest rates but most purchases which used be for investment purpose would be deferred,” a senior official of Punjab National Bank said. Loans upto Rs 20 lakh comprise 85% of the total home loan portfolio for state owned banks. It may be noted that the Reserve Bank of India, in its annual monetary policy, reduced the risk weight on residential housing loans to individuals from 75% to 50% for loan amounts upto Rs 20 lakh.
However, no banks have actually brought down their interest rates on housing loans. A senior banker said that when overall interest rates were rising, most banks increased their prime lending rates but refrained from tinkering with the interest rates on housing loans.”Therefore, immediately, we may not bring down the interest rates on housing loans as they have been kept at a reasonable level and most banks did not link it with the rising PLR,” the banker said
Saturday, May5, 2007 Source: Financial Express
Tirupur knitwear needs policy push
Even though the garment industry has in recent years been unshackled from the growth-limiting factors such as SSI reservation and high tax burden in the man-made fibre value chain, a clutch of apparel manufacturing hubs in the country are yet to fully benefit from the freer environment, owing to a host of policy constraints. A case in point is the Tirupur knitwear industry.
Despite making giant strides by touching the Rs 11,000-crore mark on the export front in 2006-07, Tirupur’s knitwear industry is still plagued by changes in some of the government policies, besides power, environmental and infrastructure impediments.
Of course, the state and central governments have supported the units in the effluent discharge crisis by granting aid in the proposed Marine Discharge system. The industry, however, thinks that is not enough. A cross-section of exporters ET spoke to expect tax abolition and state-initiated infrastructure development to give a fillip to their business.
The industry also wants the Centre to extend its employment guarantee programme to cover the garment industry. “We have the potential to offer jobs for a minimum of 200 days in a year against the government’s programme of assuring 100 days of work in a year; the wages could even be higher at Rs 70 per day,” S Sakthivel, executive secretary, Tirupur Exporters’ Association (TEA), told ET.
The imposition of fringe benefit tax and the increase in education cess from 2% to 3% on all taxes would inflate the cost of products which in turn would affect the competitiveness of garment exports, industry sources say.
The industry stakeholders have also requested the Tamil Nadu government to form a state export promotion board to boost exports. “Export plays major role in the industrial and economic development of the state. In view of the trends in the global market, in line with foreign trade policy of the Centre, state should also have a separate policy to help exporters,” A Sakthivel, president, TEA, added.
Exporters are also pinning their hopes on the state’s plan to upgrade Tirupur into a municipal corporation. This will augment its financial resources and help in getting more external funds for infrastructure development.
Tamil Nadu government has also accepted, in principle, the demand to make Tirupur a district. It has been announced in the current year’s state budget that creation of new districts will be done after completing the delimitation process for parliamentary and legislative assemblies.
In the wake of knitwear industry growing by leaps and bounds and everyone here blaming the state government of not providing adequate infrastructure, finance minister K Anbazhagan’s announcement in the state budget came as a big relief to exporters.
The announcement was a long due and is expected to bring a lasting solution to infrastructure miseries. As a district it will have more administrative powers and also get more funds.
According to sources, the proposed district will comprise, along with Tirupur Municipal Corporation, two recently-upgraded municipalities—Nallur and Velampalayam—and eight village panchayats, all considered as an extension of Tirupur. It will be spread across 119.06 sq km with a population of over 5.5 lakh.
Tirupur is also expected to get a police commissionerate soon. The district status with upgraded infrastructure will go a long way in making it a world-class city to attract more global players and buyers. It will help exporters showcase their products in international fora
Tirupur has already seen the successful implementation of the Rs 1,023-crore water supply and sewerage scheme (on PPP model), implemented by the New Tirupur Area Development Corporation Limited. It has solved the problem of water scarcity in the town. But the peripheries are still struggling for water, besides good roads, drainage, waste disposal and streetlights.
Friday, May04, 2007 Source: Economic Times
TN to take up Rs 15 cr silk development activities
The Tamil Nadu government, in association with the Centre, will spend about Rs 15 crore for development of sericulture in the state, Minister for Khadi K Ramachandran informed the assembly on Wednesday.
The proposal includes utilisation of 10,000 acres of new land in addition to the existing 25,107 acres, he said, replying to a discussion on demands for grants for the Sericulture Department here.
Construction of rearing sheds and establishing multi-end reeling units will be taken up as part of the development works, he added. "The Central Silk Board has given sanction to establish one Automatic Reeling Unit at Gobichettypalayam at a cost of Rs 2.8 crore and will grant a sum of Rs 50 lakh for this purpose," he said. Further, revival of closed units in government, co-operative and private sectors and expansion of existing units was also proposed, he added.
Announcing a health insurance scheme for artisans in handicraft sector, Ramachandran said the premium amount of Rs 200 will be shared by LIC Social Welfare Development Fund (Rs 100), Centre (Rs 60) and the state government (Rs 40). "Artisans will be eligible for Rs 30,000 insurance cover under the scheme in case of natural death and Rs 60,000 in case of accidental death," he said
Wednesday, May02, 2007 Source: PTI via Economic Times
US linen brand Peacock Alley coming to India
American luxury linen label Peacock Alley is coming to India through a franchise agreement with Alok Industries, which will retail the high-end home textiles both in exclusive stores and multi-brand outlets.
"We will retail the Peacock Alley home textile range through flagship stores as well as other outlets,"said, Alok Industries head Home Textile Alok Jiwarjka. Alok's tie-up with the US linen maker, known for its expensive range, also marks a major entry of the Mumbai-based textile firm into the growing Indian retail market.
The Peacock flagship stores would come up in major cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore in the next 12-18 months. The range will reach the smaller cities at a later stage. "While a lot of international fashion brands have started coming here, no major label had come in the linen segment, which is growing with changing lifestyle of higher middle class and rich Indian," Jiwarjka said.
Alok has signed a licence agreement with Peacock Alley, under which it would market Peacock's home linen range under the Peacock Alley brand, while the US company would provide design and marketing inputs. The agreement is initially valid for two years, with a renewal option. Jiwarjka said sourcing of the products would be done in India. "Alok is among the largest exporters of bed linen globally to the US and has an existing vendor relationship with Peacock. Tapping this growing market for luxury linens is a natural extension of our business," he said.
Sunday, April 29, 2007 Source: PTI via Economic Times
Automobile Sector
Durable Sector
Food Sector
Liquor Sector
India offers to give inputs in EU case on liquor duty
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has set up a dispute settlement panel to study the European Union’s petition against India’s high import tariffs on wines and spirits. India had earlier used its right to reject EU’s request when the plea was taken up for the first time two weeks ago. Since no such facility is available when a proposal is discussed for the second time, a DSP is the way out.
As reported by ET last week, the WTO will now appoint members of the panel and give it a time-frame to carry out the investigation. Both sides would be heard before a verdict is announced. Official sources said India would provide its inputs to the panel shortly.
Meanwhile, the government is working on a legislation that will enable state governments to impose excise on imported liquor. This would be WTO-compliant as long as states charge the same excise from domestic manufacturers, meeting the ‘condition of national treatment’.
The EU has been asking India to bring down tariffs on wines which range from 177.33-264% for imported wines and from 252.22-550% for imported spirits. India has made a commitment of freezing its duties on alcohol at 150% which means that at no point of time can the country have a higher duty than 150% on import of liquor.
Wednesday, May02, 2007 Source: Economic Times
Oil Sector
Software Sector
Sobha Renaissance buys 2 firms
Sobha Renaissance Information Technology has acquired Infotrack and Zipdrive from Bangalore-based Tranquil Solutions, a software products solutions provider in the automotive retail and after sales segment. Infotrack is a dealer management solution that assimilates all dealership information enabling access across departments while Zipdrive integrates all functions within a car rental company including pre-sales, operations, finance, rentals, personnel & Payrolls and budget. The IP transfer will also include the key development team.
Wednesday, May02, 2007 Source: Hindu Business Line
In4velocity develops Web-based application for realty sector
The tremendous opportunities that the real estate sector has thrown up for developers notwithstanding, the sector has vast potential for software developers too, "with software sale possibilities of about Rs 1,100 crore," said Mr Rahul Chawla, CEO, In4velocity Systems, provider of end-to-end process automation, management and benchmarking software for the real estate and property development industry.
The company, founded in 2003, has developed In4Suite, a Web-based application, which consists of integrated modules that provide a 360-degree real-time view of the business, leveraging dashboards and drill-down tools.
Key Features
The domain-centric software connects all business processes from land acquisition to legal liaison, project conceptualisation, engineering, purchase, sales, marketing, project management, and rentals/lease management, said Mr Chawla. "Unlike a traditional ERP software, where it is all about reporting data, this software enables data analytics and data mining."
Some of its key features include milestone-based project planning, online integration with major accounting systems, reporting and analysis, integrated knowledge management application, online certification and generation of bills, material and inventory management, integrated construction management, etc.
This helps clients save time and costs, depend less on people, add predictability to the business, and plan yield in a down market, Mr Chawla said.
Tall Order
The product provides real-time information to all stakeholders involved — customers, financial institutions, vendors and contractors, among others. The product, which costs upwards of Rs 25 lakh depending on the number of users, will take about 4-8 weeks to install and configure.
In4velocity currently has 30 clients, of which "50 per cent was added in the past year," Mr Chawla said. It hopes to add 3-4 clients every month.
This is not a tall order considering that "there are 3,600 developers in the large enterprises segment across just 11 cities," Mr Chawla added. Added to these are about 18,000 developers in the SME sector across 27 cities. In the next two years, "we would like to target 27 cities," he said.
Doubling Staff
Based on the hub-and-spoke model, the company has achieved a 150 per cent growth with revenues of over $1 million as of March 2007. Mr Chawla hopes to touch $3 million revenues this year. With offices in Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, In4velocity plans to enter Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune soon; global markets such as West Asia, China and Malaysia are also on its radar. The company, with a headcount of 70, hopes to double its staff by the year-end, and continue the trend for the next couple of years.
Saturday, May 05, 2007 Source: Hindu Business Line
Biotech
Biotech mkt in India to touch five bn dlr by 2010
The biotechnology sector in India, which has been growing at 37 per cent per annum is projected to touch five billion dollars mark by 2010, industry body CII said on Friday. "Biotechnology in India has grown manifold in the last decade touched a two billion dollar today and growing at 37 per cent per annum it is projected to reach 5 billion dollar by 2010," a chamber statement said.
Though the biotechnology market in India at present contributes only about a little more than 1.1 per cent share in the global market, it is on the threshold of a colossal growth in the coming decade, it said.
CII is leading a 54 member biotechnology delegation to the US from May 3 to May 9 coinciding with the largest biotechnology event in the world, 'BIO 2007' Exhibition in Boston.
The exhibition is an opportunity for Indian industry and organisations, including state governments and academic institutions doing research in life sciences to showcase their work, attract projects from international companies and provide an opportunity to interact with their counterparts from across the world.
The event attracts 20,000 visitors every year and nearly 2000 companies from across the globe register their participation. The chamber is also partnering with the Massachusetts Office of International Trade and Investments (MOITI), American Biotech Industry Association (ABIA) and US India Business Council (USIBC) for the event. Business meetings with countries like Canada, Chile, Israel would also be organised, the release added.
Friday, May04, 2007 Source: PTI via Economic Times
Govt working on contract farming policy: Pawar
The Centre is considering formulation of contract farming policy to ensure that the land belonging to peasants is not leased or sold to private sector for cultivation, a Union Minister said here today.
"The contract farming model which we want to implement in India will ensure that the land will be permanently owned and cultivated only by the farmers. We are not encouraging a model of leasing land and allowing private sector to acquire it for cultivation," Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said.
At a workshop on contract farming here, Pawar said, such platforms would suggest ways of going about the policy and if necessary provide the inputs for any new legislation.
He also stressed on some institutional mechanism to protect the interest of both the contracting parties.
Pawar said such workshops will provide an idea on the way one should formulate the policy and then "if required what way we should prepare a new legislation for the purpose. We are in that process". Saturday, May 05, 2007 PTI via Economic Times
Agro processing zones under-performing: Assocham
As many as 54 of 60 projects notified under the agri export zone (AEZ) scheme have failed to log desired levels of investments and exports, resulting in a 50 per cent shortfall in targets, says Assocham.
Because of the poor performance of 54 AEZs in the past six years, exports from the 60 projects have been Rs 53.16 billion ($1.25 billion) against a target of Rs 118.21 billion, the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) said.
"These AEZs could attract only Rs 8.2 billion as investment as against the envisaged investment limit of Rs 17.18 billion," it added.
The chamber, which conducted an independent study on the subject, said the government had received 34 additional applications for AEZs, over and above the already notified, but they have been awaiting clearance for two years.
The chamber said that there were some good performers among the AEZs. The AEZ in Karnataka for gherkins, onion, flowers and vanilla registered exports of Rs 11.38 billion against a target of Rs 6.19 billion.
Even in terms of investment, the AEZ there saw Rs 914 million pumped into the project as on Jan 31 against the envisaged figure of Rs 522 million.
Similarly, the Maharahstra AEZ for grapes, wine, mangoes, flowers, pomegranates, onions, bananas and oranges had envisaged exports of up to Rs 6.01 billion but managed to realise Rs 10.51 billion.
On the other hand, the orange AEZ in Madhya Pradesh, which covers Chhindwara, Betul and Hoshangabad, and to which vegetables were added at a later date, managed to attract the desired level of investments but with nil exports.
The AEZs for organic pineapples in Tripura, mangoes in Tamil Nadu, flowers in Sikkim and basmati rice in Uttar Pradesh, have also failed to register exports with low level of investment, the study said.
Thursday, May 03, 2007 Source: IANS via Economic Times
WTO paper harvests discontent in India
India’s attempts to protect its farm sector from indiscriminate liberalisation has come under threat from a recent draft paper circulated by the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) agriculture committee chairman Crawford Falconer.
The paper lays down that no agricultural product should be outside the ambit of tariff cuts in the ongoing Doha round of talks and the number of special products (SPs), which developing countries can protect against steep cuts, should be restricted to just 5-8% of the total agricultural products.
India, which is still studying the document, will express strong objections to the dilution of the concept of SPs, a senior official said. SPs are items that developing countries can exclude from formula cuts agreed upon in the negotiations to address concerns such as food and livelihood security. India wants to protect a number of items from formula cuts, including wheat, rice, sugar, soya and dairy products as these could affect the farming community.
WTO spokesperson Keith Rockwell told ET the chairman’s paper was just a draft and would be the basis for future discussions. “The agriculture committee is meeting again this Friday, where all members will give their comments on the paper. This is the best effort to find the centre of gravity in these negotiations, which is not an easy task,” he said.
WTO members are trying to wrap up the Doha round by the year-end. For that to happen, the modalities for negotiations on agriculture and industrial goods have to be in place by June-end. While the deadline is ambitious, the buzz that the US Congress is unlikely to renew the trade promotion authority of the Bush regime has added momentum to the talks.
According to commerce ministry officials, the chairman’s attempt to restrict the number of SPs to just 5-8% of the 690 agricultural tariff lines being negotiated went against the mandate of the talks. “The July framework talks about ‘appropriate’ numbers of SPs based on certain parameters and doesn’t say that a numerical restriction should be applied. What is ‘appropriate’ for India, which has 15 agro-climatic zones and produces hundreds of farm products, may not be so for smaller countries such as Mauritius or Barbados,” an official said.
India is also unhappy with the paper’s suggestions on subsidy cuts. The document says it would be difficult to convince the US to bring down its trade-distorting domestic subsidies to the early teens from the current levels of $19 billion. “This means he (the agriculture committee chairman) is referring to a figure which would hover around $16-17 billion. This is way too high to be acceptable to us,” the official said
Wednesday, May 02, 2007 Source: Economic Times
Ikea in JV talks with local cos
Ikea, the world’s largest furniture retailer, has established an office in Gurgaon for market research and learnt to have initiated talks with Indian players for a possible alliance for the domestic market.
According to sources, Ikea would firm up plans for its India debut only by 2009. “They take a lot of time before they enter any market. It is unlikely that they will be ready with their plans before another year or two,” said an industry source. An email sent to the company did not elicit a response.
Early this month, Ikea group president and CEO Anders Dahlvig had said in an interview that he expects Asia to contribute a larger amount to the retailer’s sales than the 3-5% it does now.
About Ikea’s India entry plans, Mr Dahlvig had said, “We will be there eventually, I’m sure. It is a question of how and when. I think it will mostly depend on things like legislation and infrastructure development.”
Ikea, which is known for selling low-priced home products such as sanitaryware, cookware, lighting products and sofas, has 237 stores in 35 countries.
India’s furniture & furnishings and sanitaryware market is estimated at Rs 32,000-35,000 crore, of which organised players together account for less than Rs 1,000 crore. Some of the players in the organised market are Season’s Furnishings, The Home Store, Landmark’s Home Centre and Kishore Biyani-owned Home Town.
Founded in Sweden, Ikea is owned and operated by an array of not-for-profit and for-profit corporations in the Netherlands, Luxembourg and several other countries. The retailer owns 210 of its 237 stores worldwide, rest being franchisee stores in countries like Spain, UAE, Singapore and Australia.
The company posted revenues of $23.5 billion for the year ended August 2006, with Europe accounting for 80%. The retailer plans to open 24 new stores in 2007, against 16 new store openings in 2006
Tuesday, May 01, 2007 Source: Economic Times
Indian mangoes hit US shores
Many prayers were answered on late Friday night, when a consignment arrived at the Air India cargo hold at the John F Kennedy airport in New York - 150 boxes of juicy Indian mangoes, the first consignment to arrive after the US agreed to lift the ban on imports last year.
Bhaskar Savani and his brothers drove from Philadelphia to New York on a chilly Friday night to wait for some precious cargo arriving from India - 90 boxes of Alphonso and 60 boxes of Kesar mangoes – the first Indian mangoes to enter America after a gap of 18 years. Savani, who lobbied for over three years to reopen the import of Indian mangoes to the US, is confident that Americans will be bowled over by the king of Indian fruits.
Bhaskar Savani, who is a dentist and a mango importer says, "I’ve been associated with the American marketing lobby here, and I told them if you really want to carve a mango in American people’s heart, you have to give them a good taste (of it) and the right mango."
Americans consume around 250,000 tonnes of mangoes every year, mostly imported from Mexico and other South American countries. Now India, the largest mango producer in the world, could capture a good share of this market. Savani says, "We really need a good cold chain established and good farming practices back home in India - a organized way of marketing and bringing the mango from farm to the final consumer, and we need to have accountability – where it came from – and the grading."
And why stop at just fresh mangoes? Mango products, from chutneys to salsa, could work just as well given America’s well-developed processed food industry. Savani explains, "You go to McDonald’s and there’s three milkshakes – strawberry, chocolate and vanilla – why not mango? So, I’ve already started connecting those dots right now and I will put in a lot of effort to convince the fast food chains. And they are also looking for a healthy, nutritious drink to add to their menu."
The long wait is over, and it sure smells good! This shipment will first be sent to a ripening facility, and then distributed among family and friends. Some boxes will be sent to Washington, DC, where they will find their way to the White House next week.
Monday, April 30, 2007 Source: moneycontrol.com
French lingerie for Indian women!
Women in Indian cities will now be able to pick up Etam French lingerie, swimwear and innerwear for any occasion, addressing every mood, from a store not too far away.
With Miss India Earth Pooja Chitgopekar showcasing the lingerie collection of Etam, the leading French fashion apparel brand announced its joint venture with Pantaloons Retail (the Future Group) in New Delhi.
Both the companies will have a financial participation of 50 percent in the enterprise and the clothes will be sold under the brand name 'ETAM Future Fashion Private Limited'.
Etam will open 40 outlets across 20 cities in India with an investment of Rs.900 million. Currently, Etam has seven stores and six shops in stores across five cities in India.
Announcing the joint venture at a press conference at the French embassy, Elisabeth Cunin, CEO, Etam Lingerie, said: "The legacy of Etam goes back 90 years, epitomising style down the ages. We are excited to partner with Pantaloons Retail and have aggressive expansion plans."
Jaydeep Shetty, CEO Etam Future Fashion, added: "We believe the timing is perfect to launch a high fashion lingerie brand, for Indian women, who had limited branded innerwear options in the past."
The Etam lingerie collection is a heady mix of fun and romance combined with elegance and flawless fit. Crafted from satin, silk, cotton and lace, the line compromises delicate patterns, vibrant motifs and fine finish in shades of whites, off-whites, blacks, pinks, reds and blues.
Friday, May 04, 2007 Source: MSN India
