Thread: Indian Economy

I am still confused about this single brand business, surely Nilke and company are in but what if walmart sells all its products under a single walmart brand?

Originally Posted by Sameer

hehe its a hostile bid.

Those are the best ones
Just set foot on solid ground and take full controll.
My kinda game

Numero 3, here we come

WASHINGTON: India will become the world’s third largest economy by equalling or surpassing Japan sometime this year — much earlier than previously projected — according to a new forecast.

Measured in purchasing power parity terms, the economy will eclipse the $4 trillion mark in 2006, making it equal to or greater than Japan’s , according to William T Wilson, chief economist of Keystone India.

Only the US and China will possess larger economies.

The Indian expansion is riding on “significant accelerations” in growth, especially the liberalisation in strategic sectors such as telecom, banking, aviation and real estate, Wilson said.

Times of INdia

Indo-Asian News Service

Davos, January 26, 2006


India is well on the road to becoming an economic superpower and may emerge to equal China as the focus of the world's attention, a panel of analysts said at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos.

"Sustained economic growth rates, rising exports and imports and improvement in the quality of life have put India on the way to being a world force," James F Hoge, the editor of Foreign Affairs magazine said on Wednesday.

He said India might soon have double-digit growth rates.

Aart J de Geus, chairman and CEO of the US's Synopsis, said he believed that India and China would have huge future markets and an enormous impact on the West.

Indian business leaders acknowledged the independent confirmation of what they already believed, and laid down what they see as the reasons for the growth.

"India has gone from having a colonial complex and suffering from lack of self-esteem to having ambitions to be the best in the world," said Anand G Mahindra, vice chairman of Mahindra and Mahindra, an Indian vehicle manufacturer.

R Seshasayee, managing director of a vehicle manufacturing firm, Ashok Leyland, said innovation and competition had been ****led in India for the past 50 years but there were now great advantages.

Mahindra also challenged the common belief that in future "China will do the hardware and India will do the software", prompted by the massive growth of the software industry in India. "India will do both," he asserted.

However, all the panel members agreed that there would be more convergence than competition between China and India.

The issue of energy security and its importance to India was also raised.

However, Nand Khemka, chairman of the Sun Group of Companies in Britain, said the fact that the Indian economy grew by 7.5 to eight per cent in a period when oil prices doubled was proof that it was strong enough to withstand the increase.

Remember on the 31st of Jan, India will finally update its gdp, it will likely go upwards by 5-8% based on 1999-2000 prices. Inshallah by 2009, the trillion dollar mark will be broken. Remember that you have to look at appreciation of the exchange rate and nominal, nor real gdp growth ie gdp at market prices and then do the conversion in 2009.. Keep my fingers crossed.

Grandiose plans for Mumbai

Attracted to the booming real estate sector, RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani is set to bring some of his grandiose plans for Mumbai to the drawing board. The Mumbai plans are modelled on the development of the famous Pudong economic area near Shanghai.

RIL, had recently reported, has taken over the Nikhil Gandhi-promoted 4,377-ha (10,815 acres) Navi Mumbai Special Economic Zone. It is also likely to take over the larger (12,000-ha or 27,650-acre) MahaMumbai Special Economic Zone, which was promoted by Cidco (the municipal authority for Navi Mumbai). This combined SEZ, which will boast of a land mass of 16,377 ha (or 38,465 acres), is slated to eventually become Mumbai’s version of Pudong.

Mumbai’s proposed second airport is near this SEZ. The development of Sewri-Nava Sheva sea link will be crucial to the success of this endeavour.

RIL officials were not available for comment. However, persons familiar with the situation said that while the RIL top brass, led by Mukesh Ambani, were working on blueprints for its forays into SEZ and retail, nothing had been placed before the RIL board as yet.


More details at http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...how/1381741.cms

India Inc is on a hiring spree.They are seeking..
NEELAM RAAJ AND SUJATA DUTTA SACHDEVA

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 2006 12:20:51 AM]
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Praveen Bhargav can’t believe his luck. Having passed out less than a year ago with what he thought was a pretty worthless civil engineering degree, he now gets an offer a month.

‘‘I thought I'd made a mistake not doing IT but now I thank god for that ‘wrong’ decision,” says Praveen, who’s with a Delhi-based start-up that caters to the infrastructure construction design needs of an American firm.

Praveen and other graduates may be elated at the spurt in job offers and wages but Corporate India isn't celebrating. Instead, it’s busy trying to cope with an unprecedented demand for workers with the right technical and leadership skills.

According to McKinsey’s estimates, India’s factories will need 73 million workers by 2015 — which is 50per cent more than today. The Nasscom McKinsey report predicts India will confront a huge shortage of skilled workers in the next decade, particularly in the BPO industry.

But how can this be when half the 1.2 billion population is under 25 and there are 40 million unemployed? When India, touted as having an inexhaustible supply of cheap, skilled labour, churns out 3.6 million graduates every year?

‘‘It’s not that jobs are scarce, it is just that most of the passouts are unemployable,” says K Pandia Rajan, managing director of recruitment firm Ma Foi which has conducted an employment survey mapping 17 sectors
‘‘Their language skills make me want to forget what I have learnt,” says a Gurgaon-based call centre trainer brandishing a letter from an employee. ‘‘Please grant me leave as I have a heart (sic) in my stomach,” it read. Fluency in English apart, managers complain that graduates lack analytical and problem-solving skills.

‘‘The problem is our education system is biased towards IQ rather than EQ. People are not hired for knowledge alone, they also need other skills to tackle a competitive environment,” says Ronesh Puri, MD of head-hunting firm Executive Access.
Puri isn’t talking about the IITs and IIMs which produce India’s technological and managerial elite. For, it’s the foot-soldiers that emerge from lesser known institutes who’re needed to pilot the economy to greater heights. And that’s where the bottlenecks are emerging.

IT/ITES

It’s been an out and out success story so far. The offshore industry alone has grown roughly three-fold between 2000 and 2004, from $4 billion to $12.8 billion, accounting for 6per cent of the increase in GDP. That’s not all: the IT and ITES industries directly employ around 700,000 people and provide indirect employment to approximately 2.5 million. But there’s a cloud on the horizon: skill shortage.

‘‘The quest for workers is creating a talent crunch that some believe might dull India’s competitive edge in outsourcing,” says a McKinsey report. Currently, only around 25per cent of technical graduates and 10-15per cent of general graduates are suitable for employment in the ITES industry.

Nasscom president Kiran Karnik says, ‘‘Projections show that by 2010, the IT/ITES sector will need a workforce of 2.3 million to maintain its current market share. However, there will be a potential shortfall of nearly 0.5 million qualified employees and 70per cent of this will be in the BPO industry alone.”
Another study by Evalueserve, a Gurgaon-based KPO, predicts that as language-sensitive KPO/BPO work gains ground, there will be openings for 160,000 foreign-language professionals by 2010, but only 40,000 Indians will be available to fill these vacancies.

In fact, the crunch has already started showing. Karnik says of the 100 people who apply for a job in the BPO sector, less than 20 are good enough.

Airlines

The tarmacs are crowded but the job sector isn’t. With India’s airlines set to add 450 to 500 new planes by 2010, 2,000 additional pilots will be required, points out Kapil Kaul of the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. And if you count flight despatchers, maintenance engineers and others on the critical skill list, the number will go up to 10,000.

‘‘There is reason to be worried. The skill shortage could limit the growth potential of the sector,” adds Kaul, who feels that both industry and government are just not doing enough. ‘‘Setting up a couple of institutes won’t help and neither will getting staff from overseas. The latter option will result in higher operating cost and since India’s USP is that staff cost is low, this may lead to a slowdown,” he warns.
Retail

As mom-and-pop shops are replaced by hypermarts and malls, the retail sector is expected to create 150,000 to 200,000 jobs in 2006. And that’s not counting indirect employment. Pantaloon Retail, which already makes over 500 recruitments a month, says it has to rely on inhouse training and tie-ups with colleges. ‘‘There is no readymade talent so business houses like us have to do the job that educational institutes should do,” says Sanjay Jog, HR manager.

Engineering/Manufacturing

India’s premier engineering firm Larsen & Toubro needs 2,000 engineers a year but making up the numbers isn’t an easy task. Thanks to competition from the Indian IT industry as well as MNCs, quality talent is scarce. ‘‘Just look at the demand. The IT industry alone is estimated to hire about 50,000 fresh engineering graduates per year over the next four to five years. No wonder the market for young talent is so competitive,” says M S Krishnamoorthy, executive vice-president, corporate HR & Personnel, in L&T.

ABB’s HR head P C Rajiv points out that more than a shortage, it is a case of matching skills to needs. ‘‘Half the country’s population is below the age of 25 but harnessing this resource is the challenge,” he says. The power-equipment maker conducted an online recruitment test last year, making instant job offers to those who performed well.
Banking/ Insurance

Manpower Inc, whose hiring forecast is strongest for India of the 23 countries surveyed, says finance and insurance besides retail will be the big employer in 2006. Agrees ICICI's Ram Kumar, ‘‘It's a booming sector and there’s no doubt that manpower demand will go up sharply.” So what’s the strategy? Tapping second and third-rung MBA institutes as well as tie-ups with educators to offer banking diplomas.

‘‘If we give manpower the right attention, we should be exporting talent in financial services in four to five years,” he says.

Telecom

With the sector growing at around 70per cent every year, the demand for skilled manpower is rising exponentially. Experts say employment is expected to rise by 30per cent over the next year alone. Already, there’s a shortfall of about 10per cent in areas like telecom engineering
It’s a problem that telecom giant Bharti woke up to as far back as 2000. Says vice-chairman Rakesh Bharti Mittal: ‘‘The Bharti School of Telecommunication Technology and Management was set up in collaboration with IIT Delhi to meet the need for trained management as well as technical professionals.”

But for a sector that already employs 5 million people, that may just be a drop in the ocean.


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Seems the economy is growing too fast for our education system, the netas in power need to do more to get more colleges set up and we need to improve the level of english especially in Rajastan and company, ie the heartland states. We are on the verge of a boom that will make this 7% gdp growth average look ridiculous but we need to seize the moments, the next two years will be the most important this century.

ICRA projects economic growth at 7.7% this fiscal

PTI[ SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 2006 10:45:01 AM]
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NEW DELHI: A few days after the Reserve Bank raised projection of GDP growth to 7.5-8.0 per cent for this fiscal, credit rating agency ICRA has forecast likely economic growth at 7.7 per cent.

Agriculture, according to ICRA's latest periodical Money and Finance, is expected to grow at 2 per cent, industry at 7.8 per cent and services at 9.9 per cent during 2006-06.

The Central Statistical Organisation estimated that growth in the first half of this fiscal had averaged 8.1 per cent compared to 7.1 per cent in the corresponding period of the last fiscal.

However, revised growth of manufacturing output in the second quarter, July-September, at 7.7 per cent is quite a bit lower than 9.2 per cent that was ascribed to manufacturing GDP growth in that quarter.

It is, thus, possible that second quarter growth may be scaled down a bit than the earlier projection of 8 per cent unless upward revision affects other sectors, ICRA said in its periodical for July-December, 2005.

Indicators of growth in the third quarter tend to indicate that the pace of expansion may be somewhat less than that experienced in the first quarter, the credit rating agency said.

"Thus, overall it is likely that growth for the completed fiscal year of 2005-06 may be in the region of 7.7 per cent," ICRA said.

ICRA projects economic growth at 7.7% this fiscal

PTI[ SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 2006 10:45:01 AM]
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Pointing out that non-agriculture growth, comprising industry and services, likely to cross 9 per cent, the credit rating agency said this would signal the continuation of a strong, consistent and slightly accelerating tendency.

For 2006-07, ICRA projected the economic growth rate to be little over 7 per cent, assuming normal monsoon with potential upsides from a more rapid pace of investment in infrastructure.

The current phase of industrial output expansion that began in July 2002 has completed 41 months in November 2005.

This is the longest expansionary phase--longer than the first phase of post-liberalisation manufacturing output expansion between July 1993 and October 1996, ICRA said.

While one does not expect a slowdown, it is not unreasonable to expect a moderation in the pace of expansion, the credit rating agency said.

"Accordingly for 2006-07, we have factored in manufacturing growth of 8 per cent, assuming some investment in new manufacturing capacity and infrastructure," ICRA said.

There continue to be constraints in mining and power generation, although the restoration of the accident damaged Bombay High oil platform of ONGC should result in significant upsides in crude oil, and hence, mining output, it said.

Unlike the first half of nineties, it is not investment that is fuelling today's economic growth, but mostly consumer demand--for durable and non-durable consumer goods and for homes, the bulletin said.

The ready availability of consumer credit and the changing nature of India's younger consumers, have facilitated this surge in consumer demand, it said.

Companies are careful-some might say too careful--about creating additional capacity, and that factor has kept the pace of investment demand relatively modest, despite the fairly sharp pick-up in output growth and consumer demand, according to ICRA.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...76,curpg-2.cms


As I said many times before it is the downward trend of our interest rates that has contributed more to growth rather than neta policies...

FDI in all forms is welcome, says A-team
TINA EDWIN

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 2006 02:58:53 AM]
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DAVOS: India continued its hardsell at the World Economic Forum today with top leaders of the country stating that foreign direct investment (FDI) in all form was welcome. They have also assured foreign investors a level playing field.

Senior ministers told an interactive meeting here that the country would welcome FDI which contributed to value addition and created more jobs.

The leaders — FM P Chidambaram; dy chairman, Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath — have also identified infrastructure and manufacturing as sectors with investment opportunities.
Addressing a breakfast meeting,”Audience with India’s key policy makers,” organised by Global Agenda, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and IBEF, on the sidelines of the WEF annual meet this morning, Chidambaram said that the focus of the government was to first raise resources for capital investment and increase savings, open the doors wider to FDI and make India a manufacturing hub.

Chidambaram said that the government would follow fiscally prudent policies. “We are also conscious that we have to eradicate poverty.” The government was also aware, he said, that investment would have to be made to upgrade commercial and social infrastructure to ensure the country achieved 8per cent growth.

Concurring with finance minister on the role of FDI, Ahluwalia said FDI would play a central role in the overall growth. He added that most of the spending in rural areas would come from the public sector, while commercial infrastructure would be developed through public-private partnership. “Our policy is to provide a level playing field to domestic and foreign investors.”
Ahluwalia said that policies that held back investment, particularly in the rural areas, needed review.

“The key thing is to catch up with China. However we are not in the race with China,” Chidambaram said, adding that the two countries had different models for development and different political systems



India pitches for FDI to the tune of $15bn

PTI[ SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 2006 08:30:17 PM]
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DAVOS (SWITZERLAND): India on Saturday pitched for higher foreign investment to the tune of 15 billion dollars in 2006-07 to push up growth to over 8 per cent, but made it clear that the money should not replace or displace jobs.

In the 'India breakfast' meet here, three top Indian leaders -- Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia -- assured potential global investors that New Delhi was committed to reforms and making the industrial climate more congenial for FDI.

The meet was attended by some of the most prominent global CEOs, including Michael S Dell, Chairman Dell Computers, Kevan V Watts, Chairman Merill Lynch International Inc. and Andrew Crockett, President JP Morgan Chase International.

Kamal Nath said the focus was to get incremental FDI, especially into rural areas. He said the big issue for India to achieve the growth rate of eight per cent and above was to address the issue of under-employment and generating purchasing power in rural India.

Ahluwalia said it was important to review policy issues that hold development in rural areas. The focus needs to be on policies that constrain export of agro products. There was a need to catch up with China in the area of infrastructure.

The Planning Commission Deputy Chairman said that quality of water in rural areas for drinking and irrigation was also very important.

On education and the need to develop high skilled people for future growth in employment in India, Ahluwalia said the government was working on primary and higher education to improve the standard.

From the economictimes

Originally Posted by Sameer

Remember on the 31st of Jan, India will finally update its gdp, it will likely go upwards by 5-8% based on 1999-2000 prices. Inshallah by 2009, the trillion dollar mark will be broken. Remember that you have to look at appreciation of the exchange rate and nominal, nor real gdp growth ie gdp at market prices and then do the conversion in 2009.. Keep my fingers crossed.

Cool!
Please keep us posted if you have the statistics on Jan 31st

NEW DELHI -After criticising India’s stand on Iran, the US ambassador turned on the country’s leftist parties in an interview published on Sunday, criticising them for opposing the opening up of the retail market to foreign investment.


“Why does the left oppose it? ... I don’t understand what their opposition is about because the benefeciaries are the regular working people of India,” David Mulford told the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency.

His remarks follow controversial comments last week when he said in an interview, also with PTI, that India could lose out on a landmark nuclear deal with the US if it did not vote against Iran over its nuclear programme.

Mulford’s statement annoyed the Indian government, which summoned him to express its displeasure.

The ambassador later expressed regret over his remarks, saying he was quoted out of context. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a reference to Mulford on Sunday said that India will not be pressured into voting against Iran over its suspect nuclear programme at this week’s meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The cabinet Tuesday approved major reforms in foreign investment, including opening its retail market the world’s eighth largest and estimated at 250 billion dollars to single brand outlets such as shoemakers Nike and Reebok.

The left parties, which have 61 MPs in a 545-member parliament and whose support is vital to the coalition government, opposed the move, saying it will hit small stores which dominate the Indian retail market.

Mulford questioned their reasoning.

“I recognise there are complicated problems there because of the innate structure of your current small sector. But ... large retailers and small shopkeepers can co-exist perfectly well,” Mulford told PTI.

The diplomat said the move will not only benefit US companies but also the Indian economy.

“Large-scale retailers would come into India and build backwards the infrastructure all the way out to the farm that’s required to improve the efficiency of India’s agricultural sector.”

The envoy welcomed the government’s decision to allow 51 percent foreign investment in the retail sector but said it needed to do more than just allow single-brand outlets to set up shop.

“US retailers should be able to come into India and do the full range of retail business.”

He also said the government should change investment caps in the insurance sector and the existing limitations on foreign banks expanding in India.

Neo ji

I will hopefully be the first to post the updated figures, hopefully on the day itself or on the 1st of Feb unless Endangered ji beats me to it.

Originally Posted by Sameer

Neo ji

I will hopefully be the first to post the updated figures, hopefully on the day itself or on the 1st of Feb unless Endangered ji beats me to it.

I'll check tomorrow

The world's biggest computer maker, Dell, will be increasing its workforce in India by 50% in the next two years.
Dell's president and CEO, Kevin Rollins, made the announcement after a meeting with the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi.

It will take the total number of Dell employees in India up to 15,000.

Dell is also planning to set up a manufacturing facility in the country that will boost its 4% market share in India, Mr Rollins said.

'Vital role'

In April, the company will also be setting up its fourth Indian call centre in the Delhi suburb of Gurgaon.

This call centre will have nearly 1,000 workers, Mr Rollins said.


Dell is planning to set up a manufacturing plant in India

"Our teams in India have integrated well with Dell's global operations," he said.

"As we continue to attract new customers worldwide, we have successfully expanded our global service network and our team in India has played a vital role."

Mr Rollins also said that by 2008 Dell will double the size of its India-based product development team in Bangalore city - the hub of IT in India.

The current team in Bangalore already has 300 product development managers.

Although Dell wants to set up a manufacturing unit in the country, the poor infrastructure may pose a problem, Mr Rollins said.

"We are looking for a suitable site to set up a manufacturing base.

"We would like the facility to come up sooner than later, though no time-frame has been set... but we are talking with [state] governments and partners."

He added that the company also wanted to benefit from the growing demand for desktop computers and laptops - at present Dell accounts for nearly 4% of the four million computers sold in India.