Source: The Hindu Business Line, Feb 13, 2012
The growth in IT software and services exports from India has slackened this fiscal owing to the global economic overhang. But the positive side of the story is that domestic companies are reducing dependence on the US market, while sharpening focus on emerging markets.
Read the rest of this entry »
Source: The Hindu Business Line, Feb 13, 2012
Mangalore: While expressing confidence that India will reach its export target of $300 billion during the current financial year, the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Dr Anup Pujari, has said that the recent decision to denote payment to Iran in rupees will provide an opportunity to exporters.
Delivering the keynote address at ‘Karnataka: Export Vision 2020′, organised by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), here on Monday, he said that following this decision any Indian who exports to Iran does not have to bother about payment in dollars. The exporter will get the payment in rupees. This will help break the barriers of convertible currency to exporters.
Source: LiveMint.com, Feb 14, 2012
New Delhi: In an indication of the coming consolidation in India’s wind energy sector, Lanco Infratech Ltd has decided to exit the segment and has given the mandate for selling the business to audit and consulting firm Ernst and Young (E&Y).
“Lanco has 5,000 megawatts (MW) of wind power licences and had acquired land for 600MW of capacity through Lanco Wind Power Pvt. Ltd,” said a person aware of the development, requesting anonymity. Another person, who didn’t want to be named, confirmed the development.
Source: The Economic Times, Feb 13, 2012
NEW DELHI: The Road Ministry today proposed an increase in the minimum road tax charged by states to a uniform 6 per cent of the sales price of a vehicle at a meeting of the National Transport Development Council.
At present, the road tax charged by the states on vehicles varies from 2 per cent to 18 per cent. While some states levy a lifelong road tax, annual levies prevail in others. Delhi also charges parking fees as part of tax.
Source: The Economic Times, Feb 13, 2012
MUMBAI: The European Union, India’s leading partner in terms of trade and investment, is hopeful of higher foreign direct investment in India in the coming years.
“Europe is India’s largest source of foreign direct investment with a stock of 34.4 billion euros and India’s investments in Europe is also fast reaching 7 billion euros. There is scope to grow much more.
“European FDI in India for instance is half the amount of that in China, or a quarter of that in Russia, or a fifth of that in Brazil,” European Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso said at a conference ‘EU-India: A strategic relationship in an evolving world’ organised by FICCI here.
Read the rest of this entry »
Source: The Economic Times, Feb 14, 2012
NEW DELHI: The chief executive of the world’s leading aviation alliance, International Air Transport Association (IATA), has blamed the Indian government’s policies for stifling the potential growth in the country’s aviation sector, warning that ‘stunted growth comes with an economic cost.’
“Look at India, a market with enormous potential. But aviation’s development is being held back by government policies,”IATA director general and CEO Tony Tyler said at the Singapore Airshow Aviation Leadership Summit on Monday.
Source: The Economic Times, Feb 14, 2012
NEW DELHI: The telecom regulator has recommended lowering the foreign direct investment cap on telecom tower companies to 74%, a move that will adversely impact the Indian operations of Nasdaq-listed American Towers (ATC) as well as stake sale plans of other tower units.
At present, 100% foreign direct investment is allowed in tower companies but Trai wants to lower this limit and bring it on a par with other telecom services, which are subject to a 74% cap.
Source: Business Standard, Feb 14, 2012
New Delhi: The finance ministry is likely to peg the fiscal deficit for 2012-13 at around 4.9 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the Budget. It may also revise the figure for the current financial year from 4.6 per cent to around 5.5 per cent in the Budget estimate.
Officials, however, admit while fiscal deficit may be cut by 0.6 percentage points of GDP in the next financial, it would not be possible to restrict it to 4.2 per cent, as sought by the 13th Finance Commission. This is because of slippages in 2011-12.
Source: Business Standard, Feb 14, 2012
New Delhi: Captive power players—companies that set up their own power plants in order to supply energy to their manufacturing operations—have for the last few years hoped to outgrow their boots and become major power brokers on the national stage, supplying power to the grid, amongst others. At the end of 2011, 19,509 Mw of captive power generation capacity was added — around 10 per cent of the country’s total generation capacity of 186,655Mw. Many of them already send more than half of what they generate to the grid while others hope to effect a similar transition.
Source: The Hindu Business Line, Feb 11, 2012
Hyderabad: The Indian Wind Power Association, a representative body of investors in wind turbine generators, has sought the Andhra Pradesh Government’s support to take up more projects in the State.
The association has assured that the State would be able to add 150 MW of wind energy capacity by March-end and possibly another 1,000 MW within six months if all clearances were accorded.
