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| 03. INVESTMENT UPDATE |
India vaults 12 places in list, says World Bank report |
India has improved its ranking by 12 places to 120th this year - achieving a bigger gain than China, which rose nine places to 83rd, according to Doing Business 2008, by the World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC). The report ranks 178 economies on the ease of doing business.
However, according to Michael Klein, World Bank-IFC vice-president for Financial and Private Sector Development and IFC chief economist India could jump 55 places if best regional practices are adopted nationwide. Releasing the report he said, "if the top score among Indian cities in each of the Doing Business indicators were used for the country as a whole, India would rise 55 places in the aggregate country rankings."
The report chooses a city in every country which is most representative of various indicators and for India it chose Mumbai. However, the country would have fared much better, if the top scoring locations were taken instead of Mumbai. For instance, Jaipur fared better than Mumbai for starting a business, while Bhubaneshwar was better than the financial capital of India in dealing with licences, enforcing contracts and paying taxes. Hyderabad was better in registering property, while Chennai excelled in trading across borders and Bangalore was ahead in closing a business. |
Doing Business in South Asia 2007, a regional spin-off of the main report, finds significant differences on the Doing Business indicators across India. The time to obtain licenses ranges from 159 days in Bhubaneshwar to 522 in Ranchi. The time to register property ranges from 35 days in Hyderabad and Bangalore to 155 in Kolkata.
According to IFC, the government was working with the World Bank Group to initiate reforms in the cities of Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Delhi in the first phase, focusing on indicators such as starting a business, dealing with licenses, registering property, trading across borders and paying taxes.
India ranks 177 out of 178 countries in enforcing contracts. It takes almost four years to resolve a commercial dispute through the courts in Mumbai, compared with slightly over a year in Shanghai. It takes 10 years to go through bankruptcy in India, versus less than two years in Shanghai.
Property registration is another potential area for reform, according to IFC. India ranks 112 on this indicator: it takes two months to transfer property and costs 7.7% India's gross national income. In China, it takes half the amount of time and cost.
The rankings are based on 10 indicators of business regulation that track the time and cost to meet government requirements in business start-up, operation, trade, taxation, and closure. The rankings do not reflect such areas as macroeconomic policy, quality of infrastructure, currency volatility, investor perceptions, or crime rates.
Source: Financial Express |
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INDIA TOPS IN CARBON CREDIT DEALS |
India has registered the largest number of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects in the world.
The country accounted for 283 CDM projects out of the 819 registered by the CDM Executive Board, Environment Secretary Meena Gupta said at the India Carbon Market Conclave, organised by Ficci, the environment ministry, the World Bank and the International Emissions Trading Association.
CDM or carbon credits is a mechanism devised under the Kyoto Protocol to award encashable points or CERs (carbon emission reduction) to eco-friendly projects on the basis of the carbon emissions they control.
These CERs are bought by the nations that are bound by the emission cut targets under the protocol.
The Indian National CDM Authority has accorded host country approval to 753 projects, facilitating investment of more than Rs 63,000 crore.
These projects are in areas of energy efficiency, fuel switching, industrial processes, municipal solid waste and renewable energy and have the potential to generate 421 million CERs by 2012.
Ficci and financial institutions could play a catalytic role in bundling of CERs and helping PSUs take up such projects, she said.
The recommendations from the conclave would go into framing the national climate change strategy, said Ficci.
Source : Business Standard |
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ABB to invest $100 mn in India, hire 4000
Fred Kindle
President and CEO of
ABB Group
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Power and automation technologies major ABB announced that it would invest an additional $100 million in India, where it expects to double business volumes and hire 4,000 employees by 2010."We are extremely encouraged with the performance of our Indian operations and India will soon be among the top five Markets for ABB", President and CEO of ABB Group Fred Kindle, told a news conference. |
"Based on market outlook and our well established presence here, we expect the business volumes for ABB in India to double by 2010".Having completed its previously announced investment programme of $100 million, the company now plans to invest an additional USD 100 million for capacity and range expansion over the next two-three years to support this growth, he said.
Chairman of ABB Group, Hubertus von Grunberg said the company currently employs over 6,000 people in India and expects its human resource base in this country to touch around 10,000 by 2010 to support its growth plans. "India is among the fastest growing economies in the world and a key focus area for ABB. It is an important part of our growth strategy and will play an integral role in strengthening ABB's global footprint", he said. For the calendar year 2006, ABB's revenues crossed USD one billion in India, with revenues growing 40 per cent and net profit by 50 per cent, officials said.
Source: The Financial Express |
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Nokia to invest $285 mn in Indian operations
Mobile handset manufacturer Nokia would invest USD 75 million more at its Sriperumbudur plant for capacity expansion, taking the total investment in its Indian operations during 2008 to USD 285 million, a top company official said. "The company has already invested USD 210 million in the country against a commitment of USD 150 million and USD 75 million more is being invested in its Sriperumbudur plant," Nokia India Director (Operations) Sachin Saxena told a press conference in Chennai.
The Sriperumbudur plant has already manufactured 60 million handsets in a record 20 months since it commenced production in January 2006. Half of its production at the Sriperumbudur plant is being exported to over 58 countries. The new investment would also help in increasing the product profile of the plant.
The Sriperumbudur plant mainly concentrates on low-cost sets for which there is a growing market in India, he said. The Indian plant has become the fastest growing Nokia factory in the world, he said, attributing the rapid growth to low-cost and highly skilled personnel. Of the 6,000 employees of the plant, 70 per cent are women.
Source: The Financial Express |
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Seven Indian firms among world's 1,250 top R&D investors |
Tata Motors, India's most valued automobile firm, and drugmaker Ranbaxy are among the seven Indian firms in the world's top 1,250 companies ranked on the basis of investments in research and development. According to a study by the UK government, the world's top 1,250 R&D investment companies together spent 244 billion pounds ($507 billion) in 2006, up 10 per cent from the previous year. Companies from the US, Japan, Germany, France and the UK dominated the rankings and contributed 81 per cent of R&D by the G1250, the list of world's biggest investors.
In contrast, the seven Indian companies spent just about 557 million dollars on research and development activities. "Firms from India and China have yet to establish themselves as significant players in the G1250, although other evidence suggests that both countries are increasingly important locations for R&D," the British government's Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills said in its "2007 R&D Scoreboard" report, released earlier this week.
The study also included a list of top 850 UK firms, whose R&D spending grew by nine per cent to 20.9 billion pounds. The global list of 1,250 companies included 75 UK firms.Just one Indian company managed a place in top 500, while the top-1000 list included four companies from India. Tata Motors was the top ranked Indian firm (401st; 91.99 million pounds; followed by Ranbaxy (683rd; 45.82 million pounds), Kpit Cummins Infosystems (861; 33.29 million pounds) and Dr Reddy's Labs (971; 28.24 million pounds).
Mindtree Consulting (ranked 1,079; 23.84 million pounds), Sun Pharma (1,102; 23.25 million pounds) and Mahindra and Mahindra (1,147; 21.74 million pounds) completed the list of Indian firms.
Source : Economic Times |
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