10. In the course of my visit, I announced that the High Commission, the Consulates and the Honorary Consuls would be open on every Friday, from 11 am till 5 pm, for any Indian student to walk in to discuss their problems and grievances.

11. Ministry of External Affairs and the High Commission have also unveiled since 12 June 2009, on their respective websites, Guidelines for Indian students studying in and wishing to study in Australia with advice, dos and don’ts. These Guidelines have been regularly updated.

12. Bilateral working groups have discussed the issues of regulation of education agents, student welfare, vocational education and training, and quality assurance in Delhi in October 2009 and will meet again soon.

13. During the visit of Prime Minister Mr. Kevin Rudd to India on 12 November 2009, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh conveyed the high priority that Government of India attached to the safety, security and well-being of Indian community in Australia. Mr Rudd reiterated the Australian Government’s commitment to taking all possible measures to protect the safety and welfare of all international students including Indian students.

14. Our High Commission in Australia and the Consulates General in Melbourne and Sydney each have a Community Welfare and Student Liaison Officer (CWSLO) who is on call 24/7, and whose mobile number is on our website as our emergency response number. Any problem involving an Indian student or member of the community is handled by the CWSLO in coordination with the High Commissioner/Consuls General.

15. In Australia a Task Force headed by the Australian National Security Advisor was set up in the office of Australian Prime Minister, to formulate what they term a ‘whole of government’ approach to the issue and liaise with state governments on the action being taken by them.

16. In Melbourne as well as in Sydney, the police have increased patrolling where incidents had occurred. In Melbourne, police presence was stepped up especially around train stations and high crime neighbourhoods; the number of transit police, including in plain clothes on late night trains taken by students, was increased; the Victoria State Government’s Robbery Taskforce was doubled; several offenders were charged. A Community Reference Group for Western Melbourne involving the police and members of the Indian community to facilitate communication on safety issues was established. A hotline was set up for Indian students. Free legal advice and referral for international students was made available at Melbourne. More street lighting and CCTV cameras have been provided in areas that are prone to such attacks.

17. Of the various reports and reviews commissioned by the Australian government to look into the several problems being faced by the students, two have submitted their reports, and made specific recommendations to improve conditions for international students.

18. There have been 8 Ministerial level visits from Australia to India in 2009. Many of these were focussed on addressing our growing concerns about the safety and well-being of our students.

19. The Australian federal and state government authorities have taken action in providing relief to Indian students affected due to the sudden closure of certain colleges, in making them aware of their rights and relocating them in other colleges.

20. Following some attacks on Indian taxi drivers last year, the South Australia government has set up a taxi council to hold regular discussions with taxi drivers, many of whom are students.

21. The Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) has introduced measures to strengthen checks on student visa applications to stamp out fraud and ensure that students have the financial capacity to live and study in Australia. DIAC has recently announced an overhaul of the general skilled migration rules leading to permanent residency in Australia.

22. The Victorian Government strengthened the Victorian Sentencing Act 1991 in December 2009, and is conducting a review of the justice system under a retired Supreme Court judge to address racial crime.

23. As a result of these measures, the number of incidents recorded in these suburbs has decreased. 300 police officers are being added to the Victorian Police to form a rapid response unit to address continued attacks. Other concrete measures taken by the Victorian government include the setting up of an International Student Care Service. The service has 24/7 hotline staffed by trained persons, some of whom also speak Hindi. The Centre provides psychological counselling, legal assistance, assistance with any problem with educational institute, employer or landlord or any other authority. It also provides financial assistance to students for temporary accommodation as well as assistance to take care of medical expenses etc.

24. The issue continues to be taken up very strongly with the Australian Government. I spoke to Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith on 11 January and expressed my serious concern. I also met Australian FM Stephen Smith in London on the margins of Conference on Afghanistan on 27 January 2010 and conveyed that these attacks are particularly worrisome as the individuals from the Indian community appeared to be singled out and it was increasingly difficult to accept these attacks as mere opportunistic crimes.

25. The Australian Government has recently set up a high-level Working Group under overall charge of Foreign Minister Stephen Smith to deal with this issue on an urgent basis.

26. India-Australia relations have been expanding rapidly over the last few years. India attaches importance to its relationship with Australia and we are committed to further strengthening and expanding our relations to cover virtually every area of interaction. People to people contacts are at the heart of any relationship. It is estimated that almost half a million Indians (including 97000 Indian students) and people of Indian origin live in Australia today. The older, more established Indian community in Australia consists largely of skilled professionals, such as doctors, accountants, engineers and academics. It has traditionally been seen as a model migrant community and lauded for its contribution to the Australian economy, having settled and integrated well, and highly regarded for their industry and skills. The Indian community through its culture and values is contributing in making Australia the vibrant multi-cultural society that it is today. They are a vital bond between our two countries.

27. Let there be no doubt that we take the incidents of assault on our students very seriously indeed. I would like to assure you that the Australian authorities have been fully apprised of the gravity of the situation. As a result, both at the state as well as the federal level, they have taken several measures as outlined above, to improve security and surveillance; it can be honestly said that they are making efforts to meet our concerns. However, as can be seen, the issue consists of several complex factors, all of which are interlinked and need to be dealt with in a concerted and coordinated manner.

28. I assure the House that we will continue to monitor the situation closely and work closely with the Australian authorities to deal with the issues concerned and improve the safety and security of our students in Australia.

Thank you

In addition to the Seven Central Government SEZs and 12 State/ Private Sector SEZs set up prior to the enactment of SEZ Act, 2005, formal approval have been accorded to 571 proposals out of which 348 SEZs have been notified. A total of 105 SEZs are already exporting.

Total exports of Rs.99,689 crore have been made from SEZs during the financial year 2008-09 registering a growth of 50% over the exports for the same period of the previous year. Exports from SEZs during the first three quarters of the current financial year have been to the tune of Rs.1,52,092.68 crore registering a growth of about 127% over the exports for the same period of the previous financial year.

The fiscal concessions are in built into the SEZ Act, 2005. The Units in the SEZs are allowed duty free goods for setting up SEZ Units, exemption from Service Tax, Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT), Central Sales Tax etc. SEZ Units are allowed 100% Income Tax exemption on export income under Section 10AA of the Income Tax Act for first 5 years, 50% for next 5 years thereafter and 50% of the ploughed back export profit for next 5 years. Also, sales into Domestic Tariff Area by SEZ Units attract all duties including Countervailing Duties.

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) included infrastructure finance companies (IFC) in the category of non-banking finance company (NBFC) with a capital adequacy ratio requirement of 15 per cent.
PM panel pegs growth at over 8% in 2010-11
Business Standard: February 20, 2010

New Delhi: Pitches for raising duties as part of sops rollback.

The Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, or PMEAC, today pegged growth in the next financial year (2010-11) at 8.2 per cent as the agriculture sector is expected to turn around next year. It also predicted that the country would return to 9 per cent growth in 2011-12.

Along with these, the panel pitched for raising duties in the coming Union Budget, as part of the rollback of stimulus measures.

For the current financial year (2009-10), it stuck to the Central Statistical Organisation’s advanced growth estimate of 7.2 per cent though added an upward bias to it. “The council expects a bounce-back in agricultural gross domestic product in the next year and maintenance of the desired trend growth of 4 per cent in 2011-12,” PMEAC Chairman C Rangarajan said after releasing a review of the economy.

The PM’s panel also expected the industrial and services sectors to continue to expand strongly through the next two years. “On this basis, we are making an initial estimate that the economy would grow by 8.2 percent in 2010-11 and by 9 per cent in 2011-12,” said Rangarajan.

Fiscal correction

On the issue of exit from the government’s stimulus measures, panel member M Govind Rao said that taking the excise duty to 10-12 per cent level was something that could be done though taking it back to the original level would be difficult.

At present, there are three categories of NBFCs — asset finance companies, loan finance companies and investment companies. All these have to maintain a minimum capital adequacy ratio of 12 per cent.

RBI said all criteria of NBFCs would apply to IFCs. In addition, the central bank said that a minimum of 75 per cent of these institutions’ assets should be deployed in infrastructure and their net owned funds should be Rs 300 crore or above. Moreover, they should carry ‘A’ or equivalent rating from Crisil, Fitch, Care, Icra or their equivalent rating agencies. The minimum Tier-1 capital has been fixed at 10 per cent.

“Infrastructure needs long-term funds, so it was important to form a separate category. Now, we can approach RBI and create an environment to relax borrowing norms. We can ask it to raise the external commercial borrowing limit or seek use of refinance from IIFCL,” said Srei Infrastructure Managing Director Hemant Kanoria.

“Since the classification for the purpose of income recognition, asset classification and provisioning norms is based on asset specification, the extant prudential norms will continue as hitherto,” RBI said.

The regulator mandated that a bank’s exposure to IFCs should not exceed 15 per cent of its capital funds, with a provision of increasing it to 20 per cent if it is on account of funds on-lent by IFCs to the infrastructure sector.

The central bank said IFCs would not be allowed to accept deposits from public. An IFC may exceed the concentration of credit norms by 10 per cent of its owned fund in lending to any single borrower and by 15 per cent of its owned fund in case of a single group of borrowers.