India Developing, but still a long way to go

[Water Car Engineer]

Thanks for the regular updates Liquid!

No problem..


(update) India, Japan to sign free-trade pact today

NEW DELHI: The country's textile, pharmaceutical and services sectors can gain greater market access in Japan while competition may mount for the automobile parts manufacturing industry after India signs a comprehensive trade agreement with Japan on Wednesday.

The agreement, first such with a developed nation, could spur investments from Japan as India has committed to give national treatment to both pre- and post-investment from that country, a benefit extended only to Singapore so far.

This means that Japanese companies investing in India will be treated on a par with the domestic ones at every stage.

"The agreement is a result of the high level of confidence that the countries have with each other, that we do not have with some other countries," a senior Japanese trade official told ET.

China is traditionally a big market for Japanese exports, but diplomatic ties between the two countries are not very rosy.

"In India, we are sure that slogan-shouting protestors will not surround the Japanese embassy," the Japanese official said. The agreement between India and Japan will remove tariffs on more than 90% of goods.

" It is important for us to explore new markets and diversify our portfolio," said Biswajit Dhar, director general of Delhi-based Research and Information System for Developing Countries. This agreement too will work well just like the one signed with Korea last year, he added.

Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and Japan's Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara will sign the agreement in Tokyo. It will be implemented as soon as it wins approval of the Japanese parliament.

Japan has low tariffs --- between 0% and 5% -- on manufactured products, but tariffs are as high as 15% on textiles, and even higher on leather.

Textile producers in India will be the biggest gainers of this agreement as Japan has agreed to eliminate tariffs completely over the next five years.

Leather manufacturers, however, will not be as lucky. Leather is among the few items along with farm produce that is not covered by the agreement, and tariffs, therefore, will continue to be high.

"Overall, we do expect to make substantial gains in manufacturing as our present share in Japanese trade is less than 1%," an official with the Indian commerce department said.

Japan is India's fifth largest trading partner and bilateral trade between the two countries was pegged at $10.36 billion in 2009-10.

Gains would, however, be much bigger for the services sector with Japan agreeing to liberalise temporary movement of Yoga instructors, classical music and dance exponents, English language teachers and Indian cuisine masters.

This would be in addition to the existing commitments for professionals like engineers and IT professionals. While India did not take on tariff reduction commitments for automobiles and auto components, it has agreed to eliminate/reduce tariffs on auto parts made of steel, a major gain for the Japanese industry.

India, Japan to sign free-trade pact today - The Economic Times

 

[Dalai Lama]

73% Wow! That's a lot of money.

 

[ajay]

[video]http://www.in.com/videos/watchvideo-donald-trump-to-build-60storey-tower-in-mumbai-9848402.html[/video]

 

[Water Car Engineer]

Metals Demand in India May Double on Transport, Power Projects

Metals demand in India, Asia’s second-fastest growing major economy, may double in five years and remain robust for a decade, fueled by rising car sales and higher spending on infrastructure projects, analysts said.

Growth in demand for base metals may jump 10 percent to 15 percent this year, said Sumit Verma, an analyst at broker Geojit Comtrade Ltd. That compares with an average annual increase of 6 percent for aluminum and copper, and 4.3 percent for zinc between 1972 and 2009, Barclays Capital said in November, predicting demand to jump 80 percent by 2015.

“Steel demand may double in the next five years and I will not be surprised if demand for non-ferrous metals such as copper and aluminum grow at twice the pace,” said Kunal Shah, head of commodity research with Nirmal Bang Securities Pvt. in Mumbai.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has proposed $1 trillion of spending in the five years through 2017 to upgrade the nation’s road, railway and power networks, which the finance ministry says shaves 2 percentage points from growth. Commodity demand in India has reached a “tipping point” and the nation may surpass the U.S. as the second-largest consumer of copper, aluminum and zinc in the early 2020’s, Barclays said.

“The drivers will be growth and development of key sectors of the economy like infrastructure, power, construction, energy and transportation,” Geojit’s Verma said in an e-mailed reply to questions. “The outlook for next five to 10 years is bullish.”

India’s economy will probably grow 8.6 percent in the year to March, the most in three years, the government’s statistics office said on Feb. 7. The nation expanded at 8.9 percent in the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with the 9.8 percent growth in the three months ended Dec. 31 in China, the largest consumer of everything from copper to zinc and iron ore.

Record Sales

Rising salaries and economic expansion pushed car sales in India to a record last month. Deliveries climbed 26 percent to 184,332 vehicles in January, the 24th consecutive monthly year- on-year increase, according to figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers on Feb. 9.

Aluminum demand in India may climb an average 8 percent a year between 2009 and 2030, Barclays said, predicting growth in copper and zinc usage at 8.6 percent and 8.5 percent each. In absolute terms, the country’s aluminum demand growth from 2009 and 2015 will be equal to Korea’s current consumption or twice Canada’s, the report said.

Hindalco Industries Ltd., India’s largest aluminum maker, on Feb. 12 reported a 7.7 percent gain in third-quarter profit because of higher base metal prices and said global demand for the metal is expected to be “robust” for the rest of the year. Sterlite Industries Ltd., the nation’s top copper producer, last month reported a 60 percent jump in earnings.

China Spending

Commodities beat gains in stocks, bonds and the dollar in 2010 as China led the recovery from the first global recession since World War II. The rally in raw materials may be extended this year as the global economy recovers and infrastructure spending in China boosts demand for copper and other base metals, Jing Ulrich, chairwoman of China equities and commodities at JP Morgan Chase & Co. said yesterday in Singapore.

Copper on the London Metal Exchange reached a record $10,190 a metric ton yesterday, boosted by manufacturing growth in China and the U.S., the top two users.

“We are holding bullish for base metals prices,” said Sundeep Jain, an analyst at Karvy Comtrade Ltd. “Demand on the one side is robust from emerging markets, be it India or China, and on the other, supply is not able to catch up with demand.”

Metals Demand in India May Double on Transport, Power Projects - Bloomberg

 

[Water Car Engineer]

World Bank: Power in Rural India Should Go Local

About 56% of households in rural India have no access to electricity, but generating power locally and supplying it through distribution channels which already exist in rural areas can help solve this, according to a World Bank report released Tuesday.

Generating and supplying power from local electricity grids is not new in India, but so far this has been only used in very remote areas. The report has found that this is a model that should be actively encouraged, rather than one to fall back on. It suggested it should be implemented in areas where electricity supply is poor and where dependence on diesel and kerosene high.

Based on studies conducted in Kolhapur district of India’s state of Maharashtra, the report said that the state’s unexploited renewable energy sources could harness substantial economic gains – not just for the rural population, for the state as a whole.

The study found that the most cost-effective and feasible way of doing this, is through a decentralized system - something it calls distributed generation and supply (DG&S) franchises. This model, based on consumer cooperatives, can be successful in regions with renewable resources like high solar insulation, perennial local streams, and, in the case of farming communities , surplus biomass.

Some of the greatest perks of this model, the report says, is that it could increase supply and save expenditure for the consumer, reduce losses for the utility company and help meet the government’s goal of improving availability of electricity in rural areas across the country.

For example, the report estimates that this model can decrease the cost of electricity from 11 rupees ($0.24) per kilowatt hour to 6 rupees ($0.13) per kilowatt hour. It found this model would also increase the supply of electricity per day from an average of 8-10 hours to day-long supply.

The local power generation and distribution network could also help draw private investment in these sectors in rural areas, parts of the country that otherwise rarely attract this kind of interest. By allowing rural franchises to collect revenues on the ground, this system could also bring direct economic benefits to local communities too. Rural consumers would also be guaranteed access to a minimum percentage of the power generated through this system and any surplus electricity could be redistributed to neighboring areas. All this could help limit the all-too-common power outages.

“The involvement of the local community leads to socio-economic development in the area, thereby promoting inclusive growth,” Inger Andersen, vice president at the World Bank’s Sustainable Development Network unit, said.

It remains to be seen if, and when, the Indian government will ever take up the World Bank’s recommendations.

“India has, no doubt, undertaken several policy initiatives to enhance access and extend its national grid, but much still awaits to be achieved,” said John Henry Stein, senior director of the World Bank’s Sustainable Development Network, in a note to the press.

World Bank: Power in Rural India Should Go Local - India Real Time - WSJ

High voltage electricity towers on the outskirts of New Delhi. A new World Bank report says decentralizing electricity production and distribution will increase electricity supply in rural areas.

 

[Water Car Engineer]

Hyderabad pictures

 

[Water Car Engineer]

Hyderabad pictures

 

[Water Car Engineer]

Hyderabad pictures

 

[Water Car Engineer]

Thane - City of Lakes

 

[Water Car Engineer]

Thane - City of Lakes

 

[Humanist]

Request to all Indian Members....

This is a picture thread.. Plz add only pics in it.
There is a seperate thread for Indian economy. Plz post news items in that thread.

Thanks to all who contributed in this thread,, its really amazing..

 

[Secret Service]

India is Not in a list of developed countries but i have seen many Indians who are claiming that India is a superpower.....

 

[Zeeshan360]

India is Not in a list of developed countries but i have seen many Indians who are claiming that India is a superpower.....

Do u understand difference between Rising superpower and Superpower .
And stop trolling here .

No one claimed India is a Superpower

 

[Anonymous user]

Thanks for the pics, this ones the Novotel hotel , much time was spent there during my stay in Hyd. Cheers

 

[Secret Service]

Do u understand difference between Rising superpower and Superpower .
And stop trolling here .

No one claimed India is a Superpower

sorry you get me wrong,but India no doubt is developing rapidly but i don't think it is a rising super power.....